AIM: This study presents a procedure of complex assessment of the environment impact on asthma prevalence. This approach is also applicable for any other disease which is supposed to be associated with the quality of the outdoor environment. METHODS: The input data included asthma prevalence values from the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) cross-section questionnaire survey (13,456 children) and annual reports on activities of all paediatricians in the Czech Republic (2,072 surgeries); concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, O3, benzene, benzo(a)pyrene, As, Cd, Pb and Ni; emissions of total suspended particles, SO2, NOx, CO, VOC, NH3; traffic intensity; land cover (anthropogenic area, urban greenery, arable land, grassland, other agricultural land, forests); proportion of cultivation of individual agricultural crops (17 categories); and proportion of individual woods (15 categories). Using the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) analysis the integration of all source data through one spatial unit was achieved and complete data sets were compiled to be subjected to statistical analysis (combination of factor analysis with logistic/linear regression). RESULTS: In this study, the approach of combined use of GIS analyses and statistical evaluation of large input data sets was tested. The asthma prevalence demonstrated positive associations with the air pollution (PM10, PM2.5, benzene, benzo(a)pyren, SO2, Pb, Cd) and the rate of agricultural use of land (growing oats, rye, arable fodder crops). Conversely, there was a negative association with the occurrence of natural forests (ash, poplar, fir, beech, spruce, pine). No significant associations were observed with the distance from the road, traffic intensity and NO2 concentration. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the outdoor quality may be one of the crucial factors for asthma prevalence.
- MeSH
- Asthma epidemiology MeSH
- Residence Characteristics * MeSH
- Child MeSH
- Geographic Information Systems MeSH
- Air Pollutants analysis MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Linear Models MeSH
- Adolescent MeSH
- Child, Preschool MeSH
- Prevalence MeSH
- Spatial Analysis MeSH
- Environment * MeSH
- Air Pollution analysis MeSH
- Check Tag
- Child MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Adolescent MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Child, Preschool MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- Czech Republic MeSH
Population and development review, ISSN 0098-7921 vol. 28, suppl., 2002
vii, 250 s. : il. ; 24 cm
Prostorová kognice je komplexní poznávací funkce zahrnující orientaci a navigaci v prostoru. V souvislosti s navigací člověka se rozlišují zejména dva procesy 1. egocentrická navigace závislá na vlastním pohybu v prostředí a 2. allocentrická navigace závislá na definování vzájemných vztahů jednotlivých orientačních bodů. Výsledkem těchto paralelních procesů je kognitivní mapa, mentální reprezentace prostoru závislá zejména na funkci hipokampální formace. Navigační schopnosti se vyvíjejí v průběhu ontogeneze, kde se egocentrické procesy objevují dříve než ty allocentrické. Změny prostorové kognice doprovázejí i řadu neuropsychiatrických a neurologických onemocnění, a mohou tak sloužit jako diagnostický nástroj. Například složitější allocentrická navigace je postižena již u mírné kognitivní poruchy, která předchází Alzheimerovu nemoc. Podobné nálezy jsou typické i pro pacienty trpící schizofrenií.
Spatial cognition is a complex cognitive domain that includes orientation and navigation in an environment. Human navigation involves 1. egocentric navigation depending on the own body movement in the environment, and 2. allocentric navigation based on the spatial relationships of individual landmarks. These parallel processes result in the so-called cognitive map, a mental representation of the space dependent predominantly on the function of the hippocampal formation. Navigation capability develops gradually during early ontogeny, where egocentric processes occur earlier than the allocentric ones. Alterations in spatial cognition are characteristic also for various neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders and thus they may serve as diagnostic markers. For instance, more complex allocentric navigation is affected already in mild cognitive impairment preceding Alzheimer’s disease. Similar findings are also typical for patients suffering from schizophrenia.
Mollusc communities of previously unexplored Bulgarian fens were studied in order to determine and generalise the patterns of species richness and composition along the mineral richness gradient. The aim was also to compare predictive values of the environment, vegetation and spatial structure. Altogether, 44 mollusc species were recorded at 40 treeless fen sites. Species richness varied from 0 to 18 species per site, and it was positively associated with the mineral gradient and negatively with altitude. However, the best predictor was obtained using plant species composition. All explanatory variables had higher effect on land snails than on the entire mollusc assemblage (including aquatic species). Species richness and abundance were significantly and positively correlated with the species composition turnover; the communities were highly nested, with poor sites having subsets of the fauna found in the richest. The main direction of mollusc species turnover was highly associated with that observed for vegetation, and the main gradient of plant species composition was able to explain nearly 20% of total variation in mollusc data. We found that spatial structure explained by far the highest proportion of independent variation, which reflected the high level of geographical isolation of Bulgarian fens and regional differences independent of any environmental variation. Our results demonstrate (1) the general role of mineral richness gradient for structuring mollusc communities in fens, (2) the pivotal indicator role of plant species composition in predicting species composition of mollusc communities, despite being trophically independent and (3) the effect of isolation and origins of the habitat on species composition: most species have wide geographical distributions within the habitat type, and geographical patterns within Bulgaria may have a stochastic element.
- MeSH
- Biodiversity MeSH
- Ecosystem MeSH
- Mollusca physiology MeSH
- Environment MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- Bulgaria MeSH
Understanding spatial distribution of organisms in heterogeneous environment remains one of the chief issues in ecology. Spatial organization of freshwater fish was investigated predominantly on large-scale, neglecting important local conditions and ecological processes. However, small-scale processes are of an essential importance for individual habitat preferences and hence structuring trophic cascades and species coexistence. In this work, we analysed the real-time spatial distribution of pelagic freshwater fish in the Římov Reservoir (Czechia) observed by hydroacoustics in relation to important environmental predictors during 48 hours at 3-h interval. Effect of diurnal cycle was revealed of highest significance in all spatial models with inverse trends between fish distribution and predictors in day and night in general. Our findings highlighted daytime pelagic fish distribution as highly aggregated, with general fish preferences for central, deep and highly illuminated areas, whereas nighttime distribution was more disperse and fish preferred nearshore steep sloped areas with higher depth. This turnover suggests prominent movements of significant part of fish assemblage between pelagic and nearshore areas on a diel basis. In conclusion, hydroacoustics, GIS and spatial modelling proved as valuable tool for predicting local fish distribution and elucidate its drivers, which has far reaching implications for understanding freshwater ecosystem functioning.
Pokroky detí s kochleárnymim plantátom (KI) väčšina štúdií hodnotí na základe klinických predpokladov (audiologických, logopedických, psychologických, vek v čase KI). Len málo odborných publikácií venuje pozornosť širšiemu okruhu faktorov, ktoré môžu vplývať na výkon dieťaťa s KI. Cieľomprá ce je určiť tie sociálne aspekty, ktoré najviac vplývajú na vývin dieťaťa s KI. Autori sledovali 42 detí, ktoré používajú KI aspoň jeden rok a sú v starostlivosti Slovenského centra kochleárnej implantácie v Bratislave. Deti s KI rozdelili do dvoch skupín: 1. deti, ktoré vzhľadom na klinické predpoklady (audiologické, psychologické, logopedické) splnili očakávania, 2. deti, ktoré vzhľadomna klinické predpoklady nesplnili očakávania. V každej skupine sledovali tieto sociálne a demografické charakteristiky prostredia dieťaťa: úplnosť rodiny, sociokultúrny status rodiny, angažovanosť rodiny, výchovný štýl rodiny, typ školského zariadenia, región, v ktoromdieť a žije. Výkon dieťaťa s KI ovplyvňuje väčšina sledovaných sociálnych a demografických charakteristík, výchovný štýl rodiny (najmä dôslednosť vo výchove), sociálno-kultúrny status rodiny (vzdelanie, ekonomické zázemie, sociálny status) a angažovanosť rodiny ( v programe rehabilitácie, v komunikácii s centromKI...). V štúdii autori poukázali na potrebu sledovať uvedené faktory a predigovať očakávania výkonu dieťaťa aj na základe týchto charakteristík.
Majority of papers evaluate progress of children with cochlear implant according to the clinical presumptions (audiological, logopedical, psychological, age in time of cochlear implantation). Only few papers pay attention to wider sphere of factors that can have an influence on the performance of a child with cochlear implant. The goal of this paper is to define social aspects that may play a major role in the development of a child with cochlear implant. Forty two children operated in the Cochlear implant center Bratislava that use cochlear implant. Forty two children operated in the Cochlear implant center Bratislava that use cochlear implant at least one year have been observed. These children have been devided in two groups: 1. Children that fulfilled our expectation due to their clinical pressumptions (audiological, logopedical, psychological, age in time of Cochlear implantation), 2. Children that did not fulfil our expectation. In each group the following social and demographic characteristics have been evaluated: Completnes of the family, socio-cultural family status, involvement of the family in the rehabilitation process, educational style in the family, type of school attended, region in which the family with implanted child live. From the observed and evaluated data the most important influence on the performance of a child with cochlear implant have following social anddemographic factors: educational style in the family (especially consistency in education), socio-cultural family status (level of education, economical situation, social status, involvement of the family in rehabilitation process. Some social and demographic factors play as important role in the progress of a child with cochlear implant as clinical factors. These social and demographic factors should be observed and evaluated the selection of cochlear implant candidates to reach expected results.
- MeSH
- Audiology MeSH
- Demography MeSH
- Child MeSH
- Speech-Language Pathology MeSH
- Psychology, Clinical MeSH
- Cochlear Implantation MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Social Environment MeSH
- Child Development psychology MeSH
- Check Tag
- Child MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Comparative Study MeSH
- Geographicals
- Slovakia MeSH
