Thirty years unmanaged green roofs: Ecological research and design implications

The variations in species composition and assemblage of unmanaged simple-intensive green roofs in Hannover, Germany, were investigated over a thirty year period, in order to assess the persistence of the initial seed mixture and to evaluate floristic changes. The roofs were greened in 1985 with soil- based turf rolls sown with a mixture of five grasses (Festuca rubra, Festuca ovina, Agrostis capillaris, Lolium perenne and Poa pratensis). Three sets of 120 phytosociological relev\ue9s, sampled in 1987, 1999 and 2014, have been compared to assess: (1) nestedness vs spatial turnover, (2) functional diversity and (3) the importance of vegetation dynamics on green roof performance and design. Results demonstrated that from 1987 to 1999 the species diversity increased and the species turnover prevailed over nestedness, due to the progressive niche occupation by new species. In contrast, from 1999 to 2014 species diversity remained steady, suggesting that nestedness prevailed over species turnover. The main driver of the observed functional changes was a shift towards relatively more thermoxeric conditions. In terms of plant life strategies, the competitive species sown on the roof gradually gave way to stress-tolerant and ruderal species, along with a progressive increase in species with shortdistance seed dispersal strategies. It is concluded that: (a) to create resilient green roofs, spontaneous colonisation should be accepted and considered as a design factor; and (b) regional plant communities could serve as a model for seed recruitment and installations

Artificial intelligence techniques for cancer treatment planning.

An artificial intelligence system, NEWCHEM, for the development of new oncology therapies is described. This system takes into account the most recent advances in molecular and cellular biology and in cell-drug interaction, and aims to guide experimentation in the design of new optimal protocols. Further work is being carried out, aimed to embody in the system all the basic knowledge of biology, physiopathology and pharmacology, to reason qualitatively from first principles so as to be able to suggest cancer therapies

High rate of remission and low rate of disease recurrence in patients with multiple myeloma allografted with PBSC from their HLA-identical sibling donors

A total of 30 multiple myeloma patients (M=23, F=7; age 31-55 years, median 48) were allografted with peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) from HLA-identical siblings. Time to transplantation was 3-107 months (median 8). Prior chemotherapy lines varied from 1 to 6 (median 1). Four patients were in complete remission (CR), 11 in partial remission (PR), 13 were considered to be nonresponders, and two had progressive disease. Most were conditioned with busulfan-melphalan. PBSC were collected by apheresis after G-CSF or sequential GM-CSF and G-CSF. The patients were grafted with 4.4-24.1 x 10(6)/kg CD34+ (median 7.9) and 0.9-7.9 x 10(8)/kg CD3+ cells (median 2.3). GVHD prophylaxis was methotrexate-cyclosporine. Engraftment was complete and rapid. Grades II-IV acute GVHD (aGVHD) developed in 16 (53%), but was grade III-IV only in five (17%); chronic GVHD (cGVHD) developed in 17 out of the 24 evaluable patients (71%). A total of 18 patients (71%) attained CR after transplantation. TRM was 30% overall, 16% at 100 days. There was only one relapse. Overall survival and event-free survival at 73 months were 60% and 67%, respectively. PCR negativity for IgH-gene rearrangement occurred in all persistently CR patients studied. PBSC allograft can induce long remissions, because of profound suppression of the neoplastic clone that is probably linked to the antitumor effect of cGVHD

Allogeneic transplantation of unmanipulated peripheral blood stem cells in patients with multiple myeloma

In multiple myeloma (MM), allogeneic bone marrow transplantation may produce complete and durable responses, but is accompanied by significant transplant-related mortality (TRM). To assess feasibility and possible advantages offered by the use of allogeneic, growth factor-primed PBSC instead of marrow, we analyzed the data of 10 patients with MM (IgG = 6, IgA = 1, BJ = 2, non-secreting = 1; stage II = 1, stage III = 8, plasma-cell leukemia = 1) who received an allogeneic transplant with PBSC. Their age ranged between 35 and 53 years (median 45). All were HLA-identical to their sibling donors. Prior to allograft, six patients received standard-dose chemotherapy (DAV or CY-Dexa) and four a sequential intensified scheme with autologous PBSC support. At the time of transplantation, three patients were in CR, three in PR, three had refractory disease, one progressive disease. Patients were conditioned with busulfan-melphalan (n = 9) or busulfan-cyclophosphamide (n = 1), and were allografted with unmanipulated PBSC obtained by apheresis after treatment with G-CSF alone (n = 6) or GM-CSF followed by G-CSF (n = 4). All patients engrafted, with 0.5 x 10(9)/l PMN and 50 x 10(9)/l platelets on (median) day 13. Four patients had > or =grade II acute GVHD (grade II in 3, grade III in 1). Following allograft, CR was achieved in 71% patients. Eight are currently alive, with six in CR at a median of 18.5 months (range 7-28) from the transplant. Two patients died, 1 and 4 months from the allograft, respectively, and one is alive with progression. A PCR analysis of IgH rearrangement showed that residual disease was no more molecularly detectable in four out of seven evaluated patients following allograft. The results suggest that PBSC may improve the therapeutic efficacy of allogeneic transplant in MM, not only by a reduction of TRM but also by an improvement of rate and quality of response

European Vegetation Archive (EVA): an integrated database of European vegetation plots

The European Vegetation Archive (EVA) is a centralized database of European vegetation plots developed by the IAVS Working Group European Vegetation Survey. It has been in development since 2012 and first made available for use in research projects in 2014. It stores copies of national and regional vegetation- plot databases on a single software platform. Data storage in EVA does not affect on-going independent development of the contributing databases, which remain the property of the data contributors. EVA uses a prototype of the data- base management software TURBOVEG 3 developed for joint management of multiple databases that use different species lists. This is facilitated by the Syn- BioSys Taxon Database, a system of taxon names and concepts used in the indi- vidual European databases and their corresponding names on a unified list of European flora. TURBOVEG 3 also includes procedures for handling data requests, selections and provisions according to the approved EVA Data Property and Governance Rules. By 30 June 2015, 61 databases from all European regions have joined EVA, contributing in total 1 027 376 vegetation plots, 82% of them with geographic coordinates, from 57 countries. EVA provides a unique data source for large-scale analyses of European vegetation diversity both for fundamental research and nature conservation applications. Updated informa- tion on EVA is available online at http://euroveg.org/eva-database