Context and Characteristics of Rural Tourism

Rural tourism is a factor affecting the rural regions and the diversification of the Bulgaria's tourist destinations utilising unused resources. The main consumer of its product are the urban people living in a technical environment, losing their personal identity within the urban community and subject to the stress factors of modern occupations. Original elements of the rural tourist product are: the farmyard and the "open air room" consisting of trellis vine, garden arbour; the rural house with its friendly messages and recognition of man's importance; the contacts and communication within the rural community; a specific colloquial language introducing humanism into personal relationships; rural labour as an anti-stress factor stimulating and encouraging the expression of the personality; rural culture, fairs, dances and sports contests, creating opportunities for the expression of the personality and everyone's participation unlike the urban elitist sport; truthfulness of perception - an antipode of modern communications mediated by the media, creating a virtual world of computer screen images, Internet images and telephone voice reproduction; sports and health services in the farmyard including open air water treatment procedures, excursions, riding, hiking and cart trips, bicycle excursions, revived forms of placebo effect of the folk treatment methods, herbal treatment, etc. On the basis of empirical studies, the economic conditions for village people have been analysed, that allow them to make profits, to attain a liquidity level, etc., through rural tourism. By the capitalisation of the house can be activated a number of non-convertible assets, employment among unemployed people, etc.

On Some Basic Principles of the Protection, Management and Reproduction of Natural Resources – the Case of Agriculture and Forests

The use and contamination of natural resources is growing with ever accelerating pace. The Bulgarian strategy for their protection and regeneration must account for the methods and mechanisms, applied in the EU, including fiscal and non-fiscal instruments. We analyse the methods and mechanisms of management, protection and reproduction of natural resources, divided into five groups: biological; legal and administrative; economic; moral, religious; citizen initiatives; informal organizations initiatives. We suggest a wider consideration of the motivation of the final consumer of natural resources and the sources of damage in gathering funds for protection and reproduction of resources. It is necessary to achieve more significant state involvement. The sectors of the economy most interested in the preservation of natural resources – tourism etc., ought to have a more active role, based on the principle of consensus, in supporting the efforts of the state.

ANTIMICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY OF CLINICALLY SIGNIFICANT ISOLATES OF ENTEROBACTER SPP., OBTAINED FROM PATIENTS, HOSPITALISED IN VARNA UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL DURING THE PERIOD 2014 – 2016

Purpose: Rapidly increasing antimicrobial resistance in medically important bacterial species from family Enterobacteriaceae is one of the most significant microbiological, clinical and epidemiological issues of modern medicine. The aim of this study is to investigate the antibiotic susceptibility of clinically significant isolates of Enterobacter spp., obtained from patients, hospitalized in University Hospital “Saint Marina” – Varna during the period 2014 – 2016. Material and methods: a total of 433 clinical isolates of Enterobacter spp.from blood cultures, urine and wound secretions were studied. The species identification was made by conventional, semi-automated (Crystal, BD) and automated systems (Phoenix, BD). The susceptibility to piperacillin/tazobactam (TZP), ceftazidime (CAZ), meropenem (MEM), gentamicin (Gm), amikacin (Ak), ciprofloxacin (CIP), levofloxacin (LVX), trimethoprime/sulfamethoxazole (SXT) and tetracycline (Tet) was tested by disc-diffusion method and / or automated system Phoenix 100, BD. The results were interpreted according to EUCAST 2016 guidelines. Results: The resistance in the studied collection of isolates, shown in increasing order is as follows: Аk, 4.2% <LVF, 25.4% <TZP, 37.4% <Tet, 38.7% <SXT, 40% <CIP, 44.1% <Gm, 49.7% <CAZ, 57%. Meropenem demonstrated fully preserved activity. In the group of CAZ resistant isolates, the levels of antimicrobial resistance are: Аk, 5.7% <LVF, 42.9% <Tеt, 52.4% <SXT, 60.3% <TZP, 64.4% <CIP, 84.6% <Gm, 86.2%. The rate of CAZ resistant Enterobacter spp. was 66.9% among the urine isolates, 61.9% - among those from blood culture and 46.3% - in the group of isolates from wound secretions. In the three mentioned groups of isolates, the lowest level of resistance was detected to Ak (1.6%; 4%; 6.9%). The isolates from wound and blood cultures demonstrated the highest level of resistance to Gm (60.3%, 42.9%) and the urine isolates – to Тet (60%) and CIP (56.9%). Conclusions: CAZ resistant Enterobacter spp. demonstrated significantly higher levels of resistance in comparison to the whole studied group especially to quinolones and aminoglycosides. The highest level of CAZ resistant Enterobacter spp. was detected in the group of urine isolates

The soluble receptor ST2 is positively associated with occupational exposure to radiation

<p><b>Purpose</b> Radiation exposure, besides the risk of cancer, may also increase the risk of non-cancer diseases, including cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study investigates whether the soluble form of the ST2 receptor (sST2), an emerging prognostic marker in patients with CVD, can be used to monitor the CVD risk in individuals occupationally exposed to radiation.</p> <p><b>Materials and methods</b> sST2 in blood plasma from 69 individuals, 45 workers from the nuclear industry and 24 controls, was analyzed using enzyme-linked assay (ELISA). Total antioxidant status (TAS) of blood plasma and levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in lymphocytes were determined by colorimetric and fluorescence assays.</p> <p><b>Results</b> The data suggest a 5-fold increase in the number of subjects with sST2 levels above the clinical threshold and a 10-fold increase in the number of subjects with TAS levels outside the reference range in the exposed group when compared to the group of non-exposed individuals. The strongest up-regulation of TAS was measured in the group of younger workers with cumulative doses not exceeding 50 mSv.</p> <p><b>Conclusion</b> The present study may represent an initial step towards the establishment of sST2 as a biomarker for CVD risk estimation in the context of radiation exposure.</p