Biological, environmental and socioeconomic determinants of the human birth sex ratio in the Czech Republic

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Houdek ◽  
Ondřej Dvouletý ◽  
Marek Pažitka
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Epidemiological Evidence ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Property Prices ◽  
Human Birth

AbstractThe Trivers–Willard Hypothesis (TWH) states that parents in good conditions bias the sex ratio towards sons and parents in poor conditions bias the sex ratio towards daughters. This study used data from a large nationwide population dataset (N=1,401,851) from the Czech Republic – a modern contemporary society. The study included air pollution and property prices in the TWH estimation, and had a more detailed focus on stillbirths than previous studies. Using official natality microdata from the Czech Statistical Office for years between 1992 and 2010 and data on levels of air pollution in the country over the same period, the study assessed whether the biological and socioeconomic status of mothers and environmental factors affected the sex of children. The results were largely insignificant and not robust across specifications. The presented epidemiological evidence suggests that stillbirths are randomly distributed in the Czech Republic and that the sex ratio is not affected by the socioeconomic status of mothers or by environmental characteristics.

The pathogen of Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn.) in the Czech Republic

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 538-544
Author(s):  
Ivana Safrankova ◽  
Kolackova P ◽  
Rutivckova G
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Active Compound ◽  
Fungal Species ◽  
Medicinal Herb ◽  
Milk Thistle ◽  
Silybum Marianum ◽  
The Czech Republic

Milk thistle is grown in the Czech Republic as a medicinal herb; silymarin is isolated from its achenes and used for the production of liver and gallbladder medicine. The quality and content of the active compound is influenced not only by environmental factors, but also by pests and pathogens. The occurrence of pests of milk thistle variety Silyb was observed in two localities during the years 2011 2013. In the year 2011 the mycoflora of seeds of four milk thistle varieties was determined. Representatives of 15 species were isolated from the seeds, most of them saprophytic. 21 fungal species were isolated and identified from milk thistle plants during the vegetation; Septoria silybi among the most important ones. Possibilities of protection of milt thistle against pathogens are discussed.

Evaluation of the European method for mapping lichen diversity (LDV) as an indicator of environmental stress in the Czech Republic

Biologia ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Svoboda
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Landscape Ecology ◽  
Environmental Stress ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Pollution Levels ◽  
Lichen Diversity ◽  
Bohemian Karst ◽  
European Method

AbstractThe European method for mapping lichen diversity (LDV) as an indicator of environmental stress/quality in the Czech Republic was evaluated to determine its applicability in this country. A modified Hawksworth & Rose qualitative scale for determining air pollution levels was used for comparative purposes. The study was undertaken in a partially forested and reasonably polluted region of the Bohemian Karst in central Bohemia during 2003. Measurements obtained by the LDV method yielded values in the range 18–65; measurements obtained by the modified Hawksworth & Rose method indicated zones 4–7, with a high correlation with the LDV results. The LDV method proved to be applicable in the region, but its implementation may be limited by the lack of suitable trees and specific landscape ecology.

scholarly journals Genetic, Biochemical, and Environmental Factors Associated with Pregnancy Outcomes in Newborns from the Czech Republic

2011 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel Rossner ◽  
Nana Tabashidze ◽  
Miroslav Dostal ◽  
Zuzana Novakova ◽  
Irena Chvatalova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Pregnancy Outcomes ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Factors Associated

scholarly journals Impact of Air Pollution on the Health of the Population in Parts of the Czech Republic

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 6454
Author(s):  
Radim J. Sram
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Local Heating ◽  
The United States ◽  
Respiratory Morbidity ◽  
Surprising Result ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Impact

Thirty years ago, Northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic was one of the most air polluted areas in Europe. After political changes, the Czech government put forward a research program to determine if air pollution is really affecting human health. This program, later called the “Teplice Program”, was initiated in collaboration with scientists from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). This cooperation made possible the use of methods on the contemporary level. The very high concentrations of sulphur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter of 10 micrometers or less (PM10), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present in the air showed, for the first time, the impact of air pollutants on the health of the population in mining districts: adverse pregnancy outcomes, the impact of air pollution on sperm morphology, learning disabilities in children, and respiratory morbidity in preschool children. A surprising result came from the distribution of the sources of pollution: 70% of PM10 pollution came from local heating and not from power plants as expected. Thanks to this result, the Czech government supported changes in local heating from brown coal to natural gas. This change substantially decreased SO2 and PM10 pollution and affected mortality, especially cardiovascular mortality.

scholarly journals Development of forest stands condition and its monitoring in the Czech Republic

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (No. 11) ◽  
pp. 514-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Fabiánek ◽  
V. Henžlík ◽  
K. Vančura
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
General Information ◽  
Forest Damage ◽  
Candidate Country ◽  
Pollution Effects ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Icp Forests ◽  
Air Pollution Effects ◽  
Assessment And Monitoring

In 1986, the UN ECE established the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (hereinafter ICP Forests) to respond on the growing concern about forest damage caused since the beginning of eighties by air pollution load. Pan-European grid of the (ICP Forests) monitoring plots represents one of the most important systems of forest ecosystems assessing and checking. The Czech Republic is unfortunately well known due to this problem and so the country joined ICP Forest Programme since the very beginning. The paper presents general information on Czech forest stand condition that gained through various methods in the past as well as in the frame of ICP Forests. The participation in the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) represents a contribution of the EU candidate country to the fulfillment of the Reg. (EEC) No. 3528/86. However it seems that effects and importance of air pollution are decreasing, a lot of new stress situations exists and there is a need for continuing the programme.

Self-employment in post-communist Eastern Europe: a refuge from poverty or road to riches?

2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Hanley
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Property Ownership ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
The One

Researchers analyzing self-employment in post-communist Eastern Europe have frequently adopted a “dualist” model which relegates the self-employed to marginal sectors of the economy. This paper challenges the dualist approach and argues that the self-employed cannot be regarded as refugees from poverty with few resources and few opportunities to earn high incomes and accumulate wealth. Data from the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia are used to show that self-employment in post-communist Eastern Europe encompasses two distinct class locations: the individually self-employed on the one hand, whose socioeconomic status differs little from that of ordinary workers, and employers on the other, who receive incomes and possess assets far in excess of that of both the individually self-employed and ordinary workers. A proper understanding of the manner in which systems of stratification have changed in Eastern Europe thus requires that one acknowledge processes of differentiation among the self-employed as well as the importance of property ownership in generating new forms of social inequality in the post-communist period.

Air pollution and infant mortality in the Czech Republic, 1986-88

The Lancet ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 340 (8826) ◽  
pp. 1010-1014 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bobak ◽  
D.A. Leon
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
The Czech Republic
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