Hasil untuk "Hungary"

Mika Reinisalo, Seppo Helisalmi, Ali Koskela et al.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is among the leading causes of vision loss. Factors increasing the risk of AMD include aging, smoking, cardiovascular diseases and heritability. Although melanin pigment is known to protect retinal homeostasis, the link between pigmentation-related genes and AMD is unclear. We investigated associations between 26 variations in six pigmentation-related genes and wet AMD risk in a Finnish population, followed by replication in the United Kingdom (UK), Hungarian and Polish cohorts, totaling 775 patients and 959 controls. Associations of genetic components with smoking and body mass index (BMI) were tested in the Finnish and UK cohorts. The functionality of candidate variants in human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells was evaluated using gene promoter analysis and gene silencing.Non-coding variants, rs1407995 in the dopachrome tautomerase (DCT) intron and rs3212351 in the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) promoter, were associated with wet AMD in the Finnish cohort. The variant rs3212351 disrupts a binding site for transcription factor MITF and reduces MC1R expression in RPE cells. Unlike in the Finnish cohort, the data regarding the MC1R variant suggested a protective association in the Polish cohort. The incidence of AMD increased with age in all cohorts. Smoking increased AMD risk in the cohorts studied. Sex and BMI showed no associations.These findings suggest that variations in DCT and MC1R genes known to affect skin and eye pigmentation may also play a role in development of wet AMD. The observed population differences may be related to variable pigmentation traits.

Sayam Ghosal, Rita Leporati, Bora Yilmaz et al.

Exosomes, a major subpopulation of small extracellular vesicles (sEV), are conserved mediators of intercellular communication, yet the properties of their endosomal precursors, intraluminal vesicles (ILV), have not been systematically quantified across species or imaging modalities. This study systematically evaluates ILV sizes across diverse eukaryotic species and modalities while assessing their relationship to secreted sEV sizes. We carried out two complementary meta-analyses of ILV sizes based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) data across species. This was followed by in situ assessment of sEVs secreted by HEK293T cells with TEM, nanoparticle tracking analysis and super-resolution microscopy characterization. Across species, imaging modalities, and cellular contexts, ILV sizes were under approximately 200 nm, with a mean diameter of 100.5 nm, overlapping with the size range of sEVs. This study addresses an existing knowledge gap by systematically evaluating ILV size across species and revealing an upper size limit of approximately 200 nm.

Klaudia Maar, Jeffrey E. Thatcher, Egor Karpov et al.

Although a myocardial infarction occurs roughly every minute in the U.S. alone, medical research has yet to unlock the key to fully enabling post-hypoxic myocardial regeneration. Thymosin beta-4 (TB4), a short, secreted peptide, was shown to possess a beneficial impact regarding myocardial cell survival, coronary re-growth and progenitor cell activation following myocardial infarction in adult mammals. It equally reduces scarring, however, the precise mechanisms through which the peptide assists this phenomenon have not been properly elucidated. Accordingly, the primary aim of our study was to identify novel molecular contributors responsible for the positive impact of TB4 during the remodeling processes of the infarcted heart. We performed miRNA profiling on adult mice hearts following permanent coronary ligation with or without systemic TB4 injection and searched for targets and novel mechanisms through which TB4 may mitigate pathological scarring in the heart. Our results revealed a significant increase in miR139-5p expression and identified ROCK1 as a potential target protein aligned. Real-time PCR, Western blot and immunostaining on adult mouse hearts and human cardiac cells revealed the peptide indirectly or directly modulates ROCK1 protein levels both in vivo and in vitro. We equally discovered TB4 may reverse or inhibit fibroblast/myofibroblast transformation and the potential downstream mechanisms by which TB4 alters cellular responses through ROCK1 are cell type specific. Given the beneficial effects of ROCK1 inhibition in various cardiac pathologies, we propose a potential utilization for TB4 as a ROCK1 inhibitor in the future.

Dávid Bognár, Dávid Bognár, Dávid Bognár et al.

IntroductionTraumatic Brain Injury (TBI) often leads to lasting cognitive and functional deficits, with Traumatic Axonal Injury (TAI) being a significant prognostic factor. This study investigated white matter microstructural changes in moderate-to-severe TBI, focusing on the presence and number of cerebral microbleeds (MBs) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).Materials and methods51 participants were recruited and categorized into three groups: 17 controls, 17 TBI patients with MBs (MBP), and 17 TBI patients without MBs (MBN). Age matching was applied to minimize confounding effects. MRI scans were acquired using a 3 T Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma scanner, and DTI data were preprocessed using FSL software. Whole white matter and corpus callosum masks were reconstructed using FreeSurfer, while tractography-based methods were implemented with FSL. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were extracted and compared across groups. Group-level voxel-wise statistical analysis was conducted using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS), and generalized linear models (GLiMs) were applied to assess the effects of age, sex and MB number on DTI parameters.ResultsSignificant decrease in FA (p = 0,008 − 0,042) and increases in MD (p = 0,004 − 0,016) were observed in the WM masks when comparing the MBP group with the controls. In the TBSS analysis FA (p = 0,008) and MD (p = 0,005) showed significant differences between the MBP-CON comparison, while FA (p = 0,012) and MD (p = 0,043) were significantly different between the MBP and MBN groups. Moreover, a significant FA decrease was observed in the corpus callosum when comparing the MBP and MBN groups (p = 0,007). Additionally, an increasing number of microbleeds was significantly associated with altered DTI metrics in across all white matter masks.ConclusionOur findings highlight MBs as potential markers of more extensive white matter injury in moderate-to-severe TBI. The increase in MBs suggests even greater white matter damage, indicating a progression of microstructural alterations. On a global scale, tractography enhances the sensitivity in detecting structural alterations compared to traditional segmentation techniques. Examination of central white matter areas holds significant importance in uncovering the relevance of MBs.

Barnabas Porfy

In the recent decades of high energy physics research, it was demonstrated that strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma (sQGP) is created in ultra-relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. Investigation and understanding of properties of the hadronic matter is among the important goals of NA61/SHINE collaboration at CERN SPS. Mapping of the phase diagram is achieved by varying the collision energy (5 GeV $<\sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}}<$17 GeV) and by changing the collision system (p+p, p+Pb, Be+Be, Ar+Sc, Xe+La, Pb+Pb). We report on the measurement of femtoscopic correlations in intermediate system at intermediate SPS energies. Interpreting the results of measurements within the symmetric Lévy source formalism, we discuss the values of Lévy source parameters as a function of average pair transverse mass. One of the physical parameters is particularly important, the Lévy exponent $α$, which describes the shape of the source and may be related to the critical exponent $η$ in the proximity of the critical point. Therefore, measuring it may shed light on the location of the critical endpoint of the QCD phase diagram.

Ildikó Ritter

A szerző áttekintést nyújt a fogvatartottak HCV-fertőzésével kapcsolatos legújabb kutatásról.

Gabor Facsko, Gergely Koban, Nikolett Biro et al.

Gas pipelines, transmission lines, overhead wires, transformers, GNSS navigation, and telecommunication systems are part of critical infrastructure. Industry, transportation, service operations, farming, and everyday life highly depend on this infrastructure. However, these systems are very sensitive to solar activity. Therefore, all activities above are vulnerable and defenseless against the catastrophic changes in Earth's cosmic environment. The Solar System is dominated by the influence of our star. A small fraction of the energy produced in the core of our star turns into a magnetic field and emits the constant high-velocity flow, the solar wind. Solar magnetic activity produces radiation and ejects matter from the upper atmosphere of our star. The magnetic field of the solar wind interacts with the planetary magnetic fields and atmospheres. These phenomena, called Space Weather have a serious influence on the radiation environment of Earth where telecommunication, Global Navigation Satellite System, meteorological, and other purpose satellites are located. The conductivity and transparency of the higher partly ionized atmospheric layer, the ionosphere also depend on solar radiation and activity. This fact makes the navigation and communication systems dependent on solar activity. Finally, the solar magnetic activity creates magnetic variations in the terrestrial magnetic field and induces currents in gas pipelines, transmission lines, overhead wires, and transformers. In this short briefing, we introduce the solar activity phenomena, and their influence on our planet's cosmic neighborhood and provide a detailed description of the Space Weather effects on critical infrastructure. We describe the Hungarian national and global space weather forecast centers and capabilities. Finally, we share some guidelines on how to prepare for extreme space weather events.

Tiba Jassam Kaison Al-Imari, Edina Lengyel, János Korponai et al.

Small lakes are among the most threatened ecosystems in the world. Their protection is of crucial importance since they support an unusually high biodiversity relative to their size. The present study aimed at selecting the main drivers, especially the role of the morphological variables, shaping benthic diatom communities in unique, but rarely investigated forest pond ecosystems in the temperate region, using traditional (species-based methods and diversity indices) and novel approaches (trait-based methods and functional diversity indices) of diatom ecology. Therefore, we analyzed the effects of the environmental (temperature, conductivity, colour, shading, pH, nutrient forms, anions) and morphological (surface area, depth) variables of 70 temperate, forest ponds located in two regions of Hungary on the composition (species- and trait-based) and diversity (traditional and functional) of their benthic diatom communities. Based on the multivariate analyses, no regional differences in the environmental and morphological variables were been observed among the ponds. Our results showed that both environmental variables and lake morphology had significant effects on the benthic diatom communities, but they contributed to their variation with different proportions. Environmental variables such as nutrient content (rsoluble reactive phosphate = 0.72) and conductivity (r = 0.65) affected mostly the species composition, and the traditional diversity metrics (rtotal phoshate = −0.42, rconductivity = −0.54). In contrast, morphological features of the ponds were the most important drivers of diatom trait composition. This functional response of diatoms manifested in the selection of species according to their size, shape and lifeforms, moreover, in changing of functional diversity. Overall, this study revealed the complex interplay between environmental variables and lake morphology in shaping the composition of benthic diatom communities. Furthermore, it highlights the necessity to apply different methods to understand the ecology and functioning of these special aquatic ecosystems.

Boyan Totev, Varbin Varbanov, Svetlana Todorova et al.

The Cape of Shabla, located 6 km east of the town with the same name, has a very rich archaeological history of some 2,500 years. The research in this area started quite early, in the late 19th century, and became more intense in the second half of the 20th century. In the last two years, Bulgarian archaeologists were joined by a group of Hungarian colleagues and established fruitful cooperation.

Marcos Faundez-Zanuy

This paper deals the combination of nonlinear predictive models with classical LPCC parameterization for speaker recognition. It is shown that the combination of both a measure defined over LPCC coefficients and a measure defined over predictive analysis residual signal gives rise to an improvement over the classical method that considers only the LPCC coefficients. If the residual signal is obtained from a linear prediction analysis, the improvement is 2.63% (error rate drops from 6.31% to 3.68%) and if it is computed through a nonlinear predictive neural nets based model, the improvement is 3.68%. An efficient algorithm for reducing the computational burden is also proposed.

Oscar Oliva, Marcos Faundez-Zanuy

In this paper we compare several ADPCM schemes with nonlinear prediction based on neural nets with the classical ADPCM schemes based on several linear prediction schemes. Main studied variations of the ADPCM scheme with adaptive quantization (2 to 5 bits) are: -forward vs backward -sample adaptive vs block adaptive

László Á. Kóczy, Dávid Csercsik, Balázs R. Sziklai

To understand the impact of keeping Nord Stream 2 off the map, we model the European natural gas market from the point of view of supply security. Focusing on the network aspects, we propose a novel framework to measure supply security, combining a linear programming approach with a risk assessment technique, expected shortfall (ES) borrowed from finance, particularly suited to measure extreme risk, such as the risk of failing pipelines.Shifting Russian gas exports from Ukraine to Nord Stream 2 increases risks for South-Eastern Europe, and the Trans-Anatolian and Trans-Adriatic Pipelines can only partially alleviate these changes.

Jaroslav Korečko, Alžbeta Suhányiová , Ladislav Suhányi

Political, economic, and social developments in the world have undergone relatively turbulent changes over the last two decades. The European Union has not avoided them either. Naturally, any such change directly or indirectly affects the national economies of individual countries. Governments adapt to the new conditions through measures in the areas of employment, production, taxes, levies, and the like. This paper aims to examine the development of income taxes in Slovakia and other countries of the EU. Personal income tax and corporate income tax are the most significant direct taxes in all Member States in terms of collection volume. Their development varies from one region of Europe to another. Therefore, the idea of greater tax harmonization in the Union regularly runs into the arguments of countries in favor of maintaining tax competition. The paper seeks the similarity of individual tax systems and suggests a possible procedure in their further convergence.

Gabor HORVÁTH, Norbert PATAKI

Object lifetimes are a common source of bugs in C++ that can cause crashes, unexpected behavior, or even security vulnerabilities. Herb Sutter, the chair of the C++ standard committee proposed a flow-sensitive analysis to catch lifetime errors statically. Sadly, this analysis is prone to false positives unless the author follows some specific guidelines. We developed mitigations to eliminate some classes of false positives to make it easier to write conforming code. The first mitigation fixes a common false positive from a frequently used coding pattern by introducing local path-sensitivity. The second one is a filter based on reaching definitions and dominance algorithms to remove reports that might be the result of analyzing infeasible paths. We tested the effectiveness of the methods on the open source Google Fuchsia project.

Dmitri Rouwet, Karoly Németh, Karoly Németh et al.

Volcanic lakes pose specific hazards inherent to the presence of water: phreatic and phreatomagmatic eruptions, lahars, limnic gas bursts and dispersion of brines in the hydrological network. Here we introduce the updated, interactive and open-access database for African volcanic lakes, country by country. The previous database VOLADA (VOlcanic LAke DAta Base, Rouwet et al., Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 2014, 272, 78–97) reported 96 volcanic lakes for Africa. This number is now revised and established at 220, converting VOLADA_Africa 2.0 in the most comprehensive resource for African volcanic lakes: 81 in Uganda, 37 in Kenya, 33 in Cameroon, 28 in Madagascar, 19 in Ethiopia, 6 in Tanzania, 2 in Rwanda, 2 in Sudan, 2 in D.R. Congo, 1 in Libya, and 9 on the minor islands around Africa. We present the current state-of-the-art of arguably all the African volcanic lakes that the global experts and regional research teams are aware of, and provide hints for future research directions, with a special focus on the volcanic hazard assessment. All lakes in the updated database are classified for their genetic origin and their physical and chemical characteristics, and level of study. The predominant rift-related volcanism in Africa favors basaltic eruptive products, leading to volcanoes with highly permeable edifices, and hence less-developed hydrothermal systems. Basal aquifers accumulate under large volcanoes and in rift depressions providing a potential scenario for phreatomagmatic volcanism. This hypothesis, based on a morphometric analysis and volcanological research from literature, conveys the predominance of maar lakes in large monogenetic fields in Africa (e.g. Uganda, Cameroon, Ethiopia), and the absence of peak-activity crater lakes, generally found at polygenetic arc-volcanoes. Considering the large number of maar lakes in Africa (172), within similar geotectonic settings and meteoric conditions as in Cameroon, it is somewhat surprising that “only” from Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos fatal CO2 bursts have been recorded. Explaining why other maars did not experience limnic gas bursts is a question that can only be answered by enhancing insights into physical limnology and fluid geochemistry of the so far poorly studied lakes. From a hazard perspective, there is an urgent need to tackle this task as a community.

Kornel Almassy, András Geiger, András Holló et al.

The rubber modified bitumen 45/80-55 (RMB 45/80-55) product has been used in Hungary as bituminous binder for asphalt mix production since 2013. It is a new kind of rubber bitumen manufactured using patented technology. Over the past 8 years, it has been used to construct or renovate more than 100 asphalt road sections. Originally RMB 45/80-55 was used to replace paving grade bitumen 50/70 in some road construction projects. However, asphalt laboratory results and road construction experience showed that its quality can also achieve or in terms of some parameters exceed that of asphalt mixtures manufactured with polymer modified bitumen 25/55-65 (PMB 25/55-65). Primarily, its excellent resistance to low temperatures and fatigue are outstanding, in this respect; it surpasses the results of asphalts made with polymer-modified bitumen. Its favourable fatigue resistance compensates for its lower stiffness; therefore, favourable results were obtained in the case of track structure design too in comparison with PMB. Considering the road construction benefits of this new type of rubber bitumen, as well as the support of the environmentally friendly recovery of waste tyres and fitting into a circular economy, a wider spread of the RMB product is realistically expected in the future.

Wanjala George, Bagi Zoltán, Jávor András et al.

Native sheep breed act as reservoirs of local environment adapted genes. They are vital for food security as they are adapted to the extreme production environments. Sheep farming is a potential profitable agricultural enterprise in lands unsuitable for other agricultural activities. However, climate change effects pose their existential challenge for it leads to genetic diversity within species. Available literature of implications of climate change effects on the genetic diversity of native sheep breeds is limited. In this study, therefore, we bridge this gap by discussing sheep selection for adaptation traits and its implication on genetic diversity. This review discusses the climate change trends and projections, the history and importance of sheep, sheep farming systems, importance of genetic diversity in sheep and adaptation mechanisms highlighting their selection signatures. Further, we also discuss the use of genomic tools for selection for adaptation. Finally, this paper highlights an effective way of maintaining genetic diversity and breeding for adaptation. The understanding of impacts of climate change on genetic diversity of native sheep breeds would help in developing directional breeding program encompassing adaptation traits, as well as trigger conservation efforts for already endangered sheep breeds.

Gábor Vigvári

Az Európai Unióban megvalósuló gazdasági integráció szorossága megfelel annak a szintnek, amit Rodrik hiperglobalizációnak nevez. Az elmélet szerint a politika szintjén egyszerre nem valósítható meg a demokratikus politikai döntéshozatal, a teljes világgazdasági integráció, illetve a nemzetállam. A trilemma a globalizáció útjában álló intézményi különbségeken alapszik. Az esszében ezt a trilemmát dilemmává, és végső soron a neofunkcionalizmus és intergovernmentalizmus dilemmájává egyszerűsítjük az Unió elmúlt években megfigyelhető válságjelenségei kapcsán. A GMU válság, illetve a menekültválság kapcsán végül arra jutunk: amennyiben a válságkezelésben az intergovernmentalista megközelítés kerekedik felül, az még jó esetben is egy többsebességű Európa kialakulásához vezethet.

Kinga Sorbán

Az informatikai környezetben elkövethető bűncselekményeket nehéz kimerítően felsorolni, hiszen a Büntető Törvénykönyv tényállásainak jelentős része megvalósítható az új technológiai eszközök segítségével. Színes és szerteágazó területről beszélünk, amely mind a gyakorlati szakemberek, mind a témával foglalkozó kutatók részéről is egy új szemléletet kíván. Az MTA Társadalomtudományi Kutatóközpontjának munkatársa, Mezei Kitti által szerkesztett kötet nem kisebb feladatra vállalkozik, mint hogy interdiszciplináris jelleggel mutassa be a technológiai fejlődés hatását a bűnügyi tudományokra. A tanulmánykötet számos területről, így a büntető anyagi és eljárásjogi, a kriminalisztika, a kriminológia és a rendészettudomány köréből is tartalmaz írásokat. A gondos szelekció révén nyújt betekintést azokba a sokszor ma még science fiction-nek tűnő problémákba, amelyek hatásait inkább előbb, mint utóbb Magyarországon is érezhetjük majd.

Daniel C. Mayer

Let p be a prime and K be a number field with non-trivial p-class group Cl(p,K). A crucial step in identifying the Galois group G=G(p,K) of the maximal unramified pro-p extension of K is to determine its two-stage approximation M=G(p,2,K), that is the second derived quotient M=G/G". The family tau(1,K) of abelian type invariants of the p-class groups Cl(p,L) of all unramified cyclic extensions L/K of degree p is called the index-p abelianization data (IPAD) of K. It is able to specify a finite batch of contestants for the second p-class group M of K. In this paper we introduce two different kinds of generalized IPADs for obtaining more sophisticated results. The multi-layered IPAD ((tau(1,K),tau(2,K)) includes data on unramified abelian extensions L/K of degree p^2 and enables sharper bounds for the order of M in the case Cl(p,K)=(p,p,p), where current implementations of the p-group generation algorithm fail to produce explicit contestants for M, due to memory limitations. The iterated IPAD of second order tau^(2)(K) contains information on non-abelian unramified extensions L/K of degree p^2, or even p^3, and admits the identification of the p-class tower group G for various infinite series of quadratic fields K=Q(squareroot(d)) with Cl(p,K)=(p,p) possessing a p-class field tower of exact length L(p,K)=3 as a striking novelty.