Mešane migracije po talibanskem prevzemu oblasti v Afganistanu: zmogljivosti države in percepcije javnosti v Bolgariji

In light of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in August 2021, this paper aims to analyze both the Bulgarian population’s attitudes toward newcomers and the capacity of the Republic of Bulgaria to manage mixed migration adequately. Toward this aim, a public perceptions survey was conducted in the cities of Harmanli and Sofia, where four out of five migrant registration and reception centers (RRCs) in Bulgaria are located. The authors argue that the state’s difficulties in coping with an increased influx of migrants and their possible integration are mainly due to its apparent refusal to take the lead in this regard and the lack of communication with the local population, especially where RRCs are situated.Cilj prispevka je analizirati odnos prebivalcev Bolgarije do prišlekov ter zmožnosti Republike Bolgarije za upravljanje mešanih migracij v okoliščinah talibanskega prevzema oblasti v Afganistanu. V ta namen je bila opravljena raziskava javnega mnenja v mestih Harmanli in Sofija, v katerih se nahajajo štirje izmed petih centrov za registracijo in sprejem migrantov v Bolgariji. Avtorja argumentirata, da vzroki za težave države pri spoprijemanju s povečanim prihodom migrantov in njihovo potencialno integracijo ležijo predvsem v dozdevnem zavračanju države, da bi pri tem zavzela proaktivno držo, ter v pomanjkanju komunikacije z lokalnim prebivalstvom, zlasti na območjih, kjer se nahajajo centri za registracijo in sprejem

Needle-free drug delivery using shock wave techniques

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006."June 2006."Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-94).A recent advancement in the area of needle-free injection systems has been the development of devices capable of epidermal delivery of powder medications. These devices use high-pressure compressed gas to accelerate drug particles 2 to 50 gpm in size to velocities of 200 to 1000 m/s. At these speeds the particles have sufficient momentum to penetrate the skin barrier and reach the viable epidermal layers. The devices offer much better control over the depth of penetration than traditional hypodermic needles, a factor particularly important in vaccine delivery. However they still have not found wide spread use, because of their cost. We studied the parameters determining the performance of these devices and used that knowledge to create a simple and reusable device capable of delivering 3 to 10 mg of powder formulation to the viable epidermis. Furthermore we showed that hydrogen-oxygen combustion could be used to create the shock wave required to accelerate the drug particles. This proves that portable reusable devices powered by hydrogen can be constructed and used for vaccine and medication delivery.by Atanas Pavlov.S.M

ECONOMIC CHALLENGES TO UKRAINIAN REFUGEE INTEGRATION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has resulted in the displacement of millions of Ukrainians, leading to socio-economic and political challenges for the host countries. The Refugee Response Plan, encompassing heavily affected EU Member States, has been the focus of this study, examining how the issue of refugee integration was addressed, with a specific emphasis on flaws and omissions in the approach. Various demographic and socioeconomic data and strategic national documents related to refugee integration were compared for this analysis. Employment was identified as a key tool for the integration of Ukrainian refugees. The findings revealed a lack of a common refugee integration policy among the surveyed countries despite similar past and current socioeconomic circumstances and security environments, including mixed migration. Ambiguities across these countries, including local population perceptions hindering Ukrainian refugee integration, were observed. Consequently, we assert the necessity for EU harmonized measures, emphasizing their long-term implementation to alleviate the economic burden of the war in Ukraine and provide predictability in the actions of individual governments

Effect of Aronia melanocarpa fruit juice on carrageenan-induced paw edema in metabolic syndrome rats

INTRODUCTION: Chronic, low-grade inflammation plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome (MS). Aronia melanocarpa fruits are rich in biologically active compounds—polyphenols, which possess a variety of health benefits including an anti-inflammatory effect.AIM: The aim of this article is to evaluate the effect of polyphenol-rich Aronia melanocarpa fruit juice (AMFJ) on carrageenan-induced acute inflammation in rats with diet-induced MS.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty male Wistar rats were included in the experiment. They were allocated into 4 groups: MS, MS+AMFJ2.5, MS+AMFJ5, and MS+AMFJ10, all receiving high-fat high-fructose diet and 10% fructose in the drinking water for 10 weeks. The MS group served as a control and was treated daily with distilled water orally, while the other groups received AMFJ at doses of 2.5 mL/kg, 5 mL/kg, and 10 mL/kg, respectively. At the end of the experiment, carrageenan was injected in the left hind paw in order to induce acute inflammation. Paw edema was evaluated with plethysmometer on the 30th min and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th hour after the injection.RESULTS: In the MS group, the carrageenan-induced paw edema increased gradually with time reaching the highest value on the 5th hour. A decrease throughout the whole 5-hour period was observed in groups treated with AMFJ, the effect being most pronounced and statistically significant in MS+AMFJ5 group on the 2nd and 3rd hour.CONCLUSION: Aronia melanocarpa fruit juice treatment in rats with MS resulted in a decrease in the carrageenan-induced paw inflammation. The anti-inflammatory effect might be attributed to the polyphenols in AMFJ

Food additives from plant in vitro systems

Higher plants, represented by ca. 400 000 species worldwide, are valuable sources of diverse metabolites, many of which are used as food additives, flavours, colorants, agrochemicals, bio pesticides and pharmaceuticals. Moreover, in recent years, there has been a growing preference for the use of natural rather than synthetic products, expanding the market for natural plant products; this trend is expected to continue. However, the production of plant-derived substances is limited by environmental, ecological, climatic and (sometimes) political conditions. Thus, there are likely to be shortages of some products due to the combined pressures of increasing demand and limitations of supply. These problems could be overcome using plant in vitro technologies, which allow environment friendly production of natural food additives. The main problem hindering the implementation of these technologies in Bulgaria is shortage of regulatory mechanisms for using secondary metabolites from plant in vitro systems as food ingredients. In the presented scientific standpoint the potential of plant in vitro systems as technological matrixes for production of food ingredients is discussed. As particular example the potential of betalains produced by plant in vitro system is presented

Alkaloids - Alternatives in Synthesis, Modification and Application

The book Alkaloids - Alternatives in Synthesis, Modification, and Application collects several chapters written by distinguished scientists and recognized experts in their respective fields of research. The purpose of this book is to focus the attention of a broad range of students, researchers, and specialists on some innovative and highly perspective areas in alkaloid research. The book covers several topics, guiding the readers from the development of nonconventional biotechnologies for alternative production of valuable alkaloids, through the application of modern chemical methods of asymmetric synthesis for production of synthetic and semisynthetic alkaloid derivatives, medicinal application of alkaloids as anesthetics and pain-relief drugs, analytical techniques for alkaloid profiling and their application in chemotaxonomy, quality control and standardization of raw plant material, to the importance of the control and reduction of alkaloid contents during production of animal feedstuffs

Micropropagation of five endemic, rare and/or endangered Narcissus species from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal)

The genus Narcissus has several endemic, rare and/or threatened species in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. In vitro propagation is a useful tool for threatened plants conservation used in ex situ strategies. Thus, the aim of this work was to study the propagation in vitro of bulb scale explants of five endemic, rare and/or endangered Narcissus species from the Iberian Peninsula, treated with different PGR combinations. Initiation was achieved in half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal salts and vitamins, 10 g/L sucrose, 500 mg/L casein hydrolysate, 2 mg/L adenine, 10 mg/L glutathione and 5.5 g/L plant agar. In the multiplication phase, the highest bulblet proliferation was obtained in MS medium supplemented with 30 g/L sucrose and the combination of 10 μM 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) + 5 μM α-Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) in N. alcaracensis, N. eugeniae and N. hedraeanthus; 20 μM BAP + 5 μM NAA in N. jonquilla and N. yepesii. The highest rooting was obtained with 5 μM NAA + 1 μM Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) for all species (>75%) and more than 80% of the produced bulblets were successfully acclimatized.The authors would like to acknowledge Universitat d’Alacant for the possibility of conducting this work by means of a grant included in the program “Becas y Contratos para la formación de Doctores del Vicerrectorado de Investigación, FPU2010” and specific funding for a research stay to start some of the cultures. Also, this work was partly supported by the R+D+I funding lines of the Spanish Ministry of Environment “Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino” through the project 126/SGTB/2007/4.1 ‘Caracterización, conservación y multiplicación de narcisos endémicos de Castilla-La Mancha (gen. Narcissus, Fam. Amaryllidaceae): revalorización de un recurso vegetal para el desarrollo sostenible de la Reserva de la Biosfera La Mancha Húmeda’

Recent Progress in Amaryllidaceae Biotechnology

Plants belonging to the monocotyledonous Amaryllidaceae family include about 1100 species divided among 75 genera. They are well known as medicinal and ornamental plants, producing pharmaceutically important alkaloids, the most intensively investigated of which are galanthamine and lycorine. Amaryllidaceae alkaloids possess various biological activities, the most important one being their anti-acetylcholinesterase activity, used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Due to increased demand for Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (mainly galanthamine) and the limited availability of plant sources, in vitro culture technology has attracted the attention of researchers as a prospective alternative for their sustainable production. Plant in vitro systems have been extensively used for continuous, sustainable, and economically viable production of bioactive plant secondary metabolites. Over the past two decades, a significant success has been demonstrated in the development of in vitro systems synthesizing Amaryllidaceae alkaloids. The present review discusses the state of the art of in vitro Amaryllidaceae alkaloids production, summarizing recently documented plant in vitro systems producing them, as well as the authors’ point of view on the development of biotechnological production processes with a focus on the future prospects of in vitro culture technology for the commercial production of these valuable alkaloids

ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY AND BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS OF ROSA CANINA L. HERBAL PREPARATIONS

Abstrac

Cultivation of diploid and tetraploid hairy roots of Datura stramonium L. in stirred tank bioreactor for tropane alkaloids production

Biomass accumulation and tropane alkaloids production by diploid and tetraploid hairy root cultures of Datura stramonium L. cultivated in stirred tank bioreactor at different aeration rates were investigated. The maximal growth for both hairy root cultures (ADB = 8.3 g/L and 6.8 g/L for diploid and tetraploid line, respectively) was achieved at aeration rate of 15.0 L/(L.h). The corresponding growth indexes were remarkably high (GIDW = 9.0 and 7.8 for diploid and tetraploid line, respectively) compared to the values, usually reported for other hairy root cultures. The optimal aeration rate for biomass accumulation was also optimal for alkaloids biosynthesis. According to our survey, the achieved maximal amounts of accumulated hyoscyamine (35.0 mg/L and 27.0 mg/L for diploid and tetraploid line) were the highest reported in the scientific literature for D. stramonium L. hairy roots. During the cultivation in stirred tank bioreactor, the hairy roots biosynthesized pharmaceutically important alkaloid scopolamine in minor concentrations. This is an important observation since scopolamine was not detected during submerged cultivation of these hairy root lines in other bioreactor types. However, the ploidy level was found to be the most important factor concerning scopolamine production by D. stramonium L. hairy roots cultures. The present work demonstrated the effect of ploidity levels on biomass accumulation and tropane alkaloids production by D. stramonium L. hairy roots cultivated in stirred tank bioreactor. This investigation show that the stirred tank bioreactor could be successfully applied for both maximal biomass accumulations, as well as for manipulation of tropane alkaloids production by diploid and tetraploid D. stramonium L. hairy root cultures