Peatlands contain one-third of soil carbon (C), mostly buried in deep, saturated anoxic zones (catotelm). The response of catotelm C to climate forcing is uncertain, because prior experiments have ...focused on surface warming. We show that deep peat heating of a 2 m-thick peat column results in an exponential increase in CH
emissions. However, this response is due solely to surface processes and not degradation of catotelm peat. Incubations show that only the top 20-30 cm of peat from experimental plots have higher CH
production rates at elevated temperatures. Radiocarbon analyses demonstrate that CH
and CO
are produced primarily from decomposition of surface-derived modern photosynthate, not catotelm C. There are no differences in microbial abundances, dissolved organic matter concentrations or degradative enzyme activities among treatments. These results suggest that although surface peat will respond to increasing temperature, the large reservoir of catotelm C is stable under current anoxic conditions.
•Patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) suffer from an increased risk of fractures.•Clinical data shows that patients with T2DM have normal to high bone mineral density (BMD).•The ...hyperglycaemic, hyperinsulinemic and inflammatory conditions in T2DM contribute to skeletal complications.•Exercise can help combat the multifactorial impact of T2DM.
Bones undergo continuous cycles of bone remodelling that rely on the balance between bone formation and resorption. This balance allows the bone to adapt to changes in mechanical loads and repair microdamages. However, this balance is susceptible to upset in various conditions, leading to impaired bone remodelling and abnormal bones. This is usually indicated by abnormal bone mineral density (BMD), an indicator of bone strength. Despite this, patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) exhibit normal to high BMD, yet still suffer from an increased risk of fractures. The activity of the bone cells is also altered as indicated by the reduced levels of bone turnover markers in T2DM observed in the circulation. The underlying mechanisms behind these skeletal outcomes in patients with T2DM remain unclear. This review summarises recent findings regarding inflammatory cytokine factors associated with T2DM to understand the mechanisms involved and considers potential therapeutic interventions.
The uppermost portion of the peat profile, an area of active diagenetic processes, is exceedingly important for understanding peatland dynamics and the diagenesis and geochemistry of ...atmospherically-deposited materials. We investigated high resolution carbon (C) accrual and peat decomposition rates at two Sphagnum-rich ombrotrophic bogs and one fen in northern Minnesota, USA by analyzing 1 cm increments from 30 cm thick intact frozen blocks of peat soil. We conducted radiocarbon analysis of Sphagnum cellulose to determine peat age and net C accumulation at each depth interval. Calibrated peat ages were determined using CALIBomb and a compilation of calibration datasets for the pre-bomb period. We fit data with a negative exponential accumulation model and used model-derived parameters to estimate net primary productivity (NPP) and a peat decomposition rate constant k. FTIR spectroscopy and C:N were used to derive humification indicesand tochemically characterize the peat. NPP ranged from 180 to 266 g C m⁻² year⁻¹, k ranged from 0.015 to 0.019 year⁻¹. Net C accumulation rates ranged from 112 to 174 g C m⁻² year⁻¹ at 25 years and 70 to 113 g C m⁻² year⁻¹ at 50 years. Mass loss was up to 55% during the first 50 years of peat accumulation. Decomposition is greater at depth in the bogs—where 25 cm of peat correspond to 55 years of peat accumulation—than in the fen, where peat age is approximately 25 years at 25 cm depth. Information on fine-scale variations in peat mass decomposition and loss across ombrotrophic bogs and a fen help interpret other diagenetic processes in peatlands.
While radiocarbon (14 C) abundances in standing stocks of soil carbon have been used to evaluate rates of soil carbon turnover on timescales of several years to centuries, soil-respired 14 CO2 ...measurements are an important tool for identifying more immediate responses to disturbance and climate change. Soil δ14 CO2 data, however, are often temporally sparse and could be interpreted better with more context for typical seasonal ranges and trends. We report on a semi-high-frequency sampling campaign to distinguish physical and biological drivers of soil δ14 CO2 at a temperate forest site in northern Wisconsin, USA. We sampled 14 CO2 profiles every three weeks during snow-free months through 2012 in three intact plots and one trenched plot that excluded roots. Respired δ14 CO2 declined through the summer in intact plots, shifting from an older C composition that contained more bomb 14 C to a younger composition more closely resembling present 14 C levels in the atmosphere. In the trenched plot, respired δ14 CO2 was variable but remained comparatively higher than in intact plots, reflecting older bomb-enriched 14 C sources. Although respired δ14 CO2 from intact plots correlated with soil moisture, related analyses did not support a clear cause-and-effect relationship with moisture. The initial decrease in δ14 CO2 from spring to midsummer could be explained by increases in 14 C-deplete root respiration; however, δ14 CO2 continued to decline in late summer after root activity decreased. We also investigated whether soil moisture impacted vertical partitioning of CO2 production, but found this had little effect on respired δ14 CO2 because CO2 contained modern bomb C at depth, even in the trenched plot. This surprising result contrasted with decades to centuries-old pre-bomb CO2 produced in lab incubations of the same soils. Our results suggest that root-derived C and other recent C sources had dominant impacts on respired δ14 CO2 in situ, even at depth. We propose that δ14 CO2 may have declined through late summer in intact plots because of continued microbial turnover of root-derived C, following declines in root respiration. Our results agree with other studies showing declines in the 14 C content of soil respiration over the growing season, and suggest inputs of new photosynthates through roots are an important driver.
Issue addressed
Primary healthcare settings are important providers of health promotion approaches. However, organisational challenges can affect their capacity to deliver these approaches. This ...review identified the common enablers and barriers health organisations faced and it aimed to explore the experiences health organisations, in particular Aboriginal organisations, had when increasing their health promotion capacity.
Methods
A systematic search of peer‐reviewed literature was conducted. Articles published between 1990–2014 that focused on a health care‐settings approach and discussed factors that facilitated or hindered an organisation's ability to increase health promotion capacity were included.
Results
Twenty‐five articles met the inclusion criteria. Qualitative (n = 18) and quantitative (n = 7) study designs were included. Only one article described the experiences of an Aboriginal health organisation. Enablers included: management support, skilled staff, provision of external support to the organisation, committed staffing and financial resources, leadership and the availability of external partners to work with. Barriers included: lack of management support, lack of dedicated health promotion staff, staff lacking skills or confidence, competing priorities and a lack of time and resources allocated to health promotion activities.
Conclusions
While the literature highlighted the importance of health promotion work, barriers can limit the delivery of health promotion approaches within primary healthcare organisations. A gap in the literature exists about how Aboriginal health organisations face these challenges.
So what?
Primary healthcare organisations wanting to increase their health promotion capacity can pre‐empt the common barriers and strengthen identified enablers through the shared learnings outlined in this review.
In recent years, major cuts to resources and leadership in preventive health approaches have hindered the capacity to improve population health outcomes. This literature review synthesises the enablers and barriers faced by health organisations over the past 25 years in building capacity to deliver health promotion approaches. Given current limited resources, it is timely to be aware of how capacity for health promotion can be strengthened.
Pulmonary vascular tone is strongly influenced by the resting membrane potential of smooth muscle cells, depolarization promoting Ca2+ influx, and contraction. The resting potential is determined ...largely by the activity of K+-selective ion channels, the molecular nature of which has been debated for some time. In this study, we provide strong evidence that the two-pore domain K+ channel, TASK-1, mediates a noninactivating, background K+ current (IKN), which sets the resting membrane potential in rabbit pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). TASK-1 mRNA was found to be present in PASMCs, and the membranes of PASMCs contained TASK-1 protein. Both IKN and the resting potential were found to be exquisitely sensitive to extracellular pH, acidosis inhibiting the current and causing depolarization. Moreover, IKN and the resting potential were enhanced by halothane (1 mmol/L), inhibited by Zn2+ (100 to 200 micromol/L) and anandamide (10 micromol/L), but insensitive to cytoplasmic Ca2+. These properties are all diagnostic of TASK-1 channels and add to previously identified features of IKN that are shared with TASK-1, such as inhibition by hypoxia, low sensitivity to 4-aminopyridine and quinine and insensitivity to tetraethylammonium ions. It is therefore concluded that TASK-1 channels are major contributors to the resting potential in pulmonary artery smooth muscle. They are likely to play an important role in mediating pulmonary vascular responses to changes in extracellular pH, and they could be responsible for the modulatory effects of pH on hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction.
We have measured parity-violating asymmetries in elastic electron-proton scattering over the range of momentum transfers 0.12 < or =Q2 < or =1.0 GeV2. These asymmetries, arising from interference of ...the electromagnetic and neutral weak interactions, are sensitive to strange-quark contributions to the currents of the proton. The measurements were made at Jefferson Laboratory using a toroidal spectrometer to detect the recoiling protons from a liquid hydrogen target. The results indicate nonzero, Q2 dependent, strange-quark contributions and provide new information beyond that obtained in previous experiments.
Aim Evidence suggests that follow‐up after colorectal cancer improves survival. Colorectal cancer is so common that patient follow‐up can overwhelm a service, affecting the ability to see new ...referrals and reassess patients seen previously who have new symptoms. In order to cope with this demand a nurse‐led follow‐up service was started in 2004. We aimed to review the results of a nurse‐led colorectal cancer follow‐up clinic.
Method Between 1 December 2004 and 31 January 2011, patients who underwent resection for colorectal cancer were followed up by a nurse specialist according to a protocol determined by the colorectal surgeons in the unit. All patient details were recorded prospectively in a purpose designed database.
Results Nine hundred and fifty patients were followed up over 7 years. Some 368 patients were discharged from the follow‐up programme, 474 patients remain actively involved in the programme and 108 patients died. Of the patients discharged from the follow‐up scheme 269 (73%) were discharged to their general practitioner free of disease after 5 years. Of the 108 who patients died, 98 were as a result of colorectal cancer. Twenty patients (2.1%) were identified with local (peri‐anastomotic) disease recurrence and 93 patients (9.8%) were found to have developed distant metastatic disease. Of these, 65 patients (6.8%) were referred for palliative care and 28 (2.9%) had surgery for focal metastatic disease of whom 18 were still alive at the time of this analysis.
Conclusion This paper shows that a nurse‐led clinic for colorectal cancer follow‐up can achieve satisfactory results with detection rates of recurrent or metastatic disease comparable to consultant follow‐up. A nurse‐led clinic provides the benefits of follow‐up without overwhelming the consultant colorectal surgical clinic practice.
The Tongariro Power Development Scheme （TPDS） is used to regulate flow in the headwaters of the largest catchment on the North Island of New Zealand （the Waikato）. Two small dams, the Rangipo Dam and ...the Poutu Intake Dam, were constructed in 1973 and 1983. The flow regime of the river is managed to divert freshes into the power scheme, but allows flows larger than 100 m3 s-1 to be released, to rework and transport sediment through the catchment. Analysis of aerial photos and maps spanning 1928 to 2007, alongside field measurements, show that there have been few hydrogeomorphic adjustments since dam construction. This includes limited changes to channel geometry, channel planform and bed material organization immediately downstream of the dams. In addition, offsite effects are minimal, both 500 m downstream of each dam, and in the more sensitive, less confined reaches in the lower catchment （11 km downstream of the Poutu Intake dam）. The limited changes can be attributed to the locations of the dams within reaches characterised by bedrock gorges and confined within terraces. These locations act to flush sediments and impose margins that allow minimal adjustment of the channel. Bed material within this reach is characterised by the presence of a boulder lag. This is sourced from long-term incision into lahar deposits, and acts to limit the rate of incision, creating a steep and stable base upon which active fractions are transported. Just as importantly, significant storage in the low-relief volcanic plateau located in the upper catchment acts to disconnect and store the high sediment yields generated by active volcanic cones in the western sub-catchment upstream of the dams. This limits the rate of sediment supply to regulated reaches. Findings from this study show that analysis of reach-scale controls is essential in framing dam site locations in relation to the distribution of reaches and landscape units across the catchment. In this instance, tributary inputs downstream of the dams do not replenish the sediment and flow removed at the dam locations, as has been observed in other regulated systenas. Rather, the river itself is resilient to change and flow variability is well managed allowing geomorphicaUy effective floods to occur. Landscape setting is a key consideration in determining the hydrogeomorphic impact of flow regulation.
Abstract
Introduction
Exercise is beneficial for Parkinson’s disease (PD), but many people struggle to achieve the 150 minutes per a week recommendation. Symptoms of PD or co-morbidity may be ...barriers for exercise; and physiotherapists can provide expert assessment and tailoring of exercise to accommodate these needs.
Method
We developed a remote physiotherapy intervention using videoconference (Attend Anywhere). An ongoing feasibility trial is assessing this intervention, and a process evaluation seeks to understand the broader context and acceptability of the intervention. Here we present a qualitative study of participants of the feasibility study. We invited participants from the feasibility trial to individual semi-structured telephone or videoconference interview. 14 participants were interviewed. Transcripts were analysed by thematic analysis within two main themes: physical activity and use of digital technology. Participants spoke about their attitudes towards their diagnosis.
Results
Individuals who had come to terms with their PD were more engaged with the exercise regime than participants who expressed a sense of denial. Participants who mentioned the benefits of exercise for reducing or delaying PD symptoms were more likely to report a positive attitude to exercise. In contrast, individuals with co-morbidity, or caring roles, found it more difficult to commit to regular exercise; flexibility of the exercise routine was valued. For the theme of digital technology some participants reported struggling with, technical problems such as interruptions in internet connection, having constrained space to exercise and staying in view of the camera for the physiotherapist. Whilst some participants lacked digital confidence, or expressed a preference for in-person treatment, other participants reported no difficulties or found it more convenient than travelling to clinic.
PDF
