Measurements of net primary productivity (NPP) and litter decomposition from tropical peatlands are severely lacking, limiting our ability to parameterise and validate models of tropical peatland development and thereby make robust predictions of how these systems will respond to future environmental and climatic change. Here, we present total NPP (i.e., above- and below-ground) and decomposition data from two floristically and structurally distinct forested peatland sites within the Pastaza Marañón Foreland Basin, northern Peru, the largest tropical peatland area in Amazonia: (1) a palm (largely Mauritia flexuosa) dominated swamp forest and (2) a hardwood dominated swamp forest (known as \'pole forest\', due to the abundance of thin-stemmed trees). Total NPP in the palm forest and hardwood-dominated forest (9.83 ± 1.43 and 7.34 ± 0.84 Mg C ha-1 year-1, respectively) was low compared with values reported for terra firme forest in the region (14.21-15.01 Mg C ha-1 year-1) and for tropical peatlands elsewhere (11.06 and 13.20 Mg C ha-1 year-1). Despite the similar total NPP of the two forest types, there were considerable differences in the distribution of NPP. Fine root NPP was seven times higher in the palm forest (4.56 ± 1.05 Mg C ha-1 year-1) than in the hardwood forest (0.61 ± 0.22 Mg C ha-1 year-1). Above-ground palm NPP, a frequently overlooked component, made large contributions to total NPP in the palm-dominated forest, accounting for 41% (14% in the hardwood-dominated forest). Conversely, Mauritia flexuosa litter decomposition rates were the same in both plots: highest for leaf material, followed by root and then stem material (21%, 77% and 86% of mass remaining after 1 year respectively for both plots). Our results suggest potential differences in these two peatland types\' responses to climate and other environmental changes and will assist in future modelling studies of these systems.
Mediciones de la productividad primaria neta (PPN) y la descomposición de materia orgánica de las turberas tropicales son escasas, lo que limita nuestra capacidad para parametrizar y validar modelos de desarrollo de las turberas tropicales y, en consecuencia, realizar predicciones sólidas sobre la respuesta de estos sistemas ante futuros cambios ambientales y climáticos. En este estudio, presentamos datos de PPN total (es decir, biomasa aérea y subterránea) y descomposición de la materia orgánica colectada en dos turberas boscosas con características florísticas y estructurales contrastantes dentro de la cuenca Pastaza Marañón al norte del Perú, el área de turberas tropicales más grande de la Amazonia: (1) un bosque pantanoso dominado por palmeras (principalmente Mauritia flexuosa) y (2) un bosque pantanosos dominado por árboles leñosos de tallo delgado (conocido como ‘varillal hidromórfico’). La PPN total en el bosque de palmeras y el varillal hidromórfico (9,83 ± 1,43 y 7,34 ± 0,84 Mg C ha‐1 año‐1 respectivamente) fue baja en comparación con los valores reportados para los bosques de tierra firme en la región (14,21–15,01 Mg C ha‐1 año‐1) y para turberas tropicales en otros lugares (11,06 y 13,20 Mg C ha‐1 año‐1). A pesar de que la PPN total fue similar en ambos tipos de bosque, hubo diferencias considerables en la distribución de la PPN. La PPN de las raíces finas fue siete veces mayor en el bosque de palmeras (4,56 ± 1,05 Mg C ha‐1 año‐1) que en el varillal hidromórfico (0,61 ± 0,22 Mg C ha‐1 año‐1). La PPN de la biomasa aérea de las palmeras, un componente ignorado frecuentemente, contribuyó en gran medida a la PPN total del bosque de palmeras, representando el 41% (14% en el varillal hidromórfico). Por el contrario, la tasa de descomposición de materia orgánica de Mauritia flexuosa fue la misma en ambos sitios: la más alta corresponde a la hojarasca, seguida por las raíces y luego el tallo (21%, 77% y 86% de la masa restante después de un año, respectivamente para ambos sitios). Nuestros resultados sugieren diferencias potenciales en la respuesta de estos dos tipos de turberas al clima y otros cambios ambientales, y ayudarán en futuros estudios de modelamiento de estos sistemas.

The decomposition of carcasses by scavengers and microbial decomposers is an important component of the biochemical cycle that can strongly alter the chemical composition of soils locally. Different scavenger guilds are assumed to have a different influence on the chemical elements that leak into the soil, although this assumption has not been empirically tested. Here, we experimentally determine how different guilds of vertebrate scavengers influence local nutrient dynamics. We performed a field experiment in which we systematically excluded different subsets of vertebrate scavengers from decomposing carcasses of fallow deer (Dama dama), and compared elemental concentrations in the soil beneath and in the vegetation next to the carcasses over time throughout the decomposition process. We used four exclusion treatments: excluding (1) no scavengers, thus allowing them all; (2) wild boar (Sus scrofa); (3) all mammals; and (4) all mammals and birds. We found that fluxes of several elements into the soil showed distinct peaks when all vertebrates were excluded. Especially, trace elements (Cu and Zn) seemed to be influenced by carcass decomposition. However, we found no differences in fluxes between partial exclusion treatments. Thus, vertebrate scavengers indeed reduce leakage of elements from carcasses into the soil, hence influencing local biochemical cycles, but did so independent of which vertebrate scavenger guild had access. Our results suggest that carcass-derived elements are dispersed over larger areas rather than locally leak into the soil when vertebrate scavengers dominate the decomposition process.

Seagrass meadows play pivotal roles in coastal biochemical cycles, with nitrogen fixation being a well-established process associated with living seagrass. Here, we tested the hypothesis that nitrogen fixation is also associated with seagrass debris in Danish coastal waters. We conducted a 52-day in situ experiment to investigate nitrogen fixation (proxied by acetylene reduction) and dynamics of the microbial community (16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing) and the nitrogen fixing community (nifH DNA/RNA amplicon sequencing) associated with decomposing Zostera marina leaves. The leaves harboured distinct microbial communities, including distinct nitrogen fixers, relative to the surrounding seawater and sediment throughout the experiment. Nitrogen fixation rates were measurable on most days, but highest on days 3 (dark, 334.8 nmol N g-1 dw h-1) and 15 (light, 194.6 nmol N g-1 dw h-1). Nitrogen fixation rates were not correlated with the concentration of inorganic nutrients in the surrounding seawater or with carbon:nitrogen ratios in the leaves. The composition of nitrogen fixers shifted from cyanobacterial Sphaerospermopsis to heterotrophic genera like Desulfopila over the decomposition period. On the days with highest fixation, nifH RNA gene transcripts were mainly accounted for by cyanobacteria, in particular by Sphaerospermopsis and an unknown taxon (order Nostocales), alongside Proteobacteria. Our study shows that seagrass debris in temperate coastal waters harbours substantial nitrogen fixation carried out by cyanobacteria and heterotrophic bacteria that are distinct relative to the surrounding seawater and sediments. This suggests that seagrass debris constitutes a selective environment where degradation is affected by the import of nitrogen via nitrogen fixation.

UNASSIGNED: There is a lack of research evidence on the quantitative relationship between symptom burden and health care seeking among individuals with presumptive tuberculosis (TB).
UNASSIGNED: Data were derived from a cross-sectional population-based TB survey conducted between February 2021 and July 2022 in 32 districts of India. Eligible and consented participants (age >15 years) underwent TB symptom screening and history elicitation. Fairlie decomposition analysis was used to estimate the net differences in health care seeking due to varied symptom burden-from 1+ burden (>1 symptom) to 4+ burden (>4 symptoms)-and decomposed by observable covariates based on logit models with 95% CIs.
UNASSIGNED: Of the 130 932 individuals surveyed, 9540 (7.3%) reported at least 1 recent TB symptom, of whom 2678 (28.1%; 95% CI, 27.1%-28.9%) reportedly sought health care. The net differences in health care seeking among persons with symptom burden 1+ to 4+ ranged from 6.6 percentage points (95% CI, 4.8-8.4) to 7.7 (95% CI, 5.2-10.2) as compared with persons with less symptom burden. The presence of expectoration, fatigue, and loss of appetite largely explained health care seeking (range, 0.9-3.1 percentage points [42.89%-151.9%]). The presence of fever, cough, past TB care seeking, weight loss, and chest pain moderately explained (range, 5.3%-25.3%) health care seeking.
UNASSIGNED: Increased symptom burden and symptoms other than the commonly emphasized cough and fever largely explained health care seeking. Orienting TB awareness and risk communications toward symptom burden and illness perceptions could help address population gaps in health care seeking for TB.

Drainage intensity and forest management in peatlands affect carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to the atmosphere and export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to water courses. The peatland carbon (C) balance results from a complex network of ecosystem processes from where lateral C fluxes have typically been ignored. Here, we present a new version of the SUSI Peatland simulator, the first advanced process-based ecosystem model that compiles a full C balance in drained forested peatland including DOC formation, transport and biodegradation. SUSI considers site, stand and terrain characteristics as well as the interactions and feedbacks between ecosystem processes and offers novel ways to evaluate and mitigate adverse environmental impacts with thorough management planning. Here, we extended SUSI by designing and parameterizing a mass-balance based decomposition module (ESOM) based on literature findings and tested the ESOM performance against an independent dataset measured in the laboratory using peat columns collected from Finland, Estonia, Sweden and Ireland. ESOM predicted the CO2 emissions and changes in DOC concentrations with a reasonable accuracy for the peat columns. We applied the new SUSI for drained peatland sites and found that reducing the depth to which ditches are cleaned by 0.3 m decreased the annual DOC export by 34 (17 %), 29 (19 %) and 7 (5 %) kg ha-1 in Finland, Estonia and Sweden, respectively, using typical ditch spacing for these countries. Correspondingly, site annual C sink increased by 305, 409 and 32 kg ha-1 in Finland, Estonia and Sweden, respectively. Our results also indicated that terrain slope can markedly alter the water residence time and consequently DOC biodegradation and export to ditches. We conclude that DOC export can be decreased and site C sink increased by reducing the depth to which ditches are cleaned or by increasing the ditch spacing.

The proportion of women experiencing premature menopause is on the rise in India, particularly in the age groups of 30-39 years. Consequently, there is a need to understand the factors influencing the prevalence of premature menopausal status among women. Our study uses the data from 180,743 women gathered during the latest Indian version of the Demography Health Survey (National Family Health Survey-5). Our results suggest that close to 5% of women in rural areas and 3% of women in urban areas experience premature menopause, and this figure varies across Indian States. The regression results show that surgical menopause, lower levels of education, poorer wealth index, rural residence, female sterilization, and insurance coverage are key drivers of premature menopause. One of the striking factors is that the prevalence of premature menopause among those with the lowest levels of education (6.85%) is around seven times higher than those with the highest level of education (0.94%). We conducted a decomposition analysis to delve into the factors contributing to this inequality. The results show that undergoing a hysterectomy (surgical menopause) account for 73% of the gap in premature menopausal rates between women with the lowest and highest levels of education. This indicates that women with poor education are more likely to undergo hysterectomy at a younger age. This finding warrants further exploration as we would expect that women from lower socio-economic background would have limited access to surgical care, however, our results suggest otherwise. This perhaps indicates a lack of awareness, lack of alternative treatment options, and over-reliance on surgical care while neglecting conservative management. Our results have implications for addressing the diverse needs of the increasing number of women in their post-menopause phase and for focusing on conservative treatment options for these women.

Organic matter (OM) derived from the decomposition of crop residues plays a key role as a sorbent for cadmium (Cd) immobilization. Few studies have explored the straw decomposition processes with the presence of minerals, and the effect of newly generated organo-mineral complexes on heavy metal adsorption. In this study, we investigated the variations in structure and composition during the rice straw decomposition with or without minerals (goethite and kaolinite), as well as the adsorption behavior and mechanisms by which straw decomposition affects Cd immobilization. The degree of humification of extracted straw organic matter was assessed using excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence and Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), while employing FTIR spectroscopy and XPS to characterize the adsorption mechanisms. The spectra analysis revealed the enrichment of highly aromatic and hydrophobic components, indicating that the degree of straw decomposition and humification were further intensified during incubation. Additionally, the existence of goethite (SG) accelerated the humification of OM. Sorption experiments revealed that the straw humification increased Cd adsorption capacity. Notably, SG exhibited significantly higher adsorption performance compared to the organic matter without minerals (RS) and the existence of kaolinite (SK). Further analysis using FT-IR spectroscopy and XPS verified that the primary mechanisms involved in Cd immobilization were complexion with -OH and -COOH, as well as the formation of Cd-π binds with aromatic C=C on the surface of solid OMs. These findings will facilitate understanding the interactions of the rice straw decomposing with soil minerals and its remediation effect on Cd-contaminated farmland.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the indicators of tobacco use in Türkiye within a multidimensional context as socio-demographic, physical, behavioural, and psychological as a response to the tobacco control policies.
METHODS: The Turkish Health Survey data in 2014 and 2019 are employed within a probit model approach and the differences in tobacco are decomposed use by gender in order to reveal the gender differences. The samples in 2014 (total n = 19,129; males = 8 721, females = 10,408) and 2019 (total n = 17,084; males = 7 784, females = 9300) were restricted to 15-year-old and above.
RESULTS: The findings indicate that being in the 30-49 age cohort, having lower education, and being married increase the likelihood of tobacco use. Future policies and campaigns should specifically target the single, pre-obese, employed males who consume alcohol. For females, the gender-specific policies should aim to reduce the prevalence of smoking, especially among separated or widows, obese, and out of the labour force. The contribution of mental health indicators on tobacco use has declined over the 5 years, which could be a result of the supportive free health services in Türkiye. The findings provide evidence for a significant and increasing gender difference in tobacco use in Türkiye along with reporting that the most significant contributors to gender differences in tobacco use are alcohol consumption and education level.
CONCLUSIONS: Even though the Ministry of Health and the government have been implementing anti-tobacco policies, legislations, and campaigns for years, the tobacco use prevalence has remained high and even increased in Türkiye.

BACKGROUND: Chest X-ray (CXR) is one of the most commonly performed imaging tests worldwide. Due to its wide usage, there is a growing need for automated and generalizable methods to accurately diagnose these images. Traditional methods for chest X-ray analysis often struggle with generalization across diverse datasets due to variations in imaging protocols, patient demographics, and the presence of overlapping anatomical structures. Therefore, there is a significant demand for advanced diagnostic tools that can consistently identify abnormalities across different patient populations and imaging settings. We propose a method that can provide a generalizable diagnosis of chest X-ray.
METHODS: Our method utilizes an attention-guided decomposer network (ADSC) to extract disease maps from chest X-ray images. The ADSC employs one encoder and multiple decoders, incorporating a novel self-consistency loss to ensure consistent functionality across its modules. The attention-guided encoder captures salient features of abnormalities, while three distinct decoders generate a normal synthesized image, a disease map, and a reconstructed input image, respectively. A discriminator differentiates the real and the synthesized normal chest X-rays, enhancing the quality of generated images. The disease map along with the original chest X-ray image are fed to a DenseNet-121 classifier modified for multi-class classification of the input X-ray.
RESULTS: Experimental results on multiple publicly available datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach. For multi-class classification, we achieve up to a 3% improvement in AUROC score for certain abnormalities compared to the existing methods. For binary classification (normal versus abnormal), our method surpasses existing approaches across various datasets. In terms of generalizability, we train our model on one dataset and tested it on multiple datasets. The standard deviation of AUROC scores for different test datasets is calculated to measure the variability of performance across datasets. Our model exhibits superior generalization across datasets from diverse sources.
CONCLUSIONS: Our model shows promising results for the generalizable diagnosis of chest X-rays. The impacts of using the attention mechanism and the self-consistency loss in our method are evident from the results. In the future, we plan to incorporate Explainable AI techniques to provide explanations for model decisions. Additionally, we aim to design data augmentation techniques to reduce class imbalance in our model.

UNASSIGNED: The achievement of the minimum acceptable diet intake (MAD) stands at 14% among urban and 10% among rural under-five children in Ethiopia. Consequently, identifying the determinants of the urban-rural gap is vital for advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), fostering healthier communities, and developing evidence-driven approaches to enhance health outcomes and address disparities.
UNASSIGNED: The objective of the study was to decompose the urban-rural disparities in minimum acceptable diet intake in Ethiopia using the Ethiopian Mini-Demographic and Health Survey 2019 data.
UNASSIGNED: The study was conducted using the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey 2019 report. A total of 1,496 weighted children aged 6-23 months were included using stratified sampling techniques. The main outcome variable minimum acceptable diet was calculated as a combined proportion of minimum dietary diversity and minimum meal frequency. A decomposition analysis was used to analyze the factors associated with the urban-rural discrepancy of minimum acceptable diet intake, and the results were presented using tables and figures.
UNASSIGNED: The magnitude of minimum acceptable diet among children aged 6-23 months in Ethiopia was 11.0%. There has been a significant disparity in the intake of minimum acceptable diet between urban and rural under-five children with 14 and 10%, respectively. Endowment factors were responsible for 70.2% of the discrepancy, followed by 45.1% with behavioral coefficients. Educational status of college and above was responsible for narrowing the gap between urban and rural residents by 23.9% (β = 0.1313, 95% CI: 0.0332-0.245). The number of children in the household and the age of the child between 18 and 23 months were responsible for widening the gap in minimum acceptable diet intake discrepancy between urban and rural residents by 30.7% and 3.36%, respectively (β = -0.002, 95% CI: -0.003 to -0.0011 and β = -30.7, 95% CI: -0.025 - -0.0085). From the effect coefficients, the effect of institutional delivery was responsible for 1.99% of the widening of the gap between urban and rural residents in minimum acceptable diet intake (β = -0.0862, 95% CI: -0.1711 - -0.0012).
UNASSIGNED: There is a significant variation between urban and rural residents in minimum acceptable diet. The larger portion of the discrepancy was explained by the endowment effect. Educational status of mothers with college and above, parity, age of child, and place of delivery were the significant factors contributing to the discrepancy of minimum acceptable diet intake between urban and rural residents.