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Objective:Adding to existing challenges in conducting clinical trials, COVID-19 has indefinitely affected modern clinical research. Decentralized clinical trials, using telemedicine and digital technology, may prove critical to the future of clinical development. This type of methodology in psychiatric trials remains largely unexplored; therefore, we evaluated the feasibility and quality of data collection in a randomized, sham-interventional trial using fully decentralized methodology in subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods:This was a four-week, noninterventional, two-cohort, decentralized, clinical trial. Eligible adults had a diagnosis of MDD and were medically stable. Subjects in cohort 1 continued stable antidepressant and antipsychotic treatment and were randomly assigned 1:1 into assisted or unassisted groups (ie, completing assessments at home aided by mobile healthcare providers or alone using study-provided materials, respectively). Subjects in cohort 2 continued stable antidepressant treatment only or with other therapy and could choose assignment to assisted or unassisted groups. Coprimary endpoints were operational effectiveness (assessed by completion rate, subject diversity, time to study start, and subject satisfaction) and data-collection integrity (assessed by subjects’ ability to collect assessments and real-time data availability). Safety analyses included incidence of adverse events and suicidality. Results:In cohort 1, 96 subjects were screened with 31 enrolled; in cohort 2, 46 subjects were screened with 26 enrolled. Most subjects (≥81% across study groups and cohorts), and more than 80% of both cohorts, completed all assessments. No major safety concerns were encountered. Conclusions:This study demonstrated that decentralized clinical trials can be performed in patients with stable MDD. Clinical trial registration number:None; this was a noninterventional trial.

In january 1910, a major flood occurred involving all the rivers of the Rhine Graben (France, Germany, Switzerland), but with huge differencies in the spatial results : damages were much more higher on the left side of the Rhine (Alsace), because of the delay in rivers corrections, generating different vulnerabilities. This example shows the necessity of the contextualization of historic floods in time and space. Because the informations concerning floods are linked with sources and the sources are linked with damages. Flood chronology appears much more as a chronology of the vulnerability to flood and of the landuse changes. This paper based on a flood chronology from 1800 to 2015 extracted from the TRANSRISK database (1480-2015), propose to analyse temporal and spatial variations of flood intensity, in relation with landuse changes and vulnerability evolution, using a geohistorical, transnational and comparing approach. At the end, we will also study the consequences of flood evolution on risk culture, and how to rebuild and share it.

Thann, between the Vosges Mountains and the Alsace plain, is one of the first cities of Haut-Rhin to have been concerned by a Flood Risks Prevention Plan (PPRI). The town is indeed crossed by the Thur river, characterized by violent floods. However, the zoning of the PPRI mentions only a relatively small risk area. But the city has suffered in the past from destructive floods, as it is revealed by the TRANSRISK database. Among these events, the flood of December 1947, very well documented, allows, through a geo-historical approach (contextualization, transposition), the spatial confrontation of areas flooded in 1947 and flood areas designated by the PPRI. The results raise many questions about the quality of PPRI zoning that appears to present errors and omissions. And in the case of a 100-year flood, the damage would be catastrophic. If the re-enactment of the 1947 flood features a worst case scenario, this can also be the basis for a preparation for crisis management.

We conducted a series of experiments that revealed the formation of mm-scale penitente structures in ice illuminated by broadband light under moderate vacuum conditions between 50 and 2000 Pa. The experimental apparatus consists of a 0.3 m diameter cylindrical vacuum chamber with a cooling jacket surrounding the outer radius and bottom surface. Light shines in through an optical window at the top to illuminate most of the ice surface. We observe penitente-like structures at temperatures between −15$^\circ$C and $-2^\circ$C and pressures close to the equilibrium vapor pressure at the ice surface temperature. The formation of these structures is very sensitive to slight changes in background pressure, and the structures tend to vanish with significant deviations away from the equilibrium curve, resulting in a smooth sublimated crater formation instead of penitentes. Application of the physical model by Claudin and others (2015, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.92.033015) at experimental conditions generally agrees with observations for penitente spacing.

Eine erfolgreiche Früherkennung von Vorratsschädlingen beginnt schon im Freiland und stellt einen zukünftigen und wichtigen Weg des Pflanzenschutzes gegen Schadinsekten dar. Derzeit gibt es allerdings nur wenige Zahlen über das Vorkommen und die Verbreitung von vorratsschädlichen Insekten in Deutschland und über die von ihnen verursachten Schäden an pflanzlichen Nachernteprodukten. Sowohl einheimische/bereits etablierte Arten als auch neue Arten, die durch Handel und Tourismus eingeschleppt werden oder aufgrund der Erwärmung in Folge des Klimawandels auf natürliche Weise einwandern, stellen eine Bedrohung dar. Ziel dieser Pilotstudie war es, Konzepte und Methoden zur Erhebung von Daten über das Auftreten vorratsschädlicher Insekten in Deutschland zu testen. Zu diesem Zweck wurde von 2020 bis 2022 ein Monitoring auf vier landwirtschaftlichen Betrieben, davon drei Ökobetriebe, durchgeführt. Innerhalb und außerhalb der Getreideläger wurden verschiedene mit Lockstoffen versehene Fallen aufgestellt, die monatlich kontrolliert und im Labor ausgewertet wurden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass neben einer großen Anzahl typischer Vorratsschädlinge innerhalb der Läger (z. B. Getreideplattkäfer Oryzaephilus surinamensis oder Dörrobstmotte Plodia interpunctella), einige Insekten auch in den Fallen auf den an die Läger angrenzenden Getreideanbauflächen gefangen wurden. Darunter waren verschiedene Mottenarten und der Getreidekapuziner Rhyzopertha dominica. Die hier gewonnenen Erkenntnisse bilden die Grundlage für das im Rahmen des Klimaschutz-Sofortprogramms 2022 vom Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) finanzierte und im November 2022 gestartete dreijährige Forschungsvorhaben AVoiD (Abwehr von Vorratsschädlingen in Deutschland). Dabei werden die hier publizierten Erfahrungen in einem entsprechenden Monitoring von Vorratsschädlingen an bundesweit verteilten Standorten umgesetzt.

Interactions between stored product pest insects and their parasitoids are well known to be mediated by infochemicals. However, little knowledge is available about the extent to which parasitoid responses to host kairomones improve host search and parasitization success. Here, we tested whether the release of host-specific kairomones of the confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum, improves host finding of the larval ectoparasitoid Holepyris sylvanidis. Previous studies revealed that volatiles from host larval feces [i.e., (E)-2-nonenal and 1-pentadecene] attract the parasitoid. To determine the most attractive concentration of these two key components, we conduced Y-tube olfactometer bioassays. Most female parasitoids were attracted to a mixture of (E)-2-nonenal and 1-pentadecene at the lowest concentration, while the highest concentration was repellent. Volatiles from host adults (methyl-p-benzoquinone and 4,8-dimethyldecanal) did not attract the parasitoid females at any of the concentrations tested. In flight cage experiments, we analyzed the host finding success of H. sylvanidis by offering host larvae in a Petri dish for 3 days (i) with additionally applied host larval kairomones in the most attractive concentration (test) or (ii) without additional kairomones (control). In test cages, the parasitoids removed a significantly higher number of paralyzed host larvae from the initial population within 48 h than in control cages. After 72 h, significantly more host larvae were parasitized in test cages than in the control. The offspring of parasitoids in test cages differed from the one in control cages by total numbers and especially the number of males. Significantly more parasitoids emerged from the parasitized host larvae in test cages, with enhanced male offspring. Our study demonstrates that the parasitoid’s response to host-associated volatiles can improve parasitization success but also affects the number of males in the parasitoids’ progeny.