Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Eptesicus serotinus, Nyctalus noctula, N. leisleri, Myotis daubentonii, M. myotis, unidenti®ed small Myotis spp. and Plecotus spp. were recorded during bat detector transects within a central European city of 350,000 inhabitants. Bats were recorded in all seven habitat types under study, the levels of activity for each species and habitat type were signi®cantly different. The relative activity of the whole bat community was highest in old outskirts (low density housing) and at the river, and lowest in the city centre and new housing estates (high density housing). Signi®cant differences were found in the timing of bat activity during the night and the season. Within the ®rst two hours after sunset, relative activity of P. pipistrellus and E. serotinus was highest in the ®rst 0.5 h and decreased thereafter. In N. noctula, it was highest during the second and third 0.5 h and in Myotis spp. it was low in the ®rst 0.5 h and increased till the end of monitoring. Flying bats were recorded from March till October; the lunar cycle had no signi®cant effect on the amount of¯ight activity. The relative activity of E. serotinus was positively correlated with temperature. No signi®cant correlation was found between the activity of bats and the number of trees and streetlamps per transect. Comparison with the results of an earlier visual census showed that more bats were recorded acoustically than visually except in the city centre. This is attributed to the effect of white streetlamps during the visual census. During the acoustic census, most white lamps were replaced by yellow lamps which biased the impact of lamps on bat traf®c. Nevertheless, bat species known to bene®t from white streetlamps remained the most common foragers within the city.

BackgroundWhite-nose syndrome is a disease of hibernating insectivorous bats associated with the fungus Geomyces destructans. It first appeared in North America in 2006, where over a million bats died since then. In Europe, G. destructans was first identified in France in 2009. Its distribution, infection dynamics, and effects on hibernating bats in Europe are largely unknown.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe screened hibernacula in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for the presence of the fungus during the winter seasons of 2008/2009 and 2009/2010. In winter 2009/2010, we found infected bats in 76 out of 98 surveyed sites, in which the majority had been previously negative. A photographic record of over 6000 hibernating bats, taken since 1994, revealed bats with fungal growths since 1995; however, the incidence of such bats increased in Myotis myotis from 2% in 2007 to 14% by 2010. Microscopic, cultivation and molecular genetic evaluations confirmed the identity of the recently sampled fungus as G. destructans, and demonstrated its continuous distribution in the studied area. At the end of the hibernation season we recorded pathologic changes in the skin of the affected bats, from which the fungus was isolated. We registered no mass mortality caused by the fungus, and the recorded population decline in the last two years of the most affected species, M. myotis, is within the population trend prediction interval.Conclusions/Significance G. destructans was found to be widespread in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with an epizootic incidence in bats during the most recent years. Further development of the situation urgently requires a detailed pan-European monitoring scheme.

Host traits and phylogeny can determine infection risk by driving pathogen transmission and its ability to infect new hosts. Predicting such risks is critical when designing disease mitigation strategies, and especially as regards wildlife, where intensive management is often advocated or prevented by economic and/or practical reasons. We investigated Pseudogymnoascus [Geomyces] destructans infection, the cause of white-nose syndrome (WNS), in relation to chiropteran ecology, behaviour and phylogenetics. While this fungus has caused devastating declines in North American bat populations, there have been no apparent population changes attributable to the disease in Europe. We screened 276 bats of 15 species from hibernacula in the Czech Republic over 2012 and 2013, and provided histopathological evidence for 11 European species positive for WNS. With the exception of Myotis myotis, the other ten species are all new reports for WNS in Europe. Of these, M. emarginatus, Eptesicus nilssonii, Rhinolophus hipposideros, Barbastella barbastellus and Plecotus auritus are new to the list of P. destructans-infected bat species. While the infected species are all statistically phylogenetically related, WNS affects bats from two suborders. These are ecologically diverse and adopt a wide range of hibernating strategies. Occurrence of WNS in distantly related bat species with diverse ecology suggests that the pathogen may be a generalist and that all bats hibernating within the distribution range of P. destructans may be at risk of infection.

BackgroundThe current standard of care of glioblastoma, the most common primary brain tumor in adults, has remained unchanged for over a decade. Nevertheless, some improvements in patient outcomes have occurred as a consequence of modern surgery, improved radiotherapy and up-to-date management of toxicity. Patients from control arms (receiving standard concurrent chemoradiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy with temozolomide) of recent clinical trials achieve better outcomes compared to the median survival of 14.6 months reported in Stupp’s landmark clinical trial in 2005. The approach to radiotherapy that emerged from Stupp’s trial, which continues to be a basis for the current standard of care, is no longer applicable and there is a need to develop updated guidelines for radiotherapy within the daily clinical practice that address or at least acknowledge existing controversies in the planning of radiotherapy.The goal of this review is to provoke critical thinking about potentially controversial aspects in the radiotherapy of glioblastoma, including among others the issue of target definitions, simultaneously integrated boost technique, and hippocampal sparing.ConclusionsIn conjunction with new treatment approaches such as tumor-treating fields (TTF) and immunotherapy, the role of adjuvant radiotherapy will be further defined. The personalized approach in daily radiotherapy practice is enabled with modern radiotherapy systems.

Although two cryptic pipistrelle bat species, Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Pipistrellus pygmaeus, belong among the most common bat species in Europe, it is still unclear whether they can migrate over long distances between summer and winter roosts. Long-distance migratory species may be expected to show low levels of genetic structuring in large areas due to regular mixing of the gene pool by mating that occurs during migration and/or hibernation. Conversely, the dispersal of gametes in sedentary species is spatially restricted, populations are more genetically structured, and isolation by relatively short distance is visible. By analysing diversity of highly variable microsatellites within and among summer colonies of both studied species in central Europe, we found that differentiation between populations is very weak. Both classical FST and Bayesian clustering approach failed to detect genetic structure among colonies and there was no significant isolation-by-distance pattern. The analyses of relatedness, however, revealed that individuals within colonies are more related than random suggesting philopatry of at least one sex. The results were very similar for the two species. The high level of gene flow among central European populations, even on large geographic distances, is discussed in relation with migrations, dispersal, and mating behaviour.

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While Pseudogymnoascus destructans has been responsible for mass bat mortalities from white-nose syndrome (WNS) in North America, its virulence in Europe has been questioned. To shed the light on the issue of host-pathogen interaction between European bats and P. destructans, we examined seventeen bats emerging from the fungus-positive underground hibernacula in the Czech Republic during early spring 2013. Dual wing-membrane biopsies were taken from Barbastella barbastellus (1), Myotis daubentonii (1), Myotis emarginatus (1), Myotis myotis (11), Myotis nattereri (1) and Plecotus auritus (2) for standard histopathology and transmission electron microscopy. Non-lethal collection of suspected WNS lesions was guided by trans-illumination of the wing membranes with ultraviolet light. All bats selected for the present study were PCR-positive for P. destructans and showed microscopic findings consistent with the histopathological criteria for WNS diagnosis. Ultramicroscopy revealed oedema of the connective tissue and derangement of the fibroblasts and elastic fibres associated with skin invasion by P. destructans. Extensive fungal infection induced a marked inflammatory infiltration by neutrophils at the interface between the damaged part of the wing membrane replaced by the fungus and membrane tissue not yet invaded by the pathogen. There was no sign of keratinolytic activity in the stratum corneum. Here, we show that lesions pathognomonic for WNS are common in European bats and may also include overwhelming full-thickness fungal growth through the wing membrane equal in severity to reports from North America. Inter-continental differences in the outcome of WNS in bats in terms of morbidity/mortality may therefore not be due to differences in the pathogen itself.

Aim. Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a disease presenting with pain and stiffness, mainly in shoulders, hip joints and neck. Laboratory markers of inflammation may bolster diagnosis. PMR afflicts patients over 50 years old, predominantly women, and may also accompany giant cell arteritis. Patients and Methods. 67 patients, who fullfiled Healey´s criteria for PMR in the period between 2004 and 2013 and had positive FDG PET (PET/CT) findings were retrospectively evaluated. FDG uptake was assessed in large arteries, proximal joints (shoulders, hips and sternoclavicular joints), in extraarticular synovial structures (interspinous, ischiogluteal and praepubic bursae). Results. Articular/periarticular involvement (A) was detected in 59/67 (88.1%) patients and extrarticular synovial involvement (E) in 51/67 (76.1%) patients either individually or in combinations. Vascular involvement (V) was detected in 27/67 (40.3%) patients only in combination with articular (A) and/or extraarticular synovial (E) involvement. These combinations were: A+E involvement in 30/67 (44.8%) patients, A+V involvement in 8/67 (11.9%) patients, E+V involvement in 6/67 (9%) patients and A+E+V in 13/67 (19.4%) patients. Conclusions. PMR presents by articular/periarticular synovitis, extraarticular synovitis and can be accompanied by giant cell arteritis. All types of involvement have their distinct FDG PET (PET/CT) finding, which can be seen either individually or in any of their 4 combinations. FDG PET (PET/CT) examination seems to be an advantageous one-step examination for detecting different variants of PMR, for assessing extent and severity and also for excluding occult malignancy.