51. Repository of drought event impacts across the danube catchment countries between 1981 and 2016 using publicly available sourcesJiří Jakubínský, Monika Bláhová, Lenka Bartošová, Klára Steinerová, Jan Balek, Petra Dížková, Daniela Semerádová, Daniel Alexandru, Galia Bardarska, Sabina Bokal, Gregor Gregorič, Gal Oblišar, Andreja Sušnik, 2019, original scientific article Abstract: Drought directly and indirectly affects human society in a number of ways. In many regions of the world climate change will exasperate the effects of droughts, affect national economies more intensely. The main aim of this article was to catalogue and analyze the drought impacts in the 11 Central and South Eastern European states located in the Danube river basin. The identification of dry episodes was based on information from publicly available sources, namely, newspaper and journal articles that reported drought impacts. Information on drought impact occurrences was classified into one of five defined categories in which the drought impact report was most clearly manifested (i.e., agriculture, forestry, soil systems, wildfires and hydrology). In terms of the spatial distribution of drought impacts, individual recorded events were analyzed at the level of EU NUTS regions (or their equivalent in non-EU countries). The analysis highlights country-specific vulnerability to drought. Furthermore, gradual increases in drought events and the number of reported impacts were identified, which was particularly evident in the agricultural sector.
Keywords: drought impact, Danube basin, agriculture, climate change, water stress
Published in DiRROS: 21.04.2022; Views: 840; Downloads: 379
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52. Heterogeneous response of airway eosinophilia to anti-IL-5 biologics in severe asthma patientsMaruša Kopač, Matija Rijavec, Peter Korošec, Urška Bidovec, Izidor Kern, Romana Vantur, Sabina Škrgat, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Many questions concerning responders (R) and nonresponders (NR) in severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA) after blocking the IL-5 (interleukin 5) pathway are still not clear, especially regarding the early parameters of response to biologics in personalized treatment strategies. We evaluated 17 SEA patients treated with anti-IL-5 biologics (16 patients mepolizumab, one patient benralizumab) before the introduction of biologics, and at a week 16 follow-up. Clinical, cellular and immunological parameters in peripheral blood were measured in R and NR. Sputum induction with the measurement of cellular and immunological parameters was performed at 16 weeks only. There were 12 R and 5 NR to biologics. After 16 weeks, there was a significant improvement in percentages of FEV1 (p = 0.001), and asthma control test (ACT) (p = 0.001) in the R group, but not in NR. After 16 weeks, the eosinophils in induced sputum were 27.0% in NR and 4.5% in R (p = 0.05), with no difference in IL-5 concentrations (p = 0.743). Peripheral eosinophilia decreased significantly in NR (p = 0.032) and R (p = 0.002). In patients with SEA on anti-IL-5 therapy, there was a marked difference in airway eosinophilic inflammation between R and NR already at 16 weeks, after anti-IL-5 introduction.
Published in DiRROS: 13.01.2022; Views: 972; Downloads: 556
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53. Covid-19 pulmonary pathology : the experience of European pulmonary pathologists throughout the first two waves of the pandemicFrancesco Fortarezza, Federica Pezzuto, Paul Hofman, Izidor Kern, Angel Panizo, Jan von der Thüsen, Sergei Timofeev, Gregor Gorkiewicz, Sabina Berezowska, Laurence de Level, Cristian Ortiz-Villalón, Francesca Lunardi, Fiorella Calabrese, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Autoptic studies of patients who died from COVID-19 constitute an important step forward in improving our knowledge in the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Systematic analyses of lung tissue, the organ primarily targeted by the disease, were mostly performed during the first wave of the pandemic. Analyses of pathological lesions at different times offer a good opportunity to better understand the disease and how its evolution has been influenced mostly by new SARS-CoV-2 variants or the different therapeutic approaches. In this short report we summarize responses collected from a questionnaire survey that investigated important pathological data during the first two pandemic waves (spring-summer 2020; autumn-winter 2020–2021). The survey was submitted to expert lung pathologists from nine European countries involved in autoptic procedures in both pandemic waves. The frequency of each lung lesion was quite heterogeneous among the participants. However, a higher frequency of pulmonary superinfections, both bacterial and especially fungal, was observed in the second wave compared to the first. Obtaining a deeper knowledge of the pathological lesions at the basis of this complex and severe disease, which change over time, is crucial for correct patient management and treatment. Autoptic examination is a useful tool to achieve this goal.
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, autopsy, lung - pathology, pulmonary aspergillosis
Published in DiRROS: 13.01.2022; Views: 1050; Downloads: 507
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54. Triangular in vivo self-assembling coiled-coil protein origamiSabina Božič Abram, Helena Gradišar, Jana Aupič, Adam Round, Roman Jerala, 2021, original scientific article Keywords: coiled coil, enzyme clustering, biosynthesis, resveratrol, mevalonate
Published in DiRROS: 22.03.2021; Views: 1463; Downloads: 911
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55. T2-high asthma, classified by sputum mRNA expression of IL4, IL5, and IL13, is characterized by eosinophilia and severe phenotypeMatija Rijavec, Tomaž Krumpestar, Sabina Škrgat, Izidor Kern, Peter Korošec, 2021, original scientific article Abstract: Asthma is a common chronic disease, with different underlying inflammatory mechanisms. Identification of asthma endotypes, which reflect a variable response to different treatments, is important for more precise asthma management. T2 asthma is characterized by airway inflammation driven by T2 cytokines including interleukins IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13. This study aimed to determine whether induced sputum samples can be used for gene expression profiling of T2-high asthma classified by IL4, IL5, and IL13 expression. Induced sputum samples were obtained from 44 subjects, among them 36 asthmatic patients and eight controls, and mRNA expression levels of IL4, IL5, and IL13 were quantified by RT-qPCR. Overall, gene expression levels of IL4, IL5, and IL13 were significantly increased in asthmatic patients' samples compared to controls and there was a high positive correlation between expressions of all three genes. T2 gene mean was calculated by combining the expression levels of all three genes (IL4, IL5, and IL13) and according to T2 gene mean expression in controls, we set a T2-high/T2-low cutoff value. Twenty-four (67%) asthmatic patients had T2-high endotype and those patients had significantly higher eosinophil blood and sputum counts. Furthermore, T2-high endotype was characterized as a more severe, difficult-to-treat asthma, and often uncontrolled despite the use of inhaled and/or oral corticosteroids. Therefore, the majority of those patients (15 [63%] of 24) needed adjunct biological therapy to control their asthma symptoms/exacerbations. In conclusion, we found that interleukins IL4, IL5, and IL13 transcripts could be effectively detected in sputum from asthmatic patients. Implementation of T2 gene mean can be used as sputum molecular biomarker to categorize patients into T2-high endotype, characterized by eosinophilia and severe, difficult-to-treat asthma, and often with a need for biological treatment.
Keywords: asthma, gene expression, interleukin-4, interleukin-5, interleukin-13, severe asthma, endotype, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, biologic treatment
Published in DiRROS: 02.02.2021; Views: 1311; Downloads: 861
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56. Systemic and airway oxidative stress in competitive swimmersSabina Škrgat, Peter Korošec, Izidor Kern, Mira Šilar, Julij Šelb, Matjaž Fležar, Robert Marčun, 2018, original scientific article Abstract: Background: The environment in swimming pools, which contain chlorine, might interact with the airway epithelium, resulting in oxidative stress and/or inflammation during high intensity training periods. Methods: We evaluated pulmonary functional (metacholine challenge test, FEV1 and VC), cellular (eosinophils and neutrophils), inflammatory (FeNo, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-[alpha]), oxidative (8-isoprostanes) and angiogenesis factors (VEGF) in induced sputum and peripheral blood of 41 healthy non-asthmatic elite swimmers (median 16 years) during the period of high intensity training before a national championship. The second paired sampling was performed seven months later after training had been stopped for one month. Results: There was a ten-fold increase (median 82-924 pg/ml; P < 0.001) in 8-isoprostanes in induced sputum and five-fold increase (median 82-924 pg/ml; P < 0.001) in sera during training in comparison to the period of rest. However, there was no difference in FEV1 (113 vs 116%), VC (119 vs 118%), FeNo (median 34 vs 38 ppb), eosinophils (2.7 vs 2.9% in sputum; 180 vs 165 cells/[micro]l in blood), neutrophils, different cytokines or VEGF in induced sputum or sera. The only exception was TNF-[alpha], which was moderately increased in sera (median 23 vs 40 pg/ml; P=0.02) during the peak training period. Almost half (18 of 41) of swimmers showed bronchial hyperresponsiveness during the peak training period (PC20 cutoff was 4 mg/ml). There was no correlation between hyperresponsiveness and the markers of oxidative stress or inflammation. Conclusions: High intensity training in healthy, non-asthmatic competitive swimmers results in marked oxidative stress at the airway and systemic levels, but does not lead to airway inflammation. However, we could not confirm that oxidative stress is associated with bronchial hyperresponsiveness (AHR), which is often observed during the peak exercise training period.
Keywords: bronchial diseases, swimming, oxidative stress, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, competitive swimmers, training
Published in DiRROS: 23.11.2020; Views: 1719; Downloads: 469
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