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Two new endemic genera of Therevinae are described from Madagascar. Rinhatiana gen. nov. contains three new species (R. arctifestuca gen. et sp. nov., R. cracentis gen. et sp. nov. and R. latifestuca gen. et sp. nov.) as well as R. distincta (Lyneborg, 1976) comb. nov., which is transferred from Stenopomyia Lyneborg, 1976. Tianarinha gen. nov. is described containing two new species, T. goodmani gen. et sp. nov. and T. micet gen. et sp. nov. All species are diagnosed and figured along with distribution data.
Decline in physical activity in the weeks preceding sustained ventricular arrhythmia in women
(2020)
Background: Heightened risk of cardiac arrest following physical exertion has been reported. Among patients with an implantable defibrillator, an appropriate shock for sustained ventricular arrhythmia was preceded by a retrospective self-report of engaging in mild-to-moderate physical activity. Previous studies evaluating the relationship between activity and sudden cardiac arrest lacked an objective measure of physical activity and women were often underrepresented.
Objective: To determine the relationship between physical activity, recorded by accelerometer in a wearable cardioverter-defibrillator (WCD), and sustained ventricular arrhythmia among female patients.
Methods: A dataset of female adult patients prescribed a WCD for a diagnosis of myocardial infarction or dilated cardiomyopathy was compiled from a commercial database. Curve estimation, to include linear and nonlinear interpolation, was applied to physical activity as a function of time (days before arrhythmia).
Results: Among women who received an appropriate WCD shock for sustained ventricular arrhythmia (N = 120), a quadratic relationship between time and activity was present prior to shock. Physical activity increased starting at the beginning of the 30-day period up until day -16 (16 days before the ventricular arrhythmia) when activity begins to decline.
Conclusion: For patients who received treatment for sustained ventricular arrhythmia, a decline in physical activity was found during the 2 weeks preceding the arrhythmic event. Device monitoring for a sustained decline in physical activity may be useful to identify patients at near-term risk of a cardiac arrest.
Homeownership rates differ widely across European countries. We document that part of this variation is driven by differences in the fraction of adults co-residing with their parents. Comparing Germany and Italy, we show that in contrast to homeownership rates per household, homeownership rates per individual are very similar during the first part of the life cycle. To understand these patterns, we build an overlapping-generations model where individuals face uninsurable income risk and make consumption-saving and housing tenure decisions. We embed an explicit intergenerational link between children and parents to capture the three-way trade-off between owning, renting, and co-residing. Calibrating the model to Germany we explore the role of income profiles, housing policies, and the taste for independence and show that a combination of these factors goes a long way in explaining the differential life-cycle patterns of living arrangements between the two countries.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine illustrates the increasingly judicialized nature of international relations and geopolitics. By viewing aspects of the invasion as illegal – in particular through the identification of war crimes and crimes against humanity – the international response draws attention to the political geographies of international criminal investigation. Human rights groups, academics, journalists, and open-source forensic investigations have joined forces to collect, evaluate and analyze the violent nature of war crimes. While similar shifts in evidence gathering have been observed in the case of the Bosnia-Herzegovina war and the Assad regime's violence against Syrian citizens, the use of evidence-gathering technologies and evidence-securing institutions in the case of Ukraine is distinctive. In this scholarly intervention we seek to illustrate the intimate geopolitics of evidence gathering by zooming in on two different elements that shape evidential procedures in Ukraine: i) the blurring of civilian/military boundaries; and ii) the challenges of access. By evaluating what is new and what is similar to previous war sites, we suggest that these two areas reflect a geopolitics of evidence gathering, highlighting its global-local intimacies. Both these areas are well positioned to foster new research on the (geo)legal nature of war crimes in political geography and beyond.
Background: Urachal cancer (UrC) is a rare disease with limited availability of representative incidence and clinical data. Although, the prevalence is accounting for less than 1% of bladder tumors, the 5-year survival rate is around only 50% for patients with resectable tumors, and even worse for patients with metastatic disease. Due to the lack of comprehensive prospective studies, our current knowledge of UrC is still limited.
Objective: The present study aimed to summarize the available registry-based studies with unselected UrC patients to evaluate its incidence and clinicopathological characteristics.
Material and methods: We conducted a systematic literature search of registry-based UrC publications on the 15th of May 2023 in 5 databases, which identified 4,748 publications. After duplicate removal and selection by 2 independent investigators, 6 publications proved to be appropriate for the final meta-analysis. Estimated incidence and clinicopathological parameters were extracted.
Results: Estimated incidence ranged between 0.022 and 0.060/ 100.000 person-years, with the highest occurrence in Japan and the lowest in Canada, while the random effect model calculated an overall incidence rate of 0.04 (95%CI: 0.03–0.05) 100.000 person-years. The median age at first diagnosis was 60 years (range: 58–64). The female to male ratio was 2:3. Lymph node or distant metastases were present in 9% and 14% of patients. The predominant tumour type was adenocarcinoma (86%) followed by urothelial carcinoma (12%) and squamous cell carcinoma (2%). The 5-year survival rate was 51.0% with 95%CI: 45.2–57.4.
Conclusions: Our study provides an up-to-date comparison of estimated incidence rates between 6 countries of 3 continents based on rigorously selected registry-based studies. The results suggest low incidence rates for UrC with considerable geographic differences. The present meta-analysis provides unbiased registry-based data on the incidence, clinicopathological parameters and survival of UrC.
Evidence-based and comprehensible health information is a key element of evidence-based medicine and public health. The goal is informed decision-making based on realistic estimations of health risks and accurate expectations about benefits and harms of interventions. In Germany, standards of evidence-based risk information were poorly followed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frequently, public information was biased, fragmentary and misleading. Pandemic-related threat scenarios induced emotional distress and unnecessary anxiety. A systematic and comprehensive evaluation of the pandemic measures is crucial, but still pending in Germany. A critical analysis of risk communication by experts, politicians and the media during the pandemic should be a key element of the evaluation process. Evaluation of decision making and media reporting during the pandemic should improve preparedness for future crises.
Virtual currencies have gained popularity as part of the digital transformation of the financial system. In particular stablecoins are becoming increasingly popular with consumers. The tokens, which are pegged to a value and - according to their name - promise price stability, pose significant risks from which consumers need to be protected. This article focuses first on consumerspecific risks (B.) and German consumer protection law and in particular on the applicability of a right of withdrawal from the acquisition of stablecoins (C.). Subsequently, the EU legislator’s effort to minimize price stability as well as transparency and exchangeability risks, the Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation (2023/1114), is examined in terms of its consumer protection instruments (D.).
Mitochondria and chloroplasts are of endosymbiotic origin. Their integration into cells entailed the development of protein translocons, partially by recycling bacterial proteins. We demonstrate the evolutionary conservation of the translocon component Tic22 between cyanobacteria and chloroplasts. Tic22 in Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 is essential. The protein is localized in the thylakoids and in the periplasm and can be functionally replaced by a plant orthologue. Tic22 physically interacts with the outer envelope biogenesis factor Omp85 in vitro and in vivo, the latter exemplified by immunoprecipitation after chemical cross-linking. The physical interaction together with the phenotype of a tic22 mutant comparable with the one of the omp85 mutant indicates a concerted function of both proteins. The three-dimensional structure allows the definition of conserved hydrophobic pockets comparable with those of ClpS or BamB. The results presented suggest a function of Tic22 in outer membrane biogenesis.
Background: Although Tic22 is involved in protein import into chloroplasts, the function in cyanobacteria is unknown.
Results: Cyanobacterial Tic22 is required for OM biogenesis, shares structural features with chaperones, and can be substituted by plant Tic22.
Conclusion: Tic22, involved in outer membrane biogenesis, is functionally conserved in cyanobacteria and plants.
Significance: The findings are important for the understanding of periplasmic protein transport.
Proteins of the Omp85 family are conserved in all kingdoms of life. They mediate protein transport across or protein insertion into membranes and reside in the outer membranes of Gram-negative bacteria, mitochondria, and chloroplasts. Omp85 proteins contain a C-terminal transmembrane β-barrel and a soluble N terminus with a varying number of polypeptide-transport-associated or POTRA domains. Here we investigate Omp85 from the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120. The crystallographic three-dimensional structure of the N-terminal region shows three POTRA domains, here named P1 to P3 from the N terminus. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed a hinge between P1 and P2 but in contrast show that P2 and P3 are fixed in orientation. The P2-P3 arrangement is identical as seen for the POTRA domains from proteobacterial FhaC, suggesting this orientation is a conserved feature. Furthermore, we define interfaces for protein-protein interaction in P1 and P2. P3 possesses an extended loop unique to cyanobacteria and plantae, which influences pore properties as shown by deletion. It now becomes clear how variations in structure of individual POTRA domains, as well as the different number of POTRA domains with both rigid and flexible connections make the N termini of Omp85 proteins versatile adaptors for a plentitude of functions.
Precursor protein translocation across the outer chloroplast membrane depends on the action of the Toc complex, containing GTPases as recognizing receptor components. The G domains of the GTPases are known to dimerize. In the dimeric conformation an arginine contacts the phosphate moieties of bound nucleotide in trans. Kinetic studies suggested that the arginine in itself does not act as an arginine finger of a reciprocal GTPase-activating protein (GAP). Here we investigate the specific function of the residue in two GTPase homologues. Arginine to alanine replacement variants have significantly reduced affinities for dimerization compared with wild-type GTPases. The amino acid exchange does not impact on the overall fold and nucleotide binding, as seen in the monomeric x-ray crystallographic structure of the Arabidopsis Toc33 arginine-alanine replacement variant at 2.0A. We probed the catalytic center with the transition state analogue GDP/AlF(x) using NMR and analytical ultracentrifugation. AlF(x) binding depends on the arginine, suggesting the residue can play a role in catalysis despite the non-GAP nature of the homodimer. Two non-exclusive functional models are discussed: 1) the coGAP hypothesis, in which an additional factor activates the GTPase in homodimeric form; and 2) the switch hypothesis, in which a protein, presumably the large Toc159 GTPase, exchanges with one of the homodimeric subunits, leading to activation.