Epidemiological analysis of Klebsiella infections at a neonate department.

At the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of a Brno hospital, 133 Klebsiella strains were isolated from 23 mothers and 58 neonates during a period of increased incidence of Klebsiella and 73 strains were examined in the laboratory. The control group was comprised by 78 Klebsiella strains isolated at three other Brno hospitals. Four prevailing Klebsiella types were identified using bacteriocinotyping and phagotyping. Different bacteriocinotypes and phagotypes were found to prevail at certain intervals both at the examined clinic and in control patients from Brno hospitals. The findings suggest circulation of certain Klebsiella types and their introduction to hospitals. Most infants (37 out of 45, i.e. 82%) were colonized by Klebsiella, their mothers remaining without colonization. The factors influencing the onset and transmission of nosocomial infections in infants are discussed.     

Scientific Breeding in Central Europe during the Early Nineteenth Century: Background to Mendel’s Later Work

Efforts to bring science into early 19th century breeding practices in Central Europe, organised from Brno, the Hapsburg city in which Mendel would later turn breeding experiments into a body of timeless theory, are here considered as a significant prelude to the great discovery. During those years prior to Mendel’s arrival in Brno, enlightened breeders were seeking ways to regulate the process of heredity, which they viewed as a force to be controlled. Many were specialising in sheep breeding for the benefit of the local wool industry while others were showing an interest in commercial plants, especially fruit trees and vines, and later cereals. Breeders explained their problems in regulating heredity in terms of (1) climatic influences (2) disruption due to crossing (3) sports or saltations. Practical experience led them to the concepts of ‘inheritance capacity’ and the ‘mutual elective affinity’ of parents. The former was seen to differ among individuals and also among traits; the latter was proposed as a means of adding strength to heredity. The breeders came to recognise that traits might be hidden and yet transmitted as a ‘potential’ to future generations. They also grew to understand that heredity would be strengthened when a quality was ‘fixed’ within a lineage by ‘pure blood relations.’ Continued selection of the desired quality might then lead to ‘a higher perfection.’ But the ultimate ‘physiological’ question about breeding, ‘what is inherited and how?,’ found no answer. Major figures in this development included Abbot Napp, the one who asked this question and who was due to receive Mendel into the monastery in 1843, and Professor Diebl whose lectures on agriculture and natural science at the Brno Philosophical Institute Mendel would attend in 1846. Here we analyse their progress in theorizing about breeding up until about 1840. In discussing this development, we refer to certain international contacts, especially with respect to information transfer and scientific education, within the wider context of the late Enlightenment.     

A classification of the deciduous forest of eastern North America

Data from 300 forest stands, scattered over 29 states within the eastern North American deciduous forest, were subjected to detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) in an effort to identify classifiable units. Most species are widespread which provide a great deal of continuity in the vegetation.The deciduous forest can be divided into three forest regions: (1) northern, (2) central and (3) southern. The northern region corresponds to the hemlock-white pine-northern hardwood forest of Braun (1950). The central region includes the beech-maple and oak-hickory forests. The beech-maple as identified here includes the mixed mesophytic, beech-maple, maple-basswood and about half of the western mesophytic forests of Braun (1950). The oak-hickory includes Braun's oak-hickory, oak-chestnut and about half of the western mesophytic forests. The southern region coincides with the southern mixed hardwood forests.     

豫南黏板土壤分层酸化和耕层速效磷分布特征

黄淮海平原南部以黄褐土和砂姜黑土等为代表的耕地土壤酸化趋势明显.为深入认识该类型黏板土壤垂直剖面上pH值和耕层养分的空间变异情况,以豫南西平县为例,对县域范围内63个耕地样点进行pH值和速效磷测定,运用地统计学方法和ArcGIS技术分析不同深度土壤pH值和耕层土壤(0～20 cm)速效磷的空间分布状况,并分析了pH值与...     

Ragweed in the Czech Republic

During the last years, a well documented expansion ofragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., Ambrosia trifida L.) over the Mediterranean andtemperate Europe has been in progress. The currentdistribution of ragweed plants in the Czech Republicis summarized and the ragweed pollen concentration asmonitored by 12 pollen stations in the country isdiscussed. The present situation in the ragweed pollensensitization among children and adults with pollenallergy in Brno is described. So far no dangerousexpansion of ragweed plants in our country has beenobserved. Ragweed pollen concentration is occasionallysignificant in the Brno station only, other pollenstations are reporting insignificant amounts ofragweed pollen during August-September periods,although there has been a steady increase in ragweedpollen concentration in the Prague area over the lastfive years. Skin prick tests and/or specific IgEmeasurements with ragweed allergen were performed on94 children with pollen allergy in the Brno region in1995 and on 206, 210 and 229 adult allergic patientsin 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively. Positive skinreaction or positive specific IgE to ragweed was foundin 22% children and in 25% (1995), 19% (1996) and 25% (1997) adults with pollen allergy. It isconcluded that ragweed does not seem to represent anyimminent major threat to the allergic population inthe Czech Republic until now, however, it remains apotentially very dangerous allergen.     

Cultured epidermal allografts: Quantitative evaluation of their healing effect in deep dermal burns

This study summarizes the Brno Burn Centre experience with the application of cultured epidermal allografts (CEAl) in the treatment of deep dermal burns. In a prospective randomised trial on 30 patients with deep dermal burns CEAl obtained from young healthy and examined donors and fixed on tulle grass carrier (Grasolind) were compared with empty Grasolind as the lowest layer of dressing. All the other layers were identical. Both kinds of dressing were applied simultaneously on the same deep dermal burn wound between 6th and 10th day after burn. Six days later the non-healed wound areas were recorded through painting on cellophane membrane and scanned in the computer. The percentage of wound reduction was calculated and statistically evaluated. The reduction of the non-epithelialized wound area was 86.5% when covered through CEAl and only 71.2% when covered with tulle grass (Grasolind) only. This difference is statistically significant. In conclusion it can be stated that cultured epidermal allografts strongly stimulate reepithelialisation in deep dermal burns. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ecology of the Pteridophytes on the Southern Slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Part II: Habitat Selection

Abstract: Based on the evalutation of 957 vegetation plots on the southern slope of Mt. Kilimanjaro, habitat preferences for 140 species of pteridophytes were evaluated. Using the average percentage cover value, and taking into account the pteridophyte flora's composition, life form spectra and its spectra of seasonal growth pattern, eight vegetation formations were recognized. Ferns contributed less than 1 % of the vegetation cover of salt marshes, ruderal vegetation, grasslands and (sub-)alpine heathlands. In contrast, pteridophytes constituted the most important vascular plant group on rocks, where 64 species were found, forming about two-thirds of the vegetation cover. With respect to alpha and beta diversity and fern biomass, luxuriant montane forest was the main habitat for pteridophytes on Mt. Kilimanjaro. Here 130 pteridophyte species (93 % of the whole pteridophyte flora of the study area), on average, contributed 16 % of the total vegetation cover. Epiphytic ferns, tree ferns and filmy ferns had their main distribution between 1900 and 2400 m, in a zone coinciding with the maximum rainfall on Mt. Kilimanjaro's southern slope.
Poikilohydrous species were typical of dry habitats, such as on rocks, in meadows or along roadsides, but they also occurred in the often sun-exposed epiphyte layer in moist montane forests. Deciduous species, which were in many cases fire resistant, had a similar distribution; however, inside the forest belt they were restricted to the lower and upper parts, where fires are a common phenomenon. Evergreen species were the dominant group in swamps, forests and forest clearings.
Compared to other volcanoes in East Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro is distinctly richer in fern species in general and in filmy ferns, tree ferns and epiphytic ferns in particular, suggesting that the forest belt of the southern slope of Mt. Kilimanjaro is wetter than those of other high mountains in East Africa.     

Une nouvelle faune de vertébrés continentaux,associée à des artefacts dans le Pléistocène inférieur de l’Hérault (Sud de la France), vers 1,57 Ma

A new vertebrate fauna associated with lithic artefacts from the Early Pleistocene of the Hérault Valley (southern France) dated around 1.57 Ma. Some lithic artefacts associated with an Early Pleistocene (Upper Villafranchian) vertebrate fossil assemblage have been found from a quarry exploited for basalt in the lower Hérault Valley (Languedoc, southern France) at the Lézignan-le-Cèbe locality. A preliminary patrimony expertise led us to identify about 20 vertebrate taxa, and the autumnal rainfalls revealed the presence of roughly 30 lithic artefacts of “pebble culture” type. A basalt layer dated at 1.57 My directly overlies the fossiliferous level, extends along the little hill (locus 2) yielding artefacts. These new promising data offer new perspectives to improve our understanding of Early Pleistocene ecosystems (and possibly ancient hominin occupation) of southern Europe.     

Adaptation and functional water management through land use change

The International Landscape Ecology Conference on “Landscape Structures, Functions and Management: Response to Global Ecological Change” hosted by the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno and the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic) in association with the Czech regional chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (CZ-IALE), and supported by the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic, was held from September 3–7, 2010 in Brno, Czech Republic. At 9 parallel symposia of this meeting, 107 oral presentations (including 10 keynote speeches) and 64 posters by representatives from 19 countries were presented. The primary goals of the conference were to provide a forum for the dissemination and discussion of recent research findings, to explore future directions for water management at the landscape level and to foster interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers of all ages and from many countries. This editorial briefly describes the conference, which served as the source of the selected papers, and explains the main aspects of these papers. It highlights papers on issues related to water management under changing climate and land use at landscape and watershed levels, presented mostly at the session on functional water management through land use change.     

Abbey ambitions to celebrate home of genetics

A century and a half after the ground-breaking work by Gregor Mendel in establishing the foundation of genetics, efforts are under way to develop a fitting commemoration of his work at his abbey home in Brno. Nigel Williams reports.     

Morphological and pollen differentiation in Solanum cardiophyllum ssp. cardiophyllum and S. cardiophyllum ssp. ehrenbergii

A multivariate analysis to differentiate morphologically the populations of wild potatoes Solanum cardiophyllum ssp. cardiophyllum and S. cardiophyllum ssp. ehrenbergii was carried out. An analysis of the morphology and the viability of pollen of these potato populations was also made. The results of the morphometric analysis indicate that both subspecies are phenetically different. The pollen grain shape and size in ssp. cardiophyllum are different in northern and southern populations. Pollen diameter is significantly different between subspecies. Based on these results we propose that these taxa should be considered as two separate species.  © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2002, 140 , 415–426.     

肉疣衣属中国新记录种——乌普萨拉肉疣衣

采用形态解剖、化学、生态类型及地理成分分析等传统分类方法对新疆天山南部巴音布鲁克山区地衣外部形态和内部构造、地衣附属结构、地衣繁殖器官进行观察。利用显色反应法(CT)、微量化学结晶法(MCT)、薄层层析法(TLC)等生物化学方法,鉴定地衣次生代谢产物,发现了1个中国新记录种:乌普萨拉肉疣衣[Ochrolechia upsaliensis(L.)A.Massal]。文中描述了该新记录种地衣的形态解剖、化学特征和生境,并提供了地衣体、子囊及子囊孢子的彩色图片。     

Vegetation history of Lago Battaglia (eastern Gargano coast,Apulia, Italy) during the middle-late Holocene

A pollen and charcoal record from Gargano (southern Italy) provides new information on the vegetation history and environmental change in southern Italy during the middle to late Holocene. The chronological framework is provided by six AMS radiocarbon dates carried out on plant macroremains. Pollen diagrams record a Mediterranean vegetation along the coastland and a stable mixed oak forest at higher elevations between ca. 5900 and 4200 cal b.p. A sharp and dramatic fall of tree pollen concentrations and a change in fire frequencies occurred from approximately 4200 cal b.p. suggesting a climate change towards drier conditions. This event is coherent with regional and extra-regional palaeoclimatic records that suggest that a mid-Holocene dry period was experienced in southern Italy, southern Spain, and perhaps further afield. Human impact on vegetation seems to have occurred since about 2700 cal b.p.     

河北南部太行山区珍稀濒危植物的调查研究

河北南部山区属于太行山脉南段。在全面本底调查的基础上,依据一定的原则和标准,确定了河北南部太行山区珍稀濒危植物的种类及其保护级别,并对导致植物濒危的因素进行了分析。     

Decomposition of beech wood and holocelulose by mycelium-free culture medium

The purpose of this paper is to compare some results achieved in the enzymatic decay of beech wood meal and holocelulose affected by mycelium-free culture filtrate of wood destroying fungusSchizophyllum commune. The fungus had been obtained from the Institute of Plant Physiology, J. E. Purkyně University, Brno.     

太行山南段油松群落物种多样性研究

油松是太行山区重要的植树造林树种。本文以太行山南段为研究区域,采用随机取样法对武乡、黎城、襄垣、平顺、壶关、屯留6个地区油松的物种多样性与群落多样性进行了分析比较。结果表明:(1)6个地区油松群落中共有种子植物34科70属81种,包含乔木4科4属5种、灌木7科12属15种、草本23科54属61种;(2)太行山南段油松群落种子植物属的区系成分类型多样,以温带成分占绝对优势;(3)武乡、黎城、襄垣、平顺、壶关5个地区油松群落的物种多样性表现出较为一致的变化趋势,即草本层灌木层乔木层,而屯留的不同功能群物种多样性表现为草本层=灌木层乔木层;(4)6个地区油松群落多样性从高到低依次为平顺黎城襄垣武乡屯留壶关;(5)油松群落多样性和物种多样性水平受群落演替进程、地理环境、人为干扰等诸多因子的协同作用。     

宁南山区不同乔木林地土壤干层分布及干燥化特征

以宁南山区典型坡面不同人工林地为研究对象,分层采集0~600 cm土样,分析杏树(Armeniaca vulgaris)、杨树(Populus simonii)、榆树(Ulmus pumila)、刺槐(Robinia pseudoacacia)和松树(Pinus sylvestris var.mongolica)及农田(对照)土壤含水量垂直剖面分布特征,采用干燥化指数(SID)、土壤水分相对亏缺指数(CSWDI)、干层起始深度(DSLFD)、干层厚度(DSLT)和干层内平均含水量(DSL-SWC)等指标对土壤干燥化强度和干层分布特征进行分析,利用冗余分析(RDA)确定相关环境因子对土壤干燥化和干层的影响,为黄土高原山区植被合理利用水土资源和生态恢复等提供数据支撑。结果表明:(1)杏树、杨树、榆树、刺槐、松树土壤水分均属中等变异,且0~600 cm平均土壤含水量与对照农田相比分别降低了31.17%、24.15%、23.19%、29.67%和18.35%。(2)不同人工林地干层起始深度、干层厚度及垂直剖面土壤水分分布明显不同,杏树、杨树、榆树、刺槐、松树和农田土壤干层起始深度分别为90、160、140、140、160和600 cm,干层厚度分别为510、460、480、480、460和0 cm。(3)杏树、杨树、榆树、刺槐和松树0~600 cm平均土壤干燥化指数分别为63.48%、91.88%、95.17%、73.97%和111.91%,土壤水分相对亏缺指数分别为0.68、0.59、0.52、0.63和0.41,其土壤水分干燥化强度及亏缺程度由高到低依次为杏树>刺槐>杨树>榆树>松树。(4)RDA分析结果表明,乔木类型、黏粒含量和地形条件是影响土壤干燥化的重要因素。     

Human health risk assessment and sources analysis of nitrate in shallow groundwater of the Liujiang basin,China

High levels of nitrates in groundwater pose a risk to human health. Hence, groundwater-human health risk assessment and sources analysis are essential. The article aims to assess risk level and identify sources of nitrate in shallow groundwater of the Liujiang basin by using a human health risk assessment (HHRA) model, Factor analysis (FA) and GIS spatial analysis. The results indicated that the most serious pollution was distributed in southern region of the basin; about 60% of the samples exceeded the recommended limit of nitrate as per the World Health Organization limit. Moreover, ingants' health risk were greater than those of adults and children, and about 56% of the groundwater samples will put the infants at risk of health. FA was used to identify various underlying natural and anthropogenic processes that created these distinct risk levels. The FA results can be categorized by two major factors: (1) Organic fertilizers and sewage discharge contamination in central region. (2) Blocking effect of granite and redox conditions in southern parts. This study demonstrates that the great variation of nitrate risk levels in the basin should be attributed to both natural and anthropogenic processes.     

Piscivorous fishes diet dominated by the Asian cyprinid invader,topmouth gudgeon (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudorasbora parva</Emphasis>)

Predation on the non-native cyprinid, Pseudorasbora parva, was reported during an annual study in a small connecting canal about 40 km south of Brno, Czech Republic. Two cyprinid fish species (Pseudorasbora parva, Rutilus rutilus) were identified in the diet of 23 piscivores belonging to three native fishes (Perca fluviatilis, Sander lucioperca, Esox lucius). The relative abundance of prey fishes changed seasonally and was dominated by the topmouth gudgeon in spring. Thereafter roach incidence continuously increased. In contrast, topmouth gudgeon was found to be a more sized-available prey and was the most dominant prey species in the diet of all piscivorous fishes during the whole season. Strong piscivory towards this alien might be beneficial for its eradication or control to support ecological integrity in natural and modified seminatural habitats.     

Mammalian endemism,range size and conservation status in the southern temperate zone

Aim To examine the taxonomic uniqueness, range sizes, endemism and conservation status of southern temperate zone mammals and how factors impacting their conservation differ across hemispheres. Location Land surfaces of all continents (with the exception of Antarctica) and continental islands with an emphasis on the southern temperate hemisphere (land south of the Tropic of Capricorn). Methods We used data from the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to characterize conservation status, threats and range sizes to compare northern and southern temperate zone mammals. We assessed the taxonomic uniqueness of the two regions as derived from the EDGE programme. We also conducted a gap analysis by overlapping mammal ranges with protected area coverages for temperate regions. Results Southern temperate species are phylogenetically more unique than in the Northern Hemisphere. The endemics have significantly smaller range sizes and are at a significantly greater risk of extinction (about 50% greater, with 24.7% of species being threatened versus 15.6% in the Northern Hemisphere). Finally, southern temperate endemics are significantly more likely to exist outside protected areas (13.38% versus 3.65%). Main conclusions The southern temperate zone harbours a unique fauna, attributed to the long isolation from the northern temperate zone. Temperate regions are heavily exploited for human activities, especially grazing and agriculture. The Southern Hemisphere is particularly susceptible to disturbance, given the small range sizes of its species and the low degree of protected area coverage. The scenario now is one of regions with numerous endemics under high threat from human activities.