Polyphenol content and antioxidant activity of sour cherries from Serbia

The aim of this study is to evaluate the content of phenolics: the total phenols (TP), flavonoids (TF), anthocyanins (TA), as well as the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in three sour cherry cultivars (Prunus cerasus L.) introduced to the southeast Serbia climate conditions. Among the researched sour cherries, ‘Oblacinska’ cultivar contained the highest amounts of all groups of phenolics, followed by ‘Cigancica’ > ‘Marela’. A significant difference were observed in the phenolic content among different cultivars and growing seasons (p<0.05), and the phenolic compounds were significantly higher in the growing season 2009. The examined cultivars possess a high antioxidant capacity, and all phenolics of highy correlation with TAC. The following compounds were identified and quantified using HPLC-DAD: 4 anthocyanins, the most abundant of which was cyaniding-3-glucoside in ‘Marela’ and ‘Oblacinska’, and cyanidin-3-glucosylrutinoside in ‘Cigancica’, and 4 hydroxycinnamic acids, the most abundant of which was neochlorogenic acid in all sour cherry cultivars. The growing and ripening process on the tree of sour cherry cv. Oblacinska was evaluated, also. The results showed significant increases in total phenols during the ripening, the total anthocyanins and total antioxidant capacity and 4 quantified anthocyanins, however the neochlorogenic acid decreased during the ripening. The study indicated that the growing and climate conditions in southeast Serbia are convenient for introducing sour cherry cultivars

Categorization of Marijuana Suspected Policies’ Seizures in Southeast Serbia According to Cannabinoids Content

Background: The cannabis plant or marijuana has been used since ancient times for different purposes. An increase in the content of THC in cannabis has been observed worldwide, whereas the CBD content is dropping. This study’s main goal was to categorize marijuana suspected policies’ seizures (MSPS) based on the cannabinoid component concentrations concerning their potency and age. Methods: The samples were MSPS seized in southeast Serbia from April 2019 to April 2020. The cannabinoid content was determined using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. Descriptive statistics were performed using Linux LibreOffice Calc. Results: All of the samples had a THC content higher than 0.3%, thus classifying the samples as marijuana according to the Serbian Law on Psychoactive Controlled Substances. The highest concentration of THC was 16.10%, while the lowest was 4.90%. The highest average concentration of THC (12.39%) was found in the buds. Only 11.81% of the samples had a CBD concentration higher than 1%, making all other marijuana samples extremely psychoactive. Most of the samples were older than 2 years, according to the calculated CBN/THC ratio. Conclusion: Our results confirm trends regarding the dominance of THC content in contemporary cannabis worldwide. It is necessary to monitor trends of cannabis potency in Serbia continuously because of its location

Chemometric and ICP-OES analyses of Forsythia europaea Degen & Bald. and its extracts

Forsythia represents a group of plants originating mainly from China and Japan, but one species is endemic and grows in the Balkans (Balkan forsythia, Forsythia europaea Degen & Bald.). Our previous studies on polyphenols in investigated extracts of Balkan forsythia showed that this plant is a good source of polyphenols. Analysis of the various extracts of Balkan forsythia (Forsythia europaea Degen & Bald.) by the application of ICP-OES method showed that they are rich in different macro and microelements. The abundance order of macroelements is K>Ca>P>Mg>Na in all extracts. Among the transition metals iron, manganese, zinc and copper are particularly important, and the order of abundance is Zn>Fe>Cu>Mn. Heavy metals which are the most frequent contaminants of food are lead, cadmium and arsenic, and the determination of their contents is of special importance on the safe use of plant species. The determination shows that aqueous extracts contain the highest quantity of elements, which is especially important. The contents of toxic elements are significantly lower than the permitted values. Statistical methods (Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC)) are useful tools for the grouping of samples and determining relations between investigated elements. This analysis shows that when higher quantities of Cr and Ba are present, the lower quantities of V are present, and vice versa. Based on our studies on polyphenols and minerals, we can expect the anti-inflammatory effects of extracts of Balkan forsythia

Exploring the attitude of Faculty of Medicine students about herbal products usage: a cross-sectional study

Herbal products have gained popularity, and they are often perceived as safe. The roles of the pharmacists and physicians are essential in the proper usage of those products. This study aimed to investigate the students of Faculty of Medicine in Niš about the use of herbal preparations and the differences between medicine, pharmacy and dentistry students. The fifth-year university students were questioned through an anonymous survey. The obtained results were processed statistically and presented graphically. The majority of the students would prefer a combination of herb product and drug (76.9%). Usage of herbal products is based on students' knowledge, on the advice of pharmacists, family members, physicians, and the media. The majority of students purchase herbal products in the pharmacy and nobody obtained them via the Internet. Most of the students used them in preventive purposes (60%) and claimed that there were positive effects. Students (75%) read the instructions for use and side effects, especially pharmacy students (88.3%). Medicine students (60%) consider herbal products completely safe. Pharmacy students are considered to receive the necessary knowledge on herbal products (68.3%), while a smaller percentage of medicine and dentistry students consider the same. Students use herbal medicines but are not entirely familiar with their effects and safety. There is a need for raising awareness, the importance of side effects and interactions of herbs and drugs among medicine and dentistry students. This goal can be achieved by changing curriculum which would contain material from phytotherapy

DFT calculations as an efficient tool for prediction of Raman and infra-red spectra and activities of newly synthesized cathinones

Initially made for medical treatment for Parkinsonism, obesity, and depression, cathinones have become illegal drugs for the “recreational use”. The mechanism of action of synthetic cathinones consists of the inhibition of monoamine transporters. DFT (Density Functional Theory) calculations on the selected cathinones (3-FMC, 4-FMC, 4-MMC, Buphedrone, Butylone, Ethylone, MDPV, Methcathinone, and Methylone) were performed using B3LYP level of the Gaussian 09 program suite. The unscaled B3LYP/6–31G vibrational wavenumbers are in general larger than the experimental values, so the use of selective scaling was necessary. The calculated spectra of selected cathinones are in good correlation with the experimental spectra which demonstrates that DFT is a good tool for the prediction of spectra of newly synthesized and insufficiently experimentally characterised cathinones. Also, HOMO-LUMO (Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital-Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital) analysis shows that 3-FMC possesses the minimum energy gap of 3.386 eV, and the molecule 4-FMC possesses the maximum energy gap of 4.205 eV among the investigated cathinones. It indicates that 3-FMC would be highly reactive among all the cathinones under investigation

KINETIČKO-SPEKTROFOTOMETRIJSKI PRISTUP HIDROLITIČKOJ DEGRADACIJI AMPICILINA PRIMENJEN ZA ODREĐIVANJE HISTIDINA

The objective of this research was to develop a kinetic-spectrophotometric method for the determination of microquantities of L-histidine in pure form and dietary supplements. The method was based on the kinetics of ampicillin degradation by Ni(II) ion as a catalyst in the presence of L-histidine in a strongly alkaline medium. The rate of this reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the increase in absorbance at 265 nm as a function of time. The same approach was used for the investigation of the reaction rate in the absence of histidine. A differential variant of the tangent method was used to process the kinetic data. Beer’s law was obeyed in the interval of histidine concentration from 1.24 µg/ml to 11.63 µg/mlwith the relative standard deviation ranging from 8.1% to 0.7%. The detection limit of 0.46 µg/ml was estimated based on the 3S0 criterion. The interference effects of some metal ions, anions, and other molecules on the reaction rate were studied to assess method selectivity. Herein described method was applied for the quantification of histidine in dietary supplements. The point hypothesis test confirmed that there was no significant difference between the proposed and the reference method.Cilj ovog istraživanja je bio razvoj kinetičko-spektrofotometrijske metode za određivanje mikrokoličina L-histidina u čistom obliku i dijetetskim suplementima. Metoda je zasnovana na reakciji degradacije ampicilina koja je katalizovana Ni(II) jonom u prisustvu L-histidina u jako baznoj sredini. Brzina reakcije praćena je spektrofotometrijski merenjem povećanja apsorbance na 265 nm sa vremenom. Isti pristup je korišćen za praćenje brzine reakcije u odsustvu histidina. Diferencijalna varijanta tangensne metode je upotrebljena za obradu kinetičkih podataka. Metoda je zadovoljavala Beer-ov zakon u intervalu koncentracija od 1,24 µg/ml do 11,63 µg/ml sa relativnom standardnom devijacijom od 8,1% do 0,7%. Detekcioni limit od 0,46 µgcm-3 je procenjen korišćenjem 3S0 kriterijuma. Selektivnost metode je ispitana na osnovu uticaja pojedinih metalnih jona, anjona i organskih molekula na brzinu reakcije. Opisana metoda je primenjena za kvantitativno određivanje histidina u dijetetskim suplementima. Primenom t-testa potvrđeno je da nema značajne razlike između rezultata predložene i referentne metode