Management of forest carbon (C) stocks is an increasingly prominent land-use issue. Knowledge of carbon storage in tropical forests is improving, but regional variations are still poorly understood, ...and this constrains forest management and conservation efforts associated with carbon valuation mechanisms (e.g., carbon markets). This deficiency is especially pronounced in tropical islands and low-lying coastal areas where climate change impacts are expected to be among the most severe. This study presents the first field estimate of island-wide carbon storage in ecosystems of Oceania, with special attention to the regional role of coastal mangroves, which occur on islands and coastal zones throughout the tropics. On two island groups of Micronesia (Yap and Palau), we sampled all above- and belowground C pools, including soil and vegetation, in 24 sites distributed evenly among the three major vegetation structural types: mangroves, upland forests, and open savannas (generally on degraded lands formerly forested). Total C stocks were estimated to be 3.9 and 15.2 Tg C on Yap and Palau, respectively. Mangroves contained by far the largest per-hectare C pools (830–1218 Mg C ha−1), with deep organic-rich soils alone storing more C (631–754 Mg C ha−1) than all pools combined in upland systems. Despite covering just 12–13% of land area, mangroves accounted for 24–34% of total island C stocks. Savannas (156–203 Mg C ha−1) contained significantly lower C stocks than upland forests (375–437 Mg C ha−1), suggesting that reforesting savannas where appropriate has high potential for carbon-based funding to aid restoration objectives. For mangroves, these results demonstrate the key role of these systems within the broader context of C storage in island and coastal landscapes. Sustainable management of mangrove forests and their large C stocks is of high importance at the regional scale, and climate change mitigation programs such as REDD+ could play a large role in avoiding deforestation of mangroves where this is a management objective.
► We estimated island-wide carbon (C) stocks in ecosystems of 2 western Micronesian islands. ► Total island C storage ranged from 3.9 to 15.2 Tg C. ► Mangroves cover ≤13% of island area but account for 24–34% of C stocks. ► There is significant carbon stock potential in restoring degraded savannas to forest cover. ► Mangroves are a keystone component of regional C storage on tropical islands and coastlines.
We present data from a study of early conifer regeneration and fuel loads after the 2002 Biscuit Fire, Oregon, USA, with and without postfire logging. Natural conifer regeneration was abundant after ...the high-severity fire. Postfire logging reduced median regeneration density by 71%, significantly increased downed woody fuels, and thus increased short-term fire risk. Additional reduction of fuels is necessary for effective mitigation of fire risk. Postfire logging can be counterproductive to the goals of forest regenration and fuel reduction.
According to the required reorganization of all hospital activities, the recent COVID-19 pandemic had dramatic consequences on the orthopedic world. We think that informing the orthopedic community ...about the strategy that we adopted both in our hospital and in our Department of Orthopedics could be useful, particularly for those who are facing the pandemic later than Italy.
Changes were done in our hospital by medical direction to reallocate resources to COVID-19 patients. In the Orthopedic Department, a decrease in the number of beds and surgical activity was stabilized. Since March 13, it has been avoided to perform elective surgery, and since March 16, non-urgent outpatient consultations were abolished. This activity reduction was associated with careful evaluation of staff and patients: extensive periodical swab testing of all healthcare staff and swab testing of all surgical patients were applied.
These restrictions determined an overall reduction of all our surgical activities of 30% compared to 2019. We also had a reduction in outpatient clinic activities and admissions to the orthopedic emergency unit. Extensive swab testing has proven successful: of more than 160 people tested in our building, only three COVID-19 positives were found, and of over more than 200 surgical procedures, only two positive patients were found.
Extensive swab test of all people (even if asymptomatic) and proactive tracing and quarantining of potential COVID-19 positive patients may diminish the virus spread.
Wildlife deaths associated with cyanide-bearing mine waste solutions have plagued the gold mining industries for many years, yet there is little published data showing the relationship between ...wildlife mortality and cyanide toxicity. A gap of knowledge exists in monitoring, understanding the causal relationships and managing risks to wildlife from cyanide-bearing waste solutions and tailings. There is a need for the gold industry to address this issue and to meet the International Cyanide Management Code (ICMC) guidelines.
The perceived extent of the issue varies, with one study finding the issue inadequately monitored and wildlife deaths grossly underestimated. In Nevada, USA during 1990 and 1991, 9512 carcasses were reported of over 100 species, although there was underestimation due to reporting being voluntary. Of these, birds comprised 80–91% of vertebrate carcasses reported annually. At Northparkes, Australia in 1995, it was initially estimated that 100 bird carcasses were present by mine staff following a tailings incident; when a thorough count was conducted, 1583 bird carcasses were recorded. Eventually, 2700 bird deaths were documented over a four-month period. It is identified that avian deaths are usually undetected and significantly underestimated, leading to a perception that a risk does not exist.
Few guidelines and information are available to manage the risks of cyanide to wildlife, although detoxification, habitat modification and denying wildlife access have been used effectively. Hazing techniques have proven ineffective. Apparently no literature exists that documents accurate wildlife monitoring protocols on potentially toxic cyanide-bearing mine waste solutions or any understanding on the analysis of any derived dataset. This places the onus on mining operations to document that no risk to wildlife exists.
Cyanide-bearing tailings storage facilities are environmental control structures to contain tailings, a standard practice in the mining industry. Cyanide concentrations below 50 mg/L weak-acid-dissociable (WAD) are deemed safe to wildlife but are considered an interim benchmark for discharge into tailings storage facilities (TSFs).
Cyanide is a fast acting poison, and its toxicity is related to the types of cyanide complexes that are present. Cyanide in biota binds to iron, copper and sulfur-containing enzymes and proteins required for oxygen transportation to cells. The accurate determination of cyanide concentrations in the field is difficult to achieve due to sampling techniques and analytical error associated with loss and interferences following collection.
The main WAD cyanide complexes in gold mine tailings are stable in the TSF environment but can release cyanide ions under varying environmental conditions including ingestion and absorption by wildlife. Therefore distinction between free, WAD and total cyanide forms in tailings water for regulatory purposes is justified.
From an environmental perspective, there is a distinction between ore bodies on the basis of their copper content. For example, wildlife deaths are more likely to occur at mines possessing copper–gold ores due to the formation of copper–cyanide complexes which is toxic to birds and bats. The formation of copper–cyanide complex occurs preferentially to gold cyanide complex indicating the relative importance of economic vs. environmental considerations in the tailings water.
Management of cyanide to a perceived threshold has inherent risks since cyanide has a steep toxicity response curve; is difficult to accurately measure in the field; and is likely to vary due to variable copper content of ore bodies and ore blending. Consequently, wildlife interaction needs to be limited to further reduce the risks. A gap in knowledge exists to design or manage cyanide-bearing mine waste solutions to render such facilities unattractive to at-risk wildlife species. This gap may be overcome by understanding the wildlife behaviour and habitat usage of cyanide-bearing solutions.
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Serine protease-like (Spl) proteins produced by Staphylococcus (S.) aureus have been associated with allergic inflammation. However, effects of Spls on the epidermal immune response ...have not been investigated.
To assess the epidermal immune response to SplA, SplD and SplE dependent on differentiation of keratinocytes and a Th2 or Th17 cytokine milieu.
Human keratinocytes of healthy controls and a STAT3-hyper-IgE syndrome (STAT3-HIES) patient were cultured in different calcium concentrations in the presence of Spls and Th2 or Th17 cytokines. Keratinocyte-specific IL-8 production and concomitant migration of neutrophils were assessed.
SplE and more significantly SplA, induced IL-8 in keratinocytes. Suprabasal-like keratinocytes showed a higher Spl-mediated IL-8 production and neutrophil migration compared to basal-like keratinocytes. Th17 cytokines amplified Spl-mediated IL-8 production, which correlated with neutrophil recruitment. Neutrophil recruitment by keratinocytes of the STAT3-HIES patient was similar to healthy control cells.
S. aureus-specific Spl proteases synergized with IL-17A on human keratinocytes with respect to IL-8 release and neutrophil migration, highlighting the importance of keratinocytes and Th17 immunity in barrier function.
We report the serendipitous discovery of a bright point source flare in the Abell cluster A1795 with archival EUVE and Chandra observations. Assuming the EUVE emission is associated with the Chandra ...source, the X-ray 0.5-7 keV flux declined by a factor of ~2300 over a time span of 6 yr, following a power-law decay with index ~2.44 + or - 0.40. The Chandra data alone vary by a factor of ~20. The spectrum is well fit by a blackbody with a constant temperature of kT ~ 0.09 keV (~10 super(6) K). The flare is spatially coincident with the nuclear region of a faint, inactive galaxy with a photometric redshift consistent at the 1sigma level with the cluster (z = 0.062476). We argue that these properties are indicative of a tidal disruption of a star by a black hole (BH) with log(M sub(BH)/M sub(middot in circle)) ~ 5.5 + or - 0.5. If so, such a discovery indicates that tidal disruption flares may be used to probe BHs in the intermediate mass range, which are very difficult to study by other means.
We present an analysis of the statistical properties and growth of the free on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia. By describing topics by vertices and hyperlinks between them as edges, we can represent ...this encyclopedia as a directed graph. The topological properties of this graph are in close analogy with those of the World Wide Web, despite the very different growth mechanism. In particular, we measure a scale-invariant distribution of the in and out degree and we are able to reproduce these features by means of a simple statistical model. As a major consequence, Wikipedia growth can be described by local rules such as the preferential attachment mechanism, though users, who are responsible of its evolution, can act globally on the network.
Abstract
The split crest is an established surgical technique for horizontal bone augmentation. It allows to place implants of adequate diameter in sites where the bone would be too thin for the ...implantation. In this study, two split crest techniques (using threaded bone expanders or ultrasonic bone surgery) were performed
ex vivo
on bovine ribs, and dental implants were then inserted in the so prepared implantation sites. Digital image correlation was used to measure the bone external surface displacement throughout the surgical procedures. Both techniques provided an adequate bone volume for implant insertion, and no significant differences were highlighted regarding the displacement. However, bone accidental fracture only occurred during split crest with threaded bone expanders, suggesting differences in the internal strain distribution induced by the two techniques.
Abstract
We report Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of the radio-loud active galactic nucleus SBS 0846+513 (z = 0.5835), optically classified as a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy, together ...with new and archival radio-to-X-ray data. The source was not active at γ-ray energies during the first two years of Fermi operation. A significant increase in activity was observed during 2010 October-2011 August. In particular, a strong γ-ray flare was observed in 2011 June reaching an isotropic γ-ray luminosity (0.1-300 GeV) of 1.0 × 1048 erg s−1, comparable to that of the brightest flat spectrum radio quasars, and showing spectral evolution in γ rays. An apparent superluminal velocity of (8.2 ± 1.5)c in the jet was inferred from 2011 to 2012 Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) images, suggesting the presence of a highly relativistic jet.
Both the power released by this object during the flaring activity and the apparent superluminal velocity are strong indications of the presence of a relativistic jet as powerful as those of blazars. In addition, variability and spectral properties in radio and γ-ray bands indicate blazar-like behaviour, suggesting that, except for some distinct optical characteristics, SBS 0846+513 could be considered as a young blazar at the low end of the blazar's black hole mass distribution.
As posterior component separation techniques continue to gain popularity there is uncertainty regarding the degree of fascial advancement afforded by the various techniques. Our study seeks to ...compare the degree anterior rectus sheath translation seen in full transversus abdominus release compared to simple release of the posterior lamella of the rectus sheath.
Ten hemi-abdomens in five fresh cadavers were dissected. One hemi-abdomen underwent external oblique release. The contralateral hemi-abdomen underwent retrorectus dissection and initial release of the internal lamella of the internal oblique, followed by full transversus abdominus release. A 4 kg weight was suspended from the fascia and excursion was measured after 1) external oblique separation, 2) posterior lamella of the internal oblique separation, and 3) transversus abdominis separation.
Average unilateral hemifascial translation after release of the external oblique provided an average unilateral hemi-fascial translation of 3.38 cm (+/- 0.69). Release of the posterior lamella of the internal oblique provided 3.98 cm (+/- 0.94). After transversus release the average translation increased to 4.31 cm (+/- 0.89).
In this cadaveric study, the majority (92%) of fascial advancement afforded by posterior component separation was achieved by an intermediate step in the transversus abdominus release operation: division of the posterior lamella of the internal oblique.
•PLR provides the majority of the fascial advancement seen after TAR.•PLR should be seen as an independent fascial advancement technique.•PLR involves raising smaller surgical planes than either TAR or EOR.
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