bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cardiac transthyretin amyloidosis 99mTc-DPD SPECT correlates with strain echocardiography and biomarkers
Authors: Löfbacka Viktor , Axelsson Jan , Pilebro Björn , Suhr Ole B. , Lindqvist Per , Sundström Torbjörn 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Purpose
Hereditary transthyretin-amyloid amyloidosis (ATTRv) is an underdiagnosed condition commonly manifesting as congestive heart failure. Recently, scintigraphy utilizing DPD as a tracer was shown to identify ATTRv and wild-type ATTR cardiomyopathy. The aim of this study was to determine the value of quantified scintigraphy utilizing 99mTc-3,3-diphosphono-1,2-propanodicarboxylic acid (DPD) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT, and to correlate its uptake with well-established cardiac functional parameters.

Methods
Forty-eight patients with genetically verified ATTRv type-A fibril composition, positive 99mTc-DPD SPECT/CT, were retrospectively analyzed. Manual mapping of volumes of interest (VOIs) on DPD SPECT/CT examinations was used to quantify heart uptake. DPD mean and maximum uptake together with a calculated DPD-based amyloid burden (DPDload) was correlated with echocardiographic strain values and cardiac biomarkers.

Results
Statistically significant correlations were seen in VOIs between DPD uptakes and the corresponding echocardiographic strain values. Furthermore, DPDload had a strong correlation with echocardiographic strain parameters and also correlated with biomarkers troponin T and logarithmic NT-ProBNP.

Conclusions
In patients with ATTRv cardiomyopathy, DPD SPECT/CT measures the amyloid distribution and provides information on cardiac amyloid load. DPD amyloid load correlates with functional cardiac parameters.
BDNF influences neural cue-reactivity to food stimuli and food craving in obesity
Authors: Bumb Jan Malte , Bach Patrick , Grosshans Martin , Wagner Xenija , Koopmann Anne , Vollstädt-Klein Sabine , Schuster Rilana , Wiedemann Klaus , Kiefer Falk 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThere is increasing evidence that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) impacts on the development of obesity. We are the first to test the hypothesis that BDNF levels might be associated with neural reactivity to food cues in patients suffering from obesity and healthy controls. We assessed visual food cue-induced neural response in 19 obese patients and 20 matched controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging and analyzed the associations between BDNF levels, food cue-reactivity and food craving. Whole-brain analysis in both groups revealed that food cues elicited higher neural activation in clusters of mesolimbic brain areas including the insula (food > neutral). Patients suffering from obesity showed a significant positive correlation between plasma BDNF levels and visual food cue-reactivity in the bilateral insulae. In addition, patients suffering from obesity with positive food cue-induced insula activation also reported significantly higher food craving than those with low cue-reactivity—an effect that was absent in normal weight participants. The present findings implicate that BDNF levels in patients suffering from obesity might be involved in food craving and obesity in humans. This highlights the importance to consider BDNF pathways when investigating obesity and obesity treatment.
Measuring optokinetic after-nystagmus: potential for detecting patients with signs of visual dependence following concussion
Authors: Bertolini Giovanni , Romano Fausto , Straumann Dominik , Keller Katharine , Palla Antonella , Feddermann-Demont Nina 
Published: December 2020

AbstractConcussed patients with chronic symptoms commonly report dizziness during exposure to environments with complex visual stimuli (e.g. supermarket aisles, busy crossroads). Such visual induced dizziness is well-known in patients with vestibular deficits, in whom it indicates an overreliance on visual cues in sensory integration. Considering that optokinetic after-nystagmus (OKAN) reflects the response of the central network integrating visual and vestibular self-motion signals (velocity storage network), we investigated OKAN in 71 patients [17 (23.9%) females, 30.36 ± 9.05 years old] who suffered from persistent symptoms after a concussion and presented clinical signs suggesting visual dependence. Data were retrospectively compared with 21 healthy individuals [13 (61.9%) females, 26.29 ± 10.00 years old]. The median values of the slow cumulative eye position and of the time constant of OKAN were significantly higher in patients than in healthy individuals (slow cumulative eye position: 124.15 ± 55.61° in patients and 77.87 ± 45.63° in healthy individuals—p = 0.012; time constant: 25.17 ± 10.27 s in patients and 13.95 ± 4.92 s in healthy individuals—p = 0.003). The receiving operating curve (ROC) estimated on the time constant had an overall area under the curve of 0.73. Analysis of the ROC suggests that a test measuring the OKAN time constant could obtain a sensitivity of 0.73 and specificity of 0.72 in determining the origin of the visual-related disturbances in those patients (threshold 16.6 s). In a subset of 43 patients who also performed the Sensory Organization Test (SOT), the proposed OKAN test was twice as sensitive as the SOT. This study suggests that concussed patients with persisting visual symptoms may have an underlying impairment of the velocity storage mechanism and that measuring the OKAN time constant can objectify such impairment.
Covert eye-tracking: an innovative method to investigate compliance with instructions
Authors: Riege Anine , Gourdon-Kanhukamwe Amélie , Vallée-Tourangeau Gaëlle 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThe present study introduces a covert eye-tracking procedure as an innovative approach to investigate the adequacy of research paradigms used in psychology. In light of the ongoing debate regarding ego depletion, the frequently used “attention-control video task” was chosen to illustrate the method. Most participants did not guess that their eyes had been monitored, but some participants had to be excluded due to poor tracking ratio. The eye-tracking data revealed that the attention-control instructions had a significant impact on the number of fixations, revisits, fixation durations, and proportion of long fixation durations on the AOIs (all BF10 > 18.2). However, number of fixations and proportions of long fixation durations did not mediate cognitive performance. The results illustrate the promise of covert eye-tracking methodology to assess task compliance, as well as adding to the current discussion regarding whether the difficulties of replicating “ego depletion” may be in part due to poor task compliance in the video task.
On systems of parabolic variational inequalities with multivalued terms
Authors: Carl Siegfried , Le Vy. K. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractIn this paper we present an analytical framework for the following system of multivalued parabolic variational inequalities in a cylindrical domain $$Q=\varOmega \times (0,\tau )$$

Q
=
Ω
×
(
0
,
τ
)

: For $$k=1,\dots , m$$

k
=
1
,
⋯
,
m

, find $$u_k\in K_k$$

u
k

∈

K
k

and $$\eta _k\in L^{p'_k}(Q)$$

η
k

∈

L

p
k
′

(
Q
)

such that $$\begin{aligned}&u_k(\cdot ,0)=0\ \text{ in } \varOmega ,\ \ \eta _k(x,t)\in f_k(x,t,u_1(x,t), \dots , u_m(x,t)), \\&\langle u_{kt}+A_k u_k, v_k-u_k\rangle +\int _Q \eta _k\, (v_k-u_k)\,dxdt\ge 0,\ \ \forall \ v_k\in K_k, \end{aligned}$$

u
k

(
·
,
0
)

=
0

in

Ω
,

η
k

(
x
,
t
)

∈

f
k

(
x
,
t
,

u
1

(
x
,
t
)

,
⋯
,

u
m

(
x
,
t
)

)

,

⟨

u

kt

+

A
k

u
k

,

v
k

-

u
k

⟩

+

∫
Q

η
k

(

v
k

-

u
k

)

d
x
d
t
≥
0
,

∀

v
k

∈

K
k

,

where $$K_k $$

K
k

is a closed and convex subset of $$L^{p_k}(0,\tau ;W_0^{1,p_k}(\varOmega ))$$

L

p
k

(
0
,
τ
;

W
0

1
,

p
k

(
Ω
)

)

, $$A_k$$

A
k

is a time-dependent quasilinear elliptic operator, and $$f_k:Q\times \mathbb {R}^m\rightarrow 2^{\mathbb {R}}$$

f
k

:
Q
×

R

m

→

2
R

is an upper semicontinuous multivalued function with respect to $$s\in {\mathbb R}^m$$

s
∈

R

m

. We provide an existence theory for the above system under certain coercivity assumptions. In the noncoercive case, we establish an appropriate sub-supersolution method that allows us to get existence and enclosure results. As an application, a multivalued parabolic obstacle system is treated. Moreover, under a lattice condition on the constraints $$K_k$$

K
k

, systems of evolutionary variational-hemivariational inequalities are shown to be a subclass of the above system of multivalued parabolic variational inequalities.
Zur Zukunft der EU-Finanzen nach Corona
Authors: Broer Michael , Henke Klaus-Dirk , Zimmermann Horst 
Published: December 2020

ZusammenfassungIm Zuge der Corona-Krise erfuhr die Finanzierungsgrundlage der EU größere Änderungen, die in der Frage resultieren, welche Form die zukünftige Finanzverfassung der EU annehmen wird. Der zusätzliche Wiederaufbaupakt mit einem Volumen von drei Vierteln des neuen mehrjährigen Finanzrahmens wird durch die erstmalige Verschuldung der EU selbst finanziert. Reicht dieses beispiellose fiskalische Volumen, um zukünftig im Wettbewerb mit China bestehen zu können? Oder braucht die EU eine Neuausrichtung: zum einen in Bezug auf Umfang und Differenzierung ihrer verschiedenen Aufgaben und zum anderen bezüglich der gleichen Rechte ihrer 27 Mitgliedstaaten? Die Umbrüche infolge der Corona-Krise sollten für eine größere Reform der EU-Finanzen genutzt werden.
Gleicht Schulbildung soziale Unterschiede aus?
Authors: Mergele Lukas , Raith Johanna , Zierow Larissa 
Published: December 2020

ZusammenfassungBildungsungleichheit ist ein Hauptgrund dafür, dass Einkommensunterschiede über Generationen hinweg bestehen bleiben. Da das im Erwachsenenalter erzielte Einkommen mit kognitiven Fähigkeiten im Schulalter zusammenhängt, werden die schulischen Fähigkeiten von Kindern mit deren sozioökonomischem Hintergrund verglichen. Unsere Untersuchungen mit Paneldaten zu Schulkindern in Deutschland führen zu dem Ergebnis, dass Performanceunterschiede bereits zu Schulbeginn bestehen und die Lücken im Lauf der Schulzeit nicht geschlossen werden. Diese Ergebnisse sind relevant für politische Maßnahmen, die darauf zielen, die Einkommensmobilität zwischen Generationen zu erhöhen und Chancengleichheit zu schaffen. Frühkindliche Maßnahmen können helfen, bereits vor Schulbeginn bestehende Leistungsunterschiede zu verringern.
Mehr Nachhaltigkeit im deutschen Leitindex DAX
Authors: Brühl Volker 
Published: December 2020

ZusammenfassungIm Rahmen der Aufarbeitung des Wirecard-Skandals wird auch eine Änderung der Kriterien zur Aufnahme in den deutschen Leitindex DAX diskutiert. Die bislang von der Deutschen Börse vorgesehenen Maßnahmen gehen in die richtige Richtung, sind aber nicht weitreichend genug. Es bedarf eines deutlichen Zeichens, dass sich künftig nur solche Unternehmen für den DAX qualifizieren können, die ein zumindest befriedigendes Maß an Nachhaltigkeit gemessen durch einen ESG-Risk-Score (Environment, Social, Governance) in ihrer Geschäftstätigkeit erreichen. Eine Simulation verdeutlicht, dass nach ESG-Kriterien seit langem kritisch betrachtete Unternehmen dem DAX nicht mehr angehören würden. Damit könnte mehr Kapital in nachhaltig wirtschaftende Unternehmen und Sektoren fließen.
Nobelpreis für Robert Wilson und Paul Milgrom: Zwei Ökonomen, die echte Märkte schufen
Authors: Haucap Justus 
Published: December 2020

ZusammenfassungRobert Wilson und Paul Milgrom erhielten am 10. Dezember 2020 den Preis der Schwedischen Nationalbank für Wirtschaftswissenschaften zu Ehren von Alfred Nobel. Die Ökonomen erhielten den Preis für ihre Beiträge zur Auktionstheorie und für die Entwicklung neuer Auktionsformate.
Low-quality animal by-product streams for the production of PHA-biopolymers: fats, fat/protein-emulsions and materials with high ash content as low-cost feedstocks
Authors: Saad Victoria , Gutschmann Björn , Grimm Thomas , Widmer Torsten , Neubauer Peter , Riedel Sebastian L. 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Objective
The rapid accumulation of crude-oil based plastics in the environment is posing a fundamental threat to the future of mankind. The biodegradable and bio-based polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) can replace conventional plastics, however, their current production costs are not competitive and therefore prohibiting PHAs from fulfilling their potential.

Results
Different low-quality animal by-products, which were separated by thermal hydrolysis into a fat-, fat/protein-emulsion- and mineral-fat-mixture- (material with high ash content) phase, were successfully screened as carbon sources for the production of PHA. Thereby, Ralstonia eutropha Re2058/pCB113 accumulated the short- and medium-chain-length copolymer poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyhexanoate) [P(HB-co-HHx)]. Up to 90 wt% PHA per cell dry weight with HHx-contents of 12–26 mol% were produced in shake flask cultivations.

Conclusion
In future, the PHA production cost could be lowered by using the described animal by-product streams as feedstock.

Graphical abstract
Evaluation of Different Processor Architecture Organizations for On-Site Electronics in Harsh Environments
Authors: Gesper Sven , Weißbrich Moritz , Stuckenberg Tobias , Jääskeläinen Pekka , Blume Holger , Payá-Vayá Guillermo 
Published: December 2020

AbstractMicrocontrollers to be used in harsh environmental conditions, e.g., at high temperatures or radiation exposition, need to be fabricated in robust technology nodes in order to operate reliably. However, these nodes are considerably larger than cutting-edge semiconductor technologies and provide less speed, drastically reducing system performance. In order to achieve low silicon area costs, low power consumption and reasonable performance, the processor architecture organization itself is a major influential design point. Parameters like data path width, instruction execution paradigm, code density, memory requirements, advanced control flow mechanisms etc., may have large effects on the design constraints. Application characteristics, like exploitable data parallelism and required arithmetic operations, have to be considered in order to use the implemented processor resources efficiently. In this paper, a design space exploration of five different architectures with MIPS- or ARM-compatible instruction set architectures, as well as transport-triggered instruction execution is presented. Using a 0.18 $$\upmu $$
μ
m SOI CMOS technology for high temperature and an exemplary case study from the fields of communication, i.e., powerline communication encoder, the influence of architectural parameters on performance and hardware efficiency is compared. For this application, a transport-triggered architecture configuration has an 8.5$$\times $$
×
higher performance and 2.4$$\times $$
×
higher computational energy efficiency at a 1.6$$\times $$
×
larger total silicon area than an off-the-shelf ARM Cortex-M0 embedded processor, showing the considerable range of design trade-offs for different architectures.
Inverse multiobjective optimization: Inferring decision criteria from data
Authors: Gebken Bennet , Peitz Sebastian 
Published: December 2020

AbstractIt is a challenging task to identify the objectives on which a certain decision was based, in particular if several, potentially conflicting criteria are equally important and a continuous set of optimal compromise decisions exists. This task can be understood as the inverse problem of multiobjective optimization, where the goal is to find the objective function vector of a given Pareto set. To this end, we present a method to construct the objective function vector of an unconstrained multiobjective optimization problem (MOP) such that the Pareto critical set contains a given set of data points with prescribed KKT multipliers. If such an MOP can not be found, then the method instead produces an MOP whose Pareto critical set is at least close to the data points. The key idea is to consider the objective function vector in the multiobjective KKT conditions as variable and then search for the objectives that minimize the Euclidean norm of the resulting system of equations. By expressing the objectives in a finite-dimensional basis, we transform this problem into a homogeneous, linear system of equations that can be solved efficiently. Potential applications of this approach include the identification of objectives (both from clean and noisy data) and the construction of surrogate models for expensive MOPs.
Zooming in Time—Exploring Students’ Interpretations of a Dynamic Tree of Life
Authors: Stenlund Jörgen Ingemar , Schönborn Konrad Janek , Tibell Lena Anna Elisabet 
Published: December 2020

AbstractCentral to evolution is the concept of a common ancestry from which all life has emerged over immense time scales, but learning and teaching temporal aspects of evolution remain challenging. This study investigated students’ interpretation of evolutionary time when engaging with a multi-touch tabletop application called DeepTree, a dynamic visualization of a phylogenetic tree. Specifically, we explored how interactive finger-based zooming (zooming “in” and “out”) influenced students’ interpretation of evolutionary time, and how temporal information and relationships were conceptualized during interaction. Transcript analysis of videotaped interview data from ten secondary school students while they interacted with DeepTree revealed that zooming was interpreted in two ways: as spatially orientated (movement within the tree itself), or as time-orientated (movement in time). Identified misinterpretations included perceiving an implicit coherent timeline along the y-axis of the tree, that the zooming time duration in the virtual tree was linearly correlated to real time, and that more branch nodes correspond to a longer time. Sources for erroneous interpretations may lie in transferring everyday sensory experiences (e.g., physical movements and observing tree growth) to understanding abstract evolution concepts. Apart from estimating the occurrence of dinosaurs, DeepTree was associated with an improvement in interpretation of relative order of evolutionary events. Although highly promising, zooming interaction in DeepTree does not facilitate an intuitive understanding of evolutionary time. However, the opportunity to combine visual and bodily action in emerging technologies such as Deep Tree suggests a high pedagogical potential of further development of zooming features for optimal scientific understanding.
Disentangling general achievement levels and subject-specific strengths and weaknesses in mathematics, reading, and science
Authors: Gladushyna Olesya , Strietholt Rolf , Steinmann Isa 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThe paper uses data from the combined TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) assessment in 2011 to explore the subject-specific strengths and weaknesses among fourth grade students worldwide. Previous research came to the conclusion that students only differed in overall achievement levels and did not exhibit subject-specific strengths and weaknesses. This research did, however, not control for differences in overall performance levels when searching for profile differences. Therefore, the present study uses factor mixture analysis to study qualitatively different performance profiles in mathematics, reading, and science while controlling for differences in performance levels. Our findings suggest that the majority of students do not show pronounced strengths and weaknesses and differ mainly in performance levels across mathematics, reading, and science. At the same time, a smaller share of students does indeed show pronounced subject-specific strengths and weaknesses. This result does not represent an artefact, but we find clear and theory-conforming associations between the identified profiles and covariates. We find evidence for cross-country differences in the frequency of subject-specific strengths and weaknesses and gender differences, as well as differences between students who do not or only sometimes speak the language of test at home.
Evaluation of the importance of ornamental plants for pollinators in urban and suburban areas in Stuttgart, Germany
Authors: Marquardt Melanie , Kienbaum Lydia , Kretschmer Lea Annina , Penell Anja , Schweikert Karsten , Ruttensperger Ute , Rosenkranz Peter 
Published: December 2020

AbstractUrban landscapes are often characterized by a wide range of diverse flowering plants consisting of native and exotic plants. These flower-rich habitats have proven to be particularly valuable for urban pollinating insects. However, the ability of ornamental plants in supporting urban pollinator communities is still not well documented. For this study, we established flower beds at 13 different urban testing sites, which were planted with identical sets of ornamental garden plants. The pollinator visitation patterns were then observed throughout the summer seasons. Over a two-year period, a total of 10,565 pollinators were recorded with wild bees (> 50%, excluding bumblebees) being the most abundant pollinator group. Our results revealed that (I) the assortment of ornamental plants was visited by a high number of urban pollinators for collecting pollen and nectar, and (II) the pollinator abundance and composition varied significantly within the tested ornamental plants. These differences occurred not only among plant species but to the same extent among cultivars, whereby the number of pollinators was positively correlated with number of flowering units per plant. By using a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) and redundancy analysis (RDA) we identified further significant impacts of the two variables year and location on the insect pollinator abundance and richness. Despite of the local and yearly variations, our approach provided a good and field-applicable method to evaluate the pollinator friendliness in ornamental plants. Such tools are urgently required to validate labels like ‘bee friendly’ or ‘pollinator friendly’ used by plant breeding companies.
The Pericardial Body of Ciona intestinalis Contains Hemocytes and Degenerating Muscle Cells, But No Parasites
Authors: Rohlfs Lilly , Müller Katja , Stach Thomas 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Purpose
A ventral heart positioned posterior to the branchial basket and equipped with a pericardium is homologous in tunicates and their sister group, the craniates, yet the tunicate model organism Ciona intestinalis features a pericardial body, a structure peculiar to few ascidian species. Here, we set out to distinguish between two competing hypotheses regarding the function of the pericardial body found in the literature: (H1) The pericardial body performs a role in the removal of dysfunctional myocardial cells, and (H2) it is a specialized niche of the immune system involved in defense against parasites.

Methods
We used histological techniques, transmission electron microscopy, and PCR-based gene sequencing to investigate whether individual ascidians parasitized with apicomplexan protists show signs of infections within the pericardial body.

Results
In individuals of C. intestinalis from the German North Sea infested with apicomplexan protists, the pericardial body contains numerous myocardial cells in various stages of degeneration while no remnants of parasitic cells could be identified.

Conclusion
Thus, we conclude that H2—the pericardial body is a specialized niche of the immune system involved in defense against parasites—can be refuted. Rather, our observations support H1, the hypothesis that the pericardial body performs a role in the removal of dysfunctional myocardial cells.