The University of Greifswald (German pronunciation: [ˈɡʁaɪfsvalt]; German: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.Founded in 1456 (teaching existed since 1436), it is one of the oldest universities in Europe, with generations of notable alumni and staff having studied or worked in Greifswald. As the fourth oldest university in present Germany, it was temporarily also the oldest university of the Kingdoms of Sweden (1648–1815) and Prussia (1815–1945), respectively. Approximately two-thirds of the 10,179 students are from outside the state, including foreign students from 90 countries all over the world. Due to the small-town atmosphere, the pronounced architectural presence of the alma mater across town, and the young, academic flair in the streets, Greifswald is often described as a "university with a town built around it" rather than a town with a university. Being a vast research community, the university aims at expanding its academic connections globally.
Tree balance has received considerable attention in recent years, both in phylogenetics and in other areas. Numerous (im)balance indices have been proposed to quantify the (im)balance of rooted trees. A recent comprehensive survey summarized this literature and showed that many existing indices are based on similar underlying principles. To unify these approaches, three general metaconcepts were introduced, providing a framework to classify, analyze, and extend imbalance indices. In this context, a metaconcept is a function Φ_f that depends on another function f capturing some aspect of tree shape. In this manuscript, we extend this line of research by introducing a new metaconcept based on the heights of the pending subtrees of all inner vertices. We provide a thorough analysis of this metaconcept and use it to answer open questions concerning the well-known B_1 balance index. In particular, we characterize the tree shapes that maximize the B_1 index in two cases: (i) arbitrary rooted trees and (ii) binary rooted trees. For both cases, we also determine the corresponding maximum values of the index. Finally, while the B_1 index is induced by a so-called third-order metaconcept, we explicitly introduce three new (im)balance indices derived from the first- and second-order height metaconcepts, respectively, thereby demonstrating that pending subtree heights give rise to a variety of novel (im)balance indices.
Cold medical gas plasma promotes hemostasis through platelet activation, yet the underlying molecular and functional mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Here, we investigated gas plasma-induced platelet activation in human whole blood using flow cytometry, transcriptomic profiling, and pharmacological inhibition. Gas plasma exposure induced robust platelet activation and aggregation, accompanied by hemoglobin oxidation and adenosine diphosphate (ADP) release, but without substantial DNA liberation, consistent with selective red blood cell lysis. Transcriptomic analysis revealed significant regulation of 627 genes associated with platelet activation, inflammation, and oxidative stress responses. Pharmacological inhibition implicated Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) and, to a lesser extent, Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) as partial mediators of gas plasma-driven activation, whereas other signaling pathways were unaffected. Hemoglobin oxidation to methemoglobin occurred linearly with treatment duration and was mediated by gas plasma-generated short-lived species. Modulating gas plasma-generated reactive species outputs could enhance its hemostatic capacity, especially when applied conductively to the treatment target. Finally, gas plasma-mediated hemostasis and platelet activation and aggregation were preserved in blood of anticoagulated patients medicated with clopidogrel or novel oral anticoagulants. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that gas plasma promotes hemostasis through redox- and receptor-dependent platelet activation, modulated by inflammasome and immune signaling pathways, and can circumvent conventional antiplatelet inhibition, supporting its translational potential as a nonthermal, tissue-preserving, pro-hemostatic modality for surgical applications.
The price for wheat is driving the expansion of agricultural monocropping practices, which in turn facilitate the spread of phytopathogenic fungal infestation. Inoculating plants/ seeds with beneficial bacteria offers a sustainable alternative to chemical fungicides. Predatory myxobacteria are characterized by their production of various lytic secondary metabolites including fungicides. While their modes of action with prey are well studied, the direct application of myxobacteria in plants remains largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to assess whether seed inoculation with myxobacteria has a general effect on plant growth and can control take-all disease caused by Gaeumannomyces tritici (Ggt) in wheat in vivo. The inhibition potential of five different myxobacteria on ten soil-borne phytopathogenic fungi was examined in vitro. The effective myxobacteria, Haliangium ochraceum and Myxococcus virescens, were used as seed inoculants of winter wheat, which was grown for four weeks in soil infected with the pathogen Ggt in an in vivo greenhouse experiment. Myxobacteria inoculation did not impair plant growth (with and without Ggt infection), and M. virescens even showed a slight growth-promoting effect. Furthermore, myxobacteria inoculated plants showed a 50
Biological invasions, driven by the spread of non-native species, have become a critical global issue because of their far-reaching ecological and socioeconomic impacts. Effective communication of the risks of biological invasions is essential for implementing robust policy and legislation and gaining public support for conservation efforts. However, current policies often suffer from fragmentation and ineffectiveness, largely due to inadequate risk communication and complex multi-level governance. To address this challenge, we develop a global framework designed to enhance clearer communication about biological invasion risks. The framework contextualizes key terms across three domains in invasion science: species invasiveness, risk analysis, and decision support tools. Using both diffusion-of-English and ecology-of-language paradigms, and following a three-step process involving preliminary consensus, AI querying, and ground-truthing with final consensus, we validate the framework in 70 non-English languages which, together with English, have official status in at least one country and collectively cover all 195 countries worldwide. Our findings reveal that while terminology for risk analysis is well established, terminology for species invasiveness and, especially, for decision support tools remains underdeveloped in many languages, hindering effective communication and policy implementation. Our framework underscores the importance of cultural and political neutrality. By promoting clearer risk communication among scientists, policymakers, and the public globally, we aim to reduce policy fragmentation and foster enhanced collaboration in risk mitigation. We recommend expanding multilingual decision support tools to include the full risk analysis process: risk identification, risk assessment, and risk management. This will support intergovernmental mitigation efforts and promote a unified global response to biological invasions.
Peatlands are important ecosystems providing a critical range of ecosystem services such as carbon storage, habitat for biodiversity and water regulation. Most peatlands in Germany are drained, causing carbon emissions, land subsidence and ecosystem service loss. Rewetting and sustainable peatland management practices, such as paludiculture, are gaining interest as they allow the productive use of wet or rewetted peatlands while providing ecosystem services and supporting biomass production. Comprehensive monitoring of peatlands is essential for the implementation of rewetting and peatland management but also forms the basis for creating financial incentives, such as for emission certificates or improved sales opportunities for the biomass. However, current monitoring techniques are unable to ensure scalable and efficient ecosystem monitoring in terms of cost, reliability, resolution and integrity. Here, we report on a project that addresses the development of a modular, user-centered digital platform for monitoring peatland ecosystem services. We present the research, establishment and deployment of an integrated, multi-purpose sensor network as a large-scale monitoring approach. The platform utilizes sensor networks and remote sensing (RS) through unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), artificial intelligence (AI) and visual computing (VC). Key components include the automated recording and processing of water level maps via real-time sensor networks and the classification of vegetation using UAV imagery and AI. These data streams are integrated into transferable models for assessing ecosystem services to verify carbon and/or biodiversity credits and support paludiculture at regional and international scales. Moore sind essenzielle & Ouml;kosysteme, die eine Vielzahl von Leistungen wie Kohlenstoffspeicherung, Lebensraum f & uuml;r Biodiversit & auml;t und Wasserregulierung erbringen. Die meisten Moore in Deutschland sind entw & auml;ssert, was zu Kohlenstoffemissionen, Bodensenkungen und dem Verlust von & Ouml;kosystemleistungen f & uuml;hrt. Wiedervern & auml;ssung und nachhaltige Bewirtschaftungspraktiken wie Paludikultur gewinnen zunehmend an Bedeutung, da sie eine produktive Nutzung nasser oder wiedervern & auml;sster Moore erm & ouml;glichen und gleichzeitig & Ouml;kosystemleistungen erhalten sowie die Biomasseproduktion unterst & uuml;tzen. Eine umfassende & Uuml;berwachung von Mooren ist nicht nur f & uuml;r die Umsetzung von Wiedervern & auml;ssung und Moormanagement unerl & auml;sslich, sondern bildet auch die Grundlage f & uuml;r die Schaffung finanzieller Anreize, etwa f & uuml;r Emissionszertifikate oder verbesserte Absatzm & ouml;glichkeiten der Biomasse. Allerdings sind die derzeitigen Monitoring-Methoden nicht in der Lage, eine skalierbare und effiziente Erfassung von & Ouml;kosystemleistungen im Hinblick auf Kosten, Zuverl & auml;ssigkeit, Aufl & ouml;sung und Integrit & auml;t sicherzustellen. Hier berichten wir & uuml;ber ein Projekt, das sich der Entwicklung einer modularen, nutzerzentrierten digitalen Plattform zur & Uuml;berwachung von & Ouml;kosystemleistungen von Mooren widmet. Wir stellen die Forschung sowie den Aufbau und die Implementierung eines integrierten, multifunktionalen Sensornetzes als gro ss fl & auml;chigen Monitoring-Ansatz vor. Die Plattform nutzt Sensornetzwerke und Fernerkundung (RS) mittels unbemannter Luftfahrzeuge (UAV) sowie k & uuml;nstlicher Intelligenz (AI) und visual Computing (VC). Zentrale Komponenten umfassen die automatisierte Erfassung und Verarbeitung von Wasserstandskarten & uuml;ber Echtzeit-Sensornetzwerke sowie die Klassifizierung von Vegetation mithilfe von UAV-Bildern und KI. Diese Datenstr & ouml;me werden in & uuml;bertragbare Modelle integriert, um & Ouml;kosystemleistungen zu bewerten, Kohlenstoff- und/oder Biodiversit & auml;tszertifikate zu verifizieren und Paludikultur auf regionaler und internationaler Ebene zu unterst & uuml;tzen.
