This volume explores how religious and spiritual actors engage for environmental protection and fight against climate change. Climate change and sustainability are increasingly prominent topics among ...religious and spiritual groups. Different faith traditions have developed ""green"" theologies, launched environmental protection projects and issued public statements on climate change. Against this background, academic scholarship has raised optimistic claims about the strong potentials of religions to address environmental challenges. Taking a critical stance with regard to these claims, the chapters in this volume show that religious environmentalism is an embattled terrain. Tensions are an inherent part of religious environmentalism. These do not necessarily manifest themselves in open clashes between different parties but in different actions, views, theologies, ambivalences, misunderstandings, and sometimes mistrust. Keeping below the surface, these tensions can create effective barriers for religious environmentalism. The chapters examine how tensions are manifested and dealt with through a range of empirical case studies in various world regions. Covering different religious and spiritual traditions, they reflect on intradenominational, interdenominational, interreligious, and religious-societal tensions. Thereby, this volume sheds new light on the problems that religions face when they seek to take an active role in today’s societal challenges. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
This volume explores how religious and spiritual actors engage for environmental protection and fight against climate change. Climate change and sustainability are increasingly prominent topics among ...religious and spiritual groups. Different faith traditions have developed "green" theologies, launched environmental protection projects and issued public statements on climate change. Against this background, academic scholarship has raised optimistic claims about the strong potentials of religions to address environmental challenges. Taking a critical stance with regard to these claims, the chapters in this volume show that religious environmentalism is an embattled terrain. Tensions are an inherent part of religious environmentalism. These do not necessarily manifest themselves in open clashes between different parties but in different actions, views, theologies, ambivalences, misunderstandings, and sometimes mistrust. Keeping below the surface, these tensions can create effective barriers for religious environmentalism. The chapters examine how tensions are manifested and dealt with through a range of empirical case studies in various world regions. Covering different religious and spiritual traditions, they reflect on intradenominational, interdenominational, interreligious, and religious-societal tensions. Thereby, this volume sheds new light on the problems that religions face when they seek to take an active role in today’s societal challenges. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
The synthesis of a new RuII-based water oxidation catalyst is presented, in which a nitrophenyl group is introduced into the backbone of dpp via a pH-sensitive imidazole bridge (dpp = ...2,9-di-(2′-pyridyl)-1,10-phenanthroline). This modification had a pronounced effect on the photophysical properties and led to the appearance of a significant absorption band around 441 nm in the UV–vis spectrum upon formation of the monoprotonated species under neutral conditions. Theoretical investigations could show that the main contributions to this band arise from transitions involving the imidazole and nitrophenyl motif, allowing us to determine the pK a value (6.8 ± 0.1) of the corresponding, twofold protonated conjugated acid. In contrast, the influence of the nitrophenyl group on the electrochemical properties of the catalytic center was negligible. Likewise, the catalytic performance of Ru(dppip-NO2) and its parent complex Ru(dpp) was comparable over the entire investigated pH range (dppip-NO2 = 2-(4-nitrophenyl)-6,9-di(pyridin-2-yl)-1H-imidazo4,5-f1,10phenanthroline). This allowed the original catalytic properties to be retained while additionally featuring a functionalized ligand scaffold, which provides further modification opportunities as well as the ability to report the pH of the catalytic solution via UV–vis spectroscopy.
Introduction The use of scaffolds in tissue engineering is becoming increasingly important as solutions need to be found for the problem of preserving human tissue, such as bone or cartilage. In this ...work, scaffolds were printed from the biomaterial known as polycaprolactone (PCL) on a 3D Bioplotter. Both the external and internal geometry were varied to investigate their influence on mechanical stability and biocompatibility. Materials and Methods: An Envisiontec 3D Bioplotter was used to fabricate the scaffolds. First, square scaffolds were printed with variations in the strand width and strand spacing. Then, the filling structure was varied: either lines, waves, and honeycombs were used. This was followed by variation in the outer shape, produced as either a square, hexagon, octagon, or circle. Finally, the internal and external geometry was varied. To improve interaction with the cells, the printed PCL scaffolds were coated with type-I collagen. MG-63 cells were then cultured on the scaffolds and various tests were performed to investigate the biocompatibility of the scaffolds. Results: With increasing strand thickness and strand spacing, the compressive strengths decreased from 86.18 + 2.34 MPa (200 µm) to 46.38 + 0.52 MPa (600 µm). The circle was the outer shape with the highest compressive strength of 76.07 + 1.49 MPa, compared to the octagon, which had the lowest value of 52.96 ± 0.98 MPa. Varying the external shape (toward roundness) geometry, as well as the filling configuration, resulted in the highest values of compressive strength for the round specimens with honeycomb filling, which had a value of 91.4 + 1.4 MPa. In the biocompatibility tests, the round specimens with honeycomb filling also showed the highest cell count per mm
, with 1591 ± 239 live cells/mm
after 10 days and the highest value in cell proliferation, but with minimal cytotoxic effects (9.19 ± 2.47% after 3 days).
This work elaborates the effect of dynamic irradiation on light‐driven molecular water oxidation to counteract deactivation. It highlights the importance of overall reaction engineering to overcome ...limiting factors in artificial photosynthesis reactions. Systematic investigation of a homogeneous three‐component ruthenium‐based water oxidation system revealed significant potential to enhance the overall catalytic efficiency by synchronizing the timescales of photoreaction and mass transport in a capillary flow reactor. The overall activity could be improved by a factor of more than 10 with respect to the turnover number and a factor of 31 referring to the external energy efficiency by controlling the local availability of photons. Detailed insights into the mechanism of light driven water oxidation could be obtained using complementary methods of investigation like Raman, IR, and UV/Vis/emission spectroscopy, unraveling the importance of avoiding high concentrations of excited photosensitizers.
Water splitting: Dynamic irradiation enables a significant increase in catalytic performance of a homogeneous three‐component system for light‐driven water oxidation. Lower irradiation intensities and higher flowrates in a flow‐through reactor minimize photosensitizer degradation and thus improve catalyst lifetime, yield, and overall efficiency of a catalytic system for artificial photosynthesis.
The synthesis of the new bis‐heteroleptic RuII complex (tbbpy)2Ru(dptpphz)(PF6)2 (7), that exhibits a tetradentate coordination sphere for a second metal centre, and its characterization are ...presented. The complex shows similar photostability and redox properties regarding the first ligand‐centred reductions compared to its tpphz analogue. Concentration‐dependent NMR investigations were performed and a dimerization constant (KD = 83 ± 5) could be calculated, which was significantly lower than that of other tpphz systems. Photophysical investigations reveal a stabilizing effect of the two electron‐withdrawing 2‐pyridyl substituents on π–π* transition of the phenazine sphere. The typical H2O‐induced light‐switch effects have also been observed. To further highlight the potential of the tetradentate coordination site, the ZnII adduct of 7 was prepared and preliminary studied.
The established chromophore (tbbpy)2Ru(tpphz)2+ is modified to contain a tetradentate coordination site and first preliminary photophysical, electrochemical and dimerization studies are undertaken.
Forkhead box protein A1 (FOXA1) modulates the transactivation of steroid hormone receptors and thus may influence tumor growth and hormone responsiveness in prostate cancer. We therefore investigated ...the correlation of FOXA1 expression with clinical parameters, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) relapse-free survival, and hormone receptor expression in a large cohort of prostate cancer patients at different disease stages. FOXA1 expression did not differ significantly between benign glands from the peripheral zone and primary peripheral zone prostate carcinomas. However, FOXA1 was overexpressed in metastases and particularly in castration-resistant cases, but was expressed at lower levels in both normal and neoplastic transitional zone tissues. FOXA1 levels correlated with higher pT stages and Gleason scores, as well as with androgen (AR) and estrogen receptor expression. Moreover, FOXA1 overexpression was associated with faster biochemical disease progression, which was pronounced in patients with low AR levels. Finally, siRNA-based knockdown of FOXA1 induced decreased cell proliferation and migration. Moreover, in vitro tumorigenicity was inducible by ARs only in the presence of FOXA1, substantiating a functional cooperation between FOXA1 and AR. In conclusion, FOXA1 expression is associated with tumor progression, dedifferentiation of prostate cancer cells, and poorer prognosis, as well as with cellular proliferation and migration and with AR signaling. These findings suggest FOXA1 overexpression as a novel mechanism inducing castration resistance in prostate cancer.
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma and prognostic information is essential in finding the right treatment. This study evaluated the prognostic significance ...of Ki-67 in patients with DLBCL.
Patients with DLBCL, treated with first-line R-CHOP, were retrospectively analyzed in groups of high (>70%) and low (≤70%) Ki-67. Parameters of interest were the international prognostic index (IPI), treatment response, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). A chi-squared test or Fisher's exact test was conducted to analyze categorical variables. Kaplan-Meier and log-rank tests were applied for survival analyses. Finally, a multivariate linear regression analysis was performed, including gender, Ki-67 ≤ 70% or >70%, IPI and presence of B symptoms.
Overall, 58 patients were included. No significant association was found between Ki-67 status and IPI (
= 0.148) or treatment response (
= 0.373). Survival in patients with high Ki-67 was significantly inferior with respect to OS (
= 0.047) but not PFS (
= 0.138). Multivariate linear regression, however, yielded only IPI as a risk factor for OS.
Future studies with larger patient cohorts are needed in order to elucidate the prognostic role of Ki-67 in patients with DLBCL treated with R-CHOP.
Understanding the reactivity of water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) is critical for designing advanced materials for sustainable energy technologies. Here, we show how optical oxygen sensors based on ...fluorescence quenching enable the simultaneous real-time in operando monitoring of O 2 evolution in solution and in the gas phase, thereby opening new avenues for advanced mechanistic studies under true operating conditions. The advantages of the system are demonstrated by rationalizing and overcoming reactivity limitations of two prototype molecular WOCs.
Mobile navigation systems are getting more and more common, and with the rise of smartphones, nearly everyone has access to them via mobile phone apps. Despite the widespread use of mobile apps for ...navigation, only few solutions for bicyclists exist. These solutions however rely on the user to either look at their phone screen or wear headphones. This poses a risk to the user’s safety by taking away attention from the road conditions. Prior studies have suggested that a vibrotactile navigation system can perform similarly to already existing visual and auditory solutions. Such a system also seems to be less distracting than existing ones. This study presents a working prototype than can be used to navigate urban environments on a bicycle.
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