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The structure and diversity of world crops’ weed flora are greatly influenced by the pronouncing global climate change, which are reshaping the face of the modern agricultural production. The phytocoenological surveys conducted during the summer period in the years 2004 and 2023 in the northeastern Croatia determined qualitative and quantitative changes in the row crops’ weed communities. Maize, soybean, sunflower, and sugar beet fields were visited each time in June when the weed vegetation was fully developed, and all occurring weed species within the randomly selected 10 m × 10 m quadrats per 30 and 29 fields in the 2004 and 2023, respectively, were evaluated using a seven-degree Braun-Blanquet scale. The weed community from past research was more heterogeneous, compared to a recent survey. In the past period (2004), weeds with the C3 photosynthetic pathway dominated in the community, while the C4 plants were significantly underrepresented. However, the dominance-diversity curve in the recent survey (2023) depicts a similar slope of the curve indicating the growing abundance and species richness of the C4 weeds. This shift in ranges of weed species with the C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways confirms that climate conditions exert a significant influence on the spread, population dynamics, and infestation pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Myocardial infarction (MI) triggers a local inflammatory response which orchestrates cardiac repair and contributes to concurrent neuroinflammation. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor therapy not only attenuates cardiac remodeling by interfering with the neurohumoral system, but also influences acute leukocyte mobilization from hematopoietic reservoirs. Here, we seek to dissect the anti-inflammatory and anti-remodeling contributions of ACE inhibitors to the benefit of heart and brain outcomes after MI., Methods: C57BL/6 mice underwent permanent coronary artery ligation (n = 41) or sham surgery (n = 9). Subgroups received ACE inhibitor enalapril (20 mg/kg, oral) either early (anti-inflammatory strategy; 10 days treatment beginning 3 days prior to surgery; n = 9) or delayed (anti-remodeling; continuous from 7 days post-MI; n = 16), or no therapy (n = 16). Cardiac and neuroinflammation were serially investigated using whole-body macrophage- and microglia-targeted translocator protein (TSPO) PET at 3 days, 7 days, and 8 weeks. In vivo PET signal was validated by autoradiography and histopathology., Results: Myocardial infarction evoked higher TSPO signal in the infarct region at 3 days and 7 days compared with sham (p < 0.001), with concurrent elevation in brain TSPO signal (+ 18%, p = 0.005). At 8 weeks after MI, remote myocardium TSPO signal was increased, consistent with mitochondrial stress, and corresponding to recurrent neuroinflammation. Early enalapril treatment lowered the acute TSPO signal in the heart and brain by 55% (p < 0.001) and 14% (p = 0.045), respectively. The acute infarct signal predicted late functional outcome (r = 0.418, p = 0.038). Delayed enalapril treatment reduced chronic myocardial TSPO signal, consistent with alleviated mitochondrial stress. Early enalapril therapy tended to lower TSPO signal in the failing myocardium at 8 weeks after MI (p = 0.090) without an effect on chronic neuroinflammation., Conclusions: Whole-body TSPO PET identifies myocardial macrophage infiltration and neuroinflammation after MI, and altered cardiomyocyte mitochondrial density in chronic heart failure. Improved chronic cardiac outcome by enalapril treatment derives partially from acute anti-inflammatory activity with complementary benefits in later stages. Whereas early ACE inhibitor therapy lowers acute neuroinflammation, chronic alleviation is not achieved by early or delayed ACE inhibitor therapy, suggesting a more complex mechanism underlying recurrent neuroinflammation in ischemic heart failure.