Predominant contributions through lichen and fine litter to litterfall mercury deposition in a subalpine forest.

Litterfall, typically referring to needles/leaves, may stand for >50% of the total mercury (Hg) deposition in forest ecosystems. By detailed categorisation, we reveal for the first time that the contributions through lichens and fine litter, together 9.98 µg Hg m-2 yr-1, could be as high as that in needle litter (9.96 µg m-2 yr-1) to the annual total Hg deposition (44.6 µg m-2 yr-1) in a subalpine forest in Switzerland. Noticeably, needle litter had the highest contribution (53%) to total Hg in the autumn litterfall but lichens and fine litter together predominated in other seasons (47-59%). Such a seasonal pattern is caused by the high ability of lichens and fine litter to accumulate Hg and the high needle litterfall in autumn, which is related to a good rainfall in summer followed by a dry period in autumn. The constantly higher Hg levels in lichens and fine litter than in needle litter together with similar seasonal patterns of litterfall during 2009-2019 and rainfall during 1980-2019 suggest that our finding can be generally valid. Here, we highlight not only the considerable role of non-needle litterfall in Hg deposition but also the association with weather for seasonal Hg dynamics in different litterfall components.

A decade of monitoring at Swiss Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Research (LWF) sites: can we observe trends in atmospheric acid deposition and in soil solution acidity?

Trends in atmospheric acid deposition and in soil solution acidity from 1995 or later until 2007 were investigated at several forest sites throughout Switzerland to assess the effects of air pollution abatements on deposition and the response of the soil solution chemistry. Deposition of the major elements was estimated from throughfall and bulk deposition measurements at nine sites of the Swiss Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Research network (LWF) since 1995 or later. Soil solution was measured at seven plots at four soil depths since 1998 or later. Trends in the molar ratio of base cations to aluminum (BC/Al) in soil solutions and in concentrations and fluxes of inorganic N (NO(3)-N + NH(4)-N), sulfate (SO(4)-S), and base cations (BC) were used to detect changes in soil solution chemistry. Acid deposition significantly decreased at three out of the nine study sites due to a decrease in total N deposition. Total SO(4)-S deposition decreased at the nine sites, but due to the relatively low amount of SO(4)-S load compared to N deposition, it did not contribute to decrease acid deposition significantly. No trend in total BC deposition was detected. In the soil solution, no trend in concentrations and fluxes of BC, SO(4)-S, and inorganic N were found at most soil depths at five out of the seven sites. This suggests that the soil solution reacted very little to the changes in atmospheric deposition. A stronger reduction in base cations compared to aluminum was detected at two sites, which might indicate that acidification of the soil solution was proceeding faster at these sites.

Extreme summer heat and drought lead to early fruit abortion in European beech.

Years with high fruit production, known as mast years, are the usual reproduction strategy of European beech. Harsh weather conditions such as frost during flowering can lead to pollination failure in spring. It has been assumed that mast is controlled by flowering, and that after successful pollination, high amounts of fruits and seeds would be produced. However, the extremely hot and dry European summer of 2018 showed that despite successful pollination, beechnuts did not develop or were only abundant in a few forest stands. An in-depth analysis of three forest sites of European beech from the Swiss Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Research Programme over the last 15-19 years revealed for the first time that extreme summer heat and drought can act as an "environmental veto", leading to early fruit abortion. Within the forest stands in years with fruit abortion, summer mean temperatures were 1.5 °C higher and precipitation sums were 45% lower than the long-term average. Extreme summer heat and drought, together with frost during flowering, are therefore disrupting events of the assumed biennial fruiting cycle in European beech.

Atmospheric deposition and ozone levels in Swiss forests: are critical values exceeded?

Air pollution affects forest health through atmospheric deposition of acidic and nitrogen compounds and elevated levels of tropospheric ozone (O3). In 1985, a monitoring network was established across Europe and various research efforts have since been undertaken to define critical values. We measured atmospheric deposition of acidity and nitrogen as well as ambient levels of O3 on 12, 13, and 14 plots, respectively, in the framework of the Swiss Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Research (LWF) in the period from 1995 to 2002. We estimated the critical loads of acidity and of nitrogen, using the steady state mass balance approach, and calculated the critical O3 levels using the AOT40 approach. The deposition of acidity exceeded the critical loads on 2 plots and almost reached them on 4 plots. The median of the measured molar ratio of base nutrient cations to total dissolved aluminium (Bc/Al) in the soil solution was higher than the critical value of 1 for all depths, and also at the plots with an exceedance of the critical load of acidity. For nitrogen, critical loads were exceeded on 8 plots and deposition likely represents a long-term ecological risk on 3 to 10 plots. For O3, exceedance of critical levels was recorded on 12 plots, and led to the development of typical O3-induced visible injury on trees and shrubs, but not for all plots due to (1) the site specific composition of O3 sensitive and tolerant plant species, and (2) the influence of microclimatic site conditions on the stomatal behaviour, i.e., O3 uptake.

Atmospheric deposition on Swiss Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Research (LWF) plots.

Atmospheric deposition of the major elements was estimated from throughfall and bulk deposition measurements on 13 plots of the Swiss Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Research (LWF) between 1995 and 2001. Independent estimates of the wet and dry deposition of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) on these same plots were gained from combined simplified models. The highest deposition fluxes were measured at Novaggio (Southern Switzerland), exposed to heavy air pollution originating from the Po Plain, with throughfall fluxes averaging 29 kg ha(-1) a(-1) for N and 15 kg ha(-1) a(-1) for S. Low deposition fluxes were measured on the plots above 1800 m, with throughfall fluxes lower than 4.5 kg ha(-1) a(-1) for N and lower than 3 kg ha(-1) a(-1) for S. The wet deposition of N and S derived from bulk deposition was close to the modeled wet deposition, but the dry deposition derived from throughfall was significantly lower than the modeled dry deposition for both compounds. However, both the throughfall method and the model yielded total deposition estimates of N which exceeded the critical loads calculated on the basis of long-term mass balance considerations. These estimates were within or above the range of empirical critical loads except above 1800 m.

Resposta das glândulas sudoríparas écrinas à estimulaçäo colinérgica em asmáticos

Avaliamos a funçäo do sistema colinérgico, através da resposta das glândulas sudoríparas à estimulaçäo com pilocarpina, em 56 crianças com asma brônquica. Um grupo de pacientes com mucoviscidose (19) e outro de crianças que näo apresentavam doenças respiratórias (19) serviu de controle e foi pareado em relaçäo à idade e sexo. Näo houve diferenças significativas na quantidade de suor nos três grupos, e também näo houve diferença na concentraçäo de sódio no suor entre o grupo de asmáticos e o grupo de crianças sem doenças respiratórias. Estes resultados opöem-se aos resultados de estudos com indivíduos adultos e poderiam sugerir que a respostas aumentada do sistema colinérgico é exclusiva do aparelho respiratório ou que as anormalidades de ordem sistêmica do parassimpático em asmáticos säo adquiridas após a infância

Análise do líquido cefalorraquidiano nas meningites do adulto

Com o objetivo de estudar a sensibilidade, especificidade e eficiência da celularidade total do LCR, percentual de PMN, glicorraquia e proteinorraquia no diagnóstico precoce de meningites bacterianas, todos os casos de meningite aguda e subaguda dos adultos internados no Hospital Nereu Ramos, Florianópolis, Brasil, entre 1982 e 1986 foram analisados. Dezenove casos compuseram o grúpo de meningites comprovadamente bacterianas e 20 o de meningites assépticas de evoluçäo benigna sem antibioticoterapia. Os limites de maior eficiência foram um mínimo de 1000 cels./mm3, 50% de PMN, ou 100 mg/dl de proteínas; ou máximo de 30 mg/dl de glicose. Observamos uma tendência a concomitância destes indicadores de meningite bacteriana. Três ou quatro indicadores foram observados em 92% das meningites bacterianas. Oitenta e cinco por cento das meningites assépticas benignas näo apresentaram indicadores. Todos os pacientes que apresentaram um ou nenhum indicador evoluíram bem sem antibioticoterapia

Conhecendo nossa história, nossos serviços e pensando no futuro / Knowing our history, our services and thinking about future

Este trabalho propõe-se a resgatar os fragmentos da história da saúde mental no município, a lançar um olhar sobre as nossas práticas e a propor ações em saúde mental, procurando identificar o que é necessário superar e o que é possível construir em saúde mental coletiva...