Unpredictable spillovers among water uses? An analysis of agricultural, industrial, and household uses of water in the Balkans.

In times of water shortage, it becomes increasingly relevant for policymakers to understand the existing relationships between different types of water use, so as to encourage efficient water management. This article makes use of yearly data on agricultural, industrial, and household water use in the Balkan countries of Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia. It does so to identify the potential interactions among these three categories of water use.

The role of nuclear medicine in the diagnosis of spondylodiscitis.

Background: The diagnosis of spondylodiscitis can be difficult, because the patients history, subjective symptoms and physical findings are often inconclusive, particularly in the early stages.

Aim: To perform an overview on the role of nuclear medicine procedures with single photon emission tomography (SPET) and positron emission tomography (PET) tracers in the diagnosis of spondylodiscitis.

Materials And Methods: A literature review about bone scintigraphy, Gallium-67-citrate scintigraphy, labeled leukocytes scintigraphy and PET was performed.

Dopamine transporter binding in depressed patients with anhedonia.

Central dopaminergic dysfunction has been widely proposed as a common neurobiological correlate of the psychopathological expression of anhedonia. The dopamine transporter (DAT) is a predominantly presynaptic receptor that may play a critical role in the pathophysiology of dopaminergic transmission. The aim of our study was to evaluate DAT binding in a population of depressed patients with anhedonia.

Diagnostic approach to a rare case of osteoid osteoma of the astragalus.

A rare case of osteoid osteoma of the ankle of the left foot is discussed. Standard X-ray and MRI were negative. Triphasic bone scintigraphy followed by CT were performed.

Nuclear medicine in primary bone tumors.

Introduction: Conventional radiography is the method of choice to diagnose a primary bone tumor but in many cases it is necessary to integrate it with nuclear medicine scintigraphy using several radionuclides, including 67Ga, 201Tl, 99mTc-MIBI and especially 99mTc-diphosphonates. Recently a new technique has been recently introduced, that is positron emission tomography with 2(18F) fluoro-2 deoxy-D-glucose as radiopharmaceutical.

Objective: The specific purpose of this work is to show that nuclear medicine bone scanning is a very important method in the detection and diagnostic management of primary bone tumors.

[Scintigraphic diagnosis of Meckel's diverticulum using Tc-99m-pertechnetate].

Meckel's diverticulum (MD) is a well-known cause of lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage, particularly in the pediatric age group. The radionuclide 99mTc-pertechnetate has been found useful in visualizing MD which contain gastric mucosa. This test is predicated of the affinity of the isotope for the parietal cells of the gastric glands.

[Long-term scintigraphic follow-up study of the hip prosthesis].

The authors emphasize the importance of the bone scan in long-term follow-ups of total hip arthroplasty and describe some technical details of the examination. The changes revealed in the bone scan are confirmed by the operative report. Even though the number of patients in the study was relatively small, the fact that the bone scan taken of patients with cementless total hip replacements revealed no pathological changes is considered significant.

Scintigraphy in osteoid osteoma: problems related to differential diagnosis.

Scintigraphy is currently the most widely used and most reliable diagnostic instrumental test for the diagnosis of osteoid osteoma. Indications for its use are based on two considerations: 1) the need for preoperative confirmation of a suspected diagnosis based on clinical and radiographic findings; 2) the preoperative differential diagnosis from lesions which, either due to site or to atypical features, can mimic osteoid osteoma and are not easily identified. However, the high sensitivity of the test is associated with low specificity.

[Usefulness of radioisotopic methods in the study of the salivary glands].

The results achieved by dynamic and static salivary gland scintigraphy in 272 patients over a ten year time (January 1976-December 1985) are reported. On the basis of a semi-quantitative assessment of time/activity curves, dynamic studies prove to be the most suitable method for studying functional disorders (phlogosis, facial paralysis, etc.).

Impaired clearance of cholephilic anions in Rotor syndrome.

The behaviour of some cholephilic anions has been studied in three male patients (two of whom are brothers) affected with Rotor syndrome. The unconjugated bilirubin clearance was markedly reduced with impairment of the plasma-liver transfer constant rate (uptake defect). BSP retention at 45 min.

[Radioisotope study of urinary deformity pathology in childhood].

The role of radionuclide investigation of urinary tract pathology in pediatric patients (computerized radionuclide urography and radionuclide cystogram) is discussed. Advantages of reliable morphological and functional study with a non invasive, low radiation procedure are emphasized.

The hepatic excretion of 131I-rose bengal and 99mTc-IDA derivatives in Rotor's syndrome.

Bilirubin kinetics and hepatobiliary excretion of some exogenous anions (BSP, 131I-rose bengal, diethyl and parabutly-IDA labeled with 99mTc) were studied in three patients presenting with Rotor's syndrome. Two were brothers; a nonjaundiced fraternal twin of one of them was also evaluated. The hepatic clearance of the radiopharmaceuticals was impaired in the affected patients but the degree of impairment was different among the tested anions, i.

Functional study with 131I-rose bengal in chronic active hepatitis and nonactive cirrhosis using a three-compartment model.

The authors, using 131I-Rose Bengal, determined the fractional transfer constants of a three-compartmental model in 30 patients divided into two groups (chronic active hepatitis and nonactive cirrhosis) on a histological basis. Other functional indexes were also taken into consideration. In nonactive cirrhosis, the results show a greater impairment of Rose Bengal transfer from plasma to liver.

A computer-assisted method for semi-quantitative assessment of salivary gland diseases.

The authors report on a computer-assisted method that allows a semi-quantitative assessment of salivary gland function under normal and pathologic conditions. They illustrate some mathematical procedures suitable for this purpose and the results achieved in various salivary gland diseases.

The particular usefulness of radioisotope methods in some benign bone diseases.

The authors have performed radioisotope examinations in 271 patients with various non-neoplastic bone diseases. According to their opinion, early diagnosis and follow-up of therapeutic results are the main characteristics which allow radioisotopes to play an important and irreplaceable role. They particularly emphasize the usefulness of radioisotope methods in femoral aseptic necrosis and Paget's disease.