Atypical CD3+ CD4(low) cell population in a boy with fatal EBV-infection

A previously healthy 10-year-old Greek boy born to nonconsanguineous healthy parents developed progressive liver disease after acute infectious mononucleosis. EBV-induced autoimmune hepatitis was suspected and treatment was started with high-dose prednisolone, acyclovir and intravenous immunoglobulins. Despite therapy his liver function continuously deteriorated and the child died 9 months later in profound immune deficiency from candida septicemia. Flow cytometric analysis of his lymphocytes revealed a major subpopulation of atypical cells (20.3%) which were CD3+, fitted into the lymphocyte gate bur showed a very low level of CD4 expression, comparable to that of monocytes. After short-time cell culture, the cells became adherent and developed granules and dendrites; We conclude that these cells may represent strongly activated CD4+ T lymphocytes with downregulated CD4 expression or a subtype of dendritic cells

Modulation of the host Th1 immune response in pigeon protozoal encephalitis caused by Sarcocystis calchasi

Pigeon protozoal encephalitis (PPE) is an emerging central-nervous disease of domestic pigeons (Columba livia f. domestica) reported in Germany and the United States. It is caused by the apicomplexan parasite Sarcocystis calchasi which is transmitted by Accipter hawks. In contrast to other members of the Apicomplexa such as Toxoplasma and Plasmodium, the knowledge about the pathophysiology and host manipulation of Sarcocystis is scarce and almost nothing is known about PPE. Here we show by mRNA expression profiling a significant down-modulation of the interleukin (IL)-12/IL-18/interferon (IFN)-γ axis in the brains of experimentally infected pigeons during the schizogonic phase of disease. Concomitantly, no cellular immune response was observed in histopathology while immunohistochemistry and nested PCR detected S. calchasi. In contrast, in the late central-nervous phase, IFN-γ and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α-related cytokines were significantly up-modulated, which correlated with a prominent MHC-II protein expression in areas of mononuclear cell infiltration and necrosis. The mononuclear cell fraction was mainly composed of T-lymphocytes, fewer macrophages and B-lymphocytes. Surprisingly, the severity and composition of the immune cell response appears unrelated to the infectious dose, although the severity and onset of the central nervous signs clearly was dose-dependent. We identified no or only very few tissue cysts by immunohistochemistry in pigeons with severe encephalitis of which one pigeon repeatedly remained negative by PCR despite severe lesions. Taken together, these observations may suggest an immune evasion strategy of S. calchasi during the early phase and a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction as cause of the extensive cerebral lesions during the late neurological phase of disease

Reliability of Different Mark-Recapture Methods for Population Size Estimation Tested against Reference Population Sizes Constructed from Field Data

Reliable estimates of population size are fundamental in many ecological studies and biodiversity conservation. Selecting appropriate methods to estimate abundance is often very difficult, especially if data are scarce. Most studies concerning the reliability of different estimators used simulation data based on assumptions about capture variability that do not necessarily reflect conditions in natural populations. Here, we used data from an intensively studied closed population of the arboreal gecko Gehyra variegata to construct reference population sizes for assessing twelve different population size estimators in terms of bias, precision, accuracy, and their 95%-confidence intervals. Two of the reference populations reflect natural biological entities, whereas the other reference populations reflect artificial subsets of the population. Since individual heterogeneity was assumed, we tested modifications of the Lincoln-Petersen estimator, a set of models in programs MARK and CARE-2, and a truncated geometric distribution. Ranking of methods was similar across criteria. Models accounting for individual heterogeneity performed best in all assessment criteria. For populations from heterogeneous habitats without obvious covariates explaining individual heterogeneity, we recommend using the moment estimator or the interpolated jackknife estimator (both implemented in CAPTURE/MARK). If data for capture frequencies are substantial, we recommend the sample coverage or the estimating equation (both models implemented in CARE-2). Depending on the distribution of catchabilities, our proposed multiple Lincoln-Petersen and a truncated geometric distribution obtained comparably good results. The former usually resulted in a minimum population size and the latter can be recommended when there is a long tail of low capture probabilities. Models with covariates and mixture models performed poorly. Our approach identified suitable methods and extended options to evaluate the performance of mark-recapture population size estimators under field conditions, which is essential for selecting an appropriate method and obtaining reliable results in ecology and conservation biology, and thus for sound management

Prozessoptimierung in Gemeindeverwaltungen

Basierend auf einem ganzheitlich betrachteten Prozessmanagement beschäftigt sich diese Arbeit mit Prozessmanagement in öffentlichen Verwaltungen. Im Fokus stehen dabei vor allem Gemeinden, da diesen viele aktuelle Veränderungen bevorstehen. Um die Bedeutung von Prozessmanagement als Verwaltungsmodernisierung einordnen zu können, wird das gesamte Spektrum der öffentlichen Verwaltungsmodernisierungen diskutiert und analysiert. Im theoretischen Kernteil dieser Arbeit werden besondere Herausforderungen des Prozessmanagements im Anwendungsfeld der öffentlichen Verwaltungen hervorgehoben. Dadurch soll das wenig untersuchte Forschungsgebiet „Prozessmanagement in öffentlichen Verwaltungen“ gestärkt werden. Insbesondere sind dem Autor dieser Arbeit nach eingehender Recherche in Österreich diesbezüglich keine praktischen Untersuchungen bekannt. An diesem Punkt setzt der praktische Kernpunkt dieser Arbeit, ein realisiertes Projekt mit vier niederösterreichischen Gemeinden, an. Dabei wurde eine Prozessoptimierung mit den Schritten Prozesserfassung, Prozessmodellierung, Prozessanalyse und -bewertung und Prozessneugestaltung für die drei ausgewählten Prozesse „Zuzug“, „Subventionen“ und „Bauverfahren“ durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse dieses Projektes ermöglichen den vier Projektgemeinden eine bürgernähere Erledigung ihrer Aufgaben, stellen die Basis für eine mögliche Prozessimplementierung und ein darauf folgendes kontinuierliches Prozessmanagement dar, und dienen den zukünftigen Forschungsarbeiten rund um dieses Thema. Zusätzlich können andere Gemeinden von den konkreten Ergebnissen dieses Projektes und den Erfahrungen profitieren. Eine CD mit allen Prozessen findet sich am Ende der Arbeit.Based on a holistic business process management-concept this thesis deals with business process management in public administrations. The key focus is on municipalities as they will face many changes soon. In order to assess the relevance of business process management for the modernization of administrations the hole spectrum of modernizations in public administrations is discussed and analyzed. In the theoretical core part of this thesis particular challenges of business process management in the field of public administrations will be highlighted. Thus the less explored research area “business process management in public administrations” is to be emphasized. To the knowledge of the author, practical investigations on this topic have not been conducted in Austria. On this point the practical core issue of this thesis, a realized project with four lower Austrian municipalities, comes into play. This project initiated a business process optimization with the steps business process capture, business process modeling, business process analysis and -evaluation, and business process re‑design of the three selected processes “moving in”, “subsidies” and “building proceeding”. The results of this project put the four project-municipalities in a position to act more close to their citizens, provide a sound basis for a business process implementation, followed by a continuous business process management and support future research work on this topic. Besides, additional municipalities can benefit not only from the re-designed business processes but also from the concrete outcomes and experiences gathered in this project. A CD with all processes is included

Indices, Graphs and Null Models: Analyzing Bipartite Ecological Networks

Many analyses of ecological networks in recent years have introduced new indices to describe network properties. As a consequence, tens of indices are available to address similar questions, differing in specific detail, sensitivity in detecting the property in question, and robustness with respect to network size and sampling intensity. Furthermore, some indices merely reflect the number of species participating in a network, but not their interrelationship, requiring a null model approach. Here we introduce a new, free software calculating a large spectrum of network indices, visualizing bipartite networks and generating null models. We use this tool to explore the sensitivity of 26 network indices to network dimensions, sampling intensity and singleton observations. Based on observed data, we investigate the interrelationship of these indices, and show that they are highly correlated, and heavily influenced by network dimensions and connectance. Finally, we re-evaluate five common hypotheses about network properties, comparing 19 pollination networks with three differently complex null models: 1. The number of links per species (“degree”) follow (truncated) power law distributions. 2. Generalist pollinators interact with specialist plants, and vice versa (dependence asymmetry). 3. Ecological networks are nested. 4. Pollinators display complementarity, owing to specialization within the network. 5. Plant-pollinator networks are more robust to extinction than random networks. Our results indicate that while some hypotheses hold up against our null models, others are to a large extent understandable on the basis of network size, rather than ecological interrelationships. In particular, null model pattern of dependence asymmetry and robustness to extinctio

Reproductive Strategies and Population Genetic Structure in Two Dryland River Floodplain Plants, Marsilea drummondii and Eleocharis acuta

Aquatic plants share a range of convergent reproductive strategies, such as the ability to reproduce both sexually and asexually through vegetative growth. In dryland river systems, floodplain inundation is infrequent and irregular, and wetlands consist of discrete and unstable habitat patches. In these systems, life history strategies such as long-distance dispersal, seed longevity, self-fertilisation, and reproduction from vegetative propagules are important strategies that allow plants to persist. Using two aquatic plants, Marsilea drummondii and Eleocharis acuta, we investigated the proportions of sexual and asexual reproduction and self-fertilisation by employing next-generation sequencing approaches, and we used this information to understand the population genetic structure of a large inland floodplain in western New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Asexual vegetative reproduction and self-fertilisation were more common in M. drummondii, but both species used sexual reproduction as the main mode of reproduction. This resulted in a highly differentiated genetic structure between wetlands and a similar genetic structure within wetlands. The similarity in genetic structure was influenced by the wetland in the two species, highlighting the influence of the floodplain landscape and hydrology on structuring population genetic structure. The high levels of genetic variation among wetlands and the low variation within wetlands suggests that dispersal and pollination occur within close proximity and that gene flow is restricted. This suggests a reliance on locally sourced (persistent) seed, rather than asexual (clonal) reproduction or recolonisation via dispersal, for the population maintenance of plants in dryland rivers. This highlights the importance of floodplain inundation to promote seed germination, establishment, and reproduction in dryland regions

Primjena korelatora s preklopljenim fourierovim transformatima i panelima s tekućim kristalima za raspoznavanje klinastog pisma

An optoelectronic joint transform correlator system for recognizing cuneiform inscription signs is described. Real-time correlation experiments are carried out with the help of liquid crystal television (LCTV) type of addressable spatial light modulators. The in-class and out-of-class sensitivities as well as the effects of preprocessing of input signals taken from an original clay tablet are discussed.Opisana je primjena optoelektroničkog korelatora s preklopljenim Fourierovim transformatima na problem raspoznavanja znakova klinastog pisma. Provedeni su korelacijski eksperimenti u realnom vremenu uz pomoć adresabilnih prostornih modulatora svjetlosti s tekućim kristalima. Raspravljane su korelacijske osjetljivosti objekata unutar i izvan definirane klase te utjecaj prethodne obrade ulaznih signala uzetih s originalne glinene pločice

Can Genetic Estimators Provide Robust Estimates of the Effective Number of Breeders in Small Populations?

The effective population size (N(e)) is proportional to the loss of genetic diversity and the rate of inbreeding, and its accurate estimation is crucial for the monitoring of small populations. Here, we integrate temporal studies of the gecko Oedura reticulata, to compare genetic and demographic estimators of N(e). Because geckos have overlapping generations, our goal was to demographically estimate N(bI), the inbreeding effective number of breeders and to calculate the N(bI)/N(a) ratio (N(a) =number of adults) for four populations. Demographically estimated N(bI) ranged from 1 to 65 individuals. The mean reduction in the effective number of breeders relative to census size (N(bI)/N(a)) was 0.1 to 1.1. We identified the variance in reproductive success as the most important variable contributing to reduction of this ratio. We used four methods to estimate the genetic based inbreeding effective number of breeders N(bI(gen)) and the variance effective populations size N(eV(gen)) estimates from the genotype data. Two of these methods - a temporal moment-based (MBT) and a likelihood-based approach (TM3) require at least two samples in time, while the other two were single-sample estimators - the linkage disequilibrium method with bias correction LDNe and the program ONeSAMP. The genetic based estimates were fairly similar across methods and also similar to the demographic estimates excluding those estimates, in which upper confidence interval boundaries were uninformative. For example, LDNe and ONeSAMP estimates ranged from 14-55 and 24-48 individuals, respectively. However, temporal methods suffered from a large variation in confidence intervals and concerns about the prior information. We conclude that the single-sample estimators are an acceptable short-cut to estimate N(bI) for species such as geckos and will be of great importance for the monitoring of species in fragmented landscapes

Primjena korelatora s preklopljenim fourierovim transformatima i panelima s tekućim kristalima za raspoznavanje klinastog pisma

An optoelectronic joint transform correlator system for recognizing cuneiform inscription signs is described. Real-time correlation experiments are carried out with the help of liquid crystal television (LCTV) type of addressable spatial light modulators. The in-class and out-of-class sensitivities as well as the effects of preprocessing of input signals taken from an original clay tablet are discussed.Opisana je primjena optoelektroničkog korelatora s preklopljenim Fourierovim transformatima na problem raspoznavanja znakova klinastog pisma. Provedeni su korelacijski eksperimenti u realnom vremenu uz pomoć adresabilnih prostornih modulatora svjetlosti s tekućim kristalima. Raspravljane su korelacijske osjetljivosti objekata unutar i izvan definirane klase te utjecaj prethodne obrade ulaznih signala uzetih s originalne glinene pločice