Effects of Grass Fires on the Trajectory of Vegetation Dynamics in Abandoned Agricultural Lands: A 30-year Retrospective Based on Remote Sensing Data (A Study of an Area South of the Moscow Region)

The authors propose that the spatial structure of woody vegetation on former arable lands can be used as a diagnostic feature that indicates the occurrence or absence of grass fires after land abandonment. Based on the analysis of a series of Landsat satellite images from 1985 to 2016 for an area of 256.5 km2located in Central European Russia, the authors have reconstructed the history of spring fire events. They found correlations between the frequency of fire events and the density and spatial structure of woody vegetation on abandoned arable lands. Without fires, areas with homogeneous woody vegetation are formed: individuals of pioneer tree species (Betula pendula, B. pubescens and Salix caprea) are evenly distributed and exist in highdensities over the entire area. Affected by fires, trees become unevenly distributed over the area: pioneer trees grow in groups or as separate individuals depending on the intensity and frequency of grass fires. With frequent fires, the vegetation remains in a weedy stage for decades. Keywords: abandoned agricultural lands (old-fields), Earth remote sensing data, Landsat, grass fire, spatial structure of woody vegetatio

DIAGNOSTICS OF HELICOBACTER PYLORI INFECTION BY ENZYME IMMUNOASSAY IN PATIENTS WITH CALCULOUS CHOLECYSTITIS

In recentyears, the interest in the significance of Helicobacter pylori in various pathological processes is growing. The most studied is the role of Helicobacter pylori in gastroduodenal pathology. Gallstone disease is one of the most common diseases of the digestive system. Inflammatory changes in the biliary tract aggravate the clinical course of gallstone disease both in the preoperative and in the postoperative period and cause strictures, deformations of the extra hepatic bile ducts in the long term. One of the most threatening complications of gallstone disease is acute cholecystitis. Determination of IgG to Helicobacter pylori in complex diagnosis is important in patients with calculous cholecystitis. We conducted a prospective study of patients (n = 105) aged 30 to 50 years, suffering from different variants of calculous cholecystitis, in the preoperative and postoperative period by enzyme immunoassay. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is reliable, affordable, least invasive method for diagnosing H. pylori infection. In patients with calculous cholecystitis, we marked a significant increase in IgG antibodies to Helicobacter pylori before surgical intervention and a subsequent reduction 10 days after it. Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection of the gallbladder increases therapeutic efficiency and helps to develop preventive measures for complications of gallstone disease

OPTIMIZATION OF METHODS FOR DIAGNOSTICS OF PATIENTS WITH TOXIC AND CIRRHOTIC LIVER LESIONS

Chronic liver disease is a serious problem for public health service. As a result of increasing alcoholization of population, drug addiction, number of patients with parenteral hepatitis (B, C, D) the conditions for significant increase of number of patients with hepatocirrhosis appear. The aim. of our study was to determine the most optima! methods of diagnostics of patients with toxic and cirrhotic lesions of liver. The object of the research was 67 patients treated, in Irkutsk Municipal Clinical Hospital N 1 during 2007—2011 years with liver cirrhosis. All the patients had. diagnostic laparoscopy with determination. of the level of cytokines, albumins and. gamma-globulins with further clinicomorphological and. statistical analysis of the results. It was revealed that complex use of instrumental and. laboratory methods allows to diagnose liver cirrhosis at the early stage of its progress very precisely.

PECULIARITIES OF THE PREVENTION OF MICROCIRCULATION DISORDERS IN PATIENTS DEPENDING ON THE BODY WEIGHT INDEX AFTER LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMY

The article is devoted to the research of indices of microcirculation and coagulation hemostasis after endosurgery treatment of gallstone disease in patients depending on the body weight index. It was established that significant microcirculatory changes are observed in the early postoperative period. These changes are caused by the disorder of active and. passive mechanisms of regulation of blood flow oscillations. The changes were more evident in patients with obesity. It is expedient to realize anticoagulant therapy for the correction of disorders of the hemostasis system and. microcirculation in the postoperative period. The ratio of early prediction of thromboembolitic complications after laparoscopic cholecystectomy was developed on the basis of this

EUNIS Habitat Classification: Expert system, characteristic species combinations and distribution maps of European habitats

Aim: The EUNIS Habitat Classification is a widely used reference framework for European habitat types (habitats), but it lacks formal definitions of individual habitats that would enable their unequivocal identification. Our goal was to develop a tool for assigning vegetation‐plot records to the habitats of the EUNIS system, use it to classify a European vegetation‐plot database, and compile statistically‐derived characteristic species combinations and distribution maps for these habitats. Location: Europe. Methods: We developed the classification expert system EUNIS‐ESy, which contains definitions of individual EUNIS habitats based on their species composition and geographic location. Each habitat was formally defined as a formula in a computer language combining algebraic and set‐theoretic concepts with formal logical operators. We applied this expert system to classify 1,261,373 vegetation plots from the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) and other databases. Then we determined diagnostic, constant and dominant species for each habitat by calculating species‐to‐habitat fidelity and constancy (occurrence frequency) in the classified data set. Finally, we mapped the plot locations for each habitat. Results: Formal definitions were developed for 199 habitats at Level 3 of the EUNIS hierarchy, including 25 coastal, 18 wetland, 55 grassland, 43 shrubland, 46 forest and 12 man‐made habitats. The expert system classified 1,125,121 vegetation plots to these habitat groups and 73,188 to other habitats, while 63,064 plots remained unclassified or were classified to more than one habitat. Data on each habitat were summarized in factsheets containing habitat description, distribution map, corresponding syntaxa and characteristic species combination. Conclusions: EUNIS habitats were characterized for the first time in terms of their species composition and distribution, based on a classification of a European database of vegetation plots using the newly developed electronic expert system EUNIS‐ESy. The data provided and the expert system have considerable potential for future use in European nature conservation planning, monitoring and assessment

[Analysis of gag gene subtypes of HIV-1 variants isolated in Russia by comparative assessment of heteroduplex electrophoretic mobility]

Using heteroduplex mobility assay modified for gag gene analysis (HMA-gag), 37 HIV-1 samples previously genotyped by gag and env nucleotide sequencing were studied. It has been demonstrated that both sensitivity and specificity of HMA-gag were 100%. The gag gene region derived from 20 env subtype A HIV-1 isolates was analyzed by this method. AG recombinant, representing a circulating recombinant form of HIV-1 (AGlbNG) was found among five HIV-1 strains isolated from patients infected through heterosexual contacts in Russia. No novel recombinant forms were found among fifteen HIV-1 variants infected from drug users in 7 cities of Russia. The proposed HMA-gag method extends the potentialities of investigating the genetic variability of HIV-1 and in combination with the previously proposed method for env gene is a convenient approach to search for recombinant forms of this virus