Human Milk-The Biofluid That Nourishes Infants from the First Day of Life.

Human milk is a biofluid with a unique composition among mammalian milks. Besides this milk's major components, its bioactive compounds, like hormones, immune factors, and oligosaccharides, are unique and important for infant growth and development. The best form of nutrition for term and preterm infants is the mother's own milk. However, in the absence of the mother's own milk, donor milk should be made available. Milk banks support neonatal intensive care units by providing preterm infants with human milk that generally has reasonable nutritive value for this sensitive population. However, neither mother's own milk nor donor milk has sufficient energy content for the growth of preterm babies, so adequate human milk supplementation is crucial for their progress. Due to the different characteristics of human breast milk, as well as ubiquitous environmental pollutants, such as microplastics, new methods are required for monitoring the quality and characteristics of human milk, which will lay a solid foundation for the further development and progress of human milk research.

Danube and Sava river sediment monitoring in Belgrade and its surroundings.

Belgrade is the largest city in Serbia located at the confluence of river Sava to the Danube river. The quality of water and sediments of rivers which run through Belgrade is of a significant importance, since water from these rivers is a source of Belgrade drinking water supply system and probable anthropogenic contamination is related to industrialization and inputs of sewage water. In order to follow the sediment quality of river Sava (km 62-1) and river Danube (km 1193-1124) in Belgrade and its surroundings, the content of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb and Hg were measured in the period 2001--2005. The content of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was measured in 2005. The results have shown that, due to the metal content, examined Danube sediment quality varies from class 1 to class 3, predominantly nickel being the class determining parameter. Elevated copper, zinc and mercury concentrations were measured at some profiles, as well. Typically due to the nickel content, Sava sediment quality belongs to class 3 in the period 2001--2004. Elevated concentrations of cadmium, zinc and mercury were observed in 2001, as well. Moreover, in 2005, sediments from three profiles were extremely polluted with nickel, leading the Sava sediment to class 4, when highest urgency measures are needed. Total PAH concentration in the sediments from Danube (213.1-575.4 microg kg(- 1)) was lower than total PAH concentration from Sava sediments (416.2-595.3 microg kg(- 1)). Nevertheless, according to the Dutch regulatory system, it has been concluded that river sediments in Belgrade and its surroundings were not polluted with PAHs in 2005.

Levels of PAHs in the soils of Belgrade and its environs.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analysed in 39 soil samples (0-10 cm upper layer) collected in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The sampling sites were randomly selected from urban, urban/recreational and rural areas; the samples were collected in April and December 2003 and July and October 2004. The sum of the 16 PAHs corresponding to the recreational zone (298 microg/kg) was close to the urban zone (375 microg/kg). Mean soil SigmaPAH concentration from rural areas was 18 microg/kg dry weight. Comparing to values observed in the urbanized locations around the world, the overall levels of PAHs in this study are low. The PAH ratios obtained pointed to a domination of pyrogenically formed PAHs in the examined soils. The dominant PAHs in soil samples in urban zones were fluoranthene, benz[a]anthracene, phenanthrene and pyrene, mostly emitted from noncatalyst vehicles which are still in use in Serbia. The total carcinogenic potency for each sampling site was calculated. Regardless of the used carcinogenic activity factors, carcinogenic potency of 7 sites were 3-9 times higher than the reference ones indicating the increased carcinogenic burden of soils from these sites.