Landscape context and substrate characteristics shape fungal communities of dead spruce in urban and semi-natural forests

Urban green areas are becoming increasingly recognized for their biodiversity potential. However, little is known about how urbanization shapes cryptic species communities, such as those residing in deadwood. In this study, we investigated downed Norway spruce trunks at intermediate stages of decay, in urban and semi-natural forests in southern Finland. To understand the interconnections between landscape context, deadwood characteristics and wood-inhabiting fungal communities, we studied structural characteristics, surface epiphyte cover and internal moisture and temperature conditions of the tree trunks, and fungal communities residing in the wood. Our findings showed that urban tree trunks had less epiphyte cover and lower moisture than trunks in semi-natural forests. Overall, urban forests provide less favourable habitats for a majority of the dominant wood-inhabiting fungal species and for red-listed species as a group. Yet, 33% of urban trunks hosted at least one red-listed species. While these landscape-scale effects may be driven by local climatic conditions as well as contingencies related to available species pools, our results also highlight the significance of substrate-scale variability of deadwood in shaping wood-inhabiting fungal communities. We show that epiphyte cover is a significant driver or indicator of these small-scale dynamic processes in deadwood.Peer reviewe

Life-prolonging treatment restrictions and outcomes in patients with cancer and COVID-19:an update from the Dutch Oncology COVID-19 Consortium

AIM OF THE STUDY: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic significantly impacted cancer care. In this study, clinical patient characteristics related to COVID-19 outcomes and advanced care planning, in terms of non-oncological treatment restrictions (e.g. do-not-resuscitate codes), were studied in patients with cancer and COVID-19. METHODS: The Dutch Oncology COVID-19 Consortium registry was launched in March 2020 in 45 hospitals in the Netherlands, primarily to identify risk factors of a severe COVID-19 outcome in patients with cancer. Here, an updated analysis of the registry was performed, and treatment restrictions (e.g. do-not-intubate codes) were studied in relation to COVID-19 outcomes in patients with cancer. Oncological treatment restrictions were not taken into account. RESULTS: Between 27th March 2020 and 4th February 2021, 1360 patients with cancer and COVID-19 were registered. Follow-up data of 830 patients could be validated for this analysis. Overall, 230 of 830 (27.7%) patients died of COVID-19, and 60% of the remaining 600 patients with resolved COVID-19 were admitted to the hospital. Patients with haematological malignancies or lung cancer had a higher risk of a fatal outcome than other solid tumours. No correlation between anticancer therapies and the risk of a fatal COVID-19 outcome was found. In terms of end-of-life communication, 50% of all patients had restrictions regarding life-prolonging treatment (e.g. do-not-intubate codes). Most identified patients with treatment restrictions had risk factors associated with fatal COVID-19 outcome. CONCLUSION: There was no evidence of a negative impact of anticancer therapies on COVID-19 outcomes. Timely end-of-life communication as part of advanced care planning could save patients from prolonged suffering and decrease burden in intensive care units. Early discussion of treatment restrictions should therefore be part of routine oncological care, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic

Urban forests host rich polypore assemblages in a Nordic metropolitan area

Urban forests are often remnants of former larger forested areas, and traditionally considered as degraded habitats due to negative effects of urbanization. However, recent studies have shown that urban forests managed for recreational purposes can be structurally close to natural forests and may provide habitat features, such as dead wood, that are scarce in intensively managed forest landscapes. In this study, we assessed how urbanization affects polypore species richness and the number of red-listed polypore species in forest stands, and the occurrences of polypore species on individual units of dead wood. Spruce-inhabiting polypore assemblages and their associations to urbanization, local habitat connectivity and dead-wood abundance were investigated in southern Finland. The effects of urbanization on polypore species richness and individual species were largely negligible when other environmental variability was accounted for. Several red-listed polypore species were found in deadwood hotspots of urban forests, though urbanization had a marginally significant negative effect on their richness. The main driver of total species richness was dead-wood abundance while the number of red-listed species was also strongly dependent on local habitat connectivity, implying that a high degree of fragmentation can decrease their occurrence in urban forests. We conclude that the highest potential for providing habitats for threatened species in the urban context lies in large peri-urban recreational forests which have been preserved for recreational purposes around many cities. On the other hand, overall polypore diversity can be increased simply by increasing dead-wood abundance, irrespective of landscape context.Peer reviewe

A Computational Protocol for the Integration of the Monotopic Protein Prostaglandin H2 Synthase into a Phospholipid Bilayer

Prostaglandin H2 synthase (PGHS) synthesizes PGH(2), a prostaglandin precursor, from arachidonic acid and was the first monotopic enzyme to have its structure experimentally determined. Both isozymes of PGHS are inhibited by nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, an important class of drugs that are the primary means of relieving pain and inflammation. Selectively inhibiting the second isozyme, PGHS-2, minimizes the gastrointestinal side-effects. This had been achieved by the new PGHS-2 selective NSAIDs (i.e., COX-2 inhibitors) but it has been recently suggested that they suffer from additional side-effects. The design of these drugs only made use of static structures from x-ray crystallographic experiments. Investigating the dynamics of both PGHS-1 and PGHS-2 using classical molecular dynamics is expected to generate new insight into the differences in behavior between the isozymes, and therefore may allow improved PGHS-2 selective inhibitors to be designed. We describe a molecular dynamics protocol that integrates PGHS monomers into phospholipid bilayers, thereby producing in silico atomistic models of the PGHS system. Our protocol exploits the vacuum created beneath the protein when several lipids are removed from the top leaflet of the bilayer. The protein integrates into the bilayer during the first 5 ns in a repeatable process. The integrated PGHS monomer is stable and forms multiple hydrogen bonds between the phosphate groups of the lipids and conserved basic residues (Arg, Lys) on the protein. These interactions stabilize the system and are similar to interactions observed for transmembrane proteins