A multi-technology analysis of the 2017 North Korean nuclear test

On 3 September 2017 official channels of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced the successful test of a thermonuclear device. Only seconds to minutes after the alleged nuclear explosion at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the mountainous region in the country's northeast at 03:30:02 (UTC), hundreds of seismic stations distributed all around the globe picked up strong and distinct signals associated with an explosion. Different seismological agencies reported body wave magnitudes of well above 6.0, consequently estimating the explosive yield of the device on the order of hundreds of kT TNT equivalent. The 2017 event can therefore be assessed as being multiple times larger in energy than the two preceding North Korean events in January and September 2016. This study provides a multi-technology analysis of the 2017 North Korean event and its aftermath using a wide array of geophysical methods. Seismological investigations locate the event within the test site at a depth of approximately 0.6&thinsp;km below the surface. The radiation and generation of P- and S-wave energy in the source region are significantly influenced by the topography of the Mt. Mantap massif. Inversions for the full moment tensor of the main event reveal a dominant isotropic component accompanied by significant amounts of double couple and compensated linear vector dipole terms, confirming the explosive character of the event. The analysis of the source mechanism of an aftershock that occurred around 8&thinsp;min after the test in the direct vicinity suggest a cavity collapse. Measurements at seismic stations of the International Monitoring System result in a body wave magnitude of 6.2, which translates to an yield estimate of around 400&thinsp;kT TNT equivalent. The explosive yield is possibly overestimated, since topography and depth phases both tend to enhance the peak amplitudes of teleseismic P waves. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar analysis using data from the ALOS-2 satellite reveal strong surface deformations in the epicenter region. Additional multispectral optical data from the Pleiades satellite show clear landslide activity at the test site. The strong surface deformations generated large acoustic pressure peaks, which were observed as infrasound signals with distinctive waveforms even at distances of 401&thinsp;km. In the aftermath of the 2017 event, atmospheric traces of the fission product 133Xe were detected at various locations in the wider region. While for 133Xe measurements in September 2017, the Punggye-ri test site is disfavored as a source by means of atmospheric transport modeling, detections in October 2017 at the International Monitoring System station RN58 in Russia indicate a potential delayed leakage of 133Xe at the test site from the 2017 North Korean nuclear test.</p

Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. RESULTS: Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Effectiveness and safety of opicapone in Parkinson’s disease patients with motor fluctuations: the OPTIPARK open-label study

Background The efficacy and safety of opicapone, a once-daily catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitor, have been established in two large randomized, placebo-controlled, multinational pivotal trials. Still, clinical evidence from routine practice is needed to complement the data from the pivotal trials. Methods OPTIPARK (NCT02847442) was a prospective, open-label, single-arm trial conducted in Germany and the UK under clinical practice conditions. Patients with Parkinson’s disease and motor fluctuations were treated with opicapone 50 mg for 3 (Germany) or 6 (UK) months in addition to their current levodopa and other antiparkinsonian treatments. The primary endpoint was the Clinician’s Global Impression of Change (CGI-C) after 3 months. Secondary assessments included Patient Global Impressions of Change (PGI-C), the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-8), and the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS). Safety assessments included evaluation of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs). Results Of the 506 patients enrolled, 495 (97.8%) took at least one dose of opicapone. Of these, 393 (79.4%) patients completed 3 months of treatment. Overall, 71.3 and 76.9% of patients experienced any improvement on CGI-C and PGI-C after 3 months, respectively (full analysis set). At 6 months, for UK subgroup only (n = 95), 85.3% of patients were judged by investigators as improved since commencing treatment. UPDRS scores at 3 months showed statistically significant improvements in activities of daily living during OFF (mean ± SD change from baseline: − 3.0 ± 4.6, p < 0.0001) and motor scores during ON (− 4.6 ± 8.1, p < 0.0001). The mean ± SD improvements of − 3.4 ± 12.8 points for PDQ-8 and -6.8 ± 19.7 points for NMSS were statistically significant versus baseline (both p < 0.0001). Most of TEAEs (94.8% of events) were of mild or moderate intensity. TEAEs considered to be at least possibly related to opicapone were reported for 45.1% of patients, with dyskinesia (11.5%) and dry mouth (6.5%) being the most frequently reported. Serious TEAEs considered at least possibly related to opicapone were reported for 1.4% of patients. Conclusions Opicapone 50 mg was effective and generally well-tolerated in PD patients with motor fluctuations treated in clinical practice. Trial registration Registered in July 2016 at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02847442)

Earthquake Database of Germany

Earthquake Database of Germany Diethelm Kaiser, Gernot Hartmann Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Hannover, Germany The earthquake catalogue for Germany (Leydecker 2011) was integrated in the earthquake database GERSEIS of BGR. For this purpose, the database was extended and a browser based application was developed to improve the database access (Kaiser et al. 2014). The following requirements in terms of structure and functionality were considered: tracking of event parameter changes, archive of erroneously inserted events (fakes, misinterpretations), schemes of relationships among the references and sources for an event, macroseismic data points, prioritization of epicentres, magnitudes and intensities, synchronization with catalogues from other institutions. The parameters of 12,667 seismic events for the years 800 to 2008 have been integrated. 6,861 of these events could be associated to events already existing in GERSEIS. In the course of integration seismological parameters have been reviewed, they have been corrected or complemented for 68 earthquakes. The database GERSEIS now contains instrumental and macroseismic parameters of more than 43,000 earthquakes since the year 800 until today. For approximately 38,000 events at least one instrumental magnitude is available, mostly local magnitude ML. Homogenously determined ML (BGR/SZGRF) are available since 1995 for 11,000 earthquakes. For 6,700 earthquakes macroseismic parameters are available, mostly epicentral intensity which is the most common parameter for earthquakes older than 1970. The database contains isoseismal radii for 1100 earthquakes, 150 of these have isoseismal radii of intensity 5 and larger. The database GERSEIS is accessible as web map service (WMS) through the BGR Product-center https://produktcenter.bgr.de and by interactive query, map display, and data download through the BGR Geoviewer https://geoviewer.bgr.de. We plan to improve the earthquake database by re-evaluating important historical earthquakes, building a macroseismic database, and determining moment magnitudes from instrumental and macroseismic data. References Kaiser, D., Bürk, D., Hartmann, G., Stelling, U. & Schlote, H. (2014): Integration of catalogues of historical and instrumentally recorded earthquakes in Germany in a common database – Concepts, uses, and products. Second European Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (2ECEES); Istanbul, http://www.eaee.org/Media/Default/2ECCES/2ecces_esc/3202.pdf. Leydecker, G. (2011): Erdbebenkatalog für Deutschland mit Randgebieten für die Jahre 800 bis 2008. Geologisches Jahrbuch, E 59, 1-198.https://www.bgr.bund.de/DE/Themen/Erdbeben-Gefaehrdungsanalysen/Veranstaltungen/HistEarth_Paleoseis_Okt2017/histEarth_paleoseis_2017_node.htmlpresentatio

Produktion | Problemfelder der Produktion im Überblick. Working Paper aus der Reihe Logistics and Supply Chain Management

ArbeitsbuchProduktion stellt sich dar als Kombination von Inputfaktoren und deren Transformation zu Output. Ausgehend von dieser prozessualen Sichtweise der betrieblichen Leistungserstellung gibt dieses Arbeitsbuch einen umfassenden Überblick über Problemfelder der Produktion.Fundiert durch einen kurzen Abriss zur Produktionstheorie, speziell die Produktionsfunktionen von Typ A und B, werden die Problemfelder des Input-, Output- und Throughput-Managements, hier speziell die Produktionsprogrammplanung, die Materialwirtschaft und die Produktionsprozess-Steuerung, dargestellt. Daneben exisitiert ein Kapitel zur Produkt- und Produktionsrationalisierung, um Interdependenzen zwischen Input- und Output-Management deutlich hervortreten zu lassen.Das Arbeitsbuch richtet sich vorrangig an Studenten der Wirtschaftswissenschaften. Wirtschaftswissenschaftlern und Managern mag es als erste Orientierung im Problembereich der Produktion dienen

Data from: Genetic depletion at adaptive but not neutral loci in an endangered bird species

Many endangered species suffer from the loss of genetic diversity, but some populations may be able to thrive even if genetically depleted. To investigate the underlying genetic processes of population bottlenecks, we apply an innovative approach for assessing genetic diversity in the last known population of the endangered Pale-headed Brushfinch (Atlapetes pallidiceps) in Ecuador. First, we measure genetic diversity at eleven neutral microsatellite loci and adaptive SNP variation in five Toll-like receptor (TLR) immune system genes. Bottleneck tests confirm genetic drift as the main force shaping genetic diversity in this species and indicate a 99 % reduction in population size dating back several hundred years. Second, we compare contemporary microsatellite diversity with historic museum samples of A. pallidiceps, finding no change in genetic diversity. Third, we compare genetic diversity in the Pale-headed Brushfinch with two co-occurring-related brushfinch species (Atlapetes latinuchus, Buarremon torquatus), finding a reduction of up to 91% diversity in the immune system genes but not in microsatellites. High TLR diversity is linked to decreased survival probabilities in A. pallidiceps. Low TLR diversity is thus probably an adaptation to the specific selection regime within its currently very restricted distribution (approximately 200 ha), but could severely restrict the adaptive potential of the species in the long run. Our study illustrates the importance of investigating both neutral and adaptive markers to assess the effect of population bottlenecks and for recommending specific management plans in endangered species

T5_Toll like receptor sequences_allspecies

contains all TLR 5 sequences for all individuals across all three species as analysed in our study