The worldwide diversity of contaminated sites, coupled with a scarcity of available land in urban spatial planning, has led to an increasing political significance for brownfield conservation and re-use to achieve land resource sustainability. In this study, economic or so-called rebound effects of land regeneration, are studied via a global meta-analysis on value fluctuation of surrounding property. To this end, a total of 91 observations from 28 HPM (Hedonic Pricing Model) studies were synthesized to conduct a meta-analysis following a conditional random-effects procedure. The empirical results indicate that, in line with expectations, the conservation and recycling of land resource indeed generate significant rebound in the implicit price of residential houses, especially for those located within 2 kilometers of contaminated sites. Before land remediation and re-use, dwellings closest in distance to contaminated sites experience the greatest value loss. On average, the depreciation in property values within the first 1km distance from a contaminated site is about 8.18%, significantly at the 1% level, while the corresponding adverse impact from 1 to 2 km distance is a 4.8% price premium significantly at the 5% level. The significance of the stigma or rebound effects depend on 12 attributes, in which, house age, location, FAR (Floor Area Ratio) and CBD (Central Business District) variables have the largest impact, of -37.38%~37.5%. From a practical perspective, the findings of this meta-analysis: 1) help refine contributing parameters in HPM studies to evaluate environmental economics; and 2) provide meaningful decision-making support for cost-effective remediation and benefit maximization.

Research on among individual variation in behavior has increased rapidly in recent years. It is intuitively appealing that among individual variation in behavior has ecological consequences and among the most likely to be affected is trophic niche. Bold individuals, with the tendency to be explorative and risk tolerant, can be less likely to alter their foraging behavior across contexts and therefore forage more consistently. Stable isotopes are a useful tool to retrospectively estimate ecological niche and have been found to correlate to foraging behavior in the wild. It is now pressing to extent studies to further examine the ecological or evolutionary relevance of personality. We examined if common behavioral traits were correlated to ecological niche in the wild using a rapid behavioral assay and δ13C and δ15N stable isotopes from fin and muscle reflecting ecological niche for the previous weeks and months. We found that latency to explore, as a proxy for boldness, correlated to values of δ13C with bolder fish having lower δ13C values. Moreover, latency to explore also explained variation in the change in individual stable isotope niche over time. These results highlight the long-term ecological importance of among individual variation in behavior and are among the first to support a correlation of laboratory measures of behavior and ecological niche in the wild.

Symphony to Leadless pacing – An Ode to JoyHassan Khan1, Larry A Chinitz1*1Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology. New York University Langone Health. New York, NY, USA*Larry A Chinitz MD, FACC, FACP Benjamin and Coyle Family Professor of Medicine and Cardiac Electrophysiology Director, Cardiac Electrophysiology and the NYU Heart Rhythm CenterClinical Director, Leon H Charney Division of CardiologyNYU School of Medicine 212-263-7149 (O)[email protected] count, text: 1222 (excluding references) Number of tables/figures: 1COI; L.Chinitz- Speakers Honoraria; Medtronic,AbbottCoi; H. Khan- NoneLudwig van Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is regarded by many musicologists as one of the finest works in the history of music. It is notable for several reasons, particularly being the first example of a composer using voices, with words sung by a chorus and vocal soloist in the final movement. These words were adapted from the poem ”Ode to Joy”, written by Friedrich Schiller, and to date symbolize the celebration of music, making all who hear it feel better about life.Leadless pacing has also made a transformational effect on the lives of patients with bradyarrhythmias. Introduced to overcome the complications and adverse effects associated with conventional transvenous pacemakers, leadless pacing is observed to be safe, with a low risk of both short and long-term adverse events and high rates of successful implantation1, 2. To further the role of leadless pacing, the MARVEL (Micra Atrial TRacking Using a Ventricular AccELerometer) 23 prospective non-randomized multicenter clinical trial, tested the ability of an enhanced AV synchronous pacing algorithm utilizing the device’s three axis accelerometer, to attain mechanical sensing of atrial contractility. The MICRA AV TPS (Medtronic, MN) was released in 2020 with a ventricular pacing and atrial tracking mode (VDD), and achieved mechanical atrial sensing resulting in AV-synchronous pacing of >70% at rest in 95% participants (38 of the 40 with complete heart block) within the trial. Significant benefits to AV synchrony include avoidance of pacemaker syndrome, improvement of quality of life and as seen in these patients, improvement in left ventricle stroke volume and function3-5.The study observed that AV synchrony varied with physical activity and posture, with best results achieved at rest. Patient selection is crucial for optimal use of this algorithm as it is difficult to track atrial rates >105 bpm. At higher sinus rates, i.e. during exercise, the A3 and A4 signals fuse, along with encroachment of A4 on PVAB as the sinus rate increases further. Patient characteristics remain crucial and as seen in a subsidiary analysis of the MARVEL 2, individuals with markers of diastolic dysfunction (higher E/A ratios) and /or atrial myopathy (atrial strain) were found to be at higher risk of reduced mechanical atrial sensing of A46. Moreover, those with weak atrial contractions may not provide adequate A4 signals to the accelerometer. Therefore, performances of the algorithm in a real-world setting may not mirror those seen in the clinical trial arena. Further complicating the issue remains the ideal threshold for AV synchrony, which is assigned to >70% in research studies. In practice however, the AV synchrony cut-off required to achieve meaningful clinical benefit, avoid pacemaker syndrome and improve quality of life remains uncertain, though is certainly not 100%Recognizing that optimal AV synchrony in routine clinical practice may be challenging, Kowgli et al. in this issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology , describe their multicenter institutional experience of outpatient programming optimization of the AV-synchronous MICRA leadless pacing system7. They included 43 patients with MICRA AV following exclusion of those with persistent atrial fibrillation or reduced follow-up. They describe the frequency of AV synchrony (defined as the ratio of atrial mechanically sensed (AM)-ventricular pacing to total ventricular paced percentage) at device interrogation done at 3 months of follow up. They report an overall mean AV synchronous pacing (AsVP) of 62.9%. In 65% of the patients adequate AV synchrony with AsVP >70% was found. Those with inadequate AsVP (<70%) had a higher body mass index, higher prevalence of congestive heart failure and prior history of cardiac surgery. Authors note that a small A4-wave amplitude, high ventricular pacing burden, and inadequate device reprogramming (over-use of auto A4 threshold, or lack of initiation of VDD mode at initialization) were main considerations for suboptimal AV synchronous pacing.Most importantly, their data confirms and is in line with recent reports,8, 9 that the success in achieving AV synchrony in a real-world setting may be lower than the MARVEL 2 clinical trial. The results also emphasize the importance of active programming changes which can significantly improve AV synchrony following an optimization post implantation. As identified in this report, MICRA AV optimization may require a learning curve, noted by an improvement in AsVP from 55% earlier, to 68% later in the study. Critical programming changes made by performing a manual atrial mechanical (MAM) test while disabling the features that automatically affect these, include adjusting the post ventricular atrial blanking (PVAB), A3/A4 windows and A3/A4 thresholds, and turning off the AV conduction mode (VVI +) in those with complete heart block and escape >40 bpm. The authors and others8, 9 have identified helpful examples of troubleshooting these interval timings and thresholds for optimizing AV synchrony, which an implanter must be familiar with in order to successfully manage patients with leadless AV synchronous devices. Critically, while performing a MAM test, a key prerequisite for successful interpretation of device tracings is the inclusion of an optimal ECG tracing. In cases where standard leads do not show a discernable P wave, the Lewis lead method can be helpful10. Several key steps towards successful optimization of AV synchrony are summarized in Figure 1.Kowgli et al. evaluated AV synchrony at device interrogation 3 months post implant whereas MARVEL 2 limited the analysis duration to about 30 minutes immediately after pacemaker optimization. This is a somewhat artificial setting and would be expected to be different from observations made at 3 months and longer periods of follow-up. Real world settings are also associated with changes in heart rate, patient movement, atrial or ventricular arrhythmias, as well as changes in lifestyle and medications. Therefore, an optimization session both at post-op (prior to discharge) and in the clinic at follow-up, with prior Holter monitoring and exercise testing in younger patients, may help detect AV dysynchrony earlier and allow recognition and correction of atrial mechanical under or oversensing.The current study acknowledges the complexity of leadless pacing and the need for optimization at follow-up to achieve higher levels of AV synchrony. It also reflects on patient selection being crucial to reap the full benefits of leadless technology. In patients with fast baseline sinus rates, in younger and physically active patients, or those who may have a greater reliance on AV synchrony at peak heart rates, this device may not be optimal. In addition, P wave amplitude, frequent atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, and sinus bradycardia will adversely affect the ability to achieve AV Synchrony. With appropriate patient selection, monitoring and best practices of device programming, leadless pacemakers will undoubtedly achieve clinically relevant AV synchrony. The true marvel of leadless technology can be seen as an impressive reduction in complication rates and better patient satisfaction compared to current transvenous devices. Further improvements in design, technology and best practices will deliver symphony to pacing and afford those who use it an experience that is safe and reminiscent of normal cardiovascular physiology.

Land degradation and desertification (LDD) has become one of the most urgent global environmental issues. The complexity of LDD make it difficult to quantify, how to monitor quickly and accurately has become the key to realize the sustainability for land resources. To achieve this target, firstly, a comprehensive index—land degradation and desertification status index (LDDSI) is built, which integrates the information in fractional vegetation cover (FVC), net primary productivity (NPP), albedo and modified temperature vegetation drought index (MTVDI) based on the spatial principal component analysis (SPCA). Then, identifies LDD from dynamics of land degradation and desertification status (LDDS) in 2001-2018. Based on this, we analyze the spatio-temporal process and driving mechanism of LDD in Northern China. The result indicates that: (a) LDDSI has a better monitoring performance, (b) LDD has been effectively alleviated, but the spatial distribution of LDDS maintains a high clustering pattern, which is difficult to be broken, (c) LDD in local regions is further expanded (1.75%) affected by many factors, which deserves our attention, and (d) the differences in climate, environmental backgrounds and human activities play a key role in LDDS and LDD. In addition, we assess the effectiveness of ecological projects implemented by the Chinese government. The current understanding in the change pattern and influencing mechanism for LDDS and LDD can provide a scientific basis for formulating ecological policies based on local conditions.

Heterogeneity in riverine habitats acts as a template for species evolution that influences river communities at different spatio-temporal scales. Although birds are conspicuous elements of these communities, the roles of phylogeny, functional traits and habitat character in their niche-use or species’ assembly have seldom been investigated. We explored these themes by surveying multiple headwaters over 3000 m of elevation in the Himalayan Mountains of India where specialist river birds reach their greatest diversity on Earth. After ordinating community composition, species traits and habitat character, we investigated whether river-bird traits varied with elevation in ways that were constrained or independent of phylogeny, hypothesising that trait patterns reflect environmental filtering. Community composition and trait representation varied strongly with elevation and river naturalness as species that foraged in the river/riparian ecotone gave way to small insectivores with obligate links to the river channel. These trends were influenced strongly by phylogeny as communities became more clustered by functional traits at higher elevation. Phylogenetic signals varied among traits, however, and were reflected in body mass, bill size and tarsus length more than in body size, tail length and breeding strategy. These variations imply that community assembly in high altitude river birds reflects a blend of phylogenetic constraint and habitat filtering coupled with some proximate niche-based moulding of trait character. We suggest that the regional co-existence of river birds in the Himalaya is facilitated by the same array of factors that together reflect the highly heterogeneous template of river habitats provided by these mountain headwaters.

Human activities can degrade the quality of coral reefs, cause a decline in fish species richness and functional diversity and an erosion of the ecosystem services provided. Environmental DNA metabarcoding (eDNA) has been proposed as an alternative to Underwater Visual Census (UVC) to offer more rapid assessment of marine biodiversity to meet management demands for ecosystem health indices. Taxonomic information derived from sequenced eDNA can be combined with functional traits and phylogenetic positions to generate a variety of ecological indices describing ecosystem functioning. Here, we inventoried reef fish assemblages of two contrasted coastal areas of Curaçao, (i) in close proximity to the island’s capital city and (ii) in a more remote area under more limited anthropogenic pressure. We sampled eDNA by filtering large volumes of sea water (2 x 30L) along 2km boat transects, which we coupled with species ecological properties related to habitat use, trophic level and body size to investigate the difference in fish taxonomic composition, functional and phylogenetic indices recovered from eDNA metabarcoding between these two distinct coastal areas. Despite no marked difference in species richness, we found a higher phylogenetic diversity in proximity to the city, but a higher functional diversity on the more isolated reef. Composition differences between coastal areas were associated with different frequencies of reef fish families. Because of a partial reference database, eDNA only partly matched those detected with UVC, but eDNA surveys nevertheless provided rapid and robust species occupancy responses to contrasted environments. eDNA metabarcoding coupled with functional and phylogenetic diversity assessment can serve the management of coastal habitats under increasing threat from global changes.

The recently developed Edge Tracing (ET) method allows to estimate the radial deformation in axisymmetric tensile specimens via analysis of digital images recorded during the experiments. Images are processed to detect the sample’s contours and therefore, estimate the minimal cross–section diameter. This technique was mainly developed to characterize the elastic–plastic behavior well beyond the necking strain. The aim of this work is to extend the ET method to two case studies. Firstly, the post–necking behavior and failure of a low ductility Al–alloy are investigated. Low ductility alloys tend to fail brutally after reaching the maximum load. The major result is the capture of the sharp load drop which allowed to calibrate parameters of a GTN damage model. Secondly, the anisotropic elastic–plastic behavior of a “vintage” line pipe steel is characterized by a direct measurement of the Lankford coefficient. Assembled experimental data allowed to model the anisotropic plasticity in different loading directions.

We recently published a paper quantifying the genome-wide consequences of natural selection, including the effects of indirect selection due to the correlation of genetic regions (neutral or selected) with directly selected regions (Gompert et al. 2022). In their critique of our paper, Charlesworth & Jensen (2022) make two main points: (i) indirect selection is equivalent to hitchhiking and thus well documented (i.e., our results are not novel), and (ii) that we do not demonstrate the source of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between SNPs and the Mel-Stripe locus in the Timema cristinae experiment we analyze. As we discuss in detail below, neither of these are substantial criticisms of our work.

Pathogenic variants in JAG1 are known to cause Alagille syndrome (ALGS), a disorder that primarily affects the liver, lung, kidney and skeleton. Whereas cardiac symptoms are also frequently observed in ALGS, thoracic aortic aneurysms have only been reported sporadically in post-mortem autopsies. We here report two families with segregating JAG1 variants that present with isolated aneurysmal disease, as well as the first histological evaluation of aortic aneurysm tissue of a JAG1 variant carrier. Our observations shed more light on the pathomechanisms behind aneurysm formation in JAG1 variant carriers and underline the importance of cardiovascular imaging in the clinical follow-up of JAG1 variant carrying individuals.

An 82-year old woman with third degree atrioventricular block underwent left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) lead implantation

Pain in children living with and beyond cancer is understudied and undertreated. Pain science education (PSE) is a conceptual change strategy facilitating patients’ understanding of the biopsychosocial aspects of pain. Preliminary studies on the adaptation of PSE interventions to adults with and beyond cancer provide a foundation for pediatric research. PSE could help childhood cancer survivors experiencing persistent pain and pain-related worry after active treatment. PSE may also help children receiving cancer treatment, providing them with a foundation of adaptive pain beliefs and cognitions, and preparing them for procedural and treatment-related pain. We direct this paper towards pediatric oncology clinicians, policy makers and researchers working with children living with and beyond cancer. We aim to; (1) identify challenges in adapting PSE for children living with and beyond cancer, (2) offer possible solutions, and (3) propose research questions to guide the implementation of PSE for children living with and beyond cancer.

Objectives: To examine the association between racial origin and preeclampsia(PE) and gestational hypertension(GH) after adjustment for factors in maternal characteristics and medical history in screening study from the Fetal Medicine Foundation (FMF) in England, and to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on PE. Methods: In the FMF data regression analysis was performed to examine the association between racial origin and PE or GH. Literature search to December 2021 was carried out to identify peer-reviewed publications on race and PE. Main outcome measure: Relative risk of PE and GH in women of black, South Asian and East Asian racial origin by comparison to white women. Results: In the FMF study there were 168,966 singleton pregnancies without major abnormalities delivering at ≥24 weeks’ gestation. In black women the respective risk of total-PE and preterm-PE was 2-fold and 2.5-fold higher and risk of GH was 25% higher, in South Asian women there was a 1.5-fold higher risk of preterm-PE but not total-PE, and in East Asian women there was no significant difference in risk of hypertensive disorders. The literature search identified 19 studies that provided data on several million of pregnancies, but 17 were at moderate or high-risk of bias and only three provided risks adjusted for some maternal characteristics; consequently, these studies did not provide accurate contribution of different racial groups to the prediction of PE. Conclusion: In women of black and South Asian origin the risk of PE, after adjustment for confounders, is higher than in white women

Title: The Fa(r)st or the Spurious - Pulmonary vein cycle length – Is it the fuel driving persistent AF, or simply just fumes?Authors: Sandeep Prabhu1,2,3 and Louise Segan1,2,3

Abstracts from the 27th Annual International Atrial Fibrillation Symposium January 13-15, 2022

Metadynamics simulation has been used to describe the conformational energy landscapes of several helical quinoline oligoamides bearing β-pinene-derived pyridine at either the C or N terminus. Based on the experimental results, helix-sense preference for four types of foldamers with the chiral terminal group has been verified. To compare to the key factors of inducing handedness to helical-sense preference, a terminal group with three hydrogen bond sites is designed and corresponding foldamers are built. The calculated results show the delocalization effect and steric hindrance mainly responsible for a particular helix-sense preference for the investigated foldamers. The more hydrogen bonds between the terminal group and oligoamide units are formed, the more stable foldamers are.

long-term survival after lung transplantation has increased over recent years, but still fall short of providing extensive life expectancy for more than 10 years.

Detailed theoretical investigations on their structural and electronic properties of two-dimensional (2D) monofluorinating phenethylammonium perovskite are required to deeply understand the origin of the crystal structural and optoelectronic differences caused by organic spacers. Herein, formation energy, non-covalent interaction, band structure, exciton binding energy, carrier mobility and optical absorption spectra of 2D monofluorinating phenethylammonium lead iodide perovskite were calculated using density functional theory. Results show that steric effect leads to the orientational disorder of spacers in ortho-fluorinating phenethylammonium perovskite and weak interaction leads to the herringbone configuration of spacers in meta-fluorinating phenethylammonium perovskite. Exciton binding energy significantly influences the short circuit current density (JSC) of fluorophenethylammonium-based 2D perovskites, which can well explain the experimental trends of JSC. Formation energy analysis of perovskites with the same chemical components but different crystal structures and exciton binding energy calculation can be additional strategies in high-throughput screening for high-performance 2D perovskites.

The gut microbiota of bees affect nutrition, immunity, and host fitness, yet the role of diet, sociality, and geographic variation in determining microbiome structure, including strain-level diversity and relatedness, remain poorly understood. Here, we use full-length 16S amplicon sequencing to compare the crop and gut microbiomes of two incipiently social carpenter bee species, Xylocopa sonorina and Xylocopa tabaniformis, from multiple geographic sites within each species’ range. We found that Xylocopa species share a set of core taxa consisting of Bombilactobacillus, Bombiscardovia, and Lactobacillus apis, found in >95% of all individual bees sampled, and Gilliamella and Apibacter were also detected in the gut of both species with high frequency. The crop bacterial community of both species was comprised nearly entirely of Apilactobacillus with occasionally abundant nectar bacteria. Despite sharing core taxa, Xylocopa species’ microbiomes were distinguished by multiple bacterial lineages, including species-specific strains of core taxa. In both bee species, bacterial species exhibited geographic patterns in the presence of specific sequence variants. The use of long-read amplicons revealed otherwise cryptic species and population-level differentiation in core microbiome members which was masked when a shorter fragment of the 16S (V4) was considered. We conclude that these Xylocopa species host a distinctive microbiome, similar to that of previously characterized social apids, which suggests that further investigation to understand the evolution of bee microbiome and its drivers is warranted.