Greening boosts soil formation and soil organic matter accumulation in Maritime Antarctica

Global warming in the Antarctic Peninsula, Maritime Antarctica, within the past 45 years has accelerated rapid glacier retreatment, forming temporal gradients of soil development that concurs with the colonization of the ice-free soils by phototrophs. In the past decade the paradigm emerged that above- and belowground processes are interconnected, e.g. recently gained carbon fuels microbial activity and thus drives soil organic matter built-up and decomposition as well as mineral weathering. Studies of carbon allocation for Antarctic ecosystems, occurring in harsh conditions are lacking. Little is also known about the contribution of bacteria and fungi to decomposition of different soil carbon pools with different turnover rates in these soils, which is of utmost importance for the prediction of the future feedback of the Antarctic carbon balance to climate change. We followed soil horizon formation, soil organic carbon accumulation and carbon exchange with the atmosphere along a gradient of phototrophs of different trophic complexity level at King George Island by combining soil chemical analyses, field CO2 flux measurements, C-13 in situ labeling and molecular methods (PLFA and metabolomics). Our study revealed that colonization of the ice-free soils by vascular plant (Deschampsia antarctica) was leading to the formation of well-developed soil, with high contents of organic carbon and with a relatively high rates of photosynthesis and CO2 soil efflux. The soils sampled under D. antarctica showed the impact of this higher plant on the soil organic matter, containing significantly higher amounts of carbohydrates and amines, presumably as a result of root exudation. As determined by the C-13 labeling experiment more than 15% of the carbon recently assimilated by D. antarctica was transferred belowground, with a major flow into soil fungi. This suggests that not bacteria, but rather fungi preferentially and faster utilize the recently assimilated low molecular compounds allocated to the soil. Probably, successful performance of vascular plants in Maritime Antarctica may significantly foster biological weathering via enhanced microbial activity

Hot moments in the Antarctic due to climate warming?

Climate warming is severely affecting maritime Antarctica, causing accelerated glacier retreat and thus leading to an ongoing exposure of once ice- covered land. This initiates a succession of plant and soil development. Nevertheless, the temporal dynamics and controlling factors of these processes, like C and N status of soils and the effect of root exudation are widely unknown under these harsh climatic conditions. Topsoil samples from three different sites of a chronological soil sequence in the forefront of a retreating glacier of the Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, were collected and incubated at 2 °C for three weeks. To mimic the influence of C and N containing root exudates (primers) on the mineralization of soil C, we added 13C labeled glucose or alanine and compared CO2 evolution in comparison to samples without C and N addition. Soil microbes covered up to 90% of their C demand for anabolic functions with the added C-sources in the case of late soil successions while it was only 50% for the young soils. These findings were independent of the form of primer. Both primers increased the mineralization of soil carbon in the young soils as compared to the control. For the later stages of soil development, we found negative priming which was strongest for the latest stage. These results give evidence for a clear shift in the microbial community of the three investigated sites. While sites with initial soil formation seem to be dominated by k-strategists with low turnover rates that rather use complex C-sources, a significant number of r-strategists in the soils of the older sites uses simple C-substrates very efficiently. As this leads to a relative decrease in SOM mineralization for the late stages of soil development, it is questionable if higher plants can improve their nutrition by stimulating free living soil microbes with root exudates or if they rather have to rely on mycorrhiza

Hydration Efficiency of a Protein Beverage Consumed in a Bolus vs. Metered Pattern during Recovery

International Journal of Exercise Science 13(2): 1476-1486, 2020. This study compared hydration efficiency of a carbohydrate-protein (CHO-PRO) beverage consumed in a bolus (BOL) vs. a metered (MET) drinking pattern during recovery from exercise induced hypohydration. Participants (n = 10) lost 2 - 2.5% of body mass from sweating during a morning exercise session. Participants were then assigned to either consume a carbohydrate/electrolyte/protein beverage in a bolus (BOL) or metered incremental consumption (MET) (counterbalanced) pattern post exercise. Total rehydration beverage administered during recovery equaled 125% of fluid lost during exercise. BOL was administered within the first hour of recovery, MET was administered 25% during the first 30 min, then 12.5% every 30 min for the next 4 hours. Mean (±SD) intake was 2475 ± 324 mL (MET) and 2525 ± 293 mL (BOL) (p = 0.22). Mean urine production was significantly greater for BOL (1167 ml ± 293 ml) than MET (730 ml ± 324 ml) (p = 0.003). Hydration efficiency (fluid ingested vs. fluid retained as percent) was significantly greater for MET (69.1 ± 15.4) than BOL (53.7 ± 9.7) (p = 0.004). Results indicate that, across a ~ 6-hour recovery, a metered drinking pattern improves fluid retention and therefore, hydration efficiency when a carbohydrate-protein beverage is consumed. More research is needed in paradigms characterized by unlimited fluid availability

Post-Exercise Sweat Loss Estimation Accuracy of Athletes and Physically Active Adults: A Review

The main purposes of this review were to provide a qualitative description of nine investigations in which sweat losses were estimated by participants following exercise and to perform a quantitative analysis of the collective data. Unique estimations (n = 297) were made by 127 men and 116 women after a variety of exercise modalities in moderate to hot environmental conditions. Actual sweat loss exceeded estimated sweat loss (p \u3c 0.001) for women (1.072 ± 0.473 vs. 0.481 ± 0.372 L), men (1.778 ± 0.907 vs. 0.908 ± 0.666 L) and when all data were combined (1.428 ± 0.806 vs. 0.697 ± 0.581 L), respectively. However, estimation accuracy did not differ between women (55.2 ± 51.5%) and men (62.4 ± 54.5%). Underestimation of 50% or more of sweat losses were exhibited in 168 (54%) of estimation scenarios with heavier sweaters displaying a higher prevalence and trend of greater underestimations in general. Most modern guidelines for fluid intake during and between training bouts are based on approximate sweat loss estimation knowledge. These guidelines will likely have minimal efficacy if greater awareness of how to determine sweat losses and accurate recognition of sweat losses is not increased by coaches and athletes

MALTE - Model to predict new aerosol formation in the lower troposphere

The manuscript presents a detailed description of the meteorological and chemical code of Malte – a model to predict new aerosol formation in the lower troposphere. The aerosol dynamics are achieved by the new developed UHMA (University of Helsinki Multicomponent Aerosol Model) code with kinetic limited nucleation as responsible mechanism to form new clusters. First results indicate that the model is able to predict the on- and offset of new particle formation as well as the total aerosol number concentrations that were in good agreement with the observations. Further, comparison of predicted and measured H2SO4 concentrations showed a satisfactory agreement. The simulation results indicated that at a certain transitional particle diameter (2–7 nm), organic molecules can begin to contribute significantly to the growth rate compared to sulphuric acid. At even larger particle sizes, organic molecules can dominate the growth rate on days with significant monoterpene concentrations. The intraday vertical evolution of newly formed clusters and particles in two different size ranges resulted in two maxima at the ground. These particles grow around noon to the detectable size range and agree well with measured vertical profiles

Biogenic weathering bridges the nutrient gap in pristine ecosystems - a global comparison

In many pristine ecosystems there seems to be negative nutrient budget existent, meaning that export exceeds the input received by aeolian deposition and physico-chemical weathering. Such ecosystems should degrade rather quickly, but are often found surprisingly stable on the long run. Our hypothesis was that this nutrient gap is an artefact caused by not considering the contribution of photoassimilatory-mediated biogenic weathering to the overall nutrient input, which might constitute an additional, energetically directed and demand driven pathway. Here, we firstly evaluated the evolution of mutualistic biogenic weathering along an Antarctic chronosequence and secondly compared the biogenic weathering rates under mycorrhized ecosystems over a global gradient of contrasting states of soil development. We found the ability to perform biogenic weathering increasing along its evolutionary development in photoautotroph-symbiont interaction and furthermore a close relation between fungal biogenic weathering and available potassium across all 16 forested sites in the study, regardless of the dominant mycorrhiza type (AM or EM), climate, and plant-species composition. Our results point towards a general alleviation of nutrient limitation at ecosystem scale via directional, energy driven and on-demand biogenic weathering

Nitrate pollution of groundwater, all right... but nothing else?

Contamination from agricultural sources and, in particular, nitrate pollution, is one of the main concerns in groundwater management. However, this type of pollution entails the entrance of other substances into the aquifer, as well as it may promote other processes. In this study, we deal with hydrochemical and isotopic analysis of groundwater samples from four distinct zones in Catalonia (NE Spain), which include different lithological units, to investigate the influence of manure fertilization on the overall hydrochemical composition of groundwater. Results indicate that high nitrate concentrations, resulting from intense manure application, homogenize the contents of the major dissolved ions (i.e.; Cl-, SO42-, Ca2+, Na+, K+, and Mg2+). Moreover, positive linear relationships between nitrate and some ions are found indicating the magnitude of the fertilization impact on groundwater hydrochemistry. Nevertheless, the increasing concentration of specific ions is not only attributed to the manure input, but to the enhancing effect of manure and slurry upon the biogeochemical processes that control water-rock interactions. Such results raise awareness that such processes should be evaluated in advance in order to assess adequate groundwater resources assessmen

High-Flow Oxygen with Capping or Suctioning for Tracheostomy Decannulation

9 p.BACKGROUND When patients with a tracheostomy tube reach a stage in their care at which decannulation appears to be possible, it is common practice to cap the tracheostomy tube for 24 hours to see whether they can breathe on their own. Whether this approach to establishing patient readiness for decannulation leads to better outcomes than one based on the frequency of airway suctioning is unclear. METHODS In five intensive care units (ICUs), we enrolled conscious, critically ill adults who had a tracheostomy tube; patients were eligible after weaning from mechanical ventilation. In this unblinded trial, patients were randomly assigned either to undergo a 24-hour capping trial plus intermittent high-flow oxygen therapy (control group) or to receive continuous high-flow oxygen therapy with frequency of suctioning being the indicator of readiness for decannulation (intervention group). The primary outcome was the time to decannulation, compared by means of the log-rank test. Secondary outcomes included decannulation failure, weaning failure, respiratory infections, sepsis, multiorgan failure, durations of stay in the ICU and hospital, and deaths in the ICU and hospital. RESULTS The trial included 330 patients; the mean (±SD) age of the patients was 58.3±15.1 years, and 68.2% of the patients were men. A total of 161 patients were assigned to the control group and 169 to the intervention group. The time to decannulation was shorter in the intervention group than in the control group (median, 6 days [interquartile range, 5 to 7] vs. 13 days [interquartile range, 11 to 14]; absolute difference, 7 days [95% confidence interval, 5 to 9]). The incidence of pneumonia and tracheobronchitis was lower, and the duration of stay in the hospital shorter, in the intervention group than in the control group. Other secondary outcomes were similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS Basing the decision to decannulate on suctioning frequency plus continuous highflow oxygen therapy rather than on 24-hour capping trials plus intermittent highflow oxygen therapy reduced the time to decannulation, with no evidence of a between-group difference in the incidence of decannulation failure. (REDECAP ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02512744.

Perceiving societal pressure to be happy is linked to poor well-being, especially in happy nations

Happiness is a valuable experience, and societies want their citizens to be happy. Although this societal commitment seems laudable, overly emphasizing positivity (versus negativity) may create an unattainable emotion norm that ironically compromises individual well-being. In this multi-national study (40 countries; 7443 participants), we investigate how societal pressure to be happy and not sad predicts emotional, cognitive and clinical indicators of well-being around the world, and examine how these relations differ as a function of countries’ national happiness levels (collected from the World Happiness Report). Although detrimental well-being associations manifest for an average country, the strength of these relations varies across countries. People’s felt societal pressure to be happy and not sad is particularly linked to poor well-being in countries with a higher World Happiness Index. Although the cross-sectional nature of our work prohibits causal conclusions, our findings highlight the correlational link between social emotion valuation and individual well-being, and suggest that high national happiness levels may have downsides for some.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio