Publications by authors named "Simone Lang"

Electrocatalytic NO reduction (NORR) to NH represents a promising approach for converting hazardous NO waste gases into high-value NH products under ambient conditions. However, exploring stable, low-cost, and highly efficient catalysts to enhance the NO-to-NH conversion process remains a significant challenge. Herein, through systematic computational studies based on density functional theory (DFT), we rationally designed transition metal triatomic cluster supported on graphdiyne (TM/GDY) as potential single-cluster catalysts for high-performance NORR.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Simultaneously enhancing the durability and catalytic performance of metal-nitrogen-carbon (M-N-C) single-atom catalysts is critical to boost oxygen electrocatalysis for energy conversion and storage, yet it remains a grand challenge. Herein, through the combination of early and late metals, we proposed to enhance the stability and tune the catalytic activity of M-N-C SACs in oxygen electrocatalysis by their strong interaction with the M'C-type MXene substrate. Our density functional theory (DFT) computations revealed that the strong interaction between "early-late" metal-metal bonds significantly improves thermal and electrochemical stability.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Tepotinib, a MET inhibitor approved for the treatment of MET exon 14 (METex14) skipping NSCLC, demonstrated durable clinical activity in VISION (Cohort A + C; N = 313): objective response rate (ORR) 51.4% (95% CI: 45.8, 57.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The main aim of the present study has been the completion of genome size data for the diverse arctic-alpine species complex, with special focus on the unexplored arctic taxon , the north-European and from Gotland (Sweden). Altogether, 46 individuals of these three Nordic taxa have been sampled from seven different regions and their genome size estimated using flow cytometry. Three other alpine taxa in the complex (, subsp.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Practical lab skills are rarely directly assessed. To improve constructive alignment between the described learning outcomes of practical skills and assessment, we developed and tested a certification procedure for microscopy skills. The procedure was embedded into the ordinary learning activity, so no additional time was needed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Arctic has a diverse terrestrial microarthropod fauna which overwinters in situ in soil and vegetation. This fauna is involved in key ecosystem processes, for example decomposition and pollination, and has tolerance to the Arctic's winter conditions. However, the Arctic is undergoing rapid change.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Research discusses how current global climate models are based on air temperatures but fail to capture the soil temperatures beneath vegetation where many species thrive.
  • New global maps present soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at 1-km resolution for specific depths, revealing that mean annual soil temperatures can differ significantly from air temperatures by up to 10°C.
  • The findings indicate that relying on air temperature could misrepresent climate impacts on ecosystems, especially in colder regions, highlighting the need for more precise soil temperature data for ecological studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

There is much controversy about the potential impact of spinal cord injury (SCI) on brain anatomy and function, which is mirrored in the substantial divergence of findings between animal models and human imaging studies. Given recent advances in quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) we sought to tackle the unresolved question about the link between the presumed injury associated volume differences and underlying brain tissue property changes in a cohort of chronic complete SCI patients. Using the established computational anatomy methods of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and voxel-based quantification (VBQ), we performed statistical analyses on grey and white matter volumes as well as on parameter maps indicative for myelin, iron, and free tissue water content in the brain of complete SCI patients (n = 14) and healthy individuals (n = 14).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Functional connectivity (fcMRI) analyses of resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data revealed substantial differences between states of consciousness. The underlying cause-effect linkage, however, remains unknown to the present day. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between fcMRI measures and Disorders of Consciousness (DOC) in resting state and under adequate stimulation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) show persistent fear responses to trauma cues in contexts in which these cues no longer predict danger. This might be related to deficient context and enhanced cue conditioning. To test this hypothesis, we examined context conditioning directly followed by a cue conditioning phase against the background of the previously conditioned context in 12 patients with PTSD, 14 traumatized control subjects without PTSD and 11 matched never-traumatized controls.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Although several studies have examined inhibition of affective stimuli, valence-dependent cognitive control effects remain poorly understood. Behavioural and functional imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) data were collected from 17 healthy participants to examine neural correlates of the Negative Affective Priming (NAP) task. We created relative ratio scores considering the reaction times of prime trials in order to assess the amount of interference after the presentation of negative and positive distracter words.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nutrient resorption from senescing photosynthetic organs is a powerful mechanism for conserving nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in infertile environments. Evolution has resulted in enhanced differentiation of conducting tissues to facilitate transport of photosynthate to other plant parts, ultimately leading to phloem. Such tissues may also serve to translocate N and P to other plant parts upon their senescence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Neuroticism is frequently discussed as a risk factor for psychopathology. According to the maturity principle, neuroticism decreases over the course of life, but not uniformly across individuals. However, the implications of differences in personality maturation on mental health have not been well studied so far.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Primary Objective: A comparison between unitary and non-unitary views on minimal consciousness.

Research Design: First, unitary (all-or-none) and non-unitary (gradual or continuous) models of consciousness are defined as they have been developed in both philosophy and neurophysiology. Then, the implications of these ideas to the notion the minimally conscious state (MCS) are discussed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The ability to reappraise the emotional impact of events is related to long-term mental health. Self-focused reappraisal (REAPPself), i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Twenty-nine patients with Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS), 26 patients in Minimally Conscious State (MCS), and 21 healthy control individuals matched in age and social environment (patients' relatives) were presented with 80 short sentences half of which were factually correct, and the other half factually incorrect. The diagnosis was made on the basis of repeated neurological examinations as well as the standardized assessment using a Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R). fMRI blood oxygen level dependent signal was recorded in an event-related design time-locked to the end word of the sentences.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To determine the potential prognostic value of using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify patients with disorders of consciousness, who show potential for recovery.

Design: Observational study.

Setting: Unit for acute rehabilitation care.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

By definition, patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) do not experience pain, but it is still not completely understood how far their brain can process noxious stimuli. The few positron emission tomography studies that have examined pain processing did not yield a clear and consistent result. We performed an functional magnetic resonance imaging scan in 30 UWS patients of nontraumatic etiology and 15 age- and sex-matched healthy control participants (HC).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sensory preconditioning (SPC; also known as behaviorally silent learning) consists of a combination of two neutral stimuli, none of which elicits an unconditional response. After one of them is later paired with an unconditional stimulus (US), the other neutral stimulus also yields a conditional response although it has never been paired with the US. In this study, an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm was used to specify brain regions involved in SPC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Recent publications show that using imagery instructions, brain activation patterns indicating consciousness can be found in approximately 10% of patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS; previously called vegetative state). It is possible, however, that patients who cannot follow instructions (because of limited memory/attention capacities, for example) are nevertheless conscious and retain emotional abilities to feel pain and pleasure. The aim of this study was to assess residual affective consciousness in a specific network of brain structures, the so-called pain matrix (PM) of the brain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • It's really hard to tell the difference between two conditions called vegetative state (VS) and minimally conscious state (MCS), where patients may or may not show signs of being aware.
  • In a study, researchers used brain scans to look for reactions in patients who were in VS, MCS, and healthy people when they heard sounds of pain.
  • The study found that MCS patients had more active brain connections compared to VS patients, showing that special brain scans could help doctors figure out which condition a patient has.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: One of the core symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is the instability in interpersonal relationships. This might be related to existent differences in mindreading between BPD patients and healthy individuals.

Methods: We examined the behavioural and neurophysiological (fMRI) responses of BPD patients and healthy controls (HC) during performance of the 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' test (RMET).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Understanding the sensitivity of tundra vegetation to climate warming is critical to forecasting future biodiversity and vegetation feedbacks to climate. In situ warming experiments accelerate climate change on a small scale to forecast responses of local plant communities. Limitations of this approach include the apparent site-specificity of results and uncertainty about the power of short-term studies to anticipate longer term change.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Neurophysiological underpinnings of the integration of information during sentence comprehension have been studied since 1980. However, little is known about integrative processes in sentences containing a word that is semantically congruent, but factually incompatible with the context. In this study, we aimed at investigating the differences between the brain regions involved in responses to factually correct and incorrect sentences.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by emotional dysregulation and a high prevalence of traumatic stress. Recent estimates suggest that 2-6% of non-clinical populations suffer from BPD. Despite this relevance, this is the first study considering the neural mechanisms underlying trauma-history and temporal features of cognitive reappraisal in non-clinical BPD patients using script-driven stimuli.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF