Pregnancy outcome during the bombing of Yugoslavia from Mart 24 to June 9, 1999

Background/Aim. The aim of this study was to evaluate pregnancy outcome during the bombing of Yugoslavia in the period from March 24 to June 9, 1999. Methods. A retrospective study included a total of 81spontaneous abortion following XII gestation week, and 1448 deliveries, hospitalized in the regional hospital. The analyzed were: the incidence of spontaneous abortion, Cesarean section, post-term delivery, vaginal delivery following the previous Cesarean section within the period from March 24 to June 9, 1999, and compared to the same periods in 1998 and 2000 by the use of χ² and Kolgomorov-Smirnov tests. Results. Under the conditions of a three-month stress imposed by the bombing, significantly increased were the incidence of spontaneous abortion and vaginal delivery following the previous Cesarean section, while the incidence of Cesarean section and post-term delivery were decreased, but the incidence of perinatal outcome was paradoxically improved. The analysis of findings on admittance revealed that iterative Cesarean section was performed electively, close to the expected term of delivery, and vaginal delivery following the previous Cesarean section mainly two weeks before that term with the admittance finding confirming a high active stage pregnancy. Conclusions. Within the bombing, statistically significantly was increased the percentage of abortions after XII gestation week, and the biological duration of pregnancy was reduced. The reduced duration of pregnancy complete with the accelerated fetal mutation (also caused by the stress) resulted in better perinatal outcome, and statistically significantly lower percentage of Cesarean section

Transforming Growth Factor-Beta and Matrix Metalloproteinases: Functional Interactions in Tumor Stroma-Infiltrating Myeloid Cells

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is a pleiotropic factor with several different roles in health and disease. In tumorigenesis, it may act as a protumorigenic factor and have a profound impact on the regulation of the immune system response. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family that comprises more than 25 members, which have recently been proposed as important regulators acting in tumor stroma by regulating the response of noncellular and cellular microenvironment. Tumor stroma consists of several types of resident cells and infiltrating cells derived from bone marrow, which together play crucial roles in the promotion of tumor growth and metastasis. In cancer cells, TGF-beta regulates MMPs expression, while MMPs, produced by either cancer cells or residents' stroma cells, activate latent TGF-beta in the extracellular matrix, together facilitating the enhancement of tumor progression. In this review we will focus on the compartment of myeloid stroma cells, such as tumor-associated macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic and mast cells, which are potently regulated by TGF-beta and produce large amounts of MMPs. Their interplay and mutual implications in the generation of pro-tumorigenic cancer microenvironment will be analyzed

Structural Changes in Agriculture: Implications for the Economy of the Republic of Serbia

Agriculture of the Republic of Serbia plays an important role in the national economy, making it significantly different from agriculture of developed countries. Its contribution to the national economy is reflected in a still significant share in the gross domestic product, total employment, and trade balance. Despite the insufficient utilization level of available natural resources, agriculture in Serbia is a backbone of the economic development of rural areas. The research goal of the paper is to examine structural changes in Serbian agriculture in the following aspects: changes in the employment structure, plant and animal production, as well as a change in the share of agriculture in the gross domestic product and trade balance of Serbia. The analysis has been carried out in the period from 2002 to 2017 based on the data of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. Research results show that the Serbian agriculture has suffered significant changes in the analysed areas, resulting in its decreasing share in the overall employment and gross domestic product, but also in the slight increase of its share in the value of exports and imports

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in bipolar depression: Another puzzle of manic switch?

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Using possibility of QFD method for development of the "ready-to-go" package

Although quality function deployment (QFD) is the mostly used in the development of new products, the methodology is equally varied and applied as a packaging design/development tool. Due to the fact that the demands of the market, i.e. users are constantly changing, the designers of all products, as well as the designers of packaging for food products, must implement the introduced requirements on the newly design of its products. The goal of this paper was to explain the QFD method with the aim to understand the mode of its operation and implementation, with an explanation of its potential for practical application in the packaging design process, as well as to highlight all the advantages and disadvantages of this method. The goal of the implementation of QFD method during the development of the packaging, as one of the types of products, is to find exactly the features and functions of the customer, i.e. what the user expects from the packaging, i.e. by this method, customer\u27s voice transforms into new products that really meet their needs. It can be concluded that the application of QFD methods can reduce the length of the product development cycle, in this case the packaging, while simultaneously improving the quality and marketing of products in the market

Radiolytically synthesized nanocomposite materials based on poly(vinyl alcohol), chitosan and silver nanoparticles designed for biomedical application

Nanokompozitni hidrogelovi imaju potencijal primene u biomedicini za kontrolisano oslobaĎanje bioaktivnih komponenata. Razvoj koncepta hidrogel nanokompozita podrazumeva unapreĎenje fizičkohemijskih, mehaničkih i antibakterijskih svojstava u cilju rešavanja aktulenog problema rezistencije na antibiotike. Za sintezu hidrogel nanokompozita odabrani su poli(vinil alkohol) (PVA) i antibakterijske komponente: nanočestično srebro (Ag) i vodorastvorni hitozan (vr-CS)...Nanocomposite hydrogels have the potential for biomedical applications for the controlled release of bioactive components. The development of the concept of hydrogel nanocomposites involves improving the physicochemical, mechanical and antibacterial properties in order to solve the problem of antibiotic resistance. Materials that were chosen for the synthesis of the hydrogel nanocomposites are poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and antibacterial components: silver (Ag) nanoparticles and a water-soluble chitosan (ws-CS)..

SMAD3 is essential for transforming growth factor-beta 1-induced urokinase type plasminogen activator expression and migration in transformed keratinocytes

Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) stimulates the extracellular matrix degrading proteases expression and cell migration in order to enhance cancer cells malignancy. In the present study, we analysed the role of TGF-beta 1-induced Smad3 activation in the urokinase type plasminogen activator (uPA) production, as well as in cell migration and E-cadherin downregulation in transformed PDV keratinocyte cell line. TGF-beta 1 signalling was interfered by the chemical inhibitor of the TGF-beta 1-receptor 1 (ALK5), SB505124, and the specific Smad3 inhibitor, SiS3. Our results showed that TGF-beta 1 stimulates uPA expression directly through ALK5 activation. The inhibition of Smad3 strongly reduced the capacity of TGF-beta 1 to stimulate uPA expression, in parallel decreasing the uPA inhibitor plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) expression. In addition, the transient expression of dominant negative Smad3 mutant inhibited the TGF-beta 1-induced uPA promoter transactivation. Moreover, Smad3-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts were refractory to the induction of uPA by TGF-beta 1. The inhibition of both ALK5 and Smad3 dramatically blocked the TGF-beta 1-stimulated E-cadherin downregulation, F-actin reorganisation and migration of PDV cells. Taken together, our results suggest that the TGF-beta 1-induced activation of Smad3 is the critical step for the uPA upregulation and E-cadherin downregulation, which are the key events preceding the induction of cell migration by TGF-beta 1 in transformed cells

Spred2 inhibits TGF-beta 1-induced urokinase type plasminogen activator expression, cell motility and epithelial mesenchymal transition

TGF-beta 1 is a potent inductor of malignance in cancer cells. TGF-beta 1 stimulates the expression of extracellular matrix degrading proteases, cell migration and it is also involved in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In the present work, we analyzed the role of Spred2 in the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) stimulation, EMT and cell migration by TGF-beta 1. We found that both the expression of mRNA and the protein level of Spred2 were lower in transformed keratinocytes PDV compared with immortalized keratinocytes MCA-3D. The transient ectopic expression of Spred2 in PDV cells inhibited the TGF-beta 1-transactivated SRE-Luc reporter which is related with the ERK1,2 signal. The stable ectopic expression of Spred2 in PDV cells (SP cells) led to the loss of ERK 1,2 activation by TGF-beta 1, although Smad2 activation was not affected, and the knockdown of Spred2 enhanced the activation of ERK1,2 signal by TGF-beta 1. The increment of uPA expression induced by TGF-beta 1 was suppressed in SP cells. In contrast, the stimulus on PAI-1 expression was not affected and comparable to parental PDV cells. SP cells under TGF-beta 1 treatment were unable to display the EMT, since the overexpression of Spred2 abolished the TGF-beta 1-induced disruption of the E-cadherin cell to cell interactions, reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton and upregulation of the mesenchymal marker vimentin. Finally, SP cells could not respond to the TGF-beta 1 stimulus on cell migration. Taken together, the data in the present study suggests that Spred2 is a regulator of TGF-beta 1-induced malignance in transformed keratinocytes

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF THE BALKAN COUNTRIES IN THE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES SECTOR

The rapid technological development of the last decades has affected practically all areas of the economy, society, and culture. Almost every aspect of life and work in the modern world to a greater or lesser extent depend on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). The aim of this paper is to analize the ICT performance of ten Balkan countries and to highlight areas that need further improvement. The analysis is based on the data published by the International Telecommunication Union in annual Measuring the Information Society Report. The research is conducted through comparative analysis and benchmarking method. The ten best-positioned European countries in terms of ICT development represent the benchmark group. The analysis finds low level of national ICT performance of the Balkan countries compared to the selected European countries. The conclusions of this research may serve as guidelines for ICT policy makers in the observed economies

Effects of combined transcranial magnetic stimulation and sleep deprivation in the treatment of major depression

Cilj rada. Cilj ovog rada je procena efekata kombinovane primene repetitivne transkranijalne magnetne stimulacije (rTMS) niske frekvencije (1 Hz) i parcijalne deprivacije spavanja (PDS) kod osoba obolelih od major depresije, koje prethodno pokazuju nezadovoljavajući odgovor na dva različita antidepresiva (ispunjavaju kriterijume terapijske rezistencije). Uporedo sa dugoročnim praćenjem (do 6 meseci) efekata ovog tretmana, analiziran je i genetički BDNF Val66Met polimorfizam, kao mogući perimisivni faktor plasticiteta odgovoran za predikciju efikasnosti primenjenih terapijskih strategija. Ispitanici i metode. Ukupno 20 osoba obolelih od major depresije, koje su ispunjavale kriterijume terapijske rezistencije tretirano je na navedeni način kombinacijom rTMS i PDS, uporedo sa njihovom prethodnom medikamentoznom terapijom. Kombinovani protokol rTMS i PDS sprovodio se tokom dve uzastopne nedelje, i za to vreme su ispitanici svakog dana, izuzev pauze za vikend dobijali stimulaciju rTMS (frekvencija 1 Hz, intenzitet 110% praga izazivanja motornog odgovora) primenjivanu iznad desnog dorzolateralnog prefrontalnog korteksa (DLPFK), u jutarnjim časovima. U svakoj nedelji po jednom, opisanoj rTMS, prethodila je redukcija noćnog spavanja uz buđenje u pola 2. Ispitanici su randomski podeljeni u grupu koja je primala rTMS+PDS i grupu koja je primala placebo (sham) rTMS stimulaciju + PDS. Procene efekta vršene su standardnim instrumentima kliničke procene (modifikovana Hamiltonova skala za procenu depresivnosti - HDRS-24; Montgomery-Asberg skala za procenu depresivnosti - MADRS, i skala opšteg kliničkog utiska), i to: pre početka primene protokola, neposredno po završetku, jednu nedelju kasnije, tri i šest meseci kasnije (dugoročna praćenja sprovedena su isključivo kod ispitanika koji su bili podvrgnuti aktivnom tretmanu). Rezultati. Primenjeni protokol stimulacije pokazao je antidepresivni efekat, kod osoba obolelih od unipolarne depresije na nepromenjenoj dozi antidepresivnih lekova koji se održavao tokom čitavog šestomesečnog perioda praćenja. Neposredno nakon 2 nedelje protokola ispitanici koji su primali aktivni rTMS imali su prosečno poboljšanje od 39%...Objectives. The main aim of this study was to evaluate potential synergistic antidepressant effect of two therapies: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) applied at 1 Hz associated with partial sleep deprivation (PSD) in patients with treatment resistant major depression. Besides the long- term (during the next 6 months) evaluation of effecacy of this treatment, potential predictive role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met genetic polymorphism in rTMS treatment response was analysed, as a factor of neuronal plasticity, also involved in patogenesis of major depression Subjects and methods Twenty patients with diagnoses of treatment resistant major depression, at fixed doses of antidepressants, were treated with combination of rTMS and PSD. rTMS was applied during two consecutive weeks (5 days/week) with frequency of 1Hz, at 110% intensity of resting motor threshold, over the right dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), in the morrning hours. Partial sleep deprivation was applied once during every week, as late partial sleep deprivation (patients were woke up at 01.30 a.m.). Patients were randomly assigned to receive rTMS+PSD, or sham+PSD. Clinical evaluation was done using the following rating scales: the modified Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS-24), Montgomery-Asberg rating scale (MADRS ) and Clinical global impression scale (CGI-S), at baseline, after 2 weeks of treatment and one week after treatment, as well as long-term follow-up (only patients treated with active rTMS). Results. Study results suggest clinically relevant response, lasted up to 6 months in patients with unipolar major depression at fixed doses of antidepressants. After 2 weeks of treatment, patients treated with active rTMS had the average improvement of 39% score reduction on HDRS..