Work time reductions (WTRs) may contribute to a transition to a post-growth society. We analysed Swiss stakeholders’ perceptions of the effects of WTRs and their support for measures to implement ...them. It is assumed that public support will play a significant role in putting WTRs
into practice.There is some scientific evidence that work time reductions (WTRs) have beneficial ecological, social, and economic effects that could contribute to a transition to a post-growth society. However, little research has been conducted on whether the occurrence of such desired
effects is acknowledged: Do they form part of the public debate and is there any public support for WTRs? We conducted a two-round survey among Swiss stakeholder groups (N = 51/28) to identify what effects they believe WTRs have, and what measures to implement WTRs they would be most likely
to support. Stakeholders perceived WTRs to have several beneficial social and economic effects, including effects that are relevant for a transition to a post-growth society. However, they did not assume that ecological effects occur. Measures voluntarily implemented on an organisational level
by businesses were more popular than those implemented on a national policy or social partnership level. Certain incremental measures and/or those that are merely conducive to WTRs were uncontested. Other more direct and extensive measures were predominantly supported, but not uncontested.
The Atmosphere‐Space Interactions Monitor measures Terrestrial Gamma‐Ray Flashes (TGFs) simultaneously with optical emissions from associated lightning activity. We analyzed optical measurements at ...180–230, 337, and 777.4 nm related to 69 TGFs observed between June 2018 and October 2019. All TGFs are associated with optical emissions and 90% of them are at the onset of a large optical pulse, suggesting that they are connected with the initiation of current surges. A model of photon delay induced by cloud scattering suggests that the sources of the optical pulses are from 0.7 ms before to 4.4 ms after the TGFs, with a median of −10 ± 80 µs, and 1–5 km below the cloud top. The pulses have rise times comparable to lightning but longer durations. Pulse amplitudes at 337 nm are ∼3 times larger than at 777.4 nm. The results support the leader‐streamer mechanism for TGF generation.
Plain Language Summary
Terrestrial Gamma‐Ray Flashes (TGFs) are short bursts of high‐energy radiation produced in thunderstorms, first observed from astrophysical spacecraft during the 1990s. This study characterizes optical emissions from lightning associated with these flashes in multiple wavelengths to help finding their production mechanism. The data are collected by space based instruments aboard the International Space Station as it passes over the major thunderstorm regions of the Earth. We find that TGFs are associated with propagation of intracloud lightning in the upper cloud levels. With the help of a model of light propagation through a cloud, we estimate the source of the respective optical emissions to be 1–5 km below the cloud tops. By investigating TGFs and their connection to lightning, we can understand the energy and timescales of lightning better, eventually leading to a better understanding of cloud physics and thunderstorms in general.
Key Points
We present the first statistical analysis of emissions at 180–230, 337, and 777 nm coincident with TGFs as measured by a single platform
90% of TGFs occur at the onset of large‐amplitude optical pulses supporting the streamer‐leader mechanism for TGF generation
The sources of the emissions are estimated to be 1–5 km below the cloud tops
Pallidal deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an important option for patients with severe dystonias, which are thought to arise from a disturbance in striatal control of the globus pallidus internus ...(GPi). The mechanisms of GPi-DBS are far from understood. Although a disturbance of striatal function is thought to play a key role in dystonia, the effects of DBS on cortico-striatal function are unknown.
We hypothesised that DBS, via axonal backfiring, or indirectly via thalamic and cortical coupling, alters striatal function. We tested this hypothesis in the dtsz hamster, an animal model of inherited generalised, paroxysmal dystonia.
Hamsters (dystonic and non-dystonic controls) were bilaterally implanted with stimulation electrodes in the GPi. DBS (130 Hz), and sham DBS, were performed in unanaesthetised animals for 3 h. Synaptic cortico-striatal field potentials, as well as miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSC) and firing properties of medium spiny striatal neurones were recorded in brain slice preparations obtained immediately after EPN-DBS.
The main findings were as follows: a. DBS increased cortico-striatal evoked responses in healthy, but not in dystonic tissue. b. Commensurate with this, DBS increased inhibitory control of these evoked responses in dystonic, and decreased inhibitory control in healthy tissue. c. Further, DBS reduced mEPSC frequency strongly in dystonic, and less prominently in healthy tissue, showing that also a modulation of presynaptic mechanisms is likely involved. d. Cellular properties of medium-spiny neurones remained unchanged.
We conclude that DBS leads to dampening of cortico-striatal communication, and restores intrastriatal inhibitory tone.
•Clinically effective pallidal DBS (3 h) was applied in freely moving dystonic animals.•Persistent effects on cortico-striatal synaptic communication were observed•DBS increases striatal inhibitory tone in exclusively in dystonic tissue.•DBS reduces spontaneous excitatory cortico-striatal activity in dystonic tissue.•DBS effects are likely be mediated by presynaptic modulation of cortical afferents and striatal increase in inhibitory tone.
The TNF-R1 like receptor Fas is highly expressed on the plasma membrane of hepatocytes and plays an essential role in liver homeostasis. We recently showed that in collagen-cultured primary mouse ...hepatocytes, Fas stimulation triggers apoptosis via the so-called type I extrinsic signaling pathway. Central to this pathway is the direct caspase-8-mediated cleavage and activation of caspase-3 as compared to the type II pathway which first requires caspase-8-mediated Bid cleavage to trigger mitochondrial cytochrome
c
release for caspase-3 activation. Mathematical modeling can be used to understand complex signaling systems such as crosstalks and feedback or feedforward loops. A previously published model predicted a positive feedback loop between active caspases-3 and -8 in both type I and type II FasL signaling in lymphocytes and Hela cells, respectively. Here we experimentally tested this hypothesis in our hepatocytic type I Fas signaling pathway by using wild-type and XIAP-deficient primary hepatocytes and two recently characterized, selective caspase-3/-7 inhibitors (AB06 and AB13). Caspase-3/-7 activity assays and quantitative western blotting confirmed that fully processed, active p17 caspase-3 feeds back on caspase-8 by cleaving its partially processed p43 form into the fully processed p18 species. Our data do not discriminate if p18 positively or negatively influences FasL-induced apoptosis or is responsible for non-apoptotic aspects of FasL signaling. However, we found that caspase-3 also feeds back on Bid and degrades its own inhibitor XIAP, both events that may enhance caspase-3 activity and apoptosis. Thus, potent, selective caspase-3 inhibitors are useful tools to understand complex signaling circuitries in apoptosis.
A
bstract
A comprehensive, five-dimensional calculation of Higgs-boson production in gluon fusion is performed for both the minimal and the custodially protected Randall-Sundrum (RS) model, with ...Standard Model fields propagating in the bulk and the scalar sector confined on or near the IR brane. For the first time, an exact expression for the
gg
→
h
amplitude in terms of the five-dimensional fermion propagator is derived, which includes the full dependence on the Higgs-boson mass. Various results in the literature are reconciled and shown to correspond to different incarnations of the RS model, in which the Higgs field is either localized on the IR brane or is described in terms of a narrow bulk state. The results in the two scenarios differ in a qualitative way: the
gg
→
h
amplitude is suppressed in models where the scalar sector is localized on the IR brane, while it tends to be enhanced in bulk Higgs models. In both cases, effects of higher-dimensional operators contributing to the
gg
→
h
amplitude at tree level are shown to be numerically suppressed under reasonable assumptions. There is no smooth cross-over between the two scenarios, since the effective field-theory description breaks down in the transition region. A detailed phenomenological analysis of Higgs production in various RS scenarios is presented, and for each scenario the regions of parameter space already excluded by LHC data are derived.
A
bstract
We calculate the electro- and chromomagnetic dipole coefficients
C
7
γ
,8
g
and
C
˜
7
γ
,
8
g
in the context of the minimal Randall-Sundrum (RS) model with a Higgs sector localized on the ...IR brane using the five-dimensional (5D) approach, where the coefficients are expressed in terms of integrals over 5D propagators. Since we keep the full dependence on the Yukawa matrices, the integral expressions are formally valid to all orders in
v
2
/
M
KK
2
. In addition we relate our results to the expressions obtained in the Kaluza-Klein (KK) decomposed theory and show the consistency in both pictures analytically and numerically, which presents a non-trivial cross-check. In Feynman-’t Hooft gauge, the dominant corrections from virtual KK modes arise from the scalar parts of the
W
±
-boson penguin diagrams, including the contributions from the scalar component of the 5D gauge-boson field and from the charged Goldstone bosons in the Higgs sector. The size of the KK corrections depends on the parameter
y
*
, which sets the upper bound for the anarchic 5D Yukawa matrices. We find that for
y
*
≳ 1 the KK corrections are proportional to
y
∗
2
. We discuss the phenomenological implications of our results for the branching ratio
B
r
B
¯
→
X
s
γ
, the time-dependent CP asymmetry
S
K
∗
γ
, the direct CP asymmetry
A
CP
b
→
sγ
and the CP asymmetry difference Δ
A
CP
b
→
sγ
. We can derive a lower bound on the first KK gluon resonance of 3
.
8 TeV for
y
*
= 3, requiring that at least 10% of the RS parameter space covers the experimental 2
σ
error margins. We further discuss the branching ratio
B
r
B
¯
→
X
s
l
+
l
−
and compare our predictions for
C
7γ,9,10
and
C
˜
7
γ
,
9
,
10
with phenomenological results derived from model-independent analyses.
Background: Defects of the ascending ramus of the mandible, including the condylar head and neck or the whole temporomandibular joint (TMJ), are difficult to reconstruct. Reconstruction is mainly ...based on the use of alloplastic joint prosthesis, costochondral grafting, distraction osteogenesis of the dorsal part of the mandibular ramus, or osseous microvascular flaps of various origin. With the objective of developing a method that overcomes the restrictions of these methods, we recently introduced a sequential chimeric flap consisting of a lateral femoral condyle flap (LFC) and deep circumflex iliac artery flap (DCIA) for reconstruction of up to half of the mandible and the condylar head and neck. Methods: The chimeric flap was used in four patients with the following diagnoses: therapy-refractory osteomyelitis, extended recurrent odontogenic keratozyst, Goldenhar syndrome, and adenocarcinoma of the parotid gland. After a diagnostic workup, LFC and DCIA flaps were harvested in all patients and used in a sequential chimeric design for the reconstruction of the mandibular body and condylar head and neck. Results: Follow-up from at least 24 months up to 70 month after surgery showed a successful reconstruction in all four patients. The LFC provided a cartilaginous joint surface, allowing for a satisfactory masticatory function with a stable occlusion and unrestricted mouth opening and preserved or regained lateral and medial excursions in all patients. The DCIA allowed for a bony reconstruction anatomically resembling a non-atrophied mandibular body. No flap-related complications were observed. Conclusions: The sequential chimeric LFC and DCIA flap is an appropriate method for reconstructing up to half of the mandible and the condylar head and neck. It is suitable in cases where alloplastic joint replacement cannot be used or where other methods have failed. Due to the necessity of harvesting two flaps, the burden of care is increased, and a careful indication is required. The technique is reserved for maxillofacial surgeons who have already gained significant experience in the field of microsurgery.
Adoption of targeted mass spectrometry (MS) approaches such as multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) to study biological and biomedical questions is well underway in the proteomics community. Successful ...application depends on the ability to generate reliable assays that uniquely and confidently identify target peptides in a sample. Unfortunately, there is a wide range of criteria being applied to say that an assay has been successfully developed. There is no consensus on what criteria are acceptable and little understanding of the impact of variable criteria on the quality of the results generated. Publications describing targeted MS assays for peptides frequently do not contain sufficient information for readers to establish confidence that the tests work as intended or to be able to apply the tests described in their own labs. Guidance must be developed so that targeted MS assays with established performance can be made widely distributed and applied by many labs worldwide. To begin to address the problems and their solutions, a workshop was held at the National Institutes of Health with representatives from the multiple communities developing and employing targeted MS assays. Participants discussed the analytical goals of their experiments and the experimental evidence needed to establish that the assays they develop work as intended and are achieving the required levels of performance. Using this “fit-for-purpose” approach, the group defined three tiers of assays distinguished by their performance and extent of analytical characterization. Computational and statistical tools useful for the analysis of targeted MS results were described. Participants also detailed the information that authors need to provide in their manuscripts to enable reviewers and readers to clearly understand what procedures were performed and to evaluate the reliability of the peptide or protein quantification measurements reported. This paper presents a summary of the meeting and recommendations.
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