Of the Gothic church which was erected at Homec after the miraculous apparition of the Blessed Virgin in 1419 only the lower part of the free-standing bell-tower has been preserved up to this day~in ...the times of Turkish incursions around 1500 it was adapted to serve as a defence tower as well. Since the condition of the old church had worsened and the building had also become too small, a new sanctuary was built on its northern side in 1723, and the next year the church was pulled down and a new nave was begun on its site~the building was completed in 1728.
Seroprevalence surveys provide crucial information on cumulative severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) exposure. This Slovenian nationwide population study is the first ...longitudinal 6-month serosurvey using probability-based samples across all age categories.
Each participant supplied two blood samples: 1316 samples in April 2020 (first round) and 1211 in October/November 2020 (second round). The first-round sera were tested using Euroimmun Anti-SARS-CoV-2 ELISA IgG (ELISA) and, because of uncertain estimates, were retested using Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 (Elecsys-N) and Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S (Elecsys-S). The second-round sera were concomitantly tested using Elecsys-N/Elecsys-S.
The populations of both rounds matched the overall population (n = 3000), with minor settlement type and age differences. The first-round seroprevalence corrected for the ELISA manufacturer's specificity was 2.78% (95% highest density interval HDI 1.81%–3.80%), corrected using pooled ELISA specificity calculated from published data 0.93% (95% CI 0.00%–2.65%), and based on Elecsys-N/Elecsys-S results 0.87% (95% HDI 0.40%–1.38%). The second-round unadjusted lower limit of seroprevalence on 11 November 2020 was 4.06% (95% HDI 2.97%–5.16%) and on 3 October 2020, unadjusted upper limit was 4.29% (95% HDI 3.18%–5.47%).
SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Slovenia increased four-fold from late April to October/November 2020, mainly due to a devastating second wave. Significant logistic/methodological challenges accompanied both rounds. The main lessons learned were a need for caution when relying on manufacturer-generated assay evaluation data, the importance of multiple manufacturer-independent assay performance assessments, the need for concomitant use of highly-specific serological assays targeting different SARS-CoV-2 proteins in serosurveys conducted in low-prevalence settings or during epidemic exponential growth and the usefulness of a Bayesian approach for overcoming complex methodological challenges.
In this study, microcosms were used to investigate the influence of temperature (4 and 28 °C) and water content (45% and 90% WHC) on microbial communities and activities in carbon-rich fen soil. ...Bacterial, archaeal and denitrifier community composition was assessed during incubation of microcosms for 12 weeks using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) profiling of 16S rRNA and nitrous oxide reductase (nosZ) genes. In addition, microbial and denitrifier abundance, potential denitrification activity and production of greenhouse gases were measured. No detectable changes were observed in prokaryote or denitrifier abundance. In general, cumulatively after 12 weeks more carbon was respired at the higher temperature (3.7 mg CO₂ g⁻¹ soil), irrespective of the water content, whereas nitrous oxide production was greater under wet conditions (98-336 μg N₂O g⁻¹ soil). After an initial lag phase, methane emissions (963 μg CH₄ g⁻¹ soil) were observed only under warm and wet conditions. T-RFLP analyses of bacterial 16S rRNA and nosZ genes revealed small or undetectable community changes in response to temperature and water content, suggesting that bacterial and denitrifying microbial communities are stable and do not respond significantly to seasonal changes in soil conditions. In contrast, archaeal microbial community structure was more dynamic and was strongly influenced by temperature.
Influence of temperature and soil water content on bacterial, archaeal and denitrifying microbial communities in drained fen grassland soil microcosms is determined. Soils are obtained from Ljubljana ...Marsh grassland, located south of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Results support the idea that, in the absence of plant cover, changes in water content and temperature play a minor role in shaping bacterial and denitrifier community structures but significantly influence their activity. The results suggest that environmental parameters such as temperature and water content act at the level of substrate availability and control the expression of specific enzymes involved in the microbial processes studied, while the abundances and community structure of total bacterial and denitrifying communities remain largely unaffected. The archaeal community structure is much more responsive to environmental changes in drained fen grassland soil.
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