The social costs of climate change: A critical examination

There is a growing body of literature on economic aspects of global warming Whereas the research in greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement costs has provided many studies, the question of greenhouse damage valuation has gained little attention yet Ongoing the first section of this paper provides a brief overview of the main results relating to the costs of reducing CO2 emission. Afterwards the main interest is focused to the benefits of emission abatement, defined as the benefits from avoided damages. A synthesis of both costs and benefits is to find an economical\y efficient war for the optimum amongst emission abatement and not avoided damages otherwise. Guided by the mainly applied Cost-Benefit-Analysis (CBA), there are several examinations to evaluate the social costs of greenhouse gas emissions. Finally same criticism related to the here presented and often applied Cost-Benefit-Approach as well as an outlook will follow. --

In Situ Generated Yb₂Si₂O₇ Environmental Barrier Coatings for Protection of Ceramic Components in the Next Generation of Gas Turbines

Abstract In face of an accelerating climate change, the reduction and substitution of fossil fuels is crucial to decarbonize energy production. Gas turbines can operate with versatile fuel sources like natural gas and future fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia. Furthermore, thermal efficiencies above 60% can be achieved using non‐oxide silicon‐based ceramic components. However, water vapor is one of the main combustion products leading to rapid corrosion because of volatilization of the protective SiO2 layer at 1200 °C. An in situ generated Yb2Si2O7 double layered environmental barrier coating system composed of silazanes and the active fillers Yb2O3 and Si processed at 1415 °C for 5 h in air protects a Si3N4 substrate very effectively from corrosion. It exhibits a dense microstructure with a total thickness of 68 µm, overcomes 15 thermal cycling tests between 1200 and 20 °C and shows almost no mass loss after very harsh hot gas corrosion at 1200 °C for 200 h (pH2O = 0.15 atm, v = 100 m s−1). The excellent adhesion strength (36.9 ± 6.2 MPa), hardness (6.9 ± 1.6 GPa) and scratch resistance (28 N) demonstrate that the coating system is very promising for application in the next generation of gas turbines

Point mutations of the human parathyroid calcium receptor gene are not responsible for non-suppressible renal hyperparathyroidism

Point mutations of the human parathyroid calcium receptor gene are not responsible for non-suppressible renal hyperparathyroidism. The calcium-dependent secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH) is mediated through an extracellular G protein-coupled calcium receptor (CaR). Inactivating point mutations of this receptor have been found in familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia and neonatal severe hyperparathyroidism. These diseases feature a decreased calcium sensitivity of the parathyroid glands, resulting in a rightward shift of the Ca2+-PTH relationship. Severe, non-suppressible renal hyperparathyroidism (rHPT) is often characterized by similar setpoint shifts to the right. Thus, point mutations of the CaR gene could contribute to non-suppressible rHPT. We examined genomic DNA of hyperplastic or mainly nodular tissues of 39 parathyroids from 25 rHPT-patients with resistance to calcitriol therapy. Amplification of the six exons of the CaR gene was followed by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. DNA sequencing was performed where band shifts were observed. No point mutations in the coding sequence of the CaR gene were detected using the PCR-SSCP strategy. Point mutations in the coding regions of the CaR gene probably play no role in the evolution of renal HPT and are not responsible for the calcitriol resistance of PTH secretion

Read-out electronics for digital silicon photomultiplier modules

A new kind of a PET-Scanner (PET = positron emission tomography) for plant research is developed asa joint project of the Forschungszentrum Jülich and Philips Digital Photon Counting (PDPC). Thisscanner will utilize digital silicon photomultiplier (dSiPM) for plant phenotyping for the very first time.The goal of this work is to get a further knowledge of the operation of digital silicon photomultiplier.On this account a test-facility for this new photo detectors has been installed at the central instituteof engineering, electronics and analytics (ZEA-2 electronic systems) to determine the usage of thissensors, having regard to use them as scintillation detectors in a PET-Scanner later on.This work has its focus on the development of a fast read-out electronic for the used photo sensorsDPC3200-22-44. As there will be high data rates a fast USB 3.0 interface has been used. All thenecessary processing and data handling has been implemented in a state of the art FPGA

Hospitalized patients dying with SARS-CoV-2 infection—an analysis of patient characteristics and management in ICU and general ward of the LEOSS registry

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is a severe disease with a high need for intensive care treatment and a high mortality rate in hospitalized patients. The objective of this study was to describe and compare the clinical characteristics and the management of patients dying with SARS-CoV-2 infection in the acute medical and intensive care setting. METHODS: Descriptive analysis of dying patients enrolled in the Lean European Open Survey on SARS-CoV-2 Infected Patients (LEOSS), a non-interventional cohort study, between March 18 and November 18, 2020. Symptoms, comorbidities and management of patients, including palliative care involvement, were compared between general ward and intensive care unit (ICU) by univariate analysis. RESULTS: 580/4310 (13%) SARS-CoV-2 infected patients died. Among 580 patients 67% were treated on ICU and 33% on a general ward. The spectrum of comorbidities and symptoms was broad with more comorbidities (≥ four comorbidities: 52% versus 25%) and a higher age distribution (>65 years: 98% versus 70%) in patients on the general ward. 69% of patients were in an at least complicated phase at diagnosis of the SARS-CoV-2 infection with a higher proportion of patients in a critical phase or dying the day of diagnosis treated on ICU (36% versus 11%). While most patients admitted to ICU came from home (71%), patients treated on the general ward came likewise from home and nursing home (44% respectively) and were more frequently on palliative care before admission (29% versus 7%). A palliative care team was involved in dying patients in 15%. Personal contacts were limited but more often documented in patients treated on ICU (68% versus 47%). CONCLUSION: Patients dying with SARS-CoV-2 infection suffer from high symptom burden and often deteriorate early with a demand for ICU treatment. Therefor a demand for palliative care expertise with early involvement seems to exist

Feasibility and efficacy of transcatheter interatrial shunt devices for chronic heart failure : a systematic review and meta‐analysis

Aims: To assess the feasibility and efficacy of interatrial shunt devices (IASD) for the treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF). Methods and results: MEDLINE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception until April 2021 were searched for prospective studies investigating dedicated transcatheter IASD for the treatment of CHF. Standardised mean differences were calculated for the within‐group changes before and after implantation of the IASD. The pre‐defined primary outcome was change in 6‐min walking distance (6MWD) from baseline to 12 months. Other outcomes were change in New York Heart Association class, health‐related quality of life (HRQoL), echocardiographic and haemodynamic data, device performance and safety. Subgroup analyses were crude univariable meta‐regression analyses. Six studies (five single‐arm open‐label studies, one sham‐controlled trial) were included. In these, 226 patients underwent IASD implantation using four different devices. From baseline to 12 months, 6MWD increased by 28.1 m [95% confidence interval (CI) 10.9–45.3] with no evidence for a difference between devices (P for interaction = 0.66) and patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) >40% or ≤40% (P for interaction = 0.21). At 12 months, HRQoL improved by 17.7 points (95% CI 10.8–24.6) and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) decreased by 2.0 mmHg (95% CI −3.6 to −0.4). There were no changes in LVEF or N‐terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide during follow‐up. Shunt patency ranged from 50% for the first‐generation v‐Wave to 100% for the Corvia IASD II and the second‐generation v‐Wave system, respectively. The summary risk of serious adverse device‐related effects was 8% (95% CI 1–20) at 12 months. Conclusions: Interatrial shunt device implantation in CHF is feasible and associates with improved submaximal exercise capacity (measured by 6MWD) and HRQoL, and reductions in PCWP

Genome-wide association study identifies 30 loci associated with bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder is a highly heritable psychiatric disorder. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) including 20,352 cases and 31,358 controls of European descent, with follow-up analysis of 822 variants with P < 1 × 10-4 in an additional 9,412 cases and 137,760 controls. Eight of the 19 variants that were genome-wide significant (P < 5 × 10-8) in the discovery GWAS were not genome-wide significant in the combined analysis, consistent with small effect sizes and limited power but also with genetic heterogeneity. In the combined analysis, 30 loci were genome-wide significant, including 20 newly identified loci. The significant loci contain genes encoding ion channels, neurotransmitter transporters and synaptic components. Pathway analysis revealed nine significantly enriched gene sets, including regulation of insulin secretion and endocannabinoid signaling. Bipolar I disorder is strongly genetically correlated with schizophrenia, driven by psychosis, whereas bipolar II disorder is more strongly correlated with major depressive disorder. These findings address key clinical questions and provide potential biological mechanisms for bipolar disorder

A novel unconventional T cell population enriched in Crohn's disease

Objective One of the current hypotheses to explain the proinflammatory immune response in IBD is a dysregulated T cell reaction to yet unknown intestinal antigens. As such, it may be possible to identify disease-associated T cell clonotypes by analysing the peripheral and intestinal T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of patients with IBD and controls. Design We performed bulk TCR repertoire profiling of both the TCR alpha and beta chains using high-throughput sequencing in peripheral blood samples of a total of 244 patients with IBD and healthy controls as well as from matched blood and intestinal tissue of 59 patients with IBD and disease controls. We further characterised specific T cell clonotypes via single-cell RNAseq. Results We identified a group of clonotypes, characterised by semi-invariant TCR alpha chains, to be significantly enriched in the blood of patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and particularly expanded in the CD8+ T cell population. Single-cell RNAseq data showed an innate-like phenotype of these cells, with a comparable gene expression to unconventional T cells such as mucosal associated invariant T and natural killer T (NKT) cells, but with distinct TCRs. Conclusions We identified and characterised a subpopulation of unconventional Crohn-associated invariant T (CAIT) cells. Multiple evidence suggests these cells to be part of the NKT type II population. The potential implications of this population for CD or a subset thereof remain to be elucidated, and the immunophenotype and antigen reactivity of CAIT cells need further investigations in future studies

phenoPET: A dedicated PET Scanner for Plant Research based on digital SiPMs

In the frame of the German Plant Phenotyping Project (DPPN) we developed a novel PET scanner. In contrary to a clinical or preclinical PET scanner the detector rings of the Plant System are oriented in a horizontal plane. The final system will be equipped with three rings covering a Field of View (FOV) of 18 cm diameter and 20 cm axial height. One detector ring is formed by 12 modules. Each module contains four 8×8 pixel digital SiPM devices DPC-3200-22-44 (Philips Digital Photon Counting) connected to a PCB and four scintillator matrices with 16×16 individual LYSO scintillators. Crystal size is 1.85×1.85×10 mm3. The matrices are composed with both reflective and transparent contact faces between the crystals in order to optimize crystal identification. A cooling system keeps the detectors below 5°C and limits the dark count rate. Data are already preprocessed by the Cyclone FPGA (Altera) in the module and transmitted from there at 50MiB/s to the base board. The base board collects the data from all modules and allows coincidence detection performed on a Kintex-7 FPGA (Xilinx). Finally the data link to the computer system for image reconstruction is realized via an USB 3.0 connection. Due to the fast photodetectors the system is dedicated to work with rather high activities. Preliminary measurements showed a coincidence peak of 250 ps FWHM between two detector elements and an energy resolution ΔE/E = 12%. This paper will present first results from a one ring system with a FOV of 18 cm diameter and 6.5 cm axial height