Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties.

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties.

Levels of Vitamins and Homocysteine in Older Adults with Alzheimer Disease or Mild Cognitive Impairment in Cuba.

INTRODUCTION Age-related cognitive disorders, including Alzheimer disease, are among the main causes of disability and dependence in older adults worldwide. High blood homocysteine levels (hyperhomocysteinemia) are a risk factor for diseases whose metabolism involves different B vitamins. Antioxidant vitamins provide a protective effect by mitigating oxidative stress generated by these diseases.

Farmland biodiversity and agricultural management on 237 farms in 13 European and two African regions.

Farmland is a major land cover type in Europe and Africa and provides habitat for numerous species. The severe decline in farmland biodiversity of the last decades has been attributed to changes in farming practices, and organic and low-input farming are assumed to mitigate detrimental effects of agricultural intensification on biodiversity. Since the farm enterprise is the primary unit of agricultural decision making, management-related effects at the field scale need to be assessed at the farm level.

Bamboo-shaped carbon nanotubes generated by methane thermal decomposition using Ni nanoparticles synthesized in water-oil emulsions.

Ni nanoparticles were synthesized using two water-in-oil emulsions formulated with different surfactants and using n-heptane as the organic phase and aqueous nickel acetate as the catalytic metallic precursor. Characterization by transmission electron microscopy showed that the Ni nanoparticles have diameters ranging from 3 to 12 nm, and that the surface is lightly oxidized. The decomposition of diluted methane catalyzed by the as-prepared Ni nanoparticles was studied in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), operated in the 25-930°C range.

Determining material damping type by comparing modal frequency estimators.

The accuracy of modal frequency and damping estimators for non-lightly damped single degree of freedom systems depend on the response parameter used as well as the damping mechanism. Therefore, in order to make accurate modal parameter measurements, the damping mechanism at play must be known to be either viscous or hysteretic a priori. Here, comparisons between the evaluated frequency values are used to glean this information.

Treatment of deep wound infections after spinal fusion with a vacuum-assisted device in patients with spinal cord injury.

Postoperative wound infection is a severe complication after spinal instrumentation, especially in a patient with spinal injury. We used vacuum-assisted wound closure (VAC) in two patients with spinal cord injury, who presented deep wound infection after spinal instrumentation and were treated with an aggressive irrigation and debridement procedure. Three and four weeks after VAC application, the hardware was completely covered by granulation tissue and a secondary closure was undertaken.

Organochlorine levels in adipose tissue of women from a littoral region of Argentina.

Organochlorine compounds (OCCs), such as pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), are persistent lipophilic chemicals identified as endocrine disruptors, mainly with estrogen-like effects. Northeastern Argentina, near the Paraná River, is characterized by intensive farming and agricultural activities and industrial development, and is therefore prone to high incidences of environmental and dietary exposure to OCCs. Hence, we conducted a study to (1) estimate the organochlorine residues present in mammary fat tissue in a population of women from this littoral region and (2) identify potential sources of exposure to OCCs.