Review paper Being a vegetarian: health benefits and hazards

Although their anatomical features disclose the herbivorous nature of humans, an omnivorous diet can be considered an evolutionary advantage that has supported human survival. Over recent decades, vegetarianism has significantly increased in developed countries due to the support of scientific research, emerging supermarkets and restaurants, and easy-to-access soy products and healthy foods. According to current knowledge, vegetarian diets are associated with significantly lower prevalence of obesity and lower risk of cardiovascular mortality. However, while the overall risk of cancer is slightly lower in vegetarians, the findings regarding the location and type of cancer that can be prevented by vegetarian diets are inconclusive. In addition to this, it remains unclear whether health benefits of vegetarian diets can be attributed to the avoidance of meat, or to the increased intake of dietary fibre, n-6 fatty acids, vitamins C, B9 and E, potassium, magnesium and phyto-chemicals, or to both of these factors. As a vegetarian diet becomes more restrictive, intake of adequate daily energy and of n-3 fatty acids, essential amino acids, vitamin B12, zinc, calcium and iron becomes more difficult to achieve, which is particularly challenging in children who have higher nutrient requirements relative to body weight than adults

Resistance to antibiotics and genotype characteristics of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Mbandaka isolated from poultry

Salmonellas are one of the main zoonotic pathogens whose reservoirs are poultry, cattle and pigs. By means of the food chain salmonellas can be transferred to humans through contaminated food of animal origin. Multiresistant strains Salmonella are particularly dangerous since they can transfer genes of resistance to antibiotics to other microorganisms. Control of salmonellas primarily depends on a good surveillance system and knowledge of the strain types present in the epizootiologic area. In some geographical regions only a few Salmonella serotypes are usually of epidemiological importance. Due to the predomination of some serotypes and fagotypes, when an additional discrimination within serotypes and fagotypes is needed, DNA genotyping is used. In cases when it is necessary to compare the strains which caused the poisoning of patients, with strains isolated from food or animals, a highly discriminatory method is used - pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Due to a high degree of discrimination the results of PFGE testing enable decision making with a higher degree of certainty in epizootiologic and epidemiologic research work. The aim of this testing was to determine the antibiotics resistance and genotype characteristics of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Mbandaka isolated from poultry from some areas of the territory of Serbia

The Role of Storm Winds in Shaping Dunes Along Southern and Southeastern Lake Michigan

It has been hypothesized that rates of coastal dune growth and migration depend largely on the frequency and intensity of storms. We are pooling observations from three separate research sites to study effects of storms along Lake Michigan. At our southern site, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, we use marked trees and erosion pins to monitor sand movement on two large blowout dunes with north-facing troughs. From Oct. 2010 to May 2011 over 80% of the erosion on the stoss slopes occurred during four storms with strong northwest winds. The greatest erosion occurred during a March storm after a thaw had removed ice between surface sand grains. During the winter, sand eroded from the stoss slope tends to freeze in place near the dune crest. Thus deposition on the middle and lower lee slopes does not immediately follow storms but is delayed until the spring thaw. At the Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area (southeastern shore) we use an array of 211 pins and six anemometers to monitor sand movement and wind patterns in a complex blowout with a large northwest-facing trough and smaller troughs facing west and northwest. Topographic steering of winds in the dune is accompanied by a loss of energy. Sand transportation is most effective when storm winds approach the opening of a trough at a relatively low angle. The storm with the strongest northwest winds during the 8-month measuring period (10/26/10–10/28/10) accounted for 25% of the period’s measured sand transport. Farther north, at Hoffmaster State Park, we use 135 pins and an anemometer tower to monitor an active foredune and a west-facing blowout on an established foredune ridge. The average change at pins along the foredune during the 10/26–10/28 storm was 24% of the average measured seasonal change. Wetting of the beach by waves appears to have inhibited sand transportation to the foredune during the early part of this storm. Although high-energy wind events appear to be responsible for a significant part of sand transport at all three sites, the amount of transport also depends on the angle of the wind, the wetting of sand by waves and precipitation, and the presence of ice between sand grains

Sustainable development and public health: rating European countries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sustainable development and public health quite strongly correlate, being connected and conditioned by one another. This paper therein attempts to offer a representation of Europe’s current situation of sustainable development in the area of public health.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A dataset on sustainable development in the area of public health consisting of 31 European countries (formally proposed by the European Union Commission and EUROSTAT) has been used in this paper in order to evaluate said issue for the countries listed thereof. A statistical method which synthesizes several indicators into one quantitative indicator has also been utilized. Furthermore, the applied method offers the possibility to obtain an optimal set of variables for future studies of the problem, as well as for the possible development of indicators.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>According to the results obtained, Norway and Iceland are the two foremost European countries regarding sustainable development in the area of public health, whereas Romania, Lithuania, and Latvia, some of the European Union’s newest Member States, rank lowest. The results also demonstrate that the most significant variables (more than 80%) in rating countries are found to be “healthy life years at birth, females” (r² = 0.880), “healthy life years at birth, males” (r² = 0.864), “death rate due to chronic diseases, males” (r² = 0.850), and “healthy life years, 65, females” (r² = 0.844).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on the results of this paper, public health represents a precondition for sustainable development, which should be continuously invested in and improved.</p> <p>After the assessment of the dataset, proposed by EUROSTAT in order to evaluate progress towards the agreed goals of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS), this paper offers an improved set of variables, which it is hoped, may initiate further studies concerning this problem.</p