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Organic-inorganic composite materials with tailored properties can be designed in the lab through bioinspired approaches.
In this context, we exploited the particle-based crystallisation process of calcium sulfate, a technologically important mineral, to hybridise inorganic and organic matter.
We identified and synthesised an organic polymer showing strong affinity to bind to the surfaces of mineral precursors as well as intrinsic tendency to self-organise. Subsequently, polymer-coated building units were allowed to self-assemble via oriented attachment, aggregation and phase transformation, which produced ordered superstructures where the organic polymer is intercalated between the subunits and surrounds the hybrid core as a shell.
This specific architecture across multiple length scales leads to unique mechanical properties, comparable to those of natural biominerals.
Thus, our results devise a straightforward pathway to prepare organic-inorganic hybrid structures via bottom-up self-assembly processes innate to the crystallisation of the inorganic phase.
This approach can likely be transferred to other inorganic minerals, affording next-generation materials for applications in the construction sector, biomedicine and beyond.
The desiccation of the Aral Sea represents one of the largest human-made environmental regional disasters. The salt- and toxin-enriched dried-out basin provides a natural laboratory for studying ecosystem functioning and rhizosphere assembly under extreme anthropogenic conditions.
Here, we investigated the prokaryotic rhizosphere communities of the native pioneer plant Suaeda acuminata (C.A.Mey.) Moq. in comparison to bulk soil across a gradient of desiccation (5, 10, and 40 years) by metagenome and amplicon sequencing combined with quantitative PCR (qPCR) analyses. The rhizosphere effect was evident due to significantly higher bacterial abundances but less diversity in the rhizosphere compared to bulk soil. Interestingly, in the highest salinity (5 years of desiccation), rhizosphere functions were mainly provided by archaeal communities.
Along the desiccation gradient, we observed a significant change in the rhizosphere microbiota, which was reflected by (i) a decreasing archaeon-bacterium ratio, (ii) replacement of halophilic archaea by specific plant-associated bacteria, i.e., Alphaproteobacteria and Actinobacteria, and (iii) an adaptation of specific, potentially plant-beneficial biosynthetic pathways.
In general, both bacteria and archaea were found to be involved in carbon cycling and fixation, as well as methane and nitrogen metabolism.
Analysis of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) showed specific signatures for production of osmoprotectants, assimilatory nitrate reduction, and transport system induction.
Our results provide evidence that rhizosphere assembly by cofiltering specific taxa with distinct traits is a mechanism which allows plants to thrive under extreme conditions. Overall, our findings highlight a function-based rhizosphere assembly, the importance of plant-microbe interactions in salinated soils, and their exploitation potential for ecosystem restoration approaches.IMPORTANCE
The desertification of the Aral Sea basin in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan represents one of the most serious anthropogenic environmental disasters of the last century. Since the 1960s, the world's fourth-largest inland body of water has been constantly shrinking, which has resulted in an extreme increase of salinity accompanied by accumulation of many hazardous and carcinogenic substances, as well as heavy metals, in the dried-out basin.
Here, we investigated bacterial and archaeal communities in the rhizosphere of pioneer plants by combining classic molecular methods with amplicon sequencing as well as metagenomics for functional insights.
By implementing a desiccation gradient, we observed (i) remarkable differences in the archaeon-bacterium ratio of plant rhizosphere samples, (ii) replacement of archaeal indicator taxa during succession, and (iii) the presence of specific, potentially plant-beneficial biosynthetic pathways in archaea present during the early stages.
In addition, our results provide hitherto-undescribed insights into the functional redundancy between plant-associated archaea and bacteria.
The desertification of the Aral Sea basin in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan represents one of the most serious anthropogenic environmental disasters of the last century.
Since the 1960s, the world's fourth-largest inland body of water has been constantly shrinking, which has resulted in an extreme increase of salinity accompanied by accumulation of many hazardous and carcinogenic substances, as well as heavy metals, in the dried-out basin.
From June to August 2021, we deployed a dense seismic nodal network across the Hengill geothermal area in southwest Iceland to image and characterize faults and high-temperature zones at high resolution.
The nodal network comprised 498 geophone nodes spread across the northern Nesjavellir and southern Hverahlio geothermal fields and was complemented by an existing permanent and temporary backbone seismic network of a total of 44 short-period and broadband stations.
In addition, we recorded distributed acoustic sensing data along two fiber optic telecommunication cables near the Nesjavellir geothermal power plant with commercial interrogators.
During the time of deployment, a vibroseis survey took place around the Nesjavellir power plant.
Here, we describe the network and the recorded datasets.
Furthermore, we showsome initial results that indicate a high data quality and highlight the potential of the seismic records for various follow up studies, such as high-resolution event location to delineate faults and body- and surface-wave tomographies to image the subsurface velocity structure in great detail.
Martian atmospheric spectral end-members retrieval from ExoMars Thermal Infrared (TIRVIM) data
(2022)
Key knowledge about planetary composition can be recovered from the study of thermal infrared spectral range datasets.
This range has a huge diagnostic potential because it contains diagnostic absorptions from a planetary surface and atmosphere. The main goal of this study is to process and interpret the dataset from the Thermal Infrared channel (TIRVIM) which is part of the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite of the ExoMars2016 Trace Gas Orbiter mission to find and characterize dust and water ice clouds in the atmosphere.
The method employed here is based on the application of principal component analysis and target transformation techniques to extract the independent variable components present in the analyzed dataset. Spectral shapes of both atmospheric dust and water ice aerosols have been recovered from the analysis of TIRVIM data.
The comparison between our results with those previously obtained on Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) data and with previous analysis on TIRVIM data, validates the methodology here applied, showing that it allows to correctly recover the atmospheric spectral endmembers present in the TIRVIM data.
Moreover, comparison with atmospheric retrievals on PFS, TES and IRIS data, allowed us to assess the temporal stability and homogeneity of dust and water ice components in the Martian atmosphere over a time period of almost 50 years.
Heat shock factor HSFA2 fine-tunes resetting of thermomemory via plastidic metalloprotease FtsH6
(2022)
The transcription factor HSFA2 fine-tunes a balance between prolongation and resetting of thermomemory in Arabidopsis via the regulation of both memory-supporting and memory-resetting genes.
Plants 'memorize' stressful events and protect themselves from future, often more severe, stresses. To maximize growth after stress, plants 'reset' or 'forget' memories of stressful situations, which requires an intricate balance between stress memory formation and the degree of forgetfulness.
HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN 21 (HSP21) encodes a small heat shock protein in plastids of Arabidopsis thaliana. HSP21 functions as a key component of thermomemory, which requires a sustained elevated level of HSP21 during recovery from heat stress. A heat-induced metalloprotease, filamentation temperature-sensitive H6 (FtsH6), degrades HSP21 to its pre-stress abundance, thereby resetting memory during the recovery phase. The transcription factor heat shock factor A2 (HSFA2) activates downstream genes essential for mounting thermomemory, acting as a positive regulator in the process.
Here, using a yeast one-hybrid screen, we identify HSFA2 as an upstream transactivator of the resetting element FtsH6. Constitutive and inducible overexpression of HSFA2 increases expression of FtsH6, whereas it is drastically reduced in the hsfa2 knockout mutant. Chromatin immunoprecipitation reveals in planta binding of HSFA2 to the FtsH6 promoter. Importantly, overexpression of HSFA2 improves thermomemory more profoundly in ftsh6 than wild-type plants.
Thus, by activating both memory-supporting and memory-resetting genes, HSFA2 acts as a cellular homeostasis factor during thermomemory.
Aim: Study aim was to investigate the effects of therapeutic phlebotomy on ambulatory blood pressure in patients with grade 1 hypertension.
Methods: In this randomized-controlled intervention study, patients with unmedicated hypertension grade 1 were randomized into an intervention group (phlebotomy group; 500 mL bloodletting at baseline and after 6 weeks) and a control group (waiting list) and followed up for 8 weeks. Primary endpoint was the 24-h ambulatory mean arterial pressure between the intervention and control groups after 8 weeks. Secondary outcome parameters included ambulatory/resting systolic/diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and selected laboratory parameters (e.g., hemoglobin, hematocrit, erythrocytes, and ferritin). Resting systolic/diastolic blood pressure/heart rate and blood count were also assessed at 6 weeks before the second phlebotomy to ensure safety. A per-protocol analysis was performed.
Results: Fifty-three hypertension participants (56.7 +/- 10.5 years) were included in the analysis (n = 25 intervention group, n = 28 control group). The ambulatory measured mean arterial pressure decreased by -1.12 +/- 5.16mmHg in the intervention group and increased by 0.43 +/- 3.82mmHg in the control group (between-group difference: -1.55 +/- 4.46, p = 0.22). Hemoglobin, hematocrit, erythrocytes, and ferritin showed more pronounced reductions in the intervention group in comparison with the control group, with significant between-group differences. Subgroup analysis showed trends regarding the effects on different groups classified by serum ferritin concentration, body mass index, age, and sex. Two adverse events (AEs) (anemia and dizziness) occurred in association with the phlebotomy, but no serious AEs.
Conclusions: Study results showed that therapeutic phlebotomy resulted in only minimal reductions of 24-h ambulatory blood pressure measurement values in patients with unmedicated grade 1 hypertension. Further high-quality clinical studies are warranted, as this finding contradicts the results of other studies.
The administrative language used in imperial and city chanceries illustrates formal language use in the Early Modern period, as most evident in its syntactic complexity. Since administrative language was considered prestigious by the literate people of the time, the syntactic features in question are increasingly found in other text types as well (Lötscher 1995, Schwitalla 2002). The present paper investigates early newspapers published in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to evalute their degree of syntactic complexity and hence the extent of formal language used. Contrary to common belief (Admoni 1980, von Polenz 2013), it will be shown that early newspapers do not allow a uniform assessment in terms of their syntactic complexity, when they emerge as a new genre in the seventeenth century: some news segments display a fairly simple syntax, whereas others are of high syntactic complexity. By the end of the eighteenth century, the growing conventionalization of the new genre as well as the impact of standardization processes render newspapers much more balanced in terms of syntactic complexity. Unlike previous work on the syntactic complexity of newspaper language, the measurement of syntactic complexity takes into account not only sentence length and the relationship between independent and dependent clauses, but also the placement of adverbial clauses in relation to their associated clause.
Synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrids based on the conjugated polymer P3HT and mesoporous silicon
(2022)
Organic-inorganic hybrids are a class of functional materials that combine favorable properties of their constituents to achieve an overall improved performance for a wide range of applications. This article presents the synthesis route for P3HT-porous silicon hybrids for thermoelectric applications. The conjugated polymer P3HT is incorporated into the porous silicon matrix by means of melt infiltration. Gravimetry, sorption isotherms and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) mapping indicate that the organic molecules occupy more than 50% of the void space in the inorganic host. We demonstrate that subsequent diffusion-based doping of the confined polymer in a FeCl3 solution increases the electrical conductivity of the hybrid by five orders of magnitude compared to the empty porous silicon host.
Instructional videos are widely used to study teachers' professional vision. A new technological development in video research is mobile eye-tracking (MET). It has the potential to provide fine-grained insights into teachers' professional vision in action, but has yet been scarcely employed. We addressed this research gap by using MET video feedback to examine how expert and novice teachers differed in their noticing and weighing of alternative teaching strategies. Expert and novice teachers' lessons were recorded with MET devices. Then, they commented on what they observe while watching their own teaching videos. Using a mixed methods approach, we found that expert and novice teachers did not differ in the number of classroom events they noticed and alternative teaching strategies they mentioned. However, novice teachers were more critical of their own teaching than expert teachers, particularly when they considered alternative teaching strategies. Practical implications for the field of teacher education are discussed.
Mental health of Japanese workers: amotivation mediates self-compassion on mental health problems
(2022)
Workplace mental health is a cause for concern in many countries. Globally, 78% of the workforce experienced impairment of their mental health in 2020. In Japan, more than half of employees are mentally distressed.
Previously, research has identified that self-compassion (i.e., being kind and understanding towards oneself) and work motivation were important to their mental health.
However, how these three components relate to each other remains to be elucidated. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine the relationship between mental health problems, self-compassion and work motivation (i.e., intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and amotivation).
A cross-sectional design was employed, where 165 Japanese workers completed self-report scales regarding those three components. A correlation and path analyses were conducted.
Mental health problems were positively associated with amotivation and negatively associated with age and self-compassion. While intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation did not mediate the impact of self-compassion on mental health problems, amotivation did.
The findings can help managers and organizational psychologists help identify effective approaches to improving work mental health.
Fungal biotransformation is an attractive synthetic strategy to produce highly specific compounds with chemical functionality in regions of the carbon skeleton that are not easily activated by conventional organic chemistry methods.
In this work, Cladosporium antarcticum isolated from sediments of Glacier Collins in Antarctica was used to obtain novel drimane sesquiterpenoids alcohols with activity against Candida yeast from drimendiol and epidrimendiol. These compounds were produced by the high-yield reduction of polygodial and isotadeonal with NaBH4 in methanol.
Cladosporium antarcticum produced two major products from drimendiol, identified as 9 alpha-hydroxydrimendiol (1, 41.4 mg, 19.4% yield) and 3 beta-hydroxydrimendiol (2, 74.8 mg, 35% yield), whereas the biotransformation of epidrimendiol yielded only one product, 9 beta-hydroxyepidrimendiol (3, 86.6 mg, 41.6% yield).
The products were purified by column chromatography and their structure elucidated by NMR and MS. The antifungal activity of compounds 1-3 was analyzed against Candida albicans, C. krusei and C. parapsilosis, showing that compound 2 has a MIC lower than 15 mu g/mL against the three-pathogenic yeast.
In silico studies suggest that a possible mechanism of action for the novel compounds is the inhibition of the enzyme lanosterol 14 alpha-demethylase, affecting the ergosterol synthesis.
The wetland cover is defined as the spatially homogenous region of a wetland attributed to the underlying biophysical conditions such as vegetation, turbidity, hydric soil, and the amount of water.
Here, we present a novel method to derive the wetland-cover types (WCTs) combining three commonly used multispectral indices, NDVI, MNDWI, and NDTI, in three large Ramsar wetlands located in different geomorphic and climatic settings across India. These wetlands include the Kaabar Tal, a floodplain wetland in east Ganga Plains, Chilika Lagoon, a coastal wetland in eastern India, and Nal Sarovar in semi-arid western India.
The novelty of our approach is that the derived WCTs are stable in space and time, and therefore, a given WCT across different wetlands or within different zones of a large wetland will imply similar underlying biophysical attributes.
The WCTs can therefore provide a novel tool for monitoring and change detection of wetland cover types.
We have automated the proposed WCT algorithm using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) environment and by developing ArcGIS tools. The method can be implemented on any wetland and using any multispectral imagery dataset with visible and NIR bands.
The proposed methodology is simple yet robust and easy to implement and, therefore, holds significant importance in wetland monitoring and management.
Introduction:
Positively conditioned Pavlovian cues tend to promote approach and negative cues promote withdrawal in a Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm, and the strength of this PIT effect was associated with the subsequent relapse risk in alcohol-dependent (AD) patients.
When investigating the effect of alcohol-related background cues, instrumental approach behavior was inhibited in subsequent abstainers but not relapsers. An automatic approach bias towards alcohol can be modified using a cognitive bias modification (CBM) intervention, which has previously been shown to reduce the relapse risk in AD patients. Here we examined the effects of such CBM training on PIT effects and explored its effect on the relapse risk in detoxified AD patients.
Methods:
N = 81 recently detoxified AD patients performed non-drug-related and drug-related PIT tasks before and after CBM versus placebo training. In addition, an alcohol approach/avoidance task (aAAT) was performed before and after the training to assess the alcohol approach bias. Patients were followed up for 6 months.
Results:
A stronger alcohol approach bias as well as a stronger non-drug-related PIT effect predicted relapse status in AD patients. No significant difference regarding relapse status or the number of heavy drinking days was found when comparing the CBM training group versus the placebo group.
Moreover, there was no significant modulation effect of CBM training on any PIT effect or the aAAT.
Conclusion:
A higher alcohol approach bias in the aAAT and a stronger non-drug-related PIT effect both predicted relapse in AD patients, while treatment outcome was not associated with the drug-related PIT effect. Unlike expected, CBM training did not significantly interact with the non-drug-related or the drug-related PIT effects or the alcohol approach bias.
Materials realizing the XY model in two dimensions are sparse.
Here we use neutron triple-axis spectroscopy to investigate the critical static and dynamical magnetic fluctuations in the square-lattice antiferromagnets Ca2RuO4 and Ca3Ru2O7.
We probe the temperature dependence of the antiferromagnetic Bragg intensity, the Q width, the amplitude, and the energy width of the magnetic diffuse scattering in the vicinity of the Neel temperature T-N to determine the critical behavior of the magnetic order parameter M, correlation length xi, susceptibility chi, and the characteristic energy Gamma with the corresponding critical exponents beta, nu, gamma, and z, respectively.
We find that the critical behaviors of the single-layer compound Ca2RuO4 follow universal scaling laws that are compatible with predictions of the two-dimensional (2D) XY model.
The bilayer compound Ca3Ru2O7 is only partly consistent with the 2D XY theory and best described by the three-dimensional (3D) Ising model, which is likely a consequence of the intrabilayer exchange interactions in combination with an orthorhombic single-ion anisotropy.
Hence, our results suggest that layered ruthenates are promising solid-state platforms for research on the 2D XY model and the effects of 3D interactions and additional spin-space anisotropies on the magnetic fluctuations.
Mitochondrial stress-induced GFRAL signaling controls diurnal food intake and anxiety-like behavior
(2022)
Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) is a mitochondrial stressinduced cytokine that modulates energy balance in an endocrine manner.
However, the importance of its brainstem-restricted receptor GDNF family receptor alpha-like (GFRAL) to mediate endocrine GDF15 signaling to the brain uponmitochondrial dysfunction is still unknown. Using a mouse model with muscle-specific mitochondrial dysfunction, we here show that GFRAL is required for activation of systemic energy metabolism via daytime-restricted anorexia but not responsible for muscle wasting.
We further find that muscle mitochondrial stress response involves a GFRAL-dependent induction of hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone, without elevated corticosterone levels.
Finally, we identify that GFRAL signaling governs an anxiety-like behavior in male mice with muscle mitochondrial dysfunction, with females showing a less robust GFRAL-dependent anxiety-like phenotype.
Together, we here provide novel evidence of a mitochondrial stress-induced muscle-brain crosstalk via the GDF15-GFRAL axis to modulate food intake and anxiogenic behavior.
In star-forming galaxies, the far-infrared (FIR) and radio-continuum luminosities obey a tight empirical relation over a large range of star-formation rates (SFR).
To understand the physics, we examine magnetohydrodynamic galaxy simulations, which follow the genesis of cosmic ray (CR) protons at supernovae and their advective and anisotropic diffusive transport.
We show that gravitational collapse of the proto-galaxy generates a corrugated accretion shock, which injects turbulence and drives a small-scale magnetic dynamo. As the shock propagates outwards and the associated turbulence decays, the large velocity shear between the supersonically rotating cool disc with respect to the (partially) pressure-supported hot circumgalactic medium excites Kelvin-Helmholtz surface and body modes.
Those interact non-linearly, inject additional turbulence and continuously drive multiple small-scale dynamos, which exponentially amplify weak seed magnetic fields.
After saturation at small scales, they grow in scale to reach equipartition with thermal and CR energies in Milky Way-mass galaxies. In small galaxies, the magnetic energy saturates at the turbulent energy while it fails to reach equipartition with thermal and CR energies.
We solve for steady-state spectra of CR protons, secondary electrons/positrons from hadronic CR-proton interactions with the interstellar medium, and primary shock-accelerated electrons at supernovae.
The radio-synchrotron emission is dominated by primary electrons, irradiates the magnetized disc and bulge of our simulated Milky Way-mass galaxy and weakly traces bubble-shaped magnetically loaded outflows.
Our star-forming and star-bursting galaxies with saturated magnetic fields match the global FIR-radio correlation (FRC) across four orders of magnitude. Its intrinsic scatter arises due to (i) different magnetic saturation levels that result from different seed magnetic fields, (ii) different radio synchrotron luminosities for different specific SFRs at fixed SFR, and (iii) a varying radio intensity with galactic inclination.
In agreement with observations, several 100-pc-sized regions within star-forming galaxies also obey the FRC, while the centres of starbursts substantially exceed the FRC.
A key in controlling the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is the assessment of the immune status of the population. We explored the utility of SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles (VLPs) as antigens to detect specific humoral immune reactions in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
For this purpose, SARS-CoV-2 VLPs were produced from an engineered cell line and characterized by Western blot, ELISA, and nanoparticle tracking analysis.
Subsequently, we collected 42 serum samples from before the pandemic (2014), 89 samples from healthy subjects, and 38 samples from vaccinated subjects. Seventeen samples were collected less than three weeks after infection, and forty-four samples more than three weeks after infection.
All serum samples were characterized for their reactivity with VLPs and the SARS-CoV-2 N- and S-protein.
Finally, we compared the performance of the VLP-based ELISA with a certified in vitro diagnostic device (IVD). In the applied set of samples, we determined a sensitivity of 95.5% and a specificity of 100% for the certified IVD.
There were seven samples with an uncertain outcome. Our VLP-ELISA demonstrated a superior performance, with a sensitivity of 97.5%, a specificity of 100%, and only three uncertain outcomes.
This result warrants further research to develop a certified IVD based on SARS-CoV-2 VLPs as an antigen.
Rising childhood obesity with its detrimental health consequences poses a challenge to the health care system. Community-based, multi-setting interventions with the participatory involvement of relevant stakeholders are emerging as promising. To gain insights into the structural and processual characteristics of stakeholder networks, conducting a network analysis (NA) is advisable. Within the program "Family+-Healthy Living Together in Families and Schools", a network analysis was conducted in two rural model regions and one urban model region. Relevant stakeholders were identified in 2020-2021 through expert interviews and interviewed by telephone to elicit key variables such as frequency of contact and intensity of collaboration. Throughout the NA, characteristics such as density, centrality, and connectedness were analyzed and are presented graphically. Due to the differences in the number of inhabitants and the rural or urban structure of the model regions, the three networks (network#1, network#2, and network#3) included 20, 14, and 12 stakeholders, respectively. All networks had similar densities (network#1, 48%; network#2, 52%; network#3, 42%), whereas the degree centrality of network#1 (0.57) and network#3 (0.58) was one-third higher compared with network#2 (0.39). All three networks differed in the distribution of stakeholders in terms of field of expertise and structural orientation. On average, stakeholders exchanged information quarterly and were connected on an informal level. Based on the results of the NA, it appears to be useful to initialize a community health facilitator to involve relevant stakeholders from the education, sports, and health systems in projects and to strive for the goal of sustainable health promotion, regardless of the rural or urban structure of the region. Participatory involvement of relevant stakeholders can have a positive influence on the effective dissemination of information and networking with other stakeholders.
The magnitude of earthquakes on continental normal faults rarely exceeds 7.0 Mw. However, because of their vicinity to large population centers they can be highly destructive.
Long recurrence time, relatively small deformations, and limited observations hinder our understanding of the deformation patterns and mechanisms controlling the magnitude of events.
Here, this problem is addressed with 2D thermomechanical modeling of normal fault seismic cycles.
The 2020 Samos, Greece Mw7.0 earthquake is used as an example as it is one of the largest and most studied continental normal fault earthquakes. The modeling approach employs visco-elasto-plastic rheology, compressibility, free surface, and a rate-and-state friction law for the fault.
Modeling of the Samos earthquake suggests the pore fluid pressure ratio on the fault ranges from 0 to 0.7. The model demonstrates that most of the deformation during interseismic and coseismic periods, besides on the fault, occurs in the hanging wall and footwall below the seismogenic part of the fault. The largest vertical surface displacement during the earthquake is the subsidence of the hanging wall in the vicinity of the fault, while the uplift of the footwall and remote part of the hanging wall is significantly smaller.
Modeling of the seismic cycles on normal faults with different setups shows the dependency of the magnitude on the thermal profile and dipping angle of the fault; low heat flow and low dipping angle are favorable conditions for the largest events, while steep normal faults in the areas of high heat flow tend to have the smallest magnitudes.
Background Mass gatherings (MGs) such as music festivals and sports events have been associated with a high risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. On-site research can foster knowledge of risk factors for infections and improve risk assessments and precautionary measures at future MGs. We tested a web-based participatory disease surveillance tool to detect COVID-19 infections at and after an outdoor MG by collecting self-reported COVID-19 symptoms and tests. Methods We conducted a digital prospective observational cohort study among fully immunized attendees of a sports festival that took place from September 2 to 5, 2021 in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Participants used our study app to report demographic data, COVID-19 tests, symptoms, and their contact behavior. This self-reported data was used to define probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases for the full "study period" (08/12/2021 - 10/31/2021) and within the 14-day "surveillance period" during and after the MG, with the highest likelihood of an MG-related COVID-19 outbreak (09/04/2021 - 09/17/2021). Results A total of 2,808 of 9,242 (30.4%) event attendees participated in the study. Within the study period, 776 individual symptoms and 5,255 COVID-19 tests were reported. During the 14-day surveillance period around and after the MG, seven probable and seven PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases were detected. The confirmed cases translated to an estimated seven-day incidence of 125 per 100,000 participants (95% CI [67.7/100,000, 223/100,000]), which was comparable to the average age-matched incidence in Germany during this time. Overall, weekly numbers of COVID-19 cases were fluctuating over the study period, with another increase at the end of the study period. Conclusion COVID-19 cases attributable to the mass gathering were comparable to the Germany-wide age-matched incidence, implicating that our active participatory disease surveillance tool was able to detect MG-related infections. Further studies are needed to evaluate and apply our participatory disease surveillance tool in other mass gathering settings.
The formation of the Central Andes dates back to similar to 50 Ma, but its most pronounced episode, including the growth of the Altiplano-Puna Plateau and pulsatile tectonic shortening phases, occurred within the last 25 Ma.
The reason for this evolution remains unexplained. Using geodynamic numerical modeling we infer that the primary cause of the pulses of tectonic shortening and growth of the Central Andes is the changing geometry of the subducted Nazca plate, and particularly the steepening of the mid-mantle slab segment which results in a slowing down of the trench retreat and subsequent increase in shortening of the advancing South America plate.
This steepening first happens after the end of the flat slab episode at similar to 25 Ma, and later during the buckling and stagnation of the slab in the mantle transition zone. Processes that mechanically weaken the lithosphere of the South America plate, as suggested in previous studies, enhance the intensity of the shortening events.
These processes include delamination of the mantle lithosphere and weakening of foreland sediments.
Our new modeling results are consistent with the timing and amplitude of the deformation from geological data in the Central Andes at the Altiplano latitude.
Plain Language Summary
The Central Andes is a subduction-type orogeny that formed as a result of the interaction between the Nazca oceanic plate and the South American continental plate over the last 50 million years. Growth of the Andes is primarily the result of crustal shortening. Nevertheless, "geological" data compiled from previous studies have shown that phases of drastic pulsatile shortening occur at 15 and 5 Ma.
In this study, we used high-resolution 2D numerical geodynamic simulations to investigate the link between oceanic and continental plate dynamics and their interaction. We find that when the oceanic plate steepens in the mantle transition zone, the trench retreat is hindered. Coupled with the weakening of the continental plate through the slab flattening and subsequent delamination of the lithospheric mantle, this leads to pulsatile shortening phases of a magnitude equivalent to that suggested by the data.
Magma-filled dikes may feed erupting fissures that lead to alignments of craters developing at the surface, yet the details of activity and migrating eruptions at the crater row are difficult to monitor and are hardly understood.
The 2021 Tajogaite eruption at the Cumbre Vieja, La Palma (Spain), lasted 85 days and developed a pronounced alignment of craters that may be related to changes within the volcano edifice.
Here, we use COSMO-SkyMed satellite radar data and ground-based time-lapse photographs, offering a high-resolution dataset to explore the locations and characteristics of evolving craters.
Our results show that the craters evolve both gradually and suddenly and can be divided into three main phases. Phase 1, lasting the first 6 weeks of the eruption, was characterized by a NW-SE linear evolution of up to seven craters emerging on the growing cone.
Following two partial collapses of the cone to the northwest and a seismicity increase at depth, Phase 2 started and caused a propagation of the main activity toward the southeastern side, together with the presence of up to 11 craters along this main NW-SE trend. Associated with strong deep and shallow earthquakes, Phase 3 was initiated and continued for the final 2 weeks of the eruption, expressed by the development of up to 18 craters, which became dominant and clustered in the southeastern sector in early December 2021. In Phase 3, a second and oblique alignment and surface fracture was identified.
Our findings that crater and eruption changes coincide together with an increase in seismic activity at depth point to a deep driver leading to crater and morphology changes at the surface.
These also suggest that crater distributions might allow for improved monitoring of changes occurring at depth, and vice versa, such that strong seismicity changes at depth may herald the migration and new formation of craters, which have major implications for the assessment of tephra and lava flow hazards on volcanoes.
Drimane sesquiterpene aldehydes control Candida yeast isolated from candidemia in Chilean patients
(2022)
Drimys winteri J.R. (Winteraceae) produce drimane sesquiterpenoids with activity against Candida yeast.
In this work, drimenol, polygodial (1), isotadeonal (2), and a new drimane alpha,beta-unsaturated 1,4-dialdehyde, named winterdial (4), were purified from barks of D. winteri. The oxidation of drimenol produced the monoaldehyde drimenal (3).
These four aldehyde sesquiterpenoids were evaluated against six Candida species isolated from candidemia patients in Chilean hospitals.
Results showed that 1 displays fungistatic activity against all yeasts (3.75 to 15.0 mu g/mL), but irritant effects on eyes and skin, whereas its non-pungent epimer 2 has fungistatic and fungicide activities at 1.9 and 15.0 mu g/mL, respectively.
On the other hand, compounds 3 and 4 were less active.
Molecular dynamics simulations suggested that compounds 1-4 are capable of binding to the catalytic pocket of lanosterol 14-alpha demethylase with similar binding free energies, thus suggesting a potential mechanism of action through the inhibition of ergosterol synthesis. According to our findings, compound 2 appears as a valuable molecular scaffold to pursue the future development of more potent drugs against candidiasis with fewer side effects than polygodial.
These outcomes are significant to broaden the alternatives to treat fungal infections with increasing prevalence worldwide using natural compounds as a primary source for active compounds.
Deriving soil moisture content (SMC) at the regional scale with different spatial and temporal land cover changes is still a challenge for active and passive remote sensing systems, often coped with machine learning methods.
So far, the reference measurements of the data-driven approaches are usually based on point data, which entails a scale gap to the resolution of the remote sensing data. Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing (CRNS) indirectly provides SMC estimates of a soil volume covering more than 1 ha and vertical depth up to 80 cm and is thus able to narrow this scale gap.
So far, the CRNS-based SMC has only been used as validation source of remote sensing based SMC products. Its beneficial large sensing volume, especially in depth, has not been exploited yet.
However, the sensing volume of the CRNS, which is changing with hydrological conditions, bears challenges for the comparison with remote sensing observations. This study, for the fist time, aims to understand the direct linkage of optical (Sentinel 2) and SAR (Sentinel 1) data with CRNS-based SMC.
Thereby, the CRNS-based SMC is obtained by an experimental CRNS cluster that covers the high temporal and spatial SMC variability of an entire pre-alpine subcatchment. Using different Random Forest regressions, we analyze the potentials and limitations of both remote sensing sensors to follow the CRNS-based SMC signal.
Our results show that it is possible to link the CRNS-based SMC signal with SAR and optical remote sensing observations via Random Forest modelling.
We found that Sentinel 2 data is able to separate wet from dry periods with a R2 of 0.68.
It is less affected by the changing soil volume that contributes to the CRNS-based SMC signal and it is able to assign a land cover specific SMC distribution.
However, Sentinel 2 regression models are not accurate (R2 < 0.21) in mapping the CRNSbased SMC for the frequently mowed grassland areas of the study site. It requires soil type and topographical information to accurately follow the CRNS-based SMC signal with Random Forest regression.
Sentinel 1 data instead is affected by the changing soil volume that contributes to the CRNS-based SMC signal. It has reasonable model performance (R2 = 0.34) when the CRNS data correspond to surface SMC. Also for Sentinel 1 the retrieval is impacted by the mowing activities at the test site.
When separating the CRNS data set into dry and wet periods, soil properties and topography are the main drivers of SMC estimation. Sentinel 1 or Sentinel 2 data add the existing temporal variability to the regression models. The analysis underlines the need of combining optical and SAR observations (Sentinel 1, Sentinel 2) as well as soil property and topographical information to understand and follow the CRNS-based SMC signal for different hydrological conditions and land cover types.
Background
In cystic fibrosis (CF), acute respiratory exacerbations critically enhance pulmonary destruction. Since these mainly occur outside regular appointments, they remain unexplored. We previously elaborated a protocol for home-based upper airway (UAW) sampling obtaining nasal-lavage fluid (NLF), which, in contrast to sputum, does not require immediate processing. The aim of this study was to compare UAW inflammation and pathogen colonization during stable phases and exacerbations in CF patients and healthy controls.
Methods
Initially, we obtained NLF by rinsing 10 ml of isotonic saline/nostril during stable phases. During exacerbations, subjects regularly collected NLF at home. CF patients directly submitted one aliquot for microbiological cultures. The remaining samples were immediately frozen until transfer on ice to our clinic, where PCR analyses were performed and interleukin (IL)-1 beta/IL-6/IL-8, neutrophil elastase (NE), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 were assessed.
Results
Altogether, 49 CF patients and 38 healthy controls (HCs) completed the study, and 214 NLF samples were analyzed. Of the 49 CF patients, 20 were at least intermittently colonized with P. aeruginosa and received azithromycin and/or inhaled antibiotics as standard therapy. At baseline, IL-6 and IL-8 tended to be elevated in CF compared to controls. During infection, inflammatory mediators increased in both cohorts, reaching significance only for IL-6 in controls (p=0.047). Inflammatory responses tended to be higher in controls [1.6-fold (NE) to 4.4-fold (MMP-9)], while in CF, mediators increased only moderately [1.2-1.5-fold (IL-6/IL-8/NE/TIMP-1/MMP-9)]. Patients receiving inhalative antibiotics or azithromycin (n=20 and n=15, respectively) revealed lower levels of IL-1 beta/IL-6/IL-8 and NE during exacerbation compared to CF patients not receiving those antibiotics. In addition, CF patients receiving azithromycin showed MMP-9 levels significantly lower than CF patients not receiving azithromycin at stable phase and exacerbation. Altogether, rhinoviruses were the most frequently detected virus, detected at least once in n=24 (49.0%) of the 49 included pwCF and in n=26 (68.4%) of the 38 healthy controls over the 13-month duration of the study. Remarkably, during exacerbation, rhinovirus detection rates were significantly higher in the HC group compared to those in CF patients (65.8% vs. 22.4%; p<0.0001).
Conclusion
Non-invasive and partially home-based UAW sampling opens new windows for the assessment of inflammation and pathogen colonization in the unified airway system.
Simple Summary
Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (urokinase, uPA) is a widely discussed biomarker for cancer prognosis and diagnosis. The gold standard for the determination of protein biomarkers in physiological samples is the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Here, antibodies are used to detect the specific protein.
In our study, recently published urokinase aptamers were tested for their use in a sandwich assay format as alternative specific recognition elements. Different aptamer combinations were used for the detection of uPA in a sandwich-assay format and a combination of aptamers and antibodies additionally allowed the differentiation of human high and low molecular weight- (HMW- and LMW-) uPA. Hence, uPA aptamers offer a valuable alternative as specific recognition elements for analytical purposes. Since aptamers are easy to synthesize and modify, they can be used as a cost-effective alternative in sandwich assay formats for the detection of uPA in physiological samples.
Abstract
Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (urokinase, uPA) is a frequently discussed biomarker for prognosis, diagnosis, and recurrence of cancer.
In a previous study, we developed ssDNA aptamers that bind to different forms of human urokinase, which are therefore assumed to have different binding regions.
In this study, we demonstrate the development of aptamer-based sandwich assays that use different combinations of these aptamers to detect high molecular weight- (HMW-) uPA in a micro titer plate format.
By combining aptamers and antibodies, it was possible to distinguish between HMW-uPA and low molecular weight- (LMW-) uPA.
For the best performing aptamer combination, we calculated the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) in spiked buffer and urine samples with an LOD up to 50 ng/mL and 138 ng/mL, respectively.
To show the specificity and sequence dependence of the reporter aptamer uPAapt-02-FR, we have identified key nucleotides within the sequence that are important for specific folding and binding to uPA using a fluorescent dye-linked aptamer assay (FLAA). Since uPA is a much-discussed marker for prognosis and diagnosis in various types of cancers, these aptamers and their use in a micro titer plate assay format represent a novel, promising tool for the detection of uPA and for possible diagnostic applications.
We review properties and processes of earthquake rupture zones based on field studies, laboratory observations, theoretical models and simulations, with the goal of assessing the possible dominance of different processes in different parts of the rupture and validity of commonly used models. Rupture zones may be divided into front, intermediate, and tail regions that interact to different extents. The rupture front is dominated by fracturing and granulation processes and strong dilatation, producing faulting products that are reworked by subsequent sliding behind. The intermediate region sustains primarily frictional sliding with relatively high slip rates that produce appreciable stress transfer to the propagating front. The tail region further behind is characterized by low slip rates that effectively do not influence the propagating front, although it (and the intermediate region) can spawn small offspring rupture fronts. Wave-mediated stress transfer can also trigger failures ahead of the rupture front. Earthquake ruptures are often spatially discontinuous and intermittent with a hierarchy of asperity and segment sizes that radiate waves with different tensorial compositions and frequency bands. While different deformation processes dominating parts of the rupture zones can be treated effectively with existing constitutive relations, a more appropriate analysis of earthquake processes would require a model that combines aspects of fracture, damage-breakage, and frictional frameworks.
On 12 August 2021, a > 220 s lasting complex earthquake with Mw > 8.2 hit the South Sandwich Trench. Due to its remote location and short interevent times, reported earthquake parameters varied significantly between different international agencies. We studied the complex rupture by combining different seismic source characterization techniques sensitive to different frequency ranges based on teleseismic broadband recordings from 0.001 to 2 Hz, including point and finite fault inversions and the back-projection of high-frequency signals.
We also determined moment tensor solutions for 88 aftershocks. The rupture initiated simultaneously with a rupture equivalent to a M-w 7.6 thrust earthquake in the deep part of the seismogenic zone in the central subduction interface and a shallow megathrust rupture, which propagated unilaterally to the south with a very slow rupture velocity of 1.2 km/s and varying strike following the curvature of the trench.
The slow rupture covered nearly two-thirds of the entire subduction zone length, and with M-w 8.2 released the bulk of the total moment of the whole earthquake.
Tsunami modeling indicates the inferred shallow rupture can explain the tsunami records. The southern segment of the shallow rupture overlaps with another activation of the deeper part of the megathrust equivalent to M-w 7.6. The aftershock distribution confirms the extent and curvature of the rupture. Some mechanisms are consistent with the mainshocks, but many indicate also activation of secondary faults. Rupture velocities and radiated frequencies varied strongly between different stages of the rupture, which might explain the variability of published source parameters.
Plain Language Summary
The earthquake of 12 August 2021 along the deep-sea trench of the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic reached a magnitude of 8.2 and triggered a tsunami. The automatic earthquake parameter determination of different agencies showed very different results shortly after the earthquake and partially underestimated the tsunami potential of the earthquake.
A possible reason was the complex rupture process and that the tsunami was generated by a long and shallow slow slip rupture sandwiched between more conventional fast slip subevents at its northern and southern ends. In addition, the fault surface, which extended over 450 km, was highly curved striking 150 degrees-220 degrees.
We investigated the different components of the seismic wavefields in different frequency ranges and with different methods.
The analysis shows how even complex earthquakes can be deciphered by combining analyzing methods. The comparison with aftershocks and the triggered tsunami waves confirms our model that explains the South Sandwich rupture by four subevents in the plate boundary along the curved deep-sea trench. Here, the depth, rupture velocities, and slip on each segment of the rupture vary considerably.
The method can also be applied to other megathrust earthquakes and help to further improve tsunami warnings in the future.
The ambitious climate targets set by industrialized nations worldwide cannot be met without decarbonizing the building stock.
Using Germany as a case study, this paper takes stock of the extensive set of energy efficiency policies that are already in place and clarifies that they have been designed "in good faith" but lack in overall effectiveness as well as cost-efficiency in achieving these climate targets.
We map out the market failures and behavioural considerations that are potential reasons for why realized energy savings fall below expectations and why the household adoption of energy-efficient and low-carbon technologies has remained low. We highlight the pressing need for data and modern empirical research to develop targeted and cost-effective policies seeking to correct these market failures.
To this end, we identify some key research questions and identify gaps in the data required for evidence-based policy.
Background:
The current range of disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) has placed more importance on the accurate monitoring of disease progression for timely and appropriate treatment decisions. With a rising number of measurements for disease progression, it is currently unclear how well these measurements or combinations of them can monitor more mildly affected RRMS patients.
Objectives:
To investigate several composite measures for monitoring disease activity and their potential relation to the biomarker neurofilament light chain (NfL) in a clearly defined early RRMS patient cohort with a milder disease course.
Methods:
From a total of 301 RRMS patients, a subset of 46 patients being treated with a continuous first-line therapy was analyzed for loss of no evidence of disease activity (lo-NEDA-3) status, relapse-associated worsening (RAW) and progression independent of relapse activity (PIRA), up to seven years after treatment initialization.
Kaplan-Meier estimates were used for time-to-event analysis. Additionally, a Cox regression model was used to analyze the effect of NIL levels on outcome measures in this cohort.
Results:
In this mildly affected cohort, both lo-NEDA-3 and PIRA frequently occurred over a median observational period of 67.2 months and were observed in 39 (84.8%) and 23 (50.0%) patients, respectively.
Additionally, 12 out of 26 PIRA manifestations (46.2%) were observed without a corresponding lo-NEDA-3 status. Jointly, either PIRA or lo-NEDA-3 showed disease activity in all patients followed-up for at least the median duration (67.2 months). NfL values demonstrated an association with the occurrence of relapses and RAW.
Conclusion:
The complementary use of different disease progression measures helps mirror ongoing disease activity in mildly affected early RRMS patients being treated with continuous first-line therapy.
Rapid innovation and proliferation of software as a medical device have accelerated the clinical use of digital technologies across a wide array of medical conditions.
Current regulatory pathways were developed for traditional (hardware) medical devices and offer a useful structure, but the evolution of digital devices requires concomitant innovation in regulatory approaches to maximize the potential benefits of these emerging technologies.
A number of specific adaptations could strengthen current regulatory oversight while promoting ongoing innovation.
Localized surface plasmon resonances on noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) can efficiently drive reactions of adsorbed ligand molecules and provide versatile opportunities in chemical synthesis. The driving forces of these reactions are typically elevated temperatures, hot charge carriers, or enhanced electric fields.
In the present work, dehalogenation of halogenated thiophenols on the surface of AuNPs has been studied by surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) as a function of the photon energy to track the kinetics and identify reaction products.
Reaction rates are found to be surprisingly similar for different halothiophenols studied here, although the bond dissociation energies of the C-X bonds differ significantly. Complementary information about the electronic properties at the AuNP surface, namely, work-function and valence band states, has been determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of isolated AuNPs in the gas-phase.
In this way, it is revealed how the electronic properties are altered by the adsorption of the ligand molecules, and we conclude that the reaction rates are mainly determined by the plasmonic properties of the AuNPs. SERS spectra reveal differences in the reaction product formation for different halogen species, and, on this basis, the possible reaction mechanisms are discussed to approach an understanding of opportunities and limitations in the design of catalytical systems with plasmonic NPs.
Microviridins are a prominent family of ribosomally synthesized and posttranslationally modified peptides (RiPPs) featuring characteristic lactone and lactam rings. Their unusual cage-like architecture renders them highly potent serine protease inhibitors of which individual variants specifically inhibit different types of proteases of pharmacological interest.
While posttranslational modifications are key for the stability and bioactivity of RiPPs, additional attractive properties can be introduced by functional tags.
To date - although highly desirable - no method has been reported to incorporate functional tags in microviridin scaffolds or the overarching class of graspetides.
In this study, a chemoenzymatic in vitro platform is used to introduce functional tags in various microviridin variants yielding biotinylated, dansylated or propargylated congeners.
This straightforward approach paves the way for customized protease inhibitors with built-in functionalities that can help to unravel the still elusive ecological roles and targets of this remarkable class of compounds and to foster applications based on protease inhibition.
Like many other regions in central Europe, Germany experienced sequential summer droughts from 2015 to 2018. As one of the environmental consequences, river nitrate concentrations have exhibited significant changes in many catchments.
However, catchment nitrate responses to the changing weather conditions have not yet been mechanistically explored.
Thus, a fully distributed, process-based catchment Nitrate model (mHM-Nitrate) was used to reveal the causal relations in the Bode catchment, of which river nitrate concentrations have experienced contrasting trends from upstream to downstream reaches. The model was evaluated using data from six gauging stations, reflecting different levels of runoff components and their associated nitrate-mixing from upstream to downstream.
Results indicated that the mHM-Nitrate model reproduced dynamics of daily discharge and nitrate concentration well, with Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency >= 0.73 for discharge and Kling-Gupta Efficiency >= 0.50 for nitrate concentration at most stations.
Particularly, the spatially contrasting trends of nitrate con-centration were successfully captured by the model.
The decrease of nitrate concentration in the lowland area in drought years (2015-2018) was presumably due to (1) limited terrestrial export loading (ca. 40 % lower than that of normal years 2004-2014), and (2) increased in-stream retention efficiency (20 % higher in summer within the whole river network).
From a mechanistic modelling perspective, this study provided insights into spatially heterogeneous flow and nitrate dynamics and effects of sequential droughts, which shed light on water -quality responses to future climate change, as droughts are projected to be more frequent.
An epilepsy diagnosis has large consequences for an individual but is often difficult to make in clinical practice.
Novel biomarkers are thus greatly needed. Here, we give an overview of how thousands of common genetic factors that increase the risk for epilepsy can be summarized as epilepsy polygenic risk scores (PRS).
We discuss the current state of research on how epilepsy PRS can serve as a biomarker for the risk for epilepsy. The high heritability of common forms of epilepsy, particularly genetic generalized epilepsy, indicates a promising potential for epilepsy PRS in diagnosis and risk prediction.
Small sample sizes and low ancestral diversity of current epilepsy genome-wide association studies show, however, a need for larger and more diverse studies before epilepsy PRS could be properly implemented in the clinic.
Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre of 1801/2 is considered to be the beginning of his late phase. In this phase he supposedly alters his earlier thinking and, instead of the transcendental unity of the I, conceptualizes a higher transcendent and simple unity; a unity that has been claimed to correspond to Neoplatonism. I refute these two arguments here. First, through a comparison between the Wissenschaftslehre of 1801/2 and that of 1794/5, I show that both versions contain a similar analysis of the supreme unity. Second, I show that in 1801/2 Fichte explicitly dissociates the supreme unity from transcendence and simplicity. His conception of the supreme unity in fact levels a critique upon such concept of unity. Instead of the transcendent One, which is hierarchically prior to multiplicity, Fichte formulates in both 1794/5 and 1801/2 a complicated concept of the supreme unity. On Fichte’s account, this unity “hovers” between multiplicity and unity as simplicity.
In this topical review, we give an overview of the structure and dynamics of a single polymer chain in active baths, Gaussian or non-Gaussian.
The review begins with the discussion of single flexible or semiflexible linear polymer chains subjected to two noises, thermal and active.
The active noise has either Gaussian or non-Gaussian distribution but has a memory, accounting for the persistent motion of the active bath particles. This finite persistence makes the reconfiguration dynamics of the chain slow as compared to the purely thermal case and the chain swells.
The active noise also results superdiffusive or ballistic motion of the tagged monomer. We present all the calculations in details but mainly focus on the analytically exact or almost exact results on the topic, as obtained from our group in recent years.
In addition, we briefly mention important works of other groups and include some of our new results. The review concludes with pointing out the implications of polymer chains in active bath in biologically relevant context and its future directions.
We introduce the concept of TRAP (Traces and Permutations), which can roughly be viewed as a wheeled PROP (Products and Permutations) without unit. TRAPs are equipped with a horizontal concatenation and partial trace maps.
Continuous morphisms on an infinite-dimensional topological space and smooth kernels (respectively, smoothing operators) on a closed manifold form a TRAP but not a wheeled PROP.
We build the free objects in the category of TRAPs as TRAPs of graphs and show that a TRAP can be completed to a unitary TRAP (or wheeled PROP).
We further show that it can be equipped with a vertical concatenation, which on the TRAP of linear homomorphisms of a vector space, amounts to the usual composition. The vertical concatenation in the TRAP of smooth kernels gives rise to generalised convolutions.
Graphs whose vertices are decorated by smooth kernels (respectively, smoothing operators) on a closed manifold form a TRAP. From their universal properties we build smooth amplitudes associated with the graph.
Studies investigating the effect of aboveground herbivory on plants often use clipping to simulate the effects of herbivores, for practical reasons. However, herbivore movements and transfer of oral secretions during herbivory may cause a different response in plant physiology and morphology compared to clipping.
While studies have compared effects of real herbivory vs. clipping on biomass production, plant physiology, and shoot morphology, no study has compared such effects on root morphology.
Therefore, we investigated the effect of herbivory by grasshoppers, herbivory simulated by clipping, and no herbivory on root morphological traits of ten grassland plant species. Root morphological traits were differently affected by the two herbivory treatments. Grasshopper herbivory significantly changed root morphology toward thinner roots with increased specific root length and root area, and decreased root tissue density compared to untreated control plants.
Clipping had mostly similar, but weaker effects on root morphology than grasshopper herbivory.
On the species level, grasshopper herbivory led to strongest changes in root morphology in almost all cases. In contrast, depending on the species, clipping resulted in varying root morphological trait values similar to grasshopper-damaged plants, or in some cases, more closely aligned with control plants.
Though clipping was partly able to mimic the effects of herbivory by grasshoppers, results also indicate that, depending on the species, grasshopper herbivory had different but mostly stronger effects. We, therefore, recommend that future studies apply herbivory with real herbivores to better reflect natural responses in plants and related processes that root morphological traits mediate.
Symptom Checker Applications (SCA) are mobile applications often designed for the end-user to assist with symptom assessment and self-triage. SCA are meant to provide the user with easily accessible information about their own health conditions.
However, SCA raise questions regarding ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSA), for example, regarding fair access to this new technology.
The aim of this scoping review is to identify the ELSA of SCA in the scientific literature. A scoping review was conducted to identify the ELSA of SCA. Ten databases (e.g., Web of Science and PubMed) were used. Studies on SCA that address ELSA, written in English or German, were included in the review.
The ELSA of SCA were extracted and synthesized using qualitative content analysis. A total of 25,061 references were identified, of which 39 were included in the analysis. The identified aspects were allotted to three main categories: (1) Technology; (2) Individual Level; and (3) Healthcare system.
The results show that there are controversial debates in the literature on the ethical and social challenges of SCA usage. Furthermore, the debates are characterised by a lack of a specific legal perspective and empirical data.
The review provides an overview on the spectrum of ELSA regarding SCA. It offers guidance to stakeholders in the healthcare system, for example, patients, healthcare professionals, and insurance providers and could be used in future empirical research to investigate the perspectives of those affected, such as users.
The BEEHAVE model simulates the population dynamics and foraging activity of a single honey bee colony (Apis mellifera) in great detail. Although it still makes numerous simplifying assumptions, it appears to capture a wide range of empirical observations.
It could, therefore, in principle, also be used as a tool in beekeeper education, as it allows the implementation and comparison of different management options.
Here, we focus on treatments aimed at controlling the mite Varroa destructor. However, since BEEHAVE was developed in the UK, mite treatment includes the use of a synthetic acaricide, which is not part of Good Beekeeping Practice in Germany.
A practice that consists of drone brood removal from April to June, treatment with formic acid in August/September, and treatment with oxalic acid in November/December. We implemented these measures, focusing on the timing, frequency, and spacing between drone brood removals.
The effect of drone brood removal and acid treatment, individually or in combination, on a mite-infested colony was examined. We quantify the efficacy of Varroa mite control as the reduction of mites in treated bee colonies compared to untreated bee colonies. We found that drone brood removal was very effective, reducing mites by 90% at the end of the first simulation year after the introduction of mites. This value was significantly higher than the 50-67% reduction expected by bee experts and confirmed by empirical studies.
However, literature reports varying percent reductions in mite numbers from 10 to 85% after drone brood removal. The discrepancy between model results, empirical data, and expert estimates indicate that these three sources should be reviewed and refined, as all are based on simplifying assumptions.
These results and the adaptation of BEEHAVE to the Good Beekeeping Practice are a decisive step forward for the future use of BEEHAVE in beekeeper education in Germany and anywhere where organic acids and drone brood removal are utilized.
The optical properties, chemical composition, and potential chromophores of brown carbon (BrC) aerosol particles were studied during typical summertime and wintertime at a kerbside in downtown Karl-sruhe, a city in central Europe.
The average absorption coefficient and mass absorption efficiency at 365 nm (Abs(365) and MAE(365)) of methanol-soluble BrC (MS-BrC) were lower in the summer period (1.6 +/- 0.5 Mm(-1), 0.5 +/- 0.2 m(2) g(-1)) than in the winter period (2.8 +/- 1.9 Mm(-1), 1.1 +/- 0.3 m(2) g(-1)). Using a parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis to identify chromophores, two different groups of highly oxygenated humic-like substances (HO-HULIS) dominated in summer and contributed 96 +/- 6 % of the total fluorescence intensity.
In contrast, less-oxygenated HULIS (LO-HULIS) dominated the total fluorescence intensity in winter with 57 +/- 12 %, followed by HO-HULIS with 31 +/- 18 %. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis of organic compounds detected in real time by an online aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) led to five characteristic organic compound classes.
The statistical analysis of PARAFAC components and PMF factors showed that LO-HULIS chromophores were most likely emitted from biomass burning in winter. HO-HULIS chromophores could be low-volatility oxy-genated organic aerosol from regional transport and oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in summer.
Five nitro-aromatic compounds (NACs) were identified by a chemical ionization mass spectrometer (C7H7O3N, C7H7O4N, C6H5O5N, C6H5O4N, and C6H5O3N), which contributed 0.03 +/- 0.01 % to the total organic mass but can explain 0.3 +/- 0.1 % of the total absorption of MS-BrC at 365 nm in winter.
Furthermore, we identified 316 potential brown carbon molecules which accounted for 2.5 +/- 0.6 % of the organic aerosol mass. Using an average mass absorption efficiency (MAE(365)) of 9.5 m(2)g(-1) for these compounds, we can es-timate their mean light absorption to be 1.2 +/- 0.2 Mm(-1), accounting for 32 +/- 15 % of the total absorption of MS-BrC at 365 nm.
This indicates that a small fraction of brown carbon molecules dominates the overall ab-sorption. The potential BrC molecules assigned to the LO-HULIS component had a higher average molecular weight (265 +/- 2 Da) and more nitrogen-containing molecules (62 +/- 1 %) than the molecules assigned to the HOHULIS components.
Our analysis shows that the LO-HULIS, with a high contribution of nitrogen-containing molecules originating from biomass burning, dominates aerosol fluorescence in winter, and HO-HULIS, with fewer nitrogen-containing molecules as low-volatility oxygenated organic aerosol from regional transport and oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOC), dominates in summer.
Adapting to a changing environment: inspiration for planetary health from east African communities
(2022)
The ability to catalyze diverse reactions with relevance for chemical and pharmaceutical research and industry has led to an increasing interest in fungal enzymes.
There is still an enormous potential considering the sheer amount of new enzymes from the huge diversity of fungi.
Most of these fungal enzymes have not been characterized yet due to the lack of high throughput synthesis and analysis methods.
This bottleneck could be overcome by means of cell-free protein synthesis. In this study, cell-free protein synthesis based on eukaryotic cell lysates was utilized to produce a functional glycoside hydrolase (GH78) from the soft-rot fungus Xylaria polymorpha (Ascomycota).
The enzyme was successfully synthesized under different reaction conditions.
We characterized its enzymatic activities and immobilized the protein via FLAG-Tag interaction. Alteration of several conditions including reaction temperature, template design and lysate supplementation had an influence on the activity of cell-free synthesized GH78.
Consequently this led to a production of purified GH78 with a specific activity of 15.4 U mg? 1.
The results of this study may be foundational for future high throughput fungal enzyme screenings, including substrate spectra analysis and mutant screenings.
Protist grazing pressure plays a major role in controlling aquatic bacterial populations, affecting energy flow through the microbial loop and biogeochemical cycles. Predator-escape mechanisms might play a crucial role in energy flow through the microbial loop, but are yet understudied. For example, some bacteria can use planktonic as well as surface-associated habitats, providing a potential escape mechanism to habitat-specific grazers.
We investigated the escape response of the marine bacterium Marinobacter adhaerens in the presence of either planktonic (nanoflagellate: Cafeteria roenbergensis) or surface-associated (amoeba: Vannella anglica) protist predators, following population dynamics over time.
In the presence of V. anglica, M. adhaerens cell density increased in the water, but decreased on solid surfaces, indicating an escape response towards the planktonic habitat. In contrast, the planktonic predator C. roenbergensis induced bacterial escape to the surface habitat. While C. roenbergensis cell numbers dropped substantially after a sharp initial increase, V. anglica exhibited a slow, but constant growth throughout the entire experiment.
In the presence of C. roenbergensis, M. adhaerens rapidly formed cell clumps in the water habitat, which likely prevented consumption of the planktonic M. adhaerens by the flagellate, resulting in a strong decline in the predator population.
Our results indicate an active escape of M. adhaerens via phenotypic plasticity (i.e., behavioral and morphological changes) against predator ingestion.
This study highlights the potentially important role of behavioral escape mechanisms for community composition and energy flow in pelagic environments, especially with globally rising particle loads in aquatic systems through human activities and extreme weather events.
The present-day structure of the Eastern Cordillera in NW Argentina is governed by structural and lithological heterogeneities inherited from preceding deformation phases, which influence the localization of newly-formed faults and the inversion of pre-existing structures.
The Salta Rift Basin formed during a Late Jurassic-Cretaceous extensional phase and created a dominant structural and stratigraphic imprint in NW Argentina that is partic-ularly evident within the Eastern Cordillera, where uplift and exhumation have exposed the Salta Group syn-rift succession.
Although in general, the Salta Group rests upon Paleozoic rocks, locally the Tacuru Group forms an intermediate succession, consisting of interfingering eolian sandstones and proximal fault-related conglomerates with a Jurassic maximum depositional age. This succession might be the key to unraveling the Mesozoic history of NW Argentina, prior to the deposition of the Salta Group.
The conglomerates represent the earliest deposits related to extension in the western Lomas de Olmedo sub-basin, which is also documented in predominantly Jurassic zircon (U-Th-Sm)/He cooling ages of the rift shoulders. The detrital zircon U-Pb age signature and sandstone provenance of the Tacuru Group conglomerates differs strongly from the Salta Group syn-rift strata, which show a more regional signal.
These variations and the angularity of the unconformity may be connected to a rotation of the extension direction in the western Lomas de Olmedo sub-basin.
We present real-world data processing on measured electron time-of-flight data via neural networks. Specifically, the use of disentangled variational autoencoders on data from a diagnostic instrument for online wavelength monitoring at the free electron laser FLASH in Hamburg. Without a-priori knowledge the network is able to find representations of single-shot FEL spectra, which have a low signal-to-noise ratio. This reveals, in a directly human-interpretable way, crucial information about the photon properties. The central photon energy and the intensity as well as very detector-specific features are identified. The network is also capable of data cleaning, i.e. denoising, as well as the removal of artefacts. In the reconstruction, this allows for identification of signatures with very low intensity which are hardly recognisable in the raw data. In this particular case, the network enhances the quality of the diagnostic analysis at FLASH. However, this unsupervised method also has the potential to improve the analysis of other similar types of spectroscopy data.
In recurrence analysis, the tau-recurrence rate encodes the periods of the cycles of the underlying high-dimensional time series. It, thus, plays a similar role to the autocorrelation for scalar time-series in encoding temporal correlations.
However, its Fourier decomposition does not have a clean interpretation. Thus, there is no satisfactory analogue to the power spectrum in recurrence analysis.
We introduce a novel method to decompose the tau-recurrence rate using an over-complete basis of Dirac combs together with sparsity regularization.
We show that this decomposition, the inter-spike spectrum, naturally provides an analogue to the power spectrum for recurrence analysis in the sense that it reveals the dominant periodicities of the underlying time series.
We show that the inter-spike spectrum correctly identifies patterns and transitions in the underlying system in a wide variety of examples and is robust to measurement noise.
Anger, indignation, guilt, rumination, victim compensation, and perpetrator punishment are considered primary responses associated with justice sensitivity (JS).
However, injustice and high JS may predispose to further responses.
We had N = 293 adults rate their JS, 17 potential responses toward 12 unjust scenarios from the victim's, observer's, beneficiary's, and perpetrator's perspectives, and several control variables.
Unjust situations generally elicited many affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses. JS generally predisposed to strong affective responses toward injustice, including sadness, pity, disappointment, and helplessness. It impaired trivialization, victim-blaming, or justification, which may otherwise help cope with injustice.
It predisposed to conflict solutions and victim compensation. Particularly victim and beneficiary JS had stronger effects in unjust situations from the corresponding perspective.
These findings add to a better understanding of the main and interaction effects of unjust situations from different perspectives and the JS facets, differences between the JS facets, as well as the links between JS and behavior and well-being.
Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease caused by protozoal Leishmania parasites. Previous studies have shown that endoperoxides (EP) can selectively kill Leishmania in host cells.
Therefore, we studied in this work a set of new anthracene-derived EP (AcEP) together with their non-endoperoxidic analogs in model systems of Leishmania tarentolae promastigotes (LtP) and J774 macrophages for their antileishmanial activity and selectivity.
The mechanism of effective compounds was explored by studying their reaction with iron (II) in chemical systems and in Leishmania. The correlation of structural parameters with activity demonstrated that in this compound set, active compounds had a LogP(OW) larger than 3.5 and a polar surface area smaller than 100 angstrom(2).
The most effective compounds (IC50 in LtP < 2 mu M) with the highest selectivity (SI > 30) were pyridyl-/tert-butyl-substituted AcEP.
Interestingly, also their analogs demonstrated activity and selectivity. In mechanistic studies, it was shown that EP were activated by iron in chemical systems and in LtP due to their EP group.
However, the molecular structure beyond the EP group significantly contributed to their differential mitochondrial inhibition in Leishmania.
The identified compound pairs are a good starting point for subsequent experiments in pathogenic Leishmania in vitro and in animal models.
Background:
Despite an increasing demand for surgical treatment of lipedema, the evidence for liposuction is still limited. Little is known about the influence of disease stage, patient age, body mass index, or existing comorbidities on clinical outcomes.
It was hypothesized that younger patients with lower body mass index and stage would report better results.
Methods:
This retrospective, single-center, noncomparative study included lipedema patients who underwent liposuction between July of 2009 and July of 2019.
After a minimum of 6 months since the last surgery, all patients completed a disease-related questionnaire. The primary endpoint was the need for complex decongestive therapy based on a composite score. Secondary endpoints were the severity of disease-related complaints measured on a visual analogue scale.
Results:
One hundred six patients underwent a total of 298 large-volume liposuctions (mean lipoaspirate, 6355 +/- 2797 ml). After a median follow-up of 20 months, a median complex decongestive therapy score reduction of 37.5 percent (interquartile range, 0 to 88.8 percent; p < 0.0001) was observed.
An improvement in lipedema-associated symptoms was also observed (p < 0.0001). The percentage reduction in complex decongestive therapy scores was greater in patients with a body mass index less than or equal to 35 kg/m(2) (p < 0.0001) and in stage I and II patients (p = 0.0019).
Conclusion:
Liposuction reduces the severity of symptoms and the need for conservative treatment in lipedema patients, especially if it is performed in patients with a body mass index below 35 kg/m(2) at an early stage of the disease.
Late Miocene-Pliocene onset of fluvial incision of the Cauca River Canyon in the Northern Andes
(2022)
The incision of kilometer-scale canyons into high-standing topography is often used to constrain the surface uplift history of mountain ranges, controlled by tectonic and geodynamic processes.
However, changes in climate may also be responsible for canyon incision. This study deciphers the timing of incision of the similar to 2.5-km-deep Cauca River Canyon in the Central Cordillera of the Northern Andes using the cooling (exhumation) history of rocks from the canyon walls and a regional analysis of channel steepness in rivers.
Ten bedrock samples and one detrital sample were collected on the eastern border of the canyon between 300 m and 2300 m of elevation.
Bedrock and detrital AFT data yield ages from 50 to 38 Ma, while two bed-rock AHe ages from the valley bottom yield ages of 7-6 Ma.
The AHe ages and inverse thermal history models reveal a previously unidentified late Miocene (ca. 7-6 Ma) pulse of exhumation that we interpret as the age of a single incision event that formed the Cauca River Canyon.
We conclude that the Cauca River Canyon was carved as a response to rock uplift in the northern Central Cordillera and propagation of an erosion wave into the mountain range starting in the latest Miocene.
We present SURFER, a novel reduced model for estimating the impact of CO2 emissions and solar radiation modification options on sea level rise and ocean acidification over timescales of several thousands of years.
SURFER has been designed for the analysis of CO2 emission and solar radiation modification policies, for supporting the computation of optimal (CO2 emission and solar radiation modification) policies and for the study of commitment and responsibility under uncertainty.
The model is based on a combination of conservation laws for the masses of atmospheric and oceanic carbon and for the oceanic temperature anomalies, and of adhoc parameterisations for the different sea level rise contributors: ice sheets, glaciers and ocean thermal expansion. It consists of 9 loosely coupled ordinary differential equations, is understandable, fast and easy to modify and calibrate.
It reproduces the results of more sophisticated, high-dimensional earth system models on timescales up to millennia.
A minimal light-driven approach was established for studying enzymatic CO2 conversion spectroscopically. The system consists of a photosensitizer Eosin Y, EDTA as a sacrificial electron donor and substrate source, and formate dehydrogenase from Rhodobacter capsulatus (RcFDH) as a biocatalyst. This simplified three-component system provides a photo-triggered control for in situ characterization of the entire catalytic reaction. Direct reduction of RcFDH by the photosensitizer without additional electron carriers was confirmed via UV-Vis spectroscopy, while GC-MS and IR spectroscopy were used to follow photoinduced CO2 generation from EDTA and its subsequent enzymatic reduction, yielding the product formate. Photo-driven and in vitro, dye-based CO2 reduction was inhibited by azide under a mixed (competitive-non-competitive) inhibition mode. IR spectroscopy reveals displacement of the competitively-bound azide by CO2, reflecting an interaction of both with the active site cofactor. This work comprises a proof-of-concept for a new approach to employ light for regulating the reaction of formate dehydrogenases and other CO2 reductases.
Carl Bergmann was an astute naturalist and physiologist. His ideas about animal size and shape were important advances in the pre-Darwinian nineteenth century. Bergmann's rule claims that that in cold climates, large body mass increases the ratio of volume-to-surface area and provides for maximum metabolic heat retention in mammals and birds. Conversely, in warmer temperatures, smaller body mass increases surface area relative to volume and allows for greater heat loss. For humans, we now know that body size and shape are regulated more by social-economic-political-emotional (SEPE) factors as well as nutrition-infection interactions. Temperature has virtually no effect. Bergmann's rule is a "just-so" story and should be relegated to teaching and scholarship about the history of science. That "rule" is no longer acceptable science and has nothing to tell us about physiological anthropology.
Since the first reported case of COVID-19 in 2019 in China and the official declaration from the World Health Organization in March 2021 as a pandemic, fast and accurate diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has played a major role worldwide. For this reason, various methods have been developed, comprising reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunoassays, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP), and bio(mimetic)sensors. Among the developed methods, RT-PCR is so far the gold standard. Herein, we give an overview of the MIP-based sensors utilized since the beginning of the pandemic.
Strain NGK35T is a motile, Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped (1.0-2.1 mu m long and 0.6-0.8 mu m wide), aerobic bacterium that was isolated from plastic-polluted landfill soil. The strain grew at temperatures between 6 and 37 degrees C (optimum, 28 degrees C), in 0-10 % NaCl (optimum, 1 %) and at pH 6.0-9.5 (optimum, pH 7.5-8.5).
It was positive for cytochrome c oxidase, catalase as well as H2S production, and hydrolysed casein and urea. It used a variety of different carbon sources including citrate, lactate and pyruvate.
The predominant membrane fatty acids were C-16:1 cis9 and C-16:0, followed by C-17:0 cyclo and C-18:1 cis11. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine, followed by diphosphatidyglycerol. The only quinone was ubiquinone Q-8. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain NGK35(T) belongs to the genus Paenalcaligenes (family Alcaligenaceae), appearing most closely related to Paenalcaligenes hominis CCUG 53761A(T) (96.90 %) and Paenalcaligenes suwonensis ABC02-12(T) (96.94 %).
The genomic DNA G+C content of strain NGK35(T) was 52.1 mol%. Genome-based calculations (genome-to-genome distance, average nucleotide identity and DNA G+C content) clearly indicated that the isolate represents a novel species within the genus Paenalcaligenes.
Based on phenotypic and molecular characterization, strain NGK35(T) can clearly be differentiated from its phylogenetic neighbours establishing a novel species, for which the name Paenalcaligenes niemegkensis sp. nov. is proposed.
The type strain is NGK35T (=DSM 113270(T)=NCCB 100854(T)).
Tropical cyclones range among the costliest of all meteorological events worldwide and planetary scale warming provides more energy and moisture to these storms. Modelling the national and global economic repercussions of 2017's Hurricane Harvey, we find a qualitative change in the global economic response in an increasingly warmer world.
While the United States were able to balance regional production failures by the original 2017 hurricane, this option becomes less viable under future warming.
In our simulations of over 7000 regional economic sectors with more than 1.8 million supply chain connections, the US are not able to offset the losses by use of national efforts with intensifying hurricanes under unabated warming.
At a certain warming level other countries have to step in to supply the necessary goods for production, which gives US economic sectors a competitive disadvantage. In the highly localized mining and quarrying sector-which here also comprises the oil and gas production industry-this disadvantage emerges already with the original Hurricane Harvey and intensifies under warming.
Eventually, also other regions reach their limit of what they can offset.
While we chose the example of a specific hurricane impacting a specific region, the mechanism is likely applicable to other climate-related events in other regions and other sectors.
It is thus likely that the regional economic sectors that are best adapted to climate change gain significant advantage over their competitors under future warming.
Background:
The medical care of patients with myositis is a great challenge in clinical practice. This is due to the rarity of these disease, the complexity of diagnosis and management as well as the lack of systematic analyses.
Objectives:
Therefore, the aim of this project was to obtain an overview of the current care of myositis patients in Germany and to evaluate epidemiological trends in recent years.
Methods:
In collaboration with BARMER Insurance, retrospective analysis of outpatient and inpatient data from an average of approximately 8.7 million insured patients between January 2005 and December 2019 was performed using ICD-10 codes for myositis for identification of relevant data.
In addition, a comparative analysis was performed between myositis patients and an age-matched comparison group from other populations insured by BARMER.
Results:
45,800 BARMER-insured individuals received a diagnosis of myositis during the observation period, with a relatively stable prevalence throughout. With regard to comorbidities, a significantly higher rate of cardiovascular disease as well as neoplasm was observed compared to the control group within the BARMER-insured population. In addition, myositis patients suffer more frequently from psychiatric disorders, such as depression and somatoform disorders.
However, the ICD-10 catalogue only includes the specific coding of "dermatomyositis" and "polymyositis" and thus does not allow for a sufficient analysis of all idiopathic inflammatory myopathies subtypes.
Conclusion:
The current data provide a comprehensive epidemiological analysis of myositis in Germany, highlighting the multimorbidity of myositis patients. This underlines the need for multidisciplinary management. However, the ICD-10 codes currently still in use do not allow for specific analysis of the subtypes of myositis.
The upcoming ICD-11 coding may improve future analyses in this regard.
The bulk built-in current sensor (BBICS) is a cost-effective solution for detection of energetic particle strikes in integrated circuits.
With an appropriate number of BBICSs distributed across the chip, the soft error locations can be identified, and the dynamic fault-tolerant mechanisms can be activated locally to correct the soft errors in the affected logic.
In this work, we introduce a pulse stretching BBICS (PS-BBICS) constructed by connecting a standard BBICS and a custom-designed pulse stretching cell.
The aim of PS-BBICS is to enable the on-chip measurement of the single event transient (SET) pulse width, allowing to detect the linear energy transfer (LET) of incident particles, and thus assess more accurately the radiation conditions.
Based on Spectre simula-tions, we have shown that for the LET from 1 to 100 MeV cm2 mg -1, the SET pulse width detected by PS-BBICS varies by 620-800 ps. The threshold LET of PS-BBICS increases linearly with the number of monitored inverters, and it is around 1.7 MeV cm2 mg- 1 for ten monitored inverters.
On the other hand, the SET pulse width is in-dependent of the number of monitored inverters for LET > 4 MeV cm2 mg -1. It was shown that supply voltage, temperature and process variations have strong impact on the response of PS-BBICS.
Background:
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disease in which related to obesity, metabolic disorders and is considered as one of the main causes of infertility in women. This trial was investigated the effects of green cardamom on the expression of genes implicated in obesity and diabetes among obese women with PCOS.
Methods:
One hundred ninety-four PCOS women were randomly divided two groups: intervention (n = 99; 3 g/day green cardamom) and control groups (n = 95). All of them were given low calorie diet. Anthropometric, glycemic and androgen hormones were assessed before and after 16-week intervention. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method was used to measure fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO), peroxisome proliferative activating receptor- (PPAR-), carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A), acetyl-CoA carboxylase beta (ACAB), leptin receptor (LEPR), ghrelin, and lamin A/C (LAMIN) genes expression in each group.
Results:
Anthropometric indices were significantly decreased after intervention in both two studied groups. Glycemic indices and androgen hormones were significantly improved in the intervention group compared to the control group. The expression levels of FTO, CPT1A, LEPR, and LAMIN were significantly downregulated compared to control group (P < 0.001), as well as, PPAR-y was significantly upregulated in the intervention group after intervention with green cardamom compared to control group (P < 0.001).
Conclusion:
This current study showed that the administration of green cardamom is a beneficial approach for improving anthropometric, glycemic, and androgen hormones, as well as obesity and diabetes genes expression in PCOS women under the low-calorie diet.
Photosynthetic activity in both algae and cyanobacteria changes in response to cues of predation
(2022)
A plethora of adaptive responses to predation has been described in microscopic aquatic producers.
Although the energetic costs of these responses are expected, with their consequences going far beyond an individual, their underlying molecular and metabolic mechanisms are not fully known.
One, so far hardly considered, is if and how the photosynthetic efficiency of phytoplankton might change in response to the predation cues. Our main aim was to identify such responses in phytoplankton and to detect if they are taxon-specific.
We exposed seven algae and seven cyanobacteria species to the chemical cues of an efficient consumer, Daphnia magna, which was fed either a green alga, Acutodesmus obliquus, or a cyanobacterium, Synechococcus elongatus (kairomone and alarm cues), or was not fed (kairomone alone).
In most algal and cyanobacterial species studied, the quantum yield of photosystem II increased in response to predator fed cyanobacterium, whereas in most of these species the yield did not change in response to predator fed alga.
Also, cyanobacteria tended not to respond to a non-feeding predator. The modal qualitative responses of the electron transport rate were similar to those of the quantum yield.
To our best knowledge, the results presented here are the broadest scan of photosystem II responses in the predation context so far.
Regional Flood Frequency Analysis (RFFA) is one of the widely used approaches for estimating design floods in the ungauged basins.
We developed an eXtreme Gradient Boost (XGB) machine learning model for RFFA and flood estimation.
Our approach relies on developing a regression model between flood quantiles and the commonly available catchment descriptors.
We used CAMELs data for 671 catchments from the USA to test the approach's efficacy. The results were compared with the traditional Multiple Linear Regression methods and Artificial Neural Networks.
Results revealed that the XGB-based approach estimated design flood with the highest accuracy during training and validation with minor mean absolute error, root mean square error values, and percentage bias ranging from -10 to + 10.
The importance of each catchment feature is visualized by three different approaches Gini Impurity, Permutation, and Dropout Loss Feature Ranking. We observed that the most dominating variables are rainfall intensity, slope, snow fraction, soil porosity, and temperature. It is observed that the importance of these variables is a function of the hydroclimatic regions and varies with space.
In contrast, mean annual areal potential evapotranspiration, mean annual rainfall, fraction forest area, and soil conductivity have low significance in estimating design flood for an ungauged catchment.
Indeed, the proposed XGB-based approach has broader applicability and replicability.
We prove that optimal lower eigenvalue estimates of Zhong-Yang type as well as a Cheng-type upper bound for the first eigenvalue hold on closed manifolds assuming only a Kato condition on the negative part of the Ricci curvature.
This generalizes all earlier results on Lp-curvature assumptions.
Moreover, we introduce the Kato condition on compact manifolds with boundary with respect to the Neumann Laplacian, leading to Harnack estimates for the Neumann heat kernel and lower bounds for all Neumann eigenvalues, which provides a first insight in handling variable Ricci curvature assumptions in this case.
Diffusive search for a static target is a common problem in statistical physics with numerous applications in chemistry and biology.
We look at this problem from a different perspective and investigate the statistics of encounters between the diffusing particle and the target. While an exact solution of this problem was recently derived in the form of a spectral expansion over the eigenbasis of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator, the latter is generally difficult to access for an arbitrary target.
In this paper, we present three complementary approaches to approximate the probability density of the rescaled number of encounters with a small target in a bounded confining domain. In particular, we derive a simple fully explicit approximation, which depends only on a few geometric characteristics such as the surface area and the harmonic capacity of the target, and the volume of the confining domain.
We discuss the advantages and limitations of three approaches and check their accuracy.
We also deduce an explicit approximation for the distribution of the first-crossing time, at which the number of encounters exceeds a prescribed threshold. Its relations to common first-passage time problems are discussed.
First-passage times in conical varying-width channels biased by a transverse gravitational force
(2022)
We study the crossing time statistic of diffusing point particles between the two ends of expanding and narrowing two-dimensional conical channels under a transverse external gravitational field.
The theoretical expression for the mean first-passage time for such a system is derived under the assumption that the axial diffusion in a two-dimensional channel of smoothly varying geometry can be approximately described as a one-dimensional diffusion in an entropic potential with position-dependent effective diffusivity in terms of the modified Fick-Jacobs equation.
We analyze the channel crossing dynamics in terms of the mean first-passage time, combining our analytical results with extensive two-dimensional Brownian dynamics simulations, allowing us to find the range of applicability of the one-dimensional approximation.
We find that the effective particle diffusivity decreases with increasing amplitude of the external potential.
Remarkably, the mean first-passage time for crossing the channel is shown to assume a minimum at finite values of the potential amplitude.
Previous studies suggest that associations between numbers and space are mediated by shifts of visuospatial attention along the horizontal axis. In this study, we investigated the effect of vertical shifts of overt attention, induced by optokinetic stimulation (OKS) and monitored through eye-tracking, in two tasks requiring explicit (number comparison) or implicit (parity judgment) processing of number magnitude. Participants were exposed to black-and-white stripes (OKS) that moved vertically (upward or downward) or remained static (control condition). During the OKS, participants were asked to verbally classify auditory one-digit numbers as larger/smaller than 5 (comparison task; Exp. 1) or as odd/even (parity task; Exp. 2). OKS modulated response times in both experiments. In Exp.1, upward attentional displacement decreased the Magnitude effect (slower responses for large numbers) and increased the Distance effect (slower responses for numbers close to the reference). In Exp.2, we observed a complex interaction between parity, magnitude, and OKS, indicating that downward attentional displacement slowed down responses for large odd numbers. Moreover, eye tracking analyses revealed an influence of number processing on eye movements both in Exp. 1, with eye gaze shifting downwards during the processing of small numbers as compared to large ones; and in Exp. 2, with leftward shifts after large even numbers (6,8) and rightward shifts after large odd numbers (7,9). These results provide evidence of bidirectional links between number and space and extend them to the vertical dimension. Moreover, they document the influence of visuo-spatial attention on processing of numerical magnitude, numerical distance, and parity. Together, our findings are in line with grounded and embodied accounts of numerical cognition.
The history of the Messiah in Judaism is a history of disappointed hopes. Again and again, there were salvation fi gures to whom this role was ascribed. But redemption from occupation and foreign rule, exile, oppression and persecution failed to materialize. Therefore, the expectation of the Messiah fell to the periphery of Jewish theology. This article examinesin what ways the messianic concept plays a role in modern times and what it contributes to describing the relationship between God and humanity in Judaism. The author intends to show the development from the abandonment of a personal Messiah towards the affi rmation of the prophets’ hope for a universal messianic age in which the duty of all people to participate in the healing of the world becomes central. What becomes also clear is: The messiah idea cannot be a bridge between Christianity and Judaism.
Rhythmicity characterizes both interpersonal synchrony and spoken language. Emotions and language are forms of interpersonal communication, which interact with each other throughout development. We investigated whether and how emotional synchrony between mothers and their 9-month-old infants relates to infants' word segmentation as an early marker of language development. Twenty-six 9-month-old infants and their German-speaking mothers took part in the study. To measure emotional synchrony, we coded positive, neutral and negative emotional expressions of the mothers and their infants during a free play session. We then calculated the degree to which the mothers' and their infants' matching emotional expressions followed a predictable pattern. To measure word segmentation, we familiarized infants with auditory text passages and tested how long they looked at the screen while listening to familiar versus novel words. We found that higher levels of predictability (i.e. low entropy) during mother-infant interaction is associated with infants' word segmentation performance. These findings suggest that individual differences in word segmentation relate to the complexity and predictability of emotional expressions during mother-infant interactions.
This longitudinal study aimed to investigate how motivational transitions of adolescents in the domain of mathematics from Grades 9 to 10 were related to student-perceived mathematics teacher support and student -oriented teaching. Data were drawn from the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and its German national extension called PISA Plus 2012-2013. We used a subsample of 2605 students (51.0 % girls) from 198 classrooms. Using latent profile analyses, we identified three motivational patterns based on expectancy-value theory that were meaningfully associated with students' mathematics test scores and work ethics. Latent transition analyses showed that these patterns were mostly stable across time. Occurring changes were characterized by a decrease in mathematics motivation across time. Student-oriented teaching as reported by students in Grade 9 impeded maladaptive motivational transitions. Students with particularly low interest and utility value benefitted from teachers who direct their instruction at students' motivational characteristics.
Purpose: Coarticulatory effects in speech vary across development, but the sources of this variation remain unclear. This study investigated whether developmental differences in intrasyllabic coarticulation degree could be explained by differences in children's articulatory patterns compared to adults.
Method: To address this question, we first compared the tongue configurations of 3-to 7-year-old German children to those of adults. The observed developmental differences were then examined through simulations with Task Dynamics Application, a Task Dynamics simulation system, to establish which articulatory modifications could best reproduce the empirical results. To generate syllables simulating the lack of tongue gesture differentiation, we tested three simulation scenarios.
Results: We found that younger speakers use less differentiated articulatory patterns to achieve alveolar constrictions than adults. The simulations corresponding to undifferentiated control of tongue tip and tongue body resulted in (a) tongue shapes similar to those observed in natural speech and (b) higher degrees of intrasyllabic coarticulation in children when compared to adults.
Conclusions: Results provide evidence that differences in articulatory patterns contribute to developmental differences in coarticulation degree. This study further shows that empirically informed modeling can advance our understanding of changes in coarticulatory patterns across age.
The article explores the philosophical exegesis in Obadiah Sforno's sixteenth-century Psalms commentary and its reception in Berlin of the late eighteenth century, where it was reprinted in the Haskalah's biggest bestseller-an edition of Moses Mendelssohn's Psalms translation with Hebrew commentary.
While the inclusion of entire commentaries by earlier exegetes was unique among all Haskalah Bible editions, I argue that the choice to include Sforno's commentary alongside Mendelssohn's translation of Psalms, itself an expression of Mendelssohn's political-theological defense of Judaism, was intended to buttress shared philosophical doctrines and concepts located by the two scholars in Psalms, notwithstanding temporal and cultural divergences: imitatio Dei, the salvation of the individual soul, and Israel's eternity.
Trade-offs between traits are present across different levels of biological systems and ultimately reflect constraints imposed by physicochemical laws and the structure of underlying biochemical networks. Yet, mechanistic explanation of how trade-offs between molecular traits arise and how they relate to optimization of fitness-related traits remains elusive. Here, we introduce the concept of relative flux trade-offs and propose a constraint-based approach, termed FluTOr, to identify metabolic reactions whose fluxes are in relative trade-off with respect to an optimized fitness-related cellular task, like growth. We then employed FluTOr to identify relative flux trade-offs in the genome-scale metabolic networks of Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Arabidopsis thaliana. For the metabolic models of E. coli and S. cerevisiae we showed that: (i) the identified relative flux trade-offs depend on the carbon source used and that (ii) reactions that participated in relative trade-offs in both species were implicated in cofactor biosynthesis. In contrast to the two microorganisms, the relative flux trade-offs for the metabolic model of A. thaliana did not depend on the available nitrogen sources, reflecting the differences in the underlying metabolic network as well as the considered environments. Lastly, the established connection between relative flux trade-offs allowed us to identify overexpression targets that can be used to optimize fitness-related traits. Altogether, our computational approach and findings demonstrate how relative flux trade-offs can shape optimization of metabolic tasks, important in biotechnological applications.
Formal constraints on crossing dependencies have played a large role in research on the formal complexity of natural language grammars and parsing. Here we ask whether the apparent evidence for constraints on crossing dependencies in treebanks might arise because of independent constraints on trees, such as low arity and dependency length minimization. We address this question using two sets of experiments. In Experiment 1, we compare the distribution of formal properties of crossing dependencies, such as gap degree, between real trees and baseline trees matched for rate of crossing dependencies and various other properties. In Experiment 2, we model whether two dependencies cross, given certain psycholinguistic properties of the dependencies. We find surprisingly weak evidence for constraints originating from the mild context-sensitivity literature (gap degree and well-nestedness) beyond what can be explained by constraints on rate of crossing dependencies, topological properties of the trees, and dependency length. However, measures that have emerged from the parsing literature (e.g., edge degree, end-point crossings, and heads' depth difference) differ strongly between real and random trees. Modeling results show that cognitive metrics relating to information locality and working-memory limitations affect whether two dependencies cross or not, but they do not fully explain the distribution of crossing dependencies in natural languages. Together these results suggest that crossing constraints are better characterized by processing pressures than by mildly context-sensitive constraints.
Развитие науки, общества и медицины ведет за собой неуклонный рост средней продолжительности жизни. В результате наука сталкивается с новыми задачами, в число которых входит предотвращение деменции и поддержание эффективной работоспособности мозга при старении человека. Одним из защитных факторов, предотвращающих ослабление когнитивных функций и поддерживающих нейропластичность мозга, является билингвизм.
Однако дебаты насчет нейропротекторных свойств двуязычия до сих пор являются актуальными. В данной статье рассмотрен феномен нейрокогнитивного резерва (НКР) и определена взаимосвязь между билингвизмом и такими составляющими НКР, как мозговой резерв, нейрональный резерв и нейрональная компенсация.
Кроме этого, в статье приведен обзор исследований, посвященных изучению нейронных и когнитивных механизмов влияния билингвизма на здоровое функционирование мозга при старении. В заключении мы вкратце остановились на том, каким образом двуязычие может защищать мозг от старения благодаря взаимодействию между мозговыми и когнитивными составляющими НКР.
Microbiomes have an immense potential to enhance plant resilience to various biotic and abiotic stresses. However, intrinsic microbial communities respond to changes in their host's physiology and environment during plant's life cycle. The potential of the inherent plant microbiome has been neglected for a long time, especially for the postharvest period. Currently, close to 50% of all produced fruits and vegetables are lost either during production or storage. Biological control of spoilage and storage diseases is still lacking sufficiency. Today, novel multiomics technologies allow us to study the microbiome and its responses on a community level, which will help to advance current classic approaches and develop more effective and robust microbiome-based solutions for fruit and vegetable storability, quality, and safety.
Otter shrew mitogenomes (Afrotheria, Potamogalidae) reconstructed from historical museum skins
(2022)
African otter shrews (Potamogalidae) are Afrotherian mammals adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle. Given their rareness, genetic data on otter shrews are limited. By applying laboratory methods tuned for the recovery of archival DNA and an iterative mapping approach, we reconstructed whole mitochondrial genomes of the Giant (Potamogale velox) and Ruwenzori pygmy otter shrew (Micropotamogale ruwenzorii) from historical museum skins. Phylogenetic analyses are consistent with previous reports in recovering a sister relationship between African otter shrews and Malagasy tenrecs. The long branches separating both lineages, however, support their recognition as separate families.
Critical role of parasite-mediated energy pathway on community response to nutrient enrichment
(2022)
Parasites form an integral part of food webs, however, they are often ignored in classic food web theory or limited to the investigation of trophic transmission pathways. Specifically, direct consumption of parasites by nonhost predators is rarely considered, while it can contribute substantially to energy flow in food webs. In aquatic systems, chytrids constitute a major group of fungal parasites whose free-living infective stages (zoospores) form a highly nutritional food source to zooplankton. Thereby, the consumption of zoospores can create an energy pathway from otherwise inedible phytoplankton to zooplankton ( "mycoloop "). This parasite-mediated energy pathway might be of special importance during phytoplankton blooms dominated by inedible or toxic primary producers like cyanobacteria, which are on the rise with eutrophication and global warming. We theoretically investigated community dynamics and energy transfer in a food web consisting of an edible nonhost and an inedible host phytoplankton species, a parasitic fungus, and a zooplankton species grazing on edible phytoplankton and fungi. Food web dynamics were investigated along a nutrient gradient contrasting nonadaptive zooplankton species representative for filter feeders like cladocerans and zooplankton with the ability to actively adapt their feeding preferences like many copepod species. Overall, the importance of the mycoloop for zooplankton increases with nutrient availability. This increase is smooth for nonadaptive consumers. For adaptive consumers, we observe an abrupt shift from an almost exclusive preference for edible phytoplankton at low nutrient levels to a strong preference for parasitic fungi at high nutrient levels. The model predicts that parasitic fungi could contribute up to 50% of the zooplankton diet in nutrient-rich environments, which agrees with empirical observations on zooplankton gut content from eutrophic systems during blooms of inedible diatoms or cyanobacteria. Our findings highlight the role of parasite-mediated energy pathways for predictions of energy flow and community composition under current and future environmental change.
Multi-species biofilms are more resistant against stress compared to single-species biofilms. However, the mechanisms underlying this common observation remain elusive. Therefore, we studied biofilm formation of well-known opportunistic pathogens (Acinetobacter baumanii, Enterococcus faecium, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus haemolyticus and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia) in various approaches. Synergistic effects in their multi species biofilms were observed. Using metatranscriptomics, changes in the gene expression of the involved members became evident, and provided explanations for the improved survivability under nutrient limitation and exposure to disinfectants. Genes encoding proteins for vitamin B6 synthesis and iron uptake were linked to synergism in the multi-species biofilm under nutrient-limited conditions. Our study indicates that sub-lethal concentrations of an alcohol-based disinfectant enhance biofilm yields in multi-species assemblages. A reduction of the dominant taxa in the multi-species biofilm under disinfectant pressure allowed minor taxa to bloom. The findings underline the importance of minor but antimicrobial-resistant species that serve as "protectors" for the whole assemblage due to upregulation of genes involved in defence mechanisms and biofilm formation. This ultimately results in an increase in the total yield of the multi-species biofilm. We conclude that inter-species interactions may be crucial for the survival of opportunistic pathogens; especially under conditions that are typically found under hospital settings.
The acquisition of clitics still remains a highly controversial issue in Greek acquisition literature despite the bulk of studies performed.
Object clitics have been shown to be early acquired by monolingual children in terms of production rates, whereas only highly proficient bilingual children achieve target-like performance.
Crucially, errors in gender marking are persistent for monolingual and bilingual children even when adult-like production rates are achieved.
This study aims to readdress the acquisition of clitics in an innovative way, by entering the variable of gender in an experimental design targeting to assess production and processing by bilingual and monolingual children.
Moreover, we examined the role of language proficiency (in terms of general verbal intelligence and syntactic production abilities). The groups had comparable performance in both tasks (in terms of correct responses and error distribution in production and reaction times in comprehension).
However, verbal intelligence had an effect on the performance of the monolingual but not of the bilingual group in the production task, and bilingual children were overall slower in the comprehension task. Syntactic production abilities did not have any effect. We argue that gender marking affects clitic processing, and we discuss the implications of our findings for bilingual acquisition.
We consider the synchrotron emission from electrons out in the Galactic halo bubble region where the Fermi bubble structures reside.
Utilizing a simple analytical expression for the non-thermal electron distribution and a toy magnetic field model, we simulate polarized synchrotron emission maps at a frequency of 30 GHz.
Comparing these maps with the observational data, we obtain constraints on the parameters of our toy Galactic halo bubble magnetic field model.
Utilizing this parameter value range for the toy magnetic field model, we determine the corresponding range of arrival directions and suppression factors of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) from potential local source locations.
We find that high levels of flux suppression (down to 2 per cent) and large deflection angles (>= 80 degrees) are possible for source locations whose line of sight pass through the Galactic halo bubble region.
We conclude that the magnetic field out in the Galactic halo bubble region can strongly dominate the level of deflection UHECRs experience whilst propagating from local sources to Earth.
Large agricultural streams receive excessive inputs of nitrogen.
However, quantifying the role of these streams in nitrogen processing remains limited because continuous direct measurements of the interacting and highly time-varying nitrogen processing pathways in larger streams and rivers are very complex.
Therefore, we employed a monitoring-driven modelling approach with high-frequency in situ data and the river water quality model Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP) 7.5.2 in the 27.4 km reach of the sixth-order agricultural stream called Lower Bode (central Germany) for a 5-year period (2014-2018).
Paired high-frequency sensor data (15 min interval) of discharge, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll a at upstream and downstream stations were used as model boundaries and for setting model constraints.
The WASP model simulated 15 min intervals of discharge, nitrate, and dissolved oxygen with Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency values higher than 0.9 for calibration and validation, enabling the calculation of gross and net dissolved inorganic nitrogen uptake and pathway rates on a daily, seasonal, and multiannual scale.
Results showed daily net uptake rate of dissolved inorganic nitrogen ranged from -17.4 to 553.9 mgNm(-2)d(-1). The highest daily net uptake could reach almost 30 % of the total input loading, which occurred at extreme low flow in summer 2018.
The growing season (spring and summer) accounted for 91 % of the average net annual uptake of dissolved inorganic nitrogen in the measured period. In spring, both the DIN gross and net uptake were dominated by the phytoplankton uptake pathway. In summer, benthic algae assimilation dominated the gross uptake of dissolved inorganic nitrogen.
Conversely, the reach became a net source of dissolved inorganic nitrogen with negative daily net uptake values in autumn and winter, mainly because the release from benthic algae surpassed uptake processes.
Over the 5 years, average gross and net uptake rates of dissolved inorganic nitrogen were 124.1 and 56.8 mgNm(-2)d(-1), which accounted for only 2.7 % and 1.2 % of the total loadings in the Lower Bode, respectively. The 5-year average gross DIN uptake decreased from assimilation by benthic algae through assimilation by phytoplankton to denitrification.
Our study highlights the value of combining river water quality modelling with high-frequency data to obtain a reliable budget of instream dissolved inorganic nitrogen processing which facilitates our ability to manage nitrogen in aquatic systems.
This study provides a methodology that can be applied to any large stream to quantify nitrogen processing pathway dynamics and complete our understanding of nitrogen cycling.
Temperature impacts on hate speech online: evidence from 4 billion geolocated tweets from the USA
(2022)
Background - A link between weather and aggression in the offline world has been established across a variety of societal settings. Simultaneously, the rapid digitalisation of nearly every aspect of everyday life has led to a high frequency of interpersonal conflicts online. Hate speech online has become a prevalent problem that has been shown to aggravate mental health conditions, especially among young people and marginalised groups.
We examine the effect of temperature on the occurrence of hate speech on the social media platform Twitter and interpret the results in the context of the interlinkage between climate change, human behaviour, and mental health.
Methods - In this quantitative empirical study, we used a supervised machine learning approach to identify hate speech in a dataset containing around 4 billion geolocated tweets from 773 cities across the USA between May 1, 2014 and May 1, 2020.
We statistically evaluated the changes in daily hate tweets against changes in local temperature, isolating the temperature influence from confounding factors using binned panel-regression models.
Findings - The prevalence of hate tweets was lowest at moderate temperatures (12 to 21?) and marked increases in the number of hate tweets were observed at hotter and colder temperatures, reaching up to 12middot5% (95% CI 8middot0-16middot5) for cold temperature extremes (-6 to -3?) and up to 22middot0% (95% CI 20middot5-23middot5) for hot temperature extremes (42 to 45?). Outside of the moderate temperature range, the hate tweets also increased as a proportion of total tweeting activity. The quasi-quadratic shape of the temperature-hate tweet curve was robust across varying climate zones, income quartiles, religious and political beliefs, and both city-level and state-level aggregations.
However, temperature ranges with the lowest prevalence of hate tweets were centred around the local temperature mean and the magnitude of the increases in hate tweets for hot and cold temperatures varied across the climate zones.
Interpretation - Our results highlight hate speech online as a potential channel through which temperature alters interpersonal conflict and societal aggression. We provide empirical evidence that hot and cold temperatures can aggravate aggressive tendencies online. The prevalence of the results across climatic and socioeconomic subgroups points to limitations in the ability of humans to adapt to temperature extremes.
Soil microbial communities are crucial for plant growth and are already depleted by anthropogenic activities.
The application of microbial transplants provides a strategy to restore beneficial soil traits, but less is known about the microbiota of traditional inoculants used in biodynamic agriculture.
In this study, we used amplicon sequencing and quantitative PCR to decipher microbial communities of composts, biodynamic manures, and plant preparations from Austria and France.
In addition, we investigated the effect of extracts derived from biodynamic manure and compost on the rhizosphere microbiome of apple trees. Microbiota abundance, composition, and diversity of biodynamic manures, plant preparations, and composts were distinct. Microbial abundances ranged between 1010-1011 (bacterial 16S rRNA genes) and 109-1011 (fungal ITS genes). The bacterial diversity was significantly higher in biodynamic manures compared to compost without discernible differences in abundance. Fungal diversity was not significantly different while abundance was increased in biodynamic manures. The microbial communities of biodynamic manures and plant preparations were specific for each production site, but all contain potentially plant-beneficial bacterial genera.
When applied in apple orchards, biodynamic preparations (extracts) had the non-significant effect of reducing bacterial and fungal abundance in apple rhizosphere (4 months post-application), while increasing fungal and lowering bacterial Shannon diversity.
One to four months after inoculation, individual taxa indicated differential abundance. We observed the reduction of the pathogenic fungus Alternaria, and the enrichment of potentially beneficial bacterial genera such as Pseudomonas.
Our study paves way for the science-based adaptation of empirically developed biodynamic formulations under different farming practices to restore the vitality of agricultural soils.
Patient monitoring technology has been used to guide therapy and alert staff when a vital sign leaves a predefined range in the intensive care unit (ICU) for decades. However, large amounts of technically false or clinically irrelevant alarms provoke alarm fatigue in staff leading to desensitisation towards critical alarms.
With this systematic review, we are following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) checklist in order to summarise scientific efforts that aimed to develop IT systems to reduce alarm fatigue in ICUs. 69 peer-reviewed publications were included. The majority of publications targeted the avoidance of technically false alarms, while the remainder focused on prediction of patient deterioration or alarm presentation.
The investigated alarm types were mostly associated with heart rate or arrhythmia, followed by arterial blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and respiratory rate.
Most publications focused on the development of software solutions, some on wearables, smartphones, or headmounted displays for delivering alarms to staff.
The most commonly used statistical models were tree-based. In conclusion, we found strong evidence that alarm fatigue can be alleviated by IT-based solutions.
However, future efforts should focus more on the avoidance of clinically non-actionable alarms which could be accelerated by improving the data availability.
One of the most challenging difficulties for incumbent organisations, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is to manage digital transformation driven by technological change. Incumbent organisations' responses to digital transformation have been extensively studied in the current literature.
However, most research neglects digital transformation in SMEs. There are hardly any valid developed measures for the maturity of digital transformation. We present a holistic digital transformation maturity model based on an extensive literature review, qualitative computer-assisted data analysis, and empirical findings.
The digital transformation maturity model focuses on small- and medium-sized enterprises' unique features and characteristics.
We proved the practical applicability and relevance of the digital transformation maturity model in an extensive study involving various organisations, particularly German SMEs (n = 310).
Organisations can use this model to assess themselves initially and, through this process, gain a comprehensive understanding of the multiple forms of digital transformation.
It is often claimed that the entropy of a network's degree distribution is a proxy for its robustness. Here, we clarify the link between degree distribution entropy and giant component robustness to node removal by showing that the former merely sets a lower bound to the latter for randomly configured networks when no other network characteristics are specified. Furthermore, we show that, for networks of fixed expected degree that follow degree distributions of the same form, the degree distribution entropy is not indicative of robustness. By contrast, we show that the remaining degree entropy and robustness have a positive monotonic relationship and give an analytic expression for the remaining degree entropy of the log-normal distribution. We also show that degree-degree correlations are not by themselves indicative of a network's robustness for real networks. We propose an adjustment to how mutual information is measured which better encapsulates structural properties related to robustness.
We discuss the coherent splitting and recombining of a nanoparticle in a mesoscopic "closed-loop" Stern-Gerlach interferometer in which the observable is the spin of a single impurity embedded in the particle.
This spin, when interacting with a pulsed magnetic gradient, generates the force on the particle.
We calculate the internal decoherence, which arises as the displaced impurity excites internal degrees of freedom (phonons) that may provide WelcherWeg information and preclude interference.
We estimate the constraints this decoherence channel puts on future interference experiments with massive objects. We find that for a wide range of masses, forces, and temperatures, phonons do not inhibit Stern-Gerlach interferometry with micro-scale objects.
However, phonons do constitute a fundamental limit on the splitting of larger macroscopic objects if the applied force induces phonons.
The radiation model is a parameter-free model of human mobility that has been applied primarily for short-distance moves, such as commuting. When applied to migration, it underestimates the number of long-range moves, such as between different US states. Here we show that it additionally suffers from a conceptual inconsistency that can have substantial numerical effects on long-distance moves.
We propose a modification of the radiation model that introduces a dependence on the angle between any two alternative potential destinations, accounting for the possibility that migrants may have preferences about the approximate direction of their move.
We demonstrate that this modification mitigates the conceptual inconsistency and improves the model fit to observational migration data, without introducing any fitting parameters.
The Shanderman lamprophyre dykes crop out in the western part of the Alborz Mountains (Talesh).
These rocks are classified as camptonites, composed of primary olivine, Ti-rich diopside, kaersutite, biotite, plagioclase, K-feldspar, and minor Ti-rich spinels, magnetite, pentlandite-pyrrhotite/chalcopyrite, and powellite-scheelite. Secondary analcime-wairakite, serpentines, and prehnite are common minor minerals within the studied rocks.
Olivine, Ti-rich diopside, spinel, and amphibole show distinct chemical zoning. Spinels display a core-to-rim decrease in Cr2O3, MgO, and Al2O3 concentrations and an increase in TiO2 and FeOT (total Fe as FeO), reflecting the oxidation state increase due to hydrothermal fluid influx. Low SiO2 contents (< 42 wt%), high MgO (12.44 to 13.98 wt%), and Fe2O3T (12.76 to 13.43 wt%), Cr (318-537 mu g/g) and Ni (231-327 mu g/g) contents indicate the ultrabasic nature of the rocks.
The samples show potassic character (2.1-2.8 wt% K2O), along with elevated LREE and LILE, and also exhibit minor positive Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 1.09 to 1.20).
Olivine-spinel geothermometry indicates a maximum crystallization temperature of 1227 degrees C (ave. 988 degrees C +/- 65 degrees C).
Exsolution of pentlandite-pyrrhotite/chalcopyrite solid solutions occurred during magma cooling and crystallization. At lower temperatures, analcime-wairakite and prehnite partially replaced plagioclases.
The geochemical modeling of the rocks indicates the Shanderman lamprophyre magmas were derived from low-grade melting (< 5%) of amphibole-bearing garnet lherzolite source without or with very few phlogopites.
The primary magma of Shanderman lamprophyres was derived from a depth of similar to 135 km by partial melting of a metasomatized mantle source in a post-collisional environment.
Contour scanning and process gas type are process parameters typically considered achieving second order effects compared to first order factors such as laser power and scanning speed.
The present work highlights that contour scanning is crucial to ensure geometrical accuracy and thereby the high performance under uniaxial compression of complex Alloy 718 lattice structures.
Studies of X-ray computed tomography visualizations of as-built and compression-strained structures reveal the continuous and smooth bending and compression of the walls, and the earlier onset of internal contact appearance in the denser lattices printed with contour. In contrast, the effect of addition of He to the Ar process gas appears to have limited influence on the mechanical response of the lattices and their microstructure as characterized by electron backscattered diffraction.
However, the addition of He proved to significantly enhance the cooling rate and to reduce the amount of the generated spatters as evidenced by in situ monitoring of the process emissions, which is very promising for the process stability and powder reusability during laser powder bed fusion.
In this work, we investigate the photo-aquation reaction of the ferrocyanide anion with multi-edge picosecond soft X-ray spectroscopy.
Combining the information of the iron L-edge with nitrogen and oxygen K-edges, we carry out a complete characterization of the bonding channels in the [Fe(CN)(5)(H2O)](3-) photo-product.
We observe clear spectral signatures of covalent bonding between water and the metal, reflecting the mixing of the Fe d(z)(2) orbital with the 3a(1) and 4a(1) orbitals of H2O. Additional fingerprints related to the symmetry reduction and the resulting loss in orbital degeneracy are also reported.
The implications of the elucidated fingerprints in the context of future ultra-fast experiments are also discussed.
In the Universe, matter outside of stars and compact objects is mostly composed of collisionless plasma.
The interaction of a supersonic plasma flow with an obstacle results in collisionless shocks that are often associated with intense nonthermal radiation and the production of cosmic ray particles.
Motivated by simulations of non-relativistic high-Mach-number shocks in supernova remnants, we investigate the instabilities excited by relativistic electron beams in the extended foreshock of oblique shocks.
The phase-space distributions in the inner and outer foreshock regions are derived with a particle-in-cell simulation of the shock and used as initial conditions for simulations with periodic boundary conditions to study their relaxation toward equilibrium.
We find that the observed electron-beam instabilities agree very well with the predictions of a linear dispersion analysis: the electrostatic electron-acoustic instability dominates in the outer region of the foreshock, while the denser electron beams in the inner foreshock drive the gyroresonant oblique-whistler instability.
Understanding the assembly mechanism and function of membrane proteins is a fundamental problem in biochemical research. Among the membrane proteins, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent the largest class in the human body and have long been considered to function as monomers.
Nowadays, the oligomeric assembly of GPCRs is widely accepted, although the functional importance and therapeutic intervention remain largely unexplored. This is partly due to difficulties in the heterologous production of membrane proteins.
Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) with its endogenous endoplasmic reticulum-derived structures has proven as a technique to address this issue.
In this study, we investigate for the first time the conceptual CFPS of a heteromeric GPCR, the gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor type B (GABA(B)), from its protomers BR1 and BR2 using a eukaryotic cell-free lysate. Using a fluorescence-based proximity ligation assay, we provide evidence for colocalization and thus suggesting heterodimerization.
We prove the heterodimeric assembly by a bioluminescence resonance energy transfer saturation assay providing the manufacturability of a heterodimeric GPCR by CFPS. Additionally, we show the binding of a fluorescent orthosteric antagonist, demonstrating the feasibility of combining the CFPS of GPCRs with pharmacological applications.
These results provide a simple and powerful experimental platform for the synthesis of heteromeric GPCRs and open new perspectives for the modelling of protein-protein interactions.
Accordingly, the presented technology enables the targeting of protein assemblies as a new interface for pharmacological intervention in disease-relevant dimers.
Analysis of single event transient effects in standard delay cells based on decoupling capacitors
(2022)
Single Event Transients (SETs), i.e., voltage glitches induced in combinational logic as a result of the passage of energetic particles, represent an increasingly critical reliability threat for modern complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits (ICs) employed in space missions.
In rad-hard ICs implemented with standard digital cells, special design techniques should be applied to reduce the Soft Error Rate (SER) due to SETs.
To this end, it is essential to consider the SET robustness of individual standard cells. Among the wide range of logic cells available in standard cell libraries, the standard delay cells (SDCs) implemented with the skew-sized inverters are exceptionally vulnerable to SETs. Namely, the SET pulses induced in these cells may be hundreds of picoseconds longer than those in other standard cells.
In this work, an alternative design of a SDC based on two inverters and two decoupling capacitors is introduced. Electrical simulations have shown that the propagation delay and SET robustness of the proposed delay cell are strongly influenced by the transistor sizes and supply voltage, while the impact of temperature is moderate. The proposed design is more tolerant to SETs than the SDCs with skew-sized inverters, and occupies less area compared to the hardening configurations based on partial and complete duplication.
Due to the low transistor count (only six transistors), the proposed delay cell could also be used as a SET filter.