THE FEATURE OF THIS ISSUE

Aging

Whatever one does or attempts to do, there is only one thing that is certain: that one day the human body will die. That is why the ambition to live forever has been a permanent feature throughout civilization, and that is why on countless times and across the world we are trying to understand the secrets of longevity.
Some living species take hundreds of years before dying, like some cnidarian live for unbelievable 11,000 years! Can some of this be applicable to men? How to live not only for the average eighty years, but much longer? Many scientific centers around the world have worked for years trying to understand the secrets of aging and the potential for increasing the human life. How far have they come? Can we ever hope for longer lives?

COSMONAUTICS

Elon Musk, the CEO and major shareholder of company „Space X“, has again stirred the attention of the public worldwide by announcing new space undertakings. After this autumn’s presentation of his vision of colonizing the Mars, designed for the year 2026, on 27 February this year he announced his plans of sending cosmic tourists on a journey to the Moon.
Preparations are underway for two wealthy citizens, enthusiasts of space travel, who have already made the significant payment to company „SpaceX“ to take the circular flight around the celestial body closest to the Earth, to fly by it without entering its orbit. The journey is to take place at the end of December 2018 in the „crew dragon“ capsule, which is to be launched by the „falcon heavy“, and should reach a record in distance from the Earth of 480,000 – 640,000 km, exceeding the greatest distance from the Earth to the moon and the greatest distances reached from the Earth which was done by the „Apollo 13“ with 401,000 km. The names of the astronauts tourists have not been announced yet.

SPACE RESEARCH

Life from one planet to another

Within the Trappist-1 system other worlds are so close to each other that it seems you could throw a stone over there. Can life likewise “jump” from one to another? The recently discovered plants of the Trappist-1system could be a playground for microbes which travel clinging to rocks. Three of seven small planets orbiting this foggy star are constant inside its inhabitable zone, areas with temperatures in which water stays in the liquid state, which is considered a pre-requisite for life. They continually maintain their distance from each other, which is just a few times greater than the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
In such small distances, ones a meteorite hits the surface of these planets, the resulting chunks can also fly to other two nearby bodies. If a bacteria or another form of life flies on such a fragment it can travel in this process known as panspermia. Some scientists believe that life on the Earth could have originated in this manner, as a result of microbes flying in from Mars.

HYPOTHESES

In the saline waters of Mars

If microbes would group and stick together this could assist them in surviving the overly saline waters on Mars. These slimy conglomerations, colonies of cells submerged in the protective slimy membrane, when exposed to the oversaturated water existing on Mars, live longer than individual cells–even if previously dried.
Such slimy conglomerations exist everywhere on the Earth, from tooth settlement in our mouths to settlements in ponds and systems used to treat big oil spills. In this case, the slimy conglomerations can protect their inhabitants from antibiotics, radiation, temperature changes and other environmental extreme conditions which otherwise would most certainly kill them. Their behavior on the Earth has been well studies; however, we are only just beginning to study how they would act in other circumstances in space–which is essential if we intend to avoid pollution of other worlds.
An experiment is currently underway which demonstrates that sheltering microbes in a space ship could help them survive.

MEDICINE

Thoracic oncology

As is the case with many other malignant diseases, timely diagnosis of lung cancer can mean making lung cancer a chronic disease, and in some case it can be treated with new, targeting medicines and immune therapy. Professor NevenaSečen, M.D., pulmologist oncologist, an associate of the Bel MedicHospital, talks about the modern treatment options, and emphasizes that the key to this disease is prevention and early diagnosis, giving up smoking and generally eradicating this harmful habit, along with regular medical check-ups, especially for high risk groups.
Lung cancer, one of the most frequent malignant tumors, in 90 percent of cases happens in long-term smokers. This sign of warning is also the greatest risk factor for the onset of this disease and it also confirms the thesis of the World Health Organization (WHO) that many oncologic diseases, including this most deadly one–is preventable. Professor NevenaSečen, pneumophysiologist, pulmologist, and oncologist, also underlines the importance of preventive action, giving up smoking, for individuals, and general campaigns targeting the public at large.

MEDICINE

A child with Asthma

Timely detection and treatment of asthma in children are important not only in order to get rid of the disease in the early age but for respiratory health for the rest of life. The topic of asthma diagnosing and control in children is presented by the best expert in this pathology, a pulmologist and allegrologistBranimirNestorović, M.D., Ph.D., an associate of the Bel MedicHospital.
Speaking of asthma, Professor Nestorović- states that it is increasingly understood not as a disease but more as a syndrome with a number of phenotypes determined by the genetics and by external factors affecting it.
Also, some recent studies indicate that over the past two decades there have been weaknesses in diagnosing asthma across the world, and a significant number of patients was treated by anti-asthma medicines although they did not in fact have asthma, while in others it was diagnosed late and neglected or not treated.

MEDICINE

Lasting treatment of hernia

Tension-free surgical hernia repair techniques have led to significant advancement in hernia surgery. This treatment method uses implantation of a piece of mesh made of advanced biomaterials and it is discussed by professor SvetozarSečen, MD, head of the colorectal surgery at the Clinic for Abdominal, Endocrine and Transplantation Surgery of the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina, also a consultant of the Bel Medic Hospital.
Inguinal and abdominal hernias are, after bile calculosis, is the most frequent pathology in abdominal surgery. Their only efficient treatment by surgery used to imply the conventional stitching of the surgical cut, often accompanied by repeated hernia relapse. Now, surgical hernia treatment has been improved by implanting prosthetic mesh made of new biomaterials which is most often a lasting solution to this problem. The key idea of this treatment is to create and new natural and strengthened abdominal wall.

ENERGY

Solarthermal collectors

For mankind to prevent negative climate change and curb the emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere, it is necessary to step up the introduction of renewable energy sources, including hydro, wind, and solar energy. The deadline for this change to happen is 2050/2060. The share of RES use at present is 10-20%. To produce 1 kWh it is necessary to combust about 1.2 kg of lignite of caloric value around 2,080 kcal/kg. during combustion, coal releases about 0.8 kg carbon dioxide.
Globally, at the end of 2014, the total surface of installed solar collectors was about 590 millionm2 of surface. China is the leader in this respect–with installed capacity of 289 GW, far ahead of other countries. Europe has installed about 47.5 GWth. The rest of the world has about 46.2.
European countries have a total of 68 million m2 of solar collector surface. Countries leading the way in this respect include Austria, Cyprus, Israel, and Greece.

ARCHAEOLOGY

Carbonated traces of ancient times

In Campagnia, a region in Southern Italy, there is the town of Ercolano in whose territory are the remains of one of the best preserved ancient settlements, Herculaneum. The name of the settlement is Greek, but before the Greeks, there was in this location a settlement of Samnites, Italic people famous for wars waged with the Romans.
Samnites have marked the centuries of history of Herculaneum or Heraklion as the Greeks called it. The managed to recapture the town in the 4th century BC, while the Romans captured the settlement three centuries later, after a major military campaign. The history of this ancient town ended with the eruption of the famous volcano Vesuvius in the year 79 AD, which preserved the town for future generations