In the Ottoman province of Serbia (initially the Belgrade Pashalik), the Roma had the same legal status as elsewhere in the Empire: they paid a special, Gypsy poll tax (Gypsy cizye; in Serbian: ciganski harac) and were subject to the personal jurisdiction of the Gypsy poll tax collector (Gypsy cizyedar; ciganski haraclija). After a successful uprising in 1815, the Serbs acquired a degree of autonomy, gradually broadened and formalized through a series of sultanic decrees, to culminate in a Constitution granted to Serbia by the Sultan in 1838. The Serbs progressively expanded their jurisdiction at the expense of the Ottoman authorities in every respect, including the powers over the Roma. Starting in 1818, the Serbian Prince began to collect the Gypsy tax in the name and on behalf of the Ottoman authorities; in 1826, he leased it from them, and by 1830 it was included in the lump annual tribute paid by Serbia to the Porte. The Ottomans thereby lost all jurisdiction over the Roma, excepting a small number of those employed as servants in the Turkish garrisons. Although Serbian authorities otherwise consistently endeavoured to replace the inherited Ottoman laws and customs with legislation modelled on that of West European Christian states, in respect to the Roma no attempt was made to alter the Ottoman system of special jurisdiction and taxation. In fact, the first changes in this system were consistent with the contemporary reforms proclaimed by the Porte: those nomadic Roma who wished to settle were to be given free land and to pay ordinary taxes. The same policy was proclaimed in Serbia in 1839, when the already sedentary Roma were entered into general tax registers, but no success was achieved in settling the nomads (a majority were eventually settled in the decade between mid-1860s and mid-1870s). The Gypsy tax collector (haraclija) was transformed into an institution (haracluk), with its own budget and staff, retaining personal jurisdiction over the nomadic Roma. This jurisdiction was progressively narrowed, to be abolished in 1853, together with the haracluk. However, the nomads remained subject to the poll tax, now collected by regular authorities. In consequence, they were also disenfranchised, as (since 1869) only the adult males who paid property and/or income (but not poll) tax had a right to vote. (Disenfranchisement, on the same grounds, affected other, non-Roma, categories, such as servants.) In 1884 the poll tax was abolished and the Roma achieved the same legal status as other Serbian citizens.

The aim of the study was to determine the presence of risk factors for developing hypertension in the University of Belgrade student population whose faculties do not provide the opportunity to learn about these factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted during November and December 2015 at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the Faculty of Electric Engineering and the Faculty of Law. The respondents filled in a questionnaire, which was approved by the Ethics Committee for bio-medical research from the Faculty of Pharmacy. The study included 487 students. 56.7% were male students. Most of the respondents studied Law (210), followed by Mechanical Engineering (168) and Electrical Engineering (109). 75.8% of respondents consumed salty snacks, while 34.5% of them changed their habits of consuming snacks during the examination period. Fish was consumed less than once a week by 39.8% of the respondents, whereas 19.9% of them consumed candies every day. 63.9% consumed fast food. Energy drinks were not consumed by the majority (52.2%), while 22.4% only consumed them before an exam. The research results indicated the presence of reversible risk factors in the examined student population. In order to prevent the development of hypertension in the elderly population and reduce the number of risk factors present, it is necessary to develop educational programs for proper diet and adequate intake of food groups.

Environmental context Various UV-filtering chemicals are added to sunscreens in order to protect humans from the harmful effects of the sun. As a consequence of disinfection processes in swimming pools, sunscreen components may be chlorinated and change their structure and properties, leading to derivatives with higher toxicity. The safety of sunscreen components as well as that of their transformation products during their use requires further study. Abstract In this work is presented a synthesis pathway for the UV filter hexyl 2-(4-diethylamino-2-hydroxybenzoyl)benzoate (DHHB) and its chlorinated by-products in order to investigate the transformation behaviour and toxicity changes of DHHB during chlorination disinfection treatment. Acute toxicity was measured using standardised tests with aquatic model organisms. The potency of DHHB was compared with other benzophenone-like UV filters tested in the same experimental set-up. The toxicity of chlorinated compounds tested with photobacteria was found to be in a similar range to that of the starting compound. Microalgae were more sensitive to DHHB than to its chlorinated by-products, whereas daphnids were affected more by DHHB’s chlorinated products. The comparative toxicity data showed DHHB and even more its chlorinated by-products as more highly biologically potent to daphnids than other tested UV filters. The toxic potential of benzophenone-like UV filters should be interpreted together with data on their chemical properties, chlorination effects and affected organisms.