This paper revives present knowledge on disorders induced by iodine deficiency. The Recommended Dietary Allowance of iodine is 50 /µg/day from 0 to 12 months, 90 /µg/day from 1 to 6 years, 120 /µg/day from 7 to 12 years, 150 /µg/day during adolescence and adulthood and 200 /µg/day during pregnancy and lactation. When the physiological requirements of iodine are not met in a given population, a series of functional and developmental abnormalities occur in ali ages, which are grouped under the general heading of iodine deficiency disorders among that goiter is only the visible “top of the iceberg”. Iodine deficiency is the leading cause of preventable mental retardation and neurointellectual deficits in schoolchildren. One of very important of health consequence of iodine deficiency is an elevated thyroid uptake of radioiodine that aggravates the risk of thyroid cancer in case of a nuclear accident. In addition to health problems, iodine deficiency has a negative impact on domestic animals, resulting in a reduction of productivity with negative economic consequences. As a solution for these disorders the most logical approach is the introduction of iodine prophylaxis that public health care aspects include the planning and monitoring of prophylactic campaigns, the technical aspects of production and distribution of iodised salt and the other methods of iodine prophylaxis. The last recommendation by WHO-UNICEF-ICCIDD is that, in order to provide 150 /zg/day of iodine via iodised salt and considering the average salt intake and the loss of iodine from production site to the household and cooking, the iodine concentration in salt at the site of production should range between 20 to 40 mg of iodine per kilogram of salt.

With steady improvement in graft survival due to improved efficacy of immunosuppression protocols, refinement in surgical technique, and the establishment of national system for coordination of organ distribution (United Network for Organ Sharing in USA), renal transplantation is increasingly the preferred treatment option for patients with end-stage renal disease. Organ availability remains a major rate-limiting factor. As the number of grafts lost due to rejection, infection and poor surgical technique has decreased, the relative clinical importance of graft loss due to vascular complications has been increasing. Real time ultrasound with power, color and duplex Doppler provides accurate, high-resolution images of vascular morphology and (likely) function. In an addition, serial exams can be performed without the risks associated with repeated use of intravenous contrast or exposure to ionizing radiation.

Continuing our previous researches of antimicrobial activity of plant sorts P. speciosa and P. tommasiniana, which are characteristic for Balkan Peninsula, we examined ethyl acetate, ethanol and acetone rhizoma and root extracts (concentration 1:1) of the plants examined. To examine the antibiotic effects we used diffusion method from Ph. Eur ed. 4 as the method for antibiotics examinations. In this work the activity of prepared extracts was examined on Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6632, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Staphylococcus epidennidis ATCC 2228 and Escherichia coli ATCC 8739(2). The base used for Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6632 had the following composition: peptone 5 g, meat extract 2,4 g, agar 15 g and purified water up to 1000 g. Base A for antibiotics examination by diffusion method was used to examine Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538, Staphylococcus epidennidis ATCC 2228 and Escherichia coli ATCC 8739. Ethyl acetate extracts were also examined on Silicagel G60 plates by thin layer chromatography with mobile phase: glacial acetic acid, ether, hexane, ethyl acetate. (20:20:20:40 V/V/V/V). The examined extracts showed antimicrobial effect, and obtained chromatographs contribute to better knowledge of the analytics of examined plant material.

Ligand binding causes the EGF receptor (EGFR) to become ubiquitinated by Cbl upon association with the adaptor protein Grb2. We have investigated the role of ubiquitin and Grb2 in ligand-induced endocytosis of the EGFR. Incubation of cells with EGF on ice caused translocation of Grb2 and Cbl from the cytosol to the rim of coated pits. Grb2 with point mutations in both SH3 domains inhibited recruitment of the EGFR to clathrin-coated pits, in a Ras-independent manner. On overexpression of the Cbl-binding protein Sprouty, ubiquitination of the EGFR was inhibited, the EGFR was recruited only to the rim of coated pits, and endocytosis of the EGFR was inhibited. Conjugation-defective ubiquitin similarly inhibited recruitment of EGF-EGFR to clathrin-coated pits. Even though this does not prove that cargo must be ubiquitinated, this indicates the importance of interaction of ubiquitinated protein(s) with proteins harboring ubiquitin-interacting domains. We propose that Grb2 mediates transient anchoring of the EGFR to an Eps15-containing molecular complex at the rim of coated pits and that Cbl-induced ubiquitination of the EGFR allows relocation of EGFR from the rim to the center of clathrin-coated pits.

Retained surgical textile foreign bodies are a problem despite precautions taken by surgeons. Computed tomography (CT) is a method of choice in diagnosing the cases of retained textilomas. Over 12 years, we diagnosed 11 acute textilomas in 10 patients in the early postoperative period within 3 months after abdominal surgery. The presence of considerable amount of air bubbles within textile fibers was the most representative sign. A 3-10 mm wide peripheral rim was present in all textilomas. In additional 3 cases, chronic, encapsulated foreign body granulomas were found, two were mimicking renal neoplasms. All granulomas contained discrete or coarse calcifications. The period between surgery and CT diagnosis was from 6 months to 14 years in chronic lesions. It is important to emphasize that 9 textilloma in 8 patients were associated with the years of war in Croatia (1991 and 1992), in hospitals on battle fronts, where surgeons worked under extremely strenuous conditions and with great inflow of wounded soldiers and civilians.