The Effects Of Pectin On The Growth And Antioxidant Properties Of Bacteria Isolated From Infant’s Gastrointestinal Microbiome - In Vitro Study

The aim of this research is to investigate significance of apple pectin in infant nutrition, their impact on selected bacteria of infant’s gastrointestinal microbiome and total antioxidant capacity by lectrochemical determination of changes in redox potential

Sol-Gel Synthesis of Ceria-Zirconia-Based High-Entropy Oxides as High-Promotion Catalysts for the Synthesis of 1,2-Diketones from Aldehyde

Efficient Lewis-acid-catalyzed direct conversion of aldehydes to 1,2-diketones in the liquid phase was enabled by using newly designed and developed ceria–zirconia-based high-entropy oxides (HEOs) as the actual catalysts. The synergistic effect of various cations incorporated in the same oxide structure (framework) was partially responsible for the efficiency of multicationic materials compared to the corresponding single-cation oxide forms. Furthermore, a clear, linear relationship between the Lewis acidity and the catalytic activity of the HEOs was observed. Due to the developed strategy, exclusively diketone-selective, recyclable, versatile heterogeneous catalytic transformation of aldehydes can be realized under mild reaction conditions

Национална економија

Serbian. У овом одељку разматрају се опште карактеристике националне економије. У првом делу приказан је њен историјски развој, који је обухватио привреду у средњовековној српској држави Немањића, преко развоја у оквирима турске феудалне државе, изградње самосталне српске државе након српских устанака и ослобођења од Турске, па до развоја у савременим условима 20. и 21. века. Тај вишевековни развој протицао је у сталним напорима да се превазиђе наслеђена економска заосталост, да се унапреди и модернизује привреда, односно да се претежно аграрна земља претвори у земљу с модерном индустријском привредом, али и уз отпоре изражене у супротној тенденцији да се одржи аграрни, односно сељачки карактер земље. Ипак, био је то процес који се уз мање или више осцилација, али у целини успешно одвијао све до пред крај 20. века. Међутим, почев од последње деценије претходног века земља је током процеса транзиције била деиндустријализована, тако да је сада на нивоу развоја од пре неколико деценија, и стоји пред поновним захтевима за (ре)индустријализацијом. У другом делу разматрају се актуелне карактеристике привреде Србије, подељене у четири сектора. English. In this chapter the main characteristics of the national economy will be considered. In the first part there is explored its historical development. It involves the economy of the middle century Nemanjićs’ Serbian state, through the development in the framework of Turkish feudal state, the building of independent Serbian state after the Serbian uprisings and liberation from Turkey, up to development in modern circumstances of 20th and 21st centuries. This many centuries development characterize constant efforts to overcome the inherited economic backwardness, to move up and modernize the economy, i.e. to transform the predominantly agrarian state to the state with modern manufacturing economy, but also with resistances represented in opposite tendency to keep agrarian, i.e. peasant character of the state. Although, it was the process, that successfully carried out until to last decade of 20th century. But, since this decade the state was deindustrialized through the transition process, so it is now on the level of some decade before, and state is confronted with the repeated need for reindustrialization. In the second part of this chapter the actual characteristics of the Serbian economy are considered, divided in four sectors

SERBIA – ZONE OF POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION

A fall in the populations living standard and the growth of poverty in Serbia are, first of all, the consequence of a significant decrease in the economic activity. The problem of poverty and social exclusion is additionally intensified and made bigger by the world economic crisis influence. The subject of the paper is the analysis of the current situation, which is crucially significant for solving the stated problems, i.e. suppressing negative phenomena which are the cause of poverty and social exclusion. The paper is aimed at gaining an insight into basic causes responsible for poverty in Serbia as the basis for the determination of necessary measures and activities for problem solving. The poverty indicators used in the analysis are the poverty rate, poverty depth and severity. Solving poverty problems is the priority task Serbia has to deal with on its way to integrate into the EU and it requires reaching new strategies for reducing poverty as well as its efficient implementation

Antioxidant and dietary products: Between truth and misconception

Almost all dietary products (dietary supplements, food for special medical purposes,…) has a note saying that it contains antioxidants as an indispensable indication of its quality. This has become such a common practice that consumers accept it just like they accept the quality of vegetables or fruits on the market. The concept of antioxidants is far more complex than these simplified claims, especially since one important property is called negation, instead of the chemically correct one: reductant.This paper focuses on the examination of total antioxidant capacity (TAC). Eleven domestic and imported products present on the market in various pharmaceutical forms were selected. Each product was dissolved in the recommended dose – 250 mL (“standard glass of drinking water”) of deaerated demineralized water, in order to achieve a leveling effect of different drinking water composition. A solution of 500 mg of vitamin C was used as a reference substance.Three spectrophotometric methods were used to determine TAC: scavenge DPPH free radicals; Folin-Ciocalteu’s reagent reaction (total phenolic substances and flavonoids, expressed as the gallic acid equivalent) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). Modern “green” electrochemical tests were also applied: differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The results of these two methods were expressed as the vitamin C equivalent.The results prove that the statements in the materials which accompany the products or the inscriptions and the graphic representations on the packaging are, to put it mildly, more optimistic than the exact measurements prove. Thus, for example, for some classes of compounds that have redox properties (antioxidants), the stated values are several times lower in some of the tested dietary products. All the obtained results indicate the need for antioxidant properties to be normatively regulated by the introduction of mandatory testing and quantification of TAC, so that consumers would not be misled. Furthermore, L-ascorbic acid – vitamin C, a common ingredient of dietary products with antioxidant properties, is by definition a reducing agent. The emphasis on the significance of vitamin C content is relevant but it does not give a special value to a product, which is greater than, for example, 2-3 fresh red peppers. In this vegetable, not only antiscorbutic vitamin, but also reducing agents, i.e. TAC expressed as total antioxidant capacity, have the role of a “catcher” of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and accompanying oxygen radicals and they neutralize their negative effects on the body

Study on the assessment of humification processes during biodegradation of heavy residual fuel oil

The aim of this study was to investigate the creation of humic substances during biodegradation of heavy residual fuel oil, because there are indications that substances similar to humic substances are generated during biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In the study, which lasted for 110 days, biodegradation of heavy residual fuel oil was carried out in a layer of artificial soil substrate. The initial concentration of the total petroleum hydrocarbon in the prepared artificial soil substrate (biopile) was 23.1 g kg-1 dry weight (d.w.). At the end of the process, the total petroleum hydrocarbons were reduced to 8.1 g kg-1 d.w. in the inoculated biopile, while the content of humic acids increased during bioremediation from 3.15 g kg-1 d.w. to 4.95 g kg-1 d.w. The humic acids extracted from biopile during the biodegradation process were characterized by various chemical techniques (elemental analysis, spectrofluorimetric analysis, electrochemical measurements, and size exclusion chromatography). The results showed that levels of C, H and the H/C ratio decreased as the biodegradation process progressed. This indicated that humic acids aromatization process took place and this was confirmed by the spectrofluorimetric analysis. The increase of oxygen percentage and the O/C ratio in the humic acids after the biodegradation treatment indicated an increase in functional oxygen groups. Additional analyses of humic acids from the inoculated biopile showed that they were transformed during the bioremediation process. They had greater redox and buffering capacities and a larger portion of the fractions had high molecular mass. Also, the humification parameters (the CHAs/CFAs ratio and CHAs/Corg ratio) increased during the biodegradation. This is one of the few studies that describes the generation of humic substances during the biodegradation of oil compounds

Transformation and synthesis of humic substances during bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons

The aim of this paper was to investigate whether changes in the quantity and structure of humic acids (HA) occur during bioremediation of waste mazute (heavy residual fuel oil). The effects of humification on the structure of HA were evaluated by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), potentiometric titrations, the ratio of absorbances at 465 and 665 nm (E4/E6 ratio) and the ratio. Also, the quality of humification was monitored by determining parameters which are important for measuring the evolution of humic substances (HS), such as CHA/CFA (the humic acidifulvic acidratio), the rate of extraction (TE) and the index of polymerization (IP). An increase of the content of HA from 0.23% to 0.70% was observed during the bioremediation process. The FT-IR spectra and 04 ratio of HA extracted at the beginning and the end of the process indicate structural changes during the bioremediation process. The groups containing aromatic and carboxylic carbon increased, resulting in HA structures of higher aromaticity. An increase of the B4/E6 ratio during bioremediation treatment implied the enrichment of HA with functional oxygen groups. Potentiometric titrations of HA solution showed increases in the buffering and the redox capacities of HA during the bioremediation process. The results of parameters of humification showed an increase of the compositional carbon in HA at the end, compared to at the start, of bioremediation, while the carbon that belonged to fulvic acids (FA) reduced by 44%. Transformation into HA is the likely cause of this observed reduction. The TE and the IP demonstrated that humification occured during the bioremediation process. According to the available data, this is the first report on synthesis of HS during bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Sol-Gel Synthesis of Ceria-Zirconia-Based High-Entropy Oxides as High-Promotion Catalysts for the Synthesis of 1,2-Diketones from Aldehyde

Efficient Lewis-acid-catalyzed direct conversion of aldehydes to 1,2-diketones in the liquid phase was enabled by using newly designed and developed ceria–zirconia-based high-entropy oxides (HEOs) as the actual catalysts. The synergistic effect of various cations incorporated in the same oxide structure (framework) was partially responsible for the efficiency of multicationic materials compared to the corresponding single-cation oxide forms. Furthermore, a clear, linear relationship between the Lewis acidity and the catalytic activity of the HEOs was observed. Due to the developed strategy, exclusively diketone-selective, recyclable, versatile heterogeneous catalytic transformation of aldehydes can be realized under mild reaction conditions

AI-Driven Optimization of PCL/PEG Electrospun Scaffolds for Enhanced In Vivo Wound Healing

Here, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based approach was employed to optimize the production of electrospun scaffolds for in vivo wound healing applications. By combining polycaprolactone (PCL) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in various concentration ratios, dissolved in chloroform (CHCl3) and dimethylformamide (DMF), 125 different polymer combinations were created. From these polymer combinations, electrospun nanofiber meshes were produced and characterized structurally and mechanically via microscopic techniques, including chemical composition and fiber diameter determination. Subsequently, these data were used to train a neural network, creating an AI model to predict the optimal scaffold production solution. Guided by the predictions and experimental outcomes of the AI model, the most promising scaffold for further in vitro analyses was identified. Moreover, we enriched this selected polymer combination by incorporating antibiotics, aiming to develop electrospun nanofiber scaffolds tailored for in vivo wound healing applications. Our study underscores three noteworthy conclusions: (i) the application of AI is pivotal in the fields of material and biomedical sciences, (ii) our methodology provides an effective blueprint for the initial screening of biomedical materials, and (iii) electrospun PCL/PEG antibiotic-bearing scaffolds exhibit outstanding results in promoting neoangiogenesis and facilitating in vivo wound treatment