Division of Occupational and Environmental Health

• Poison Control Centre (Head Željka Babić, PhD)

• Medicina rada Instituta za medicinska istraživanja i medicinu rada d.o.o.
  Director: Prim Jelena Macan, PhD, specialist in occupational and sports medicine

Contact:
tel: +385 1 4682 606, fax +385 1 2348 385

The Policlinic Medicina rada Instituta za medicinska istraživanja i medicinu rada is a limited liability company for services in occupational health and internal medicine.
The following health services are provided in the policlinic:

• pre-placement and periodical medical examination of employees
• diagnosis of occupational diseases
• evaluation of fitness for work
• clinical and toxicological opinions
• diagnosis of allergic diseases
• skin tests
• specific immunotherapy
• spirometry
• nasal and bronchoprovocation testing
• PEF monitoring
• determination of nitrogen oxides in exhaled air
• digital photoplethysmography
• Expert reports in the field of occupational health (prim. Jelena Macan, PhD), psychology, and toxicology
• Psychological tests

Toxicokinetics and health effects of toxic and essential elements

• interaction between toxic metals (cadmium, lead, mercury, aluminium) and essential elements (calcium, iron, zinc, copper, selenium) and the assessment of harmful effects on bodily functions and health conditions; effects on female reproductive system and perinatal effects;
• effects on male reproductive function;
• effects on blood pressure;
• effects on respiratory system and skin allergic disorders;
• effects on the activity of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide-dismutase, glutathione-peroxidase) and their contribution to certain health effects;
• effects on bone condition;
• effect of age, gender and lifestyle factors (dietary habits, smoking, alcohol consumption, stress) on metal status in the body;
• Assessment of human exposure to metals using biological monitoring of toxic and essential metals in groups of occupationally exposed and general population, as well as in vulnerable groups of people;
• Biological monitoring of indicator organisms and monitoring of metals and metalloids in the environment;
• Development of methods for quantitative analysis of various metals (Ag, Al, As, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr, Tl, Zn, U, V) in biological samples (human and animal) and environmental samples using the techniques of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and flame and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS);
• Testing newly synthesised complexing compounds and dietary regimes for reducing toxic metal body burden in laboratory rats
• Research on the development of models for the prediction of stability constants of coordination compounds based on the molecular valence connectivity index ³χ^v.We are currently studying three basic problems in the prediction of stability constants: the choice of reliable experimental data for the calibration of the model, writing an appropriate formula (graph) of the complex, and development of a proper form of the regression function. In a paper we also made a statistical analysis of 14 experimental and seven theoretical values for the stability constant of copper(II) mono-complex with glycine and found that theoretical values are in no way worse than the experimental ones. In a lecture, it was shown that models could be much improved if resonant structures were taken into account.Also, by way of a QSAR analysis A. Miličević joined a research group whose aim was to evaluate new oximes in creation of butyrylcholinesterase-based nerve agent bioscavenger. More than 1000 descriptors were tested, and for all data sets the most consistent models for pIC₅₀ were obtained with the Eccentric Connectivity Index, ξ^c. The models yielded r = 0.870, 0.950, 0.952 and 0.957, respectively, for the first (N = 9), second (N=12), and third (N=13) subset, and complete set (N=34).

• Development of new theoretical method of molecular mechanics (MM) for simulating and predicting physiochemical properties of low molecular complexes of transition metals and bioligands (for example, copper(II) amino acid complexes).
• Development of new force field MM (a set of potential energy functions and associated empirical parameters) applicable to simulations in gas phase (isolated systems) and condensed phase (solid phase, for example crystal; aqueous solution):
  • force field applicable FFW applicable to MM simulations in vacuum (isolated systems) and for simulations in crystal state
    (J. Sabolović, C. S. Tautermann, T. Loerting, K. R. Liedl, Modelling Anhydrous and Aqua Copper(II) Amino Acid Complexes: A New Molecular Mechanics Force Field Parametrization Based on Quantum Chemical Studies and Experimental Crystal Data. Inorganic Chemistry 42 (2003) 2268-2279)
  • force field applicable to MM simulations of tris(acetylacetonato)metal(III) complexes in the crystal state
    (J. Sabolović, Ž. Mrak, S. Koštrun, A. Janeković, Is the enthalpy of fusion of tris(acetylacetonato)metal(III) complexes affected by their potential energy in the crystal state? Inorganic Chemistry43 (2004) 8479-8489)
  • force field FFWa-SPCE applicable to MM simulations in vacuum and simulated crystale state, as well as to molecular dynamics (MD) simulations
    (J. Sabolović, V. Gomzi, Structure Prediction of Bis(amino acidato)copper(II) Complexes with a New Force Field for Molecular Modelling. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation5 (2009) 1940-1954)
• The most recently developed MM force field FFWa-SPCE is important because of its applicability in MD simulations and prediction of structural properties of bis(amino acidato)-copper(II) complexes in aqueous solutions, as detailed structural properties of low molecular metal complexes in solutions are generally unknown.
• Synthesis of complexes of transition metals with amino acids

In November 2014, the Croatian Institute for Health Protection and Safety at Work,   Croatian Society of Occupational Health of the Croatian Medical Association and Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health co-published professional guidelines Approach to Occupational Skin Diseases in Occupational Medicine.
The editors were Ana Bogadi Šare and Jelena Macan.

Croatian translation of documents:
Sonsmann F, Beaumann A, Wilke A, John S M, Sulfhorst B. Occupational skin diseases in the hairdressing trade – Medical reference document. EU Project SafeHair 2.0, University of Osnabruck, 2011.

Brochure for hairdressers

Original title:
Transnational ESF Project ‘A Close Shave’. Take care of your self! Skin prevention and ergonomics for hairdressers. Available by clicking here.

Occupational Health and Environmental Medicine Unit
T +385 1 2348 355
F +385 1 2348 385