Topic Review
Vegetation Optical Depth
The vegetation optical depth (VOD) parameterizes the extinction (attenuation & scattering) effects due to the vegetation affecting the microwave radiations propagating through the vegetation canopy. It is retrieved from both passive and active microwave remotely sensed observations. It is related almost linearly to the vegetation water content and indirectly to vegetation water status and biomass. It has been retrieved from several satellites operating at different frequencies and provides a long-term record of the vegetation dynamics over land surfaces since 1978. VOD is complementary to classically used vegetation indices derived from multi-spectral images but it is less affected by sun illumination and atmospheric effects than optical vegetation indices.
  • 6.2K
  • 27 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Clozapine, Pharmacogenetic Biomarkers, Particularities COVID-19
Clozapine (CLZ) use is precarious due to its neurological, cardiovascular, and hematological side effects; however, it is the gold standard in therapy-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) in adults and is underused. Objective: to examine the most recent CLZ data on (a) side effects concerning (b) recent pharmacological mechanisms, (c) therapy benefits, and (d) the particularities of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data sources: a search was performed in two databases (PubMed andWeb of Science) using the specific keywords “clozapine” and “schizophrenia”, “side effects”, “agranulocytosis”, “TRS”, or “bipolar affective disorder (BAF)” for the last ten years. Study eligibility criteria: clinical trials on adults with acute symptoms of schizophrenia or related disorders. Results: We selected 37 studies, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and clinical case series (CCS), centered on six main topics in the search area: (a) CLZ in schizophrenia, (b) CLZ in bipolar disorder, (c) side effects during the clozapine therapy, (d) CLZ in pregnancy, (e) CLZ in early-onset schizophrenia, and (f) CLZ therapy and COVID-19 infection. Limitations: we considered RCTs and CCS from two databases, limited to the search topics. Conclusions and implications of key findings: (a) clozapine doses should be personalized for each patient based on pharmacogenetics testing when available; the genetic vulnerability postulates predictors of adverse reactions’ severity; patients with a lower genetic risk could have less frequent hematological monitoring; (b) a CLZ-associated risk of pulmonary embolism imposes prophylactic measures for venous thromboembolism; (c) convulsive episodes are not an indication for stopping treatment; the plasma concentration of clozapine is a better side effect predictor then the dosage; (d) COVID-19 infection may enhance clozapine toxicity, generating an increased risk of pneumonia. Therapy must be continued with the proper monitoring of the white blood count, and the clozapine dose decreased by half until three days after the fever breaks; psychiatrists and healthcare providers must act together.
  • 626
  • 20 Nov 2020
Topic Review
School-Based Intervention to Children exercise
Three key health behaviors, physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB) and sleep (SLP), have been identified by the 24-h framework as movement behaviors. School-based interventions targeting these multiple health behaviors among children have the potential to increase health outcomes. Despite this, the efficacy and sustainability of school-based movement behavior interventions among children has not been evaluated yet. To fill this gap in literature, this systematic review will aim to: 1) Summarize and classify movement behavior strategies used in literature to improve PA, SB and SLP in/from school in children; and 2) measure the effect of movement behavior strategies used in literature to improve PA, SB and SLP in children. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020199154). A systematic search will be conducted between 2010 to 2020 in five databases: Pubmed, Scopus, SPORTDiscuss, The Cochrane Library and Web of Science. Risk of bias and quality assessment will be evaluated and measured according to the recommended tools. This systematic review will provide information about which kind of school-based movement behavior interventions are effective, sustainable and the best to implement in children.
  • 650
  • 20 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Social-Ecological Transformability
Transformability is increasingly promoted as a way of moving societies toward more sustainable futures in the era of the Anthropocene, mostly because the concept of resilience has fallen short in many instances where impacts on social-ecological systems are continuous, varied, and usually unknown. While such transformations can play a crucial role in improving the sustainability of social-ecological systems, they may lead to unexpected and undesirable outcomes. 
  • 1.7K
  • 19 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Languages, Dialects and Educational Achievement
This item focuses on the development of usage of Standard Dutch versus regional languages and dialects. It also explores the relation between language choice and language and mathematics test performance of young children. Data were collected in 2014 and the sample analyzed included 3,639 grade 2 pupils from 437 Dutch primary schools. The results of the present analyses were compared with those from analyses performed on similar data collected twenty years earlier, in 1994. Findings show that there has been dramatic decline in usage of regional languages and dialects. No correlation was found between language choice and language and mathematic test performance.  
  • 1.1K
  • 18 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Social Sciences and COVID-19
This entry seeks to provide an answer to the question of what is the relevance of Social Sciences for understanding the multiple implications and challenges posed by the COVID-19 contagion pandemic.
  • 15.6K
  • 16 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Social Trust and Economic Cyclicality
Nowadays, in the context of a complex fragility that radically transforms the economic habitat, the cyclical evolution of the economy is governed by new rules and constraints that transcend the economic area and increasingly interfere with the sociocultural features of life. The nature of the relationship between social trust and economic dynamics is still little explored and understood, and the research conducted so far is mainly positioned in a macroeconomic perspective, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches that still leave many questions unanswered. 
  • 561
  • 16 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Collective Construction of a Concept
Collective construction of a concept can be understood as the negotiation of a meaning represented in the form of written definitions in a collaborative way. Although it can be understood as a reductionist view, these verbal externalizations will be necessary for a group of people to collectively construct a concept. 
  • 2.3K
  • 11 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Green Chemistry Education
An important goal for sustainability education is to learn negotiation, problem solving and decision-making skills through discussions about ecological, social, economic, and ethical principles concerning local and global responsibility in their own life. Through memorable, experiential, and active processes, students learn to discuss their own value selection and to evaluate phenomena and sources of information critically. In this article, we aim to identify suitable pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning green chemistry among college students and preservice teachers by examining the teaching methods that have been used to promote green chemistry education (GCE) and how these methods have supported green chemistry learning (GCL).
  • 3.0K
  • 11 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Transformation of Natural Philosophy
Is there any reason, to believe a modern natural philosophy makes sense? The history of natural philosophy is marked by the search for principles that determine all beings independently whether they are abiotic matter or living organisms. Empirical data on the key features of life contradict even the possibility to find such principles because life in contrast to abiotic matter offers some main characteristics that are completely absent on abiotic planets. This means, if a modern natural philosophy should have any benefit it must be divided into a natural philosophy of physics or cosmology and a natural philosophy of life. If it is possible to give an updated definition of life, empirically based, non-reductive, non-mechanistic and without metaphysical assumptions, this would be an appropriate basis for a global consensus how future of humans may be generated in symbiosis with global biosphere. If we think on billions invested in health and drug research a new natural philosophy of life could orientate future of research on health and new drugs and avoid misinvestments.
  • 2.2K
  • 09 Nov 2020
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