Vranac, an old autochthonous red grapevine variety of Montenegro, was first mentioned in a historical document published in the 15th century. As currently the study of indigenous varieties is of particular importance, the subject of this work was detailed characterization of phenolic compounds in the autochthonous grapevine variety Vranac, from the Montenegrin Podgorica subregion. Phenolic profiles of leaves, berries (skin, seeds, and pulp were examined separately) and young monovarietal wine were determined using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with linear trap quadrupole (LTQ)—Orbitrap XL mass spectrometry (MS). Total phenolic content (TPC) and radical scavenging activity (RSA) were higher for the grape seeds extracts, followed by extracts of grape skins and pulps. As expected, the total anthocyanin content (TAC) was higher in grape skin than in wine. A total of one hundred twenty nine compounds (forty two phenolic acids and their derivatives, twenty three flavan-3-ols, twenty one flavanols, five stilbenes and thirty eight anthocyanins) were identified in the investigated extracts. To our best knowledge, this is the first report of tentative identification of (epi)catechin 3-O-coumarate in grape seed and chalcan-flavan 3-ol dimers in wine and grape seed.

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Besides genetic factors, it is known that some trace elements, as Selenium, Copper, and Zinc are essential for thyroid gland fuction and thyroid hormone metabolism. Moreover, there were some metals effect that suggested patterns associated with overt thyroid disease. Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT), chronic autoimune inflamation of thyroid gland with cosequtive hipothyroidism, is common disease in Serbia, and we thought it is worthwile to explore potential effects of essential and toxic metals and metalloides on thyroid function and ability to restore euthyroid status of them. This cross-sectional, case-control, study investigated the status of essential elements (Selenium,Copper,and Zinc) and toxic metals and metalloides (Al, Cr, Mn, Co, As, Cd, Sb, Ba, Be, Pb and Ni) from the blood of 22 female, patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis and overt hypothyroidism, and compared it with those of 55 female healthy persons. We tried to establish the presence of any correlation between previous mentioned elements and thyroid function in hypothyroid patients and healthy participants. The results of our study suggested that the blood concentration of essential trace elements, especially the ratio of Copper, and Selenium may influence directly thyroid function in patients with HT and overt hypothyroidism.Thus, our findings may have implication to life-long substitution therapy in terms of l-thyroxine dose reduction. Furthermore, for the first time, our study shown potential toxic effect of Cadmium on thyroid function in HT patients, which may implicate the dose of l-thyroxine substitution.

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Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry ((ICP-MS)) was used to determine three toxic (Ni, As, Cd) and six essential trace elements (Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Se) in blood serum of patients with hypothyroidism (Hy group) and healthy people (control group), in order to set the experimental conditions for accurate determination of a unique profile of these elements in hypothyroidism. Method validation was performed with standard reference material of the serum by varying the sample treatment with both standard and collision mode for analysis of elements isotopes. Quadratic curvilinear functions with good performances of models and the lowest detection limits were obtained for Cr,Zn, As,Cd in collision mode, and Mn,Co, Ni,Cu, Se in standard mode. Treatment of serum samples with aqueous solution containing nitric acid, Triton X-100 and n-butanol gave the best results. Chemometric tools were applied for discrimination of patients with hypothyroidism. All nine elements discriminated Hy group of samples with almost the same discriminating power as indicated by their higher values for this group of patients. Statistically significant correlation (p< 0.01) was observed for several elements. Results indicated clear differences in element profile between Hy and control group and it could be used as a unique profile of hypothyroid state.

During many years of industrial development, soil system was contaminated with large amounts of toxic metals. In order to investigate the mobility and availability of metals from soil to mushrooms, the content of 13 elements (Al, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, Ti, and Zn), in caps and stipes of wild-grown edible mushroom Macrolepiota procera and soil substrates, collected from five sites in Rasina region in central Serbia, was determined. Soil samples were subjected to the sequential extraction procedure proposed by the Community Bureau of Reference in order to fractionate acid-soluble/exchangeable, reducible, oxidizable, and residual fractions. Metal concentrations were determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer and the results subjected to multivariate data analysis. A principal component analysis distinguished mushrooms samples from different geographical areas and revealed the influence of soil composition on metal content in mushrooms. Hierarchical cluster analyses confirmed that the first three phases of extraction were the most important for metal uptake by mushrooms from soil. The bioconcentration factors and translocation factors for each metal were also calculated. These results showed that M. procera could serve as a good dietary source of essential elements, especially Cu, Zn, Mn, and Fe but the consumption of mushrooms may pose a health risk for consumers during the "season of mushrooms," due to the presence of cadmium.