Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationships of Residential Distance to Major Traffic Roads with Dementia Incidence and Brain Structure Measures: Mediation Role of Air Pollution

Background: Uncertainty exists regarding the operating pathways between near-roadway exposure and dementia incidence. We intend to examine relationships between proximity to major roadways with dementia incidence and brain MRI structure measures, and potential mediation roles of air and noise pollution. Methods: The cohort study was based on the UK Biobank. Baseline survey was conducted from 2006 to 2010, with linkage to electronic health records conducted for follow-up. Residential distance to major roadways was ascertained residential address postcode. A land use regression model was applied for estimating traffic-related air pollution at residence. Dementia incidence was ascertained using national administrative databases. Brain MRI measures were derived as image-derived phenotypes, including total brain, white matter, gray matter, and peripheral cortical gray matter. Results: We included 460,901 participants [mean (SD) age: 57.1 (8.1) years; men: 45.7%]. Compared with individuals living >1,000 m from major traffic roads, living ≤1,000 m was associated with a 13% to 14% higher dementia risk, accounting for 10% of dementia cases. Observed association between residential distance and dementia was substantially mediated by traffic-related air pollution, mainly nitrogen dioxide (proportion mediated: 63.6%; 95% CI, 27.0 to 89.2%) and PM2.5 (60.9%, 26.8 to 87.0%). The shorter residential distance was associated with smaller volumes of brain structures, which was also mediated by traffic-related air pollutants. No significant mediation role was observed of noise pollution. Conclusions: The shorter residential distance to major roads was associated with elevated dementia incidence and smaller brain structure volumes, which was mainly mediated by traffic-related air pollution.
Investigating the Haines Index using parcel model theory

By using parcel model theory to construct a two-dimensional parameter space formed by low-level atmospheric stability and moisture, a simple framework on which to examine certain fire parcel properties associated with vertical column development is established. This framework is used to investigate if the Haines Index has some skill at predicting wildfire severity, where wildfire severity is assumed to be directly connected to vertical column development and the result of significant fire parcel ascent. By modeling the ascent of a moist, entraining fire parcel in four different background states—a 3 km deep boundary layer, a 2 km deep boundary layer, a 3 km deep boundary layer topped by an inversion layer, and a 2 km deep boundary layer topped by an inversion layer—the study shows that parcel properties that describe ascent and vertical column development are most significant when the boundary layer temperature lapse rate is near adiabatic and lower-level atmospheric humidity is relatively high. A shallower instead of a deeper boundary layer lowers parcel ascent, and an upper-level inversion lowers parcel ascent even further. This study shows that entraining fire parcel properties and magnitudes associated with significant ascent do not necessarily correspond to a Haines Index for a potential for high fire severity. The results suggest that the Haines Index may need to be refined or reformed depending on the stability and humidity in the boundary layer and vertical structure of the atmosphere. This study is a start to understanding the influence of the background state on fire parcel convection and an attempt to explain how the Haines Index works from an elementary but physical point of view.
Upland Controls on the Hydrological Functioning of Riparian Zones in Glacial Till Valleys of the Midwest 1

Abstract: Identifying relationships between landscape hydrogeological setting, riparian hydrological functioning and riparian zone sensitivity to climate and water quality changes is critical in order to best use riparian zones as best management practices in the future. In this study, we investigate water table dynamics, water flow path and the relative importance of precipitation, deep ground water (DG) and seep water as sources of water to a riparian zone in a deeply incised glacial till valley of the Midwest. Data indicate that water table fluctuations are strongly influenced by soil texture and to a lesser extent by upland sediment stratigraphy producing seeps near the slope bottom. The occurrence of till in the upland and at 1.7‐2 m in the riparian zone contributes to maintaining flow parallel to the ground surface at this site. Lateral ground‐water fluxes at this site with a steep topography in the upland (16%) and loam soil near the slope bottom are small (<10 l/d/m stream length) and intermittent. A shift in flow path from a lateral direction to a down valley direction is observed in the summer despite the steep concave topography and the occurrence of seeps at the slope bottom. Principal component and discriminant analysis indicate that riparian water is most similar to seep water throughout the year and that DG originating from imbedded sand and gravel layers in the lower till unit is not a major source of water to riparian zones in this setting. Water quality data and the dependence of the riparian zone for recharge on seep water suggest that sites in this setting may be highly sensitive to changes in precipitation and water quality in the upland in the future. A conceptual framework describing the hydrological functioning of riparian zones on this setting is presented to generalize the finding of this study.
Interpretation of homogeneity in δ18O signatures of stream water in a nested sub‐catchment system in north‐east Scotland

The isotope hydrology of a set of nested sub‐catchments in the north‐east of Scotland has been studied to examine the mixing processes and residence times of water in the catchments. The measured δ18O in stream waters was found to be exceptionally uniform both temporally and spatially. Hydrochemical mixing analyses showed that groundwater contributes between 62 and 90% of the stream flow in all sub‐catchments. Model analysis indicated that the δ18O in stream water is indicative of a highly mixed system in which near surface runoff appears to be mixed with groundwater, within the soil profile, before being released from the catchment. Small fluctuations in the stream water δ18O response are generated by a small proportion (<10%) of less‐well mixed water in infiltration excess runoff during storm events. A comparative application of the model to a nearby catchment, which has a lower proportion of groundwater runoff, demonstrated contrasting behaviour, with significantly less mixing of waters occurring and a more distinct difference in the age of runoff generated by different flow paths. This highlighted that standard methods for characterization of mixing mechanisms are often insufficient and may not discriminate between systems that have retained quite distinct flow paths throughout catchment transit, and those which have been mixed at some stage. Model sensitivity analysis also indicated that the simulated mean residence time of water varies most strongly in response to different parameters compared with the δ18O response. This has implications for estimating water residence times from isotope data. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Renal and Urinary Levels of Endothelial Protein C Receptor Correlate with Acute Renal Allograft Rejection

The Endothelial Protein C Receptor (EPCR) is expressed on leukocytes, on endothelium of large blood vessels and to a lesser extent on capillaries. Membrane bound EPCR plays an important role in the activation of protein C which has anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective effects. After cleavage by a protease EPCR is also found as a soluble protein. Acute rejection of kidney allografts can be divided in T-cell-mediated rejection (TCMR) and antibody-mediated (ABMR) rejection. The latter is characterized by strong activation of coagulation. Currently no reliable non-invasive biomarkers are available to monitor rejection. Renal biopsies were available from 81 renal transplant patients (33 without rejection, 26 TCMR and 22 ABMR), we had access to mRNA material, matched plasma and urine samples for a portion of this cohort. Renal EPCR expression was assessed by RT-PCR and immunostaining. Plasma and urine sEPCR levels were measured by ELISA. ABMR patients showed higher levels of EPCR mRNA than TCMR patients. EPCR expression on glomeruli was significantly elevated in ABMR patients than in TCMR or control patients. In the peritubular capillaries EPCR expression was higher in ABMR patients than in control patients. EPCR expression was higher in tubules and arteries of rejection patients than in control patients. Plasma sEPCR levels did not differ. Urine sEPCR levels were more elevated in the ABMR group than in patients with TCMR or without rejection. ROC analysis demonstrated that urinary sEPCR is appropriate to discriminate between ABMR patients and TCMR or control patients. We conclude that urinary sEPCR could be a novel non-invasive biomarker of antibody mediated rejection in renal transplantation.
Performances of maize and soybean as influenced by intercropping and fertilizer sources in the Northern Guinea Savanna agro-ecology of Nigeria

Inorganic fertilizer recommendation for ameliorating soil fertility decline is facing many challenges. Information on the alternative (organomineral fertilizer) for use in the intercrop is scarce in Tarabe, Nigeria. Hence, inorganic and organomineral fertilizer (OF) effects were evaluated on growth, N uptake and yield of maize and soybean. Using a 2 x 9 factorial field experiment in 2016 and 2017, cropping systems (sole and intercrop) were evaluated under nine fertilizer levels (control, 50, 100, 150, 200 kg N/ha OF and 50, 100, 150, 200 kg N/ha NPK 20-10-10 fertilizers) in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Maize (ACR-95DT) and soybean seeds (TGX 144 8-2E) were sown at 40,000 and 74,000 plants per ha, respectively. The results indicated that intercropping improved maize and soybean leaf area, but resulted in a significant reduction in N uptake and yields in the two growing seasons. Maize yield varied significantly among treatments and ranged from 0.78 (control) - 2.32 t/ha (150 kg N/ha OF) and 1.04 (control) - 2.13 t/ha (150 kg N/ha NPK) in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Also, soybean yield was significantly increased at 100 kg N/ha OF (1.14 t/ ha) compared to 150 kg N/ha OF (0.83 t/ha) in 2016, while 150 kg N/ha OF and NPK had significantly higher yields than the other treatments in 2017. The cropping system and fertilizer interaction had no significant influence on maize and soybean grain yields in both years. Organomineral fertilizer at 150 kg N/ha was suggested for improving maize and soybean intercrop.
A Pill for the Ill? : Depression, Medicalization and Public Health

Mental disorders, especially depression, have been increasingly described as a growing burden to global public health. Critics argue, however, that the use of mental health surveys, underlying these descriptions, tends to overestimate the prevalence of mental disorders by not distinguishing everyday experiences of distress from pathological conditions. This medicalization of public health is believed to narrow the focus of public health practices. The aim of this thesis is twofold. The first objective is to describe and analyze experiences with antidepressant treatment for depression as expressed in adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports from patients, i.e. “consumers reports. ” A second goal is to conduct a theoretical discussion, by looking at broad societal changes, and analyzing the consequences of mental ill health as a significant public health problem. Special attention will be given to medicalization. Reports of suspected adverse reactions regarding antidepressant mediations were submitted from 2002 to 2009 to an open Internet-based reporting system in Sweden. These were analyzed according to common psychiatric reactions and narrative experiences. Furthermore, a literature overview in a broad and general sense was performed to underpin a theoretical discussion on health, public health, mental ill health and medicalization. The main findings of this thesis were that patients reporting to an open Internet-based system in Sweden seemed, to a large extent, to experience psychiatric ADR symptoms of mental disturbances (sometimes severe), which affected them in many different ways, especially during discontinuation. These reports also suggested a negative doctor-patient interaction from the patient’s perspective. Risks leading to increased medicalization as a result of overdiagnoses of depression were found. Pharmaceuticalization resulting from overprescribed antidepressants was also deemed problematic. According to a theoretical discussion on public health and medicalization, increased medicalization as a result of excessive diagnosing risks individualizing mental problems and may divert the focus from the social and political context of public health. According to patient reports, there seems to be a potential problem as to how patients are diagnosed with depression and prescribed antidepressant medication in the medical encounter. Increased drug treatment risks lead to increased health care costs and potential harm from adverse drug reactions. Overdiagnosis and overtreatment may in turn lead to diminished trust in the health system. If depression is going to be viewed as a growing public health problem, it, therefore, calls for a distinction between ill health problems that are medical and those that are not. Arguments for increased medication must be related to a possible danger of medicalizing social problems and life crises.
Towards improving the accuracy of opium yield estimates with remote sensing

Yearly estimates of illicit opium production are key metrics for assessing the effectiveness of the counter-narcotics policy in Afghanistan. Poor security often prevents access to sample locations and puts pressure on field surveyors, resulting in biased sampling and errors in data recording. Supportive methods using aerial digital photography for improving yield estimates were investigated in the UK in 2004, 2005, and 2010. There were good empirical relationships between normalized difference vegetation index and poppy yield indicators (mature capsule volume and dry capsule yield) for individual fields. The results suggested a good generalized relationship across all sampled fields and years (R2 > 0.70) during the 3–4 week period including poppy flowering. Regression estimates using this relationship with the imagery counteracted bias in the sample estimate of yield, reduced sample error, and enabled the production of detailed maps showing the poppy yield distribution. The application of this approach using very-high-resolution satellite imagery was investigated in the context of the annual opium survey in Afghanistan. Initial results indicated the potential for bias correction of yield estimates using a smaller and targeted collection of ground observations as an alternative to random sampling.
Subduction initiation along transform faults: The proto-Franciscan subduction zone

The initiation of subduction is a process that cannot be observed directly but must be inferred from the rock record after subduction is well established. There are many approaches possible to infer the origin of subduction zones that are still active, but paleosubduction zones present special challenges, since their geodynamic setting can no longer be directly observed. In this study, we examine evidence for subduction initiation of the proto-Franciscan subduction zone along a transform fault, based on a subduction initiation origin for the Coast Range ophiolite, and on the Tehama-Colusa serpentinite melange, which underlies the ophiolite and separates it from high-pressure/temperature metamorphic rocks of the Franciscan complex. The Coast Range ophiolite consists of volcanic, plutonic, and mantle components, each of which contains elements that reflect subduction initiation or hydrous melting within a subduction-zone setting. The volcanic assemblage includes forearc basalts and boninites, as well as more evolved calc-alkaline rocks; the plutonic complex contains intrusive suites that reflect this same range of parent magmas. Peridotites of the mantle section include both abyssal-like and refractory peridotites formed by hydrous decompression melting. The Tehama-Colusa serpentinite melange consists of blocks of basalt, chert, sedimentary rocks, and peridotite (harzburgite and lherzolite) in a sheared serpentinite matrix. The melange matrix represents hydrated refractory peridotites with forearc affinities, and blocks within the melange consist largely of upper-plate lithologies (harzburgite, arc volcanics, and arc-derived sediments). Lower-plate blocks within the melange include oceanic basalts and chert with rare blueschist and amphibolite. The abyssal peridotites have low pyroxene equilibration temperatures that are consistent with formation in a fracture-zone setting. However, the current melange reflects largely upper-plate lithologies in both its matrix and its constituent blocks. We propose that the proto-Franciscan subduction zone nucleated on a large offset transform fault or fracture zone that evolved into a subduction-zone melange complex. The nucleation of subduction zones along former transform boundaries has long been proposed for both modern arc systems and for the Franciscan–Coast Range ophiolite system. Our data support this interpretation and document more fully how this mechanism is expressed by mixing within the evolving serpentinite melange.
Sorbing tracer experiments in a crystalline rock fracture at Äspö (Sweden): 1. Experimental setup and microscale characterization of retention properties

Mineralogical and retardation properties of rock materials responsible for water‐rock interaction in in situ migration experiments with sorbing radioactive tracers were studied in laboratory experiments. The porosity was studied by water saturation measurements and the PMMA method was used for detailed porosity characterization of heterogeneity distributions and porosity profiles toward the fracture surface. Mylonite and altered diorite sampled in the rim zone of the fracture and representative bulk rock types were investigated by batch sorption measurements with crushed materials and through‐diffusion and in‐diffusion experiments in intact rock pieces. Autoradiography was used for visualization of in‐diffusion profiles of sorbing tracers. The use of detailed porosity information and quantitative data on heterogeneity in porosity is shown to significantly improve the interpretation and evaluation of laboratory‐scale diffusion experiments. We show through the combined approach of detailed porosity characterization and laboratory sorption and diffusion investigations that we can distinguish retention properties of bulk rock and altered rock and provide qualitative and quantitative data of heterogeneous rock properties that expand the possibility for including relevant processes in the interpretation of the results of in situ tracer tests.
Assisting 'at risk' tourist road users in Australia

With the approach of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games there is growing interest in the health and safety of international visitors to Australia. This study identifies German, English, American and Japanese tourists as possible 'at risk' groups on Australian roads. Strategies to specifically assist these visitors are suggested. The development of country-specific health and safety profiles for travellers is also discussed.
No major thermal event on the mid‐Cretaceous Côte d’Ivoire–Ghana Transform Margin

Transient mid‐Cretaceous thermal uplift induced by lateral heating from passing oceanic lithosphere is often invoked as a mechanism for the formation of the Côte d’Ivoire–Ghana basement ridge in the Equatorial Atlantic. This heating event should have affected mid‐Cretaceous sedimentary rocks along the ridge. However, organic maturity and clay mineral data on the thermal evolution of these rocks suggest that burial temperatures did not exceed 80 °C and that palaeo–geothermal gradients are not anomalous. Optical petrography and the stratigraphic pattern of temperature‐sensitive parameters indicate that higher palaeotemperature estimates are related to admixtures of preheated, detrital organic and inorganic matter. Erosion brought the sediments to their present shallow burial depths. Lack of evidence for significant thermal alteration implies that either thermal exchange between oceanic and continental lithosphere along the Côte d’Ivoire–Ghana Transform Margin was negligible, or that lateral heating by oceanic lithosphere was not strong enough to affect the sedimentary cover of the basement ridge.
Geographical distribution of stomach cancer related to heavy metals in Kurdistan, Iran

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the geographical pattern of stomach cancer and its probable link to heavy metal concentration high-risk area of Kurdistan, Iran. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study analyzed the deaths due to cancer over a period of 2006-2010. The data were collected from health deputy of Kurdistan province. Spatial distribution map of cancer was prepared using geographic information system software. Finally, the distribution map of heavy metals that could be related to stomach cancer was provided. Results: The spatial distribution maps of stomach cancer mortality shows that the highest mortality rate for the stomach cancer was identified in Divandareh, Bijar and Saghez cites. These cities have shown high concentration of heavy metals. Overlaying the map of stomach cancer via distribution of heavy metals in mineral deposits shows that lead, arsenic and antimony concentration in the city were higher density and can lead to stomach cancer. Conclusions: This study showed that the death rate related to cancer in men and rural area was higher than women and urban area. In addition, the statistical analysis showed a high correlation between gastric cancer and living in the area with mineral deposit of lead, arsenic and antimony.
Cool water geyser travertine: Crystal Geyser, Utah, USA

A sloping travertine mound, approximately 85 m across and a few metres thick is actively forming from cool temperature waters issuing out of Crystal Geyser, east‐central Utah, USA. Older travertine deposits exist at the site, the waters having used the Little Grand Wash Fault system as conduits. In contrast, the present Crystal Geyser travertine mound forms from 18°C waters which have been erupting for the last 80 years from an abandoned oil well. The present Crystal Geyser travertine accumulation forms from a ‘man‐made’ cool temperature geyser system; nevertheless, the constituents are an analogue for ancient geyser‐fed carbonate deposits. The travertine primary fabric is composed of couplets of highly porous, thin micritic laminae intercalated with thicker iron oxide rich laminae. Low Mg‐calcite is the dominant mineralogy; however, aragonite is a major constituent in deposits proximal to the vent and decreases in abundance distally. Cements exhibit a variety of fabrics, isopachous being common. Constituents include micro‐stromatolites, clasts, pisoids and the common occurrence of Frutexites‐like iron oxide precipitates. Leptothrix, a common iron‐oxidizing bacterium, is believed to be responsible for the production of the dense iron‐rich laminae. Pisoids litter the ground around the vent and rapidly decrease distally in abundance and size.