Effects of Air Polution on Growth in Schoolchildren

The growth is considered a very sensitive indicator of the impact of environment of the health status of children. The aim of the study was to investigate whether air pollution is related to children’s growth. The subjects were 1059 pupils, aged 7–11 years, living for more than ten years in the same home in the city of Ni{ (Serbia). Exposed group of children (N=545) were attending the school located in a city area with a high level of air pollution, while the children (N=514), in the comparison group, designed as non-exposed group, were attending the school in the area with a lower level of air pollution. The air concentrations of black smoke, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and lead in sediment matter were determined in ten-year period. Air pollution is associated with children’s height and weight, specially before the age of 9 years. There was a significant difference in the prevalence of thinness in children exposed to higher concentrations of air pollutants (p=0.038). It might be possible that air pollution negatively contributed to the growth rate in urban children

Assessment of the quality of herbal teas from Šabac, Serbia in terms of the content of heavy metals

Chemical components of teas have received great interest because they are related to health. In this work, data on the determination of foreign matter, loss on drying/water content, total ash and ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid are presented. The content of seven heavy metals including Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Ni, Cd and Pb were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry in samples of several herbal teas: Matricariae flos, Thymi herba, Menthae piperitae folium, Betulae folium, Quercus cortex, Gentianae radix, Frangulae cortex, Althaeae radix, Uvae ursi folium and Glycyrrhizae radix collected from Šabac’s market, Serbia. The sample preparation procedure involved dry digestion and dissolution of the ash in 6M HCl and then in 0.1 M HNO 3 . Herbal teas showed the concentration of heavy metals Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn and Ni in the range: 2.9 0.1 – 22.2 0.9 mg/kg, 118.5 1.1 – 755.5 2.5 mg/kg, 19.0 5.8 – 561.0 1.9 mg/kg, 6.5 0.4 – 242.5 1.4 mg/kg and 2.5 0.1 – 10 1.1 mg/kg, respectively. The level of copper in all samples was uniform. The highest content of Fe was in Thymi herba, while Mn and Zn were at maximum in Betulae folium. The levels of toxic heavy metals Cd and Pb were below the detection limit. The obtained values were compared with data available from literature. The herbal tea samples analyzed contained essential heavy metals (Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn) and probably essential in trace (Ni), and could obey the daily dietary requirements. Noncancer health risk assessment detected that the herbal teas of Betulae folium and Frangulae cortex can manifest some health risk to consumer

Overall railway infrastructure effectiveness as a quality factor for Serbia railways

U radu je analizirana mogućnost praćenja parametra OEE kod infrastrukture "Železnice Srbije" ad. Transformacija indikatora i obrasca za OEE u odgovarajući koji se koristi za željezničku infrastrukturu zove se ukupna efektivnost željezničke infrastrukture (overall railway infrastructure effectiveness - ORIE). U radu je predstavljen model za izračun ukupne efektivnost željezničke infrastrukture (ORIE). Dokazano je da se program, koji funkcionira na Švedskim željeznicama, može prilagoditi da funkcionira i na infrastrukturi "Železnice Srbije" ad. U radu je izvršena prilagodba i prijedlog obrazaca ORIE koji će zadovoljiti specifične potrebe za izračun vrijednosti za "Železnice Srbije" ad. Studijom slučaja izračunato je za tri relacije pruga u Sekciji za infrastrukturu čvora Požarevac, da se vrijednost ORIE utemeljena na realnim podacima razlikuje od 47,95 % do 60,71 %.This paper analyzed the possibility of monitoring the parameter OEE for "Serbia Railways" JSC. Transpatternation of indicators and of pattern for OEE in order to make them appropriate for use in railway infrastructure is known as Overall Railway Infrastructure Effectiveness - ORIE. This work represented a model for calculation of ORIE. It is proven that the program, which works at Swedish railways, can be adapted in order to make it functional for infrastructure of "Serbia Railways" JSC. Also, this work includes conducted adaptation and proposal of ORIE patterns which will satisfy specific needs for calculation of values for "Serbia Railways" JSC. Using the case study, it is calculated for three railway relations in Section for infrastructure of Požarevac that the value of ORIE based on real data differs in rang from 47,95 % to 60,71 %

An Integral View of Balmer-dominated Shocks in Supernova Remnants

We present integral-field spectroscopic observations with the VIMOS-IFU at the VLT of fast (2000-3000 kms−1) Balmer-dominated shocks surrounding the northwestern rim of the remnant of supernova 1006. The high spatial and spectral resolution of the instrument enable us to show that the physical characteristics of the shocks exhibit a strong spatial variation over few atomic scale lengths across 133 sky locations. Our results point to the presence of a population of non-thermal protons (10-100 keV) which might well be the seed particles for generating high-energy cosmic rays. We also present observations of Tycho's supernova remnant taken with the narrow-band tunable filter imager OSIRIS at the GTC and the Fabry-Perot interferometer GHaFaS at the WHT to resolve respectively the broad and narrow Hα lines across a large part of the remnan

Total sugar content in soybean grain and its relationship with protein, oil and fibers

Soybean grain is one of the most important food and feed sources, containing approximately 40% protein, 20% oil, 35% carbohydrates and 5% minerals. The proportion of seed composition determines the uses of soybean. High-oil varieties are recommended for oil and soy-diesel industries, while food production usually requires lower oil, but higher protein and sugar contents.High level of sucrose, glucose, and fructose provides sweet taste and favourable flavour of soyproducts. The aim of the study was to evaluate 10 soybean genotypes (released cultivars and experimental lines) developed at the Maize Research Institute Zemun Polje by analysing their chemical composition and biochemical properties and determining the correlations between the observed parameters. The highest content of total fibre (NDF) was found in cultivar Lidija (22.75%), while the lowest was noted for line L193 (10.10%). Total proteins varied from 37.82% in variety Laura to 42.03% in cultivar Selena, while oil content reached values from 19.9% in L0161 to 22.05% in cultivar Laura.Total sugar content ranged from 6.48% in cultivar Laura to 11.52% in line L0161. Accordingly, the lowest (5.43%) and the highest (10.31%) sucrose content was observed for latter genotypes, confirming highly positive correlation between total sugar content and sucrose level (0.99).A negative correlation between total sugars and total fibre was observed (-0.37), as well as a negative correlation (-0.69) between total sugars and oil in soybean grain. Relationship between grain sugars and protein was extremely low (0.10), suggesting that improvement of sugars may not necessarily affect protein. A line L0161 was identified as a unique germplasm line with favourable seed composition, containing the highest level of sucrose and total sugar, minimum oil and above average protein content (39.87%)

The impact of changes in psoriasis area and severity index by body regions on quality of life in patients with psoriasis

Psoriasis severity varies by body region, with each affected region having a different impact on patient quality of life (QoL). The aim of this study was to assess the impact of changes in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores by body region on QoL in patients with psoriasis after treatment. A total of 100 patients with psoriasis were recruited to the study. All patients completed the generic EuroQol-5D instrument and two specific QoL measures, Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and Psoriasis Disability Index (PDI) at the beginning of the study, and 50 patients successfully completed the same questionnaires four weeks after the end of the treatment. Clinical severity was assessed using PASI total score and PASI body region (head, trunk, arms, and legs) scores. QoL improved after treatment, and PASI improvements on visible body regions (head, legs, and arms) showed significant correlation with the most sub-areas of the Visual Analog Scale (EQ VAS), DLQI, and PDI. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that PASI improvement (particularly on the head), sex, age, and disease duration were predictors of QoL score changes for most domains of the three instruments. Improvement of psoriasis in visible body regions has an appreciable influence on QoL improvement, and may positively affect treatment success in patients with psoriasis. riadPro-Regular;color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:HR;mso-bidi-language:TA\u27&gt;The proportion of ADHD in patients with AD was 7.1% as compared to 4.1% in controls. ADHD was more frequent in boys with AD (9.6% vs. 5.2%, odds ratio (OR) 1.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1-3.2) but not in girls with AD (4.6% vs. 2.9% OR 1.5). In multivariate analyses, AD was associated with ADHD (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.3-3.4). The current study demonstrated an association between AD and ADHD. This report and earlier observations emphasize the need for detection and treatment of ADHD in atopic patients.  </p

An Integral View of Balmer-dominated Shocks in Supernova Remnants

We present integral-field spectroscopic observations with the VIMOS-IFU at the VLT of fast (2000-3000 kms−1) Balmer-dominated shocks surrounding the northwestern rim of the remnant of supernova 1006. The high spatial and spectral resolution of the instrument enable us to show that the physical characteristics of the shocks exhibit a strong spatial variation over few atomic scale lengths across 133 sky locations. Our results point to the presence of a population of non-thermal protons (10-100 keV) which might well be the seed particles for generating high-energy cosmic rays. We also present observations of Tycho's supernova remnant taken with the narrow-band tunable filter imager OSIRIS at the GTC and the Fabry-Perot interferometer GHaFaS at the WHT to resolve respectively the broad and narrow Hα lines across a large part of the remnant

Genetičke transformacije voćaka i vinove loze

Besides different methods of combinative breeding, mutations and selection in last few years, the most modern biotechnological methods are more and more implemented in fruit and grapevine breeding. In almost all breeding programs, among numerous methods of biotechnology, genetic transformations are very successfully applied. Till now, genetic engineering in fruits and grapevine species was done with limited success, but in future it promises a lot. While gene transfer and enriches of genetic potential becomes more reality in fruits and grapevine species, in this paper the review of the most often DNA transfer from one to another genotype, and survey of the most important results of foreign genes introduction in fruits and grapevine species was given.Pored različitih metoda kombinacionog oplemenjivanja, mutacija i selekcije poslednjih godina u oplemenjivanju voćaka i vinove loze sve se vise uvode i najsavremenije metode biotehnologije. U skoro svim oplemenjivačkim programima među brojnim metodama biotehnologije uspešno se primenjuju i genetičke transformacije. Do sada je genetičko inženjerstvo voćaka i vinove loze radeno sa dosta limitiranim uspehom, ali u budućnosti puno obećava. Pošto transfer gena i obogaćivanje genetičkog potencijala postaje sve vise realnost i kod voćaka i vinove loze, u ovom radu dat je pregled najčešćih načina prenosa DNK iz jednog genotipa u drugi, kao i pregled najvažnijih rezultata uvođenja stranih gena kod voćaka i vinove loze