Sex, Endothelial Cell Functions, and Peripheral Artery Disease.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is caused by blocked arteries due to atherosclerosis and/or thrombosis which reduce blood flow to the lower limbs. It results in major morbidity, including ischemic limb, claudication, and amputation, with patients also suffering a heightened risk of heart attack, stroke, and death. Recent studies suggest women have a higher prevalence of PAD than men, and with worse outcomes after intervention. In addition to a potential unconscious bias faced by women with PAD in the health system, with underdiagnosis, and lower rates of guideline-based therapy, fundamental biological differences between men and women may be important. In this review, we highlight sexual dimorphisms in endothelial cell functions and how they may impact PAD pathophysiology in women. Understanding sex-specific mechanisms in PAD is essential for the development of new therapies and personalized care for patients with PAD.

Benchmarking soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration provides more robust soil health assessment than the SOC/clay ratio at European scale.

Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) confers benefits to soil health, biodiversity, underpins carbon sequestration and ameliorates land degradation. One recommendation is to increase SOC such that the SOC to clay ratio (SOC/clay) exceeds 1/13, yet normalising SOC levels based on clay alone gives misleading indications of soil structure and the potential to store additional carbon. Building on work by Poeplau & Don (2023) to benchmark observed against predicted SOC, we advance an alternative indicator: the ratio between observed and "typical" SOC (O/T SOC) for pan-European application. Here, "typical" SOC is the average concentration in different pedo-climate zones, PCZs (which, unlike existing SOC indicators, incorporate land cover and climate, alongside soil texture) across Europe, determined from mineral (<20 % organic matter) topsoils (0-20 cm) sampled during 2009-2018 in LUCAS, Europe's largest soil monitoring scheme (n = 19,855). Regression tree modelling derived 12 PCZs, with typical SOC values ranging 5.99-39.65 g kg-1. New index classes for comparison with SOC/clay grades were established from the quartiles of each PCZ's O/T SOC distribution; these were termed: "Low" (below the 25th percentile), "Intermediate" (between the 25th and 50th percentiles), "High" (between the 50th and 75th percentiles), and "Very high" (above the 75th percentile). Compared with SOC/clay, O/T SOC was less sensitive to clay content, land cover, and climate, less geographically skewed, and better reflected differences in soil porosity and SOC stock, supporting 2 EU Soil Health Mission objectives (consolidating SOC stocks; improving soil structure for crops and biota). These patterns held for 2 independent datasets, and O/T SOC grades were sensitive enough to reflect land management differences across several long-term field experiments. O/T SOC used in conjunction with several other physical, chemical and biological soil health indicators can help support the EU Soil Monitoring Law and achieve several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Co-located ecological data for exploring top- and subsoil carbon dynamics across grassland-woodland contrasts.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a soil health indicator and understanding dynamics changing SOC stocks will help achieving net zero goals. Here we present four datasets featuring 11,750 data points covering co-located aboveground and below-ground metrics for exploring ecosystem SOC dynamics. Five sites across England with an established land use contrast, grassland and woodland next to each other, were rigorously sampled for aboveground (n = 109), surface (n = 33 soil water release curves), topsoil, and subsoil metrics. Commonly measured soil metrics were analysed in five soil increments for 0-1 metre (n = 4550). Less commonly measured soil metrics which were assumed to change across the soil profile were measured on a subset of samples only (n = 3762). Additionally, we developed a simple method for soil organic matter fractionation using density fractionation which is part of the less common metrics. Finally, soil metrics which may impact SOC dynamics, but with less confidence as to their importance across the soil profile were only measured on topsoil (~5-15 cm = mineral soil) and subsoil (below 50 cm) samples (n = 2567).