We quantified the damage caused by a major ice storm to individual trees in two 1-ha permanent plots located at Mont St. Hilaire in southwestern Québec, Canada. The storm, which occurred in January 1998, is the worst on record in eastern North America; glaze ice on the order of 80-100 mm accumulated at our study site. All but 3% of the trees (DBH > or = 10 cm) lost at least some crown branches,...

Pollen grains induce allergies in susceptible individuals by release of allergens upon contact with mucosal membranes of the upper respiratory tract. We recently demonstrated that pollen not only function as allergen carriers but also as rich sources of bioactive lipids that attract cells involved in allergic inflammation such as neutrophils and eosinophils. Here we demonstrate that soluble fac...

Even though the growth rates of most tree species in Sweden is expected to increase in the near future as a result of climate change, increased risks of damage by storms and various pests and pathogens, notably root rot and bark beetles, may also occur. Thus, forest management practices such as changes to thinning regimes, reductions in rotation lengths, and switching to other species (native o...

Theatmosphericpollen loadsofHobart,Tasmania,Australia,weremonitoredbetweenSeptember2007andJuly 2009. To examine the match of the airborne pollen composition with the flowering duration of their contributing plants, the phenology of native and non-native plants in various habitats near the pollen-trapping site was undertaken between August 2008 and July 2009. The pollen load was found to have a ...

Management of Children in India.By JiDWARD A. Birch, m.d., i.m.s. (Ketd.) Calcutta : Thackkr, Spink & Co., 1902. 4th Edition, Revised and Enlarged. It is almost superfluous to again recommend to the notice of medical men in India such a well-known book as Birch's Management of Children in India. We well remember how within a few days of our arrival in India, many years ago, we were challenged b...

An evaluation of performance of the System for Integrated modeLling of Atmospheric coMposition (SILAM) in application to birch pollen dispersion is presented. The system is described in a companion paper whereas the current study evaluates the model sensitivity to details of the pollen emission module parameterisation and to the meteorological input data. The most important parameters are highl...

In the atmosphere the importance of biological ice nuclei is still not well understood. Therefore we investigated the ice nucleation behavior of Snomax, used as a model for bacterial ice nucleation, and birch pollen washing water, used as a model for pollen induced ice nucleation. Thereby we quantified the ice nucleation behavior of the INA protein complexes controlling the ice nucleation abili...

Aim- To review comprehensive literature on Bhurjah (Betula utilis D. Don) w.s.r. to its therapeutic activity. Background- is a very ancient traditional medicine, commonly known as Bhojpatra in Hindi and Himalayan birch English. Bark of Betula was used times for writing Sanskrit texts. Ancient sages write down manuscripts those remains unaffected by microbes, environmental biological factors. Fr...

Birch pollen allergy is highly prevalent, with up to 100 million reported cases worldwide. Proteases in such allergen sources have been suggested to contribute to primary sensitisation and exacerbation of allergic disorders. Until now the protease content of Betula verrucosa, a birch species endemic to the northern hemisphere has not been studied in detail. Hence, we aim to identify and charact...

Regeneration success of canopy dominants is linked to multiple factors, including the ability of their seedlings to survive browsing and to utilize available resources in the understory. In remnant upland northern white cedar Thuja occidentalis L. forests, e€ects of browsing on recruitment of cedar seedlings were evaluated at 7 sites, including known deer yards, located on a portion of the Lake...