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The use of ultrasonic waves dates back to the forties of the last century. Due to easy portability, ease of use, as well as diagnosing life-threatening conditions such as cardiac arrest, aortic dissection, myocardial infarction, cardiac tamponade, pericardial effusion, etc., ultrasound is recognized as a perfect diagnostic instrument at the prehospital level. Case report 1: The Emergency medical services (EMS) team received a first line emergency call for a 79-year-old female patient. After arriving at the scene, all measures of cardiopulmonary cerebral resuscitation (CPR) were started according to the protocol for shockable rhythms. During the rhythm check, the presence of cardiac activity was confirmed by ultrasound. Case report 2: A 59-year-old female patient called 194 due to a feeling of suffocation that has lasted all day and is intensifying. Ultrasound diagnostics in the form of urgent echocardiography were applied, where a decrease in systolic function was registered, which until then did not exist in the available medical documentation of the patient, who states in her anamnestic that she is not being treated for anything. In addition to the urgent echocardiography, the doctor on the field also performed an ultrasound of the lungs, where the pathological findings and the presence of B lines as part of the alveolar syndrome are registered. Alveolar syndrome and reduction of systolic function are sufficient pre-hospital diagnostic data that differentially indicated alveolar fluid overflow and consequent cardiac decompensation. Case report 3: A 71-year-old patient experiences cardiac arrest in the outpatient department of the Institute for Emergency Medical Assistance in Novi Sad, and all CPR measures are started. After 20 minutes of CPR closure, the doctor decides for an urgent echocardiography, as a result of which he observes the presence of cardiac activity in the patient. Urgent echocardiography registered a pathological finding in the form of akinesia of the lower wall of the heart, and a rupture of the papillary muscle was suspected, which was later confirmed at the emergency admission of the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases of Vojvodina. Case report 4: A 48-year-old man calls 911 because of what he describes as stomach discomfort and sweating. Upon arrival of the team, patient states that his complaints have passed and refuses to see a doctor. The doctor still insists on the examination. The electrocardiographic findings at the time of examination are comparatively stationary compared to all previous ones. Using urgent echocardiography, the doctor finds a pathological finding in the form of hypokinesia to septo-apical akinesia, and the patient, accompanied by medical team, is referred to the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases under the differential diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. Conclusion: In addition to facilitating the doctor in the field in making a differential diagnosis of the patient, errors in therapeutic procedures can be significantly reduced, as shown by previous studies.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of endoscopic polypectomy as a therapeutic treatment for malignant alteration of colorectal polyps. In a 5-year research, 89 patients were included, who were tested and treated at the University Clinical Center Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia, with the confirmed presence of malignant alteration polyps of the colon by colonoscopy, which were removed using the method of endoscopic polypectomy and confirmed by the histopathological examination of the entire polyp. After that, the same group of patients was monitored endoscopically within a certain period, controlling polypectomy locations and the occurrence of a possible remnant of the polyp, in the period of up to 2 years of polypectomy. We observed that, with an increasing size of polyps, there is also an increase in the percentage of the complexity of endoscopic resection and the appearance of remnant with histological characteristics of the invasive cancer. The highest percentage of incomplete endoscopic resection and the appearance of remnant with histological characteristics of the invasive cancer were shown at malignant altered polyps in the field of tubulovillous adenoma. Eighteen patients in total underwent the surgical intervention. In conclusion, our data support the high efficacy of endoscopic polypectomy for the removal of the altered malignant polyp.

Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in the world, accounting for 15-20% of all deaths. One of the biggest challenges when maintaining the stability of the patient's condition until hospital conditions is the occurrence of hypotension immediately after the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). In case of hypotension, the drugs of choice are vasopressors and inotropes. The Department of Emergency Medicine Belgrade has at its disposal Dopamine, a vasoactive, inotropic drug whose importance and use during hypotension after the establishment of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) in a patient who experienced cardiac arrest are described through a case report. Case report: a 78-year-old man, after severe abdominal pain and black copious stools followed by hemodynamic instability, experiences cardiac arrest. After all measures of cardiocerebral pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) have been taken, cardiac function is restored, but hemodynamic instability persists. The application of Dopamine infusion leads to hemodynamic optimization of the patient and transport to the on-call health facility, where the patient is placed alive, hemodynamically stable, in the intensive care unit. Conclusion: Given that the occurrence of hypotension after ROSC is frequent (it occurs in as many as 47% of cases), while on the other hand, the availability of vasopressors and inotropes at the pre-hospital level, which would treat this hypotension, is limited, it is necessary to note the importance of the use of these drugs and increase the availability of them to doctors in emergency medical services. Applying vasoactive support pre-hospital would lead to easier hemodynamic optimization of already vitally endangered and unstable patients for transport to health institutions.

The paper presents the importance of acute postoperative pain, the risk factors for its occurrence and intensity, instruments for its measurement and assessment, as well as the possibilities of prevention and treatment. The fact that post-surgical pain represents not only a subjective unpleasant experience for the patient, but also a factor that significantly contributes to complications and unfavorable outcomes of surgical treatment is well known. Despite that, postoperative pain can be seen very often. To successfully prevent and relieve pain, it is necessary to establish a possible cause-and-effect relationship between the occurrence and intensity of postoperative pain, type of surgical intervention, anesthesia technique, demographic characteristics of patients, comorbidities, chronic therapy, and family and socioeconomic factors. Besides the application of recommendations from the current guidelines and protocols for the prevention and treatment of post-surgical pain to achieve positive treatment outcomes, an individual approach to each patient and the application of multimodal analgesia techniques that include the use of different classes of analgesics, co-analgesics, and non-pharmacological measures, based on modern ERAS-protocols aimed at accelerated recovery after surgical intervention should also be employed.

Control of robot end-effector (EE) Cartesian stiffness matrix (or the whole mechanical impedance) is still a challenging open issue in physical humanrobot interaction (pHRI). This paper presents an optimization approach for shaping the robot EE Cartesian stiffness. This research targets collaborative robots with intrinsic compliance - serial elastic actuators (SEAs). Although robots with SEAs have constant joint stiffness, task redundancy (null-space) for a specific task could be used for robot reconfiguration and shaping the stiffness matrix while still keeping the EE position unchanged. The method proposed in this paper to investigate null-space reconfiguration's influence on Cartesian robot stiffness is based on the Sequential Least Squares Programming (SLSQP) algorithm, which presents an expansion of the quadratic programming algorithm for nonlinear functions with constraints. The method is tested in simulations for 4 DOF planar robot. Results are presented for control of the EE Cartesian stiffness initially along one axis, and then control of stiffness along both planar axis - shaping the main diagonal of the EE stiffness matrix.

From the ancient mythology till the modern times, people were trying to build an artificial mechanical replica of themselves. Inspired by this long tradition of various engineering projects, we will hereby describe a partly humanoid robotic structure. Our robotic configuration is composed out of an anthropomimetic upper body, but instead of legs it uses a wheeled cart for the motion. In our research, this so-called semi-anthropomimetic structure has a four-wheeled cart. This work is aiming to analyze the behaviour of the robot that is exposed to different kind of external disturbances. Disturbances coming from the outside in the form of external forces (impulse and long term) simulate the interactions of the robot and its ambience. Necessary simulations were thoroughly executed (in that way analyzing robotic balance) and proper size of the cart is evaluated following the ZMP theoretical background. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR-35003 i br. III-44008]

Human resource management is a function that helps an organization accomplish its objectives of achieving and maintaining the effectiveness of employees. The importance of human resources is reflected in the fact that they can, unlike all other resources to operate a mental, physical, and all other resources at their disposal. This paper deals with the issue of human resources management at the National Bank of Serbia, as the central financial institution in the Republic of Serbia. The main problem is the present structure of human resources and the manner of their operation. The aim of the work is to assess the current situation, finding ways to improve existing business through human resources, and identification of potential hazards and timely response.

The subject of this paper is the latest program of the European Central Bank, called the Expanded Asset Purchase Programme, valued around 1,100 billion euros, which may be extended as long as inflation in the eurozone has reached the planned two percent. The aim was to examine the effects of new program, the ECB launched, especially its effects on inflation in six months from the announcement of its implementation. Methods used in the paper are comparative method for predicting the movement of economic indicators across different time periods; inductive-deductive method in order to reach generalized conclusions and responses and statistical methods of scientific observation and analysis.

Numerous mathematical models of human skeletal muscles have been developed. However, none of them is adopted as a general one and each of them is suggested for some specific purpose. This topic is essential in humanoid robotics, since we firstly need to understand how human moves and acts in order to exploit human movement patterns in robotics and design human like actuators. Simulations in biomechanics are intensively used in research of locomotion, safe human-robot interaction, development of novel robotic actuators, biologically inspired control algorithms, etc. This paper presents two widely adopted muscle models (Hill’s and Huxley’s model), elaborates their features and demonstrates trade-off between their accuracy and efficiency of computer simulations. The simulation setup contains mathematical representation of passive muscle structures as well as mathematical model of an elastic tendon as a series elastic actuation element. Advanced robot control techniques point out energy consumption as one of the key issues. Therefore, energy store and release mechanism in elastic elements in both tendon and muscle, based on the simulation models, are considered. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR35003 and br. OS175016]

The idea of building an artificial man extends through the entire history of mankind. In this paper we present a semi-anthropomimetic robot, as a structure that consists of an upper human-like body mounted on a cart (mobile platform). Semi-anthropomimetic robot uses the three-wheeled mobile platform (two driving wheels and one passive wheel). Upper body configuration is represented as an anthropomimetic structure with antagonistically coupled drives. The aim of this paper is analysis of the robot behaviour under disturbances. Two types of disturbances are examined: disturbances following from the cart motion, and external disturbances. External disturbances (external impulse and long term external force) emulate interaction of the robot with its environment. Numerous simulations were performed, in order to analyze the balance of the robot. Accordingly, appropriate dimensions of the mobile platform are estimated, relying on the ZMP concept. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR-35003 i br. III-44008] This article has been retracted. Link to the retraction 10.2298/SJEE1603435E

Man’s deep-rooted tendency to maintain and reinforce a positive self-image makes man inclined to uncritically accept desirable information (the confirmation bias) as well as to criticize and reject undesirable information (the disconfirmation bias). Since disconfirmation strategy leads to a logically correct solution to the four-card Wason selection task, we predicted that ego-involvement manipulation would have a significant effect on the success rate of the task. Specifically, we hypothesized that subjects who were exposed to personally threatening information would try to reject it and thus be more successful on Wason task than those who were exposed to non-threatening information, as established in previously published study by Dawson et al. (2002a). Furthermore, we wanted to examine if manipulating valence framing of the Wason task rule would result in a higher success rate for the group exposed to the threatening and negatively framed rule (that implied their own early death) than the group exposed to the threatening but positively framed rule (that category of people other than the one they belong to live longer). One hundred ninety five high school students from Kragujevac, Serbia participated in the experiment. The results confirmed the expected effect of involvement, while the main effect of framing did not occur. However, there was a marginally significant involvement by framing interaction: unexpectedly, non involved participants were more likely to solve the task correctly when it was positively framed than when in was negatively framed, whilst in the involved group there was no difference in correct responding depending on framing. The findings suggest that the success rate in Wason task can be sensitive to the valence framing of the rule, but only when respondents are not highly personally threatened. Potential methodological interventions in ego-involvement manipulation and content of the rules are discussed.

In this paper we propose a control strategy for a robot joint which fully mimics the typical human joint structure. The joint drive is based on two actuators (dc motors), agonist and antagonist, acting through compliant tendons and forming a nonlinear multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system. At any time, we consider one actuator, the puller, as being responsible for motion control, while the role of the other is to keep its tendon force at some appropriate low level. This human-like and energetically efficient approach requires the control of 'switching', or exchanging roles between actuators. Moreover, an algorithm based on adaptive force reference is used to solve a problem of slacken tendons during the switching and to increase the energy efficiency. This approach was developed and evaluated on increasingly complex robot joint configurations, starting with simple and noncompliant system, and finishing with nonlinear and compliant system.

Despite more than 20 years of extensive research, sepsis and/or trauma induced multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) remain the chief cause of death in intensive care units, with mortality rates between 30% and 80%. Early goal-directed therapy (EGDT), use of drotrecogin alfa (activated), tight control of hyperglycaemia, and adrenal replacement therapy (low doses of corticosteroids)all constitute new treatment strategies. In future, a combination of therapies should be individually adjusted for each patient.

Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory process which occurs in severe form in 20% of all patients, out of whom 1596-25% will die. The incidence of severe acute pancreatitis-associated lung injury (APALI) varies from 15% to 55% and its severity varies from mild hypoxemia to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Acute lung injury (ALI) and ARDS are the most significant manifestations of extra abdominal dysfunctions in severe acute pancreatitis with mortality rate as high as 60% in the first week of the onset of illness. Different pathophysiological mechanisms of severe acute pancreatitis-associated lung injury have been described. The role of enzymes, adhesion molecules, neutrophils, fibronectin and various inflammatory mediators has been emphasized. Mechanism of the acute lung injury associated with the acute pancreatitis is very complex and has not been clear yet. There is no specific therapeutic procedure and mortality rate is very high. Therefore, further studies are necessary to address this acute and growing problem in intensive medicine.

Severe sepsis and trauma complicated with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) are among the leading causes of death in intensive therapy units with mortality rate exceeding 50%. The outcome is not determined only by infection or trauma, but also by the intensity of immuno-inflammatory response, which is essential for host defence, but if uncontrolled leads to MODS. Pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-a -TNF-a, IL-1 IL-8, IL-12, IFN-g, etc) represent a part of this immuno-inflammatory response to an insult. The results of the clinical investigation of correlation between pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-8, IL-12, TNF-a, IFN-g) the outcome (survivors, non-survivors), and the severity (systemic inflammatory response syndrome - SIRS - less severe, and MODS - more severe) in polytraumatised patients with sepsis are presented in this paper. Mean values of IL-8 were 1.3-fold higher in non-survivors (p

Innovative treatments for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) yield the utmost advantages only within the presymptomatic phase, underlining the significance of newborn screening (NBS). We aimed to establish statewide NBS for SMA in Serbia. Our stepwise implementation process involved technical validation of a screening assay, collaboration with patient organizations and medical professionals, a feasibility study, and negotiation with public health representatives. Over 12,000 newborns were tested during the 17-month feasibility study, revealing two unrelated SMA infants and one older sibling. All three children received therapeutic interventions during the presymptomatic phase and have shown no signs of SMA. No false-negative results were found among the negative test results. As frontrunners in this field in Serbia, we established screening and diagnostic algorithms and follow-up protocols and raised awareness among stakeholders about the importance of early disease detection, leading to the incorporation of NBS for SMA into the national program on 15 September 2023. Since then, 54,393 newborns have been tested, identifying six SMA cases and enabling timely treatment. Our study demonstrates that effective collaborations between academia, non-profit organizations, and industry are crucial in bringing innovative healthcare initiatives to fruition, and highlights the potential of NBS to revolutionize healthcare outcomes for presymptomatic SMA infants and their families.

Introduction: Biomarkers capable of reflecting disease onset and short- and long-term therapeutic effects in individuals with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are still an unmet need and phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain (pNF-H) holds significant promise., Methods: We conducted a longitudinal prospective study to evaluate pNF-H levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma of 29 individuals with childhood-onset SMA treated with Nuinersen (SMA type 1: n  = 6, 2: n  = 17, 3: n  = 6). pNF-H levels before and during treatment were compared with the levels of controls ( n  = 22), patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy ( n  = 17), myotonic dystrophy type 1 ( n  = 11), untreated SMA individuals with chronic type 3 disease ( n  = 8), and children with presymptomatic SMA ( n  = 3)., Results: SMA type 1 showed the highest mean CSF pNF-H levels before treatment initiation. All Nusinersen-treated individuals (types 1, 2, and 3) showed significantly elevated mean baseline CSF pNF-H compared to controls, which inversely correlated with age at disease onset, age at first dose, disease duration and the initial CHOP INTEND result (SMA type 1 and 2). During 22 months of treatment, CSF pNF-H levels declined during loading doses, stabilizing at reduced levels from the initial maintenance dose in all individuals. Baseline plasma pNF-H levels in type 1 and 2 SMA were significantly increased compared to other cohorts and decreased notably in type 1 after 2 months of treatment and type 2 after 14 months. Conversely, SMA type 3, characterized by lower baseline pNF-H levels, did not show significant fluctuations in plasma pNF-H levels after 14 months of treatment., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that CSF pNF-H levels in untreated SMA individuals are significantly higher than in controls and that monitoring of CSF pNF-H levels may serve as an indicator of rapid short-term treatment response in childhood-onset SMA individuals, irrespective of the subtype of the disease, while also suggesting its potential for assessing long-term suppression of neurodegeneration. Plasma pNF-H may serve as an appropriate outcome measure for disease progression and/or response to treatment in types 1 and 2 but not in type 3. Presymptomatic infants with SMA may show elevated pNF-H levels, confirming early neuronal degeneration., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Brkušanin, Kosać, Branković-Srećković, Jovanović, Perić, Karanović, Matijašević Joković, Garai, Pešović, Nikolić, Stević, Brajušković, Milić-Rašić and Savić-Pavićević.)

The ultimate goal of rehabilitation engineering is to provide objective assessment tools for the level of injury and/or the degree of neurorehabilitation recovery based on a combination of different sensing technologies that enable the monitoring of relevant measurable variables, as well as the assessment of non-measurable variables (such as muscle effort/force and joint mechanical stiffness). This paper aims to present a feasibility study for a general assessment methodology for subject-specific non-measurable elbow model parameter prediction and elbow joint stiffness estimation. Ten participants without sensorimotor disorders performed a modified "Reach and retrieve" task of the Wolf Motor Function Test while electromyography (EMG) data of an antagonistic muscle pair (the triceps brachii long head and biceps brachii long head muscle) and elbow angle were simultaneously acquired. A complete list of the Hill's muscle model and passive joint structure model parameters was generated using a genetic algorithm (GA) on the acquired training dataset with a maximum deviation of 6.1% of the full elbow angle range values during the modified task 8 of the Wolf Motor Function Test, and it was also verified using two experimental test scenarios (a task tempo variation scenario and a load variation scenario with a maximum deviation of 8.1%). The recursive least square (RLS) algorithm was used to estimate elbow joint stiffness ( Stiffness ) based on the estimated joint torque and the estimated elbow angle. Finally, novel Stiffness scales (general patterns) for upper limb functional assessment in the two performed test scenarios were proposed. The stiffness scales showed an exponentially increasing trend with increasing movement tempo, as well as with increasing weights. The obtained general Stiffness patterns from the group of participants without sensorimotor disorders could significantly contribute to the further monitoring of motor recovery in patients with sensorimotor disorders.

This paper presents a method to include unmodeled dynamics of load or a robot's end-effector into algorithms for collision detection or general understanding of a robot's operation context. The approach relies on the application of a previously developed modification of the Dynamic Time Warping algorithm, as well as a universally applicable algorithm for identifying kinematic parameters. The entire process can be applied to arbitrary robot configuration, and it does not require identification of dynamic parameters. The paper addresses the two main categories of contact tasks with unmodelled dynamics, which are determined based on whether the external contact force has a consistent profile in the end effector or base coordinate. Conclusions for representative examples analysed in the paper are applicable to tasks such as load manipulation, press bending, and crimping for the first type of forces and applications such as drilling, screwdriving, snap-fit, bolting, and riveting assembly for the latter category. The results presented in the paper are based on realistic testing with measurements obtained from an industrial robot.

Along six transects in each of six lakes across the Western Balkans, we collected data for three groups of littoral biological water quality indicators: epilithic diatoms, macrophytes, and benthic invertebrates. We assessed the relationships between them and three environmental pressures: nutrient load (eutrophication), hydro-morphological alteration of the shoreline, and water level variation, separating the effect of individual lakes and continuous explanatory variables. Lake water total phosphorus concentration (TP) showed substantial variation but was not related to any of the tested biological indicators, nor to any of the tested pressures. We suggest that this may be due to feedback processes such as P removal in the lake littoral zone. Instead, we found that a gradient in surrounding land-use towards increasing urbanization, and a land-use-based estimate of P run-off, served as a better descriptor of eutrophication. Overall, eutrophication and water level fluctuation were most important for explaining variation in the assessed indicators, whereas shoreline hydro-morphological alteration was less important. Diatom indicators were most responsive to all three pressures, whereas macrophyte biomass and species number responded only to water level fluctuation. The Trophic Diatom Index for Lakes (TDIL) was negatively related to urbanization and wave exposure. This indicates that it is a suitable indicator for pressures related to urbanization, although a confounding effect of wave exposure is possible. Invertebrate abundance responded strongly to eutrophication, but the indicator based on taxonomic composition (Average Score Per Taxon) did not. Our results suggest that our metrics can be applied in Western Balkan lakes, despite the high number of endemic species present in some of these lakes. We argue that local water management should focus on abating the causes of eutrophication and water level fluctuation, whilst preserving sufficient lengths of undeveloped shoreline to ensure good water quality in the long run., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Long-term studies indicated changes in aspects of cognition, psychopathology, and quality of life (QOL) in children and adolescents followed up after the diagnosis of epilepsy. However, evidence is limited regarding what happens during the first few months after epilepsy is diagnosed because at this phase is possible to adjust and/or change an AED regimen or add other treatment interventions, if needed. This is a naturalistic, six months follow-up study that evaluated changes in overall cognitive profiles, levels of psychopathological symptoms, and quality of life (QOL) in newly diagnosed, uncomplicated pediatric epilepsy. In total, 61 (35 [57.4%] males) children and adolescents aged 7-18 years were assessed at the time of diagnosis and the initiation of antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment and six months afterward. The Revised Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form for typically developing children and adolescents (NCBRF), KIDSCREEN-10 Quality of Life Measure, and Adverse Event Profile (AEP) were used. The RCADS and NCBRF scores significantly increased over time, while the KIDSCREEN-10 scores significantly decreased. The most significant increases were observed in scores measuring social phobia and depressive symptoms and inattentiveness. Verbal cognitive abilities and full-scale intelligence scores changed slightly, while more changes were found in aspects of non-verbal cognitive abilities. This study showed that six months after epilepsy diagnosis and AED initiation, there were marked increases in anxiety levels, depressive symptoms, and behavioral problems, with deteriorations in QOL, while cognitive changes were relatively minimal. Therefore, monitoring levels of psychopathological symptoms and QOL in newly diagnosed epilepsy is highly recommended., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Biological assessment metrics and water chemistry measurements are used to quantify the link between stressors and their effects on lake ecosystems, for the Water Framework Directive. However, correlations between metrics and water chemistry are often poor. This is seen as major weaknesses of Water Framework Directive-related monitoring and assessment. We analyzed macrophytes, benthic algae, benthic macroinvertebrates, water chemistry and sediment total phosphorus content in the littoral of six lakes in the Western Balkans and used CORINE land use data to estimate nutrient enrichment via runoff from the adjacent land. Lakes with a higher estimated phosphorus runoff from the adjacent land did not have higher littoral water nutrient concentrations, but littoral diatom assemblages indicated more eutrophic conditions. These lakes also had higher abundances of littoral benthic primary producers, which in turn were associated with low concentrations of dissolved nutrients, but only in autumn, not in spring. This is consistent with primary producers taking up nutrients during the summer growth season. In lakes with high abundances of benthic primary producers, it is likely that the littoral vegetation plays a large role in the transfer of nutrients from the water to the benthos. This process impairs correlations between biological metrics and water nutrient concentrations. Our results suggest that CORINE land cover may be more useful to characterize littoral nutrient enrichment than lake water chemistry. Increased benthic primary producer biomasses and "eutrophic" diatom indices may indicate littoral nutrient enrichment even if water nutrient concentrations are low., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We confirm that this manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by another journal. All authors have approved the manuscript, do not have any conflict of interest and agree with its submission to Science of the Total Environment., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A cascade control structure for the simultaneous position and stiffness control of antagonistic tendon-driven variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) implemented in a laboratory setup is presented in the paper. Cascade control has the ability to accelerate, additionally stabilize, and reduce oscillations, which are all extremely important in systems such as a tendon-driven compliant actuators with elastic transmission. Inner-loop controllers are closed in terms of motor positions, and outer-loop controllers in terms of actuator position and estimated stiffness. The dominant dynamics of the system (position and stiffness), composed of the mechanical part and inner loops, are identified by a closed-loop auto-regressive with exogenous input (ARX) model. The outer-loop controllers are tuned on the basis of experimentally identified transfer functions of the system in several nominal operating points for different stiffness values. After the system is identified, a controller bank is generated in which a pair of actuator position and stiffness controllers correspond to a nominal operating point and covers the area surrounding the nominal point for which it is designed. The controllers used are integral-proportional differential (I-PD) and integral-proportional (I-P) controllers, which are a variation of the PID and PI controllers with dislocated proportional and derivative gains from a direct to feedback branch that result to no overshoot for even fast reference changes (i.e., step signal), which is essential for preventing tendon slackening (meeting the pulling constraint). Analytical formulas for controller tuning based on only one parameter, λ, are also presented. Since position and stiffness loops are decoupled, it is possible to change λ for both loops independently and adjust their performance separately according to the needs. Also, the controller structure secures the smooth response without overshooting step reference or step disturbance signal, which make practical implementation possible. After all the controllers were designed, the cascade control structure for simultaneous position and stiffness control was successfully evaluated in a laboratory setup. Thus, the presented control approach is simple to implement, but with a performance that ensures a pulling constraint for tendon-driven actuators as a foundation for bioinspired antagonistic VSAs.

As ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) plays a crucial role in nucleic acid metabolism, it is an important target for anticancer therapy. The thiosemicarbazone Triapine is an efficient R2 inhibitor, which has entered ∼20 clinical trials. Thiosemicarbazones are supposed to exert their biological effects through effectively binding transition-metal ions. In this study, six iminodiacetate-thiosemicarbazones able to form transition-metal complexes, as well as six dicopper(II) complexes, were synthesized and fully characterized by analytical, spectroscopic techniques (IR, UV-vis; 1 H and 13 C NMR), electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and X-ray diffraction. The antiproliferative effects were examined in several human cancer and one noncancerous cell lines. Several of the compounds showed high cytotoxicity and marked selectivity for cancer cells. On the basis of this, and on molecular docking calculations one lead dicopper(II) complex and one thiosemicarbazone were chosen for in vitro analysis as potential R2 inhibitors. Their interaction with R2 and effect on the Fe(III) 2 -Y· cofactor were characterized by microscale thermophoresis, and two spectroscopic techniques, namely, electron paramagnetic resonance and UV-vis spectroscopy. Our findings suggest that several of the synthesized proligands and copper(II) complexes are effective antiproliferative agents in several cancer cell lines, targeting RNR, which deserve further investigation as potential anticancer drugs.

Cobalt complexes with semi- and thiosemicarbazones of 8-quinolinecarboxaldehyde have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis. These novel complexes and a previously synthesized cobalt complex with a selenium-based selenosemicarbazone ligand showed myeloid differentiation activity on all trans retinoic acid resistant HL-60 acute myeloid leukaemia cells. They also showed varying levels of cytotoxicity on five human tumor cell lines: cervix carcinoma cells (HeLa), lung adenocarcinoma cells (A549), colorectal adenocarcinoma cells (LS-174), breast carcinoma cells (MDA-MB-361), and chronic myeloid leukaemia (K562) as well as one normal human cell line: fetal lung fibroblast cells (MRC-5). Leukaemia differentiation was most strongly induced by a metal-free oxygen ligand and the selenium ligand, whilst the latter and the cobalt(ii) complex with an oxygen ligand showed the strongest dose-dependent cytotoxic activity. In four out of five investigated tumor cell lines, it was of the same order of magnitude as cisplatin. These best compounds, however, had lower toxicity on non-transformed MRC-5 cells than cisplatin.

Square-planar azido Ni(II) complex with condensation product of 2-(diphenylphosphino)benzaldehyde and Girard's T reagent was synthesized and its crystal structure was determined. Cytotoxic activity of the azido complex and previously synthesized isothiocyanato, cyanato and chlorido Ni(II) complexes with this ligand was examined on six tumor cell lines (HeLa, A549, K562, MDA-MB-453, MDA-MB-361 and LS-174) and two normal cell line (MRC-5 and BEAS-2B). All the investigated nickel(II) complexes were cytotoxic against all tumor cell lines. The newly synthesized azido complex showed selectivity to HeLa and A549 tumor cell lines compared to the normal cells (for A549 IC50 was similar to that of cisplatin). Azido complex interferes with cell cycle phase distribution of A549 and HeLa cells and possesses nuclease activity towards supercoiled DNA. The observed selectivity of the azido complex for some tumor cell lines can be connected with its strong DNA damaging activity.

Three square-planar complexes of Ni(II) with condensation derivative of 2-(diphenylphosphino)benzaldehyde and 4-phenylsemicarbazide and monodentate pseudohalides have been synthesized and characterized on the basis of the results of X-ray, NMR and IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Investigated complexes exhibited moderate antibacterial and cytotoxic activity. The most pronounced cytotoxic activity (in the range of cisplatin) to HeLa cell line was observed for ligand and all the complexes. Azido complex and ligand induced concentration dependent cell cycle arrest in the S phase, as well as decrease of percentage of cells in G1 phase, without significant increase of apoptotic fraction of cells. The interaction of the azido complex and ligand with CT-DNA results in changes in UV-Vis spectra typical for non-covalent bonding. The observed intrinsic binding constant of azido complex-CT-DNA and ligand-CT-DNA were 3.22 × 10(5) M(-1) and 2.79 × 10(5) M(-1). The results of DNA cleavage experiments showed that azido complex nicked supercoiled plasmid DNA., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)