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The aim of this study was to determine: (1) differences in anthropometric characteristics and agility between different functional classes of wheelchair basketball players and (2) the relationship between anthropometric characteristics and agility with the functional classification of wheelchair basketball players. The sample of participants consisted of 40 wheelchair basketball players, aged 33.9 ± 11.2 years. Anthropometric characteristics (longitudinal and circular dimensions, as well as skinfold thickness) were assessed, and agility was measured using the modified T-test and Figure-of Eight test. The results of the one-way analysis of variance showed significant differences with very large effects between players of different functional classes in body mass, sitting height, and sitting reach height, while significant differences with large effects were recorded in the agility assessment tests: the T-test and the Figure-of-Eight test. Also, the results of the correlation analysis indicate that there are significant moderate positive correlations of sitting height and reaching height with functional classification.

Cilјevi ovog istraživanja su bili da se utvrde: (1) razlike u antropometrijskim karakteristikama i agilnosti između različitih funkcionalnih klasa košarkaša u kolicima i (2) povezanost između antropometrijskih karakteristika i agilnosti sa funkcionalnom klasifikacijom košarkaša u kolicima. Uzorak ispitanika činilo je 40 košarkaša u kolicima, uzrasta 33.9 ± 11.2 godina. Procenjivane su antropometrijske karakteristike (longitudionalne i cirkularne dimenzije, kožni nabori), a za procenu agilnosti korišćeni su modifikovani T-test i osmica test. Rezultati jednosmerne analize varijanse ukazuju na postojanje značajnih razlika sa veoma velikim efektima između igrača različitih funkcionalnih klasa kod telesne mase, sedeće visine i sedeće dohvatne visine, dok su značajne razlike sa velikim efektima zabeležene kod testova za procenu agilnosti: T-testa i osmice testa. Takođe, rezultati korelacione analize ukazuju na to da postoje značajne umerene pozitivne korelacije sedeće visine i dohvatne visine sa funkcionalnom klasifikacijom.

The cereal grains, which represent the cultivated grasses fruits, supply almost half of the total caloric requirements for humans and provide more nourishment compared with any other class of the food. Out of many cereals used for food, maize, rice, and wheat are the most important food resources for humans, representing 94% of the total cereals consumption. According to the data of the Republic Institute of Statistics for the year 2018, the harvested areas of corn amount to 906,753 hectares. The production of about 7 million tons was achieved with an average yield of 7.7 t/ha according to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Serbia. Serbia is still among the ten largest exporters of wheat and corn in the world for the period of 2014/15–2017/18. More precisely, it ranks seventh in the export of corn. Utilization of maize products for food animal nutrition (1000 t) is 491,48, and for industrial processing (1000 t) 278,862 expressed as the total consumption (1000 t) is 769,910. Therefore, a total of 103 samples of maize products were analyzed for the presence of toxins, i.e., tropane alkaloids (TAs). The samples were collected from the retail stores in the Republic of Serbia in 2021 and analyzed for the presence of atropine and scopolamine (33 corn grits, 39 polenta, and 31 semolina samples). Therefore, the Recommendation 2015/976/EU on the monitoring of TAs in food was adopted by the EU Commission to obtain more occurrence data on TAs in food. The monitoring extent, however, is restricted because reliable analytical methods and appropriate sensitivity are limited. There was a limit of 1 g/kg for each atropine and scopolamine in cereals containing millet, sorghum, buckwheat, or their derivatives. All the samples were analyzed by the LC-MS/MS. The LOQ was set at 1.0 μg/kg. Out of the total 103 tested samples, 32 samples (31.1%) were contaminated with atropine and scopolamine in concentrations above the LOQ. The highest concentrations of the studied TAs were observed in a semolina sample-atropine: 58.80 μg/kg, scopolamine: 10.20 μg/kg. The obtained results indicate that the TAs concentrations are above the LOQ which can be considered potential human and animal health hazards.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the hydrolates obtained as the by-products of the Thymus vulgaris essential oil steam distillation process. The bioassays, which were undertaken in order to determine the effect on germination and initial growth of seedlings of some cultivated and weed species, were performed under controlled conditions with different concentrations of the hydrolates. Seeds of Glycine max, Helianthus annuus, Zea mays, Triticum aestivum, Daucus carota subsp. sativus, Allium cepa, Medicago sativa, and Trifolium repens, and six weed species—Amaranthus retroflexus, Chenopodium album, Portulaca oleracea, Echinochloa crus-galli, Sorghum halepense, and Solanum nigrum—were treated with 10, 20, 50, and 100% T. vulgaris hydrolate solution. The obtained results showed that the T. vulgaris hydrolate had the least negative effect on the germination of cultivated species, such as soybean, sunflower and maize, whereas clover and alfalfa were the most sensitive. By comparison, all the tested weed species expressed high susceptibility. It can be concluded that the T. vulgaris hydrolate has an herbicidal effect, in addition to its potential as a biopesticide in terms of integrated weed management.

MK-801, also called dizocilpine, is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist widely used in animal research to model schizophrenia-like phenotypes. Although its effects in rodents are well characterised, little is known about the outcomes of this drug in other organisms. In this study, we characterise the effects of MK-801 on the locomotion, sleep, and negative geotaxis of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. We observed that acute (24 h) and chronic (7 days) administration of MK-801 enhanced negative geotaxis activity in the forced climbing assay for all tested concentrations (0.15 mM, 0.3 mM, and 0.6 mM). Moreover, acute administration, but not chronic, increased the flies’ locomotion in a dose-dependent matter. Finally, average sleep duration was not affected by any concentration or administration protocol. Our results indicate that acute MK-801 could be used to model hyperactivity phenotypes in Drosophila melanogaster. Overall, this study provides further evidence that the NMDA receptor system is functionally conserved in flies, suggesting the usefulness of this model to investigate several phenotypes as a complement and replacement of the rodent models within drug discovery.