CAPE Times P Explains Lightning Over Land But Not the Land-Ocean Contrast

The contemporaneous pointwise product of convective available potential energy (CAPE) and precipitation is shown to be a good proxy for lightning. In particular, the CAPE × P proxy for lightning faithfully replicates seasonal maps of lightning over the contiguous United States, as well as the shape, amplitude, and timing of the diurnal cycle in lightning. Globally, CAPE × P correctly predicts the distribution of flash rate densities over land, but it does not predict the pronounced land-ocean contrast in flash rate density; some factor other than CAPE or P is responsible for that land-ocean contrast

The potential contribution of terrestrial nature-based solutions to a national ‘net zero’ climate target

1. Many national governments have incorporated nature-based solutions (NbS) in their plans to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions. However, uncertainties persist regarding both feasibility and consequences of major NbS deployment. Using the United Kingdom as a national-level case study, we examined the potential contribution of three terrestrial NbS: peatland restoration, saltmarsh creation and woodland creation. 2. While there is substantial political and societal interest in these three NbS, they also have strong potential for competition with other land uses, which will be a critical barrier to substantial deployment. We conducted a national mapping exercise to assess the potential area available for woodland creation. We then assessed the combined climate change mitigation potential to 2100 for the three NbS options under a range of ambition levels. 3. In line with the most ambitious targets examined, 2 Mha of land is potentially available for new woodland. However, climate change mitigation benefits of woodland are strongly dependent on management choices. By 2100, scenarios with a greater proportion of broadleaved woodlands outsequester non-native conifer plantations, which are limited by regular timber harvesting. 4. Peatland restoration offers the greatest mitigation per unit area, whilst the contribution from saltmarsh creation is limited by the small areas involved. Overall, the contribution of these NbS to the United Kingdom’s net zero emissions target is relatively modest. Even with the most ambitious targets considered here, by 2100, the total cumulative mitigation from the three NbS is equivalent to only 3 years' worth of UK emissions at current levels. 5. Policy implications. Major deployment of nature-based solutions (NbS) is possible in the United Kingdom but reaching ‘net zero’ primarily requires substantial and sustained reductions in fossil fuel use. However, facilitating these NbS at the national scale could offer many additional benefits for people and biodiversity. This demands that policy-makers commit to a UK-wide strategic approach that prioritises the ‘nature’ aspect of NbS. In the push to reach ‘net zero’, climate change mitigation should not be used to justify land management practices that threaten biodiversity ambitions

Efficacy of an intensive outpatient rehabilitation program in alcoholism: Predictors of outcome 6 months after treatment

Treatment of alcohol-dependent patients was primarily focused on inpatient settings in the past decades. The efficacy of these treatment programs has been evaluated in several studies and proven to be sufficient. However, with regard to the increasing costs in public healthcare systems, questions about alternative treatment strategies have been raised. Meanwhile, there is growing evidence that outpatient treatment might be comparably effective as inpatient treatment, at least for subgroups of alcohol dependents. On that background, the present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a high-structured outpatient treatment program in 103 alcohol-dependent patients. 74 patients (72%) terminated the outpatient treatment regularly. At 6 months' follow-up, 95% patients were successfully located and personally re-interviewed. Analyses revealed that 65 patients (64%) were abstinent at the 6-month follow-up evaluation and 37 patients ( 36%) were judged to be non-abstinent. Pretreatment variables which were found to have a negative impact (non-abstinence) on the 6-month outcome after treatment were a higher severity of alcohol dependence measured by a longer duration of alcohol dependence, a higher number of prior treatments and a stronger alcohol craving (measured by the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale). Further patients with a higher degree of psychopathology measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (depression) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (anxiety) relapsed more often. In summary, results of this study indicate a favorable outcome of socially stable alcohol-dependent patients and patients with a lower degree of depression, anxiety and craving in an intensive outpatient rehabilitation program

Framing Male Circumcision to Promote its Adoption in Different Settings

The effectiveness of male circumcision in preventing transmission of HIV from females to males has been established. Those who are now advocating its widespread use face many challenges in convincing policy-makers and the public of circumcision’s value. We suggest that frames are a useful lens for communicating public health messages that may help promote adoption of circumcision. Frames relate to how individuals and societies perceive and understand the world. Existing frames are often hard to shift, and should be borne in mind by advocates and program implementers as they attempt to promote male circumcision by invoking new frames. Frames differ across and within societies, and advocates must find ways of delivering resonant messages that take into account prior perceptions and use the most appropriate means of communicating the benefits and value of male circumcision to different audiences

Maximal care considerations when treating patients with end-stage heart failure: ethical and procedural quandaries in management of the very sick

Deciding who should receive maximal technological treatment options and who should not represents an ethical, moral, psychological and medico-legal challenge for health care providers. Especially in patients with chronic heart failure, the ethical and medico-legal issues associated with providing maximal possible care or withholding the same are coming to the forefront. Procedures, such as cardiac transplantation, have strict criteria for adequate candidacy. These criteria for subsequent listing are based on clinical outcome data but also reflect the reality of organ shortage. Lack of compliance and non-adherence to lifestyle changes represent relative contraindications to heart transplant candidacy. Mechanical circulatory support therapy using ventricular assist devices is becoming a more prominent therapeutic option for patients with end-stage heart failure who are not candidates for transplantation, which also requires strict criteria to enable beneficial outcome for the patient. Physicians need to critically reflect that in many cases, the patient’s best interest might not always mean pursuing maximal technological options available. This article reflects on the multitude of critical issues that health care providers have to face while caring for patients with end-stage heart failure

Locus-Specific Ribosomal RNA Gene Silencing in Nucleolar Dominance

The silencing of one parental set of rRNA genes in a genetic hybrid is an epigenetic phenomenon known as nucleolar dominance. We showed previously that silencing is restricted to the nucleolus organizer regions (NORs), the loci where rRNA genes are tandemly arrayed, and does not spread to or from neighboring protein-coding genes. One hypothesis is that nucleolar dominance is the net result of hundreds of silencing events acting one rRNA gene at a time. A prediction of this hypothesis is that rRNA gene silencing should occur independent of chromosomal location. An alternative hypothesis is that the regulatory unit in nucleolar dominance is the NOR, rather than each individual rRNA gene, in which case NOR localization may be essential for rRNA gene silencing. To test these alternative hypotheses, we examined the fates of rRNA transgenes integrated at ectopic locations. The transgenes were accurately transcribed in all independent transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana lines tested, indicating that NOR localization is not required for rRNA gene expression. Upon crossing the transgenic A. thaliana lines as ovule parents with A. lyrata to form F1 hybrids, a new system for the study of nucleolar dominance, the endogenous rRNA genes located within the A. thaliana NORs are silenced. However, rRNA transgenes escaped silencing in multiple independent hybrids. Collectively, our data suggest that rRNA gene activation can occur in a gene-autonomous fashion, independent of chromosomal location, whereas rRNA gene silencing in nucleolar dominance is locus-dependent

Postembryonic establishment of megabase-scale gene silencing in nucleolar dominance

Nucleolar dominance is an epigenetic phenomenon in plant and animal genetic hybrids that describes the expression of 45S ribosomal RNA genes (rRNA genes) inherited from only one progenitor due to the silencing of the other progenitor’s rRNA genes. rRNA genes are tandemly arrayed at nucleolus organizer regions (NORs) that span millions of basepairs, thus gene silencing in nucleolar dominance occurs on a scale second only to X-chromosome inactivation in female mammals. In Arabidopsis suecica, the allotetraploid hybrid of A. thaliana and A. arenosa, theA. thaliana –derived rRNA genes are subjected to nucleolar dominance and are silenced via repressive chromatin modifications. However, the developmental stage at which nucleolar dominance is established in A. suecica is currently unknown. We show that nucleolar dominance is not apparent in seedling cotyledons formed during embryogenesis but becomes progressively established during early postembryonic development in tissues derived from both the shoot and root apical meristems. The progressive silencing of A. thaliana rRNA genes correlates with the transition of A. thaliana NORs from a decondensed euchromatic state associated with histone H3 that is trimethylated on lysine 4 (H3K4me3) to a highly condensed heterochromatic state in which the NORs are associated with H3K9me2 and 5-methylcytosine-enriched chromocenters. In RNAi-lines in which the histone deacetylases HDA6 and HDT1 are knocked down, the developmentally regulated condensation and inactivation of A. thaliana NORs is disrupted. Collectively, these data demonstrate that HDA6 and HDT1 function in the postembryonic establishment of nucleolar dominance, a process which recurs in each generatio