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- 2019
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)
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| 2. |
- Bentham, James, et al.
(author)
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A century of trends in adult human height
- 2016
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In: eLIFE. - 2050-084X. ; 5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.522.7) and 16.5 cm (13.319.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.
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| 3. |
- Bentham, James, et al.
(author)
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A century of trends in adult human height
- 2016
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In: eLIFE. - : eLife Sciences Publications Ltd. - 2050-084X. ; 5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5–22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3– 19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8– 144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.
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| 4. |
- Cooper, Declan L.M., et al.
(author)
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Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities
- 2024
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In: Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 625:7996, s. 728-734
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations 1–6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories 7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.
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| 5. |
- Tavares, Julia, et al.
(author)
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Basin-wide variation in tree hydraulic safety margins predicts the carbon balance of Amazon forests
- 2023
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In: Nature. - : Springer Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 617:7959, s. 111-117
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Tropical forests face increasing climate risk(1,2), yet our ability to predict their response to climate change is limited by poor understanding of their resistance to water stress. Although xylem embolism resistance thresholds (for example, ?(50)) and hydraulic safety margins (for example, HSM50) are important predictors of drought-induced mortality risk(3-5), little is known about how these vary across Earth's largest tropical forest. Here, we present a pan-Amazon, fully standardized hydraulic traits dataset and use it to assess regional variation in drought sensitivity and hydraulic trait ability to predict species distributions and long-term forest biomass accumulation. Parameters ?(50) and HSM50 vary markedly across the Amazon and are related to average long-term rainfall characteristics. Both ?(50) and HSM50 influence the biogeographical distribution of Amazon tree species. However, HSM50 was the only significant predictor of observed decadal-scale changes in forest biomass. Old-growth forests with wide HSM50 are gaining more biomass than are low HSM(50 )forests. We propose that this may be associated with a growth-mortality trade-off whereby trees in forests consisting of fast-growing species take greater hydraulic risks and face greater mortality risk. Moreover, in regions of more pronounced climatic change, we find evidence that forests are losing biomass, suggesting that species in these regions may be operating beyond their hydraulic limits. Continued climate change is likely to further reduce HSM50 in the Amazon(6,7), with strong implications for the Amazon carbon sink.
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| 6. |
- Marin, Charles, et al.
(author)
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Bone-Forming Capabilities of a Newly Developed NanoHA Composite Alloplast Infused with Collagen : A Pilot Study in the Sheep Mandible
- 2013
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In: International Journal of Dentistry. - : Hindawi Publishing Corporation. - 1687-8728 .- 1687-8736. ; 2013
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Lateral or vertical bone augmentation has always been a challenge, since the site is exposed to constant pressure from the soft tissue, and blood supply only exists from the donor site. Although, for such clinical cases, onlay grafting with autogenous bone is commonly selected, the invasiveness of the secondary surgical site and the relatively fast resorption rate have been reported as a drawback, which motivated the investigation of alternative approaches. This study evaluated the bone-forming capability of a novel nanoHA alloplast infused with collagen graft material made from biodegradable polylactic acid/polyglycolic acid versus a control graft material with the same synthesized alloplast without the nanoHA component and collagen infiltration. The status of newly formed bone and the resorption of the graft material were evaluated at 6 weeks in vivo histologically and three dimensionally by means of 3D microcomputed tomography. The histologic observation showed that newly formed bone ingrowth and internal resorption of the block were observed for the experimental blocks, whereas for the control blocks less bone ingrowth occurred along with lower resorption rate of the block material. The three-dimensional observation indicated that the experimental block maintained the external geometry, but at the same time successfully altered the graft material into bone. It is suggested that the combination of numerous factors contributed to the bone ingrowth and the novel development could be an alternative bone grafting choice.
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| 7. |
- Moura, Camilla C G, et al.
(author)
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Evaluation of human polymorphonuclear behavior on textured titanium and calcium-phosphate coated surfaces
- 2013
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In: Biomedical Materials. - : Bibliopolis, Edizioni di Filosofia e Scienze. - 1748-6041 .- 1748-605X. ; 8:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Few studies have evaluated the effects of titanium (Ti) surface modifications on polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs). Human PMNs' viability and release of key mediators-such as IL1β, IL6, TNFα, IL12, IL10, IL4, TGFβ1, IL8, IP-10, and Mig-were evaluated on three different Ti surface treatments: (1) machined Ti; (2) alumina-blasted and acid-etched Ti (AB/AE); and (3) calcium phosphate coating of 300-500 nm by ion beam onto the AB/AE Ti surface (CaP). A polystyrene surface was used as a negative control. The PMNs were purified from whole human blood and cultured for 6 h. Cell viability was determined by flow cytometry, and the supernatant was evaluated to determine the levels of cytokines and chemokines. Results showed that the percentage of viable cells was significantly lower on the CaP surface compared to the control (p < 0.05) relative to the other groups. No differences in the levels of IL8, MIG, and IP10 were detected between groups. Significantly higher levels of IL1β (p = 0.046) and TNFα (p = 0.016) were detected for the CaP surfaces compared to AB/AE surface only. The levels of IL4, IL10, and TGFβ1 secreted from the PMNs in the CaP group were significantly lower than in the control and machined groups (p < 0.05) that were statistically comparable to AB/AE. Overall, the addition of a thin CaP coating to the AB/AE Ti surface influenced the secretion profile of pro-inflammatory cytokines due to the higher release of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL1β and TNFα) on these surfaces.
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| 8. |
- Moura, Camilla G, et al.
(author)
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Evaluation of osteogenic cell culture and osteogenic/peripheral blood mononuclear human cell co-culture on modified titanium surfaces
- 2013
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In: Biomedical Materials. - : Bibliopolis, Edizioni di Filosofia e Scienze. - 1748-6041 .- 1748-605X. ; 8:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study aimed to determine the effect of a bioactive ceramic coating on titanium in the nanothickness range on human osteogenic cells, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and on osteogenic cells co-cultured with PBMC without exogenous stimuli. Cell viability, proliferation, adhesion, cytokine release (IL1β, TGFβ1, IL10 and IL17) and intracellular stain for osteopontin and alkaline phosphatase were assessed. Morphologic evaluation showed smaller and less spread cell aspects in co-culture relative to osteogenic cell culture. Cell viability, proliferation and adhesion kinetics were differently influenced by surface texture/chemistry in culture versus co-culture. Cytokine release was also influenced by the interaction between mononuclear and osteogenic cells (mediators released by mononuclear cells acted on osteogenic cells and vice versa). In general, 'multi-cell type' interactions played a more remarkable role than the surface roughness or chemistry utilized on the in vitro cellular events related to initial stages of bone formation.
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| 9. |
- Tyndall, Anthony J., et al.
(author)
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Causes and risk factors for death in systemic sclerosis: a study from the EULAR Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) database
- 2010
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In: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. - : BMJ. - 1468-2060 .- 0003-4967. ; 69:10, s. 1809-1815
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objectives To determine the causes and predictors of mortality in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Methods Patients with SSc (n=5860) fulfilling the American College of Rheumatology criteria and prospectively followed in the EULAR Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) cohort were analysed. EUSTAR centres completed a structured questionnaire on cause of death and comorbidities. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyse survival in SSc subgroups and to identify predictors of mortality. Results Questionnaires were obtained on 234 of 284 fatalities. 55% of deaths were attributed directly to SSc and 41% to non-SSc causes; in 4% the cause of death was not assigned. Of the SSc-related deaths, 35% were attributed to pulmonary fibrosis, 26% to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and 26% to cardiac causes (mainly heart failure and arrhythmias). Among the non-SSc-related causes, infections (33%) and malignancies (31%) were followed by cardiovascular causes (29%). Of the non-SSc-related fatalities, 25% died of causes in which SSc-related complications may have participated (pneumonia, sepsis and gastrointestinal haemorrhage). Independent risk factors for mortality and their HR were: proteinuria (HR 3.34), the presence of PAH based on echocardiography (HR 2.02), pulmonary restriction (forced vital capacity below 80% of normal, HR 1.64), dyspnoea above New York Heart Association class II (HR 1.61), diffusing capacity of the lung (HR 1.20 per 10% decrease), patient age at onset of Raynaud's phenomenon (HR 1.30 per 10 years) and the modified Rodnan skin score (HR 1.20 per 10 score points). Conclusion Disease-related causes, in particular pulmonary fibrosis, PAH and cardiac causes, accounted for the majority of deaths in SSc.
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| 10. |
- Vandeweghe, Stefan, et al.
(author)
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Utilizing micro-computed tomography to evaluate bone structure surrounding dental implants : a comparison with histomorphometry
- 2013
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In: Journal of Biomedical Materials Research. Part B - Applied biomaterials. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1552-4973 .- 1552-4981. ; 101:7, s. 1259-1266
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Although histology has proven to be a reliable method to evaluate the ossoeintegration of a dental implant, it is costly, time consuming, destructive, and limited to one or few sections. Microcomputed tomography (µCT) is fast and delivers three-dimensional information, but this technique has not been widely used and validated for histomorphometric parameters yet. This study compared µCT and histomorphometry by means of evaluating their accuracy in determining the bone response to two different implant materials. In total, 32 titanium (Ti) and 16 hydroxyapatite (HA) implants were installed in 16 lop-eared rabbits. After 2 and 4 weeks, the animals were scarified, and the samples retrieved. After embedding, the samples were scanned with µCT and analyzed three-dimensionally for bone area (BA) and bone-implant contact (BIC). Thereafter, all samples were sectioned and stained for histomorphometry. For the Ti implants, the mean BIC was 25.25 and 28.86% after 2 and 4 weeks, respectively, when measured by histomorphometry, while it was 24.11 and 24.53% when measured with µCT. BA was 35.4 and 31.97% after 2 and 4 weeks for histomorphometry and 29.06 and 27.65% for µCT. For the HA implants, the mean BIC was 28.49 and 42.51% after 2 and 4 weeks, respectively, when measured by histomorphometry, while it was 33.74 and 42.19% when measured with µCT. BA was 30.59 and 47.17% after 2 and 4 weeks for histomorphometry and 37.16 and 44.95% for µCT. Direct comparison showed that only the 2 weeks BA for the titanium implants was significantly different between µCT and histology (p = 0.008). Although the technique has its limitations, µCT corresponded well with histomorphometry and should be considered as a tool to evaluate bone structure around implants.
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