Larch Forests of Middle Siberia: Long-Term Trends in Fire Return Intervals

Fire history within the northern larch forests of Central Siberia was studied (65 + deg N). Fires within this area are predominantly caused by lightning strikes rather than human activity. Mean fire return intervals (FRIs) were found to be 112 49 years (based on fire scars) and 106 36 years (based on fire scars and tree natality dates). FRI were increased with latitude increase and observed to be about 80 years at 64 deg N, about 200 years near the Arctic Circle and about 300 years nearby the northern range limit of larch stands (approximately 71 deg + N). Northward FRI increase correlated with incoming solar radiation (r = 0.95). Post Little Ice Age (LIA) warming (after 1850) caused approximately a doubling of fire events (in comparison with a similar period during LIA). The data obtained support a hypothesis of climate-induced fire frequency increase

Migration of the Individuals

AbstractThe individuals are modeled by the elements of variable domains. The primitive frame to detect the individual migration from domain to domain is proposed. The supporting computational model is based on a separation of individuals into actual, possible and virtual ones. As was shown, this leads to an adoption of the stage-by-stage cognition model with a pair of evolvents to capture dynamics of the domains – the 2-dimensions model. The first evolvent reflects the generation of the individuals in a domain, the beginning of and canceling out their existence in a domain. The second evolvent reflects the shifts in properties of the individuals. As awaited this unified data model will have the applications to a wide range of models in computer science and Information Technologies

Microbiological oropharyngeal patterns in patients with different phenotypes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

peer reviewedPersistent bronchial inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is considered the cause of ventilation disorders and related contamination with conditionally pathogenic microorganisms; the latter can proceed and transform into a full infection, which can aggravate and exacerbate COPD. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relations between the oropharyngeal microbiota in patients with COPD and the clinical, functional, and prognostic parameters of the disease. Materials and Methods. 64 patients with COPD were included in the study; the participants were scheduled to visit our clinic on two occasions. In the first visit, their medical history was studied in detail and the major examination procedures were conducted. Those included an assessment of the respiratory function, the 6-minute walk test, the degree of dyspnea by the Medical Research Council scale, body plethysmography, the diffusion capacity of the lungs, and a chest CT scan. The second visit took place 12 months after the first one to assess the changes in the course of the disease. The result was considered negative if, in the second examination, the patient‘s condition was found more severe. Oropharyngeal samples of all patients were sequenced to identify the V3–V4 variable sites of the 16S rRNA gene. Results. It is found that the microbiological oropharyngeal patterns in COPD patients depend on the source of micro-aspiration. In addition, the changes in the oropharyngeal microbiota correlate with the severity and prognosis of the disease, as well as the patient phenotype. Based on the data obtained by sequencing parts of the 16S rRNA gene, the role of oropharyngeal microbiota in determining the course and prognosis of COPD has been elucidated. Conclusion. The presented clinical and functional characteristics associated with oropharyngeal microbiota indicate that microaspirations from other body compartments not only affect the composition of oropharyngeal microbiota in patients with COPD but also have an important prognostic significance. © 2018, Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy. All rights reserved

The impact of Opisthorchis felineus infection and praziquantel treatment on the intestinal microbiota in children

peer reviewedThe presence of some species of helminths is associated with changes in host microbiota composition and diversity, which varies widely depending on the infecting helminth species and other factors. We conducted a prospective case-control study to evaluate the gut microbiota in children with Opisthorchis felineus infection (n=50) before and after anthelmintic treatment and in uninfected children (n=49) in the endemic region. A total of 99 children and adolescents aged between 7 and 18 years were enrolled to the study. Helminth infection was assessed before and at 3 months after treatment with praziquantel. A complex examination for each participant was performed in the study, including an assessment of the clinical symptoms and an intestinal microbiota survey by 16S rRNA gene sequencing of stool samples. There was no change in alpha diversity between O. felineus-infected and control groups. We found significant changes in the abundances of bacterial taxa at different taxonomic levels between the infected and uninfected individuals. Enterobacteriaceae family was more abundant in infected participants compared to uninfected children. On the genus level, O. felineus-infected participants’ microbiota showed higher levels of Lachnospira, Escherichia-Shigella, Bacteroides, Eubacterium eligens group, Ruminiclostridium 6, Barnesiella, Oscillibacter, Faecalitalea and Anaerosporobacter and reduction of Blautia, Lachnospiraceae FCS020 and Eubacterium hallii group in comparison with the uninfected individuals. Following praziquantel therapy, there were significant differences in abundances of some microorganisms, including an increase of Faecalibacterium and decrease of Megasphaera, Roseburia. Enterobacteriaceae and Escherichia abundances were decreased up to the control group values. Our results highlight the importance of the host-parasite-microbiota interactions for the community health in the endemic regions. © 202

Cytokine profile and expression of FYN, ZAP-70 and LAT during concanavalin a stimulation in patients with resistant bronchial asthma

Background: Bronchial asthma (BA) is one of the most spreading chronic lung pathology in the world. The disease is characterized by high heterogeneity of clinical phenotypes including resistant forms which provoke significant clinical problem. Immune shift from Th2 to alternative immunological response is considered to be a mechanism of drug-resistance in BA treatment but this issue is not considerably studied yet. Aims: Detection of distinctive patterns in cytokine secretion and genetic expression (ZAP-70, FYN and LAT) of naïve and concanavalin A stimulated lymphocytes in patients with resistant BA. Materials and methods: The study enrolled ten patients in each group: subjects with treatment resistant BA, severe BA, and controls (30 in total). During the experiment, all patients with BA received treatment according to the condition. For each participant lymphocytes isolation from venous blood was performed. Cells were cultured with concanavalin A and without stimulation. Concentrations of cytokines IL-2, IL-12, TNF-α, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-6 in supernatants were measured with ELISA. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the mRNA expression of LAT, ZAP-70, and FYN genes. Results: Significant disease contribution to the lymphocyte secretion profile was established without concanavalin A stimulation: increased levels of IL-2 and IL-4 was observed in lymphocytes of patients with resistant BA if compared to the results of gorup with severe BA. Patients with resistant BA were characterized by weak cytokine response to the stimulation: only TNF-α and IL-5 levels were significantly increased whereas in group with severe BA all cytokines concentrations increased except IL-12, in controls - except IL-12 and IL-2. Significant FYN upregulation was identified in resistant BA group if compared with other groups, and in severe BA patients if compared with controls. The concanavalin A-stimulated cells showed increased expression of ZAP-70 in cells of patients with resistant BA compared to control group. Conclusions: Lymphocytes from patients with resistant BA are characterized by lack of cytokine response to concanavalin A stimulation, alteration of cytokine secretion, and genetic expression profile similar to cells with low sensitivity to apoptosis. The FYN gene is a perspective target for finding approaches to overcome resistance to steroid drugs in bronchial asthma. © 2018 Izdatel'stvo Meditsina. All rights reserved

Correlation between emotional-affective disorders and gut microbiota composition in patients with Parkinson's disease

Background: Despite the efforts of scientific community the data available on the correlation between emotional-affective symptoms of Parkinson's disease and changes in microbiome is still scarce. Deeper studies of nonmotor symptoms evident in premotor stages of the disease and the reciprocal influence of microbiota may help to understand the etiology and pathogenesis of PD neurodegeneration better. The aim of the study was to discover the relations between emotional-affective disorders prevalent in PD population and changes in gut microbiota composition. Methods:51 patient diagnosed with PD participated in the study. Every participant's emotional-affective state was examined using Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Taxonomic richness of microbiome was studied using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing, bioinformatics, and statistical analysis. Results: Anxiety and depression are prevalent affective disorders in patients with PD. In our study, most of the subjects demonstrated certain anxiety and depression. Taxonomic diversity of gut microbiota in BP was increasing with the increase in anxiety levels, reaching the maximum in the group with subclinical anxiety, and decreasing in the group with clinically significant anxiety disorder. At the species level, patients with clinically significant anxiety had higher abundance of Clostridium clariflavum compared to the anxiety-free patients. Patients with moderate depression were characterized by the higher prevalence of Christensenella minuta, Clostridium disporicum, and Oscillibacter valericigenes compared to subjects without depression or with mild depression. Conclusion: The data we received in our study allow better understanding of PD pathogenesis

The ABCflux database : Arctic-boreal CO2 flux observations and ancillary information aggregated to monthly time steps across terrestrial ecosystems

Past efforts to synthesize and quantify the magnitude and change in carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems across the rapidly warming Arctic-boreal zone (ABZ) have provided valuable information but were limited in their geographical and temporal coverage. Furthermore, these efforts have been based on data aggregated over varying time periods, often with only minimal site ancillary data, thus limiting their potential to be used in large-scale carbon budget assessments. To bridge these gaps, we developed a standardized monthly database of Arctic-boreal CO2 fluxes (ABCflux) that aggregates in situ measurements of terrestrial net ecosystem CO2 exchange and its derived partitioned component fluxes: gross primary productivity and ecosystem respiration. The data span from 1989 to 2020 with over 70 supporting variables that describe key site conditions (e.g., vegetation and disturbance type), micrometeorological and environmental measurements (e.g., air and soil temperatures), and flux measurement techniques. Here, we describe these variables, the spatial and temporal distribution of observations, the main strengths and limitations of the database, and the potential research opportunities it enables. In total, ABCflux includes 244 sites and 6309 monthly observations; 136 sites and 2217 monthly observations represent tundra, and 108 sites and 4092 observations represent the boreal biome. The database includes fluxes estimated with chamber (19 % of the monthly observations), snow diffusion (3 %) and eddy covariance (78 %) techniques. The largest number of observations were collected during the climatological summer (June-August; 32 %), and fewer observations were available for autumn (September-October; 25 %), winter (December-February; 18 %), and spring (March-May; 25 %). ABCflux can be used in a wide array of empirical, remote sensing and modeling studies to improve understanding of the regional and temporal variability in CO2 fluxes and to better estimate the terrestrial ABZ CO2 budget. ABCflux is openly and freely available online (Virkkala et al., 2021b, https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1934).Peer reviewe

Preventive medicine of von Hippel-Lindau disease-associated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) are rare in von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) but cause serious morbidity and mortality. Management guidelines for VHL-PanNETs continue to be based on limited evidence, and survival data to guide surgical management are lacking. We established the European-American-Asian-VHL-PanNET-Registry to assess data for risks for metastases, survival and long-term outcomes to provide best management recommendations. Of 2330 VHL patients, 273 had a total of 484 PanNETs. Median age at diagnosis of PanNET was 35 years (range 10-75). Fifty-five (20%) patients had metastatic PanNETs. Metastatic PanNETs were significantly larger (median size 5 vs 2\u2009cm; P\u20091.5\u2009cm in diameter were operated. Ten-year survival was significantly longer in operated vs non-operated patients, in particular for PanNETs <2.8\u2009cm vs 652.8\u2009cm (94% vs 85% by 10 years; P\u2009=\u20090.020; 80% vs 50% at 10 years; P\u2009=\u20090.030). This study demonstrates that patients with PanNET approaching the cut-off diameter of 2.8\u2009cm should be operated. Mutations in exon 3, especially of codons 161/167 are at enhanced risk for metastatic PanNETs. Survival is significantly longer in operated non-metastatic VHL-PanNETs

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI