Emilija Djurić

Background: Sleep fragmentation, a hallmark of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), has been linked to mood disorders through disrupted neuroendocrine regulation. However, the time-dependent development of depression-like behaviors and hormonal changes following recurrent sleep fragmentation remains unclear. This study examined the effects of repeated experimental sleep fragmentation on depression-like behavior and endocrine status in male Wistar rats. Methods: Twenty-four male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to three experimental groups (n = 8 per group): treadmill control (TC; stationary treadmill), activity control (AC; 10-min running/30-min resting cycles), and sleep fragmentation (SF; 30-s running/90-s resting cycles). Treatments were applied daily for 14 consecutive days during the first 6 h of the light phase. Depression-like behavior was assessed via the forced swimming test on days 1, 7, and 14. Body weight was monitored throughout, and serum corticosterone and testosterone were measured at the endpoint. Sleep architecture was inferred from the treadmill protocol rather than directly recorded. Results: SF rats showed progressive increases in immobility and decreases in swimming and climbing over 14 days, reflecting the gradual emergence of depression-like behavior. SF animals also exhibited significantly reduced body-weight gain, elevated corticosterone (p < 0.01), and reduced testosterone (p < 0.001) compared with controls. Conclusions: Subchronic sleep fragmentation induced a progressive depression-like phenotype accompanied by neuroendocrine alterations, suggesting that recurrent sleep interruptions relevant to OSA may contribute to depression-associated endocrine dysregulation. Because sleep architecture was not directly recorded and hormones were measured only at the endpoint, these findings should be interpreted as associative rather than mechanistic.

Rising global temperatures and more frequent heat waves pose a growing threat to public health, particularly among older adults. Age-related declines in thermoregulatory capacity such as reduced sweating, impaired vasodilation, and diminished hypothalamic responsiveness make it more difficult to cope with elevated nighttime temperatures. These thermal challenges disrupt sleep by prolonging sleep onset, fragmenting slow-wave and REM sleep, and suppressing melatonin secretion. Importantly, sex-related differences in thermoregulatory aging—particularly menopause-associated vasomotor instability in women and testosterone-related autonomic changes in men—further modulate individual vulnerability to heat-induced sleep disruption. Beyond sleep, heat-induced stress affects metabolic, cardiovascular, and immune systems, promoting insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, sympathetic overactivation, and chronic inflammation. Socioeconomic disparities, urban heat island exposure, and differential access to cooling infrastructure function as critical environmental modifiers that amplify biological vulnerability, particularly in disadvantaged older populations. This narrative review aims to synthesize current knowledge on the specific thermoregulatory mechanisms of sleep disruption induced by heat stress in older adults. Understanding these interactions is crucial for developing effective interventions, including environmental cooling, circadian-aligned behaviors, and targeted public health strategies, to mitigate the compounded risks of heat exposure and preserve healthy sleep in aging populations. However, many proposed mechanistic pathways are primarily derived from animal models, and controlled human studies specifically targeting heat-exposed older adults remain scarce.

Heatwaves and tropical nights are emerging as significant public health challenges under accelerating climate change, with middle-aged and older adults demonstrating heightened vulnerability. This scoping review maps the existing evidence on how nocturnal heat affects sleep in middle-aged and older adults aged 45 and above, synthesizing findings from experimental and observational studies published in English over the past decade. A comprehensive search of PubMed and Scopus, supplemented by reference screening, identified 31 relevant studies. Data on study design, population characteristics, heat exposure metrics, sleep outcomes, and interventions were charted and synthesized narratively due to methodological heterogeneity. Across studies, elevated nighttime temperatures consistently reduced total sleep time and sleep efficiency, increased wake after sleep onset, and disrupted sleep architecture, particularly REM and N3 stages. Environmental, behavioral, and physiological interventions such as improved ventilation, targeted cooling strategies, and pre-sleep thermal management partially mitigated heat-related sleep disruption. Overall, the findings highlight gaps in standardized exposure metrics and harmonized sleep assessment, providing guidance for future research and public health strategies aimed at protecting sleep health in middle-aged and aging populations amid increasingly frequent extreme heat events.

Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a prevalent urological disorder characterized by persistent pelvic pain, urinary symptoms, and significant impact on quality of life. In addition to its clinical symptoms, CP/CPPS is frequently associated with psychiatric comorbidities, such as anxiety and depression, indicating complex neurobiological mechanisms. This review explores the mechanisms linking CP/CPPS with affective disorders, emphasizing central nervous system alterations, dysregulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, and neuroimmune interactions. Evidence in-dicates that central sensitization, microglial and astrocytic activation, and elevated proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α) contribute to maladaptive painemotion network interactions. Additionally, dysregulation of hormones and neurotransmitters may exacerbate both pain perception and mood disorders. Psychosocial factors, including stress, coping strategies, and cognitive-emotional processes, further modulate symptom severity and treatment outcomes, highlighting the importance of a biopsychosocial approach. Gaining a deeper understanding of the neurobiological and psychosocial mechanisms behind anxiety and depression in CP/CPPS can lead to more effective, multidimensional management strategies and enhance patient-centered care.

Circadian disruption represents a global health issue associated with cardiometabolic diseases, sleep disturbances, and mood disorders, driven by a pathophysiological network including clock gene dysregulation and impaired melatonin synthesis. Vitamin D exerts pleiotropic effects on metabolic regulation, immune function, neurotransmission, and possibly circadian synchronization. Emerging evidence suggests that vitamin D and its hydroxyderivatives modulate clock gene expression, influence transcriptional regulators such as retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptors and REV-ERBs, and interact with melatonin synthesis and signaling. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with metabolic syndrome, impaired sleep quality, and depression. Although interventional studies yield heterogeneous results, higher vitamin D status may confer protective metabolic and neurobehavioral effects. This review summarizes current evidence on the role of vitamin D in circadian disruption and evaluates its potential therapeutic relevance in circadian–metabolic dysregulation.

Background and Objectives: Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a complex disease that involves changes in multiple organs and even the central nervous system (CNS). CP/CPPS may elevate seizure risk via neuroinflammatory mechanisms within the CNS. Neuroprotective effects of CO-releasing molecules (CORMs) were demonstrated in inflammation-driven conditions, while CORMs potential to ameliorate seizure susceptibility in inflammatory states, like CP/CPPS, remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated effects of CORM-A1 on susceptibility to lindane–induced seizures in rats with CP/CPPS through behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) study. Materials and Methods: Wistar rats were divided into four groups (n = 8/group): Sham-PBS, Sham-CORM, CP/CPPS-PBS and CP/CPPS-CORM. The CP/CPPS model was created by injection of 3% λ-carrageenan and its development assessed by mechanical pain threshold. CORM-A1 (2 mg/kg/day, i.p.) or vehicle (PBS) was given during seven postoperative days. Hereupon, subconvulsive dose of lindane (4 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered and behavioral features of seizures were observed alongside with EEG recordings. Results: Our data showed that the incidence and severity of lindane-induced seizures was significantly higher in the CP/CPPS-PBS group than in the Sham-PBS group. CORM-A1 treatment significantly decreased seizure incidence, prolonged seizure latency, and reduced seizure severity in CP/CPPS rats compared to vehicle treatment (CP/CPPS-CORM vs. CP/CPPS-PBS). Also, CORM-A1 treatment significantly reduced the number and duration of ictal periods induced by lindane in CP/CPPS animals compared to vehicle treatment. Conclusions: It could be concluded that CORM-A1 treatment reduced both behavioral and EEG signs of increased seizure susceptibility in rats with CP/CPPS, thus it could be a potential therapeutic target.

The creative work of Dragoslav Mihailović is included in the corpus of the SASA Dictionary, which indicates, among other things, that the prose discourse of this writer has diverse linguistic (lexical) potentials. In this context, the aim of this paper is to highlight the characteristics of the vocabulary in his novel Kad su cvetale tikve (When Pumpkins Blossomed), as well as to examine the functions that the vocabulary serves in his prose. The primary criterion applied in the analysis of the material is lexical (the source of the lexemes, their belonging to a specific thematic group, their meaning, and their role in the analyzed discourse), while the sub-criterion is semantic. The analysis indicates that the language in the given novel is primarily socially stratified and that jargonisms and jargon expressions, as well as idioms, are particularly noticeable on the lexical level. Their use is linked to the characterization of the characters and the depiction of the social reality of the time in which the work was created, but it also enhances the expressiveness and distinctiveness of the overall lexical level of this literary work. In the linguistic corpus, there is almost no dialogue without the use of sociolect, which, in a unique way, leads to the intertwining of literary-artistic and colloquial functional styles. The paper concludes that in this novel by Dragoslav Mihailović, the specific selection of vocabulary achieved not only a stylistic function but also a formal linguistic function, contributing to the overall efficiency of linguistic expression.

Background: Patients with premature ovarian failure (POF) exhibit a diminished ovarian reserve and hormonal dysfunction. Case presentation: We aimed to restore normal hormonal function and folliculogenesis in a 31-year-old patient with POF, who had been amenorrheic for two years. We designed and performed three different ovarian regeneration procedures for three consecutive years, from 2015 to 2017: 1) intraovarian injection of activated autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP); 2) activated autologous PRP and bone marrow-derived stem cell injection into the ovaries (SEGO); 3) ovarian cortical tissue resection and fragmentation; and in vitro ovarian tissue activation with autologous PRP and bone marrow stem cell retransplantation into the ovaries (the SEGOVA). The patient exhibited no improvement following the PRP treatment. The patient regained regular menstrual cycles after the SEGO procedure, although no follicular growth was observed yet. One month after the SEGOVA procedure, follicular growth was detected, and the patient underwent several stimulation protocols without obtaining oocytes. Eight months after the SEGOVA, the patient underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) in a spontaneous cycle, when an oocyte of good quality was retrieved. Following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), the oocyte failed to be fertilized. Eleven months after the SEGOVA, the patient reported a spontaneous pregnancy via natural conception. Pregnancy resulted in birth at term by uncomplicated vaginal delivery. After three different ovarian rejuvenation procedures, normal hormonal function and follicular growth were restored in the patient with POF, and the patient had a successful natural pregnancy following the last SEGOVA procedure. Although no ovarian function was detected after the first two procedures, they may have contributed to the outcomes from the SEGOVA procedure, a treatment that showed promising results in recovering ovarian function in patients with POF. Conclusions: It cannot be ruled out that ovarian rejuvenation with bone marrow‑derived stem cells and autologous growth factors, together with ovarian tissue fragmentation, took time to exhibit its effects and contributed to the final result – a successful natural conception and pregnancy.