Deep ocean particle flux in the Northeast Atlantic over the past 30 years: carbon sequestration is controlled by ecosystem structure in the upper ocean

The time series of downward particle flux at 3000 m at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) in the Northeast Atlantic is presented for the period 1989 to 2018. This flux can be considered to be sequestered for more than 100 years. Measured levels of organic carbon sequestration (average 1.88 gm−2 y−1) are higher on average at this location than at the six other time series locations in the Atlantic. Interannual variability is also greater than at the other locations (organic carbon flux coefficient of variation = 73%). We find that previously hypothesised drivers of 3,000 m flux, such as net primary production (NPP) and previous-winter mixing are not good predictors of this sequestration flux. In contrast, the composition of the upper ocean biological community, specifically the protozoan Rhizaria (including the Foraminifera and Radiolaria) exhibit a close relationship to sequestration flux. These species become particularly abundant following enhanced upper ocean temperatures in June leading to pulses of this material reaching 3,000 m depth in the late summer. In some years, the organic carbon flux pulses following Rhizaria blooms were responsible for substantial increases in carbon sequestration and we propose that the Rhizaria are one of the major vehicles by which material is transported over a very large depth range (3,000 m) and hence sequestered for climatically relevant time periods. We propose that they sink fast and are degraded little during their transport to depth. In terms of atmospheric CO2 uptake by the oceans, the Radiolaria and Phaeodaria are likely to have the greatest influence. Foraminifera will also exert an influence in spite of the fact that the generation of their calcite tests enhances upper ocean CO2 concentration and hence reduces uptake from the atmosphere

Mid-infrared optical parametric amplifier using silicon nanophotonic waveguides

All-optical signal processing is envisioned as an approach to dramatically decrease power consumption and speed up performance of next-generation optical telecommunications networks. Nonlinear optical effects, such as four-wave mixing (FWM) and parametric gain, have long been explored to realize all-optical functions in glass fibers. An alternative approach is to employ nanoscale engineering of silicon waveguides to enhance the optical nonlinearities by up to five orders of magnitude, enabling integrated chip-scale all-optical signal processing. Previously, strong two-photon absorption (TPA) of the telecom-band pump has been a fundamental and unavoidable obstacle, limiting parametric gain to values on the order of a few dB. Here we demonstrate a silicon nanophotonic optical parametric amplifier exhibiting gain as large as 25.4 dB, by operating the pump in the mid-IR near one-half the band-gap energy (E~0.55eV, lambda~2200nm), at which parasitic TPA-related absorption vanishes. This gain is high enough to compensate all insertion losses, resulting in 13 dB net off-chip amplification. Furthermore, dispersion engineering dramatically increases the gain bandwidth to more than 220 nm, all realized using an ultra-compact 4 mm silicon chip. Beyond its significant relevance to all-optical signal processing, the broadband parametric gain also facilitates the simultaneous generation of multiple on-chip mid-IR sources through cascaded FWM, covering a 500 nm spectral range. Together, these results provide a foundation for the construction of silicon-based room-temperature mid-IR light sources including tunable chip-scale parametric oscillators, optical frequency combs, and supercontinuum generators

Water consumption and energy balance in mango tree orchard at a tropiccal station.

Otherwise it includes both quantity of water a tree uses and the timing of water applications

Evapotranspiracao e coeficiente de cultura da goiabeira.

Em virtude da importância e carência de informações a respeito do consumo hídrico da goiabeira nas condições edafo-climáticas do Nordeste, esta pesquisa objetivou determinar as necessidades hídricas da goiabeira irrigada no Submédio do São Francisco durante um ciclo produtivo. Nesse sentido, foi utilizado o método do balanço de energia baseado na razão de Bowen para determinação da evapotranspiração da cultura e o método de Penman-Monteith-FAO para determinar a evapotranspiração de referência

Inositols: From established knowledge to novel approaches

Myo-inositol (myo-Ins) and D-chiro-inositol (D-chiro-Ins) are natural compounds involved in many biological pathways. Since the discovery of their involvement in endocrine signal transduction, myo-Ins and D-chiro-Ins supplementation has contributed to clinical approaches in ameliorating many gynecological and endocrinological diseases. Currently both myo-Ins and D-chiro-Ins are well-tolerated, effective alternative candidates to the classical insulin sensitizers, and are useful treatments in preventing and treating metabolic and reproductive disorders such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and male fertility disturbances, like sperm abnormalities. Moreover, besides metabolic activity, myo-Ins and D-chiro-Ins deeply influence steroidogenesis, regulating the pools of androgens and estrogens, likely in opposite ways. Given the complexity of inositol-related mechanisms of action, many of their beneficial effects are still under scrutiny. Therefore, continuing research aims to discover new emerging roles and mechanisms that can allow clinicians to tailor inositol therapy and to use it in other medical areas, hitherto unexplored. The present paper outlines the established evidence on inositols and updates on recent research, namely concerning D-chiro-Ins involvement into steroidogenesis. In particular, D-chiro-Ins mediates insulin-induced testosterone biosynthesis from ovarian thecal cells and directly affects synthesis of estrogens by modulating the expression of the aromatase enzyme. Ovaries, as well as other organs and tissues, are characterized by a specific ratio of myo-Ins to D-chiro-Ins, which ensures their healthy state and proper functionality. Altered inositol ratios may account for pathological conditions, causing an imbalance in sex hormones. Such situations usually occur in association with medical conditions, such as PCOS, or as a consequence of some pharmacological treatments. Based on the physiological role of inositols and the pathological implications of altered myo-Ins to D-chiro-Ins ratios, inositol therapy may be designed with two different aims: (1) restoring the inositol physiological ratio; (2) altering the ratio in a controlled way to achieve specific effects

When one size does not fit all: Reconsidering PCOS etiology, diagnosis, clinical subgroups, and subgroup-specific treatments

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a complex endocrine disorder that affects a large proportion of women. Due to its heterogeneity, the best diagnostic strategy has been a matter of contention. Since 1990 scientific societies in the field of human reproduction have tried to define the pivotal criteria for the diagnosis of PCOS. The consensus Rotterdam diagnostic criteria included the presence of hyperandrogenism, oligo/anovulation, and polycystic ovarian morphology (PCOM), and have now been updated to evidence based diagnostic criteria in the 2018 and 2023 International Guideline diagnostic criteria endorsed by 39 societies internationally. Within the Rotterdam Criteria, at least two out of three of the above-mentioned features are required to be present to diagnose PCOS, resulting in four phenotypes being identified: phenotype A, characterized by the presence of all the features, phenotype B, exhibiting hyperandrogenism and oligo-anovulation, phenotype C, presenting as hyperandrogenism and PCOM and finally the phenotype D that is characterized by oligo-anovulation and PCOM, lacking the hyperandrogenic component. However, it is the hypothesis of the EGOI group that the Rotterdam phenotypes A, B, and C have a different underlying causality to phenotype D. Recent studies have highlighted the strong correlation between insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism, and the pivotal role of these factors in driving ovarian alterations, such as oligo-anovulation and follicular functional cyst formation. This new understanding of PCOS pathogenesis has led the authors to hypothesis that phenotypes A, B, and C are endocrine-metabolic syndromes with a metabolic clinical onset. Conversely, the absence of hyperandrogenism and metabolic disturbances in phenotype D suggests a different origin of this condition, and point towards novel pathophysiological mechanisms; however, these are still not fully understood. Further questions have been raised regarding the suitability of the “phenotypes” described by the Rotterdam Criteria by the publication by recent GWAS studies, which demonstrated that these phenotypes should be considered clinical subtypes as they are not reflected in the genetic picture. Hence, by capturing the heterogeneity of this complex disorder, current diagnostic criteria may benefit from a reassessment and the evaluation of additional parameters such as insulin resistance and endometrial thickness, with the purpose of not only improving their diagnostic accuracy but also of assigning an appropriate and personalized treatment. In this framework, the present overview aims to analyze the diagnostic criteria currently recognized by the scientific community and assess the suitability of their application in clinical practice in light of the newly emerging evidence

Low Serum Glutathione Peroxidase Activity Is Associated with Increased Cardiovascular Mortality in Individuals with Low HDLc’s

Background Since oxidized LDL is thought to initiate atherosclerosis and the serum glutathione peroxidase (GPx3) reduces oxidized lipids, we investigated whether high GPx3 activity reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. Methods We determined GPx3 in stored samples from the Minnesota Heart Survey of 130 participants who after 5 to 12 years of follow-up had died of CVD and 240 controls. Participants were 26 to 85 years old and predominantly white. In a nested case-control, study we performed logistic regressions to calculate odds ratios (OR) adjusted for age, sex, baseline year, body mass index, smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity, total and HDL cholesterols, systolic blood pressure, serum glucose and gamma glutamyltransferase (GTT) activity. The referent was the quartile with the highest GPx3 activity (quartile 4). Results OR’s for CVD mortality for increasing quartiles of GPx3 were 2.37, 2.14, 1.83 and 1.00 (P for trend 0.02). This inverse correlation was confined to those with HDLc’s below the median (P for interaction, 0.006). The OR’s for increasing quartiles of GPx3 in this group were 6.08, 5.00, 3.64 and 1.00 (P for trend, 0.002). Conclusions Individuals with both low HDLc and GPx3 activity are at markedly increased risk for death from CVD

Vertical imbalance in organic carbon budgets is indicative of a missing vertical transfer during a phytoplankton bloom near South Georgia (COMICS)

The biological carbon pump, driven principally by surface production and sinking of organic matter to deep water and its subsequent remineralization to CO2 maintains atmospheric CO2 around 200 ppm lower than it would be if the ocean were abiotic. One important driver of the magnitude of this effect is the depth to which organic matter sinks before it is remineralised, a parameter we have limited confidence in measuring given the difficulty involved in balancing sources and sinks in the ocean's interior. This imbalance is due, in part, to our inability to measure respiration directly and our reliance on radiotracer-based proxies. One solution to these problems might be a temporal offset in which organic carbon accumulates in the mesopelagic zone (100–1000 m depth) early in the productive season prior to it being consumed later, a situation which could lead to a net apparent sink occurring if a steady state assumption is applied as is often the approach. In this work, we develop a novel accounting method to address this issue, independent of respiration measurements, by estimating fluxes into and accumulation within distinct vertical layers in the mesopelagic. We apply this approach to a time series of measurements of particle sinking velocities and interior organic carbon concentrations made during the declining phase of a large diatom bloom in a low-circulation region of the Southern Ocean downstream of South Georgia. Our data show that the major export event led to a significant accumulation of organic matter in the upper mesopelagic (100–200 m depth) which declined over several weeks, implying that temporal offsets need to be considered when compiling budgets. However, even when accounting for this accumulation, a mismatch in the vertically resolved organic carbon budget remained, implying that there are likely widespread processes that we do not yet understand that redistribute material vertically in the mesopelagic