Does consultation count for corruption? The causal relations in the EU-28

Consultation is a policy instrument geared toward stakeholder engagement in the formulation of primary and secondary legislation. It ensures certain categories of actors can access draft proposals, examine the evidence produced by government or regulators, provide comments and receive feedback. Using an original dataset of consultation design across the EU-28, we examine how variations in combinations of consultation design matter for perceptions of corruption. Using Ostrom’s Institutional Grammar Tool (IGT), we develop expectations about the causal effects of combinations of formal consultation rules together with the condition of social capital, which captures important attributes of the context in which consultation operates. We test our expectations using set-theoretic techniques. Our findings indicate: formal consultation rules are rarely sufficient for mitigating perceptions of corruption, legally prescribed procedures are often replaced by informal rules, and the limited effect of formal consultation rules on perceptions of corruption is due to an incomplete design of the procedures

Geospatial web services pave new ways for server-based on-demand access and processing of Big Earth Data

Big Earth Data has experienced a considerable increase in volume in recent years due to improved sensing technologies and improvement of numerical-weather prediction models. The traditional geospatial data analysis workflow hinders the use of large volumes of geospatial data due to limited disc space and computing capacity. Geospatial web service technologies bring new opportunities to access large volumes of Big Earth Data via the Internet and to process them at server-side. Four practical examples are presented from the marine, climate, planetary and earth observation science communities to show how the standard interface Web Coverage Service and its processing extension can be integrated into the traditional geospatial data workflow.Web service technologies offer a time- and cost-effective way to access multi-dimensional data in a user-tailored format and allow for rapid application development or time-series extraction. Data transport is minimised and enhanced processing capabilities are offered. More research is required to investigate web service implementations in an operational mode and large data centres have to become more progressive towards the adoption of geo-data standard interfaces. At the same time, data users have to become aware of the advantages of web services and be trained how to benefit from them most

Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid glial fibrillary acidic protein levels in adults with Down syndrome: a longitudinal cohort study

Background: The diagnosis of symptomatic Alzheimer's disease is a clinical challenge in adults with Down syndrome. Blood biomarkers would be of particular clinical importance in this population. The astrocytic Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) is a marker of astrogliosis associated with amyloid pathology, but its longitudinal changes, association with other biomarkers and cognitive performance have not been studied in individuals with Down syndrome. Methods: We performed a three-centre study of adults with Down syndrome, autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease and euploid individuals enrolled in Hospital Sant Pau, Barcelona (Spain), Hospital Clinic, Barcelona (Spain) and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich (Germany). Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma GFAP concentrations were quantified using Simoa. A subset of participants had PET 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose, amyloid tracers and MRI measurements. Findings: This study included 997 individuals, 585 participants with Down syndrome, 61 Familial Alzheimer's disease mutation carriers and 351 euploid individuals along the Alzheimer's disease continuum, recruited between November 2008 and May 2022. Participants with Down syndrome were clinically classified at baseline as asymptomatic, prodromal Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease dementia. Plasma GFAP levels were significantly increased in prodromal and Alzheimer's disease dementia compared to asymptomatic individuals and increased in parallel to CSF Aβ changes, ten years prior to amyloid PET positivity. Plasma GFAP presented the highest diagnostic performance to discriminate symptomatic from asymptomatic groups (AUC = 0.93, 95% CI 0.9−0.95) and its concentrations were significantly higher in progressors vs non-progressors (p < 0.001), showing an increase of 19.8% (11.8–33.0) per year in participants with dementia. Finally, plasma GFAP levels were highly correlated with cortical thinning and brain amyloid pathology. Interpretation: Our findings support the utility of plasma GFAP as a biomarker of Alzheimer's disease in adults with Down syndrome, with possible applications in clinical practice and clinical trials. Funding: AC Immune, La Caixa Foundation, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, National Institute on Aging, Wellcome Trust, Jérôme Lejeune Foundation, Medical Research Council, Alzheimer's Association, National Institute for Health Research, EU Joint Programme–Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Alzheimer's Society, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Stiftung für die Erforschung von Verhaltens, Fundación Tatiana Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno & European Union's Horizon 2020 und Umwelteinflüssen auf die menschliche Gesundheit

A systematic review of methods used to study fish in saltmarsh flats

There is a growing body of research highlighting the importance of saltmarshes as habitats for fish for feeding, refuge from predation and reproduction. However, more work is needed on fish on vegetated marsh flats (or surfaces). We reviewed 60 studies that used 21 methods to sample fish assemblages on saltmarsh flats. Drop samplers, fyke nets and pop nets were most frequently employed, with considerably more studies being conducted in graminoid than succulent marsh. Reporting of sampling temporal and tidal details, environmental variables and fish attributes was inconsistent. Most of the papers focussed on one or more of conservation management, comparisons among habitat types, and the use of saltmarsh (including fish activity type or residency status). Important potential areas of research include the relationships between the fish assemblages of saltmarsh flats and coastal fisheries, the effects of invasive plant species and marsh restoration efforts in areas outside the United States, and the potential effects of sea-level rise on vegetated flats as fish habitat. Sampling methods that provide density measures are likely to be most useful for most of this research. Thus, drop samplers and pop nets are an appropriate choice, the former in graminoid saltmarshes and the latter in succulent saltmarshes

Detection of peptide-based nanoparticles in blood plasma by ELISA

Aims: The aim of the current study was to develop a method to detect peptide-linked nanoparticles in blood plasma. Materials & Methods: A convenient enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for the detection of peptides functionalized with biotin and fluorescein groups. As a proof of principle, polymerized pentafluorophenyl methacrylate nanoparticles linked to biotin-carboxyfluorescein labeled peptides were intravenously injected in Wistar rats. Serial blood plasma samples were analyzed by ELISA and by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS) technology. Results: The ELISA based method for the detection of FITC labeled peptides had a detection limit of 1 ng/mL. We were able to accurately measure peptides bound to pentafluorophenyl meth-acrylate nanoparticles in blood plasma of rats, and similar results were obtained by LC/MS. Conclusions: We detected FITC-labeled peptides on pentafluorophenyl methacrylate nanoparticles after injection in vivo. This method can be extended to detect nanoparticles with different chemical compositions

When does the co-evolution of technology and science overturn into technoscience?

In this paper, the relations between science and technology, intervention and representation, the natural and the artificial are analysed on the background of the formation of modern science in the sixteenth century. Due to the fact that technique has been essential for modern science from its early beginning, modern science is characterised by a hybridisation of knowledge and intervention. The manipulation of nature in order to measure its properties has steadily increased until artificial things have been produced, such as laser beams, chemical compounds, elementary particles. Furthermore, the structural bracing of natural science, technological development, and industrial exploitation of nature go also back to the foundation of modern science. In order to strengthen the debate on technoscience against this background, the specific characteristics of technoscientific objects have to be clarified as have the specific characteristics of the social organisation of technoscience and its performance

BUILDING BRIDGES FOR INNOVATION IN AGEING : SYNERGIES BETWEEN ACTION GROUPS OF THE EIP ON AHA

The Strategic Implementation Plan of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) proposed six Action Groups. After almost three years of activity, many achievements have been obtained through commitments or collaborative work of the Action Groups. However, they have often worked in silos and, consequently, synergies between Action Groups have been proposed to strengthen the triple win of the EIP on AHA. The paper presents the methodology and current status of the Task Force on EIP on AHA synergies. Synergies are in line with the Action Groups' new Renovated Action Plan (2016-2018) to ensure that their future objectives are coherent and fully connected. The outcomes and impact of synergies are using the Monitoring and Assessment Framework for the EIP on AHA (MAFEIP). Eight proposals for synergies have been approved by the Task Force: Five cross-cutting synergies which can be used for all current and future synergies as they consider overarching domains (appropriate polypharmacy, citizen empowerment, teaching and coaching on AHA, deployment of synergies to EU regions, Responsible Research and Innovation), and three cross-cutting synergies focussing on current Action Group activities (falls, frailty, integrated care and chronic respiratory diseases).Peer reviewe

Plasma extracellular vesicle tau and TDP-43 as diagnostic biomarkers in FTD and ALS

Minimally invasive biomarkers are urgently needed to detect molecular pathology in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Here, we show that plasma extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain quantifiable amounts of TDP-43 and full-length tau, which allow the quantification of 3-repeat (3R) and 4-repeat (4R) tau isoforms. Plasma EV TDP-43 levels and EV 3R/4R tau ratios were determined in a cohort of 704 patients, including 37 genetically and 31 neuropathologically proven cases. Diagnostic groups comprised patients with TDP-43 proteinopathy ALS, 4R tauopathy progressive supranuclear palsy, behavior variant FTD (bvFTD) as a group with either tau or TDP-43 pathology, and healthy controls. EV tau ratios were low in progressive supranuclear palsy and high in bvFTD with tau pathology. EV TDP-43 levels were high in ALS and in bvFTD with TDP-43 pathology. Both markers discriminated between the diagnostic groups with area under the curve values &gt;0.9, and between TDP-43 and tau pathology in bvFTD. Both markers strongly correlated with neurodegeneration, and clinical and neuropsychological markers of disease severity. Findings were replicated in an independent validation cohort of 292 patients including 34 genetically confirmed cases. Taken together, the combination of EV TDP-43 levels and EV 3R/4R tau ratios may aid the molecular diagnosis of FTD, FTD spectrum disorders and ALS, providing a potential biomarker to monitor disease progression and target engagement in clinical trials.</p