The fungistatic activity of organic selenium and its application to the production of cultivated mushrooms agaricus bisporus and pleurotus spp.

The activity of organic selenium against pathogenic molds and its use as a potential selenium source in the production of enriched mushrooms were examined. The effect of commercial selenized yeast on mycelia growth was examined using a method with mycelia disks and a well diffusion method. For mushroom enrichment, different concentrations of selenium were added to a growth substrate. The results presented in this paper suggest that the most suitable concentration of selenized yeast that inhibits the growth of the mycopathogenic molds is 70-100 mg/kg of selenium. With the addition of this concentration to the substrate, mushroom fruit bodies will uptake a high level of selenium, about 100 mu g/g for Pleurotus spp., and 200 mu/g for Agaricus bisporus in dry weight of the mushroom. Thereby a double effect in the cultivation of mushrooms is achieved

Untargeted Lipidomics Study of Bipolar Disorder Patients in Serbia

The Lipidomic profiles of serum samples from patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and healthy controls (C) were explored and compared. The sample cohort included 31 BD patients and 31 control individuals. An untargeted lipidomics study applying liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) was conducted to achieve the lipid profiles. Multivariate statistical analyses (principal component analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis) were performed, and fifty-six differential lipids were confirmed in BD and controls. Our results pointed to alterations in lipid metabolism, including pathways of glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, glycerolipids, and sterol lipids, in BD patient sera. This study emphasized the role of lipid pathways in BD, and comprehensive research using the LC-HRMS platform is necessary for future application in the diagnosis and improvement of BD treatments

Metabolomic Profiling of Bipolar Disorder by 1H-NMR in Serbian Patients

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a brain disorder that causes changes in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to function. It has a prevalence of 60 million people worldwide, and it is among the top 20 diseases with the highest global burden. The complexity of this disease, including diverse genetic, environmental, and biochemical factors, and diagnoses based on the subjective recognition of symptoms without any clinical test of biomarker identification create significant difficulties in understanding and diagnosing BD. A 1H-NMR-based metabolomic study applying chemometrics of serum samples of Serbian patients with BD (33) and healthy controls (39) was explored, providing the identification of 22 metabolites for this disease. A biomarker set including threonine, aspartate, gamma-aminobutyric acid, 2-hydroxybutyric acid, serine, and mannose was established for the first time in BD serum samples by an NMR-based metabolomics study. Six identified metabolites (3-hydroxybutyric acid, arginine, lysine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, and glycerol) are in agreement with the previously determined NMR-based sets of serum biomarkers in Brazilian and/or Chinese patient samples. The same established metabolites (lactate, alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, glutamine, glutamate, glucose, and choline) in three different ethnic and geographic origins (Serbia, Brazil, and China) might have a crucial role in the realization of a universal set of NMR biomarkers for BD

Sexual violence at the universities in Serbia: raising awareness and developing innovative mechanisms of victim support - challenges and so far results

Research globally shows high levels of sexual violence (SV) at universities, which encompasses a wide range of acts: verbal comments and requests, non-verbal displays, quid pro quo acts, unwanted physical contact and rape. It has serious consequences for mental and physical health of students, including their academic achievements. Few studies in Serbia suggest that SV is present at the universities, but this topic is still under-researched. Serbian universities are often underequipped to recognize SV and provide support to victims; consequently, students are not encouraged to report and seek assistance. In order to raise awareness about SV at the universities and better equip Serbian universities to prevent and tackle cases of SV and support victims, Victimology Society of Serbia implement the project Sexual violence at the universities in Serbia: Raising awareness and developing innovative mechanisms of victim support. The project consists of two parts: research aimed at gathering data on extent and nature of SV against students at the universities and existing university policies and care pathways, and evidencebased intervention aimed at building capacity of university staff for proper response to SV cases, strengthening existing policies 16 and practices at the universities related to SV, and establishing cooperation among universities and victim support services in order to secure timely support for victims. Research was conducted online from March to May 2021 on a sample of 1597 students in four university centers in Serbia. Data on students’ experiences of SV victimization, their awareness about SV and existing mechanisms for assistance and support were collected. The aim of the round table is to present the project, and to focus on so far challenges and results through sharing experiences in data collection, some methodological issues and preliminary research findings, as well as challenges in developing and applying mechanisms for addressing cases of SV against students

1H-NMR metabonomic view on schizophrenia

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a brain disease leading to significant functional impairments and premature death, and it affects 20 million people worldwide. Due to the complexity of this disease including different genetic and environmental factors, there is a lack in understanding pathophysiology and diagnosis of schizophrenia. In order to overcome existing gaps, the establishment of a universal set of SCZ biomarkers has a crucial role. Metabonomic study of serum samples of Serbian patients with schizophrenia (51) and healthy controls (39) by 1H-NMR analyses associated with chemometrics, provided the identification of 26 metabolites/biomarkers for this disorder. The biomarker set including aspartate/aspartic acid, lysine, 2-hydroxybutyric acid, and acylglycerols was established for the first-time in SCZ serum samples of Serbian patients by 1H-NMR experiments. The other 22 identified metabolites are in agreement with the previously confirmed NMR-based serum biomarker sets of Brazilian and/or Chinese patient samples. The same 13 metabolites (lactate/lactic acid, threonine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, glutamine, asparagine, alanine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, choline, glucose, glycine and tyrosine) were established in all SCZ samples from three countries of different ethnicity and geographical origins (Serbia, Brazil and China). These results emphasize the crucial role in the possibility of their application as biomarkers for diagnosis of SCZ, reliable monitoring of treatment response and clinical outcomes

Poster presentation: 1H-NMR-based serum metabolomics of bipolar disorder patients

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a mental disorder that causes alteration of mood states including mania, depression, and euthymia and it is ranked as one of the leading causes of disability and premature mortality, with a prevalence of 60 million people worldwide. BD is a heterogenous illness including diverse genetic, environmental, and biochemical factors and its pathophysiology is still largely unknown. Diagnosis of BD exclusively depends on the subjective recognition of symptoms without any objective methods such as a clinical test of biomarker identification, instigating misdiagnosis, inadequate treatments and deficient clinical outcomes. 1H-NMR-based serum metabolomics of Serbian patients with BD (33) and healthy controls (39) contributed to identification of 22 metabolites for this disease. Threonine, aspartate, gamma-aminobutyric acid, 2-hydroxybutyric acid, serine, and mannose make a unique biomarker set, and were confirmed for the first time in BD Serbian serum samples. Additional six identified metabolites (3-hydroxybutyric acid, arginine, lysine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, and glycerol) are in accordance with the previously determined NMR-based sets of serum BD biomarkers in Brazilian and/or Chinese patient samples, while nine identified metabolites (lactate, alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, glutamine, glutamate, glucose, and choline) are the same established biomarkers in three different ethnic and geographic origins (Serbia, Brazil, and China). The same confirmed metabolites are an indicator of the right path in discovery of the universal set of BD biomarkers by NMR.Poster presented at 10th IAPC Meeting Tenth World Conference on Physico-Chemical Methods in Drug Discovery & Sixth World Conference on ADMET and DMPK, September 4-6, 2023, Belgrade, SerbiaAbstract:[https://cer.ihtm.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/7390

Poster presentation: 1H-NMR metabonomic view on schizophrenia

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a brain disease leading to significant functional impairments and premature death, and it affects 20 million people worldwide. Due to the complexity of this disease including different genetic and environmental factors, there is a lack in understanding pathophysiology and diagnosis of schizophrenia. In order to overcome existing gaps, the establishment of a universal set of SCZ biomarkers has a crucial role. Metabonomic study of serum samples of Serbian patients with schizophrenia (51) and healthy controls (39) by 1H-NMR analyses associated with chemometrics, provided the identification of 26 metabolites/biomarkers for this disorder. The biomarker set including aspartate/aspartic acid, lysine, 2-hydroxybutyric acid, and acylglycerols was established for the first-time in SCZ serum samples of Serbian patients by 1H-NMR experiments. The other 22 identified metabolites are in agreement with the previously confirmed NMR-based serum biomarker sets of Brazilian and/or Chinese patient samples. The same 13 metabolites (lactate/lactic acid, threonine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, glutamine, asparagine, alanine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, choline, glucose, glycine and tyrosine) were established in all SCZ samples from three countries of different ethnicity and geographical origins (Serbia, Brazil and China). These results emphasize the crucial role in the possibility of their application as biomarkers for diagnosis of SCZ, reliable monitoring of treatment response and clinical outcomes.Poster presented at 10th IAPC Meeting Tenth World Conference on Physico-Chemical Methods in Drug Discovery & Sixth World Conference on ADMET and DMPK, September 4-6, 2023, Belgrade, SerbiaAbstract: [https://cer.ihtm.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/7392

1H-NMR-based serum metabolomics of bipolar disorder patients

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a mental disorder that causes alteration of mood states including mania, depression, and euthymia and it is ranked as one of the leading causes of disability and premature mortality, with a prevalence of 60 million people worldwide. BD is a heterogenous illness including diverse genetic, environmental, and biochemical factors and its pathophysiology is still largely unknown. Diagnosis of BD exclusively depends on the subjective recognition of symptoms without any objective methods such as a clinical test of biomarker identification, instigating misdiagnosis, inadequate treatments and deficient clinical outcomes. 1H-NMR-based serum metabolomics of Serbian patients with BD (33) and healthy controls (39) contributed to identification of 22 metabolites for this disease. Threonine, aspartate, gamma-aminobutyric acid, 2-hydroxybutyric acid, serine, and mannose make a unique biomarker set, and were confirmed for the first time in BD Serbian serum samples. Additional six identified metabolites (3-hydroxybutyric acid, arginine, lysine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, and glycerol) are in accordance with the previously determined NMR-based sets of serum BD biomarkers in Brazilian and/or Chinese patient samples, while nine identified metabolites (lactate, alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, glutamine, glutamate, glucose, and choline) are the same established biomarkers in three different ethnic and geographic origins (Serbia, Brazil, and China). The same confirmed metabolites are an indicator of the right path in discovery of the universal set of BD biomarkers by NMR

NMR Metabolomics in Serum Fingerprinting of Schizophrenia Patients in a Serbian Cohort

Schizophrenia is a widespread mental disorder that leads to significant functional impairments and premature death. The state of the art indicates gaps in the understanding and diagnosis of this disease, but also the need for personalized and precise approaches to patients through customized medical treatment and reliable monitoring of treatment response. In order to fulfill existing gaps, the establishment of a universal set of disorder biomarkers is a necessary step. Metabolomic investigations of serum samples of Serbian patients with schizophrenia (51) and healthy controls (39), based on NMR analyses associated with chemometrics, led to the identification of 26 metabolites/biomarkers for this disorder. Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) models with prediction accuracies of 0.9718 and higher were accomplished during chemometric analysis. The established biomarker set includes aspartate/aspartic acid, lysine, 2-hydroxybutyric acid, and acylglycerols, which are identified for the first time in schizophrenia serum samples by NMR experiments. The other 22 identified metabolites in the Serbian samples are in accordance with the previously established NMR-based serum biomarker sets of Brazilian and/or Chinese patient samples. Thirteen metabolites (lactate/lactic acid, threonine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, glutamine, asparagine, alanine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, choline, glucose, glycine and tyrosine) that are common for three different ethnic and geographic origins (Serbia, Brazil and China) could be a good start point for the setup of a universal NMR serum biomarker set for schizophrenia

Evaluation of the universality of NMR metabolic fingerprints of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a very disabling mental disorder whose molecular basis is a combination of many factors still not completely understood, with a diagnosis based on observed behavior, the person's reported experiences and reports of others that are familiar with the person, with no objective test. Also, up to date, there are no reliable markers for monitoring the SCZ. NMR-metabolomics [1] reported in 2017 bring some of the possible markers from blood serum of SCZ individuals linked strongly with known dopamine, glutamate and GABA dysfunction in SCZ. As to verify if these findings are universal, we have compared the SCZ patients from geographically different environments and cited interesting SCZ characteristics. The first set of samples was collected in Belgrade, Serbia. 14 mental health patients (50% male) with 52.86 ± 7.27 years of age had a confirmed diagnosis of SCZ. The control group of 13 healthy individuals (69% male) had none of psychotic disorders, and individuals were 23.07 ± 2.79 years of age. Blood serum samples were collected and prepared for the analysis following the published methodology [1, 2]. NMR spectra were measured on a Bruker AVANCE III spectrometer (500.26 MHz for 1H). The spectra were acquired at 298 K with 128 scans and 32 k. The serum samples were prepared and measured as triplicates. On the other side, the group of individuals from Brazil that was matched in number, age, gender and history of mental illness with individuals from Serbia was previously described [1]. 1H NMR spectra were phase and baseline corrected using MestreNova and the lactate doublet was used as the chemical shift reference. The data were binned (0.005 ppm) in a spectral range 0.50 - 9.00 ppm, while the residual HDO peak (4.50-5.00 ppm) was excluded. Then, the data were normalized by the sum equal to 1000, the variables were mean centered and PCA and PLS-DA were performed using MATLAB. It was shown that the mental health patients have clearly different blood serum metabolites when compared to the healthy ones independently from where the samples were obtained with almost identical marker set. Also, it was shown that the samples are different metabolically when Brazilian and Serbian samples were compared. 1] L. Tasic et al., Schizophrenia Research 2017, 185, 182. [2] J. Pontes et al., Analytical Methods 2017, 9, 1078