@article{AbuHalimaHaeuslerBackesetal.2017, author = {Abu-Halima, Masood and H{\"a}usler, Sebastian and Backes, Christina and Fehlmann, Tobias and Staib, Claudia and Nestel, Sigrun and Nazarenko, Irina and Meese, Eckart and Keller, Andreas}, title = {Micro-ribonucleic acids and extracellular vesicles repertoire in the spent culture media is altered in women undergoing \(In\) \(Vitro\) Fertilization}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {7}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-017-13683-8}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173632}, year = {2017}, abstract = {MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are class of small RNA molecules with major impact on gene regulation. We analyzed the potential of miRNAs secreted from pre-implantation embryos into the embryonic culture media as biomarkers to predict successful pregnancy. Using microarray analysis, we profiled the miRNome of the 56 spent culture media (SCM) after embryos transfer and found a total of 621 miRNAs in the SCM. On average, we detected 163 miRNAs in SCM of samples with failed pregnancies, but only 149 SCM miRNAs of embryos leading to pregnancies. MiR-634 predicted an embryo transfer leading to a positive pregnancy with an accuracy of 71\% and a sensitivity of 85\%. Among the 621 miRNAs, 102 (16.4\%) showed a differential expression between positive and negative outcome of pregnancy with miR-29c-3p as the most significantly differentially expressed miRNA. The number of extracellular vehicles was lower in SCM with positive outcomes (3.8 × 10\(^9\)/mL EVs), as compared to a negative outcome (7.35 × 10\(^9\)/mL EVs) possibly explaining the reduced number of miRNAs in the SCM associated with failed pregnancies. The analysis of the miRNome in the SCM of couples undergoing fertility treatment lays the ground towards development of biomarkers to predict successful pregnancy and towards understanding the role of embryonic miRNAs found in the SCM.}, language = {en} } @article{AdrianMartinezAlbertAndreetal.2017, author = {Adri{\´a}n-Mart{\´i}nez, S. and Albert, A. and Andr{\´e}, M. and Anghinolfi, M. and Anton, G. and Ardid, M. and Aubert, J.-J. and Baret, B. and Barrios-Marti, J. and Basa, S. and Bertin, V. and Biagi, S. and Bormuth, R. and Bouwhuis, M.C. and Bruijn, R. and Brunner, J. and Buto, J. and Capone, A. and Caramete, L. and Carr, J. and Chiarusi, T. and Circella, M. and Coniglione, R. and Costantini, H. and Coyle, P. and Creusot, A. and Dekeyser, I. and Deschamps, A. and De Bonis, G. and Distefano, C.}, title = {Stacked search for time shifted high energy neutrinos from gamma ray bursts with the ANTARES neutrino telescope}, series = {European Physical Journal C}, volume = {77}, journal = {European Physical Journal C}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4496-8}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-181251}, pages = {10}, year = {2017}, abstract = {A search for high-energy neutrino emission correlated with gamma-ray bursts outside the electromagnetic prompt-emission time window is presented. Using a stacking approach of the time delays between reported gamma-ray burst alerts and spatially coincident muon-neutrino signatures, data from the Antares neutrino telescope recorded between 2007 and 2012 are analysed. One year of public data from the IceCube detector between 2008 and 2009 have been also investigated. The respective timing profiles are scanned for statistically significant accumulations within 40 days of the Gamma Ray Burst, as expected from Lorentz Invariance Violation effects and some astrophysical models. No significant excess over the expected accidental coincidence rate could be found in either of the two data sets. The average strength of the neutrino signal is found to be fainter than one detectable neutrino signal per hundred gamma-ray bursts in the Antares data at 90\% confidence level.}, language = {en} } @article{AeschlimannBrixnerCinchettietal.2017, author = {Aeschlimann, Martin and Brixner, Tobias and Cinchetti, Mirko and Frisch, Benjamin and Hecht, Bert and Hensen, Matthias and Huber, Bernhard and Kramer, Christian and Krauss, Enno and Loeber, Thomas H. and Pfeiffer, Walter and Piecuch, Martin and Thielen, Philip}, title = {Cavity-assisted ultrafast long-range periodic energy transfer between plasmonic nanoantennas}, series = {Light: Science \& Applications}, volume = {6}, journal = {Light: Science \& Applications}, doi = {10.1038/lsa.2017.111}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173265}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Radiationless energy transfer is at the core of diverse phenomena, such as light harvesting in photosynthesis\(^1\), energy-transfer-based microspectroscopies\(^2\), nanoscale quantum entanglement\(^3\) and photonic-mode hybridization\(^4\). Typically, the transfer is efficient only for separations that are much shorter than the diffraction limit. This hampers its application in optical communication and quantum information processing, which require spatially selective addressing. Here, we demonstrate highly efficient radiationless coherent energy transfer over a distance of twice the excitation wavelength by combining localized and delocalized\(^5\) plasmonic modes. Analogous to the Tavis-Cummings model, two whispering-gallery-mode antennas\(^6\) placed in the foci of an elliptical plasmonic cavity\(^7\) fabricated from single-crystal gold plates act as a pair of oscillators coupled to a common cavity mode. Time-resolved two-photon photoemission electron microscopy (TR 2P-PEEM) reveals an ultrafast long-range periodic energy transfer in accordance with the simulations. Our observations open perspectives for the optimization and tailoring of mesoscopic energy transfer and long-range quantum emitter coupling.}, language = {en} } @article{AhmedOjhaHirschetal.2017, author = {Ahmed, Bilal and Ojha, Animesh K. and Hirsch, Florian and Fischer, Ingo and Patrice, Donfack and Materny, Arnulf}, title = {Tailoring of enhanced interfacial polarization in WO\(_3\) nanorods grown over reduced graphene oxide synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method}, series = {RSC Advances}, volume = {7}, journal = {RSC Advances}, number = {23}, doi = {10.1039/c7ra00730b}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-181829}, pages = {13985-13996}, year = {2017}, abstract = {In the present report, well-defined WO3 nanorods (NRs) and a rGO-WO\(_3\) composite were successfully synthesized using a one-pot hydrothermal method. The crystal phase, structural morphology, shape, and size of the as-synthesized samples were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements. The optical properties of the synthesized samples were investigated by Raman, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy and TEM results validate the formation of WO\(_3\) (NRs) on the rGO sheet. The value of the dielectric constant (ε′) of WO3 NRs and rGO-WO\(_3\) composite is decreased with an increase in frequency. At low frequency (2.5 to 3.5 Hz), the value of ε′ for the rGO-WO3 composite is greater than that of pure WO\(_3\) NRs. This could be due to the fact that the induced charges follow the ac signal. However, at higher frequency (3.4 to 6.0), the value of ε′ for the rGO-WO\(_3\) composite is less compared to that of the pure WO3 NRs. The overall decrease in the value of ε′ could be due to the occurrence of a polarization process at the interface of the rGO sheet and WO3 NRs. Enhanced interfacial polarization in the rGO-WO\(_3\) composite is observed, which may be attributed to the presence of polar functional groups on the rGO sheet. These functional groups trap charge carriers at the interface, resulting in an enhancement of the interfacial polarization. The value of the dielectric modulus is also calculated to further confirm this enhancement. The values of the ac conductivity of the WO\(_3\) NRs and rGO-WO\(_3\) composite were calculated as a function of the frequency. The greater value of the ac conductivity in the rGO-WO\(_3\) composite compared to that of the WO\(_3\) NRs confirms the restoration of the sp:\(^{++}\) network during the in situ synthesis of the rGO-WO\(_3\) composite, which is well supported by the results obtained by Raman spectroscopy.}, language = {en} } @article{AichAkhundzadahKnuerretal.2017, author = {Aich, Valentin and Akhundzadah, Noor Ahmad and Knuerr, Alec and Khoshbeen, Ahmad Jamshed and Hattermann, Fred and Paeth, Heiko and Scanlon, Andrew and Paton, Eva Nora}, title = {Climate change in Afghanistan deduced from reanalysis and coordinated regional climate downscaling experiment (CORDEX)—South Asia Simulations}, series = {Climate}, volume = {5}, journal = {Climate}, number = {2}, issn = {2225-1154}, doi = {10.3390/cli5020038}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-198024}, pages = {38}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Past and the projected future climate change in Afghanistan has been analyzed systematically and differentiated with respect to its different climate regions to gain some first quantitative insights into Afghanistan's vulnerability to ongoing and future climate changes. For this purpose, temperature, precipitation and five additional climate indices for extremes and agriculture assessments (heavy precipitation; spring precipitation; growing season length (GSL), the Heat Wave Magnitude Index (HWMI); and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI)) from the reanalysis data were examined for their consistency to identify changes in the past (data since 1950). For future changes (up to the year 2100), the same parameters were extracted from an ensemble of 12 downscaled regional climate models (RCM) of the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX)-South Asia simulations for low and high emission scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways 4.5 and 8.5). In the past, the climatic changes were mainly characterized by a mean temperature increase above global level of 1.8 °C from 1950 to 2010; uncertainty with regard to reanalyzed rainfall data limited a thorough analysis of past changes. Climate models projected the temperature trend to accelerate in the future, depending strongly on the global carbon emissions (2006-2050 Representative Concentration Pathways 4.5/8.5: 1.7/2.3 °C; 2006-2099: 2.7/6.4 °C, respectively). Despite the high uncertainty with regard to precipitation projections, it became apparent that the increasing evapotranspiration is likely to exacerbate Afghanistan's already existing water stress, including a very strong increase of frequency and magnitude of heat waves. Overall, the results show that in addition to the already extensive deficiency in adaptation to current climate conditions, the situation will be aggravated in the future, particularly in regard to water management and agriculture. Thus, the results of this study underline the importance of adequate adaptation to climate change in Afghanistan. This is even truer taking into account that GSL is projected to increase substantially by around 20 days on average until 2050, which might open the opportunity for extended agricultural husbandry or even additional harvests when water resources are properly managed.}, language = {en} } @article{AltieriSbieraDellaCasaetal.2017, author = {Altieri, Barbara and Sbiera, Silviu and Della Casa, Silvia and Weigand, Isabel and Wild, Vanessa and Steinhauer, Sonja and Fadda, Guido and Kocot, Arkadius and Bekteshi, Michaela and Mambretti, Egle M. and Rosenwald, Andreas and Pontecorvi, Alfredo and Fassnacht, Martin and Ronchi, Cristina L.}, title = {Livin/BIRC7 expression as malignancy marker in adrenocortical tumors}, series = {Oncotarget}, volume = {8}, journal = {Oncotarget}, number = {6}, doi = {10.18632/oncotarget.14067}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171887}, pages = {9323-9338}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Livin/BIRC7 is a member of the inhibitors of apoptosis proteins family, which are involved in tumor development through the inhibition of caspases. Aim was to investigate the expression of livin and other members of its pathway in adrenocortical tumors and in the adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) cell line NCI-H295R. The mRNA expression of livin, its isoforms α and β, XIAP, CASP3 and DIABLO was evaluated by qRT-PCR in 82 fresh-frozen adrenal tissues (34 ACC, 25 adenomas = ACA, 23 normal adrenal glands = NAG). Livin protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in 270 paraffin-embedded tissues (192 ACC, 58 ACA, 20 NAG). Livin, CASP3 and cleaved caspase-3 were evaluated in NCI-H295R after induction of livin overexpression. Relative livin mRNA expression was significantly higher in ACC than in ACA and NAG (0.060 ± 0.116 vs 0.004 ± 0.014 and 0.002 ± 0.009, respectively, p < 0.01), being consistently higher in tumors than in adjacent NAG and isoform β more expressed than α. No significant differences in CASP3, XIAP and DIABLO levels were found among these groups. In immunohistochemistry, livin was localized in both cytoplasm and nuclei. The ratio between cytoplasmic and nuclear staining was significantly higher in ACC (1.51 ± 0.66) than in ACA (0.80 ± 0.35) and NAG (0.88 ± 0.27; p < 0.0001). No significant correlations were observed between livin expression and histopathological parameters or clinical outcome. In NCI-H295R cells, the livin overexpression slightly reduced the activation of CASP3, but did not correlate with cell viability. In conclusion, livin is specifically over-expressed in ACC, suggesting that it might be involved in adrenocortical tumorigenesis and represent a new molecular marker of malignancy.}, language = {en} } @article{AmorettiAreanArgurioetal.2017, author = {Amoretti, Andrea and Are{\´a}n, Daniel and Argurio, Riccardo and Musso, Daniele and Zayas, Leopoldo A. Pando}, title = {A holographic perspective on phonons and pseudo-phonons}, series = {Journal of High Energy Physics}, volume = {5}, journal = {Journal of High Energy Physics}, number = {51}, doi = {10.1007/JHEP05(2017)051}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170882}, year = {2017}, abstract = {We analyze the concomitant spontaneous breaking of translation and conformal symmetries by introducing in a CFT a complex scalar operator that acquires a spatially dependent expectation value. The model, inspired by the holographic Q-lattice, provides a privileged setup to study the emergence of phonons from a spontaneous translational symmetry breaking in a conformal field theory and offers valuable hints for the treatment of phonons in QFT at large. We first analyze the Ward identity structure by means of standard QFT techniques, considering both spontaneous and explicit symmetry breaking. Next, by implementing holographic renormalization, we show that the same set of Ward identities holds in the holographic Q-lattice. Eventually, relying on the holographic and QFT results, we study the correlators realizing the symmetry breaking pattern and how they encode information about the low-energy spectrum.}, language = {en} } @article{AmpattuHagmannLiangetal.2017, author = {Ampattu, Biju Joseph and Hagmann, Laura and Liang, Chunguang and Dittrich, Marcus and Schl{\"u}ter, Andreas and Blom, Jochen and Krol, Elizaveta and Goesmann, Alexander and Becker, Anke and Dandekar, Thomas and M{\"u}ller, Tobias and Schoen, Christoph}, title = {Transcriptomic buffering of cryptic genetic variation contributes to meningococcal virulence}, series = {BMC Genomics}, volume = {18}, journal = {BMC Genomics}, number = {282}, doi = {10.1186/s12864-017-3616-7}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157534}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Background: Commensal bacteria like Neisseria meningitidis sometimes cause serious disease. However, genomic comparison of hyperinvasive and apathogenic lineages did not reveal unambiguous hints towards indispensable virulence factors. Here, in a systems biological approach we compared gene expression of the invasive strain MC58 and the carriage strain α522 under different ex vivo conditions mimicking commensal and virulence compartments to assess the strain-specific impact of gene regulation on meningococcal virulence. Results: Despite indistinguishable ex vivo phenotypes, both strains differed in the expression of over 500 genes under infection mimicking conditions. These differences comprised in particular metabolic and information processing genes as well as genes known to be involved in host-damage such as the nitrite reductase and numerous LOS biosynthesis genes. A model based analysis of the transcriptomic differences in human blood suggested ensuing metabolic flux differences in energy, glutamine and cysteine metabolic pathways along with differences in the activation of the stringent response in both strains. In support of the computational findings, experimental analyses revealed differences in cysteine and glutamine auxotrophy in both strains as well as a strain and condition dependent essentiality of the (p)ppGpp synthetase gene relA and of a short non-coding AT-rich repeat element in its promoter region. Conclusions: Our data suggest that meningococcal virulence is linked to transcriptional buffering of cryptic genetic variation in metabolic genes including global stress responses. They further highlight the role of regulatory elements for bacterial virulence and the limitations of model strain approaches when studying such genetically diverse species as N. meningitidis.}, language = {en} } @article{ApostolidisGkarpousisKoch2017, author = {Apostolidis -Gkarpousis, Alexandros and Koch, Christian}, title = {Convergences et divergences dans les articles «Langage» de Louis de Jaucourt et «Langue» de Nicolas Beauz{\´e}e. Une comparaison de deux articles de l'Encyclop{\´e}die de Diderot et D'Alembert}, series = {promptus - W{\"u}rzburger Beitr{\"a}ge zur Romanistik}, volume = {3}, journal = {promptus - W{\"u}rzburger Beitr{\"a}ge zur Romanistik}, issn = {2510-2613}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172843}, pages = {19-36}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The two articles of «Langage» and «Langue», published in 1765 in the 9th volume of the great French Encyclop{\´e}die by Diderot and D'Alembert, treat some essential philosophical questions on the human ability of communication with linguistic signs. Nevertheless, as the two authors Jaucourt and Beauz{\´e}e did not share completely identic points of view, the comparative lecture of both articles reveals a complementary perspective, particularly relating to the origin of language as a divine gift or humans' creation for communicative needs. A further aspect of divergence concerns the textual composition of the article « Langage » as a structured informative text, and the article « Langue » as a long and freely composed writing including personal remarks by the author. The following article deals with the potential of approaches to the Encyclop{\´e}die in modern linguistics, concretely demonstrated in the comparative analysis of these two articles.}, language = {fr} } @article{AppelSchulerVogeletal.2017, author = {Appel, Patricia and Schuler, Michael and Vogel, Heiner and Oezelsel, Amina and Faller, Hermann}, title = {Short Questionnaire for Workplace Analysis (KFZA): factorial validation in physicians and nurses working in hospital settings}, series = {Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology}, number = {11}, doi = {10.1186/s12995-017-0157-6}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157510}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Background: In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in psychosocial workplace risk assessments in Germany. One of the questionnaires commonly employed for this purpose is the Short Questionnaire for Workplace Analysis (KFZA). Originally, the KFZA was developed and validated for office workers. The aim of the present study was to examine the factorial validity of the KFZA when applied to hospital settings. Therefore, we examined the factorial structure of a questionnaire that contained all the original items plus an extension adding 11 questions specific to hospital workplaces and analyzed both, the original version and the extended version. Methods: We analyzed questionnaire data of a total of 1731 physicians and nurses obtained over a 10-year period. Listwise exclusion of data sets was applied to account for variations in questionnaire versions and yielded 1163 questionnaires (1095 for the extended version) remaining for factor analysis. To examine the factor structure, we conducted a principal component factor analysis. The number of factors was determined using the Kaiser criterion and scree-plot methods. Factor interpretation was based on orthogonal Varimax rotation as well as oblique rotation. Results: The Kaiser criterion revealed a 7-factor solution for the 26 items of the KFZA, accounting for 62.0\% of variance. The seven factors were named: "Social Relationships", "Job Control", "Opportunities for Participation and Professional Development", "Quantitative Work Demands", "Workplace Environment", "Variability" and "Qualitative Work Demands". The factor analysis of the 37 items of the extended version yielded a 9-factor solution. The two additional factors were named "Consequences of Strain" and "Emotional Demands". Cronbach's α ranged from 0.63 to 0.87 for these scales. Conclusions: Overall, the KFZA turned out to be applicable to hospital workers, and its content-related structure was replicated well with some limitations. However, instead of the 11 factors originally proposed for office workers, a 7-factor solution appeared to be more suitable when employed in hospitals. In particular, the items of the KFZA factor "Completeness of Task" might need adaptation for the use in hospitals. Our study contributes to the assessment of the validity of this popular instrument and should stimulate further psychometric testing.}, language = {en} }