Soil erosion has been occurring over the geological time. Inappropriate human activities accelerate this process. Soil erosion by water is a widespread problem throughout Europe. The South and Southeast regions of Europe are significantly prone to water erosion. In parts of the region, erosion has reached a stage of irreversibility and in some places erosion has practically ceased because there...

Purpose – The peoples living in the Balkan Peninsula over centuries have created a very rich cultural heritage and the constant political upheavals in the region have affected the development and preservation of their cultures. This paper aims to review the internet infrastructure and networked readiness levels of the Balkan countries, which are conducive to scientific co-operation and preserva...

The Balkan Cities Association of Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation and Artificial Organs (BANTAO) was born in Ohrid (Figure 1), Republic of Macedonia, on 9 October 1993 at the first Congress of the Macedonian Society of Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation and Artificial Organs (MSNDTAO) [1]. At that very moment, bloody wars raged in former Yugoslavia. Fratricide, destruction and cruelty w...

We evaluated the role of exposure analysis in assessing whether ochratoxin A or aristolochic acid are the agents responsible for causing Balkan endemic nephropathy. We constructed a framework for exposure analysis using the lessons learned from the study of endemic goiter within the context of an accepted general model. We used this framework to develop an exposure analysis model for Balkan end...

The Balkan Wars of 1991–2002 were the deadliest confl icts in Europe since the Second World War – one dominated by ethnic cleansing resulting in over 100,000 deaths, many non-combatant civilians, with over a million people displaced from their traditional homes. The major parties in the 1991–1996 war were ethnic Croatians (Roman Catholic), Bosniacs (Muslims), and ethnic Serbs (Orthodox Christia...

The first overall clinical description of envenomings by the lowland populations of the Balkan adder (Vipera berus bosniensis) is provided by this study. Fifty-four incidents have been collected retrospectively from the south-western Hungarian and the northern Croatian distribution area of the taxon. There were five (9%) asymptomatic, 24 (44%) mild, 12 (22%) moderate, 12 (22%) severe, and one f...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Polyploidy in plants has been studied extensively. In many groups, two or more cytotypes represent separate biological entities with distinct distributions, histories and ecology. This study examines the distribution and origins of cytotypes of Alnus glutinosa in Europe, North Africa and western Asia. METHODS A combined approach was used involving flow cytometry and micros...

BACKGROUND HIV-1 epidemic in Western Europe is largely due to subtype B. Little is known about the HIV-1 in Eastern Europe, but a few studies have shown that non-B subtypes are quite common. In Albania, where a recent study estimated a ten-fold increase of AIDS incidence during the last six years, subtype A and B account for 90% of the know infections. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We invest...