Globally, agriculture has had a significant and often detrimental impact on soil. The continued capacity of soil to function as a living ecosystem that sustains microbes, plants, and animals ...(including humans), its metaphorical health, is of vital importance across geographic scales. Healthy soil underpins food production and ecosystem resilience against a changing climate.
This paper focuses on assessing soil health, an area of increasing interest for farming communities, researchers, industry and policy-makers. Without accessible and reliable soil assessment, any management and interventions to improve soil health are likely to be sub-optimal. Here we explore available soil health assessments (SHAs) that may be feasible for farmers of varying income levels and suitable for broad geographic application.
Whilst there is a range of existing approaches to SHA, we find that no one framework currently meets these broad aims. Firstly, reliance on expensive and logistically complex laboratory methods reduces viability and accessibility for many farmers. Secondly, lack of defined indicator baselines and associated thresholds or gradients for soil health prevents the assessment of soil measurements against achieving optima for a given set of local soil-climate conditions. Since soils vary greatly, these baselines and thresholds must be defined considering the local biogeographic context; it is inappropriate to simply transfer calibrated information between contexts. These shortcomings demand progress towards a feasible, globally applicable and context-relevant SHA framework.
The most feasible SHAs we identified were developed locally in conjunction with farmers, who have been repeatedly found to assess the health of their soils accurately, often using relatively simple, observable indications. To progress, we propose assessment of which indicators add information to a SHA in local contexts, with a focus on sufficiency, to reduce data burden. Provision of a standardised protocol for measurement and sampling that considers the reliability and accuracy of different methods would also be extremely valuable. For greatest impact, future work should be taken forward through a cross-industry collaborative approach involving researchers, businesses, policy makers, and, above all, farmers, who are both experts and users.
•We need farmer-feasible soil health assessment (SHA) for global soil security.•Most existing SHAs are costly and only calibrated for some agro-ecological contexts.•There is a gap for practical SHA linking management to soil health outcomes.•Farmer-centric SHA should recognise farmer expertise and consider visual indicators.•We propose assessing information benefit of soil indicators to find sufficient SHA.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with extreme inflammatory response, disordered hemostasis and high thrombotic risk. A high incidence of thromboembolic events has been reported ...despite thromboprophylaxis, raising the question of a more effective anticoagulation. First-line hemostasis tests such as activated partial thromboplastin time, prothrombin time, fibrinogen and D-dimers are proposed for assessing thrombotic risk and monitoring hemostasis, but are vulnerable to many drawbacks affecting their reliability and clinical relevance. Specialized hemostasis-related tests (soluble fibrin complexes, tests assessing fibrinolytic capacity, viscoelastic tests, thrombin generation) may have an interest to assess the thrombotic risk associated with COVID-19. Another challenge for the hemostasis laboratory is the monitoring of heparin treatment, especially unfractionated heparin in the setting of an extreme inflammatory response. This review aimed at evaluating the role of hemostasis tests in the management of COVID-19 and discussing their main limitations.
Direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC)s are often preferred to other anticoagulants as they are more practical and do not require routine laboratory monitoring. Less is known about their use in congenital ...thrombophilia. Efficacy of DOACs in congenital thrombophilia, effect of DOACs and other anticoagulants on diagnostic tests as well as efficacy and safety of anticoagulant use in this population is still a matter of debate. In this review we intended to analyze the potential pitfalls of testing for thrombophilia in patients using DOACs and vitamin K antagonists (VKA)s as well as to suggest strategies to improve diagnostic accuracy in this setting. We also reviewed the literature for evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of DOACs in patients with congenital thrombophilia. Some evidence was found supporting the use of DOACs in low risk thrombophilia, although evidence for their use in high risk thrombophilia is limited to small series and case reports. Our findings support the generation of better evidence to support DOAC use for congenital thrombophilia, especially in the high risk subgroups.
•Thrombophilia testing while on anticoagulants is often misleading and may lead to inappropriate diagnosis.•Some evidence exists to support similar efficacy of DOACs and Vitamin K antagonists in the setting of low risk thrombophilia.•Evidence supporting DOACs for high risk hereditary thrombophilia is limited to small case series.•There are advantages and potential risks of DOACs in the setting of high risk thrombophilias . A personalized approach is suggested.
This paper assesses the effects of light characteristics and irradiation time on the Vickers microhardness (VH) of a dual-photoinitiator commercial composite and on temperature increase in the pulp ...chamber (deltaT). Four recent light-emitting diodes (LEDs)--bluephaseG2 (BG2), bluephase16i (B16i), G-Light (G) and Freelight2 (F2)--and one control halogen light (XL3000-X) were tested on two shades of Tetric EvoCeram (A2 and Bleach XL), whose respective commercial formulations differed based on their concentration of camphorquinone and lucirin TPO. Three different irradiation times were applied--10, 20 and 40 seconds-and VH was measured on the upper and lower surfaces of 2-mm thick samples. The deltaT was measured by using a K-type thermocouple inserted into the pulp chamber of a molar that had been prepared to obtain a 2-mm thickness of dentin. The measurements were made either during polymerization of a 2 mm composite (Shade A2 or Bleach) or with an empty mold. The data were analyzed with the two-way ANOVA (p < 0.05) test. For shade A2, all but one irradiation condition (F2-10 seconds, lower surface) generated VH values that were statistically equal to or better than the standard chosen for this study (X-40 seconds). For Bleach shade, the VH values obtained with G and BG2-20 and 40 seconds were statistically comparable to X-40 seconds for both the upper and lower surfaces. This was not the case with either G and BG2-10 seconds or for all the procedures with other LCUs for which a VH of at least one of the surfaces was significantly lower than the reference. The results also highlight differences between the two material shades, whether the upper or lower surface is considered. Regarding temperature measurements for shade A2, B16i-20-40 seconds, BG2-40 seconds and G-40 seconds induced significantly higher deltaTs (3.98, 5.98, 5.21 and 4.95, respectively) than X-40 seconds (3.09). For Bleach shade, B16i-20 and 40 seconds, F2-20 and 40 seconds, BG2-40 seconds and G-40 seconds generated deltaTs significantly higher than the control values (2.70, 4.05, 3.03, 4.58, 2.74 and 2.44, respectively). The deltaT values obtained with uncovered tooth were generally higher than those obtained with a 2-mm layer of composite. In conclusion, this research emphasizes that a perfect correspondence between light and material spectra is of prime concern, both to insure optimal polymerization and to limit heating in the pulp chamber. Some reduction in curing time is possible, but only within certain limits.
A
bstract
Fixed-target experiments using primary electron beams can be powerful discovery tools for light dark matter in the sub-GeV mass range. The Light Dark Matter eXperiment (LDMX) is designed to ...measure missing momentum in high-rate electron fixed-target reactions with beam energies of 4 GeV to 16 GeV. A prerequisite for achieving several important sensitivity milestones is the capability to efficiently reject backgrounds associated with few-GeV bremsstrahlung, by twelve orders of magnitude, while maintaining high efficiency for signal. The primary challenge arises from events with photo-nuclear reactions faking the missing-momentum property of a dark matter signal. We present a methodology developed for the LDMX detector concept that is capable of the required rejection. By employing a detailed Geant4-based model of the detector response, we demonstrate that the sampling calorimetry proposed for LDMX can achieve better than 10
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13
rejection of few-GeV photons. This suggests that the luminosity-limited sensitivity of LDMX can be realized at 4 GeV and higher beam energies.
Summary Three types of low‐shrinkage composites are today commercially available: Ormocers, cationic ring‐opening curing systems and highly filled methacrylate‐based materials, which cure via ...free‐radical polymerization mechanisms. The aim of this study was to characterize the inorganic fraction of materials belonging to each type and to compare their mechanical properties. Two Ormocers (Admira and an experimental Ormocer V35694), one ring‐opening composite (Filtek Silorane) and five methacrylate‐based composites Filtek Supreme XT, Tetric EvoCeram, Grandio, Synergy D6 (Coltène‐Whaledent, Langenau, Germany) and an experimental material, V34930 were tested. Inorganic fillers were quantified by thermogravimetric analysis and morphologically characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Dynamic modulus was determined by an impulse excitation technique, static elastic moduli and flexural strength by a three‐point bending method. The results were analyzed using anova tests (P < 0·05) and linear correlations. Grandio, V34930 and V35694 exhibited significantly higher filler mass fractions. Both dynamic and static moduli of Grandio and V34930 were significantly higher than the other materials (P < 0·05), although no significant difference in flexural strength was observed between material type (P > 0·05). From the present findings, it was suggested that V35694 and Filtek Silorane exhibit comparable properties to conventional methacrylate‐based composites, although clinically the cavity type and location must guide material choice. Under high occlusal load, the use of Grandio and V34930 might be favoured. For small cavities, alternative technologies could be preferred as the need for mechanical resistance is lower and the potential for stress generation is greater.
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