Logging residues for charcoal production through forest management in the Brazilian Amazon: Economic gains and forest regrowth effects.

Sustainable forest management practices can potentially reverse loss of forest cover due to deforestation, while concomitantly preserving and maintaining biodiversity, and stimulating jobs, income, and forest services. Recent studies found that significant logging residues (i.e., leaves, branches, and buttress roots) suitable for bioenergy production were often left in the felling area, triggering risks of forest fires and increased CO2 emissions due to wildfires or decomposition processes. For impact assessment of forest management practices, we collected primary harvesting data and estimated net primary productivity (NPP) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) for 13 forest plots in the Brazilian Amazon. We applied a process-based forestry growth model (BGC-Man) to analyze the impacts on forest dynamics of selective logging and removal of logging residues, subject to landscape, soil texture, and daily weather. We explored the following selective logging scenarios: the Legal Reserve (i.e., reference) scenario, a scenario with one cutting cycle over the whole period, and a scenario with three timber rotation periods of 30 years. Two of the later scenarios were complemented with harvesting of the woody logging residues (LR; Ø≥10 cm) for charcoal production. For each scenario, we computed forest NPP and NEE over a 120-year time horizon. Results suggest that using woody logging residues (i.e., 77% of total LR) for charcoal production would result in an economic gain equivalent to 24-46% of the timber price. Our findings indicate that under scenarios where LR were removed, forest NPP recovered to the reference level and even higher, while income and jobs from harvesting LR for charcoal production were generated. We conclude that sustainable forest management could enhance forest productivity and deliver economic benefit from otherwise unexploited logging residues

Modeling Wildfire Dynamics in Latin America Using the FLAM Framework

The increasing frequency of wildfires caused by climate change poses a significant threat globally, particularly in Latin America – a region known for its critical ecosystems. Its vulnerability to climate change-induced wildfire threats, resulting from increasing temperatures and changing precipitation patterns, is uncertain, highlighting the need for comprehensive strategies such as incorporating advanced modeling and proactive measures to understand, manage, and conserve its ecological state in the face of threats posed by climate change, such as wildfires. This study utilizes the wildFire cLimate impacts and Adaptation Model (FLAM) by IIASA to provide a comprehensive analysis of past and projected wildfire dynamics in Latin America. FLAM is a process-based fire parameterization algorithm used to assess the impacts of climate, fuel availability, topography, and anthropogenic factors on wildfire characteristics. It is highly adjustable and adaptable, making it suitable to analyze past and future wildfire trends in diverse regions such as Latin America. We analyzed spatial and temporal wildfire patterns using MODIS satellite data alongside historical climate and anthropogenic data to calibrate FLAM. We generated projections of burned areas until 2100 under 3 RCP scenarios for Latin American as a whole, as well as for distinct sub-regions to better assess regional wildfire dynamics and climate change impacts. Moreover, we developed a scenario to explore the impacts of increased fire suppression efficiency on projected burned area and highlight the impacts of focusing mitigation and management efforts on areas identified as hotspots (high risk of wildfire). The study shows FLAM’s effectiveness in modeling historical wildfires and its sensitivity to the RCP scenarios in predicting wildfire trends in Latin America. Our analysis and results show how FLAM helps in evaluating the potential future changes in wildfire intensity, and geographic spread under various climatic scenarios. FLAM projected a dramatic rise in burned area until the end of the century across Latin America in line with observed trends, especially under severe climate change scenarios. Regions with the highest temperature rises are also prone to reduced precipitation, which further increase wildfire risks. The spatially-explicit projections highlight areas at higher risk of wildfire, enabling targeted and efficient fire management and mitigation strategies. Our study further showed the potential impact of adaptive measures, such as enhanced fire suppression efficiency in identified hotspots, in reducing annual mean burned area. Overall, this study provides critical insights into the relationship between climate change and wildfire dynamics using a state of the art model. It sets the foundation for further research on fires in Latin America and efficient management strategies which can be modelled by FLAM

НОВЫЙ ШАГ В УЛУЧШЕНИИ КАЧЕСТВА ЖИЗНИ БОЛЬНЫХ МУКОВИСЦИДОЗОМ: ТОБРАМИЦИН ДЛЯ ИНГАЛЯЦИОННОГО ВВЕДЕНИЯ

This article is dedicated to a monogenic polysystemic disease — mucoviscidosis; its course severity and prognosis are to a large extend determined by the degree of lung affection, infection and chronic inflammatory process development in the airways. The authors show the derangement of the quality of life in children with mucoviscidosis and examine approaches to the therapy adherence issues, which is important for the treatment effectiveness. On the example of their own study and international experience they show the effectiveness of the inhalation technique of the drug delivery to a pathological nidus.Статья посвящена моногенной полисистемной болезни — муковисцидозу, тяжесть течения которой и прогноз во многом определяются степенью поражения легких, а также инфицированием и развитием хронического воспалительного процесса в дыхательных путях. Авторы демонстрируют нарушение качества жизни у детей с муковисцидозом, а также рассматривают пути решения вопросов приверженности к терапии, что имеет немаловажное значение для эффективности лечения. На примере собственного исследования и международного опыта показана эффективность ингаляционного метода доставки лекарственного средства в патологический очаг

Moose or spruce: A systems analysis model for managing conflicts between moose and forestry in Sweden

Sweden has the world’s highest density of moose (Alces alces). Moose is not only a valuable game species; it also causes forest damages and traffic accidents. To avoid moose browsing, foresters respond by planting spruce (Picea abies) to an extent that reshapes the forest landscape with impacts on both production and biodiversity. To address this problem and maintain a healthy moose population in balance with the other interests, an adaptive management based on the knowledge and experiences of local hunters and landowners is advocated. However, the different stakeholders do not agree on what is an appropriate moose population, which leads to conflicts that are hard to resolve. A key problem is that it is very difficult to encompass and foresee long-term consequences of different options for moose hunting and forest management. This makes it challenging to form coherent strategies that integrate different sectorial interests at a national level. To address this issue, we have developed a systems analysis framework for integrated modeling of the moose population, forestry, and their interactions and consequences for biodiversity. We analyze the short and long-term consequences for multiple scenarios of moose hunting and forest management. Based on the results we elucidate and quantify the trade-offs and possible synergies between moose hunting and forest production. This analysis can be used to support better informed and more constructive discussions among the stakeholders in the Swedish forest sectors, and to support policies for long term sustainable forest and moose management

Anticipating Future Risks of Climate-Driven Wildfires in Boreal Forests

Extreme forest fires have historically been a significant concern in Canada, the Russian Federation, the USA, and now pose an increasing threat in boreal Europe. This paper deals with application of the wildFire cLimate impacts and Adaptation Model (FLAM) in boreal forests. FLAM operates on a daily time step and utilizes mechanistic algorithms to quantify the impact of climate, human activities, and fuel availability on wildfire probabilities, frequencies, and burned areas. In our paper, we calibrate the model using historical remote sensing data and explore future projections of burned areas under different climate change scenarios. The study consists of the following steps: (i) analysis of the historical burned areas over 2001–2020; (ii) analysis of temperature and precipitation changes in the future projections as compared to the historical period; (iii) analysis of the future burned areas projected by FLAM and driven by climate change scenarios until the year 2100; (iv) simulation of adaptation options under the worst-case scenario. The modeling results show an increase in burned areas under all Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios. Maintaining current temperatures (RCP 2.6) will still result in an increase in burned area (total and forest), but in the worst-case scenario (RCP 8.5), projected burned forest area will more than triple by 2100. Based on FLAM calibration, we identify hotspots for wildland fires in the boreal forest and suggest adaptation options such as increasing suppression efficiency at the hotspots. We model two scenarios of improved reaction times—stopping a fire within 4 days and within 24 h—which could reduce average burned forest areas by 48.6% and 79.2%, respectively, compared to projected burned areas without adaptation from 2021–2099

Остеопороз при муковисцидозе: меры профилактики и терапевтические возможности

As the life expectancy of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) increases, the rate of pulmonary and extrapulmonary complications grows and greater contributes to worsening of general somatic status of the patients. One of such complications is osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a systemic disease that is characterized by decreased bone density and increased risk of fractures in minimal trauma. The role of osteoporosis in CF patients is defined by consequences of osteoporotic fractures which are immobilization, failure of bronchial tree drainage, exacerbation of respiratory infection, and progress of respiratory failure. Therefore, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis is an important issue of adult CF patients.В статье отражены современные методы лечения и профилактики остеопороза (ОП) при муковисцидозе (МВ). С увеличением продолжительности жизни больных МВ все бóльшую роль в ухудшении общесоматического статуса играет возросшая частота легочных и внелегочных осложнений заболевания, одним из которых является ОП – системное заболевание, для которого характерны снижение прочности кости и повышение риска переломов при минимальной травме (низкоэнергетические переломы). Значимость ОП при МВ определена последствиями остеопоротических переломов скелета – иммобилизацией, нарушением эффективного дренажа бронхиального дерева, обострением бронхолегочной инфекции, прогрессированием дыхательной недостаточности. Тем самым профилактика и лечение ОП являются актуальными проблемами МВ взрослых. Отмечено, что целями дальнейших исследований в этой области являются определение групп высокого риска развития остеопоротических переломов, совершенствование профилактики и режимов терапии доступными препаратами и поиск новых лекарственных средств для лечения ОП у больных МВ при индивидуальном подходе к каждому пациенту

Integrating Human Domain Knowledge into Artificial Intelligence for Hybrid Forest Fire Prediction: Case Studies from South Korea and Italy

Forest fires pose a growing global threat, exacerbated by climate change-induced heat waves. The intricate interplay between changing climate, biophysical, and anthropogenic factors emphasizes the urgent need for sophisticated predictive models. Existing models, whether process-based for interpretability or machine learning-based for automatic feature identification, have distinct strengths and weaknesses. This study addresses these gaps by integrating human domain knowledge, crucial for interpreting forest fire dynamics, into a machine learning framework. We introduce FLAM-Net, a neural network derived from IIASA's wildfire Climate impacts and Adaptation Model (FLAM), melding process-based insights of FLAM with machine learning capabilities. In optimizing FLAM-Net for South Korea, new algorithms interpret national-specific forest fire patterns, and multi-scale applications, facilitated by U-Net-based deep neural networks (DN-FLAM), yield downscaled predictions. Successfully tailored to South Korea's context, FLAM-Net and DN-FLAM reveal spatial concentration near metropolitan areas and the east coastal region, with temporal concentration in spring. Performance evaluation yields Pearson's r values of 0.943, 0.840, and 0.641 for temporal, spatial, and spatio-temporal dimensions. Projections based on Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) indicate an increasing trend in forest fires until 2050, followed by a decrease due to increased precipitation. During the optimization process of FLAM-Net for Italy, optimal parameters for sub-areas are identified. This involves considering biophysical and anthropogenic factors at each grid, contributing to improved localized projection optimization by utilizing various sets of optimal parameters. There by, this process illuminates the intricate connections between environmental factors and their interpretation in the dynamics of forest fires. This study demonstrates the advantages of hybrid models like FLAM-Net and DN-FLAM, seamlessly combining process-based insights and artificial intelligence for interpretability, accuracy, and efficient optimization. The findings contribute scientific evidence for developing context-specific climate resilience strategies, with global applicability to enhance climate resilience

Ранняя эрадикация синегнойной инфекции при муковисцидозе

Severe pulmonary disease in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) is defined by the airway Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. P.aeruginosa has still being the leading pathogen which causes progressive respiratory disease and poor prognosis in CF. Adequate and timely treatment of the initial Pseudomonas acquisition could prevent transformation to the chronic infection. This review was aimed at descripting the current antibacterial regimens for early eradication in cases of the initial and recurrent P.aeruginosa acquisition and at discussing factors affecting the treatment efficacy. The early eradication of P.aeruginosa is necessary and extremely important in CF patients. The aggressive pharmacological therapy together with early detection and subsequent microbiological control plays the leading role for the early eradication. The first-line therapy after the initial pathogen acquisition is inhaled tobramycin.Известно, что тяжелое течение бронхолегочного процесса у больных муковисцидозом (МВ) определяется инфицированием дыхательных путей Pseudomonas aeruginosa, который в настоящее время остается ведущим патогеном, определяющим прогрессирующее поражение бронхолегочной системы и прогноз заболевания в целом. Показано, что адекватное и своевременное лечение первичного высева P. aeruginosa может препятствовать переходу инфекции в хроническую форму. Целью данной обзорной статьи явилась демонстрация современных схем антибактериальной терапии для ранней эрадикации первичного и повторного высева P. aeruginosa, а также факторов, влияющих на их эффективность. Показано, что при МВ ранняя эрадикация синегнойной инфекции при ее первичном высеве является необходимым и чрезвычайно важным мероприятием. Кроме организационной составляющей, которая должна включать раннее выявление и последующий микробиологический контроль P. aeruginosa, ведущая роль принадлежит медикаментозной агрессивной терапии. Установлено, что для эрадикации первичного высева P. aeruginosa препаратом первой линии является ингаляционный тобрамицин

Течение муковисцидоза у взрослого пациента с "тяжелым" генотипом

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the commonest monogenic autosomal recessive disease. CF pathogenesis is based on systemic injury of exocrine glands due to CFTR gene mutation. CF case in an adult patient with "severe" genotype and multiple complications, such as chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure, diabetes mellitus, hepatic cirrhosis, cholelithiasis, pulmonary hypertension, and an episode of bowel obstruction, is described in the article. Despite of a number of complications this case demonstrated good efficacy of home respiratory support during 2.5 years. Novel methods of respiratory support, supplemental oxygen and intensive basic therapy have allowed stabilization his clinical status.Муковисцидоз (МВ) – самое частое моногенное заболевание с аутосомно-рецессивным типом наследования, в основе патогенеза которого лежит системная экзокринопатия, вызванная мутацией и последующей дисфункцией гена и белка трансмембранного регулятора МВ. Продемонстрирован клинический случай течения МВ у пациента с "тяжелым" генотипом во взрослом возрасте и многочисленными осложнениями (хроническая гиперкапническая дыхательная недостаточность, сахарный диабет, цирроз печени, желчнокаменная болезнь, легочная гипертензия, эпизод кишечной непроходимости). Несмотря на большое число осложнений заболевания, продемонстрирована высокая эффективность амбулаторной респираторной поддержки в течение 2,5 года. С помощью современных методов респираторной поддержки и кислородотерапии, а также агрессивного подхода к базисной терапии клиническое состояние пациента стабилизировалось.

Цефтазидим/авибактам в лечении обострения хронической респираторной инфекции у больных муковисцидозом: динамика клинических, микробиологических и функциональных показателей

Multidrug resistance of pulmonary pathogens in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) requires new therapeutic solutions.The aim. To assess the effect of ceftazidime/avibactam (cef/avi) on clinical outcomes of pulmonary exacerbation of cystic fibrosis.Methods. This open single-group observational prospective non-interventional study was conducted in the routine clinical practice settings. Patients over 18 years with a confirmed diagnosis of CF and an exacerbation of a pulmonary infection were included into the study after physician’s decision to prescribe cef/avi. The examinations were performed at baseline and on Days 5 to 7, 21, and 30.Results. The analysis included data from 32 patients, 12 (38%) males and 20 (63%) females. The mean age was 31.6 years. Symptoms of exacerbation persisted in 97 % of patients on Days 5 to 7 of therapy and only in 3% at Day 21. FEV1, FVC, SpO2 also improved by Day 21 of the study (all – p < 0.001). By Day 21, proportion of patients with CRP above 10 mg/ml grew from 71 to 9%. The average density of sputum contamination decreased from 7.2 to 5.5 CFU/ml. Quality of life according to Cystic Fibrosis QuestionnaireRevised (CFQ-R) questionnaire also improved.Conclusion. In patients with CF, exacerbation of lung infection in most cases is caused by multidrug resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa sometimes in combination with Staphylococcus aureus. Infectious agents (P. aeruginosa) remain highly sensitive to cef/avi (up to 91%) in this population so this justifies the use of cef/avi in treatment of a CF exacerbation. cef/avi administration led to relief of the exacerbation symptoms in 97% CF patients, as well as to significant improvement in spirometry parameters, increase in the oxygenation index, decrease in CRP and density of sputum contamination, and improved the quality of life. cef/avi administration was not associated with lethal outcomes, ICU admission, or serious adverse drug reactions.Полирезистентность возбудителей легочной инфекции у пациентов с муковисцидозом (МВ) требует поиска новых терапевтических решений.Целью исследования явилась оценка влияния терапии цефтазидимом/авибактамом (цеф/ави) на клинические исходы обострения легочной инфекции при МВ.Материалы и методы. Проведено открытое наблюдательное проспективное неинтервенционное исследование в одной группе в рутинной медицинской практике. После решения лечащего врача о назначении цеф/ави в протокол включались пациенты старше 18 лет с подтвержденным диагнозом МВ и обострением легочной инфекции. Обследование проводилось исходно, затем на 5–7-й, 21-й и 30-й дни.Результаты. Анализировались данные 32 пациентов: 12 (38 %) мужчин, 20 (63 %) женщин; средний возраст – 31,6 года. На 5–7-й день терапии признаки обострения сохранялись у 97 % пациентов, к 21-му дню – у 3 %. На 21-й день исследования улучшились показатели объема форсированного выдоха за 1-ю секунду, форсированной жизненной емкости легких и насыщения гемоглобина артериальной крови кислородом (SpO2 ) при р < 0,001. Доля пациентов с уровнем С-реативного белка (СРБ), превышавшим 10 мг / мл, снизилась с 71 до 9 %. Средняя плотность обсемененности мокроты снизилась с 7,2 до 5,5 КОЕ / мл. Улучшилось качество жизни (КЖ), согласно Пересмотренному опроснику по муковисцидозу (Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaire-Revised – CFQ-R).Заключение. У пациентов с МВ обострение респираторной инфекции ассоциировано с полирезистентными штаммами Pseudomonas aeruginosa, иногда в сочетании с Staphylococcus aureus. В этой группе больных сохраняется высокая чувствительность к цеф/ави – до 91 % случаев, что подтверждает показания к применению данного антибактериального препарата в терапии обострения легочной инфекции при МВ. Курс цеф / ави приводил к купированию проявлений обострения легочной инфекции у 97 % пациентов с МВ, а также к достоверному улучшению показателей функции внешнего дыхания и SpO2 , снижению уровня СРБ, уменьшению плотности обсемененности мокроты и улучшению КЖ. На фоне терапии цеф/ави не наблюдались случаи смерти, госпитализации в отделение реанимации и интенсивной терапии, а также серьезные нежелательные лекарственные реакции.