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Papers by Marko Folic

Sustainability

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2020

Taken into consideration that oxidative stress response after preconditioning with phosphodiester... more Taken into consideration that oxidative stress response after preconditioning with phosphodiesterase inhibitors (PDEIs) and moderate physical activity has still not been clarified, the aim of this study was to assess the effects of PDEIs alone or in combination with physical activity, on systemic redox status. The study was carried out on 96 maleWistar albinorats classified into two groups. The first group included animals exposed only to pharmacological preconditioning (PreC) maneuver (sedentary control (CTRL, 1 ml/day saline,n=12), nicardipine (6 mg/kg/day of NIC,n=12), vinpocetine (10 mg/kg/day of VIN,n=12), and nimodipine (NIM 10 mg/kg/day of,n=12). The second included animals exposed to preconditioning with moderate-intensity training (MIT) on treadmill for 8 weeks. After 5 weeks from the start of training, the animals were divided into four subgroups depending on the medication to be used for pharmacological PreC: moderate-intensity training (MIT+ 1 ml/day saline,n=12), nicard...

Serbian Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 2019

The strong association among the risk of coronary artery diseases (CAD), high levels of LDL-C and... more The strong association among the risk of coronary artery diseases (CAD), high levels of LDL-C and low levels of HDLC is well established. Hyperhomocysteinaemia (HHcy) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and causes endothelial dysfunction, a hallmark of atherosclerosis. In this study, we ascertained the influence of statins on the atherogenic index, as an indicator and a significant adjunct for predicting atherosclerosis in hyperhomocysteinaemic male Wistar albino rats. For 4 weeks, the animals were fed with one of the following diets (Mucedola SRL., Milan, Italy): standard rodent chow; a diet enriched in methionine with no deficiency in B vitamins or a diet enriched in methio-nine and deficient in B vitamins. The animals were simultaneously exposed to a pharmacology treatment with atorvastatin at dose of 3 mg/kg/day i.p. or simvastatin, at dose of 5 mg/kg/day i.p. We measured weight gain, food intake, and FER and determined the concentrations of biochemica...

Vojnosanitetski pregled, 2016

Background/Aim. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infections in outpatien... more Background/Aim. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infections in outpatients. The aim of this study was to define the causative agents of urinary tract infections and their resistance to antimicrobial drugs in the urban area of central Serbia, as well as to evaluate eventual differences associated with age and gender of the patients. Methods. This retrospective study analysed data taken from routine, consecutively collected urine cultures of outpatients with symptomatic UTIs, collected from the Department of Microbiology, Institute of Public Health in Kragujevac, Serbia, from January 2009 to December 2013. Results. There were 71,905 urine cultures, and 24,713 (34.37%) of them were positive for bacterial pathogens. The most common pathogen was Escherichia coli (E. coli) (56.56%), followed by Klebsiella spp. (16.20%), Proteus spp. (14.68%), Enterococcus spp. (5.29%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (3.74%). E. coli and Enterococcus spp. isolation rates were lower in m...

The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries, 2016

Introduction: Acinetobacter baumannii is one of major causative agents of severe, life-threatenin... more Introduction: Acinetobacter baumannii is one of major causative agents of severe, life-threatening hospital infections (HIs), especially in intensive care units (ICUs). Our aim was to discover the risk factors associated with the emergence of HIs caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), as well as those associated with death in patients who suffer from such infections. Methodology: A prospective cohort study was conducted over a five-year period in the medical-surgical ICU of the Clinical Centre in Kragujevac, Serbia. The study group comprised patients who had HIs caused by CRAB, while the control group comprised patients infected with carbapenem-sensitive Acinetobacter baumannii. Results: In total, 137 patients developed HIs caused by Acinetobacter baumannii. The mean age of the patients was 59.65 ± 16.08 years, and 99 (72.26%) of them were males. In 95 patients (69.35%), the infection was caused by CRAB. There were six independent risk factors for CRAB infect...

American Journal of Infection Control, 2015

The Journal of Clinical Hypertension, 2013

To the Editor: Although numerous effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors were d... more To the Editor: Although numerous effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors were documented in various tissues, their influence on human oviduct was not investigated. It was shown that angiotensin II receptors exist in epithelial cells of fallopian tubes, and when stimulated by an agonist, they induce movement of negatively charged ions from a basal to luminal side of the epithelial cells. In a functional study on isolated human oviduct, angiotensin II-stimulated movements of the epithelial cells’ cilia, suggesting indirect influence on fertilization process; however, angiotensin II did not affect fallopian tubes’ motility in the same study. Knowing that ACE exists in oviduct tissues, especially in the ampullary region, and that another substrate, bradykinin, triggers tonic contractions of both isthmus and ampulla, we decided to test whether ACE inhibitors influence motility of isolated human oviduct. The fallopian tubes were taken from 14 female patients (39.3 9.7 years) during abdominal hysterectomy with salpingo-oophorectomy (performed in 2011 and 2012) due to uterine fibroids causing prolonged and irregular uterine bleeding for at least 3 months. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the clinical center “Kragujevac,” and the patients signed informed consent forms. Two types of fallopian tube preparations were mounted in the isolated organ baths: isthmus and ampulla. The tension of the isolated preparations was recorded by isometric transducer (Palmer Bio Science, Los Angeles, CA) and registered on a personal computer using special interface and software (Majk Electronic, Mladenovac, Serbia). Both phasic and tonic contractions of the isolated preparations were measured as the area under the tension recordings (AUC). Captopril (Sigma-Aldrich, Buchs, Switzerland) and enalapril maleate (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) were separately added to the organ baths in a cumulative way, gradually increasing their concentration in the baths’ solution. Enalapril (2.7910 –3.9910 4 M) did not affect either phasic, spontaneous activity, or tone of both isolated isthmus and ampulla. On the other hand, captopril (6.1910 –2.7910 3 M) caused concentration-dependent tonic contraction of the isolated ampulla (EC50=0.27 2.1910 7 M; F=9.14, df1=7, df2=16, P<.01) (Figure 1), while tone of the isolated isthmus and spontaneous activity of both isthmus and ampulla were not affected by this substance. It is not surprising that captopril caused tonic contraction of ampullar segment, while enalapril did not, since captopril has much higher affinity for ACE than enalapril in various tissues. The affinity of captopril for ACE is more than 100 times higher than that of enalapril, which explains why enalapril in almost the same bath concentrations did not cause contraction of ampulla, while captopril did. Our finding draws attention to that possibility that ACE inhibitors may interfere with fertilization in female patients who take these drugs chronically for various reasons. Of course, this is just a hypothesis that needs to be confirmed by cohort or case-control studies in real life. But, if confirmed, it would profoundly influence prescribing of ACE inhibitors to women during their reproductive age.

Hypertension in Pregnancy, 2011

Investigation of methyldopa and nifedipine effects on maternal and fetal hemodynamics in women wi... more Investigation of methyldopa and nifedipine effects on maternal and fetal hemodynamics in women with mild gestational hypertension during the third pregnancy trimester. A prospective cohort study. Methyldopa effects were followed in 28 patients, and nifedipine effects in another 28 patients. There were also 28 healthy controls. Uterine artery blood velocity waveform indices were improved only by nifedipine. Neither of the drugs affected the indices in umbilical and fetal middle cerebral artery. Both drugs normalized maternal blood pressure and pulse. Methyldopa and nifedipine did not show clinically significant influence on umbilical artery and fetal cerebral blood flow.

Medicinski casopis, 2020

Objective. Until now, there have been no guidelines for the use of drugs in patients with COVID 1... more Objective. Until now, there have been no guidelines for the use of drugs in patients with COVID 19 in the Republic of Serbia that have been authorized and published in the professional or scientific literature, or on the official websites of the Ministry of Health or healthcare institutions. The aim of this paper is to present a local guideline for the use of drugs in patients with COVID 19 and the process of its development and adoption. Methods. The guideline proposal was prepared by a working group based on the results of a systematic research of the medical literature, and quality control of found publications from the category "clinical practice guidelines". The proposal of the working group was considered and adopted at the sessions of the Drug / Therapeutics Committee and the Quality Assurance Committee of the University Clinical Centre Kragujevac. Results. The guideline's recommendations are based on the type of patient, and all have the same degree of recommen...

International Journal of Radiation Biology

Paediatrics and International Child Health

Serbian Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 2022

Background. Symptoms of depression are often present in patients with chronic obstructive pulmona... more Background. Symptoms of depression are often present in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and treatment of depression may substantially improve the quality of life of such patients. The aim of our study was to investigate factors that influence the efficacy of antidepressant therapy in terms of the quality of life in patients with COPD and a depressive disorder. Materials and Methods. The study was designed as a prospective cross-sectional study and conducted between October 2016 and December 2019 in the Primary Health Center, Kragujevac, Serbia. The study sample included 87 patients. Associations between putative risk factors and change in the quality-of-life score were tested by a multivariate linear regression model and interpreted by the regression coefficients. Results. Our study showed a clear positive effect of therapy with SSRIs on the severity of depression symptoms and the quality of life of patients with co-occurrence of COPD and depression. Howev...

Journal of Chemotherapy, 2022

Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2019

Receptors that bind purines and pyrimidines have numerous roles in human body, and are still clas... more Receptors that bind purines and pyrimidines have numerous roles in human body, and are still classified as A (or adenosine) receptors, that bind adenosine, and P2 receptors, that bind adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP), and adenosine 5'-diphosphate (ADP) in the first place, and are further subdivided to P2X (ligand-gated ion channels) and P2Y (G protein coupled) receptors [1]. Adenosine receptors (previously denoted as P1 receptors) are G-protein coupled, existing in four subtypes, A1, A2A, A2B, and A3, while adenine nucleotides cannot bind for these receptors, adenosine acts as full agonist at all four subtypes [2]. Adenosine receptors are widespread in the body and have multiple roles, including pro-inflammatory, cardioprotective, and anti-nociceptive [2]. There are seven subtypes of P2X receptors (P2X1-P2X7) which are activated by ATP, and eight subtypes of P2Y receptors (P2Y1, P2Y2, P2Y4, P2Y6, P2Y11, P2Y12, P2Y13, and P2Y14) which are activated by ATP (P2Y2 and P2Y11), ADP (P2Y1, P2Y12, and P2Y13), uridine-5diphosphate (UDP) (P2Y6 and P2Y14) and uridine-5triphosphate (UTP) (P2Y2 and P2Y4) [3]. Roles of adenosine, P2X, and P2Y receptors in control of fallopian tubes' motility were scarcely investigated. At first Samuelson et al. showed that adenosine in low concentrations caused weak tonic contraction of both isolated fallopian tubes' isthmus (only during proliferative phase of menstrual cycle) and ampulla (during both proliferative and secretory phases), and in high concentrations caused inhibition of spontaneous contractions of both isthmus and ampulla (during whole menstrual cycle). They concluded that there were two types of adenosine receptors (stimulatory and inhibitory) in fallopian tubes, situated on smooth muscle cells [4]. The same research group in another study showed that adenosine also inhibited release of noradrenaline from sympathetic innervation of Fallopian tubes [5, 6]. Later on Ziganshin et al. demonstrated potentiation of spontaneous contractions of isolated fallopian tubes by ADP and ATP, while UTP was ineffective [7]. The same group showed in the next study that this response diminishes if the fallopian tubes were exposed to inflammation, and concluded that expression of P2 receptors was suppressed by inflammatory mediators [8, 9]. However, neither of the research groups investigated effects of adenosine, P2X, and P2Y agonists on Fallopian tubes from postmenopausal women; furthermore, they did not test whole palette of natural agonists of adenosine, P2X, and P2Y receptors in the same series of experiments, introducing uncertainty that some of the patients' characteristics (comorbidities, concomitant therapy, etc.) could have influenced the responses, as being present in one and not in another series of experiments.

Serbian Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 2021

The aim of this pilot study is a preliminary evaluation of previous models / modalities of online... more The aim of this pilot study is a preliminary evaluation of previous models / modalities of online teaching at the Faculty of Medical Sciences in Serbia and to examine the attitudes of students and academic staff about education during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as their previous experiences. The research was designed as an observational qualitative epidemiological study which was conducted on a population of students and academics staff at the Faculty of biomedical sciences, University of Kragujevac during the pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Serbia. The first phase is a pilot study which included 332 participants performed between December 2020 and January 2021. The pilot study questionnaire is formed for the purposes of the research and consists of 17 closed-ended questions with graduated answers. Students and academic staff completed the questionnaire through an online learning platform in all environments and from all electronic devices. The importance of this study is re...

Open Medicine, 2020

During radiotherapy treatment for cervical cancer, up to 84% of patients exhibit some form of acu... more During radiotherapy treatment for cervical cancer, up to 84% of patients exhibit some form of acute radiation toxicity (ART). The primary aim of this clinical study is to determine the impact of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, β-blockers and other risk factors such as the patient’s anatomical characteristics on ART emergence in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer treated by chemoradiotherapy. This is a combination of two nested case–control studies within the cohort of patients with locally advanced cervical cancer based on the analysis of potential risk factors for the onset of ART in patients treated with 3D conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) and 2D conventional radiotherapy (2D-RT), prospectively followed up from January 2017 to September 2018 in a tertiary care hospital. The ACE inhibitors and bladder volume were identified as factors that significantly affect the occurrence of ART in patients treated with 3D-CRT. In patients treated with 2D-RT, the facto...

Journal of Chemotherapy, 2020

Increased antibiotic utilization in hospital is linked to higher total treatment costs, together ... more Increased antibiotic utilization in hospital is linked to higher total treatment costs, together with increased length of stay, surgery and emergency admission. The aim of our retrospective cohort study was to investigate predictors of antibiotic utilization per single patient from an intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary care, university hospital in Serbia. Average utilization of antibiotics per patient was 23.9 ± 20.4 defined daily doses (DDDs). Diagnosis of systemic infection increased antibiotics utilization per patient for 10.0 DDDs, positive blood culture for 5.4 DDDs, isolation of Pseudomonas spp. for 19.5 DDDs, isolation of Acinetobacter spp. for 6.3 DDDs and injury for 7.3 DDDs per patient. Each new day of hospitalization and each additional drug prescribed increased utilization for further 0.3 DDDs and 1.2 DDDs, respectively. Appropriate and limited use of antibiotics in ICU is of key importance for preserving their effectiveness and decrease of bacterial resistance.

Serbian Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 2017

Radiotherapy is a frequently prescribed and highly effective form of treatment of oncology patien... more Radiotherapy is a frequently prescribed and highly effective form of treatment of oncology patients. However, many patients feel rational or irrational fear of the application of radiotherapy, which may provoke mental and physical stress, anxiety, growing anger and hostility, thus reducing quality of life. The aim of this study was to develop, reliability test and validate a questionnaire for assessing the level of fear of radiotherapy in oncology patients. We performed a prospective qualitative study based on the development, validation and reliability testing of the questionnaire developed for assessing radiotherapy-caused fear in oncology patients treated in the Centre for Oncology and Radiology, Department of Radiotherapy, Clinical Centre Kragujevac. The study included 154 patients and the final version of the questionnaire integrated 15 questions. After the elimination of inappropriate questions the Cronbach coeffi cient α was 0.946. Th e questionnaire consists of two factors w...

Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo, 2016

Introduction. Healthcare-acquired urinary tract infections (HAUTI) make up to 40% of all healthca... more Introduction. Healthcare-acquired urinary tract infections (HAUTI) make up to 40% of all healthcareacquired infections and contribute significantly to hospital morbidity, mortality, and overall cost of treatment. Objective. The aim of our study was to investigate possible risk factors for development of HAUTI caused by multi-drug resistant pathogens. Methods. The prospective case-control study in a large tertiary-care hospital was conducted during a five-year period. The cases were patients with HAUTI caused by multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens, and the controls were patients with HAUTI caused by non-MDR pathogens. Results. There were 562 (62.6%) patients with MDR isolates and 336 (37.4%) patients with non-MDR isolates in the study. There were four significant predictors of HAUTI caused by MDR pathogens: hospitalization before insertion of urinary catheter for more than eight days (ORadjusted = 2.763; 95% CI = 1.352-5.647; p = 0.005), hospitalization for more than 15 days (ORadju...

Serbian Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 2016

Low birth weight newborns (≤1500 grams) are at a high risk of acquiring hospital infections due t... more Low birth weight newborns (≤1500 grams) are at a high risk of acquiring hospital infections due to the immaturity of the immune system, lack of efficient structural barriers, and an incomplete development of endogenous microbial flora.The aim of this study was to reveal the potential risk factors for hospital-acquired pneumonia in low birth weight newborns.This study was a prospective cohort design with a nested case-control study and was conducted between January 1Although univariate analyses identified many risk factors with a significant influence on the occurrence of hospital pneumonia, multivariate analysis identified only the following two independent risk factors for hospital pneumonia in newborns with birth weights below 1500 grams: mechanical ventilation (p=0.003, OR=68.893, 95% CI=4.285-1107.699) and longer hospitalization (p=0.003, OR=1.052, 95% CI=1.017-1.088). Almost all of the pathogens isolated from the patients with pneumonia were gram-negative bacteria (98.50%). Mor...