Global CO2 Emissions From Dry Inland Waters Share Common Drivers Across Ecosystems

Many inland waters exhibit complete or partial desiccation, or have vanished due to global change, exposing sediments to the atmosphere. Yet, data on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from these sediments are too scarce to upscale emissions for global estimates or to understand their fundamental drivers. Here, we present the results of a global survey covering 196 dry inland waters across diverse ecosystem types and climate zones. We show that their CO2 emissions share fundamental drivers and constitute a substantial fraction of the carbon cycled by inland waters. CO2 emissions were consistent across ecosystem types and climate zones, with local characteristics explaining much of the variability. Accounting for such emissions increases global estimates of carbon emissions from inland waters by 6% (~0.12 Pg C y−1). Our results indicate that emissions from dry inland waters represent a significant and likely increasing component of the inland waters carbon cycle

Transformative Materials to Create 3D Functional Human Tissue Models In Vitro in a Reproducible Manner

Recreating human tissues and organs in the petri dish to establish models as tools in biomedical sciences has gained momentum. These models can provide insight into mechanisms of human physiology, disease onset, and progression, and improve drug target validation, as well as the development of new medical therapeutics. Transformative materials play an important role in this evolution, as they can be programmed to direct cell behavior and fate by controlling the activity of bioactive molecules and material properties. Using nature as an inspiration, scientists are creating materials that incorporate specific biological processes observed during human organogenesis and tissue regeneration. This article presents the reader with state-of-the-art developments in the field of in vitro tissue engineering and the challenges related to the design, production, and translation of these transformative materials. Advances regarding (stem) cell sources, expansion, and differentiation, and how novel responsive materials, automated and large-scale fabrication processes, culture conditions, in situ monitoring systems, and computer simulations are required to create functional human tissue models that are relevant and efficient for drug discovery, are described. This paper illustrates how these different technologies need to converge to generate in vitro life-like human tissue models that provide a platform to answer health-based scientific questions.</p

Global CO2 emissions from dry inland waters share common drivers across ecosystems

Many inland waters exhibit complete or partial desiccation, or have vanished due to global change, exposing sediments to the atmosphere. Yet, data on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from these sediments are too scarce to upscale emissions for global estimates or to understand their fundamental drivers. Here, we present the results of a global survey covering 196 dry inland waters across diverse ecosystem types and climate zones. We show that their CO2 emissions share fundamental drivers and constitute a substantial fraction of the carbon cycled by inland waters. CO2 emissions were consistent across ecosystem types and climate zones, with local characteristics explaining much of the variability. Accounting for such emissions increases global estimates of carbon emissions from inland waters by 6% (~0.12 Pg C y−1). Our results indicate that emissions from dry inland waters represent a significant and likely increasing component of the inland waters carbon cycle

Greenhouse gas emissions from inland waters: A perspective and research agenda for the tropics and subtropics

peer reviewedStrong consensus indicates that inland waters emit globally significant quantities of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Tropical inland waters are often considered major contributors to higher greenhouse gas fluxes, yet accurate estimates of aquatic greenhouse gas fluxes are limited for the tropics. We provide a historical perspective on research carried out across low latitudes since the 1980s, synthesize current understanding of the sources and drivers of greenhouse gas emissions, and highlight priority research areas for future tropical inland water greenhouse gas research. We show that much of the focus has been on the humid tropics while the wet-dry, (semi)arid, and mountainous regions remain underrepresented in global datasets. Consistent and reliable greenhouse gas emission estimates will require (1) addressing the observational mismatch with new data from understudied ecoregions, (2) favoring direct and high-resolution carbon dioxide measurements over indirect estimates based on water chemistry parameters, (3) developing approaches that cross boundaries between ecosystem types and scales, and (4) sharing and publishing data more systematically

Why do women with eating disorders decline treatment? A qualitative study of barriers to specialized eating disorder treatment

Despite the fact that eating disorders (EDs) are conditions that are potentially life-threat-ening, many people decline treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate why women decline specialized ED treatment, including their viewpoints on treatment services. Eighteen semi-struc-tured qualitative interviews were conducted with women who had declined inpatient or outpatient specialized ED treatment. A thematic analysis revealed five main themes: (1) Disagreement on treatment needs, (2) rigid standard procedures, (3) failure to listen, (4) deprivation of identity, and (5) mistrust and fear. The women had declined ED treatment because they believed that treatment was only focused on nutritional rehabilitation and that it failed to address their self-identified needs. From their perspectives treatment was characterized by rigid standard procedures that could not be adapted to their individual situations and preferences. They felt that the therapists failed to listen to them, and they felt deprived of identity and reduced to an ED instead of a real person. This investigation is one of the first of its kind to provide clues as to how treatment could be moderated to better meet the needs of women who decline specialized ED treatment

Applying the core-satellite species concept: Characteristics of rare and common riverine dissolved organic matter

Peer reviewed: TrueAcknowledgements: We thank the WHONDRS consortium for facilitating generation of data used in this manuscript, including study design, crowdsourced sample collection, sample analysis, and public data publishing. We also thank the organizers and participants of the virtual crowdsourced workshop (Borton et al., 2022) where the initial scientific questions and hypotheses were developed.IntroductionDissolved organic matter (DOM) composition varies over space and time, with a multitude of factors driving the presence or absence of each compound found in the complex DOM mixture. Compounds ubiquitously present across a wide range of river systems (hereafter termed core compounds) may differ in chemical composition and reactivity from compounds present in only a few settings (hereafter termed satellite compounds). Here, we investigated the spatial patterns in DOM molecular formulae presence (occupancy) in surface water and sediments across 97 river corridors at a continental scale using the “Worldwide Hydrobiogeochemical Observation Network for Dynamic River Systems—WHONDRS” research consortium.MethodsWe used a novel data-driven approach to identify core and satellite compounds and compared their molecular properties identified with Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS).ResultsWe found that core compounds clustered around intermediate hydrogen/carbon and oxygen/carbon ratios across both sediment and surface water samples, whereas the satellite compounds varied widely in their elemental composition. Within surface water samples, core compounds were dominated by lignin-like formulae, whereas protein-like formulae dominated the core pool in sediment samples. In contrast, satellite molecular formulae were more evenly distributed between compound classes in both sediment and water molecules. Core compounds found in both sediment and water exhibited lower molecular mass, lower oxidation state, and a higher degree of aromaticity, and were inferred to be more persistent than global satellite compounds. Higher putative biochemical transformations were found in core than satellite compounds, suggesting that the core pool was more processed.DiscussionThe observed differences in chemical properties of core and satellite compounds point to potential differences in their sources and contribution to DOM processing in river corridors. Overall, our work points to the potential of data-driven approaches separating rare and common compounds to reduce some of the complexity inherent in studying riverine DOM.</jats:sec

A global database of greenhouse gas fluxes from tropical inland waters

peer reviewedStrong consensus exists that inland waters emit globally significant quantities of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Tropical inland waters are often considered major contributors to these greenhouse gas fluxes, yet consistent and reliable estimates of aquatic greenhouse gas fluxes are lacking for the tropics. One of the limitations to obtaining a more accurate quantification of these fluxes is the lack of a curated and openly accessible data repository of greenhouse gas observations from across the tropics. To address this issue, we are developing the first comprehensive database of greenhouse gas concentrations and fluxes for tropical and subtropical inland waters (streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, wetlands). Our database includes over 15,000 records of gas concentration and flux measurements that were extracted from a total of 290 publications between 1975 and 2023. In this presentation we provide an overview of the database, summarise basic patterns of gas concentrations and fluxes across the region, and derive priority research areas for tropical inland water greenhouse gas research. We show that improved greenhouse gas emission estimates will require (1) addressing the observational gap in the mountainous and seasonal tropics, (2) developing approaches that cross boundaries between ecosystem types and scales, and (3) sharing and publishing data more systematically