The effect of short-range spatial variability on soil sampling uncertainty.

This paper aims to quantify the soil sampling uncertainty arising from the short-range spatial variability of elemental concentrations in the topsoils of agricultural, semi-natural, and contaminated environments. For the agricultural site, the relative standard sampling uncertainty ranges between 1% and 5.5%. For the semi-natural area, the sampling uncertainties are 2-4 times larger than in the agricultural area. The contaminated site exhibited significant short-range spatial variability in elemental composition, which resulted in sampling uncertainties of 20-30%.     

A bibliometric analysis of the dental scientific literature on COVID-19

Clinical Oral Investigations - The rapid production of a large volume of literature during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak created a substantial burden for clinicians and scientists....     

Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha −308 G/A Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism and Apical Periodontitis: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

IntroductionThis study aimed to perform a more precise estimation of the association between tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) ?308 G/A single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and the risk of development of apical periodontitis (AP) and its phenotypes based on all available published studies.MethodsThe study was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020176190). The literature search was conducted via Clarivate Analytics Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases from inception to December 2020 with no language restrictions. Two reviewers were involved independently in the study selection, data extraction, and appraising the studies that were included. The quality of the included studies was evaluated using the Strengthening the Reporting of Genetic Association and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system. The frequencies of the genotypes and alleles of the TNF-α (G>A 308, rs1800629) gene with 95% odds ratio were used.ResultsFour studies met the inclusion criteria with moderate risk of bias. This study revealed no significant association between TNF-α ?308 G/A SNP and AP and the risk of AP development. Moreover, there was no significant association between genotype or allele frequency distribution and clinical manifestations (acute vs chronic) of AP. The certainty of evidence per the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system was very low.ConclusionsBecause of very low certainty of evidence, whether there is an association between TNF-α ?308 G/A SNP and AP warrants further well-designed multicentric studies to adjudicate a better understanding of the role of genetic factors in the etiopathogenesis of AP.     

A soil sampling reference site: The challenge in defining reference material for sampling.

In the frame of the international SOILSAMP project, funded and coordinated by the Italian Environmental Protection Agency, an agricultural area was established as a reference site suitable for performing soil sampling inter-comparison exercises. The reference site was characterized for trace element content in soil, in terms of the spatial and temporal variability of their mass fraction. Considering that the behaviour of long-lived radionuclides in soil can be expected to be similar to that of some stable trace elements and that the distribution of these trace elements in soil can simulate the distribution of radionuclides, the reference site characterised in term of trace elements, can be also used to compare the soil sampling strategies developed for radionuclide investigations.