Western Balkan as a sub-complex in the theory of regional security complex

Предметно истраживање засновано је на Копенхашкој школи студија безбедности и Теорији регионалног безбедносног комплекса чији је један од твораца Бери Бузан. По Бузану је безбедност тежња ка слободи од претњи. Данас је концепт безбедности значајно комплекснији чему свакако доприноси природа савремених безбедносних изазова, ризика и претњи која је таква да се оне пре свега генеришу на регионалном нивоу, у регионалном контексту. Теорија регионалног безбедносног комплекса тврди да су државе у релативном интензитету безбедносних односа и безбедносне међузависности диктираних карактеристичним регионалним обрасцима понашања, а да су ти обрасци обликовани дистрибуцијом моћи и историјским релацијама пријатељства и непријатељства, те да државе међусобне односе уређују према извору њихове рањивости. Судбина ових држава је да су закључане у географски непосредној близини па тиме и повезане у мери да се њихове националне безбедности не могу посматрати одвојено и да се њихови безбедносни проблеми не могу разумети одвојено. Централна идеја оваквог теоријског приступа је да претње брже и лакше путују преко краћих него дужих дистанци, па је с тога циљ да се дође до одговора зашто се нека безбедносна динамика одвија у конкретном региону. Предмет истраживања ове докторске дисертације је како су безбедносни интеграциони процеси утицали на еволуирање балканског поткомплекса у периоду од 2003. до 2017. године. У Теорији регионалног безбедносног комплекса промене које могу преобликовати регион/подрегион и односи који доводе до таквих промена су главна карактеристика поткомплекса. На простору Западног Балкана се десило низ промена, одређени процеси још увек нису завршени, постоји низ отворених питања која чине његову безбедносну структуру што има за резултат издвајање Западног Балкана као посебног безбедносног поткомплекса. У ту сврху истраживани су узроци који су довели државе Западног Балкана у међусобну интеракцију и међузависност, њихов однос према претњама и рањивостима које долазе изнутра, из самог региона, и оним које долазе споља, из других региона, интеграциони процеси и унутрашњи друштвени контекст ових држава, њихови међусобни односи и сарадња као својеврстан облик колективне безбедности. Наведени параметри проверени су кроз три студије случаја које чине централну идеју истраживањаThe subject research is based on the Copenhagen School of Security Studies and Regional Security Complex Theory, co-authored by Barry Buzan. According to Buzan, security is the pursuit of freedom from threats. Today, the concept of security is much more complex, which is certainly due to the nature of contemporary security challenges, risks and threats that are primarily generated at the regional level, in a regional context. The theory of regional security complex claims that states are in the relative intensity of security relations and security interdependencies dictated by characteristic regional patterns of behavior, and that these patterns are shaped by the distribution of power and historical relations of friendship and hostility, and that states regulate mutual relations by the source of their vulnerability. The fate of these states is that they are locked in geographically close proximity and thus linked to the extent that their national security cannot be viewed separately and that their security problems cannot be understood separately. The central idea behind this theoretical approach is that threats travel faster and easier over shorter than longer distances, so the aim is to answer why some security dynamics take place in a particular region. The subject of this doctoral dissertation is how security integration processes have influenced the evolution of the Balkan subcomplex from 2003 to 2017. In Regional Security Complex Theory, changes that can reshape a region / subregion and the relationships that lead to such changes are a major feature of the subcomplex. A number of changes have taken place in the Western Balkans, certain processes have not yet been completed, there are a number of open issues that make it a major security constitution, resulting in the isolation of the Western Balkans as a separate security subcomplex. For this purpose, the causes that have brought the Western Balkan countries into interaction and interdependence were explored, their relationship to threats and vulnerabilities that come from within the region and from outside, from other regions, the integration processes and the internal social context of these countries, their mutual relations and cooperation as a kind of collective security. The above parameters were verified through three case studies that form the central idea of the researc

Stvaranje azot-monoksida izazvano bradikininom nije dovoljno za indukciju gama-globina

Introduction Hydroxycarbamide, used in therapy of hemoglobinopathies, enhances nitric oxide (NO) production both in primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human bone marrow endothelial cell line (TrHBMEC). Moreover, NO increases γ-globin and fetal hemoglobin levels in human erythroid progenitors. Objective In order to find out whether simple physiologic stimulation of NO production by components of hematopoietic microenvironment can increase γ-globin gene expression, the effects of NO-inducer bradykinin were examined in endothelial cells. Methods The study was performed in co-cultures of human erythroid progenitors, TrHBMEC and HUVECs by ozone-based chemiluminescent determination of NO and real-time quantitative RT-PCR. Results In accordance with previous reports, the endogenous factor bradykinin increased endothelial cell production of NO in a dose- and time-dependent manner (0.1-0.6 μM up to 30 minutes). This induction of NO in HUVECs and TrHBMEC by bradykinin was blocked by competitive inhibitors of NO synthase (NOS), demonstrating NOS-dependence. It has been shown that bradykinin significantly reduced endothelial NOS (eNOS) mRNA level and eNOS/s-actin ratio in HUVEC (by twofold). In addition, bradykinin failed to increase γ-globin mRNA expression in erythroid progenitors only, as well as in co-culture studies of erythroid progenitors with TrHBMEC and HUVEC after 24 hours of treatment. Furthermore, bradykinin did not induce γ/β globin ratio in erythroid progenitors in co-cultures with HUVEC. Conclusion Bradykinin mediated eNOS activation leads to short time and low NO production in endothelial cells, insufficient to induce γ-globin gene expression. These results emphasized the significance of elevated and extended NO production in augmentation of γ-globin gene expression.Uvod Hidroksikarbamid, koji se koristi u lečenju hemoglobinopatija, podstiče stvaranje azot-monoksida (NO) kako u primarnim ljudskim endotelnim ćelijama pupčane vene (HUVEC), tako i u izmenjenoj endotelnoj ćelijskoj liniji poreklom iz koštane srži (TrHBMEC). Štaviše, NO povećava stvaranje γ-globina i fetalnog hemoglobina u ljudskim progenitorima eritropoeze. Cilj rada Da bismo ustanovili da li jednostavna fiziološka stimulacija stvaranja NO od komponenti mikrosredine hematopoeze može povećati ekspresiju γ-globinskog gena, ispitivali smo efekte bradikinina, već poznatog stimulatora stvaranja NO. Metode rada Studija je izvedena u zajedničkim kulturama ljudskih progenitora eritropoeze sa TrHBMEC ili HUVEC i ispitivana hemiluminiscentnim merenjem NO posredstvom ozona, kao i primenom kvantitativnog RT-PCR na genskom nivou. Rezultati U skladu s prethodnim izveštajima, pokazali smo da endogeni faktor bradikinin povećava stvaranje NO u endotelnim ćelijama na dozno i vremenski zavisan način (0,1-0,6 μM do 30 minuta). Ovo stvaranje NO u HUVEC i TrHBMEC izazvano bradikininom blokirano je od strane konkurentskih inhibitora NO-sintaze (NOS), pokazujući NOS-zavisnost. Utvrdili smo da bradikinin značajno smanjuje stvaranje iRNK endotelne forme NOS (eNOS), kao i odnos eNOS i β-aktina u HUVEC (dvostruko manje). Pored toga, bradikinin ne povećava ekspresiju iRNK γ-globinskog gena ni u zasebnim progenitorima eritropoeze, niti u zajedničkim kulturama progenitora eritropoeze sa TrHBMEC ili HUVEC posle 24 sata tretmana. Bradikinin ne menja ni odnos γ i β globina u zajedničkim kulturama progenitora eritropoeze sa HUVEC. Zaključak Aktivacija eNO_ izazvana bradikininom dovodi do kratkog i malog povećanja NO u endotelnim ćelijama, što je nedovoljno da podstakne ekspresiju gena za γ-globin. Ovi rezultati naglašavaju važnost povećanog i produženog stvaranja NO radi stimulacije ekspresije γ-globina

Reintroduction of the European beaver (Castor fiber L.) into Serbia and return of its parasite: The case of Stichorchis subtriquetrus

After becoming extinct in the second half of the 20th century, the European beaver (Castor fiber L., 1758) was successfully reintroduced from Bavaria into Serbia during 2004-2005. In the necropsy of an adult female beaver (found dead in December of 2007), we discovered some parasites identified as Stichorchis subtriquetrus in the colon and peritoneal area. This is the first occurrence of the given specific parasite of beavers in Serbia. Decoding of a subcutaneous implanted microchip has confirmed that our specimen was one of the released beavers. We therefore conclude that the parasite in question was reintroduced into Serbia with the beavers originating from Bavaria.Nakon nestanka u drugoj polovini XX veka, evropski dabar (Castor fiber L. 1758) je tokom 2004-2005. godine, uspešno reintrodukovan sa područja Bavarske u Srbiju. Tokom obdukcije jedne adultne ženke(pronađena mrtva u decembru 2006) pronašli smo parazite u želucu koji su identifikovani kao Stichorchis subtriquetrus. To je prvi nalaz ovog specifičnog parazita dabra u Srbiji. Dekodiranjem subkutano implantiranog mikročipa, potvrđeno je da pronađena ženka jedna od 20 jedinki koje su decembra 2004. godine naseljene na području Specijalnog rezervata prirode Obedska bara. Ova činjenica nam sugeriše da je parazit neželjeno reintrodukovan u Srbiju zajedno sa dabrovima koji su poreklom iz Bavarske naseljavani u Srbiju.Projekat ministarstva br. TR 2001

Efekti IL-17 na funkcionalnu aktivnost ćelija periferne krvi

Interleukin-17 (IL-17) is a proinflammatory cytokine produced mainly by activated CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, while its specific receptor is ubiquitously distributed. The inflammatory capacity of IL-17 is based on its ability to stimulate a wide range of stromal cells to produce and release a number of proinflammatory mediators, some with a known impact on hematopoiesis particularly granulopoiesis. Recent data indicate a role for IL-17 in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory diseases, transplant rejection and tumor growth. The purpose of this study was to determine functional responses including the respiratory burst, nitric oxide (NO) production, adhesiveness and metabolical activity/viability of human peripheral blood leukocytes (total white blood cells, mononuclear cells and granulocytes) from healthy donors in the presence of recombinant human (rh)IL-17. The obtained results showed that rhIL-17 did not induce significant changes in the respiratory burst, NO production, and metabolical activity of each peripheral blood cell fraction the tested, while a slight increase in phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) stimulated adhesiveness of granulocytes and mononuclear cells was noted. The absence of significant changes in tested functional activities of various peripheral blood cells suggests that IL-17 does not express its proinflammatory ability in steady-state, since the requirement for its action really does not exist.Interleukin 17 (IL-17) je proinflamatorni citokin koga produkuju aktivirane CD4+ i CD8+ T ćelije, dok je njegov receptor ubikvitarno distribuiran. Inflamatorni kapacitet IL-17 se zasniva na njegovoj sposobnosti da stimuliše širok spektar stromalnih ćelija da produkuju i oslobađaju različite proinflamatorne medijatore, među kojima neki imaju efekte na hematopoezu posebno granulopoezu. Dosadašnji podaci ukazuju na ulogu IL-17 u patogenezi različitih inflamatornih bolesti, odbacivanju transplanta i razvoju tumora. Cilj ovog rada je bio da se odrede funkcionalni odgovori, uključujući respiratorni prasak, produkciju azot monoksida (NO), adhezivnost i metaboličku aktivnost/vijabilnost različitih ćelija periferne krvi (ukupnih leukocita, mononuklearnih ćelija i granulocita) zdravih donora, u prisustvu IL-17. Dobijeni rezultati su ukazali da IL-17 ne dovodi do značajnih promena respiratornog praska, produkcije NO i metaboličke aktivnosti ćelija periferne krvi, ali da uzrokuje blago povećanje forbol-12-miristat-13-acetat (PMA) stimulisane adhezivnosti granulocita i mononuklearnih ćelija. Odsustvo značajnih promena u ispitivanim funkcionalnim aktivnostima različitih ćelija periferne krvi, ukazuje da IL-17 ne eksprimira proinflamatorno dejstvo kod zdravih osoba, jer najverovatnije i ne postoji potreba za njegovim delovanjem

Primena neravnotežne plazme u medicini

The potential of plasma applications medicine, the connections to nanotechnologies and the results obtained by our group are reviewed. A special issue in plasma medicine is the development of the plasma sources that would achieve non-equilibrium at atmospheric pressure in an atmospheric gas mixture with no or only marginal heating of the gas, and with desired properties and mechanisms that may be controlled. Our studies have shown that control of radicals or chemically active products of the discharge, such as ROS (reactive oxygen species) and/or NO, may be used to control the growth of the seeds. Simultaneously, a specially designed plasma needle and other sources were shown to be efficient to sterilize not only colonies of bacteria but also plank- tonic samples (microorganisms protected by water) or bio films. Finally, it was shown that a plasma might induce differentiation of stem cells. Non-equilibrium plasmas may be used in detection of different specific markers in medicine. For example proton transfer mass spectroscopy may be employed in the detection of volatile organic compounds without their dissociation and thus as a technique for instantaneous measurement of the presence of markers for numerous diseases.U ovom radu dat je pregled primene plazme u medicini, povezanost sa nanotehnologijama i rezultate na ovom polju koje je postigla naša grupa. Poseban problem u plazma medicini je razvoj izvora plazme koji bi radili u neravnotežnim uslovima na atmosferskom pritisku i u smeši gasova kakva je u atmosferi uz zanemarljivo grejanje gasa i sa željenim karakteristikama koje se mogu podešavati po želji. Naša istraživanja su pokazala da se kontrola prisustva radikala i drugih hemijski aktivnih čestica kao što su reaktivne kiseonične čestice (ROS) i/ili NO, može koristiti za kontrolu klijanja semenki. U isto vreme je dokazano za posebno konstruisanu plazma iglu da može efikasno da steriliše ne samo kolonije bakterija već i planktonske uzorke (mikroorganizme zaštićene vodom) pa i biofilmove. Na kraju, mi smo pokazali da plazma može da indukuje diferencijaciju matičnih ćelija. Neravnotežna plazma se može koristiti za detekciju raznih specifičnih markera u medicini. Na primer masena spektroskopija na bazi izmene protona može da se koristi za detekciju isparivih organskih jedinjenja bez njihove disocijacije i na taj način se može ostvariti trenutna detekcija markera za brojne bolesti iz daha

Antifungal activity of essential oil Hyssopus officinalis L. against micopathogen Mycogone perniciosa (Mang)

The most commonly cultivated mushroom species is the Agaricus bisporus Lange (Imb). One of the major pathogenic diseases of the cultivated mushroom in Serbia is Mycogone perniciosa (Mang). Biological control systems are not much used in mushroom cultivation. Medical and aromatic plants have been placed in the focus of intense studies. Pure culture of the M. perniciosa was isolated from infected A. bisporus. The essential oil of Hyssopus officinalis L. is used as a potential antifungal agent. The most abundant components in oil are isopinocamphone (43.29%), pinocamphone (16.79%) and b-pinene (16.31%). Antifungal activity of Hyssop was investigated by the modified microatmosphere method. The minimal inhibitory quantity was 5 μL/mL and a minimal fungicidal quantity was 15-20 μL/mL. There is no report on the use of Hyssop essential oil in mushroom disease.Agaricus bisporus Lange (Imb) je najčešće komercijalno gajena jestiva gljiva Različiti mikroorganizmi gljive, bakterije i virusi su izazivači bolesti u gajilištima šampinjona. Mycogone perniciosa (Mang) je izazivač bolesti poznate pod nazivom vlažni mehur i najčešći uzročnik gubitaka u gajilištima u Srbiji. Biološka kontrola, koja je uspešno primenjivana na nekim poljoprivrednim kulturama, nije korišćena prilikom uzgoja gljiva. Jedna od mogućnosti je primena biljnih sprejova. Lekovite i aromatične vrste biljaka se intenzivno istražuju kao mogući antifungalni agensi. Uzorci obolelih šampinjona su sakupljani u gajilištima u Srbiji. Kulture M. perniciosa su izolovane sa obolelih plodonosnih tela A. bisporus. Korišćeno je etarsko ulje Hyssopus officinalis. Najzastupljenije komponente ulja su izopinokamfon (43.29%) trans-pinokamfon (16.79%) i b-pinen (16.31%). Antifungalna aktivnost etarskog ulja izopa ispitivana je modifikovanom "mikroatmosfera"- metodom. Minimalna inhibitorna količina je bila 5 μL/mL, a minimalna fungicidna količina 15-20 μL/mL. Velik broj preparata je napravljen i primenjen za kontrolisanje oboljenja pečuraka: fungicidi, primena mikrotalasa ili dejstvo nekih antagonističkih bakterija. Dosad nije bilo saopštenja o primeni etarskog ulja izopa protiv izazivača bolesti gajenih gljiva.nul

Morpho-physiological characteristics and interactions of isolates of Mycogone perniciosa (Magnus) Delacr

Mycogone perniciosa (Magnus) Delacr., which causes wet bubble disease of Agaricus bisporus Lange (Imb), results in a considerable crop loss on mushroom farms in Serbia. The isolation and identification of five isolates of M. perniciosa from diseased fruit bodies of white button mushroom from mushroom units in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Holland were made. Morpho-physiological characteristics and inter-relationships of the obtained isolates were studied. Macroscopic and microscopic investigations of different zones between colonies of the isolates of M. perniciosa revealed the phenomenon of the hyphal interference between different isolates. The obtained results suggest that hyphal interference could serve as an additional parameter for a more reliable determination of fungal specifity.Mycogone perniciosa (Magnus) Delacr., izazivač oboljenja mokre truleži najčešći je uzročnik gubitaka u gajilištima Agaricus bisporus Lange (Imb) u Srbiji. Izvršena je izolacija i identifikacija 5 izolata M. perniciosa sa obolelih plodonosnih tela šampinjona iz gajilišta u Srbiji, Bosni i Hercegovini i Holandiji. Ispitivane su morfo-fiziološke karakteristike kao i stepen srodnosti proučavanih izolata na osnovu analize međusobnog delovanja kolonija, odnosno korišćenjem fenomena hifalne interferencije. Makroskopska i mikroskopska istraživanja odnosa izolata i dobijeni rezultati ukazuju da hifalna interferencija može predstavljati dodatni parametar u razlikovanju izolata M. perniciosa. Izolati dobijeni iz gajilišta u Srbiji slični su međusobno, kao i izolati iz Holandije koji su pokazali međusobnu sličnost ali se razlikuju od prethodnih. Izolati iz Bosne i Hercegovine razlikovali su se i od srpskih i od holandskih.Projekat ministarstva br. 14304

The effect of a plasma needle on bacteria in planktonic samples and on peripheral blood mesenchymal stem cells

In this paper, we study the application of a plasma needle to induce necrosis in planktonic samples containing a single breed of bacteria. Two different types of bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), were covered in this study. In all experiments with bacteria, the samples were liquid suspensions of several different concentrations of bacteria prepared according to the McFarland standard. The second system studied in this paper was human peripheral blood mesenchymal stem cells (hPB-MSC). In the case of hPB-MSC, two sets of experiments were performed: when cells were covered with a certain amount of liquid (indirect) and when the cell sample was in direct contact with the plasma. Most importantly, the study is made with the aim to see the effects when the living cells are in a liquid medium, which normally acts as protection against the many agents that may be released by plasmas. It was found that a good effect may be expected for a wide range of initial cell densities and operating conditions causing destruction of several orders of magnitude even under the protection of a liquid. It was established independently that a temperature increase could not affect the cells under the conditions of our experiment, so the effect could those hPB-MSC that were not protected by a liquid, gas flow proved to produce a considerable effect, presumably due to poor adhesion of the cells, but in a liquid the effect was only due to the plasma. Further optimization of the operation may be attempted, opening up the possibility of localized in vivo sterilization

Simultaneous Optimization of Both Node and Edge Conservation in Network Alignment via WAVE

Network alignment can be used to transfer functional knowledge between conserved regions of different networks. Typically, existing methods use a node cost function (NCF) to compute similarity between nodes in different networks and an alignment strategy (AS) to find high-scoring alignments with respect to the total NCF over all aligned nodes (or node conservation). But, they then evaluate quality of their alignments via some other measure that is different than the node conservation measure used to guide the alignment construction process. Typically, one measures the amount of conserved edges, but only after alignments are produced. Hence, a recent attempt aimed to directly maximize the amount of conserved edges while constructing alignments, which improved alignment accuracy. Here, we aim to directly maximize both node and edge conservation during alignment construction to further improve alignment accuracy. For this, we design a novel measure of edge conservation that (unlike existing measures that treat each conserved edge the same) weighs each conserved edge so that edges with highly NCF-similar end nodes are favored. As a result, we introduce a novel AS, Weighted Alignment VotEr (WAVE), which can optimize any measures of node and edge conservation, and which can be used with any NCF or combination of multiple NCFs. Using WAVE on top of established state-of-the-art NCFs leads to superior alignments compared to the existing methods that optimize only node conservation or only edge conservation or that treat each conserved edge the same. And while we evaluate WAVE in the computational biology domain, it is easily applicable in any domain.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure