Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Article (15208)
- Part of Periodical (2715)
- Working Paper (2336)
- Doctoral Thesis (2007)
- Book (1737)
- Preprint (1712)
- Part of a Book (1055)
- Conference Proceeding (732)
- Report (471)
- Review (165)
Language
- English (28297) (remove)
Has Fulltext
- yes (28297) (remove)
Keywords
- taxonomy (715)
- new species (430)
- morphology (169)
- Deutschland (141)
- Syntax (125)
- Englisch (120)
- distribution (111)
- Deutsch (98)
- biodiversity (96)
- inflammation (95)
Institute
- Medizin (5144)
- Physik (3422)
- Wirtschaftswissenschaften (1876)
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) (1550)
- Biowissenschaften (1482)
- Center for Financial Studies (CFS) (1471)
- Informatik (1364)
- Biochemie und Chemie (1063)
- Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe (SAFE) (1044)
- House of Finance (HoF) (697)
This reading of Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park suggests that the semantic framework of the novels is provided by the contrast between two meanings of the word consequence, the archaic meaning of social or emotional importance and the common and garden meaning of effect of a cause. It also suggests that the narrative structure of the novels is that of a game of consequences, a game that was played at the time of Jane Austen.
Day-to-day art criticism and art theory are qualitatively distinct. Whereas the best art criticism entails a closeness to its objects which is attuned to particularity, art theory inherently makes generalized claims, whether these claims are extrapolated from the process of art criticism or not. However, this article argues that these dynamics are effectively reversed if we consider the disparity between the criticism of so-called political art and attempts over the last century to elaborate theory which accounts for the political in art qua art. Art theory has located the political force of art precisely in the way that its particularity opposes or resists the status quo. Art criticism, on the other hand, tends to treat artwork as a text to be interpreted whose particularity may as well dissolve when translated into discourse. Drawing from the work of Theodor W. Adorno, this article argues that political art theory calls for art criticism more attuned to experience if it is to elucidate art’s critical valence.
Assessment of selective mutism (SM) is hampered by the lack of diagnostic measures. The Frankfurt Scale of Selective Mutism was developed for kindergarteners, schoolchildren, and adolescents, including the diagnostic scale (DS) and the severity scale (SS). The objective of this study was to evaluate this novel, parent-rated questionnaire among individuals aged 3 to 18 years (n = 334) with SM, social phobia, internalizing disorders, and a control group. Item analysis resulted in high item-total correlations, and internal consistency in both scales was excellent with Cronbach’s α = .90-.98. Exploratory factor analysis of the SS consistently yielded a one-factor solution. Mean sum scores of the DS differed significantly between the diagnostic groups, and the receiver operating characteristic analysis resulted in optimal cutoffs for distinguishing SM from all other groups with the area under the curves of 0.94-1.00. The SS sum scores correlated significantly with SM’s clinician-rated symptom severity.
Background: Despite a large body of evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress for children and adolescents, the adoption of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) in routine care is low.
Objective: This implementation study aims to evaluate the dissemination of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT) for children and adolescents with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) after child abuse and neglect (CAN) with a focus on supervision.
Method: In a cluster-randomized controlled trial, the study will evaluate the implementation of TF-CBT focussing on the training of therapists including the provision of supervision. The effectiveness of specialized trauma-focused supervision will be compared to supervision as usual with respect to the successful implementation of TF-CBT for youths with PTSS administered by psychotherapists with different levels of professional experience. The primary outcome is whether the patient receives a treatment with sufficient adherence to the TF-CBT manual. The unit of randomization will be the therapists. The main outcome will be analysed using multilevel logistic regressions. Secondary outcomes will concern further patient-related (reduction of PTSS and depressive symptoms) and therapist-related (professional quality of life) variables. Additional exploratory analyses are planned.
Discussion: Since the trial is designed as an implementation study, it permits naturalistic referrals to the participating therapists by patients, caregivers, child and youth welfare agencies and paediatricians. The strict primary outcome will help evaluating the role of model-based supervision in the implementation process. The explorative outcomes will evaluate whether implementation success translates into better patient outcomes. We expect that the dissemination measures will lead to a successful implementation of TF-CBT and promote sustainable structures in routine care that will remain in place after study completion and offer access to ESTs for future children and youths with a history of CAN.
Repeated search studies are a hallmark in the investigation of the interplay between memory and attention. Due to a usually employed averaging, a substantial decrease in response times occurring between the first and second search through the same search environment is rarely discussed. This search initiation effect is often the most dramatic decrease in search times in a series of sequential searches. The nature of this initial lack of search efficiency has thus far remained unexplored. We tested the hypothesis that the activation of spatial priors leads to this search efficiency profile. Before searching repeatedly through scenes in VR, participants either (1) previewed the scene, (2) saw an interrupted preview, or (3) started searching immediately. The search initiation effect was present in the latter condition but in neither of the preview conditions. Eye movement metrics revealed that the locus of this effect lies in search guidance instead of search initiation or decision time, and was beyond effects of object learning or incidental memory. Our study suggests that upon visual processing of an environment, a process of activating spatial priors to enable orientation is initiated, which takes a toll on search time at first, but once activated it can be used to guide subsequent searches.
Astrocytes contribute to many higher brain functions. A key mechanism in glia-to-neuron signalling is vesicular exocytosis; however, the identity of exocytosis organelles remains a matter of debate. Since vesicles derived from the trans-Golgi network (TGN) are not considered in this context, we studied the astrocyte TGN by immunocytochemistry applying anti-Rab6A. In mouse brain, Rab6A immunostaining is found to be unexpectedly massive, diffuse in all regions, and is detected preferentially and abundantly in the peripheral astrocyte processes, which is hardly evident without glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) co-staining. All cells positive for the astrocytic markers glutamine synthetase (GS), GFAP, aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family member L1 (Aldh1L1), or SRY (sex determining region Y)-box 9 (SOX9) were Rab6A+. Rab6A is excluded from microglia, oligodendrocytes, and NG2 cells using cell type-specific markers. In human cortex, Rab6A labelling is very similar and associated with GFAP+ astrocytes. The mouse data also confirm the specific astrocytic labelling by Aldh1L1 or SOX9; the astrocyte-specific labelling by GS sometimes debated is replicated again. In mouse and human brain, individual astrocytes display high variability in Rab6A+ structures, suggesting dynamic regulation of the glial TGN. In summary, Rab6A expression is an additional, global descriptor of astrocyte identity. Rab6A might constitute an organelle system with a potential role of Rab6A in neuropathological and physiological processes.
PKCζ and PKCι/λ form the atypical protein kinase C subgroup, characterised by a lack of regulation by calcium and the neutral lipid diacylglycerol. To better understand the regulation of these kinases, we systematically explored their interactions with various purified phospholipids using the lipid overlay assays, followed by kinase activity assays to evaluate the lipid effects on their enzymatic activity. We observed that both PKCζ and PKCι interact with phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylserine. Conversely, PKCι is unique in binding also to phosphatidylinositol-monophosphates (e.g., phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate, 4-phosphate, and 5-phosphate). Moreover, we observed that phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate specifically activates PKCι, while both isoforms are responsive to phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylserine. Overall, our results suggest that atypical Protein kinase C (PKC) localisation and activity are regulated by membrane lipids distinct from those involved in conventional PKCs and unveil a specific regulation of PKCι by phosphatidylinositol-monophosphates.
Objective: In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the associated hospitalization of an overwhelming number of ventilator-dependent patients, medical and/or ethical patient triage paradigms have become essential. While guidelines on the allocation of scarce resources do exist, such work within the subdisciplines of intensive care (e.g., neurocritical care) remains limited.
Methods: A 16-item questionnaire was developed that sought to explore/quantify the expert opinions of German neurointensivists with regard to triage decisions. The anonymous survey was conducted via a web-based platform and in total, 96 members of the Initiative of German Neurointensive Trial Engagement (IGNITE)-study group were contacted via e-mail. The IGNITE consortium consists of an interdisciplinary panel of specialists with expertise in neuro-critical care (i.e., anesthetists, neurologists and neurosurgeons).
Results: Fifty members of the IGNITE consortium responded to the questionnaire; in total the respondents were in charge of more than 500 Neuro ICU beds throughout Germany. Common determinants reported which affected triage decisions included known patient wishes (98%), the state of health before admission (96%), SOFA-score (85%) and patient age (69%). Interestingly, other principles of allocation, such as a treatment of “youngest first” (61%) and members of the healthcare sector (50%) were also noted. While these were the most accepted parameters affecting the triage of patients, a “first-come, first-served” principle appeared to be more accepted than a lottery for the allocation of ICU beds which contradicts much of what has been reported within the literature. The respondents also felt that at least one neurointensivist should serve on any interdisciplinary triage team.
Conclusions: The data gathered in the context of this survey reveal the estimation/perception of triage algorithms among neurointensive care specialists facing COVID-19. Further, it is apparent that German neurointensivists strongly feel that they should be involved in any triage decisions at an institutional level given the unique resources needed to treat patients within the Neuro ICU.
The influence of biological maturity status (BMS) on talent identification and development within elite youth soccer is critically debated. During adolescence, maturity-related performance differences within the same age group may cause greater chances of being selected for early maturing players. Therefore, coaches need to consider players' BMS. While standard methods for assessing BMS in adolescents are expensive and time-consuming imaging techniques (i.e., X-ray and MRI), there also exist more pragmatic procedures. This study aimed to evaluate commonly used methods to assess BMS within a highly selected sample of youth soccer players. A total of N = 63 elite male soccer players (U12 and U14) within the German Soccer Association's talent promotion program completed a test battery assessing BMS outcomes. Utilizing MRI diagnostics, players' skeletal age (SAMRI) was determined by radiologists and served as the reference method. Further commonly used methods included skeletal age measured by an ultrasound device (SAUS), the maturity offset (MOMIR), and the percentage of adult height (PAHKR). The relation of these alternative BMS outcomes to SAMRI was examined using different perspectives: performing bivariate correlation analyses (1), modeling BMS as a latent variable (BMSlat) based on the multiple alternative diagnostics (2), and investigating individual differences in agreement (3). (1) Correlations of SAMRI and the further BMS variables ranked from r = 0.80 to r = 0.84 for the total sample and were lower for U12 (0.56 ≤ r ≤ 0.66), and U14 (0.61 ≤ r ≤ 0.74) (2). The latent structural equation modeling (SEM) (R2 = 51%) revealed a significant influence on BMSlat for MOMIR (β = 0.51, p <0.05). The additional contribution of PAHKR (β = 0.27, p = 0.06) and SAUS (β = −0.03, p = 0.90) was rather small (3). The investigation of individual differences between the reference method and alternative diagnostics indicated a significant bias for MOMIR (p <0.01). The results support the use of economical and time-efficient methods for assessing BMS within elite youth soccer. Bivariate correlation analyses as well as the multivariate latent variable approach highlight the measures' usefulness. However, the observed individual level differences for some of the utilized procedures led to the recommendation for practitioners to use at least two alternative assessment methods in order to receive more reliable information about players' BMS within the talent promotion process.
Systemic inflammation is associated with alterations in complex brain functions such as learning and memory. However, diagnostic approaches to functionally assess and quantify inflammation-associated alterations in synaptic plasticity are not well-established. In previous work, we demonstrated that bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced systemic inflammation alters the ability of hippocampal neurons to express synaptic plasticity, i.e., the long-term potentiation (LTP) of excitatory neurotransmission. Here, we tested whether synaptic plasticity induced by repetitive magnetic stimulation (rMS), a non-invasive brain stimulation technique used in clinical practice, is affected by LPS-induced inflammation. Specifically, we explored brain tissue cultures to learn more about the direct effects of LPS on neural tissue, and we tested for the plasticity-restoring effects of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin 10 (IL10). As shown previously, 10 Hz repetitive magnetic stimulation (rMS) of organotypic entorhino-hippocampal tissue cultures induced a robust increase in excitatory neurotransmission onto CA1 pyramidal neurons. Furthermore, LPS-treated tissue cultures did not express rMS-induced synaptic plasticity. Live-cell microscopy in tissue cultures prepared from a novel transgenic reporter mouse line [C57BL/6-Tg(TNFa-eGFP)] confirms that ex vivo LPS administration triggers microglial tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) expression, which is ameliorated in the presence of IL10. Consistent with this observation, IL10 hampers the LPS-induced increase in TNFα, IL6, IL1β, and IFNγ and restores the ability of neurons to express rMS-induced synaptic plasticity in the presence of LPS. These findings establish organotypic tissue cultures as a suitable model for studying inflammation-induced alterations in synaptic plasticity, thus providing a biological basis for the diagnostic use of transcranial magnetic stimulation in the context of brain inflammation.