Subjective Cognitive Complaints in Participants of the Healthy Brain Ageing Study (HeBA)

Subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) have the potential for earlier detection of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Currently, the results of the completed online survey in the frame of the HeBA study reveal that 23% of the Luxembourgish participants have SCC with the SCC group having a higher prevalence rate of depression

Luxembourg Parkinson’s study -comprehensive baseline analysis of Parkinson’s disease and atypical parkinsonism

BackgroundDeep phenotyping of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is essential to investigate this fastest-growing neurodegenerative disorder. Since 2015, over 800 individuals with PD and atypical parkinsonism along with more than 800 control subjects have been recruited in the frame of the observational, monocentric, nation-wide, longitudinal-prospective Luxembourg Parkinson’s study.ObjectiveTo profile the baseline dataset and to explore risk factors, comorbidities and clinical profiles associated with PD, atypical parkinsonism and controls.MethodsEpidemiological and clinical characteristics of all 1,648 participants divided in disease and control groups were investigated. Then, a cross-sectional group comparison was performed between the three largest groups: PD, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and controls. Subsequently, multiple linear and logistic regression models were fitted adjusting for confounders.ResultsThe mean (SD) age at onset (AAO) of PD was 62.3 (11.8) years with 15% early onset (AAO < 50 years), mean disease duration 4.90 (5.16) years, male sex 66.5% and mean MDS-UPDRS III 35.2 (16.3). For PSP, the respective values were: 67.6 (8.2) years, all PSP with AAO > 50 years, 2.80 (2.62) years, 62.7% and 53.3 (19.5). The highest frequency of hyposmia was detected in PD followed by PSP and controls (72.9%; 53.2%; 14.7%), challenging the use of hyposmia as discriminating feature in PD vs. PSP. Alcohol abstinence was significantly higher in PD than controls (17.6 vs. 12.9%, p = 0.003).ConclusionLuxembourg Parkinson’s study constitutes a valuable resource to strengthen the understanding of complex traits in the aforementioned neurodegenerative disorders. It corroborated several previously observed clinical profiles, and provided insight on frequency of hyposmia in PSP and dietary habits, such as alcohol abstinence in PD.Clinical trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov, NCT05266872

Global maps of soil temperature

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km2 resolution for 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km2 pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world\u27s major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (−0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications

The tundra phenology database: More than two decades of tundra phenology responses to climate change

Observations of changes in phenology have provided some of the strongest signals of the effects of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX), initiated in the early 1990s, established a common protocol to measure plant phenology in tundra study areas across the globe. Today, this valuable collection of phenology measurements depicts the responses of plants at the colder extremes of our planet to experimental and ambient changes in temperature over the past decades. The database contains 150,434 phenology observations of 278 plant species taken at 28 study areas for periods of 1 to 26 years. Here we describe the full dataset to increase the visibility and use of these data in global analyses, and to invite phenology data contributions from underrepresented tundra locations. Portions of this tundra phenology database have been used in three recent syntheses, some datasets are expanded, others are from entirely new study areas, and the entirety of these data are now available at the Polar Data Catalogue.ISSN:2368-746

The tundra phenology database:more than two decades of tundra phenology responses to climate change

Abstract Observations of changes in phenology have provided some of the strongest signals of the effects of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX), initiated in the early 1990s, established a common protocol to measure plant phenology in tundra study areas across the globe. Today, this valuable collection of phenology measurements depicts the responses of plants at the colder extremes of our planet to experimental and ambient changes in temperature over the past decades. The database contains 150 434 phenology observations of 278 plant species taken at 28 study areas for periods of 1–26 years. Here we describe the full data set to increase the visibility and use of these data in global analyses and to invite phenology data contributions from underrepresented tundra locations. Portions of this tundra phenology database have been used in three recent syntheses, some data sets are expanded, others are from entirely new study areas, and the entirety of these data are now available at the Polar Data Catalogue (https://doi.org/10.21963/13215)

Winters are changing:snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems

Abstract Snow is an important driver of ecosystem processes in cold biomes. Snow accumulation determines ground temperature, light conditions, and moisture availability during winter. It also affects the growing season’s start and end, and plant access to moisture and nutrients. Here, we review the current knowledge of the snow cover’s role for vegetation, plant-animal interactions, permafrost conditions, microbial processes, and biogeochemical cycling. We also compare studies of natural snow gradients with snow experimental manipulation studies to assess time scale difference of these approaches. The number of tundra snow studies has increased considerably in recent years, yet we still lack a comprehensive overview of how altered snow conditions will affect these ecosystems. Specifically, we found a mismatch in the timing of snowmelt when comparing studies of natural snow gradients with snow manipulations. We found that snowmelt timing achieved by snow addition and snow removal manipulations (average 7.9 days advance and 5.5 days delay, respectively) were substantially lower than the temporal variation over natural spatial gradients within a given year (mean range 56 days) or among years (mean range 32 days). Differences between snow study approaches need to be accounted for when projecting snow dynamics and their impact on ecosystems in future climates

Winters are changing: snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems

Snow is an important driver of ecosystem processes in cold biomes. Snow accumulation determines ground temperature, light conditions and moisture availability during winter. It also affects the growing season’s start and end, and plant access to moisture and nutrients. Here, we review the current knowledge of the snow cover’s role for vegetation, plant-animal interactions, permafrost conditions, microbial processes and biogeochemical cycling. We also compare studies of natural snow gradients with snow manipulation studies, altering snow depth and duration, to assess time scale difference of these approaches. The number of studies on snow in tundra ecosystems has increased considerably in recent years, yet we still lack a comprehensive overview of how altered snow conditions will affect these ecosystems. In specific, we found a mismatch in the timing of snowmelt when comparing studies of natural snow gradients with snow manipulations. We found that snowmelt timing achieved by manipulative studies (average 7.9 days advance, 5.5 days delay) were substantially lower than those observed over spatial gradients (mean range of 56 days) or due to interannual variation (mean range of 32 days). Differences between snow study approaches need to be accounted for when projecting snow dynamics and their impact on ecosystems in future climates

Plant functional trait change across a warming tundra biome

The tundra is warming more rapidly than any other biome on Earth, and the potential ramifications are far-reaching because of global feedback effects between vegetation and climate. A better understanding of how environmental factors shape plant structure and function is crucial for predicting the consequences of environmental change for ecosystem functioning. Here we explore the biome-wide relationships between temperature, moisture and seven key plant functional traits both across space and over three decades of warming at 117 tundra locations. Spatial temperature–trait relationships were generally strong but soil moisture had a marked influence on the strength and direction of these relationships, highlighting the potentially important influence of changes in water availability on future trait shifts in tundra plant communities. Community height increased with warming across all sites over the past three decades, but other traits lagged far behind predicted rates of change. Our findings highlight the challenge of using space-for-time substitution to predict the functional consequences of future warming and suggest that functions that are tied closely to plant height will experience the most rapid change. They also reveal the strength with which environmental factors shape biotic communities at the coldest extremes of the planet and will help to improve projections of functional changes in tundra ecosystems with climate warming

Plant functional trait change across a warming tundra biome

Altres ajuts europeus: P.A.W. was additionally supported by the European Union Fourth Environment and Climate Framework Programme (Project Number ENV4-CT970586)P.A.W. was additionally supported by the European Union Fourth Environment and Climate Framework Programme (Project Number ENV4-CT970586).The tundra is warming more rapidly than any other biome on Earth, and the potential ramifications are far-reaching because of global feedback effects between vegetation and climate. A better understanding of how environmental factors shape plant structure and function is crucial for predicting the consequences of environmental change for ecosystem functioning. Here we explore the biome-wide relationships between temperature, moisture and seven key plant functional traits both across space and over three decades of warming at 117 tundra locations. Spatial temperature-trait relationships were generally strong but soil moisture had a marked influence on the strength and direction of these relationships, highlighting the potentially important influence of changes in water availability on future trait shifts in tundra plant communities. Community height increased with warming across all sites over the past three decades, but other traits lagged far behind predicted rates of change. Our findings highlight the challenge of using space-for-time substitution to predict the functional consequences of future warming and suggest that functions that are tied closely to plant height will experience the most rapid change. They also reveal the strength with which environmental factors shape biotic communities at the coldest extremes of the planet and will help to improve projections of functional changes in tundra ecosystems with climate warming

International Social Survey Programme: Religion IV - ISSP 2018

Attitudes towards religion and religious practice Topics: Assessment of personal happiness; satisfaction with relationships with family members; attitudes towards extramarital sex; attitudes towards homosexual relationships between adults; attitudes towards abortion if family has very low income; gender roles in marriage; institutional trust (parliament, business and industry, churches and religious organisations, courts and legal system, schools and educational system); attitudes towards the influence of religious leaders on voters; attitudes towards science and religion (too much trust in science and too little religious faith, more conflicts through religions than peace, intolerance of people with strong religious convictions); assessment of the power of churches and religious organisations in the country; acceptance of a person from different religion as spouse of a relative (social distance); attitudes towards freedom of expression for religious extremists in public meetings, on the Internet and in social media; doubt or firm belief in God (scale deism); past or present belief in God; belief in life after death, heaven, hell, religious miracles and supernatural powers of deceased ancestors; attitude towards a higher truth and the meaning of life (God concerns himself with human beings, people can do little to change life (fatalism), life is meaningful because God exists, life does not serve any purpose, own actions give meaning to life, own way in connecting with God without church or worship services); Opinion on gender equality in one´s own religion; religion of mother and father in the respondent´s childhood; religion the respondent raised in; frequency of church attendance by father and mother in the respondent´s childhood; personal frequency of church attendance at the age of 11-12; frequency of prayers; frequency of participation in church activities (apart from attending church services); read or listened to religious scriptures outside of church services in the last 12 months (e.g. Bible, Koran, Torah or other religious scriptures); shrine, altar or religious object (e.g. cross) in the respondent´s home; frequency of visiting a holy place (shrine, temple, church or mosque) for religious reasons; self-assessment of religiousness and spirituality; religion helps people to make friends and to gain comfort in difficult times; religions are a barrier to equality between women and men; opinion on the separation of state and religion (government should not interfere with attempts of religion to spread); opinion on the peaceful coexistence of people belonging to different religions; religion represents the past and not the future; religion is as relevant to life today as in the past; personal attitude towards different religious groups (Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, atheists or non-believers); self-assessment of health status. Optional items (not in all countries): born-again experience; feelings about the Bible; new commitment to religion after a turning point; belief in lucky charms, fortune tellers, faith healers and horoscopes; decision criteria for personal actions (laws or religious principles); perceived threat of people belonging to different groups (Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, non-believers); people can be trusted vs. can´t be too careful in dealing with people; belief in reincarnation and Nirvana; country’s laws should not be based on religion. Demography: sex; age; year of birth; years of full-time schooling; country specific highest completed degree of education; highest completed degree of education (derived from country specific degree) ; current or former employment status; hours worked weekly; employment relationship; supervision of other employees; number of other employees supervised; type of organisation: for-profit vs. non-profit and public vs. private; occupation (ISCO/ILO-08); main status; living in steady partnership; trade union membership; religious affiliation or denomination (country specific); groups of religious denomination (derived from country specific religion); attendance of religious services; top-bottom self-placement; vote participation in last general election; country specific party voted for in last general election; left-right scheme of party voted for in last general election (derived from country-specific parties); ethnic group 1 and 2 (country specific); household size; household composition: number of adults in the household; number of children above school entry age in the household; number of children below school age in the household; personal income (country specific); household income (country specific); legal partnership status; father´s and mother´s country of birth (migration background); place of living: urban – rural; region (country specific). Information about spouse/ partner on: current or former employment status; hours worked weekly; employment relationship; supervision of other employees; occupation (ISCO/ILO-08); main employment status. Additionally coded was: respondent-ID; case substitution flag; interview date (year, month, day); weight; mode of data-collection; country (ISO 3166, country/ Sample ISO 31666, country/ Sample Prefix ISO 3166); flag variable indicating partially completed cases