TY - THES A1 - Kritzer, Robert T1 - Quantum dynamics in dissipative environments T1 - Quantendynamik in dissipativer Umgebung N2 - In this thesis, the influence of an environment on molecules and, in particular, on the quantum control of such systems is investigated. Different approaches to describe system-bath dynamics are implemented and applied. The inclusion of a dissipation term in the system Hamiltonian leads to energy loss and relaxation to the ground state. As a first application, the isomerisation reaction in an aromatic complex is treated. It is shown that this simple model is able to reproduce results of time-resolved spectroscopic measurements. Next, the influence of noise is investigated. The incorporation of fluctuations reveals that energy is not conserved and coherences are destroyed. As an example, the quantum control of a population transfer in Na2 is examined. The efficiency of control processes is studied in dependence on the strength of the noise and different system-bath couplings. Starting with the unperturbed system, Local Control Theory is applied to construct a field which selectively transfers population into a single excited electronic state. The coupling to the bath is then switched on to monitor the dependence of the coupling strength on the transfer efficiency. The perturbation of the bath effects the Na2 molecule in such a way that potential energy curves and transition dipole moments are distorted. An important result is that already elastic collisions lead to a substantial loss of control efficiency. The most promising approach used in this thesis is the stochastic Schrödinger equation. It is equivalent to the commonly employed descriptions of system-bath dynamics within the reduced density matrix formalism. It includes decoherences and dissipation caused by elastic and inelastic collisions. Our contribution is the incorporation of laser excitation into the kinetic Monte-Carlo scheme. Thus we are able to apply this stochastic approach to the quantum control of population transfer in the sodium dimer. Because within our description it is possible to separate pure dephasing, inelastic transitions, and coherent time-evolution, we can identify the relative influence of these processes on the control efficiency. This leads to a far more physical picture of the basic processes underlying the perturbations of an environment then what a reduced density matrix description can provide. In utilising the stochastic wave function approach instead of the density matrix formalism, the computations are quite efficient. The stochastic Schrödinger equation is realised by N independent runs, where, in our case, an ensemble size of N = 1000 gives converged results. The efficiency of the laser control process is studied as a function of temperature and collision rates. A rise in temperature (or collision rate) reeffects a stronger fluctuation and thus results in a less efficient transfer by the control field. Though the Gaussian fluctuations used here do not strictly represent 'white'- noise, since a deterministic machine is not able to produce uncorrelated random numbers, an acceptable distribution is achieved by simple procedures. An improvement of the here applied algorithms would, for instance, include a more sophisticated sampling of the dephasing rates. Only one example of a control process is studied here and an application of the developed approach to other problems of quantum control is to be performed. This thesis established a systematic approach to understand quantum control in the presence of an environment. N2 - In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der Einfluss der Umgebung auf Moleküle und insbesondere der Quantenkontrolle solcher Systeme untersucht. Unterschiedliche Herangehensweisen, System-Bad-Kopplungen zu beschreiben, werden implementiert und angewendet. Die Berücksichtigung eines Dissipationstermes im System-Hamiltonoperator führt zu Energieabgabe und Relaxation in den Grundzustand. Als eine erste Anwendung wird die Isomerisation eines aromatischen Komplexes behandelt. Anhand dieses einfachen Modells ist es möglich, Resultate zeitaufgelöster, spektroskopischer Messungen zu reproduzieren. Weiterhin wird der Einfluss des Rauschens untersucht. Die Einführung von Fluktuationen führt dazu, dass Energie nicht erhalten bleibt und Kohärenz verloren geht. Als ein Beispiel dient hier die Quantenkontrolle eines Populationstransferprozesses im Na2 Molekül. Die Effizienz eines Kontrollprozesses wird in Abhängigkeit der Rauschstärke und verschiedener System-Bad-Kopplungen untersucht. Ausgehend vom ungestörten System wird die Lokale Kontrolltheorie benutzt, um ein Feld, welches selektiv Population in einen einzigen, angeregten Zustand transferiert, zu konstruieren. Die Kopplung an das Bad wird daraufhin eingeschaltet, um die Abhängigkeit der Kopplungsstärke auf die Transfereffizienz zu charakterisieren. Die Störung des Bades beeinflusst das Na2-Molekül dahingehend, dass Potentialkurven und Übergangsdipolmomente verzerrt werden. Eine wichtige Erkenntnis ist, dass bereits elastische Stöße zu einem substantiellen Verlust der Kontrolleffizienz führen. Die am meisten versprechende Methode, welche in dieser Arbeit Verwendung findet, ist die der stochastischen Schrödingergleichung. Sie ist der weitläufig gebräuchlichen Beschreibung von System-Bad-Wechselwirkungen innerhalb des Formalismus der reduzierten Dichtematrix gleichwertig. Dekohärenzen und Dissipationseffekte ausgelöst durch elastische und inelastische Stöße werden innerhalb der stochastischen Gleichungen separat berücksichtigt. Unser Beitrag ist die Einbindung der Laseranregung in das kinetische Monte-Carlo-Schema. Dies ermöglicht die Anwendung des stochastischen Ansatzes auf die Quantenkontrolle des Populationstransfers eines Natriumdimers. Da es innerhalb unserer Beschreibung möglich ist, reine Dephasierungen, inelastische Übergänge und kohärente Entwicklung in der Zeit zu beschreiben, können wir den relativen Einfluss jener Prozesse auf die Kontrolleffizienz identifizieren. Dies führt zu einer physikalischeren Beschreibung der zugrunde liegenden Prozesse, welche die Störungen der Umgebung bewirken, als sich aus einer reduzierten Dichtematrizendarstellung ergibt. Durch Benutzung des stochastischen Wellenfunktionsansatzes anstelle des Dichtematrizenformalismus ergeben sich effiziente Berechnungen. Die stochastische Schrödingergleichung wird für N unabhängige Programmdurchläufe gelöst, wobei in unserem Fall eine Ensemblegröße von N = 1000 konvergente Resultate liefert. Die Wirksamkeit des Laserkontrollprozesses wird anhand von Temperatur und Stoßrate untersucht. Ein Anstieg der Temperatur (oder der Stoßrate) spiegelt höhere Fluktuationen wider und resultiert daher in einem weniger effizienten, von einem Kontrollfeld hervorgerufenen Transfer. Obwohl die gaußverteilten Fluktuationen, welche hier benutzt werden, strenggenommen kein 'Weisses Rauschen' repräsentieren, da eine deterministische Rechenmaschine keine unkorrellierten Zufallszahlen generieren kann, wird dennoch eine akzeptable Verteilung aus einfachen Prozeduren erhalten. Eine Verbesserung der hier angewendeten Algorithmen würde zum Beispiel aus einer verfeinerten Implementierung der Dephasierungsraten bestehen. Lediglich ein Beispiel eines Kontrollprozesses wird hier untersucht und die Anwendung der erarbeiteten Methodik auf andere Fragestellungen der Quantenkontrolle ist noch offen. Diese Dissertation stellt somit eine systematische Annäherung dar, um die Quantenkontrolle in Anwesenheit von Umgebungseinflüssen zu verstehen. KW - Quantenmechanisches System KW - Dissipatives System KW - Quantenkontrolle KW - dissipative Umgebung KW - Quantum dynamics KW - dissipative environments Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-73456 ER - TY - THES A1 - Settels, Volker T1 - Quantum chemical description of ultrafast exciton self-trapping in perylene based materials T1 - Quanten-chemische Beschreibung von ultraschnellem Self-trapping von Exzitonen in Perylen-basierten Materialien N2 - Im Rahmen dieser Dissertation wurden sehr lange Exzitonen-Diffusionslängen (LD) unter idealen Bedingungen für Perylen-basierte Materialien simuliert. Dies ist ein Indiz dafür, dass die sehr kurzen LD in realen Materialien aus einer extrinsischen sowie einer intrinsischen Immobilisierung resultieren. Letztere basiert auf einer Relaxation in sogenannten „Self-Trapping“-Zustände. Ein tieferes Verständnis der dem Self-Trapping zugrunde liegenden atomistischen Prozesse ist notwendig, um zukünftig Materialien mit langen LD entwickeln zu können, bei denen eine intrinsische Exzitonen-Immobilisierung verhindert wird. Für die Entwicklung eines solchen mechanistischen Verständnisses ist das Vorliegen einer eindeutigen Korrelation zwischen der molekularen Anordnung und der LD unabdingbar. Diese weisen Einkristalle von Diindenoperylen (DIP) und α-Perylen-tetracarboxyl-anhydrid (α-PTCDA) auf. Bei ersteren wurde eine außergewöhnlich lange LD von 90 nm und bei letzteren nur 22 nm gemessen. Teil dieser Arbeit war es, Gründe für diesen Unterschied in der LD zu finden. Nur Self-Trapping kommt als Ursache in Frage. Aus diesem Grund eignen sich diese Materialien, um ein atomistisches Verständnis des Self-Trappings exemplarisch an ihnen zu erarbeiten. Mutmaßlich könnten Differenzen in der elektronischen Struktur in DIP und α-PTCDA für das unterschiedliche Self-Trapping verantwortlich sein. Allerdings konnte gezeigt werden, dass es für viele Perylen-basierte Materialien keine signifikanten Unterschiede in der elektronischen Struktur gibt, wodurch diese für die Aufklärung von Immobilisierungsmechanismen zu vernachlässigen sind. Eine weitere mögliche Begründung wäre in Polarisationseffekten im Kristall zu suchen, welche die elektronische Struktur in Perylen-basierten Materialien unterschiedlich beeinflussen. Vor allem ihr Einfluss auf Ladungstrennungs-Zustände (CT), die oberhalb des optisch hellen Frenkel-Zustandes liegen, war fraglich, weil sie energetisch abgesenkt werden könnten. Ein signifikanter Einfluss von Polarisationseffekten konnte aber für alle Zustände mittels eines polarisierbaren Kontinuum-Modells ausgeschlossen werden. Die geringe LD im α-PTCDA ist folglich ein Indiz für ein Self-Trapping, das durch die Kristallstruktur aus π-Stapeln evoziert wird, welche in DIP fischgrätenartig ist. Da Polarisationseffekte auszuschließen sind, übt der Kristall lediglich durch sterische Restriktionen einen Einfluss auf das Dimer aus. Daher muss die Methode für die Beschreibung von Self-Trapping nur diese Effekte berücksichtigen, so dass sich für den Einsatz des mechanical embedding QM/MM-Ansatzes entschieden wurde. Nun konnten Potentialflächen berechnet werden, auf denen anschließend eine Wellenpaketdynamik durchgeführt wurde. Diese Methode erlaubt es erstmals, Mechanismen der Exzitonen-Immobilisierung in organischen Materialien auf einer atomistischen Ebene zu beschreiben. Als Erklärung für Self-Trapping in α-PTCDA dienten Potentialflächen, die eine intermolekulare Verschiebung des Dimers im Kristall abbilden. So wurde eine Exzitonen-Immobilisierung innerhalb von 500 fs gefunden, die aus einem irreversiblem Energieverlust und einer lokalen Verzerrung der Kristallstruktur resultiert und auf diese Weise den weiteren Transport des Exzitons verhindert. Im Fall von DIP kann diese Immobilisierung aufgrund hoher Energiebarrieren nicht stattfinden. Diese Barrieren resultieren aus der fischgrätenartigen Kristallstruktur des DIP. Diese Diskrepanzen in der Dynamik erklären die unterschiedlichen LD-Werte für DIP und α-PTCDA. In einem weiteren Fall wurde eine Exzitonen-Immobilisierung in helikalen π Aggregaten von Perylen-tetracarboxyl-bisimid (PBI) Molekülen festgestellt. Hier wird Self-Trapping durch einen Relaxationsmechanismus verursacht, in dem das Exziton durch geringe asymmetrische Schwingungen des Aggregats innerhalb von 200 fs von dem hellen Frenkel- in den dunklen Frenkel-Zustand transferiert wird, wobei dieser Übergang von einem CT-Zustand vermittelt wird. Der gesamte Vorgang ist nur bei helikalen Aggregaten möglich, weil nur hier CT-Zustände sehr dicht bei dem hellen Frenkel-Zustand vorhanden sind. Im finalen Frenkel-Zustand tritt eine Torsionsbewegung um die π-Stapelachse ein, so dass ein Energieverlust und eine lokale Änderung der Aggregatstruktur erfolgt – also ein Self-Trapping des Exzitons. Dieser modellierte Mechanismus steht im Einklang zu allen vorliegenden experimentellen Daten. Diese Erkenntnisse lassen die Schlussfolgerung zu, dass in künftigen Materialen für organische Solarzellen eine irreversible und ultraschnelle Deformation des Aggregats nach der Photoanregung vermieden werden muss - will man lange LD erreichen. Nur so kann Self-Trapping von Exzitonen verhindert werden. N2 - In the context of this dissertation very long ranged exciton diffusion lengths (LD) were simulated for perylene-based materials under ideal conditions. This leads to the conclusion that the short LD values in existing materials result from an extrinsic and intrinsic immobilization. The latter, which is a specific material property, is based on a relaxation of the exciton into self-trapping states. An in-depth understanding of the atomistic processes defining self-trapping is essential to developing materials with long LD in the future, in which intrinsic immobilization is prevented. For the development of such a mechanistic understanding it is crucial that a clear relationship between molecular structure and LD is available. This is given by single crystals of diindeno perylene (DIP) and α-perylene tetracarboxylic anhydride (α-PTCDA). An extraordinary large LD of 90 nm was measured for the first one, while the latter possesses only 22 nm. Part of this thesis was to deliver reasons for this discrepancy. Only self-trapping comes into question to explain the different LD values. One reason for the different self-trapping in DIP and α-PTCDA could lie in the electronic structure. However, it was possible to demonstrate that a wide range of perylene-based materials possess no significant differences in their electronic structures. Consequently, such differences can be neglected for the explanation of immobilization mechanisms for the exciton. A further possible explanation could be polarization effects in the crystal, which influences the electronic structure of perylene based materials differently. Especially their influence on charge transfer (CT) states, which are located above the optically bright Frenkel state, was in question because such states could be stabilized by a polarizable surrounding. A significant influence of polarization effects on all considered states were excluded by using a polarizable continuum model. Hence, the small LD values in α-PTCDA are an evidence for self-trapping, which produces a crystal structure built up by π-stacks, while the one of DIP is of herringbone type. Since polarization effects can be neglected, is the dimer only via steric restrictions influenced by the crystal. Hence, a method describing self-trapping has to consider such effects, so that a mechanical embedding QM/MM approach is sufficient. Now, potential energy surfaces were calculated, on which wave packet dynamics were subsequently performed. In this way, atomistic mechanisms for the immobilization of excitons were described for the first time in organic materials. Self-trapping was studied in crystals of α-PTCDA by potential energy surfaces, which map an intermolecular shift motion of the dimer in the crystal. An immobilization of excitons occurs within 500 fs, which results from an irreversible energy loss together with a local deformation of the crystal lattice. This prevents a further transport of the exciton. In the case of DIP, this immobilization does not proceed due to high barriers. These barriers result from the herringbone type packing motif in the DIP crystal. This discrepancy in the dynamics explains the different LD values in DIP and α-PTCDA. In a further example, an exciton immobilization was found in helical π-aggregates of perylene tetracarboxylic bisimide (PBI) molecules. Self-trapping is caused by a relaxation mechanism, in which the exciton is transferred by asymmetric vibrations of the aggregate from the bright to a dark Frenkel state within 200 fs, whereby the transition is mediated by a CT state. However, the CT state is almost non-populated during the whole mechanism so that its participation could not yet be proven experimentally. This entire procedure is solely possible in helical aggregates, because only for such structures is there a CT state located next to the bright Frenkel state. At the final Frenkel state a torsional motion around the π-stacking axis is possible so that the loss in energy and the local rearrangement of the aggregate structure occurs, which means a self-trapping of the exciton. This mechanism is in perfect agreement with all available experimental data. These insights allow the conclusion that in future materials for organic solar cells an irreversible and ultrafast deformation of aggregates after photo-absorption must be avoided. Only in this way long LD values can be achieved and exciton self-trapping can be prevented. However, small LD values are always predicted in helical aggregates of perylene-based materials, because exciton immobilization occurs already due to small molecular motions. For this reason such aggregates are inappropriate for the use in organic solar cells. Long LD values are expected for aggregate structures with long intermolecular shifts or molecules with bulky substituents. KW - Exziton KW - Quantenchemie KW - Angeregter Zustand KW - Self-Trapping KW - CC2 KW - exciton KW - self-trapping KW - quantum chemistry KW - excited state KW - Perylenderivate Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-69861 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lando, David A1 - Endesfelder, Ulrike A1 - Berger, Harald A1 - Subramanian, Lakxmi A1 - Dunne, Paul D. A1 - McColl, James A1 - Klenerman, David A1 - Carr, Antony M. A1 - Sauer, Markus A1 - Allshire, Robin C. A1 - Heilemann, Mike A1 - Laue, Ernest D. T1 - Quantitative single-molecule microscopy reveals that CENP-A\(^{Cnp1}\) deposition occurs during G2 in fission yeast JF - Open Biology N2 - The inheritance of the histone H3 variant CENP-A in nucleosomes at centromeres following DNA replication is mediated by an epigenetic mechanism. To understand the process of epigenetic inheritance, or propagation of histones and histone variants, as nucleosomes are disassembled and reassembled in living eukaryotic cells, we have explored the feasibility of exploiting photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM). PALM of single molecules in living cells has the potential to reveal new concepts in cell biology, providing insights into stochastic variation in cellular states. However, thus far, its use has been limited to studies in bacteria or to processes occurring near the surface of eukaryotic cells. With PALM, one literally observes and 'counts' individual molecules in cells one-by-one and this allows the recording of images with a resolution higher than that determined by the diffraction of light (the so-called super-resolution microscopy). Here, we investigate the use of different fluorophores and develop procedures to count the centromere-specific histone H3 variant CENP-A\(^{Cnp1}\) with single-molecule sensitivity in fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe). The results obtained are validated by and compared with ChIP-seq analyses. Using this approach, CENP-A\(^{Cnp1}\) levels at fission yeast (S. pombe) centromeres were followed as they change during the cell cycle. Our measurements show that CENP-A(Cnp1) is deposited solely during the G2 phase of the cell cycle. KW - nucleosome KW - fission yeast KW - identification KW - propagation KW - CSE4, CENP-A KW - CENP-A KW - schizosaccaromyces-pombe KW - fluorescent protein KW - centomeres KW - superresolution KW - chromatin KW - centromere KW - ingle-molecule microscopy Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-134682 VL - 2 IS - 120078 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - d'Alquen, Daniela A1 - De Boeck, Kris A1 - Bradley, Judy A1 - Vávrová, Věra A1 - Dembski, Brigit A1 - Wagner, Thomas O.F. A1 - Pfalz, Annette A1 - Hebestreit, Helge T1 - Quality assessment of expert answers to lay questions about cystic fibrosis from various language zones in Europe: the ECORN-CF project N2 - Background: The European Centres of Reference Network for Cystic Fibrosis (ECORN-CF) established an Internet forum which provides the opportunity for CF patients and other interested people to ask experts questions about CF in their mother language. The objectives of this study were to: 1) develop a detailed quality assessment tool to analyze quality of expert answers, 2) evaluate the intra- and inter-rater agreement of this tool, and 3) explore changes in the quality of expert answers over the time frame of the project. Methods: The quality assessment tool was developed by an expert panel. Five experts within the ECORN-CF project used the quality assessment tool to analyze the quality of 108 expert answers published on ECORN-CF from six language zones. 25 expert answers were scored at two time points, one year apart. Quality of answers was also assessed at an early and later period of the project. Individual rater scores and group mean scores were analyzed for each expert answer. Results: A scoring system and training manual were developed analyzing two quality categories of answers: content and formal quality. For content quality, the grades based on group mean scores for all raters showed substantial agreement between two time points, however this was not the case for the grades based on individual rater scores. For formal quality the grades based on group mean scores showed only slight agreement between two time points and there was also poor agreement between time points for the individual grades. The inter-rater agreement for content quality was fair (mean kappa value 0.232 ± 0.036, p < 0.001) while only slight agreement was observed for the grades of the formal quality (mean kappa value 0.105 ± 0.024, p < 0.001). The quality of expert answers was rated high (four language zones) or satisfactory (two language zones) and did not change over time. Conclusions: The quality assessment tool described in this study was feasible and reliable when content quality was assessed by a group of raters. Within ECORN-CF, the tool will help ensure that CF patients all over Europe have equal possibility of access to high quality expert advice on their illness. KW - ECORN-CF Projekt Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-75072 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Langenfeld, Ulrich A1 - Moch, Sven-Olaf A1 - Pfoh, Torsten T1 - QCD threshold corrections for gluino pair production at hadron colliders JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - We present the complete threshold enhanced predictions in QCD for the total cross section of gluino pair production at hadron colliders at next-to-next-to-leading order. Thanks to the computation of the required one-loop hard matching coefficients our results are accurate to the next-to-next-to-leading logarithm. In a brief phenomenological study we provide predictions for the total hadronic cross sections at the LHC and we discuss the uncertainties arising from scale variations and the parton distribution functions. KW - resummation KW - supersymmetric standard model Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-129609 VL - 11 IS - 070 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kilian, W. A1 - Ohl, T. A1 - Reuter, J. A1 - Speckner, C. T1 - QCD in the color-flow representation JF - Journal of High Energy Physics N2 - For many practical purposes, it is convenient to formulate unbroken non-abelian gauge theories like QCD in a color-flow basis. We present a new derivation of SU(N) interactions in the color-flow basis by extending the gauge group to U(N) × U(1)′ in such a way that the two U(1) factors cancel each other. We use the quantum action principles to show the equivalence to the usual basis to all orders in perturbation theory. We extend the known Feynman rules to exotic color representations (e.g. sextets) and discuss practical applications as they occur in automatic computation programs. KW - QCD KW - scattering amplitudes KW - 1/N expansion Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-129583 VL - 10 IS - 022 ER - TY - THES A1 - Zheng, Peilin T1 - Ptpn22 silencing in the NOD model of type 1 diabetes indicates the human susceptibility allele of PTPN22 is a gain-of-function variant T1 - Ptpn22 knockdown im NOD Modell für Diabetes Typ 1 belegt einen Aktivitätsgewinn der humanen Krankheitsvariante N2 - PTPN22 encodes the lymphoid tyrosine phosphatase Lyp that can dephosphorylate Lck, ZAP-70 and Fyn to attenuate TCR signaling. A single-nucleotide polymorphism (C1858T) causes a substitution from arginine (R) to tryptophan (W) at 620 residue (R620W). Lyp-620W has been confirmed as a susceptible allele in multiple autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes (T1D). Several independent studies proposed that the disease-associated allele is a gain-of-function variant. However, a recent report found that in human cells and a knockin mouse containing the R620W homolog that Ptpn22 protein degradation is accelerated, indicating Lyp-620W is a loss-of-function variant. Whether Lyp R620W is a gain- or loss-of-function variant remains controversial. To resolve this issue, we generated two lines (P2 and P4) of nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice in which Ptpn22 can be inducibly silenced by RNAi. We found long term silencing of Ptpn22 increased spleen cellularity and regulatory T (Treg) cell numbers, replicating the effect of gene deletion reported in the knockout (KO) B6 mice. Notably, Ptpn22 silencing also increased the reactivity and apoptotic behavior of B lymphocytes, which is consistent with the reduced reactivity and apoptosis of human B cells carrying the alleged gain-of-function PTPN22 allele. Furthermore, loss of Ptpn22 protected P2 KD mice from spontaneous and Cyclophosphamide (CY) induced diabetes. Our data support the notion that Lyp-620W is a gain-of-function variant. Moreover, Lyp may be a valuable target for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. N2 - PTPN22 kodiert die lymphoid tyrosine phosphatase Lyp, die Lck, ZAP-70 und Fyn dephosphorilieren kann, um T Zell Rezeptor Signale zu vermindern. Ein Polymorphismus (C1858T) verursacht einen Aminosäurenaustausch auf Position 620 von Arginin zu Tryptophan (R620W). Lyp-620W erhöht das Risiko einer Vielfalt von Autoimmunerkrankungen, darunter auch Diabetes Typ 1 (T1D). Mehrere Studien haben belegt, dass dieses Krankheitsallel die Funktion von Lyp verstärkt. Eine neuere Studie hat andererseits gezeigt, dass die R620W Variante schneller degradiert wird, was bedeuten würde, dass das C1858T Allel einen Funktionsverlust verursachen könnte. Ob Lyp R620W die Funktion dieser Phosphatase erhöht oder mindert bleibt demnach bis jetzt ungewiss. Um diese Frage zu klären haben wir zwei transgene Mauslinien (P2 und P4) im diabetischen Hintergrund der NOD Maus generiert, in denen Ptpn22 auf induzierbare Weise durch RNAi gehemmt werden kann. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die langfristige Hemmung von Ptpn22 zu einer Zunahme der Milzzellularität und der Anzahl regulatorischer T Zellen führt, was dem Phänotyp des Ptpn22 knockout im B6 Hintergrund entspricht. Bemerkenswert ist, dass die Hemmung von Ptpn22 auch zu einer Zunahme der Reaktivität und des apoptotischen Verhaltens von B Lymphozyten führt, also dem entgegengesetzten Phänotypen, der in menschlichen B Zellen beobachtet wurde, die das Krankheitsallel exprimierten. Zusätzlich konnte die Ptpn22 Inhibierung NOD Mäuse vor spontanem und Cyclophosphamid-induziertem Diabetes schützen. Unsere Daten unterstützen also die Hypothese, dass Lyp-620W eine stärkere Aktivität vorweist. Dies würde auch bedeuten, dass Ptpn22 möglicherweise zu therapeutischen Zwecken inhibiert werden könnte, um Autoimmunerkrankungen zu bekämpfen. KW - Diabetes mellitus KW - Typ 1 KW - Genexpression KW - Ptpn22 KW - Diabetes Typ 1 KW - Type 1 diabetes KW - PTPN22 Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-73869 ER - TY - THES A1 - Cook, Vanessa Janine T1 - Protection of healthy tissues from infection with systemically administered vaccinia virus strains T1 - Schutz gesunder Gewebe vor Infektion systemisch verabreichter Vaccinia-Virus Stämme N2 - Oncolytic virotherapy using recombinant vaccinia virus strains is a promising approach for the treatment of cancer. To further improve the safety of oncolytic vaccinia viruses, the cellular microRNA machinery can be applied as the host’s own security mechanism to avoid unwanted viral replication in healthy tissues. MicroRNAs are a class of small single-stranded RNAs which due to their ability to mediate post-transcriptional gene-silencing, play a crucial role in almost every regulatory process in cellular metabolism. Different cancers display unique microRNA expression patterns, showing significant up- or downregulation of endogenously expressed microRNAs. Furthermore, the behavior of cancer cells can be altered by either adding microRNAs known to inhibit cancer cell spread and proliferation or suppressing cancer promoting microRNAs (oncomirs) making microRNAs promising targets for cancer gene therapy. The cell’s own RNAi machinery can also be utilized to control viral replication due to the virus dependence on the host cell replication machinery, a process controlled by microRNAs. GLV-1h68 is a replication-competent recombinant oncolytic vaccinia virus constructed and generated by Genelux Corp., San Diego, CA, USA which carries insertions of three reporter gene cassettes for detection and attenuation purposes and is currently being evaluated for cancer treatment in clinical trials. Though there are hardly any side effects found in GLV-1h68 mediated oncolytic therapy an increased tropism for replication exclusively in cancer cells is desirable. Therefore it was investigated whether or not further cancer cell specificity of a recombinant vaccinia virus strain could be obtained without compromising its oncolytic activity using microRNA interference. Let-7a is a well characterized microRNA known to be expressed in high levels in healthy tissues and strongly downregulated in most cancers. To control vaccinia virus replication rates, four copies of the mature human microRNA let-7a target sequence were cloned behind the stop codon in the 3’end of the vaccinia virus D4R gene, using a GLV-1h68 derivative, GLV-1h190, as parental strain yielding the new recombinant virus strain GLV-1h250. The D4R gene belongs to the group of early transcribed vaccinia genes and encodes an essential enzyme, uracil DNA glycosylase, which catalyzes the removal of uracil residues from double-stranded DNA. A defect in D4R prevents vaccinia virus from entering into the intermediate and late phase of replication, leading to an aborted virus replication. After expression of the microRNA target sequence from the vaccinia virus genome, the endogenously expressed microRNA-let-7a should recognize its target structure within the viral mRNA transcript, thereby binding and degrading the viral mRNA which should lead to a strong inhibition of the virus replication in healthy cells. GLV-1h250 replication rates in cancerous A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells, which show a strong down-regulation of microRNA let-7a, was comparable to the replication rates of its parental strain GLV-1h190 and the control strain GLV-1h68. In contrast, GLV-1h250 displayed a 10-fold decrease in viral replication in non-cancerous ERC cells when compared to GLV-1h190 and GLV-1h68. In A549 tumor bearing nude mice GLV-1h250 replicated exclusively in the tumorous tissue and resulted in efficient tumor regression without adverse effects leading to the conclusion that GLV-1h250 replicates preferentially in cancerous cells and tissues, which display low endogenous let-7a expression levels. N2 - Die onkolytische Virotherapie mit rekombinanten Vaccinia Virusstämmen stellt einen vielversprechenden Ansatz zur Behandlung von Krebs dar. Um die Sicherheit von onkolytischen Vaccinia Viren zu erhöhen wird die zelluläre MikroRNA Maschinerie als körpereigener Abwehrmechanismus genutzt um ungewollte virale Replikation in gesundem Gewebe zu verhindern MikroRNAs sind kurze, einzelsträngige RNA-Moleküle die aufgrund Ihrer Fähigkeit des Posttranscriptional Gene Silencing (RNA Interferenz) eine entscheidende Rolle in fast jedem regulativen Prozess im Zellmetabolismus spielen. Diverse Arten von Krebs zeigen spezifische MicroRNA-Expressionsmuster, welche sich als signifikante „Up“-oder „Down“-Regulation der Expression dieser microRNA(s) darstellt. Weiterhin kann das Verhalten von Krebszellen verändert werden, entweder durch Wiedereinbringen von in bestimmten Krebsarten „down“-regulierten MikroRNAs oder durch Unterdrückung der Expression von MikroRNAs, die als krebsfördernd gelten (Oncomirs). Die RNA-Interferenz Maschinerie der Zelle kann des Weiteren auch als Replikationskontrolle z.B. von Viren genutzt werden, da Viren für Ihre eigene Vermehrung auf die Replikationsmaschinerie der Zelle angewiesen sind, ein Prozess welcher von MikroRNAs kontrolliert wird. GLV-1h68 ist ein replikationskompetentes Vaccinia Virus, konstruiert und hergestellt von Genelux Corp., San Diego, CA, USA, welches drei verschiedene Reportergene enthält, welche zu Erkennungs- und Attenuierungszwecken genutzt werden. Obwohl eine Behandlung mit GLV-1h68 kaum Nebenwirkungen zeigt, wäre eine Replikation des Virus ausschliesslich in Krebszellen wünschenswert. Aufgrund dessen wurde versucht ein rekombinantes Vaccinia Virus zu generieren welches, unter Zuhilfenahme der RNA Interferenzmaschinerie der Zelle, ohne Einbusse seiner onkolytischen Fähigkeit ausschliesslich in Krebszellen repliziert. Let-7a ist eine gut charakterisierte MikroRNA die eine hohe Expression in gesunden Geweben und eine starke „Down“-Regulation in Krebszellen zeigt. Um die Replikation von Vaccinia zu kontrollieren wurden 4 Komplementärsequenzwiederholungen der humanen microRNAlet- 7a der 3‘-UTR des Vaccinia Virus D4R-Gens folgend kloniert, wobei GLV-1h190, ein GLV-1h68 Derivat, als parentaler Virusstamm verwendet wurde. D4R gehört zu der Gruppe der frühen Gene von Vaccinia und kodiert ein essentielles Enzym, Uracil- DNA-Glykosylase, welches das Entfernen von Uracilresten aus doppelsträngiger DNA katalysiert. Ein Defekt im D4R Gen verhindert den Eintritt von Vaccinia Viren in die intermediäre und späte Phase der Replikation, was zu einem Abbruch der viralen Replication führt. Nach der Expression der MikroRNA-komplementären Sequenzen durch das Virusgenom sollte die zellulär exprimierte let-7a MikroRNA Ihre Zielstruktur auf der viralen mRNA erkennen und diese degradieren. Dies sollte eine starke Hemmung der viralen Replikation in gesunden Zellen zur Folge haben.GLV-1h250 zeigte keine Beeinträchtigung in der Replikationsrate nach Infektion von A549 Lungenkarzinomzellen, welche eine starke „Down“-Regulation von MikroRNA let-7a aufweisen, im Vergleich zu dem parentalen Virus GLV-1h190 und dem Kontrollvirus GLV-1h68. Im Kontrast dazu zeigte GLV-1h250 eine 10-fache Verringerung in der Replikationsrate nach Infektion der Nicht-Krebszellline ERC im Vergleich zu Virus GLV-1h190 und GLV-1h68. In A549 Lungenkarzinom-tragende Nacktmäusen replizierte GLV-1h250 ausschliesslich im Tumorgewebe und zeigte effiziente Tumorregression ohne Nebenwirkungen im Vergleich zu den Virus Stämmen GLV-1h190 und GLV-1h68. Dies führt zur Vermutung, dass GLV-1h250 bevorzugt in Tumorzellen und –Geweben repliziert, welche geringe let-7a Konzentrationen aufweisen. KW - Vaccinia-Virus KW - Krebs KW - Therapie KW - vaccinia virus KW - microRNA KW - oncolytic virotherapy Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-69654 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Steinmann, Diana A1 - Paelecke-Habermann, Yvonne A1 - Geinitz, Hans A1 - Aschoff, Raimund A1 - Bayerl, Anja A1 - Bölling, Tobias A1 - Bosch, Elisabeth A1 - Bruns, Frank A1 - Eichenseder-Seiss, Ute A1 - Gerstein, Johanna A1 - Gharbi, Nadine A1 - Hagg, Juliane A1 - Hipp, Matthias A1 - Kleff, Irmgard A1 - Müller, Axel A1 - Schäfer, Christof A1 - Schleicher, Ursula A1 - Sehlen, Susanne A1 - Theodorou, Marilena A1 - Wypior, Hans-Joachim A1 - Zehentmayr, Franz A1 - van Oorschot, Birgitt A1 - Vordermark, Dirk T1 - Prospective evaluation of quality of life effects in patients undergoing palliative radiotherapy for brain metastases JF - BMC Cancer N2 - Background: Recently published results of quality of life (QoL) studies indicated different outcomes of palliative radiotherapy for brain metastases. This prospective multi-center QoL study of patients with brain metastases was designed to investigate which QoL domains improve or worsen after palliative radiotherapy and which might provide prognostic information. Methods: From 01/2007-01/2009, n=151 patients with previously untreated brain metastases were recruited at 14 centers in Germany and Austria. Most patients (82 %) received whole-brain radiotherapy. QoL was measured with the EORTC-QLQ-C15-PAL and brain module BN20 before the start of radiotherapy and after 3 months. Results: At 3 months, 88/142 (62 %) survived. Nine patients were not able to be followed up. 62 patients (70.5 % of 3-month survivors) completed the second set of questionnaires. Three months after the start of radiotherapy QoL deteriorated significantly in the areas of global QoL, physical function, fatigue, nausea, pain, appetite loss, hair loss, drowsiness, motor dysfunction, communication deficit and weakness of legs. Although the use of corticosteroid at 3 months could be reduced compared to pre-treatment (63 % vs. 37 %), the score for headaches remained stable. Initial QoL at the start of treatment was better in those alive than in those deceased at 3 months, significantly for physical function, motor dysfunction and the symptom scales fatigue, pain, appetite loss and weakness of legs. In a multivariate model, lower Karnofsky performance score, higher age and higher pain ratings before radiotherapy were prognostic of 3-month survival. Conclusions: Moderate deterioration in several QoL domains was predominantly observed three months after start of palliative radiotherapy for brain metastases. Future studies will need to address the individual subjective benefit or burden from such treatment. Baseline QoL scores before palliative radiotherapy for brain metastases may contain prognostic information. KW - breast cancer KW - brain tumours KW - survival KW - validation KW - symptoms KW - EORTC-QLQ-C15-PAL KW - EORTC-BN20 KW - whole-brain radiotherapy KW - partitioning analysis RPA KW - cancer patients KW - lung cancer KW - prognostic index KW - radiation oncology KW - clinical trials Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-135254 VL - 12 IS - 283 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Galimberti, Daniela A1 - Dell'Osso, Bernardo A1 - Fenoglio, Chiara A1 - Villa, Chiara A1 - Cortini, Francesca A1 - Serpente, Maria A1 - Kittel-Schneider, Sarah A1 - Weigl, Johannes A1 - Neuner, Maria A1 - Volkert, Juliane A1 - Leonhard, C. A1 - Olmes, David G. A1 - Kopf, Juliane A1 - Cantoni, Claudia A1 - Ridolfi, Elisa A1 - Palazzo, Carlotta A1 - Ghezzi, Laura A1 - Bresolin, Nereo A1 - Altamura, A.C. A1 - Scarpini, Elio A1 - Reif, Andreas T1 - Progranulin Gene Variability and Plasma Levels in Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia JF - PLoS One N2 - Basing on the assumption that frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BPD) might share common aetiological mechanisms, we analyzed genetic variation in the FTLD risk gene progranulin (GRN) in a German population of patients with schizophrenia (n=271) or BPD (n=237) as compared with 574 age-, gender-and ethnicity-matched controls. Furthermore, we measured plasma progranulin levels in 26 German BPD patients as well as in 61 Italian BPD patients and 29 matched controls. A significantly decreased allelic frequency of the minor versus the wild-type allele was observed for rs2879096 (23.2 versus 34.2%, P<0.001, OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.49-0.80), rs4792938 (30.7 versus 39.7%, P=0.005, OR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.55-0.89) and rs5848 (30.3 versus 36.8, P=0.007, OR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.56-0.91). Mean +/- SEM progranulin plasma levels were significantly decreased in BPD patients, either Germans or Italians, as compared with controls (89.69 +/- 3.97 and 116.14 +/- 5.80 ng/ml, respectively, versus 180.81 +/- 18.39 ng/ml P<0.001) and were not correlated with age. In conclusion, GRN variability decreases the risk to develop BPD and schizophrenia, and progranulin plasma levels are significantly lower in BPD patients than in controls. Nevertheless, a larger replication analysis would be needed to confirm these preliminary results. KW - people KW - frontotemporal lobar degeneration KW - genome-wide association KW - Alzheimers disease KW - risk genes KW - dementia KW - GRN KW - mutation KW - families KW - linkage Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-131910 VL - 7 IS - 4 ER - TY - THES A1 - Shao, Changzhun T1 - Programming Self-assembly: Formation of Discrete Perylene Bisimide Aggregates T1 - Steuerung der Selbstassemblierung: Aufbau der diskreten Perylenbisimid-Aggregaten N2 - The objective of this thesis focuses on the development of strategies for precise control of perylene bisimide (PBI) self-assembly and the in-depth elucidation of structural and optical features of discrete PBI aggregates by means of NMR and UV/Vis spectroscopy. The strategy for discrete dimer formation of PBIs is based on delicate steric control that distinguishes the two facets of the central perylene surface. The strategy applied in this thesis for accessing discrete PBI quadruple and further oligomeric stacks relies on backbone-directed PBI self-assembly. For this purpose, two tweezer-like PBI dyads bearing the respective rigid backbones, diphenylacetylene (DPA) and diphenylbutydiyne (DPB), were synthesized. The distinct aggregation behavior of these structurally similar PBI dyads can be ascribed to the intramolecular distance between the two PBI chromophores imparted by the DPA and DPB spacers. N2 - Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Entwicklung von Strategien für die präzise Steuerung der PBI-Selbstorganisation sowie die gründliche Aufklärung der strukturellen und optischen Eigenschaften von diskreten PBI-Aggregaten mittels NMR- und UV/Vis-Spektroskopie. Die Strategie der diskreten Dimerbildung von PBIs ist auf der empfindlichen sterischen Kontrolle begründet, die eine Differenzierung der beiden Facetten der zentralen Perylenoberfläche ermöglicht. Um diskrete vierfache und höhere oligomere PBI-Stapel zu erhalten, behilft sich die vorliegende Arbeit der PBI-Selbstorganisation, die durch ein Rückgrat vermittelt wird. Zu diesem Zweck wurden zwei pinzettenartige PBI-Dyaden synthetisiert, die die starren Rückgrate Diphenylacetylen (DPA) bzw. Diphenylbutydiyn (DPB) tragen (Abbildung 2). Das unterschiedliche Aggregationsverhalten dieser strukturell ähnlichen PBI-Dyaden kann den verschiedenen intramolekularen Abständen der beiden PBI-Chromophore zugeschrieben werden, die durch DPA bzw. DPB als Abstandshalter vorgegeben werden. KW - Farbstoff KW - perylene bisimide KW - self-assembly KW - dimer KW - Perylenderivate KW - Selbstorganisation Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-69298 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mehnert, Anja A1 - Koch, Uwe A1 - Schulz, Holger A1 - Wegscheider, Karl A1 - Weis, Joachim A1 - Faller, Hermann A1 - Keller, Monika A1 - Brähler, Elmar A1 - Härter, Martin T1 - Prevalence of mental disorders, psychosocial distress and need for psychosocial support in cancer patients – study protocol of an epidemiological multi-center study N2 - Background Empirical studies investigating the prevalence of mental disorders and psychological distress in cancer patients have gained increasing importance during recent years, particularly with the objective to develop and implement psychosocial interventions within the cancer care system. Primary purpose of this epidemiological cross-sectional multi-center study is to detect the 4-week-, 12-month-, and lifetime prevalence rates of comorbid mental disorders and to further assess psychological distress and psychosocial support needs in cancer patients across all major tumor entities within the in- and outpatient oncological health care and rehabilitation settings in Germany. Methods/Design In this multicenter, epidemiological cross-sectional study, cancer patients across all major tumor entities will be enrolled from acute care hospitals, outpatient cancer care facilities, and rehabilitation centers in five major study centers in Germany: Freiburg, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Leipzig and Würzburg. A proportional stratified random sample based on the nationwide incidence of all cancer diagnoses in Germany is used. Patients are consecutively recruited in all centers. On the basis of a depression screener (PHQ-9) 50% of the participants that score below the cutoff point of 9 and all patients scoring above are assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview for Oncology (CIDI-O). In addition, all patients complete validated questionnaires measuring emotional distress, information and psychosocial support needs as well as quality of life. Discussion Epidemiological data on the prevalence of mental disorders and distress provide detailed and valid information for the estimation of the demands for the type and extent of psychosocial support interventions. The data will provide information about specific demographic, functional, cancer- and treatment-related risk factors for mental comorbidity and psychosocial distress, specific supportive care needs and use of psychosocial support offers. KW - metaanalysis KW - depression KW - survivors KW - care KW - sample KW - instrument KW - quality-of-life KW - generalized anxiety disorder KW - cooperative-oncology-group KW - decision making Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-153296 VL - 12 IS - 70 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Messi, Bernadette Biloa A1 - Ndjoko-Ioset, Karine A1 - Hertlein-Amslinger, Barbara A1 - Lannang, Alain Meli A1 - Nkengfack, Augustin E. A1 - Wolfender, Jean-Luc A1 - Hostettmann, Kurt A1 - Bringmann, Gerhard T1 - Preussianone, a New Flavanone-Chromone Biflavonoid from Garcinia preussii Engl. JF - Molecules N2 - A new flavanone-chromone biflavonoid, preussianone (1), has been isolated from the leaves of Garcinia preussii, along with four known biflavonoids. The absolute stereostructures were elucidated by chemical, spectroscopic, and chiroptical methods. The biological properties of the new biflavonoid against several bacterial strains were evaluated. KW - multiflora KW - minimal inhibitory concentration KW - absolute configuration KW - circular dichroism KW - C-13 NMR KW - guttiferae KW - flavenoids KW - extractives KW - biflavanoids KW - livingstonei KW - high-temperature NMR KW - antibacterial activity KW - Garcinia biflavonoids Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-130881 VL - 17 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Parker, H. E. A1 - Adriaenssens, A. A1 - Rogers, G. A1 - Richards, P. A1 - Koepsell, H. A1 - Reimann, F. A1 - Gribble, F. M. T1 - Predominant role of active versus facilitative glucose transport for glucagon-like peptide-1 secretion JF - Diabetologia N2 - Aims/hypothesis Several glucose-sensing pathways have been implicated in glucose-triggered secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) from intestinal L cells. One involves glucose metabolism and closure of ATP-sensitive K\(^+\) channels, and another exploits the electrogenic nature of Na\(^+\)-coupled glucose transporters (SGLTs). This study aimed to elucidate the role of these distinct mechanisms in glucose-stimulated GLP-1 secretion. Methods Glucose uptake into L cells (either GLUTag cells or cells in primary cultures, using a new transgenic mouse model combining proglucagon promoter-driven Cre recombinase with a ROSA26tdRFP reporter) was monitored with the FLII\(_{12}\)Pglu-700μδ6 glucose sensor. Effects of pharmacological and genetic interference with SGLT1 or facilitative glucose transport (GLUT) on intracellular glucose accumulation and metabolism (measured by NAD(P)H autofluorescence), cytosolic Ca\(^{2+}\) (monitored with Fura2) and GLP-1 secretion (assayed by ELISA) were assessed. Results L cell glucose uptake was dominated by GLUT-mediated transport, being abolished by phloretin but not phloridzin. NAD(P)H autofluorescence was glucose dependent and enhanced by a glucokinase activator. In GLUTag cells, but not primary L cells, phloretin partially impaired glucose-dependent secretion, and suppressed an amplifying effect of glucose under depolarising high K\(^+\) conditions. The key importance of SGLT1 in GLUTag and primary cells was evident from the impairment of secretion by phloridzin or Sglt1 knockdown and failure of glucose to trigger cytosolic Ca\(^{2+}\) elevation in primary L cells from Sglt1 knockout mice. Conclusions/interpretation SGLT1 acts as the luminal glucose sensor in L cells, but intracellular glucose concentrations are largely determined by GLUT activity. Although L cell glucose metabolism depends partially on glucokinase activity, this plays only a minor role in glucose-stimulated GLP-1 secretion. KW - KATP channel KW - glucokinase KW - glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) KW - SGLT1 KW - L cells Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-125927 VL - 55 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Moremi, Nyambura A1 - Mshana, Stephen E. A1 - Kamugisha, Erasmus A1 - Kataraihya, Johannes B. A1 - Tappe, Dennis A1 - Vogel, Ulrich A1 - Lyamuya, Eligius F. A1 - Claus, Heike T1 - Predominance of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus-ST88 and new ST1797 causing wound infection and abscesses JF - Journal of Infection in Developing Countries N2 - Introduction: Although there has been a worldwide emergence and spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), little is known about the molecular epidemiology of MRSA in Tanzania. Methodology: In this study, we characterized MRSA strains isolated from clinical specimens at the Bugando Medical Centre, Tanzania, between January and December 2008. Of 160 S. aureus isolates from 600 clinical specimens, 24 (15%) were found to be MRSA. Besides molecular screening for the Panton Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes by PCR, MRSA strains were further characterized by Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) and spa typing. Results: Despite considerable genetic diversity, the spa types t690 (29.1%) and t7231 (41.6%), as well as the sequence types (ST) 88 (54.2%) and 1797 (29.1%), were dominant among clinical isolates. The PVL genes were detected in 4 isolates; of these, 3 were found in ST 88 and one in ST1820. Resistance to erythromycin, clindamicin, gentamicin, tetracycline and co-trimoxazole was found in 45.8%, 62.5%, 41.6%, 45.8% and 50% of the strains, respectively. Conclusion: We present the first thorough typing of MRSA at a Tanzanian hospital. Despite considerable genetic diversity, ST88 was dominant among clinical isolates at the Bugando Medical Centre. Active and standardized surveillance of nosocomial MRSA infection should be conducted in the future to analyse the infection and transmission rates and implement effective control measures. KW - Tanzania KW - panton-valentine leukocidin KW - field gel-electrophoreresis KW - molecular epidemiology KW - aureus infections KW - MRSA KW - ST88 KW - ST1797 Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-134746 VL - 6 IS - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gentschev, Ivaylo A1 - Adelfinger, Marion A1 - Josupeit, Rafael A1 - Rudolph, Stephan A1 - Ehrig, Klaas A1 - Donat, Ulrike A1 - Weibel, Stephanie A1 - Chen, Nanhai G. A1 - Yu, Yong A. A1 - Zhang, Qian A1 - Heisig, Martin A1 - Thamm, Douglas A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - MacNeill, Amy A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. T1 - Preclinical Evaluation of Oncolytic Vaccinia Virus for Therapy of Canine Soft Tissue Sarcoma JF - PLoS One N2 - Virotherapy using oncolytic vaccinia virus (VACV) strains is one promising new strategy for canine cancer therapy. In this study we describe the establishment of an in vivo model of canine soft tissue sarcoma (CSTS) using the new isolated cell line STSA-1 and the analysis of the virus-mediated oncolytic and immunological effects of two different Lister VACV LIVP1.1.1 and GLV-1h68 strains against CSTS. Cell culture data demonstrated that both tested VACV strains efficiently infected and destroyed cells of the canine soft tissue sarcoma line STSA-1. In addition, in our new canine sarcoma tumor xenograft mouse model, systemic administration of LIVP1.1.1 or GLV-1h68 viruses led to significant inhibition of tumor growth compared to control mice. Furthermore, LIVP1.1.1 mediated therapy resulted in almost complete tumor regression and resulted in long-term survival of sarcoma-bearing mice. The replication of the tested VACV strains in tumor tissues led to strong oncolytic effects accompanied by an intense intratumoral infiltration of host immune cells, mainly neutrophils. These findings suggest that the direct viral oncolysis of tumor cells and the virus-dependent activation of tumor-associated host immune cells could be crucial parts of anti-tumor mechanism in STSA-1 xenografts. In summary, the data showed that both tested vaccinia virus strains and especially LIVP1.1.1 have great potential for effective treatment of CSTS. KW - breast-tumors KW - animal-model KW - nude-mice KW - cell-line KW - in-vitro KW - glv-1h68 KW - cancer KW - virotherapy KW - dogs KW - neutrophils Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-129998 VL - 7 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Steinbacher, Andreas A1 - Buback, Johannes A1 - Nürnberger, Patrick A1 - Brixner, Tobias T1 - Precise and rapid detection of optical activity for accumulative femtosecond spectroscopy JF - Optics Express N2 - We present polarimetry, i.e. the detection of optical rotation of light polarization, in a configuration suitable for femtosecond spectroscopy. The polarimeter is based on common-path optical heterodyne interferometry and provides fast and highly sensitive detection of rotatory power. Femtosecond pump and polarimeter probe beams are integrated into a recently developed accumulative technique that further enhances sensitivity with respect to single-pulse methods. The high speed of the polarimeter affords optical rotation detection during the pump-pulse illumination period of a few seconds. We illustrate the concept on the photodissociation of the enantiomers of methyl p-tolyl sulfoxide. The sensitivity of rotatory detection, i.e. the minimum rotation angle that can be measured, is determined experimentally including all noise sources to be 0.10 milli-degrees for a measurement time of only one second and an interaction length of 250 μm. The suitability of the presented setup for femtosecond studies is demonstrated in a non-resonant two-photon photodissociation experiment. Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-85913 UR - http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/fulltext.cfm?uri=oe-20-11-11838&id=233249 ER - TY - THES A1 - Cord, Anna T1 - Potential of multi-temporal remote sensing data for modeling tree species distributions and species richness in Mexico T1 - Eignung multi-temporaler Fernerkundungsdaten für die Modellierung von Artverbreitungsgebieten und Diversität von Baumarten in Mexiko N2 - Current changes of biodiversity result almost exclusively from human activities. This anthropogenic conversion of natural ecosystems during the last decades has led to the so-called ‘biodiversity crisis’, which comprises the loss of species as well as changes in the global distribution patterns of organisms. Species richness is unevenly distributed worldwide. Altogether, 17 so-called ‘megadiverse’ nations cover less than 10% of the earth’s land surface but support nearly 70% of global species richness. Mexico, the study area of this thesis, is one of those countries. However, due to Mexico’s large extent and geographical complexity, it is impossible to conduct reliable and spatially explicit assessments of species distribution ranges based on these collection data and field work alone. In the last two decades, Species distribution models (SDMs) have been established as important tools for extrapolating such in situ observations. SDMs analyze empirical correlations between geo-referenced species occurrence data and environmental variables to obtain spatially explicit surfaces indicating the probability of species occurrence. Remote sensing can provide such variables which describe biophysical land surface characteristics with high effective spatial resolutions. Especially during the last three to five years, the number of studies making use of remote sensing data for modeling species distributions has therefore multiplied. Due to the novelty of this field of research, the published literature consists mostly of selective case studies. A systematic framework for modeling species distributions by means of remote sensing is still missing. This research gap was taken up by this thesis and specific studies were designed which addressed the combination of climate and remote sensing data in SDMs, the suitability of continuous remote sensing variables in comparison with categorical land cover classification data, the criteria for selecting appropriate remote sensing data depending on species characteristics, and the effects of inter-annual variability in remotely sensed time series on the performance of species distribution models. The corresponding novel analyses were conducted with the Maximum Entropy algorithm developed by Phillips et al. (2004). In this thesis, a more comprehensive set of remote sensing predictors than in the existing literature was utilized for species distribution modeling. The products were selected based on their ecological relevance for characterizing species distributions. Two 1 km Terra-MODIS Land 16-day composite standard products including the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Reflectance Data, and Land Surface Temperature (LST) were assembled into enhanced time series for the time period of 2001 to 2009. These high-dimensional time series data were then transformed into 18 phenological and 35 statistical metrics that were selected based on an extensive literature review. Spatial distributions of twelve tree species were modeled in a hierarchical framework which integrated climate (WorldClim) and MODIS remote sensing data. The species are representative of the major Mexican forest types and cover a variety of ecological traits, such as range size and biotope specificity. Trees were selected because they have a high probability of detection in the field and since mapping vegetation has a long tradition in remote sensing. The result of this thesis showed that the integration of remote sensing data into species distribution models has a significant potential for improving and both spatial detail and accuracy of the model predictions. N2 - Sämtliche aktuell zu beobachtenden Veränderungen in der Biodiversität lassen sich fast ausschließlich auf menschliche Aktivitäten zurückführen. In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat insbesondere die anthropogene Umwandlung bisher unberührter, natürlicher Ökosysteme zur sogenannten ‚Biodiversitätskrise‘ geführt. Diese umfasst nicht nur das Aussterben von Arten, sondern auch räumliche Verschiebungen in deren Verbreitungsgebieten. Global gesehen ist der Artenreichtum ungleich verteilt. Nur insgesamt 17 sogenannte ‚megadiverse‘ Länder, welche 10% der globalen Landoberfläche umfassen, beherbergen fast 70% der weltweiten Artenvielfalt. Mexiko, das Studiengebiet dieser Arbeit, ist eine dieser außerordentlich artenreichen Nationen. Aufgrund seiner großen Ausdehnung und geographischen Komplexität kann eine verlässliche und detaillierte räumliche Erfassung von Artverbreitungsgebieten in Mexiko jedoch nicht nur auf Basis dieser Datenbanken sowie von Feldarbeiten erfolgen. In den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten haben sich Artverbreitungsmodelle (Species distribution models, SDMs) als wichtige Werkzeuge für die räumliche Interpolation solcher in situ Beobachtungen in der Ökologie etabliert. Artverbreitungsmodelle umfassen die Analyse empirischer Zusammenhänge zwischen georeferenzierten Fundpunkten einer Art und Umweltvariablen mit dem Ziel, räumlich kontinuierliche Vorhersagen zur Wahrscheinlichkeit des Vorkommens der jeweiligen Art zu treffen. Mittels Fernerkundung können Umweltvariablen mit Bezug zu den biophysikalischen Eigenschaften der Landoberfläche in hohen effektiven räumlichen Auflösungen bereitgestellt werden. Insbesondere in den letzten drei bis fünf Jahren ist daher die Verwendung von Fernerkundungsdaten in der Artverbreitungsmodellierung sprunghaft angestiegen. Da es sich hierbei jedoch immer noch um ein sehr neues Forschungsfeld handelt, stellen diese meist nur Einzelstudien mit Beispielcharakter dar. Eine systematische Untersuchung zur Modellierung von Artverbreitungsgebieten mit Hilfe von Fernerkundungsdaten fehlt bisher. Diese Forschungslücke wurde in der vorliegenden Arbeit aufgegriffen. Hierzu wurden spezifische Untersuchungen durchgeführt, welche insbesondere folgende Aspekte betrachteten: die sinnvolle Verknüpfung von Klima- und Fernerkundungsdaten im Rahmen von Artverbreitungsmodellen, den quantitativen Vergleich von kontinuierlichen Fernerkundungsdaten und einer bestehenden kategorialen Landbedeckungsklassifikation, die Identifizierung von Kriterien zur Auswahl geeigneter Fernerkundungsprodukte, welche die Eigenschaften der Studienarten berücksichtigen, sowie der Einfluss inter-annueller Variabilität in fernerkundlichen Zeitreihen auf die Ergebnisse und Leistungsfähigkeit von Artverbreitungsmodellen. Die entsprechenden neuen Analysen wurden mit Hilfe des von Phillips et al. (2004) entwickelten Maximum Entropy Algorithmus zur Artverbreitungsmodellierung durchgeführt. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde ein umfangreicherer Datensatz an Fernerkundungsvariablen als in der bisherigen Literatur verwendet. Die entsprechenden Fernerkundungsprodukte wurden spezifisch aufgrund ihrer Eignung für die Beschreibung ökologisch relevanter Parameter, die sich auf die Verbreitungsgebiete von Arten auswirken, ausgewählt. Für den Zeitraum von 2001 bis 2009 wurden zwei Terra-MODIS Standardprodukte mit 1 km räumlicher und 16-tägiger zeitlicher Auflösung zu geglätteten, kontinuierlichen Zeitreihen zusammengefügt. Diese Produkte beinhalten den verbesserten Vegetationsindex (Enhanced Vegetation Index, EVI), Reflexionsgrade und die Landoberflächentemperatur (Land Surface Temperature, LST). Diese hochdimensionalen Zeitreihendaten wurden in insgesamt 18 phänologische sowie 35 statistische Maßzahlen überführt, welche auf der Basis einer umfassenden Sichtung der vorhandenen Literatur zusammengestellt wurden. Die Verbreitungsgebiete von zwölf Baumarten wurden mit Hilfe eines hierarchisch aufgebauten Ansatzes, welcher sowohl Klimadaten (WorldClim) als auch Fernerkundungsdaten des MODIS-Sensors berücksichtigt, modelliert. Die Studienarten sind repräsentativ für die in Mexiko vorkommenden Waldtypen und decken eine breite Spannweite ökologischer Eigenschaften wie Größe des Verbreitungsgebietes und Breite der ökologischen Nische ab. Als Studienobjekte wurden Bäume ausgewählt, weil sie im Feld mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit richtig erfasst werden und außerdem die fernerkundungsbasierte Kartierung von Vegetation bereits auf eine Vielzahl an Studien zurückgreifen kann. Durch die im Rahmen dieser Dissertation durchgeführten Untersuchungen konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Integration von Fernerkundungsdaten in Artverbreitungsmodelle ein signifikantes Potential zur Verbesserung der räumlichen Detailgenauigkeit und der Güte der Modellvorhersagen bietet. KW - Fernerkundung KW - Biodiversität KW - Landnutzung KW - Zeitreihenanalyse KW - Mexiko KW - Artverbreitungsmodellierung KW - Maximum Entropy Algorithmus KW - MODIS KW - Modellierung KW - Remote sensing KW - Species distribution modeling KW - Maximum Entropy algorithm KW - MODIS KW - Mexico Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-71021 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Willems, Coen H. M. P. A1 - Urlichs, Florian A1 - Seidenspinner, Silvia A1 - Kunzmann, Steffen A1 - Speer, Christian P. A1 - Kramer, Boris W. T1 - Poractant alfa (Curosurf (R)) increases phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils by alveolar macrophages in vivo JF - Respiratory Research N2 - Background: Clearance of apoptotic neutrophils in the lung is an essential process to limit inflammation, since they could become a pro-inflammatory stimulus themselves. The clearance is partially mediated by alveolar macrophages, which phagocytose these apoptotic cells. The phagocytosis of apoptotic immune cells by monocytes in vitro has been shown to be augmented by several constituents of pulmonary surfactant, e. g. phospholipids and hydrophobic surfactant proteins. In this study, we assessed the influence of exogenous poractant alfa (Curosurf (R)) instillation on the in vivo phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils by alveolar macrophages. Methods: Poractant alfa (200 mg/kg) was instilled intratracheally in the lungs of three months old adult male C57/Black 6 mice, followed by apoptotic neutrophil instillation. Bronchoalveloar lavage was performed and alveolar macrophages and neutrophils were counted. Phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils was quantified by determining the number of apoptotic neutrophils per alveolar macrophages. Results: Exogenous surfactant increased the number of alveolar macrophages engulfing apoptotic neutrophils 2.6 fold. The phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils was increased in the presence of exogenous surfactant by a 4.7 fold increase in phagocytosed apoptotic neutrophils per alveolar macrophage. Conclusions: We conclude that the anti-inflammatory properties of surfactant therapy may be mediated in part by increased numbers of alveolar macrophages and increased phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils by alveolar macrophages. KW - preterm KW - surfactant protein-A KW - respiratory-distress-syndrome KW - synthetic surfactant KW - human monocytes KW - SIRP-alpha KW - lung KW - cells KW - inflammation KW - resolution KW - anti inflammation KW - drug therapy KW - surfactant Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-130721 VL - 13 IS - 17 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schwerk, Christian A1 - Papandreou, Thalia A1 - Schuhmann, Daniel A1 - Nickol, Laura A1 - Borkowski, Julia A1 - Steinmann, Ulrike A1 - Quednau, Natascha A1 - Stump, Carolin A1 - Weiss, Christel A1 - Berger, Jürgen A1 - Wolburg, Hartwig A1 - Claus, Heike A1 - Vogel, Ulrich A1 - Ishikawa, Hiroshi A1 - Tenenbaum, Tobias A1 - Schroten, Horst T1 - Polar Invasion and Translocation of Neisseria meningitidis and Streptococcus suis in a Novel Human Model of the Blood-Cerebrospinal Fluid Barrier JF - PLoS One N2 - Acute bacterial meningitis is a life-threatening disease in humans. Discussed as entry sites for pathogens into the brain are the blood-brain and the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB). Although human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC) constitute a well established human in vitro model for the blood-brain barrier, until now no reliable human system presenting the BCSFB has been developed. Here, we describe for the first time a functional human BCSFB model based on human choroid plexus papilloma cells (HIBCPP), which display typical hallmarks of a BCSFB as the expression of junctional proteins and formation of tight junctions, a high electrical resistance and minimal levels of macromolecular flux when grown on transwell filters. Importantly, when challenged with the zoonotic pathogen Streptococcus suis or the human pathogenic bacterium Neisseria meningitidis the HIBCPP show polar bacterial invasion only from the physiologically relevant basolateral side. Meningococcal invasion is attenuated by the presence of a capsule and translocated N. meningitidis form microcolonies on the apical side of HIBCPP opposite of sites of entry. As a functionally relevant human model of the BCSFB the HIBCPP offer a wide range of options for analysis of disease-related mechanisms at the choroid plexus epithelium, especially involving human pathogens. KW - gene expression KW - plexus epithelial-cells KW - central-nervous-system KW - microvascular endothelial-cells KW - choroid-plexus KW - in vitro KW - brain barrier KW - tight junctions KW - meningococcal disease KW - bacterial meningitis Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-131459 VL - 7 IS - 1 ER - TY - THES A1 - Förtsch, Christina T1 - Pneumolysin: the state of pore-formation in context to cell trafficking and inflammatory responses of astrocytes T1 - Pneumolysin: Einfluss der Porenbildung auf zelluläre Transportprozesse und inflammatorische Antworten in Astrozyten N2 - Pneumolysin, a protein toxin, represents one of the major virulence factors of Streptococcus pneumoniae. This pathogen causes bacterial meningitis with especially high disease rates in young children, elderly people and immunosuppressed patients. The protein toxin belongs to the family of cholesterol-dependent cytolysins, which require membrane cholesterol in order to bind and to be activated. Upon activation, monomers assemble in a circle and undergo conformational change. This conformational change leads to the formation of a pore, which eventually leads to cell lysis. This knowledge was obtained by studies that used a higher concentration compared to the concentration of pneumolysin found in the cerebrospinal fluid of meningitis patients. Thus, a much lower concentration of pneumolysin was used in this work in order to investigate effects of this toxin on primary mouse astrocytes. Previously, a small GTPase activation, possibly leading to cytoskeletal changes, was found in a human neuroblastoma cell line. This led to the hypothesis that pneumolysin can lead to similar cytoskeletal changes in primary cells. The aim of this work was to investigate and characterise the effects of pneumolysin on primary mouse astrocytes in terms of a possible pore formation, cellular trafficking and immunological responses. Firstly, the importance of pore-formation on cytoskeletal changes was to be investigated. In order to tackle this question, wild-type pneumolysin and two mutant variants were used. One variant was generated by exchanging one amino acid in the cholesterol recognising region, the second variant was generated by deleting two amino acids in a protein domain that is essential for oligomerisation. These variants should be incapable of forming a pore and were compared to the wild-type in terms of lytic capacities, membrane binding, membrane depolarisation, pore-formation in artificial membranes (planar lipid bilayer) and effects on the cytoskeleton. These investigations resulted in the finding that the pore-formation is required for inducing cell lysis, membrane depolarisation and cytoskeletal changes in astrocytes. The variants were not able to form a pore in planar lipid bilayer and did not cause cell lysis and membrane depolarisation. However, they bound to the cell membrane to the same extent as the wild-type toxin. Thus, the pore-formation, but not the membrane binding was the cause for these changes. Secondly, the effect of pneumolysin on cellular trafficking was investigated. Here, the variants showed no effect, but the wild-type led to an increase in overall endocytotic events and was itself internalised into the cell. In order to characterise a possible mechanism for internalisation, a GFP-tagged version of pneumolysin was used. Several fluorescence-labelled markers for different endocytotic pathways were used in a co-staining approach with pneumolysin. Furthermore, inhibitors for two key-players in classical endocytotic pathways, dynamin and myosin II, were used in order to investigate classical endocytotic pathways and their possible involvement in toxin internalisation. The second finding of this work is that pneumolysin is taken up into the cell via dynamin- and caveolin-independent pinocytosis, which could transfer the toxin to caveosomes. From there, the fate of the toxin remains unknown. Additionally, pneumolysin leads to an overall increase in endocytotic events. This observation led to the third aim of this work. If the toxin increases the overall rate of endocytosis, the question arises whether toxin internalisation favours bacterial tissue penetration of the host or whether it serves as a defence mechanism of the cell in order to degrade the protein. Thus, several proinflammatory cytokines were investigated, as previous studies describe an effect of pneumolysin on cytokine production. Surprisingly, only interleukin 6-production was increased after toxin-treatment and no effect of endocytotic inhibitors on the interleukin 6-production was observed. The conclusion from this finding is that pneumolysin leads to an increase of interleukin 6, which would not depend on the endocytotic uptake of pneumolysin. The production of interleukin 6 would enhance the production of acute phase proteins, T-cell activation, growth and differentiation. On the one hand, this activation could serve pathogen clearance from infected tissue. On the other hand, the production of interleukin 6 could promote a further penetration of pathogen into host tissue. This question should be further investigated. N2 - Das Protein-Toxin Pneumolysin ist einer der entscheidenden Virulenzfaktoren von Streptococcus pneumoniae. Dieses Protein-Toxin gehört zur Familie der cholesterinabhängigen Zytolysine, die Membrancholesterol für ihre Aktivierung und Bindung benötigen. Nach der Membranbindung ordnen sich die Toxinmonomere kreisförmig an und ändern ihre Konformation, wodurch eine Pore entsteht, die dann zu einer Lyse der Zelle führt. Vor kurzem wurde nach Pneumolysinbehandlung in einer humanen Neuroblastomzelllinie eine Aktivierung kleiner GTPasen gefunden, die für zytoskelettale Veränderungen entscheidend sind (z.B. Zellbewegungen). Deshalb wurde die Hypothese aufgestellt, dass Pneumolysin diese zytoskelettalen Veränderungen auch in primären neuronalen Zellen auslösen könnte. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war, die Effekte von Pneumolysin auf primäre Mausastrozyten im Hinblick auf Porenbildung, zelluläre Transportprozesse und immunologische Antworten zu untersuchen. Im ersten Teil wird die Bedeutung der Porenbildung auf zytoskelettale Veränderungen untersucht. Hierbei wurden lytische Fähigkeiten, Membranbindung, Membrandepolarisation, Porenbildung im künstlichen Bilayer und Effekte auf das Zytoskelett untersucht. Sowohl der Wildtyp als auch die Varianten zeigten die gleiche Stärke an Membranbindung. Diese Untersuchungen weisen darauf hin, dass die Porenbildung für die Zell-Lyse, Membrandepolarisation und zytoskelettale Veränderungen in Mausastrozyten wichtig ist und führt zu der Schlussfolgerung, dass nicht die Membranbindung, sondern die Porenbildung entscheidend für die beobachteten zytoskelettalen Veränderungen ist. Im zweiten Teil dieser Arbeit wurde der Effekt des Pneumolysin auf zelluläre Transportprozesse untersucht. Erneut zeigten die Pneumolysinvarianten keine Wirkung, während der Wildtyp die Gesamtrate der Endozytose erhöhte. Weiterhin wurde nur der Wildtyp internalisiert. Um einen möglichen Mechanismus für die Internalisierung des Toxins vorschlagen zu können, wurde Pneumolysin als GFP-markiertes Toxin genutzt. Weiterhin wurden einige Marker für unterschiedliche endozytotische Transportprozesse genutzt um eine Ko-lokalisation mit Pneumolysin-GFP zu ermöglichen. Des Weiteren wurden Inhibitoren für zwei Schlüsselproteine endozytotischer Vorgänge, Dynamin und Myosin II, genutzt. Die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchungen zeigten, dass Pneumolysin wahrscheinlich durch dynamin- und caveolin-unabhängige Pinozytose in die Zelle aufgenommen wird. Dieser Mechanismus führt zu der Bildung von Caveosomen, deren weiterer Transport, und somit das Schicksal des internalisierten Toxins, bis heute noch nicht aufgeklärt ist. Die Beobachtung, dass Pneumolysin die Gesamtrate an Endozytose erhöht, führte zum dritten Teil dieser Arbeit. Wenn das Toxin die Gesamtrate an Endozytose erhöht, stellt sich die Frage, ob dieser Vorgang der Zerstörung des Toxins – also einer Abwehr der Zelle – dient, oder ob diese Internalisierung eine Strategie des Pathogens ist, um tiefer in das Wirtsgewebe einzudringen. Aktuelle Studien belegen, dass Pneumolysin einen Einfluss auf inflammatorische Antworten des Immunsystems hat. Aus diesem Grund wurden unterschiedliche proinflammatorische Zytokine untersucht. Überraschenderweise zeigte sich nur eine Erhöhung des Interleukin 6 nach der Toxinbehandlung. Weiterhin hatten die Endozytoseinhibitoren keinen Effekt auf die Produktion dieses proinflammatorischen Zytokins. Pneumolysin führt also zu einem Anstieg der Interleukin 6 Produktion, diese Produktion ist jedoch unabhängig von der Internalisierung dieses Toxins. Die Produktion dieses Interleukins würde zur Produktion der Akute-Phase Proteine, der Aktivierung der T-Zell Antwort, zu Wachstum und Zelldifferenzierung führen. Einerseits könnte diese Aktivierung die Infektion durch das Pathogen bekämpfen. Andererseits könnte S. pneumoniae die erhöhte Produktion durch PLY an Interleukin 6 nutzen um weiter in das Wirtsgewebe vordringen zu können. Diese Frage sollte noch durch weitere Experimente untersucht werden. KW - Streptococcus pneumoniae KW - Toxin KW - Hirnhautentzündung KW - Entzündung KW - Astrozyt KW - Pore KW - Pneumolysin KW - Meningitis KW - Inflammation KW - Zelltransport KW - Porenbildung KW - Pneumolysin KW - Meningitis KW - Inflammation KW - cellular-trafficking KW - Pore-formation Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-70892 ER - TY - THES A1 - Zhang, Guoliang T1 - Phytochemical Research on Two Ancistrocladus Species, Semi-Synthesis of Dimeric Naphthylisoquinoline Alkaloids, and Structure Optimization of Antitumoral Naphthoquinones T1 - Phytochemische Untersuchungen an zwei Ancistrocladus-Arten, Semi-Synthese dimerer Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloide und Strukturoptimierung von antitumoralen Naphthochinonen N2 - Plant-derived natural products and their analogs continue to play an important role in the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of human diseases. Potentially promising representatives of secondary metabolites are the naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids, which show a broad range of activities against protozoan pathogens, such as plasmodia, leishmania, and trypanosoma. Due to the increasing resistance of those pathogens against current therapies, highly potent novel agents are still urgently needed. Thus, it is worthy to discover new naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids hopefully with pronounced bioactivities by isolation from plants or by synthesis. The naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids are biosynthetically related to another class of plant-derived products, the naphthoquinones, some of which have been recently found to display excellent anti-multiple myeloma activities without showing any cytotoxicities on normal blood cells. Multiple myeloma still remains incurable, although remissions may be induced with co-opted therapeutic treatments. Therefore, more potent naphthoquinones are urgently required, and can be obtained by isolation from plants or by synthesis. In detail, the results in this thesis are listed as follows: 1) Isolation and characterization of naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids from the stems of a Chinese Ancistrocladus tectorius species. Nine new naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids, named ancistectorine A1 (60), N-methylancistectorine A1 (61), ancistectorine A2 (62a), 5-epi-ancistectorine A2 (62b), 4'-O-demethylancistectorine A2 (63), ancistectorine A3 (64), ancistectorine B1 (65), ancistectorine C1 (66), and 5-epi-ancistrolikokine D (67) were isolated from the Chinese A. tectorius and fully characterized by chemical, spectroscopic, and chiroptical methods. Furthermore, the in vitro anti-infectious activities of 60-62 and 63-66 have been tested. Three of the metabolites, 61, 62a, and 62b, exhibited strong antiplasmodial activities against the strain K1 of P. falciparum without showing significant cytotoxicities. With IC50 values of 0.08, 0.07, and 0.03 μM, respectively, they were 37 times more active than the standard chloroquine (IC50 = 0.26 μM). Moreover, these three compounds displayed high antiplasmodial selectivity indexes ranging from 100 to 3300. According to the TDR/WHO guidelines, they could be considered as lead compounds. In addition, seven alkaloids, 69-74 (structures not shown here), were isolated from A. tectorius that were known, but new to the plant, together with another fourteen known compounds (of these, only the structures of the three main alkaloids, 5a, 5b, and 78 are shown here), which had been previously found in the plant. The three metabolites ancistrocladine (5a), hamatine (5b), and (+)-ancistrocline (78) were found to show no or moderate activities against the MM cell lines. 2) Isolation and characterization of naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids from the root bark of a new, botanically yet undescribed Congolese Ancistrocladus species. An unprecedented dimeric Dioncophyllaceae-type naphthylisoquinoline alkaloid, jozimine A2 (84), as first recognized by G. Bauckmann from an as yet undescribed Ancistrocladus species, was purified and characterized as part of this thesis. Its full structural assignment was achieved by spectroscopic and chiroptical methods, and further confirmed by an X-ray diffraction analysis, which had never succeeded for any other dimeric naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids before. Structurally, the dimer is composed of two identical 4'-O-demethyldioncophylline A halves, coupled through a sterically hindered central axis at C-3',3'' of the two naphthalene moieties. Pharmacologically, jozimine A2 (84) showed an extraordinary antiplasmodial activity (IC50 = 1.4 nM) against the strain NF54 of P. falciparum. Beside jozimine A2 (85), another new alkaloid, 6-O-demethylancistrobrevine C (84), and four known ones, ancistrocladine (5a), hamatine (5b), ancistrobrevine C (86), and dioncophylline A (6) were isolated from the Ancistrocladus species, the latter in a large quantity (~500 mg), showing that the plant produces Ancistrocladaceae-type, mixed-Ancistrocladaceae/Dioncophyllaceae-type, and Dioncophyllaceae-type naphthyl- isoquinoline alkaloids. Remarkably, it is one of the very few plants, like A. abbreviatus, and A. barteri, that simultaneously contain typical representatives of all the above three classes of alkaloids. 3) Semi-synthesis of jozimine A2 (85), 3'-epi-85, jozimine A3 (93) and other alkaloids from dioncophylline A (6). The dimeric naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids, jozimine A2 (85) and 3'-epi-85, constitute rewarding synthetic targets for a comparative analysis of their antiplasmodial activities and for a further confirmation of the assigned absolute configurations of the isolated natural product of 85. They were semi-synthesized in a four-step reaction sequence from dioncophylline A (6) in cooperation with T. Büttner. The key step was a biomimetic phenol-oxidative dimerization at C-3' of the N,O-dibenzylated derivative of 89 by utilizing Pb(OAc)4. This is the first time that the synthesis of such an extremely sterically hindered (four ortho-substituents) naphthylisoquinoline alkaloid – with three consecutive biaryl axes! – has been successfully achieved. A novel dimeric naphthylisoquinoline, jozimine A3 (93), bearing a 6',6''-central biaryl axis, was semi-synthesized from 5'-O-demethyldioncophylline A (90) by a similar biomimetic phenol-oxidative coupling reaction as a key step, by employing Ag2O. HPLC analysis with synthetic reference material of 3'-epi-85 and 93 for co-elution revealed that these two alkaloids clearly are not present in the crude extract of the Ancistrocladus species from which jozimine A2 (85) was isolated. This evidences that jozimine A2 (85) is very specifically biosynthesized by the plant with a high regio- and stereoslectivity. Remarkably, the two synthetic novel dimeric naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids 3'-epi-85 and 93 were found to display very good antiplasmodial activities, albeit weaker than that of the natural and semi-synthetic product 85. Additionally, the two compounds 3'-epi-85 and 93 possessed high or moderate selectivity indexes, which were much lower than that of 85. However, they can still be considered as new lead structures. Two unprecedented oxidative products of dioncophylline A, the diastereomeric dioncotetralones A (94a) and B (94b), were synthesized from dioncophylline A (6) in a one-step reaction. Remarkably, the aromatic properties in the “naphthalene” and the “isoquinoline” rings of 94a and 94b are partially lost and the “biaryl” axis has become a C,C-double bond, so that the two halves are nearly co-planar to each other, which has never been found among any natural or synthetic naphthylisoquinoline alkaloid. Their full structural characterization was accomplished by spectroscopic methods and quantum-chemical CD calculations (done by Y. Hemberger). The presumed reaction mechanism was proposed in this thesis. In addition, one of the two compounds, 94a, exhibited a highly antiplasmodial activity (IC50 = 0.09 μM) with low cytotoxicity, and thus, can be considered as a new promising lead structure. Its 2'-epi-isomer, 94b, was inactive, evidencing a significant effect of chirality on the bioactivity. Of a number of naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids tested against the multiple-myeloma cell lines, the three compounds, dioncophylline A (6), 4'-O-demethyldioncophylline A (89), and 5'-O-demethyldioncophylline A (90) showed excellent activities, even much stronger than dioncoquinones B (10), C (102), the epoxide 175, or the standard drug melphalan. 4) Isolation and characterization of bioactive naphthoquinones from cell cultures of Triphyophyllum peltatum. Three new naphthoquinones, dioncoquinones C (102), D (103), and E (104), the known 8-hydroxydroserone (105), which is new to this plant, and one new naphthol dimer, triphoquinol A (107), were isolated from cell cultures of T. peltatum in cooperation with A. Irmer. Dioncoquinone C (102) showed an excellent activity against the MM cells, very similar to that of the previously found dioncoquinone B (10), without showing any inhibitory effect on normal cells. The other three naphthoquinones, 103105, were inactive or only weakly active. 5) Establishment of a new strategy for a synthetic access to dioncoquinones B (10) and C (102) on a large scale for in vivo experiments and for the synthesis of their analogs for first SAR studies. Before the synthesis of dioncoquinone B (10) described in this thesis, two synthetic pathways had previously been established in our group. The third approach described here involved the preparation of the joint synthetic intermediate 42 with the previous two routes. The tertiary benzamide 135 was ortho-deprotonated by using s-BuLi/TMEDA, followed by transmetallation with MgBr2▪2Et2O, and reaction with 2-methylallyl bromide (139). It resulted in the formation of ortho-allyl benzamide 140, which was cyclized by using methyl lithium to afford the naphthol 42. This strategy proved to be the best among the established three approaches with regard to its very low number of steps and high yields. By starting with 136, this third strategy yielded the related bioactive natural product, dioncoquinone C (102), which was accessed by total synthesis for the first time. To identify the pharmacophore of the antitumoral naphthoquinones, a library of dioncoquinone B (10) and C (102) analogs were synthesized for in vitro testing. Among the numerous naphthoquinones tested, the synthetic 7-O-demethyldioncoquinone C (or 7-O-hydroxyldioncoquinone B) (145), constitutes another promising basic structure to develop a new anti-MM agent. Furthermore, preliminary SAR results evidence that the three hydroxy functions at C-3, C-5, and C-6 are essential for the biological properties as exemplarily shown through the compounds 10, 102, and 145. All other mixed OH/OMe- or completely OMe-substituted structures were entirely inactive. By a serendipity the expoxide 175 was found to display the best anti-MM activity of all the tested isolated metabolites from T. peltatum, the synthesized naphthoquinones, and their synthetic intermediates. Toxic effects of 175 on normal cells were not observed, in contrast to the high toxicities of all other epoxides. Thus, the anti-MM activity of 175 is of high selectivity. The preliminary SAR studies revealed that the 6-OMe group in 175 is required, thus differed with the above described naphthoquinones (where 6-OH is a requisite in 10, 102, and 145), which evidenced potentially different modes of action for these two classes of compounds. 6) The first attempted total synthesis of the new naturally occurring triphoquinone (187a), which was recently isolated from the root cultures of T. peltatum in our group. A novel naphthoquinone-naphthalene dimer, 187a (structure shown in Chapter 10), was isolated in small quantities from the root cultures of T. peltatum. Thus, its total synthesis was attempted for obtaining sufficient amounts for selected biotestings. The key step was planned to prepare the extremely sterically hindered (four ortho-substituents) binaphthalene 188 by a coupling reaction between the two 2-methylnaphthalene derivatives. Test reactions involving a system of two simplified 2-methylnaphthylboron species and 2-methylnaphthyl bromide proved the Buchwald ligand as most promising. The optimized conditions were then applied to the two true - highly oxygenated - coupling substrates, between the 2-methylnaphthylboron derivatives 210, 211, 213, or 214 and the 2-methylnaphthyl iodides (or bromides) 215 (206), 215 (206), 212 (205), or 212 (205), respectively. Unfortunately, this crucial step failed although various bases and solvent systems were tested. This could be due to the high electron density of the two coupling substrates, both bearing strongly OMOM/OMe-donating function groups. Therefore, a more powerful catalyst system or an alternative synthetic strategy must be explored for the total synthesis of 187a. 7) Phytochemical investigation of the Streptomyces strain RV-15 derived from a marine sponge. Cyclodysidins A-D (216-219), four new cyclic lipopeptides with a- and ß-amino acids, were isolated from the Streptomyces strain RV15 derived from a marine sponge by Dr. U. Abdelmohsen. Their structures were established as cyclo-(ß-AFA-Ser-Gln-Asn-Tyr-Asn-Ser-Thr) by spectroscopic analysis using 2D NMR techniques and CID-MS/MS in the course of this thesis. In conclusion, the present work contributes to the discovery of novel antiplasmodial naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids and antitumoral naphthoquinones, which will pave the way for future studies on these two classes of compounds. N2 - Naturstoffe pflanzlichen Ursprungs und deren Derivate waren seit jeher eine wichtige Quelle für die Entdeckung neuer Arzneistoffe. Darunter stellen die Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloide eine besonders bedeutsame Klasse an Sekundärmetaboliten dar, die gegen eine breite Vielfalt an pathogenen Protozoen, wie z.B. Plasmodien, Leishmanien und Trypanosomen, aktiv sind. Die zunehmende Resistenz dieser Krankheitserreger gegen vorhandene Therapeutika macht die Erschließung neuer hochwirksamer Substanzen – durch direkte Isolierung aus Pflanzenmaterial oder chemische Synthese – zu einer lohnenswerten Aufgabe. Kürzlich wurde entdeckt, dass Naphthochinone, eine biosynthetisch eng mit den Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloiden verwandte Naturstoffklasse, exzellente Aktivitäten gegen das Multiple Myelom aufweist. Diese Krebserkrankung ist mit gegenwärtigen Arzneimitteln nicht heilbar, wenngleich unterstützende Therapeutika zu einer Remission führen können. Die Suche nach pharmakologisch wirksamen Naphthochinonen, mittels Isolierung aus Pflanzen oder durch chemische Synthese, ist daher dringend geboten. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit umfassen im Detail die folgenden Teilbereiche: 1) Isolierung diverser Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloide aus dem Stamm der chinesischen Ancistrocladus tectorius Spezies. Es Wurch neun neue Naphthylisochinlin-Alkaloide aus der in China beheimateten Pflanze A. tectorius. Diese umfassten die sechs 5,1'-gekuppelten Verbindungen Ancistectorin A1 (60), N-Methylancistectorin A1 (61), Ancistectorin A2 (62a), 5-epi-Ancistectorin A2 (62b), 4'-O-Demethylancistectorin A2 (63), Ancistectorin A3 (64), das 7,1'-gekuppelte Ancistectorin B1 (65), das 7,8'-verknüpfte Ancistectorin C1 (66), sowie das 5,8'-verknüpfte 5-epi-Ancistrolikokin D (65) die allesamt vollständig charakterisiert und auf ihre antiplasmodiale Aktivität untersucht wurden. Drei dieser Metabolite, 61, 62a, und 62b, zeigten eine starke antiplasmodiale Aktivität gegen den Stamm K1 von P. falciparum und dennoch keine signifikante Cytotoxizität. Mit IC50-Werten von 0.08, 0.07 und 0.03 μM waren sie 37 mal aktiver als der Standard Chloroquin (IC50 = 0.26 μM). Darüber hinaus verfügten diese drei Verbindungen über einen hohen antiplasmodialen Index von 100 bis 300. Laut WHO-Richtlinien können diese erfolgversprechenden Antimalaria-Wirkstoffe als neue Leitstrukturen angesehen werden. Des Weiteren wurden sieben bekannte Alkaloide, 69-74 (nicht abgebildet), erstmals aus A. tectorius isoliert. 14 weitere, aus dieser Pflanze bereits bekannte, Verbindungen (z.B. 5a, 5b, und 78) wurden ebenfalls gefunden. Die drei Hauptalkaloide Ancistrocladin (5a), Hamatin (5b) und (+)-Ancistroclin (78) hatten jedoch keine bzw. nur mäßige Aktivitäten gegen MM-Zelllinien. 2) Isolierung der Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloide aus der Stammrinde einer neuen und botanisch noch unbeschriebenen, kongolesichen Ancistrocladus Spezies. Ein beispielloses dimeres Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloid aus der Klasse der Dioncophyllaceae, Jozimin A2 (85), wurde aus einer bis dahin noch nicht beschriebenen Ancistrocladus Spezies in Zusammenarbeit mit G. Bauckmann isoliert. Mithilfe von spektroskopischen und chiroptischen Methoden erfolgte die vollständige Strukturaufklärung. Zum ersten Mal bei einem dimeren Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloid wurde darüber hinaus dessen Struktur mittels Röntgenstrukturanalyse verifiziert. Die Struktur weist zwei identische miteinander verknüpfte 4'-O-Demethyldioncophyllin A Hälften auf, die in den Naphthalin-Einheiten an C-3' und C-3'' sterisch so stark gehindert sind, dass eine dritte rotationsstabile – und daher chirale – Achse vorliegt. Jozimin A2 (85) ragt pharmakologisch betrachtet durch die beste bis dahin gemessene antiplasmodiale Aktivität (IC50 = 1.4 nM, P. falciparum NF54) aller natürlichen monomeren und dimeren Naphthylisochinoline heraus. Neben Jozimin A2 (85) wurde ein weiteres neues Alkaloid, 6-O-Demethylancistrobrevin C (84), und die vier bekannten Monomere Ancistrocladin (5a), Hamatin (5b), Dioncophyllin A (6), und Ancistrobrevin C (86) aus dieser Ancistrocladus Spezies isoliert. Man konnte zeigen, dass die Pflanze Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloide vom Ancistrocladaceae Typ, vom gemischten Ancistrocladaceae/Dioncophyllaceae Typ und vom Dioncophyllaceae Typ produziert. Dies ist umso bemerkenswerter, als dass nur wenige Pflanzen wie A. abbreviatus und A. barteri bekannt sind, die typische Vertreter aller drei Alkaloid-Klassen beinhalten. 3) Semi-Synthese des dimeren Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloids Jozimine A2 (85) und seiner Derivate. Aufgrund seiner exzellenten antiplasmodialen Aktivität stellte das Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloid Jozimin A2 (85), eine lohneswerte Zielstruktur für eine Synthese dar. Die Verbindung wurde durch Semisynthese in vier Stufen aus Dioncophyllin A (6) in Zusammenarbeit mit T. Büttner erschlossen. Als Schlüsselschritt erwies sich die biomimetische, oxidative Kupplung von 89 an C-3’ unter Verwendung von Pb(OAc)4. Der Aufbau einer solch sterisch gehinderten, zentralen Achse mit vier ortho-Substituenten wurde zum ersten Mal an Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloiden erfolgreich durchgeführt. Zusammen mit Jozimin A2 (85) erhielt man sein 3',3''-Atropisomer 3'-epi-85. Parallel dazu wurde Jozimine A3 (93) dargestellt, dessen 6',6''-Zentral-Achse ebenfalls ausgehend von Dioncophyllin A (6) in einer Schlüsselsequenz mittels Ag2O aufgebaut wurde. HPLC-Coelutionsexperimente der synthetisch erhaltenen Verbindungen 3'-epi-85 und 93 zeigten zweifelsfrei, dass die beiden Alkaloide nicht im Rohextrakt der bisher unbestimmten Ancistrocladus-Art, aus welcher Jozimin A2 (85) isoliert wurde, vorhanden waren. Die Biosynthese von 85 erfolgt in der Pflanze offensichtlich mit hoher Spezifität. Die neuen synthetisch hergestellten, dimeren Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloide 3'-epi-85 und 93 zeigten sehr gute, wenn auch im Vergleich zum natürlichen und semi-synthetisch erhaltenen 85 schwächere, antiplasmodiale Aktivitäten. Desweiteren besitzen die beiden Verbindungen 3'-epi-85 und 93 hohe bzw. moderate Selektivitäts-Indices, welche allerdings weit unter dem Wert von 85 liegen. Nichtsdestotrotz können sie als neue Leitstrukturen betrachtet werden. Im Verlauf der Synthese von Jozimin A2-Derivaten wurden des weiteren die zwei unbekannten Diastereoisomere, Dioncophynon A (94a) and B (94b), synthetisiert. Man erhielt diese in einer Stufe aus Dioncophyllin A (6). Die Strukturen von 94a und 94b zeichneten sich durch einen partiellen Verlust der Aromatizität am Naphthalin-Ring und eine C,C-Doppelbindung an der früheren Biarylachse aus. Die gefundenen Strukturmotive waren bis dahin weder von natürlichen noch von synthetischen Naphthylisochinolinen bekannt. Die vollständige Charakterisierung gelang durch spektroskopische Methoden und quantenchemische CD-Berechnungen (Y. Hemberger). Ein möglicher Mechanismus zur Bildung dieser Moleküle wurde ebenfalls in dieser Arbeit vorgestellt. Darüber hinaus zeigte eine dieser Verbindungen, 94a, eine hohe antiplasmodiale Aktivität (IC50 = 0.09 μM) bei gleichzeitig nur geringer Toxizität und konnte daher als vielversprechende Leitstruktur betrachtet werden. Dagegen war 94b inaktiv, was den signifikanten Effekt stereogener Elemente auf die Bioaktivität unterstrich. Aus einer ganzen Reihe von Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloiden, die bzgl. ihrer Aktivität gegen das Multiple Myelom getestet wurden, zeigten v.a. drei Verbindungen, nämlich Dioncophyllin A (6), 4'-O-Demethyldioncophyllin A (89) und 5'-O-Demethyldioncophyllin A (90), exzellente Wirksamkeiten und übertrafen dabei sogar die Dioncochinone B (10) und C (102), das Epoxid 175 und die Referenzsubstanz Melphalan. 4) Isolierung der bioaktiven Naphthochinone aus Zellkulturen von Triphyophyllum peltatum. Drei neue Dioncochinone C (102), D (103) und E (104), das für diese Pflanze noch unbekannte 8-Hydroxydroseron (105) und ein neues Naphthalin-Dimer 107 wurden aus Zellkulturen von T. peltatum in Kooperation mit A. Irmer isoliert. Dioncochinon C (102) wies eine ausgezeichnete Aktivität gegen MM-Zellen, ähnlich zu der von Dioncochinon B, auf, wobei jedoch kein inhibierender Effekt auf normale Zellen beobachtet wurde. Die anderen drei Naphthochinone 103105 waren inaktiv oder nur sehr schwach aktiv gegenüber MM-Zellen. 5) Etablierung neuer Strategien für einen Zugang zu den Dioncochinonen B und C im großen Maßstab für In-vivo-Biotests sowie Synthese von Dioncochinon B-Analoga für SAR-Untersuchungen. Vor Beginn dieser Arbeiten zur Synthese von Dioncochinon B (10) existierten bereits zwei, in unserem Arbeitskreis erschlossene, Synthesewege. Die hier beschriebene dritte Möglichkeit zur Darstellung von Dioncochinon B (10) etablierte einen neuen Zugang zu dem gemeinsamen Intermediat 42. Man ortho-deprotonierte zunächst das tertiäre Amid 135 mit sec-BuLiTMEDA, führte anschließend eine Transmetallierung mit MgBr2▪2Et2O durch und setzte das Intermediat mit 2-Methylallylbromid (139) zum ortho-Allylbenzamid 140 um, welches schließlich mit Methyllithium zum Naphthol 42 zyklisiert wurde. Diese Strategie war den beiden früheren Ansätzen hinsichtlich der hohen Ausbeute und der geringen Anzahl an Synthesestufen überlegen. Darauf aufbauend gelang die erste Totalsynthese des bioaktiven Naturstoffes Dioncochinon C (102). Zur Untersuchung der Struktur-Wirkungs-Beziehung und zur Identifizierung des Pharmakophors der antitumoralen Naphthochinone wurden ca. 30 Analoga von Dioncochinon B (10) und C (102) synthetisiert und auf ihre Anti-MM-Wirkung getestet. Unter den zahlreichen dabei untersuchten Derivaten stellte die synthetische Verbindung 7-O-Demethyldioncochinon C (oder 7-O-Hydroxyldioncochinon B) (145) eine weitere vielversprechende Leitstruktur für die Entwicklung neuer Anti-MM-Kandidaten dar. Als besonders bemerkenswert erwiesen sich die antitumoralen Eigenschaften der Verbindungen 10, 102, und 145. Diese besitzen drei Hydroxygruppen an C-3, C-5 und C-6, die für Ihre biologischen Eigenschaften essentiell zu sein scheinen, da alle anderen Strukturen mit einem gemischten OH/OMe-Muster und jene vollständig OMe-substituierten Verbindungen inaktiv waren. Das Expoxid 175, zeigte unter allen natürlich vorkommenden als auch synthetischen Naphthochinonen und deren Derivaten die beste Aktivität gegen das Multiple Myelom. Gleichzeitig wurde keine Toxizität gegenüber normalen Zellen festgestellt. Dies stand im Gegensatz zu anderen Epoxiden, die über recht hohe Toxizitäten verfügten, wenngleich bei sehr guten Anti-MM-Aktivitäten. Umso bemerkenswerter ist die hohe Selektivität von 175 gegenüber Multiple-Myelom-Zellen. Einleitende SAR Studien zu 175 zeigten, dass die O-Me-Gruppe unbedingt erforderlich ist. Dies lässt auf einen von den Naphthochinonen 10, 102 und 145 verschiedenen Wirkmechanismus schließen, da die drei genannten Verbindungen an C-6 eine OH-Funktionalität tragen. 6) Die erste Totalsynthese eines neuen natürlichen Dimers aus T. peltatum, bestehend aus einer Naphthalin- und einer 1,2-Naphthochinon-Einheit. Man isolierte nur in Spuren ein neuartiges Naphthochinon-Naphthalin-Dimer 187a aus Wurzelkulturen von T. peltatum. Die Totalsynthese von 187a sollte deshalb ausreichende Mengen für ausgewählte Biotests verfügbar machen. Den Schlüsselschritt stellte die Kupplung von zwei sterisch sehr stark gehinderten 2-Methylnaphthalin-Ringen mit jeweils zwei ortho-Substituenten dar. Die Kupplung der 2-Methylnaphthylboronsäure -Derivate mit 2-Methylnaphthylbromid führte unter Verwendung des von Buchwald entwickelten Liganden 196, Pd2(dba)3 und geeigneten Lösungsmitteln und Basen zum racemischen Produkt. Die für das oben beschriebene System optimierten Bedingungen wurden auf die beiden genuinen – hoch-oxygenierten – Substrate die 2-Methylnaphthyl boronsäure-Derivate 210, 211, 213, oder 214 und 2-Methylnaphthyliodide (oder -bromide) 215 (206), 215 (206), 212 (205) oder 212 (205) angewandt. Leider führten zahlreiche Versuche unter Erprobung diverser Basen- und Lösungsmittelsysteme nicht zum Erfolg. Eine mögliche Erklärung liegt in der hohen Elektronendichte der beiden Kupplungspartner, die von den zwei bzw. drei Sauerstoffsubstituenten herrührt. Eine alternative Synthesestrategie oder der Einsatz eines leistungsfähigeren Katalysatorsystems muss deshalb zur Totalsynthese von 187a in Erwägung gezogen werden. 7) Phytochemische Untersuchung des marinen Streptomyces-Stammes RV-15 aus Schwämmen. Die vier neuen cyclischen Lipopeptide Cyclodysidin A-D (216219), welche sowohl aus - als auch - Aminosäuren aufgebaut sind, wurden aus RV-15, einem Streptomyces- Stamm, der mit Schwämmen vergesellschaft ist, isoliert. In Zusammenarbeit mit Dr. U. Abdelmohsen identifizierte man deren Struktur als Cyclo-(ß-AFA-Ser-Gln-Asn-Tyr-Asn- Ser-Thr) mithilfe von 2D-NMR-Spektroskopie und CID-MS/MS. KW - Ancistrocladus KW - dimerer Naphthylisochinolin-Alkaloide KW - Naphthochinonen KW - Ancistrocladus KW - Dimeric Naphthylisoquinoline Alkaloids KW - Naphthoquinones Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-72734 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tu, Xiaolin A1 - Chen, Jianquan A1 - Lim, Joohyun A1 - Karner, Courtney M. A1 - Lee, Seung-Yon A1 - Heisig, Julia A1 - Wiese, Cornelia A1 - Surendran, Kameswaran A1 - Kopan, Raphael A1 - Gessler, Manfred A1 - Long, Fanxin T1 - Physiological Notch Signaling Maintains Bone Homeostasis via RBPjk and Hey Upstream of NFATc1 JF - PLoS Genetics N2 - Notch signaling between neighboring cells controls many cell fate decisions in metazoans both during embryogenesis and in postnatal life. Previously, we uncovered a critical role for physiological Notch signaling in suppressing osteoblast differentiation in vivo. However, the contribution of individual Notch receptors and the downstream signaling mechanism have not been elucidated. Here we report that removal of Notch2, but not Notch1, from the embryonic limb mesenchyme markedly increased trabecular bone mass in adolescent mice. Deletion of the transcription factor RBPjk, a mediator of all canonical Notch signaling, in the mesenchymal progenitors but not the more mature osteoblast-lineage cells, caused a dramatic high-bone-mass phenotype characterized by increased osteoblast numbers, diminished bone marrow mesenchymal progenitor pool, and rapid age-dependent bone loss. Moreover, mice deficient in Hey1 and HeyL, two target genes of Notch-RBPjk signaling, exhibited high bone mass. Interestingly, Hey1 bound to and suppressed the NFATc1 promoter, and RBPjk deletion increased NFATc1 expression in bone. Finally, pharmacological inhibition of NFAT alleviated the high-bone-mass phenotype caused by RBPjk deletion. Thus, Notch-RBPjk signaling functions in part through Hey1-mediated inhibition of NFATc1 to suppress osteoblastogenesis, contributing to bone homeostasis in vivo. KW - expression KW - axial skeletal defects KW - transcription factor KW - alagille syndrome KW - osteoblast differentiation KW - human jagged1 KW - aortic-valve KW - T cells KW - mutations KW - mice Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-133490 VL - 8 IS - 3 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Reiss, Harald T1 - Physical time and existence of time holes in non-transparent media N2 - The analysis presented in this paper applies to experimental situations where observers or objects to be studied (both stationary, with respect to each other) are located in environments the optical thickness of which is strongly different. By their large optical thickness, non-transparent media are clearly distinguished from their transparent counterparts. Non-transparent media comprise thin metallic films, packed or fluidised beds, the Earth’s crust, and even dark clouds and other cosmological objects. As a representative example, a non-transparent slab is subjected to transient disturbances, and a rigorous analysis is presented whether physical time reasonably could be constructed under such condition. The analysis incorporates mapping functions that correlate physical events, e, in non-transparent media, with their images, f(e), tentatively located on a standard physical time scale. The analysis demonstrates, however, that physical time, in its rigorous sense, does not exist under non-transparency conditions. A proof of this conclusion is attempted in three steps: i) the theorem “there is no time without space and events” is accepted, (ii) images f[e(s,t)] do not constitute a dense, uncountably infinite set, and (iii) sets of images that are not uncountably infinite do not create physical time but only time-like sequences. As a consequence, mapping f[e(s,t)] in non-transparent space does not create physical analogues to the mathematical structure of the ordered, dense half-set R+ of real numbers, and reverse mapping, f-1f[e(s,t)] would not allow unique identification and reconstruction of original events from their images. In these cases, causality and determinism, as well as invariance of physical processes under time reversal, might be violated. Existence of time holes could be possible, as follows from the sequence of images, f[e(s,t)], that is not uncountably infinite, in contrast to R+. Practical impacts are expected for understanding physical diffusion-like, radiative transfer processes, stability models to protect superconductors against quenchs or for description of their transient local pair density and critical currents. Impacts would be expected also in mathematical formulations (differential equations) of classical physics, in relativity and perhaps in quantum mechanics, all as far as transient processes in non-transparent space would be concerned. An interesting problem is whether temporal cloaking (a time hole) in a transparent medium, as very recently reported in the literature, can be explained by the present analysis. The analysis is not restricted to objects of laboratory dimensions: Because of obviously existing radiation transfer analogues, it is tempting to discuss consequences also for much larger structures in particular if an origin of time is postulated. KW - Strahlungstransport KW - Zeitrichtung KW - Supraleiter KW - Computersimulation KW - Non-transparency KW - disturbance KW - physical time KW - time hole Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-67268 N1 - Von diesem Artikel gibt es eine überarbeitete Version unter urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-73554. ER - TY - THES A1 - Mingebach, Markus Harald T1 - Photocurrent in Organic Solar Cells T1 - Photostrom in Organischen Solarzellen N2 - A quite new approach to low-cost mass production of flexible solar cells are organic photovoltaics. Even though the device efficiencies increased rapidly during the last years, further imporvements are essential for a successful market launch. One important factor influencing the device efficiency is the photocurrent of a solar cell, which is defined as the difference between the current under illumination and in the dark. In case of organic bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells it is — in contrast to inorganic devices — dependent on the applied bias voltage. The voltage dependence results in a reduced fill factor and thus an even more pronounced influence of the photocurrent on the device efficiency. It is therefore crucial to understand the underlying processes determining the photocurrent in order to be able to further improve the solar cell performance. In a first step the photocurrent of P3HT:PC61BM devices was investigated by a pulsed measurement technique in order to prevent disturbing influences due to device heating under continous illumination. The resulting photocurrent was hyperbolic tangent like and featured a point symmetry, whose origin and meaning were discussed. In addition, the photocurrent was described by a combined model of Braun–Onsager and Sokel–Hughes theory for field dependent polaron pair dissociation and charge extraction, respectively. After this macroscopic view on the photocurrent, the focus of this work moves to the more basic processes determining the photocurrent: charge photogeneration and recombination. In a comparative study the field-dependence of these was investigated by time-delayed collection field (TDCF) measurements for two well-known reference systems, namely P3HT:PC61BM and MDMO-PPV:PC61BM. It was possible to identify two different dominating scenarios for the generation of free charge carriers. The first one — via a thermalized charge transfer state (CTS) — is clearly influenced by geminate recombination and therefore less efficient. In the second scenario, the free charge carriers are either generated directly or via an excited, “hot” CTS. In addition, clear differences in the nongeminate recombination dynamics of both material systems were found. Similar studies were also be presented with two modern low bandgap polymers which only differ by the bridging atom in the cyclopentadithiophene (PCPDTBT:PC71BM vs. Si-PCPDTBT:PC71BM). Such small changes in the chemical structure were already sufficient to affect the charge photogeneration as well as the morphology of the blend. These findings were set into relation to current–voltage characteristics in order to discuss the origin of the clear differences in the solar cell performance of both materials. Another crucial parameter limiting the solar cell efficiency is the builtin potential of a device. Within the range of semiconducting pn-junctions, Mott–Schottky analysis is an established method to determine the built-in potential. As it was originally derived for abrupt pn-junctions, its validity for organic BHJ solar cells — a bipolar, effective medium — was discussed. Experimental findings as well as the contradictions to Mott–Schottky theory indicated, that a direct transfer of this method to organic photovoltaics is not appropriate. Finally, the results obtained in the framework of the MOPS-project (Massengedruckte Organische Papier-Solarzellen) will be presented, in which the first completely roll-to-roll printed paper solar cells were realized. N2 - Ein relativ neuer Ansatz für eine günstige Massenproduktion flexibler Solarzellen ist dabei die organische Photovoltaik. Obwohl die Wirkungsgrade in den letzten Jahren schnell anstiegen, sind weitere Verbesserungen für eine erfolgreiche Markteinführung dringend nötig. Ein wichtiger Faktor ist dabei der Photostrom einer Solarzelle, der als Differenz zwischen Hell- und Dunkelstrom definiert ist. Im Gegensatz zu anorganischen Solarzellen ist dieser im Falle der organischen “bulk heterojunction”(Heterogemisch, Abk.: BHJ) Solarzellen von der angelegten Spannung abhängig. Dies führt zu einer Reduzierung des Füllfaktors und so zu einem noch stärkeren Einlufss des Photostroms auf die Leistung der Solarzelle. Es ist daher äußerst wichtig die grundlegenden, den Photostrom bestimmenden Prozesse zu verstehen, um die Leistung der organischen Solarzellen weiter steigern zu können. Zunächst wurde der Photostrom von P3HT:PC61BM Solarzellen mittels einer gepulsten Messmethode untersucht, die störende Einflüsse durch das Erwärmen der Probe unter kontinuierlicher Beleuchtung verhindern soll. Der resultierenden Photostrom wies einen dem Tangens Hyperbolicus ähnlichen Verlauf auf und zeigte dabei eine Punktsymmetrie, deren Ursprung und Bedeutung im Verlauf dieser Arbeit genauer diskutiert werden. Für die Beschreibung des spannungsabhängigen Photostroms wird außerdem ein kombiniertes Modell vorgestellt, welches auf den Theorien von Braun–Onsager und Sokel–Hughes für die feldabhängige Polaronenpaartrennung bzw. die Ladungsträgerextraktion basiert. Nach der makroskopischen Betrachtung des Photostroms wird sich der Fokus dann auf die grundlegenden, den Photostrom bestimmenden Prozesse verschieben: Photogenerierung und Rekombination der Ladungsträger. Die Feldabhängigkeit dieser Prozesse wurde dabei mittels time-delayed collection field (TDCF) Messungen an den beiden Referenz-Systemen P3HT:PC61BM und MDMO-PPV:PC61BM untersucht. Dadurch ließen sich neben deutlichen Unterschieden in der nichtgeminalen Rekombinationsdynamik freier Ladungsträger auch bei deren Photogeneration zwei unterschiedliche dominierende Prozesse identifizieren: Im ersten Szenario werden freie Ladungsträger über einen relaxierten Ladungstransferzustand (“charge transfer state” —CTS) generiert. Dieser Prozess ist jedoch durch einen deutlichen Einfluss der geminalen Rekombination stark feldabhängig und somit weniger effizient. Im zweiten Szenario werden die freien Ladungsträger entweder direkt oder über einen angeregten (“hot”) CTS erzeugt. Ähnliche Versuche wurden zudem für zwei neuartige Polymere mit niedrigen Bandlücken präsentiert, die sich jeweils nur durch das Brückenatom im Cyclopentadithiophen unterscheiden (PCPDTBT:PC71BM im Vergleich zu Si-PCPDTBT:PC71BM). Dies hatte jedoch deutliche Auswirkungen auf die Photogeneration freier Ladungsträger und die Morphologie der aktiven Schicht. Die entsprechenden Ergebnisse wurden dann in Relation zu den Strom–Spannungs-Kennlinien gesetzt, um die deutlichen Unterschiede in der Effizienz der Solarzellen zu diskutieren. Ein weiterer wichtiger, die Leistung einer Solarzelle begrenzender Parameter ist deren Diffusionsspannung (built-in potential, VBi). In der Physik halbleitender pn-Übergange ist die Mott–Schottky Analyse eine etablierte Methode um VBi zu bestimmen. Diese wurde ursprünglich für abrupte pn-Übergänge hergeleitet, weshalb hier deren Gültigkeit für organische BHJ Solarzellen — und damit ein bipolares, effektives Medium — diskutiert wird. Die experimentellen Ergebnisse ebenso wie die Widersprüche zur Mott–Schottky Theorie deuten darauf hin, dass eine direkte Übertragbarkeit dieser Methode auf organische BHJ Solarzellen nicht gegeben ist. Abschließend werden noch die Ergebnisse des MOPS-Projekts (Massengedruckte Organische Papier-Solarzellen) präsentiert, in dessen Verlauf die ersten komplett auf Papier gedruckten Solarzellen entwickelt wurden. KW - Organische Solarzelle KW - Fotovoltaik KW - Mott-Schottky Analyse KW - Papier-Solarzelle KW - organic bulk heterojunction solar cell KW - printed paper photovoltaics KW - photocurrent KW - recombination KW - capacity KW - Kapazität KW - Rekombination KW - Photostrom Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-73569 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cornelius, C. A1 - Leingärtner, A. A1 - Hoiss, B. A1 - Krauss, J. A1 - Steffan-Dewenter, I. A1 - Menzel, A. T1 - Phenological response of grassland species to manipulative snowmelt and drought along an altitudinal gradient N2 - Plant communities in the European Alps are assumed to be highly affected by climate change since temperature rise in this region is above the global average. It is predicted that higher temperatures will lead to advanced snowmelt dates and that the number of extreme weather events will increase. The aims of this study were to determine the impacts of extreme climatic events on flower phenology and to assess whether those impacts differed between lower and higher altitudes. In 2010 an experiment simulating advanced and delayed snowmelt as well as drought event was conducted along an altitudinal transect ca. every 250m (600-2000 m a.s.l.) in the Berchtesgaden National Park, Germany. The study showed that flower phenology is strongly affected by altitude; however there were few effects of the manipulative treatments on flowering. The effects of advanced snowmelt were significantly greater at higher than at lower sites, but no significant difference was found between both altitudinal bands for the other treatments. The response of flower phenology to temperature declined through the season and the length of flowering duration was not significantly influenced by treatments. The stronger effect of advanced snowmelt at higher altitudes might be a response to differences in treatment intensity across the gradient. Consequently, shifts in the date of snowmelt due to global warming may affect species more at higher than at lower altitudes since changes may be more pronounced at higher altitudes. Our data indicate a rather low risk of drought events on flowering phenology in the Bavarian Alps. KW - Biologie KW - Advanced snowmelt KW - Alps KW - BBCH KW - Climate change KW - Delayed snowmelt KW - Flowering Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-77969 N1 - ist zugleich: IV. Kapitel der Dissertation von Bernhard Hoiß ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aad, G. A1 - Abbott, B. A1 - Abdallah, J. A1 - Abdelalim, A. A. A1 - Abdesselam, A. T1 - Performance of the ATLAS Trigger System in 2010 JF - The European Physical Journal C N2 - Proton–proton collisions at √s=7 TeV and heavy ion collisions at \(\sqrt{sNN}\)=2.76 TeV were produced by the LHC and recorded using the ATLAS experiment’s trigger system in 2010. The LHC is designed with a maximum bunch crossing rate of 40 MHz and the ATLAS trigger system is designed to record approximately 200 of these per second. The trigger system selects events by rapidly identifying signatures of muon, electron, photon, tau lepton, jet, and B meson candidates, as well as using global event signatures, such as missing transverse energy. An overview of the ATLAS trigger system, the evolution of the system during 2010 and the performance of the trigger system components and selections based on the 2010 collision data are shown. A brief outline of plans for the trigger system in 2011 is presented. KW - ATLAS KW - Trigger System Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-127321 VL - 72 IS - 1849 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Performance of missing transverse momentum reconstruction in proton-proton collisions at √s=7 TeV with ATLAS JF - The European Physical Journal C N2 - The measurement of missing transverse momentum in the ATLAS detector, described in this paper, makes use of the full event reconstruction and a calibration based on reconstructed physics objects. The performance of the missing transverse momentum reconstruction is evaluated using data collected in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV in 2010. Minimum bias events and events with jets of hadrons are used from data samples corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 0.3 nb\(^{−1}\) and 600 nb\(^{−1}\) respectively, together with events containing a Z boson decaying to two leptons (electrons or muons) or a W boson decaying to a lepton (electron or muon) and a neutrino, from a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 36 pb\(^{−1}\). An estimate of the systematic uncertainty on the missing transverse momentum scale is presented KW - momentum scale KW - Atlas detector KW - pp collision KW - systematic uncertainty KW - transverse momentum Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-127530 VL - 72 IS - 1844 ER - TY - THES A1 - Zinner, Thomas T1 - Performance Modeling of QoE-Aware Multipath Video Transmission in the Future Internet T1 - Leistungsmodellierung einer Mehrpfad Video Übertragung im zukünftigen Internet unter Berücksichtigung der QoE N2 - Internet applications are becoming more and more flexible to support diverge user demands and network conditions. This is reflected by technical concepts, which provide new adaptation mechanisms to allow fine grained adjustment of the application quality and the corresponding bandwidth requirements. For the case of video streaming, the scalable video codec H.264/SVC allows the flexible adaptation of frame rate, video resolution and image quality with respect to the available network resources. In order to guarantee a good user-perceived quality (Quality of Experience, QoE) it is necessary to adjust and optimize the video quality accurately. But not only have the applications of the current Internet changed. Within network and transport, new technologies evolved during the last years providing a more flexible and efficient usage of data transport and network resources. One of the most promising technologies is Network Virtualization (NV) which is seen as an enabler to overcome the ossification of the Internet stack. It provides means to simultaneously operate multiple logical networks which allow for example application-specific addressing, naming and routing, or their individual resource management. New transport mechanisms like multipath transmission on the network and transport layer aim at an efficient usage of available transport resources. However, the simultaneous transmission of data via heterogeneous transport paths and communication technologies inevitably introduces packet reordering. Additional mechanisms and buffers are required to restore the correct packet order and thus to prevent a disturbance of the data transport. A proper buffer dimensioning as well as the classification of the impact of varying path characteristics like bandwidth and delay require appropriate evaluation methods. Additionally, for a path selection mechanism real time evaluation mechanisms are needed. A better application-network interaction and the corresponding exchange of information enable an efficient adaptation of the application to the network conditions and vice versa. This PhD thesis analyzes a video streaming architecture utilizing multipath transmission and scalable video coding and develops the following optimization possibilities and results: Analysis and dimensioning methods for multipath transmission, quantification of the adaptation possibilities to the current network conditions with respect to the QoE for H.264/SVC, and evaluation and optimization of a future video streaming architecture, which allows a better interaction of application and network. N2 - Die Applikationen im Internet passen sich immer besser an unterschiedliche Anforderungen der Nutzer und variierende Netzwerkbedingungen an. Neue Mechanismen ermöglichen die zielgerichtete Anpassung der Anwendungsqualität und damit der benötigten Bandbreite. Im Falle von Videostreaming ermöglicht der skalierbare Videocodec H.264/SVC, die flexible Veränderung der Bildwiederholungsrate, der Auflösung des Videos und der Bildqualität an die vorhandenen Ressourcen im Netzwerk. Um eine gute vom Nutzer erfahrene Dienstgüte (Quality of Experience, QoE) zu garantieren, muss die Videoqualität richtig angepasst und optimiert werden. Aber nicht nur die Anwendungen des heutigen Internets haben sich verändert. Gerade in den letzten Jahren entstanden neue Netzwerk- und Transporttechnologien, welche eine flexiblere und effizientere Nutzung der Kommunikationsnetze erlauben. Eine dieser Techniken ist die Virtualisierung von Netzwerken. Sie erlaubt es auf einem gemeinsamen physikalischen Netz verschiedene logische Netze zu betreiben, die zum Beispiel Anwendungs-abhängige Adressierung unterstützen, eigene Namensgebung erlauben oder ein individuelles Ressourcen Management ermöglichen. Neuartige Transportmechanismen wie Mehrpfadübertragung auf Netzwerk- und Transportebene des ISO/OSI Stacks streben eine effiziente Ausnutzung der zur Verfügung stehenden Übertragungsmöglichkeiten an. Doch die simultane Übertragung von Daten über heterogene Kommunikationspfade und –technologien führt unausweichlich zu einer Veränderung der Reihenfolge, in der die Pakete ankommen. Es werden zusätzliche Mechanismen und Puffer benötigt, um die ursprüngliche Paketreihenfolge wieder herzustellen und so einen störenden Einfluss auf den Datentransport zu verhindern. Die richtige Dimensionierung dieser Puffer sowie die Klassifizierung des Einflusses von variierenden Pfadparametern wie Bandbreite und Verzögerungen setzen passende Evaluierungsmethoden voraus. Darüber hinaus werden für die Auswahl von geeigneten Pfaden aus einer Menge vorhandener Pfade echtzeitfähige Bewertungsmechanismen benötigt. Eine bessere Interaktion zwischen Applikationen und Netzwerk und der damit verbundene Informationsaustausch ermöglicht die effiziente Anpassung der Applikationsqualität an das Netzwerk und umgekehrt. Diese Doktorarbeit analysiert eine auf Mehrpfadübertragung und skalierbarer Videokodierung basierende Videostreaming Architektur und erarbeitet die folgenden Optimierungsmöglichkeiten und Auswertungen: Analyse- und Dimensionierungsmethoden für Mehrpfadübertragung, Quantifizierung der Anpassungsmöglichkeiten von SVC an das Netzwerk unter Berücksichtigung der QoE und Evaluierung und Optimierung einer zukünftigen Videostreaming Architektur, welche eine stärkere Interaktion zwischen Applikation und Netzwerk ermöglicht. T3 - Würzburger Beiträge zur Leistungsbewertung Verteilter Systeme - 03/12 KW - Videoübertragung KW - H.264 SVC KW - Modellierung KW - Quality-of-Experience KW - Mehrpfadübertragung KW - Multipath Transmission KW - Video Streaming KW - H.264/SVC KW - QoE KW - Performance Modeling Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-72324 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zoephel, Judith A1 - Reiher, Wencke A1 - Rexer, Karl-Heinz A1 - Kahnt, Jörg A1 - Wegener, Christian T1 - Peptidomics of the Agriculturally Damaging Larval Stage of the Cabbage Root Fly Delia radicum (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) JF - PLoS One N2 - The larvae of the cabbage root fly induce serious damage to cultivated crops of the family Brassicaceae. We here report the biochemical characterisation of neuropeptides from the central nervous system and neurohemal organs, as well as regulatory peptides from enteroendocrine midgut cells of the cabbage maggot. By LC-MALDI-TOF/TOF and chemical labelling with 4-sulfophenyl isothiocyanate, 38 peptides could be identified, representing major insect peptide families: allatostatin A, allatostatin C, FMRFamide-like peptides, kinin, CAPA peptides, pyrokinins, sNPF, myosuppressin, corazonin, SIFamide, sulfakinins, tachykinins, NPLP1-peptides, adipokinetic hormone and CCHamide 1. We also report a new peptide (Yamide) which appears to be homolog to an amidated eclosion hormone-associated peptide in several Drosophila species. Immunocytochemical characterisation of the distribution of several classes of peptide-immunoreactive neurons and enteroendocrine cells shows a very similar but not identical peptide distribution to Drosophila. Since peptides regulate many vital physiological and behavioural processes such as moulting or feeding, our data may initiate the pharmacological testing and development of new specific peptide-based protection methods against the cabbage root fly and its larva. KW - adult drosophila KW - central-nervous-system KW - blowfly calliphora-vomitoria KW - drosophila melanogaster KW - mass spectometry KW - feeding behavior KW - fruit fly KW - functional characterization KW - immunoreactive neurons KW - neobellieria bullata Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-131727 VL - 7 IS - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brandt, Alexander U. A1 - Zimmermann, Hanna A1 - Kaufhold, Falko A1 - Promesberger, Julia A1 - Schippling, Sven A1 - Finis, David A1 - Aktas, Orhan A1 - Geis, Christian A1 - Ringelstein, Marius A1 - Ringelstein, E. Bernd A1 - Hartung, Hans-Peter A1 - Paul, Friedemann A1 - Kleffner, Ilka A1 - Dörr, Jan T1 - Patterns of Retinal Damage Facilitate Differential Diagnosis between Susac Syndrome and MS JF - PLoS One N2 - Susac syndrome, a rare but probably underdiagnosed combination of encephalopathy, hearing loss, and visual deficits due to branch retinal artery occlusion of unknown aetiology has to be considered as differential diagnosis in various conditions. Particularly, differentiation from multiple sclerosis is often challenging since both clinical presentation and diagnostic findings may overlap. Optical coherence tomography is a powerful and easy to perform diagnostic tool to analyse the morphological integrity of retinal structures and is increasingly established to depict characteristic patterns of retinal pathology in multiple sclerosis. Against this background we hypothesised that differential patterns of retinal pathology facilitate a reliable differentiation between Susac syndrome and multiple sclerosis. In this multicenter cross-sectional observational study optical coherence tomography was performed in nine patients with a definite diagnosis of Susac syndrome. Data were compared with age-, sex-, and disease duration-matched relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis patients with and without a history of optic neuritis, and with healthy controls. Using generalised estimating equation models, Susac patients showed a significant reduction in either or both retinal nerve fibre layer thickness and total macular volume in comparison to both healthy controls and relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis patients. However, in contrast to the multiple sclerosis patients this reduction was not distributed over the entire scanning area but showed a distinct sectorial loss especially in the macular measurements. We therefore conclude that patients with Susac syndrome show distinct abnormalities in optical coherence tomography in comparison to multiple sclerosis patients. These findings recommend optical coherence tomography as a promising tool for differentiating Susac syndrome from MS. KW - optical coherence tomography KW - vasculopathy KW - artery occlusion KW - hearing loss KW - microangiopathy KW - brain KW - endotheliopathy KW - antibodies KW - multiple-sclerosis KW - retinocochleocerebral Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-134013 VL - 7 IS - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Matlach, Juliane A1 - Slobodda, Joerg A1 - Grehn, Franz A1 - Klink, Thomas T1 - Pars plana vitrectomy for malignant glaucoma in non-glaucomatous and in filtered glaucomatous eyes N2 - Purpose: To assess the outcomes of pars plana vitrectomy for the treatment of malignant glaucoma in patients with and without previous filtration surgery. Patients and methods: Data of 15 patients developing malignant glaucoma after trabeculectomy (60%) or following ophthalmic interventions other than filtration surgery (40%) were recorded retrospectively. Pars plana vitrectomy was performed in case of failed medical or laser treatment recreating the normal pathway of aqueous humor. The main outcome measures were the postoperative intraocular pressure (IOP), the frequency of complications, and success rate based on the following criteria: IOP reduction by $20% and to #21 mmHg (definition one) or an IOP , 18 mmHg (definition two) with (qualified success) and without (complete success) glaucoma medication. Results: Vitrectomy reduced IOP from baseline in eyes with and without previous trabeculectomy during a median follow-up of 16.4 months (range 7 days to 58 months); although the majority of patients required glaucoma medication to reach desired IOP. The complete success rates were 11% (both definitions) for patients with filtering blebs and none of the patients without previous trabeculectomy had complete success at the 12-month visit. Complications were few and included transient shallowing of the anterior chamber, choroidal detachment, corneal decompensation, filtering bleb failure, and need for further IOP-lowering procedures. Conclusion: Pars plana vitrectomy is equally effective for malignant glaucoma caused by trabeculectomy or interventions other than filtration surgery, although IOP-lowering medication is necessary in nearly all cases to maintain target IOP. KW - Medizin KW - ciliolenticular block glaucoma KW - malignant glaucoma KW - pars plana vitrectomy KW - trabeculectomy Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-76375 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Margapoti, E. A1 - Alves, F. M. A1 - Mahapatra, S. A1 - Lopez-Richard, V. A1 - Worschech, L. A1 - Brunner, K. A1 - Qu, F. A1 - Destefani, C. A1 - Menendez-Proupin, E. A1 - Bougerol, C. A1 - Forchel, A. A1 - Marques, G. E. T1 - Paramagnetic shift in thermally annealed Cd\(_x\)Zn\(_{1-x}\)Se quantum dots JF - New Journal of Physics N2 - The photoluminescence of annealed Cd\(_x\)Zn\(_{1-x}\)Se quantum dots (QDs) under the influence of an external magnetic field has been studied in this paper. Post-growth annealing was performed for different annealing times. Above a critical annealing time, the QD luminescence shows a pronounced red-shift of the Zeeman split magnetic subcomponents. This observation is in contrast to the blue-shift caused by the diamagnetic behavior that is usually observed in non-magnetic QDs. We attribute our finding to the paramagnetism caused by the mixing of heavy and light hole states. Hence, post-growth thermal annealing treatment might be employed to render undoped epitaxial QDs intrinsically magnetic in a controlled manner. Two theoretical models were developed: a few-particle model to account for excitonic complex effects and a multiband calculation that describes the valence band hybridization. Contrasting the two models allowed us to unambiguously elucidate the nature of such an effect. KW - semiconductors Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-133294 VL - 14 IS - 043038 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jakubietz, Michael G. A1 - Gruenert, Joerg G. A1 - Jakubietz, Rafael G. T1 - Palmar and dorsal fixed-angle plates in AO C-type fractures of the distal radius: is there an advantage of palmar plates in the long term? JF - Journal of Orthopedic Surgery and Research N2 - Background: Current surgical approaches to the distal radius include dorsal and palmar plate fixation. While palmar plates have gained widespread popularity, few reports have provided data on long term clinical outcomes in comparison. This paper reports the result of a randomised clinical study comparing dorsal Pi plates and palmar, angle-stable plates for treatment of comminuted, intraarticular fractures of the distal radius over the course of twelve months. Methods: 42 patients with unilateral, intraarticular fractures of the distal radius were included and randomised to 2 groups, 22 were treated with a palmar plate, 20 received a dorsal Pi-plate. Results were evaluated after 6 weeks, 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively focussing on functional recovery as well as radiological results. Results: The palmar plate group demonstrated significantly better results regarding range of motion and grip strength over the course of 12 months. While a comparable increase in function was observed in both groups, the better results from the early postoperative period in the palmar plate group prevailed over the whole course. Radiological results showed a significantly increased palmar tilt and carpal sag in dorsal plates, with other radiological parameters being comparable. Pain levels were decreased in dorsal plates after hardware removal and failed to show significant differences after 12 months. However, complications such as tendon ruptures were more frequent in the dorsal plate group. Conclusions: Functional advantage of palmar plates gained within the first 6 weeks prevails over the course of a year. Both groups demonstrate further gradual increase of function after 6 months, although dorsal plates did not catch up completely. Improved early postoperative function seems to be the cornerstone for the best possible results. Patients with dorsal plates benefit from hardware removal more than palmar plates in terms of reduction of pain levels. The advantage of palmar plates is a faster functional recovery with lower complication rates. This is especially important in the elderly population. Radiological results did not show a superiority of palmar plates over dorsal plates. KW - internal fixation KW - intraarticular fractures KW - percutaneous fixation KW - open reduction KW - trial Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-133987 VL - 7 IS - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Roesler, Joachim A1 - Segerer, Florian A1 - Morbach, Henner A1 - Kleinert, Stefan A1 - Thieme, Sebastian A1 - Rösen-Wolff, Angela A1 - Liese, Johannes G. T1 - P67-phox (NCF2) Lacking Exons 11 and 12 Is Functionally Active and Leads to an Extremely Late Diagnosis of Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD) JF - PLoS One N2 - Two brothers in their fifties presented with a medical history of suspected fungal allergy, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, alveolitis, and invasive aspergillosis and pulmonary fistula, respectively. Eventually, after a delay of 50 years, chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) was diagnosed in the index patient. We found a new splice mutation in the NCF2 (p67-phox) gene, c.1000+2T -> G, that led to several splice products one of which lacked exons 11 and 12. This deletion was in frame and allowed for remarkable residual NADPH oxidase activity as determined by transduction experiments using a retroviral vector. We conclude that p67-phox which lacks the 34 amino acids encoded by the two exons can still exert considerable functional activity. This activity can partially explain the long-term survival of the patients without adequate diagnosis and treatment, but could not prevent progressing lung damage. KW - P67(PHOX) KW - NADPH oxidase KW - European experience KW - interferon gamma KW - gene KW - region KW - prophylaxis KW - infection KW - mutation Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-134948 VL - 7 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fazel-Rezai, Reza A1 - Allison, Brendan Z. A1 - Guger, Christoph A1 - Sellers, Eric W. A1 - Kleih, Sonja C. A1 - Kübler, Andrea T1 - P300 brain computer interface: current challenges and emerging trends N2 - A brain-computer interface (BCI) enables communication without movement based on brain signals measured with electroencephalography (EEG). BCIs usually rely on one of three types of signals: the P300 and other components of the event-related potential (ERP), steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), or event related desynchronization (ERD). Although P300 BCIs were introduced over twenty years ago, the past few years have seen a strong increase in P300 BCI research. This closed-loop BCI approach relies on the P300 and other components of the ERP, based on an oddball paradigm presented to the subject. In this paper, we overview the current status of P300 BCI technology, and then discuss new directions: paradigms for eliciting P300s; signal processing methods; applications; and hybrid BCIs. We conclude that P300 BCIs are quite promising, as several emerging directions have not yet been fully explored and could lead to improvements in bit rate, reliability, usability, and flexibility. KW - Psychologie KW - brain computer interface KW - P300 KW - event-related potential Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-75941 ER - TY - THES A1 - Hu, Wanning T1 - Organometal half-sandwich complexes and their bioconjugates: Biological activity on cancer cells and potential applications in biolabelling T1 - Organometall-Halbsandwich Komplexe und ihre Biokonjugate: Die biologischen Eigenschaften auf Krebszellen und die potenziellen Anwendungen in Biolabelling N2 - In summary, structure-activity relationships in peptide and dendrimer carriers modified with different organometal complexes were studied on a human breast cancer cell line. Variation of the organometal cargo and carrier can significantly influence their biological properties and might open the way to new approaches in chemotherapy. Furthermore, the incorporation of complexes with different C≡O vibrational signatures in a model peptide was explored to examine information encoding in biomolecules in a barcoding strategy for potential imaging applications. In particular for the latter, additional stable metal-carbonyl markers need to be prepared in future work to expand the pool of vibrational labels available. N2 - In der vorliegenden Arbeit konnten also Struktur-Wirkungs-Beziehungen für Organometall-Peptid- und Dendrimer-Konjugate mit unterschiedlichen funktionellen Gruppen an einer humanen Brustkrebs-Zelllinie untersucht werden. Die Variation der Organometall-Gruppen und des Trägermoleküls führen zu signifikanten Unterschieden in ihrer biologischen Aktivität. Zusätzlich wurden Modell-Peptide mit verschiedenen Metallcarbonyl-basierten IR-Markern versehen um diese in einer Barcoding-Strategie zu labeln. In Zukunft soll das Spektrum der verfügbaren, nicht-überlappenden Schwingungsmarker noch deutlich erweitert werden. KW - Konjugate KW - Sandwich-Verbindungen KW - Metallorganische Verbindungen KW - bioconjugate KW - CPP-peptide KW - dendrimer KW - biolabelling KW - organometal complexes KW - cymantrene KW - Biokonjugate KW - CPP Peptide KW - Dendrimer KW - Biolabelling KW - Organometall-Komplexe KW - Cymantren Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-87899 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kotte, K. A1 - Löw, F. A1 - Huber, S. G. A1 - Krause, T. A1 - Mulder, I. A1 - Schöler, H. F. T1 - Organohalogen emissions from saline environments - spatial extrapolation using remote sensing as most promising tool JF - Biogeosciences N2 - Due to their negative water budget most recent semi-/arid regions are characterized by vast evaporates (salt lakes and salty soils). We recently identified those hyper-saline environments as additional sources for a multitude of volatile halogenated organohalogens (VOX). These compounds can affect the ozone layer of the stratosphere and play a key role in the production of aerosols. A remote sensing based analysis was performed in the Southern Aral Sea basin, providing information of major soil types as well as their extent and spatial and temporal evolution. VOX production has been determined in dry and moist soil samples after 24 h. Several C1- and C2 organohalogens have been found in hyper-saline topsoil profiles, including CH3Cl, CH3Br, CHBr3 and CHCl3. The range of organohalogens also includes trans-1,2-dichloroethene (DCE), which is reported here to be produced naturally for the first time. Using MODIS time series and supervised image classification a daily production rate for DCE has been calculated for the 15 000 km\(^2\) ranging research area in the southern Aralkum. The applied laboratory setup simulates a short-term change in climatic conditions, starting from dried-out saline soil that is instantly humidified during rain events or flooding. It describes the general VOX production potential, but allows only for a rough estimation of resulting emission loads. VOX emissions are expected to increase in the future since the area of salt affected soils is expanding due to the regressing Aral Sea. Opportunities, limits and requirements of satellite based rapid change detection and salt classification are discussed. KW - aral sea basin KW - methyl-bromide KW - methane emissions KW - abiotic formation KW - time series KW - salt lakes KW - land KW - Uzbekistan KW - soils/sediments KW - classifiaction Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-134265 VL - 9 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aeschlimann, Martin A1 - Bauer, Michael A1 - Bayer, Daniela A1 - Brixner, Tobias A1 - Cunovic, Stefan A1 - Fischer, Alexander A1 - Melchior, Pascal A1 - Pfeiffer, Walter A1 - Rohmer, Martin A1 - Schneider, Christian A1 - Strüber, Christian A1 - Tuchscherer, Philip A1 - Voronine, Dimitri V. T1 - Optimal open-loop near-field control of plasmonic nanostructures N2 - Optimal open-loop control, i.e. the application of an analytically derived control rule, is demonstrated for nanooptical excitations using polarization-shaped laser pulses. Optimal spatial near-field localization in gold nanoprisms and excitation switching is realized by applying a shift to the relative phase of the two polarization components. The achieved near-field switching confirms theoretical predictions, proves the applicability of predefined control rules in nanooptical light–matter interaction and reveals local mode interference to be an important control mechanism. KW - Chemie Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-75256 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hubert, Kerstin A1 - Pawlik, Marie-Christin A1 - Claus, Heike A1 - Jarva, Hanna A1 - Meri, Seppo A1 - Vogel, Ulrich T1 - Opc Expression, LPS Immunotype Switch and Pilin Conversion Contribute to Serum Resistance of Unencapsulated Meningococci JF - PLoS One N2 - Neisseria meningitidis employs polysaccharides and outer membrane proteins to cope with human serum complement attack. To screen for factors influencing serum resistance, an assay was developed based on a colorimetric serum bactericidal assay. The screening used a genetically modified sequence type (ST)-41/44 clonal complex (cc) strain lacking LPS sialylation, polysaccharide capsule, the factor H binding protein (fHbp) and MutS, a protein of the DNA repair mechanism. After killing of >99.9% of the bacterial cells by serum treatment, the colorimetric assay was used to screen 1000 colonies, of which 35 showed enhanced serum resistance. Three mutant classes were identified. In the first class of mutants, enhanced expression of Opc was identified. Opc expression was associated with vitronectin binding and reduced membrane attack complex deposition confirming recent observations. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) immunotype switch from immunotype L3 to L8/L1 by lgtA and lgtC phase variation represented the second class. Isogenic mutant analysis demonstrated that in ST-41/44 cc strains the L8/L1 immunotype was more serum resistant than the L3 immunotype. Consecutive analysis revealed that the immunotypes L8 and L1 were frequently observed in ST-41/44 cc isolates from both carriage and disease. Immunotype switch to L8/L1 is therefore suggested to contribute to the adaptive capacity of this meningococcal lineage. The third mutant class displayed a pilE allelic exchange associated with enhanced autoaggregation. The mutation of the C terminal hypervariable region D of PilE included a residue previously associated with increased pilus bundle formation. We suggest that autoaggregation reduced the surface area accessible to serum complement and protected from killing. The study highlights the ability of meningococci to adapt to environmental stress by phase variation and intrachromosomal recombination affecting subcapsular antigens. KW - factor H KW - C-reactive protein KW - B neisseria meningitidis KW - outer membrane protein KW - phase variation KW - serogroup B KW - bactericidal activity KW - epithelial cells KW - gene conversion KW - strain MC58 Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-135421 VL - 7 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hartung, Andreas A1 - Seufert, Florian A1 - Berges, Carsten A1 - Gessner, Viktoria H. A1 - Holzgrabe, Ulrike T1 - One-Pot Ugi/Aza-Michael Synthesis of Highly Substituted 2,5-Diketopiperazines with Anti-Proliferative Properties JF - Molecules N2 - The well-known Ugi reaction of aldehydes with amines, carboxylic acids and isocyanides leads to the formation of acyclic alpha-acylaminocarboxamides. Replacement of the carboxylic acid derivatives with beta-acyl substituted acrylic acids gives access to highly substituted 2,5-diketopiperazines in one single reaction-step without additives or complex reaction procedures. The obtained diketopiperazines show anti-proliferative effects on activated T cells and represent therefore potential candidates for targeting unwanted T cell-mediated immune responses. KW - multicomponent Ugi-type reaction KW - intramolecular Michael addition KW - strategy KW - derivates KW - diketopiperazines KW - chemistry KW - T cell KW - 2,5-diketopiperazines KW - anti-proliferative effects Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-130423 VL - 17 IS - 12 ER - TY - THES A1 - Blumenstein, Christian T1 - One-Dimensional Electron Liquid at a Surface: Gold Nanowires on Ge(001) T1 - Eindimensionale Elektronenflüssigkeit an einer Oberfläche: Gold Nanodrähte auf Ge(001) N2 - Selbstorganisierte Nanodrähte auf Halbleiteroberflächen ermöglichen die Untersuchung von Elektronen in niedrigen Dimensionen. Interessanterweise werden die elektronischen Eigenschaften des Systems von dessen Dimensionalität bestimmt, und das noch über das Quasiteilchenbild hinaus. Das quasi-eindimensionale (1D) Regime zeichnet sich durch eine schwache laterale Kopplung zwischen den Ketten aus und ermöglicht die Ausbildung einer Peierls Instabilität. Durch eine Nesting Bedingung in der Fermi Fläche kommt es zu einer Bandrückfaltung und damit zu einem isolierenden Grundzustand. Dies wird begleitet von einer neuen Überstruktur im Realraum, die mit dem Nestingvektor korrespondiert. In früheren Nanodrahtsystemen wurde ein solcher Effekt gezeigt. Dazu geh ̈oren Indium Ketten auf Si(111) und die Gold rekonstruierten Substrate Si(553) und Si(557). Die Theorie sagt jedoch einen weiteren Zustand voraus, der nur im perfekten 1D Grenzfall existiert und der bei geringster Kopplung mit höheren Dimensionen zerstört wird. Dieser Zustand wird Tomonaga-Luttinger Flüssigkeit (TLL) genannt und führt zu einem Zusammenbruch des Quasiteilchenbildes der Fermi-Flüssigkeit. Hier sind nur noch kollektive Anregungen der Elektronen erlaubt, da die starke laterale Einschränkung zu einer erhöhten Kopplung zwischen den Teilchen führt. Dadurch treten interessante Effekte wie Spin-Ladungs-Trennung auf, bei dem sich die Ladung und der Spin eines Elektrons entkoppeln und getrennt voneinander durch den Nanodraht bewegen können. Bis heute wurde solch ein seltener Zustand noch nicht an einer Oberfläche beobachtet. In dieser Arbeit wird ein neuer Ansatz zur Herstellung von besser definierten 1D Ketten gewählt. Dazu wird die Au-rekonstruierte Ge(001) Nanodraht-Oberfläche untersucht. Für die Präparation des Substrates wird ein neues Rezept entwickelt, welches eine langreichweitig geordnete Oberfläche erzeugt. Um das Wachstum der Nanodrähte zu optimieren wird das Wachstums-Phasendiagramm ausgiebig untersucht. Außerdem werden die strukturellen Bausteine der Ketten sehr genau beschrieben. Es ist bemerkenswert, dass ein struktureller Phasenübergang der Ketten oberhalb von Raumtemperatur gefunden wird. Aufgrund von spektroskopischen Untersuchungen kann eine Peierls Instabilität als Ursache ausgeschlossen werden. Es handelt sich um einen 3D-Ising-Typ Übergang an dem das Substrat ebenfalls beteiligt ist. Die Untersuchungen zur elektronischen Struktur der Ketten zeigen zwei deutliche Erkennungsmerkmale einer TLL: Ein potenzgesetzartiger Verlauf der Zustandsdichte und universales Skalenverhalten. Daher wird zum ersten Mal eine TLL an einer Oberfläche nachgewiesen, was nun gezielt lokale Untersuchungen und Manipulationen ermöglicht. Dazu gehören (i) Dotierung mit Alkalimetallen, (ii) die Untersuchung von Kettenenden und (iii) die einstellbare Kopplung zwischen den Ketten durch zusätzliche Goldatome. Damit wird ein wichtiger Beitrag zu theoretischen Vorhersagen und Modellen geliefert und somit das Verständnis korrelierter Elektronen vorangetrieben. N2 - Self-organized nanowires at semiconductor surfaces offer the unique opportunity to study electrons in reduced dimensions. Notably the dimensionality of the system determines it’s electronic properties, beyond the quasiparticle description. In the quasi-one-dimensional (1D) regime with weak lateral coupling between the chains, a Peierls instability can be realized. A nesting condition in the Fermi surface leads to a backfolding of the 1D electron band and thus to an insulating state. It is accompanied by a charge density wave (CDW) in real space that corresponds to the nesting vector. This effect has been claimed to occur in many surface-defined nanowire systems, such as the In chains on Si(111) or the Au reconstructions on the terraced Si(553) and Si(557) surfaces. Therefore a weak coupling between the nanowires in these systems has to be concluded. However theory proposes another state in the perfect 1D limit, which is completely destroyed upon slight coupling to higher dimensions. In this so-called Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) state, the quasiparticle description of the Fermi liquid breaks down. Since the interaction between the electrons is enhanced due to the strong confinement, only collective excitations are allowed. This leads to novel effects like spin charge separation, where spin and charge degrees of freedom are decoupled and allowed to travel independently along the 1D-chain. Such rare state has not been realized at a surface until today. This thesis uses a novel approach to realize nanowires with improved confinement by studying the Au reconstructed Ge(001) surface. A new cleaning procedure using piranha solution is presented, in order to prepare a clean and long-range ordered substrate. To ensure optimal growth of the Au nanowires the phase diagram is extensively studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED). The structural elements of the chains are revealed and described in high detail. Remarkably a structural phase transition of the delicate wire structure is found to occur above room temperature. Due to the lack of energy gaps a Peierls transition can be excluded as its origin. The transition is rather determined as 3D Ising type and therefore includes the substrate as well. Two hallmark properties of a TLL are found in the Au/Ge(001) wires by spectroscopic studies: Power-law suppression of the density of states (DOS) and universal scaling. This impressively proves the existence of a TLL in these chains and opens up a gateway to an atomic playground. Local studies and manipulations of a TLL state become possible for the first time. These comprise (i) doping by alkaline atoms, (ii) studies on chain ends and (iii) tunable coupling between the chains by additional Au atoms. Most importantly these manipulations offer input and test for theoretical models and predictions, and are thereby ultimately advancing the field of correlated electrons. KW - Nanodraht KW - Germanium KW - Gold KW - Elektronenflüssigkeit KW - Luttinger liquide KW - Tunneling spectroscopy KW - nanowires KW - one-dimensional KW - nano KW - Luttinger-Flüssigkeit KW - Rastertunnelmikroskop KW - Oberflächenphysik Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-72801 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Patil, Sandeep S. A1 - Gentschev, Ivaylo A1 - Nolte, Ingo A1 - Ogilvie, Gregory A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. T1 - Oncolytic virotherapy in veterinary medicine: current status and future prospects for canine patients N2 - Oncolytic viruses refer to those that are able to eliminate malignancies by direct targeting and lysis of cancer cells, leaving non-cancerous tissues unharmed. Several oncolytic viruses including adenovirus strains, canine distemper virus and vaccinia virus strains have been used for canine cancer therapy in preclinical studies. However, in contrast to human studies, clinical trials with oncolytic viruses for canine cancer patients have not been reported. An ‘ideal’ virus has yet to be identified. This review is focused on the prospective use of oncolytic viruses in the treatment of canine tumors - a knowledge that will undoubtedly contribute to the development of oncolytic viral agents for canine cancer therapy in the future. KW - Medizin KW - cancer KW - canine cancer therapy KW - oncolytic virus KW - oncolysis KW - target molecule KW - combination therapy Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-75128 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wang, Huiqiang A1 - Chen, Nanhai G. A1 - Minev, Boris R. A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. T1 - Oncolytic vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 strain shows enhanced replication in human breast cancer stem-like cells in comparison to breast cancer cells JF - Journal of Translational Medicine N2 - Background: Recent data suggest that cancer stem cells (CSCs) play an important role in cancer, as these cells possess enhanced tumor-forming capabilities and are responsible for relapses after apparently curative therapies have been undertaken. Hence, novel cancer therapies will be needed to test for both tumor regression and CSC targeting. The use of oncolytic vaccinia virus (VACV) represents an attractive anti-tumor approach and is currently under evaluation in clinical trials. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate whether VACV does kill CSCs that are resistant to irradiation and chemotherapy. Methods: Cancer stem-like cells were identified and separated from the human breast cancer cell line GI-101A by virtue of increased aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) activity as assessed by the ALDEFLUOR assay and cancer stem cell-like features such as chemo-resistance, irradiation-resistance and tumor-initiating were confirmed in cell culture and in animal models. VACV treatments were applied to both ALDEFLUOR-positive cells in cell culture and in xenograft tumors derived from these cells. Moreover, we identified and isolated CD44\(^+\)CD24\(^+\)ESA\(^+\) cells from GI-101A upon an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). These cells were similarly characterized both in cell culture and in animal models. Results: We demonstrated for the first time that the oncolytic VACV GLV-1h68 strain replicated more efficiently in cells with higher ALDH1 activity that possessed stem cell-like features than in cells with lower ALDH1 activity. GLV-1h68 selectively colonized and eventually eradicated xenograft tumors originating from cells with higher ALDH1 activity. Furthermore, GLV-1h68 also showed preferential replication in CD44\(^+\)CD24\(^+\)ESA\(^+\) cells derived from GI-101A upon an EMT induction as well as in xenograft tumors originating from these cells that were more tumorigenic than CD44\(^+\)CD24\(^-\)ESA\(^+\) cells. Conclusions: Taken together, our findings indicate that GLV-1h68 efficiently replicates and kills cancer stem-like cells. Thus, GLV-1h68 may become a promising agent for eradicating both primary and metastatic tumors, especially tumors harboring cancer stem-like cells that are resistant to chemo and/or radiotherapy and may be responsible for recurrence of tumors. KW - tumors KW - therapy KW - metastasis KW - identification KW - lines KW - gene expression KW - in-vitro propagation KW - acute myeloid leukemia KW - epithelial-mesenchymal transition KW - subpopulation Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-130019 VL - 10 IS - 167 ER - TY - THES A1 - Leikam, Claudia T1 - Oncogene-induced senescence in melanocytes T1 - Onkogen-induzierte Seneszenz in Melanozyten N2 - Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer with very limited treatment options. Upon appearance of metastases chemotherapeutics are used to either kill or slow down the growth of cancer cells by inducing apoptosis or senescence, respectively. With melanomas originating from melanocytes, it is vital to elucidate the mechanisms that distinguish senescence induction from proliferation and tumourigenicity. Xmrk (Xiphophorus melanoma receptor kinase), the fish orthologue of the human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), causes highly aggressive melanoma in fish. Using an inducible variant, HERmrk, I showed that high receptor levels result in melanocyte senescence, whereas low and medium expression allows for cell proliferation and tumourigenicity. Mechanistically, HERmrk leads to increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, which trigger a DNA damage response. Consequently, multinucleated, senescent cells develop by both endomitosis and fusion. Furthermore, oncogenic N‐RAS (N-‐RAS61K) induces a similar multinucleated phenotype in melanocytes. In addition, I found that both overexpression of C‐MYC and the knockdown of miz­‐1 (Myc­‐interacting zinc finger protein 1) diminished HERmrk‐induced senescence entry. C‐MYC prevent ROS induction, DNA damage and senescence, while acting synergistically with HERmrk in conveying tumourigenic features to melanocytes. Further analyses identified cystathionase (CTH) as a novel target gene of Myc and Miz-­1 crucial for senescence prevention. CTH encodes an enzyme involved in the synthesis of cysteine from methionine, thereby allowing for increased ROS detoxification. Even though senescence was thought to be irreversible and hence tumour protective, I demonstrated that prolonged expression of the melanoma oncogene N­‐RAS61K in pigment cells overcomes initial OIS by triggering the emergence of tumour‐initiating, mononucleated stem‐like cells from multinucleated senescent cells. This progeny is dedifferentiated, highly proliferative, anoikis­‐resistant and induces fast­‐growing, metastatic tumours upon transplantation into nude mice. Our data demonstrate that induction of OIS is not only a cellular failsafe mechanism, but also carries the potential to provide a source for highly aggressive, tumour­‐initiating cells. N2 - Das Melanom ist der aggressivste Hautkrebstyp mit aeußerst begrenzten Therapiemoeglichkeiten. Sobald Metastasen diagnostiziert werden, kommen Chemotherapeutika zum Einsatz, deren Aufgabe darin besteht, die Krebszellen durch Apotoseinduktion zu toeten oder ihre Verbreitung mittels Seneszenz zu verlangsamen. Da Melanome aus Melanozyten hervorgehen, ist es essentiell, die Mechanismen zu analysieren, die entscheiden, ob Zellen seneszent oder tumorigen werden. Xmrk, die Xiphophorus­‐Melanom‐Rezeptor­‐Kinase und Fischortholog des humanen epidermalen Wachstumsfaktors (EGFR), verursacht aggressive Melanome in Fischen. Durch den Einsatz von HERmrk, einer induzierbaren Variante des Rezeptors, konnte ich zeigen, dass hohe Expressionslevel Seneszenz in Melanozyten zur Folge haben, wohingegen niedrige oder mittlere Rezeptorlevel mit erhöhter Zellproliferation und Tumorigenitaet der Zellen einhergehen. Mechanistisch gesehen, führt die Aktivierung von HERmrk zu gesteigerten Level an reaktiven Sauerstoffspezies (ROS), die wiederum DNA‐Schäden verursachen und dadurch bestimmte Signalwege auslösen. Durch Endomitose und Fusion entstehen letztendlich multinukleaere, seneszente Zellen. Interessanterweise, führte die Expression von onkogenem N‐RAS (N‐RAS61K) in Melanozyten zu einem sehr ähnlichen Phaenotyp. Des Weiteren konnte ich zeigen, dass sowohl die Überexpression von C-­MYC als auch der Knockdown von miz‐1 (Myc­‐interagierendes Zinkfingerprotein 1) der HERmrk-­induzierten Seneszenz entgegenwirkten. C‐MYC verhindert einerseits die Entstehung von ROS, die dadurch verursachten DNA‐Schaeden und damit die Seneszenz und wirkt andererseits synergistisch mit HERmrk, indem es den Melanozyten tumorigene Eigenschaften verleiht. In weiteren Analysen wurde Cystathionase (CTH) als neues Zielgen von Myc und Miz-­1 identifiziert, dem eine zentrale Rolle in der Seneszenzverhinderung zukommt. CTH kodiert fuer ein Enzym, das die Synthese von Cystein aus Methionin und damit die Entsorgung von ROS ermöglicht. Obwohl man davon ausgeht, dass Seneszenz einen irreversiblen Mechanismus darstellt, der die Tumorentstehung verhindert, konnte ich zeigen, dass die langfristige Expression des Melanomonkogens N‐RAS61K die initiale Seneszenzinduktion durchbricht. Dabei gehen mononukleaere, tumorigene, stammzellaehnliche Zellen aus seneszenten Zellen hervor. Diese Tochterzellen sind dedifferenziert, hochproliferativ, Anoikis­‐resistent und induzieren schnellwachsende, metastasierende Tumoren in Nacktmaeusen. Damit machen meine Daten deutlich, dass Seneszenz nicht nur als zellulaerer Schadensbegrenzungsmechanismus fungiert, sondern auch das Potential hat, aeußerst aggressive Tumorzellen zu generieren. KW - Melanom KW - Altern KW - Onkogen KW - Melanophor KW - Hautkrebs KW - Seneszenz KW - Xmrk KW - N-RAS KW - melanoma KW - senescence KW - OIS KW - skin cancer KW - oncogenes Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-79316 ER - TY - THES A1 - Akindeinde, Saheed Ojo T1 - Numerical Verification of Optimality Conditions in Optimal Control Problems T1 - Numerischen Verifizierung von Optimalitätsbedingungen für Optimalsteurungsprobleme N2 - This thesis is devoted to numerical verification of optimality conditions for non-convex optimal control problems. In the first part, we are concerned with a-posteriori verification of sufficient optimality conditions. It is a common knowledge that verification of such conditions for general non-convex PDE-constrained optimization problems is very challenging. We propose a method to verify second-order sufficient conditions for a general class of optimal control problem. If the proposed verification method confirms the fulfillment of the sufficient condition then a-posteriori error estimates can be computed. A special ingredient of our method is an error analysis for the Hessian of the underlying optimization problem. We derive conditions under which positive definiteness of the Hessian of the discrete problem implies positive definiteness of the Hessian of the continuous problem. The results are complemented with numerical experiments. In the second part, we investigate adaptive methods for optimal control problems with finitely many control parameters. We analyze a-posteriori error estimates based on verification of second-order sufficient optimality conditions using the method developed in the first part. Reliability and efficiency of the error estimator are shown. We illustrate through numerical experiments, the use of the estimator in guiding adaptive mesh refinement. N2 - Diese Arbeit widmet sich der numerischen Verifizierung von Optimalitaetsbedingungen fuer nicht konvexe Optimalsteuerungsprobleme. Im ersten Teil beschaeftigen wir uns mit der a-posteriori Ueberpruefung von hinreichenden Optimalitaetskriterien. Es ist bekannt, dass der Nachweis solcher Bedingungen fuer allgemeine nicht konvexe Optimierungsproblemem mit Nebenbedingungen in Form von partiellen Differentialgleichungen sehr schwierig ist. Wir stellen eine Methode vor, um die hinreichenden Bedingungen zweiter Ordnung fuer eine allgemeine Problemklasse zu testen. Falls die vorgeschlagene Strategie bestaetigt, dass diese Bedingungen erfuellt sind, koennen a-posteriori Fehlerschaetzungen berechnet werden. Ein wesentlicher Bestandteil unserer Methode ist eine Fehleranalyse fuer die Hessematrix des zugrunde liegenden Optimierungsproblems. Es werden Bedingungen hergeleitet, unter denen die positive Definitheit der Hessematrix des diskreten Problems die positive Definitheit der Hessematrix fuer das kontinuierliche Problem nach sich zieht. Diese Ergebnisse werden durch numerische Experimente ergaenzt. Im zweiten Teil untersuchen wir adaptive (Diskretisierungs-)methoden fuer Optimalsteuerungsprobleme mit endlich vielen Kontrollparametern. Basierend auf dem Nachweis hinreichender Optimalitaetsbedingungen zweiter Ordnung analysieren wir a posteriori Fehlerschaetzungen. Dies geschieht unter der Nutzung der Resultate des ersten Teils der Arbeit. Es wird die Zuverlaessigkeit und Effizienz des Fehlerschaetzers bewiesen. Mittels weiterer numerischer Experimente illustrieren wir, wie der Fehlerschaetzer zur Steuerung adaptiver Gitterverfeinerung eingesetzt werden kann. KW - Optimale Kontrolle KW - Nichtkonvexe Optimierung KW - Numerisches Verfahren KW - non-convex optimal control problems KW - sufficient optimality conditions KW - a-posteriori error estimates KW - numerical approximations KW - adaptive refinement Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-76065 ER - TY - THES A1 - Luitz, David J. T1 - Numerical methods and applications in many fermion systems T1 - Numerische Methoden und Anwendungen in Vielfermionensystemen N2 - This thesis presents results covering several topics in correlated many fermion systems. A Monte Carlo technique (CT-INT) that has been implemented, used and extended by the author is discussed in great detail in chapter 3. The following chapter discusses how CT-INT can be used to calculate the two particle Green’s function and explains how exact frequency summations can be obtained. A benchmark against exact diagonalization is presented. The link to the dynamical cluster approximation is made in the end of chapter 4, where these techniques are of immense importance. In chapter 5 an extensive CT-INT study of a strongly correlated Josephson junction is shown. In particular, the signature of the first order quantum phase transition between a Kondo and a local moment regime in the Josephson current is discussed. The connection to an experimental system is made with great care by developing a parameter extraction strategy. As a final result, we show that it is possible to reproduce experimental data from a numerically exact CT-INT model-calculation. The last topic is a study of graphene edge magnetism. We introduce a general effective model for the edge states, incorporating a complicated interaction Hamiltonian and perform an exact diagonalization study for different parameter regimes. This yields a strong argument for the importance of forbidden umklapp processes and of the strongly momentum dependent interaction vertex for the formation of edge magnetism. Additional fragments concerning the use of a Legendre polynomial basis for the representation of the two particle Green’s function, the analytic continuation of the self energy for the Anderson Kane Mele Model, as well as the generation of test data with a given covariance matrix are documented in the appendix. A final appendix provides some very important matrix identities that are used for the discussion of technical details of CT-INT. N2 - In der vorliegenden Dissertation werden verschiedene Themen aus dem Feld der stark korrelierten Viel-Fermionensysteme präsentiert. Zunächst wird in Kapitel 3 eine Monte Carlo Methode (CT-INT), welche der Autor implementiert, angewandt und erweitert hat, auf detaillierte Weise eingeführt. Das nachfolgende Kapitel diskutiert wie die Zweiteilchen Greensche Funktion in CT-INT berechnet werden kann und wie exakte Frequenzsummen ausgewertet werden können. Dies wird in einem Vergleich mit Daten aus exakter Diagonalisierung demonstriert. Abschließend wird die Verbindung zur dynamischen Cluster Näherung am Ende von Kapitel 4 aufgezeigt, wo diese Methoden von außerordentlicher Bedeutung sind. In Kapitel 5 wird eine umfangreiche CT-INT Studie eines stark korrelierten Josephson Kontakts vorgestellt. Insbesondere wird die Verbindung zwischen dem Phasenübergang erster Ordnung von einem Kondoregime zu einem Regime mit lokalem magnetischem Moment mit der Phasenverschiebung um pi des Josephson-Stroms herausgearbeitet. Es wird gezeigt, wie der Übergang zu einem realen experimentellen System durchgeführt werden kann, wobei besondere Sorgfalt auf die Entwicklung einer Strategie zur Extraktion der Modellparameter aus den experimentellen Daten gelegt wurde. Als Endergebnis demonstrieren wir, dass es es möglich ist, experimentelle Daten mit Hilfe einer numerisch exakten Modellrechnung zu reproduzieren. Als letztes Projekt wird eine Untersuchung des Randmagnetismus von Graphen vorgestellt. Dazu wird ein allgemeines effektives Modell eingeführt, welches einen komplizierten Wechselwirkungshamiltonian enthält. Hierfür wird eine Studie mit Hilfe von exakter Diagonalisierung des Hamiltonians in verschiedenen Parameterbereichen erarbeitet, wodurch wir argumentieren können, dass das Verbot von Umklappprozessen und die starke Impulsabhängigkeit der Wechselwirkung für die Bildung des Randmagnetismus verantwortlich sind. Zusätzlich dokumentieren einige Fragmente im Anhang theoretische Arbeiten zur Benutzung einer Basis von Legendre Polynomen zur Darstellung der Zweiteilchen Greenschen Funktion, zur analytischen Fortsetzung der Selbstenergie für das Anderson Kane Mele Modell sowie zur Erstellung von Testdaten mit einer analytisch bestimmbaren Kovarianzmatrix. Ein Anhang mit einigen Matrix Identitäten die wichtig für die Diskussion der technischen Details von CT-INT sind schließt diese Arbeit ab. KW - Fermionensystem KW - DCA KW - CT-INT KW - QMC KW - Monte Carlo KW - Strong correlations KW - Numerisches Verfahren KW - Festkörpertheorie Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-75927 ER - TY - THES A1 - Förster, Sabine T1 - Nuclear Hormone Receptors and Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor Signaling in Echinococcus multilocularis T1 - Signalwege in Echinococcus multilocularis am Beispiel der Nukleären Hormonrezeptoren und des Fibroblast Growth Factor Rezeptors N2 - Parasitic helminths share a large degree of common genetic heritage with their various hosts. This includes cell-cell-communication mechanisms mediated by small peptide cytokines and lipophilic/steroid hormones. These cytokines are candidate molecules for host-parasite cross-communication in helminth diseases. In this work the function of two evolutionary conserved signaling pathways in the model cestode Echinococcus multilocularis has been studied. First, signaling mechanisms mediated through fibroblast growth factors (FGF) and their cognate receptors (FGFR) which influence a multitude of biological functions, like homeostasis and differentiation, were studied. I herein investigated the role of EmFR which is the only FGFR homolog in E. multilocularis. Functional analyses using the Xenopus oocyte expression system clearly indicate that EmFR can sense both acidic and basic FGF of human origin, resulting in an activation of the EmFR tyrosine kinase domain. In vitro experiments demonstrate that mammalian FGF significantly stimulates proliferation and development of E. multilocularis metacestode vesicles and primary cells. Furthermore, DNA synthesis and the parasite’s Erk-like MAPK cascade module was stimulated in the presence of exogenously added mammalian FGF. By using the FGFR inhibitor BIBF1120 the activity of EmFR in the Xenopus oocyte system was effectively blocked. Addition of BIBF1120 to in vitro cultivated Echinococcus larval material led to detrimental effects concerning the generation of metacestode vesicles from parasite stem cells, the proliferation and survival of metacestode vesicles, and the dedifferentiation of protoscoleces towards the metacestode. In conclusion, these data demonstrate the presence of a functional EmFR-mediated signaling pathway in E. multilocularis that is able to interact with host-derived cytokines and that plays an important role in larval parasite development. Secondly, the role of nuclear hormone receptor (NHR) signaling was addressed. Lipophilic and steroid hormone signaling contributes to the regulation of metazoan development. By means of in silico analyses I demonstrate that E. multilocularis expresses a set of 17 NHRs that broadly overlaps with that of the related flatworms Schistosoma mansoni and S. japonicum, but also contains several NHR encoding genes that are unique to this parasite. One of these, EmNHR1, is homolog to the DAF-12/HR-96 subfamily of NHRs which regulate cholesterol homeostasis in metazoans. Modified yeast-two hybrid analyses revealed that host serum contains a ligand which induces homodimerization of the EmNHR1 ligand-binding domain. Also, a HNF4-like homolog, EmHNF4, was characterized. Human HNF4 plays an important role in liver development. RT-PCR experiments showed that both isoforms of the EmHNF4 encoding gene are expressed stage-dependently suggesting distinct functions of the two isoforms in the parasite. Moreover, specific regulatory mechanisms on the convergence of NHR signaling and TGF-β/BMP signaling pathways in E. multilocularis have been identified. On the one hand, EmNHR1 directly interacted with the EmSmadC and on the other hand EmHNF4b interacted with EmSmadD, EmSmadE which are all downstream signaling components of the TGF-β/BMP signaling pathway. This suggests cross-communication in order to regulate target gene expression. With these results, further studies on the role of NHR signaling in the cestode will be facilitated. Also, the first serum-free in vitro cultivation system for E. multilocularis was established using PanserinTM401 as medium. Serum-free co-cultivation with RH-feeder cells and an axenic cultivation method have been established. With the help of this serum-free cultivation system investigations on the role of specific peptide hormones, like FGFs, or lipophilic/steroid hormones, like cholesterol, for the development of helminths will be much easier. N2 - Parasitäre Würmer weisen eine große genetische Verwandtschaft mit ihren Wirten auf. Diese schließt auch Zell-Zell-Kommunikationsmechanismen ein, die sowohl durch Peptidhormone als auch durch lipophile/steroidale Hormone vermittelt werden. Man vermutet, dass diese Stoffe eine wichtige Rolle bei der Wirt-Parasiten-Kreuzkommunikation spielen. Deshalb untersuchte diese Arbeit die Funktion von zwei konservierten Signalwegen im Modellorganismus Echinococcus multilocularis. Der erste Teil dieser Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit den Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGF). Diese steuern durch die Bindung an spezifische FGF-Rezeptoren (FGFR) eine Vielzahl von biologischen Funktionen, wie beispielsweise Homöostase- und Differenzierungsprozesse. Zunächst wurde EmFR, das einzige FGFR-Homolog im Fuchsbandwurm in Xenopus Oozyten heterolog exprimiert. Dabei wurde nachgewiesen, dass der Rezeptor sowohl acidic als auch basic FGF erkennen kann und dies zur Aktivierung der Tyrosinkinasedomäne führt. Außerdem förderte im in vitro Experiment die exogene Zugabe dieser Wirtsfaktoren die Proliferation und Entwicklung von Metacestodenvesikeln und Primärzellen. Darüber hinaus wurden die DNA-Synthese und die Erk-MAPK-Kaskade des Parasiten stimuliert. Im Gegensatz dazu konnte durch die Hinzugabe des FGFR-Inhibitor BIBF1120 die Aktivität des Rezeptors im Xenopus Oozytensystem erfolgreich blockieret werden. Durch den Inhibitor wurde die Regeneration von Metacestodenvesikeln aus Stammzellen, die Proliferation und das Überleben von Metacestodenvesikeln verhindert und eine Dedifferenzierung von Protoskolizes verursacht. Zusammengefasst zeigen diese Daten, dass E. multilocularis einen funktionellen durch EmFR-vermittelten Signalweg besitzt, welcher in der Lage ist, mit Wirtszytokinen zu interagieren und eine wichtige Rolle bei der Entwicklung von Echinococcus Larvenstadien spielt. Außerdem wurde die Bedeutung der Nukleären Hormon Rezeptoren (NHR) für den Parasiten untersucht. Lipophile und steroidale Hormone regulieren viele Entwicklungsprozesse in Metazoen. Mittels in silico Analyse konnten 17 Rezeptoren der NHR-Familie in E. multilocularis identifiziert werden, die größtenteils mit dem NHR Repertoire von Schistosoma mansoni und S. japonicum übereinstimmen. Allerdings wurden auch Rezeptoren identifiziert, die einzigartig für E. multilocularis sind. Einer dieser Rezeptoren, EmNHR1, ist homolog zur DAF-12/HR-96 Familie, die den Cholesterinstoffwechsel in Metazoen reguliert. Yeast-Two Hybrid Experimente zeigten, dass Wirtsserum den putativen Liganden von EmNHR1 enthält, da dessen Zugabe zur Homodimerisierung der EmNHR1-Liganden-bindungsdomäne führte. Außerdem wurde mit EmHNF4 ein weiterer Rezeptor charakterisiert, dessen humanes Homolog die Entwicklung der Leber beeinflusst. RT-PCR-Experimente zeigten, dass die zwei entdeckten Isoformen von EmHNF4 stadienspezifisch exprimiert werden, was auf mögliche Funktionsunterschiede deutet. Darüber hinaus wurde sowohl für EmNHR1, als auch für EmHNF4 beobachtet, dass die DNA-Bindungsdomänen mit Komponenten des TGF-β/BMP-Signalwegs direkte Proteininteraktionen eingehen. Während EmNHR1 mit EmSmadC interagiert, zeigte EmHNF4b eine Reaktion mit EmSmadD und EmSmadE, was auf eine Kreuzkommunikation zwischen beiden Signalwegen deutet. Diese Ergebnisse werden zukünftige Studien bezüglich der Funktion von NHR-Signalwegen in Zestoden deutlich erleichtern. Weiterhin wurde in dieser Arbeit das erste serum-freie in vitro Kultivierungssystem für E. multilocularis etabliert. PanserinTM401 diente als Medium sowohl für die Kultur mit Fütterzellen als auch für eine axenische Kulturmethode. Mit Hilfe dieses Systems können in Zukunft Untersuchungen über die Rolle von Peptidhormonen wie FGF, oder lipophilen bzw. steroidalen Substanzen, wie Cholesterin, bei der Parasitenentwicklung besser untersucht werden. KW - Signaltransduktion KW - Fuchsbandwurm KW - Echinococcus multilocularis KW - Alveoläre Echinokokkose KW - FGF KW - Nukleäre Hormonrezeptoren KW - Echinococcus multilocularis KW - Alveolar Echinococcosis KW - FGF Signaling KW - Hormone Receptor Signaling KW - Fibroblastenwachstumsfaktor Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-85832 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Harrington, John M. A1 - Scelsi, Chris A1 - Hartel, Andreas A1 - Jones, Nicola G. A1 - Engstler, Markus A1 - Capewell, Paul A1 - MacLeod, Annette A1 - Hajduk, Stephen T1 - Novel African Trypanocidal Agents: Membrane Rigidifying Peptides JF - PLoS One N2 - The bloodstream developmental forms of pathogenic African trypanosomes are uniquely susceptible to killing by small hydrophobic peptides. Trypanocidal activity is conferred by peptide hydrophobicity and charge distribution and results from increased rigidity of the plasma membrane. Structural analysis of lipid-associated peptide suggests a mechanism of phospholipid clamping in which an internal hydrophobic bulge anchors the peptide in the membrane and positively charged moieties at the termini coordinate phosphates of the polar lipid headgroups. This mechanism reveals a necessary phenotype in bloodstream form African trypanosomes, high membrane fluidity, and we suggest that targeting the plasma membrane lipid bilayer as a whole may be a novel strategy for the development of new pharmaceutical agents. Additionally, the peptides we have described may be valuable tools for probing the biosynthetic machinery responsible for the unique composition and characteristics of African trypanosome plasma membranes. KW - depth KW - trypanosome lytic factor KW - signal peptides KW - cell surface KW - protein KW - brucei KW - environment KW - bilayers KW - binding KW - probes Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-135179 VL - 7 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chenchiah, Isaac A1 - Schlömerkemper, Anja T1 - Non-laminate microstructures in monoclinic-I martensite N2 - We study the symmetrised rank-one convex hull of monoclinic-I martensite (a twelve-variant material) in the context of geometrically-linear elasticity. We construct sets of T3s, which are (non-trivial) symmetrised rank-one convex hulls of 3-tuples of pairwise incompatible strains. Moreover we construct a five-dimensional continuum of T3s and show that its intersection with the boundary of the symmetrised rank-one convex hull is four-dimensional. We also show that there is another kind of monoclinic-I martensite with qualitatively different semi-convex hulls which, so far as we know, has not been experimentally observed. Our strategy is to combine understanding of the algebraic structure of symmetrised rank-one convex cones with knowledge of the faceting structure of the convex polytope formed by the strains. KW - Martensit KW - Mehrskalenmodell KW - Phasenumwandlung KW - Variationsrechnung KW - kubisch-monokliner Phasenübergang KW - semi-konvexe Hüllen KW - geometrisch lineare Elastizitätstheorie KW - T3s KW - cubic-monoclinic martensites KW - semi-convex hulls KW - geometrically linear elasticity KW - T3s Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-72134 ER -