Antihyperlipidemic potential of dietary supplementation with carnosine in high-fat diet-fed rats.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the hypolipidemic effects of carnosine and a commercial carnosine supplement on lipid status, liver and kidney function, and inflammation associated with dyslipidemia in rats with high-fat diet-induced hyperlipidemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted on adult male Wistar rats, divided into control and experimental groups. Animals were kept in standard laboratory conditions and according to groups were treated with saline, carnosine, carnosine dietary supplement, simvastatin, and their combinations. All substances were prepared fresh every day and used by oral gavage. RESULTS: Treatment with a carnosine-based supplement significantly improved total and LDL cholesterol levels in serum, especially in the combination with simvastatin as a conventional drug in dyslipidemia treatment. The effect of carnosine on the metabolism of triglycerides was not as evident as in the case of cholesterol. Nevertheless, the values of the atherogenic index showed that the combinations of carnosine and carnosine supplement with simvastatin were the most effective in lowering this comprehensive lipid index. Dietary carnosine supplementation resulted also in anti-inflammatory effects, as demonstrated by immunohistochemical analyses. Besides, the good safety profile of carnosine in terms of its effect on liver and kidney functions was also confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: The use of carnosine supplements in preventing and/or treatment of metabolic disorders requires further investigations into the mechanisms of action and potential interactions with conventional therapy.

Repetitive suicide attempts by poisoning in Vojvodina, Serbia - Psychotropic drugs as main causes.

OBJECTIVE: Repetitive acute self-poisoning takes great part of all admissions at the Emergency Department including self-harm as one of the main reasons. The aim of this study is to analyze the characteristics of the patients treated for repetitive self-poisoning with suicidal intent (RSP-SI) in Vojvodina (Serbia), in order to propose preventative strategy and better management of the issue. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The retrospective study included data regarding patients treated for RSP-SI during a 5-year period in Vojvodina, Serbia. RESULTS: Repetitive self-poisoning was determined in 485 patients, of whom 35.05% reported suicidal intention. Mean number of RSP-SI per patient was 3.61±3.08. The mean period between two RSP-SI in group of females and males was 9.69±13.60 and 6.95±11.02 months, respectively. Almost two thirds (65.29%) of them were unemployed. Most of the patients had mental and behavioral disorders due to psychoactive substance use (ICD F10-19; 51.18%) and anxiety, dissociative, stress-related, somatoform and other nonpsychotic mental disorders (ICD F40-48; 33.53%). The sole etiological agent was identified in 39.15% attempts. In 58.08% of the attempts more than one substance was detected (2.50±0.73 per attempt). The co-ingestion of alcohol and benzodiazepines was the most common combination (19.41%). Psychiatry intervention was needed in 70.31% of the patients. Five of all patients with RSP-SI (2.94%) committed suicide. CONCLUSIONS: The recognition and the treatment of mental disorders as well as the control of psychiatric medications prescribing could represent one of the most important preventive strategies for repetitive suicidal behavior.

Real-time forecasting urban drainage models: full or simplified networks?

Lead time between rainfall prediction results and flood prediction results obtained by hydraulic simulations is one of the crucial factors in the implementation of real-time flood forecasting systems. Therefore, hydraulic simulation times must be as short as possible, with sufficient spatial and temporal flood distribution modelling accuracy. One of the ways to reduce the time required to run hydraulic model simulations is increasing computational speed by simplifying the model networks. This simplification can be conducted by removing and changing some secondary elements using network simplification techniques. The emphasis of this paper is to assess how the level of urban drainage network simplification influences the computational time and overall simulation results' accuracy. The models used in this paper comprise a sewer network and an overland flow drainage system in both 1D/1D and 1D/2D approaches. The 1D/1D model is used as the reference model to generate several models with different levels of simplifications. The results presented in this paper suggest that the 1D/2D models are not yet suitable to be used in real-time flood prediction applications due to long simulation time, while on the other hand, the simplified 1D/1D models show that considerable reductions in simulation time can be achieved without compromising simulation results (flow and water depth) accuracy.

Automatic, semi-automatic and manual validation of urban drainage data.

Advances in sensor technology and the possibility of automated long distance data transmission have made continuous measurements the preferable way of monitoring urban drainage processes. Usually, the collected data have to be processed by an expert in order to detect and mark the wrong data, remove them and replace them with interpolated data. In general, the first step in detecting the wrong, anomaly data is called the data quality assessment or data validation. Data validation consists of three parts: data preparation, validation scores generation and scores interpretation. This paper will present the overall framework for the data quality improvement system, suitable for automatic, semi-automatic or manual operation. The first two steps of the validation process are explained in more detail, using several validation methods on the same set of real-case data from the Belgrade sewer system. The final part of the validation process, which is the scores interpretation, needs to be further investigated on the developed system.

The influence of digital elevation model resolution on overland flow networks for modelling urban pluvial flooding.

This paper presents the developments towards the next generation of overland flow modelling of urban pluvial flooding. Using a detailed analysis of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) the developed GIS tools can automatically generate surface drainage networks which consist of temporary ponds (floodable areas) and flow paths and link them with the underground network through inlets. For different commercially-available Rainfall-Runoff simulation models, the tool will generate the overland flow network needed to model the surface runoff and pluvial flooding accurately. In this paper the emphasis is placed on a sensitivity analysis of ponds and preferential overland flow paths creation. Different DEMs for three areas were considered in order to compare the results obtained. The DEMs considered were generated using different acquisition techniques and hence represent terrain with varying levels of resolution and accuracy. The results show that DEMs can be used to generate surface flow networks reliably. As expected, the quality of the surface network generated is highly dependent on the quality and resolution of the DEMs and successful representation of buildings and streets.

SIPSON--simulation of interaction between pipe flow and surface overland flow in networks.

The new simulation model, named SIPSON, based on the Preissmann finite difference method and the conjugate gradient method, is presented in the paper. This model simulates conditions when the hydraulic capacity of a sewer system is exceeded, pipe flow is pressurized, the water flows out from the piped system to the streets, and the inlets cannot capture all the runoff. In the mathematical model, buried structures and pipelines, together with surface channels, make a horizontally and vertically looped network involving a complex interaction of flows. In this paper, special internal boundary conditions related to equivalent inlets are discussed. Procedures are described for the simulation of manhole cover loss, basement flooding, the representation of street geometry, and the distribution of runoff hydrographs between surface and underground networks. All these procedures are built into the simulation model. Relevant issues are illustrated on a set of examples, focusing on specific parameters and comparison with field measurements of flooding of the Motilal ki Chal catchment (Indore, India). Satisfactory agreement of observed and simulated hydrographs and maximum surface flooding levels is obtained. It is concluded that the presented approach is an improvement compared to the standard "virtual reservoir" approach commonly applied in most of the models.