@article{WeberGlutschGeissingeretal.2020, author = {Weber, J. and Glutsch, V. and Geissinger, E. and Haug, L. and Lock, J.F. and Schneider, F. and Kneitz, H. and Goebeler, M. and Schilling, B. and Gesierich, A.}, title = {Neoadjuvant immunotherapy with combined ipilimumab and nivolumab in patients with melanoma with primary or in transit disease}, series = {British Journal of Dermatology}, volume = {183}, journal = {British Journal of Dermatology}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1111/bjd.18739}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-213520}, pages = {559-563}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The introduction of new therapeutic agents has revolutionized the treatment of metastatic melanoma. The approval of adjuvant anti-programmed death-1 monotherapy with nivolumab or pembrolizumab, and dabrafenib plus trametinib has recently set a new landmark in the treatment of stage III melanoma. Now, clinical trials have shown that immune checkpoint blockade can be performed in a neoadjuvant setting, an approach established as a standard therapeutic approach for other tumour entities such as breast cancer. Recent studies suggest that a pathological response achieved by neoadjuvant immunotherapy is associated with long-term tumour control and that short neoadjuvant application of checkpoint inhibitors may be superior to adjuvant therapy. Most recently, neoadjuvant ipilimumab plus nivolumab in stage III melanoma was reported. With two courses of dose-optimized ipilimumab (1 mg kg-1) combined with nivolumab (3 mg kg-1), pathological responses were observed in 77\% of patients, while only 20\% of patients experienced grade 3 or 4 adverse events. However, the neoadjuvant trials employing combined immune checkpoint blockade conducted so far have excluded patients with in transit metastases, a common finding in stage III melanoma. Here we report four patients with in transit metastases or an advanced primary tumour who have been treated with neoadjuvant ipilimumab plus nivolumab according to the OpACIN-neo trial scheme (arm B). All patients achieved radiological disease control and a pathological response. None of the patients has relapsed so far.}, language = {en} } @article{WasmusDudek2020, author = {Wasmus, Christina and Dudek, Jan}, title = {Metabolic Alterations Caused by Defective Cardiolipin Remodeling in Inherited Cardiomyopathies}, series = {Life}, volume = {10}, journal = {Life}, number = {11}, issn = {2075-1729}, doi = {10.3390/life10110277}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-219286}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The heart is the most energy-consuming organ in the human body. In heart failure, the homeostasis of energy supply and demand is endangered by an increase in cardiomyocyte workload, or by an insufficiency in energy-providing processes. Energy metabolism is directly associated with mitochondrial redox homeostasis. The production of toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) may overwhelm mitochondrial and cellular ROS defense mechanisms in case of heart failure. Mitochondria are essential cell organelles and provide 95\% of the required energy in the heart. Metabolic remodeling, changes in mitochondrial structure or function, and alterations in mitochondrial calcium signaling diminish mitochondrial energy provision in many forms of cardiomyopathy. The mitochondrial respiratory chain creates a proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane, which couples respiration with oxidative phosphorylation and the preservation of energy in the chemical bonds of ATP. Akin to other mitochondrial enzymes, the respiratory chain is integrated into the inner mitochondrial membrane. The tight association with the mitochondrial phospholipid cardiolipin (CL) ensures its structural integrity and coordinates enzymatic activity. This review focuses on how changes in mitochondrial CL may be associated with heart failure. Dysfunctional CL has been found in diabetic cardiomyopathy, ischemia reperfusion injury and the aging heart. Barth syndrome (BTHS) is caused by an inherited defect in the biosynthesis of cardiolipin. Moreover, a dysfunctional CL pool causes other types of rare inherited cardiomyopathies, such as Sengers syndrome and Dilated Cardiomyopathy with Ataxia (DCMA). Here we review the impact of cardiolipin deficiency on mitochondrial functions in cellular and animal models. We describe the molecular mechanisms concerning mitochondrial dysfunction as an incitement of cardiomyopathy and discuss potential therapeutic strategies.}, language = {en} } @article{WannerFeldtRasmussenJovanovicetal.2020, author = {Wanner, Christoph and Feldt-Rasmussen, Ulla and Jovanovic, Ana and Linhart, Aleš and Yang, Meng and Ponce, Elvira and Brand, Eva and Germain, Dominique P. and Hughes, Derralynn A. and Jefferies, John L. and Martins, Anna Maria and Nowak, Albina and Vujkovac, Bojan and Weidemann, Frank and West, Michael L. and Ortiz, Alberto}, title = {Cardiomyopathy and kidney function in agalsidase beta-treated female Fabry patients: a pre-treatment vs. post-treatment analysis}, series = {ESC Heart Failure}, volume = {7}, journal = {ESC Heart Failure}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1002/ehf2.12647}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-235963}, pages = {825-834}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Long-term treatment effect studies in large female Fabry patient groups are challenging to design because of phenotype heterogeneity and lack of appropriate comparison groups, and have not been reported. We compared long-term cardiomyopathy and kidney function outcomes after agalsidase beta treatment with preceding treatment-naive outcomes. Methods and results Self-controlled pretreatment and post-treatment comparison (piecewise mixed linear modelling) included Fabry female patients ≥18 years at treatment initiation who received agalsidase beta (0.9-1.1 mg/kg every other week) for ≥2 years, with ≥2 pretreatment and ≥2 post-treatment outcome measurements during 10-year follow-up. Left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWT)/interventricular septal thickness (IVST) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR, Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration creatinine equation) analyses included 42 and 86 patients, respectively, aged 50.0 and 46.3 years at treatment initiation, respectively. LVPWT and IVST increased pretreatment (follow-up 3.5 years) but stabilized during 3.6 years of treatment (LVPWT: n = 38, slope difference [95\% confidence interval (CI)] = - 0.41 [ - 0.68, - 0.15] mm/year, P\(_{pre-post difference}\)<0.01; IVST: n = 38, slope difference =-0.32 [-0.67, 0.02] mm/year, P\(_{pre-post difference}\) = 0.07). These findings were not modified by renal involvement or antiproteinuric agent use. Compared with the treatment-naive period (follow-up 3.6 years), eGFR decline remained modest and stabilized within normal ranges during 4.1 years of treatment (slope difference, 95\% CI: -0.13 [-1.15, 0.89] mL/min/1.73m\(^2\)/year, P\(_{pre-post difference}\) = 0.80). Conclusions Cardiac hypertrophy, progressing during pretreatment follow-up, appeared to stabilize during sustained agalsidase beta treatment. eGFR decline remained within normal ranges. This suggests that treatment may prevent further Fabry-related progression of cardiomyopathy in female patients and maintain normal kidney function.}, language = {en} } @article{WangSarwatWangetal.2020, author = {Wang, Shuang and Sarwat, Mariah and Wang, Peng and Surrao, Denver C. and Harkin, Damien G. and St John, James A. and Bolle, Eleonore C. L. and Forget, Aurelien and Dalton, Paul D. and Dargaville, Tim R.}, title = {Hydrogels with Cell Adhesion Peptide-Decorated Channel Walls for Cell Guidance}, series = {Macromolecular Rapid Communications}, volume = {41}, journal = {Macromolecular Rapid Communications}, number = {15}, doi = {10.1002/marc.202000295}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218031}, year = {2020}, abstract = {A method is reported for making hollow channels within hydrogels decorated with cell-adhesion peptides exclusively at the channel surface. Sacrificial fibers of different diameters are used to introduce channels within poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels crosslinked with maleimide-thiol chemistry, which are backfilled with a cysteine-containing peptide solution which is conjugated to the lumen with good spatial efficiency. This allows for peptide patterning in only the areas of the hydrogel where they are needed when used as cell-guides, reducing the amount of required peptide 20-fold when compared to bulk functionalization. The power of this approach is highlighted by successfully using these patterned hydrogels without active perfusion to guide fibroblasts and olfactory ensheathing cells—the latter having unique potential in neural repair therapies.}, language = {en} } @article{WalterGrussNeidlingeretal.2020, author = {Walter, Steffen and Gruss, Sascha and Neidlinger, Jana and Stross, Isabelle and Hann, Alexander and Wagner, Martin and Seufferlein, Thomas and Walter, Benjamin}, title = {Evaluation of an Objective Measurement Tool for Stress Level Reduction by Individually Chosen Music During Colonoscopy—Results From the Study "ColoRelaxTone"}, series = {Frontiers in Medicine}, volume = {7}, journal = {Frontiers in Medicine}, doi = {10.3389/fmed.2020.00525}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-212337}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Background and Aims: Colonoscopy as standard procedure in endoscopy is often perceived as uncomfortable for patients. Patient's anxiety is therefore a significant issue, which often lead to avoidance of participation of relevant examinations as CRC-screening. Non-pharmacological anxiety management interventions such as music might contribute to relaxation in the phase prior and during endoscopy. Although music's anxiolytic effects have been reported previously, no objective measurement of stress level reduction has been reported yet. Focus of this study was to evaluate the objective measurement of the state of relaxation in patients undergoing colonoscopy. Methods: Prospective study (n = 196) performed at one endoscopic high-volume center. Standard colonoscopy was performed in control group. Interventional group received additionally self-chosen music over earphones. Facial Electromyography (fEMG) activity was obtained. Clinician Satisfaction with Sedation Instrument (CSSI) and Patients Satisfaction with Sedation Instrument (PSSI) was answered by colonoscopists and patients, respectively. Overall satisfaction with music accompanied colonoscopy was obtained if applicable. Results: Mean difference measured by fEMG via musculus zygomaticus major indicated a significantly lower stress level in the music group [7.700(±5.560) μV vs. 4.820(±3.330) μV; p = 0.001]. Clinician satisfaction was significantly higher with patients listening to music [82.69(±15.04) vs. 87.3(±15.02) pts.; p = 0.001]. Patient's satisfaction was higher but did not differ significantly. Conclusions: We conclude that self-chosen music contributes objectively to a reduced stress level for patients and therefore subjectively perceived satisfaction for endoscopists. Therefore, music should be considered as a non-pharmacological treatment method of distress reduction especially in the beginning of endoscopic procedures.}, language = {en} } @article{WallstabeBussemerGroeberBeckeretal.2020, author = {Wallstabe, Julia and Bussemer, Lydia and Groeber-Becker, Florian and Freund, Lukas and Alb, Mirian and Dragan, Mariola and Waaga-Gasser, Ana Maria and Jakubietz, Rafael and Kneitz, Hermann and Rosenwald, Andreas and Rebhan, Silke and Walles, Heike and Mielke, Stephan}, title = {Inflammation-Induced Tissue Damage Mimicking GvHD in Human Skin Models as Test Platform for Immunotherapeutics}, series = {ALTEX}, volume = {37}, journal = {ALTEX}, number = {3}, doi = {10.14573/altex.1907181}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229974}, pages = {429-440}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Due to the rapidly increasing development and use of cellular products, there is a rising demand for non-animal-based test platforms to predict, study and treat undesired immunity. Here, we generated human organotypic skin models from human biopsies by isolating and expanding keratinocytes, fibroblasts and microvascular endothelial cells and seeding these components on a collagen matrix or a biological vascularized scaffold matrix in a bioreactor. We then were able to induce inflammation-mediated tissue damage by adding pre-stimulated, mismatched allogeneic lymphocytes and/or inflammatory cytokine-containing supernatants histomorphologically mimicking severe graft versus host disease (GvHD) of the skin. This could be prevented by the addition of immunosuppressants to the models. Consequently, these models harbor a promising potential to serve as a test platform for the prediction, prevention and treatment of GvHD. They also allow functional studies of immune effectors and suppressors including but not limited to allodepleted lymphocytes, gamma-delta T cells, regulatory T cells and mesenchymal stromal cells, which would otherwise be limited to animal models. Thus, the current test platform, developed with the limitation that no professional antigen presenting cells are in place, could greatly reduce animal testing for investigation of novel immune therapies.}, language = {en} } @article{WagnerBerteroNickeletal.2020, author = {Wagner, Michael and Bertero, Edoardo and Nickel, Alexander and Kohlhaas, Michael and Gibson, Gary E. and Heggermont, Ward and Heymans, Stephane and Maack, Christoph}, title = {Selective NADH communication from α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase to mitochondrial transhydrogenase prevents reactive oxygen species formation under reducing conditions in the heart}, series = {Basic Research in Cardiology}, volume = {115}, journal = {Basic Research in Cardiology}, issn = {0300-8428}, doi = {10.1007/s00395-020-0815-1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-234907}, year = {2020}, abstract = {In heart failure, a functional block of complex I of the respiratory chain provokes superoxide generation, which is transformed to H\(_2\)O\(_2\) by dismutation. The Krebs cycle produces NADH, which delivers electrons to complex I, and NADPH for H\(_2\)O\(_2\) elimination via isocitrate dehydrogenase and nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase (NNT). At high NADH levels, α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (α-KGDH) is a major source of superoxide in skeletal muscle mitochondria with low NNT activity. Here, we analyzed how α-KGDH and NNT control H\(_2\)O\(_2\) emission in cardiac mitochondria. In cardiac mitochondria from NNT-competent BL/6N mice, H\(_2\)O\(_2\) emission is equally low with pyruvate/malate (P/M) or α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) as substrates. Complex I inhibition with rotenone increases H2O2 emission from P/M, but not α-KG respiring mitochondria, which is potentiated by depleting H\(_2\)O\(_2\)-eliminating capacity. Conversely, in NNT-deficient BL/6J mitochondria, H2O2 emission is higher with α-KG than with P/M as substrate, and further potentiated by complex I blockade. Prior depletion of H\(_2\)O\(_2\)-eliminating capacity increases H\(_2\)O\(_2\) emission from P/M, but not α-KG respiring mitochondria. In cardiac myocytes, downregulation of α-KGDH activity impaired dynamic mitochondrial redox adaptation during workload transitions, without increasing H\(_2\)O\(_2\) emission. In conclusion, NADH from α-KGDH selectively shuttles to NNT for NADPH formation rather than to complex I of the respiratory chain for ATP production. Therefore, α-KGDH plays a key role for H\(_2\)O\(_2\) elimination, but is not a relevant source of superoxide in heart. In heart failure, α-KGDH/NNT-dependent NADPH formation ameliorates oxidative stress imposed by complex I blockade. Downregulation of α-KGDH may, therefore, predispose to oxidative stress in heart failure.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Wagner2020, author = {Wagner, Leonard}, title = {Zinc homeostasis in megakaryocytes}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-21452}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-214526}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Zinc is an essential trace element for all living organisms. In mammals, including humans and mice, it is required for normal growth, development, hematopoiesis and immune defense. This thesis investigates the influence of zinc on the development of megakaryocytes (MKs), the cells responsible for bone marrow-derived platelet production. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of the expression of zinc import and export transporters (Slc39a/Slc30a genes) is carried out, firstly over the course of MK differentiation and secondly dependent on extracellular zinc.}, subject = {Zink}, language = {en} } @article{WagenbrennerHeinzHorasetal.2020, author = {Wagenbrenner, Mike and Heinz, Tizian and Horas, Konstantin and Jakuscheit, Axel and Arnholdt, J{\"o}rg and Hermann, Marietta and Rudert, Maximilian and Holzapfel, Boris M. and Steinert, Andre F. and Weißenberger, Manuel}, title = {The human arthritic hip joint is a source of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) with extensive multipotent differentiation potential}, series = {BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders}, volume = {21}, journal = {BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1186/s12891-020-03340-z}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229497}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Background While multiple in vitro studies examined mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) derived from bone marrow or hyaline cartilage, there is little to no data about the presence of MSCs in the joint capsule or the ligamentum capitis femoris (LCF) of the hip joint. Therefore, this in vitro study examined the presence and differentiation potential of MSCs isolated from the bone marrow, arthritic hyaline cartilage, the LCF and full-thickness samples of the anterior joint capsule of the hip joint. Methods MSCs were isolated and multiplied in adherent monolayer cell cultures. Osteogenesis and adipogenesis were induced in monolayer cell cultures for 21 days using a differentiation medium containing specific growth factors, while chondrogenesis in the presence of TGF-ss1 was performed using pellet-culture for 27 days. Control cultures were maintained for comparison over the same duration of time. The differentiation process was analyzed using histological and immunohistochemical stainings as well as semiquantitative RT-PCR for measuring the mean expression levels of tissue-specific genes. Results This in vitro research showed that the isolated cells from all four donor tissues grew plastic-adherent and showed similar adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation capacity as proven by the histological detection of lipid droplets or deposits of extracellular calcium and collagen type I. After 27 days of chondrogenesis proteoglycans accumulated in the differentiated MSC-pellets from all donor tissues. Immunohistochemical staining revealed vast amounts of collagen type II in all differentiated MSC-pellets, except for those from the LCF. Interestingly, all differentiated MSCs still showed a clear increase in mean expression of adipogenic, osteogenic and chondrogenic marker genes. In addition, the examination of an exemplary selected donor sample revealed that cells from all four donor tissues were clearly positive for the surface markers CD44, CD73, CD90 and CD105 by flow cytometric analysis. Conclusions This study proved the presence of MSC-like cells in all four examined donor tissues of the hip joint. No significant differences were observed during osteogenic or adipogenic differentiation depending on the source of MSCs used. Further research is necessary to fully determine the tripotent differentiation potential of cells isolated from the LCF and capsule tissue of the hip joint.}, language = {en} } @article{WagenbrennerHeinzHorasetal.2020, author = {Wagenbrenner, Mike and Heinz, Tizian and Horas, Konstantin and Jakuscheit, Axel and Arnholdt, Joerg and Mayer-Wagner, Susanne and Rudert, Maximilian and Holzapfel, Boris M. and Weißenberger, Manuel}, title = {Impact of Tranexamic Acid on Chondrocytes and Osteogenically Differentiated Human Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (hMSCs) In Vitro}, series = {Journal of Clinical Medicine}, volume = {9}, journal = {Journal of Clinical Medicine}, number = {12}, issn = {2077-0383}, doi = {10.3390/jcm9123880}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-219410}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The topical application of tranexamic acid (TXA) helps to prevent post-operative blood loss in total joint replacements. Despite these findings, the effects on articular and periarticular tissues remain unclear. Therefore, this in vitro study examined the effects of varying exposure times and concentrations of TXA on proliferation rates, gene expression and differentiation capacity of chondrocytes and human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs), which underwent osteogenic differentiation. Chondrocytes and hMSCs were isolated and multiplied in monolayer cell cultures. Osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs was induced for 21 days using a differentiation medium containing specific growth factors. Cell proliferation was analyzed using ATP assays. Effects of TXA on cell morphology were examined via light microscopy and histological staining, while expression levels of tissue-specific genes were measured using semiquantitative RT-PCR. After treatment with 50 mg/mL of TXA, a decrease in cell proliferation rates was observed. Furthermore, treatment with concentrations of 20 mg/mL of TXA for at least 48 h led to a visible detachment of chondrocytes. TXA treatment with 50 mg/mL for at least 24 h led to a decrease in the expression of specific marker genes in chondrocytes and osteogenically differentiated hMSCs. No significant effects were observed for concentrations beyond 20 mg/mL of TXA combined with exposure times of less than 24 h. This might therefore represent a safe limit for topical application in vivo. Further research regarding in vivo conditions and effects on hMSC functionality are necessary to fully determine the effects of TXA on articular and periarticular tissues.}, language = {en} } @article{WackExnerWegeneretal.2020, author = {Wack, Linda J. and Exner, Florian and Wegener, Sonja and Sauer, Otto A.}, title = {The impact of isocentric shifts on delivery accuracy during the irradiation of small cerebral targets — Quantification and possible corrections}, series = {Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics}, volume = {21}, journal = {Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics}, number = {5}, doi = {10.1002/acm2.12854}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218146}, pages = {56-64}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Purpose To assess the impact of isocenter shifts due to linac gantry and table rotation during cranial stereotactic radiosurgery on D\(_{98}\), target volume coverage (TVC), conformity (CI), and gradient index (GI). Methods Winston-Lutz (WL) checks were performed on two Elekta Synergy linacs. A stereotactic quality assurance (QA) plan was applied to the ArcCHECK phantom to assess the impact of isocenter shift corrections on Gamma pass rates. These corrections included gantry sag, distance of collimator and couch axes to the gantry axis, and distance between cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) isocenter and treatment beam (MV) isocenter. We applied the shifts via script to the treatment plan in Pinnacle 16.2. In a planning study, isocenter and mechanical rotation axis shifts of 0.25 to 2 mm were applied to stereotactic plans of spherical planning target volumes (PTVs) of various volumes. The shifts determined via WL measurements were applied to 16 patient plans with PTV sizes between 0.22 and 10.4 cm3. Results ArcCHECK measurements of a stereotactic treatment showed significant increases in Gamma pass rate for all three measurements (up to 3.8 percentage points) after correction of measured isocenter deviations. For spherical targets of 1 cm3, CI was most severely affected by increasing the distance of the CBCT isocenter (1.22 to 1.62). Gradient index increased with an isocenter-collimator axis distance of 1.5 mm (3.84 vs 4.62). D98 (normalized to reference) dropped to 0.85 (CBCT), 0.92 (table axis), 0.95 (collimator axis), and 0.98 (gantry sag), with similar but smaller changes for larger targets. Applying measured shifts to patient plans lead to relevant drops in D\(_{98}\) and TVC (7\%) for targets below 2 cm\(^3\) treated on linac 1. Conclusion Mechanical deviations during gantry, collimator, and table rotation may adversely affect the treatment of small stereotactic lesions. Adjustments of beam isocenters in the treatment planning system (TPS) can be used to both quantify their impact and for prospective correction of treatment plans.}, language = {en} } @article{VoulgariKokotaSteffanDewenterKeller2020, author = {Voulgari-Kokota, Anna and Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf and Keller, Alexander}, title = {Susceptibility of Red Mason Bee Larvae to Bacterial Threats Due to Microbiome Exchange with Imported Pollen Provisions}, series = {Insects}, volume = {11}, journal = {Insects}, number = {6}, issn = {2075-4450}, doi = {10.3390/insects11060373}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-207948}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Solitary bees are subject to a variety of pressures that cause severe population declines. Currently, habitat loss, temperature shifts, agrochemical exposure, and new parasites are identified as major threats. However, knowledge about detrimental bacteria is scarce, although they may disturb natural microbiomes, disturb nest environments, or harm the larvae directly. To address this gap, we investigated 12 Osmia bicornis nests with deceased larvae and 31 nests with healthy larvae from the same localities in a 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene metabarcoding study. We sampled larvae, pollen provisions, and nest material and then contrasted bacterial community composition and diversity in healthy and deceased nests. Microbiomes of pollen provisions and larvae showed similarities for healthy larvae, whilst this was not the case for deceased individuals. We identified three bacterial taxa assigned to Paenibacillus sp. (closely related to P. pabuli/amylolyticus/xylanexedens), Sporosarcina sp., and Bacillus sp. as indicative for bacterial communities of deceased larvae, as well as Lactobacillus for corresponding pollen provisions. Furthermore, we performed a provisioning experiment, where we fed larvae with untreated and sterilized pollens, as well as sterilized pollens inoculated with a Bacillus sp. isolate from a deceased larva. Untreated larval microbiomes were consistent with that of the pollen provided. Sterilized pollen alone did not lead to acute mortality, while no microbiome was recoverable from the larvae. In the inoculation treatment, we observed that larval microbiomes were dominated by the seeded bacterium, which resulted in enhanced mortality. These results support that larval microbiomes are strongly determined by the pollen provisions. Further, they underline the need for further investigation of the impact of detrimental bacterial acquired via pollens and potential buffering by a diverse pollen provision microbiome in solitary bees.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{VoulgariKokota2020, author = {Voulgari Kokota, Anna}, title = {Microbiota interactions and dynamics in megachilid bee nests}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-18249}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-182493}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Insect microbiota plays an essential role on the hosts' health and fitness, regulating their development, nutrition and immunity. The natural microbiota of bees, in particular, has been given much attention, largely because of the globally reported bee population declines. However, although the worker honey bee has been associated with distinctive and specialized microbiota, the microbiota of solitary bees has not been examined in detail, despite their enormous ecological importance. The main objectives of the present thesis were a) the bacterial community description for various solitary bee species, b) the association of the solitary bee microbiota with ecological factors such as landscape type, c) the relation of the bee foraging preferences with their nest bacterial microbiota, d) the examination of the nest building material contribution to the nest microbiota, e) the isolation of bacterial strains with beneficial or harmful properties for the solitary bee larvae and f) the pathological investigation of bacteria found in deceased solitary bee larvae. The findings of the present study revealed a high bacterial biodiversity in the solitary bee nests. At the same time, the bacterial communities were different for each bee host species. Furthermore, it was shown that the pollen bacterial communities underwent compositional shifts reflecting a reduction in floral bacteria with progressing larval development, while a clear landscape effect was absent. The examination of the nest pollen provisions showed different foraging preferences for each included bee species. Both the pollen composition and the host species identity had a strong effect on the pollen bacteria, indicating that the pollen bacterial communities are the result of a combinatory process. The introduced environmental material also contributed to the nest natural microbiome. However, although the larval microbiota was significantly influenced by the pollen microbiota, it was not much associated with that of the nest material. Two Paenibacillus strains isolated from O. bicornis nests showed strong antifungal activities, while several isolated strains were able to metabolize various oligosaccharides which are common in pollen and nectar. Screening for potential pathogenic bacteria in the nests of O. bicornis unveiled bacterial taxa, which dominated the bacterial community in deceased larvae, while at the same time they were undetectable in the healthy individuals. vi Finally, larvae which were raised in vitro developed distinct bacterial microbiomes according to their diet, while their life span was affected. The present thesis described aspects of the microbiota dynamics in the nests of seven megachilid solitary bee nests, by suggesting which transmission pathways shape the established bacterial communities and how these are altered with larval development. Furthermore, specific bacterial taxa were associated with possible services they might provide to the larvae, while others were related with possible harmful effects. Future studies should integrate microbiota examination of different bee generations and parallel investigation of the microbiota of the nests and their surrounding environment (plant community, soil) to elucidate the bacterial transmission paths which establish the nest microbiota of solitary bees. Functional assays will also allow future studies to characterize specific nest bacteria as beneficial or harmful and describe how they assist the development of healthy bees and the fitness of bee populations.}, subject = {Bienen }, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Volz2020, author = {Volz, Julia}, title = {Studies on the influence of platelets on vascular integrity in primary tumors and the role of BIN2 in platelet calcium signaling}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-21742}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-217427}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Maintenance of tumor vasculature integrity is indispensable for tumor growth and thus affects tumor progression. Previous studies have identified platelets as major regulators of tumor vascular integrity, as their depletion selectively renders tumor vessels highly permeable, causing massive intratumoral hemorrhage. While these results establish platelets as potential targets for anti-tumor therapy, depletion is not a treatment option due to the essential role of platelets for hemostasis. This thesis demonstrates for the first time that functional inhibition of glycoprotein (GP) VI on the platelet surface rapidly induces tumor hemorrhage and diminishes tumor growth similar to complete platelet depletion but without inducing systemic bleeding complications. Both, the intratumoral bleeding and tumor growth arrest could be reverted by depletion of Ly6G+ cells confirming them to be responsible for the induction of bleeding and necrosis within the tumor. In addition, GPVI inhibition increased intra-tumoral accumulation of co-administered chemotherapeutic agents, thereby resulting in a profound anti-tumor effect. In summary, this thesis manifests platelet GPVI as a key regulator of vascular integrity specifically in growing tumors, serving as a potential basis for the development of anti-tumor strategies. In the second part of this thesis, light is shed on the modulating role of bridging integrator 2 (BIN2) in platelet Ca2+ signaling. Stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) mediated store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) is the major route of Ca2+ influx in platelets, triggered by inositol trisphosphate receptor (IP3R)-dependent Ca2+ store release. In this thesis, the BAR domain superfamily member BIN2 was identified as the first Ca2+ signaling modulator, interacting with both, STIM1 and IP3R in platelets. Deletion of BIN2 resulted in reduced Ca2+ store release and Ca2+ influx in response to all tested platelet agonists. These defects were a consequence of impaired IP3R function in combination with defective STIM1-mediated SOC channel activation, while Ca2+ store content and agonist-induced IP3 production were unaltered. These results establish BIN2 as a central regulator of platelet Ca2+ signaling. The third part of this thesis focuses on the effect of the soluble neuronal guidance protein Sema7A on platelet function. Rosenberger et al. discovered that Sema7A cleavage from red blood cells increases the formation of platelet-neutrophil complexes, thereby reinforcing thrombo-inflammation in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI). This thesis establishes soluble Sema7A as a stimulator of platelet thrombus formation via its interaction with platelet GPIbα, thereby reinforcing PNC formation. Thus, interfering with the GPIb-Sema7A interaction during MIRI represents a potential strategy to reduce cardiac damage and improve clinical outcome following MI.}, subject = {Thrombozyt}, language = {en} } @article{VolppFerianecJežovičovaetal.2020, author = {Volpp, Linda and Ferianec, Vladim{\´i}r and Ježovičov{\´a}, Miriam and Ďuračkov{\´a}, Zdeňka and Scherf-Clavel, Oliver and H{\"o}gger, Petra}, title = {Constituents and Metabolites of a French Oak Wood Extract (Robuvit®) in Serum and Blood Cell Samples of Women Undergoing Hysterectomy}, series = {Frontiers in Pharmacology}, volume = {11}, journal = {Frontiers in Pharmacology}, number = {74}, issn = {1663-9812}, doi = {10.3389/fphar.2020.00074}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200105}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Ellagitannins are signature constituents of oak wood and their consumption has been associated with various health benefits. In vivo, they undergo metabolic degradation including gut microbial metabolism yielding urolithins. Only limited data is available about compounds being present in blood after intake of an extract from French oak wood, Robuvit®. In the course of a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical investigation, 66 patients undergoing hysterectomy received placebo or 300 mg Robuvit® per day before and over 8 weeks after surgery. Serum and blood cell samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS). The number of urolithin producers and the urolithin levels increased after intake of Robuvit®. In serum samples, the median concentration of urolithin A was 14.0 ng/ml [interquartile range (IQR) 57.4] after 8 weeks. Urolithin B was determined at 22.3 ng/ml (IQR 12.6), urolithin C at 2.66 ng/ml (IQR 2.08). In blood cells, lower concentrations and only urolithins A and B were detected. A statistically significant association of lower post-surgical pain scores with metabotype A was detected (p < 0.05). To conclude, supplementation with French oak wood extract raised urolithin generation in patients and suggested health advantages for urolithin-producers.}, language = {en} } @article{VolpatoKaukMessereretal.2020, author = {Volpato, Daniela and Kauk, Michael and Messerer, Regina and Bermudez, Marcel and Wolber, Gerhard and Bock, Andreas and Hoffmann, Carsten and Holzgrabe, Ulrike}, title = {The Role of Orthosteric Building Blocks of Bitopic Ligands for Muscarinic M1 Receptors}, series = {ACS Omega}, volume = {5}, journal = {ACS Omega}, number = {49}, doi = {10.1021/acsomega.0c04220}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230548}, pages = {31706-31715}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The muscarinic M\(_1\) acetylcholine receptor is an important drug target for the treatment of various neurological disorders. Designing M\(_1\) receptor-selective drugs has proven challenging, mainly due to the high conservation of the acetylcholine binding site among muscarinic receptor subtypes. Therefore, less conserved and topographically distinct allosteric binding sites have been explored to increase M\(_1\) receptor selectivity. In this line, bitopic ligands, which target orthosteric and allosteric binding sites simultaneously, may provide a promising strategy. Here, we explore the allosteric, M1-selective BQCAd scaffold derived from BQCA as a starting point for the design, synthesis, and pharmacological evaluation of a series of novel bitopic ligands in which the orthosteric moieties and linker lengths are systematically varied. Since β-arrestin recruitment seems to be favorable to therapeutic implication, all the compounds were investigated by G protein and β-arrestin assays. Some bitopic ligands are partial to full agonists for G protein activation, some activate β-arrestin recruitment, and the degree of β-arrestin recruitment varies according to the respective modification. The allosteric BQCAd scaffold controls the positioning of the orthosteric ammonium group of all ligands, suggesting that this interaction is essential for stimulating G protein activation. However, β-arrestin recruitment is not affected. The novel set of bitopic ligands may constitute a toolbox to study the requirements of β-arrestin recruitment during ligand design for therapeutic usage.}, language = {en} } @article{VogtGirschickSchweitzeretal.2020, author = {Vogt, Marius and Girschick, Hermann and Schweitzer, Tilmann and Benoit, Clemens and Holl-Wieden, Annette and Seefried, Lothar and Jakob, Franz and Hofmann, Christine}, title = {Pediatric hypophosphatasia: lessons learned from a retrospective single-center chart review of 50 children}, series = {Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases}, volume = {15}, journal = {Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases}, doi = {10.1186/s13023-020-01500-x}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230505}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Background Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is a rare, inherited metabolic disorder caused by loss-of-function mutations in the ALPL gene that encodes the tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase TNAP (ORPHA 436). Its clinical presentation is highly heterogeneous with a remarkably wide-ranging severity. HPP affects patients of all ages. In children HPP-related musculoskeletal symptoms may mimic rheumatologic conditions and diagnosis is often difficult and delayed. To improve the understanding of HPP in children and in order to shorten the diagnostic time span in the future we studied the natural history of the disease in our large cohort of pediatric patients. This single centre retrospective chart review included longitudinal data from 50 patients with HPP diagnosed and followed at the University Children's Hospital Wuerzburg, Germany over the last 25 years. Results The cohort comprises 4 (8\%) perinatal, 17 (34\%) infantile and 29 (58\%) childhood onset HPP patients. Two patients were deceased at the time of data collection. Diagnosis was based on available characteristic clinical symptoms (in 88\%), low alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity (in 96\%), accumulating substrates of AP (in 58\%) and X-ray findings (in 48\%). Genetic analysis was performed in 48 patients (31 compound heterozygous, 15 heterozygous, 2 homozygous mutations per patient), allowing investigations on genotype-phenotype correlations. Based on anamnestic data, median age at first clinical symptoms was 3.5 months (min. 0, max. 107), while median time to diagnosis was 13 months (min. 0, max. 103). Common symptoms included: impairment of motor skills (78\%), impairment of mineralization (72\%), premature loss of teeth (64\%), musculoskeletal pain and craniosynostosis (each 64\%) and failure to thrive (62\%). Up to now 20 patients started medical treatment with Asfotase alfa. Conclusions Reported findings support the clinical perception of HPP being a chronic multi-systemic disease with often delayed diagnosis. Our natural history information provides detailed insights into the prevalence of different symptoms, which can help to improve and shorten diagnostics and thereby lead to an optimised medical care, especially with promising therapeutic options such as enzyme-replacement-therapy with Asfotase alfa in mind.}, language = {en} } @article{VogelGossnerMergneretal.2020, author = {Vogel, Sebastian and Gossner, Martin M. and Mergner, Ulrich and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Thorn, Simon}, title = {Optimizing enrichment of deadwood for biodiversity by varying sun exposure and tree species: An experimental approach}, series = {Journal of Applied Ecology}, volume = {57}, journal = {Journal of Applied Ecology}, number = {10}, doi = {10.1111/1365-2664.13648}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-214614}, pages = {2075 -- 2085}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The enrichment of deadwood is essential for the conservation of saproxylic biodiversity in managed forests. However, existing strategies focus on a cost-intensive increase of deadwood amount, while largely neglecting increasing deadwood diversity. Deadwood objects, that is logs and branches, from six tree species were experimentally sun exposed, canopy shaded and artificially shaded for 4 years, after which the alpha-, beta- and gamma-diversity of saproxylic beetles, wood-inhabiting fungi and spiders were analysed. Analyses of beta-diversity included the spatial distance between exposed deadwood objects. A random-drawing procedure was used to identify the combination of tree species and sun exposure that yielded the highest gamma-diversity at a minimum of exposed deadwood amount. In sun-exposed plots, species numbers in logs were higher than in shaded plots for all taxa, while in branches we observed the opposite for saproxylic beetles. Tree species affected the species numbers only of saproxylic beetles and wood-inhabiting fungi. The beta-diversity of saproxylic beetles and wood-inhabiting fungi among logs was influenced by sun exposure and tree species, but beta-diversity of spiders by sun exposure only. For all saproxylic taxa recorded in logs, differences between communities increased with increasing spatial distance. A combination of canopy-shaded Carpinus logs and sun-exposed Populus logs resulted in the highest species numbers of all investigated saproxylic taxa among all possible combinations of tree species and sun-exposure treatments. Synthesis and applications. We recommend incorporating the enrichment of different tree species and particularly the variation in sun exposure into existing strategies of deadwood enrichment. Based on the results of our study, we suggest to combine the logs of softwood broadleaf tree species (e.g. Carpinus, Populus), hardwood broadleaf tree species (e.g. Quercus) and coniferous tree species (e.g. Pinus) under different conditions of sun exposure and distribute them spatially in a landscape to maximize the beneficial effects on overall diversity.}, language = {en} } @article{Vogel2020, author = {Vogel, J{\"o}rg}, title = {An RNA biology perspective on species-specific programmable RNA antibiotics}, series = {Molecular Microbiology}, volume = {113}, journal = {Molecular Microbiology}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1111/mmi.14476}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-214869}, pages = {550 -- 559}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Our body is colonized by a vast array of bacteria the sum of which forms our microbiota. The gut alone harbors >1,000 bacterial species. An understanding of their individual or synergistic contributions to human health and disease demands means to interfere with their functions on the species level. Most of the currently available antibiotics are broad-spectrum, thus too unspecific for a selective depletion of a single species of interest from the microbiota. Programmable RNA antibiotics in the form of short antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) promise to achieve precision manipulation of bacterial communities. These ASOs are coupled to small peptides that carry them inside the bacteria to silence mRNAs of essential genes, for example, to target antibiotic-resistant pathogens as an alternative to standard antibiotics. There is already proof-of-principle with diverse bacteria, but many open questions remain with respect to true species specificity, potential off-targeting, choice of peptides for delivery, bacterial resistance mechanisms and the host response. While there is unlikely a one-fits-all solution for all microbiome species, I will discuss how recent progress in bacterial RNA biology may help to accelerate the development of programmable RNA antibiotics for microbiome editing and other applications.}, language = {en} } @article{VikukFuchsKrischkeetal.2020, author = {Vikuk, Veronika and Fuchs, Benjamin and Krischke, Markus and Mueller, Martin J. and Rueb, Selina and Krauss, Jochen}, title = {Alkaloid Concentrations of Lolium perenne Infected with Epichlo{\"e} festucae var. lolii with Different Detection Methods—A Re-Evaluation of Intoxication Risk in Germany?}, series = {Journal of Fungi}, volume = {6}, journal = {Journal of Fungi}, number = {3}, issn = {2309-608X}, doi = {10.3390/jof6030177}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-213171}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Mycotoxins in agriculturally used plants can cause intoxication in animals and can lead to severe financial losses for farmers. The endophytic fungus Epichlo{\"e} festucae var. lolii living symbiotically within the cool season grass species Lolium perenne can produce vertebrate and invertebrate toxic alkaloids. Hence, an exact quantitation of alkaloid concentrations is essential to determine intoxication risk for animals. Many studies use different methods to detect alkaloid concentrations, which complicates the comparability. In this study, we showed that alkaloid concentrations of individual plants exceeded toxicity thresholds on real world grasslands in Germany, but not on the population level. Alkaloid concentrations on five German grasslands with high alkaloid levels peaked in summer but were also below toxicity thresholds on population level. Furthermore, we showed that alkaloid concentrations follow the same seasonal trend, regardless of whether plant fresh or dry weight was used, in the field and in a common garden study. However, alkaloid concentrations were around three times higher when detected with dry weight. Finally, we showed that alkaloid concentrations can additionally be biased to different alkaloid detection methods. We highlight that toxicity risks should be analyzed using plant dry weight, but concentration trends of fresh weight are reliable.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Vikuk2020, author = {Vikuk, Veronika}, title = {Epichlo{\"e} endophyte-grass symbioses in Germany - Infection rates, alkaloid concentrations and possible intoxication risks}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-21389}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-213895}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Endophytes live in partial symbiosis inside a plant and have been detected in all tested plants. They belong to the group of fungi or bacteria and their ecological function is mostly unknown. The fungal endophytes of the genus Epichlo{\"e} belong to a special group of endophytes. Epichlo{\"e} endophytes live symbiotically inside cool season grass species and some of them are able to produce alkaloids toxic to vertebrates and insects. Their symbiosis is seen as mutualistic for the following reasons: the fungus provides the plant herbivore resistance by producing alkaloids, and it increases the plant's drought tolerance as well as its biomass production. In return, the grass provides the fungus shelter, nutrients and dispersal. Epichlo{\"e} endophytes are host specific and the ability to produce alkaloids differs between species. In order to estimate intoxication risks in grasslands, it is necessary to detect infection rates of different grass species with Epichlo{\"e} endophytes, and to determine the genotypes and chemotypes of the Epichlo{\"e} species as well as the produced alkaloid concentrations. Factors like land-use intensity or season may have an influence on infection rates and alkaloid concentrations. Also, different methodological approaches may lead to different results. In this doctoral thesis my general aim was to evaluate intoxication risks in German grasslands caused by Epichlo{\"e} endophytes. For that I investigated infection rates of different grass species and the genotypes and chemotypes of their Epichlo{\"e} endophytes in German grasslands (Chapter II). Furthermore, I compared alkaloid concentrations detected with dry and fresh plant weight and different analytical methods. I also detected possible changes on the influence of season or land-use intensity (Chapter III). Additionally, I examined infections with Epichlo{\"e} endophytes and alkaloid concentrations in commercially available grass seed mixtures and determined how that influences the intoxication risk of grazing animals in Europe (Chapter IV). It is of agricultural interest to estimate intoxication risks for grazing livestock on German grasslands due to Epichlo{\"e} infected grass species. Therefore, it is important to investigate which grasses are infected with the Epichlo{\"e} endophyte, if the endophytes have the ability to produce vertebrate and invertebrate toxic alkaloids and if the alkaloids are indeed produced. I showed that Epichlo{\"e} festucae var. lolii infecting agriculturally important Lolium perenne lacked the starting gene for ergovaline biosynthesis. Hence, vertebrate toxic ergovaline was not detected in the majority of the collected L. perenne plants. The detection of alkaloid concentrations is an important tool to estimate intoxication risk for vertebrates, but also invertebrates. My studies showed that the usage of dry plant material is crucial to quantify the correct alkaloid concentrations, and that alkaloid concentrations can vary depending on the detection method. Hence, the usage of validated, similar detection methods is important to be able to compare alkaloid concentrations from different studies. Nevertheless, the trends of seasonal changes and the influence of land-use intensity stayed the same, regardless if dry or fresh plant weight was used. Also, alkaloid concentrations were below toxicity thresholds on population level, regardless of the method used. Two commercially available forage grass and two commercially available turf grass seed mixtures were infected with Epichlo{\"e} endopyhtes and alkaloids were detected. This might contribute to the spreading of Epichlo{\"e} endopyhtes in Germany, therefore seed mixtures should be tested for Epichlo{\"e} infections. My results indicate that the intoxication risk is generally low in Germany at the moment, although that might change due to climate change, an increase of monocultural land-use, or the seeding of Epichlo{\"e} infected grass seeds.}, subject = {Endophytische Pilze}, language = {en} } @article{VermaKehrerHesseretal.2020, author = {Verma, Shwetabh and Kehrer, Tobias and Hesser, J{\"u}rgen and Arba Mosquera, Samuel}, title = {Analysis of Impact of Humidity and Temperature on Excimer Laser Ablation of Polyethylene Terephthalate, Polymethylmethacrylate, and Porcine Corneal Tissue}, series = {Lasers in Surgery and Medicine}, volume = {52}, journal = {Lasers in Surgery and Medicine}, number = {7}, doi = {10.1002/lsm.23190}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-213395}, pages = {627 -- 638}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Background and Objectives To analyze the impact of humidity and temperature on excimer laser ablation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and porcine corneal tissue, and an ablation model to compensate for the temperature and humidity changes on ablation efficiency. Study Design/Materials and Methods The study was conducted using an AMARIS 1050RS (Schwind eye-tech-solutions) placed inside a climate chamber at ACTS. Ablations were performed on PET, PMMA, and porcine cornea. The impact of a wide range of temperature (~18°C to ~30°C) and relative humidity (~25\% to ~80\%) on laser ablation outcomes was tested using nine climate test settings. For porcine eyes, change in defocus was calculated from the difference of post-ablation to pre-ablation average keratometry readings. Laser scanning deflectometry was performed to measure refractive change achieved in PMMA. Multiple linear regression was performed using the least square method with predictive factors: temperature, relative humidity, time stamp. Influence of climate settings was modeled for pulse energy, pulse fluence, ablation efficiency on PMMA and porcine cornea tissue. Results Temperature changes did not affect laser pulse energy, pulse fluence (PET), and ablation efficiency (on PMMA or porcine corneal tissue) significantly. Changes in relative humidity were critical and significantly affected laser pulse energy, high fluence and low fluence. The opposite trend was observed between the ablation performance on PMMA and porcine cornea. Conclusions The proposed well-fitting multi-linear model can be utilized for compensation of temperature and humidity changes on ablation efficiency. Based on this model, a working window for optimum operation has been found (temperature 18°C to 28°C and relative humidity 25\% to 65\%) for a maximum deviation of ±2.5\% in ablation efficiency in PMMA and porcine corneal tissue.}, language = {en} } @article{VenjakobLeonhardtKlein2020, author = {Venjakob, Christine and Leonhardt, Sara and Klein, Alexandra-Maria}, title = {Inter-individual nectar chemistry changes of field scabious, Knautia arvensis}, series = {Insects}, volume = {11}, journal = {Insects}, number = {2}, issn = {2075-4450}, doi = {10.3390/insects11020075}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200866}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Nectar is crucial to maintain plant-pollinator mutualism. Nectar quality (nutritional composition) can vary strongly between individuals of the same plant species. The factors driving such inter-individual variation have however not been investigated closer. We investigated nectar quality of field scabious, Knautia arvensis in different grassland plant communities varying in species composition and richness to assess whether nectar quality can be affected by the surrounding plant community. We analyzed (with high performance liquid chromatography) the content of carbohydrates, overall amino acids, and essential amino acids. Amino acid and carbohydrate concentrations and proportions varied among plant individuals and with the surrounding plant community but were not related to the surrounding plant species richness. Total and individual carbohydrate concentrations were lowest, while proportions of the essential amino acids, valine, isoleucine, leucine (all phagostimulatory), and lysine were highest in plant species communities of the highest diversity. Our results show that K. arvensis nectar chemistry varies with the composition of the surrounding plant community, which may alter the taste and nutritional value and thus affect the plant's visitor spectrum and visitation rate. However, the strong inter-individual variation in nectar quality requires additional studies (e.g., in semi-field studies) to disentangle different biotic and abiotic factors contributing to inter-individual nectar chemistry in a plant-community context.}, language = {en} } @article{VeniaminovaCespuglioChernukhaetal.2020, author = {Veniaminova, Ekaterina and Cespuglio, Raymond and Chernukha, Irina and Schmitt-Boehrer, Angelika G. and Morozov, Sergey and Kalueff, Allan V. and Kuznetsova, Oxana and Anthony, Daniel C. and Lesch, Klaus-Peter and Strekalova, Tatyana}, title = {Metabolic, Molecular, and Behavioral Effects of Western Diet in Serotonin Transporter-Deficient Mice: Rescue by Heterozygosity?}, series = {Frontiers in Neuroscience}, volume = {14}, journal = {Frontiers in Neuroscience}, issn = {1662-453X}, doi = {10.3389/fnins.2020.00024}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-199813}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Reduced function of the serotonin transporter (SERT) is associated with increased susceptibility to anxiety and depression and with type-2 diabetes, which is especially true in older women. Preference for a "Western diet" (WD), enriched with saturated fat, cholesterol, and sugars, may aggravate these conditions. In previous studies, decreased glucose tolerance, central and peripheral inflammation, dyslipidemia, emotional, cognitive, and social abnormalities were reported in WD-fed young female mice. We investigated the metabolic, molecular, and behavioral changes associated with a 3-week-long dietary regime of either the WD or control diet in 12-month-old female mice with three different Sert genotypes: homozygous (Slc6a4) gene knockout (Sert\(^{-/-}\): KO), heterozygous (Sert\(^{+/-}\): HET), or wild-type mice (Sert\(^{+/+}\): WT). In the WT-WD and KO-WD groups, but not in HET-WD-fed mice, most of changes induced by the WD paralleled those found in the younger mice, including brain overexpression of inflammatory marker Toll-like receptor 4 (Tlr4) and impaired hippocampus-dependent performance in the marble test. However, the 12-month-old female mice became obese. Control diet KO mice exhibited impaired hippocampal-dependent behaviors, increased brain expression of the serotonin receptors Htr2c and Htr1b, as well as increased Tlr4 and mitochondrial regulator, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma-coactivator-1a (Ppargc1a). Paradoxically, these, and other changes, were reversed in KO-WD mutants, suggesting a complex interplay between Sert deficiency and metabolic factors as well as potential compensatory molecular mechanisms that might be disrupted by the WD exposure. Most, but not all, of the changes in gene expression in the brain and liver of KO mice were not exhibited by the HET mice fed with either diet. Some of the WD-induced changes were similar in the KO-WD and HET-WD-fed mice, but the latter displayed a "rescued" phenotype in terms of diet-induced abnormalities in glucose tolerance, neuroinflammation, and hippocampus-dependent performance. Thus, complete versus partial Sert inactivation in aged mice results in distinct metabolic, molecular, and behavioral consequences in response to the WD. Our findings show that Sert\(^{+/-}\) mice are resilient to certain environmental challenges and support the concept of heterosis as evolutionary adaptive mechanism.}, language = {en} } @article{VazquezRodriguezVilarKachleretal.2020, author = {Vazquez-Rodriguez, Saleta and Vilar, Santiago and Kachler, Sonja and Klotz, Karl-Norbert and Uriarte, Eugenio and Borges, Fernanda and Matos, Maria Jo{\~a}o}, title = {Adenosine receptor ligands: coumarin-chalcone hybrids as modulating agents on the activity of hARs}, series = {Molecules}, volume = {25}, journal = {Molecules}, number = {18}, issn = {1420-3049}, doi = {10.3390/molecules25184306}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-213165}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Adenosine receptors (ARs) play an important role in neurological and psychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and schizophrenia. The different subtypes of ARs and the knowledge on their densities and status are important for understanding the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of diseases and for developing new therapeutics. Looking for new scaffolds for selective AR ligands, coumarin-chalcone hybrids were synthesized (compounds 1-8) and screened in radioligand binding (hA\(_1\), hA\(_{2A}\) and hA\(_3\)) and adenylyl cyclase (hA\(_{2B}\)) assays in order to evaluate their affinity for the four human AR subtypes (hARs). Coumarin-chalcone hybrid has been established as a new scaffold suitable for the development of potent and selective ligands for hA\(_1\) or hA\(_3\) subtypes. In general, hydroxy-substituted hybrids showed some affinity for the hA\(_1\), while the methoxy counterparts were selective for the hA\(_3\). The most potent hA\(_1\) ligand was compound 7 (K\(_i\) = 17.7 µM), whereas compound 4 was the most potent ligand for hA\(_3\) (K\(_i\) = 2.49 µM). In addition, docking studies with hA\(_1\) and hA\(_3\) homology models were established to analyze the structure-function relationships. Results showed that the different residues located on the protein binding pocket could play an important role in ligand selectivity.}, language = {en} } @article{vanLoockAltBecheretal.2020, author = {van Loock, Peter and Alt, Wolfgang and Becher, Christoph and Benson, Oliver and Boche, Holger and Deppe, Christian and Eschner, J{\"u}rgen and H{\"o}fling, Sven and Meschede, Dieter and Michler, Peter and Schmidt, Frank and Weinfurter, Harald}, title = {Extending Quantum Links: Modules for Fiber- and Memory-Based Quantum Repeaters}, series = {Advanced Quantum Technologies}, volume = {3}, journal = {Advanced Quantum Technologies}, number = {11}, doi = {10.1002/qute.201900141}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-228322}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Elementary building blocks for quantum repeaters based on fiber channels and memory stations are analyzed. Implementations are considered for three different physical platforms, for which suitable components are available: quantum dots, trapped atoms and ions, and color centers in diamond. The performances of basic quantum repeater links for these platforms are evaluated and compared, both for present-day, state-of-the-art experimental parameters as well as for parameters that can in principle be reached in the future. The ultimate goal is to experimentally explore regimes at intermediate distances—up to a few 100 km—in which the repeater-assisted secret key transmission rates exceed the maximal rate achievable via direct transmission. Two different protocols are considered, one of which is better adapted to the higher source clock rate and lower memory coherence time of the quantum dot platform, while the other circumvents the need of writing photonic quantum states into the memories in a heralded, nondestructive fashion. The elementary building blocks and protocols can be connected in a modular form to construct a quantum repeater system that is potentially scalable to large distances.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{vanEckert2020, author = {van Eckert, Viviane Roxann}, title = {Prevalence of Strongyloides stercoralis infection in adult HIV-positive patients and comparison of specificity and sensitivity of five different methods to detect a current infection in Mwanza Province /Northern Tanzania}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-20530}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-205306}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {S. stercoralis is a helminthic parasite which is common in tropical and subtropical regions. It causes a persistent but often inapparent infection in humans. In the state of a protracted immunosuppression this parasite can cause a life-threatening hyperinfection syndrome. Most often the hyperinfection syndrome was found after prolonged high dose corticosteroid treatment. In HIV-infected individuals high dose corticosteroids are used for the treatment of the immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) or as adjunct treatment in the treatment of meningeal or pericardial tuberculosis. Case reports from Tanzania demonstrate that Strongyloidiasis is prevalent not only in coastal regions but also in the Lake province of Tanzania. However, data on the local prevalence of S. stercoralis infection based on sensitive techniques are scanty, especially in HIV-infected individuals. The main objective of this study is to provide data on the prevalence of S. stercoralis infections in the adult HIV-infected population attending the Bugando Medical Centre for medical care. Specific objectives of the study are the comparison of the sensitivities and specificities of five different methods in detecting S. stercoralis. Four methods to detect S. stercoralis larvae used stool samples; one method to detect S. stercoralis antibodies required blood samples. The study used the Agar-plate-culture-technique and a modified Harada-Mori-culture-technique for the direct detection of helminthic larvae in the collected faecal samples. In addition, a recently described PCR-assay from faecal specimens and an ELISA for S. stercoralis antibodies have been applied. The Faecal Parasite Concentrator (FPC) stool concentration technique was used for the differential diagnosis of other intestinal helminthic parasites. The results of the study may influence the current treatment guidelines for HIV-infected patients in case that a relevant prevalence of S. stercoralis infection is found. Then, prior to a prolonged iatrogenic immunosuppression -like the high dose corticosteroid treatment for IRIS- a prophylactic anthelminthic treatment capable to eradicate a S. stercoralis infection could be recommendable. The prevalence of a current S. stercoralis infection using the PCR as a gold standard was 5.4\%. The Agar plate method showed positive results in 19 out of 278 cases (6.1\%), the modified Harada Mori technique in 13 of 278 (4.7\%) cases. With PCR as gold standard the sensitivity of the agar plate method was 60\%, the positive predictive value 47.4\%, the specificity 96.2\% and the negative predictive value 97.7 \%. The sensitivity of the Harada Mori technique was 36.4\%, the positive predictive value 30.7\% with a specificity of 96.4\% and negative predictive value 97.1\%. The modified Harada Mori technique allowed in principal the morphological identification of nematode larvae. Microscopic analysis showed a specificity of 100\% and a sensitivity of 46.7\%. Antibodies were detected in 45 of 278 cases 16.2\% by ELISA, with a sensitivity of 92.9\% and a specificity of 87.8\%. The findings of this study show that none of the diagnostic tests can be implemented as a routine diagnostic procedure to diagnose a current infection. This leads to the conclusion that it is high time to consider the provision of a prophylactic treatment within patients who are either HIV positive patients who could develop an IRIS after receiving ART, patients with a HTLV-1 infection and the growing number of patients under iatrogenic immunosuppression for various reasons.}, subject = {Strongyloides stercoralis}, language = {en} } @article{vanderVeenVlietstravanDussenetal.2020, author = {van der Veen, Sanne J. and Vlietstra, Wytze J. and van Dussen, Laura and van Kuilenburg, Andr{\´e} B.P. and Dijkgraaf, Marcel G. W. and Lenders, Malte and Brand, Eva and Wanner, Christoph and Hughes, Derralynn and Elliott, Perry M. and Hollak, Carla E. M. and Langeveld, Mirjam}, title = {Predicting the development of anti-drug antibodies against recombinant alpha-galactosidase A in male patients with classical Fabry disease}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {21}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {16}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms21165784}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-285687}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Fabry Disease (FD) is a rare, X-linked, lysosomal storage disease that mainly causes renal, cardiac and cerebral complications. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with recombinant alpha-galactosidase A is available, but approximately 50\% of male patients with classical FD develop inhibiting anti-drug antibodies (iADAs) that lead to reduced biochemical responses and an accelerated loss of renal function. Once immunization has occurred, iADAs tend to persist and tolerization is hard to achieve. Here we developed a pre-treatment prediction model for iADA development in FD using existing data from 120 classical male FD patients from three European centers, treated with ERT. We found that nonsense and frameshift mutations in the α-galactosidase A gene (p = 0.05), higher plasma lysoGb3 at baseline (p < 0.001) and agalsidase beta as first treatment (p = 0.006) were significantly associated with iADA development. Prediction performance of a Random Forest model, using multiple variables (AUC-ROC: 0.77) was compared to a logistic regression (LR) model using the three significantly associated variables (AUC-ROC: 0.77). The LR model can be used to determine iADA risk in individual FD patients prior to treatment initiation. This helps to determine in which patients adjusted treatment and/or immunomodulatory regimes may be considered to minimize iADA development risk.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{vandenBerg2020, author = {van den Berg, Anne Maria}, title = {Age-related alterations of the immune system aggravate the myocardial aging process}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-19362}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-193622}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) increases dramatically with age. Nevertheless, most of the basic research in cardiology has been conducted on young healthy animals which may not necessarily reflect the situation observed in the clinic. The heart undergoes profound changes in elderly, including molecular alterations, myocardial hypertrophy, interstitial fibrosis and functional decline. To date, numerous approaches exist to explain mechanisms of the cardiac aging process whereupon inflammation and immune activity are of increasing interest. Myocardial aging is temporally associated with chronic low-grade systemic inflammation and accumulation of memory T-cells. However, a possible causal relationship between these two phenomena has not yet been investigated. Thus, aim of the present study was to assess how immunological mechanisms contribute to the myocardial aging process. Herein, the healthy murine heart was found to harbor all major resident leukocyte populations, including macrophages (CD45+CD11b+Ly6G-), granulocytes (CD45+ CD11b+Ly6G+), T-cells (CD45+CD11b-CD3e+), B-cells (CD45+CD11b-B220+) at frequencies that largely surpass those found in skeletal muscles. Age-related structural alterations and functional impairment occur simultaneously with significant shifts of the tissue resident leukocyte composition. Gene expression analyses performed on bulk myocardial samples revealed higher expression levels of TNF and INF- suggesting that in situ inflammation plays a role in the myocardial aging process. Aging was furthermore accompanied by a significant increase in size and cellularity of mediastinal, heart draining lymph nodes (med LN). Moreover, the med LNs harvested from aged mice showed a strong accumulation of effector-memory T-cells (CD44+CD62L-), mainly exhibiting a pro-inflammatory phenotype (Foxp3-, TNF+, IFN- γ+). None of these alterations were observed in popliteal lymph nodes of aged mice, indicating that they might be site-specific. Next, to go beyond mere associative evidence and examine underlying mechanisms, the myocardial aging process was comprehensively characterized in mice lacking B- (µMT) or CD4+ T-cells (CD4ko). Our analyses revealed that aged CD4+ T-cell-deficient, but not B-cell-deficient mice, exhibit a lower in situ inflammatory tone and preserved ventricular function, as compared to age-matched wild type controls. No differences in the expression levels of genes related to fibrosis were observed in the groups. Taken together, the results of this study indicate that heart-directed immune responses may spontaneously arise in the elderly, even in the absence of a clear tissue damage or concomitant infection. The T-cell-mediated immunosenescence profile might be particularly associated with age-related myocardial inflammation and functional decline, but not with tissue remodeling. These observations might shed new light on the emerging role of T cells in myocardial diseases, which primarily affect the elderly population.}, language = {en} } @article{UsmanMahmoodConradetal.2020, author = {Usman, Muhammad and Mahmood, Talha and Conrad, Christopher and Bodla, Habib Ullah}, title = {Remote Sensing and modelling based framework for valuing irrigation system efficiency and steering indicators of consumptive water use in an irrigated region}, series = {Sustainability}, volume = {12}, journal = {Sustainability}, number = {22}, issn = {2071-1050}, doi = {10.3390/su12229535}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-219358}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Water crises are becoming severe in recent times, further fueled by population increase and climate change. They result in complex and unsustainable water management. Spatial estimation of consumptive water use is vital for performance assessment of the irrigation system using Remote Sensing (RS). For this study, its estimation is done using the Soil Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) approach. Performance indicators including equity, adequacy, and reliability were worked out at various spatiotemporal scales. Moreover, optimization and sustainable use of water resources are not possible without knowing the factors mainly influencing consumptive water use of major crops. For that purpose, random forest regression modelling was employed using various sets of factors for site-specific, proximity, and cropping system. The results show that the system is underperforming both for Kharif (i.e., summer) and Rabi (i.e., winter) seasons. Performance indicators highlight poor water distribution in the system, a shortage of water supply, and unreliability. The results are relatively good for Rabi as compared to Kharif, with an overall poor situation for both seasons. Factors importance varies for different crops. Overall, distance from canal, road density, canal density, and farm approachability are the most important factors for explaining consumptive water use. Auditing of consumptive water use shows the potential for resource optimization through on-farm water management by the targeted approach. The results are based on the present situation without considering future changes in canal water supply and consumptive water use under climate change.}, language = {en} } @article{UrbanRemmeleDittrichetal.2020, author = {Urban, Lara and Remmele, Christian W. and Dittrich, Marcus and Schwarz, Roland F. and M{\"u}ller, Tobias}, title = {covRNA: discovering covariate associations in large-scale gene expression data}, series = {BMC Reserach Notes}, volume = {13}, journal = {BMC Reserach Notes}, doi = {10.1186/s13104-020-04946-1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229258}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Objective The biological interpretation of gene expression measurements is a challenging task. While ordination methods are routinely used to identify clusters of samples or co-expressed genes, these methods do not take sample or gene annotations into account. We aim to provide a tool that allows users of all backgrounds to assess and visualize the intrinsic correlation structure of complex annotated gene expression data and discover the covariates that jointly affect expression patterns. Results The Bioconductor package covRNA provides a convenient and fast interface for testing and visualizing complex relationships between sample and gene covariates mediated by gene expression data in an entirely unsupervised setting. The relationships between sample and gene covariates are tested by statistical permutation tests and visualized by ordination. The methods are inspired by the fourthcorner and RLQ analyses used in ecological research for the analysis of species abundance data, that we modified to make them suitable for the distributional characteristics of both, RNA-Seq read counts and microarray intensities, and to provide a high-performance parallelized implementation for the analysis of large-scale gene expression data on multi-core computational systems. CovRNA provides additional modules for unsupervised gene filtering and plotting functions to ensure a smooth and coherent analysis workflow.}, language = {en} } @article{UnserZiebertz2020, author = {Unser, Alexander and Ziebertz, Hans-Georg}, title = {The impact of religion and national origin on attitudes towards refugee rights: an international comparative empirical study}, series = {Religions}, volume = {11}, journal = {Religions}, number = {6}, issn = {2077-1444}, doi = {10.3390/rel11060303}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-207923}, year = {2020}, abstract = {This paper is concerned with the rights of refugees. The refugee issue has been an acutely charged item on the political agenda for several years. Although the great waves of influx have flattened out, people are continually venturing into Europe. Europe's handling of refugees has been subject to strong criticism, and the accusation that various actions contradict internationally agreed law is particularly serious. It remains a question of how to respond appropriately to the influx of people fearing for their lives. This paper examines empirically how young people from different denominations in Germany (n = 2022) and how Roman Catholics from 10 countries (n = 5363) evaluate refugee rights. It also investigates whether individual religiosity moderates the influence of denomination or national context. The results show that there are no significant differences between respondents from different denominations, but there are significant differences between respondents from different countries. However, religiosity was not found to moderate the influence of denomination or national context. These findings suggest that attitudes towards refugee rights depend more on the national context in which people live rather than on their religious affiliation or individual religiosity.}, language = {en} } @article{UnnikrishnanSchleicherShahetal.2020, author = {Unnikrishnan, Vishnu and Schleicher, Miro and Shah, Yash and Jamaludeen, Noor and Pryss, Ruediger and Schobel, Johannes and Kraft, Robin and Schlee, Winfried and Spiliopoulou, Myra}, title = {The effect of non-personalised tips on the continued use of self-monitoring mHealth applications}, series = {Brain Sciences}, volume = {10}, journal = {Brain Sciences}, number = {12}, issn = {2076-3425}, doi = {10.3390/brainsci10120924}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-219435}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Chronic tinnitus, the perception of a phantom sound in the absence of corresponding stimulus, is a condition known to affect patients' quality of life. Recent advances in mHealth have enabled patients to maintain a 'disease journal' of ecologically-valid momentary assessments, improving patients' own awareness of their disease while also providing clinicians valuable data for research. In this study, we investigate the effect of non-personalised tips on patients' perception of tinnitus, and on their continued use of the application. The data collected from the study involved three groups of patients that used the app for 16 weeks. Groups A \& Y were exposed to feedback from the start of the study, while group B only received tips for the second half of the study. Groups A and Y were run by different supervisors and also differed in the number of hospital visits during the study. Users of Group A and B underwent assessment at baseline, mid-study, post-study and follow-up, while users of group Y were only assessed at baseline and post-study. It is seen that the users in group B use the app for longer, and also more often during the day. The answers of the users to the Ecological Momentary Assessments are seen to form clusters where the degree to which the tinnitus distress depends on tinnitus loudness varies. Additionally, cluster-level models were able to predict new unseen data with better accuracy than a single global model. This strengthens the argument that the discovered clusters really do reflect underlying patterns in disease expression.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Unger2020, author = {Unger, Nina}, title = {Stability of Tryptophan in Parenteral Amino Acid Solutions: Identification of Degradation Products and Development of HPLC Analysis Methods}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-19982}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-199825}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The stability of Trp in pure solutions and in parenteral AA formulations was evaluated with regard to typically used manufacturing processes, storage conditions and primary packaging. Therefore, thorough stability studies on Trp solutions were conducted beforehand. The applied stressing method, i.e. steam sterilization by autoclave, are chemically seen relatively mild but showed to be efficient to induce Trp degradation in the presence of oxygen. Subsequent identification, separation and characterization were challenging due to similar substance properties, numerous stereoisomers and pairs of diastereomers found amongst them. However, the identified o-aminoacetophenone compounds, Kyn and NFK, are associated with photo reactivity and have photo-oxidizing properties. Thus, best possible protection from UV-light, together with strict oxygen expulsion, are the most important criteria to impede Trp degradation after autoclaving. The identification of Trp degradation products was assisted by the compilation of a substance library, which included manifold reported and chemically plausible Trp degradation substances. The substances were classified for priority and their early or late-stage occurrence. The large number of possible substances and stereoisomers was narrowed down with the information retrieved from LC-UV/MS experiments. However, final identification was achieved by the synthesis of proposed substances as references. The following eight substances were characterized as Trp degradation substances: Kyn, NFK and three pairs of diastereomers R,R/R,S DiOia, R,R/R,S Oia and cis/trans PIC. Fig. 33 shows the proposed degradation pathway and demonstrates the close chemical relationship, which may be an explanation for the conversion of some substances into each other during the storage period. The proposed pathway brings together the results of different Trp stability and stressing studies, respectively [89, 94, 97, 98, 103, 133]. To our knowledge, the simultaneous formation of the identified degradation substances has not been reported before and especially not under the stressing conditions applied. The application of a traditional RP-HPLC method was compared to two developed IP-HPLC methods and a RP-HPLC methods using a modified perfluorinated column. Orthogonal analyses methods and especially the combination of UV and MS detection are necessary in order to indicate potentially undetected degradation substances. Main evaluation criteria were the separation performance, analyses time, reproducibility and feasibility. The best results upon assessment of all Trp degradation products, in both; pure Trp solutions and pharmaceutical formulations, were obtained by a traditional RP-HPLC. The optimized method was validated according to ICH guidelines Q2(R1) and meets the criteria of a stability-indicating HPLC-UV method. The validated method has a sufficient separation performance with an adequate selectivity indicating the Trp degradation substances next to each other and next to other AAs in finished pharmaceutical formulations. The detailed knowledge of Trp degradation and the method presented may be transferred practically to the pharmaceutical industry processing Trp-containing products. In general, the findings might contribute to the quality management of such pharmaceutical products during manufacturing and storage. Additionally, the study results provide basic information for the establishment of an impurity consideration following the ICH guidelines Q3B (R2) (impurities in new drug products) for products containing Trp. However, further development of the method applying more sophisticated detectors or more potent HPLC techniques like e.g. UHPLC and the implication of more sensitive (MS) detectors like ToF-MS would be advantageous with regard to economic and practical aspects.}, subject = {Stabilit{\"a}t}, language = {en} } @article{UmstaetterDomhanHertleinetal.2020, author = {Umst{\"a}tter, Florian and Domhan, Cornelius and Hertlein, Tobias and Ohlsen, Knut and M{\"u}hlberg, Eric and Kleist, Christian and Zimmermann, Stefan and Beijer, Barbro and Klika, Karel D. and Haberkorn, Uwe and Mier, Walter and Uhl, Philipp}, title = {Vancomycin Resistance Is Overcome by Conjugation of Polycationic Peptides}, series = {Angewandte Chemie International Edition}, volume = {59}, journal = {Angewandte Chemie International Edition}, number = {23}, doi = {10.1002/anie.202002727}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-215550}, pages = {8823 -- 8827}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Multidrug-resistant bacteria represent one of the biggest challenges facing modern medicine. The increasing prevalence of glycopeptide resistance compromises the efficacy of vancomycin, for a long time considered as the last resort for the treatment of resistant bacteria. To reestablish its activity, polycationic peptides were conjugated to vancomycin. By site-specific conjugation, derivatives that bear the peptide moiety at four different sites of the antibiotic were synthesized. The most potent compounds exhibited an approximately 1000-fold increased antimicrobial activity and were able to overcome the most important types of vancomycin resistance. Additional blocking experiments using d-Ala-d-Ala revealed a mode of action beyond inhibition of cell-wall formation. The antimicrobial potential of the lead candidate FU002 for bacterial infection treatments could be demonstrated in an in vivo study. Molecular imaging and biodistribution studies revealed that conjugation engenders superior pharmacokinetics.}, language = {en} } @article{UlloaTorrealbaStahlmannWegmannetal.2020, author = {Ulloa-Torrealba, Yrneh and Stahlmann, Reinhold and Wegmann, Martin and Koellner, Thomas}, title = {Over 150 years of change: object-oriented analysis of historical land cover in the Main river catchment, Bavaria/Germany}, series = {Remote Sensing}, volume = {12}, journal = {Remote Sensing}, number = {24}, issn = {2072-4292}, doi = {10.3390/rs12244048}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-220029}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The monitoring of land cover and land use change is critical for assessing the provision of ecosystem services. One of the sources for long-term land cover change quantification is through the classification of historical and/or current maps. Little research has been done on historical maps using Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA). This study applied an object-based classification using eCognition tool for analyzing the land cover based on historical maps in the Main river catchment, Upper Franconia, Germany. This allowed land use change analysis between the 1850s and 2015, a time span which covers the phase of industrialization of landscapes in central Europe. The results show a strong increase in urban area by 2600\%, a severe loss of cropland (-24\%), a moderate reduction in meadows (-4\%), and a small gain in forests (+4\%). The method proved useful for the application on historical maps due to the ability of the software to create semantic objects. The confusion matrix shows an overall accuracy of 82\% for the automatic classification compared to manual reclassification considering all 17 sample tiles. The minimum overall accuracy was 65\% for historical maps of poor quality and the maximum was 91\% for very high-quality ones. Although accuracy is between high and moderate, coarse land cover patterns in the past and trends in land cover change can be analyzed. We conclude that such long-term analysis of land cover is a prerequisite for quantifying long-term changes in ecosystem services.}, language = {en} } @article{UllmannNillSchiestletal.2020, author = {Ullmann, Tobias and Nill, Leon and Schiestl, Robert and Trappe, Julian and Lange-Athinodorou, Eva and Baumhauer, Roland and Meister, Julia}, title = {Mapping buried paleogeographical features of the Nile Delta (Egypt) using the Landsat archive}, series = {E\&G Quartnerny Science Journal}, volume = {69}, journal = {E\&G Quartnerny Science Journal}, number = {2}, doi = {10.5194/egqsj-69-225-2020}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230349}, pages = {225-245}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The contribution highlights the use of Landsat spectral-temporal metrics (STMs) for the detection of surface anomalies that are potentially related to buried near-surface paleogeomorphological deposits in the Nile Delta (Egypt), in particular for a buried river branch close to Buto. The processing was completed in the Google Earth Engine (GEE) for the entire Nile Delta and for selected seasons of the year (summer/winter) using Landsat data from 1985 to 2019. We derived the STMs of the tasseled cap transformation (TC), the Normalized Difference Wetness Index (NDWI), and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). These features were compared to historical topographic maps of the Survey of Egypt, CORONA imagery, the digital elevation model of the TanDEM-X mission, and modern high-resolution satellite imagery. The results suggest that the extent of channels is best revealed when differencing the median NDWI between summer (July/August) and winter (January/February) seasons (ΔNDWI). The observed difference is likely due to lower soil/plant moisture during summer, which is potentially caused by coarser-grained deposits and the morphology of the former levee. Similar anomalies were found in the immediate surroundings of several Pleistocene sand hills ("geziras") and settlement mounds ("tells") of the eastern delta, which allowed some mapping of the potential near-surface continuation. Such anomalies were not observed for the surroundings of tells of the western Nile Delta. Additional linear and meandering ΔNDWI anomalies were found in the eastern Nile Delta in the immediate surroundings of the ancient site of Bubastis (Tell Basta), as well as several kilometers north of Zagazig. These anomalies might indicate former courses of Nile river branches. However, the ΔNDWI does not provide an unambiguous delineation.}, language = {en} } @article{UlbrichtNickelWeidenbachetal.2020, author = {Ulbricht, Andrea and Nickel, Lisa and Weidenbach, Katrin and Vargas Gebauer, Herman and Kießling, Claudia and F{\"o}rstner, Konrad U. and Schmitz, Ruth A.}, title = {The CARF protein MM_0565 affects transcription of the casposon-encoded cas1-solo gene in Methanosarcina mazei G{\"o}1}, series = {Biomolecules}, volume = {10}, journal = {Biomolecules}, number = {8}, issn = {2218-273X}, doi = {10.3390/biom10081161}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-211097}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR) loci are found in bacterial and archaeal genomes where they provide the molecular machinery for acquisition of immunity against foreign DNA. In addition to the cas genes fundamentally required for CRISPR activity, a second class of genes is associated with the CRISPR loci, of which many have no reported function in CRISPR-mediated immunity. Here, we characterize MM_0565 associated to the type I-B CRISPR-locus of Methanosarcina mazei G{\"o}1. We show that purified MM_0565 composed of a CRISPR-Cas Associated Rossmann Fold (CARF) and a winged helix-turn-helix domain forms a dimer in solution; in vivo, the dimeric MM_0565 is strongly stabilized under high salt stress. While direct effects on CRISPR-Cas transcription were not detected by genetic approaches, specific binding of MM_0565 to the leader region of both CRISPR-Cas systems was observed by microscale thermophoresis and electromobility shift assays. Moreover, overexpression of MM_0565 strongly induced transcription of the cas1-solo gene located in the recently reported casposon, the gene product of which shows high similarity to classical Cas1 proteins. Based on our findings, and taking the absence of the expressed CRISPR locus-encoded Cas1 protein into account, we hypothesize that MM_0565 might modulate the activity of the CRISPR systems on different levels.}, language = {en} } @article{UeberschaarGoebelerKneitz2020, author = {Ueberschaar, Simon and Goebeler, Matthias and Kneitz, Hermann}, title = {CD10-Positive Cutaneous PEComa: An Extremely Rare Skin Tumour}, series = {Case Reports in Dermatology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Case Reports in Dermatology}, doi = {10.1159/000510718}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-236151}, pages = {192-198}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We here present the case of a 67-year-old woman with a history of a slowly progressive, polypous nodule on her left wrist. The lesion was excised, and the histological analysis revealed a clear cell tumour that was relatively sharply demarked from the surrounding tissue extending into the subcutaneous tissue. The tumour showed a characteristic trabecular pattern in which the tumour cells were arranged around numerous vessels. The neoplastic cells had a predominantly epithelioid shape, granular eosinophilic to clear cytoplasm and prominent centrally located nucleoli. The histological differential diagnosis included a metastatic clear-cell renal cell carcinoma and a primary cutaneous perivascular epithelioid cell tumour (PEComa). Immunohistochemically, the tumour cells revealed homogenous expression of HMB-45, MiTF and CD10, whereas MART-1 and S100 were negative. Antibodies against actin marked the trabecularly arranged vessels, and the neoplastic cells yielded a patchy positivity against actin and desmin. Additional immunohistochemical stains against pan-cytokeratin, CAIX, PAX-8 and EMA were negative. Based on the morphologic and immunophenotypic findings, the histological diagnosis of a CD10-positive cutaneous PEComa was made.}, language = {en} } @article{TylekBlumHrynevichetal.2020, author = {Tylek, Tina and Blum, Carina and Hrynevich, Andrei and Schlegelmilch, Katrin and Schilling, Tatjana and Dalton, Paul D and Groll, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Precisely defined fiber scaffolds with 40 μm porosity induce elongation driven M2-like polarization of human macrophages}, series = {Biofabrication}, volume = {12}, journal = {Biofabrication}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1088/1758-5090/ab5f4e}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-254012}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Macrophages are key players of the innate immune system that can roughly be divided into the pro-inflammatory M1 type and the anti-inflammatory, pro-healing M2 type. While a transient initial pro-inflammatory state is helpful, a prolonged inflammation deteriorates a proper healing and subsequent regeneration. One promising strategy to drive macrophage polarization by biomaterials is precise control over biomaterial geometry. For regenerative approaches, it is of particular interest to identify geometrical parameters that direct human macrophage polarization. For this purpose, we advanced melt electrowriting (MEW) towards the fabrication of fibrous scaffolds with box-shaped pores and precise inter-fiber spacing from 100 μm down to only 40 μm. These scaffolds facilitate primary human macrophage elongation accompanied by differentiation towards the M2 type, which was most pronounced for the smallest pore size of 40 μm. These new findings can be important in helping to design new biomaterials with an enhanced positive impact on tissue regeneration.}, language = {en} } @article{TrinklKaluzaWallaceetal.2020, author = {Trinkl, Moritz and Kaluza, Benjamin F. and Wallace, Helen and Heard, Tim A. and Keller, Alexander and Leonhardt, Sara D.}, title = {Floral Species Richness Correlates with Changes in the Nutritional Quality of Larval Diets in a Stingless Bee}, series = {Insects}, volume = {11}, journal = {Insects}, number = {2}, issn = {2075-4450}, doi = {10.3390/insects11020125}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200605}, pages = {125}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Bees need food of appropriate nutritional quality to maintain their metabolic functions. They largely obtain all required nutrients from floral resources, i.e., pollen and nectar. However, the diversity, composition and nutritional quality of floral resources varies with the surrounding environment and can be strongly altered in human-impacted habitats. We investigated whether differences in plant species richness as found in the surrounding environment correlated with variation in the floral diversity and nutritional quality of larval provisions (i.e., mixtures of pollen, nectar and salivary secretions) composed by the mass-provisioning stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria (Apidae: Meliponini). We found that the floral diversity of larval provisions increased with increasing plant species richness. The sucrose and fat (total fatty acid) content and the proportion and concentration of the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid decreased, whereas the proportion of the omega-3 fatty acid linolenic acid increased with increasing plant species richness. Protein (total amino acid) content and amino acid composition did not change. The protein to fat (P:F) ratio, known to affect bee foraging, increased on average by more than 40\% from plantations to forests and gardens, while the omega-6:3 ratio, known to negatively affect cognitive performance, decreased with increasing plant species richness. Our results suggest that plant species richness may support T. carbonaria colonies by providing not only a continuous resource supply (as shown in a previous study), but also floral resources of high nutritional quality.}, language = {en} } @article{TrautmannBrockowStoevesandt2020, author = {Trautmann, Axel and Brockow, Knut and Stoevesandt, Johanna}, title = {Metamizole-induced reactions as a paradigm of drug hypersensitivity: Non-allergic reactions, anaphylaxis, and delayed-type allergy}, series = {Clinical \& Experimental Allergy}, volume = {50}, journal = {Clinical \& Experimental Allergy}, number = {9}, doi = {10.1111/cea.13689}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-217997}, pages = {1103 -- 1106}, year = {2020}, language = {en} } @article{TrabelsiAmmarBoukhrisetal.2020, author = {Trabelsi, Khaled and Ammar, Achraf and Boukhris, Omar and Glenn, Jordan M. and Bott, Nick and Stannard, Stephen R. and Engel, Florian A. and Sperlich, Billy and Garbarino, Sergio and Bragazzi, Nicola L. and Shephard, Roy J. and Chtourou, Hamdi}, title = {Effects of Ramadan observance on dietary intake and body composition of adolescent athletes: systematic review and meta-analysis}, series = {Nutrients}, volume = {12}, journal = {Nutrients}, number = {6}, issn = {2072-6643}, doi = {10.3390/nu12061574}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-205856}, year = {2020}, abstract = {To evaluate the effects of Ramadan observance on dietary intake, body mass and body composition of adolescent athletes (design: systematic review and meta-analysis; data sources: PubMed and Web of Science; eligibility criteria for selecting studies: single-group, pre-post, with or without control-group studies, conducted in athletes aged <19 years, training at least 3 times/week, and published in any language before 12 February 2020). Studies assessing body mass and/or body composition and/or dietary intake were deemed eligible. The methodological quality was assessed using 'QualSyst'. Of the twelve selected articles evaluating body mass and/or body composition, one was of strong quality and eleven were rated as moderate. Ten articles evaluated dietary intake; four were rated as strong and the remaining moderate in quality. Continuation of training during Ramadan did not change body mass from before to the first week (trivial effect size (ES) = -0.011, p = 0.899) or from before to the fourth week of Ramadan (trivial ES = 0.069, p = 0.277). Additionally, Ramadan observance did not change body fat content from before to the first week (trivial ES = -0.005, p = 0.947) and from before to the fourth week of Ramadan (trivial ES = -0.057, p = 0.947). Lean body mass remained unchanged from before to the fourth week of Ramadan (trivial ES = -0.025, p = 0.876). Dietary data showed the intake of energy (small ES = -0.272, p = 0.182), fat (trivial ES = 0.044, p = 0.842), protein (trivial ES = 0.069, p = 0.720), carbohydrate (trivial ES = 0.075, p = 0.606) and water (trivial ES = -0.115, p = 0.624) remained essentially unchanged during as compared to before Ramadan. Continued training of adolescent athletes at least three times/week during Ramadan observance has no effect on body mass, body composition or dietary intake.}, language = {en} } @misc{TortMitrevaBrehmetal.2020, author = {Tort, Jose F. and Mitreva, Makedonka and Brehm, Klaus R. and Rinaldi, Gabriel}, title = {Editorial: Novel Frontiers in Helminth Genomics}, series = {Frontiers in Genetics}, volume = {11}, journal = {Frontiers in Genetics}, number = {791}, issn = {1664-8021}, doi = {10.3389/fgene.2020.00791}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-210209}, year = {2020}, abstract = {No abstract available.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{TitovHumeniukMitric2020, author = {Titov, Evgenii and Humeniuk, Alexander and Mitric, Roland}, title = {Comparison of moving and fixed basis sets for nonadiabatic quantum dynamics at conical intersections}, series = {Chemical Physics}, journal = {Chemical Physics}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-199225}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We assess the performance of two different types of basis sets for nonadiabatic quantum dynamics at conical intersections. The basis sets of both types are generated using Ehrenfest trajectories of nuclear coherent states. These trajectories can either serve as a moving (time-dependent) basis or be employed to sample a fixed (time-independent) basis. We demonstrate on the example of two-state two-dimensional and three-state five-dimensional models that both basis set types can yield highly accurate results for population transfer at intersections, as compared with reference quantum dynamics. The details of wave packet evolutions are discussed for the case of the two-dimensional model. The fixed basis is found to be superior to the moving one in reproducing nonlocal spreading and maintaining correct shape of the wave packet upon time evolution. Moreover, for the models considered, the fixed basis set outperforms the moving one in terms of computational efficiency.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{TitovHumeniukMitric2020, author = {Titov, Evgenii and Humeniuk, Alexander and Mitric, Roland}, title = {Comparison of moving and fixed basis sets for nonadiabatic quantum dynamics at conical intersections}, series = {Chemical Physics}, journal = {Chemical Physics}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-198699}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We assess the performance of two different types of basis sets for nonadiabatic quantum dynamics at conical intersections. The basis sets of both types are generated using Ehrenfest trajectories of nuclear coherent states. These trajectories can either serve as a moving (time-dependent) basis or be employed to sample a fixed (time-independent) basis. We demonstrate on the example of two-state two-dimensional and three-state five-dimensional models that both basis set types can yield highly accurate results for population transfer at intersections, as compared with reference quantum dynamics. The details of wave packet evolutions are discussed for the case of the two-dimensional model. The fixed basis is found to be superior to the moving one in reproducing true nonlocal spreading and maintaining correct shape of the wave packet upon time evolution. Moreover, for the models considered, the fixed basis set outperforms the moving one in terms of computational efficiency.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Tiede2020, author = {Tiede, Jennifer}, title = {Media-related Educational Competencies of German and US Preservice Teachers. A Comparative Analysis of Competency Models, Measurements and Practices of Advancement}, series = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Medienp{\"a}dagogik}, volume = {Media-related Educational Competencies}, journal = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Medienp{\"a}dagogik}, issn = {1424-3636}, doi = {10.21240/mpaed/diss.jt.X}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-207093}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, pages = {1-235}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Media have become omnipresent in children's and youths' everyday lives, and they also offer rich chances and challenges for educational contexts. On the one hand, media can, for example, support students' learning effectively, enhance lessons with innovative tools and methods and help individualize teaching and learning processes. On the other hand, students need to learn, e.g., how to use these media, how to select and evaluate them and how to act responsibly in a digitalized and mediatized world. Teachers are a core stakeholder in this context. To take advantage of the benefits media offer for teaching and learning processes, to support students in the acquisition of respective competencies and to fulfill numerous other media-related tasks and challenges, teachers need to acquire respective competencies in their initial teacher education, which can be summarized as media-related educational competencies. The relevance of these competencies is evident on different levels. In related research, respective competency models are developed, and in practices of teacher education, competencies are measured and efforts are taken to advance the competencies of preservice teachers. Against this background, this semi-cumulative dissertation presents a theory-based and empirical analysis of the competencies in question from a comprehensive and multidimensional perspective. In accordance with the central aspects outlined, the three systematic main fields focused on are models of media-related educational competencies, their measurement and practices of advancement in teacher education, as well as the interplay of these three fields. The dissertation takes on an international comparative perspective and focuses on the examples of initial teacher education in Germany and the USA. The article-based dissertation comprises three main parts, framed by introduction and conclusion. The introduction provides a basis for the following work with regards to terminology, scope of research and overall methodology. The first main part is concerned with models of media-related educational competencies and includes a theory-based systematic comparison of three relevant models. This part explicates the varieties between competency models, and it discusses central aspects of selection and application. In Part II, methods and varieties of competency measurement are focused on, and an article is presented which shares results of an exploratory quantitative measurement of the respective competencies of German and US preservice teachers. Overall, this part reveals the potential and limitations of competency measurement and transfers these conclusions to the competency models introduced in Part I. Part III is concerned with an analysis of current practices of advancing media-related educational competencies in Germany and the USA. In this context, stakeholders influencing these practices will be systemized and analyzed in their role and impact. The article included in Part III introduces interviews which were conducted to achieve insights into the perspectives of selected experts, regarding relevant models, practices and outcomes of media-related teacher education in Germany and the USA. Finally, the Conclusion of the dissertation will draw together the different strands, clarify the close connection between the domains of modeling, measuring and advancing the competencies in question and discuss the interdependencies of these three dimensions. These perspectives help both to contextualize and bring together important facets which have often been treated separately in related research and will add new facets to ultimately achieve a comprehensive and multifaceted viewpoint. Against the background of the intercultural comparative perspective, the results and findings will ultimately achieve an enhanced and deep analysis and reflection on the complex field of media-related educational competencies in Germany and the USA and beyond.}, subject = {Medienp{\"a}dagogik}, language = {en} } @article{TianYangGao2020, author = {Tian, Yuehui and Yang, Shang and Gao, Shiqiang}, title = {Advances, perspectives and potential engineering strategies of light-gated phosphodiesterases for optogenetic applications}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {21}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {20}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms21207544}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-236203}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The second messengers, cyclic adenosine 3′-5′-monophosphate (cAMP) and cyclic guanosine 3′-5′-monophosphate (cGMP), play important roles in many animal cells by regulating intracellular signaling pathways and modulating cell physiology. Environmental cues like temperature, light, and chemical compounds can stimulate cell surface receptors and trigger the generation of second messengers and the following regulations. The spread of cAMP and cGMP is further shaped by cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) for orchestration of intracellular microdomain signaling. However, localized intracellular cAMP and cGMP signaling requires further investigation. Optogenetic manipulation of cAMP and cGMP offers new opportunities for spatio-temporally precise study of their signaling mechanism. Light-gated nucleotide cyclases are well developed and applied for cAMP/cGMP manipulation. Recently discovered rhodopsin phosphodiesterase genes from protists established a new and direct biological connection between light and PDEs. Light-regulated PDEs are under development, and of demand to complete the toolkit for cAMP/cGMP manipulation. In this review, we summarize the state of the art, pros and cons of artificial and natural light-regulated PDEs, and discuss potential new strategies of developing light-gated PDEs for optogenetic manipulation.}, language = {en} } @article{ThurowKrischkeMuelleretal.2020, author = {Thurow, Corinna and Krischke, Markus and Mueller, Martin J. and Gatz, Christiane}, title = {Induction of jasmonoyl-isoleucine (JA-Ile)-dependent JASMONATE ZIM-DOMAIN (JAZ) genes in NaCl-treated Arabidopsis thaliana roots can occur at very low JA-Ile levels and in the absence of the JA/JA-Ile transporter JAT1/AtABCG16}, series = {Plants}, volume = {9}, journal = {Plants}, number = {12}, issn = {2223-7747}, doi = {10.3390/plants9121635}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-219382}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The plant hormone jasmonoyl-isoleucine (JA-Ile) is an important regulator of plant growth and defense in response to various biotic and abiotic stress cues. Under our experimental conditions, JA-Ile levels increased approximately seven-fold in NaCl-treated Arabidopsis thaliana roots. Although these levels were around 1000-fold lower than in wounded leaves, genes of the JA-Ile signaling pathway were induced by a factor of 100 or more. Induction was severely compromised in plants lacking the JA-Ile receptor CORONATINE INSENSITIVE 1 or enzymes required for JA-Ile biosynthesis. To explain efficient gene expression at very low JA-Ile levels, we hypothesized that salt-induced expression of the JA/JA-Ile transporter JAT1/AtABCG16 would lead to increased nuclear levels of JA-Ile. However, mutant plants with different jat1 alleles were similar to wild-type ones with respect to salt-induced gene expression. The mechanism that allows COI1-dependent gene expression at very low JA-Ile levels remains to be elucidated.}, language = {en} } @article{ThornSeiboldLeverkusetal.2020, author = {Thorn, Simon and Seibold, Sebastian and Leverkus, Alexandro B and Michler, Thomas and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Noss, Reed F and Stork, Nigel and Vogel, Sebastian and Lindenmayer, David B}, title = {The living dead: acknowledging life after tree death to stop forest degradation}, series = {Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment}, volume = {18}, journal = {Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment}, number = {9}, doi = {10.1002/fee.2252}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218575}, pages = {505 -- 512}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Global sustainability agendas focus primarily on halting deforestation, yet the biodiversity crisis resulting from the degradation of remaining forests is going largely unnoticed. Forest degradation occurs through the loss of key ecological structures, such as dying trees and deadwood, even in the absence of deforestation. One of the main drivers of forest degradation is limited awareness by policy makers and the public on the importance of these structures for supporting forest biodiversity and ecosystem function. Here, we outline management strategies to protect forest health and biodiversity by maintaining and promoting deadwood, and propose environmental education initiatives to improve the general awareness of the importance of deadwood. Finally, we call for major reforms to forest management to maintain and restore deadwood; large, old trees; and other key ecological structures.}, language = {en} }