Zasebni vodnjaki in vrtine na območju Ljubljane

The book includes water protection areas near the pumping stations of drinkable water on Ljubljansko polje, consequently in the City municipality of Ljubljana and in the water protection area of the water plant Brest in the neighbouring municipality of Ig. The area of Ljubljansko barje was also included in the study.Water wells have, besides the basic function of preserving water, also an aesthetic and symbolic meaning. Many fountains in public and private use are true works of art, but that wasn't the main interest of our study. We concentrated mostly on private water wells and bores, which are not registered and therefore not supervised.Knjiga celovito obravnava zasebne vodnjake in vrtine na območju Ljubljane, zlasti z vidika varovanja okolja in še posebej podzemne vode. Podrobno so preučena vodovarstvena območja ob črpališčih pitne vode na Ljubljanskem polju, torej v Mestni občini Ljubljana, ter na vodovarstvenem območju vodarne Brest v sosednji občini Ig. Vodnjake smo raziskali tudi na vmesnem Ljubljanskem barju. Vodnjaki imajo lahko poleg temeljne funkcije oskrbovanja z vodo tudi estetski in simbolni pomen. Osredotočili smo se izključno na zasebne vodnjake in vrtine, ki niso registrirani in so zato nenadzorovani. S podrobnim terenskim delom smo jih evidentirali 1686, od tega smo jih 1294 natančno popisali. Čeprav gre za študijo v konkretni slovenski pokrajini, je knjiga namenjena tudi tistim, ki bi se radi seznanili z metodologijo inventarizacije tovrstnih objektov in jo poskušali prenesti v drugo pokrajino

Dumping sites in the Ljubljansko polje water protection area, the primary source of Ljubljana's drinking water

Ljubljansko polje is a gravel plain lying along the Sava River north of Ljubljana. Although built-up areas are steadily expanding, the water protection area has helped preserve the character of relatively intensely cultivated agricultural land at least in its central part. However, illegal dumping sites pose a threat to the groundwater in the gravel aquifer. In the narrowest and narrow water protection areas of Ljubljansko polje, we have found, registered, and studied 1,445 illegal dumping sites with a total surface area amounting to 120,816 m2 and a total volume of 209,422 m3. A good seventh (13.5%) of the total waste is hazardous. In the area surveyed, we also registered 86 gravel pits, 47 information and warning signs, and 57 road barriers on access roads. In time, it will be necessary to rehabilitate all the illegal dumping sites; however, due to the large quantity of waste it is unrealistic to expect this to happen in one go, and we have therefore established a priority schedule for the rehabilitation

Dung Installations as Dangerous Point Sources Burdening the Groundwater of Ljubljansko Polje

On Ljubljansko polje, we registered 155 farmers with barns, mostly with the separate collec-tion of dung with litter and dung-water. We surveyed 307 dung installations, of which 151 were dunghills and 156 dung-pits. The traditional method of storing cattle manure in dunghills on top of dung-pits dom-inates. Some 231 of the dung installations are properly arranged, and almost two thirds have a suitable capacity

Assessing the suitability of planned garden-plot areas in Ljubljana

This article examines garden plots in Ljubljana to present the planning of this self-sufficient vegetable production activity, which developed mostly spontaneously in all urban environments in and around Ljubljana. Some residents of Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital, are involved in this activity not so much because of economic necessity but because it provides recreation and relaxation, meets their need for direct contact with nature, and offers them an opportunity to produce healthy food. Typically, older people are involved in this activity, among which the number of highly educated people is unexpectedly high. The majority are happy with the plot-gardening situation. The city government has begun systematically removing garden plots in unsuitable locations, and has drafted a proposal to organize gardening areas in a way that does not pollute the environment, and at the same time provide them with suitable infrastructure. We evaluated the appropriateness of the planned locations in the draft City Municipality of Ljubljana Zoning Implementation Plan on the basis of the fulfillment of key exclusion and attraction criteria that were established based on survey answers included in support of the decision-making with the help of GIS tools. Decision-making by consensus, inclusion of public stakeholders, and establishing dialog between the city government and garden-plot users will need to be ensured in carrying out this plan

Plant cells in urine of patients with bricker ileal conduit

V citoloških vzorcih občasno opazimo različne kontaminante, kot so smukec, kristali in nitke bombažne vate. Pri rutinskem pregledovanju citoloških vzorcev urina za malignost smo občasno opazili kontaminacijo preparatov z rastlinskimi celicami. Ugotovili smo, da so bile prisotne samo pri bolnikih, ki so imeli narejen obvod urina po Brickerju. Preparate urina za rutinsko citopatološko preiskavo smo pripravili z membransko filtracijo, jih fiksirali v Delaunayu in jih pobarvali po Papanicolaouu. Pregledali smo jih s svetlobnim mikroskopom. Pripravili smo tudi preparate iz kožnih podlog podjetij Coloplast in ConvaTec, ki jih stomisti uporabljajo za pritrditev vrečke na urostomo. Samo v Coloplastovih kožnih podlogah smo našli rastlinske celice, ki so bile morfološko enake rastlinskim celicam v urinu bolnikov z Brickerjevim mehurjem. Pripravili smo tudi preparate iz različnih snovi, ki so sestavni del kožnih podlog. Rastlinske celice so bile prisotne samo v preparatih guar gumija, ki ga pridobivajo iz semen rastline Cyamopsis tetragonoloba. Rastlinske celice so se po velikosti, obliki in barvi močno razlikovale od epitelijskih črevesnih celic, ki so prisotne v urinu bolnikov z Brickerjevim mehurjem, zato bi jih tudi neizkušen presejalec težko zamenjal z displastičnimi človeškimi celicami. Pomembno pa je, da vse elemente, ki jih najdemo v celičnih vzorcih, prepoznamo in da pri neobičajnih najdbah, kot so rastlinske celice, tudi razložimo, kako je prišlo do kontaminacije vzorca.Cytology samples occasionally reveal different contaminants, such as talc, crystals and cotton wool strings. The routine examination of cytology urine samples to confirm malignancy occasionally showed contamination with plant cell. We have established that they were present only in patients with a Bricker ileal conduit. Urine preparations for the routine cytopathological examination were prepared with membrane filtration, fixed in Delaunay solution and stained according to Papanicolaou. They were examined using the light microscope. We also prepared adhesives preparations made by the companies Coloplast and ConvaTec, which are used by the ostomist to attach the bag on the urostomy. Plant cells were found only in the Coloplast adhesives. Morphologically, they were equal to the plant cells found in the urine of patients with a Bricker ileal conduit. To continue, we also provided preparations from different substances, namely adhesives components. Plant cells were present only in the preparations of guar gum, which is produced from Cyamopsis Tetragonoloba seeds. The size, shape and colour of plant cells differed from those of epithelial intestinal cells. The latter are present in the urine of patients with a Bricker ileal conduit, thus even an inexperienced cytotechnologist would have difficulty confusing them with dysplastic human cells. Nevertheless, it is important to take knowledge of all elements found in cell samples and to provide an explanation for sample contamination in the event of unusual findings, such as plant cells

Candidate pathogenicity factor/effector proteins of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’ modulate plant carbohydrate metabolism, accelerate the ascorbate–glutathione cycle, and induce autophagosomes

The pathogenicity of intracellular plant pathogenic bacteria is associated with the action of pathogenicity factors/effectors, but their physiological roles for most phytoplasma species, including ‘Candidiatus Phytoplasma solani’ are unknown. Six putative pathogenicity factors/effectors from six different strains of ‘Ca. P. solani’ were selected by bioinformatic analysis. The way in which they manipulate the host cellular machinery was elucidated by analyzing Nicotiana benthamiana leaves after Agrobacterium-mediated transient transformation with the pathogenicity factor/effector constructs using confocal microscopy, pull-down, and co-immunoprecipitation, and enzyme assays. Candidate pathogenicity factors/effectors were shown to modulate plant carbohydrate metabolism and the ascorbate–glutathione cycle and to induce autophagosomes. PoStoSP06, PoStoSP13, and PoStoSP28 were localized in the nucleus and cytosol. The most active effector in the processes studied was PoStoSP06. PoStoSP18 was associated with an increase in phosphoglucomutase activity, whereas PoStoSP28, previously annotated as an antigenic membrane protein StAMP, specifically interacted with phosphoglucomutase. PoStoSP04 induced only the ascorbate–glutathione cycle along with other pathogenicity factors/effectors. Candidate pathogenicity factors/effectors were involved in reprogramming host carbohydrate metabolism in favor of phytoplasma own growth and infection. They were specifically associated with three distinct metabolic pathways leading to fructose-6-phosphate as an input substrate for glycolysis. The possible significance of autophagosome induction by PoStoSP28 is discussed

Relationship of nuclear genome size, cell volume and nuclei volume in endosperm of Sorghum bicolor

Endosperm cells of Sorghum bicolor undergo several rounds of endoreplication during seed development, resulting in somatic endopolyploidy with cells containing 3 C to 96 C nuclei (1 C represents the amount of DNA in an unreplicated haploid genome). Cells with higher DNA content are larger and contain larger nuclei. The function of large endosperm cells in Sorghum bicolor is storage of starch that will be used in germination. We analysed the ratios of nuclear genome size and volume of nuclei and cells to determine if karyoplasmic ratio is constant in cells of different endopolyploidy levels. Interestingly, the volume of cells and nuclei increases more than can be expected from the increase in genome size alone. Instead, a constant ratio was observed between genome size and surface of cells and nuclei. However, an isometric relationship was found between volume of nuclei and volume of cells, indicating that karyoplasmic ratio is constant in sense of dimensions of cellular compartments, rather than with nuclear genome size alone