Publications by authors named "A C Risch"
Grasslands cover approximately a third of the Earth's land surface and account for about a third of terrestrial carbon storage. Yet, we lack strong predictive models of grassland plant biomass, the primary source of carbon in grasslands. This lack of predictive ability may arise from the assumption of linear relationships between plant biomass and the environment and an underestimation of interactions of environmental variables.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccurately representing the relationships between nitrogen supply and photosynthesis is crucial for reliably predicting carbon-nitrogen cycle coupling in Earth System Models (ESMs). Most ESMs assume positive correlations amongst soil nitrogen supply, leaf nitrogen content, and photosynthetic capacity. However, leaf photosynthetic nitrogen demand may influence the leaf nitrogen response to soil nitrogen supply; thus, responses to nitrogen supply are expected to be the largest in environments where demand is the greatest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Large mammalian herbivores (LMH), like domestic cattle, play a crucial role in grassland ecosystems by influencing biodiversity and food-web dynamics.
- A study in northern China found that the presence of cattle caused grasshoppers to jump significantly more, leading to an increased foraging response from their bird predator, the barn swallow, while also reducing grasshopper populations by approximately 50%.
- The research revealed that while jumping helps grasshoppers avoid being trampled by cattle, it also dramatically increases their vulnerability to being eaten by swallows, highlighting complex interactions between species that affect ecosystem dynamics.
The alarming increase in global rates of metabolic diseases (MetDs) and their association with cancer risk renders them a considerable burden on our society. The interplay of environmental and genetic factors in causing MetDs may be reflected in DNA methylation patterns, particularly at non-canonical (non-B) DNA structures, such as G-quadruplexes (G4s) or R-loops. To gain insight into the mechanisms of MetD progression, we focused on DNA methylation and functional analyses on intragenic regions of two MetD risk genes, the glucokinase (GCK) exon 7 and the transmembrane 6 superfamily 2 (TM6SF2) intron 2-exon 3 boundary, which harbor non-B DNA motifs for G4s and R-loops.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Family caregivers of persons with dementia (PwD) experience high levels of distress. We used a randomized-controlled trial to investigate the effects of telephone-based acceptance and commitment therapy (tbACT) for family caregivers.
Methods: Caregivers were randomly allocated to an intervention group (tbACT, = 41) or an untreated control group (CG, = 40).