The cohort of young Danish farmers – A longitudinal study of the health effects of farming exposure

Working in agriculture poses a serious risk for development of respiratory diseases, especially when working in animal housing. Animal workers are exposed to a mixture of organic and inorganic dust together with fumes and gases, including allergens and microbial-associated molecular patterns with a potentially major impact on respiratory health and the immune system. Exposure to microbial agents in animal housing is associated with an increased prevalence of respiratory symptoms, including bronchial hyperresponsiveness, accelerated lung function decline, and neutrophil-mediated inflammation. These clinical findings are often seen without IgE-mediated sensitization. In fact it has been found in recent studies that the prevalence of atopic sensitization and atopic asthma is low among farmers compared with other populations. The SUS study was designed to identify the type and occurrence of respiratory symptoms and disease, and to investigate risk factors for respiratory disorders and changes in lung function among young farming students. The cohort of young Danish farmers was established in 1992/1994 and followed up in 2007/2008 with a participation rate of 51.7%. The cohort consists of 1734 male farming students, 230 female farming students, and 407 army recruits as controls

Deltas, freshwater discharge, and waves along the Young Sound, NE Greenland

A wide range of delta morphologies occurs along the fringes of the Young Sound in Northeast Greenland due to spatial heterogeneity of delta regimes. In general, the delta regime is related to catchment and basin characteristics (geology, topography, drainage pattern, sediment availability, and bathymetry), fluvial discharges and associated sediment load, and processes by waves and currents. Main factors steering the Arctic fluvial discharges into the Young Sound are the snow and ice melt and precipitation in the catchment, and extreme events like glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Waves are subordinate and only rework fringes of the delta plain forming sandy bars if the exposure and fetch are optimal. Spatial gradients and variability in driving forces (snow and precipitation) and catchment characteristics (amount of glacier coverage, sediment characteristics) as well as the strong and local influence of GLOFs in a specific catchment impede a simple upscaling of sediment fluxes from individual catchments toward a total sediment flux into the Young Sound