The effect of antipsychotic drugs on nonspecific inflammation markers in the first episode of schizophrenia

Background/Aim. Immune system disorder, including inflammation, takes a significant place when considering still unclear etiology of schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to determine the blood levels of nonspecific inflammation markers in the first episode of schizophrenia and their relation to the therapy response. Methods. In this study we determined the blood levels of nonspecific inflammation markers: white blood cells count (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocytes sedimentation rate (ESR) and the elements of differential white blood cell counts (or the leukocyte formula): granulocytes (Gra), lymphocytes (Lym) and monocytes (Mon), in the first episode of schizofrenia, in 78 patients hospitalized at the Clinic for Psychiatric Disorders “Dr Laza Lazarević” in Belgrade. The levels were measured at admission to the clinic, as well as after 4 weeks of antipsychotic treatment. The Positive and negative syndrome scale for schizophrenia (PANSS) was applied to measure the severity of psychopathology and response to the treatment. Results. During the first episode of schizophrenia, before initiation of antipsychotic treatment, the frequency of abnormal values was high (≥ 25% of the patients) for the following non-specific inflammation markers: WBC, CRP, ESR and Gra, in the leukocyte formula, but dropped after 4 weeks of antipsychotic treatment at the level of high statistical significance for WBC and Gra (p < 0.001). The ESR remained unchanged in as many as 50% of the patients even after 4-week antipsychotic treatment, at the level of statistical significance in the non-responders compared to the responders (p = 0.045). Conclusion. The obtained results indicate that in the first episode of schizophrenia the blood levels of non-specific inflammation markers (WBS, CRP, ESR and Gra from the leukocyte formula) were high in the subpopulation of patients with the tendency towards normalization of inflammation parameters after a 4-week antipsychotic treatment

Suzbijanje Botrytis cinerea i problem rezistentnosti na fungicide

Botrytis cinerea, the causal agent of grey mould, greatly affects fruit, grapevine, vegetable and ornamental crops production. It is a common causal agent of diseases in plants grown in protected areas, as well as fruit decay during storage and transport. The fungus invades almost all parts of the plant in all developmental stages, and the symptoms are usually described as grey mould, grey mildew, brown rot and seedling blight. The paper reviews the current knowledge on control possibilities of this necrotrophic pathogen. The attention is particularly paid to the mode of action of novel fungicides and to the problem of resistance. It is pointed out that by limiting the number of treatments in the growing season, avoiding the use of only one fungicide with a high risk for resistance development, appropriate application rate and timing, using mixtures of pesticides with different modes of action, as well as by alternative use of pesticides from different resistance groups, a longterm preservation of pesticide efficacy is provided.Botrytis cinerea, prouzrokovač sive truleži, značajno ugrožava proizvodnju voća, grožđa, povrća i ukrasnog bilja. Često izaziva bolesti biljaka gajenih u zaštićenom prostoru, kao i trulež plodova tokom skladištenja i transporta. Gljiva parazitira skoro sve delove biljke u svim fazama razvoja, a simptomi se najčešće opisuju kao siva trulež, siva plesan, palež, mrka trulež, a zapaženo je i poleganje klijanaca. U radu je dat pregled dosadašnjih saznanja o mogućnostima suzbijanja ovog nekrotrofnog patogena. Posebna pažnja je posvećena mehanizmu delovanja fungicida novije generacije kao i problemu rezistentnosti. Istaknuto je da se ograničenjem broja tretiranja u toku jedne vegetacije, izbegavanjem upotrebe samo jednog fungicida visokog rizika za razvoj rezistentnosti, odgovarajućom dozom i vremenom primene, upotrebom mešavina pesticida različitog mehanizma delovanja kao i alternativnom primenom pesticida iz različitih rezistentnih grupa omogućuje dugotrajno očuvanje efikasnosti pesticida

Da li je niska efikasnost fungicida uvek posledica razvoja rezistentnosti u populacijama patogena?

Efficacy of four fungicides with different modes of action (vinclozolin, pyrimethanil, benomyl and fenhexamid) in control of B. cinerea in raspberry, was investigated in the paper. The trials were conducted at two localities in commercial raspberry plantations. In the case of unsatisfactory fungicide efficacy, qualitative and/or quantitative test of the susceptibility of the isolates to particular fungicide was performed, to determine whether the low efficacy is a consequence of resistance development in the pathogen population. At both localities, pyrimethanil and fenhexamid demonstrated the highest efficacy (73.2-89.6%), while the efficacy of vinclozolin was statistically significantly lower (48.7-63.4%) at both localities. However, qualitative and quantitative test of susceptibility to vinclozolin showed that all the isolates were susceptible to vinclozolin and that the reason for unsatisfactory efficacy should be primarily sought in inadequate fungicide application.U radu je ispitivana efikasnost četiri fungicida različitog mehanizma delovanja (vinklozolin, pirimetanil, benomil i fenheksamid) u zaštiti maline od B. cinerea. Ogledi su izvedeni na dva lokaliteta u komercijalnim zasadima maline. U slučajevima nezadovoljavajuće efikasnosti fungicida, kvalitativnim i/ili kvantitativnim testom osetljivosti izolata in vitro, utvrđeno je da li je niska efikasnost posledica razvoja rezistentnosti populacije patogena. Na oba lokaliteta, najveću efikasnost su ispoljili pirimetanil i fenheksamid (73,2-89,6%), dok je efikasnost vinklozolina bila statistički značajno niža (48,7-63,4%). Međutim, kvalitativni i kvantitativni test osetljivosti na vinklozolin je pokazao da su svi izolati u kategoriji osetljivih na vinklozolin, te da razlog za nezadovoljavajuću efikasnost ovog fungicida treba tražiti pre svega u neadekvatnoj primeni fungicida

Cardiovascular Properties of the Androgen-Induced PCOS Model in Rats: The Role of Oxidative Stress

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a multifaced reproductive endocrinopathy affecting 6-20% of women of childbearing age. It was previously shown that women with PCOS have an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cardiodynamic parameters of isolated rats' hearts, blood pressure levels, and histomorphological changes in the heart tissue following the androgen-induced PCOS model in rats and the role of oxidative stress in the development of these CV properties of PCOS. 21-day-old female rats (n=12) were divided into control and PCOS groups. PCOS was induced by administration of testosterone enanthate (1 mg/kg BW, daily) during 35 days. During the autoregulation protocol (40-120 mmHg) on the Langendorff apparatus, ex vivo cardiodynamic parameters of retrogradely perfused hearts showed enhanced contractile function and increased lusitropic effects in the left ventricle (LV) in PCOS rats. Systolic and diastolic pressures in LV were elevated at all perfusion pressure values. Systemic arterial systolic blood pressure showed borderline elevation, while mean arterial blood pressure was significantly higher in PCOS rats. Histological evaluation of heart tissue depicted hypertrophic (8.3%) alterations in LV cardiomyocytes and increase (7.3%) in LV wall thickness. Oxidative stress parameters were altered in systemic circulation, coronary venous effluent (CVE), and heart tissue. Levels of superoxide dismutase and reduced glutathione were decreased in blood and heart tissue, while catalase activity was not altered. Degree of lipid peroxidation was increased in circulation as well as heart tissue. Increased levels of O2- in CVE indicated the cardiotoxic effects in the rat PCOS model. The mentioned alterations of oxidative stress parameters in the blood, CVE, and heart could be recommended as potential contributors underlying the development of CV risk in PCOS women

In vitro osetljivost Fusarium graminearum (Schwabe) na difenokonazol, protiokonazol i tiofanat-metil

A survey of in vitro sensitivity of eight isolates of the Fusarium graminearum to the fungicides difenoconazole, prothioconazole and thiophanate-methyl, was undertaken. The isolates were isolated from infected wheat heads collected from 8 different localities in Serbia over the period 2005-2006. Among the tested isolates ZE (RF=11.34), RU (RF=5.98) and AR (RF=5.08) isolates showed moderate resistance to difenoconazole. The EC50 values of this isolates were 19.16, 10.09, and 8.59 mg l-1, respectively. The isolates ZE (RF=5.38) and RU (RF=4.43) also showed the moderate resistance to prothoconazole. The EC50 values were 9.69 and 7.97 mg l-1, respectively. All the isolates tested were the least sensitive to thiophanate- methyl. The EC50 values were in range of 12.1 to 64.03 mg l-1. The highest resistance factor was found for the isolates ZE (RF=5.29).Ispitivana je osetljivost osam izolata Fusarium graminearum na difenokonazol, protiokonazol i tiofanat-metil. Izolati su dobijeni iz zaraženih klasova pšenica sakupljenih tokom 2005. i 2006. godine sa osam različitih lokaliteta iz Srbije. Izolati ZE (RF=11,34), RU (RF=5,98) i AR (RF=5,08) su ispoljili umerenu rezistentnost na difenokonazol. Dobijene EC50 vrednosti ovih izolata bile su 19,16, 10,09, i 8,59 mg l-1. Izolati ZE (RF=5,38) i RU (RF=4,43) su ispoljili umerenu rezistentnost na protiokonazol. Dobijene EC50 vrednosti iznosile su 9,69 i 7,97 mg l-1. Svi ispitivani izolati ispoljili su najmanju osetljivost na tiofanat-metil. Dobijene EC50 vrednosti su bile u opsegu od 12,1 do 64,03 mg l-1. Najveći faktor rezistentnosti je utvrđen kod izolata ZE (RF=5,29)

Botrytis cinerea na malini II: Brzina rasta i virulentnost izolata

Growth rate and virulence of 130 isolates of Botrytis cinerea, derived from raspberry fruit originating from six commercial fields in a raspberry growing region of Serbia and classified in two morphological and four genetic groups were studied. The results showed significant differences in mycelial growth rate among the isolates. The highest and lowest recorded growth rates were 24.5 mm/day and 8.4 mm/day, respectively, while the growth rate of most isolates ranged from 15.8 to 21.8 mm/day. The growth rate of isolates that belong to different morphological and genetic subgroups varied similarly. Furthermore, growth rate intervals of all subgroups overlapped, suggesting that the groups cannot be distinguished based on growth rates of the isolates contained. The studied B. cinerea isolates exibited different levels of virulence towards vine, sunflower and raspberry leaves, while an analysis of variance revealed that both the isolates and the inoculated host species were significant sources of variation (P<0.01). Sunflower and raspberry leaves were significantly more sensitive than vine leaves. However, correlation between isolate virulence and different hosts was not found.U radu su predstavljeni rezultati proučavanja brzine rasta i virulentnosti 130 izolata Botrytis cinerea, dobijenih iz obolelih plodova maline poreklom sa šest lokaliteta iz područja komercijalnog gajenja maline u Srbiji i razvrstanih u dve morfološke i četiri genetičke grupe. Rezultati su pokazali da je razlika između izolata u brzini rasta statistički značajna. Najveći zabeleženi porast bio je 24,5 mm/dan, dok je najmanji porast iznosio 8,4 mm/dan. Utvrđena su slična variranja u porastu izolata koji pripadaju različitim morfološkim ili genetičkim grupama. Drugim rečima, rasponi brzine rasta izolata iz različitih morfoloških i genetičkih grupa međusobno se preklapaju, što ukazuje da ovaj parametar nije pogodan za razvrstavanje izolata u grupe. Proučavani izolati su ispoljili različit nivo virulentnosti za listove vinove loze, suncokreta i maline, dok je analiza varijanse pokazala da su i izolati i domaćini statistički značajan izvor variranja (P<0,01). Listovi suncokreta i maline bili su značajno osetljiviji od listova vinove loze. Međutim, korelacija u virulentnosti izolata za različite domaćine nije ustanovljena

Botrytis cinerea na malini u Srbiji I: Morfološka i molekularna karakterizacija

Morphological and molecular characterisation of 130 isolates of Botrytis cinerea, derived from raspberry fruit originating from six commercial fields in a raspberry growing region of Serbia (locations: Požega, Prilike, Arilje, Ivanjica, Šabac and Valjevo) was performed. The results showed that all isolates formed white, uniform, aerial mycelia with entire margin on PDA medium. First morphological differences among the isolates appeared after six days of incubation. Three-week old isolates were grouped into eight distinct morphological types – four mycelial and four sclerotial. Mostly, they were of sclerotial type (81.5%) and the most frequently found was an S3 type, which formed large irregularly placed sclerotia. This type was dominant in five of six investigated locations and represented 45-65% of the isolates. The least frequent was the mycelial type M3 (0.7% of the isolates) characterized by mycelial masses. The presence of Boty and/or Flipper transposons was detected in isolates originating from all investigated locations. It was discovered that the B. cinerea population in raspberry in Serbia, besides the well-described genetically isolated sympatric species transposa (43.1%) and vacuma (10.8%), contains also another two, boty (44.6%) and flipper (1.5%) species with only one transposon (either Boty or Flipper) in the genome. In addition, it was revealed that all isolates from raspberry collected in Serbia, transposa, vacuma, boty or flipper, are sensitive or weakly resistant to fenhexamid and therefore belong to the B. cinerea genetical Group II.U radu su predstavljeni rezultati morfološke i molekularne karakterizacije 130 izolata Botrytis cinerea, dobijenih iz obolelih plodova maline poreklom sa šest lokaliteta iz područja komercijalnog gajenja maline u Srbiji (Požega, Prilike, Arilje, Ivanjica, Šabac i Valjevo). Utvrđeno je da u početnim fazama razvoja na KDA podlozi svi izolati B. cinerea formiraju belu, uniformnu, rastresitu, vazdušnu miceliju ravnog oboda. Razlike među izolatima počinju da se javljaju posle inkubacije od šest dana. Na osnovu izgleda kolonije tri nedelje od zasejavanja, izolati su razvrstani u osam morfoloških tipova – četiri micelijska i četiri sklerocijska. Većina izolata je formirala kolonije sklerocijskog tipa (81,5%), a najzastupljeniji je bio tip S3 sa krupnim, nepravilno raspoređenim sklerocijama, koji je dominirao u pet od šest proučavanih populacija patogena i predstavljao 45-65% izolata. Najređi je bio micelijski tip M3 (0,7% izolata) koji se odlikuje nakupinama vazdušne micelije. Prisustvo transpozona Boty i/ili Flipper otkriveno je u genomu izolata sa svih lokaliteta. Utvrđeno je da u populaciji patogena na malini u Srbiji, osim genetički izolovanih subpopulacija transposa (43,1%) i vacuma (10,8%), postoje još dve – boty (44,6%) i flipper (1,5%) sa izolatima koji sadrže samo jednu vrstu transpozona u genomu. Istraživanje je takođe pokazalo da su svi izolati B. cinerea na malini u Srbiji, bilo da su transposa, vacuma, boty ili flipper, osetljivi ili slabo rezistentni na fenheksamid i da, prema tome, pripadaju genetičkoj Grupi II B. cinerea

Impermeable layers in landfill design

Landfills are complex systems that could potentially contaminate the environment. This needs to be prevented by providing impermeability during the landfill design. In this aim, the related regulations should be followed and adequate materials that provide impermeability should be used. The first part of the paper presents a review of the current regulations, interpretations, and recommendations from the U.S., EU and Republic of Serbia. Knowing that the Serbian regulation should fully follow the related European Directive, some inadequate formulations and terms were observed in the analyses related to the Directive Annex I, 3.2. Request of the Regulation that deals with the bottom of the landfill leakage is formulated differently than in the Directive as well. The mentioned problems enable some design solutions that are not among the best available techniques. In the second part, the paper presents a comparative analysis of possible alternatives in impermeable layer design, both for the bottom and landfill cover. Some materials like clay, CCL, GCL might not be able to satisfy the prescribed requirements. The longest lifetime and the lowest coefficient of permeability, as well as excellent mechanical, chemical and thermal stability, show the mixture of sand, bentonite and polymers (PEBSM).Deponije predstavljaju složen sistem koji potencijalno može zagaditi životnu sredinu, što se sprečava obezbeđenjem vodonepropusnosti prilikom njihovog projektovanja. Prvi deo preglednog rada bavi se analizom odgovarajućih tehničkih propisa, tumačenja i preporuka iz SAD, EU i Srbije, u cilju podsticanja valjanog usaglašavanja domaće prakse i propisa sa najboljim dostupnim tehnikama na međunarodnom nivou. U drugom delu rada uporedno su analizirane alternative prilikom projektovanja vodonepropusnih slojeva za oblaganje dna i prekrivanje deponija. Opisane su slabosti i prednosti korišćenja prirodne gline, bentonita, geosintetičke glinene obloge i različitih mešavina peska, bentonita i polimera. Rad zaključno formuliše predlog unapređenja nacionalnog propisa o odlaganju otpada na deponije

Contactless real-time heartbeat detection via 24 ghz continuous-wave doppler radar using artificial neural networks

The measurement of human vital signs is a highly important task in a variety of environments and applications. Most notably, the electrocardiogram (ECG) is a versatile signal that could indicate various physical and psychological conditions, from signs of life to complex mental states. The measurement of the ECG relies on electrodes attached to the skin to acquire the electrical activity of the heart, which imposes certain limitations. Recently, due to the advancement of wireless technology, it has become possible to pick up heart activity in a contactless manner. Among the possible ways to wirelessly obtain information related to heart activity, methods based on mm-wave radars proved to be the most accurate in detecting the small mechanical oscillations of the human chest resulting from heartbeats. In this paper, we presented a method based on a continuous-wave Doppler radar coupled with an artificial neural network (ANN) to detect heartbeats as individual events. To keep the method computationally simple, the ANN took the raw radar signal as input, while the output was minimally processed, ensuring low latency operation (<1 s). The performance of the proposed method was evaluated with respect to an ECG reference (“ground truth”) in an experiment involving 21 healthy volunteers, who were sitting on a cushioned seat and were refrained from making excessive body movements. The results indicated that the presented approach is viable for the fast detection of individual heartbeats without heavy signal preprocessing

Osetljivost izolata Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary na fluazinam, fosetil-Al i propamokarb-hidrohlorid

A survey of in vitro sensitivity of twelve isolates of the Phytophthora infestans to the fluazinam, fosetyl-Al and propamocarb-hydrochloride was conducted. The isolates were isolated from infeceted potato leaves collected from eight different localities in Serbia during 2005-2007. All P. infestans isolates were sensitive to tested fungicides. The obtained values of resistance factor were in the range from 1.0 to 2.8. The EC50 values of fluazinam were from 0.14 to 0.27 mg l-1, fosetyl-Al from 30.2 to 85.8 mg l-1, propamocarb-hydrochloride between 12.1 and 31.1 mg l-1, respectively.Ispitivana je osetljivost 12 izolata Phytophthora infestans na fluazinam, fosetil-Al i propamokarb- hidrohlorid u in vitro uslovima. Izolati su dobijeni iz zaraženih listova krompira sakupljenih tokom 2005-2007 godine sa osam različitih lokaliteta iz Srbije. Svi ispitivani izolati su bili osetljivi na testirane fungicide. Dobijene vrednosti faktora rezistentnosti bile su u intervalu od 1.0 do 2.8. Vrednosti EC50 za fluazinam su bile od 0.14 do 0.27 mg l-1, fosetil-Al od 30.2 do 85.8 mg l-1 i propamokarb-hidrohlorid od 12.1 do 31.1 mg l-1