Landslide databases on a national scale are an important tool for good spatial planning and for planning prevention measures or remediation activities. We have developed a modern national landslide ...database that enabled better landslide occurrence understanding, and will in the future help to assess landslide hazard, risk, potential damage, and enable more efficient landslide mitigation. In the paper landslide database construction steps and their properties are described. Following the collection of the landslide data from various sources and their input into the database the consistency of the database was assessed. Based on the data collected we have assessed basic statistical landslide properties, such as their overall spatial distribution, size and volume and the relation between them, landslide distribution in relation to engineering-geological units and different land-use, and past landslide mitigation activities. Analysis of landslide distribution also indicated areas in Slovenia where no landslide mapping was performed in the past, yet it should be, due to the high landslide susceptibility of these areas. Consequentially future national activities in relation to landslide problems should be governed primarily based on the findings of the database analyses to achieve the highest efficiency.
•A modernised national landslide database is presented and described.•Basic statistics on landslide spatial occurrence was assessed.•In 21 out of 211 Slovenian municipalities landslide density is larger than 1LS/km2.•Size and volume landslide distribution was analysed.•Area to volume log–log relation can be defined with V=0.9223×A1.1996.
Primary and secondary mineral resources are of strategic importance to the EU economy. Montenegro, as a country candidate for membership in the EU, is required to follow (and later to implement) ...European policies, strategies as well as initiatives, including those related to mineral resources and the mining sector. The importance of providing access to mineral raw materials in the future is recognized by the EU, as well as meeting the needs of European industry, maintaining employment and ensuring further development. Considering the overall economic situation in Montenegro, it is important to encourge the mining sector and other industries based on the use of mineral resources in making a greater contribution to the development and sustainability of society as a whole and also increase the share of national GDP. The potential for discovery and utilization of primary and secondary mineral resources in Montenegro is demonstrated. The most important metallic mineral resources are bauxite, lead and zinc, while conventional energy resources include coal (oil and gas potential has yet to be proven). In addition, there are abundant non-metallic mineral raw materials - industrial minerals and construction materials. Secondary mineral resources, especially aluminous red mud (bauxite residue), are also significant and have been the subject of research in recent years. Tailings from flotation processes at operating and abandoned lead and zinc mines might also be of interest for metal recovery. Bottom and flay ash from thermal power plants, slag from steel production, as well as marlstone and limestone from the hanging wall of coal deposits may also have potential. Waste rocks could be used particularly for secondary aggregate production. A database was developed and the most important deposits of primary and secondary mineral resources in Montenegro were mapped during the RESEERVE project. Mineral data were harmonised so as to be INSPIRE compliant. In addition, some novel geochemical exploration results of secondary mineral resources are presented.
Skrb za pitno vodo Cerar, Sonja; Cosma, Claudia; Polajnar Horvat, Katarina ...
2014
eBook
Odprti dostop
Safeguarding Drinking WaterLjubljana's water resources lie in the immediate vicinity of built-up urban areas or even below them. For decades, they have been safeguarded as water-protection areas, ...which are specified by implementing regulations. However, formal protection through regulations is insufficient if the goal is to manage these sources in a sustainable manner. One of the most important goals of sustainable management is maintaining suitable provision of fresh drinking water without using any technological procedures to
Hydrogeological investigations of groundwater are based on large amount of qualitative and quantitative data (hydrological, hydrogelological, geological, pedological, geomorfological, ...meteorological…), information about topography, land use, antropogenic elements and ecosystems, which demands a complex approach to modeling and organizing information into some logical structure of all purpose data model, useful on local, regional and national level. For that purpose at Geological survey of Slovenia we established a Database of hydrogeolocial data to define groundwater bodies of Slovenia in which all significant data of groundwater bodies, aquifers and hydrogeological objects are available. Digital storage of attributive data enables uniformity of standards for collecting, analyzing and management of data, their spatial presentation and distribution, connection with other information systems and important decision – making future analysis.
Purpose
To develop quantitative molecular imaging biomarkers of immune-related adverse event (irAE) development in malignant melanoma (MM) patients receiving immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) imaged ...with
18
F-FDG PET/CT.
Methods
18
F-FDG PET/CT images of 58 MM patients treated with anti-PD-1 or anti-CTLA-4 ICI were retrospectively analyzed for indication of irAE. Three target organs, most commonly affected by irAE, were considered: bowel, lung, and thyroid. Patient charts were reviewed to identify which patients experienced irAE, irAE grade, and time to irAE diagnosis. Target organs were segmented using a convolutional neural network (CNN), and novel quantitative imaging biomarkers — SUV percentiles (SUV
X%
) of
18
F-FDG uptake within the target organs — were correlated with the clinical irAE status. Area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was used to quantify irAE detection performance. Patients who did not experience irAE were used to establish normal ranges for target organ
18
F-FDG uptake.
Results
A total of 31% (18/58) patients experienced irAE in the three target organs: bowel (
n
=6), lung (
n
=5), and thyroid (
n
=9). Optimal percentiles for identifying irAE were bowel (SUV
95%
, AUROC=0.79), lung (SUV
95%
, AUROC=0.98), and thyroid (SUV
75%
, AUROC=0.88). Optimal cut-offs for irAE detection were bowel (SUV
95%
>2.7 g/mL), lung (SUV
95%
>1.7 g/mL), and thyroid (SUV
75%
>2.1 g/mL). Normal ranges (95% confidence interval) for the SUV percentiles in patients without irAE were bowel 1.74, 2.86 g/mL, lung 0.73, 1.46 g/mL, and thyroid 0.86, 1.99 g/mL.
Conclusions
Increased
18
F-FDG uptake within irAE-affected organs provides predictive information about the development of irAE in MM patients receiving ICI and represents a potential quantitative imaging biomarker for irAE. Some irAE can be detected on
18
F-FDG PET/CT well before clinical symptoms appear.
Germline aberrations in the CDKN2A gene are observed in 20%–40% of families susceptible to melanoma. Positive CDKN2A status is associated with early age of onset of melanoma, multiple primary ...melanomas, and pancreatic cancer. We report here a melanoma patient with a germline mutation c.68G>A p.(Gly23Asp) in CDKN2A who had a history of multiple cutaneous melanomas and a family history consistent with familial atypical multiple mole melanoma (FAMMM) syndrome. He developed oligometastatic disease with BRAF-positive melanoma metastases in soft tissue and gallbladder and was treated with surgical resection followed by combination therapy of PD-1 and CTLA-4 immune checkpoint inhibitor, which resulted in good remission. Molecular analysis of all primary melanomas and both metastatic sites revealed the same BRAF c.1799T>A p.(Val600Glu) V600E mutations.
Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) are usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, when the disease is incurable. Currently used tumor biomarkers have limited diagnostic value for BTCs, so there is an urgent ...need for sensitive and specific biomarkers for their earlier diagnosis. Deregulation of the homeostasis of trace elements is involved in the carcinogenesis of different cancers, including BTCs. The objective of the study is to determine/compare the total concentrations of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) and the proportions of free Cu and Cu bound to ceruloplasmin (Cp) and the isotopic ratio of
Cu/
Cu in serum samples from healthy volunteers and cancer patients using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry-based methods (ICP-MS).
In this prospective, noninterventional, nonrandomized study 20 patients and 20 healthy volunteers will be enrolled to identify serum Cu, Zn and Fe levels, Cu isotopic fractionation as a predictive biomarker of response to systemic therapy of BTCs, which will be evaluated by computed tomography. Newly developed analytical methods based on ICP-MS will be applied to metal-based biomarker research in oncology.
In the study the comparison of the total concentration of selected trace elements, the proportion of free Cu and Cu bound to Cp and the isotopic ratio of
Cu/
Cu in serum samples from healthy volunteers and cancer patients will be conducted to provide the foundation for the development of a BTC cancer screening methodology and the data on their usability as a potential predictive biomarker for BTCs of response to systemic therapy.
Values are final lines that separate a person from society, whereas a person may be forced to prioritize his or her own values to social-based values. Society influences values and children are ...educated in those underlying values, which exist in certain society. Therefore, even transmitted knowledge cannot be seen as neutral. We argue that values in education must represent an important topic to practice intellect by establishing dialogues between students; implanting cultural values and contributing to the person’s spiritual and ethical development. In the presented study we focus on the review of the bibliographic sources in Slovenia to analyse which values Slovenia prioritizes, because those values may be reflected in the Slovenian education. The key findings show that values in education are changing, their priority is changing, and some are disappearing altogether. Resource reflection gives us important information on how to introduce learning and socialization of values into the educational processes.
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