@article{PranavHultzschMusiienkoetal.2023, author = {Pranav, Manasi and Hultzsch, Thomas and Musiienko, Artem and Sun, Bowen and Shukla, Atul and Jaiser, Frank and Shoaee, Safa and Neher, Dieter}, title = {Anticorrelated photoluminescence and free charge generation proves field-assisted exciton dissociation in low-offset PM6:Y5 organic solar cells}, series = {APL materials : high impact open access journal in functional materials science}, volume = {11}, journal = {APL materials : high impact open access journal in functional materials science}, number = {6}, publisher = {AIP Publishing}, address = {Melville}, issn = {2166-532X}, doi = {10.1063/5.0151580}, pages = {8}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Understanding the origin of inefficient photocurrent generation in organic solar cells with low energy offset remains key to realizing high-performance donor-acceptor systems. Here, we probe the origin of field-dependent free-charge generation and photoluminescence in wnon-fullereneacceptor (NFA)-based organic solar cells using the polymer PM6 and the NFA Y5-a non-halogenated sibling to Y6, with a smaller energetic offset to PM6. By performing time-delayed collection field (TDCF) measurements on a variety of samples with different electron transport layers and active layer thickness, we show that the fill factor and photocurrent are limited by field-dependent free charge generation in the bulk of the blend. We also introduce a new method of TDCF called m-TDCF to prove the absence of artifacts from non-geminate recombination of photogenerated and dark charge carriers near the electrodes. We then correlate free charge generation with steady-state photoluminescence intensity and find perfect anticorrelation between these two properties. Through this, we conclude that photocurrent generation in this low-offset system is entirely controlled by the field-dependent dissociation of local excitons into charge-transfer states. (c) 2023 Author(s).}, language = {en} } @article{BittmannDechSchaefer2023, author = {Bittmann, Frank and Dech, Silas and Schaefer, Laura}, title = {Another way to confuse motor control}, series = {Brain Sciences}, volume = {13}, journal = {Brain Sciences}, number = {7}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2076-3425}, doi = {10.3390/brainsci13071105}, pages = {20}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Sensorimotor control can be impaired by slacked muscle spindles. This was shown for reflex responses and, recently, also for muscular stability in the sense of Adaptive Force (AF). The slack in muscle spindles was generated by contracting the lengthened muscle followed by passive shortening. AF was suggested to specifically reflect sensorimotor control since it requires tension-length control in adaptation to an increasing load. This study investigated AF parameters in reaction to another, manually performed slack procedure in a preselected sample (n = 13). The AF of 11 elbow and 12 hip flexors was assessed by an objectified manual muscle test (MMT) using a handheld device. Maximal isometric AF was significantly reduced after manual spindle technique vs. regular MMT. Muscle lengthening started at 64.93 \& PLUSMN; 12.46\% of maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC). During regular MMT, muscle length could be maintained stable until 92.53 \& PLUSMN; 10.12\% of MVIC. Hence, muscular stability measured by AF was impaired after spindle manipulation. Force oscillations arose at a significantly lower level for regular vs. spindle. This supports the assumption that they are a prerequisite for stable adaptation. Reduced muscular stability in reaction to slack procedures is considered physiological since sensory information is misled. It is proposed to use slack procedures to test the functionality of the neuromuscular system, which is relevant for clinical practice.}, language = {en} } @article{HovhannisyanNematiHenkeletal.2023, author = {Hovhannisyan, Karen V. and Nemati, Somayyeh and Henkel, Carsten and Anders, Janet}, title = {Long-time equilibration can determine transient thermality}, series = {PRX Quantum}, volume = {4}, journal = {PRX Quantum}, number = {3}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, issn = {2691-3399}, doi = {10.1103/PRXQuantum.4.030321}, pages = {23}, year = {2023}, abstract = {When two initially thermal many-body systems start to interact strongly, their transient states quickly become non-Gibbsian, even if the systems eventually equilibrate. To see beyond this apparent lack of structure during the transient regime, we use a refined notion of thermality, which we call g-local. A system is g-locally thermal if the states of all its small subsystems are marginals of global thermal states. We numerically demonstrate for two harmonic lattices that whenever the total system equilibrates in the long run, each lattice remains g-locally thermal at all times, including the transient regime. This is true even when the lattices have long-range interactions within them. In all cases, we find that the equilibrium is described by the generalized Gibbs ensemble, with three-dimensional lattices requiring special treatment due to their extended set of conserved charges. We compare our findings with the well-known two-temperature model. While its standard form is not valid beyond weak coupling, we show that at strong coupling it can be partially salvaged by adopting the concept of a g-local temperature.}, language = {en} } @article{BittmannDechSchaefer2023, author = {Bittmann, Frank and Dech, Silas and Schaefer, Laura}, title = {How to confuse motor control}, series = {Life : open access journal}, volume = {13}, journal = {Life : open access journal}, number = {4}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2075-1729}, doi = {10.3390/life13040911}, pages = {18}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Adaptation to external forces relies on a well-functioning proprioceptive system including muscle spindle afferents. Muscle length and tension control in reaction to external forces is most important regarding the Adaptive Force (AF). This study investigated the effect of different procedures, which are assumed to influence the function of muscle spindles, on the AF. Elbow flexors of 12 healthy participants (n = 19 limbs) were assessed by an objectified manual muscle test (MMT) with different procedures: regular MMT, MMT after precontraction (self-estimated 20\% MVIC) in lengthened position with passive return to test position (CL), and MMT after CL with a second precontraction in test position (CL-CT). During regular MMTs, muscles maintained their length up to 99.7\% +/- 1.0\% of the maximal AF (AF(max)). After CL, muscles started to lengthen at 53.0\% +/- 22.5\% of AF(max). For CL-CT, muscles were again able to maintain the static position up to 98.3\% +/- 5.5\% of AF(max). AFiso(max) differed highly significantly between CL vs. CL-CT and regular MMT. CL was assumed to generate a slack of muscle spindles, which led to a substantial reduction of the holding capacity. This was immediately erased by a precontraction in the test position. The results substantiate that muscle spindle sensitivity seems to play an important role for neuromuscular functioning and musculoskeletal stability.}, language = {en} } @article{HijaziFreitagLandwehr2023, author = {Hijazi, Saddam and Freitag, Melina A. and Landwehr, Niels}, title = {POD-Galerkin reduced order models and physics-informed neural networks for solving inverse problems for the Navier-Stokes equations}, series = {Advanced modeling and simulation in engineering sciences : AMSES}, volume = {10}, journal = {Advanced modeling and simulation in engineering sciences : AMSES}, number = {1}, publisher = {SpringerOpen}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {2213-7467}, doi = {10.1186/s40323-023-00242-2}, pages = {38}, year = {2023}, abstract = {We present a Reduced Order Model (ROM) which exploits recent developments in Physics Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) for solving inverse problems for the Navier-Stokes equations (NSE). In the proposed approach, the presence of simulated data for the fluid dynamics fields is assumed. A POD-Galerkin ROM is then constructed by applying POD on the snapshots matrices of the fluid fields and performing a Galerkin projection of the NSE (or the modified equations in case of turbulence modeling) onto the POD reduced basis. A POD-Galerkin PINN ROM is then derived by introducing deep neural networks which approximate the reduced outputs with the input being time and/or parameters of the model. The neural networks incorporate the physical equations (the POD-Galerkin reduced equations) into their structure as part of the loss function. Using this approach, the reduced model is able to approximate unknown parameters such as physical constants or the boundary conditions. A demonstration of the applicability of the proposed ROM is illustrated by three cases which are the steady flow around a backward step, the flow around a circular cylinder and the unsteady turbulent flow around a surface mounted cubic obstacle.}, language = {en} } @article{SchmidtFranckeGrosseetal.2023, author = {Schmidt, Lena Katharina and Francke, Till and Grosse, Peter Martin and Mayer, Christoph and Bronstert, Axel}, title = {Reconstructing five decades of sediment export from two glacierized high-alpine catchments in Tyrol, Austria, using nonparametric regression}, series = {Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS}, volume = {27}, journal = {Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS}, number = {9}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {1027-5606}, doi = {10.5194/hess-27-1841-2023}, pages = {1841 -- 1863}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Knowledge on the response of sediment export to recent climate change in glacierized areas in the European Alps is limited, primarily because long-term records of suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) are scarce. Here we tested the estimation of sediment export of the past five decades using quantile regression forest (QRF), a nonparametric, multivariate regression based on random forest. The regression builds on short-term records of SSCs and long records of the most important hydroclimatic drivers (discharge, precipitation and air temperature - QPT). We trained independent models for two nested and partially glacier-covered catchments, Vent (98 km(2)) and Vernagt (11.4 km(2)), in the upper otztal in Tyrol, Austria (1891 to 3772 m a.s.l.), where available QPT records start in 1967 and 1975. To assess temporal extrapolation ability, we used two 2-year SSC datasets at gauge Vernagt, which are almost 20 years apart, for a validation. For Vent, we performed a five-fold cross-validation on the 15 years of SSC measurements. Further, we quantified the number of days where predictors exceeded the range represented in the training dataset, as the inability to extrapolate beyond this range is a known limitation of QRF. Finally, we compared QRF performance to sediment rating curves (SRCs). We analyzed the modeled sediment export time series, the predictors and glacier mass balance data for trends (Mann-Kendall test and Sen's slope estimator) and step-like changes (using the widely applied Pettitt test and a complementary Bayesian approach).Our validation at gauge Vernagt demonstrated that QRF performs well in estimating past daily sediment export (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) of 0.73) and satisfactorily for SSCs (NSE of 0.51), despite the small training dataset. The temporal extrapolation ability of QRF was superior to SRCs, especially in periods with high-SSC events, which demonstrated the ability of QRF to model threshold effects. Days with high SSCs tended to be underestimated, but the effect on annual yields was small. Days with predictor exceedances were rare, indicating a good representativity of the training dataset. Finally, the QRF reconstruction models outperformed SRCs by about 20 percent points of the explained variance.Significant positive trends in the reconstructed annual suspended sediment yields were found at both gauges, with distinct step-like increases around 1981. This was linked to increased glacier melt, which became apparent through step-like increases in discharge at both gauges as well as change points in mass balances of the two largest glaciers in the Vent catchment. We identified exceptionally high July temperatures in 1982 and 1983 as a likely cause. In contrast, we did not find coinciding change points in precipitation. Opposing trends at the two gauges after 1981 suggest different timings of "peak sediment". We conclude that, given large-enough training datasets, the presented QRF approach is a promising tool with the ability to deepen our understanding of the response of high-alpine areas to decadal climate change.}, language = {en} } @article{MazareiPenschkeSaalfrank2023, author = {Mazarei, Elham and Penschke, Christopher and Saalfrank, Peter}, title = {Band gap engineering in two-dimensional materials by functionalization}, series = {ACS Omega}, volume = {8}, journal = {ACS Omega}, number = {24}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, address = {Washington}, issn = {2470-1343}, doi = {10.1021/acsomega.3c02068}, pages = {22026 -- 22041}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Graphene is well-knownfor its unique combination of electricaland mechanical properties. However, its vanishing band gap limitsthe use of graphene in microelectronics. Covalent functionalizationof graphene has been a common approach to address this critical issueand introduce a band gap. In this Article, we systematically analyzethe functionalization of single-layer graphene (SLG) and bilayer graphene(BLG) with methyl (CH3) using periodic density functionaltheory (DFT) at the PBE+D3 level of theory. We also include a comparisonof methylated single-layer and bilayer graphene, as well as a discussionof different methylation options (radicalic, cationic, and anionic).For SLG, methyl coverages ranging from 1/8 to 1/1, (i.e.,the fully methylated analogue of graphane) are considered. We findthat up to a coverage theta of 1/2, graphene readily accepts CH3, with neighbor CH3 groups preferring trans positions. Above theta = 1/2, the tendency to accept further CH3 weakens and the lattice constant increases. The band gapbehaves less regularly, but overall it increases with increasing methylcoverage. Thus, methylated graphene shows potential for developingband gap-tuned microelectronics devices and may offer further functionalizationoptions. To guide in the interpretation of methylation experiments,vibrational signatures of various species are characterized by normal-modeanalysis (NMA), their vibrational density of states (VDOS), and infrared(IR) spectra, the latter two are obtained from ab initio moleculardynamics (AIMD) in combination with a velocity-velocity autocorrelationfunction (VVAF) approach.}, language = {en} } @article{AdesinaBlockGuenteretal.2023, author = {Adesina, Morenike O. and Block, Inga and G{\"u}nter, Christina and Unuabonah, Emmanuel Iyayi and Taubert, Andreas}, title = {Efficient Removal of Tetracycline and Bisphenol A from Water with a New Hybrid Clay/TiO2 Composite}, series = {ACS Omega}, volume = {8}, journal = {ACS Omega}, number = {24}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, address = {Washington}, issn = {2470-1343}, doi = {10.1021/acsomega.3c00184}, pages = {21594 -- 21604}, year = {2023}, abstract = {New TiO2 hybrid composites were prepared fromkaolinclay, predried and carbonized biomass, and titanium tetraisopropoxideand explored for tetracycline (TET) and bisphenol A (BPA) removalfrom water. Overall, the removal rate is 84\% for TET and 51\% for BPA.The maximum adsorption capacities (q (m))are 30 and 23 mg/g for TET and BPA, respectively. These capacitiesare far greater than those obtained for unmodified TiO2. Increasing the ionic strength of the solution does not change theadsorption capacity of the adsorbent. pH changes only slightly changeBPA adsorption, while a pH > 7 significantly reduces the adsorptionof TET on the material. The Brouers-Sotolongo fractal modelbest describes the kinetic data for both TET and BPA adsorption, predictingthat the adsorption process occurs via a complex mechanism involvingvarious forces of attraction. Temkin and Freundlich isotherms, whichbest fit the equilibrium adsorption data for TET and BPA, respectively,suggest that adsorption sites are heterogeneous in nature. Overall,the composite materials are much more effective for TET removal fromaqueous solution than for BPA. This phenomenon is assigned to a differencein the TET/adsorbent interactions vs the BPA/adsorbent interactions:the decisive factor appears to be favorable electrostatic interactionsfor TET yielding a more effective TET removal.}, language = {en} } @article{ErlerRiebeBeitzetal.2023, author = {Erler, Alexander and Riebe, Daniel and Beitz, Toralf and L{\"o}hmannsr{\"o}ben, Hans-Gerd and Leenen, Mathias and P{\"a}tzold, Stefan and Ostermann, Markus and W{\´o}jcik, Michał}, title = {Mobile laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for future application in precision agriculture}, series = {Sensors}, volume = {23}, journal = {Sensors}, number = {16}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {1424-8220}, doi = {10.3390/s23167178}, pages = {17}, year = {2023}, abstract = {In precision agriculture, the estimation of soil parameters via sensors and the creation of nutrient maps are a prerequisite for farmers to take targeted measures such as spatially resolved fertilization. In this work, 68 soil samples uniformly distributed over a field near Bonn are investigated using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). These investigations include the determination of the total contents of macro- and micronutrients as well as further soil parameters such as soil pH, soil organic matter (SOM) content, and soil texture. The applied LIBS instruments are a handheld and a platform spectrometer, which potentially allows for the single-point measurement and scanning of whole fields, respectively. Their results are compared with a high-resolution lab spectrometer. The prediction of soil parameters was based on multivariate methods. Different feature selection methods and regression methods like PLS, PCR, SVM, Lasso, and Gaussian processes were tested and compared. While good predictions were obtained for Ca, Mg, P, Mn, Cu, and silt content, excellent predictions were obtained for K, Fe, and clay content. The comparison of the three different spectrometers showed that although the lab spectrometer gives the best results, measurements with both field spectrometers also yield good results. This allows for a method transfer to the in-field measurements.}, language = {en} } @article{SchlappaBresselReichetal.2023, author = {Schlappa, Stephanie and Bressel, Lena and Reich, Oliver and M{\"u}nzberg, Marvin}, title = {Advanced particle size analysis in high-solid-content polymer dispersions using photon density wave spectroscopy}, series = {Polymers}, volume = {15}, journal = {Polymers}, number = {15}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2073-4360}, doi = {10.3390/polym15153181}, pages = {17}, year = {2023}, abstract = {High-solid-content polystyrene and polyvinyl acetate dispersions of polymer particles with a 50 nm to 500 nm mean particle diameter and 12-55\% (w/w) solid content have been produced via emulsion polymerization and characterized regarding their optical and physical properties. Both systems have been analyzed with common particle-size-measuring techniques like dynamic light scattering (DLS) and static light scattering (SLS) and compared to inline particle size distribution (PSD) measurements via photon density wave (PDW) spectroscopy in undiluted samples. It is shown that particle size measurements of undiluted polystyrene dispersions are in good agreement between analysis methods. However, for polyvinyl acetate particles, size determination is challenging due to bound water in the produced polymer. For the first time, water-swelling factors were determined via an iterative approach of PDW spectroscopy error (X-2) minimization. It is shown that water-swollen particles can be analyzed in high-solid-content solutions and their physical properties can be assumed to determine the refractive index, density, and volume fraction in dispersion. It was found that assumed water swelling improved the reduced scattering coefficient fit by PDW spectroscopy by up to ten times and particle size determination was refined and enabled. Particle size analysis of the water-swollen particles agreed well with offline-based state-of-the-art techniques.}, language = {en} } @article{StieglerKiemelEccardetal.2021, author = {Stiegler, Jonas and Kiemel, Katrin and Eccard, Jana and Fischer, Christina and Hering, Robert and Ortmann, Sylvia and Strigl, Lea and Tiedemann, Ralph and Ullmann, Wiebke and Blaum, Niels}, title = {Seed traits matter}, series = {Ecology and evolution}, volume = {11}, journal = {Ecology and evolution}, number = {24}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {2045-7758}, doi = {10.1002/ece3.8440}, pages = {18477 -- 18491}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Although many plants are dispersed by wind and seeds can travel long distances across unsuitable matrix areas, a large proportion relies on co-evolved zoochorous seed dispersal to connect populations in isolated habitat islands. Particularly in agricultural landscapes, where remaining habitat patches are often very small and highly isolated, mobile linkers as zoochorous seed dispersers are critical for the population dynamics of numerous plant species. However, knowledge about the quali- or quantification of such mobile link processes, especially in agricultural landscapes, is still limited. In a controlled feeding experiment, we recorded the seed intake and germination success after complete digestion by the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) and explored its mobile link potential as an endozoochoric seed disperser. Utilizing a suite of common, rare, and potentially invasive plant species, we disentangled the effects of seed morphological traits on germination success while controlling for phylogenetic relatedness. Further, we measured the landscape connectivity via hares in two contrasting agricultural landscapes (simple: few natural and semi-natural structures, large fields; complex: high amount of natural and semi-natural structures, small fields) using GPS-based movement data. With 34,710 seeds of 44 plant species fed, one of 200 seeds (0.51\%) with seedlings of 33 species germinated from feces. Germination after complete digestion was positively related to denser seeds with comparatively small surface area and a relatively slender and elongated shape, suggesting that, for hares, the most critical seed characteristics for successful endozoochorous seed dispersal minimize exposure of the seed to the stomach and the associated digestive system. Furthermore, we could show that a hare's retention time is long enough to interconnect different habitats, especially grasslands and fields. Thus, besides other seed dispersal mechanisms, this most likely allows hares to act as effective mobile linkers contributing to ecosystem stability in times of agricultural intensification, not only in complex but also in simple landscapes.}, language = {en} } @article{MuellerMuellerStolletal.2022, author = {Mueller, Steffen and Mueller, Juliane and Stoll, Josefine and Mayer, Frank}, title = {Effect of six-week resistance and sensorimotor training on trunk strength and stability in elite adolescent athletes}, series = {Frontiers in physiology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in physiology}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-042X}, doi = {10.3389/fphys.2022.802315}, pages = {10}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Intervention in the form of core-specific stability exercises is evident to improve trunk stability. The purpose was to assess the effect of an additional 6 weeks sensorimotor or resistance training on maximum isokinetic trunk strength and response to sudden dynamic trunk loading (STL) in highly trained adolescent athletes. The study was conducted as a single-blind, 3-armed randomized controlled trial. Twenty-four adolescent athletes (14f/10 m, 16 +/- 1 yrs.;178 +/- 10 cm; 67 +/- 11 kg; training sessions/week 15 +/- 5; training h/week 22 +/- 8) were randomized into resistance training (RT; n = 7), sensorimotor training (SMT; n = 10), and control group (CG; n = 7). Athletes were instructed to perform standardized, center-based training for 6 weeks, two times per week, with a duration of 1 h each session. SMT consisted of four different core-specific sensorimotor exercises using instable surfaces. RT consisted of four trunk strength exercises using strength training machines, as well as an isokinetic dynamometer. All participants in the CG received an unspecific heart frequency controlled, ergometer-based endurance training (50 min at max. heart frequency of 130HF). For each athlete, each training session was documented in an individual training diary (e.g., level of SMT exercise; 1RM for strength exercise, pain). At baseline (M1) and after 6 weeks of intervention (M2), participants' maximum strength in trunk rotation (ROM:63 degrees) and flexion/extension (ROM:55 degrees) was tested on an isokinetic dynamometer (concentric/eccentric 30 degrees/s). STL was assessed in eccentric (30 degrees/s) mode with additional dynamometer-induced perturbation as a marker of core stability. Peak torque [Nm] was calculated as the main outcome. The primary outcome measurements (trunk rotation/extension peak torque: con, ecc, STL) were statistically analyzed by means of the two-factor repeated measures analysis of variance (alpha = 0.05). Out of 12 possible sessions, athletes participated between 8 and 9 sessions (SMT: 9 +/- 3; RT: 8 +/- 3; CG: 8 +/- 4). Regarding main outcomes of trunk performance, experimental groups showed no significant pre-post difference for maximum trunk strength testing as well as for perturbation compensation (p > 0.05). It is concluded, that future interventions should exceed 6 weeks duration with at least 2 sessions per week to induce enhanced trunk strength or compensatory response to sudden, high-intensity trunk loading in already highly trained adolescent athletes, regardless of training regime.}, language = {en} } @article{LinMayerWippert2022, author = {Lin, Chiao-I and Mayer, Frank and Wippert, Pia-Maria}, title = {The prevalence of chronic ankle instability in basketball athletes}, series = {BMC sports science, medicine \& rehabilitation}, volume = {14}, journal = {BMC sports science, medicine \& rehabilitation}, number = {1}, publisher = {BMC}, address = {London}, issn = {2052-1847}, doi = {10.1186/s13102-022-00418-0}, pages = {9}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background Ankle sprain is the most common injury in basketball. Chronic ankle instability develops from an acute ankle sprain may cause negative effects on quality of life, ankle functionality or on increasing risk for recurrent ankle sprains and post-traumatic osteoarthritis. To facilitate a preventative strategy of chronic ankle instability (CAI) in the basketball population, gathering epidemiological data is essential. However, the epidemiological data of CAI in basketball is limited. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the prevalence of CAI in basketball athletes and to determine whether gender, competitive level, and basketball playing position influence this prevalence. Methods In a cross-sectional study, in total 391 Taiwanese basketball athletes from universities and sports clubs participated. Besides non-standardized questions about demographics and their history of ankle sprains, participants further filled out the standard Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool applied to determine the presence of ankle instability. Questionnaires from 255 collegiate and 133 semi-professional basketball athletes (male = 243, female = 145, 22.3 +/- 3.8 years, 23.3 +/- 2.2 kg/m(2)) were analyzed. Differences in prevalence between gender, competitive level and playing position were determined using the Chi-square test. Results In the surveyed cohort, 26\% had unilateral CAI while 50\% of them had bilateral CAI. Women had a higher prevalence than men in the whole surveyed cohort (X-2(1) = 0.515, p = 0.003). This gender disparity also showed from sub-analyses, that the collegiate female athletes had a higher prevalence than collegiate men athletes (X-2(1) = 0.203, p = 0.001). Prevalence showed no difference between competitive levels (p > 0.05) and among playing positions (p > 0.05). Conclusions CAI is highly prevalent in the basketball population. Gender affects the prevalence of CAI. Regardless of the competitive level and playing position the prevalence of CAI is similar. The characteristic of basketball contributes to the high prevalence. Prevention of CAI should be a focus in basketball. When applying the CAI prevention measures, gender should be taken into consideration.}, language = {en} } @article{SchmidtWellenburg2024, author = {Schmidt-Wellenburg, Christian}, title = {French economists and the symbolic power of (post-)national scopes of capital}, series = {Serendipities : journal for the sociology and history of the social sciences}, volume = {8}, journal = {Serendipities : journal for the sociology and history of the social sciences}, number = {1-2}, publisher = {Karl-Franzens-Universit{\"a}t Graz}, address = {Graz}, issn = {2521-0947}, doi = {10.7146/serendipities.v8i1-2.133990}, pages = {77 -- 108}, year = {2024}, abstract = {The paper argues that economists' position-taking in discourses of crises should be understood in the light of economists' positions in the academic field of economics. This hypothesis is investigated by performing a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) on a prosopographical data set of 144 French economists who positioned themselves between 2008 and 2021 in controversies over the euro crisis, the French political economic model, and French economics. In these disciplinary controversies, different forms of (post-)national academic capital are used by economists to either initiate change or defend the status quo. These strategies are then interpreted as part of more general power struggles over the basic national or post-national constitution and legitimate governance of economy and society.}, language = {en} } @article{PadashAghionSchulzetal.2022, author = {Padash, Amin and Aghion, Erez and Schulz, Alexander and Barkai, Eli and Chechkin, Aleksei V. and Metzler, Ralf and Kantz, Holger}, title = {Local equilibrium properties of ultraslow diffusion in the Sinai model}, series = {New journal of physics}, volume = {24}, journal = {New journal of physics}, number = {7}, publisher = {IOP Publishing}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {1367-2630}, doi = {10.1088/1367-2630/ac7df8}, pages = {14}, year = {2022}, abstract = {We perform numerical studies of a thermally driven, overdamped particle in a random quenched force field, known as the Sinai model. We compare the unbounded motion on an infinite 1-dimensional domain to the motion in bounded domains with reflecting boundaries and show that the unbounded motion is at every time close to the equilibrium state of a finite system of growing size. This is due to time scale separation: inside wells of the random potential, there is relatively fast equilibration, while the motion across major potential barriers is ultraslow. Quantities studied by us are the time dependent mean squared displacement, the time dependent mean energy of an ensemble of particles, and the time dependent entropy of the probability distribution. Using a very fast numerical algorithm, we can explore times up top 10(17) steps and thereby also study finite-time crossover phenomena.}, language = {en} } @article{TscheuschnerKaiserLisecetal.2022, author = {Tscheuschner, Georg and Kaiser, Melanie N. and Lisec, Jan and Beslic, Denis and Muth, Thilo and Kr{\"u}ger, Maren and Mages, Hans Werner and Dorner, Brigitte G. and Knospe, Julia and Schenk, J{\"o}rg A. and Sellrie, Frank and Weller, Michael G.}, title = {MALDI-TOF-MS-based identification of monoclonal murine Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies within one hour}, series = {Antibodies}, volume = {11}, journal = {Antibodies}, number = {2}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2073-4468}, doi = {10.3390/antib11020027}, pages = {22}, year = {2022}, abstract = {During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, many virus-binding monoclonal antibodies have been developed for clinical and diagnostic purposes. This underlines the importance of antibodies as universal bioanalytical reagents. However, little attention is given to the reproducibility crisis that scientific studies are still facing to date. In a recent study, not even half of all research antibodies mentioned in publications could be identified at all. This should spark more efforts in the search for practical solutions for the traceability of antibodies. For this purpose, we used 35 monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 to demonstrate how sequence-independent antibody identification can be achieved by simple means applied to the protein. First, we examined the intact and light chain masses of the antibodies relative to the reference material NIST-mAb 8671. Already half of the antibodies could be identified based solely on these two parameters. In addition, we developed two complementary peptide mass fingerprinting methods with MALDI-TOF-MS that can be performed in 60 min and had a combined sequence coverage of over 80\%. One method is based on the partial acidic hydrolysis of the protein by 5 mM of sulfuric acid at 99 degrees C. Furthermore, we established a fast way for a tryptic digest without an alkylation step. We were able to show that the distinction of clones is possible simply by a brief visual comparison of the mass spectra. In this work, two clones originating from the same immunization gave the same fingerprints. Later, a hybridoma sequencing confirmed the sequence identity of these sister clones. In order to automate the spectral comparison for larger libraries of antibodies, we developed the online software ABID 2.0. This open-source software determines the number of matching peptides in the fingerprint spectra. We propose that publications and other documents critically relying on monoclonal antibodies with unknown amino acid sequences should include at least one antibody fingerprint. By fingerprinting an antibody in question, its identity can be confirmed by comparison with a library spectrum at any time and context.}, language = {en} } @article{HollensteinTrondlePlomeckaetal.2023, author = {Hollenstein, Nora and Trondle, Marius and Plomecka, Martyna and Kiegeland, Samuel and Ozyurt, Yilmazcan and J{\"a}ger, Lena Ann and Langer, Nicolas}, title = {The ZuCo benchmark on cross-subject reading task classification with EEG and eye-tracking data}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1028824}, pages = {20}, year = {2023}, abstract = {We present a new machine learning benchmark for reading task classification with the goal of advancing EEG and eye-tracking research at the intersection between computational language processing and cognitive neuroscience. The benchmark task consists of a cross-subject classification to distinguish between two reading paradigms: normal reading and task-specific reading. The data for the benchmark is based on the Zurich Cognitive Language Processing Corpus (ZuCo 2.0), which provides simultaneous eye-tracking and EEG signals from natural reading of English sentences. The training dataset is publicly available, and we present a newly recorded hidden testset. We provide multiple solid baseline methods for this task and discuss future improvements. We release our code and provide an easy-to-use interface to evaluate new approaches with an accompanying public leaderboard: .}, language = {en} } @article{MicheletBindelliniMelinetal.2023, author = {Michelet, Robin and Bindellini, Davide and Melin, Johanna and Neumann, Uta and Blankenstein, Oliver and Huisinga, Wilhelm and Johnson, Trevor N. and Whitaker, Martin J. and Ross, Richard and Kloft, Charlotte}, title = {Insights in the maturational processes influencing hydrocortisone pharmacokinetics in congenital adrenal hyperplasia patients using a middle-out approach}, series = {Frontiers in Pharmacology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in Pharmacology}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1663-9812}, doi = {10.3389/fphar.2022.1090554}, pages = {14}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Introduction: Hydrocortisone is the standard of care in cortisol replacement therapy for congenital adrenal hyperplasia patients. Challenges in mimicking cortisol circadian rhythm and dosing individualization can be overcome by the support of mathematical modelling. Previously, a non-linear mixed-effects (NLME) model was developed based on clinical hydrocortisone pharmacokinetic (PK) pediatric and adult data. Additionally, a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model was developed for adults and a pediatric model was obtained using maturation functions for relevant processes. In this work, a middle-out approach was applied. The aim was to investigate whether PBPK-derived maturation functions could provide a better description of hydrocortisone PK inter-individual variability when implemented in the NLME framework, with the goal of providing better individual predictions towards precision dosing at the patient level. Methods: Hydrocortisone PK data from 24 adrenal insufficiency pediatric patients and 30 adult healthy volunteers were used for NLME model development, while the PBPK model and maturation functions of clearance and cortisol binding globulin (CBG) were developed based on previous studies published in the literature. Results: Clearance (CL) estimates from both approaches were similar for children older than 1 year (CL/F increasing from around 150 L/h to 500 L/h), while CBG concentrations differed across the whole age range (CBG(NLME) stable around 0.5 mu M vs. steady increase from 0.35 to 0.8 mu M for CBG (PBPK)). PBPK-derived maturation functions were subsequently included in the NLME model. After inclusion of the maturation functions, none, a part of, or all parameters were re-estimated. However, the inclusion of CL and/or CBG maturation functions in the NLME model did not result in improved model performance for the CL maturation function (\& UDelta;OFV > -15.36) and the re-estimation of parameters using the CBG maturation function most often led to unstable models or individual CL prediction bias. Discussion: Three explanations for the observed discrepancies could be postulated, i) non-considered maturation of processes such as absorption or first-pass effect, ii) lack of patients between 1 and 12 months, iii) lack of correction of PBPK CL maturation functions derived from urinary concentration ratio data for the renal function relative to adults. These should be investigated in the future to determine how NLME and PBPK methods can work towards deriving insights into pediatric hydrocortisone PK.}, language = {en} } @article{NordmeyerKrausZiehmetal.2023, author = {Nordmeyer, Sarah and Kraus, Milena and Ziehm, Matthias and Kirchner, Marieluise and Schafstedde, Marie and Kelm, Marcus and Niquet, Sylvia and Stephen, Mariet Mathew and Baczko, Istvan and Knosalla, Christoph and Schapranow, Matthieu-Patrick and Dittmar, Gunnar and Gotthardt, Michael and Falcke, Martin and Regitz-Zagrosek, Vera and Kuehne, Titus and Mertins, Philipp}, title = {Disease- and sex-specific differences in patients with heart valve disease}, series = {Life Science Alliance}, volume = {6}, journal = {Life Science Alliance}, number = {3}, publisher = {EMBO Press}, address = {Heidelberg}, issn = {2575-1077}, doi = {10.26508/lsa.202201411}, pages = {18}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Pressure overload in patients with aortic valve stenosis and volume overload in mitral valve regurgitation trigger specific forms of cardiac remodeling; however, little is known about similarities and differences in myocardial proteome regulation. We performed proteome profiling of 75 human left ventricular myocardial biopsies (aortic stenosis = 41, mitral regurgitation = 17, and controls = 17) using high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry next to clinical and hemodynamic parameter acquisition. In patients of both disease groups, proteins related to ECM and cytoskeleton were more abundant, whereas those related to energy metabolism and proteostasis were less abundant compared with controls. In addition, disease group-specific and sex-specific differences have been observed. Male patients with aortic stenosis showed more proteins related to fibrosis and less to energy metabolism, whereas female patients showed strong reduction in proteostasis-related proteins. Clinical imaging was in line with proteomic findings, showing elevation of fibrosis in both patient groups and sex differences. Disease-and sex-specific proteomic profiles provide insight into cardiac remodeling in patients with heart valve disease and might help improve the understanding of molecular mechanisms and the development of individualized treatment strategies.}, language = {en} } @article{LiTianRudayaetal.2022, author = {Li, Wenjia and Tian, Fang and Rudaya, Natalya A. and Herzschuh, Ulrike and Cao, Xianyong}, title = {Pollen-based holocene thawing-history of permafrost in Northern Asia and its potential impacts on climate change}, series = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {2296-701X}, doi = {10.3389/fevo.2022.894471}, pages = {13}, year = {2022}, abstract = {As the recent permafrost thawing of northern Asia proceeds due to anthropogenic climate change, precise and detailed palaeoecological records from past warm periods are essential to anticipate the extent of future permafrost variations. Here, based on the modern relationship between permafrost and vegetation (represented by pollen assemblages), we trained a Random Forest model using pollen and permafrost data and verified its reliability to reconstruct the history of permafrost in northern Asia during the Holocene. An early Holocene (12-8 cal ka BP) strong thawing trend, a middle-to-late Holocene (8-2 cal ka BP) relatively slow thawing trend, and a late Holocene freezing trend of permafrost in northern Asia are consistent with climatic proxies such as summer solar radiation and Northern Hemisphere temperature. The extensive distribution of permafrost in northern Asia inhibited the spread of evergreen coniferous trees during the early Holocene warming and might have decelerated the enhancement of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) by altering hydrological processes and albedo. Based on these findings, we suggest that studies of the EASM should consider more the state of permafrost and vegetation in northern Asia, which are often overlooked and may have a profound impact on climate change in this region.}, language = {en} } @article{KamaliLoriteWebberetal.2022, author = {Kamali, Bahareh and Lorite, Ignacio J. and Webber, Heidi A. and Rezaei, Ehsan Eyshi and Gabaldon-Leal, Clara and Nendel, Claas and Siebert, Stefan and Ramirez-Cuesta, Juan Miguel and Ewert, Frank and Ojeda, Jonathan J.}, title = {Uncertainty in climate change impact studies for irrigated maize cropping systems in southern Spain}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {12}, journal = {Scientific reports}, number = {1}, publisher = {Macmillan Publishers Limited,}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-022-08056-9}, pages = {13}, year = {2022}, abstract = {This study investigates the main drivers of uncertainties in simulated irrigated maize yield under historical conditions as well as scenarios of increased temperatures and altered irrigation water availability. Using APSIM, MONICA, and SIMPLACE crop models, we quantified the relative contributions of three irrigation water allocation strategies, three sowing dates, and three maize cultivars to the uncertainty in simulated yields. The water allocation strategies were derived from historical records of farmer's allocation patterns in drip-irrigation scheme of the Genil-Cabra region, Spain (2014-2017). By considering combinations of allocation strategies, the adjusted R-2 values (showing the degree of agreement between simulated and observed yields) increased by 29\% compared to unrealistic assumptions of considering only near optimal or deficit irrigation scheduling. The factor decomposition analysis based on historic climate showed that irrigation strategies was the main driver of uncertainty in simulated yields (66\%). However, under temperature increase scenarios, the contribution of crop model and cultivar choice to uncertainty in simulated yields were as important as irrigation strategy. This was partially due to different model structure in processes related to the temperature responses. Our study calls for including information on irrigation strategies conducted by farmers to reduce the uncertainty in simulated yields at field scale.}, language = {en} } @misc{GranacherPutaGabrieletal.2018, author = {Granacher, Urs and Puta, Christian and Gabriel, Holger H. W. and Behm, David George and Arampatzis, Adamantios}, title = {Neuromuscular Training and Adaptations in Youth Athletes}, series = {Frontiers in physiology}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in physiology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-042X}, doi = {10.3389/fphys.2018.01264}, pages = {5}, year = {2018}, language = {en} } @article{SchwarzeSchellhammerOrtsteinetal.2019, author = {Schwarze, Martin and Schellhammer, Karl Sebastian and Ortstein, Katrin and Benduhn, Johannes and Gaul, Christopher and Hinderhofer, Alexander and Perdig{\´o}n-Toro, Lorena and Scholz, Reinhard and Kublitski, Jonas and Roland, Steffen and Lau, Matthias and Poelking, Carl and Andrienko, Denis and Cuniberti, Gianaurelio and Schreiber, Frank and Neher, Dieter and Vandewal, Koen and Ortmann, Frank and Leo, Karl}, title = {Impact of molecular quadrupole moments on the energy levels at organic heterojunctions}, series = {Nature Communications}, volume = {10}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-019-10435-2}, pages = {9}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The functionality of organic semiconductor devices crucially depends on molecular energies, namely the ionisation energy and the electron affinity. Ionisation energy and electron affinity values of thin films are, however, sensitive to film morphology and composition, making their prediction challenging. In a combined experimental and simulation study on zinc-phthalocyanine and its fluorinated derivatives, we show that changes in ionisation energy as a function of molecular orientation in neat films or mixing ratio in blends are proportional to the molecular quadrupole component along the p-p-stacking direction. We apply these findings to organic solar cells and demonstrate how the electrostatic interactions can be tuned to optimise the energy of the charge-transfer state at the donor-acceptor interface and the dissociation barrier for free charge carrier generation. The confirmation of the correlation between interfacial energies and quadrupole moments for other materials indicates its relevance for small molecules and polymers.}, language = {en} } @article{SchroenZachariasWomacketal.2018, author = {Schr{\"o}n, Martin and Zacharias, Steffen and Womack, Gary and K{\"o}hli, Markus and Desilets, Darin and Oswald, Sascha and Bumberger, Jan and Mollenhauer, Hannes and K{\"o}gler, Simon and Remmler, Paul and Kasner, Mandy and Denk, Astrid and Dietrich, Peter}, title = {Intercomparison of cosmic-ray neutron sensors and water balance monitoring in an urban environment}, series = {Geoscientific instrumentation, methods and data systems}, volume = {7}, journal = {Geoscientific instrumentation, methods and data systems}, number = {1}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {2193-0856}, doi = {10.5194/gi-7-83-2018}, pages = {83 -- 99}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Sensor-to-sensor variability is a source of error common to all geoscientific instruments that needs to be assessed before comparative and applied research can be performed with multiple sensors. Consistency among sensor systems is especially critical when subtle features of the surrounding terrain are to be identified. Cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNSs) are a recent technology used to monitor hectometre-scale environmental water storages, for which a rigorous comparison study of numerous co-located sensors has not yet been performed. In this work, nine stationary CRNS probes of type "CRS1000" were installed in relative proximity on a grass patch surrounded by trees, buildings, and sealed areas. While the dynamics of the neutron count rates were found to be similar, offsets of a few percent from the absolute average neutron count rates were found. Technical adjustments of the individual detection parameters brought all instruments into good agreement. Furthermore, we found a critical integration time of 6 h above which all sensors showed consistent dynamics in the data and their RMSE fell below 1\% of gravimetric water content. The residual differences between the nine signals indicated local effects of the complex urban terrain on the scale of several metres. Mobile CRNS measurements and spatial simulations with the URANOS neutron transport code in the surrounding area (25 ha) have revealed substantial sub-footprint heterogeneity to which CRNS detectors are sensitive despite their large averaging volume. The sealed and constantly dry structures in the footprint furthermore damped the dynamics of the CRNS-derived soil moisture. We developed strategies to correct for the sealed-area effect based on theoretical insights about the spatial sensitivity of the sensor. This procedure not only led to reliable soil moisture estimation during dry-out periods, it further revealed a strong signal of intercepted water that emerged over the sealed surfaces during rain events. The presented arrangement offered a unique opportunity to demonstrate the CRNS performance in complex terrain, and the results indicated great potential for further applications in urban climate research.}, language = {en} } @article{HatukaiAlgomFischer2020, author = {Hatukai, Tatiana and Algom, Daniel and Fischer, Martin H.}, title = {Rodin has it!}, series = {Acta psychologica : international journal of psychonomics}, volume = {210}, journal = {Acta psychologica : international journal of psychonomics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam [u.a.]}, issn = {0001-6918}, doi = {10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103160}, pages = {6}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We report a new discovery on the role of hands in guiding attention, using the classic Stroop effect as our assay. We show that the Stroop effect diminishes, hence selective attention improves, when observers hold their chin, emulating Rodin's famous sculpture, "The Thinker." In two experiments we show that the Rodin posture improves the selectivity of attention as efficiently as holding the hands nearby the visual stimulus (the near-hands effect). Because spatial proximity to the displayed stimulus is neither present nor intended, the presence of the Rodin effect implies that attentional prioritization by the hands is not limited to the space between the hands.}, language = {en} } @article{TeichFuehnerGranacheretal.2023, author = {Teich, Paula and F{\"u}hner, Thea Heidi and Granacher, Urs and Kliegl, Reinhold}, title = {Physical fitness of primary school children differs depending on their timing of school enrollment}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {13}, journal = {Scientific reports}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-023-35727-y}, pages = {16}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Previous research has shown that children who were enrolled to school according to the legal key date (i.e., keyage children, between eight and nine years in third grade) exhibited a linear physical fitness development in the ninth year of life. In contrast, children who were enrolled with a delay (i.e., older-than-keyage children [OTK], between nine and ten years in third grade) exhibited a lower physical fitness compared to what would be expected for their age. In these studies, cross-sectional age differences within third grade and timing of school enrollment were confounded. The present study investigated the longitudinal development of keyage and OTK children from third to fifth grade. This design also afforded a comparison of the two groups at the same average chronological age, that is a dissociation of the effects of timing of school enrollment and age. We tested six physical fitness components: cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed, power of lower and upper limbs, and static balance. 1502 children (i.e., 1206 keyage and 296 OTK children) from 35 schools were tested in third, fourth, and fifth grade. Except for cardiorespiratory endurance, both groups developed from third to fourth and from fourth to fifth grade and keyage children outperformed OTK children at the average ages of 9.5 or 10.5 years. For cardiorespiratory endurance, there was no significant gain from fourth to fifth grade and keyage and OTK children did not differ significantly at 10.5 years of age. One reason for a delayed school enrollment could be that a child is (or is perceived as) biologically younger than their chronological age at the school entry examination, implying a negative correlation between chronological and biological age for OTK children. Indeed, a simple reflection of chronological age brought the developmental rate of the chronologically youngest OTK children in line with the developmental rate observed for keyage children, but did not eliminate all differences. The mapping of chronological and biological age of OTK children and other possible reasons for lower physical fitness of OTK children remain a task for future research.}, language = {en} } @article{PetrichAjiDunsingetal.2023, author = {Petrich, Annett and Aji, Amit Koikkarah and Dunsing, Valentin and Chiantia, Salvatore}, title = {Benchmarking of novel green fluorescent proteins for the quantification of protein oligomerization in living cells}, series = {PLoS one}, volume = {18}, journal = {PLoS one}, number = {8}, publisher = {PLoS}, address = {San Fransisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0285486}, pages = {13}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Protein-protein-interactions play an important role in many cellular functions. Quantitative non-invasive techniques are applied in living cells to evaluate such interactions, thereby providing a broader understanding of complex biological processes. Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy describes a group of quantitative microscopy approaches for the characterization of molecular interactions at single cell resolution. Through the obtained molecular brightness, it is possible to determine the oligomeric state of proteins. This is usually achieved by fusing fluorescent proteins (FPs) to the protein of interest. Recently, the number of novel green FPs has increased, with consequent improvements to the quality of fluctuation-based measurements. The photophysical behavior of FPs is influenced by multiple factors (including photobleaching, protonation-induced "blinking" and long-lived dark states). Assessing these factors is critical for selecting the appropriate fluorescent tag for live cell imaging applications. In this work, we focus on novel green FPs that are extensively used in live cell imaging. A systematic performance comparison of several green FPs in living cells under different pH conditions using Number \& Brightness (N \& B) analysis and scanning fluorescence correlation spectroscopy was performed. Our results show that the new FP Gamillus exhibits higher brightness at the cost of lower photostability and fluorescence probability (pf), especially at lower pH. mGreenLantern, on the other hand, thanks to a very high pf, is best suited for multimerization quantification at neutral pH. At lower pH, mEGFP remains apparently the best choice for multimerization investigation. These guidelines provide the information needed to plan quantitative fluorescence microscopy involving these FPs, both for general imaging or for protein-protein-interactions quantification via fluorescence fluctuation-based methods.}, language = {en} } @article{KappelFriedrichOberkofleretal.2023, author = {Kappel, Christian and Friedrich, Thomas and Oberkofler, Vicky and Jiang, Li and Crawford, Tim and Lenhard, Michael and B{\"a}urle, Isabel}, title = {Genomic and epigenomic determinants of heat stress-induced transcriptional memory in Arabidopsis}, series = {Genome biology : biology for the post-genomic era}, volume = {24}, journal = {Genome biology : biology for the post-genomic era}, number = {1}, publisher = {BioMed Central}, address = {London}, issn = {1474-760X}, doi = {10.1186/s13059-023-02970-5}, pages = {23}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Background Transcriptional regulation is a key aspect of environmental stress responses. Heat stress induces transcriptional memory, i.e., sustained induction or enhanced re-induction of transcription, that allows plants to respond more efficiently to a recurrent HS. In light of more frequent temperature extremes due to climate change, improving heat tolerance in crop plants is an important breeding goal. However, not all heat stress-inducible genes show transcriptional memory, and it is unclear what distinguishes memory from non-memory genes. To address this issue and understand the genome and epigenome architecture of transcriptional memory after heat stress, we identify the global target genes of two key memory heat shock transcription factors, HSFA2 and HSFA3, using time course ChIP-seq. Results HSFA2 and HSFA3 show near identical binding patterns. In vitro and in vivo binding strength is highly correlated, indicating the importance of DNA sequence elements. In particular, genes with transcriptional memory are strongly enriched for a tripartite heat shock element, and are hallmarked by several features: low expression levels in the absence of heat stress, accessible chromatin environment, and heat stress-induced enrichment of H3K4 trimethylation. These results are confirmed by an orthogonal transcriptomic data set using both de novo clustering and an established definition of memory genes. Conclusions Our findings provide an integrated view of HSF-dependent transcriptional memory and shed light on its sequence and chromatin determinants, enabling the prediction and engineering of genes with transcriptional memory behavior.}, language = {en} } @article{FerreiraDammhahnEccard2023, author = {Ferreira, Clara Mendes and Dammhahn, Melanie and Eccard, Jana}, title = {So many choices, so little time}, series = {Ecology and evolution}, volume = {13}, journal = {Ecology and evolution}, number = {7}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {2045-7758}, doi = {10.1002/ece3.10330}, pages = {15}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Spatial and temporal variation in perceived predation risk is an important determinant of movement and foraging activity of animals. Foraging in this landscape of fear, individuals need to decide where and when to move, and what resources to choose. Foraging theory predicts the outcome of these decisions based on energetic trade-offs, but complex interactions between perceived predation risk and preferences of foragers for certain functional traits of their resources are rarely considered. Here, we studied the interactive effects of perceived predation risk on food trait preferences and foraging behavior in bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in experimental landscapes. Individuals (n = 19) were subjected for periods of 24 h to two extreme, risk-uniform landscapes (either risky or safe), containing 25 discrete food patches, filled with seeds of four plant species in even amounts. Seeds varied in functional traits: size, nutrients, and shape. We evaluated whether and how risk modifies forager preference for functional traits. We also investigated whether perceived risk and distance from shelter affected giving-up density (GUD), time in patches, and number of patch visits. In safe landscapes, individuals increased time spent in patches, lowered GUD and visited distant patches more often compared to risky landscapes. Individuals preferred bigger seeds independent of risk, but in the safe treatment they preferred fat-rich over carb-rich seeds. Thus, higher densities of resource levels remained in risky landscapes, while in safe landscapes resource density was lower and less diverse due to selective foraging. Our results suggest that the interaction of perceived risk and dietary preference adds an additional layer to the cascading effects of a landscape of fear which affects biodiversity at resource level.}, language = {en} } @article{StoltnowWeisKorges2023, author = {Stoltnow, Malte and Weis, Philipp and Korges, Maximilian}, title = {Hydrological controls on base metal precipitation and zoning at the porphyry-epithermal transition constrained by numerical modeling}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {13}, journal = {Scientific reports}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-023-30572-5}, pages = {15}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Ore precipitation in porphyry copper systems is generally characterized by metal zoning (Cu-Mo to Zn-Pb-Ag), which is suggested to be variably related to solubility decreases during fluid cooling, fluid-rock interactions, partitioning during fluid phase separation and mixing with external fluids. Here, we present new advances of a numerical process model by considering published constraints on the temperature- and salinity-dependent solubility of Cu, Pb and Zn in the ore fluid. We quantitatively investigate the roles of vapor-brine separation, halite saturation, initial metal contents, fluid mixing and remobilization as first-order controls of the physical hydrology on ore formation. The results show that the magmatic vapor and brine phases ascend with different residence times but as miscible fluid mixtures, with salinity increases generating metal-undersaturated bulk fluids. The release rates of magmatic fluids affect the location of the thermohaline fronts, leading to contrasting mechanisms for ore precipitation: higher rates result in halite saturation without significant metal zoning, lower rates produce zoned ore shells due to mixing with meteoric water. Varying metal contents can affect the order of the final metal precipitation sequence. Redissolution of precipitated metals results in zoned ore shell patterns in more peripheral locations and also decouples halite saturation from ore precipitation.}, language = {en} } @article{ApriyantoCompartFettke2023, author = {Apriyanto, Ardha and Compart, Julia and Fettke, J{\"o}rg}, title = {Transcriptomic analysis of mesocarp tissue during fruit development of the oil palm revealed specific isozymes related to starch metabolism that control oil yield}, series = {Frontiers in plant science}, volume = {14}, journal = {Frontiers in plant science}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-462X}, doi = {10.3389/fpls.2023.1220237}, pages = {13}, year = {2023}, abstract = {The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) produces a large amount of oil from the fruit. However, increasing the oil production in this fruit is still challenging. A recent study has shown that starch metabolism is essential for oil synthesis in fruit-producing species. Therefore, the transcriptomic analysis by RNA-seq was performed to observe gene expression alteration related to starch metabolism genes throughout the maturity stages of oil palm fruit with different oil yields. Gene expression profiles were examined with three different oil yields group (low, medium, and high) at six fruit development phases (4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 22 weeks after pollination). We successfully identified and analyzed differentially expressed genes in oil palm mesocarps during development. The results showed that the transcriptome profile for each developmental phase was unique. Sucrose flux to the mesocarp tissue, rapid starch turnover, and high glycolytic activity have been identified as critical factors for oil production in oil palms. For starch metabolism and the glycolytic pathway, we identified specific gene expressions of enzyme isoforms (isozymes) that correlated with oil production, which may determine the oil content. This study provides valuable information for creating new high-oil-yielding palm varieties via breeding programs or genome editing approaches.}, language = {en} } @article{CompartSinghFettkeetal.2023, author = {Compart, Julia and Singh, Aakanksha and Fettke, J{\"o}rg and Apriyanto, Ardha}, title = {Customizing starch properties}, series = {Polymers}, volume = {15}, journal = {Polymers}, number = {16}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2073-4360}, doi = {10.3390/polym15163491}, pages = {20}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Starch has been a convenient, economically important polymer with substantial applications in the food and processing industry. However, native starches present restricted applications, which hinder their industrial usage. Therefore, modification of starch is carried out to augment the positive characteristics and eliminate the limitations of the native starches. Modifications of starch can result in generating novel polymers with numerous functional and value-added properties that suit the needs of the industry. Here, we summarize the possible starch modifications in planta and outside the plant system (physical, chemical, and enzymatic) and their corresponding applications. In addition, this review will highlight the implications of each starch property adjustment.}, language = {en} } @article{BerryDammhahnBlaum2023, author = {Berry, Paul E. and Dammhahn, Melanie and Blaum, Niels}, title = {Keeping cool on hot days}, series = {Frontiers in ecology and evolution}, volume = {11}, journal = {Frontiers in ecology and evolution}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {2296-701X}, doi = {10.3389/fevo.2023.1172303}, pages = {13}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Long-lived organisms are likely to respond to a rapidly changing climate with behavioral flexibility. Animals inhabiting the arid parts of southern Africa face a particularly rapid rise in temperature which in combination with food and water scarcity places substantial constraints on the ability of animals to tolerate heat. We investigated how three species of African antelope-springbok Antidorcas marsupialis, kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros and eland T. oryx-differing in body size, habitat preference and movement ecology, change their activity in response to extreme heat in an arid savanna. Serving as a proxy for activity, dynamic body acceleration data recorded every five minutes were analyzed for seven to eight individuals per species for the three hottest months of the year. Activity responses to heat during the hottest time of day (the afternoons) were investigated and diel activity patterns were compared between hot and cool days. Springbok, which prefer open habitat, are highly mobile and the smallest of the species studied, showed the greatest decrease in activity with rising temperature. Furthermore, springbok showed reduced mean activity over the 24 h cycle on hot days compared to cool days. Large-bodied eland seemed less affected by afternoon heat than springbok. While eland also reduced diurnal activity on hot days compared to cool days, they compensated for this by increasing nocturnal activity, possibly because their predation risk is lower. Kudu, which are comparatively sedentary and typically occupy shady habitat, seemed least affected during the hottest time of day and showed no appreciable difference in diel activity patterns between hot and cool days. The interplay between habitat preference, body size, movement patterns, and other factors seems complex and even sub-lethal levels of heat stress have been shown to impact an animal's long-term survival and reproduction. Thus, differing heat tolerances among species could result in a shift in the composition of African herbivore communities as temperatures continue to rise, with significant implications for economically important wildlife-based land use and conservation.}, language = {en} } @article{StieglerPahlGuillenetal.2023, author = {Stiegler, Jonas and Pahl, Janice and Guillen, Rafael Arce and Ullmann, Wiebke and Blaum, Niels}, title = {The heat is on}, series = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, volume = {11}, journal = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {2296-701X}, doi = {10.3389/fevo.2023.1193861}, pages = {10}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Climate conditions severely impact the activity and, consequently, the fitness of wildlife species across the globe. Wildlife can respond to new climatic conditions, but the pace of human-induced change limits opportunities for adaptation or migration. Thus, how these changes affect behavior, movement patterns, and activity levels remains unclear. In this study, we investigate how extreme weather conditions affect the activity of European hares (Lepus europaeus) during their peak reproduction period. When hares must additionally invest energy in mating, prevailing against competitors, or lactating, we investigated their sensitivities to rising temperatures, wind speed, and humidity. To quantify their activity, we used the overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) calculated from tri-axial acceleration measurements of 33 GPS-collared hares. Our analysis revealed that temperature, humidity, and wind speed are important in explaining changes in activity, with a strong response for high temperatures above 25 \& DEG;C and the highest change in activity during temperature extremes of over 35 \& DEG;C during their inactive period. Further, we found a non-linear relationship between temperature and activity and an interaction of activity changes between day and night. Activity increased at higher temperatures during the inactive period (day) and decreased during the active period (night). This decrease was strongest during hot tropical nights. At a stage of life when mammals such as hares must substantially invest in reproduction, the sensitivity of females to extreme temperatures was particularly pronounced. Similarly, both sexes increased their activity at high humidity levels during the day and low wind speeds, irrespective of the time of day, while the effect of humidity was stronger for males. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the complex relationships between extreme weather conditions and mammal behavior, critical for conservation and management. With ongoing climate change, extreme weather events such as heat waves and heavy rainfall are predicted to occur more often and last longer. These events will directly impact the fitness of hares and other wildlife species and hence the population dynamics of already declining populations across Europe.}, language = {en} } @article{CohenHershcovitchTarazetal.2023, author = {Cohen, Sarel and Hershcovitch, Moshik and Taraz, Martin and Kissig, Otto and Issac, Davis and Wood, Andrew and Waddington, Daniel and Chin, Peter and Friedrich, Tobias}, title = {Improved and optimized drug repurposing for the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic}, series = {PLoS one}, volume = {18}, journal = {PLoS one}, number = {3}, publisher = {PLoS}, address = {San Fransisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0266572}, pages = {13}, year = {2023}, abstract = {The active global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic caused more than 426 million cases and 5.8 million deaths worldwide. The development of completely new drugs for such a novel disease is a challenging, time intensive process. Despite researchers around the world working on this task, no effective treatments have been developed yet. This emphasizes the importance of drug repurposing, where treatments are found among existing drugs that are meant for different diseases. A common approach to this is based on knowledge graphs, that condense relationships between entities like drugs, diseases and genes. Graph neural networks (GNNs) can then be used for the task at hand by predicting links in such knowledge graphs. Expanding on state-of-the-art GNN research, Doshi et al. recently developed the Dr-COVID model. We further extend their work using additional output interpretation strategies. The best aggregation strategy derives a top-100 ranking of 8,070 candidate drugs, 32 of which are currently being tested in COVID-19-related clinical trials. Moreover, we present an alternative application for the model, the generation of additional candidates based on a given pre-selection of drug candidates using collaborative filtering. In addition, we improved the implementation of the Dr-COVID model by significantly shortening the inference and pre-processing time by exploiting data-parallelism. As drug repurposing is a task that requires high computation and memory resources, we further accelerate the post-processing phase using a new emerging hardware-we propose a new approach to leverage the use of high-capacity Non-Volatile Memory for aggregate drug ranking.}, language = {en} } @article{KappattanavarHeckerMoontahaetal.2023, author = {Kappattanavar, Arpita Mallikarjuna and Hecker, Pascal and Moontaha, Sidratul and Steckhan, Nico and Arnrich, Bert}, title = {Food choices after cognitive load}, series = {Sensors}, volume = {23}, journal = {Sensors}, number = {14}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {1424-8220}, doi = {10.3390/s23146597}, pages = {22}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Psychology and nutritional science research has highlighted the impact of negative emotions and cognitive load on calorie consumption behaviour using subjective questionnaires. Isolated studies in other domains objectively assess cognitive load without considering its effects on eating behaviour. This study aims to explore the potential for developing an integrated eating behaviour assistant system that incorporates cognitive load factors. Two experimental sessions were conducted using custom-developed experimentation software to induce different stimuli. During these sessions, we collected 30 h of physiological, food consumption, and affective states questionnaires data to automatically detect cognitive load and analyse its effect on food choice. Utilising grid search optimisation and leave-one-subject-out cross-validation, a support vector machine model achieved a mean classification accuracy of 85.12\% for the two cognitive load tasks using eight relevant features. Statistical analysis was performed on calorie consumption and questionnaire data. Furthermore, 75\% of the subjects with higher negative affect significantly increased consumption of specific foods after high-cognitive-load tasks. These findings offer insights into the intricate relationship between cognitive load, affective states, and food choice, paving the way for an eating behaviour assistant system to manage food choices during cognitive load. Future research should enhance system capabilities and explore real-world applications.}, language = {en} } @article{GarrelsKhodabakhshRenardetal.2023, author = {Garrels, Tim and Khodabakhsh, Athar and Renard, Bernhard Y. and Baum, Katharina}, title = {LazyFox: fast and parallelized overlapping community detection in large graphs}, series = {PEERJ Computer Science}, volume = {9}, journal = {PEERJ Computer Science}, publisher = {PeerJ Inc.}, address = {London}, issn = {2376-5992}, doi = {10.7717/peerj-cs.1291}, pages = {30}, year = {2023}, abstract = {The detection of communities in graph datasets provides insight about a graph's underlying structure and is an important tool for various domains such as social sciences, marketing, traffic forecast, and drug discovery. While most existing algorithms provide fast approaches for community detection, their results usually contain strictly separated communities. However, most datasets would semantically allow for or even require overlapping communities that can only be determined at much higher computational cost. We build on an efficient algorithm, FOX, that detects such overlapping communities. FOX measures the closeness of a node to a community by approximating the count of triangles which that node forms with that community. We propose LAZYFOX, a multi-threaded adaptation of the FOX algorithm, which provides even faster detection without an impact on community quality. This allows for the analyses of significantly larger and more complex datasets. LAZYFOX enables overlapping community detection on complex graph datasets with millions of nodes and billions of edges in days instead of weeks. As part of this work, LAZYFOX's implementation was published and is available as a tool under an MIT licence at https://github.com/TimGarrels/LazyFox.}, language = {en} } @article{GaertnerSchneiderArnrichetal.2023, author = {G{\"a}rtner, Thomas and Schneider, Juliana and Arnrich, Bert and Konigorski, Stefan}, title = {Comparison of Bayesian Networks, G-estimation and linear models to estimate causal treatment effects in aggregated N-of-1 trials with carry-over effects}, series = {BMC Medical Research Methodology}, volume = {23}, journal = {BMC Medical Research Methodology}, number = {1}, publisher = {BMC}, address = {London}, issn = {1471-2288}, doi = {10.1186/s12874-023-02012-5}, pages = {12}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Background The aggregation of a series of N-of-1 trials presents an innovative and efficient study design, as an alternative to traditional randomized clinical trials. Challenges for the statistical analysis arise when there is carry-over or complex dependencies of the treatment effect of interest. Methods In this study, we evaluate and compare methods for the analysis of aggregated N-of-1 trials in different scenarios with carry-over and complex dependencies of treatment effects on covariates. For this, we simulate data of a series of N-of-1 trials for Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain based on assumed causal relationships parameterized by directed acyclic graphs. In addition to existing statistical methods such as regression models, Bayesian Networks, and G-estimation, we introduce a carry-over adjusted parametric model (COAPM). Results The results show that all evaluated existing models have a good performance when there is no carry-over and no treatment dependence. When there is carry-over, COAPM yields unbiased and more efficient estimates while all other methods show some bias in the estimation. When there is known treatment dependence, all approaches that are capable to model it yield unbiased estimates. Finally, the efficiency of all methods decreases slightly when there are missing values, and the bias in the estimates can also increase. Conclusions This study presents a systematic evaluation of existing and novel approaches for the statistical analysis of a series of N-of-1 trials. We derive practical recommendations which methods may be best in which scenarios.}, language = {en} } @article{MoontahaSchumannArnrich2023, author = {Moontaha, Sidratul and Schumann, Franziska Elisabeth Friederike and Arnrich, Bert}, title = {Online learning for wearable EEG-Based emotion classification}, series = {Sensors}, volume = {23}, journal = {Sensors}, number = {5}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {1424-8220}, doi = {10.3390/s23052387}, pages = {23}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Giving emotional intelligence to machines can facilitate the early detection and prediction of mental diseases and symptoms. Electroencephalography (EEG)-based emotion recognition is widely applied because it measures electrical correlates directly from the brain rather than indirect measurement of other physiological responses initiated by the brain. Therefore, we used non-invasive and portable EEG sensors to develop a real-time emotion classification pipeline. The pipeline trains different binary classifiers for Valence and Arousal dimensions from an incoming EEG data stream achieving a 23.9\% (Arousal) and 25.8\% (Valence) higher F1-Score on the state-of-art AMIGOS dataset than previous work. Afterward, the pipeline was applied to the curated dataset from 15 participants using two consumer-grade EEG devices while watching 16 short emotional videos in a controlled environment. Mean F1-Scores of 87\% (Arousal) and 82\% (Valence) were achieved for an immediate label setting. Additionally, the pipeline proved to be fast enough to achieve predictions in real-time in a live scenario with delayed labels while continuously being updated. The significant discrepancy from the readily available labels on the classification scores leads to future work to include more data. Thereafter, the pipeline is ready to be used for real-time applications of emotion classification.}, language = {en} } @article{BraunGemignanivanderBeek2018, author = {Braun, Jean and Gemignani, Lorenzo and van der Beek, Pieter A.}, title = {Extracting information on the spatial variability in erosion rate stored in detrital cooling age distributions in river sands}, series = {Earth surface dynamics}, volume = {6}, journal = {Earth surface dynamics}, number = {1}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {2196-6311}, doi = {10.5194/esurf-6-257-2018}, pages = {257 -- 270}, year = {2018}, abstract = {One of the main purposes of detrital thermochronology is to provide constraints on the regional-scale exhumation rate and its spatial variability in actively eroding mountain ranges. Procedures that use cooling age distributions coupled with hypsometry and thermal models have been developed in order to extract quantitative estimates of erosion rate and its spatial distribution, assuming steady state between tectonic uplift and erosion. This hypothesis precludes the use of these procedures to assess the likely transient response of mountain belts to changes in tectonic or climatic forcing. Other methods are based on an a priori knowledge of the in situ distribution of ages to interpret the detrital age distributions. In this paper, we describe a simple method that, using the observed detrital mineral age distributions collected along a river, allows us to extract information about the relative distribution of erosion rates in an eroding catchment without relying on a steady-state assumption, the value of thermal parameters or an a priori knowledge of in situ age distributions. The model is based on a relatively low number of parameters describing lithological variability among the various sub-catchments and their sizes and only uses the raw ages. The method we propose is tested against synthetic age distributions to demonstrate its accuracy and the optimum conditions for it use. In order to illustrate the method, we invert age distributions collected along the main trunk of the Tsangpo-Siang-Brahmaputra river system in the eastern Himalaya. From the inversion of the cooling age distributions we predict present-day erosion rates of the catchments along the Tsangpo-Siang-Brahmaputra river system, as well as some of its tributaries. We show that detrital age distributions contain dual information about present-day erosion rate, i. e., from the predicted distribution of surface ages within each catchment and from the relative contribution of any given catchment to the river distribution. The method additionally allows comparing modern erosion rates to long-term exhumation rates. We provide a simple implementation of the method in Python code within a Jupyter Notebook that includes the data used in this paper for illustration purposes.}, language = {en} } @article{AriagnoLeBouteillervanderBeeketal.2022, author = {Ariagno, Coline and Le Bouteiller, Caroline and van der Beek, Pieter A. and Klotz, S{\´e}bastien}, title = {Sediment export in marly badland catchments modulated by frost-cracking intensity, Draix-Bl{\´e}one Critical Zone Observatory, SE France}, series = {Earth surface dynamics : ESURF ; an interactive open access journal of the European Geosciences Union}, volume = {10}, journal = {Earth surface dynamics : ESURF ; an interactive open access journal of the European Geosciences Union}, number = {1}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {2196-6311}, doi = {10.5194/esurf-10-81-2022}, pages = {81 -- 96}, year = {2022}, abstract = {At the interface between the lithosphere and the atmosphere, the critical zone records the complex interactions between erosion, climate, geologic substrate, and life and can be directly monitored. Long data records (30 consecutive years for sediment yields) collected in the sparsely vegetated, steep, and small marly badland catchments of the Draix-Bleone Critical Zone Observatory (CZO), SE France, allow analyzing potential climatic controls on regolith dynamics and sediment export. Although widely accepted as a first-order control, rainfall variability does not fully explain the observed interannual variability in sediment export. Previous studies in this area have suggested that frost-weathering processes could drive regolith production and potentially modulate the observed pattern of sediment export. Here, we define sediment export anomalies as the residuals from a predictive model with annual rainfall intensity above a threshold as the control. We then use continuous soil temperature data recorded at different locations over multiple years to highlight the role of different frost-weathering processes (i.e., ice segregation versus volumetric expansion) in regolith production. Several proxies for different frost-weathering processes have been calculated from these data and compared to the sediment export anomalies, with careful consideration of field data quality. Our results suggest that frost-cracking intensity (linked to ice segregation) can explain about half (47 \%-64 \%) of the sediment export anomalies. In contrast, the number of freeze-thaw cycles (linked to volumetric expansion) has only a minor impact on catchment sediment response. The time spent below 0 degrees C also correlates well with the sediment export anomalies and requires fewer field data to be calculated than the frost-cracking intensity. Thus, frost-weathering processes modulate sediment export by controlling regolith production in these catchments and should be taken into account when building predictive models of sediment export from these badlands under a changing climate.}, language = {en} } @article{PeterWenderingSchlickeiseretal.2022, author = {Peter, Lena and Wendering, D{\´e}sir{\´e}e Jacqueline and Schlickeiser, Stephan and Hoffmann, Henrike and Noster, Rebecca and Wagner, Dimitrios Laurin and Zarrinrad, Ghazaleh and M{\"u}nch, Sandra and Picht, Samira and Schulenberg, Sarah and Moradian, Hanieh and Mashreghi, Mir-Farzin and Klein, Oliver and Gossen, Manfred and Roch, Toralf and Babel, Nina and Reinke, Petra and Volk, Hans-Dieter and Amini, Leila and Schmueck-Henneresse, Michael}, title = {Tacrolimus-resistant SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell products to prevent and treat severe COVID-19 in immunosuppressed patients}, series = {Molecular therapy methods and clinical development}, volume = {25}, journal = {Molecular therapy methods and clinical development}, publisher = {Cell Press}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {2329-0501}, doi = {10.1016/j.omtm.2022.02.012}, pages = {52 -- 73}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients receive therapeutic immunosuppression that compromises their immune response to infections and vaccines. For this reason, SOT patients have a high risk of developing severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and an increased risk of death from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Moreover, the efficiency of immunotherapies and vaccines is reduced due to the constant immunosuppression in this patient group. Here, we propose adoptive transfer of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells made resistant to a common immunosuppressant, tacrolimus, for optimized performance in the immunosuppressed patient. Using a ribonucleoprotein approach of CRISPR-Cas9 technology, we have generated tacrolimus-resistant SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell products from convalescent donors and demonstrate their specificity and function through characterizations at the single-cell level, including flow cytometry, single-cell RNA (scRNA) Cellular Indexing of Transcriptomes and Epitopes (CITE), and T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing analyses. Based on the promising results, we aim for clinical validation of this approach in transplant recipients. Additionally, we propose a combinatory approach with tacrolimus, to prevent an overshooting immune response manifested as bystander T cell activation in the setting of severe COVID-19 immunopathology, and tacrolimus-resistant SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell products, allowing for efficient clearance of viral infection. Our strategy has the potential to prevent severe COVID-19 courses in SOT or autoimmunity settings and to prevent immunopathology while providing viral clearance in severe non-transplant COVID-19 cases.}, language = {en} } @article{BarcenaAslamPozdniakovaetal.2022, author = {Barcena, Maria Luisa and Aslam, Muhammad and Pozdniakova, Sofya and Norman, Kristina and Ladilov, Yury}, title = {Cardiovascular inflammaging: mechanisms and translational aspects}, series = {Cells}, volume = {11}, journal = {Cells}, number = {6}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2073-4409}, doi = {10.3390/cells11061010}, pages = {15}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Aging is one of the major non-reversible risk factors for several chronic diseases, including cancer, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and it is a key cause of multimorbidity, disability, and frailty (decreased physical activity, fatigue, and weight loss). The underlying cellular mechanisms are complex and consist of multifactorial processes, such as telomere shortening, chronic low-grade inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, accumulation of senescent cells, and reduced autophagy. In this review, we focused on the molecular mechanisms and translational aspects of cardiovascular aging-related inflammation, i.e., inflammaging.}, language = {en} } @article{FuchsPalmtagJuhlsetal.2022, author = {Fuchs, Matthias and Palmtag, Juri and Juhls, Bennet and Overduin, Pier Paul and Grosse, Guido and Abdelwahab, Ahmed and Bedington, Michael and Sanders, Tina and Ogneva, Olga and Fedorova, Irina and Zimov, Nikita S. and Mann, Paul J. and Strauss, Jens}, title = {High-resolution bathymetry models for the Lena Delta and Kolyma Gulf coastal zones}, series = {Earth system science data}, volume = {14}, journal = {Earth system science data}, number = {5}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {1866-3508}, doi = {10.5194/essd-14-2279-2022}, pages = {2279 -- 2301}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Arctic river deltas and deltaic near-shore zones represent important land-ocean transition zones influencing sediment dynamics and nutrient fluxes from permafrost-affected terrestrial ecosystems into the coastal Arctic Ocean. To accurately model fluvial carbon and freshwater export from rapidly changing river catchments as well as assess impacts of future change on the Arctic shelf and coastal ecosystems, we need to understand the sea floor characteristics and topographic variety of the coastal zones. To date, digital bathymetrical data from the poorly accessible, shallow, and large areas of the eastern Siberian Arctic shelves are sparse. We have digitized bathymetrical information for nearly 75 000 locations from large-scale (1 V 25000-1 V 500000) current and historical nautical maps of the Lena Delta and the Kolyma Gulf region in northeastern Siberia. We present the first detailed and seamless digital models of coastal zone bathymetry for both delta and gulf regions in 50 and 200m spatial resolution. We validated the resulting bathymetry layers using a combination of our own water depth measurements and a collection of available depth measurements, which showed a strong correlation (r>0.9). Our bathymetrical models will serve as an input for a high-resolution coupled hydrodynamic-ecosystem model to better quantify fluvial and coastal carbon fluxes to the Arctic Ocean, but they may be useful for a range of other studies related to Arctic delta and near-shore dynamics such as modeling of submarine permafrost, near-shore sea ice, or shelf sediment transport. The new digital high-resolution bathymetry products are available on the PANGAEA data set repository for the Lena Delta (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.934045; Fuchs et al., 2021a) and Kolyma Gulf region (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.934049; Fuchs et al., 2021b), respectively. Likewise, the depth validation data are available on PANGAEA as well (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.933187; Fuchs et al., 2021c).}, language = {en} } @misc{CescaStichGrigolietal.2022, author = {Cesca, Simone and Stich, Daniel and Grigoli, Francesco and Vuan, Alessandro and L{\´o}pez-Comino, Jos{\´e} {\´A}ngel and Niemz, Peter and Blanch, Estefan{\´i}a and Dahm, Torsten and Ellsworth, William L.}, title = {Reply to: Multiple induced seismicity mechanisms at Castor underground gas storage illustrate the need for thorough monitoring}, series = {Nature communications}, volume = {13}, journal = {Nature communications}, number = {1}, publisher = {Nature Research}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-022-30904-5}, pages = {4}, year = {2022}, language = {en} } @article{AbdelilahSeyfriedIruelaArispePenningeretal.2022, author = {Abdelilah-Seyfried, Salim and Iruela-Arispe, M. Luisa and Penninger, Josef M. and Tournier-Lasserve, Elisabeth and Vikkula, Miikka and Cleaver, Ondine}, title = {Recalibrating vascular malformations and mechanotransduction by pharmacological intervention}, series = {Journal of clinical investigation}, volume = {132}, journal = {Journal of clinical investigation}, number = {8}, publisher = {American Society for Clinical Investigation}, address = {Ann Arbor}, issn = {0021-9738}, doi = {10.1172/JCI160227}, pages = {4}, year = {2022}, language = {en} } @article{LiShenZhangetal.2022, author = {Li, Jian and Shen, Jinhua and Zhang, Xiaoli and Peng, Yangqin and Zhang, Qin and Hu, Liang and Reichetzeder, Christoph and Zeng, Suimin and Li, Jing and Tian, Mei and Gong, Fei and Lin, Ge and Hocher, Berthold}, title = {Risk factors associated with preterm birth after IVF/ICSI}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {12}, journal = {Scientific reports}, number = {1}, publisher = {Nature Research}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-022-12149-w}, pages = {9}, year = {2022}, abstract = {In vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) is associated with an increased risk of preterm (33rd-37th gestational week) and early preterm birth (20th-32nd gestational week). The underlying general and procedure related risk factors are not well understood so far. 4328 infertile women undergoing IVF/ICSI were entered into this study. The study population was divided into three groups: (a) early preterm birth group (n = 66), (b) preterm birth group (n = 675) and (c) full-term birth group (n = 3653). Odds for preterm birth were calculated by stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis. We identified seven independent risk factors for preterm birth and four independent risk factors for early preterm birth. Older (> 39) or younger (< 25) maternal age (OR: 1.504, 95\% CI 1.108-2.042, P = 0.009; OR: 2.125, 95\% CI 1.049-4.304, P = 0.036, respectively), multiple pregnancy (OR: 9.780, 95\% CI 8.014-11.935, P < 0.001; OR: 8.588, 95\% CI 4.866-15.157, P < 0.001, respectively), placenta previa (OR: 14.954, 95\% CI 8.053-27.767, P < 0.001; OR: 16.479, 95\% CI 4.381-61.976, P < 0.001, respectively), and embryo reduction (OR: 3.547, 95\% CI 1.736-7.249, P = 0.001; OR: 7.145, 95\% CI 1.990-25.663, P = 0.003, respectively) were associated with preterm birth and early preterm birth, whereas gestational hypertension (OR: 2.494, 95\% CI 1.770-3.514, P < 0.001), elevated triglycerides (OR: 1.120, 95\% CI 1.011-1.240, P = 0.030) and shorter activated partial thromboplastin time (OR: 0.967, 95\% CI 0.949-0.985, P < 0.001) were associated only with preterm birth. In conclusion, preterm and early preterm birth risk factors in patients undergoing assisted IVF/ICSI are in general similar to those in natural pregnancy. The lack of some associations in the early preterm group was most likely due to the lower number of early preterm birth cases. Only embryo reduction represents an IVF/ICSI specific risk factor.}, language = {en} } @article{XuGiannettiSugiyamaetal.2022, author = {Xu, Huizhen and Giannetti, Alessandro and Sugiyama, Yuki and Zheng, Wenna and Schneider, Ren{\´e} and Watanabe, Yoichiro and Oda, Yoshihisa and Persson, Staffan}, title = {Secondary cell wall patterning-connecting the dots, pits and helices}, series = {Open biology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Open biology}, number = {5}, publisher = {Royal Society}, address = {London}, issn = {2046-2441}, doi = {10.1098/rsob.210208}, pages = {18}, year = {2022}, abstract = {All plant cells are encased in primary cell walls that determine plant morphology, but also protect the cells against the environment. Certain cells also produce a secondary wall that supports mechanically demanding processes, such as maintaining plant body stature and water transport inside plants. Both these walls are primarily composed of polysaccharides that are arranged in certain patterns to support cell functions. A key requisite for patterned cell walls is the arrangement of cortical microtubules that may direct the delivery of wall polymers and/or cell wall producing enzymes to certain plasma membrane locations. Microtubules also steer the synthesis of cellulose-the load-bearing structure in cell walls-at the plasma membrane. The organization and behaviour of the microtubule array are thus of fundamental importance to cell wall patterns. These aspects are controlled by the coordinated effort of small GTPases that probably coordinate a Turing's reaction-diffusion mechanism to drive microtubule patterns. Here, we give an overview on how wall patterns form in the water-transporting xylem vessels of plants. We discuss systems that have been used to dissect mechanisms that underpin the xylem wall patterns, emphasizing the VND6 and VND7 inducible systems, and outline challenges that lay ahead in this field.}, language = {en} } @article{WalchSinghSoreideetal.2022, author = {Walch, Daniela M. R. and Singh, Rakesh K. and Soreide, Janne E. and Lantuit, Hugues and Poste, Amanda}, title = {Spatio-temporal variability of suspended particulate matter in a high-arctic estuary (Adventfjorden, Svalbard) using sentinel-2 time-series}, series = {Remote sensing}, volume = {14}, journal = {Remote sensing}, number = {13}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2072-4292}, doi = {10.3390/rs14133123}, pages = {22}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Arctic coasts, which feature land-ocean transport of freshwater, sediments, and other terrestrial material, are impacted by climate change, including increased temperatures, melting glaciers, changes in precipitation and runoff. These trends are assumed to affect productivity in fjordic estuaries. However, the spatial extent and temporal variation of the freshwater-driven darkening of fjords remain unresolved. The present study illustrates the spatio-temporal variability of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the Adventfjorden estuary, Svalbard, using in-situ field campaigns and ocean colour remote sensing (OCRS) via high-resolution Sentinel-2 imagery. To compute SPM concentration (C-SPMsat), a semi-analytical algorithm was regionally calibrated using local in-situ data, which improved the accuracy of satellite-derived SPM concentration by similar to 20\% (MRD). Analysis of SPM concentration for two consecutive years (2019, 2020) revealed strong seasonality of SPM in Adventfjorden. Highest estimated SPM concentrations and river plume extent (\% of fjord with C-SPMsat > 30 mg L-1) occurred during June, July, and August. Concurrently, we observed a strong relationship between river plume extent and average air temperature over the 24 h prior to the observation (R-2 = 0.69). Considering predicted changes to environmental conditions in the Arctic region, this study highlights the importance of the rapidly changing environmental parameters and the significance of remote sensing in analysing fluxes in light attenuating particles, especially in the coastal Arctic Ocean.}, language = {en} } @article{KaaSternemannAppeletal.2022, author = {Kaa, Johannes M. and Sternemann, Christian and Appel, Karen and Cerantola, Valerio and Preston, Thomas R. and Albers, Christian and Elbers, Mirko and Libon, Lelia and Makita, Mikako and Pelka, Alexander and Petitgirard, Sylvain and Pl{\"u}ckthun, Christian and Roddatis, Vladimir and Sahle, Christoph J. and Spiekermann, Georg and Schmidt, Christian and Schreiber, Anja and Sakrowski, Robin and Tolan, Metin and Wilke, Max and Zastrau, Ulf and Konopkova, Zuzana}, title = {Structural and electron spin state changes in an x-ray heated iron carbonate system at the Earth's lower mantle pressures}, series = {Physical review research}, volume = {4}, journal = {Physical review research}, number = {3}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, issn = {2643-1564}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.033042}, pages = {9}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} }