Croatian genetic heritage: Y-chromosome story

The aim of this article is to offer a concise interpretation of the scientific data about the topic of Croatian genetic heritage that was obtained over the past 10 years. We made a short overview of previously published articles by our and other groups, based mostly on Y-chromosome results. The data demonstrate that Croatian human population, as almost any other European population, represents remarkable genetic mixture. More than 3/4 of the contemporary Croatian men are most probably the offspring of Old Europeans who came here before and after the Last Glacial Maximum. The rest of the population is the offspring of the people who were arriving in this part of Europe through the southeastern route in the last 10 000 years, mostly during the neolithization process. We believe that the latest discoveries made with the techniques for whole-genome typing using the array technology, will help us understand the structure of Croatian population in more detail, as well as the aspects of its demographic history

Benchmark based on application signature to analyze and predict their behavior

Currently, there are benchmark sets that measure the performance of HPC systems under specific computing and communication properties. These benchmarks represent the kernels of applications that measure specific hardware components. If the user’s application is not represented by any benchmark, it is not possible to obtain an equivalent performance metric. In this work, we propose a benchmark based on the signature of an MPI application obtained by the PAS2P method. PAS2P creates the application signature in order to predict the execution time, which we believe will be very adjusted in relation to the execution time of the full application. The signature has two performance qualities: the bounded time to execute it (a benchmark property) and the quality of prediction. Therefore, we propose to extend the signature by giving the benchmark capacities such as the efficiency of the application over the HPC system. The performance metrics will be performed by the benchmark proposed. The experimentation validates our proposal with an average error of prediction close to 7%.Instituto de Investigación en Informátic

The ultrastructural investigation of mitochondria in B-CLL cells during apoptosis

BACKGROUND: B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is an example of human malignancy caused by alternations in the pathways of apoptosis. Mitochondria play a critical role in the regulation of this process. The B-CLL cells dying in apoptosis showed typical morphological characteristics: the reduction of the nuclear volume is accompanied with the reduction of the cytoplasmatic volume, while many of organelles remain intact. The aim of our study was ultrastructural investigation of mitochondrial morphology in apoptotic B- CLL cells. METHODS: Our study included peripheral blood samples from 32 B-CLL patients. The samples were fixed in 4% glutar-aldehyde buffered in 0.1 cacodylate buffer and postfixed in 1% osmium tetroxide in the same buffer. The specimens were dehydrated in a graded series of alcohol and embedded in EPON 812. The ultra-thin sections were stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate. Ultrastructural analysis of sections was performed on Philips electron microscope 208S at 80 kV. RESULTS: The most frequent mitochondrial abnormalities in apoptotic B-CLL cells were a reduction of size with a hyperdensity of their matrix (mitochondrial pyknosis), or markedly swollen mitochondria with peripherally placed, disorientated, and disintegrated cristae. In some apoptotic cells, we also detected close association of mitochondria with loops of rough endoplasmatic reticulum. CONCLUSION: The results of our study showed the numerous of mitochondria damages in B-CLL cells during apoptotic process. The correlation between ultrastructural damage and functional activity of mitochondria in apoptotic B-CLL cells is still not clear and requires further investigation

Positron transport in water vapour

Transport properties of positron swarms in water vapour under the influence of electric and magnetic fields are investigated using a Monte Carlo simulation technique and a multi-term theory for solving the Boltzmann equation. Special attention is paid to the correct treatment of the non-conservative nature of positronium (Ps) formation and its explicit and implicit influences on various positron transport properties. Many interesting and atypical phenomena induced by these influences are identified and discussed. Calculated transport properties for positrons are compared with those for electrons, and the most important differences are highlighted. The significant impact of a magnetic field on non-conservative positron transport in a crossed field configuration is also investigated. In general, the mean energy and diffusion coefficients are lowered, while for the measurable drift velocity an unexpected phenomenon arises: for certain values of the reduced electric field, the magnetic field enhances the drift. The variation of transport coefficients with the reduced electric and magnetic fields is addressed using physical arguments with the goal of understanding the synergistic effects of Ps formation and magnetic field on the drift and diffusion of positrons in neutral gases

Supplementary data for article: Rakić, A. A.; Vukomanović, M.; Trifunović, S.; Travas-Sejdic, J.; Chaudhary, O. J.; Horský, J.; Ćirić-Marjanović, G. Solvent Effects on Dopant-Free PH-Falling Polymerization of Aniline. Synthetic Metals 2015, 209, 279–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.synthmet.2015.07.031

Supplementary material for: [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.synthmet.2015.07.031]Related to published version: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/1996

The ATM signaling network in development and disease

Altres ajuts: Marko Marjanović is supported by a Marie Curie Action (COFUND) within the European Union Seventh Framework ProgrammeThe DNA damage response (DDR) rapidly recognizes DNA lesions and initiates the appropriate cellular programs to maintain genome integrity. This includes the coordination of cell cycle checkpoints, transcription, translation, DNA repair, metabolism, and cell fate decisions, such as apoptosis or senescence (Jackson and Bartek, 2009). DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) represent one of the most cytotoxic DNA lesions and defects in their metabolism underlie many human hereditary diseases characterized by genomic instability (Stracker and Petrini, 2011; McKinnon, 2012). Patients with hereditary defects in the DDR display defects in development, particularly affecting the central nervous system, the immune system and the germline, as well as aberrant metabolic regulation and cancer predisposition. Central to the DDR to DSBs is the ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) kinase, a master controller of signal transduction. Understanding how ATM signaling regulates various aspects of the DDR and its roles in vivo is critical for our understanding of human disease, its diagnosis and its treatment. This review will describe the general roles of ATM signaling and highlight some recent advances that have shed light on the diverse roles of ATM and related proteins in human diseas

First Report of Fusarium equiseti as the Causal Agent of Seed Rot of Matthiola longipetala in Serbia

Matthiola longipetala (Vent) DC, commonly known as "night-scented stock" or "evening stock" is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Matthiola in the family Brassicaceae. It is a common garden flower, available in a variety of colours, many of which are heavily scented and also used in floristry. An elevated incidence of Fusarium was observed during a routine quality control seed assay of M. longipetala obtained from a private production facility in Đurđevo, Serbia in 2018. To our knowledge, this is the first report of F. equiseti as a causal agent of seed rot on M. longipetala in Serbia

A Monte Carlo simulation of ion transport at finite temperatures

We have developed a Monte Carlo simulation for ion transport in hot background gases, which is an alternative way of solving the corresponding Boltzmann equation that determines the distribution function of ions. We consider the limit of low ion densities when the distribution function of the background gas remains unchanged due to collision with ions. A special attention has been paid to properly treat the thermal motion of the host gas particles and their influence on ions, which is very important at low electric fields, when the mean ion energy is comparable to the thermal energy of the host gas. We found the conditional probability distribution of gas velocities that correspond to an ion of specific velocity which collides with a gas particle. Also, we have derived exact analytical formulas for piecewise calculation of the collision frequency integrals. We address the cases when the background gas is monocomponent and when it is a mixture of different gases. The developed techniques described here are required for Monte Carlo simulations of ion transport and for hybrid models of non-equilibrium plasmas. The range of energies where it is necessary to apply the technique has been defined. The results we obtained are in excellent agreement with the existing ones obtained by complementary methods. Having verified our algorithm, we were able to produce calculations for Ar$^+$ ions in Ar and propose them as a new benchmark for thermal effects. The developed method is widely applicable for solving the Boltzmann equation that appears in many different contexts in physics.Comment: 14 page

Supplementary data for the article: Ristić, P.; Todorović, T. R.; Blagojević, V.; Klisurić, O. R.; Marjanović, I.; Holló, B. B.; Vulić, P.; Gulea, M.; Donnard, M.; Monge, M.; Rodríguez-Castillo, M.; López-de-Luzuriaga, J. M.; Filipović, N. R. 1D and 2D Silver-Based Coordination Polymers with Thiomorpholine-4-Carbonitrile and Aromatic Polyoxoacids as Coligands: Structure, Photocatalysis, Photoluminescence, and TD-DFT Study. Crystal Growth & Design 2020, 20 (7), 4461–4478. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.0c00287

Supplementary material for: [https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.cgd.0c00287#]Related to published version: [https://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4200]Related to accepted version: [https://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4203

Electrocatalityc application of gold-polyaniline nanocomposite

Gold‒polyaniline (AuPANI) nanocomposite, with granular morphology of PANI and rod‒like Au nanoparticles (NPs) as dominate structure distributed in it, was prepared by interfacial polymerization method in an immiscible water/toluene biphasic system. Simultaneously with the aniline polymerization to polyaniline (PANI) by HAuCl4, as an oxidant, AuNPs are formed. AuPANI composite as green precipitate is collected from aqueous phase. Polyaniline in the composite is in the conductive emeraldine salt form (PANIES), with high amount of Au (28.85 wt %). Nanocomposite showed great electrocatalytic activity towards the electrochemical O2reduction reaction (ORR), with high ORR onset potential and high selectivity for O2reduction to water. This makes it a good candidate for a new class of Pt‒free ORR catalyst.Physical chemistry 2016 : 13th international conference on fundamental and applied aspects of physical chemistry; Belgrade (Serbia); 26-30 September 2016