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- Wormser, David, et al.
(author)
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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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In: International Journal of Epidemiology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0300-5771 .- 1464-3685. ; 41:5, s. 1419-1433
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 3. |
- Jarvis, Nicholas, et al.
(author)
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Modelling the effects of bioturbation on the re-distribution of 137Cs in an undisturbed grassland soil
- 2010
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In: European Journal of Soil Science. - : Wiley. - 1351-0754 .- 1365-2389. ; 61, s. 24-34
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Summary Under favourable conditions, soil ingestion by earthworm populations can be equivalent to approximately 5–10% of the topsoil mass per year. This suggests that for contaminants that are strongly bound to soil, earthworm ‘bioturbation’ may be a more important transport mechanism than water-borne advection dispersion. It is therefore quite surprising that few modelling studies to date have explicitly considered the effects of biological processes on contaminant transport in soil. In this study, we present a general model that incorporates the effects of both ‘local’ and ‘non-local’ biological mixing into the framework of the standard physical (advective-dispersive) transport model. The model is tested against measurements of the redistribution of caesium-137 (137Cs) derived from the Chernobyl accident, in a grassland soil during 21 years after fallout. Three model parameters related to biological transport were calibrated within ranges defined by measured data and literature information on earthworm biomasses and feeding rates. Other parameters such as decay half-life and sorption constant were set to known or measured values. A physical advective-dispersive transport model based on measured sorption strongly underestimated the downward displacement of 137Cs. A dye-tracing experiment suggested the occurrence of physical non-equilibrium transport in soil macropores, but this was inadequate to explain the extent of the deep penetration of 137Cs observed at the site. A simple bio-diffusion model representing ‘local’ mixing worked reasonably well, but failed to reproduce the deep penetration of Cs as well as a dilution observed close to the soil surface. A comprehensive model including physical advectivedispersive transport, and both ‘local’ and ‘non-local’ mixing caused by the activities of both endogeic and anecic earthworms, gave an excellent match to the measured depth profiles of 137Cs, with predictions mostly lying within confidence intervals for the means of measured data and model efficiencies exceeding 0.9 on all sampling occasions but the first
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| 5. |
- Taylor, Astrid
(author)
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Impact of microarthropod biomass on the composition of the soil fauna community and ecosystem processes
- 2010
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In: European Journal of Soil Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1164-5563 .- 1778-3615. ; 46, s. 80-86
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The effect of soil organisms on ecosystem processes strongly depends on the composition of the overall community. Community composition however undergoes constant shifts due to pronounced spatio-temporal patterns in biomass and abundance of individual fauna groups. On this background the present experiment aimed to assess the potential impacts of shifts in the biomass of a dominant soil fauna group (microarthropods) on total community composition and on ecosystem processes mediated by fauna or microbes (e.g. decomposition, nitrogen mineralization).Microcosms, filled with spruce litter, hosted soil fauna communities that either contained ambient microarthropod biomass (control) or two elevated levels of microarthropod biomass (1.5 and 2 fold increase), while initial microbial biomass and that of other faunal groups remained unaltered. After an incubation period of 2 months, the biomass of microorganisms and fauna groups as well as ecosystem process variables were determined.The increase in microarthropod biomass at the investigated levels induced changes in the faunal community; mainly via negative or positive feeding interactions between microarthropods and the affected animal groups (Enchytraeidae, Nematoda). The abundance and activity of microorganisms at lower trophic levels however remained unaffected by these alterations; buffering the effect of shifts in the community structure on ecosystem processes. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
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| 6. |
- Taylor, Astrid, et al.
(author)
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Tree hollows harbour a specialised oribatid mite fauna
- 2014
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In: Journal of Insect Conservation. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1366-638X .- 1572-9753. ; 18, s. 39-55
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Tree hollows are known to harbour a species-rich and specialized beetle fauna, while other invertebrates, such as for instance mites, have been much less studied. The importance of hollows in oak trees (Quercus robur) for local oribatid mite diversity was studied at three sites in south eastern Sweden. The qualitative and quantitative composition of the oribatid mite fauna was studied in hollows of fifteen 240-420 years old oak trees and compared to that in the surrounding soil. A total of 5,530 specimen of adult oribatid mites were determined belonging to 63 taxa. Taxonomic composition and community structure of the tree hollow communities differed markedly from the soil communities. The most dominant and frequent component of the tree hollow communities comprised a Carabodes species new to Sweden that accounted on average for 44 % of all Oribatida. This species, that closely resembles both Carabodes oenipontanus and Carabodes granulatus, was specific to the tree hollows. Dominance patterns in the soil communities were more even, with the most common taxa also occurring in the tree hollows but exhibiting a significant preference for the soil. Overall, there was little taxonomic overlap between the communities, suggesting that tree hollows harbour an independent mite community from the soil and therefore significantly contribute to the overall mite diversity on the landscape level. The present study therefore strongly supports the use of hollow trees as biodiversity indicators and also their conservation, which will preserve specialised invertebrate communities, including mites.
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