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New drugs are urgently needed to combat the global TB epidemic. Targeting simultaneously multiple respiratory enzyme complexes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is regarded as one of the most effective treatment options to shorten drug administration regimes, and reduce the opportunity for the emergence of drug resistance. During infection and proliferation, the cytochrome bd oxidase plays a crucial role for mycobacterial pathophysiology by maintaining aerobic respiration at limited oxygen concentrations. Here, we present the cryo-EM structure of the cytochrome bd oxidase from M. tuberculosis at 2.5 Å. In conjunction with atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studies we discovered a previously unknown MK-9-binding site, as well as a unique disulfide bond within the Q-loop domain that defines an inactive conformation of the canonical quinol oxidation site in Actinobacteria. Our detailed insights into the long-sought atomic framework of the cytochrome bd oxidase from M. tuberculosis will form the basis for the design of highly specific drugs to act on this enzyme.
Purpose: In patients with pyogenic spondylodiscitis, surgery is considered the treatment of choice to conduct proper debridement, stabilise the spine and avoid extended bed rest, which in turn is a risk factor for complications such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Methods: We conducted a retrospective clinical study with analysis of a group of 99 patients who had undergone treatment for pyogenic discitis at our institution between June 2012 and August 2017. Included parameters were age, sex, disease pattern, the presence of deep vein thrombosis, resuscitation, in-hospital mortality, present anticoagulation, preexisting comorbidities, tobacco abuse, body mass index, microbiological germ detection and laboratory results. Results: Among the analysed cohort, 12% of the treated patients for pyogenic spondylodiscitis suffered from a radiologically confirmed pulmonary embolism. Coronary heart disease (p < 0.01), female sex (p < 0.01), anticoagulation at admission (p < 0.01) and non-O blood type (p < 0.001) were associated with development of pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolism was significantly associated with resuscitation (p < 0.005) and deep vein thrombosis (p < 0.001). Neurosurgery was not associated with increased risk for pulmonary embolism compared to conservative-treated patients (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Surgery for pyogenic spondylodiscitis was not associated with an elevated risk of pulmonary embolism in our analysis. However, we describe several risk factors for pulmonary embolism in this vulnerable cohort. Prospective studies are necessary to improve prevention and postoperative management in patients with pyogenic spondylodiscitis.
Plastic products leach chemicals that induce in vitro toxicity under realistic use conditions
(2021)
Plastic products contain complex mixtures of extractable chemicals that can be toxic. However, humans and wildlife will only be exposed to plastic chemicals that are released under realistic conditions. Thus, we investigated the toxicological and chemical profiles leaching into water from 24 everyday plastic products covering eight polymer types. We performed migration experiments over 10 days at 40 °C and analyzed the migrates using four in vitro bioassays and nontarget high-resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MSE). All migrates induced baseline toxicity, 22 an oxidative stress response, 13 antiandrogenicity, and one estrogenicity. Overall, between 17 and 8681 relevant chemical features were present in the migrates. In other words, between 1 and 88% of the plastic chemicals associated with one product were migrating. Further, we tentatively identified ∼8% of all detected features implying that most plastic chemicals remain unknown. While low-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polyurethane induced most toxicological endpoints, a generalization for other materials is not possible. Our results demonstrate that plastic products readily leach many more chemicals than previously known, some of which are toxic in vitro. This highlights that humans are exposed to many more plastic chemicals than currently considered in public health science and policies.
As a first step towards a realistic phenomenological description of vector and axial-vector mesons in nuclear matter, we calculate the spectral functions of the ρ and the a1 meson in a chiral baryon-meson model as a low-energy effective realization of QCD, taking into account the effects of fluctuations from scalar mesons, nucleons, and vector mesons within the functional renormalization group (FRG) approach. The phase diagram of the effective hadronic theory exhibits a nuclear liquid-gas phase transition as well as a chiral phase transition at a higher baryon-chemical potential. The in-medium ρ and a1 spectral functions are calculated by using the previously introduced analytically-continued FRG (aFRG) method. Our results show strong modifications of the spectral functions—in particular near the critical endpoints of both phase transitions—which may well be of relevance for electromagnetic rates in heavy-ion collisions or neutrino emissivities in neutron-star merger events.
Contemporary information systems make widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI). While AI offers various benefits, it can also be subject to systematic errors, whereby people from certain groups (defined by gender, age, or other sensitive attributes) experience disparate outcomes. In many AI applications, disparate outcomes confront businesses and organizations with legal and reputational risks. To address these, technologies for so-called “AI fairness” have been developed, by which AI is adapted such that mathematical constraints for fairness are fulfilled. However, the financial costs of AI fairness are unclear. Therefore, the authors develop AI fairness for a real-world use case from e-commerce, where coupons are allocated according to clickstream sessions. In their setting, the authors find that AI fairness successfully manages to adhere to fairness requirements, while reducing the overall prediction performance only slightly. However, they find that AI fairness also results in an increase in financial cost. Thus, in this way the paper’s findings contribute to designing information systems on the basis of AI fairness.
HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 genetic diversity modulates response to lithium in bipolar affective disorders
(2021)
Bipolar affective disorder (BD) is a severe psychiatric illness, for which lithium (Li) is the gold standard for acute and maintenance therapies. The therapeutic response to Li in BD is heterogeneous and reliable biomarkers allowing patients stratification are still needed. A GWAS performed by the International Consortium on Lithium Genetics (ConLiGen) has recently identified genetic markers associated with treatment responses to Li in the human leukocyte antigens (HLA) region. To better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying this association, we have genetically imputed the classical alleles of the HLA region in the European patients of the ConLiGen cohort. We found our best signal for amino-acid variants belonging to the HLA-DRB1*11:01 classical allele, associated with a better response to Li (p < 1 × 10−3; FDR < 0.09 in the recessive model). Alanine or Leucine at position 74 of the HLA-DRB1 heavy chain was associated with a good response while Arginine or Glutamic acid with a poor response. As these variants have been implicated in common inflammatory/autoimmune processes, our findings strongly suggest that HLA-mediated low inflammatory background may contribute to the efficient response to Li in BD patients, while an inflammatory status overriding Li anti-inflammatory properties would favor a weak response.
J.R.R. Tolkien's "enigmatic and unfinished" book "The Silmarillion" - posthumously published by Christopher Tolkien in 1977 - is often referred to as being a mythic work, or a collection of mythopoeic tales, but what exactly does that description entail? Logically, Tolkien's writings, by virtue of being labeled 'mythic' alongside of mythologies such as "The Iliad", "Metamorphoses", and "The Odyssey", must possess qualities which warrant the description. While Tolkien's mythology is in a different category since his mythology is specifically designed for Middle-earth, there are still important overlaps through which inspiration and influences may be traced.
Species of the genus Aphelopus Dalman (Hymenoptera, Dryinidae) are important natural enemies of leafhoppers. The genus is relatively diverse in China, with 35 recorded species. In order to further make use of these important parasitoids in biological control programs, species of Aphelopus collected across China are studied using an integrative approach (combined DNA barcoding and morphology). Of the 17 studied species, two are newly recorded from China: A. nivealis Mita & Olmi, 2014 and A. prolatus Mita & Olmi, 2014, and four are described as new to science: A. incognitus Chen, Olmi & Guglielmino sp. nov., A. maculiala Olmi, Chen & Ødegaard sp. nov., A. taianensis Olmi, Ødegaard & Chen sp. nov., and A. zaifui Olmi, Chen & Liu sp. nov. The total number of Aphelopus species known from China is raised from 35 to 39. Keys to the Oriental and Eastern Palaearctic species of Aphelopus are modified to include the new species. Application of DNA barcoding in the species delimitation of Dryinidae is discussed.
In this study, we report the results of a taxonomic survey of terrestrial isopods from Isla Grande, a ca 2 km2 island located in the north of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. We found a total of 17 species belonging to nine families and 10 genera. Eight of these species have been reported only from the Caribbean region, nine are recorded for the first time in Colombia, and three are new to science and described here: Tylos negroi López-Orozco, Carpio-Díaz & Campos-Filho sp. nov., Stenoniscus nestori López-Orozco, Taiti & Campos-Filho sp. nov. and Armadilloniscus luisi Carpio-Díaz, Taiti & Campos-Filho sp. nov. Our revision also determined that the genus Microphiloscia is a junior synonym of Halophiloscia; and moreover, Halophiloscia trichoniscoides comb. nov. is redescribed. We also provide illustrations for Armadilloniscus caraibicus and Armadilloniscus ninae. Most (16) of the species were found in coastal habitats (i.e., beaches, coastal lagoons and mangroves), whereas the tropical dry forest harbored only two species. Molecular phylogenetic inferences supported the presence of three species of Tylos in Isla Grande (i.e., one new species and a new lineage within each of two known species). Our work on Tylos highlights the importance of combining taxonomic and molecular analyses to support taxonomic decisions and uncover cryptic diversity. Due to the multiple threats to Caribbean coastal habitats, taxonomic and molecular genetic research are urgently needed to understand biodiversity patterns of oniscideans in the Caribbean, which will inform strategies for their protection. Such studies will also contribute to our knowledge of their evolution, ecology, and potential uses, as well as the factors that have shaped the remarkable Caribbean biodiversity.
Review of the Panorpa wormaldi group (Mecoptera: Panorpidae), with descriptions of two new species
(2022)
Panorpa Linnaeus, 1758 is the largest genus in the scorpionfly family Panorpidae. In this paper, a taxonomic review of the Panorpa wormaldi group is provided, with two new species described from China: Panorpa fengyanga Wang & Suzuki, sp. nov. from Zhejiang, and Panorpa zhuohengi Wang & Suzuki, sp. nov. from Guangdong. The male of Panorpa implicata Cheng, 1957 is discovered and described for the first time. A distributional map and keys to species are also provided for this group. Species number in this group is updated from 17 to 19. In addition, their biogeographical and evolutionary implications are briefly discussed.