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Recent data have suggested that performing recanalizing therapies in ischemic stroke might lead to an increased risk of acute symptomatic seizures. This applies to both intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy. We therefore determined the frequency of acute symptomatic seizures attributable to these two recanalization therapies using a large, population-based stroke registry in Central Europe. We performed two matched 1:1 case–control analyses. In both analyses, patients were matched for age, stroke severity on admission and pre-stroke functional status. The first analysis compared patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis to a non-recanalization control group. To isolate the effect of mechanical thrombectomy, we compared patients with both mechanical thrombectomy and intravenous thrombolysis to those with only intravenous thrombolysis treatment in a second analysis. From 135,117 patients in the database, 13,356 patients treated with only intravenous thrombolysis, and 1013 patients treated with both intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy were each matched to an equivalent number of controls. Patients with intravenous thrombolysis did not suffer from clinically apparent acute symptomatic seizures significantly more often than non-recanalized patients (treatment = 199; 1.5% vs. control = 237; 1.8%, p = 0.07). Mechanical thrombectomy in addition to intravenous thrombolysis also was not associated with an increased risk of acute symptomatic seizures, as the same number of patients suffered from seizures in the treatment and control group (both n = 17; 1.7%, p = 1). In a large population-based stroke registry, the frequency of clinically apparent acute symptomatic seizures was not increased in patients who received either intravenous thrombolysis alone or in conjunction with mechanical thrombectomy.
Evidence is increasingly pointing towards a significant global decline in biodiversity. The drivers of this decline are numerous, including habitat change and overexploitation, rapid deforestation, pollution, exotic species and disease, and finally climate change as an emerging driver of biodiversity change (Nakamura, et al., 2013; Hancocks, 2001; Pereira, Navarro & Martins, 2012). Raising public awareness of the need to conserve biological diversity is essential to safeguard the richness of life forms all over the world (Lindemann-Matthies, 2002). In this regard, institutions such as science museums, zoos and aquariums have the potential to play an important role (Rennie & Stocklmayer, 2003). Especially, zoos can provide a productive learning environment (Miles & Tout, 1992), facilitating the promotion of public conservation awareness and the adoption of pro-environmental behaviours that would reduce negative human impacts on biodiversity (Barongi, et al., 2015).
Based on these concepts, my study contributes to the developing field of visitor studies. Taking as reference non-zoo visitors and zoo visitors, I have focused on reviewing some aspects of conservation education, such as people's awareness of conservation, people's interest in animals and people's feelings towards animals and attitudes towards zoos. The study identified differences between non-regular and regular zoo visitors in interests in animals, as well as visitor attitudes towards conservation issues and zoos. Therefore, the present study indicated that positive emotional reactions and, in particular, a perceived sense of connection to the animal were linked and depended on the frequency of zoo visits. It was as well remarkable, that conservation awareness was influenced by the interest in animals, the interest in visiting zoos, the attitudes towards these institutions, and the age and the country of origin. All these variables had a greater effect in the conservation consciousness of the participants. Additionally interestingly, the main reason for visiting zoos in every country was to learn something about animals. This highlights the educational role of zoos and broadly supports the idea that people want to visit zoos to learn something about animals, in turn facilitating pro-conservation learning and changes in attitude. They are uniquely positioned to interact with visitors, communities, and society and to contribute by providing an informative and entertaining environment. Visiting zoos could led to contribute to promoting animal connectedness and interest in species.
This work presents, to our knowledge, the first completely passive imaging with human-body-emitted radiation in the lower THz frequency range using a broadband uncooled detector. The sensor consists of a Si CMOS field-effect transistor with an integrated log-spiral THz antenna. This THz sensor was measured to exhibit a rather flat responsivity over the 0.1–1.5-THz frequency range, with values of the optical responsivity and noise-equivalent power of around 40 mA/W and 42 pW/√Hz, respectively. These values are in good agreement with simulations which suggest an even broader flat responsivity range exceeding 2.0 THz. The successful imaging demonstratestheimpressivethermalsensitivitywhichcanbeachievedwithsuchasensor. Recording of a 2.3×7.5-cm2-sized image of the fingers of a hand with a pixel size of 1 mm2 at a scanning speed of 1 mm/s leads to a signal-to-noise ratio of 2 and a noise-equivalent temperature difference of 4.4 K. This approach shows a new sensing approach with field-effect transistors as THz detectors which are usually used for active THz detection.
Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative movement disorder caused by expansion of CAG repeats in the ATXN2 gene beyond 33 units, while healthy individuals carry 22-23 repeats. First symptoms of SCA2 include uncoordinated movement, ataxic gait and slowing of the saccadic eye movements in line with the early pronounced atrophy of cerebellum, spinal cord and brainstem. Cerebellar Purkinje cells and spinal cord motor neurons are the most affected cells from ATXN2 expansions. Later on, patients manifest distal amyotrophy, problems in breathing and swallowing, depression and cognitive decline caused by widespread degeneration throughout the brain. The striking loss of mass in the brain, due to severe myelin fat atrophy, is accompanied by a similar reduction in the peripheral fat stores. After the devastating progression of disease, the severity and duration of which depends on the CAG repeat size, genetic background and environmental factors, patients succumb to SCA2 mostly because of respiratory failure at the terminal stage. Larger repeat sizes lead to an earlier manifestation of the disease and a more rapid progression. Aside from SCA2, intermediate-length and short pathogenic CAG expansions in ATXN2 between 26-39 repeats significantly increase the risk of developing other neurodegenerative disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), fronto-temporal lobar dementia (FTLD) or Parkinson plus tauopathies like progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in various cohorts across the world.
Ataxin-2 (ATXN2) is a ubiquitously expressed cytosolic protein most famous for its involvement in neurodegenerative disease caused by the expanded poly-glutamine (polyQ) domain corresponding to a genomic (CAG)n tract. This N-terminal polyQ domain has no known function, other than increasing the aggregation propensity of mutant ATXN2 and facilitating interaction with other polyQ containing proteins, leading to their sequestration. The progressive accumulation of ATXN2 into cytosolic foci, and also that of its interaction partners over time, underlies the molecular pathomechanism. Next to polyQ domain, ATXN2 also contains a Like-Sm domain (Lsm), an Lsm-associated domain (LsmAD), multiple proline-rich domains (PRD) and a Poly(A)-Binding-Protein (PABP)-interacting motif (PAM2).
Through its Lsm/LsmAD domains, ATXN2 directly binds to a large number of transcripts, regulating their quality and translation rate. In a similar fashion, through its direct interaction with PABP via PAM2 motif, ATXN2 indirectly modifies the fate of even larger number of transcripts and global translation. Several PRDs scattered across the protein help ATXN2 associate with growth factor receptors and other endocytosis factors, modulating nutrient uptake and downstream signaling.
ATXN2 is a stress response factor. Therefore, its involvement in nutrient uptake plays a crucial part in cell’s capability to overcome non-permissive conditions. Upon nutrient deprivation, oxidative stress, proteotoxicity, heat stress or Ca2+ imbalance, ATXN2 relocalizes into cytosolic ribonucleoprotein particles known as stress granules (SGs), together with PABP, several eukaryotic translation initiation factors, many other RNA-binding proteins (RBP) with their target transcripts and the small ribosomal subunit. Collectively, they modulate the stability of the trapped transcripts, favoring the maturation and translation of IRES-dependent stress response proteins instead, according to the specific need. Many RBPs interact either directly or in an RNA-dependent manner in the SGs, and due to the large number of ALS-causing mutations identified in them (such as TDP-43, FUS, TIA-1, hnRNPA2/B1), SGs became a hot topic in neuropathology. Acute SGs serve to halt translation and growth, and to spend energy only for survival until stress disappears. However, chronic SG assembly eventually activates apoptotis leading to cell death. While the polyQ expansions in ATXN2 enhance SG stability, reduce their dissociation rate after stress, and lead to aberrant post-translational modifications of other SG components like TDP-43, complete loss of ATXN2 delays SG formation and results in easily dissolvable foci.
Most of the stressors that induce SG formation eventually converge on energetic deficit. Therefore, it is logical that the ultimate task of SGs is to stop further growth when it cannot be afforded. In yeast, the molecular mechanism underlying this growth arrest was explained as sequestration of the master growth regulator complex, Target-of-Rapamycin Complex 1 (TORC1), into SGs in an ATXN2-dependent manner. The repressor effect of ATXN2 on mammalian TORC1 (mTORC1) and global protein translation had already been documented in earlier studies; complete loss of ATXN2 function in knock-out mouse (Atxn2-KO) resulted in mTORC1 hyperactivity and transcriptional upregulation of multiple ribosomal subunits indicating an increased need for these machines. ...
A new phylogenetic hypothesis is proposed for the relationships among the species within the genus Docosia Winnertz, 1863, based on a combined analysis of five DNA markers (28S, ITS2, COI, COII and CytB). Five new species are described, Docosia anatolica Ševčík sp. nov. from Turkey, D. japonica Kurina sp. nov. from Japan, D. peloponnensis Ševčík sp. nov. from Greece, D. svanetica Kurina sp. nov. from Caucasus and D. polyspina Kurina sp. nov. from the Russian Far East. New country records of the following species are presented: D. diutina Plassmann, 1996 (Turkey), D. flavicoxa Strobl, 1900 (Georgia), D. gilvipes (Haliday in Walker, 1856) (Georgia), D. kerkini Kurina & Ševčík, 2011 (Bulgaria), D. moravica Landrock, 1916 (Georgia), D. pannonica Lastovka & Ševčík 2006 (Georgia) and D. rameli Kurina & Ševčík, 2011 (Slovakia).
We discuss the potential of light-nuclei measurements in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies for the search of the hypothetical QCD critical end-point. A previous proposal based on neutron density fluctuations has brought appealing experimental evidences of a maximum in the ratio of the number of tritons times protons, divided over deuterons square, O tpd. However these results are difficult to reconcile with the state-of-the-art statistical thermal model predictions. Based on the idea that the QCD critical point can lead to a substantial attraction among nucleons, we propose new light-nuclei multiplicity ratios involving He in which the maximum would be more noticeable. We argue that the experimental extraction is feasible by presenting these ratios formed from actual measurements of total and differential yields at low and high collision energies from FOPI and ALICE experiments, respectively. We also illustrate the possible behavior of these ratios at intermediate energies applying a semiclassical method based on flucton paths using the preliminary NA49 and STAR data for O tpd as input.
This collection of articles is based on presentations and discussions at the 2018 African Potentials Forum, held in Accra, Ghana. This forum was a part of the African Potentials Project, which aims to clarify the latent problem-solving abilities, ways of thinking, and institutions that have been created, accumulated, unified, and deployed in the everyday experiences of Africans. The notion of Africas latent power/potential is not related to romanticisation of the traditional knowledge of African society and its institutions as fixed, essentialised magic wands. This notion also raises objections against political dogmas that seek to smoke out and eliminate thought and values originating in Western modernity. The keyword of the Accra Forum was futurity. Africas future is laden with possibilities, latent power, and potential. It is bright and hopeful but, simultaneously, bleak and thought-provoking. For nascent democracies and economically challenged communities, the value of this potential lies not in its static qualities but in how these qualities can be harnessed and translated into beneficial practical outcomes. As a concept, potential connotes a time to come; a futurity that is full of known and unknown possibilities, challenges, and opportunities.
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is still associated with high morbidity and mortality incidence rates, and also bears an elevated risk of subsequent chronic kidney disease. Although the kidney has a remarkable capacity for regeneration after injury and may recover completely depending on the type of renal lesions, the options for clinical intervention are restricted to fluid management and extracorporeal kidney support. The development of novel therapies to prevent AKI, to improve renal regeneration capacity after AKI, and to preserve renal function is urgently needed. The Special Issue covers research articles that investigated the molecular mechanisms of inflammation and injury during different renal pathologies, renal regeneration, diagnostics using new biomarkers, and the effects of different stimuli like medication or bacterial components on isolated renal cells or in vivo models. The Special Issue contains important reviews that consider the current knowledge of cell death and regeneration, inflammation, and the molecular mechanisms of kidney diseases. In addition, the potential of cell-based therapy approaches that use mesenchymal stromal/stem cells or their derivates is summarized. This edition is complemented by reviews that deal with the current data situation on other specific topics like diabetes and diabetic nephropathy or new therapeutic targets.
Placing security studies in the context of contemporary discourses about the colonial comeback and posthumanism, this book postulates the notion of staticide which avers that the effacement of African state sovereignty is crucial for the security of the oncoming empire. Understood in the light of posthumanism, antihumanism, animism, postanthropocentrism and transhumanism; African human security has evidently been put on a recession course together with African state security. Much as African states are demonised as so failed, defective, corrupt, weak and rogue to require recolonisation; transhumanism also assumes that human bodies are so corrupt, imperfect, defective, failed, rogue and weak to require not only enhancements or augmentation but also to beckon recolonisation. Also, deemed to be ecologies, human bodies are set to be liberalised and democratised in the interest of nonhuman viruses, nanobots, microchips, bacteria, fungi and other pathogens living within the bodies. The book critically examines the security implications of theorising human bodies as ecologies for nonhuman entities. Reading staticide together with transhumanism, this book foresees transhumanist new eugenics that are accompanying the new empire in a supposedly Anthropocene world that serves to justify the sacrifice and disposability of some surplus humans living in the recesses and nether regions of the empire. Paying attention to the colonial comeback, the book urges African scholars not to mistake imperial transformation for decolonisation. The book is invaluable for scholars and activists in African studies, anthropology, decoloniality, sociology, politics, development studies, security studies, sociology and anthropology of science and technology studies, and environmental studies.
Reflections of South African Student Leaders 1994-2017 brings together the reflections of twelve former SRC leaders from across the landscape of South African universities. Reviews of the previous volume, 1981-2014 suggested that it contributed significantly to a better understanding of the stringent demands of visionary and transformative leadership required by university leaders in the fastchanging and increasingly complex public higher education sector. This volume is based on comprehensive interviews with former student leaders, each of whom provided a personal account in their own words of their experience in the position of student leadership. The interviewees are from different backgrounds and of diverse political persuasions. The book is important for current and future leaders of higher education institutions as it provides insights into the thinking, aspirations, desires, fears and modus operandi of student leaders. Such insight can contribute to developing and implementing appropriate strategies for achieving meaningful and constructive engagement with current and future student leaders.
Dialogues in climate and environmental research, policy and planning : a special focus on Zimbabwe
(2020)
Climate change is the topic of the century. It is a subject of discussion by sceptics, heretics and those that have immersed in it as a serious debate for engagement. In this volume, the matter is localised to the plateau bordered by the great rivers of Limpopo to the south and Zambezi to the north. Evidence has it that climate change is inducing immense environmental change hitherto unknown including water stress and droughts, heat waves and flooding. The effects span across all sectors agriculture, forestry, engineering, construction and other socio-economic dimensions of life. When an issue becomes such topical, it becomes political but also courts policy debate. The thrust of this volume is to explore into climate change as an environmental concern begging government attention and requiring prioritisation as a shaper of our future, whether we set to put mitigation or adaptation measures in place, or we choose to do nothing about it, as sceptics would perhaps suggest. The book explores climate change as a theoretical, policy, technical and practical debate as it affects sectors and rural and urban spatialities in Zimbabwe. Contributions explore such themes as regional research, gender, disaster preparedness, policymaking, resilience, governance, urban planning, risk management, environmental law, and the food-water-health-energy-climate change nexus.