•We studied diversity patterns of managed and abandoned stands in silver fir-beech forests.•Species richness increased with continentality and decreased with slope and recent abandonment of forest ...management.•Species composition patterns were driven by forest management and slope.•Beta diversity slightly differed among management categories.
Silver fir-beech forests form ecologically important ecosystems in European mountains, where they have been intensively managed due to timber harvesting. Forest management effects can be evaluated using herb layer diversity as an indicator of environmental changes. Therefore, revealing the patterns of herb layer diversity is necessary for developing strategies for sustainable management. Knowledge on management history of fir-beech forests in the western Pyrenees is still limited. In this study we aim to disentangle the environmental drivers of species richness and species composition of these forests emphasizing the role of forest management. We sampled the herb layer vascular plants in 68 plots distributed among 14 silver fir-beech stands of the association Scillo lilio-hyacinthi-Fagetum sylvaticae and related diversity patterns with management histories, light conditions and topographic and climatic variables. Four management categories were established: recently managed, long managed, recently abandoned and long abandoned. Species richness was analysed by GLMM and species composition by partial CCA and PCNM. Multivariate dispersion analysis was used to assess differences in beta diversity among management categories. Management, continentality and slope had in general a weak effect on species richness, continentality with a positive effect whilst slope and management, in category of recently abandoned stands, with a negative effect. In addition, the percentage of large gaps had a moderate effect on open area species richness. Species composition was related to slope, ombrothermic index, forest management and spatial effects in terms of neutral processes. Long managed forests showed differences in beta diversity with recently abandoned and long abandoned forests. Our study suggests that environmental variables in combination with spatial effects are the main drivers of species diversity at small sampling scale, highlighting that management plays an important role in these western Pyrenean silver fir-beech forests.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Understanding how bryophytes respond to management gradients in temperate forests is an important issue for their conservation and has major implications for forest management. This is especially ...true for western Pyrenean silver fir-beech forests, where high bryophyte turnover, as well as species loss, has been reported in the last 30years. This study is the first to explore bryophyte diversity patterns across western Pyrenean silver fir-beech forests with different management intensities. Our specific aims were to determine the main drivers of bryophyte richness and turnover and explore which bryophyte species can be used as indicators of management intensity. The effect of management was assessed on the overall bryophyte diversity as well as on the bryophyte groups based on taxonomy, life cycle strategy, sensitivity to forest management intensity and habitat preference. Bryophyte diversity was analyzed by generalized linear mixed models and multiple regression analysis on distance matrices. The results suggest that bryophyte richness in the Pyrenean forests is decreasing with intensive forest management. The bryophyte richness decrease on highly disturbed stands can be attributed to a loss of suitable microhabitats, such as large trees. Elevational gradient, as a proxy of climatic factors, is also an important driver of bryophyte species richness in the studied area. Long-lived and epiphytic bryophytes decreased on steep slopes. Turnover was driven by elevation and percentage of large gaps, which might be linked with forest management. The results also suggest that Dierssen's classification of bryophytes regarding sensitivity to forest management is not suitable for the evaluation of the effects of forest management in the studied region. Our main recommendation for bryophyte conservation is to avoid intensive forest management and to minimize the forest practices in steep slopes which are prone to soil erosion.
•We studied bryophyte diversity patterns in silver fir-beech forests with different management intensities.•Bryophytes species richness decreased with intensive forest management and elevation.•Bryophyte turnover was driven by elevation and percentage of large gaps.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Forest structure is considered one of the basic features of the forest ecosystem and it is widely studied with the aim of developing sustainable management strategies. The usual approach is to ...compare structural features of stands in managed and unmanaged forests. Managed stands are those disturbed in some way by silvicultural practices, whereas unmanaged stands are subject to natural disturbance dynamics and may serve as a reference. Up to now, there has been insufficient research into sustainable management strategies for Pyrenean silver fir-beech forests and the structure of managed and unmanaged stands has not yet been evaluated. The aim of this study is to provide a detailed characterisation of the structural attributes of these mixed mountain forests in the western Pyrenees and compare managed and unmanaged stands regarding selected stand parameters. Potential differences between managed and unmanaged stands were assessed with Mann-Whitney U-tests. Diameter distribution was modelled using third-order polynomials and non-linear regression was performed to compare the tree heights in managed and unmanaged stands. Stand structure was similar in both management categories. The diameter distribution of Pyrenean unmanaged silver fir-beech stands showed a tendency towards a rotated sigmoid distribution. Our results indicate that the recommended diameter distribution has been preserved in managed stands despite they were intensively managed in the past, whilst the unmanaged stands are still in the process of developing old-growth attributes because management was abandoned too recently for significant changes in forest structure to have occurred.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Dilema o uporabi odgovarajućeg protokola u liječenju onkološkog bolesnika, od početne pojave simptoma, vremena potrebnog za dijagnostiku, te do početka liječenja i praćenja tijeka liječenja važno je ...zbog brojnih čimbenika, kako medicinskih, tako i psiholoških, socijalnih i etičkih. U radu opisujemo protokol zbrinjavanja onkoloških bolesnika od strane medicinskih sestara/tehničara od trenutka verificiranja dijagnoze do trenutaka završetka liječenja i provođenja kontrolnih pregleda, tj. palijativnog zbrinjavanja bolesnika na Klinici za onkologiju Kliničkog bolničkog centra Zagreb. U svakom stadiju liječenja bolesnika opisuje se rad medicinskih sestara/tehničara te njihova učinkovitost za poboljšanje i pravovremeno reagiranje na tjelesna i psihološka zbivanja u bolesnika. Nadalje, opisuje se kako je liječenje onkoloških bolesnika utemeljeno na uključivanju svih članova multidisciplinarnog zdravstvenog tima u čijem su sastavu stručnjaci različitih znanstveno-stručnih grana (npr. patolozi, radiolozi, kirurzi, liječnici onkolozi, psiholozi te medicinske sestre). Provođenje metoda zdravstvene njege u bolesnika s malignim bolestima zahtijeva usustavljeni, cjeloviti i individualizirani sestrinski pristup bolesniku uz primjenu specifičnih sestrinskih postupaka u odnosu na primjenu terapije, te edukaciju bolesnika kao i članove obitelji. Sestrinske intervencije kod onkološkog bolesnika potrebno je primjenjivati u svim stadijima bolesti, od akutne faze do terminalnog stadija bolesti. Novost u liječenju onkoloških bolesnika primjena je takozvanih „pametnih lijekova“ za liječenje malignih bolesti. U klinici za onkologiju Kliničkog bolničkog centra Zagreb primjenjuje se oralna terapija za liječenja karcinoma dojke, bubrega, prostate, debelog crijeva, jetre, GIST-a, NET-a, melanoma, sarkoma i tumore mozga. Nakon inicijalnog liječničkog pregleda onkologa, medicinska sestra/tehničar daje pacijentu terapiju koju bolesnik uzima u kućnom režimu liječenja tijekom 4 tjedna. Od posebnog je značaja educirati pacijenta i članove obitelji o načinu uzimanja i skladištenju lijeka, prepoznavanju i tretiranju nuspojava te zbrinjavanju ambalaže. U radu se opisuje ustroj onkološke poliklinike i osnove metode rada, te obavljanje sestrinskih intervencija u odnosu na primjenu terapije i edukaciju pacijenta i članove obitelji tijekom liječenja.
► Glycans play roles in many biological process and are involved in all major diseases. ► Population studies revealed high variability in glycome composition. ► Genomics, epigenomics, glycomics and ...other omics need to be combined. ► First studies integrating glycomics, genomics and epigenetics have been published.
Majority of eukaryotic proteins are glycosylated and their glycan moieties have numerous important structural, functional and regulatory roles. Because of structural complexity of glycans and technological limitations glycomics, and particularly glycoproteomics was not able to follow rapid progress in genomics and proteomics over last 30 years. However, the field of glycan has been progressing rapidly and first large-scale studies of the glycome have been completed recently. These studies have revealed significant differences in glycome composition between individuals, which may contribute to the human phenotypic variability. The current state-of-the-art in high-throughput glycomics and its integration with genomics, epigenomics and lipidomics is reviewed in this article.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Changes in N-glycosylation of plasma proteins are observed in many types of cancer, nevertheless, few studies suggest the exact mechanism involved in aberrant protein glycosylation. Here we studied ...the impact of DNA methylation on the N-glycome in the secretome of the HepG2 cell line derived from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Since the majority of plasma glycoproteins originate from the liver, the HepG2 cells represent a good model for glycosylation changes in HCC that are detectable in blood, which is an easily accessible analytic material in a clinical setting. Two different concentrations of 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-2dC) differentially affected global genome methylation and induced different glycan changes. Around twenty percent of 84 glyco-genes analysed changed expression level after the 5-aza-2dC treatment as a result of global genome hypomethylation. A correlation study between the changes in glyco-gene expression and the HepG2 glycosylation profile suggests that the MGAT3 gene might be responsible for the glycan changes consistently induced by both doses of 5-aza-2dC. Core-fucosylated tetra-antennary structures were decreased in quantity likely as a result of hypomethylated MGAT3 gene promoter followed by increased expression of this gene.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Around 2200 copies of genes encoding ribosomal RNA (rRNA) in pedunculate oak, Quercus robur, are organized into two rDNA loci, the major (NOR-1) and the minor (NOR-2) locus. We present the first ...cytogenetic evidence indicating that the NOR-1 represents the active nucleolar organizer responsible for rRNA synthesis, while the NOR-2 probably stays transcriptionally silent and does not participate in the formation of the nucleolus in Q. robur, which is a situation resembling the well-known phenomenon of nucleolar dominance. rDNA chromatin topology analyses in cycling root tip cells by light and electron microscopy revealed the minor locus to be highly condensed and located away from the nucleolus, while the major locus was consistently associated with the nucleolus and often exhibited different levels of condensation. In addition, silver precipitation was confined exclusively to the NOR-1 locus. Also, NOR-2 was highly methylated at cytosines and rDNA chromatin was marked with histone modifications characteristic for repressive state. After treatment of the root cells with the methylation inhibitor 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, we observed an increase in the total level of rRNA transcripts and a decrease in DNA methylation level at the NOR-2 locus. Also, NOR-2 sites relocalized with respect to the nuclear periphery/nucleolus, however, the relocation did not affect the contribution of this locus to nucleolar formation, nor did it affect rDNA chromatin decondensation, strongly suggesting that NOR-2 has lost the function of rRNA synthesis and nucleolar organization.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The selection of drought-tolerant sour cherry genotypes is essential for developing sustainable fruit production in today’s climate-change conditions. The phenotypic heterogenic population of sour ...cherry Oblačinska, with high and regular yield suitable for mechanical harvesting and industrial processing, is a traditional and predominant cultivar in northern Croatia (Pannonian region) and Serbia commercial orchards. In this context, 2-year old virus-free sour cherry plants of 4 isolated Oblačinska sour cherry ecotypes (OS, 18, D6, and BOR) produced by micropropagation were exposed to severe drought in a greenhouse under semi-controlled conditions to evaluate its photosynthetic intra-varietal variability. Relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF), and photosynthetic pigments were evaluated during the ten days of the experiment. As a visible symptom of stress, the withering of plants was followed by a diminution of RWC and photosynthetic pigments in the drought exposed leaves of sour cherry ecotypes compared to the control treatment. ChlF elucidated variability in the photosynthetic efficiency within studied sour cherry ecotypes, highlighting PIABS, PItotal, and ψE0 as the most sensitive and thus the most informative JIP parameters for drought screening. Among the investigated ecotypes, BOR proved to be the most sensitive. The Oblačinska sour cherry ecotype OS showed the highest tolerance to drought conditions and, therefore, can be used as a source of tolerance in sour cherry breeding programs.
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