Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Article (15697)
- Part of Periodical (2724)
- Working Paper (2350)
- Doctoral Thesis (2054)
- Preprint (1963)
- Book (1736)
- Part of a Book (1071)
- Conference Proceeding (749)
- Report (471)
- Review (165)
Language
- English (29141) (remove)
Has Fulltext
- yes (29141) (remove)
Keywords
- taxonomy (738)
- new species (441)
- morphology (173)
- Deutschland (142)
- Syntax (125)
- Englisch (120)
- distribution (116)
- biodiversity (100)
- Deutsch (98)
- inflammation (97)
Institute
- Medizin (5324)
- Physik (3730)
- Wirtschaftswissenschaften (1907)
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) (1661)
- Biowissenschaften (1543)
- Center for Financial Studies (CFS) (1490)
- Informatik (1391)
- Biochemie und Chemie (1086)
- Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe (SAFE) (1063)
- House of Finance (HoF) (705)
The call of blood
(2010)
Efenze, the President of the Board of Directors of government companies and a member of the Central Committee of the Ruling Party, eliminates his erstwhile business contractor, Sancheu, with the complicity of the latter's wife. His aim is to inherit Sancheu's widow and wealth and to forge his way into the Political Bureau of the Party. The Call of Blood is a dramatization of evil in its multifaceted dimensions including treachery, infidelity, greed, hypocrisy, double-crossing and vaulting ambition in a postcolonial society where those who wield political and financial power thrive or perish by their involvement in obscure schemes. The play is enriched by a great sense of dramatic economy and poetic style evident in the preponderant use of local imagery.
Kinsmen of the President
(2016)
Being a journalist in Nigeria is very risky business especially when you decide to go against the grain and print the truth. Jerry comes to see just how risky his job is when he is whisked away to jail after publishing a particularly scathing article. While in custody we see the prison system through his eyes and he takes us back as he feeds us with anecdotes of his former life.
Insights into Uganda
(2016)
Insights into Uganda' is a selection of newspaper articles written by columnist Kevin O'Connor for the Sunday Monitor, drawn almost entirely from 2007 to 2015. Divided into 13 chapters ranging from sex to religion and from inequality to the environment, the 193 articles are always thoughtful, often provocative and sometimes humorous. The text is further enlivened by Moses Balagadde's cartoons. Kevin provides a multitude of insights into Ugandan society, which amply reflect both the title of his column, Roving Eye, and his catchphrase, 'For the observer of human behaviour every scene has its interest'.
This book explores the emergent character of social orders in Sudan and South Sudan. It provides vivid insights into multitudes of ordering practices and their complex negotiation. Recurring patterns of exclusion and ongoing struggles to reconfigure disadvantaged positions are investigated as are shifting borders, changing alliances and relationships with land and language. The book takes a careful and close look at institutional arrangements that shape everyday life in the Sudans, probing how social forms have persisted or changed. It proposes reading the post-colonial history of the Sudans as a continuous struggle to find institutional orders valid for all citizens. The separation of Sudan and South Sudan in 2011 has not solved this dilemma. Exclusionary and exploitative practices endure and inhibit the rule of law, distributive justice, political participation and functioning infrastructure. Analyses of historical records and recent ethnographic data assembled here show that orders do not result directly from intended courses of action, planning and orchestration but from contingently emerging patterns. The studies included look beyond dominant elites caught in violent fights for powers, cycles of civil war and fragile peace agreements to explore a broad range of social formations, some of which may have the potential to glue people and things together in peaceful co-existence, while others give way to new violence.
Pio Gama Pinto was born in Kenya on March 31, 1927. He was assassinated in Nairobi on February 24, 1965. In his short life, he became a symbol of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles in Kenya and India. He was actively involved in Goa's struggle against Portuguese colonialism and in Mau Mau during Kenya's war of independence. For this, he was detained by the British colonial authorities in Kenya from 1954-59. His contribution to the struggle for liberation for working people spanned two continents - Africa and Asia. And it covered two phases of imperialism - colonialism in Kenya and Goa and neo-colonialism in Kenya after independence. His enemies saw no way of stopping the intense, lifelong struggle waged by Pinto - except through an assassin's bullets. But his contribution, his ideas, and his ideals are remembered and upheld even today by people active in liberation struggles. This book does not aim or claim to be a comprehensive record on Pio Gama Pinto, just the beginning of the long journey necessary to record the history of Kenya from an anti-imperialist perspective. It introduces readers to voices of many people who have written about Pinto to build up as clear a picture of Pinto as possible. In that spirit, it seeks to make history available to those whose story it is - people of Kenya, Africa and progressive people around the world.
This is the fourth in a series of publications on Zambian languages and grammar. The intention of the series is to boost the meagre scholarship and availability of educational materials on Zambian languages, which became particularly urgent in 1996, following the decision of the Zambian government to revert to the policy of using local languages as media of instruction. Kaonde (or more correctly Kikaonde) is spoken in the part of the North-Western Province of Zambia to the east of the Kabompo River, in adjacent parts of Mumbwa and Kaoma Districts to the south, and in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the North.
This book is divided into eleven chapters. Chapters 1, 2 and 3 present analyses of the concepts of public health, sustainability and policy change. Chapters 4 and 5 describe the stakeholder analysis and national health accounts frameworks. These chapters determine the attributes, characteristics and other features of these concepts and frameworks. The aim is to improve general clarity and understanding of these concepts and frameworks that contribute to the Sustainability Impact Assessment framework and the case study methodological approach that exemplifies its role in sustainability assessment of policy change in immunization systems. Chapter 6 outlines the Sustainability Impact Assessment framework itself, setting out the steps involved in a typical SIA with examples of methodologies used in the case study. Chapter 7 describes the case study methodological approach including its rationale and components. Chapter 8 outlines the application context of the case study with emphasis on the country's immunization system. Chapters 9 and 10 describe the application scenarios of the methodological approach, detailing the stakeholder analysis and resource map assessment processes. The summary and conclusions of the book are provided in Chapter 11. This chapter reviews the contributions of the Sustainability Impact Assessment framework and case study methodological approach, providing additional discussion of relevant issues and some directions for future work.
African visionaries
(2019)
In over forty portraits, African writers present extraordinary people from their continent: portraits of the women and men whom they admire, people who have changed and enriched life in Africa. The portraits include inventor, founders of universities, resistance fighters, musicians, environmental activists or writers. African Visionaries is a multi-faceted book, seen through African eyes, on the most impactful people of Africa. Some of the writers contributing to the collection are: Helon Habila, Virginia Phiri, Ellen Banda-Aaku, Véronique Tadjo, Tendai Huchu, Solomon Tsehaye, Patrice Nganang and Sami Tchak.
Between 1992 and 1994 Malawi underwent a remarkable transition from dictatorship to democracy. Truly a transformation of power! Yet this period of profound change raised many issues of power and accountability. In this book some of the key questions are explained and addressed from a theological perspective. The work originated as a case study on the World Council of Churches 'Theology of Life' programme. It was then presented as a Kachere Monograph in the belief that it will not only contribute to the reconstruction of politic in Malawi but also be an important resource for all those concerned with the formation of a viable theology of power for today's world. It is now presented here again as a Luviri Reprint. The contributors are all drawn from the University of Malawi Department of Theology and Religious Studies. Kenneth Ross has written on 'The Transformation of Power in Malawi 1992-94: the Role of the Christian Churches' and 'A Practical Theology of Power for the New Malawi'; Felix Chingota on 'The Use of the Bible in Social Transformation'; Isabel Apawo Phiri on 'Marching, Suspended and Stoned: Christian Women in Malawi 1995'; James Tengatenga on 'Young People: Participation or Alienation? An Anglican Case'; J.C. Chankanza and Hilary Mijoga on 'Muslim Perspectives on Power'; Hilary Mijoga on 'Christian Experience in Malawi Prisons'; and Klaus Fiedler on 'Power at the Receiving End: the Jehova's Witnesses' Experience in One-Party Malawi' and 'Even in the Church the Exercise of Power is Accountable to God'
The green building evolution
(2019)
The Green Building Evolution illuminates global examples and makes use of case studies mainly from South Africa. This book is in five parts: Part I is a single introductory chapter centred on the evolution of the green building movement; Part II addresses the green building terrain; Part III presents selected case studies; Part IV focuses on chapters that address pushing the boundaries in the green building space; while Part V presents emerging trends and policy perspectives. Further details are contained in the main body of the book. It is our sincere hope that readers will experience the book as an informative and ground-breaking adventure. Written by 14 authors from different academic disciplines and areas of specialisation, the book comes as the sixth in a series that addresses global and national concerns on climate change, sustainable development and the green economy transition agenda. The book series is conceptualised and coordinated by the Exxaro Chair in Business and Climate Change, led by Prof. Godwell Nhamo and hosted by the Institute for Corporate Citizenship (ICC) at the University of South Africa (UNISA). The books are published by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) through the Africa Institute of South Africa.
Seeking Urban Transformation. Alternative Urban Futures in Zimbabwe tells the stories of ordinary peoples struggles to remake urban centres. It interrogates and highlights the principle conditions in which urban transformation takes place. The main catalysts of the transformation are social movements and planning institutions. Social movements pool resources and skills, acquire land, install infrastructure and build houses. Planning institutions change policies, regulations and traditions to embrace and support a new form of urban development driven by grassroots movements. Besides providing a comprehensive analysis of planning and housing in Zimbabwe, there is a specific focus on three urban centres of Harare, Chitungwiza and Epworth. In metropolitan Harare, the books examines new housing and infrastructure series to the predominantly urban poor population; vital roles played by the urban poor in urban development and the adoption by planning institutions of grassroots-centered, urban-planning approaches. The book draws from three case studies and in-depth interviews from diverse urban shapers i.e. representatives and members of social movements, urban planners, engineers, surveyors, policy makers, politicians, civil society workers and students to generate a varied selection of insights and experiences. Based on the Zimbabwean experience, the book illustrates how actions and power of ordinary people contributes to the transformation of African cities.
The inability to eradicate poverty among societies demands a synergistic approach. This calls for the development of multi-pronged pathways for transitioning towards sustainable development goals. Many of these have been developed and tested across the world. Some have proved to be effective in illuminating the underlying cause of the world's inability to eradicate poverty. This is being driven by the fact that sustainable development, as a global development concept, represents a multidimensional phenomenon that includes many different indicators of human development. This volume, which derives from the papers presented at the seventh Africa Unity for Renaissance Conference that was held at Freedom Park, Pretoria, South Africa, seeks to supplement existing pathways by highlighting Africa's approach to poverty alleviation, which can possibly be attained through enhanced nutrition, food security, energy and gender equity. Evidence presented reflects strengths, weaknesses and opportunities on how Africa can transition towards sustainable development goals. The information provided is useful to countries interested in assisting Africa to develop pathways for achieving sustainable development goals within the scope of Agenda 2063. The book is a good reference for policy makers, academics, government authorities and students interested in research and developmental studies.
The bee genus Brachymelecta Linsley, 1939 has until now been represented by a single specimen, which has puzzled melittologists since its original description as Melecta? mucida Cresson, 1879. Through detailed morphological comparison and images, we show that the holotype is no more than an unusual specimen of a widespread species, most recently known as Xeromelecta californica (Cresson, 1878). We demonstrate that the diagnostic generic features for Brachymelecta fall within the range of morphological variation observed within X. californica. Although the names Brachymelecta and Xeromelecta Linsley, 1939 were published simultaneously, the former was proposed as a genus whereas the latter was proposed as a subgenus of Melecta Latreille, 1802. Thus, the following synonymies are proposed: Xeromelecta syn. nov. under Brachymelecta (since precedence must be given to the name that originally had the higher taxonomic rank) and M.? mucida syn. nov. under B. californica. Additionally, we present updated taxon concepts for and an identification key to the six known species now in Brachymelecta — B. alayoi (Michener, 1988), B. californica, B. haitensis (Michener, 1948), B. interrupta (Cresson, 1872), B. larreae (Cockerell, 1900), and B. tibialis (Fabricius, 1793) — along with redescriptions and a diagnosis for the genus. The male of B. alayoi and females of B. haitensis and B. tibialis are described for the first time. Furthermore, a phylogeny based on combined molecular and morphological data is proposed for Brachymelecta, and the evolution of the genus is explored in a historical biogeographic context.
New species, revision, and phylogeny of Ronzotherium Aymard, 1854 (Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotidae)
(2021)
Ronzotherium is one of the earliest Rhinocerotidae in Europe, which first appeared just after the Eocene/Oligocene transition (Grande Coupure), and became extinct at the end of the Oligocene. It is a large-sized rhinocerotid, with a special position in the phylogeny of this group, as being one of the earliest-branching true Rhinocerotidae. However, its intra-generic systematics has never been tested through computational phylogenetic methods and it is basically unknown. Its taxonomical history has gone through numerous complications, and thus we aim to provide here a complete revision of this genus, through phylogenetic methods. After a re-examination of all type specimens (five supposed species) as well as of most well-preserved specimens from all over Europe and ranging through the complete Oligocene epoch, we performed a parsimony analysis to test the position of some problematic specimens. According to our results, five species can be distinguished, Ronzotherium velaunum (type species), R. filholi, R. elongatum and R. romani as well as a new species: R. heissigi sp. nov. We also drastically re-interpret its anatomy and show that the ‘short-limbed’ “Diaceratherium” massiliae, described from Southern France, can be considered as a junior synonym of R. romani. Finally, we exclude the Asian species “Ronzotherium” orientale and “Ronzotherium” brevirostre from Ronzotherium and we consider R. kochi as a junior synonym of R. filholi.
Revision of the spider genus Stygopholcus (Araneae, Pholcidae), endemic to the Balkan Peninsula
(2021)
The genus Stygopholcus Kratochvíl, 1932 is endemic to the Balkan Peninsula and includes only four nominal species: the epigean S. photophilus Senglet, 1971 in the south (Greece to Albania) and the ‘northern clade’ consisting of three troglophile species ranging from Croatia to Albania: S. absoloni (Kulczyński, 1914); S. skotophilus Kratochvíl, 1940; and S. montenegrinus Kratochvíl, 1940 (original rank re-established). We present redescriptions of all species, including extensive data on ultrastructure, linear morphometrics of large samples, and numerous new localities. We georeference previously published localities as far as possible, correct several published misidentifications, and clarify nomenclatorial problems regarding the authority of Stygopholcus and the identity of the type species S. absoloni. We suggest that the ‘northern clade’ has a relict distribution, resulting from past and present geologic and climatic factors. Future work on Stygopholcus should focus on the southern Dinarides, combining dense sampling with massive use of molecular data.
The genus Levizonus Attems, 1898 is rediagnosed and shown to contain eight species from Russia (Far East), North Korea, Japan and North-East China. One species is described here as new to science: Levizonus nakhodka sp. nov. A new formal synonym is proposed: Levizonus circularis Takakuwa, 1942 = Levizonus variabilis Lokschina & Golovatch, 1977 syn. nov., the valid name being the former. Levizonus circularis Takakuwa, 1942 is recorded for the fauna of China for the first time. All currently known species of Levizonus are included in a key, mapped and discussed.
This paper deals with the brachypterous Meconematini, including three new genera, Acosmetides gen. nov., Neocyrtopsides gen. nov. and Macrocosmetura gen. nov. Five new species are described: Acosmetides peltates gen. et sp. nov., Acosmetides dilobosa gen. et sp. nov., Acosmetides platycerca gen. et sp. nov., Neocyrtopsides bispina gen. et sp. nov. and Macrocosmetura truncata gen. et sp. nov. Two new combinations are proposed: Acosmetides trigentis (Wang, Bian & Shi, 2016) gen. et comb. nov. and Neocyrtopsides platycata (Shi & Zheng, 1994) gen. et comb. nov.
Remipedia is a stygobitic group commonly associated with coastal anchialine caves. This class consists of 12 genera, ten of which are found within the Lucayan Archipelago. Herein, we describe a new species within the genus Godzillius from Conch Sound Blue Hole, North Andros Island, Bahamas. Godzillius louriei sp. nov. is the third known remipede observed from a subseafloor marine cave, and the first from the Godzilliidae. Remipedes dwell within notoriously difficult to access cave habitats and thus integrative and comprehensive systematic studies at family or genus level are often absent in the literature. In this study, all species of Godzillius are compared using morphological and molecular approaches. Specifically, the feeding appendages of G. louriei sp. nov., G. fuchsi Gonzalez, Singpiel & Schlagner, 2013 and G. robustus Schram, Yager & Emerson, 1986 were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Species of Godzillius are identified based on the spines of maxilla 1 segment 4 and by the denticles on the lacinia mobilis of the left mandible. A molecular phylogeny using the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and nuclear histone 3 genes recovered G. louriei sp. nov. within the Godzillius clade and 16S genetic distances revealed a 13–15% difference between species of Godzillius.
In German, the subject usually precedes the object (SO order), but, under certain discourse conditions, the object is allowed to precede the subject (OS order). This paper focuses on main clauses in which either the subject or a discourse-given object occurs in clause-initial position. Two acceptability experiments show that OS sentences with a given object are generally acceptable, but the precise degree of acceptability varies both with the object‘s referential form (demonstrative objects leading to higher acceptability than other types of objects) and with formal properties of the subject (pronominal subjects leading to higher acceptability than non-pronominal subjects). For SO sentences, acceptability was reduced when the object was a d-pronoun, which contrasts with the high acceptability of OS sentences with a d-pronoun object. This finding was explored in a third acceptability experiment comparing d-pronouns in subject and object function. This experiment provides evidence that a reduction in acceptability due to a prescriptive bias against d-pronouns is suspended when the d-pronoun occurs as object in the prefield. We discuss the experimental results with respect to theories of German clause structure that claim that OS sentences with different information-structural properties are derived by different types of movement.
Frankfurt as a global international city is home to transcultural people with diverse linguistic biographies and migration backgrounds. As teachers exert significant influence on the language practice of their students and their awareness of self and others, it is crucial to examine the language ideologies and attitudes on multilingualism of teachers who work in different schools in Frankfurt. The online questionnaire was selected as the data collection
method for the combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis where teachers were asked to select their opinion on statements that were designed to represent concurring viewpoints of separate bilingualism and flexible bilingualism. The study builds on existing evidence that multiple factors dynamically shape teachers' attitudes towards multilingualism.
School-level support and cooperation between educational institutions seems to be necessary to establish horizontal continuity and help students benefit from language-sensitive didactic methods, such as translanguaging.
Taxa under scrutiny in this thesis are Halophytophthora-like oomycetes. The genus Halophytophthora, proposed in 1990, is an assemblage of unrelated species grouped together on the basis habitat preference, i.e. the mangrove or saltmarsh biome, and morphological similarity to Phytophthora. The premise “Phytophthora-like species from the mangrove environment” became the genus concept for Halophytophthora and lasted for almost 2 decades which resulted to the addition of several species (i.e. H. elongata, H. exoprolifera, H. porrigovesica, H. kandeliae, H. masteri, and H. tartarea). At the onset of molecular phylogenetics, Halophytophthora was inferred as a highly polyphyletic taxon and the genus concept was found to be unsuitable. This thesis adds to this, since six Phytophthora spp. were isolated from the mangrove environment, two of which were found in the Philippines (Phytophthora elongata and Phytophthora insolita). After a thorough assessment of the morphologic and phylogenetic data of taxa included in this thesis, several taxonomic novelties were introduced – a new family (Salispinaceae), a new genus (Calycofera), new species (Calycofera cryptica, Phytopythium dogmae, Phytopythium leanoi, Salisapilia coffeyi, and Salispina hoi), and new combinations (Calycofera operculata, Salisapilia bahamensis, S. elongata, S. epistomia, S. masteri, S. mycoparasitica). In addition, Salisapiliaceae and Salisapilia were emended.
One new genus, Zagrotes gen. nov., and 19 new species of ground spiders (Gnaphosidae) are described from Iran: Berinda bifurcata sp. nov. (♂, Bushehr, Khuzestan; southwestern and southern Iran), Berinda hoerwegi sp. nov. (♂♀, Fars, Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdistan; western and southcentral Iran), Berlandina artaxerxes sp. nov. (♂ Yazd; central Iran), Cryptodrassus iranicus sp. nov. (♂, Kermanshah; western Iran), Drassodes persianus sp. nov. (♀, Kermanshah, Sistan & Baluchistan; western and southeastern Iran), Echemus caspicus sp. nov. (♀, Golestan; northern Iran), Gnaphosa qamsarica sp. nov. (♀, Isfahan; central Iran), Haplodrassus medes sp. nov. (♂, Fars; southcentral Iran), Haplodrassus qashqai sp. nov. (♂♀, Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Lorestan; southwestern to southern Iran), Marinarozelotes achaemenes sp. nov. (♀, Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad; southwestern Iran), Marjanus isfahanicus sp. nov. (♀, Isfahan; central Iran), Nomisia ameretatae sp. nov. (♂, Tehran; northern Iran), Prodidomus inexpectatus sp. nov. (♂, Hormozgan; southern Iran), Scotophaeus anahita sp. nov. (♀, Isfahan; central Iran), Scotophaeus elburzensis sp. nov. (♀, Tehran, Zanjan; northwestern and northern Iran), Sosticus montanus sp. nov. (♀, Ilam; western Iran), Synaphosus martinezi sp. nov. (♂♀, Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad; southwestern Iran), Zagrotes apophysalis sp. nov. (♂♀, Hormozgan, Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad; southwestern to southern Iran) and Zelotes hyrcanus sp. nov. (♀, Mazandaran; northern Iran). These are the first records of the genera Berinda Roewer, 1928, Echemus Simon, 1878 and Marjanus Chatzaki, 2018 in Iran. Additionally, the previously unknown female of Callipelis deserticola Zamani & Marusik, 2017 is described and illustrated, and Berlandina mesopotamica Al-Khazali, 2020 is recorded in Iran for the first time. Furthermore, Berinda idae Lissner, 2016 syn. nov. (Greece, Cyprus) is synonymized with Berinda infumatus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) comb. nov. (ex. Heser Tuneva, 2004; Greece, Tanzania, Egypt, Israel, introduced to Japan).
A morphological and molecular review of the genus Goniurosaurus, including an identification key
(2021)
The genus Goniurosaurus (tiger geckos) currently consists of 23 species distributed in China, Japan and Vietnam. Several species complexes and recent discoveries of cryptic species pose challenges to the species identification, which is crucial to effectively implement the recent listing of the species from China and Vietnam in CITES Appendix II and the species from Japan in CITES Appendix III. Based on the results of our field work in northern Vietnam and data compiled from literature, we herein provide a taxonomic review of the genus Goniurosaurus. Our phylogenetic analyses showed that all recorded populations of tiger geckos from Vietnam, which were found to be monophyletic with low intra-specific genetic divergences, are assigned to one of the four species: G. catbaensis, G. huuliensis, G. lichtenfelderi or G. luii. Both genetic and morphological analyses confirm that the species from China and Vietnam can be split into three major groups. Based on the newly collected data, we provide an extended morphological description of the Vietnamese species. In addition, we provide an identification key for all Goniurosaurus species from China, Japan and Vietnam in order to assist authorities in the enforcement of the recent CITES listing.
The red alga Dasya sylviae C.W.Schneid., M.M.Cassidy & G.W.Saunders sp. nov. is described from mesophotic depths of 60–90 m off Bermuda. Genetic sequences (COI-5P, rbcL) and morphological characteristics show that this species is distinct from other known pseudodichotomous species of Dasya. Of ten current species in the genus reported from Bermuda, only three, D. collinsiana M.Howe, D. cryptica C.W.Schneid., Quach & C.E.Lane and D. punicea (Zanardini) Menegh., share the overall pattern of pseudodichotomous branching in their axes; however, key morphological features easily distinguish them from D. sylviae sp. nov. The species most similar in habit to D. sylviae sp. nov. is D. crouaniana J.Agardh (type locality West Indies), but it bears shorter pseudolateral branches, and broader and longer tetrasporangial stichidia than the new species. Unique among the species of Dasya, D. sylviae sp. nov. lacks post-sporangial cover cells in tetrasporangial stichidia.
Background: Many refugees have experienced multiple traumatic events in their country of origin and/or during flight. Trauma-related disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or complex PTSD (CPTSD) are prevalent in this population, which highlights the need for accessible and effective treatment. Imagery Rescripting (ImRs), an imagery-based treat- ment that does not use formal exposure and that has received growing interest as an innovative treatment for PTSD, appears to be a promising approach.
Objective: This randomized-controlled trial aims to investigate the efficacy of ImRs for refugees compared to Usual Care and Treatment Advice (UC+TA) on (C)PTSD remission and reduction in other related symptoms.
Method: Subjects are 90 refugees to Germany with a diagnosis of PTSD according to DSM-5. They will be randomly allocated to receive either UC+TA (n = 45) or 10 sessions of ImRs (n = 45). Assessments will be conducted at baseline, post-intervention, three-month follow- up, and 12-month follow-up. Primary outcome is the (C)PTSD remission rate. Secondary outcomes are severity of PTSD and CPTSD symptoms, psychiatric symptoms, dissociative symptoms, quality of sleep, and treatment satisfaction. Economic analyses will investigate health-related quality of life and costs. Additional measures will assess migration and stress- related factors, predictors of dropout, therapeutic alliance and session-by-session changes in trauma-related symptoms.
Results and Conclusions: Emerging evidence suggests the suitability of ImRs in the treat- ment of refugees with PTSD. After positive evaluation, this short and culturally adaptable treatment can contribute to close the treatment gap for refugees in high-income countries such as Germany.
Trial registration: German Clinical Trials Register under trial number DRKS00019876, regis- tered prospectively on 28 April 2020.
Background: Researchers who wish to study stress-related disorders need to use valid, reliable, and sensitive instruments and the Clinician-administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) con- stitutes the gold standard in the assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While the CAPS corresponds with PTSD criteria according to the DSM-5, researchers face a challenge with the forthcoming ICD-11: ICD-11 introduces the new diagnosis Complex PTSD (CPTSD) that does not exist in DSM-5.
Objective: Researchers as well as clinicians will need to assess the incidence and prevalence of CPTSD and will want to evaluate treatment effects according to both criteria sets. However, using two clinician-rated interviews is often not feasible and a burden to patients, particularly in psychotherapy research.
Method & Results: We have therefore developed the Complex PTSD Item Set additional to the CAPS (COPISAC). This clinician rating is an easy-to-use and economic addition to the CAPS that permits assessing diagnosis and evaluating symptom severity of CPTSD. COPISAC consists of three items that assess disturbances in self-regulation including prompts for symptom description and frequency, and two additional items assessing impairment. Diagnostic status and severity ratings for CPTSD are possible. Items that account for the specific forms of trauma which the ICD-11 describes as precursors of CPTSD (e.g. torture, being enslaved) are further suggested as additions to the Life Events Checklist. Conclusion: With an introduction of COPISAC at this point, we aim at suggesting an easy transition into diagnosing CPTSD and evaluating its course over treatment.
To what extent does cultural distance interfere with or limit literary experience? What kind of intimacy is needed to make a text into a work? This essay seeks to answer these questions by focusing on the writings of Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. In doing so, it suggests that the challenges of cultural distance may be most acute when dealing with texts from homo-linguistic literary environments, and that we might overcome these challenges by undertaking a world literary criticism that attends to localized fields and materials without forgetting the charge of particular works.
This paper reads 'The Detainee's Tale as told to Ali Smith' (2016) as an exemplary demonstration of the work of world literature. Smith's story articulates an ethics of reading that is grounded in the recipient's openness to the singular, unpredictable, and unverifiable text of the other. More specifically, Smith's account enables the very event that it painstakingly stages: the encounter with alterity and newness, which is both the theme of the narrative and the effect of the text on the reader. At the same time, however, the text urges to move from an ethics of literature understood as the responsible reception of the other by an individual reader to a more explicitly convivial and political ethics of commitment beyond the scene of reading.
This essay examines extractivism as both a project and a process that is bolstering new forms of imperialism on a world scale. It argues that extractivism is as much grounded in material accumulation as it is in cultural extraction to create new forms of value. The writings of indigenous writers such as Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar offer an important key to understanding the work of the literary in making visible and resistant that which extractivism seeks to exploit for profit.
Opponents of World Literature fear that its advent marks the end of the 'work of literature'. J. M. Coetzee's "The Childhood of Jesus" (2013) presents a world in which the work of literature has indeed been forgotten. Migrants arrive in a new life 'washed clean' of the burden of the European tradition. Simón, who dimly recalls the old life, feels that something is missing in the new. He longs for something altogether 'other'. Might Simón learn from the exceptional child David to perceive the 'likeness' in this world? Are we to read Coetzee's novel like Simón or like David - and with what consequence for our understanding of the work of literature in a time of World Literature?
What if one thinks not in terms of shared meanings or contents, but rather in terms of iterable gestures available for reenactment in different times and places in order to conceive of a cross-cultural world of literature? This essay sets out to explore, within the discursive mode of the lyric, whether the notion of gesture could be more helpful than meaning-based translation to account for the transferability of literary texts and for envisioning a form of community based on the shareability of certain gestures. To do so, it will look at how the act-event of reading described by Derek Attridge is processed in two cases in which poems are transferred from an earlier authoritative tradition into a new one.
This essay identifies in the materialist strand of world literature theory, especially Pascale Casanova and the Warwick Research Collective, a reliance upon a priori structures (the worldsystem) and prioritisation of the literary registration of inequality. By contrast, I contend, world-literary critics who wish to maintain the dissident spirit of postcolonialism ought to demonstrate a shared equality. By reference to the philosophies of Bruno Latour, Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Rancière, this essay sets out the case for an alternative to world-systems critique: one that maintains literature's potential for creating new forms of resistance, dissent, and, crucially, equality.
What are called 'natural languages' are artificial, often politically instituted and regulated, phenomena; a more accurate picture of speech practices around the globe is of a multidimensional continuum. This essay asks what the implications of this understanding of language are for translation, and focuses on the variety of Afrikaans known as Kaaps, which has traditionally been treated as a dialect rather than a language in its own right. An analysis of a poem in Kaaps by Nathan Trantraal reveals the challenges such a use of language constitutes for translation. A revised understanding of translation is proposed, relying less on the notion of transfer of meaning from one language to another and more on an active engagement with the experience of the reader.
The contentious discourse around world literature tends to stress the 'world' in the phrase. This volume, in contrast, asks what it means to approach world literature by inflecting the question of the literary. Debates for, against, and around 'world literature' have brought renewed attention to the worldly aspects of the literary enterprise. Literature is studied with regard to its sociopolitical and cultural references, contexts and conditions of production, circulation, distribution, and translation. But what becomes of the literary when one speaks of world literature? Responding to Derek Attridge's theory of how literature 'works', the contributions in this volume explore in diverse ways and with attention to a variety of literary practices what it might mean to speak of 'the work of world literature'. The volume shows how attention to literariness complicates the ethical and political conundrums at the centre of debates about world literature.
Right-wing populist parties often resort to a xenophobic rhetoric which both exploits and fuels existing illiberal anti-immigrant sentiments. Since populist anti-immigrant sentiments are at odds with fundamental liberal values and challenge the implementation of any liberal ethics of migration, this essay argues that states should adopt civic education policies to counter such sentiments and persuade citizens to develop liberal attitudes towards immigrants. Empirical evidence suggests that sentiments may be malleable, and there are already examples of local governments devising or supporting initiatives aimed at dispelling prejudices and promoting positive interactions. It might be objected that a government’s involvement in shaping sentiments and opinions conflicts with liberal democratic states’ commitment to individual autonomy and electoral fairness. However, I argue that civic education policies are not necessarily incompatible with such values and I provide five criteria to identify policies that liberal democratic governments may legitimately adopt to counteract anti-immigrant sentiments.
The concept of solidarity has been receiving growing attention from scholars in a wide range of disciplines. While this trend coincides with widespread unsuccessful attempts to achieve solidarity in the real world, the failure of solidarity as such remains a relatively unexplored topic. In the case of the so-called European Union (EU) refugee crisis, the fact that EU member states failed to fulfil their commitment to solidarity is now regarded as established wisdom. But as we try to come to terms with failing solidarity in the EU we are faced with a number of important questions: are all instances of failing solidarity equally morally reprehensible? Are some motivations for resorting to unsolidaristic measures more valid than others? What claims have an effective countervailing force against the commitment to act in solidarity?
Populists in the EU often call for restrictions on EU immigrants’ access to welfare rights. These calls are often demagogic and parochial. This paper aims to show what exactly is both distinct and problematic with these populist calls from a normative point of view while not necessarily reducible to demagogy and parochialism. The overall aim of the paper is not to argue that all populists call for such restrictions nor to claim that all calls for such restrictions are populist. The purpose of the paper is rather humble. It only aims to show that populist calls for restrictions on EU immigrants’ access to welfare rights are characterised by two normatively problematic arguments that target two different subsets of the citizenry: what I dub for the purpose of this paper the moralists and the immoralists. It is the way populists address these two subsets of the citizenry, as well as the fact that they could simultaneously appeal to the concerns of both groups, that makes populist approaches to welfare rights both conceptually distinct to other approaches as well as potentially politically appealing to a more diverse population of voters.
This paper critically engages the legal and political framework for responding to democracy and rule of law backsliding in the EU. I develop a new and original critique of Article 7 TEU based on it being democratically illegitimate and normatively incoherent qua itself in conflict with EU fundamental values. Other more incremental and scaleable responses are desirable, and the paper moves on to assess the legitimacy of economic sanctions such as tying access to EU funds to performance on democratic and rule of law indicators or imposing fines on backsliding states. I hold such sanctions to be a priori legitimate, and argue that in some cases economic sanctions are even normatively required, given that EU material support of backsliding member states can amount to material complicity in their backsliding. However, an economic conditionality mechanism would need to be designed to minimize unjust and counterproductive effects. One way to pursue this could be to complement sanctions against the backsliding government with investment for prodemocratic actors in that state.
Recent developments in Hungary and Poland have made democratic backsliding a major issue of concern within the European Union (EU). This article focuses on the secondary agents that facilitate democratic backsliding in Hungary and Poland: the European People’s Party (EPP), which has continually protected the Hungarian Fidesz government from EU sanctions, and the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz, which repeatedly promised to block any EU-level sanctions against Poland in the Council. The article analyses these agents’ behaviour as an instance of transnational complicity and passes a tentative judgment as to which of the two cases is normatively more problematic. The analysis has implications for possible countervailing responses to democratic backsliding within EU member states.
This article argues that populism, cosmopolitanism, and calls for global justice should be understood not as theoretical positions but as appeals to different segments of democratic electorates with the aim of assembling winning political coalitions. This view is called democratic realism: it considers political competition in democracies from a perspective that is realist in the sense that it focuses not first on the content of competing political claims but on the relationships among different components of the coalitions they work to mobilise in the pursuit of power. It is argued that Laclau’s populist theory offers a sort of realist critique of other populists, but that his view neglects the crucial dynamics of political coalition-building. When the relation of populism to global justice is rethought from this democratic realist angle, one can better understand the sorts of challenges each faces, and also where and how they come into conflict.
This article sheds light upon the role of the audience in the construction and amendment of populist representative claims that in themselves strengthen representative-represented relationships and simultaneously strengthen ties between the represented who belong to different constituencies. I argue that changes in populist representative claims can be explained by studying the discursive relationship between a populist representative and the audience as a conversation in which both poles give and receive something. From this perspective, populist representative claims, I also argue, can be understood as acts of bonding with the intended effect of constituting ‘the people,’ and inputs from the audience can be seen as conversational exercitives. Populist appeals therefore may change when the audience enacts new permissibility facts and signals to populist representatives that there is another way to strengthen relationships between several individuals belonging to otherwise-different constituencies.
A link between populism and social media is often suspected. This paper spells out a set of possible mechanisms underpinning this link: that social media changes the communication structure of the public sphere, making it harder for citizens to obtain evidence that refutes populist assumptions. By developing a model of the public sphere, four core functions of the public sphere are identified: exposing citizens to diverse information, promoting equality of deliberative opportunity, creating deliberative transparency, and producing common knowledge. A wellworking public sphere allows citizens to learn that there are genuine disagreements among citizens that are held in good faith. Social media makes it harder to gain this insight, opening the door for populist ideology.
Current work on populism stresses its relationship to nationalism. However, populists increasingly make claims to represent ‘the people’ across beyond national borders. This advent of ‘transnational populism’ has implications for work on cosmopolitan democracy and global justice. In this paper, we advance and substantiate three claims. First, we stress populism’s performative and claimmaking nature. Second, we argue that transnational populism is both theoretically possible and empirically evident in the contemporary global political landscape. Finally, we link these points to debates on democracy beyond the state. We argue that, due to the a) performative nature of populism, b) complex interdependencies of peoples, and c) need for populists to gain and maintain support, individuals in one state will potentially have their preferences, interests, and wants altered by transnational populists’ representative claims. We unpack what is normatively problematic in terms of democratic legitimacy about this and discuss institutional and non-institutional remedies.
As academic literatures and political demands, global justice and populism look like competing ways of diagnosing and addressing neoliberal inequality. But both misunderstand neoliberalism and consequently risk reinforcing rather than undermining it. Neoliberalism does not just break down political and social hierarchies, but also relies on and sustains them. Unless populists recognize this, they will find that assertions of sovereignty do more to reinforce neoliberalism and reproduce its hierarchies than to resist them. Recognizing neoliberalism as not simply corrosive of solidarity but also producing its own affective ties suggests that global justice advocates need to develop a critique of individual attitudes that egalitarian liberals have often seen as private and been hesitant to judge. In short, if either populism or global justice hope to take advantage of neoliberalism’s failures to advance an egalitarian politics, they need to reckon more carefully with their own entanglement with neoliberalism’s hopes and hierarchies.
This article examines whether autonomy as an educational aim should be defended at the global scale. It begins by identifying the normative issues at stake in global autonomy education by distinguishing them from the problems of autonomy education in multicultural nation-states. The article then explains why a planet-wide expansion of the ideal of autonomy is conceivable on the condition that the concept of autonomy is widened in a way that renders its precise meaning flexibly adjustable to a variety of distinct social and cultural contexts. A context-transcendent, core meaning of autonomy remains in place, however, according to which a person is only autonomous if she relates to the values and goals that direct her life in a way so that she sees them as her own and is able to identify and critically assess her principal reasons for action. Finally, the article addresses two challenges to the global expansion of autonomy education: the objection that autonomy is presently not the most important educational aim and the objection that global autonomy education is a form of cultural imperialism. It finds both objections wanting.
Introduction
(2020)
As a result of globalization, the number of people living outside of their countries of origin is on the rise. Among them are children of primary and secondary school age of varying socio-economic backgrounds. This article addresses the education-related challenges that children in such circumstances face. I first identify two principles – an educational adequacy principle and a presumption of responsibility on the part of a host country for meeting children’s educational
needs – which are widely employed to guide national policy decisions on educational content and the distribution of educational resources. I then discuss a number of problems that students living abroad face which, I argue, policies devised on the basis of these principles either systematically overlook or, in some cases, exacerbate. Finally, I offer two alternative principles – a cosmopolitan revision of the first and a replacement for the second with a focus on collective responsibility – designed to promote education policies better suited to a globalized world which might help to alleviate the barriers to success commonly encountered by children learning abroad.
This paper examines and rejects two normative justifications for low-fee private schools (LFPS), whose expansion throughout the Global South in recent years has been significant. The first justification – what I shall call the ideal thesis – contends that LFPS are the best mechanism to expand access to quality education, particularly at the primary level, and that the premise of their success is that they reject educational equality and state intervention in educational affairs, traditionally associated with public schools, embracing instead educational adequacy and unregulated markets for education. Against this thesis, the paper argues that an ideal educational arrangement must not do away with educational equality and some degree of state interference. The other justification for LFPS – the secondbest thesis – contends that although LFPS do not represent the ideal state of affairs, they nonetheless bring us a step closer to the ideal of universal primary education; they are a ‘realistic’ approximation to that goal. Against the second-best thesis, the paper argues that this justification commits the approximation fallacy: by deviating from the ideal educational arrangement LFPS may obstruct rather than facilitate its achievement.
This contribution develops a defence of a universalist conception of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) against three prominent critiques, which are, among others, put forward by postcolonial scholars. The first critique argues that GCE is essentially a project of globally minded elites and therefore expressive both of global educational injustices and of the values and lifestyles of a particular class or milieu. The second critique assumes that GCE is based on genuinely ‘Western values’ (e.g., in the form of a conception of human rights or conceptions of rationality or the self), which are neither universally accepted nor universally valid and therefore unjustly forced on members of non-Western cultures and societies. GCE, according to this critique, is assumed to be another version of the educational justification of a hegemonic and unjust global Western regime. The third critique focuses on the epistemological preconditions of GCE. It assumes that GCE relies on a particular, culturally embedded ‘Western epistemology,’ which perpetuates historically grown global educational and epistemic injustices by dominating and subjugating alternative epistemological approaches. With respect to the first critique I argue that it is to a certain extent sociologically plausible, but wrong when it is applied to the educational and political legitimacy of GCE. The second critique overestimates the consensus within the ‘Western tradition’ and underestimates the transnational dissemination of universalist ideals and values as well as its own reliance on universalist validity claims. I argue that in order to provide a plausible criticism of historically grown global educational and political injustices, it is imperative for GCE to integrate central insights provided by the postcolonial critique, without giving up on universalist ideals and values. The third critique is, according to my argumentation, based on flawed epistemological assumptions, which do not withstand critical scrutiny. Instead of identifying epistemic and scientific claims as the expressions of a particular ‘culture’ or geographical location (the ‘West’), I defend the position that philosophical and scientific research should ideally be conceived as a democratic and universalist project, whose emancipatory potential can only be realized on the basis of a universalist epistemology.
This paper explores how University as social entity has great potential to confront epistemic injustices by expanding epistemic capabilities. To do this, we primarily follow the contributions of scholars such as Miranda Fricker and José Medina. The epistemic capabilities and epistemic injustice nexus will be explored via two empirical cases: the first one is an experience developed in Lagos (Nigeria) using participatory video; the second is a service learning pedagogical strategy for final year undergraduate students conducted at Universidad de Ibagué (in Colombia). The Lagos experience shows how participatory action-research methodologies could promote epistemic capabilities and functioning, making it possible for the participants to generate interpretive materials to speak of their own realities. However, this experience is too limited to address testimonial and hermeneutical injustice. The Colombian experience is a remarkable experience that is building epistemic capabilities among students and other local participants. However, there is a hermeneutical and structural injustice that tends to give more value to disciplinary and codified knowledge at the expense of experiential and tacit knowledge.
Investigation of co-translational protein folding using cryo-EM and solid-state NMR enhanced by DNP
(2020)
Die zelluläre Proteinbiosynthese findet am Peptidyltransferase-Zentrum innerhalb der großen ribosomalen Untereinheit statt. Die neu synthetisierte Polypeptidkette passiert den ribosomalen Exit-Tunnel, der 80-100 Å lang und 10-20 Å breit ist. Proteinfaltung findet kotranslational statt, während die Peptidkette durch den ribosomalen Tunnel geschleust wird. Zu welchem Ausmaß die Proteine ihre native Struktur noch am Ribosom gebunden annehmen, steht im Fokus aktueller Studien. Verschiedene Methoden, die naszierende Proteinkette am Ribosom zu arretieren und die Faltung des Proteins untersuchen zu können, wurden entwickelt. Zur Herstellung von Ribosom naszierenden Proteinkomplexen (RNCs) in vivo werden Arrestierungspeptide (APs) verwendet. Ein oft genutztes AP ist die 17 Aminosäuren lange SecM Sequenz des E. coli Sekretionsmonitors, das C-Terminal an das zu untersuchende Protein kloniert werden kann und dadurch die Peptidkette am Ribosom behält. RNCs wurden mittels verschiedener Methoden untersucht, einschließlich Proteolyse-Experimenten, enzymatischen Aktivitätsmessungen, FRET, Cryo-EM und NMR-Spektroskopie. Alle Methoden zeigten auf, dass sich die Proteine kotranslational falten und auch am Ribosom eine funktionale Struktur annehmen können. Außerdem konnte eine Peptidkette eine α-Helix innerhalb des Ribosoms ausbilden. Ebenso wurden nicht-native kompakte Strukturen innerhalb der Vestibule detektiert.
Die Translation ist ein nicht-uniformer Prozess und der genetische Code degeneriert mit bis zu sechs Codons, die eine einzelne Aminosäure kodieren. Die Verteilung dieser synonymen Codons ist nicht zufällig und sie werden mit verschiedenen Frequenzen innerhalb eines ORFs verwendet. Codons mit einer höheren tRNA Häufigkeit werden schneller eingebaut als Codons, die seltener verwendet werden. Diese seltenen Codons sind häufig zwischen Proteindomänen oder Sekundärstrukturelementen platziert und könnten daher zur Separierung von Faltungsevents dienen. Dass der Austausch von synonymen Codons nicht ohne Folgen ist, zeigten verschiedene Studien. Buhr et al. (2016) zeigte, dass der synonyme Austausch die Translationsgeschwindigkeit, aber auch die Proteinkonformation des bovinen Augenlinsenproteins γB crystallin (GBC) beeinflusst. Während die unmodifizierte Gensequenz aus B. taurus in E. coli langsamer translatiert wurde und zu einem vollständig reduzierten GBC Protein (U) führte, wurde die harmonisierte Genvariante, die der Codon-Verwendung in E. coli angepasst war, schneller exprimiert und resultierte in einem teilweise oxidierten GBC Protein (H). Dieser Befund war der Ausgangspunkt für diese Doktorarbeit.
Die gemessenen Oxidationsunterschiede basieren auf der unterschiedlichen Translationsgeschwindigkeit der beiden Gensequenzen. Die N-terminale Domäne (NTD) des Zweidomänen-Proteins GBC enthält sechs der insgesamt sieben Cysteinreste. Nur in dieser Domäne wurde Oxidation detektiert und die drei Cysteine Cys18, Cys22 und Cys78 bilden eine Ansammlung mit einem Abstand von 5.4-6.4 Å. Um zu untersuchen, ob die Unterschiede bereits nach der Translation der NTD ausgebildet werden, wurde ein Ein-Domänen-Konstrukt hergestellt. Dieses Konstrukt beinhaltete die Aminosäuren 1-82, aber nicht den Peptidlinker, der beide Domänen verbindet. Allerdings wurden bei der Translation der ersten 70 Aminosäuren die meisten Translationspausen detektiert. Das 2D 1H-15N HSQC wies anhand der unterschiedlichen chemischen Verschiebung der Signale auf eine gefaltete Proteinstruktur hin. Daher konnte sich die NTD ohne Beteiligung der CTD eigenständig falten. Zugabe von DTT zu beiden Proteinvarianten U und H führte zu keinem messbaren Effekt. Im Gegensatz zu dem Volllängen-Protein, in dem die Variante H teilweise oxidiert war, war die NTD der Variante H vollständig reduziert.
Zusätzlich sollte geklärt werden, ob auch mögliche Disulfidbrücken im Inneren des Ribosoms ausgebildet werden können. Dann könnte in beiden Genvarianten eine anfängliche Disulfidbrücke ausgebildet werden und durch die unterschiedliche Translationsgeschwindigkeit die Disulfidbrücke in der langsamen Genvariante im E. coli Zytosol reduziert werden, während diese in der schneller translatierten Variante von der CTD geschützt wird. Um zu untersuchen, ob in der Tat Disulfidbrücken im ribosomalen Tunnel ausgebildet werden können, wurden GBC-Fragmente mittels der SecM Sequenz an das Ribosom arretiert und diese RNCs mittels theoretischer Simulation, Festkörper-NMR, Massenspektrometrie und Cryo-EM gemessen.
Theoretische Simulation mittels flexible-mecanno zeigten, dass der ribosomale Tunnel groß genug für die Ausbildung verschiedenster Disulfidbrücken ist. In einem U32SecM Konstrukt, das vier Cysteine und die SecM Sequenz beinhaltet, konnten alle theoretisch möglichen Disulfidbrücken gebildet werden.
...
This paper addresses the phenomenon of climate-induced displacement. I argue that there is scope for an account of asylum as compensation owed to those displaced by the impacts of climate change which needs only to appeal to minimal normative commitments about the requirements of global justice. I demonstrate the possibility of such an approach through an examination of the work of David Miller. Miller is taken as an exemplar of a broadly ‘international libertarian’ approach to global justice, and his work is a useful vehicle for this project because he has an established view about both responsibility for climate change and about the state’s right to exclude would-be immigrants. In the course of the argument, I set out the relevant aspects of Miller’s views, reconstruct an account of responsibility for the harms faced by climate migrants which is consistent with Miller’s views, and demonstrate why such an account yields an obligation to provide asylum as a form of compensation to ‘climate migrants.’
This paper discusses two possible difficulties with Catherine Lu’s powerful analysis of the moral response to our shared history of colonial evil; both of these difficulties stem from the rightful place of shame in that moral response. The first difficulty focuses on efficacy: existing states may be better motivated by shame at the past than by a shared duty to bring about a just future. The second focuses on equity: it is, at the very least, possible that shame over past misdeeds ought to be brought into the conversation about present duties, in a manner more robust than Lu’s analysis allows.
In Justice and Reconciliation in World Politics Catherine Lu endorses the idea that those who contribute to the reproduction of structural injustice have responsibilities to address that injustice (Lu, 2017). However, in the book, Lu does not explore the grounds and justification for recognising such a responsibility. In order to address this deficit, this paper proposes that those likely to contribute to the reproduction of structural injustice, in the future, have precautionary duties, in the present, that require them to take action aimed at preventing their future contribution. It is proposed that these ‘collectivization duties’ (Collins, 2013) require them to act responsively with a view to forming a collective that can end the structural injustice in question. This account recommends a collective-action solution alongside recognising that each socially connected agent is obliged to act. However, it does not entail that amorphous groups bear responsibilities and is appropriate in its attribution of blame, thus avoiding both Nussbaum’s (2011) critique of perpetually forward-looking accounts and the ‘agency objection’ (Wringe, 2010).
This article analyzes and criticizes the temporal orientation of Catherine Lu’s theory of colonial redress in Justice and Reconciliation in World Politics. Lu argues that colonial historic injustice can, with few exceptions, justify special reparative measures only if these past injustices still contribute to structural injustice in contemporary social relations. Focusing on Indigenous peoples, I argue that the structural injustice approach can and should incorporate further backward looking elements. First, I examine how Lu’s account has backward-looking elements not present in other structural injustice accounts. Second, I suggest how the structural injustice approach could include additional backward-looking features. I presuppose here, with Lu, that all agents connected to an unjust social structure have a forwardlooking political responsibility to reform this structure, regardless of their relation (or lack thereof) to victims or perpetrators of historic injustice. However, I suggest that agents with connections to historic injustice can occupy a social position that makes them differently situated than other agents within that same structure, leading to differences in how these agents should discharge their forward-looking responsibility and differentiated liability for failure to do so. Third, I argue that Lu obscures the importance of rectifying material dispossession. Reparations, pace Lu, can be justified beyond a minimum threshold of disadvantage. Theorists of settler colonialism and Indigenous scholars show how the dispossession of Indigenous land can be seen as a structure that has not yet ended. I conclude by arguing that rectification can be a precondition for genuine reconciliation.
Structural alienation: Lu's structural approach to reconciliation from within a relational framework
(2019)
In Justice and Reconciliation in World Politics Catherine Lu argues that structural reconciliation, rather than interactional reconciliation, ought to be the primary normative goal for political reconciliation efforts. I suggest that we might have good reason to want to retain relational approaches – such as that of Linda Radzik – as the primary focus of reconciliatory efforts, but that Lu’s approach is invaluable for identifying the parties who ought to bear responsibility for those efforts in cases of structural injustice. First, I outline Lu’s analysis of reconciliation, where she argues for the normative priority of structural approaches within the global political sphere, and propose that it will be useful to identify whether or not a relational account could instead identify underlying structural injustices. Second, I examine one particular relational account of reconciliation (based on Radzik’s account of atonement) and argue that this type of account brings to light underlying structural injustices of the kind Lu is concerned with. Finally, I identify an issue for relational accounts in identifying relevant responsible parties for reconciliation before returning to Lu’s structural account to address this gap.
Traditionally, in deciding whether some strategy or action in war is proportionate and necessary and thus permissible both international law and just war theory focus exclusively on civilian deaths and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. I argue in this paper that any argument that can explain why we should care about collateral killing and damage to infrastructure can also explain why collateral displacement matters. I argue that displacement is a foreseeable near-proximate cause of lethal harm to civilians and is relevant for proportionality and necessity calculi. Accepting my argument has significant consequences for what we are permitted to do in war and for what obligations we have towards refugees that result from our actions in war.
Moral refugee markets
(2018)
States are increasingly paying other states to host refugees. For example, in 2010 the EU paid Libya €50 million to continue hosting the refugees within its borders, and five years later Australia offered Cambodia $31.16 million to accept asylum seekers living in Naru. These exchanges, which I call ‘refugees markets,’ have faced criticism by philosophers. Some philosophers claim the markets fail to ensure true protection, and are demeaning, expressing just how much refugees are unwanted. In response, some have defended refugee markets, claiming they can ensure refugees have protection and are not demeaned. I argue that many markets do demean refugees, and therefore have moral costs, but can still be all-things-considered preferable to alternative schemes if they protect refugees more than these alternative schemes.
This essay develops, within the terms of the recent New York Declaration, an account of the shared responsibility of states to refugees and of how the character of that responsibility effects the ways in which it can be fairly shared. However, it also moves beyond the question of the general obligations that states owe to refugees to consider ways in which refugee choices and refugee voice can be given appropriate standing with the global governance of refuge. It offers an argument for the normative significance of refugee’s reasons for choosing states of asylum and linked this to consideration of a refugee matching system and to refugee quota trading conceived as responsibility-trading, before turning to the issue of the inclusion of refugee voice in relation to the justification of the norms of refugee governance and in relation to the institutions and practices of refugee governance through which those norms are given practical expression.
The issue of statelessness poses problems for the statist (or nationalist) approach to the philosophy of immigration. Despite the fact that the statist approach claims to constrain the state’s right to exclude with human rights considerations, the arguments statists offer for the right of states to determine their own immigration policies would also justify citizenship rules that would render some children stateless. Insofar as rendering a child stateless is best characterized as a violation of human rights and insofar as some states have direct responsibility for causing such harm, the problem of non-refugee stateless children points to greater constraints than most statists accept on states’ right to determine their own rules for membership. While statists can ultimately account for the right not to be rendered stateless, recognizing these additional human rights constraints ultimately weakens the core of the statist position.
While global justice theorists heatedly discuss the responsibilities of the affluent and powerful, those states which can legitimately be seen as victims of global injustice have seldom, if ever, been considered as duty bearers to whom responsibilities can be attached. However, recognising agents whose options are constrained not only as victims, but also as duty bearers is necessary as a proof of respect for their agency and indispensable to mobilise the type of action required to alter global injustices. In this article, I explore what responsibilities state officials of dominated states have. I argue that they have the responsibility to resist domination in the name of the dominated states members. While under particular circumstances this responsibility gives rise to a duty to engage in acts of state civil disobedience, under other circumstances state officials of dominated states ought to resist domination in an internal, attitudinal way by recognising themselves as outcome responsible agents.
Fair Trade is under fire. Some critics argue, for instance, that there is no obligation to purchase Fair Trade certified products and that doing so may even be counter-productive. Others worry that well-justified conceptions of what makes trade fair can conflict. Yet others suggest that the common arguments for Fair Trade cannot justify purchasing Fair Trade certified goods, in particular. This paper starts by sketching one common argument for Fair Trade and defends it against this last line of criticism. In particular, it argues that we should purchase Fair Trade certified goods because doing so benefits the poor even though there are other ways to alleviate poverty. It then considers how other common arguments for Fair Trade fare in light of similar criticism and concludes that they may well succeed.
Political realists claim that international relations are in a state of anarchy, and therefore every state is allowed to disregard its moral duties towards other states and their inhabitants. Realists argue that complying with moral duties is simply too risky for a state’s national security. Political moralists convincingly show that realists exaggerate both the extent of international anarchy and the risks it poses to states who act morally. Yet moralists do not go far enough, since they do not question realism’s normative core: the claim that when national security is really at risk, states are allowed to disregard their moral duties. I contend that there is at least one moral duty that states should not disregard even if their inhabitants are at risk of death by military aggression: the duty to reduce extreme global poverty. The reason is that even granting that national security is about securing individuals’ right to life, global poverty relief is about that as well.
Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a primary immunodeficiency, which is diagnosed in most patients between one and three years of age. Here we report on a boy who presented at birth with extensive skin lesions and lymphadenopathy which were caused by CGD. An analysis of the literature revealed 24 patients with CGD who became symptomatic during the first six weeks of life. Although pulmonary complications and skin lesions due to infection were the leading symptoms, clinical features were extremely heterogenous. As follow-up was not well specified in most patients, the long-term prognosis of children with very early onset of CGD remains unknown.
Aging is accompanied by unisensory decline. To compensate for this, two complementary strategies are potentially relied upon increasingly: first, older adults integrate more information from different sensory organs. Second, according to the predictive coding (PC) model, we form “templates” (internal models or “priors”) of the environment through our experiences. It is through increased life experience that older adults may rely more on these templates compared to younger adults. Multisensory integration and predictive coding would be effective strategies for the perception of near-threshold stimuli, which may however come at the cost of integrating irrelevant information. Both strategies can be studied in multisensory illusions because these require the integration of different sensory information, as well as an internal model of the world that can take precedence over sensory input. Here, we elicited a classic multisensory illusion, the sound-induced flash illusion, in younger (mean: 27 years, N = 25) and older (mean: 67 years, N = 28) adult participants while recording the magnetoencephalogram. Older adults perceived more illusions than younger adults. Older adults had increased pre-stimulus beta-band activity compared to younger adults as predicted by microcircuit theories of predictive coding, which suggest priors and predictions are linked to beta-band activity. Transfer entropy analysis and dynamic causal modeling of pre-stimulus magnetoencephalography data revealed a stronger illusion-related modulation of cross-modal connectivity from auditory to visual cortices in older compared to younger adults. We interpret this as the neural correlate of increased reliance on a cross-modal predictive template in older adults leading to the illusory percept.
Background: Polytraumatized patients undergo a strong immunological stress upon insult. Phagocytes (granulocytes and monocytes) play a substantial role in immunological defense against bacteria, fungi and yeast, and in the clearance of cellular debris after tissue injury. We have reported a reduced monocytes phagocytic activity early after porcine polytrauma before. However, it is unknown if both phagocyte types undergo those functional alterations, and if there is a pathogen-specific phagocytic behavior. We characterized the phagocytic activity and capacity of granulocytes and monocytes after polytrauma.
Methods: Eight pigs (Sus scrofa) underwent polytrauma consisting of lung contusion, liver laceration, tibial fracture and hemorrhagic shock with fluid resuscitation and fracture fixation with external fixator. Intensive care treatment including mechanical ventilation for 72 h followed. Phagocytic activity and capacity were investigated using an in vitro ex vivo whole blood stimulation phagocytosis assays before trauma, after surgery, 24, 48, and 72 h after trauma. Blood samples were stimulated with Phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate and incubated with FITC-labeled E. coli, S. aureus or S. cerevisiae for phagocytosis assessment by flow cytometry.
Results: Early polytrauma-induced significant increase of granulocytes and monocytes declined to baseline values within 24 h. Percentage of E. coli-phagocytizing granulocytes significantly decreased after polytrauma and during further intensive care treatment, while their capacity significantly increased. Interestingly, both granulocytic phagocytic activity and capacity of S. aureus significantly decreased after trauma, although a recovery was observed after 24 h and yet was followed by another decrease. The percentage of S. cerevisiae-phagocytizing granulocytes significantly increased after 24 h, while their impaired capacity after surgery and 72 h later was detected. Monocytic E. coli-phagocytizing percentage did not change, while their capacity increased after 24–72 h. After a significant decrease in S. aureus-phagocytizing monocytes after surgery, a significant increase after 24 and 48 h was observed without capacity alterations. No significant changes in S. cerevisiae-phagocytizing monocytes occurred, but their capacity dropped 48 and 72 h.
Conclusion: Phagocytic activity and capacity of granulocytes and monocytes follow a different pattern and significantly change within 72 h after polytrauma. Both phagocytic activity and capacity show significantly different alterations depending on the pathogen strain, thus potentially indicating at certain and possibly more relevant infection causes after polytrauma.
The adult heart has a limited capacity to replace or regenerate damaged cardiac tissue following severe myocardial injury. Thus, therapies facilitating the induction of cardiac regeneration holds great promise for the treatment of end-stage heart failure, and for pathologies invoking severe cardiac dysfunction as a result of cardiomyocyte death. Recently, a number of studies have demonstrated that cardiac regeneration can be achieved through modulation and/or reprogramming of cardiomyocyte proliferation, differentiation, and survival signaling. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), including microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs), are reported to play critical roles in regulating key aspects of cardiomyocyte physiologic and pathologic signaling, including the regulation of cardiac regeneration both in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we will explore and detail the current understanding of ncRNA function in cardiac regeneration, and highlight established and novel strategies for the treatment of heart failure through modulation of ncRNAs-driven cardiac regeneration.
The spread of the COVID-19 virus was met by a strict lockdown in many countries around the world, with the closure of all physical activity (PA) facilities and limitations on moving around freely. The aim of the present online survey was to assess the effect of lockdown on physical activity in Italy. Physical activity was assessed using the European Health Interview Survey questionnaire. A total of 1500 datasets were analyzed. Differences between conditions were tested with a chi2-based (χ2) test for categorical variables, and with the Student’s t-test for paired data. A fixed effects binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify relevant predictor variables to explain the compliance with World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations. We found a substantial decline in all physical activity measures. Mean differences in walking and cycling metabolic equivalent of task minutes per week (METmin/week), respectively, were 344.4 (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 306.6–382.2; p < 0.001) and 148.5 (95% CI: 123.6–173.5; p < 0.001). Time spent in leisure time decreased from 160.8 to 112.6 min/week (mean difference 48.2; 95% CI: 40.4–56.0; p < 0.001). Compliance with WHO recommendations decreased from 34.9% to 24.6% (chi2 (1, 3000) = 38.306, p < 0.001, V = 0.11). Logistic regression showed a reduced chance (OR 0.640, 95% CI: 0.484–0.845; p = 0.001) to comply with WHO PA recommendations under lockdown conditions. Measures to promote physical activity should be intensified to limit detrimental health effects.
Research on Podospora anserina unraveled a network of molecular pathways affecting biological aging. In particular, a number of pathways active in the control of mitochondria were identified on different levels. A long-known key process active during aging of P. anserina is the age- related reorganization of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Mechanisms involved in the stabilization of the mtDNA lead to lifespan extension. Another critical issue is to balance mitochondrial levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This is important because ROS are essential signaling molecules, but at increased levels cause molecular damage. At a higher level of the network, mechanisms are active in the repair of damaged compounds. However, if damage passes critical limits, the corresponding pathways are overwhelmed and impaired molecules as well as those present in excess are degraded by specific enzymes or via different forms of autophagy. Subsequently, degraded units need to be replaced by novel functional ones. The corresponding processes are dependent on the availability of intact genetic information. Although a number of different pathways involved in the control of cellular homeostasis were uncovered in the past, certainly many more exist. In addition, the signaling pathways involved in the control and coordination of the underlying pathways are only initially understood. In some cases, like the induction of autophagy, ROS are active. Additionally, sensing and signaling the energetic status of the organism plays a key role. The precise mechanisms involved are elusive and remain to be elucidated.
Mitochondrial F1Fo-ATP-synthase dimers play a critical role in shaping and maintenance of mitochondrial ultrastructure. Previous studies have revealed that ablation of the F1Fo-ATP-synthase assembly factor PaATPE of the ascomycete Podospora anserina strongly affects cristae formation, increases hydrogen peroxide levels, impairs mitochondrial function and leads to premature cell death. In the present study, we investigated the underlying mechanistic basis. Compared to the wild type, we observed a slight increase in non-selective and a pronounced increase in mitophagy, the selective vacuolar degradation of mitochondria. This effect depends on the availability of functional cyclophilin D (PaCYPD), the regulator of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP). Simultaneous deletion of PaAtpe and PaAtg1, encoding a key component of the autophagy machinery or of PaCypD, led to a reduction of mitophagy and a partial restoration of the wild-type specific lifespan. The same effect was observed in the PaAtpe deletion strain after inhibition of PaCYPD by its specific inhibitor, cyclosporin A. Overall, our data identify autophagy-dependent cell death (ADCD) as part of the cellular response to impaired F1Fo-ATP-synthase dimerization, and emphasize the crucial role of functional mitochondria in aging.
Background: In clinical practice range of motion (RoM) is usually assessed with low-cost devices such as a tape measure (TM) or a digital inclinometer (DI). However, the intra- and inter-rater reliability of typical RoM tests differ, which impairs the evaluation of therapy progress. More objective and reliable kinematic data can be obtained with the inertial motion capture system (IMC) by Xsens. The aim of this study was to obtain the intra- and inter-rater reliability of the TM, DI and IMC methods in five RoM tests: modified Thomas test (DI), shoulder test modified after Janda (DI), retroflexion of the trunk modified after Janda (DI), lateral inclination (TM) and fingertip-to-floor test (TM).
Methods: Two raters executed the RoM tests (TM or DI) in a randomized order on 22 healthy individuals while, simultaneously, the IMC data (Xsens MVN) was collected. After 15 warm-up repetitions, each rater recorded five measurements.
Findings: Intra-rater reliabilities were (almost) perfect for tests in all three devices (ICCs 0.886–0.996). Inter-rater reliability was substantial to (almost) perfect in the DI (ICCs 0.71–0.87) and the IMC methods (ICCs 0.61–0.993) and (almost) perfect in the TM methods (ICCs 0.923–0.961). The measurement error (ME) for the tests measured in degree (°) was 0.9–3.3° for the DI methods and 0.5–1.2° for the IMC approaches. In the tests measured in centimeters the ME was 0.5–1.3cm for the TM methods and 0.6–2.7cm for the IMC methods. Pearson correlations between the results of the DI or the TM respectively with the IMC results were significant in all tests except for the shoulder test on the right body side (r = 0.41–0.81).
Interpretation: Measurement repetitions of either one or multiple trained raters can be considered reliable in all three devices.
Three AKT serine/threonine kinase isoforms (AKT1/AKT2/AKT3) mediate proliferation, metabolism, differentiation and anti-apoptotic signals. AKT isoforms are activated down- stream of PI3-kinase and also by PI3-kinase independent mechanisms. Mutations in the lipid phosphatase PTEN and PI3-kinase that increase PIP3 levels increase AKT signaling in a large proportion of human cancers. AKT and other AGC kinases possess a regulatory mechanism that relies on a conserved hydrophobic motif (HM) C-terminal to the catalytic core. In AKT, the HM is contiguous to the serine 473 and two other newly discovered (serine 477 and tyrosine 479) regulatory phosphorylation sites. In AKT genes, this regulatory HM region is encoded in the final exon. We identified a splice variant of AKT2 (AKT2-13a), which contains an alternative final exon and lacks the HM regulatory site. We validated the presence of mRNA for this AKT2-13a splice variant in different tissues, and the presence of AKT2-13a protein in extracts from HEK293 cells. When overexpressed in HEK293 cells, AKT2-13a is phosphorylated at the activation loop and at the zipper/turn motif phosphoryla- tion sites but has reduced specific activity. Analysis of the human transcriptome correspond- ing to other AGC kinases revealed that all three AKT isoforms express alternative transcripts lacking the HM regulatory motif, which was not the case for SGK1-3, S6K1-2, and classical, novel and atypical PKC isoforms. The transcripts of splice variants of Akt1-3 excluding the HM regulatory region could lead to expression of deregulated forms of AKT.
Objectives: Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) are considered an emerging threat worldwide. Data covering the clinical impact of MDRO colonization in patients with solid malignancies, however, is widely missing. We sought to determine the impact of MDRO colonization in patients who have been diagnosed with Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are at known high-risk for invasive infections.
Materials and methods: Patients who were screened for MDRO colonization within a 90-day period after NSCLC diagnosis of all stages were included in this single-center retrospective study.
Results: Two hundred and ninety-five patients were included of whom 24 patients (8.1%) were screened positive for MDRO colonization (MDROpos) at first diagnosis. Enterobacterales were by far the most frequent MDRO detected with a proportion of 79.2% (19/24). MDRO colonization was present across all disease stages and more present in patients with concomitant diabetes mellitus. Median overall survival was significantly inferior in the MDROpos study group with a median OS of 7.8 months (95% CI, 0.0–19.9 months) compared to a median OS of 23.9 months (95% CI, 17.6–30.1 months) in the MDROneg group in univariate (p = 0.036) and multivariate analysis (P = 0.02). Exploratory analyses suggest a higher rate of non-cancer-related-mortality in MDROpos patients compared to MDROneg patients (p = 0.002) with an increased rate of fatal infections in MDROpos patients (p = 0.0002).
Conclusions: MDRO colonization is an independent risk factor for inferior OS in patients diagnosed with NSCLC due to a higher rate of fatal infections. Empirical antibiotic treatment approaches should cover formerly detected MDR commensals in cases of (suspected) invasive infections.
Nomadic movements are often a consequence of unpredictable resource dynamics. However, how nomadic ungulates select dynamic resources is still understudied. Here we examined resource selection of nomadic Mongolian gazelles (Procapra gutturosa) in the Eastern Steppe of Mongolia. We used daily GPS locations of 33 gazelles tracked up to 3.5 years. We examined selection for forage during the growing season using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). In winter we examined selection for snow cover which mediates access to forage and drinking water. We studied selection at the population level using resource selection functions (RSFs) as well as on the individual level using step-selection functions (SSFs) at varying spatio-temporal scales from 1 to 10 days. Results from the population and the individual level analyses differed. At the population level we found selection for higher than average NDVI during the growing season. This may indicate selection for areas with more forage cover within the arid steppe landscape. In winter, gazelles selected for intermediate snow cover, which may indicate preference for areas which offer some snow for hydration but not so much as to hinder movement. At the individual level, in both seasons and across scales, we were not able to detect selection in the majority of individuals, but selection was similar to that seen in the RSFs for those individuals showing selection. Difficulty in finding selection with SSFs may indicate that Mongolian gazelles are using a random search strategy to find forage in a landscape with large, homogeneous areas of vegetation. The combination of random searches and landscape characteristics could therefore obscure results at the fine scale of SSFs. The significant results on the broader scale used for the population level RSF highlight that, although individuals show uncoordinated movement trajectories, they ultimately select for similar vegetation and snow cover.
Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of interstitial multicatheter high dose rate brachytherapy (imHDR- BRT) as accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) after second breast-conserving surgery (BCS) in patients with ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR). Between January 2010 and December 2019, 20 patients with IBTR who refused salvage mastectomy (sMT) were treated with second BCS and post-operative imHDR-BRT as APBI. All patients had undergone primary BCS followed by adjuvant external beam radiotherapy. Median imHDR-BRT dose was 32 Gy delivered in twice-daily fractions of 4 Gy. Five-year IBTR-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), overall survival (OS) as well as toxicity and cosmesis were evaluated in the present retrospective analysis. Median age at recurrence and median time from the first diagnosis to IBTR was 65.1 years and 12.2 years, respectively. After a median follow-up of 69.9 months, two patients developed a second local recurrence resulting in 5-year IBTR free-survival of 86.8%. Five-year DMFS and 5-year OS were 84.6% and 92.3%, respectively. Grade 1–2 fibrosis was noted in 60% of the patients with no grade 3 or higher toxicity. Two (10%) cases of asymptomatic fat necrosis were documented. Cosmetic outcome was classified as excellent in 6 (37.5%), good in 6 (37.5%), fair in 3 (18.75%) and poor in 1 (6.25%) patient, respectively. We conclude that imHDR-BRT as APBI re-irradiation is effective and safe for IBTR and should be considered in appropriately selected patients.
Most countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have repeatedly restricted public life to control the contagion. However, the health impact of confinement measures is hitherto unclear. We performed a multinational survey investigating changes in mental and physical well-being (MWB/PWB) during the first wave of the pandemic. A total of 14,975 individuals from 14 countries provided valid responses. Compared to pre-restrictions, MWB, as measured by the WHO-5 questionnaire, decreased considerably during restrictions (68.1 ± 16.9 to 51.9 ± 21.0 points). Whereas 14.2% of the participants met the cutoff for depression screening pre-restrictions, this share tripled to 45.2% during restrictions. Factors associated with clinically relevant decreases in MWB were female sex (odds ratio/OR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.11–1.29), high physical activity levels pre-restrictions (OR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.16–1.42), decreased vigorous physical activity during restrictions (OR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.05–1.23), and working (partially) outside the home vs. working remotely (OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.16–1.44/OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.23–1.47). Reductions, although smaller, were also seen for PWB. Scores in the SF-36 bodily pain subscale decreased from 85.8 ± 18.7% pre-restrictions to 81.3 ± 21.9% during restrictions. Clinically relevant decrements of PWB were associated with female sex (OR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.50–1.75), high levels of public life restrictions (OR = 1.26, 95% CI: 1.18–1.36), and young age (OR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.03–1.19). Study findings suggest lockdowns instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic may have had substantial adverse public health effects. The development of interventions mitigating losses in MWB and PWB is, thus, paramount when preparing for forthcoming waves of COVID-19 or future public life restrictions.
Identification and regulation of tomato Serine/Arginine-rich proteins under high temperatures
(2021)
Alternative splicing is an important mechanism for the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes during development, cell differentiation or stress response. Alterations in the splicing profiles of genes under high temperatures that cause heat stress (HS) can impact the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and thermotolerance. Consequently, information on factors involved in HS-sensitive alternative splicing is required to formulate the principles of HS response. Serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins have a central role in alternative splicing. We aimed for the identification and characterization of SR-coding genes in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), a plant extensively used in HS studies. We identified 17 canonical SR and two SR-like genes. Several SR-coding genes show differential expression and altered splicing profiles in different organs as well as in response to HS. The transcriptional induction of five SR and one SR-like genes is partially dependent on the master regulator of HS response, HS transcription factor HsfA1a. Cis-elements in the promoters of these SR genes were predicted, which can be putatively recognized by HS-induced transcription factors. Further, transiently expressed SRs show reduced or steady-state protein levels in response to HS. Thus, the levels of SRs under HS are regulated by changes in transcription, alternative splicing and protein stability. We propose that the accumulation or reduction of SRs under HS can impact temperature-sensitive alternative splicing.
The thymus hosts the development of a specific type of adaptive immune cells called T cells. T cells orchestrate the adaptive immune response through recognition of antigen by the highly variable T-cell receptor (TCR). T-cell development is a tightly coordinated process comprising lineage commitment, somatic recombination of Tcr gene loci and selection for functional, but non-self-reactive TCRs, all interspersed with massive proliferation and cell death. Thus, the thymus produces a pool of T cells throughout life capable of responding to virtually any exogenous attack while preserving the body through self-tolerance. The thymus has been of considerable interest to both immunologists and theoretical biologists due to its multi-scale quantitative properties, bridging molecular binding, population dynamics and polyclonal repertoire specificity. Here, we review experimental strategies aimed at revealing quantitative and dynamic properties of T-cell development and how they have been implemented in mathematical modeling strategies that were reported to help understand the flexible dynamics of the highly dividing and dying thymic cell populations. Furthermore, we summarize the current challenges to estimating in vivo cellular dynamics and to reaching a next- generation multi-scale picture of T-cell development.
Background: International travel is a major driver of the introduction and spread of SARS- CoV-2. Aim: To investigate SARS-CoV-2 genetic diversity in the region of a major transport hub in Germany, we characterized the viral sequence diversity of the SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in Frankfurt am Main, the city with the largest airport in Germany, from the end of October to the end of December 2020. Methods: In total, we recovered 136 SARS-CoV-2 genomes from nasopharyngeal swab samples. We isolated 104 isolates that were grown in cell culture and RNA from the recovered viruses and subjected them to full-genome sequence analysis. In addition, 32 nasopharyngeal swab samples were directly sequenced. Results and conclusion: We found 28 different lineages of SARS- CoV-2 circulating during the study period, including the variant of concern B.1.1.7 (∆69/70, N501Y). Six of the lineages had not previously been observed in Germany. We detected the spike protein (S) deletion ∆69/∆70 in 15% of all sequences, a four base pair (bp) deletion (in 2.9% of sequences) and a single bp deletion (in 0.7% of sequences) in ORF3a, leading to ORF3a truncations. In four sequences (2.9%), an amino acid deletion at position 210 in S was identified. In a single sample (0.7%), both a 9 bp deletion in ORF1ab and a 7 bp deletion in ORF7a were identified. One sequence in lineage B.1.1.70 had an N501Y substitution while lacking the ∆69/70 in S. The high diversity of sequences observed over two months in Frankfurt am Main highlights the persisting need for continuous SARS-CoV-2 surveillance using full-genome sequencing, particularly in cities with international airport connections.
Macrophages supply iron to the breast tumor microenvironment by enforced secretion of lipocalin-2 (Lcn-2)-bound iron as well as the increased expression of the iron exporter ferroportin (FPN). We aimed at identifying the contribution of each pathway in supplying iron for the growing tumor, thereby fostering tumor progression. Analyzing the expression profiles of Lcn-2 and FPN using the spontaneous polyoma-middle-T oncogene (PyMT) breast cancer model as well as mining publicly available TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) and GEO Series(GSE) datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus database (GEO), we found no association between tumor parameters and Lcn-2 or FPN. However, stromal/macrophage-expression of Lcn-2 correlated with tumor onset, lung metastases, and recurrence, whereas FPN did not. While the total iron amount in wildtype and Lcn-2−/− PyMT tumors showed no difference, we observed that tumor-associated macrophages from Lcn-2−/− compared to wildtype tumors stored more iron. In contrast, Lcn-2−/− tumor cells accumulated less iron than their wildtype counterparts, translating into a low migratory and proliferative capacity of Lcn-2−/− tumor cells in a 3D tumor spheroid model in vitro. Our data suggest a pivotal role of Lcn-2 in tumor iron-management, affecting tumor growth. This study underscores the role of iron for tumor progression and the need for a better understanding of iron-targeted therapy approaches.
There are longstanding calls for international organizations (IOs) to be more inclusive of the voices and interests of people whose lives they affect. There is nevertheless widespread disagreement among practitioners and political theorists over who ought to be included in IO decision-making and by what means. This paper focuses on the inclusion of IOs’ ‘intended beneficiaries,’ both in principle and practice. It argues that IOs’ intended beneficiaries have particularly strong normative claims for inclusion because IOs can affect their vital interests and their political agency. It then examines how these claims to inclusion might be feasibly addressed. The paper proposes a model of inclusion via representation and communication, or ‘mediated inclusion.’ An examination of existing practices in global governance reveals significant opportunities for the mediated inclusion of IOs’ intended beneficiaries, as well as pervasive obstacles. The paper concludes that the inclusion of intended beneficiaries by IOs is both appropriate and feasible.
Background: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), multipotent progenitors that can be isolated from a variety of different tissues, are becoming increasingly important as cell therapeutics targeting immunopathologies and tissue regeneration. Current protocols for MSC isolation from bone marrow (BM) rely on density gradient centrifugation (DGC), and the production of sufficient MSC doses is a critical factor for conducting clinical MSC trials. Previously, a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)–compatible non-woven fabric filter device system to isolate MSCs was developed to increase the MSC yield from the BM. The aim of our study was to compare high-resolution phenotypic and functional characteristics of BM-MSCs isolated with this device and with standard DGC technology.
Methods: Human BM samples from 5 donors were analyzed. Each sample was divided equally, processing by DGC, and with the filter device. Stem cell content was assessed by quantification of colony-forming units fibroblasts (CFU-F). Immunophenotype was analyzed by multicolor flow cytometry. In vitro trilineage differentiation potential, trophic factors, and IDO-1 production were assessed. Functionally, immunomodulatory potential, wound healing, and angiogenesis were assayed in vitro.
Results: The CFU-F yield was 15-fold higher in the MSC preparations isolated with the device compared to those isolated by DGC. Consequently, the MSC yield that could be manufactured at passage 3 per mL collected BM was more than 10 times higher in the device group compared to DGC (1.65 × 109 vs. 1.45 × 108). The immunomodulatory potential and IDO-1 production showed donor-to-donor variabilities without differences between fabric filter-isolated and DGC-isolated MSCs. The results from the wound closure assays, the tube formation assays, and the trilineage differentiation assays were similar between the groups with respect to the isolation method. Sixty-four MSC subpopulations could be quantified with CD140a+CD119+CD146+ as most common phenotype group, and CD140a+CD119+CD146+MSCA-1–CD106–CD271– and CD140a+CD119+CD146–MSCA-1–CD106–CD271– as most frequent MSC subpopulations. As trophic factors hepatocyte growth factor, epidermal growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, angiopoietin-1, and vascular endothelial growth factor A could be detected in both groups with considerable variability between donors, but independent of the respective MSC isolation technique.
Conclusion: The isolation of MSCs using a GMP-compatible fabric filter system device resulted in higher yield of CFU-F, producing substantially more MSCs with similar subpopulation composition and functional characteristics as MSCs isolated by DGC.
Reduced social functioning in depression has been explained by different factors. Reduced social connectedness and prosocial motivation may contribute to interpersonal difficulties, particularly in chronic depression. In the present study, we tested whether social connectedness and prosocial motivation are reduced in chronic depression. Forty-seven patients with persistent depression and 49 healthy controls matched for age and gender completed the Inclusion of the Other in the Self Scale (IOS), the Compassionate Love Scale (CLS), the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. A Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with IOS and CLS as dependent variables revealed a highly significant difference between both groups. The IOS and the CLS-subscale Close Others were lower in persistent depression, whereas there was no difference in the CLS-subscale Strangers/Humanity. IOS and CLS-Close Others showed significant negative correlations with depressive symptoms. Connectedness to family members as measured by the IOS was negatively correlated with childhood trauma in patients with chronic depression. The results indicate that compassion and perceived social connection are reduced in depressed patients toward close others, but not to others in general. Implications for the treatment of depression are discussed.
Iron deficiency, with or without anemia, is the most frequent hematological manifestation in individuals with cancer, and is especially common in patients with colorectal cancer. Iron is a vital micronutrient that plays an essential role in many biological functions, in the context of which it has been found to be intimately linked to cancer biology. To date, however, whereas a large number of studies have comprehensively investigated and reviewed the effects of excess iron on cancer initiation and progression, potential interrelations of iron deficiency with cancer have been largely neglected and are not well-defined. Emerging evidence indicates that reduced iron intake and low systemic iron levels are associated with the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer, suggesting that optimal iron intake must be carefully balanced to avoid both iron deficiency and iron excess. Since iron is vital in the maintenance of immunological functions, insufficient iron availability may enhance oncogenicity by impairing immunosurveillance for neoplastic changes and potentially altering the tumor immune microenvironment. Data from clinical studies support these concepts, showing that iron deficiency is associated with inferior outcomes and reduced response to therapy in patients with colorectal cancer. Here, we elucidate cancer-related effects of iron deficiency, examine preclinical and clinical evidence of its role in tumorigenesis, cancer progression and treatment response. and highlight the importance of adequate iron supplementation to limit these outcomes.
It is important to understand the processes behind how and why individuals emerge as leaders, so that the best and most capable individuals may occupy leadership positions. So far, most literature in this area has focused on individual characteristics, such as personality or cognitive ability. While interactions between individuals and context do get research attention, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of how the social context at work may help individuals to emerge as leaders. Such knowledge could make an important contribution toward getting the most capable, rather than the most dominant or narcissistic individuals, into leadership positions. In the present work, we contribute toward closing this gap by testing a mediation chain linking a leader's leader self-awareness to a follower's leadership emergence with two time-lagged studies (nstudy1 = 449, nstudy2 = 355). We found that the leader's leader self-awareness was positively related to (a) the follower's leadership emergence and (b) the follower's nomination for promotion and that both relationships were serially mediated by the follower's self-leadership and the follower's leader self-efficacy. We critically discuss our findings and provide ideas for future research.