Evaluating two soil carbon models within the global land surface model JSBACH using surface and spaceborne observations of atmospheric CO₂

The trajectories of soil carbon (C) in the changing climate are of utmost importance, as soil carbon is a substantial carbon storage with a large potential to impact the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) burden. Atmospheric CO2 observations integrate all processes affecting C exchange between the surface and the atmosphere. Therefore they provide a benchmark for carbon cycle models. We evaluated two distinct soil carbon models (CBALANCE and YASSO) that were implemented to a global land surface model (JSBACH) against atmospheric CO2 observations. We transported the biospheric carbon fluxes obtained by JSBACH using the atmospheric transport model TM5 to obtain atmospheric CO2. We then compared these results with surface observations from Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) stations as well as with column XCO2 retrievals from the GOSAT satellite. The seasonal cycles of atmospheric CO2 estimated by the two different soil models differed. The estimates from the CBALANCE soil model were more in line with the surface observations at low latitudes (0 N–45 N) with only 1 % bias in the seasonal cycle amplitude (SCA), whereas YASSO was underestimating the SCA in this region by 32 %. YASSO gave more realistic seasonal cycle amplitudes of CO2 at northern boreal sites (north of 45 N) with underestimation of 15 % compared to 30 % overestimation by CBALANCE. Generally, the estimates from CBALANCE were more successful in capturing the seasonal patterns and seasonal cycle amplitudes of atmospheric CO2 even though it overestimated soil carbon stocks by 225 % (compared to underestimation of 36 % by YASSO) and its predictions of the global distribution of soil carbon stocks was unrealistic. The reasons for these differences in the results are related to the different environmental drivers and their functional dependencies of these two soil carbon models. In the tropical region the YASSO model showed earlier increase in season of the heterotophic respiration since it is driven by precipitation instead of soil moisture as CBALANCE. In the temperate and boreal region the role of temperature is more dominant. There the heterotophic respiration from the YASSO model had larger annual variability, driven by air temperature, compared to the CBALANCE which is driven by soil temperature. The results underline the importance of using sub-yearly data in the development of soil carbon models when they are used in shorter than annual time scales

Scattering of light by a large, densely packed agglomerate of small silica spheres

We model the measured phase function and degree of linear polarization of a macroscopic agglomerate made of micrometer-scale silica spheres using the methodology of multiple scattering. In the laboratory work, the agglomerate is produced ballistically, characterized by scanning electron microscopy, and measured with the PROGRA(2) instrument to obtain the light scattering properties. The model phase function and degree of polarization are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental data. To our best knowledge, this is the first time the degree of linear polarization has been modeled well for a large, densely packed agglomerate composed of small particles with known sizes and shapes. The study emphasizes the relevance of the degree of linear polarization and gives insights into the effects of particle aggregation on the scattering characteristics. (C) 2020 Optical Society of AmericaPeer reviewe

Eläinavusteinen terapia : Katsaus tutkimuskirjallisuuteen ja toimintaan Suomessa

Eläinavusteiset menetelmät ovat ihmisen terveyttä, hyvinvointia ja elämänlaatua edistävää toimintaa, jossa eläimellä on avustava tehtävä. Eläinavusteisessa terapiassa eläin toimii osana tavanomaista terapiaa, jonka tavoitteena on parantaa ihmisen fyysistä, kognitiivista ja sosiaalista toimintakykyä sekä tunnetaitoja. Tässä katsauksessa tavoitteena on tuottaa tietoa eläinavusteisten menetelmien käytöstä Suomessa sekä tarjota kootusti tutkimustietoa eläinavusteisten menetelmien toimivuudesta osana erilaisia terapioita ja kuntoutusprosesseja. Katsauksessa tarkastellaan eläinavusteisen terapian toimivuutta ja hyötyä ja tarpeenmukaisuutta osana kuntoutusprosessia etenkin psykoterapian, puheterapian, fysioterapian ja toimintaterapian näkökulmista. Katsauksen menetelmänä on kartoittava kirjallisuuskatsaus. Tutkimuskirjallisuutta käydään läpi vuosilta 2010–2017 ja kotimaista toimintaa kartoitetaan ammattilaisten ja kuntoutujien haastatteluiden sekä taustoittavien keskustelujen avulla. Lisäksi katsauksen yhteydessä toteutettiin Kelan verkkosivuilla kysely eläinavusteisten menetelmien käytöstä. Katsauksessa esitellään eläinavusteisen terapian hyötyjä ja haittoja sekä tutkimusnäytön että ammattilaisten ja kuntoutujien kokemusten perusteella. Lisäksi esitellään eläinavusteisista menetelmistä hyötyviä kuntoutuksen kohderyhmiä ja kuvaillaan eläimen kanssa työskentelyn toteutustapoja osana erilaisia kuntoutusprosesseja. Katsauksessa käsitellään myös työskentelyyn osallistuvan eläimen edellytyksiä toimia osana terapiaa ja terapeutilta itseltään vaadittavaa täydennyskoulutusta

Persistent DNA strand breaks induce a CAF-like phenotype in normal fibroblasts.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are an emerging target for cancer therapy as they promote tumour growth and metastatic potential. However, CAF targeting is complicated by the lack of knowledge-based strategies aiming to selectively eliminate these cells. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that a pro-inflammatory microenvironment (e.g. ROS and cytokines) promotes CAF formation during tumorigenesis, although the exact mechanisms involved remain unclear. In this study, we reveal that a prolonged pro-inflammatory stimulation causes a de facto deficiency in base excision repair, generating unrepaired DNA strand breaks and thereby triggering an ATF4-dependent reprogramming of normal fibroblasts into CAF-like cells. Based on the phenotype of in vitro-generated CAFs, we demonstrate that midostaurin, a clinically relevant compound, selectively eliminates CAF-like cells deficient in base excision repair and prevents their stimulatory role in cancer cell growth and migration

Scattering and absorption of light in planetary regoliths

Theoretical, numerical, and experimental methods are presented for multiple scattering of light in macroscopic discrete random media of densely-packed microscopic particles. The theoretical and numerical methods constitute a framework of Radiative Transfer with Reciprocal Transactions (R2T2). The R2T2 framework entails Monte Carlo order-of-scattering tracing of interactions in the frequency space, assuming that the fundamental scatterers and absorbers are wavelength-scale volume elements composed of large numbers of randomly distributed particles. The discrete random media are fully packed with the volume elements. For spherical and nonspherical particles, the interactions within the volume elements are computed exactly using the Superposition T-Matrix Method (STMM) and the Volume Integral Equation Method (VIEM), respectively. For both particle types, the interactions between different volume elements are computed exactly using the STMM. As the tracing takes place within the discrete random media, incoherent electromagnetic fields are utilized, that is, the coherent field of the volume elements is removed from the interactions. The experimental methods are based on acoustic levitation of the samples for non-contact, non-destructive scattering measurements. The levitation entails full ultrasonic control of the sample position and orientation, that is, six degrees of freedom. The light source is a laser-driven white-light source with a monochromator and polarizer. The detector is a mini-photomultiplier tube on a rotating wheel, equipped with polarizers. The R2T2 is validated using measurements for a mm-scale spherical sample of densely-packed spherical silica particles. After validation, the methods are applied to interpret astronomical observations for asteroid (4) Vesta and comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (Figure 1) recently visited by the NASA Dawn mission and the ESA Rosetta mission, respectively. © 2019 JoVE.European Research Council, ERC: 320773The present manuscript summarizes the findings of a project funded for five years in 2013-2018 by the European Research Council (ERC): Scattering and Absorption of ElectroMagnetic waves in ParticuLate media (SAEMPL, ERC Advanced Grant). SAEMPL succeeded in meeting its three main goals: first, novel numerical Monte Carlo methods were derived for multiple scattering by discrete random media of densely-packed particles16,17,18; second, novel experimental instrumentation was developed and constructed for controlled laboratory measurements of validation samples in levitation15; third, the numerical and experimental methods were applied to interpret astronomical observations19,20.Research supported by the ERC Advanced Grant № 320773. We thank the Laboratory of Chronology of the Finnish Museum of Natural History for the help with sample characterization

Selkäydinvammaisen hyvä kuntoutuskäytäntö

Selkäydinvaurion saaneiden akuuttihoito, kuntoutus ja elinikäinen seuranta on keskitetty 2011 kolmeen yliopistosairaalaan: Helsinkiin, Ouluun ja Tampereelle. Näiden yliopistosairaaloiden selkäydinvammayksiköt, Kela, Vakuutuskuntoutus VKK ja Suomalainen Lääkäriseura Duodecim ovat toteuttaneet yhteistyössä tämän suosituksen selkäydinvammaisten hyvästä kuntoutuskäytännöstä tukemaan selkäydinvammojen Käypä hoito -suositusta. Suosituksen tavoitteena on yhdenmukaistaa valtakunnallisia kuntoutuskäytäntöjä sekä helpottaa kuntoutussuunnitelmien laatimista ja kuntoutuspäätösten tekemistä. Suositus sisältää yleistä perustietoa selkäydinvammoista ja selkäydinvammapotilaan kuntoutus- ja seurantajärjestelmistä, toimintakyvyn arvioinnista ja apuvälinepalveluista. Suosituksessa käsitellään kuntoutussuunnitelman laatiminen, lääkinnällisen kuntoutuksen tavallisimmat kuntoutustyypit ja terapiamuodot sekä ammatillisen kuntoutuksen perusteet. Suositus sisältää esimerkkejä tyypillisistä selkäydinvammapotilaiden kuntoutustavoitteista ja -määristä. Kuntoutus tulee kuitenkin suunnitella jokaisen kuntoutujan kanssa yhteistyössä huomioiden yksilölliset tarpeet niin yksilön kuin ympäristönkin tasolla

HIMMELI v1.0: HelsinkI Model of MEthane buiLd-up and emIssion for peatlands

Wetlands are one of the most significant natural sources of methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. They emit CH4 because decomposition of soil organic matter in waterlogged anoxic conditions produces CH4, in addition to carbon dioxide (CO2). Production of CH4 and how much of it escapes to the atmosphere depend on a multitude of environmental drivers. Models simulating the processes leading to CH4 emissions are thus needed for upscaling observations to estimate present CH4 emissions and for producing scenarios of future atmospheric CH4 concentrations. Aiming at a CH4 model that can be added to models describing peatland carbon cycling, we developed a model called HIMMELI that describes CH4 build-up in and emissions from peatland soils. It is not a full peatland carbon cycle model but it requires the rate of anoxic soil respiration as input. Driven by soil temperature, leaf area index (LAI) of aerenchymatous peatland vegetation and water table depth (WTD), it simulates the concentrations and transport of CH4, CO2 and oxygen (O2) in a layered one-dimensional peat column. Here, we present the HIMMELI model structure, results of tests on the model sensitivity to the input data and to the description of the peat column (peat depth and layer thickness), and an intercomparison of the modelled and measured CH4 fluxes at Siikaneva, a peatland flux measurement site in Southern Finland. As HIMMELI describes only the CH4-related processes, not the full carbon cycle, our analysis revealed mechanisms and dependencies that may remain hidden when testing CH4 models connected to complete peatland carbon models, which is usually the case. Our results indicated that 1) the model is flexible and robust and thus suitable for different environments; 2) the simulated CH4 emissions largely depend on the prescribed rate of anoxic respiration; 3) the sensitivity of the total CH4 emission to other input variables, LAI and WTD, is mainly mediated via the O2 concentrations that affect the CH4 production and oxidation rates; 4) with given input respiration, the peat column description does not affect significantly the simulated CH4 emissions

Dioxin Induces Genomic Instability in Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts

Ionizing radiation and certain other exposures have been shown to induce genomic instability (GI), i.e., delayed genetic damage observed many cell generations later in the progeny of the exposed cells. The aim of this study was to investigate induction of GI by a nongenotoxic carcinogen, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). Mouse embryonic fibroblasts (C3H10T1/2) were exposed to 1, 10 or 100 nM TCDD for 2 days. Micronuclei (MN) and expression of selected cancer-related genes were assayed both immediately and at a delayed point in time (8 days). For comparison, similar experiments were done with cadmium, a known genotoxic agent. TCDD treatment induced an elevated frequency of MN at 8 days, but not directly after the exposure. TCDD-induced alterations in gene expression were also mostly delayed, with more changes observed at 8 days than at 2 days. Exposure to cadmium produced an opposite pattern of responses, with pronounced effects immediately after exposure but no increase in MN and few gene expression changes at 8 days. Although all responses to TCDD alone were delayed, menadione-induced DNA damage (measured by the Comet assay), was found to be increased directly after a 2-day TCDD exposure, indicating that the stability of the genome was compromised already at this time point. The results suggested a flat dose-response relationship consistent with dose-response data reported for radiation-induced GI. These findings indicate that TCDD, although not directly genotoxic, induces GI, which is associated with impaired DNA damage response