Publications by authors named "Lucic A"

Background: The association between the age of cannabis use (CU) onset and substance use (SU) problems has been extensively studied, yet findings remain inconsistent.

Aims: This systematic review aimed to examine prospective studies on the association between age of CU onset and later SU problems, controlling for key individual, social, and SU-related risk factors.

Methods: PsycINFO, Web of Science and PubMed were searched for studies published between January 2000 and December 2024.

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  • A new cytokine called IL-41 is linked to several autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and this study seeks to evaluate its potential as a biomarker for RA treatment effectiveness and patient responses.
  • The research involves 189 patients from a Serbian rheumatology clinic, split into groups based on their treatment: methotrexate alone, methotrexate with TNF inhibitors, or the IL-6 inhibitor tocilizumab.
  • Results show that tocilizumab significantly lowers IL-41 levels and improves disease symptoms the most, while smoking is identified as a major predictor of higher IL-41 concentrations in RA patients.
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  • Climate change is threatening the survival of silver fir populations in Southeast Europe, prompting a study on needle anatomy and its relation to environmental factors.
  • The analysis revealed significant differences in needle traits across populations, identifying three distinct groups based on these traits and their correlation with climatic conditions.
  • Findings indicated important relationships between anatomical traits and environmental variables, which are useful for conservation efforts and understanding the genetic diversity of these populations.
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This paper aims to investigate the influence of two types of parental norms, descriptive and injunctive, on young adults' sustainable attitudes and sustainable household capability through the application of the Knowledge-Attitude-Behaviour (KAB) theory. Empirical research was conducted by an online questionnaire on a sample of 356 young adults in Croatia aged 18 to 28. The results confirmed that young adults had high levels of sustainable knowledge and attitudes.

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  • Liver fibrosis is caused by an accumulation of extracellular matrix due to the transformation of liver cells in response to damage, and currently, there are no approved drugs specifically for this condition.
  • A study found that a tablet formulation containing 70% polyenylphosphatidylcholines (PPCs) showed promise in reversing the fibrotic features of liver cells.
  • The tablets were thoroughly tested and confirmed to retain the antifibrotic properties of PPCs, effective against specific liver cell lines, demonstrating that the formulation method did not diminish their bioactivity.
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  • - The study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and hesitancy of students regarding COVID-19 vaccination among medical and non-medical students in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  • - Results showed that medical students had higher vaccination rates and better knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines compared to non-medical students, and vaccinated students had more positive attitudes toward vaccine safety and effectiveness.
  • - The findings suggest that educating students about the COVID-19 vaccine can enhance acceptance and create a more favorable view of vaccination overall, which is important for future parental decisions on children's vaccinations.
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Salt-inducible kinases 1-3 (SIK1-3) are key regulators of the LKB1-AMPK pathway and play an important role in cellular homeostasis. Dysregulation of any of the three isoforms has been associated with tumorigenesis in liver, breast, and ovarian cancers. We have recently developed the dual pan-SIK/group I p21-activated kinase (PAK) chemical probe MRIA9.

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This trial aimed to determine the possible therapeutic and immunomodulatory effects of vitamin D3 in patients with knee OA. In this open-label clinical trial, symptoms were assessed over 3 months in patients with primary knee OA receiving oral vitamin D3 4000 IU/day. Clinical response was evaluated at baseline and 3 months using WOMAC subscores and VAS.

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The aim of this research was to quantify the content of hazardous elements in the needles of Norway spruce (Picea abies L.) in the natural habitats that were accumulated from thermal power plants, mines, and metal processing industry. Fifteen natural populations of the Norway spruce were sampled from the mountain ranges in Southeastern Europe (Dinaric Alps and Balkan Mountains).

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This paper presents research results on forest decline in Serbia. The results were obtained through monitoring defoliation of 34 tree species at 130 sample plots during the period from 2004 to 2018. This research aimed to determine whether the occurrence of defoliation and tree mortality were caused by drought.

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Carbapenems are important antibacterials and are both substrates and inhibitors of some β-lactamases. We report studies on the reaction of the unusual carbapenem biapenem, with the subclass B1 metallo-β-lactamases VIM-1 and VIM-2 and the class A serine-β-lactamase KPC-2. X-ray diffraction studies with VIM-2 crystals treated with biapenem reveal the opening of the β-lactam ring to form a mixture of the (2)-imine and enamine complexed at the active site.

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Penems have demonstrated potential as antibacterials and β-lactamase inhibitors; however, their clinical use has been limited, especially in comparison with the structurally related carbapenems. Faropenem is an orally active antibiotic with a C-2 tetrahydrofuran (THF) ring, which is resistant to hydrolysis by some β-lactamases. We report studies on the reactions of faropenem with carbapenem-hydrolysing β-lactamases, focusing on the class A serine β-lactamase KPC-2 and the metallo β-lactamases (MBLs) VIM-2 (a subclass B1 MBL) and L1 (a B3 MBL).

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β-Lactamases comprise the most widely used mode of resistance to β-lactam antibiotics. Cyclic boronates have shown promise as a new class of β-lactamase inhibitor, with pioneering potential to potently inhibit both metallo- and serine-β-lactamases. We report studies concerning a bicyclic boronate ester with a thioether rather than the more typical β-lactam antibiotic "C-6/C-7" acylamino type side chain, which is present in the penicillin/cephalosporin antibiotics.

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Introduction: Usefulness of intravenous thrombolysis in patients with acute lacunar cerebral infarction is questionable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravenous thrombolysis in patients with lacunar infarction in comparison with patients with nonlacunar infarction as well as with patients with lacunar infarction who were not treated with intravenous thrombolysis.

Materials And Methods: In the first part of the study, among patients with acute ischemic stroke treated with intravenous thrombolysis, characteristics and outcomes of 46 patients with lacunar and 221 patients with nonlacunar infarction were compared.

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Authors of biomedical articles use comparison sentences to communicate the findings of a study, and to compare the results of the current study with earlier studies. The Claim Framework defines a comparison claim as a sentence that includes at least two entities that are being compared, and an endpoint that captures the way in which the entities are compared. Although automated methods have been developed to identify comparison sentences from the text, identifying the role that a specific noun plays (i.

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Context: Clinical research suggests that vitamin D deficiency correlates with mental illnesses.

Objective: The aim was to prove that the patients from the psychiatric health care service in Serbia had higher vitamin D deficiency than patients from general practice.

Design: The study had a cross-sectional design.

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Preparing a systematic review can take hundreds of hours to complete, but the process of reconciling different results from multiple studies is the bedrock of evidence-based medicine. We introduce a two-step approach to automatically extract three facets - two entities (the agent and object) and the way in which the entities are compared (the endpoint) - from direct comparative sentences in full-text articles. The system does not require a user to predefine entities in advance and thus can be used in domains where entity recognition is difficult or unavailable.

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Introduction: Granulomatosis with polyangitis (Wegener's) is an antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (PR3-ANCA)-associated vasculitis, which commonly involves the upper and lower respiratory tracts and kidneys. Central nervous system involvement is reported in less than 11%, and rarely present at onset.

Case Outline: We report the case of a 41-year-old male patient with a high disease activity, large organ involvement, as well as central nervous system manifestations presented at onset.

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Objectives: The aim of our study was to develop a population pharmacokinetic (PPK) model for 25-hydroxyvitamin D clearance in a healthy young adult population in Serbia.

Methods: Study sample consisted of 70 healthy young students of the Faculty of Medical Science, University of Kragujevac, Serbia, with a mean age and body mass index of 22.39 ± 1.

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Purpose: For the treatment of increasingly complex cardiac arrhythmias, new catheter designs as well as alternative energy sources are constantly being developed. However, there is presently no in vitro method available for assessment of the temperature changes induced at various myocardial levels during energy delivery. Therefore, our study was aimed at developing an in vitro model to record and display the temperature kinetics during ablation in the entire muscle cross section.

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Introduction: Prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism during pregnancy are complicated since the use of antithrombotic drugs carries a certain risk to the mother, the fetus or both. Coumarins cross the placental barrier and may be responsible for bleeding, teratogenicity and central nervous system abnormalities. The risk of embriopathy is particularly high between 6 and 12 weeks of gestation.

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Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, as well as total phenol (TP, Folin-Ciocalteu method) and phenolic acid (UPLC-MS/MS) contents of leaf and flower infusions of Teucrium arduini L. from six different mountainous localities in Croatia (Ucka, Vosac, Sveti Jure, Snjeznica, Vaganac, Susanj) were analysed in this study. Antioxidant capacity was evaluated using the ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, as well as 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and 2,2'-azinobis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging assays.

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The aim of our study was to find whether ochratoxin A (OTA) induces the apoptosis and/or necrosis of kidney tissue in rats. In the first experiment, the highest number of apoptotic cells was found in rats sacrificed one day after OTA administration (1.00 mg/kg b.

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