Sex steroid hormones status influence on antidepressant pharmacotherapy effect in male and female patients

Depression causes immense burden on health care systems worldwide with two time s higher prevalence in women. However, both male and female patients are treated with antidepressants under same protocols. As it was demonstrated that estrogen has a prodepressant and testosterone an antidepressant affect, it is reasonable to assume that pharmacotherapeutic effect might depend also on sex hormones status. The aim of this pilot study was to explore hormonal status of female and male patients upon hospitalization on occurrence of depressive episode and to correlate it with pharmacotherapy effect after four weeks of therapy. Subjects were 42 patients, 14 males, 14 females in the first (follicular) phase of menstrual cycle and 14 females in the second (luteal) phase of menstrual cycle upon hospitalization. The Hamilton scale was used to determine degree of depressive state upon hospitalization an after 28 days. At both time points, blood was sampled and level of testosterone and estrogen for male and estrogen, progesterone and testosterone for female patients was analysed. Results of the study showed that antidepressant effect calculated as a difference in Hamilton scale was highest in male group of patients and significantly higher than in women in the second phase of the cycle (10.4 vs 8.1). This correlated with increase of testosterone in male patients during four weeks treatment (12.08 vs. 9.46), while there was no significant change in the level of testosterone in both female groups of patients. Furthermore, in female patients in the luteal phase of the cycle, with lowest response to antidepressants, both estrogen and progesterone were significantly reduced during four weeks of treatment. In conclusion, results of our pilot study suggest sex differences in response to antidepressant therapy and level of hormonal status should be evaluated for better personalized pharmacotherapy.The Biochemistry Global Summit, 25th IUBMB Congress, 46th FEBS Congress, 15th PABMB Congress, July 9–14, 2022, Lisbon, Portuga

Aflatoxins in milk and dairy products: Occurrence and exposure assessment for the serbian population

The main objective of this study was to assess the exposure associated with aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) of the adult population in Serbia from consumption of milk and dairy products. This assessment was performed using concentration values of AFM1 in raw milk (385 samples) and dairy products (556 samples) based on the analyses conducted in the period between 2015 and 2018. In parallel, a dairy products consumption survey was completed during 2018 based on ‘one-day’ and ‘seven-day’ recall methods. In order to estimate the intake of AFM1 from the consumption of dairy products for both recall methods, a Monte Carlo simulation was conducted. The study revealed that pasteurized milk and yogurt are dairy products mostly consumed by the Serbian adult population. Estimated daily intake of AFM1 was in the range of 62-74 × 10-3 ng/kg bw/day, depending on the recall methods and scenarios employed. Although the results show moderate exposure risks compared to similar studies worldwide, climatic conditions and weather extremes that have occurred recently may have negatively influenced the contamination of feed and, consequently, AFM1 contamination of milk. As a result, it is justifiable to promote continuous monitoring in feed and dairy supply chains in Serbia and provide an update of exposure assessment

Food safety and environmental risks based on meat and dairy consumption surveys

This paper gives an overview of the possibilities of using meat and dairy consumption studies in food safety and environmental risk scenarios. For both types of risk-based scenarios, common denominators are consumption patterns such as frequency and quantity of consumed food, demographic profile of consumers and food safety hazard or environmental impact of a specific type of food. This type of data enables development of simulation models where the Monte Carlo method is considered as a useful mathematical tool. Synergy of three dimensions - field research used in consumption studies, advanced chemometric tools necessary for quantifying chemical food safety hazards or environmental impacts and simulation models - has the potential to adapt datasets from various sources into useful food safety and/or environmental information

Cultivar-specific accumulation of iron, manganese, zinc and copper in winter wheat grain (Triticum aestivum L.)

© 2018, University of Zagreb - Faculty of Agriculture. All rights reserved. To ensure safe food production, cultivar specificity of mineral nutrition in winter wheat was studied in order to determine genotypic differences in the accumulation of several selected microelements (Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu). Soil properties, plant species and genotypes were found to be major factors affecting the uptake of microelements by wheat plants. The application of NPK fertilizers, manure and lime resulted in a decrease in Fe, Mn and Zn contents, but the decrease was not below the concentrations that would make the plants suffer from nutrient deficiencies. In all treatments, the ratio Fe/Mn was <1.5, indicating that iron was not physiologically active, due to which its function was taken over by manganese. The analysis of variance showed highly significant effects of cultivar and fertilization on grain yield and 1,000-grain weight

Hepatitis B screening in pregnant women in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia

The principal screening test for maternal infection is the serologic identification test for the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Data of HBsAg testing surveillance from all public and private laboratories in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Serbia, were collected. There were differences in the inclusion of pregnant women for HBsAg testing between the different counties in the province, ranging from 9% to 68% in Zapadnobački county and Severnobački county, respectively. Preventing perinatal transmission should be an important element in any national strategy for the control hepatitis B infection

Effect of long term fertilization on grain yield and yield components of winter triticale

Investigation about effect of high amounts of nitrogen and source of nutrition on winter triticale productivity was carried out in a stationary field trial in the Sumadija region, in Central Serbia. This study was conducted over a period of three years (2009-2011) on a vertisol soil to evaluate the effect of different fertilization methods on grain yield and yield components of winter triticale variety. Treatments included control and six fertilization variants with different combinations of NPK fertilizers (N, NK, NP1, NP2, NP1K, and NP2K). Investigation showed a considerable variation of grain yield depending on mineral nutrition. The highest and statistically significant average grain yields were achieved under NP1K (4.105 t ha(-1)) and NP2K (4.050 t ha(-1)) treatments. The combined use of NP1K fertilizers (120 kg N ha(-1), 60 kg P2O5 ha(-1), 60 kg K2O ha(-1)) and NP2K treatment (120 kg N ha(-1), 100 kg P2O5 ha(-1), 60 kg K2O ha(-1)) represented the excellent base for optimum stock of major nutrients, resulting in maximum grain yield. Thousand grain weight of triticale significantly varied across years, the highest average 1000-grain weight of winter triticale investigated was achieved in the NP1K variant (44.81 g). Grain yield was significantly positively correlated with 1000-grain weight only in all years

Grain yield and quality of two-row winter barley cultivars on an acid soil

© 2019, University of Zagreb - Faculty of Agriculture. All rights reserved. The experiment was established at the experimental field of the Dr. Đorđe Radić Secondary School of Agriculture and Chemistry in Kraljevo (Serbia) during the 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/13 growing seasons. The objective of the research was to evaluate the effect of genotype and the environment on the grain yield of winter barley cultivars (‘Jagodinac’, ‘Maksa’, ‘Rekord’, ‘NS 565’ and ‘NS 525’). The following characteristics were analysed: grain yield, 1,000 grain weight, test weight and plant height. The average grain yield of all cultivars in the 2010/11 growing season was significantly greater than in the following years, mostly as the result of highly favourable weather conditions at major stages of plant development. ‘Jagodinac’, ‘NS 565’ and ‘NS 525’ gave significantly higher grain yields in all years compared to ‘Maksa’ and ‘Rekord’. Averaged across years, significantly higher values for 1,000 grain weight and test weight were found in ‘NS 565’ and ‘Rekord’, respectively. In all years, plant height was significantly greater in ‘Jagodinac’ than in the other cultivars. Different responses of cultivars to variable agroenvironmental conditions in terms of 1,000 grain weight and test weight require the use of a number of cultivars in the crop structure

Prediction of heat generation in rubber or rubber-metal springs

The temperature of rubber or rubber-metal springs increases under cyclic loading, due to hysteresis losses and low rubber thermal conductivity. Hysteresis losses correspond to energy dissipation from the rubber, which is primarily converted into heat. This well-known phenomenon, called heat build-up, is the primary reason for rubber aging. Increase in temperature within the rubber compound leads to degradation of its physical and chemical properties, increase in stiffness and loss of damping capability. This paper presents a novel procedure of heat generation prediction in rubber or rubber-metal springs. The procedure encompasses the prediction of hysteresis loss, i. e. dissipated energy within the rubber, by finite element analysis and application of a modern visco-plastic rubber constitutive model. The obtained dissipated energy was used as an input for transient thermal analysis. Verification of the proposed procedure was performed by comparison of simulation results with experimentally obtained data during the dynamic loading of the rubber specimen. The proposed procedure is highly computationally efficient and it enables time integration, which can be problematic in coupled mechanical thermal analysis. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR35005: Research and Development of New Generation of Wind Turbines of High Energy Efficiency