Echocardiographic and angiographic predictors of left ventricular remodeling after the acute anterior myocardial infarction

Cilj: Kod trećine bolesnika sa akutnim ST-eleviranim infarktom (STEMI) nakon primarne angioplastike (pPCI) razvije se postinfarktno remodelovanje leve komore (LK). Cilj istraživanja je nalaženje ranih prediktora post-infarktnog remodelovanja leve komore nakon akutnog STEMI i pPCI. Metodologija: Uključeno je 210 ispitanika sa prvim akutnim STEMI prednjeg zida, lečenih pPCI. Urađena je ehokardiografija u prva 24h, a zatim nakon 6 meseci, kada su ispitanici podeljeni u 2 grupe: ispitivanu sa remodelovanjem (n=55; 26%) i kontrolnu bez remodelovanja (n=155; 74%). Ispitanici su klinički praćeni godinu dana. Rezultati i dikusija: Multivarijantnom regresionom analizom, kao najsnažniji rani prediktori post-infarktnog remodelovanja izdvojili su se: postojanje "no reflow" fenomena nakon pPCI (OR=30.0 95% CI, p2 (OR 21.6 95% CI, p2. Pacijenti sa post-infarktnim remodelovanjem imaju veću incidencu glavnih neželjenih kardioloških događaja i mortaliteta.Objective: Patients with ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated by primary angioplasty (pPCI) will develop left ventricular (LV) remodeling in one third of the cases. The purpose of this study is to determine early predictors of LV remodeling after acute STEMI and pPCI. Methods: 210 patients with a first acute anterior STEMI treated by pPCI were included. All participants underwent echocardiography in the first 24hrs and again after 6 months, after which they were divided into two groups: remodeling (n=55; 26%) and nonremodeling (n=155; 74%). Results and discussion: The most powerful independent early predictors were: "no reflow" after pPCI (OR=30.0 95% CI, p2 (OR 21.6 95% CI, p2 are strong predictors too. Remodeling patients will have a more frequent incidence of MACE and mortality

Echocardiographic and angiographic predictors of left ventricular remodeling after the acute anterior myocardial infarction

Cilj: Kod trećine bolesnika sa akutnim ST-eleviranim infarktom (STEMI) nakon primarne angioplastike (pPCI) razvije se postinfarktno remodelovanje leve komore (LK). Cilj istraživanja je nalaženje ranih prediktora post-infarktnog remodelovanja leve komore nakon akutnog STEMI i pPCI. Metodologija: Uključeno je 210 ispitanika sa prvim akutnim STEMI prednjeg zida, lečenih pPCI. Urađena je ehokardiografija u prva 24h, a zatim nakon 6 meseci, kada su ispitanici podeljeni u 2 grupe: ispitivanu sa remodelovanjem (n=55; 26%) i kontrolnu bez remodelovanja (n=155; 74%). Ispitanici su klinički praćeni godinu dana. Rezultati i dikusija: Multivarijantnom regresionom analizom, kao najsnažniji rani prediktori post-infarktnog remodelovanja izdvojili su se: postojanje "no reflow" fenomena nakon pPCI (OR=30.0 95% CI, p2 (OR 21.6 95% CI, p2. Pacijenti sa post-infarktnim remodelovanjem imaju veću incidencu glavnih neželjenih kardioloških događaja i mortaliteta.Objective: Patients with ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated by primary angioplasty (pPCI) will develop left ventricular (LV) remodeling in one third of the cases. The purpose of this study is to determine early predictors of LV remodeling after acute STEMI and pPCI. Methods: 210 patients with a first acute anterior STEMI treated by pPCI were included. All participants underwent echocardiography in the first 24hrs and again after 6 months, after which they were divided into two groups: remodeling (n=55; 26%) and nonremodeling (n=155; 74%). Results and discussion: The most powerful independent early predictors were: "no reflow" after pPCI (OR=30.0 95% CI, p2 (OR 21.6 95% CI, p2 are strong predictors too. Remodeling patients will have a more frequent incidence of MACE and mortality

Nano-and microcarriers as drug delivery systems for usnic acid: Review of literature

Usnic acid is one of the most investigated lichen secondary metabolites, with several proven biological properties with potential medical relevance. However, its unfavorable physico-chemical properties, as well as observed hepatotoxicity, have discouraged wide-range utilization of usnic acid as a promising therapeutic agent. In accordance with the growing research interest in the development of nanotechnology, especially in the arena of preparations based on natural sources of medicinal compounds, usnic acid incorporated into nano-and microsized colloidal carriers has been a subject of a large number of publications. Therefore, this review discusses the overall results of the studies dealing with usnic acid encapsulated into lipid-based, polymeric and nonorganic micro-and/or nanocarriers, as potential drug delivery systems for this natural compound, in an attempt to introduce its usage as a potential antitumor, antimicrobial, wound-healing, antioxidative and anti-inflammatory drug

The Application of Drones in City Logistics Concepts

With the rise of city logistics (CL) problems in the last three decades, various methods, approaches, solutions, and initiatives were analyzed and proposed for making logistics in urban areas more sustainable. The most analyzed and promising solutions are those that take into account cooperation among logistics providers and consolidation of the flow of goods. Furthermore, technological innovations enable the implementation of modern vehicles/equipment in order to make CL solutions sustainable. For several years, drone-based delivery has attracted lots of attention in scientific research, but there is a serious gap in the literature regarding the application of drones in CL concepts. The goal of this paper is to analyze four CL concepts that differ in consolidation type, transformation degree of flow of goods (direct and indirect, multi-echelon flows), and the role of drones. Two of the analyzed concepts are novel, which is the main contribution of the paper. The performances of the analyzed concepts are compared to the performances of the traditional delivery model – using only trucks without prior flow consolidation. The results indicate that CL concepts which combine different consolidation models and drones in the last phase of the delivery could stand out as a sustainable CL solution

Dry Port Terminal Location Selection by Applying the Hybrid Grey MCDM Model

Globalization and decentralization of production generate the intensive growth of goods and transport flows, mostly performed by the maritime transport. Ports, as the main nodes in the global logistics networks, are becoming congested, space for their expansion limited, and traffic in their hinterland congested. As a solution to these and many other hinterland-transport-related problems stands out the development of dry port (DP) terminals. Selection of their location is one of the most important strategic decisions on which depends their competitiveness in the market and the functionality of the logistics network. Accordingly, the evaluation and selection of locations for the development of the DP in accordance with the requirements of various stakeholders is performed in this paper, as a prerequisite for the establishment of an ecological, economic, and socially sustainable logistics network in the observed area. To solve this problem, a new hybrid model of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) that combines Delphi, AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process), and CODAS (Combinative Distance-based Assessment) methods in a grey environment is developed. The main contributions of this paper are the defined model, the problem-solving approach based on finding a compromise solution, simultaneous consideration of the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of the DP concept and its implementation in the regional international markets. The applicability of the approach and the defined MCDM model is demonstrated by solving a real-life case study of ranking the potential DP locations in the Western Balkans region. Based on the obtained results, it is concluded that in the current market conditions, it would be most realistic to open three DP terminals, in Zagreb, Ljubljana, and Belgrad

Modelling Dry Port Systems in the Framework of Inland Waterway Container Terminals

Overcoming the global sustainability challenges of logistics requires applying solutions that minimize the negative effects of logistics activities. The most efficient way of doing so is through intermodal transportation (IT). Current IT systems rely mostly on road, rail, and sea transport, not inland waterway transport. Developing dry port (DP) terminals has been proven as a sustainable means of promoting and utilizing IT in the hinterland of seaport container terminals. Conventional DP systems consolidate container flows from/to seaports and integrate road and rail transportation modes in the hinterland which improves the sustainability of the whole logistics system. In this article, to extend literature on the sustainable development of different categories of IT terminals, especially DPs, and their varying roles, we examine the possibility of developing DP terminals within the framework of inland waterway container terminals (IWCTs). Establishing combined road–rail–inland waterway transport for observed container flows is expected to make the IT systems sustainable. As such, this article is the first to address the modelling of such DP systems. After mathematically formulating the problem of modelling DP systems, which entailed determining the number and location of DP terminals for IWCTs, their capacity, and their allocation of container flows, we solved the problem with a hybrid metaheuristic model based on the Bee Colony Optimisation (BCO) algorithm and the measurement of alternatives and ranking according to compromise solution (i.e., MARCOS) multi-criteria decision-making method. The results from our case study of the Danube region suggest that planning and developing DP terminals in the framework of IWCTs can indeed be sustainable, as well as contribute to the development of logistics networks, the regionalisation of river ports, and the geographic expansion of their hinterlands. Thus, the main contributions of this article are in proposing a novel DP concept variant, mathematically formulating the problems of its modelling, and developing an encompassing hybrid metaheuristic approach for treating the complex nature of the problem adequately

Evaluation of Smart City Logistics Solutions

The negative effects of goods flows realisation are most visible in urban areas as the places of the greatest concentration of economic and social activities. The main goals of this article were to identify the applicable Industry 4.0 technologies for performing various city logistics (CL) operations, establish smart sustainable CL solutions (SSCL) and rank them in order to identify those which will serve as the base points for future plans and strategies for the development of smart cities. This kind of problem requires involvement of multiple stakeholders with their opposing goals and interests, and thus multiple criteria. For solving it, this article proposed a novel hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model, based on BWM (Best-Worst Method) and CODAS (COmbinative Distance-based ASsessment) methods in grey environment. The results of the model application imply that the potentially best SSCL solution is based on the combination of the concepts of micro-consolidation centres and autonomous vehicles with the support of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies. The main contributions of the article are the definition of original SSCLs, the creation of a framework and definition of criteria for their evaluation and the development of a novel hybrid MCDM model

Ranking of Logistics System Scenarios for Central Business District

This paper presents the procedure for logistics system scenario selection for the central business district (CBD) of the city in the phase of significant urban changes. Scenarios are defined in accordance with the overall logistics concept of the city. Conflicting goals of stakeholders (residents, shippers and receivers, logistics providers and city government) generate a vast number of criteria that need to be included when selecting the scenario for the city area logistics system. Due to limited resources and linguistic assessment of criteria, fuzzy extensions of conventional multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods were used. Fuzzy "analytical hierarchy process" (FAHP) is applied to determine the relative weights of evaluation criteria, and fuzzy "technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution" (FTOPSIS) is applied to rank the logistics systems scenarios. This paper contributes to the literature in the field of city logistics (CL), as it applies the integrated FAHP-FTOPSIS method for the evaluation of scenarios, which are also integrated combinations of different CL initiatives. The integrated combined approach proved to be accurate, effective and a systematic tool for the decision support in the process of selecting CBD logistics scenarios

Evaluation and Selection of the Quality Methods for Manufacturing Process Reliability Improvement-Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets and Genetic Algorithm Approach

The aim of this research is to propose a hybrid decision-making model for evaluation and selection of quality methods whose application leads to improved reliability of manufacturing in the process industry. Evaluation of failures and determination of their priorities are based on failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), which is a widely used framework in practice combining with triangular intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (TIFNs). The all-existing uncertainties in the relative importance of the risk factors (RFs), their values, applicability of the quality methods, as well as implementation costs are described by pre-defined linguistic terms which are modeled by the TIFNs. The selection of quality methods is stated as the rubber knapsack problem which is decomposed into subproblems with a certain number of solution elements. The solution of this problem is found by using genetic algorithm (GA). The model is verified through the case study with the real-life data originating from a significant number of organizations from one region. It is shown that the proposed model is highly suitable as a decision-making tool for improving the manufacturing process reliability in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of process industry

Optimization of AA5083 Friction Stir Welding Parameters Using Taguchi Method

In this study, Taguchi design was applied to find out the optimized set of friction steel welding parameters in terms of total crack energy, crack initiation energy, and crack propagation energy in weldments. Taguchi approach was used to design a set of welding experiments concerning rotational welding speed, traversing speed, and tool tilt angle. Welding variables were analyzed by means of Taguchi orthogonal arrays and signal-to-noise ratio analysis to find the optimum welding parameters. ANOVA analysis was used to determine the influence between each of these parameters