Key features of crop insurance in Serbia

Crop insurance differs from other types of insurance coverage. It provides insurance protection for food production, which, being one the preconditions for survival of humanity, has been exposed to numerous devastating natural risks to a considerable extent. Due to its importance, crop insurance has been the subject of various scientific studies, so the literature from this area is extensive. Unlike many other products, the emerging countries are major food producers. That is why the open issues regarding crop insurance are of immense importance to them, too. Serbia is among the countries that have extremely good preconditions for food production. In this paper, the level of development of Serbian crop insurance has been estimated by using the indicators such as coverage of agricultural land by insurance protection, value of production on the insured land, written premium, damaged land, the amount of incurred claims, and loss ratio. The achievements in this line of insurance have also been compared with certain European countries, the majority of which is still undergoing transition, like Serbia. The values of nearly all indicators point to extremely poor development of crop insurance in Serbia. Both the state and the insurance companies should take key role in improving the current situation, which has also been the case in the more developed countries. The analysis conducted in this paper indicates that the state should provide general preconditions for better utilization of insurance, particularly premium subsidies. It is up to the insurance companies to apply the code of practice as consistently as possible, including the state of the art achievements in crop insurance worldwide

Neuroprotective Strategies in Hippocampal Neurodegeneration induced by the Neurotoxicant Trimethyltin. Neurochemical Research

The selective vulnerability of specific neuronal subpopulations to trimethyltin (TMT), an organotin compound with neurotoxicant effects selectively involving the limbic system and especially marked in the hippocampus, makes it useful to obtain in vivo models of neurodegeneration associated with behavioural alterations, such as hyperactivity and aggression, cognitive impairment as well as temporal lobe epilepsy. TMT has been widely used to study neuronal and glial factors involved in selective neuronal death, as well as the molecular mechanisms leading to hippocampal neurodegeneration (including neuroinflammation, excitotoxicity, intracellular calcium overload, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress). It also offers a valuable instrument to study the cell-cell interactions and signalling pathways that modulate injury-induced neurogenesis, including the involvement of newly generated neurons in the possible repair processes. Since TMT appears to be a useful tool to damage the brain and study the various responses to damage, this review summarises current data from in vivo and in vitro studies on neuroprotective strategies to counteract TMT-induced neuronal death, that may be useful to elucidate the role of putative candidates for translational medical research on neurodegenerative diseases