The Role of Stress-Induced O-GlcNAc Protein Modification in the Regulation of Membrane Transport

O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is a posttranslational modification that is increasingly recognized as a signal transduction mechanism. Unlike other glycans, O-GlcNAc is a highly dynamic and reversible process that involves the addition and removal of a single N-acetylglucosamine molecule to Ser/Thr residues of proteins. UDP-GlcNAc—the direct substrate for O-GlcNAc modification—is controlled by the rate of cellular metabolism, and thus O-GlcNAc is dependent on substrate availability. Serving as a feedback mechanism, O-GlcNAc influences the regulation of insulin signaling and glucose transport. Besides nutrient sensing, O-GlcNAc was also implicated in the regulation of various physiological and pathophysiological processes. Due to improvements of mass spectrometry techniques, more than one thousand proteins were detected to carry the O-GlcNAc moiety; many of them are known to participate in the regulation of metabolites, ions, or protein transport across biological membranes. Recent studies also indicated that O-GlcNAc is involved in stress adaptation; overwhelming evidences suggest that O-GlcNAc levels increase upon stress. O-GlcNAc elevation is generally considered to be beneficial during stress, although the exact nature of its protective effect is not understood. In this review, we summarize the current data regarding the oxidative stress-related changes of O-GlcNAc levels and discuss the implications related to membrane trafficking

Az információ szerepe a polgári eljárásban = The Role of Information in Civil Procedure

A 2007-ben összeállított kutatási tervünket két munkahipotézisre alapoztuk: Az egyik szerint a modern információs és kommunikációs technológia (ICT) rövid időn belül olyan hatást gyakorol a polgári igazságszolgáltatás hagyományos struktúráira, ami megkérdőjelezheti a XIX. századból eredő alapelvek és intézmények fenntarthatóságát. Ezt a hipotézist a saját kutatási eredmények, valamint a 2010-ben rendezett nemzetközi konferencia referátumai is igazolták. A másik hipotézis szerint az elektronikus eljárás, mint „papír alapú eljárás” alternatívája öt éven belül a magyar polgári peres eljárásban is megjelenik. Ez utóbbi feltevésünk nem teljesült, mivel az elektronikus eljárás bevezetésére tett kísérletek 2010-ben megtorpantak. Erre tekintettel konkrét kodifikációs javaslatok megtételére nem nyílt lehetőségünk. A kutatás eredményeit 4 konferenciakötetben 11 tanulmányban és 10 könyvfejezetben adtuk közre. A 25 publikációból 8 angol és 2 német nyelven jelent meg, ebből 6 külföldi kiadónál. A kutatás futamideje alatt 3 konferenciát rendeztünk: 2007-ben „Az elektronikus polgári eljárás az osztrák és a magyar igazságszolgáltatásban” címmel magyar és német nyelven, 2009-ben „Az információ polgári perben” címmel magyar nyelven, majd 2010-ben „Electronic Justice - Present and Future” címmel angol és német nyelven. Ez utóbbi konferencia teljes anyaga „Electronic Technology and Civil Procedure. New Path to Justice from Around the World” címmel a Springer kiadónál jelenik meg. | Our working plan which was compiled in 2007 was based on two hypotheses: according to the first, the modern information and communication technologies (ICT) will soon have an effect on the traditional structure of the civil justice, which can call in question the sustainability of the principles and institutions of the 19th century. This hypothesis was confirmed by our own research and by the presentations of an international conference, which was held in 2010. According to the other, within 5 years the electronic procedure will appear as an alternative of the ""paper based procedure"" in the Hungarian civil procedure as well. This expectation did not come true, because the attempts to introduce an electronic procedure stopped in 2010. Therefore we could not put forward any specific proposals for legislation on the matter. The results of the research was published in 4 conference volumes, 11 articles and 10 book chapters. From the 25 publications 8 was in English and 2 was in German and from these 6 was published by foreign publishers. During the term of the research we organised 3 conferences: ""The electronic civil procedure in the Austrian and Hungarian civil justice"" (2007), ""The information in the civil litigation"" (2009), ""Electronic Justice - Present and Future"" (2010). The whole material of the last conference will be published by Springer in a book: „Electronic Technology and Civil Procedure: New Path to Justice from Around the World”

Sacrifice, warfare, or burial? Middle Bronze Age "mass graves" from Érd and Makó, Hungary

During the past two decades, the study of human remains from prehistoric settlements has gained new momentum in Hungary. The phenomenon of burials within settlements can be observed in many phases but was perhaps most prominent during the Copper and Bronze Ages. Thanks to the large-scale rescue excavations of the last few decades, our database of relevant material has increased considerably, shedding new light on previously excavated assemblages as well. In our paper, we present burials from two Middle Bronze Age settlements in Hungary that yielded a series of skeletons and human remains, some of which showed traces of violence and perimortem trauma. We establish that at both sites the human depositions showed significant variability, indicating diverse cultural practices. A number of characteristics of these »mass graves« support the hypothesis that they may have been associated with some form of sacrifice and ritual violence, rather than warfare or other causes of death. Chronological data indicate a prolonged tradition of series of ritual acts, sacrifices, and possibly the secondary manipulation of human bodies

Modelling runoff on a small lowland catchment, Hungarian great plains

The lowland region of the South-Eastern Carpathian Basin faces extreme hydrological conditions, therefore the more detailed understanding, monitoring and predicting of the hydrological regime on catchments have high importance. However, in the region only few measured data are available in terms of evaporation, runoff, infiltration and water retention, and this is especially true concerning small catchments. In the meantime these areas support extensive agriculture, therefore more information is needed to manage future drying and irrigational demands. In the present research runoff and discharge were modelled for a ten year period and compared to at-a-station measurement data on the Fehértó-majsa Canal, a sub-catchment of the Tisza River, in order to test the predictability of hydrological changes related to future climate change. Modelling was made by applying a coupled MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 model and integrating all available topographic, pedologic, climatic, hydrologic and vegetation data. Consequently, another motivation of the research was to assess the suitability, data demand and limitations of the MIKE modelling environment on lowland catchments. As from all available data sources soil data seemed to be the least accurate, sensitivity tests were made by changing different soil parameter. Based on the results, the developed model is highly suitable for the estimation of annual and monthly runoff. Nevertheless, concerning daily data a general overestimation of discharge was experienced during low flow periods, and a time lag appeared between measured and modelled discharge peaks during high flow periods. In all, the results of the study can greatly support the realization of water management and planning projects in the drought prone sand land catchments where only a few directly measured data are availabl

Modelling Runoff on a Small Lowland Catchment, Hungarian Great Plains

The lowland region of the South-Eastern Carpathian Basin faces extreme hydrological conditions, therefore the more detailed understanding, monitoring and predicting of the hydrological regime on catchments have high importance. However, in the region only few measured data are available in terms of evaporation, runoff, infiltration and water retention, and this is especially true concerning small catchments. In the meantime these areas support extensive agriculture, therefore more information is needed to manage future drying and irrigational demands. In the present research runoff and discharge were modelled for a ten year period and compared to at-a-station measurement data on the Fehértó-majsa Canal, a sub-catchment of the Tisza River, in order to test the predictability of hydrological changes related to future climate change. Modelling was made by applying a coupled MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 model and integrating all available topographic, pedologic, climatic, hydrologic and vegetation data. Consequently, another motivation of the research was to assess the suitability, data demand and limitations of the MIKE modelling environment on lowland catchments. As from all available data sources soil data seemed to be the least accurate, sensitivity tests were made by changing different soil parameter. Based on the results, the developed model is highly suitable for the estimation of annual and monthly runoff. Nevertheless, concerning daily data a general overestimation of discharge was experienced during low flow periods, and a time lag appeared between measured and modelled discharge peaks during high flow periods. In all, the results of the study can greatly support the realization of water management and planning projects in the drought prone sand land catchments where only a few directly measured data are available

The examination of humic substances in soils and composts with high organic content with different methods

The organic materials, especially the complex structural humic substances are acid-characteristic polymers which are key elements of soils. Despite their relatively small quantity, humic substances have beneficial effects on soil nutrient management, development of optimal soil structure, regulation of soil temperature, and proper water management. The application of the UV-VIS spectrophotometry for describing humic substances in soils and determining of humifical state is nowadays a widespread method. The E4/E6 procedure (which were determined between 465 and 665 nm wavelength) and the Hargitai-method (the extinction of extracts measured between 400 and 750 nm at 9 wavelength) are procedures that have become the general tool for determining the quality of humic matters because of its easy accessibility and smaller need of instrumentations. Nevertheless, their usefulness has been criticized in scientific communities because of the high human error factor and the technical limitations of the simpler spectrophotometric instruments. Nowadays the spreading light scattering photometric examinations using lasers as the Static Light Scattering (SLS) or the Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) could be a new way of measuring the quality of the humic matters. This study is based on the examination of different quality soil and compost samples which were extracted from different Hungarian sites like Trizs, Szárítópuszta and Csobánc. Additionally, not only the soils and composts were analyzed but also any soil conditioners (biochar, bone charcoal) which were applied and affected their properties. The main goal of the research was to measure the soil and compost samples with the E4/E6 and the Hargitai-method and with also using Zetasizer Nano ZS device that could lead to more detailed results about the weight and the size of the humic molecules. Based on the summarized analytic results the outcomes of the E4/E6 procedure is applicable for drawing relevant conclusion regarding the humic quality of the given sample. On the contrary, the applied Hargitai-method has not proved to be effective. Although the measurement of the molecule’s size and weight with the Zetasizer Nano ZS device has brought out exciting results and displayed similarities with the E4/E6 outcomes, only it’s tendencies proved to be informative because of its methodological background. &nbsp