Publications by authors named "Kuhn N"

Nature plays a crucial role in providing ecosystem services (ESs) essential for human wellbeing and biodiversity conservation in rural areas. However, existing paradigms often lack an integrative approach towards rural livelihoods and wellbeing, highlighting the need for a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between human wellbeing (HWB) and ESs. The area around the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA) offers such ESs to indigenous people who rely heavily on these natural resources.

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The low thickness of plastic films poses a challenge when using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as it affects the spectral quality and classification. This research focuses on offering a solution to the challenge of classifying multilayer plastic film materials with a focus on polyolefin multilayer plastics. It presents the importance of spectral quality on accurate classification.

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CD206 is a common marker of a putative immunosuppressive "M2" state in tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). We made a novel conditional CD206 (Mrc1) knock-in mouse to specifically visualize and/or deplete CD206+ TAMs. Early depletion of CD206+ macrophages and monocytes (Mono/Macs) led to the indirect loss of conventional type I dendritic cells (cDC1), CD8 T cells, and NK cells in tumors.

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  • The research explores how adhesion forces among submicron particles affect processes like agglomeration, focusing on factors like particle size and surface roughness.
  • Experiments were conducted using colloidal probe atomic force microscopy (cp-AFM) to measure adhesive forces in silica and polystyrene, while surface energies were assessed through the capillary rise method.
  • Findings reveal a relationship between measured adhesion forces and surface energy using various models, identifying substrate and particle roughness, as well as material behavior, as key factors impacting adhesion.
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Separating copper from iron scrap is a critical operation in metal recycling and achieving this with low cost sensoric equipment like RGB cameras instead of XRF/XRT is becoming increasingly attractive. In this article, the groundwork for creating an image classification model to separate copper from iron scrap has been performed. Twenty of the most common and most easily available CNN architectures were trained on 2200 metal scrap specimens and evaluated inline on a sensor-based sorting rig for their prediction accuracy and their inference latency to mimic real circumstances in an industrial setting.

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  • - A 5-year-old male Siberian chipmunk had an enlarged left testicle, leading to a diagnosis that considered various types of testicular tumors or inflammation.
  • - Upon conducting a fine needle aspiration, doctors found it to be a seminoma and proceeded with a bilateral orchiectomy (removal of both testicles).
  • - The chipmunk recovered well post-surgery, and a check-up two years later showed no signs of illness, indicating that surgery can lead to a long-term disease-free outcome in chipmunks.
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Discovering the role of fibroblasts residing in the tumor microenvironment (TME) requires controlled, localized perturbations because fibroblasts play critical roles in regulating immunity and tumor biology at multiple sites. Systemic perturbations can lead to unintended, confounding secondary effects, and methods to locally genetically engineer fibroblasts are lacking. To specifically investigate murine stromal cell perturbations restricted to the TME, we developed an adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based method to target any gene-of-interest in fibroblasts at high efficiency (>80%).

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  • The study investigates the role of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in Parkinson's disease (PD), emphasizing its importance in the brain and its potential link to neurotoxic responses.
  • Researchers identified 1,030 interaction differentially modified cytosines (iDMCs) that exhibit paired changes in 5hmC and 5-methylcytosine (5mC), mapping to 695 genes relevant to PD, including genes previously implicated in the disease.
  • The findings suggest that these epigenetic changes could contribute to the development of idiopathic PD, with many identified genes also playing roles in synaptic functions.
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The influence of the geographical location on the chemical composition of commercial Sauvignon Blanc wines was investigated. The assay was carried out on Sauvignon Blanc wines from three cold-climate valleys in Central Chile, Casablanca, Leyda, and San Antonio. The analyses revealed clear variations in some chemical parameters, especially in titratable acidity, which was higher in the geographical areas closest to the Pacific Ocean, such as the Leyda and San Antonio valleys.

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  • * Researchers found that dieldrin exposure caused sex-specific changes in DNA modifications related to the development of dopaminergic neurons over different ages, indicating critical periods of neurodevelopment were affected.
  • * The findings suggest that these persistent epigenetic changes may contribute to differences in PD risk between sexes, emphasizing the long-term impacts of developmental exposure to dieldrin on brain health.
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Objective: The multimodal treatments for pediatric head and neck (H&N) malignancies can have significant long-term functional consequences for growing patients. This systematic review aims to analyze the current knowledge of functional outcomes for pediatric H&N cancer survivors.

Data Sources: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science.

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  • Epidemiological and animal studies indicate that exposure to the pesticide dieldrin is linked to a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease (PD), particularly through developmental exposure impacting neuronal susceptibility.
  • The research reveals sex-specific DNA modifications related to dopaminergic neuron development following dieldrin exposure, observed at various age points from birth to 36 weeks.
  • Findings suggest that these lasting epigenetic changes may interfere with key neurodevelopmental processes, potentially increasing the risk for late-onset diseases like PD.
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Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by the presence of proteinaceous alpha-synuclein (α-syn) inclusions (Lewy bodies), markers of neuroinflammation and the progressive loss of nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons. These pathological features can be recapitulated in vivo using the α-syn preformed fibril (PFF) model of synucleinopathy. We have previously determined that microglia proximal to PFF-induced nigral α-syn inclusions increase in soma size, upregulate major-histocompatibility complex-II (MHC-II) expression, and increase expression of a suite of inflammation-associated transcripts.

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Purpose: Heart valve disease is commonly treated by minimally invasive procedures with guide wires and catheterization. The main purpose of this study is to find out whether an extension of the guide wire with a sensor can support the surgeon within the blood vessel to reduce X-ray necessity.

Methods: A smart guide wire is developed by an extension with a flex-bending sensor to evaluate the sensor signal with and without "blood" flow at a constant compression force.

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Soft tissue tumors/sarcomas (STSs) in felines, encompassing a variety of mesenchymal tumors with similar histomorphological features, present diagnostic challenges due to their diverse cellular origins and the overlap with other tumor types such as feline sarcoid. This study aimed to delineate the clinical, histomorphological, and immunohistochemical characteristics of 34 feline facial spindle cell tumors affecting 29 cats, including testing for bovine papillomavirus type 14 (BPV14), the virus causing feline sarcoids. Only five out of 12 tumors previously diagnosed as feline sarcoids based on histomorphology were confirmed by PCR for BPV14, underscoring the importance of comprehensive diagnostic approaches to accurately distinguish between STSs and feline sarcoids.

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Background: Although studies have demonstrated that implementation leadership and climate are important constructs in predicting evidence-based practice (EBP) implementation, concrete descriptions of how they operate during organizational implementation efforts are lacking. This case study fills that gap through an in-depth description of an organization with effective implementation leadership that successfully built a strong implementation climate. This case study provides an illustration of implementation leadership and climate in tangible, replicable terms to assist managers, practitioners, and researchers in addressing the organizational context in their own implementation projects.

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Neurons in the mouse superior colliculus ("colliculus") are arranged in ordered spatial maps. While orientation-selective (OS) neurons form a concentric map aligned to the center of vision, direction-selective (DS) neurons are arranged in patches with changing preferences across the visual field. It remains unclear whether these maps are a consequence of feedforward input from the retina or local computations in the colliculus.

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Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the accumulation of misfolded alpha-synuclein (α-syn) protein, forming intraneuronal Lewy body (LB) inclusions. The α-syn preformed fibril (PFF) model of PD recapitulates α-syn aggregation, progressive nigrostriatal degeneration and motor dysfunction; however, little is known about the time course of PFF-induced alterations in basal and evoked dopamine (DA). In vivo microdialysis is well suited for identifying small changes in neurotransmitter levels over extended periods.

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Background: Loneliness is a widespread phenomenon associated with a number of negative health outcomes. Older individuals may constitute one important target group with a need for effective interventions. However, despite evidence showing that addressing maladaptive social cognition (e.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Understanding the early phases of synucleinopathy, particularly before neurodegeneration occurs, is crucial for developing therapies and studying disease progression, as shown in a rat model that mimics Parkinson's disease pathology.
  • - In the study, researchers utilized laser capture microdissection and RNA sequencing to identify transcriptional changes in the substantia nigra, revealing that immune response-related transcripts increase while neurotransmission and dopamine pathway-related transcripts decrease during early synucleinopathy.
  • - Verification of 29 specific transcripts associated with neurotransmission and dopamine pathways was conducted and findings indicated that decreases in transcripts like Syt1 and Slc6a3 were present in neurons with pSyn inclusions, shedding light on the molecular mechanisms that may drive
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Improving the sortability of plastic packaging film waste (PPFW) is crucial for increasing the recycling rate in Austria as they account for 150,000 t of the annually produced 300,000 t of plastic packaging waste. Currently PPFW is thermally recovered, as it is impossible to separate the mechanically recyclable monomaterial films from the non mechanically-recyclable multimaterial films. In this study, machine learning models capable of classifying inline into monolayer and multilayer films of PPFW according to their spectral fingerprint taken in transflection were created.

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Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are frequently categorized as being 'M1' or 'M2' polarized, even as substantial data challenges this binary modeling of macrophage cell state. One molecule consistently referenced as a delineator of a putative immunosuppressive 'M2' state is the surface protein CD206. We thus made a novel conditional CD206 () knock-in mouse to specifically visualize and/or deplete CD206+ 'M2-like' TAMs and assess their correspondence with pro-tumoral immunity.

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At present, sensor-based sorting machines are usually not operated at the optimal operation point but are either overrun or underrun depending on the availability of waste streams. Mathematical approaches for predefined ideal mixtures can be found based on the input stream composition and the throughput rate. This scientific article compares whether and under what conditions these approaches can be applied to sensor-based sorting machines.

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  • Altered myeloid inflammation and lymphopenia are key characteristics of severe infections, particularly in patients with acute lung injuries from SARS-CoV-2.
  • The upregulated EN-RAGE gene program found in airway and blood myeloid cells is linked to increased clinical severity, predicting outcomes like mechanical ventilation and mortality.
  • IL-6 was identified as a major factor driving myeloid dysfunction, and blocking its signaling with tocilizumab effectively normalized EN-RAGE gene expression and improved T cell function in clinical trials.
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Behavioral flexibility requires directing feedforward sensory information to appropriate targets. In the superior colliculus, divergent outputs orchestrate different responses to visual threats, but the circuit organization enabling the flexible routing of sensory information remains unknown. To determine this structure, we focused on inhibitory projection (Gad2) neurons.

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