Jasna Jancic

Faculty of Medicine University of Belgrade Serbia · Clinic of Neurology and Psychiatry for Children and Youth

A National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) is a multi-disciplinary body of national experts that provide evidence-based recommendations to policy-makers to assist them in making informed immunization policy and programme decisions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, NITAGs faced many challenges in making evidence-based recommendations for...

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is the most abundant steroid hormone in primates, which is predominantly synthesized in the adrenal cortex. A characteristic curve of growth and decline of its synthesis during life was observed, together with the corresponding formation of its sulphate ester (DHEAS). High levels of plasma circulating DHEA are suggeste...

There is no consensus regarding the classification of optic neuritis, and precise diagnostic criteria are not available. This reality means that the diagnosis of disorders that have optic neuritis as the first manifestation can be challenging. Accurate diagnosis of optic neuritis at presentation can facilitate the timely treatment of individuals wi...

Background Peripheral facial nerve palsy is a relatively frequent, rather idiopathic, and isolated nonprogressive disorder with a tendency toward spontaneous recovery in children. It is primarily characterized by unilateral paresis or paralysis of the mimic musculature affecting verbal communication, social interactions, and quality of life. Objec...

In this research, a UHPLC–MS/MS method was developed and validated for the determination of zonisamide in dried plasma spots (DPS) and dried blood spots (DBS). Detection of zonisamide and internal standard, 1-(2,3-dichlorphenyl)piperazine, was carried out in ESI+ mode by monitoring two MRM transitions per analyte. Total run time, less than 2.5 min,...

Neuroretinitis due to Bartonella henselae infection is a rare cause of vision loss in children. Two pediatric cases of acute unilateral vision loss accompanied by edema of the optic nerve on fundoscopic examination are presented. Severe causes of vision loss were excluded. During the course of the disease, macular stellate exudates emerged on contr...

The aim of the study was to analyze the genetic basis of a various range of neurodegenerative disorders manifesting by movement disorders (MD) using next generation sequencing (NGS) clinical exome panel. The study included a total number of 42 cases, 36 unrelated and 3 sibling pairs patients diagnosed with movement disorders, all negative after tar...

Background To evaluate the significance of visual evoked potentials (VEP) in the early diagnosis of optic neuritis (ON) and detecting clinically silent lesions in pediatric multiple sclerosis (PedMS). This study represents one of the largest series of PedMS which evaluated characteristics of VEP in PedMS patients. Methods This was a retrospective...

Arterial hypertension is the most massive chronic non-infectious disease of mankind nowadays. It may remain undiagnosed for years, provoking later complications, such as acute heart failure, cerebrovascular stroke, myocardial infarction, renal failure, hypertensive retinopathy, or sudden death. Primary arterial hypertension is more common, while se...

The mechanisms of the complex pathophysiology of Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) are still insufficiently clarified. The role of oxidative stress as an etiological factor has been proposed and demonstrated in vitro, but without conclusive data that rely on clinical samples. The aim of the study was to evaluate and characterize the existe...

Recently, pharmacological research has shifted from pathophysiological causes of diseases associated with cognitive disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and schizophrenia, to cognitive enhancement potential of certain drugs in healthy individuals—“smart drugs”. Studies have shown that some of the curr...

Objective: The present study represents one of the largest series of pediatric multiple sclerosis (PedMS) in Western Balkan region. This is the first study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of PedMS in the Serbian population. Methods: This retrospective study on 54 PedMS, aged 7–17 years, was performed at the Clinic of Neurology and Psychiat...

The Leber's hereditary optical neuropathy (LHON) is a rare disease caused by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations. Beside primary mutations, the effect of secondary mtDNA mutations in still unclear. We examined the effect of secondary mtDNA mutations on secondary structure of different mitochondrial RNAs. Whole mitochondrial genome sequence of LHON...

Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is a maternally inherited disorder that affects central vision in young adults and is typically associated with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations. This study is based on a mutational screening of entire mtDNA in eight Serbian probands clinically and genetically diagnosed with LHON and four of their famil...

Introduction/Objective. The aim of this study was to coIntroduction/Objective. The aim of this study was to compare kinematic features and graphic rules of writing between children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (with and without medical treatment) and typically developed children (TDC). Methods. In total, 55 children (26 with...

Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is a mitochondrial disease characterized by subacute optic atrophy which results in severe visual impairment. The penetrance, clinical expression and disease onset are variable, and frequently associated with other extraocular symptoms. The disease phenotype remains to be an intriguing question which is de...

Background Bell´s palsy is the most common type of peripheral facial palsy in pediatrics. Recent studies strongly support the combined therapy with corticosteroids (CS), antiviral drugs and vitamins B. Our study aims to assess the effectiveness of proposed therapeutic modalities, including the relation between the patients‘ recovery and their age,...

This study aimed to analyze the measurement properties of the Health-related quality of life questionnaire for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOSQ-50) in a sample of Serbian women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Seventy-six women with PCOS from an endocrinology clinic and 28 healthy women participated between October 2016 and March 2017. The me...

Writing is a complex skill and it can be affected by many factors. One of the most obvious is handedness. The actual influence of handedness (especially left-handedness, since almost 10% of the population is left-handed) onto writing performance has not been fully studied in previous research. Digitalized kinematic analyses and assessments of writi...

Background: Accumulated evidence indicates that exposure to trauma is associated with the development of cognitive impairments and psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents. Objective: In this case study of a female adolescent of 17 years, we aimed to evaluate how cortical positron emission tomography (PET) abnormalities relate to psychog...

Migraine and epilepsy are classified as chronic paroxysmal neurologic disorders sharing many clinical features, as well as possible treatment options. This review highlights the similarities between migraine and epilepsy in pediatrics, focusing on epidemiologic, pathophysiological, genetic, clinical, and pharmacologic aspects. Despite the fact that...

Multiple sclerosis in children and adolescents (PedMS) presents a significant challenge both in diagnostic and therapeutic terms. Developmental specificities are the cause of numerous differences in PedMS in relation to the adult form of multiple sclerosis (AoMS). In the field of basic and clinical neurological research, researchers' opinions are c...

Magnesium is frequently used for pediatric migraine prophylaxis. The aim of this study was to evaluate to which extent the disability levels, quality of life (QOL), and anxiety and depressive symptoms change after 6-month magnesium prophylaxis in pediatric migraine. This is a follow-up study of 34 children aged 7-17 years with migraine treated with...

Background Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a genet-ic disorder that affects the growth and development of nerve cell tissue, with subsequent development of mul-tiple benign tumours of the nervous system and the skin, as well as the areas of abnormal skin colour and other clin-ical manifestations. Our study aimed to examine the in-cidence of clini...

Various studies reported beneficial effects of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulphate (DHEAS), the neurosteroids involved in various brain functions, on synaptic plasticity, neuronal survival, memory, learning and behavior. This study aimed to investigate the behavioral profile of acute DHEA treatment by using active avoidance (AA) task, pr...

Background & objective: Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy is an inherited form of optic neuropathy, genetically and pathophysiologically based on mitochondrial insufficiency causing bilateral loss of central vision mostly amongst young adults. Despite being one of the most common mitochondrial diseases, the explanation for its pathophysiological...

A parameter mapping sonification method can be used to convert EEG data into a sound. Sound equivalents of different EEG changes could help clinicians during EEG recording, monitoring and analysis. This method could also be used in home surveillance systems in people with epilepsy. We present an example of using a parametric based algorithm for epi...

The serine/threonine kinase mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is an important sensor of the cellular energy condition which, at the same time, represents a kind of master switch between anabolic and catabolic cellular processes. Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic disease which is considered to be a prototype of a dysregulated mTOR s...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, autoimmune, inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. MS is increasingly recognized in the pediatric population, and it is usually diagnosed around 15 years of age. The exact etiology of MS is still not known, although autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors play important roles...

This study evaluated the factor structure of the Children’s Negative Cognitive Error Questionnaire—Revised (CNCEQ-R) and its relationship with anxiety and depressive symptoms. The study included a community sample of 257 children and adolescents and a clinical sample of 201 referred youths, aged 9–18 years. Participants completed the CNCEQ-R and th...

Introduction: Measures of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) are considered to be more comprehensive in health outcome assessments than scales assessing only the degree of neurological deficit. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate HRQOL and its correlates among adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Serbia. Methods: Demogra...

Handwriting analysis can be used to study function and organization of structures from the brain cortex all way down to the fingers. Graphic rules and kinematic parameters are suitable for assessing handwriting features in many disorders including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The aim of this study was to assess the role of the Addenbrooke’s cognitive examination test (ACE-R) in the evaluation of cognitive status in migraineurs interictally. A total of 44 adolescent patients and 44 healthy controls, matched by age and gender, have undergone ACE-R testing. Migraineurs were additionally questioned about migraine aura featu...

Introduction: Early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can lead to early interventions, which may improve developmental and academic outcomes in children with ASD. Early screening is thus of significant importance. Aims: This study had two aims. First, it was aimed to translate into Serbian five screening instruments for ASD: Modified Che...

Although migraine represents one of the most common form of primary headache in the teenage population, most neurophysiologic studies are only on the adulthood. We investigated 38 teenage patients with migraine with aura, 17 male and 21 female, with a mean age of 16.2 years, comparing them with gender- and age-matched patients with migraine without...

We are presenting two Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) pedigrees with abnormal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) findings but without neurological manifestation associated with LHON. The study included 14 LHON patients and 41 asymptomatic family members from 12 genealogically unrelated fam...

In this study we examined importance of visual evoked potentials recorded using simulations of optical paths by unstructured flash stimuli (fVEP) to assess impaired vision in infants and children. A total of 488 children for a three year period were examined. Analysis of the configuration, the amplitude and latency of fVEP in correlation with ophth...

Diagnostic criteria for MS include clinical and paraclinical procedures: biochemical, neurophysiological and neuroradiological parameters. The aim of our study was to determine the importance of visual evoked potentials (VEP) in diagnosis of MS in developmental age. The study was conducted at the Clinic of Neurology and Psychiatry for Children and...

Complex migraine aura in teenagers can be complicated to diagnose. The aim of this study was to present detailed features of migraine aura in teenage migraineurs. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the period from 2008 till 2013. A total number of 40 teenage migraineurs (20 females and 20 males) met criteria for this study. The patients we...

Are there specific depressive and anxiety symptoms related to children with epilepsy? Purpose: To evaluate whether children with epilepsy experience different depressive and anxiety symptoms than other children do. Method: In the study participated 60 children with epilepsy [26 (43.4%) males, age mean 13.8 (2.8) years], 67 children with juvenile i...

Background Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is the most common mitochondrial disorder. However, few countries have published their population-based findings related to this multisystemic disease. The aim In order to get a better insight into the epidemiological and clinical picture of this maternally inherited disorder, we performed the fi...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorder of the unknown origin leading to multifocal demyelization, axonal damage and the loss of the nervous tissue in various parts of the central nervous system. Most MS patients have decreased functionality of the bladder leading to various dysuria disorders during the course of the i...

The trans-isomer of resveratrol is the active ingredient of Poligonum cuspidatum, known for its medicinal properties and traditionally used in the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. It is also found abundantly in the skin of red grapes and red wine. Previous studies have suggested that trans-resveratrol demonstrates a variety of pharmacologic...

Multimodal evoked potentials confirm asymptomatic involvement of different sensory organ systems in Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). The aim of the study is to examine functionality of the sensory pathways and confirm importance of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), visual (VEP), brainstem auditory (BAEP) and somatosensory (SEP) ev...

Zinc is an essential element which has considerable interaction with gamma-aminobutyric acid A type receptors (GABA(A)) and glutamate receptors in the cen tral nervous system (CNS). It is believed that zinc acts as a potent inhibitor of glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, and binding to structurally specific site on the GABA(A) recepto...

The levels of agreement between self- and parent/proxy-reports of anxiety and depressive symptoms in pediatric epilepsy were evaluated. Data were drawn from 56 pairs of children with epilepsy and at least one parent. Anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), while depressive symptoms wer...

The levels of agreement between self- and parent/proxy-reports of anxiety and depressive symptoms in pediatric epilepsy were evaluated. Data were drawn from 56 pairs of children with epilepsy and at least one parent. Anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), while depressive symptoms wer...

Children and adolescents who enter a child welfare system are at higher risk of suffering from mental disorders, physical health, and/or social and educational problems than the general population of the same age is. This study was organized with the aim to evaluate the general characteristics of quality of life (QOL) in children and adolescents li...

This study evaluated the effects of depression and anxiety disorder symptoms on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of children and adolescents with epilepsy. Sixty children and adolescents and their parents participated in the study. Symptoms of anxiety disorders were identified by the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders qu...

Magnesium (Mg) is an essential element that catalyses more than 300 enzyme systems. Its effects on the central nervous system are exhibited through the blocking of activity of N-methyl D-aspartat (NMDA) receptors and potentiating of GABA-ergic neurotransmission. Due to the vast importance of these two neurotransmission systems in the fine regulatio...

This study was conducted in order to test the hypothesis that proton MR spectroscopic (1H MRS) profile of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) mutation carriers group (including both symptomatic and asymptomatic) differs from group of healthy individuals and to determine metabolite or ratio that contributes most to differentiation. We perform...

The aim of this study was to examine the morphology and the immunohistochemical features of displaced ganglion cells in the trigeminal nerve root (TNR). Forty human TNRs of 20 persons, obtained during routine autopsy in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, were examined following Klüver-Barrera and azan trichrome histological staining, and...

Rett syndrome is a severe neurodevelopmental X-linked dominant disorder affecting 1/15,000 girls worldwide. Eight years ago, the MECP2 gene was associated with the devastating clinical features observed in Rett syndrome patients. To investigate the spectrum and the frequency of MECP2 mutations in Serbian Rett syndrome patients. We screened the MECP...

Great surgical significance and lack of relevant anatomic data were the reasons for this study. Twenty-five trigeminal nerve roots and ganglia were examined under the stereoscopic microscope. The nerve root received between two and six vascular twigs from two or three of the following arteries: the superolateral pontine (92%), anterior inferior cer...

Patients with migraine often show abnormalities in visual evoked potentials (VEP). The aim is to confirm diagnostic value of VEP in children and adolescents suffering from migraine and to compare findings with the control group of patients. VEPs were performed in 37 patients aged 6–19 with different types of migraine, interictally recorded and comp...

Tuberous sclerosis complex is hereditary multisystemic, neurocutaneous disorder characterized by hamartomatous lesions mainly involving the brain, skin and viscera. Thyroid gland is rarely affected in these patients. Case history of a patient with tuberous sclerosis complex and diffuse and binodular goiter was presented. No epileptic seizures occur...

Serbian medieval medicine can be said to have the same characteristics as western medicine of those times in terms of practical medical science, whereas the ancillary medical branches were under Byzantine influence. Besides the compositions of Christ's miracles and paraboles are underlying part of the fresco/painting, the scenes of Christ's miracul...