| 1. |
- Wormser, David, et al.
(författare)
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Adult height and the risk of cause-specific death and vascular morbidity in 1 million people : individual participant meta-analysis
- 2012
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Ingår i: International Journal of Epidemiology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0300-5771 .- 1464-3685. ; 41:5, s. 1419-1433
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundThe extent to which adult height, a biomarker of the interplay of genetic endowment and early-life experiences, is related to risk of chronic diseases in adulthood is uncertain.MethodsWe calculated hazard ratios (HRs) for height, assessed in increments of 6.5 cm, using individual-participant data on 174 374 deaths or major non-fatal vascular outcomes recorded among 1 085 949 people in 121 prospective studies.ResultsFor people born between 1900 and 1960, mean adult height increased 0.5-1 cm with each successive decade of birth. After adjustment for age, sex, smoking and year of birth, HRs per 6.5 cm greater height were 0.97 (95% confidence interval: 0.96-0.99) for death from any cause, 0.94 (0.93-0.96) for death from vascular causes, 1.04 (1.03-1.06) for death from cancer and 0.92 (0.90-0.94) for death from other causes. Height was negatively associated with death from coronary disease, stroke subtypes, heart failure, stomach and oral cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, mental disorders, liver disease and external causes. In contrast, height was positively associated with death from ruptured aortic aneurysm, pulmonary embolism, melanoma and cancers of the pancreas, endocrine and nervous systems, ovary, breast, prostate, colorectum, blood and lung. HRs per 6.5 cm greater height ranged from 1.26 (1.12-1.42) for risk of melanoma death to 0.84 (0.80-0.89) for risk of death from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. HRs were not appreciably altered after further adjustment for adiposity, blood pressure, lipids, inflammation biomarkers, diabetes mellitus, alcohol consumption or socio-economic indicators.ConclusionAdult height has directionally opposing relationships with risk of death from several different major causes of chronic diseases.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Tinetti, G., et al.
(författare)
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A chemical survey of exoplanets with ARIEL
- 2018
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Ingår i: Experimental Astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 46:1, s. 135-209
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Thousands of exoplanets have now been discovered with a huge range of masses, sizes and orbits: from rocky Earth-like planets to large gas giants grazing the surface of their host star. However, the essential nature of these exoplanets remains largely mysterious: there is no known, discernible pattern linking the presence, size, or orbital parameters of a planet to the nature of its parent star. We have little idea whether the chemistry of a planet is linked to its formation environment, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s birth, and evolution. ARIEL was conceived to observe a large number (~1000) of transiting planets for statistical understanding, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a range of host star types using transit spectroscopy in the 1.25–7.8 μm spectral range and multiple narrow-band photometry in the optical. ARIEL will focus on warm and hot planets to take advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres which should show minimal condensation and sequestration of high-Z materials compared to their colder Solar System siblings. Said warm and hot atmospheres are expected to be more representative of the planetary bulk composition. Observations of these warm/hot exoplanets, and in particular of their elemental composition (especially C, O, N, S, Si), will allow the understanding of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation during the nebular phase and the following few million years. ARIEL will thus provide a representative picture of the chemical nature of the exoplanets and relate this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. ARIEL is designed as a dedicated survey mission for combined-light spectroscopy, capable of observing a large and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. Transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy methods, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allow us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of 10–100 part per million (ppm) relative to the star and, given the bright nature of targets, also allows more sophisticated techniques, such as eclipse mapping, to give a deeper insight into the nature of the atmosphere. These types of observations require a stable payload and satellite platform with broad, instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect many molecular species, probe the thermal structure, identify clouds and monitor the stellar activity. The wavelength range proposed covers all the expected major atmospheric gases from e.g. H2O, CO2, CH4 NH3, HCN, H2S through to the more exotic metallic compounds, such as TiO, VO, and condensed species. Simulations of ARIEL performance in conducting exoplanet surveys have been performed – using conservative estimates of mission performance and a full model of all significant noise sources in the measurement – using a list of potential ARIEL targets that incorporates the latest available exoplanet statistics. The conclusion at the end of the Phase A study, is that ARIEL – in line with the stated mission objectives – will be able to observe about 1000 exoplanets depending on the details of the adopted survey strategy, thus confirming the feasibility of the main science objectives.
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| 4. |
- Arrazola Vasquez, Elsa, et al.
(författare)
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Earthworm burrowing modes and rates depend on earthworm species and soil mechanical resistance
- 2022
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Ingår i: Applied Soil Ecology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0929-1393 .- 1873-0272. ; 178
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Earthworms drive multiple soil processes, but their specific impact on soil functions differs between earthworm species and ecological categories. A key challenge in modern agriculture is soil compaction due to heavy ma-chinery, but we have limited quantitative knowledge about how the burrowing activity of different earthworm species is affected by compaction. Here, we address this question in a laboratory experiment with 2-D terraria, where we used Aporrectodea caliginosa (Savigny, 1826) and Aporrectodea longa (Ude, 1885) as representatives of two different ecological categories. We exposed both species to four different soil mechanical resistance levels and monitored their burrowing activity for three days. We quantified burrowing rates and cast production, assessed the burrowing mode, and estimated energy requirements as a function of soil mechanical resistance. The results showed that the burrowing rates of both earthworm species significantly decreased with increasing soil mechanical resistance, but that the impact was species-dependent and lower for A. longa. Earthworms changed their burrowing mode towards ingestion when soil mechanical resistance increased, and this shift was more prominent for A. caliginosa that primarily burrowed via cavity expansion (i.e. by pushing soil aside) at low soil mechanical resistance. We further show that energy requirement and cast produced per unit burrow length increased with soil mechanical resistance. Our study revealed significant and species-dependent adverse effects of soil mechanical resistance on earthworm burrowing, which in turn has consequences for many soil processes mediated by earthworms, such as water infiltration, soil aeration, nutrient cycling and soil organic matter turnover.
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| 5. |
- Bengtsson, Jan, et al.
(författare)
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Towards valuation of biodiversity in agricultural soils: A case for earthworms
- 2019
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Ingår i: Ecological Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-8009 .- 1873-6106. ; 159, s. 291-300
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Soil biodiversity is deteriorating in Europe due to an on-going intensification of agriculture, climate change and food production supporting measures of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Nevertheless, the CAP tries to take biodiversity into account via proposing a range of agri-environmental measures. These ES contribute to food security, climate change mitigation, water retention and plant biomass growth. Healthy soils also help to prevent erosion, desertification, and landslides and to stabilise crop yields. The provision of ES by soil biota is a result of their impact on soil processes in interaction with soil conditions as well as soil management practices of the farmers such as tillage or crop rotations. Some taxa amongst soil biota play key roles in regulating soil processes. With respect to biocontrol of soil-borne pests, the earthworm species Lumbricus terrestris is known to play an important role in suppressing toxigenic plant pathogens, such as Fusarium culmorum and its mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON). We highlight the importance of earthworms for pest control to conceptualise and show how farmers' management practices influence soil ecosystem services and outline how this can be examined in a socio-ecological context by providing a concrete example of an economical evaluation of ES provided by earthworms.
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| 6. |
- Chami, Nathalie, et al.
(författare)
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Exome Genotyping Identifies Pleiotropic Variants Associated with Red Blood Cell Traits
- 2016
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Ingår i: American Journal of Human Genetics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0002-9297 .- 1537-6605. ; 99:1, s. 8-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Red blood cell (RBC) traits are important heritable clinical biomarkers and modifiers of disease severity. To identify coding genetic variants associated with these traits, we conducted meta-analyses of seven RBC phenotypes in 130,273 multi-ethnic individuals from studies genotyped on an exome array. After conditional analyses and replication in 27,480 independent individuals, we identified 16 new RBC variants. We found low-frequency missense variants in MAP1A (rs55707100, minor allele frequency [MAF] = 3.3%, p = 2 x 10(-10) for hemoglobin [HGB]) and HNF4A (rs1800961, MAF = 2.4%, p < 3 x 10(-8) for hematocrit [HCT] and HGB). In African Americans, we identified a nonsense variant in CD36 associated with higher RBC distribution width (rs3211938, MAF = 8.7%, p = 7 x 10(-11)) and showed that it is associated with lower CD36 expression and strong allelic imbalance in ex vivo differentiated human erythroblasts. We also identified a rare missense variant in ALAS2 (rs201062903, MAF = 0.2%) associated with lower mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (p < 8 x 10(-9)). Mendelian mutations in ALAS2 are a cause of sideroblastic anemia and erythropoietic protoporphyria. Gene-based testing highlighted three rare missense variants in PKLR, a gene mutated in Mendelian non-spherocytic hemolytic anemia, associated with HGB and HCT (SKAT p < 8 x 10(-7)). These rare, low-frequency, and common RBC variants showed pleiotropy, being also associated with platelet, white blood cell, and lipid traits. Our association results and functional annotation suggest the involvement of new genes in human erythropoiesis. We also confirm that rare and low-frequency variants play a role in the architecture of complex human traits, although their phenotypic effect is generally smaller than originally anticipated.
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| 7. |
- Faber, Jack H., et al.
(författare)
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Stocktaking for Agricultural Soil Quality and Ecosystem Services Indicators and their Reference Values : EJP SOIL Internal Project SIREN Deliverable 2
- 2022
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The SIREN project has made an inventory of indicator systems for assessing soil quality and ecosystem services derived from agricultural soils, as currently used by Member States associated in the EJP SOIL program and beyond. The project aimed to identify and review the national approaches to make use of soil data in the assessment of soil-related ecosystem services, and has surveyed the knowledge gaps and needs for development hindering policy implementation as experienced in the 20 countries participating in the SIREN consortium. A comprehensive conceptual framework linking soil quality to ecosystem services has been collated from earlier proposals in the scientific literature, unifying various concepts associated with soil quality and ecosystem services, and providing a glossary of consistent terminology. SIREN has also taken stock of evaluation criteria for indicators of soil quality as implemented in national soil monitoring schemes. Based on reviews of literature, international policy, international stakeholder views, wide application in national soil monitoring and application in EU projects contributing to agricultural soil quality assessment, a synthesis was produced of policy-relevant soil quality indicators with high potential for harmonised application in national and European monitoring. A tiered approach is proposed for implementation of such a minimum dataset.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Heinen, Janina, et al.
(författare)
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Combining organic fertilisation and perennial crops in the rotation enhances arthropod communities
- 2023
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Ingår i: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0167-8809 .- 1873-2305. ; 349
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Single and combined diversification practices in crop fields and their effects on arthropod predators, decomposers and herbivores have mainly been assessed in small plot and cage experiments. In particular, effects of diversification on arthropod predators and their food resources, such as soil fauna, weed seeds and herbivorous prey in entire crop fields across the growing season, remain unclear. We explored how organic fertilisers, with or without the legacy of perennial ley in the crop rotation, and mineral fertiliser without the legacy of perennial ley, affected below- and aboveground communities in 19 spring cereal crop fields. In each field, we determined the abundance of the soil mesofauna, communities of arthropod prey aboveground and of the predator guilds carabids, staphylinids and spiders. We sampled at three crop stages: tillering, heading and ripening. Weed cover and soil characteristics, such as carbon and nitrogen content, were assessed. For most soil mesofauna groups, the combination of organic fertiliser with the legacy of ley gave highest, organic fertiliser with annual crop rotations intermediate, and mineral fertiliser with annual crop rotations the lowest total abundance. Aboveground arthropod prey abundances were similar across treatments. The legacy of ley increased richness of all aboveground arthropod predators. Staphylinid communities' abundance increased additively as diversification treatments were combined during tillering of the crop. Increasing organic amendments, alongside the reduced disturbances through inclusion of perennial ley in the rotation, led to more abundant communities below- and aboveground as well as more richness in aboveground predator communities.
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| 10. |
- Hylén, Astrid, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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In situ characterization of benthic fluxes and denitrification efficiency in a newly re-established mussel farm
- 2021
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 782
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mussel farming has been proposed as a mechanism to mitigate eutrophication in coastal waters. However, localizing the intensive filtration of organic matter by mussels can cause a concomitant enrichment of organic matter in sediments below farms, which may influence biogeochemical processes and fates of nutrients in the system. In the context of mitigating eutrophication, it is important to quantify sedimentary changes induced at early life stages of mussel farms. Accordingly, this study investigated how a newly re-established mussel farm affected sedimentation rates, sediment characteristics, sediment-water solute fluxes and nitrate (NO3−) reduction rates (measured in situ) during the first year of production. Sedimentation rates were enhanced at the farm relative to a reference station, and both organic and inorganic carbon accumulated in the sediment with time. Increased organic matter input likely drove the slightly elevated sedimentary effluxes of ammonium (NH4+) and dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) in the farm. Denitrification was the main NO3− reduction process, however, there was a relative increase in the remobilization of bioavailable nitrogen underneath the farm as dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) rates were enhanced by >200% and the denitrification efficiency was 49% lower compared to the reference station. The sedimentary methane (CH4) release tended to be higher at the farm, but fluxes were not significantly different from reference conditions. Low sedimentary pigment concentrations indicated a reduced presence of benthic microalgae at the farm, which likely influenced sediment-water solute fluxes. Over the production cycle, the release of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and DIP underneath the farm were respectively 426% and 510% relative to reference conditions. Impacts of the mussel farm were thus measurable already during the first year of establishment. These immediate changes to the sediment biogeochemistry, as well as long-term effects, should be considered when estimating the environmental impact of mussel aquaculture.
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