Influence of geographical latitude on vitamin D status: cross-sectional results from the BiomarCaRE consortium

Even though sunlight is viewed as the most important determinant of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) status, several European studies have observed higher 25(OH)D concentrations among north-Europeans than south-Europeans. We studied the association between geographical latitude (derived from ecological data) and 25(OH)D status in 6 European countries by using harmonized immunoassay data from 81,084 participants in the Biomarkers for Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in Europe (BiomarCaRE) project (male sex 48.9%; median age 50.8 years; examination period 1984 to 2014). Quantile regression models, adjusted for age, sex, decade and calendar week of sampling, and time from sampling to analysis, were used for between-country comparisons. Up until the median percentile, the ordering of countries by 25(OH)D status (from highest to lowest) was as follows: Sweden (at 65.6 to 63.8 oN), Germany (at 48.4 oN), Finland (at 65.0 to 60.2 oN), Italy (at 45.6 to 41.5 oN), Scotland (at 58.2 to 55.1 oN), and Spain (at 41.5 oN). From the 75th percentile and upwards, Finland had higher values than Germany. As an example, using the Swedish cohort as comparator, the median 25(OH)D concentration was 3.03, 3.28, 5.41, 6.54, and 9.28 ng/mL lower in the German, Finnish, Italian, Scottish, and Spanish cohort, respectively (P-value < 0.001 for all comparisons). The ordering of countries was highly consistent in subgroup analyses by sex, age, and decade and season of sampling. In conclusion, we confirmed the previous observation of a north-to-south gradient of 25(OH)D status in Europe, with higher percentile values among north-Europeans than south-Europeans.

Après-ski: The spread of coronavirus from Ischgl through Germany

The Austrian ski resort of Ischgl is commonly claimed to be ground zero for the diffusion of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the first wave of infections experienced by Germany. Drawing on data for 401 German counties, we find that conditional on geographical latitude and testing behavior by health authorities, road distance to Ischgl is indeed an important predictor of infection cases, but – in line with expectations – not of fatality rates. Were all German counties located as far from Ischgl as the most distant county of Vorpommern-Rügen, Germany would have seen about 45 % fewer COVID-19 cases. A simple diffusion model predicts that the absolute value of the distance-to-Ischgl elasticity should fall over time when inter- and intra-county mobility are unrestricted. We test this hypothesis and conclude that the German lockdown measures have halted the spread of the virus.

Mining the Species Diversity of Lacewings: New Species of the Pleasing Lacewing Genus Dilar Rambur, 1838 (Neuroptera, Dilaridae) from the Oriental Region

The species diversity of insects is extraordinarily rich, but still has been insufficiently explored or underestimated particularly for uncommon groups. The pleasing lacewings (Dilaridae) are a little known family of Neuroptera with distinct sexually dimorphic antennae. The species diversity of pleasing lacewings was recently found to be severely underestimated and requires a comprehensive investigation, as well as systematic reviews. Here, we report on 12 new species of the pleasing lacewing genus Dilar Rambur, 1838, from the Oriental region, namely D. forcipatus sp. nov. and D. laoticus sp. nov. from Laos (new country record of Dilar); D. malickyi sp. nov., D. phraenus sp. nov. and D. rauschorum sp. nov. from northern Thailand; D. striatus sp. nov. from northern Vietnam; D. cangyuanensis sp. nov., D. daweishanensis sp. nov., D. nujianganus sp. nov., D. weibaoshanensis sp. nov., D. yucheni sp. nov., and D. zhangweiae sp. nov. from Yunnan and Tibet, both in southwestern China. The new species of Dilar display several types of wing marking patterns, and the morphology of the male genitalia is highly diverse. A comprehensive examination of the species diversity and distribution of Dilar concluded that Yunnan (southwestern China) represents a biogeographic region with high endemism and the richest species diversity. The potential correlation between vertical distribution and geographical latitude in Dilar was also analyzed.

Geographical Latitude Remains as an Important Factor for the Prevalence of Some Myositis Autoantibodies: A Systematic Review

The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are characterized by muscular weakness, cutaneous manifestations, muscle damage revealed by increase of muscular enzymes, muscle biopsy, electromyography and changes on magnetic resonance imaging. However, the hallmark of these IIM, is the development of myositis specific antibodies (MSA) or myositis associated antibodies (MAA). The theories about their presence in the serum of IIM is not known. Some studies have suggested that some of these MSA, such as anti-Mi-2 increases according to the intensity of UV radiation. There is scarce information about the environmental factors that might contribute in order to be considered as triggering factors as UV radiation might be. In this review, we analyzed the reported prevalence of MSAs and MAAs regarding to their geographical location and the possible relation with UV radiation. We collected the prevalence data of fifteen MSA and thirteen MAA from 22 countries around the world and we were able to observe a difference in prevalence between countries and continents. We found differences in anti-PL7, anti-Ro52, anti-La and anti-Ku prevalence according to UV radiation level. Otherwise, we observed that anti-Mi-2 prevalence increases near to the Equator meanwhile anti-MJ/NXP2 and anti-ARS prevalence had an opposite behavior increasing their prevalence in the geographical locations farther to the Equator. Our results highlighted the importance to include the UV radiation and other environmental factors in IIM studies, in order to clarify its association with MSA and MAA prevalence as well as its possible role in the immunopathogenesis of these diseases.

Carbon footprinting of universities worldwide: Part I—objective comparison by standardized metrics

Background Universities, as innovation drivers in science and technology worldwide, should be leading the Great Transformation towards a carbon–neutral society and many have indeed picked up the challenge. However, only a small number of universities worldwide are collecting and publishing their carbon footprints, and some of them have defined zero emission targets. Unfortunately, there is limited consistency between the reported carbon footprints (CFs) because of different analysis methods, different impact measures, and different target definitions by the respective universities. Results Comprehensive CF data of 20 universities from around the globe were collected and analysed. Essential factors contributing to the university CF were identified. For the first time, CF data from universities were not only compared. The CF data were also evaluated, partly corrected, and augmented by missing contributions, to improve the consistency and comparability. The CF performance of each university in the respective year is thus homogenized, and measured by means of two metrics: CO2e emissions per capita and per m2 of constructed area. Both metrics vary by one order of magnitude across the different universities in this study. However, we identified ten universities reaching a per capita carbon footprint of lower than or close to 1.0 Mt (metric tons) CO2e/person and year (normalized by the number of people associated with the university), independent from the university’s size. In addition to the aforementioned two metrics, we suggested a new metric expressing the economic efficiency in terms of the CF per $ expenditures and year. We next aggregated the results for all three impact measures, arriving at an overall carbon performance for the respective universities, which we found to be independent of geographical latitude. Instead the per capita measure correlates with the national per capita CFs, and it reaches on average 23% of the national impacts per capita. The three top performing universities are located in Switzerland, Chile, and Germany. Conclusion The usual reporting of CO2 emissions is categorized into Scopes 1–3 following the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting Standard which makes comparison across universities challenging. In this study, we attempted to standardize the CF metrics, allowing us to objectively compare the CF at several universities. From this study, we observed that, almost 30 years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (1992), the results are still limited. Only one zero emission university was identified, and hence, the transformation should speed up globally.

Estimation of the Optimum Energy Received by Solar Energy Flat-Plate Convertors in Greece Using Typical Meteorological Years. Part I: South-Oriented Tilt Angles

The optimal solar radiation received on an inclined surface is always critical for energy purposes at a location or in an area. Therefore, many attempts have been made worldwide to calculate the optimum tilt angle for this purpose. The present study gives an answer about the south-oriented inclination or inclinations of solar panels in Greece for maximum efficiency. The analysis shows that an angle of 25° (and 30° in some cases) facing south is the most appropriate. To calculate this, the energy sums received on surfaces with inclination angles of 0–60° with a step of 5°, including φ° (φ being the geographical latitude) facing south at 33 locations in Greece were analyzed monthly, seasonally, and annually. The solar radiation data used in this work comes from corresponding typical meteorological years (TMYs) generated for the above locations. TMYs are used for the first time worldwide for the study of the optimum energy received by solar panels tilted south. Four new energy zones are defined to cover the whole of Greece.

THE CULTURAL COMMONALITIES OF IRAN AND UZBEKISTAN (From the perspective of the Persian language and literature history)

Iran and Uzbekistan are both countries with a very old history and are influential countries in the culture and civilization areas in Asia. Although the new political identity of Uzbekistan has not been formed recently since its independence, the historical background of this land and its important and crucial cities and great personalities and thinkers of this country is clear and evident. Uzbekistan, as part of the historical Transoxiana region, has been the ground for many cultural, linguistic, literary, and political events for its neighboring lands. Iran is also an ancient country with wide geographical latitude and longitude that has had a special effect on the cultures of different nations and ethnic groups in different historical eras. The overlap of these two cultures throughout history has led to the emergence of rich and dominant culture, in which the characteristics of Iranian-Islamic culture can be clearly observed. In the present study, cultural commonalities between these two countries were briefly investigated and identified with an emphasis on Persian language and literature as two important cultural origins. The common historical inseparable roots, common cultural and political history, influence on the formation, prevalence, and identification of Persian language and literature along with the similarity of traditions, rituals, and social beliefs are among the main factors in the formation of a close cultural relationship between Iran and Uzbekistan.

The Image of the World as a Psychological System and Its Environmental Determinantsy

The image of the world is considered as a psychological system that includes spatial-temporal and value-semantic dimensions. The theoretical analysis of the research problem allows us to state as follows. There is a contradiction between the significance of objective natural and geographical factors in the formation of a human's lifestyle, and the lack of knowledge of their influence on the formation of his subjective image of the world. The pur-pose of this article is to study the determination of subjective chronotopic characteristics of the human world image by objective environmental factors. The study involved 450 residents of 10 Russian cities that differ significantly in their natural and geographical features. The following characteristics of the respondents’ place of residence were evaluated: geographical latitude; the degree of discrepancy between the offi-cial time zone and the actual time set by geographical longitude; the average annual tempera-ture; the number of sunshine hours per year. The complex of psychodiagnostic methods included the author’s questionnaire of structure identity; the graphic test "Circles"; the scale of polychronous values; the scale of time value as an economic resource; the semantic differen-tial of time; the author’s methodology of studying value preferences; the test of life-meaning orientations. Natural and geographical features of the life environment determine significant diffe-rences in the spatial-temporal and value-semantic characteristics of the subjective image of the world. Representatives of the northern territories have a significant belonging to the modern generation, the semantic connectedness of the time perspective, and the subjective value of time. They see their present and future as about anxious and tense; they focus on the values of adaptation, as well as internality. Residents of warm regions have a more signi-ficant gender and family identity, semantic connectedness of the time perspective, anxiety of their present, orientation to the values of adaptation. If the officially set time goes ahead over the actual longitudinal time, it is correlated with the disturbing image of the present, the idea of saturation, brightness and iridescence of past and future, focus on the value of sociali-zation. The environmental characteristics of residence have a significant impact on the subjective image of reality. The greatest value among the considered determinants is the geographical latitude of the place of residence. The influence of environmental determinants on the subjec-tive parameters of the image of the world is indirectly related to the intermediate links such as economic and cultural type or psychophysiological characteristics of life activity in the corresponding natural conditions.

ACCOUNTING OF SOLAR RADIATION IN NUMERICAL MODELLING OF THE THERMOPHYSICAL PROCESSES OF FREEZING AND THAWING OF PERMAFROST SOILS

The article considers options for stabilizing the thawing process of permafrost soil of railways during the reconstruction period. The analysis of the engineering and geological conditions made it possible to design rock cooling structures at this facility, which are berms and cover slopes of the subgrade with fractionated rocky soil. The technical characteristics of fractionated rock soil structures have been developed and tested in this cryological area and have shown their effective operation for more than 30 years. As a result of the operation of the railway embankment, permafrost degrades and its boundary is at different depths depending on local conditions and the condition of the drainage systems from the subgrade. The position of the upper permafrost boundary should be established during surveys, if it is not advisable to restore the frozen base to a depth of 10 m, it is necessary to strengthen the thawed weak base and create conditions for the consolidation of thawed soils. Geographic latitude determines zoning in the distribution of climate elements. Solar radiation enters the upper boundary of the atmosphere, depending on geographic latitude. It determines the midday height of the Sun and the duration of the radiation. The absorbed radiation is distributed more difficultly, since it depends on cloud cover, the albedo of the earth's surface, and the degree of transparency of the air. Zoning also underlies the distribution of air temperature. The temperature depends not only on the absorbed radiation, but also on the circulating conditions. Zoning in the temperature distribution leads to zoning of other meteorological climate values. The influence of geographical latitude on the distribution of meteorological values becomes more noticeable with height when the influence of other climate factors associated with the earth's surface weakens.

Goosefoot – a plant that likes drought. The goosefoot family pollen season in 2019 in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia

Almost all the species of the Chenopodiaceae family present in our flora flower from July–August to the autumn. Unfortunately, allergies do not take a vacation. Warm, dry July and August weather should limit pollen emissions. However, similarly to most plants in dry habitats, goosefoot are well adapted to such conditions and does not provide even a short reprieve to pollen allergic patients. However, goosefoot pollen does not have a very large allergenic significance; despite the long pollen season lasting about 3 months, pollen concentrations in the air are low and very rarely exceed the concentration of 30 grains/m3. This study compares Chenopodiaceae pollen seasons in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia in 2019. The investigations were carried out using the volumetric method (Hirst type pollen sampler). Seasonal pollen index was estimated as the sum of daily average pollen concentrations in the given season. The pollen season ranges from June to September, depending on the geographical latitude. In Hungary and Slovakia there are much longer pollen seasons than in Poland. Pollen of goosefoot family contains the panallergen profilins, which are responsible for cross-reactivity among pollen-sensitized patients. In 2019 the pollen season of goosefoot started first in Hungary, in Kaposvar on June 7th and in Slovakia, in Žilina, on June 8th; in Poland pollen season started much later, on June 14th in Szczecin and Opole. At the latest, a pollen season ended in Nitria (Slovakia) on October 16th; in Kecskemet (Hungary) on October 3rd. In Poland the season ended much earlier than in Hungary and Slovakia already on August 25th. The differences of pollen season durations are considerable, the number of days ranged from 72 to 128. The dynamics of the pollen seasons of goosefoot family show similarities within a given country and considerable differences between these countries. However, the differences of the highest airborne concentration between the countries are not considerable (25 pollen grains/m3 in Poland, 49 pollen grains/m3 in Hungary, and 30 pollen grains/m3 in Slovakia. The maximum values of seasonal pollen count in Polish cities occurred between July 26th and August 29th, in Hungarian cities between August 27th and 30th, and in Slovakian cities between August 7th and 28th. Pollen season was characterized by extremely different total annual pollen SPI, in Poland from 116 to 360; in Hungary and Slovakia within the limits 290 to 980. Droughts that occur more frequently during the summer facilitate the spread of species of the goosefoot family due to the possibility of these plants gaining new habitats.