Messmethodensammlung Feinstaub: Methodenvorschlag zur Feinstauberfassung an Feuerungsanlagen für feste biogene Brennstoffe

Bereits lange vor der Debatte über den Umbau der Energieversorgung, hin zu mehr erneuerbaren Energien, wurde Holz für die Erzeugung von Wärme verwendet. Gegenwärtig werden knapp drei Viertel aller aus Erneuerbaren Energien bereitgestellten Wärme durch feste biogene Brennstoffe gedeckt (Musiol et al., 2012). Der überwiegende Teil (knapp die Hälfte) kommt dabei aus kleinen Holzfeuerungsanlagen. Die Verbrennung von Holz und anderen festen Brennstoffen biogener Herkunft trägt damit zu einem sehr großen Teil dazu bei, dass die von den Menschen benötigte Energie aus nachwachsenden Rohstoffen erzeugt wird. Die von der Bundesregierung verfolgten Klimaschutzziele sind auch deshalb, ohne die Verbrennung von Holz in Kleinfeuerungsanlagen nicht erreichbar. Die aktuelle Forschung zeigt allerdings auch, dass die Verbrennung von Holz in Kleinfeuerungsanlagen nennenswerte Emissionen, vor allem auch Feinstaubemissionen, verursacht und so maßgeblich zur Luftbelastung beiträgt (Birmili et al., 2008; Hausmann, 2010; Struschka et al., 2008). Die in der Luft verteilten Feinstäube können sich dabei auf sehr unterschiedliche Weise negativ auswirken. Es können sich bestimmte Komponenten, auf Grund ihrer chemisch-physikalischen Eigenschaften in der Luft anreichern. Die Gefahr diesen Komponenten ausgesetzt zu sein, erhöht unter anderem das Risiko für Atemwegserkrankungen (Dockery et al., 1993). Daher ist eines der Ziele des Förderprogramms zur Optimierung der energetischen Biomassenutzung des BMU, den vermeintlichen Zielkonflikt zwischen Klimaschutz bzw. Treibhausgasminderung und der Luftreinhaltung durch Projekte zur Minderung von schädlichen Emissionen zu lösen. Dieses Spannungsfeld aus Luftreinhaltung und Ausbau der thermochemischen Biomassekonversion wurde bereits in der Vergangenheit erkannt und es wurden erste Ansätze zur Emissionsminderung aufgezeigt (Lenz et al., 2010). Im Förderprogramm werden nun gezielt innovative Ansätze zur Emissionsminderung entwickelt. Allen diesbezüglich bearbeiteten Projekten ist gemein, dass Emissionen gemessen werden müssen. Dies betrifft neben den gasförmigen Emissionen insbesondere eben auch die Feinstaubemissionen. Hierbei gibt es in der Praxis eine Reihe unterschiedlicher Randbedingungen, die einen Einfluss auf das Messergebnis haben und die Vergleichbarkeit der Ergebnisse einschränken können (Typenprüfungen, Labormessungen, Feldmessungen, Schornsteinfegermessungen usw.). Auch die verwendeten Messgeräte und die eingesetzten Messprozeduren unterscheiden sich teilweise deutlich voneinander. Dass das Messen von Staubpartikeln und insbesondere die Beurteilung der Wirkung, die diese Stäube auf den Menschen und die Umwelt ausüben keine leichte Aufgabe ist zeigen regelmäßig vorgestellte Studien (Mudgal & Turbé, 2009; Orthen et al., 2007; Rödelsperger et al., 2009; UBA, 2008; Wiedensohler et al., 2012). Mit der Novellierung der 1. BImSchV im Jahr 2010 wurden die Emissionsanforderungen, die an kleine Holzfeuerungsanlagen gestellt werden, verschärft. Die Untersuchung und Einführung neuer und vor allem präziser Messverfahren gewinnt seit dem kontinuierlich an Bedeutung. Vor allem für die Weiterentwicklung von Feuerungstechniken mit außerordentlich niedrigen Staubemissionen ist der Einsatz von hochauflösender Messtechnik erforderlich. Die etablierte zeitlich aufwendige gravimetrische Bestimmung von Staubkonzentrationen ist hierbei nicht immer ausreichend. Die zeitaufgelöste Bestimmung der Staubkonzentrationen z. B. durch Zählung von einzelnen Partikeln rückt in den Fokus des Interesses. Verschiedene Anbieter vertreiben Geräte, die auf den ersten Blick verlässliche Messwerte generieren, die aber im Vergleich der Geräte untereinander erhebliche Abweichungen offenbaren. Zudem zeigen die Erkenntnisse der letzten Jahre, dass sich gerade Aerosole aus einer unvollständigen Verbrennung fester Biomasse, abhängig von den Umgebungsbedingungen, erheblich verändern können. Neben diesen eher akademisch-wissenschaftlichen Herausforderungen weist der Alltag der Staubmessung im Labor, aber insbesondere auch im Feld zusätzliche – häufig nicht unerhebliche – Herausforderungen auf, die eine Vergleichbarkeit der Messwerte zwischen verschiedenen Projekten weiter erschweren. Insofern erscheint es als eine der wesentlichen Herausforderungen eines Begleitprogramms für Projekte zur Minderung von Staubemissionen diese Zielgröße so gut es möglich ist unter vergleichbaren, reproduzierbaren und allgemein anerkannten Methoden zu ermitteln – dies insbesondere auch in dem Kontext zunehmender europäischer Bemühungen, vereinheitlichte Messverfahren festzulegen

FOOT: a new experiment to measure nuclear fragmentation at intermediate energies

Summary: Charged particle therapy exploits proton or 12C beams to treat deep-seated solid tumors. Due to the advantageous characteristics of charged particles energy deposition in matter, the maximum of the dose is released to the tumor at the end of the beam range, in the Bragg peak region. However, the beam nuclear interactions with the patient tissues induces fragmentation both of projectile and target nuclei and needs to be carefully taken into account. In proton treatments, target fragmentation produces low energy, short range fragments along all the beam range, which deposit a non negligible dose in the entry channel. In 12C treatments the main concern is represented by long range fragments due to beam fragmentation that release their dose in the healthy tissues beyond the tumor. The FOOT experiment (FragmentatiOn Of Target) of INFN is designed to study these processes, in order to improve the nuclear fragmentation description in next generation Treatment Planning Systems and the treatment plans quality. Target (16O and 12C nuclei) fragmentation induced by –proton beams at therapeutic energies will be studied via an inverse kinematic approach, where 16O and 12C therapeutic beams impinge on graphite and hydrocarbon targets to provide the nuclear fragmentation cross section on hydrogen. Projectile fragmentation of 16O and 12C beams will be explored as well. The FOOT detector includes a magnetic spectrometer for the fragments momentum measurement, a plastic scintillator for ΔE and time of flight measurements and a crystal calorimeter to measure the fragments kinetic energy. These measurements will be combined in order to make an accurate fragment charge and isotopic identification. Keywords: Hadrontherapy, Nuclear fragmentation cross sections, Tracking detectors, Scintillating detector

Characterisation of age and polarity at onset in bipolar disorder

Background Studying phenotypic and genetic characteristics of age at onset (AAO) and polarity at onset (PAO) in bipolar disorder can provide new insights into disease pathology and facilitate the development of screening tools. Aims To examine the genetic architecture of AAO and PAO and their association with bipolar disorder disease characteristics. Method Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and polygenic score (PGS) analyses of AAO (n = 12 977) and PAO (n = 6773) were conducted in patients with bipolar disorder from 34 cohorts and a replication sample (n = 2237). The association of onset with disease characteristics was investigated in two of these cohorts. Results Earlier AAO was associated with a higher probability of psychotic symptoms, suicidality, lower educational attainment, not living together and fewer episodes. Depressive onset correlated with suicidality and manic onset correlated with delusions and manic episodes. Systematic differences in AAO between cohorts and continents of origin were observed. This was also reflected in single-nucleotide variant-based heritability estimates, with higher heritabilities for stricter onset definitions. Increased PGS for autism spectrum disorder (β = −0.34 years, s.e. = 0.08), major depression (β = −0.34 years, s.e. = 0.08), schizophrenia (β = −0.39 years, s.e. = 0.08), and educational attainment (β = −0.31 years, s.e. = 0.08) were associated with an earlier AAO. The AAO GWAS identified one significant locus, but this finding did not replicate. Neither GWAS nor PGS analyses yielded significant associations with PAO. Conclusions AAO and PAO are associated with indicators of bipolar disorder severity. Individuals with an earlier onset show an increased polygenic liability for a broad spectrum of psychiatric traits. Systematic differences in AAO across cohorts, continents and phenotype definitions introduce significant heterogeneity, affecting analyses

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles 2018 (MISEV2018):a position statement of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles and update of the MISEV2014 guidelines

The last decade has seen a sharp increase in the number of scientific publications describing physiological and pathological functions of extracellular vesicles (EVs), a collective term covering various subtypes of cell-released, membranous structures, called exosomes, microvesicles, microparticles, ectosomes, oncosomes, apoptotic bodies, and many other names. However, specific issues arise when working with these entities, whose size and amount often make them difficult to obtain as relatively pure preparations, and to characterize properly. The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) proposed Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles (“MISEV”) guidelines for the field in 2014. We now update these “MISEV2014” guidelines based on evolution of the collective knowledge in the last four years. An important point to consider is that ascribing a specific function to EVs in general, or to subtypes of EVs, requires reporting of specific information beyond mere description of function in a crude, potentially contaminated, and heterogeneous preparation. For example, claims that exosomes are endowed with exquisite and specific activities remain difficult to support experimentally, given our still limited knowledge of their specific molecular machineries of biogenesis and release, as compared with other biophysically similar EVs. The MISEV2018 guidelines include tables and outlines of suggested protocols and steps to follow to document specific EV-associated functional activities. Finally, a checklist is provided with summaries of key points

Mapping genomic loci implicates genes and synaptic biology in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia has a heritability of 60-80%1, much of which is attributable to common risk alleles. Here, in a two-stage genome-wide association study of up to 76,755 individuals with schizophrenia and 243,649 control individuals, we report common variant associations at 287 distinct genomic loci. Associations were concentrated in genes that are expressed in excitatory and inhibitory neurons of the central nervous system, but not in other tissues or cell types. Using fine-mapping and functional genomic data, we identify 120 genes (106 protein-coding) that are likely to underpin associations at some of these loci, including 16 genes with credible causal non-synonymous or untranslated region variation. We also implicate fundamental processes related to neuronal function, including synaptic organization, differentiation and transmission. Fine-mapped candidates were enriched for genes associated with rare disruptive coding variants in people with schizophrenia, including the glutamate receptor subunit GRIN2A and transcription factor SP4, and were also enriched for genes implicated by such variants in neurodevelopmental disorders. We identify biological processes relevant to schizophrenia pathophysiology; show convergence of common and rare variant associations in schizophrenia and neurodevelopmental disorders; and provide a resource of prioritized genes and variants to advance mechanistic studies

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

Genomic Relationships, Novel Loci, and Pleiotropic Mechanisms across Eight Psychiatric Disorders

Genetic influences on psychiatric disorders transcend diagnostic boundaries, suggesting substantial pleiotropy of contributing loci. However, the nature and mechanisms of these pleiotropic effects remain unclear. We performed analyses of 232,964 cases and 494,162 controls from genome-wide studies of anorexia nervosa, attention-deficit/hyper-activity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and Tourette syndrome. Genetic correlation analyses revealed a meaningful structure within the eight disorders, identifying three groups of inter-related disorders. Meta-analysis across these eight disorders detected 109 loci associated with at least two psychiatric disorders, including 23 loci with pleiotropic effects on four or more disorders and 11 loci with antagonistic effects on multiple disorders. The pleiotropic loci are located within genes that show heightened expression in the brain throughout the lifespan, beginning prenatally in the second trimester, and play prominent roles in neurodevelopmental processes. These findings have important implications for psychiatric nosology, drug development, and risk prediction.Peer reviewe