Comparative analysis of the dispersion modeling and dose projection results performed under BARCO international project.

Radiological assessments on zones to take protective actions in case of a nuclear or radiological emergency involve a series of real-time forecasts of radiological impact on the public at various distances from the release point, using actual weather or forecast data, information on the source term or facility status, and primary radiation monitoring data. This practice is implemented during the operation of emergency centers around the world in order to promptly report the occurrence and possible consequences of radiological accidents in the country and abroad in the event of a possible transboundary impact. Since the Chornobyl disaster, a lot of emergency exercises, research programs and projects, in particular, benchmarking, have served as international platforms for improving modeling capacity in atmospheric dispersion. This activity is carried out both on the basis of past severe accidents with significant atmospheric releases and corresponding radiological consequences, and on the basis of specific conditional (hypothetical) events that are developed in accordance with the purpose of the study. The paper is focused on the comparison results performed under the international project "Benchmarking on Assessment of Radiological COnsequences" (BARCO) conducted in 2020-2021 between five technical support organisations - members of the European Technical Safety Organisations Network (ETSON). The work contains a short overview of relevant international activity conducted in the past, a description of the BARCO project and its objectives, a list of participants, project tasks, initial data (source term, meteorology, list of benchmarking quantities, approach to data exchange, codes used). The study presents some of comparative analysis results obtained via two techniques such as code-to-code analysis (CTCA) and matched-pair analysis (MPA). The results discussion concentrates on the overall recommendations for code users. Conclusions provide the main outputs of the project.

Preliminary assessment of the radiological consequences of the hostile military occupation of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces on 24 February 2022 put the radiological well-being of the people in Ukraine under unprecedented threat. Apart from the risks linked to operating nuclear power plants, there was substantial evidence of looting of facilities of all kinds, including those holding radioactive materials, as well as the scope for physical disturbance of radioactively contaminated areas and waste storage facilities. The actions of Russian military personnel invading Ukraine through the territory of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (the ChEZ) were of serious concern. Before its shutdown a few days after the beginning of the occupation, the automated radiation monitoring system of the ChEZ recorded sharp increases in the gamma-background in several areas which indicated some non-typical processes taking place on its territory. The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) and its technical support organisation, the Scientific and Technical Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (SSTC NRS), as well as the rest of the professional nuclear community in Ukraine and worldwide, recognised the potential for movement of the radioactive contamination (reaching 101-104kBq m-2Cs-137 in the most of the territory) by the Russian military machinery and personnel to areas outside the ChEZ, creating locally contaminated spots along the routes taken by the invaders towards Kyiv. Certain apprehensions were caused by the inventory carried out after the liberation of the ChEZ which revealed the theft of calibration sources and radioactive samples from laboratories located in Chornobyl. As soon as this information became available to the public, it caused a wide response and anxiety, as a result of which SNRIU made a decision to conduct a radiation survey of the liberated territories in the Kyiv region. The survey was conducted between June and December 2022 by SSTC NRS specialists with the support of DSA. The scope of the survey was limited by available time and resources; however, the total route of the survey was about 840 km, and covered more than 50 settlements and a limited part of the ChEZ. The radiation survey combined the continuous gamma-dose rate measurements by the detectors installed in the laboratory vehicle and additional manual measurements at specified points. As a result of the radiation survey, no deterioration of the radiation situation was observed in the liberated territories. No contaminated objects, radiation sources, or other radioactive material removed from the ChEZ were found either. Measurements of the Cs-137 soil contamination in the ChEZ, although limited, corresponded to the results which had been obtained before the war. It can be concluded that in the surveyed territories, the direct impact on the public in the form of additional radioactive contamination removed from the ChEZ in February-March 2022 was negligible. The same applies to the radiation consequences of forest fires that occurred in the ChEZ during its occupation. However, due to the damage of the radiation monitoring system, explosive hazard, and destruction of transport infrastructure, the consequences of the occupation of the ChEZ by Russian troops will be long-term.

Dynamical effects of an unconventional current-phase relation in YBCO dc SQUIDs.

The predominant d-wave pairing symmetry in high-temperature superconductors allows for a variety of current-phase relations in Josephson junctions, which is to a certain degree fabrication controlled. In this Letter, we report on direct experimental observations of the effects of a nonsinusoidal current-phase dependence in YBCO dc SQUIDs, which agree with the theoretical description of the system.

[Obesity, hypertension and the lumbar syndrome in workers at the Neoplanta Meat Plant in Novi Sad]. / Gojaznost, hipertenzija i lumbalni sindrom radnika ad "Neoplanta" industrija mesa Novi Sad.

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is more and more considered a serious medical problem associated with hyperlipoproteinemia, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, locomotor system diseases not only in the workers with hypertension and increased body fat, but also in the workers with lumbar syndrome. The objective of this study was to examine obesity and trends in frequency of lumbar syndrome and hypertension in workers employed in the meat industry, starting from the premise that obese workers are more prone to developing lumbar syndrome, hypertension or both diseases jointly. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The following data: sex, age, years of employment in meat industry, body mass and height were filled out in the epidemiological questionnaire. The sample represented 36% of the statistical mass--475 examined subjects, 285 men and 190 women. The workers were divided by BMI values into the following groups: normal weight, overweight, significantly obese and extremely obese. Frequency of lumbar syndrome and hypertension among obese and normal weight workers were tested, p < 0.05. RESULTS: The obtained results showed that 34.31% of the examined workers were with normal weight, 43.58% overweight, 20.84% significantly obese and 1.26% extremely obese. Tested occurrence of lumbar syndrome among normal and overweight workers, value chi 2 = 2.80, showed no significant difference, while there was difference in hypertension chi 2 = 11.7 and in both diseases jointly chi 2 = 12.25. However, significant frequency of lumbar syndrome, chi 2 = 5.26, hypertension, chi 2 = 39.72 and both diseases jointly chi 2 = 37.25 was found among normal weight and obese workers. DISCUSSION: It should be pointed out that increase in body mass leads to significant increase in both diseases jointly, not just hypertension. The absence of significant difference of lumbar syndrome, chi 2 = 2.80, is to be associated with the shorter length of service. On determining the share of lumbar syndrome in absenteeism the relation of obesity and imbalanced nutritional patterns has to be taken into consideration. CONCLUSION: With the increase of body mass, frequency of occurrence of hypertension and lumbar syndrome accompanied with hypertension increases too.

[Cardiovascular disease risk factors in product quality control workers at the AD Neoplant facility in Novi Sad]. / Rizici kardiovaskularne bolesti u radnika na kontroli kvaliteta proizvoda u AD "Neoplanta" u Novom Sadu.

INTRODUCTION: Monitoring the health status of the employed in the meat industry "Neoplanta", a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors was observed. It was also observed that workers employed in the meat industry have specific dietary habits as a result of working practice. Their hypercaloric diet is with high dietary animal fat and protein intake. This particularly refers to the group of workers in charge of the quality control of meat products who, besides regular hot meal and frequent business lunches, consume certain quantities of these products on a daily basis. A common characteristic shared by members of this group is that they very seldom or never have preventive medical examination. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper was to determine cardiovascular risk factors in this group of workers and to evaluate educational program effects on the prevalence of risk factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cardiovascular risk factors were examined in 39 workers (28 men and 11 women) involved in the daily control of meat products and performing executive jobs of different complexity levels in the meat industry "Neoplanta". Cardiovascular risks and lipid status were examined before and after a nine-month-long educational program. Occurrence of increased risks and lipid status elements were tested, p < 0.05. RESULTS: According to obtained results hypercholesterolemia is present in 94.87%, obesity in 82.05%, positive family cardiovascular anamnesis in 74.48%, physical inactivity in 69.33%, continuous alcohol consumption in 69.23%, excessive consumption of black coffee in 61.54%, hypertension in 51.28%, "stress alleviation" with food in 46.15%, hypertriglyceridemia in 46.15% and cigarette smoking in 46.15% of examinees. Cigarette smoking, chi 2 = 1.85, alcohol consumption, chi 2 = 0.26, black coffee drinking, chi 2 = 0.22, preparation of the meals on the fat, chi 2 = 0.10 has remained unchanged after educational program. The number of patients "alleviating" stress with food, chi 2 = 5.26 and physically inactive patients, chi 2 = 1.06 has significantly increased. Body mass, chi 2 = 0.06 and hypertension, chi 2 = 1.42, has not reduced, hyperholesterolemia has remained unchanged, chi 2 = 2.22, LDL-cholesterol has decreased insignificantly, chi 2 = 0.60, while HDL-cholesterol has decreased significantly, chi 2 = 4.27. Atherosclerosis index has increased significantly, chi 2 = 4.47. Thus, poor effects of the educational program can be attributed to unchanged lifestyle habits of the examined workers. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that cardiovascular risk factors as well as lipid status elements have not decreased in this group of workers after educational program and therefore continuous medical educational program is suggested with purpose to increase the motivation of workers.

[Epithelioid leiomyoma of the stomach--its current diagnosis]. / Epiteloiden leiomiom na stomakha--suvremenna diagnostika.

A case of a 62-years-old woman with mobile tumor in the upper abdomen is reported. With the contemporary methods of examination, including percutaneous thin needle biopsy, the diagnosis of epithelioid leiomyoma of the stomach was established. The patient was successfully treated surgically. The frequency of these benign gastric tumors, their clinical course, diagnosis and treatment are discussed.

Use of high performance liquid chromatography for the structural identification of technetium-99m radiopharmaceuticals at the NCA level.

Technetium-99m (99mTc) complexes of dithiooxalate (dto) and maleonitriledithiolate (mnt) were prepared by ligand substitution of 99mTcNCl4-, dithionite reduction of 99mTcO4-, and ligand jexchange of [99mTc]gluconate (Sn). All complexes were characterized by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on a C18 column using gradient elution with a tetrabutylammonium phosphate buffer (40-85% methanol). By performing HPLC of mixtures of the 99mTc complexes with structurally characterized 99Tc complexes of the ligands, it has been shown that at the no carrier added (NCA) level, 99mTcNCl4- labeling leads to the production of [99mTcN(dto)2]2- and [99mTcN(mnt)2]2-. Dithionite reduction and ligand exchange of 99mTc(Sn)-gluconate lead to the production of [99mTc(mnt)3]2- and not of [99mTcO(mnt)2]- which would be the expected product from the results of studies with 99Tc. The product formed by dithionite reduction in the presence of dto was not identified, but it was clearly not [TcO(dto)2]-, the product expected from 99Tc studies. Studies in mice showed that the biologic behavior of the 99mTc complexes is altered by the presence of the Tc-nitrido group. HPLC results indicate that caution must be taken when extrapolating results obtained using carrier quantities of Tc to the carrier free situation.

Simultaneous determination of decachlorobiphenyl, octachloronaphthalene and decachloro-1,4-dihydronaphthalene in mixtures, by HPLC.

Gas-liquid chromatography cannot distinguish between octachloronaphthalene and decachloro-1,4-dihydronaphthalene, because of the dechlorination of the latter during the chromatographic separation. High-pressure liquid chromatography on S50DS in the reverse-phase mode, with methanol as the solvent, has been successfully used in analytical (both qualitative and quantitative) and semi-preparative applications, involving the major products of the perchlorination of PCBs and PCNs: decachlorobiphenyl, octachloronaphthalene and decachloro-1,4-dihydronaphthalene.