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This work is concerned with the syntheses and photophysical properties of para-xylylene bridged macrocycles nPBI with ring sizes from two to nine PBI units, as well as the complexation of polycyclic aromatic guest compounds.
With a reduced but substantial fluorescence quantum yield of 21% (in CHCl3) the free host 2PBI(4-tBu)4 can be used as a dual fluorescence probe. Upon encapsulation of rather electron-poor guests the fluorescence quenching interactions between the chromophores are prevented, leading to a significant fluorescence enhancement to > 90% (“turn-on”). On the other hand, the addition of electron-rich guest molecules induces an electron transfer from the guest to the electron-poor PBI chromophores and thus quenches the fluorescence entirely (“turn-off”). The photophysical properties of the host-guest complexes were studied by transient absorption spectroscopy. These measurements revealed that the charge transfer between guest and 2PBI(4-tBu)4 occurs in the “normal region” of the Marcus-parabola with the fastest charge separation rate for perylene. In contrast, the charge recombination back to the PBI ground state lies far in the “inverted region” of the Marcus-parabola.
Beside complexation of planar aromatic hydrocarbons into the cavity of the cyclophanes an encapsulation of fullerene into the cyclic trimer 3PBI(4-tBu)4 was observed. 3PBI(4-tBu)4 provides a tube-like structure in which the PBI subunits represent the walls of those tubes. The cavity has the optimal size for hosting fullerenes, with C70 fitting better than C60 and a binding constant that is higher by a factor of 10. TA spectroscopy in toluene that was performed on the C60@3PBI(4-tBu)4 complex revealed two energy transfer processes. The first one comes from the excited PBI to the fullerene, which subsequently populates the triplet state. From the fullerene triplet state a second energy transfer occurs back to the PBI to generate the PBI triplet state.
In all cycles that were studied by TA spectroscopy, symmetry-breaking charge separation (SB-CS) was observed in dichloromethane. This process is fastest within the PBI cyclophane 2PBI(4-tBu)4 and slows down for larger cycles, suggesting that the charge separation takes place through space and not through bonds. The charges then recombine to the PBI triplet state via a radical pair intersystem crossing (RP-ISC) mechanism, which could be used to generate singlet oxygen in yields of ~20%.
By changing the solvent to toluene an intramolecular folding of the even-numbered larger cycles was observed that quenches the fluorescence and increases the 0-1 transition band in the absorption spectra. Force field calculations of 4PBI(4-tBu)4 suggested a folding into pairs of dimers, which explains the remarkable odd-even effect with respect to the number of connected PBI chromophores and the resulting alternation in the absorption and fluorescence properties. Thus, the even-numbered macrocycles can fold in a way that all chromophores are in a paired arrangement, while the odd-numbered cycles have open conformations (3PBI(4-tBu)4, 5PBI(4-tBu)4, 7PBI(4-tBu)4) or at least additional unpaired PBI unit (9PBI(4-tBu)4).
With these experiments we could for the first time give insights in the interactions between cyclic PBI hosts and aromatic guest molecules. Associated with the encapsulation of guest molecules a variety of possible applications can be envisioned, like fluorescence sensing, chiral recognition and photodynamic therapy by singlet oxygen generation. Particularly, these macrocycles provide photophysical relaxation pathways of PBIs, like charge separation and recombination and triplet state formation that are hardly feasible in monomeric PBI dyes. Furthermore, diverse compound specific features were found, like the odd-even effect in the folding process or the transition of superficial nanostructures of the tetrameric cycle influenced by the AFM tip. The comprehensive properties of these macrocycles provide the basis for further oncoming studies and can serve as an inspiration for the synthesis of new macrocyclic compounds.
Unter dem Namen Avemar sind fermentierte Weizenkeimlinge als onkologisches Supportivprodukt erhältlich. Der hohe Anteil an 2,6-Dimethoxy-1,4-benzochinonen (DMBQ) in Avemar soll für das \(in\) \(vitro\) und \(in\) \(vivo\) belegte antikanzerogene Potential verantwortlich sein. DMBQ wirken über Semichinonradikale bzw. durch Ausbildung von reaktiven Sauerstoffspezies (ROS) und Induktion von oxidativem Stress zytotoxisch. Da Tumorzellen empfindlicher auf oxidativen Stress reagieren als gesunde Zellen, kann dies die selektive zytotoxische Wirkung von Avemar erklären.
Die Beteiligung von DMBQ am antiproliferativen Effekt von Avemar und die Wirkung von Avemar auf den Stoffwechsel maligner Zellen sind derzeit nicht eindeutig geklärt. Die antiproliferativen Eigenschaften von Avemar und DMBQ als Reinsubstanz wurden miteinander verglichen. Hierzu wurden DMBQ in einer zu Avemar mit 0,04% Benzochinonen äquimolaren Konzentration von 24 μmol/L eingesetzt.
Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit lassen den Schluss zu, dass der starke zytotoxische Effekt von Avemar bei BxPc-3 Zellen auf einen DMBQ-induzierten oxidativen Stress zurückzuführen ist. Im Vergleich zur unbehandelten Kontrolle wurde für BxPc-3 Zellen bei der Inkubation mit DMBQ eine 20-fache bzw. mit Avemar eine 40-fache Zunahme des ROS-Indikators 2',7'-Dichlorofluorescein gemessen. Im Westernblot ließ sich bei BxPc-3 Zellen das Enzym DT-Diaphorase, welches die Zellen vor Benzochinon-induziertem oxidativem Stress schützt, nicht nachweisen. In Zellen der anderen beiden Zelllinien konnte das Enzym nachgewiesen werden. Das mangelnde Schutzsystem gegenüber DMBQ-induziertem oxidativen Stress könnte demzufolge den DMBQ vermittelten zytotoxischen Effekt von Avemar in BxPc-3 Zellen erklären. Zusätzlich zum zytotoxischen Effekt wies Avemar zwei weitere antiproliferative Effekte auf: Zytostase bei 23132/87 Zellen und Wachstumsverzögerung bei HRT-18 Zellen. Beide antiproliferativen Effekte waren auf die Beeinflussung des Zellmetabolismus zurückzuführen. Avemar verringerte den zellulären Glukoseverbrauch von HRT-18 Zellen um 69% und von 23132/87 Zellen um 99%. In 23132/87 Zellen korrelierte der verringerte Glukoseverbrauch mit einer Abnahme von ATP um 70% und einem Zellzyklusarrest in der G\(_2\)/M Phase. Der durch die Inkubation von HRT-18 Zellen mit Avemar ausgelöste verringerte Glukoseverbrauch beeinflusste hingegen weder den ATP-Gehalt noch den Zellzyklus, induzierte aber Autophagie. Dies ließ sich zeigen durch morphologische Veränderungen wie die Bildung von intrazellulären Vakuolen und durch den Nachweis des Autophagiemarkers LC3-II. Die Wertigkeit dieses Phänomens für die zytotoxischen Eigenschaften von Avemar ist in weiteren Untersuchungen zu klären.
Die antiproliferativen Eigenschaften von Avemar führen zu Veränderungen im Zellmetabolismus von gastrointestinalen Tumorzellen. Ausschlaggebend dafür, welcher der drei antiproliferativen Effekte von Avemar (zytotoxisch, zytostatisch oder wachstumsverzögernd) dominiert, sind vermutlich zelleigene Schutzsysteme und metabolische Charakteristika der Zellen. Avemar weist ein breites Spektrum antiproliferativer Effekte auf, deren Einfluss auf Zellfunktion und Zellstoffwechsel im Detail noch weiter untersucht werden sollte.
The progress which has been made in semiconductor chip production in recent years enables a multitude of cores on a single die. However, due to further decreasing structure sizes, fault tolerance and energy consumption will represent key challenges. Furthermore, an efficient communication infrastructure is indispensable due to the high parallelism at those systems. The predominant communication system at such highly parallel systems is a Network on Chip (NoC). The focus of this thesis is on NoCs which are based on deflection routing. In this context, contributions are made to two domains, fault tolerance and dimensioning of the optimal link width. Both aspects are essential for the application of reliable, energy efficient, and deflection routing based NoCs.
It is expected that future semiconductor systems have to cope with high fault probabilities. The inherently given high connectivity of most NoC topologies can be exploited to tolerate the breakdown of links and other components. In this thesis, a fault-tolerant router architecture has been developed, which stands out for the deployed interconnection architecture and the method to overcome complex fault situations. The presented simulation results show, all data packets arrive at their destination, even at high fault probabilities. In contrast to routing table based architectures, the hardware costs of the herein presented architecture are lower and, in particular, independent of the number of components in the network.
Besides fault tolerance, hardware costs and energy efficiency are of great importance. The utilized link width has a decisive influence on these aspects. In particular, at deflection routing based NoCs, over- and under-sizing of the link width leads to unnecessary high hardware costs and bad performance, respectively. In the second part of this thesis, the optimal link width at deflection routing based NoCs is investigated. Additionally, a method to reduce the link width is introduced. Simulation and synthesis results show, the herein presented method allows a significant reduction of hardware costs at comparable performance.
Under a CO atmosphere the dihydrodiborene [(cAAC)HB=BH(cAAC)] underwent coordination of CO concomitant with reversible hydrogen migration from boron to the carbene carbon atom, as well as reversible CO insertion into the B=B bond. Heating of the CO-adduct resulted in two unusual cAAC ring-expansion products, one presenting a B=C bond to a six-membered 1,2-azaborinane-3-ylidene, the other an unprecedented nine-membered cyclic alkyne resulting from reductive cleavage of CO and spontaneous C≡C triple bond formation.
This dissertation is dealing with three mathematical areas, namely polynomial matrices over finite fields, linear systems and coding theory.
Coprimeness properties of polynomial matrices provide criteria for the reachability and observability of interconnected linear systems. Since time-discrete linear systems over finite fields and convolutional codes are basically the same objects, these results could be transfered to criteria for non-catastrophicity of convolutional codes.
We calculate the probability that specially structured polynomial matrices are right prime. In particular, formulas for the number of pairwise coprime polynomials and for the number of mutually left coprime polynomial matrices are calculated. This leads to the probability that a parallel connected linear system is reachable and that a parallel connected convolutional codes is non-catastrophic.
Moreover, the corresponding probabilities are calculated for other networks of linear systems and convolutional codes, such as series connection.
Furthermore, the probabilities that a convolutional codes is MDP and that a clock code is MDS are approximated.
Finally, we consider the probability of finding a solution for a linear network coding problem.
Diffusionsgewichtete MR-Bilder sind ein wichtiger Bestandteil für die klinische Diagnostik
verschiedener Pathologien, wie z.B. bei Schlaganfall oder Tumoren. Meistens
wird ein mono-exponentielles Diffusionsmodell verwendet und über verschiedene
Raumrichtungen gemittelt. Der Einfluss von Fluss auf das diffusionsgewichtete
Signal und eine mögliche Richtungsabhängigkeit werden dabei vernachlässigt. Dabei
machen Diffusionsmodelle, die mehr Eigenschaften des Signals abbilden, unter
Umständen eine genauere Diagnostik möglich. Mit DTI wird die Richtungsabhängigkeit
der Diffusion erfasst und bei IVIM wird der Beitrag von Fluss zum Signal
berücksichtigt. Die Niere ist ein stark strukturiertes Organ und weist Anisotropie
in der Diffusion auf. Außerdem ist die Niere ein sehr gut durchblutetes Organ. DTI
und IVIM beschreiben also unabhängig voneinander zwei wichtige Aspekte des diffusionsgewichteten
Signals in der Niere, ohne dass der Vorteil des jeweils anderen
Modells Beachtung findet.
In dieser Arbeit wurde das Modell IVOF zur umfassenden Beschreibung von Diffusionssignal
vorgestellt, bei dem sowohl die Richtungsabhängigkeit der Diffusion,
als auch das Signal der fließenden Spins und deren Richtungsabhängigkeit abgebildet
wird. Die Vorteile von DTI und IVIM werden also in IVOF vereint und darüber
hinaus auch die mögliche Anisotropie die Flusssignals berücksichtigt. Es konnte gezeigt
werden, dass dieses Modell das diffusionsgewichtete Signal in der menschlichen
Niere besser beschreibt als die herkömmlichen Modelle (DTI und IVIM) und auch
besser als eine Kombination von DTI und IVIM, bei der ein isotroper Flussanteil
des Signals angenommen wird.
Es wurde weiterhin gezeigt, dass selbst wenn der Flussanteil im verwendeten Diffusionsmodell
berücksichtigt wird, der tatsächlich gemessene Flussanteil in der Niere
von der Art der Messung, d.h. Bewegungsempfindlichkeit des Gradientenschemas
abhängt. Das bedeutet, dass der mikroskopische Fluss in der Niere nicht, wie häufig
angenommen, komplett zeitlich inkohärent ist. Bei Vergleichen von IVIM Studien
an der Niere ist es deshalb notwendig, die Bewegungsempfindlichkeit der jeweiligen
Gradientenschemata zu berücksichtigen. Wie groß das absolute Verhältnis von kohärent zu inkohärent fließendem Signal ist, konnte nicht festgestellt werden. Ebenso
wenig konnte die absolute Flussgeschwindigkeit bzw. die Art des Flusses (Laminare
Strömung, Pfropfenströmung, oder andere) ermittelt werden.
TSE hat sich als vielversprechendes, artefaktfreies Verfahren für die Aufnahme
diffusionsgewichteter Bilder der Niere gezeigt. Im Vergleich mit dem Standardverfahren EPI wurden ähnliche Werte der Parameter von DTI und IVIM gefunden.
Abweichungen zwischen EPI und TSE sind vor allem durch die Unschärfe der TSE
Bilder aufgrund von T2-Zerfall zu erklären. Bis zur klinischen Anwendbarkeit diffusionsgewichteter
TSE Bilder bzw. Parameterkarten sind noch einige Weiterentwicklungen
der Methode nötig. Vor allem sind schärfere TSE Bilder erstrebenswert und
es sollten mehrere Schichten in einer klinisch vertretbaren Zeitspanne aufgenommen
werden, ohne dass dabei die zulässigen SAR Grenzwerte überschritten werden.
Bei allen Untersuchungen in dieser Arbeit handelt es sich um Machbarkeitsstudien.
Daher wurden alle Messungen nur an erwachsenen, gesunden Probanden durchgeführt, um zu zeigen, dass das jeweilige vorgeschlagene Modell zu den Daten passt
bzw. dass die vorgeschlagene Methode prinzipiell funktioniert. Bei welchen Pathologien
die hier vorgeschlagenen Methoden und Modelle einen diagnostischen Nutzen
haben, muss in zukünftigen Studien erforscht werden. Außerdem wurden keine b-
Werte zwischen 0 und 200 s/mm2 aufgenommen, bei denen fließende Spins noch
signifikant zum Signal beitragen. Betrachtet man die Ergebnisse der Diffusionsbildgebung
mit verschiedenen m1 in dieser Arbeit, dann ist neben dem b-Wert auch die
Bewegungsempfindlichkeit m1 nötig, um das Signal in diesem Bereich korrekt zu
beschreiben.
Alles in allem sollte der Beitrag von Fluss zum diffusionsgewichteten MR-Signal
in der Niere immer berücksichtigt werden. Die vielfältigen Einflüsse, die unterschiedliche
Parameter auf das Signal von Mikrofluss haben, wurden in dieser Arbeit untersucht
und präsentieren weiterhin ein spannendes Feld für kommende Studien.
Diffusionsgewichtete TSE Sequenzen sind auch für die klinische Diagnostik eine potentielle
Alternative zu Artefakt-anfälligen EPI Sequenzen. Bis dahin sollten jedoch
die Bildschärfe und Abdeckung der diffusionsgewichteten TSE Sequenz weiter verbessert
werden.
In this work, multi-particle quantum optimal control problems are studied in the framework of time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT).
Quantum control problems are of great importance in both fundamental research and application of atomic and molecular systems. Typical applications are laser induced chemical reactions, nuclear magnetic resonance experiments, and quantum computing.
Theoretically, the problem of how to describe a non-relativistic system of multiple particles is solved by the Schrödinger equation (SE). However, due to the exponential increase in numerical complexity with the number of particles, it is impossible to directly solve the Schrödinger equation for large systems of interest. An efficient and successful approach to overcome this difficulty is the framework of TDDFT and the use of the time-dependent Kohn-Sham (TDKS) equations therein.
This is done by replacing the multi-particle SE with a set of nonlinear single-particle Schrödinger equations that are coupled through an additional potential.
Despite the fact that TDDFT is widely used for physical and quantum chemical calculation and software packages for its use are readily available, its mathematical foundation is still under active development and even fundamental issues remain unproven today.
The main purpose of this thesis is to provide a consistent and rigorous setting for the TDKS equations and of the related optimal control problems.
In the first part of the thesis, the framework of density functional theory (DFT) and TDDFT are introduced. This includes a detailed presentation of the different functional sets forming DFT. Furthermore, the known equivalence of the TDKS system to the original SE problem is further discussed.
To implement the TDDFT framework for multi-particle computations, the TDKS equations provide one of the most successful approaches nowadays. However, only few mathematical results concerning these equations are available and these results do not cover all issues that arise in the formulation of optimal control problems governed by the TDKS model.
It is the purpose of the second part of this thesis to address these issues such as higher regularity of TDKS solutions and the case of weaker requirements on external (control) potentials that are instrumental for the formulation of well-posed TDKS control problems. For this purpose, in this work, existence and uniqueness of TDKS solutions are investigated in the Galerkin framework and using energy estimates for the nonlinear TDKS equations.
In the third part of this thesis, optimal control problems governed by the TDKS model are formulated and investigated. For this purpose, relevant cost functionals that model the purpose of the control are discussed.
Henceforth, TDKS control problems result from the requirement of optimising the given cost functionals subject to the differential constraint given by the TDKS equations. The analysis of these problems is novel and represents one of the main contributions of the present thesis.
In particular, existence of minimizers is proved and their characterization by TDKS optimality systems is discussed in detail.
To this end, Fréchet differentiability of the TDKS model and of the cost functionals is addressed considering \(H^1\) cost of the control.
This part is concluded by deriving the reduced gradient in the \(L^2\) and \(H^1\) inner product.
While the \(L^2\) optimization is widespread in the literature, the choice of the \(H^1\) gradient is motivated in this work by theoretical consideration and by resulting numerical advantages.
The last part of the thesis is devoted to the numerical approximation of the TDKS optimality systems and to their solution by gradient-based optimization techniques.
For the former purpose, Strang time-splitting pseudo-spectral schemes are discussed including a review of some recent theoretical estimates for these schemes and a numerical validation of these estimates.
For the latter purpose, nonlinear (projected) conjugate gradient methods are implemented and are used to validate the theoretical analysis of this thesis with results of numerical experiments with different cost functional settings.
In einem internen Studie wurde der Langzeiterfolg der Methode der oszillierenden retrograden Wurzelkanalaufbereitung mithilfe von Schall- oder Ultraschalltechnologie mit der rotierenden Methode mit Mikrorosenbohrern verglichen. Die Erfolgsauswertung erfolgte retrospektiv nach klinischen und radiologischen Kriterien. Untersucht wurden insgesamt 378 Prämolaren, 185 für die oszillierende und 193 für die rotierende Methode, die vom selben Behandler unter einheitlichen technischen und anatomischen Bedingungen sowie unter einheitlichen Operations- und Qualitätsstandards operiert wurden. Die Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit der oszillierenden Kanalaufbereitung betrug nach einem Jahr 91,2%, nach zwei Jahren 89,4%, nach drei Jahren 86,3%, nach fünf Jahren 79,1% sowie nach acht Jahre 76,5%. Die Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit der oszillierenden Kanalaufbereitung betrug nach einem Jahr 88,3%, nach zwei Jahren 85,4%, nach drei Jahren 80,6%, nach fünf Jahren 64,9% sowie nach acht Jahre 53,9%. Die Methode der oszillierenden Kanalaufbereitung zeigte zu jeden Zeitpunkt der Untersuchung eine höhere Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit als die Methode der rotierende Kanalaufbereitung.
Recent advances in the field of cancer immunotherapy have enabled this therapeutic approach to enter the mainstream of modern cancer treatment. In particular, adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) is a potentially powerful immunotherapy approach that relies on the administration of tumor-specific T cells into the patient. There are several strategies to obtain tumor-reactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), which have already been shown to induce remarkable responses in the clinical setting. However, there are concerns and limitations regarding the conventional approaches to obtain tumor-reactive T cells, such as accuracy of the procedure and reproducibility. Therefore, we aimed to develop two approaches to improve the precision and efficacy of tumor-reactive T cells therapy. These two techniques could constitute effective, safe and broadly applicable alternatives to the conventional methods for obtaining tumor-specific CTLs.
The first approach of this study is the so called “Doublet Technology”. Here, we demonstrate that peptide-human leukocyte antigen-T cell receptor (pHLA-TCR) interactions that involve immune reactive peptides are stable and strong. Therefore, the CTLs that are bound by their TCR to tumor cells can be selected and isolated through FACS-based cell sorting taking advantage of this stable interaction between the CTLs and the target cells. The CTLs from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients obtained with this technique show cytolytic activity against blast cells suggesting a potential clinical use of these CTLs. “Doublet Technology” offers a personalized therapy in which there is no need for a priori knowledge of the exact tumor antigen.
The second approach of this study is the Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) Technology. We design several CARs targeting the B-Cell Maturation Antigen (BCMA). BCMA CAR T cells show antigen-specific cytolytic activity, production of cytokines including IFN-γ and IL-2, as well as productive proliferation. Although we confirm the presence of soluble BCMA in serum of multiple myeloma (MM) patients, we demonstrate that the presence of soluble protein does not abrogate the efficacy of BCMA CAR T cells suggesting that BCMA CAR T cells can be used in the clinical setting to treat MM patients. The high antigen specificity of CAR T cells allows efficient tumor cell eradication and makes CAR Technology attractive for broadly applicable therapies.
Zirkulierende Tumorzellen (CTCs) sind maligne Zellen, die in sehr geringer Anzahl im peripheren Blut von Tumorpatienten zu finden sind. Sie können entweder vom Primär-tumor oder von Metastasen in sekundären Organen stammen und sind in der Lage, sich nach dem Verlassen der Blutbahn in verschiedenen Geweben anzusiedeln und neue Me-tastasen auszubilden. Der Nachweis dieser CTCs im Blut ist mittlerweile zu einem viel-versprechenden und viel beforschtem Gebiet der Onkologie geworden. Das Vorhanden-sein von CTCs im Blut von Tumorpatienten kann ein früher Indikator für eine Metasta-sierung sein, als zuverlässiger Vorhersageparameter für die Prognose dienen und die Effektivität einer Therapie aufzeigen.
In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde ein immunologisches Verfahren entwickelt, womit CTCs in venösem Vollblut schnell und einfach als EpCAM-und Zytokeratin-positive und CD45-negative Zellen nachgewiesen werden können. Dabei erfolgt nach einer Ly-se der Erythrozyten in der Probe eine Leukozytendepletion mittels MACS (magnetic-activated cell sorting) und die Identifikation der Tumorzellen mittels FACS-Analyse mit einer festgelegten Gatingstrategie. Mit diesem Verfahren wurden Blutproben von 42 Patienten mit metastasierten gastrointestinalen Tumoren und von 10 gesunden Normal-spendern auf die Anzahl von CTCs/3,75ml Blut untersucht. Dabei wiesen die Patienten annähernd signifikant (p=0,076) mehr CTCs auf als die Normalspender. In 43% der Fäl-le hatten die Patienten >2 CTCs/3,75ml Vollblut und galten damit als CTC-positiv. Pati-enten mit Kolorektalem Karzinom zeigten mit 71% den höchsten Anteil an CTC-Positivität. Bei den gesunden Normalspendern ließen sich in keinem Fall >2 CTCs nachweisen.
Nach einer Evaluation dieser Methode in einer weiteren Studie mit einem größeren Pati-enten- und Vergleichskollektiv könnte eine höhere Beweisebene erreicht werden, die den Einsatz in der klinischen Routine ermöglicht. Daneben sind eine weitere Optimie-rung des FACS-Verfahrens und eine Erweiterung des Antigenspektrums bei der CTC-Detektion zur Erhöhung der Sensitivität und Spezifität erforderlich. Patienten würden von diesem einfachen und wenig invasivem CTC-Detektionsverfahren vor allem im Hinblick auf eine Individualisierung der Therapie und auf das Vermeiden einer Überthe-rapie deutlich profitieren.
Banks perform important functions for the economy. Besides financial intermediation, banks provide information, liquidity, maturity- and risk-transformation (Fama, 1985). Banks ensure the transfer of liquidity from depositors to the most profitable investment projects. In addition, they perform important screening and monitoring services over investments hence contributing steadily to the efficient allocation of resources across the economy (Pathan and Faff, 2013). Since banks provide financial services all across the economy, this exposes banks (as opposed to non-banks) to systemic risk: the recent financial crisis revealed that banks can push economies into severe recessions. However, the crisis also revealed that certain bank types appear far more stable than others. For instance, cooperative banks performed better during the crisis than commercial banks. Different business models may reason these performance-differences: cooperative banks focus on relationship lending across their region, hence these banks suffered less from the collapse of the US housing market.
Since cooperative banks performed better during the crisis than commercial banks, it is quite surprising that research concerning cooperative banks is highly underrepresented in the literature. For this reason, the following three studies aim to contribute to current literature by examining three independent contemporaneous research questions in the context of cooperative banks.
Chapter 2 examines whether cooperative banks benefit from revenue diversification: Current banking literature reveals the recent trend in the overall banking industry that banks may opt for diversification by shifting their revenues to non-interest income. However, existing literature also shows that not every bank benefits from revenue diversification (Mercieca et al., 2007; Stiroh and Rumble, 2006; Goddard et al., 2008). Stiroh and Rumble (2006) find that large commercial banks (US Financial Holding Companies) perceive decreasing performance by shifting revenues towards non-interest income. Revenues from cooperative banks differ from those of commercial banks: commercial banks trade securities and derivatives, sell investment certificates and other trading assets. Concerning the lending business, commercial banks focus on providing loans for medium-sized and large companies rather than for small (private) customers. Cooperative banks rely on commission income (fees) from monetary transactions and selling insurances as a source of non-interest income. They generate most of their interest income by providing loans to small and medium-sized companies as well as to private customers in the region. These differences in revenues raise the question whether findings from Stiroh and Rumble (2006) apply to cooperative banks. For this reason, Chapter 2 evaluates a sample of German cooperative banks over the period 2005 to 2010 and aims to investigate the following research question: which cooperative banks benefit from revenue diversification?
Results show that findings from Stiroh and Rumble (2006) do not apply to cooperative banks. Revenue concentration is positive related to risk-adjusted returns (indirect effect) for cooperative banks. At the same time, non-interest income is more profitable than interest income (direct effect). The evaluation of the underlying non-interest income share shows that banks who heavily focus on non-interest income benefit by shifting towards non-interest income. This finding arises due to the fact, that the positive direct effect dominates the negative indirect effect, leading in a positive (and significant) net effect. Furthermore, results reveal a negative net effect for banks who are heavily exposed to interest generating activities. This indicates that shifting to non-interest income decreases risk-adjusted returns for these banks. Consequently, these banks do better by focusing on the interest business. Overall, results show evidence that banks need time to build capabilities, expertise and experience before trading off return and risk efficiently with regard on revenue diversification.
Chapter 3 deals with the relation between credit risk, liquidity risk, capital risk and bank efficiency: There has been rising competition in the European banking market due to technological development, deregulation and the introduction of the Euro as a common currency in recent decades. In order to remain competitive banks were forced to improve efficiency. That is, banks try to operate closer to a “best practice” production function in the sense that banks improve the input – output relation. The key question in this context is if banks improve efficiency at a cost of higher risk to compensate decreasing earnings. When it comes to bank risk, a large strand of literature discusses the issue of problem loans. Several studies identify that banks hold large shares of non-performing loans in their portfolio before becoming bankrupt (Barr and Siems, 1994; Demirgüc-Kunt, 1989). According to efficiency, studies show that the average bank generates low profits and incorporates high costs compared to the “best practice” production frontier (Fiordelisi et al., 2011; Williams, 2004). At first glance, these two issues do not seem related. However, Berger and DeYoung (1997) show that banks with poor management are less able to handle their costs (low cost-efficiency) as well as to monitor their debtors in an appropriate manner to ensure loan quality. The negative relationship between cost efficiency and non-performing loans leads to declining capital. Existing studies (e.g. Williams, 2004; Berger and DeYoung, 1997) show that banks with a low level of capital tend to engage in moral hazard behavior, which in turn can push these banks into bankruptcy.
However, the business model of cooperative banks is based on the interests of its commonly local customers (the cooperative act: § 1 GenG). This may imply that the common perception of banks engaging in moral hazard behavior may not apply to cooperative banks. Since short-term shareholder interests (as a potential factor for moral hazard behavior) play no role for cooperative banks this may support this notion. Furthermore, liquidity has been widely neglected in the existing literature, since the common perception has been that access to additional liquid funds is not an issue. However, the recent financial crisis revealed that liquidity dried up for many banks due to increased mistrust in the banking sector. Besides investigating moral hazard behavior, using data from 2005 to 2010 this study moves beyond current literature by employing a measure for liquidity risk in order to evaluate how liquidity risk relates to efficiency and capital.
Results mostly apply to current literature in this field since the empirical evaluation reveals that lower cost and profit-efficiency Granger-cause increases in credit risk. At the same time, results indicate that credit risk negatively Granger-causes cost and profit-efficiency, hence revealing a bi-directional relationship between these measures. However, most importantly, results also show a positive relationship between capital and credit risk, thus displaying that moral hazard behavior does not apply to cooperative banks. Especially the business model of cooperative banks, which is based on the interests of its commonly local customers (the cooperative act: § 1 GenG) may reason this finding. Contrary to Fiordelisi et al. (2011), results also show a negative relationship between capital and cost-efficiency, indicating that struggling cooperative banks focus on managing their cost-exposure in following periods. Concerning the employed liquidity risk measure, the authors find that banks who hold a high level of liquidity are less active in market related investments and hold high shares of equity capital. This outcome clearly reflects risk-preferences from the management of a bank.
Chapter 4 examines governance structures of cooperative banks: The financial crisis of 2007/08 led to huge distortions in the banking market. The failure of Lehman Brothers was the beginning of government interventions in various countries all over the world in order to prevent domestic economies from even further disruptions. In the aftermath of the crisis, politicians and regulators identified governance deficiencies as one major factor that contributed to the crisis. Besides existing studies in the banking literature (e.g. Beltratti and Stulz, 2012; Diamond and Rajan, 2009; Erkens et al., 2012) an OECD study from 2009 supports this notion (Kirkpatrick, 2009). Public debates increased awareness for the need of appropriate governance mechanisms at that time. Consequently, politicians and regulators called for more financial expertise on bank boards. Accordingly, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision states in principle 2 that “board members should remain qualified, individually and collectively, for their positions. They should understand their oversight and corporate governance role and be able to exercise sound, objective judgement about the affairs of the bank.” (BCBS, 2015). Taking these perceptions into consideration the prevailing question is whether financial experts on bank boards do really foster bank stability?
This chapter aims to investigate this question by referring to the study from Minton et al. (2014). In their study, the authors investigate US commercial bank holding companies between the period 2003 and 2008. The authors find that financial experts on the board of US commercial bank holding companies promote pro-cyclical bank performance. Accordingly, the authors question regulators view of more financial experts on the board leading to more banking stability.
However, Minton et al. (2014) do not examine whether their findings accrue due to financial experts who act in the interests of shareholders or due to the issue that financial experts may have a more risk-taking attitude (due to a better understanding of financial instruments) than other board members.
Supposed that their findings accrue due to financial experts who act in the interests of shareholders. Then financial experts on the board of banks where short-term shareholder interests play no role (cooperative banks) may prove beneficial with regard on bank performance during the crisis as well as in normal times. This would mean that they use their skills and expertise to contribute sustainable growth to the bank. Contrary, if this study reveals pro-cyclical bank performance related to financial experts on the board of cooperative banks, this finding may be addressed solely to the risk-taking attitude of financial experts (since short-term shareholder interests play no role). For this reason, this chapter aims to identify the channel for the relation of financial experts and bank performance by examining the following research question: Do financial experts on the board promote pro-cyclical bank performance in a setting where short-term shareholder interests play no role?
Results show that financial experts on the board of cooperative banks (data from 2006 to 2011) do not promote pro-cyclical bank performance. Contrary, results show evidence that financial experts on the board of cooperative banks appear to foster long-term bank stability. This suggests that regulators should consider ownership structure (and hence business model of banks) when imposing new regulatory constraints for financial experts on the bank board.
Mit der vermehrten Nutzung zentralvenöser Katheter in der Pädiatrie stieg die Inzidenz der katheterassoziierten Komplikationen, darunter auch das Auftreten von katheterassoziierten Thrombosen, in den letzten Jahren an. Aufgrund der geringen Studienzahl und großer Unterschiede zwischen den existierenden Studien gibt es diesbezüglich für pädiatrische Patienten bisher noch wenig evidentes Wissen.
Ziel dieser Promotionsarbeit war es einerseits, eine aktuelle epidemiologische Erhebung der katheterassoziierten Thrombose bei onkologisch pädiatrischen Patienten durchzuführen. Zum anderen sollten Zusammenhänge zwischen patienten-/diagnose/katheterspezifischen Charakteristika und dem Auftreten katheterassoziierter Thrombosen erfasst werden, um mögliche Risikogruppen ausfindig zu machen, welche möglicherweise von der Anwendung präventiver Maßnahmen profitieren.
Zu diesem Zweck wurde die retrospektive Untersuchung an der onkologisch pädiatrischen Abteilung der Universitätskinderklinik Würzburg über den Zeitraum von 2008 bis 2012 durchgeführt.
Mittels der Datenerhebung über das klinikinterne SAP-System sowie anhand der Durchsicht von Patientenakten wurden insgesamt 448 neu diagnostizierte onkologisch pädiatrische Patienten, darunter 43 mit katheterassoziierter Thrombose, in die retrospektive Erhebung eingeschlossen.
Durch die statistische Auswertung der Daten konnte eine Inzidenz von 15.9% der katheterassoziierten Thrombose berechnet werden, wobei die Anzahl der neu aufgetretenen, dokumentierten Thrombosefälle im Laufe der beobachteten Jahre um fast das Doppelte anstiegen. Obwohl weder Geschlecht noch Alter als Risikofaktor für das Auftreten von katheterassoziierten Thrombosen identifiziert wurden, waren die weiblichen Patienten zum Zeitpunkt der Thrombose signifikant älter als die männlichen. Auf der Suche nach weiteren Risikofaktoren der katheterassoziierten Thrombose, konnten wir überdies feststellen, dass die Anwendung von Asparaginase Therapie signifikant mit dem Auftreten von Thrombosen assoziiert war.
Neben der Evaluation des thrombotischen Einflusses onkologischer Medikamente beobachteten wir, dass überlebende sowie die an ihrer Primärdiagnose verstorbenen Patienten mit fortschreitender Erkrankung mehr thrombotische Ereignisse zu verzeichnen hatten, als jene in kompletter Remission. Wir konnten folglich also in unseren Daten einen Zusammenhang zwischen Krankheitsstadium und Auftreten von katheterassoziierten Thrombosen nachweisen. Neben der Evaluation von patienten- und diagnoseassoziierter Risikofaktoren untersuchten wir auch, ob die erhobenen Parameter des implantierten Katheters mit einer erhöhten Thromboseinzidenz einhergingen. Dabei zeigte die Statistik unserer Daten, dass die in die Vena subclavia implantierten Katheter häufiger mit Thrombosen assoziiert waren als Katheter in der Vena jugularis externa und Vena cephalica.
Bezüglich der klinischen Manifestation der katheterassoziierten Thrombosen ergab die Auswertung unserer Daten zuletzt, dass sich der Großteil der Thrombosen anhand von Katheterdysfunktion manifestierte, während nur wenige Thrombosen mit klinischen Symptomen, wie lokalen Schmerzen, Schwellung von Arm, Hals und Gesicht, Ödembildung, Dilatation und Kollateralisierung oberflächlicher Venen einhergingen.
Wie in der Literatur weitgehend bekannt, konnten wir das thrombotische Risiko von Asparaginase Therapie bestätigen, wobei die Veränderung der Zusammensetzung der Blutgerinnungsfaktoren möglicherweise eine Rolle spielt.
Auch das erhöhte Thromboserisiko der Implantation zentralvenöser Katheter in die Vena subclavia wurde bereits in anderen Studien beobachtet und konnte in unserer pädiatrischen Kohorte bestätigt werden. Bezüglich des Zusammenhangs zwischen Tumorprogress und der erhöhten Inzidenz katheterassoziierter Thrombosen vermuten wir anhand unserer Daten und der vorliegenden Daten aus dem adulten Bereich, dass tumorspezifische Faktoren wie beispielsweise Metastasierung mit sekundärer Stase, Immobilisation, Dehydratation und Inflammation in der letzten Lebensphase zu einem erhöhten Risiko von Katheter assoziierten Thrombosen beitragen könnten.
Insgesamt ist die aktuelle Evidenz von Risikofaktoren katheterassoziierter Thrombosen in pädiatrischen Kohorten sehr limitiert. Prospektive, groß angelegte Studien werden daher dringend benötigt.
Anhand der von uns durchgeführten Studie konnte gezeigt werden, dass ein Zusammenspiel aus bestimmten patientenspezifischer, tumor sowie katheter assoziierter Faktoren auf das Auftreten katheterbedingter Thrombosen Einfluss nehmen kann. Da diese gefundenen Risikofaktoren mittels unserer retrospektiven Studie in erster Linie Hypothesen darstellen, die noch nicht eindeutig verifiziert werden können, sollten die beobachteten Tendenzen als auch Signifikanzen in einer größer angelegten prospektiven Studie evaluiert werden.
Bei der Konzeption zukünftiger Studien sollte daher besonders auf die Definition von Thrombose, die Zusammensetzung des Patientenkollektivs sowie die diagnostischen Mittel zur Erhebung der Daten geachtet werden, um eine Vergleichbarkeit der Ergebnisse zu gewährleisten. Ein weiteres Ziel für die Zukunft besteht darin, den Nutzen therapeutischer Antikoagulation, sowie primärer und sekundärer Prophylaxe der katheterassoziierten Thrombose, wie auch weitere thromboseassoziierte Risikofaktoren bei kindlichmalignen Grunderkrankungen zu evaluieren, um auf Grundlage evidenter Daten allgemeingültige Empfehlungen zur optimalen Thromboseprävention aussprechen zu können.
Ausgehend von chlorhaltigem Oligosilan, erhalten durch Disproportionierung der „Disilan-Fraktion“ der Müller-Rochow-Synthese, wurde mit verschiedenen Aminen dechloriert bzw. strukturell modifiziert. Die auf diese Weise in das Oligosilan eingeführten Baugruppen wurden spektroskopisch und durch Vergleich mit geeigneten Modellverbindungen identifiziert. Vernetzungsgrad und keramische Ausbeute der erzeugten Materialen wurden bestimmt.
Mit Ammoniak oder einwertigen Aminen wie Methylamin werden Produkte erhalten, die sich nicht zu Keramikfasern verarbeiten lassen. Letzteres scheitert daran, dass entweder keine signifikante Molekulargewichtserhöhung des Oligosilans erreicht wird, oder führt dazu, dass das Oligomer vergelt und damit in Toluol unlöslich wird.
Durch Umsetzung des Oligosilans mit zweiwertigen Aminen wie EDA oder TMDA als Vernetzungsreagenz gelang es, eine Syntheseroute zu entwickeln, die – anders als bei der am ISC etablierten Route – keinen thermischen Vernetzungsschritt erfordert, d.h. die gesamte Synthese findet bei Temperaturen ≤200 °C statt. Hierbei wird eine kontrollierbare Erhöhung des Molekulargewichts erreicht. Die Verwendung von TMDA hat gegenüber EDA den Vorteil, dass aufgrund des Ausbleibens von Ringbildung ein höher vernetztes Polymer erhalten wird.
Darüber hinaus wurde gefunden, dass Grünfasern während der Pyrolyse durch radikalisch vernetzbare Gruppen (C=C-Doppelbindungen) im Polymer stabilisiert werden können. Diese Gruppen lassen sich entweder durch Dechlorierung mit Allylamin oder durch Umsetzung mit Vinyl-Grignard-Reagenzien einführen. Allylamin erwies sich hierbei als geeigneter, da es preiswerter und leichter handhabbar ist und außerdem – im Gegensatz zu Vinyl-Grignard-Reagenzien – eine vollständige Dechlorierung des Polymers gestattet.
Alle Polymere wurden auf ihre Verarbeitbarkeit zu Grün- und anschließend zu Keramikfasern untersucht. Hierbei wurde gefunden, dass die im Hinblick auf die Eigenschaften der resultierenden Keramikfasern günstigste Rezeptur in der Umsetzung eines zuvor mit DMA vollständig dechlorierten Oligosilans mit 18,2 mol-% TMDA und 40 mol-% Allylamin (bezogen auf NMe2-Gruppen) besteht. Die aus diesem Polymer erhaltenen Keramikfasern zeigen die für noch nicht technisch ausgereifte, im Stadium der Entwicklung befindliche Fasern typischen Festigkeiten und entsprechen damit denjenigen, die auf der am ISC bereits etablierten Route erhältlich sind. Dies macht sie zu aussichtsreichen Kandidaten für die weitere Optimierung.
RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) have been extensively studied in eukaryotes, where they post-transcriptionally regulate many cellular events including RNA transport, translation, and stability. Experimental techniques, such as cross-linking and co-purification followed by either mass spectrometry or RNA sequencing has enabled the identification and characterization of RBPs, their conserved RNA-binding domains (RBDs), and the regulatory roles of these proteins on a genome-wide scale. These developments in quantitative, high-resolution, and high-throughput screening techniques have greatly expanded our understanding of RBPs in human and yeast cells. In contrast, our knowledge of number and potential diversity of RBPs in bacteria is comparatively poor, in part due to the technical challenges associated with existing global screening approaches developed in eukaryotes.
Genome- and proteome-wide screening approaches performed in silico may circumvent these technical issues to obtain a broad picture of the RNA interactome of bacteria and identify strong RBP candidates for more detailed experimental study. Here, I report APRICOT (“Analyzing Protein RNA Interaction by Combined Output Technique”), a computational pipeline for the sequence-based identification and characterization of candidate RNA-binding proteins encoded in the genomes of all domains of life using RBDs known from experimental studies. The pipeline identifies functional motifs in protein sequences of an input proteome using position-specific scoring matrices and hidden Markov models of all conserved domains available in the databases and then statistically score them based on a series of sequence-based features. Subsequently, APRICOT identifies putative RBPs and characterizes them according to functionally relevant structural properties. APRICOT performed better than other existing tools for the sequence-based prediction on the known RBP data sets. The applications and adaptability of the software was demonstrated on several large bacterial RBP data sets including the complete proteome of Salmonella Typhimurium strain SL1344. APRICOT reported 1068 Salmonella proteins as RBP candidates, which were subsequently categorized using the RBDs that have been reported in both eukaryotic and bacterial proteins. A set of 131 strong RBP candidates was selected for experimental confirmation and characterization of RNA-binding activity using RNA co-immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (RIP-Seq) experiments. Based on the relative abundance of transcripts across the RIP-Seq libraries, a catalogue of enriched genes was established for each candidate, which shows the RNA-binding potential of 90% of these proteins. Furthermore, the direct targets of few of these putative RBPs were validated by means of cross-linking and co-immunoprecipitation (CLIP) experiments.
This thesis presents the computational pipeline APRICOT for the global screening of protein primary sequences for potential RBPs in bacteria using RBD information from all kingdoms of life. Furthermore, it provides the first bio-computational resource of putative RBPs in Salmonella, which could now be further studied for their biological and regulatory roles. The command line tool and its documentation are available at https://malvikasharan.github.io/APRICOT/.
Spliceosomal U-rich small ribonucleoprotein particles (U snRNPs) are the major building
blocks of the nuclear pre-mRNA splicing machinery. The core composition of U snRNPs
includes the name giving U snRNA and a set of seven common (Sm) proteins termed Sm
B/B’, D1, D2, D3, E, F and G. These Sm proteins are arranged in the form of a toroidal ring on
the single stranded conserved sequence element in the snRNA to form the Sm core domain.
Even though U snRNPs assemble spontaneously in vitro, their assembly in vivo requires an
amazingly large number of trans-acting assembly factors united in the Protein Arginine
Methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) and the Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) complexes. The
cytoplasmic assembly pathway of U snRNPs can be divided into the early and the late phase.
The early phase is dominated by the assembly chaperone, pICln, a subunit of the PRMT5
complex. This factor binds to Sm proteins and delivers them in a pICln-bound form to the
PRMT5 complex. The early assembly phase then segregates into two lines. In one assembly
line, a stable hexameric ring intermediate (6S complex) composed of pICln and the five Sm
proteins D1, D2, F, E and G, is formed. This intermediate forms at the PRMT5 complex but
dissociates from the latter upon completion of its assembly. Within the 6S complex, these Sm
proteins are pre-organized into respective spatial positions adopted in the assembled U
snRNP. The other assembly line forms a protein trimer composed of pICln, Sm B/B’ and D3,
which unlike the 6S complex is not released from the PRMT5 complex. As a consequence of
their association with pICln, Sm proteins are kinetically trapped and fail to proceed in the
assembly pathway. The late phase of the U snRNP formation is dominated by the SMN
complex, which resolves this kinetic trap by dissociating pICln from the pre-organized Sm
proteins and, subsequently catalyzes the loading of the Sm proteins on the U snRNA.
Even though basic principles of U snRNP assembly have been understood in some detail, the
question arises as to why cells employ sophisticated assembly machinery for the assembly
despite the reaction occurring spontaneously in vitro. A few studies have shown that the
system works towards rendering specificity to the assembly reaction. However, Sm proteins
in their free form expose hydrophobic surfaces to the cytosolic solvent. Hence, I reasoned that
the assembly machinery of snRNPs might also prevent Sm protein aggregation.
In this thesis, I describe the work that leads to the discovery of a multi-layered regulatory
network for Sm proteins involving post-transcriptional and post-translational surveillance
mechanisms. Here, I show that the reduced level of SMN (a key assembly factor of the late
phase) leads to the initial tailback of Sm proteins over pICln followed by the transcriptional
down regulation of Sm protein encoding mRNAs. In contrast, depletion of pICln, a key factor
of the early phase, results in the retention of Sm proteins on the ribosomes followed by their
degradation via autophagy. Furthermore, I show that exceeding levels of Sm proteins over
pICln caused by overexpression results in aggregation and mis-localization of Sm proteins.
Thus, my findings uncover a complex regulatory network that helps to maintain the cellular
U snRNP homeostasis by either preventing or clearing the unassembled Sm protein
aggregates when they are not faithfully incorporated into the U snRNPs.
Pollenschläuche sind ein Modellsystem zur Untersuchung pflanzlicher Wachstumsprozesse. Zellwachstum in Pollenschläuchen zeichnet sich durch den gerichteten Transport und Fusion von Vesikeln mit der apikalen Zellmembran des Pollenschlauchs aus. Der Vesikeltransport erfolgt entlang des Pollenschlauchs durch Aktin-Filamente bis an die Organell- und Zytoskelett-freie apikale Zone, wo sich die Vesikel sammeln und in oszillierenden Wachstumsschüben mit der apikalen Zellmembran fusionieren (Yang et al., 1998; Zonia et al., 2001, Gu et al., 2005; Chen et al., 2003; Gu et al., 2005; de Graaf et al., 2005; Lee et al., 2008; Cheung et al., 2010; Quin und Yang et al., 2011). Die polaren Wachstumsprozesse des Pollenschlauches sind an ein Ionenflussmuster gekoppelt, welches durch den Einsatz der Vibrating Probe-Technik zeitlich aufgelöst werden konnten. Es konnte ein zeitversetzter oszillierender Einstrom von Calcium, Kalium und Protonen sowie der zeitgleich mit den Wachstumsschüben auftretende oszillierende Ausstrom von Chlorid aus der Pollenschlauchspitze nachgewiesen werden (Kühtreiber und Jaffe et al., 1990; Holdaway-Clarke et al., 1997; Feijo et al., 1999, Messerli et al., 1999, Zonia et al., 2001). Die Inhibierung des Chloridausstroms resultiert in einem sofortigen Wachstumsstopp und verdeutlicht die Notwendigkeit des Anionenausstroms für das polare Zellwachstum in Pollenschläuchen (Breygina et al., 2009).
Durch die in dieser Arbeit durchgeführten Experimente konnten die an dem Anionenausstrom beteiligten Anionenkanäle, sowie deren Ca2+-abhängigen regulatorischen Komponenten identifiziert und mit Hilfe der TEVC-Technik elektrophysiologisch an intakten Arabidopsis thaliana-Pollenschläuchen charakterisiert werden. Weiterhin konnte die physiologische Rolle der für den Anionenausstrom verantwortlichen Kanäle auf das polare Zellwachstum in Arabidopsis thaliana Pollenschläuchen nachgewiesen werden.
Durch Transkriptionsanalysen wurde die Expression des S-Typ-Anionenkanals SLAH3 sowie der R-Typ-Anionenkanäle ALMT12, ALMT13 und ALMT14 in Arabidopsis thaliana Pollenschläuchen belegt und deren transkriptionelle Regulation durch die Anionenkonzentration und Komposition des Keimungsmediums nachgewiesen werden. Eine elektrophysiologische Charakterisierung an intakten Arabidopsis thaliana Pollenschläuchen konnte sowohl einen Anstieg der SLAH3 vermittelten S-Typ-Ströme, als auch ALMT12-, ALMT13- und ALMT14 vermittelte R Typ-Anionenströme bei steigenden Anionenkonzentrationen im Keimungsmedium nachweisen. Die Charakterisierung der Verlustmutanten von SLAH3, ALMT12, ALMT13 und ALMT14 resultierte in einer Abnahme des Anionenausstroms und einer Reduktion des Längenwachstums der getesteten Mutanten. Es konnten ebenfalls die regulatorischen Komponenten der Signalkette zur Anionenkanalaktivierung identifiziert werden. Die Aktivierung von SLAH3 und ALMT12 durch die Calcium-abhängigen Kinasen CPK2, CPK20 und CPK6 aus Arabidopsis thaliana Pollenschläuchen konnte mittels einer Kombination von elektrophysiologischen- und molekularbiologischen Techniken nachgewiesen werden. Somit wurden nicht nur die für den Anionenausstrom verantwortlichen Anionenkanäle identifiziert, sondern auch die Signalkette zu deren Aktivierung durch spitzenlokalisierte Calcium-abhängige Kinasen aufgeklärt werden. Diese Signalkaskade führt ebenfalls durch die artifizielle Erhöhung der zytoplasmatischen Calciumkonzentration durch das Calcium-Ionophor A23187 zu einem Anstieg des S Typ- und R Typ Anionenkanalaktivität in Arabidopsis thaliana-Pollenschläuchen.
Eine intensivere Charakterisierung des entdeckten Calcium-vermittelten Anionenausstroms erfolgte am transgenen pLat52-Chlorid-Sensor bzw. an YC3.6 Tabak Pollenschläuchen durch die Kombination von TEVC-Technik und Fluoreszensmikroskopie. Dies ermöglichte die simultane Messung der zytoplasmatischen Calcium- bzw. Chloridkonzentration in Nicotiana tabacum Pollenschläuchen bei gleichzeitiger Ableitung der Ganzzellströme. Die elektrophysiologische und fluoreszenzmikroskopische Charakterisierung erbrachte erstmals den Nachweis für eine exklusive Lokalisation von hyperpolarisations-aktivierten Calciumkanälen in der Pollenschlauchspitze, welche sich durch die Verwendung der TEVC-Technik gezielt aktivieren ließen. Diese Aktivierung der spitzenlokalisierten Calciumkanäle induziert den Anionenausstrom durch den Anstieg der apikalen Calciumkonzentration. Die Inhibierung der Calciumkanäle durch den Calciumkanalblocker Lanthan führt zu einem vollständigen Verlust des Calciumeinstroms und des daraus resultierenden Anioneneinstroms. Durch die Inhibierung der Calciumkanäle kommt es gleichzeitig zu einer Akkumulation von Chlorid in der apikalen Zone, die zum Anschwellen der Pollenschlauchspitze führt. Die Inhibierung der Anionenkanäle durch Niflumsäure hat hingegen keinen Einfluss auf den spitzenlokalisierten Calciumeinstrom, sondern reduziert nur den gemessenen Anionenausstrom. Somit wird ein kausaler Zusammenhang zwischen der Erhöhung der apikalen Ca2+-Konzentration und einer Anionenkanalaktivierung weiter verdeutlicht. Durch die Anwendung der TEVC-Technik an intakten Pollenschläuchen konnten erstmals Aktionspotenzial ähnliche Depolarisierungstransienten, welche sich auf die apikale Zone des Pollenschlauchs beschränken und zeitgleich mit dem Anionenausstrom stattfinden, nachgewiesen werden.
Durch diese Arbeit kann erstmals ein Modell des Calcium-vermittelten oszillierenden Anionenausstroms aus der Pollenschlauchspitze aufgestellt werden. Dieses verknüpft die Regulation der beteiligten R-Typ-Anionenkanäle ALMT12, ALMT13 und ALMT14 und des S-Typ-Anionenkanals SLAH3 durch die Calcium-abhängigen Kinasen CPK2, CPK20 und CPK6 mit dem spitzenlokalisierten oszillierenden Calciumeinstrom. Das Modell verdeutlicht die physiologische Bedeutung des simultanen Ca2+-Ein- und Anionenausstroms für das polare Zellwachstum von Pollenschläuchen.
A promising new approach for the treatment of human cancer is the use of oncolytic viruses, which exhibit tumor tropism. One of the top candidates in this area is the oncolytic vaccinia virus (VACV), which has already shown promising results in animal studies and in clinical trials. However, due to discrepancies in both innate and adaptive immunity between mice and men the evaluation of the vaccinia virus’ interactions with the host immune system in mice are not fully conclusive of what is actually happening in human cancer patients after systemic administration of vaccinia virus. Also, ethical and legal concerns as well as risk of potential toxicity limit research involving human patients. Therefore, a good in vivo model for testing interactions between vaccinia virus and human immune cells, avoiding the numerous limitations and risks associated with human studies, could be a humanized mouse model.
LIVP-1.1.1, GLV-2b372, GLV-1h68, GLV-1h375, GLV-1h376 and GLV-1h377 VACVs were provided by Genelux Corporation. GLV-2b372 was constructed by inserting TurboFP635 expression cassette into the J2R locus of the parental LIVP-1.1.1. GLV-1h375, -1h376 and -1h377 VACVs encode the human CTLA4-blocking single-chain antibody (CTLA4 scAb). Performed replication and cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that all six viruses were able to infect, replicate in and kill human tumor cells in virus-dose- and time-dependent fashion. CTLA4 scAb and β-glucuronidase (GusA) expression as well as viral titers in GLV-1h376-infected cells were analyzed by ELISA, β-glucuronidase assay and standard plaque assay, respectively, and compared. An excellent correlation with correlation coefficients R2>0.9806 were observed. GLV-1h376-encoded CTLA4 scAb was successfully purified from supernatants of infected CV-1 cells and demonstrated in vitro affinity to its human CTLA4 target and lack of cross-reactivity to mouse CTLA4. CTLA4 scAb functionality was confirmed in Jurkat cells. LIVP-1.1.1, GLV-2b372, GLV-1h68 and GLV-1h376 were next studied in non-tumorous and/or tumor-bearing humanized mice.
It was demonstrated that injection of human CD34+ stem cells into the liver of preconditioned newborn NSG mice let to a successful systemic reconstitution with human immune cells. CD19+ B cells, CD4 and CD8 single positive CD3+ T cell, NKp46+CD56- and NKp46+CD56+ NK cells as well as CD33+ myeloid cells developed. At early time points after engraftment, majority of the human hematopoietic cells detected in the mouse blood were CD19+ B cells and only a small portion were CD3+ T cells. With time a significant change in CD19+/CD3+ ratio was reported with a decrease of B cells and an increase of T cells. Implantation of A549 cells under the skin of those humanized NSG mice resulted in a progressive tumor growth, described for the first time in this thesis. Successful colonization of subcutaneous A549 tumors with VACVs was visualized and demonstrated by detection of virus-mediated TurboFP635 and GFP expression as well as by standard plaque assay and immunohistochemistry. The human CD45+ cell population in tumors was represented mainly by NKp46+CD56bright NK cells and a large portion of activated CD4+ and cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. However, no significant differences were observed between control and LIVP-1.1.1-infected tumors, suggesting that the recruitment of NK and activated T cells were more tumor tissue specific than virus-dependent. Unfortunately, virus-mediated CTLA4 scAb expression in the GLV-1h376-infected tumors was also not able to significantly increase activation of T cells compared to control and GLV-1h68-treated mice. Importantly, ELISA, β-glucuronidase and standard plaque assays showed an excellent correlation with correlation coefficients R2>0.9454 between CTLA4 scAb, GusA concentrations and viral titers in tumor samples from those GLV-1h376 treated mice.
T cells isolated from the spleens of such control or GLV-1h68- or -1h376-treated A549 tumor-bearing mice were functional and could successfully be activated with human T cells activation beads. However, although no significant difference was observed between the three mouse groups, a slightly higher percentage of the GLV-1h376-treated mice-derived T cells were expressing CD25 and producing IFN-ɣ after ex vivo activation, probably due to the CTLA4 blockade by the virus-encoded CTLA4 scAb in the GLV-1h376-treated mice. Also, slightly higher levels of IL-2 were detected in the culture supernatant of those splenocytes compared to control samples. In contrast, T cells from all three mouse groups were not able be activated by A549 tumor cells ex vivo.
Our model has the specific advantage that tumors develop under the skin of the humanized mice, which allows accurate monitoring of the tumor growth and evaluation of the oncolytic virotherapy. Therefore it is important to choose the right approaches for its further improvement.
This thesis aimed at the coherent investigation of the electrical and thermal transport properties of the low-dimensional organic conductor (DCNQI)2M (DCNQI: dicyanoquinonediimine; M: metallic counterion). These radical anion salts present a promising, new material class for thermoelectric applications and hence, a consistent characterization of the key parameters is required to evaluate and to optimize their performance. For this purpose, a novel experimental measurement setup enabling the determination of the electrical conductivity, the Seebeck coefficient and the thermal conductivity on a single crystalline specimen has been designed and implemented in this work. The novel measurement setup brought to operation within this thesis enabled a thorough investigation of the thermal transport properties in the (DCNQI)2M system. The thermal conductivity of (DCNQI-h8)2Cu at RT was determined to κ=1.73 W m^(-1) K^(-1). By reducing of the copper content in isostructural, crystalline (DMe-DCNQI)2CuxLi1-x alloys, the electrical conductivity has been lowered by one order of magnitude and the correlated changes in the thermal conductivity allowed for a verification of the Wiedemann-Franz (WF) law at RT. A room temperature Lorenz number of L=(2.48±0.45)⋅〖10〗^(-8) WΩK^(-2) was obtained in agreement with the standard Lorenz number L_0=2,44⋅〖10〗^(-8) WΩK^(-2) for 3D bulk metals. This value appears to be significantly reduced upon cooling below RT, even far above the Debye temperature of θ_D≈82 K, below which a breakdown of the WF law is caused by different relaxation times in response to thermal and to electric field perturbations. The experimental data enabled the first consistent evaluation of the thermoelectric performance of (DCNQI)$_2$Cu. The RT power factor of 110 μWm^(-1) K^(-2) is comparable to values obtained on PEDOT-based thermoelectric polymers. The RT figure of merit amounts to zT=0.02 which falls short by a factor of ten compared to the best values of zT=0.42 claimed for conducting polymers. It originates from the larger thermal conductivity in the organic crystals of about 1.73 W m^(-1) K^(-1) in (DCNQI)2Cu. Yet, more elaborate studies on the anisotropy of the thermal conductivity in PEDOT polymers assume their figure of merit to be zT=0.15 at most, recently. Therefore, (DCNQI)2Cu can be regarded as thermoelectric material of similar performance to polymer-based ones. Moreover, it represents one of the best organic n-type thermoelectric materials to date and as such, may also become important in hybrid thermoelectrics in combination with conducting polymers. Upon cooling below room temperature, (DCNQI)2Cu reveals its full potential attaining power factors of 50 mW K^(-2) m^(-1) and exceeding values of zT>0.15 below 40 K. These values represent the best thermoelectric performance in this low-temperature regime for organic as well as inorganic compounds and thus, low-dimensional organic conductors might pave the way toward new applications in cryogenic thermoelectrics. Further improvements may be expected from optimizing the charge carrier concentration by taking control over the CT process via the counterion stack of the crystal lattice. The concept has also been demonstrated in this work. Moreover, the thermoelectric performance in the vicinity of the CDW transition in (MeBr-DCNQI)2Cu was found to be increased by a factor of 5. Accordingly, the diversity of electronic ground states accessible in organic conductors provides scope for further improvements. Finally, the prototype of an all-organic thermoelectric generator has been built in combination with the p-type organic metal TTT2I3. While it only converts about 0.02% of the provided heat into electrical energy, the specific power output per active area attains values of up to 5 mW cm^(-2). This power output, defining the cost-limiting factor in the recovery of waste heat, is three orders of magnitude larger than in conducting polymer devices and as such, unrivaled in organic thermoelectrics. While the thermoelectric key parameters of (DCNQI)2Cu still lack behind conventional thermoelectrics made of e.g. Bi2Te3, the promising performance together with its potential for improvements make this novel material class an interesting candidate for further exploration. Particularly, the low-cost and energy-efficient synthesis routes of organic materials highlight their relevance for technological applications.
In daily life, olfactory stimuli are potential generators of affective states, but also have a strong influence on social interaction. Pleasant odors have been shown to increase perceived attractiveness and pro-social behavior, whereas unpleasant body odors are often associated with negative personality traits. Since both pleasant odors and positive affective state facilitate pro-social behavior, it is conceivable that the influence of the odors on social interaction is mediated by the induced affective state elicited by the odor itself. The present thesis aims at exploring the impact of hedonic, i.e., pleasant or unpleasant, odors on the processing and evaluation of social stimuli as assessed by verbal, physiological, and behavioral indices. First, I investigate the effects of initially neutral odors which gained threatening value through an aversive conditioning procedure on social stimuli (Study 1). Second, I study the influence of naturally hedonic odors on social interaction. Third, this thesis aims at disentangling differences in the effects of an odor attributed to either a social interaction partner or the environment where the social encounter takes place (Study 2, 3, and 4).
In the first study, a context conditioning procedure was applied, during which one out of two long-lasting neutral odors was paired with an unpredictable aversive unconditioned stimulus (US, i.e., white noise). This odor (CTX+) thereby gained threatening value, while another odor (CTX-) remained unpaired and therefore signaled safety. During a test session, facial stimuli were presented within both conditioned olfactory contexts. Results indicate that autonomic arousal was increased to faces when presented in the threatening odor context. Additionally, participants rated facial stimuli as more aversive when presented in the threatening odor as compared to the safety odor, indicating that faces acquire hedonic value from the odor they were presented in. Strikingly, angry facial expressions received additional processing resources when presented within a threatening olfactory context, as reflected on verbal reports and electrodermal activity (EDA). This latter finding suggests that threat-related stimuli, here angry faces, are preferentially processed within an olfactory context where a threat might happen.
Considering that the hedonic value of an odor may be quite subjective, I conducted a pilot study in order to identify odors with pleasant vs. unpleasant properties for most participants. Seven odors (four pleasant and three unpleasant) were rated with respect to their valence (pleasant vs. unpleasant), arousal (arousing vs. calm), and intensity. Additionally, EDA was measured. Two pleasant (Citral and Eucalyptol) and two unpleasant (“Animalis” and Isobutyraldehyde) odors were chosen from the original seven. The unpleasant odors were rated as more negative, arousing, and intense than the positive ones, but no differences were found regarding EDA.
These four odors were subsequently used in a virtual reality (VR) paradigm with two odor attribution groups. Participants of the social attribution group (n = 59) were always passively guided into the same room (an office) towards one out of two virtual agents who were either paired with the pleasant or the unpleasant odor. Participants of the contextual attribution group (n = 58) were guided into one out of two rooms which were either paired with the pleasant or the unpleasant odor and where they always met the same agent. For both groups, the agents smiled, frowned or remained with a neutral facial expression. This design allowed evaluating the influence of odor valence as a within-subjects factor and the influence of odor attribution as a between-subjects factor. Unpleasant odors facilitated the processing of social cues as reflected by increased verbal and physiological arousal as well as reduced active approach behavior. Specific influence of odor valence on emotional facial expressions was found for ratings, EDA, and facial mimicry, with the unpleasant odor causing a levelling effect on the differences between facial expressions. The social attribution group exhibited larger differences between odors than the contextual group with respect to some variables (i.e., ratings and EDA), but not to others (i.e., electrocortical potentials – ERPs – and approach behavior). In sum, unpleasant in comparison to pleasant odors diminished emotional responses during social interaction, while an additional enhancing effect of the social attribution was observed on some variables. Interestingly, the awareness that an interaction partner would smell (pleasantly or unpleasantly) boosted the emotional reactivity towards them.
In Study 3, I adapted the VR paradigm to a within-subjects design, meaning that the different attribution conditions were now manipulated block-wise. Instead of an approach task, participants had to move away from the virtual agent (withdrawal task). Results on the ratings were replicated from Study 2. Specifically, the difference between pleasant and unpleasant odors on valence, arousal, and sympathy ratings was larger in the social as compared to the contextual attribution condition. No effects of odor or attribution were found on EDA, whereas heart rate (HR) showed a stronger acceleration to pleasant odors while participants were passively guided towards the agent. Instead of an approach task, I focused on withdrawal behavior in this study. Interestingly, independently of the attribution condition, participants spent more time withdrawing from virtual agents, when an unpleasant odor was presented. In sum, I demonstrated that the attribution of the odors to the social agent itself had an enhancing effect on their influence on social interaction.
In the fourth and last study, I applied a similar within-subjects protocol as in Study 3 with an additional Ultimatum Game task as a measure of social interaction. Overall findings replicated the results of Study 3 with respect to HR and EDA. Strikingly, participants offered less money to virtual agents in the bad smelling room than in the good smelling room. In contrast to Study 3, no effects of odor attribution were found in Study 4. In sum, again I demonstrated that unpleasant odor may lessen social interaction not only when the interaction partner smells badly, but also in more complex interaction situations.
In conclusion, I demonstrated that hedonic odors in general influence social interaction. Thus, pleasant odors seem to facilitate, while unpleasant odors seem to reduce interpersonal exchanges. Therefore, the present thesis extends the body of literature on the influence of odors on the processing of social stimuli. Although I found a direct influence of odors on social preferences as well as on the physiological and behavioral responses to social stimuli, I did not disentangle impact of odor per se from the impact of the affective state. Interestingly, odor attribution might play an additional role as mediator of social interactions such as odor effects in social interactions might be boosted when the smell is attributed to an individual. However, the results in this regard were less straightforward, and therefore further investigations are needed. Future research should also take into account gender or other inter-individual differences like social anxiety.
The prediction and the experimental discovery of topological insulators has set the stage for a novel type of electronic devices. In contrast to conventional metals or semiconductors, this new class of materials exhibits peculiar transport properties at the sample surface, as conduction channels emerge at the topological boundaries of the system.
In specific materials with strong spin-orbit coupling, a particular form of a two-dimensional topological insulator, the quantum spin Hall state, can be observed.
Here, the respective one-dimensional edge channels are helical in nature, meaning that there is a locking of the spin orientation of an electron and its direction of motion.
Due to the symmetry of time-reversal, elastic backscattering off interspersed impurities is suppressed in such a helical system, and transport is approximately ballistic.
This allows in principle for the realization of novel energy-efficient devices, ``spintronic`` applications, or the formation of exotic bound states with non-Abelian statistics, which could be used for quantum computing.
The present work is concerned with the general transport properties of one-dimensional helical states. Beyond the topological protection mentioned above, inelastic backscattering can arise from various microscopic sources, of which the most prominent ones will be discussed in this Thesis. As it is characteristic for one-dimensional systems, the role of electron-electron interactions can be of major importance in this context.
First, we review well-established techniques of many-body physics in one dimension such as perturbative renormalization group analysis, (Abelian) bosonization, and Luttinger liquid theory. The latter allow us to treat electron interactions in an exact way.
Those methods then are employed to derive the corrections to the conductance in a helical transport channel, that arise from various types of perturbations.
Particularly, we focus on the interplay of Rashba spin-orbit coupling and electron interactions as a source of inelastic single-particle and two-particle backscattering. It is demonstrated, that microscopic details of the system, such as the existence of a momentum cutoff, that restricts the energy spectrum, or the presence of non-interacting leads attached to the system, can fundamentally alter the transport signature.
By comparison of the predicted corrections to the conductance to a transport experiment, one can gain insight about the microscopic processes and the structure of a quantum spin Hall sample.
Another important mechanism we analyze is backscattering induced by magnetic moments. Those findings provide an alternative interpretation of recent transport measurements in InAs/GaSb quantum wells.