Food security and sustainability - chances and limitations of agriculture

The increasing population of the world may induce various problems. There are two major fields; food security and adequate fresh water supply, which are predominant for all Global economic structures. On the other hand all activities implemented in favour of meeting the demand of the population, increase the ecological footprint and may risk sustainability of both mankind and its environment. The present study deals with an assessment of future trends on the basis of the present state of alimentation. Agriculture has a basic role in providing food for the human race. All sort of activities of that are in relation with the environment and at the same time they are driven by economic and social aspects. Sustainable agriculture can only be implemented if agricultural production can be run in an environment which is socially bearable, and economically viable. The scheme has to take into consideration that the society has to be equitable economically continuously. Whenever any of these interrelations cannot be manifested, the whole system may turn to be non-sustainable, or inefficient regarding food security

Food security and sustainability - chances and limitations of agriculture

The increasing population of the world may induce various problems. There are two major fields; food security and adequate fresh water supply, which are predominant for all Global economic structures. On the other hand all activities implemented in favour of meeting the demand of the population, increase the ecological footprint and may risk sustainability of both mankind and its environment. The present study deals with an assessment of future trends on the basis of the present state of alimentation. Agriculture has a basic role in providing food for the human race. All sort of activities of that are in relation with the environment and at the same time they are driven by economic and social aspects. Sustainable agriculture can only be implemented if agricultural production can be run in an environment which is socially bearable, and economically viable. The scheme has to take into consideration that the society has to be equitable economically continuously. Whenever any of these interrelations cannot be manifested, the whole system may turn to be non-sustainable, or inefficient regarding food security

Powers of Hamilton cycles in pseudorandom graphs

We study the appearance of powers of Hamilton cycles in pseudorandom graphs, using the following comparatively weak pseudorandomness notion. A graph $G$ is $(\varepsilon,p,k,\ell)$-pseudorandom if for all disjoint $X$ and $Y\subset V(G)$ with $|X|\ge\varepsilon p^kn$ and $|Y|\ge\varepsilon p^\ell n$ we have $e(X,Y)=(1\pm\varepsilon)p|X||Y|$. We prove that for all $\beta>0$ there is an $\varepsilon>0$ such that an $(\varepsilon,p,1,2)$-pseudorandom graph on $n$ vertices with minimum degree at least $\beta pn$ contains the square of a Hamilton cycle. In particular, this implies that $(n,d,\lambda)$-graphs with $\lambda\ll d^{5/2 }n^{-3/2}$ contain the square of a Hamilton cycle, and thus a triangle factor if $n$ is a multiple of $3$. This improves on a result of Krivelevich, Sudakov and Szab\'o [Triangle factors in sparse pseudo-random graphs, Combinatorica 24 (2004), no. 3, 403--426]. We also extend our result to higher powers of Hamilton cycles and establish corresponding counting versions.Comment: 30 pages, 1 figur

Solution chemical properties and anticancer potential of 8-hydroxyquinoline hydrazones and their oxidovanadium(IV) complexes

Funding Information: This work was supported by Centro de Química Estrutural, which is financed by national funds from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), projects UIDB/00100/2020, UIDP/00100/2020 and LA/P/0056/2020, and Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa 2020. We also thank project PTDC/QUI-QIN/0586/2020 and N. Ribeiro acknowledges FCT for SFRH/BD/135797/2018 grant. The Portuguese NMR and Mass spectrometry IST-UL are acknowledged for the access to the equipment. This work was supported by the Portuguese-Hungarian Scientific & Technological CooperationTÉT-PT-2018-00002, ÚNKP-21-3-SZTE-455 (to V. Pósa) New National Excellence Program Ministry of Human Capacities. The support of the ‘Lendület’ Programme (ELKH, LP2019-6/2019) and the COST ActionCA18202, NECTAR-Network for Equilibria and Chemical Thermodynamics Advanced Research is also acknowledged. This work was also supported by Koç University School of Medicine (KUSOM) and the authors gratefully acknowledge use of the services and facilities of the Koç University Research Center for Translational Medicine (KUTTAM), funded by the Presidency of Turkey, Presidency of Strategy and Budget. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Presidency of Strategy and Budget. G. Sciortino, V. Ugone, E. Garribba thank Fondazione di Sardegna (grant FdSGarribba2017) and Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (grant RASSR79857); G. Sciortino also thanks MICINN’ Juan de la Cierva program, FJC2019-039135-I for the financial support. L. Maia thanks the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry - LAQV, which is financed by national funds from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, MCTES (FCT/MCTES; UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/2020). Funding Information: This work was supported by Centro de Química Estrutural , which is financed by national funds from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), projects UIDB/00100/2020 , UIDP/00100/2020 and LA/P/0056/2020 , and Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa 2020 . We also thank project PTDC/QUI-QIN/0586/2020 and N. Ribeiro acknowledges FCT for SFRH/BD/135797/2018 grant. The Portuguese NMR and Mass spectrometry IST-UL are acknowledged for the access to the equipment. This work was supported by the Portuguese-Hungarian Scientific & Technological Cooperation TÉT-PT-2018-00002 , ÚNKP-21-3-SZTE-455 (to V. Pósa) New National Excellence Program Ministry of Human Capacities . The support of the ‘Lendület’ Programme (ELKH, LP2019-6/2019 ) and the COST Action CA18202 , NECTAR-Network for Equilibria and Chemical Thermodynamics Advanced Research is also acknowledged. This work was also supported by Koç University School of Medicine (KUSOM) and the authors gratefully acknowledge use of the services and facilities of the Koç University Research Center for Translational Medicine (KUTTAM), funded by the Presidency of Turkey, Presidency of Strategy and Budget. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Presidency of Strategy and Budget. G. Sciortino, V. Ugone, E. Garribba thank Fondazione di Sardegna (grant FdSGarribba2017 ) and Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (grant RASSR79857 ); G. Sciortino also thanks MICINN’ Juan de la Cierva program, FJC2019-039135-I for the financial support. L. Maia thanks the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry - LAQV , which is financed by national funds from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, MCTES (FCT/MCTES; UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/2020 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier Inc.We report the synthesis and characterization of a family of benzohydrazones (Ln, n = 1–6) derived from 2-carbaldehyde-8-hydroxyquinoline and benzylhydrazides containing different substituents in the para position. Their oxidovanadium(IV) complexes were prepared and compounds with 1:1 and 1:2 metal-to-ligand stoichiometry were obtained. All compounds were characterized by elemental analyses and mass spectrometry as well as FTIR, UV–visible absorption, NMR (ligand precursors) and EPR (complexes) spectroscopies, and by DFT computational methods. Proton dissociation constants, lipophilicity and solubility in aqueous media were determined for all ligand precursors. Complex formation with V(IV)O was evaluated by spectrophotometry for L4 (Me-substituted) and L6 (OH-substituted) and formation constants for mono [VO(HL)]+, [VO(L)] and bis [VO(HL)2], [VO(HL)(L)]−, [VO(L)2]2− complexes were determined. EPR spectroscopy indicates the formation of [VO(HL)]+ and [VO(HL)2], with this latter being the major species at the physiological pH. Noteworthy, the EPR data suggest a different behaviour for L4 and L6, which confirm the results obtained in the solid state. The antiproliferative activity of all compounds was evaluated in malignant melanoma (A-375) and lung (A-549) cancer cells. All complexes show much higher activity on A-375 (IC50 20 μM). Complex 3 (F-substituted) shows the lowest IC50 on both cell lines and lower than cisplatin (in A-375). Studies identified this compound as the one showing the highest increase in Annexin-V staining, caspase activity and induction of double stranded breaks, corroborating the cytotoxicity results. The mechanism of action of the complexes involves reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced DNA damage, and cell death by apoptosis.publishersversionpublishe