Eignung von Erlen als wurzelaktive Baumart zur Regeneration von Bodenverdichtung sowie als aktive Armierung des Bodens gegenüber Schadverdichtung (Projekt BoReAl)

Aktuelle Konzepte zum Einsatz von Forstmaschinen sind darauf ausgerichtet, die hierbei entstehenden Bodenschäden auf Feinerschließungslinien zu konzentrieren. Um deren technische Befahrbarkeit sicherzustellen, konzentriert man sich bisher auf die Weiterentwicklung der Maschinentechnik. Im Verbundvorhaben BoReAl (Strategie zur aktiven Regeneration von Bodenverdichtung durch Forstmaschinen und zum vorsorgenden Bodenschutz: Bodenschutz – Regeneration – Alnus) sollen nun die biologische Armierung von Rückegassen und die aktive Regeneration von Verdichtungsfolgen durch wurzelaktive Baumarten (Alnus glutinosa und Alnus incana) untersucht werden. Gesamtziel ist die Ableitung von Empfehlungen zur Einbindung von aktiven Regenerationsmaßnahmen in bestehende Konzepte zum Maschineneinsatz auf Feinerschließungslinien. Folgenden Fragestellungen wird dabei nachgegangen: Wie groß ist das Potential der Baumarten Alnus glutinosa und Alnus incana im Hinblick auf die Unterstützung der natürlichen Regenerationsvorgänge? Hierbei wird auch die Kombination mit mechanischer Bodenbearbeitung und Kalkung bearbeitet. Wie ist der Einfluss von Erlen auf den Gashaushalt in befahrenen Waldböden ökologisch einzuschätzen? Hierbei stehen die Spurengase Methan(CH4) und Lachgas (N2O) im Vordergrund. Da die Erlenarten durch die Symbiose mit Actinomyceten in der Lage sind Luftstickstoff zu binden, ist insbesondere ein Einfluss auf die Stickstoffflüsse in der Gasphase zu erwarten. Des Weiteren untersuchen wir die bodenmechanische Armierungswirkung des Erlenwurzelwerkes bei der Befahrung und den Einfluss auf den Boden-Wasser- und Gashauhalt, um damit die Option eines vorsorgenden Schutzes vor Bodenschäden durch Pflanzung von Erlenstreifen schon bei der Begründung von Waldbeständen im Bereich der zukünftigen Rückelinien zu konkretisieren. Vorgestellt wird das Projekt sowie erste Ergebnisse

"Smoking gun" signatures of topological milestones in trivial materials by measurement fine-tuning and data postselection

Exploring the topology of electronic bands is a way to realize new states of matter with possible implications for information technology. Because bands cannot always be observed directly, a central question is how to tell that a topological regime has been achieved. Experiments are often guided by a prediction of a unique signal or a pattern, called "the smoking gun". Examples include peaks in conductivity, microwave resonances, and shifts in interference fringes. However, many condensed matter experiments are performed on relatively small, micron or nanometer-scale, specimens. These structures are in the so-called mesoscopic regime, between atomic and macroscopic physics, where phenomenology is particularly rich. In this paper, we demonstrate that the trivial effects of quantum confinement, quantum interference and charge dynamics in nanostructures can reproduce accepted smoking gun signatures of triplet supercurrents, Majorana modes, topological Josephson junctions and fractionalized particles. The examples we use correspond to milestones of topological quantum computing: qubit spectroscopy, fusion and braiding. None of the samples we use are in the topological regime. The smoking gun patterns are achieved by fine-tuning during data acquisition and by subsequent data selection to pick non-representative examples out of a fluid multitude of similar patterns that do not generally fit the "smoking gun" designation. Building on this insight, we discuss ways that experimentalists can rigorously delineate between topological and non-topological effects, and the effects of fine-tuning by deeper analysis of larger volumes of data.Comment: Data are available through Zenodo at DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.834930

Profile of the circulating DNA in apparently healthy individuals

BACKGROUND: Circulating nucleic acids (CNAs) have been shown to have diagnostic utility in human diseases. The aim of this study was to sequence and organize CNAs to document typical profiles of circulating DNA in apparently healthy individuals. METHODS: Serum DNA from 51 apparently healthy humans was extracted, amplified, sequenced via pyrosequencing (454 Life Sciences/Roche Diagnostics), and categorized by (a) origin (human vs xenogeneic), (b) functionality (repeats, genes, coding or noncoding), and (c) chromosomal localization. CNA results were compared with genomic DNA controls (n = 4) that were subjected to the identical procedure. RESULTS: We obtained 4.5 x 10(5) sequences (7.5 x 10(7) nucleotides), of which 87% were attributable to known database sequences. Of these sequences, 97% were genomic, and 3% were xenogeneic. CNAs and genomic DNA did not differ with respect to sequences attributable to repeats, genes, RNA, and protein-coding DNA sequences. CNA tended to have a higher proportion of short interspersed nuclear element sequences (P = 0.1), of which Alu sequences were significant (P < 0.01). CNAs had a significantly lower proportion of L1 and L2 long interspersed nuclear element sequences (P < 0.01). In addition, hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype F sequences were found in an individual accidentally evaluated as a healthy control. CONCLUSIONS: Comparison of CNAs with genomic DNA suggests that nonspecific DNA release is not the sole origin for CNAs. The CNA profiling of healthy individuals we have described, together with the detailed biometric analysis, provides the basis for future studies of patients with specific diseases. Furthermore, the detection of previously unknown HBV infection suggests the capability of this method to uncover occult infections

In vitro effects of different 8-methoxypsoralen treatment protocols for extracorporeal photopheresis on mononuclear cells

Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is an important second-line therapy for graft- versus -host disease. A central therapeutic mechanism is the induction of immune tolerance through apoptosis in patient’s leukocytes, caused by ex vivo incubation with 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) and subsequent UVA irradiation. We hypothesized that different 8-MOP incubation times and an additional 8-MOP removal step could influence the apoptosis kinetics of leukocytes in general and in particular could lead to different apoptotic levels in the leukocyte subpopulations. After 8-MOP/UVA treatment of human leukocytes, cells were cultured and the percentage of annexin V positive cells from several leukocyte subpopulations was determined. Only regulatory T cells (Tregs) were relatively resistant to 8-MOP/UVA induced apoptosis. When cells were incubated for 30 minutes with 8-MOP prior to UVA exposure, higher percentages of annexin V positive cells were detected on day 1 and day 2 after treatment. Removal of 8-MOP after UVA exposure caused no significant changes in the apoptosis kinetics during the 72 h culture period compared with unwashed cells. The results of our in vitro study indicate that it could be possible to adjust the apoptosis kinetics via modulation of the 8-MOP incubation time. In further in vivo studies it should be elucidated to which extent different apoptosis kinetics influence the therapeutic effect of ECP since steady-state apoptosis levels are probably important for establishing a long lasting immune tolerance. Furthermore we found that Tregs, according to their well-known tolerogenic function, are more resistant to apoptosis after 8-MOP/UVA treatment compared to GvHD inducing T cell populations