Vertisols and cambisols had contrasting short term greenhouse gas responses to crop residue management

In sustainable agriculture crop residues management should consider the interactions between soil and residue properties, which can affect the decomposition and global greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission. Through a laboratory experiment, we investigated the effect of the management (incorporation and surface placement) of wheat and faba bean residues on their decomposition and CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions from two soils, a Chromic Vertisol and an Eutric Cambisol. In the Vertisol, wheat residues increased the CO2 emission more than faba bean when left on the surface whereas no differences among residues were observed when incorporated. In the Cambisol, faba bean emitted more than wheat when left in the surface and less when incorporated. Total CH4 emissions were higher in faba bean in Cambisol for both management and only when applied in the surface in Vertisol. Total N2O emission in the Vertisol was higher when faba bean was incorporated, and wheat was left on the surface. In the Cambisol, wheat addition increased total N2O emissions by 20% compared to faba bean, with no differences between managements. Our study confirmed that contrasting properties among tested soils resulted in significant interactions with residues own degradability and their placement affecting residue decomposition, soil C and N dynamics, and GHGs emission

Temporal dynamics of total and active prokaryotic communities in two Mediterranean orchard soils treated with solid anaerobic digestate or managed under no-tillage

AbstractA field experiment was carried out to investigate the impact of two improved tillage systems (conventional tillage combined with the incorporation of solid anaerobic digestate, no-tillage) on the prokaryotic community composition in two tree orchard (olive, citrus) soils with contrasting texture, carbonate content, and pH, located in Southern Italy. Soil samples were taken over a 5-month period to assess immediate (2 days) vs short-term (7 and 18 weeks) responses. Phylogenetic diversity and compositional shifts of both total and metabolically active soil prokaryotic communities were assessed by next-generation sequencing of 16S rRNA gene templates from soil-extracted DNA/RNA. In both digestate-treated soils, copiotrophic α-Proteobacteria and oligotrophic Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Verrucomicrobia showed an immediate (2 days) but short-lived (7 weeks) shift in their relative abundance similar in persistence but not in magnitude; whereas selective soil type-dependent responses were observed for Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, and Planctomycetes. The autochthonous soil microbiota demonstrated resilience to the addition of the anaerobic digestate, which was dominated by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Deinococcus-Thermus, and Euryarchaeota (Methanomicrobia). Likewise, a temporary increase in the relative abundances of copiotrophic taxa (Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Thaumarchaeota) was observed under conventional tillage, especially in the sandy loam (citrus) soil. Conversely, no-tillage favored the establishment of oligotrophic Chloroflexi and Verrucomicrobia in both soils. The active and the total prokaryotic communities differed from each other only in physically disturbed soils. Soil management induced compositional shifts in the predominant microbial copiotrophic/oligotrophic community balance, whose persistence was linked to the tillage system, while magnitude depended on soil type

Human Herpesvirus 8 and Pulmonary Hypertension

El presente trabajo de investigación tuvo como objetivo evaluar el nivel de conocimiento sobre salud bucal y su relación con la prevalencia de gingivitis en embarazadas que acuden al servicio de gineco-obstericia del Hospital Camaná. Las técnicas usadas fueron el cuestionario y observación clínica; se aplicó un formulario de conocimiento en salud bucal a 100 gestantes que asistieron a dicho hospital en los meses de Junio y Julio. Para determinar la afectación de gingivitis se aplicó una ficha de observación, previa evaluación clínica, en donde se indicó el índice gingival de Löe y Silness de cada individuo. Los resultados indican que la mayor parte de gestantes presentaron un conocimiento regular en salud bucal con 63% y en cuanto a la prevalencia de gingivitis encontrada en el grupo evaluado de un 49% con inflamación leve, seguido por una inflamación severa con 25%. Se concluyó gracias a la prueba de chi cuadrado que la Gingivitis y el nivel de conocimiento sobre salud bucal presentaron relación estadística significativa (P<0.05) por lo que se rechaza la hipótesis nula y se aprueba la alterna. Finalmente se insta a implementar programas y charlas de salud bucal dirigidas a gestantes para lograr una cultura preventiva óptima. Palabras clave: Nivel conocimiento, salud bucal, gingivitis, gestantes

Human Herpesvirus 8 and Pulmonary Hypertension

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) antibodies were detected in 1 of 33 patients with pulmonary hypertension (including in 1 of 16 with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension), 5 of 29 with cystic fibrosis, and 3 of 13 with interstitial lung disease. No relationship between HHV-8 infection and pulmonary hypertension was found

Riociguat treatment in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Final safety data from the EXPERT registry

Objective: The soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator riociguat is approved for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and inoperable or persistent/recurrent chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) following Phase

Soil data from Italy (Sicily)

Soil erosion and water deficit traditionally affect agriculture of Mediterranean areas. In Sicily, these issues are complicated by the very accentuated spatial and temporal variability of rainfall that concentrates in the northern coast and in the period from October to April. Modelling of the hydrological processes may help to prevent soil loss, predict the fate of agrochemicals in the soil profile, optimize dry agriculture and manage irrigation. However, agro-hydrological simulation models require the detailed knowledge of the soil hydraulic properties, i.e. the water retention curve and the hydraulic conductivity function. The Sicilian regional administration has recently published a new edition of the soil map of Siciliy (Perciabosco et al., 2012). Unfortunately, the very significant information contained in that map doesn’t include detailed hydrological data. Therefore, despite being largely studied, the Sicilian soils were never systematically sampled for determining their hydrological properties. The soil data included in the EU-HYDI database were collected during several projects conducted by the Hydraulic Section of the Department of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences (SAF) – University of Palermo and Funded by the Sicilian regional administration (Regione Siciliana, Assessorato delle Risorse Agricole ed Alimentari), and Environmental Protection Agency of Sicily (ARPA)