Rapid development of resistance to existing antimalarial drugs stresses the need to find new antimalarials. Although various important biological activities of starfishes were reported, their antimalarial potential was not yet explored. This study investigates the antiplasmodial potential of Archaster typicus Müller & Troschel (Archasteridae), Culcita novaeguineae Müller & Troschel (Oreasteridae) and Linckia laevigata Linn. (Ophidiasteridae). Three ethanol extracts of starfishes (1-100 μg/mL) were evaluated for in vitro antimalarial activity against chloroquine sensitive (3D7) and resistant (Dd2) strain of Plasmodium falciparum strain in a 24 h schizont maturation assay. L. laevigata was further subjected to chromatographic analysis to isolate bioactive components. Cytotoxicity of the extracts and the isolated constituents (1-200 μg/mL) was measured against human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) and rat skeletal muscle cell line (L6) using MTT assay. L. laevigata extract showed highest antiplasmodial activity (IC50 36.17 and 47.66 μg/mL) against 3D7 and Dd2 strains of P. falciparum respectively. A. typicus (IC50 49.05 and 61.76 μg/mL) and C. novaeguineae (IC50 43.78 and 56.03 μg/mL) showed moderate activity. Based on bioassay results, L. laevigata was studied further and β-sitosterol (IC50 4.55 and 10.74 μg/mL), batilol (IC50 6.39 and 9.88 μg/mL), and 3-methylbenzene-1,2,4,5-tetrol (IC50 4.81 and 11.35) were isolated for the first time from this species. The compounds showed cytotoxicity against the HeLa and L6 cells with IC50 in the range of 20.67 to 67.34 μg/mL. L. laevigata emerged as a promising candidate for antimalarial treatment.

Abstract\nBackgrounds/Aim: Obstructive jaundice is a mechanical obstruction. We aimed to investigate the effect of alpha lipoic acid administration on rats with experimental obstructive jaundice in this study.\nMaterials and Methods: A total of 24 Wistar Albino rats were divided into 3 groups as a Sham group (Group I that only underwent laparotomy, n=8), a group with experimental obstructive jaundice where intraperitoneal alpha lipoic acid was administered at a dose of 50 mg/kg (Group II, n=8), and a group with obstructive jaundice only (Group III, control group, n=8). Group I only underwent median laparotomy. The bile duct was ligated in both Group II and III and 50 mg/kg/day alpha lipoic acid (a-LA) was administered intraperitoneally for ten days only in Group II. Blood samples were taken on the postoperative 3rd, 7th and 10th days and AST, ALT, GGT,ALP and Bilirubin levels were biochemically measured. The SOD and MDA values were determined in the liver of the rats sacrificed at the end of the 10th day. \nResults: The data from the study reveal that the AST, ALT, GGT and bilirubin levels decreased while the SOD and GPX levels increased and the MDA level also decreased in Group II compared to Group III. Alpha lipoic acid was found to significantly decrease the show a protective effect on the liver by decreasing inflammation, fibrosis and necrosis in liver tissue.\nConclusions:In conclusion, we believe that alpha lipoic acid contributes to the prevention of obstructive jaundice damage when administered intraperitoneally in rats with experimental obstructive jaundice.

It is well known that the significant part of the total energy consumption is related to the buildings today, so researches for improving energy efficiency in buildings are very important. This paper represents the investigations about dimensioning of horizontal roof overhangs in order to determine the minimum annual consumption of primary energy for heating, cooling and lighting of houses. In this investigation, embodied energy for horizontal roof overhangs was taken into account. The annual simulation was carried out for the residential building located in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Horizontal overhangs are positioned to provide shading of all exterior walls and windows of the building. The building is simulated in software package EnergyPlus environment. The optimization of the overhang size was performed by using Hooke Jeeves algorithm and plug-in GenOpt program. The objective function minimizes the annually consumption of primary energy for heating, cooling and lighting of the building and energy spent to build a horizontal roof overhangs. The simulation results show that the house with optimally sized overhangs consumed 7.1 % of primary energy less for heating, cooling and lighting, compared to the house without overhangs.

In the oil industry, many flammable products such as liquid hydrocarbons are usually stored in the atmospheric storage tanks. One type of these suitable tanks is the floating roof tanks. Among the floating roof tanks, external floating roof tanks are mainly used to store large quantities of petroleum products such as crude oil or condensate, gasoline, kerosene, etc. The purpose of this study is prioritizing the causes of fire and explosion in the external floating roof tanks.\nIn this study, firstly, the causes of fire and explosion of the external floating roof tanks were identified and then the obtained variables were scored by the process and safety specialists. In the next step, the causes were weighed and prioritized using the Analytic Network Process (ANP) method and Super Decisions software. \nThe findings of the study identified 11 main criteria and 71 sub-criteria for fire and explosion of external floating roof tanks. Results revealed that several effective risk factors in the fire and explosion are natural disasters, static electricity, operational error, faulty firefighting system, maintenance error, piping rupture/leak, equipment/instrument failure, open flames, tank crack/rupture, runaway reactions, and sabotage, respectively.\nThis study will help experts to identify the effective risk factors in fire and explosion in external floating roof tanks and their importance. Therefore, they can prioritize and implement the control measures to prevent fire and explosion incidents in external floating roof tanks.