Constraining a complex biogeochemical model for CO₂ and N₂O emission simulations from various land uses by model-data fusion

This study presents the results of a combined measurement and modelling strategy to analyse N₂O and CO₂ emissions from adjacent arable land, forest and grassland sites in Hesse, Germany. The measured emissions reveal seasonal patterns and management effects, including fertilizer application, tillage, harvest and grazing. The measured annual N₂O fluxes are 4.5, 0.4 and 0.1 kg N ha$^{-1}$ a$^{-1}$, and the CO₂ fluxes are 20.0, 12.2 and 3.0 t C ha$^{-1}$ a$^{-1}$ for the arable land, grassland and forest sites, respectively. An innovative model–data fusion concept based on a multicriteria evaluation (soil moisture at different depths, yield, CO₂ and N₂O emissions) is used to rigorously test the LandscapeDNDC biogeochemical model. The model is run in a Latin-hypercube-based uncertainty analysis framework to constrain model parameter uncertainty and derive behavioural model runs. The results indicate that the model is generally capable of predicting trace gas emissions, as evaluated with RMSE as the objective function. The model shows a reasonable performance in simulating the ecosystem C and N balances. The model–data fusion concept helps to detect remaining model errors, such as missing (e.g. freeze–thaw cycling) or incomplete model processes (e.g. respiration rates after harvest). This concept further elucidates the identification of missing model input sources (e.g. the uptake of N through shallow groundwater on grassland during the vegetation period) and uncertainty in the measured validation data (e.g. forest N₂O emissions in winter months). Guidance is provided to improve the model structure and field measurements to further advance landscape-scale model predictions

Aluminosis – Detection of an almost forgotten disease with HRCT

The aim of this study was to investigate whether it is possible to detect high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) findings in aluminium powder workers, which are consistent with early stages of aluminosis. 62 male workers from 8 departments of two plants producing aluminium (Al) powder were investigated using a standardized questionnaire, physical examination, lung function analysis, biological monitoring of Al in plasma and urine, chest X-ray, HRCT and immunological tests. Chronic bronchitis was observed in 15 (24.2%) of the workers, and four workers (6.5%) reported shortness of breath during exercise. HRCT findings in 15 workers (24.2%) were characterized by ill-defined centrilobular nodular opacities. Workers with ill-defined centrilobular nodular opacities had a lower vital capacity than workers who had no such HRCT-findings (90.9 % pred. vs. 101.8 % pred., p = 0.01). Biological monitoring in plasma and urine revealed higher internal exposure to Al in affected workers (33.5 μg/l plasma to 15.4 μg/l plasma, p = 0.01) and (340.5 μg/g creat. to 135.1 μg/g creat., p = 0.007). Years of exposure and concentration of aluminum in urine and plasma appear to be the best predictors for HRCT findings. Age and decreased vital capacity show borderline significance. We conclude that aluminosis is still relevant in occupational medicine. With HRCT it is possible to detect early stages of aluminosis and biological monitoring can be used to define workers at high risk

Influence of Substitutions in the Binding Motif of Proline-Rich Antimicrobial Peptide ARV-1502 on 70S Ribosome Binding and Antimicrobial Activity

Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides (PrAMPs) are promising candidates to treat bacterial infections. The designer peptide ARV-1502 exhibits strong antimicrobial effects against Enterobacteriaceae both in vitro and in vivo. Since the inhibitory effects of ARV-1502 reported for the 70 kDa heat-shock protein DnaK do not fully explain the antimicrobial activity of its 176 substituted analogs, we further studied their effect on the bacterial 70S ribosome of Escherichia coli, a known target of PrAMPs. ARV-1502 analogues, substituted in positions 3, 4, and 8 to 12 (underlined) of the binding motif D3KPRPYLPRP12 with aspartic acid, lysine, serine, phenylalanine or leucine, were tested in a competitive fluorescence polarization (FP) binding screening assay using 5(6)-carboxyfluoresceinlabeled (Cf-) ARV-1502 and the 70S ribosome isolated from E. coli BW25113. While their effect on ribosomal protein expression was studied for green fluorescent protein (GFP) in a cell-free expression system (in vitro translation), the importance of known PrAMP transporters SbmA and MdtM was investigated using E. coli BW25113 and the corresponding knockout mutants. The dissociation constant (Kd) of 201 16 nmol/L obtained for Cf-ARV-1502 suggests strong binding to the E. coli 70S ribosome. An inhibitory binding assay indicated that the binding site overlaps with those of other PrAMPs including Onc112 and pyrrhocoricin as well as the non-peptidic antibiotics erythromycin and chloramphenicol. All these drugs and drug candidates bind to the exit-tunnel of the 70S ribosome. Substitutions of the C-terminal fragment of the binding motif YLPRP reduced binding. At the same time, inhibition of GFP expression increased with net peptide charge. Interestingly, the MIC values of wild-type and DsbmA and DmdtM knockout mutants indicated that substitutions in the ribosomal binding motif altered also the bacterial uptake, which was generally improved by incorporation of hydrophobic residues. In conclusion, most substituted ARV-1502 analogs bound weaker to the 70S ribosome than ARV-1502 underlining the importance of the YLPRP binding motif. The weaker ribosomal binding correlated well with decreased antimicrobial activity in vitro. Substituted ARV-1502 analogs with a higher level of hydrophobicity or positive net charge improved the ribosome binding, inhibition of translation, and bacterial uptake

Avian Immunome DB: an example of a user-friendly interface for extracting genetic information

BackgroundGenomic and genetic studies often require a target list of genes before conducting any hypothesis testing or experimental verification. With the ever-growing number of sequenced genomes and a variety of different annotation strategies, comes the potential for ambiguous gene symbols, making it cumbersome to capture the “correct” set of genes. In this article, we present and describe the Avian Immunome DB (Avimm) for easy gene property extraction as exemplified by avian immune genes. The avian immune system is characterised by a cascade of complex biological processes underlaid by more than 1000 different genes. It is a vital trait to study particularly in birds considering that they are a significant driver in spreading zoonotic diseases. With the completion of phase II of the B10K (“Bird 10,000 Genomes”) consortium’s whole-genome sequencing effort, we have included 363 annotated bird genomes in addition to other publicly available bird genome data which serve as a valuable foundation for Avimm.Construction and contentA relational database with avian immune gene evidence from Gene Ontology, Ensembl, UniProt and the B10K consortium has been designed and set up. The foundation stone or the “seed” for the initial set of avian immune genes is based on the well-studied model organism chicken (Gallus gallus). Gene annotations, different transcript isoforms, nucleotide sequences and protein information, including amino acid sequences, are included. Ambiguous gene names (symbols) are resolved within the database and linked to their canonical gene symbol. Avimm is supplemented by a command-line interface and a web front-end to query the database.Utility and discussionThe internal mapping of unique gene symbol identifiers to canonical gene symbols allows for an ambiguous gene property search. The database is organised within core and feature tables, which makes it straightforward to extend for future purposes. The database design is ready to be applied to other taxa or biological processes. Currently, the database contains 1170 distinct avian immune genes with canonical gene symbols and 612 synonyms across 363 bird species. While the command-line interface readily integrates into bioinformatics pipelines, the intuitive web front-end with download functionality offers sophisticated search functionalities and tracks the origin for each record. Avimm is publicly accessible at https://avimm.ab.mpg.de.publishe

A redistribution of nitrogen fertiliser across global croplands can help achieve food security within environmental boundaries

A major societal challenge is to produce sufficient food for a growing global population while simultaneously reducing agricultural nitrogen pollution to within safe environmental boundaries. Here we use spatially-resolved, process-based simulations of cereal cropping systems (at 0.5° resolution) to show how redistribution of nitrogen fertiliser usage could meet this challenge on a global scale. Focusing on major cereals (maize, wheat and rice), we find that current production could be (i) maintained with a 32% reduction in total global fertiliser use, or (ii) increased by 15% with current nitrogen fertiliser levels. This would come with substantial reductions in environmental nitrogen losses, allowing cereal production to stay within environmental boundaries for nitrogen pollution. The more equal distribution of nitrogen fertiliser across global croplands would reduce reliance on current breadbasket areas, allow regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa to move towards self-sufficiency and alleviate nitrogen pollution in East Asia and other highly fertilised regions

Novel digital impedance bridges for the realization of the farad from graphene quantum standards

In the International System of Units, a realization of the impedance units is the quantum Hall effect, a macroscopic quantum phenomenon that produces quantized resistance values. Established experiments employ individual GaAs devices [1], but research is ongoing on novel materials such as graphene, which allows the realization of the units with relaxed experimental conditions. Furthermore, novel digital impedance bridges allow the implementation of simple traceability chains. In the framework of the European EMPIR project 18SIB07 GIQS (Graphene Impedance Quantum Standards), an affordable and easy-to-operate impedance standard combining novel digital impedance bridges and graphene quantum standards has been developed. An onsite comparison of an electronic and a Josephson impedance bridges developed at INRIM (Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Italy) and PTB (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany), respectively, were organized for their mutual validation and to assess their performance in the realization of the farad.Measurements of temperature-controlled impedance standards and of a graphene quantized Hall resistance standard in the AC regime were performed with both INRIM’s and PTB’s bridges. The result of the comparison and the last progresses of the GIQS project are here presented