Site characteristics determine the effectiveness of tillage and cover crops on the net ecosystem carbon balance in California vineyard agroecosystems.

Globally, wine grape vineyards cover approximately 7.4 M ha. The potential for carbon (C) storage in vineyards is of great interest to offset greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. Sustainable soil management practices such as cover crop adoption and reduced tillage may contribute to soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. However, site-specific factors such as soil texture, other soil physicochemical properties, and climate largely influence the range and rate to which SOC may be stored. To measure the potential for C storage in vineyards under varying sustainable soil management practices, we calculated the net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) of three cover crops [perennial grass (Poa bulbosa hybrid cv. Oakville Blue); annual grass (barley, Hordeum vulgare); resident vegetation (natural weed population)] under conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT) management. Results provided evidence that vineyards served as C sinks. In sandy soils, the type of cover crop and tillage may be of little influence on the NECB. While in finer-textured soils, tillage reduced the NECB and higher biomass-producing cover crops enhanced the overall C storage potential of the vineyard agroecosystem. Overall, our results revealed that site characteristics, namely, soil texture and climate, were key determinants of the C storage potential of vineyards in Mediterranean climates such as those found in coastal and inland California wine grape production regions.

Social Isolation and Loneliness among Near-Centenarians and Centenarians: Results from the Fordham Centenarian Study.

Social isolation and loneliness have been recognized as problems older people face due to their adverse effects on health and mortality, but very few researchers have analyzed their co-occurrence, which might be particularly prevalent and critical among the very old. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of combinations of social isolation and loneliness among near-centenarians and centenarians. We used data collected from 94 individuals aged 95-107 from the Fordham Centenarian Study. We built a four-group typology and explored associations with individual characteristics in various domains (demographic, socioeconomics, social, health, care, and psychological) with multinomial logistic regression models. Considering their combinations, the most prevalent groups were "isolated and lonely" and "neither isolated nor lonely" (29.8% and 28.7%, respectively). The "lonely but not isolated" (20.2%) and "isolated but not lonely" (21.3%) groups were also notably large. The likelihood of belonging to each group varied according to various individual characteristics, such as education, health, and personality. Social isolation and loneliness are distinct phenomena among centenarians. The consideration of their varied combination can help better assess life conditions at very old ages. Taking into account the differences between groups can facilitate the design of tailored interventions to improve the lives of near-centenarians and centenarians.

Appraising water and nutrient recovery for perennial crops irrigated with reclaimed water in Mediterranean areas through an index-based approach.

The use of reclaimed water for agricultural irrigation is among the agronomic practices being increasingly valued by policy-makers, water planners, and regulators to pursue more sustainable resource management in many arid and semi-arid agricultural production areas worldwide. This practice can make additional supply available in water-scarce areas, provide crop nutrients, and reduce the disposal of wastewater to the environment, thus providing considerable agronomic and environmental benefits. However, the process for treated wastewater reuse is complex because of multiple interactions among technical, economic, environmental, and public health related aspects. In this context, the application of quantitative indices capturing agronomic, engineering, and environmental factors and their possible inter-relations enable to appraise the potential benefits and risks of treated wastewater reuse at individual project's scale and for regional policies. The present article describes a quantitative approach that utilizes a set of proposed indices to characterize various aspects affecting water and nutrient recovery for specific combinations between the characteristics of the treatment facility and the attributes of the irrigation district supplied with reclaimed water. The proposed index-based approach was tested on datasets collected for 11 pilot reuse schemes located in the Apulia region of southern Italy with the aim to evaluate the potential for water and nutrient recovery resulting from irrigation with reclaimed water. Results from the data analysis and interpretation showed that the proposed indices enabled to quantify the environmental benefits of irrigation with RW that leads to divert less freshwater from conventional sources and dispose less reclaimed water into natural water receptors, as well as the agronomic advantages of using RW, which can partially fulfill the irrigation and nutrient requirements for the supplied districts' service areas. Overall, the proposed set of indices can provide valuable information for the successful implementation of water reuse policies for irrigated agriculture.

Multitemporal satellite imagery analysis for soil organic carbon assessment in an agricultural farm in southeastern Brazil.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a crucial role for soil health. However, large datasets needed to accurately assess SOC at high resolution across scales are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive. Ancillary geodata, including remote sensing spectral indices (RS-SIs) and topographic indicators (TIs), have been proposed as spatial covariates. Reported relationships between SOC and RS-SIs are erratic, possibly because single-date RS-SIs do not accurately capture SOC spatial variability due to transient confounding factors in the soil (e.g., moisture). However, multitemporal RS-SI data analysis may lead to noise reduction in SOC versus RS-SI relationships. This study aimed at: i) comparing single-date versus multitemporal RS-Sis derived from Sentinel-2 imagery for assessment of topsoil (0-0.2 m) SOC in two agricultural fields located in south-eastern Brazil; ii) comparing the performance of RS-SIs and TIs; iii) using adequate RS-SIs and TIs to compare sampling schemes defined on different collection grids; and iv) studying the temporal changes of SOC (0-0.2 m and 0.2-0.4 m). Results showed that: i) single-date RS-SIs were not reliable proxies for topsoil SOC at the study sites. For most of the tested RS-SIs, multitemporal data analysis produced accurate proxies for SOC; e.g., for the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, the 4.5th multitemporal percentile predicted SOC with an R2 of 0.64; ii) The best TI was elevation (ranging from 643 to 684 m) with an R2 of 0.70; iii) The multitemporal SI and elevation maps indicated that the different sampling schemes were equally representative of the topsoil SOC's distribution across the entire area; and iv) From 2012 through 2019, topsoil SOC increased from 19.3 to 24.1 g kg-1. The ratio between SOC in the topsoil and subsoil (0.2-0.4 m) decreased from 1.7 to 1.1. Further testing of the proposed multitemporal RS-SI analysis is necessary to confirm its dependability for SOC assessment in Brazil and elsewhere.

Thresholds Power Profiles and Performance in Youth Road Cycling.

PURPOSE: To analyze the anthropometric and physiological characteristics of competitive 15- to 16-year-old young male road cyclists and scale them according to a dichotomous category of successful/unsuccessful riders. METHODS: A total of 103 15- to 16-year-old male road cyclists competing in the Italian national under 17 category performed a laboratory incremental exercise test during the in-season period. Age, height, body mass, body mass index, peak height velocity, and absolute and relative power output at 2 mmol/L and 4 mmol/L of blood lactate concentration were compared between 2 subgroups, including those scoring at least 1 point (successful, n = 70) and those that did not score points (unsuccessful, n = 61) in the general season ranking. RESULTS: Successful and unsuccessful riders did not differ anthropometrically. Successful riders recorded significantly higher absolute and relative power output at 2 mmol/L and 4 mmol/L of blood lactate concentration compared with unsuccessful riders. Successful riders were also significantly older and had advanced biological maturation compared with their unsuccessful counterparts. CONCLUSION: Power associated with blood lactate profiles, together with chronological age and peak height velocity, plays an important role in determining race results in under 17 road cycling. Physiological tests could be helpful for coaches to measure these performance predictors.

The Effect of Information and Communication Technology and Social Networking Site Use on Older People's Well-Being in Relation to Loneliness: Review of Experimental Studies.

BACKGROUND: In the last decades, the relationship between social networking sites (SNSs) and older people's loneliness is gaining specific relevance. Studies in this field are often based on qualitative methods to study in-depth self-perceived issues, including loneliness and well-being, or quantitative surveys to report the links between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and older people's well-being or loneliness. However, these nonexperimental methods are unable to deeply analyze the causal relationship. Moreover, the research on older people's SNS use is still scant, especially regarding its impact on health and well-being. In recent years, the existing review studies have separately focused their attention on loneliness and social isolation of older people or on the use of ICTs and SNSs in elderly populations without addressing the relationship between the former and the latter. This thorough qualitative review provides an analysis of research performed using an experimental or quasi-experimental design that investigates the causal effect of ICT and SNS use on elderly people's well-being related to loneliness. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this review are to contrast and compare research designs (sampling and recruitment, evaluation tools, interventions) and the findings of these studies and highlight their limitations. METHODS: Using an approach that integrates the methodological framework for scoping studies and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for systematic reviews, we identified 11 articles that met our inclusion criteria. A thematic and content analysis was performed based on the ex post categorization of the data on the selected studies, and the data were summarized in tables. RESULTS: The analysis of the selected articles showed that: (1) ICT use is positively but weakly related to the different measures of older people's well-being and loneliness, (2) overall, the studies under review lack a sound experimental design, (3) the main limitations of these studies lie in the lack of rigor in the sampling method and in the recruitment strategy. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of the reviewed studies confirms the existence of a beneficial effect of ICT use on the well-being of older people in terms of reduced loneliness. However, the causal relationship is often found to be weak. This review highlights the need to study these issues further with adequate methodological rigor.

Estimating the potential for dementia prevention through modifiable risk factors elimination in the real-world setting: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Preventing dementia onset is one of the global public health priorities: around 35% of dementia cases could be attributable to modifiable risk factors. These estimates relied on secondary data and did not consider the concurrent effect of non-modifiable factors and death. Here, we aimed to estimate the potential reduction of dementia incidence due to modifiable risk factors elimination, controlling for non-modifiable risk factors and for the competing risk of death. METHODS: Participants from the InveCe.Ab population-based prospective cohort (Abbiategrasso, Italy) without a baseline dementia diagnosis and attending at least one follow-up visit were included (N = 1100). Participants underwent multidimensional assessment at baseline and after 2, 4, and 8 years, from November 2009 to January 2019. Modifiable risk factors were low education, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, depression, smoking, physical inactivity, hearing loss, loneliness, heart disease, stroke, head injury, and delirium. Non-modifiable risk factors were age, sex, and APOE ε4 genotype. The primary endpoint was dementia diagnosis within the follow-up period (DSM-IV criteria). We performed competing risk regression models to obtain sub-hazard ratio (SHR) for each exposure, with death as competing risk. The exposures associated with dementia were included in a multivariable model to estimate their independent influence on dementia and the corresponding population attributable fraction (PAF). RESULTS: Within the study period (mean follow-up, 82.3 months), 111 participants developed dementia (10.1%). In the multivariable model, APOE ε4 (SHR = 1.89, 95% CI 1.22-2.92, p = 0.005), diabetes (SHR = 1.56, 95% CI 1.00-2.39, p = 0.043), heart disease (SHR = 1.56, 95% CI 1.03-2.36, p = 0.037), stroke (SHR = 2.31, 95% CI 1.35-3.95, p = 0.002), and delirium (SHR = 8.70, 95% CI 3.26-23.24, p <  0.001) were independently associated with increased dementia risk. In the present cohort, around 40% of dementia cases could be attributable to preventable comorbid diseases. CONCLUSIONS: APOE ε4, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and delirium independently increased the risk of late-life dementia, controlling for the competing risk of death. Preventive intervention addressed to these clinical populations could be an effective approach to reduce dementia incidence. Further studies on different population-based cohort are needed to obtain more generalizable findings of the potential of dementia prevention in the real-world setting. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01345110 .

Assessing the impact of Social Networking Site use on older people's loneliness and social isolation. A randomized controlled trial: The Aging in a Networked Society-Social Experiment Study (ANS-SE).

INTRODUCTION: An ageing society poses unprecedented challenges to societies. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), including Social Networking Sites (SNSs), may contribute to contrast loneliness and social isolation in old age. Despite of the potentialities of SNSs, there is only a handful of studies assessing the causal relationship of SNS use and older people's well-being. This paper aims to provide further evidence on the design of randomised controlled trials exploring the causal impact of SNS use on loneliness and social isolation in old age. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The Aging in a Networked Society-Social Experiment Study (ANS-SE) is a randomised controlled trial conducted on people aged 75 and over residing in a town located in the Milan area (Italy) aiming to assess the impact of SNS use on loneliness and social isolation (i.e. the primary outcomes of this study). The study is constituted of two stages, i.e. the baseline and the follow up. The experiment is structured into one treatment group and two control groups; the interventions are the attendance to a course on SNS use (T1) and lifestyle education and brain functioning (C1). The inactive control group (C) is constituted of a waiting list. We will perform bivariate and regression analysis. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the Ethic Committee of the University of Milano Bicocca (prot. 431/2019) and was registered at Clinical Trials.gov (NCT04242628). Written consent was obtained from all respondents. Results from the study will be discussed with the local community and stakeholders, presented in national and international conferences and published in leading peer-review journals. The consent forms, the anonymised dataset, and the relevant statistical codes will be deposited with the Italian Unidata archive, also in charge of releasing the data to the public, upon a short embargo period.

Abbiategrasso Brain Bank Protocol for Collecting, Processing and Characterizing Aging Brains.

In a constantly aging population, the prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders is expected to rise. Understanding disease mechanisms is the key to find preventive and curative measures. The most effective way to achieve this is through direct examination of diseased and healthy brain tissue. The authors present a protocol to obtain, process, characterize and store good quality brain tissue donated by individuals registered in an antemortem brain donation program. The donation program includes a face-to-face empathic approach to people, a collection of complementary clinical, biological, social and lifestyle information and serial multi-dimensional assessments over time to track individual trajectories of normal aging and cognitive decline. Since many neurological diseases are asymmetrical, our brain bank offers a unique protocol for slicing fresh specimens. Brain sections of both hemispheres are alternately frozen (at -80 °C) or fixed in formalin; a fixed slice on one hemisphere corresponds to a frozen one on the other hemisphere. With this approach, a complete histological characterization of all frozen material can be obtained, and omics studies can be performed on histologically well-defined tissues from both hemispheres thus offering a more complete assessment of neurodegenerative disease mechanisms. Correct and definite diagnosis of these diseases can only be achieved by combining the clinical syndrome with the neuropathological evaluation, which often adds important etiological clues necessary to interpret the pathogenesis. This method can be time consuming, expensive and limited as it only covers a limited geographical area. Regardless of its limitations, the high degree of characterization it provides can be rewarding. Our ultimate goal is to establish the first Italian Brain Bank, all the while emphasizing the importance of neuropathologically verified epidemiological studies.

Using cost-benefit analysis to understand adoption of winter cover cropping in California's specialty crop systems.

Winter cover crops could contribute to more sustainable agricultural production and increase resiliency to climate change; however, their adoption remains low in California. This paper seeks to understand barriers to winter cover crop adoption by monetizing their long-term economic and agronomic impacts on farm profitability in two of California's specialty crop systems: processing tomatoes and almonds. Our modeling effort provides a present, discounted valuation of the long-term use of winter cover crops through a cost-benefit analysis. A net present value model estimates the cumulative economic value of this practice. We then explore how the long-term trade-offs associated with winter cover crops can affect an operation's profits under a spectrum of hypothetical changes in California's agricultural landscape. Our analysis sheds light on the barriers to adoption by reporting benefit-cost ratios that indicate profitability across several scenarios; however, benefits and costs accrue differently over time and with long planning horizons. At the same time, a small portion of gained benefits are external to the grower. Findings from this study reveal that winter cover crops in California can be profitable in the long-term, but the extent of profit depends on the cropping system, extent of irrigation savings due to improved soil function, access to financial subsidies and climate change. Winter cover crops can return positive net benefits to growers who have flexible contractual obligations, can wait for the long-term return on investment and manage cover crops as closely as cash crops. This analysis contributes to the study of conservation agriculture practices by explaining possible reasons for low adoption through an economic valuation of the implications of soil management choices and policy counterfactuals.

Doll therapy intervention for women with dementia living in nursing homes: a randomized single-blind controlled trial protocol.

BACKGROUND: Doll therapy is a non-pharmacological intervention for people with dementia aimed to reduce distressing behaviours. Reliable results on the efficacy of Doll therapy for people with dementia are needed. The concept of attachment theorised by Bowlby has been proposed to explain the Doll therapy process, but it has not been proven to influence the response to doll presentation. METHODS/DESIGN: This single-blind, randomised controlled trial will involve people with dementia living in nursing homes of the Canton Ticino (Switzerland). Participants will be randomised to one of two interventions: Doll Therapy Intervention or Sham Intervention with a non-anthropomorphic object, using a 1:1 allocation ratio. The two interventions will consist of 30 daily sessions lasting an hour at most, led by a trained nurse for an hour at most. We will enrol 64 participants per group, according to power analysis using an estimated medium effect size (f = 0.25), an alpha level of 0.05, and a power of 0.8. The primary goal is to test the efficacy of the Doll Therapy Intervention versus the Sham Intervention as the net change in the following measures from baseline to 30 days (blinded outcomes): the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Nursing Home administered by a trained psychologist blinded to group assignment, the professional caregivers' perceived stress scale of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Nursing Home, patients' physiological indices of stress (salivary cortisol, blood pressure and heart rate) and interactive behaviours. The secondary goal is to assess the relationship between attachment styles of people with dementia (detected by means of the Adult Attachment Interview to the patients' offspring) and their caregiving behaviours shown during the Doll Therapy Intervention. DISCUSSION: This is the first single-blind, randomised controlled trial on the efficacy of Doll therapy for dementia and an explanatory model of the response of people with dementia to doll presentation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, ID: NCT03224143. Retrospectively registered on 21 July 2017.

Spatial and temporal classification of coastal regions using bioclimatic indices in a Mediterranean environment.

Bioclimatic indices combine atmospheric parameters to provide analytical indication of climatic features and their evolution in space and time that can directly relate with natural resource availability, distribution, and related bio-physical processes. The availability of bioclimatic information can provide natural resource managers with analytical means to assess the magnitude and temporal evolution of drought and climate change parameters that could affect the availability, demand and use of natural resources for various sectors. This paper presents a methodology to process bioclimatic data in the space and time domains for assessing the moisture/dryness level and water requirements of a region, and inform water resource planning and management decisions related to drought, climate variability and change. The methodology relies on a modular assembly of statistical tests and methods, and utilizes point scale measurements of meteorological data to perform the analysis of the spatial behavior of derived bioclimatic indicators at the continuous regional scale, and evaluate the significance of the temporal trends. Also, the article presents an application of the proposed methodology to a coastal area of southern Italy (the Apulia Region) that is characterized by recurring water supply limitations, involving the use of the popular De Martonne bioclimatic aridity index. The methodology allowed to obtain qualitative and quantitative information about the aridity level of the Apulia region, the identification of main bioclimatic zones, and the evaluation of spatial pattern and time evolution of aridity. The determination of bioclimatic zones showed that nearly 40% of the regional territory is characterized by dry sub-humid (Mediterranean) climate, about 30% by sub-humid climate, while nearly 10% and 20% are characterized by semi-arid and humid climates, respectively. The temporal analysis revealed that the Salento and the Ionian coastal zone are areas at risk of increasing aridity, with resulting impacts on the water supply and demand for irrigated agriculture.

Adverse effect of self-reported hearing disability in elderly Italians: Results from the InveCe.Ab study.

OBJECTIVE: Hearing loss is a common chronic condition in elderly people. The prevalence of disabling hearing loss among the elderly worldwide is 33% and in Italy ranges from 0.6% (profound hearing loss) to 39% (mild hearing loss). We investigated the relationship between self-reported hearing disability and clinician-evaluated hearing status, and its longitudinal consequences in relation to cognitive impairment and functional decline. We hypothesised that subjects who report that they have a hearing disability have a worse functional and cognitive profile than people who do not report having a hearing disability. METHODS: We analysed 1171 participants in the InveCe.Ab study, a longitudinal population-based study. We evaluated whether self-reported hearing disability was consistent with clinician-evaluated hearing status (using the Whispered Voice Test; WVT), categorizing this variable as: unaware of hearing loss (UHL), aware of hearing loss (AHL), only subjective hearing loss (OSHL), without hearing loss (noHL). We also examined its relationship with various population characteristics, and its long-term effects on functional and cognitive performance and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: At baseline, hearing loss was found in 13.6% (95% CI: 11.7-15.7) of the participants [17.6% (95% CI: 12.0-24.4) AHL; 82.4% (95% CI: 75.6-88) UHL], while 2.3% (95% CI: 1.4-3.4) of the subjects with normal WVT hearing status had OSHL. Male gender, age, functional and cognitive performance, and depressive symptoms were associated with consistency between self-reported hearing disability and WVT hearing status. Longitudinal analysis revealed worsening functional performance and selective attention, global cognitive deterioration, and depressive symptoms in the AHL group. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that awareness of hearing disability in the elderly has adverse cognitive and functional consequences over time. When clinicians inform those who are unaware of their hearing problems, they should arrange for prompt referral not only for audiometric evaluation but also for counselling in order to prevent a negative impact of awareness of hearing loss.

New tetrahydroisoquinoline-based P-glycoprotein modulators: decoration of the biphenyl core gives selective ligands.

P-glycoprotein (P-gp, MDR1) is a membrane transporter expressed in several regions of our body. It plays a crucial defense role as it mediates the efflux of hundreds of potentially toxic substances. However, P-gp is one of the main causes of failure in cancer chemotherapy, as a number of chemotherapeutic agents are P-gp substrates. Another interesting implication concerns the correlation between P-gp expression impairment and the onset of several central nervous system pathologies such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. In view of these considerations, in the present study, a new series of P-gp modulators have been designed, synthesized and evaluated for their activity towards P-gp and two other sister proteins (BCRP and MRP1). The compounds, structurally correlated to the potent but non-selective P-gp inhibitor MC70 [4'-(6,7-dimethoxy-3,4-dihydro-1H-isoquinolin-2-ylmethyl)biphenyl-4-ol], proved fairly selective towards P-gp, with a potency in the micromolar range. Compounds 5a, 5d and 12d proved capable of restoring doxorubicin toxicity in resistant cancer cells.

Effects of exercise training on heart rate and QT interval in healthy young individuals: are there gender differences?

AIMS: The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of exercise training on heart rate, QT interval, and on the relation between ventricular repolarization and heart rate in men and women. METHODS AND RESULTS: A 24 h Holter recording was obtained in 80 healthy subjects (40 males) who differed for the degree of physical activity. Trained individuals showed a lower heart rate and a higher heart rate variability than sedentary subjects, independent of the gender difference in basal heart rate. Mean 24 h QTc was similar in trained and non-trained men, while a significant difference was observed between trained and non-trained women. Exercise training reduced the QT/RR slope in both genders. This effect on the QT/RR relation was more marked in women; in fact, the gender difference in the ventricular repolarization duration at low heart rate observed in sedentary subjects was no longer present among trained individuals. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that the cardiovascular response to exercise training may be different in men and women. Women may benefit more from interventions aimed to increase physical activity as a tool for prevention of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.