In Hungary the less developed regions are mostly agricultural based, to help close the gap between the developed and less developed regions every opportunity needs to be investigated. In this study the use of agriculture as an attraction to increase tourism is investigated by examining US examples in Kentucky which is also a state where agriculture is the main activity. In the analysis a questionnaire was used to determine the demand towards agricultural attractions. The questionnaire was only open for college students oriented towards agricultural sciences. The results showed that the marketing strategies of these attractions are not efficient to attract visitors, from the investigated group, from large distanced, but do seem to be popular among the local, nearby people.
No accurate statistics are available concerning the amounts and value of the crop protection chemicals used in fruit production in Hungary. The quantity of chemicals used dropped dramatically between 1990 and 2001, to 2.1 kg/ha. One important consideration from the aspect of evaluating the decrease in the quantities of chemicals used is that the crop protection technology and the range of the chemicals used changed significantly during the period concerned. The research project took place in the framework of the No. 6 Network of Excellence frame programme and the European Network for Durable Exploitation of Crop Protection Strategies programme (No. 3.5 sub-programme: Societal Assessment of Current and Novel Low Input Crop Protection Strategies), between 2007 and 2010. Possibilities of integrated crop protection and integrated production in apple production were studied in the framework of the sub-programme with the involvement of six countries (Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Hungary and Poland). Five main elements affecting the spreading of integrated production were studied in the framework of the sub-programme public politics, research and consultancy (advisory) services, farmers. cooperation, the development of marketing strategies and the role and impacts of civil society organisations. The Marketing Institute studied the impacts of the development of marketing strategies and those of retail chains playing a dominant role in the supply chain.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid on 12 quality parameters of apricot fruit in treatments of cold storage (1o C for 7, 14 and 21 days) and shelf-life (4 and 8 days at 25o C after a 21-day cold storage treatment). Fruit quality parameters included 6 physico-chemical characteristics (weight loss, fruit fi rmness, total soluble solids, acidity, total soluble solids/acidity ratio and juice pH) and 6 sensory properties (skin and flesh colour, texture, taste, visual appearance and overall acceptability). Among physico-chemical characteristics, applications of 0.2 mmol/L methyl jasmonate and 2 mmol/L salicylic acid signifi cantly reduced fruit weight loss, fruit softening and juice pH and maintained soluble solid content and acidity over the whole storage period. Among sensory properties, all parameters were generally increased by methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid treatments compared to water-treated control and the water-treated fruits showed the lowest scores below the acceptability limit except for skin colour. In conclusion, our results suggest using methyl jasmonate and/or salicylic acid to enhance and prolong the storability of apricot fruits during both cold storage and shelf-life period.
Background Airway function is actively regulated by epithelium through generating PGE2, the production of which depends on cyclooxygeneses (COX-1 and COX-2). Analysis of bronchial biopsies and bronchial epithelial cells in culture conducted so far gave conflicting results of expression pattern of these enzymes in healthy subjects and asthmatics patients, with and without aspirin hypersensitivity. Objective Our aim was to investigate the expression of COX-1 and COX-2 mRNA in primary human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC) isolated from asthmatics and non-asthmatics. Methods We isolated HBEC from bronchial brushing preparations taken during bronchoscopy of 10 non-asthmatics (NA), 8 aspirin-tolerant asthmatics (ATA) and 9 aspirin-intolerant asthmatics (AIA). HBEC were cultured in serum free medium until 80% confluent. Total cellular RNA was isolated and reversed transcribed using oligo(dT)15 primers. Real time PCR was performed with primers to COX-1, COX-2, GAPDH and ß-actin in the presence of SYBR green dye. The cycle threshold (CT) for COX-1 or COX-2 was normalized using ß-actin and GAPDH as the internal standards. Results Not only COX-1 but also COX-2 mRNA were expressed by HBEC without any proinflammatory stimulation. We detected the smallest amount of COX-1 mRNA in the AIA group. The same trend was observed for COX-2 mRNA, though it didn’t reach the statistical significance. We also analysed the relationship between CTCOX-1 to CTCOX-2 by calculating the difference DCTCOX-1-COX-2. This analysis revealed that AIA group can be characterized by relatively smallest COX-1 mRNA expression in comparison to COX-2. There is a strong positive correlation between CTCOX1 and CTCOX2 in NA group (r=0.85; p< 0.001). In both groups of asthmatics this correlation is absent (ATA – r=0.5, p>0.1; AIA – r=0.43, p>0.1). Conclusions Cyclooxygeneases transcripts expression is altered in HBEC derived from the asthmatic patients, and this phenomenon is pronounced in case of aspirin hypersensitivity.