Impacts of drainage, restoration and warming on boreal wetland greenhouse gas fluxes

Northern wetlands with organic soil i.e., mires are significant carbon storages. This key ecosystem service may be threatened by anthropogenic activities and climate change, yet we still lack a consensus on how these major changes affects their carbon sink capacities. We studied how forestry drainage and restoration combined with experimental warming, impacts greenhouse gas fluxes of wetlands with peat. We measured CO2 and CH4 during two and N2O fluxes during one growing season using the chamber method. Gas fluxes were primarily controlled by water table, leaf area and temperature. Land use had a clear impact of on CO2 exchange. Forestry drainage increased respiration rates and decreased field layer net ecosystem CO2 uptake (NEE) and leaf area index (LAI), while at restoration sites the flux rates and LAI had recovered to the level of undrained sites. CH4 emissions were exceptionally low at all sites during our study years due to natural drought, but still somewhat lower at drained compared to undrained sites. Moderate warming triggered an increase in LAI across all land use types. This was accompanied by an increase in cumulative seasonal NEE. Restoration appeared to be an effective tool to return the ecosystem functions of these wetlands as we found no differences in LAI or any gas flux components (PMAX, Reco, NEE, CH4 or N2O) between restored and undrained sites. We did not find any signs that moderate warming would compromise the return of the ecosystem functions related to C sequestration. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Dental students’ and patients’ perceived importance and knowledge of dental anxiety

Abstract Aim: To examine the perceived importance and knowledge of the dental students’ in their treatment of dental anxiety according to their year of study and to find out patients’ perceived importance of the dental students’ knowledge of dental anxiety according to their level on dental fear. Methods: Dental students (N = 219) at the University of Turku and non‐probability convenience sample of 100 of patients attending the Dental Teaching Clinic were given questionnaires with multiple choice and open‐ended questions. Students were categorised into three groups according to the year of study (1–3, 4, 5). Patients were categorised into three groups using the established cut points for Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (no fear = 5–9, low fear = 10–18, high fear = 19–25). The differences between groups were evaluated using cross‐tabulations, chi squared and Fisher’s exact tests. The open‐ended questions were subjected to content analysis. Results: Students’ perceived importance of dental anxiety did not differ between three groups. Students with greater undergraduate education and clinical experience were more likely to have excellent or quite good knowledge (P < 0.001). Patients’ perceived importance of dental students’ knowledge of dental anxiety was greater in patients with high level of fear. The overlapping category that emerged from the open‐ended question analysis was communication skills. This appeared to be important for patients with dental anxiety and for dental students in their management of dental anxiety. Conclusion: Clinical communication skills should be part of dental anxiety management teaching. Dental students should be able to gain sufficient knowledge and skills in treating dental anxiety before graduating

Developmental profiles of reading fluency and reading comprehension from grades 1 to 9 and their early identification

This study examined developmental profiles of reading fluency and reading comprehension in Grades 1 to 9 (ages 7 to 15) in a large Finnish sample (N = 2,518). In addition, early predictors of the profiles were analyzed with respect to kindergarten cognitive skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, rapid automized naming [RAN], number counting, word reading, vocabulary, and listening comprehension), parental factors (level of education, reading difficulties), and gender. Four different profiles of reading fluency and reading comprehension development were identified using latent profile analysis. These comprised one profile with persistent reading difficulties across the grades, one with early poor reading skills but with a resolving tendency, one with average reading skills, and one with good readers who started with very high reading fluency but scored average over time. Of the kindergarten measures, parental reading difficulties, being male, low paternal level of education, slow RAN, difficulty in reading easy words, and low scores in phonological skills, letter knowledge, number counting, and vocabulary predicted reading difficulties. The children belonging to the profile with the resolving tendency showed an increased rate of family risk and multiple cognitive deficits but managed to resolve their reading difficulties. Being female, and good number counting and vocabulary skills predicted a tendency to resolve early reading difficulties. The results confirm the previous findings on the early predictors of reading difficulties and add to the literature by identifying skills that predict resolving patterns

Longitudinal interrelationships between dental fear and dental attendance among adult Finns in 2000-2011

Objectives: The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate causal pathways among as well as interrelationships between changes in dental fear and dental attendance in a nationally representative sample of adult Finns aged 19 years or older in 2000, with 11 years of follow‐up.Methods: Data from the Health 2000 and 2011 Surveys (BRIF8901) in Finland were used. The Health 2000 survey used a stratified two‐stage cluster sampling design (N=9742). Of the participants in 2000, 7964 were eligible and invited to participate in 2011. Of the participants in 2011 (n=5806), 3,631 (63%) responded to both dental fear and attendance questions in both years. Both fear and attendance were assessed using single questions and dichotomized. The background variables included were age, gender and education. Path analysis and logistic regression models were used.Results: Dental fear led to nonhabitual use of dental services rather than vice versa (−0.07 to 0.04 vs. 0.00). When confounders were considered, in both age groups (29‐39 years and 40+ years) an increase in fear predicted nonhabitual dental attendance. This association was stronger among the younger age group (OR = 4.91) than among those aged 40 years and older (OR = 2.88). Among the younger age group, improved dental fear decreased the risk of nonhabitual dental attendance (OR = 0.16), while among older age group, stable fear increased the risk of nonhabitual dental attendance (OR = 2.33).Conclusions: Dental fear causes nonhabitual dental attendance, and decreasing dental fear increases habitual attendance. Oral health personnel should adapt measures to prevent and treat dental fear.</p

Characterization of the first beta-class carbonic anhydrase from an arthropod (Drosophila melanogaster) and phylogenetic analysis of beta-class carbonic anhydrases in invertebrates

BACKGROUND: The beta-carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.1) enzymes have been reported in a variety of organisms, but their existence in animals has been unclear. The purpose of the present study was to perform extensive sequence analysis to show that the beta-CAs are present in invertebrates and to clone and characterize a member of this enzyme family from a representative model organism of the animal kingdom, e.g., Drosophila melanogaster. RESULTS: The novel beta-CA gene, here named DmBCA, was identified from FlyBase, and its orthologs were searched and reconstructed from sequence databases, confirming the presence of beta-CA sequences in 55 metazoan species. The corresponding recombinant enzyme was produced in Sf9 insect cells, purified, kinetically characterized, and its inhibition was investigated with a series of simple, inorganic anions. Holoenzyme molecular mass was defined by dynamic light scattering analysis and gel filtration, and the results suggested that the holoenzyme is a dimer. Double immunostaining confirmed predictions based on sequence analysis and localized DmBCA protein to mitochondria. The enzyme showed high CO2 hydratase activity, with a kcat of 9.5 x 105 s-1 and a kcat/KM of 1.1 x 108 M-1s-1. DmBCA was appreciably inhibited by the clinically-used sulfonamide acetazolamide, with an inhibition constant of 49 nM. It was moderately inhibited by halides, pseudohalides, hydrogen sulfide, bisulfite and sulfate (KI values of 0.67 - 1.36 mM) and more potently by sulfamide (KI of 0.15 mM). Bicarbonate, nitrate, nitrite and phenylarsonic/boronic acids were much weaker inhibitors (KIs of 26.9 - 43.7 mM). CONCLUSIONS: The Drosophila beta-CA represents a highly active mitochondrial enzyme that is a potential model enzyme for anti-parasitic drug development

Changes in perceived oral health in a longitudinal population-based study

Objectives: The aim was to examine whether the changes in different measures of perceived oral health (POH) were similar and related to each other over 11 years in the Finnish adult population in a longitudinal setting. Perceived oral health was measured by means of subjective oral health (SOH), self‐assessed treatment need (STN), and oral health‐related quality of life (OHRQoL).Methods: The data were collected as part of the nationally representative Health 2000 and Health 2011 (BRIF 8901) surveys on Finnish adults born in 1981 or earlier. SOH and STN were measured using single items and OHRQoL using the 14‐item Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP‐14). The changes in STN and OHRQoL were reported by age group and by gender. Age groups (born in 1971 or later, in 1956‐1970, in 1946‐1955, or in 1945 or earlier) were based on access to subsidized oral health care. General linear mixed models for changes in perceived oral health variables were conducted.Results: Subjective oral health and oral health‐related quality of life with impacts occurring occasionally, fairly often, or very often (OFoVo) showed similar results and remained good or improved in the majority of the participants. Self‐assessed treatment need in the population showed less consistent results. Subjective oral health was good in the adult population. About half of the participants, regardless of age and gender, reported self‐assessed treatment need in both years, showing a decrease among women and an increase in the youngest group. Perceived oral health improved significantly in the two oldest age groups regardless of the measure. The general linear mixed model revealed that changes in all three perceived oral health variables were related even when adjusted for age and gender.Conclusion: Multiple perceived oral health measures might be useful for service planning, as the changes in the three separate measures used in this longitudinal study were various and thus measured different aspects of perceived oral health. Research including both self‐perceived and clinical indicators is needed to understand need for care as a whole.</p