A variational perspective on auxetic metamaterials of checkerboard-type

The main result of this work is a homogenization theorem via variational convergence for elastic materials with stiff checkerboard-type heterogeneities under the assumptions of physical growth and non-self-interpenetration. While the obtained energy estimates are rather standard, determining the effective deformation behavior, or in other words, characterizing the weak Sobolev limits of deformation maps whose gradients are locally close to rotations on the stiff components, is the challenging part. To this end, we establish an asymptotic rigidity result, showing that, under suitable scaling assumptions, the attainable macroscopic deformations are affine conformal contractions. This identifies the composite as a mechanical metamaterial with a negative Poisson's ratio. Our proof strategy is to tackle first an idealized model with full rigidity on the stiff tiles to acquire insight into the mechanics of the model and then transfer the findings and methodology to the model with diverging elastic constants. The latter requires, in particular, a new quantitative geometric rigidity estimate for non-connected squares touching each other at their vertices and a tailored Poincar\'e type inequality for checkerboard structures.Comment: 40 pages, 13 figure

Исследования функциональности и состояния защитных сооружений ГО г. Юрги

Immunogenetics and cellular immunology of bacterial infectious disease

Yeast Svf1 binds ceramides and contributes to sphingolipid metabolism at the ER cis-Golgi interface

Ceramides are essential precursors of complex sphingolipids and act as potent signaling molecules. Ceramides are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and receive their head-groups in the Golgi apparatus, yielding complex sphingolipids (SPs). Transport of ceramides between the ER and the Golgi is executed by the essential ceramide transport protein (CERT) in mammalian cells. However, yeast cells lack a CERT homolog, and the mechanism of ER to Golgi ceramide transport remains largely elusive. Here, we identified a role for yeast Svf1 in ceramide transport between the ER and the Golgi. Svf1 is dynamically targeted to membranes via an N-terminal amphipathic helix (AH). Svf1 binds ceramide via a hydrophobic binding pocket that is located in between two lipocalin domains. We showed that Svf1 membrane-targeting is important to maintain flux of ceramides into complex SPs. Together, our results show that Svf1 is a ceramide binding protein that contributes to sphingolipid metabolism at Golgi compartments

A new data infrastructure for family research and demographic analysis: the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)

This data brief introduces the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA; https://www.freda-panel.de/), a longitudinal, multi-actor database for family research. Major substantive fields addressed in the questionnaire include fertility-related attitudes and behaviours, reproductive health, work-family conflict, couples' division of labour, gender roles, intimate relationships, separation and divorce, parenting and intergenerational relations, and well-being. FReDA is based on two initially independent samples: the newly drawn FReDA-GGS sample (n_recruitment = 37,777 respondents, aged 18-49 years), constituting the German contribution to the Generations and Gender Surveys (GGS-II), and the FReDA-pairfam sample (n = 6,216 respondents who originally participated in the German Family Panel [pairfam]). Both samples are fully integrated, using one survey instrument consisting of the harmonized GGS-II and pairfam questionnaires. Mainly web-based interviews, complemented by paper-based interviews, are conducted biannually, with one wave being split across two subwaves. We provide a short description of FReDA's forerunners - the GGS and pairfam - and give an overview of FReDA's design and content, its baseline wave (collected in 2021) and data releases, as well as a brief outlook on FReDA's road ahead

Building in Hongkong. Field Excursion of the Department of Civil Engineering of the HTWG Konstanz 2012

Hongkong steht als Welthandelsmetropole auch für Superlative des Bauens. Dies gilt für die in britischer Zeit errichteten Bauten, aber auch für die nach der Übergabe an China entstandenen Hochhäuser und Brückenbauwerke. Der Exkursionsbericht der Fakultät Bauingenieurwesen der HTWG Konstanz gibt einen Eindruck von diesen Aktivitäten. Er schildert Brücken- und Hochhausbauten, Tunnelbaustellen und die Baustelle eines Klärschlammverbrennungswerks, die während einer Exkursionswoche im September 2012 besichtigt wurden. Darüber hinaus gibt er einen Einblick in die wirtschaftliche Dynamik der Stadt.As a global metropolis Hongkong also stands for outstanding building activities. The report depicts the impressions during a student field excursion of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Applied Sciences Konstanz, Germany, to construction sites in Hongkong in September 2012

Therapeutic mitigation of measles-like immune amnesia and exacerbated disease after prior respiratory virus infections in ferrets

Measles cases have surged pre-COVID-19 and the pandemic has aggravated the problem. Most measles-associated morbidity and mortality arises from destruction of pre-existing immune memory by measles virus (MeV), a paramyxovirus of the morbillivirus genus. Therapeutic measles vaccination lacks efficacy, but little is known about preserving immune memory through antivirals and the effect of respiratory disease history on measles severity. We use a canine distemper virus (CDV)-ferret model as surrogate for measles and employ an orally efficacious paramyxovirus polymerase inhibitor to address these questions. A receptor tropism-intact recombinant CDV with low lethality reveals an 8-day advantage of antiviral treatment versus therapeutic vaccination in maintaining immune memory. Infection of female ferrets with influenza A virus (IAV) A/CA/07/2009 (H1N1) or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) four weeks pre-CDV causes fatal hemorrhagic pneumonia with lung onslaught by commensal bacteria. RNAseq identifies CDV-induced overexpression of trefoil factor (TFF) peptides in the respiratory tract, which is absent in animals pre-infected with IAV. Severe outcomes of consecutive IAV/CDV infections are mitigated by oral antivirals even when initiated late. These findings validate the morbillivirus immune amnesia hypothesis, define measles treatment paradigms, and identify priming of the TFF axis through prior respiratory infections as risk factor for exacerbated morbillivirus disease.</p

Therapeutic mitigation of measles-like immune amnesia and exacerbated disease after prior respiratory virus infections in ferrets

Measles cases have surged pre-COVID-19 and the pandemic has aggravated the problem. Most measles-associated morbidity and mortality arises from destruction of pre-existing immune memory by measles virus (MeV), a paramyxovirus of the morbillivirus genus. Therapeutic measles vaccination lacks efficacy, but little is known about preserving immune memory through antivirals and the effect of respiratory disease history on measles severity. We use a canine distemper virus (CDV)-ferret model as surrogate for measles and employ an orally efficacious paramyxovirus polymerase inhibitor to address these questions. A receptor tropism-intact recombinant CDV with low lethality reveals an 8-day advantage of antiviral treatment versus therapeutic vaccination in maintaining immune memory. Infection of female ferrets with influenza A virus (IAV) A/CA/07/2009 (H1N1) or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) four weeks pre-CDV causes fatal hemorrhagic pneumonia with lung onslaught by commensal bacteria. RNAseq identifies CDV-induced overexpression of trefoil factor (TFF) peptides in the respiratory tract, which is absent in animals pre-infected with IAV. Severe outcomes of consecutive IAV/CDV infections are mitigated by oral antivirals even when initiated late. These findings validate the morbillivirus immune amnesia hypothesis, define measles treatment paradigms, and identify priming of the TFF axis through prior respiratory infections as risk factor for exacerbated morbillivirus disease.</p

Retinal Vascular Occlusion after COVID-19 Vaccination : More Coincidence than Causal Relationship? Data from a Retrospective Multicentre Study

Background: To investigate whether vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is associated with the onset of retinal vascular occlusive disease (RVOD). Methods: In this multicentre study, data from patients with central and branch retinal vein occlusion (CRVO and BRVO), central and branch retinal artery occlusion (CRAO and BRAO), and anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (AION) were retrospectively collected during a 2-month index period (1 June–31 July 2021) according to a defined protocol. The relation to any previous vaccination was documented for the consecutive case series. Numbers of RVOD and COVID-19 vaccination were investigated in a case-by-case analysis. A case– control study using age- and sex-matched controls from the general population (study participants from the Gutenberg Health Study) and an adjusted conditional logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results: Four hundred and twenty-one subjects presenting during the index period (61 days) were enrolled: one hundred and twenty-one patients with CRVO, seventy-five with BRVO, fifty-six with CRAO, sixty-five with BRAO, and one hundred and four with AION. Three hundred and thirty-two (78.9%) patients had been vaccinated before the onset of RVOD. The vaccines given were BNT162b2/BioNTech/Pfizer (n = 221), followed by ChadOx1/AstraZeneca (n = 57), mRNA1273/Moderna (n = 21), and Ad26.COV2.S/Johnson & Johnson (n = 11; unknown n = 22). Our case–control analysis integrating population-based data from the GHS yielded no evidence of an increased risk after COVID-19 vaccination (OR = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.60–1.45, p = 0.75) in connection with a vaccination within a 4-week window. Conclusions: To date, there has been no evidence of any association between SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and a higher RVOD risk