Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic altered adults’ and children’s lifestyles and habits, causing an increase in body weight. Adolescents are sensitive to habit changes and, because of their insufficient ...capacity to deal with the unexpected COVID-19 changes, were at greater risk of noncommunicable disease development due to the consequences of adopting unhealthy habits. The survey aimed to reveal the changes in nutritional status and lifestyle habits of school children in Croatia and to assess their nutrition knowledge and emotional state and feelings about COVID-19 lockdown. Self-reported data from 1370 school children aged 10 to 15 years were obtained to examine the influence of the lockdown on their nutritional status, lifestyle and emotional status, and to assess their nutrition knowledge. The study revealed that the COVID-19 lockdown has caused an increase in the proportion of overweight and obesity among Croatian school children who changed their lifestyle habits towards being less physically active, spending more time using screen-based media and revealing potential psychological distress. However, the schoolchildren had a high adherence to the Mediterranean diet assessed with the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and adolescents KIDMED index and had good nutrition knowledge. Public health programs promoting a healthy lifestyle and involving the whole family, in a school environment, could provide children with a healthy adulthood.
Viticulture has been an important economic sector for centuries. In recent decades, global wine production has fluctuated between 250 and almost 300 million hectoliters, and in 2022, the value of ...wine exports reached EUR 37.6 billion. Climate change and the associated higher temperatures could favor the occurrence of ochratoxin A (OTA) in wine. OTA is a mycotoxin produced by some species of the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium and has nephrotoxic, immunotoxic, teratogenic, hepatotoxic, and carcinogenic effects on animals and humans. The presence of this toxin in wine is related to the type of wine—red wines are more frequently contaminated with OTA—and the geographical location of the vineyard. In Europe, the lower the latitude, the greater the risk of OTA contamination in wine. However, climate change could increase the risk of OTA contamination in wine in other regions. Due to their toxic effects, the development of effective and environmentally friendly methods to prevent, decontaminate, and degrade OTA is essential. This review summarises the available research on biological aspects of OTA prevention, removal, and degradation.
Two of the mycotoxins of greatest agroeconomic significance are aflatoxin B
(AFB
), and ochratoxin A (OTA). It has been reported that extracts from some wood-decaying mushrooms, such as
and
showed ...the ability to inhibit AFB
or OTA biosynthesis. Therefore, in our study, a wide screening of 42 isolates of different ligninolytic mushrooms was assayed for their ability to inhibit the synthesis of OTA in
and AFB
in
, in order to find a metabolite that can simultaneously inhibit both mycotoxins. The results showed that four isolates produce metabolites able to inhibit the synthesis of OTA, and 11 isolates produced metabolites that inhibited AFB
by >50%. Two strains, the
strain TV117 and the
strain S.C. Ailanto, produced metabolites able to significantly inhibit (>90%) the synthesis of both mycotoxins. Preliminary results suggest that the mechanism of efficacy of the
rough and semipurified polysaccharides could be analogous to that found previously for Tramesan
, by enhancing the antioxidant response in the target fungal cells. The overall results indicate that
polysaccharide(s) could be a potential agent(s) in biological control and/or a useful component of the integrated strategies able to control mycotoxin synthesis.
The constructivist approach to political representation has shown that descriptive representation cannot be reduced to passive presence. Descriptive representatives rather actively contribute to the ...construction of constituencies’ identities. Nevertheless, the existing empirical literature still dominantly operationalizes descriptive representation as mere presence of group members in the representative institutions. This article adds to the previous efforts of rethinking descriptive representation in the more constructivist terms by defining it as consisting of two necessary elements: 1) construction of a representative through activation of claim-maker’s ethnicity, and 2) portrayals of ethnic constituency. The article argues that descriptive representation is performed through the use of diverse boundary mechanisms. In the process of positioning themselves and portraying their constituency, representatives work with and around ethnic boundaries. Using the case of ethnic minority representation in Serbia, the article demonstrates how resemblance or group membership is not necessarily transparent and self-evident. Instead, representatives first need to activate and deploy ethnic boundaries to be perceived as group’s descriptive representatives. In doing so, they also tell stories about ethnic groups, which are consequential upon the ways group members perceive themselves and relations within and across the boundaries.
Many published reports have documented an increased prevalence of chronic medical conditions among veterans, but there were only a few studies that compared these increases with the general ...population. The aim of this study was to determine differences in chronic medical conditions between Croatian war veterans and the general population. This study included two groups of subjects, i.e. 1453 participants who are Croatian war veterans and 1429 participants from the general population. Medical history, physical examination, laboratory tests and specific diagnostic procedures were taken during systematic physical examination in both groups. The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, malignancy, psychiatric diseases, cholelithiasis, nephrolithiasis, smoking and alcohol consumption was analyzed. Croatian war veterans were found to be more likely to develop hypertension than individuals in the general population (29.5% vs. 24.3%), as well as diabetes (7.3% vs. 3.8%), hyperlipidemia (56.4% vs. 27.3%), hyperthyroidism (3.1% vs. 0.8%), coronary heart disease (4.3% vs. 1%), malignancy (4.1% vs. 2.2%), psychiatric diseases (15.4% vs. 1.1%), and alcohol consumption (53% vs. 29%). Significant difference was found in favor of the general population for hypothyroidism (14.3% vs. 8%). There were no differences in the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cholelithiasis, nephrolithiasis, and smoking. Our findings confirmed the hypothesis of a higher prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, malignancy and psychiatric diseases among Croatian war veterans and emphasized the need of better control of their medical conditions.
Food and feed safety are of paramount relevance in everyday life. The awareness that different chemicals, e.g., those largely used in agriculture, could present both environmental problems and health ...hazards, has led to a large limitation of their use. Chemicals were also the main tool in a control of fungal pathogens and their secondary metabolites, mycotoxins. There is a drive to develop more environmentally friendly, "green", approaches to control mycotoxin contamination of foodstuffs. Different mushroom metabolites showed the potential to act as control agents against mycotoxin production. The use of a polysaccharide, Tramesan, extracted from the basidiomycete
, for controlling biosynthesis of aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A, has been previously discussed. In this study, oligosaccharides obtained from Tramesan were evaluated. The purified exopolysaccharide of
was partially hydrolyzed and separated by chromatography into fractions from disaccharides to heptasaccharides. Each fraction was individually tested for mycotoxin inhibition in
and
. Fragments smaller than seven units showed no significant effect on mycotoxin inhibition; heptasaccharides showed inhibitory activity of up to 90% in both fungi. These results indicated that these oligosaccharides could be used as natural alternatives to crop protection chemicals for controlling these two mycotoxins.
Aim
Hypothyroidism is a common clinical problem that is successfully treated with hormone substitutes in the form of levothyroxine (LT4). LT4 is a drug with a narrow therapeutic index and is usually ...administered by strict rules, standardly at least half an hour before breakfast. The aim of this study was to investigate a possible effect of different timings of administration on thyroid function status and lipid profile.
Methods
The study included patients with the diagnosis of primary hypothyroidism, which were using a stable dose of levothyroxine. They were randomized into three different groups regarding the timing of LT4 administration in a crossover fashion. Each timing regimen lasted for at least 8 weeks; timing regimen A—half an hour before breakfast; timing regimen B—an hour before the main meal of the day; timing regimen C—at bedtime (minimally 2 h after dinner). The hormones (TSH, fT3, fT4) and lipid profile (triglycerides, HDL-, LDL-, and total cholesterol) were measured before the study, at the beginning of every timing regimen and at the end of the study.
Results
Altogether, 84 patients finished the study. Different timings of LT4 administration were non-inferior in comparison to the standard one and between each other. Median differences in TSH level between baseline and timing regimens were: baseline vs.
A
= −0.017 95% C.I. (−0.400–0.192); baseline vs.
B
= −0.325 95% C.I. (−0.562–0.023); baseline vs.
C
= −0.260 95% C.I. (−0.475–0.000). There were no statistically significant differences in either TSH, fT4, or fT3 when compared between all three timing regimens of LT4 administration and the baseline. There were no statistically significant differences in any of the lipid profile parameters (triglycerides, HDL-, LDL-, and total cholesterol) when compared between all three timing regimens of LT4 administration and the baseline.
Conclusion
The three investigated timing regimens of LT4 administration were equally efficient and offer additional options regarding the treatment individualization.
This article focuses on the participation of local citizens in Kosovo in the process of state-building and their engagement with the institutions imposed by the international community. While ...previous literature focuses either on the constitutional and institutional framework or on the more direct forms of local resistance to international intervention, this article looks into more subtle forms of resistance whereby local citizens change the meanings of imposed institutions. To this purpose, this article examines the process of adoption of two minority-relevant laws: the Law on Historic Centre of Prizren and the Law on the Village of Velika Hoča/Hoçë e Madhe. By employing a critical frame analysis, this paper points to the very subtle forms of resistance to the international rule such as: exclusion of citizens from participation in decision-making, defining citizenship in ethnic terms or changing the meaning of minority relevant legislation by framing it from the perspective of state- and nation-building. All of these actions resist the international efforts to build Kosovo as a multiethnic state and impugn the legitimacy of the system. These findings indicate the important role of local citizens in creating the sustainable peace.
This article examines under what conditions descriptive representatives of national minorities can also act as substantive representatives. It provides an empirical analysis of the behaviour of the ...representatives with ethnic minority backgrounds in the eighth National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. Specifically, the article builds upon a content analysis of all interventions in the plenary parliamentary debates of the thirtyone minority MPs in the period between June 2008 and March 2012. The analysis suggests that having a minority ethnic background or political party registered as a political party of national minority are not sufficient conditions for substantive minority representation. The findings show that minority representatives elected on minority electoral lists engage more in substantive representation of minorities than descriptive representatives elected to parliament either as members of mainstream parties or through pre-electoral arrangements of minority parties with mainstream political parties.
Recent literature suggests that the competitive authoritarian regimes emerging in the twenty-first century are more subtle and nuanced in comparison to the old regimes of the 1990s. Aiming to ...understand these differences in greater depth, this article explores how new competitive authoritarian regimes react to mass protests. The article focuses on the case of Serbia, a country where protests have been widespread both during the old regime of the 1990s and the current regime. Analysing five protests waves in the past decade, we were able to identify three dominant strategic interactions of the regime with the protests, all of which contrast significantly with those employed by the old regime. First, in contrast to protest bans and oppression mechanisms used by the old regime, the new regime tends to allow, and strategically ignore protests. Second, while in the past police violence was widespread, there is an apparent police absence from the protests nowadays. Finally, there is a clear difference in the ways the two regimes portray the "Others". While in the 1990s the international enemies were clearly identified and explicitly evoked, the new regime tends to make vague and contradictory claims about diverse but unspecific international and regional enemies behind protests.
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