Understorey species distinguish late successional and ancient forests after decades of minimum human intervention: A case study from Slovenia

The main species composition drivers in temperate deciduous forests are environmental conditions, a stand?s age and the site history, e.g., the succession stage and past land use, as well as disturbance regime and current management. We compared plant species diversity and composition in late successional and ancient forests, cooccurring on the same small river island applying species accumulation curves and nonmetric multidimensional scaling, respectively. Given the island?s geomorphological characteristics, we expected these to be very similar before human intervention in the past. The forests experienced differing disturbance regimes in the past, while over the last 30 years, human intervention has been the same and reduced to a minimum. The ancient forest in this study had two major characteristics defining it as old, mature forest: continuity of presence for more than 200years and specific composition. The late successional forest experienced major disturbance in the 20th century and was allowed natural regeneration by bordering on the ancient forest, representing a potential species pool,and by decades of minimum human intervention. Our results showed that, even though there was no difference in species richness, we could still detect differences between the forests, particularly in the abundance and species composition of the understorey, among which geophytes had the most indicative importance. To make our results useful on a broader scale, we composed from the literature a species list of plants indicative for ancient forest and tested its application. These results are important for distinguishing between old and mature secondary stands and particularly for identifying old forest stands, which should be conserved and, in the case of fragmented landscapes, included in a network connecting forest fragments.

Problematics of neurosurgical service during the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia

The novel coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)is an ongoing disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 that still poses an important and urgent threat to global health.In Slovenia,the epidemic was declared on March 12th,2020,and since then COVID-19 has had a great impact on our health system.The field of neurosurgery in particular has been experiencing difficulties in both elective and emergency service.In this article,we described epidemiologic protocols and the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the surgical practice and workflow of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana.We analyzed and compared the number of elective and emergency neurosurgical procedures in a 2-year period before and during the pandemic.We recorded a drop in cases mostly on account of elective procedures whilst emergency service remained relatively unaffected.

Abernethy syndrome in Slovenian children: Five case reports and review of literature

BACKGROUND Abernethy syndrome is a congenital vascular anomaly in which the portal blood completely or partially bypasses the liver through a congenital portosystemic shunt.Although the number of recognized and reported cases is gradually increasing,Abernethy syndrome is still a rare disease entity,with an estimated prevalence between 1 per 30000 to 1 per 50000 cases.With this case series,we aimed to contribute to the growing knowledge of potential clinical presentations,course and complications of congenital portosystemic shunts(CPSS)in children.CASE SUMMARY Five children are presented in this case series:One female and four males,two with an intrahepatic CPSS and three with an extrahepatic CPSS.The first patient,who was diagnosed with an intrahepatic CPSS,presented with gastrointestinal bleeding,abdominal pain and hyperammonaemia at six years of age.He underwent a percutaneous embolization of his shunt and has remained asymptomatic ever since.The second patient presented with direct hyperbilirubinemia in the neonatal period and his intrahepatic CPSS later spontaneously regressed.The third patient had pulmonary hypertension and hyperammonaemia due to complete portal vein agenesis and underwent liver transplantation at five years of age.The fourth patient was diagnosed immediately after birth,when evaluated due to another congenital vascular anomaly,and the last patient presented as a teenager with recurrent bone fractures associated with severe osteoporosis.In addition,the last two patients are characterised by benign liver nodules;however,they are clinically stable on symptomatic therapy.CONCLUSION Abernethy syndrome is a rare anomaly with diverse clinical features,affecting almost all organ systems and presenting at any age.

Selective dorsal rhizotomy in cerebral palsy spasticity-a newly established operative technique in Slovenia: A case report and review of literature

BACKGROUND Spasticity affects a large number of children,mainly in the setting of cerebral palsy,however,only a few paediatric neurosurgeons deal with this problem.This is mainly due to the fact that until 1979,when Fasano has published the first series of selective dorsal rhizotomy(SDR),neurosurgeons were able to provide such children only a modest help.The therapy of spasticity has made a great progress since then.Today,peroral drugs,intramuscular and intrathecal medicines are available,that may limit the effects of the disease.In addition,surgical treatment is gaining importance,appearing in the form of deep brain stimulation,peripheral nerve procedures and SDR.All these options offer the affected children good opportunities of improving the quality of life.CASE SUMMARY A 15-year old boy is presented that was surgically treated for spasticity as a result of cerebral palsy.Laminotomy at L1 level was performed and L1 to S1 nerve roots were isolated and divided in smaller fascicles.Then,the SDR was made.CONCLUSION We describe a patient report and surgical technique of SDR that was performed in Slovenia for the first time.

BDNF methylation and mRNA expression in brain and blood of completed suicides in Slovenia

BACKGROUND Suicide is a major public health problem.Worldwide,around 800000 people die by suicide every year.Suicide is a multifactorial disorder,with numerous environmental and genetic risk factors involved.Among the candidate genes,changes in the BDNF locus at the gene,epigenetic,mRNA,and protein expression levels have been implicated in psychiatric disorders,including suicidal behavior and completed suicides.AIM To investigate changes in BDNF methylation and expression of four alternative BDNF transcripts for association with completed suicide.METHODS This case-control study included 42 unrelated male Caucasian subjects,where 20 were control subjects who died following acute cardiac arrest,and 22 were suicide victims who died by hanging.DNA and RNA were extracted from brain tissue(Brodmann area 9 and hippocampus)and from blood.DNA methylation and mRNA expression levels were determined by targeted bisulfite next-generation sequencing and reverse-transcription quantitative PCR.Statistical analysis was done by use of two-tailed Student’s t tests for two independent samples,and the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure was implemented for correction for multiple comparisons.RESULTS In DNA from brain tissue,there were no significant differences in BDNF methylation between the study groups.However,data showed significantly reduced DNA methylation of the BDNF region upstream of exon I in blood samples of suicide victims compared to the controls(5.67±0.57 vs 6.83±0.64,P_(corr)=0.01).In Brodmann area 9 of the brain of the suicide victims but not in their hippocampus,there was higher expression of BDNF transcript I-IX(NM_170731.4)compared to the controls(0.077±0.024 vs 0.05±0.013,P=0.042).In blood,expression analysis for the BDNF transcripts was not feasible due to extensive RNA degradation.CONCLUSION Despite the limitations of the study,the obtained data further support a role for BDNF in suicidality.However,it should be noted that suicidal behavior is a multifactorial disorder with numerous environmental and genetic risk factors involved.

Non-Native Insects in Urban and Forest Areas of Slovenia and the Introduction of Torymus sinensis with Dryocosmus kuriphilus

We survey non-native insects species in whole territory of Slovenia. Data on non-native species were collected in field, and we also used results of projects in which we participated and with overview of literature data in scientific pub-lications. Correspondence Analysis (CA) of data was carried out with the soft-ware Statgraphics Centaurion XVI, U.S.A. Up to 254 non-native insect species are present: around 83% are phytophagous (43% feed on woody plants, 40% on other plants);around 12% are non-phytophagous;and 5% are parasitoids or predators of other insects or mammals. Among the phytophagous species, Hemiptera predominates (with 38.2%), followed by Coleoptera (29.8%) and Lepidoptera (14.5%). Non-native insects that do not feed on plants include Coleoptera (80%), Lepidoptera (6.5%), Hymenoptera (6.5%) and Diptera (6.5%). Most of phytophagous species are associated with introduction of plants on which they are specialists, but some have also shifted from introduced to native plant hosts. 36 non-native phytophagous species (14.17% of all non-native insects) have become harmful plant pests of urban trees and crops. 20 appear on woody plants, but only Dryocosmus kuriphilus, appears in urban forest areas. In the past decades species such as D. kuriphilus, Leptoglossus occidentalis, Xylosandrus germanus, Gnathotrichus materiarius, Dasineura gledichiae, Phyllonorycter issikii, Cinara curvipes, Ophiomyia kwansonis have been recorded in parks and forests. Some non-native species are spreading in Slovenian urban forests and affect economic, ecological and other forest and urban forest functions. The number of harmful insects in forests is extremely small probably due to high diversity of the forest ecosystem, where close-to-nature forest management is practiced, which retains forest’s self-regulatory ability to control pests. Such management enables for example the reduction of D. kuriphilus with expansion of its parasitoid, Torymus sinensis. We attempt to explain this phenomenon: we assume that T. sinensis was introduced in Slovenia as diapaused eggs in its host, D. kuriphilus.

Multi-locus genetic risk score predicts risk for Crohn's disease in Slovenian population

AIM: To develop a risk model for Crohn's disease(CD) based on homogeneous population.METHODS: In our study were included 160 CD patients and 209 healthy individuals from Slovenia. The association study was performed for 112 single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs). We generated genetic risk scores(GRS) based on the number of risk alleles using weighted additive model. Discriminatory accuracy was measured by area under ROC curve(AUC). For risk evaluation, we divided individuals according to positive and negative likelihood ratios(LR) of a test, with LR > 5 for high risk group and LR < 0.20 for low risk group.RESULTS: The highest accuracy, AUC of 0.78 was achieved with GRS combining 33 SNPs with optimal sensitivity and specificity of 75.0% and 72.7%, respectively. Individuals with the highest risk(GRS >5.54) showed significantly increased odds of developing CD(OR = 26.65, 95%CI: 11.25-63.15) compared to the individuals with the lowest risk(GRS < 4.57) which is a considerably greater risk captured than in one SNP with the highest effect size(OR = 3.24). When more than 33 SNPs were included in GRS, discriminatory ability was not improved significantly; AUC of all 74 SNPs was 0.76.CONCLUSION: The authors proved the possibility of building accurate genetic risk score based on 33 risk variants on Slovenian CD patients which may serve as a screening tool in the targeted population.

Management of neurosurgical patients during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemics:The Ljubljana,Slovenia experience

The novel coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)is an emerging disease,caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2.It bears unique biological characteristics,clinical symptoms and imaging manifestations,therefore presenting an important and urgent threat to global health.As a result,a new public health crisis arose,threatening the world with the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus.Despite the maximal worldwide public health responses aimed at containing the disease and delaying its spread,many countries have been confronted with a critical care crisis,and even more,countries will almost certainly follow.In Slovenia,the COVID-19 has struck the health system immensely and among all the specialities,neurosurgery has also been experiencing difficulties in the service,not only in regular,elective surgeries but especially during emergencies.The management of these neurosurgical patients has become more difficult than ever.We describe our protocol in the management of neurosurgical patients in the University Medical Centre Ljubljana,Slovenia and how neurosurgical pathology was tackled during the pandemics.

Reliability and Validity of the Audit on Diabetes-Dependent Quality of Life (ADDQoL) and EQ-5D in Elderly Slovenian Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 Patients

Purpose: This study reports the reliability and validity analyses of the Audit on diabetes-dependent quality of life (ADDQoL) and EQ-5D in elderly Slovenian diabetic patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study of elderly (age ≥ 65 years) non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus type 2 (DMT2) patients was carried out. The ADDQoL and EQ-5D surveys were conducted between January and May, 2012. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics software, version 20.0. Results: After exclusion of non-eligible respondents, the final sample for the analysis was 261 cases (51% male), resulting in 52.2%of response rate. The mean age of the patients was 70.3 years (SD ± 4.1). The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.93 for ADDQoL and 0.73 for EQ-5D.There was no improvement in the alpha value if any item was deleted in all instruments. Missing value items ranged from 0.8% to 1.5% for EQ-5D, and from 0.8% to 59.1% (working life) in ADDQoL. Spearman’s correlation between the EQ-5D VAS score and ADDQoL weighted overall score resulted in weak correlations coefficient (r = 0.294;p < 0.001). Conclusions: The ADDQoL proved reliable and valid for assessing Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) among elderly Slovenian DMT2 patients. EQ-5D seemed to be too generic to describe limitations of DMT2 patients in detail. Using disease specific QoL instruments to learn about patient limitations was recommended. Comparison of ADDQoL results between various studies provided significant differences in the impact of diabetes.

Project Registration of Complementary Activity in Slovenia

In this paper,author will present the conditions for registration of complementary activities,the number of complementary activities and different types of complementary activities on farms in Slovenia.Complementary activities on farms must meet certain verifiable requirement.This is also a guarantee to users of the regulated field of activity.Farmers are aware that a complementary activity on a farm is an added value.That is why the complementary activities are considered as an informal brand of farms.A farmer that has at least one hectare of agricultural area in use may register a complementary activity on the farm with the administrative unit.One exception is a complementary activity which involves beekeeping activities,with at least ten bee families required to be entered in the register of beekeepers.In this case,the threshold of at least one hectare of comparable agricultural land is not required.Registration of a complementary activity on a farm enables a better use of the production capacities and the workforce of a farm,as well as the acquisition of additional income.

Urban Design Embracing the Wind Environment: Bezigrad Neighbourhood Case Study in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Urban climate is considered one of the most important environmental criteria in urban planning,since it significantly affects the project and its placement in the space.Climate conditions are central to the study,with winds in the urban environment,their direction,intensity and changes taken into consideration designing the new interventions in space.The results of the case study were applied to the project with the intention of supporting and guiding the urban design in order to improve the comfort and quality of the environment.In this article,I explore the question of how individual morphological models affect the micro-and macroclimate conditions.The initial urban solution of the Novi Bezigrad neighbourhood is presented as a realistic model project responding to the existing urban and architectural practices and legal provisions.The project was tested in a computer model and was analysed in terms of the positive and negative effects of its impact on the wind in the planning area and the wider area in the surrounding area.The final urban design derives from the results of wind analysis.

Diversity and surge in abundance of native parasitoid communities prior to the onset of Torymus sinensis on the Asian chestnut gall wasp(Dryocosmus kuriphilus) in Slovenia,Croatia and Hungary

Since the rapid spread of the Asian chestnut gall wasp(ACGW) throughout south-east Europe in the last few years,the possibilities of its control have been increasingly investigated.Due to constraints in available suppression measures in forest stands,biological control is recognized as the most suitable action to lower the abundance of the new invasive pest.Torymus sinensis,as a specialized parasitoid chalcid wasp of ACGW,was introduced to suppress the pest in Italy in 2005,and later in Croatia,Hungary(2014) and Slovenia(2015).We investigated the native parasitoid complex associated with ACGW in Slovenia,Croatia and Hungary over 8 years of sampling.We found 41 species of native parasitoids,eight of which are the first records on ACGW in Europe,adding up to a total of 51 species known to parasitize ACGW.These findings represent a large complex of cynipid-parasitoid fauna.Moreover,the abundance of native parasitoid populations on ACGW have demonstrated a temporal surge between the invasion of a new alien host(ACGW) and the onset of its specialized parasitoid,T.sinensis.Our results indicate that the introduced parasitoid acts as a very successful biocontrol of ACGW,outcompeting native parasitoids.This outcome should be considered as beneficial through the maintenance of ecological balance in affected forest ecosystems.

Temperature Comfort, Recreation and Historical Features in Open Spaces;the Path of Remembrance and Comradeship (PATH) in Ljubljana, Slovenia

The built environment has a great impact on the quality of urban climate,a comfortable living environment,overheating,and detection of changes in Urban Heat Islands(UHI).Despite the effects that raised outdoor temperatures have on human well-being and health,being in open outdoor spaces is strongly encouraged.This article deals with open green urban areas.The study was focused on searching for the relationships between the various elements,such us outdoor thermal comfort,the urban heat island,green areas,and active leisure time.The well-being in open spaces has be studied on the case of The Path of Remembrance and Comradeship(PATH)in the city of Ljubljana,Slovenia.PATH is a circular recreation ground(almost 33 km long)and passes from the urban to the natural landscape area.PATH constitutes an important element of the urban space and confirms the identity and image of Ljubljana.It is most popular for walking and jogging.Overheating at the PATH was studied using multiple indicators,which were broken down into detail at five sites with different urban morphology,green areas,water,and paved areas.