Higher airborne pollen concentrations correlated with increased SARS-CoV-2 infection rates, as evidenced from 31 countries across the globe

Pollen exposure weakens the immunity against certain seasonal respiratory viruses by diminishing the antiviral interferon response. Here we investigate whether the same applies to the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is sensitive to antiviral interferons, if infection waves coincide with high airborne pollen concentrations. Our original hypothesis was that more airborne pollen would lead to increases in infection rates. To examine this, we performed a cross-sectional and longitudinal data analysis on SARS-CoV-2 infection, airborne pollen, and meteorological factors. Our dataset is the most comprehensive, largest possible worldwide from 130 stations, across 31 countries and five continents. To explicitly investigate the effects of social contact, we additionally considered population density of each study area, as well as lockdown effects, in all possible combinations: without any lockdown, with mixed lockdown−no lockdown regime, and under complete lockdown. We found that airborne pollen, sometimes in synergy with humidity and temperature, explained, on average, 44% of the infection rate variability. Infection rates increased after higher pollen concentrations most frequently during the four previous days. Without lockdown, an increase of pollen abundance by 100 pollen/m3 resulted in a 4% average increase of infection rates. Lockdown halved infection rates under similar pollen concentrations. As there can be no preventive measures against airborne pollen exposure, we suggest wide dissemination of pollen−virus coexposure dire effect information to encourage high-risk individuals to wear particle filter masks during high springtime pollen concentrations

When East Meets West: International Change and Its Effects on Domestic Cultural Institutions

Domestic governments increasingly face the pressure to follow policy developments occurring at the international or supranational level. Yet international laws and policies need to be “translated” to suit domestic political institutions and newly adopted policies may challenge or contradict preexisting domestic policies, institutions, and interests. To explore the domestic impact of international institutional developments, we studied the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and its adoption in four countries (Japan, China, France, and Germany). Using historical institutionalism, this comparative case study sheds light on the effects of the Convention on cultural governance systems in two supposedly different “camps” within the UNESCO: the East and the West. The study argues that it is the interaction and entangled relationship of exogenous and endogenous factors over time, particularly the timing and sequence in which they constrain and facilitate change, which shape actors’ preferences and institutional development at both levels

Biografieforschung: theoretische Perspektiven und methodologische Konzepte für eine re-konstruktive Geschlechterforschung

Die Biografieforschung bezeichnet einen komplexen Forschungsansatz, der auf eine lange Geschichte des wissenschaftlichen Interesses an "persönlichen Dokumenten" verweisen kann. Sie ist eine voraussetzungsvolle Forschungsperspektive, die sich in zentralen Aspekten ihres Vorgehens auf Biografien als theoretisches Konzept, als historisch-empirischen Gegenstand und als komplexe methodologische Strategie bezieht. Andere Begriffe, welche oftmals synonym gebraucht, in der Biografieforschung aber systematisch unterschieden werden, sind "Lebensgeschichte" und "Lebenslauf". Die Autorin skizziert die Perspektiven einer rekonstruktiven Geschlechterforschung innerhalb der Biografieforschung, wozu sie auf die Differenzierungen empirischer Forschung, die methodologischen Prinzipien sowie auf Datenerhebung und Datenanalyse eingeht. Sie hebt insbesondere drei Kontextrelationen bei der Interpretation eines biografischen Textes hervor: Biografie, Interaktion, kulturelle Muster und soziale Regeln. Das skizzierte Konzept von Biografieforschung begreift sie als ein offenes Programm, das vielfältige Anknüpfungspunkte zu aktuellen theoretischen Diskussionen in der Geschlechterforschung aufweist. (ICI2

Attachment, re-mobilization, and inactivation of bacteriophage MS2 during bank filtration following simulation of a high virus load and an extreme rain event.

Viruses, including human pathogenic viruses, can persist in water. For producing drinking water from surface water via bank filtration, natural attenuation capacities and the fate of viruses during the passage of aquatic sediments are of particular interest. Moreover, the increasing frequency of extreme hydrological events necessitate re-evaluation of the sustainability and efficacy of processes removing viruses. For this purpose, we performed bank sediment filtration experiments using a mesocosm in a technical-scale experimental facility that simulates a field situation under more tightly controlled conditions. We used the bacteriophage MS2 as a surrogate for enteric viruses to study the transport of different viral loads through the bank sediment. Additionally, we simulated a heavy rain event to investigate the re-mobilization of initially attached virus particles. We quantified the abundance of infectious MS2 phages by plaque assay and the total number of MS2 particles by qPCR. Also, we differentiated pore water concentrations by depths of the sediment column and investigated attachment to the sediment matrix at the end of the individual experimental phases. Bank filtration over a vertical distance of 80 cm through sandy sediment revealed a virus removal efficiency of 0.8 log10 for total MS2 particles and 1.7 log10 for infectious MS2 particles, with an initial phage concentration of 1.84 × 108 gene copies mL−1. A low load of infectious MS2 (1.9 × 106 plaque forming units mL−1) resulted in a greater removal efficiency (3.0 log10). The proportion of infectious MS2 phages of the total MS2 particle mass steadily decreased over time, i.e., in the course of individual breakthrough curves and with sediment depth. The simulated pulse of rainwater caused a front of low ionic strength water which resulted in pronounced phage remobilization. The high proportion of infectious MS2 among the detached phages indicated that attachment to the sediment matrix may substantially conserve virus infectivity. Therefore, the re-mobilization of previously attached viruses owing to hydrological extremes should be considered in water quality assessment and monitoring schemes

Potential impacts of geothermal energy use and storage of heat on groundwater quality, biodiversity, and ecosystem processes.

Geothermal energy plays an increasingly important role as a renewable energy source. However, it induces temperature changes in natural thermally static groundwater ecosystems. Temperature impacts can considerably alter the groundwater chemical composition and quality, the metabolism of organisms, and, consequently, biogeochemical processes and ecosystem functions. Combining original data from current studies with a compact review of recent findings, we show that a moderate increase in groundwater/aquifer temperature [+5 to 10 Kelvin (K)] generally causes only minor changes in water chemistry, microbial biodiversity, and ecosystem function in noncontaminated and energy-poor (oligotrophic) groundwater systems. In aquifers that are contaminated with organics, nutrients, and heavy metals-typical in urban areas and at sites with intensive land use (e. g., agriculture)-and particularly at temperatures >= 30 degrees C as regularly reached when heat is actively stored in aquifers, significant changes in water quality and ecological patterns can result. Here most critical are the heat-related mobilization of organic matter and contaminants (e. g., arsenic), the reduction and depletion of dissolved oxygen, and consequently the consecutive shift to anaerobic redox processes that may produce toxic and corrosive products (e. g., hydrogen sulfide) and greenhouse gases (e. g., methane and carbon dioxide). Severe temperature alterations lead to a reduced biodiversity of the aquifer's microbial community with the establishment of atypical thermophilic assemblages. Groundwater fauna, which is specifically adapted to the cold groundwater habitat, may be sensitive to thermal changes at temperature increases of only 5 K with long-term emigration or direct lethal effects. From an ecological point of view, longlasting or reoccurring temperature alterations need to be carefully evaluated and regulated in the future. We suggest developing local and regional vulnerability concepts for the sustainable and ecologically sound use of subterranean heat and cold