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Abstract Documentary climate data describe evidence of past climate arising from predominantly written historical documents such as diaries, chronicles, newspapers, or logbooks. Over the past decades, historians and climatologists have generated numerous document-based time series of local and regional climates. However, a global dataset of documentary climate time series has never been compiled, and documentary data are rarely used in large-scale climate reconstructions. Here, we present the first global multi-variable collection of documentary climate records. The dataset DOCU-CLIM comprises 621 time series (both published and hitherto unpublished) providing information on historical variations in temperature, precipitation, and wind regime. The series are evaluated by formulating proxy forward models (i.e., predicting the documentary observations from climate fields) in an overlapping period. Results show strong correlations, particularly for the temperature-sensitive series. Correlations are somewhat lower for precipitation-sensitive series. Overall, we ascribe considerable potential to documentary records as climate data, especially in regions and seasons not well represented by early instrumental data and palaeoclimate proxies.

In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant changes in land cover, plant and animal distributions, surface hydrology, and biochemical cycles. Earth system models suggest that this anthropogenic land cover change influenced regional and global climate. However, the representation of past land use in earth system models is currently oversimplified. As a result, there are large uncertainties in the current understanding of the past and current state of the earth system. In order to improve representation of the variety and scale of impacts that past land use had on the earth system, a global effort is underway to aggregate and synthesize archaeological and historical evidence of land use systems. Here we present a simple, hierarchical classification of land use systems designed to be used with archaeological and historical data at a global scale and a schema of codes that identify land use practices common to a range of systems, both implemented in a geospatial database. The classification scheme and database resulted from an extensive process of consultation with researchers worldwide. Our scheme is designed to deliver consistent, empirically robust data for the improvement of land use models, while simultaneously allowing for a comparative, detailed mapping of land use relevant to the needs of historical scholars. To illustrate the benefits of the classification scheme and methods for mapping historical land use, we apply it to Mesopotamia and Arabia at 6 kya (c. 4000 BCE). The scheme will be used to describe land use by the Past Global Changes (PAGES) LandCover6k working group, an international project comprised of archaeologists, historians, geographers, paleoecologists, and modelers. Beyond this, the scheme has a wide utility for creating a common language between research and policy communities, linking archaeologists with climate modelers, biodiversity conservation workers and initiatives.

Drought monitoring and early warning (M&EW) systems are an important component of agriculture/silviculture drought risk assessment. Many operational information systems rely mostly on meteorological indicators, and a few incorporate vegetation state information. However, the relationships between meteorological drought indicators and agricultural/silvicultural drought impacts vary across Europe. The details of this variability have not been elucidated sufficiently on a continental scale in Europe to inform drought risk management at administrative scales. The objective of this study is to fill this gap and evaluate how useful the variety of meteorological indicators are to assess agricultural/silvicultural drought across Europe. The first part of the analysis systematically linked meteorological drought indicators to remote sensing based vegetation indices (VIs) for Europe at NUTs3 administrative regions scale using correlation analysis for crops and forests. In a second step, a stepwise multiple linear regression model was deployed to identify variables explaining the spatial differences observed. Finally, corn crop yield in Germany was chosen as a case study to verify VIs’ representativeness of agricultural drought impacts. Results show that short accumulation periods of SPI and SPEI are best linked to crop vegetation stress in most cases, which further validates the use of SPI3 in existing operational drought monitors. However, large regional differences in correlations are also revealed. Climate (temperature and precipitation) explained the largest proportion of variance, suggesting that meteorological indices are less informative of agricultural/silvicultural drought in colder/wetter parts of Europe. These findings provide important context for interpreting meteorological indices on widely used national to continental M&EW systems, leading to a better understanding of where/when such M&EW tools can be indicative of likely agricultural stress and impacts.

Historical precipitation records are fundamental for the management of water resources, yet rainfall observations typically span 100-150 years at most, with considerable uncertainties surrounding earlier records. Here, we analyse some of the longest available precipitation records globally, for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. To assess the credibility of these records and extend them further back in time, we statistically reconstruct (using independent predictors) monthly precipitation series representing these regions for the period 1748-2000. By applying the Standardized Precipitation Index at 12-month accumulations (SPI-12) to the observed and our reconstructed series we re-evaluate historical meteorological droughts. We find strong agreement between observed and reconstructed drought chronologies in post-1870 records, but divergence in earlier series due to biases in early precipitation observations. Hence, the 1800s decade was less drought prone in our reconstructions relative to observations. Overall, the drought of 1834-1836 was the most intense SPI-12 event in our reconstruction for England and Wales. Newspaper accounts and documentary sources confirm the extent of impacts across England in particular. We also identify a major, "forgotten" drought in 1765-1768 that affected the British-Irish Isles. This was the most intense event in our reconstructions for Ireland and Scotland, and ranks first for accumulated deficits across all three regional series. Moreover, the 1765-1768 event was also the most extreme multi-year drought across all regional series when considering 36-month accumulations (SPI-36). Newspaper and other sources confirm the occurrence and major socio-economic impact of this drought, such as major rivers like the Shannon being fordable by foot. Our results provide new insights into historical droughts across the British Irish Isles. Given the importance of historical droughts for stress-testing the resilience of water resources, drought plans and supply systems, the forgotten drought of 1765-1768 offers perhaps the most extreme benchmark scenario in more than 250-years., (© 2020 The Authors International Journal of Climatology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Meteorological Society.)

Climate change has led to concerns about increasing river floods resulting from the greater water-holding capacity of a warmer atmosphere 1 . These concerns are reinforced by evidence of increasing economic losses associated with flooding in many parts of the world, including Europe 2 . Any changes in river floods would have lasting implications for the design of flood protection measures and flood risk zoning. However, existing studies have been unable to identify a consistent continental-scale climatic-change signal in flood discharge observations in Europe 3 , because of the limited spatial coverage and number of hydrometric stations. Here we demonstrate clear regional patterns of both increases and decreases in observed river flood discharges in the past five decades in Europe, which are manifestations of a changing climate. Our results-arising from the most complete database of European flooding so far-suggest that: increasing autumn and winter rainfall has resulted in increasing floods in northwestern Europe; decreasing precipitation and increasing evaporation have led to decreasing floods in medium and large catchments in southern Europe; and decreasing snow cover and snowmelt, resulting from warmer temperatures, have led to decreasing floods in eastern Europe. Regional flood discharge trends in Europe range from an increase of about 11 per cent per decade to a decrease of 23 per cent. Notwithstanding the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the observational record, the flood changes identified here are broadly consistent with climate model projections for the next century 4,5 , suggesting that climate-driven changes are already happening and supporting calls for the consideration of climate change in flood risk management.

Faces are complex, multidimensional, and meaningful visual stimuli. Recently, Araragi, Aotani, & Kitaoka (2012) demonstrated an intriguing face size illusion whereby an inverted face is perceived as larger than a physically identical upright face. Like the face, the human body is a highly familiar and important stimulus in our lives. Here, we investigated the specificity of the size underestimation of upright faces illusion, testing whether similar effects also hold for bodies, hands, and everyday objects. Experiments 1a and 1b replicated the face-size illusion. No size illusion was observed for hands or objects. Unexpectedly, a reverse size illusion was observed for bodies, so that upright bodies were perceived as larger than their inverted counterparts. Experiment 2 showed that the face illusion was maintained even when the photographic contrast polarity of the stimuli was reversed, indicating that the visual system driving the illusion relies on geometric featural information rather than image contrast. In Experiment 2, the reverse size illusion for bodies failed to reach significance. Our findings show that size illusions caused by inversion show a high level of category specificity, with opposite illusions for faces and bodies., (Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Weakening drinking-related reward memories by blocking their reconsolidation is a potential novel strategy for treating alcohol use disorders. However, few viable pharmacological options exist for reconsolidation interference in humans. We therefore examined whether the NMDA receptor antagonising gas, Nitrous Oxide (N 2 O) could reduce drinking by preventing the post-retrieval restabilisation of alcohol memories in a group of hazardous drinkers. Critically, we focussed on whether prediction error (PE; a key determinant of reconsolidation) was experienced at retrieval. Sixty hazardous drinkers were randomised to one of three groups that retrieved alcohol memories either with negative PE (Retrieval + PE), no PE (Retrieval no PE) or non-alcohol memory retrieval with PE (No-retrieval +PE). All participants then inhaled 50% N 2 O for 30 min. The primary outcome was change in beer consumption and alcohol cue-driven urge to drink from the week preceding manipulation (baseline) to the week following manipulation (test). The manipulation did not affect drinking following the intended retrieval+/- PE conditions However, a manipulation check, using a measure of subjective surprise, revealed that the group-level manipulation did not achieve the intended differences in PE at retrieval. Assessment of outcomes according to whether alcohol-relevant PE was actually experienced at retrieval, showed N 2 O produced reductions in drinking in a retrieval and PE-dependent fashion. These preliminary findings highlight the importance of directly testing assumptions about memory reactivation procedures in reconsolidation research and suggest that N 2 O should be further investigated as a potential reconsolidation-blocking agent., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.)

A warming climate is expected to have an impact on the magnitude and timing of river floods; however, no consistent large-scale climate change signal in observed flood magnitudes has been identified so far. We analyzed the timing of river floods in Europe over the past five decades, using a pan-European database from 4262 observational hydrometric stations, and found clear patterns of change in flood timing. Warmer temperatures have led to earlier spring snowmelt floods throughout northeastern Europe; delayed winter storms associated with polar warming have led to later winter floods around the North Sea and some sectors of the Mediterranean coast; and earlier soil moisture maxima have led to earlier winter floods in western Europe. Our results highlight the existence of a clear climate signal in flood observations at the continental scale., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.)

Objective: Obesity and its related chronic inflammation are the major risk factors for developing metabolic disturbances. The roles of cathepsin cysteine proteases have been tied to inflammation and atherosclerosis. Cathepsins are important functional links between inflammation, cholesterol metabolism, and atherosclerosis in obesity. NPC2, a lysosomal protein, plays an important role in cholesterol trafficking. The objective of this study was to examine the regulation of cathepsins and NPC2 in adipose tissue and macrophages in obesity and the effect of modifying cathepsin activity in cholesterol metabolism and trafficking in macrophages., Design and Methods: Cathepsins and NPC2 mRNA expression and protein secretion were detected in obese adipose tissue as well as 3T3-L1 adipocytes and Raw 264.7 macrophages in response to inflammatory stimuli and cathepsin inhibitors., Results: It was found that high-fat diet feeding altered the mRNA and protein expression levels of cathepsins B and L (CtB and CtL) and NPC2 in adipose tissue in mice; the differential regulation of these proteins was observed between adipose depots. In vitro studies showed that TNF-α reduces intracellular protein levels of CtB, CtL, and NPC2, but increases their secretion in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Likewise, LPS stimulated the secretion of CtB and NPC2 in Raw 264.7 macrophages. Using the inhibitors of cathepsin enzymatic activity, it was found that CtB and CtL regulate TNF-α production, the expression and secretion of NPC2 protein, and the mRNA levels of the genes involved in cholesterol trafficking in macrophages., Conclusion: These findings suggest that CtB and CtL have a significant involvement in mediating the inflammatory response, in cholesterol trafficking, and in regulating NPC2 secretion., (Copyright © 2012 The Obesity Society.)

We have previously identified lipocalin 2 (Lcn2) as a cytokine playing a critical role in the regulation of body fat mass, lipid metabolism, and insulin resistance. Lcn2 deficiency reduces PPARγ gene expression in adipocytes. In this study, we investigated the role of Lcn2 in PPARγ activation and function via assessing the insulin sensitization and fatty acid (FA) homeostasis of PPARγ agonist in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity in Lcn2(-/-) mice. We found that rosiglitazone (Rosi) significantly improved insulin sensitivity in Lcn2(-/-) mice as effectively as in wild-type (WT) mice; unfed-state levels of blood glucose, free FAs, and triglycerides (TGs) were significantly reduced after a 25-d treatment of Rosi in Lcn2(-/-) mice. However, Rosi action on fat deposition and FA homeostasis was altered; Rosi-induced body weight and subcutaneous fat gain and liver lipid accumulation were markedly lessened in Lcn2(-/-) mice. The results of in vivo metabolic labeling showed that Rosi markedly reduced de novo lipogenesis in adipose tissue of Lcn2(-/-) mice. In brown adipose tissue (BAT), the expression of the genes functioning in TG hydrolysis and mitochondrial oxidation was up-regulated more in Lcn2(-/-) than in WT mice. Most strikingly, Rosi stimulated significantly higher levels of uncoupling protein-1 expression in BAT, and completely rescued cold intolerance in Lcn2(-/-) mice. We demonstrate that Lcn2 is a critical selective modulator of PPARγ activation and function in lipid homeostasis and energy expenditure.

Arne saltmarsh, an RSPB reserve, is situated in Poole Harbour on the English south coast. In recent years, there has been concern about possible changes in the suitability of the site for Redshank (Trigna totanus) due to sika deer (Cervus nippon) grazing. In order to assess these changes, 50 plots were established in three different locations: 20 in grazed areas, 20 in ungrazed areas and 10 fenced enclosures. Deer grazing was found to significantly affect structural and species diversity of the saltmarsh vegetation. Spartina anglica dominated in ungrazed areas whilst Salicornia ramosissima and, to a lesser extent, Puccinellia maritima dominated in grazed sites. In grazed areas the vegetation cover was significantly lower, as was vegetation height and volume. In addition, significant changes were observed in the root biomass, which was lower in grazed areas. Infaunal diversity was generally low throughout the survey area. However, significant variations were observed. Invertebrates abundance was more abundant in grazed plots than in ungrazed plots, and least abundant in fenced plots. The study indicated that in its current condition, localised areas of Arne saltmarsh do not provide adequate habitat requirements for Tringa totanus.

This paper describes the value of non-invasive neurovascular function tests in the clinical setting. Painful transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) of the dorsum of the foot evoked axon reflex vasodilatation, measured by laser Doppler flowmetry. In addition, acetylcholine and sodium nitrite (NaNO2) were iontophoresed to cause vasodilatation by endothelium-dependent and -independent mechanisms, respectively. Compared with healthy volunteers, diabetic patients with clinically diagnosed neuropathy showed reduced electrical axon reflex flare responses. These responses in one additional subject were absent in a region of denervated skin. Acetylcholine responses, but not NaNO2 responses, were also depressed in patients with diabetic neuropathy. Such reduced cutaneous nocifensor functions may contribute to some symptoms and complications of diabetes mellitus.