Fire effects on soils: the human dimension

Soils are among the most valuable non-renewable resources on the Earth. They support natural vegetation and human agro-ecosystems, represent the largest terrestrial organic carbon stock, and act as stores and filters for water. Mankind has impacted on soils from its early days in many different ways, with burning being the first human perturbation at landscape scales. Fire has long been used as a tool to fertilize soils and control plant growth, but it can also substantially change vegetation, enhance soil erosion and even cause desertification of previously productive areas. Indeed fire is now regarded by some as the seventh soil-forming factor. Here we explore the effects of fire on soils as influenced by human interference. Human-induced fires have shaped our landscape for thousands of years and they are currently the most common fires in many parts of the world. We first give an overview of fire effect on soils and then focus specifically on (i) how traditional land-use practices involving fire, such as slash-and-burn or vegetation clearing, have affected and still are affecting soils; (ii) the effects of more modern uses of fire, such as fuel reduction or ecological burns, on soils; and (iii) the ongoing and potential future effects on soils of the complex interactions between human-induced land cover changes, climate warming and fire dynamics. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’

Neuroimaging and biomarker evidence of neurodegeneration in asthma

Background: Epidemiological studies have shown that Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) are seen more frequently with asthma, especially with greater asthma severity or exacerbation frequency. // Objective: To examine the changes in brain structure that may underlie this phenomenon, we examined diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) and blood-based biomarkers of AD (p-Tau181), neurodegeneration (NfL) and glial activation (GFAP). // Methods: dMRI data were obtained in 111 individuals with asthma, ranging in disease severity from mild to severe, and 135 healthy controls. Regression analyses were used to test the relationships between asthma severity and neuroimaging measures, as well as AD pathology, neurodegeneration and glial activation, indexed by plasma p-Tau181, NfL and GFAP respectively. Additional relationships were tested with cognitive function. // Results: Asthma participants had widespread and large magnitude differences in several dMRI metrics, which were indicative of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration, and robustly associated with GFAP and to a lesser extent, with NfL. The AD biomarker p-Tau181 was only minimally associated with neuroimaging outcomes. Further, asthma severity was associated with deleterious changes in neuroimaging outcomes, which in turn, were associated with slower processing speed, a test of cognitive performance. // Conclusion: These data suggest that asthma, particularly when severe, is associated with characteristics of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration and may be a potential risk factor for neural injury and cognitive dysfunction. The results suggest a need to determine how asthma may affect brain health and whether treatment directed toward characteristics of asthma associated with these risks can mitigate these effects

On the magnetic fields generated by experimental dynamos

We review the results obtained by three successful fluid dynamo experiments and discuss what has been learnt from them about the effect of turbulence on the dynamo threshold and saturation. We then discuss several questions that are still open and propose experiments that could be performed to answer some of them.Comment: 40 pages, 13 figure

A Search for MeV to TeV Neutrinos from Fast Radio Bursts with IceCube

We present two searches for IceCube neutrino events coincident with 28 fast radio bursts (FRBs) and 1 repeating FRB. The first improves on a previous IceCube analysis - searching for spatial and temporal correlation of events with FRBs at energies greater than roughly 50 GeV - by increasing the effective area by an order of magnitude. The second is a search for temporal correlation of MeV neutrino events with FRBs. No significant correlation is found in either search; therefore, we set upper limits on the time-integrated neutrino flux emitted by FRBs for a range of emission timescales less than one day. These are the first limits on FRB neutrino emission at the MeV scale, and the limits set at higher energies are an order-of-magnitude improvement over those set by any neutrino telescope

Search for sources of astrophysical neutrinos using seven years of icecube cascade events

Low-background searches for astrophysical neutrino sources anywhere in the sky can be performed using cascade events induced by neutrinos of all flavors interacting in IceCube with energies as low as ∼1 TeV. Previously we showed that, even with just two years of data, the resulting sensitivity to sources in the southern sky is competitive with IceCube and ANTARES analyses using muon tracks induced by charge current muon neutrino interactions - especially if the neutrino emission follows a soft energy spectrum or originates from an extended angular region. Here, we extend that work by adding five more years of data, significantly improving the cascade angular resolution, and including tests for point-like or diffuse Galactic emission to which this data set is particularly well suited. For many of the signal candidates considered, this analysis is the most sensitive of any experiment to date. No significant clustering was observed, and thus many of the resulting constraints are the most stringent to date. In this paper we will describe the improvements introduced in this analysis and discuss our results in the context of other recent work in neutrino astronomy

Stochastic Responses May Allow Genetically Diverse Cell Populations to Optimize Performance with Simpler Signaling Networks

Two theories have emerged for the role that stochasticity plays in biological responses: first, that it degrades biological responses, so the performance of biological signaling machinery could be improved by increasing molecular copy numbers of key proteins; second, that it enhances biological performance, by enabling diversification of population-level responses. Using T cell biology as an example, we demonstrate that these roles for stochastic responses are not sufficient to understand experimental observations of stochastic response in complex biological systems that utilize environmental and genetic diversity to make cooperative responses. We propose a new role for stochastic responses in biology: they enable populations to make complex responses with simpler biochemical signaling machinery than would be required in the absence of stochasticity. Thus, the evolution of stochastic responses may be linked to the evolvability of different signaling machineries.National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Pioneer Awar

Improved healing response in delayed unions of the tibia with low-intensity pulsed ultrasound: results of a randomized sham-controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We compared the healing response of tibial delayed unions between subjects treated with low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) (n = 51) and subjects treated with a sham device (n = 50). Fracture age was ≥ 4 months in all cases. Study personnel and participants were blinded to random treatment assignment throughout the study.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This multi-center randomized sham-controlled trial was undertaken at six hospitals in Germany. Adult patients who had sustained a tibial shaft fracture that subsequently showed inadequate progress toward healing (i.e., delayed union) were enrolled and randomized to receive either LIPUS (Exogen 2000/2000+, Smith & Nephew GmbH, Schenefeld, Germany) or an identical nonoperative sham device. The daily treatment duration was 20 minutes, for a period of 16 weeks. Subjects randomly assigned to active treatment had the ultrasound pressure wave signal set at the following parameters: 1.5 MHz frequency, 1 kHz repetition rate, 200 μs pulse duration, 30 mW/cm²spatial intensity. Progress toward healing was estimated from changes in bone mineral density (BMD) and gap area as determined from computed tomography scans. Intention-to-treat analysis was conducted using a multiple imputation methodology.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Based on log-transformed data, mean improvement in BMD was 1.34 (90% confidence interval (CI) 1.14 to 1.57) times greater for LIPUS-treated subjects compared to sham (p = 0.002). A mean reduction in bone gap area also favored LIPUS treatment (p = 0.014).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings demonstrate significantly greater progress toward bone healing after LIPUS treatment compared to no LIPUS treatment in subjects with established delayed unions of the tibia.</p