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The study aims to investigate the impact of dietary bilberry leaves on the performance, health status, and gut microbiota of broilers reared in both thermoneutral conditions and under heat stress. Sixty Cobb 500 broiler chicks were divided into two groups (C-TN, BL-TN) and reared in thermoneutral conditions for the first trial. For the second trial, two other groups (C-HS and BL-HS) were reared in heat stress (32 °C), with 30 chickens in each group. The experimental diets were supplemented with 1% bilberry leaves compared to the control diets. The broilers fed a diet with bilberry leaves had lower levels of cholesterol compared to the control birds. At the end of the experiment, six broilers per group were slaughtered, and intestinal contents were collected for bacteriological analyses. The results revealed that bilberry leaves increased body weight and average daily feed intake in the BL-TN group compared to the C-HS group. However, the broilers fed a bilberry leaves diet and reared in heat stress had a significantly lower average daily feed intake and average daily weight gain than the C-TN group. Additionally, the number of staphylococci colonies decreased significantly in the group fed with a BL-supplemented diet and reared in TN compared to C-TN, while lactobacilli increased significantly in BL-TN compared to C-TN. In summary, bilberry leaves can be used as a natural supplement in a broiler's diet to regulate serum cholesterol in heat stress and maintain the health of intestinal microflora in thermoneutral conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turmeric has been used as a traditional medicine in Southeast Asian countries and can serve as a spice, food preservative, and coloring agent. Turmeric owes its unique properties and color to curcuminoids, biologically active substances that encompass curcumin, de-methoxycurcumin, and bis-demethoxycurcumin. The purpose of the study was to investigate the nutritional properties of turmeric and curcumin extract, as potential dietary supplements for poultry nutrition. Turmeric was characterized by a content of 7.89 % crude protein, 4.61 % crude fiber, 1.76 % crude fat, and 7.47 % ash. The proximate composition of curcumin extract showed lower values when compared to turmeric. The chromatographic analysis of vitamin E isomers revealed α-tocopherol of 1.97 mg/kg in turmeric vs 8.09 mg/kg in curcumin, γ-tocopherol of 3.01 mg/kg in turmeric vs 10.4 mg/kg in curcumin, and δ-tocopherol of 13.84 mg/kg, while in curcumin was not detected. The antioxidant yellow pigments lutein and zeaxanthin were in higher amounts in curcumin extract, which was also characterized by an increased concentration of total polyphenols (76.50 mg/g GAE). Turmeric had higher levels of flavonoids (47.42 mg/g vs 24.71 mg/g). The outcomes of this study can serve as a foundation for developing innovative food products by using poultry nutrition and harnessing the potential benefits of this ancient spice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cranberries, like other plants from the berry family, are very popular due to their composition rich in bioactive compounds with strong antioxidant activity. The leaves belonging to that species can be considered a cost-effective alternative in the context of reducing antibiotics strategy in animal nutrition. Studies on their potential effects as feed additive are limited in poultry nutrition. The aim of the current study is to assess the effects of inclusion of cranberry leaves in an omega 3 enriched diet of broilers on productive parameters and evaluate the markers of antioxidant defence system. An experiment was conducted on 120 Cobb 500 broiler chickens, housed in an experimental hall with permanent wood shave litter, in boxes of 3 m2. The dietary treatments were based on corn and soybean meal, and the experimental group fed diets supplemented with 1% cranberry leaves (E1) and other with combination of cranberry leaves (1%) and walnut meal (6%) (E2). The results showed that the presence of cranberry leaves in an omega 3 enriched diet affected the final body weight of broilers (C-3140 g; E1-2649 g and E2-2538 g); the average daily gain (C-92.91 g; E1-88.32 g and E2-84.63 g) compared to other two groups. No significant differences were recorded for average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio. The antioxidant compounds from cranberry leaves structure positively affected the MDA concentrations determined in serum and liver samples (C--0.153 ppm; E1-0.133 ppm for serum samples and C-0.359 ppm; E1-0.319 ppm for liver samples). By inclusion in an omega enriched diet, no significant differences were detected compared to C for serum (E2-0.155 ppm) and almost 10% decreasing values were recorded for MDA values determined in liver samples (0.324 ppm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's food industry, fortifying food products with several nutrients is a priority, and animal nutrition represents a key strategy for achieving this goal. Nevertheless, the scarcity and high costs of conventional feedstuffs lead to investigation of industrial by-products as alternative solutions in livestock nutrition. White grape pomace, a byproduct of the winery industry, is well-known for its rich resveratrol content. Nevertheless, in addition to this, it can present significant quantities of other nutrients and antioxidant compounds, which exert beneficial effects when incorporated into ruminants' nutrition. Our study revealed a remarkable concentration of the white grape pomace nutrients, with important minerals, particularly manganese (106.35 mg/kg). The fatty acids profile showed a high composition of polyunsaturated fatty acids (65.05 g/100 g FAME), with a great amount of omega 3 fatty acids (62.66 g/100 g FAME). Concerning the antioxidant compounds, white grape pomace exhibited a concentration of 12.49 mg/g GAE for total polyphenols and 3.27 mg/kg for total flavonoids. Also, our study highlighted its high antioxidant potential, especially assessed through the DPPH radical scavenging assay (74.26 mM eq. Trolox), ABTS radical scavenging assay (75.07 mM eq. Trolox), and total antioxidant capacity (286.26 mM eq. ascorbic acid). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stâna de Vale balneoclimatic resort, located in the Apuseni Mountains, is very little valorised. The special natural setting, with the picturesque landscapes, the tourist trails of various difficulty degrees, the oligomineral waters, the numerous waterfalls, the fresh air intensely ionized, without pollutants and allergens, generated by the deciduous and coniferous forests, the exciting-soliciting bioclimate etc. recommend Stâna de Vale as a resort having a remarkable touristic potential, but very little harnessed and this is why it is necessary to identify solutions for its tourist valorisation. This paper highlights the periods of development and of decline of this resort which used to be emblematic for the Apuseni Mountains and for Bihor County and in the end, it suggests some simple solutions to revitalize the resort.

Mesoporous silica materials have attracted increasing attention to be considered as an important class of nanostructured support materials in heterogeneous catalysis [...]

Harvesting is an important part of the downstream processing of the microalgae culture and one of the most price-demanding [1] and represents more than 30% of the overall production costs. [...]

Annually, 11 million tons of dairy wastewaters are released into the environment worldwide [...]

Filamentous fungi are well known as sources of industrial enzymes with high capacity forextracellular protein production [1]. [...]

BACKGROUND: The spread of SARS-CoV-2 generated an unprecedented global public health crisis. Soon after Asia, Europe was seriously affected. Many countries, including Romania, adopted lockdown measures to limit the outbreak. AIM: We performed a molecular epidemiology analysis of SARS-CoV-2 viral strains circulating in Romania during the first two months of the epidemic in order to detect mutation profiles and phylogenetic relatedness. METHODS: Respiratory samples were directly used for shotgun sequencing. RESULTS: All Romanian sequences belonged to lineage B, with a different subtype distribution between northern and southern regions (subtype B.1.5 and B.1.1). Phylogenetic analysis suggested that the Romanian epidemic started with multiple introduction events from other European countries followed by local transmission. Phylogenetic links between northern Romania and Spain, Austria, Scotland and Russia were observed, as well as between southern Romania and Switzerland, Italy, France and Turkey. One viral strain presented a previously unreported mutation in the Nsp2 gene, namely K489E. Epidemiologically-defined clusters displayed specific mutations, suggesting molecular signatures for strains coming from areas that were isolated during the lockdown. CONCLUSIONS: Romanian epidemic was initiated by multiple introductions from European countries followed by local transmissions. Different subtype distribution between northern and southern Romania was observed after two months of the pandemic.

The authors provide the centralized data about the Romanian caves with endemic fauna, based on all reliable bibliographic sources (as quoted in text and cited in the chapter references) and based on their research activity. The complete list of the Romanian caves with endemic cave-dwelling arthropod species identified up to the subspecies level is presented.

Spatial distribution analyses of fossil bones are often used in cave taphonomy for i) assessing directly the size of a given fossil population and ii) indirectly, for palaeo-environmental reconstructions. Urşilor Cave from northwestern Romania hosts one of the richest MIS 3 cave bear bone assemblages of Europe, and as the nature of the bone deposition was not settled yet, the study of the size of cave bear population and the distribution of the skeletal element was needed

Laser pulse processing of surfaces and thin films is a useful tool for amorphous thin films crystallization, surface nanostructuring, phase transformation and modification of physical properties of thin films. Here we show the effects of nanostructuring produced at the surface and under the surface of amorphous GeTiO films through laser pulses using fluences of 10–30 mJ/cm2. The GeTiO films were obtained by RF magnetron sputtering with 50:50 initial atomic ratio of Ge:TiO2. Laser irradiation was performed by using the fourth harmonic (266 nm) of a Nd:YAG laser. The laser-induced nanostructuring results in two effects, the first one is the appearance of a wave-like topography at the film surface, with a periodicity of 200 nm and the second one is the structure modification of a layer under the film surface, at a depth that is related to the absorption length of the laser radiation. The periodicity of the wave-like relief is smaller than the laser wavelength. In the modified layer, the Ge atoms are segregated in spherical amorphous nanoparticles as a result of the fast diffusion of Ge atoms in the amorphous GeTiO matrix. The temperature estimation of the film surface during the laser pulses shows a maximum of about 500 °C, which is much lower than the melting temperature of the GeTiO matrix. GeO gas is formed at laser fluences higher than 20 mJ/cm2 and produces nanovoids in the laser-modified layer at the film surface. A glass transition at low temperatures could happen in the amorphous GeTiO film, which explains the formation of the wave-like topography. The very high Ge diffusivity during the laser pulse action, which is characteristic for liquids, cannot be reached in a viscous matrix. Our experiments show that the diffusivity of atomic and molecular species such as Ge and GeO is very much enhanced in the presence of the laser pulse field. Consequently, the fast diffusion drives the formation of amorphous Ge nanoparticles through the segregation of Ge atoms in the GeTiO matrix. The nanostructuring effects induced by the laser irradiation can be used in functionalizing the surface of the films.