Observational constraints reduce model spread but not uncertainty in global wetland methane emission estimates.

The recent rise in atmospheric methane (CH ) concentrations accelerates climate change and offsets mitigation efforts. Although wetlands are the largest natural CH source, estimates of global wetland CH emissions vary widely among approaches taken by bottom-up (BU) process-based biogeochemical models and top-down (TD) atmospheric inversion methods. Here, we integrate in situ measurements, multi-model ensembles, and a machine learning upscaling product into the International Land Model Benchmarking system to examine the relationship between wetland CH emission estimates and model performance.

Living Well With Kidney Disease and Effective Symptom Management: Consensus Conference Proceedings.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) confers a high burden of uremic symptoms that may be underrecognized, underdiagnosed, and undertreated. Unpleasant symptoms, such as CKD-associated pruritus and emotional/psychological distress, often occur within symptom clusters, and treating 1 symptom may potentially alleviate other symptoms in that cluster. The Living Well with Kidney Disease and Effective Symptom Management Consensus Conference convened health experts and leaders of kidney advocacy groups and kidney networks worldwide to discuss the effects of unpleasant symptoms related to CKD on the health and well-being of those affected, and to consider strategies for optimal symptom management.

Development of a Patient Preference Survey for Wearable Kidney Replacement Therapy Devices.

Background: Recent innovations have the potential to disrupt the current paradigm for kidney failure treatment. The US Food and Drug Administration is committed to incorporating valid scientific evidence about how patients weigh the benefits and risks of new devices into their decision making, but to date, premarket submission of patient preference information (PPI) has been limited for kidney devices. With input from stakeholders, we developed a survey intended to yield valid PPI, capturing how patients trade off the potential benefits and risks of wearable dialysis devices and in-center hemodialysis.

Non-flooded riparian Amazon trees are a regionally significant methane source.

Inundation-adapted trees were recently established as the dominant egress pathway for soil-produced methane (CH) in forested wetlands. This raises the possibility that CH produced deep within the soil column can vent to the atmosphere via tree roots even when the water table (WT) is below the surface. If correct, this would challenge modelling efforts where inundation often defines the spatial extent of ecosystem CH production and emission.

Nomenclature in nephrology: preserving 'renal' and 'nephro' in the glossary of kidney health and disease.

A recently published nomenclature by a "Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes" (KDIGO) Consensus Conference suggested that the word "kidney" should be used in medical writings instead of "renal" or "nephro" when referring to kidney disease and kidney health. Whereas the decade-old move to use "kidney" more frequently should be supported when communicating with the public-at-large, such as the World Kidney Day, or in English speaking countries in communications with patients, care-partners, and non-medical persons, our point of view is that "renal" or "nephro" should not be removed from scientific and technical writings. Instead, the terms can coexist and be used in their relevant contexts.

Dialysis Patient-Centeredness and Precision Medicine: Focus on Incremental Home Hemodialysis and Preserving Residual Kidney Function.

An exponential interest in incremental transition to dialysis recently has emerged in lieu of outright three times/wk hemodialysis initiation as the standard of care. Incremental dialysis is consistent with precision medicine, given individualized dialysis dose adjustment based on patient's dynamic needs, leading to reduced patient suffering from longer or more frequent dialysis treatments and improved health-related quality of life. It includes twice-weekly or less frequent hemodialysis treatments with or without a low-protein diet on nondialysis days, or a shorter (<3 h) hemodialysis treatment three times per week or more frequent treatments, a useful approach for home hemodialysis initiation.

Highly contrasting effects of different climate forcing agents on terrestrial ecosystem services.

Many atmospheric constituents besides carbon dioxide (CO(2)) contribute to global warming, and it is common to compare their influence on climate in terms of radiative forcing, which measures their impact on the planetary energy budget. A number of recent studies have shown that many radiatively active constituents also have important impacts on the physiological functioning of ecosystems, and thus the 'ecosystem services' that humankind relies upon. CO(2) increases have most probably increased river runoff and had generally positive impacts on plant growth where nutrients are non-limiting, whereas increases in near-surface ozone (O(3)) are very detrimental to plant productivity.

Projected increase in continental runoff due to plant responses to increasing carbon dioxide.

In addition to influencing climatic conditions directly through radiative forcing, increasing carbon dioxide concentration influences the climate system through its effects on plant physiology. Plant stomata generally open less widely under increased carbon dioxide concentration, which reduces transpiration and thus leaves more water at the land surface. This driver of change in the climate system, which we term 'physiological forcing', has been detected in observational records of increasing average continental runoff over the twentieth century.

Assessing the carbon balance of circumpolar Arctic tundra using remote sensing and process modeling.

This paper reviews the current status of using remote sensing and process-based modeling approaches to assess the contemporary and future circumpolar carbon balance of Arctic tundra, including the exchange of both carbon dioxide and methane with the atmosphere. Analyses based on remote sensing approaches that use a 20-year data record of satellite data indicate that tundra is greening in the Arctic, suggesting an increase in photosynthetic activity and net primary production. Modeling studies generally simulate a small net carbon sink for the distribution of Arctic tundra, a result that is within the uncertainty range of field-based estimates of net carbon exchange.

Impact of climate change on health: what is required of climate modellers?

The potential impacts of climate change on human health are significant, ranging from direct effects such as heat stress and flooding, to indirect influences including changes in disease transmission and malnutrition in response to increased competition for crop and water resources. Development agencies and policy makers tasked with implementing adaptive strategies recognize the need to plan for these impacts. However at present there is little guidance on how to prioritize their funding to best improve the resilience of vulnerable communities.

Detection of a direct carbon dioxide effect in continental river runoff records.

Continental runoff has increased through the twentieth century despite more intensive human water consumption. Possible reasons for the increase include: climate change and variability, deforestation, solar dimming, and direct atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) effects on plant transpiration. All of these mechanisms have the potential to affect precipitation and/or evaporation and thereby modify runoff.