bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tropical cyclones position and intensity in the Southwest Indian Ocean as represented by CFS and ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis datasets
Authors: Bié Alberto José , de Camargo Ricardo
Published: May 2023

Tropical cyclones are the most devastating meteorological systems that affect the Southwestern Indian Ocean (SWIO) bordering nations. The understanding of their track and intensity evolution is essential for the characterization of the systems. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction–Climate Forecast System (CFS) dataset and the ECWMF fifth‐generation reanalysis (ERA5) are evaluated against best‐track data from the International Best‐Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) from 1980 to 2019 cyclone seasons. The cyclones were tracked within the reanalyses using a tracking algorithm based on relative vorticity and identified using a spatiotemporal matching method. Climatology from IBTrACS showed significant negative (positive) trend in the total number (number of intense) of systems; however, the evaluation of trends has to be cautious because it may be limited due to uncertainties in the first decades of data. Results for reanalyses showed that both performed similarly although some peculiarities were noted. CFS presented a slightly higher probability of detection, related to its special treatment of tropical cyclone‐like vortex, being able to reproduce all systems between 2000 and 2019. For positions, the majority of the systems have average errors around 50–60 km and the errors generally decrease with the intensity of the systems in both reanalyses, with ERA5 being slightly better during the early stages, while CFS outperforms ERA5 for intensity beyond the IBTrACS's moderate tropical storm category. Intensity follows a reverse pattern of position, with reanalyses largely degrading systems' intensity as they intensify. CFS (ERA5) appeared to be slightly better in terms of maximum wind (minimum sea‐level pressure), representing stronger systems although both datasets were unable to reproduce wind intensities beyond the tropical cyclone category. All evaluated parameters showed improvements when the most recent data period (2000–2019) is considered, especially in ERA5, tailored to an improved quality of the observations that are used to generate best‐track data and also to nudge the reanalyses through data assimilation. Based on the reanalyses characteristics revealed here, the choice of the most suitable dataset to address a specific study within the SWIO region may be dependent on the desired parameters and period.
Minimizing Bond Angle Distortion to Improve Thermal Stability of Cr3+ Doped Near‐Infrared Phosphor
Authors: Zhang Liangliang , Wang Dandan , Liu Feng , Wu Hao , Pan Guohui , Wu Huajun , Hao Zhendong , Zhang Hong , Zhang Jiahua
Published: May 2023

Broadband near‐infrared (NIR) phosphor‐converted light‐emitting diodes are next‐generation smart NIR light sources. However, the NIR phosphor suffers from serious thermal quenching (TQ), resulting in efficiency reduction and spectral shift. Here, a novel strategy is realized to suppress TQ by minimizing bond angle distortion, completely different from the conventional TQ suppression approach through bond length variation. Li(Sr1−xCax)AlF6:Cr3+ NIR phosphor is taken as an example in which rotation between the two parallel fluorine planes perpendicular to the C3 axis in the [AlF6] octahedron is found to dominate TQ. Increasing x from 0 to 1 reduces the amplitude of the rotation from 16.17° to 5.06°, weakening the electron–phonon coupling and, consequently, raising the TQ temperature significantly from 320 to 570 K. This mechanism is elucidated from both theoretical calculations and spectroscopic studies. The findings open a new horizon for the exploration of thermally stable NIR phosphors.
Cyclic semiparallel Ricci tensor for harmonic curvature in the complex quadric
Authors: Suh Young Jin
Published: May 2023

We introduce the notion of harmonic curvature for real hypersurfaces in the complex quadric . First, we prove that the unit normal vector field N on real hypersurfaces in with harmonic curvature is singular, that is, ‐principal or ‐isotropic. Next by using a new notion of cyclic semiparallel Ricci tensor, we give a new result on real hypersurfaces with harmonic curvature and constant mean curvature in .
To ally or not to ally: Enterprises' preferences for technology alliance modes in transnational cooperation
Authors: Hu Xiaoqing , Zhou Qing , Cai Jianhu , Liu Shuchun
Published: May 2023

When entering a foreign market, transnational enterprises often conduct research and development (R&D) activities to develop patent technologies and then produce products to meet the technology standard of the target market. Technology alliance is an efficient way to enhance the enterprise's capability of R&D. We assume that the R&D process is uncertain and then construct four models based on different alliance modes. We further study the impacts of different factors on enterprises' expected profits and then investigate enterprises' preferences for alliance modes. Our study can provide decision support for transnational enterprises going abroad and enterprises in foreign markets on their choices of technology alliance modes.
Mangiferin Protects DNase 2 Abundance via Nrf2 Activation to Prevent Cytosolic mtDNA Accumulation during Liver Injury
Authors: Li Lisi , Zhen Yifan , Chen Xi , Cao Lixue , Song Junna , Liu Xifu , Wang Meng
Published: May 2023

Scope

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) released into the cytosol serves as a member of damage‐associated molecular patterns to initiate inflammatory responses. Mangiferin is a xanthonoid derivative, usually isolated from plants including mangoes and iris unguicularis. This study aims to investigate whether mangiferin prevents mtDNA accumulation in the cytosol with a focus on deoxyribonuclease 2 (DNase 2) protection from oxidative damage.

Methods and results

Mangiferin administration effectively protects against hepatotoxicity in mice subjected to CCl4 challenge or bile duct ligation (BDL) surgery. Moreover, mangiferin activates nuclear factor erythroid 2‐related factor (Nrf2)‐antioxidant signaling, reduces cytosolic mtDNA accumulation, and suppresses Toll‐like receptor 9 (TLR‐9)/myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88)‐dependent inflammation in the liver. The study prepares hepatic mtDNA to stimulate hepatocytes, and finds that mangiferin protects DNase 2 protein abundance. mtDNA induces reactive oxygen species (ROS) production to promote DNase 2 protein degradation through oxidative modification, but mangiferin protects DNase 2 protein stability in a Nrf2‐dependent manner. In hepatic Nrf2 deficiency mice, the study further confirms that Nrf2 induction is required for mangiferin to clear cytosolic mtDNA and block mtDNA‐mediated TLR9/MyD88/nuclear factor kappa‐B (NF‐κB) inflammatory signaling cascades.

Conclusion

These findings provide new insights into the role of mangiferin as a liver protecting agent, and suggest protection of DNase 2 as a novel therapeutic strategy for pharmacological intervention to prevent liver damage.
Spawning Locations, Movements, and Potential for Stock Mixing of Walleye in Green Bay, Lake Michigan
Authors: Izzo Lisa K. , Dembkowski Daniel , Hayden Todd , Binder Tom , Vandergoot Christopher , Hogler Steven , Donofrio Michael , Zorn Troy , Krueger Charles C. , Isermann Daniel
Published: May 2023

Effective fishery management in large systems relies on understanding how individual stocks contribute to a fishery over spatial and temporal scales. The current conceptual model for management of Walleye Sander vitreus in Green Bay designates Walleye in the northern and southern parts of the bay as distinct stocks, with little mixing between the northern and southern fisheries, and assumes that Walleye in both northern and southern Green Bay primarily spawn in tributaries as opposed to shoreline or offshore reef areas. We used acoustic telemetry to test this conceptual model for Walleye management in Green Bay. Telemetry indicated that the majority of Green Bay Walleye use tributaries for spawning. However, many individuals were assigned to open-water spawning locations during consecutive years in both northern (26%) and southern (21%) Green Bay, suggesting that open-water spawners may represent a larger proportion of the Walleye stocks than previously thought. Differential movement was observed between northern and southern portions of Green Bay, with 56% of Walleye tagged in northern Green Bay crossing receiver lines to move south compared to only 19% of Walleye tagged in southern Green Bay crossing receiver lines to move north. Walleye typically transitioned across these boundaries in summer and fall, suggesting that stock contributions to the fishery in each zone may differ seasonally. Differential movements of northern Green Bay Walleye may be influenced by broad-scale differences in habitat and prey availability, which are likely related to the differential effects of dreissenid mussel invasion in Green Bay. Our results suggest that adjustment of monitoring efforts to account for open-water spawners may provide a more complete picture of stock status. Additionally, more research examining potential food web effects of northern Green Bay Walleye moving into southern Green Bay may be needed to determine how these movements might influence other important species.
How I approach B‐lymphoblastic lymphoma in children
Authors: Devine Kaitlin J. , Fries Carol , Hermiston Michelle , Wistinghausen Birte
Published: May 2023

There are limited data pertaining to the prognostic features and optimal therapeutic approach for the 20%–25% of children with lymphoblastic lymphoma (LLy) who have the B‐lymphoblastic subtype. Outcomes are favorable following treatment modeled after acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) regimens, but prognosis is dismal after relapse, and there are no established features for predicting therapy response. Ongoing US and international trials will include the largest cohort of uniformly treated patients with B‐LLy to date, providing an opportunity to define clinical and molecular predictors of relapse and to establish a standard of care for treatment to improve outcomes for this rare pediatric cancer.
Brain cortical assessment by MRI in fetuses with left congenital diaphragmatic hernia
Authors: Fabietti Isabella , Grassini Giulia , Savelli Sara , Vicario Roberta , Romiti Anita , Viggiano Milena , Vassallo Chiara , Valfrè Laura , Giliberti Paola , Capolupo Irma , Bonito Marco , Bagolan Pietro , Morini Francesco , Caforio Leonardo
Published: May 2023

Objective

To evaluate fetal brain development using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) in CDH (congenital diaphragmatic hernia).

Methods

52 isolated left CDH and 104 control fetuses were imaged using MRI. Brain morphometry (Biparietal diameter—BPD, brain fronto‐occipital diameter—BFOD, third ventricle, posterior ventricles, transcerebellar diameter—TCD, anteroposterior and craniocaudal cerebellar vermis diameter—AP and CC) and cortical structures (bilateral cingulate fissure—CF, insular fissure—IF, insular depth ‐ ID) were compared with controls using Mann–Whitney test.

Results

Median gestational age at MRI (p = 0.95)and the median biparietal diameter (p = 0.737) were comparable. Among morphometric parameters, only the brain fronto‐occipital diameter was significantly smaller in CDH (p = 0.001) and the third ventricle was significantly greater in CDH (<0.0001). Among cortical structures, the cingulate and insular fissures were significantly deeper in CDH fetuses (p < 0.0001) as the insular depth ID was smaller in CDH (p < 0.03).

Conclusions

CDH fetuses have a smaller fronto‐occipital diameter, reduced insular depth, deeper cingulate and insular fissure, and greater third ventricle width as compared to controls. These findings suggest that left CDH may have an impact on fetal brain development with an overall reduction in brain volume.
Protein model quality assessment using rotation‐equivariant transformations on point clouds
Authors: Eismann Stephan , Suriana Patricia , Jing Bowen , Townshend Raphael J. L. , Dror Ron O.
Published: May 2023

Machine learning research concerning protein structure has seen a surge in popularity over the last years with promising advances for basic science and drug discovery. Working with macromolecular structure in a machine learning context requires an adequate numerical representation, and researchers have extensively studied representations such as graphs, discretized 3D grids, and distance maps. As part of CASP14, we explored a new and conceptually simple representation in a blind experiment: atoms as points in 3D, each with associated features. These features—initially just the basic element type of each atom—are updated through a series of neural network layers featuring rotation‐equivariant convolutions. Starting from all atoms, we further aggregate information at the level of alpha carbons before making a prediction at the level of the entire protein structure. We find that this approach yields competitive results in protein model quality assessment despite its simplicity and despite the fact that it incorporates minimal prior information and is trained on relatively little data. Its performance and generality are particularly noteworthy in an era where highly complex, customized machine learning methods such as AlphaFold 2 have come to dominate protein structure prediction.
An optimally designed distribution‐free CUSUM procedure for tri‐aspect surveillance of continuous processes
Authors: Tang Anan , Mukherjee Amitava , Ma Yuanman
Published: May 2023

In the past few decades, research on nonparametric process monitoring schemes mainly dealt with the uni‐aspect or bi‐aspect schemes, focusing on monitoring process location or scale separately or jointly. Another critical process characteristic, namely, the process shape, is not explicitly dealt with in‐depth in most existing charting schemes. In classical hypothesis testing, some recent literature clearly showed that the multi‐aspect test statistics, although designed for very restrictive alternatives, often perform as well or better than many statistics for arbitrary distributional shifts. They are often better than Kolmogorov‐Smirnov or Cramér‐von Mises statistics and some empirical likelihood‐based test statistics. The current paper aims to use a tri‐aspect statistic to design a distribution‐free Phase‐II Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) charting scheme for monitoring any arbitrary process changes in the process. The proposal is nonparametric and is equivalent to an unknown standard case. It reflects, in addition, which parameters, among location, scale, or shape, are more responsible for a signal. The construction of the CUSUM scheme from an existing tri‐aspect Shewhart‐type chart is simple, so significant attention is devoted to determining a near‐optimal reference parameter of the chart in keeping an unknown shift type in mind. Comparisons of the optimal performance of various competitors are considered in terms of the median run length (MRL) metric. The proposed charting scheme designed with the tri‐aspect statistic compares highly favorably with many existing SPM schemes. The same is evident from our findings based on the Monte‐Carlo simulation. Finally, the proposed schemes are illustrated with a flow‐width measurement monitoring example.
Robotic system for magnetic resonance imaging‐guided focused ultrasound treatment of thyroid nodules
Authors: Filippou Antria , Evripidou Nikolas , Damianou Christakis
Published: May 2023

Background

Herein, a robotic system offering Magnetic Resonance‐guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) therapy of thyroid nodules was developed.

Methods

The robotic system offers linear motion in 2 PC‐controlled axes that navigate a 3 MHz single‐element focused transducer. The system, through a C‐arm structure attaches to the table of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners and couples to the neck of patients lying in the supine position. The MRI compatibility of the developed system was assessed inside a 3 T scanner. Benchtop and MRI feasibility studies evaluating the heating performance of the system were executed on excised pork tissue and on homogeneous and thyroid model agar‐based phantoms.

Results

The MRI compatibility of the system was successfully established. Grid sonications executed using robotic motion inflicted discrete and overlapping lesions on the excised tissue, while magnetic resonance (MR) thermometry successfully monitored thermal heating in agar‐based phantoms.

Conclusions

The developed system was found to be efficient with ex‐vivo evaluation. The system can perform clinical MRgFUS therapy of thyroid nodules and other shallow targets after further in‐vivo evaluation.
Forest edge structure from terrestrial laser scanning to explain bird biophony characteristics from acoustic indices
Authors: Verhelst Tom E. , Vangansbeke Pieter , De Frenne Pieter , D'hont Barbara , Ponette Quentin , Willems Luc , Verbeeck Hans , Calders Kim
Published: May 2023

Forest edges can be important strongholds for biodiversity and play a crucial role in the protection of forest interiors against edge effects. However, their potential to host biodiversity is dependent on the structure of the forest: Abrupt edges often fail to realise this potential. Yet, methods to accurately characterise and quantify forest edge abruptness are currently lacking. Here, we combine three‐dimensional forest structural data with biodiversity monitoring to assess the influence of forest edge structure on habitat suitability. We derived several structural metrics to determine forest edge abruptness using terrestrial laser scanning and applied these to six forest edge transects in Belgium. The local soundscapes were captured using audio recording devices (Audiomoths) and quantified using acoustic indices (AIs) (metrics on the soundscape characteristics). In each transect, the dawn choruses were recorded over a period of a week, both at the edge and the interior of the forest. No correlation between the AIs and bird species richness was found. There were clear differences between transects in the structural metrics and the recorded soundscapes. Some possible relations between both were found. In this proof of concept, we demonstrated innovative techniques to semi‐automatically classify forest structure and rapidly quantify soundscape characteristics and found a weak effect of forest edge structure on bird biophony.
From orthophosphate to phosphine‐based groups: The effects of argon ion sputtering on doped polyethersulfone films
Authors: Dias Frederico G. de A. , Souza Leonardo S. G. , Veiga Amanda G. , Andreopoulou Aikaterini K. , Kallitsis Joannis K. , Rocco Maria Luiza M.
Published: May 2023

Pyridine‐containing polyethersulfone films are being studied extensively as they are considered promising types of polymer electrolyte membranes to be used in high‐temperature fuel cell (HT‐PEMFC) applications. In this study, modified polyethersulfone films doped with phosphoric acid were bombarded by a 3 keV argon ion beam resulting in a different chemical environment at the end of the sputtering process. X ray Photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to analyze the changes that occurred due to the exposure to the beam, confirming that distinct species appeared and indicating that reactions between the acid and the film occurred. These changes cause the formation of new phosphine‐based structures and point out the impact of ions as a crucial factor in the degradation of doped polyethersulfone films.
Two almost‐forgotten Trypanites ichnospecies names for the most common Palaeozoic macroboring
Authors: Knaust Dirk , Dronov Andrei V. , Toom Ursula
Published: May 2023

Trypanites is the most common macroboring with a global occurrence throughout the Phanerozoic and is the eponym of the Trypanites ichnofacies. It has great value for the recognition of discontinuity and hiatal surfaces on top of carbonate hardgrounds. Four ichnospecies of this ichnogenus are currently regarded as valid, while a characteristic fifth form from the early Palaeozoic is frequently reported in open nomenclature. The latter commonly occurs in lithic hardgrounds and skeletal hard substrates (such as stromatoporoids, bryozoans and corals) in Ordovician and Silurian carbonates of the Baltic region. A review of the old literature found that this ichnospecies has previously been introduced twice, as Trypanites sozialis Eisenack from a Silurian erratic boulder found on the Sambia Peninsula near Kaliningrad (now Russia), and as T. keilaensis Orviku from the Ordovician of Estonia. Both ichnospecies became forgotten names for unknown reasons. A morphometric analysis of the type material and topotype specimens indicates gradational transitions between both ichnospecies, rendering T. sozialis as the senior synonym of T. keilaensis. A lectotype from the type series of both ichnospecies is defined and additional material from Ordovician and Silurian carbonates of Estonia and Russia is described and illustrated to show the morphological and morphometric variation of this important bioerosion trace fossil. To enable interspecies comparison, a lectotype of the type ichnospecies of Trypanites, T. weisei Mägdefrau, is selected. Trypanites sozialis is a common boring in Cambrian to Devonian hardgrounds and occurs on the palaeocontinents of Baltica, Laurentia and Gondwana.
Intelligent Identification Method of Hydrophobic Grade of Composite Insulator Based on Efficient GA‐YOLO Former Network
Authors: Song Zhiwei , Huang Xinbo , Ji Chao , Zhang Ye
Published: May 2023

The hydrophobia of composite insulators is a parameter closely related to insulation performance. As an essential index to measure the pollution flashover resistance of composite insulators, the hydrophobic grade is of great significance to maintaining transmission line insulators. To judge the hydrophobic grade of composite insulators accurately and efficiently and to solve the problem of difficult extraction of fine‐grained feature information and high similarity between classes in the data sets of anti‐hydrophobic grade recognition, an end‐to‐end intelligent identification method of the hydrophobic grade of composite insulators based on Efficient GA‐YOLO Former network is proposed. This method introduces Swin Transformer—a multi‐head self‐attention mechanism with shifted windows, into CNN, which helps the model better understand the multi‐scale global semantic information of images through cross‐layer interaction. The efficient BiFPN structure is introduced in the neck part to realize the bidirectional cross‐scale connection and weighted feature fusion in the feature extraction process. By integrating the GAM attention mechanism to amplify the significant cross‐dimensional acceptance region, the model can learn more subtle details that are more difficult to distinguish, improving model efficiency and detection accuracy. Combined with the target detection algorithm, a system for evaluating the hydrophobic grade of composite insulators on transmission lines is designed, which can realize the real‐time measurement of the hydrophobic grade of composite insulators and has practical engineering application value. © 2023 Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Environmental justice and drinking water: A critical review of primary data studies
Authors: Karasaki Seigi , Goddard Jessica J. , Cohen Alasdair , Ray Isha
Published: May 2023

Though safe drinking water for all is a global public health goal, disparities in access persist worldwide. We present a critical review of primary‐data based environmental justice (EJ) studies on drinking water. We examine their findings in relation to the broader EJ and drinking water literatures. Using pre‐specified protocols to screen 2423 records, we identified 33 studies for inclusion. We organized our results using the following questions: (1) what sampling and data collection methods are used; (2) how is (un)just access to water defined and measured; (3) what forms of environmental injustice are discussed; (4) how are affected communities resisting or coping; and (5) what, if any, mechanisms of redress are advocated? We find that while many studies analyze the causes and persistence of environmental injustices, most primary‐data studies on drinking water are cross‐sectional in design. Many such studies are motivated by health impacts but few measure drinking water exposures or associated health outcomes. We find that, while distinct types of injustice exist, multiple types are either co‐produced or exacerbate one another. Recognitional injustice is emerging as an undergirding injustice upon which others (distributional or procedural) can take hold. Tensions remain regarding the role of the state; redress for inequitable water access is often presumed to be the state's responsibility, but many EJ scholars argue that the state itself perpetuates inequitable conditions. The accountability for redress under different forms of water governance remains an important area for future research.

This article is categorized under:

Human Water > Methods
Analyzing Resource Utilization in an HPC System: A Case Study of NERSC’s Perlmutter
Authors: Li Jie , Michelogiannakis George , Cook Brandon , Cooray Dulanya , Chen Yong
Published: May 2023

Resource demands of HPC applications vary significantly. However, it is common for HPC systems to primarily assign resources on a per-node basis to prevent interference from co-located workloads. This gap between the coarse-grained resource allocation and the varying resource demands can lead to HPC resources being not fully utilized. In this study, we analyze the resource usage and application behavior of NERSC’s Perlmutter, a state-of-the-art open-science HPC system with both CPU-only and GPU-accelerated nodes. Our one-month usage analysis reveals that CPUs are commonly not fully utilized, especially for GPU-enabled jobs. Also, around 64% of both CPU and GPU-enabled jobs used 50% or less of the available host memory capacity. Additionally, about 50% of GPU-enabled jobs used up to 25% of the GPU memory, and the memory capacity was not fully utilized in some ways for all jobs. While our study comes early in Perlmutter’s lifetime thus policies and application workload may change, it provides valuable insights on performance characterization, application behavior, and motivates systems with more fine-grain resource allocation.
Efficient GPU Offloading with OpenMP for a Hyperbolic Finite Volume Solver on Dynamically Adaptive Meshes
Authors: Wille Mario , Weinzierl Tobias , Brito Gadeschi Gonzalo , Bader Michael
Published: May 2023

We identify and show how to overcome an OpenMP bottleneck in the administration of GPU memory. It arises for a wave equation solver on dynamically adaptive block-structured Cartesian meshes, which keeps all CPU threads busy and allows all of them to offload sets of patches to the GPU. Our studies show that multithreaded, concurrent, non-deterministic access to the GPU leads to performance breakdowns, since the GPU memory bookkeeping as offered through OpenMP’s clause, i.e., the allocation and freeing, becomes another runtime challenge besides expensive data transfer and actual computation. We, therefore, propose to retain the memory management responsibility on the host: A caching mechanism acquires memory on the accelerator for all CPU threads, keeps hold of this memory and hands it out to the offloading threads upon demand. We show that this user-managed, CPU-based memory administration helps us to overcome the GPU memory bookkeeping bottleneck and speeds up the time-to-solution of Finite Volume kernels by more than an order of magnitude.
Checkliste „Food Defense“ – ein Hilfsmittel für die Schwachstellenanalyse in Lebensmittelbetrieben
Authors: Bischoff Carolin , Buschulte Anja , Rau Jörg
Published: May 2023

Konzepte über Food Defense (Lebensmittel-Produktschutz) sollen Lebensmittel vor mutwilligen Kontaminationen schützen. Aufgrund von Zertifizierungsanforderungen oder Exportregularien besteht auch ohne nationale oder europäische Rechtsvorgaben zu Food Defense für viele deutsche Lebensmittelunternehmen die Notwendigkeit zur Einführung eines entsprechenden Konzepts. Dennoch wird das Thema in der Lebensmittelwirtschaft und -kontrolle bislang nicht angemessen beachtet. Eine Sensibilisierung der Verantwortlichen erscheint dringend erforderlich. Hilfsmittel, die in diesem Kontext einfach anzuwenden sind und Unternehmen bei der Einführung eines Food Defense-Konzepts unterstützen, sind kaum vorhanden. Die aktuell entwickelte „Checkliste Food Defense“ stellt ein einfaches und praktisches Hilfsmittel dar. Sie gewährt einen Überblick über den Stand der Präventionsmaßnahmen im Betrieb, gibt Anregungen für einen Food Defense-Maßnahmenplan und ist frei abrufbar unter https://food-defense.ua-bw.de.
Lysine deserts prevent adventitious ubiquitylation of ubiquitin-proteasome components
Authors: Kampmeyer Caroline , Grønbæk-Thygesen Martin , Oelerich Nicole , Tatham Michael H. , Cagiada Matteo , Lindorff-Larsen Kresten , Boomsma Wouter , Hofmann Kay , Hartmann-Petersen Rasmus
Published: May 2023

In terms of its relative frequency, lysine is a common amino acid in the human proteome. However, by bioinformatics we find hundreds of proteins that contain long and evolutionarily conserved stretches completely devoid of lysine residues. These so-called lysine deserts show a high prevalence in intrinsically disordered proteins with known or predicted functions within the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), including many E3 ubiquitin-protein ligases and UBL domain proteasome substrate shuttles, such as BAG6, RAD23A, UBQLN1 and UBQLN2. We show that introduction of lysine residues into the deserts leads to a striking increase in ubiquitylation of some of these proteins. In case of BAG6, we show that ubiquitylation is catalyzed by the E3 RNF126, while RAD23A is ubiquitylated by E6AP. Despite the elevated ubiquitylation, mutant RAD23A appears stable, but displays a partial loss of function phenotype in fission yeast. In case of UBQLN1 and BAG6, introducing lysine leads to a reduced abundance due to proteasomal degradation of the proteins. For UBQLN1 we show that arginine residues within the lysine depleted region are critical for its ability to form cytosolic speckles/inclusions. We propose that selective pressure to avoid lysine residues may be a common evolutionary mechanism to prevent unwarranted ubiquitylation and/or perhaps other lysine post-translational modifications. This may be particularly relevant for UPS components as they closely and frequently encounter the ubiquitylation machinery and are thus more susceptible to nonspecific ubiquitylation.
Neuronal progenitors of the dentate gyrus express the SARS-CoV-2 cell receptor during migration in the developing human hippocampus
Authors: Hernandez-Lopez José Manuel , Hernandez-Medina Cristina , Medina-Corvalan Cristina , Rodenas Mónica , Francisca Almagro , Perez-Garcia Claudia , Echevarria Diego , Carratala Francisco , Geijo-Barrientos Emilio , Martinez Salvador
Published: May 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world is due to the enormous capacity of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to be transmitted between humans, causing a threat to global public health. It has been shown that the entry of this virus into cells is highly facilitated by the presence of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in the cell membrane. Currently, we have no precise knowledge of how this receptor expresses in the brain of human fetus and, as a consequence, we do not know how susceptible the neural cells in the developing brain are to being infected through the vertical transmission of this virus, from mother to fetus. In this work, we describe the expression of ACE2 in the human brain at 20 weeks of gestation. This stage corresponds to the period of neuronal generation, migration, and differentiation in the cerebral cortex. We describe the specific expression of ACE2 in neuronal precursors and migratory neuroblasts of the dentate gyrus in the hippocampus. This finding implies that SARS-CoV-2 infection during the fetal period may affect neuronal progenitor cells and alter the normal development of the brain region where memory engrams are generated. Thus, although vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection was reported in few cases, the massive infection rate of young people in terms of the new variants leads to the possibility of increasing the ratio of congenital infections and originating cognitive alterations, as well as neuronal circuit anomalies that may represent vulnerability to mental problems throughout life.
Risk of suicide and self-harm in university students entering different university programs – a national register-based cohort study in Sweden
Authors: Lageborn Christine Takami , Bjureberg Johan , Song Jie , Runeson Bo , Möller Jette , Ljung Rickard , Dahlin Marie
Published: May 2023

Purpose

It is not known whether the elevated suicide risk in certain occupations, such as health care professionals, is partly attributable to a selection of individuals with prior vulnerability. We aimed to determine the risk of suicide and self-harm already in students entering different university programs.

Methods

We used national registers to identify 621,218 Swedish residents aged 18–39 years with registration for a university program 1993–2013. Outcomes were suicide and self-harm within three years. We applied logistic regression analyses to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of risk of suicide and self-harm, with the Education program category as a reference. Results were adjusted for sex, age, time period and for history of hospitalization due to mental disorder or self-harm, as a measure of previous vulnerability. In the second step, we stratified results by sex.

Results

There was a higher risk of suicide (OR 2.4) in female nursing students and natural science students (OR 4.2) and of self-harm in female and male Nursing/Health care students (OR range 1.2 –1.7). Subcategorization into nursing students only strengthened the association with self-harm for both sexes. Prior vulnerability did not fully explain the increased risk.

Conclusion

The elevated risk of suicide in nursing and health care occupations partly has its onset in vulnerability factors present before or emerging during university studies. Increased efforts in identifying and treating mental disorders and preventing self-harm in university students could be an important step in preventing future suicides.
Pairs of complementary transmission conditions for Brownian motion
Authors: Bobrowski Adam , Ratajczyk Elżbieta
Published: May 2023

Following our previous work on complementary boundary conditions, we write Cartesian product of two copies of a space of continuous functions on the real line as the direct sum of two subspaces that are invariant under a cosine family of operators underlying Brownian motion. Both these subspaces are formed by pairs of extensions of continuous functions: in the first subspace the form of these extensions is shaped unequivocally by the transmission conditions describing snapping out Brownian motion, in the second, it is shaped by the transmission conditions of skew Brownian motion with certain degree of stickiness. In this sense, the above transmission conditions are complementary to each other.
Interactive effect of pre-fermentative grape freezing and malolactic fermentation on the anthocyanins profile in red wines prone to colour instability
Authors: Darnal Aakriti , Poggesi Simone , Ceci Adriana Teresa , Mimmo Tanja , Boselli Emanuele , Longo Edoardo
Published: May 2023

The effects of pre-fermentative freezing of red grapes from Schiava variety and co-inoculation with lactic bacteria were evaluated on the profile of anthocyans of the musts and the finished wine. Peonidin-3-glucoside is the main anthocyanin in Schiava grape musts, but it was overcome by malvidin-3-glucoside at bottling. Grape freezing increased the extraction of all anthocyanins in the musts. However, the amount of all anthocyanins except peonidin-3-glucoside and malvidin-3-glucoside was lower in wines from frozen grapes than in control wines. Wines obtained with co-inoculation showed higher anthocyanin content than their respective controls. Petunidin-3-(6′′-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside, peonidin-3-(6′′-cis-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside and malvidin-3-(6′′-trans-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside were dramatically affected by the interaction of the two applied factors. Colorimetric hue (H*) was strongly correlated with peonidin-3-glucoside, and spectrophotometric tint (N) with malvidin-3-glucoside. Tint also showed a positive correlation with malolactic fermentation.

Graphical abstract
Patch Materials for Pulmonary Artery Arterioplasty and Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Augmentation: A Review
Authors: Schwartzman William E. , Jimenez Michael , Yates Andrew R. , Armstrong Aimee K. , Salavitabar Arash , Hor Kan K. , Hoerstrup Simon , Emmert Maximilian Y. , Shinoka Toshiharu , Carrillo Sergio A. , Breuer Christopher K. , Kelly John M.
Published: May 2023

Patch augmentation of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) and pulmonary artery (PA) arterioplasty are relatively common procedures in the surgical treatment of patients with congenital heart disease. To date, several patch materials have been applied with no agreed upon clinical standard. Each patch type has unique performance characteristics, cost, and availability. There are limited data describing the various advantages and disadvantages of different patch materials. We performed a review of studies describing the clinical performance of various RVOT and PA patch materials and found a limited but growing body of literature. Short-term clinical performance has been reported for a multitude of patch types, but comparisons are limited by inconsistent study design and scarce histologic data. Standard clinical criteria for assessment of patch efficacy and criteria for intervention need to be applied across patch types. The field is progressing with improvements in outcomes due to newer patch technologies focused on reducing antigenicity and promoting neotissue formation which may have the ability to grow, remodel, and repair.
Clinical validation of a smartphone-based retinal camera for diabetic retinopathy screening
Authors: de Oliveira Juliana Angélica Estevão , Nakayama Luis Filipe , Zago Ribeiro Lucas , de Oliveira Talita Virgínia Fernandes , Choi Stefano Neto Jai Hyun , Neto Edgar Menezes , Cardoso Viviane Santos , Dib Sergio Atala , Melo Gustavo Barreto , Regatieri Caio Vinicius Saito , Malerbi Fernando Korn
Published: May 2023

Aims

This study aims to compare the performance of a handheld fundus camera (Eyer) and standard tabletop fundus cameras (Visucam 500, Visucam 540, and Canon CR-2) for diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema screening.

Methods

This was a multicenter, cross-sectional study that included images from 327 individuals with diabetes. The participants underwent pharmacological mydriasis and fundus photography in two fields (macula and optic disk centered) with both strategies. All images were acquired by trained healthcare professionals, de-identified, and graded independently by two masked ophthalmologists, with a third senior ophthalmologist adjudicating in discordant cases. The International Classification of Diabetic Retinopathy was used for grading, and demographic data, diabetic retinopathy classification, artifacts, and image quality were compared between devices. The tabletop senior ophthalmologist adjudication label was used as the ground truth for comparative analysis. A univariate and stepwise multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine the relationship of each independent factor in referable diabetic retinopathy.

Results

The mean age of participants was 57.03 years (SD 16.82, 9–90 years), and the mean duration of diabetes was 16.35 years (SD 9.69, 1–60 years). Age (P = .005), diabetes duration (P = .004), body mass index (P = .005), and hypertension (P < .001) were statistically different between referable and non-referable patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed a positive association between male sex (OR 1.687) and hypertension (OR 3.603) with referable diabetic retinopathy. The agreement between devices for diabetic retinopathy classification was 73.18%, with a weighted kappa of 0.808 (almost perfect). The agreement for macular edema was 88.48%, with a kappa of 0.809 (almost perfect). For referable diabetic retinopathy, the agreement was 85.88%, with a kappa of 0.716 (substantial), sensitivity of 0.906, and specificity of 0.808. As for image quality, 84.02% of tabletop fundus camera images were gradable and 85.31% of the Eyer images were gradable.

Conclusions

Our study shows that the handheld retinal camera Eyer performed comparably to standard tabletop fundus cameras for diabetic retinopathy and macular edema screening. The high agreement with tabletop devices, portability, and low costs makes the handheld retinal camera a promising tool for increasing coverage of diabetic retinopathy screening programs, particularly in low-income countries. Early diagnosis and treatment have the potential to prevent avoidable blindness, and the present validation study brings evidence that supports its contribution to diabetic retinopathy early diagnosis and treatment.
Immersive virtual reality as support for the mental health of elderly women: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Cieślik Błażej , Juszko Karolina , Kiper Pawel , Szczepańska-Gieracha Joanna
Published: May 2023

Several forms of virtual reality (VR) have shown promise in treating mental disorders. However, there is a lack of research investigating the use of multicomponent immersive VR. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an immersive virtual reality (IVR) intervention that incorporated Japanese garden aesthetics, relaxation, and elements of Erickson’s psychotherapy in alleviating depression and anxiety symptoms among elderly women. Sixty women with depressive symptoms were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. Both groups received eight (twice a week for four weeks) low-intensity general fitness training sessions. The IVR group (n = 30) received eight additional VR-based relaxation sessions, whereas the control group (n = 30) received eight group relaxation. As outcome measures, the geriatric depression scale (GDS; primary) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; secondary) were administered before and after the interventions. The protocol was registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov PRS database (Registration number: NCT05285501). Patients receiving IVR therapy exhibited a greater significant reduction in the GDS (adjusted mean post-difference of 4.10; 95% CI = 2.27–5.93) and HADS (2.95; 95% CI = 0.98–4.92) scores than those receiving the control intervention. In conclusion, IVR with elements of psychotherapy, relaxation, and garden aesthetics may alleviate the severity of depression and anxiety symptoms in elderly women.
Refining the role of nitrogen mineralization in mycorrhizal nutrient syndromes
Authors: Seyfried Georgia S. , Midgley Meghan G. , Phillips Richard P. , Yang Wendy H.
Published: May 2023

Forest stands dominated by ectomycorrhizal (ECM) associated trees often have more closed nitrogen (N) cycling than stands dominated by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) associated trees, with slower N mineralization in ECM stands thought to suppress inorganic N cycling. However, most estimates of N mineralization come from measurements of net processes, which can lead to an incomplete view of ecosystem N retention and loss. To explore the mechanisms driving mycorrhizal N cycling syndromes, we measured gross N production and assimilation rates and net and potential N flux rates in paired N addition (from NH4SO4 and NaNO3) and control plots within ECM and AM-dominated stands. We observed greater gross N mineralization and microbial ammonium assimilation in ECM compared to AM stands, suggesting that increased microbial N demand drove lower net N mineralization rates in ECM stands. We found lower nitrification rates in ECM compared to AM stands and no effect of N addition on nitrification in ECM stands. Therefore, the low soil pH or high C:N ratios found in those stands, not limited ammonium supply, may have suppressed nitrification. Finally, potential denitrification rates and nitrous oxide fluxes were lower in ECM compared to AM stands with no effect of N addition, suggesting that denitrification is controlled by the endogenous supply of nitrate from nitrification, not exogenous nitrate inputs. Overall, we conclude that N mineralization may not play a central role in forming mycorrhizal nutrient syndromes, and that acidic conditions in ECM stands may ultimately control nitrification and the potential for ecosystem N loss.
The Relationship Between Working Alliance and Treatment Outcome in an Internet-Based Grief Therapy for People Bereaved by Suicide
Authors: Schmidt Viktoria , Treml Julia , Deller Julia , Kersting Anette
Published: May 2023

Background

Working alliance is an important component in the therapy process, however its’ role in bereavement interventions has rarely been studied. This study investigates the relationship between working alliance and treatment outcome, the change of working alliance throughout therapy and patient characteristics as predictors of working alliance.

Methods

Data from a randomized controlled trial including 44 participants was used. Patient characteristics were assessed at baseline and working alliance was assessed after two, four, six, eight and ten sessions. A linear mixed model, multiple linear regression and best subset regression were conducted.

Results

Working alliance changed significantly during therapy (β = 1.46, SE = 0.27, t(162) = 5.38, p < .001). Early working alliance predicted prolonged grief symptoms, when controlled for baseline scores of grief (β = − .27, p = .023). Moreover, self-efficacy (β = .47, p < .001) and need for social support (β = − .38, p = .010) predicted early working alliance.

Conclusions

This study shows the relevance of establishing early working alliance in the therapeutic process. Attention should be paid to the initial self-efficacy and need for social support of patients, as it influences the experience of working alliance. To address individual working alliance patterns and characteristics in therapy, further research is needed.
Some Unconventional Properties of New Keynesian DSGE Models
Authors: Heijdra Ben J. , van der Kwaak Christiaan G. F.
Published: May 2023

We examine the theoretical and numerical properties of a prototypical New Keynesian DSGE model featuring endogenous capital accumulation and labour supply. We find that this completely conventional model yields implausible impact results following unanticipated and temporary shocks when the monetary closure rule is changed from a policy rule setting nominal interest rates (a Taylor Rule) to a fixed money supply rule. We compare and contrast a variety of New Keynesian models, featuring aggregate price stickiness, with their New Classical counterparts featuring perfectly flexible prices. In line with the literature we find that under a Taylor Rule the impulse-response functions following a technology shock are very similar. In contrast, with a fixed money supply the impact effects for the New Keynesian model are implausible. We demonstrate the robustness of this Implausible Result to alternative parameter values and show that it is ultimately caused by the inflexibility of the capital stock relative to that of the real money supply. We suggest several model extensions which will eliminate the Implausible Result from New Keynesian sticky-price models.