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- ItemIdentification of herbal teas and their compounds eliciting antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro(Heidelberg : Springer, 2022) Le-Trilling, Vu Thuy Khanh; Mennerich, Denise; Schuler, Corinna; Sakson, Roman; Lill, Julia K.; Kasarla, Siva Swapna; Kopczynski, Dominik; Loroch, Stefan; Flores-Martinez, Yulia; Katschinski, Benjamin; Wohlgemuth, Kerstin; Gunzer, Matthias; Meyer, Folker; Phapale, Prasad; Dittmer, Ulf; Sickmann, Albert; Trilling, MirkoBackground: The SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted medical and socioeconomic havoc, and despite the current availability of vaccines and broad implementation of vaccination programs, more easily accessible and cost-effective acute treatment options preventing morbidity and mortality are urgently needed. Herbal teas have historically and recurrently been applied as self-medication for prophylaxis, therapy, and symptom alleviation in diverse diseases, including those caused by respiratory viruses, and have provided sources of natural products as basis for the development of therapeutic agents. To identify affordable, ubiquitously available, and effective treatments, we tested herbs consumed worldwide as herbal teas regarding their antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. Results: Aqueous infusions prepared by boiling leaves of the Lamiaceae perilla and sage elicit potent and sustained antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 when applied after infection as well as prior to infection of cells. The herbal infusions exerted in vitro antiviral effects comparable to interferon-β and remdesivir but outperformed convalescent sera and interferon-α2 upon short-term treatment early after infection. Based on protein fractionation analyses, we identified caffeic acid, perilla aldehyde, and perillyl alcohol as antiviral compounds. Global mass spectrometry (MS) analyses performed comparatively in two different cell culture infection models revealed changes of the proteome upon treatment with herbal infusions and provided insights into the mode of action. As inferred by the MS data, induction of heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX-1) was confirmed as effector mechanism by the antiviral activity of the HMOX-1-inducing compounds sulforaphane and fraxetin. Conclusions: In conclusion, herbal teas based on perilla and sage exhibit antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 including variants of concern such as Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron, and we identified HMOX-1 as potential therapeutic target. Given that perilla and sage have been suggested as treatment options for various diseases, our dataset may constitute a valuable resource also for future research beyond virology.
- ItemCryo-printed microfluidics enable rapid prototyping for optical-cell analysis(Heidelberg : Springer, 2022) Garmasukis, Rokas; Hackl, Claudia; Dusny, Christian; Elsner, Christian; Charvat, Ales; Schmid, Andreas; Abel, BerndThis paper highlights an innovative, low-cost rapid-prototyping method for generating microfluidic chips with extraordinary short fabrication times of only a few minutes. Microchannels and inlet/outlet ports are created by controlled deposition of aqueous microdroplets on a cooled surface resulting in printed ice microstructures, which are in turn coated with a UV-curable acrylic cover layer. Thawing leaves an inverse imprint as a microchannel structure. For an exemplary case, we applied this technology for creating a microfluidic chip for cell-customized optical-cell analysis. The chip design includes containers for cell cultivation and analysis. Container shape, length, position, and angle relative to the main channel were iteratively optimized to cultivate and analyze different cell types. With the chip, we performed physiological analyses of morphologically distinct prokaryotic Corynebacterium glutamicum DM1919, eukaryotic Hansenula polymorpha RB11 MOX-GFP, and phototrophic Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 cells via quantitative time-lapse fluorescence microscopy. The technology is not limited to rapid prototyping of complex biocompatible microfluidics. Further exploration may include printing with different materials other than water, printing on other substrates in-situ biofunctionalization, the inclusion of electrodes and many other applications.
- ItemDynamic Light Scattering on Nanoparticles in Microgravity in a Drop Tower(Heidelberg : Springer, 2022) Pyttlik, Andrea; Kuttich, Björn; Kraus, TobiasGravity affects colloidal dispersions via sedimentation and convection. We used dynamic light scattering (DLS) to quantify the mobility of nanoparticles on ground and in microgravity. A DLS instrument was adapted to withstand the accelerations in a drop tower, and a liquid handling set-up was connected in order to stabilize the liquid temperature and enable rapid cooling or heating. Light scattering experiments were performed in the drop tower at ZARM (Bremen, Germany) during a microgravity interval of 9.1 s and compared to measurements on ground. Particle dynamics were analyzed at constant temperature and after a rapid temperature drop using a series of DLS measurements with 1 s integration time. We observed nanoparticles with average gold core diameters of 7.8 nm and non-polar oleylamine shells that were dispersed in tetradecane and had an average hydrodynamic diameter of 21 nm. The particles did not change their diameter in the observed temperature range. The particle dynamics inferred from DLS on ground and in microgravity were in good agreement, demonstrating the possibility to perform reliable DLS measurements in a drop tower.
- ItemThe revised method for retrieving daytime distributions of atomic oxygen and odd-hydrogens in the mesopause region from satellite observations(Heidelberg : Springer, 2022) Kulikov, Mikhail Y.; Belikovich, Mikhail V.; Grygalashvyly, Mykhaylo; Sonnemann, Gerd R.; Feigin, Alexander M.Atomic oxygen (O) and atomic hydrogen (H) in the mesopause region are critical species, governing chemistry, airglow, and energy budget. However, they cannot be directly measured by satellite remote sensing techniques and so inference techniques, by airglow observations, are used. In this work, we retrieved daytime O and H distributions at ~ 77 km–100 km from the data of observations by the SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) instrument at the TIMED (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) satellite in 2003–2015. The retrieval approach considered the reaction H + O3 → O2 + OH in the ozone balance equation. Moreover, we revised all quenching and spontaneous emission coefficients according to latest published data. We then calculated daytime distributions of OH and HO2 at these altitudes with the use of their conditions of photochemical equilibrium.
- ItemSolar and lunar daily geomagnetic variations and their equivalent current systems observed by Swarm(Heidelberg : Springer, 2022) Yamazaki, YosukeThis paper describes solar and lunar daily variations of the geomagnetic field over low- and mid-latitude regions, using vector magnetometer data from Swarm satellites at altitudes of ∼500 km during the solar minimum years of 2017–2020. The average solar variation of the geomagnetic field is within the range of ±14 nT, while the lunar variation is within ±2 nT. The latter is comparable to the ocean tidal field. A spherical harmonic analysis is performed on the solar and lunar variations to evaluate their internal and external equivalent current systems. The results show that both the solar and lunar variations are mainly of internal origin, which can be attributed to combined effects of ionospheric dynamo currents and induced underground currents. Global patterns of the internal solar and lunar current systems are consistent with the corresponding external current systems previously reported based on ground observations. The Swarm external currents are mainly in the meridional direction, and are likely associated with interhemispheric field-aligned currents. Both the internal and external current systems depend on the season and longitude.
- ItemNumerical upscaling of parametric microstructures in a possibilistic uncertainty framework with tensor trains(Heidelberg : Springer, 2022) Eigel, Martin; Gruhlke, Robert; Moser, Dieter; Grasedyck, LarsA fuzzy arithmetic framework for the efficient possibilistic propagation of shape uncertainties based on a novel fuzzy edge detection method is introduced. The shape uncertainties stem from a blurred image that encodes the distribution of two phases in a composite material. The proposed framework employs computational homogenisation to upscale the shape uncertainty to a effective material with fuzzy material properties. For this, many samples of a linear elasticity problem have to be computed, which is significantly sped up by a highly accurate low-rank tensor surrogate. To ensure the continuity of the underlying mapping from shape parametrisation to the upscaled material behaviour, a diffeomorphism is constructed by generating an appropriate family of meshes via transformation of a reference mesh. The shape uncertainty is then propagated to measure the distance of the upscaled material to the isotropic and orthotropic material class. Finally, the fuzzy effective material is used to compute bounds for the average displacement of a non-homogenized material with uncertain star-shaped inclusion shapes.
- ItemB!SON: A Tool for Open Access Journal Recommendation(Heidelberg : Springer, 2022) Entrup, Elias; Eppelin, Anita; Ewerth, Ralph; Hartwig, Josephine; Tullney, Marco; Wohlgemuth, Michael; Hoppe, Anett; Nugent, RonanFinding a suitable open access journal to publish scientific work is a complex task: Researchers have to navigate a constantly growing number of journals, institutional agreements with publishers, funders’ conditions and the risk of Predatory Publishers. To help with these challenges, we introduce a web-based journal recommendation system called B!SON. It is developed based on a systematic requirements analysis, built on open data, gives publisher-independent recommendations and works across domains. It suggests open access journals based on title, abstract and references provided by the user. The recommendation quality has been evaluated using a large test set of 10,000 articles. Development by two German scientific libraries ensures the longevity of the project.
- ItemValues in climate modelling: testing the practical applicability of the Moral Imagination ideal(Heidelberg : Springer, 2022) Pulkkinen, Karoliina; Undorf, Sabine; Bender, Frida A.-M.There is much debate on how social values should influence scientific research. However, the question of practical applicability of philosophers’ normative proposals has received less attention. Here, we test the attainability of Matthew J. Brown’s (2020) Moral Imagination ideal (MI ideal), which aims to help scientists to make warranted value-judgements through reflecting on goals, options, values, and stakeholders of research. Here, the tools of the MI ideal are applied to a climate modelling setting, where researchers are developing aerosol-cloud interaction (ACI) parametrizations in an Earth System Model with the broader goal of improving climate sensitivity estimation. After the identification of minor obstacles to applying the MI ideal, we propose two ways to increase its applicability. First, its tools should be accompanied with more concrete guidance for identifying how social values enter more technical decisions in scientific research. Second, since research projects can have multiple goals, examining the alignment between broader societal aims of research and more technical goals should be part of the tools of the MI ideal.
- ItemEvidence-based narratives in European research programming(Heidelberg : Springer, 2021) Schepelmann, Philipp; Fischer, Susanne; Drews, Martin; Bastein, Ton; Kropp, Jürgen; Krummenauer, Linda; Augenstein, KarolineThe article introduces and exemplifies the approach of evidence-based narratives (EBN). The methodology is a product of co-design between policy-making and science, generating robust intelligence for evidence-based policy-making in the Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission (DG RTD) under the condition of high uncertainty and fragmented evidence. The EBN transdisciplinary approach tackles practical problems of future-oriented policy-making, in this case in the area of programming for research and innovation addressing the Grand Societal Challenge related to climate change and natural resources. Between 2013 and 2018, the EU-funded RECREATE project developed 20 EBNs in a co-development process between scientists and policy-makers. All EBNs are supported with evidence about the underlying innovation system applying the technological innovation systems (TIS) framework. Each TIS analysis features the innovation, its current state of market diffusion and a description of the innovation investment case. Indicators include potential future market sizes, effects on employment and environmental and social benefits. Based on the innovation and TIS function analyses, the EBNs offer policy recommendations. The article ends with a critical discussion of the EBN approach.
- ItemNote on consistency between Kalogerakis–Sharma Mechanism (KSM) and two-step mechanism of atmospheric band emission (762 nm)(Heidelberg : Springer, 2020) Grygalashvyly, Mykhaylo; Sonnemann, Gerd ReinholdFor more than 30 years, a two-step mechanism was used to explain observed Atmospheric band emission (762 nm) in mesopause region. A new mechanism, which leads to the formation of electronically excited molecular oxygen that gives this emission, was proposed recently. We show, based on an analytical solution, that the fit-functions for Atmospheric band volume emission in the case of the two-step mechanism and the new Kalogerakis–Sharma Mechanism (KSM) have analogous expression. This derivation solves the problem of consistency between the well-known two-step mechanism and the newly proposed KSM.