Objective: To explore the effectiveness of Tai Chi on cognitive function in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
Methods: According to the PRISMA guidelines, randomized controlled trial (RCT) literature on the efficacy of Tai Chi on MCI patients was searched in China National Knowledge Network (CNKI), China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Wanfang Data, China Scientific Journal Database (VIP), PubMed, Embase, Duxiu Database, Web of Science and Cochrane Library from their inception to April 2024. The risk of bias in each study was appraised using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool using Revman 5.
Marine oil spills continue to be a global issue, heightened by spill events such as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest marine oil spill in US waters and among the largest worldwide, affecting over 1,000 km of sensitive wetland shorelines, primarily salt marshes supporting numerous ecosystem functions. To synthesize the effects of the oil spill on foundational vegetation species in the salt marsh ecosystem, Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemerianus, we performed a meta-analysis using data from 10 studies and 255 sampling sites over seven years post-spill. We examined the hypotheses that the oil spill reduced plant cover, stem density, vegetation height, aboveground biomass, and belowground biomass, and tracked the degree of effects temporally to estimate recovery time frames.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrior studies indicated salt marsh periwinkles (Littoraria irrorata) were strongly impacted in heavily oiled marshes for at least 5 years following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Here, we detail longer-term effects and recovery over nine years. Our analysis found that neither density nor population size structure recovered at heavily oiled sites where snails were smaller and variability in size structure and density was increased.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo investigate the heterogeneity of plant litter decomposition in the freeze and freeze-free seasons and the responses to disparate flooded conditions in seasonally frozen wetlands, in situ simulation experiments of litter decomposition were performed in the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China. The experiments were conducted using the litter bag method for representative plants, Carex lasiocarpa and Calamagrostis angustifolia, in both non-flooded and flooded areas between November 2011 and November 2013. Heterogeneous effects of the freeze season and its interaction with hydrological regimes on the decomposition of the litter of various species and organs were observed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisturbance interactions occur when one perturbation influences the severity and perhaps the baseline state of succeeding disturbances. Natural and anthropogenic disturbances are frequent in dynamic coastal ecosystems and can often be linked. We evaluated potential for disturbance interactions associated with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, which was preceded by disturbance from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, by quantifying marsh shoreline retreat across both events.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSalt marshes in northern Barataria Bay, Louisiana, USA were oiled, sometimes heavily, in the aftermath of the oil spill. Previous studies indicate that fiddler crabs (in the genus ) and the salt marsh periwinkle ( were negatively impacted in the short term by the spill. Here, we detail longer-term effects and recovery from moderate and heavy oiling over a 3-year span, beginning 30 months after the spill.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGulf of Mexico saltmarsh sediments were heavily impacted by Macondo well oil (MWO) released from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. Detailed molecular-level characterization of sediment extracts collected over 48 months post-spill highlights the chemical complexity of highly polar, oxygen-containing compounds that remain environmentally persistent. Electrospray ionization (ESI) Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS), combined with chromatographic prefractionation, correlates bulk chemical properties to elemental compositions of oil-transformation products as a function of time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated the initial impacts and post spill recovery of salt marshes over a 3.5-year period along northern Barataria Bay, LA, USA exposed to varying degrees of Deepwater Horizon oiling to determine the effects on shoreline-stabilizing vegetation and soil processes. In moderately oiled marshes, surface soil total petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations were ~70mgg(-1) nine months after the spill.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlack carbon (BC), an important component of organic carbon (OC) produced from incomplete combustion of carbon compounds, is widespread and affects the global carbon storage. The objectives of this study were to analyze the BC contents and fluxes in the last 150 years to determine the causes of differences in the three profiles of the Songnen Plain of Northeast China and to estimate the BC storage in the wetlands of the Songnen Plain. In the three sampling sites, BC fluxes in the period between 1950 and the present time increased by the ratios of 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlack carbon (BC), one of the major components of atmosphere aerosol, could be the second dominant driver of climate change. We reconstructed historical trend of BC fluxes in Sanjiang Plain (Northeast China) through peat record to better understand its long-term trend and relationship of this atmosphere aerosol with intensity of human activities. The BC fluxes in peatland were higher than other sedimentary archives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of burning Sphagnum moss and peat on phosphorus forms was studied with controlled combustion in the laboratory. Two fire treatments, a light fire (250 °C) and a severe fire (600 °C), were performed in a muffle furnace with 1-h residence time to simulate the effects of different forest fire conditions. The results showed that fire burning Sphagnum moss and peat soils resulted in losses of organic phosphorus (Po), while inorganic phosphorus (Pi) concentrations increased.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated impacts of Macondo MC252 oil from the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) spill on the common reed Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill on two dominant coastal saltmarsh plants, Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemerianus, in the northern Gulf of Mexico and the processes controlling differential species-effects and recovery. Seven months after the Macondo MC 252 oil made landfall along the shoreline salt marshes of northern Barataria Bay, Louisiana, concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbons in the surface 2 cm of heavily oiled marsh soils were as high as 510 mg g(-1). Heavy oiling caused almost complete mortality of both species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, we compared ecological characteristics of wetland vegetation in a series of restoration projects that were carried out in the wetlands of Yellow River Delta. The investigated characteristics include plant composition structure, species diversity and community similarity in three kinds of Phragmites australis wetlands, i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs the use of in situ burning for oil spill remediation in coastal wetlands accelerates, the capacity of this procedure to restore the ecological structure and function of oil-impacted wetlands becomes increasingly important. Thus, our research focused on evaluating the functional and structural recovery of a coastal marsh in South Louisiana to an in situ burn following a Hurricane Katrina-induced oil spill. Permanent sampling plots were set up to monitor marsh recovery in the oiled and burned areas as well as non-oiled and non-burned (reference) marshes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn-situ burning of spilled oil, which receives considerable attention in marine conditions, could be an effective way to cleanup wetland oil spills. An experimental in-situ burn was conducted to study the effects of oil type, marsh type, and water depth on oil chemistry and oil removal efficiency from the water surface and sediment. In-situ burning decreased the totaltargeted alkanes and total targeted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the burn residues as compared to the pre-burn diesel and crude oils.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn-situ burning of oiled wetlands potentially provides a cleanup technique that is generally consistent with present wetland management procedures. The effects of water depth (+10, +2, and -2 cm), oil type (crude and diesel), and oil penetration of sediment before the burn on the relationship between vegetation recovery and soil temperature for three coastal marsh types were investigated. The water depth over the soil surface during in-situ burning was a key factor controlling marsh plant recovery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of No. 2 fuel oil on the biomass production of the salt marsh plant, Spartina alterniflora, was studied in a greenhouse dose-response experiment. S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEffects of water depth, burn duration, and diesel fuel concentration on the relationship between recovery of marsh vegetation, soil temperature, and oil remediation during in-situ burning of oiled mesocosms were investigated. The water depth over the soil surface during in-situ burning was a major factor controlling recovery of the salt marsh grass, Spartina alterniflora. Ten centimeters of water overlying the soil surface was sufficient to protect the marsh soil from burn impacts with soil temperatures <37 degrees C and high plant survival rate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF