This paper has been prepared to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IBP CAS), which has a long-standing tradition in researching the biological effects of ionizing radiation (IR). Radiobiology has recently gained renewed importance due to several compelling factors. The demand for a better understanding of the biological effects of both low and high doses of various...

Conservation measures require accurate estimates of density and abundance and population trend assessments. The bonobo ( Pan paniscus ) is considered Endangered in the IUCN Red List. This classification assumes that available population data are representative. However, with only 30% of the bonobo’s historic geographical range surveyed, reliable information is needed to assess the species' population status. Here, we use infor...

Rationale Cue-exposure therapy (CET) consists of exposing patients to the cause of their affliction in a controlled environment and after psychological preparation. Ever since it was conceived, it has been suggested as a treatment for different types of behavioural impairments, from anxiety disorders to substance abuse. In the field of addictive behaviour, many different findings have been shown regarding the effectiveness of...

This study investigates empirically how natural snow depth and permanent snow affect the number of new second homes in Norway. One out of four Norwegian municipalities is partly covered by glaciers and permanent snow. In the winter seasons of 1983–2020, there is a decline in snow depth from 50 to 35 cm on average (based on 41 popular second-home areas in the mountains). Results of the fixed effects Poisson estimator with spati...

This study investigates empirically how natural snow depth affects the number of downhill skiers. Data include the number of skier visits for the 32 largest ski resorts in Sweden from the 1998/1999 to the 2018/2019 seasons. Results of spatial dynamic estimations show that an increase in natural snow depth in the ski area has a significant negative impact on the number of skier visits in the short term, although the magnitude i...

Rationale Brain iron accumulation has been observed in neuropsychiatric disorders and shown to be related to neurodegeneration. Objectives In this study, we used quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), an emerging MRI technique developed for quantifying tissue magnetic susceptibility, to examine brain iron accumulation in individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and its relation to compulsive drinking. Methods Based on o...

This study offers new insights into the largest threats to natural and mixed World Heritage sites in developed countries as considered by their management. In addition to this, the capacity of the management to deal with threats is examined. An Ordered Probit model is used that distinguishes three groups of threats and four categories of adaptive capacity of the management. Data originate from the 2014 UNESCO Periodic Report I...

Electricity is an indispensable building block for sustainable development. As national and international electrification measures in rural areas of Tanzania are progressing slowly, a solar-powered mini-grid system with second-life battery storage was commissioned on an island in Lake Victoria in 2019 to support local development. This article evaluates the socio-economic impacts associated with electrification through this sy...

Aims Hydraulic redistribution (HR) enhances water resources for neighboring crops in silvopastoral agroforestry (AF). Here, we tested whether and to what extent water stressed shallow-rooted neighboring plants benefit from water redistributed by deep-rooted poplar plants. Methods We conducted trace experiments with deuterated water ( 2 H 2 O) in greenhouse soil column experiments. We measured hydraulic lift (HL) by poplars gro...

This study uses a time-varying model that provides new evidence on the changing relationship between domestic overnight stays of selected winter sport destinations and natural snow conditions. A Kalman filter method combined with wavelet-based multiresolution analysis (MRA) is employed to investigate the relationships in intervals between 2 and 4 and up to 16–32 months. The model is applied to domestic overnight stays for sele...

This study estimates factors of importance for the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) emissions generated by travellers flying for different reasons based on representative Austrian micro data for the period 2014–2016. The annual average number of flights taken by adults vary between 0.1 (visiting friends) and 0.8 (going on holiday), and the amount of CO 2 e emissions generated by each return flight is approximately 1100 kg. T...

Summary Size and diverse morphologies pose a primary challenge for phagocytes such as innate immune cells and predatory amoebae when encountering fungal prey. Although filamentous fungi can escape phagocytic killing by pure physical constraints, unicellular spores and yeasts can mask molecular surface patterns or arrest phagocytic processing. Here, we show that the fungivorous amoeba Protostelium aurantium was able to adjust i...

Summary Despite increasing knowledge on host‐associated microbiomes, little is known about mechanisms underlying fungus‐microbiome interactions. This study aimed to examine the relative importance of host genetic, geographic and environmental variations in structuring fungus‐associated microbiomes. We analyzed the taxonomic composition and function of microbiomes inhabiting fungal fruiting‐bodies in relation to host genetic va...

Summary Filamentous fungi represent classical examples for environmentally acquired human pathogens whose major virulence mechanisms are likely to have emerged long before the appearance of innate immune systems. In natural habitats, amoeba predation could impose a major selection pressure towards the acquisition of virulence attributes. To test this hypothesis, we exploited the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum to study its int...