Adatok a kétegyházi két török-halom tájtörténetéhez

Only a few ancient architectural monuments remain standing in the central region of the Hungarian Great Plain. However, the kurgans’ unique 5000-year-old treasures still exist in this area, with many landscape archaeological, archaeological topography, and landscape ecological survey prospects. Mounds can be found on the banks of no-longer exisiting rivers and at some points of higher altitude areas. The oral tradition of the Great Hungarian Plain marked the man-made, artificial, conical rises in the landscape that are associated with ancient, archaeological periods as mounds. According to their origin, kurgans can be classified as burial sites and sacred points of nomad people in prehistory. The two „Török-halom” kurgans are the biggest burial mounds of the kurgan field near Kétegyháza (Békés County, Hungary) in the Körös-Maros National Park (Kígyósi-puszta). Built by people of the Yamnaya Entity in the Late Copper Age (3000–2700 BC), the northern kurgan and its surface is intact without drastic disturbance, and in the vicinity there are natural sites, especially saline grasslands. Our research team worked on landscape archaeological, landscape historical, and GIS informatical investigations. We made a 3D field model of the kurgan, and created the landscape history and local changes of the last 300 years based on boundary charters, handmade and printed maps, archive, air and orto photos. Due to the botanical survey we made a complete list of the vascular plant species found on the surface of the original northern kurgan. The flora of the earth monument is species-rich. Most species have a generalist loess grassland or ruderal character, though there also occur some valuable species of botanical and nature conservation importance (e.g. Ranunculus illyricus, Rosa rubiginosa, Ononis spinosiformis subsp. semihircina, Stachys germanica, Carthamus lanatus). The southern Török-halom kurgan was mined by the local agricultural cooperative in 1967. Before the full mining of the site an archaeological excavation was carried out on the kurgan, during which the central burial site and three other burials were documented. After the mining only a little part of the bottom remained on the north-west side, which conserved original loess vegetation. In a large-scale project the southern kurgan was rebuilt by the Körös-Maros National Park Directorate in 2011, and its surface has reconstructed loess vegetation. Since no settlements of the nomadic Late Copper Age/Early Bronze Age Yamnaya communities have been discovered yet in the Carpathian Basin, the only way to collect more information on these people is through the analysis of their special graves, the burial mounds.

Physiological traits determining high adaptation potential of sweet briar (Rosa rubiginosa L.) at early stage of growth to dry lands

Little is known about mechanisms of sweet briar adaptation to dry habitats. The species is highly invasive and displaces native plants from dry lands of the southern hemisphere. This study evaluates physiological basis of Rosa rubiginosa L. adaptation to soil drought. We performed a pot soil drought experiment and assessed water relations, water use efficiency, gas exchange and photosynthetic apparatus activity. The study also measured the content of chlorophyll, soluble carbohydrates and proline and analyzed plant biomass growth. We hypothesized that the drought stress induced an effective mechanism enabling adaptation of young sweet briar roses to soil water deficit. The study identified several adaptation mechanisms of R. rubiginosa allowing the plant to survive soil drought. These included limiting transpiration and stomatal conductance, increasing the level of soluble sugars, reducing chlorophyll content, accumulating CO2 in intercellular spaces, and increasing the quantum yield of electron transport from QA− to the PSI end electron acceptors. As a result, young sweet briar roses limited water loss and photoinhibition damage to the photosynthetic apparatus, which translated into consumption of soluble sugars for growth purposes. This study showed that photosynthesis optimization and increased activity of the photosynthetic apparatus made it possible to avoid photoinhibition and to effectively use water and sugars to maintain growth during water stress. This mechanism is probably responsible for the invasive nature of R. rubiginosa and its huge potential to displace native plant species from dry habitats of the southern hemisphere.

Effect of Rosa Mosqueta Husk Extract (Rosa rubiginosa) on Thermooxidation of Grape Seed Oil

There is a growing interest in lipid behavior with nutritional contribution. In this sense, it is necessary to determine the behavior of the grape seed oil during a thermooxidation process at 180°C. The induction period (OSI), together with the formation of polar compounds (CP) by HPSEC and the retention of alpha-tocopherol (AT) by HPLC, was the main parameter studied during this deterioration process. The behavior of 4 systems of oils, natural oil (a), refined oil (b), and refined oil with addition of rosa mosqueta husk extract (SGO + C) and alpha-tocopherol (SGO + AT), was compared. The results indicate that the system (a) shows a high retention of the AT content during heating. On the contrary, both systems (SGO + C and SGO + AT) presented a discrete but significant CP inhibition in relation to the values presented in purified grape seed oil (SGO). When comparing the thermooxidative behavior of the SGO + C and SGO + AT systems, it indicates better results for the first system, attributable to the combination of carotenes and AT present in C.

Z PÓŁNOCY NA POŁUDNIE, CZYLI INWAZYJNY CHARAKTER RÓŻY RDZAWEJ (ROSA RUBIGINOSA L.)

Róża rdzawa (Rosa rubiginosa) charakteryzuje się nietypowym przebiegiem mejozy oraz dużą odpornością na działanie abiotycznych czynników stresowych. Naturalny zasięg tego gatunku obejmuje półkulę północną (cała Europa, Ameryka Północna, azjatycka część Rosji), gdzie tworzy niezbyt liczne populacje. Występuje głównie na nasłonecznionych stanowiskach i glebach zasobnych w wapń. Rosa rubiginosa została także wprowadzona na półkulę południową – do Ameryki Południowej, Australii i Nowej Zelandii, gdzie stała się gatunkiem inwazyjnym zdolnym do wypierania rodzimych roślin. Na półkuli południowej uważana jest za gatunek niepożądany – „chwast”, jednak jest to również roślina pożyteczna. Występuje jako roślina pionierska wkraczająca na obszary zdegradowane przez katastrofy ekologiczne i na skutek działalności człowieka. Może być wykorzystywana do ochrony innych gatunków roślin rozwijających się w jej sąsiedztwie, zapewniając im odpowiednią wilgotność gleby i powietrza, a także właściwe warunki świetlne. W artykule zwraca się uwagę na duże możliwości aklimatyzacji róży rdzawej do stresów środowiskowych.

Formulation Development of a Patient Friendly Dosage Form for Eye Drug Delivery: Kajal

Traditionally, kajal is known as kohl or surma and is used as eyeliner. Designing herbal kajal with medicinal plants as a cosmetics product is considered to bea novel, innovative technique. The main advantages of such a product are that it is patient friendly, water resistant, stable, and economical to formulate. Two medicinal plants, viz., Rosa rubiginosa and Triphala, were evaluated for their potential for sustained ocular delivery with the aim of formulating herbal kajal. Standardization of the herbs was performed based on different physiochemical parameters, and the obtained values were within the prescribed limits. On the basis of the selected parameters and its antimicrobial potential, herbal kajal was evaluated in comparison with comparable products.