Reproductive health of brown trout inhabiting Swiss rivers with declining fish catch

Abstract.: In recent years, brown trout catches have been declining in many Swiss rivers. One hypothesis is that this declining catch is linked to environmental estrogens, known to have the potential to adversely affect fish reproduction. In order to assess if the reproductive health of brown trout is impaired, we sampled fish at three sites along four rivers with a well documented catch decline. These rivers are affected by inputs of treated sewage effluent. The sampling was conducted during two years; we measured plasma vitellogenin (Vtg) concentrations and surveyed gonadal histology. Analysis of plasma Vtg revealed elevated concentrations (up to 8 µg/mL) in only 10 out of 197 males. Furthermore, there were no site specific patterns to this induction. These results indicate that the exposure to estrogenic compounds is low. Also the incidence of ovarian atresia was low and we found no male intersex fish. In contrast to males, females caught along two rivers had spermatogenic activity in ovarian tissue. However, this intersex condition does not appear to be connected to exposure to environmental estrogens. At one of 12 sites there was a high incidence of gonadal parasites in ovarian tissue, which may affect reproductive output but was not a general problem across sites. In conclusion, the exposure to estrogenic compounds does not appear to significantly affect the reproductive parameters we investigated in Swiss brown trou

Relationship between Age-Dependent Body Constitution and Temporomandibular Joint Sounds in Adolescents

To date, risk factors for temporomandibular joint (TMJ) sounds are still not completely understood, and anatomical factors are suspected to influence their occurrence. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of body constitution on temporomandibular joint sounds of adolescents. 10- to 18-year-old participants of the LIFE Child Study were examined for TMJ sounds, and physical parameters such as body height, body weight, and general laxity of joints were measured. Odds ratios (OR) for associations of TMJ sounds and standard deviation scores (SDS) of body height and body weight were calculated by using binary logistic regression, including cofactors such as age and number of hypermobile joints. The OR for TMJ sounds and SDS of body height was 1.28 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06; 1.56) in females when the age-adjusted height value was above 0. SDS of body weight indicated significant ORs for TMJ sounds in males with values of 0.81 (95% CI 0.70; 0.94). No correlation was detected for SDS values and TMJ crepitus. Tall female adolescents seem to be more prone to TMJ clicking sounds, while their occurrence seems less likely in male adolescents with higher body weight

Harmonization of growth hormone measurements with different immunoassays by data adjustment

Background: The aim of our study was to evaluate the between-assay variability of commercially available immunoassays for the measurement of human growth hormone (hGH). In addition, we asked whether the comparability of the diagnosis of childhood onset growth hormone deficiency could be improved by adjusting hGH results by statistical methods, such as linear regression, conversion factors, and quantile transformation. Methods: In archived sera from 312 children and adolescents (age: 17 days-17 years) hGH values between 0.01 and 16.5 ng/mL were determined by using the following immunoassays: AutoDELFIA (PerkinElmer), BC-IRMA (Beckman-Coulter), ELISA (Mediagnost), IMMULITE 2000 (Siemens), iSYS (IDS), Liaison (DiaSorin), UniCel DxI 800 Access (BeckmanCoulter) and "In house"-RIA (Tubingen). Results: The assays differed in median hGH concentrations by as much as 5.44 ng/mL (Immulite), and as little as 2.67 ng/mL (BC-IRMA). The mean difference between assays ranged from 0.35 to 2.71 ng/mL, whereas several samples displayed differences up to 11.4 ng/mL. The best correlation (r=0.992) was found between AutoDELFIA and Liasion, the lowest (r=0.864) was between an in-house RIA and iSYS. The between-assay CV (mean +/- SD) of values within the cut-off range was 24.3%+/- 7.4%, resulting in an assay-dependent diagnosis of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in more than 27% of patients. Yet, adjustment of this data by linear regression or a conversion factor reduced the CV below 14%, and the ratio of assay-dependent diagnoses below 8%. Using quantile transformation, the CV and ratio were reduced to 11.4% and < 1%, respectively. Conclusions: hGH measurements using different assays vary significantly. Linear regression, conversion factors, or particularly quantile transformation are useful tools to improve comparability in the diagnostic procedure for the confirmation of GHD in childhood and adolescence

Human TPX2 is required for targeting Aurora-A kinase to the spindle

Aurora-A is a serine-threonine kinase implicated in the assembly and maintenance of the mitotic spindle. Here we show that human Aurora-A binds to TPX2, a prominent component of the spindle apparatus. TPX2 was identified by mass spectrometry as a major protein coimmunoprecipitating specifically with Aurora-A from mitotic HeLa cell extracts. Conversely, Aurora-A could be detected in TPX2 immunoprecipitates. This indicates that subpopulations of these two proteins undergo complex formation in vivo. Binding studies demonstrated that the NH2 terminus of TPX2 can directly interact with the COOH-terminal catalytic domain of Aurora-A. Although kinase activity was not required for this interaction, TPX2 was readily phosphorylated by Aurora-A. Upon siRNA-mediated elimination of TPX2 from cells, the association of Aurora-A with the spindle microtubules was abolished, although its association with spindle poles was unaffected. Conversely, depletion of Aurora-A by siRNA had no detectable influence on the localization of TPX2. We propose that human TPX2 is required for targeting Aurora-A kinase to the spindle apparatus. In turn, Aurora-A might regulate the function of TPX2 during spindle assembly

High-Throughput Screening of Rare-Earth-Lean Intermetallic 1-13-X Compounds for Good Hard-Magnetic Properties

By computational high-throughput screening, the spontaneous magnetization Ms, uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant K₁, anisotropy field Ha, and maximum energy product (BH)max are estimated for ferromagnetic intermetallic phases with a tetragonal 1-13-X structure related to the LaCo₉Si₄ structure type. For SmFe₁₃N, a (BH)max as high as that of Nd₂Fe₁₄B and a comparable K₁ are predicted. Further promising candidates of composition SmFe₁₂AN with A = Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ti, V, Al, Si, or P are identified which potentially reach (BH)max values higher than 400 kJ/m³ combined with significant K₁ values, while containing almost 50% less rare-earth atoms than Nd₂Fe₁₄B

Fingerprinting the impacts of global change on tropical forests

Recent observations of widespread changes in mature tropical forests such as increasing tree growth, recruitment and mortality rates and increasing above-ground biomass suggest that 'global change' agents may be causing predictable changes in tropical forests. However, consensus over both the robustness of these changes and the environmental drivers that may be causing them is yet to emerge. This paper focuses on the second part of this debate. We review (i) the evidence that the physical, chemical and biological environment that tropical trees grow in has been altered over recent decades across large areas of the tropics, and (ii) the theoretical, experimental and observational evidence regarding the most likely effects of each of these changes on tropical forests. Ten potential widespread drivers of environmental change were identified: temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, climatic extremes (including El Niño Southern Oscillation events), atmospheric CO2 concentrations, nutrient deposition, O3/acid depositions, hunting, land-use change and increasing liana numbers. We note that each of these environmental changes is expected to leave a unique 'fingerprint' in tropical forests, as drivers directly force different processes, have different distributions in space and time and may affect some forests more than others (e.g. depending on soil fertility). Thus, in the third part of the paper we present testable a priori predictions of forest responses to assist ecologists in attributing particular changes in forests to particular causes across multiple datasets. Finally, we discuss how these drivers may change in the future and the possible consequences for tropical forests

Managed and Continuous Evolution of Dependable Automotive Software Systems / Andreas Rausch, Oliver Brox, Axel Grewe, Marcel Ibe, Stefanie Jauns-Seyfried, Christoph Knieke, Marco Körner, Steffen Küpper, Malte Mauritz, Henrik Peters, Arthur Strasser, Martin Vogel, Norbert Weiss

Automotive software systems are an essential and innovative part of nowadays connected and automated vehicles. Automotive industry is currently facing the challenge to re-invent the automobile. Consequently, automotive software systems, their software systems architecture, and the way we engineer those kinds of software systems are confronted with major challenges: managing complexity, providing flexibility, and guaranteeing dependability of the desired automotive software systems and the corresponding engineering process. In this paper we will present an improved and sophisticated engineering approach. Our approach is based on the managed and continuous evolution of dependable automotive software systems. It helps engineers to manage system complexity based on continous engineering processes to iteratively evolve automotive software systems and therby guarantee the required dependability issues. Based on a running sample, we will present and illustrate the main assets of the proposed engineering approach for managed and continuous evolution of dependable automotive software systems

Managed and Continuous Evolution of Dependable Automotive Software Systems / Andreas Rausch, Oliver Brox, Axel Grewe, Marcel Ibe, Stefanie Jauns-Seyfried, Christoph Knieke, Marco Körner, Steffen Küpper, Malte Mauritz, Henrik Peters, Arthur Strasser, Martin Vogel, Norbert Weiss

Automotive software systems are an essential and innovative part of nowadays connected and automated vehicles. Automotive industry is currently facing the challenge to re-invent the automobile. Consequently, automotive software systems, their software systems architecture, and the way we engineer those kinds of software systems are confronted with major challenges: managing complexity, providing flexibility, and guaranteeing dependability of the desired automotive software systems and the corresponding engineering process. In this paper we will present an improved and sophisticated engineering approach. Our approach is based on the managed and continuous evolution of dependable automotive software systems. It helps engineers to manage system complexity based on continous engineering processes to iteratively evolve automotive software systems and therby guarantee the required dependability issues. Based on a running sample, we will present and illustrate the main assets of the proposed engineering approach for managed and continuous evolution of dependable automotive software systems