Examination of foie gras consumption habits

The goose liver is a special product produced by the force-fattened geese. The manufacturing process has thousands of years of history, which has grown to be a key sector for Hungary. First, we intended to get to know the producers side on force-feeding of geese in the past and present during our research – this serves as a basis of structured interviews with 10 workers in the administrating sector. On the other side, we investigated the consumers’ habits and opinions in relation with goose liver with a questionnaire. The first set of questions was directed specifically to consumer habits, including how often the product is consumed and why it is so. The second set of questions was intended to assess the knowledge on the process and other topic-related issues. Finally, we could establish that this type of products called ‘hungaricum’ is very important for Hungary because of the export and it also provides the basis for many farmers

A new method for hardness determination from depth sensing indentation tests

A new semiempirical formula is developed for the hardness determination of the materials from depth sensing indentation tests. The indentation works measured both during loading and unloading periods are used in the evaluation. The values of the Meyer hardness calculated in this way agree well with those obtained by conventional optical observation, where this latter is possible. While the new hardness formula characterizes well the behavior of the conventional hardness number even for the ideally elastic material, the mean contact pressure generally used in hardness determination differs significantly from the conventional hardness number when the ideally elastic limiting case is being approached

Motivations, attitudes, consumer habits on the production and consumption of wine in Soltvadkert

Soltvadkert is a little city between the Danube and Tisza rivers. In 1700s years was the first initiative to plant grape and now, Soltvadkert is can be proud of the award “The City of the Grape and Wine”. In our research, we used making of structured interview from primer methods. Five wine-makers were asked to know their opinion about the actual situation. We made a quantitative survey also, 100 inhabitants and 100 tourists have filled our questionnaire. The consumption habits linked to the wine, the knowledge about the winemakers of Soltvadkert, the wine-purchasing habit. The result of this survey is the SWOT analysis, which we made and show in this article The main weaknesses of the sector are: the wine forgery scandal, and the not too good level of the vine-consumption

Imaging high-resolution structure of GFP-expressing neurons in neocortex in vivo

To detect subtle changes in neuronal morphology in response to changes in experience, one must image neurons at high resolution in vivo over time scales of minutes to days. We accomplished this by infecting postmitotic neurons in rat and mouse barrel cortex with a Sindbis virus carrying the gene for enhanced green fluorescent protein. Visualized with 2-photon excitation laser scanning microscopy, infected neurons showed bright fluorescence that was distributed homogeneously throughout the cell, including axonal and dendritic arbors. Single dendritic spines could routinely be resolved and their morphological dynamics visualized. Viral infection and imaging were achieved throughout postnatal development up to early adulthood (P 8-30), although the viral efficiency of infection decreased with age. This relatively noninvasive method for fluorescent labeling and imaging of neurons allows the study of morphological dynamics of neocortical neurons and their circuits in vivo

Seasonal variation in sex-specific immunity in wild birds

Whilst the immune system often varies seasonally and exhibits differences between males and females, the general patterns in seasonality and sex differences across taxa have remained controversial. Birds are excellent model organisms to assess these patterns, because the immune system of many species is well characterised. We conducted a meta-analysis using 41 wild bird species from 24 avian families to investigate sex differences and seasonal (breeding/non-breeding) variations in immune status, including white blood cell counts, phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) test, bacteria-killing ability (BKA), haemolysis and haemagglutination assays. We found male-biased macrophage concentration, BKA and haemolysis titers, but only during the breeding season. Sexspecific heterophil concentrations, heterophil/lymphocyte ratios and PHA responses differed between breeding and non-breeding, suggesting larger changes in males than in females. Importantly, sex differences in immune status are stronger during the breeding period than during the non-breeding period. Taken together, our study suggests that both seasonal variation and sex differences in immune system are common in birds, although their associations are more complex than previously thoughtPeer reviewe