Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and Departments of Neurology, and Radiology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan. Received: 15 November 2001. Revised: 14 December 2001. Accepted: 2 April 2002. Reprint requests and correspondence to: Dr. Lieh-bang Liou, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 5 Fu-Hsing Street, Kwei Sh...

Due to rapid urbanization, industrialization and motorization, a large number of Chinese cities are affected by heavy air pollution. In order to explore progress, remaining challenges, and sustainability of air pollution control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region after 2013, a mixed method analysis was undertaken. The quantitative analysis comprised an overview of air quality management ...

We assessed taxonomic relationships among Turkish water frogs through estimation of phylogenetic relationships among 62 adult specimens from 44 distinct populations inhabiting seven main geographical regions of Turkey using 2897 bp sequences of the mitochondrial Cytb, 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA genes with equally-weighted parsimony, likelihood, and Bayesian methods of inference. Monophyletic clade (...

In 2010, a mass die-off of over 1000 wild water frogs (Pelophylax spp.) and at least 10 common newts (Lissotriton vulgaris) occurred in a pond in The Netherlands. Haemorrhagic disease with hepatomegaly and splenomegaly was evident. Microscopically, multiple organs presented cells with multifocal intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies, in which ranavirus-like particles were demonstrated ultrastructur...

This article presents data derived from a 36 year-long uninterrupted observational study of amphibian populations living in the city and vicinity of Yekaterinburg, Russia. This area is inhabited by six amphibian species. Based on a degree of anthropogenic transformation, the urban territory is divided into five highly mosaic zones characterized by vegetation, temperature, and a distinctive wate...

The negative effects of pollution on amphibians are especially high when animals are additionally stressed by other environmental factors such as water salinity. However, the stress provoked by salinity may vary among populations because of adaptation processes. We tested the combined effect of a common fertilizer, ammonium nitrate (0-90.3 mg N-NO3NH4/L), and water salinity (0-2 per thousand) o...