Multiscale Variability and the Comparison of Ground and Satellite Radar Based Measures of Peatland Surface Motion for Peatland Monitoring

Peatland surface motion is highly diagnostic of peatland condition. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) can measure this at the landscape scale but requires ground validation. This necessitates upscaling from point to areal measures (80 × 90 m) but is hampered by a lack of data regarding the spatial variability of peat surface motion characteristics. Using a nested precise leveling approach within two areas of upland and low-lying blanket peatland within the Flow Country, Scotland, we examine the multiscale variability of peat surface motion. We then compare this with InSAR timeseries data. We find that peat surface motion varies at multiple scales within blanket peatland with decreasing dynamism with height above the water table e.g., hummocks < lawn < hollows. This trend is dependent upon a number of factors including ecohydrology, pool size/density, peat density, and slope. At the site scale motion can be grouped into central, marginal, and upland peatlands with each showing characteristic amplitude, peak timing, and response to climate events. Ground measurements which incorporate local variability show good comparability with satellite radar derived timeseries. However, current limitations of phase unwrapping in interferometry means that during an extreme drought/event InSAR readings can only qualitatively replicate peat movement in the most dynamic parts of the peatland e.g., pool systems, quaking bog

Prediction of Long-Term Benefits of Inhaled Steroids by Phenotypic Markers in Moderate-to-Severe COPD:A Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND:The decline in lung function can be reduced by long-term inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) treatment in subsets of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We aimed to identify which clinical, physiological and non-invasive inflammatory characteristics predict the benefits of ICS on lung function decline in COPD. METHODS:Analysis was performed in 50 steroid-naive compliant patients with moderate to severe COPD (postbronchodilator forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), 30-80% of predicted, compatible with GOLD stages II-III), age 45-75 years, >10 packyears smoking and without asthma. Patients were treated with fluticasone propionate (500 μg bid) or placebo for 2.5 years. Postbronchodilator FEV1, dyspnea and health status were measured every 3 months; lung volumes, airway hyperresponsiveness (PC20), and induced sputum at 0, 6 and 30 months. A linear mixed effect model was used for analysis of this hypothesis generating study. RESULTS:Significant predictors of attenuated FEV1-decline by fluticasone treatment compared to placebo were: fewer packyears smoking, preserved diffusion capacity, limited hyperinflation and lower inflammatory cell counts in induced sputum (p<0.04). CONCLUSIONS:Long-term benefits of ICS on lung function decline in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD are most pronounced in patients with fewer packyears, and less severe emphysema and inflammation. These data generate novel hypotheses on phenotype-driven therapy in COPD. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00158847

Susceptibility to chronic mucus hypersecretion, a genome wide association study

Background: Chronic mucus hypersecretion (CMH) is associated with an increased frequency of respiratory infections, excess lung function decline, and increased hospitalisation and mortality rates in the general population. It is associated with smoking, but it is unknown why only a minority of smokers develops CMH. A plausible explanation for this phenomenon is a predisposing genetic constitution. Therefore, we performed a genome wide association (GWA) study of CMH in Caucasian populations. Methods: GWA analysis was performed in the NELSON-study using the Illumina 610 array, followed by replication and meta-analysis in 11 additional cohorts. In total 2,704 subjects with, and 7,624 subjects without CMH were included, all current or former heavy smokers (≥20 pack-years). Additional studies were performed to test the functional relevance of the most significant single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). Results: A strong association with CMH, consistent across all cohorts, was observed with rs6577641 (p = 4.25x10-6, OR = 1.17), located in intron 9 of the special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 1 locus (SATB1) on chromosome 3. The risk allele (G) was associated with higher mRNA expression of SATB1 (4.3x10 -9) in lung tissue. Presence of CMH was associated with increased SATB1 mRNA expression in bronchial biopsies from COPD patients. SATB1 expression was induced during differentiation of primary human bronchial epithelial cells in culture. Conclusions: Our findings, that SNP rs6577641 is associated with CMH in multiple cohorts and is a cis-eQTL for SATB1, together with our additional observation that SATB1 expression increases during epithelial differentiation provide suggestive evidence that SATB1 is a gene that affects CMH

Twenty-five years of life lessons

For 25 years, Physical Geography students of the University of Amsterdam have experienced a 6-week field training in the cuesta landscape in Luxembourg around Diekirch. They studied the geology of the Gutland and surrounding areas, such as Ardennes and Eiffel. They mapped geomorphological patterns, studied soil development and looked at relationships between forest vegetation and the landscape in their particular area of approximately five square km, with many steep slopes. They also learned to overcome the physical and social challenges of such a fieldwork. A number of former students of different generations will give their opinion on what they learned and how this period in life helped them shape their current and future careers

Impact of land management on fire resilience and carbon fate in blanket bogs: The FireBlanket project

Maintenance and enhancement of peatland carbon storage is a major policy objective towards meeting greenhouse gas (GHG) targets. Management interventions can influence both the storage capacity and the vulnerability of the stock to climate-change induced increases in drought frequency and severity, and incidence of wildfires. Quantification of these interactions is vital in informing best management practice, but is also challenging, given the ephemeral nature of climatic extremes and the usual paucity of high-quality ground-based observations within an area of interest capable of providing the necessary pre-impact and control data. Following a dry and warm spell in spring 2019, a large wildfire burnt approximately >60 km2 of blanket bog and wet heath within the Flow Country peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland, North Scotland. While the Flow Country is a site of global significance currently under consideration for UNESCO World Heritage Site Status, it has also been substantially modified in places by drainage and notably forestry (670 km2) and is now undergoing rapid and large-scale restoration. Serendipitously, the fire scar impacted the whole range of land-uses and occurred in an area actively used for research, and therefore where some baseline datasets were available. The NERC funded FireBlanket project used this opportunity to investigate how land-uses interacted with wildfire in terms of 1) InSAR-derived “bog breathing” patterns exhibited during the 2018 drought 2) immediate and longer-term effects on vegetation communities 3) export and fate of organic carbon from land to ocean. By understanding how different management strategies of forestry and forest-to-bog restoration influence fire risk and damage, we hope to inform decision-making in the future. Our preliminary results show that in near-natural and restored (drain-blocked) blanket bogs, the drought of 2018 led to a rapid surface compression that maintained near-surface moisture until 2019, in turn reducing the severity of the wildfire. In drained and degraded blanket bogs, this mechanical feedback is absent, due to higher bulk density and differences in vegetation assemblages, notably reduced cover of Sphagnum mosses. In those areas, the 2018 drought led to a rapid and sustained loss of moisture in the upper peat layers, associated with higher burn severity and more pronounced fire damage on vegetation. Furthermore, while DOM concentrations increased post-fire in streams receiving water from all burnt areas compared to unburnt ones, the changes were more pronounced in catchments with man-made drains. Whilst further data processing and analysis is still underway, our study currently suggests that restoration is likely to increase wildfire resilience and reduce wildfire severity. When taking management decisions at the landscape scale, strategic re-wetting around vulnerable areas (e.g. highly degraded or undergoing forest-to-bog management leading to large volumes of brash on the ground) may help reduce the risks of occurrence of large catastrophic wildfires, and help minimise the carbon losses associated with these events

Prolonged sampling of spontaneous sputum improves sensitivity of hypermethylation analysis for lung cancer

Aims The adequacy of lung cancer diagnosis with sputum cytology depends on duration of sputum sampling. The aim of this methodological study was to determine whether the hypermethylation detection rate of RASSF1A, adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) and cytoglobin (CYGB) is influenced by the duration of sputum collection. Methods Prospective sputum samples were collected from 53 lung cancer patients and 47 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients as controls. Subjects collected spontaneous sputum at home during nine consecutive days in three canisters I, II and III (ie, days 1-3, days 4-6, days 7-9, respectively). Quantitative methylation-specific PCR was performed to assess gene promoter methylation status of RASSF1A, APC and CYGB. Results Analysis of each canister separately showed hypermethylation of RASSF1A, APC and/or CYGB in samples I, II and III, in 43%, 40% and 47% of cases, respectively. In control samples, these numbers were 4%, 2% and 4%, respectively. Cumulative analysis for days 1-6 and days 1-9 revealed an increase in sensitivity to 53% and 64%, and specificity of 94% and 91%, respectively. Conclusion Sputum collected over multiple successive days results in a gain in sensitivity for the detection of lung cancer, at the expense of a small loss in specificity. Condensed abstract Assessment of hypermethylation sensitivity of biomarkers in sputum collected over a prolonged period for the detection of lung cancer resulted in a promising gain in sensitivity, at the expense of a small loss in specificit

A priori defined predictors.

<p>Definition of abbreviations: FEV₁ = forced expiratory volume in one second; % pred = percentage of predicted value; PC₂₀ methacholine = the provocative concentration of methacholine that causes a decrease in FEV₁ of 20%; RV/TLC = residual volume/total lung capacity; TLC = total lung capacity; TLCO = diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide.</p><p>5 Domains of potential predictors are listed in the table: (1) packyears; (2) presence of chronic bronchitis; (3) lung function (4) TLCO; and (5) absolute and differential cell counts in induced sputum.</p

Mean values of predictors per stratum per treatment.

<p>^#Index category is defined relative to median value, and represents the more favourable outcome by fluticasone. For example: decline of FEV₁ by fluticasone is diminished (= favourable outcome) in patients with a lower number of packyears (= index category).</p><p>^⊥Reference category is complementary to the index category.</p><p>Values are mean (standard deviation (SD)), unless stated otherwise.</p><p>^║PC₂₀ methacholine is expressed as geometric mean (standard deviation in doubling dose (DD)),</p><p>^‡sputum cells as Geometric mean (GSD).</p><p>Definition of abbreviations: postbr. = postbronchodilator; FEV₁ = forced expiratory volume in one second; % pred = percentage of predicted value; PC₂₀ methacholine = the provocative concentration of methacholine that causes a decrease in FEV₁ of 20%; RV/TLC = residual volume/total lung capacity; TLCO = diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide.</p><p>Mean values of predictors per stratum per treatment.</p

Predictors of attenuation of long-term FEV₁ decline by fluticasone treatment.

<p>Definition of abbreviations: postbr. = postbronchodilator; FEV₁ = forced expiratory volume in one second; % pred = percentage of predicted value; PC₂₀ methacholine = the provocative concentration of methacholine that causes a decrease in FEV₁ of 20%; RV/TLC = residual volume/total lung capacity; TLCO = diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide.</p><p>^#Index category is defined relative to median value, and represents the more favourable outcome by fluticasone. Reference category is complementary. The interaction term (treatment*stratum*time) reflects the additional effect of predictor variables to the effect of treatment with inhaled fluticasone compared to placebo on longitudinal changes in FEV₁. The corresponding P values for predictor variables are reported in Table 4. A favourable effect on decline in FEV₁ would be a decrease in decline caused by inhaled corticosteroids.</p><p>Predictors of attenuation of long-term FEV₁ decline by fluticasone treatment.</p

Patient characteristics at baseline.

<p>^║PC₂₀ methacholine is expressed as geometric mean (standard deviation in doubling dose (DD)).</p><p>^‡range 1 to 5 (higher scores indicate more dyspnea);</p><p>^†range 0 (best) to 100 (worst score);</p><p>^§range 0 (best) to 6 (worst score).</p><p>Definition of abbreviations: postbr. = postbronchodilator; FEV₁ = forced expiratory volume in one second; % pred = percentage of predicted value; PC₂₀ methacholine = the provocative concentration of methacholine that causes a decrease in FEV₁ of 20%; RV/TLC = residual volume/total lung capacity; TLCO = diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide.</p><p>Characteristics of the study population per treatment group at baseline. Data represent mean (SD).</p