Long-term Observation of Biochemical Effects of Lead in Human Experiments

Peer Reviewe

The Devastating 2022 M6.2 Afghanistan Earthquake: Challenges, Processes, and Implications

On June 21st, a Mw6.2 earthquake struck the Afghan-Pakistan-border-region, situated within the India-Asia collision. Thousand thirty-nine deaths were reported, making the earthquake the deadliest of 2022. We investigate the event\u27s rupture processes by combining seismological and geodetic observations, aiming to understand what made it that fatal. Our Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar-constrained slip-model and regional moment-tensor inversion, confirmed through field observations, reveal a sinistral rupture with maximum slip of 1.8 m at 5 km depth on a N20°E striking, sub-vertical fault. We suggest that not only external factors (event-time, building stock) but fault-specific factors made the event excessively destructive. Surface rupture was favored by the rock foliation, coinciding with the fault strike. The distribution of Peak-Ground-Velocity was governed by the sub-vertical fault. Maximum slip was large compared to other events globally and might have resulted in peak-frequencies coinciding with resonance-frequencies of the local buildings and demonstrates the devastating impact of moderate-size earthquakes

White matter hyperintensities are an independent predictor of cognitive decline 3 years following first-ever stroke-results from the PROSCIS-B study

Background: White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are the result of cerebral small vessel disease and may increase the risk of cognitive impairment (CI), recurrent stroke, and depression. We aimed to explore the association between selected cerebrovascular risk factors (CVRF) and WMH load as well as the effect of increased WMH burden on recurrent vascular events, CI, and depression in first-ever ischemic stroke patients.Methods: 431 from the PROSpective Cohort with Incident Stroke (PROSCIS) were included; Age-Related White Matter Changes (ARWMC) score was used to assess WMH burden on FLAIR. The presence of CVRF (defined via blood pressure, body-mass-index, and serological markers of kidney dysfunction, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipoproteinemia) was categorized into normal, borderline, and pathological profiles based on commonly used clinical definitions. The primary outcomes included recurrent vascular events (combined endpoint of recurrent stroke, myocardial infarction and/or death), CI 3 years post-stroke, and depression 1-year post-stroke.Results: There was no clear association between CVRF profiles and WMH burden. High WMH lesion load (ARWMC score ≥ 10) was found to be associated with CI (adjusted OR 1.05 [95% CI 1.00-1.11]; p Conclusion: Higher WMH burden was associated with a significant decline in cognition 3 years post-stroke in this cohort of first-ever stroke patients

Existence of global weak solutions to dumbbell models for dilute polymers with microscopic cut-off

Accepted versio

Asymptotically Hyperbolic Non Constant Mean Curvature Solutions of the Einstein Constraint Equations

We describe how the iterative technique used by Isenberg and Moncrief to verify the existence of large sets of non constant mean curvature solutions of the Einstein constraints on closed manifolds can be adapted to verify the existence of large sets of asymptotically hyperbolic non constant mean curvature solutions of the Einstein constraints.Comment: 19 pages, TeX, no figure

Evolution of Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability in Subacute Ischemic Stroke and Associations With Serum Biomarkers and Functional Outcome

Background and Purpose: In the setting of acute ischemic stroke, increased blood-brain barrier permeability (BBBP) as a sign of injury is believed to be associated with increased risk of poor outcome. Pre-clinical studies show that selected serum biomarkers including C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha), matrix metallopeptidases (MMP), and vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) may play a role in BBBP post-stroke. In the subacute phase of stroke, increased BBBP may also be caused by regenerative mechanisms such as vascular remodeling and therefore may improve functional recovery. Our aim was to investigate the evolution of BBBP in ischemic stroke using contrast-enhanced (CE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to analyze potential associations with blood-derived biomarkers as well as functional recovery in subacute ischemic stroke patients. Methods: This is an exploratory analysis of subacute ischemic stroke patients enrolled in the BAPTISe study nested within the randomized controlled PHYS-STROKE trial (interventions: 4 weeks of aerobic fitness training vs. relaxation). Patients with at least one CE-MRI before (v1) or after (v2) the intervention were eligible for this analysis. The prevalence of increased BBBP was visually assessed on T1-weighted MR-images based on extent of contrast-agent enhancement within the ischemic lesion. The intensity of increased BBBP was assessed semi-quantitatively by normalizing the mean voxel intensity within the region of interest (ROI) to the contralateral hemisphere ("normalized CE-ROI"). Selected serum biomarkers (high-sensitive CRP, IL-6, TNF-alpha, MMP-9, and VEGF) at v1 (before intervention) were analyzed as continuous and dichotomized variables defined by laboratory cut-off levels. Functional outcome was assessed at 6 months after stroke using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Results: Ninety-three patients with a median baseline NIHSS of 9 [IQR 6-12] were included into the analysis. The median time to v1 MRI was 30 days [IQR 18-37], and the median lesion volume on v1 MRI was 4 ml [IQR 1.2-23.4]. Seventy patients (80%) had increased BBBP visible on v1 MRI. After the trial intervention, increased BBBP was still detectable in 52 patients (74%) on v2 MRI. The median time to v2 MRI was 56 days [IQR 46-67]. The presence of increased BBBP on v1 MRI was associated with larger lesion volumes and more severe strokes. Aerobic fitness training did not influence the increase of BBBP evaluated at v2. In linear mixed models, the time from stroke onset to MRI was inversely associated with normalized CE-ROI (coefficient -0.002, Standard Error 0.007, p < 0.01). Selected serum biomarkers were not associated with the presence or evolution of increased BBBP. Multivariable regression analysis did not identify the occurrence or evolution of increased BBBP as an independent predictor of favorable functional outcome post-stroke. Conclusion: In patients with moderate-to-severe subacute stroke, three out of four patients demonstrated increased BBB permeability, which decreased over time. The presence of increased BBBP was associated with larger lesion volumes and more severe strokes. We could not detect an association between selected serum biomarkers of inflammation and an increased BBBP in this cohort. No clear association with favorable functional outcome was observed

Toeplitz operators with radial symbols on weighted holomorphic Orlicz space

Peer reviewe

Sharp constants in weighted trace inequalities on Riemannian manifolds

We establish some sharp weighted trace inequalities W^{1,2}(\rho^{1-2\sigma}, M)\hookrightarrow L^{\frac{2n}{n-2\sigma}}(\pa M) on $n+1$ dimensional compact smooth manifolds with smooth boundaries, where $\rho$ is a defining function of $M$ and $\sigma\in (0,1)$. This is stimulated by some recent work on fractional (conformal) Laplacians and related problems in conformal geometry, and also motivated by a conjecture of Aubin.Comment: 34 page

The devastating 2022 M6.2 Afghanistan earthquake: Challenges, processes, and implications

On June 21st, a Mw6.2 earthquake struck the Afghan-Pakistan-border-region, situated within the India-Asia collision. Thousand thirty-nine deaths were reported, making the earthquake the deadliest of 2022. We investigate the event's rupture processes by combining seismological and geodetic observations, aiming to understand what made it that fatal. Our Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar-constrained slip-model and regional moment-tensor inversion, confirmed through field observations, reveal a sinistral rupture with maximum slip of 1.8 m at 5 km depth on a N20°E striking, sub-vertical fault. We suggest that not only external factors (event-time, building stock) but fault-specific factors made the event excessively destructive. Surface rupture was favored by the rock foliation, coinciding with the fault strike. The distribution of Peak-Ground-Velocity was governed by the sub-vertical fault. Maximum slip was large compared to other events globally and might have resulted in peak-frequencies coinciding with resonance-frequencies of the local buildings and demonstrates the devastating impact of moderate-size earthquakes

Lithospheric delamination beneath the southern Puna plateau resolved by local earthquake tomography

We present a local earthquake tomography to illuminate the crustal and uppermost mantle structure beneath the southern Puna plateau and to test the delamination hypothesis. Vp and Vp/Vs ratios were obtained using travel time variations recorded by 75 temporary seismic stations between 2007 and 2009. In the upper crust, prominent low Vp anomalies are found beneath the main volcanic centers, indicating the presence of magma and melt beneath the southern Puna plateau. Beneath the Moho at around 90-km depth, a strong high Vp anomaly is detected just west of the giant backarc Cerro Galan ignimbrite caldera. This high Vp anomaly is only resolved if earthquakes with an azimuthal gap up to 300 degrees are included in the inversion. However, we show through data subset and synthetic tests that the anomaly is robust due to our specific station-event geometry and interpret it as a delaminated block of lower crust and uppermost mantle lithosphere under the southern Puna plateau. The low velocities in the crust are interpreted as a product of the delamination event that triggered the rise of fluids and melts into the crust and induced the high topography in this part of the plateau. The tomography also reveals the existence of low-velocity anomalies that link arc magmatism at the Ojos del Salado volcanic center with slab seismicity clusters at depths of about 100 and 150 km and support fluid transport in the mantle wedge due to dehydration reaction within the subducted slab