Bromine soil/sediment enrichment in tidal salt marshes as a potential indicator of climate changes driven by solar activity: New insights from W coast Portuguese estuaries

This paper aims at providing insight about bromine (Br) cycle in four Portuguese estuaries: Minho, Lima (in the NW coast) and Sado, Mira (in the SW coast). The focus is on their tidal marsh environments, quite distinct with regard to key biophysicochemical attributes. Regardless of the primary bromide (Br-) common natural source, i.e., seawater, the NW marshes present relatively higher surface soil/sediment Br concentrations than the ones from SW coast. This happens in close connection with organic matter (OM) content, and is controlled by their main climatic contexts. Yet, the anthropogenic impact on Br concentrations cannot be discarded. Regarding [Br] spatial patterns across the marshes, the results show a general increase from tidal flat toward high marsh. Maxima [Br] occur in the upper driftline zone, at transition from highest low marsh to high marsh, recognized as a privileged setting for OM accumulation. Based on the discovery of OM ubiquitous bromination in marine and transitional environments, it is assumed that this Br occurs mainly as organobromine. Analysis of two dated sediment cores indicates that, despite having the same age (AD ~1300), the Caminha salt marsh (Minho estuary) evidences higher Br enrichment than the Casa Branca salt marsh (Mira estuary). This is related to a greater Br storage ability, which is linked to OM build-up and rate dynamics under different climate scenarios. Both cores evidence a fairly similar temporal Br enrichment pattern, and may be interpreted in light of the sun-climate coupling. Thereby, most of the well-known Grand Solar Minima during the Little Ice Age appear to have left an imprint on these marshes, supported by higher [Br] in soils/sediments. Besides climate changes driven by solar activity and impacting marsh Br biogeodynamics, those Br enrichment peaks might also reflect inputs of enhanced volcanic activity covarying with Grand Solar Minima.This work was partly supported by IDL through the UID/GEO/50019/2013 program, by C2 TN through the UID/Multi/04349/2013 program, and is a contribution of the project WestLog (PTDC/CTE/105370/2008), funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT). João Moreno benefits from a FCT PhD grant (SFRH/BD/87995/2012). J.J. Gómez-Navarro acknowledges the funding provided through the contract for the return of experienced researches, resolution R-735/2015 of the University of Murcia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Clinical analysis of acute cerebral infarction accompanied with lung cancer

Objective: To analyze the characteristic of coagulation function in non-small cell lung cancer patients with acute cerebral infarction as the initial symptom. Methods: Cases diagnosed as non-small cell lung cancer in our hospital from January 2015 to January 2016 were used for study. Fifteen cases with acute cerebral infarction as the initial symptom were included in experimental group. Thirty-three cases with no initial symptom on acute cerebral infarction were included in control group. Clinical data in patients of two groups were collected, including general information, coagulation function index, thrombelastogram index. Results: The prothrombin time (PT) [(9.69 ± 1.42) vs. (13.04 ± 1.96) s], activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) [(30.14 ± 5.79) vs. (39.34 ± 7.63) s], international normalized ratio (INR) [(0.76 ± 0.10) vs. (1.35 ± 0.22)], coagulation reaction time (R) [(4.76 ± 0.79) vs. (6.11 ± 0.93) min], and blood clot formation time (K) [(1.73 ± 0.21) vs. (6.11 ± 0.93) min] in patients of experimental group were obviously lower than that of in control group. Fibrinogen (FIB) [(5.43 ± 0.89) vs. (2.14 ± 0.36) g/L], D-dimer [(0.84 ± 0.17) vs. 0.30 ± 0.06) mg/L], the maximum amplitude of thrombus (MA) [(65.62 ± 10.34) vs. (48.69 ± 8.61) mm], and α-angle [(68.12 ± 9.51) vs. (60.37 ± 10.29) deg] in patients of experimental group were obviously higher than that in control group. PT, APTT, INR, R value, and K value in patients of tumor node metastasis (TNM) Stage III–IV were significantly lower than that in TNM Stage I–II, and FIB, D-dimer, MA, α-angle were all higher than that in patients of TNM Stage I–II. PT, APTT, INR, R value, K value in patients with lymphatic metastasis were significantly lower than that in patients with no lymph node metastasis, and FIB, D-dimer, MA, α-angle were obviously higher than that in patients with no lymph node metastasis. Conclusions: Patients with non-small cell lung cancer have hypercoagulability and hyperfibrinolysis with acute cerebral infarction as the initial symptom, and coagulation function involved in the development of lung disease

Diabetes predicts long-term disability in an elderly urban cohort: the Northern Manhattan Study

PURPOSE: There is limited data on vascular predictors of long-term disability in Hispanics. We hypothesized: 1) functional status declines over time 2) vascular risk factors predict functional decline. METHODS: The Northern Manhattan Study contains a population-based study of 3298 stroke-free individuals ≥40 years of age, followed for median 11 years. The Barthel index (BI) was assessed annually. Generalized estimating equations and Cox models were adjusted for demographic, medical, and social risk factors. Stroke and myocardial infarction occurring during follow-up were censored in sensitivity analysis. Secondarily, motor and non-motor domains of the BI were analyzed. RESULTS: Mean age (standard deviation) of the cohort (n=3298) was 69.2 (10) years, 37% were male, 52% Hispanic, 22% diabetic, and 74% hypertensive. There was a mean annual decline of 1.02 BI points (p<0.0001). Predictors of decline in BI included age, female sex, diabetes, depression, and normocholesterolemia. Results did not change with censoring. We found similar predictors of BI for motor and non-motor domains. CONCLUSION: In this large, population-based, multi-ethnic study with long-term follow-up, we found a 1% mean decline in function per year that did not change when vascular events were censored. Diabetes predicted functional decline in the absence of clinical vascular events