TY - JOUR A1 - Frank, Erik Thomas A1 - Schmitt, Thomas A1 - Hovestadt, Thomas A1 - Mitesser, Oliver A1 - Stiegler, Jonas A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard T1 - Saving the injured: Rescue behavior in the termite-hunting ant Megaponera analis JF - Science Advances N2 - Predators of highly defensive prey likely develop cost-reducing adaptations. The ant Megaponera analis is a specialized termite predator, solely raiding termites of the subfamily Macrotermitinae (in this study, mostly colonies of Pseudocanthotermes sp.) at their foraging sites. The evolutionary arms race between termites and ants led to various defensive mechanisms in termites (for example, a caste specialized in fighting predators). Because M. analis incurs high injury/mortality risks when preying on termites, some risk-mitigating adaptations seem likely to have evolved. We show that a unique rescue behavior in M. analis, consisting of injured nestmates being carried back to the nest, reduces combat mortality. After a fight, injured ants are carried back by their nestmates; these ants have usually lost an extremity or have termites clinging to them and are able to recover within the nest. Injured ants that are forced experimentally to return without help, die in 32% of the cases. Behavioral experiments show that two compounds, dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide, present in the mandibular gland reservoirs, trigger the rescue behavior. A model accounting for this rescue behavior identifies the drivers favoring its evolution and estimates that rescuing enables maintenance of a 28.7% larger colony size. Our results are the first to explore experimentally the adaptive value of this form of rescue behavior focused on injured nestmates in social insects and help us to identify evolutionary drivers responsible for this type of behavior to evolve in animals. KW - Megaponera analis KW - rescue behavior Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157933 VL - 3 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Forkuor, Gerald A1 - Hounkpatin, Ozias K.L. A1 - Welp, Gerhard A1 - Thiel, Michael T1 - High resolution mapping of soil properties using remote sensing variables in south-western Burkina Faso: a comparison of machine learning and multiple linear regression models JF - PLOS One N2 - Accurate and detailed spatial soil information is essential for environmental modelling, risk assessment and decision making. The use of Remote Sensing data as secondary sources of information in digital soil mapping has been found to be cost effective and less time consuming compared to traditional soil mapping approaches. But the potentials of Remote Sensing data in improving knowledge of local scale soil information in West Africa have not been fully explored. This study investigated the use of high spatial resolution satellite data (RapidEye and Landsat), terrain/climatic data and laboratory analysed soil samples to map the spatial distribution of six soil properties–sand, silt, clay, cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen–in a 580 km2 agricultural watershed in south-western Burkina Faso. Four statistical prediction models–multiple linear regression (MLR), random forest regression (RFR), support vector machine (SVM), stochastic gradient boosting (SGB)–were tested and compared. Internal validation was conducted by cross validation while the predictions were validated against an independent set of soil samples considering the modelling area and an extrapolation area. Model performance statistics revealed that the machine learning techniques performed marginally better than the MLR, with the RFR providing in most cases the highest accuracy. The inability of MLR to handle non-linear relationships between dependent and independent variables was found to be a limitation in accurately predicting soil properties at unsampled locations. Satellite data acquired during ploughing or early crop development stages (e.g. May, June) were found to be the most important spectral predictors while elevation, temperature and precipitation came up as prominent terrain/climatic variables in predicting soil properties. The results further showed that shortwave infrared and near infrared channels of Landsat8 as well as soil specific indices of redness, coloration and saturation were prominent predictors in digital soil mapping. Considering the increased availability of freely available Remote Sensing data (e.g. Landsat, SRTM, Sentinels), soil information at local and regional scales in data poor regions such as West Africa can be improved with relatively little financial and human resources. KW - Agricultural soil science KW - Forecasting KW - Machine learning KW - Support vector machines KW - Paleopedology KW - Trees KW - Clay mineralogy KW - Remote sensing KW - South-western Burkina Faso Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-180978 VL - 12 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Foerster, Anna A1 - Pfister, Roland A1 - Reuss, Heiko A1 - Kunde, Wilfried T1 - Commentary: Feeling the Conflict: The Crucial Role of Conflict Experience in Adaptation JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - A commentary on: Feeling the Conflict: The Crucial Role of Conflict Experience in Adaptationby Desender, K., Van Opstal, F., and Van den Bussche, E. (2014). Psychol. Sci. 25, 675–683. doi:10.1177/0956797613511468 Conflict adaptation in masked priming has recently been proposed to rely not on successful conflictresolution but rather on conflict experience (Desender et al., 2014). We re-assessed this proposal ina direct replication and also tested a potential confound due toconflict strength. The data supported this alternative view, but also failed to replicate basic conflict adaptation effects of the original studydespite considerable power. KW - conflict adaptation KW - conflict experience KW - conflict strength KW - cognitive conflict KW - cognitive control Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190032 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 8 IS - 1405 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Flechsenhar, Aleya Felicia A1 - Gamer, Matthias T1 - Top-down influence on gaze patterns in the presence of social features JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Visual saliency maps reflecting locations that stand out from the background in terms of their low-level physical features have proven to be very useful for empirical research on attentional exploration and reliably predict gaze behavior. In the present study we tested these predictions for socially relevant stimuli occurring in naturalistic scenes using eye tracking. We hypothesized that social features (i.e. human faces or bodies) would be processed preferentially over non-social features (i.e. objects, animals) regardless of their low-level saliency. To challenge this notion, we included three tasks that deliberately addressed non-social attributes. In agreement with our hypothesis, social information, especially heads, was preferentially attended compared to highly salient image regions across all tasks. Social information was never required to solve a task but was regarded nevertheless. More so, after completing the task requirements, viewing behavior reverted back to that of free-viewing with heavy prioritization of social features. Additionally, initial eye movements reflecting potentially automatic shifts of attention, were predominantly directed towards heads irrespective of top-down task demands. On these grounds, we suggest that social stimuli may provide exclusive access to the priority map, enabling social attention to override reflexive and controlled attentional processes. Furthermore, our results challenge the generalizability of saliency-based attention models. KW - eye movements KW - social features KW - visual saliency KW - gaze KW - face KW - attention Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170468 VL - 12 IS - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fisseler, Denis A1 - Müller, Gerfrid G. W. A1 - Weichert, Frank T1 - Web-Based scientific exploration and analysis of 3D scanned cuneiform datasets for collaborative research JF - Informatics N2 - The three-dimensional cuneiform script is one of the oldest known writing systems and a central object of research in Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Hittitology. An important step towards the understanding of the cuneiform script is the provision of opportunities and tools for joint analysis. This paper presents an approach that contributes to this challenge: a collaborative compatible web-based scientific exploration and analysis of 3D scanned cuneiform fragments. The WebGL -based concept incorporates methods for compressed web-based content delivery of large 3D datasets and high quality visualization. To maximize accessibility and to promote acceptance of 3D techniques in the field of Hittitology, the introduced concept is integrated into the Hethitologie-Portal Mainz, an established leading online research resource in the field of Hittitology, which until now exclusively included 2D content. The paper shows that increasing the availability of 3D scanned archaeological data through a web-based interface can provide significant scientific value while at the same time finding a trade-off between copyright induced restrictions and scientific usability. KW - cuneiform KW - 3D viewer KW - WebGL KW - Hittitology KW - 3D collation Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-197958 SN - 2227-9709 VL - 4 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fischer, Annette A1 - Harrison, Kelly S A1 - Ramirez, Yesid A1 - Auer, Daniela A1 - Chowdhury, Suvagata Roy A1 - Prusty, Bhupesh K A1 - Sauer, Florian A1 - Dimond, Zoe A1 - Kisker, Caroline A1 - Hefty, P Scott A1 - Rudel, Thomas T1 - Chlamydia trachomatis-containing vacuole serves as deubiquitination platform to stabilize Mcl-1 and to interfere with host defense JF - eLife N2 - Obligate intracellular Chlamydia trachomatis replicate in a membrane-bound vacuole called inclusion, which serves as a signaling interface with the host cell. Here, we show that the chlamydial deubiquitinating enzyme (Cdu) 1 localizes in the inclusion membrane and faces the cytosol with the active deubiquitinating enzyme domain. The structure of this domain revealed high similarity to mammalian deubiquitinases with a unique α-helix close to the substrate-binding pocket. We identified the apoptosis regulator Mcl-1 as a target that interacts with Cdu1 and is stabilized by deubiquitination at the chlamydial inclusion. A chlamydial transposon insertion mutant in the Cdu1-encoding gene exhibited increased Mcl-1 and inclusion ubiquitination and reduced Mcl-1 stabilization. Additionally, inactivation of Cdu1 led to increased sensitivity of C. trachomatis for IFNγ and impaired infection in mice. Thus, the chlamydial inclusion serves as an enriched site for a deubiquitinating activity exerting a function in selective stabilization of host proteins and protection from host defense. KW - cell-autonomous defense KW - Chlamydia trachomatis KW - deubiquitinase KW - Mcl-1 Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171073 VL - 6 IS - e21465 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ferero, Andrea A1 - Rivero, Olga A1 - Wäldchen, Sina A1 - Ku, Hsing-Ping A1 - Kiser, Dominik P. A1 - Gärtner, Yvonne A1 - Pennington, Laura S. A1 - Waider, Jonas A1 - Gaspar, Patricia A1 - Jansch, Charline A1 - Edenhofer, Frank A1 - Resink, Thérèse J. A1 - Blum, Robert A1 - Sauer, Markus A1 - Lesch, Klaus-Peter T1 - Cadherin-13 Deficiency Increases Dorsal Raphe 5-HT Neuron Density and Prefrontal Cortex Innervation in the Mouse Brain JF - Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience N2 - Background: During early prenatal stages of brain development, serotonin (5-HT)-specific neurons migrate through somal translocation to form the raphe nuclei and subsequently begin to project to their target regions. The rostral cluster of cells, comprising the median and dorsal raphe (DR), innervates anterior regions of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex. Differential analysis of the mouse 5-HT system transcriptome identified enrichment of cell adhesion molecules in 5-HT neurons of the DR. One of these molecules, cadherin-13 (Cdh13) has been shown to play a role in cell migration, axon pathfinding, and synaptogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of Cdh13 to the development of the murine brain 5-HT system. Methods: For detection of Cdh13 and components of the 5-HT system at different embryonic developmental stages of the mouse brain, we employed immunofluorescence protocols and imaging techniques, including epifluorescence, confocal and structured illumination microscopy. The consequence of CDH13 loss-of-function mutations on brain 5-HT system development was explored in a mouse model of Cdh13 deficiency. Results: Our data show that in murine embryonic brain Cdh13 is strongly expressed on 5-HT specific neurons of the DR and in radial glial cells (RGCs), which are critically involved in regulation of neuronal migration. We observed that 5-HT neurons are intertwined with these RGCs, suggesting that these neurons undergo RGC-guided migration. Cdh13 is present at points of intersection between these two cell types. Compared to wildtype controls, Cdh13-deficient mice display increased cell densities in the DR at embryonic stages E13.5, E17.5, and adulthood, and higher serotonergic innervation of the prefrontal cortex at E17.5. Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence for a role of CDH13 in the development of the serotonergic system in early embryonic stages. Specifically, we indicate that Cdh13 deficiency affects the cell density of the developing DR and the posterior innervation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), and therefore might be involved in the migration, axonal outgrowth and terminal target finding of DR 5-HT neurons. Dysregulation of CDH13 expression may thus contribute to alterations in this system of neurotransmission, impacting cognitive function, which is frequently impaired in neurodevelopmental disorders including attention-deficit/hyperactivity and autism spectrum disorders. KW - serotonin KW - cadherin-13 (CDH13) KW - T-cadherin KW - neurodevelopment KW - psychiatric disorders KW - radial glia KW - dorsal raphe KW - prefrontal cortex Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170313 VL - 11 IS - 307 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fehrholz, Markus A1 - Seidenspinner, Silvia A1 - Kunzmann, Steffen T1 - Expression of surfactant protein B is dependent on cell density in H441 lung epithelial cells JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Background Expression of surfactant protein (SP)-B, which assures the structural stability of the pulmonary surfactant film, is influenced by various stimuli, including glucocorticoids; however, the role that cell-cell contact plays in SP-B transcription remains unknown. The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of cell-cell contact on SP-B mRNA and mature SP-B expression in the lung epithelial cell line H441. Methods Different quantities of H441 cells per growth area were either left untreated or incubated with dexamethasone. The expression of SP-B, SP-B transcription factors, and tight junction proteins were determined by qPCR and immunoblotting. The influence of cell density on SP-B mRNA stability was investigated using the transcription inhibitor actinomycin D. Results SP-B mRNA and mature SP-B expression levels were significantly elevated in untreated and dexamethasone-treated H441 cells with increasing cell density. High cell density as a sole stimulus was found to barely have an impact on SP-B transcription factor and tight junction mRNA levels, while its stimulatory ability on SP-B mRNA expression could be mimicked using SP-B-negative cells. SP-B mRNA stability was significantly increased in high-density cells, but not by dexamethasone alone. Conclusion SP-B expression in H441 cells is dependent on cell-cell contact, which increases mRNA stability and thereby potentiates the glucocorticoid-mediated induction of transcription. Loss of cell integrity might contribute to reduced SP-B secretion in damaged lung cells via downregulation of SP-B transcription. Cell density-mediated effects should thus receive greater attention in future cell culture-based research. KW - messenger RNA KW - surfactants KW - epithelial cells KW - transcription factors KW - gene expression KW - tight junctions KW - adenocarcinoma of the lung KW - immunoblotting Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158291 VL - 12 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fehrholz, Markus A1 - Glaser, Kirsten A1 - Speer, Christian P. A1 - Seidenspinner, Silvia A1 - Ottensmeier, Barbara A1 - Kunzmann, Steffen T1 - Caffeine modulates glucocorticoid-induced expression of CTGF in lung epithelial cells and fibroblasts JF - Respiratory Research N2 - Background: Although caffeine and glucocorticoids are frequently used to treat chronic lung disease in preterm neonates, potential interactions are largely unknown. While anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids are well defined, their impact on airway remodeling is less characterized. Caffeine has been ascribed to positive effects on airway inflammation as well as remodeling. Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF, CCN2) plays a key role in airway remodeling and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic lung diseases such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in preterm infants. The current study addressed the impact of glucocorticoids on the regulation of CTGF in the presence of caffeine using human lung epithelial and fibroblast cells. Methods: The human airway epithelial cell line H441 and the fetal lung fibroblast strain IMR-90 were exposed to different glucocorticoids (dexamethasone, budesonide, betamethasone, prednisolone, hydrocortisone) and caffeine. mRNA and protein expression of CTGF, TGF-β1-3, and TNF-α were determined by means of quantitative real-time PCR and immunoblotting. H441 cells were additionally treated with cAMP, the adenylyl cyclase activator forskolin, and the selective phosphodiesterase (PDE)-4 inhibitor cilomilast to mimic caffeine-mediated PDE inhibition. Results: Treatment with different glucocorticoids (1 μM) significantly increased CTGF mRNA levels in H441 (p < 0.0001) and IMR-90 cells (p < 0.01). Upon simultaneous exposure to caffeine (10 mM), both glucocorticoid-induced mRNA and protein expression were significantly reduced in IMR-90 cells (p < 0.0001). Of note, 24 h exposure to caffeine alone significantly suppressed basal expression of CTGF mRNA and protein in IMR-90 cells. Caffeine-induced reduction of CTGF mRNA expression seemed to be independent of cAMP levels, adenylyl cyclase activation, or PDE-4 inhibition. While dexamethasone or caffeine treatment did not affect TGF-β1 mRNA in H441 cells, increased expression of TGF-β2 and TGF-β3 mRNA was detected upon exposure to dexamethasone or dexamethasone and caffeine, respectively. Moreover, caffeine increased TNF-α mRNA in H441 cells (6.5 ± 2.2-fold, p < 0.05) which has been described as potent inhibitor of CTGF expression. Conclusions: In addition to well-known anti-inflammatory features, glucocorticoids may have adverse effects on long-term remodeling by TGF-β1-independent induction of CTGF in lung cells. Simultaneous treatment with caffeine may attenuate glucocorticoid-induced expression of CTGF, thereby promoting restoration of lung homeostasis. KW - airway remodeling KW - fibrosis KW - bronchopulmonary dysplasia KW - caffeine KW - CCN2 KW - CTGF KW - glucocorticoids KW - H441 KW - IMR-90 Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157672 VL - 18 IS - 51 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fayez, Shaimaa A1 - Feineis, Doris A1 - Mudogo, Virima A1 - Awale, Suresh A1 - Bringmann, Gerhard T1 - Ancistrolikokines E-H and related 5,8\('\)-coupled naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids from the Congolese liana \(Ancistrocladus\) \(likoko\) with antiausterity activities against PANC-1 human pancreatic cancer cells JF - RSC Advances N2 - A striking feature of the metabolite profile of \(Ancistrocladus\) \(likoko\) (Ancistrocladaceae) is the exclusive production of 5,8\('\)-linked naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids varying in their OMe/OH substitution patterns and in the hydrogenation degree in their isoquinoline portions. Here we present nine new compounds of this coupling type isolated from the twigs of this remarkable Central African liana. Three of them, the ancistrolikokines E (9), E\(_2\) (10), and F (11), are the first 5,8\('\)-linked naphthyldihydroisoquinolines found in nature with \(R\)-configuration at C-3. The fourth new metabolite, ancistrolikokine G (12), is so far the only representative of the 5,8\('\)-coupling type that belongs to the very rare group of alkaloids with a fully dehydrogenated isoquinoline portion. Moreover, five new \(N\)-methylated naphthyltetrahydroisoquinolines, named ancistrolikokines A\(_2\) (13), A\(_3\) (14), C\(_2\) (5), H (15), and H\(_2\) (16) are presented, along with six known 5,8\('\)-linked alkaloids, previously identified in related African \(Ancistrocladus\) species, now found for the first time in \(A.\) \(likoko\). The structural elucidation was achieved by spectroscopic analysis (HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR) and by chemical (oxidative degradation) and chiroptical (electronic circular dichroism) methods. The new ancistrolikokines showed moderate to good preferential cytotoxic activities towards pancreatic PANC-1 cells in nutrient-deprived medium (NDM), without causing toxicity under normal, nutrient-rich conditions, with ancistrolikokine H\(_2\) (16) being the most potent compound. KW - chemistry KW - Ancistrocladus likoko KW - alkaloids KW - bioactive compound KW - anti-cancer-agent KW - pancreatic cancer KW - naphthylisoquinoline alkaloid KW - spectroscopic analysis Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172008 VL - 7 IS - 85 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Faggion, Clovis Mariano, Jr. A1 - Apaza, Karol A1 - Ariza-Fritas, Tania A1 - Málaga, Lilian A1 - Giannakopoulos, Nikolaos Nikitas A1 - Alarcón, Marco Antonio T1 - Methodological quality of consensus guidelines in implant dentistry JF - PLOS One N2 - Background: Consensus guidelines are useful to improve clinical decision making. Therefore, the methodological evaluation of these guidelines is of paramount importance. Low quality information may guide to inadequate or harmful clinical decisions. Objective: To evaluate the methodological quality of consensus guidelines published in implant dentistry using a validated methodological instrument. Methods: The six implant dentistry journals with impact factors were scrutinised for consensus guidelines related to implant dentistry. Two assessors independently selected consensus guidelines, and four assessors independently evaluated their methodological quality using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE) II instrument. Disagreements in the selection and evaluation of guidelines were resolved by consensus. First, the consensus guidelines were analysed alone. Then, systematic reviews conducted to support the guidelines were included in the analysis. Non-parametric statistics for dependent variables (Wilcoxon signed rank test) was used to compare both groups. Results: Of 258 initially retrieved articles, 27 consensus guidelines were selected. Median scores in four domains (applicability, rigour of development, stakeholder involvement, and editorial independence), expressed as percentages of maximum possible domain scores, were below 50% (median, 26%, 30.70%, 41.70%, and 41.70%, respectively). The consensus guidelines and consensus guidelines + systematic reviews data sets could be compared for 19 guidelines, and the results showed significant improvements in all domain scores (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Methodological improvement of consensus guidelines published in major implant dentistry journals is needed. The findings of the present study may help researchers to better develop consensus guidelines in implant dentistry, which will improve the quality and trust of information needed to make proper clinical decisions. KW - Medical implants KW - Dentistry KW - Systematic reviews KW - Medical journals KW - Treatment guidelines KW - Osseointegration KW - Osteology KW - Database searching Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-180987 VL - 12 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ewald, Jan A1 - Bartl, Martin A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Kaleta, Christoph T1 - Optimality principles reveal a complex interplay of intermediate toxicity and kinetic efficiency in the regulation of prokaryotic metabolism JF - PLOS Computational Biology N2 - A precise and rapid adjustment of fluxes through metabolic pathways is crucial for organisms to prevail in changing environmental conditions. Based on this reasoning, many guiding principles that govern the evolution of metabolic networks and their regulation have been uncovered. To this end, methods from dynamic optimization are ideally suited since they allow to uncover optimality principles behind the regulation of metabolic networks. We used dynamic optimization to investigate the influence of toxic intermediates in connection with the efficiency of enzymes on the regulation of a linear metabolic pathway. Our results predict that transcriptional regulation favors the control of highly efficient enzymes with less toxic upstream intermediates to reduce accumulation of toxic downstream intermediates. We show that the derived optimality principles hold by the analysis of the interplay between intermediate toxicity and pathway regulation in the metabolic pathways of over 5000 sequenced prokaryotes. Moreover, using the lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis in Escherichia coli as an example, we show how knowledge about the relation of regulation, kinetic efficiency and intermediate toxicity can be used to identify drug targets, which control endogenous toxic metabolites and prevent microbial growth. Beyond prokaryotes, we discuss the potential of our findings for the development of antifungal drugs. KW - Enzyme regulation KW - Toxicity KW - Metabolic pathways KW - Enzymes KW - Transcriptional control KW - Enzyme kinetics KW - Enzyme metabolism KW - Predictive toxicology Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-180870 VL - 13 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Erlbeck, Helena A1 - Mochty, Ursula A1 - Kübler, Andrea A1 - Real, Ruben G. L. T1 - Circadian course of the P300 ERP in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - implications for brain-computer interfaces (BCI) JF - BMC Neurology N2 - Background: Accidents or neurodegenerative diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can lead to progressing, extensive, and complete paralysis leaving patients aware but unable to communicate (locked-in state). Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) based on electroencephalography represent an important approach to establish communication with these patients. The most common BCI for communication rely on the P300, a positive deflection arising in response to rare events. To foster broader application of BCIs for restoring lost function, also for end-users with impaired vision, we explored whether there were specific time windows during the day in which a P300 driven BCI should be preferably applied. Methods: The present study investigated the influence of time of the day and modality (visual vs. auditory) on P300 amplitude and latency. A sample of 14 patients (end-users) with ALS and 14 healthy age matched volunteers participated in the study and P300 event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded at four different times (10, 12 am, 2, & 4 pm) during the day. Results: Results indicated no differences in P300 amplitudes or latencies between groups (ALS patients v. healthy participants) or time of measurement. In the auditory condition, latencies were shorter and amplitudes smaller as compared to the visual condition. Conclusion: Our findings suggest applicability of EEG/BCI sessions in patients with ALS throughout normal waking hours. Future studies using actual BCI systems are needed to generalize these findings with regard to BCI effectiveness/efficiency and other times of day. KW - brain computer interface KW - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis KW - ALS KW - P300 KW - auditory KW - visual KW - BCI Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157423 VL - 17 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Erdmenger, Johanna A1 - Hoyos, Carlos A1 - O'Bannon, Andy A1 - Papadimitriou, Ioannis A1 - Probst, Jonas A1 - Wu, Jackson M.S. T1 - Two-point functions in a holographic Kondo model JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - We develop the formalism of holographic renormalization to compute two-point functions in a holographic Kondo model. The model describes a (0 + 1)-dimensional impurity spin of a gauged SU(N ) interacting with a (1 + 1)-dimensional, large-N , strongly-coupled Conformal Field Theory (CFT). We describe the impurity using Abrikosov pseudo-fermions, and define an SU(N )-invariant scalar operator O built from a pseudo-fermion and a CFT fermion. At large N the Kondo interaction is of the form O\(^{†}\)O, which is marginally relevant, and generates a Renormalization Group (RG) flow at the impurity. A second-order mean-field phase transition occurs in which O condenses below a critical temperature, leading to the Kondo effect, including screening of the impurity. Via holography, the phase transition is dual to holographic superconductivity in (1 + 1)-dimensional Anti-de Sitter space. At all temperatures, spectral functions of O exhibit a Fano resonance, characteristic of a continuum of states interacting with an isolated resonance. In contrast to Fano resonances observed for example in quantum dots, our continuum and resonance arise from a (0 + 1)-dimensional UV fixed point and RG flow, respectively. In the low-temperature phase, the resonance comes from a pole in the Green’s function of the form −i〈O〉\(^{2}\), which is characteristic of a Kondo resonance. KW - holography and condensed matter physics (AdS/CMT) KW - AdS-CFT Correspondence KW - gauge-gravity correspondence Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171139 VL - 3 IS - 39 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Erdmenger, Johanna A1 - Fernández, Daniel A1 - Flory, Mario A1 - Megías, Eugenio A1 - Straub, Ann-Kathrin A1 - Witkowski, Piotr T1 - Time evolution of entanglement for holographic steady state formation JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - Within gauge/gravity duality, we consider the local quench-like time evolution obtained by joining two 1+1-dimensional heat baths at different temperatures at time \(t\) = 0. A steady state forms and expands in space. For the 2+1-dimensional gravity dual, we find that the “shockwaves” expanding the steady-state region are of spacelike nature in the bulk despite being null at the boundary. However, they do not transport information. Moreover, by adapting the time-dependent Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi prescription, we holographically calculate the entanglement entropy and also the mutual information for different entangling regions. For general temperatures, we find that the entanglement entropy increase rate satisfies the same bound as in the ‘entanglement tsunami’ setups. For small temperatures of the two baths, we derive an analytical formula for the time dependence of the entanglement entropy. This replaces the entanglement tsunami-like behaviour seen for high temperatures. Finally, we check that strong subadditivity holds in this time-dependent system, as well as further more general entanglement inequalities for five or more regions recently derived for the static case. KW - Physics KW - AdS-CFT Correspondence KW - Gauge-gravity correspondence KW - Holography and condensed matter physics (AdS/CMT) Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173798 VL - 2017 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Emmert, Adrian A1 - Kneisel, Christof T1 - Internal structure of two alpine rock glaciers investigated by quasi-3-D electrical resistivity imaging JF - The Cryosphere N2 - Interactions between different formative processes are reflected in the internal structure of rock glaciers. Therefore, the detection of subsurface conditions can help to enhance our understanding of landform development. For an assessment of subsurface conditions, we present an analysis of the spatial variability of active layer thickness, ground ice content and frost table topography for two different rock glaciers in the Eastern Swiss Alps by means of quasi-3-D electrical resistivity imaging (ERI). This approach enables an extensive mapping of subsurface structures and a spatial overlay between site-specific surface and subsurface characteristics. At Nair rock glacier, we discovered a gradual descent of the frost table in a downslope direction and a constant decrease of ice content which follows the observed surface topography. This is attributed to ice formation by refreezing meltwater from an embedded snow bank or from a subsurface ice patch which reshapes the permafrost layer. The heterogeneous ground ice distribution at Uertsch rock glacier indicates that multiple processes on different time domains were involved in the development. Resistivity values which represent frozen conditions vary within a wide range and indicate a successive formation which includes several advances, past glacial overrides and creep processes on the rock glacier surface. In combination with the observed topography, quasi-3-D ERI enables us to delimit areas of extensive and compressive flow in close proximity. Excellent data quality was provided by a good coupling of electrodes to the ground in the pebbly material of the investigated rock glaciers. Results show the value of the quasi-3-D ERI approach but advise the application of complementary geophysical methods for interpreting the results. KW - Fernerkundung KW - Gletscher KW - Alpen KW - Struktur Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157569 VL - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Elsässer, S. A1 - Schiebl, M. A1 - Mukhin, A. A. A1 - Balbashov, A. M. A1 - Pimenov, A. A1 - Geurts, J. T1 - Impact of temperature-dependent local and global spin order in \(R\)MnO\(_3\) compounds for spin-phonon coupling and electromagnon activity JF - New Journal of Physics N2 - The orthorhombic rare-earth manganite compounds \(R\)MnO\(_3\) show a global magnetic order for \(T\) < \(T\)\(_N\), and several representatives are multiferroic with a cycloidal spin ground state order for \(T\) < \(T\)\(_c\)\(_y\)\(_c\)\(_l\) < \(T\)\(_N\) \(\approx\) 40 K. We deduce from the temperature dependence of spin–phonon coupling in Raman spectroscopy for a series of \(R\)MnO\(_3\) compounds that their spin order locally persists up to about twice \(T\)\(_N\). Along the same line, our observation of the persistence of the electromagnon in GdMnO\(_3\) up to \(T\) \(\approx\) 100 K is attributed to a local cycloidal spin order for \(T\) > \(T\)\(_c\)\(_y\)\(_c\)\(_l\), in contrast to the hitherto assumed incommensurate sinusoidal phase in the intermediate temperature range. The development of the magnetization pattern can be described in terms of an order–disorder transition at \(T\)\(_c\)\(_y\)\(_c\)\(_l\) within a pseudospin model of localized spin cycloids with opposite chirality. KW - physics KW - RMnO3 KW - multiferroics KW - electromagnon KW - Raman spectroscopy KW - spin-phonon coupling Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171978 VL - 19 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eisele, Marion A1 - Boczor, Sigrid A1 - Rakebrandt, Anja A1 - Blozik, Eva A1 - Trader, Jens-Martin A1 - Stork, Stefan A1 - Herrmann-Lingen, Christoph A1 - Scherer, Martin T1 - General practitioners' awareness of depressive symptomatology is not associated with quality of life in heart failure patients - cross-sectional results of the observational RECODE-HF Study JF - BMC Family Practice N2 - Background Depression is a common comorbidity in patients with chronic heart failure (HF) and linked to a wider range of symptoms which, in turn, are linked to a decreased health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Treatment of depression might improve HRQOL but detecting depression is difficult due to the symptom overlap between HF and depression. Therefore, clinical guidelines recommend to routinely screen for depression in HF patients. No studies have so far investigated the treatment after getting aware of a depressive symptomatology and its correlation with HRQOL in primary care HF patients. Therefore, we examined the factors linked to depression treatment and those linked to HRQOL in HF patients. We hypothesized that GPs’ awareness of depressive symptomatology was associated with depression treatment and HRQOL in HF patients. Methods For this observational study, HF patients were recruited in primary care practices and filled out a questionnaire including PHQ-9 and HADS. A total of 574 patients screened positive for depressive symptomatology. Their GPs were interviewed by phone regarding the patients’ comorbidities and potential depression treatment. Descriptive and regression analysis were performed. Results GPs reported various types of depression treatments (including dialogue/counselling by the GP him/herself in 31.8% of the patients). The reported rates differed considerably between GP-reported initiated treatment and patient-reported utilised treatment regarding psychotherapy (16.4% vs. 9.5%) and pharmacotherapy (61.2% vs. 30.3%). The GPs' awareness of depressive symptomatology was significantly associated with the likelihood of receiving pharmacotherapy (OR 2.8; p < 0.001) but not psychotherapy. The patient’s HRQOL was not significantly associated with the GPs' awareness of depression. Conclusion GPs should be aware of the gap between GP-initiated and patient-utilised depression treatments in patients with chronic HF, which might lead to an undersupply of depression treatment. It remains to be investigated why GPs’ awareness of depressive symptomatology is not linked to patients’ HRQOL. We hypothesize that GPs are aware of cases with reduced HRQOL (which improves under depression treatment) and unaware of cases whose depression do not significantly impair HRQOL, resulting in comparable levels of HRQOL in both groups. This hypothesis needs to be further investigated. KW - Medicine KW - Depression KW - Heart failure KW - Recognition of depression KW - Quality of life KW - Depression treatment KW - Observational study KW - Primary care KW - Healthcare research KW - Depressive symptomatology Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172445 VL - 18 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Effenberger, Madlen A1 - Bommert, Kathryn S. A1 - Kunz, Viktoria A1 - Kruk, Jessica A1 - Leich, Ellen A1 - Rudelius, Martina A1 - Bargou, Ralf A1 - Bommert, Kurt T1 - Glutaminase inhibition in multiple myeloma induces apoptosis via MYC degradation JF - Oncotarget N2 - Multiple Myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematological malignancy affecting millions of people worldwide. As in all tumor cells both glucose and more recently glutamine have been identified as important for MM cellular metabolism, however there is some dispute as to the role of glutamine in MM cell survival. Here we show that the small molecule inhibitor compound 968 effectively inhibits glutaminase and that this inhibition induces apoptosis in both human multiple myeloma cell lines (HMCLs) and primary patient material. The HMCL U266 which does not express MYC was insensitive to both glutamine removal and compound 968, but ectopic expression of MYC imparted sensitivity. Finally, we show that glutamine depletion is reflected by rapid loss of MYC protein which is independent of MYC transcription and post translational modifications. However, MYC loss is dependent on proteasomal activity, and this loss was paralleled by an equally rapid induction of apoptosis. These findings are in contrast to those of glucose depletion which largely affected rates of proliferation in HMCLs, but had no effects on either MYC expression or viability. Therefore, inhibition of glutaminolysis is effective at inducing apoptosis and thus serves as a possible therapeutic target in MM. KW - Multiple Myeloma KW - glutaminase inhibition KW - apoptosis KW - MYC Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170168 VL - 8 IS - 49 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dütting, Sebastian A1 - Gaits-Iacovoni, Frederique A1 - Stegner, David A1 - Popp, Michael A1 - Antkowiak, Adrien A1 - van Eeuwijk, Judith M.M. A1 - Nurden, Paquita A1 - Stritt, Simon A1 - Heib, Tobias A1 - Aurbach, Katja A1 - Angay, Oguzhan A1 - Cherpokova, Deya A1 - Heinz, Niels A1 - Baig, Ayesha A. A1 - Gorelashvili, Maximilian G. A1 - Gerner, Frank A1 - Heinze, Katrin G. A1 - Ware, Jerry A1 - Krohne, Georg A1 - Ruggeri, Zaverio M. A1 - Nurden, Alan T. A1 - Schulze, Harald A1 - Modlich, Ute A1 - Pleines, Irina A1 - Brakebusch, Cord A1 - Nieswandt, Bernhard T1 - A Cdc42/RhoA regulatory circuit downstream of glycoprotein Ib guides transendothelial platelet biogenesis JF - Nature Communications N2 - Blood platelets are produced by large bone marrow (BM) precursor cells, megakaryocytes (MKs), which extend cytoplasmic protrusions (proplatelets) into BM sinusoids. The molecular cues that control MK polarization towards sinusoids and limit transendothelial crossing to proplatelets remain unknown. Here, we show that the small GTPases Cdc42 and RhoA act as a regulatory circuit downstream of the MK-specific mechanoreceptor GPIb to coordinate polarized transendothelial platelet biogenesis. Functional deficiency of either GPIb or Cdc42 impairs transendothelial proplatelet formation. In the absence of RhoA, increased Cdc42 activity and MK hyperpolarization triggers GPIb-dependent transmigration of entire MKs into BM sinusoids. These findings position Cdc42 (go-signal) and RhoA (stop-signal) at the centre of a molecular checkpoint downstream of GPIb that controls transendothelial platelet biogenesis. Our results may open new avenues for the treatment of platelet production disorders and help to explain the thrombocytopenia in patients with Bernard–Soulier syndrome, a bleeding disorder caused by defects in GPIb-IX-V. KW - megakaryocytes KW - blood platelets KW - regulatory circuit downstream KW - glycoprotein Ib Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170797 VL - 8 IS - 15838 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dürner, Benedikt T1 - Der lyrische Triebtäter André Pieyre de Mandiargues Gewalt und Erotik im Gedichtband L’Âge de craie JF - promptus - Würzburger Beiträge zur Romanistik N2 - The surrealists are not the only influence on the literary efforts of André Pieyre de Mandiargues – but it’s this influence that makes his oeuvre capable for an analysis based on Freudian theories. This way of an analysis is even more appropriate knowing that two of Mandiargues’ main and favourite themes – the eroticism and the violence – coincide with the Freudian life and destruction drive. Analysing the two poems Les filles des gobes and Les ruines de l’amour from the volume of poems L’Âge de craie, it’s these two paradigms that are clearly recognizable: Mandiargues’ symbolism reveals the duality of the domination by desires. KW - Gewalt KW - Bataille KW - Trieb KW - Freud KW - Erotik Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172876 SN - 2510-2613 VL - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Düking, Peter A1 - Holmberg, Hans-Christer A1 - Sperlich, Billy T1 - Instant Biofeedback Provided by Wearable Sensor Technology Can Help to Optimize Exercise and Prevent Injury and Overuse JF - Frontiers in Physiology KW - sports KW - training optimization KW - performance monitoring KW - health monitoring KW - technology KW - coaching Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158044 VL - 8 IS - 167 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Döhler, Anja A1 - Schneider, Theresa A1 - Eckert, Ina A1 - Ribechini, Eliana A1 - Andreas, Nico A1 - Riemann, Marc A1 - Reizis, Boris A1 - Weih, Falk A1 - Lutz, Manfred B. T1 - RelB\(^{+}\) Steady-State Migratory Dendritic Cells Control the Peripheral Pool of the Natural Foxp3\(^{+}\) Regulatory T Cells JF - Frontiers in Immunology N2 - Thymus-derived natural Foxp3\(^{+}\) CD4\(^{+}\) regulatory T cells (nTregs) play a key role in maintaining immune tolerance and preventing autoimmune disease. Several studies indicate that dendritic cells (DCs) are critically involved in the maintenance and proliferation of nTregs. However, the mechanisms how DCs manage to keep the peripheral pool at constant levels remain poorly understood. Here, we describe that the NF-κB/Rel family transcription factor RelB controls the frequencies of steady-state migratory DCs (ssmDCs) in peripheral lymph nodes and their numbers control peripheral nTreg homeostasis. DC-specific RelB depletion was investigated in CD11c-Cre × RelB\(^{fl/fl}\) mice (RelB\(^{DCko}\)), which showed normal frequencies of resident DCs in lymph nodes and spleen while the subsets of CD103\(^{-}\) Langerin\(^{-}\) dermal DCs (dDCs) and Langerhans cells but not CD103\(^{+}\) Langerin\(^{+}\) dDC of the ssmDCs in skin-draining lymph nodes were increased. Enhanced frequencies and proliferation rates were also observed for nTregs and a small population of CD4\(^{+}\) CD44\(^{high}\) CD25\(^{low}\) memory-like T cells (Tml). Interestingly, only the Tml but not DCs showed an increase in IL-2-producing capacity in lymph nodes of RelB\(^{DCko}\) mice. Blocking of IL-2 in vivo reduced the frequency of nTregs but increased the Tml frequencies, followed by a recovery of nTregs. Taken together, by employing RelB\(^{DCko}\) mice with increased frequencies of ssmDCs our data indicate a critical role for specific ssmDC subsets for the peripheral nTreg and IL-2\(^{+}\) Tml frequencies during homeostasis. KW - lymph nodes KW - dendritic cells KW - RelB KW - regulatory T cells KW - IL-2 Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158121 VL - 8 IS - 726 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dziom, V. A1 - Shuvaev, A. A1 - Pimenov, A. A1 - Astakhov, G.V. A1 - Ames, C. A1 - Bendias, K. A1 - Böttcher, J. A1 - Tkachov, G. A1 - Hankiewicz, E.M. A1 - Brüne, C. A1 - Buhmann, H. A1 - Molenkamp, L.W. T1 - Observation of the universal magnetoelectric effect in a 3D topological insulator JF - Nature Communications N2 - The electrodynamics of topological insulators (TIs) is described by modified Maxwell’s equations, which contain additional terms that couple an electric field to a magnetization and a magnetic field to a polarization of the medium, such that the coupling coefficient is quantized in odd multiples of α/4π per surface. Here we report on the observation of this so-called topological magnetoelectric effect. We use monochromatic terahertz (THz) spectroscopy of TI structures equipped with a semitransparent gate to selectively address surface states. In high external magnetic fields, we observe a universal Faraday rotation angle equal to the fine structure constant α=e\(^{2}\)/2E\(_{0}\)hc (in SI units) when a linearly polarized THz radiation of a certain frequency passes through the two surfaces of a strained HgTe 3D TI. These experiments give insight into axion electrodynamics of TIs and may potentially be used for a metrological definition of the three basic physical constants. KW - topological matter KW - infrared spectroscopy KW - topological insulators KW - topological magnetoelectric effect Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170875 VL - 8 IS - 15197 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Drescher, Nora A1 - Klein, Alexandra-Maria A1 - Neumann, Peter A1 - Yañez, Orlando A1 - Leonhardt, Sara D. T1 - Inside Honeybee Hives: Impact of Natural Propolis on the Ectoparasitic Mite Varroa destructor and Viruses JF - Insects N2 - Social immunity is a key factor for honeybee health, including behavioral defense strategies such as the collective use of antimicrobial plant resins (propolis). While laboratory data repeatedly show significant propolis effects, field data are scarce, especially at the colony level. Here, we investigated whether propolis, as naturally deposited in the nests, can protect honeybees against ectoparasitic mites Varroa destructor and associated viruses, which are currently considered the most serious biological threat to European honeybee subspecies, Apis mellifera, globally. Propolis intake of 10 field colonies was manipulated by either reducing or adding freshly collected propolis. Mite infestations, titers of deformed wing virus (DWV) and sacbrood virus (SBV), resin intake, as well as colony strength were recorded monthly from July to September 2013. We additionally examined the effect of raw propolis volatiles on mite survival in laboratory assays. Our results showed no significant effects of adding or removing propolis on mite survival and infestation levels. However, in relation to V. destructor, DWV titers increased significantly less in colonies with added propolis than in propolis-removed colonies, whereas SBV titers were similar. Colonies with added propolis were also significantly stronger than propolis-removed colonies. These findings indicate that propolis may interfere with the dynamics of V. destructor-transmitted viruses, thereby further emphasizing the importance of propolis for honeybee health. KW - social immunity KW - Apis mellifera KW - deformed wing virus KW - plant-insect interactions KW - resin KW - sacbrood virus Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171164 VL - 8 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Drenckhahn, Detlev A1 - Zonneveld, Ben T1 - Rubus viridilucidus Drenckhahn, eine neue Brombeerart aus der Sektion Corylifolii, Serie Subcanescentes T1 - Rubus viridilucidus Drenckhahn, a new bramble species of the section Corylifolii, series Subcanescentes JF - Forum Geobotanicum N2 - Rubus viridilucidus Drenckhahn ist eine tetraploide Brombeerart (2n=28) aus der Sektion Corylifolii, Serie Subcanescentes mit einem Genomgewicht (2C-Wert) von 1,49 pg, das dem Genomgewicht verwandter Sippen der Serie Subcanescentes wie R. scabrosus, R. fasciculatiformis und R. fasciculatus (1,52–1,54 pg) aus Unterfranken entspricht. Charakteristische Merkmale sind 3–4(5)-zählige Blätter mit herab gekrümmten rundlichen bis breit obovaten Endblättchen und breitovalen Seitenblättchen, die eine völlig unbehaarte, lichtgrüne, mattglänzende Blattoberfläche besitzen mit kontrastierender hell grünlich-grauer, samtig behaarter Blattunterseite. Die überwiegend rundlichen bis stumpf kantigen, lichtgrünen bis rötlich überlaufenen Schösslinge sind unbehaart und spärlich mit kurzen (<4mm) nadelförmigen Stacheln und wenigen Stieldrüsen besetzt. R. viridilucidus entwickelt zusätzlich zu den Blütenzweigen der zweijährigen Schösslinge (Ausbreitungsschösslinge) einen besonderen blühenden 0,8 bis 1,6 m langen Schösslingstyp aus, den Rispenschössling, der direkt aus dem Wurzelstock entspringt und terminal in eine Blütenrispe ausläuft. Bei R. viridilucidus sind zwei verschiedene Typen von Rispenschösslingen ausgebildet. Die Sippe wächst bevorzugt auf gestörten Flächen wie Brachen, Straßenrändern, Lagerplätzen, Weinbergrändern und kann sich mit 1–2 m jährlichem Zuwachs (Satellitenbildauswertung, Vermessungen vor Ort) schnell ausbreiten. Die bekannt gewordenen Fundstellen erstrecken sich vom nördlichen Baden-Württemberg bis in den nördlichsten Teil von Bayern (Rhön). N2 - Rubus viridilucidus Drenckhahn is a new member of the Rubus section Corylifolii, series Subcanescentes, with an average tetraploid set of chromosomes (2n=28) and a genome size of 1.49 pg that matches the genome size of the related species of the series Subcanescentes R. scabrosus, R. fasciculatiformis and R. fasciculatus (1.52–1.54 pg). This species is distinguished by 3 to 4(5)-nate leaves with down curved roundish to broad obovate terminal and broad lateral leaflets with lucid-green glabrous upper side and light greenish grey, velvety pubescent lower side. Stems are roundish to obtusely angled, glabrous, green to reddish coloured, and armed sparsely with short, needle-like prickles (<4mm) and stalked glands. R. viridilucidus develops a second type of stem – denoted as panicle shoot – that is 0.8–1.6 m long, emerges directly from the rootstock and terminates apically in an inflorescence. Panicle shoots occur in R. viridilucidus in two varieties. The species prefers fallow land, quarries, road sides and margins of vineyards. It has a remarkable capability of propagation (about 1–2 m/year) as documented on the basis of satellite image (Google Earth) in combination with on-site surveys. The distribution area of R. viridilucidus, known so far, extends from Northern Baden-Württemberg to the most northern edge of Bavaria (Rhön mountains). KW - Brombeerart KW - Vorkommen KW - Rubus viridilucidus KW - Brombeere KW - Rubus KW - Unterfranken KW - Karyotyp Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-156257 UR - http://www.forum-geobotanicum.net/articles/vol_7-2016/drenckhahn-zonneveld_rubus_viridilucidus/drenckhahn-zonneveld_rubus_viridilucidus.pdf SN - 1867-9315 VL - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Drenckhahn, Detlev A1 - Baumgartner, Werner A1 - Zonneveld, Ben T1 - Different genome sizes of Western and Eastern Ficaria verna lineages shed light on steps of Ficaria evolution JF - Forum Geobotanicum N2 - The genus Ficaria is now considered to comprize eight Eurasian species. The most widespread European species is the tetraploid F. verna Huds. The present study provides evidence for the existence of two main lineages of F. verna that differ considerably in their genomic size by about 3 pg. A Western F. verna lineage west of river Rhine displays a mean genome size (2C-value) of 34.2 pg and is almost precisely codistributed with the diploid F. ambigua Boreau (20 pg) north of the Mediterranean. The remaining part of Europe appears to be occupied by the Eastern F. verna lineage solely (mean genome size of 31.3 pg) which codistributes in South-Eastern Europe with the diploid F. calthifolia Rchb. (15 pg). There is little overlap at the boundary of Western and Eastern F. verna lineages with the occurrence of a separate intermediate group in the Netherlands (mean genomic size of 33.2 pg) that appears to result from hybridization of both lineages. On the basis of these observations and further considerations we propose development of F. ambigua and F. calthifolia south of the Alps with subsequent divergence to populate their current Western and Eastern European ranges, respectively. The Western F. verna lineage is proposed to originate from autotetraploidization of F. ambigua (precursor) with moderate genomic downsizing and the Eastern F. verna lineage from auto¬tetraploidization of F. calthifolia (precursor). KW - Ficaria verna KW - Ficaria calthifolia KW - Ficaria ambigua KW - Durchflusscytometrie KW - Evolution KW - Genom Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-155061 UR - http://www.forum-geobotanicum.net/articles/vol_7-2016/drenckhahn-baumgartner-zonnefeld_ficaria_verna/drenckhahn-baumgartner-zonnefeld_ficaria_verna.pdf SN - 1867-9315 VL - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Drenckhahn, Detlev T1 - Vorkommen des Atlantischen Wildkohls (Brassica oleracea L. subsp. oleracea) an den Kreidefelsen der Ostseeinsel Rügen, Deutschland T1 - Occurrence of Atlantic wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. subsp. oleracea) at the limestone cliffs of the baltic island of Rügen, Germany JF - Forum Geobotanicum N2 - Der Atlantische Wildkohl (Brassica oleracea L. subsp. oleracea) wächst auf den Küstenfelsen des Atlantiks und der Nordsee zwischen Nord-Spanien, Schottland und der Nordseeinsel Helgoland. 2001 wurde auch ein Vorkommen des Wildkohls an den Kreidefelsen der Ostseeinsel Rügen nachgewiesen, das aus ungefähr 50 Individuen besteht. Die Pflanzen unterscheiden sich phänotypisch nicht von Wildpflanzen der Atlantikküsten. Da alle verbreiteten Kultursorten des Gemüsekohls genetisch sehr eng mit dem Atlantischen Kohl verwandt sind, vom dem sie höchstwahrscheinlich abstammen, wird die Frage erörtert, ob eine spontane Rückverwandlung (Rückkreuzung) von in die Natur entwichenen Kultursorten in den Wildkohl-Phänotyp möglich ist. Dieses wird als wenig wahrscheinlich angesehen. Dagegen ist Introgression zwischen Kultursorten und Wildsorten gut belegt. Die Frage nach einer möglichen Hybridisierung von Grünkohl mit Pflanzen vom Wildkohlphänotyp oder mit anderen Kultursorten an der Kreideküste der dänischen Ostseeinsel Seeland wird anhand eigener Beobachtungen erörtert. Die dortige Population besteht offensichtlich aus verwilderten Kulturkohlhybriden, die sich deutlich von den Wildpflanzen Rügens unterscheiden. Das neue Vorkommen des Atlantischen Wildkohls in der westlichen Ostsee kann im Zusammenhang mit der Ostausbreitung anderer atlantischer Sippen im Rahmen des Klimawandels gesehen werden. N2 - The distribution area of the Atlantic wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. subsp. oleracea), hitherto known to be restricted to atlantic coastal cliffs between Northern Spain, Scotland and Helgoland, has expanded this century eastwards to the limestone cliffs of the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea. The population size is about 50 individuals which are morphologically indistinguishable from Atlantic wild cabbage. The possibility is addressed whether the Rügen population might be derived by backcrossing and naturalization of escaped cultured Brassica oleracea varieties. Genetic studies have shown that the main cultured varieties grown today are closely related to Atlantic wild cabbage from which these varieties were most likely raised. Spontaneous reversal from cultured varieties to the atlantic wild phenotype has often been claimed but not been convincingly demonstrated in the literature and it is considered unlikely that such a full reversal would occur in the absence of crosspollination (introgression) with wild type cabbages. However, introgression of cultured varieties with wild types or naturalization of escaped cultured cole varieties to a more archaic phenotype has been reported. Such an introgression or naturalization process is currently taking place at the limestone coast of Zealand/Denmark. As documented and described in this study, the wild growing coles of Zealand look like descendents of kale and (headed) cabbage and differ considerably from the population of Rügen and Helgoland. The currently observed eastward extension of the atlantic range of wild Brassica oleracea into the Baltic Sea can be interpreted as a more general phenomenon of eastward expansion of the distribution area of other atlantic species in the course of climate warming. KW - Brassica oleracea KW - Atlantischer Wildkohl KW - Kohl Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-142963 UR - http://www.forum-geobotanicum.net/articles/vol_7-2016/drenckhahn_brassica/drenckhahn_brassica_oleracea.pdf SN - 1867-9315 VL - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dong, Hailong A1 - Kuzmanoski, Ana A1 - Wehner, Tobias A1 - Mueller-Buschbaum, Klaus A1 - Feldmann, Claus T1 - Microwave-assisted polyol synthesis of water dispersible red-emitting Eu\(^{3+}\)-modified carbon dots JF - Materials N2 - Eu\(^{3+}\)-modified carbon dots (C-dots), 3–5 nm in diameter, were prepared, functionalized, and stabilized via a one-pot polyol synthesis. The role of Eu\(^{2+}\)/Eu\(^{3+}\), the influence of O\(_2\) (oxidation) and H\(_2\)O (hydrolysis), as well as the impact of the heating procedure (conventional resistance heating and microwave (MW) heating) were explored. With the reducing conditions of the polyol at the elevated temperature of synthesis (200–230 °C), first of all, Eu\(^{2+}\) was obtained resulting in the blue emission of the C-dots. Subsequent to O\(_2\)-driven oxidation, Eu\(^{3+}\)-modified, red-emitting C-dots were realized. However, the Eu\(^{3+}\) emission is rapidly quenched by water for C-dots prepared via conventional resistance heating. In contrast to the hydroxyl functionalization of conventionally-heated C-dots, MW-heating results in a carboxylate functionalization of the C-dots. Carboxylate-coordinated Eu\(^{3+}\), however, turned out as highly stable even in water. Based on this fundamental understanding of synthesis and material, in sum, a one-pot polyol approach is established that results in H\(_2\)O-dispersable C-dots with intense red Eu\(^{3+}\)-line-type emission. KW - carbon dot KW - europium KW - microwave KW - polyol KW - surface conditioning Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-181674 VL - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dombert, Benjamin A1 - Balk, Stefanie A1 - Lüningschrör, Patrick A1 - Moradi, Mehri A1 - Sivadasan, Rajeeve A1 - Saal-Bauernschubert, Lena A1 - Jablonka, Sibylle T1 - BDNF/trkB induction of calcium transients through Ca\(_{v}\)2.2 calcium channels in motoneurons corresponds to F-actin assembly and growth cone formation on β2-chain laminin (221) JF - Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience N2 - Spontaneous Ca\(^{2+}\) transients and actin dynamics in primary motoneurons correspond to cellular differentiation such as axon elongation and growth cone formation. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its receptor trkB support both motoneuron survival and synaptic differentiation. However, in motoneurons effects of BDNF/trkB signaling on spontaneous Ca\(^{2+}\) influx and actin dynamics at axonal growth cones are not fully unraveled. In our study we addressed the question how neurotrophic factor signaling corresponds to cell autonomous excitability and growth cone formation. Primary motoneurons from mouse embryos were cultured on the synapse specific, β2-chain containing laminin isoform (221) regulating axon elongation through spontaneous Ca\(^{2+}\) transients that are in turn induced by enhanced clustering of N-type specific voltage-gated Ca\(^{2+}\) channels (Ca\(_{v}\)2.2) in axonal growth cones. TrkB-deficient (trkBTK\(^{-/-}\)) mouse motoneurons which express no full-length trkB receptor and wildtype motoneurons cultured without BDNF exhibited reduced spontaneous Ca\(^{2+}\) transients that corresponded to altered axon elongation and defects in growth cone morphology which was accompanied by changes in the local actin cytoskeleton. Vice versa, the acute application of BDNF resulted in the induction of spontaneous Ca\(^{2+}\) transients and Ca\(_{v}\)2.2 clustering in motor growth cones, as well as the activation of trkB downstream signaling cascades which promoted the stabilization of β-actin via the LIM kinase pathway and phosphorylation of profilin at Tyr129. Finally, we identified a mutual regulation of neuronal excitability and actin dynamics in axonal growth cones of embryonic motoneurons cultured on laminin-221/211. Impaired excitability resulted in dysregulated axon extension and local actin cytoskeleton, whereas upon β-actin knockdown Ca\(_{v}\)2.2 clustering was affected. We conclude from our data that in embryonic motoneurons BDNF/trkB signaling contributes to axon elongation and growth cone formation through changes in the local actin cytoskeleton accompanied by increased Ca\(_{v}\)2.2 clustering and local calcium transients. These findings may help to explore cellular mechanisms which might be dysregulated during maturation of embryonic motoneurons leading to motoneuron disease. KW - growth cone KW - BDNF KW - trkB KW - Ca\(_{v}\)2.2 KW - F-actin KW - motor axon Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159094 VL - 10 IS - 346 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dick, Julia A1 - Krauß, Patrizia A1 - Hillenkamp, Jost A1 - Kohlmorgen, Britta A1 - Schoen, Christoph T1 - Postoperative Tropheryma whipplei endophthalmitis – a case report highlighting the additive value of molecular testing JF - JMM Case Reports N2 - Introduction. Tropheryma whipplei is the causative agent of Whipple’s disease. Gastrointestinal and lymphatic tissues are affected in the majority of cases, resulting in diarrhoea, malabsorption and fever. Here, we report a rare case of ocular manifestation in a patient lacking the typical Whipple symptoms. Case presentation. A 74-year-old Caucasian female presented with blurred vision in the right eye over a period of 1–2 months, accompanied by stinging pain and conjunctival hyperaemia for the last 2 days. Upon admission, visual acuity was hand motion in the affected eye. Ophthalmological examination showed typical signs of intraocular inflammation. Diagnostic and therapeutic pars plana vitrectomy including vitreous biopsy and intravitreal instillation of vancomycin and amikacin was performed within hours of initial presentation. Both microscopic analysis and microbial cultures of the vitreous biopsy remained negative for bacteria and fungi. The postoperative antibiotic regime included intravenous administration of ceftriaxone in combination with topical tobramycin and ofloxacin. Due to the empirical therapy the inflammation ceased and the patient was discharged after 5 days with cefpodoxime orally and local antibiotic and steroidal therapy. Meanwhile, the vitreous body had undergone testing by PCR for the eubacterial 16S rRNA gene, which was found to be positive. Analysis of the PCR product revealed a specific sequence of T. whipplei. Conclusion. In our patient, endophthalmitis was the first and only symptom of Morbus Whipple, while most patients with Whipple’s disease suffer from severe gastrointestinal symptoms. 16S rDNA PCR should be considered for any intraocular infection when microscopy and standard culture methods remain negative. KW - intravitreal vancomycin and amikacin KW - intravenous ceftriaxone KW - topic ofloxacin KW - Whipple's disease KW - endophthalmitis KW - Tropheryma whipplei KW - ocular infection KW - vitrectomy KW - oral cefpodoxime KW - oral doxycycline Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158823 VL - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Denner, Ansgar A1 - Lang, Jean-Nicolas A1 - Uccirati, Sandro T1 - NLO electroweak corrections in extended Higgs sectors with RECOLA2 JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - We present the computer code RECOLA2 along with the first NLO electroweak corrections to Higgs production in vector-boson fusion and updated results for Higgs strahlung in the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model and Higgs-Singlet extension of the Standard Model. A fully automated procedure for the generation of tree-level and one-loop matrix elements in general models, including renormalization, is presented. We discuss the application of the Background-Field Method to the extended models. Numerical results for NLO electroweak cross sections are presented for different renormalization schemes in the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model and the Higgs-Singlet extension of the Standard Model. Finally, we present distributions for the production of a heavy Higgs boson. KW - NLO computations KW - phenomenological models KW - Higgs boson Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170673 VL - 7 IS - 87 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Denner, Ansgar A1 - Lang, Jean-Nicolas A1 - Pellen, Mathieu A1 - Uccirati, Sandro T1 - Higgs production in association with off-shell top-antitop pairs at NLO EW and QCD at the LHC JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - We present NLO electroweak corrections to Higgs production in association with off-shell top-antitop quark pairs. The full process pp → e +νeµ −ν¯µbb¯H is considered, and hence all interference, off-shell, and non-resonant contributions are taken into account. The electroweak corrections turn out to be below one per cent for the integrated cross section but can exceed 10% in certain phase-space regions. In addition to its phenomenological relevance, the computation constitutes a major technical achievement as the full NLO virtual corrections involving up to 9-point functions have been computed exactly. The results of the full computation are supported by two calculations in the double-pole approximation. These also allow to infer the effect of off-shell contributions and emphasise their importance especially for the run II of the LHC. Finally, we present combined predictions featuring both NLO electroweak and QCD corrections in a common set-up that will help the experimental collaborations in their quest of precisely measuring the aforementioned process. KW - high energy physics KW - NLO computations Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171871 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Degen, Tobias A1 - Hovestadt, Thomas A1 - Mitesser, Oliver A1 - Hölker, Franz T1 - Altered sex-specific mortality and female mating success: ecological effects and evolutionary responses JF - Ecosphere N2 - Theory predicts that males and females should often join the mating pool at different times (sexual dimorphism in timing of emergence [SDT]) as the degree of SDT affects female mating success. We utilize an analytical model to explore (1) how important SDT is for female mating success, (2) how mating success might change if either sex's mortality (abruptly) increases, and (3) to what degree evolutionary responses in SDT may be able to mitigate the consequences of such mortality increase. Increasing male pre‐mating mortality has a non‐linear effect on the fraction of females mated: The effect is initially weak, but at some critical level a further increase in male mortality has a stronger effect than a similar increase in female mortality. Such a change is expected to impose selection for reduced SDT. Increasing mortality during the mating season has always a stronger effect on female mating success if the mortality affects the sex that emerges first. This bias results from the fact that enhancing mortality of the earlier emerging sex reduces female–male encounter rates. However, an evolutionary response in SDT may effectively mitigate such consequences. Further, if considered independently for females and males, the predicted evolutionary response in SDT could be quite dissimilar. The difference between female and male evolutionary response in SDT leads to marked differences in the fraction of fertilized females under certain conditions. Our model may provide general guidelines for improving harvesting of populations, conservation management of rare species under altered environmental conditions, or maintaining long‐term efficiency of pest‐control measures. KW - evolutionary response KW - sexual dimorphism in timing KW - sex-specific mortality KW - reproductive asynchrony KW - mating success Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170953 VL - 8 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Deacon, R. S. A1 - Wiedenmann, J. A1 - Bocquillon, E. A1 - Domínguez, F. A1 - Klapwijk, T. M. A1 - Leubner, P. A1 - Brüne, C. A1 - Hankiewicz, E. M. A1 - Tarucha, S. A1 - Ishibashi, K. A1 - Buhmann, H. A1 - Molenkamp, L. W. T1 - Josephson Radiation from Gapless Andreev Bound States in HgTe-Based Topological Junctions JF - Physical Review X N2 - Frequency analysis of the rf emission of oscillating Josephson supercurrent is a powerful passive way of probing properties of topological Josephson junctions. In particular, measurements of the Josephson emission enable the detection of topological gapless Andreev bound states that give rise to emission at half the Josephson frequency f\(_{J}\) rather than conventional emission at f\(_{J}\). Here, we report direct measurement of rf emission spectra on Josephson junctions made of HgTe-based gate-tunable topological weak links. The emission spectra exhibit a clear signal at half the Josephson frequency f\(_{J}\)/2. The linewidths of emission lines indicate a coherence time of 0.3–4 ns for the f\(_{J}\)/2 line, much shorter than for the f\(_{J}\) line (3–4 ns). These observations strongly point towards the presence of topological gapless Andreev bound states and pave the way for a future HgTe-based platform for topological quantum computation. KW - condensed matter physics KW - Josephson junctions KW - topological materials KW - gapless Andreev bound states Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170969 VL - 7 IS - 021011 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Danner, Nadja A1 - Keller, Alexander A1 - Härtel, Stephan A1 - Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf T1 - Honey bee foraging ecology: Season but not landscape diversity shapes the amount and diversity of collected pollen JF - PLoS ONE N2 - The availability of pollen in agricultural landscapes is essential for the successful growth and reproduction of honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera L.). The quantity and diversity of collected pollen can influence the growth and health of honey bee colonies, but little is known about the influence of landscape structure on pollen diet. In a field experiment, we rotated 16 honey bee colonies across 16 agricultural landscapes, used traps to collect samples of collected pollen and observed intra-colonial dance communication to gain information about foraging distances. DNA metabarcoding was applied to analyze mixed pollen samples. Neither the amount of collected pollen nor pollen diversity was related to landscape diversity. However, we found a strong seasonal variation in the amount and diversity of collected pollen in all sites independent of landscape diversity. The observed increase in foraging distances with decreasing landscape diversity suggests that honey bees compensated for lower landscape diversity by increasing their pollen foraging range in order to maintain pollen amount and diversity. Our results underscore the importance of a diverse pollen diet for honey bee colonies. Agri-environmental schemes aiming to support pollinators should focus on possible spatial and temporal gaps in pollen availability and diversity in agricultural landscapes. KW - honey bees KW - pollen KW - season KW - foraging Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170424 VL - 12 IS - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dainese, Matteo A1 - Schneider, Gudrun A1 - Krauss, Jochen A1 - Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf T1 - Complementarity among natural enemies enhances pest suppression JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Natural enemies have been shown to be effective agents for controlling insect pests in crops. However, it remains unclear how different natural enemy guilds contribute to the regulation of pests and how this might be modulated by landscape context. In a field exclusion experiment in oilseed rape (OSR), we found that parasitoids and ground-dwelling predators acted in a complementary way to suppress pollen beetles, suggesting that pest control by multiple enemies attacking a pest during different periods of its occurrence in the field improves biological control efficacy. The density of pollen beetle significantly decreased with an increased proportion of non-crop habitats in the landscape. Parasitism had a strong effect on pollen beetle numbers in landscapes with a low or intermediate proportion of non-crop habitats, but not in complex landscapes. Our results underline the importance of different natural enemy guilds to pest regulation in crops, and demonstrate how biological control can be strengthened by complementarity among natural enemies. The optimization of natural pest control by adoption of specific management practices at local and landscape scales, such as establishing non-crop areas, low-impact tillage, and temporal crop rotation, could significantly reduce dependence on pesticides and foster yield stability through ecological intensification in agriculture. KW - ecosystem services KW - agroecology Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158621 VL - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Costea, Paul I. A1 - Coelho, Louis Pedro A1 - Sunagawa, Shinichi A1 - Munch, Robin A1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime A1 - Forslund, Kristoffer A1 - Hildebrand, Falk A1 - Kushugulova, Almagul A1 - Zeller, Georg A1 - Bork, Peer T1 - Subspecies in the global human gut microbiome JF - Molecular Systems Biology N2 - Population genomics of prokaryotes has been studied in depth in only a small number of primarily pathogenic bacteria, as genome sequences of isolates of diverse origin are lacking for most species. Here, we conducted a large‐scale survey of population structure in prevalent human gut microbial species, sampled from their natural environment, with a culture‐independent metagenomic approach. We examined the variation landscape of 71 species in 2,144 human fecal metagenomes and found that in 44 of these, accounting for 72% of the total assigned microbial abundance, single‐nucleotide variation clearly indicates the existence of sub‐populations (here termed subspecies). A single subspecies (per species) usually dominates within each host, as expected from ecological theory. At the global scale, geographic distributions of subspecies differ between phyla, with Firmicutes subspecies being significantly more geographically restricted. To investigate the functional significance of the delineated subspecies, we identified genes that consistently distinguish them in a manner that is independent of reference genomes. We further associated these subspecies‐specific genes with properties of the microbial community and the host. For example, two of the three Eubacterium rectale subspecies consistently harbor an accessory pro‐inflammatory flagellum operon that is associated with lower gut community diversity, higher host BMI, and higher blood fasting insulin levels. Using an additional 676 human oral samples, we further demonstrate the existence of niche specialized subspecies in the different parts of the oral cavity. Taken together, we provide evidence for subspecies in the majority of abundant gut prokaryotes, leading to a better functional and ecological understanding of the human gut microbiome in conjunction with its host. KW - biology KW - genetic variation KW - metagenomics KW - microbiome KW - population structure KW - prokaryotic subspecies Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172674 VL - 13 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Collenburg, Lena A1 - Beyersdorf, Niklas A1 - Wiese, Teresa A1 - Arenz, Christoph A1 - Saied, Essa M. A1 - Becker-Flegler, Katrin Anne A1 - Schneider-Schaulies, Sibylle A1 - Avota, Elita T1 - The activity of the neutral sphingomyelinase is important in T cell recruitment and directional migration JF - Frontiers in Immunology N2 - Breakdown of sphingomyelin as catalyzed by the activity of sphingomyelinases profoundly affects biophysical properties of cellular membranes which is particularly important with regard to compartmentalization of surface receptors and their signaling relay. As it is activated both upon TCR ligation and co-stimulation in a spatiotemporally controlled manner, the neutral sphingomyelinase (NSM) has proven to be important in T cell activation, where it appears to play a particularly important role in cytoskeletal reorganization and cell polarization. Because these are important parameters in directional T cell migration and motility in tissues, we analyzed the role of the NSM in these processes. Pharmacological inhibition of NSM interfered with early lymph node homing of T cells in vivo indicating that the enzyme impacts on endothelial adhesion, transendothelial migration, sensing of chemokine gradients or, at a cellular level, acquisition of a polarized phenotype. NSM inhibition reduced adhesion of T cells to TNF-α/IFN-γ activated, but not resting endothelial cells, most likely via inhibiting high-affinity LFA-1 clustering. NSM activity proved to be highly important in directional T cell motility in response to SDF1-α, indicating that their ability to sense and translate chemokine gradients might be NSM dependent. In fact, pharmacological or genetic NSM ablation interfered with T cell polarization both at an overall morphological level and redistribution of CXCR4 and pERM proteins on endothelial cells or fibronectin, as well as with F-actin polymerization in response to SDF1-α stimulation, indicating that efficient directional perception and signaling relay depend on NSM activity. Altogether, these data support a central role of the NSM in T cell recruitment and migration both under homeostatic and inflamed conditions by regulating polarized redistribution of receptors and their coupling to the cytoskeleton. KW - LFA-1 KW - neutral sphingomyelinase KW - T cell migration KW - ceramide KW - polarization KW - adhesion Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158944 VL - 8 IS - 1007 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chiesa, Mauro A1 - Greiner, Nicolas A1 - Schönherr, Marek A1 - Tramontano, Francesco T1 - Electroweak corrections to diphoton plus jets JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - We calculate the next-to-leading order electroweak corrections to the production of a photon pair in association with zero, one and two jets at the LHC. We use GoSam and Sherpa to obtain the results in a fully automated way. For a typical set of fiducial cuts the electroweak corrections lead to a modification of the total cross section of up to 3%, depending on the jet multiplicity. We find substantial contributions in differential distributions, leading to tens of per cent corrections for phase space regions within the reach of the LHC. Furthermore we investigate the importance of photon induced processes as well as subleading contributions. Photon induced processes are found to be negligible, subleading contributions can have a sizeable impact however they can be removed by appropriate phase space cuts. KW - NLO computations Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173512 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cheng, Cheng A1 - Othman, Eman M. A1 - Stopper, Helga A1 - Edrada-Ebel, RuAngelie A1 - Hentschel, Ute A1 - Abdelmohsen, Usama Ramadan T1 - Isolation of petrocidin A, a new cytotoxic cyclic dipeptide from the marine sponge-derived bacterium \(Streptomyces\) sp. SBT348 JF - Marine Drugs N2 - A new cyclic dipeptide, petrocidin A (\(\textbf{1}\)), along with three known compounds—2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (\(\textbf{2}\)), 2,3-dihydroxybenzamide (\(\textbf{3}\)), and maltol (\(\textbf{4}\))—were isolated from the solid culture of \(Streptomyces\) sp. SBT348. The strain \(Streptomyces\) sp. SBT348 had been prioritized in a strain collection of 64 sponge-associated actinomycetes based on its distinct metabolomic profile using liquid chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The absolute configuration of all α-amino acids was determined by HPLC analysis after derivatization with Marfey’s reagent and comparison with commercially available reference amino acids. Structure elucidation was pursued in the presented study by mass spectrometry and NMR spectral data. Petrocidin A (\(\textbf{1}\)) and 2,3-dihydroxybenzamide (\(\textbf{3}\)) exhibited significant cytotoxicity towards the human promyelocytic HL-60 and the human colon adenocarcinoma HT-29 cell lines. These results demonstrated the potential of sponge-associated actinomycetes for the discovery of novel and pharmacologically active natural products. KW - biology KW - sponges KW - actinomycetes KW - streptomyces KW - cyclic dipeptide KW - cytotoxic Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172644 VL - 15 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chen, Yi-chun A1 - Mishra, Dushyant A1 - Gläß, Sebastian A1 - Gerber, Bertram T1 - Behavioral Evidence for Enhanced Processing of the Minor Component of Binary Odor Mixtures in Larval Drosophila JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - A fundamental problem in deciding between mutually exclusive options is that the decision needs to be categorical although the properties of the options often differ but in grade. We developed an experimental handle to study this aspect of behavior organization. Larval Drosophila were trained such that in one set of animals odor A was rewarded, but odor B was not (A+/B), whereas a second set of animals was trained reciprocally (A/B+). We then measured the preference of the larvae either for A, or for B, or for “morphed” mixtures of A and B, that is for mixtures differing in the ratio of the two components. As expected, the larvae showed higher preference when only the previously rewarded odor was presented than when only the previously unrewarded odor was presented. For mixtures of A and B that differed in the ratio of the two components, the major component dominated preference behavior—but it dominated less than expected from a linear relationship between mixture ratio and preference behavior. This suggests that a minor component can have an enhanced impact in a mixture, relative to such a linear expectation. The current paradigm may prove useful in understanding how nervous systems generate discrete outputs in the face of inputs that differ only gradually. KW - learning KW - memory KW - perception KW - compound conditioning KW - decision-making KW - Drosophila Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170011 VL - 8 IS - 1923 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cerna-Velazco, Nhell A1 - Faber, Thomas A1 - Jones-Pérez, Joel A1 - Porod, Werner T1 - Constraining sleptons at the LHC in a supersymmetric low-scale seesaw scenario JF - European Physical Journal C N2 - We consider a scenario inspired by natural supersymmetry, where neutrino data is explained within a low-scale seesaw scenario. We extend the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model by adding light right-handed neutrinos and their superpartners, the R-sneutrinos, and consider the lightest neutralinos to be higgsino-like. We consider the possibilities of having either an R-sneutrino or a higgsino as lightest supersymmetric particle. Assuming that squarks and gauginos are heavy, we systematically evaluate the bounds on slepton masses due to existing LHC data. KW - physics KW - particle physics KW - neutrino KW - R-sneutrino KW - supersymmetry (SUSY) KW - supersymmetric model KW - standard seesaw KW - inverse seesaw KW - minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173809 VL - 77 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cai, Kai A1 - El-Merahbi, Rabih A1 - Loeffler, Mona A1 - Mayer, Alexander E. A1 - Sumara, Grzegorz T1 - Ndrg1 promotes adipocyte differentiation and sustains their function JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Adipocytes play a central role in maintaining metabolic homeostasis in the body. Differentiation of adipocyte precursor cells requires the transcriptional activity of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (Pparγ) and CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins (C/Ebps). Transcriptional activity is regulated by signaling modules activated by a plethora of hormones and nutrients. Mechanistic target of rapamacin complexes (mTORC) 1 and 2 are central for the coordination of hormonal and nutritional inputs in cells and are essential for adipogenesis. Serum glucocorticoid kinase 1 (Sgk1)-dependent phosphorylation of N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 1 (Ndrg1) is a hallmark of mTORC2 activation in cells. Moreover, Pparγ activation promotes Ndrg1 expression. However, the impact of Ndrg1 on adipocyte differentiation and function has not yet been defined. Here, we show that Ndrg1 expression and its Sgk1-dependent phosphorylation are induced during adipogenesis. Consistently, we demonstrate that Ndrg1 promotes adipocyte differentiation and function by inducing Pparγ expression. Additionally, our results indicate that Ndrg1 is required for C/Ebpα phosphorylation. Moreover, we found that Ndrg1 phosphorylation by Sgk1 promotes adipocyte formation. Taken together, we show that induction of Ndrg1 expression by Pparγ and its phosphorylation by Sgk1 kinase are required for the acquisition of adipocyte characteristics by precursor cells. KW - differentiation KW - cell signalling KW - adipocytes KW - Ndrg1 Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170565 VL - 7 IS - 7191 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Böhm, Lena A1 - Torsin, Sanda A1 - Tint, Su Hlaing A1 - Eckstein, Marie Therese A1 - Ludwig, Tobias A1 - Pérez, J. Christian T1 - The yeast form of the fungus Candida albicans promotes persistence in the gut of gnotobiotic mice JF - PLoS Pathogens N2 - Many microorganisms that cause systemic, life-threatening infections in humans reside as harmless commensals in our digestive tract. Yet little is known about the biology of these microbes in the gut. Here, we visualize the interface between the human commensal and pathogenic fungus Candida albicans and the intestine of mice, a surrogate host. Because the indigenous mouse microbiota restricts C. albicans settlement, we compared the patterns of colonization in the gut of germ free and antibiotic-treated conventionally raised mice. In contrast to the heterogeneous morphologies found in the latter, we establish that in germ free animals the fungus almost uniformly adopts the yeast cell form, a proxy of its commensal state. By screening a collection of C. albicans transcription regulator deletion mutants in gnotobiotic mice, we identify several genes previously unknown to contribute to in vivo fitness. We investigate three of these regulators—ZCF8, ZFU2 and TRY4—and show that indeed they favor the yeast form over other morphologies. Consistent with this finding, we demonstrate that genetically inducing non-yeast cell morphologies is detrimental to the fitness of C. albicans in the gut. Furthermore, the identified regulators promote adherence of the fungus to a surface covered with mucin and to mucus-producing intestinal epithelial cells. In agreement with this result, histology sections indicate that C. albicans dwells in the murine gut in close proximity to the mucus layer. Thus, our findings reveal a set of regulators that endows C. albicans with the ability to endure in the intestine through multiple mechanisms. KW - Candida albicans KW - deletion mutagenesis KW - gastrointestinal tract KW - fungi KW - regulator genes KW - gene regulation KW - mouse models KW - fungal genetics Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159120 VL - 13 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Buff, Christine A1 - Brinkmann, Leonie A1 - Bruchmann, Maximilian A1 - Becker, Michael P.I. A1 - Tupak, Sara A1 - Herrmann, Martin J. A1 - Straube, Thomas T1 - Activity alterations in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and amygdala during threat anticipation in generalized anxiety disorder JF - Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience N2 - Sustained anticipatory anxiety is central to Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). During anticipatory anxiety, phasic threat responding appears to be mediated by the amygdala, while sustained threat responding seems related to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). Although sustained anticipatory anxiety in GAD patients was proposed to be associated with BNST activity alterations, firm evidence is lacking. We aimed to explore temporal characteristics of BNST and amygdala activity during threat anticipation in GAD patients. Nineteen GAD patients and nineteen healthy controls (HC) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a temporally unpredictable threat anticipation paradigm. We defined phasic and a systematic variation of sustained response models for blood oxygen level-dependent responses during threat anticipation, to disentangle temporally dissociable involvement of the BNST and the amygdala. GAD patients relative to HC responded with increased phasic amygdala activity to onset of threat anticipation and with elevated sustained BNST activity that was delayed relative to the onset of threat anticipation. Both the amygdala and the BNST displayed altered responses during threat anticipation in GAD patients, albeit with different time courses. The results for the BNST activation hint towards its role in sustained threat responding, and contribute to a deeper understanding of pathological sustained anticipatory anxiety in GAD. KW - medicine KW - anticipatory anxiety KW - anxiety KW - fMRI KW - sustained threat responding KW - phasic threat responding Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173298 VL - 12 IS - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brumberg, Joachim A1 - Küsters, Sebastian A1 - Al-Momani, Ehab A1 - Marotta, Giorgio A1 - Cosgrove, Kelly P. A1 - van Dyck, Christopher H. A1 - Herrmann, Ken A1 - Homola, György A. A1 - Pezzoli, Gianni A1 - Buck, Andreas K. A1 - Volkmann, Jens A1 - Samnick, Samuel A1 - Isaias, Ioannis U. T1 - Cholinergic activity and levodopa-induced dyskinesia: a multitracer molecular imaging study JF - Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology N2 - Objective: To investigate the association between levodopa‐induced dyskinesias and striatal cholinergic activity in patients with Parkinson's disease. Methods: This study included 13 Parkinson's disease patients with peak‐of‐dose levodopa‐induced dyskinesias, 12 nondyskinetic patients, and 12 healthy controls. Participants underwent 5‐[\(^{123}\)I]iodo‐3‐[2(S)‐2‐azetidinylmethoxy]pyridine single‐photon emission computed tomography, a marker of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, [\(^{123}\)I]N‐ω‐fluoropropyl‐2β‐carbomethoxy‐3β‐(4‐iodophenyl)nortropane single‐photon emission computed tomography, to measure dopamine reuptake transporter density and 2‐[\(^{18}\)F]fluoro‐2‐deoxyglucose positron emission tomography to assess regional cerebral metabolic activity. Striatal binding potentials, uptake values at basal ganglia structures, and correlations with clinical variables were analyzed. Results: Density of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the caudate nucleus of dyskinetic subjects was similar to that of healthy controls and significantly higher to that of nondyskinetic patients, in particular, contralaterally to the clinically most affected side. Interpretation: Our findings support the hypothesis that the expression of dyskinesia may be related to cholinergic neuronal excitability in a dopaminergic‐depleted striatum. Cholinergic signaling would play a role in maintaining striatal dopaminergic responsiveness, possibly defining disease phenotype and progression. KW - levodopa-induced dyskinesia KW - cholinergic activity KW - Parkinson’s disease Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170406 VL - 4 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brodehl, Andreas A1 - Belke, Darrell D. A1 - Garnett, Lauren A1 - Martens, Kristina A1 - Abdelfatah, Nelly A1 - Rodriguez, Marcela A1 - Diao, Catherine A1 - Chen, Yong-Xiang A1 - Gordon, Paul M. K. A1 - Nygren, Anders A1 - Gerull, Brenda T1 - Transgenic mice overexpressing desmocollin-2 (DSC2) develop cardiomyopathy associated with myocardial inflammation and fibrotic remodeling JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Background Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy is an inherited heart muscle disorder leading to ventricular arrhythmias and heart failure, mainly as a result of mutations in cardiac desmosomal genes. Desmosomes are cell-cell junctions mediating adhesion of cardiomyocytes; however, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the disease remain widely unknown. Desmocollin-2 is a desmosomal cadherin serving as an anchor molecule required to reconstitute homeostatic intercellular adhesion with desmoglein-2. Cardiac specific lack of desmoglein-2 leads to severe cardiomyopathy, whereas overexpression does not. In contrast, the corresponding data for desmocollin-2 are incomplete, in particular from the view of protein overexpression. Therefore, we developed a mouse model overexpressing desmocollin-2 to determine its potential contribution to cardiomyopathy and intercellular adhesion pathology. Methods and results We generated transgenic mice overexpressing DSC2 in cardiac myocytes. Transgenic mice developed a severe cardiac dysfunction over 5 to 13 weeks as indicated by 2D-echocardiography measurements. Corresponding histology and immunohistochemistry demonstrated fibrosis, necrosis and calcification which were mainly localized in patches near the epi- and endocardium of both ventricles. Expressions of endogenous desmosomal proteins were markedly reduced in fibrotic areas but appear to be unchanged in non-fibrotic areas. Furthermore, gene expression data indicate an early up-regulation of inflammatory and fibrotic remodeling pathways between 2 to 3.5 weeks of age. Conclusion Cardiac specific overexpression of desmocollin-2 induces necrosis, acute inflammation and patchy cardiac fibrotic remodeling leading to fulminant biventricular cardiomyopathy. KW - heart KW - mouse models KW - gene expression KW - fibrosis KW - inflammation KW - gene expression KW - genetically modified animals KW - cardiomyopathies KW - hyperexpression techniques Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171084 VL - 12 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bratengeier, Klaus A1 - Herzog, Barbara A1 - Wegener, Sonja A1 - Holubyev, Kostyantyn T1 - Finer leaf resolution and steeper beam edges using a virtual isocentre in concurrence to PTV-shaped collimators in standard distance – a planning study JF - Radiation Oncology N2 - Purpose: Investigation of a reduced source to target distance to improve organ at risk sparing during stereotactic irradiation (STX). Methods: The authors present a planning study with perfectly target-volume adapted collimator compared with multi-leaf collimator (MLC) at reduced source to virtual isocentre distance (SVID) in contrast to normal source to isocentre distance (SID) for stereotactic applications. The role of MLC leaf width and 20–80% penumbra was examined concerning the healthy tissue sparing. Several prescription schemes and target diameters are considered. Results: Paddick’s gradient index (GI) as well as comparison of the mean doses to spherical shells at several distances to the target is evaluated. Both emphasize the same results: the healthy tissue sparing in the high dose area around the planning target volume (PTV) is improved at reduced SVID ≤ 70 cm. The effect can be attributed more to steeper penumbra than to finer leaf resolution. Comparing circular collimators at different SVID just as MLC-shaped collimators, always the GI was reduced. Even MLC-shaped collimator at SVID 70 cm had better healthy tissue sparing than an optimal shaped circular collimator at SID 100 cm. Regarding penumbra changes due to varying SVID, the results of the planning study are underlined by film dosimetry measurements with Agility™ MLC. Conclusion: Penumbra requires more attention in comparing studies, especially studies using different planning systems. Reduced SVID probably allows usage of conventional MLC for STX-like irradiations. KW - radiotherapy KW - multi-leaf collimator KW - stereotactic irradiation KW - robotic table motion KW - planning study KW - virtual isocentre Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157543 VL - 12 IS - 88 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bousquet, J. A1 - Onorato, G. L. A1 - Bachert, C. A1 - Barbolini, M. A1 - Bedbrook, A. A1 - Bjermer, L. A1 - Correia de Sousa, J. A1 - Chavannes, N. H. A1 - Cruz, A. A. A1 - De Manuel Keenoy, E. A1 - Devillier, P. A1 - Fonseca, J. A1 - Hun, S. A1 - Kostka, T. A1 - Hellings, P. W. A1 - Illario, M. A1 - Ivancevich, J. C. A1 - Larenas-Linnemann, D. A1 - Millot-Keurinck, J. A1 - Ryan, D. A1 - Samolinski, B. A1 - Sheikh, A. A1 - Yorgancioglu, A. A1 - Agache, I. A1 - Arnavielhe, S. A1 - Bewick, M. A1 - Annesi-Maesano, I. A1 - Anto, J. M. A1 - Bergmann, K. C. A1 - Bindslev-Jensen, C. A1 - Bosnic-Anticevich, S. A1 - Bouchard, J. A1 - Caimmi, D. P. A1 - Camargos, P. A1 - Canonica, G. W. A1 - Cardona, V. A1 - Carriazo, A. M. A1 - Cingi, C. A1 - Cogan, E. A1 - Custovic, A. A1 - Dahl, R. A1 - Demoly, P. A1 - De Vries, G. A1 - Fokkens, W. J. A1 - Fontaine, J. F. A1 - Gemicioğlu, B. A1 - Guldemond, N. A1 - Gutter, Z. A1 - Haahtela, T. A1 - Hellqvist-Dahl, B. A1 - Jares, E. A1 - Joos, G. A1 - Just, J. A1 - Khaltaev, N. A1 - Keil, T. A1 - Klimek, L. A1 - Kowalski, M. L. A1 - Kull, I. A1 - Kuna, P. A1 - Kvedariene, V. A1 - Laune, D. A1 - Louis, R. A1 - Magnan, A. A1 - Malva, J. A1 - Mathieu-Dupas, E. A1 - Melén, E. A1 - Menditto, E. A1 - Morais-Almeida, M. A1 - Mösges, R. A1 - Mullol, J. A1 - Murray, R. A1 - Neffen, H. A1 - O'Hehir, R. A1 - Palkonen, S. A1 - Papadopoulos, N. G. A1 - Passalacqua, G. A1 - Pépin, J. L. A1 - Portejoie, F. A1 - Price, D. A1 - Pugin, B. A1 - Raciborski, F. A1 - Simons, F. E. R. A1 - Sova, M. A1 - Spranger, O. A1 - Stellato, C. A1 - Todo Bom, A. A1 - Tomazic, P. V. A1 - Triggiani, M. A1 - Valero, A. A1 - Valovirta, E. A1 - VandenPlas, O. A1 - Valiulis, A. A1 - van Eerd, M. A1 - Ventura, M. T. A1 - Wickmann, M. A1 - Young, I. A1 - Zuberbier, T. A1 - Zurkuhlen, A. A1 - Senn, A. T1 - CHRODIS criteria applied to the MASK (MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel NetworK) Good Practice in allergic rhinitis: a SUNFRAIL report JF - Clinical and Translational Allergy N2 - A Good Practice is a practice that works well, produces good results, and is recommended as a model. MACVIA-ARIA Sentinel Network (MASK), the new Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative, is an example of a Good Practice focusing on the implementation of multi-sectoral care pathways using emerging technologies with real life data in rhinitis and asthma multi-morbidity. The European Union Joint Action on Chronic Diseases and Promoting Healthy Ageing across the Life Cycle (JA-CHRODIS) has developed a checklist of 28 items for the evaluation of Good Practices. SUNFRAIL (Reference Sites Network for Prevention and Care of Frailty and Chronic Conditions in community dwelling persons of EU Countries), a European Union project, assessed whether MASK is in line with the 28 items of JA-CHRODIS. A short summary was proposed for each item and 18 experts, all members of ARIA and SUNFRAIL from 12 countries, assessed the 28 items using a Survey Monkey-based questionnaire. A visual analogue scale (VAS) from 0 (strongly disagree) to 100 (strongly agree) was used. Agreement equal or over 75% was observed for 14 items (50%). MASK is following the JA-CHRODIS recommendations for the evaluation of Good Practices. KW - Medicine KW - Rhinitis KW - Asthma KW - CHRODIS KW - ARIA KW - MASK KW - Sunfrail KW - Good Practices Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173527 VL - 2017 IS - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Born, Dennis‐Peter A1 - Kunz, Philipp A1 - Sperlich, Billy T1 - Reliability and validity of an agility‐like incremental exercise test with multidirectional change‐of‐direction movements in response to a visual stimulus JF - Physiological Reports N2 - The aim of the study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of cardiorespiratory and metabolic variables, that is, peak oxygen uptake (V'O\(_{2peak}\)) and heart rate (HR\(_{peak}\)), obtained from an agility‐like incremental exercise test for team sport athletes. To investigate the test–retest reliability, 25 team sport athletes (age: 22 ± 3 years, body mass: 75 ± 7 kg, height: 182 ± 6 cm) performed an agility‐like incremental exercise test on the SpeedCourt (SC) system incorporating multidirectional change‐of‐direction (COD) movements twice. For each step of the incremental SC test, the athletes covered a 40‐m distance interspersed with a 10‐sec rest period. Each 40 m distance was split into short sprints (2.25–6.36 m) separated by multidirectional COD movements (0°–180°), which were performed in response to an external visual stimulus. All performance and physiological data were validated with variables obtained from a ramp‐like treadmill and Yo‐Yo intermittent recovery level 2 test (Yo‐Yo IR2). The incremental SC test revealed high test–retest reliability for the time to exhaustion (ICC = 0.85, typical error [TE] = 0.44, and CV% = 3.88), V'O\(_{2peak}\), HR\(_{peak}\), ventilation, and breathing frequency (ICC = 0.84, 0.72, 0.89, 0.77, respectively). The time to exhaustion (r = 0.50, 0.74) of the incremental SC test as well as the peak values for V'O\(_{2}\) (r = 0.59, 0.52), HR (r = 0.75, 0.78), ventilation (r = 0.57, 0.57), and breathing frequency (r = 0.68, 0.68) were significantly correlated (P ≤ 0.01) with the ramp‐like treadmill test and the Yo‐Yo IR2, respectively. The incremental SC test represents a reliable and valid method to assess peak values for V'O\(_{2}\) and HR with respect to the specific demand of team sport match play by incorporating multidirectional COD movements, decision making, and cognitive components. KW - speed KW - Yo‐Yo intermittent recovery KW - change‐of‐direction movement KW - repeated sprint ability KW - team sport Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158265 VL - 5 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Born, Dennis-Peter A1 - Zinner, Christoph A1 - Sperlich, Billy T1 - The mucosal immune function is not compromised during a period of high-intensity interval training. Is it time to reconsider an old assumption? JF - Frontiers in Physiology N2 - Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate the mucosal immune function and circadian variation of salivary cortisol, Immunoglobin-A (sIgA) secretion rate and mood during a period of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) compared to long-slow distance training (LSD). Methods: Recreational male runners (n = 28) completed nine sessions of either HIIT or LSD within 3 weeks. The HIIT involved 4 × 4 min of running at 90–95% of maximum heart rate interspersed with 3 min of active recovery while the LSD comprised of continuous running at 70–75% of maximum heart rate for 60–80 min. The psycho-immunological stress-response was investigated with a full daily profile of salivary cortisol and immunoglobin-A (sIgA) secretion rate along with the mood state on a baseline day, the first and last day of training and at follow-up 4 days after the last day of training. Before and after the training period, each athlete's running performance and peak oxygen uptake (V·O\(_{2peak}\)) was determined with an incremental exercise test. Results: The HIIT resulted in a longer time-to-exhaustion (P = 0.02) and increased V·O\(_{2peak}\) compared to LSD (P = 0.01). The circadian variation of sIgA secretion rate showed highest values in the morning immediately after waking up followed by a decrease throughout the day in both groups (P < 0.05). With HIIT, the wake-up response of sIgA secretion rate was higher on the last day of training (P < 0.01) as well as the area under the curve (AUC\(_{G}\)) higher on the first and last day of training and follow-up compared to the LSD (P = 0.01). Also the AUC\(_{G}\) for the sIgA secretion rate correlated with the increase in V·O\(_{2peak}\) and running performance. The AUC\(_{G}\) for cortisol remained unaffected on the first and last day of training but increased on the follow-up day with both, HIIT and LSD (P < 0.01). Conclusion: The increased sIgA secretion rate with the HIIT indicates no compromised mucosal immune function compared to LSD and shows the functional adaptation of the mucosal immune system in response to the increased stress and training load of nine sessions of HIIT. KW - high-volume training KW - periodization KW - circadian rhythm KW - cortisol KW - diurnal profile KW - endurance KW - immunoglobin-A Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158025 VL - 8 IS - 485 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Book, Bettina T1 - Komplementsätze im Spanischen JF - promptus - Würzburger Beiträge zur Romanistik N2 - This paper discusses complementation strategies in Spanish, focusing on a specific construction most speakers are not aware of: the complementation clause preceded by the verb conocer. Not being a typical complement-taking verb, conocer surprises with a stable and persistent presence throughout the centuries, from Old Spanish to Modern Spanish. After giving an introduction into the field of complementation clauses and one of its main focus of study, grammatical mood, this study uses empirical data from the corpus programs CORDE, CREA and CORPES XXI to show the usage and prevalence of the construction in question. In doing so, this analysis gives a quantitative insight, exemplifying the results with several examples from all ages. KW - Syntax KW - Komplementsatz KW - Korpus KW - quantitativ KW - conocer Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172869 SN - 2510-2613 VL - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bocuk, Derya A1 - Wolff, Alexander A1 - Krause, Petra A1 - Salinas, Gabriela A1 - Bleckmann, Annalen A1 - Hackl, Christina A1 - Beissbarth, Tim A1 - Koenig, Sarah T1 - The adaptation of colorectal cancer cells when forming metastases in the liver: expression of associated genes and pathways in a mouse model JF - BMC Cancer N2 - Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men and women. Systemic disease with metastatic spread to distant sites such as the liver reduces the survival rate considerably. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in gene expression that occur on invasion and expansion of CRC cells when forming metastases in the liver. Methods: The livers of syngeneic C57BL/6NCrl mice were inoculated with 1 million CRC cells (CMT-93) via the portal vein, leading to the stable formation of metastases within 4 weeks. RNA sequencing performed on the Illumina platform was employed to evaluate the expression profiles of more than 14,000 genes, utilizing the RNA of the cell line cells and liver metastases as well as from corresponding tumour-free liver. Results: A total of 3329 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified when cultured CMT-93 cells propagated as metastases in the liver. Hierarchical clustering on heat maps demonstrated the clear changes in gene expression of CMT-93 cells on propagation in the liver. Gene ontology analysis determined inflammation, angiogenesis, and signal transduction as the top three relevant biological processes involved. Using a selection list, matrix metallopeptidases 2, 7, and 9, wnt inhibitory factor, and chemokine receptor 4 were the top five significantly dysregulated genes. Conclusion: Bioinformatics assists in elucidating the factors and processes involved in CRC liver metastasis. Our results support the notion of an invasion-metastasis cascade involving CRC cells forming metastases on successful invasion and expansion within the liver. Furthermore, we identified a gene expression signature correlating strongly with invasiveness and migration. Our findings may guide future research on novel therapeutic targets in the treatment of CRC liver metastasis. KW - colorectal cancer (CRC) KW - RNA-sequencing KW - gene expression KW - liver metastasis Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170853 VL - 17 IS - 342 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bobineau, Julien A1 - Hesselbach, Robert T1 - Interview mit Prof. Dr. Elissa Pustka JF - promptus - Würzburger Beiträge zur Romanistik N2 - Interview mit Prof. Dr. Elissa Pustka KW - Interview KW - Karriere KW - Wissenschaftlicher Nachwuchs Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172927 SN - 2510-2613 VL - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bisti, F. A1 - Rogalev, V. A. A1 - Karolak, M. A1 - Paul, S. A1 - Gupta, A. A1 - Schmitt, T. A1 - Güntherodt, G. A1 - Eyert, V. A1 - Sangiovanni, G. A1 - Profeta, G. A1 - Strocov, V. N. T1 - Weakly-correlated nature of ferromagnetism in nonsymmorphic CrO\(_2\) revealed by bulk-sensitive soft-X-ray ARPES JF - Physical Review X N2 - Chromium dioxide CrO\(_2\) belongs to a class of materials called ferromagnetic half-metals, whose peculiar aspect is that they act as a metal in one spin orientation and as a semiconductor or insulator in the opposite one. Despite numerous experimental and theoretical studies motivated by technologically important applications of this material in spintronics, its fundamental properties such as momentumresolved electron dispersions and the Fermi surface have so far remained experimentally inaccessible because of metastability of its surface, which instantly reduces to amorphous Cr\(_2\)O\(_3\). In this work, we demonstrate that direct access to the native electronic structure of CrO\(_2\) can be achieved with soft-x-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy whose large probing depth penetrates through the Cr\(_2\)O\(_3\) layer. For the first time, the electronic dispersions and Fermi surface of CrO\(_2\) are measured, which are fundamental prerequisites to solve the long debate on the nature of electronic correlations in this material. Since density functional theory augmented by a relatively weak local Coulomb repulsion gives an exhaustive description of our spectroscopic data, we rule out strong-coupling theories of CrO\(_2\). Crucial for the correct interpretation of our experimental data in terms of the valence-band dispersions is the understanding of a nontrivial spectral response of CrO\(_2\) caused by interference effects in the photoemission process originating from the nonsymmorphic space group of the rutile crystal structure of CrO\(_2\). KW - physics KW - electronic structure KW - half-metals KW - angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy KW - band structure methods KW - DFT+U KW - condensed matter physics Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172251 VL - 7 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Biedermann, Benedikt A1 - Denner, Ansgar A1 - Pellen, Mathieu T1 - Complete NLO corrections to W\(^{+}\)W\(^{+}\) scattering and its irreducible background at the LHC JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - The process pp → μ\(^{+}\)ν\(_{μ}\)e\(^{+}\)ν\(_{e}\)jj receives several contributions of different orders in the strong and electroweak coupling constants. Using appropriate event selections, this process is dominated by vector-boson scattering (VBS) and has recently been measured at the LHC. It is thus of prime importance to estimate precisely each contribution. In this article we compute for the first time the full NLO QCD and electroweak corrections to VBS and its irreducible background processes with realistic experimental cuts. We do not rely on approximations but use complete amplitudes involving two different orders at tree level and three different orders at one-loop level. Since we take into account all interferences, at NLO level the corrections to the VBS process and to the QCD-induced irreducible background process contribute at the same orders. Hence the two processes cannot be unambiguously distinguished, and all contributions to the μ\(^{+}\)ν\(_{μ}\)e\(^{+}\)ν\(_{e}\)jj final state should be preferably measured together. KW - NLO computations KW - vector-boson scattering KW - Large Hadron Collider Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170157 VL - 10 IS - 124 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Biedermann, Benedikt A1 - Denner, Ansgar A1 - Hofer, Lars T1 - Next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections to the production of three charged leptons plus missing energy at the LHC JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - The production of a neutral and a charged vector boson with subsequent decays into three charged leptons and a neutrino is a very important process for precision tests of the Standard Model of elementary particles and in searches for anomalous triple-gauge-boson couplings. In this article, the first computation of next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections to the production of the four-lepton final states μ\(^{+}\)μ\(^{−}\)e\(^{+}\)ν\(_{e}\), μ\(^{+}\)μ\(^{−}\)e\(^{−}\)ν\(_{e}\), μ\(^{+}\)μ\(^{−}\)μ\(^{+}\)ν\(_{μ}\), and μ\(^{+}\)μ\(^{−}\)μ\(^{−}\)ν\(_{μ}\) at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. We use the complete matrix elements at leading and next-to-leading order, including all off-shell effects of intermediate massive vector bosons and virtual photons. The relative electroweak corrections to the fiducial cross sections from quark-induced partonic processes vary between −3% and −6%, depending significantly on the event selection. At the level of differential distributions, we observe large negative corrections of up to −30% in the high-energy tails of distributions originating from electroweak Sudakov logarithms. Photon-induced contributions at next-to-leading order raise the leading-order fiducial cross section by +2%. Interference effects in final states with equal-flavour leptons are at the permille level for the fiducial cross section, but can lead to sizeable effects in off-shell sensitive phase-space regions. KW - NLO Computations KW - Large Hadron Collider KW - next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170219 VL - 10 IS - 43 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Biedermann, Benedikt A1 - Denner, Ansgar A1 - Dittmaier, Stefan A1 - Hofer, Lars A1 - Jäger, Barbara T1 - Next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections to the production of four charged leptons at the LHC JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - We present a state-of-the-art calculation of the next-to leading-order electroweak corrections to ZZ production, including the leptonic decays of the Z bosons into μ\(^+\)μ\(^ −\)e\(^+\)e\(^−\) or μ\(^+\)μ\(^−\)μ\(^+\)μ\(^−\) final states. We use complete leading-order and next-to-leading-order matrix elements for four-lepton production, including contributions of virtual photons and all off-shell effects of Z bosons, where the finite Z-boson width is taken into account using the complex-mass scheme. The matrix elements are implemented into Monte Carlo programs allowing for the evaluation of arbitrary differential distributions. We present integrated and differential cross sections for the LHC at 13 TeV both for an inclusive setup where only lepton identification cuts are applied, and for a setup motivated by Higgs-boson analyses in the four-lepton decay channel. The electroweak corrections are divided into photonic and purely weak contributions. The former show the well-known pronounced tails near kinematical thresholds and resonances; the latter are generically at the level of ∼ −5% and reach several −10% in the high-energy tails of distributions. Comparing the results for μ\(^+\)μ\(^−\)e\(^+\)e\(^−\) and μ\(^+\)μ\(^−\)μ\(^+\)μ\(^−\) final states, we find significant differences mainly in distributions that are sensitive to the μ\(^+\)μ\(^−\) pairing in the μ\(^+\)μ\(^−\)μ\(^+\)μ\(^−\) final state. Differences between μ\(^+\)μ\(^−\)e\(^+\)e\(^−\) and μ\(^+\)μ\(^−\)μ\(^+\)μ\(^−\) channels due to interferences of equal-flavour leptons in the final state can reach up to 10% in off-shell-sensitive regions. Contributions induced by incoming photons, i.e. photon-photon and quark-photon channels, are included, but turn out to be phenomenologically unimportant. KW - physics KW - NLO Computations Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171966 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Biedermann, Benedikt A1 - Bräuer, Stephan A1 - Denner, Ansgar A1 - Pellen, Mathieu A1 - Schumann, Steffen A1 - Thompson, Jennifer M. T1 - Automation of NLO QCD and EW corrections with SHERPA and RECOLA JF - European Physical Journal C N2 - This publication presents the combination of the one-loop matrix-element generator Recola with the multipurpose Monte Carlo program Sherpa. Since both programs are highly automated, the resulting Sherpa +Recola framework allows for the computation of – in principle – any Standard Model process at both NLO QCD and EW accuracy. To illustrate this, three representative LHC processes have been computed at NLO QCD and EW: vector-boson production in association with jets, off-shell Z-boson pair production, and the production of a top-quark pair in association with a Higgs boson. In addition to fixed-order computations, when considering QCD corrections, all functionalities of Sherpa, i.e. particle decays, QCD parton showers, hadronisation, underlying events, etc. can be used in combination with Recola. This is demonstrated by the merging and matching of one-loop QCD matrix elements for Drell–Yan production in association with jets to the parton shower. The implementation is fully automatised, thus making it a perfect tool for both experimentalists and theorists who want to use state-of-the-art predictions at NLO accuracy. KW - RECOLA KW - SHERPA KW - NLO QCD KW - EW KW - Higgs boson KW - Large Hadron Collider Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170615 VL - 77 IS - 492 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Betts, Jonathan A1 - Nagel, Christopher A1 - Schatzschneider, Ulrich A1 - Poole, Robert A1 - La Ragione, Robert M. T1 - Antimicrobial activity of carbon monoxide-releasing molecule [Mn(CO)\(_3\)(tpa-\(\kappa^{3}N\))]Br versus multidrug-resistant isolates of Avian Pathogenic \(Escherichia\) \(coli\) and its synergy with colistin JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Antimicrobial resistance is a growing global concern in human and veterinary medicine, with an ever-increasing void in the arsenal of clinicians. Novel classes of compounds including carbon monoxoide-releasing molecules (CORMs), for example the light-activated metal complex [Mn(CO)\(_3\)(tpa-\(\kappa^{3}N\))]Br, could be used as alternatives/to supplement traditional antibacterials. Avian pathogenic \(Escherichia\) \(coli\) (APEC) represent a large reservoir of antibiotic resistance and can cause serious clinical disease in poultry, with potential as zoonotic pathogens, due to shared serotypes and virulence factors with human pathogenic \(E.\) \(coli\). The \(in\) \(vitro\) activity of [Mn(CO)\(_3\)(tpa-\(\kappa^{3}N\))]Br against multidrug-resistant APECs was assessed via broth microtitre dilution assays and synergy testing with colistin performed using checkerboard and time-kill assays. \(In\) \(vivo\) antibacterial activity of [Mn(CO)\(_3\)(tpa-\(\kappa^{3}N\))]Br alone and in combination with colistin was determined using the \(Galleria\) \(mellonella\) wax moth larvae model. Animals were monitored for life/death, melanisation and bacterial numbers enumerated from larval haemolymph. \(In\) \(vitro\) testing produced relatively high [Mn(CO)\(_3\)(tpa-\(\kappa^{3}N\))]Br minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 1024 mg/L. However, its activity was significantly increased with the addition of colistin, bringing MICs down to \(\geq\)32 mg/L. This synergy was confirmed in time-kill assays. \(In\) \(vivo\) assays showed that the combination of [Mn(CO)\(_3\)(tpa-\(\kappa^{3}N\))]Br with colistin produced superior bacterial killing and significantly increased larval survival. In both \(in\) \(vitro\) and \(in\) \(vivo\) assays light activation was not required for antibacterial activity. This data supports further evaluation of [Mn(CO)\(_3\)(tpa-\(\kappa^{3}N\))]Br as a potential agent for treatment of systemic infections in humans and animals, when used with permeabilising agents such as colistin. KW - Chemistry KW - Larvae KW - Antibacterials KW - Antibiotics KW - Birds KW - Bacterial pathogens KW - Manganese KW - Antibiotic resistance KW - Antibacterial therapy Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173687 VL - 12 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Berti, Stefan A1 - Vossel, Gerhard A1 - Gamer, Matthias T1 - The orienting response in healthy aging: Novelty P3 indicates no general decline but reduced efficacy for fast stimulation rates JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - Automatic orienting to unexpected changes in the environment is a pre-requisite for adaptive behavior. One prominent mechanism of automatic attentional control is the Orienting Response (OR). Despite the fundamental significance of the OR in everyday life, only little is known about how the OR is affected by healthy aging. We tested this question in two age groups (19–38 and 55–72 years) and measured skin-conductance responses (SCRs) and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to novels (i.e., short environmental sounds presented only once in the experiment; 10% of the trials) compared to standard sounds (600 Hz sinusoidal tones with 200 ms duration; 90% of the trials). Novel and standard stimuli were presented in four conditions differing in the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) with a mean ISI of either 10, 3, 1, or 0.5 s (blocked presentation). In both age groups, pronounced SCRs were elicited by novels in the 10 s ISI condition, suggesting the elicitation of stable ORs. These effects were accompanied by pronounced N1 and frontal P3 amplitudes in the ERP, suggesting that automatic novelty processing and orientation of attention are effective in both age groups. Furthermore, the SCR and ERP effects declined with decreasing ISI length. In addition, differences between the two groups were observable with the fastest presentation rates (i.e., 1 and 0.5 s ISI length). The most prominent difference was a shift of the peak of the frontal positivity from around 300 to 200 ms in the 19–38 years group while in the 55–72 years group the amplitude of the frontal P3 decreased linearly with decreasing ISI length. Taken together, this pattern of results does not suggest a general decline in processing efficacy with healthy aging. At least with very rare changes (here, the novels in the 10 s ISI condition) the OR is as effective in healthy older adults as in younger adults. With faster presentation rates, however, the efficacy of the OR decreases. This seems to result in a switch from novelty to deviant processing in younger adults, but less so in the group of older adults. KW - psychology KW - attention KW - change detection KW - auditory system KW - novelty processing KW - event-related potential (ERP) KW - P300 KW - skin conductance response (SCR) Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173651 VL - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Berneiser, Tobias T1 - Lissabonner Navigationen. Literarische Nautik und heterotopischer Stadtdiskurs in José Cardoso Pires’ Lisboa – Livro de Bordo JF - promptus - Würzburger Beiträge zur Romanistik N2 - This article seeks to analyse urban representation in José Cardoso Pires’s Lisboa – Livro de Bordo (1997), a book dedicated to the author’s home city Lisbon, by focusing on its prevailing nautical and maritime imagery. This imagery as well as its tendency to design Lisbon as a city-ship shall be examined with regard to spatial construction in the Livro de Bordo. Urban sailing as well as the recurrent representations of the Portuguese capital’s spaces as heterotopias will be interpreted as approaches to subvert institutional and homogenic discourses on Lisbon. KW - José Cardoso Pires, Lisbon KW - heterotopia KW - urban discourse KW - urban semiotics Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172859 SN - 2510-2613 VL - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bergfeld, Arne A1 - Dasari, Prasad A1 - Werner, Sandra A1 - Hughes, Timothy R. A1 - Song, Wen-Chao A1 - Hortschansky, Peter A1 - Brakhage, Axel A. A1 - Hünig, Thomas A1 - Zipfel, Peter F. A1 - Beyersdorf, Niklas T1 - Direct binding of the pH-regulated Protein 1 (Pra1) from Candida albicans inhibits cytokine secretion by mouse CD4\(^{+}\) T cells JF - Frontiers in Microbiology N2 - Opportunistic infections with the saprophytic yeast Candida albicans are a major cause of morbidity in immunocompromised patients. While the interaction of cells and molecules of innate immunity with C. albicans has been studied to great depth, comparatively little is known about the modulation of adaptive immunity by C. albicans. In particular, direct interaction of proteins secreted by C. albicans with CD4\(^{+}\) T cells has not been studied in detail. In a first screening approach, we identified the pH-regulated antigen 1 (Pra1) as a molecule capable of directly binding to mouse CD4\(^{+}\) T cells in vitro. Binding of Pra1 to the T cell surface was enhanced by extracellular Zn\(^{2+}\) ions which Pra1 is known to scavenge from the host in order to supply the fungus with Zn\(^{2+}\). In vitro stimulation assays using highly purified mouse CD4\(^{+}\) T cells showed that Pra1 increased proliferation of CD4\(^{+}\) T cells in the presence of plate-bound anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody. In contrast, secretion of effector cytokines such as IFNγ and TNF by CD4\(^{+}\) T cells upon anti-CD3/ anti-CD28 mAb as well as cognate antigen stimulation was reduced in the presence of Pra1. By secreting Pra1 C. albicans, thus, directly modulates and partially controls CD4\(^{+}\) T cell responses as shown in our in vitro assays. KW - Candida albicans KW - pH-regulated antigen 1 (Pra1) KW - CD4\(^{+}\) T cells KW - immune evasion KW - cytokine secretion Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158274 VL - 8 IS - 844 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bening, Constanze A1 - Hamouda, Khaled A1 - Oezkur, Mehmet A1 - Schimmer, Christoph A1 - Schade, Ina A1 - Gorski, Armin A1 - Aleksic, Ivan A1 - Leyh, Rainer T1 - Rapid deployment valve system shortens operative times for aortic valve replacement through right anterior minithoracotomy JF - Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery N2 - Background: There is growing evidence from the literature that right anterior minithoracotomy aortic valve replacement (RAT-AVR) improves clinical outcome. However, increased cross clamp time is the strongest argument for surgeons not performing RAT-AVR. Rapid deployment aortic valve systems have the potential to decrease cross-clamp time and ease this procedure. We assessed clinical outcome of rapid deployment and conventional valves through RAT. Methods: Sixty-eight patients (mean age 76 ± 6 years, 32% females) underwent RAT-AVR between 9/2013 and 7/2015. According to the valve type implanted the patients were divided into two groups. In 43 patients (R-group; mean age 74.1 ± 6.6 years) a rapid deployment valve system (Edwards Intuity, Edwards Lifesciences Corp; Irvine, Calif) and in 25 patients (C-group; mean age 74.2 ± 6.6 years) a conventional stented biological aortic valve was implanted. Results: Aortic cross-clamp (42.1 ± 12 min vs. 68.3 ± 20.3 min; p < 0.001) and bypass time (80.4 ± 39.3 min vs. 106.6 ± 23.2 min; p = 0.001) were shorter in the rapid deployment group (R-group). We observed no differences in clinical outcome. Postoperative gradients (R-group: max gradient, 14.3 ± 8 mmHg vs. 15.5 ± 5 mmHg (C-group), mean gradient, 9.2 ± 1.7 mmHg (R-group) vs. 9.1 ± 2.3 mmHg (C-group) revealed no differences. However, larger prostheses were implanted in C-group (25 mm; IQR 23–27 mm vs. 23 mm; IQR 21–25; p = 0.009). Conclusions: Our data suggest that the rapid deployment aortic valve system reduced cross clamp and bypass time in patients undergoing RAT-AVR with similar hemodynamics as with larger size stented prosthesis. However, larger studies and long-term follow-up are mandatory to confirm our findings. KW - aortic valve replacement KW - minimally invasive surgery KW - heart valve prosthesis KW - biological rapid deployment aortic valve Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159439 VL - 12 IS - 27 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Benhalevy, Daniel A1 - Gupta, Sanjay K. A1 - Danan, Charles H. A1 - Ghosal, Suman A1 - Sun, Hong-Wei A1 - Kazemeier, Hinke G. A1 - Paeschke, Katrin A1 - Hafner, Markus A1 - Juranek, Stefan A. T1 - The Human CCHC-type Zinc Finger Nucleic Acid-Binding Protein Binds G-Rich Elements in Target mRNA Coding Sequences and Promotes Translation JF - Cell Reports N2 - The CCHC-type zinc finger nucleic acid-binding protein (CNBP/ZNF9) is conserved in eukaryotes and is essential for embryonic development in mammals. It has been implicated in transcriptional, as well as post-transcriptional, gene regulation; however, its nucleic acid ligands and molecular function remain elusive. Here, we use multiple systems-wide approaches to identify CNBP targets and function. We used photoactivatable ribonucleoside-enhanced crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (PAR-CLIP) to identify 8,420 CNBP binding sites on 4,178 mRNAs. CNBP preferentially bound G-rich elements in the target mRNA coding sequences, most of which were previously found to form G-quadruplex and other stable structures in vitro. Functional analyses, including RNA sequencing, ribosome profiling, and quantitative mass spectrometry, revealed that CNBP binding did not influence target mRNA abundance but rather increased their translational efficiency. Considering that CNBP binding prevented G-quadruplex structure formation in vitro, we hypothesize that CNBP is supporting translation by resolving stable structures on mRNAs. KW - PAR-CLIP KW - ribosome profiling KW - translational regulation KW - posttranscriptional gene regulation KW - zinc-finger KW - RNA binding protein KW - CLIP-seq Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171122 VL - 18 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bender, Oliver A1 - Roth, Charlotte E. A1 - Job, Hubert T1 - Protected areas and population development in the alps JF - eco.mont : Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Management N2 - Nearly a quarter of the Alpine area is covered by a dense network of large protected areas (LPAs) of the four categories national park(NP), biosphere reserve (BR), nature park and world natural heritage site (WNHS). From the time of early industrialization, the Alpine area has undergone a mixed and increasingly polarized demographic development between the poles of immigration and emigration. This article investigates the possible mutual impact of population development and the existence of LPAs. The research design includes a quantitative survey of all Alpine LPAs in terms of their population development and the structure of immigration in the first decade of the 21st century. This will be linked with qualitative expert interviews in four selected NPs. The overall results allow an interpretation of the statistical correlations between type of LPA and migration. KW - geography KW - amenity migration KW - national parks KW - population KW - protected areas KW - regional development Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-181901 VL - 9 IS - Special issue ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bellinger, Daniel A1 - Altenmüller, Eckart A1 - Volkmann, Jens T1 - Perception of time in music in patients with Parkinson's disease - The processing of musical syntax compensates for rhythmic deficits JF - Frontiers in Neuroscience N2 - Objective: Perception of time as well as rhythm in musical structures rely on complex brain mechanisms and require an extended network of multiple neural sources. They are therefore sensitive to impairment. Several psychophysical studies have shown that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have deficits in perceiving time and rhythms due to a malfunction of the basal ganglia (BG) network. Method: In this study we investigated the time perception of PD patients during music perception by assessing their just noticeable difference (JND) in the time perception of a complex musical Gestalt. We applied a temporal discrimination task using a short melody with a clear beat-based rhythm. Among the subjects, 26 patients under L-Dopa administration and 21 age-matched controls had to detect an artificially delayed time interval in the range between 80 and 300 ms in the middle of the musical period. We analyzed the data by (a) calculating the detection threshold directly, (b) by extrapolating the JNDs, (c) relating it to musical expertise. Results: Patients differed from controls in the detection of time-intervals between 220 and 300 ms (*p = 0.0200, n = 47). Furthermore, this deficit depended on the severity of the disease (*p = 0.0452; n = 47). Surprisingly, PD patients did not show any deficit of their JND compared to healthy controls, although the results showed a trend (*p = 0.0565, n = 40). Furthermore, no significant difference of the JND was found according to the severity of the disease. Additionally, musically trained persons seemed to have lower thresholds in detecting deviations in time and syntactic structures of music (*p = 0.0343, n = 39). Conclusion: As an explanation of these results, we would like to propose the hypothesis of a time-syntax-congruency in music perception suggesting that processing of time and rhythm is a Gestalt process and that cortical areas involved in processing of musical syntax may compensate for impaired BG circuits that are responsible for time processing and rhythm perception. This mechanism may emerge more strongly as the deficits in time processing and rhythm perception progress. Furthermore, we presume that top-down-bottom-up-processes interfere additionally and interact in this context of compensation. KW - Parkinson disease KW - psychophysics KW - time perception KW - rhythm perception KW - musical syntax KW - just noticeable difference (JND) Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171805 VL - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beer, Katharina A1 - Joschinski, Jens A1 - Sastre, Alazne Arrazola A1 - Krauss, Jochen A1 - Helfrich-Förster, Charlotte T1 - A damping circadian clock drives weak oscillations in metabolism and locomotor activity of aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Timing seasonal events, like reproduction or diapause, is crucial for the survival of many species. Global change causes phenologies worldwide to shift, which requires a mechanistic explanation of seasonal time measurement. Day length (photoperiod) is a reliable indicator of winter arrival, but it remains unclear how exactly species measure day length. A reference for time of day could be provided by a circadian clock, by an hourglass clock, or, as some newer models suggest, by a damped circadian clock. However, damping of clock outputs has so far been rarely observed. To study putative clock outputs of Acyrthosiphon pisum aphids, we raised individual nymphs on coloured artificial diet, and measured rhythms in metabolic activity in light-dark illumination cycles of 16:08 hours (LD) and constant conditions (DD). In addition, we kept individuals in a novel monitoring setup and measured locomotor activity. We found that A. pisum is day-active in LD, potentially with a bimodal distribution. In constant darkness rhythmicity of locomotor behaviour persisted in some individuals, but patterns were mostly complex with several predominant periods. Metabolic activity, on the other hand, damped quickly. A damped circadian clock, potentially driven by multiple oscillator populations, is the most likely explanation of our results. KW - circadian mechanisms KW - behavioural ecology KW - damped circadian clock KW - Acyrthosiphon pisum Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170020 VL - 7 IS - 14906 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Becam, Jérôme A1 - Walter, Tim A1 - Burgert, Anne A1 - Schlegel, Jan A1 - Sauer, Markus A1 - Seibel, Jürgen A1 - Schubert-Unkmeir, Alexandra T1 - Antibacterial activity of ceramide and ceramide analogs against pathogenic Neisseria JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Certain fatty acids and sphingoid bases found at mucosal surfaces are known to have antibacterial activity and are thought to play a more direct role in innate immunity against bacterial infections. Herein, we analysed the antibacterial activity of sphingolipids, including the sphingoid base sphingosine as well as short-chain C\(_{6}\) and long-chain C\(_{16}\)-ceramides and azido-functionalized ceramide analogs against pathogenic Neisseriae. Determination of the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) demonstrated that short-chain ceramides and a ω-azido-functionalized C\(_{6}\)-ceramide were active against Neisseria meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae, whereas they were inactive against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Kinetic assays showed that killing of N. meningitidis occurred within 2 h with ω–azido-C\(_{6}\)-ceramide at 1 X the MIC. Of note, at a bactericidal concentration, ω–azido-C\(_{6}\)-ceramide had no significant toxic effect on host cells. Moreover, lipid uptake and localization was studied by flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and revealed a rapid uptake by bacteria within 5 min. CLSM and super-resolution fluorescence imaging by direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy demonstrated homogeneous distribution of ceramide analogs in the bacterial membrane. Taken together, these data demonstrate the potent bactericidal activity of sphingosine and synthetic short-chain ceramide analogs against pathogenic Neisseriae. KW - ceramide analogs KW - Neisseria KW - ceramide Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159367 VL - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baur, Johannes A1 - Mathe, Katrin A1 - Gesierich, Anja A1 - Weyandt, Gerhard A1 - Wiegering, Armin A1 - Germer, Christoph-Thomas A1 - Gasser, Martin A1 - Pelz, Jörg O. W. T1 - Morbidity and oncologic outcome after saphenous vein-sparing inguinal lymphadenectomy in melanoma patients JF - World Journal of Surgical Oncology N2 - Background: Inguinal lymph node dissection (LND) is a surgical procedure with a high morbidity rate. Variations in surgical procedure, such as sparing of the saphenous vein, have been proposed to reduce surgical morbidity. While sparing of the saphenous vein has shown promising results in earlier studies, data for this procedure in melanoma patients are rare. In this retrospective study, we report 10-year findings on the effects of saphenous vein-sparing LND on surgical morbidity and oncologic outcomes in melanoma patients. Methods: A retrospective analysis of melanoma patients receiving inguinal LND in our facility between 2003 and 2013 was performed. Patients were divided into two groups: the saphenous vein resection group and the vein sparing group. Surgical morbidity, including wound infection, lymphatic fistula, severe bleeding, neurological complications, and chronic lymphedema, as well as regional recurrence-free survival were investigated. Results: A total of 106 patients were included in this study; of these, the saphenous vein was spared in 41 patients (38.7%). The rate of lymphatic fistula was 51.6 vs. 48.8%, wound infection occurred in 31.3 vs. 24.4%, and patients suffered from chronic lymphedema in 30.0 vs. 26.5% in V. saphena magna resection vs. sparing group. Differences observed, however, were not significant. No difference in regional recurrence-free survival between the two study groups was detected. Conclusions: The results of our retrospective analysis could not confirm the promising results reported in earlier studies. Thus, sparing of the saphenous vein appears to be optional. KW - malignant melanoma KW - inguinal lymph node dissection KW - regional recurrence KW - V. saphena magna Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157687 VL - 15 IS - 99 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baur, Johannes A1 - Büntemeyer, Tjark-Ole A1 - Megerle, Felix A1 - Deutschbein, Timo A1 - Spitzweg, Christine A1 - Quinkler, Marcus A1 - Nawroth, Peter A1 - Kroiss, Matthias A1 - Germer, Christoph-Thomas A1 - Fassnacht, Martin A1 - Steger, Ulrich T1 - Outcome after resection of Adrenocortical Carcinoma liver metastases: a retrospective study JF - BMC Cancer N2 - Background: Metastatic Adrenocortical Carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignancy with a poor 5-year-survival rate (<15%). A surgical approach is recommended in selected patients if complete resection of distant metastasis can be achieved. To date there are only limited data on the outcome after surgical resection of hepatic metastases of ACC. Methods: A retrospective analysis of the German Adrenocortical Carcinoma Registry was conducted. Patients with liver metastases of ACC but without extrahepatic metastases or incomplete tumour resection were included. Results: Seventy-seven patients fulfilled these criteria. Forty-three patients underwent resection of liver metastases of ACC. Complete tumour resection (R0) could be achieved in 30 (69.8%). Median overall survival after liver resection was 76.1 months in comparison to 10.1 months in the 34 remaining patients with unresected liver metastases (p < 0.001). However, disease free survival after liver resection was only 9.1 months. Neither resection status (R0/R1) nor extent of liver resection were significant predictive factors for overall survival. Patients with a time interval to the first metastasis/recurrence (TTFR) of greater than 12 months or solitary liver metastases showed significantly prolonged survival. Conclusions: Liver resection in the case of ACC liver metastases can achieve long term survival with a median overall survival of more than 5 years, but disease free survival is short despite metastasectomy. Time to recurrence and single versus multiple metastases are predictive factors for the outcome. KW - Adrenocortical Carcinoma KW - liver resection KW - retrospective study KW - prognosis KW - survival analysis Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159409 VL - 17 IS - 522 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Banks, Sarah A1 - Millard, Koreen A1 - Behnamian, Amir A1 - White, Lori A1 - Ullmann, Tobias A1 - Charbonneau, Francois A1 - Chen, Zhaohua A1 - Wang, Huili A1 - Pasher, Jon A1 - Duffe, Jason T1 - Contributions of actual and simulated satellite SAR data for substrate type differentiation and shoreline mapping in the Canadian Arctic JF - Remote Sensing N2 - Detailed information on the land cover types present and the horizontal position of the land–water interface is needed for sensitive coastal ecosystems throughout the Arctic, both to establish baselines against which the impacts of climate change can be assessed and to inform response operations in the event of environmental emergencies such as oil spills. Previous work has demonstrated potential for accurate classification via fusion of optical and SAR data, though what contribution either makes to model accuracy is not well established, nor is it clear what shorelines can be classified using optical or SAR data alone. In this research, we evaluate the relative value of quad pol RADARSAT-2 and Landsat 5 data for shoreline mapping by individually excluding both datasets from Random Forest models used to classify images acquired over Nunavut, Canada. In anticipation of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM), we also simulate and evaluate dual and compact polarimetric imagery for shoreline mapping. Results show that SAR data is needed for accurate discrimination of substrates as user’s and producer’s accuracies were 5–24% higher for models constructed with quad pol RADARSAT-2 and DEM data than models constructed with Landsat 5 and DEM data. Models based on simulated RCM and DEM data achieved significantly lower overall accuracies (71–77%) than models based on quad pol RADARSAT-2 and DEM data (80%), with Wetland and Tundra being most adversely affected. When classified together with Landsat 5 and DEM data, however, model accuracy was less affected by the SAR data type, with multiple polarizations and modes achieving independent overall accuracies within a range acceptable for operational mapping, at 89–91%. RCM is expected to contribute positively to ongoing efforts to monitor change and improve emergency preparedness throughout the Arctic. KW - geography KW - RADARSAT-2 KW - RADARSAT Constellation Mission KW - Random Forests KW - Arctic KW - shorelines Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172630 VL - 9 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balasubramanian, Srikkanth A1 - Othman, Eman M. A1 - Kampik, Daniel A1 - Stopper, Helga A1 - Hentschel, Ute A1 - Ziebuhr, Wilma A1 - Oelschlaeger, Tobias A. A1 - Abdelmohsen, Usama R. T1 - Marine sponge-derived Streptomyces sp SBT343 extract inhibits staphylococcal biofilm formation JF - Frontiers in Microbiology N2 - Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus are opportunistic pathogens that cause nosocomial and chronic biofilm-associated infections. Indwelling medical devices and contact lenses are ideal ecological niches for formation of staphylococcal biofilms. Bacteria within biofilms are known to display reduced susceptibilities to antimicrobials and are protected from the host immune system. High rates of acquired antibiotic resistances in staphylococci and other biofilm-forming bacteria further hamper treatment options and highlight the need for new anti-biofilm strategies. Here, we aimed to evaluate the potential of marine sponge-derived actinomycetes in inhibiting biofilm formation of several strains of S. epidermidis, S. aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Results from in vitro biofilm-formation assays, as well as scanning electron and confocal microscopy, revealed that an organic extract derived from the marine sponge-associated bacterium Streptomyces sp. SBT343 significantly inhibited staphylococcal biofilm formation on polystyrene, glass and contact lens surfaces, without affecting bacterial growth. The extract also displayed similar antagonistic effects towards the biofilm formation of other S. epidermidis and S. aureus strains tested but had no inhibitory effects towards Pseudomonas biofilms. Interestingly the extract, at lower effective concentrations, did not exhibit cytotoxic effects on mouse fibroblast, macrophage and human corneal epithelial cell lines. Chemical analysis by High Resolution Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) of the Streptomyces sp. SBT343 extract proportion revealed its chemical richness and complexity. Preliminary physico-chemical characterization of the extract highlighted the heat-stable and non-proteinaceous nature of the active component(s). The combined data suggest that the Streptomyces sp. SBT343 extract selectively inhibits staphylococcal biofilm formation without interfering with bacterial cell viability. Due to absence of cell toxicity, the extract might represent a good starting material to develop a future remedy to block staphylococcal biofilm formation on contact lenses and thereby to prevent intractable contact lens-mediated ocular infections. KW - medicine KW - marine sponges KW - actinomycetes KW - Streptomyces KW - staphilococci KW - biofilms KW - contact lens Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171844 VL - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bail, Kathrin A1 - Notz, Quirin A1 - Rovituso, Damiano M. A1 - Schampel, Andrea A1 - Wunsch, Marie A1 - Koeniger, Tobias A1 - Schropp, Verena A1 - Bharti, Richa A1 - Scholz, Claus-Juergen A1 - Foerstner, Konrad U. A1 - Kleinschnitz, Christoph A1 - Kuerten, Stefanie T1 - Differential effects of FTY720 on the B cell compartment in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. JF - Journal of Neuroinflammation N2 - Background: MP4-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), which enables targeted research on B cells, currently much discussed protagonists in MS pathogenesis. Here, we used this model to study the impact of the S1P1 receptor modulator FTY720 (fingolimod) on the autoreactive B cell and antibody response both in the periphery and the central nervous system (CNS). Methods: MP4-immunized mice were treated orally with FTY720 for 30 days at the peak of disease or 50 days after EAE onset. The subsequent disease course was monitored and the MP4-specific B cell/antibody response was measured by ELISPOT and ELISA. RNA sequencing was performed to determine any effects on B cell-relevant gene expression. S1P\(_{1}\) receptor expression by peripheral T and B cells, B cell subset distribution in the spleen and B cell infiltration into the CNS were studied by flow cytometry. The formation of B cell aggregates and of tertiary lymphoid organs (TLOs) was evaluated by histology and immunohistochemistry. Potential direct effects of FTY720 on B cell aggregation were studied in vitro. Results: FTY720 significantly attenuated clinical EAE when treatment was initiated at the peak of EAE. While there was a significant reduction in the number of T cells in the blood after FTY720 treatment, B cells were only slightly diminished. Yet, there was evidence for the modulation of B cell receptor-mediated signaling upon FTY720 treatment. In addition, we detected a significant increase in the percentage of B220\(^{+}\) B cells in the spleen both in acute and chronic EAE. Whereas acute treatment completely abrogated B cell aggregate formation in the CNS, the numbers of infiltrating B cells and plasma cells were comparable between vehicle- and FTY720-treated mice. In addition, there was no effect on already developed aggregates in chronic EAE. In vitro B cell aggregation assays suggested the absence of a direct effect of FTY720 on B cell aggregation. However, FTY720 impacted the evolution of B cell aggregates into TLOs. Conclusions: The data suggest differential effects of FTY720 on the B cell compartment in MP4-induced EAE. KW - B cells KW - EAE KW - FTY720 KW - fingolimod KW - multiple sclerosis KW - TLO Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157869 VL - 14 IS - 148 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Awad, Eman A1 - Othman, Eman M. A1 - Stopper, Helga T1 - Effects of resveratrol, lovastatin and the mTOR-inhibitor RAD-001 on insulin-induced genomic damage in vitro JF - Molecules N2 - Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the major current health problems due to lifestyle changes. Before diagnosis and in the early years of disease, insulin blood levels are elevated. However, insulin generates low levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which are integral to the regulation of a variety of intracellular signaling pathways, but excess levels of insulin may also lead to DNA oxidation and DNA damage. Three pharmaceutical compounds, resveratrol, lovastatin and the mTOR-inhibitor RAD-001, were investigated due to their known beneficial effects. They showed protective properties against genotoxic damage and significantly reduced ROS after in vitro treatment of cultured cells with insulin. Therefore, the selected pharmaceuticals may be attractive candidates to be considered for support of DM therapy. KW - genomic damage KW - insulin KW - resveratrol KW - lovastatin KW - mTOR-inhibitor RAD-001 Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159260 VL - 22 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Auerhammer, Dominic A1 - Arrowsmith, Merle A1 - Braunschweig, Holger A1 - Dewhurst, Rian D. A1 - Jiménez-Halla, J. Oscar C. A1 - Kupfer, Thomas T1 - Nucleophilic addition and substitution at coordinatively saturated boron by facile 1,2-hydrogen shuttling onto a carbene donor JF - Chemical Science N2 - The reaction of [(cAAC\(^{Me}\))BH\(_{3}\)] (cAAC\(^{Me}\) = 1-(2,6-iPr\(_{2}\)C\(_{6}\)H\(_{3}\))-3,3,5,5-tetramethylpyrrolidin-2-ylidene) with a range of organolithium compounds led to the exclusive formation of the corresponding (dihydro)organoborates, Li\(^{+}\)[(cAAC\(^{Me}\)H)BH\(_{2}\)R]− (R = sp\(^{3}\)-, sp\(^{2}\)-, or sp-hybridised organic substituent), by migration of one boron-bound hydrogen atom to the adjacent carbene carbon of the cAAC ligand. A subsequent deprotonation/salt metathesis reaction with Me3SiCl or spontaneous LiH elimination yielded the neutral cAAC-supported mono(organo)boranes, [(cAAC\(^{Me}\)H)BH\(_{2}\)R]− (R]. Similarly the reaction of [cAAC\(^{Me}\))BH\(_{3}\)] with a neutral donor base L resulted in adduct formation by shuttling one boron-bound hydrogen to the cAAC ligand, to generate [(cAAC\(^{Me}\)H)BH\(_{2}\)L], either irreversibly (L = cAAC\(^{Me}\)) or reversibly (L = pyridine). Variable-temperature NMR data and DFT calculations on [(cAAC\(^{Me}\)H)BH\(_{2}\)(cAAC\(^{Me}\))] show that the hydrogen on the former carbene carbon atom exchanges rapidly with the boron-bound hydrides. KW - nucleophilic addition KW - nucleophilic substitution KW - boron-bound hydrogen KW - carbene donor Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170255 VL - 8 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ashraf, Kerolos A1 - Yasrebi, Kaveh A1 - Hertlein, Tobias A1 - Ohlsen, Knut A1 - Lalk, Michael A1 - Hilgeroth, Andreas T1 - Novel effective small-molecule antibacterials against \(Enterococcus\) strains JF - Molecules N2 - \(Enterococcus\) species cause increasing numbers of infections in hospitals. They contribute to the increasing mortality rates, mostly in patients with comorbidities, who suffer from severe diseases. \(Enterococcus\) resistances against most antibiotics have been described, including novel antibiotics. Therefore, there is an ongoing demand for novel types of antibiotics that may overcome bacterial resistances. We discovered a novel class of antibiotics resulting from a simple one-pot reaction of indole and \(o\)-phthaldialdehyde. Differently substituted indolyl benzocarbazoles were yielded. Both the indole substitution and the positioning at the molecular scaffold influence the antibacterial activity towards the various strains of \(Enterococcus\) species with the highest relevance to nosocomial infections. Structure-activity relationships are discussed, and the first lead compounds were identified as also being effective in the case of a vancomycin resistance. KW - medicine KW - antibacterial activity KW - synthesis KW - derivatives KW - structure-activity KW - lead structure Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172628 VL - 22 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Arnholdt, Jörg A1 - Gilbert, Fabian A1 - Blank, Marc A1 - Papazoglou, Jannis A1 - Rudert, Maximilian A1 - Nöth, Ulrich A1 - Steinert, Andre F. T1 - The Mayo conservative hip: complication analysis and management of the first 41 cases performed at a University level 1 department JF - BMC Muskoskeletal Disorders N2 - Background: To prevent bone loss in hip arthroplasty, several short stem systems have been developed, including the Mayo conservative hip system. While there is a plethora of data confirming inherent advantages of these systems, only little is known about potential complications, especially when surgeons start to use these systems. Methods: In this study, we present a retrospective analysis of the patients’ outcome, complications and the complication management of the first 41 Mayo conservative hips performed in 37 patients. For this reason, functional scores, radiographic analyses, peri- and postoperative complications were assessed at an average follow-up of 35 months. Results: The overall HHS improved from 61.2 pre-operatively to 85.6 post-operatively. The German Extra Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment Questionnaire (XSFMA-D) improved from 30.3 pre-operatively to 12.2 post-operatively. The most common complication was an intraoperative non-displaced fracture of the proximal femur observed in 5 cases (12.1%). Diabetes, higher BMI and older ages were shown to be risk factors for these intra-operative periprosthetic fractures (p < 0.01). Radiographic analysis revealed a good offset reconstruction in all cases. Conclusion: In our series, a high complication rate with 12.1% of non-displaced proximal femoral fractures was observed using the Mayo conservative hip. This may be attributed to the flat learning curve of the system or the inherent patient characteristics of the presented cohort." KW - total hip arthroplasty KW - short hip stem KW - mayo stem KW - minimal invasive surgery Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157812 VL - 18 IS - 250 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Armbruster, Nicole A1 - Krieg, Jennifer A1 - Weißenberger, Manuel A1 - Scheller, Carsten A1 - Steinert, Andre F. T1 - Rescued Chondrogenesis of Mesenchymal Stem Cells under Interleukin 1 Challenge by Foamyviral Interleukin 1 Receptor Antagonist Gene Transfer JF - Frontiers in Pharmacology N2 - Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their chondrogenic differentiation have been extensively investigated in vitro as MSCs provide an attractive source besides chondrocytes for cartilage repair therapies. Here we established prototype foamyviral vectors (FVV) that are derived from apathogenic parent viruses and are characterized by a broad host range and a favorable integration pattern into the cellular genome. As the inflammatory cytokine interleukin 1 beta (IL1β) is frequently present in diseased joints, the protective effects of FVV expressing the human interleukin 1 receptor antagonist protein (IL1RA) were studied in an established in vitro model (aggregate culture system) of chondrogenesis in the presence of IL1β. Materials and Methods: We generated different recombinant FVVs encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) or IL1RA and examined their transduction efficiencies and transgene expression profiles using different cell lines and human primary MSCs derived from bone marrow-aspirates. Transgene expression was evaluated by fluorescence microscopy (EGFP), flow cytometry (EGFP), and ELISA (IL1RA). For evaluation of the functionality of the IL1RA transgene to block the inhibitory effects of IL1β on chondrogenesis of primary MSCs and an immortalized MSC cell line (TERT4 cells), the cells were maintained following transduction as aggregate cultures in standard chondrogenic media in the presence or absence of IL1β. After 3 weeks of culture, pellets were harvested and analyzed by histology and immunohistochemistry for chondrogenic phenotypes. Results: The different FVV efficiently transduced cell lines as well as primary MSCs, thereby reaching high transgene expression levels in 6-well plates with levels of around 100 ng/ml IL1RA. MSC aggregate cultures which were maintained in chondrogenic media without IL1β supplementation revealed a chondrogenic phenotype by means of strong positive staining for collagen type II and matrix proteoglycan (Alcian blue). Addition of IL1β was inhibitory to chondrogenesis in untreated control pellets. In contrast, foamyviral mediated IL1RA expression rescued the chondrogenesis in pellets cultured in the presence of IL1β. Transduced MSC pellets reached thereby very high IL1RA transgene expression levels with a peak of 1087 ng/ml after day 7, followed by a decrease to 194 ng/ml after day 21, while IL1RA concentrations of controls were permanently below 200 pg/ml. Conclusion: Our results indicate that FVV are capable of efficient gene transfer to MSCs, while reaching IL1RA transgene expression levels, that were able to efficiently block the impacts of IL1β in vitro. FVV merit further investigation as a means to study the potential as a gene transfer tool for MSC based therapies for cartilage repair. KW - mesenchymal stem cell KW - chondrogenesis KW - pellet culture KW - foamy virus KW - virus vectors KW - IL1RA KW - interleukin 1 receptor antagonist KW - arthritis Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170919 VL - 8 IS - 255 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Arenas, Andrés A1 - Roces, Flavio T1 - Avoidance of plants unsuitable for the symbiotic fungus in leaf-cutting ants: Learning can take place entirely at the colony dump JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Plants initially accepted by foraging leaf-cutting ants are later avoided if they prove unsuitable for their symbiotic fungus. Plant avoidance is mediated by the waste produced in the fungus garden soon after the incorporation of the unsuitable leaves, as foragers can learn plant odors and cues from the damaged fungus that are both present in the recently produced waste particles. We asked whether avoidance learning of plants unsuitable for the symbiotic fungus can take place entirely at the colony dump. In order to investigate whether cues available in the waste chamber induce plant avoidance in naïve subcolonies, we exchanged the waste produced by subcolonies fed either fungicide-treated privet leaves or untreated leaves and measured the acceptance of untreated privet leaves before and after the exchange of waste. Second, we evaluated whether foragers could perceive the avoidance cues directly at the dump by quantifying the visits of labeled foragers to the waste chamber. Finally, we asked whether foragers learn to specifically avoid untreated leaves of a plant after a confinement over 3 hours in the dump of subcolonies that were previously fed fungicide-treated leaves of that species. After the exchange of the waste chambers, workers from subcolonies that had access to waste from fungicide-treated privet leaves learned to avoid that plant. One-third of the labeled foragers visited the dump. Furthermore, naïve foragers learned to avoid a specific, previously unsuitable plant if exposed solely to cues of the dump during confinement. We suggest that cues at the dump enable foragers to predict the unsuitable effects of plants even if they had never been experienced in the fungus garden. KW - leaves KW - ants KW - fungi KW - foraging KW - animal sociality KW - social systems KW - learning KW - symbiosis Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157559 VL - 12 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Appelt-Menzel, Antje A1 - Cubukova, Alevtina A1 - Günther, Katharina A1 - Edenhofer, Frank A1 - Piontek, Jörg A1 - Krause, Gerd A1 - Stüber, Tanja A1 - Walles, Heike A1 - Neuhaus, Winfried A1 - Metzger, Marco T1 - Establishment of a Human Blood-Brain Barrier Co-culture Model Mimicking the Neurovascular Unit Using Induced Pluri- and Multipotent Stem Cells JF - Stem Cell Reports N2 - In vitro models of the human blood-brain barrier (BBB) are highly desirable for drug development. This study aims to analyze a set of ten different BBB culture models based on primary cells, human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), and multipotent fetal neural stem cells (fNSCs). We systematically investigated the impact of astrocytes, pericytes, and NSCs on hiPSC-derived BBB endothelial cell function and gene expression. The quadruple culture models, based on these four cell types, achieved BBB characteristics including transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) up to 2,500 Ω cm\(^{2}\) and distinct upregulation of typical BBB genes. A complex in vivo-like tight junction (TJ) network was detected by freeze-fracture and transmission electron microscopy. Treatment with claudin-specific TJ modulators caused TEER decrease, confirming the relevant role of claudin subtypes for paracellular tightness. Drug permeability tests with reference substances were performed and confirmed the suitability of the models for drug transport studies. KW - blood-brain barrier (BBB) model KW - human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) KW - multipotent fetal neural stem cells (fNSCs) KW - neurovascular unit in vitro Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170982 VL - 8 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Appel, Patricia A1 - Schuler, Michael A1 - Vogel, Heiner A1 - Oezelsel, Amina A1 - Faller, Hermann T1 - Short Questionnaire for Workplace Analysis (KFZA): factorial validation in physicians and nurses working in hospital settings JF - Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology N2 - Background: In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in psychosocial workplace risk assessments in Germany. One of the questionnaires commonly employed for this purpose is the Short Questionnaire for Workplace Analysis (KFZA). Originally, the KFZA was developed and validated for office workers. The aim of the present study was to examine the factorial validity of the KFZA when applied to hospital settings. Therefore, we examined the factorial structure of a questionnaire that contained all the original items plus an extension adding 11 questions specific to hospital workplaces and analyzed both, the original version and the extended version. Methods: We analyzed questionnaire data of a total of 1731 physicians and nurses obtained over a 10-year period. Listwise exclusion of data sets was applied to account for variations in questionnaire versions and yielded 1163 questionnaires (1095 for the extended version) remaining for factor analysis. To examine the factor structure, we conducted a principal component factor analysis. The number of factors was determined using the Kaiser criterion and scree-plot methods. Factor interpretation was based on orthogonal Varimax rotation as well as oblique rotation. Results: The Kaiser criterion revealed a 7-factor solution for the 26 items of the KFZA, accounting for 62.0% of variance. The seven factors were named: “Social Relationships”, “Job Control”, “Opportunities for Participation and Professional Development”, “Quantitative Work Demands”, “Workplace Environment”, “Variability” and “Qualitative Work Demands”. The factor analysis of the 37 items of the extended version yielded a 9-factor solution. The two additional factors were named “Consequences of Strain” and “Emotional Demands”. Cronbach’s α ranged from 0.63 to 0.87 for these scales. Conclusions: Overall, the KFZA turned out to be applicable to hospital workers, and its content-related structure was replicated well with some limitations. However, instead of the 11 factors originally proposed for office workers, a 7-factor solution appeared to be more suitable when employed in hospitals. In particular, the items of the KFZA factor “Completeness of Task” might need adaptation for the use in hospitals. Our study contributes to the assessment of the validity of this popular instrument and should stimulate further psychometric testing. KW - KFZA KW - mental health KW - work-related stress KW - hospital KW - psychosocial workplace risk assessment KW - validation Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157510 VL - 12 IS - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Apostolidis -Gkarpousis, Alexandros A1 - Koch, Christian T1 - Convergences et divergences dans les articles «Langage» de Louis de Jaucourt et «Langue» de Nicolas Beauzée. Une comparaison de deux articles de l’Encyclopédie de Diderot et D’Alembert JF - promptus - Würzburger Beiträge zur Romanistik N2 - The two articles of «Langage» and «Langue», published in 1765 in the 9th volume of the great French Encyclopédie by Diderot and D’Alembert, treat some essential philosophical questions on the human ability of communication with linguistic signs. Nevertheless, as the two authors Jaucourt and Beauzée did not share completely identic points of view, the comparative lecture of both articles reveals a complementary perspective, particularly relating to the origin of language as a divine gift or humans’ creation for communicative needs. A further aspect of divergence concerns the textual composition of the article « Langage » as a structured informative text, and the article « Langue » as a long and freely composed writing including personal remarks by the author. The following article deals with the potential of approaches to the Encyclopédie in modern linguistics, concretely demonstrated in the comparative analysis of these two articles. KW - Encyclopédie KW - Lumières KW - philosophie du langage KW - Beauzée KW - Jaucourt Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172843 SN - 2510-2613 VL - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ampattu, Biju Joseph A1 - Hagmann, Laura A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Dittrich, Marcus A1 - Schlüter, Andreas A1 - Blom, Jochen A1 - Krol, Elizaveta A1 - Goesmann, Alexander A1 - Becker, Anke A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Müller, Tobias A1 - Schoen, Christoph T1 - Transcriptomic buffering of cryptic genetic variation contributes to meningococcal virulence JF - BMC Genomics N2 - Background: Commensal bacteria like Neisseria meningitidis sometimes cause serious disease. However, genomic comparison of hyperinvasive and apathogenic lineages did not reveal unambiguous hints towards indispensable virulence factors. Here, in a systems biological approach we compared gene expression of the invasive strain MC58 and the carriage strain α522 under different ex vivo conditions mimicking commensal and virulence compartments to assess the strain-specific impact of gene regulation on meningococcal virulence. Results: Despite indistinguishable ex vivo phenotypes, both strains differed in the expression of over 500 genes under infection mimicking conditions. These differences comprised in particular metabolic and information processing genes as well as genes known to be involved in host-damage such as the nitrite reductase and numerous LOS biosynthesis genes. A model based analysis of the transcriptomic differences in human blood suggested ensuing metabolic flux differences in energy, glutamine and cysteine metabolic pathways along with differences in the activation of the stringent response in both strains. In support of the computational findings, experimental analyses revealed differences in cysteine and glutamine auxotrophy in both strains as well as a strain and condition dependent essentiality of the (p)ppGpp synthetase gene relA and of a short non-coding AT-rich repeat element in its promoter region. Conclusions: Our data suggest that meningococcal virulence is linked to transcriptional buffering of cryptic genetic variation in metabolic genes including global stress responses. They further highlight the role of regulatory elements for bacterial virulence and the limitations of model strain approaches when studying such genetically diverse species as N. meningitidis. KW - neisseria meningitidis KW - MITE KW - virulenceregulatory evolution KW - systems biology KW - metabolism KW - cryptic KW - genetic variation KW - stringent response KW - relA Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157534 VL - 18 IS - 282 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Amoretti, Andrea A1 - Areán, Daniel A1 - Argurio, Riccardo A1 - Musso, Daniele A1 - Zayas, Leopoldo A. Pando T1 - A holographic perspective on phonons and pseudo-phonons JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - We analyze the concomitant spontaneous breaking of translation and conformal symmetries by introducing in a CFT a complex scalar operator that acquires a spatially dependent expectation value. The model, inspired by the holographic Q-lattice, provides a privileged setup to study the emergence of phonons from a spontaneous translational symmetry breaking in a conformal field theory and offers valuable hints for the treatment of phonons in QFT at large. We first analyze the Ward identity structure by means of standard QFT techniques, considering both spontaneous and explicit symmetry breaking. Next, by implementing holographic renormalization, we show that the same set of Ward identities holds in the holographic Q-lattice. Eventually, relying on the holographic and QFT results, we study the correlators realizing the symmetry breaking pattern and how they encode information about the low-energy spectrum. KW - AdS-CFT correspondence KW - effective field theories KW - holography and condensed matter physics (AdS/CMT) Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170882 VL - 5 IS - 51 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Altieri, Barbara A1 - Sbiera, Silviu A1 - Della Casa, Silvia A1 - Weigand, Isabel A1 - Wild, Vanessa A1 - Steinhauer, Sonja A1 - Fadda, Guido A1 - Kocot, Arkadius A1 - Bekteshi, Michaela A1 - Mambretti, Egle M. A1 - Rosenwald, Andreas A1 - Pontecorvi, Alfredo A1 - Fassnacht, Martin A1 - Ronchi, Cristina L. T1 - Livin/BIRC7 expression as malignancy marker in adrenocortical tumors JF - Oncotarget N2 - Livin/BIRC7 is a member of the inhibitors of apoptosis proteins family, which are involved in tumor development through the inhibition of caspases. Aim was to investigate the expression of livin and other members of its pathway in adrenocortical tumors and in the adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) cell line NCI-H295R. The mRNA expression of livin, its isoforms α and β, XIAP, CASP3 and DIABLO was evaluated by qRT-PCR in 82 fresh-frozen adrenal tissues (34 ACC, 25 adenomas = ACA, 23 normal adrenal glands = NAG). Livin protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in 270 paraffin-embedded tissues (192 ACC, 58 ACA, 20 NAG). Livin, CASP3 and cleaved caspase-3 were evaluated in NCI-H295R after induction of livin overexpression. Relative livin mRNA expression was significantly higher in ACC than in ACA and NAG (0.060 ± 0.116 vs 0.004 ± 0.014 and 0.002 ± 0.009, respectively, p < 0.01), being consistently higher in tumors than in adjacent NAG and isoform β more expressed than α. No significant differences in CASP3, XIAP and DIABLO levels were found among these groups. In immunohistochemistry, livin was localized in both cytoplasm and nuclei. The ratio between cytoplasmic and nuclear staining was significantly higher in ACC (1.51 ± 0.66) than in ACA (0.80 ± 0.35) and NAG (0.88 ± 0.27; p < 0.0001). No significant correlations were observed between livin expression and histopathological parameters or clinical outcome. In NCI-H295R cells, the livin overexpression slightly reduced the activation of CASP3, but did not correlate with cell viability. In conclusion, livin is specifically over-expressed in ACC, suggesting that it might be involved in adrenocortical tumorigenesis and represent a new molecular marker of malignancy. KW - cancer KW - livin KW - BIRC7 KW - adrenocortical cancer KW - adrenal tumor KW - caspase-3 Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171887 VL - 8 IS - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aich, Valentin A1 - Akhundzadah, Noor Ahmad A1 - Knuerr, Alec A1 - Khoshbeen, Ahmad Jamshed A1 - Hattermann, Fred A1 - Paeth, Heiko A1 - Scanlon, Andrew A1 - Paton, Eva Nora T1 - Climate change in Afghanistan deduced from reanalysis and coordinated regional climate downscaling experiment (CORDEX)—South Asia Simulations JF - Climate N2 - Past and the projected future climate change in Afghanistan has been analyzed systematically and differentiated with respect to its different climate regions to gain some first quantitative insights into Afghanistan’s vulnerability to ongoing and future climate changes. For this purpose, temperature, precipitation and five additional climate indices for extremes and agriculture assessments (heavy precipitation; spring precipitation; growing season length (GSL), the Heat Wave Magnitude Index (HWMI); and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI)) from the reanalysis data were examined for their consistency to identify changes in the past (data since 1950). For future changes (up to the year 2100), the same parameters were extracted from an ensemble of 12 downscaled regional climate models (RCM) of the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX)-South Asia simulations for low and high emission scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways 4.5 and 8.5). In the past, the climatic changes were mainly characterized by a mean temperature increase above global level of 1.8 °C from 1950 to 2010; uncertainty with regard to reanalyzed rainfall data limited a thorough analysis of past changes. Climate models projected the temperature trend to accelerate in the future, depending strongly on the global carbon emissions (2006–2050 Representative Concentration Pathways 4.5/8.5: 1.7/2.3 °C; 2006–2099: 2.7/6.4 °C, respectively). Despite the high uncertainty with regard to precipitation projections, it became apparent that the increasing evapotranspiration is likely to exacerbate Afghanistan’s already existing water stress, including a very strong increase of frequency and magnitude of heat waves. Overall, the results show that in addition to the already extensive deficiency in adaptation to current climate conditions, the situation will be aggravated in the future, particularly in regard to water management and agriculture. Thus, the results of this study underline the importance of adequate adaptation to climate change in Afghanistan. This is even truer taking into account that GSL is projected to increase substantially by around 20 days on average until 2050, which might open the opportunity for extended agricultural husbandry or even additional harvests when water resources are properly managed. KW - climate change KW - Afghanistan KW - Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX)-South Asia KW - trend analysis KW - Heat Wave Magnitude Index (HWMI) KW - Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) KW - growing season length (GSL) Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-198024 SN - 2225-1154 VL - 5 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ahmed, Bilal A1 - Ojha, Animesh K. A1 - Hirsch, Florian A1 - Fischer, Ingo A1 - Patrice, Donfack A1 - Materny, Arnulf T1 - Tailoring of enhanced interfacial polarization in WO\(_3\) nanorods grown over reduced graphene oxide synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method JF - RSC Advances N2 - In the present report, well-defined WO3 nanorods (NRs) and a rGO–WO\(_3\) composite were successfully synthesized using a one-pot hydrothermal method. The crystal phase, structural morphology, shape, and size of the as-synthesized samples were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements. The optical properties of the synthesized samples were investigated by Raman, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy and TEM results validate the formation of WO\(_3\) (NRs) on the rGO sheet. The value of the dielectric constant (ε′) of WO3 NRs and rGO–WO\(_3\) composite is decreased with an increase in frequency. At low frequency (2.5 to 3.5 Hz), the value of ε′ for the rGO–WO3 composite is greater than that of pure WO\(_3\) NRs. This could be due to the fact that the induced charges follow the ac signal. However, at higher frequency (3.4 to 6.0), the value of ε′ for the rGO–WO\(_3\) composite is less compared to that of the pure WO3 NRs. The overall decrease in the value of ε′ could be due to the occurrence of a polarization process at the interface of the rGO sheet and WO3 NRs. Enhanced interfacial polarization in the rGO–WO\(_3\) composite is observed, which may be attributed to the presence of polar functional groups on the rGO sheet. These functional groups trap charge carriers at the interface, resulting in an enhancement of the interfacial polarization. The value of the dielectric modulus is also calculated to further confirm this enhancement. The values of the ac conductivity of the WO\(_3\) NRs and rGO–WO\(_3\) composite were calculated as a function of the frequency. The greater value of the ac conductivity in the rGO–WO\(_3\) composite compared to that of the WO\(_3\) NRs confirms the restoration of the sp:\(^{++}\) network during the in situ synthesis of the rGO–WO\(_3\) composite, which is well supported by the results obtained by Raman spectroscopy. KW - chemistry Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-181829 VL - 7 IS - 23 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aeschlimann, Martin A1 - Brixner, Tobias A1 - Cinchetti, Mirko A1 - Frisch, Benjamin A1 - Hecht, Bert A1 - Hensen, Matthias A1 - Huber, Bernhard A1 - Kramer, Christian A1 - Krauss, Enno A1 - Loeber, Thomas H. A1 - Pfeiffer, Walter A1 - Piecuch, Martin A1 - Thielen, Philip T1 - Cavity-assisted ultrafast long-range periodic energy transfer between plasmonic nanoantennas JF - Light: Science & Applications N2 - Radiationless energy transfer is at the core of diverse phenomena, such as light harvesting in photosynthesis\(^1\), energy-transfer-based microspectroscopies\(^2\), nanoscale quantum entanglement\(^3\) and photonic-mode hybridization\(^4\). Typically, the transfer is efficient only for separations that are much shorter than the diffraction limit. This hampers its application in optical communication and quantum information processing, which require spatially selective addressing. Here, we demonstrate highly efficient radiationless coherent energy transfer over a distance of twice the excitation wavelength by combining localized and delocalized\(^5\) plasmonic modes. Analogous to the Tavis-Cummings model, two whispering-gallery-mode antennas\(^6\) placed in the foci of an elliptical plasmonic cavity\(^7\) fabricated from single-crystal gold plates act as a pair of oscillators coupled to a common cavity mode. Time-resolved two-photon photoemission electron microscopy (TR 2P-PEEM) reveals an ultrafast long-range periodic energy transfer in accordance with the simulations. Our observations open perspectives for the optimization and tailoring of mesoscopic energy transfer and long-range quantum emitter coupling. KW - chemistry KW - nanocavities KW - nanophotonics and plasmonics KW - photonic devices Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173265 VL - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Adrián-Martínez, S. A1 - Albert, A. A1 - André, M. A1 - Anghinolfi, M. A1 - Anton, G. A1 - Ardid, M. A1 - Aubert, J.-J. A1 - Baret, B. A1 - Barrios-Marti, J. A1 - Basa, S. A1 - Bertin, V. A1 - Biagi, S. A1 - Bormuth, R. A1 - Bouwhuis, M.C. A1 - Bruijn, R. A1 - Brunner, J. A1 - Buto, J. A1 - Capone, A. A1 - Caramete, L. A1 - Carr, J. A1 - Chiarusi, T. A1 - Circella, M. A1 - Coniglione, R. A1 - Costantini, H. A1 - Coyle, P. A1 - Creusot, A. A1 - Dekeyser, I. A1 - Deschamps, A. A1 - De Bonis, G. A1 - Distefano, C. T1 - Stacked search for time shifted high energy neutrinos from gamma ray bursts with the ANTARES neutrino telescope JF - European Physical Journal C N2 - A search for high-energy neutrino emission correlated with gamma-ray bursts outside the electromagnetic prompt-emission time window is presented. Using a stacking approach of the time delays between reported gamma-ray burst alerts and spatially coincident muon-neutrino signatures, data from the Antares neutrino telescope recorded between 2007 and 2012 are analysed. One year of public data from the IceCube detector between 2008 and 2009 have been also investigated. The respective timing profiles are scanned for statistically significant accumulations within 40 days of the Gamma Ray Burst, as expected from Lorentz Invariance Violation effects and some astrophysical models. No significant excess over the expected accidental coincidence rate could be found in either of the two data sets. The average strength of the neutrino signal is found to be fainter than one detectable neutrino signal per hundred gamma-ray bursts in the Antares data at 90% confidence level. KW - Search window KW - Neutrino data KW - Neutrino telescope KW - Neutrino emission KW - Accidental coincidence KW - Gamma-ray bursts Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-181251 VL - 77 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Abu-Halima, Masood A1 - Häusler, Sebastian A1 - Backes, Christina A1 - Fehlmann, Tobias A1 - Staib, Claudia A1 - Nestel, Sigrun A1 - Nazarenko, Irina A1 - Meese, Eckart A1 - Keller, Andreas T1 - Micro-ribonucleic acids and extracellular vesicles repertoire in the spent culture media is altered in women undergoing \(In\) \(Vitro\) Fertilization JF - Scientific Reports N2 - MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are class of small RNA molecules with major impact on gene regulation. We analyzed the potential of miRNAs secreted from pre-implantation embryos into the embryonic culture media as biomarkers to predict successful pregnancy. Using microarray analysis, we profiled the miRNome of the 56 spent culture media (SCM) after embryos transfer and found a total of 621 miRNAs in the SCM. On average, we detected 163 miRNAs in SCM of samples with failed pregnancies, but only 149 SCM miRNAs of embryos leading to pregnancies. MiR-634 predicted an embryo transfer leading to a positive pregnancy with an accuracy of 71% and a sensitivity of 85%. Among the 621 miRNAs, 102 (16.4%) showed a differential expression between positive and negative outcome of pregnancy with miR-29c-3p as the most significantly differentially expressed miRNA. The number of extracellular vehicles was lower in SCM with positive outcomes (3.8 × 10\(^9\)/mL EVs), as compared to a negative outcome (7.35 × 10\(^9\)/mL EVs) possibly explaining the reduced number of miRNAs in the SCM associated with failed pregnancies. The analysis of the miRNome in the SCM of couples undergoing fertility treatment lays the ground towards development of biomarkers to predict successful pregnancy and towards understanding the role of embryonic miRNAs found in the SCM. KW - Medicine KW - miRNAs KW - Molecular biology KW - Non-coding RNAs Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173632 VL - 7 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Measurement of the inclusive cross-sections of single top-quark and top-antiquark \(t\)-channel production in \(pp\) collisions at \(\sqrt{s}\) = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - A measurement of the \(t\)-channel single-top-quark and single-top-antiquark production cross-sections in the lepton+jets channel is presented, using 3.2 fb\(^{−1}\) of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2015. Events are selected by requiring one charged lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse momentum, and two jets with high transverse momentum, exactly one of which is required to be \(b\)-tagged. Using a binned maximum-likelihood fit to the discriminant distribution of a neural network, the cross-sections are determined to be \({σ(tq)}\) = 156 ± 5 (stat.) ± 27 (syst.) ± 3 (lumi.) pb for single top-quark production and \(σ(\overline{t}q)\) = 91 ± 4 (stat.) ± 18 (syst.) ± 2 (lumi.) pb for single top-antiquark production, assuming a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV. The cross-section ratio is measured to be \(R_{t}\) = \(σ(tq)/σ(\overline{t}q)\) = 1.72 ± 0.09 (stat.) ± 0.18 (syst.). All results are in agreement with Standard Model predictions. KW - High energy physics KW - Hadron-Hadron scattering (experiments) Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173357 VL - 2017 IS - 04 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Measurement of charged-particle distributions sensitive to the underlying event in \(\sqrt{s}\) = 13 TeV proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector at the LHC JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - We present charged-particle distributions sensitive to the underlying event, measured by the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, in low-luminosity Large Hadron Collider fills corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.6 nb\(^{−1}\). The distributions were constructed using charged particles with absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.5 and with transverse momentum greater than 500 MeV, in events with at least one such charged particle with transverse momentum above 1 GeV. These distributions characterise the angular distribution of energy and particle flows with respect to the charged particle with highest transverse momentum, as a function of both that momentum and of charged-particle multiplicity. The results have been corrected for detector effects and are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generators, experimentally establishing the level of underlying-event activity at LHC Run 2 energies and providing inputs for the development of event generator modelling. The current models in use for UE modelling typically describe this data to 5% accuracy, compared with data uncertainties of less than 1%. KW - High energy physics KW - Hadron-Hadron scattering (experiments) Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173361 VL - 2017 IS - 03 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Searches for the \(Z\)γ decay mode of the Higgs boson and for new high-mass resonances in \({pp}\) collisions at \(\sqrt{s}\) = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - This article presents searches for the \({Zγ}\) decay of the Higgs boson and for narrow high-mass resonances decaying to \(Z\)γ, exploiting \(Z\) boson decays to pairs of electrons or muons. The data analysis uses 36.1 fb\(^{−1}\) of \({pp}\) collisions at \(\sqrt{s}=13\) recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The data are found to be consistent with the expected Standard Model background. The observed (expected — assuming Standard Model \({pp} → H → {Z}γ\) production and decay) upper limit on the production cross section times the branching ratio for \({pp} → H → {Z}γ\) is 6.6. (5.2) times the Standard Model prediction at the 95% confidence level for a Higgs boson mass of 125.09 GeV. In addition, upper limits are set on the production cross section times the branching ratio as a function of the mass of a narrow resonance between 250 GeV and 2.4 TeV, assuming spin-0 resonances produced via gluon-gluon fusion, and spin-2 resonances produced via gluon-gluon or quark-antiquark initial states. For high-mass spin-0 resonances, the observed (expected) limits vary between 88 fb (61 fb) and 2.8 fb (2.7 fb) for the mass range from 250 GeV to 2.4 TeV at the 95% confidence level. KW - High energy physics KW - Hadron-Hadron scattering (experiments) KW - Higgs physics Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172751 VL - 2017 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Search for supersymmetry in final states with two same-sign or three leptons and jets using 36 fb\(^{−1}\) of \(\sqrt{s}=13\) TeV \(pp\) collision data with the ATLAS detector JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - A search for strongly produced supersymmetric particles using signatures involving multiple energetic jets and either two isolated same-sign leptons (\(e\) or \(µ\)), or at least three isolated leptons, is presented. The analysis relies on the identification of \(b\)-jets and high missing transverse momentum to achieve good sensitivity. A data sample of proton-proton collisions at \(\sqrt{s} = 13\) TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 and 2016, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb\(^{−1}\), is used for the search. No significant excess over the Standard Model prediction is observed. The results are interpreted in several simplified supersymmetric models featuring \(R\)-parity conservation or \(R\)-parity violation, extending the exclusion limits from previous searches. In models considering gluino pair production, gluino masses are excluded up to 1.87 TeV at 95% confidence level. When bottom squarks are pair-produced and decay to a chargino and a top quark, models with bottom squark masses below 700 GeV and light neutralinos are excluded at 95% confidence level. In addition, model-independent limits are set on a possible contribution of new phenomena to the signal region yields. KW - High energy physics KW - Hadron-Hadron scattering (experiments) KW - Supersymmetry Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172787 VL - 2017 IS - 09 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Measurements of top-quark pair differential cross-sections in the lepton+jets channel in pp collisions at \( \sqrt{s}=13 \) TeV using the ATLAS detector JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - Measurements of differential cross-sections of top-quark pair production in fiducial phase-spaces are presented as a function of top-quark and \(t\overline{t}\) system kinematic observables in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of \(\sqrt{s}\) = 13 TeV. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb\(^{−1}\), recorded in 2015 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Events with exactly one electron or muon and at least two jets in the final state are used for the measurement. Two separate selections are applied that each focus on different top-quark momentum regions, referred to as resolved and boosted topologies of the \(t\overline{t}\) final state. The measured spectra are corrected for detector effects and are compared to several Monte Carlo simulations by means of calculated \(χ^2\) and \(p\)-values. KW - High energy physics KW - Hadron-Hadron scattering (experiments) Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172386 VL - 2017 IS - 191 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A measurement of the calorimeter response to single hadrons and determination of the jet energy scale uncertainty using LHC Run-1 \(pp\)-collision data with the ATLAS detector JF - European Physical Journal C N2 - A measurement of the calorimeter response to isolated charged hadrons in the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. This measurement is performed with 3.2 nb\(^{−1}\) of proton–proton collision data at \(\sqrt{s}\) = 7 TeV from 2010 and 0.1 nb\(^{−1}\) of data at \(\sqrt{s}\) = 8 TeV from 2012. A number of aspects of the calorimeter response to isolated hadrons are explored. After accounting for energy deposited by neutral particles, there is a 5% discrepancy in the modelling, using various sets of GEANT4 hadronic physics models, of the calorimeter response to isolated charged hadrons in the central calorimeter region. The description of the response to anti-protons at low momenta is found to be improved with respect to previous analyses. The electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters are also examined separately, and the detector simulation is found to describe the response in the hadronic calorimeter well. The jet energy scale uncertainty and correlations in scale between jets of different momenta and pseudorapidity are derived based on these studies. The uncertainty is 2–5% for jets with transverse momenta above 2 TeV, where this method provides the jet energy scale uncertainty for ATLAS. KW - high energy physics KW - ATLAS detector KW - hadronic calorimeter KW - charged hadron response KW - identified particle response KW - hadronic physics Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173690 VL - 77 IS - 26 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Search for triboson \({W^\pm}{W^\pm}{W^\mp}\) production in \(pp\) collisions at \(\sqrt{s}\) = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector JF - European Physical Journal C N2 - This paper reports a search for triboson \({W^\pm}{W^\pm}{W^\mp}\) production in two decay channels (\({W^\pm}{W^\pm}{W^\mp}\) → \({ℓ^\pm}{νℓ^\pm}{νℓ^\mp}{ν}\) and \({W^\pm}{W^\pm}{W^\mp}\) → \({ℓ^\pm}{νℓ^\pm}{νjj}\) with \(ℓ=e,μ\)) in proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb\(^{−1}\) at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with exactly three charged leptons, or two leptons with the same electric charge in association with two jets, are selected. The total number of events observed in data is consistent with the Standard Model (SM) predictions. The observed 95% confidence level upper limit on the SM \({W^\pm}{W^\pm}{W^\mp}\) production cross section is found to be 730 fb with an expected limit of 560 fb in the absence of SM \({W^\pm}{W^\pm}{W^\mp}\) production. Limits are also set on \(WWWW\) anomalous quartic gauge couplings. KW - high energy physics KW - triboson production KW - triple gauge couplings (TGCs) KW - quartic gauge couplings (QGCs) KW - decay channels Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173710 VL - 77 IS - 141 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Measurements of charge and CP asymmetries in \(b\)-hadron decays using top-quark events collected by the ATLAS detector in \(pp\) collisions at \(\sqrt{s}\) = 8 TeV JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - Same- and opposite-sign charge asymmetries are measured in lepton+jets \({t\overline{t}}\) events in which a \(b\)-hadron decays semileptonically to a soft muon, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb\(^{−1}\) from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of \(\sqrt{s}\) = 8 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The charge asymmetries are based on the charge of the lepton from the top-quark decay and the charge of the soft muon from the semileptonic decay of a \(b\)-hadron and are measured in a fiducial region corresponding to the experimental acceptance. Four CP asymmetries (one mixing and three direct) are measured and are found to be compatible with zero and consistent with the Standard Model. KW - High energy physics KW - Hadron-Hadron scattering (experiments) Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173603 VL - 2017 IS - 02 ER -