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Research Highlights: Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) phenotypic plasticity will buffer and even benefit from temperature increases in Northeast Europe this century, except for the southern peripheries of the range. Objectives: The "stress test" aimed to assess the inherent potential of existing populations to withstand projected changes in their lifetimes at their original location. Materials and Methods: This study applied an alternative analytic approach to calculate response and transfer equations from historic height growth data from provenance tests in the former USSR and Hungary. Results: Contrary to earlier analyses, the populations displayed quasi-linear responses to mimicked warming without clear ecological optima, forecasting a general growth acceleration north of Lat. 53° N. Climate-triggered mortality is predicted for the near future in the southern peripheries. Locally adapted populations at the distribution confines of the northern and southern limits deserve special attention. Conclusions: The observed adaptability to warming moderates the necessity of genetic management interventions such as assisted migration. The support of natural processes of adaptation and acclimation will be sufficient in boreal and central Northeast Europe this century. Evacuating heat and drought-tolerant populations should be envisaged in the endangered zone to conserve valuable genetic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lowland forests benefiting from groundwater availability are important ecosystems in Central Europe, both from ecological and economic perspectives. Besides a great reduction in their extent in the historical times and further shifts in the land use and water management regimes intensified during the industrial era, continuing changes in the groundwater and overall hydro-climatic conditions can pose significant challenges to them. Although tree-ring analyses serve as widely used tools to assess the climatic impact on tree growth and vitality, few studies have attempted to investigate the effects of subsurface hydrology on interannual fluctuations in xylem production. In this study, we compared the tree-ring width series of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) from a forested area in southwestern Hungary with the time series of monthly groundwater depth and climatic variables over the period of 1920–2017 with a specific focus on 1961–2017. The radial growth of the studied trees showed the strongest relationship with late winter and early spring groundwater and drought conditions preceding the growing season, differing from the commonly reported climatic signals marked by early summer meteorological conditions of the vegetation season. The results suggest that the groundwater recharge during the dormant period preceding the vegetation season and the groundwater levels in early spring were among the key limiting factors on tree growth in the study area. In the growing years starting with a sufficiently high groundwater table, even scarce summer precipitation did not seem to limit radial growth drastically. However, unfavorable shifts in climatic conditions during the past few decades and the associated uncertainties in the future groundwater regime imply that additional active measures aimed at maintaining and restoring groundwater conditions may well be highly beneficial for sustaining groundwater-dependent forest ecosystems and their productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flood protection embankments of Hungary and Europe face numerous challenges. Some dike bases were constructed more than 200 years ago; since then, they have been elevated and extended. Because of these iterative adaptations, the dikes bear many construction errors, which can trigger failures and slides. Due to climate change, droughts and low-water periods of the rivers in central Europe are becoming more frequent. As a result of these effects, the water balance of the dikes can alter and desiccate in the long term. The most staggering fissures appeared on dikes built from clays susceptible to volume change. The General Directorate of Water Management ordered a comprehensive survey of dike pavement cracks in Hungary. This was one of the most extensive surveys of such kind. Hungary has some 4400 km of primary flood protection embankments, out of which 1250 km is paved. There are multiple reasons why the pavement of an embankment can crack. The main features of crack patterns related to clays with shrink-swell potential are identified. The results of international studies and the present survey are synthesised. The main objective of this paper is to draw a correlation between drought (aridity) zones, plasticity index of the soil samples, and crack thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arab world played an important role in the foreign relations of Hungary. During the era of Pan-Arab nationalism, up to the death of Nasser, the relations were very good. In the 19805 the trade relations provided Hungary with a considerable dollar income. After that Hungary got closer to Israel, and thus the Hungarian-Arab relations have deteriorated. The change of regime deeply affected the Arab countries, but both sides declared the importance of the preservation and improvement of the relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the outbreak of the six-day „blitzkrieg” on 5 June 1967, the Arab world was severely defeated. The defeat also signified the failure of the allies of Egypt and Syria: the Soviet Union and the socialist countries as well. Hungarian political leaders continued to offer their support to the Arab nations affected by the Israeli aggression, however, they also criticised certain Arab politicians (Syrians and the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization – PLO) for their extremist, reckless and often demagogic statements. International public opinion was mixed. Some elements were sceptical about support for the Arabs as they were badly defeated in a short time in contrast to the heroic fight for Vietnamese independence in the early 1950s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During a regular survey of declining forests in 2011, sudden dieback symptoms were observed on scattered wild cherry trees (Prunus avium) in a mixed deciduous forest stand, located in the flood plain area of the Rába River, in northwest Hungary. In this study, we correlated both soil conditions and presence of Phytophthora spp. to dieback of cherry trees. Two Phytophthora species, P. polonica and P. plurivora, were isolated from the rhizosphere soil of the dying trees. By contrast, only P. polonica was recovered from the necrotic tissues of symptomatic roots. Stem and root inoculation tests on cherry seedlings showed pathogenicity of both species, although P. polonica proved to be more virulent. This is the first report of natural infections of P. polonica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the intensification of aquaculture technologies, the amount of feed input and waste material is increasing, creating potentially negative impacts on freshwater habitats receiving effluent from such systems. Changes in biodiversity of zooplankton communities is often used to assess the effects of such impacts. Rotifers are suitable for bioindication of water quality due to their fast reaction to environmental changes. We examined seasonal changes in the diversity of rotifer communities along a 3.5 km section of the biggest oxbow lake in the Tisza River basin, Hungary, that received inflow from an intensive tank-based aquaculture farm. We detected a species-rich rotifer community with 26 species. Using the Rényi one-parameter diversity index families, we found that biodiversity increased away from the point of inflow in spring, but after a summer transition period the situation became partially reversed during autumn. At the beginning of the study period, the nutrient-rich effluent strengthened the dominance of common species, which decreased but did not disappear in summer. In autumn, the extra nutrient input delayed the decline of the rotifer community at the point of effluent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1000 genomes project changed the way how we see the human genome. The rapid development of the deep sequencing technologies is raising several practical questions, and the way how we answer these questions will affect deeply the future of the oncological reseach in Hungary. In our manuscript we give a short overview of the results of the 1000 genomes project and we present the place of the functional genomic investigations between other genomic tools. Based on the recent development in the field we summarize the challenges that have to be addressed in the next couple of years.

Delineating the pathogenesis of multifactorial diseases is a major challenge of the postgenomial era. Genetic factors are known to play an important role in the pathogenesis of certain psychiatric disorders as well as in the development of adverse reactions to psychoactive drugs. Containing large numbers of samples and linking them clinical data, biobanks are gaining importance in the studies of chronic multifactorial diseases. Several biobanks are under establishment in Hungary. The first initiative to collect samples in neurological and psychiatric disorders was the NEPSYBANK coordinated by the Hungarian Society of Clinical Neurogenetics. The national biobank network is currently established by the NEKIFUT project of the National Office of Research and Technology. In this article we describe the structure, logistics and informatical background of the national schizophrenia biobank (SCHIZOBANK). The initiative of the SCHIZOBANK originates from a consortium in which academy and health industry partners are collecting biological materials and data in five major psychiatric center under the coordination of the Medical and Health Science Center of the University of Debrecen. We review other international schizophrenia biobanks as well. Major strength of the SCHIZOBANK is the collection of very detailed phenotypic data and of RNA and plasma both in psychotic and non-psychotic state of the patient which permits longitudinal follow-up and the study of both static and dynamically changing transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic markers. The collection of the SCHIZOBANK is available not only to consortial partners but to other national and international research groups as well.

Introduction: Beside the damages of the cardiovascular system the lesions of the the nervous system are the most common complications of aortic dissection. This is usually an early event, therefore the dissection of the aorta may manifest itself as an acute primary neurologic disease. The aim of this study is to describe the frequency and distribution of acute neurologic symptoms occurring in aortic dissection and the distribution of their clinico-pathologic features and to establish correlations between these and the acute in-hospital mortality as well as to discuss available diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities., Patients and Methods: The study was based of 95 cases of acute dissection of aorta (with additional three later events of redissection), observed in a longitudinal study over a period of 29.5 years, in a population of 106,000 (in Western Hungary)., Results: Of the 95 patients 20 (21%) died before admission. Neurological complications were observed in 30 of the 75 patients admitted to hospital (40%). Symptoms involving the central nervous system were found in 24 patients, affecting the spinal cord in two and the peripheral nervous system in four cases. The dissection of the aorta was diagnosed in vivo only in 22 out of the 75 patients who died in hospital (29%). 53 patients (71%) without correct diagnosis received supportive therapy only. The average survival time of the 21 patients with proximal dissection of aorta was 48.5 hours. The survival time of 23 patients with the same type of dissection involving the vessels of the aortic arch was 22.2 hours. This difference in survival time was significant (p = 0.0152). 20 of 23 patients (87%) in this group showed signs of neurologic damage confirming earlier experience that neurological complications can seriously worsen the otherwise already catastrophic prognosis of aortic dissection., Conclusions: The study brought compelling evidence for the need for early diagnosis and rapid transfer of patients to appropriate cardiac surgery centers for definitive diagnosis and therapy.