TY - JOUR A1 - Andelovic, Kristina A1 - Winter, Patrick A1 - Jakob, Peter Michael A1 - Bauer, Wolfgang Rudolf A1 - Herold, Volker A1 - Zernecke, Alma T1 - Evaluation of plaque characteristics and inflammation using magnetic resonance imaging JF - Biomedicines N2 - Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease of large and medium-sized arteries, characterized by the growth of atherosclerotic lesions (plaques). These plaques often develop at inner curvatures of arteries, branchpoints, and bifurcations, where the endothelial wall shear stress is low and oscillatory. In conjunction with other processes such as lipid deposition, biomechanical factors lead to local vascular inflammation and plaque growth. There is also evidence that low and oscillatory shear stress contribute to arterial remodeling, entailing a loss in arterial elasticity and, therefore, an increased pulse-wave velocity. Although altered shear stress profiles, elasticity and inflammation are closely intertwined and critical for plaque growth, preclinical and clinical investigations for atherosclerosis mostly focus on the investigation of one of these parameters only due to the experimental limitations. However, cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been demonstrated to be a potent tool which can be used to provide insights into a large range of biological parameters in one experimental session. It enables the evaluation of the dynamic process of atherosclerotic lesion formation without the need for harmful radiation. Flow-sensitive MRI provides the assessment of hemodynamic parameters such as wall shear stress and pulse wave velocity which may replace invasive and radiation-based techniques for imaging of the vascular function and the characterization of early plaque development. In combination with inflammation imaging, the analyses and correlations of these parameters could not only significantly advance basic preclinical investigations of atherosclerotic lesion formation and progression, but also the diagnostic clinical evaluation for early identification of high-risk plaques, which are prone to rupture. In this review, we summarize the key applications of magnetic resonance imaging for the evaluation of plaque characteristics through flow sensitive and morphological measurements. The simultaneous measurements of functional and structural parameters will further preclinical research on atherosclerosis and has the potential to fundamentally improve the detection of inflammation and vulnerable plaques in patients. KW - atherosclerosis KW - mouse models KW - wall shear stress KW - pulse wave velocity KW - arterial elasticity KW - inflammation KW - magnetic resonance imaging Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-228839 SN - 2227-9059 VL - 9 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Othman, Eman M. A1 - Fathy, Moustafa A1 - Bekhit, Amany Abdlrehim A1 - Abdel-Razik, Abdel-Razik H. A1 - Jamal, Arshad A1 - Nazzal, Yousef A1 - Shams, Shabana A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Naseem, Muhammad T1 - Modulatory and toxicological perspectives on the effects of the small molecule kinetin JF - Molecules N2 - Plant hormones are small regulatory molecules that exert pharmacological actions in mammalian cells such as anti-oxidative and pro-metabolic effects. Kinetin belongs to the group of plant hormones cytokinin and has been associated with modulatory functions in mammalian cells. The mammalian adenosine receptor (A2a-R) is known to modulate multiple physiological responses in animal cells. Here, we describe that kinetin binds to the adenosine receptor (A2a-R) through the Asn253 residue in an adenosine dependent manner. To harness the beneficial effects of kinetin for future human use, we assess its acute toxicity by analyzing different biochemical and histological markers in rats. Kinetin at a dose below 1 mg/kg had no adverse effects on the serum level of glucose or on the activity of serum alanine transaminase (ALT) or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) enzymes in the kinetin treated rats. Whereas, creatinine levels increased after a kinetin treatment at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg. Furthermore, 5 mg/kg treated kinetin rats showed normal renal corpuscles, but a mild degeneration was observed in the renal glomeruli and renal tubules, as well as few degenerated hepatocytes were also observed in the liver. Kinetin doses below 5 mg/kg did not show any localized toxicity in the liver and kidney tissues. In addition to unraveling the binding interaction between kinetin and A2a-R, our findings suggest safe dose limits for the future use of kinetin as a therapeutic and modulatory agent against various pathophysiological conditions. KW - cytokinin kinetin KW - modulatory effects KW - in vivo toxicity KW - A2a-R receptor Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-223064 SN - 1420-3049 VL - 26 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yuan, Yijun A1 - Borrmann, Dorit A1 - Hou, Jiawei A1 - Ma, Yuexin A1 - Nüchter, Andreas A1 - Schwertfeger, Sören T1 - Self-Supervised point set local descriptors for Point Cloud Registration JF - Sensors N2 - Descriptors play an important role in point cloud registration. The current state-of-the-art resorts to the high regression capability of deep learning. However, recent deep learning-based descriptors require different levels of annotation and selection of patches, which make the model hard to migrate to new scenarios. In this work, we learn local registration descriptors for point clouds in a self-supervised manner. In each iteration of the training, the input of the network is merely one unlabeled point cloud. Thus, the whole training requires no manual annotation and manual selection of patches. In addition, we propose to involve keypoint sampling into the pipeline, which further improves the performance of our model. Our experiments demonstrate the capability of our self-supervised local descriptor to achieve even better performance than the supervised model, while being easier to train and requiring no data labeling. KW - point cloud registration KW - descriptors KW - self-supervised learning Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-223000 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 21 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Blümig, Gabriele A1 - Werr, Naoka T1 - S.P.U.T.N.I.K. – ein Schülertutorial im Sinne des Framework : ein Werkstattbericht JF - O-Bib. Das Offene Bibliotheksjournal N2 - Die Arbeitsgruppe Informationskompetenz im Bibliotheksverbund Bayern (AGIK Bay) veröffentlichte im Oktober 2020 das interaktive E-Tutorial S.P.U.T.N.I.K. zur Förderung der Informationskompetenz von Schüler*innen der Oberstufe, das sich inhaltlich am Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education orientiert. Der Artikel zeichnet die Entstehung des Tutorials in Kooperation mit Studierenden des Fachbereichs Archiv- und Bibliothekswesen der Hochschule für den öffentlichen Dienst in Bayern nach und skizziert die Herausforderungen bei der finalen Umsetzung durch die Universitätsbibliothek Würzburg. Das Tutorial ist als Moodle- und Ilias-kompatibles SCORM-Lernpaket mit vielen interaktiven Quizelementen konzipiert und in fünf Modulen aufgebaut. Es ist online zugänglich und steht zur Nachnutzung innerhalb der DACH-Bibliothekscommunity unter einer Creative Commons Lizenz bereit. N2 - In October 2020 the Working Group for Information Literacy of the Bavarian Library Network (AGIK Bay) published the interactive e-tutorial S.P.U.T.N.I.K. to promote the information literacy of high school students. Its content is based on the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. The article describes the creation of the tutorial in cooperation with students from the Department of Archive Management and Library Science at the University of Applied Sciences for Public Service in Bavaria and outlines the challenges in the final implementation by the University Library of Würzburg. The tutorial is designed as a Moodle- and Ilias-compatible SCORM learning package with many interactive quiz elements and consists of five independent modules. The tutorial is accessible online and is available for re-use within the German-speaking library community as it has been published under a Creative Commons License. KW - Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education KW - Schwellenkonzepte KW - Schülertutorial Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-245702 VL - 8 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Blümig, Gabriele A1 - Klein, Diana A1 - Wolf, Simone T1 - Das Framework und die Erstsemesterstudierenden der Medizin : ein Erfahrungsbericht aus der Universitätsbibliothek Würzburg JF - O-Bib. Das Offene Bibliotheksjournal N2 - Dieser Artikel schildert die Neukonzeption eines Kurses für Erstsemesterstudierende der Medizin an der Universitätsbibliothek Würzburg unter Einbeziehung des Frameworks for Information Literacy for Higher Education (im Folgenden Framework genannt). Nach einleitenden Bemerkungen zur Theorie der Schwellenkonzepte und zum Framework selbst steht der Kursinhalt mit den dazugehörigen Frames, Knowledge Practices und Dispositions im Fokus. Die Auswertung der Evaluation und ein Ausblick auf die Umsetzung des Kurses in der coronabedingten digitalen Lehre bilden den Schluss. N2 - This article describes the design of a new one-shot information literacy session for students of medicine in the first semester at the University Library Würzburg. After giving a short introduction into the threshold concept and the theoretical background of the Frameworks for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Framework) we focus on the content of the course in terms of frames, knowledge practices and dispositions. Finally we analyse the evaluation outcomes and show how we transfor-med the session into an e-learning-based course. KW - Informationskompetenz KW - Information Literacy KW - Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education KW - Medizinstudium KW - Erstsemester KW - Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten KW - Literaturrecherche KW - Bibliothekskurs Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-245687 VL - 8 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ye, Mingyu A1 - Wilhelm, Martina A1 - Gentschev, Ivaylo A1 - Szalay, Aladár T1 - A modified limiting dilution method for monoclonal stable cell line selection using a real-time fluorescence imaging system: A practical workflow and advanced applications JF - Methods and Protocols N2 - Stable cell lines are widely used in laboratory research and pharmaceutical industry. They are mainly applied in recombinant protein and antibody productions, gene function studies, drug screens, toxicity assessments, and for cancer therapy investigation. There are two types of cell lines, polyclonal and monoclonal origin, that differ regarding their homogeneity and heterogeneity. Generating a high-quality stable cell line, which can grow continuously and carry a stable genetic modification without alteration is very important for most studies, because polyclonal cell lines of multicellular origin can be highly variable and unstable and lead to inconclusive experimental results. The most commonly used technologies of single cell originate monoclonal stable cell isolation in laboratory are fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) sorting and limiting dilution cloning. Here, we describe a modified limiting dilution method of monoclonal stable cell line selection using the real-time fluorescence imaging system IncuCyte\(^®\)S3. KW - monoclonal stable cell KW - limiting dilution cloning KW - ncuCyte\(^®\)S3 Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-228896 VL - 4 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Philipp, Marius A1 - Dietz, Andreas A1 - Buchelt, Sebastian A1 - Kuenzer, Claudia T1 - Trends in satellite earth observation for permafrost related analyses — A review JF - Remote Sensing N2 - Climate change and associated Arctic amplification cause a degradation of permafrost which in turn has major implications for the environment. The potential turnover of frozen ground from a carbon sink to a carbon source, eroding coastlines, landslides, amplified surface deformation and endangerment of human infrastructure are some of the consequences connected with thawing permafrost. Satellite remote sensing is hereby a powerful tool to identify and monitor these features and processes on a spatially explicit, cheap, operational, long-term basis and up to circum-Arctic scale. By filtering after a selection of relevant keywords, a total of 325 articles from 30 international journals published during the last two decades were analyzed based on study location, spatio- temporal resolution of applied remote sensing data, platform, sensor combination and studied environmental focus for a comprehensive overview of past achievements, current efforts, together with future challenges and opportunities. The temporal development of publication frequency, utilized platforms/sensors and the addressed environmental topic is thereby highlighted. The total number of publications more than doubled since 2015. Distinct geographical study hot spots were revealed, while at the same time large portions of the continuous permafrost zone are still only sparsely covered by satellite remote sensing investigations. Moreover, studies related to Arctic greenhouse gas emissions in the context of permafrost degradation appear heavily underrepresented. New tools (e.g., Google Earth Engine (GEE)), methodologies (e.g., deep learning or data fusion etc.)and satellite data (e.g., the Methane Remote Sensing LiDAR Mission (Merlin) and the Sentinel-fleet)will thereby enable future studies to further investigate the distribution of permafrost, its thermal state and its implications on the environment such as thermokarst features and greenhouse gas emission rates on increasingly larger spatial and temporal scales. KW - satellite remote sensing KW - permafrost KW - degradation KW - thaw KW - thermokarst Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-234198 VL - 13 IS - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weiß, Martin A1 - Hein, Grit A1 - Hewig, Johannes T1 - Between joy and sympathy: Smiling and sad recipient faces increase prosocial behavior in the dictator game JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health N2 - In human interactions, the facial expression of a bargaining partner may contain relevant information that affects prosocial decisions. We were interested in whether facial expressions of the recipient in the dictator game influence dictators´ ehavior. To test this, we conducted an online study (n = 106) based on a modified version of a dictator game. The dictators allocated money between themselves and another person (recipient), who had no possibility to respond to the dictator. Importantly, before the allocation decision, the dictator was presented with the facial expression of the recipient (angry, disgusted, sad, smiling, or neutral). The results showed that dictators sent more money to recipients with sad or smiling facial expressions and less to recipients with angry or disgusted facial expressions compared with a neutral facial expression. Moreover, based on the sequential analysis of the decision and the interaction partner in the preceding trial, we found that decision-making depends upon previous interactions. KW - emotional influence KW - dictator game KW - facial expression KW - social decision-making Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-241106 VL - 18 IS - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Upcin, Berin A1 - Henke, Erik A1 - Kleefeldt, Florian A1 - Hoffmann, Helene A1 - Rosenwald, Andreas A1 - Irmak-Sav, Ster A1 - Aktas, Huseyin Bertal A1 - Rückschloß, Uwe A1 - Ergün, Süleyman T1 - Contribution of adventitia-derived stem and progenitor cells to new vessel formation in tumors JF - Cells N2 - Blocking tumor vascularization has not yet come to fruition to the extent it was hoped for, as angiogenesis inhibitors have shown only partial success in the clinic. We hypothesized that under- appreciated vascular wall-resident stem and progenitor cells (VW-SPCs) might be involved in tumor vascularization and influence effectiveness of anti-angiogenic therapy. Indeed, in patient samples, we observed that vascular adventitia-resident CD34\(^+\) VW-SPCs are recruited to tumors in situ from co-opted vessels. To elucidate this in detail, we established an ex vivo model using concomitant embedding of multi-cellular tumor spheroids (MCTS) and mouse aortic rings (ARs) into collagen gels, similar to the so-called aortic ring assay (ARA). Moreover, ARA was modified by removing the ARs’ adventitia that harbors VW-SPCs. Thus, this model enabled distinguishing the contribution of VW-SPCs from that of mature endothelial cells (ECs) to new vessel formation. Our results show that the formation of capillary-like sprouts is considerably delayed, and their number and network formation were significantly reduced by removing the adventitia. Substituting iPSC-derived neural spheroids for MCTS resulted in distinct sprouting patterns that were also strongly influenced by the presence or absence of VW-SPCs, also underlying the involvement of these cells in non-pathological vascularization. Our data suggest that more comprehensive approaches are needed in order to block all of the mechanisms contributing to tumor vascularization. KW - vascularization model KW - tumor spheroids KW - vascular wall stem and progenitor cells KW - aortic adventitia KW - vasculogenesis KW - tumor-vessel wall-interface model Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-242577 VL - 10 IS - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dunkel, Franz G. T1 - Sieben neue Arten aus dem Schweizer Ranunculus auricomus-Komplex T1 - Seven new species from the Swiss Ranunculus auricomus Complex JF - Forum Geobotanicum N2 - Die Arten des Schweizer Ranunculus-auricomus-Komplexes sind nur zu einem Teil bekannt. Zur vollständigeren Erfassung des Komplexes wurden Exkursionen in die südwestliche und östliche Schweiz unternommen. Es wurden sieben neue Arten entdeckt, die hier beschrieben und abgebildet sind. Ihre Taxonomie und Gefährdung wird diskutiert. R. chalarocarpus W. Koch ex Dunkel ist bereits bei Koch provisorisch erwähnt, R. clavicornis Dunkel wird nun gültig beschrieben. Beide Arten sind aufgrund ihres Vorkommens in Auwäldern und feuchten Laubwäldern stark gefährdet, R. clavicornis sogar fast ausgestorben. Der neu beschriebene R. thurgoviae kommt im Osten der Schweiz vor (Kanton Thurgau). Die bislang bekannte Verbreitung von R. allobrogorum Dunkel, R. crenulatus Dunkel, R. genevensis Dunkel und R. lineatus ist fast vollständig auf den Kanton Genf beschränkt. Die Arten des Ranunculus auricomus-Komplexes sind ein sensibler Indikator für Veränderungen der Vegetation und Umwelt und sollten diesbezüglich deutlich mehr Gewicht bekommen. N2 - The Swiss Ranunculus auricomus complex is still not completely known. To get a rather complete overview of the complex, field investigations of the south-western and eastern parts of Switzerland were undertaken and revealed seven new species of the spectrum. They are described, depicted, and their taxonomy and vulnerability discussed. One species has already been provisionally mentioned by Walo Koch: R. chalarocarpus W. Koch ex Dunkel, another one is named by an illegitimate name and now called R. clavicornis Dunkel. Both occur in alluvial forests or humid broad-leaved forests on the Central plateau and, therefore, are threatened due to desiccation and eutrophication of their habitat. The newly described R. thurgoviae Dunkel occurs in the eastern Swiss canton Thurgau. The other newly described species R. allobrogorum Dunkel, R. crenulatus Dunkel, R. genevensis Dunkel, and R. lineatus Dunkel are restricted to the area of Geneva. Species of the Ranunculus auricomus complex are a sensitive indicator of environment changes and for conservation strategies should gain more importance. KW - Apomixis KW - new species KW - Ranunculus auricomus KW - Switzerland KW - Ranunculus Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-243782 UR - http://www.forum-geobotanicum.net/articles/vol_10-2021/dunkel-ranunculus_auricomus/FG---dunkel-ranunculus_2021.pdf SN - 1867-9315 VL - 10 ER -