The pharmacologist of al-Andalus, born in Malaga and died in Damascus, Ibn al-Bayṭār (576/1180 or 583/1187–646/1248) composed a dozen works among which we must highlight: The Kitāb Mīzān al-Ṭabīb. The work presented here studies the only manuscript of this work that has been preserved, number 351 or Vet. 58 of the Universitetsbibliotek of Uppsala (Sweden) and describes the content of the same, a medical-pharmacological dissertation, divided into eighty chapters, each of which is dedicated to one or more diseases, going through all the organs of the body, starting with the head and ending with the feet.

Płomyczek Afrykański [ The African Little Flame] (1943–1945) was a bimonthly children's supplement to Polak w Afryce [ The Pole in Africa], a weekly published in Nairobi for Poles evacuated in 1942 from the Soviet Union. This study, based on a collection of 45 issues from 1943–1945, attempts to characterize the content of this publication (themes, type of texts, layout), the circle of contributors as well as examine any facts that may throw additional light on its production and reception.

Irrigation in Croatia was until recently a neglected measure in food production, especially in continental part of the country. Development of drainage system in the last fifty years was more important due to the problems caused by floods and excess water in the fields. In the last decade the hydrological regime has been changed and drought events became as frequent as flood events, causing even more damage. Future development of agriculture in the northern counties of Croatia depends on the introduction of new, profitable crops which imply irrigation as an essential factor of future social and economic growth.

The first step in the implementation of irrigation was the development of National Irrigation Master

Plan as a framework for future activities.

According to the recommendations of the National Master Plan all counties have created County Irrigation Plans considering local natural conditions, social and economic background.

This paper is going to present how is that process of integrated water resources management developing in the continental part of Croatia on the example of Osijek County Irrigation Plan located in the Danube river basin.

The paper’s objective was to present the results of predicting the stiffness modulus of a recycled mix containing a blended road binder with foamed bitumen and emulsified bitumen. The Sm (acc. to IT-CY) indirect tensile test was used at temperatures of -10°C, 5°C, 13°C and 25°C. Prediction of the stiffness modulus accounted for the effect of temperature, the type of road binders, the sampling location and the type of technology selected. All effects, except temperature, were included in the model by entangling their effects through recycled base course physical and mechanical characteristics, such as indirect tensile strength, compressive strength, creep rate, air void content and moisture resistance. As a result, it was possible to determine a regression model based on multiple regression with a coefficient of determination R² = 0.78. Temperature and compressive strength were found to have the strongest effect on the variability of stiffness modulus. However, indirect tensile strength also significantly affected the Sm characteristic. In addition, FB-RCM (foamed bitumen) recycled mixtures proved to be more favourable than EB-RCM (emulsified bitumen) mixtures as they exhibited a lower deformation rate while retaining limited stiffness.

I n t r o d u c t i o n: RANTES regulates leukocyte recruitment to areas affected by the inflammatory process. Microvesicles (MVs) belong to a subpopulation of extracellular vesicles and show proangiogenic potential by transferring bioactive molecules to target cells.

Obj e c t i v e s: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between circulating proangiogenic factors (MVs and RANTES) and diabetes complications in patients with different severities of diabetic retinopathy (DR). CCR5 (CD195) receptors transported by annexin V-labeled MVs were also investigated. Patients and Methods: Diabetic patients (n = 61), among whom 35 had confirmed DR classified according to guidelines, and controls (n = 25) were included. MVs were isolated by centrifugation and analyzed using flow cytometry, RANTES was assessed by ELISA.

R e s u l t s: T h e study group diff ered from the control group with respect to BMI, age, heart rate and systolic blood pressure. Additionally, glucose and creatinine concentrations were signifi cantly increased: 5.30 [5.09–5.62] vs. 9.38 [7.48–11.55] (p<0.0001) mmol/l and 74.59 [64–84] vs. 89.00 [77.11–105.44] μmol/l (p = 0.0005), respectively. RANTES concentrations were significantly increased in diabetic patients compared to those of controls (15.5 (9.7–18.1) vs. 8.9 (0.9–14.6) μg/ml (p = 0.011)), and RANTES concentration significantly increased with respect to nonproliferative DR progression. Moreover, the number of CCR5-positive MVs was significantly increased in patients with heavy nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (HNPDR) compared to those with soft nonproliferative DR (SNPDR): 1178 [836–2254] vs. 394 [275–799] counts/μl.

C o n c l u s i o n s: Correlation of RANTES concentrations with the stage of nonproliferative DR and the statistically significant dependence of CCR5-positive MVs with disease progression suggest that MVs and RANTES can be considered new biomarkers.