Nitrogen in Current European Policies

Europe, and especially the European Union (EU), has many governmental policy ¿ measures aimed at decreasing unwanted reactivenitrogen (N r ) emissions from combustion, agriculture and urban wastes. Many of these policy measures have an ¿eff ects-basedapproach¿, and focus on single N r compounds, single sectors and either on air or waters.¿ Th is chapter addresses the origin, objectives and targets of EU policy measures related to Nr emissions, considers which instrumentsare being used to implement the policies and briefl y discusses the eff ects of the policy measures.Approaches¿ Th e chapter starts with a brief description of the basic elements of governmental policy measures.¿ A review of the main international conventions and EU policies related to emissions of Nr to air and water is then provided.¿ Finally the chapter provides a semi-quantitative assessment of the eff ectiveness and effi ciency of European policy measures.Key fi ndings/state of knowledge¿ International conventions and other treaties have played a key role in raising awareness and establishing policy measures for Nr emissionsabatement in EU through so-called Directives and Regulations.¿ Th ere are many diff erent EU Directives, oft en addressing individual Nr compounds from individual sectors (e.g. NOx emissions fromcombustion; NH 3 emissions from agriculture, pollution of groundwater and surface water by nitrates from agriculture, discharge oftotal nitrogen from urban sewage to surface waters).¿ Many EU Directives have been revised following review and evaluation. Th ere are increasing eff orts to cluster single EU Directives intolarger Framework Directives.¿ Compliance with, and eff ectiveness of, the Directives diff ers between sectors; it decreases in the order (i) reducing NO x emissions fromcombustion sources, (ii) reducing nitrogen (and especially Phosphorus) discharges to waters from industries and households, and (iii)reducing NH 3 emissions and NO 3 leaching from agriculture.¿ Th ere is not much literature on the diff erences in the eff ectiveness and effi ciencies of Directives; a number of factors seem to be involvedin eff ectiveness and effi ciency, but these have not yet been analysed in a coherent manner.Major uncertainties/challenges¿ Th ere is a huge diversity in N r emission sources and pathways, while the number of policy instruments is limited. Th ere is need to fi ndthe optimal mix of policy instruments targeted to the emission sources as well as the stakeholders involved.¿ It has been indicated that some EU Directives addressing emissions of nitrogen compounds from specifi c sources have antagonisticeff ects. Th e magnitude of these eff ects is not yet well known.¿ Th ere is a delay in the environmental and ecological responses following the introduction of Directives; these are due to legislativedelays, lack of enforcement and control, constraints in practice and because of biogeochemical hysteresis eff ects; these eff ects are notyet well understood quantitatively.¿ In general, only modest reductions in Nr emissions from agriculture have been achieved to date; this refl ects the need for more eff ectiveand effi cient policy measures and/or greater enforcement of current policies.Recommendations¿ To examine further the diff erences between sectors of the factors that contribute to the eff ectiveness and effi ciency of policy measuresfor the abatement of N r emissions.¿ T o explore further the eff ectiveness and effi ciency of more integrated N management and integrated policy measures for the abatementof adverse impacts of N r emissions.JRC.DDG.H.2-Climate change and air qualit

Current Antibiotic Resistance Trends of Uropathogens in Central Europe: Survey from a Tertiary Hospital Urology Department 2011–2019

Monitoring of pathogen resistance profiles is necessary to guide empirical antibiotic therapy before culture and sensitivity results become available. The aim of this study was to describe current antibiotic resistance patterns of five most frequent causative uropathogens in a Department of Urology of a tertiary referral centre in Central Europe over a period of nine years. The Hospital Department of Clinical Microbiology database was used to extract data on all positive urine samples from inpatients in the Department of Urology between 2011 and 2019. Numbers of susceptible and resistant isolates per year were calculated for five most frequent uropathogens: Escherichia coli, Enterococcus spp., Klebsiella spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus spp. Antimicrobial agents selected for the survey included: ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, piperacillin/tazobactam; cefuroxime, cefotaxime, ceftazidime and cefepime; ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin; gentamicin and amikacin; ertapenem, meropenem and imipenem; trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (co-trimoxazole), nitrofurantoin, colistin, and vancomycin. High resistance rates of Gram-negative uropathogens were demonstrated to most common antimicrobials, with statistically significant increasing or decreasing trends in some cases. No carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae were isolated. Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. strains were rare in our population

Studium vlivu ruznych druhu organickych hnojiv na nektere faktory pudni urodnosti

Available from STL Prague, CZ / NTK - National Technical LibrarySIGLECZCzech Republi

Plasma Protein Biomarker Candidates for Myelodysplastic Syndrome Subgroups

In recent years the plasma proteomes of several different myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) subgroups have been investigated and compared with those of healthy donors. However, the resulting data do not facilitate a direct and statistical comparison of the changes among the different MDS subgroups that would be useful for the selection and proposal of diagnostic biomarker candidates. The aim of this work was to identify plasma protein biomarker candidates for different MDS subgroups by reanalyzing the proteomic data of four MDS subgroups: refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia (RCMD), refractory anemia or refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts (RA-RARS), refractory anemia with excess blasts subtype 1 (RAEB-1), and refractory anemia with excess blasts subtype 2 (RAEB-2). Reanalysis of a total of 47 MDS patients revealed biomarker candidates, with alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein and leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein as the most promising candidates

Antibiotic Resistance in Nosocomial Bacteria Isolated from Infected Wounds of Hospitalized Patients in Czech Republic

Hospitalized patients with wounds face an increased risk of infection with multi-drug-resistant nosocomial bacteria. In this study, samples from almost 10,000 patients from big hospitals in Czech Republic with infected wounds were analyzed for the presence of bacterial pathogens. In 7693 patients (78.8%), bacterial etiological agents were identified. Members of the Enterobacterales (37.1%) and Staphyloccus aureus (21.1%) were the most prevalent pathogens. Staphyloccus aureus showed methicillin resistance in 8.6%. Almost half of the Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates were ESBL-positive and 25.6% of the Enterobacter spp. isolates were AmpC-positive. The third most prevalent Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed resistance to 19–32% of the antipseudomonal antibiotics tested. Based on the results, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, ampicillin/sulbactam or piperacillin/tazobactam combined with gentamicin can be recommended for antibiotic treatment of infected wounds. Once the etiological agent is identified, the therapy should be adjusted according to the species and its resistance

Bladder Microbiota Are Associated with Clinical Conditions That Extend beyond the Urinary Tract

Background. Since the discovery of the human urinary microbiota (UM), alterations in microbial community composition have been associated with various genitourinary conditions. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine possible associations of UM with clinical conditions beyond the urinary tract and to test some of the conclusions from previous studies on UM. Methods. Catheterised urine samples from 87 men were collected prior to endoscopic urological interventions under anaesthesia. The composition of the bacterial community in urine was characterized using the hypervariable V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Samples from 58 patients yielded a sufficient amount of bacterial DNA for analysis. Alpha diversity measures (number of operational taxonomic units, ACE, iChao2, Shannon and Simpson indices) were compared with the Kruskal–Wallis test. Beta diversity (differences in microbial community composition) was assessed using non-metric dimensional scaling in combination with the Prevalence in Microbiome Analysis algorithm. Results. Differences in bacterial richness and diversity were observed for the following variables: age, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, smoking status and single-dose preoperative antibiotics. Differences in microbial community composition were observed in the presence of chronic kidney disease, lower urinary tract symptoms and antibiotic prophylaxis. Conclusions. UM appears to be associated with certain clinical conditions, including those unrelated to the urinary tract. Further investigation is needed before conclusions can be drawn for diagnostics and treatment

The incidence of subclinical forms of urogenital tuberculosis in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

The aim of our study was to determine whether patients with pulmonary tuberculosis may have subclinical forms of urogenital tuberculosis.Between 2011 and 2012, a prospective study was conducted. Basic demographic parameters were recorded and the following investigations were performed: direct bacilloscopy of sputum, evaluation of affected lung fields and presence of cavities on chest X-ray, Mantoux tuberculin skin test II, and interferon gamma release assay. Culture and molecular methods for Mycobacterium tuberculosis in urine were performed. In cases with a positive urine test, an ultrasound examination, computed tomography scan of the abdomen, and endoscopy of the urinary tract were performed.A total of 102 patients (75 men and 27 women) were included in the study, with a median age of 46.8 years. Subclinical forms of urogenital TB were detected in 7 patients; 5 by molecular methods, 1 by urine culture, and 1 with both methods The presence of subclinical forms of genitourinary TB was found in 4 patients without and 3 patients with findings on imaging methods corresponding to TB.A significant number of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis may simultaneously have subclinical forms of urogenital TB. Keywords: Urogenital, Pulmonary, Tuberculosis, Subclinical, Urin