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Elemental and isotopic pattern of n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) and δ88Sr/86SrSRM987 were used to characterise groundwater and recharge of saline ponds in a clastic aquifer in East Austria. Therefore, shallow, artesian and thermal groundwaters of the investigated aquifer along with rainfall and rivers were analysed using (MC) ICP-MS. The n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) ratio and elemental pattern changed with aquifer depth as a result of progressing bedrock leaching and dissolution with increasing groundwater residence time. The n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) ratio of shallow groundwater below saline ponds of 0.71019 ± 0.00044 was significantly different from thermal groundwater of 0.71205 ± 0.00035 (U, k = 2). In contrast to previous theories, this result suggested no recharge of saline ponds by upwelling paleo-seawater. Isotope pattern deconvolution revealed that rainfall accounted to about 60% of the n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) ratio of shallow groundwater below saline ponds. The δ88Sr/86SrSRM987 values of groundwater decreased from about 0.25 ‰ in most shallow, to predominantly negative values of about –0.24 ‰ in artesian groundwater. This result indicated leaching and dissolution of weathered minerals. In turn, the δ88Sr/86SrSRM987 of deep thermal groundwater showed positive values of about 0.12 ‰, which suggested removal of 86Sr from solution by carbonate precipitation. These results highlight the potential of δ88Sr/86SrSRM987 signature as an additional geochemical tracer.

The exit charge state distribution and the energy loss of slow multiply charged ions transmitted through single layers of graphene and 1 nm thick carbon nanomembranes is analyzed.

A simple rainwater collector has been developed that allows virtually evaporation-free monthly rain sampling for subsequent water stable isotope analysis. It is designed for collecting composite monthly samples as required for global monitoring of the isotopic composition of precipitation, like the Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) as operated jointly by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The new collector has the advantages to minimize necessary staff time for sampling by easy and fast changes of sample bottles, to avoid any need of oil for prevention of evaporation, to be cheap in construction, and to be easily installed and used in remote areas (unattended during on month). Tests performed at the IAEA have proven that water stored in the sampler for nearly one year did not suffer significantly from any evaporation effect. Further comparisons performed at GNIP sampling stations show excellent performance of the new collector with advantages over some conventional precipitation samplers. Slightly more negative delta-values in the new collector than in conventional sampler types could indicate lower evaporation effects.

In the last twenty years in the karst area of Slovenia and Croatia there were two serious incidents where significant amounts of PCB inflow into the bioecological cycles of the karst environment1. Some natural resources, infrastructure, homes, and enterprises during 1991-1995. warfare in the Croatian karst area has been unscrupulously destroyed. During 1996, waste oil and soil samples near damaged transformer stations were collected in Delnice, Zadar, Šibenik, Split, and Dubrovnik areas and analyzed on PCBs. Significant levels of PCBs (the highest at the “ Bilice” E.T.S. over 2000 mg/kg PCBs in dry soil samples) were found in Šibenik, Zadar and Dubrovnik areas 2. In the period from 1997 to 2007 numerous soil, marine biota and sediment samples were collected from various places in Croatia and Bosnia and analysed for PCBs and DDTs in areas close to the military conflict 3-9. Beside this, various characteristics of sediment samples collected from the Zadar area were also determined10. The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of various soil and sediment characteristics on the level of chlorinated hydrocarbons present in samples.

To determine the frequency of juvenile spondylarthropathies (JSpA) among other rheumatic diseases in a pediatric clinic population in an 11-year period in Croatia and to review their clinical, epidemiological, radiographic and laboratory features. Of the 1264 patients with rheumatic diseases seen at a pediatric rheumatology center, 103 (8.2%) were diagnosed as having JSpA (56 boys, mean age 13.1 years, range 4.4-17.8 years), following the strict criteria of the European Spondylarthropathy Study Group. Medical history, clinical, laboratory and imaging data of the 103 patients with JSpA were analyzed. Eighty-two (79.6%) patients had undifferentiated spondylarthropathy, 6 (5.8%) patients had reactive arthritis/Reiter's disease, 6 (5.8%) had arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease, 5 (4.9%) had psoriatic arthritis, and only 4 (3.9%) patients had ankylosing spondylitis. The most common symptoms at the disease onset in patients with JSpA were peripheral and axial arthritis, followed by enthesitis. A significant increase in the number of patients with axial arthritis, peripheral arthritis, ocular symptoms and enthesitis was found during mean period of follow-up of 6.45 years. HLA-B27 was present in 78 (75.7%) patients. In our hospital population the frequency of JSpA among other rheumatic diseases was 8.2%. The disease was equally distributed among male and female patients, with onset around the age of 13 years. Most of the patients were diagnosed with undifferentiated spondylarthropathy.

Visoke vrijednosti urokinaznog tipa aktivatora plaz-minogena (uPA) i njegovog inhibitora (PAI-1) povezane su s lošom prognozom u različitim malignim tumorima. U dosadašnjim radovima uPA I PAI-1 su bili imunohistokemijski izraženi u većini tipova karcinoma štitnjače. Međutim, odnos njihovih vrijednosti i kliničko-patoloških parametara dosada nije opisan. Cilj rada bio je istražiti kliničko značenje uPA i PAI-1 u karcinomima štitnjače. uPA i PAI-1 određeni su u citosolu tumora štitnjače i normalnom tkivu u 23 bolesnika testom ELI¬ ; ; SA i potom korelirani s poznatim prognostičkim para¬ ; ; metrima karcinoma štitnjače. Koncentracije uPA i PA1-1 bile su značajno više u malignim tumorima štitnjače (uPA= 1, 342+2, 944 i PAI-1 = 17, 615± ; ; 31, 933 ng/mg pro¬ ; ; teina) nego u normalnom tkivu štitnjače (uPA=0, 002± ; ; 0, 009 ; p = 0, 011 i PAI-1 =2, 333± ; ; 0, 338 ng/mg proteina ; p = 0, 001). Između oba proteina (uPA i PAI-1) nađena je pozitivna korelacija. uPA i PAI-1 bili su značajno viši u anaplastičnim u odnosu na dobro diferencirane karci¬ ; ; nome (uPA p = 0, 014 i PAI-1 p = 0, 026), također ako je prisutna ekstratiroidna invazija (uPA p = 0, 019 i PAI-1 p = 0, 009) ili udaljene metastaze (uPAp = 0, 006 i PAI-1 p = 0, 003). Kad su tumori bili veći od 1 cm vrijednosti uPA i PAI-1 bile su značajno više (uPA p = 0, 009 i PAI-1 p = 0, 035). PAI-1 je bio značajno viši u multicentričnim u odnosu na solitarne tumore (p=0, 012), te u citosolu karcinoma štitnjače u bolesnika s pozitivnim limfnim čvorovima u usporedbi s onima s negativnim limfnim čvorovima (p=0, 042). Nije nađena statistički značajna razlika uPA i PAI-1 između uzoraka bolesnika starijih i mlađih od 40 godina. Analize preživljenja su otkrile značajan utjecaj uPA i PAI-1 na preživljenje bez progresije bolesti (38, 84 prema 3, 67 mjeseci za bolesnike s niskim odnosno visokim uPA, p