Atmospheric mercury deposition and mercury stable isotope compositions in peat bogs.

During the past few decades, peatlands were successfully used to investigate historical mercury (Hg) deposition. The chronology of Hg accumulation rates (HgARs) to peatlands is well constrained, with recent increases in HgAR associated with anthropogenic Hg emissions and deposition. The use of Hg stable isotopes in peatland ecosystems provides new opportunities to better characterize and understand historical Hg deposition. In an extensive study conducted at the Pinet peat bog (French Pyrenees) we identify gaseous elemental Hg (GEM) dry deposition, via foliar uptake, as the dominant Hg transfer pathway from the atmosphere to peat vegetation. Based on the Hg isotope analysis of multiple northern hemispheric peat records, we find that GEM dry deposition dominates Hg deposition globally. We suggest that peatlands can be used as archives of both past Hg wet deposition, Hg dry deposition and GEM concentration. We present the first quantitative reconstruction of historical atmospheric GEM concentrations using peat archives from the Pyrenees. The Human impact on Hg cycling caused a gradual increase in GEM concentrations from 0.2 (10,000 – 4000 BP) to 3.5 ng m-3 (20th Century) and was accompanied by a change in atmospheric Hg isotope signatures. This first comprehensive study on Hg isotope deposition to peatlands is promising and should be extended to pre-anthropogenic times to investigate natural variations in atmospheric Hg dynamics during the Holocene

Genetic Influences on Brain Gene Expression in Rats Selected for Tameness and Aggression

Inter-individual differences in many behaviors are partly due to genetic differences, but the identification of the genes and variants that influence behavior remains challenging. Here, we studied an F2 intercross of two outbred lines of rats selected for tame and aggressive behavior towards humans for more than 64 generations. By using a mapping approach that is able to identify genetic loci segregating within the lines, we identified four times more loci influencing tameness and aggression than by an approach that assumes fixation of causative alleles, suggesting that many causative loci were not driven to fixation by the selection. We used RNA sequencing in 150 F2 animals to identify hundreds of loci that influence brain gene expression. Several of these loci colocalize with tameness loci and may reflect the same genetic variants. Through analyses of correlations between allele effects on behavior and gene expression, differential expression between the tame and aggressive rat selection lines, and correlations between gene expression and tameness in F2 animals, we identify the genes Gltscr2, Lgi4, Zfp40 and Slc17a7 as candidate contributors to the strikingly different behavior of the tame and aggressive animals

Holocene Atmospheric Mercury Levels Reconstructed from Peat Bog Mercury Stable Isotopes

Environmental regulations on mercury (Hg)emissions and associated ecosystem restoration are closely linked to what Hg levels we consider natural. It is widely accepted that atmospheric Hg deposition has increased by a factor 3 ± 1 since preindustrial times. However, no long-term historical records of actual atmospheric gaseous elemental Hg (GEM) concentrations exist. In this study we report Hg stable isotope signatures in Pyrenean peat records (southwestern Europe) that are used as tracers of Hg deposition pathway (Δ200Hg, wet vs dry Hg deposition) and atmospheric Hg sources and cycling (δ202Hg, Δ199Hg). By anchoring peatderived GEM dry deposition to modern atmospheric GEM levels we are able to reconstruct the first millennial-scale atmospheric GEM concentration record. Reconstructed GEM levels from 1970 to 2010 agree with monitoring data, and maximum 20th century GEM levels of 3.9 ± 0.5 ng m−3 were 15 ± 4 times the natural Holocene background of 0.27 ± 0.11 ng m−3. We suggest that a −0.7‰ shift in δ202Hg during the medieval and Renaissance periods is caused by deforestation and associated biomass burning Hg emissions. Our findings suggest therefore that human impacts on the global mercury cycle are subtler and substantially larger than currently thought

Atmospheric Mercury Transfer to Peat Bogs Dominated by Gaseous Elemental Mercury Dry Deposition

Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) is the dominant form of mercury in the atmosphere. Its conversion into oxidized gaseous and particulate forms is thought to drive atmospheric mercury wet deposition to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, where it can be subsequently transformed into toxic methylmercury. The contribution of mercury dry deposition is however largely unconstrained. Here we examine mercury mass balance and mercury stable isotope composition in a peat bog ecosystem. We find that isotope signatures of living sphagnum moss (Δ199Hg = −0.11 ± 0.09‰, Δ200Hg = 0.03 ± 0.02‰, 1σ) and recently accumulated peat (Δ199Hg = −0.22 ± 0.06‰, Δ200Hg = 0.00 ± 0.04‰, 1σ) are characteristic of GEM (Δ199Hg = −0.17 ± 0.07‰, Δ200Hg = −0.05 ± 0.02‰, 1σ), and differs from wet deposition (Δ199Hg = 0.73 ± 0.15‰, Δ200Hg = 0.21 ± 0.04‰, 1σ). Sphagnum covered during three years by transparent and opaque surfaces, which eliminate wet deposition, continue to accumulate Hg. Sphagnum Hg isotope signatures indicate accumulation to take place by GEM dry deposition, and indicate little photochemical re-emission. We estimate that atmospheric mercury deposition to the peat bog surface is dominated by GEM dry deposition (79%) rather than wet deposition (21%). Consequently, peat deposits are potential records of past atmospheric GEM concentrations and isotopic composition

MORE SMOKE THAN FIRE NO SPEEDING UP OF PARKINSON‘S DISEASE AFTER COVID-10 LOCKDOWN

peer reviewedBackground and objectives As the influence of stress syndromes on the evolution of Parkinson’s disease (PD) remains largely unexplored, the COVID-19 pandemic offers the opportunity to evaluate the stress impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on PD trajectories. Methods This longitudinal observational case-control study used data from the Luxembourg Parkinson’s Study (1). A pandemic PD group with exposure to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic but without COVID-19 infection (n=79) was compared to a prepandemic PD control group (n= 117) that has never been exposed to any pandemic restrictions. All patients underwent three annual visits. The last analyzed in-person visit of the pandemic group occurred during the early pandemic phase, between September 2020 and March 2021. Motor and cognitive status were established through standardized in-person exams. Patients of the PD pandemic group selfrated their resilience and risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and, at visit 2 and 3, underwent the Olink panel of 92 serological inflammation markers. The primary outcome was motor PD progression as rated by the MDS-UPDRS part III score. The secondary outcomes were other progression scores (MDS-UPDRS I and II), cognitive performance (Montreal Cognitive Assessment), symptoms of depression (Beck Depression Inventory), risk for PTSD (revised Impact of Event Scale) and resilience (Brief Resilience Scale). Measures tested for statistical associations with these outcomes include demographic, lifestyle data and serological inflammation markers. To assess variable associations and correct effects from confounding factors, we used a multiple linear regression approach. Results The deterioration of the motor and cognitive scores from visit 1 to visit 3 was not different in the pandemic group compared to the prepandemic group. 74.7 % of the pandemic PD patients had normal or high resilience scores, whereas 20.3% were at risk of developing PTSD. Resilience was neither correlated with motor scores nor with cognitive scores but was negatively associated with depressive symptomatology and posttraumatic stress. Except for Axin-1, there was no increase in the inflammation markers at visit 3 compared to visit 2. Discussion This case-control study shows that there was no influence by the pandemic-induced stress on the natural progression of PD motor and cognitive trajectories.R-AGR-0592 - FNR - NCER-PD Phase II Coordination (01/06/2015 - 30/11/2023) - KRÜGER Rejko3. Good health and well-bein

Deriving the number of jobs in proximity services from the number of inhabitants in French rural municipalities

We use a minimum requirement approach to derive the number of jobs in proximity services per inhabitant in French rural municipalities. We first classify the municipalities according to their time distance to the municipality where the inhabitants go the most frequently to get services (called MFM). For each set corresponding to a range of time distance to MFM, we perform a quantile regression estimating the minimum number of service jobs per inhabitant, that we interpret as an estimation of the number of proximity jobs per inhabitant. We observe that the minimum number of service jobs per inhabitant is smaller in small municipalities. Moreover, for municipalities of similar sizes, when the distance to the MFM increases, we find that the number of jobs of proximity services per inhabitant increases.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Wars2 is a determinant of angiogenesis.

Coronary flow (CF) measured ex vivo is largely determined by capillary density that reflects angiogenic vessel formation in the heart in vivo. Here we exploit this relationship and show that CF in the rat is influenced by a locus on rat chromosome 2 that is also associated with cardiac capillary density. Mitochondrial tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (Wars2), encoding an L53F protein variant within the ATP-binding motif, is prioritized as the candidate at the locus by integrating genomic data sets. WARS2(L53F) has low enzyme activity and inhibition of WARS2 in endothelial cells reduces angiogenesis. In the zebrafish, inhibition of wars2 results in trunk vessel deficiencies, disordered endocardial-myocardial contact and impaired heart function. Inhibition of Wars2 in the rat causes cardiac angiogenesis defects and diminished cardiac capillary density. Our data demonstrate a pro-angiogenic function for Wars2 both within and outside the heart that may have translational relevance given the association of WARS2 with common human diseases

Comment on : “A novel approach to peatlands as archives of total cumulative spatial pollution loads from atmospheric deposition of airborne elements complementary to EMEP data: Priority pollutants (Pb, Cd, Hg)” by Ewa Miszczak, Sebastian Stefaniak, Adam Michczyński, Eiliv Steinnes and Irena Twardowska

Acknowledgements We are thankful to P.G. Appleby, R. Bindler, J. Sonke, B. Smieja-Krol and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.Peer reviewedPostprin

Author Correction: WWP2 regulates pathological cardiac fibrosis by modulating SMAD2 signaling.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper

Unequal Anthropogenic Enrichment of Mercury in Earth's Northern and Southern Hemispheres

Remote Northern Hemisphere (NH) and Southern Hemisphere (SH) lake sediment and peat records of mercury (Hg) deposition have shown a ×3 to ×5 Hg enrichment since pre-industrial times (<1880 AD), leading to the perception that global atmospheric Hg enrichment is moderate and uniform across the hemispheres. Anthropogenic Hg emissions in the NH are, however, approximately 4 times higher than those in the SH. Here, we reconstruct atmospheric Hg deposition in four remote SH peatlands and review sediment and peat Hg records from both hemispheres. We observe a ×4 all-time enrichment in SH Hg deposition from pre-anthropogenic (<1450 AD) to the late 20th-century periods, which is lower than the large ×16 all-time enrichment in NH Hg deposition. We attribute this difference to lower anthropogenic Hg emissions in the SH, and higher natural atmospheric SH Hg concentrations, supported by ×2 higher natural background Hg accumulation in SH peat records. We suggest that the higher SH natural atmospheric Hg deposition reflects the SH land-ocean distribution, and is driven by important SH marine Hg emissions. Our findings indicate that atmospheric Hg background levels and anthropogenic enrichment in both hemispheres are different and should be taken into account in international Hg assessments and environmental policy