Long term geological record of a global deep subsurface microbial habitat in sand injection complexes

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dosing and Monitoring of Trace Elements in Long‐Term Home Parenteral Nutrition Patients

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141314/1/jpen0736.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141314/2/jpen0736-sup-0001.pd

Genomics of Divergence along a Continuum of Parapatric Population Differentiation

MM received funding from the Max Planck innovation funds for this project. PGDF was supported by a Marie Curie European Reintegration Grant (proposal nr 270891). CE was supported by German Science Foundation grants (DFG, EI 841/4-1 and EI 841/6-1)

Earliest Triassic microbialites in the South China Block and other areas; controls on their growth and distribution

Earliest Triassic microbialites (ETMs) and inorganic carbonate crystal fans formed after the end-Permian mass extinction (ca. 251.4 Ma) within the basal Triassic Hindeodus parvus conodont zone. ETMs are distinguished from rarer, and more regional, subsequent Triassic microbialites. Large differences in ETMs between northern and southern areas of the South China block suggest geographic provinces, and ETMs are most abundant throughout the equatorial Tethys Ocean with further geographic variation. ETMs occur in shallow-marine shelves in a superanoxic stratified ocean and form the only widespread Phanerozoic microbialites with structures similar to those of the Cambro-Ordovician, and briefly after the latest Ordovician, Late Silurian and Late Devonian extinctions. ETMs disappeared long before the mid-Triassic biotic recovery, but it is not clear why, if they are interpreted as disaster taxa. In general, ETM occurrence suggests that microbially mediated calcification occurred where upwelled carbonate-rich anoxic waters mixed with warm aerated surface waters, forming regional dysoxia, so that extreme carbonate supersaturation and dysoxic conditions were both required for their growth. Long-term oceanic and atmospheric changes may have contributed to a trigger for ETM formation. In equatorial western Pangea, the earliest microbialites are late Early Triassic, but it is possible that ETMs could exist in western Pangea, if well-preserved earliest Triassic facies are discovered in future work

Efficient organic carbon burial in the Bengal fan sustained by the Himalayan erosional system

Author Posting. © Nature Publishing Group, 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nature 450 (2007): 407-410, doi:10.1038/nature06273.Continental erosion controls atmospheric carbon dioxide levels on geological timescales through silicate weathering, riverine transport and subsequent burial of organic carbon in oceanic sediments. The efficiency of organic carbon deposition in sedimentary basins is however limited by the organic carbon load capacity of the sediments and organic carbon oxidation in continental margins. At the global scale, previous studies have suggested that about 70 per cent of riverine organic carbon is returned to the atmosphere, such as in the Amazon basin. Here we present a comprehensive organic carbon budget for the Himalayan erosional system, including source rocks, river sediments and marine sediments buried in the Bengal fan. We show that organic carbon export is controlled by sediment properties, and that oxidative loss is negligible during transport and deposition to the ocean. Our results indicate that 70 to 85 per cent of the organic carbon is recent organic matter captured during transport, which serves as a net sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. The amount of organic carbon deposited in the Bengal basin represents about 10 to 20 per cent of the total terrestrial organic carbon buried in oceanic sediments. High erosion rates in the Himalayas generate high sedimentation rates and low oxygen availability in the Bay of Bengal that sustain the observed extreme organic carbon burial efficiency. Active orogenic systems generate enhanced physical erosion and the resulting organic carbon burial buffers atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, thereby exerting a negative feedback on climate over geological timescales

Elevated CO2 degassing rates prevented the return of Snowball Earth during the Phanerozoic

The Cryogenian period (~720–635 Ma) is marked by extensive Snowball Earth glaciations. These have previously been linked to CO₂ draw-down, but the severe cold climates of the Cryogenian have never been replicated during the Phanerozoic despite similar, and sometimes more dramatic changes to carbon sinks. Here we quantify the total CO₂ input rate, both by measuring the global length of subduction zones in plate tectonic reconstructions, and by sea-level inversion. Our results indicate that degassing rates were anomalously low during the Late Neoproterozoic, roughly doubled by the Early Phanerozoic, and remained comparatively high until the Cenozoic. Our carbon cycle modelling identifies the Cryogenian as a unique period during which low surface temperature was more easily achieved, and shows that the shift towards greater CO₂ input rates after the Cryogenian helped prevent severe glaciation during the Phanerozoic. Such a shift appears essential for the development of complex animal life

Observations of mixed-species bird flocks at Kichwa Tembo Camp, Kenya

Mixed-species foraging flocks were studied at Kichwa Tembo Camp on the edge of the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya between July and September 2004. Observations were made on 29 mixed-species flocks, in which 24 species participated. African Paradise-Flycatcher Terpsiphone viridis, Black-backed Puffback Dryoscopus cubla, Grey-backed Camaroptera Camaroptera brachyura, Collared Sunbird Hedydipna collars and Cabanis's Greenbul Phyllastrephus cabanisi were the most common participants in mixed-species flocks, as well as among the most frequently encountered bird species overall. The Black-backed Puffback was identified as the nuclear species in flocks due to their abundance and frequency with which they were followed by other species. Mixed-species flocks represent another niche dimension in this diverse bird community, but few of these species could be described as flock specialists; most of the birds observed in mixed-species flocks in this study were opportunistic attendant species, including the African Pygmy-Kingfisher Ispidina picta, not previously described as joining mixed-species flocks

Computerized clinical decision support systems for acute care management: A decision-maker-researcher partnership systematic review of effects on process of care and patient outcomes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Acute medical care often demands timely, accurate decisions in complex situations. Computerized clinical decision support systems (CCDSSs) have many features that could help. However, as for any medical intervention, claims that CCDSSs improve care processes and patient outcomes need to be rigorously assessed. The objective of this review was to systematically review the effects of CCDSSs on process of care and patient outcomes for acute medical care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a decision-maker-researcher partnership systematic review. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews databases (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, DARE, ACP Journal Club, and others), and the Inspec bibliographic database were searched to January 2010, in all languages, for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of CCDSSs in all clinical areas. We included RCTs that evaluated the effect on process of care or patient outcomes of a CCDSS used for acute medical care compared with care provided without a CCDSS. A study was considered to have a positive effect (<it>i.e.</it>, CCDSS showed improvement) if at least 50% of the relevant study outcomes were statistically significantly positive.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty-six studies met our inclusion criteria for acute medical care. The CCDSS improved process of care in 63% (22/35) of studies, including 64% (9/14) of medication dosing assistants, 82% (9/11) of management assistants using alerts/reminders, 38% (3/8) of management assistants using guidelines/algorithms, and 67% (2/3) of diagnostic assistants. Twenty studies evaluated patient outcomes, of which three (15%) reported improvements, all of which were medication dosing assistants.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The majority of CCDSSs demonstrated improvements in process of care, but patient outcomes were less likely to be evaluated and far less likely to show positive results.</p