TY - GEN A1 - Schedina, Ina Maria A1 - Hartmann, Stefanie A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Schlupp, Ingo A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph T1 - Comparative analysis of the gonadal transcriptomes of the all-female species Poecilia formosa and its maternal ancestor Poecilia mexicana N2 - Background The Amazon molly, Poecilia formosa (Teleostei: Poeciliinae) is an unisexual, all-female species. It evolved through the hybridisation of two closely related sexual species and exhibits clonal reproduction by sperm dependent parthenogenesis (or gynogenesis) where the sperm of a parental species is only used to activate embryogenesis of the apomictic, diploid eggs but does not contribute genetic material to the offspring. Here we provide and describe the first de novo assembled transcriptome of the Amazon molly in comparison with its maternal ancestor, the Atlantic molly Poecilia mexicana. The transcriptome data were produced through sequencing of single end libraries (100 bp) with the Illumina sequencing technique. Results 83,504,382 reads for the Amazon molly and 81,625,840 for the Atlantic molly were assembled into 127,283 and 78,961 contigs for the Amazon molly and the Atlantic molly, respectively. 63% resp. 57% of the contigs could be annotated with gene ontology terms after sequence similarity comparisons. Furthermore, we were able to identify genes normally involved in reproduction and especially in meiosis also in the transcriptome dataset of the apomictic reproducing Amazon molly. Conclusions We assembled and annotated the transcriptome of a non-model organism, the Amazon molly, without a reference genome (de novo). The obtained dataset is a fundamental resource for future research in functional and expression analysis. Also, the presence of 30 meiosis-specific genes within a species where no meiosis is known to take place is remarkable and raises new questions for future research. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 404 Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-401420 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Golle, Kathleen A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Hoffmann, Martin A1 - Wick, Ditmar A1 - Mühlbauer, Thomas T1 - Effect of living area and sports club participation on physical fitness in children BT - a 4 year longitudinal study N2 - Background: Cross-sectional studies detected associations between physical fitness, living area, and sports participation in children. Yet, their scientific value is limited because the identification of cause-and-effect relationships is not possible. In a longitudinal approach, we examined the effects of living area and sports club participation on physical fitness development in primary school children from classes 3 to 6. Methods: One-hundred and seventy-two children (age: 9-12 years; sex: 69 girls, 103 boys) were tested for their physical fitness (i.e., endurance [9-min run], speed [50-m sprint], lower- [triple hop] and upper-extremity muscle strength [1-kg ball push], flexibility [stand-and-reach], and coordination [star coordination run]). Living area (i.e., urban or rural) and sports club participation were assessed using parent questionnaire. Results: Over the 4 year study period, urban compared to rural children showed significantly better performance development for upper- (p = 0.009, ES = 0.16) and lower-extremity strength (p < 0.001, ES = 0.22). Further, significantly better performance development were found for endurance (p = 0.08, ES = 0.19) and lower-extremity strength (p = 0.024, ES = 0.23) for children continuously participating in sports clubs compared to their non-participating peers. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that sport club programs with appealing arrangements appear to represent a good means to promote physical fitness in children living in rural areas. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 360 KW - motor performance KW - youth KW - primary school KW - maturation Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-401418 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Heck, Philipp A1 - Ziegler, Matthias T1 - Illegal performance enhancing drugs and doping in sport BT - a picture-based brief implicit association test for measuring athletes' attitudes N2 - Background: Doping attitude is a key variable in predicting athletes' intention to use forbidden performance enhancing drugs. Indirect reaction-time based attitude tests, such as the implicit association test, conceal the ultimate goal of measurement from the participant better than questionnaires. Indirect tests are especially useful when socially sensitive constructs such as attitudes towards doping need to be described. The present study serves the development and validation of a novel picture-based brief implicit association test (BIAT) for testing athletes' attitudes towards doping in sport. It shall provide the basis for a transnationally compatible research instrument able to harmonize anti-doping research efforts. Method: Following a known-group differences validation strategy, the doping attitudes of 43 athletes from bodybuilding (representative for a highly doping prone sport) and handball (as a contrast group) were compared using the picture-based doping-BIAT. The Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS) was employed as a corresponding direct measure in order to additionally validate the results. Results: As expected, in the group of bodybuilders, indirectly measured doping attitudes as tested with the picture-based doping-BIAT were significantly less negative (eta(2) = .11). The doping-BIAT and PEAS scores correlated significantly at r = .50 for bodybuilders, and not significantly at r = .36 for handball players. There was a low error rate (7%) and a satisfactory internal consistency (r(dagger dagger) = .66) for the picture-based doping-BIAT. Conclusions: The picture-based doping-BIAT constitutes a psychometrically tested method, ready to be adopted by the international research community. The test can be administered via the internet. All test material is available "open source". The test might be implemented, for example, as a new effect-measure in the evaluation of prevention programs. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 359 KW - doping attitude KW - bodybuilding KW - indirect test KW - implicit attitude test (IAT) KW - methodology Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-401404 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Noiray, Aude A1 - Iskarous, Khalil A1 - Whalen, Douglas H. T1 - Variability in English vowels is comparable in articulation and acoustics T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe N2 - The nature of the links between speech production and perception has been the subject of longstanding debate. The present study investigated the articulatory parameter of tongue height and the acoustic F1–F0 difference for the phonological distinction of vowel height in American English front vowels. Multiple repetitions of /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ/ in [(h)Vd] sequences were recorded in seven adult speakers. Articulatory (ultrasound) and acoustic data were collected simultaneously to provide a direct comparison of variability in vowel production in both domains. Results showed idiosyncratic patterns of articulation for contrasting the three front vowel pairs /i-ɪ/, /e-ɛ/, and /ɛ-æ/ across subjects, with the degree of variability in vowel articulation comparable to that observed in the acoustics for all seven participants. However, contrary to what was expected, some speakers showed reversals for tongue height for /ɪ/-/e/ that were also reflected in acoustics, with F1 higher for /ɪ/ than for /e/. The data suggest the phonological distinction of height is conveyed via speaker-specific articulatory-acoustic patterns that do not strictly match features descriptions. However, the acoustic signal is faithful to the articulatory configuration that generated it, carrying the crucial information for perceptual contrast. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe - 137 KW - Speech motor control KW - American-english KW - Normalization procedures KW - Regional varieties KW - Movements KW - Dynamics KW - Behavior KW - Speakers KW - Tongue KW - Context Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-399196 SN - 1866-8380 IS - 137 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Brunner, Jana A1 - Geng, Christian A1 - Sotiropoulou, Stavroula A1 - Gafos, Adamantios I. T1 - Timing of German onset and word boundary clusters T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe N2 - Previous studies suggest that there are special timing relations in syllable onsets. The consonants are assumed to be timed, on the one hand, with the vocalic nucleus and, on the other hand, with each other. These competing timing relations result in the C-center effect. However, the C-center effect has not consistently been found in languages with complex onsets. Moreover, it has occasionally been found in languages disallowing complex onsets. The present study investigates onset timing in German while discussing alternative explanations (not related to bonding) for the timing patterns observed. Six German speakers were recorded via Electromagnetic Articulography. The corpus contained items with four clusters (/sk/, /kv/, /gl/, and /pl/). The clusters occur in word-initial position, word-medial position, and across a word boundary preceding different vowels. The results suggest that segmental properties (i.e., oral-laryngeal coordination, coarticulatory resistance) determine the observed timing patterns, and specifically the absence or presence of the C-center effect. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe - 136 KW - C-center KW - gestural coordination KW - coarticulatory resistance Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-399178 SN - 1866-8380 IS - 136 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Wiemann, Dirk T1 - George, Rosemary Marangoly, Indian English and the Fiction of National Literature / [reviewed by] Dirk Wiemann T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe N2 - Rezensiertes Werk: George, Rosemary Marangoly, Indian English and the Fiction of National Literature - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. - Hb. viii, 285 pp. - (Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik ; 62(4)) ISBN 978-1-107-04000-7. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe - 135 Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-398664 SN - 1866-8380 IS - 135 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Zór, K. A1 - Heiskanen, A. A1 - Caviglia, Claudia A1 - Vergani, M. A1 - Landini, E. A1 - Shah, F. A1 - Carminati, Marco A1 - Martínez-Serrano, A. A1 - Ramos Moreno, T. A1 - Kokaia, M. A1 - Benayahu, Dafna A1 - Keresztes, Zs. A1 - Papkovsky, D. A1 - Wollenberger, Ursula A1 - Svendsen, W. E. A1 - Dimaki, M. A1 - Ferrari, G. A1 - Raiteri, R. A1 - Sampietro, M. A1 - Dufva, M. A1 - Emnéus, J. T1 - A compact multifunctional microfluidic platform for exploring cellular dynamics in real-time using electrochemical detection N2 - Downscaling of microfluidic cell culture and detection devices for electrochemical monitoring has mostly focused on miniaturization of the microfluidic chips which are often designed for specific applications and therefore lack functional flexibility. We present a compact microfluidic cell culture and electrochemical analysis platform with in-built fluid handling and detection, enabling complete cell based assays comprising on-line electrode cleaning, sterilization, surface functionalization, cell seeding, cultivation and electrochemical real-time monitoring of cellular dynamics. To demonstrate the versatility and multifunctionality of the platform, we explored amperometric monitoring of intracellular redox activity in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and detection of exocytotically released dopamine from rat pheochromocytoma cells (PC12). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used in both applications for monitoring cell sedimentation and adhesion as well as proliferation in the case of PC12 cells. The influence of flow rate on the signal amplitude in the detection of redox metabolism as well as the effect of mechanical stimulation on dopamine release were demonstrated using the programmable fluid handling capability. The here presented platform is aimed at applications utilizing cell based assays, ranging from e.g. monitoring of drug effects in pharmacological studies, characterization of neural stem cell differentiation, and screening of genetically modified microorganisms to environmental monitoring. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 289 Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-99492 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Morgner, Frank A1 - Lecointre, Alexandre A1 - Charbonnière, Loic J. A1 - Löhmannsröben, Hans-Gerd T1 - Detecting free hemoglobin in blood plasma and serum with luminescent terbium complexes N2 - Hemolysis, the rupturing of red blood cells, can result from numerous medical conditions (in vivo) or occur after collecting blood specimen or extracting plasma and serum out of whole blood (in vitro). In clinical laboratory practice, hemolysis can be a serious problem due to its potential to bias detection of various analytes or biomarkers. Here we present the first ‘‘mix-and-measure’’ method to assess the degree of hemolysis in biosamples using luminescence spectroscopy. Luminescent terbium complexes (LTC) were studied in the presence of free hemoglobin (Hb) as indicators for hemolysis in TRIS-buffer, and in fresh human plasma with absorption, excitation and emission measurements. Our findings indicate dynamic as well as resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the LTC and the porphyrin ligand of hemoglobin. This transfer leads to a decrease in luminescence intensity and decay time even at nanomolar hemoglobin concentrations either in buffer or plasma. Luminescent terbium complexes are very sensitive to free hemoglobin in buffer and blood plasma. Due to the instant change in luminescence properties of the LTC in presence of Hb it is possible to access the concentration of hemoglobin via spectroscopic methods without incubation time or further treatment of the sample thus enabling a rapid and sensitive detection of hemolysis in clinical diagnostics. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 288 Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-99485 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Comminges, Clément A1 - Frasca, Stefano A1 - Sütterlin, Martin A1 - Wischerhoff, Erik A1 - Laschewsky, André A1 - Wollenberger, Ursula T1 - Surface modification with thermoresponsive polymer brushes for a switchable electrochemical sensor N2 - Elaboration of switchable surfaces represents an interesting way for the development of a new generation of electrochemical sensors. In this paper, a method for growing thermoresponsive polymer brushes from a gold surface pre-modified with polyethyleneimine (PEI), subsequent layer-by-layer polyelectrolyte assembly and adsorption of a charged macroinitiator is described. We propose an easy method for monitoring the coil-to-globule phase transition of the polymer brush using an electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (E-QCM-D). The surface of these polymer modified electrodes shows reversible switching from the swollen to the collapsed state with temperature. As demonstrated from E-QCM-D measurements using an original signal processing method, the switch is operating in three reversible steps related to different interfacial viscosities. Moreover, it is shown that the one electron oxidation of ferrocene carboxylic acid is dramatically affected by the change from the swollen to the collapsed state of the polymer brush, showing a spectacular 86% decrease of the charge transfer resistance between the two states. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 287 Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-99471 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Ciuciu, Adina I. A1 - Cywiński, Piotr J. T1 - Two-photon polymerization of hydrogels – versatile solutions to fabricate well-defined 3D structures N2 - Hydrogels are cross-linked water-containing polymer networks that are formed by physical, ionic or covalent interactions. In recent years, they have attracted significant attention because of their unique physical properties, which make them promising materials for numerous applications in food and cosmetic processing, as well as in drug delivery and tissue engineering. Hydrogels are highly water-swellable materials, which can considerably increase in volume without losing cohesion, are biocompatible and possess excellent tissue-like physical properties, which can mimic in vivo conditions. When combined with highly precise manufacturing technologies, such as two-photon polymerization (2PP), well-defined three-dimensional structures can be obtained. These structures can become scaffolds for selective cell-entrapping, cell/drug delivery, sensing and prosthetic implants in regenerative medicine. 2PP has been distinguished from other rapid prototyping methods because it is a non-invasive and efficient approach for hydrogel cross-linking. This review discusses the 2PP-based fabrication of 3D hydrogel structures and their potential applications in biotechnology. A brief overview regarding the 2PP methodology and hydrogel properties relevant to biomedical applications is given together with a review of the most important recent achievements in the field. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 286 Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-99450 ER -