Agriculturally Improved and Semi-Natural Permanent Grasslands Provide Complementary Ecosystem Services in Swedish Boreal Landscapes

\ua9 2024 by the authors. Permanent grasslands cover more than a third of European agricultural land and are important for a number of ecosystem services. Permanent grasslands used for agriculture are broadly separated into agriculturally improved and semi-natural grasslands. High cultural and natural values linked to semi-natural grasslands are well documented. However, in boreal and hemi-boreal agricultural landscapes, less information is available about the areal coverage of improved permanent grasslands and their role for ecosystem service provision and biodiversity. In Sweden, grasslands are administratively separated into semi-natural (i.e., land that cannot be ploughed) or arable (i.e., improved temporary or permanent grassland on land that can be ploughed). We used data from a large-scale environmental monitoring program to show that improved permanent grassland (i.e., permanent grasslands on arable fields) may be a previously unrecognised large area of the agricultural land use in Sweden. We show that improved permanent grasslands together with semi-natural grasslands are both comparable but also complementary providers of a range of ecosystem services (plant species richness, plant resources for pollinators and forage amount for livestock production). However, as expected, semi-natural grasslands with the highest-level AESs (special values) show high species richness values for vascular plants, plants indicating traditional semi-natural management conditions and red-listed species. Improved permanent grasslands on arable fields are likely an underestimated but integral part of the agricultural economy and ecological function in boreal landscapes that together with high nature value semi-natural grasslands provide a broad range of ecosystem services

Renal hypoplasia without optic coloboma associated with PAX2 gene deletion

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Evoked potentials before and after anemia correction with recombinant human erythropoietin in end-stage renal disease

Subclinical involvement of the nervous system in uremic adults has been detected by modern neurophysiological techniques. Chronic anemia is one of the possible factors responsible for neural dysfunction in uremia. We evaluated neurophysiological (brainstem auditory and somatosensory evoked potential) abnormalities and their possible modification following anemia correction with recombinant human erythropoietin in 14 children with end-stage renal disease maintained by hemodialysis. Only peripheral and 8th cranial nerve electrophysiological data are significantly abnormal in our patients, and they are not acutely modified by anemia correction. These data confirm the importance of electrophysiological testing of uremic children for detecting nervous system involvement at an early stage and for monitoring the efficacy of its management

Somatosensory pathway dysfunction in uremic children

Neurophysiological studies have shown defects in peripheral conduction in up to 75% of adults with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), though abnormalities of central conduction seem more variable. There are no comparable pediatric data. We therefore measured median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in 10 children with ESRD, maintained by hemodialysis, who had no neurological signs or symptoms, and compared the results with those for age-matched controls. The latencies of N9, P14, N20 and P22, and interpeak latencies, N9-N20, N9-P14 and P14-N20, were not significantly different between the two groups (Student’s t test). However, the children with ESRD were significantly retarded in growth and when arm length was taken into account, a significant difference in peripheral conduction was revealed. There was no correlation with other indexes of disease severity (parathormone, aluminium, Hb, Na, K, Cl, BUN and creatinine). SEPs appear to reflect subclinical changes in peripheral conduction in sensory pathways in children with ESRD which are not correlated with other measures of disease severity. © 1991, All rights reserved

Immunohistochemical distribution of endothelin in biopsies of pediatric nephrotic syndrome

In a retrospective, double-blind study, we analyzed, utilizing an immunohistochemical technique, the distribution of Endothelin (Et) in 20 renal biopsies of 17 children with nephrotic syndrome (NS): 9 cases of steroid-responsive and 8 of steroid-resistant minimal-change disease (MCD) and 3 cases of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Thirteen out of 20 biopsies (9/9 steroid-responsive MCD and 4/8 steroid-resistant MCD) showed a weak positivity of the vascular endothelial cells, as the normal renal tissue samples obtained from tumor nephrectomies. Seven out of 20 biopsies, all steroid-resistant NS, showed a marked positivity of the vascular endothelium and of the tubules and/or interstitial cells. In 4 of these 7 cases (1 MCD, 3 FSGS) a positivity of glomeruli was also revealed. The positivity of vascular endothelium seems to confirm its central role in Et production. The marked immunoreactivity detected in the endothelial cells and other renal components reveals a local increase in Et in some steroid-resistant MCD and, particularly, in FSGS. These preliminary observations suggest that Et may participate (cause or epiphenomon) in the mechanisms underlying the development of glomerulosclerosis and the progression of renal damage

Successful treatment of recurrent rejection in renal transplant patients with photopheresis

Photopheresis (ECP) is a new form of photochemotherapy that induces a selective inhibition of the host response to foreign histocompatibility antigens and reverses allograft rejection after organ transplantation. This report describes four adolescent patients with recurrent rejection episodes after renal transplantation, all uncontrolled using standard protocols of immunosuppression (intravenous steroids and OKT3), yet successfully treated with a 6-mo course of ECP. The ECP treatment was performed at weekly intervals during the first month, at 2-wk intervals during the second and third months, and then monthly for another 3 mo. Creatinine clearance improved throughout the treatment in three patients and remained unchanged in one. All patients had a pre-ECP biopsy with a grade 2 or 3 rejection (Banff) with a diffuse infiltrate CD8, CD14, LFA-1 (166 cells positive/0.048 mm2), and VLA-4 (51 cells positive/0.048 mm2) positive, as well as a tubular expression of HLA-DR (6.2 sections of tubule positive/0.048 mm2), ICAM-1, and VCAM-1 (3.1 and 2.9 sections of tubule positive/0.048 mm2). A strong reduction of cell infiltrate and expression of LFA-1 (6.6 cells positive/0.048 mm2), VLA-4 (0.7 cells positive/0.048 mm2), HLA-DR (0.2 section of tubules positive/0.048 mm2), ICAM-1 (0.3 section of tubules positive/0.048 mm2), and a disappearance of VCAM-1 staining were observed in the biopsies performed after 3 mo of ECP. All patients remained rejection- free during ECP, without infections or other complications commonly observed with increasing doses of standard immunosuppression. The clinical improvement allowed a progressive reduction of oral steroids in three of the four patients treated