The impact of the application of compochar on soil moisture, stress, yield and nutritional properties of legumes under drought stress

Nowadays, when climate change is becoming more and more evident, drought stress plays a very important role, including in agriculture. The increasing number of years with extreme temperatures in the Czech Republic has a negative impact on agricultural production, among other things. Therefore, ways are being sought to reduce these negative impacts. One of them may be the use of compochar (a mixture of compost and biochar) to improve water retention in the soil. The effect of compochar addition on soil properties and crop yield was tested under conditions simulating severe drought stress (greenhouse experiments) compared to normal conditions (field experiments). The aim was to find the most suitable ratio of compochar addition that would reduce the negative effects of drought stress on the yield and quality of peas and beans. Tested soil was only able to retain water between 0.03 and 0.18 cm3/cm3, while the compochar itself retained between 0.12 and 0.32 cm3 cm-3. Three substrate variants were tested by varying the amount of compochar (10, 30 and 50 % v/v) in the soil, and all three substrates showed a similar water content between 0.03 and 0.21 cm3 cm-3 depending on the planted crop and week of cultivation. No apparent stress was observed in crops planted in 100 % compochar. Nevertheless, in general, the trend of chlorophyll a/b ratio increased with increasing amounts of compochar in the soil, indicating stress. Yield increased by approximately 50 % for both test crops when 30 % compochar was used as substrate. The flavonoid content in beans was between 410 and 500 μg CE g-1 DW and in peas was approximately 300 μg CE g-1 DW. The results showed that the utilization of compochar had no effect on either total phenol content, flavonoid content or antioxidant capacity. The combination of compochar with soil (30 %) was found to positively affect the (i) soil moisture, (ii) crop yield, and (iii) nutritional properties of peas and beans and (iv) the ability of plants to withstand drought stress.

The synergistic interaction between rilmenidine and paracetamol in the writhing test in mice

The aim of the study was to ascertain antinociceptive effects of rilmenidine, a second-generation imidazoline-alpha-2-adrenoreceptor agonist, and to see whether rilmenidine was able to increase the analgesic effects of paracetamol in the writhing test in mice. An acetic acid (0.7%) solution was injected into the peritoneal cavity and the number of writhes was counted. The influence on locomotor performance was tested using the rotarod test. Rilmenidine, paracetamol, and rilmenidine-paracetamol fixed-ratio combinations produced dose-dependent antinociceptive effects. ED(50) values were estimated for the individual drugs and an isobologram was constructed. The derived theoretical additive ED(50) value for the rilmenidine-paracetamol combination was 109.23 +/- 35.05 mg/kg. This value was significantly greater than the observed ED(50) value which was 56.35 +/- 20.86 mg/kg, indicating a synergistic interaction. Rilmenidine did not impair motor coordination, as measured by the rotarod test, at antinociceptive and higher doses.

[Pollenosis in children in the Tatra Mountain region]

BACKGROUND

During the last 20 years we can observe a marked rise of allergic diseases in the child and adult population with a dominant increase of pollenoses in children. It is assumed that this adverse development is due to changes in the ecosystem caused above all by contamination of the living environment. Our objective was to examine school children in Tatranská Strba and Strbské Pleso as regards sensitization to different groups of pollen allergens. By investigating several factors associated with the development of the disease, the authors wanted to elucidate the prevalence of pollenosis in the environment devoid of industrial exhalations.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The investigated group comprised 160 school children aged 6-15 years (mean age 10.4 years) incl. 83 boys (mean age 10.1 years) and 77 girls (mean age 10.7 years). Skin tests revealed sensitization to pollen allergens in 50 boys (60.2%) and 35 girls (45.5%). Positivity to grass pollen was found in 35.7%, to weeds and bushes in 16.3% and to pollen from trees in 7.8%. The percentage of positivity to individual types of pollen allergens as well as the maximum of clinical complaints corresponds to the type of vegetation where the children live. The influence of genetic factors was manifested at the 92% level of significance (p = 0.056), after Yates' correction (p = 0.081). Atopic children have in 62.4% a positive family-history. In conjunction with the incidence of allergoses the test of rank correlation confirmed statistically significant agreement between sick and healthy children as regards the period of breastfeeding (p = 0.0024), beginning of attendance of preschool facilities (p = 0.0052) as well as the month of birth (p = 0.0150).

CONCLUSIONS

From the investigation ensues that the local vegetation has an impact on the specific sensitization of individual subjects and plays a part in the manifestation of pollenosis in a relatively clean environment--the High Tatras being considered such. It can be assumed that the coincidence of genetic factors, lifestyle and factors of the outdoor environment participate in the rising prevalence of pollenosis.

Effect of age on kidney hyperplasia in the rat after unilateral nephrectomy

The absolute weight of the rat's kidney increases from 3 weeks to 3 months and from 3 months to 12 months. The relative weight decreases. The number of cells freed from the kidney by trypsinization increases. (2) After nephrectomy, the kidney weight increases in all age groups. The increase is mery high in the youngest rats, lower but still significant in the 3 month old rats and still lower in the 12 month old rats. The number of cells freed from the kidney after nephrectomy is again very high in the young and 3 month old rats, but very low in the 12 month old rats. In these animals, the cell number is lower after nephrectomy than before, and a greater vulnerability of the cells is suggested as the cause of this phenomenon.