Maintaining scattered trees to boost carbon stock in temperate pastures does not compromise overall pasture quality for the livestock

Scattered trees in wood-pastures represent outstanding conservation value by providing microhabitats for a variety of organisms. They also diversify ecosystem services by creating shade for livestock, and capturing and storing carbon. However, trees in wood-pastures are declining Europe-wide and an appropriate legal environment to maintain them is mostly lacking. Here we looked beyond the well-documented beneficial effects of trees and assessed potential ecosystem disservices, which may drive the controversial appreciation of trees. In a grazing exclusion experiment, we assessed the effect of trees on herbage production in wood-pastures from semiarid continental to humid montane areas in the temperate deciduous forest ecoregion, and found that trees have a suppressive effect throughout the year, although herbage nutritive value, as indicated by herbage nitrogen content, seems to be improved in spring. When we up-scaled the local ecosystem disservice on herbage yield to entire wood-pastures, the loss remained below 3%, which is lower than reported gains in livestock production due to free access to shade. Thus, the motivation for the under-appreciation of trees by land managers and decision makers may lie in that trees suppress herbage production, but the importance of this effects is offset by the magnitude of the beneficial services of trees. We recommend current wood-pasture stakeholders to revisit their attitude towards scattered trees and encourage tree planting campaigns and tree-based climate mitigation strategies to consider the protection of trees in wood-pastures and the establishment of young ones in currently open pastures up to traditionally low tree cover proportions, as livestock production is unlikely to be compromised by this action

Association of Impulsivity and Polymorphic MicroRNA-641 Target Sites in the SNAP-25 Gene.

Impulsivity is a personality trait of high impact and is connected with several types of maladaptive behavior and psychiatric diseases, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as pathological gambling and mood disorders. Polymorphic variants of the SNAP-25 gene emerged as putative genetic components of impulsivity, as SNAP-25 protein plays an important role in the central nervous system, and its SNPs are associated with several psychiatric disorders. In this study we aimed to investigate if polymorphisms in the regulatory regions of the SNAP-25 gene are in association with normal variability of impulsivity. Genotypes and haplotypes of two polymorphisms in the promoter (rs6077690 and rs6039769) and two SNPs in the 3' UTR (rs3746544 and rs1051312) of the SNAP-25 gene were determined in a healthy Hungarian population (N = 901) using PCR-RFLP or real-time PCR in combination with sequence specific probes. Significant association was found between the T-T 3' UTR haplotype and impulsivity, whereas no association could be detected with genotypes or haplotypes of the promoter loci. According to sequence alignment, the polymorphisms in the 3' UTR of the gene alter the binding site of microRNA-641, which was analyzed by luciferase reporter system. It was observed that haplotypes altering one or two nucleotides in the binding site of the seed region of microRNA-641 significantly increased the amount of generated protein in vitro. These findings support the role of polymorphic SNAP-25 variants both at psychogenetic and molecular biological levels

The Effect of the Double Reasoned Maturation (DMR) Method on the Chemical Composition of the Juice and Wine of the Bianca Grape Cultivar

This paper aims to detect the effects of DMR (double reasoned maturation) method, and if it is able to increase the quality of Hungary’s most distributed white wine variety, Bianca. The resistant interspecific hybrid Bianca cultivar can accumulate high sugar content during ripening, but it is prone to drastic acid loss, which can lead to deficient microbiological stability of wines. The DMR method is suitable for achieving fruit with better sugar/acid ratio due to the shrinking of the berries. The DMR treatment was found to be a possible tool for avoiding rapid acid loss in Bianca juices. Early cutting of one-year-old wood and early harvest were found to be the ideal combination for increasing quality

The Effect of the Double Reasoned Maturation (DMR) Method on the Chemical Composition of the Juice and Wine of the Bianca Grape Cultivar

This paper aims to detect the effects of DMR (double reasoned maturation) method, and if it is able to increase the quality of Hungary’s most distributed white wine variety, Bianca. The resistant interspecific hybrid Bianca cultivar can accumulate high sugar content during ripening, but it is prone to drastic acid loss, which can lead to deficient microbiological stability of wines. The DMR method is suitable for achieving fruit with better sugar/acid ratio due to the shrinking of the berries. The DMR treatment was found to be a possible tool for avoiding rapid acid loss in Bianca juices. Early cutting of one-year-old wood and early harvest were found to be the ideal combination for increasing quality

Conjugation with Tris Decreases the Risk of Ketoprofen-Induced Mucosal Damage and Reduces Inflammation-Associated Methane Production in a Rat Model of Colitis

We have designed a new compound from the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) ketoprofen (Ket) and 2-amino-2-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-propanediol (Tris) precursors, with the aim to reduce the gastrointestinal (GI) side effects of NSAID therapies. We investigated mucosal reactions in a standard rat model of colitis together with methane generation as a possible indicator of pro-inflammatory activation under this condition (approval number: V./148/2013). Whole-body methane production (photoacoustic spectroscopy) and serosal microcirculation (intravital videomicroscopy) were measured, and mucosal damage was assessed (conventional histology; in vivo laser-scanning endomicroscopy). Inflammatory markers were measured from tissue and blood samples. Colitis induced an inflammatory response, morphological colonic damage and increased methane output. Ket treatment lowered inflammatory activation and colonic mucosal injury, but macroscopic gastric bleeding and increased methane output were present. Ket-Tris reduced inflammatory activation, methane emission and colonic mucosal damage, without inducing gastric injury. Conjugation with Tris reduces the GI side effects of Ket and still decreases the inflammatory response in experimental colitis. Methane output correlates with the mucosal inflammatory response and non-invasively demonstrates the effects of anti-inflammatory treatments

Maintaining scattered trees to boost carbon stock in temperate pastures does not compromise overall pasture quality for the livestock

Scattered trees in wood-pastures represent outstanding conservation value by providing microhabitats for a variety of organisms. They also diversify ecosystem services by creating shade for livestock, and capturing and storing carbon. However, trees in wood-pastures are declining Europe-wide and an appropriate legal environment to maintain them is mostly lacking. Here we looked beyond the well-documented beneficial effects of trees and assessed potential ecosystem disservices, which may drive the controversial appreciation of trees. In a grazing exclusion experiment, we assessed the effect of trees on herbage production in wood-pastures from semiarid continental to humid montane areas in the temperate deciduous forest ecoregion, and found that trees have a suppressive effect throughout the year, although herbage nutritive value, as indicated by herbage nitrogen content, seems to be improved in spring. When we up-scaled the local ecosystem disservice on herbage yield to entire wood-pastures, the loss remained below 3%, which is lower than reported gains in livestock production due to free access to shade. Thus, the motivation for the under-appreciation of trees by land managers and decision makers may lie in that trees suppress herbage production, but the importance of this effects is offset by the magnitude of the beneficial services of trees. We recommend current wood-pasture stakeholders to revisit their attitude towards scattered trees and encourage tree planting campaigns and tree-based climate mitigation strategies to consider the protection of trees in wood-pastures and the establishment of young ones in currently open pastures up to traditionally low tree cover proportions, as livestock production is unlikely to be compromised by this action

Therapeutic Properties of Ayahuasca Components in Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury of the Eye

Ischemic eye diseases are major causes of vision impairment. Thus, potential retinoprotective effects of N’N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) were investigated. To inhibit its rapid breakdown by monoamine-oxidase A (MAO-A) enzyme, DMT was co-administered with harmaline, a β-carboline in the Amazonian Ayahuasca brew. Using ligation, 60 min of ischemia was provoked in eyes of rats, followed by 7 days of reperfusion whilst animals received harmaline alone, DMT + harmaline, or vehicle treatment. After 1 week of reperfusion, electroretinographical (ERG) measurements, histological analysis, and Western blot were performed. Harmaline alone exhibited retinoprotection in ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) which was, surprisingly, counterbalanced by DMT in case of co-administration. As both MAO-A inhibition and DMT increase serotoninergic tone synergistically, communicated to be anti-ischemic, thus, involvement of other pathways was investigated. Based on our experiments, DMT and harmaline exert opposite effects on important ocular proteins such as PARP1, NFκB, MMP9, or HSP70, each having a critical role in a different mechanism of eye-ischemia-related pathologies, e.g., cell death, inflammation, tissue destruction, and oxidative stress. Since DMT is proclaimed to be a promising drug candidate, its potentially undesirable effect on eye-ischemia should be further investigated. Meanwhile, this experiment revealed the potential therapeutic effect of MAO-A inhibitor harmaline in I/R-related eye diseases

A Cerebelláris Kognitív-Affektív Szindróma Skála magyar nyelvű validációja

Bevezetés: A cerebelláris kognitív-affektív szindróma olyan tünetegyüttest jelent, amely a motoros és végrehajtó funkciók zavarán túl a memória, a váltás-gátlás, a konceptualizálás és az érzelem és viselkedés szabályozásában is megnyilvánulhat. A szindróma felmérésére dedikált magyar nyelvű mérőeszköz eddig nem állt a hazai szakemberek rendelkezésére. Célkitűzés: A kutatás célja volt a Cerebelláris Kognitív-Affektív Szindróma Skála (CCAS-H) magyar mintán történő validációja, diagnosztikus érvényességének felmérése, valamint a teszt közzététele a szakemberek számára. Módszer: Multicentrikus kutatási elrendezésben, hat kórházi osztállyal való együttműködés keretében cerebelláris érintettségű páciensekkel és kontrollszemélyekkel történtek tesztfelvételek 2021. 07. 12. és 2023. 12. 31. között. A statisztikai elemzések során normalitástesztelést, leíró statisztikát, átlagok tesztelését, korrelációszámításokat, valamint ROC-elemzést végeztünk, Cronbach-alfa-értékeket, Cohen-féle kappát határoztunk meg. A normalitás sérülése esetén robusztus próbákat választottunk. Eredmények: 54 cerebelláris és 40 kontrollszeméllyel történt tesztfelvétel, amelyekből különböző alcsoportokat képeztünk. Mintánkban az életkor (r = –0,581***, df = 87, p<0,001) és az iskolázottság (r = 0,360***, df = 87, p<0,001) szignifikáns együttjárást mutatott az összpontszámokkal. A CCAS-H megfelelő belső konzisztenciájú (α = 0,771), teszt-reteszt vizsgálat alapján stabil (r = 0,793***, df =13, p<0,001), és megítélők közti 88,2%-os egyetértést mutatott