Feedback between drought and deforestation in the Amazon

Deforestation and drought are among the greatest environmental pressures on the Amazon rainforest, possibly destabilizing the forest-climate system. Deforestation in the Amazon reduces rainfall regionally, while this deforestation itself has been reported to be facilitated by droughts. Here we quantify the interactions between drought and deforestation spatially across the Amazon during the early 21st century. First, we relate observed fluctuations in deforestation rates to dry-season intensity; second, we determine the effect of conversion of forest to cropland on evapotranspiration; and third, we simulate the subsequent downwind reductions in rainfall due to decreased atmospheric water input. We find large variability in the response of deforestation to dry-season intensity, with a significant but small average increase in deforestation rates with a more intense dry season: With every mm of water deficit, deforestation tends to increase by 0.13% per year. Deforestation, in turn, has caused an estimated 4% of the recent observed drying, with the south-western part of the Amazon being most strongly affected. Combining both effects, we quantify a reinforcing drought-deforestation feedback that is currently small, but becomes gradually stronger with cumulative deforestation. Our results suggest that global climate change, not deforestation, is the main driver of recent drying in the Amazon. However, a feedback between drought and deforestation implies that increases in either of them will impede efforts to curb both.</p

Evaluation of hearing levels and vestibular function and the impact on cognitive performance in (pre)-symptomatic patients with DFNA9:Protocol for a prospective longitudinal study (Rosetta study)

Introduction: Untreated hearing loss is the largest potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia. Additionally, vestibular dysfunction has been put forward as a potential risk factor for accelerated cognitive decline. Patients with Deafness Autosomal Dominant 9 (DFNA9) present with progressive sensorineural hearing loss and bilateral vestibulopathy and show significantly worse results in cognitive performance compared with a cognitively healthy control group. This highlights the need for adequate treatment to prevent further cognitive decline. This study aims to determine how hearing and vestibular function evolve in (pre-)symptomatic carriers of the p.Pro51Ser mutation in the COCH gene and how this impacts their cognitive performance and health-related quality of life.Methods and analysis: A prospective, longitudinal evaluation of hearing, vestibular function and cognitive performance will be acquired at baseline, 1-year and 2-year follow-up. A total of 40 patients with DFNA9 will be included in the study. The study will be a single-centre study performed at the ORL department at the Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), Belgium. The control group will encompass cognitively healthy subjects, already recruited through the GECkO study. The primary outcome measure will be the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status adjusted for the Hearing-Impaired total score. Secondary outcome measures include Cortical Auditory-Evoked Potentials, vestibular assessments and health-related quality of life questionnaires. The expected outcomes will aid in the development of gene therapy by providing insight in the optimal time window for the application of gene therapy for the inner ear.Ethics and dissemination: The ethical committee of UZA approved the study protocol on 19 December 2022 (protocol number B3002022000170). All participants have to give written initial informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Results will be disseminated to the public through conference presentations, lectures and peer-reviewed scientific publications.</p

Evaluation of hearing levels and vestibular function and the impact on cognitive performance in (pre)-symptomatic patients with DFNA9:Protocol for a prospective longitudinal study (Rosetta study)

Introduction: Untreated hearing loss is the largest potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia. Additionally, vestibular dysfunction has been put forward as a potential risk factor for accelerated cognitive decline. Patients with Deafness Autosomal Dominant 9 (DFNA9) present with progressive sensorineural hearing loss and bilateral vestibulopathy and show significantly worse results in cognitive performance compared with a cognitively healthy control group. This highlights the need for adequate treatment to prevent further cognitive decline. This study aims to determine how hearing and vestibular function evolve in (pre-)symptomatic carriers of the p.Pro51Ser mutation in the COCH gene and how this impacts their cognitive performance and health-related quality of life.Methods and analysis: A prospective, longitudinal evaluation of hearing, vestibular function and cognitive performance will be acquired at baseline, 1-year and 2-year follow-up. A total of 40 patients with DFNA9 will be included in the study. The study will be a single-centre study performed at the ORL department at the Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), Belgium. The control group will encompass cognitively healthy subjects, already recruited through the GECkO study. The primary outcome measure will be the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status adjusted for the Hearing-Impaired total score. Secondary outcome measures include Cortical Auditory-Evoked Potentials, vestibular assessments and health-related quality of life questionnaires. The expected outcomes will aid in the development of gene therapy by providing insight in the optimal time window for the application of gene therapy for the inner ear.Ethics and dissemination: The ethical committee of UZA approved the study protocol on 19 December 2022 (protocol number B3002022000170). All participants have to give written initial informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Results will be disseminated to the public through conference presentations, lectures and peer-reviewed scientific publications.</p

Hysteresis of tropical forests in the 21st century

Tropical forests modify the conditions they depend on through feedbacks at different spatial scales. These feedbacks shape the hysteresis (history-dependence) of tropical forests, thus controlling their resilience to deforestation and response to climate change. Here, we determine the emergent hysteresis from local-scale tipping points and regional-scale forest-rainfall feedbacks across the tropics under the recent climate and a severe climate-change scenario. By integrating remote sensing, a global hydrological model, and detailed atmospheric moisture tracking simulations, we find that forest-rainfall feedback expands the geographic range of possible forest distributions, especially in the Amazon. The Amazon forest could partially recover from complete deforestation, but may lose that resilience later this century. The Congo forest currently lacks resilience, but is predicted to gain it under climate change, whereas forests in Australasia are resilient under both current and future climates. Our results show how tropical forests shape their own distributions and create the climatic conditions that enable them

Evaluation of hearing levels and vestibular function and the impact on cognitive performance in (pre)-symptomatic patients with DFNA9:Protocol for a prospective longitudinal study (Rosetta study)

Introduction: Untreated hearing loss is the largest potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia. Additionally, vestibular dysfunction has been put forward as a potential risk factor for accelerated cognitive decline. Patients with Deafness Autosomal Dominant 9 (DFNA9) present with progressive sensorineural hearing loss and bilateral vestibulopathy and show significantly worse results in cognitive performance compared with a cognitively healthy control group. This highlights the need for adequate treatment to prevent further cognitive decline. This study aims to determine how hearing and vestibular function evolve in (pre-)symptomatic carriers of the p.Pro51Ser mutation in the COCH gene and how this impacts their cognitive performance and health-related quality of life.Methods and analysis: A prospective, longitudinal evaluation of hearing, vestibular function and cognitive performance will be acquired at baseline, 1-year and 2-year follow-up. A total of 40 patients with DFNA9 will be included in the study. The study will be a single-centre study performed at the ORL department at the Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), Belgium. The control group will encompass cognitively healthy subjects, already recruited through the GECkO study. The primary outcome measure will be the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status adjusted for the Hearing-Impaired total score. Secondary outcome measures include Cortical Auditory-Evoked Potentials, vestibular assessments and health-related quality of life questionnaires. The expected outcomes will aid in the development of gene therapy by providing insight in the optimal time window for the application of gene therapy for the inner ear.Ethics and dissemination: The ethical committee of UZA approved the study protocol on 19 December 2022 (protocol number B3002022000170). All participants have to give written initial informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Results will be disseminated to the public through conference presentations, lectures and peer-reviewed scientific publications.</p

Determinants of the distribution of utility-scale photovoltaic power facilities across the globe

Photovoltaic power (PV) is the fastest-growing source of renewable electricity. Making reliable scenarios of PV deployment requires information on what drives the spatial distribution of PV facilities. Here we empirically derive the determinants of the distribution of utility-scale PV facilities across six continents, using a mixed effects logistic regression modelling approach relating the occurrence of over 10 000 PV facilities to a set of potential determinants as well as accounting for country and spatially correlated random effects. Our regression models explain the distribution of PV facilities with high accuracy, with travel times to settlements and irradiation as the main determinants. In contrast, our results suggest that land cover types are not strong determinants of the PV distribution, except for Asia and Africa where the PV distribution is related to the presence of agriculture, short natural vegetation and bare land. For Europe and Asia a considerable part of the variance in PV distribution is explained by inter-country differences in factors not included in our fixed determinants. Relevant determinants identified in our study are in line with the main assumptions made in cost of electricity (COE) maps used in the IMAGE integrated assessment model (IAM). However, we found correlations (Spearman ρ) of −0.18-0.54 between our PV probability maps and IMAGE’s COE maps. These may partly be explained by conceptual differences between our empirically-derived probability maps and the COE maps, but we also recommend using higher-resolution maps of PV potential and COE computations such as used in IAMs

Заява Спілки Археологів України щодо проекту Закону України “Про відродження унікального Символу православ’я — церкви Богородиці (Десятинної) в місті Києві” (№ 9196)

The Milankovitch theory of climate change is widely accepted, but the registration of the climate changes in the stratigraphic record and their use in building high-resolution astronomically tuned timescales has been disputed due to the complex and fragmentary nature of the stratigraphic record. However, results of time series analysis and consistency with independent magnetobiostratigraphic and/or radio-isotopic age models show that Milankovitch cycles are recorded not only in deep marine and lacustrine successions, but also in ice cores and speleothems, and in eolian and fluvial successions. Integrated stratigraphic studies further provide evidence for continuous sedimentation at Milankovitch time scales (10^4 years up to 10^6 years). This combined approach also shows that strict application of statistical confidence limits in spectral analysis to verify astronomical forcing in climate proxy records is not fully justified and may lead to false negatives. This is in contrast to recent claims that failure to apply strict statistical standards can lead to false positives in the search for periodic signals. Finally, and contrary to the argument that changes in insolation are too small to effect significant climate change, seasonal insolation variations resulting from orbital extremes can be significant (20% and more) and, as shown by climate modelling, generate large climate changes that can be expected to leave a marked imprint in the stratigraphic record. The tuning of long and continuous cyclic successions now underlies the standard geological time scale for much of the Cenozoic and also for extended intervals of the Mesozoic. Such successions have to be taken into account to fully comprehend the (cyclic) nature of the stratigraphic record

The association between peripheral vestibular function, balance, and cognition : from inner ear to the brain

Abstract: The number of older adults, including those affected by dementia, continues to grow. Alzheimer\u2019s disease is the most common cause of dementia. Recent evidence suggests that vestibular loss is associated with Alzheimer\u2019s disease and may contribute to its onset. This hypothesis is known as the vestibular loss hypothesis. People with Alzheimer\u2019s disease demonstrate vestibular-related symptoms; people with vestibular loss have been shown to present with impaired spatial cognition; and hippocampal atrophy (an important biomarker for Alzheimer\u2019s disease) has been reported in bilateral vestibulopathy. However, every argument comes with certain limitations in literature, and the potentially substantial impact of concomitant hearing loss is currently understudied. As such, this thesis focuses on (1) evaluating functioning of the peripheral vestibular end-organ as well as balance in older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer\u2019s disease, (2) evaluating cognition and the cognitive subdomains in older adults with bilateral vestibular loss, and (3) evaluating whole-brain and hippocampal brain morphology in older adults with bilateral vestibular loss. These three objectives are met while taking hearing status into account. In the first part, vestibular and balance function was evaluated in older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer\u2019s disease. In this part, a delayed p13 latency as a measure of saccular function is observed in Alzheimer\u2019s disease. On the other hand, measures of semicircular canal function remained preserved. Furthermore, balance worsened in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer\u2019s disease. Future studies should evaluate vestibular therapy in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer\u2019s disease and the potential positive impact on reducing fall risk and preserving cognition. A second part of this thesis reversed the previous association: instead of evaluating vestibular function in a population with impaired cognition, cognition is now evaluated in a population with impaired vestibular function. People with bilateral vestibular loss demonstrated a general deficit in cognition, which was most pronounced in the immediate memory, visuospatial cognition, and attention subdomains. On the other hand, the language and delayed memory subdomains remained preserved. Even more, these observed cognitive deficits were associated with balance difficulties rather than reduced functioning of the peripheral vestibular end-organ. A third part of this thesis explored structural brain imaging in older adults with bilateral vestibular loss. However, no differences in whole-brain or hippocampal volume were observed in bilateral vestibulopathy in comparison with healthy controls. When exploring whole-brain surface-based measures such as cortical thickness or sulcus depth, also no differences were observed between the two groups

Greenhouse gas footprints of utility-scale photovoltaic facilities at the global scale

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