Search Results (537)

Leptin (LEP) is an adipocyte-derived cytokine that integrates nutritional status, metabolism, and reproduction in cattle, with particular relevance for modern high-producing dairy cows. In ruminants, LEP and its receptors are widely expressed in metabolic and reproductive tissues, including adipose tissue, liver, hypothalamus, pituitary, ovary, uterus, and placenta, where LEP modulates energy homeostasis, neuroendocrine function, and local tissue responses. Changes in circulating LEP concentrations during the transition period reflect changes in body fat reserve, insulin and GH-IGF-1 dynamics, thyroid hormones, and inflammation and contribute to coordinated metabolic adaptations supporting the onset of lactation. At the reproductive level, LEP influences the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis, affects the pulsatility of luteinizing hormone (LH) under nutritional stress, and exerts direct effects on ovarian steroidogenesis, folliculogenesis, oocyte competence, embryo development, and uterine immune function. New evidence also links LEP profiles to major peripartum disorders, including subclinical ketosis, insulin resistance, postpartum ovarian inactivity, and uterine inflammatory diseases, and emphasises its potential as part of a panel evaluating the risk of metabolic and reproductive disorders. Furthermore, polymorphisms within the bovine LEP gene and its signalling network have been associated with milk production, feed efficiency, body condition, and fertility traits, suggesting opportunities to incorporate markers into genomic selection schemes aimed at improving robustness and reproductive performance. This review summarises current knowledge on LEP biology in cattle, with an emphasis on dairy cows, and discusses perspectives on translating this information into practical tools for nutritional management, health monitoring, and genetic improvement in bovine production systems. Full article

Solar radiation drives virtually every process in Earth’s climate system—from atmospheric circulation and the hydrological cycle to ecosystem carbon uptake and agricultural productivity. How this energy flux is changing under anthropogenic climate forcing and what the consequences might be have become central preoccupations of modern Earth system science. Yet despite a rapidly growing literature spanning atmospheric physics, ecology, remote sensing, and energy engineering, no study has attempted to map the global scientific output on solar radiation and climate change as a unified research domain. This study addresses this gap through a large-scale bibliometric analysis of 8473 publications retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (1991–2025). Using the Bibliometrix R package (v5.0.1) and VOSviewer (v1.6.20), the study examined publication growth, country and institutional productivity, journal performance, co-authorship structures, keyword networks, thematic evolution, and emerging research fronts. The literature has grown at an annual rate of 14.87%, with China and the USA accounting for nearly half of all output—though American research shows markedly higher citation impact. Bradford’s Law identified 27 core journals, which accounted for roughly one-third of total publications; the Journal of Geophysical Research–Atmospheres ranked first. Consistent with Lotka’s Law, a large majority of authors (78.9%) appear only once in the dataset, pointing to a broad but peripherally engaged scientific community. Keyword co-occurrence mapping revealed five thematic clusters: ecological and biosphere impacts; climate dynamics and variability; atmospheric processes and data-driven methods; solar geoengineering; and energy and renewable applications. The most rapidly rising topics after 2020—machine learning, CMIP6, solar geoengineering, and heatwaves—suggest that the field is shifting toward data-driven methods and active climate intervention debates. These findings offer a structured overview of where the field stands and the most urgent knowledge gaps. Full article

In the strategic context of China’s efforts to promote agricultural power and modernization, the key to achieving sustainable development for agricultural enterprises lies in fostering breakthrough innovations and enhancing their market competitiveness. This paper uses Chinese agricultural enterprises listed on the A-share market from 2009 to 2024 as its research sample. From the perspective of breakthrough innovation in agriculture-related enterprises, it examines the association between agricultural new quality productivity and the sustainable development of agricultural enterprises. The regression results show that, first, agricultural new quality productivity is positively associated with breakthrough innovation in agricultural enterprises. After a series of robustness tests, these findings remain valid. Second, the bootstrap mediation results indicate that this relationship operates mainly through government policy orientation and enterprise knowledge creation capacity, while the indirect effects of government resource support and independent R&D capacity are weaker and not statistically robust. Furthermore, a heterogeneity test revealed that agricultural new quality productivity has a more pronounced positive association with breakthrough innovation in regions with strong intellectual property protection and high environmental regulations, as well as in samples where corporate executives demonstrate greater environmental awareness and companies achieve higher overall ESG scores. Finally, further analysis shows that as the level of corporate green transformation increases, the enabling effect of agricultural new quality productivity on breakthrough innovation in agricultural enterprises becomes more pronounced, providing evidence on how ANQP may support the sustainable development of agricultural enterprises. Full article

Spaces labeled as ‘extreme’ have long fueled the imagination of those who sought to explore, conquer, and represent them. Framed in colonial narratives as terra incognita or finis terrae, these regions generated diverse forms of textual and visual knowledge while simultaneously arousing curiosity and fear. The polar regions, Amazonian forests, and the seas and mountains of Patagonia played a central role in shaping the epistemologies of modern science and art in South America, functioning as laboratories in which ways of seeing were tested and transformed through processes of encounter. In this paper, we move beyond approaches that treat extreme spaces as fixed geographical entities defined solely by climatic severity or environmental hostility. Drawing on a pedagogical experiment inspired by Warburgian image-based research practices, we argue that extreme spaces are better understood as relational constructs, co-produced through multispecies and intercultural encounters. Through a comparative analysis of European iconographies across South America, we identify two coexisting clusters of meaning: one organised around abundance, intercultural cooperation, and extractivism; the other around scarcity, resistance, and environmental imposition. By tracing the circulation and mobilization of these meanings across different environments, we propose an epistemology of extremes, suggesting a mode of knowledge production that classifies spaces through the lens of radical otherness. Full article

Berry thinning is a fundamental operation in modern vineyard management, and future robotic thinning systems have the potential to reduce labor intensity and improve operational consistency. However, automated berry thinning under field conditions is still constrained by insufficient berry-level segmentation accuracy, difficulty in recognizing occluded berries, and high missed-detection rates for small berries. These limitations mainly arise from dense berry arrangements, severe mutual occlusion, and the subtle visual features of small targets. To address these challenges, this study developed a lightweight grape berry instance segmentation and thinning decision-support method based on YOLOv8n-seg. A two-stage knowledge distillation strategy, using Mask R-CNN and YOLOv8l-seg as teacher models, was combined with 30% backbone pruning to improve the recognition of occluded and small berries while maintaining model efficiency. Subsequently, the DBSCAN clustering algorithm was used to analyze berry centroid coordinates and equivalent diameters extracted from instance segmentation masks, thereby generating preliminary thinning-target recommendations based on local berry density and berry size. The model was trained and evaluated on a self-constructed dataset containing 330 valid grape bunch images collected in 2025 from Yongming Vineyard, Lin’an District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. The results showed that the optimized YOLOv8n-seg model achieved a box $mAP50\text{-}95$ of 0.8945 and a mask $mAP50\text{-}95$ of 0.7910, with an inference speed of 119.19 $FPS$ and 3.26 M parameters on an NVIDIA RTX 3060 Laptop GPU. Compared with the original YOLOv8n-seg model, the optimized model improved mask $mAP50\text{-}95$ by 1.20 percentage points, increased inference speed by 71.79 $FPS$, and reduced the number of parameters by 2.38 M. These results indicate that the proposed method improves grape berry instance segmentation performance while achieving a favorable balance among segmentation accuracy, lightweight characteristics, and inference efficiency. The proposed framework provides an offline RGB-based visual perception and preliminary thinning decision-support method for future grape berry thinning robots. However, because the current dataset was collected from Shine Muscat grape bunches at the berry enlargement stage in a single vineyard using the same imaging setup, the results should be interpreted as preliminary evidence under the specific cultivar, growth stage, vineyard, and imaging conditions of this study. Further validation across different grape cultivars, growth stages, vineyards, production seasons, camera systems, embedded platforms, and real robotic thinning operations is still required. Full article

The First Balkan War was not merely a military defeat but also a crisis of knowledge production. Although there is a vast body of academic literature in Turkey focusing on the causes, consequences, and military failures of the war, the discursive dimension of Western correspondents’ narratives has not yet been sufficiently analyzed. This research examines correspondent narratives within an integrated religious-civilizational framework that combines Edward Said’s concept of “Orientalism,” Stuart Hall’s concept of “Representation,” and Maria Todorova’s concept of “Balkanism.” Employing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) based on Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, the article investigates how reporter texts—often accepted as “transparent” primary sources in Turkish historiography—function as symbolic instruments of construction. By analyzing recurring representations of Turks as “fatalistic,” “pre-modern,” and “alien to European values,” the study reveals how these narratives legitimize a civilization hierarchy by exploiting the “Cross and Crescent” dichotomy. By revealing how these boundary-producing discourses transform military events into evidence of barbarism, the article challenges the claim of neutrality in archival records and contributes to the literature in this regard. By distinguishing between Orientalist representations of the Ottoman Turks and Balkanist representations of the Balkan nations, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of Western discursive hierarchies during the geopolitical crises of the early 20th century. Full article

Background: The genus Satureja L. (savory) includes approximately 200 aromatic herb and shrub species distributed worldwide. These plants are widely used in traditional and modern medicine, culinary practices, and agriculture. This review summarises knowledge on the traditional uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacological activities of Satureja species published between March 2014 and 2025. Methods: Peer-reviewed literature was searched on Web of Knowledge, PubMed, Scopus, and SciFinder using the keywords “Satureja” and “savory.” A total of 171 relevant articles were analyzed, focusing on ethnomedicinal use, chemical constituents, and pharmacological effects. Results: Recent ethnobotanical studies documented the use of local medicinal plants, including Satureja, in several European regions. Phytochemical research identified major groups of compounds such as essential oils, flavonoids, phenolic acids, jasmonates, di- and triterpenes, and steroids. Essential oils are the most studied and show high variability among species due to environmental and genetic factors. Pharmacological research largely highlights antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antitumor activities, as well as protective effects against chemotherapy-induced side effects. Additional studies report neurological benefits, including prevention of opioid analgesic tolerance, antiepileptic activity, and memory-enhancing effects. Satureja species have been the subject of various innovative developments aimed at preserving food quality, improving coating materials in the food industry, and developing new environmentally friendly biopesticides. Conclusions: Future research should prioritize the study of individual bioactive compounds, their mechanisms of action, and structure–activity relationships. Advances in nanoformulations and modern extraction technologies offer promising directions to support the medicinal and food-industry applications of Satureja-derived products. Full article

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents the leading cause of mortality worldwide, with atherosclerosis (AS) serving as its primary pathological foundation, involving multiple pathological processes, including lipid metabolism disorders, chronic inflammation, and endothelial dysfunction. The food and medicine continuum (FMC) concept originates from traditional Chinese medicine, emphasizing that certain foods possess both nutritional and medicinal value, aligning closely with the modern “food is medicine” philosophy. This narrative review examines the bioactive components and anti-atherosclerotic mechanisms of ten FMC materia medica: hawthorn fruit (Crataegus Fructus), ginkgo seed (Ginkgo Semen), milkvetch root (Astragali Radix), turmeric (Curcumae longae Rhizoma), ginger (Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens), glossy ganoderma (Ganoderma), Angelica sinensis (Angelicae sinensis Radix), barbary wolfberry fruit (Lycii Fructus), lotus leaf (Nelumbinis Folium), and honey (Mel). These materia medica are rich in bioactive constituents, including flavonoids, terpenoids, and polysaccharides, which can exert cardiovascular protective effects, such as regulating lipid metabolism, inhibiting inflammation and oxidative stress, improving endothelial function, and modulating gut microbiota. Regarding clinical evidence, meta-analyses support the beneficial effects of ginger and honey on cardiometabolic risk factors, though the field still faces challenges, including the need for higher-level clinical evidence and difficulties in product standardization. This review aims to integrate traditional knowledge with modern scientific approaches, providing scientific evidence for the development of functional foods and phytotherapy. Full article

The overuse of mineral fertilizers has brought about numerous matters such as deteriorating soil health, crop safety concerns, and environmental pollution. The global requirements for effective waste handling and sustainable agricultural production have been growing continuously. Therefore, integrated nutrient management method might be a key way to achieve circular agriculture, such as replacing chemical fertilizers with organic fertilizers. In modern agriculture, digestate that is a byproduct of anaerobic digestion as a fertilizer is becoming increasingly favored as a viable method for improving crop yield and quality. However, the application of digestate in agriculture have not yet been fully explored. This review addresses a knowledge gap by synthesizing current research on digestate as a fertilizer. Firstly, the physical–chemical and biological properties of digestate are discussed. Following that, this review focuses on its specific impact on crop growth and quality. Lastly, it outlines the challenges faced in the application of digestate and looks ahead to future trends. With appropriate policy support and technological innovation, digestate holds promise for advancing environmental sustainability. This review aims to provide direction and reference for future research on the application of digestate. Full article

Climate change, depleting fossil fuel reserves, and instability in petroleum prices are driving developing economies to explore cost-effective, efficient, and sustainable energy sources such as hydropower. However, there is an ongoing debate regarding the relevance, suitability, and impact of mega-dams. Much of the existing research on mega-dams examines this debate through the lens of development theories. However, mega-dams impact a wide range of stakeholders at local, national, regional, and global levels, necessitating exploration of their role from a socioeconomic perspective. This interdisciplinary case study draws knowledge from management, sociology, and economics and provides a comprehensive account of multi-stakeholder perspectives on the impact of a mega-dam and addresses the research question: How do stakeholders perceive the impact of the Merowe Dam on agricultural livelihoods, and how do they interpret the role of governance processes? Participants included farmers, a focus group with 10 members from the affected communities, and 32 key informant interviews from non-governmental organizations, political actors, academics, businessmen and leaders in the catchment areas of the Merowe Dam, Sudan. The findings suggest that despite some concerns about motivations and processes of mega-dam commissioning, these projects are perceived as beneficial for long-term and sustainable socioeconomic growth and gaining support for renewable energy use in developing economies. The participants reported that modernization of agriculture, following the establishment of the dam, increased crop yields, e.g., wheat production has increased per hectare. Farmers’ income and irrigated land have increased substantially per family due to an increase in land sizes allocated to relocated communities, leading to an overall increase in land size. Therefore, with improved processes in both pre- and post-commissioning stages, transparency, accountability, and deeper stakeholder engagement, mega-dams can facilitate a smoother transition from fossil fuels to large-scale hydropower on one hand and livelihood enhancement through agriculture and other income generating activities on the other. Full article

This paper argues that the central thesis of Wael Hallaq’s The Impossible State is that traditional Islamic cultures as shaped by Sharīʿa did not abide by a fact-value distinction. Hallaq’s incisive account of traditional Islamic socio-political culture has relevant repercussions beyond the Islamic context from which he draws his conclusions. The importance of Hallaq’s project stems from how it reconstructs a specific tradition—Islam—to contest logics presented as modern and universal. His central argument, that the modern (Western) state is ultimately organized around a fact-value distinction, bears crucially on analyses of the historical Chinese state and its “modernization.” As this paper shows, the Chinese were the first to invent the modern bureaucratic state that Hallaq problematizes in his account of post-feudal European “modernity.” The critique that Hallaq makes of this modern bureaucratic state finds resonance throughout the millennia of Chinese history. Historically, the Confucians argued against the proponents of a similar fact-value distinction in political life—the “legalist” (fajia, 法家). Philosophically, the Confucians had conclusively won the debate against the legalists in dynastic China and the historic Chinese state and its political culture disavowed of the kind of fact-value distinction championed by the legalists. However, in contemporary times, due to the attempt by Western knowledge production to globalize the “modern” state, there has been a revival of legalism by Western scholars. This paper situates the revival within the context of Hallaq’s powerful critique, which frames the West’s attempt to globalize its political models as a form of epistemic colonization. Full article

This study investigates consumer knowledge, perceptions, and purchasing behaviors regarding products with geographical indications and certifications in the Campania region. Traditional Agri-Food Product (PAT) is the regional label used in Italy to identify traditional products whose distribution is so limited that they do not qualify for PDO or PGI designation. In this view, this research examines the diffusion of such products, their economic and sustainability attributes, and alignment with modern objectives, including environmental impact reduction, rural development, and the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023–2027. Using a structured questionnaire administered to a sample of 706 respondents, the study combines descriptive statistics and econometric analysis, trying to identify key factors influencing Willingness to Pay (WTP) for certified products and knowledge of certifications. Findings reveal that education, knowledge of certifications, and lifestyle factors positively affect WTP, highlighting opportunities for targeted marketing and awareness campaigns, also emphasizing critical issues in view of new trade scenarios (e.g., Mercosur agreement) and climate change. Full article

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous combustion-derived contaminants that represent a significant cross-cutting threat to human, animal, and environmental health. Viewed through an explicit One Health lens, this review shows how the shared combustion sources, evolutionarily conserved toxicological mechanisms, and food-web linkages connecting environmental contamination to wildlife and human exposure justify an integrated, cross-domain approach to PAH risk assessment and management. PAHs are generated predominantly through incomplete combustion of organic materials and are globally distributed through atmospheric transport, aquatic runoff, and food-web transfer, persisting in soils and sediments for decades. The present review synthesizes current knowledge on PAHs through an explicit One Health lens, examining shared sources, environmental fate, and convergent health effects across species and health domains, while also highlighting the need to move beyond the classical US EPA priority PAHs to include high-molecular-weight PAHs (>302 Da), alkylated homologues, and transformation products such as oxy- and nitro-PAHs. Common pathways such as dietary intake of grilled and smoked foods, inhalation of contaminated air, and occupational exposure create parallel toxicological burdens in both human and wildlife populations, particularly through genotoxic mechanisms mediated by aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activation and CYP1A1/CYP1B1-catalyzed bioactivation to reactive diol epoxides. The resulting DNA adduct formation links environmental PAH exposure to carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, immunosuppression, and developmental impairment across vertebrate species with remarkable mechanistic consistency. Wildlife, especially fish, marine mammals, and seabirds, serve as critical sentinels for environmental PAH contamination, while simultaneously facing direct health impacts on immune function, reproduction, and population viability. Vulnerable human populations, including children, subsistence communities, occupational workers, and residents near combustion-intensive industries, bear disproportionate burdens reflecting underlying environmental justice concerns. Integrated intervention strategies encompassing source control, dietary exposure reduction, site remediation, and coordinated biomonitoring are urgently needed. By incorporating emerging PAH classes with distinct persistence, trophic behavior, and toxicological potency, the One Health paradigm provides a more comprehensive conceptual framework for modern environmental surveillance, food safety, and integrated risk assessment, recognizing that the health of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is inseparable from that of the animals and humans within them. Full article

Gemmotherapy is a branch of phytotherapy based on the use of extracts derived from plant meristematic tissues, including buds, young shoots, and sprouts. Due to their embryonic nature and high metabolic activity, these tissues constitute a concentrated source of bioactive compounds such as polyphenols, phytohormones, amino acids, vitamins, and enzymes. The unique phytochemical profile of bud extracts, together with synergistic interactions within the phytocomplex, contributes to their enhanced biological activity compared to mature plant materials. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge on the chemical composition, extraction technologies, and biological properties of gemmotherapeutic preparations. Particular attention is given to both traditional and modern extraction methods, including glycerin maceration and pulsed ultrasound-assisted extraction, as well as factors affecting the quality and variability of the obtained extracts. Available evidence indicates that gemmotherapeutic preparations exhibit a broad spectrum of biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer effects. These properties suggest their potential application as supportive agents in the management of chronic inflammatory diseases, metabolic disorders, and infections, as well as in functional foods and natural cosmetics. However, the lack of standardized production protocols, variability of raw materials, and limited clinical evidence remain significant challenges. Further research focusing on advanced analytical techniques, metabolomic profiling, and clinical validation is essential for the integration of gemmotherapy into evidence-based medicine. Full article

The agricultural sector in Mexico, specifically the coffee and sugarcane supply chains, faces the critical challenge of reconciling economic profitability with environmental sustainability and rural social progress. This study presents a critical literature review and conceptual framework that evaluates existing analytical models and proposes methodological integration pathways to simultaneously optimize Triple bottom line (TBL) dimensions in vulnerable smallholder systems. Unlike prior reviews that focus on generic Sustainable Supply chain management (SSCM) practices, this work explicitly addresses the suitability and limitations of multi-objective optimization (MOO) and Life cycle assessment (LCA) for regenerative supply chain objectives in the Mexican coffee and sugarcane context. A critical review of 76 core articles published between 2020 and 2025 was conducted, employing comparative evaluation criteria and narrative synthesis to assess trade-offs, data requirements, and scalability constraints. The review reveals that while agricultural intensification often exacerbates environmental degradation, the adoption of sustainable practices can impose significant financial burdens on vulnerable smallholders. However, analytical models like MOO and LCA serve as robust decision-support systems that effectively evaluate trade-offs and balance competing economic, environmental, and social objectives by identifying optimal production scenarios. The contribution of this work is threefold: (1) a critical synthesis distinguishing regenerative from sustainable supply chain paradigms, (2) a comparative assessment of analytical model applicability to smallholder contexts, and (3) a conceptual framework integrating local socioeconomic realities, traditional knowledge, and modern technological approaches. Fostering resilient supply chains in Mexico requires customized analytical frameworks that explicitly operationalize social indicators, address data limitations, and enable cross-sector collaboration. Ultimately, localized models are essential to simultaneously enhance rural livelihoods, reduce carbon footprints, and maintain economic viability. Full article