Revisiting the footprints of climate change in Arctic marine food webs: An assessment of knowledge gained since 2010

In 2011, a first comprehensive assessment of the footprints of climate change on Arctic marine ecosystems (such as altered distribution ranges, abundances, growth and body conditions, behaviours and phenologies, as well as community and regime shifts) was published. Here, we re-assess the climate-driven impacts reported since then, to elucidate to which extent and how observed ecological footprints have changed in the following decade (2011 to 2021). In total, 98 footprints have been described and analysed. Most of those impacts reported in the 2011 assessment are reconfirmed and can, hence, be assumed as continuing trends. In addition, novel footprints (behavioural changes, diet changes, altered competition and pathogen load) are described. As in 2011, most reported footprints are related to changes in distribution ranges, abundances, biomass and production. Range shifts have mostly been observed for fish species, while behavioural changes have mainly been reported for mammals. Primary production has been observed to further increase in Arctic seas. The footprints on pelagic herbivores, particularly the key species Calanus spp., are less clear. In comparison to 2011, more complex, cascading effects of climate change, such as increased bowhead whale body conditions due to increased primary production, have been reported. The observed footprints, and the trends that they indicate, strongly suggest that due to further northward range shifts of sub-Arctic and boreal species Arctic seas are likely to experience increasing species richness in the future. However, a tipping point may be reached, characterized by subsequent biodiversity decline, when Arctic-endemic species will go extinct as ocean warming and/or acidification will exceed their physiological adaptation capacity.Overall, the future Arctic Ocean will very likely experience increasing numbers and intensities of climate-change footprints

Shear bond strength, microleakage and anti-bacterial properties of self-etching bonding systems

Self-etching dentine bonding agents are a recent addition to the choice of bonding agents which a clinician has available to bond resin restorations to tooth structure. The so-called ‘traditional’, total-etch fourth and fifth generation dentine bonding agents have proven their clinical abilities and the question now remains whether these ‘new’ self-etching dentine bonding agents will clinically perform as well as the ‘proven’ total-etch dentine bonding agents. For the purpose of this dissertation the author completed three research projects which were performed to evaluate the efficacy of a selection of dentine bonding agents and then used the results to compare some properties (shear bond strength, microleakage, and anti-bacterial properties) of total-etch dentine bonding agents with some self-etching dentine bonding agents. All discussions will focus on the three dentine bonding agent properties evaluated by the three research projects performed. The three specific aims of this study were: To compare the dentine shear bond strength of a selection of self-etching dentine bonding agents with that of a total-etch dentine bonding agent control. To compare dentine and enamel microleakage values of a selection of self-etching bonding agents with that of a total-etch dentine bonding agent control. To evaluate the possible anti-bacterial properties of a selection of dentine bonding agents, with focus placed on the self-etching dentine bonding agent ABFb (Clearfil Protect Bond). The studies performed by the author achieved comparative/similar results to some studies described in the literature but it is clear from the literature that some studies provide conflicting results, especially leakage of enamel margins when using self-etching bonding agents. Taking into consideration the limitations of the three studies performed, it can be concluded that as far as the three evaluated properties of self-etching dentine bonding agents are concerned, they should prove to be acceptable clinical alternatives for use in place of total-etch dentine bonding agents. CopyrightDissertation (MSc(Odont))--University of Pretoria, 2010.Odontologyunrestricte

Vitamin D and Disease Severity in Multiple Sclerosis-Baseline Data From the Randomized Controlled Trial (EVIDIMS)

Objective: To investigate the associations between hypovitaminosis D and disease activity in a cohort of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) patients. Methods: In 51 RRMS and 2 CIS patients on stable interferon-β-1b (IFN-β-1b) treatment recruited to the EVIDIMS study (Efficacy of Vitamin D Supplementation in Multiple Sclerosis (NCT01440062) baseline serum vitamin D levels were evaluated. Patients were dichotomized based on the definition of vitamin D deficiency which is reflected by a < 30 vs. ≥ 30 ng/ml level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D). Possible associations between vitamin D deficiency and both clinical and MRI features of the disease were analyzed. Results: Median (25, 75% quartiles, Q) 25(OH)D level was 18 ng/ml (12, 24). Forty eight out of 53 (91%) patients had 25(OH)D levels < 30 ng/ml (p < 0.001). Patients with 25(OH)D ≥ 30 ng/ml had lower median (25, 75% Q) T2-weighted lesion counts [25 (24, 33)] compared to patients with 25(OH)D < 30 ng/ml [60 (36, 84), p = 0.03; adjusted for age, gender and disease duration: p < 0.001]. Expanded disability status scale (EDSS) score was negatively associated with serum 25(OH)D levels in a multiple linear regression, including age, sex, and disease duration (adjusted: p < 0.001). Interpretation: Most patients recruited in the EVIDIMS study were vitamin D deficient. Higher 25(OH)D levels were associated with reduced T2 weighted lesion count and lower EDSS scores

Metalloporphyrins inactivate caspase-3 and -8

Activation of caspases represents one of the earliest biochemical indicators for apoptotic cell death. Therefore, measurement of caspase activity is a widely used and generally accepted method to determine apoptosis in a wide range of in vivo and in vitro settings. Numerous publications characterize the role of the heme-catabolizing enzyme heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in regulating apoptotic processes. Different metalloporphyrins representing inducers and inhibitors of this enzyme are often used, followed by assessment of apoptotic cell death. In the present work, we found that caspase-3-like activity, as well as activity of caspase-8 measured in either Fas (CD95) ligand-treated Jurkat T-lymphocytes or by the use of recombinant caspase-3 or -8, was inhibited by different metalloporphyrins (cobalt(III) protoporphyrin IX, tin and zinc II) protoporphyrin-IX). Moreover, employing the mouse model of Fas-induced liver apoptosis these properties of porphyrins could also be demonstrated in vivo. The metalloporphyrins were shown to inhibit caspase-3-mediated PARP cleavage. Molecular modeling studies demonstrated that porphyrins can occupy the active site of caspase-3 in an energetically favorable manner and in a binding mode similar to that of known inhibitors. The data shown here introduce metalloporphyrins as direct inhibitors of caspase activity. This finding points to the need for careful employment of metalloporphyrins as modulators of HO-1

Assessment of Subsampling Strategies in Microspectroscopy of Environmental Microplastic Samples

The analysis of environmental occurrence of microplastic (MP) particles has gained notable attention within the past decade. An effective risk assessment of MP litter requires elucidating sources of MP particles, their pathways of distribution and, ultimately, sinks. Therefore, sampling has to be done in high frequency, both spatially and temporally, resulting in a high number of samples to analyze. Microspectroscopy techniques, such as FTIR imaging or Raman particle measurements allow an accurate analysis of MP particles regarding their chemical classification and size. However, these methods are time-consuming, which gives motivation to establish subsampling protocols that require measuring less particles, while still obtaining reliable results. The challenge regarding the subsampling of environmental MP samples lies in the heterogeneity of MP types and the relatively low numbers of target particles. Herein, we present a comprehensive assessment of different proposed subsampling methods on a selection of real-world samples from different environmental compartments. The methods are analyzed and compared with respect to resulting MP count errors, which eventually allows giving recommendations for staying within acceptable error margins. Our results are based on measurements with Raman microspectroscopy, but are applicable to any other analysis technique. We show that the subsampling-errors are mainly due to statistical counting errors (i.e., extrapolation from low numbers) and only in edge cases additionally impacted by inhomogeneous distribution of particles on the filters. Keeping the subsampling-errors low can mainly be realized by increasing the fraction of MP particles in the samples

Edge irregular total labellings for graphs of linear size

Confirming a conjecture by Ivanˇco and Jendrol for a large class of graphs we prove that for every graph G = (V,E) of order n, size m and maximum degree with m > 111000 there is a function f : V [ E ! 1, 2, ..., m+2 3 such that f(u) + f(uv) + f(v) 6= f(u0) + f(u0v0) + f(v0) for every uv, u0v0 2 E with uv 6= u0v0. Furthermore, we prove the existence of such a function with values up to m 2 for every graph G = (V,E) of order n and size m 3 whose edges are not all incident to a single vertex

Portability of Scientific Workflows in NGS Data Analysis: A Case Study

The analysis of next-generation sequencing (NGS) data requires complex computational workflows consisting of dozens of autonomously developed yet interdependent processing steps. Whenever large amounts of data need to be processed, these workflows must be executed on a parallel and/or distributed systems to ensure reasonable runtime. Porting a workflow developed for a particular system on a particular hardware infrastructure to another system or to another infrastructure is non-trivial, which poses a major impediment to the scientific necessities of workflow reproducibility and workflow reusability. In this work, we describe our efforts to port a state-of-the-art workflow for the detection of specific variants in whole-exome sequencing of mice. The workflow originally was developed in the scientific workflow system snakemake for execution on a high-performance cluster controlled by Sun Grid Engine. In the project, we ported it to the scientific workflow system SaasFee that can execute workflows on (multi-core) stand-alone servers or on clusters of arbitrary sizes using the Hadoop. The purpose of this port was that also owners of low-cost hardware infrastructures, for which Hadoop was made for, become able to use the workflow. Although both the source and the target system are called scientific workflow systems, they differ in numerous aspects, ranging from the workflow languages to the scheduling mechanisms and the file access interfaces. These differences resulted in various problems, some expected and more unexpected, that had to be resolved before the workflow could be run with equal semantics. As a side-effect, we also report cost/runtime ratios for a state-of-the-art NGS workflow on very different hardware platforms: A comparably cheap stand-alone server (80 threads), a mid-cost, mid-sized cluster (552 threads), and a high-end HPC system (3784 threads)

Quantum Fiel Theoretic Treatment of the Non-Forward Compton Amplitude in the Generalized Bjorken Region

A quantum field theoretic treatment of the leading light-cone part of the virtual Compton amplitude is presented. The twist-decomposition of the operators is performed by a group-theoretic procedure respecting the Lorentz group O(3,1). The twist-2 contributions to the Compton amplitude are calculated and it is shown that the electromagnetic current is conserved for these terms. Relations between the amplitude functions associated to the symmetric and asymmetric part of the Compton amplitude are derived. These relations generalize the Callan-Gross and Wandzura-Wilczek relations of forward scattering for the non-forward Compton amplitude.Comment: 7 pages LATEX, 1 style file, DESY 00-045, Contribution to the Proceedings of `Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory', Bastei, Germany, April 2000, Nucl. Phys. B (Proc. Suppl.) (2000) to appea