Sustainable soil and land management: a systems-oriented overview of scientific literature

Healthy soil is vital for our wellbeing and wealth. However, increasing demand for food and biomass may lead to unsustainable soil and land management practices that threaten soils. Other degradation processes such as soil sealing also endanger soil resources. Identifying and accessing the best available knowledge is crucial to address related sustainability issues and promote the needed transition towards sustainable soil and land management practices. Such knowledge has to cover all knowledge domains, system knowledge, target knowledge, and transformation knowledge. However, a comprehensive overview of existing research addressing societal needs related to soil is still missing, which hinders the identification of knowledge gaps. This study provides a detailed analysis of scientific literature to identify ongoing research activities and trends. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of scientific literature related to sustainable soil and land management was conducted. A systems-oriented analytical framework was used that combines soil and land related societal challenges with related knowledge domains. Our analysis revealed a significant increase in scientific publications and related interest in soil and land use-related research, above the average increase of publications within all scientific fields. Different forms of reduction and remediation of soil degradation processes (e.g. erosion, contamination) have been studied most extensively. Other topic areas like land take mitigation, soil biodiversity increase, increase of ecosystem services provision and climate change mitigation and adaption seem to be rather recent concerns, less investigated. We could highlight the importance of context-specific research, as different regions require different practices. For instance, boreal, tropical, karst and peatland regions were less studied. Furthermore, we found that diversifying soil management practices such as agroforestry or including livestock into arable systems are valuable options for increasing biomass, mitigating/adapting to climate change, and improving soil related ecosystem services. A recent trend towards the latter research topic indicates the transition from a soil conservation-oriented perspective to a soil service-oriented perspective, which may be better suited to integrate the social and economic dimensions of soil health improvement alongside the ecological dimension

A low aldosterone/renin ratio and high soluble ACE2 activity associate with COVID-19 severity

Background: The severity of COVID-19 after SARS-CoV-2 infection is unpredictable. Angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) is the receptor responsible for coronavirus binding, while subsequent cell entry relies on priming by the serine protease TMPRSS2 (transmembrane protease, serine 2). Although renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system (RAAS) blockers have been suggested to upregulate ACE2, their use in COVID-19 patients is now considered well tolerated. The aim of our study was to investigate parameters that determine COVID-19 severity, focusing on RAAS-components and variation in the genes encoding for ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Methods: Adult patients hospitalized due to SARS-CoV-2 infection between May 2020 and October 2020 in the Haga Teaching Hospital were included, and soluble ACE2 (sACE2), renin, aldosterone (in heparin plasma) and polymorphisms in the ACE2 and TMPRSS2 genes (in DNA obtained from EDTA blood) were determined. Measurements and main results: Out of the 188 patients who were included, 60 were defined as severe COVID-19 (ICU and/or death). These patients more often used antidiabetic drugs, were older, had higher renin and sACE2 levels, lower aldosterone levels and a lower aldosterone/renin ratio. In addition, they displayed the TMPRSS2-rs2070788 AA genotype less frequently. No ACE2 polymorphism-related differences were observed. Multivariate regression analysis revealed independent significance for age, sACE2, the aldosterone/renin ratio, and the TMPRSS2 rs2070788 non-AA genotype as predictors of COVID-19 severity, together yielding a C-index of 0.79. Findings were independent of the use of RAAS blockers. Conclusion: High sACE2, a low aldosterone/renin ratio and having the TMPRSS2 rs2070788 non-AA genotype are novel independent determinants that may help to predict COVID-19 disease severity. Trial registration: retrospectively registered

A low aldosterone/renin ratio and high soluble ACE2 associate with COVID-19 severity

BACKGROUND: The severity of COVID-19 after SARS-CoV-2 infection is unpredictable. Angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) is the receptor responsible for coronavirus binding, while subsequent cell entry relies on priming by the serine protease TMPRSS2 (transmembrane protease, serine 2). Although renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system (RAAS) blockers have been suggested to upregulate ACE2, their use in COVID-19 patients is now considered well tolerated. The aim of our study was to investigate parameters that determine COVID-19 severity, focusing on RAAS-components and variation in the genes encoding for ACE2 and TMPRSS2. METHODS: Adult patients hospitalized due to SARS-CoV-2 infection between May 2020 and October 2020 in the Haga Teaching Hospital were included, and soluble ACE2 (sACE2), renin, aldosterone (in heparin plasma) and polymorphisms in the ACE2 and TMPRSS2 genes (in DNA obtained from EDTA blood) were determined. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Out of the 188 patients who were included, 60 were defined as severe COVID-19 (ICU and/or death). These patients more often used antidiabetic drugs, were older, had higher renin and sACE2 levels, lower aldosterone levels and a lower aldosterone/renin ratio. In addition, they displayed the TMPRSS2-rs2070788 AA genotype less frequently. No ACE2 polymorphism-related differences were observed. Multivariate regression analysis revealed independent significance for age, sACE2, the aldosterone/renin ratio, and the TMPRSS2 rs2070788 non-AA genotype as predictors of COVID-19 severity, together yielding a C-index of 0.79. Findings were independent of the use of RAAS blockers. CONCLUSION: High sACE2, a low aldosterone/renin ratio and having the TMPRSS2 rs2070788 non-AA genotype are novel independent determinants that may help to predict COVID-19 disease severity. TRIAL REGISTRATION: retrospectively registered