Introduction: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is rarely reported in industrialized countries, but recent studies have revealed quite variable seroprevalence rates among European populations, including blood donors. In Serbia, very limited data about HEV seroprevalence are available. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of anti-HEV IgG antibodies and HEV RNA in the sera of volunteer blood donors in Serbia. Methodology: Serum samples from 200 volunteer blood donors were tested for the presence of anti-HEV IgG by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using ORF-2 HEV genotype 3 recombinant proteins as antigen, and for the presence of HEV RNA by nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: In total, 15% of the volunteer blood donors were seropositive. The prevalence increased with age; 21.5%, 14.2%, and 5.4% HEV seroprevalence rates were found in individuals older than 51 years, between 31 and 50 years, and in those younger than 30 years of age, respectively. However, no HEV RNA was detected in any of the individuals analyzed. Conclusions: The prevalence of anti-HEV IgG among blood donors as representatives of the general population is quite high in Serbia compared to data from many European countries. One of the reasons for this could be the high prevalence of HEV among Serbian pigs and the traditional consumption of piglet meat in the country. The relatively high HEV seroprevalence found among Serbian blood donors indicates the need for further investigation.

Superior mesenteric arteriovenous fistula (SMAVF) is an extremely infrequent vascular disorder. It is characterized by abnormal, direct communication between high-pressure superior mesenteric artery (SMA) and low-pressure superior mesenteric vein (SMV). This shunt allows blood to bypass the intestinal capillary bed and produces hypertension in the portal circulation. Although SMAVF can be congenital, the majority of cases reported have been due to abdominal trauma or iatrogenic causes. These fistulas originate from an undetected injury to SMA and SMV and can present several days to several years later, usually following bowel-related surgery. Manifestations of SMAVF include a wide variety of symptoms such as mild abdominal pain, diarrhea and weight loss. Due to the often obscured presence of the fistula, complications related to long-standing arteriovenous (AV) shunt and high portal blood pressure are potentially fatal. The most serious complications are congestive heart failure and portal hypertension, which may lead to gastro-esophageal variceal bleeding (1). General mortality for untreated cases of portal arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is estimated at about 26% (2). Here, we report a case of delayed presentation of acquired SMAVF in a male adult after small bowel resection.

Besides their role in HSCT, NK cell receptors have an important clinical relevance that reflects from the fact that they play a crucial role in the development of some diseases as well as in possibilities of managing all NK receptors through selective expansion and usage of NK cells in cancer immunotherapy.

The results of this study show that in families with persons suffering from leukaemia there are possible recessive factors associated with HLA system which could cause distorsion of HLA antigens segregation and as a possible genetical risk factor contribute to development of leukaemia.

Majority of the patients with chronic renal failure develop end-stage renal disease (ESRD). ESRD is a worldwide public health problem. That requires renal transplantation. Currently, many genome-wide association studies have suggested a potential association between human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and ESRD as uncovered relationship. This study is the first report from Serbia to find out the distribution of HLA-A,-B,-DRB1 specificity, two loci disequilibrium linkage between these HLA loci and possible association in renal transplant recipients from the region of Vojvodina, Serbia. From the same region, 230 ESRD patients who were waiting for kidney transplantation and 290 healthy controls were included in this study. Polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primer (PCR-SSP) method were used to analyze the HLA polymorphisms (including HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-DRB1 loci) in both ESRD patients and controls. The frequencies of alleles at these loci and two loci disequilibrium linkage coefficients were compared between ESRD patients and controls.The current work suggests that HLA DRB1*04 allele (odds ratio = 1.6484, 95 % CI = 1.0395-2.6138, P = 0.0325) may represent susceptibility risk factor for the development of ESRD in Serbian individuals. The highest two loci disequilibrium linkage coefficients in ESRD patients were found for B*18DRB1*11 (= 0.01583) and A*02 B*51 (= 0.0145) and in controls for B*08DRB1*03 (=0.370) and A*01DRB1*03 (=0.02446), respectively, but without reaching significant levels. The results of our study suggests HLA DRB1*04 as a risk 608