Circular economy for durable products and materials : the recycling of plastic building products in Germany ; status quo, potentials and recommendations

The construction sector is the second largest area for the application for plastics. Due to the long life times of construction products, the implementation of the circular economy faces its own challenges. To investigate this challenge, the study covers a market study for Germany, voluntary take-back and recycling schemes of construction products, as well as the use of plastic recyclates in construction products. In addition, plastic packaging of construction products is covered. Opportunities and barriers to the use of recycled plastics in construction products are derived from the intersection of available technologies, recyclate supply, and technical requirements for construction products. The report concludes with recommendations to various stakeholders on how to promote the use of recyclates in construction products and their packaging. Important points here are the introduction of a recyclate quota for films as construction product packaging and the description of recycling possibilities and recyclate content in the technical documentation of construction products

Promoting the high-quality recycling of plastics from demolition waste and enhancing the use of recycled materials in construction products in accordance with the European plastics strategy : final report

This study presents in detail: the use of plastic products and the opportunities for recyclate use in the construction sector, quantities of plastic used, take-back systems, recycling techniques, current recyclate use and plastic construction product packaging.Potentials for increasing high-quality recyclate use were identified. Existing hurdles and options for action for industry and politics are presented. Current recyclate use as well as its potential use are strongly dependent on the application area of plastics. The biggest hurdles for the use of recycled materials are product life time, dismantling and technical requirements

Förderung einer hochwertigen Verwertung von Kunststoffen aus Abbruchabfällen sowie der Stärkung des Rezyklateinsatzes in Bauprodukten im Sinne der europäischen Kunststoffstrategie

In dieser Studie werden detailliert dargestellt: die Verwendung von Kunststoffprodukten und Möglichkeiten des Rezyklateinsatzes im Baubereich, verwendete Kunststoffmengen, Rücknahmesysteme, Verwertungstechniken, aktueller Rezyklateneinsatz und Bauproduktverpackungen aus Kunststoff. Potentiale zur Steigerung des hochwertigen Rezyklateinsatzes wurden identifiziert und bestehende Hürden und Handlungsoptionen für Politik und Wirtschaft dargestellt. Aktueller Rezyklateinsatz sowie technische und mengenmäßige Potentiale sind stark abhängig vom Einsatzbereich der Kunststoffe. Die größten Hürden für einen Rezyklateinsatz sind dabei Produktlebensdauer, Rückbaufähigkeit und technische Anforderungen

Social Attention in Children with Epilepsy

Children with epilepsy may be vulnerable to impaired social attention given the increased risk of neu- robehavioural comorbidities. Social attentional orienting and the potential modulatory role of attentional control on the perceptual processing of gaze and emotion cues have not been examined in childhood onset epilepsies. Social attention mechanisms were investigated in patients with epilepsy (n = 25) aged 8–18 years old and performance compared to healthy controls (n = 30). Dynamic gaze and emotion facial stimuli were integrated into an antisaccade eye-tracking paradigm. The time to orient attention and exe- cute a horizontal saccade toward (prosaccade) or away (antisaccade) from a peripheral target measured processing speed of social signals under conditions of low or high attentional control. Patients with epi- lepsy had impaired processing speed compared to healthy controls under conditions of high attentional control only when gaze and emotions were combined meaningfully to signal motivational intent of approach (happy or anger with a direct gaze) or avoidance (fear or sad with an averted gaze). Group dif- ferences were larger in older adolescent patients. Analyses of the discrete gaze emotion combinations found independent effects of epilepsy-related, cognitive and behavioural problems. A delayed disengage- ment from fearful gaze was also found under low attentional control that was linked to epilepsy devel- opmental factors and was similarly observed in patients with higher reported anxiety problems. Overall, findings indicate increased perceptual processing of developmentally relevant social motivations during increased cognitive control, and the possibility of a persistent fear-related attentional bias. This was not limited to patients with chronic epilepsy, lower IQ or reported behavioural problems and has implica- tions for social and emotional development in individuals with childhood onset epilepsies beyond remission

Lignan Derivatives from Krameria lappacea Roots Inhibit Acute Inflammation in Vivo and Pro-inflammatory Mediators in Vitro

The roots of Krameria lappacea are used traditionally against oropharyngeal inflammation. So far, the astringent and antimicrobial properties of its proanthocyanidin constituents are considered to account for the anti-inflammatory effect. The aim of the present study was to characterize pharmacologically a lipophilic extract of K. lappacea roots and several isolated lignan derivatives (111) in terms of their putative anti-inflammatory activity. The dichloromethane extract (ID50 77 \u3bcg/cm2) as well compounds 111 (ID50 0.310.60 \u3bcmol/cm2) exhibited topical antiedematous properties comparable to those of indomethacin (ID50 0.29 \u3bcmol/cm2) in a mouse ear in vivo model. Two of the most potent compounds, 2-(2-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)-5-(3-hydroxypropyl)benzofuran (5) and (+)-conocarpan (7), were studied regarding their time-dependent edema development and leukocyte infiltration up to 48 h after croton oil-induced dermatitis induction, and they showed activity profiles similar to that of hydrocortisone. In vitro studies of the isolated lignan derivatives demonstrated the inhibition of NFkB, cyclooxygenase-1 and -2, 5-lipoxygenase, and microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase-1 as well as antioxidant properties, as mechanisms possibly contributing to the observed in vivo effects. The present findings not only support the ethnopharmacological use of K. lappacea roots but also reveal that the isolated lignan derivatives contribute strongly to the anti-inflammatory activity of this herbal drug

Hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention in boys with cleft lip and palate: relationship to ventromedial prefrontal cortex morphology

The purpose of this study is to evaluate quantitative structural measures of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in boys with isolated clefts of the lip and/or palate (ICLP) relative to a comparison group and to associate measures of brain structure with quantitative measures of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattentiveness. A total of 50 boys with ICLP were compared to 60 healthy boys without clefts. Magnetic resonance imaging brain scans were used to evaluate vmPFC structure. Parents and teachers provided quantitative measures of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattentiveness using the Pediatric Behavior Scale. Boys with ICLP had significantly higher ratings of hyperactivity/impulsivity/inattention (HII) and significantly increased volume of the right vmPFC relative to the comparison group. There was a direct relationship between HII score and vmPFC volume in both the ICLP group and control group, but the relationship was in the opposite direction: in ICLP, the higher the vmPFC volume, the higher the HII score; for the comparison group, the lower the vmPFC volume, the greater the HII score. The vmPFC is a region of the brain that governs behaviors of hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention (HII). In boys with ICLP, there are higher levels of HII compared to the controls and this is directly related to a significantly enlarged volume of the right vmPFC. Enlargement of this region of the brain is therefore considered to be pathological in the ICLP group and supports the notion that abnormal brain structure (from abnormal brain development) is the underlying etiology for the abnormal behaviors seen in this population

Saccadic Eye Movement Abnormalities in Children with Epilepsy

Childhood onset epilepsy is associated with disrupted developmental integration of sensorimotor and cognitive functions that contribute to persistent neurobehavioural comorbidities. The role of epilepsy and its treatment on the development of functional integration of motor and cognitive domains is unclear. Oculomotor tasks can probe neurophysiological and neurocognitive mechanisms vulnerable to developmental disruptions by epilepsy-related factors. The study involved 26 patients and 48 typically developing children aged 8–18 years old who performed a prosaccade and an antisaccade task. Analyses compared medicated chronic epilepsy patients and unmedicated controlled epilepsy patients to healthy control children on saccade latency, accuracy and dynamics, errors and correction rate, and express saccades. Patients with medicated chronic epilepsy had impaired and more variable processing speed, reduced accuracy, increased peak velocity and a greater number of inhibitory errors, younger unmedicated patients also showed deficits in error monitoring. Deficits were related to reported behavioural problems in patients. Epilepsy factors were significant predictors of oculomotor functions. An earlier age at onset predicted reduced latency of prosaccades and increased express saccades, and the typical relationship between express saccades and inhibitory errors was absent in chronic patients, indicating a persistent reduction in tonic cortical inhibition and aberrant cortical connectivity. In contrast, onset in later childhood predicted altered antisaccade dynamics indicating disrupted neurotransmission in frontoparietal and oculomotor networks with greater demand on inhibitory control. The observed saccadic abnormalities are consistent with a dysmaturation of subcortical-cortical functional connectivity and aberrant neurotransmission. Eye movements could be used to monitor the impact of epilepsy on neurocognitive development and help assess the risk for poor neurobehavioural outcomes

(Per)chlorate reduction by an acetogenic bacterium, Sporomusa sp., isolated from an underground gas storage

A mesophilic bacterium, strain An4, was isolated from an underground gas storage reservoir with methanol as substrate and perchlorate as electron acceptor. Cells were Gram-negative, spore-forming, straight to curved rods, 0.5–0.8 μm in diameter, and 2–8 μm in length, growing as single cells or in pairs. The cells grew optimally at 37°C, and the pH optimum was around 7. Strain An4 converted various alcohols, organic acids, fructose, acetoin, and H2/CO2 to acetate, usually as the only product. Succinate was decarboxylated to propionate. The isolate was able to respire with (per)chlorate, nitrate, and CO2. The G+C content of the DNA was 42.6 mol%. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain An4 was most closely related to Sporomusa ovata (98% similarity). The bacterium reduced perchlorate and chlorate completely to chloride. Key enzymes, perchlorate reductase and chlorite dismutase, were detected in cell-free extracts

Personality traits and mental disorders

Peer reviewe

Historical and recent glacier fluctuations in the catchment areas of the Cha Lungpa (Mukut-, Hongde-, Tongu-Himalaya and Tach Garbo Lungpa), in the Khangsar Khola (Annapurna N-Slope) and in the Kone Khola (Muktinath-, Purkhung- and Chulu-Himalaya)

Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Erstellung einer historischen (<~1700 BP) Gletscherstandschronologie für den untersuchten Ausschnitt des Himalaja. An insgesamt 25 untersuchten Gletschern gelang durch die Aufnahme des glazialgeomorphologischen Inventars in der Umgebung der aktuellen Zungen die Ausdifferenzierung mehrerer Gletscherstadien. Als zu einem Stadium 1 abgelagert, wurden große, die Vorfelder beschließende Randmoränen ausgewiesen, die eine mittlere Schneegrenzdepression von 89 m belegen. Zwischen jenen Wällen, die sehr wahrscheinlich durch zwei bis drei historische Vorstöße aufgebaut wurden, und dem aktuellen Zungenende, waren drei weitere Gletscherstadien (2, 3 u. 4) rekonstruierbar, so dass von insgesamt 5-6 historischen Vorstößen/Frontstagnationen auszugehen ist. Stadium 1 repräsentiert die historische Maximalausdehnung, für die ein letztmaliger Aufbau während des Kleine Eiszeit -Maximums (1600-1800 AD) postuliert wird. Zur maximalen historischen Vereisung nahm die vergletscherte Fläche im Arbeitsgebiet ca. 145 km² ein. Sie war somit gegenüber den aktuellen Verhältnissen (ca. 107 km²) um das 1,35-fache größer. Die Stadien 2 und 3, zu denen die Schneegrenzdepressionen 79 und 42 m betrugen, traten folglich später als Gletscherstand 1 ein. Sie gehen vermutlich auf kältere bzw. feuchtere Phasen in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts (Stadium 2) sowie zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts (Stadium 3) zurück. Stadium 4 war über die kombinierte Auswertung von Fotomaterial und heute vorliegenden Randmoränenwällen oder Laterofrontalmoränenleisten auf den Zeitraum von ca. 1974 bis 1980 datierbar. Jener Gletscherstand ist mit einer ca. 1940/50 einsetzenden Unterbrechung der zuvor anhaltenden Erwärmung (max. Temperaturabsenkung von ca. 0,3°C) in Verbindung zu bringen. Die für das Arbeitsgebiet diagnostizierten Gletscherlängenreduktionen seit Stadium 4 werden als Folge der seit ca. Anfang der 1970er Jahre wieder einsetzenden Erwärmung verständlich. Ältere, auswärts der Stadium 1-Moränen lagernde Wälle konnten dem Neoglazial (5500-1700 v. 1950 AD) zugeordnet werden. Die mittleren Schneegrenzabsenkungen zu diesen Gletscherst änden (Stadien -1 u. -2) lagen bei 154 bzw. 196 m. Die eigenen Ergebnisse fügen sich insofern in das Bild der hinsichtlich historischer wie neoglazialer Vergletscherungsausdehnungen bestehenden Literatur ein, als das sie für diese Zeiträume Gletscherstände belegen, zu denen die Eisränder immer in den Umgebungen der rezenten Vereisungsgrenzen verblieben. Auch die den rekonstruierten Stadien 4 bis -2 zuzuordnenden Schneegrenzdepressionen passen zu den im Mittel für Hochasien für den historischen wie neoglazialen Zeitrahmen angegebenen Werten. Der diese Vereisungsumfänglichkeiten wie Schneegrenzabsenkungsbeträge anzeigende Formenschatz ist von seinem Erhaltungszustand her und aufgrund seiner räumlichen Beschränktheit leicht von spät- und hochglazialen Vergletscherungsindikatoren zu differenzieren. Letztere belegen hoch- und spätglaziale Schneegrenzdepressionen von 700-1300 m