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Globale Finanzplätze im Vergleich : Frankfurt und Sydney zwischen Global City und lokaler Variation
(2015)
Frankfurt und Sydney sind international bedeutende Knotenpunkte des Global- Cities-Netzwerks. Als transnationale Finanzzentren erreichen sie im Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) ähnliche Platzierungen. Populäre Rankings wie der GFCI entfalten ihre Wirkungsmacht in einem politischen Diskurs, der die Konkurrenz von Finanzzentren in einem hierarchischen Städtenetzwerk betont und so die Orientierung an den Champions der Finanzmetropolen forciert. Der hier vorgenommene kontrastive Vergleich Frankfurts und Sydneys zeigt hingegen, dass die stark von Globalisierungs- und Finanzialisierungstendenzen beeinflussten Städte sich nicht einfach einem Idealtypus von Global Cities angleichen. Vielmehr sorgt die Einbettung in unterschiedliche Entwicklungslinien – im Falle Frankfurts in die Tradition einer koordinierten Marktwirtschaft, im Falle Sydneys in die Tradition einer liberalen Marktwirtschaft – für die Ausbildung von Finanzsystemen mit unterschiedlichem Charakter und unterschiedlicher Reichweite. So weist der Finanzplatz Frankfurt im Vergleich mit Sydney eine starke globale Vernetzung auf, wenngleich die Merkmale der koordinierten Marktwirtschaft - geringere Börsenkapitalisierung der Unternehmen, einer primär kreditbasierten Unternehmensfinanzierung und geringere Finanzmarktorientierung der Bevölkerung nachwirken. Demgegenüber profitiert der Finanzstandort Sydney von einer durchwegs finanzialisierten Ökonomie, was sich in der Finanzmarktorientierung von Unternehmen und jener der allgemeinen Bevölkerung ausdrückt, weist aber eine stärkere Binnenorientierung, also die Fokussierung auf den nationalen Markt auf.
National Model United Nations New York 2015 : Delegation der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
(2015)
Seit ihrer Gründung im Jahr 1945 sind die Vereinten Nationen zur bedeutendsten und einflussreichsten internationalen Organisation geworden. Als völkerrechtlicher Zusammenschluss verschiedenster Staaten haben die Vereinten Nationen eine generelle Zuständigkeit in Fragen von Frieden, Sicherheit und internationalem Zusammenleben. Unter den sechs Hauptorganen der Vereinten Nationen sind besonders der Sicherheitsrat und die Generalversammlung hervorzuheben. Letztere ist mit Vertretern aus allen 193 Mitgliedsstaaten die weltweit größte, regelmäßige Zusammenkunft von offiziellen Staatsvertretern. ...
Background: Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and one of the major diseases of old age, causing the impairment of cognitive functions. This disease does not only confront society with financial issues, but also puts severe stress on individuals suffering from AD and their relatives alike. One of the possible symptoms, commonly described in AD, is the impairment of learning as well as the recognition of face-name associations. Beginning at age 60, the chance to develop AD grows exponentially with increasing age, making age a major risk factor. Additionally, the e4 allele of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) polymorphism has been associated with the risk of developing AD when compared to the more common e3 allele. While strong evidence shows a stronger decline in cognitive function with rising age for e4 carriers, some studies demonstrated better cognitive function in e4 carriers at a young age.
This led to the postulation of the hypothesis of antagonistic pleiotropy of the APOE gene, wherein the e4 allele may benefit cognitive function in young carriers, yet leads to a faster decline at a later point in life, encouraging the development of cognitive dysfunction such as AD. Several functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, examining functional activation patterns, found APOE-related differences in key areas of episodic memory, such as the hippocampus, where e4 carriers show aberrant activation similar to AD patients. However, associative memory (encoding and retrieval of face name pairs) has not been well examined for APOE-related differences. Interaction effects of age and the APOE genotype, such as those postulated by the hypothesis of antagonistic pleiotropy, have not been addressed in face-name association tasks either.
Leading Question: Is it possible to detect interaction effects between age and APOE genotype on cognitive performance or neuronal activation patterns in healthy young and old participants during an fMRI face-name association task, supporting the hypothesis of antagonistic pleiotropy of the APOE genotype?
Methods: Participants were stratied by age, and APOE e4 carriers were randomly matched with homozygous e3 carriers. Neuropsychological examination (CVLT and CERAD) was administered. Participants underwent structural MRI analysis via voxelbased morphometry (VBM) as well as fMRI imaging during a face-name association task.
Results: Apart from strong age-related effects in cognitive function detected during neuropsychological testing, the behavioral data from the face-name association task as well as the structural MRI analysis did not show an association with the APOE genotype. Nevertheless, analysis of functional MRI data showed age- as well as APOE-dependent effects on activation patterns for the encoding and retrieval of face-name pairs, in absence of differences in cognitive performance. Further analysis showed eight clusters of significant age X APOE genotype interactions in areas previously associated with working and visual associative memory, including the fusiform gyri bilaterally. These interactions show different patterns, whereas a relative hypoactivation of young e4 carriers together with a hyperactivation of old e4 carriers is the most prominent.
Conclusions: With regard to the leading question, this study successfully found age X APOE interactions in a face-name pair retrieval task, although no interaction effects were present in the encoding task, structural analysis, or cognitive performance. The agemediated effect of the APOE e4 allele on functional activation patterns may be explained by the compensatory hypothesis, describing a relative hyperactivation of old e4 carriers as compensatory, and interpreting a relative hypoactivation of younger e4 participants as reduced effort to achieve the same cognitive performance as non carriers.
These findings present further evidence of an antagonistic pleiotropy of the APOE genotype, showing age-dependent effects of the e4 allele even in healthy carriers. Nevertheless, previously described differences in cognitive performance and brain structure, even in young participants, were not found. On the contrary, functional MRI analysis showed APOE-related differences in young and old participants, suggesting that this modality may be more sensitive in detecting APOE-mediated changes. Among the clusters, demonstrating an interaction effect, the fusiform gyri were most prominent, which might be due to its important role in visual associative memory. As previous studies indicate an early and strong involvement of this area due to AD pathology, this interaction effect of age and APOE genotype in healthy participants underlines the importance of this region in the development of AD, and should be the focus of further research. However, this research is also required to determine, how exactly the APOE genotype influences brain function in healthy humans, and to clarify its relationship to pathological processes facilitating the development of AD.
Die aktuelle Debatte um Pornographie stellt sich andere Fragen als in den kämpferischen 70er Jahren. In den interdisziplinären Beiträgen des Sammelbandes wird Pornographie als kulturelles Artefakt behandelt, als Begriff, der in Diskurse über Sexualität und Moderne, über Identität und Jugend verwoben ist. Die Autor_innen arbeiten mit empirisch-sozialwissenschaftlichen Methoden Fragen nach dem Nutzer_innenverhalten von Onlinepornographie und jugendlichem Pornokonsum auf, bieten theoriegeleitete Zugänge zur Unbestimmbarkeit von Pornographie, zu ihrer notwendigen Einbettung in andere gesellschaftliche Kontexte sowie künstlerische Interventionen zu ihrem emanzipatorischen Potential. Die Beiträge bieten einen gelungenen Einblick in den aktuellen Stand der Debatte dieses noch jungen Feldes.
Recent STAR data for the directed flow of protons, antiprotons and charged pions obtained within the beam energy scan program are analyzed within the Parton-Hadron-String-Dynamics (PHSD/HSD) transport models. Both versions of the kinetic approach are used to clarify the role of partonic degrees of freedom. The PHSD results, simulating a partonic phase and its coexistence with a hadronic one, are roughly consistent with the STAR data. Generally, the semi-qualitative agreement between the measured data and model results supports the idea of a crossover type of quark-hadron transition which softens the nuclear EoS but shows no indication of a first-order phase transition. Furthermore, the directed flow of kaons and antikaons is evaluated in the PHSD/HSD approachesfrom √sNN ≈ 3 - 200 GeV which shows a high sensitivity to hadronic potentials in the FAIR/NICA energy regime √sNN ≤ 8 GeV.
Die vorliegende Arbeit, die im Rahmen des zwischen 2011 und 2013 durchgeführten Forschungsprojektes „Förderung von Modellbildungs- und Falsifikationsprozessen im Elementar- und Primarbereich“ entstanden ist, untersuchte auf Grundlage neuerer entwicklungspsychologischer Forschungsbefunde die Möglichkeiten der Förderung im naturwissenschaftlichen Denken bei Kindern im Elementarbereich. Nach der theoretischen Einordnung des Themas und der Darstellung der Forschungslage wurden im empirischen Teil in einem ersten Schritt die Kompetenzen beim Schlussfolgern im Themengebiet Elastizität und Plastizität und beim Wissenschaftsverständnis von Kindern im Alter von vier bis zehn Jahren, eingeteilt in vier Altersstufen, ermittelt; weiterhin wurden die Verknüpfungen beider Kompetenzbereiche untersucht. Als Instrumente dienten ein bereits erprobter Schlussfolgerungstest sowie ein neu entwickelter Test zur Kompetenzmessung von Wissenschaftsverständnis. In der Grundschule wurden die Tests jeweils als Gruppentests und im Kindergarten als Einzeltests durchgeführt. Die Stichprobe um-fasste 142 Kinder, 82 Kinder aus dem Primarbereich und 60 Kinder aus dem Elementarbereich. Beim Schlussfolgern zeigte sich, dass es für Kinder aller einbezogenen Altersgruppen deutlich leichter war, mit Ereignissen umzugehen, die eine Vermutung bestätigen, als mit solchen, die eine Vermutung widerlegen. Zudem stellte sich heraus, dass der Umgang mit Ereignissen, die im Hinblick auf eine Vermutung irrelevant sind, noch schwieriger war. Mit zunehmendem Alter war eine Kompetenzsteigerung erkennbar. Die Analyse der Tests ergab außerdem einen Zusammenhang zwischen Wissenschaftsverständnis und Schlussfolgern sowie einen deutlichen Einfluss exekutiver Funktionen. Im zweiten Schritt wurden zwei ausgewählte Trainingsmaß-nahmen zur Förderung der Koordination von Theorie und Evidenz bei Kindern im Alter von fünf bis sechs Jahren auf ihre Wirksamkeit hin geprüft, und zwar einerseits durch die Unter-stützung mit adaptivem Nachfragen bei fehlerhaften Antworten sowie andererseits durch eine intensive Förderung mit Modellierung. Die an einer Stichprobe von 63 Kindern durchgeführte Trainingsstudie war als Prä-Post-Studie angelegt und umfasste die Überprüfung des erworbenen Wissens. Die Studie ergab, dass die intensiv geförderten Kinder deutlich höhere Kompetenzen erworben hatten als die durch adaptive Unterstützung unterstützten Probanden. Außer-dem wurde ein Transfer-Test im Inhaltsgebiet Schwimmen und Sinken durchgeführt; hierbei wurden beide Trainingsgruppen in gleicher Weise mit adaptivem Nachfragen unterstützt. Dabei zeigten Kinder beider Trainingsgruppen deutlich höhere Kompetenzen beim Schlussfolgern als im Post-Test, dennoch zeigten Kinder mit vorheriger intensiver Förderung durch Modellierung wiederum höhere Kompetenzen im Transfer-Test als Kinder aus der Gruppe mit adaptiver Unterstützung. Abschließend wurde noch ein Argumentationstest durchgeführt, bei dem Kinder aller drei Experimentalgruppen (Trainingsgruppe 1, Trainingsgruppe 2, Kontrollgruppe) über-greifende Kompetenzen beim Schlussfolgern zeigen konnten. In diesem Test zeigte sich zwischen den drei Gruppen kein Unterschied im Hinblick auf angemessene Antworten beim Schlussfolgern.
Cancer is characterized by a remarkable intertumoral, intratumoral, and cellular heterogeneity that might be explained by the cancer stem cell (CSC) and/or the clonal evolution models. CSCs have the ability to generate all different cells of a tumor and to reinitiate the disease after remission. In the clonal evolution model, a consecutive accumulation of mutations starting in a single cell results in competitive growth of subclones with divergent fitness in either a linear or a branching succession. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a highly malignant cancer of the lymphoid system in the bone marrow with a dismal prognosis after relapse. However, stabile phenotypes and functional data of CSCs in ALL, the so-called leukemia-initiating cells (LICs), are highly controversial and the question remains whether there is evidence for their existence. This review discusses the concepts of CSCs and clonal evolution in respect to LICs mainly in B-ALL and sheds light onto the technical controversies in LIC isolation and evaluation. These aspects are important for the development of strategies to eradicate cells with LIC capacity. Common properties of LICs within different subclones need to be defined for future ALL diagnostics, treatment, and disease monitoring to improve the patients’ outcome in ALL.
We investigate the properties of the QCD matter across the deconfinement phase transition in the scope of the parton-hadron string dynamics (PHSD) transport approach. We present here in particular the results on the electromagnetic radiation, i.e. photon and dilepton production, in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. By comparing our calculations for the heavy-ion collisions to the available data, we determine the relative importance of the various production sources and address the possible origin of the observed strong elliptic flow v2 of direct photons. We argue that the different centrality dependence of the hadronic and partonic sources for direct photon production in nucleusnucleus collisions can be employed to shed some more light on the origin of the photon v2 “puzzle”. While the dilepton spectra at low invariant mass show in-medium effects like an enhancement from multiple baryonic resonance formation or a collisional broadening of the vector meson spectral functions, the dilepton yield at high invariant masses (above 1.1 GeV) is dominated by QGP contributions for central heavy-ion collisions at ultra-relativistic energies. This allows to have an independent view on the parton dynamics via their electromagnetic massive radiation.
The high collision energies reached at the LHC lead to significant production yields of light (anti-)nuclei and (hyper-)nuclei in proton–proton, proton–lead and, in particular, lead–lead collisions. The excellent particle identification capabilities of the ALICE apparatus, based on the specific energy loss in the Time Projection Chamber and the velocity information in the Time-Of-Flight detector, allow for the detection of these rarely produced particles. Further, the Inner Tracking System gives the possibility to separate primary nuclei from those coming from weak decay of heavier systems. One example of such a weak decay is the measurement of the (anti-)hypertriton decay to 3He + π− (3H̅e̅ + π+). The aforementioned capabilities of the ALICE apparatus offer the unique opportunity to search for exotica, like the bound state of a Λ and a neutron which would decay into a deuteron and a pion, or the bound state of two Λ’s. Results on the production of stable nuclei in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV are presented, and compared with thermal model predictions. We further present the current status of the searches, by their upper limits on the production yields, and compare the results to thermal and coalescence model expectations.
The pA system is typically regarded in heavy ion collisions as a “cold” nuclear matter environment and thought to isolate and identify initial state effects due to the presence of multiple nucleons in the incoming nucleus. Moreover, pA collisions bridge the gap between peripheral AA collisions and the pp baseline to create a more complete understanding of underlying production mechanisms and how they evolve with multiplicity. Recent measurements at both RHIC and the LHC provide an indication, however, that the “cold” nuclear matter picture may be somewhat naïve.
Recent LHC results from the 2013 p–Pb run at √sNN = 5.02 TeV will be discussed.
Das Feld der interdisziplinäre Diskursforschung hat in den letzten Jahren zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen und sich zu einer etablierten Forschungsperspektive am Schnittpunkt von Sprache und Gesellschaft, von Wissen und Macht entwickelt. Die theoretische und methodische Vielgestaltigkeit dieser Forschungsperspektive führt allerdings insbesondere bei der Konzeption und Durchführung von Forschungsarbeiten solchen Zuschnitts immer wieder zu Unsicherheiten und Schwierigkeiten. Drei Werke, die – in unterschiedlicher Weise – auf das sich aus der Vielgestaltigkeit dieses Feldes ergebende Bedürfnis nach Systematisierung und Orientierung antworten, werden im Folgenden vorgestellt. Dabei gilt es deutlich herauszustellen, dass die vorgestellten Werke nicht als Methodenbücher oder Anleitungen zur "korrekten" Durchführung von diskursorientierten Forschungsarbeiten misszuverstehen, sondern vielmehr als Anregung und Verständigung über Fragen, Probleme und Richtungen der Diskursforschung auch über nationale und disziplinäre Grenzen hinweg zu lesen sind.
In this review, I argue that this textbook edited by BENNETT and CHECKEL is exceptionally valuable in at least four aspects. First, with regards to form, the editors provide a paragon of how an edited volume should look: well-connected articles "speak to" and build on each other. The contributors refer to and grapple with the theoretical framework of the editors who, in turn, give heed to the conclusions of the contributors. Second, the book is packed with examples from research practice. These are not only named but thoroughly discussed and evaluated for their methodological potential in all chapters. Third, the book aims at improving and popularizing process tracing, but does not shy away from systematically considering the potential weaknesses of the approach. Fourth, the book combines and bridges various approaches to (mostly) qualitative methods and still manages to provide abstract and easily accessible standards for making "good" process tracing. As such, it is a must-read for scholars working with qualitative methods. However, BENNETT and CHECKEL struggle with fulfilling their promise of bridging positivist and interpretive approaches, for while they do indeed take the latter into account, their general research framework remains largely unchanged by these considerations. On these grounds, I argue that, especially for scholars in the positivist camp, the book can function as a "how-to" guide for designing and implementing research. Although this may not apply equally to interpretive researchers, the book is still a treasure chest for them, providing countless conceptual clarifications and potential pitfalls of process tracing practice.
Die Entwicklungen in der Medizinischen Ausbildung der letzten Jahre konfrontieren Lehrende zunehmend mit neuen didaktischen Herausforderungen. An zahlreichen Standorten im deutschsprachigen Raum werden bereits Qualifizierungsangebote für Lehrende angeboten, jedoch fehlt bisher ein Orientierungsrahmen für medizindidaktische Kompetenzen, der ein Qualifikationsprofil für Lehrende darstellt.
Vor dem Hintergrund der Diskussion um die Kompetenzorientierung des Medizinstudiums und auf Grundlage aktueller internationaler Literatur wurde durch den GMA Ausschuss für Personal- und Organisationsentwicklung in der Lehre ein Kernkompetenzmodell für Lehrende in der Medizin entwickelt. Das Modell soll nicht nur den Lehrenden Orientierung zu ihrem Qualifikationsprofil geben, sondern auch die inhaltliche Ausrichtung hochschuldidaktischer (Aus-) Weiter- und Fortbildungen sowie die Evaluation von Fakultätsentwicklungsprozessen erleichtern und nicht zuletzt einheitliche Kriterien für die Beurteilung der Lehrqualifikation in deutschsprachigen Raum definieren.
Das Modell besteht aus sechs Kompetenzfeldern, für die jeweils Teilkompetenzen definiert und Lernziele beschrieben wurden. Anwendungsbeispiele sollen die jeweiligen Kompetenzen verdeutlichen.
Das Modell ist für die praktische Anwendung konzipiert und soll in einem nächsten Schritt durch spezifische Kompetenzen für Lehrende mit besonderen Aufgaben ergänzt werden.
Recent developments in medical education have created increasing challenges for medical teachers which is why the majority of German medical schools already offer educational and instructional skills trainings for their teaching staff. However, to date no framework for educational core competencies for medical teachers exists that might serve as guidance for the qualification of the teaching faculty. Against the background of the discussion about competency based medical education and based upon the international literature, the GMA Committee for Faculty and Organizational Development in Teaching developed a model of core teaching competencies for medical teachers. This framework is designed not only to provide guidance with regard to individual qualification profiles but also to support further advancement of the content, training formats and evaluation of faculty development initiatives and thus, to establish uniform quality criteria for such initiatives in German-speaking medical schools. The model comprises a framework of six competency fields, subdivided into competency components and learning objectives. Additional examples of their use in medical teaching scenarios illustrate and clarify each specific teaching competency. The model has been designed for routine application in medical schools and is thought to be complemented consecutively by additional competencies for teachers with special duties and responsibilities in a future step.
Membrane proteins are biological macromolecules that are located in a cell’s membrane and are responsible for essential functions within an organism, which makes them to prominent drug targets. The extraction of membrane proteins from the hydrophobic membrane bilayer to determine high-resolution crystal structures is a difficult task and only 2% of all solved proteins structures are membrane proteins. Computational methods may help to gain deeper insights into membrane protein structures and their functions. This study will give an overview of such computational methods on a representative set of membrane proteins and will provide ideas for future computational and experimental research on membrane proteins.
In a first step (chapter 2), I updated an earlier, manually-curated data set of homologous membrane proteins (HOMEP) to more recent versions in 2010 (HOMEP2) and 2013 (HOMEP3) using an automated clustering approach. High-resolution structures of membrane proteins listed in the PDB_TM database were structurally aligned and subsequently clustered using structural similarity scores. Both data sets were used as a standard gold reference set for subsequent work.
Subsequently, I have updated and applied the sequence alignment program AlignMe to determine protein descriptors that are suitable for detecting evolutionary relationship between homologous a-helical membrane proteins. Single input descriptors were tested alone and in combination with each other in different modes of AlignMe by optimizing gap penalties on the HOMEP2 data set. Most accurate alignments and homology models on the HOMEP2 data set were observed when using position-specific substitution information (P), secondary structure propensities (S) and transmembrane propensities (T) in the AlignMe PST mode. An evaluation on an independent reference set of membrane protein sequence alignments from the BAliBASE collection showed that different modes of AlignMe are suitable for different sequence similarity levels. The AlignMe PST mode improved the alignment accuracy significantly for distantly related proteins, whereas for closely-related proteins from the BAliBASE set the AlignMe PS mode was more suitable. This work was published in March 2013 in PLOS ONE. In order to allow also an easier usage of the AlignMe program, I have implemented a web server of AlignMe (chapter 4) that provides the optimized settings and gap penalties for the AlignMe P, PS and PST modes. A comparison to other recent alignment web server shows that the alignments of AlignMe are similar or even more accurate than those of other methods, especially for very distantly related proteins for which the inclusion of membrane protein information has been shown to be suitable. This work was published in the NAR web server issue in July 2014.
Although membrane-specific information has been shown to be suitable for aligning distantly related membrane proteins on a sequence level, such information was not incorporated into structural alignment programs making it unclear which method is the most suitable for aligning membrane proteins. Thus, I compared 13 widely-used pairwise structural alignment methods on an updated reference set of homologous membrane protein structures (HOMEP3) and evaluated their accuracy by building models based on the underlying sequence alignments and used scoring functions (e.g., AL4 or CAD-score) to rate the model accuracy (chapter 5). The analysis showed that fragment-based approaches such as FR-TM-align are the most useful for aligning structures of membrane proteins that have undergone large conformational changes whereas rigid approaches were more suitable for proteins that were solved in the same or a similar state. However, no method showed a significant higher accuracy than any other. Additionally, all methods lack a measure to rate the reliability of the accuracy for a specific position within a structure alignment. In order to solve these problems, I propose a consensus-type approach that combines alignments from four different methods, namely FR-TM-align, DaliLite, MATT and FATCAT and assigns a confidence value to each position of the alignment that describes the agreement between the methods. This work has been published 2015 in the journal “PROTEINS: structure, function and bioinformatics”.
Consensus alignments were then generated for each pair of proteins of the HOMEP3 data set and subsequently analyzed for single evolutionary events within membrane spanning segments and for irregular structures (e.g., 310- and p-helices) (chapter 6). Interestingly, single insertions and deletions could be observed with the help of consensus alignments in the conserved membrane-spanning segments of membrane proteins in four protein families. The detection of such single InDels might help to identify crucial residues for a proteins function.
Introduction: In 2008, the German Council of Science had advised universities to establish a quality management system (QMS) that conforms to international standards. The system was to be implemented within 5 years, i.e., until 2014 at the latest. The aim of the present study was to determine whether a QMS suitable for electronic learning (eLearning) domain of medical education to be used across Germany has meanwhile been identified.
Methods: We approached all medical universities in Germany (n=35), using an anonymous questionnaire (8 domains, 50 items).
Results: Our results (response rate 46.3%) indicated very reluctant application of QMS in eLearning and a major information deficit at the various institutions.
Conclusions: Authors conclude that under the limitations of this study there seems to be a considerable need to improve the current knowledge on QMS for eLearning, and that clear guidelines and standards for their implementation should be further defined.
Einleitung: Der Wissenschaftsrat empfahl 2008 den Universitäten innerhalb der nächsten 5 Jahre, d. h. bis spätestens 2014, ein Qualitätsmanagementsystem (QMS), das internationalen Maßstäben entspricht, zu etablieren. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, zu evaluieren, ob es derzeit ein geeignetes QMS für das elektronische Lernen (eLearning) gibt, das speziell im Fach Humanmedizin deutschlandweit eingesetzt werden kann.
Methoden: Im Rahmen einer Umfrage wurden mittels eines anonymisierten Fragebogens (8 Domänen, 50 Items) alle Universitäten (n=35) des Fachbereichs Medizin in Deutschland evaluiert.
Ergebnisse: Die Ergebnisse (46,3% Rücklaufquote) zeigen einen nur zögerlichen Einsatz von QMS für eLearning und dass vor Ort ein großes Informationsdefizit herrscht.
Schlussfolgerung: Unter Berücksichtigung der Limitationen dieser Studie kann zusammenfassend festgehalten werden, dass erheblicher Bedarf zu bestehen scheint, das existierende Informationsdefizit für QMS eLearning zu mindern, sowie zukünftig genaue Richtlinien und Standards zur Umsetzung zu definieren.
Background: The West African country of Burkina Faso (BFA) is an example for the enduring importance of traditional plant use today. A large proportion of its 17 million inhabitants lives in rural communities and strongly depends on local plant products for their livelihood. However, literature on traditional plant use is still scarce and a comprehensive analysis for the country is still missing.
Methods: In this study we combine the information of a recently published plant checklist with information from ethnobotanical literature for a comprehensive, national scale analysis of plant use in Burkina Faso. We quantify the application of plant species in 10 different use categories, evaluate plant use on a plant family level and use the relative importance index to rank all species in the country according to their usefulness. We focus on traditional medicine and quantify the use of plants as remedy against 22 classes of health disorders, evaluate plant use in traditional medicine on the level of plant families and rank all species used in traditional medicine according to their respective usefulness.
Results: A total of 1033 species (50%) in Burkina Faso had a documented use. Traditional medicine, human nutrition and animal fodder were the most important use categories. The 12 most common plant families in BFA differed considerably in their usefulness and application. Fabaceae, Poaceae and Malvaceae were the plant families with the most used species. In this study Khaya senegalensis, Adansonia digitata and Diospyros mespiliformis were ranked the top useful plants in BFA. Infections/Infestations, digestive system disorders and genitourinary disorders are the health problems most commonly addressed with medicinal plants. Fabaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae, Apocynaceae, Malvaceae and Rubiaceae were the most important plant families in traditional medicine. Tamarindus indica, Vitellaria paradoxa and Adansonia digitata were ranked the most important medicinal plants.
Conclusions: The national-scale analysis revealed systematic patterns of traditional plant use throughout BFA. These results are of interest for applied research, as a detailed knowledge of traditional plant use can a) help to communicate conservation needs and b) facilitate future research on drug screening.
Proteins of the secretin family form large macromolecular complexes, which assemble in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. Secretins are major components of type II and III secretion systems and are linked to extrusion of type IV pili (T4P) and to DNA uptake. By electron cryo-tomography of whole Thermus thermophilus cells, we determined the in situ structure of a T4P molecular machine in the open and the closed state. Comparison reveals a major conformational change whereby the N-terminal domains of the central secretin PilQ shift by ∼30 Å, and two periplasmic gates open to make way for pilus extrusion. Furthermore, we determine the structure of the assembled pilus.
Background: Second hand smoke (ETS)-associated particulate matter (PM) contributes considerably to indoor air contamination and constitutes a health risk for passive smokers. Easy to measure, PM is a useful parameter to estimate the dosage of ETS that passive smokers are exposed to. Apart from its suitability as a surrogate parameter for ETS-exposure, PM itself affects human morbidity and mortality in a dose-dependent manner. We think that ETS-associated PM should be considered an independent hazard factor, separately from the many other known harmful compounds of ETS. We believe that brand-specific and tobacco-product-specific differences in the release of PM matter and that these differences are of public interest. Methods: To generate ETS of cigarettes and cigarillos as standardized and reproducible as possible, an automatic second hand smoke emitter (AETSE) was developed and placed in a glass chamber. L&M cigarettes ("without additives", "red label", "blue label"), L&M filtered cigarillos ("red") and 3R4F standard research cigarettes (as reference) were smoked automatically according to a self-developed, standardized protocol until the tobacco product was smoked down to 8 mm distance from the tipping paper of the filter. Results: Mean concentration (Cmean) and area under the curve (AUC) in a plot of PM2.5 against time were measured, and compared. CmeanPM2.5 were found to be 518 μg/m3 for 3R4F cigarettes, 576 μg/m3 for L&M "without additives" ("red"), 448 μg/m3 for L&M "blue label", 547 μg/m3 for L&M "red label", and 755 μg/m3 for L&M filtered cigarillos ("red"). AUCPM2.5-values were 208,214 μg/m3·s for 3R4F reference cigarettes, 204,629 μg/m3·s for L&M "without additives" ("red"), 152,718 μg/m3·s for L&M "blue label", 238,098 μg/m3·s for L&M "red label" and 796,909 μg/m3·s for L&M filtered cigarillos ("red"). Conclusion: Considering the large and significant differences in particulate matter emissions between cigarettes and cigarillos, we think that a favorable taxation of cigarillos is not justifiable.
Background: Measurement of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) advanced the diagnostic and prognostic potential for prostate cancer (PCa). However, due to PSA’s lack of specificity, novel biomarkers are needed to improve risk assessment and ensure optimal personalized therapy. A set of protein molecules as potential biomarkers was therefore evaluated in serum of PCa patients.
Methods: Serum samples from patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RPE) for biopsy-proven PCa without neoadjuvant treatment were compared to serum samples from healthy subjects. Preliminary screening of 119 proteins in 10 PCa patients and 10 controls was carried out by the Proteome Profiler Antibody Array. Those markers showing distinct differences between patients and controls were then further evaluated by ELISA in the serum of 165 PCa patients and 19 controls. Uni- and multivariate as well as correlation analysis were performed to test the capability of these molecules to detect disease and predict pathological outcome.
Results: Screening showed that soluble (s)E-cadherin, E-selectin, MMP2, MMP9, TIMP1, TIMP2, Galectin and Clusterin warranted further evaluation. sE-Cadherin, TIMP1, Galectin and Clusterin were significantly over- and MMP9 under-expressed in PCa compared to controls. The concentration of sE-cadherin, MMP2 and Clusterin correlated negatively and that of MMP9 and TIMP1 positively with the Gleason Sum at prostatectomy. Only sE-cadherin significantly correlated with the highest Gleason pattern. Compared to serum PSA, sE-cadherin provided an independent and better matching predictive ability for discriminating PCas with an upgrade at RPE and aggressive tumors with a Gleason Sum ≥7.
Conclusions: sE-cadherin performed most favorably from a large panel of serum proteins in terms of diagnostic and predictive potential in curatively treatable PCa. sE-cadherin merits further investigation as a biomarker for PCa.
Hintergrund: Die Interaktion zwischen β-HCG und TSH in der Schwangerschaft stellt ein differentialdiagnostisches Problem dar, weil die Wertung von supprimierten TSH-Spiegeln erschwert wird. Dies kann im schlimmsten Fall zu Fehlinterpretationen führen. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war, diese Interaktion an einem großen Kollektiv in einen zeitlichen Kontext mit dem Verlauf der Schwangerschaft zu bringen, da der Zeitpunkt des Screenings entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Höhe des TSH-Spiegels hat. Zusätzlich wurden anhand der vorliegenden Daten Referenzbereiche für Schwangere berechnet und der Einfluss einer Jodmedikation untersucht.
Patienten und Methoden: Aus einem unselektionierten Pool von Patientinnen eines nuklearmedizinischen Praxisverbundes wurden die Daten von 1283 schilddrüsengesunden Schwangeren zwischen 16 und 48 Jahren ausgewertet. Neben der TSH-Bestimmung lag ein Schwerpunkt auf dem zeitlichen Verlauf, so dass die Schwangeren in Untergruppen von je 2 Wochen analysiert wurden. Untersucht wurde der Einfluss der Jodmedikation auf die TSH-Werte. Am Ende erfolgte mit Hilfe der logarithmischen Transformation unter Verwendung der 2-Sigma-Grenzen die Bestimmung neuer TSH-Referenzbereiche für Schwangere.
Ergebnisse: Es zeigt sich zu Beginn der Schwangerschaft ein Anstieg der mittleren TSH-Werte von 1,22 mU/l in der 2. SSW bis auf 1,7 mU/l um die 7. SSW mit einem konsekutiven Abfall der TSH-Werte bis auf 0,9 mU/l bis zur 16. SSW (entsprechend 52,9%). Der größte Abfall findet sich in der 12. bis 14. SSW, also zum Zeitpunkt des ersten Screenings. Die Jodmedikation hat keinen maßgeblichen Einfluss auf den TSH-Wert. Die Berechnung schwangerschaftskorrigierter Referenzbereiche zeigt im ersten Drittel TSH-Werte von 0,08 – 3,67 mU/l, im 2. Drittel 0,04 – 2,88 mU/l und im 3. Trimenon 0,17 – 3,19 mU/l.
Schlussfolgerungen: Die Arbeit zeigt, dass die niedrigsten TSH-Werte zum Zeitpunkt des ersten Screenings zu erwarten sind und deswegen möglicherweise zu Fehlentscheidungen führen können. Ein relevanter Zusammenhang der Jodmedikation mit dem TSH-Wert lässt sich nicht nachweisen. Neue Referenzbereiche für Schwangere könnten hilfreich sein, dieses diagnostische Dilemma zu vermeiden.
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is amongst the simplest mathematical models available for diffusion magnetic resonance imaging, yet still by far the most used one. Despite the success of DTI as an imaging tool for white matter fibers, its anatomical underpinnings on a microstructural basis remain unclear. In this study, we used 65 myelin-stained sections of human premotor cortex to validate modeled fiber orientations and oft used microstructure-sensitive scalar measures of DTI on the level of individual voxels. We performed this validation on high spatial resolution diffusion MRI acquisitions investigating both white and gray matter. We found a very good agreement between DTI and myelin orientations with the majority of voxels showing angular differences less than 10°. The agreement was strongest in white matter, particularly in unidirectional fiber pathways. In gray matter, the agreement was good in the deeper layers highlighting radial fiber directions even at lower fractional anisotropy (FA) compared to white matter. This result has potentially important implications for tractography algorithms applied to high resolution diffusion MRI data if the aim is to move across the gray/white matter boundary. We found strong relationships between myelin microstructure and DTI-based microstructure-sensitive measures. High FA values were linked to high myelin density and a sharply tuned histological orientation profile. Conversely, high values of mean diffusivity (MD) were linked to bimodal or diffuse orientation distributions and low myelin density. At high spatial resolution, DTI-based measures can be highly sensitive to white and gray matter microstructure despite being relatively unspecific to concrete microarchitectural aspects.
Aim: We investigated the long-term impact of adjunctive systemic antibiotics on periodontal disease progression. Periodontal therapy is frequently supplemented by systemic antibiotics, although its impact on the course of disease is still unclear.
Material & Methods: This prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multi-centre trial comprising patients suffering from moderate to severe periodontitis evaluated the impact of rational adjunctive use of systemic amoxicillin 500 mg plus metronidazole 400 mg (3x/day, 7 days) on attachment loss. The primary outcome was the percentage of sites showing further attachment loss (PSAL) ≥1.3 mm after the 27.5 months observation period. Standardized therapy comprised mechanical debridement in conjunction with antibiotics or placebo administration, and maintenance therapy at 3 months intervals.
Results: From 506 participating patients, 406 were included in the intention to treat analysis. Median PSAL observed in placebo group was 7.8% compared to 5.3% in antibiotics group (Q25 4.7%/Q75 14.1%; Q25 3.1%/Q75 9.9%; p < 0.001 respectively).
Conclusions: Both treatments were effective in preventing disease progression. Compared to placebo, the prescription of empiric adjunctive systemic antibiotics showed a small absolute, although statistically significant, additional reduction in further attachment loss. Therapists should consider the patient's overall risk for periodontal disease when deciding for or against adjunctive antibiotics prescription.
Background: Detailed injury data are not available for international tournaments in field hockey. We investigated the epidemiology of field hockey injuries during major International Hockey Federation (Fédération Internationale de Hockey, FIH) tournaments in 2013.
Materials: and methods FIH injury reports were used for data collection. All major FIH tournaments for women (n=5) and men (n=11) in 2013 were included. The main focus of this study was to assess the pattern, time, site on the pitch, body site and mechanism of each of the injuries. We calculated the average number of injuries per match and the number of injuries per 1000 player match hours.
Results: The average number of injuries was 0.7 (95% CI 0.5 to 1.0) per match in women's tournaments and 1.2 (95% CI 0.8 to 1.7) per match in men's tournaments. The number of injuries per 1000 player match hours ranged from 23.4 to 44.2 (average 29.1; 95% CI 18.6 to 39.7) in women and 20.8 to 90.9 (average 48.3; 95% CI 30.9 to 65.8) in men. Most injuries occurred in the circle (n=25, 50%, in women, n=95, 51%, in men). The rate of injuries increased after the first quarter. Injuries to the head and face (n=20, 40%) were most common in women. The head/face (n=51, 27%) and the thigh/knee (n=52, 28%) were equally affected in men. The ball caused the most injuries, followed by the stick, collisions and tripping/falling. There were no deaths or injuries that required hospital treatment in the entire cohort.
Summary: Field hockey has a low incidence of acute injuries during competition.
Quantification of spatially and temporally resolved water flows and water storage variations for all land areas of the globe is required to assess water resources, water scarcity and flood hazards, and to understand the Earth system. This quantification is done with the help of global hydrological models (GHMs). What are the challenges and prospects in the development and application of GHMs? Seven important challenges are presented. (1) Data scarcity makes quantification of human water use difficult even though significant progress has been achieved in the last decade. (2) Uncertainty of meteorological input data strongly affects model outputs. (3) The reaction of vegetation to changing climate and CO2 concentrations is uncertain and not taken into account in most GHMs that serve to estimate climate change impacts. (4) Reasons for discrepant responses of GHMs to changing climate have yet to be identified. (5) More accurate estimates of monthly time series of water availability and use are needed to provide good indicators of water scarcity. (6) Integration of gradient-based groundwater modelling into GHMs is necessary for a better simulation of groundwater–surface water interactions and capillary rise. (7) Detection and attribution of human interference with freshwater systems by using GHMs are constrained by data of insufficient quality but also GHM uncertainty itself. Regarding prospects for progress, we propose to decrease the uncertainty of GHM output by making better use of in situ and remotely sensed observations of output variables such as river discharge or total water storage variations by multi-criteria validation, calibration or data assimilation. Finally, we present an initiative that works towards the vision of hyperresolution global hydrological modelling where GHM outputs would be provided at a 1-km resolution with reasonable accuracy.
Magnetoencephalography (MEG) measures neural activity non-invasively and at an excellent temporal resolution. Since its invention (Cohen, 1968, 1972), MEG has proven a most valuable tool in neurocognitive (Salmelin et al., 1994) and clinical research (Stufflebeam et al., 2009; Van ’t Ent et al., 2003). MEG is able to measure rapid changes in electrophysiological neural signals related to sensory and cognitive processes. The magnetic fields measured outside the head by MEG directly reflect the cortical currents generated by the synchronised activity of thousands of neuronal sources. This distinguishes MEG from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), where measurements are only indirectly related to electrophysiological activity through neurovascular coupling...
Background: In German breast cancer care, the S1-guidelines of the 1990s were substituted by national S3-guidelines in 2003. The application of guidelines became mandatory for certified breast cancer centers. The aim of the study was to assess guideline adherence according to time intervals and its impact on survival.
Methods: Women with primary breast cancer treated in three rural hospitals of one German geographical district were included. A cohort study design encompassed women from 1996–97 (N = 389) and from 2003–04 (N = 488). Quality indicators were defined along inpatient therapy sequences for each time interval and distinguished as guideline-adherent and guideline-divergent medical decisions. Based on all of the quality indicators, a binary overall adherence index was defined and served as a group indicator in multivariate Cox-regression models. A corrected group analysis estimated adjusted 5-year survival curves.
Results: From a total of 877 patients, 743 (85 %) and 504 (58 %) were included to assess 104 developed quality indicators and the resuming binary overall adherence index. The latter significantly increased from 13–15 % (1996–97) up to 33–35 % (2003–04). Within each time interval, no significant survival differences of guideline-adherent and -divergent treated patients were detected. Across time intervals and within the group of guideline-adherent treated patients only, survival increased but did not significantly differ between time intervals. Across time intervals and within the group of guideline-divergent treated patients only, survival increased and significantly differed between time intervals.
Conclusions: Infrastructural efforts contributed to the increase of process quality of the examined certified breast cancer center. Paradoxically, a systematic impact on 5-year survival has been observed for patients treated divergently from the guideline recommendations. This is an indicator for the appropriate application of guidelines. A maximization of guideline-based decisions instead of the ubiquitous demand of guideline adherence maximization is advocated.
An accurate quantification of low viremic HCV RNA plasma samples has gained importance since the approval of direct acting antivirals and since only one single measurement predicts the necessity of a prolonged or shortened therapy. As reported previously, HCV quantification assays such as Abbott RealTime HCV and Roche COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan HCV version 2 (CTM v2) may vary in sensitivity and precision particularly in low-level viremia. Importantly, substantial variations were previously demonstrated between some of these assays compared to the Roche High Pure System/COBAS TaqMan assay (HPS) reference assay, which was used to establish the clinical decision points in clinical studies. In this study, the reproducibility of assay performances across several laboratories was assessed by analysing quantification results generated by six independent laboratories (3× RealTime, 3× CTM v2) in comparison with one HPS reference laboratory. The 4th WHO Standard was diluted to 100, 25 and 10 IU/ml, and aliquots were tested in triplicates in 5 independent runs by each assay in the different laboratories to assess assay precision and detection rates. In a second approach, 2 clinical samples (GT 1a & GT 1b) were diluted to 100 and 25 IU/ml and tested as described above. While the result range for WHO 100 IU/ml replicates across all laboratories was similar in this analysis, the CVs of each laboratory ranged from 19.3 to 25.6 % for RealTime laboratories and were lower than CVs of CTM v2 laboratories with a range of 26.1–47.3 %, respectively, and also in comparison with the CV of the HPS reference laboratory (34.9 %). At WHO standard dilution of 25 IU/ml, 24 replicates were quantified by RealTime compared to 8 replicates with CTM v2. Results of clinical samples again revealed a higher variation of CTM v2 results as compared to RealTime values. (CVs at 100 IU/ml: RealTime: 13.1–21.0 % and CTM v2: 15.0–32.3 %; CVs at 25 IU/ml: RealTime 17.6–34.9 % and CTM v2 28.2–54.9 %). These findings confirm the superior precision of RealTime versus CTM v2 at low-level viremia even across different laboratories including the new clinical decision point at 25 IU/ml. A highly precise monitoring of HCV viral load during therapy will remain crucial for patient management with regard to futility rules, therapy efficacy and SVR.
Aerosolteilchen agieren als Kondensationskeime für Wolkentröpfchen (engl. Cloud Condensation Nuclei, CCN) oder Eiskristalle und sind deswegen für die Wolken- und Niederschlagsbildung entscheidend. Sowohl die Aerosolpartikel als auch die Wolken können Sonnenlicht effizient streuen, wodurch ein kühlender Effekt auf das Klima ausgeübt wird. Einige der Teilchen, wie z. B. aufgewirbelter Staub oder Seesalz, werden direkt in die Atmosphäre injiziert; der größte Anteil der Teilchen und etwa die Hälfte der CCN werden allerdings durch die Kondensation gasförmiger Substanzen gebildet. Dieser Prozess wird als Nukleation oder Partikelneubildung (engl. New Particle Formation, NPF) bezeichnet. Trotz intensiver Forschung ist die NPF noch nicht vollständig verstanden, was an der Komplexität der chemischen Abläufe in der Atmosphäre und an der Schwierigkeit liegt, die relevanten Substanzen bei extrem geringen Mischungsverhältnissen (etwa ein Molekül oder Cluster per 1012 bis 1015 Moleküle) zu identifizieren und zu quantifizieren. Neben der Frage nach den bei der Nukleation beteiligten Substanzen ist außerdem noch unklar, ob Ionen-induzierte Nukleation ein wichtiger Prozess für das Klima ist. Das CLOUD-Projekt (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) am CERN soll diesen Fragen nachgehen, indem dort die Partikelbildung in einem Kammer-Experiment unter extrem gut kontrollierten Bedingungen simuliert wird. Die chemischen Systeme, die in dieser Schrift diskutiert werden, umfassen das binäre (H2SO4-H2O), das ternäre Ammoniak (H2SO4-H2O-NH3) und das ternäre Dimethylamin (H2SO4-H2O-(CH3)2NH)-System.
Einige der wesentlichen Ergebnisse von Experimenten an der CLOUD-Kammer werden diskutiert. Diese zeigen, dass das binäre und das ternäre Ammoniak System die atmosphärische Nukleation bei niedrigen Temperaturen erklären können, wohingegen das ternäre Dimethylamin System prinzipiell in der Lage ist, die hohen bodennahen Nukleationsraten bei atmosphärisch relevanten Schwefelsäure-Konzentrationen zu beschreiben. Des Weiteren werden zwei für Nukleationsstudien wesentliche Messmethoden vorgestellt. Das Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (CIMS) wird zur Messung von gasförmiger Schwefelsäure verwendet, da H2SO4 vermutlich die wichtigste Substanz bei der atmosphärischen Nukleation ist. Das Chemical Ionization-Atmospheric Pressure interface-Time Of Flight (CI-APi-TOF) Massenspektrometer misst Schwefelsäure und neutrale Cluster. Beide Geräte wurden für den Einsatz bei CLOUD optimiert und instrumentelle Entwicklungen wurden in Bezug auf die Ionenquelle vorgenommen, die eine Korona-Entladung verwendet. Außerdem wurden eine Kalibrationseinheit zur Bereitstellung definierter Schwefelsäure-Konzentrationen entwickelt und das CI-APi-TOF aufgebaut. In Bezug auf das ternäre Dimethylamin System werden Nukleationsraten und die ersten Messungen von gro en nukleierenden neutralen Clustern präsentiert. Monomer- und Dimer-Konzentrationen der Schwefelsäure, die mit dem CIMS bei tiefen Temperaturen gemessen wurden, dienten der Ableitung der thermodynamischen Eigenschaften bei der Dimer-Bildung im binären und ternären Ammoniak System. Um möglichst exakte Nukleationsraten zu bestimmen, wurde eine neue Methode entwickelt, die es erlaubt, den Effekt der Selbst-Koagulation bei der Nukleation miteinzubeziehen.
Die zusammengefassten Studien tragen signifikant zum Verständnis der Partikelneubildung bei.
Il presente lavoro ha come oggetto d'esame lo scontro del filosofo neo-idealista Giovanni Gentile (1875-1944) col Modernismo cattolico. Obiettivo del lavoro è offrire per la prima volta un esame completo della controversa, durata sei anni, dal 1903 al 1909, attraverso una constestualizzazione storico ecclesiastica e storico filosofica di essa. Il tutto basandosi sulla pubblicazione di inediti fonti d'archivio.
Background aims: Immunomagnetic enrichment of CD34+ hematopoietic “stem” cells (HSCs) using paramagnetic nanobead coupled CD34 antibody and immunomagnetic extraction with the CliniMACS plus system is the standard approach to generating T-cell-depleted stem cell grafts. Their clinical beneficence in selected indications is established. Even though CD34+ selected grafts are typically given in the context of a severely immunosuppressive conditioning with anti-thymocyte globulin or similar, the degree of T-cell depletion appears to affect clinical outcomes and thus in addition to CD34 cell recovery, the degree of T-cell depletion critically describes process quality. An automatic immunomagnetic cell processing system, CliniMACS Prodigy, including a protocol for fully automatic CD34+ cell selection from apheresis products, was recently developed. We performed a formal process validation to support submission of the protocol for CE release, a prerequisite for clinical use of Prodigy CD34+ products.
Methods: Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor–mobilized healthy-donor apheresis products were subjected to CD34+ cell selection using Prodigy with clinical reagents and consumables and advanced beta versions of the CD34 selection software. Target and non-target cells were enumerated using sensitive flow cytometry platforms.
Results: Nine successful clinical-scale CD34+ cell selections were performed. Beyond setup, no operator intervention was required. Prodigy recovered 74 ± 13% of target cells with a viability of 99.9 ± 0.05%. Per 5 × 10E6 CD34+ cells, which we consider a per-kilogram dose of HSCs, products contained 17 ± 3 × 10E3 T cells and 78 ± 22 × 10E3 B cells.
Conclusions: The process for CD34 selection with Prodigy is robust and labor-saving but not time-saving. Compared with clinical CD34+ selected products concurrently generated with the predecessor technology, product properties, importantly including CD34+ cell recovery and T-cell contents, were not significantly different. The automatic system is suitable for routine clinical application.
This contribution1 is framed within the field of cultural studies and migration and ethnic relations, trying to examine how the Italian American experience has been imaginatively (re)created and received. It will entail an interdisciplinary approach about the cultural and literary analysis of the Italian diaspora in the United States, from a gender perspective that recovers the voice and historical presence of women as has been transmitted in the arts and critical methods. Focusing on the media and literary representations that deal with Italian migration to the United States since the last decades of the 19th century, their welcome or later development until our days, I make particular reference to a community mainly conceived in the masculine, as major receptions and persistent stereotypes about family relations and ethnicity attest. I will analyse, at the same time, the existence of other works that either contest or balance that cultural and gender stereotyping of the Italian American experience or community.
This paper1 investigates changes in the domestic work sector when passing from the informal to the formal labor market. The issue is explored within the context of the housework voucher policy (titres-services), which allows households to officially purchase weekly housework services from an authorized agency, through vouchers. This contribution has therefore a twofold focus: observing changes in labor market dynamics and investigating workers’ perception of this change. In order to discuss these issues, I will firstly look at the step from informal to formal labor market through two aspects: ethnic niches and individual labor dynamics – two bedrocks of Brussels domestic work market. Then, I will analyze workers’ personal experiences when acquiring a declared job in the voucher system.
Analyzing objective and subjective changes, a entral question of this article is to which extent the switch to the housework voucher system can bring empowerment to domestic workers. The sector work quality, in objective and subjective terms, has improved mainly by the setting of rules and by allowing workers to enjoy labor rights and a work status. The formal market dynamics of the housework voucher system remain, however, profoundly ethicized and marked by women’s presence, as was/is the shadow market.
The article shows that workers’ understanding of the transition from an informal to a formal sector is largely a result of their previous experiences and social position, mainly regarding migration status. This change will be thus much more assertive for workers who had their migrant status regularization and work formalization processes concomitantly, demonstrating that the most empowering shift is the one of acquiring papers, and not of entering declared work.
In the ‘age of transnationalization’, spatial mobility is highly valued as a resource and accordingly ‘sedentariness’ is often symbolically devalued. Migration between Poland and Germany (mainly from Poland to Germany) has a century-long tradition. Not only has it yielded the emergence of a dense transnational social space, but is also considered as a re-enactor of cultural traits and symbolic meanings. Spatial mobility is tied to notions of social mobility and to projects of life-making. Since legal restrictions for Polish migrants seeking to work and settle in Germany have vanished, the quest for ‘normalcy’ has enhanced and pressures towards even more migration have increased. I argue that symbolic meanings of mobility are decisive for hierarchies in transnational social spaces. I have put main emphasize on families’ practices of caring for and caring about each other: the first being more a physical or material activity, while the latter is a more symbolic and emotional one. The interviews reveal that people draw multiple differentiations between migrant populations in terms of their migration reasons as well as between the mobile and the immobile. Those differentiations are embedded in the distinct feature of the transnational social space between Poland and Germany with assumed differences in terms of ‘modernity’. At the end the symbolic meanings of mobility also help explain the puzzle of why the emigration rates from Poland are constantly high, although Poland is a comparatively wealthy country.
Often adopting a feminist perspective, the sociological literature on migrant domestic services (MDS) does not make explicit which feminist paradigm it speaks from. This article situates this literature within ongoing debates in feminist theory, in particular the tension between materialist and poststructuralist approaches. Then, it discusses the empirical relevance of each of those two paradigms on the example of the results of original research into the personalization of employment relationships in MDS.
The contribution proposes a new way of making sense of the diversity of feminist theories, distinguishing between modern and postmodern approaches. Indeed, since the 1980s, feminist theory in the US and Western Europe has undergone a ‘postmodern turn’, which renders previous typologies much less up-to-speed with recent developments in the field. Then, the article examines which paradigms are implicit in the sociological literature on MDS. Initially, personalization in MDS was mainly seen in materialist terms, as a way to maximize the quantity and quality of labour (including emotional labour) extracted from domestic workers. The emergence of postmodern approaches in feminist theory set off a progressive shift in MDS literature. First, this literature showed that personalization also fulfils identity functions for employers and
workers, then it widened its focus to include the affective dimensions of domestic labour (not to be confused with emotional labour). The final section shows how modern and postmodern feminist approaches can be combined within a single research, on the example of original research on personalization in MDS in Belgium and Poland. In particular, the contribution shows that the distinction between material functions of personalization on the one hand, and its emotional/identity functions on the other is not empirically operative. Indeed, migrant domestic workers generally use emotional/identity categories to frame material questions, and vice versa. This final part shows that, rather than representing incompatible approaches, modern and postmodern feminisms complete each other, in this case showing a fuller image of personalization processes in MDS.
Recent advances in basic cardiovascular research as well as their translation into the clinical situation were the focus at the last "New Frontiers in Cardiovascular Research meeting". Major topics included the characterization of new targets and procedures in cardioprotection, deciphering new players and inflammatory mechanisms in ischemic heart disease as well as uncovering microRNAs and other biomarkers as versatile and possibly causal factors in cardiovascular pathogenesis. Although a number of pathological situations such as ischemia-reperfusion injury or atherosclerosis can be simulated and manipulated in diverse animal models, also to challenge new drugs for intervention, patient studies are the ultimate litmus test to obtain unequivocal information about the validity of biomedical concepts and their application in the clinics. Thus, the open and bidirectional exchange between bench and bedside is crucial to advance the field of ischemic heart disease with a particular emphasis of understanding long-lasting approaches in cardioprotection.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We evaluated cerebral white and gray matter changes in patients with iRLS in order to shed light on the pathophysiology of this disease.
METHODS: Twelve patients with iRLS were compared to 12 age- and sex-matched controls using whole-head diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) techniques. Evaluation of the DTI scans included the voxelwise analysis of the fractional anisotropy (FA), radial diffusivity (RD), and axial diffusivity (AD).
RESULTS: Diffusion tensor imaging revealed areas of altered FA in subcortical white matter bilaterally, mainly in temporal regions as well as in the right internal capsule, the pons, and the right cerebellum. These changes overlapped with changes in RD. Voxel-based morphometry did not reveal any gray matter alterations.
CONCLUSIONS: We showed altered diffusion properties in several white matter regions in patients with iRLS. White matter changes could mainly be attributed to changes in RD, a parameter thought to reflect altered myelination. Areas with altered white matter microstructure included areas in the internal capsule which include the corticospinal tract to the lower limbs, thereby supporting studies that suggest changes in sensorimotor pathways associated with RLS.
Molecular cause and functional impact of altered synaptic lipid signaling due to a prg‐1 gene SNP
(2015)
Loss of plasticity-related gene 1 (PRG-1), which regulates synaptic phospholipid signaling, leads to hyperexcitability via increased glutamate release altering excitation/inhibition (E/I) balance in cortical networks. A recently reported SNP in prg-1 (R345T/mutPRG-1) affects ~5 million European and US citizens in a monoallelic variant. Our studies show that this mutation leads to a loss-of-PRG-1 function at the synapse due to its inability to control lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) levels via a cellular uptake mechanism which appears to depend on proper glycosylation altered by this SNP. PRG-1(+/-) mice, which are animal correlates of human PRG-1(+/mut) carriers, showed an altered cortical network function and stress-related behavioral changes indicating altered resilience against psychiatric disorders. These could be reversed by modulation of phospholipid signaling via pharmacological inhibition of the LPA-synthesizing molecule autotaxin. In line, EEG recordings in a human population-based cohort revealed an E/I balance shift in monoallelic mutPRG-1 carriers and an impaired sensory gating, which is regarded as an endophenotype of stress-related mental disorders. Intervention into bioactive lipid signaling is thus a promising strategy to interfere with glutamate-dependent symptoms in psychiatric diseases.
A handling study to assess use of the Respimat(®) Soft Mist™ inhaler in children under 5 years old
(2015)
Background: Respimat® Soft Mist™ Inhaler (SMI) is a hand-held device that generates an aerosol with a high, fine-particle fraction, enabling efficient lung deposition. The study objective was to assess inhalation success among children using Respimat SMI, and the requirement for assistance by the parent/caregiver and/or a valved holding chamber (VHC).
Methods: This open-label study enrolled patients aged <5 years with respiratory disease and history of coughing and/or recurrent wheezing. Patients inhaled from the Respimat SMI (air only; no aerosol) using a stepwise configuration: “1” (dose released by child); “2” (dose released by parent/caregiver), and “3” (Respimat SMI with VHC, facemask, and parent/caregiver help). Co-primary endpoints included the ability to perform successful inhalation as assessed by the investigators using a standardized handling questionnaire and evaluation of the reasons for success. Inhalation profile in the successful handling configuration was verified with a pneumotachograph. Patient satisfaction and preferences were investigated in a questionnaire.
Results: Of the children aged 4 to <5 years (n=27) and 3 to <4 years (n=30), 55.6% and 30.0%, respectively, achieved success without a VHC or help; with assistance, another 29.6% and 10.0%, respectively, achieved success, and the remaining children were successful with VHC. All children aged 2 to <3 years (n=20) achieved success with the Respimat SMI and VHC. Of those aged <2 years (n=22), 95.5% had successful handling of the Respimat SMI with VHC and parent/caregiver help. Inhalation flow profiles generally confirmed the outcome of the handling assessment by the investigators. Most parent/caregiver and/or child respondents were satisfied with operation, instructions for use, handling, and ease of holding the Respimat SMI with or without a VHC.
Conclusions: The Respimat SMI is suitable for children aged <5 years; however, children aged <5 years are advised to add a VHC to complement its use.
Polo-like kinase 1 inhibition sensitizes neuroblastoma cells for vinca alkaloid-induced apoptosis
(2015)
High polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) expression has been linked to poor outcome in neuroblastoma (NB), indicating that it represents a relevant therapeutic target in this malignancy. Here, we identify a synergistic induction of apoptosis by the PLK1 inhibitor BI 2536 and vinca alkaloids in NB cells. Synergistic drug interaction of BI 2536 together with vincristine (VCR), vinblastine (VBL) or vinorelbine (VNR) is confirmed by calculation of combination index (CI). Also, BI 2536 and VCR act in concert to reduce long-term clonogenic survival. Importantly, BI 2536 significantly enhances the antitumor activity of VCR in an in vivo model of NB. Mechanistically, BI 2536/VCR co-treatment triggers prolonged mitotic arrest, which is necessary for BI 2536/VCR-mediated apoptosis, since pharmacological inhibition of mitotic arrest by the CDK1 inhibitor RO-3306 significantly reduces cell death. Prolonged mitotic arrest leads to phosphorylation-mediated inactivation of BCL-2 and BCL-XL as well as downregulation of MCL-1, since inhibition of mitotic arrest by RO-3306 also prevents phosphorylation of BCL-2 and BCL-XL and MCL-1 downregulation. This inactivation of antiapoptotic BCL-2 proteins promotes activation of BAX and BAK, cleavage of caspase-9 and -3 and caspase-dependent apoptosis. Engagement of the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis is critically required for BI 2536/VCR-induced apoptosis, since ectopic expression of a non-degradable MCL-1 phospho-mutant, BCL-2 overexpression or BAK knockdown significantly reduce BI 2536/VCR-mediated apoptosis. Thus, PLK1 inhibitors may open new perspectives for chemosensitization of NB.