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The smoothness criterion is used in the design of symmetric moving
average trend filters in time series and in graduation in
actuarial studies. This measure of smoothness is used to motivate
a diagnostic for determining the order of local polynomial trend.

The use of medicinal zinc oxide (ZnO) in post-weaning diets must be phased out in the European Union by 2022, resulting in urgent needs for alternative strategies to prevent diarrhea in pigs. The objective of this study was to test the effect of four different dietary protein strategies with different amino acid profiles on diarrhea frequency and pig performance as alternative diet plans when medicinal ZnO waswill be excluded from the diet. A total of 6 800 Duroc x (Danish Landrace x Yorkshire) pigs, weaned around 28 days of age, were randomly assigned by sex and size to six dietary treatments. The treatments were; standard CP levels (191, 184, 184 g/kg CP) and allocated 2 500 ppm ZnO in phase 1 (PC = positive control), standard CP levels (191, 184, 184 g/kg CP) and no added ZnO in phase 1 (NC = negative control), CP levels of 166, 184, 184 g/kg (LSS = low-standard-standard), CP levels of 166, 162, 192 g/kg (LLH = low-low-high), CP levels of 140, 193, 192 g/kg (VHH = very low-high-high), and lastly 140, 174, 192 g/kg CP levels (VMH = very low-medium-high). The pigs entered the trial at ~ 7 kg BW and exited at ~ 30 kg BW. As expected, the PC treatment resulted in 42% fewer diarrhea pen treatments in the total trial period compared to the NC group (P < 0.05), whereas both PC and LLH had fewer diarrhea treatment days per pig compared to NC pigs (P < 0.05). Additionally, at the point of treatment, the NC pens had 33% fecal floor samples positive for pathogens, compared to 80% samples positive for pathogens in the PC pens. This suggests that ZnO has a particular positive effect on non-infectious diarrhea without bacterial involvement. A reduction in dietary CP levels in phase 1 led to a reduced average daily gain (ADG) in LLH and VMH pigs and a poorer feed conversion ratio (FCR) in VHH pigs during the overall study period compared to the NC pigs (P < 0.05). Conclusively, a diet with low CP levels from weaning to about 15 kg BW had a reducing effect on diarrhea, but decreased ADG without affecting the FCR.

ZusammenfassungSpurenstoffe stellen eine der zentralen Herausforderungen für die Wasserwirtschaft im Donaueinzugsgebiet dar. Der vorliegende Artikel präsentiert das Konzept und einen Überblick zu den Ergebnissen des Projekts Danube Hazard m3c, welches im Rahmen des Interreg-Danube-Transnational-Programms der EU in den Jahren 2020 bis 2023 abgewickelt wurde. Im Zuge des Projekts konnten Spurenstoffkonzentrationen in unterschiedlichen Eintragspfaden und Gewässersystem aus verschiedenen nationalen und internationalen Monitoringprogrammen in einer umfassenden und harmonisierten Datenbank erfasst und diese Datenbasis durch ein gezieltes Monitoring in unterschiedlichen Umweltmedien erweitert werden. Auf diesen Daten aufbauend wurden eine einzugsgebietsweite Emissionsmodellierung umgesetzt und gewonnene Erkenntnisse für abgestimmte Politikempfehlungen genutzt. Trotz zum Teil großer Anstrengungen in Ländern des Donaueinzugsgebiets, den Monitoringerfordernissen der EU-WRRL nachzukommen, zeigen sich bei dem Versuch, die Daten unterschiedlicher Länder in harmonisierter Weise zu erfassen, einige Schwierigkeiten, die dieses Vorhaben behindern. Auch zeigt sich, dass es massiver zusätzlicher Anstrengungen der Donauländer bedürfen wird, um den enormen Herausforderungen gewachsen zu sein, die an ein zukünftiges Spurenstoffmanagement im Lichte vielfältiger Anforderungen und Veränderungen zu stellen sein wird. International abgestimmtes Monitoring, harmonisierte Datenerfassung und einzugsgebietsbezogene Emissionsmodellierung sollten grundlegende Elemente für ein wissensbasiertes Spurenstoffmanagement sein. Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Belastungssituation der Gewässer des Donaueinzugsgebiets sollten entsprechend der Hierarchie der Belastungskontrolle konzeptioniert werden. Dies bedeutet Kontrollen beim Einsatz von Spurenstoffen, um deren Freisetzung zu mindern, Kontrollen der Emissionen über technische Einrichtungen der Wasserwirtschaft und Minderung des Transports durch natürliche Barrieren wie z. B. Pufferstreifen.

Environmental flows (e-flows) are powerful tools for sustaining freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem services, but their widespread implementation faces numerous social, political, and economic barriers. These barriers are amplified in water-limited systems where strong trade-offs exist between human water needs and freshwater ecosystem protection. We synthesize the complex, multidisciplinary challenges that exist in these systems to help identify targeted solutions to accelerate the adoption and implementation of environmental flows initiatives. We present case studies from three water-limited systems in North America and synthesize the major barriers to implementing environmental flows. We identify four common barriers: (a) lack of authority to implement e-flows in water governance structures, (b) fragmented water governance in transboundary water systems, (c) declining water availability and increasing variability under climate change, and (d) lack of consideration of non-biophysical factors. We then formulate actionable recommendations for decision makers facing these barriers when working towards implementing environmental flows: (a) modify or establish a water governance framework to recognize or allow e-flows, (b) strive for collaboration across political jurisdictions and social, economic, and environmental sectors, and (c) manage adaptively for climate change in e-flows planning and recommendations.

Environmental flows (e-flows) are powerful tools for sustaining freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem services, but their widespread implementation faces numerous social, political, and economic barriers. These barriers are amplified in water-limited systems where strong trade-offs exist between human water needs and freshwater ecosystem protection. We synthesize the complex, multidisciplinary challenges that exist in these systems to help identify targeted solutions to accelerate the adoption and implementation of environmental flows initiatives. We present case studies from three water-limited systems in North America and synthesize the major barriers to implementing environmental flows. We identify four common barriers: (a) lack of authority to implement e-flows in water governance structures, (b) fragmented water governance in transboundary water systems, (c) declining water availability and increasing variability under climate change, and (d) lack of consideration of non-biophysical factors. We then formulate actionable recommendations for decision makers facing these barriers when working towards implementing environmental flows: (a) modify or establish a water governance framework to recognize or allow e-flows, (b) strive for collaboration across political jurisdictions and social, economic, and environmental sectors, and (c) manage adaptively for climate change in e-flows planning and recommendations.

Recent research efforts have progressively shifted towards preventative psychiatry and prognostic identification of individuals before disease onset. We describe the development of a serum biomarker test for the identification of individuals at risk of developing schizophrenia based on multiplex immunoassay profiling analysis of 957 serum samples. First, we conducted a meta-analysis of five independent cohorts of 127 first-onset drug-naive schizophrenia patients and 204 controls. Using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression, we identified an optimal panel of 26 biomarkers that best discriminated patients and controls. Next, we successfully validated this biomarker panel using two independent validation cohorts of 93 patients and 88 controls, which yielded an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.97 (0.95–1.00) for schizophrenia detection. Finally, we tested its predictive performance for identifying patients before onset of psychosis using two cohorts of 445 pre-onset or at-risk individuals. The predictive performance achieved by the panel was excellent for identifying USA military personnel (AUC: 0.90 (0.86–0.95)) and help-seeking prodromal individuals (AUC: 0.82 (0.71–0.93)) who developed schizophrenia up to 2 years after baseline sampling. The performance increased further using the latter cohort following the incorporation of CAARMS (Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental State) positive subscale symptom scores into the model (AUC: 0.90 (0.82–0.98)). The current findings may represent the first successful step towards a test that could address the clinical need for early intervention in psychiatry. Further developments of a combined molecular/symptom-based test will aid clinicians in the identification of vulnerable patients early in the disease process, allowing more effective therapeutic intervention before overt disease onset.

Recent research efforts have progressively shifted towards preventative psychiatry and prognostic identification of individuals before disease onset. We describe the development of a serum biomarker test for the identification of individuals at risk of developing schizophrenia based on multiplex immunoassay profiling analysis of 957 serum samples. First, we conducted a meta-analysis of five independent cohorts of 127 first-onset drug-naive schizophrenia patients and 204 controls. Using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression, we identified an optimal panel of 26 biomarkers that best discriminated patients and controls. Next, we successfully validated this biomarker panel using two independent validation cohorts of 93 patients and 88 controls, which yielded an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.97 (0.95-1.00) for schizophrenia detection. Finally, we tested its predictive performance for identifying patients before onset of psychosis using two cohorts of 445 pre-onset or at-risk individuals. The predictive performance achieved by the panel was excellent for identifying USA military personnel (AUC: 0.90 (0.86-0.95)) and help-seeking prodromal individuals (AUC: 0.82 (0.71-0.93)) who developed schizophrenia up to 2 years after baseline sampling. The performance increased further using the latter cohort following the incorporation of CAARMS (Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental State) positive subscale symptom scores into the model (AUC: 0.90 (0.82-0.98)). The current findings may represent the first successful step towards a test that could address the clinical need for early intervention in psychiatry. Further developments of a combined molecular/symptom-based test will aid clinicians in the identification of vulnerable patients early in the disease process, allowing more effective therapeutic intervention before overt disease onset.