Case Study: LifeWatch Italy Phytoplankton VRE

LifeWatch Italy, the Italian node of LifeWatch ERIC, has promoted and stimulated the debate on the use of semantics in biodiversity data management. Actually, biodiversity and ecosystems data are very heterogeneous and need to be better managed to improve the actual scientific knowledge extracted, as well as to address the urgent societal challenges concerning environmental issues. LifeWatch Italy has realized the Phytoplankton Virtual Research Environment (hereafter Phytoplankton VRE), a collaborative working environment supporting researchers to address basic and applied studies on phytoplankton ecology. The Phytoplankton VRE provides the IT infrastructure to enable researchers to obtain, share and analyse phytoplankton data at a level of resolution from individual cells to whole assemblages. A semantic approach has been used to address data harmonisation, integration and discovery: an interdisciplinary team has developed a thesaurus on phytoplankton functional traits and linked its concepts to other existing conceptual schemas related to the specific domain

Identification of strategic agricultural areas

Praca dotyczy wyznaczania strategicznych obszarów rolniczych oraz cennych ekologicznie. Wyznaczenia tych obszarów dokonano za pomocą ocen punktowych z wykorzystaniem wybranych wskaźników określających stopień przydatności obszarów do pełnienia pewnych funkcji w przestrzeni otaczającej miasto.The aim of the study was to identify strategic agricultural areas simultaneously including ecologically valuable land. The study comprised Olsztyn District (excluding the town of Olsztyn). A point method was applied, which involved the indices used to define suitability of land for agricultural production and ecological assets. The study proves that the communes in Olsztyn District are similar in terms of ecological value and agricultural production suitability. Some communes, however, for example Stawiguda, Olsztynek and Purda, are highly ecologically valuable but less suitable for farming. Therefore, they could serve other than agricultural functions, which would nevertheless contribute to conservation of their ecologically valuable assets. There are also such areas, e.g. the commune of Świątki, that could sustain intensive farming practice

Etiopatogeneza chorób alergicznych

Allergic diseases are the most common chronic diseases, particularly widely spread among children, adolescents and young adults. The problem is that there is an increasing incidence of allergic diseases. The causes of such a sudden increase of incidence rate are not well known. Complex interactions of environmental factors seem to play their role in the phenomenon. These include: change in the dietary and hygienic habits, progressing industrialization and increased use of numerous chemical agents. It was shown that inhabitants of highly industrialised nations, as compared to those from the developing countries, suffer from allergic diseases more frequently (most often in USA, Australia, Great Britain, Ireland and New Zealand, least frequently in Eastern Europe, Russia, China, India and Ethiopia), inhabitants of cities rather than those of rural areas, children who have no siblings rather than those from large families [1]. Knowledge of the factors that cause or influence the course of allergy is significant as it can help prevent and properly treat this disorder. It seems especially vital as in some patients allergy can manifest itself in the form of severe anaphylactic reactions, including an anaphylactic shock burdened with high risk of death.Choroby alergiczne są jednymi z najczęściej występujących schorzeń przewlekłych, szczególnie rozpowszechnione wśród dzieci, młodzieży i młodych dorosłych. Problem stanowi fakt, że częstość występowania tych chorób stale wzrasta. Przyczyny tak gwałtownego wzrostu zachorowań nie są do końca poznane. Podkreślana jest rola złożonych interakcji czynników środowiskowych takich jak: zmiana nawyków żywieniowych i higienicznych, postępujące uprzemysłowienie i wzrost stosowania wszelakich środków chemicznych. Wykazano, że na schorzenia alergiczne częściej chorują mieszkańcy krajów wysoko uprzemysłowionych niż krajów rozwijających się (najczęściej w USA, Australii, Wielkiej Brytanii, Irlandii i Nowej Zelandii, najrzadziej w Europie Wschodniej, Rosji, Chinach i Indiach i Etiopii), mieszkańcy miast niż wsi, dzieci nieposiadające rodzeństwa niż dzieci z licznych rodzin [1]. Znajomość czynników, które wywołują lub wpływają na przebieg alergii jest bardzo ważna, aby móc zapobiegać i odpowiednio leczyć te schorzenia . Tym bardziej, że u części pacjentów alergia może objawiać się ciężkimi reakcjami anafilaktycznymi, w tym wstrząsem anafilaktycznym obarczonym wysokim ryzykiem zgonu

Generating conditional gene knockouts in Plasmodium - a toolkit to produce stable DiCre recombinase-expressing parasite lines using CRISPR/Cas9

Successful establishment of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology in Plasmodium spp. has provided a powerful tool to transform Plasmodium falciparum into a genetically more tractable organism. Conditional gene regulation approaches are required to study the function of gene products critical for growth and erythrocyte invasion of blood stage parasites. Here we employ CRISPR/Cas9 to facilitate use of the dimerisable Cre-recombinase (DiCre) that is frequently used to mediate the excision and loss of loxP-flanked DNA sequences in a rapamycin controlled manner. We describe novel CRISPR/Cas9 transfection plasmids and approaches for the speedy, stable and marker-free introduction of transgenes encoding the DiCre recombinase into genomic loci dispensable for blood stage development. Together these plasmids form a toolkit that will allow the rapid generation of transgenic DiCre-expressing P. falciparum lines in any genetic background. Furthermore, the newly developed 3D7-derived parasite lines, constitutively and stably expressing DiCre, generated using this toolkit will prove useful for the analysis of gene products. Lastly, we introduce an improved treatment protocol that uses a lower rapamycin concentration and shorter treatment times, leading to loxP-guided recombination with close to 100% efficiency within the same replication cycle

Phytoplankton response to changes of physicochemical variables in Lake Nasser, Egypt

Seasonal and spatial changes of phytoplankton in relation to environmental variables affecting the water quality were investigated along the main channel of Lake Nasser throughout 2013. In total, 104 phytoplankton species, belonging to 7 classes, were identified. Phytoplankton assemblages were dominated by Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae and Chlorophyceae, whereas Dinophyceae, Euglenophyceae, Chrysophyceae and Cryptophyceae were infrequent. Cyclotella glomerata, C. ocellata and Aulacoseira granulata represented the most abundant species among Bacillariophyceae. Cyanophyceae was dominated by Planktolyngbya limnetica and Eucapsis minuta, and Chlorophyceae by Ankistrodesmus fusiformis and Staurastrum paradoxum. The water column was thermally stratified during summer, while being mixed throughout winter. Phytoplankton features and physicochemical variables were analyzed with the principal component analysis. Electrical conductivity and water temperature were the most common factors negatively controlling phytoplankton density. Phytoplankton density was positively associated with NO3, whereas it was negatively correlated with PO4 and HCO3. Cyanophyceae were strongly adapted to the environmental variables and NO2 was limiting their growth. Chlorophyceae were more dependent on PO4 than NO3. The vertical distribution of Chl a was associated with the summer thermal stratification and its concentration increased southwards. Chl a was affected by NO2 and linked to Chlorophyceae. The regional variations of phytoplankton reflected its response to varying environmental conditions. The annual average of the trophic state index indicated eutrophic waters of Lake Nasser