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The UK sixth carbon budget has recommended domestic biomass supply should increase to meet growing demand, planting a minimum of 30,000 hectares of perennial energy crops a year by 2035, with a view to establishing 700,000 hectares by 2050 to meet the requirements of the balanced net zero pathway. Miscanthus is a key biomass crop to scale up domestic biomass production in the United Kingdom. A cohesive land management strategy, based on robust evidence, will be required to ensure upscaling of miscanthus cultivation maximizes the environmental and economic benefits and minimizes undesirable consequences. This review examines research into available land areas, environmental impacts, barriers to uptake, and the challenges, benefits, and trade‐offs required to upscale miscanthus production on arable land and grassland in the United Kingdom. Expansion of perennial biomass crops has been considered best restricted to marginal land, less suited to food production. The review identifies a trade‐off between avoiding competition with food production and a risk of encroaching on areas containing high‐biodiversity or high‐carbon stocks, such as semi‐natural grasslands. If areas of land suitable for food production are needed to produce the biomass required for emission reduction, the review indicates there are multiple strategies for miscanthus to complement long‐term food security rather than compete with it. On arable land, a miscanthus rotation with a cycle length of 10–20 years can be employed as fallow period for fields experiencing yield decline, soil fatigue, or persistent weed problems. On improved grassland areas, miscanthus presents an option for diversification, flood mitigation, and water quality improvement. Strategies need to be developed to integrate miscanthus into farming systems in a way that is profitable, sensitive to local demand, climate, and geography, and complements rather than competes with food production by increasing overall farm profitability and resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil is a huge carbon (C) reservoir, but where and how much extra C can be stored is unknown. Current methods to estimate the maximum amount of mineral‐associated organic carbon (MAOC) stabilized in the fine fraction (clay + silt, <20μm$$ <20\;\upmu \mathrm{m} $$) fit through the MAOC versus clay + silt relationship, not their maxima, making their estimates more uncertain and unreliable. We need a function that 'envelopes' that relationship. Here, using 5089 observations, we estimated that the uppermost 30 cm of Australian soil holds 13 Gt (10–18 Gt) of MAOC. We then fitted frontier lines, by soil type, to the relationship between MAOC and the percentage of clay + silt to estimate the maximum amounts of MAOC that Australian soils could store in their current environments, and calculated the MAOC deficit, or C sequestration potential. We propagated the uncertainties from the frontier line fitting and mapped the estimates of these values over Australia using machine learning and kriging with external drift. The maps show regions where the soil is more in MAOC deficit and has greater sequestration potential. The modelling shows that the variation over the whole continent is determined mainly by climate, linked to vegetation and soil mineralogy. We find that the MAOC deficit in Australian soil is 40 Gt (25–60 Gt). The deficit in the vast rangelands is 20.84 Gt (13.97–29.70 Gt) and the deficit in cropping soil is 1.63 Gt (1.12–2.32 Gt). Management could increase C sequestration in these regions if the climate allowed it. Our findings provide new information on the C sequestration potential of Australian soils and highlight priority regions for soil management. Australia could benefit environmentally, socially and economically by unlocking even a tiny portion of its soil's C sequestration potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied over 222,000 cases of emergency veterinary consultations in four regions along the eastern coast of Australia. We found that cases of tick paralysis (TP) caused by the eastern paralysis tick, Ixodes holocyclus, accounted for 7.5% of these cases: >16,000 cases. The season of TP and the number (prevalence) of TP cases varied among regions and over the years. Our study of the association between weather and (i) the start of the season of TP, and (ii) the number of TP cases revealed much about the intricate relationship between the weather and I. holocyclus. We studied the effect of the hypothetical availability of isoxazoline‐containing tick‐preventative medicines and found that an increase in the availability of these medicines had significantly contributed to the decrease in TP cases. We found that the weather in winter accounted for the time of the year the season of TP starts whereas the weather in summer accounted for the number of TP cases in the TP season. Last, through a study of the effects of shifts in the climate under four hypothetical scenarios (warmer/cooler and drier/wetter than average), we propose that the start of the season of TP depends on how soon the weather in winter becomes suitable for the activity (e.g. host‐seeking) and the development of I. holocyclus nymphs, and that the number of TP cases during the TP season depends on how many engorged female ticks and their eggs survive during summer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Kriging is a means of spatial prediction that can be used for soil properties. It is a form of weighted local averaging. It is optimal in the sense that it provides estimates of values at unrecorded places without bias and with minimum and known variance. Isarithmic maps made by kriging are alternatives to conventional soil maps where properties can be measured at close spacings. Kriging depends on first computing an accurate semi‐variogram, which measures the nature of spatial dependence for the property. Estimates of semi‐variance are then used to determine the weights applied to the data when computing the averages, and are presented in the kriging equations. The method is applied to three sets of data from detailed soil surveys in Central Wales and Norfolk. Sodium content at Plas Gogerddan was shown to vary isotropically with a linear semi‐variogram. Ordinary punctual kriging produced a map with intricate isarithms and fairly large estimation variance, attributed to a large nugget effect. Stoniness on the same land varied anisotropically with a linear semi‐variogram, and again the estimation error of punctual kriging was fairly large. At Hole Farm, Norfolk, the thickness of cover loam varied isotropically, but with a spherical semi‐variogram. Its parameters were estimated and used to krige point values and produce a map showing substantial short‐range variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses application of geostatistics in soil science. Topics include evaluation of suitability of land for agricultural development, soil mapping, variation in soil over the landscape, prediction of soil conditions between observation sites, characterization of the spatial pattern of gilgai terrain, and soil scientists.

Summary: The distribution of Alopecurus myosuroides (black‐grass) in fields is patchy. The locations of these patches can be influenced by the environment. This presents an opportunity for precision management through patch spraying. We surveyed five fields on various types of soil using a nested sampling design and recorded both A. myosuroides seedlings in autumn and seed heads in summer. We also measured soil properties at those sampling locations. We found that the patches of seed heads within a field were smaller than the seedling patches, suggesting that techniques for patch spraying based on maps of heads in the previous season could be inherently risky. We also found that the location of A. myosuroides patches within fields can be predicted through their relationship with environmental properties and that these relations are consistent across fields on different soil types. This improved understanding of the relations between soil properties and A. myosuroides seedlings could allow farmers to use pre‐existing or suitably supplemented soil maps already in use for the precision application of fertilisers as a starting point in the creation of herbicide application maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical exome sequencing (CES) is increasingly being used as an effective diagnostic tool in the field of pediatric genetics. We sought to evaluate the parental experience, understanding and psychological impact of CES by conducting a survey study of English‐speaking parents of children who had diagnostic CES. Parents of 192 unique patients participated. The parent's interpretation of the child's result agreed with the clinician's interpretation in 79% of cases, with more frequent discordance when the clinician's interpretation was uncertain. The majority (79%) reported no regret with the decision to have CES. Most (65%) reported complete satisfaction with the genetic counseling experience, and satisfaction was positively associated with years of genetic counselor (GC) experience. The psychological impact of CES was greatest for parents of children with positive results and for parents with anxiety or depression. The results of this study are important for helping clinicians to prepare families for the possible results and variable psychological impact of CES. The frequency of parental misinterpretation of test results indicates the need for additional clarity in the communication of results. Finally, while the majority of patients were satisfied with their genetic counseling, satisfaction was lower for new GCs, suggesting a need for targeted GC training for genomic testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Sound design for experiments on soil is based on two fundamental principles: replication and randomization. Replication enables investigators to detect and measure contrasts between treatments against the backdrop of natural variation. Random allocation of experimental treatments to units enables effects to be estimated without bias and hypotheses to be tested. For inferential tests of effects to be valid an analysis of variance ( anova) of the experimental data must match exactly the experimental design. Completely randomized designs are usually inefficient. Blocking will usually increase precision, and its role must be recognized as a unique entry in an anova table. Factorial designs enable questions on two or more factors and their interactions to be answered simultaneously, and split‐plot designs may enable investigators to combine factors that require disparate amounts of land for each treatment. Each such design has its unique correct anova; no other anova will do. One outcome of an anova is a test of significance. If it turns out to be positive then the investigator may examine the contrasts between treatments to discover which themselves are significant. Those contrasts should have been ones in which the investigator was interested at the outset and which the experiment was designed to test. Post‐hoc testing of all possible contrasts is deprecated as unsound, although the procedures may guide an investigator to further experimentation. Examples of the designs with simulated data and programs in GenStat and R for the analyses of variance are provided as File S1. Highlights: Replication and randomization are essential for sound experimentation on variable soil. Analyses of variance of data from experiments must match the experimental designs. Experiments should be designed to answer preplanned questions and test hypotheses. Efficiency can be gained by blocking and factorial combinations of treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irrigation with untreated sewage water adds fresh organic matter to the soil. When it is applied by flooding, as in the Mezquital Valley of Mexico, many of the pores in the soil become temporarily waterlogged and depleted of oxygen, and reduction generates nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). We monitored the redox potential, Eh, in the soil at two sites in the Mezquital Valley to discover whether the short-term gaseous emissions matched the changes in Eh. One site is irrigated periodically by flooding with waste water and has alfalfa, rye grass and maize grown in succession; the other site grows maize with water from summer rain only. Each electrode buried in the soil for the purpose produced sequences of measurements that were correlated in time. We modelled the correlation and took it into account to analyse the effects of the irrigation by residual maximum likelihood ( reml). After each flooding, the redox potential under alfalfa and rye grass decreased by 150-200 mV from a norm of about 450 mV for 2 days, after which it returned to its norm. The short-term response to flooding under maize was similar, but the redox potential did not recover completely; instead there was a decrease from one irrigation event to another, in particular as a result of heavy rain in September that saturated the soil. The soil under rain-fed maize was slower to respond, partly, we believe, because infiltration into the less aggregated clay soil and drainage from it were also slow. Irrigation with untreated sewage water caused a sharp decrease in Eh lasting 1-2 days. It seems to have depleted the soil of oxygen, causing reduction in microhabitats rich in carbon and nitrogen and generation of N2O, which was captured in the closed chambers that we had installed. Highlights Land in the Mezquital Valley of Mexico emits much greenhouse gas when irrigated with sewage water., The soil's redox potential was monitored in situ as crops were irrigated or depended solely on rain., Each irrigation caused a decrease in the soil's redox potential of 150-200 mV for 2 days., The decrease in redox potential corresponded in time with emission of nitrous oxide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The isolated effects of a single insecticide can be difficult to assess in natural settings because of the presence of numerous pollutants in many watersheds. Imidacloprid use for suppressing hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae (Annand) (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), in forests offers a rare opportunity to assess potential impacts on aquatic macroinvertebrates in relatively pristine landscapes. Aquatic macroinvertebrate communities were assessed in 9 streams in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (southern Appalachian Mountains, USA). The streams flow through hemlock conservation areas where imidacloprid soil drench treatments were applied for hemlock woolly adelgid suppression. Sites were located upstream and downstream of the imidacloprid treatments. Baseline species presence data (pre-imidacloprid treatment) were available from previous sample collections at downstream sites. Downstream and upstream sites did not vary in numerous community measures. Although comparisons of paired upstream and downstream sites showed differences in diversity in 7 streams, higher diversity was found more often in downstream sites. Macroinvertebrate functional feeding groups and life habits were similar between downstream and upstream sites. Downstream and baseline stream samples were similar. While some functional feeding group and life habit species richness categories varied, variations did not indicate poorer quality downstream communities. Imidacloprid treatments applied according to US Environmental Protection Agency federal restrictions did not result in negative effects to aquatic macroinvertebrate communities, which indicates that risks of imidacloprid use in forest settings are low. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:3108-3119. © 2017 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual disability (ID) affects about 3% of the population and has a male gender bias. Of at least 700 genes currently linked to ID, more than 100 have been identified on the X chromosome, including KIAA2022. KIAA2022 is located on Xq13.3 and is expressed in the developing brain. The protein product of KIAA2022, X‐linked Intellectual Disability Protein Related to Neurite Extension (XPN), is developmentally regulated and is involved in neuronal migration and cell adhesion. The clinical manifestations of loss‐of‐function KIAA2022 mutations have been described previously in 15 males, born from unaffected carrier mothers, but few females. Using whole‐exome sequencing, we identified a cohort of five unrelated female patients with de novo probably gene damaging variants in KIAA2022 and core phenotypic features of ID, developmental delay, epilepsy refractory to treatment, and impaired language, of similar severity as reported for male counterparts. This study supports KIAA2022 as a novel cause of X‐linked dominant ID, and broadens the phenotype for KIAA2022 mutations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics and distribution of unsupported radioactive lead-210 (210Pbex) in soil and the relations between the radionuclide and soil properties determine its fate within the environment. We have explored the distribution of 210Pbex in stony soil profiles near the edge of the Ebro basin in northern Spain, the role played by vegetation in that distribution, and the relation between the radionuclide and organic carbon. We describe in detail the profiles of 210Pbex at 23 sites, 10 under forest and 13 under scrub, which were sampled at 2-cm intervals to a maximum depth of 14 cm. The theoretical distribution of 210Pbex follows an exponential decline with depth in undisturbed soil, assuming minimal surface slope and no evidence of erosion or deposition processes. Comparable distribution patterns of 210Pbex and organic C became evident from the analyses. There were significant correlations between the activity of 210Pbex and organic C under both forest and scrub, but the strongest were in the surface layers of soil under forest. More than 80% of the total activity of 210Pbex was adsorbed in the upper 6 cm, with an exponential decline with increasing depth. The decline was modelled with exponential functions fitted by non-linear least-squares regression to predict the depth distributions of 210Pbex and organic C in forest and scrub soils separately. The results confirm the viability of the use of 210Pbex in stony soil as an indicator of soil redistribution and show the significant effect of vegetative cover. These results provide useful information about sampling design for future research if the radionuclide 210Pbex is used for assessing soil redistribution in similar Mediterranean environments. Highlights Characterizing the vertical distribution of 210Pbex requires high resolution sampling (2 cm)., In uncultivated soil of the Pre-Pyrenees the fallout, 210Pbex, is retained in the uppermost 14 cm., The distribution of 210Pbex matches that of the organic matter down the profile., Vegetation affects the surface activity of 210Pbex in the soil, being greater under forest than under scrub. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological populations are naturally variable. Investigators need to replicate observations to estimate their characteristics. They must also randomize selection to estimate those characteristics without bias and with known confidence. Both replication and randomization are necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 36-year-old man presented with Budd-Chiari Syndrome who developed immune-mediated haemolysis in response to the antimicrobial piperacillin-tazobactam. The patient underwent a percutaneous liver biopsy to determine the cause of his deteriorating liver function, and was later treated with piperacillin-tazobactam for the developing sepsis.

Changes in land use are likely to affect the abundance and functioning of microorganisms in the soil. In China many paddy fields are being converted for vegetable growing. We wished to determine how these changes affected the microbial populations in one particular region in Hunan province, where the climate is subtropical monsoon, as an example. We sampled the soil down to 1 m in several fields: three that were still growing paddy rice, three that had been converted for vegetable growing 2 years earlier and three that had been growing vegetables for 25 years. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction ( qPCR) and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism ( T-RFLP) were used to determine the abundance and community composition of nxrA-containing nitrifiers and narG-containing denitrifiers in the soil. The abundances of these organisms depended largely on the amount of organic matter in the soil and decreased with increasing depth, as did the potential nitrification rate ( PNR) and nitrate reductase activity ( NRA). Enzyme activity was significantly correlated with the abundance of nitrogen-cycling bacteria. The change from rice to vegetable growing resulted in more residual nitrate- N in the soil, which correlated more strongly with the abundance of nxrA-containing nitrifiers in the topsoil (0-20 cm) and narG-containing denitrifiers in the deeper soil (80-100 cm). In general, the numbers of nitrogen-cycling microorganisms decreased markedly with increasing depth, but were less affected by the change from rice to vegetable cultivation in the fields investigated. Our results suggest that the abundances of nitrogen-cycling microbial communities are affected more by depth in the soil than by change of land use in these circumstances. Highlights The abundance and function of soil microorganisms change when paddy fields are converted to vegetable growing., Residual nitrate- N in the soil is affected by nitrifiers in topsoil and denitrifiers in the deeper soil., Their abundances depend largely on the amount of organic matter in soil and decrease with increasing depth., The genetic structures of the microorganisms depend more on depth in the soil than on change from rice to vegetable growing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurement of contamination of marine and naval diesel fuels (arising from product mixing or adulteration) with biodiesel or fatty acid methyl esters can be problematic, especially at very low levels. A suitable solution for this task for trace amounts of individual fatty acid methyl esters with resolution and quantification can be achieved by using a multidimensional gas chromatographic approach with electron and chemical ionization mass spectrometric detection. A unique column set comprising a 100mmethyl-siloxane nonpolar first dimension column and high-temperature ionic liquid column in the second dimension enabled identification of individual fatty acid methyl esters at below the lowest concentrations required to be reported in a diesel fuel matrix. Detection limits for individual fatty acid methyl esters compounds ranged from 0.5 to 5.0 mg/L, with excellent linearity up to 5000 mg/L and repeatability of the method from 1.3 to 3.2%. The method was applied to the analysis of diesel fuel samples with suspected biodiesel contamination. Contamination at 568 mg/L was calculated for an unknown sample and interpretation of the results permitted the determination of a likely source of the contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weeds tend to aggregate in patches within fields, and there is evidence that this is partly owing to variation in soil properties. Because the processes driving soil heterogeneity operate at various scales, the strength of the relations between soil properties and weed density would also be expected to be scale-dependent. Quantifying these effects of scale on weed patch dynamics is essential to guide the design of discrete sampling protocols for mapping weed distribution. We developed a general method that uses novel within-field nested sampling and residual maximum-likelihood ( reml) estimation to explore scale-dependent relations between weeds and soil properties. We validated the method using a case study of Alopecurus myosuroides in winter wheat. Using reml, we partitioned the variance and covariance into scale-specific components and estimated the correlations between the weed counts and soil properties at each scale. We used variograms to quantify the spatial structure in the data and to map variables by kriging. Our methodology successfully captured the effect of scale on a number of edaphic drivers of weed patchiness. The overall Pearson correlations between A. myosuroides and soil organic matter and clay content were weak and masked the stronger correlations at >50 m. Knowing how the variance was partitioned across the spatial scales, we optimised the sampling design to focus sampling effort at those scales that contributed most to the total variance. The methods have the potential to guide patch spraying of weeds by identifying areas of the field that are vulnerable to weed establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To test whether spatial and social neighbourhood patterning of people at ultra-high risk (UHR) of psychosis differs from first-episode psychosis (FEP) participants or controls and to determine whether exposure to different social environments is evident before disorder onset. Method We tested differences in the spatial distributions of representative samples of FEP, UHR and control participants and fitted two-level multinomial logistic regression models, adjusted for individual-level covariates, to examine group differences in neighbourhood-level characteristics. Results The spatial distribution of controls ( n = 41) differed from UHR ( n = 48; P = 0.04) and FEP participants ( n = 159; P = 0.01), whose distribution was similar ( P = 0.17). Risk in FEP and UHR groups was associated with the same neighbourhood-level exposures: proportion of single-parent households [FEP adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 1.56 95% CI: 1.00-2.45; UHR aOR: 1.59; 95% CI: 0.99-2.57], ethnic diversity (FEP aOR: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.02-1.58; UHR aOR: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.00-1.63) and multiple deprivation (FEP aOR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.78-1.00; UHR aOR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.76-0.99). Conclusion Similar neighbourhood-level exposures predicted UHR and FEP risk, whose residential patterning was closer to each other's than controls. Adverse social environments are associated with psychosis before FEP onset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Planners and policy makers require information about the regions for which they are responsible. However, it seems that many developing countries, including Nigeria, are not adequately prepared either for their current climates or for the impact of climate change because they lack sufficient information. We have therefore examined the variations in the thermal condition in terms of the temperature, relative humidity, effective temperature ( ET), temperature-humidity index ( THI) and relative strain index ( RSI). We studied the spatial and temporal (1951-2009, 1951-1980, 1981-2009, decadal, seasonal and monthly averages) variations in the thermal climate of Nigeria, and we divided Nigeria into thermal climate regions for effective climate change management. Mean annual minimum, mean and maximum temperatures (with their standard deviations) were 21.4 (3.5), 27.1 (2.7) and 32.8 (3.4) °C, respectively, while the overall mean relative humidity was 62 (24.8)%. Mean ET, THI and RSI were 24.3 (0.85), 24.8 (1.83) and 0.2 (0.18) °C, respectively. The ET, THI and RSI provided contrasting expressions of thermal comfort for Nigeria, because of its varied climate. We also found that elevation; the movement of the Inter Tropical Discontinuity and urbanization affect thermal comfort in Nigeria. We conclude that thermal stress has increased in Nigeria from 2000 at most stations, especially in the south and north-western regions, and that Nigerian thermal comfort climate is heterogeneous and requires analysis of multiple thermal indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil data accumulated in national and regional archives derive from many sources and tend to be concentrated in zones of particular interest. Experimental variograms computed from such data by the usual method of moments can appear highly erratic, and therefore models fitted to them are likely to be unreliable. We have explored two methods of avoiding the effects, one by computing declustering weights and incorporating them into the method of moments, the other using residual maximum likelihood. The methods are illustrated with data on bulk density, exchangeable magnesium, cation exchange capacity and organic carbon of 4182 samples of soil from numerous soil surveys in the whole of Australia and stored in the CSIRO's national archive. The experimental variograms of all four variables are erratic. Cell declustering produced much smoother sequences of estimates to which plausible models could be fitted with confidence. The residual maximum likelihood models closely matched those models over several hundred km. Finally values were simulated at the same sampling points from the residual maximum likelihood models, reproducing 'spiky' experimental variograms such as those computed from the data. The simulation showed that clustered design of sampling causes spiky artefacts. We conclude that where data are clustered experimental variograms should be computed with declustered weighting or variogram models be fitted by residual maximum likelihood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are reflectance spectra in the visible and near infrared wavelengths from some 20 000 archived samples of soil in Australia. Their particular forms depend on absorbances at specific wavelengths characteristic of components in the soil such as water, iron oxides, clay minerals and carbon compounds, and so one might expect to be able to predict soil properties from the spectra. We tested a tree-based technique for the prediction of 24 soil properties. A tree is first constructed by the definition of rules that separate the data into fairly homogeneous groups for any given property on both the absorptions at specified wavelengths and other, categoric, variables. Then within each group the property is predicted from the absorptions at those wavelengths by ordinary least-squares regression. The spectroscopic predictions of the soil properties were compared with actual values in a subset of sample data separated from the whole data for validation. The criteria of success that we used were the root mean squared error (RMSE) to measure the inaccuracy of our predictions, the mean error (ME) to measure their bias and the standard deviation of the error (SDE) to measure their imprecision. We also used the ratio of performance to deviation (RPD), which is the ratio of the standard deviation of the observed values to the RMSE of the predictions; the larger it is the better does the technique perform. We found good predictions (RPD>2) for clay and total sand content, for total organic carbon and total nitrogen, pH, cation exchange capacity, and exchangeable calcium, magnesium and sodium. Several other properties were moderately well predicted (1.5 ≤ RPD < 2); they included air-dry water content, volumetric water content at field capacity and wilting point, bulk density, the contents of silt, fine sand and coarse sand, total and exchangeable potassium, total phosphorus and extractable iron. Properties that were poorly predicted (RPD < 1.5) include the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, available phosphorus and exchangeable acidity. We conclude that even though the predictions are less accurate than direct measurements, the spectra are cheap yet valuable sources of information for predicting values of individual soil properties when large numbers of analyses are needed, for example, for soil mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

soil's reflectance spectrum in the visible and near infrared is rich in information. It is an integrative property of the soil that measures its colour, the abundance of iron oxides, clay minerals and carbonates, the amount of water and organic matter and its particle size. We explored the merit of discriminating between soil horizons, of which we had 13 654 samples, and soil orders from the Australian Soil Classification, of which we had samples from 1697 profiles with designated horizons, by analysing quantitatively their diffuse reflectance spectra in the visible-near infrared (vis-NIR) range (350-2500 nm). We re-sampled the spectra to 10-nm intervals and converted them to logarithms of deviations from their convex hulls. We then transformed them to canonical variates, which we display as scatter diagrams in low-order canonical planes. The minerals, colour and organic constituents thought to be responsible for their discrimination are identified. Each spectrum was re-examined and allocated to the group whose centroid was nearest in the canonical space. Topsoil horizons (A, A2 and transitional AB and AC horizons) were distinguishable from subsoils (B, C and transitional BC horizons). Vertosols, Ferrosols, Podosols (Podzols), Organosols, Calcarosols, Rudosols, Sodosols, Hydrosols, Kandosols and Kurosols were in general well separated from other soil orders and were assigned to their own orders such that 80% or more were correctly allocated. These orders possess characteristics that are easily distinguished by vis-NIR spectroscopy. Re-allocations to other orders were interpretable and could be related to identifying features of the ASC classification. Our results show that spectra distinguish soil horizons and soil type. They suggest that vis-NIR spectroscopy could make an important contribution to the definition and identification of classes in an effective system of soil classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an issue of global concern, and studies are ongoing to identify new therapies that are both effective and safe. PF-4878691 is a Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) agonist modeled so as to dissociate its antiviral activities from its inflammatory activities. In a proof-of-mechanism study in healthy volunteers who received doses of 3, 6, and 9 mg of PF-4878691 twice a week for 2 weeks, PF-4878691 induced biomarkers of the immune and interferon (IFN) responses in a dose-dependent and dose-frequency-related manner. A novel finding was induction of TLR7 expression in vivo in response to PF-4878691, leading to an amplified biomarker response. A nonresponder at the 9-mg dose had a polymorphism in the IFN-α receptor 1 subunit (Val168Leu). Two subjects who had received 9-mg doses experienced serious adverse events (SAEs), characterized by flu-like symptoms, hypotension, and lymphopenia, leading to early termination of the study. TLR7 stimulation results in a pharmacologic response at levels commensurate with predicted antiviral efficacy, but these doses are associated with SAEs, raising concerns about the therapeutic window of this class of compounds for the treatment of HCV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial distribution of Cs across the landscape and the processes controlling its redistribution are of interest because (i) Cs has been widely used to quantify the movement of soil and sediments and (ii) substantial fallout of Cs after the Chernobyl accident has led to contamination of foodstuffs in some places. A high-resolution airborne geophysical radiometric survey of Northern Ireland has provided an opportunity to study the distribution and possible redistribution of Cs. The Cs activity (recorded at 1·2 million points) is distributed in a series of bands oriented approximately 160° and 115° clockwise from north. Geostatistical analysis of the data shows a strong, short-range structure (correlation ranges between 0·6 and 8 km) in Cs activity across the vast majority of the region; the spatial distribution shows association with a published, coarse-scale depositional pattern of Cs from Chernobyl. Two indices of land form derived from a digital elevation model, namely compound topographic index and the length-slope factor of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation, account for only 3% of the variance in Cs activity. In contrast, soil type and land cover in combination (including their interaction) account for 20% of the variance. In areas that received moderate fallout from Chernobyl, soil type alone accounts for a substantial proportion of the spatially correlated Cs activity. We attribute this to each soil type having a fairly uniform radiocaesium interception potential that differs from those of other soil types and that this potential controls the vertical migration of Cs. Over the granitic Mourne Mountains there is a strong spatial cross-correlation between Cs activity and airborne estimates of soil potassium, suggesting that the latter provides a measure of the soil's radiocaesium interception potential; this is probably dominated by the quantity of the mineral illite. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and British Geological Survey [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effectiveness of two different Algebraic Multigrid (AMG) approaches to the solution of 4th-order discrete-difference equations for incompressible fluid flow (in this case for a discrete, scalar, stream-function field). One is based on a classical, algebraic multigrid, method (C-AMG) the other is based on a smoothed-aggregation method for 4th-order problems (SA-AMG). In the C-AMG case, the inter-grid transfer operators are enhanced using Jacobi relaxation. In the SA-AMG case, they are improved using a constrained energy optimization of the coarse-grid basis functions. Both approaches are shown to be effective for discretizations based on uniform, structured and unstructured, meshes. They both give good convergence factors that are largely independent of the mesh size/bandwidth. The SA-AMG approach, however, is more costly both in storage and operations. The Jacobi-relaxed C-AMG approach is faster, by a factor of between 2 and 4 for two-dimensional problems, even though its reduction factors are inferior to those of SA-AMG. For non-uniform meshes, the accuracy of this particular discretization degrades from 2nd to 1st order and the convergence factors for both methods then become mesh dependent. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper presents the results of numerical experiments on the use of equal-order and mixed-order interpolations in algebraic multigrid (AMG) solvers for the fully coupled equations of incompressible fluid flow. Several standard test problems are addressed for Reynolds numbers spanning the laminar range. The range of unstructured meshes spans over two orders of problem size (over one order of mesh bandwidth). Deficiencies in performance are identified for AMG based on equal-order interpolations (both zero-order and first-order). They take the form of poor, fragile, mesh-dependent convergence rates. The evidence suggests that a degraded representation of the inter-field coupling in the coarse-grid approximation is the cause. Mixed-order interpolation (first-order for the vectors, zero-order for the scalars) is shown to address these deficiencies. Convergence is then robust, independent of the number of coarse grids and (almost) of the mesh bandwidth. The AMG algorithms used are reviewed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have reached pandemic levels globally and pose a major threat to social and economic development worldwide. The discipline of epidemiology has done much to bring this issue to the forefront of global health. Epidemiological approaches have broadened our understanding of the impact of NCDs in widening socioeconomic disparities. Over a number of decades, this discipline has also contributed to the development of many preventive measures and treatments of known efficacy and safety. However, epidemiology also has a critical role to play in better translating these discoveries into practice, through the new science of implementation. As we strive to achieve the "25 by 25" goal of a 25% reduction in premature mortality from common NCDs by 2025, the discipline of epidemiology will need to continuously evolve to remain an essential tool for public health action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encephalitis lethargica (EL) describes an encephalitis with psychiatric, sleep, and extrapyramidal movement disorders. Dyskinetic and parkinsonian forms have been described. EL shares clinical features with the anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR-Ab) encephalitis. We studied 20 sera from pediatric patients with contemporary EL. Ten sera (from 2 males and 8 females, aged 1.3-13 years) and 6/6 cerebrospinal fluid samples were positive for NMDAR-Ab. NMDAR-Ab-positive patients had dyskinesias, agitation, seizures, and insomnia, whereas parkinsonism and somnolence dominated in the NMDAR-Ab-negative children. We were unable to identify any tumors. The dyskinetic form of EL is an NMDAR-Ab encephalitis and can affect very young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring particle-size distribution (psd) is so time-consuming and expensive that it is rarely affordable for systematic survey. In young soil dominated by silicate minerals the size fractions have characteristic elemental compositions, and so they might be predicted from geochemical analysis. We tested the feasibility of predicting the psd from concentrations of elements in samples of topsoil taken in surveys of two large regions in eastern England and on which the psd had been determined. Of the 35 elements measured we chose eight (a) from our general knowledge of mineral composition, (b) after a principal component analysis to avoid redundancy and (c) experience elsewhere. Of the eight elements, five were used (Al, Fe, Ni, Ti and Zr) to build multiple linear regression models for the predictions. The equations were assessed by their coefficients of determination, R2, and the effectiveness of their predictions, expressed as root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) on validation sets of data of known psd. The models accounted on average for 89% of the variance in the clay size-fraction and 82% for sand. The corresponding median RMSEs were 4.9% and 8.8% on medians of 17% and 58%, respectively. The silt size-fraction was less well predicted; R2 was only 0.58, and the median RMSE was 10.6% on a median of 22%. We judge our approach, in which the regression models may be regarded as pedotransfer functions, to have been moderately successful and to merit attention in similar circumstances in other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the radiometric survey conducted which offers information on the concentration of gammaemiting elements, which include potassium (K), thorium (Th) and uranium (U), in the upper half meter portion of the soil in the eastern region of England. The geochemical analysis was done through modelling their coregionality. The inquiry revealed that the total radiometric estimates with soil survey data for K and Th were large, as well as the structural correlations for components of variation spatially dependent up to 49 and 16 kilometers for K and Th respectively. The acquired data manifest that the radiometric signals for the two element gives effective estimates of the amounts in the soil and their pattern of distribution.