Comparison of vertical and horizontal atmospheric deposition of nitrate at Central European mountain-top sites during three consecutive winters.

Nitrogen (N) deposition, a key process of atmospheric self-cleaning, represents an important pathway for nutrients and pollutants to ecosystems. Enhanced N deposition flux contributes to acidification, eutrophication and loss of biodiversity. N-NO3- concentrations in rime and snow were measured at 10 Czech plots situated in borderline mountains in 2009-2011 winters. The results were put in context with data-driven geostatistical modelling results of annual wet vertical and horizontal deposition. Our hypotheses were that: (i) rime and snow would be more polluted in the highly industrialized north than in the south, (ii) the N-NO3- concentrations would differ in the three winters studied, and (iii), that N-NO3- rime deposition is not negligible in Central European mountain ranges. Our results indicated that winter N-NO3- concentrations were significantly higher in rime than in snow and that there were much larger between-site differences in N-NO3- concentrations for rime than for snow. Relatively large differences were found between individual years. Atmospheric input of N-NO3- in winter was dominated by vertical deposition, i.e., snow. Modelled results showed that mean winter rime deposition corresponded to about 6-25 %, and mean winter snow deposition made up 25-72.5 % of mean annual N-NO3- wet-only deposition. Model N-NO3-occult deposition estimated from throughfall and total (wet and dry) deposition is highly uncertain, however: N throughfall is not a relevant proxy for estimation of realistic total N deposition due to N exchange between the tree canopy and atmosphere.

Implementation of Antibiotic Stewardship in a University Hospital Setting.

The article describes activities of an antibiotic center at a university hospital in the Czech Republic and presents the results of antibiotic stewardship program implementation over a period of 10 years. It provides data on the development of resistance of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus to selected antibiotic agents as well as consumption data for various antibiotic classes. The genetic basis of resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics and its clonal spread were also assessed. The study showed significant correlations between aminoglycoside consumption and resistance of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae to gentamicin (r = 0.712, r = 0.869), fluoroquinolone consumption and resistance of Klebsiella pneumoniae to ciprofloxacin (r = 0.896), aminoglycoside consumption and resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to amikacin (r = 0.716), as well as carbapenem consumption and resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to meropenem (r = 0.855). Genotyping of ESBL- positive isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli showed a predominance of CTX-M-type; in AmpC-positive strains, DHA, EBC and CIT enzymes prevailed. Of 19 meropenem-resistant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, two were identified as NDM-positive. Clonal spread of these strains was not detected. The results suggest that comprehensive antibiotic stewardship implementation in a healthcare facility may help to maintain the effectiveness of antibiotics against bacterial pathogens. Particularly beneficial is the work of clinical microbiologists who, among other things, approve administration of antibiotics to patients with bacterial infections and directly participate in their antibiotic therapy.

Areas under high ozone and nitrogen loads are spatially disjunct in Czech forests.

It is widely accepted that excessive loads of nitrogen (N) deposition and ambient ozone (O3) endanger natural ecosystems and the environment. Despite substantial reductions in emissions since the early 1990s both in the Czech Republic and in neighbouring countries, neither O3 exposures nor N deposition have yet decreased to acceptable levels relative to the recommended thresholds. Based on long-term monitoring and high-quality data, we have indicated the areas of special risk due to high N deposition and O3 exposures in Czech forests in 2000-2015. The areas of potential risk denote those forests under the highest loads of N deposition and O3 exposure on a regular basis. The underlying classification approach is relativistic, i.e. based ultimately on quartiles of pollution intensities and not derived from critical limits or loads. The forest areas under the highest O3 exposures and N deposition are spatially disjunct. The highest O3 exposures are in the southern and the highest N deposition is in the northern Czech Republic. In contrast to our assumption, only 1322 km2, i.e. 4.6% of the total forested area (28,782 km2) are overlapping areas with a potential risk due both to high O3 exposures and to N deposition. Our results provide valuable input information for a more detailed environmental analysis, anticipated in the future, addressing to what extent the indicated areas at potential risk are associated with the actual negative impacts on forests.

Towards a better spatial quantification of nitrogen deposition: A case study for Czech forests.

The quantification of atmospheric deposition flux is essential for assessment of its impact on ecosystems. We present an advanced approach for the estimation of the spatial pattern of atmospheric nitrogen deposition flux over the Czech forests, collating all available measured data and model results. The aim of the presented study is to provide an improved, more complete, more reliable and more realistic estimate of the spatial pattern of nitrogen deposition flux over one country. This has so far usually been based on measurements of ambient NOx concentrations as dry deposition proxy, and [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] in precipitation as wet deposition proxy. For estimation of unmeasured species contributing to dry deposition, we used the CAMx Eulerian photochemical dispersion model, coupled with the Aladin regional numeric weather prediction model. The contribution of fog and dissolved organic nitrogen was estimated using a geostatistical data driven model. We prepared individual maps for particular components applying the most relevant approach and then merged all layers to obtain a final map representing the best estimate of nitrogen deposition over the Czech Republic. Final maps accounting for unmeasured species clearly indicate that the approach used so far may result in a substantial underestimation of nitrogen deposition flux. Our results showed that nitrogen deposition over the Czech forested area in 2008 was well above 2 g N m(-2) yr(-1), with almost 70% of forested area receiving 3-4 g N m(-2) yr(-1). NH3 and gaseous HNO3, contributing about 80%, dominated the dry nitrogen deposition. Estimating the unmeasured nitrogen species by modeled values provides realistic approximations of total nitrogen deposition that also result in more realistic spatial patterns that could be used as input for further studies of likely nitrogen impacts on ecosystems.

Trends in atmospheric deposition fluxes of sulphur and nitrogen in Czech forests.

We present the temporal trends and spatial changes of deposition of sulphur and nitrogen in Czech forests based on records from long-term monitoring. A statistically significant trend for sulphur was detected at most of the sites measuring for wet, dry, and total deposition fluxes and at many of these the trend was also present for the period after 2000. The spatial pattern of the changes in sulphur deposition flux between 1995 and 2011 shows the decrease over the entire forested area in a wide range of 18.1-0.2 g m(-2) year(-1) with the most pronounced improvement in formerly most impacted regions. Nitrogen still represents a considerable stress in many areas. The value of nitrogen deposition flux of 1 g m(-2) year(-1) is exceeded over a significant portion of the country. On an equivalent basis, the ion ratios of NO3(-)/SO4(2-) and NH4(+)/SO4(2-) in precipitation show significantly increasing trends in time similarly to those of pH.

Self-stigma in psychiatric patients--standardization of the ISMI scale.

OBJECTIVE: Self-stigma in psychiatric patients is an issue deserving both research and therapeutic attention. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a Czech version of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale assessing the levels of self-stigma in individuals with mental disorders. METHODS: It consists of 29 items classified into 5 subscales, namely alienation, stereotype endorsement, perceived discrimination, social withdrawal and stigma resistance. The study group comprised 369 patients with a mean age of 41.5±13.3 years, of whom 210 (56.6%) were females. RESULTS: The most frequent diagnosis was neurotic disorders (46.1%), followed by affective disorders (18.4%), substance use disorders (13.3%), psychotic disorders (10.8%), personality disorders (9.5%) and organic disorders (1.6%). Reliability of the scale was evaluated by internal consistency analysis (α=0.91), the split-half method (Spearman-Brown coefficient: 0.93) and test-retest at 3 weeks from the first measurement (N=17; r=0.90, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Exploratory factor analysis of the scale was performed, its validity was verified and norms were established that were based on T-scores and sten scores for the entire scale and individual subscales. The Czech translation of the ISMI has adequate psychometric properties.

Comparison of new flu-bu12-tg conditioning with the standard bu-cy myeloablative regimen in patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia.

AIMS: This study compares the outcomes of patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) after conditioning combining busulfan (16 mg/kg orally) and cyclophosphamide (120 mg/kg intravenously) (BU-CY) with those allografted after administration of fludarabine (150 mg/m(2) intravenously), busulfan (12 mg/kg orally) and thymoglobulin (6 mg/kg intravenously) (FLU-BU12-TG). MATERIAL AND METHODS: SCT after BU-CY and FLU-BU12-TG was performed in 21 and 10 AML patients. There were no significant differences between groups in number of patients treated in complete disease remission, gender, age, donors, CD34+, mononuclear cell (MNC) count in the graft and follow-up period. However, significantly more SCTs from unrelated (90% vs. 19%; p=0.00018) and HLA-mismatched donors (50% vs. 0%; p=0.0004) were performed in the FLU-BU12-TG group. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the risk of post-transplant AML relapse and non-relapse mortality (NRM). The probability of post-transplant 2-year event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: No significant differences were found between the FLU-BU12-TG and BU-CY groups in risk of AML relapse (HR=1.036; 95% CI [0.102 - 10.47]; p=0.9), post-transplant NRM (HR=0.25; 95% CI [0.031 - 1.96]; p=0.18), 2-year EFS (89% vs. 43%; p=0.19) or OS (79% vs. 57%; p=0.23). CONCLUSION: These pilot results demonstrate the efficacy of the new FLU-BU12-TG conditioning regimen in patients allografted for high-risk AML. This conditioning might become an alternative approach in patients at high risk of severe post-transplant complications after the standard BU-CY myeloablative regimen.

(R)-4-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-[2-hydroxy-2-(3-methyl-1-benzofuran-2-yl)ethyl]piperazinium chloride propan-1-ol solvate.

The title compound, C21H24FN2O2+.Cl-.C3H8O, is a potential drug designed as a hybrid compound with antihypertensive, antioxidant and beta-adrenolytic activity. The cation contains nearly planar benzofuran and fluorophenyl ring systems, as well as a piperazine ring adopting an almost perfect chair conformation. The benzofuran and piperazine moieties are connected by an ethyl chain, the moieties forming a dihedral angle of 163.12 (13) degrees. In the crystal structure, ions and propanol solvent molecules are linked via N-H...Cl and O-H...Cl bonds into linear (010) chains.