The short-term predictions of annual and seasonal discharge derived by a modified TIPS (Tendency, Intermittency, Periodicity and Stochasticity) methodology are presented in this paper. The TIPS method (Yevjevich, 1984) is modified in such a way that annual time scale is used instead of daily. The reason of extracting a seasonal component from discharge time series represents an attempt to identify the long-term stochastic behaviour. The methodology is applied for modelling annual discharges at six gauging stations in the middle Danube River basin using the observed data in the common period from 1931 to 2012. The model performance measures suggest that the modelled time series are matched reasonably well. The model is then used for the short-time predictions for three annual step ahead (2013–2015). The annual discharge predictions of larger river basins for moderate hydrological conditions show reasonable matching with records expressed as the relative error from –8% to +3%. Irrespective of this, wet and dry periods for the aforementioned river basins show significant departures from annual observations. Also, the smaller river basins display greater deviations up to 26% of the observed annual discharges, whereas the accuracy of annual predictions do not strictly depend on the prevailing hydrological conditions.
V súčasnosti jednu z nových vzrušujúcich perspektív v onkológii predstavuje antiangiogénna liečba. Ide o liečbu zameranú na potlačenie uvoľňovania proangiogénnych faktorov, ktoré sa produkujú v bunke alebo voči receptorom pre angiogénne faktory na bunkách endotelu. Tento článok vysvetľuje princípy a aktuálne otázky antiangiogénnej terapie., Antiangiogenic therapy currently represents one of the new exciting prospects in oncology. It is a treatment that is focused on suppression of the release of proangiogenic factors produced in the cell or directed against the receptors for angiogenic factors on endothelial cells. This paper explains the principles and current issues of antiangiogenic therapy., Peter Kružliak, Jana Benkovičová, Ján Šlapák, and Lit.: 9
Hydrological models often require input data on soil-water retention (SWR), but obtaining such data is laborious
and costly so that SWR in many places remains unknown. To fill the gap, a prediction of SWR using a pedotransfer
function (PTF) is one of the alternatives. This study aims to select the most suitable existing PTFs in order to predict
SWR for the case of the upper Bengawan Solo (UBS) catchment on Java, Indonesia. Ten point PTFs and two continuous
PTFs, which were developed from tropical soils elsewhere, have been applied directly and recalibrated based on a small
soil sample set in UBS. Scatter plots and statistical indices of mean error (ME), root mean square error (RMSE), model
efficiency (EF) and Pearson’s correlation (r) showed that recalibration using the Shuffled Complex Evolution-University
of Arizona (SCE-UA) algorithm can help to improve the prediction of PTFs significantly compared to direct application
of PTFs. This study is the first showing that improving SWR-PTFs by recalibration for a new catchment based on around
50 soil samples provides an effective parsimonious alternative to developing a SWR-PTF from specifically collected soil
datasets, which typically needs around 100 soil samples or more.
Assessment of soil water repellency (SWR) was conducted in the decomposed organic floor layer (duff) and
in the mineral soil layer of two Mediterranean pine forests, one in Italy and the other in Spain, by the widely-used water
drop penetration time (WDPT) test and alternative indices derived from infiltration experiments carried out by the
minidisk infiltrometer (MDI). In particular, the repellency index (RI) was calculated as the adjusted ratio between
ethanol and water soil sorptivities whereas the water repellency cessation time (WRCT) and the specifically proposed
modified repellency index (RIm) were derived from the hydrophobic and wettable stages of a single water infiltration
experiment. Time evolution of SWR and vegetation cover influence was also investigated at the Italian site. All indices
unanimously detected severe SWR conditions in the duff of the pine forests. The mineral subsoils in the two forests
showed different wettability and the clay-loam subsoil at Ciavolo forest was hydrophobic even if characterized by organic
matter (OM) content similar to the wettable soil of an adjacent glade. It was therefore assumed that the composition
rather than the total amount of OM influenced SWR. The hydraulic conductivity of the duff differed by a factor of 3.8–
5.8 between the two forested sites thus influencing the vertical extent of SWR. Indeed, the mineral subsoil of Javea
showed wettable or weak hydrophobic conditions probably because leaching of hydrophobic compounds was slowed or
prevented at all. Estimations of SWR according to the different indices were in general agreement even if some discrepancies
were observed. In particular, at low hydrophobicity levels the SWR indices gathered from the MDI tests were able
to signal sub-critical SWR conditions that were not detected by the traditional WDPT index. The WRCT and modified
repellency index RIm yielded SWR estimates in reasonable agreement with those obtained with the more cumbersome RI
test and, therefore, can be proposed as alternative procedures for SWR assessment.
Cieľ: Úlohou tejto prehľadovej práce o diagnóze a manažmente artériovej hypertenzie je zamerať sa na dokumenty a štúdie o hypertenzii publikované v ostatných rokoch s cieľom určiť ich príspevok k rozšíreniu našich vedomostí o artériovej hypertenzii v klinickej praxi. Diskusia: Artériovú hypertenziu nedefinujú príznaky a znaky, ale čísla hodnôt krvného tlaku. Artériová hypertenzia je cievna choroba (vaskulárny rizikový faktor) viacerých cievnych chorôb (ateroskleróza; arterioloskleróza/arteriolonekróza/arteriolokalcinóza; artériová trombóza; artériová embólia; artériová tromboembólia; artériová disekcia; komplikovaná artériová aneuryzma) a iné. Záver: Artériová hypertenzia je príčinou i následkom funkčného (dysfunkcia endotelu) i štruktúrneho vaskulárneho a orgánového poškodenia (multiorgánovomultivaskulárna choroba). Cievy sú páchateľkami, nástrojmi i obeťami artériovej hypertenzie a orgánovocievnych artériových chorôb. Kľúčové slová: angiológia/vaskulárna medicína – artériová hypertenzia – cievne choroby – cievy – interná medicína – orgánovovaskulárne artériové choroby, Aim: The aim of this review is to address documents and a number of studies on hypertension published in the last years in order to assess their contribution to our expanding knowledge of arterial hypertension. Discussion: Arterial hypertension is not defined by symptoms and signs but by numbers of blood pressure values. Arterial hypertension is vascular disease (vascular risk factor) of many vascular diseases (atherosclerosis; arteriolosclerosis/arteriolonecrosis/arteriolocalcinosis; arterial thrombosis; arterial embolism; arterial thromboembolism; arterial dissection; complicated arterial aneurysm) and other. Conclusion: Arterial hypertension is cause and consequence of functional (endothelial dysfunction) and of structural organovascular injury (multiorganomultivascular disease). Blood vessels are culprits, implements and victims of arterial hypertension and of organovascular arterial diseases. Key words: angiology/vascular medicine – arterial hypertension – blood vessels – internal medicine – organovascular arterial diseases – vascular, and Peter Gavorník, Andrej Dukát, Ľudovít Gašpar, Naďa Hučková, Laura Slezáková, Katarína Kusendová, Gabriela Gubo, Denisa Medová, Xénia Faktorová, Eva Gavorníková
Kyselina močová je u človeka biologicky aktívny koncový produkt metabolizmu purínov. Zvýšené koncentrácie kyseliny močovej sprevádzajú metabolický syndróm a jeho komponenty už u detí a mladistvých. K hyperurikémii prispieva konzumácia nápojov prisládzaných fruktózou, nakoľko je jediným sacharidom, pri ktorého metabolizme vzniká kyselina močová. Súčasné vedomosti neumožňujú odlíšiť, či je hyperurikémia kauzálnou príčinou komponentov metabolického syndrómu, alebo len sprievodným znakom naznačujúcim zvýšené riziko vzniku kardiovaskulárnych ochorení. V súčasnosti neexistuje konsenzus či a ako liečiť asymptomatickú hyperurikémiu u detí a mladistvých. Zaujať zásadný postoj k týmto otázkam umožnia len výsledky randomizovaných kontrolovaných prospektívnych štúdií, ktoré poskytnú dôkazy o prospešných účinkoch tejto liečby na prevalenciu metabolického syndrómu a incidenciu kardiovaskulárnych chorôb., In humans, uric acid represents a biologically active end-product of purine nucleotides. Several studies in children and adolescents documented an association between hyperuricaemia and the components metabolic syndrome. High intake of fructose-sweetened beverages might increase uricaemia, since fructose is the only saccharide which metabolism results in the formation of uric acid. Current knowledge does not allow distinguishing whether hyperuricaemia is causally related to the components of metabolic syndrome, or rather represents a marker of an enhanced risk, and poor outcome. No guidelines exist whether or not to treat asymptomatic hyperuricaemia in the adolescents. Randomized controlled prospective clinical studies are needed to elucidate whether uric acid-lowering management would beneficially affect the prevalence of metabolic syndrome, and the incidence of cardiovascular disease., and Ivana Koborová, Radana Gurecká, Anna Hlavatá, Katarína Šebeková
Estimation of hydraulic and geometric parameters of a gravel-bed river such as dimensions of bedforms is very difficult task, although they play a fundamental role in river engineering projects. One of the methods to get essential information regarding the bedform characteristics is to find the relations between the flow parameters and bedform dimensions. We conducted this field study in the Babolroud River in northern Iran to investigate the application of double averaged method in unspecific gravel bedforms to evaluate friction factor. Using data collected from several river reaches with total length of 356 m of a gravel-bed river, the relationship between bedform geometry (height and the length of bedforms) and flow parameters including shear velocity, transport stage parameter with friction factor is investigated.
Different methods for estimating bedforms dimensions are examined to assess the ability of predicting bedform parameters (length and height) in a gravel-bed river. Using bedform parameters, the contribution of particle and form friction is estimated. Results confirm the application of the double averaged method and existing bedform parameters for unspecific bedforms. There exists a similar trend between aspect ratio and friction factor in gravel bedforms.