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- Fountoulakis, K.N., et al.
(author)
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Modeling psychological function in patients with schizophrenia with the PANSS : An international multi-center study
- 2021
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In: CNS Spectrums. - : Cambridge University Press. - 1092-8529 .- 2165-6509. ; 26:3, s. 290-298
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background.The aim of the current study was to explore the changing interrelationships among clinical variables through the stages of schizophrenia in order to assemble a comprehensive and meaningful disease model.Methods.Twenty-nine centers from 25 countries participated and included 2358 patients aged 37.21 ± 11.87 years with schizophrenia. Multiple linear regression analysis and visual inspection of plots were performed.Results.The results suggest that with progression stages, there are changing correlations among Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale factors at each stage and each factor correlates with all the others in that particular stage, in which this factor is dominant. This internal structure further supports the validity of an already proposed four stages model, with positive symptoms dominating the first stage, excitement/hostility the second, depression the third, and neurocognitive decline the last stage.Conclusions.The current study investigated the mental organization and functioning in patients with schizophrenia in relation to different stages of illness progression. It revealed two distinct “cores” of schizophrenia, the “Positive” and the “Negative,” while neurocognitive decline escalates during the later stages. Future research should focus on the therapeutic implications of such a model. Stopping the progress of the illness could demand to stop the succession of stages. This could be achieved not only by both halting the triggering effect of positive and negative symptoms, but also by stopping the sensitization effect on the neural pathways responsible for the development of hostility, excitement, anxiety, and depression as well as the deleterious effect on neural networks responsible for neurocognition.
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- Bralower, T, et al.
(author)
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The Habitat of the Nascent Chicxulub Crater
- 2020
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In: AGU Advances. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). ; 1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An expanded sedimentary section provides an opportunity to elucidate conditions in the nascent Chicxulub crater during the hours to millennia after the Cretaceous‐Paleogene (K‐Pg) boundary impact. The sediments were deposited by tsunami followed by seiche waves as energy in the crater declined, culminating in a thin hemipelagic marlstone unit that contains atmospheric fallout. Seiche deposits are predominantly composed of calcite formed by decarbonation of the target limestone during impact followed by carbonation in the water column. Temperatures recorded by clumped isotopes of these carbonates are in excess of 70°C, with heat likely derived from the central impact melt pool. Yet, despite the turbidity and heat, waters within the nascent crater basin soon became a viable habitat for a remarkably diverse cross section of the food chain. The earliest seiche layers deposited with days or weeks of the impact contain earliest Danian nannoplankton and dinocyst survivors. The hemipelagic marlstone representing the subsequent years to a few millennia contains a nearly monogeneric calcareous dinoflagellate resting cyst assemblage suggesting deteriorating environmental conditions, with one interpretation involving low light levels in the impact aftermath. At the same horizon, microbial fossils indicate a thriving bacterial community and unique phosphatic fossils including appendages of pelagic crustaceans, coprolites andbacteria‐tunneled fish bone, suggesting that this rapid recovery of the base of the food chain may have supported the survival of larger, higher trophic‐level organisms. The extraordinarily diverse fossil assemblage indicates that the crater was a unique habitat in the immediate impact aftermath, possibly as aresult of heat and nutrients supplied by hydrothermal activity.
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- Fielding, Christopher R., et al.
(author)
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Environmental change in the late Permian of Queensland, NE Australia: The warmup to the end-Permian Extinction
- 2022
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In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0031-0182 .- 1872-616X. ; 594, s. 110936-110936
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The upper part of the upper Permian succession in the Bowen Basin of Queensland, NE Australia, was investigated to ascertain the timeline and character of environmental changes in this high southern palaeolatitudinal setting leading up to the End-Permian Extinction (EPE). The study focused on (in ascending order) the Peawaddy Formation, Black Alley Shale, and Bandanna Formation, and laterally correlative units. In the western Bowen Basin, the base of the Peawaddy Formation (257 Ma) records the onset of thrust loading and volcanic activity associated with the Hunter-Bowen contractional orogeny. The Peawaddy Formation comprises a series of coarsening-upward, terrigenous clastic intervals interpreted as the product of repeated progradation of deltas into shallow, open marine environments. The overlying Black Alley Shale also comprises multiple deltaic coarsening-upward cycles, which accumulated in stressed, restricted marine environments. The uppermost Bandanna Formation and equivalents formed in extensive coastal plain to estuarine environments. All three formations accumulated under the influence of explosive volcanic activity from the emerging continental volcanicarc to the east of the foreland basin. Volcanism peaked during deposition of the Black Alley Shale around the Wuchiapingian–Changhsingian transition. Abundant dispersed gravel and glendonites (calcite pseudomorphs after ikaite) indicate that the Peawaddy Formation formed under the influence of cold conditions and possible glacial ice (P4 Glaciation; Wuchiapingian Stage). Direct evidence of cold conditions ends at the top of the Peawaddy Formation (254.5 Ma); however, Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) data suggest that surface conditions remained cold through the accumulation of the Black Alley Shale, and the lower Bandanna until c. 253 Ma, before gradually rising through the upper Bandanna Formation. The end of P4 glaciation is also characterized by a major spike in the abundance of marine acritarchs (Micrhystridium evansii Acme Zone), reflecting the development of a regional restricted basin of elevated nutrient concentrations but reduced salinity. In contrast to this short interval of stressed marine conditions, the fossil floras indicate remarkably consistent terrestrial ecosystems throughout the late Lopingian until the EPE. The terrestrial EPE is recorded by adistinctive, laminated mudrock bed (‘Marker Mudstone’) that records a palynological ‘dead zone’ above the uppermost coal seam or equivalent root-penetrated horizon followed by spikes in non-marine algal abundance. Overall, the time interval 257–252 Ma represented by the studied succession does not record a simple monotonic change in palaeoenvironmental conditions, but rather a series of intermittent stepwise changes towards warmer, and more environmentally stressed conditions leading up to the EPE in eastern Australia.
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- Frank, T.D., et al.
(author)
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Pace, magnitude, and nature of terrestrial climate change through the end-Permian extinction in southeastern Gondwana
- 2021
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In: Geology. - : Geological Society of America. - 0091-7613 .- 1943-2682. ; 49:9, s. 1089-1095
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Rapid climate change was a major contributor to the end-Permian extinction (EPE). Although well constrained for the marine realm, relatively few records document the pace, nature, and magnitude of climate change across the EPE in terrestrial environments. We generated proxy records for chemical weathering and land surface temperature from continental margin deposits of the high-latitude southeastern margin of Gondwana. Regional climate simulations provide additional context. Results show that Glossopteris forest-mire ecosystems collapsed during a pulse of intense chemical weathering and peak warmth, which capped ∼1 m.y. of gradual warming and intensification of seasonality. Erosion resulting from loss of vegetation was short lived in the low-relief landscape. Earliest Triassic climate was∼10–14 °C warmer than the late Lopingian and landscapes were no longer persistently wet. Aridification, commonly linked to the EPE, developed gradually, facilitating the persistence of refugia for moisture-loving terrestrial groups.
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- Lensink, Marc F., et al.
(author)
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Impact of AlphaFold on structure prediction of protein complexes: The CASP15-CAPRI experiment
- 2023
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In: Proteins. - : WILEY. - 0887-3585 .- 1097-0134.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present the results for CAPRI Round 54, the 5th joint CASP-CAPRI protein assembly prediction challenge. The Round offered 37 targets, including 14 homodimers, 3 homo-trimers, 13 heterodimers including 3 antibody-antigen complexes, and 7 large assemblies. On average similar to 70 CASP and CAPRI predictor groups, including more than 20 automatics servers, submitted models for each target. A total of 21 941 models submitted by these groups and by 15 CAPRI scorer groups were evaluated using the CAPRI model quality measures and the DockQ score consolidating these measures. The prediction performance was quantified by a weighted score based on the number of models of acceptable quality or higher submitted by each group among their five best models. Results show substantial progress achieved across a significant fraction of the 60+ participating groups. High-quality models were produced for about 40% of the targets compared to 8% two years earlier. This remarkable improvement is due to the wide use of the AlphaFold2 and AlphaFold2-Multimer software and the confidence metrics they provide. Notably, expanded sampling of candidate solutions by manipulating these deep learning inference engines, enriching multiple sequence alignments, or integration of advanced modeling tools, enabled top performing groups to exceed the performance of a standard AlphaFold2-Multimer version used as a yard stick. This notwithstanding, performance remained poor for complexes with antibodies and nanobodies, where evolutionary relationships between the binding partners are lacking, and for complexes featuring conformational flexibility, clearly indicating that the prediction of protein complexes remains a challenging problem.
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- Mays, Chris, 1983-, et al.
(author)
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Lethal microbial blooms delayed freshwater ecosystem recovery following the end-Permian extinction
- 2021
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In: Nature Communications. - London : Nature Publishing Group. - 2041-1723. ; 12:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Harmful algal and bacterial blooms linked to deforestation, soil loss and global warming are increasingly frequent in lakes and rivers. We demonstrate that climate changes and deforestation can drive recurrent microbial blooms, inhibiting the recovery of freshwater ecosystems for hundreds of millennia. From the stratigraphic successions of the Sydney Basin, Australia, our fossil, sedimentary and geochemical data reveal bloom events following forest ecosystem collapse during the most severe mass extinction in Earth’s history, the end-Permian event (EPE; c. 252.2 Ma). Microbial communities proliferated in lowland fresh and brackish waterbodies, with algal concentrations typical of modern blooms. These initiated before any trace of post-extinction recovery vegetation but recurred episodically for >100 kyrs. During the following 3 Myrs, algae and bacteria thrived within short-lived, poorly-oxygenated, and likely toxic lakes and rivers. Comparisons to global deep-time records indicate that microbial blooms are persistent freshwater ecological stressors during warming driven extinction events.
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