Comparison of vertical and horizontal atmospheric deposition of nitrate at Central European mountain-top sites during three consecutive winters

Nitrogen (N) deposition, a key process of atmospheric self-cleaning, represents an important pathway for nutrients and pollutants to ecosystems. Enhanced N deposition flux contributes to acidification, eutrophication and loss of biodiversity. N-NO₃^- concentrations in rime and snow were measured at 10 Czech plots situated in borderline mountains in 2009-2011 winters. The results were put in context with data-driven geostatistical modelling results of annual wet vertical and horizontal deposition. Our hypotheses were that: (i) rime and snow would be more polluted in the highly industrialized north than in the south, (ii) the N-NO₃^- concentrations would differ in the three winters studied, and (iii), that N-NO₃^- rime deposition is not negligible in Central European mountain ranges. Our results indicated that winter N-NO₃^- concentrations were significantly higher in rime than in snow and that there were much larger between-site differences in N-NO₃^- concentrations for rime than for snow. Relatively large differences were found between individual years. Atmospheric input of N-NO₃^- in winter was dominated by vertical deposition, i.e., snow. Modelled results showed that mean winter rime deposition corresponded to about 6-25 %, and mean winter snow deposition made up 25-72.5 % of mean annual N-NO₃^- wet-only deposition. Model N-NO₃^-occult deposition estimated from throughfall and total (wet and dry) deposition is highly uncertain, however: N throughfall is not a relevant proxy for estimation of realistic total N deposition due to N exchange between the tree canopy and atmosphere.

Areas under high ozone and nitrogen loads are spatially disjunct in Czech forests

It is widely accepted that excessive loads of nitrogen (N) deposition and ambient ozone (O₃) endanger natural ecosystems and the environment. Despite substantial reductions in emissions since the early 1990s both in the Czech Republic and in neighbouring countries, neither O₃ exposures nor N deposition have yet decreased to acceptable levels relative to the recommended thresholds. Based on long-term monitoring and high-quality data, we have indicated the areas of special risk due to high N deposition and O₃ exposures in Czech forests in 2000-2015. The areas of potential risk denote those forests under the highest loads of N deposition and O₃ exposure on a regular basis. The underlying classification approach is relativistic, i.e. based ultimately on quartiles of pollution intensities and not derived from critical limits or loads. The forest areas under the highest O₃ exposures and N deposition are spatially disjunct. The highest O₃ exposures are in the southern and the highest N deposition is in the northern Czech Republic. In contrast to our assumption, only 1322 km², i.e. 4.6% of the total forested area (28,782 km²) are overlapping areas with a potential risk due both to high O₃ exposures and to N deposition. Our results provide valuable input information for a more detailed environmental analysis, anticipated in the future, addressing to what extent the indicated areas at potential risk are associated with the actual negative impacts on forests.

Nitrogen deposition to forest ecosystems with focus on its different forms

Time trends and spatial patterns for wet nitrogen deposition in view of its reduced and oxidized forms for Czech forests are presented. Time trends in NH₄⁺, NO₃^-, and N-NH₄⁺/N-NO₃^- ratio at 15 sites in 1990-2014 were analysed using the Mann-Kendal test. Changes in spatial patterns derived from results of 43 sites in 2005-2014 were also assessed. Our results indicated a slow but convincing change in favour of NH₄⁺. The N-NH₄⁺/N-NO₃^- ratio, both in precipitation and wet deposition, has been increasing steadily, reflecting the changes in reduced and oxidized forms of nitrogen emissions. A similar change has been observed in some other regions and might have negative impacts on ecosystems.

CAPSULE

N-NH₄⁺/N-NO₃^- ratio in precipitation and deposition changes in favour of NH₄⁺. This reflects changes in emissions and might have implications for ecosystems.

Towards a better spatial quantification of nitrogen deposition: A case study for Czech forests

The quantification of atmospheric deposition flux is essential for assessment of its impact on ecosystems. We present an advanced approach for the estimation of the spatial pattern of atmospheric nitrogen deposition flux over the Czech forests, collating all available measured data and model results. The aim of the presented study is to provide an improved, more complete, more reliable and more realistic estimate of the spatial pattern of nitrogen deposition flux over one country. This has so far usually been based on measurements of ambient NOx concentrations as dry deposition proxy, and [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] in precipitation as wet deposition proxy. For estimation of unmeasured species contributing to dry deposition, we used the CAMx Eulerian photochemical dispersion model, coupled with the Aladin regional numeric weather prediction model. The contribution of fog and dissolved organic nitrogen was estimated using a geostatistical data driven model. We prepared individual maps for particular components applying the most relevant approach and then merged all layers to obtain a final map representing the best estimate of nitrogen deposition over the Czech Republic. Final maps accounting for unmeasured species clearly indicate that the approach used so far may result in a substantial underestimation of nitrogen deposition flux. Our results showed that nitrogen deposition over the Czech forested area in 2008 was well above 2 g N m(-2) yr(-1), with almost 70% of forested area receiving 3-4 g N m(-2) yr(-1). NH3 and gaseous HNO3, contributing about 80%, dominated the dry nitrogen deposition. Estimating the unmeasured nitrogen species by modeled values provides realistic approximations of total nitrogen deposition that also result in more realistic spatial patterns that could be used as input for further studies of likely nitrogen impacts on ecosystems.

Self-stigma in psychiatric patients--standardization of the ISMI scale

OBJECTIVE

Self-stigma in psychiatric patients is an issue deserving both research and therapeutic attention. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a Czech version of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale assessing the levels of self-stigma in individuals with mental disorders.

METHODS

It consists of 29 items classified into 5 subscales, namely alienation, stereotype endorsement, perceived discrimination, social withdrawal and stigma resistance. The study group comprised 369 patients with a mean age of 41.5±13.3 years, of whom 210 (56.6%) were females.

RESULTS

The most frequent diagnosis was neurotic disorders (46.1%), followed by affective disorders (18.4%), substance use disorders (13.3%), psychotic disorders (10.8%), personality disorders (9.5%) and organic disorders (1.6%). Reliability of the scale was evaluated by internal consistency analysis (α=0.91), the split-half method (Spearman-Brown coefficient: 0.93) and test-retest at 3 weeks from the first measurement (N=17; r=0.90, p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Exploratory factor analysis of the scale was performed, its validity was verified and norms were established that were based on T-scores and sten scores for the entire scale and individual subscales. The Czech translation of the ISMI has adequate psychometric properties.

Trends in atmospheric deposition fluxes of sulphur and nitrogen in Czech forests

We present the temporal trends and spatial changes of deposition of sulphur and nitrogen in Czech forests based on records from long-term monitoring. A statistically significant trend for sulphur was detected at most of the sites measuring for wet, dry, and total deposition fluxes and at many of these the trend was also present for the period after 2000. The spatial pattern of the changes in sulphur deposition flux between 1995 and 2011 shows the decrease over the entire forested area in a wide range of 18.1-0.2 g m(-2) year(-1) with the most pronounced improvement in formerly most impacted regions. Nitrogen still represents a considerable stress in many areas. The value of nitrogen deposition flux of 1 g m(-2) year(-1) is exceeded over a significant portion of the country. On an equivalent basis, the ion ratios of NO3(-)/SO4(2-) and NH4(+)/SO4(2-) in precipitation show significantly increasing trends in time similarly to those of pH.

Synthesis, physico-chemical properties and bioloclical activitv of 1-(4-fluorophenvl)-4-[3-(2-,3- and 4-alkyloxyphenylcarbamoyloxy)-2-hydroxypropyl] piperaziniumchlorides

1-(4-fluoropheny1)-4-[3-(2-,3- and 4-alkyloxyphenylcarbamoyloxy)-2-hydroxypropyl]piperaziniumchlorides, with one to four carbon atoms in the alkoxy group on aromatic ring have been synthesized as the derivatives of substituted phenylcarbamic acid. The structures were confirmed by their spectral data. Potential antiarrhythmic activity was evaluated in guinea-pigs model. Preliminary studies demonstrated that the evaluated compounds, using ouabain arrhythmia model, appear to possess only moderate antiarrhythmic activity. Only compound marked as 4f appears to be more potent and lead us to focus our attention on structures with more bulky substituent in the m-position at aromatic ring in the hydrophilic part of molecule.

(R)-4-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-[2-hydroxy-2-(3-methyl-1-benzofuran-2-yl)ethyl]piperazinium chloride propan-1-ol solvate

The title compound, C21H24FN2O2+.Cl-.C3H8O, is a potential drug designed as a hybrid compound with antihypertensive, antioxidant and beta-adrenolytic activity. The cation contains nearly planar benzofuran and fluorophenyl ring systems, as well as a piperazine ring adopting an almost perfect chair conformation. The benzofuran and piperazine moieties are connected by an ethyl chain, the moieties forming a dihedral angle of 163.12 (13) degrees. In the crystal structure, ions and propanol solvent molecules are linked via N-H...Cl and O-H...Cl bonds into linear (010) chains.