The Soft Path for Water

There are two primary ways of meeting water-related needs, or more poetically, two paths. One path -- the "hard" path -- relies almost exclusively on centralized infrastructure and decision making: dams and reservoirs, pipelines and treatment plants, water departments and agencies. It delivers water, mostly of potable quality, and takes away wastewater. The second path -- the "soft" path -- may also rely on centralized infrastructure, but complements it with extensive investment in decentralized facilities, efficient technologies, and human capital.1 It strives to improve the overall productivity of water use rather than seek endless sources of new supply. It delivers diverse water services matched to the users' needs and works with water users at local and community scales. This chapter tells the tale of these paths up to the present. Decisions made today, and actions of future generations, will write the conclusion of the story

Receptor tyrosine kinase and p16/CDKN2 expression in a case of tripe palms associated with non-small-cell lung cancer

Background: Tripe palms is a descriptive term for a cutaneous paraneoplastic keratoderma. Tripe palms are frequently associated with gastric and pulmonary carcinoma. The pathogenetic mechanism remains unknown. Objective: To determine the influence of receptor tyrosine kinases, which are both expressed in pulmonary carcinomas and in human skin, we performed expression studies on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), HER2, HERS in a skin sample of tripe palms obtained from a patient with non-small-cell lung cancer with lymph node involvement. Two months after diagnosis, the patient had developed palmoplantar `tripe palms'. Additionally, the expression of SRC, c-myc and p16/CDKN2 were studied. Method: Conventional reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction was performed on a tissue sample of tripe palms. Results: Weak expression of HER2 and of p16/CDKN2 was found. EGFR, HERS, c-myc and SRC were not expressed. Conclusion: Receptor tyrosine kinases of subclass I, the tyrosine kinase SRC and the oncogene c-myc play no major role in the pathogenesis of this case of tripe palms. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG. Basel

Meeting global land restoration and protection targets:What would the world look like in 2050?

Land restoration has received increased attention recently as a tool to counteract negative externalities of unsustainable land management on human well-being. This is reflected in targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework of the Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). However, the implications of these targets for land use, especially considering their potential conflict with growing food production demands, are largely unexplored. We study the potential and aggregated consequences of meeting these targets on land cover and land system change. We do so by analyzing targets originating from these global commitments towards land restoration and protection and implement them in a global land system change model. We compare this Restoration and Protection scenario with simulation results of two plausible pathways of socio-economic development in the absence of these targets, following the Shared Socio-Economic Pathway (SSP) storylines. We find that meeting global land restoration and protection targets would increase global tree cover by 4 million km², increasing forest carbon stocks by 50 Gt and protecting 28% of the terrestrial area with the highest value of both biodiversity and carbon storage. Gains in tree cover and natural land systems would cause a contraction of crop, pasture- and bare land. This results in further cropland intensification and the expansion of land systems that are combining land use demands in mosaics of forest and agriculture. Without these targets, land system architecture tends to become more specialized, while many carbon and biodiversity hotspots, such as in the Americas, India, and Indonesia would be lost. Grassland-agriculture mosaics were threatened by land use change under all scenarios, requiring greater consideration in research and environmental policy. Our results emphasize the need for targeted land management in line with the analyzed policy targets if global restoration and protection targets are to be achieved

Music and low-frequency vibrations for the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal pain in elderly:A pilot study

BACKGROUND: Transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation has analgesic potential and might be elicited by abdominally administered low-frequency vibrations. The objective was to study the safety and effect of a combination of music and abdominally administered low-frequency vibrations on pain intensity in elderly patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. METHODS: This trial was an international multicenter, randomized controlled pilot study. Patients at age ≥ 65 years with musculoskeletal pain for ≥ 3 months and a daily pain score ≥ 4 out of 10 were recruited at three centers. They were randomized to receive either a combination of music and low-frequency (20–100 Hz) vibrations administered to the abdomen, or a combination with the same music but with higher frequency (200–300 Hz) vibrations administered to the abdomen. Low-frequency vibrations were expected to result in pain reduction measured with a numeric pain rating scale (NRS). Patients in both groups received eight treatments of the music combined with the vibrations in three weeks. Primary outcomes were safety (Serious Adverse Events) and pain intensity measured at baseline, after the last treatment and at six weeks follow-up. Multilevel linear model analyses were performed to study group and time effects. RESULTS: A total of 45 patients were analyzed according to intention-to-treat principle. After 344 treatments, 1 Adverse Event was found related to the intervention, while 13 Adverse Events were possibly related. A multilevel linear model showed that the interaction effect of group by time did not predict pain intensity (F[1, 45.93] = 0.002, p = 0.97) when comparing pain intensity at baseline, after the last treatment and at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of music and abdominally administered vibrations was found to be safe and well tolerated by the elderly patients. However, over time, neither the low-frequency treatment group nor the high-frequency treatment group provided clinically meaningful pain relief. There is no evidence that the low-frequency treatment elicited vagal nerve stimulation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was prospectively registered in the Netherlands Trial Register (NTR: NL7606) on 21-03-2019

On the question of universality in \RPn and \On Lattice Sigma Models

We argue that there is no essential violation of universality in the continuum limit of mixed \RPn and \On lattice sigma models in 2 dimensions, contrary to opposite claims in the literature.Comment: 16 pages (latex) + 3 figures (Postscript), uuencode

Dust aerosol, clouds, and the atmospheric optical depth record over 5 Mars years of the Mars Exploration Rover mission

Dust aerosol plays a fundamental role in the behavior and evolution of the Martian atmosphere. The first five Mars years of Mars Exploration Rover data provide an unprecedented record of the dust load at two sites. This record is useful for characterization of the atmosphere at the sites and as ground truth for orbital observations. Atmospheric extinction optical depths have been derived from solar images after calibration and correction for time-varying dust that has accumulated on the camera windows. The record includes local, regional, and globally extensive dust storms. Comparison with contemporaneous thermal infrared data suggests significant variation in the size of the dust aerosols, with a 1 {\mu}m effective radius during northern summer and a 2 {\mu}m effective radius at the onset of a dust lifting event. The solar longitude (LS) 20-136{\deg} period is also characterized by the presence of cirriform clouds at the Opportunity site, especially near LS=50 and 115{\deg}. In addition to water ice clouds, a water ice haze may also be present, and carbon dioxide clouds may be present early in the season. Variations in dust opacity are important to the energy balance of each site, and work with seasonal variations in insolation to control dust devil frequency at the Spirit site.Comment: 60 pages, 12 figures, to be published in Icaru

Rate of Decline in Nontreponemal Antibody Titers and Seroreversion After Treatment of Early Syphilis

Syphilis management is complex and demonstration of treatment response requires monitoring of nontreponemal antibody titers for a ≥ 4-fold decline and/or seroreversion to nonreactive titers

Relevance of Host Cell Surface Glycan Structure for Cell Specificity of Influenza A Viruses

first_page settings Order Article Reprints Open AccessHypothesis Relevance of Host Cell Surface Glycan Structure for Cell Specificity of Influenza A Viruses by Markus Kastner 1,†,‡, Andreas Karner 1,†,§ [ORCID] , Rong Zhu 1,† [ORCID] , Qiang Huang 2 [ORCID] , Andreas Geissner 3,4,‖, Anne Sadewasser 5,¶, Markus Lesch 6, Xenia Wörmann 6, Alexander Karlas 6,**, Peter H. Seeberger 3,4 [ORCID] , Thorsten Wolff 5 [ORCID] , Peter Hinterdorfer 1 [ORCID] , Andreas Herrmann 7 and Christian Sieben 8,9,* [ORCID] 1 Institute for Biophysics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, 4020 Linz, Austria 2 State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Industrial Microorganisms, MOE Engineering Research Center of Gene Technology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China 3 Department for Biomolecular Systems, Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, 14476 Potsdam, Germany 4 Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany 5 Division of Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses, Robert Koch-Institute, 13353 Berlin, Germany 6 Molecular Biology Department, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, 10117 Berlin, Germany 7 Institut für Chemie und Biochemie, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstraße 23a, 14195 Berlin, Germany 8 Nanoscale Infection Biology Group, Department of Cell Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany 9 Institute for Genetics, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. † These authors contributed equally to this work. ‡ Current address: Materials Characterization Lab (MCL), Materials Research Institute (MRI), Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. § Current address: University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, School of Medical Engineering and Applied Social Sciences, Garnisonstr. 21, 4020 Linz, Austria. ‖ Current address: Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada. ¶ Current address: Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG, Am Klopferspitz 19, 82152 Planegg, Germany. ** Current address: Viral Vectors and Gene Therapeutics, ProBioGen AG, 13086 Berlin, Germany. Viruses 2023, 15(7), 1507; https://doi.org/10.3390/v15071507 Received: 9 May 2023 / Revised: 21 June 2023 / Accepted: 28 June 2023 / Published: 5 July 2023 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Physical Virology - Viruses at Multiple Levels of Complexity) Download Browse Figures Review Reports Versions Notes Abstract Influenza A viruses (IAVs) initiate infection via binding of the viral hemagglutinin (HA) to sialylated glycans on host cells. HA’s receptor specificity towards individual glycans is well studied and clearly critical for virus infection, but the contribution of the highly heterogeneous and complex glycocalyx to virus–cell adhesion remains elusive. Here, we use two complementary methods, glycan arrays and single-virus force spectroscopy (SVFS), to compare influenza virus receptor specificity with virus binding to live cells. Unexpectedly, we found that HA’s receptor binding preference does not necessarily reflect virus–cell specificity. We propose SVFS as a tool to elucidate the cell binding preference of IAVs, thereby including the complex environment of sialylated receptors within the plasma membrane of living cells