Comparison of Indocyanine Green Angiography and Swept-Source Wide-Field Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in Posterior Uveitis

Purpose: To compare indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) and swept-source wide-field optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA) for the assessment of patients with posterior uveitis. Method: SS-OCTA montage images of 5 x 12 x 12 mm or 2 x 15 x 9 mm, covering ~70–90 degree of the retina of consecutive patients with posterior uveitis were acquired. The choriocapillaries and choroidal slabs were compared to findings on ICGA. Results: Sixty-eight eyes of 41 patients were included (mean age 47.2 ± 20.4 years; 58.5% female). In 23 (34%) lesions were visible on OCTA, but not discernable on ICGA. In turn, out of the 45 eyes with clearly discernable lesions on ICGA, 22 (49%) and 21 (47%) eyes showed no corresponding areas of flow deficit on OCTA in the CC and choroidal slab, respectively. Lesion size strongly correlated among ICGA and OCTA choriocapillaries- (CC) (r = 0.99, p ≤ 0.0001) and choroidal slabs (r = 0.99, p ≤ 0.0001), respectively. The mean lesion size on the late frames of ICGA (8.45 ± 5.47 mm2) was larger compared to the lesion size on OCTA CC scan (7.98 ± 5.47 mm2, p ≤ 0.0001) and choroidal scan (7.69 ± 5.10 mm2, p = 0.002), respectively. The lesion size on OCTA CC scan was significantly larger than on the OCTA choroidal scan (p ≤ 0.0001). Conclusion: SS-wide field OCTA may be a promising tool to assess posterior uveitis patients and may replace ICGA to a certain extent in the future

Stakeholder perspectives on ecosystem service supply and ecosystem service demand bundles

Recent developments in Ecosystem Service (ES) research show a growing interest in the concept of ES bundles for informing the effective management of landscapes. While the supply of ES bundles was biophysically assessed, there has been little research about the perception of ES bundles, neither in terms of their supply, nor of their demand. This research investigates how various stakeholders perceive the delivery of ES supply bundles across different landscapes and how this differs from the ES demand bundles they request. A questionnaire survey (n = 858) was carried out on the basis of landscape photographs with local farmers, local inhabitants, and visitors in the region of South Tyrol in the Central Alps. The results show that the different stakeholder groups identify identical ES supply bundles (i.e. experiential service, life maintenance service, agroservice bundle) and associate each with a similar set of landscape types. Stakeholders, however, differ in terms of their expressed demand for ES bundles. These findings suggest that stakeholders experience different (spatial) mismatches between the supply and demand of ES, potentially leading to stakeholder conflicts in landscape management. This study concludes by discussing these potential conflicts across different landscapes and in the context of future land use and management decisions

Efficient Photodynamic Therapy against Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacteria Using THPTS, a Cationic Photosensitizer Excited by Infrared Wavelength

The worldwide rise in the rates of antibiotic resistance of bacteria underlines the need for alternative antibacterial agents. A promising approach to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria uses light in combination with a photosensitizer to induce a phototoxic reaction. Concentrations of 1, 10 and 100µM of tetrahydroporphyrin-tetratosylat (THPTS) and different incubation times (30, 90 and 180min) were used to measure photodynamic efficiency against two Gram-positive strains of S.aureus (MSSA and MRSA), and two Gram-negative strains of E.coli and P.aeruginosa. We found that phototoxicity of the drug is independent of the antibiotic resistance pattern when incubated in PBS for the investigated strains. Also, an incubation with 100µM THPTS followed by illumination, yielded a 6lg (≥99.999%) decrease in the viable numbers of all bacteria strains tested, indicating that the THPTS drug has a high degree of photodynamic inactivation. We then modulated incubation time, photosensitizer concentration and monitored the effect of serum on the THPTS activity. In doing so, we established the conditions to obtain the strongest bactericidal effect. Our results suggest that this new and highly pure synthetic compound should improve the efficiency of photodynamic therapy against multiresistant bacteria and has a significant potential for clinical applications in the treatment of nosocomial infections

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Mountain maple and balsam fir early response to partial and clear-cut harvesting under aspen stands of northern Quebec

This study is a component of the Sylviculture et am

Kapitel 9. Synopsis – Synergien, Zielkonflikte und Umsetzungsbarrieren von Klimaanpassungs- und Klimaschutzmaßnahmen

Es existiert eine Fülle von potenziellen Maßnahmen der Klimawandelanpassung und Emissionsminderung im Bereich der Landnutzung. Allerdings stehen Klimawandelanpassung und Emissionsminderung nicht notwendigerweise in einem synergistischen Zusammenhang. Neben der Klimarelevanz sind auch andere Kriterien von Bedeutung, wenn die integrative Leistungsfähigkeit von Maßnahmen bewertet werden soll. Dazu gehören vor allem mögliche und erwartete Auswirkungen auf die Biodiversität und denWasserhaushalt. Dieses Kapitel fasst die Klimawandelanpassungs- und Emissionsminderungsmaßnahmen und ihre Auswirkungen tabellarisch zusammen. Dabei soll eine integrative, übersichtliche Bewertung der im Special Report behandelten Maßnahmen ermöglicht werden

Effectiveness of cardiac resynchronization therapy in heart failure patients with valvular heart disease: comparison with patients affected by ischaemic heart disease or dilated cardiomyopathy. The InSync/InSync ICD Italian Registry

AimsTo analyse the effectiveness of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in patients with valvular heart disease (a subset not specifically investigated in randomized controlled trials) in comparison with ischaemic heart disease or dilated cardiomyopathy patients.Methods and resultsPatients enrolled in a national registry were evaluated during a median follow-up of 16 months after CRT implant. Patients with valvular heart disease treated with CRT (n = 108) in comparison with ischaemic heart disease (n = 737) and dilated cardiomyopathy (n = 635) patients presented: (i) a higher prevalence of chronic atrial fibrillation, with atrioventricular node ablation performed in around half of the cases; (ii) a similar clinical and echocardiographic profile at baseline; (iii) a similar improvement of LVEF and a similar reduction in ventricular volumes at 6-12 months; (iv) a favourable clinical response at 12 months with an improvement of the clinical composite score similar to that occurring in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and more pronounced than that observed in patients with ischaemic heart disease; (v) a long-term outcome, in term of freedom from death or heart transplantation, similar to patients affected by ischaemic heart disease and basically more severe than that of patients affected by dilated cardiomyopathy.ConclusionIn 'real world' clinical practice, CRT appears to be effective also in patients with valvular heart disease. However, in this group of patients the outcome after CRT does not precisely overlap any of the two other groups of patients, for which much more data are currently available