TEHIK kui kompetentsikeskus

Eesti Arst 2020; 99(3):131–13

Do migrating birds avoid offshore wind turbines? A method to investigate and analyze reactions of diurnally migrating birds to offshore wind farms

Zu den potenziellen Beeinflussungen von Zugvögeln durch Offshore-Windparks zählt die Barrierewirkung für fliegende Vögel infolge Meideverhaltens oder aber die Anlockung durch Attraktion. Obwohl andernorts Meideverhalten für einzelne Arten belegt ist, konnte deren Existenz im Rahmen des durchgeführten Effektmonitorings im Bereich der Deutschen Bucht bisher nicht nachgewiesen werden. Werden methodische Anpassungen vorgenommen, wie in dieser Arbeit beschrieben, lassen sich fundierte Aussagen zu Reaktionen von Zugvögeln gegenüber Offshore-Windparks auch im Rahmen von Umweltverträglichkeitsstudien ableiten. Der Vergleich von Zugplanbeobachtungen in verschiedenen Blickrichtungssektoren im Nahbereich von „alpha ventus“ zeigt, dass Basstölpel und weitere Vogelarten in den windparkzugewandten Raumsektoren in geringerer Häufigkeit auftreten. Dies lässt auf eine Meidereaktion schließen.When addressing potential threats of offshore wind farms on migrating birds, avoidance behavior in response to wind farms is among those commonly mentioned, meaning that wind farms can act as barriers for migrants. Substantial - but otherwise sparsely - proof for this exits from Denmark and The Netherlands. However, monitoring potential threats in the German Bight failed in providing evidence of an avoidance response of migrating birds to offshore wind farms. Minor adaptations of the current method of investigation and analysis provided here, however, have led to substantiated results. In addition, these adaptations can easily be incorporated into current standard protocols of environmental impact assessment studies. Demonstrating this, we here present an example of avoidance behavior of gannets Sula bassana in particular to a wind farm and of birds in general

Description of a bird strike event and its causes at a research platform in the German Bight, North Sea

Die ökologische Begleitforschung am Offshore-Windpark „alpha ventus“, 45 km nördlich der Nordseeinsel Borkum, konzentriert sich u. a. auf das Zuggeschehen migrierender Vögel. Erstmals seit Beginn der Datenerhebung im Herbst 2003 präsentieren wir einen mittels verschiedener Fernerkundungsmethoden zeitlich lückenlos erfassten Verlauf einer Massenzugnacht am 1./2.11.2010 während derer es zu einem Massenkollisionsereignis kam. Dieses konnte ursächlich auf die spezifische Konstellation in der Ausprägung verschiedener Wetterparameter zurückgeführt werden. Verstärkte (Massen)Zugbewegungen aus NO am frühen Abend des 1.11.2010 fanden ihren zahlenmäßigen Höhepunkt von etwa 460 Radarechos/h zwischen 19:00 Uhr und 20:00 Uhr MEZ. Ein in etwa zeitgleich stattfindender Wetterumschwung mit einem Wechsel von Rückenwind auf direkten Gegenwind, zunehmender Windgeschwindigkeit und abnehmender Sichtweite schlug sich während der zugstärksten Phase zwischen 19:00 Uhr und 1:00 Uhr in einer kontinuierlichen Abnahme von in höheren Luftschichten fliegenden Vögeln nieder. Ab etwa 4:00 Uhr wurden über 50 % der ziehenden Vögel in niedrigen Höhenbereichen von bis zu 200 m registriert, vermutlich als Reaktion auf plötzlich auftauchende Schlechtwetterbedingungen. Verstärkte Aggregation der Vögel im Wirkungsbereich von FINO1 bzw. künftiger WEAs erhöht das Kollisionsrisiko. Kollisionen konnten durch Video- und Wärmebildaufnahmen an FINO1 bestätigt werden: Mit 88 Totfunden aus der Zugnacht des 1./2.11.2010 platziert sich dieses Ereignis an vierter Stelle der bisher dokumentierten Massenkollisionen an FINO1. Da die Dokumentation solcher (Massen-)Kollisionsereignisse in der Regel erschwert und oftmals methodisch limitiert ist, ist auch die damit verbundene Abschätzung des Gefährdungspotenzials für Vögel auf Populationsebene bislang unmöglich. Das geschilderte Ereignis wirft im Hinblick auf zukünftig geplante WEAs ein chlaglicht auf zu befürchtende quantitative Dimensionen der Opferzahlen.The present work derives from currently undertaken ecological accompanying research at the offshore-windfarm ‘alpha ventus’, 45 km north of the North Sea island Borkum. Using remote detection techniques and visual observations, we present for the first time since initial data ascertainment in autumn 2003 a complete night’s course of a bird mass-migration along with different weather parameters and a directly connected mass collision event at the research platform FINO1 in the night of the 1./2.11.2010. Increasing numbers of migrating birds from northeasterly directions were detected during the early evening of the 1.11.2010 and reached their peak of about 460 radar echoes/h between 19:00 and 20:00 h. Contemporaneous weather changes involving tailwinds changing to direct headwinds, increasing wind velocity and decreasing visibility led the birds to continuously descend to lower heights during the strongest migration period between 19:00 and 1:00 h. From 4:00 h onward, more than 50 % of the migrating birds were detected in the lower flight heights of 200 m and below and suggest low-level flights to be a reaction towards sudden bad-weather appearances. Enhanced aggregation of birds in the effected area of FINO1 and operating wind turbines, respectively, increase their potential risk of collision by being drawn to the illuminated structures, and in fact, collisions were detected through video and infrared recordings at FINO1. With 88 birds found dead from the night of the 1./2.11.2010, this event holds fourth position of so far documented mass collision events at FINO1. Because the documentation of such (mass) collision events is generally obfuscated and often methodologically limited, the subsequent assessment of the threat for birds is still unknown. The presented event highlights the daunting quantitative dimensions of casualties with regard to future projected wind turbines

Rezensionen

Rezension zu: 1) Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung: Trends der Weiterbildung. DIE-Trendanalyse 2010. Reihe DIE spezial. Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann 2010. ISBN 978-3-7639-4242-8. 2) Dollhausen, Karin; Feld, Timm C.; Seitter, Wolfgang (Hrsg.): Erwachsenenpädagogische Organisationsforschung: Theorie und Empirie lebenslangen Lernens. Wiesbaden: VS Verl. f. Sozialwiss. ISBN 978-3-531-17634-5. 3) Ganguin, Sonja: Computerspiele und lebenslanges Lernen: eine Synthese von Gegensätzen. Wiesbaden: VS Verl. f. Sozialwiss. 2010. ISBN 978-3-531-17487-7. 4) Grotlüschen, Anke: Erneuerung der Interessetheorie: die Genese von Interesse an Erwachsenen- und Weiterbildung. Wiesbaden: VS Verl. f. Sozialwiss. 2010. ISBN 978-3-531-17491-4. 5) Hippel, Aiga von; Tippelt, Rudolf (Hrsg.). Fortbildung der Weiterbildner/innen: eine Analyse der Interessen und Bedarfe aus verschiedenen Perspektiven. Weinheim u.a.: Beltz 2009. ISBN 978-3-407-36486-9. 6) Kuhlenkamp, Detlef: Lifelong Learning: Programmatik, Realität, Perspektiven. Studienreihe Bildungs- und Wissenschaftsmanagement, Bd. 11. Münster: Waxmann 2010. ISBN 978-3-8309-2244-5. 7) Oliver, Esther: Research and Development in Adult Education: Fields and Trends. Leverkusen: B. Budrich 2010. ISBN 978-3-88649-304-9

Acute Cerebrovascular Disease in the Young The Stroke in Young Fabry Patients Study

Background and Purpose-Strokes have especially devastating implications if they occur early in life; however, only limited information exists on the characteristics of acute cerebrovascular disease in young adults. Although risk factors and manifestation of atherosclerosis are commonly associated with stroke in the elderly, recent data suggests different causes for stroke in the young. We initiated the prospective, multinational European study Stroke in Young Fabry Patients (sifap) to characterize a cohort of young stroke patients. Methods-Overall, 5023 patients aged 18 to 55 years with the diagnosis of ischemic stroke (3396), hemorrhagic stroke (271), transient ischemic attack (1071) were enrolled in 15 European countries and 47 centers between April 2007 and January 2010 undergoing a detailed, standardized, clinical, laboratory, and radiological protocol. Results-Median age in the overall cohort was 46 years. Definite Fabry disease was diagnosed in 0.5% (95% confidence interval, 0.4%-0.8%; n=27) of all patients; and probable Fabry disease in additional 18 patients. Males dominated the study population (2962/59%) whereas females outnumbered men (65.3%) among the youngest patients (18-24 years). About 80.5% of the patients had a first stroke. Silent infarcts on magnetic resonance imaging were seen in 20% of patients with a first-ever stroke, and in 11.4% of patients with transient ischemic attack and no history of a previous cerebrovascular event. The most common causes of ischemic stroke were large artery atherosclerosis (18.6%) and dissection (9.9%). Conclusions-Definite Fabry disease occurs in 0.5% and probable Fabry disease in further 0.4% of young stroke patients. Silent infarcts, white matter intensities, and classical risk factors were highly prevalent, emphasizing the need for new early preventive strategies

The relevance of rich club regions for functional outcome post-stroke is enhanced in women

This study aimed to investigate the influence of stroke lesions in predefined highly interconnected (rich-club) brain regions on functional outcome post-stroke, determine their spatial specificity and explore the effects of biological sex on their relevance. We analyzed MRI data recorded at index stroke and similar to 3-months modified Rankin Scale (mRS) data from patients with acute ischemic stroke enrolled in the multisite MRI-GENIE study. Spatially normalized structural stroke lesions were parcellated into 108 atlas-defined bilateral (sub)cortical brain regions. Unfavorable outcome (mRS > 2) was modeled in a Bayesian logistic regression framework. Effects of individual brain regions were captured as two compound effects for (i) six bilateral rich club and (ii) all further non-rich club regions. In spatial specificity analyses, we randomized the split into "rich club" and "non-rich club" regions and compared the effect of the actual rich club regions to the distribution of effects from 1000 combinations of six random regions. In sex-specific analyses, we introduced an additional hierarchical level in our model structure to compare male and female-specific rich club effects. A total of 822 patients (age: 64.7[15.0], 39% women) were analyzed. Rich club regions had substantial relevance in explaining unfavorable functional outcome (mean of posterior distribution: 0.08, area under the curve: 0.8). In particular, the rich club-combination had a higher relevance than 98.4% of random constellations. Rich club regions were substantially more important in explaining long-term outcome in women than in men. All in all, lesions in rich dub regions were associated with increased odds of unfavorable outcome. These effects were spatially specific and more pronounced in women.Peer reviewe

In-Orbit Performance of the GRACE Follow-on Laser Ranging Interferometer

The Laser Ranging Interferometer (LRI) instrument on the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-On mission has provided the first laser interferometric range measurements between remote spacecraft, separated by approximately 220 km. Autonomous controls that lock the laser frequency to a cavity reference and establish the 5 degrees of freedom two-way laser link between remote spacecraft succeeded on the first attempt. Active beam pointing based on differential wave front sensing compensates spacecraft attitude fluctuations. The LRI has operated continuously without breaks in phase tracking for more than 50 days, and has shown biased range measurements similar to the primary ranging instrument based on microwaves, but with much less noise at a level of 1 nm/Hz at Fourier frequencies above 100 mHz. © 2019 authors. Published by the American Physical Society

Contribution of Common Genetic Variants to Risk of Early-Onset Ischemic Stroke

Background and Objectives Current genome-wide association studies of ischemic stroke have focused primarily on late-onset disease. As a complement to these studies, we sought to identify the contribution of common genetic variants to risk of early-onset ischemic stroke. Methods We performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of early-onset stroke (EOS), ages 18-59 years, using individual-level data or summary statistics in 16,730 cases and 599,237 nonstroke controls obtained across 48 different studies. We further compared effect sizes at associated loci between EOS and late-onset stroke (LOS) and compared polygenic risk scores (PRS) for venous thromboembolism (VTE) between EOS and LOS. Results We observed genome-wide significant associations of EOS with 2 variants in ABO, a known stroke locus. These variants tag blood subgroups O1 and A1, and the effect sizes of both variants were significantly larger in EOS compared with LOS. The odds ratio (OR) for rs529565, tagging O1, was 0.88 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.85-0.91) in EOS vs 0.96 (95% CI: 0.92-1.00) in LOS, and the OR for rs635634, tagging A1, was 1.16 (1.11-1.21) for EOS vs 1.05 (0.99-1.11) in LOS; p-values for interaction = 0.001 and 0.005, respectively. Using PRSs, we observed that greater genetic risk for VTE, another prothrombotic condition, was more strongly associated with EOS compared with LOS (p = 0.008). Discussion The ABO locus, genetically predicted blood group A, and higher genetic propensity for venous thrombosis are more strongly associated with EOS than with LOS, supporting a stronger role of prothrombotic factors in EOS.Peer reviewe

Target genes, variants, tissues and transcriptional pathways influencing human serum urate levels.

Elevated serum urate levels cause gout and correlate with cardiometabolic diseases via poorly understood mechanisms. We performed a trans-ancestry genome-wide association study of serum urate in 457,690 individuals, identifying 183 loci (147 previously unknown) that improve the prediction of gout in an independent cohort of 334,880 individuals. Serum urate showed significant genetic correlations with many cardiometabolic traits, with genetic causality analyses supporting a substantial role for pleiotropy. Enrichment analysis, fine-mapping of urate-associated loci and colocalization with gene expression in 47 tissues implicated the kidney and liver as the main target organs and prioritized potentially causal genes and variants, including the transcriptional master regulators in the liver and kidney, HNF1A and HNF4A. Experimental validation showed that HNF4A transactivated the promoter of ABCG2, encoding a major urate transporter, in kidney cells, and that HNF4A p.Thr139Ile is a functional variant. Transcriptional coregulation within and across organs may be a general mechanism underlying the observed pleiotropy between urate and cardiometabolic traits.The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) Project was supported by the Common Fund of the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health, and by NCI, NHGRI, NHLBI, NIDA, NIMH, and NINDS. Variant annotation was supported by software resources provided via the Caché Campus program of the InterSystems GmbH to Alexander Teumer