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High grade gliomas (HGGs), are the most malignant and difficult to treat brain tumors. Despite several studies on glioma pathobiology there is no comparative proteomics study on high-grade and low-grade gliomas which uncovers the mechanism behind the aggressive mesenchymal behaviour of HGGs. In this study, tissue samples of high-grade and low-grade gliomas were processed for label free quantification (LFQ) using HR-LC MS/MS. The analysis identified 140 differentially expressed proteins, GSEA and protein-protein interaction analysis showed over expression of pathways like; ECM remodelling, Focal Adhesion, EMT and Glycan Biosynthesis in HGG. The key proteins were validated using multiple reaction monitoring experiment. ECM glycoproteins including; Fibronectin, Fibrinogens, Collagens, Vitronectin along with mesenchymal markers such as Vimentin and TGF-β came over-expressed in HGGs. The over-expression of oligosaccharyltransferase in HGG indicates its role in enhanced expression of glycoproteins. In-silico molecular docking with catalytic subunits of OST identified two small molecule inhibitors; Irinotecan and Entrectinib as potential candidates to target OST. We propose OST plays a major role in tumor metastasis by promoting EMT and could be used as a potential target to suppress glioma metastasis. Finally, the proteins identified in this study need further clinical research to validate their prognostic values as protein markers.

In Ethiopia’s Baro-Akobo Basin, soil erosion, land degradation, and soil loss are significant issues. The prediction of discharge and sediment in the Sore watershed was investigated using the parameter efficient semi-distributed watershed model (PED). This study’s goal was to analysis and predicts the sediment and discharge from the Sore catchment in the Baro-Akobo Sub basin in western Ethiopia. Sore (1665.5 Km2) in the Baro-Akobo River Basin was the chosen watershed. Model calibration and validation were carried out using the stream flow and sediment data for Sore watershed from 2005-2013 and 2014-2018 from Ministry of Water and Electricty. PED-W’s daily time step scale model efficiency for the calibration of discharge and sediment was determined to be NSE= 0.40 and NSE= 0.44 for the Sore watershed, respectively. In a similar manner, NSE values for PED-W’s discharge and sediment during the validation period were determined to be NSE= 0.22 and NSE= -0.82 for the Sore watershed. Between the observed and simulated discharge and sediment at daily time steps, there was a range of unsatisfactory to satisfactory agreement as a consequence. The performance of the models on the monthly time step scale also varied and was superior to the daily time step scale. PED-W model was shown to be less accurate than SWAT model for predicting stream flow and sediment yield, according to the overall model performance. However, the PED model used for calibration and validation at monthly time steps was identical to the SWAT model previously used.

The high temperatures and dry air environments hinder calcium absorption in tomatoes ( Solanum lycopersicum L.), seriously decreasing tomato yield. Reducing atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and increasing calcium fertilizer (Ca) are important measures to improve calcium absorption and distribution in fruits. However, it remains unclear how the changes in tomato fruit morphology and physiology, structural stability, metabolite content, photosynthesis, stomata, and water transport capacity drive calcium absorption under different VPDs and Cas. This study examined the role of fruit morphology and physiology, structural stability, metabolite content, photosynthesis, stomata, and water transport capacity on tomato fruit calcium absorption and distribution under high and low VPDs and Cas. The results showed that reducing VPD and increasing Ca increased the content of calcium pectinate, enhanced the stability of cell wall structure. Meanwhile, reducing VPD and increasing Ca increased carbon dioxide absorption and fixation, but a large amount of fruit carbohydrate content decreased. Additionally, reducing VPD and increasing Ca increased the calcium distribution in fruits by optimizing plant water status, and decreased the calcium distribution in leaves and carpopodium. These results indicate that the stability of cell wall structure, carbon absorption, fixation and accumulation, and water transport capacity effectively regulate plant calcium absorption and distribution under different VPDs and Cas.

Taking the Yangtze River Source Basin (YRSB) and Shule River Basin (SRB) as two typical cases, the sustainability of the water resources in these two basins was evaluated using the Level of Water Stress (LWS) from Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.4.2, and the regulating effect of the glacier runoff on the LWS was quantified. From 2000 to 2030, the level of socioeconomic development in the YRSB is low, and the total water consumption is only about 0.18×10 8 m 3 whereas the SRB has a relatively high level of socioeconomic development and total water consumption is about 10×10 8 m 3, i.e., 50 times higher than that in the YRSB. For the above reasons, the SRB’s LWS is much higher than the YRSB’s, resulting in a very low sustainability of water resources. As natural assets, glaciers flow downstream in runoff mode, so compensation at the watershed scale should be considered. In the basin, the optimal allocation of water resources is needed. At the inter-basin scale, the compensation mechanism of glacier water resources needs to be improved.

1. Temperature is essential for the survival and development of eggs. Some anurans have evolved and developed foam nesting traits, with thermal insulation considered to be among their functions. Foam nesting frogs tend to exhibit reproductive plasticity. For example, they oviposit on both trees and the ground. How such plasticity affects foam nest function is of major relevance and is likely related to the adaptation of foam nesting frogs. However, this has not been well studied. 2. In this study, we studied the interaction between foam nest site, foam nest function, and egg fate using the Japanese green tree frog, Zhangixalus arboreus, and analysed how nest site differences (arboreal or terrestrial) affect the thermal function of foam nests. 3. We compared the thermal functions of foam nests between arboreal and terrestrial oviposition sites of Z. arboreus. We artificially replaced half of the arboreal nests to terrestrial environments and recorded temperature in and outside of the experimental terrestrial nest and original arboreal nests. We also examined egg survival and hatching rate for all the nests. 4. The results indicated superior heat insulation in terrestrial nests, with warmer temperatures inside than outside the nests, especially at night, which led to a high egg survival rate. Therefore, terrestrial ovipositing should be valid under cold weather conditions. This may be related to the evolutionary history of oviposition site plasticity of this genus, which originally had an arboreal oviposition trait but evolved into terrestrial site use owing to global cooling. 5. Our novel insights into the evolution and adaptivity of foam nesting and oviposition site use in Z. arboreus make a significant contribution to animal ecology.

Objective: To explore the impact of non-pharmacological interventions on inhaled allergen sensitization in children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The positive rate of inhaled allergens, allergens sIgE grade, and multiple sensitization rates before and during the pandemic were analyzed retrospectively in this study. Logistic regression analysis was used to compare the positive rate of allergens before and after the pandemic, using OR and OR 95%CI to investigate the impact of the pandemic on allergen sensitization. Results：Positive rates of d1(49.5% vs 38.5%), d2 (50.2% vs 32.2%), e2(10.1% vs 6.1%), e1(6.2% vs 1.7%), mx2(10.1% vs 2.7%), sycamore (7.2% vs 2.1%), w1(4.0% vs 1.7%),elm(3.1% vs 0.6%), w6(3.0% vs 1.7%), and u80(1.3% vs 0.5%) increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. After adjusting gender, age, season and other potential influencing factors, the COVID-19 pandemic was found to be a risk factor for the positive rate of d1( OR=1.174,95%CI=1.015~1.358), d2( OR=1.301,95%CI=1.093~1.549), e2( OR=1.499,95%CI=1.280~1.756), mx2( OR=3.959,95%CI=3.358~4.446), w1( OR=1.828, 95%CI=1.353~2.470, w6( OR=1.538, 95%CI=1.123~2.106)), u80( OR=2.521, 95%CI=1.413~4.497) ( P<0.05). What’s more, d1 and d2 allergen sIgE grades increased during the COVID-19 pandemic(d1 ：X2=9.576,P<0.05；d2 ：X2=39.063,P<0.05). The proportion of multiple allergies was significantly higher than that before the pandemic, with a statistical significance ( X2=1621.815, P<0.05). Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, non-pharmacological interventions increased the positive rate of both indoor and outdoor allergens in children. The sIgE grade of dust mite allergen and multiple sensitization rate were significantly higher than those before COVID-19.

Automatic Modulation Recognition (AMR) is a fundamental research topic in the field of signal processing and wireless communication, which has widespread applications in cognitive radio, non-collaborative communication, etc. However, current AMR methods are mostly based on unimodal inputs, which suffer from incomplete information and local optimization. In this paper, we focus on the modality utilization in AMR. The proxy experiments show that different modalities achieve a similar recognition effect in most scenarios, while the personalities of different inputs are complementary to each other for particular modulations. Therefore, we mine the universal and complementary characteristics of the modality data in the domain-agnostic and domain-specific aspects, yielding the Universal and Complementary subspaces accordingly (dubbed as UCNet). To facilitate the subspace construction, we propose universal and complementary losses accordingly, where the former minimizes the heterogeneous feature gap by an adversarial constraint and the latter consists of an orthogonal constraint between universal and complementary features. The extensive experiments on the RadioML2016.10A dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of UCNet, which has achieved the highest recognition accuracy of 93.2% at 10 dB, and the average accuracy is 92.6% at high SNR greater than zero.

This study investigates the development of InAs quantum dot (QD) lasers on a InP(001) substrate, utilizing only III-arsenide layers. This approach avoids the issues associated with the use of phosphorus compounds, which are evident in the crystal growth of conventional C/L-band QD lasers, making the manufacturing process safer, simpler, and more cost-effective. The threshold current density of the fabricated QD laser was 633 A/cm2, which is the lowest value for QD lasers in the 1.6 μm-wavelength region. This result suggests a high cost-effectiveness and paved the way toward a large-scale production technology for high-performing C/L/U-band QD lasers.

The meiofaunal communities of the south-eastern Levantine basin deep sea (54-1418m) were characterized for the first time. Two transects were sampled and sliced down to the 17cm sub-bottom horizon. Oxygen, hydrogen sulfide and methane concentrations in the pore water, grain size spectrum, protein and carbohydrate levels in the sediment and meiofaunal abundance were evaluated in each site across sub-bottom horizons. Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASV) composition and diversity indices were evaluated for most sediment slices in the Northern Haifa transect using metabarcoding. Methodologically, a morphological-taxonomy-free molecular identification was adopted, applying a 18S-V4 DNA barcode. The metabarcoding reference library was based on sequences emerged only from the variety of meiofaunal barcodes from local samples recognized as such from their GenBank annotations. Sequences for the reference library were selected by the machine learning-based DADA2 software, previously indicated to efficiently erase sequencer-introduced errors and creating roughly species-compatible ASV library. Each ASV was defined to contain <3%-dissimilar barcode sequences and 990 meiofaunal ASVs were totally elucidated. The various meiofaunal communities revealed a pattern typical to a bottom which obtain its organic carbon from the photic zone, namely, decreasing abundance and diversity with bottom depth and across sub-bottom horizons. Community composition was generally site-dependent and sub-bottom community profiles were separately clustered for shallow horizons and deeper ones. The relatively sharply-inclined slope bottom at 400m depth on a crest of a sub-marine canyon was an exception, revealed similar species composition across horizons, high protein concentration and faunal abundance, indicating intensive sediment mixing and lateral food transport.

Human conservation efforts have pros and cons for endangered animals. Metagenomic analysis of the gut microbiome provides valuable insights and tools for wildlife conservation. However, most studies only focus on changes in microbial species and potential functional genes, leaving out the assembly mechanisms and metabolic activities of wildlife gut microbiome. Herein, we investigated the gut microbiome of golden snub-nosed monkeys under varied conservation strategies (wild, captive, and food provision) using metagenome and metabolome analysis. We found that the conserved monkeys had more non-redundant genes, distinct community diversities, and less stable gut microbiota. Source-tracking analysis showed captive group has fewer wild-sourced microbes than food provision group. The captive group had more habitat specialists with narrower niche breadth compared to the provision/wild counterparts. Besides, captive group’s microbiota governed by deterministic processes more than provisioned/wild groups. Procrustes analysis revealed changes in antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factors linked to mobile genetic elements in conserved monkeys. Notably, gut microbiota and metabolomic dataset had significant co-variation and clear separation among the wild, captive and food provision groups. Weighted correlation network analysis identified co-varying modules of microbiota and metabolites with opposite variation trends between the wild and conserved animals, specifically linked to co-metabolism pathways associated with essential amino acids. This study provides new insights into the structural features, assembly mechanisms, community functions, and microbiota-metabolome associations of wildlife gut microbiome under different conservation strategies and have significant implications for advancing sustainable conservation practices.

In this paper, a class of E-differentiable V-E-invex vector optimization problems with both inequality and equality constraints is considered. For the considered E-differentiable vector optimization problems, the so-called vector Wolfe E-duality problem is defined and several Wolfe E-duality theorems are established under V-E-invexity hypotheses.

Habitat fragmentation engenders a reduction in the geographic distribution of species, thereby rendering diminutive populations susceptible to extinction due to environmental, demographic, and genetic factors. Chieniodendron hainanense (henceforth C. hainanense) exemplifies a wild plant with extremely small populations (WPESP) and faces endangerment, necessitating urgent national conservation efforts. Elucidating the genetic diversity of C. hainanense is crucial for uncovering underlying mechanisms and devising protective strategies. In the present study, 35 specimens from six distinct cohort groups were genotyped utilizing genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) methodologies. The results indicated that C. hainanense exhibits limited genetic diversity. Observed heterozygosity within C. hainanense populations spanned from 10.79% to 14.55%, with an average value of 13.15%. The six C. hainanense populations can be categorized into two distinct groups: (1) Diaoluoshan and Baishaling, and (2) Wuzhishan, Huishan, Bawangling, and Jianfengling. The degree of genetic differentiation among C. hainanense populations is relatively weak. The observed loss of diversity can be attributed to the effects of natural selection.

Lanthanum modified organo silicon quantum dots (La-SiQDs) were fabricated by a simple one-step hydrothermal method. The obtained La-SiQDs exhibited good water solubility, excellent stability and strong fluorescence. The effect of La-SiQDs on the growth of cotton sprouts was further explored. Interestingly, the La-SiQDs could promote growth obviously and the optimum concentration was measured to be 0.015 mg/mL, which was much lower than that of the control ones without lanthanum functionalization. Further analysis results showed that La-SiQDs could be adsorbed by the roots of cotton sprouts more easily than that of the control ones, which might be induced by the enhancement of endocytosis in root cells triggered by the La-SiQDs. This work implied that lanthanide modification might be an effective method to obtain silicon quantum dots with higher physiological activity, and held a positive significance for plant physiology and agricultural production.

To achieve the best management of the ecosystem and sustainable socioeconomic development, it is crucial to clarify the matching relationship between the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ESs). Therefore, four types of ESs were chosen for the Hexi region in this study: food supply, carbon sequestration, water yield, windbreak and sand fixation. This study evaluated the supply-demand and matching relationships between various ecosystem services tapping into the InVEST model, the supply-demand ratio of ecosystem services, and the four-quadrant model. It also analyzed the supply-demand ratio of comprehensive ecosystem services and their cold and hot spots. The findings suggest that (1) the overall ESs supply showed an increasing trend, with a spatial pattern of “high in the southeast and low in the northwest”. The demand for food supply and carbon sequestration services has been increasing annually, while the demand for water production and wind and sand prevention services has been declining. The demand space is characterized by a layout similar to the distribution of population, production and living areas, and ecologically vulnerable areas; (2) From the perspective of quantity matching, with the exception of windbreak and sand fixation services which are in short supply, all others are in a state of oversupply. Regrading spatial matching, all ESs are primarily dominated by low-low spatial matching zones, with large areas concentrated in the northwest desert region; (3) The supply-demand ratio of overall ESs shows a fluctuating upward trend. The proportion of cold spots and sub-cold spots, which are mainly concentrated in the northwest region, accounts for more than 50%, while that of hot spots and sub-hot spots is relatively small and mainly appears in the Qilian Mountains of the southern region and a few oasis areas.

A novel any-angle vector-based path planner, R2, is introduced in this paper. R2 is optimal, online and can work on any binary occupancy grid with non-convex obstacles. R2 delays line-of-sight checks and expands only the most promising turning points. Two novel concepts for vector-based algorithms delaying line-of-sight checks, pseudo targets and the progression rule, are introduced. The progression rule tracks the angular progression of searches along obstacle contours, bypassing convex hulls in non-convex obstacles where paths do not exist. Pseudo targets are imaginary turning points and are placed at non-convex corners. Pseudo targets improve cost-to-go estimates, allowing the path cost estimate to increase monotonically during searches without verifying line-of-sight. As R2 has exponential search times in the worst case, R2 is extended to R2E to improve average search times on maps with many non-convex or disjoint obstacles. Both variants are shown to return paths very rapidly if the map is sparse, the shortest path has few turning points, and if the shortest path is long.

Few studies have evaluated the relative importance of various factors in the invasion process of exotic plants in freshwater ecosystems due to the difficulty of observing numerous factors simultaneously. In this study, to explore how various biotic and abiotic factors determine the overall invasion extent of all exotic plants and the invasion extent of different life-form exotic plants as well as assess their relative importance, we surveyed 236 exotic aquatic plant communities using 2267 fine quadrats in China's freshwater ecosystems. We found that competition from native plants was the most vital factor determining the mean biomass of all exotic plants and biomass of submerged plant Cabomba caroliniana, while competition from co-occurring exotics was the most important for biomass of emergent plant Alternanthera philoxeroides and free-floating plant Eichhornia crassipes. The population biomass of different exotic species responded differently to climate change. Water eutrophication could accelerate the invasion of exotic plants by directly favoring them and indirectly weakening the resistance of native plants. Water depth, habitat size, herbivory, and anthropogenic disturbance had relatively weak impacts on the biomass of exotic plants. Moreover, some factors have different modes of influence on different exotic plants. Our study suggested interspecific competition plays a more important role in the population spread of exotic plants than climate and abiotic environment once the plants have successfully established, implying that biodiversity conservation and vegetation restoration were the fundamental methods to control invasion. In addition, our study highlights the importance of studying the overall invasion extent of all exotic plants and interactions among invaders in multi-invader communities.

This systematic literature review (SLR) aims to synthesise the empirical evidence on the usability and impact evaluations of the mobiles-based agricultural market information services (AMIS) on the SSFs in developing countries. The results showed that, while providing access to agricultural market information (AgriMI) through mobiles-based AMIS to allow rural SSFs to acquire it, enabling them to sell their agricultural commodities at higher prices has accounted for why numerous mobile-based AMIS initiatives have emerged in some developing countries, there have been general differences in the usability and impact evaluations of such services on the rural SSFs.

Limited antibody response after BA.4/5 adapted booster vaccination in rheumatic patients receiving anti-TNF therapy: results of a case seriesUlf Martin Geisen1*, Mathias Voß2*, Ruben Rose2*, Franziska Neumann3, Carina Bäumler3, Sina Müller3, Lea Paltzow3, Christina Martínez Christophersen3, Merle Münier3, Elena Hildebrand1, Paula Hoff4, Ann Carolin Longardt5, Thomas Lorentz3, Jan Henrik Schirmer1, Melike Sümbül6, Florian Tran7,8, Dennis Berner1, Helmut Fickenscher2, Sascha Gerdes6, Stefan Schreiber7,8, Andi Krumbholz2,3‡, Bimba Franziska Hoyer1‡1 Medical Department I, Rheumatology, and Clinical Immunology, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel and University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany2 Institute for Infection Medicine, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel and University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany3 Labor Dr. Krause und Kollegen MVZ GmbH, Kiel, Germany4 Department of Rheumatology, Endokrinologikum-Gruppe, Berlin, Germany5 Department of Pediatrics, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel and University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany6 Department for Dermatology, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel and University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany7 Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany8 Department for Internal Medicine I, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel and University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel* ‡These authors contributed equallyCorresponding Author: Bimba Franziska HoyerMedical Department I, Rheumatology and Clinial Immunology,University Medical Center Schleswig-HolsteinArnold-Heller-Str. 324105 KielEmail: bfhoyer@rheuma.uni-kiel.dePhone: +49 431 500 22203Author Information:

CT imaging is often used to confirm COVID-19, playing a crucial role in the diagnosis and assessment due to its high sensitivity. The purpose of this study is to investigate results of quantitative CT analysis for CT patterns in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, and how these relate to viral load and pathophysiological states. We recruited patients who had confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and undergone chest CT within 24 hours of confirmation. By quantitative CT analysis, and collecting clinical data, we explored correlations between those variables. Our research included 253 patients, after screening by exclusion criteria, 171 patients were included in final cohort. The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 associated pneumonia was 74.3%. The ROC test results showed AUCs for leukomonocyte count, and virus genes were 0.703, 0.562, 0.567, and 0.582, respectively. GGO pattern in CT was correlated PaO 2/FiO 2 ratio. Multiple linear regression results indicated GGO was associated with PaO 2/FiO 2. Meanwhile, the consolidation was correlated with PaCO 2 level. Additionally, consolidation was also associated with neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio. Conclusion: Lymphocyte count may be a potential marker for predicting SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, independent of virus load. Additionally, GGO is correlated with hypoxia, while consolidation is associated with PaCO 2 levels and inflammation, which may affect aeration in the lungs.

A document by Imtiaz Ahmed. Click on the document to view its contents.

Background The Familial Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (FHLH) is an inherited life-threatening disease. Five types are identified with the addition of congenital immunodeficiency syndromes in which HLH is a typical manifestation. The literature on this disease is very scarce in the Middle East with only few scattered reports. Procedure We report detailed demographic, clinical, and genomic data from 28 patients diagnosed with FHLH and Griscelli Syndrome type 2 over the last decade in Qatar. Evaluation of allele frequencies of deleterious variants from 12 FHLH causative genes was performed on the Qatar Genome Programme (QGP) cohort of 14,669 Qatari individuals. Results The genetic diagnosis was obtained in 15 patients and 4 novel mutations in PRF1, UNC13D, LYST and RAB27A genes were identified. We identified 22,945 low/high/moderate impact variants significantly enriched in the QGP in those 12 genes. The variants rs1271079313 in PRF1 and rs753966933 in RAB27A found in our patients’ cohort were significantly more prevalent in QGP compared to the gnomAD database, with a high carrier frequency in the Qatari population. Conclusions We established the first FHLH Registry in the Gulf Region and identified novel pathogenic variants present at higher frequency in the Qatari population, which could be used for screening purposes. Raising awareness about FHLH and implementing screening activities in the Qatari highly inbred population could stem into more comprehensive pre-marital and prenatal evaluations and faster diagnosis.

The Internet of Wearable Things (IoWT) is a revolutionary technology of Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN). IoWT applications are widely employed in diverse sectors including medical, civil, and military domains. In these emerging applications, human bodies are equipped with wearable and interconnected sensors, which can be used on, inside, or around the human body. However, the deployment of these devices in close proximity of the human body faces several electromagnetic factors such as channel fading due to several reasons like energy absorption, reflection, multipath, and shadowing by the body. These electromagnetic phenomena can degrade the quality of the communication link budget between wearable sensor systems in WBAN. Therefore, investigation in channel modeling between wearable sensors has become a major challenge in Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN), especially when using these devices for real-time monitoring and remote control of vital signs and physiological data of patients in medical applications. This paper presents a novel approach of a rigorous and effective mathematical voxel-based channel model for channel modeling between wearable wireless antenna sensors in free space and human body environments. Also, this work presents a design flow and performance analysis of the proposed 3D-voxel human body model and the designed wearable antenna at 2.4 GHz. Moreover, a performance evaluation studies between IEEE 802.15.6 CM3 channel model based on the proposed analytical voxel based-human body at 2.4 GHz for various distances between the coordinator and the on-body wearable antenna sensors are presented. These studies reveal a good agreement between IEEE 802.15.6 CM3A and our model.

Transparency and reproducibility are major prerequisites for conducting meaningful real-world evidence (RWE) studies that are fit for decision-making. Many advances have been made in the documentation and reporting of study protocols and results, but the principles for version control and sharing of analytic code in RWE are not yet as established as in other quantitative disciplines like computational biology and health informatics. In this practical tutorial, we aim to give an introduction to distributed version control systems (VCS) tailored towards the FAIR ( Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reproducible) implementation of RWE studies. To ease adoption, we provide detailed step-by-step instructions with practical examples on how the Git VCS and R programming language can be implemented into RWE study workflows to facilitate reproducible analyses. We further discuss and showcase how these tools can be used to track changes, collaborate, disseminate and archive RWE studies through dedicated project repositories that maintain a complete audit trail of all relevant study documents.