This article presents the partial research findings on financial instability as a risk factor for the recurrence of homelessness among families enrolled in a Housing First project in the City of Brno (Czech Republic). The project represents an evidence-based social innovation focused on ending families’ homelessness. The research was designed as a Randomised Controlled Trial study accompanied by a qualitative evaluation. The data were collected through questionnaires, individual interviews, and focus groups. In the results section we follow the logic of a financial stability model and conclude that research results on financial stability overall did not prove to be statistically significant on a short-term scale. In the discussion, we state that prolonged material poverty combined with the nature of the Czech housing benefit system and the experience of residential alienation could increase the risk of the recurrence of homelessness for families. A crisis financial fund was established in an effort to prevent this.
Babesiosis is an emerging zoonotic disease and various wildlife species are reservoir hosts for zoonotic species of Babesia Starcovici, 1893. The objective of the present study was to investigate the presence and prevalence of Babesia spp. in moose Alces alces (Linnaeus) in two regions of Norway. A total of 99 spleen samples were collected from animals of various ages from an area with the occurrence of the tick Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus, 1758), and from an area where the ticks are known to be absent. Infection was detected by the amplification of different regions of the 18S rRNA gene by using two different PCR primer sets specific of Babesia. Babesia spp. were found in the spleen samples of four moose. All Babesia-infected animals were from an area where ticks occur, with an infection rate of 6% (4 of 70). Babesia-positive samples were obtained from a five-month old moose calf and three adults. Two Babesia species, Babesia capreoli (Enigk et Friedhoff, 1962) and a B. odocoilei-like, were identified. Co-infection with Anaplasma phagocytophilum was obtained in two animals. This is the first report of the occurrence of B. capreoli and B. odocoilei-like species in moose., Irma Pūraitė, Olav Rosef, Jana Radzijevskaja, Indrė Lipatova, Algimantas Paulauskas., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Babesiosis is a tick-borne disease that may exhibit a broad range of clinical manifestations. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Babesia species belong to the most common transfusion-transmitted pathogens (FDA, May 2019), but the awareness of the disease caused by these parasitic protists is still low. In immunocompromised patients, the clinical course of babesiosis may be of extreme severity and may require hospital admission. We demonstrate a case of a young male who experienced severe polytrauma requiring repetitive blood transfusions. Six months later, the patient developed a classic triad of arthritis, conjunctivitis and non-specific urethritis. These symptoms largely mimicked Reiter's syndrome. The patient was later extensively examined by an immunologist, rheumatologist, urologist, and ophthalmologist with no additional medical findings. In the search for the cause of his symptoms, a wide laboratory testing for multiple human pathogens was performed and revealed a babesiosis infection. This was the first case of human babesiosis mimicking Reiter's syndrome. Following proper antimicrobial therapy, the patient fully recovered in four weeks. We aim to highlight that a search for Babesia species should be considered in patients with non-specific symptomatology and a history of blood transfusion or a possible tick exposure in pertinent endemic areas.
The aim of this prospective study was the validation of the risk stratification of thyroid nodules using ultrasonography with the American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging, Reporting and Data System (ACR TI-RADS) and partly in comparison to American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines in a secondary referral center. Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNA) (n=605) and histological examinations (n=63) were the reference standards for the statistical analysis. ACR TI-RADS cut-off value: TR4 with sensitivity 85.7 %, specificity 54.1 %, PPV 58.5 %, accuracy 67.7 % (AUC 0.738; p<0.001). ATA cut-off value: “high suspicion” with sensitivity 80 %, specificity 83.3 %, PPV 80 %, accuracy 81.8 % (AUC 0.800; p=0.0025). 18.4 % nodules (3 malignant) could not be assigned to a proper ATA US pattern group (p<0.0001). Both ACR TI-RADS and ATA have allowed fair selection of nodules requiring FNA with superiority of ACR TI-RADS according to classification of all thyroid nodules to the proper group. According to ACR TI-RADS almost one third of the patients were incorrectly classified with 17.9 % missed thyroid carcinomas, exclusively micropapillary carcinomas, even though, the amount of FNA would be reduced to 48 %., Tereza Grimmichová, Petra Pačesová, Libuše Srbová, Jana Vrbíková, Terezia Havrdová, Martin Hill., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Endemic Sicilian pond turtles Emys trinacris Fritz, Fattizzo, Guicking, Tripepi, Pennisi, Lenk, Joger et Wink were examined for the presence of haemogregarine parasites. The presence of haemogregarines, occurring mainly in the microgametocyte stage (13.2 ± 0.12 μm in length and 6.4 ± 0.52 μm in width), was observed in approximately 9% of the sampled E. trinacris. Based on the observed morphology and on the sequencing of nuclear 18S rDNA, we identified the parasite as Haemogregarina stepanowi Danilewsky, 1885. Morphometric study of uninfected and infected red blood cells has shown that H. stepanowi induces different changes in erythrocyte shape depending on the infective stage. The differential count of leukocytes in specimens infected with H. stepanowi showed no significant difference compared with healthy specimens. However, considering the health problems which might be induced by H. stepanowi in the closely related European pond turtle Emys orbicularis (Linneaus), monitoring of the health status of the infected Sicilian populations of E. trinacris is desirable. The restricted distribution of populations of Emys infected with haemogregarines in Sicily is quite puzzling and the possible human-mediated introduction of the parasite in Sicily is briefly discussed., Vincenzo Arizza, Francesco Sacco, Debora Russo, Rita Scardino, Marco Arculeo, Melita Vamberger, Federico Marrone., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The level of satisfaction that households have with their housing is important for people to function properly, as it largely determines their life satisfaction. Housing satisfaction is a multidimensional concept that can be defined, measured, and analysed in various ways. The aim of the article is to identify the housing satisfaction of Polish households in terms of living space, housing standard, and housing expenses, and to identify the main determinants of housing satisfaction. Factors that have a major impact on housing satisfaction are classified based on a literature review. The sources of Poles’ housing satisfaction are identified using ordered logistic regression. This article is one of the first attempts to analyse housing satisfaction in a post-socialist Central and Eastern European economy.
Larvae of Strobilomyia flies (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) are serious pests in conifer-seed orchards because they feed on the seed inside the cones. Figitid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea) of Strobilomyia larvae in conifer cones are commonly reported but under various generic names. It is argued here that, across the entire Holarctic region, these figitids belong to Amphithectus and perhaps also to Sarothrus (Figitinae), but not to Melanips (Aspicerinae), contrary to some reports. We conclude that the identity of the commonly found figitid associated with conifer cones (Larix and Picea) in Europe and Asia is Amphithectus austriacus (Tavares, 1928) comb. n. This is most likely considering the original description and the host association, although the type specimen of Seitneria austriaca Tavares, 1928 is lost. This species name takes priority over the recently described Amphithectus coriaceus Paretas-Martinez & Pujade-Villar, 2013. Seitneria Tavares, 1928 becomes a new junior synonym of Amphithectus Hartig, 1840, and Amphithectus coriaceus Paretas-Martinez & Pujade-Villar, 2013 becomes a new synonym of Amphithectus austriacus (Tavares, 1928) comb. n.
The impact of atrial fibrillation and atrial tachycardias (AF/AT), and their optimal treatment strategy in PH patients is still being discussed. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of AF/AT termination on the hemodynamic parameters in PH patients. We compared patients with pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension (PH group), left ventricular heart failure (LV-HF group), and a Control group. A repeated right heart catheterization was performed during the catheter ablation (CA) procedure. The first measurement was done in arrhythmia, the second after the sinus rhythm (SR) was restored. High frequency atrial stimulation was used to simulate AT in patients without arrhythmia presence at the time of the CA. The variation of pressure parameters in PH patients did not differ significantly from the Controls. There was a significant increase in the right ventricle pressure after the SR restoration in the LV-HF group compared to the Controls and PH group (+4 vs. -2 vs. -3 mmHg, p<0.05). The cardiac index (CI) variation was not significant when compared between the study groups. An increase of the CI after the SR restoration was found in those patients with AF (+0.31 l/min/m² [IQR 0.18; 0.58]) in contrast to those patients with organized AT/high frequency atrial stimulation (-0.09 l/min/m², [IQR - 0.45; 0.19]). This difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). The acute hemodynamic response to arrhythmia termination was not significantly different in the PH patients when compared to the Controls. In contrast to AT/high frequency stimulation, the restoration of SR in AF patients leads to an increased CI, irrespective of the presence or absence of PH.
In a recent study, we showed how local-scale climate change impacts (increased temperature, reduced rainfall, shifts in peak rainfall) affected the hydrology of a channelised lowland European river (reduced flow, reduction in flood events, increased siltation, macrophyte growth), allowing native fish species to recolonise the bankside zone and reduce the density of invasive round goby Neogobius melanostomus by effectively removing its preferred habitat, rip-rap bank stabilisation. Here, we report on a follow-on study whereby stretches of the newly vegetated bank were stripped back to clean rip-rap to assess whether presence/absence of rip-rap was the major factor affecting non-gobiid, tubenose goby Proterorhinus semilunaris and round goby abundance. Our results confirmed rip-rap as a major factor increasing round goby abundance, and hence invasion success, on European rivers, while vegetated banks saw an increase in the abundance and diversity of non-gobiid species. While tubenose gobies showed no preference for habitat type, their numbers were significantly reduced in rip-rap colonised by larger and more aggressive round gobies. We discuss our results in light of recent artificial bank restoration measures undertaken on the Danube and Rhine and the potential role of round goby as a flagship species for cost-effective, large scale river bank restoration projects with multiple ecosystem benefits.
Several studies have investigated the association between infection with Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908), pregnancy and fertility, but the results of studies focused on the fertility are rather ambiguous. Here we report results of four new cross-sectional studies. The studies were performed in the General University Hospital, Prague (study A with n = 1 165, and study C with n = 317), in private clinics of the Centre of Reproductive Medicine, Prague (study B with n = 1 016), and in a population of Czech and Slovak volunteers from the Facebook page 'Guinea Pigs' willing to participate in various basic science studies (study D with n = 524). In studies A and B, the clinical records were used to assess the fertility problems, whereas in studies C and D, the women were asked to rate their fertility problems using a six-point scale. Pregnant T. gondii-infected women were older than T. gondii-free women (study A: 33.1 vs 31.2, P < 0.001; study B: 30.6 vs 29.6, P = 0.012) and more often used assisted reproductive technology to conceive (study A: 17.2% vs 12.4%, P = 0.041; study B: 13.4% vs 9.2%, P = 0.317). Pregnant T. gondii-infected primiparous women were older than T. gondii-free primiparas (study A: 31.1 vs 29.5, P < 0.001; study B: 29.7 vs 28.9, P = 0.064) and more often used assisted reproductive technology to conceive (study A: 24.7% vs 14.4%, P = 0.010; study B: 15.9% vs 15.5%, P = 0.888). T. gondii-infected women reported to take a longer time to conceive than T. gondii-free women (P = 0.015). They also claimed to have more fertility problems than T. gondii-free women (P < 0.0001). Our results suggest that 'asymptomatic' latent toxoplasmosis could be a more serious source of fertility problems and health-associated burden than more severe but far rarer congenital toxoplasmosis., Šárka Kaňková, Jaroslav Flegr, Pavel Calda., and Obsahuje bibliografii