Branislava Mitrović

137Cs and 40K in some traditional herbal teas collected in the mountain regions of Serbia

Herbal teas are an important part of traditional medicine in Serbia. The objective of the present study was to determine the activity concentrations of 40K and 137Cs in herbal tea, using the gamma spectroscopy method. The samples were collected during the period 2011–2012 in three mountain regions in Western and Central Serbia. The activity concentrations of 40K and 137Cs were found to be in the range of 130–1160 and 0.7–124 Bq kg−1, respectively. The average annual effective dose equivalents from ingestion of 40K and 137Cs for an adult person consuming one cup of herbal tea daily were found to be 588.4–5250.2 nSv for 40K and 4.0–706.1 nSv for 137Cs. Our investigation showed that the herbal teas originating from Maljen, Zlatibor and Tara mountains are radiologically safe for human consumption.

X-ray diagnostics of most common periodontal diseases in dogs and cats.

Dental diseases in dogs and cats are of increasing importance in veterinary practice. If not diagnosed and treated on time, they can significantly affect the quality of life and pet health as well. Roentgenography of orofacial system, as a part of veterinary dentistry, is an important diagnostic tool that provides insight into diseases and irregularities of the teeth, shows macrostructure of bone parts, and also may indicate the etiology and genesis of various pathological conditions of the teeth. The objective of this paper is to point out to most common pathologies which small animal veterinary dentistry daily meets, as well as to foster the systematic development in this area in order to find more quality to both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

Manifestations of joint disease of domestic carnivores in X-ray view

Changes caused by joint diseases that are manifested in X-ray are very diverse. Some of them are present in all arthroparthies while some are specific to certain diseases. For all the arthropathies it is specific that the duration of a disease significantly influences the presence and intensity of radiological changes. In this paper there analyzed in detail some basic radiological joint diseases manifestations such as: distension of the joint capsule, change of size (width) of the joint space, change of position of corresponding bones within the joint, change in quality of subchondral bone, the appearance of intra-articular mineralization and calcified structures, as well as the presence of perichondral and periarticular bone proliferations. Beside that, there are described in detail arthropathies of different etiology. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 175061]

Natural sepiolite efficiency in reducing 137Cs transfer and deposition into meat and edible organs of broiler chickens

The objectives of the present study were to examine the level of radiocesium deposit in meat and edible organs of broiler chickens as well as to investigate efficiency of natural sepiolite in reducing 137Cs deposition in meat, liver and gizzard of alimentary contaminated broiler chickens. Broiler chickens (six weeks of age) were fed with the standard diet and each broiler was given a single oral dose of 137Cs, total activity of 3750 Bq. The broilers were divided into two groups (10 broilers per group). The group 1 was control (received only radiocesium). The broilers of the group 2, in addition to radiocesium received natural sepiolite solution (2 g sepiolite per bird). After 24 hours, all broilers, from each group, were stunned and killed. The samples of meat, (breast and legs), liver and gizzard were taken from each broiler, for gamma spectrometry determination of radiocesium activity. After 24 hours of contamination, 56 % of introduced 137Cs radioactivity was deposited in the meat (breast and legs muscles), 1 % in the liver and 2,4 % in the gizzard of broiler chickens 42 days of age. Natural sepiolite demonstrated insufficient protective action. Compared to the control group, percentage reduction (decreasing percentage) of 137Cs deposition in meat was 16%, in liver 5% and in gizzard 12%.