Nutrient emission reduction scenarios in the North Sea: An abatement cost and ecosystem integrity analysis

Economic cost–benefit appraisal (and its sub-set cost-effectiveness) of ecosystem conservation and/or pollution abatement strategies have proved to be powerful decision-making aids. But the monetary economic valuation of ecosystem goods and services (gains and losses) can only provide a good indication of social welfare impacts under certain conditions and in selective contexts. The values derived through this appraisal process will, for a number of measures, be underestimates of the full total system value [Turner, R.K., Paavola, J., Cooper, P. Farber, S., Jessamy, V., Georgiou, S., 2003. Valuing nature: lessons learned and future research directions. Ecol. Econ. 46, 493–510]. The economic analysis is best suited to assessing the value of ‘marginal’ gains and losses in ecosystem goods/services and not the total destruction of whole systems (including life support systems, the value of which is not commensurate with monetary values and/or is infinitely high). In this study economic costs and what we call ‘ecological risk’ analysis are used to appraise the implementation costs and ecological benefits of selected measures for combating eutrophication. Ecological risk is expressed in terms of ecosystem integrity and resilience. The paper presents three regional case studies dealing with the issue of nutrient emission reduction to the southern North Sea, namely the catchments/estuaries of the Humber (UK), the Rhine (Germany and The Netherlands) and the Elbe (Czech Republic and Germany). On the basis of these comparative regional examples, wider implications in the light of international management of the North Sea are presented.A range of nutrient reduction scenarios have been deployed within the overall OSPAR target agreement of 50% nitrogen and phosphorous reduction compared with 1985 levels. Each scenario assumes pollution reduction measures, characterised in terms of their overall implementation costs and nutrient-reduction effects. Specific policy instruments analysed were: the creation of more intertidal habitat via managed coastal realignment in the Humber area, farm-based land cover changes in the Rhine catchment and a mix of agricultural regime and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) improvements in the Elbe area. The ecological consequences associated with each reduction scenario have been modelled [using the ERSEM model, see Baretta, J.W., Ebenhöh, W., Ruardij, P., 1995. An overview over the European Regional Sea Ecosystem Model, a complex marine ecosystem model. Neth. J. Sea Res. 33 (3/4), 233–246] for the coastal zones supplied from the rivers Elbe, Humber and Rhine. The modelled ecological quality indicators, which describe scenario effects on the coastal zone ecosystem, are then aggregated in terms of ecosystem integrity and ecological risk. The results are presented in terms of two selected key-indicators: implementation costs of the abatement measures and changes in ecological risk status, across the different catchments and assuming different scenarios. They thus provide a possible basis for international agreement negotiations at the North Sea scale.     

Cost-effective PET investigations in oncology

The authors have reviewed the financial considerations of oncological FDG PET examinations by the guidelines of the Health Care Financing Administration (USA). By critical assessment of large number of clinical investigations,the cost-effectiveness of FDG PET scans has been confirmed in the following cases: differential diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodule, diagnosis,staging and restaging of non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, malignant lymphomas, melanoma malignum, esophageal neoplasms and cancers of the head and neck. The role of this method in breast cancer is currently under intensive investigation. Due to the correct staging, PET examinations in these indications enable the clinicians to choose the optimal treatment ensuring the maximum probability of recovery and being cost-effective as unnecessary medical interventions become avoidable.     

Discovery of an ebolavirus-like filovirus in europe

Filoviruses, amongst the most lethal of primate pathogens, have only been reported as natural infections in sub-Saharan Africa and the Philippines. Infections of bats with the ebolaviruses and marburgviruses do not appear to be associated with disease. Here we report identification in dead insectivorous bats of a genetically distinct filovirus, provisionally named Lloviu virus, after the site of detection, Cueva del Lloviu, in Spain.     

Chromosomal interrelations in the interphase nucleus

The distribution of prekinetochores in human lymphocytes has been studied by indirect immunofluorescence with autoantibodies against kinetochore. Lymphocyte flattening that allowed a 5-6 increase in their size, was suggested in addition to a method of lymphocyte stretching allowing a 10-fold extension. Prekinetochores in flat and stretched lymphocytes are seen settled down as separate pairs. The equal pattern of staining of these prekinetochores in each pair suggests that homologous chromosomes located in pairs.     

Glycine-serine interrelations in the chick.

Glycine and serine are involved in numerous important functions in the body in addition to protein synthesis. Glycine is synthesized by higher animals; however, the rate is not adequate to support maximal growth of the chick. Studies indicate that chicks fed a glycine-serine free crystalline amino acid diet grow at approximately 80% the rate of chicks fed the same diet supplemented with glycine. An equimolar quantity of L-serine has been shown to support equal chick performance as glycine, thus indicating that serine conversion is adequate to meet the dietary need for glycine. The serine-glycine interconversion is catalyzed by the folic acid containing enzyme sering hydroxymethyltransferase, and a deficiency of this vitamin decreases the effectiveness of serine in meeting the chick's dietary need for glycine. Studies with chicks fed normal and high levels of a crystalline amino acid mixture devoid of glycine and serine indicate that the chick has the metabolic potential to synthesize more of these two amino acids than should be required for normal growth. The observed dietary response to glycine or serine or both indicates, however, that this synthetic potential is not being utilized.     

Air pollution abatement in Praque city

Air quality is a major concern in highly populated EU urban areas. European Commission adopted a series of directives to improve air quality. At local, regional, national levels efforts to reduce adverse impacts of poor air quality on human health are taken. Air quality management strategies are discussed and the measures proposed to improve air quality in Prague are compared. As road traffic is a major source for air pollution in EU cities, a Decision Support System (DSS) developed in the framework of the HEAVEN project aims to evaluate the environmental effects of near real-time traffic flows and Transport Demand Management Strategies (TDMS) in large urban areas.     

Preliminary inventory of aerobiological monitoring stations in europe

Summary The IAA Working Group of the European Aeroallergen Network has been gradually set up as result of the great interest shown on the occasion of the 3rd International Conference on Aerobiology (Basel 1986). Presently 21 countries join the EAN. The IAA Working Group, with the aim of stimulating the exchange of aeroallergen information between the various countries in Europe has planned the issue of a booklet containing information on distribution of sampling sites in Europe, collecting and analysing methods, type and availability of allergy service. The sphere of activitie carried out by the IAA Working Group may serve as a model for other parts of the world whenever a network of monitoring stations is being organized and coordinated.     

Formation of cardiomotor interrelations in rat ontogenesis

Age-related transformations and nature of short-term positive and negative oscillations of cardiac contraction rhythm were studied in comparison with periodical spontaneous somatomotor activity bursts in rats for the first 3 weeks after birth. It has been established that both accelerations and decelerations can be independent, precede motor excitation or appear as a consequence of muscle contraction. The main role in genesis of decelerations is played by parasympathetic mechanisms whose action is blocked by atropine. Activation of vagus cardiomotor centers can ether occur spontaneously by producing independent declerations or appear as reaction to motor excitation. Genesis of accelerations is connected with activity of sympathetic nervous system, as they are inhibited under conditions of desympathization or block of adrenoreceptors. The main role in realization of accelerations is played by somatosympathetic reflex, but connection with motor activity can also be effected by the principle of pre-tuning to expected movement.     

Pollination interrelations in some Sour Cherry cultivars

V období ?esti let byly zkoumány vzájemné opylovací poměry i schopnost samosprásění u sedmi významněj?ích kultivar? vi?ní (Cerasus vulgaris Mill.), pěstovaných v ?eskoslovensku. Úspě?nost opylení byla posuzována podle procenta uzrálých plod?. Celkový p?ehled výsledk? podává Tabulka I. Mezi dvěma kultivary (De Olivet a Bruselská hnědá) zji?těna reciproká inkompatibilita. Stanovena tak první inkompatibilitní skupina u vi?ní. V ostatních p?ípadech jde o kombinace v r?zném stupni kompatibilní. Podle celkové úrodnosti a podle opylovací schopnosti sestaveny studované sorty v po?adí, uvedené v tabulce 2. U dvou kultivar? (Körö?ská a Bruselská hnědá) zji?těna naprostá autosterilita, naopak u dvou druhých (Moreillská a Vítova) nalezen vysoký stupeň samospra?nosti. Tyto dvě sorty skýtají rovně? p?i vzájemném opylení vynikající výsledky. Zbývající t?í sorty (De Olivet, Vackova a Ostheimská) jsou jen velmi slabě samospra?né a pot?ebují dobré opylova?e pro zaji?tění úrody.     

Cost-effective in vitro propagation methods for pineapple

We have developed an efficient and cost-effective method for commercial micropropagation of Smooth Cayenne pineapple. In vitro shoots were used as starting materials, and either longitudinal sections of the shoots or leaf bases were used as the explants to regenerate shoots. When these explants were used, the axillary meristems, which usually remain quiescent during shoot multiplication, were able to form new shoots. Subsequent to the regeneration step, additional multiplication was achieved inside a 10-l Nalgene vessel with shoots immersed in liquid medium for 5-10 min/h (periodic immersion bioreactor, PIB). The shoots were then induced to form roots and transferred to soil. Using the above micropropagation method and the PIB, we produced 6,000-8,000 shoots from two initial shoots in less than 6 months. The clonal fidelity of propagated plants was tested in Costa Rican and Indonesian pineapple farms.     

Morpho-functional interrelations in the development of immunologic memory

Data available in literature on immunomorphological aspects of the immunological memory formation are summarized. Features of B memory cells and mechanisms of their activation are analyzed. Relations between antigen localization in the lymphoid follicles, the formation of virgin centres there and induction of B memory cells and organs of the immune system in the immunological memory are discussed.     

The role of conservation agriculture in sustainable agriculture

The paper focuses on conservation agriculture (CA), defined as minimal soil disturbance (no-till, NT) and permanent soil cover (mulch) combined with rotations, as a more sustainable cultivation system for the future. Cultivation and tillage play an important role in agriculture. The benefits of tillage in agriculture are explored before introducing conservation tillage (CT), a practice that was borne out of the American dust bowl of the 1930s. The paper then describes the benefits of CA, a suggested improvement on CT, where NT, mulch and rotations significantly improve soil properties and other biotic factors. The paper concludes that CA is a more sustainable and environmentally friendly management system for cultivating crops. Case studies from the rice-wheat areas of the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia and the irrigated maize-wheat systems of Northwest Mexico are used to describe how CA practices have been used in these two environments to raise production sustainably and profitably. Benefits in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on global warming are also discussed. The paper concludes that agriculture in the next decade will have to sustainably produce more food from less land through more efficient use of natural resources and with minimal impact on the environment in order to meet growing population demands. Promoting and adopting CA management systems can help meet this goal.     

Histo-functional interrelations of the atrial hemomicrocirculatory bed in ontogenesis

In 110 hearts of corpses of fetuses beginning from 7 months of age and those of persons up to the age of 86 years, using various histological techniques, as well as in 20 canine hearts, using certain histochemical techniques, interrelations of the hemomicrocirculatory bed, myocardiocytes, elements of the connective tissue have been studied. Application of correlative and analysis of variance makes it possible to reveal direction and significance of the connections between the structural components of the atrial walls, as well as influence of age on the parameters investigated. The interrelations and interconnections between separate components of the atrial structural organization are complex, they change in the process of individual development, reflect development of the atrial wall and the heart as a whole.     

Generic interrelations of purple bacteria in the genus Rhodopseudomonas

The technique of DNA--DNA hybridization was used to study relations offween purple nonsulfur bacteria (the family Rhodospirillaceae). The level of homologies with Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides 8259 was nearly the same for different species (8-17%) in the genus Rhodopseudomonas under the conditions optimal for hybridization. The same level of homologies was found for the DNA of Rhodospirillum rubrum, a species belonging to another genus of purple nonsulfur bacteria (13%). Rhodomicrobium vannielli was most remote from R. sphaeroides 8259 (3%). Similar results were obtained under other conditions of hybridization. The intraspecial heterogeneity of R. sphaeroides was studied in this work. The thermal stability of hybrid duplexes was analysed. The results are indicative of a considerable divergence of different R. sphaeroides strains (delta T50 = 2.1-11.6).