Dubravka Relic

University of Belgrade · Faculty of Chemistry

The assessment of benefits and risks for the consumers of pelagic fish is crucial for balancing the intake of healthy omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and potentially toxic elements (PTE). This study investigates the contents of PTE and fatty acids in 6 pelagic fish species. The investigated species from the Adriatic Sea are horse mackerel, sardine,...

Optimization of the efficiency of the photocatalytic degradation of organic and pharmaceutical pollutants represents a matter of fundamental and practical interest. The present experimental and DFT study deals with evaluation of OH radical binding energy as a simple computational descriptor of the catalytic activity of d-metal-decorated TiO2 photoc...

Procjena koristi i rizika od konzumiranja ribe je ključna za balansiranje unosa omega-3 masnih kiselina i štetnih kemijskih tvari. U ovoj studiji utvrđeni su sadržaji makro- i mikroelemenata i masnih kiselina u 6 vrsta pelagičnih riba (šarun, srdela, srdela golema, inćun, lokarda i iglica) iz Jadranskog mora kako bi se procijenili zdravstveni rizic...

The assessment of soil-plant interactions in grapevine varieties cultivated in Serbia unveils insights into potential metal accumulation tendencies. Investigating 10 grapevine varieties from three different growth vineyards, revealing varying biological accumulation concentrations (BAC) for different elements in different grapevine parts. Notably,...

The aim of the research presented in this article is to select best internal standard for use in the direct routine analysis of L series elements concentration in water samples by applying the Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence (TXRF) technique. In the study, aqueous reference materials were used to determine detection limits of the following pote...

The accumulation of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in agricultural soils and their subsequent uptake by plants, posing risks to agricultural products and consumers is of particular concern for investigation. Vineyard soils are especially vulnerable to pollution from various sources, including agrochemicals, fertilizers, and surrounding polluting...

The presented research, performed under the framework of the ICP Vegetation program in Serbia, had a goal to provide field-based evidence of spatial patterns and temporal trends of some potentially toxic element deposition using naturally growing moss (Hypnum cupressiforme) as a biomonitor in surveys conducted in 2015 and 2020. The results showed a...

In agricultural environments, frequent agrochemical applications and activities from surrounding pollution sources (such as highway roads, metal foundries, industrial activities, waste disposal etc.) directly lead to increase pollutant concentrations in soil and grapevine. We performed several experiments in agricultural areas in Serbia [1,2,3], mo...

The concern over certain herbicides being identified as endocrine disruptors has prompted apprehensions due to their capability to disrupt the normal function of the endocrine system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential risks to human health linked with terbuthylazine and endocrine-disrupting herbicides such as atrazine, acetochlor,...

The recognition of certain herbicides as endocrine disrupting compounds has raised concerns due to their ability to interfere with the normal functioning of the endocrine system, which regulates various physiological processes in organisms. The objective of this study was to assess the possible human health risks associated with terbuthylazine and...

In agricultural environments, frequent application of agrochemicals and activities from surrounding pollution sources directly leads to increase concentrations of pollutants in soil and grapevine. We performed several experiments in different vineyards (conventional and organic) in Serbia. The concentrations of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) wer...

1) Background: An increasing use of pharmaceutics imposes a need for the permanent development of efficient strategies, including the tailoring of highly specific new materials for their removal from the environment. Photocatalytic degradation has been the subject of increasing interest of the researchers in the field. (2) Methods: This paper is fo...

This review article summarizes our research of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in human milk from Croatian mothers over the last few decades. Our studies make up the bulk of all POPs research in human milk in Croatia and show a state-of-the art in the research area. The first investigations were made in 1970`s. Aim of our review article is to...

Human milk represents the most significant food and source of nutrients for the newborn. It has immunological and health effects on the baby which is of major importance. Human milk samples were collected from healthy volunteer mothers from the general population living in urban or semi-urban areas in Zadar in Croatia. Each participant gave informe...

The material is unpublished and poster was presented at EVNVIROCHEM conference.

The concentration of magnetic particulate matter (PM) on the leaf surface (an indicator of current pollution) and topsoil (an indicator of magnetic PMs which have geogenic natural signal or historical pollution origin) was assessed in agricultural areas (conventional and organic vineyards). The main aim of this study was to explore whether magnetic...

This study assesses heavy metal content in soil, water, and plant material from sites located around the lignite mine and the power plant “Gacko”, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The samples were collected, prepared, and analyzed for heavy metals content using the flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Samples were analyzed for cadmium, lead, copper, z...

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic pollutant that is widely spread in waterbody with effluents as a result of its extensive use in the plastics industry. It posses to the class of compounds that are endocrine disruptors and has a great negative impact on living organisms. Therefore, the progress in development of green technology for BPA removal from...

Biomonitoring of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) using moss bag technique and leaves could be beneficial for air pollution assessment in agricultural areas. In different vineyards in Serbia we did several experiments performing active biomonitoring using moss bags and in parallel investigating grapevine leaves as air pollution biomonitors. Concen...

Concentration of magnetic particulate matter (PM) on leaf surface (an indicator of current pollution) and topsoil (an indicator of magnetic PM which have geogenic or historical pollution origin) were assessed in agricultural areas (conventional and organic vineyards). Main aim of this study was to explore whether magnetic parameters (saturation iso...

Presented research aimed to develop an alternative approach for the estimation of biosorption capability of sunflower husk. The acid-pretreated sunflower biomass was characterized by scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) analysis and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Biosorption effi...

In the present work, we focused on two aspects of mercury (Hg) bioconcentration in the above-ground parts of Neoboletus luridiformis. In the first part, we monitored the bioconcentration potential of individual anatomical parts of a particular fruiting body and evaluated the obtained data by the spline interpolation method. In the second part, we f...

To balance the ingestion of healthy omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and adverse chemicals the assessments of benefits and risks of the fish consumption should be of the great importance. Elements, Persistent organic pollutants – POPs (organochlorine pesticides – OCPs and polychlorinated biphenyls – PCB), and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid contents...

Particulate matter of diametar <2.5 µm (PM2.5) pollution is recognized as one of primary pollution contaminant which directly affect human health. Toxic and carcinogenic elements originating from different pollution sources can be constituents of PM2.5. Because of their small size, particles can penetrate deeper into the lungs and enter the bloodst...

At the Summer School were presented the review of the results from PhD thesis of Dr Tijana Milićević. Abstract: The agricultural land covers 40% of the Earth’s surface and the monitoring of potentially toxic elements in these areas represents the first step regarding safe food production. Three experiments were performed in the in a conventional v...

Benefits and risks of the fish consumption should be assessed to balance the ingestion of healthy omega-3 fatty acids and adverse chemicals. Persistent organic pollutants-POPs (organochlorine pesticides-OCPs and polychlorinated biphenyls-PCB), macro- and micro-elements and fatty acid contents were determined in six fish species from the Adriatic Se...

Viticulture is recognized as one of the important agricultural practices worldwide. In these environments, the frequent application of agrochemicals directly leads to increased the concentrations of different pollutants in soil–grapevine–air system. Additionally, some other surrounding pollution sources can adversely affect the vineyard ambient. Th...

U ovom radu su kroz šest eksperimenata prikazani rezultati doktorske disertacije „Integrisani pristup istraživanju potencijalno toksičnih elemenata i magnetnih čestica u sistemu zemljište‒biljka‒vazduh: biodostupnost i biomonitoring” koji doprinose boljem razumevanju ponašanja elementa u sistemu zemljište−biljka−vazduh i reprezentativnijem izboru e...

Fish diet is highly recommended due to benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, but as the different chemicals tend to accumulate to the fish tissues the balance between benefits and risks should be defined for the fish consumers. Persistent organic pollutants-POPs (OCPs and PCBs) and elements were determined in six fish species (horse mackerel, sardine, r...

Long-term exposure to contaminants from food and water can cause negative impact on human health. The aim of this paper is to assess the risk for human health, using concentrations of elements in examined drinking and well water samples from Vojvodina province, Serbia. The indirect risk, in this paper, refers to the milk and meat consumed by humans...

The phenolic and elemental profiles of Serbian autochthonous grape varieties `Smederevka` and `Plovdina` were studied and compared with some international varieties. Total phenolic content and radical scavenging activity were highest in seeds of `Plovdina`, and in `Smederevka` skins, which also had the highest contents of ferulic, chlorogenic and c...

This study was performed in organic vineyard to assess integrated pollution in soil–plant–air system by potentially toxic elements (PTE). Concentrations of 26 PTE were determined in soil, grapevine and air biomonitors (moss bags) using ICP-OES and ICP-MS. Environmental implication assessment of soil did not show pollution by PTE, except for B in sa...

In order to further define the potential use of FT IR ATR, as a non-destructive and reliable technique, for the analysis of characteristics of post stamps, certified originals of Principality of Serbia stamps (?Prince Michael issues?) issued in 1866 and 1868 as well as their forgeries were analyzed. Spectra enabling comparison of stamps paper, dye...

This work investigates the release of toxic elements from wood into the experimental spirit models and the safety risks for consumers. The spirit models were prepared as ethanolic extracts using the procedure which reproduces maturation of spirits. Investigation included staves of wood species commonly used in Balkan cooperage: mulberry, Myrobalan...

Some analytical techniques such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry represents the non-destructive technique for determination of total element content of the various samples and application of magnetic measurements in environmental studies is based on the fundamental nature of magnetism and the presence of Fe. Both methods are cost-effective,...

The pollution state and health risk assessment of potentially toxic elements (PTE) in soil and sediment samples of the petrochemical industry and its surrounding area are evaluated in this study. The pseudo-total contents of Ba, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, Zn, As, Hg, and Se were measured by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectromet...

A total of 138 samples of canned tuna, sardines and mackerel from the Serbian market were analyzed for toxic (As, Cd, Pb, Hg) element levels using ICP–MS. The highest average contents of toxic elements were found to be 1.70 mg kg⁻¹ for arsenic and 0.026 mg kg⁻¹ for cadmium in sardine and 0.068 mg kg⁻¹ for mercury in tuna. The lead content was very...

The aim of this study was to determine the levels of Zn, Cu, and Fe in three canned fish species marketed Serbia to see if they meet recommended daily intake requirements or exceed safety limits. We collected a total of 207 samples of canned tuna, sardine, and mackerel, in oil or tomato sauce and analysed them with inductively coupled plasma mass s...

Monitoring of potentially toxic elements in agricultural soil represents the first measure of caution regarding food safety, while research into element bioavailability should be a step forward in understanding the element transportation chain. This study was conducted in the grapevine growing area ("Oplenac Wine Route") for investigating element b...

This study aims to compare three extraction techniques of four sequential element extraction steps from soil and sediment samples that were taken from the location of the Pančevo petrochemical industry (Serbia). Elements were extracted using three different techniques: conventional, microwave and ultrasound extraction. A novel procedure – sum of th...

Since the methodological parameters of moss bag biomonitoring have rarely been investigated for the application in agricultural areas, two mosses, Sphagnum girgensohnii (a species of the most recommended biomonitoring genus) and Hypnum cupressiforme (commonly available), were verified in a vineyard ambient. The moss bags were exposed along transect...

The aim of this study was to assess the potential environmental and health risks of various elements in a vineyard soil and two grapevine species. This was achieved by measuring the total, pseudo-total, and bioavailable concentrations of elements in vineyard soil and grapevine samples (leaf and grape berry – skin, pulp, and seed).

This research was designed to determine phenolics content, radical scavenging activity and mineral composition of 22 grapevine leaves of diverse varietal origin. Samples were collected from two vineyards located in Central Serbia (Belgrade vineyard area) and Eastern Serbia (Mlava vineyard area). Leaf extracts were characterized mostly with phenolic...

This study assessed the state of waters in Belgrade regarding pollution with musk compounds as the target contaminants. Eleven of these compounds were alicyclic, two were macrocyclic, and one was polycyclic. Solid-phase microextraction was used for the isolation of these compounds from waste, surface and underground waters and from processed water...

This work presents characteristics of atmospheric aerosols of urban central Balkans area, using a size-segregated aerosol sampling method, calculation of mass distributions, SEM/EDX characterization, and ICP/MS analysis. Three types of mass distributions were observed: distribution with a pronounced domination of coarse mode, bimodal distribution,...

Six combined samples of filter ash obtained by lignite combustion in the “Nikola Tesla A” Power Plant were subjected to a five-phase sequential extraction. In order to establish associations of extracted trace and major elements, obtained concentrations were subjected to intraphase and interphase correlation analysis. Statistical analysis revealed...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate sediment heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Co, Mn, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn) related to pollution in freshwater sediments in Serbia. The heavy metal enrichment determination in studied sediments was conducted by using total metal content with strong acidic digestion (HCl + HNO3 + HF), a calculated enrichment factor (EF), and...

Size-segregated aerosol samples were collected using six stages High Volume Cascade Impactor. Aerosol mass and water soluble ions concentrations were determined. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model was used to study the origin of air masses arriving to Belgrade in the investigated period. The obtained results...

In the present study, concentrations of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Co, Mn, Cr, Ni, Pb, and Zn) were determined at 35 river sediments in Serbia. The anthropogenic heavy metals input and quantification of the metal enrichment degree in sediments were estimated by calculating geo-accumulation indices (I geo) and enrichment factors (EF). These pollution ind...

Size segregated particulate samples of atmospheric aerosols in urban site of continental part of Balkans were collected during 6 months in 2008. Six stages impactor in the size ranges: Dp ≤ 0.49 μm, 0.49 < Dp ≤ 0.95 μm, 0.95 < Dp ≤ 1.5 μm, 1.5 < Dp ≤ 3.0 μm, 3.0 < Dp ≤ 7.2 μm, and 7.2 < Dp ≤ 10.0 μm was applied for sampling. ICP-MS was used to quan...

Nikola Tesla B power plant (TENT B), located at the Sava River, in Obrenovac, 50 km west from the Serbian's capital, Belgrade, is the second largest coal-fired power plant in the country, consisting of two blocks, each of 620 MW capacity. In order to investigate the threat polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from deposited coal ash, obtained by...

Two receptor modeling techniques were applied to a common data set of daily measurements of 11 elements in particulate matter (PM). Samples of PM were collected in the 5 yr period at an urban site located at the sea coast. In the vicinity of the sampling site traffic is a permanent but not significant anthropogenic source. In this study we used bot...

We use conventional, microwave and ultrasound assisted sequential extraction, of defined time and power, techniques for extractions of Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn in sediments and certified material. We did not change the conditions of extractions through steps, cause we what to see is there difference in extraction results for the certified material...

This work focuses on the heavy metals contents of the size-segregated urban aerosol of the continental area of Balkans. The distribution of nano/micron heavy metals in the size-segregated urban aerosol of Belgrade center was studied during the summer-autumn of 2008. The particle size distribution in the size ranges D-p <= 0.49 mu m, 0.49 <= D-p <=...

Serbia obtains most of its energy from low-quality lignite, thus being one of the world's largest producers of coal ash per capita. In order to examine the distribution of trace and major elements in the ash and the pollution potential of the ash itself, six combined samples of filter ash, obtained by lignite combustion in the “Nikola Tesla A” Powe...

In this paper, the main objective was fractionation of Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Ca, Fe, and K in certificate material and sediment samples gathered from and around the Petrochemical Industry using the conventional, microwave and ultrasonic sequential extraction. Microwave oven and ultrasound bath were used as an energy source for achieving faster extrac...

The distribution of nano/micron inorganic main ions in the size-segregated urban aerosol of Belgrade center was studied during the summer–autumn of 2008. The particle size distribution in the size ranges Dp≤0.49μm, 0.49≤Dp≤0.95μm, 0.95≤Dp≤1.5μm, 1.5≤Dp≤3.0μm, 3.0≤Dp ≤7.2μm and Dp≥7.2μm was measured. The aerosol samples were submitted to gravimetric...

The aim of this study was the evaluation of the trace element contamination level in sediments of the most important rivers in Serbia and their tributaries. The determination of the aqua regia soluble contents of 12 micro- and macro-elements (Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Ni, Zn, Be and V) in sediments was developed by the microwave digestion tec...

Six composite filter fly, bottom, and dump ash samples, each taken from Obilic power plant, were subjected to the sequential extraction procedure comprised of five phases. Iron silicates, alumosilicates not containing iron and silicates not containing iron nor aluminum, as well as a form of aluminum not containing silicon, are established as substr...

In order to examine association patterns and pollution potential of trace and major elements from coal ash, six composite samples of fresh, filter fly, and aged dump coal ash from “Kostolac A” power plant located 100 km from Belgrade, the Serbian capital, were subjected to the sequential extraction procedure. Five extractants were applied (in the f...

We used elemental carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and sulfur as well as ratios of hydrogen and nitrogen with total organic carbon for investigation of source and conditions of organic matter in alluvial Danube sediments. We also determined the pseudo total concentrations of metals presented as a sum of extracted concentration after five sequential extra...

Surface and buried sediments were analyzed for Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn and V, as well as for total carbon and hydrogen to assess the distribution of sediment pollution due to the vicinity of the petrochemical complex. The samples, collected from 20 locations within the petrochemical complex and from 16 locations outside the complex,...

Thirty-five alluvial sediments of the River Danube and 12 groundwater samples were taken within the Pančevo Oil Refinery (Serbia). The results for groundwater samples exceed European primary drinking water standards for Fe (obtained results, >200 μg/l) and Mn (obtained results, >50 μg/l), while the levels of the trace metals are below the threshold...

In order to assess the effects of the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia on the environment, some of the most widespread and feared pollutants, including heavy metals were determined in various sediment samples that were taken from three areas hit by bombing and were previously well-known for its unpolluted environment. Samples of soil and sediments from...

The region of the investigated receptor is situated in the southern part of the Adriatic Sea in the Mediterranean. The measuring station is located on the seashore, which, being considered as a border area, is representative for the qualitative and quantitative estimation of the influence of marine and continental aerosols on the content of major i...