TY - JOUR A1 - Dietze, Michael A1 - Öztürk, Ugur T1 - A flood of disaster response challenges JF - Science Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm0617 SN - 0036-8075 SN - 1095-9203 VL - 373 IS - 6561 SP - 1317 EP - 1318 PB - American Association for the Advancement of Science CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Peng, Junhao A1 - Sandev, Trifce A1 - Kocarev, Ljupco T1 - First encounters on Bethe lattices and Cayley trees JF - Communications in nonlinear science & numerical simulation N2 - In this work we consider the first encounter problems between a fixed and/or mobile target A and a moving trap B on Bethe lattices and Cayley trees. The survival probabilities (SPs) of the target A on the both kinds of structures are considered analytically and compared. On Bethe lattices, the results show that the fixed target will still prolong its survival time, whereas, on Cayley trees, there are some initial positions where the target should move to prolong its survival time. The mean first encounter time (MFET) for mobile target A is evaluated numerically and compared with the mean first passage time (MFPT) for the fixed target A. Different initial settings are addressed and clear boundaries are obtained. These findings are helpful for optimizing the strategy to prolong the survival time of the target or to speed up the search process on Cayley trees, in relation to the target's movement and the initial position configuration of the two walkers. We also present a new method, which uses a small amount of memory, for simulating random walks on Cayley trees. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Random walks KW - Survival probability KW - Mean first encounter time KW - Bethe KW - lattices KW - Cayley trees Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnsns.2020.105594 SN - 1007-5704 VL - 95 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jesus, Sonia A. A1 - Schmidt, Anke A1 - Fickel, Jörns A1 - Doherr, Marcus G. A1 - Boonprasert, Khajohnpat A1 - Thitaram, Chatchote A1 - Sariya, Ladawan A1 - Ratanakron, Parntep A1 - Hildebrandt, Thomas Bernd T1 - Assessing coagulation parameters in healthy Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) from European and thai populations JF - Animals N2 - Simple Summary Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are considered endangered and their population is in continuous decline. Understanding their social interactions, health, and welfare status has been a topic of intense research in recent decades. Coagulation assessments have been underutilized in wildlife but can give valuable information on individual health. This study aims to increase the knowledge of the coagulation status in healthy Asian elephants from different backgrounds and age groups, using a fast point-of-care analyzer. This tool can be further used in either routine health check-ups performed by caretakers or in a clinical emergency, such as in cases of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus hemorrhagic disease outbreaks. We have also investigated the presence of genomic mutations in one coagulation factor-factor VII-where a disorder was previously reported in an Asian elephant. Hereby, we report new reference values for coagulation parameters, such as coagulation times and fibrinogen concentration of Asian elephants assessed in Thailand and in Europe, as well as several single point mutations found in the exons of Elephas maximus coagulation F7 gene. We found the point-of-care analyzer used in this study to be very practical and user friendly for a zoo and field environment and hope that this project will incentivize further coagulation studies in Asian elephants and in other wildlife species. The Asian elephant population is continuously declining due to several extrinsic reasons in their range countries, but also due to diseases in captive populations worldwide. One of these diseases, the elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) hemorrhagic disease, is very impactful because it particularly affects Asian elephant calves. It is commonly fatal and presents as an acute and generalized hemorrhagic syndrome. Therefore, having reference values of coagulation parameters, and obtaining such values for diseased animals in a very short time, is of great importance. We analyzed prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and fibrinogen concentrations using a portable and fast point-of-care analyzer (VetScan Pro) in 127 Asian elephants from Thai camps and European captive herds. We found significantly different PT and aPTT coagulation times between elephants from the two regions, as well as clear differences in fibrinogen concentration. Nevertheless, these alterations were not expected to have biological or clinical implications. We have also sequenced the coagulation factor VII gene of 141 animals to assess the presence of a previously reported hereditary coagulation disorder in Asian elephants and to investigate the presence of other mutations. We did not find the previously reported mutation in our study population. Instead, we discovered the presence of several new single nucleotide polymorphisms, two of them being considered as deleterious by effect prediction software. KW - coagulation KW - Asian elephant KW - EEHV KW - factor VII KW - F7 gene KW - prothrombin KW - activated PTT KW - fibrinogen Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030361 SN - 2076-2615 VL - 12 IS - 3 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wendt, Martin A1 - Kulanek, Dustin A1 - Varga, Zoltan A1 - Rakosy, Laszlo A1 - Schmitt, Thomas T1 - Pronounced mito-nuclear discordance and various Wolbachia infections in the water ringlet Erebia pronoe have resulted in a complex phylogeographic structure JF - Scientific reports N2 - Several morphological and mitochondrial lineages of the alpine ringlet butterfly species Erebia pronoe have been described, indicating a complex phylogenetic structure. However, the existing data were insufficient and allow neither a reconstruction of the biogeographic history, nor an assessment of the genetic lineages. Therefore, we analysed mitochondrial (COI, NDI) and nuclear (EF1 alpha, RPS5) gene sequences and compared them with sequences from the sister species Erebia melas. Additionally, we combined this information with morphometric data of the male genitalia and the infection patterns with Wolbachia strains, based on a WSP analysis. We obtained a distinct phylogeographic structure within the E. pronoe-melas complex with eight well-distinguishable geographic groups, but also a remarkable mito-nuclear discordance. The mito-nuclear discordance in E. melas and E. pronoe glottis can be explained by different ages of Wolbachia infections with different Wolbachia strains, associated selective sweeps, and hybridisation inhibition. Additionally, we found indications for incipient speciation of E. pronoe glottis in the Pyrenees and a pronounced range dynamic within and among the other high mountain systems of Europe. Our results emphasize the importance of combined approaches in reconstructing biogeographic patterns and evaluating phylogeographic splits. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08885-8 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 12 IS - 1 PB - Nature Portfolio CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Menzel, Juliane A1 - Longree, Alessa A1 - Abraham, Klaus A1 - Schulze, Matthias Bernd A1 - Weikert, Cornelia T1 - Dietary and plasma phospholipid profiles in vegans and omnivores-results from the RBVD study JF - Nutrients N2 - Over the last few years, the vegan diet has become increasingly popular in Germany. It has been proposed that this diet is generally lower in fat, but less is known about the impact on fatty acid (FA) profiles. Therefore, the cross-sectional "Risks and Benefits of a Vegan Diet" (RBVD) study (n = 72) was used to investigate dietary FA intake as well as plasma phospholipid FA in vegans (n = 36) compared to omnivores (n = 36). Vegans had a significantly lower dietary intake of total fat (median 86 g/day, IQR 64-111) in comparison to omnivores (median 104 g/day, IQR 88-143, p = 0.004). Further, vegans had a lower intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) (p < 0.0001) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) (p = 0.001) compared to omnivores. Vegans had a higher intake in total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), omega-3 and omega-6 PUFA compared to omnivores, but without statistical significance after Bonferroni correction. According to plasma phospholipid profiles, relatively lower proportions of SFA (p < 0.0001), total trans fatty acids (TFA) (p = 0.0004) and omega-3-FA (p < 0.0001), but higher proportions of omega-6-FA (p < 0.0001) were observed in vegans. With the exception of omega-3 PUFA, a vegan diet is associated with a more favorable dietary fat intake and more favorable plasma FA profiles and therefore may reduce cardiovascular risk. KW - SFA KW - TFA KW - MUFA KW - PUFA KW - n-3 fatty acid KW - n-6 fatty acid KW - fatty acids KW - vegan diet Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14142900 SN - 2072-6643 VL - 14 IS - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Hellstrom, Mikael A1 - Ramberg, Ulf A1 - Reiter, Renate T1 - Tracing divergence in crisis governance BT - responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Germany and Sweden compared JF - International review of administrative sciences : an international journal of comparative public administration N2 - This cross-country comparison of administrative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Germany and Sweden is aimed at exploring how institutional contexts and administrative cultures have shaped strategies of problem-solving and governance modes during the pandemic, and to what extent the crisis has been used for opportunity management. The article shows that in France, the central government reacted determinedly and hierarchically, with tough containment measures. By contrast, the response in Germany was characterized by an initial bottom-up approach that gave way to remarkable federal unity in the further course of the crisis, followed again by a return to regional variance and local discretion. In Sweden, there was a continuation of 'normal governance' and a strategy of relying on voluntary compliance largely based on recommendations and less - as in Germany and France - on a strategy of imposing legally binding regulations. The comparative analysis also reveals that relevant stakeholders in all three countries have used the crisis as an opportunity for changes in the institutional settings and administrative procedures. Points for practitioners COVID-19 has shown that national political and administrative standard operating procedures in preparation for crises are, at best, partially helpful. Notwithstanding the fact that dealing with the unpredictable is a necessary part of crisis management, a need to further improve the institutional preparedness for pandemic crises in all three countries examined here has also become clear. This should be done particularly by way of shifting resources to the health and care sectors, strengthening the decentralized management of health emergencies, stocking and/or self-producing protection material, assessing the effects of crisis measures, and opening the scientific discourse to broader arenas of experts. KW - administrative culture KW - containment KW - crisis KW - governance KW - multi-level system KW - policy advice KW - public health KW - window of opportunity Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852320979359 SN - 0020-8523 SN - 1461-7226 VL - 87 IS - 3 SP - 556 EP - 575 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wang, Chaoxuan A1 - Enssle, Jörg A1 - Pietzner, Anne A1 - Schmöcker, Christoph A1 - Weiland, Linda A1 - Ritter, Oliver A1 - Jaensch, Monique A1 - Elbelt, Ulf A1 - Pagonas, Nikolaos A1 - Weylandt, Karsten-Henrich T1 - Essential polyunsaturated fatty acids in blood from patients with and without catheter-proven coronary artery disease JF - International journal of molecular sciences N2 - Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Statins reduce morbidity and mortality of CAD. Intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFAs), particularly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), is associated with reduced morbidity and mortality in patients with CAD. Previous data indicate that a higher conversion of precursor fatty acids (FAs) to arachidonic acid (AA) is associated with increased CAD prevalence. Our study explored the FA composition in blood to assess n-3 PUFA levels from patients with and without CAD. We analyzed blood samples from 273 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. Patients were stratified according to clinically relevant CAD (n = 192) and those without (n = 81). FA analysis in full blood was performed by gas chromatography. Indicating increased formation of AA from precursors, the ratio of dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA) to AA, the delta-5 desaturase index (D5D index) was higher in CAD patients. CAD patients had significantly lower levels of omega-6 polyunsaturated FAs (n-6 PUFA) and n-3 PUFA, particularly EPA, in the blood. Thus, our study supports a role of increased EPA levels for cardioprotection. KW - coronary artery disease KW - triglycerides KW - polyunsaturated fatty acids KW - n-3 PUFA KW - statins KW - arachidonic acid Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23020766 SN - 1422-0067; 1661-6596 VL - 23 IS - 2 PB - Molecular Diversity Preservation International CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bryant, Seth A1 - McGrath, Heather A1 - Boudreault, Mathieu T1 - Gridded flood depth estimates from satellite-derived inundations JF - Natural hazards and earth system sciences N2 - Canada's RADARSAT missions improve the potential to study past flood events; however, existing tools to derive flood depths from this remote-sensing data do not correct for errors, leading to poor estimates. To provide more accurate gridded depth estimates of historical flooding, a new tool is proposed that integrates Height Above Nearest Drainage and Cost Allocation algorithms. This tool is tested against two trusted, hydraulically derived, gridded depths of recent floods in Canada. This validation shows the proposed tool outperforms existing tools and can provide more accurate estimates from minimal data without the need for complex physics-based models or expert judgement. With improvements in remote-sensing data, the tool proposed here can provide flood researchers and emergency managers accurate depths in near-real time. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1437-2022 SN - 1561-8633 SN - 1684-9981 VL - 22 IS - 4 SP - 1437 EP - 1450 PB - European Geophysical Society CY - Katlenburg-Lindau ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kaa, Johannes M. A1 - Sternemann, Christian A1 - Appel, Karen A1 - Cerantola, Valerio A1 - Preston, Thomas R. A1 - Albers, Christian A1 - Elbers, Mirko A1 - Libon, Lelia A1 - Makita, Mikako A1 - Pelka, Alexander A1 - Petitgirard, Sylvain A1 - Plückthun, Christian A1 - Roddatis, Vladimir A1 - Sahle, Christoph J. A1 - Spiekermann, Georg A1 - Schmidt, Christian A1 - Schreiber, Anja A1 - Sakrowski, Robin A1 - Tolan, Metin A1 - Wilke, Max A1 - Zastrau, Ulf A1 - Konopkova, Zuzana T1 - Structural and electron spin state changes in an x-ray heated iron carbonate system at the Earth's lower mantle pressures JF - Physical review research N2 - The determination of the spin state of iron-bearing compounds at high pressure and temperature is crucial for our understanding of chemical and physical properties of the deep Earth. Studies on the relationship between the coordination of iron and its electronic spin structure in iron-bearing oxides, silicates, carbonates, iron alloys, and other minerals found in the Earth's mantle and core are scarce because of the technical challenges to simultaneously probe the sample at high pressures and temperatures. We used the unique properties of a pulsed and highly brilliant x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) beam at the High Energy Density (HED) instrument of the European XFEL to x-ray heat and probe samples contained in a diamond anvil cell. We heated and probed with the same x-ray pulse train and simultaneously measured x-ray emission and x-ray diffraction of an FeCO3 sample at a pressure of 51 GPa with up to melting temperatures. We collected spin state sensitive Fe K beta(1,3) fluorescence spectra and detected the sample's structural changes via diffraction, observing the inverse volume collapse across the spin transition. During x-ray heating, the carbonate transforms into orthorhombic Fe4C3O12 and iron oxides. Incipient melting was also observed. This approach to collect information about the electronic state and structural changes from samples contained in a diamond anvil cell at melting temperatures and above will considerably improve our understanding of the structure and dynamics of planetary and exoplanetary interiors. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.033042 SN - 2643-1564 VL - 4 IS - 3 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kruse, Marlen A1 - Altattan, Basma A1 - Laux, Eva-Maria A1 - Grasse, Nico A1 - Heinig, Lars A1 - Möser, Christin A1 - Smith, David M. A1 - Hölzel, Ralph T1 - Characterization of binding interactions of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and DNA-peptide nanostructures JF - Scientific reports N2 - Binding interactions of the spike proteins of the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to a peptide fragment derived from the human angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor are investigated. The peptide is employed as capture moiety in enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and quantitative binding interaction measurements that are based on fluorescence proximity sensing (switchSENSE). In both techniques, the peptide is presented on an oligovalent DNA nanostructure, in order to assess the impact of mono- versus trivalent binding modes. As the analyte, the spike protein and several of its subunits are tested as well as inactivated SARS-CoV-2 and pseudo viruses. While binding of the peptide to the full-length spike protein can be observed, the subunits RBD and S1 do not exhibit binding in the employed concentrations. Variations of the amino acid sequence of the recombinant full-length spike proteins furthermore influence binding behavior. The peptide was coupled to DNA nanostructures that form a geometric complement to the trimeric structure of the spike protein binding sites. An increase in binding strength for trimeric peptide presentation compared to single peptide presentation could be generally observed in ELISA and was quantified in switchSENSE measurements. Binding to inactivated wild type viruses could be shown as well as qualitatively different binding behavior of the Alpha and Beta variants compared to the wild type virus strain in pseudo virus models. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-16914-9 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 12 IS - 1 PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature CY - London ER -