A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

Srpkinja na čelu Odeljenja za genetiku u Bostonskoj dečjoj bolnici

U nekoliko najvećih američkih klinika, laboratorijski se radi dešifrovanje kompletnog genoma, tako da se može saznati od kojih bolesti bi osoba mogla u budućnosti da boluje, a jednu takvu laboratoriju vodi i prof.dr Mira Bjelotomić Irons, poreklom iz Srbije.

Ona je načelnica Odeljenja za genetiku u Bostonskoj dečjoj bolnici, gde se radi prenatalna dijagnostika, odnosno uz pomoć testova ženama još u trudnoći otkriva od kojih bolesti bi dete u budućnosti moglo da boluje.

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"Dešifrovanje celog genoma se sada posebno radi u prenatalnoj dijagnostici, ali može i nakon rođenja. Obično ih rade žene koje u porodici imaju neko nasledno teško oboljenje. Na ovaj način neke bolesti mogu da se preveniraju ili da se osmisli terapija i lečenje pre nego što se dete razboli", rekla je Tanjugu Mira Bjelotomić Irons.

Ova dijagnostika još uvek je veoma skupa i, prema njenim rečima, radi se samo na nekoliko najvećih univerziteta u Americi, tako da se ne može očekivati da uskoro počne da se primenjuje i u Srbiji.

Naša sagovornica kaže da čitanje genoma u Ametici košta pet do deset hiljada dolara i da se radi na tome da bude dostupno što većem broju ljudi.

"Napredovanjem tehnologije smanjiće se cena testova, ideja je da bude oko 1.000 dolara, kako bi bilo dostupno što većem broju ljudi", naglasila je ona.

Prof.dr Mira Bjelotomić Irons nedavno je boravila u Srbiji na četvrtoj Konferenciji srpske medicinske dijaspore. Kako je rekla Tanjugu, imala je priliku da sarađuje sa mnogim srpskim genetičarima.

Ona smatra da Srbija, što se tiče kadrova i znanja, ne zaostaje za Amerikom i ističe da je veoma važno da genetičari međusobno sarađuju, a skupovi poput Konferencija srpske medicinske dijaspore su, kako objašnjava, odlična prilika za upoznavanje i razmenu iskustava.

Saradnja genetičara

"Genetika, kao relativno mlada nauka, nije dovoljno upoznata sa svim retkim bolestima i zato je važno da genetičari međusobno razgovaraju i razmenjuju iskustva, ne samo unutar jedne države, već na svetskom nivou. Ideja je da se saradnja ostvari i sa genetičarima u Srbiji", naglasila je ona. Zahvaljujući savremenoj tehnologiji nije neophodno, kako kaže, da se genetičari sastaju, već se razmena iskustva i konsultacije mogu obaviti i putem savremenih sredstava komunikacije, poput Skajpa.

NOVOSTI


SA

 

People Directory

Bishop Firmilijan (Ocokoljić)

(1963–1992)

Te Right Reverend Dr. Firmilian, Bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Midwestern America, was born on the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, according to the Julian Calendar, on the 7th of January 1910. Born into a clerical family in Kaona, Serbia, he was the son of many generations of priests, specifically, born in the family of the protopresbyter Uros Ocokoljich and his mother, Darinka, nee Plazinic, also the daughter of a priest. To the delight of this family, the parents were blessed with the birth of twins, named at baptism, Stanko (later, Firmilian) and Ranko. Stanko was the tenth child.

Having completed his elementary (in the place of his birth) and secondary education (Gymnasium, High School, in Čačak,) young Stanko was admitted into the Orthodox Seminary in Sarajevo, Bosnia, from where he graduated in the year 1930. After having served the Armed Forces of his country, Stanko was married to Nadežda Popović. Following their marriage, Stanko was ordained to the diaconate and then to the priesthood, being assigned as assistant to his father, protopresbyter Uroš, in the Village of Kaona. He was ordained to priesthood in 1930 by Bishop Jefrem Bojović, brother of well-known Vojvoda Petar Bojović. Tragically, within the first year of his marriage, Father Stanko lost both his wife and son, during childbirth.

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Sailors of the Sky

A conversation with Fr. Stamatis Skliris and Fr. Marko Rupnik on contemporary Christian art

In these timely conversations led by Fr. Radovan Bigovic, many issues are introduced that enable the contemporary reader to deepen and expand his or her understanding of the role of art in the life of the Church. Here we find answers to questions on the crisis of contemporary ecclesiastical art in West and East; the impact of Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract painting on contemporary ecclesiastical painting; and a consideration of the main distrinction between iconography and secular painting. The dialogue, while resolving some doubts about the difference between iconography, religious painting, and painting in general, reconciles the requirement to obey inconographic canons with the freedom essential to artistic creativity, demonstrating that obedience to the canons is not a threat to the vitatlity of iconography. Both artists illumine the role of prayer and ascetisicm in the art of iconography. They also mention curcial differences between iconography in the Orthodox Church and in Roman Catholicism. How important thse distinctions are when exploring the relationship between contemporary theology and art! In a time when postmodern "metaphysics' revitalizes every concept, these masters still believe that, to some extent, Post-Modernism adds to the revitatiztion of Christian art, stimulating questions about "artistic inspiration" and the essential asethetic categories of Christian painting. Their exceptionally wide, yet nonetheless deep, expertise assists their not-so-everday connections between theology, ar, and modern issues concerning society: "society" taken in its broader meaning as "civilization." Finally, the entire artistic project of Stamatis and Rupnik has important ecumenical implications that aswer a genuine longing for unity in the Christian word.

The text of this 94-page soft-bound book has been translated from the Serbian by Ivana Jakovljevic, Fr. Gregory Edwards, and Andrijana Krstic. Published by Sebastian Press, Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Contemporary Christian Thought Series, number 7, First Edition, ISBN: 978-0-9719505-8-0