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Native porphyran is a hybrid of porphryan and agarose. As a common element of edible seaweed, this algal galactan is a frequent component of the human diet. Bacterial members of the human gut microbiota have acquired polysaccharide utilization loci (PULs) that enable the metabolism of porphyran or agarose. However, the molecular mechanisms that underlie the deconstruction and use of native porphyran remains incompletely defined. Here, we have studied two human gut bacteria, porphyranolytic Bacteroides plebeius and agarolytic Bacteroidesuniformis, that target native porphyran. This reveals an exo-based cycle of porphyran depolymerization that incorporates a keystone sulfatase. In both PULs this cycle also works together with a PUL-encoded agarose depolymerizing machinery to synergistically reduce native porphyran to monosaccharides. This provides a framework for understanding the deconstruction of a hybrid algal galactan, and insight into the competitive and/or syntrophic relationship of gut microbiota members that target rare nutrients.

Purpose The increase of shellfish production has raised environmental concerns, i.e., enrichment and redistribution of nutrients and energy consumption. Efforts assessing the environmental burdens arising from the expansion of shellfish production have been made using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Although LCA has been extensively applied and reviewed in aquaculture systems, shellfish production remains scarcely studied. The objective of this review is to identify methodological trends, highlight gaps and limitations, and provide guidelines for future studies. Methods A systematic literature review was applied to scientific studies published up to 2021. A total of 13 documents were shorted by abstract and full text-screening. Literature meeting the inclusion criteria were further analyzed in six different aspects of a LCA (functional unit, system boundaries, data and data quality, allocation, impact assessment methods, interpretation methods). Discussion and guidelines are provided for each reviewed aspect. Results and discussions Shellfish LCAs differ considerably from other aquaculture studies mainly because shellfish avoids the allocation of impacts derived from the production of fishmeal. Co-products are present when the shellfish is processed, e.g., in canned products. Furthermore, shellfish studies do not take into account the positive credits from the removal of nutrients from the ecosystems and from the valorization of the shellfish waste (shell and organic remains). Limited information was found for countries outside Europe and species different from mussels. Despite the variability on goals and scopes of the studies, methodological trends were found. The local impacts of the shellfish with the farming area and the impacts on biodiversity have not been included into the studies. Conclusions and recommendations Effort should be made in providing the data associated with the fore-background system within the studies in order to improve transparency and to allow the reproduction of the results. Information regarding the natural condition of the cultivation area should be provided as the shellfish production depends mainly on non-anthropogenic conditions. Application of biodiversity assessment methodologies should be encouraged, despite their limitations.

Subterranean foraging army ants (Labidus coecus) preyed on eggs and hatchlings of three species of Amazon River turtles (genus Podocnemis) in northeastern Peru. The raided nests were in a hatchery constructed atop the soil surface of a beach on the Tapiche River. The ant raid persisted across at least 9 days, and ant foraging impacted nests over an area of approximately 14 m2. Observations suggest the ant workers chewed through turtle egg shells and entered nestling turtle body cavities via their eyes and yolk sacks (when present). Our observations, combined with previous reports, show that ant predation on river turtle nests, and particularly predation by Labidus coecus, is geographically widespread in Amazonia. Ant predation may represent an under-recorded source of turtle egg and nestling mortality. We discuss how army ant behavior affects strategies for mitigating ant predation in turtle hatcheries.

One crucial advantage of additive manufacturing regarding the optimization of lattice structures is that there is a reduction in manufacturing constraints compared to classical manufacturing methods. To make full use of these advantages and to exploit the resulting potential, it is necessary that lattice structures are designed using optimization. Against this backdrop, two mixed integer programs are developed in order to use the methods of mathematical optimization in the context of topology optimization on the basis of a fitted ground structure method. In addition, an algorithm driven product design process is presented to systematically combine the areas of mathematical optimization, computer aided design, finite element analysis and additive manufacturing. Our developed computer aided design tool serves as an interface between state-of-the-art mathematical solvers and computer aided design software and is used for the generation of design data based on optimization results. The first mixed integer program focuses on powder-based additive manufacturing, including a preprocessing that allows a multi-material topology optimization. The second mixed integer program generates support-free lattice structures for additive manufacturing processes usually depending on support structures, by considering geometry-based design rules for inclined and support-free cylinders and assumptions for location and orientation of parts within a build volume. The problem to strengthen a lattice structure by local thickening or beam addition or both, with the objective function to minimize costs, is modeled. In doing so, post-processing is excluded. An optimization of a static area load with a practice-oriented number of connection nodes and beams was manufactured using the powder-based additive manufacturing system EOS INT P760.

De Hair Apposition Technique (HAT) is een sluittechniek voor ongecompliceerde traumatische wonden van de behaarde hoofdhuid die kleiner zijn dan 10 cm en bij haar dat langer is dan 1 centimeter. Het sluiten van de wond door haarplukken te draaien en met lijm vast te hechten maakt deze techniek veilig. Ze vormt een goed alternatief voor hechten. Omdat verdoving niet nodig is, is de HAT vooral voor kinderen een patientvriendelijke sluittechniek. Wat betreft complicaties en patienttevredenheid zijn hechten en de HAT vergelijkbaar, waarbij de laatste eenvoudiger, sneller en goedkoper is. Er is nog meer inzicht nodig in de toepasbaarheid en aanvaardbaarheid van deze techniek bij kinderen.

Background Patients with a lesion within the amygdala and uncus may develop temporal lobe epilepsy despite having functional mesial structures. Resection of functional hippocampus and surrounding structures may lead to unacceptable iatrogenic deficits. To our knowledge, there is limited descriptions of surgical techniques for selectively resecting the amygdala and uncus lesions while preserving the hippocampus in patients with language-dominant temporal lobe pathology. Methods Thirteen patients with language-dominant temporal lobe epilepsy related to amygdala-centric lesions were identified. Patients with sclerosis of the mesial structures or evidence of pathology outside of the amygdala-uncus region were excluded. Neuropsychological evaluation confirmed normal function of the mesial structures ipsilateral to the lesion. All patients were worked up with video-EEG, high-resolution brain MRI, neuro-psychology evaluation, and either Wada or functional MRI testing. Results All patients underwent selective resection of the lesion including amygdala and uncus with preservation of the hippocampus via a transcortical inferior temporal gyrus approach to the mesial temporal lobe. Pathology was compatible with glioneuronal tumors. Post-operative MRI demonstrated complete resection in all patients. Eight of the thirteen patients underwent post-operative neuropsychology evaluations and did not demonstrate any significant decline in tasks of delayed verbal recall or visual memory based on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). One patient showed a slight decrease in confrontation naming using the Boston Naming Test (BNT). Seizure freedom (Engel class I) was achieved in 12 of 13 patients. Conclusion Selective transcortical amygdala and uncus resection with hippocampus preservation may be a reasonable way to achieve seizure control while sparing functional mesial structures.

Die Anzahl alterer und besonders alter Menschen nimmt auch und vor allem in Landern mit mittleren und niedrigen Einkommen zu. Damit steigt auch der Bedarf an Pflege und Versorgung alterstypischer Erkrankungen. Doch die meisten Gesundheitssysteme in Entwicklungs- und Schwellenlandern sind nicht auf diesen Wandel eingestellt oder vorbereitet wahrend gleichzeitig traditionelle Versorgungssysteme entfallen. Zudem fuhrt grosere Armut — von der altere Menschen starker betroffen sind als jungere — einerseits zu einer schlechteren Gesundheitsversorgung; andererseits bedeuten der Bedarf an medizinischer Versorgung und Pflege haufig ein erhohtes Armutsrisiko. Die Entwicklungszusammenarbeit kann mit dem Transfer erfolgreicher sozialer Sicherungssysteme und Gesundheitsversorgungsmodelle einen entscheidenden Beitrag zur Wahrung der Rechte alterer Menschen weltweit leisten, tut dies aber in noch nicht ausreichendem Mase.

We give a non-perturbative construction of a distinguished state for the quantized Dirac field in Minkowski space in the presence of a time-dependent external field of the form of a plane electromagnetic wave. By explicit computation of the fermionic signature operator, it is shown that the Dirac operator has the strong mass oscillation property. We prove that the resulting fermionic projector state is a Hadamard state., 27 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures, minor improvements (published version)

et al., Bacteria of the phylum Planctomycetes have been previously reported to possess several features that are typical of eukaryotes, such as cytosolic compartmentalization and endocytosis-like macromolecule uptake. However, recent evidence points towards a Gram-negative cell plan for Planctomycetes, although in-depth experimental analysis has been hampered by insufficient genetic tools. Here we develop methods for expression of fluorescent proteins and for gene deletion in a model planctomycete, Planctopirus limnophila, to analyse its cell organization in detail. Super-resolution light microscopy of mutants, cryo-electron tomography, bioinformatic predictions and proteomic analyses support an altered Gram-negative cell plan for Planctomycetes, including a defined outer membrane, a periplasmic space that can be greatly enlarged and convoluted, and an energized cytoplasmic membrane. These conclusions are further supported by experiments performed with two other Planctomycetes, Gemmata obscuriglobus and Rhodopirellula baltica. We also provide experimental evidence that is inconsistent with endocytosis-like macromolecule uptake; instead, extracellular macromolecules can be taken up and accumulate in the periplasmic space through unclear mechanisms., This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG grants JO 893/2-1 and JO 893/3-1) and the Max Planck Society. M.C.F.v.T. was supported by ERC AG 2,32,937.

Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 16 (2013) 1, S. 115-136, Die Reduzierung der Schuljahre bis zum Erwerb des Abiturs (Stichwort G8) gehört zu den wichtigsten schulstrukturellen Veränderungen der vergangenen Jahre und ist ein Element der in der letzten Dekade implementierten zeitlichen Vorverlagerung und Verdichtung institutionalisierter Bildungsprozesse. Inwieweit die mit den zeitlichen Veränderungen einhergehenden systemischen Kontextbedingungen jedoch schulische und unterrichtliche Prozesse und Ergebnisse beeinflussen und welche Folgen sich für die unmittelbar betroffenen Akteure (Lehrkräfte, Schülerinnen und Schüler und ihre Familien) ergeben, ist bislang nur unzureichend untersucht worden. Der Beitrag liefert einen Überblick zu dem bislang nur wenig erschlossenen Themenfeld der gymnasialen Schulzeitverkürzung: Nach einem Rückblick auf historische Entwicklungslinien werden normative Diskurse zur Schulzeitverkürzung dargelegt, um diese anschließend mit dem derzeitigen Stand der Forschung zu konfrontieren. Eine Analyse unterschiedlicher Organisationsmodelle der Schulzeitverkürzung sowie ein Ausblick auf aktuelle Entwicklungen runden den Beitrag ab. (DIPF/Orig.), Reducing the number of school years until graduation from academic-track secondary schooling (“G8”) has been one of the most important structural changes to schooling in the past few years. The reduction is one element of more compressed and accelerated processes in institutional education implemented over the last decade. The extent to which the changes in the systemic context of schooling affect organizational and instructional processes and results, or the school actors concerned (teachers, pupils and their families), has only been insufficiently investigated so far. This contribution provides an overview of this barely investigated topic. Following a review of the historical developments, the normative debates regarding reduced school time will be presented and then compared with the current state of research. The paper closes with an analysis of different models for organizing the reduction of school years and an outlook on current developments. (DIPF/orig.)

HIV/AIDS surveillance methods are under revision as the diversity of HIV epidemics is becoming more apparent. The so called “2nd generation surveillance (SGS) systems” aim to enhance surveillance by broadening the range of indicators to prevalence, behaviors and correlates, for a better understanding and a more complete and timely awareness of evolving epidemics. Concepts of HIV SGS are reviewed with a special focus on injecting drug users, a major at-risk and hard to reach group in Europe, a region with mainly low or concentrated epidemics. The scope of HIV/AIDS surveillance needs to be broadened following principles of SGS. Specifically for IDUs we propose including hepatitis C data as indicator for injecting risk in routine systems like those monitoring sexually transmitted infections and information on knowledge and attitudes as potential major determinants of risk behavior. The suggested approach should lead to more complete and timely information for public health interventions, however there is a clear need for comparative validation studies to assess the validity, reliability and cost-effectiveness of traditional and enhanced HIV/AIDS surveillance systems.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the former communist countries of central and eastern Europe underwent substantial social and economic changes that had a major impact on health. The situation of the former German Democratic Republic was unique in that its existing institutions were replaced rapidly and it was quickly integrated economically with the West. This study describes recent trends in morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases in East and West Germany before and after unification using routine data from 1980 onwards. Substantial differences in morbidity and mortality resulting from infectious diseases were observed between East and West Germany. These seem to be the complex result of societal and health system differences in both parts of Germany before unification, differing population dynamics and health behaviours, and an increasing westernisation in the eastern part of Germany during recent years.

The deposition of platinum on copper from a modern commercial electroplating bath (Pt 5Q bath containing 26mm Pt(NH3)4HPO4 ⊥ ∼30 mm sodium phosphate buffer, pH 10.6 at 368 K) has been studied using voltammetry and potential step methods. In addition, polished Cu panels (area 3.4 cm2) have been electroplated using both constant potential and constant current conditions; current efficiencies have been determined and scanning electron microscopy has been used to show that the morphology of the platinum layers depends strongly on the plating conditions, particularly the potential at which deposition occurs. It is shown that good quality electroplates can be obtained with high current efficiency but a high rate deposition is more readily achieved using controlled potential.

In vitro studies have documented the synergistic antiviral and antiproliferative activity of recombinant interferon alpha (rIFN alpha) and rIFN gamma. Furthermore, rIFN gamma is a strong immunomodulator with optimal effects at a relative low dose (0.1 mg/m2). On the basis of these observations, we began a phase I/II study with the combination of rIFN gamma at 100 micrograms/m2 (2 x 10(6) IU/m2) and rIFN alpha 2c 6 micrograms/m2 (2 x 10(6) IU/m2), injected twice a week subcutaneously. In cases of stable or progressive disease we increased the dose of rIFN alpha 2c every 2 weeks by 6 micrograms/m2 until the maximum tolerated dose was reached. A total of 32 patients with proven progressive renal-cell carcinoma were included. Of the 31 eligible patients, 21 were male and 10 female, their average age was 57.2 years (range 35-72), 28 had had nephrectomy, their median Karnofsky performance status was 90% (70%-100%), and their tumors were localized predominantly to visceral tissue. In 2, response was complete and in 6 it was partial, for a response rate of 25%. The disease had stabilized in 5 patients and progressed in 16. The median duration of partial response was 14 months (8-16 months); of 2 cases of complete response, 1 persists (23+ months), and the other suffered a relapse after 22 months. The median time to response was 24 weeks (18-24 weeks). The maximum tolerated dose of rIFN alpha was 30 micrograms/m2 (range of 6-36 micrograms/m2). Side-effects included those known to be associated with interferon treatment. One patient developed septicemia during a period with grade 4 leukopenia. Our study permits no conclusion regarding the additional value of rIFN gamma.