The Frequency of Micronuclei among Newborns from Kragujevac, Central Serbia, after NATO Bombing in the Spring of 1999

Kragujevac, as an important industrial and economic center of the region, is now placed on the top of the list of environmentally endangered cities in our country. The aim of this biomonitoring study was to evaluate cytogenetic damage in a sample of newborns from Kragujevac after contamination of the environment entailed by the intensive bombing of the industrial zone of this city in the spring of 1999. The frequency of micronuclei (MN) in peripheral blood lymphocytes in a total of 61 phenotypically healthy newborns was analyzed before and after the NATO bombing. Analysis of micronuclei has been performed using the cytokinesis-block technique (CB MN test). Average MN frequency in lymphocytes of newborns before the bombing (N = 25) was 5.77 ± 0.85/1000 analyzed cells. After the bombing (N = 36), the average frequency of MN increased by a factor of 1.4 (8.11 ± 0.85), compared to the control frequency before the bombing. Statistical difference (p < 0.05) was established by Student's t-test. Our data suggest that such changes in genetic material were a direct consequence of contamination of the living environment.     

Cybernetic formulation of control in ecosystems

Hierarchical control formulations are given for a simple predator-prey model: self-optimization of one subsystem, natural multi-goal optimization, man's multiparameter control of an ecosystem and man's control of a self-optimizing ecosystem. Natural multigoal optimization suggests how several levels of an ecosystem can be optimized simultaneously. The idea of management of a self-optimizing ecosystem takes into account the reactions of the ecosystem to man's activity.     

Natural control mechanisms in models of aquatic ecosystems

Based on cybernetic categories of natural control mechanisms, four generations of ecosystem models are distinguished: feed-forward, feedback, self-adaptation and self-organization models. The analysis of the natural control mechanisms in aquatic ecosystems suggests that different processes are controlled in different ways, and, although the four mechanisms were identified in historical sequence, they all operate simultaneously. The concept of self-organization of an ecosystem is introduced and specified for a model of an aquatic pelagic ecosystem. The concept of the ecosystem as a multilayer, multigoal and multiechelon hierarchical system with hierarchy of the levels of biological organization is also introduced.     

Winter arsenic pollution in 10 forest ecosystems in the mountainous border regions of the Czech Republic

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Arsenic (As) concentrations and deposition fluxes were measured in snow and rime at 10 mountain-top sites near the borders between the Czech Republic...