Стан і динаміка лісового фонду державного підприємства "Балаклійське лісове господарство"

In current conditions, it is important to determine the strategic directions of forestry development, while relying on the current regulatory and legislative framework and to have objective information on the state and dynamics of the forest fund. We studied the state and dynamics of the forest fund using modern information technology on the example of the State Enterprise "Balakliya Forestry". The calculation of the optimal distribution of planting areas by age groups was based on the age of felling and the necessity of the normal distribution of tree stands by age classes. Observations at 1st level forest monitoring plots were carried out annually during the period 2001‑2015 according to the standard method, harmonized with the methodology of forest monitoring in Europe (ICP-Forests). The health condition of the pine forests according to the monitoring results of the 1st level (2001‑2015) is satisfactory, the average percentage of defoliation is 3.3 %, the discoloration is 6.5 %, and the share of damaged trees is 8.0 %. Within the studied object, both positive and negative changes of growth and development of forest stands were identified. Positive changes include an increase of the forest fund and forest lands areas in general in the enterprise, but, at the same time, there is a decrease in the area covered with forest vegetation of forest areas. Within them, the reduction of the area of the forest stands of the main forest species, such as pine and oak, is recorded, whereas the reverse tendency of the growth of areas of Common ash, Norway maple, Black locust is traced. In addition, decreasing of the average productivity index (by 0.5), density of stocking (by 0.05), and average change in growing stock (by 0.5) was observed. At the same time, the average growing stock per hectare and the total stock of mature and overmature tree stands is increasing, due to the natural growth of the stands, but the intensity of the accumulation of stock decreases every year. At present, a large area of the forestry is attributed to the objects of the nature reserve fund and restrictions were imposed on forestry measures. This limits in some extent the ability to create forest stands that fully correspond to the model of a normal forest, in which all forest stands should be formed by economic-valuable species, have the maximum possible current timber increment, should be evenly distributed by age classes.Виявлено особливості динаміки показників стану та продуктивності лісів за 40 років на прикладі ДП "Балаклійське ЛГ". Проаналізовано динаміку лісового фонду в межах категорій земель за період з 1970 по 2010 рр. Відзначено зменшення частки лісових ділянок та збільшення вкритих лісовою рослинністю. Наведено розподіл площ вкритих лісовою рослинністю лісових ділянок за панівними породами, відзначено зменшення площ деревостанів головних лісотвірних порід (сосни звичайної та дуба звичайного) та збільшення другорядних (ясена звичайного, клена гостролистого, робінії звичайної), що свідчить про недоліки у веденні лісового господарства. Зменшення площі соснових насаджень відбулось через загибель насаджень сосни звичайної внаслідок пожеж та в осередках кореневої губки, а також у зоні негативного впливу ПАТ "Євроцемент-Україна". Встановлено, що наявний поділ деревостанів за групами віку значною мірою відрізняється від оптимального: молодняків та пристиглих насаджень майже вдвічі менше від оптимального, тоді як середньовікових значно більше. Наведено показники стану лісів за даними моніторингу за період 2001–2015 рр. Аналізуючи середні таксаційні показники, зафіксовано значне збільшення віку насаджень, зменшення показників середнього класу бонітету і повноти та втрати щорічного приросту. Виявлено як позитивні, так і негативні тенденції в рості та розвитку лісових насаджень

Ephrin-A5 Suppresses Neurotrophin Evoked Neuronal Motility, ERK Activation and Gene Expression

During brain development, growth cones respond to attractive and repulsive axon guidance cues. How growth cones integrate guidance instructions is poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate a link between BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor), promoting axonal branching and ephrin-A5, mediating axonal repulsion via Eph receptor tyrosine kinase activation. BDNF enhanced growth cone filopodial dynamics and neurite branching of primary neurons. We show that ephrin-A5 antagonized this BDNF-evoked neuronal motility. BDNF increased ERK phosphorylation (P-ERK) and nuclear ERK entry. Ephrin-A5 suppressed BDNF-induced ERK activity and might sequester P-ERK in the cytoplasm. Neurotrophins are well established stimulators of a neuronal immediate early gene (IEG) response. This is confirmed in this study by e.g. c-fos, Egr1 and Arc upregulation upon BDNF application. This BDNF-evoked IEG response required the transcription factor SRF (serum response factor). Notably, ephrin-A5 suppressed a BDNF-evoked neuronal IEG response, suggesting a role of Eph receptors in modulating gene expression. In opposite to IEGs, long-term ephrin-A5 application induced cytoskeletal gene expression of tropomyosin and actinin. To uncover specific Eph receptors mediating ephrin-As impact on neurotrophin signaling, EphA7 deficient mice were analyzed. In EphA7 deficient neurons alterations in growth cone morphology were observed. However, ephrin-A5 still counteracted neurotrophin signaling suggesting that EphA7 is not required for ephrin and BDNF crosstalk. In sum, our data suggest an interaction of ephrin-As and neurotrophin signaling pathways converging at ERK signaling and nuclear gene activity. As ephrins are involved in development and function of many organs, such modulation of receptor tyrosine kinase signaling and gene expression by Ephs might not be limited to the nervous system

Measurement of associated charm production induced by 400 GeV/c protons

An important input for the interpretation of the measurements of the SHiP ex- periment is a good knowledge of the differential charm production cross section, including cascade production. This is a proposal to measure the associated charm production cross section, employing the SPS 400 GeV/c proton beam and a replica of the first two interaction lengths of the SHiP target. The detection of the produc- tion and decay of charmed hadron in the target will be performed through nuclear emulsion films, employed in an Emulsion Cloud Chamber target structure. In order to measure charge and momentum of decay daughters, we intend to build a mag- netic spectrometer using silicon pixel, scintillating fibre and drift tube detectors. A muon tagger will be built using RPCs. An optimization run is scheduled in 2018, while the full measurement will be performed after the second LHC Long Shutdown

Co-infection and ICU-acquired infection in COIVD-19 ICU patients: a secondary analysis of the UNITE-COVID data set

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic presented major challenges for critical care facilities worldwide. Infections which develop alongside or subsequent to viral pneumonitis are a challenge under sporadic and pandemic conditions; however, data have suggested that patterns of these differ between COVID-19 and other viral pneumonitides. This secondary analysis aimed to explore patterns of co-infection and intensive care unit-acquired infections (ICU-AI) and the relationship to use of corticosteroids in a large, international cohort of critically ill COVID-19 patients.Methods: This is a multicenter, international, observational study, including adult patients with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis admitted to ICUs at the peak of wave one of COVID-19 (February 15th to May 15th, 2020). Data collected included investigator-assessed co-infection at ICU admission, infection acquired in ICU, infection with multi-drug resistant organisms (MDRO) and antibiotic use. Frequencies were compared by Pearson's Chi-squared and continuous variables by Mann-Whitney U test. Propensity score matching for variables associated with ICU-acquired infection was undertaken using R library MatchIT using the "full" matching method.Results: Data were available from 4994 patients. Bacterial co-infection at admission was detected in 716 patients (14%), whilst 85% of patients received antibiotics at that stage. ICU-AI developed in 2715 (54%). The most common ICU-AI was bacterial pneumonia (44% of infections), whilst 9% of patients developed fungal pneumonia; 25% of infections involved MDRO. Patients developing infections in ICU had greater antimicrobial exposure than those without such infections. Incident density (ICU-AI per 1000 ICU days) was in considerable excess of reports from pre-pandemic surveillance. Corticosteroid use was heterogenous between ICUs. In univariate analysis, 58% of patients receiving corticosteroids and 43% of those not receiving steroids developed ICU-AI. Adjusting for potential confounders in the propensity-matched cohort, 71% of patients receiving corticosteroids developed ICU-AI vs 52% of those not receiving corticosteroids. Duration of corticosteroid therapy was also associated with development of ICU-AI and infection with an MDRO.Conclusions: In patients with severe COVID-19 in the first wave, co-infection at admission to ICU was relatively rare but antibiotic use was in substantial excess to that indication. ICU-AI were common and were significantly associated with use of corticosteroids

The SHiP experiment at the proposed CERN SPS Beam Dump Facility

The Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) Collaboration has proposed a general-purpose experimental facility operating in beam-dump mode at the CERN SPS accelerator to search for light, feebly interacting particles. In the baseline configuration, the SHiP experiment incorporates two complementary detectors. The upstream detector is designed for recoil signatures of light dark matter (LDM) scattering and for neutrino physics, in particular with tau neutrinos. It consists of a spectrometer magnet housing a layered detector system with high-density LDM/neutrino target plates, emulsion-film technology and electronic high-precision tracking. The total detector target mass amounts to about eight tonnes. The downstream detector system aims at measuring visible decays of feebly interacting particles to both fully reconstructed final states and to partially reconstructed final states with neutrinos, in a nearly background-free environment. The detector consists of a 50 m long decay volume under vacuum followed by a spectrometer and particle identification system with a rectangular acceptance of 5 m in width and 10 m in height. Using the high-intensity beam of 400 GeV protons, the experiment aims at profiting from the 4 x 10(19) protons per year that are currently unexploited at the SPS, over a period of 5-10 years. This allows probing dark photons, dark scalars and pseudo-scalars, and heavy neutral leptons with GeV-scale masses in the direct searches at sensitivities that largely exceed those of existing and projected experiments. The sensitivity to light dark matter through scattering reaches well below the dark matter relic density limits in the range from a few MeV/c(2) up to 100 MeV-scale masses, and it will be possible to study tau neutrino interactions with unprecedented statistics. This paper describes the SHiP experiment baseline setup and the detector systems, together with performance results from prototypes in test beams, as it was prepared for the 2020 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics. The expected detector performance from simulation is summarised at the end

Clinical and organizational factors associated with mortality during the peak of first COVID-19 wave: the global UNITE-COVID study

Purpose: To accommodate the unprecedented number of critically ill patients with pneumonia caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) expansion of the capacity of intensive care unit (ICU) to clinical areas not previously used for critical care was necessary. We describe the global burden of COVID-19 admissions and the clinical and organizational characteristics associated with outcomes in critically ill COVID-19 patients. Methods: Multicenter, international, point prevalence study, including adult patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and a diagnosis of COVID-19 admitted to ICU between February 15th and May 15th, 2020. Results: 4994 patients from 280 ICUs in 46 countries were included. Included ICUs increased their total capacity from 4931 to 7630 beds, deploying personnel from other areas. Overall, 1986 (39.8%) patients were admitted to surge capacity beds. Invasive ventilation at admission was present in 2325 (46.5%) patients and was required during ICU stay in 85.8% of patients. 60-day mortality was 33.9% (IQR across units: 20%–50%) and ICU mortality 32.7%. Older age, invasive mechanical ventilation, and acute kidney injury (AKI) were associated with increased mortality. These associations were also confirmed specifically in mechanically ventilated patients. Admission to surge capacity beds was not associated with mortality, even after controlling for other factors. Conclusions: ICUs responded to the increase in COVID-19 patients by increasing bed availability and staff, admitting up to 40% of patients in surge capacity beds. Although mortality in this population was high, admission to a surge capacity bed was not associated with increased mortality. Older age, invasive mechanical ventilation, and AKI were identified as the strongest predictors of mortality

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead