Assessing pollen beetle dynamics in diversified agricultural landscapes with reduced pesticide management strategies: Exploring the potential of digital yellow water traps for continuous, high-resolution monitoring in oilseed rape

The European Farm to Fork strategy strives to reduce pesticide use and risk by 50% by 2030, preserving agricultural productivity, biodiversity, and human health. Novel research on crop diversification and new field arrangements, supported by digital technologies, offers sustainable innovations for pest control. This study evaluates digital yellow water traps, equipped with a camera and associated artificial intelligence model for continuous pollen beetle monitoring in diversified agricultural landscapes. Data were collected in oilseed rape from three harvest years (2021-2023) at the experimental site patchCROP, a landscape experiment established to study the effects of spatial and temporal crop diversification measures on yield, ecosystem services, and biodiversity. In patchCROP, crops were planted in smaller, 0.5 ha (72 × 72 m) squares called "patches" with different pesticide management strategies and were compared to surrounding commercial fields. The digital yellow water traps and AI were evaluated and found to be useful for gauging pollen beetle immigration into the crop. Across all years, higher insect pest pressure was recorded in the patches compared to commercial fields but did not necessarily compromise yields. Implementation of pesticide management strategies, including targeted insecticide applications at specific insect pest thresholds, were not associated with reduced yields in patches with flower strips. Future studies should consider examining the role of field size and alternative diversification approaches to fine-tune insecticide reduction strategies at the landscape scale

Screening of the hearing of newborns - Update

Introduction: Permanent congenital bilateral hearing loss (CHL) of moderate or greater degree (≥40 dB HL) is a rare disease, with a prevalence of about 1 to 3 per 1000 births. However, it is one of the most frequent congenital diseases. Reliance on physician observation and parental recognition has not been successful in the past in detecting significant hearing loss in the first year of life. With this strategy significant hearing losses have been detected in the second year of life. With two objective technologies based on physiologic response to sound, otoacoustic emissions (OAE) and auditory brainstem response (ABR) hearing screening in the first days of life is made possible. Objectives: The objective of this health technology assessment report is to update the evaluation on clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of newborn hearing screening programs. Universal newborn hearing screening (UHNS) (i), selective screening of high risk newborns (ii), and the absence of a systematic screening program are compared for age at identification and age at hearing aid fitting of children with hearing loss. Secondly the potential benefits of early intervention are analysed. Costs and cost-effectiveness of newborn hearing screening programs are determined. This report is intended to make a contribution to the decision making whether and under which conditions a newborn hearing screening program should be reimbursed by the statutory sickness funds in Germany. Methods: This health technology assessment report updates a former health technology assessment (Kunze et al. 2004 [1]). A systematic review of the literature was conducted, based on a documented search and selection of the literature using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria and a documented extraction and appraisal of the included studies. To assess the cost-effectiveness of the different screening strategies in Germany the decision analytic Markov state model which had been developed in our former health technology assessment report was updated. Results: Universal newborn hearing screening programs are able to substantially reduce the age at identification and the age at intervention of children with CHL to six months of age in the German health care setting. High coverage rates, low fail rates and - if tracking systems are implemented – high follow-up-rates to diagnostic evaluation for test positives were achieved. New publications on potential benefits of early intervention could not be retrieved. For a final assessment of cost-effectiveness of newborn hearing screening evidence based long-term data are lacking. Decision analytic models with lifelong time horizon assuming that early detection results in improved language abilities and lower educational costs and higher life time productivity showed a potential of UNHS for long term cost savings compared to selective screening and no screening. For the short-term cost-effectiveness with a time horizon up to diagnostic evaluation more evidence based data are available. The average costs per case diagnosed range from 16,000 EURO to 33,600 EURO in Germany and hence are comparable to the cost of other implemented newborn screening programs. Empirical data for cost of selective screening in the German health care setting are lacking. Our decision analytic model shows that selective screening is more cost-effective but detects only 50% of all cases of congenital hearing loss. Discussion: There is good evidence that UNHS-Programs with appropriate quality management can reduce the age at start of intervention below six months. Up to now there is no indication of considerable negative consequences of screening for children with false positive test results and their parents. However, it is more difficult to prove the efficacy of early intervention to improve long-term outcomes. Randomized clinical trials of the efficacy of early intervention for children with CHL hearing losses are inappropriate because of ethical reasons. Prospective cohort studies with long-term outcomes of rare diseases are costly, take a long time and simultaneously substantial benefits of early intervention for language development seem likely. Conclusions: A UNHS-Program should be implemented in Germany and be reimbursed by the statutory sickness funds. To achieve high coverage and because of better conditions for obtaining low false positive rates UNHS should be performed in hospital after birth. For outpatient deliveries additionally screening measures in an outpatient setting must be provided

Techniknostalgie und Retrotechnologie

Die Faszination durch Technik der Vergangenheit, die Nostalgie für alte oder alt wirkende Artefakte, ist eine kulturelle Strömung, die erst vor kurzem von der Forschung entdeckt wurde. Dieser Sammelband entstand aus einem ersten interdisziplinären Workshop am Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit in Mannheim, der das Feld der Techniknostalgie und Retrotechnologie erkundete. Neben Beiträgen zur Relevanz des gesamten Bereichs enthält er Analysen zu drei technischen Feldern: Mobilität (Auto und Bahn), Architektur und Städtebau (reale und virtuelle Retro-Räume, Historismen in Konstruktion und Design sowie postapokalyptische nostalgiegeladene Utopien) und technische Medien (Photographie, Film und Videospiele). Sie präsentieren erste Ergebnisse von Untersuchungen zu ausgewählten Beispielen, die die Fruchtbarkeit dieses Forschungsfelds aufzeigen, und demonstrieren zugleich, dass die Forschung im Verhältnis zur rasanten Zunahme der betreffenden Phänomene bisher nicht Schritt gehalten hat. Nostalgie wurde jüngst verstärkt als allgemeine kulturelle Erscheinung, aber kaum in ihrer Relation zur technologischen Entwicklung betrachtet. Das vorliegende Buch stellt einen ersten Schritt dar, dieses Defizit zu beheben. Deutlich wird dabei vor allem, wie vielfältig Retro-Phänomene sind, wie stark sie in der gegenwärtigen Kultur verankert sind und welch komplexe Interaktionen mit aktueller Technik und modernen Medien bestehen

Discovery of Sanggenon G as a natural cell-permeable small-molecular weight inhibitor of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP)

AbstractDefects in the regulation of apoptosis are one main cause of cancer development and may result from overexpression of anti-apoptotic proteins such as the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP). XIAP is frequently overexpressed in human leukemia and prostate and breast tumors. Inhibition of apoptosis by XIAP is mainly coordinated through direct binding to the initiator caspase-9 via its baculovirus-IAP-repeat-3 (BIR3) domain. XIAP inhibits caspases directly making it to an attractive target for anti-cancer therapy. In the search for novel, non-peptidic XIAP inhibitors in this study we focused on the chemical constituents of sāng bái pí (mulberry root bark). Most promising candidates of this plant were tested biochemically in vitro by a fluorescence polarization (FP) assay and in vivo via protein fragment complementation analysis (PCA). We identified the Diels Alder adduct Sanggenon G (SG1) as a novel, small-molecular weight inhibitor of XIAP. As shown by FP and PCA analyses, SG1 binds specifically to the BIR3 domain of XIAP with a binding affinity of 34.26μM. Treatment of the transgenic leukemia cell line Molt3/XIAP with SG1 enhances caspase-8, -3 and -9 cleavage, displaces caspase-9 from XIAP as determined by immunoprecipitation experiments and sensitizes these cells to etoposide-induced apoptosis. SG1 not only sensitizes the XIAP-overexpressing leukemia cell line Molt3/XIAP to etoposide treatment but also different neuroblastoma cell lines endogenously expressing high XIAP levels. Taken together, Sanggenon G (SG1) is a novel, natural, non-peptidic, small-molecular inhibitor of XIAP that can serve as a starting point to develop a new class of improved XIAP inhibitors

The N Terminus of Bacterial Elongation Factor Tu Elicits Innate Immunity in Arabidopsis Plants

Innate immunity is based on the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Here, we show that elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu), the most abundant bacterial protein, acts as a PAMP in Arabidopsis thaliana and other Brassicaceae. EF-Tu is highly conserved in all bacteria and is known to be N-acetylated in Escherichia coli. Arabidopsis plants specifically recognize the N terminus of the protein, and an N-acetylated peptide comprising the first 18 amino acids, termed elf18, is fully active as inducer of defense responses. The shorter peptide, elf12, comprising the acetyl group and the first 12 N-terminal amino acids, is inactive as elicitor but acts as a specific antagonist for EF-Tu–related elicitors. In leaves of Arabidopsis plants, elf18 induces an oxidative burst and biosynthesis of ethylene, and it triggers resistance to subsequent infection with pathogenic bacteria

Comparing the clinical effectiveness of different new-born hearing screening strategies. A decision analysis

Abstract Background Children with congenital hearing impairment benefit from early detection and treatment. At present, no model exists which explicitly quantifies the effectiveness of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) versus other programme alternatives in terms of early diagnosis. It has yet to be considered whether early diagnosis (within the first few months) of hearing impairment is of importance with regard to the further development of the child compared with effects resulting from a later diagnosis. The objective was to systematically compare two screening strategies for the early detection of new-born hearing disorders, UNHS and risk factor screening, with no systematic screening regarding their influence on early diagnosis. Methods Design: Clinical effectiveness analysis using a Markov Model. Data Sources: Systematic literature review, empirical data survey, and expert opinion. Target Population: All newborn babies. Time scale: 6, 12 and 120 months. Perspective: Health care system. Compared Strategies: UNHS, Risk factor screening (RS), no systematic screening (NS). Outcome Measures: Quality weighted detected child months (QCM). Results UNHS detected 644 QCM up until the age of 6 months (72,2%). RS detected 393 child months (44,1%) and no systematic screening 152 child months (17,0%). UNHS detected 74,3% and 86,7% weighted child months at 12 and 120 months, RS 48,4% and 73,3%, NS 23,7% and 60,6%. At the age of 6 months UNHS identified approximately 75% of all children born with hearing impairment, RS 50% and NS 25%. At the time of screening UNHS marked 10% of screened healthy children for further testing (false positives), RS 2%. UNHS demonstrated higher effectiveness even under a wide range of relevant parameters. The model was insensitive to test parameters within the assumed range but results varied along the prevalence of hearing impairment. Conclusion We have shown that UNHS is able to detect hearing impairment at an earlier age and more accurately than selective RS. Further research should be carried out to establish the effects of hearing loss on the quality of life of an individual, its influence on school performance and career achievement and the differences made by early fitting of a hearing aid on these factors.</p