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Introduction:Diabetic nephropathy is a chronic complication in patients with diabetes mellitus typ 1, which leads to kidney disfunction. Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the metabolic control and albuminuria with ultrasound findings of morphometric measurements and registration Doppler signals of kidneys between children and youth with diabetes mellitus type 1 according to the duration of illness. Material and Methods: The retrospective-prospective study included 69 patients of both genders, that got diabetes mellitus type 1 when they were in the age from 2. to 25. years. Patients were divided into two groups according to the length of diabetes mellitus type 1: the first group was those whose illness had lasted for more than 10 years, and second group with duration of diabetes mellitus typ 1 less than 10 years. Results: No significant difference was registered between the groups regarding frequency of albuminuria, but the chance of it occurring are greater in patients with longer duration of diabetes mellitus type 1. Patients with albuminuria and diabetes mellitus type 1 duration over 10 years had higher glycated hemoglobin A1C, blood pressure, body mass index followed by enlarged volume of both kidneys. Patients with albuminuria and diabetes mellitus type 1 for less than 10 years had a higher creatinine clearance. Conclusion: Ultrasound dimensions and volume of the kidneys in patients with metabolic control parameters are useful for monitoring especially in the early stages of diabetic nephropathy.

The oligotrophic Adriatic Sea is characterized during a typical summer by low productivity caused by strong water column stratification, which inhibits vertical mixing and nutrient supply to the euphotic zone. These conditions can be disrupted by transient physical forcing, which enhances nutrient fluxes and creates localized hotspots of relatively high net primary production. In this study, plankton abundance and diversity were investigated in relation to the physical forcing and nutrient concentrations in an area affected by island-trapped waves (ITWs) near Lastovo Island (Adriatic Sea). The episodic ITW events resulted in enhanced uplift and vertical excursion of the thermocline, marked by anomalously higher nutrient concentrations and a corresponding increase in net primary production in the thermocline layer. Physicochemical properties explained 11.7 % ( p  = 0.002) of the variability in micro- and nanophytoplankton and 88.9 % ( p  = 0.001) in the picoplankton community. A significant response to the ITW phenomenon in the plankton community composition ( p  = 0.001) was observed for bacterioplankton. Among the identified amplicon sequence variances, primary producers were scarce and mainly represented cyanobacteria ( Synechococcus strain CC9902), stramenopiles ( Pelagomonas ), and chlorophytes ( Ostreococcus ). The remaining amplicon sequence variances were assigned to the classes Copepoda, parasitic fungi ( Meyerozyma spp.), mixotrophic dinoflagellates (family Peridiniales, mostly the genus Blastodinium ), and parasitic Ciliophora ( Scuticociliata ). Bacterial ecological functions corresponded to chemoheterotrophic, degradation, and fermentation processes, whereas samples collected after the most intense ITW episode also showed abundant bacteria linked to microplastic degradation and parasitosis. These results highlight the ecological role of localized physical phenomena in enhancing nearshore primary productivity and fine shifts in plankton taxa in oligotrophic systems., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

We identified areas with high individual densities of the pen shell, Pinna nobilis, in two areas along the Croatian Adriatic coast. The surveys carried out in 2018 and 2019 showed population densities of approximately 9 to 13 individuals/100 m 2 . However, in 2019 a mass mortality event (MME) causing 36% to 100% mortality of this bivalve species was observed in the surveyed Croatian bays. The parasite Haplosporidium pinnae was identified by histological and molecular methods in all affected sampled individuals, while Mycobacterium sp. and Gram negative bacilli were detected in some affected and live bivalves. This finding constitutes the first record of these pathogens affecting P. nobilis in the middle Adriatic, confirming the continuous spread of the disease. Previously, the Adriatic water body was considered to be a natural shelter against the MME caused by pathogens in pen shell populations because of its distinct ecological features. The Adriatic Sea is a semi-closed water body with the largest continental shelf in the Mediterranean Sea, and due to its geomorphology and bathymetry, it is a sea with distinct characteristics. Monitoring plans and further studies in the Adriatic bays are now a priority for mitigating the high risk of extinction and working toward the conservation of this protected species., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)