Anthropogenic nitrogen and phosphorus emissions and related grey water footprints caused by EU-27's crop production and consumption

Water is a prerequisite for life on our planet. Due to climate change and pollution, water availability for agricultural production, industry and households is increasingly put at risk. With agriculture being the largest water user as well as polluter worldwide, we estimate anthropogenic nitrogen and phosphorus emissions to fresh water related to global crop production at a spatial resolution level of 5 by 5 arc min and calculate the grey water footprints (GWF) related to EU-27′s crop production. A multiregional input-output model is used to trace the the GWF embodied in the final consumption of crop products by the EU-27. The total GWF related to crop production in the EU-27 in 2007 was 1 × 1012 m3/year. Spain contributed about 40% to this total. Production of cereals (wheat, rice and other cereals) take the largest share, accounting for 30% of the GWF, followed by fruits (17%), vegetables (14%), and oil crops (13%). The total agricultural GWF of the EU-27 related to crop consumption was 1830 billion m3/year, which is 3700 m3/year per capita on average. Overall, the EU-27 was able to externalize about 41% of the GWF to the rest of the world through imports of crop product

Mapping global extraction of abiotic and biotic raw materials

Reducing global environmental and social impacts related to final consumption is a significant societal as well as scientific challenge, especially as production and consumption are increasingly geographically disconnected via complex supply chains. Tracing the interlinkages between consumption and production as well as related impacts in a spatially explicit way can contribute to overcoming this challenge. Currently, the spatial resolution of global models of raw material extraction, trade and consumption is limited to the national level. Thus, they fail to link specific supply chains to the actual geographical location of production and related impacts. Detailed global spatiotemporal datasets would allow tracing the heterogeneity of environmental and social conditions within producing countries. In this contribution, we present our preliminary results mapping global biotic and abiotic raw materials extraction in 5-arc-minutes (around 10 km x 10 km at the equator) grid cell level, starting from the year 2000. Our datasets will include around 60 different raw materials, covering crops, fishery, fossil energy resources, metal ores and non-metallic minerals. In the future, our database will also include spatially explicit data on environmental and social impacts related to the extraction of these raw materials. The new database, methods, and algorithms will be openly available to the research community and the wider public, supporting open and reproducible science. Our novel database will allow developing new methods to assess the interlinkages between consumption and various environmental and social impacts related to extraction on a grid cell level. It can boost the spatially explicit assessments of supply chains and consumption patterns in both developed and developing countries, which is crucial for the design of international policy instruments to achieve sustainable production and consumption patterns

Knowledge-based gene expression classification via matrix factorization

Motivation: Modern machine learning methods based on matrix decomposition techniques, like independent component analysis (ICA) or non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), provide new and efficient analysis tools which are currently explored to analyze gene expression profiles. These exploratory feature extraction techniques yield expression modes (ICA) or metagenes (NMF). These extracted features are considered indicative of underlying regulatory processes. They can as well be applied to the classification of gene expression datasets by grouping samples into different categories for diagnostic purposes or group genes into functional categories for further investigation of related metabolic pathways and regulatory networks. Results: In this study we focus on unsupervised matrix factorization techniques and apply ICA and sparse NMF to microarray datasets. The latter monitor the gene expression levels of human peripheral blood cells during differentiation from monocytes to macrophages. We show that these tools are able to identify relevant signatures in the deduced component matrices and extract informative sets of marker genes from these gene expression profiles. The methods rely on the joint discriminative power of a set of marker genes rather than on single marker genes. With these sets of marker genes, corroborated by leave-one-out or random forest cross-validation, the datasets could easily be classified into related diagnostic categories. The latter correspond to either monocytes versus macrophages or healthy vs Niemann Pick C disease patients.Siemens AG, MunichDFG (Graduate College 638)DAAD (PPP Luso - Alem˜a and PPP Hispano - Alemanas

Anthropogenic Nitrogen and Phosphorus Emissions and Related Grey Water Footprints Caused by EU-27's Crop Production and Consumption

Water is a prerequisite for life on our planet. Due to climate change and pollution, water availability for agricultural production, industry and households is increasingly put at risk. With agriculture being the largest water user as well as polluter worldwide, we estimate anthropogenic nitrogen and phosphorus emissions to fresh water related to global crop production at a spatial resolution level of 5 by 5 arc min and calculate the grey water footprints (GWF) related to EU-27's crop production. A multiregional input-output model is used to trace the the GWF embodied in the final consumption of crop products by the EU-27. The total GWF related to crop production in the EU-27 in 2007 was 1 × 1012 m3/year. Spain contributed about 40% to this total. Production of cereals (wheat, rice and other cereals) take the largest share, accounting for 30% of the GWF, followed by fruits (17%), vegetables (14%), and oil crops (13%). The total agricultural GWF of the EU-27 related to crop consumption was 1830 billion m3/year, which is 3700 m3/year per capita on average. Overall, the EU-27 was able to externalize about 41% of the GWF to the rest of the world through imports of crop products

No age effect in the prevalence and clinical significance of ultra-high risk symptoms and criteria for psychosis in 22q11 deletion syndrome: Confirmation of the genetically driven risk for psychosis?

BACKGROUND: The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is one of the highest known risk factors for schizophrenia. Thus, the detection of 22q11DS patients at particularly high risk of psychosis is important, yet studies on the clinical significance of the widely used ultra-high risk (UHR) criteria in 22q11DS are inconclusive. Since age was reported to moderate clinical significance of UHR symptoms in community samples, we explored whether age at presentation of UHR symptoms and criteria may explain part of this heterogeneity. METHODS: 111 patients with 22q11DS (8-30 years; 15.7±4.7) were assessed for UHR symptoms/criteria. Information on diagnoses, psychosocial functioning, and IQ were collected. RESULTS: Any UHR symptom was reported by 38.7%, any UHR criterion by 27%. No significant influence of age on the prevalence of UHR symptoms or criteria was detected. Moreover, age did not significantly modulate the association between UHR symptoms and functioning. However, significant interaction terms suggested that younger age groups were more likely to meet UHR criteria in the presence of UHR symptoms compared to the adult group. DISCUSSION: Compared to the general population, prevalence of UHR symptoms and criteria was 3.8-fold and 20.8-fold in our 22q11DS sample. Contrary to the general population, age only modulated the prevalence of UHR criteria among those with UHR symptoms, but not their prevalence per se or their clinical significance. This suggests that UHR symptoms might develop as a trait factor in terms of a genetically driven schizotypal disposition in 22q11DS, thus necessitating future studies on psychosis-risk indicators in this genetic high-risk group

Identification of the slow E3 transition 136mCs -> 136Cs with conversion electrons

We performed at ISOLDE the spectroscopy of the decay of the 8- isomer in 136Cs by and conversion-electron detection. For the first time the excitation energy of the isomer and the multipolarity of its decay have been measured. The half-life of the isomeric state was remeasured to T1/2 = 17.5(2) s. This isomer decays via a very slow 518 keV E3 transition to the ground state. In addition to this, a much weaker decay branch via a 413 keV M4 and a subsequent 105 keV E2 transition has been found. Thus we have found a new level at 105 keV with spin 4+ between the isomeric and the ground state. The results are discussed in comparison to shell model calculations.Comment: Phys. Rev. C accepted for publicatio

Caspase-8 binding to cardiolipin in giant unilamellar vesicles provides a functional docking platform for bid

Caspase-8 is involved in death receptor-mediated apoptosis in type II cells, the proapoptotic programme of which is triggered by truncated Bid. Indeed, caspase-8 and Bid are the known intermediates of this signalling pathway. Cardiolipin has been shown to provide an anchor and an essential activating platform for caspase-8 at the mitochondrial membrane surface. Destabilisation of this platform alters receptor-mediated apoptosis in diseases such as Barth Syndrome, which is characterised by the presence of immature cardiolipin which does not allow caspase-8 binding. We used a simplified in vitro system that mimics contact sites and/or cardiolipin-enriched microdomains at the outer mitochondrial surface in which the platform consisting of caspase-8, Bid and cardiolipin was reconstituted in giant unilamellar vesicles. We analysed these vesicles by flow cytometry and confirm previous results that demonstrate the requirement for intact mature cardiolipin for caspase-8 activation and Bid binding and cleavage. We also used confocal microscopy to visualise the rupture of the vesicles and their revesiculation at smaller sizes due to alteration of the curvature following caspase-8 and Bid binding. Biophysical approaches, including Laurdan fluorescence and rupture/tension measurements, were used to determine the ability of these three components (cardiolipin, caspase-8 and Bid) to fulfil the minimal requirements for the formation and function of the platform at the mitochondrial membrane. Our results shed light on the active functional role of cardiolipin, bridging the gap between death receptors and mitochondria

Using online screening in the general population to detect participants at clinical high-risk for psychosis

Introduction: Identification of participants at clinical high-risk (CHR) for the development of psychosis is an important objective of current preventive efforts in mental health research. However, the utility of using web-based screening approaches to detect CHR participants at the population level has not been investigated. Methods: We tested a web-based screening approach to identify CHR individuals. Potential participants were invited to a website via e-mail invitations, flyers, and invitation letters involving both the general population and mental health services. Two thousand two hundred seventy-nine participants completed the 16-item version of the prodromal questionnaire (PQ-16) and a 9-item questionnaire of perceptual and cognitive aberrations (PCA) for the assessment of basic symptoms (BS) online. 52.3% of participants met a priori cut-off criteria for the PQ and 73.6% for PCA items online. One thousand seven hundred eighty-seven participants were invited for a clinical interview and n = 356 interviews were conducted (response rate: 19.9%) using the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental State (CAARMS) and the Schizophrenia Proneness Interview, Adult Version (SPI-A). n = 101 CHR participants and n = 8 first-episode psychosis (FEP) were detected. ROC curve analysis revealed good to moderate sensitivity and specificity for predicting CHR status based on online results for both UHR and BS criteria (sensitivity/specificity: PQ-16 = 82%/46%; PCA = 94%/12%). Selection of a subset of 10 items from both PQ-16 and PCA lead to an improved of specificity of 57% while only marginally affecting sensitivity (81%). CHR participants were characterized by similar levels of functioning and neurocognitive deficits as clinically identified CHR groups. Conclusion: These data provide evidence for the possibility to identify CHR participants through population-based web screening. This could be an important strategy for early intervention and diagnosis of psychotic disorders