Towards the re-introduction of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) in the West Balkan Countries: the case of Serbia and Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Vetchlings (Lathyrus spp.) are widely distributed in both Serbia and Srpska, and represent a valuable component of local floras all over the Balkan Peninsula. Despite this and the existence of a traditional Serbian name for grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.), sastrica, and a pan-Slavic name for all vetchlings, grahor, today they are almost forgotten crops. The joint action of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops and the Faculty of Agriculture is aimed at re-introducing grass pea and other vetchlings as multifunctional crops. Within the legume collection in the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, a small Lathyrus spp. collection, including about 100 accessions of 16 species, most of them being grass pea, was established in 2002. The landraces of grass pea were collected in several regions of Serbia and Srpska, where they are used for human consumption. Grass pea is commonly used boiled and along with other pulses, with no reports on lathyrism among the local people. The first Serbian breeding programme in Novi Sad produced already two grass pea lines that were registered in November 2009 under the names of Studenica and Sitnica, developed from the crosses of Polish cultivars and local Serbian landraces.

Screening Congo Red and its analogues for their ability to prevent the formation of PrP-res in scrapie-infected cells.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are incurable, fatal diseases. The dye Congo Red (CR) can cure cells infected with agents of the sheep TSE, scrapie, but is not used as a therapeutic or prophylactic agent in vivo, as its effects are small, possibly due to low blood-brain barrier permeability, and complicated by its intrinsic carcinogenicity. In this paper, the development is described of a structure-activity profile for CR by testing a series of analogues of this dye for their ability to inhibit the formation of the protease-resistant prion protein, PrP-res, a molecular marker for the infectious agent, in the scrapie-infected, SMB cell line. It was found that the central benzidine unit in CR, which gives the molecule potential carcinogenicity, can be replaced by other, less toxic moieties and that the sulphonate groups on the core molecule can be replaced by carboxylic acids, which should improve the brain permeability of these compounds. However, detailed dose-response curves were generated for several derivatives and they revealed that, while some compounds showed inhibition of PrP-res accumulation at high concentrations, at low concentrations they actually stimulated levels of PrP-res above control values.

Colorimetric assay of methyldopa bulk drug and tablets as its Fe(III) complex.

A new colorimetric method for the determination of methyldopa is described. The method is based on the reaction of methyldopa with ferric chloride in the pH range of 3.0-3.5 and producing a water soluble (1:2) brown complex with maximum absorbance at 423 nm. The conditional stability constant of the complex at the optimum pH 3.0 and ionic strength 0.4 M, is found to be 10(7.5). Beer's low is obeyed up to 6 mmol/l methyldopa concentration. The RSD of the method is 0.708-1.226%. The proposed method was found to be suitable for the accurate and reproducible analysis of methyldopa bulk drug and tablets which is pointed by high recovery values 99.20-99.79%.

[Dr. Stefan Preradovic--physician and friend of Vuk S. Karadzic]. / Dr Stefan Preradovic--lekar i prijatelj Vuka St. Karadzica.

Vuk S. Karadzic was in correspondence with Dr. Stefan Preradovic a physician from Sombor--about his transition to his place of work in Sombor. Letters written by this physician to Vuk pointed to his disagreement with the shrewd Duke Milos. Therefore, Dr. Preradovic spent his short lifetime in Budim and Sombor where he was professor as well.