A Further Perspective on Data Stewardship: Experiences and Challenges of "RDM-Stewards" in a Collaborative Project in Rhineland-Palatinate

Poster presented at the Data Stewardship Goes Germany Workshop at SLUB Dresden.This research and development project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the funding measure Reuse and Management of Research Data at Universities of Applied Sciences (funding number 16FDFH104A) and financed within the Recovery and Resilience Facility of the European Union

Laccase-Enzyme Treated Flax Fibre for Use in Natural Fibre Epoxy Composites

Natural fibres have a high potential as reinforcement of polymer matrices, as they combine a high specific strength and modulus with sustainable production and reasonable prices. Modifying the fibre surface is a common method to increase the adhesion and thereby enhance the mechanical properties of composites. In this study, a novel sustainable surface treatment is presented: the fungal enzyme laccase was utilised with the aim of covalently binding the coupling agent dopamine to flax fibre surfaces. The goal is to improve the interfacial strength towards an epoxy matrix. SEM and AFM micrographs showed that the modification changes the surface morphology, indicating a deposition of dopamine on the surface. Fibre tensile tests, which were performed to check whether the fibre structure was damaged during the treatment, showed that no decrease in tensile strength or modulus occurred. Single fibre pullout tests showed a 30% increase in interfacial shear strength (IFSS) due to the laccase-mediated bonding of the coupling agent dopamine. These results demonstrate that a laccase + dopamine treatment modifies flax fibres sustainably and increases the interfacial strength towards epoxy

The pre-breakup stratigraphy and petroleum system of the Southern Jan Mayen Ridge revealed by seafloor sampling

The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution from the vessel’s crew (captain I. Rasmussen) and operator (Thor Ltd), the two surveyors (K. Høysæth and H.B. Bortne), and two sampling assistants (F. Gausepohl and A.-M. Voelsch). Sverre Planke and Dougal Jerram are partly funded through a Norwegian Research Council Centers of Excellence project (project number 223272, CEED). Adriano Mazzini is funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme Grant agreement n° 308126 (LUSI LAB project, PI A. Mazzini). TGS and VBPR funded the cruise and allowed the publication of the data and interpretation. Steve Killops from APT refined our interpretation of the biomarker data. The reviewers and the editor are also thanked for their constructive comments. Finally, this article is dedicated to the biostratigrapher Haavard Selnes who sadly passed away in 2015.Peer reviewedPostprin

A pilot study of hair and cytokine balance alteration in healthy young women under major exam stress

Mouse models show that experimental stress mimicking prolonged life-stress exposure enhances neurogenic inflammation, induces adaptive immunity cytokine- imbalance characterized by a shift to Type 1 T-helper cell cytokines and increases apoptosis of epithelial cells. This affects hair growth in otherwise healthy animals. In this study, we investigate whether a prolonged naturalistic life-stress exposure affects cytokine balance and hair parameters in healthy humans. 33 (18 exam, 15 comparison) female medical students with comparable sociobiological status were analyzed during a stressful final examination period, at three points in time (T) 12 weeks apart. T1 was before start of the learning period, T2 between the three-day written exam and an oral examination, and T3 after a 12 week rest and recovery from the stress of the examination period. Assessments included: self-reported distress and coping strategies (Perceived Stress Questionnaire [PSQ], Trier Inventory for the Assessment of Chronic Stress [TICS]), COPE), cytokines in supernatants of stimulated peripheral blood mononucleocytes (PBMCs), and trichogram (hair cycle and pigmentation analysis). Comparison between students participating in the final medical exam at T2 and non-exam students, revealed significantly higher stress perception in exam students. Time-wise comparison revealed that stress level, TH1/TH2 cytokine balance and hair parameters changed significantly from T1 to T2 in the exam group, but not the control. However, no group differences were found for cytokine balance or hair parameters at T2. The study concludes that in humans, naturalistic stress, as perceived during participation in a major medical exam, has the potential to shift the immune response to TH1 and transiently hamper hair growth, but these changes stay within a physiological range. Findings are instructive for patients suffering from hair loss in times of high stress. Replication in larger and more diverse sample populations is required, to assess suitability of trichogram analysis as biological outcome for stress studies

Increased Sensitivity to Agonist-Induced Seizures, Straub Tail, and Hippocampal Theta Rhythm in Knock-In Mice Carrying Hypersensitive α4 Nicotinic Receptors

We studied a strain of exon replacement mice (“L9′S knock-in”) whose α4 nicotinic receptor subunits have a leucine to serine mutation in the M2 region, 9′ position (Labarca et al., 2001); this mutation renders α4-containing receptors hypersensitive to agonists. Nicotine induced seizures at concentrations (1 mg/kg) approximately eight times lower in L9′S than in wild-type (WT) littermates. At these concentrations, L9′S but not WT showed increases in EEG amplitude and theta rhythm. L9′S mice also showed higher seizure sensitivity to the nicotinic agonist epibatidine, but not to the GABA_Areceptor blocker and proconvulsant bicuculline. Dorsiflexion of the tail (Straub tail) was the most sensitive nicotine effect found in L9′S mice (0.1 mg/kg). The L9′S mice were hypersensitive to galanthamine- and tacrine-induced seizures and Straub tails. There were no apparent neuroanatomical differences between L9′S and WT mice in several brain regions. [125I]Epibatidine binding to brain membranes showed that the mutant allele was expressed at ∼25% of WT levels, presumably because of the presence of a neomycin selection cassette in a nearby intron. ^(86)Rb efflux experiments on brain synaptosomes showed an increased fraction of function at low agonist concentrations in L9′S mice. These data support the possible involvement of gain-of-function α4 receptors in autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal-lobe epilepsy

Multi-Catalytic Route for the Synthesis of (S)-Tembamide

Enantiopure β-amino alcohols constitute one of the most significant building blocks for the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Despite the availability of a range of chiral β-amino alcohols from a chiral pool, there is a growing demand for new enantioselective synthetic routes to vicinal amino alcohols and their derivatives. In the present study, an asymmetric 2-step catalytic route that converts 4-anisaldehyde into a β-amino alcohol derivative, (S)-tembamide, with excellent enantiopurity (98% enantiomeric excess) has been developed. The recently published initial step consists in a concurrent biocatalytic cascade for the synthesis of (S)-4-methoxymandelonitrile benzoate. The O-benzoyl cyanohydrin is then converted to (S)-tembamide in a hydrogenation reaction catalyzed by Raney Ni. To achieve hydrogenation of the nitrile moiety with highest chemoselectivity and enantioretention, various parameters such as nature of the catalyst, reaction temperature and hydrogen pressure were studied. The reported strategy might be transferrable to the synthesis of other N-acyl-β-amino alcohols

Mobilisation of critically ill patients receiving norepinephrine: a retrospective cohort study

Background: Mobilisation and exercise intervention in general are safe and feasible in critically ill patients. For patients requiring catecholamines, however, doses of norepinephrine safe for mobilisation in the intensive care unit (ICU) are not defined. This study aimed to describe mobilisation practice in our hospital and identify doses of norepinephrine that allowed a safe mobilisation. Methods: We conducted a retrospective single-centre cohort study of 16 ICUs at a university hospital in Germany with patients admitted between March 2018 and November 2021. Data were collected from our patient data management system. We analysed the effect of norepinephrine on level (ICU Mobility Scale) and frequency (units per day) of mobilisation, early mobilisation (within 72 h of ICU admission), mortality, and rate of adverse events. Data were extracted from free-text mobilisation entries using supervised machine learning (support vector machine). Statistical analyses were done using (generalised) linear (mixed-effect) models, as well as chi-square tests and ANOVAs. Results: A total of 12,462 patients were analysed in this study. They received a total of 59,415 mobilisation units. Of these patients, 842 (6.8%) received mobilisation under continuous norepinephrine administration. Norepinephrine administration was negatively associated with the frequency of mobilisation (adjusted difference -0.07 mobilisations per day; 95% CI - 0.09, - 0.05; p 0.1). Higher compared to lower doses of norepinephrine did not lead to a significant increase in adverse events in our practice (p > 0.1). We identified that mobilisation was safe with up to 0.20 mu g/kg/min norepinephrine for out-of-bed (IMS >= 2) and 0.33 mu g/kg/min for in-bed (IMS 0-1) mobilisation. Conclusions: Mobilisation with norepinephrine can be done safely when considering the status of the patient and safety guidelines. We demonstrated that safe mobilisation was possible with norepinephrine doses up to 0.20 mu g/kg/min for out-of-bed (IMS >= 2) and 0.33 mu g/kg/min for in-bed (IMS 0-1) mobilisation

Empirical Comparison of Distributed Source Localization Methods for Single-Trial Detection of Movement Preparation

The development of technologies for the treatment of movement disorders, like stroke, is still of particular interest in brain-computer interface (BCI) research. In this context, source localization methods (SLMs), that reconstruct the cerebral origin of brain activity measured outside the head, e.g., via electroencephalography (EEG), can add a valuable insight into the current state and progress of the treatment. However, in BCIs SLMs were often solely considered as advanced signal processing methods that are compared against other methods based on the classification performance alone. Though, this approach does not guarantee physiological meaningful results. We present an empirical comparison of three established distributed SLMs with the aim to use one for single-trial movement prediction. The SLMs wMNE, sLORETA, and dSPM were applied on data acquired from eight subjects performing voluntary arm movements. Besides the classification performance as quality measure, a distance metric was used to asses the physiological plausibility of the methods. For the distance metric, which is usually measured to the source position of maximum activity, we further propose a variant based on clusters that is better suited for the single-trial case in which several sources are likely and the actual maximum is unknown. The two metrics showed different results. The classification performance revealed no significant differences across subjects, indicating that all three methods are equally well-suited for single-trial movement prediction. On the other hand, we obtained significant differences in the distance measure, favoring wMNE even after correcting the distance with the number of reconstructed clusters. Further, distance results were inconsistent with the traditional method using the maximum, indicating that for wMNE the point of maximum source activity often did not coincide with the nearest activation cluster. In summary, the presented comparison might help users to select an appropriate SLM and to understand the implications of the selection. The proposed methodology pays attention to the particular properties of distributed SLMs and can serve as a framework for further comparisons