MAKING STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT WORK FOR BIODIVERSITY IN CROATIA

Strategic Environmental Assessment is a tool used in the EU for mainstreaming biodiversity and environmental issues into other sectors of socio-economic development. SEA offers a high level of environmental protection and can shape plans, programs, and strategies towards a more sustainable solution. Based on the EU Commission SEA report (2019) and interviews conducted with practitioners in national SEA processes, the possibility of shaping plans towards more sustainable solutions has rarely been fully achieved. What are the obstacles to effective SEA national implementation and how to overcome them was the focus of this paper. The research was conducted with three main groups of stakeholders: consultants, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, and environmental Civil Society Organisations. As a result, opportunities and specific intervention points were identified. The main opportunities consist of raising the level of SEA inclusiveness, educating stakeholders in the SEA process and improving the initiation timing of the SEA process. Further, opportunities were developed into specific interventions and ranked based on five criteria: Impact, Probability of success, Cultural fit, Added value, and Resource intensity. This paper suggests that stimulating the application of existing guidelines and educating the SEA committee have the highest potential impact and added value to SEA process improvement, but educating the SEA committee is a more complex task due to high cultural challenges. Improving a SEA non-technical summary and standardising the public hearing forms are interventions with a high probability of success, culturally fit, and not resource intensive but with low impact on the overall SEA process. Importantly, 10 out of 15 identified specific interventions are unique for this project, indicating this work\u27s novelty. Finally, this paper suggests that for long-term improvement of the national SEA process, establishing the SEA Technical Working Group is highly beneficial

The brown alga Fucus virsoides J. Agardh like a bioindicator

Jadranski bračić je smeđa alga iz roda Fucus stručnog naziva Fucus virsoides J. Agardh. Pojavljuje se u zoni plime i oseke, dakle mediolitoralu. Jadranski bračić je isključivo vezan za Jadransko more. Danas toj jadranskoj endemskoj vrsti areal seže od sjevernog Jadrana na sjeveru pa na istočnim obalama do Boke Kotorske na jugu, a na zapadnim apeninskim obalama do Ancone. Najčešći i najbrojniji je u sjevernom Jadranu. Dugogodišnja je vrsta i živi u moru na mjestima koja nisu izložena direktnom ljudskom zagađenju. Unatoč tome što se o jadranskom bračiću malo zna, ova vrsta ima određene značajke koje bi ju mogle činiti dobrim bioindikatorom. Prema svojim bioakumulacijskim karakteristikama pripada skupini akumulacijskih indikatora. Neka istraživanja pokazala su da jadranski bračić akumulira izotope joda i teških metala (Fe, Zn, Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb, Cr, As). No kako su ta istraživanja malobrojna i rađena bez predznanja o vrsti, njihovi rezultati se teško mogu interpretirati kao stvarna slika zagađenja okoliša. Da bi to postigli potrebna su još dodatna istraživanja bioindikatorskih mogućnosti jadranskog bračića. U Jadranskom moru postoje i druge vrste smeđih algi, kao što su neke vrste roda Cystoseira (red Fucales) koje bi također mogle biti dobri bioindikatori.Fucus virsoides J. Agardh is a brown alga of the genus Fucus. It lives in the intertidal zone. Fucus virsoides is exclusively linked to the Adriatic Sea. Today, the areal of this endemic species extends from the North Adriatic on the east coast to the Bay of Kotor and on the western shores to Ancona. The species is the most common and the most abundant in the northern Adriatic. Fucus virsoides is a perennial species, living in the areas which are not exposed to direct human pollution. Despite the fact that a lot of information about the biology of Fucus virsoides is missing, this species has certain characteristics that make it a potential bioindicator. According to its bioaccumulation capabilities it belongs to a group of accumulation indicators. Some studies have shown that Fucus virsoides accumulates isotopes of iodine and heavy metals (Fe, Zn, Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb, Cr, As). However, since there are few of these studies and they were undertaken without prior knowledge of the species biology, their results could not be interpreted as a real picture of environmental pollution. In order to achieve that additional research of bioindicator capabilities of Fucus virsoides are necessary. In the Adriatic Sea there are other species such as brown algae from the genus Cystoseira (Fucales order) that also have a potential bioindicator capacity

Giant Choroid Plexus Cyst as an Accidental Finding in an Older Man

Choroid plexus cysts (CPC) are usually found at the end of the second trimester of pregnancy. Sometimes they can be accidentally and found on prenatal ultrasound examinations. Vast majority of CPC resolve spontaneously by 28th weeks gestation. In the older aged group the choroid plexus cysts are extremely rare pathomorphologic medical entity. Since they are almost always asymptomatic, they are therefore accidentally found on brain magnetic resonance (MR) or computed tomography (CT) scans. They are usually located in the lateral ventricles and measure around 2 cm in diameter. We present a case of a 75-year old male with a giant choroid plexus cyst whose leading symptom was excruciating headache refractory to previous conservative therapy. He underwent surgery when osteoplastic craniotomy was performed with cyst fenestration and ablation. His recovery was uneventful with total regression of headaches. Reviewing the recent literature we did not find such a case considering the patients age and the size of the choroid plexus cyst

Giant Choroid Plexus Cyst as an Accidental Finding in an Older Man

Choroid plexus cysts (CPC) are usually found at the end of the second trimester of pregnancy. Sometimes they can be accidentally and found on prenatal ultrasound examinations. Vast majority of CPC resolve spontaneously by 28th weeks gestation. In the older aged group the choroid plexus cysts are extremely rare pathomorphologic medical entity. Since they are almost always asymptomatic, they are therefore accidentally found on brain magnetic resonance (MR) or computed tomography (CT) scans. They are usually located in the lateral ventricles and measure around 2 cm in diameter. We present a case of a 75-year old male with a giant choroid plexus cyst whose leading symptom was excruciating headache refractory to previous conservative therapy. He underwent surgery when osteoplastic craniotomy was performed with cyst fenestration and ablation. His recovery was uneventful with total regression of headaches. Reviewing the recent literature we did not find such a case considering the patients age and the size of the choroid plexus cyst

Sekvestrirana ekstruzija lumbalnog diska: eksperimentalni model, klinička slika, dijagnostika i liječenje

Sequestered extrusions of the lumbosacral spine, a type of herniated lumbar disk, with large sequesters located in the spinal canal, so-called sequestered extrusions of the lumbosacral spine, were analyzed. They are mainly located in the L-4-L5 and L5-S1 spinal segments, and less commonly in the L3-L4 spinal segment, and are divided into several groups.Etiologija i patogeneza sekvestriranih diskus hernija slabinskoga dijela kralješnice evidentirana je kod prekomjernih biomehaničkih opterećenja slabinskog modela kralješnice (preko 1000 N). Eksperimentalni model je bio svježi humani model slabinske kralješnice koji je bio izložen kontinuiranim ekscentričnim i centričnim opterećenjima od 1000 do 1500 N. Eksperiment je proveden na 35 svježih modela humane slabinske kralješnice u Zavodu za anatomiju Medicinskoga fakulteta i Zavoda za fiziku Prirodoslovno matematičkog fakulteta u Zagrebu. Sličan mehanizam, tj. jaka biomehanička sila, odgovorna je za nastanak sekvestrirane lumbalne ekstruzije diska koja je dokazana neuroradiološki (kompjutorizirana tomografija i magnetska rezonanca kralješnice) u bolesnika koji traže neurokiruršku pomoć. U pokusima s torzijom sekvestrirane ekstruzije slabinske kralješnice javljale su se i pri opterećenjima manjim od 1000 N (800 N) i uz centrična i uz ekscentrična opterećenja. Prema podacima dobivenim iz bolesničkih povijesti bolesti većina slučajeva ekstruzije slabinskog diska nastali su kod podizanja teškog tereta u kombinaciji s torzijom i rotacijom