Effects of nitrogen and phosphorus additions on nitrous oxide emission in a nitrogen-rich and two nitrogen-limited tropical forests

Nitrogen (N) deposition is generally considered to increase soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emission in N-rich forests. In many tropical forests, however, elevated N deposition has caused soil N enrichment and further phosphorus (P) deficiency, and the interaction of N and P to control soil N2O emission remains poorly understood, particularly in forests with different soil N status. In this study, we examined the effects of N and P additions on soil N2O emission in an N-rich old-growth forest and two N-limited younger forests (a mixed and a pine forest) in southern China to test the following hypotheses: (1) soil N2O emission is the highest in old-growth forest due to the N-rich soil; (2) N addition increases N2O emission more in the old-growth forest than in the two younger forests; (3) P addition decreases N2O emission more in the old-growth forest than in the two younger forests; and (4) P addition alleviates the stimulation of N2O emission by N addition. The following four treatments were established in each forest: Control, N addition (150 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1)), P addition (150 kg P ha(-1) yr(-1)), and NP addition (150 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1) plus 150 kg P ha(-1) yr(-1)). From February 2007 to October 2009, monthly quantification of soil N2O emission was performed using static chamber and gas chromatography techniques. Mean N2O emission was shown to be significantly higher in the old-growth forest (13.9 +/- 0.7 mu g N2O-N m(-2) h(-1)) than in the mixed (9.9 +/- 0.4 mu g N2O-N m(-2) h(-1)) or pine (10.8 +/- 0.5 mu g N2O-N m(-2) h(-1)) forests, with no significant difference between the latter two. N addition significantly increased N2O emission in the old-growth forest but not in the two younger forests. However, both P and NP addition had no significant effect on N2O emission in all three forests, suggesting that P addition alleviated the stimulation of N2O emission by N addition in the old-growth forest. Although P fertilization may alleviate the stimulated effects of atmospheric N deposition on N2O emission in N-rich forests, this effect may only occur under high N deposition and/or long-term P addition, and we suggest future investigations to definitively assess this management strategy and the importance of P in regulating N cycles from regional to global scales

Superallowed Fermi transitions in RPA with a relativistic point-coupling energy functional

The self-consistent random phase approximation (RPA) approach with the residual interaction derived from a relativistic point-coupling energy functional is applied to evaluate the isospin symmetry-breaking corrections {\delta}c for the 0+\to0+ superallowed Fermi transitions. With these {\delta}c values, together with the available experimental ft values and the improved radiative corrections, the unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix is examined. Even with the consideration of uncertainty, the sum of squared top-row elements has been shown to deviate from the unitarity condition by 0.1% for all the employed relativistic energy functionals.Comment: 13 pages,2 figure

Baseline Demographics, Comorbidities, Treatment Patterns and Burden of Atopic Dermatitis in Adults and Adolescents from the GLOBOSTAD Long-Term Observational Study

Introduction - Insights into real-world treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD) are relevant to clinical decision making. The aim of this analysis was to characterize patients who receive dupilumab for AD in a real-world setting. Methods - The GLOBOSTAD registry is an ongoing, longitudinal, prospective, observational study of patients with AD who receive dupilumab according to country-specific prescribing information. We report baseline characteristics, comorbidities and treatment patterns for patients enrolled from July 11, 2019 to March 31, 2022. Analyses are descriptive; no formal statistical comparisons were performed. Results - Nine hundred fifty-two adults and adolescents were enrolled in GLOBOSTAD. Patients had a high disease burden before starting dupilumab: (mean [standard deviation]) percent body surface area affected (44.8 [24.42]), Eczema Area and Severity Index total score (24.8 [12.95]), SCORing Atopic Dermatitis total score (60.5 [16.34]), Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure total score (19.7 [6.37]) and Dermatology Life Quality Index total score (13.7 [7.02]). Overall, 741 (77.8%) patients reported ≥ 1 type 2 inflammatory comorbidities, most frequently allergic rhinitis (492 [51.7%]), asthma (323 [33.9%]), food allergy (294 [30.9%]) or another allergy (274 [28.8%]). In the previous 12 months, 310 (32.6%) patients had received systemic non-steroidal immunosuppressants and 169 (17.8%) systemic corticosteroids; 449 (47.2%) had received topical corticosteroids, most commonly potent topical corticosteroids; 141 (14.8%) had received topical calcineurin inhibitors and 32 (3.4%) ultraviolet therapy. Most (713 [74.9%]) patients started dupilumab because of prior treatment failure. Conclusion - Patients enrolled in GLOBOSTAD demonstrated considerable multidimensional burden of disease across AD signs, symptoms and quality of life despite previous use of systemic and non-systemic AD treatments

Response of Nitrogen Leaching to Nitrogen Deposition in Disturbed and Mature Forests of Southern China

Current nitrogen (N) leaching losses and their responses to monthly N additions were investigated tinder a disturbed pine (Pinus massoniana) forest and a mature monsoon broadleaf forest in southern China. N leaching losses from both disturbed and mature forests were quite high (14.6 and 29.2 kg N ha(-1) year(-1), respectively), accounting for 57% and 80% of their corresponding atmospheric N inputs. N leaching losses were substantially increased following the first 1.5 years of N applications in both forests. The average increases induced by the addition of 50 and 100 kg N ha(-1) year(-1) were 36.5 and 24.9 kg N ha(-1) year(-1), respectively, in the mature forest, accounting for 73.0% and 24.9% of the annual amount of N added, and 14.2 and 16.8 kg N ha(-1) year(-1) in the disturbed forest, accounting for 28.4% and 16.8% of the added N. Great N leaching and a fast N leaching response to N additions in the mature forest might result from long-term N accumulation and high ambient N deposition load (greater than 30 kg N ha(-1) year(-1) over the past 15 years), whereas in the disturbed forest, it might result from the human disturbance and high ambient N deposition load. These results suggest that both disturbed and mature forests in the study region may be sensitive to increasing N deposition

Serum Renin Levels Increase With Age in Boys Resulting in Higher Renin Levels in Young Men Compared to Young Women, and Soluble Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 Correlates With Renin and Body Mass Index

Background: Age, sex, and body constitution may affect the shedding of membrane bound angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (mACE2) and lead to a relative mACE2 deficiency. However, it is unclear if differences, reflected by serum renin levels, exist in the basal renin-angiotensin-system (RAS) between children and adults, boys, and girls as well as young women and young men. Furthermore, it remains to be investigated if renin and soluble ACE2 (sACE2) levels are correlated with body mass index (BMI) in children and young adults. The aim of this observational study was to assess age-and sex differences in serum renin, and the relationship between renin, soluble angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, and body mass index in a prospectively followed population-based cohort of children which were followed into young adulthood. Study Design: We analyzed renin and sACE2 in serum in a prospectively followed population-based cohort at 9.9 (0.6) [mean (SD)] (n = 173), 11.7 (0.6) (n = 156), 14.8 (0.8) (n = 149), 18.8 (0.3) (n = 93), and 23.5 (0.7) (n = 152) years of age. Height (cm) and weight (kg) was measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated as weight (kg)/height (m)2. Sex-related differences in renin levels were calculated using analysis of covariance, adjusted for age. Correlations were assessed by calculating the correlation coefficient (R2) using a multivariable linear mixed model. Results: Both sexes had low renin levels up to 12 years of age. Thereafter renin levels increased more in boys than in girls. Males from the age of 15 had significantly higher levels than females (p < 0.001). There was a positive linear relationship between renin and sACE2 levels in male and female subjects (p < 0.001), and between sACE2 levels and BMI in males (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Renin levels increase with age, are higher in men than in women since around puberty, and are correlated with sACE2 levels. Furthermore, sACE2 levels are correlated with body mass index in males. These findings indicate that high renin levels in males and females and a high BMI in males may activate pathways which increase the shedding of mACE2, with possible implications for the risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019

Evaluation of Global Land Use–Land Cover Data Products in Guangxi, China

Land use–land cover (LULC) is an important feature for ecological environment research, land resource management and evaluation. Although global high-resolution LULC data sets are booming, their regional performances were still evaluated in limited regions. To demonstrate the local applicability of global LULC data products, six emerging LULC data products were evaluated and compared in Guangxi, China. The six products used are European Space Agency GlobCover (ESAGC), ESRI Land Use–Land Cover (ESRI–LULC), Finer Resolution Observation and Monitoring of Global Land Cover (FROM–GLC), the China Land Cover Dataset (CLCD), the Global Land Cover product with Fine Classification System at 30 m (GLC_FCS30) and GlobeLand30 (GLC30). Reference data were obtained from the local government statistical yearbook and high-resolution remote sensing images on Google Earth. The results showed that CLCD, ESRI–LULC and GLC30 were found to agree well with the forest reference data, with the highest correlation coefficient of 0.999. For the cropland areas, GLC30, CLCD and ESAGC agreed well with the reference data, and the highest correlation coefficient was 0.957. Combined with the comparison with the high-resolution images obtained by Google Earth, we finally concluded that ESAGC, CLCD and GLC30 can best represent the LULCs in Guangxi. Furthermore, the spatial consistency analysis showed that three or more products identified the same LULC type as high as 96.98% of the area. We suggest that majority voting might be applied to global LULC products to provide fused products with better performances on a regional or local scale to avoid the error caused by a single data product.</p

Genome-wide association study identifies 16 genomic regions associated with circulating cytokines at birth

Circulating inflammatory markers are essential to human health and disease, and they are often dysregulated or malfunctioning in cancers as well as in cardiovascular, metabolic, immunologic and neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the genetic contribution to the physiological variation of levels of circulating inflammatory markers is largely unknown. Here we report the results of a genome-wide genetic study of blood concentration of ten cytokines, including the hitherto unexplored calcium-binding protein (S100B). The study leverages a unique sample of neonatal blood spots from 9,459 Danish subjects from the iPSYCH initiative. We estimate the SNP-heritability of marker levels as ranging from essentially zero for Erythropoietin (EPO) up to 73% for S100B. We identify and replicate 16 associated genomic regions (p &lt; 5 x 10 −9 ), of which four are novel. We show that the associated variants map to enhancer elements, suggesting a possible transcriptional effect of genomic variants on the cytokine levels. The identification of the genetic architecture underlying the basic levels of cytokines is likely to prompt studies investigating the relationship between cytokines and complex disease. Our results also suggest that the genetic architecture of cytokines is stable from neonatal to adult life