Democratic backsliding in the visegrád group countries: what is the role of political leaders?

The research „Democratic Backsliding in The Visegrád Group Countries: What is the Role of Political Leaders?“ provides an analysis of how the role of political leaders in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic lead to democratic backsliding. In the late 1990s, these countries were seen as the success stories of post-communist Europe, whose democratization had to end in a sudden and successful consolidation of the regime without a return ticket. However, it did not happen: the democratic regime, which seemed to have been developing to the right direction, suddenly began not just to stagnate, but also started to deny itself. Having this in mind, the main hypothesis raised in this work is that the security of internal and external threats is a necessary factor for democratic backsliding. In order to examine this, the main attention is paid to examine the ways political leaders consolidate executive and legislative powers in one’s hands and the rhetoric they are using to justify and implement their actions. Based on theoretical model, provided by Steven Levitsky and David Ziblatt, the particular consideration is given to such areas as the rule of law, freedom of the media, the relationship with the opposition and the implementation of electoral rules. Having in mind that the democratic backsliding is defined as changes that negatively affect competitive elections, political rights and freedoms as well as accountability of politicians and authorities, the research provides an overview of how they are revealed in all four countries. Hungary is presented as the worst case scenario where the ruling party and its prime minister has made important steps to control state’s judicial system, public and private media, changed the electoral rules and compromised some non-governmental organisations as foreign agents. The majority of their actions are presented as the emergency measures to secure country and its society. This path is followed by Poland’s politicians who are also implementing similar measures and using securization as a tool to justify them. These processes in Slovakia and Czech Republic are not so evident, despite that there are some concerns that ruling political parties and politicians are willing to consolidate their executive and legislative powers in their hands. This leads to the assumption that one part of political leaders' actions can be compared with processes in Poland and Hungary in nature, but not in scale. The securization of the changes are also rare. To conclude, the securization of internal threats is an indispensable tool for the politicians seeking to gain control and to limit the possibilities of political competition. The securization of external threats is an additional, but not necessary factor for the democratic backsliding

Cranberry Pomace Extract Exerts Antiviral Activity against Zika and Dengue Virus at Safe Doses for Adult Zebrafish

Mosquito-borne dengue virus (DENV) and zika virus (ZIKV) infections constitute a global health emergency. Antivirals directly targeting the virus infectious cycle are still needed to prevent dengue hemorrhagic fever and congenital zika syndrome. In the present study, we demonstrated that Cranberry Pomace (CP) extract, a polyphenol-rich agrifood byproduct recovered following cranberry juice extraction, blocks DENV and ZIKV infection in human Huh7.5 and A549 cell lines, respectively, in non-cytotoxic concentrations. Our virological assays identified CP extract as a potential inhibitor of virus entry into the host-cell by acting directly on viral particles, thus preventing their attachment to the cell surface. At effective antiviral doses, CP extract proved safe and tolerable in a zebrafish model. In conclusion, polyphenol-rich agrifood byproducts such as berry extracts are a promising source of safe and naturally derived nutraceutical antivirals that target medically important pathogens

Optimized Supercritical CO2 Extraction Enhances the Recovery of Valuable Lipophilic Antioxidants and Other Constituents from Dual-Purpose Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) Variety Ella

The article presents the optimization of supercritical CO2 extraction (SFE-CO2) parameters using response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design (CCD) in order to produce single variety hop (cv. Ella) extracts with high yield and strong in vitro antioxidant properties. Optimized SFE-CO2 (37 MPa, 43 °C, 80 min) yielded 26.3 g/100 g pellets of lipophilic fraction. This extract was rich in biologically active α- and β-bitter acids (522.8 and 345.0 mg/g extract, respectively), and exerted 1481 mg TE/g extract in vitro oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). Up to ~3-fold higher extraction yield, antioxidant recovery (389.8 mg TE/g pellets) and exhaustive bitter acid extraction (228.4 mg/g pellets) were achieved under the significantly shorter time compared to the commercially used one-stage SFE-CO2 at 10–15 MPa and 40 °C. Total carotenoid and chlorophyll content was negligible, amounting to <0.04% of the total extract mass. Fruity, herbal, spicy and woody odor of extracts could be attributed to the major identified volatiles, namely β-pinene, β-myrcene, β-humulene, α-humulene, α-selinene and methyl-4-decenoate. Rich in valuable bioactive constituents and flavor compounds, cv. Ella hop SFE-CO2 extracts could find multipurpose applications in food, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetics industries