CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FLORA OF ALBANIA, 5

Records of 63 vascular plant taxa are reported in this paper from Albania with notes about their known European and Balkan distribution. Altogether 51 of the discussed taxa are native in Albania, eight are aliens and four are absent from the country, but previously reported in error. Most of the records presented here are the fi rst mentions of the given taxa in Albania, with a few additional ones which though had some questionable or unvouchered reports but the first localised records are given here. Old-established nomenclatural misapprehensions are ascertained here based on own and latest published results

Ways to Enhance Students’ Learning Activities in the Context of Higher Education

The article aims to study scientific and methodological features of the ways to enhance students’ learning activities in the context of higher education. The study's theoretical significance is derived from the in-depth analysis of the development of students' learning activity. The study offers the framework of characteristics for the concept of “students' learning (cognitive) activity". The main used methods were: analysis, peer-assessment, self-assessment. The interview method was used to make a cognitive profile of the participants, taking into account their psychological characteristics. The authors developed and scientifically tested educational model based on module curricula and interactive teaching methods to enhance students' learning activity. The authors also reflected the dynamic of the learning activity of the students with disabilities participating in the experiment. The results proved the effectiveness of the developed model of enhancing students' learning activity by using interactive teaching methods. It was concluded that the module curricular and active teaching methods help enhance students with disabilities' learning activity and make them more responsible in respect to the results of their study

ОСОБЕННОСТИ И ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО ТУРИЗМА В НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫХ ПАРКАХ ЧЕРНОГОРИИ

In Montenegro, there are a variety of resources of eco-tourism, environmental education - picturesque landscape unaltered by human activities, a network of national parks, monuments of nature, biological, geological, ecosystem diversity, protected species of plants and animals. In Montenegro, there are five national parks with total area of 107 500 hectares (almost 10% of the total area of the country).Each park has a rich natural, historical and cultural tourist and recreational resources.Identified ecological and geographical features of the National Parks of Montenegro, the possibility of eco-tourism.For example, the National Park “Skadar Lake” is designed eco-educational tour for students.The purpose of the tour: the acquisition of knowledge about the ecological and geographical, cultural and historical features of the Skadar Lake, the formation of research competence of students in the study and evaluation of the ecological condition of natural and man-made systems.Tasks: introduction to the natural attractions of the Skadar lake (flora, fauna, natural ecosystems); understanding the cultural and historical monuments of Skadar Lake; identify human activities that24Алейникова А.М., Гайворон Т.Д., Еремина М.А., Мараш А. Особенности и перспективы...alter natural systems; promote education of ecological culture of students as part of a general culture of human relations with each other and with nature.For the optimal development of eco-tourism is necessary to develop a network of national parks, organization of museums of nature, nature trails.В Черногории имеются разнообразные ресурсы экологического туризма, экологического образования - живописные, не измененные деятельностью человека ландшафты, сеть национальных парков с памятниками природы, биологическим, геологическим, экосистемным разнообразием, охраняемыми видами растений, животных. Для оптимального развития экологического туризма необходимо развитие сети национальных парков, организация музеев природы, экологических троп. В Черногории существует пять национальных парков общей площадью 107 500 га (почти 10% общей площади страны). Каждый парк обладает богатейшими природными и историко-культурными туристско-рекреационными ресурсами. Выявлены эколого-географические особенности национальных парков Черногории, возможности экологического туризма. На примере национального парка «Скадарское озеро» разработана эколого-образовательная экскурсия для учащихся

Loss of the extraproteasomal ubiquitin receptor Rings lost impairs ring canal growth in Drosophila oogenesis

Rings lost fulfills a novel function in Drosophila development for a ubiquitin receptor as an essential mediator of ring canal growth during oogenesis

Evolutionary changes in the Leishmania eIF4F complex involve variations in the eIF4E–eIF4G interactions

Translation initiation in eukaryotes is mediated by assembly of the eIF4F complex over the m7GTP cap structure at the 5′-end of mRNAs. This requires an interaction between eIF4E and eIF4G, two eIF4F subunits. The Leishmania orthologs of eIF4E are structurally diverged from their higher eukaryote counterparts, since they have evolved to bind the unique trypanosomatid cap-4 structure. Here, we characterize a key eIF4G candidate from Leishmania parasites (LeishIF4G-3) that contains a conserved MIF4G domain. LeishIF4G-3 was found to coelute with the parasite eIF4F subunits from an m7GTP-Sepharose column and to bind directly to LeishIF4E. In higher eukaryotes the eIF4E-eIF4G interaction is based on a conserved peptide signature [Y(X4)Lϕ], where X is any amino acid and Φ is a hydrophobic residue. A parallel eIF4E-binding peptide was identified in LeishIF4G-3 (20-YPGFSLDE-27). However, the binding motif varies extensively: in addition to Y20 and L25, binding strictly requires the presence of F23, whereas the hydrophobic amino acid (Φ) is dispensable. The LeishIF4E–LeishIF4G-3 interaction was also confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies. In view of these diversities, the characterization of the parasite eIF4E–eIF4G interaction may not only serve as a novel target for inhibiting Leishmaniasis but also provide important insight for future drug discovery

Targeted Disruption of the PME-1 Gene Causes Loss of Demethylated PP2A and Perinatal Lethality in Mice

Phosphoprotein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), a major serine-threonine protein phosphatase in eukaryotes, is an oligomeric protein comprised of structural (A) and catalytic (C) subunits to which a variable regulatory subunit (B) can associate. The C subunit contains a methyl ester post-translational modification on its C-terminal leucine residue, which is removed by a specific methylesterase (PME-1). Methylesterification is thought to control the binding of different B subunits to AC dimers, but little is known about its physiological significance in vivo.Here, we show that targeted disruption of the PME-1 gene causes perinatal lethality in mice, a phenotype that correlates with a virtually complete loss of the demethylated form of PP2A in the nervous system and peripheral tissues. Interestingly, PP2A catalytic activity over a peptide substrate was dramatically reduced in PME-1(-/-) tissues, which also displayed alterations in phosphoproteome content.These findings suggest a role for the demethylated form of PP2A in maintenance of enzyme function and phosphorylation networks in vivo

ITALIAN MINORITY IN ISTRIA: DEVELOPMENT IN CJNDITIONS OF MULTICULTURAL AND MULTI-ETNIC SOCIETY

The article identifies and discloses the problems of national minorities living on the territory of the Istrian peninsula with access to the Adriatic Sea and the region Venezia Giulia. It must be stressed that the population of Istria just over the past century four times "changed citizenship", having been in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia- FPRY (later - the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - SFRY), and, finally, the People`s and the Socialist Republic of Croatia. It is shown that all of these political changes in different periods strongly influenced mentality of the population, especially in matters relating to the treatment of national minorities. Consequently, the composite structure of the population of Istria and Venezia Giulia with time has undergone profound changes: Latinized ethnolinguistic group assimilated by Slavic population, but subsequently was different from the Slovenes and Croats. Before the First World War, these territories were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and there lived the Italians, Croats and Slovenes. After the war and the collapse of the empire the region became part of the Kingdom of Italy. New problems arose at the end of the Second World War, when most of the Istria and Venezia Giulia was under the control of the newly established Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. As a result, after the break-up of the federation of Yugoslavia and the formation of autonomous and independent states - former republics including Croatia, the status of national minorities have separate national and cultural groups, where Italians as an autochthonous national minorities enjoyed the status of the privileged minority

Subalpinski bukov gozd z dlakavim slečem (Polysticho lonchitis-Fagetum rhododendretosum hirsuti subass. nova) na Snežniku (Liburnijski kras, Dinaridi)

Subalpine beech stands with Hairy Alpenrose (Rhododendron hirsutum) were phytosociologically studied on Mt. Snežnik (Dinaric Mts). They thrived on stony and steep slopes of northern exposure. Comparisons with other subalpine Beech stands (Polysticho lonchitis-Fagetum s. lat.), Dinaric Fir-Beech stands with Hairy Alpenrose (Omphalodo-Fagetum s. lat. rhododendretosum hirsuti), and prealpine fir-beech stands with Hairy Alpenrose (Homogyno sylvestris-Fagetum s. lat. rhododendretosum hirsuti), stands of Hairy Alpenrose and Beech (Rhododendro hirsuti-Fagetum s. lat.), as well as Austrian subalpine beech stands (Saxifrago rotundifoliae-Fagetum s. lat.) showed their unique floristical composition due to ecological conditions, and thus distinct syntaxonomical position within the association Polysticho-Fagetum. Therefore, a new subassociation Polysticho-Fagetum rhododendretosum hirsuti subass. nova was described, and – as differential species for the subassociation – Rhododendron hirsutum, Rubus saxatilis, Rosa pendulina, and Clematis alpina were chosen.Prispevek podaja fitocenološko oznako subalpinskega bukovega gozda (Polysticho lonchitis-Fagetum) z dlakavim slečem (Rhododendron hirsutum) na Snežniku. Obravnavani sestoji uspevajo na kamnitih in/ali skalnatih ter strmih pobočjih severnih ekspozicij. Primerjave z ostalimi subalpinskimi bukovimi ter (jelovo-)bukovimi sestoji z dlakavim slečem (Omphalodo-Fagetum rhododendretosum hirsuti, Homogyno sylvestris rhododendretosum hirsuti, Rhododendro-Fagetum) ter subalpinskimi bukovji iz Avstrije (Saxifrago rotundifolii-Fagetum) so pokazale njihov poseben sintaksonomski položaj v okviru asociacije Polysticho-Fagetum. Zato smo te sestoje uvrstili v novo subasociacijo Polysticho-Fagetum rhododendretosum hirsuti subass. nova, za razlikovalnice pa izbrali vrste Rhododendron hirsutum, Rubus saxatilis, Rosa pendulina in Clematis alpina

t-SNARE dephosphorylation promotes SNARE assembly and exocytosis in yeast

The role of protein phosphorylation in secretion is not well understood. Here we show that yeast lacking the Snc1,2 v-SNAREs, or bearing a temperature-sensitive mutation in the Sso2 t-SNARE, are rescued at restrictive conditions by the addition of ceramide precursors and analogs to the growth medium. Rescue results from dephosphorylation of the Sso t-SNAREs by a ceramide-activated type 2A protein phosphatase (Sit4) involved in cell cycle control. Sso t-SNARE dephosphorylation correlated with its assembly into complexes with the Sec9 t-SNARE, both in vitro and in vivo, and with an increase in protein trafficking and secretion in cells. SNARE complexes isolated under these conditions contained only Sso and Sec9, suggesting that a t–t-SNARE fusion complex is sufficient to confer exocytosis. Mutation of a single PKA site (Ser79 to Ala79) in Sso1 resulted in a decrease in phosphorylation and was sufficient to confer growth to snc cells at restrictive conditions. Thus, modulation of t-SNARE phosphorylation regulates SNARE complex assembly and membrane fusion in vivo