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Research assessing personality traits and religiosity across cultures has typically neglected variation across religious affiliations and has been limited to a small number of personality traits. This study examines the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and their facets, two theoretically distinct measures of religiosity, and twelve other personality traits across seven religious affiliations and 61 countries/regions. The proportion of participants following a religion varied substantially across countries (e.g., Indonesia = 99%; Estonia = 7%). Both measures of religiosity were related to agreeableness, conscientiousness, happiness, and fairness; however; relations with religiosity as a social axiom were stronger and less variable across religious affiliations. Additionally, personality-religiosity links were more robust in low-development, high-conflict, and collectivist nations.

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) is a multifaceted monogenic disorder with a broad disease spectrum and variable disease severity and a variety of treatment options including allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and gene therapy (GT). No reliable biomarker exists to predict disease course and outcome for individual patients. A total of 577 patients with a WAS variant from 26 countries and a median follow-up of 8.9 years (range, 0.3-71.1), totaling 6118 patient-years, were included in this international retrospective study. Overall survival (OS) of the cohort (censored at HSCT or GT) was 82% (95% confidence interval, 78-87) at age 15 years and 70% (61-80) at 30 years. The type of variant was predictive of outcome: patients with a missense variant in exons 1 or 2 or with the intronic hot spot variant c.559+5G>A (class I variants) had a 15-year OS of 93% (89-98) and a 30-year OS of 91% (86-97), compared with 71% (62-81) and 48% (34-68) in patients with any other variant (class II; P < .0001). The cumulative incidence rates of disease-related complications such as severe bleeding (P = .007), life-threatening infection (P < .0001), and autoimmunity (P = .004) occurred significantly later in patients with a class I variant. The cumulative incidence of malignancy (P = .6) was not different between classes I and II. It confirms the spectrum of disease severity and quantifies the risk for specific disease-related complications. The class of the variant is a biomarker to predict the outcome for patients with WAS.

The provision of probiotics benefits the health of a wide range of organisms, from humans to animals and plants. Probiotics can enhance stress resilience of endangered organisms, many of which are critically threatened by anthropogenic impacts. The use of so-called 'probiotics for wildlife' is a nascent application, and the field needs to reflect on standards for its development, testing, validation, risk assessment, and deployment. Here, we identify the main challenges of this emerging intervention and provide a roadmap to validate the effectiveness of wildlife probiotics. We cover the essential use of inert negative controls in trials and the investigation of the probiotic mechanisms of action. We also suggest alternative microbial therapies that could be tested in parallel with the probiotic application. Our recommendations align approaches used for humans, aquaculture, and plants to the emerging concept and use of probiotics for wildlife.

The diversification of flowering plants has been described as the “abominable mystery” of evolutionary biology for decades. Angiosperms diversified at unprecedented rates in the early Cretaceous, rapidly occupying new niches and pervading much of the earth’s terrestrial landscape. This speciation was accompanied by dramatic genome evolution as well — more than 75% of extant angiosperm species are believed to have originated from genome duplication events. These duplications are most often in the form of endogenous chromosomal duplication (autopolyploidy) or, more frequently, via interspecific hybridization (allopolyploidy). Consequently, dynamics of polyploidy within flowering plants are of interest to the fields of plant genetics and evolution. One of the world’s most important oilseeds is Brassica napus L. (“canola”), an allopolyploid species derived from two progenitors (B. rapa and B. oleracea). B. napus has two relatively complete diploid genomes from each progenitor, but also shares a whole genome triplication (autopolyploidization) with the rest of the Brassicaceae. These factors constitute B. napus as an informative model to study the consequences of polyploidization. Within this thesis, I describe the transcriptional and epigenetic profiles throughout B. napus seed development. Therein, I utilize laser microdissection, histological analysis, and bioinformatic tools to describe the transcriptional profiles of the seed. The subgenomes constituting B. napus contribute to gene expression within the seed asymmetrically, with many homlogs being more expressed in one subgenome than the other. Additionally, I provide evidence for striking differences in epigenetic structure of the fractionated genomes depending on genomic context. The works detailed within this thesis serve to explain the transcriptional landscapes of the B. napus seed, particularly through the lens of polyploidy, and the exceptional complexity of angiosperm genomes.

Laser-driven plasma accelerators can produce high-energy, high peak current ion beams by irradiating solid materials with ultra-intense laser pulses. This innovative concept attracts a lot of attention for various multidisciplinary applications as a compact and energy-efficient alternative to conventional accelerators. The maturation of plasma accelerators from complex physics experiments to turnkey particle sources for practical applications necessitates breakthroughs in the generated beam parameters, their robustness and scalability to higher repetition rates and efficiencies. This thesis investigates viable optimisation strategies for enhancing ion acceleration from thin foil targets in ultra-intense laser-plasma interactions. The influence of the detailed laser pulse parameters on plasma-based ion acceleration has been systematically investigated in a series of experiments carried out on two state-of-the-art high-power laser systems. A central aspect of this work is the establishment and integration of laser diagnostics and operational techniques to advance control of the interaction conditions for maximum acceleration performance. Meticulous efforts in continuously monitoring and enhancing the temporal intensity contrast of the laser system, enabled to optimise ion acceleration in two different regimes, each offering unique perspectives for applications. Using the widely established target-normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) scheme and adjusting the temporal shape of the laser pulse accordingly, proton energies up to 70 MeV were reliably obtained over many months of operation. Asymmetric laser pulses, deviating significantly from the standard conditions of an ideally compressed pulse, resulted in the highest particle numbers and an average energy gain ≥ 37 %. This beam quality enhancement is demonstrated across a broad range of parameters, including thickness and material of the target, laser energy and temporal intensity contrast. To overcome the energy scaling

The COVID-19 pandemic plunged economies into recessions and advancements in artificial intelligence create widespread automation of job tasks. A debate around how to address these challenges has moved the introduction of a universal basic income (UBI) center stage. However, existing UBI research mainly focuses on economic aspects and normative arguments but lacks an individual perspective that goes beyond examining the association between socio-demographic characteristics and UBI support. We add to this literature by investigating not only socio-demographic but also psychological predictors of UBI acceptance in a multivariate analysis using a representative sample of the German working population collected in 2020 (N = 1986). Our results indicate that being more supportive of a UBI went along with being comparably younger, of East-German origin, and more in favor of equal living standards, as well as perceiving one’s economic situation to be worse and the threat of the corona-pandemic to be higher., Peer Reviewed

Background Functional loss, the inability to perform necessary or desired tasks, is a common consequence of life-limiting illnesses and associated symptoms (pain, fatigue, breathlessness, etc.) and causes suffering for patients and families. Rehabilitation, a set of interventions designed to address functional loss, is recognised as essential within palliative care, as it can improve quality of life and reduce care costs. However, not everyone has equal access to rehabilitation. Despite limited life expectancy or uncertain ability to benefit from interventions, palliative rehabilitation services are often absent. This is partly due to a lack of high-quality research around optimal models of rehabilitation. Research in this area is methodologically challenging and requires multidisciplinary and cross-speciality collaboration. Aim and objectives We aimed to establish and grow a United Kingdom research partnership across diverse areas, commencing with partners from Edinburgh, East Anglia, Lancashire, Leeds, London and Nottingham, around the topic area of functional loss and rehabilitation in palliative and end-of-life care. The objectives were to (1) develop a multidisciplinary, cross-speciality research partnership, (2) generate high-priority unanswered research questions with stakeholders, (3) co-design and submit high-quality competitive research proposals, including (4) sharing topic and methodological expertise, and (5) to build capacity and capability to deliver nationally generalisable studies. Activities The partnership was established with professionals from across England and Scotland with complementary areas of expertise including complex palliative and geriatric research, physiotherapy, nursing, palliative medicine and psychology. Research questions were generated through a modified version of the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative, which allowed for the collation and refinement of research questions relating to functional loss and rehabilitatio

Der Einsatz der Immuntherapie mit Checkpoint-Inhibitoren hat die Therapie des metastasierten malignen Melanoms revolutioniert. Dennoch gibt es aktuell wenige klinische Parameter, die eine Vorhersage des Therapieansprechens ermöglichen. Ziel war daher, Metastasierungsmuster als mögliche Einflussfaktoren auf Ansprechen und Überleben zu untersuchen. Das Therapieansprechen wurden mithilfe metabolischer Parameter aus der 18F-FDG PET/CT-Bildgebung quantifiziert und in multivariaten Analysen evaluiert., The introduction of immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors revolutionized the treatment of metastatic melanoma. Nevertheless, currently, there are only few clinical parameters to predict response to immunotherapy. This thesis aimed to identify metastatic patterns that can predict response and survival. Metastatic patterns and responses were quantified using metabolic parameters from 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging and evaluated in multivariate analyses.

Documenting the seasonal temperature cycle constitutes an essential step toward mitigating risks associated with extreme weather events in a future warmer world. The mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (mPWP), 3.3 to 3.0 million years ago, featured global temperatures approximately 3°C above preindustrial levels. It represents an ideal period for directed paleoclimate reconstructions equivalent to model projections for 2100 under moderate Shared Socioeconomic Pathway SSP2-4.5. Here, seasonal clumped isotope analyses of fossil mollusk shells from the North Sea are presented to test Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project 2 outcomes. Joint data and model evidence reveals enhanced summer warming (+4.3° ± 1.0°C) compared to winter (+2.5° ± 1.5°C) during the mPWP, equivalent to SSP2-4.5 outcomes for future climate. We show that Arctic amplification of global warming weakens mid-latitude summer circulation while intensifying seasonal contrast in temperature and precipitation, leading to an increased risk of summer heat waves and other extreme weather events in Europe’s future.

Numerous proxy reconstructions have provided general insight into late Quaternary East Asian Monsoon variability. However, challenges persist in precisely assessing absolute temperature impacts on proxy variations. Here, we use two independent paleothermometers, based on bacterial membrane lipids and clumped isotopes of snail shells, in the same section of the western Chinese Loess Plateau to establish a robust land surface temperature record spanning the past approximately 21,000 years. Our independent temperature records consistently reveal (i) similar land surface temperatures between the Last Glacial Maximum and late Holocene and (ii) a gradual cooling Holocene, which contrasts with the climate model predictions. We propose that changes in soil moisture availability over the deglaciation modulates the land surface temperature recorded by the proxies. A land surface energy partitioning model confirms this mechanism, suggesting that effects of soil moisture availability should be properly considered when comparing proxy records with climate model outputs.

Objective: Type 1 diabetes is associated with autoantibodies to different organs that include the gut. The objective of the study was to determine the risk of developing gastric parietal cell autoimmunity in relation to other autoimmunity in individuals with a family history of type 1 diabetes. Methods: Autoantibodies to the parietal cell autoantigen, H+/K+ ATPase subunit A (ATP4A) was measured in 2218 first-degree relatives of patients with type 1 diabetes, who were prospectively followed from birth for a median of 14.5 years. All were also tested regularly for the development of islet autoantibodies, transglutaminase autoantibodies, and thyroid peroxidase autoantibodies. Results: The cumulative risk to develop ATP4A autoantibodies was 8.1% (95% CI, 6.6–9.6) by age 20 years with a maximum incidence observed at age 2 years. Risk was increased in females (HR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.3–2.8; p = 0.0004), relatives with the HLA DR4-DQ8/DR4-DQ8 genotype (HR, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.9–5.9; p < 0.0001) and in participants who also had thyroid peroxidase autoantibodies (HR, 3.7; 95% CI, 2.5– 5.5; p < 0.0001). Risk for at least one of ATP4A-, islet-, transglutaminase-, or thyroid peroxidase-autoantibodies was 24.7% (95% CI, 22.6–26.7) by age 20 years and was 47.3% (95% CI, 41.3–53.3) in relatives who had an HLA DR3/DR4-DQ8, DR4-DQ8/ DR4-DQ8, or DR3/DR3 genotype (p < 0.0001 vs. other genotypes). Conclusions: Relatives of patients with type 1 diabetes who have risk genotypes are at very high risk for the development of autoimmunity against gastric and other organs.

The study aimed to investigate the allocation of figurative language comprehension (FLC) within the Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) model of cognitive abilities, using three newly developed tests: the Reverse Paraphrase Test (RPT), the Literal Paraphrase Test (LPT), and the Proverb Test (PT). The analysis of a sample of 909 participants revealed that the RPT and LPT measured a unidimensional construct of FLC, while the PT was excluded due to insufficient fit. Combining RPT and LPT items, various models were evaluated, with a bifactor S-1 model showing the best fit, indicating the influence of a general factor (representing FLC) and test-specific method factors. The study explored FLC allocation within the CHC model, supporting its consideration as a distinct factor under the g factor. Examining the nomological network, significant correlations emerged between the Intellectual Curiosity and Aesthetic Sensitivity facets of Openness and FLC, which were comparable in size to the relation with general ability. In conclusion, the study enhances the understanding of FLC within the CHC model, advocating its recognition as a distinct factor. Correlations with Openness facets suggest valuable insights into the interplay between cognitive abilities and personality, necessitating further research for a deeper exploration of this relation., Land Berlin, Senatskanzlei—Wissenschaft und Forschung, Peer Reviewed

This research tested the hypothesis that mindful-gratitude practice attenuates the robust association between collective narcissism and prejudice. In Study 1 (a between-subjects study using a nationally representative sample of 569 Polish adults; 313 female), 10 min of mindful-gratitude practice—compared to mindful-attention practice and control—did not decrease prejudice (anti-Semitism), but weakened the positive link between collective narcissism and prejudice. In Study 2 (a preregistered, randomized, controlled-trial study using a convenience sample of 219 Polish adults; 168 female), a 6-week mobile app supported training in daily mindful-gratitude practice decreased prejudice (anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment) and its link with collective narcissism compared to a wait-list control. The hypothesis-consistent results emphasize the social relevance of mindful-gratitude practice, a time- and cost-effective intervention., Narodowe Centrum Nauki https://doi.org/10.13039/501100004281, Peer Reviewed

Background Functional loss, the inability to perform necessary or desired tasks, is a common consequence of life-limiting illnesses and associated symptoms (pain, fatigue, breathlessness, etc.) and causes suffering for patients and families. Rehabilitation, a set of interventions designed to address functional loss, is recognised as essential within palliative care, as it can improve quality of life and reduce care costs. However, not everyone has equal access to rehabilitation. Despite limited life expectancy or uncertain ability to benefit from interventions, palliative rehabilitation services are often absent. This is partly due to a lack of high-quality research around optimal models of rehabilitation. Research in this area is methodologically challenging and requires multidisciplinary and cross-speciality collaboration. Aim and objectives We aimed to establish and grow a United Kingdom research partnership across diverse areas, commencing with partners from Edinburgh, East Anglia, Lancashire, Leeds, London and Nottingham, around the topic area of functional loss and rehabilitation in palliative and end-of-life care. The objectives were to (1) develop a multidisciplinary, cross-speciality research partnership, (2) generate high-priority unanswered research questions with stakeholders, (3) co-design and submit high-quality competitive research proposals, including (4) sharing topic and methodological expertise, and (5) to build capacity and capability to deliver nationally generalisable studies. Activities The partnership was established with professionals from across England and Scotland with complementary areas of expertise including complex palliative and geriatric research, physiotherapy, nursing, palliative medicine and psychology. Research questions were generated through a modified version of the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative, which allowed for the collation and refinement of research questions relating to functional loss and rehabilitatio

Background Functional loss, the inability to perform necessary or desired tasks, is a common consequence of life-limiting illnesses and associated symptoms (pain, fatigue, breathlessness, etc.) and causes suffering for patients and families. Rehabilitation, a set of interventions designed to address functional loss, is recognised as essential within palliative care, as it can improve quality of life and reduce care costs. However, not everyone has equal access to rehabilitation. Despite limited life expectancy or uncertain ability to benefit from interventions, palliative rehabilitation services are often absent. This is partly due to a lack of high-quality research around optimal models of rehabilitation. Research in this area is methodologically challenging and requires multidisciplinary and cross-speciality collaboration. Aim and objectives We aimed to establish and grow a United Kingdom research partnership across diverse areas, commencing with partners from Edinburgh, East Anglia, Lancashire, Leeds, London and Nottingham, around the topic area of functional loss and rehabilitation in palliative and end-of-life care. The objectives were to (1) develop a multidisciplinary, cross-speciality research partnership, (2) generate high-priority unanswered research questions with stakeholders, (3) co-design and submit high-quality competitive research proposals, including (4) sharing topic and methodological expertise, and (5) to build capacity and capability to deliver nationally generalisable studies. Activities The partnership was established with professionals from across England and Scotland with complementary areas of expertise including complex palliative and geriatric research, physiotherapy, nursing, palliative medicine and psychology. Research questions were generated through a modified version of the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative, which allowed for the collation and refinement of research questions relating to functional loss and rehabilitatio

Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) is a networking protocol that provides high bandwidth and low latency accesses to a remote node’s main memory. Although there has been much work around RDMA, such as building libraries on top of RDMA or even applications leveraging RDMA, it remains a hard problem to identify the most suitable RDMA primitives and their combination for a given problem. While there have been some initial studies included in papers that aim to investigate selected performance characteristics of particular design choices, there has not been a systematic study to evaluate the communication patterns of scale-out systems. In this paper, we address this issue by systematically investigating how to efficiently use RDMA for building scale-out systems.

Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) is a networking protocol that provides high bandwidth and low latency accesses to a remote node’s main memory. Although there has been much work around RDMA, such as building libraries on top of RDMA or even applications leveraging RDMA, it remains a hard problem to identify the most suitable RDMA primitives and their combination for a given problem. While there have been some initial studies included in papers that aim to investigate selected performance characteristics of particular design choices, there has not been a systematic study to evaluate the communication patterns of scale-out systems. In this paper, we address this issue by systematically investigating how to efficiently use RDMA for building scale-out systems.

Maternal educational attainment (MEA) shapes offspring health through multiple potential pathways. Differential DNA methylation may provide a mechanistic understanding of these long-term associations. We aimed to quantify the associations of MEA with offspring DNA methylation levels at birth, in childhood and in adolescence. Using 37 studies from high-income countries, we performed meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) to quantify the associations of completed years of MEA at the time of pregnancy with offspring DNA methylation levels at birth (n = 9 881), in childhood (n = 2 017), and adolescence (n = 2 740), adjusting for relevant covariates. MEA was found to be associated with DNA methylation at 473 cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites at birth, one in childhood, and four in adolescence. We observed enrichment for findings from previous EWAS on maternal folate, vitamin-B12 concentrations, maternal smoking, and pre-pregnancy BMI. The associations were directionally consistent with MEA being inversely associated with behaviours including smoking and BMI. Our findings form a bridge between socio-economic factors and biology and highlight potential pathways underlying effects of maternal education. The results broaden our understanding of bio-social associations linked to differential DNA methylation in multiple early stages of life. The data generated also offers an important resource to help a more precise understanding of the social determinants of health.

The semantic representation of abstract words is a topic of discussion within the embodied cognition framework. Existing theories propose the involvement of emotional, linguistic, and social experiences in abstract word representation. Focusing on ‘socialness' — a variable with limited empirical evidence — our study explores whether abstract words are associated with richer social experiences. Two semantic categorization tasks (explicit and implicit) with socialness priming and a lexical decision task with socialness priming were conducted to examine the effect of socialness on abstract words recognition. Additionally, we run similar experiments with affective priming to examine the effect of valence on abstract words recognition. Our results indicate that only valence facilitates the recognition of abstract words and only in the explicit task. Conclusively, we find no evidence supporting a non-strategic effect of socialness and valence on abstract words recognition, thus challenging existing theories on the grounding of abstract words in social information and emotion.

BACKGROUND: Patients with telomere biology disorders (TBD) develop hepatic disease, including hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatopulmonary syndrome. No specific treatment exists for TBD-related liver disease, and the role of liver transplantation (LT) remains controversial. Our study objectives were to describe the clinical characteristics, management, and outcomes in patients with TBD-related liver disease, and their LT outcomes. METHODS: Data from 83 patients with TBD-associated liver disease were obtained from 17 participating centers in the Clinical Care Consortium of Telomere-Associated Ailments and by self-report for our retrospective, multicenter, international cohort study. RESULTS: Group A (Advanced) included 40 patients with advanced liver disease. Of these, 20 underwent LT (Group AT). Group M (Mild) included 43 patients not warranting LT evaluation, none of whom were felt to be medically unfit for liver transplantation. Supplemental oxygen requirement, pulmonary arteriovenous malformation, hepatopulmonary syndrome, and higher bilirubin and international normalized ratio values were associated with Group A. Other demographics, clinical manifestations, and laboratory findings were similar between groups. Six group A patients were declined for LT; 3 died on the waitlist. Median follow-up post-LT was 2.9 years (range 0.6-13.2 y). One-year survival post-LT was 73%. Median survival post-LT has not been reached. Group AT patients had improved survival by age compared to all nontransplant patients (log-rank test p = 0.02). Of 14 patients with pretransplant hypoxemia, 8 (57%) had improved oxygenation after transplant. CONCLUSIONS: LT recipients with TBD do not exhibit excessive posttransplant mortality, and LT improved respiratory status in 57%. A TBD diagnosis should not exclude LT consideration.

The inherent uncertainty in hydro-geotechnical parameters presents a significant challenge for accurately predicting rainfall-triggered shallow landslides in mountainous regions. In this study, a novel probabilistic framework was developed and implemented in the “Py.GIS-FSLAM-FORM” software, designed to address the complexities associated with parameter uncertainty, correlation, and distribution. By combining the Fast Shallow Landslide Assessment Model (FSLAM) with the First-Order Reliability Method (FORM), we have enhanced the traditional probabilistic approach to create more accurate landslide susceptibility maps. This study emphasizes the uncertainly of geotechnical parameters and the critical influence of hydrological conditions on landslide susceptibility, especially focusing on the interaction between antecedent recharge (qa) and event rainfall (Pe). In our study area (Val d’Aran, Spain), the probabilistically based results revealed that areas of very high susceptibility are significantly affected by event rainfall, particularly on slopes of 30–40 degrees and aspects between 100 and 250 degrees. The variability in geotechnical parameters, especially the coefficient of variation (COV) in cohesion and friction angle, plays a crucial role in landslide susceptibility assessment, with increased COVs leading to greater landslide uncertainty. Additionally, cross-negative correlations and non-normal distributions of geotechnical parameters substantially influence the spatial distribution of landslides, notably when combining antecedent recharge with event rainfall. These results highlight the importance of incorporating parameter variability and hydrological conditions in susceptibility models to improve the precision of regional landslide forecasts. While the study was performed in Val d'Aran, its methodologies and conclusions are relevant to mountainous areas worldwide, offering insights for refining landslide prediction models and susceptibility assessments, contri, Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

The final authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48691-3_18., In the last two decades, sensors and techniques for debris-flow monitoring and their application for warning purposes have progressed significantly and many operational warning systems are working worldwide. Such advances motivate presenting an updated overview of the state of the art of early warning systems tailored towards debris-flow risk reduction. In this chapter, we classify debris-flow warning systems into advance warning systems, which are based on the monitoring of meteorological factors and issue a warning before a debris flow is triggered, and event warning systems, which detect debris flows after they have initiated. Advance warning systems typically rely on rainfall thresholds that are based on rain gauge data related to past debris flows. We discuss the main issues related to the rainfall thresholds and the prospects for the use of radar-based rainfall estimates. Several sensors and devices can be used in event warning systems. In this work, we focus on the most widespread ones: (i) radar and ultrasonic sensors, which detect debris flows by measuring changes in the flow level, (ii) impact sensors such as trip-wires and pendulums, (iii) seismic and infrasound sensors, whose operation is based on the detection of ground vibrations and air pressure waves induced by debris flows, and (iv) video cameras. We outline some basic issues related to the implementation of protocols for debris-flow warning, emphasizing the importance of focusing the warning on end-users with a different technical background and the need to inform the population about debris-flow risks, the expected performance of the warning system, and the action following a warning. In the concluding remarks, we stress that debris flows are often concurrent with other meteorological-induced hazards and risks, such as flash floods. This implies that early warning systems for debris flows need to be developed in a multi-risk framework., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (author's final draft)

På uppdrag av Livsmedelsföretagen, LI, och Svensk Dagligvaruhandel, SvDH, har RISE tagit fram en branschgemensam metodik för att beräkna klimatavtryck av livsmedels-produkter. Framtagen klimatberäkningsmetodik bygger på den underlagsrapport om metodik och standarder för beräkning av klimatavtryck på livsmedelsprodukter som RISE tog fram i uppdrag av Li och SvDH, våren 2023 (RISE, 2023). Metodiken gäller för klimatberäkning av • Producentspecifikt och produktrepresentativt klimatavtryck av livsmedel – i rapporten kallat Representativt klimatavtryck. • Generiska klimattal av livsmedel – i rapporten kallat Generiskt klimattal.

Documenting the seasonal temperature cycle constitutes an essential step toward mitigating risks associated with extreme weather events in a future warmer world. The mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (mPWP), 3.3 to 3.0 million years ago, featured global temperatures approximately 3°C above preindustrial levels. It represents an ideal period for directed paleoclimate reconstructions equivalent to model projections for 2100 under moderate Shared Socioeconomic Pathway SSP2-4.5. Here, seasonal clumped isotope analyses of fossil mollusk shells from the North Sea are presented to test Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project 2 outcomes. Joint data and model evidence reveals enhanced summer warming (+4.3° ± 1.0°C) compared to winter (+2.5° ± 1.5°C) during the mPWP, equivalent to SSP2-4.5 outcomes for future climate. We show that Arctic amplification of global warming weakens mid-latitude summer circulation while intensifying seasonal contrast in temperature and precipitation, leading to an increased risk of summer heat waves and other extreme weather events in Europe’s future.

The coral-seawater interface is an important, highly dynamic microenvironment for reef-building corals. Also known as the concentration boundary layer (CBL), it is a thin layer of seawater bordering the coral surface that dictates the biochemical exchange between the coral colony and bulk seawater. The CBL is thus a key feature that modulates coral metabolism. However, CBL variation among small-polyped coral species remains largely unknown. Therefore, we recorded over 100 profiles of dissolved O2 concentration using microsensors to characterize CBL traits (thickness, surface O2 concentration, and flux) of three small-polyped branching coral species, Acropora cytherea, Pocillopora verrucosa, and Porites cylindrica. Measurements were conducted during light and darkness combined with low or moderate water flow (2 and 6 cm s−1). We found that CBL traits differed among species. CBL thickness was lowest in A. cytherea, while P. verrucosa showed the largest depletion of surface O2 in dark and highest dark flux. In addition, we found that O2 concentration gradients in the CBL occurred with three main profile shapes: diffusive, S-shaped, and complex. While diffusive profiles were the most common profile type, S-shaped and complex profiles were more frequent in P. verrucosa and P. cylindrica, respectively, and prevailed under low flow. Furthermore, profile types differed in CBL thickness and flux. Finally, low flow thickened CBLs, enhanced changes in surface O2 concentration, and reduced flux, compared to moderate flow. Overall, our findings reveal CBL variability among small-polyped branching corals and help understand CBL dynamics in response to changes in light and water flow conditions.

The coral-seawater interface is an important, highly dynamic microenvironment for reef-building corals. Also known as the concentration boundary layer (CBL), it is a thin layer of seawater bordering the coral surface that dictates the biochemical exchange between the coral colony and bulk seawater. The CBL is thus a key feature that modulates coral metabolism. However, CBL variation among small-polyped coral species remains largely unknown. Therefore, we recorded over 100 profiles of dissolved O2 concentration using microsensors to characterize CBL traits (thickness, surface O2 concentration, and flux) of three small-polyped branching coral species, Acropora cytherea, Pocillopora verrucosa, and Porites cylindrica. Measurements were conducted during light and darkness combined with low or moderate water flow (2 and 6 cm s−1). We found that CBL traits differed among species. CBL thickness was lowest in A. cytherea, while P. verrucosa showed the largest depletion of surface O2 in dark and highest dark flux. In addition, we found that O2 concentration gradients in the CBL occurred with three main profile shapes: diffusive, S-shaped, and complex. While diffusive profiles were the most common profile type, S-shaped and complex profiles were more frequent in P. verrucosa and P. cylindrica, respectively, and prevailed under low flow. Furthermore, profile types differed in CBL thickness and flux. Finally, low flow thickened CBLs, enhanced changes in surface O2 concentration, and reduced flux, compared to moderate flow. Overall, our findings reveal CBL variability among small-polyped branching corals and help understand CBL dynamics in response to changes in light and water flow conditions.

The alkaline comet assay is frequently used as in vivo follow-up test within different regulatory environments to characterize the DNA-damaging potential of different test items. The corresponding OECD Test guideline 489 highlights the importance of statistical analyses and historical control data (HCD) but does not provide detailed procedures. Therefore, the working group “Statistics” of the German-speaking Society for Environmental Mutation Research (GUM) collected HCD from five laboratories and >200 comet assay studies and performed several statistical analyses. Key results included that (I) observed large inter-laboratory effects argue against the use of absolute quality thresholds, (II) > 50% zero values on a slide are considered problematic, due to their influence on slide or animal summary statistics, (III) the type of summarizing measure for single-cell data (e.g., median, arithmetic and geometric mean) may lead to extreme differences in resulting animal tail intensities and study outcome in the HCD. These summarizing values increase the reliability of analysis results by better meeting statistical model assumptions, but at the cost of information loss. Furthermore, the relation between negative and positive control groups in the data set was always satisfactorily (or sufficiently) based on ratio, difference and quantile analyses.

BACKGROUND: BMP10 (bone morphogenic protein 10) has emerged as a novel biomarker associated with the risk of ischemic stroke and other outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The study aimed to determine if repeated BMP10 measurements improve prognostication of cardiovascular events in patients with AF. METHODS AND RESULTS: BMP10 was measured using a prototype Elecsys immunoassay in plasma samples collected at randomization and after 2 months in patients with AF randomized to apixaban or warfarin in the ARISTOTLE (Apixaban for Reduction in Stroke and Other Thromboembolic Events in Atrial Fibrillation) trial (n=2878). Adjusted Cox-regression models were used to evaluate the association between 2-month BMP10 levels and outcomes. BMP10 levels increased by 7.8% (P<0.001) over 2 months. The baseline variables most strongly associated with BMP10 levels at 2 months were baseline BMP10 levels, body mass index, sex, age, creatinine, diabetes, warfarin treatment, and AF-rhythm. During median 1.8 years follow-up, 34 ischemic strokes/systemic embolism, 155 deaths, and 99 heart failure hospitalizations occurred. Comparing the third with the first sample quartile, higher BMP10 levels at 2 months were associated with higher risk of ischemic stroke (hazard ratio [HR], 1.33 [95% CI, 0.67-2.63], P=0.037), heart failure (HR, 1.91 [95% CI, 1.17-3.12], P=0.012) and all-cause death (HR, 1.61 [95% CI, 1.17-2.21], P<0.001). Adding BMP10 levels at 2 months on top of established risk factors and baseline BMP10 levels improved the C-indices for ischemic stroke/systemic embolism (from 0.73 to 0.75), heart failure hospitalization (0.76-0.77), and all-cause mortality (0.70-0.72), all P<0.05. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated levels of BMP10 at 2 months strengthened the associations with the risk of ischemic stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, and all-cause mortality. Repeated measurements of BMP10 may further refine risk stratification in patients with AF.

We present a combined experimental and numerical study of failure and damage in faulted Opalinus Clay shale around an opening at the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory, Switzerland. An experiment borehole with a diameter of 0.6 m and a length of 12.9 m intersecting a major fault zone at an acute angle of ∼ 40° was drilled, with subsequent overbreaks closely monitored. To investigate the underlying mechanisms that lead to the observed overbreaks, we developed a 3D geomechanics model to simulate the deformation and failure behaviour of faulted Opalinus Clay shale. To represent geological structures including the major fault zone and secondary fracture sets, a site-specific fracture network was constructed. Our model captured many important geomechanical properties and responses of the faulted Opalinus Clay shale, such as anisotropy of the shale matrix, deformation of the fault zone, dislocation of secondary fractures, and growth of new cracks as well as generation of overbreaks around the opening. We compared our simulation results with in-situ experimental observation of short-term overbreak patterns along the borehole and found that the overbreak occurrence is strongly controlled by both stress conditions and geological structures. Our results indicate that the damaged zone is characterised by an inner shell and an outer shell, where the former (dominated by extensive tensile/shear cracks) has a thickness of about one quarter of the borehole diameter and the latter (dominated by sparse shear cracks) extends by half to one borehole diameter into the surrounding rock. We further elucidated the impacts of the major fault zone and secondary fracture sets as well as the borehole–fault intersection angle on the deformation, damage, and failure characteristics. The findings and insights obtained in this study have important implications for the stability evaluation of waste emplacement drifts and long-term safety assessments of nuclear waste galleries in faulted argillaceous rocks

As seaweed farming gains prominence in future blue economies, scientifically robust environmental evaluations are vital. Harmonizing life cycle assessment (LCA) studies provides nuanced insights, allowing generalizations and potentially more accurate results than individual studies. This study recalculates life cycle inventory (LCI) data to offer a comprehensive perspective on sugar kelp Saccharina latissima. The findings affirm and validate previous studies, emphasizing critical hotspots such as fuel use for boats at sea, impacts from the use of plastic ropes, buoys and metal components at sea, and electrical energy use in the hatchery. The overall environmental impacts of seaweed farming remain relatively low compared to other seafood and biomass sources. The study also highlights the importance of how fuel use is modelled for the outcome. While harmonization enhances certainty and facilitates robust comparisons, challenges arise from the lack of standardized methods for data collection and reporting, along with data gaps between studies. Addressing these limitations calls for standardized protocols and improved data sharing practices in the field., This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council FORMAS [grant numbers 2020-03113 and 2020-02834]