Studies mostly in TLS patients confirmed that rasburicase application is safe, well tolerated and rapidly effective (onset is present already after 4 h) [3]. The dramatic fall in serum UA levels is accompanied by rising diuresis. This prevents the need for dialysis among TLS patients, which is favorable and markedly reduces the costs of treatment. Hummel et al. [7]

gave low rasburicase doses in oncological patients, starting from 0.049 mg/kg/24 h and after that adjusting the dose to UA level with excellent effect. Rasburicase has been proven to dissolve tubular uric acid crystals. Segura et al. [8] postulated that rasburicase can also act in urinary tract, fragmentizing renal calculi, promoting relief of obstructive uropathy. They applied successfully rasburicase in 2 adults with acute obstructive nephropathy from renal calculi. De Angelis et al. [1] showed that after 7 days of the rasburicase Nutlin 3a more pronounced antihyperuricemic effect was obtained in men than in women with renal failure. In our boy with AKI we considered the use of rasburicase because of excessively elevated UA serum levels not resolving

after conservative management and to control volume of infused fluids and manage effective diuresis (Fig. 1c). Boy had cardiological complications – organic heart abnormality with pulmonary hypertension – and in his past history suffered cerebral stroke Daporinad solubility dmso and artificial mitral valve thrombosis. The instillation of hemodialysis carried higher risk, and as he had peritoneal dialysis and peritoneal drainage after cardiac surgery before, so we could expect the possibility of peritoneal adhesions. The treatment with one low-dose rasburicase (0.1 mg/kg body weight) was very efficient and prevented dialysis. Significant decline of UA serum levels (Fig. 1a) and normalization of renal indices (Fig. 1b) have been observed accompanied by metabolic alkalosis (Fig. 1d), hypokalemia (Fig. 1e), and hypocalcemia (Fig. 1f). Metabolic alterations after the use of rasburicase Bay 11-7085 required potassium and calcium supplementation

(risk of epileptic event). In line with our observations other authors shown that alkalinization could be withheld using rasburicase [6]. Other effects of rasburicase include calcium phosphate tissue deposition caused by excessive phosphate reabsorption. Góth [9] described increased production and high concentration of hydrogen peroxide during rasburicase treatment. This could cause hemolysis and methemoglobin formation, in case of glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase and catalase deficiencies. Roncal et al. [10] described in rats, that treatment with rasburicase reversed the inflammatory changes and lessened tubular injury with an improvement in renal function. During the prolonged treatment antibodies against rasburicase have been detected in serum of patients. These antibodies declined the treatment efficiency. It is hypothesized that UA might be directly involved in the apoptotic process. Hobbs et al.

A SEM (DSM 962, Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany) was employed to acquire qBEI images using 20 keV electrons leading to an information depth of about 1.5 μm [35]. Images at different magnifications 12-fold for overviews and 200-fold (pixel resolution of about 1 × 1 μm2) were obtained to select and define the region of interest (ROI) in bone for SR-μ-XRF analysis similar to a study done previously [32]. Especially areas (bone Alectinib supplier packets, osteons) containing mineralized bone matrix with different degrees of mineralization have been selected. The properties of synchrotron radiation (SR) including

high photon flux, natural collimation, polarization and the possibility to select the energy of the primary photons enabled sensitivities up to the femtogram range and a high spatial resolution in the micrometer range. In previous studies, the combination of a confocal geometry and SR allowed the analysis of trace elements in bone and articular cartilage at the micrometer range with high-sensitivity and high spatial distribution [11], [36] and [37]. Further details on confocal SR-μ-XRF can be found elsewhere [38], [39], [40], [41] and [42]. The present measurements have been carried out at the FLUO beamline of the ANKA

synchrotron facility at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Campus North [40] and [41] applying the same confocal setup as already described previously [32]. The actual excitation energy was 17 keV and the beam size was 17 μm × 12 μm (horizontal × vertical) Everolimus datasheet with a depth resolution of 19 μm at 9.71 keV (Au-Lα). Area scans in the sample surface were performed in the range of 500 μm × 500 μm up to 500 μm × 650 μm with a step size of 15 μm horizontal and 10 μm vertical. Acquisition times longer than 12 s per pixel were found not to show

any improvements in the signal to noise ratio of the obtained elemental maps. Especially, the low levels of Pb content required this relatively long acquisition time. The acquired spectra, an example of which is shown in Fig. 1, were processed according to the protocol described in [32]. The information about bone tissue structure and mineral content as obtained by qBEI was combined and correlated with the X-ray intensities of the corresponding Gefitinib elemental maps. The 2D data evaluation software ImageJ (v1.44, National Institutes of Health, USA) [43] and custom made routines were applied to pre-process the obtained data prior to statistical evaluation with GraphPad Prism (v4.0c, GraphPad Software, Inc., USA). First the qBEI images of high spatial resolution (1 μm per pixel) have been aligned with the corresponding SR μ-XRF maps. Secondly, the ROIs representing mineralized bone matrix and cement lines were indicated in the qBEI images. ROIs of mineralized bone matrix were marked within single structural units (osteon, bone packet) taking care that at least a distance of a few microns (5 to 10 μm) to cracks, cement lines, osteocyte lacunae, haversian canals or trabecular surface was kept.

Histopathology of peritoneal wall sections (serous membrane and skeletal muscle of the floor of the dorsal cavity) in mAb-treated animals (2 h) showed vasodilatation signs with expressive numbers of intravascular leukocytes (leukocytosis), edema, and discreet hemorrhage (Fig. 4A). Cavity samples from control animals were represented by accentuated endomisial edema with muscular fiber dissociation and moderate hemorrhage (Fig. 4B). In addition, some muscle fibers exhibited coagulation necrosis (hyalinized: without Osimertinib order striations and slightly eosinophilic). The pancreas from mice treated with mAbs exhibited hemorrhage and discreet edema in the intestine/pancreas interface (Fig. 4C). Conversely,

controls that received only B. atrox venom showed evidence of extensive solid hemorrhage and acinar cell dissociation in pancreatic samples using conventional microscopy ( Fig. 4D). Although Camargo et al. (2005) observed acute pancreatitis induced by phospholipase A2 from Bothrops venom in rats, the changes in the peritoneal cavity and pancreas found in our study are probably associated to the direct contact between the mAb and venom mixture injected into the peritoneal cavity. Kidney histopathology from animals treated with mAbs (2 h) was not significantly different from that of control

animals ( Fig. 4E, F). Although human deaths by Bothrops envenomation are generally associated to acute renal failure ( Milani Jr. et al., 1997), renal failure was not well reproduced in murine models. Moreover, several studies that evaluated renal this website alterations caused by bothropic venom in rats were performed

using i.v. PI3K inhibitor injection or ex-vivo renal perfusion ( Gutiérrez et al., 2009; Boer-Lima et al., 1999), and this could explain the lack of alterations in kidney samples evaluated in this study. Mice inoculated with the mAb and venom mixture lost the same quantity of blood as negative controls when bleeding time was determined (Fig. 5). In contrast, high blood loss was observed in mice given venom only. To our knowledge this is the first study to show that neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against three major Bothrops venom toxins abrogates the venom activity. Our results show that a pool of three mAbs neutralizes the lethal activity of B. atrox venom. Nevertheless, we believe that the action of toxins present in minor concentration in the venom ( Neiva et al., 2009), which could act alone or synergistically with other toxins, must also be considered. Moreover, intraspecific ( Núñez et al., 2009) and interspecific ( Queiroz et al., 2008) variation in venom characteristics should also be investigated when developing antivenoms based on monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies similarly to polyclonal antibodies when injected into xenogeneic animals induce antibody production against either their constant and variable regions resulting in a short circulating life.

Using infected C57BL/6

mice, which are refractory to acute brain inflammation, we confirmed that behavioral alterations were independent of the acute brain inflammation and, therefore, not a long-term consequence of this inflammatory process. However, the induction of chronic depressive-like behavior was dependent on the T. cruzi strain infecting the host. Furthermore, T. cruzi-induced depressive-like behavior was paralleled by increased IDO mRNA expression in the CNS and abrogated by the SSRI antidepressant drug discovery drug FX. Moreover, this behavioral alteration was inhibited by the trypanocide drug Bz, confirming that the parasite plays a direct or indirect protagonistic role in the induction of depressive-like behavior. Finally, we provided evidence that TNF plays a pivotal role as an immunological stressor in depressive-like behavior during chronic T. cruzi infection. The effects on the CNS during the acute phase of T. cruzi infection have been related to neurocognitive and/or cerebellar syndromes during chronic

infection ( Spina-Franca, 1998 and Pittella, 2009). Therefore, we hypothesized that the behavioral abnormalities described in chronic Chagas disease ( Prost et al., 2000, Z-VAD-FMK chemical structure Mosovich et al., 2008 and Silva et al., 2010) are long-term consequences of acute CNS inflammation. To investigate this hypothesis, we infected C3H/He and C57BL/6 mice with a low inoculum of the type I Colombian T. cruzi strain that,

the without trypanocide therapy, results in acute phase survival (∼80%) and the establishment of chronic infection. Most importantly, the T. cruzi-infected C3H/He mice exhibited acute phase-restricted self-resolving CNS inflammation, whereas the infected C57BL/6 mice were refractory to brain inflammation, consistent with previous data ( Silva et al., 1999 and Roffê et al., 2003). Therefore, these models were suitable to investigate our original proposal. We tested whether T. cruzi infection led to behavior alterations in infected mice using the open-field test to assess locomotor/anxiety abnormalities ( Hall, 1941) and the FST and TST to evaluate depressive-like behavior ( Porsolt, 2000, Steru et al., 1985, Ma et al., 2011 and Painsipp et al., 2011). T. cruzi-infected C57BL/6 mice had abnormalities compatible with locomotor/exploratory alterations and anxiety in the open-field test in the acute and chronic phases, as previously described ( Silva et al., 2010). Conversely, using the open-field test, neither locomotor abnormalities nor anxiety were detected in acute or chronically T. cruzi-infected C3H/He mice. This finding corroborated previous data showing that, regardless of the level of CNS parasitism and inflammation, T. cruzi-infected animals have no locomotor alterations in the acute infection phase ( Caradonna and Pereiraperrin, 2009).

Nevertheless, the effective monitoring Epacadostat purchase of marine production is practically impossible using only traditional methods. During the last four decades, another way of solving these problems has been developed using numerical methods describing the bioproductivity of marine basins. Mathematical models of ecosystems can also be used as tools for forecasting and

evaluating the influence of human activities, for analysing future changes in an ecosystem and for visualizing the influence of external factors (Gordon et al. 1995). The main aim of this work was to study how atmospheric physical parameters (wind speed, air temperature and short-wave radiation) affect the distribution of the phytoplankton biomass in the Baltic Sea. However, the influence of biogeochemical processes, e.g. nutrient concentrations increasing or decreasing through the influx of INNO-406 ic50 nutrients from rivers and the atmosphere, on the investigated variables is not considered. This has been examined in another paper (submitted separately, Dzierzbicka-Głowacka et al. 2011). The 3D Coupled Ecosystem Model of the Baltic Sea was developed at the Institute of Oceanology PAN. It can be used to estimate

annual, seasonal, monthly and daily variability in particular parameters, the impact of climatic conditions over several years, and the influence of hydrophysical and biochemical processes on temporal and spatial distributions. The CEMBSv1 model is embedded in the existing 3D hydrodynamic model of the Baltic Sea. Pregnenolone The POPCICE sea-ice model prescribed in the ECOOP IP WP 10 project (European COastal-shelf sea Operational observing and forecasting system integrated Project) is used to apply biological equations to plankton systems (see Dzierzbicka-Głowacka et al. 2010a for the POC model, Dzierzbicka-Głowacka et al. 2010b for the copepod model, and here for CEMBSv1). The model employs the Parallel Ocean Program and Community Ice CodE (POPCICE). Both the ocean and the ice models are from the Los Alamos National Laboratory

(LANL). POPCICE is forced using European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) data: 2-m temperature and dew point, long- and short-wave radiation (downward), 10-m wind speed and air-ocean wind stress. The ocean model time step is 480 s and the ice model time step is 1440 s. The horizontal resolution for the ice and ocean model is ~9 km (1/12 degree). The vertical resolution (ocean model) is 21 levels (for the Baltic Sea ~18 levels). The model domain and bathymetry (represented by vertical levels) are presented in Figure 1. There are two images: the left-hand one shows the bathymetry in the model coordinates, the right-hand one the same bathymetry as a geographic projection. The colour scale represents model levels (not depth).

90 J/g and 0.85 J/g, respectively. These authors attributed this enthalpy to gelatinization of starch and suggested that some starch granules retained their crystalline structure after extrusion under these particular extrusion conditions, since the other extrusion conditions did not present δH. Nevertheless, if this was this case, it is not possible to ascertain whether the δH is attributed to gelatinization starch or denaturation protein, CAL-101 chemical structure because the starch was not pure (starch-rich fraction) and the temperature of this peak was not reported. Dynamic rheometry was employed to determine the temperature at which storage modulus increases

(TG′inc), and to ascertain storage modulus at the end of heating (G′h) and storage modulus at the end of cooling (G′c). Since the macromolecular substances responsible for network formation in Navitoclax food systems are primarily polysaccharides and proteins (Tabilo-Munizaga & Barbosa-Cánovas, 2005), the results for dynamic viscoelastic properties were interpreted taking into account the starch and protein content (around 70% and 15%, respectively). The storage and loss moduli analysis of native flours showed that the viscoelastic behavior of these

flours was characteristic of a gel, considering that G′ value was higher than G″ value (Fig. 3A and B). At lower temperatures storage modulus was lower than loss modulus, but at around 60 °C, G′ starts to increase and exceed G″. The temperature at which the storage modulus showed a sharp increase (TG′inc) was considered as the temperature the structure formation started (González et al., 2007). In fact, Racecadotril the native flour TG′inc values were lower (approximately 10 °C) than the Tonset values obtained on DSC analysis at the same concentration (20 g/100g). In fact, there is no consensus on the data obtained from DSC and rheometry techniques (Sandoval et al., 2009). Nevertheless, some authors (Eliasson, 1986 and ∗González et al., 2007b) hold that the initial increase of storage modulus

is related to the hydration and swelling process of the amorphous regions of starch granules, which would be in turn related to the prior development of TG′inc compared to Tonset values. Some reports in the literature state that in the specific case of starchy food products, DSC has not shown sufficient sensitivity to detect the glass transition (Champion, Le Meste, & Simatos, 2000). Based on our results, it seems that the initial swelling process is also not detected by this technique. From the above discussion, it can be concluded that in native flours TG′inc values represent starch gelatinization together with the gelation of protein that presents lower thermal stability (as outlined above). The temperature range in which the storage moduli of native flour reached the maximum values during the heating period was 75–80 °C.

t. for 7 consecutive days. For i.p. injection protocols, BSc2118 was given at dose of 15, 30, or 60 mg per kg body weight for seven consecutive days. Bortezomib was given at 1 mg/kg i.p. 7 times every second day. Each group contained 7 animals. Appropriate volumes of the solvents were given as control. During the experiments melanoma bearing mice were

observed daily for survival and adverse effects. Tumor size of melanoma-bearing mice was measured every 2 days. Tumor volume was determined according to the formula: tumor volume = (shorter diameter2 × longer diameter)/2. Differences in tumor volume were analyzed for significance by the Student’s t test. A P value of < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Log-rank test was used to analyze survival. Mice were anesthetized and received sterile abdominal injections of 250 μl of Matrigel (Becton Dickinson, Germany) subcutaneously

containing 50 nM βFGF (Sigma selleck chemical Aldrich, Germany). Thereafter, Bleomycin mice were i.p. treated with BSc2118 at 30 mg/kg for 7 consecutive days. At day 8, vascularization of the Matrigel was quantified by intravenous injecting of 0.1 ml (0.25 mg/ml stock solution) of FITC-dextran (125,000 molecular weight, Sigma Aldrich, Germany) into mice, which allowed blood vessels within plugs to be visualized. Animals were sacrificed 20 minutes after injection, when Matrigel plugs were removed and digested in Dispase reagent (Becton

Dickinson, Germany). The fluorescence of the solution obtained was measured using a fluorimeter (POLARstar, BMG Labtech, Germany) with an excitation at 480 nm and an emission wavelength at 520 nm. Differences between groups were calculated by Student’s t test. A P value of < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Experimental lung metastases were performed as described by Feleszko et al. [32]. Briefly, experimental lung metastases were induced by injection of 2 × 105 of B16F10 cells/100 μl PBS into the tail vein of anesthetized female C57BL/6 mice. Mice (5 to 7 per group) were i.p. injected for 7 consecutive days with either DMSO or BSc2118 (15 mg/kg body weight/day). The animals were then sacrificed on day 21 after inoculation of tumor cells. An average number of metastases Fossariinae were calculated for every mouse by two independent observers blinded to the experimental groups. Differences between experimental groups were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test. A P value of < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. An In Vitro cytotoxicity screening was performed to characterize the anti-tumor potential of BSc2118. For this purpose, a panel of solid tumor cell lines, most of them originating from malignant melanoma, was incubated either with BSc2118 or with bortezomib as a reference inhibitor (Figure 1). The average GI50 value was estimated for each cell line and across the entire tumor cell panel.

All the cultures assessed passed this QC test ( Table 1) and were suitable for use in subsequent experiments. RBE4 cells (Roux et al., 1994) were kindly provided by Dr. P.O. Couraud and Dr. F. Roux (Inserm, Paris). RBE4 cells were maintained in α-MEM with Glutamax-1 (45%),

Hams F-10 with Glutamax-1 (45%) containing 10% FCS, Geneticin (300 μg/ml) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF, 1 ng/ml). Cells were grown in collagen-coated T25 flasks and were maintained in 5% CO2 humidified atmosphere at 37 °C. The cells were passaged every three day and the culture medium replaced every 2–3 days. RBE4 were seeded at 1.0×104 cells/200 μl growth medium per well in 96-well plates and grown to confluence. Experiments were performed when cells were confluent, typically within three days of Selleckchem AZD9291 seeding. A tissue print method was used to attach porcine brain microvessels to glass slides by modifying a technique for attaching rat retinal microvessels to glass coverslips (Sakagami et al., 1999). A small piece of fresh porcine brain was placed in a Petri dish containing 2 ml medium. Using forceps and a scalpel, the brain

matter was cut into 1–2 mm3 pieces, and then a cut piece was placed on a poly-l-lysine -coated glass slide. A second glass slide, Ceritinib also coated with poly-l-lysine was placed over the piece of brain tissue. Forceps touching the upper side provided gentle downward pressure that sandwiched PTK6 the piece of brain tissue between the two glass slides. During this tissue print step, microvessels adhere to the glass slides. After 1 min, the upper glass slide was carefully removed. The two slides were placed in a Coplin jar filled with PBS to wash off excess tissue. The tissue prints were further processed for immunocytochemistry. P.1 PBECs were grown on glass coverslips

coated with collagen/carbodiimide to aid cell adhesion (Nobles and Abbott, 1994). P.1 PBECs or porcine brain microvessels were washed with PBS, fixed with 3% paraformaldehyde for 45 min and then permeabilised in 0.1% Triton X-100. To block non-specific binding, cells/microvessels were treated for 60 min with normal goat serum and incubated overnight at 4 °C with primary antibodies (rabbit anti-occludin and rabbit anti-claudin-5) diluted 1:100 in PBS containing 3% NGS. Cells/microvessels were subsequently rinsed with PBS for 60 min and incubated for 2 h at room temperature with secondary Alexa Fluor 594 labelled goat anti-rabbit antibody and Hoescht 33258 nuclear stain. Cells/microvessels were washed again for 60 min with PBS before mounting on glass slides using Mowiol. Samples were visualised by fluorescence microscopy (Axioskop; Carl Zeiss Ltd.) and images were captured by Axiovision software (Carl Zeiss Ltd.). TEER across PBEC monolayers on Transwells was determined using an EVOM resistance system (World Precision Instruments, Hertfordshire, UK) with Endohm electrode chamber.

sediment mobilized from the coastal plains. This investigation is particularly crucial in the case of coastal rivers in Fukushima Prefecture to guide the implementation of appropriate soil and river DAPT management measures. Nitta

River drains mountainous areas characterized by a high initial contamination to the Pacific Ocean, by flowing across coastal plains that were relatively spared by initial continental fallout but that are still currently densely populated (e.g. in Minamisoma town). The relative contribution of each source in the composition of riverbed sediment collected during the three sampling campaigns in the Nitta catchment was then quantified through the application of a binary mixing model. As an example, the relative contribution of ‘western’ source area Xw was determined from Eq. (3): equation(3) XW=Ag110mCs137S−Ag110mCs137EAg110mCs137W−Ag110mCs137E × 100,where XW is the percentage fraction of the western source area, (110mAg:137Cs)W

and (110mAg:137Cs)E are the median values of 110mAg:137Cs ratio measured in MEXT soil samples collected in the ‘western’ and the ‘eastern’ source areas of the Nitta catchment, i.e. 0.0024 and 0.0057 respectively ( Table 2), and (110mAg:137Cs)S is the isotopic ratio measured in the river sediment sample. We did not include initial river sediment as a third end-member as the Hydroxychloroquine price violent typhoons that occurred between the accident (March 2011) and our first fieldwork campaign Thiamine-diphosphate kinase (November 2011) likely flushed the fine riverbed sediment that was already present in the channels before the accident. Application of the mixing model illustrates the very strong reactivity of this catchment and

the entire flush of sediment stored in the river network during a one-year period only (Fig. 5). In November 2011, following the summer typhoons (i.e., Man-On on 20 July and Roke on 22 September that generated cumulative precipitation that reached between 215 and 310 mm across the study area), contaminated soil was eroded from upstream fields and supplied to the upstream sections of the rivers (Fig. 5a). Then, this sediment was exported to the coastal plains during the discharge increase generated by the snowmelt in March 2012, as illustrated by the measurements conducted on material sampled in April 2012 (Fig. 5b). Finally, sediment deposited within the river network was flushed by the typhoons that occurred during summer in 2012. Those typhoons were less violent than the ones that happened in 2011, and led to less intense erosion than during the previous year, but they were sufficiently powerful to increase river discharges, to export the sediment stored in the river channel and to replace it with material originating from closer areas (Fig. 5c).

, 2008). Crosta et al. (2003) reported the causes of a severe debris-flow occurring in Valtellina (Central Alps, Italy) to be intense precipitation and poor maintenance of the dry-stone walls supporting the terraces. A similar situation was described by Del Ventisette et al. (2012), where the collapse of a dry-stone wall was identified as the probable cause of a landslide. Lasanta et al. (2001) studied

86 terraces in Spain and showed that the primary process following abandonment was the collapse of the walls by small landslides. Llorens et al. (1992) underlined how the inner parts of the terraces tend to be saturated during the wet season and are the main sources for generation of runoff contributing to the increase BMN 673 ic50 http://www.selleckchem.com/products/sch772984.html of erosion (Llorens et al., 1992 and Lesschen et al., 2008). The presence of terraces locally increases the hydrological gradient between the steps of two consecutive terraces (Bellin et al., 2009). Steep gradients may induce sub-superficial erosion at the terrace edge, particularly if the soil is dispersive and sensitive to swelling. In the following section, we present and discuss a few examples of terraces abandonment in different regions of the Earth and its connection to soil erosion and land degradation hazard. Gardner and Gerrard (2003) presented an analysis of the runoff and soil erosion on cultivated rainfed terraces in the Middle

Hills of Nepal. Local farmers indicated that the ditches are needed to prevent water excess from cascading over several terraces and causing rills and gullies, reducing net soil losses in terraced landscapes. Shrestra et al. (2004) found that the collapsing of man-made terraces is one of the causes of land degradation in steep areas of Nepal. In this case, the main cause seems to be the

technique of construction rather than land abandonment. No stones or rocks are used to protect the retaining wall of the observed terraces. Because of cutting and filling during construction, the outer edge of the terrace is made of filling material, Selleckchem Cisplatin making the terrace riser weak and susceptible to movement (Shrestra et al., 2004). In steep slope gradients, the fill material can be high due to the high vertical distance, making the terrace wall even more susceptible to movements. The authors found that the slumping process is common in rice fields because of water excess from irrigated rice. Khanal and Watanabe (2006) examines the extent, causes, and consequences of the abandonment of agricultural land near the village of Sikles in the Nepal Himalaya. They analyzed an area of approximately 150 ha, where abandoned agricultural land and geomorphic damage were mapped. Steep hillslopes in the lower and middle parts up to 2000 m have been terraced. The analysis suggested that nearly 41% of all abandoned plots were subjected to different forms of geomorphic damage.