Assessing the contribution of beach-cast seagrass wrack to global GHGs emissions: experimental models, problems and perspectives

6openopenGloria Misson, Guido Incerti, Giorgio Alberti, Gemini Delle Vedove, Tiziana Pirelli, Alessandro PeressottiMisson, Gloria; Incerti, Guido; Giorgio, Alberti; Gemini Delle Vedove, ; Tiziana, Pirelli; Alessandro, Peressott

Bioenergy and nutrition: Positive linkages for the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Bioenergy and nutrition represent two key elements in maintaining health andwell-being. Bioenergy is a form of renewable energy produced from organicmaterials, which can be used for generating power, while nutrition, on theother hand, is related to the ability of food to provide the proper nutrients toliving beings and the factors that make up a healthy diet. The 2030 SustainableDevelopment Agenda has brought considerable attention to the importance offood security and nutrition, particularly under SDG2, while concurrentlyhighlighting the need to ensure affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modernenergy access for all under SDG7. The accomplishment of these two Goals iscrucial for almost all others, as they are closely interconnected with manycross-cutting elements and commonly framed in the Water Energy FoodNexus. In this context, modern bioenergy has the potential to aid in the accom-plishment of the SDGs, when value chains and conversion processes aredesigned and managed in an appropriate and sustainable manner. Neverthe-less, the positive relationship between bioenergy and nutrition is an over-looked nexus, whose analysis has been too often limited to the competition forresources, such as land, water, energy, and other inputs. Considering this, thepresent review was developed for both the nutrition and bioenergy communi-ties to begin to overcome the limits of the food versus fuel paradigm, by ana-lyzing this intricate nexus and bringing to light interlinkages and potentialsynergies existing between bioenergy and nutrition. So far, such linkagesappear indirect or implied, therefore further research in this area would bebeneficial. The strongest links between bioenergy and nutrition identifiedinclude: greater cooking efficiency, reduced indoor air pollution, and improvedenvironmental sanitation through bioenergy clean cooking solutions; energyaccess for transporting, storing, and cooking food, thus reducing food loss and waste and diversifying diets; improved soil fertility through Carbon Captureand Storage (CCS), phytoremediation, and integrated biomass production sys-tems; and better rural livelihoods and increased income by introducing bio-energy production and use as a circular economy practice. The majorsignificance of this review is the identification of examples of good practicesapplied along the different stages of the bioenergy value chain with potentialco-benefits for nutrition. In this way, this work aims to provide preliminaryfindings for researchers to better determine the ways in which bioenergy canbe deployed to improve global nutrition

Barriers and opportunities of soil knowledge to address soil challenges: Stakeholders? perspectives across Europe

Climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soil is critical to improve soil health, enhance food and water security, contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity preservation, and improve human health and wellbeing. The European Joint Programme for Soil (EJP SOIL) started in 2020 with the aim to significantly improve soil management knowledge and create a sustainable and integrated European soil research system. EJP SOIL involves more than 350 scientists across 24 Countries and has been addressing multiple aspects associated with soil management across different European agroecosystems. This study summarizes the key findings of stakeholder consultations conducted at the national level across 20 countries with the aim to identify important barriers and challenges currently affecting soil knowledge but also assess opportunities to overcome these obstacles. Our findings demonstrate that there is significant room for improvement in terms of knowledge production, dissemination and adoption. Among the most important barriers identified by consulted stakeholders are technical, political, social and economic obstacles, which strongly limit the development and full exploitation of the outcomes of soil research. The main soil challenge across consulted member states remains to improve soil organic matter and peat soil conservation while soil water storage capacity is a key challenge in Southern Europe. Findings from this study clearly suggest that going forward climate-smart sustainable soil management will benefit from (1) increases in research funding, (2) the maintenance and valorisation of long-term (field) ex-periments, (3) the creation of knowledge sharing networks and interlinked national and European in-frastructures, and (4) the development of regionally-tailored soil management strategies. All the above -mentioned interventions can contribute to the creation of healthy, resilient and sustainable soil ecosystems across Europe

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

MINERAL NITROGEN AND BIOCHAR: ISOTHERM ADSORPTION AND SUBSTRATE-PLANT INTERACTIONS STUDIES

The general purpose of this thesis was to focus on biochar and N chemical interactions, particularly referring to ammonium-nitrogen (NH4+-N) adsorption onto biochar, in order to clarify whether this mechanism could be responsible for the biochar effects on the N cycle in the soil eventually altering the N use efficiency of plants. The first specific objective was to elucidate the mechanisms that control the adsorption of NH4+-N onto biochar. For this purpose the effect of biochar ashes on NH4+-N adsorption was tested under controlled pH conditions and at different temperatures. Ammonium was selected instead of nitrate because: i) it is the main form of N adsorbed by biochar, since biochar is mainly characterized by the presence of negative charges; ii) it is the first mineral N form produced from soil organic matter mineralization; iii) it is the first form of N derived from urea degradation and urea is the N fertilizer most used worldwide; iv) it is the substrate used by nitrifying bacteria for the production of nitrate. This research aims to understand if the cation exchange capacity of biochar or its surface acidic groups are useful indicator to predict the biochar NH4+-N adsorption potential. A second scope of this research was to test if the N use efficiency of plant is affected by the enrichment of biochar with N fertilizer. The adsorption of NH4+-N fertilizer in a suspension with BC was compared with the conventional practice of applying N fertiliser directly on substrate. The underlying hypothesis was that the adsorption of NH4+ ions could negatively affect the N availability for plants, by subtracting mineral N to the cultivation system. Moreover biochar was tested as substitute of the most commonly used natural, but not eco-friendly, pot growing substrates: peat, perlite and zeolite. If biochar demonstrated to be suitable as amendment for soilless substrate it might contribute to the conservation of non-renewable peatland ecosystems, which are largely recognized for their role in biodiversity and C conservation

Stakeholders' Perception of Bioenergy Projects in Marginal and Underutilized Lands in Italy

Large land areas in European countries can be considered marginal, underutilized, and contaminated (MUC). Many recent studies have shown that bioenergy crop cultivation can make this land profitable, creating new income opportunities for local citizens without interfering with food production. However, farmers, landowners, and local communities must become more familiar with bioenergy systems, potential value chains, and markets. This paper aims to present the results of stakeholder consultations implemented in two case study areas in Italy, i.e., Basilicata and Sardinia, about the possible establishment of bioenergy systems in the MUC land available at the local level. Stakeholders' perceptions were collected through interviews conducted on a one-to-one basis and through multi-stakeholder working group meetings organized in the context of BIOPLAT-EU, an H2020 project aimed at promoting the efficacy and profitability of using MUC land for sustainable bioenergy production. By and large, the findings of the consultations indicate that local stakeholders are prone to accept the establishment of innovative bioenergy value chains based on the cultivation of MUC lands in their regions. The majority of them recognized that bioenergy could bring a wide range of benefits at the local level, not only in terms of environmental externalities but also of economic and social development, such as through the creation of new business and job opportunities, therefore serving to alleviate or prevent the land abandonment and population decline currently on-going in these areas

Barriers and opportunities of soil knowledge to address soil challenges : Stakeholders’ perspectives across Europe

Climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soil is critical to improve soil health, enhance food and water security, contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity preservation, and improve human health and wellbeing. The European Joint Programme for Soil (EJP SOIL) started in 2020 with the aim to significantly improve soil management knowledge and create a sustainable and integrated European soil research system. EJP SOIL involves more than 350 scientists across 24 Countries and has been addressing multiple aspects associated with soil management across different European agroecosystems. This study summarizes the key findings of stakeholder consultations conducted at the national level across 20 countries with the aim to identify important barriers and challenges currently affecting soil knowledge but also assess opportunities to overcome these obstacles. Our findings demonstrate that there is significant room for improvement in terms of knowledge production, dissemination and adoption. Among the most important barriers identified by consulted stakeholders are technical, political, social and economic obstacles, which strongly limit the development and full exploitation of the outcomes of soil research. The main soil challenge across consulted member states remains to improve soil organic matter and peat soil conservation while soil water storage capacity is a key challenge in Southern Europe. Findings from this study clearly suggest that going forward climate-smart sustainable soil management will benefit from (1) increases in research funding, (2) the maintenance and valorisation of long-term (field) experiments, (3) the creation of knowledge sharing networks and interlinked national and European infrastructures, and (4) the development of regionally-tailored soil management strategies. All the above-mentioned interventions can contribute to the creation of healthy, resilient and sustainable soil ecosystems across Europe