Biomaterials and biopolymers, such as bacterial cellulose (BC), are gaining increased importance as perspective eco-friendly materials with wide range of potential applications. BC is an exopolysaccharide produced mainly by certain acetic acid bacteria strains. BC exhibits unique physical and mechanical properties and has many potential applications starting from biomedicine to food industry....
Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a biopolymer with a potentially high added value, produced by certain acetic acid bacteria (AAB) strains. Due to its great biodegradability and mechanical properties, BC has a wide range of potential applications in such fields as food industry, biomedicine, packaging, electronics et al. Up to date industrial-scale BC production still is mostly unsuccessful. In...
This cooperation project (lzp-2021/1-0489) is interdisciplinary research related to economic activity in agriculture and biotechnology, implemented by the University of Latvia in collaboration with the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies. The purpose of this study is to determine genetic and molecular markers to identify individual animals in sheep herds with the maximum...
Changing land use, climate change, urbanization and population pressures on rivers is an important socio-ecological process that requires managements and biomonitoring. The Venta River at Kuldiga hosts the Ventas Rumba, the widest waterfall in Europe, a popular recreational site for tourists and local residents. The catchment includes residential areas with allotments, industrial areas and...
Background. Daphne mezereum is a perennial, deciduous shrub that belongs to the Thymelaeaceae family. Based on Latvian ethnobotanical knowledge as well as current practices, D. mezereum has been used for digestive and skin problems, especially for toothache and tooth extraction. The content of biologically active components in plants is significantly affected by growing conditions,...
Cultivating of microalgae has led to increasing commercial interest in their use for producing valuable substances for food, feed, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and biodiesel et al., as well as for mitigation of environmental pollution and CO2 emissions. Some technical barriers exist on the commercialization of microalgal biomass and products thereof. These are mostly related to the cultivation...
The growing of cloudberry in Latvia and globally is still done in rather small areas and harvests are mainly produced in wild stands, thus making cloudberry cultivation a promising research field. Berry plantations in extracted peat bogs are known to protect the upper peat layer from wind erosion and water loss, and to reduce GHG emissions. Production of high-quality berry yields contribute to...
Currently maintaining agricultural sustainability is a major problem due to growing global population, climate change and rapid increase of food demand. General problems in agriculture are loss of harvest, plant diseases, abiotic stress which may result in loss of 20 – 40 % of the crop. Use of conventional methods, for instance - pesticides results in decreased sustainability, also many...
Representatives of the genus Sarcocystis (Apicomplexa: Sarcocystidae) are parasitic protozoa broadly distributed in mammals, birds, and reptiles. They are distinguished by a two-host life cycle based on the prey-predator relationships. Sarcocysts are mainly formed in muscles or CNS of the intermediate host, and sporocysts develop in small intestine of definitive host. The intense Sarcocystis...
Establishment of native and alien deciduous broadleaved species (Acer platanoides, Tilia cordata, Quercus robur and Ulmus laevis, Acer pseudoplatanus and Tilia platyphyllos) has been stated in extensively managed mature and over-mature conifer - Pinus sylvestris and Picea abies - stands in Latvia during the last decades. The process which involves establishment of deciduous broad-leaved...
Common duckweed (Lemna minor L.) is widely used for phytoremediation and environment monitoring of wastewater in vivo as well plants could be efficiently grown in Petri dishes and quickly multiplied in laboratory conditions. In this work we used in vivo collected L. minor clones, being inhabited with bacteria and algae naturally co-existing in tissues of fronds and roots, to establish...
Rhynchospora fusca is found in central Europe, the southern part of Scandinavia, the Baltic States, and the northeastern part of America. It is a suboceanic boreo-temperate species. Not surprisingly, in Latvia, the species is restricted to the Coastal Lowland, more precisely to the north-western part of it. Four sites are known and there are no historical records from other sites.
The study...
In the case of type II diabetes, the most important preventive and therapeutic effect gives a diet with a minimal amount of easily digestible carbohydrates. Vegetable juices positioned as healthy food products, because of high content of phenolic and other biologically active compounds. However, due to the high glycemic index, juices contraindicated in diabetes, while juices with a reduced...
The harmful effect of the most dangerous environmental heavy metal cadmium (Cd) is accompanied by an antioxidant-prooxidant imbalance in animal organ and tissues. Cd catalyses the formation of reactive oxygen species such as superoxide anions, hydroxyl radicals, and hydrogen peroxide in cell membranes following the oxidative stress and the risk of developing metabolic disorders and diseases....
