Editorial Note: Lakes on the Northern Black Sea coast of Bulgaria

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Geomorphology of Lebanon presents a unique pattern of contrasting landforms. These include two notable mountain ranges, the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains, the Beqaa Valley, the elongated coastal area and a significant amount of karst relief forms. This study focuses on the investigation of the topographic and geologic setting of Lebanon by visualizing datasets covering Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains and the Beqaa Valley. Data were collected using the open source repositories of the high-resolution data (GEBCO, ETOPO1, DEM embedded in R). Three 3D models of the relief of the country are presented based on the ‘grdview’ package of GMT with azimuth rotations of the view point at 205°/30° and 165°/30°. The geologic map is based on the compiled datasets of the USGS. The R based modelling allowed division of the raster grid into several geomorphological zones according to the slope steepness and aspect orientation. The extreme elevations of the study area range from -2007 m and 2973 m. The key contribution of this work is the topographic and geologic data synthesis for 2D and 3D modelling of Lebanon. Another aspect concerns technical integration of GMT and R scripting approaches with QGIS mapping into the cartographic framework for visualizing of the Lebanese topography as a multi-tool approach. For the future similar studies on Lebanon this paper can serve as a guide for completing a project on the multi-source 2D and 3D data mapping as a conceptual foundation for research on Lebanese environment.
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Geomorphology of the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains

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Advances in information technology developments have led to improved ways and means of sharing information and good practices in various areas of social development. Providing the necessary tools enables Citizen Sciences (CS) to play an important role in raising awareness and engaging various stakeholders in the prevention of invasive alien species (IAS). In Bulgaria, up until this point, it is poorly developed, and this is largely due to the lack of information to the general public regarding the categorization of species, pathways of introduction and their negative impact. The article examines the possibilities for introduction and use of an advanced ontological model in the area of invasive alien species research, which will aid the process of involving a wide range of stakeholders in various initiatives that will contribute to preventing the introduction and spread of IAS. The researched approach using the advantages of modern information and communication technologies includes acquaintance with the basic concepts in the area of IAS, the processes related to their introduction and spread, as well as taking into account the existing interrelationships, which would provide opportunities for early detection and the rapid eradication of IAS. The developed model will also be applied to measures and policies put in place to change the attitudes of the general public to the problem of IAS.
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Department of Computer Systems and Informatics, Faculty of Business Administration

Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agronomy

An ontological model to support citizen science in the field of invasive species research

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The aim of this survey is to present an up-to-date list of medicinal plants on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and to systematize the information on: usable parts, the number of medicinal plants used in various fields of medicine, in cosmetics, the degree of toxicity and availability of information on contraindications for all wild medicinal plants that are found in the Republic of Bulgaria. As a result, we identified a total of 845 species of wild medicinal plants. Most of them are described in a special annex to the Medicinal Plants Act of the Republic of Bulgaria. In the literature on the use of medicinal plants in Bulgaria we found information about another 115 species of wild medicinal plants. In the present survey we did review of the usable parts of medicinal plants. We made a comparative analysis of the use of medicinal plants in the official, popular and veterinary medicine. The method of application of medicinal plants in medicine is discussed: externally and internally. Attention is paid to the use of medicinal plants in aromatherapy, dentistry and cosmetics. Considered are the poisonous plants among the medicinal plants and their degree of toxicity. A review of the available data on contraindications for the use of medicinal plants has been made.
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The medicinal plants in Bulgaria: list of species, usable parts, fields of application, toxicity and contraindications

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Improper use of antibiotics is an extremely worrying trend worldwide. This leads to the development of resistance to these drugs. As a result, antibiotics stop working and bacteria continue to grow. The highest levels of resistance, both in our country and worldwide, are to second and third-generation cephalosporins, some aminoglycosides, and others. The reason is that these antibiotics have been used most irrationally over the years. The pandemic of COVID-19 and Antimicrobial drug resistance (AMR) are parallel and interrelated serious health situations, between which there is a causal link, manifested in high mortality among the human population. This review highlights relations between growth rates of antimicrobial resistance and the Covid-19 pandemic situations in Bulgaria and Europe in this fast-growing research area.
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Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy

Department of Microbiology and Virology, Faculty of Medicine

Antimicrobial drug resistance against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria and Europe: A profound review of the available literature sources

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Antibiotics are the main therapy in the treatment of infections caused by pathogenic bacteria. Their frequent and prolonged use leads to the development and spread of resistant microorganisms. According to the WHO, there is a worrying increase in global resistance to conventional antimicrobial therapy. This in turn poses a serious risk to public health and requires the search for an alternative to traditional pathogen therapy. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are of great interest in this regard. They are produced naturally in all living organisms and are the first line of defense against fungi, viruses and bacteria. An example ofAMP with proven antimicrobial action are lactoferricins. They are cationic amphipathic peptides and have been found in both humans (LfcinH) and other mammals (cattle (LfcinB), mice (LfcinM) and goats (LfcinC). The most powerful antibacterial effect among them shows LfcinB. Using SPPS methods, short peptide molecules were obtained, analogs of LfcinB, which show a stronger antibacterial effect compared to the native peptide. In recent years, lactoferricins have been the subject of a number of scientific studies and represent a potential alternative for the development of new therapies to combat antimicrobial drug resistance.
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Short peptide analogs of LfcinB synthesized by Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis as an alternative to global microbial resistance

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The study was conducted during the period 2017 – 2018 at the Agricultural Experimental Station – Khan Krum, Shumen region. The experimental orchard was established in the spring of 2011. The following nectarine cultivars were studied: Fantasia, Golden Grand, Morsiani 51, Cassiopeia and Fairlane grafted on a seedling rootstock (Elberta) and clonal GF 677, as well as the frost – resistant dessert-type cultivar Redhaven. In the period 2017 – 2018, negative temperatures were reported, at the end of March and at the beginning of April (-3.6°C and -5.0 °C respectively)which coincided with the full blooming phenological phase; as a result of which the blossoms froze (76 – 100%). A relatively low percentage of frozen blossoms was observed in cultivars grafted on rootstock GF 677. In 2017, the blossom damage was relatively low and yields were obtained, unlike in 2018. Negative spring temperatures had a negative impact on productivity if blossom damage percentage exceeded 80%.
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Late spring frost effect on the reproductive traits of late nectarine cultivar-rootstock combinations (<italic>Prunus persica</italic> var. <italic>nucipersica</italic>)

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 11 (2024): Issue 1 (March 2024)

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Acta Scientifica Naturalis

 Acta Scientifica Naturalis is the official journal of the Konstantin Preslavsky University of Shumen and has been published with no major interruptions since 1973 under the name of the Annual of the Konstantin Preslavsky University- Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Geography.   The main objective of Acta Scientifica Naturalis is to publish original research findings in the fields of the Natural Sciences and related sciences:    Chemistry - Atmospheric Chemistry, Bioinorganic Chemistry, Bioorganic Chemistry, Catalysis, Combinatorial Chemistry, Computational Chemistry, Coordination Chemistry, Geochemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Macromolecular Chemistry, Materials Science, Medicinal Chemistry, Ocean Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Organometallic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry, Supramolecular Chemistry, Theoretical Chemistry.   Biology and Ecology - Animals Physiology, Anthropology, Applied Ecology, Biochemistry, Bioecology,　Biophysics, Botany, Cell Biology, Embryology, Entomology, General Ecology, Genetics, Helminthology, Human Physiology, Hydrobiology, Immunology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Molecular Genetics, Morphology, Mycology, Neurobiology, Parasitology, Plant Physiology, Radiobiology, Virology, Zoology.   Plant Growing and Plant Protection - Biological Plant Protection, Cereals, Entomology, Fruit growing, Herbology, Horticulture, Integrated Plant Protection, Legumes, Phytopathology, Technical crops, Vegetable production, Viticulture.   Physics - Atomic and Molecular Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, Electromagnetism, Gas Discharge and Plasma Physics, High Energy Physics, Hydrodynamics, Interdisciplinary Physics, Mathematical Physics, Medical Physic, Neutron Physics and Nuclear Reactor, Nuclear Physics, Particle Physics, Radiophysics and Electronics, Theoretical Physics, Thermal Physics, Wave Physics.   Astronomy and Astrophysics - Applied Geophysics, Astrophysics and Stellar Astronomy, Atmospheric Physics, Earth Magnetism and Gravimetry, Geophysics, Heliophysics, Meteorology, Near-Earth Space Physics, Oceanic Physics, Seismology, Stellar Mechanics.   Earth Sciences - Cartography, Climate Change, Geodemography, Geography of Tourism, Geomorphology, GIS, Hydrology, Morphostructurs, Morphotectonic, Paleogeography, Quaternary Movements, Risk, Social Geography.　   Tourism - Cognitive Tourism, Ecotourism, Extreme Tourism, Mountain Tourism, Recreational Tourism, River Tourism, Rural Tourism, Sea Tourism, etc.      The abbreviated title of the journal is ASN, which should be used in bibliographies, footnotes and bibliographical references strips.   Article Publication Charges (APC)   To publish in Acta Scientifica Naturalis, authors are required to pay an article processing charge (EUR 120). It includes our maintenance, publication and submission to global indexing and tracking organizations and archiving to allow instant access to the article and associated supplementary documents for each user.   Archiving   Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.   Plagiarism Policy   The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.   Open Access License   This journal provides immediate open access to its content under the Creative Commons BY 3.0 license. Authors who publish in this journal agree to the terms of the Creative Commons BY 3.0 license. 