Marine heat waves affect ocean ecosystems and are expected to become more frequent and intense. Earth system models' ability to reproduce extreme ocean temperature statistics has not been tested quantitatively, making the reliability of their future projections of marine heat waves uncertain. We demonstrate that annual maxima of detrended anomalies in daily mean sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over 39 years of global satellite observations are described excellently by the generalized extreme value distribution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuantum memories integrated into nanophotonic silicon devices are a promising platform for large quantum networks and scalable photonic quantum computers. In this context, erbium dopants are particularly attractive, as they combine optical transitions in the telecommunications frequency band with the potential for second-long coherence time. Here, we show that these emitters can be reliably integrated into commercially fabricated low-loss waveguides.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImplementing bedside handover in neurological rehabilitation: An Action Research Approach in Practice Development Nursing handovers are considered high-risk tasks but are also an important resource for conveying pertinent insights in the patients' situation and engaging them in the care process. As part of a broader action research project, a participatory approach was used to implement bedside handovers. It seemed central to sustainable change to gain insights which underlying factors motivate nurses to change handover practices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: The heart rejuvenating effects of circulating growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11), a transforming growth factor-β superfamily member that shares 90% homology with myostatin (MSTN), remains controversial. Here, we aimed to probe the role of GDF11 in acute myocardial infarction (MI), a frequent cause of heart failure and premature death during ageing.
Methods And Results: In contrast to endogenous Mstn, myocardial Gdf11 declined during the course of ageing and was particularly reduced following ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, suggesting a therapeutic potential of GDF11 signalling in MI.
PMM2-CDG is the most common defect among the congenital disorders of glycosylation. In order to investigate the effect of hypoglycosylation on important cellular pathways, we performed extensive biochemical studies on skin fibroblasts of PMM2-CDG patients. Among others, acylcarnitines, amino acids, lysosomal proteins, organic acids and lipids were measured, which all revealed significant abnormalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Antiphospholipid antibody (aPL) syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies and thromboembolic or pregnancy complications. Although cryptic epitope R39-R43 belonging to beta-2-glycoprotein 1 (β2GP1) has been identified as the main antigenic determinant for aPLs, we have recently demonstrated that the epitope is a motif determined by the polarity, rather than by the sequence or charge of amino acids.
Objective: In the present study, we wanted to identify the association of residues needed to obtain the highest aPL affinity.
Compound MHW-OAX events, during which marine heatwaves (MHWs) co-occur with ocean acidity extreme (OAX) events, can have larger impacts on marine ecosystems than the individual extremes. Using monthly open-ocean observations over the period 1982-2019, we show that globally 1.8 in 100 months (or about one out of five present-day MHW months) are compound MHW-OAX event months under a present-day baseline, almost twice as many as expected for 90th percentile extreme event exceedances if MHWs and OAX events were statistically independent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFE-mental health for depression is increasingly used in clinical practice, but patient adherence suffers as therapist involvement decreases. One reason may be the low responsiveness of existing programs: especially autonomous systems are lacking in their input interpretation and feedback-giving capabilities. Here, we explore (a) to what extent a more socially intelligent and, therefore, technologically advanced solution, namely a conversational agent, is a feasible means of collecting thought record data in dialog, (b) what people write about in their thought records, (c) whether providing content-based feedback increases motivation for thought recording, a core technique of cognitive therapy that helps patients gain an understanding of how their thoughts cause their feelings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory vascular disease and the main cause of death and morbidity. Emerging evidence suggests that ubiquitination plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis including control of vascular inflammation, vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) function and atherosclerotic plaque stability. Peli1 a type of E3 ubiquitin ligase has emerged as a critical regulator of innate and adaptive immunity, however, its role in atherosclerosis remains to be elucidated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe production of natural flavors by means of microorganisms is of great interest for the food and flavor industry, and by-products of the agro-industry are particularly suitable as substrates. In the present study, side streams were fermented using monokaryotic strains of the fungus . Some of the cultures exhibited a pleasant smell, reminiscent of woodruff and anise, as well as herbaceous notes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(1) Background: Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) undergo a complex phenotypic switch in response to atherosclerosis environmental triggers, contributing to atherosclerosis disease progression. However, the complex heterogeneity of VSMCs and how VSMC dedifferentiation affects human carotid artery disease (CAD) risk has not been clearly established. (2) Method: A single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of CD45 cells derived from the atherosclerotic aorta of Apolipoprotein E-deficient (Apoe) mice on a normal cholesterol diet (NCD) or a high cholesterol diet (HCD), respecting the site-specific predisposition to atherosclerosis was performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF: Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease where macrophages participate in the progression of the disease. However, the role of resident-like macrophages (res-like) in the atherosclerotic aorta is not completely understood. A single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of CD45 leukocytes in the atherosclerotic aorta of apolipoprotein E-deficient () mice on a normal cholesterol diet (NCD) or a high cholesterol diet (HCD), respecting the side-to-specific predisposition to atherosclerosis, was performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(1) Background: Monocytes and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome orchestrate lipid-driven amplification of vascular inflammation promoting the disruption of the fibrous cap. The components of the NLRP3 inflammasome are expressed in macrophages and foam cells within human carotid atherosclerotic plaques and VSMCs in hypertension. Whether monocytes and NLRP3 inflammasome activation are direct triggers of VSMC phenotypic switch and plaque disruption need to be investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cognitive approach to psychotherapy aims to change patients' maladaptive schemas, that is, overly negative views on themselves, the world, or the future. To obtain awareness of these views, they record their thought processes in situations that caused pathogenic emotional responses. The schemas underlying such thought records have, thus far, been largely manually identified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrug abuse may damage basal ganglia that are essential for planning and execution of movements. We report about the case of a 38-year old patient with ischemic lesions of the basal ganglia presenting with bilateral painful dystonia and parkinsonism caused by polyintoxication. Dronabinol resulted in improvement of pain and gait disturbance, suggesting a novel therapeutic strategy in these challenging patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultiple sulfatase deficiency (MSD) is a lysosomal storage disease caused by a deficiency of formylglycine-generating enzyme due to defects. MSD may be misdiagnosed as metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), as neurological and neuroimaging findings are similar, and arylsulfatase A (ARSA) deficiency and enhanced urinary sulfatide excretion may also occur. While ARSA deficiency seems a cause for neurological symptoms and later neurodegenerative disease course, deficiency of other sulfatases results in clinical features such as dysmorphism, dysostosis, or ichthyosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Autoantibodies against apolipoprotein A1 (anti-apoA1 IgGs) and its C-terminal region (cter apoA1) have emerged as an independent biomarker for cardiovascular disease. Cter apoA1 mimetic peptides were shown to reverse the deleterious anti-apoA1 IgG effects . We evaluated the association of anti-cter apoA1 IgGs with overall mortality in the general population and tested the ability of a cter apoA1 mimetic peptide to reverse the anti-apoA1 IgG-induced inflammatory response and mortality and , respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCellular micromotion-a tiny movement of cell membranes on the nm-µm scale-has been proposed as a pathway for inter-cellular signal transduction and as a label-free proxy signal to neural activity. Here we harness several recent approaches of signal processing to detect such micromotion in video recordings of unlabeled cells. Our survey includes spectral filtering of the video signal, matched filtering, as well as 1D and 3D convolutional neural networks acting on pixel-wise time-domain data and a whole recording respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnti-apolipoprotein A-1 (anti-apoA-1 IgG) and anti-double stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA IgG) autoantibodies have been described as mediators of atherogenesis in mice and humans. In the present study, we aim to investigate the association between atherosclerotic parameters, autoantibodies and plaque vulnerability in the context of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We therefore bred a lupus prone-mouse model (Nba2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImplementation of a Neonatal Pain Assessment Instrument at a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit - A Quality Improvement Project Optimal pain management is necessary in order to not jeopardize the development of preterm neonates. Implementation and evaluation of systematic and best possible pain assessment with the Bernese Pain Scale for Neonates for all preterm and sick neonates of a neonatal intensive care unit by nursing staff. The educational concept is based on three key strategies: knowledge translation (group- and one-on-one training), reflection (case conferences) and clinical training.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Neutrophils accumulate in atherosclerotic plaques. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NET) were recently identified in experimental atherosclerosis and in complex human lesions. However, not much is known about the NET marker citrullinated histone-3 (H3Cit) expression and functionality in human carotid plaques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInflammatory mechanisms are involved in achieving a normal pregnancy and in the development of certain pregnancy complications. These changes are more intense in pregnant women that suffer of pregnancy complications, such as spontaneous preterm birth (SPB). This study compared the course of inflammatory markers (IM) [neopterin (Neo), neopterin/creatinine ratio (Neo/Cre), C-reactive protein (CRP), and chitotriosidase (Chito)] serum concentration in the early pregnancy of women with birth at term (BT) and preterm birth (PB).
View Article and Find Full Text PDF