Climate effects on land management and stream nitrogen concentrations in small agricultural catchments in Norway

Abstract Land use and climate change can impact water quality in agricultural catchments. The objectives were to assess long-term monitoring data to quantify changes to the thermal growing season length, investigate farmer adaptations to this and examine these and other factors in relation to total nitrogen and nitrate water concentrations. Data (1991–2017) from seven small Norwegian agricultural catchments were analysed using Mann–Kendall Trend Tests, Pearson correlation and a linear mixed model. The growing season length increased significantly in four of seven catchments. In catchments with cereal production, the increased growing season length corresponded to a reduction in nitrogen concentrations, but there was no such relationship in grassland catchments. In one cereal catchment, a significant correlation was found between the start of sowing and start of the thermal growing season. Understanding the role of the growing season and other factors can provide additional insight into processes and land use choices taking place in agricultural catchments.

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Long-term seizure outcomes after pediatric temporal lobectomy: does brain MRI lesion matter?

Journal of Neurosurgery Pediatrics ◽

10.3171/2019.4.peds18677 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 200-208

Author(s):

Ravindra Arya ◽

Francesco T. Mangano ◽

Paul S. Horn ◽

Sabrina K. Kaul ◽

Serena K. Kaul ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Repeated Measures ◽

Mixed Model ◽

Linear Mixed Model ◽

Hippocampal Sclerosis ◽

Brain Mri ◽

Temporal Lobectomy ◽

Seizure Freedom ◽

Seizure Onset

OBJECTIVEThere is emerging data that adults with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) without a discrete lesion on brain MRI have surgical outcomes comparable to those with hippocampal sclerosis (HS). However, pediatric TLE is different from its adult counterpart. In this study, the authors investigated if the presence of a potentially epileptogenic lesion on presurgical brain MRI influences the long-term seizure outcomes after pediatric temporal lobectomy.METHODSChildren who underwent temporal lobectomy between 2007 and 2015 and had at least 1 year of seizure outcomes data were identified. These were classified into lesional and MRI-negative groups based on whether an epilepsy-protocol brain MRI showed a lesion sufficiently specific to guide surgical decisions. These patients were also categorized into pure TLE and temporal plus epilepsies based on the neurophysiological localization of the seizure-onset zone. Seizure outcomes at each follow-up visit were incorporated into a repeated-measures generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) with MRI status as a grouping variable. Clinical variables were incorporated into GLMM as covariates.RESULTSOne hundred nine patients (44 females) were included, aged 5 to 21 years, and were classified as lesional (73%), MRI negative (27%), pure TLE (56%), and temporal plus (44%). After a mean follow-up of 3.2 years (range 1.2–8.8 years), 66% of the patients were seizure free for ≥ 1 year at last follow-up. GLMM analysis revealed that lesional patients were more likely to be seizure free over the long term compared to MRI-negative patients for the overall cohort (OR 2.58, p < 0.0001) and for temporal plus epilepsies (OR 1.85, p = 0.0052). The effect of MRI lesion was not significant for pure TLE (OR 2.64, p = 0.0635). Concordance of ictal electroencephalography (OR 3.46, p < 0.0001), magnetoencephalography (OR 4.26, p < 0.0001), and later age of seizure onset (OR 1.05, p = 0.0091) were associated with a higher likelihood of seizure freedom. The most common histological findings included cortical dysplasia types 1B and 2A, HS (40% with dual pathology), and tuberous sclerosis.CONCLUSIONSA lesion on presurgical brain MRI is an important determinant of long-term seizure freedom after pediatric temporal lobectomy. Pediatric TLE is heterogeneous regarding etiologies and organization of seizure-onset zones with many patients qualifying for temporal plus nosology. The presence of an MRI lesion determined seizure outcomes in patients with temporal plus epilepsies. However, pure TLE had comparable surgical seizure outcomes for lesional and MRI-negative groups.

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Growing‐season length and soil microbes influence the performance of a generalist bunchgrass beyond its current range

Ecology ◽

10.1002/ecy.3095 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 101 (9) ◽

Author(s):

Clifton P. Bueno de Mesquita ◽

Samuel A. Sartwell ◽

Steven K. Schmidt ◽

Katharine N. Suding

Keyword(s):

Soil Microbes ◽

Growing Season ◽

Season Length ◽

Current Range ◽

Growing Season Length

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Growing Season Length as a Key Factor of Cumulative Net Ecosystem Exchange Over the Pine Forest Ecosystems in Europe

International Agrophysics ◽

10.1515/intag-2015-0026 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 129-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Alina Danielewska ◽

Marek Urbaniak ◽

Janusz Olejnik

Keyword(s):

Air Temperature ◽

Measurement Data ◽

Growing Season ◽

Pine Forest ◽

Pine Forests ◽

Net Ecosystem Productivity ◽

Ecosystem Productivity ◽

Season Length ◽

Important Species ◽

Growing Season Length

Abstract The Scots pine is one of the most important species in European and Asian forests. Due to a widespread occurrence of pine forests, their significance in the energy and mass exchange between the Earth surface and the atmosphere is also important, particularly in the context of climate change and greenhouse gases balance. The aim of this work is to present the relationship between the average annual net ecosystem productivity and growing season length, latitude and air temperature (tay) over Europe. Therefore, CO2 flux measurement data from eight European pine dominated forests were used. The observations suggest that there is a correlation between the intensity of CO2 uptake or emission by a forest stand and the above mentioned parameters. Based on the obtained results, all of the selected pine forest stands were CO2 sinks, except a site in northern Finland. The carbon dioxide uptake increased proportionally with the increase of growing season length (9.212 g C m-2 y-1 per day of growing season, R2 = 0.53, p = 0.0399). This dependency showed stronger correlation and higher statistical significance than both relationships between annual net ecosystem productivity and air temperature (R2 = 0.39, p = 0.096) and annual net ecosystem productivity and latitude (R2 = 0.47, p = 0.058). The CO2 emission surpassed assimilation in winter, early spring and late autumn. Moreover, the appearance of late, cold spring and early winter, reduced annual net ecosystem productivity. Therefore, the growing season length can be considered as one of the main factor affecting the annual carbon budget of pine forests.

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Improved cephalic index following early cranial vault remodeling in patients with isolated nonsyndromic sagittal synostosis

Neurosurgical FOCUS ◽

10.3171/2021.1.focus201017 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 50 (4) ◽

pp. E7

Author(s):

Arvid Frostell ◽

Maryam Haghighi ◽

Jiri Bartek ◽

Ulrika Sandvik ◽

Bengt Gustavsson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mixed Model ◽

Linear Mixed Model ◽

Cranial Vault ◽

Hospital Length Of Stay ◽

Cephalic Index ◽

Sagittal Synostosis ◽

The Mean ◽

Cranial Vault Remodeling

OBJECTIVE Isolated nonsyndromic sagittal synostosis (SS) is the most common form of craniosynostosis in children, accounting for approximately 60% of all craniosynostoses. The typical cranial measurement used to define and follow SS is the cephalic index (CI). Several surgical techniques have been suggested, but agreement on type and timing of surgery is lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the authors’ institutional experience of surgically treating SS using a modified subtotal cranial vault remodeling technique in a population-based cohort. Special attention was directed toward the effect of patient age at time of surgery on long-term CI outcome. METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted on all patients with isolated nonsyndromic SS who were surgically treated from 2003 to 2011. Data from electronic medical records were gathered. Eighty-two patients with SS were identified, 77 fulfilled inclusion criteria, and 72 had sufficient follow-up data and were included. CI during follow-up after surgery was investigated with ANOVA and a linear mixed model. RESULTS In total, 72 patients were analyzed, consisting of 16 females (22%) and 56 males (78%). The mean ± SD age at surgery was 4.1 ± 3.1 months. Blood transfusions were received by 81% of patients (26% intraoperatively, 64% postoperatively, 9% both). The mean ± SD time in the pediatric ICU was 1.1 ± 0.25 days, and the mean ± SD total hospital length of stay was 4.6 ± 2.0 days. No patient required reoperation. The mean ± SD CI increased from 69 ± 3 to 87 ± 5 for patients who underwent surgery before 45 days of age. Surgery resulted in a larger increase in CI for patients who underwent surgery at a younger age compared with older patients (p < 0.05, Tukey’s HSD test). In the comparison of patients who underwent surgery before 45 days of age with patients who underwent surgery at 45–90, 90–180, and more than 180 days of age, the linear mixed model estimated a long-term loss of CI of 3.0, 5.5, and 7.4 points, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The modified subtotal cranial vault remodeling technique used in this study significantly improved CI in patients with SS. The best results were achieved when surgery was performed early in life.

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