TY - JOUR A1 - Pan, Xiaohui A1 - Wang, Weishi A1 - Liu, Tie A1 - Huang, Yue A1 - De Maeyer, Philippe A1 - Guo, Chenyu A1 - Ling, Yunan A1 - Akmalov, Shamshodbek T1 - Quantitative detection and attribution of groundwater level variations in the Amu Darya Delta JF - Water N2 - In the past few decades, the shrinkage of the Aral Sea is one of the biggest ecological catastrophes caused by human activity. To quantify the joint impact of both human activities and climate change on groundwater, the spatiotemporal groundwater dynamic characteristics in the Amu Darya Delta of the Aral Sea from 1999 to 2017 were analyzed, using the groundwater level, climate conditions, remote sensing data, and irrigation information. Statistics analysis was adopted to analyze the trend of groundwater variation, including intensity, periodicity, spatial structure, while the Pearson correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to quantify the impact of climate change and human activities on the variabilities of the groundwater level. Results reveal that the local groundwater dynamic has varied considerably. From 1999 to 2002, the groundwater level dropped from -189 cm to -350 cm. Until 2017, the groundwater level rose back to -211 cm with fluctuation. Seasonally, the fluctuation period of groundwater level and irrigation water was similar, both were about 18 months. Spatially, the groundwater level kept stable within the irrigation area and bare land but fluctuated drastically around the irrigation area. The Pearson correlation analysis reveals that the dynamic of the groundwater level is closely related to irrigation activity within the irrigation area (Nukus: -0.583), while for the place adjacent to the Aral Sea, the groundwater level is closely related to the Large Aral Sea water level (Muynak: 0.355). The results of PCA showed that the cumulative contribution rate of the first three components exceeds 85%. The study reveals that human activities have a great impact on groundwater, effective management, and the development of water resources in arid areas is an essential prerequisite for ecological protection. KW - groundwater level variation KW - climate change KW - human activities KW - statistical analysis KW - Amu Darya Delta Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/w12102869 SN - 2073-4441 VL - 12 IS - 10 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Huang, Zirui A1 - Iv, Henry (Hap) Davis A1 - Yue, Qiang A1 - Wiebking, Christine A1 - Duncan, Niall W. A1 - Zhang, Jianfeng A1 - Wagner, Nils-Frederic A1 - Wolff, Annemarie A1 - Northoff, Georg T1 - Increase in glutamate/glutamine concentration in the medial prefrontal cortex during mental imagery: A combined functional mrs and fMRI study JF - Human brain mapping : a journal devoted to functional neuroanatomy and neuroimaging N2 - Recent functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS) studies have shown changes in glutamate/glutamine (Glx) concentrations between resting-state and active-task conditions. However, the types of task used have been limited to sensory paradigms, and the regions from which Glx concentrations have been measured limited to sensory ones. This leaves open the question as to whether the same effect can be seen in higher-order brain regions during cognitive tasks. Cortical midline structures, especially the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), have been suggested to be involved in various such cognitive tasks. We, therefore set out to use fMRS to investigate the dynamics of Glx concentrations in the MPFC between resting-state and mental imagery task conditions. The auditory cortex was used as a control region. In addition, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to explore task-related neural activity changes. The mental imagery task consisted of imagining swimming and was applied to a large sample of healthy participants (n=46). The participants were all competitive swimmers, ensuring proficiency in mental-swimming. Glx concentrations in the MPFC increased during the imagery task, as compared to resting-state periods preceding and following the task. These increases mirror BOLD activity changes in the same region during the task. No changes in either Glx concentrations or BOLD activity were seen in the auditory cortex. These findings contribute to our understanding of the biochemical basis of generating or manipulating mental representations and the MPFC's role in this. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3204-3212, 2015. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. KW - medial prefrontal cortex KW - glutamate KW - glutamine KW - magnetic resonance spectroscopy KW - functional magnetic resonance imaging KW - mental imagery Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22841 SN - 1065-9471 SN - 1097-0193 VL - 36 IS - 8 SP - 3204 EP - 3212 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER -