Detection of genetically modified plant products by protein strip testing: an evaluation of real-life samples

The determination of the presence of genetically modified plant material by the detection of expressed genetically engineered proteins using lateral flow protein strip tests has been evaluated in different matrices. The presence of five major genetically engineered proteins (CP4-EPSPS, CryIAb, Cry9C, PAT/pat and PAT/bar protein) was detected at low levels in seeds, seed/leaf powder and leaf tissue from genetically modified soy, maize or oilseed rape. A comparison between &quot;protein strip test&quot; (PST) and &quot;polymerase chain reaction&quot; (PCR) analysis of genetically modified food/feed samples demonstrates complementarities of both techniques. -® Springer-Verlag 2007</p

Directed triangles in directed graphs

AbstractWe show that each directed graph on n vertices, each with indegree and outdegree at least n/t, where t=5−5+1247−215=2.8670975⋯, contains a directed circuit of length at most 3

Trends in tropical nights and their effects on mortality in Switzerland across 50 years

Increasing temperatures and more frequent and severe heat waves in Switzerland are leading to a larger heat-related health burden. Additionally, high nighttime temperatures or tropical nights (TNs) also affect the well-being of the population. We aimed to assess the spatiotemporal patterns in the frequency and the exposed population to TNs, and its mortality effect in Switzerland. We identified the TNs (minimum nighttime temperature >20˚C) in each district in Switzerland using population-weighted hourly temperature series (ERA5- Land reanalysis data set) between 1970–2019. We assessed the change in the frequency of TNs and the exposed population per district and decade through a spatiotemporal analysis. We then performed a case time series analysis to estimate the TN-mortality association (controlled for the daily mean temperature) by canton and for the main 8 cities using data on all-cause mortality at the district level between 1980–2018. We found an overall increase in the annual frequency of TN (from 90 to 2113 TNs per decade) and the population exposed (from 3.7 million to over 157 million population-TN per decade) in Switzerland between 1970–2019, mainly in the cities of Lausanne, Geneva, Basel, Lugano, and Zurich, and during the last two decades. The TN-mortality association was highly heterogeneous across cantons and cities. In particular, TNs were associated with an increase of 22–37% in the risk of mortality in the cantons of Vaud (Relative risk: 1.37 (95%CI:1.19–1.59)), Zurich (1.33 (0.99–1.79)), Lucerne (1.33 (0.95–1.87)) and Solothurn (1.22 (0.88–1.69)), while a negative association was observed in Ticino (0.51 (0.37–0.7)), Basel-Land (0.4 (0.24–0.65)) and Thurgau (0.65 (0.5–0.85)), and a null association in the remaining cantons. Our findings indicate that TNs are a relevant health hazard for a large part of the Swiss population leading to potentially larger impacts in the future due to climate change and increasing urbanization

The cross helicity at the solar surface by simulations and observations

The quasilinear mean-field theory for driven MHD turbulence leads to the result that the observed cross helicity may directly yield the magnetic eddy diffusivity \eta_{T} of the quiet Sun. In order to model the cross helicity at the solar surface, magnetoconvection under the presence of a vertical large-scale magnetic field is simulated with the nonlinear MHD code NIRVANA. The very robust result of the calculations is that \simeq 2 independent of the applied magnetic field amplitude. The correlation coefficient for the cross helicity is about 10%. Of similar robustness is the finding that the rms value of the magnetic perturbations exceeds the mean-field amplitude (only) by a factor of five. The characteristic helicity speed u_{\eta} as the ratio of the eddy diffusivity and the density scale height for an isothermal sound velocity of 6.6 km/s proves to be 1 km/s for weak fields. This value well coincides with empirical results obtained from the data of the HINODE satellite and the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) providing the cross helicity component . Both simulations and observations thus lead to a numerical value of \eta_{T} \simeq 10^12 cm^2 /s as characteristic for the surface of the quiet Sun.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Transverse oscillations in solar coronal loops induced by propagating Alfvenic pulses

The propagation and the evolution of Alfvenic pulses in the solar coronal arcades is investigated by means of MHD numerical simulations. Significant transverse oscillations in coronal loops, triggered by nearby flare events, are often measured in EUV lines and are generally interpreted as standing kink modes. However, the damping times of these oscillations are typically very short (from one to a few periods) and the physical mechanism responsible for the decay is still a matter of debate. Moreover, the majority of the observed cases actually appears to be better modeled by propagating, rather than standing, modes. Here we perform 2.5-D compressible MHD simulations of impulsively generated Alfven waves propagating in a potential magnetic arcade (assumed as a simplified 2-D loop model), taking into account the stratification of the solar atmosphere with height from the photosphere to the corona. The results show a strong spreading of the initially localized pulses along the loop, due to the variations in the Alfven velocity with height, and correspondingly an efficient damping of the amplitude of the oscillations. We believe that simple explanations based on the effects of wave propagation in highly inhomogeneous media may apply to the majority of the reported cases, and that variations of the background density and Alfven speed along the loop should be considered as key ingredients in future models.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A on 26 October 2004; 10 pages, 8 figure

Granular Scale Magnetic Flux Cancellations in the Photosphere

We investigate the evolution of 5 granular-scale magnetic flux cancellations just outside the moat region of a sunspot by using accurate spectropolarimetric measurements and G-band images with the Solar Optical Telescope aboard Hinode. The opposite polarity magnetic elements approach a junction of the intergranular lanes and then they collide with each other there. The intergranular junction has strong red shifts, darker intensities than the regular intergranular lanes, and surface converging flows. This clearly confirms that the converging and downward convective motions are essential for the approaching process of the opposite-polarity magnetic elements. However, motion of the approaching magnetic elements does not always match with their surrounding surface flow patterns in our observations. This suggests that, in addition to the surface flows, subsurface downward convective motions and subsurface magnetic connectivities are important for understanding the approach and collision of the opposite polarity elements observed in the photosphere. We find that the horizontal magnetic field appears between the canceling opposite polarity elements in only one event. The horizontal fields are observed along the intergranular lanes with Doppler red shifts. This cancellation is most probably a result of the submergence (retraction) of low-lying photospheric magnetic flux. In the other 4 events, the horizontal field is not observed between the opposite polarity elements at any time when they approach and cancel each other. These approaching magnetic elements are more concentrated rather than gradually diffused, and they have nearly vertical fields even while they are in contact each other. We thus infer that the actual flux cancellation is highly time dependent events at scales less than a pixel of Hinode SOT (about 200 km) near the solar surface.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa