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- Zentrum für Infektionsforschung ZINF Würzburg (1)
- Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, Universität Würzburg (1)
- Zentrum für soziale Implikationen künstlicher Intelligenz (SOCAI) (1)
- iDiv (1)
- Ökologische Station, Fabrikschleichach (1)
ResearcherID
- B-1911-2015 (1)
- B-4606-2017 (1)
- C-2593-2016 (1)
- D-1221-2009 (1)
- D-1250-2010 (1)
- I-5818-2014 (1)
- J-8841-2015 (1)
- M-1240-2017 (1)
- N-2030-2015 (1)
- N-3741-2015 (1)
Background
Xiphophorus fishes are represented by 26 live-bearing species of tropical fish that express many attributes (e.g., viviparity, genetic and phenotypic variation, ecological adaptation, varied sexual developmental mechanisms, ability to produce fertile interspecies hybrids) that have made attractive research models for over 85 years. Use of various interspecies hybrids to investigate the genetics underlying spontaneous and induced tumorigenesis has resulted in the development and maintenance of pedigreed Xiphophorus lines specifically bred for research. The recent availability of the X. maculatus reference genome assembly now provides unprecedented opportunities for novel and exciting comparative research studies among Xiphophorus species.
Results
We present sequencing, assembly and annotation of two new genomes representing Xiphophorus couchianus and Xiphophorus hellerii. The final X. couchianus and X. hellerii assemblies have total sizes of 708 Mb and 734 Mb and correspond to 98 % and 102 % of the X. maculatus Jp 163 A genome size, respectively. The rates of single nucleotide change range from 1 per 52 bp to 1 per 69 bp among the three genomes and the impact of putatively damaging variants are presented. In addition, a survey of transposable elements allowed us to deduce an ancestral TE landscape, uncovered potential active TEs and document a recent burst of TEs during evolution of this genus.
Conclusions
Two new Xiphophorus genomes and their corresponding transcriptomes were efficiently assembled, the former using a novel guided assembly approach. Three assembled genome sequences within this single vertebrate order of new world live-bearing fishes will accelerate our understanding of relationship between environmental adaptation and genome evolution. In addition, these genome resources provide capability to determine allele specific gene regulation among interspecies hybrids produced by crossing any of the three species that are known to produce progeny predisposed to tumor development.
X-ray dark-field imaging allows to resolve the conflict between the demand for centimeter scaled fields of view and the spatial resolution required for the characterization of fibrous materials structured on the micrometer scale. It draws on the ability of X-ray Talbot interferometers to provide full field images of a sample's ultra small angle scattering properties, bridging a gap of multiple orders of magnitude between the imaging resolution and the contrasted structure scale. The correspondence between shape anisotropy and oriented scattering thereby allows to infer orientations within a sample's microstructure below the imaging resolution. First demonstrations have shown the general feasibility of doing so in a tomographic fashion, based on various heuristic signal models and reconstruction approaches. Here, both a verified model of the signal anisotropy and a reconstruction technique practicable for general imaging geometries and large tensor valued volumes is developed based on in-depth reviews of dark-field imaging and tomographic reconstruction techniques.
To this end, a wide interdisciplinary field of imaging and reconstruction methodologies is revisited. To begin with, a novel introduction to the mathematical description of perspective projections provides essential insights into the relations between the tangible real space properties of cone beam imaging geometries and their technically relevant description in terms of homogeneous coordinates and projection matrices. Based on these fundamentals, a novel auto-calibration approach is developed, facilitating the practical determination of perspective imaging geometries with minimal experimental constraints. A corresponding generalized formulation of the widely employed Feldkamp algorithm is given, allowing fast and flexible volume reconstructions from arbitrary tomographic imaging geometries. Iterative reconstruction techniques are likewise introduced for general projection geometries, with a particular focus on the efficient evaluation of the forward problem associated with tomographic imaging. A highly performant 3D generalization of Joseph's classic linearly interpolating ray casting algorithm is developed to this end and compared to typical alternatives. With regard to the anisotropic imaging modality required for tensor tomography, X-ray dark-field contrast is extensively reviewed. Previous literature is brought into a joint context and nomenclature and supplemented by original work completing a consistent picture of the theory of dark-field origination. Key results are explicitly validated by experimental data with a special focus on tomography as well as the properties of anisotropic fibrous scatterers. In order to address the pronounced susceptibility of interferometric images to subtle mechanical imprecisions, an efficient optimization based evaluation strategy for the raw data provided by Talbot interferometers is developed. Finally, the fitness of linear tensor models with respect to the derived anisotropy properties of dark-field contrast is evaluated, and an iterative scheme for the reconstruction of tensor valued volumes from projection images is proposed. The derived methods are efficiently implemented and applied to fiber reinforced plastic samples, imaged at the ID19 imaging beamline of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The results represent unprecedented demonstrations of X-ray dark-field tensor tomography at a field of view of 3-4cm, revealing local fiber orientations of both complex shaped and low-contrast samples at a spatial resolution of 0.1mm in 3D. The results are confirmed by an independent micro CT based fiber analysis.
Background
Although Fabry disease (FD) is an X-linked lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations in the α-galactosidase A gene (GLA), women may develop severe symptoms. We investigated X-chromosomal inactivation patterns (XCI) as a potential determinant of symptom severity in FD women.
Patients and Methods
We included 95 women with mutations in GLA (n = 18 with variants of unknown pathogenicity) and 50 related men, and collected mouth epithelial cells, venous blood, and skin fibroblasts for XCI analysis using the methylation status of the androgen receptor gene. The mutated X-chromosome was identified by comparison of samples from relatives. Patients underwent genotype categorization and deep clinical phenotyping of symptom severity.
Results
43/95 (45%) women carried mutations categorized as classic. The XCI pattern was skewed (i.e., ≥75:25% distribution) in 6/87 (7%) mouth epithelial cell samples, 31/88 (35%) blood samples, and 9/27 (33%) skin fibroblast samples. Clinical phenotype, α-galactosidase A (GAL) activity, and lyso-Gb3 levels did not show intergroup differences when stratified for X-chromosomal skewing and activity status of the mutated X-chromosome.
Conclusions
X-inactivation patterns alone do not reliably reflect the clinical phenotype of women with FD when investigated in biomaterial not directly affected by FD. However, while XCI patterns may vary between tissues, blood frequently shows skewing of XCI patterns.
WUEMoCA is an operational scientific webmapping tool for the regional monitoring of land and water use efficiency in the irrigated croplands of the transboundary Aral Sea Basin that is shared by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Satellite data on land use, crop pro-duction and water consumption is integrated with hydrological and economic information to provide of a set indicators. The tool is useful for large-scale decisions on water distribution or land use, and may be seen as demonstrator for numerous applications in practice, that require independent area-wide spatial information.
Background: Physical activity reduces the incidences of noncommunicable diseases, obesity, and mortality, but an inactive lifestyle is becoming increasingly common. Innovative approaches to monitor and promote physical activity are warranted. While individual monitoring of physical activity aids in the design of effective interventions to enhance physical activity, a basic prerequisite is that the monitoring devices exhibit high validity.
Objective: Our goal was to assess the validity of monitoring heart rate (HR) and energy expenditure (EE) while sitting or performing light-to-vigorous physical activity with 4 popular wrist-worn wearables (Apple Watch Series 4, Polar Vantage V, Garmin Fenix 5, and Fitbit Versa).
Methods: While wearing the 4 different wearables, 25 individuals performed 5 minutes each of sitting, walking, and running at different velocities (ie, 1.1 m/s, 1.9 m/s, 2.7 m/s, 3.6 m/s, and 4.1 m/s), as well as intermittent sprints. HR and EE were compared to common criterion measures: Polar-H7 chest belt for HR and indirect calorimetry for EE.
Results: While monitoring HR at different exercise intensities, the standardized typical errors of the estimates were 0.09-0.62, 0.13-0.88, 0.62-1.24, and 0.47-1.94 for the Apple Watch Series 4, Polar Vantage V, Garmin Fenix 5, and Fitbit Versa, respectively. Depending on exercise intensity, the corresponding coefficients of variation were 0.9%-4.3%, 2.2%-6.7%, 2.9%-9.2%, and 4.1%-19.1%, respectively, for the 4 wearables. While monitoring EE at different exercise intensities, the standardized typical errors of the estimates were 0.34-1.84, 0.32-1.33, 0.46-4.86, and 0.41-1.65 for the Apple Watch Series 4, Polar Vantage V, Garmin Fenix 5, and Fitbit Versa, respectively. Depending on exercise intensity, the corresponding coefficients of variation were 13.5%-27.1%, 16.3%-28.0%, 15.9%-34.5%, and 8.0%-32.3%, respectively.
Conclusions: The Apple Watch Series 4 provides the highest validity (ie, smallest error rates) when measuring HR while sitting or performing light-to-vigorous physical activity, followed by the Polar Vantage V, Garmin Fenix 5, and Fitbit Versa, in that order. The Apple Watch Series 4 and Polar Vantage V are suitable for valid HR measurements at the intensities tested, but HR data provided by the Garmin Fenix 5 and Fitbit Versa should be interpreted with caution due to higher error rates at certain intensities. None of the 4 wrist-worn wearables should be employed to monitor EE at the intensities and durations tested."
Background
Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most important causes of work disability. Various rehabilitation services and return-to-work programs have been developed in order to reduce sickness absence and increase sustainable return-to-work. As the effects of conventional medical rehabilitation programs on sickness absence duration were shown to be slight, work-related medical rehabilitation programs have been developed and tested. While such studies proved the efficacy of work-related medical rehabilitation compared with conventional medical rehabilitation in well-conducted randomized controlled trials, its effectiveness under real-life conditions has yet to be proved.
Methods/Design
The cohort study will be performed under real-life conditions with two parallel groups. Participants will receive either a conventional or a work-related medical rehabilitation program. Propensity score matching will be used to identify controls that are comparable to treated work-related medical rehabilitation patients. Over a period of three months, about 18,000 insured patients with permission to undergo a musculoskeletal rehabilitation program will be contacted. Of these, 15,000 will receive a conventional and 3,000 a work-related medical rehabilitation. We expect a participation rate of 40 % at baseline. Patients will be aged 18 to 65 years and have chronic musculoskeletal disorders, usually back pain. The control group will receive a conventional medical rehabilitation program without any explicit focus on work, work ability and return to work in diagnostics and therapy. The intervention group will receive a work-related medical rehabilitation program that in addition to common rehabilitation treatments contains 11 to 25 h of work-related treatment modules. Follow-up data will be assessed three and ten months after patients’ discharge from the rehabilitation center. Additionally, department characteristics will be assessed and administrative data records used. The primary outcomes are sick leave duration, stable return to work and subjective work ability. Secondary outcomes cover several dimensions of health, functioning and coping strategies.
Discussion
This study will determine the relative effectiveness of a complex, newly implemented work-related rehabilitation strategy for patients with musculoskeletal disorders.
Words are built from smaller meaning bearing parts, called morphemes. As one word can contain multiple morphemes, one morpheme can be present in different words. The number of distinct words a morpheme can be found in is its family size. Here we used Birth-Death-Innovation Models (BDIMs) to analyze the distribution of morpheme family sizes in English and German vocabulary over the last 200 years. Rather than just fitting to a probability distribution, these mechanistic models allow for the direct interpretation of identified parameters. Despite the complexity of language change, we indeed found that a specific variant of this pure stochastic model, the second order linear balanced BDIM, significantly fitted the observed distributions. In this model, birth and death rates are increased for smaller morpheme families. This finding indicates an influence of morpheme family sizes on vocabulary changes. This could be an effect of word formation, perception or both. On a more general level, we give an example on how mechanistic models can enable the identification of statistical trends in language change usually hidden by cultural influences.
Many species synchronize reproductive behavior with a particular phase of the lunar cycle to increase reproductive success. In humans, a lunar influence on reproductive behavior remains controversial, although the human menstrual cycle has a period close to that of the lunar cycle. Here, we analyzed long-term menstrual recordings of individual women with distinct methods for biological rhythm analysis. We show that women’s menstrual cycles with a period longer than 27 days were intermittently synchronous with the Moon’s luminance and/or gravimetric cycles. With age and upon exposure to artificial nocturnal light, menstrual cycles shortened and lost this synchrony. We hypothesize that in ancient times, human reproductive behavior was synchronous with the Moon but that our modern lifestyles have changed reproductive physiology and behavior.
Loss of Somatostatin Receptor 2 (SSTR2) expression and rising CXC Chemokine Receptor Type 4 (CXCR4) expression are associated with dedifferentiation in neuroendocrine tumors (NET). In NET, CXCR4 expression is associated with enhanced metastatic and invasive potential and worse prognosis but might be a theragnostic target. Likewise, activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling may promote a more aggressive phenotype in NET. We hypothesized an interaction of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway with CXCR4 expression and function in NET. The NET cell lines BON-1, QGP-1, and MS-18 were exposed to Wnt inhibitors (5-aza-CdR, quercetin, and niclosamide) or the Wnt activator LiCl. The expressions of Wnt pathway genes and of CXCR4 were studied by qRT-PCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry. The effects of Wnt modulators on uptake of the CXCR4 ligand [\(^{68}\)Ga] Pentixafor were measured. The Wnt activator LiCl induced upregulation of CXCR4 and Wnt target gene expression. Treatment with the Wnt inhibitors had opposite effects. LiCl significantly increased [\(^{68}\)Ga] Pentixafor uptake, while treatment with Wnt inhibitors decreased radiopeptide uptake. Wnt pathway modulation influences CXCR4 expression and function in NET cell lines. Wnt modulation might be a tool to enhance the efficacy of CXCR4-directed therapies in NET or to inhibit CXCR4-dependent proliferative signaling. The underlying mechanisms for the interaction of the Wnt pathway with CXCR4 expression and function have yet to be clarified.
Wireless communication is nothing new. The first data transmissions based on electromagnetic waves have been successfully performed at the end of the 19th century. However, it took almost another century until the technology was ripe for mass market. The first mobile communication systems based on the transmission of digital data were introduced in the late 1980s. Within just a couple of years they have caused a revolution in the way people communicate. The number of cellular phones started to outnumber the fixed telephone lines in many countries and is still rising. New technologies in 3G systems, such as UMTS, allow higher data rates and support various kinds of multimedia services. Nevertheless, the end of the road in wireless communication is far from being reached. In the near future, the Internet and cellular phone systems are expected to be integrated to a new form of wireless system. Bandwidth requirements for a rich set of wireless services, e.g.\ video telephony, video streaming, online gaming, will be easily met. The transmission of voice data will just be another IP based service. On the other hand, building such a system is by far not an easy task. The problems in the development of the UMTS system showed the high complexity of wireless systems with support for bandwidth-hungry, IP-based services. But the technological challenges are just one difficulty. Telecommunication systems are planned on a world-wide basis, such that standard bodies, governments, institutions, hardware vendors, and service providers have to find agreements and compromises on a number of different topics. In this work, we provide the reader with a discussion of many of the topics involved in the planning of a Wireless LAN system that is capable of being integrated into the 4th generation mobile networks (4G) that is being discussed nowadays. Therefore, it has to be able to cope with interactive voice and video traffic while still offering high data rates for best effort traffic. Let us assume a scenario where a huge office complex is completely covered with Wireless LAN access points. Different antenna systems are applied in order to reduce the number of access points that are needed on the one hand, while optimizing the coverage on the other. No additional infrastructure is implemented. Our goal is to evaluate whether the Wireless LAN technology is capable of dealing with the various demands of such a scenario. First, each single access point has to be capable of supporting best-effort and Quality of Service (QoS) demanding applications simultaneously. The IT infrastructure in our scenario consists solely of Wireless LAN, such that it has to allow users surfing the Web, while others are involved in voice calls or video conferences. Then, there is the problem of overlapping cells. Users attached to one access point produce interference for others. However, the QoS support has to be maintained, which is not an easy task. Finally, there are nomadic users, which roam from one Wireless LAN cell to another even during a voice call. There are mechanisms in the standard that allow for mobility, but their capabilities for QoS support are yet to be studied. This shows the large number of unresolved issues when it comes to Wireless LAN in the context of 4G networks. In this work we want to tackle some of the problems.
Background
Wilms’ tumor 1-associating protein (WTAP) is a nuclear protein, which is ubiquitously expressed in many tissues. Furthermore, in various types of malignancies WTAP is overexpressed and plays a role as an oncogene. The function of WTAP in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), however, remains unclear.
Methods
Immunohistochemistry was applied to evaluate the levels of WTAP expression in DLBCL tissues and normal lymphoid tissues. Overexpression and knock-down of WTAP in DLBCL cell lines, verified on mRNA and protein level served to analyze cell proliferation and apoptosis in DLBCL cell lines by flow cytometry. Finally, co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP), IP, and GST-pull down assessed the interaction of WTAP with Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) and B-cell lymphoma 6 (BCL6) as well as determined the extend of its ubiquitinylation.
Results
WTAP protein levels were consistently upregulated in DLBCL tissues. WTAP promoted DLBCL cell proliferation and improved the ability to confront apoptosis, while knockdown of WTAP in DLBCL cell lines allowed a significant higher apoptosis rate after treatment with Etoposide, an anti-tumor drug. The stable expression of WTAP was depended on Hsp90. In line, we demonstrated that WTAP could form a complex with BCL6 via Hsp90 in vivo and in vitro.
Conclusion
WTAP is highly expressed in DLBCL, promoting growth and anti-apoptosis in DLBCL cell lines. WTAP is a client protein of Hsp90 and can appear in a complex with BCL6 and Hsp90 in DLBCL. Down-regulation of WTAP could improve the chemotherapeutic treatments in DLBCL.
Wilms' tumor primary cells display potent immunoregulatory properties on NK cells and macrophages
(2021)
The immune response plays a crucial defensive role in cancer growth and metastasis and is a promising target in different tumors. The role of the immune system in Wilm’s Tumor (WT), a common pediatric renal malignancy, is still to be explored. The characterization of the immune environment in WT could allow the identification of new therapeutic strategies for targeting possible inhibitory mechanisms and/or lowering toxicity of the current treatments. In this study, we stabilized four WT primary cultures expressing either a blastematous (CD56\(^+\)/CD133\(^−\)) or an epithelial (CD56\(^−\)/CD133\(^+\)) phenotype and investigated their interactions with innate immune cells, namely NK cells and monocytes. We show that cytokine-activated NK cells efficiently kill WT cells. However, after co-culture with WT primary cells, NK cells displayed an impaired cytotoxic activity, decreased production of IFNγ and expression of CD107a, DNAM-1 and NKp30. Analysis of the effects of the interaction between WT cells and monocytes revealed their polarization towards alternatively activated macrophages (M2) that, in turn, further impaired NK cell functions. In conclusion, we show that both WT blastematous and epithelial components may contribute directly and indirectly to a tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment that is likely to play a role in tumor progression.
Background:
In previous studies, the gram-positive firmicute genus Paenibacillus was found with significant abundances in nests of wild solitary bees. Paenibacillus larvae is well-known for beekeepers as a severe pathogen causing the fatal honey bee disease American foulbrood, and other members of the genus are either secondary invaders of European foulbrood or considered a threat to honey bees. We thus investigated whether Paenibacillus is a common bacterium associated with various wild bees and hence poses a latent threat to honey bees visiting the same flowers.
Results:
We collected 202 samples from 82 individuals or nests of 13 bee species at the same location and screened each for Paenibacillus using high-throughput sequencing-based 16S metabarcoding. We then isolated the identified strain Paenibacillus MBD-MB06 from a solitary bee nest and sequenced its genome. We did find conserved toxin genes and such encoding for chitin-binding proteins, yet none specifically related to foulbrood virulence or chitinases. Phylogenomic analysis revealed a closer relationship to strains of root-associated Paenibacillus rather than strains causing foulbrood or other accompanying diseases. We found anti-microbial evidence within the genome, confirmed by experimental bioassays with strong growth inhibition of selected fungi as well as gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
Conclusions:
The isolated wild bee associate Paenibacillus MBD-MB06 is a common, but irregularly occurring part of wild bee microbiomes, present on adult body surfaces and guts and within nests especially in megachilids. It was phylogenetically and functionally distinct from harmful members causing honey bee colony diseases, although it shared few conserved proteins putatively toxic to insects that might indicate ancestral predisposition for the evolution of insect pathogens within the group. By contrast, our strain showed anti-microbial capabilities and the genome further indicates abilities for chitin-binding and biofilm-forming, suggesting it is likely a useful associate to avoid fungal penetration of the bee cuticula and a beneficial inhabitant of nests to repress fungal threats in humid and nutrient-rich environments of wild bee nests.
Scientific research is a process concerned with the creation, collective accumulation, contextualization, updating and maintenance of knowledge. Wikis provide an environment that allows to collectively accumulate, contextualize, update and maintain knowledge in a coherent and transparent fashion. Here, we examine the potential of wikis as platforms for scholarly publishing. In the hope to stimulate further discussion, the article itself was drafted on Species-ID – a wiki that hosts a prototype for wiki-based scholarly publishing – where it can be updated, expanded or otherwise improved.
Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) is an important human pathogen and a paradigm for virus-induced host shut-off. Here we show that global changes in transcription and RNA processing and their impact on translation can be analysed in a single experimental setting by applying 4sU-tagging of newly transcribed RNA and ribosome profiling to lytic HSV-1 infection. Unexpectedly, we find that HSV-1 triggers the disruption of transcription termination of cellular, but not viral, genes. This results in extensive transcription for tens of thousands of nucleotides beyond poly(A) sites and into downstream genes, leading to novel intergenic splicing between exons of neighbouring cellular genes. As a consequence, hundreds of cellular genes seem to be transcriptionally induced but are not translated. In contrast to previous reports, we show that HSV-1 does not inhibit co-transcriptional splicing. Our approach thus substantially advances our understanding of HSV-1 biology and establishes HSV-1 as a model system for studying transcription termination.
Background
Herpesviruses can infect a wide range of animal species. Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) is one of the eight herpesviruses that can infect humans and is prevalent worldwide. Herpesviruses have evolved multiple ways to adapt the infected cells to their needs, but knowledge about these transcriptional and post-transcriptional modifications is sparse.
Results
Here, we show that HSV-1 induces the expression of about 1000 antisense transcripts from the human host cell genome. A subset of these is also activated by the closely related varicella zoster virus. Antisense transcripts originate either at gene promoters or within the gene body, and they show different susceptibility to the inhibition of early and immediate early viral gene expression. Overexpression of the major viral transcription factor ICP4 is sufficient to turn on a subset of antisense transcripts. Histone marks around transcription start sites of HSV-1-induced and constitutively transcribed antisense transcripts are highly similar, indicating that the genetic loci are already poised to transcribe these novel RNAs. Furthermore, an antisense transcript overlapping with the BBC3 gene (also known as PUMA) transcriptionally silences this potent inducer of apoptosis in cis.
Conclusions
We show for the first time that a virus induces widespread antisense transcription of the host cell genome. We provide evidence that HSV-1 uses this to downregulate a strong inducer of apoptosis. Our findings open new perspectives on global and specific alterations of host cell transcription by viruses.
Wetlands in West Africa are among the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate change. West African wetlands are often freshwater transfer mechanisms from wetter climate regions to dryer areas, providing an array of ecosystem services and functions. Often wetland-specific data in Africa is only available on a per country basis or as point data. Since wetlands are challenging to map, their accuracies are not well considered in global land cover products. In this paper we describe a methodology to map wetlands using well-corrected 250-meter MODIS time-series data for the year 2002 and over a 360,000 km2 large study area in western Burkina Faso and southern Mali (West Africa). A MODIS-based spectral index table is used to map basic wetland morphology classes. The index uses the wet season near infrared (NIR) metrics as a surrogate for flooding, as a function of the dry season chlorophyll activity metrics (as NDVI). Topographic features such as sinks and streamline areas were used to mask areas where wetlands can potentially occur, and minimize spectral confusion. 30-m Landsat trajectories from the same year, over two reference sites, were used for accuracy assessment, which considered the area-proportion of each class mapped in Landsat for every MODIS cell. We were able to map a total of five wetland categories. Aerial extend of all mapped wetlands (class “Wetland”) is 9,350 km2, corresponding to 4.3% of the total study area size. The classes “No wetland”/“Wetland” could be separated with very high certainty; the overall agreement (KHAT) was 84.2% (0.67) and 97.9% (0.59) for the two reference sites, respectively. The methodology described herein can be employed to render wide area base line information on wetland distributions in semi-arid West Africa, as a data-scarce region. The results can provide (spatially) interoperable information feeds for inter-zonal as well as local scale water assessments.
Fabry disease is an X-linked inherited, progressive disorder of lipid metabolism resulting from the deficient activity of the enzyme α-galactosidase. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with recombinant agalsidase, with intravenous infusions of either agalsidase beta or agalsidase alfa, is available and clinical experience now exceeds 15 years. There are very few randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trials evaluating the outcomes of ERT. Data are often derived from observational, registry-based studies and case reports. Pooled analysis of data from different sources may be limited by the heterogeneity of the patient populations, outcomes and treatment. Therefore, comprehensive systematic literature reviews of unpooled data are needed to determine the effects of ERT on disease outcomes. A systematic literature search was conducted in the Embase and PubMed (MEDLINE) databases to retrieve original articles that evaluated outcomes of ERT in patients with Fabry disease; the outcome data were analysed unpooled. The literature analysis included the full range of published literature including observational studies and case series/case reports. Considerable heterogeneity was found among the studies, with differences in sample size, statistical methods, ERT regimens and patient demographic and clinical characteristics. We have demonstrated the value of performing an unpooled systematic literature review of all published evidence of ERT outcomes in Fabry disease, highlighting that in a rare genetic disorder like Fabry disease, which is phenotypically diverse, different patient populations can require different disease management and therapeutic goals depending on age, genotype, and disease severity/level of organ involvement. In addition, these findings are valuable to guide the design and reporting of new clinical studies.
Purpose
This study investigates the redislocation rate and functional outcome at a minimum follow-up of five years after medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction with soft tissue patellar fixation for patella instability.
Methods
Patients were retrospectively identified and knees were evaluated for trochlea dysplasia according to Dejour, for presence of patella alta and for presence of cartilage lesion at surgery. At a minimum follow-up of five years, information about an incident of redislocation was obtained. Kujala, Lysholm, and Tegner questionnaires as well as range of motion were used to measure functional outcome.
Results
Eighty-nine knees were included. Follow-up rate for redislocation was 79.8% and for functional outcome 58.4%. After a mean follow-up of 5.8 years, the redislocation rate was 5.6%. There was significant improvement of the Kujala score (68.8 to 88.2, p = 0.000) and of the Lysholm score (71.3 to 88.4, p = 0.000). Range of motion at follow-up was 149.0° (115–165). 77.5% of the knees had patella alta and 52.9% trochlear dysplasia types B, C, or D. Patellar cartilage legions were present in 54.2%. Redislocations occurred in knees with trochlear dysplasia type C in combination with patella alta.
Conclusion
MPFL reconstruction with soft tissue patellar fixation leads to significant improvement of knee function and low midterm redislocation rate. Patients with high-grade trochlear dysplasia should be considered for additional osseous correction.
Why are you looking like that? How the context influences evaluation and processing of human faces
(2013)
Perception and evaluation of facial expressions are known to be heavily modulated by emotional features of contextual information. Such contextual effects, however, might also be driven by non-emotional aspects of contextual information, an interaction of emotional and non-emotional factors, and by the observers’ inherent traits. Therefore, we sought to assess whether contextual information about self-reference in addition to information about valence influences the evaluation and neural processing of neutral faces. Furthermore, we investigated whether social anxiety moderates these effects. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants viewed neutral facial expressions preceded by a contextual sentence conveying either positive or negative evaluations about the participant or about somebody else. Contextual influences were reflected in rating and fMRI measures, with strong effects of self-reference on brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and right fusiform gyrus. Additionally, social anxiety strongly affected the response to faces conveying negative, self-related evaluations as revealed by the participants’ rating patterns and brain activity in cortical midline structures and regions of interest in the left and right middle frontal gyrus. These results suggest that face perception and processing are highly individual processes influenced by emotional and non-emotional aspects of contextual information and further modulated by individual personality traits.
Why is our universe so fine-tuned? In this preprint we discuss that this is not a strange accident but that fine-tuned universes can be considered to be exceedingly large if one counts the number of observable different states (i.e. one aspect of the more general preprint http://www.opus-bayern.de/uni-wuerzburg/volltexte/2009/3353/). Looking at parameter variation for the same set of physical laws simple and complex processes (including life) and worlds in a multiverse are compared in simple examples. Next the anthropocentric principle is extended as many conditions which are generally interpreted anthropocentric only ensure a large space of different system states. In particular, the observed over-tuning beyond the level for our existence is explainable by these system considerations. More formally, the state space for different systems becomes measurable and comparable looking at their output behaviour. We show that highly interacting processes are more complex then Chaitin complexity, the latter denotes processes not compressible by shorter descriptions (Kolomogorov complexity). The complexity considerations help to better study and compare different processes (programs, living cells, environments and worlds) including dynamic behaviour and can be used for model selection in theoretical physics. Moreover, the large size (in terms of different states) of a world allowing complex processes including life can in a model calculation be determined applying discrete histories from quantum spin-loop theory. Nevertheless there remains a lot to be done - hopefully the preprint stimulates further efforts in this area.
Panic disorder (PD) is characterized by recurrent and unexpected panic attacks, subsequent anticipatory anxiety, and phobic avoidance. Recent epidemiological and genetic studies have revealed that genetic factors contribute to the pathogenesis of PD. We performed whole-exome sequencing on one Japanese family, including multiple patients with panic disorder, which identified seven rare protein-altering variants. We then screened these genes in a Japanese PD case–control group (384 sporadic PD patients and 571 controls), resulting in the detection of three novel single nucleotide variants as potential candidates for PD (chr15: 42631993, T>C in GANC; chr15: 42342861, G>T in PLA2G4E; chr20: 3641457, G>C in GFRA4). Statistical analyses of these three genes showed that PLA2G4E yielded the lowest p value in gene-based rare variant association tests by Efficient and Parallelizable Association Container Toolbox algorithms; however, the p value did not reach the significance threshold in the Japanese. Likewise, in a German case–control study (96 sporadic PD patients and 96 controls), PLA2G4E showed the lowest p value but again did not reach the significance threshold. In conclusion, we failed to find any significant variants or genes responsible for the development of PD. Nonetheless, our results still leave open the possibility that rare protein-altering variants in PLA2G4E contribute to the risk of PD, considering the function of this gene.
Whole-Body [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT Can Alter Diagnosis in Patients with Suspected Rheumatic Disease
(2021)
The 2-deoxy-d-[\(^{18}\)F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is widely utilized to assess the vascular and articular inflammatory burden of patients with a suspected diagnosis of rheumatic disease. We aimed to elucidate the impact of [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT on change in initially suspected diagnosis in patients at the time of the scan. Thirty-four patients, who had undergone [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT, were enrolled and the initially suspected diagnosis prior to [18F]FDG PET/CT was compared to the final diagnosis. In addition, a semi-quantitative analysis including vessel wall-to-liver (VLR) and joint-to-liver (JLR) ratios was also conducted. Prior to [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT, 22/34 (64.7%) of patients did not have an established diagnosis, whereas in 7/34 (20.6%), polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) was suspected, and in 5/34 (14.7%), giant cell arteritis (GCA) was suspected by the referring rheumatologists. After [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT, the diagnosis was GCA in 19/34 (55.9%), combined GCA and PMR (GCA + PMR) in 9/34 (26.5%) and PMR in the remaining 6/34 (17.6%). As such, [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT altered suspected diagnosis in 28/34 (82.4%), including in all unclear cases. VLR of patients whose final diagnosis was GCA tended to be significantly higher when compared to VLR in PMR (GCA, 1.01 ± 0.08 (95%CI, 0.95–1.1) vs. PMR, 0.92 ± 0.1 (95%CI, 0.85–0.99), p = 0.07), but not when compared to PMR + GCA (1.04 ± 0.14 (95%CI, 0.95–1.13), p = 1). JLR of individuals finally diagnosed with PMR (0.94 ± 0.16, (95%CI, 0.83–1.06)), however, was significantly increased relative to JLR in GCA (0.58 ± 0.04 (95%CI, 0.55–0.61)) and GCA + PMR (0.64 ± 0.09 (95%CI, 0.57–0.71); p < 0.0001, respectively). In individuals with a suspected diagnosis of rheumatic disease, an inflammatory-directed [\(^{18}\)F]FDG PET/CT can alter diagnosis in the majority of the cases, particularly in subjects who were referred because of diagnostic uncertainty. Semi-quantitative assessment may be helpful in establishing a final diagnosis of PMR, supporting the notion that a quantitative whole-body read-out may be useful in unclear cases.
Most RNAs within polarized cells such as neurons are sorted subcellularly in a coordinated manner. Despite advances in the development of methods for profiling polyadenylated RNAs from small amounts of input RNA, techniques for profiling coding and non-coding RNAs simultaneously are not well established. Here, we optimized a transcriptome profiling method based on double-random priming and applied it to serially diluted total RNA down to 10 pg. Read counts of expressed genes were robustly correlated between replicates, indicating that the method is both reproducible and scalable. Our transcriptome profiling method detected both coding and long non-coding RNAs sized >300 bases. Compared to total RNAseq using a conventional approach our protocol detected 70% more genes due to reduced capture of ribosomal RNAs. We used our method to analyze the RNA composition of compartmentalized motoneurons. The somatodendritic compartment was enriched for transcripts with post-synaptic functions as well as for certain nuclear non-coding RNAs such as 7SK. In axons, transcripts related to translation were enriched including the cytoplasmic non-coding RNA 7SL. Our profiling method can be applied to a wide range of investigations including perturbations of subcellular transcriptomes in neurodegenerative diseases and investigations of microdissected tissue samples such as anatomically defined fiber tracts.
Spinal muscular atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are the two most common devastating motoneuron diseases. The mechanisms leading to motoneuron degeneration are not resolved so far, although different hypotheses have been built on existing data. One possible mechanism is disturbed axonal transport of RNAs in the affected motoneurons. The underlying question of this study was therefore to characterize changes in transcript levels of distinct RNAs in cell culture models of spinal muscular atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, especially in the axonal compartment of primary motoneurons.
To investigate this in detail we first established compartmentalized cultures of Primary mouse motoneurons. Subsequently, total RNA of both compartments was extracted
separately and either linearly amplified and subjected to microarray profiling or whole transcriptome amplification followed by RNA-Sequencing was performed. To make
the whole transcriptome amplification method suitable for compartmentalized cultures, we adapted a double-random priming strategy. First, we applied this method
for initial optimization onto serial dilutions of spinal cord RNA and later on to the compartmentalized motoneurons.
Analysis of the data obtained from wildtype cultures already revealed interesting results. First, the RNA composition of axons turned out to be highly similar to the somatodendritic compartment. Second, axons seem to be particularly enriched for transcripts related to protein synthesis and energy production. In a next step we
repeated the experiments by using knockdown cultures. The proteins depleted hereby are Smn, Tdp-43 and hnRNP R. Another experiment was performed by knocking down the non-coding RNA 7SK, the main interacting RNA of hnRNP R.
Depletion of Smn led to a vast number of deregulated transcripts in the axonal and somatodendritic compartment. Transcripts downregulated in the axons upon Smn depletion were especially enriched for GOterms related to RNA processing and encode proteins located in neuron projections including axons and growth cones.
Strinkingly, among the upregulated transcripts in the somatodendritic compartment we mainly found MHC class I transcripts suggesting a potential neuroprotective role.
In contrast, although knockdown of Tdp-43 also revealed a large number of downregulated transcripts in the axonal compartment, these transcripts were mainly
associated with functions in transcriptional regulation and RNA splicing. For the hnRNP R knockdown our results were again different. Here, we observed
downregulated transcripts in the axonal compartment mainly associated with regulation of synaptic transmission and nerve impulses. Interestingly, a comparison between deregulated transcripts in the axonal compartment of both hnRNP R and 7SK knockdown presented a significant overlap of several transcripts suggesting
some common mechanism for both knockdowns.
Thus, our data indicate that a loss of disease-associated proteins involved in axonal RNA transport causes distinct transcriptome alterations in motor axons.
Whole Genome Duplications Shaped the Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Repertoire of Jawed Vertebrates
(2016)
The receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) gene family, involved primarily in cell growth and differentiation, comprises proteins with a common enzymatic tyrosine kinase intracellular domain adjacent to a transmembrane region. The amino-terminal portion of RTKs is extracellular and made of different domains, the combination of which characterizes each of the 20 RTK subfamilies among mammals. We analyzed a total of 7,376 RTK sequences among 143 vertebrate species to provide here the first comprehensive census of the jawed vertebrate repertoire. We ascertained the 58 genes previously described in the human and mouse genomes and established their phylogenetic relationships. We also identified five additional RTKs amounting to a total of 63 genes in jawed vertebrates. We found that the vertebrate RTK gene family has been shaped by the two successive rounds of whole genome duplications (WGD) called 1R and 2R (1R/2R) that occurred at the base of the vertebrates. In addition, the Vegfr and Ephrin receptor subfamilies were expanded by single gene duplications. In teleost fish, 23 additional RTK genes have been retained after another expansion through the fish-specific third round (3R) of WGD. Several lineage-specific gene losses were observed. For instance, birds have lost three RTKs, and different genes are missing in several fish sublineages. The RTK gene family presents an unusual high gene retention rate from the vertebrate WGDs (58.75% after 1R/2R, 64.4% after 3R), resulting in an expansion that might be correlated with the evolution of complexity of vertebrate cellular communication and intracellular signaling.
The incidence of malignant melanoma continues to increase each year with poor prognosis for survival in many relapse cases. To reverse this trend, whole body response measures are needed to discover collaborative paths to primary and secondary malignancy. Several species of fish provide excellent melanoma models because fish and human melanocytes both appear in the epidermis, and fish and human pigment cell tumors share conserved gene expression signatures. For the first time, we have examined the whole body transcriptome response to invasive melanoma as a prelude to using transcriptome profiling to screen for drugs in a medaka (Oryzias latipes) model. We generated RNA-seq data from whole body RNA isolates for controls and melanoma fish. After testing for differential expression, 396 genes had significantly different expression (adjusted p-value <0.02) in the whole body transcriptome between melanoma and control fish; 379 of these genes were matched to human orthologs with 233 having annotated human gene symbols and 14 matched genes that contain putative deleterious variants in human melanoma at varying levels of recurrence. A detailed canonical pathway evaluation for significant enrichment showed the top scoring pathway to be antigen presentation but also included the expected melanocyte development and pigmentation signaling pathway. Results revealed a profound down-regulation of genes involved in the immune response, especially the innate immune system. We hypothesize that the developing melanoma actively suppresses the immune system responses of the body in reacting to the invasive malignancy, and that this mal-adaptive response contributes to disease progression, a result that suggests our whole-body transcriptomic approach merits further use. In these findings, we also observed novel genes not yet identified in human melanoma expression studies and uncovered known and new candidate drug targets for further testing in this malignant melanoma medaka model.
Background:
Sit-to-stand height-adjustable desks (HAD) may promote workplace standing, as long as workers use them on a regular basis. The aim of this study was to investigate (i) how common HAD in German desk-based workers are, and how frequently HADs are used, (ii) to identify sociodemographic, health-related, and psycho-social variables of workday sitting including having a HAD, and (iii) to analyse sociodemographic, health-related, and psycho-social variables of users and non-users of HADs.
Methods:
A cross-sectional sample of 680 participants (51.9% men; 41.0 ± 13.1 years) in a desk-based occupation was interviewed by telephone about their occupational sitting and standing proportions, having and usage of a HAD, and answered questions concerning psycho-social variables of occupational sitting. The proportion of workday sitting was calculated for participants having an HAD (n = 108) and not-having an HAD (n = 573), as well as for regular users of HAD (n = 54), and irregular/non-users of HAD (n = 54). Linear regressions were conducted to calculate associations between socio-demographic, health-related, psychosocial variables and having/not having an HAD, and the proportion of workday sitting. Logistic regressions were executed to examine the association of mentioned variables and participants’ usage of HADs.
Results:
Sixteen percent report that they have an HAD, and 50% of these report regular use of HAD. Having an HAD is not a correlate of the proportion of workday sitting. Further analysis restricted to participants having available a HAD highlights that only the ‘perceived advantages of sitting less’ was significantly associated with HAD use in the fully adjusted model (OR 1.75 [1.09; 2.81], p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
The present findings indicate that accompanying behavioral action while providing an HAD is promising to increase the regular usage of HAD. Hence, future research needs to address the specificity of behavioral actions in order to enhance regular HAD use, and needs to give more fundamental insights into these associations.
Introduction: This paper addresses the need for reliable user identification in Extended Reality (XR), focusing on the scarcity of public datasets in this area.
Methods: We present a new dataset collected from 71 users who played the game “Half-Life: Alyx” on an HTC Vive Pro for 45 min across two separate sessions. The dataset includes motion and eye-tracking data, along with physiological data from a subset of 31 users. Benchmark performance is established using two state-of-the-art deep learning architectures, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Gated Recurrent Units (GRU).
Results: The best model achieved a mean accuracy of 95% for user identification within 2 min when trained on the first session and tested on the second.
Discussion: The dataset is freely available and serves as a resource for future research in XR user identification, thereby addressing a significant gap in the field. Its release aims to facilitate advancements in user identification methods and promote reproducibility in XR research.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is an attractive therapeutic target to combat diabetes and obesity due to its ability to increase glucose expenditure. In a genetic rat model (ZDF fa/fa) of type-2 diabetes and obesity, we aimed to investigate glucose utilization of BAT by \(^{18}\)F-FDG PET imaging. Male Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) and Male Zucker lean (ZL) control rats were studied at 13 weeks. Three weeks prior to imaging, ZDF rats were randomized into a no-restriction (ZDF-ND) and a mild calorie restriction (ZDF-CR) group. Dynamic \(^{18}\)F-FDG PET using a dedicated small animal PET system was performed under hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp. \(^{18}\)F-FDG PET identified intense inter-scapular BAT glucose uptake in all ZL control rats, while no focally increased \(^{18}\)F-FDG uptake was detected in all ZDF-ND rats. Mild but significant improved BAT tracer uptake was identified after calorie restriction in diabetic rats (ZDF-CR). The weight of BAT tissue and fat deposits were significantly increased in ZDF-CR and ZDF-ND rats as compared to ZL controls, while UCP-1 and mitochondrial concentrations were significantly decreased. Whitening and severely impaired insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in BAT was confirmed in a rat model of type-2 diabetes. Additionally, calorie restriction partially restored the impaired BAT glucose uptake.
Over the last 20 years, there has been increasing focus on the development of novel stem cell based therapies for the treatment of disorders and diseases affecting the enteric nervous system (ENS) of the gastrointestinal tract (so-called enteric neuropathies). Here, the idea is that ENS progenitor/stem cells could be transplanted into the gut wall to replace the damaged or absent neurons and glia of the ENS. This White Paper sets out experts' views on the commonly used methods and approaches to identify, isolate, purify, expand and optimize ENS stem cells, transplant them into the bowel, and assess transplant success, including restoration of gut function. We also highlight obstacles that must be overcome in order to progress from successful preclinical studies in animal models to ENS stem cell therapies in the clinic.
White Paper on Crowdsourced Network and QoE Measurements – Definitions, Use Cases and Challenges
(2020)
The goal of the white paper at hand is as follows. The definitions of the terms build a framework for discussions around the hype topic ‘crowdsourcing’. This serves as a basis for differentiation and a consistent view from different perspectives on crowdsourced network measurements, with the goal to provide a commonly accepted definition in the community. The focus is on the context of mobile and fixed network operators, but also on measurements of different layers (network, application, user layer). In addition, the white paper shows the value of crowdsourcing for selected use cases, e.g., to improve QoE or regulatory issues. Finally, the major challenges and issues for researchers and practitioners are highlighted.
This white paper is the outcome of the Würzburg seminar on “Crowdsourced Network and QoE Measurements” which took place from 25-26 September 2019 in Würzburg, Germany. International experts were invited from industry and academia. They are well known in their communities, having different backgrounds in crowdsourcing, mobile networks, network measurements, network performance, Quality of Service (QoS), and Quality of Experience (QoE). The discussions in the seminar focused on how crowdsourcing will support vendors, operators, and regulators to determine the Quality of Experience in new 5G networks that enable various new applications and network architectures. As a result of the discussions, the need for a white paper manifested, with the goal of providing a scientific discussion of the terms “crowdsourced network measurements” and “crowdsourced QoE measurements”, describing relevant use cases for such crowdsourced data, and its underlying challenges. During the seminar, those main topics were identified, intensively discussed in break-out groups, and brought back into the plenum several times. The outcome of the seminar is this white paper at hand which is – to our knowledge – the first one covering the topic of crowdsourced network and QoE measurements.
Which home for coelacanth?
(1993)
This thesis explores the influence of social and environmental cues on the nest building behavior of leaf-cutting ants. Especially, the investigations are aimed at evaluating the mechanisms of nest building and how the nest environment can spatially guide building responses that lead to an adaptive nest architecture. The emergence of nest chambers in the nest of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex lundi were evaluated. Rather than excavating nest chambers in advance, at places where workers encounter suitable environmental conditions for brood and fungus rearing, these items have to be present at a site. When presented in the laboratory with a choice between two otherwise identical digging sites, offering suitable environmental conditions, but one containing brood, the workers displayed a higher excavation activity at the site where they encountered the putative content of a chamber. The shape of the excavated cavity was also more round and chamber-like. It is concluded that leaf-cutting ants respond to social cues during nest building. Excavation is a costly process and colonies have to spend a part of their energy stores on nest building, so that regulatory responses for the control of nest excavation are expected to occur. Worker density at the beginning of the digging process influenced digging activity while the presence of in-nest stores did not. Stored brood and fungus did however influence the architecture of the excavated nest, leading to the excavation of larger chambers and smaller tunnels. While self-organized mechanisms appear to be involved in the nest building process, the social cues of the ants’ environment during building clearly influence the nest architecture and lead to an adjustment of the nest size to the current space needs of the colony. Workers secondarily regulated nest size by the opportunistic refilling of unused space with excavated soil pellets. As the ants should provide suitable conditions for brood and fungus rearing, they should show a behavioral response to CO2 concentrations, as the gas is known to hinder fungus respiration. Workers of A. lundi did indeed avoid high CO2-levels for fungus rearing but actually preferred CO2-values in the range encountered close to the soil surface, where this species excavates their nests. However, different CO2-levels did not affect their excavation behavior. While fungus chambers make up part of a leaf-cutting ant nest, most leaf-cutting ants of the genus Atta also spent part of the colony’s energy on excavating large, voluminous chambers for waste disposal, rather than scattering the material aboveground. It is expected that leaf-cutting ants also show environmental preferences for waste management. In experiments Atta laevigata workers preferred deposition in a warm and dry environment and showed no preference for specific CO2-levels. The continued accumulation of waste particles in a waste chamber seems to be based on the use of volatiles. These originate from the waste itself, and seem to be used as an orientation cue by workers relocating the material. The ensuing large accumulation of waste at one site should result in the emergence of more voluminous chambers for waste disposal.
Nowadays, robotics plays an important role in increasing fields of application. There exist many environments or situations where mobile robots instead of human beings are used, since the tasks are too hazardous, uncomfortable, repetitive, or costly for humans to perform. The autonomy and the mobility of the robot are often essential for a good solution of these problems. Thus, such a robot should at least be able to answer the question "Where am I?". This thesis investigates the problem of self-localizing a robot in an indoor environment using range measurements. That is, a robot equipped with a range sensor wakes up inside a building and has to determine its position using only its sensor data and a map of its environment. We examine this problem from an idealizing point of view (reducing it into a pure geometric one) and further investigate a method of Guibas, Motwani, and Raghavan from the field of computational geometry to solving it. Here, so-called visibility skeletons, which can be seen as coarsened representations of visibility polygons, play a decisive role. In the major part of this thesis we analyze the structures and the occurring complexities in the framework of this scheme. It turns out that the main source of complication are so-called overlapping embeddings of skeletons into the map polygon, for which we derive some restrictive visibility constraints. Based on these results we are able to improve one of the occurring complexity bounds in the sense that we can formulate it with respect to the number of reflex vertices instead of the total number of map vertices. This also affects the worst-case bound on the preprocessing complexity of the method. The second part of this thesis compares the previous idealizing assumptions with the properties of real-world environments and discusses the occurring problems. In order to circumvent these problems, we use the concept of distance functions, which model the resemblance between the sensor data and the map, and appropriately adapt the above method to the needs of realistic scenarios. In particular, we introduce a distance function, namely the polar coordinate metric, which seems to be well suited to the localization problem. Finally, we present the RoLoPro software where most of the discussed algorithms are implemented (including the polar coordinate metric).
When More Is Better – Consumption Priming Decreases Responders’ Rejections in the Ultimatum Game
(2017)
During the past decades, economic theories of rational choice have been exposed to outcomes that were severe challenges to their claim of universal validity. For example, traditional theories cannot account for refusals to cooperate if cooperation would result in higher payoffs. A prominent illustration are responders’ rejections of positive but unequal payoffs in the Ultimatum Game. To accommodate this anomaly in a rational framework one needs to assume both a preference for higher payoffs and a preference for equal payoffs. The current set of studies shows that the relative weight of these preference components depends on external conditions and that consumption priming may decrease responders’ rejections of unequal payoffs. Specifically, we demonstrate that increasing the accessibility of consumption-related information accentuates the preference for higher payoffs. Furthermore, consumption priming increased responders’ reaction times for unequal payoffs which suggests an increased conflict between both preference components. While these results may also be integrated into existing social preference models, we try to identify some basic psychological processes underlying economic decision making. Going beyond the Ultimatum Game, we propose that a distinction between comparative and deductive evaluations may provide a more general framework to account for various anomalies in behavioral economics.
Introduction: In this study, we investigated the impact of age on mate selection preferences in males and females, and explored how the formation and duration of committed relationships depend on the sex of the person making the selection.
Methods: To this end, we utilized data from the television dating shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. In these programs, either a single man (“bachelor”) or a woman (“bachelorette”) has the opportunity to select a potential long-term partner from a pool of candidates. Our analysis encompassed a total of n = 169 seasons from 23 different countries, beginning with the first airing in 2002.
Results: We found that the likelihood of the final couple continuing their relationship beyond the broadcast was higher in The Bachelorette than in The Bachelor, although the duration of these relationships was not significantly influenced by the type of show. On average, women were younger, both when selecting their partner and when being chosen. However, men exhibited a greater preference for larger age differences than women. Furthermore, the age of the chosen male partners significantly increased with the age of the “bachelorettes,” whereas “bachelors” consistently favored women around 25.5 years old, regardless of their own age.
Discussion: We discuss these findings within the context of parental investment theory and sexual strategies theory.
Tactile stimulation is less frequently used than visual for brain-computer interface (BCI) control, partly because of limitations in speed and accuracy. Non-visual BCI paradigms, however, may be required for patients who struggle with vision dependent BCIs because of a loss of gaze control. With the present study, we attempted to replicate earlier results by Herweg et al. (2016), with several minor adjustments and a focus on training effects and usability. We invited 16 healthy participants and trained them with a 4-class tactile P300-based BCI in five sessions. Their main task was to navigate a virtual wheelchair through a 3D apartment using the BCI. We found significant training effects on information transfer rate (ITR), which increased from a mean of 3.10–9.50 bits/min. Further, both online and offline accuracies significantly increased with training from 65% to 86% and 70% to 95%, respectively. We found only a descriptive increase of P300 amplitudes at Fz and Cz with training. Furthermore, we report subjective data from questionnaires, which indicated a relatively high workload and moderate to high satisfaction. Although our participants have not achieved the same high performance as in the Herweg et al. (2016) study, we provide evidence for training effects on performance with a tactile BCI and confirm the feasibility of the paradigm.
The present approach exploits the biomechanical connection between articulation and ingestion-related mouth movements to introduce a novel psychological principle of brand name design. We constructed brand names for diverse products with consonantal stricture spots either from the front to the rear of the mouth, thus inwards (e.g., BODIKA), or from the rear to the front, thus outwards (e.g., KODIBA). These muscle dynamics resemble the oral kinematics during either ingestion (inwards), which feels positive, or expectoration (outwards), which feels negative. In 7 experiments (total N = 1261), participants liked products with inward names more than products with outward names (Experiment 1), reported higher purchase intentions (Experiment 2), and higher willingness-to-pay (Experiments 3a-3c, 4, 5), with the price gain amounting to 4-13% of the average estimated product value. These effects occurred across English and German language, under silent reading, for both edible and non-edible products, and even in the presence of a much stronger price determinant, namely fair-trade production (Experiment 5).
The present research is concerned with the topic of socially induced affect. In previous research the focus was mainly on affective convergence. A prominent topic in that context was “emotional contagion” (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1994). Affective divergence has been also been found. However, its influence on the theoretical debate remained weak. Besides research on emotions also social comparison research attended to the topic. In order to explain affective divergence and convergence an integrative model based on social comparison processes is proposed here. Based on the selective accessibility model (Mussweiler, 2003) it is assumed that affective convergence can be seen as assimilation to a comparison standard (the observed model). Therefore, the basic assumption is that a comparison between an observer and the model takes place. Affective divergence corresponds to an affective contrast from that standard. Which of these two phenomena occurs depends on the type of comparison processes that took place. Six experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1 it was shown that comparisons intensify the social induction of affect. The influence of the comparison focus was studied in Experiments 2 and 3. If the perceiver searches for similarities between the self and the model, affective convergence occurs. If differences are searched for, affective divergence is found. The latter is mainly found under special circumstances, e.g. if the model belongs to another social group (Experiment 3). In Experiment 1-3 it was shown comparisons influence the social induction of affect. In Experiment 4-6 the underlying processes were explored. The selective accessibility model (Mussweiler, 2003) attributes a central role to the selective activation of self-knowledge in order to explain judgmental assimilation and contrast. In Experiments 4 and 5 the role of the self was explored more thoroughly. Evidence for socially induced affect (affective convergence) has only been found when the self has been previously activated. When the self was not activated no such effect was found. The assumption that the activation of specific self-knowledge is the basis for socially induced affect was tested in Experiment 5. Results supported the assumption. The present experiments give rise to the assumption that social comparisons are a key element in the social induction of affect. Affective convergence and divergence are explained and processes for the affect induction are defined. The findings also have implications for research on automatic behaviour and especially to explain automatic contrast. In addition implications for social comparison research can be derived.
What reaction stops revenge taking? Four experiments (total N = 191) examined this question where the victim of an interpersonal transgression could observe the offender's reaction (anger, sadness, pain, or calm) to a retributive noise punishment. We compared the punishment intensity selected by the participant before and after seeing the offender's reaction. Seeing the opponent in pain reduced subsequent punishment most strongly, while displays of sadness and verbal indications of suffering had no appeasing effect. Expression of anger about a retributive punishment did not increase revenge seeking relative to a calm reaction, even when the anger response was disambiguated as being angry with the punisher. It is concluded that the expression of pain is the most effective emotional display for the reduction of retaliatory aggression. The findings are discussed in light of recent research on reactive aggression and retributive justice.
A relevant issue on the treatment of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) concerns the optimal duration of adjuvant mitotane treatment. We tried to address this question, assessing whether a correlation exists between the duration of adjuvant mitotane treatment and recurrence-free survival (RFS) of patients with ACC. We conducted a multicenter retrospective analysis on 154 ACC patients treated for ≥12 months with adjuvant mitotane after radical surgery and who were free of disease at the mitotane stop. During a median follow-up of 38 months, 19 patients (12.3%) experienced recurrence. We calculated the RFS after mitotane (RFSAM), from the landmark time-point of mitotane discontinuation, to overcome immortal time bias. We found a wide variability in the duration of adjuvant mitotane treatment among different centers and also among patients cared for at the same center, reflecting heterogeneous practice. We did not find any survival advantage in patients treated for longer than 24 months. Moreover, the relationship between treatment duration and the frequency of ACC recurrence was not linear after stratifying our patients in tertiles of length of adjuvant treatment. In conclusion, the present findings do not support the concept that extending adjuvant mitotane treatment over two years is beneficial for ACC patients with low to moderate risk of recurrence.
What is left after an error? Towards a comprehensive account of goal-based binding and retrieval
(2023)
The cognitive system readily detects and corrects erroneous actions by establishing episodic bindings between representations of the acted upon stimuli and the intended correct response. If these stimuli are encountered again, they trigger the retrieval of the correct response. Thus, binding and retrieval efficiently pave the way for future success. The current study set out to define the role of the erroneous response itself and explicit feedback for the error during these processes of goal-based binding and retrieval. Two experiments showed robust and similar binding and retrieval effects with and without feedback and pointed towards sustained activation of the unbound, erroneous response. The third experiment confirmed that the erroneous response is more readily available than a neutral alternative. Together, the results demonstrate that episodic binding biases future actions toward success, guided primarily through internal feedback processes, while the erroneous response still leaves detectable traces in human action control.
This dissertation focuses on the construct and criterion validity of integrity tests and aims to enhance both. To accomplish this goal, three approaches were adopted: First, an overview and systematic comparison of integrity tests was conducted with reference to the construction and application of the tests. Second, the nomological network of integrity tests was expanded with reference to honesty-humility and organizational citizenship behavior at their factor and facet level. Third, two promising methods to reduce faking on integrity tests were tested: the double rating method (Hui, 2001) and the indirect questioning technique. In line with previous research, the results of the overview and comparison of integrity measures confirmed that integrity tests are multidimensional and heterogenous. A clear definition of integrity is urgently needed. The personality trait of honesty-humility and its facets of fairness, and modesty revealed the most significant relationships to integrity. Moreover, organizational citizenship behavior and its facets of altruism, conscientiousness, and sportsmanship were found to significantly relate to integrity. Furthermore, integrity tests were able not only to predict organizational citizenship behavior but also to incrementally predict job performance and organizational citizenship behavior beyond the factor and facet level of the personality traits of conscientiousness and honesty-humility. In contrast to the indirect questioning technique, the double rating method, which includes an other rating and a self rating, was shown to be able to significantly reduce faking on integrity tests in an anonymous survey setting. This dissertation makes an important contribution to better explain the construct and nomological network of integrity, provide a more detailed view on integrity tests and their protection against faking, and expand the predictive and incremental validity of these tests. The implications for future research and practice are further discussed.
Previous research found that men conspicuously consume luxury products to attract a mate and to signal their mate value. However, these studies have yet neglected to investigate the function of male conspicuous consumption in same-sex competition. Given that intersexual selection and intrasexual selection are closely related processes, it stands to reason that a further function of male conspicuous consumption could be to impress and deter same-sex rivals. An 2 (intrasexual competition context vs. control) × 2 (conspicuous luxury vs. inconspicuous nonluxury) between-subjects experimental study conducted with an Amazon Mechanical Turk sample (N = 160) revealed that men reported both higher liking of and an intent to purchase a conspicuous luxury car compared to an inconspicuous nonluxury car due to increased feelings of social status. This effect was stronger in the intrasexual competition than in the control context. An additional perception study using a single-factor between-subjects design (conspicuous luxury vs. inconspicuous nonluxury car) among German men (N = 405) indicated that male participants rated a man who displayed a conspicuous luxury car more as a rival and mate poacher and less as a friend. They further perceived him to be superior on various mate value characteristics (i.e., attractiveness, intelligence, ambition, and status) and rated him as more oriented toward short-term mating. In sum, our findings add to previous research in the field of evolutionary consumer psychology by suggesting that male conspicuous consumption of luxuries may also serve a function in male–male competition.