Serbian thermal power plants (TPPs) produce siliceous fly ash from lignite in the quantity of approximately 6 million tons per year. The potential market for the use of fly ash is operational, but for the time being, only used by cement producers. Fly ash radioactivity could be one of the major points of concern when larger use of fly ash is planned, particularly in the Serbian construction industry. Radioactivity measurements have been conducted regularly for decades. This paper presents the results of a ten-year fly ash radioactivity measurements at the Nikola Tesla B TPP located in Obrenovac. In addition, the paper compares the natural radionuclides coal content data combusted by the Nikola Tesla B TPP boilers coming from the Kolubara Basin and ash created during coal combustion. Fly ash created in the Nikola Tesla TPPs boilers is characterised by the increased concentration of the natural radionuclides content compared to coal. This is the so-called technologically enhanced natural radioactivity (Technologically Enhanced Occurring Radioactive Material - TENORM) of industrial waste, whereas the average specific activities: 232Th in coal amount to 25.2 Bq/kg, and in fly ash and coal 84.2 Bq/kg and 238U 38.3 Bq/kg, respectively. Following the obtained natural radionuclides content results it may be concluded that the Nikola Tesla B TPP ash may be disposed into the environment. Ash may be used also in the construction industry (civil engineering). In building construction applications, ash share as the additive to other building materials depends from its physical and chemical characteristics, as well as from the radionuclides activity: 266Ra, 232Th and 40K. Unlike the thermal power plants regularly (once a year) testing the specific natural radionuclides activity in the combusted coal and boiler fly ash, Electric Power Industry of Serbia has not performed large-scale investigations of the natural radionuclides content in coal within the Kolubara Mining Basin. Natural radionuclides content in fly ash is compared to the combusted coal some 3 - 4 times higher and may present a limitation for applying ash in the construction industry. In view of the above, and considering the construction industry interests in using the Nikola Tesla B TPP ash, regular investigations of the natural radionuclides content in ash created in the thermal power plants should be carried out, together with the Kolubara Mining Basin coal combusted by the Nikola Tesla B TPP and other PE EPS thermal power plants. The current Kolubara Mining Basin coal characteristics investigation programme should be supplemented by the natural radionuclides content of the uranium (238U, 226Ra) and thorium series (232Th) and potassium 40 (40K).
Radon time-series analysis, based on the short-term indoor radon measurements performed worldwide, shows two main periodicity: daily and seasonal. The information obtained from time series of the measured radon values is the results of the complex radon dynamics that arises from the influence of the large number of different parameters (the state of the indoor atmosphere (temperature, pressure and relative humidity, aerosol concentration), the exchange rate between indoor and outdoor air and so on). In this paper we considered daily radon variability in the underground low-background laboratory in Belgrade, Serbia. The results are originated from the radon time-series analysis based on the 3 y of the continuous short-term indoor radon measurements. At the same time, we obtained the time series of the temperature, pressure and relative humidity in the laboratory. We also tried to find the correlation between different time series.
We present the results of a test usage of multivariate methods, as developed for data analysis in high-energy physics and implemented in the toolkit for multivariate analysis software package, in our analysis of the dependence of the variation of indoor radon concentration on climate variables. The method enables the investigation of the connections of the wide spectrum of climate variables with radon concentrations. We find that multivariate classification and regression methods work well, giving new information and indications, which may be helpful in further research of the variation of radon concentration in indoor spaces. The method may also lead to considerable prediction power of the variations of indoor radon concentrations based on the knowledge of climate variables only. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. III 43002 i br. OI171002]
Background: Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflammatory cytokine with chemokine properties released by various immune and nonimmune cells. It contributes to the pathogenesis of many inflammatory, autoimmune diseases and malignant tumors. Objective: Our study aimed to investigate the role of betaine in the modulation of MIF-mediated oxidative stress, inflammation, and fibrogenesis during toxic kidney damage induced by thioacetamide (TAA). Methods: The experiment is performed on wild-type and knockout MIF-/- C57BL/6 mice. They are randomly divided into groups: Control; Bet-group, received betaine (2% wt/v dissolved in drinking water); MIF-/- mice group; MIF-/-+Bet; TAA-group, treated with TAA (200 mg/kg b.w.), intraperitoneally, 3x/week/8 weeks); TAA+Bet; MIF-/-+TAA, and MIF-/-+TAA+Bet group. After eight weeks of treatment, animals are sacrificed and kidney samples are taken to determine oxidative stress parameters, proinflammatory cytokines, profibrogenic factors, and histopathology of renal tissue Results: In MIF-/-mice, TAA decreases malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-, transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-1) and plateled-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) and increases superoxide dismutases (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities, as well as glutathione (GSH) content in kidneys, compared to TAA group. Betaine alleviates the mechanism of MIF-mediated effects in TAA-induced nephrotoxicity, reducing MDA, IL-6, TNF-, TGF-1, and PDGF-BB, and increasing SOD and CAT activity, as well as GSH levels. Conclusion: MIF mediates TAA-induced nephrotoxicity by increasing oxidative stress, inflammation, and profibrogenic mediators. MIF-targeted therapy could potentially alleviate oxidative stress and inflammation in the kidney, as well as pathohistological changes in renal tissue, but the exact mechanism of its action is not completely clear. Betaine alleviates MIF nephrotoxic effects by increasing the antioxidative capacity of kidney cells, and decreasing lipid peroxidation and cytokine production in the renal tissue. It suggests that betaine can be used for the prevention of kidney damage.
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