Naturschutzleistungen des Ökologischen Landbaus: Wiederansiedlung seltener und gefährdeter Ackerwildpflanzen naturräumlicher Herkünfte auf Ökobetrieben

Die Intensivierung der Landwirtschaft hat zum Rückgang vieler Ackerwildpflanzen geführt. Der Ökologische Landbau bietet günstige Voraussetzungen für ihren Schutz. Wie entsprechende Populationen etabliert werden können, untersuchte ein Verbundprojekt der Bayerischen Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft, der Technischen Universität München und der Universität Kassel. Die AG Freising untersuchte drei seltene winterannuelle Arten (Consolida regalis, Legousia speculumveneris, Lithospermum arvense) in mehrfaktoriellen Feldversuchen, in Praxisaus-saaten auf Bio-Betrieben sowie in Gewächshausexperimenten. Messgrößen waren Individuendichte, Samenproduktion und Bodensamenvorrat der Zielarten, zudem wurde der Ertrag der Feldfrüchte bestimmt. Frühe Herbstsaaten und geringe Konkurrenz durch Kulturen brachten beste Erfolge. Zur erfolgreichen Ansiedlung der Ackerwildkräuter wird eine Aussaat in Blanksaat oder in reduziert gesäten Winterungen, wie Dinkel oder Roggen, bis spätestens Mitte Oktober empfohlen. Klee-Gras und Sommerungen wie Erbsen ermöglichten kaum bzw. kein Auflaufen der Zielarten, die jedoch teils im Bodensamenvorrat überdauern. Die AG Witzenhausen untersuchte die Wiederansiedlung von Ackerwildkräutern auf Praxis-betrieben. Dazu wurden artenreiche Spenderflächen identifiziert und autochthones Saatgut gefährdeter Arten entnommen. Samenmischungen wurden in Blühfenster und den benachbarten Getreidebestand ausgebracht. Zudem wurde die Übertragung von Oberboden arten-reicher Flächen getestet. Im Anlagejahr konnte sich bei beiden Verfahren ein Teil der eingebrachten Arten reproduzieren. Dies gelang bei Konkurrenz mit Getreide tendenziell schlechter. In den Folgejahren konnten bei Anbau von Getreide wiederum einige Arten nachgewiesen werden; die meisten Samen gelangten bei Bodenbearbeitung in tiefere Bodenschichten und reicherten die Samenbank an. Praxisempfehlungen zur Wiederansiedlung von Ackerwildkräutern auf ökologisch bewirtschafteten Äckern wurden als Broschüre veröffentlicht

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Developing an efficient phase-matched attenuation correction method for quiescent period PET in abdominal PET/MRI

Respiratory motion causes misalignments between positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance (MR)-derived attenuation maps (µ-maps) in addition to artifacts on both PET and MR images in simultaneous PET/MRI for organs such as liver that can experience motion of several centimeters. To address this problem, we developed an efficient MR-based attenuation correction (MRAC) method to generate phase-matched µ-maps for quiescent period PET (PETQ) in abdominal PET/MRI. MRAC data was acquired with CIRcular Cartesian UnderSampling (CIRCUS) sampling during 100 s in free-breathing as an accelerated data acquisition strategy for phase-matched MRAC (MRACPM-CIRCUS). For comparison, MRAC data with raster (Default) k-space sampling was also acquired during 100 s in free-breathing (MRACPM-Default), and used to evaluate MRACPM-CIRCUS as well as un-matched MRAC (MRACUM) that was un-gated. We purposefully oversampled the MRACPM data to ensure we had enough information to capture all respiratory phases to make this comparison as robust as possible. The proposed MRACPM-CIRCUS was evaluated in 17 patients with 68Ga-DOTA-TOC PET/MRI exams, suspected of having neuroendocrine tumors or liver metastases. Effects of CIRCUS sampling for accelerating a data acquisition were evaluated by simulating the data acquisition time retrospectively in increments of 5 s. Effects of MRACPM-CIRCUS on PETQ were evaluated using uptake differences in the liver lesions (n  =  35), compared to PETQ with MRACPM-Default and MRACUM. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was performed to compare lesion uptakes between the MRAC methods. MRACPM-CIRCUS showed higher image quality compared to MRACPM-Default for the same acquisition times, demonstrating that a data acquisition time of 30 s was reasonable to achieve phase-matched µ-maps. Lesion update differences between MRACPM-CIRCUS (30 s) versus MRACPM-Default (reference, 100 s) were 0.1%  ±  1.4% (range of  -2.7% to 3.2%) and not significant (P  >  .05); while, the differences between MRACUM versus MRACPM-Default were 0.6%  ±  11.4% with a large variation (range of  -37% to 20%) and significant (P  <  .05). In conclusion, we demonstrated that a data acquisition of 30 s achieved phase-matched µ-maps when using specialized CIRCUS data sampling and phase-matched µ-maps improved PETQ quantification significantly

AZTEK: Adaptive zero TE k-space trajectories.

International audienceBecause of short signal lifetimes and respiratory motion, 3D lung MRI is still challenging today. Zero-TE (ZTE) pulse sequences offer promising solutions as they overcome the issue of short T 2 ∗ . Nevertheless, as they rely on continuous readout gradients, the trajectories they follow in k-space are not adapted to retrospective gating and inferred motion correction

Crescer juntos na europa : guia para a realização bem sucedida de cursos de formação contínua COMENIUS

O presente guia pretende ser um recurso útil para formadores e directores de cursos com pouca experiência na realização de cursos de formação contínua Comenius. O guia foi escrito com o intuito de os ajudar a negociar com eficiência as áreas complexas de desenho curricular, implementação e gestão de cursos internacionais, desde as primeiras concepções até ao planeamento detalhado do curso, sua realização e avaliação.Edição financiada pela Comunidade Europeia no quadro do programa SOCRATES/COMENIU

Nanomechanics of the Endothelial Glycocalyx in Experimental Sepsis

<div><p>The endothelial glycocalyx (eGC), a carbohydrate-rich layer lining the luminal side of the endothelium, regulates vascular adhesiveness and permeability. Although central to the pathophysiology of vascular barrier dysfunction in sepsis, glycocalyx damage has been generally understudied, in part because of the aberrancy of <i>in vitro</i> preparations and its degradation during tissue handling. The aim of this study was to analyze inflammation-induced damage of the eGC on living endothelial cells by atomic-force microscopy (AFM) nanoindentation technique. AFM revealed the existence of a mature eGC on the luminal endothelial surface of freshly isolated rodent aorta preparations <i>ex vivo</i>, as well as on cultured human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMEC) <i>in vitro</i>. AFM detected a marked reduction in glycocalyx thickness (266 ± 12 vs. 137 ± 17 nm, P<0.0001) and stiffness (0.34 ± 0.03 vs. 0.21 ± 0.01 pN/mn, P<0.0001) in septic mice (1 mg <i>E. coli</i> lipopolysaccharides (LPS)/kg BW i.p.) compared to controls. Corresponding <i>in vitro</i> experiments revealed that sepsis-associated mediators, such as thrombin, LPS or Tumor Necrosis Factor-α alone were sufficient to rapidly decrease eGC thickness (-50%, all P<0.0001) and stiffness (-20% P<0.0001) on HPMEC. In summary, AFM nanoindentation is a promising novel approach to uncover mechanisms involved in deterioration and refurbishment of the eGC in sepsis.</p> </div

Damage of the eGC in sepsis.

<div><p>LPS challenge <i>in </i><i>vivo</i> led to a decrease in eGC thickness (A) and stiffness (B). Adult mice were injected with Lipopoly-saccharides (LPS) from <i>E. coli</i> (1 mg/kg BW) or solvent (n=4 per group, indicated by different color/shape). After 18 h, aortas were harvested and immediately analyzed for eGC by AFM. Each dot refers to a different tip position showing an average value of ≥5 force indentation curves. For statistical comparison, a single average value per animal was calculated. *<i>P</i><0.001.</p> <p>Treatment with either heparinase I, thrombin, LPS or TNF-α alone for 60 min was sufficient to decreased eGC thickness (C) and stiffness (D) on human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMEC) <i>in </i><i>vitro</i>. Data are expressed as mean (+/- standard error of mean) of n=3 samples per treatment condition. The average value per sample was calculated from a total of 25 force indentation curves, derived from five different tip-positions. *<i>P</i><0.0001 versus untreated; ^#P<0.0001 vs. solvent; ns, not significant.</p></div

Proof of principle that the endothelial surface layer detected by AFM is the eGC.

<p>Enzymatic degradation of the eGC <i>in </i><i>vivo</i> was induced by infusing healthy rats with heparinase I or solvent (n=5 per group, indicated by different color/shape). After 45 min aortas were harvested for transmission electron microscopy (EM) or AFM analysis, respectively. The heparinase-induced loss of filaments and thinning of the aortic eGC observed by EM (A, B) corresponded well with the decrease in eGC thickness detected by AFM (C, D). Each dot refers to a different tip position showing an average value of ≥5 force indentation curves. For statistical comparison, a single average value per animal was calculated. *<i>P</i><0.05, **<i>P</i><0.001. Horizontal bars indicate mean values.</p

Time- and dose-dependent effects of enzyme digestion on eGC thickness and stiffness.

<p>Enzymatic removal of heparan sulfate residues by heparinase I <i>in </i><i>vitro</i> led to a time- and dose-dependent reduction of eGC thickness (A, C) and stiffness (B, D) on freshly-isolated rat aorta preparations. Similar results were obtained using hyaluronidase and chondroitinase (E, F) to strip the eGC of hyaluronan and chondroitin sulfate, respectively. Data shown are from independent AFM experiments using paired aorta preparations derived from two rat aortas (indicated by either green or blue dots). Each dot represents an average of ≥5 force indentation curves per tip-position (i.e. per individual endothelial cell). *<i>P</i><0.0001 versus untreated; #P<0.01 vs. 15 min, or solvent, or 0.1 S-U/mL chondroitinase, respectively; ‡<i>P</i><0.001 vs. 0.1 Sigma Units/mL heparinase I; †<i>P</i><0.0001 vs. 0.5 Sigma Units/mL heparinase I; ns, not significant. Horizontal bars indicate mean values.</p

Original force indentation tracings before (A, C) and after (B, C) heparinase I treatment measured on <i>ex</i><i>vivo</i> rat aortic samples by AFM.

<p>(A, B) “Overview mode” showing 7 force indentation curves recorded from a single endothelial cell before and after heparinase I treatment, respectively. (C) Each force indentation curve was then analyzed separately using a higher magnification (“working mode”) which facilitates the determination of the thickness and the stiffness of the endothelial glycocalyx by linear approximation. Please note that values on X- and Y-axis in A and B are approximations for graphical illustration. </p