Economic Assessment of Uniqueness of the Regions in the Context of the European Union

AbstractThis paper aims at analysing the uniqueness of the regions in the context of the European Union and providing a tool for economic assessment of uniqueness. Uniqueness of the regions can be used to increase regional economic resilience and economic advantage. Economic and social challenges in the European Union member states encourage finding new tools for regional development that would lead to implementation of the Europe, 2020 goals.Economic assessment by using the uniqueness index was developed for the assessment of the uniqueness as economic advantage of the region. The results revealed that regional uniqueness index can be used for identification of typologies of the regions within a country that can serve as a basis for creation regional support strategy. Results can be used for recommendations for the regional policy to define important insights for next programming period 2014–2020 in the EU

Challenges for agricultural policy in the service-driven economic system

During last decades the essential shift occurred in the structure of the economy from industrial product-driven to the post-industrial service-driven economic system. A growing number of manufacturing firms throughout the world are shifting from selling goods to offering more and more services alongside their products. This movement is termed the 'servitization'. The movement is pervading almost all industries but still is weak in agriculture. The aim of the paper is to draw an agricultural sector-specific picture of servitization and discuss the differences between the business models of product-driven and service-driven farms. Servitization of farming is a transformational process that requires rethinking all aspects of the business: production structure and methods, marketing, pricing, service delivery infrastructure and financial management. The aims and means of current agricultural policy should be transformed in accordance with the emerging new business vision of the post-industrial farmers' generation. The article analyses the needs and perspectives to develop agricultural policy in line with the success factors of the service-driven economic system and highlights the main new post-industrial rural policy trends, which corresponds to the needs of new farmers' generation oriented towards servitization of farming in the new programming period after 2020

Future drivers of rural prosperity in knowledge age: Lithuanian case

The knowledge age greatly shaped society's understanding of what goes beyond the agribusiness and sharply raised the question of farmers' responsibilities on the way they do farming in relation to the payments they receive as public support. Therefore the new rural prosperity drivers in knowledge age calls for the new principles of European Union support distribution for agriculture and rural development. The aim of this research is to explore future drivers of rural prosperity based on knowledge society measures. It is argued, that the upcoming European Union rural prosperity is guided by knowledge philosophy encompassing the nexus among 'innovating', 'networking' and 'giving back' to society. Original empirical data, collected in Lithuanian in 2017, explores farmers' attitudes towards listed knowledge society measures in relation to farm size and other relevant characteristics. Research findings suggest more promising directions for agriculture and rural development that contributes better for rural prosperity in knowledge age

Future drivers of rural prosperity in knowledge age: Lithuanian case

The knowledge age greatly shaped society's understanding of what goes beyond the agribusiness and sharply raised the question of farmers' responsibilities on the way they do farming in relation to the payments they receive as public support. Therefore the new rural prosperity drivers in knowledge age calls for the new principles of European Union support distribution for agriculture and rural development. The aim of this research is to explore future drivers of rural prosperity based on knowledge society measures. It is argued, that the upcoming European Union rural prosperity is guided by knowledge philosophy encompassing the nexus among 'innovating', 'networking' and 'giving back' to society. Original empirical data, collected in Lithuanian in 2017, explores farmers' attitudes towards listed knowledge society measures in relation to farm size and other relevant characteristics. Research findings suggest more promising directions for agriculture and rural development that contributes better for rural prosperity in knowledge age.Publishe

The role of social movements in transformative tourism development: Lessons learnt from a case study in Lithuania

This study responds to the need for theoretical and empirical research on value co-creation in tourism. Previous research has mainly adopted a perspective centred on the collaborative relationships between tourists and service providers, i.e., has been focused on a relationship called ‘one-to-one’. According to the emerging trends in value co-creation theory, value co-creation activities, however, are more complex. The research provides empirical support to previous general conceptualisations of value-creation and brings some new insights to value co-creation involving multiple actors from a perspective called ‘many-to-one’. The research is focused on the role of the most active stakeholder in transformative tourism that represents ‘many’ actors as a whole – the social movement. The paper describes a case on a transformative tourism initiative that is a particularly rich setting for expanding value-cocreation in a network of activities’ research for a more complex understanding of value networks in the tourism sector. The case study examines extensively the role of social movements in transformative tourism development through value co-creation. The findings develop a more complex value co-creation mechanism and enable the conceptualisation of the value co-creation process by identifying drivers of collaboration, value co-creation activities, and outcomes. The research demonstrates the potential of social movements for the development of transformative tourism in value co-creation and has implications for both entrepreneurs and policymakers seeking to develop transformative tourism and leaders of a new generation of social movements aiming to transform society

Antioxidant and Mitochondria-Targeted Activity of Caffeoylquinic-Acid-Rich Fractions of Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.) and Silver Wormwood (Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt.)

Caffeoylquinic acids are some of the chemophenetically significant specialized metabolites found in plants of the family Asteraceae Dumort., possessing a broad spectrum of biological activities. As they might be potential mitochondria-targeted antioxidants, effective preparation methods - including extraction, isolation, and purification of caffeoylquinic acids from plant sources - are in great demand. The aim of this study was to fractionate the caffeoylquinic acids from cultivated wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.) and silver wormwood (Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt.) herb acetone extracts and evaluate their phytochemical profiles, antioxidant activity (radical scavenging and re- ducing activities), effects on kidney mitochondrial functions, and cytochrome-c-reducing properties. The main findings of our study are as follows: (1) Aqueous fractions purified from wormwood and silver wormwood herb acetone extracts are rich in monocaffeoylquinic acids (chlorogenic acid, neochlorogenic acid, 4-O-caffeoylquinic acid), while methanolic fractions purified from wormwood and silver wormwood herb acetone extracts are rich in dicaffeoylquinic acids (4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid). Aqueous fractions purified from worm- wood and silver wormwood herb acetone extracts were solely composed of monocaffeoylquinic acids. Methanolic fractions purified from wormwood and silver wormwood herb acetone extracts con- tained only dicaffeoylquinic acids. (2) Fractions purified from silver wormwood herb acetone extracts stood out as having the greatest content of caffeoylquinic acids. (3) The greatest radical scavenging activity was determined in the dicaffeoylquinic-acid-rich fraction purified from silver wormwood herb acetone extract; the greatest reducing activity was determined in the dicaffeoylquinic-acid- rich fraction purified from wormwood herb acetone extract. (4) The effect of both fractions on mitochondrial functions was dose-dependent; lower concentrations of caffeoylquinic-acid-rich frac- tions had no effect on mitochondrial functions, whereas higher concentrations of caffeoylquinic- acid-rich fractions reduced the state 3 respiration rate (with the complex-I-dependent substrate glutamate/malate). (5) Both monocaffeoylquinic- and dicaffeoylquinic-acid-rich fractions possessed cytochrome-c-reducing properties; the greatest cytochrome c reduction properties were determined in the dicaffeoylquinic-acid-rich fraction purified from wormwood herb acetone extract. In sum- mary, these findings show that caffeoylquinic acids might be beneficial as promising antioxidant and cytochrome-c-reducing agents for the modulation of mitochondria and treatment of various mitochondrial-pathway-associated pathologies

Investigation of antibacterial and antiinflammatory activities of proanthocyanidins from pelargonium sidoides dc root extract

The study explores antibacterial, antiinflammatory and cytoprotective capacity of Pelargonium sidoides DC root extract (PSRE) and proanthocyanidin fraction from PSRE (PACN) under conditions characteristic for periodontal disease. Following previous finding that PACN exerts stronger suppression of Porphyromonas gingivalis compared to the effect on commensal Streptococcus salivarius, the current work continues antibacterial investigation on Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Escherichia coli. PSRE and PACN are also studied for their ability to prevent gingival fibroblast cell death in the presence of bacteria or bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), to block LPS-or LPS + IFNγ-induced release of inflammatory mediators, gene expression and surface antigen presentation. Both PSRE and PACN were more efficient in suppressing Staphylococcus and Aggregatibacter compared to Escherichia, prevented A. actinomycetemcomitans-and LPS-induced death of fibroblasts, decreased LPS-induced release of interleukin-8 and prostaglandin E2 from fibroblasts and IL-6 from leukocytes, blocked expression of IL-1β, iNOS, and surface presentation of CD80 and CD86 in LPS + IFNγ-treated macrophages, and IL-1β and COX-2 expression in LPS-treated leukocytes. None of the investigated substances affected either the level of secretion or expression of TNFα. In conclusion, PSRE, and especially PACN, possess strong antibacterial, antiinflammatory and gingival tissue protecting properties under periodontitis-mimicking conditions and are suggestable candidates for treatment of the disease

Efficacy of proanthocyanidins from Pelargonium sidoides root extract in reducing P. gingivalis viability while preserving oral commensal S. salivarius

Funding Information: Funding: This research is a part of the project PELARGODONT (“Engineering and functionalization of delivery system with Pelargonium sidoides biologically active substance on inflamed periodontal surface area”) funded by a grant (No. S-M-ERA.NET-17-2) from the Research Council of Lithuania, the State Education Development Agency of Latvia, and Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 by the authors.Bacterial resistance to antibiotics and the disruption of beneficial microbiota are key problems in contemporary medicine and make the search for new, more efficient infection treatment strategies among the most important tasks in medicine. Multicomponent plant-derived preparations with mild antibacterial activity created by many simultaneous mechanisms together with anti-inflammatory, innate immune and regenerative capacity-stimulating properties are good candidates for this therapy, and proanthocyanidins are among the most promising compounds of this sort. In this study, we have isolated proanthocyanidins from Pelargonium sidoides DC root extract and characterized and compared the composition, antioxidant properties and antibacterial activity of the proanthocyanidin fraction with those of the whole extract. The results revealed that proanthocyanidins had significantly stronger antioxidant capacity compared to the root extract and exhibited a unique antibacterial action profile that selectively targets Gram-negative keystone periodontal and peri-implant pathogenic strains, such as Porphyromonas gingivalis, while preserving the viability of beneficial oral commensal Streptococcus salivarius. The finding suggests that proanthocyanidins from Pelargonium sidoides root extract are good candidates for the prolonged and harmless treatment of infectious diseases.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside and its metabolites have modest anti-inflammatory effects in human whole blood cultures

This study hypothesized that the predominant strawberry anthocyanin, pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside (Pg-3-glc), and three of its plasma metabolites (4-hydroxybenzoic acid, protocatechuic acid and phloroglucinaldehyde [PGA]) would affect phagocytosis, oxidative burst and the production of selected pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in a whole blood culture model. For the assessment of phagocytosis and oxidative burst activity of monocytes and neutrophils, whole blood was pre-incubated in the presence or absence of the test compounds at concentrations up to 5 μM, followed by analysis of phagocytic and oxidative burst activity using commercially available test kits. For the cytokine analysis, diluted whole blood was stimulated with lipopolysaccharide in the presence or absence of the test compounds at concentrations up to 5 μM. Concentrations of selected cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-α], interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10) were determined using a cytometric bead array kit. There were no effects of any of the test compounds on phagocytosis of opsonized or non-opsonized E. coli or on oxidative burst activity. Pg-3-glc and PGA at 0.08 μM increased the concentration of IL-10 (P<0.01 and P<0.001, respectively), but there was no effect on TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8 and there were no effects of the other compounds. In conclusion, this study demonstrated a lack of effect of these compounds on the opsonization, engulfment and subsequent destruction of bacteria. Pg-3-glc and PGA, at physiologically relevant concentrations, had anti-inflammatory properties; however, effects were modest, only observed at the lowest dose tested and limited to IL-10