Analyzing the Impacts of Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) Trails on Watershed Processes in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska

Trails created by off-road vehicles (ORV) in boreal lowlands are known to cause local impacts, such as denuded vegetation, soil erosion, and permafrost thaw, but impacts on stream and watershed processes are less certain. In Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve (WRST), Alaska, ORV trails have caused local resource damage in intermountain lowlands with permafrost soils and abundant wetlands and there is a need to know whether these impacts are more extensive. Comparison of aerial photography from 1957, 1981, and 2004 coupled with ground surveys in 2009 reveal an increase in trail length and number and show an upslope expansion of a trail system around points of stream channel initiation. We hypothesized that these impacts could also cause premature initiation and headward expansion of channels because of lowered soil resistance and greater runoff accumulation as trails migrate upslope. Soil monitoring showed earlier and deeper thaw of the active layer in and adjacent to trails compared to reference sites. Several rainfall-runoff events during the summer of 2009 showed increased and sustained flow accumulation below trail crossings and channel shear forces sufficient to cause headward erosion of silt and peat soils. These observations of trail evolution relative to stream and wetland crossings together with process studies suggest that ORV trails are altering watershed processes. These changes in watershed processes appear to result in increasing drainage density and may also alter downstream flow regimes, water quality, and aquatic habitat. Addressing local land-use disturbances in boreal and arctic parklands with permafrost soils, such as WRST, where responses to climate change may be causing concurrent shifts in watershed processes, represents an important challenge facing resource managers

Post-mortem volatiles of vertebrate tissue

Volatile emission during vertebrate decay is a complex process that is understood incompletely. It depends on many factors. The main factor is the metabolism of the microbial species present inside and on the vertebrate. In this review, we combine the results from studies on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) detected during this decay process and those on the biochemical formation of VOCs in order to improve our understanding of the decay process. Micro-organisms are the main producers of VOCs, which are by- or end-products of microbial metabolism. Many microbes are already present inside and on a vertebrate, and these can initiate microbial decay. In addition, micro-organisms from the environment colonize the cadaver. The composition of microbial communities is complex, and communities of different species interact with each other in succession. In comparison to the complexity of the decay process, the resulting volatile pattern does show some consistency. Therefore, the possibility of an existence of a time-dependent core volatile pattern, which could be used for applications in areas such as forensics or food science, is discussed. Possible microbial interactions that might alter the process of decay are highlighted

Increasing CO2 from subambient to superambient concentrations alters species composition and increases above-ground biomass in a C3/C4 grassland

The glacial-to-present increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration is likely to have stimulated plant production, but experimental tests in natural ecosystems are lacking

Work Disability and Return to Work After Lymphoma: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study

Eva Futtrup Maksten,1,2 Lasse Hjort Jakobsen,1,3 Kristian Hay Kragholm,4 Joachim Baech,1,2 Mikkel Porsborg Andersen,5 Jakob Madsen,1,2 Judit Mészáros Jørgensen,6 Michael Roost Clausen,7 Robert Schou Pedersen,8 Andriette Dessau-Arp,9 Thomas Stauffer Larsen,10 Christian Bjørn Poulsen,11 Anne Ortved Gang,12 Peter Brown,12 Kirsten Fonager,2,13 Tarec C El-Galaly,1,2 Marianne Tang Severinsen1,2 1Department of Haematology, Clinical Cancer Research Unit, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark; 2Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; 3Department Mathematical Sciences, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; 4Department of Cardiology & Unit of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark; 5Department of Cardiology, Nordsjaellands Hospital, Hillerød, Denmark; 6Department of Haematology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; 7Department of Haematology, Vejle Hospital, Vejle, Denmark; 8Department of Medicine, Section of Haematology, Regionshospital Goedstrup, Goedstrup, Denmark; 9Department of Haematology, Hospital South West Jutland, Esbjerg, Denmark; 10Department of Haematology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; 11Department of Haematology, Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark; 12Department of Haematology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen and Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; 13Department of Social Medicine, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, DenmarkCorrespondence: Eva Futtrup Maksten, Department of Haematology, Clinical Cancer Research Unit, Aalborg University Hospital, Sdr. Skovvej 15, Aalborg, 9000, Denmark, Tel +45 97663872, Fax + 45 97666323, Email [email protected]: Many patients diagnosed with lymphoma are of working age. Cancer patients are known to have a higher risk of sick leave and disability pension, but this has only been delineated for certain subtypes of lymphoma. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the overall risk of disability pension for all lymphoma subtypes and at quantifying return to work for patients with lymphoma in work before diagnosis.Patients and Methods: Patients aged 18– 60 years with lymphoma in complete remission (CR) diagnosed between 2000 and 2019 were included in the study. Using national registers, each patient was matched with five comparators from the general population with same sex, birth year, and level of Charlson Comorbidity Index. Risk of disability pension was calculated from 90 days after CR or end of treatment with competing events (death, retirement pension, early retirement pension, relapse for patients, or lymphoma diagnosis for comparators). Return to work for patients was calculated annually until 5 years after diagnosis for patients employed before diagnosis.Results: In total, 4072 patients and 20,360 comparators were included. There was a significant increased risk of disability pension for patients with all types of lymphoma compared to the general population (5-year risk difference: 5.3 (95% confidence interval (CI): 4.4;6.2)). Patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma were more likely to get disability pension than patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (sex- and age-adjusted 10-year risk difference: 2.9 (95% CI: 0.3;5.5)). One year after diagnosis, 24.5% of the relapse-free patients were on sick leave. Return to work was highest 2 years after diagnosis (82.1%).Conclusion: Patients with lymphoma across all subtypes have a significantly higher risk of disability pension. Return to work peaks at 2 years after diagnosis.Keywords: lymphoma, disability pension, return to wor