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Uncoupling human and climate drivers of late Holocene vegetation change in southern Brazil
In the highlands of southern Brazil an anthropogenitcally driven expansion of forest occurred at the
expense of grasslands between 1410 and 900cal BP, coincident with a period of demographic and
cultural change in the region. Previous studies have debated the relative contributions of increasing
wetter and warmer climate conditions and human landscape modifcations to forest expansion, but
generally lacked high resoltiuon proxies to measure these efects, or have relied on single proxies to
reconstruct both climate and vegetation. Here, we develop and test a model of natural ecosystem
distribution against vegetation histories, paleoclimate proxies, and the archaeological record to
distinguish human from temperature and precipitation impacts on the distribution and expansion of
Araucaria forests during the late Holocene. Carbon isotopes from soil profles confrm that in spite of
climatic fuctuations, vegetation was stable and forests were spatially limited to south-facing slopes
in the absence of human inputs. In contrast, forest management strategies for the past 1400 years
expanded this economically important forest beyond its natural geographic boundaries in areas of
dense pre-Columbian occupation, suggesting that landscape modifcations were linked to demographic
changes, the efects of which are still visible today
Development of Danish version of child oral-health-related quality of life questionnaires (CPQ8â10 and CPQ11â14)
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ) is a self-reported questionnaire developed to measure oral health-related quality of life in children. The CPQ aims to improve the description of children's oral health, while taking into consideration the importance of psychological aspects in the concept of health. The CPQ exists in two versions: the CPQ<sub>8â10 </sub>for children aged 8â10 years and the CPQ<sub>11â14 </sub>for those aged 11â14 years. The aim of this study was to develop a Danish version of the CPQ<sub>8â10 </sub>and the CPQ<sub>11â14 </sub>and to evaluate its validity for use among Danish-speaking children.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The instruments were translated from English into Danish in accordance with a recommended translation procedure. Afterwards, they were tested among children aged 8â10 (n = 120) and 11â14 years (n = 225). The validity was expressed by the correlation between overall CPQ scores and i) self-reported assessment of the influence of oral conditions on everyday life (not at all, very little, some, a lot, very much) and ii) the self-reported rating of oral health. Furthermore, groups of children with assumed decreased oral health-related quality of life were compared with children with healthy oral conditions. Finally, we examined the internal consistency.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The correlation between overall CPQ scores and global assessments of the influence of oral conditions on everyday life showed Spearman correlation coefficients of 0.45, <it>P < 0.001 </it>for CPQ<sub>8â10 </sub>and 0.50, <it>P < 0.001 </it>for CPQ<sub>11â14</sub>. The correlation between overall CPQ scores and the self-reported rating of oral health showed Spearman correlation coefficients of 0.45, <it>P < 0.001 </it>for CPQ<sub>8â10 </sub>and 0.17, P = 0.010 for CPQ<sub>11â14</sub>.</p> <p>The median overall CPQ<sub>8â10 </sub>scores were 7 for individuals with healthy oral conditions, 5 for individuals with cleft lip and palate, and 15 for individuals with rare oral diseases. The median overall CPQ<sub>11â14 </sub>scores were 9 for individuals with healthy oral conditions, 9 for individuals with cleft lip and palate, 17.0 for individuals with rare oral diseases, and 22.0 for individuals with fixed orthodontic appliances. There were statistically significant differences between the groups of children with healthy oral conditions and each of the subgroups, except for children with cleft lip and palate.</p> <p>Chronbach'α were 0.82 for CPQ<sub>8â10 </sub>and 0.87 for CPQ<sub>11â14</sub>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study reveal that the Danish CPQ<sub>8â10 </sub>and CPQ<sub>11â14</sub>, seem to be valid instruments for measuring oral health-related quality of life in children although its ability to discriminate between children with cleft lip and palate and healthy children seem to be limited.</p
Isolation and purification of Cu-free methanobactin from Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The isolation of highly pure copper-free methanobactin is a prerequisite for the investigation of the biogeochemical functions of this chalkophore molecule produced by methane oxidizing bacteria. Here, we report a purification method for methanobactin from <it>Methylosinus trichosporium </it>OB3b cultures based on reversed-phase HPLC fractionation used in combination with a previously reported resin extraction. HPLC eluent fractions of the resin extracted product were collected and characterized with UV-vis, FT-IR, and C-1s NEXAFS spectroscopy, as well as with elemental analysis and ESI-MS.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results showed that numerous compounds other than methanobactin were present in the isolate obtained with resin extraction. Molar C/N ratios, mass spectrometry measurements, and UV-vis spectra indicated that methanobactin was only present in one of the HPLC fractions. On a mass basis, methanobactin carbon contributed only 32% to the total organic carbon isolated with resin extraction. Our spectroscopic results implied that besides methanobactin, the organic compounds in the resin extract comprised breakdown products of methanobactin as well as polysaccharide-like substances.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results demonstrate that a purification step is indispensable in addition to resin extraction in order to obtain pure methanobactin. The proposed HPLC purification procedure is suitable for semi-preparative work and provides copper-free methanobactin.</p
Heterogeneously catalyzed lignin depolymerization
Biomass offers a unique resource for the sustainable production of bio-derived chemical and fuels as drop-in replacements for the current fossil fuel products. Lignin represents a major component of lignocellulosic biomass, but is particularly recalcitrant for valorization by existing chemical technologies due to its complex cross-linking polymeric network. Here, we highlight a range of catalytic approaches to lignin depolymerisation for the production of aromatic bio-oil and monomeric oxygenates
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