Search

Changing climate is likely to increase the intensity of forest fires in Austria. Consequently, the investigation of the fire danger situation at the wildland-urban interface is crucial for the planning of prevention measures against future damages. Hence, a comprehensive fire risk assessment study was performed for Austria, in which five components were considered (natural cause for ignition of forest fires, socioeconomic causes for ignition, vegetation structure, meteorological factors and exposition of important infrastructures). The approach for the fire danger assessment determined for the city of Graz, the second largest city in Austria, as high danger level for fire occurrences. Therefore, the present work introduces a case study for this city, focusing on the exposure of settlements and infrastructure to fire events. The relevant infrastructure features were selected, such as residential buildings, power lines, radio stations, railways, highways and traffic and communication buildings, as well as three types of forests with different management objectives (production forest, site protection forest and object protection forest). In order to analyze the interaction between settlements and vegetation in case of forest fires, buffers were used (i.e. buffer sizes for buildings are 10m, 50m and 150m and other settlements are 60m, 100m and 200m). Infrastructure and forest cover were also classified due to their importance: high, medium and low risk of exposition. For example, production forest was considered to bear a lower risk of exposition due to their economic importance compared to protection forests, that have to protect the city from natural hazards like rock falls or mudflows. On the other hand, radio stations carry a high risk of exposition because of their importance for facilitating the communication of the community. In combing the results of the fire danger assessment for the city of Graz with final exposition map the results indicate that areas around radio stations situated in the northwestern area of the city have a higher risk of exposition. As a result, firefighters must pay particular attention to this region for management and evacuation plans.

Datos de investigación en https://zenodo.org/record/7352172, European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program - Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement [no. 847504]; MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 [CEX2021-001131-S]; Government of Asturias (Spain), FICYT [AYUD/2021/58534]

Understanding fires in temperate European coniferous forests is hindered by a lack of reliable field observations on fuel load and structure. Fuel load influences the spread, intensity and spotting distance of a surface fire, torching likelihood and potential carbon emissions. We quantified fuel load and structure for Austrian coniferous forests using 93 sample plots across Austria. We compared Austrian fuel types with fuels collected in other regions and biomes. We found significant differences among regions and forest types. Fuel load was more dependent on region and forest type than on age class. Highest fuel load was found in Picea abies stands, lowest in Pinus nigra forests. Dead fuel loads were positively correlated with basal area, while live fuels were negatively correlated, suggesting that basal area drives accumulation of dead fuels and suppresses growth of understorey vegetation. Fuel loads in Austria are similar to published data for other temperate forests. The large variation in observed fuel loads and lack of previous studies highlight the need to further develop fuel models for mixed conifer–broadleaf forests. This pilot study underpins that consistent terminology and fuel classification are important to interpret differences between regions and forest types. This research was conducted partly within the framework of the Austrian Forest Fire Research Initiative (AFFRI), which is funded by the Austrian Science Fonds (FWF) within the Translational Research Program and the reference number L539-N14, the Austrian Forest Research Initiative II (AFFRI 2), which is funded by the Austrian state and federal provinces (Transaction number LE.3.2.3/0019-III/2/2015), and within the project Copernicus Data for Novel High-resolution Wildfire Danger Services in Mountain Regions (CONFIRM), which is funded by the Austrian Space Applications Programme (project number 873674). The ‘GIS and Remote Sensing for Sustainable Forestry and Ecology (SUFOGIS)’ project was funded with support from the EU ERASMUS+ program. The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

9-(β-D-Ribosfuranosyluronamide)adenine derivatives that are selective agonists and antagonists of the A(3) adenosine receptor (AR) have been derivatized as prodrugs for in vivo delivery. The free hydroxy groups at the 2′ and 3′ positions of the agonists 2-chloro-N(6)-(3-iodobenzyl)-9-(N-methyl-(β-D-ribosfuranosyluronamide)adenine 2b, the corresponding 4′-thio nucleoside 2c, and antagonists 4a and 4b (5′-N,N-dimethylamides related to 2b and 2c, respectively) were derivatized through simple acylation reactions. The prodrug derivatives were tested in radioligand binding assays at ARs and in a functional assay of adenylate cyclase at the A(3)AR and found to be considerably less active than the parent drugs. The hydrolysis of nucleoside 2′,3′-diesters to regenerate the parent compound in the presence of human blood was demonstrated. 2′,3′-Dipropionate esters of 2b and 4a were readily cleaved in a two-step reaction to regenerate the parent drug, on a time scale of two hours. The cleavage of a 2′,3′-dihexanoate ester occurred at a slower rate. This indicates that the prodrugs are suitable as masked forms of the biologically active A(3)AR agonists and antagonists for future evaluation in vivo.

Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is a major risk factor for glaucoma that results from impeded fluid drainage. The increase in outflow resistance is caused by trabecular meshwork (TM) cell dysfunction and excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition. Baicalein (Ba) is a natural flavonoid and has been shown to regulate cell contraction, fluid secretion, and ECM remodeling in various cell types, suggesting the potential significance of regulating outflow resistance and IOP. We demonstrated that Ba significantly lowered the IOP by about 5 mmHg in living mice. Consistent with that, Ba increased the outflow facility by up to 90% in enucleated mouse eyes. The effects of Ba on cell volume regulation and contractility were examined in primary human TM (hTM) cells. We found that Ba (1–100 µM) had no effect on cell volume under iso-osmotic conditions but inhibited the regulatory volume decrease (RVD) by up to 70% under hypotonic challenge. In addition, Ba relaxed hTM cells via reduced myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation. Using iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics, 47 proteins were significantly regulated in hTM cells after a 3-h Ba treatment. Ba significantly increased the expression of cathepsin B by 1.51-fold and downregulated the expression of D-dopachrome decarboxylase and pre-B-cell leukemia transcription factor-interacting protein 1 with a fold-change of 0.58 and 0.40, respectively. We suggest that a Ba-mediated increase in outflow facility is triggered by cell relaxation via MLC phosphorylation along with inhibiting RVD in hTM cells. The Ba-mediated changes in protein expression support the notion of altered ECM homeostasis, potentially contributing to a reduction of outflow resistance and thereby IOP.