In the context of the recent pandemic threat by the worldwide spread of H5N1 avian influenza, novel insights into the mechanism of ligand binding and interaction between various inhibitors (zanamivir -ZMV, oseltamivir -OTV, 2,3-didehydro-2-deoxy-N-acetylneuraminic acid -DANA, peramivir -PMV) and neuraminidases (NA) are of vital importance for the structure-based design of new anti-viral drugs. To address this issue, three-dimensional models of H5N1-NA and N9-NA were generated by homology modeling. Traditional residues within the active site throughout the family of NA protein structures were found to be highly conserved in H5N1-NA. A subtle variation between lipophilic and hydrophilic environments in H5N1-NA with respect to N9-NA was observed, thus shedding more light on the high resistance of some H5N1 strains to various NA inhibitors. Based on these models, an ArgusLab4/AScore flexible docking study was performed. The conformational differences between OTV bound to H5N1-NA and OTV bound to N9-NA were structurally identified and quantified. A slight difference of less than 1 kcal mol -1 between the OTV-N9 and OTV-N1 binding free energies is in agreement with the experimentally predicted free energy difference. The conformational differences between ZMV and OTV bound to either H5N1-NA or N9-NA were structurally identified. The binding free energies of the ZMV complexes, being slightly higher than those of OTV, are not in agreement with what was previously proposed using homology modeling. The differences between ZMV and OTV are suggested to be ascribed to the presence/absence of Asn166 in the active cavity of ZMV/OTV in H5N1-NA, and to the presence/absence of Ser165 in the binding site of ZMV/OTV in N9-NA. The charge distribution was evaluated using the semi-empirical AM1 method. The trends of the AM1 charges of the ZMV and OTV side chains in the complexes deviate from those previously reported.

Environmental pollution with radionuclides, particularly uranium and its decay products is a serious global problem. The current scientific studies estimated that the contamination originating from TENORM, caused by nuclear and non-nuclear technologies, has significantly increased natural level of radioactivity in the last thirty years. During the last decades all the more were talking about the "new pollutant" - depleted uranium (DU), which has been used in anti-tank penetrators because of its high density, penetration and pyrophoric properties. It is estimated that during the Gulf War, the war in Bosnia and Yugoslavia and during the invasion of Iraq, 1.4 million missiles with depleted uranium was fired. During the NATO aggression against the ex Yugoslavia in 1999., 112 locations in Kosovo and Metohija, 12 locations in southern Serbia and two locations in Montenegro were bombed. On this occasion, approximately 10 tons of depleted uranium were entered into the environment, mainly on land, where the degree of contamination ranged from 200 Bq / kg to 235 000 Bq/kg, which is up to 1000 times higher than the natural level. Fourteen years ago there was very little information about the behavior of ecological systems damaged by DU penetrators fired. Today, unfortunately, we are increasingly faced with the ?invisible threat" of depleted uranium, which has a strong radioactive and hemotoxic impact on human health. Present paper provides a detailed overview of the current understanding of corrosion and corrosion behavior of DU and environmental factors that control corrosion, together with indicators of environmental impact in order to highlight areas that need further attention in developing remediation programs.

Concentrations of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Co, As, Co, and Hg in the sea grass Posidonia oceanica and surface sediment samples were determined. Together with P. oceanica, surface sediment samples were collected at eight locations in the major demographic, tourist and port areas along the Montenegrin coast to assess metal pollution. The metal pollution index (MPI) and metal enrichment factor (EF) were calculated and used to evaluate the impact of heavy metals in the surface sediment on P. oceanica. The sediment MPI and EF values were lower than these values in P. oceanica at the same locations. Since the surface sediment contained lower mean concentrations of Zn, Ni, Pb, Cd and Hg, than the sea grass P. oceanic, we concluded that the sea grass absorbed some metals from the seawater column.