@article{ZapfPetersBertermannetal.2022, author = {Zapf, Ludwig and Peters, Sven and Bertermann, R{\"u}diger and Radius, Udo and Finze, Maik}, title = {Tricyanoborane-Functionalized Anionic N-Heterocyclic Carbenes: Adjustment of Charge and Stereo-Electronic Properties}, series = {Chemistry - A European Journal}, volume = {28}, journal = {Chemistry - A European Journal}, number = {39}, doi = {10.1002/chem.202200275}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-287200}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The 1-methyl-3-(tricyanoborane)imidazolin-2-ylidenate anion (2) was obtained in high yield by deprotonation of the B(CN)3-methylimidazole adduct 1. Regarding charge and stereo-electronic properties, anion 2 closes the gap between well-known neutral NHCs and the ditopic dianionic NHC, the 1,3-bis(tricyanoborane)imidazolin-2-ylidenate dianion (IIb). The influence of the number of N-bonded tricyanoborane moieties on the σ-donating and π-accepting properties of NHCs was assessed by quantum chemical calculations and verified by experimental data on 2, IIb, and 1,3-dimethylimidazolin-2-ylidene (IMe, IIa). Therefore NHC 2, which acts as a ditopic ligand via the carbene center and the cyano groups, was reacted with alkyl iodides, selenium, and [Ni(CO)\(_{4}\)] yielding alkylated imidazoles 3 and 4, the anionic selenium adduct 5, and the anionic nickel tricarbonyl complex 8, respectively. The results of this study prove that charge, number of coordination sites, buried volume (\%V\(_{bur}\)) and σ-donor and π-acceptor abilities of NHCs can be effectively fine-tuned via the number of tricyanoborane substituents.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Bertelsmann2022, author = {Bertelsmann, Dietmar}, title = {Analysis of the Frequency of Kidney Toxicity in Preclinical Safety Studies using the eTOX Database}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-25710}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-257104}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2022}, abstract = {This research aimed to obtain reliable data on the frequency of different types of renal toxicity findings in 28-day oral gavage studies in Wistar rats, their consistency across species and study duration, as well as the correlation between histopathological endpoints and routinely used clinical chemistry parameters indicative of kidney injury. Analysis of renal histopathological findings was carried out through extraction of information from the IMI eTOX database. Spontaneous renal histopathological findings in 28-day oral gavage studies in control Wistar rats and beagle dogs confirmed tubular basophilia and renal dilation as the most frequent incidental findings in controls, whereas necrosis and glomerulosclerosis were not identified at all or only rarely as a background lesion. Histopathological evidence of necrosis and glomerulosclerosis was associated with changes in clinical chemistry parameters in 28-day oral gavage Wistar rat studies. Necrosis was frequently accompanied by a statistically significant rise in serum creatinine and serum urea, whereas serum albumin was frequently found to decrease statistically significantly in treatment groups in which necrosis was recorded. In contrast to necrosis, glomerulosclerosis was not associated with statistically significant changes in serum creatinine and urea in any of the 28-day oral gavage Wistar rat treatment groups, but appears to be best reflected by a pattern of statistically significantly lowered serum albumin and serum protein together with a statistically significant increase in serum cholesterol. As might have been expected based on the high background incidences of tubular basophilia and dilation, no consistent changes in any of the clinical chemistry parameters were evident in animals in which renal lesions were con� fined to renal tubular basophilia or dilation. In summary, the routinely provided clinical chemistry parameters are rather insensitive - novel kidney biomarkers such as Cystatin C, β-trace protein and Kidney injury molecule 1 should further be evaluated and integrated into routine preclinical and clinical practice. However, evaluation of clinical chemistry data was limited by the lack of individual animal data. Even though an extensive amount of preclinical studies is accessible through the eTOX database, comparison of consistency across time was limited by the limited number of shorter- and longer term studies conducted with the compounds identified as causing renal histopathological changes within a 28- day study in rats. A high consistency across time for both treatment-related tubular basophilia and treatment-related dilation cannot be confirmed for either of the two effects as these two findings were both induced only rarely in studies over a different treatment-duration other than 28 days after administration of the compounds which provoked the respective effect in a 28-day study. For the finding of necrosis consistency across time was low with the exception of "AZ_GGA_200002321", in which renal papillary necrosis was identified consist� ently throughout different treatment durations (2, 4, 26, 104 weeks). No shorter and longer-term studies were available for the compounds identified as causing glomerulosclerosis within a 28-day study in rats. No consistent findings of the selected histopathological endpoints were identified in any of the corresponding 28-day oral gavage beagle dog studies after treatment with the identical compounds, which caused the respective ef� fect after 28-day treatment in rats. However, in the overwhelming majority of cases, beagle dogs were administered lower doses in these studies in compar� ison to the corresponding 28-day Wistar rat studies. Searching the eTOX database yielded no 28-day oral gavage studies in Wistar and Wistar Han rats in which accumulation of hyaline droplets, tubular atrophy or hyperplasia was recorded. Only one 28-day oral gavage Wistar rat study was identified with the histopathological result of neutrophilic inflammation. Consequently, evaluation of these four renal findings in relation to clinical chemistry parameters and consistency across time and species cannot be made. In summary, this work contributes knowledge through mining and evaluating the eTOX database on a variety of specific renal endpoints that frequently occur after administration of trial substances in 28-day oral gavage studies in Wistar rats in the field of preclinical toxicity with specific focus on their frequency relation to background findings, as well as consistency across time and species. Targeted statistical evaluation of in vivo data within joint research ventures such as the eTOX project, presents an enormous opportunity for an innovative future way of aiding preclinical research towards a more efficient research in the preclinical stage of drug development. This could be achieved through the aug� mentation of methodological strategies and possibly novel software tools in order to predict in vivo toxicology of new molecular entities by means of information that is already available before early stages of the drug development pipeline begin.}, language = {en} } @article{VollmerVollmerLangetal.2022, author = {Vollmer, Andreas and Vollmer, Michael and Lang, Gernot and Straub, Anton and K{\"u}bler, Alexander and Gubik, Sebastian and Brands, Roman C. and Hartmann, Stefan and Saravi, Babak}, title = {Performance analysis of supervised machine learning algorithms for automatized radiographical classification of maxillary third molar impaction}, series = {Applied Sciences}, volume = {12}, journal = {Applied Sciences}, number = {13}, issn = {2076-3417}, doi = {10.3390/app12136740}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-281662}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background: Oro-antral communication (OAC) is a common complication following the extraction of upper molar teeth. The Archer and the Root Sinus (RS) systems can be used to classify impacted teeth in panoramic radiographs. The Archer classes B-D and the Root Sinus classes III, IV have been associated with an increased risk of OAC following tooth extraction in the upper molar region. In our previous study, we found that panoramic radiographs are not reliable for predicting OAC. This study aimed to (1) determine the feasibility of automating the classification (Archer/RS classes) of impacted teeth from panoramic radiographs, (2) determine the distribution of OAC stratified by classification system classes for the purposes of decision tree construction, and (3) determine the feasibility of automating the prediction of OAC utilizing the mentioned classification systems. Methods: We utilized multiple supervised pre-trained machine learning models (VGG16, ResNet50, Inceptionv3, EfficientNet, MobileNetV2), one custom-made convolutional neural network (CNN) model, and a Bag of Visual Words (BoVW) technique to evaluate the performance to predict the clinical classification systems RS and Archer from panoramic radiographs (Aim 1). We then used Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detectors (CHAID) to determine the distribution of OAC stratified by the Archer/RS classes to introduce a decision tree for simple use in clinics (Aim 2). Lastly, we tested the ability of a multilayer perceptron artificial neural network (MLP) and a radial basis function neural network (RBNN) to predict OAC based on the high-risk classes RS III, IV, and Archer B-D (Aim 3). Results: We achieved accuracies of up to 0.771 for EfficientNet and MobileNetV2 when examining the Archer classification. For the AUC, we obtained values of up to 0.902 for our custom-made CNN. In comparison, the detection of the RS classification achieved accuracies of up to 0.792 for the BoVW and an AUC of up to 0.716 for our custom-made CNN. Overall, the Archer classification was detected more reliably than the RS classification when considering all algorithms. CHAID predicted 77.4\% correctness for the Archer classification and 81.4\% for the RS classification. MLP (AUC: 0.590) and RBNN (AUC: 0.590) for the Archer classification as well as MLP 0.638) and RBNN (0.630) for the RS classification did not show sufficient predictive capability for OAC. Conclusions: The results reveal that impacted teeth can be classified using panoramic radiographs (best AUC: 0.902), and the classification systems can be stratified according to their relationship to OAC (81.4\% correct for RS classification). However, the Archer and RS classes did not achieve satisfactory AUCs for predicting OAC (best AUC: 0.638). Additional research is needed to validate the results externally and to develop a reliable risk stratification tool based on the present findings.}, language = {en} } @article{LohMehlingHossfeld2022, author = {Loh, Frank and Mehling, Noah and Hoßfeld, Tobias}, title = {Towards LoRaWAN without data loss: studying the performance of different channel access approaches}, series = {Sensors}, volume = {22}, journal = {Sensors}, number = {2}, issn = {1424-8220}, doi = {10.3390/s22020691}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-302418}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) is one of the fastest growing Internet of Things (IoT) access protocols. It operates in the license free 868 MHz band and gives everyone the possibility to create their own small sensor networks. The drawback of this technology is often unscheduled or random channel access, which leads to message collisions and potential data loss. For that reason, recent literature studies alternative approaches for LoRaWAN channel access. In this work, state-of-the-art random channel access is compared with alternative approaches from the literature by means of collision probability. Furthermore, a time scheduled channel access methodology is presented to completely avoid collisions in LoRaWAN. For this approach, an exhaustive simulation study was conducted and the performance was evaluated with random access cross-traffic. In a general theoretical analysis the limits of the time scheduled approach are discussed to comply with duty cycle regulations in LoRaWAN.}, language = {en} } @article{WillmsSchwabvonWebskyetal.2022, author = {Willms, A. G. and Schwab, R. and von Websky, M. W. and Berrevoet, F. and Tartaglia, D. and S{\"o}relius, K. and Fortelny, R. H. and Bj{\"o}rck, M. and Monchal, T. and Brennfleck, F. and Bulian, D. and Beltzer, C. and Germer, C. T. and Lock, J. F.}, title = {Factors influencing the fascial closure rate after open abdomen treatment: Results from the European Hernia Society (EuraHS) Registry. Surgical technique matters}, series = {Hernia}, volume = {26}, journal = {Hernia}, number = {1}, organization = {EURAHS Open Abdomen Group}, issn = {1265-4906}, doi = {10.1007/s10029-020-02336-x}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-234871}, pages = {61-73}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Purpose Definitive fascial closure is an essential treatment objective after open abdomen treatment and mitigates morbidity and mortality. There is a paucity of evidence on factors that promote or prevent definitive fascial closure. Methods A multi-center multivariable analysis of data from the Open Abdomen Route of the European Hernia Society included all cases between 1 May 2015 and 31 December 2019. Different treatment elements, i.e. the use of a visceral protective layer, negative-pressure wound therapy and dynamic closure techniques, as well as patient characteristics were included in the multivariable analysis. The study was registered in the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform via the German Registry for Clinical Trials (DRK00021719). Results Data were included from 630 patients from eleven surgical departments in six European countries. Indications for OAT were peritonitis (46\%), abdominal compartment syndrome (20.5\%), burst abdomen (11.3\%), abdominal trauma (9\%), and other conditions (13.2\%). The overall definitive fascial closure rate was 57.5\% in the intention-to-treat analysis and 71\% in the per-protocol analysis. The multivariable analysis showed a positive correlation of negative-pressure wound therapy (odds ratio: 2.496, p < 0.001) and dynamic closure techniques (odds ratio: 2.687, p < 0.001) with fascial closure and a negative correlation of intra-abdominal contamination (odds ratio: 0.630, p = 0.029) and the number of surgical procedures before OAT (odds ratio: 0.740, p = 0.005) with DFC. Conclusion The clinical course and prognosis of open abdomen treatment can significantly be improved by the use of treatment elements such as negative-pressure wound therapy and dynamic closure techniques, which are associated with definitive fascial closure.}, language = {en} } @article{MetznerHerzogHeckeletal.2022, author = {Metzner, Valentin and Herzog, Gloria and Heckel, Tobias and Bischler, Thorsten and Hasinger, Julia and Otto, Christoph and Fassnacht, Martin and Geier, Andreas and Seyfried, Florian and Dischinger, Ulrich}, title = {Liraglutide + PYY\(_{3-36}\) combination therapy mimics effects of Roux-en-Y bypass on early NAFLD whilst lacking-behind in metabolic improvements}, series = {Journal of Clinical Medicine}, volume = {11}, journal = {Journal of Clinical Medicine}, number = {3}, issn = {2077-0383}, doi = {10.3390/jcm11030753}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-255244}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background: Treatment options for NAFLD are still limited. Bariatric surgery, such as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), has been shown to improve metabolic and histologic markers of NAFLD. Glucagon-like-peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogues lead to improvements in phase 2 clinical trials. We directly compared the effects of RYGB with a treatment using liraglutide and/or peptide tyrosine tyrosine 3-36 (PYY\(_{3-36}\)) in a rat model for early NAFLD. Methods: Obese male Wistar rats (high-fat diet (HFD)-induced) were randomized into the following treatment groups: RYGB, sham-operation (sham), liraglutide (0.4 mg/kg/day), PYY\(_{3-36}\) (0.1 mg/kg/day), liraglutide+PYY\(_{3-36}\), and saline. After an observation period of 4 weeks, liver samples were histologically evaluated, ELISAs and RNA sequencing + RT-qPCRs were performed. Results: RYGB and liraglutide+PYY\(_{3-36}\) induced a similar body weight loss and, compared to sham/saline, marked histological improvements with significantly less steatosis. However, only RYGB induced significant metabolic improvements (e.g., adiponectin/leptin ratio 18.8 ± 11.8 vs. 2.4 ± 1.2 in liraglutide+PYY\(_{3-36}\)- or 1.4 ± 0.9 in sham-treated rats). Furthermore, RNA sequencing revealed a high number of differentially regulated genes in RYGB treated animals only. Conclusions: The combination therapy of liraglutide+PYY\(_{3-36}\) partly mimics the positive effects of RYGB on weight reduction and on hepatic steatosis, while its effects on metabolic function lack behind RYGB.}, language = {en} } @article{HombergerBarquistVogel2022, author = {Homberger, Christina and Barquist, Lars and Vogel, J{\"o}rg}, title = {Ushering in a new era of single-cell transcriptomics in bacteria}, series = {microLife}, volume = {3}, journal = {microLife}, doi = {10.1093/femsml/uqac020}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-313292}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Transcriptome analysis of individual cells by single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) has become routine for eukaryotic tissues, even being applied to whole multicellular organisms. In contrast, developing methods to read the transcriptome of single bacterial cells has proven more challenging, despite a general perception of bacteria as much simpler than eukaryotes. Bacterial cells are harder to lyse, their RNA content is about two orders of magnitude lower than that of eukaryotic cells, and bacterial mRNAs are less stable than their eukaryotic counterparts. Most importantly, bacterial transcripts lack functional poly(A) tails, precluding simple adaptation of popular standard eukaryotic scRNA-seq protocols that come with the double advantage of specific mRNA amplification and concomitant depletion of rRNA. However, thanks to very recent breakthroughs in methodology, bacterial scRNA-seq is now feasible. This short review will discuss recently published bacterial scRNA-seq approaches (MATQ-seq, microSPLiT, and PETRI-seq) and a spatial transcriptomics approach based on multiplexed in situ hybridization (par-seqFISH). Together, these novel approaches will not only enable a new understanding of cell-to-cell variation in bacterial gene expression, they also promise a new microbiology by enabling high-resolution profiling of gene activity in complex microbial consortia such as the microbiome or pathogens as they invade, replicate, and persist in host tissue.}, language = {en} } @article{Franz2022, author = {Franz, David J.}, title = {Is Applied Ethics Morally Problematic?}, series = {Journal of Academic Ethics}, volume = {20}, journal = {Journal of Academic Ethics}, issn = {1572-8544}, doi = {10.1007/s10805-021-09417-1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-269095}, pages = {359-374}, year = {2022}, abstract = {This paper argues that applied ethics can itself be morally problematic. As illustrated by the case of Peter Singer's criticism of social practice, morally loaded communication by applied ethicists can lead to protests, backlashes, and aggression. By reviewing the psychological literature on self-image, collective identity, and motivated reasoning three categories of morally problematic consequences of ethical criticism by applied ethicists are identified: serious psychological discomfort, moral backfiring, and hostile conflict. The most worrisome is moral backfiring: psychological research suggests that ethical criticism of people's central moral convictions can reinforce exactly those attitudes. Therefore, applied ethicists unintentionally can contribute to a consolidation of precisely those social circumstances that they condemn to be unethical. Furthermore, I argue that the normative concerns raised in this paper are not dependent on the commitment to one specific paradigm in moral philosophy. Utilitarianism, Aristotelian virtue ethics, and Rawlsian contractarianism all provide sound reasons to take morally problematic consequences of ethical criticism seriously. Only the case of deontological ethics is less clear-cut. Finally, I point out that the issues raised in this paper provide an excellent opportunity for further interdisciplinary collaboration between applied ethics and social sciences. I also propose strategies for communicating ethics effectively.}, language = {en} } @article{UeceylerSchliesserEvdokimovetal.2022, author = {{\"U}{\c{c}}eyler, Nurcan and Schließer, Mira and Evdokimov, Dimitar and Radziwon, Jakub and Feulner, Betty and Unterecker, Stefan and Rimmele, Florian and Walter, Uwe}, title = {Reduced midbrain raphe echogenicity in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome}, series = {PloS One}, volume = {17}, journal = {PloS One}, number = {11}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0277316}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300639}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Objectives The pathogenesis of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is unclear. Transcranial ultrasonography revealed anechoic alteration of midbrain raphe in depression and anxiety disorders, suggesting affection of the central serotonergic system. Here, we assessed midbrain raphe echogenicity in FMS. Methods Sixty-six patients underwent transcranial sonography, of whom 53 were patients with FMS (27 women, 26 men), 13 patients with major depression and physical pain (all women), and 14 healthy controls (11 women, 3 men). Raphe echogenicity was graded visually as normal or hypoechogenic, and quantified by digitized image analysis, each by investigators blinded to the clinical diagnosis. Results Quantitative midbrain raphe echogenicity was lower in patients with FMS compared to healthy controls (p<0.05), but not different from that of patients with depression and accompanying physical pain. Pain and FMS symptom burden did not correlate with midbrain raphe echogenicity as well as the presence and severity of depressive symptoms. Conclusion We found reduced echogenicity of the midbrain raphe area in patients with FMS and in patients with depression and physical pain, independent of the presence or severity of pain, FMS, and depressive symptoms. Further exploration of this sonographic finding is necessary before this objective technique may enter diagnostic algorithms in FMS and depression.}, language = {en} } @article{SchlauersbachHanioRaschigetal.2022, author = {Schlauersbach, Jonas and Hanio, Simon and Raschig, Martina and Lenz, Bettina and Scherf-Cavel, Oliver and Meinel, Lorenz}, title = {Bile and excipient interactions directing drug pharmacokinetics in rats}, series = {European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics}, volume = {178}, journal = {European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics}, edition = {accepted version}, doi = {10.1016/j.ejpb.2022.07.016}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-296969}, pages = {65-68}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Bile solubilization plays a major role in the absorption of poorly water-soluble drugs. Excipients used in oral drug formulations impact bile-colloidal properties and their molecular interactions. Polymer-induced changes of bile colloids, e.g., by Eudragit E, reduced the flux of the bile interacting drug Perphenazine whereas bile non-interacting Metoprolol was not impacted. This study corroborates these in vitro findings in rats. Eudragit E significantly reduced systemic availability of Perphenazine but not Metoprolol compared to the oral administrations without polymer. This study confirms the necessity to carefully select polymers for bile interacting drugs whereas non-bile interacting drugs are more robust in terms of excipient choice for formulation. The perspective of bile interaction may introduce interesting biopharmaceutical leverage for better performing oral formulations of tomorrow.}, language = {en} } @article{FuchsKreczyBrueckneretal.2022, author = {Fuchs, Andreas and Kreczy, Dorothea and Br{\"u}ckner, Theresa and Gbureck, Uwe and Stahlhut, Philipp and Bengel, Melanie and Hoess, Andreas and Nies, Berthold and Bator, Julia and Klammert, Uwe and Linz, Christian and Ewald, Andrea}, title = {Bone regeneration capacity of newly developed spherical magnesium phosphate cement granules}, series = {Clinical Oral Investigations}, volume = {26}, journal = {Clinical Oral Investigations}, number = {3}, issn = {1436-3771}, doi = {10.1007/s00784-021-04231-w}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-268872}, pages = {2619-2633}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Objectives Magnesium phosphate-based cements begin to catch more attention as bone substitute materials and especially as alternatives for the more commonly used calcium phosphates. In bone substitutes for augmentation purposes, atraumatic materials with good biocompatibility and resorbability are favorable. In the current study, we describe the in vivo testing of novel bone augmentation materials in form of spherical granules based on a calcium-doped magnesium phosphate (CaMgP) cement. Materials and Methods Granules with diameters between 500 and 710 μm were fabricated via the emulsification of CaMgP cement pastes in a lipophilic liquid. As basic material, two different CaMgP formulations were used. The obtained granules were implanted into drill hole defects at the distal femoral condyle of 27 New Zealand white rabbits for 6 and 12 weeks. After explantation, the femora were examined via X-ray diffraction analysis, histological staining, radiological examination, and EDX measurement. Results Both granule types display excellent biocompatibility without any signs of inflammation and allow for proper bone healing without the interposition of connective tissue. CaMgP granules show a fast and continuous degradation and enable fully adequate bone regeneration. Conclusions Due to their biocompatibility, their degradation behavior, and their completely spherical morphology, these CaMgP granules present a promising bone substitute material for bone augmentation procedures, especially in sensitive areas. Clinical Relevance The mostly insufficient local bone supply after tooth extractions complicates prosthetic dental restoration or makes it even impossible. Therefore, bone augmentation procedures are oftentimes inevitable. Spherical CaMgP granules may represent a valuable bone replacement material in many situations.}, language = {en} } @article{SivarajanOberwinklerRolletal.2022, author = {Sivarajan, Rinu and Oberwinkler, Heike and Roll, Valeria and K{\"o}nig, Eva-Maria and Steinke, Maria and Bodem, Jochen}, title = {A defined anthocyanin mixture sourced from bilberry and black currant inhibits Measles virus and various herpesviruses}, series = {BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies}, volume = {22}, journal = {BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies}, doi = {10.1186/s12906-022-03661-7}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-301423}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background Anthocyanin-containing plant extracts and carotenoids, such as astaxanthin, have been well-known for their antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity, respectively. We hypothesised that a mixture of Ribes nigrum L. (Grossulariaceae) (common name black currant (BC)) and Vaccinium myrtillus L. (Ericaceae) (common name bilberry (BL)) extracts (BC/BL) with standardised anthocyanin content as well as single plant extracts interfered with the replication of Measles virus and Herpesviruses in vitro. Methods We treated cell cultures with BC/BL or defined single plant extracts, purified anthocyanins and astaxanthin in different concentrations and subsequently infected the cultures with the Measles virus (wild-type or vaccine strain Edmonston), Herpesvirus 1 or 8, or murine Cytomegalovirus. Then, we analysed the number of infected cells and viral infectivity and compared the data to non-treated controls. Results The BC/BL extract inhibited wild-type Measles virus replication, syncytia formation and cell-to-cell spread. This suppression was dependent on the wild-type virus-receptor-interaction since the Measles vaccine strain was unaffected by BC/BL treatment. Furthermore, the evidence was provided that the delphinidin-3-rutinoside chloride, a component of BC/BL, and purified astaxanthin, were effective anti-Measles virus compounds. Human Herpesvirus 1 and murine Cytomegalovirus replication was inhibited by BC/BL, single bilberry or black currant extracts, and the BC/BL component delphinidin-3-glucoside chloride. Additionally, we observed that BC/BL seemed to act synergistically with aciclovir. Moreover, BC/BL, the single bilberry and black currant extracts, and the BC/BL components delphinidin-3-glucoside chloride, cyanidin-3-glucoside, delphinidin-3-rutinoside chloride, and petunidin-3-galactoside inhibited human Herpesvirus 8 replication. Conclusions Our data indicate that Measles viruses and Herpesviruses are differentially susceptible to a specific BC/BL mixture, single plant extracts, purified anthocyanins and astaxanthin. These compounds might be used in the prevention of viral diseases and in addition to direct-acting antivirals, such as aciclovir.}, language = {en} } @article{SchosseeVeitGitteletal.2022, author = {Schossee, Nadine and Veit, Gabriele and Gittel, Julia and Viebahn, Johannes and Niklaus, Marius and Klingler, Philipp and {\"U}{\c{c}}eyler, Nurcan and Klinker, Erdwine and Kobsar, Anna and Boeck, Markus and Koessler, Juergen}, title = {Profile of the single-use, multiple-pass protein A adsorber column in immunoadsorption}, series = {Vox Sanguinis}, volume = {117}, journal = {Vox Sanguinis}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1111/vox.13205}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-259689}, pages = {393-398}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background and Objectives Immunoadsorptions (IA) are used to remove autoantibodies from the plasma in autoimmune disorders. In this study, we evaluated the effects of a single-use, recombinant staphylococcal protein A-based immunoadsorber on blood composition of the patient. Materials and Methods In a cohort of patients with myasthenia gravis or stiff-person syndrome, essential parameters of blood cell count, coagulation, clinical chemistry or plasma proteins and immunoglobulins (Ig) were measured before and after IA (n = 11). Results In average, IA reduced the levels of total IgG, IgG1, IgG2 and IgG4 by approximately 60\%, the acetylcholine receptor autoantibody levels by more than 70\%. IgG3, IgA or IgM were diminished to a lower extent. In contrast to fibrinogen or other coagulation factors, the column markedly removed vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors II, VII, IX and X by approximately 40\%-70\%. Accordingly, international normalized ratio and activated partial thromboplastin time were increased after IA by 59.1\% and 32.7\%, respectively. Coagulation tests almost returned to baseline values within 24 h. Blood cell count, electrolytes, total protein or albumin were not essentially affected. No clinical events occurred. Conclusion The single-use, multiple-pass protein A adsorber column is highly efficient to remove IgG1, IgG2 and IgG4 or specific acetylcholine receptor autoantibodies from the plasma. Coagulation parameters should be monitored, since the column has the capacity to largely reduce vitamin K-dependent factors.}, language = {en} } @article{KarikariMcFlederRibechinietal.2022, author = {Karikari, Akua A. and McFleder, Rhonda L. and Ribechini, Eliana and Blum, Robert and Bruttel, Valentin and Knorr, Susanne and Gehmeyr, Mona and Volkmann, Jens and Brotchie, Jonathan M. and Ahsan, Fadhil and Haack, Beatrice and Monoranu, Camelia-Maria and Keber, Ursula and Yeghiazaryan, Rima and Pagenstecher, Axel and Heckel, Tobias and Bischler, Thorsten and Wischhusen, J{\"o}rg and Koprich, James B. and Lutz, Manfred B. and Ip, Chi Wang}, title = {Neurodegeneration by α-synuclein-specific T cells in AAV-A53T-α-synuclein Parkinson's disease mice}, series = {Brain, Behavior, and Immunity}, volume = {101}, journal = {Brain, Behavior, and Immunity}, doi = {10.1016/j.bbi.2022.01.007}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300600}, pages = {194 -- 210}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background Antigen-specific neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration are characteristic for neuroimmunological diseases. In Parkinson's disease (PD) pathogenesis, α-synuclein is a known culprit. Evidence for α-synuclein-specific T cell responses was recently obtained in PD. Still, a causative link between these α-synuclein responses and dopaminergic neurodegeneration had been lacking. We thus addressed the functional relevance of α-synuclein-specific immune responses in PD in a mouse model. Methods We utilized a mouse model of PD in which an Adeno-associated Vector 1/2 serotype (AAV1/2) expressing human mutated A53T-α-Synuclein was stereotactically injected into the substantia nigra (SN) of either wildtype C57BL/6 or Recombination-activating gene 1 (RAG1)\(^{-/-}\) mice. Brain, spleen, and lymph node tissues from different time points following injection were then analyzed via FACS, cytokine bead assay, immunohistochemistry and RNA-sequencing to determine the role of T cells and inflammation in this model. Bone marrow transfer from either CD4\(^{+}\)/CD8\(^{-}\), CD4\(^{-}\)/CD8\(^{+}\), or CD4\(^{+}\)/CD8\(^{+}\) (JHD\(^{-/-}\)) mice into the RAG-1\(^{-/-}\) mice was also employed. In addition to the in vivo studies, a newly developed A53T-α-synuclein-expressing neuronal cell culture/immune cell assay was utilized. Results AAV-based overexpression of pathogenic human A53T-α-synuclein in dopaminergic neurons of the SN stimulated T cell infiltration. RNA-sequencing of immune cells from PD mouse brains confirmed a pro-inflammatory gene profile. T cell responses were directed against A53T-α-synuclein-peptides in the vicinity of position 53 (68-78) and surrounding the pathogenically relevant S129 (120-134). T cells were required for α-synuclein-induced neurodegeneration in vivo and in vitro, while B cell deficiency did not protect from dopaminergic neurodegeneration. Conclusions Using T cell and/or B cell deficient mice and a newly developed A53T-α-synuclein-expressing neuronal cell culture/immune cell assay, we confirmed in vivo and in vitro that pathogenic α-synuclein peptide-specific T cell responses can cause dopaminergic neurodegeneration and thereby contribute to PD-like pathology.}, language = {en} } @article{BreilHuesteggeBoeckler2022, author = {Breil, Christina and Huestegge, Lynn and B{\"o}ckler, Anne}, title = {From eye to arrow: Attention capture by direct gaze requires more than just the eyes}, series = {Attention, Perception \& Psychophysics}, volume = {84}, journal = {Attention, Perception \& Psychophysics}, number = {1}, issn = {1943-393X}, doi = {10.3758/s13414-021-02382-2}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-273206}, pages = {64-75}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Human attention is strongly attracted by direct gaze and sudden onset motion. The sudden direct-gaze effect refers to the processing advantage for targets appearing on peripheral faces that suddenly establish eye contact. Here, we investigate the necessity of social information for attention capture by (sudden onset) ostensive cues. Six experiments involving 204 participants applied (1) naturalistic faces, (2) arrows, (3) schematic eyes, (4) naturalistic eyes, or schematic facial configurations (5) without or (6) with head turn to an attention-capture paradigm. Trials started with two stimuli oriented towards the observer and two stimuli pointing into the periphery. Simultaneous to target presentation, one direct stimulus changed to averted and one averted stimulus changed to direct, yielding a 2 × 2 factorial design with direction and motion cues being absent or present. We replicated the (sudden) direct-gaze effect for photographic faces, but found no corresponding effects in Experiments 2-6. Hence, a holistic and socially meaningful facial context seems vital for attention capture by direct gaze. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The present study highlights the significance of context information for social attention. Our findings demonstrate that the direct-gaze effect, that is, the prioritization of direct gaze over averted gaze, critically relies on the presentation of a meaningful holistic and naturalistic facial context. This pattern of results is evidence in favor of early effects of surrounding social information on attention capture by direct gaze.}, language = {en} } @article{SponslerKallnikRequieretal.2022, author = {Sponsler, Douglas and Kallnik, Katharina and Requier, Fabrice and Classen, Alice and Maihoff, A. Fabienne and Sieger, Johanna and Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf}, title = {Floral preferences of mountain bumble bees are constrained by functional traits but flexible through elevation and season}, series = {Oikos}, volume = {2022}, journal = {Oikos}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1111/oik.08902}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-259653}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Patterns of resource use by animals can clarify how ecological communities have assembled in the past, how they currently function and how they are likely to respond to future perturbations. Bumble bees (Hymentoptera: Bombus spp.) and their floral hosts provide a diverse yet tractable system in which to explore resource selection in the context of plant-pollinator networks. Under conditions of resource limitation, the ability of bumble bees species to coexist should depend on dietary niche overlap. In this study, we report patterns and dynamics of floral morphotype preferences in a mountain bumble bee community based on ~13 000 observations of bumble bee floral visits recorded along a 1400 m elevation gradient. We found that bumble bees are highly selective generalists, rarely visiting floral morphotypes at the rates predicted by their relative abundances. Preferences also differed markedly across bumble bee species, and these differences were well-explained by variation in bumble bee tongue length, generating patterns of preference similarity that should be expected to predict competition under conditions of resource limitation. Within species, though, morphotype preferences varied by elevation and season, possibly representing adaptive flexibility in response to the high elevational and seasonal turnover of mountain floral communities. Patterns of resource partitioning among bumble bee communities may determine which species can coexist under the altered distributions of bumble bees and their floral hosts caused by climate and land use change.}, language = {en} } @article{SteinhardtKrummenastRosenwaldetal.2022, author = {Steinhardt, Maximilian J. and Krummenast, Franziska C. and Rosenwald, Andreas and Gerhard-Hartmann, Elena and Heidemeier, Anke and Einsele, Hermann and Topp, Max S. and Duell, Johannes}, title = {R-CHOP intensification with mid-cycle methotrexate and consolidating AraC/TT with BCNU/aHSCT in primary aggressive lymphoma with CNS involvement}, series = {Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology}, volume = {148}, journal = {Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology}, number = {1}, issn = {1432-1335}, doi = {10.1007/s00432-021-03663-x}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-267731}, pages = {205-214}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Purpose Patients suffering from aggressive systemic peripheral lymphoma with primary central nervous system involvement (PCL) are a rare and sparsely investigated population. Recommended treatment regimens include a combination of intrathecal and systemic chemotherapy as well as whole brain radiotherapy while offering relatively poor survival. Methods We conducted a single-center retrospective study that analyzed safety and outcome of 4 + 4 cycles Rituximab (R)-CHOP and R-high-dose Methotrexate (HD-MTX) for newly diagnosed, transplant-eligible patients ("Ping-Pong"), followed by Cytarabine (AraC)/Thiotepa (TT), BCNU/TT, and autologous hematologic stem cell transplantation (aHSCT). We retrospectively analyzed a set of 16 patients with high-intermediate or high-risk IPI status. Results Overall response rate to Ping-Pong was 100\% measured by CT/MRI, including 93.75\% complete remissions after BCNU/TT followed by PBSCT. One patient failed to qualify for high-dose chemotherapy due to progression when receiving Cytarabine/TT. All patients experienced grade III adverse events, 3 of them a grade IV adverse event. Estimated progression-free survival is 93.75\% after a 4.8-year follow-up currently. Conclusion Our study suggests high effectivity of R-CHOP with mid-cycle MTX with aHSCT consolidation towards acceptable OS results in this challenging patient population.}, language = {en} } @article{GernertSchmalzingTonyetal.2022, author = {Gernert, Michael and Schmalzing, Marc and Tony, Hans-Peter and Strunz, Patrick-Pascal and Schwaneck, Eva Christina and Fr{\"o}hlich, Matthias}, title = {Calprotectin (S100A8/S100A9) detects inflammatory activity in rheumatoid arthritis patients receiving tocilizumab therapy}, series = {Arthritis Research \& Therapy}, volume = {24}, journal = {Arthritis Research \& Therapy}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1186/s13075-022-02887-7}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300523}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background Assessing serological inflammation is difficult in tocilizumab (TCZ)-treated rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, as standard inflammation parameters, like erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP), are influenced by interleukin-6-receptor inhibition. Calprotectin in the serum, also named S100A8/S100A9, might be a more useful inflammation parameter in TCZ-treated patients. Methods Sixty-nine RA patients taking TCZ were included. Serum-calprotectin levels were assessed, as well as ESR, CRP, need for a change in disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs due to RA activity (= active RA), and the RA clinical disease activity score (CDAI). Forty-five RA patients taking tumor-necrosis factor-inhibitors (TNFi) were investigated for the same parameters. Results TCZ-treated patients with active RA had higher calprotectin values than not active RA patients (4155.5 [inter quartile range 1865.3-6068.3] vs 1040.0 [676.0-1638.0] ng/ml, P < 0.001). A calprotectin cut-off value of 1916.5 ng/ml resulted in a sensitivity and specificity of 80.0 \%, respectively, for the detection of RA disease activity. Calprotectin values correlated with CDAI-scores (r = 0.228; P = 0.011). ESR and CRP were less suitable to detect RA activity in TCZ-treated patients. Also TNFi-treated patients with active RA had higher calprotectin values compared to not active RA (5422.0 [3749.0-8150.8] vs 1845.0 [832.0-2569.0] ng/ml, P < 0.001). The calprotectin value with the best sensitivity and specificity for detecting RA activity was 3690.5 ng/ml among TNFi-treated patients. Conclusion Calprotectin in the serum can be a useful inflammation parameter despite TCZ-treatment.}, language = {en} } @article{ZhouRuckdeschelPeteretal.2022, author = {Zhou, Xiang and Ruckdeschel, Anna and Peter, Jessica and B{\"o}ckle, David and Hornburger, Hannah and Danhof, Sophia and Steinhardt, Maximilian Johannes and Heimeshoff, Larissa and Einsele, Hermann and Kort{\"u}m, Klaus Martin and Rasche, Leo}, title = {Salvage therapy with "Dara-KDT-P(A)CE" in heavily pretreated, high-risk, proliferative, relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma}, series = {Hematological Oncology}, volume = {40}, journal = {Hematological Oncology}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1002/hon.2949}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-257495}, pages = {202-211}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The multi-agent therapy "VDT-PACE" represents an established regimen in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). Here, we report on our experience with a "modified VDT-PACE" incorporating new generation anti-MM agents daratumumab and carfilzomib ("Dara-KDT-P(A)CE"). We retrospectively analyzed 38 patients with RRMM treated with "Dara-KDT-P(A)CE". The median age was 62 (range 45-82) years, and the patients were heavily pretreated with a median of 5 (range 2-12) prior lines of therapy. Twenty-one (55\%) patients suffered from penta-refractory MM. High-risk cytogenetics was present in 31 (81\%) patients. The patients received a median of 2 (range 1-10) cycles of this therapy, and the overall response rate (ORR) was 70\%. Patients with penta-refractory MM and high-risk cytogenetics showed similar ORR of 65\% and 79\%, respectively. The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival were 4.1 (95\% CI 2.7-5.4) and 8.4 (95\% CI 6.7-10.0) months, respectively. Patients with lactate dehydrogenase >250 IU/L showed significantly shorter PFS in comparison with others patients (p = 0.006). We used this regimen as bridging therapy prior to chimeric antigen receptor T-cell infusion in four patients. In conclusion, "Dara-KDT-P(A)CE" is an effective salvage therapy for patients with heavily pretreated, multi-refractory, high-risk RRMM lacking alternative options.}, language = {en} } @article{MartinezBengocheaKneitzHerpinetal.2022, author = {Martinez-Bengochea, A. L. and Kneitz, S. and Herpin, A. and Nobrega, R. H. and Adolfi, M. C. and Schartl, M.}, title = {Sexual development dysgenesis in interspecific hybrids of Medaka fish}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {12}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-022-09314-6}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300295}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Fish are amongst vertebrates the group with the highest diversity of known sex-determining genes. Particularly, the genus Oryzias is a suitable taxon to understand how different sex determination genetic networks evolved in closely related species. Two closely related species, O. latipes and O. curvinotus, do not only share the same XX/XY sex chromosome system, but also the same male sex-determining gene, dmrt1bY. We performed whole mRNA transcriptomes and morphology analyses of the gonads of hybrids resulting from reciprocal crosses between O. latipes and O. curvinotus. XY male hybrids, presenting meiotic arrest and no production of sperm were sterile, and about 30\% of the XY hybrids underwent male-to-female sex reversal. Both XX and XY hybrid females exhibited reduced fertility and developed ovotestis while aging. Transcriptome data showed that male-related genes are upregulated in the XX and XY female hybrids. The transcriptomes of both types of female and of the male gonads are characterized by upregulation of meiosis and germ cell differentiation genes. Differences in the parental species in the downstream pathways of sexual development could explain sex reversal, sterility, and the development of intersex gonads in the hybrids. We hypothesize that male-to-female sex reversal may be connected to a different development time between species at which dmrt1bY expression starts. Our results provide molecular clues for the proximate mechanisms of hybrid incompatibility and Haldane's rule.}, language = {en} } @article{SolimandoDaViaBollietal.2022, author = {Solimando, Antonio Giovanni and Da Vi{\`a}, Matteo Claudio and Bolli, Niccol{\`o} and Steinbrunn, Torsten}, title = {The route of the malignant plasma cell in its survival niche: exploring "Multiple Myelomas"}, series = {Cancers}, volume = {14}, journal = {Cancers}, number = {13}, issn = {2072-6694}, doi = {10.3390/cancers14133271}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-281728}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Growing evidence points to multiple myeloma (MM) and its stromal microenvironment using several mechanisms to subvert effective immune and anti-tumor responses. Recent advances have uncovered the tumor-stromal cell influence in regulating the immune-microenvironment and have envisioned targeting these suppressive pathways to improve therapeutic outcomes. Nevertheless, some subgroups of patients include those with particularly unfavorable prognoses. Biological stratification can be used to categorize patient-, disease- or therapy-related factors, or alternatively, these biological determinants can be included in a dynamic model that customizes a given treatment to a specific patient. Genetic heterogeneity and current knowledge enforce a systematic and comprehensive bench-to-bedside approach. Given the increasing role of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in better characterizing the pathogenesis of solid and hematological malignancies, disease relapse, and drug resistance, identifying and describing CSCs is of paramount importance in the management of MM. Even though the function of CSCs is well-known in other cancer types, their role in MM remains elusive. With this review, we aim to provide an update on MM homing and resilience in the bone marrow micro milieu. These data are particularly interesting for clinicians facing unmet medical needs while designing novel treatment approaches for MM.}, language = {en} } @article{SchapovalovaGorlovadeMunteretal.2022, author = {Schapovalova, Olesia and Gorlova, Anna and de Munter, Johannes and Sheveleva, Elisaveta and Eropkin, Mikhail and Gorbunov, Nikita and Sicker, Michail and Umriukhin, Aleksei and Lyubchyk, Sergiy and Lesch, Klaus-Peter and Strekalova, Tatyana and Schroeter, Careen A.}, title = {Immunomodulatory effects of new phytotherapy on human macrophages and TLR4- and TLR7/8-mediated viral-like inflammation in mice}, series = {Frontiers in Medicine}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in Medicine}, issn = {2296-858X}, doi = {10.3389/fmed.2022.952977}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-286301}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background While all efforts have been undertaken to propagate the vaccination and develop remedies against SARS-CoV-2, no satisfactory management of this infection is available yet. Moreover, poor availability of any preventive and treatment measures of SARS-CoV-2 in economically disadvantageous communities aggravates the course of the pandemic. Here, we studied a new immunomodulatory phytotherapy (IP), an extract of blackberry, chamomile, garlic, cloves, and elderberry as a potential low-cost solution for these problems given the reported efficacy of herbal medicine during the previous SARS virus outbreak. Methods The key feature of SARS-CoV-2 infection, excessive inflammation, was studied in in vitro and in vivo assays under the application of the IP. First, changes in tumor-necrosis factor (TNF) and lnteurleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) concentrations were measured in a culture of human macrophages following the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge and treatment with IP or prednisolone. Second, chronically IP-pre-treated CD-1 mice received an agonist of Toll-like receptors (TLR)-7/8 resiquimod and were examined for lung and spleen expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and blood formula. Finally, chronically IP-pre-treated mice challenged with LPS injection were studied for "sickness" behavior. Additionally, the IP was analyzed using high-potency-liquid chromatography (HPLC)-high-resolution-mass-spectrometry (HRMS). Results LPS-induced in vitro release of TNF and IL-1β was reduced by both treatments. The IP-treated mice displayed blunted over-expression of SAA-2, ACE-2, CXCL1, and CXCL10 and decreased changes in blood formula in response to an injection with resiquimod. The IP-treated mice injected with LPS showed normalized locomotion, anxiety, and exploration behaviors but not abnormal forced swimming. Isoquercitrin, choline, leucine, chlorogenic acid, and other constituents were identified by HPLC-HRMS and likely underlie the IP immunomodulatory effects. Conclusions Herbal IP-therapy decreases inflammation and, partly, "sickness behavior," suggesting its potency to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection first of all via its preventive effects.}, language = {en} } @article{HeinzMellerLuetkensetal.2022, author = {Heinz, Tizian and Meller, Felix and Luetkens, Karsten Sebastian and Horas, Konstantin and Sch{\"a}fer, Thomas and Rudert, Maximilian and Reppenhagen, Stephan and Weißenberger, Manuel}, title = {Can the MRI based AMADEUS score accurately assess pre-surgery chondral defect severity according to the ICRS arthroscopic classification system?}, series = {Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics}, volume = {9}, journal = {Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics}, number = {1}, issn = {2197-1153}, doi = {10.1186/s40634-022-00511-w}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300781}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Purpose The AMADEUS (Area Measurement And DEpth and Underlying Structures) scoring and grading system has been proposed for the MRI based evaluation of untreated focal chondral defects around the knee. The clinical practicability, its correlation with arthroscopically assessed grading systems (ICRS - International Cartilage Repair Society) and thereby its clinical value in terms of decision making and guiding prognosis was yet to determine. Methods From 2008 to 2019 a total of 89 individuals were indicated for high tibial valgus osteotomy (HTO) due to tibial varus deformity and concomitant chondral defects of the medial compartment of the knee. All patients received a preoperative MRI (1.5 Tesla or 3.0 Tesla) and pre-osteotomy diagnostic arthroscopy. Chondral defects of the medial compartment were scored and graded with the MRI based AMADEUS by three independent raters and compared to arthroscopic defect grading by the ICRS system. Interrater and intrarater reliability as well as correlation analysis with the ICRS classification system were assessed. Results Intraclass correlation coefficients for the various subscores of the AMADEUS showed an overall good to excellent interrater agreement (min: 0.26, max: 0.80). Intrarater agreement turned out to be substantially inferior (min: 0.08, max: 0.53). Spearman correlation revealed an overall moderate correlative association of the AMADEUS subscores with the ICRS classification system, apart from the defect area subscore. Sensitivity of the AMADEUS to accurately identify defect severity according to the ICRS was 0.7 (0.69 for 3.0 Tesla MRI, 0.67 for 1.5 Tesla MRI). The mean AMADEUS grade was 2.60 ± 0.81 and the mean ICRS score 2.90 ± 0.63. Conclusions Overall, the AMADEUS with all its subscores shows moderate correlation with the arthroscopic chondral grading system according to ICRS. This suggests that chondral defect grading by means of the MRI based AMADEUS is well capable of influencing and guiding treatment decisions. Interrater reliability shows overall good agreement.}, language = {en} } @article{ChilakaObidiegwuChilakaetal.2022, author = {Chilaka, Cynthia Adaku and Obidiegwu, Jude Ejikeme and Chilaka, Augusta Chinenye and Atanda, Olusegun Oladimeji and Mally, Angela}, title = {Mycotoxin regulatory status in Africa: a decade of weak institutional efforts}, series = {Toxins}, volume = {14}, journal = {Toxins}, number = {7}, issn = {2072-6651}, doi = {10.3390/toxins14070442}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-278941}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Food safety problems are a major hindrance to achieving food security, trade, and healthy living in Africa. Fungi and their secondary metabolites, known as mycotoxins, represent an important concern in this regard. Attempts such as agricultural, storage, and processing practices, and creation of awareness to tackle the menace of fungi and mycotoxins have yielded measurable outcomes especially in developed countries, where there are comprehensive mycotoxin legislations and enforcement schemes. Conversely, most African countries do not have mycotoxin regulatory limits and even when available, are only applied for international trade. Factors such as food insecurity, public ignorance, climate change, poor infrastructure, poor research funding, incorrect prioritization of resources, and nonchalant attitudes that exist among governmental organisations and other stakeholders further complicate the situation. In the present review, we discuss the status of mycotoxin regulation in Africa, with emphasis on the impact of weak mycotoxin legislations and enforcement on African trade, agriculture, and health. Furthermore, we discuss the factors limiting the establishment and control of mycotoxins in the region.}, language = {en} } @article{TolstikAliGuoetal.2022, author = {Tolstik, Elen and Ali, Nairveen and Guo, Shuxia and Ebersbach, Paul and M{\"o}llmann, Dorothe and Arias-Loza, Paula and Dierks, Johann and Schuler, Irina and Freier, Erik and Debus, J{\"o}rg and Baba, Hideo A. and Nordbeck, Peter and Bocklitz, Thomas and Lorenz, Kristina}, title = {CARS imaging advances early diagnosis of cardiac manifestation of Fabry disease}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {23}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {10}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms23105345}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284427}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Vibrational spectroscopy can detect characteristic biomolecular signatures and thus has the potential to support diagnostics. Fabry disease (FD) is a lipid disorder disease that leads to accumulations of globotriaosylceramide in different organs, including the heart, which is particularly critical for the patient's prognosis. Effective treatment options are available if initiated at early disease stages, but many patients are late- or under-diagnosed. Since Coherent anti-Stokes Raman (CARS) imaging has a high sensitivity for lipid/protein shifts, we applied CARS as a diagnostic tool to assess cardiac FD manifestation in an FD mouse model. CARS measurements combined with multivariate data analysis, including image preprocessing followed by image clustering and data-driven modeling, allowed for differentiation between FD and control groups. Indeed, CARS identified shifts of lipid/protein content between the two groups in cardiac tissue visually and by subsequent automated bioinformatic discrimination with a mean sensitivity of 90-96\%. Of note, this genotype differentiation was successful at a very early time point during disease development when only kidneys are visibly affected by globotriaosylceramide depositions. Altogether, the sensitivity of CARS combined with multivariate analysis allows reliable diagnostic support of early FD organ manifestation and may thus improve diagnosis, prognosis, and possibly therapeutic monitoring of FD.}, language = {en} } @book{Halder2022, author = {Halder, Partho}, title = {Identification and characterization of synaptic proteins of Drosophila melanogaster using monoclonal antibodies of the Wuerzburg Hybridoma Library}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-27020}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-270205}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2022}, abstract = {For a large fraction of the proteins expressed in the human brain only the primary structure is known from the genome project. Proteins conserved in evolution can be studied in genetic models such as Drosophila. In this doctoral thesis monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from the Wuerzburg Hybridoma library are produced and characterized with the aim to identify the target antigen. The mAb ab52 was found to be an IgM which recognized a cytosolic protein of Mr ~110 kDa on Western blots. The antigen was resolved by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) as a single distinct spot. Mass spectrometric analysis of this spot revealed EPS-15 (epidermal growth factor receptor pathway substrate clone 15) to be a strong candidate. Another mAb from the library, aa2, was already found to recognize EPS-15, and comparison of the signal of both mAbs on Western blots of 1D and 2D electrophoretic separations revealed similar patterns, hence indicating that both antigens could represent the same protein. Finally absence of the wild-type signal in homozygous Eps15 mutants in a Western blot with ab52 confirmed the ab52 antigen to be EPS-15. Thus both the mAbs aa2 and ab52 recognize the Drosophila homologue of EPS-15. The mAb aa2, being an IgG, is more suitable for applications like immunoprecipitation (IP). It has already been submitted to the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank (DSHB) to be easily available for the entire research community. The mAb na21 was also found to be an IgM. It recognizes a membrane associated antigen of Mr ~10 kDa on Western blots. Due to the membrane associated nature of the protein, it was not possible to resolve it by 2DE and due to the IgM nature of the mAb it was not possible to enrich the antigen by IP. Preliminary attempts to biochemically purify the endogenously expressed protein from the tissue, gave 99 promising results but could not be completed due to lack of time. Thus biochemical purification of the protein seems possible in order to facilitate its identification by mass spectrometry. Several other mAbs were studied for their staining pattern on cryosections and whole mounts of Drosophila brains. However, many of these mAbs stained very few structures in the brain, which indicated that only a very limited amount of protein would be available as starting material. Because these antibodies did not produce signals on Western blots, which made it impossible to enrich the antigens by electrophoretic methods, we did not attempt their purification. However, the specific localization of these proteins makes them highly interesting and calls for their further characterization, as they may play a highly specialized role in the development and/or function of the neural circuits they are present in. The purification and identification of such low expression proteins would need novel methods of enrichment of the stained structures.}, subject = {Taufliege}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Merz2022, author = {Merz, Viktor}, title = {Funktionalisierung und Untersuchung von Nanodiamanten f{\"u}r biomedizinische und sensorische Anwendungen}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-24588}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-245888}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Nanodiamant (ND) ist ein vielseitiges und vielversprechendes Material f{\"u}r Bio-Anwendungen. Trotz vieler Bem{\"u}hungen bleibt die Agglomeration von Nanodiamant und die unspezifische Adsorption von Proteinen an der ND-Oberfl{\"a}che bei Kontakt mit Biofl{\"u}ssigkeiten ein großes Hindernis f{\"u}r biomedizinische Anwendungen. Eine Auswahl verzweigter und linearer Molek{\"u}le mit {\"u}berlegener F{\"a}higkeit zur kolloidalen Stabilisierung von Nanopartikeln in Salz- und Zellmedienumgebung, f{\"u}r bis zu 30 Tage, wurde an die ND-Oberfl{\"a}che angebracht. Das Baukastensystem mit Azid als Außengruppen bietet eine große Vielfalt an Bindungen mit vielen Molek{\"u}len, wie z. B. Medikamenten, Farbstoffen oder Targeting-Molek{\"u}len. Das Anh{\"a}ngen von z. B. Zwitterionen an die Kette sch{\"u}tzt die ND-Oberfl{\"a}che vor der Bildung einer Proteinkorona, wenn die Partikel mit proteinhaltigen Biofl{\"u}ssigkeiten in Kontakt kommen. Die Ergebnisse der thermogravimetrischen Analyse der Beladung der ND-Oberfl{\"a}che zeigen eine signifikante Verhinderung der Proteinadsorption von bis zu 98 \% im Vergleich zu NDs ohne zwitterionische Kopfgruppen und eine lange kolloidale Stabilit{\"a}t, wenn Tetraethylenglykol (TEG) an die Oberfl{\"a}che gebunden wird. Die Vielseitigkeit des modularen Systems, um nicht nur zwitterionische Ketten, sondern auch klickbare funktionelle Molek{\"u}le an fluoreszierende Nanodiamanten (fNDs) zu binden, zeigt das Potenzial des Systems am Nanodiamanten. Unter Verwendung von Defektstrukturen, wie Stickstoff-Vakanz-Zentren (NV), k{\"o}nnen Diamantpartikel aufgrund ihres weitgehend ungiftigen Verhaltens als fluoreszierende Nanodiamanten (fNDs) f{\"u}r photostabile Markierung, Bioimaging und nanoskalige Sensorik in lebenden Zellen und Organismen verwendet werden. Um die fND-Oberfl{\"a}che zu funktionalisieren, wurde eine neuartige Mahltechnik mit Diazoniumsalzen etabliert, um ein Pfropfen auf wenig reaktive HPHT-fNDs durchzuf{\"u}hren, was zu einer hohen Oberfl{\"a}chenbeladung und einem hohen negativen Zetapotenzial f{\"u}hrt. Die Kombination der Vorteile von TEG und zwitterionhaltigen Gruppen mit der F{\"a}higkeit zum Targeting von Antik{\"o}rpern auf fND best{\"a}tigt zum ersten Mal die verbesserte kolloidale Stabilit{\"a}t in Experimenten mit lebenden Zellen. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus deuten die Ergebnisse auf eine verbesserte Corona-Abstoßung im Vergleich zu fND ohne zwitterionhaltige Kopfgruppen hin. Infolgedessen wurden die Zirkulationszeiten von 4 (fND ohne Zwitterionenkette, aber mit Antik{\"o}rper) auf 17 (mit Antik{\"o}rper und Zwitterionenketten) Stunden vergr{\"o}ßert. In nicht-biomedizinischen Anwendungen kann das modulare System als Sonde f{\"u}r Schwermetalle durch die Anbindung von Farbstoffen verwendet werden. Die Detektion von Metallen in verschiedenen Umgebungen mit hoher Selektivit{\"a}t und Spezifit{\"a}t ist eine der Voraussetzungen f{\"u}r den Kampf gegen die Umweltverschmutzung mit diesen Elementen. Pyrene sind gut geeignet und weit bekannt f{\"u}r die Fluoreszenzsensorik in verschiedenen Medien. Das angewandte Sensorprinzip beruht typischerweise auf der Bildung von intra- und intermolekularen Excimeren, was jedoch den Empfindlichkeitsbereich aufgrund der Maskierung von z.B. Quenching-Effekten durch die Excimer-Emission einschr{\"a}nkt. Diese Studie zeigt einen hochselektiven, strukturstabilen chemischen Sensor, der auf der monomeren Fluoreszenz von Pyrenanteilen mit Triazolgruppen basiert. Dieser Sensor kann Cu2+, Pb2+ und Hg2+ in organischen L{\"o}sungsmitteln {\"u}ber einen weiten Konzentrationsbereich quantitativ nachweisen, auch in Gegenwart von ubiquit{\"a}ren Ionen wie Na+, K+, Ca2+ und Mg2+. Die stark emittierende Fluoreszenz des Sensors mit einer langen Lebensdauer von 165 ns wird durch eine 1:1-Komplexbildung bei Zugabe von Metallionen in Acetonitril gel{\"o}scht. Bei Zugabe eines zehnfachen {\"U}berschusses des Metallions zum Sensor bilden sich Agglomerate mit einem Durchmesser von etwa 3 nm. Aufgrund der komplexen Wechselwirkungen im System werden konventionelle lineare Korrelationen nicht f{\"u}r alle Konzentrationen beobachtet. Daher wird ein kritischer Vergleich zwischen der konventionellen Job-Plot-Interpretation, der Methode von Benesi-Hildebrand und einem nicht-linearen Fit vorgestellt. Das vorgestellte System erm{\"o}glicht die spezifische und robuste Erfassung von medizinisch und {\"o}kologisch relevanten Ionen im gesundheitsrelevanten nM-Bereich und k{\"o}nnte z. B. zur {\"U}berwachung der entsprechenden Ionen in Abfallstr{\"o}men eingesetzt werden. Doch h{\"a}ufig landen diese Abfallstr{\"o}me in empfindlichen Aquakulturen, wo eine solche Sensortechnik nur funktioniert, wenn die Sonde wasserl{\"o}slich ist, um die Ausbreitung und Bildung von Umweltsch{\"a}den durch Schwermetalle zu {\"u}berwachen. Viele Chemosensoren arbeiten nur in bestimmten L{\"o}sungsmitteln und unter hochreinen Bedingungen quantitativ. In dieser Arbeit wird eine Methode zur Stabilisierung von wasserunl{\"o}slichen Chemosensoren auf Nanodiamanten in salzhaltigem Wasser unter Beibehaltung der Sensoreffektivit{\"a}t und -spezifit{\"a}t sowie der kolloidalen Stabilit{\"a}t vorgestellt. Zus{\"a}tzlich wird die Sensorf{\"a}higkeit in organischen L{\"o}sungsmitteln beibehalten. Diese Studie gibt Einblick in die Absorptionsf{\"a}higkeit von Pyren-Derivaten an der Nanodiamant-Oberfl{\"a}che und einen Weg, diese reversibel zu desorbieren. Außerdem beweist das System, dass in Anwesenheit von 95 \% Sauerstoffatmosph{\"a}re bei der Fluoreszenzmessung die Ergebnisse nicht von denen in Argonatmosph{\"a}re abweichen. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus st{\"o}rt das Vorhandensein g{\"a}ngiger Ionen im Wasser die kolloidale Stabilit{\"a}t der NDs nicht und hat auch keinen Einfluss auf die Sensorfunktionalit{\"a}t und ist somit ein vielversprechender Kandidat f{\"u}r Messungen ohne aufw{\"a}ndige Pr{\"a}parationsschritte.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Djaković2022, author = {Djaković, Lara}, title = {The HSV-1 ICP22 protein selectively impairs histone repositioning upon Pol II transcription downstream of genes}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-24670}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-246709}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) is an ubiquitous neurotropic human pathogen that infects a large majority of the world's population. It is the causative agent of the common cold sore but also responsible for life-threatening infections (e.g., encephalitis), particularly in immunocompromised individuals and neonates. Like other herpesviruses, HSV-1 takes over the cellular RNA machinery to facilitate productive infection while efficiently shutting down host gene expression by targeting multiple steps of RNA metabolism. The two viral proteins, vhs and ICP27, play a crucial role in this process. Delivered by the tegument of the incoming virus, the virion host shut-off (vhs) endonuclease rapidly starts cleaving both cellular and viral mRNAs. With the onset of viral gene expression, the HSV-1 immediate-early protein ICP27 promotes the expression of viral early and late genes through various mechanisms, including mRNA processing, export, and translation. Prior research by the D{\"o}lken lab demonstrated that lytic HSV-1 infection results in the disruption of transcription termination (DoTT) of most cellular genes by the viral ICP27 protein. This significantly contributes to HSV-1 induced host shut-off. DoTT results in transcription for tens of thousands of nucleotides beyond poly(A) sites and into downstream genes. Interestingly, this was found to be accompanied by a dramatic increase in chromatin accessibility downstream of the affected poly(A) sites. This is consistent with the formation of extensive downstream open chromatin regions (dOCR) and indicative of impaired histone repositioning in the wake of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) downstream of the affected poly(A) sites. In my PhD thesis, I demonstrate that dOCR formation is dependent on the viral ICP22 protein when poly(A) read-through transcription is triggered by the ectopic expression of ICP27 or salt stress. I show that dOCR formation occurs when a high level of transcriptional activity arises downstream of genes due to the HSV-1-induced DoTT. To investigate whether histone composition is affected downstream of genes, I established the ChIPmentation approach to study associated changes and the influence of DoTT and dOCR formation on major histone modification marks. In HSV-1 WT infection, dOCR formation was reflected in alterations of canonical H1 histone downstream of affected genes, which was absent in ICP22 infection. To elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism, two major histone chaperones SPT6 and FACT (SPT16 and SSRP1), which govern histone repositioning and may thus play a role in H1 homeostasis, were extensively studied. Both histone chaperones have been recently shown to be recruited to the viral genome by interactions with ICP22 protein. To investigate whether the depletion of SSRP1 or SPT6 would complement the loss of ICP22 to induce dOCR, T-HF cells with doxycycline-inducible knock-down of either of the two factors were generated. ATAC-seq analysis revealed that the interaction between the two histone chaperones and ICP22 is not involved in HSV-1-induced dOCR formation, suggesting the involvement of other proteins. In summary, this work sheds new light on a fundamental molecular mechanism of the cellular transcriptional machinery that is manipulated by the concerted actions of the two HSV-1 immediate-early proteins ICP22 and ICP27.}, subject = {HSV-1}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Ochs2022, author = {Ochs, Maximilian Thomas}, title = {Electrically Connected Nano-Optical Systems: From Refined Nanoscale Geometries to Selective Molecular Assembly}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-29114}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-291140}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Metallic nano-optical systems allow to confine and guide light at the nanoscale, a fascinating ability which has motivated a wide range of fundamental as well as applied research over the last two decades. While optical antennas provide a link between visible radiation and localized energy, plasmonic waveguides route light in predefined pathways. So far, however, most experimental demonstrations are limited to purely optical excitations, i.e. isolated structures are illuminated by external lasers. Driving such systems electrically and generating light at the nanoscale, would greatly reduce the device footprint and pave the road for integrated optical nanocircuitry. Yet, the light emission mechanism as well as connecting delicate nanostructures to external electrodes pose key challenges and require sophisticated fabrication techniques. This work presents various electrically connected nano-optical systems and outlines a comprehensive production line, thus significantly advancing the state of the art. Importantly, the electrical connection is not just used to generate light, but also offers new strategies for device assembly. In a first example, nanoelectrodes are selectively functionalized with self-assembled monolayers by charging a specific electrode. This allows to tailor the surface properties of nanoscale objects, introducing an additional degree of freedom to the development of metal-organic nanodevices. In addition, the electrical connection enables the bottom-up fabrication of tunnel junctions by feedback-controlled dielectrophoresis. The resulting tunnel barriers are then used to generate light in different nano-optical systems via inelastic electron tunneling. Two structures are discussed in particular: optical Yagi-Uda antennas and plasmonic waveguides. Their refined geometries, accurately fabricated via focused ion beam milling of single-crystalline gold platelets, determine the properties of the emitted light. It is shown experimentally, that Yagi-Uda antennas radiate light in a specific direction with unprecedented directionality, while plasmonic waveguides allow to switch between the excitation of two propagating modes with orthogonal near-field symmetry. The presented devices nicely demonstrate the potential of electrically connected nano-optical systems, and the fabrication scheme including dielectrophoresis as well as site-selective functionalization will inspire more research in the field of nano-optoelectronics. In this context, different future experiments are discussed, ranging from the control of molecular machinery to optical antenna communication.}, subject = {Nanooptik}, language = {en} } @article{SchulteBlum2022, author = {Schulte, Annemarie and Blum, Robert}, title = {Shaped by leaky ER: Homeostatic Ca\(^{2+}\) fluxes}, series = {Frontiers in Physiology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in Physiology}, issn = {1664-042X}, doi = {10.3389/fphys.2022.972104}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-287102}, year = {2022}, abstract = {At any moment in time, cells coordinate and balance their calcium ion (Ca\(^{2+}\)) fluxes. The term 'Ca\(^{2+}\) homeostasis' suggests that balancing resting Ca2+ levels is a rather static process. However, direct ER Ca\(^{2+}\) imaging shows that resting Ca\(^{2+}\) levels are maintained by surprisingly dynamic Ca\(^{2+}\) fluxes between the ER Ca\(^{2+}\) store, the cytosol, and the extracellular space. The data show that the ER Ca\(^{2+}\) leak, continuously fed by the high-energy consuming SERCA, is a fundamental driver of resting Ca\(^{2+}\) dynamics. Based on simplistic Ca\(^{2+}\) toolkit models, we discuss how the ER Ca\(^{2+}\) leak could contribute to evolutionarily conserved Ca\(^{2+}\) phenomena such as Ca\(^{2+}\) entry, ER Ca\(^{2+}\) release, and Ca\(^{2+}\) oscillations.}, language = {en} } @article{DonnermannSchaperLugrin2022, author = {Donnermann, Melissa and Schaper, Philipp and Lugrin, Birgit}, title = {Social robots in applied settings: a long-term study on adaptive robotic tutors in higher education}, series = {Frontiers in Robotics and AI}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in Robotics and AI}, issn = {2296-9144}, doi = {10.3389/frobt.2022.831633}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-266012}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Learning in higher education scenarios requires self-directed learning and the challenging task of self-motivation while individual support is rare. The integration of social robots to support learners has already shown promise to benefit the learning process in this area. In this paper, we focus on the applicability of an adaptive robotic tutor in a university setting. To this end, we conducted a long-term field study implementing an adaptive robotic tutor to support students with exam preparation over three sessions during one semester. In a mixed design, we compared the effect of an adaptive tutor to a control condition across all learning sessions. With the aim to benefit not only motivation but also academic success and the learning experience in general, we draw from research in adaptive tutoring, social robots in education, as well as our own prior work in this field. Our results show that opting in for the robotic tutoring is beneficial for students. We found significant subjective knowledge gain and increases in intrinsic motivation regarding the content of the course in general. Finally, participation resulted in a significantly better exam grade compared to students not participating. However, the extended adaptivity of the robotic tutor in the experimental condition did not seem to enhance learning, as we found no significant differences compared to a non-adaptive version of the robot.}, language = {en} } @article{HarteltPuppe2022, author = {Hartelt, Alexander and Puppe, Frank}, title = {Optical Medieval Music Recognition using background knowledge}, series = {Algorithms}, volume = {15}, journal = {Algorithms}, number = {7}, issn = {1999-4893}, doi = {10.3390/a15070221}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-278756}, year = {2022}, abstract = {This paper deals with the effect of exploiting background knowledge for improving an OMR (Optical Music Recognition) deep learning pipeline for transcribing medieval, monophonic, handwritten music from the 12th-14th century, whose usage has been neglected in the literature. Various types of background knowledge about overlapping notes and text, clefs, graphical connections (neumes) and their implications on the position in staff of the notes were used and evaluated. Moreover, the effect of different encoder/decoder architectures and of different datasets for training a mixed model and for document-specific fine-tuning based on an extended OMR pipeline with an additional post-processing step were evaluated. The use of background models improves all metrics and in particular the melody accuracy rate (mAR), which is based on the insert, delete and replace operations necessary to convert the generated melody into the correct melody. When using a mixed model and evaluating on a different dataset, our best model achieves without fine-tuning and without post-processing a mAR of 90.4\%, which is raised by nearly 30\% to 93.2\% mAR using background knowledge. With additional fine-tuning, the contribution of post-processing is even greater: the basic mAR of 90.5\% is raised by more than 50\% to 95.8\% mAR.}, language = {en} } @article{GeyerHaanLorenzetal.2022, author = {Geyer, Johannes and Haan, Peter and Lorenz, Svenja and Zwick, Thomas and Bruns, Mona}, title = {Role of labor demand in the labor market effects of a pension reform}, series = {Industrial Relations}, volume = {61}, journal = {Industrial Relations}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1111/irel.12293}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-259446}, pages = {152-192}, year = {2022}, abstract = {This paper shows that labor demand plays an important role in the labor market reactions to a pension reform in Germany. Employers with a high share of older worker inflow compared with their younger worker inflow, employers in sectors with few investments in research and development, and employers in sectors with a high share of collective bargaining agreements allow their employees to stay employed longer after the reform. These employers offer their older employees partial retirement instead of forcing them into unemployment before early retirement because the older employees incur low substitution costs and high dismissal costs.}, language = {en} } @article{FiedlerHeyneBogner2022, author = {Fiedler, Sonja T. and Heyne, Thomas and Bogner, Franz X.}, title = {Closing the gap: potentials of ESE distance teaching}, series = {Sustainability}, volume = {14}, journal = {Sustainability}, number = {14}, issn = {2071-1050}, doi = {10.3390/su14148330}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-281893}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Environmental and sustainability education (ESE) traditionally relies on green teaching environments and active participation. Thus, during the lockdown phase, a gap between curricular goals and learning outcomes appeared. This study investigates the impact of ESE distance teaching on 288 Bavarian fifth-graders and learning factors that could bridge this gap. The influence of digital preferences on learning progress is examined and compared with the influence of fascination levels. A negative correlation between spending time outside in nature and spending time inside in front of a digital device is expected. A control group completed a learning unit about biological topics such as plant identification and environmental factors, as well as ESE topics such as characteristics of sustainable agriculture, at an out-of-school ESE center. The experimental group completed the same learning unit in distance teaching. Fascination with Biology (FBio) and Digital Nativity Assessment Scale (DNAS) were applied in addition to a customized knowledge test. Both values seem to have a positive impact on learning outcomes. There were no significant differences between the control and experimental group. Surprisingly, Fascination and Digital Nativity show a low, if not negligible, relationship. Implications for digital ESE, especially between outdoor learning centers and schools, are discussed.}, language = {en} } @article{EbenbeckRieserJungjohannetal.2022, author = {Ebenbeck, Nikola and Rieser, Jakob and Jungjohann, Jana and Gebhardt, Markus}, title = {How the existence of special schools affects the placement of students with special needs in inclusive primary schools}, series = {Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs}, volume = {22}, journal = {Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1111/1471-3802.12565}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-287308}, pages = {274 -- 287}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Although inclusion is the declared goal, the transition from a system based on special schools to an inclusive school system has only been progressing very slowly in individual countries. In an evolving school system, the existing special schools keep struggling to justify their existence. This study investigates the regional distribution effects based on official school data and shows the influence of a pull effect on special schools as a distance effect of special schools affecting the placement of students. For this purpose, official school statistics including all students at special and regular schools in the years 2010, 2015 and 2020 (N = 11 280 040) are evaluated in a spatiotemporal comparison using Educational Data Mining. In a hierarchical regression model on school placement in inclusive schools, the distance between primary and special schools has the highest influence (β = 0.48) on the inclusion rate (i.e., the proportion of students with special needs who are educated in regular schools in relation to all students with disabilities), along with the size (β = -0.14) and the density of special schools in a district (β = -0.12). The effects differ according to the population density of the region and are stronger in large cities. When the proportion of students with and without SEN in regular schools is considered (support rate), the density of special schools has the greatest impact on school placement (ß = 43.44). Self-preservation of schools, traditional funding systems and regional differences between urban and rural areas are discussed as possible reasons.}, language = {en} } @techreport{SertbasBuelbuelErgencFischer2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Sertbas B{\"u}lb{\"u}l, Nurefsan and Ergenc, Doganalp and Fischer, Mathias}, title = {Evaluating Dynamic Path Reconfiguration for Time Sensitive Networks}, series = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, journal = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-28074}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-280743}, pages = {5}, year = {2022}, abstract = {In time-sensitive networks (TSN) based on 802.1Qbv, i.e., the time-aware Shaper (TAS) protocol, precise transmission schedules and, paths are used to ensure end-to-end deterministic communication. Such resource reservations for data flows are usually established at the startup time of an application and remain untouched until the flow ends. There is no way to migrate existing flows easily to alternative paths without inducing additional delay or wasting resources. Therefore, some of the new flows cannot be embedded due to capacity limitations on certain links which leads to sub-optimal flow assignment. As future networks will need to support a large number of lowlatency flows, accommodating new flows at runtime and adapting existing flows accordingly becomes a challenging problem. In this extended abstract we summarize a previously published paper of us [1]. We combine software-defined networking (SDN), which provides better control of network flows, with TSN to be able to seamlessly migrate time-sensitive flows. For that, we formulate an optimization problem and propose different dynamic path configuration strategies under deterministic communication requirements. Our simulation results indicate that regularly reconfiguring the flow assignments can improve the latency of time-sensitive flows and can increase the number of flows embedded in the network around 4\% in worst-case scenarios while still satisfying individual flow deadlines.}, subject = {Datennetz}, language = {en} } @techreport{LeGrossmannKrieger2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Le, Duy Thanh and Großmann, Marcel and Krieger, Udo R.}, title = {Cloudless Resource Monitoring in a Fog Computing System Enabled by an SDN/NFV Infrastructure}, series = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, journal = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-28072}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-280723}, pages = {4}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Today's advanced Internet-of-Things applications raise technical challenges on cloud, edge, and fog computing. The design of an efficient, virtualized, context-aware, self-configuring orchestration system of a fog computing system constitutes a major development effort within this very innovative area of research. In this paper we describe the architecture and relevant implementation aspects of a cloudless resource monitoring system interworking with an SDN/NFV infrastructure. It realizes the basic monitoring component of the fundamental MAPE-K principles employed in autonomic computing. Here we present the hierarchical layering and functionality within the underlying fog nodes to generate a working prototype of an intelligent, self-managed orchestrator for advanced IoT applications and services. The latter system has the capability to monitor automatically various performance aspects of the resource allocation among multiple hosts of a fog computing system interconnected by SDN.}, subject = {Datennetz}, language = {en} } @article{SummaKleinSchmidt2022, author = {Summa, Michela and Klein, Martin and Schmidt, Philipp}, title = {Introduction: Double Intentionality}, series = {Topoi}, volume = {41}, journal = {Topoi}, number = {1}, issn = {1572-8749}, doi = {10.1007/s11245-021-09786-7}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-269865}, pages = {93-109}, year = {2022}, abstract = {No abstract available.}, language = {en} } @article{FisserKhorsandiWegmannetal.2022, author = {Fisser, Henrik and Khorsandi, Ehsan and Wegmann, Martin and Baier, Frank}, title = {Detecting moving trucks on roads using Sentinel-2 data}, series = {Remote Sensing}, volume = {14}, journal = {Remote Sensing}, number = {7}, issn = {2072-4292}, doi = {10.3390/rs14071595}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-267174}, year = {2022}, abstract = {In most countries, freight is predominantly transported by road cargo trucks. We present a new satellite remote sensing method for detecting moving trucks on roads using Sentinel-2 data. The method exploits a temporal sensing offset of the Sentinel-2 multispectral instrument, causing spatially and spectrally distorted signatures of moving objects. A random forest classifier was trained (overall accuracy: 84\%) on visual-near-infrared-spectra of 2500 globally labelled targets. Based on the classification, the target objects were extracted using a developed recursive neighbourhood search. The speed and the heading of the objects were approximated. Detections were validated by employing 350 globally labelled target boxes (mean F\(_1\) score: 0.74). The lowest F\(_1\) score was achieved in Kenya (0.36), the highest in Poland (0.88). Furthermore, validated at 26 traffic count stations in Germany on in sum 390 dates, the truck detections correlate spatio-temporally with station figures (Pearson r-value: 0.82, RMSE: 43.7). Absolute counts were underestimated on 81\% of the dates. The detection performance may differ by season and road condition. Hence, the method is only suitable for approximating the relative truck traffic abundance rather than providing accurate absolute counts. However, existing road cargo monitoring methods that rely on traffic count stations or very high resolution remote sensing data have limited global availability. The proposed moving truck detection method could fill this gap, particularly where other information on road cargo traffic are sparse by employing globally and freely available Sentinel-2 data. It is inferior to the accuracy and the temporal detail of station counts, but superior in terms of spatial coverage.}, language = {en} } @article{DoellingerWolfMaletal.2022, author = {D{\"o}llinger, Nina and Wolf, Erik and Mal, David and Wenninger, Stephan and Botsch, Mario and Latoschik, Marc Erich and Wienrich, Carolin}, title = {Resize Me! Exploring the user experience of embodied realistic modulatable avatars for body image intervention in virtual reality}, series = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality}, volume = {3}, journal = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality}, issn = {2673-4192}, doi = {10.3389/frvir.2022.935449}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-292940}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Obesity is a serious disease that can affect both physical and psychological well-being. Due to weight stigmatization, many affected individuals suffer from body image disturbances whereby they perceive their body in a distorted way, evaluate it negatively, or neglect it. Beyond established interventions such as mirror exposure, recent advancements aim to complement body image treatments by the embodiment of visually altered virtual bodies in virtual reality (VR). We present a high-fidelity prototype of an advanced VR system that allows users to embody a rapidly generated personalized, photorealistic avatar and to realistically modulate its body weight in real-time within a carefully designed virtual environment. In a formative multi-method approach, a total of 12 participants rated the general user experience (UX) of our system during body scan and VR experience using semi-structured qualitative interviews and multiple quantitative UX measures. Using body weight modification tasks, we further compared three different interaction methods for real-time body weight modification and measured our system's impact on the body image relevant measures body awareness and body weight perception. From the feedback received, demonstrating an already solid UX of our overall system and providing constructive input for further improvement, we derived a set of design guidelines to guide future development and evaluation processes of systems supporting body image interventions.}, language = {en} } @techreport{HoewelerXiangHoepfneretal.2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {H{\"o}weler, Malte and Xiang, Zuo and H{\"o}pfner, Franz and Nguyen, Giang T. and Fitzek, Frank H. P.}, title = {Towards Stateless Core Networks: Measuring State Access Patterns}, series = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, journal = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-28077}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-280770}, pages = {4}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Future mobile communication networks, such as 5G and beyond, can benefit from Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) when deployed on cloud infrastructures to achieve elasticity and scalability. However, new challenges arise as to managing states of Network Functions (NFs). Especially control plane VNFs, which are mainly found in cellular core networks like the 5G Core (5GC), received little attention since the shift towards virtualizing NFs. Most existing solutions for these core networks are often complex, intrusive, and are seldom compliant with the standard. With the emergence of 5G campus networks, UEs will be mainly machine-type devices. These devices communicate more deterministically, bringing new opportunities for elaborated state management. This work presents an emulation environment to perform rigorous measurements on state access patterns. The emulation comes with a fully parameterized Markov model for the UE to examine a wide variety of different devices. These measurements can then be used as a solid base for designing an efficient, simple, and standard conform state management solution that brings us further towards stateless core networks.}, subject = {Datennetz}, language = {en} } @techreport{GrigorjewDiederichHossfeldetal.2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Grigorjew, Alexej and Diederich, Philip and Hoßfeld, Tobias and Kellerer, Wolfgang}, title = {Affordable Measurement Setups for Networking Device Latency with Sub-Microsecond Accuracy}, series = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, journal = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-28075}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-280751}, pages = {5}, year = {2022}, abstract = {This document presents a networking latency measurement setup that focuses on affordability and universal applicability, and can provide sub-microsecond accuracy. It explains the prerequisites, hardware choices, and considerations to respect during measurement. In addition, it discusses the necessity for exhaustive latency measurements when dealing with high availability and low latency requirements. Preliminary results show that the accuracy is within ±0.02 μs when used with the Intel I350-T2 network adapter.}, subject = {Datennetz}, language = {en} } @techreport{GallenmuellerScholzStubbeetal.2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Gallenm{\"u}ller, Sebastian and Scholz, Dominik and Stubbe, Henning and Hauser, Eric and Carle, Georg}, title = {Reproducible by Design: Network Experiments with pos}, series = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, journal = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-28083}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-280834}, pages = {4}, year = {2022}, abstract = {In scientific research, the independent reproduction of experiments is the source of trust. Detailed documentation is required to enable experiment reproduction. Reproducibility awards were created to honor the increased documentation effort. In this work, we propose a novel approach toward reproducible research—a structured experimental workflow that allows the creation of reproducible experiments without requiring additional efforts of the researcher. Moreover, we present our own testbed and toolchain, namely, plain orchestrating service (pos), which enables the creation of such experimental workflows. The experiment is documented by our proposed, fully scripted experiment structure. In addition, pos provides scripts enabling the automation of the bundling and release of all experimental artifacts. We provide an interactive environment where pos experiments can be executed and reproduced, available at https://gallenmu.github.io/single-server-experiment.}, subject = {Datennetz}, language = {en} } @techreport{OdhahGrassKraemer2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Odhah, Najib and Grass, Eckhard and Kraemer, Rolf}, title = {Effective Rate of URLLC with Short Block-Length Information Theory}, series = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, journal = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-28085}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-280859}, pages = {4}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Shannon channel capacity estimation, based on large packet length is used in traditional Radio Resource Management (RRM) optimization. This is good for the normal transmission of data in a wired or wireless system. For industrial automation and control, rather short packages are used due to the short-latency requirements. Using Shannon's formula leads in this case to inaccurate RRM solutions, thus another formula should be used to optimize radio resources in short block-length packet transmission, which is the basic of Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLCs). The stringent requirement of delay Quality of Service (QoS) for URLLCs requires a link-level channel model rather than a physical level channel model. After finding the basic and accurate formula of the achievable rate of short block-length packet transmission, the RRM optimization problem can be accurately formulated and solved under the new constraints of URLLCs. In this short paper, the current mathematical models, which are used in formulating the effective transmission rate of URLLCs, will be briefly explained. Then, using this rate in RRM for URLLC will be discussed.}, subject = {Datennetz}, language = {en} } @techreport{RaffeckGeisslerHossfeld2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Raffeck, Simon and Geißler, Stefan and Hoßfeld, Tobias}, title = {DBM: Decentralized Burst Mitigation for Self-Organizing LoRa Deployments}, series = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, journal = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-28080}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-280809}, pages = {4}, year = {2022}, abstract = {This work proposes a novel approach to disperse dense transmission intervals and reduce bursty traffic patterns without the need for centralized control. Furthermore, by keeping the mechanism as close to the Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) standard as possible the suggested mechanism can be deployed within existing networks and can even be co-deployed with other devices.}, subject = {Datennetz}, language = {en} } @article{PetersKellerLeonhardt2022, author = {Peters, Birte and Keller, Alexander and Leonhardt, Sara Diana}, title = {Diets maintained in a changing world: Does land-use intensification alter wild bee communities by selecting for flexible generalists?}, series = {Ecology and evolution}, volume = {12}, journal = {Ecology and evolution}, number = {5}, issn = {2045-7758}, doi = {10.1002/ece3.8919}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-312786}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Biodiversity loss, as often found in intensively managed agricultural landscapes, correlates with reduced ecosystem functioning, for example, pollination by insects, and with altered plant composition, diversity, and abundance. But how does this change in floral resource diversity and composition relate to occurrence and resource use patterns of trap-nesting solitary bees? To better understand the impact of land-use intensification on communities of trap-nesting solitary bees in managed grasslands, we investigated their pollen foraging, reproductive fitness, and the nutritional quality of larval food along a land-use intensity gradient in Germany. We found bee species diversity to decrease with increasing land-use intensity irrespective of region-specific community compositions and interaction networks. Land use also strongly affected the diversity and composition of pollen collected by bees. Lack of suitable pollen sources likely explains the absence of several bee species at sites of high land-use intensity. The only species present throughout, Osmia bicornis (red mason bee), foraged on largely different pollen sources across sites. In doing so, it maintained a relatively stable, albeit variable nutritional quality of larval diets (i.e., protein to lipid (P:L) ratio). The observed changes in bee-plant pollen interaction patterns indicate that only the flexible generalists, such as O. bicornis, may be able to compensate the strong alterations in floral resource landscapes and to obtain food of sufficient quality through readily shifting to alternative plant sources. In contrast, other, less flexible, bee species disappear.}, language = {en} } @article{BergerDemolombeHemetal.2022, author = {Berger, Nathalie and Demolombe, Vincent and Hem, Sonia and Rofidal, Val{\´e}rie and Steinmann, Laura and Krouk, Gabriel and Crabos, Amandine and Nacry, Philippe and Verdoucq, Lionel and Santoni, V{\´e}ronique}, title = {Root membrane ubiquitinome under short-term osmotic stress}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {23}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {4}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms23041956}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284003}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Osmotic stress can be detrimental to plants, whose survival relies heavily on proteomic plasticity. Protein ubiquitination is a central post-translational modification in osmotic-mediated stress. In this study, we used the K-Ɛ-GG antibody enrichment method integrated with high-resolution mass spectrometry to compile a list of 719 ubiquitinated lysine (K-Ub) residues from 450 Arabidopsis root membrane proteins (58\% of which are transmembrane proteins), thereby adding to the database of ubiquitinated substrates in plants. Although no ubiquitin (Ub) motifs could be identified, the presence of acidic residues close to K-Ub was revealed. Our ubiquitinome analysis pointed to a broad role of ubiquitination in the internalization and sorting of cargo proteins. Moreover, the simultaneous proteome and ubiquitinome quantification showed that ubiquitination is mostly not involved in membrane protein degradation in response to short osmotic treatment but that it is putatively involved in protein internalization, as described for the aquaporin PIP2;1. Our in silico analysis of ubiquitinated proteins shows that two E2 Ub-conjugating enzymes, UBC32 and UBC34, putatively target membrane proteins under osmotic stress. Finally, we revealed a positive role for UBC32 and UBC34 in primary root growth under osmotic stress.}, language = {en} } @article{VedderLensMartinetal.2022, author = {Vedder, Daniel and Lens, Luc and Martin, Claudia A. and Pellikka, Petri and Adhikari, Hari and Heiskanen, Janne and Engler, Jan O. and Sarmento Cabral, Juliano}, title = {Hybridization may aid evolutionary rescue of an endangered East African passerine}, series = {Evolutionary Applications}, volume = {15}, journal = {Evolutionary Applications}, number = {7}, doi = {10.1111/eva.13440}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-287264}, pages = {1177-1188}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Abstract Introgressive hybridization is a process that enables gene flow across species barriers through the backcrossing of hybrids into a parent population. This may make genetic material, potentially including relevant environmental adaptations, rapidly available in a gene pool. Consequently, it has been postulated to be an important mechanism for enabling evolutionary rescue, that is the recovery of threatened populations through rapid evolutionary adaptation to novel environments. However, predicting the likelihood of such evolutionary rescue for individual species remains challenging. Here, we use the example of Zosterops silvanus, an endangered East African highland bird species suffering from severe habitat loss and fragmentation, to investigate whether hybridization with its congener Zosterops flavilateralis might enable evolutionary rescue of its Taita Hills population. To do so, we employ an empirically parameterized individual-based model to simulate the species' behaviour, physiology and genetics. We test the population's response to different assumptions of mating behaviour and multiple scenarios of habitat change. We show that as long as hybridization does take place, evolutionary rescue of Z. silvanus is likely. Intermediate hybridization rates enable the greatest long-term population growth, due to trade-offs between adaptive and maladaptive introgressed alleles. Habitat change did not have a strong effect on population growth rates, as Z. silvanus is a strong disperser and landscape configuration is therefore not the limiting factor for hybridization. Our results show that targeted gene flow may be a promising avenue to help accelerate the adaptation of endangered species to novel environments, and demonstrate how to combine empirical research and mechanistic modelling to deliver species-specific predictions for conservation planning.}, language = {en} } @article{MarquardtKollmannsbergerKrebsetal.2022, author = {Marquardt, Andr{\´e} and Kollmannsberger, Philip and Krebs, Markus and Argentiero, Antonella and Knott, Markus and Solimando, Antonio Giovanni and Kerscher, Alexander Georg}, title = {Visual clustering of transcriptomic data from primary and metastatic tumors — dependencies and novel pitfalls}, series = {Genes}, volume = {13}, journal = {Genes}, number = {8}, issn = {2073-4425}, doi = {10.3390/genes13081335}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-281872}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Personalized oncology is a rapidly evolving area and offers cancer patients therapy options that are more specific than ever. However, there is still a lack of understanding regarding transcriptomic similarities or differences of metastases and corresponding primary sites. Applying two unsupervised dimension reduction methods (t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE) and Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP)) on three datasets of metastases (n = 682 samples) with three different data transformations (unprocessed, log10 as well as log10 + 1 transformed values), we visualized potential underlying clusters. Additionally, we analyzed two datasets (n = 616 samples) containing metastases and primary tumors of one entity, to point out potential familiarities. Using these methods, no tight link between the site of resection and cluster formation outcome could be demonstrated, or for datasets consisting of solely metastasis or mixed datasets. Instead, dimension reduction methods and data transformation significantly impacted visual clustering results. Our findings strongly suggest data transformation to be considered as another key element in the interpretation of visual clustering approaches along with initialization and different parameters. Furthermore, the results highlight the need for a more thorough examination of parameters used in the analysis of clusters.}, language = {en} } @article{KaiserBrambrinkBenditzetal.2022, author = {Kaiser, Moritz and Brambrink, Sara and Benditz, Achim and Achenbach, Leonard and Gehentges, Matthias and K{\"o}nig, Matthias Alexander}, title = {Increase in lower limb strength after multimodal pain management in patients with low back pain}, series = {Medicina}, volume = {58}, journal = {Medicina}, number = {7}, issn = {1648-9144}, doi = {10.3390/medicina58070837}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284264}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background and Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of a multimodal pain therapy (MPM) regarding the objective parameter muscle strength of segment-dependent lower limb muscle groups before and after such a treatment. Materials and Methods: 52 patients with a history of low back pain and/or leg pain received standardized multimodal pain management. Strength of segment indicating lower limb muscles were assessed for each patient before and after ten days of treatment by handheld dynamometry. Results: Overall strength increased significantly from 23.6 kg ± 6.6 prior to treatment to 25.4 ± 7.3 after treatment, p ≤ 0.001. All muscle groups significantly increased in strength with exception of great toe extensors. Conclusions: Despite lower basic strength values at the beginning of treatment, all investigated muscle groups, except for the great toe extensors, showed a significant increase of overall strength after completion of the multimodal pain management concept. Increased overall strength could help with avoiding further need of medical care by supporting patients' autonomy in daily life activities, as well as maintaining working abilities. Thus, our study is the first to show a significant positive influence on lower limb strength in patients with low back pain after a conservative MPM program.}, language = {en} } @article{SteinhaeusserOberdoerfervonMammenetal.2022, author = {Steinhaeusser, Sophia C. and Oberd{\"o}rfer, Sebastian and von Mammen, Sebastian and Latoschik, Marc Erich and Lugrin, Birgit}, title = {Joyful adventures and frightening places - designing emotion-inducing virtual environments}, series = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality}, volume = {3}, journal = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality}, issn = {2673-4192}, doi = {10.3389/frvir.2022.919163}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284831}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Virtual environments (VEs) can evoke and support emotions, as experienced when playing emotionally arousing games. We theoretically approach the design of fear and joy evoking VEs based on a literature review of empirical studies on virtual and real environments as well as video games' reviews and content analyses. We define the design space and identify central design elements that evoke specific positive and negative emotions. Based on that, we derive and present guidelines for emotion-inducing VE design with respect to design themes, colors and textures, and lighting configurations. To validate our guidelines in two user studies, we 1) expose participants to 360° videos of VEs designed following the individual guidelines and 2) immerse them in a neutral, positive and negative emotion-inducing VEs combining all respective guidelines in Virtual Reality. The results support our theoretically derived guidelines by revealing significant differences in terms of fear and joy induction.}, language = {en} } @article{ZieglerMeyerOtteetal.2022, author = {Ziegler, Alice and Meyer, Hanna and Otte, Insa and Peters, Marcell K. and Appelhans, Tim and Behler, Christina and B{\"o}hning-Gaese, Katrin and Classen, Alice and Detsch, Florian and Deckert, J{\"u}rgen and Eardley, Connal D. and Ferger, Stefan W. and Fischer, Markus and Gebert, Friederike and Haas, Michael and Helbig-Bonitz, Maria and Hemp, Andreas and Hemp, Claudia and Kakengi, Victor and Mayr, Antonia V. and Ngereza, Christine and Reudenbach, Christoph and R{\"o}der, Juliane and Rutten, Gemma and Schellenberger Costa, David and Schleuning, Matthias and Ssymank, Axel and Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf and Tardanico, Joseph and Tschapka, Marco and Vollst{\"a}dt, Maximilian G. R. and W{\"o}llauer, Stephan and Zhang, Jie and Brandl, Roland and Nauss, Thomas}, title = {Potential of airborne LiDAR derived vegetation structure for the prediction of animal species richness at Mount Kilimanjaro}, series = {Remote Sensing}, volume = {14}, journal = {Remote Sensing}, number = {3}, issn = {2072-4292}, doi = {10.3390/rs14030786}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-262251}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The monitoring of species and functional diversity is of increasing relevance for the development of strategies for the conservation and management of biodiversity. Therefore, reliable estimates of the performance of monitoring techniques across taxa become important. Using a unique dataset, this study investigates the potential of airborne LiDAR-derived variables characterizing vegetation structure as predictors for animal species richness at the southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. To disentangle the structural LiDAR information from co-factors related to elevational vegetation zones, LiDAR-based models were compared to the predictive power of elevation models. 17 taxa and 4 feeding guilds were modeled and the standardized study design allowed for a comparison across the assemblages. Results show that most taxa (14) and feeding guilds (3) can be predicted best by elevation with normalized RMSE values but only for three of those taxa and two of those feeding guilds the difference to other models is significant. Generally, modeling performances between different models vary only slightly for each assemblage. For the remaining, structural information at most showed little additional contribution to the performance. In summary, LiDAR observations can be used for animal species prediction. However, the effort and cost of aerial surveys are not always in proportion with the prediction quality, especially when the species distribution follows zonal patterns, and elevation information yields similar results.}, language = {en} } @article{VollmuthSchlickerGuoetal.2022, author = {Vollmuth, Nadine and Schlicker, Lisa and Guo, Yongxia and Hovhannisyan, Pargev and Janaki-Raman, Sudha and Kurmasheva, Naziia and Schmitz, Werner and Schulze, Almut and Stelzner, Kathrin and Rajeeve, Karthika and Rudel, Thomas}, title = {c-Myc plays a key role in IFN-γ-induced persistence of Chlamydia trachomatis}, series = {eLife}, volume = {11}, journal = {eLife}, doi = {10.7554/eLife.76721}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-301385}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Chlamydia trachomatis (Ctr) can persist over extended times within their host cell and thereby establish chronic infections. One of the major inducers of chlamydial persistence is interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) released by immune cells as a mechanism of immune defence. IFN-γ activates the catabolic depletion of L-tryptophan (Trp) via indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), resulting in persistent Ctr. Here, we show that IFN-γ induces the downregulation of c-Myc, the key regulator of host cell metabolism, in a STAT1-dependent manner. Expression of c-Myc rescued Ctr from IFN-γ-induced persistence in cell lines and human fallopian tube organoids. Trp concentrations control c-Myc levels most likely via the PI3K-GSK3β axis. Unbiased metabolic analysis revealed that Ctr infection reprograms the host cell tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle to support pyrimidine biosynthesis. Addition of TCA cycle intermediates or pyrimidine/purine nucleosides to infected cells rescued Ctr from IFN-γ-induced persistence. Thus, our results challenge the longstanding hypothesis of Trp depletion through IDO as the major mechanism of IFN-γ-induced metabolic immune defence and significantly extends the understanding of the role of IFN-γ as a broad modulator of host cell metabolism.}, language = {en} } @article{PrantlZeckBaueretal.2022, author = {Prantl, Thomas and Zeck, Timo and Bauer, Andre and Ten, Peter and Prantl, Dominik and Yahya, Ala Eddine Ben and Ifflaender, Lukas and Dmitrienko, Alexandra and Krupitzer, Christian and Kounev, Samuel}, title = {A Survey on Secure Group Communication Schemes With Focus on IoT Communication}, series = {IEEE Access}, volume = {10}, journal = {IEEE Access}, doi = {10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3206451}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300257}, pages = {99944 -- 99962}, year = {2022}, abstract = {A key feature for Internet of Things (IoT) is to control what content is available to each user. To handle this access management, encryption schemes can be used. Due to the diverse usage of encryption schemes, there are various realizations of 1-to-1, 1-to-n, and n-to-n schemes in the literature. This multitude of encryption methods with a wide variety of properties presents developers with the challenge of selecting the optimal method for a particular use case, which is further complicated by the fact that there is no overview of existing encryption schemes. To fill this gap, we envision a cryptography encyclopedia providing such an overview of existing encryption schemes. In this survey paper, we take a first step towards such an encyclopedia by creating a sub-encyclopedia for secure group communication (SGC) schemes, which belong to the n-to-n category. We extensively surveyed the state-of-the-art and classified 47 different schemes. More precisely, we provide (i) a comprehensive overview of the relevant security features, (ii) a set of relevant performance metrics, (iii) a classification for secure group communication schemes, and (iv) workflow descriptions of the 47 schemes. Moreover, we perform a detailed performance and security evaluation of the 47 secure group communication schemes. Based on this evaluation, we create a guideline for the selection of secure group communication schemes.}, language = {en} } @article{KobsarKoehnlechnerKlingleretal.2022, author = {Kobsar, Anna and Koehnlechner, Karina and Klingler, Philipp and Niklaus, Marius and Zeller-Hahn, Julia and Koessler, Angela and Weber, Katja and Boeck, Markus and Koessler, Juergen}, title = {The effect of short-term refrigeration on platelet responsiveness}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {12}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-022-21124-4}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-301390}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Storage of platelet concentrates (PC) at cold temperature (CT) is discussed as an alternative to the current standard of storage at room temperature (RT). Recently, we could show that cold-induced attenuation of inhibitory signaling is an important mechanism promoting platelet reactivity. For developing strategies in blood banking, it is required to elucidate the time-dependent onset of facilitated platelet activation. Thus, freshly prepared platelet-rich-plasma (PRP) was stored for 1 and 2 h at CT (2-6 °C) or at RT (20-24 °C), followed by subsequent comparative analysis. Compared to RT, basal and induced vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) phosphorylation levels were decreased under CT within 1 h by approximately 20\%, determined by Western blot analysis and flow cytometry. Concomitantly, ADP- and collagen-induced threshold aggregation values were enhanced by up to 30-40\%. Furthermore, platelet-covered areas on collagen-coated slides and aggregate formation under flow conditions were increased after storage at CT, in addition to induced activation markers. In conclusion, a time period of 1-2 h for refrigeration is sufficient to induce an attenuation of inhibitory signaling, accompanied with an enhancement of platelet responsiveness. Short-term refrigeration may be considered as a rational approach to obtain PC with higher functional reactivity for the treatment of hemorrhage.}, language = {en} } @article{FriedrichHartigPruessetal.2022, author = {Friedrich, Maximilian and Hartig, Johannes and Pr{\"u}ss, Harald and Ip, Wang Chi and Volkmann, Jens}, title = {Rapidly progressive dementia: Extending the spectrum of GFAP-astrocytopathies?}, series = {Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology}, volume = {9}, journal = {Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1002/acn3.51513}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-312957}, pages = {410-415}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Autoimmune glial fibrillary acidic protein astrocytopathy (GFAP-A) is a steroid-responsive meningoencephalomyelitis, sometimes presenting with atypical clinical signs such as movement disorders or psychiatric and autonomic features. Beyond clinical presentation and imaging, diagnosis relies on detection of GFAP-antibodies (AB) in CSF. Using quantitative behavioral, serologic, and immunohistochemical analyses, we characterize two patients longitudinally over 18-24 months who presented with rapidly progressive neurocognitive deterioration in the context of GFAP-AB in CSF and unremarkable cranial MRI studies. Intensified immunotherapy was associated with clinical stabilization. The value of GFAP-AB screening in selected cases of rapidly progressive dementias is discussed.}, language = {en} } @article{KirchnerHerrmannMatrasetal.2022, author = {Kirchner, Andr{\´e} and Herrmann, Nico and Matras, Paul and M{\"u}ller, Iris and Meister, Julia and Schattner, Thomas G.}, title = {A pedo-geomorphological view on land use and its potential in the surroundings of the ancient Hispano-Roman city Munigua (Seville, SW Spain)}, series = {E\&G Quaternary Science Journal}, volume = {71}, journal = {E\&G Quaternary Science Journal}, number = {2}, doi = {10.5194/egqsj-71-123-2022}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300141}, pages = {123 -- 143}, year = {2022}, abstract = {This study investigates the surroundings of Munigua (municipium Flavium Muniguense), a small Roman town in the ancient province of Hispania Baetica (SW Spain). The city's economy was based primarily on copper and iron mining, which brought financial prosperity to its citizens. Local production of agricultural goods is thought to have been of little importance, as the regional soil conditions do not seem to be suitable for extensive agriculture. To evaluate the recent soil agro-potential and to find evidence for prehistoric and historic land use in the surroundings of Munigua, we applied a pedo-geomorphological approach based on the physico-chemical analysis of 14 representative soil and sediment exposures. Selected samples were analyzed for bulk chemistry, texture and phytoliths. The chronostratigraphy of the sequences was based on radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples. The site evaluation of the present-day soil agro-potential was carried out according to standard procedures and included evaluation of potential rootability, available water-storage capacity and nutrient budget within the uppermost 1 m. The results show that moderate to very good soil agro-potential prevails in the granitic and floodplain areas surrounding Munigua. Clearly, recent soil agro-potential in these areas allows the production of basic agricultural goods, and similar limited agricultural use should also have been possible in ancient times. In contrast, weak to very weak present-day soil agro-potential prevails in the metamorphic landscape due to the occurrence of shallow and sandy to stony soils. In addition, the study provides pedo-geomorphological evidence for prehistoric and historic land use in pre-Roman, Roman and post-Roman times. Catenary soil mapping in the vicinity of a Roman house complex reveals multi-layered colluvial deposits. They document phases of hillslope erosion mainly triggered by human land use between 4063 ± 82 and 3796 ± 76 cal BP, around 2601 ± 115 cal BP, and between 1424 ± 96 and 421 ± 88 cal BP. Moreover, geochemical and phytolith analyses of a Roman hortic Anthrosol indicate the local cultivation of agricultural products that contributed to the food supply of Munigua. Overall, the evidence of Roman agricultural use in the Munigua area indicates that the city's economy was by no means focused solely on mining. The production of basic agricultural products was also part of Munigua's economic portfolio. Our geoarcheological study thus supports the archeological concept of economically diversified Roman cities in the province of Baetica and in Hispania.}, language = {en} } @article{BraunEvdokimovFranketal.2022, author = {Braun, Alexandra and Evdokimov, Dimitar and Frank, Johanna and Pauli, Paul and Wabel, Thomas and {\"U}{\c{c}}eyler, Nurcan and Sommer, Claudia}, title = {Relevance of Religiosity for Coping Strategies and Disability in Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome}, series = {Journal of Religion and Health}, volume = {61}, journal = {Journal of Religion and Health}, number = {1}, issn = {1573-6571}, doi = {10.1007/s10943-020-01177-3}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-269135}, pages = {524-539}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Coping strategies are essential for the outcome of chronic pain. This study evaluated religiosity in a cohort of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), its effect on pain and other symptoms, on coping and FMS-related disability. A total of 102 FMS patients were recruited who filled in questionnaires, a subgroup of 42 patients participated in a face-to-face interview, and data were evaluated by correlation and regression analyses. Few patients were traditionally religious, but the majority believed in a higher existence and described their spirituality as "transcendence conviction". The coping strategy "praying-hoping" and the ASP dimension "religious orientation" (r = 0.5, P < 0.05) showed a significant relationship independent of the grade of religiosity (P < 0.05). A high grade of belief in a higher existence was negatively associated with the choice of ignoring as coping strategy (r = - 0.4, P < 0.05). Mood and affect-related variables had the highest impact on disability (b = 0.5, P < 0.05). In this cohort, the grade of religiosity played a role in the choice of coping strategies, but had no effects on health and mood outcome.}, language = {en} } @article{HankeRauschSosnowskietal.2022, author = {Hanke, Kathrin and Rausch, Tanja K. and Sosnowski, Runa and Paul, Pia and Spiegler, Juliane and M{\"u}ller, Mirja and K{\"o}nig, Inke R. and G{\"o}pel, Wolfgang and Herting, Egbert and H{\"a}rtel, Christoph}, title = {Early skin-to-skin contact does not affect cerebral tissue oxygenation in preterm infants <32 weeks of gestation}, series = {Children}, volume = {9}, journal = {Children}, number = {2}, issn = {2227-9067}, doi = {10.3390/children9020211}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-262290}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Aim: It was the aim of our study to determine the regional cerebral tissue oxygenation saturation (rcSO\(_2\)) as an additional monitoring parameter during early skin-to-skin contact (SSC) in preterm infants with a gestational age of <32 gestational weeks. Methods: We conducted two observational convenience sample studies using additional monitoring with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in the first 120 h of life: (a) NIRS 1 (gestational age of 26 0/7 to 31 6/7 weeks) and (b) NIRS 2 (gestational age of 24 0/7 to 28 6/7 weeks). The rcSO\(_2\) values were compared between resting time in the incubator (period I), SSC (period II) and handling nursing care (period III). For the comparison, we separated the sequential effects by including a "wash-out phase" of 1 h between each period. Results: During the first 120 h of life 38/53 infants in NIRS 1 and 15/23 infants in NIRS 2 received SSC, respectively. We found no remarkable differences for rcSO\(_2\) values of NIRS 1 patients between SSC time and period I (95\% confidence interval (CI) for the difference in \%: SSC vs. period I [1; 3]). In NIRS 2, rcSO\(_2\) values during SSC were only 2\% lower compared with period I [median [1. quartile; 3. quartile] in \%; 78 [73; 82] vs. 80 [74; 85]] but were similar to period III [78 [72; 83]]. In a combined analysis, a small difference in rcSO\(_2\) values between SSC and resting times was found using a generalized linear mixed model that included gender and gestational age (OR 95\% CI; 1.178 [1.103; 1.253], p < 0.0001). Episodes below the cut-off for "hypoxia"; e.g., <55\%, were comparable during SSC and periods I and III (0.3-2.1\%). No FiO\(_2\) adjustment was required in the vast majority of SSC episodes. Conclusions: Our observational data indicate that rcSO\(_2\) values of infants during SSC were comparable to rcSO\(_2\) values during incubator care and resting time. This additional monitoring supports a safe implementation of early SSC in extremely preterm infants in NICUs.}, language = {en} } @article{GergsJahnSchulzetal.2022, author = {Gergs, Ulrich and Jahn, Tina and Schulz, Nico and Großmann, Claudia and Rueckschloss, Uwe and Demus, Uta and Buchwalow, Igor B. and Neumann, Joachim}, title = {Protein phosphatase 2A improves cardiac functional response to ischemia and sepsis}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {23}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {9}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms23094688}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284035}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Reversible protein phosphorylation is a posttranslational modification of regulatory proteins involved in cardiac signaling pathways. Here, we focus on the role of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) for cardiac gene expression and stress response using a transgenic mouse model with cardiac myocyte-specific overexpression of the catalytic subunit of PP2A (PP2A-TG). Gene and protein expression were assessed under basal conditions by gene chip analysis and Western blotting. Some cardiac genes related to the cell metabolism and to protein phosphorylation such as kinases and phosphatases were altered in PP2A-TG compared to wild type mice (WT). As cardiac stressors, a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced sepsis in vivo and a global cardiac ischemia in vitro (stop-flow isolated perfused heart model) were examined. Whereas the basal cardiac function was reduced in PP2A-TG as studied by echocardiography or as studied in the isolated work-performing heart, the acute LPS- or ischemia-induced cardiac dysfunction deteriorated less in PP2A-TG compared to WT. From the data, we conclude that increased PP2A activity may influence the acute stress tolerance of cardiac myocytes.}, language = {en} } @article{WongPittig2022, author = {Wong, Alex H. K. and Pittig, Andre}, title = {A dimensional measure of safety behavior: A non-dichotomous assessment of costly avoidance in human fear conditioning}, series = {Psychological Research}, volume = {86}, journal = {Psychological Research}, number = {1}, issn = {1430-2772}, doi = {10.1007/s00426-021-01490-w}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-267688}, pages = {312-330}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Safety behavior prevents the occurrence of threat, thus it is typically considered adaptive. However, safety behavior in anxiety-related disorders is often costly, and persists even the situation does not entail realistic threat. Individuals can engage in safety behavior to varying extents, however, these behaviors are typically measured dichotomously (i.e., to execute or not). To better understand the nuances of safety behavior, this study developed a dimensional measure of safety behavior that had a negative linear relationship with the admission of an aversive outcome. In two experiments, a Reward group receiving fixed or individually calibrated incentives competing with safety behavior showed reduced safety behavior than a Control group receiving no incentives. This allowed extinction learning to a previously learnt warning signal in the Reward group (i.e., updating the belief that this stimulus no longer signals threat). Despite the Reward group exhibited extinction learning, both groups showed a similar increase in fear to the warning signal once safety behavior was no longer available. This null group difference was due to some participants in the Reward group not incentivized enough to disengage from safety behavior. Dimensional assessment revealed a dissociation between low fear but substantial safety behavior to a safety signal in the Control group. This suggests that low-cost safety behavior does not accurately reflect the fear-driven processes, but also other non-fear-driven processes, such as cost (i.e., engage in safety behavior merely because it bears little to no cost). Pinpointing both processes is important for furthering the understanding of safety behavior.}, language = {en} } @article{DitzelKoenigMusembietal.2022, author = {Ditzel, Pia and K{\"o}nig, Sebastian and Musembi, Peter and Peters, Marcell K.}, title = {Correlation between coral reef condition and the diversity and abundance of fishes and sea urchins on an East African coral reef}, series = {Oceans}, volume = {3}, journal = {Oceans}, number = {1}, issn = {2673-1924}, doi = {10.3390/oceans3010001}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284503}, pages = {1 -- 14}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Coral reefs are one of the most diverse marine ecosystems, providing numerous ecosystem services. This present study investigated the relationship between coral reef condition and the diversity and abundance of fishes, on a heavily fished East African coral reef at Gazi Bay, Kenya. Underwater visual censuses were conducted on thirty 50 × 5 m belt transects to assess the abundance and diversity of fishes. In parallel, a 25-m length of each of the same transects was recorded with photo-quadrats to assess coral community structure and benthic characteristics. For statistical analyses, multi-model inference based on the Akaike Information Criterion was used to evaluate the support for potential predictor variables of coral reef and fish diversity. We found that coral genus richness was negatively correlated with the abundance of macroalgae, whereas coral cover was positively correlated with both the abundance of herbivorous invertebrates (sea urchins) and with fish family richness. Similarly, fish family richness appeared mainly correlated with coral cover and invertebrate abundance, although no correlates of fish abundance could be identified. Coral and fish diversity were very low, but it appears that, contrary to some locations on the same coast, sea urchin abundance was not high enough to be having a negative influence on coral and fish assemblages. Due to increasing threats to coral reefs, it is important to understand the relationship among the components of the coral reef ecosystem on overfished reefs such as that at Gazi Bay.}, language = {en} } @article{KadeBakirciTandonetal.2022, author = {Kade, Juliane C. and Bakirci, Ezgi and Tandon, Biranche and Gorgol, Danila and Mrlik, Miroslav and Luxenhofer, Robert and Dalton, Paul D.}, title = {The Impact of Including Carbonyl Iron Particles on the Melt Electrowriting Process}, series = {Macromolecular Materials and Engineering}, volume = {307}, journal = {Macromolecular Materials and Engineering}, number = {12}, issn = {1438-7492}, doi = {10.1002/mame.202200478}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-318482}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Melt electrowriting, a high-resolution additive manufacturing technique, is used in this study to process a magnetic polymer-based blend for the first time. Carbonyl iron (CI) particles homogenously distribute into poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) melts to result in well-defined, highly porous structures or scaffolds comprised of fibers ranging from 30 to 50 µm in diameter. This study observes that CI particle incorporation is possible up to 30 wt\% without nozzle clogging, albeit that the highest concentration results in heterogeneous fiber morphologies. In contrast, the direct writing of homogeneous PVDF fibers with up to 15 wt\% CI is possible. The fibers can be readily displaced using magnets at concentrations of 1 wt\% and above. Combined with good viability of L929 CC1 cells using Live/Dead imaging on scaffolds for all CI concentrations indicates that these formulations have potential for the usage in stimuli-responsive applications such as 4D printing.}, language = {en} } @techreport{SavvidisRothTutsch2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Savvidis, Dimitrios and Roth, Robert and Tutsch, Dietmar}, title = {Static Evaluation of a Wheel-Topology for an SDN-based Network Usecase}, series = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, journal = {W{\"u}rzburg Workshop on Next-Generation Communication Networks (WueWoWas'22)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-28071}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-280715}, pages = {3}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The increased occurrence of Software-Defined-Networking (SDN) not only improves the dynamics and maintenance of network architectures, but also opens up new use cases and application possibilities. Based on these observations, we propose a new network topology consisting of a star and a ring topology. This hybrid topology will be called wheel topology in this paper. We have considered the static characteristics of the wheel topology and compare them with known other topologies.}, subject = {Datennetz}, language = {en} }