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The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has led to a pandemic with millions of people affected. The present study finds that risk-factors for severe COVID-19 disease courses, i.e. male sex, older age and sedentary life style are associated with higher prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) serum levels in blood samples from unaffected subjects. In COVID-19 patients, PGE2 blood levels are markedly elevated and correlate positively with disease severity. SARS-CoV-2 induces PGE2 generation and secretion in infected lung epithelial cells by upregulating cyclo-oxygenase (COX)-2 and reducing the PG-degrading enzyme 15-hydroxyprostaglandin-dehydrogenase. Also living human precision cut lung slices (PCLS) infected with SARS-CoV-2 display upregulated COX-2. Regular exercise in aged individuals lowers PGE2 serum levels, which leads to increased Paired-Box-Protein-Pax-5 (PAX5) expression, a master regulator of B-cell survival, proliferation and differentiation also towards long lived memory B-cells, in human pre-B-cell lines. Moreover, PGE2 levels in serum of COVID-19 patients lowers the expression of PAX5 in human pre-B-cell lines. The PGE2 inhibitor Taxifolin reduces SARS-CoV-2-induced PGE2 production. In conclusion, SARS-CoV-2, male sex, old age, and sedentary life style increase PGE2 levels, which may reduce the early anti-viral defense as well as the development of immunity promoting severe disease courses and multiple infections. Regular exercise and Taxifolin treatment may reduce these risks and prevent severe disease courses.

This article describes the design of a new model-based assessment framework to identify and analyse possible future trajectories of agricultural development and their environmental consequences within the states of Mato Grosso and Pará in Southern Amazonia, Brazil. The objective is to provide a tool for improving the information basis for scientists and policy makers regarding the effects of global change and national environmental policies on land-use change and the resulting impacts on the loss of natural vegetation, greenhouse gas emissions, hydrological processes, and soil erosion within the region. For this purpose, the framework combines the regional land-use models, LandSHIFT and alucR, the farm-level model, MPMAS, and the MONICA crop model, with a set of environmental impact models that are operating at the regional and watershed levels. As a first application of the framework, four scenarios with the time horizon 2030 were specified and analysed. Future land-use change will strongly depend on the interplay between the production of agricultural commodities, the agricultural intensification in terms of increasing crop yields and pasture biomass productivity, and the enforcement of environmental laws and policies. On the regional level, the scenarios with the highest increase in agricultural production in combination with weak law enforcement (Trend and Illegal Intensification) generated the highest losses in natural vegetation due to the expansion of agricultural area as well as the highest greenhouse gas emissions. Also, at the watershed level, these scenarios are characterised by the highest changes in river discharge and soil erosion that might lead to a further decline in soil fertility in the long term. Moreover, the analysis of the Sustainable Development scenario indicates that a shift in agricultural production patterns from livestock to crop cultivation, together with effective law enforcement, can effectively reduce land-use change and its negative

Although inter- and transdisciplinary research has found its way to the forefront of calls, funding and publications, interdisciplinary projects often start from scratch constructing their research environment. In this article we will point to the enormous potential, the learnings, as well as some of the difficulties and pitfalls frequently encountered in large interdisciplinary project consortia. With this in mind, we aim to transparently document and reflect upon our research process, reminding the readers that the authors are not academic specialists in the field of inter- and transdisciplinarity nor in the sociology of knowledge. To explain our motivation, we want to share valuable experiences and point to some learnings, especially regarding the interdependencies between inter- and transdisciplinarity. After a brief historical retrospective of the expectations towards science, the article describes the trajectory of knowledge production and integration of a rather large research consortium attempting to overcome typical communicative and conceptual hurdles while negotiating the strict preconceptions of the respective disciplines. During the process of knowledge integration, scientific recognition and time budgets remain the crucial challenges. Besides joint field research, the construction of four storylines and the continuous integration of data into the various and increasingly interlinked models that ultimately culminate in our future scenarios led to constant communication and disputes among the subprojects involved. During the course of the project, it became obvious that a new generation of young scientists is developing: scientists working in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary thought communities with a grasp of both fundamental science and transdisciplinary practice, combined with the soft skills necessary to reconcile both worlds.Zusammenfassung: Obwohl inter- und transdisziplinäre Forschung in aller Munde ist, beginnen Forschungskonsortien in der

Der grundsätzliche Gedanke der hierarchischen Organisation der Natur ist nicht neu, vielmehr greifen neue Theorien u.a. auch auf das holistische Axiom zurück, daß das Ganze mehr ist als die Summe seiner Bestandteile, das erstmals bei Smuts (1926) erwähnt wurde und durch Egler (1942) in die Ökologie eingeführt wurde. In diesem Sinne wird das gesamte Universum als eine Organisation betrachtet - ein geordnetes Ganzes bestehend aus einer Hierarchie mehrschichtiger Systeme, in der jedes höhere Niveau aus Systemen niedriger Niveaustufen gebildet wird, wobei dieser Transformationsprozeß stets mit qualitativen Sprüngen verbunden ist. Dieser Grundsatz der hierarchischen Organisation wird sichtbar bei allen rela­tiv stabilen komplexen Strukturen und Prozessen - vom subatomaren Niveau über chemische und biologisch-organische Niveaus bis hin zu ökologischen und sozia­len Integrationsniveaus und schließlich zu globalen und galaktischen Systemen (Naveh u. Liebermann 1994). Allen u. Hoekstra (1992) stellen fest, daß insbeson­dere ökologische Systeme oftmals eine Rangfolge aufweisen und unterscheiden zwischen acht Niveaus der Organisation von der Zelle bis zur Biosphäre (Zelle — Organismus — Population — Gemeinschaft — Ökosystem — Landschaft — Biom — Biosphäre). Diese Rangfolge bezeichnen sie als biologische oder ökologische Hierarchie.