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Variation partitioning by canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was applied to analyse spatial variation in the species composition of a weed community for an area of farmland in southern Finland. The farmland, covering 450 ha, was sampled with a 60 m × 60 m grid. Data on weed species were collected along with the following groups of explanatory variables: spatial variables (the terms of second-order polynomial trend surface regression equation generated on thexandyco-ordinates of sample quadrats:x,y,x2,xy,y2,x2 yandxy2), farmer variables (nine farms), soil variables (four soil types and pH value), crop variables (barley, oats, sugarbeet, potato and turnip rape) and physical variables (area of field, altitude, slope and aspect in four directions). The main variation in species composition along the first and second CCA axes was caused by interplay between farmer and crop variables. Farmer and crop variables explained more of the variation than did soil or physical variables. All the variables were to some extent spatially structured. The spatial variables contributed 54.5% of the total variation, of which pure spatial variation accounted for 12.2%. The highest covariation with spatial variables was detected with farmer (33.7%) and crop variables (25.7%). Variation partitioning by CCA is recommended for studying the relationship between the spatial variation in weed communities and explanatory variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secondary compounds are known to be associated with the resistance of conifer xylem against insects and fungi. The effects of long‐term forest fertilization with nitrogen (N) or with N, calcium (Ca), and phosphorus (P) on secondary compounds in the xylem of 50‐yr‐old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees were examined. Xylem samples were collected from trees growing in three locations in southern Finland: Vilppula, Padasjoki, and Punkaharju. Forests were fertilized every fifth (Vilppula and Padasjoki) or tenth (Punkaharju) year since the 1950s. We compared concentrations of individual and total monoterpenes and resin acids in the heartwood and sapwood of Scots pine. Terpene emissions were analyzed from the sapwood and total phenolics from the heartwood. Fertilization did not have any significant effect on the concentrations and emissions of xylem monoterpenes. Concentrations of several individual terpenes in sapwood were positively correlated with the corresponding terpene emission. The concentrations of individual resin acids (i.e., abietic and dehydroabietic) decreased significantly in Punkaharju, but increased in the sapwood of N‐fertilized trees compared with control ones at Padasjoki and Vilppula. The concentrations of resin acids in the heartwood were not significantly affected by fertilization. Both fertilization treatments decreased the total phenolic concentration in the heartwood of trees growing in Padasjoki. There was a significant positive correlation between the total phenolics and total resin acid concentration. Overall, resin acids and phenolics seemed be more responsive than monoterpenes to N treatment. These results suggest that forest fertilization might cause slight changes in secondary compound concentrations of xylem, and thus might have significance in the decay resistance of wood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long records of phenological observations constitute data for ecological, climate, and global change studies. Here we provide a unique dataset of plant phenological observations made in boreal Europe between 1750 and 1965 from locations situated across historical and modern Finland, mostly between 70° and 60° N and 30° and 20° E. This dataset was generated initially by the efforts of several generations of volunteers representing naturalists whose field observations and notes had initially made the continuous collection of the data possible. In addition, the data were collated by the Finnish Economic Society and the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters and published irregularly in the form of several monographs and periodicals by contemporary academic enthusiasts. Each phenological observation contains 11 features including: site name, site latitude, site longitude, scientific species name, phenological stage, and (if any) its substage, year, date (month and day) and the day since the summer solstice, the original literature source, and outlier estimate. Species names given originally either in Latin, Finnish, German, and/or Swedish were transformed into scientific species names. Moreover, outdated taxonomic names were updated as appropriate. Phenological stages that had been given originally either in German, Finnish, and/or Swedish were transformed into English and standardized by excluding synonyms. Site names were adopted at the county level, with corresponding latitude and longitude generated herein. The digitized dataset represents 265,478 observations of 985 taxa (assigned to variety/subspecies/species/hybrid/genus) for their 16 different phenological stages made in 371 locations across the region. We provide this dataset to support comparative studies and modeling projects, seeking to improve the understanding of terrestrial ecosystem dynamics and its responses to a changing environment from a local to a global scale. Use of this dataset for academic or educational purposes is encouraged as long as the data source is correctly cited with attribution given to this presentation of the data. Users are free to use and analyze the data; additionally, we would like to hear from other researchers who use this dataset in teaching or for their own research., (© 2022 The Ecological Society of America.)

Background: Trends in suicide mortality in Europe from 1950 to 2009 were studied., Material and Methods: Data on 4,777,113 suicides in addition to the data on population were extracted from the WHO Mortality Database., Results: In Europe, there was an increase in suicide mortality during the 1980s and the 1990s, followed by a decrease. The suicide mortality of Finnish men has decreased from the highest rate in the 1950s to the ninth place in the 2000s. In contrast, the suicide mortality of Finnish women is currently the second highest in Europe., Conclusions: Continuous work and research are needed to enhance suicide prevention at the regional level.

Objectives: Suicide mortality varies in both the short and long term. Our study examines suicide mortality in Finland and Sweden from the 1750s until today. The aim of our study is to detect any seasonal peaks in suicide rates and examine their temporal evolution to suggest a mechanism that may explain such peaks., Method: We acquired the study material from the Finnish and Swedish cause of death statistics (257,341 deaths by suicide) and the relevant population gender structure data. We then separately calculated the annual male and female suicide rates per 100,000 inhabitants. We analysed the suicide peaks, calculating factors of proportionality for the available data by dividing the suicide rates in the peak months (May and October) by the annual suicide rates., Results: Suicide rates in Finland and Sweden peak twice a year. Both men and women in both countries most often commit suicide in May. There is another peak in October, with the exception of Finnish men. These suicide peaks coincide with a temperature increase in May and the biggest annual drop in temperature in October. We also observed a monotonic long-term change in the Swedish statistics, but not in the Finnish data. Our hypothesis is that seasonal variation in suicide rates may be caused by abrupt temperature changes twice a year that trigger the activity in brown adipose tissue and deepen depression., Conclusion: While the overall suicide mortality rates varied considerably, the monthly proportions in May did not. This finding suggests a routine factor underlying the spring peak in suicide mortality.

Objectives: Suicide is a notable cause of death worldwide, and while suicidal behavior appears to be associated with variations in temperature, no estimations are available of climate change impacts on suicide rates. The study aims to evaluate the influence of temperature on suicide mortality, especially on multi-decadal and longer time scales, that is, at scales on which the ongoing warming distinctly operates and is correspondingly appropriate for the current policy responses to warming climate., Methods: Our results are based on an extraordinarily long record of deaths from suicide in Finland from 1751 to 2008, and a similarly long climatic record of ambient temperatures correlative of environmental change in the study region., Results: We show that temperature variability explains more than 60 % of the total suicide variance up until the initiation of a national suicide prevention program. Despite ongoing warming, suicide rates have declined since the initiation of the program., Conclusion: By understanding the complexity of suicidal behavior as a response to ambient warming and the observed effects of interventions, our results underline the pressing need for a network of prevention programs to battle against temperature-mediated health hazards.

Severe food shortage is associated with increased mortality and reduced reproductive success in contemporary and historical human populations. Studies of wild animal populations have shown that subtle variation in environmental conditions can influence patterns of mortality, fecundity and natural selection, but the fitness implications of such subtle variation on human populations are unclear. Here, we use longitudinal data on local grain production, births, marriages and mortality so as to assess the impact of crop yield variation on individual age-specific mortality and fecundity in two pre-industrial Finnish populations. Although crop yields and fitness traits showed profound year-to-year variation across the 70-year study period, associations between crop yields and mortality or fecundity were generally weak. However, post-reproductive individuals of both sexes, and individuals of lower socio-economic status experienced higher mortality when crop yields were low. This is the first longitudinal, individual-based study of the associations between environmental variation and fitness traits in pre-industrial humans, which emphasizes the importance of a portfolio of mechanisms for coping with low food availability in such populations. The results are consistent with evolutionary ecological predictions that natural selection for resilience to food shortage is likely to weaken with age and be most severe on those with the fewest resources.

Fatal motor vehicle accidents (fMVAs) as well as accidents involving pedestrians or bicyclists in Uusimaa county in 2008 were reviewed. Of the fMVAs, acute disease attacks while driving caused 26.5% (9/34) of the drivers' deaths. This equalled with the number of alcohol-related fatal accidents. Heart attack was the main cause (7/9 disease attacks). Three bicyclists (3/14; 21%) died for health reasons; two for ventricular fibrillation and one for alcohol intoxication probably combined with cardiac arrhythmia. Diseases served also as background causes for fMVAs. Education of health care personnel on medical conditions and driving should be improved.

Environmental conditions in early life can profoundly affect individual development and have consequences for reproductive success. Limited food availability may be one of the reasons for this, but direct evidence linking variation in early-life nutrition to reproductive performance in adulthood in natural populations is sparse. We combined historical agricultural data with detailed demographic church records to investigate the effect of food availability around the time of birth on the reproductive success of 927 men and women born in 18th-century Finland. Our study population exhibits natural mortality and fertility rates typical of many preindustrial societies, and individuals experienced differing access to resources due to social stratification. We found that among both men and women born into landless families (i.e., with low access to resources), marital prospects, probability of reproduction, and offspring viability were all positively related to local crop yield during the birth year. Such effects were generally absent among those born into landowning families. Among landless individuals born when yields of the two main crops, rye and barley, were both below median, only 50% of adult males and 55% of adult females gained any reproductive success in their lifetime, whereas 97% and 95% of those born when both yields were above the median did so. Our results suggest that maternal investment in offspring in prenatal or early postnatal life may have profound implications for the evolutionary fitness of human offspring, particularly among those for which resources are more limiting. Our study adds support to the idea that early nutrition can limit reproductive success in natural animal populations, and provides the most direct evidence to date that this process applies to humans.

Transgenic Bt (expressing the cry1Ac endotoxin gene) and conventional oilseed rape plants grown in different soils were used to study nutrient uptake and emission of volatiles after herbivore damage. All plants were greenhouse-grown in soils representing low-, medium- and high-nutrient levels. The concentrations of N, P, K, Mg and Zn were significantly affected by the transgene, while the main effect of soil type appeared in N, P, Ca, Mg, B, Mn and Zn concentrations in the plants. Plants with four to five leaves were infested with the third instar larvae of Bt-susceptible Plutella xylostella for 48 h, and samples of volatiles were collected and analysed. In the first experiment, the soil nutrient level had a significant effect on the emissions of (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, hexyl acetate, (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-non-atriene (DMNT), beta-elemene, gamma-bisabolene, alpha-bisabolene and (E)-nerolidol. The induction of these volatiles was significantly higher in infested conventional plants grown at a high-soil nutrient level compared to infested conventional plants at a low-soil nutrient level. In the second experiment, the soil nutrient level had a significant effect on the emissions of (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate and beta-elemene and, again, this was significantly higher in infested conventional plants grown at high-soil nutrient levels in comparison with infested plants at a low-soil nutrient level. In both experiments, the transgene effect was significant on the emissions of DMNT and (E,E)-alpha-farnesene. The differences in emissions between the two separate experiments suggest that growth conditions (particularly daylength) and sampling procedure may affect the ratio of compounds detected in the emission blend, even though the response to herbivory, nutrient availability and the transgene were similar.

Plant phenological data and tree-rings were tested for their palaeoclimatic value in south-west Finland since AD 1750. The information from fragmentary, partly overlapping, partly non-systematically biased plant phenological records of 14 different phenomena (a total of 3,144 observations) was combined into one continuous time series of phenological indices. All site- and phenomenon-specific series were standardized to present an average of zero and standard deviation of one. The mean phenomenon-specific series were then averaged as arithmetic means for annually resolved time series representing the variability in the particular plant phenomenon. Consequently, each phenomenon-specific mean series was based on spatially normalized site-specific index series. These series were compared to each other, living-tree and subfossil tree-rings, and to early and modern meteorological time series. Phenological indices showed strong positive correlation with February to June temperatures. On the other hand, the correlations between phenological indices and precipitation data were around zero. Analysis using time-dependent running correlations showed non-stationary relationship between the tree-rings and phenological indices and observed spring temperatures. The skill of phenological data for reconstructing the spring temperatures was statistically proved.

Purpose: A strong association of a Tyr402His polymorphism in the complement factor H (CFH) gene and a Met299Val polymorphism in the elongation of very long chain fatty acids-like 4 (ELOVL4) gene with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has been identified in Caucasian populations in the United States. Earlier a Gln5345Arg variant in the hemicentin 1 (HMCN1) gene was reported in a large AMD family in the United States. We wanted to investigate whether the polymorphisms of the CFH and the ELOVL4 genes or the mutation of the HMCN1 gene are associated with AMD in patients originating from the Finnish population with characteristics of a genetic isolate., Methods: The material consisted of familial (n=181) and sporadic cases (n=154) with AMD, a control group with no AMD (non-AMD controls, n=105), and a control group of anonymous blood donors (blood donor controls, n =350). The DNA of the subjects was sequenced to analyze the variants of the three genes., Results: We detected a strong association between the C/C-genotype compared to the T/T-genotype of Tyr402His polymorphism (first base of the Tyr-codon changes) of the CFH gene and AMD in the AMD cases compared to the non-AMD (p=8.86x10(-12)) or to blood donor controls (p=2.02x10(-13)). The frequency of the C/C genotype was significantly increased in both familial cases compared to non-AMD controls with non-adjusted odds ratio (OR) 10.1 (confidence intervals [CI] 95% 4.64-22.2) or compared to blood donor controls with non-adjusted OR 5.50 (CI 95% 3.17-9.55) and in sporadic cases with non-adjusted OR 9.33 (CI 95% 4.10-21.3; non-AMD-controls), OR 5.06 (CI 95% 2.75-9.28; blood donor controls). Frequency of C allele differed significantly between cases and controls (p=1.32x10(-11); non-AMD-controls and p=3.94x10(-14); blood donor controls). No association with AMD was detected with Met299Val polymorphism in the ELOVL4 gene in the familial or sporadic cases compared to non-AMD or blood donor controls. None of our subjects (258 AMD cases, 72 non-AMD controls) had the Gln5345Arg variant in the HMCN1 gene., Conclusions: The CFH gene polymorphism seems to be an important etiologic factor for AMD also in the isolated Finnish population.

The aim of this study was to improve the internal communication within the intensive care unit of the Kuopio University Hospital. We developed an intranet based internal communication channel within the patient data management system and studied the effectiveness of this system in improving communication in the ICU. The hypothesis was that the communication difficulties caused by the structure of the unit, large personnel and work schedule (three separate shifts) could be reduced by supplementing oral communication by this intranet based system. The results clearly indicate that this type of system can significantly improve communication within our unit.