Metabolic alterations in experimental models of depression

Introduction: Major depressive disorder is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders and is associated with a severe impact on the personal functioning, thus with incurring significant direct and indirect costs. The presence of depression in patients with medical comorbidities increases the risks of myocardial infarction and decreases diabetes control, and adherence to treatment. The mechanism through which these effects are produced is still uncertain. Objectives of this study were to evaluate the metabolic alterations in female Wistar rats with induced depression, with and without administration of Agomelatine. The methods included two experiments. All data were analyzed by comparison with group I (control), and with each other. In the first experiment we induced depression by: exposure to chronic mild stress-group II; olfactory bulbectomy-group III; and exposure to chronic mild stress and hyperlipidic/ hyper caloric diet-group IV. The second experiment was similar with the first but the rats received Agomelatine (0.16mg/ animal): group V (depression induced through exposure to chronic mild stress), VI (depression induced through olfactory bulbectomy) and VII (depression induced through exposure to chronic mild stressing hyperlipidic/ hypercaloric diet). Weight, cholesterol, triglycerides and glycaemia were measured at day 0 and 28, and leptin value was measured at day 28. The results in the 1st experiment revealed significant differences (pconclusion, significant correlations were found between high level of triglycerides and depression induced by chronic stress and olfactory bulbectomy. Agomelatine groups had a lower increase of triglycerides levels

Research on the improvement of some technological parameters for Bromus inermis Leyss. seed crops

The fodder base represents the most significant means of increasing economic efficiency in the livestock sector. For this, permanent and sown meadows are an important source of fodder. The establishment of temporary meadows on the lands of steppe and forest-steppe areas, poorly productive, with erosion problems, the improvement of permanent meadows by overseeding, the reforestation of slopes, slopes, irrigation canals, requires the production of large quantities of perennial grass seeds, the most important species being Bromus inermis Leyss. The production of seeds for these species is done in separate cultures, according to a specific technology. Through the research carried out within the Research - Development Station for Meadows, Vaslui, was studied the influence of two factors, respectively, the distance between the rows and fertilization with mineral fertilizers on the behavior of the species Bromus inermis Leyss., in the first year of vegetation, being analyzed the ability of installation of the species and some morphoproductive elements

Research on the optimization of the industrial hemp cultivation technology for the full use of biomass

The main purpose of the research was to identify the optimal technology for cultivating industrial hemp, so that the obtained biomass can be fully processed at the farm level, without special equipment in this regard. The variety used in the experiment was Zenit, created by the Agricultural Research and Development Station Secuieni, Neamt county. Within the cultivation technology, three technological variants were tested: uncut plants, plants cut once and plants cut twice ("Secuieni" method of hemp cultivation). The optimal technological variant for the full use of hemp biomass was the cultivation technology with a single cut, where the production of grains and biomass ensured the best economic efficiency of the hemp culture

The impact of salinity stress on antioxidant response and bioactive compounds of Nepeta cataria L.

In this study, the ability of Nepeta cataria L. to grow and synthesize bioactive compounds on soil treated with different salt concentrations was tested to evaluate the opportunity of cultivating it in soils affected by salinization. N. cataria L. was grown in soil containing specific amounts of NaCl, Na2SO4, and their mixture. After harvesting, the plants were analyzed from the morphological and physiological point of view. Salinity stress inhibited the growth, with the highest decrease of the plant yield up to about 70% in the case of salt mixture, and smaller values for the separate salt treatments. In the same time, as a defense mechanism, there was an increase of granular trichomes’ density, as observed with the scanning electron microscope. For mild concentrations of salt, the amount of chlorophyll pigments was enhanced, while for stronger salinity stress, it decreased. The opposite behavior was evidenced for the polyphenol content, as antioxidant activity was used as a protective mechanism against reactive oxygen species produced under salinity stress. The antioxidant activity was considerably higher for separate NaCl and Na2SO4 treatments than for the salt mixture variants. The results showed that the species Nepeta cataria L. reacts well to high salinity levels, with an increased content of bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity even for the highest studied salinity conditions

Salinity Stress Influences the Main Biochemical Parameters of Nepeta racemosa Lam.

In this work, the effects of salt stress on Nepeta racemosa Lam. were studied to analyze the possibility of using it as a potential culture for salinity-affected soils. A total of nine concentrations of salts—NaCl (18, 39, and 60 mg/100 g soil), Na2SO4 (50, 85, and 120 mg/100 g soil), and a mixture (9 g NaCl + 25 g Na2SO4, 19 g NaCl + 43 g Na2SO4, and 30 g NaCl + 60 g Na2SO4/100 g soil)—simulated real salinity conditions. Environmental electron microscopy offered information about the size and distribution of glandular trichomes, which are very important structures that contain bioactive compounds. The chlorophyll pigments, polyphenols, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity were determined based on spectrophotometric protocols. The results have shown a different impact of salinity depending on the salt type, with an increase in bioactive compound concentrations in some cases. The highest polyphenol concentrations were obtained for Na2SO4 variants (47.05 and 46.48 mg GA/g dw for the highest salt concentration in the first and second year, respectively), while the highest flavonoid content was found for the salt mixtures (42.77 and 39.89 mg QE/g dw for the highest concentrations of salt in the first and, respectively, the second year), approximately 100% higher than control. From the Pearson analysis, strong correlations were found between chlorophyll pigments (up to 0.93), antioxidant activity and yield for the first harvest (up to 0.38), and antioxidant activity and flavonoid content for the second harvest (up to 0.95). The results indicate the possibility of growing the studied plants in salt-stress soils, obtaining higher concentrations of bioactive compounds

Researchers on the behavior of sugar beet hybrids in the pedoclimatic conditions of the Central Plateau of Moldova

The main purpose of the research was to test the productive and qualitative potential of 36 sugar beet hybrids from four international suppliers. The research was carried out in 2021, in two farms with high-performance plant cultivation technologies: Agricola 96 from Tiganasi, Iasi county (irrigated regime) and Agri Farm Ltd. from Balanesti, Neamt county (non-irrigated regime). The maximum biological sugar production in the irrigated system was 11.15 to/ha (hybrid Fiammeta), and in the non-irrigated system 12.20 to/ha hybrid Borjana). Knowing the productive and qualitative potential of sugar beet hybrids depending on the local pedoclimatic conditions, is a basic requirement in choosing the palette of hybrids that will be cultivated in the following years

Contributions of mean and shape of blood pressure distribution to worldwide trends and variations in raised blood pressure: A pooled analysis of 1018 population-based measurement studies with 88.6 million participants

© The Author(s) 2018. Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hypertensive population). Our aim was to quantify the contributions of these two phenomena to the worldwide trends in the prevalence of raised blood pressure. Methods: We pooled 1018 population-based studies with blood pressure measurements on 88.6 million participants from 1985 to 2016. We first calculated mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and prevalence of raised blood pressure by sex and 10-year age group from 20-29 years to 70-79 years in each study, taking into account complex survey design and survey sample weights, where relevant. We used a linear mixed effect model to quantify the association between (probittransformed) prevalence of raised blood pressure and age-group- and sex-specific mean blood pressure. We calculated the contributions of change in mean SBP and DBP, and of change in the prevalence-mean association, to the change in prevalence of raised blood pressure. Results: In 2005-16, at the same level of population mean SBP and DBP, men and women in South Asia and in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa would have the highest prevalence of raised blood pressure, and men and women in the highincome Asia Pacific and high-income Western regions would have the lowest. In most region-sex-age groups where the prevalence of raised blood pressure declined, one half or more of the decline was due to the decline in mean blood pressure. Where prevalence of raised blood pressure has increased, the change was entirely driven by increasing mean blood pressure, offset partly by the change in the prevalence-mean association. Conclusions: Change in mean blood pressure is the main driver of the worldwide change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure, but change in the high-blood-pressure tail of the distribution has also contributed to the change in prevalence, especially in older age groups

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities(.)(1,2) This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity(3-6). Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017-and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions-was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing-and in some countries reversal-of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories.Peer reviewe