Fire intensity impacts on physiological performance and mortality in Pinus monticola and Pseudotsuga menziesii saplings: a dose-response analysis.

Fire is a major cause of tree injury and mortality worldwide, yet our current understanding of fire effects is largely based on ocular estimates of stem charring and foliage discoloration, which are error prone and provide little information on underlying tree function. Accurate quantification of physiological performance is a research and forest management need, given that declining performance could help identify mechanisms of-and serve as an early warning sign for-mortality. Many previous efforts have been hampered by the inability to quantify the heat flux that a tree experiences during a fire, given its highly variable nature in space and time.

Death from hunger or thirst? Phloem death, rather than xylem hydraulic failure, as a driver of fire-induced conifer mortality.

Disruption of photosynthesis and carbon transport due to damage to the tree crown and stem cambial cells, respectively, can cause tree mortality. It has recently been proposed that fire-induced dysfunction of xylem plays an important role in tree mortality. Here, we simultaneously tested the impact of a lethal fire dose on nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs) and xylem hydraulics in Pinus ponderosa saplings.

Qubit readout error mitigation with bit-flip averaging.

Quantum computers are becoming increasingly accessible and may soon outperform classical computers for useful tasks. However, qubit readout errors remain a substantial hurdle to running quantum algorithms on current devices. We present a scheme to more efficiently mitigate these errors on quantum hardware and numerically show that our method consistently gives advantage over previous mitigation schemes.

Experiences of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Premanifest Huntington's Disease.

Background: Psychological difficulties such as anxiety, depression, and irritability are common in Huntington's disease, even for premanifest individuals. However, very little evidence exists of psychological approaches to manage this distress. We have conducted a feasibility study with an embedded qualitative component to investigate the possibility of using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and present here the findings from the qualitative data.

Short- and long-term effects of fire on stem hydraulics in Pinus ponderosa saplings.

Understanding tree physiological responses to fire is needed to accurately model post-fire carbon processes and inform management decisions. Given trees can die immediately or at extended time periods after fire, we combined two experiments to assess the short- (one-day) and long-term (21-months) fire effects on Pinus ponderosa sapling water transport. Native percentage loss of conductivity (nPLC), vulnerability to cavitation and xylem anatomy were assessed in unburned and burned saplings at lethal and non-lethal fire intensities.

A feasibility investigation of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for people with Huntington's disease.

Background: Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative condition which affects movement, coordination and cognitive functioning. Psychological difficulties are commonly experienced; however, psychological interventions have been little researched with this population. We investigated the feasibility of conducting a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) with people with the HD genetic mutation, either pre-manifest (before onset of movement symptoms) or at an early disease stage.

Fixing a snag in carbon emissions estimates from wildfires.

Wildfire is an essential earth-system process, impacting ecosystem processes and the carbon cycle. Forest fires are becoming more frequent and severe, yet gaps exist in the modeling of fire on vegetation and carbon dynamics. Strategies for reducing carbon dioxide (CO ) emissions from wildfires include increasing tree harvest, largely based on the public assumption that fires burn live forests to the ground, despite observations indicating that less than 5% of mature tree biomass is actually consumed.

Monitoring pre-hospital transport of severely injured patients in the Midland Region of New Zealand.

Aim: Pre-hospital triage strategies aim to identify the type and extent of patient injuries and ensure that they are transferred to the most appropriate trauma centres. Despite the importance of appropriate pre-hospital transport, there is little evidence base to assist medical staff on optimal destination policy for emergent pre-hospital transport. This paper explores the spatial relationship of patient transfers prior to the implementation of the Midland Pre-Hospital Trauma Destination Matrix in New Zealand, and is a retrospective view of practice against a destination policy that was applied after the study period.

Direct detection of glucuronide metabolites of lidocaine in sheep urine.

The anaesthetic lidocaine is metabolised quickly to produce a series of metabolites, including several hydroxylated metabolites, which are further metabolised by addition of a glucuronic acid moiety. Analysis of these glucuronide metabolites in urine is performed indirectly by cleaving the glucuronic acid group using β-glucuronidase. However, direct analysis of intact glucuronide conjugates is a more straightforward approach as it negates the need for long hydrolysis incubations, and minimises the oxidation of sensitive hydrolysis products, while also distinguishing between the two forms of hydroxylated metabolites.

Human exposure and sensitivity to globally extreme wildfire events.

Extreme wildfires have substantial economic, social and environmental impacts, but there is uncertainty whether such events are inevitable features of the Earth's fire ecology or a legacy of poor management and planning. We identify 478 extreme wildfire events defined as the daily clusters of fire radiative power from MODIS, within a global 10 × 10 km lattice, between 2002 and 2013, which exceeded the 99.997th percentile of over 23 million cases of the ΣFRP 100 km in the MODIS record.

Vegetation effects on impulsive events in the acoustic signature of fires.

Acoustic impulse events have long been used as diagnostics for discrete phenomena in the natural world, including the detection of meteor impacts and volcanic eruptions. Wildland fires display an array of such acoustic impulse events in the form of crackling noises. Exploratory research into the properties of these impulse events revealed information regarding the specific properties of plant material.

Accuracy of WAAS-Enabled GPS-RF Warning Signals When Crossing a Terrestrial Geofence.

Geofences are virtual boundaries based on geographic coordinates. When combined with global position system (GPS), or more generally global navigation satellite system (GNSS) transmitters, geofences provide a powerful tool for monitoring the location and movements of objects of interest through proximity alarms. However, the accuracy of geofence alarms in GNSS-radio frequency (GNSS-RF) transmitter receiver systems has not been tested.

The Science of Firescapes: Achieving Fire-Resilient Communities.

Wildland fire management has reached a crossroads. Current perspectives are not capable of answering interdisciplinary adaptation and mitigation challenges posed by increases in wildfire risk to human populations and the need to reintegrate fire as a vital landscape process. Fire science has been, and continues to be, performed in isolated "silos," including institutions (e.

Detection of early stage changes associated with adipogenesis using Raman spectroscopy under aseptic conditions.

There is growing interest in the development of methods capable of non-invasive characterization of stem cells prior to their use in cell-based therapies. Raman spectroscopy has previously been used to detect biochemical changes commensurate with the osteogenic, cardiogenic, and neurogenic differentiation of stem cells. The aim of this study was to characterize the adipogenic differentiation of live adipose derived stem cells (ASCs) under aseptic conditions.

Aseptic Raman spectroscopy can detect changes associated with the culture of human dental pulp stromal cells in osteoinductive culture.

There is an unmet need for the non-invasive characterisation of stem cells to facilitate the translation of cell-based therapies. Raman spectroscopy has proven utility in stem cell characterisation but as yet no method has been reported capable of taking repeated Raman measurements of living cells aseptically over time. The aim of this study was to determine if Raman spectroscopy could be used to monitor changes in a well characterised cell population (human dental pulp stromal cells (DPSCs)) by taking repeated Raman measurements from the same cell populations in osteoinductive culture over time and under aseptic conditions.

Fertility-dependent effects of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities on white spruce seedling nutrition.

Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EcMF) typically colonize nursery seedlings, but nutritional and growth effects of these communities are only partly understood. To examine these effects, Picea glauca seedlings collected from a tree nursery naturally colonized by three dominant EcMF were divided between fertilized and unfertilized treatments. After one growing season seedlings were harvested, ectomycorrhizas identified using DNA sequencing, and seedlings analyzed for leaf nutrient concentration and content, and biomass parameters.

A qualitative analysis of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in Parkinson's disease.

Objectives: To analyse the experiences of participants with Parkinson's disease (PD), who participated in an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) course.

Design And Method: Interpretative phenomenological analysis guided the design and method used in this study. A total of twelve participants (seven men and five women) with PD were recruited prior to and following participation in an MBCT course and interviewed with a semi-structured interview schedule.

Do improvements in emotional distress correlate with becoming more mindful? A study of older adults.

Objectives: The study aimed (1) to investigate changes in older adults' emotional wellbeing (specifically depression, anxiety and stress levels) and mindful ability following a mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) course; (2) to explore correlations between mindfulness (measured as an overall ability and as individual components; observe, describe, act with awareness and accept without judgement) and changes in depression, anxiety and stress levels.

Method: Twenty-two participants took an eight-week MBCT course. Levels of depression, anxiety and stress were recorded pre- and post-intervention, as was mindfulness ability (measured both as an overall ability and as individual components).

Alkyl phenols and diethylhexyl phthalate in tissues of sheep grazing pastures fertilized with sewage sludge or inorganic fertilizer.

We studied selected tissues from ewes and their lambs that were grazing pastures fertilized with either sewage sludge (treated) or inorganic fertilizer (control) and determined concentrations of alkylphenols and phthalates in these tissues. Mean tissue concentrations of alkylphenols were relatively low (< 10-400 microg/kg) in all animals and tissues. Phthalates were detected in tissues of both control and treated animals at relatively high concentrations (> 20,000 microg/kg in many tissue samples).

Visual and Spatial Short-term Memory in Integrative Agnosia.

The extent to which imagery and perceptual processes overlap in the brain has been the focus of a number of studies using different experimental methodologies (e.g., studies of functional brain activation and studies of patients with selective deficits following brain damage).

Phthalate and alkyl phenol concentrations in soil following applications of inorganic fertiliser or sewage sludge to pasture and potential rates of ingestion by grazing ruminants.

Soil concentrations of dioctyl phthalate (DOP) and the alkyl phenols, octyl phenol (OP) and nonyl phenol (NP), after repeated surface applications of sewage sludge to pastures, were investigated. Liquid sludge was applied at a rate of 2.25 tonnes dry matter (DM) per hectare to each of three treated (T) plots on three occasions during the summer and two occasions in the early spring over a period of 2.