In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden bisher publizierte Daten über LIE-CT des Myokards in Form einer Metaanalyse systematisch ausgewertet. Das primäre Ziel der Metaanalyse war, bisherige Erkenntnisse über die Treffsicherheit der LIE-CT in Bezug auf infarzierte Myokardabschnitte quantitativ zusammenzufassen. Nach Entfernung der Duplikate ergab die Suche in den vier Datenbanken insgesamt 914 unterschiedliche Treffer. Letztlich wurden 12 Studien eingeschlossen (336 Patienten; 268 männlich, 68 weiblich; das mittlere Alter der Patienten variierte zwischen 55 und 67,7 Jahren). Die AUC (area under the curve) der SROC-Kurve (summary receiver operating characteristic curve) als Maß für die Treffsicherheit der LIE-CT für infarzierte Segmente beträgt 0,95 (95 % CI: 0,93 - 0,97). Die gepoolte Sensitivität der LIE-CT beträgt 0,81 (95 % CI: 0,75 - 0,87) und eine gepoolte Spezifität von 0,97 (95 % CI: 0,95 - 0,98). Fünf der eingeschlossenen 12 Studien (mit insgesamt 126 Patienten) haben zusätzlich den transmuralen Charakter der Myokardnarben ausgewertet. In Bezug auf transmurale infarzierte Myokardsegmente beträgt die AUC 0,94 (95 % CI: 0,91 - 0,95). Die gepoolte Sensitivität der LIE-CT für transmurale Infarkte beträgt 0,81 (95 % CI: 0,74 -0 ,86) und die gepoolte Spezifität 0,96 (95 % CI: 0,93 - 0,98). Das diagnostische Odds Ratio der gepoolten Daten war 146 (95 % CI: 65 - 331). I2 beträgt 97,95 % (95 % CI: 94 - 99 %), vereinbar mit einer hohen Heterogenität. Die Ergebnisse des Deeks-Tests (als Maß für die Publikationsbias) waren nicht statistisch signifikant (p = 0,08 beziehungsweise p = 0,84). Zu den Limitationen der Arbeit gehören die Verwendung anderer bildgebender Verfahren als Referenzstandard, die Heterogenität der eingeschlossenen Studien, den Einschluss sowohl von Patienten mit subakuten als auch mit alten Myokardinfarkten und die geringe Anzahl von Studien, die Angaben zum transmuralen Charakter der Infarkte machen. Insgesamt sprechen die Ergebnisse dafür, dass die LIE-CT eine relativ hohe Sensitivität und eine sehr hohe Spezifität für Myokardinfarkte hat. Die Sensitivität ist niedriger als die Referenzmethode LGE-MRT, während die hohe Spezifität darauf hindeutet, dass beide Methoden zumindest in dieser Hinsicht ähnlich gut sind. Anhand der vorliegenden Daten kann die LIE-CT nicht als Ersatz für die LGE-MRT empfohlen werden, wenn die Myokardvitalität die primäre diagnostische Fragestellung ist. Dagegen könnte die LIE-CT eine sinnvolle Erweiterung des CT-Protokolls bei Patienten sein, bei denen im Rahmen der CT-Koronarangiographie hochgradige Stenosen oder Verschlüsse gefunden werden.:Abkürzungsverzeichnis 1 Einleitung 1.1 Pathophysiologie und Epidemiologie der Myokardischämie 1.2 Therapie des chronischen Koronarsyndroms 1.3 Myokardvitalität und bildgebende Diagnostik 1.3.1 Echokardiographie 1.3.2 Einzelphotonen-Emissionscomputertomographie (SPECT) 1.3.3 Positronenemissionstomographie (PET) 1.3.4 Magnetresonanztomographie (MRT) 1.3.5 Computertomographie (CT) 1.4 Fragestellung 2 Material und Methoden 2.1 Studiensuche und -selektion 2.2 Ethikvotum 2.3 Datenextraktion 2.4 Statistische Auswertung 2.4.1 Heterogenität 2.4.2 Publikationsbias 2.4.3 Methodische Qualität 3 Ergebnisse 3.1 Literaturrecherche 3.2 Eingeschlossene Studien 3.2.1 Studiendesign und Patientenzahlen 3.2.2 akute vs. chronische Infarkte 3.2.3 Referenzstandard 3.2.4 CT-Untersuchungstechnik 3.2.5 Heterogenität der Studien 3.3 Publikationsbias 3.4 Methodische Qualität 4 Diskussion 4.1 LIE-CT in der Metaanalyse und in den eingeschlossenen Einzelstudien 4.2 Transmuralität der Infarktareale 4.3 Strahlenbelastung 4.4 LIE-CT und LGE-MRT 4.5 LIE-CT und andere Verfahren zur Beurteilung der Myokardvitalität 4.5.1 SPECT 4.5.2 PET 4.5.3 Dobutamin-Stressechokardiographie (DSE) 4.6 LIE-CT bei nicht-ischämischen Fragestellungen 4.7 Methodische Qualität 4.8 Limitationen 4.9 Optimierungspotential der LIE-CT und Ausblick Zusammenfassung Summary Tabellenverzeichnis Abbildungsverzeichnis Literaturverzeichnis / We performed a meta-analysis of published data on late iodine enhancement computed tomography (LIE-CT) in patients with myocardial infarction. The aim of the meta-analysis was to evaluate the accuracy of LIE-CT in detecting infarcted myocardial segments. After removal of duplicates the initial search of the four databases identified 914 potentially matching articles. After further selection based on article titles, abstracts and then full texts, 12 studies were finally included in the meta-analysis (336 patients; 268 male, 68 female; median patient age between 55 und 67.7 years). The AUC (area under the curve) of the SROC curve (summary receiver operating characteristic curve) as a measure of the accuracy of LIE CT for infarcted segments is 0.95 (95 % CI: 0.93 - 0.97). The pooled sensitivity of LIE-CT was 0.81 (95 % CI: 0.75 - 0.87) and the pooled specificity was 0,97 (95 % CI: 0.95 - 0.98). Five of the 12 included studies also have evaluated the performance of LIE-CT for differentiating between transmural and non-transmural infarctions. In this case the AUC was 0.94 (95 % CI: 0.91 - 0.95). The pooled sensitivity of LIE-CT for transmural Infarctions was 0.81 (95 % CI: 0.74 - 0.86) and the pooled specificity 0.96 (95 % CI: 0.93 - 0.98). The diagnostic odds ratio of the pooled data was 146 (95 % CI: 65 - 331). I2 was 97.95 % (95 % CI: 94 - 99 %), consistent with high heterogeneity. The results of the Deek`s test, which served as a measure for publication bias were not statistically significant (p = 0.08 and p = 0.84, respectively). Among the limitations of the current study are the use of other imaging modalities as a reference standard, the heterogeneity of included studies, the inclusion of both subacute and chronic infarct cases and the low number of studies which have evaluated the transmurality of the infarctions. The results of this meta-analysis confirm that LIE-CT has a relatively high sensitivity and a very high specificity for myocardial infarctions. The sensitivity is lower compared to the reference standard LGE-MRI, while the high specificity shows that both methods are comparable at least in this regard. Based on the data summarized in this meta-analysis, LIE-CT cannot be recommended as a replacement for LGE-MRI when evaluating myocardial viability is the main purpose of the imaging examination. LIE-CT can be a helpful addition to cardiac CT exam protocols, when a high-grade stenosis or occlusion is found on coronary CT angiography.:Abkürzungsverzeichnis 1 Einleitung 1.1 Pathophysiologie und Epidemiologie der Myokardischämie 1.2 Therapie des chronischen Koronarsyndroms 1.3 Myokardvitalität und bildgebende Diagnostik 1.3.1 Echokardiographie 1.3.2 Einzelphotonen-Emissionscomputertomographie (SPECT) 1.3.3 Positronenemissionstomographie (PET) 1.3.4 Magnetresonanztomographie (MRT) 1.3.5 Computertomographie (CT) 1.4 Fragestellung 2 Material und Methoden 2.1 Studiensuche und -selektion 2.2 Ethikvotum 2.3 Datenextraktion 2.4 Statistische Auswertung 2.4.1 Heterogenität 2.4.2 Publikationsbias 2.4.3 Methodische Qualität 3 Ergebnisse 3.1 Literaturrecherche 3.2 Eingeschlossene Studien 3.2.1 Studiendesign und Patientenzahlen 3.2.2 akute vs. chronische Infarkte 3.2.3 Referenzstandard 3.2.4 CT-Untersuchungstechnik 3.2.5 Heterogenität der Studien 3.3 Publikationsbias 3.4 Methodische Qualität 4 Diskussion 4.1 LIE-CT in der Metaanalyse und in den eingeschlossenen Einzelstudien 4.2 Transmuralität der Infarktareale 4.3 Strahlenbelastung 4.4 LIE-CT und LGE-MRT 4.5 LIE-CT und andere Verfahren zur Beurteilung der Myokardvitalität 4.5.1 SPECT 4.5.2 PET 4.5.3 Dobutamin-Stressechokardiographie (DSE) 4.6 LIE-CT bei nicht-ischämischen Fragestellungen 4.7 Methodische Qualität 4.8 Limitationen 4.9 Optimierungspotential der LIE-CT und Ausblick Zusammenfassung Summary Tabellenverzeichnis Abbildungsverzeichnis Literaturverzeichnis

Weltweit sind viele Populationen großer Raubtiere bedroht. Die Suche nach Wegen zur Erhaltung und Wiederherstellung von Populationen großer Raubtiere ist daher ein zentrales Naturschutzziel. In einigen Regionen erholen sich die Populationen jedoch auch, was der Wissenschaft eine hervorragende Möglichkeit bietet potentielle Wege zum Schutz von Raubtieren zu identifizieren. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, die Voraussetzungen, die eine Erholung von Raubtierpopulationen begünstigen, besser zu verstehen. Am Beispiel der sich erholenden Population des Persischen Leoparden im Kaukasus beantwortet diese Arbeit die folgenden Forschungsfragen: (1) Bietet die Ökoregion des Kaukasus einen geeigneten, sicheren und zusammenhängenden Lebensraum für Persische Leoparden und ihre Beutetiere? (2) Was sind wirksame Schutzstrategien, die eine Erholung der Population des Persischen Leoparden im Kaukasus begünstigen? Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit lassen den Schluss zu, dass für Leoparden und ihre Beutetiere im Kaukasus großflächig geeigneter Lebensraum vorhanden ist. Trotz dieser günstigen Ausgangsposition für den Artenschutz zeigt diese Arbeit jedoch auch klar auf, dass Schutzmaßnahmen erforderlich sind, um direkte Bedrohungen abzumildern. Als wichtigsten Faktor für eine Erholung der Leopardenpopulation identifiziert diese Arbeit das Verhindern von Tötungen. Diese Arbeit verdeutlicht somit die wichtige Rolle von Konfliktminderung zwischen Menschen und Raubtieren, um die daraus resultierende Tötung von Raubtieren zu verhindern. Darüber hinaus unterstreicht diese Dissertation die Notwendigkeit der Vernetzung sicherer Lebensräume und den Wert von internationaler Zusammenarbeit zur Förderung der Genesung von Populationen großer Raubtiere. Zusammengefasst liefert diese Arbeit Einblicke in Bedingungen, die die Genesung von Großraubtieren fördern, und umreißt mögliche zukünftige Wege eines vom Aussterben bedrohten Raubtiers in einem globalen Biodiversitäts-Hotspot. / Large carnivore populations are threatened globally. This is worrisome because of their intrinsic value and their importance for ecosystems and humans. Finding ways to maintain and restore large carnivore populations is therefore a central goal for conservation. Interestingly, large carnivores are also returning to areas where they were extirpated before, which provides a great opportunity for conservation science to identify pathways to safeguard large carnivore populations. The overall goal of this thesis was to better understand the conditions that foster large carnivore recoveries. Gaining a better understanding of large carnivore recoveries is challenging though, because it requires working across broad areas, where data on environmental characteristics and prey species is often limited and inconsistent. Using the Persian leopard recovery in the Caucasus ecoregion as an example, the specific research questions of this thesis were: (1) Does the Caucasus ecoregion have suitable, safe, and connected habitat for Persian leopards and their prey? (2) What are effective management strategies to foster the recovery of Persian leopards in the Caucasus? Results revealed that suitable habitat for Persian leopards and their prey is widespread in the Caucasus. However, habitat patches are often not safe and conservation efforts are needed to mitigate threats and restore, protect, and connect populations of leopards and their prey. Reducing the persecution of leopards seems the most important strategy to foster leopard recovery in the Caucasus. For large carnivore recoveries in general, this thesis underpins the importance of human-carnivore conflict mitigation to prevent killings of carnivores, particularly in areas where populations are small. Further, this thesis underlines the need of improving connectivity among safe habitat patches and the value of international cooperation. Overall, this thesis provides insights into conditions that foster large carnivore recovery and outlines potential future pathways for a critically endangered apex predator in a global biodiversity hotspot.

Die Ultraschalldiagnostik des Herzens ist eine der wichtigsten nichtinvasiven Diagnostikmethoden in der Kardiologie, auf vielen Gebieten der Herzchirurgie, der Anästhesiologie und der Kinderkardiologie. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Darstellung der Möglichkeiten der Echokardiographie in der Diagnostik der Herzinsuffizienz mit Darstellung von Ischämie und Vitalität sowie der Therapieauswirkungen bei der ischämisch bedingten Herzinsuffizienz und der hämodynamischen Veränderungen. Ruhe und Stress Echokardiographie können in einem Untersuchungsgang ein großes Spektrum an Informationen über die Ruhe-Funktion, myokardiale Vitalität und Ischämie zu sammeln, die für die prognostische Einschätzung von Bedeutung sind. Die vorliegenden Untersuchungen ergaben eine regional unterschiedliche Wanddickenzunahme unter Dobutamin bei kardiovaskulär Gesunden in der 2D-Echokardiographie. Im Vergleich zu anderen Wandabschnitten zeigte die inferiore Wand eine reduzierte Wanddickenzunahme. Für die Interpretation in der Stress Echokardiographie sind diese Erkenntnisse von großer Bedeutung. Der Langzeitverlauf bei Patienten mit chronischer linksventrikulärer Dysfunktion wird durch klinische Faktoren, dem Grad der linksventrikulären Dysfunktion und wesentlich vom Vorhandensein ischämischen und/oder vitalen Myokards bestimmt. Die Kombination von Dipyridamol und Dobutamin zeigte in den ersten Untersuchungen eine erhöhte Sensitivität bei gleichbleibender Spezifität in der Vitalitätsdiagnostik bei chronisch ischämischer Herzkrankheit und reduzierter linksventrikulärer Funktion. Die Daten prospektiver Multicenter-Studien dokumentierten ein 1-Jahres Ereignis-Risiko von 2% bei Patienten mit einer negativen Stress-Echokardiographie und ergaben eine Verdopplung des Risikos bei einem positiven Testergebnis und eine Vervierfachung des Risikos, wenn der Test schon nach der ersten Dipyridamoldosis positiv ausfällt. Sowohl nach akutem Myokardinfarkt als auch bei chronisch hibernierendem Myokard mit reduzierter linksventrikulärer Funktion basiert der Nachweis vitalen Myokards mittels Kontrast-Echokardiographie auf der Demonstration einer intakten Mikroperfusion. In eigenen Untersuchungen konnte die Durchführbarkeit und gute diagnostische Genauigkeit der intravenösen Kontrast-Echokardiographie bei Patienten nach akutem Myokardinfarkt nach akuter perkutaner Koronar-Revaskularisation im Vergleich zur pharmakologischen Stress-Echokardiographie (Kombination aus niedrig dosiertem Dipyridamol und Dobutamin) und zur Myokardszintigraphie nachgewiesen werden. Die dreidimensionale Echokardiographie ermöglicht die plastische und räumliche Darstellung des Herzens und eine bessere topographische Zuordnung im Vergleich zur zweidimensionalen Echokardiographie. Besonders bei komplizierten pathologischen Veränderungen erleichtert die dreidimensionale Darstellung eine Einschätzung des jeweiligen Krankheitsbildes. Die Volumetrie der Herzhöhlen, die Bestimmung von Ejektionsfraktion und die Berechnung der linksventrikulären Masse, von Klappenöffnungsflächen oder intrakardialen Raumforderungen sind besonders bei pathologisch veränderten Zuständen und damit in geometrisch komplizierter Weise mit hoher diagnostischer Sicherheit möglich. Strukturveränderungen konnten sowohl bei sekundärer als auch bei primärer pulmonaler Hypertonie in Form von Wandverdickungen, Lumenreduktion, pathologischen Wandstrukturen und Einschränkung der systolisch-diastolischen Pulsatilität beschrieben werden. Es konnten derzeit bei Patienten mit pulmonaler Hypertonie im Vergleich zu einem Normalkollektiv verschiedene Befunde beschrieben werden: Wanddickenzunahme, Inhomogenität des Wandaufbaus, erhöhte Gefäßsteifigkeit und Plaques. Die Echokardiographie bleibt auch weiterhin ein Verfahren, das sich exzellent zur Verlaufbeobachtung bei den Patienten mit Koronarer Herzkrankheit und Herzinsuffizienz eignet und für die Diagnose und Therapieentscheidungen sowie für die Prognose entscheidende Informationen liefert. / The echocardiography is the most important non-invasive diagnostic tool in cardiology and in many fields of cardiac surgery, anaesthesiology and paediatric cardiology. The aim of this collection of studies was to demonstrate the importance of echocardiography for the diagnosis and guidance for therapeutic decision making in patients with heart failure and to demonstrate the ability of diagnosis of ischemia, viability, and hemodynamic assessment. Resting and stress echocardiography is a one-stop shop , which enables a wide range of information to be collected on resting function, myocardial viability, and induced ischemia, all of which are useful for prognostic stratification. Heterogeneity of left ventricular wall thickening can be induced or magnified by dobutamine infusion even in subjects without coronary artery disease, with the inferior wall showing a lack of hyperkinesis. Caution in aggressive dobutamine stress echocardiography reading, especially in the inferior wall, might be warranted. Large scale, multicentre, prospectively collected data could show that the 1-year risk of cardiac death is as low as 2% in patients with negative dipyridamole stress echocardiography: it doubles if the test is positive at e high dose, and is almost four times higher if it is positive at a low dose. When functional recovery after successful revascularization is considered as the postoperative gold standard in patients with severe heart failure, thallium scintigraphy had a higher sensitivity than dipyridamole or dobutamine alone, this sensitivity gap was filled with combined dipyridamole-dobutamine. The specificity of all forms of pharmacologic stress echo was better than thallium-201. In severe left ventricular ischemic dysfunction, myocardial viability, as assessed by low dose dipyridamole echo, is associated with improved survival in revascularized patients. The wall motion response during combined dipyridamole-dobutamine echocardiography was useful in the prediction of recovery of regional and global ventricular function after revascularization in patients short after acute myocardial infarction. Combined intravenous myocardial contrast echocardiography and pharmacological stress echocardiography was more accurate inn the diagnosis of stunned myocardium than myocardial scintigraphy alone. Dynamic three-dimensional echocardiography can provide objective three-dimensional images of the heart. Three-dimensional image reconstruction and volumetry were proven to have the potential to link morphological and hemodynamic diagnostic assessment of cardiac pathology. Three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography could yield important additional clinical information in patients with heart tumors and improved the operative planning. Intravascular ultrasound imaging (IVUS) of the pulmonary arteries had been demonstrated as reliable method of quantifying lumen area and pulsatility. IVUS allowed the description and comparison of the morphologic changes of the pulmonary artery vessel with hemodynamic findings and endothelially mediated vasodilation in pulmonary hypertension. Echocardiography allows an integrated assessment of cardiac structure function and hemodynamics with important informations regarding the prognosis and therapeutic consequences.

This diploma thesis is aimed at problems of abortion and simultaneously of a different view of theological and biological sciences that deal with these problems. Concurrently, it is necessary to offer an essential outline of basic embryological and medical processes which enable understanding the given problem in view of importance of this situation. On the one hand the thesis presents legal essentials related to the topic in a historical legal context, on the other hand it does not exclude contemporary trends. It regards the given problems through a point of view of various Christian churches as well as world religious streams. It refers to negative health consequences of miscarriage and induced abortion but in the same time it presents basic information about contraception and differentiation of contraceptive and interceptive means. The thesis also presents opinions of individual churches that express their view of contraception or interception. The author of this thesis thinks critically over these thoughts and invites readers to create their own reflection of given problems. He tries to outline a wide range of these problems in the new, wider and often ignored point of view, that is of father's view. A father is often totally ignored during an abortion though he is actually a half-donor of...

This diploma thesis is aimed at an induced abortion issue and it considers it a bioethical issue. The author refers to a difference between views of theological and biological sciences that deal with the given issue. Simultaneously it provides a reader with an essential outline of basic embryological and medical processes which enable understanding of the given issue. On the one hand, the thesis presents a reader legal essentials related to the given topic in a historical legal context, on the other hand it does not ignore a contemporary development. It regards the given issue from a point of view of various Christian churches, although it does not work in a field of theology. It refers to negative health consequences of a miscarriage and induced abortion and simultaneously it presents basic information about contraception and about contraceptive and abortive means. The thesis also presents a reader with opinions and moral norms of selected Christian churches that express their opinions on abortion, contraception and interception. The author reflects upon the given moral norms. One of the aims of the thesis is to find a suitable way of presenting the moral norms in the field of induced abortion and interception so that the reason and consciousness of the individual were respected. The diploma...

The wettability and phase change phenomena of water are ubiquitous on biological and artificial surfaces. Properties like water repellency, self-cleaning, coalescence induced condensation jumping, anti-frosting, and dew harvesting arise on surfaces with particular structures and chemistry and are of particular interest for energy and water saving. This thesis collects different studies of wettability and phase change on natural and artificial surfaces: growth and self-ejection of condensation droplets on micro and nanostructured surfaces we fabricated, their applications, the Sliding on Frost of condensation droplets observed on the Cotinus Coggygria leaf, the dew harvesting property of the Old Man of the Andes Cactus enhanced by distance coalescence through microgrooves and finally, a theoretical study of viruses viability in sessile droplets. The first chapter introduces the theoretical framework of wettability and phase changes on surfaces. In the second chapter, we present the self-ejection of condensation droplets from hydrophobic nanostructured microstructures. We modelled analytically the droplets jumping and fabricated surfaces to verify the predictions. The fabricated geometry was inspired by the modelling and the available fabrication techniques. We tested the surfaces in condensation conditions. Using a high frame rate camera coupled with a long working distance microscopy objective, we investigated the growth and ejection transient. We then compared the experimental self-ejection velocity for various structures geometry with our analytical models. In Chapter 3, we investigated the applications of the fabricated surfaces reported in Chapter 2. In Chapter 4, we explore the condensation frosting on the leaf of Cotinus Coggygria, native of our woods and with interesting hydrophobic properties. Covered by wax nanotubules, it exhibits coalescence-induced condensation jumpings that may be a useful cleaning tool. Furthermore, the frost is delayed but not only for the jumping. Surprisingly, at temperatures some degrees below zero, we observed what we called ‘droplet Sliding on Frost bridges’, that further delays frosting. We described the feasibility of this sliding in terms of dynamic contact angles of the surface and contact angles of supercooled water on ice. By capturing high temporal and spatial resolution videos we investigated the sliding on frost and droplet recalescence (fast dendrite growth that partially solidify the liquid). The responsible for the failure of sliding for temperatures from about -8 ° C down appears to be the advancing angle of water on ice that increases with the subcooling rather than the recalescence that blocks the drop in place. These results add a piece to the fundamental research on the supercooled water-ice-vapour interfaces. As it often happens, biological surfaces offer a starting point for the study of fundamental mechanisms and the development of artificial surfaces with optimized properties. In the Chapter 5, the multifunctional roles of hairs and spines in Old Man of the Andes Cactus (Oreocereus trolli) are studied. We study the morphology of the appendages, the hairs wettability, mechanical properties of both, and the dew formation on spines. The longitudinal microgrooves on the spines cause a particular phenomenon of distant coalescence (DC), in which smaller droplets flow totally or partially into larger ones through the microgrooves, with consequent accumulation of water in a few large drops. An earlier study has shown artificial micro-grooved surfaces that exhibit DC are more efficient than flat ones at collecting and sliding dew, and thus these cactus spines could act as soil dew conveyors. The agreement between our analytical model and experimental data verifies that the flow is driven by the Laplace pressure difference between the drops. This allowed us to obtain a general criterion for predicting the total or partial emptying of the smaller drops as a function of the dynamic contact angles of a surface. Based on this criterion, an hydrophilic material with small contact angle hysteresis would allow a greater number of complete drops emptying. The COVID-19 pandemic has raised the problem of contagion from airborne and deposited droplets. In the last chapter, we report the state of the art of experiments on the viability of viruses in deposited droplets. Up to date, it has been experimentally highlighted that the relative viability of some viruses (RV) depends on the material chemistry, temperature, and interestingly, on relative humidity (RH) with a U-shaped trend. One of the current hypotheses is that the cumulative dose of salt concentration (CD) affects RV. We model the RV of viruses in sessile droplets by inserting a RV-CD relation in a model of droplet evaporation. By considering a saline water droplet (one salt) as the simplest approximation of real solutions, we analytically simulate the time evolution of salt concentration, vapor pressure, and droplet volume varying contact angles, droplet sizes, and RH in the range 0–100%. The results elucidate some previously not yet well-understood dynamics, demonstrating how three main regimes—directly implicated in nontrivial experimental trends of virus RV—can be recognized as the function of RH. The proposed approach could suggest a chart of a virus fate by predicting its survival time at a given temperature as a function of RH and contact angle. We found a good agreement with experimental data for various enveloped viruses and predicted in particular for the Phi6 virus, a surrogate of coronavirus, the characteristic U-shaped dependence of RV on RH. Given the generality of the model, once experimental data are available that link the vulnerability of a certain virus (such as SARS-CoV-2) to the concentrations of salts or other substances in terms of CD, it is envisioned that this approach could be employed for antivirus strategies and protocols for the prediction/reduction of human health risks associated with SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses.

A founder population of lion (Panthera Leo) was introduced into a 70 km² privately-owned, wildlife reserve in the Waterberg area of South Africa. The lion and prey species' populations were monitored between 2001 and 2004. In this period, 452 kills were recorded at a mean kill rate of one kill every 2.43 days. The lions killed 11 common prey species. Eland, warthog, kudu, wildebeest and zebra comprised 75 % of the lion's diet. The lions consumed an average of 8 % of the available common prey species population per annum. Initially, the mean ungulate population growth rate was 30.9 %, but this rate declined to -0.8 % during the study period. Significantly more animals were killed in open habitats than in closed habitats. The loss in game value for the study period was over one million Rand. A formula was compiled to quantify the cost versus return aspects of introducing lion. / Nature Conservation / M. Tech. (Nature Conservation)

Business management / M. Com. (Business management)

The anti-inflammatory properties of four medicinal plants were investigated. These plant extracts were subjected to screening for their possible effects as antioxidative, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory agents. In the antioxidant activity, the Plantago lancelota extracts resulted in an IC50 value of 0.4 mg/mL compared to the positive control quecertin with IC50 0.04 mg/mL Plantago lanceolata inhibited COX-2 activity with IC50 values of 0.41 mg/mL. However, the COX-1 inhibition indicated an IC50 of 68.99 mg/mL. The lipoxygenase assay indicated that Plantago lanceolata was the most active plant species with an IC50 value of 4.86 mg/mL compared to the positive control (quecertin) with an IC50<2mg/mL. The nitric oxide assay of the plant extracts indicates a dose-dependent activity of our plant extracts. Likewise the cell viability result indicated a good activity at dose 100 mg/mL. / Life and Consumer Sciences / M. Sc. (Life Sciences)

The northern Norwegian killer whale (Orcinus orca) is an important predator but little is known about its population dynamics, particular in response to changes in its main prey, the highly dynamic Norwegian spring spawning (NSS) herring (Clupea harengus). The main aims of this thesis were to estimate killer whale population parameters, to explore the future viability of the population, and to explore the response of this predator to changes in distribution and abundance of its main prey over the last 25 years. Population size was estimated as ~ 700 individuals, taking heterogeneity of capture probabilities into account and correcting for unmarked animals. Apparent survival rates of 0.974 (SE = 0.006) for adult males and 0.984 (SE = 0.006) for adult females were estimated accounting for temporary emigration, transience and trap-dependency. Temporary emigration was greater for males than females. Calving intervals ranged from 3 to 14 years (mean = 5.06); equivalent to 0.197 calves per mature female per year. Future viability of the killer whale population was evaluated under various plausible scenarios. The baseline scenario using the best available information predicted a viable population and indicated that the population may be increasing size. Analysis of data on naval sonar activity, killer whale sightings and herring abundance showed that naval sonar activity appeared to have a negative effect on killer whale presence during a period of low prey availability. A time lag of four years was found between the first sign of NSS herring changing its distribution and reduced killer whale presence inside the fjord system. Analysis of energy budgets showed that killer whales spent more time travelling/foraging in 2005/06 than the 1990s. The fjord system was inferred to be a preferred habitat for killer whales when there was a higher density of NSS herring in this area compared to offshore area.