TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hartig, Olaf
A1  - Pirrò, Giuseppe
T1  - SPARQL with property paths on the Web
JF  - Semantic web
N2  - Linked Data on the Web represents an immense source of knowledge suitable to be automatically processed and queried. In this respect, there are different approaches for Linked Data querying that differ on the degree of centralization adopted. On one hand, the SPARQL query language, originally defined for querying single datasets, has been enhanced with features to query federations of datasets; however, this attempt is not sufficient to cope with the distributed nature of data sources available as Linked Data. On the other hand, extensions or variations of SPARQL aim to find trade-offs between centralized and fully distributed querying. The idea is to partially move the computational load from the servers to the clients. Despite the variety and the relative merits of these approaches, as of today, there is no standard language for querying Linked Data on theWeb. A specific requirement for such a language to capture the distributed, graph-like nature of Linked Data sources on the Web is a support of graph navigation. Recently, SPARQL has been extended with a navigational feature called property paths (PPs). However, the semantics of SPARQL restricts the scope of navigation via PPs to single RDF graphs. This restriction limits the applicability of PPs for querying distributed Linked Data sources on the Web. To fill this gap, in this paper we provide formal foundations for evaluating PPs on the Web, thus contributing to the definition of a query language for Linked Data. We first introduce a family of reachability-based query semantics for PPs that distinguish between navigation on the Web and navigation at the data level. Thereafter, we consider another, alternative query semantics that couples Web graph navigation and data level navigation; we call it context-based semantics. Given these semantics, we find that for some PP-based SPARQL queries a complete evaluation on the Web is not possible. To study this phenomenon we introduce a notion of Web-safeness of queries, and prove a decidable syntactic property that enables systems to identify queries that areWeb-safe. In addition to establishing these formal foundations, we conducted an experimental comparison of the context-based semantics and a reachability- based semantics. Our experiments show that when evaluating a PP-based query under the context-based semantics one experiences a significantly smaller number of dereferencing operations, but the computed query result may contain less solutions.
KW  - Property paths
KW  - Web navigational language
KW  - Web safeness
KW  - SPARQL
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3233/SW-160237
SN  - 1570-0844
SN  - 2210-4968
VL  - 8
IS  - 6
SP  - 773
EP  - 795
PB  - IOS Press
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - CHAP
A1  - Kügler, Frank
T1  - Tone and intonation in Akan
T2  - Intonation in African Tone Languages
N2  - This chapter provides an account of the intonation patterns in Akan (Kwa, Niger-Congo). Tonal processes such as downstep, tonal spreading and tonal replacement influence the surface tone pattern of a sentence. In general, any Akan utterance independent of sentence type shows a characteristic down-trend in pitch. This chapter proposes that Akan employs a simple post-lexical tonal grammar that accounts for the shapes of an intonation contour. The unmarked post-lexical structure is found in simple declaratives. The downward trend of an intonation contour is shaped by local tonal interactions (downstep), and sentence-final tonal neutralization. In polar questions, an iota-phrase-final low boundary tone (L%) accounts for the intensity increase and lengthening of the final vowel compared to a declarative. Complex declaratives and left-dislocations show a partial pitch reset at the left edge of an embedded iota-phrase. Underlying lexical tones are not affected by intonation with the exception of sentence-final H-tones.
KW  - downstep
KW  - low boundary tone
KW  - polar question
KW  - constituent question
KW  - imperative
KW  - complex declarative
KW  - Akan
KW  - pitch register reset
KW  - prosodic phrasing
KW  - tonal neutralization
KW  - avoidance
KW  - lax question prosody
Y1  - 2017
SN  - 978-3-11-050352-4; 978-3-11-048479-3
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110503524-004
SN  - 1861-4191
VL  - 24
SP  - 89
EP  - 129
PB  - De Gruyter Mouton
CY  - Berlin
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Gronau, Norbert
A1  - Ullrich, André
A1  - Teichmann, Malte
T1  - Development of the industrial IoT competences in the areas of organization, process, and interaction based on the learning factory concept
T2  - Procedia manufacturing
N2  - Lately, first implementation approaches of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies penetrate industrial value-adding processes. Within this, the competence requirements for employees are changing. Employees’ organization, process, and interaction competences are of crucial importance in this new IoT environment, however, in students and vocational training not sufficiently considered yet. On the other hand, conventional learning factories evolve and transform to digital learning factories. Nevertheless, the integration of IoT technology and its usage for training in digital learning factories has been largely neglected thus far. Existing learning factories do not explicitly and properly consider IoT technology, which leads to deficiencies regarding an appropriate development of employees’ Industrial IoT competences. The goal of this contribution is to point out a didactic concept that enables development and training of these new demanded competences by using an IoT laboratory. For this purpose, a design science approach is applied. The result of this contribution is a didactic concept for the development of Industrial IoT competences in an IoT laboratory.
KW  - Digital Learning Factory
KW  - Industrial IoT Competences
KW  - Student Training
KW  - Vocational Training
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2017.04.029
SN  - 2351-9789
VL  - 9
SP  - 254
EP  - 261
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Paramonov, Guennaddi K.
A1  - Kühn, Oliver
A1  - Bandrauk, André D.
T1  - Excitation of H+ 2 with one-cycle laser pulses
BT  - shaped post-laser-field electronic oscillations, generation of higher- and lower-order harmonics
JF  - Molecular physics : MP ; an international journal in the field of chemical physics
N2  - Non-Born–Oppenheimer quantum dynamics of H+ 2 excited by shaped one-cycle laser pulses linearly polarised along the molecular axis have been studied by the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation within a three-dimensional model, including the internuclear separation, R, and the electron coordinates z and ρ. Laser carrier frequencies corresponding to the wavelengths λ l = 25 nm through λ l = 400 nm were used and the amplitudes of the pulses were chosen such that the energy of H+ 2 was close to its dissociation threshold at the end of any laser pulse applied. It is shown that there exists a characteristic oscillation frequency ωosc ≃ 0.2265 au (corresponding to the period of τosc ≃ 0.671 fs and the wavelength of λosc ≃ 201 nm) that manifests itself as a ‘carrier’ frequency of temporally shaped oscillations of the time-dependent expectation values ⟨z ⟩ and ⟨∂V/∂z ⟩ that emerge at the ends of the laser pulses and exist on a timescale of at least 50 fs. Time-dependent expectation values ⟨ρ⟩ and ⟨∂V /∂ρ⟩ of the optically passive degree of freedom, ρ, demonstrate post-laser-field oscillations at two basic frequencies ωρ 1 ≈ ωosc and ωρ 2 ≈ 2ωosc. Power spectra associated with the electronic motion show higher- and lower-order harmonics with respect to the driving field.
KW  - One-cycle laser pulses
KW  - post-laser-field electronic oscillations
KW  - generation of higher and lower harmonics
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/00268976.2017.1288938
SN  - 0026-8976
SN  - 1362-3028
VL  - 115
IS  - 15/16
SP  - 1846
EP  - 1860
PB  - Taylor & Francis
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wiemers, Michael
A1  - Bekkering, Harold
A1  - Lindemann, Oliver
T1  - Is more always up?
BT  - evidence for a preference of hand-based associations over vertical number mappings
JF  - Journal of cognitive psychology
N2  - It has been argued that the association of numbers and vertical space plays a fundamental role for the understanding of numerical concepts. However, convincing evidence for an association of numbers and vertical bimanual responses is still lacking. The present study tests the vertical Spatio-Numerical-Association-of-Response-Codes (SNARC) effect in a number classification task by comparing anatomical hand-based and spatial associations. A mixed effects model of linear spatial-numerical associations revealed no evidence for a vertical but clear support for an anatomical SNARC effect. Only if the task requirements prevented participants from using a number-hand association due to frequently alternating hand-to-button assignments, numbers were associated with the vertical dimension. Taken together, the present findings question the importance of vertical associations for the conceptual understanding of numerical magnitude as hypothesised by some embodied approaches to number cognition and suggest a preference for ego-over geocentric reference frames for the mapping of numbers onto space.
KW  - SNARC effect
KW  - embodied numerosity
KW  - numerical cognition
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2017.1302451
SN  - 2044-5911
SN  - 2044-592X
VL  - 29
IS  - 5
SP  - 642
EP  - 652
PB  - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - Abingdon
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Richter, Philipp
ED  - Fox, Andrew J.
ED  - Davé, Romeel
T1  - Gas accretion onto the Milky Way
JF  - Astrophysics and space science library
N2  - The Milky Way is surrounded by large amounts of gaseous matter that are slowly being accreted over cosmic timescales to support star formation in the disk. The corresponding gas-accretion rate represents a key parameter for the past, present, and future evolution of the Milky Way. In this chapter, we discuss our current understanding of gas accretion processes in the Galaxy by reviewing past and recent observational and theoretical studies. The first part of this review deals with the spatial distribution of the different gas phases in the Milky Way halo, the origin of the gas, and its total mass. The second part discusses the gas dynamics and the physical processes that regulate the gas flow from the outer Galactic halo to the disk. From the most recent studies follows that the present-day gas accretion rate of the Milky Way is a few solar masses per year, which is sufficient to maintain the Galaxy’s star-formation rate at its current level.
Y1  - 2017
SN  - 978-3-319-52512-9
SN  - 978-3-319-52511-2
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52512-9_2
SN  - 0067-0057
VL  - 430
SP  - 15
EP  - 47
PB  - Springer
CY  - Cham
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Kay, Alex James
T1  - Disagreement is fine. Misrepresentation is not
BT  - response to John Morello
T2  - The international history review
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2017.1354547
SN  - 0707-5332
SN  - 1949-6540
VL  - 39
SP  - 929
EP  - 930
PB  - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - Abingdon
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Giese, Holger
ED  - Kouchnarenko, Olga
ED  - Khosravi, Ramtin
T1  - Formal models and analysis for self-adaptive cyber-physical systems
BT  - (extended abstract)
T2  - Lecture notes in computer science
N2  - In this extended abstract, we will analyze the current challenges for the envisioned Self-Adaptive CPS. In addition, we will outline our results to approach these challenges with SMARTSOS [10] a generic approach based on extensions of graph transformation systems employing open and adaptive collaborations and models at runtime for trustworthy self-adaptation, self-organization, and evolution of the individual systems and the system-of-systems level taking the independent development, operation, management, and evolution of these systems into account.
Y1  - 2017
SN  - 978-3-319-57666-4
SN  - 978-3-319-57665-7
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57666-4_1
SN  - 0302-9743
SN  - 1611-3349
VL  - 10231
SP  - 3
EP  - 9
PB  - Springer
CY  - Cham
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Serth, Sebastian
A1  - Podlesny, Nikolai
A1  - Bornstein, Marvin
A1  - Lindemann, Jan
A1  - Latt, Johanna
A1  - Selke, Jan
A1  - Schlosser, Rainer
A1  - Boissier, Martin
A1  - Uflacker, Matthias
T1  - An interactive platform to simulate dynamic pricing competition on online marketplaces
T2  - 2017 IEEE 21st International Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference (EDOC)
N2  - E-commerce marketplaces are highly dynamic with constant competition. While this competition is challenging for many merchants, it also provides plenty of opportunities, e.g., by allowing them to automatically adjust prices in order to react to changing market situations. For practitioners however, testing automated pricing strategies is time-consuming and potentially hazardously when done in production. Researchers, on the other side, struggle to study how pricing strategies interact under heavy competition. As a consequence, we built an open continuous time framework to simulate dynamic pricing competition called Price Wars. The microservice-based architecture provides a scalable platform for large competitions with dozens of merchants and a large random stream of consumers. Our platform stores each event in a distributed log. This allows to provide different performance measures enabling users to compare profit and revenue of various repricing strategies in real-time. For researchers, price trajectories are shown which ease evaluating mutual price reactions of competing strategies. Furthermore, merchants can access historical marketplace data and apply machine learning. By providing a set of customizable, artificial merchants, users can easily simulate both simple rule-based strategies as well as sophisticated data-driven strategies using demand learning to optimize their pricing strategies.
Y1  - 2017
SN  - 978-1-5090-3045-3
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1109/EDOC.2017.17
SN  - 2325-6354
SP  - 61
EP  - 66
PB  - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Seiffert, Martin
A1  - Holstein, Flavio
A1  - Schlosser, Rainer
A1  - Schiller, Jochen
T1  - Next generation cooperative wearables
BT  - generalized activity assessment computed fully distributed with in a wireless body area network
JF  - IEEE access : practical research, open solutions
N2  - Currently available wearables are usually based on a single sensor node with integrated capabilities for classifying different activities. The next generation of cooperative wearables could be able to identify not only activities, but also to evaluate them qualitatively using the data of several sensor nodes attached to the body, to provide detailed feedback for the improvement of the execution. Especially within the application domains of sports and health-care, such immediate feedback to the execution of body movements is crucial for (re-) learning and improving motor skills. To enable such systems for a broad range of activities, generalized approaches for human motion assessment within sensor networks are required. In this paper, we present a generalized trainable activity assessment chain (AAC) for the online assessment of periodic human activity within a wireless body area network. AAC evaluates the execution of separate movements of a prior trained activity on a fine-grained quality scale. We connect qualitative assessment with human knowledge by projecting the AAC on the hierarchical decomposition of motion performed by the human body as well as establishing the assessment on a kinematic evaluation of biomechanically distinct motion fragments. We evaluate AAC in a real-world setting and show that AAC successfully delimits the movements of correctly performed activity from faulty executions and provides detailed reasons for the activity assessment.
KW  - Body sensor networks
KW  - distributed computing
KW  - motion analysis
KW  - physical activity assessment
KW  - biomechanics
KW  - multilevel systems
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2749005
SN  - 2169-3536
VL  - 5
SP  - 16793
EP  - 16807
PB  - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
CY  - Piscataway
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Low, Thomas
A1  - Hentschel, Christian
A1  - Stober, Sebastian
A1  - Sack, Harald
A1  - Nürnberger, Andreas
ED  - Amsaleg, Laurent
ED  - Guðmundsson, Gylfi Þór
ED  - Gurrin, Cathal
ED  - Jónsson, Björn Þór
ED  - Satoh, Shin'ichi
T1  - Exploring large movie collections
BT  - comparing visual berrypicking and traditional browsing
T2  - Lecture notes in computer science
N2  - We compare Visual Berrypicking, an interactive approach allowing users to explore large and highly faceted information spaces using similarity-based two-dimensional maps, with traditional browsing techniques. For large datasets, current projection methods used to generate maplike overviews suffer from increased computational costs and a loss of accuracy resulting in inconsistent visualizations. We propose to interactively align inexpensive small maps, showing local neighborhoods only, which ideally creates the impression of panning a large map. For evaluation, we designed a web-based prototype for movie exploration and compared it to the web interface of The Movie Database (TMDb) in an online user study. Results suggest that users are able to effectively explore large movie collections by hopping from one neighborhood to the next. Additionally, due to the projection of movie similarities, interesting links between movies can be found more easily, and thus, compared to browsing serendipitous discoveries are more likely.
KW  - Exploratory interfaces
KW  - Media retrieval
KW  - Multidimensional scaling
KW  - User study
Y1  - 2016
SN  - 978-3-319-51814-5
SN  - 978-3-319-51813-8
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51814-5_17
SN  - 0302-9743
SN  - 1611-3349
VL  - 10133
SP  - 198
EP  - 208
PB  - Springer
CY  - Cham
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wieczorek, Mareike
A1  - Kolmogorov, Alexei
A1  - Kruse, Stefan
A1  - Jacobsen, Inga
A1  - Nitze, Ingmar
A1  - Nikolaev, Anatoly N.
A1  - Heinrich, Ingo
A1  - Pestryakova, Luidmila Agafyevna
A1  - Herzschuh, Ulrike
T1  - Disturbance-effects on treeline larch-stands in the lower Kolyma River area (NE Siberia)
JF  - Silva Fennica : a quarterly journal for forest science
N2  - Tree stands in the boreal treeline ecotone are, in addition to climate change, impacted by disturbances such as fire, water-related disturbances and logging. We aim to understand how these disturbances affect growth, age structure, and spatial patterns of larch stands in the north-eastern Siberian treeline ecotone (lower Kolyma River region), an insufficiently researched region. Stand structure of Larix cajanderi Mayr was studied at seven sites impacted by disturbances. Maximum tree age ranged from 44 to 300 years. Young to medium-aged stands had, independent of disturbance type, the highest stand densities with over 4000 larch trees per ha. These sites also had the highest growth rates for tree height and stem diameter. Overall lowest stand densities were found in a polygonal field at the northern end of the study area, with larches growing in distinct " tree islands". At all sites, saplings are significantly clustered. Differences in fire severity led to contrasting stand structures with respect to tree, recruit, and overall stand densities. While a low severity fire resulted in low-density stands with high proportions of small and young larches, high severity fires resulted in high-density stands with high proportions of big trees. At waterdisturbed sites, stand structure varied between waterlogged and drained sites and latitude. These mixed effects of climate and disturbance make it difficult to predict future stand characteristics and the treeline position.
KW  - treeline
KW  - Larix cajanderi
KW  - Siberia
KW  - fire
KW  - stand structure
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.1666
SN  - 0037-5330
SN  - 2242-4075
VL  - 51
IS  - 3
PB  - The Finnish Society of Forest Science
CY  - Helsinki
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Fraschetti, Federico
A1  - Pohl, Martin
T1  - Two-zone model for the broadband crab nebula spectrum
BT  - microscopic interpretation
T2  - The European physical journal : Web of Conferences : proceedings
N2  - We develop a simple two-zone interpretation of the broadband baseline Crab nebula spectrum between 10(-5) eV and similar to 100 TeV by using two distinct log-parabola energetic electrons distributions. We determine analytically the very-high energy photon spectrum as originated by inverse-Compton scattering of the far-infrared soft ambient photons within the nebula off a first population of electrons energized at the nebula termination shock. The broad and flat 200 GeV peak jointly observed by Fermi/LAT and MAGIC is naturally reproduced. The synchrotron radiation from a second energetic electron population explains the spectrum from the radio range up to similar to 10 keV. We infer from observations the energy dependence of the microscopic probability of remaining in proximity of the shock of the accelerating electrons.
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201713602009
SN  - 2100-014X
VL  - 136
PB  - EDP Sciences
CY  - Les Ulis
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hoehn, Richard S.
A1  - Jernigan, Peter L.
A1  - Japtok, Lukasz
A1  - Chang, Alex L.
A1  - Midura, Emily F.
A1  - Caldwell, Charles C.
A1  - Kleuser, Burkhard
A1  - Lentsch, Alex B.
A1  - Edwards, Michael J.
A1  - Gulbins, Erich
A1  - Pritts, Timothy A.
T1  - Acid sphingomyelinase inhibition in stored erythrocytes reduces transfusion-associated lung inflammation
JF  - Annals of surgery : a monthly review of surgical science and practice
N2  - Objective: We aimed to identify the role of the enzyme acid sphingomyelinase in the aging of stored units of packed red blood cells (pRBCs) and subsequent lung inflammation after transfusion.
Summary Background Data: Large volume pRBC transfusions are associated with multiple adverse clinical sequelae, including lung inflammation. Microparticles are formed in stored pRBCs over time and have been shown to contribute to lung inflammation after transfusion.
Methods: Human and murine pRBCs were stored with or without amitriptyline, a functional inhibitor of acid sphingomyelinase, or obtained from acid sphingomyelinase-deficient mice, and lung inflammation was studied in mice receiving transfusions of pRBCs and microparticles isolated from these units.
Results: Acid sphingomyelinase activity in pRBCs was associated with the formation of ceramide and the release of microparticles. Treatment of pRBCs with amitriptyline inhibited acid sphingomyelinase activity, ceramide accumulation, and microparticle production during pRBC storage. Transfusion of aged pRBCs or microparticles isolated from aged blood into mice caused lung inflammation. This was attenuated after transfusion of pRBCs treated with amitriptyline or from acid sphingomyelinase-deficient mice.
Conclusions: Acid sphingomyelinase inhibition in stored pRBCs offers a novel mechanism for improving the quality of stored blood.
KW  - acid sphingomyelinase
KW  - blood banking
KW  - ceramide
KW  - lung inflammation
KW  - microparticle
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000001648
SN  - 0003-4932
SN  - 1528-1140
VL  - 265
IS  - 1
SP  - 218
EP  - 226
PB  - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
CY  - Philadelphia
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Yang, Xiaoping
A1  - Darko, Kwame Oteng
A1  - Huang, Yanjun
A1  - He, Caimei
A1  - Yang, Huansheng
A1  - He, Shanping
A1  - Li, Jianzhong
A1  - Li, Jian
A1  - Hocher, Berthold
A1  - Yin, Yulong
T1  - Resistant starch regulates gut microbiota
BT  - structure, biochemistry and cell signalling
JF  - Cellular physiology and biochemistry : international journal of experimental cellular physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology
N2  - Starch is one of the most popular nutritional sources for both human and animals. Due to the variation of its nutritional traits and biochemical specificities, starch has been classified into rapidly digestible, slowly digestible and resistant starch. Resistant starch has its own unique chemical structure, and various forms of resistant starch are commercially available. It has been found being a multiple-functional regulator for treating metabolic dysfunction. Different functions of resistant starch such as modulation of the gut microbiota, gut peptides, circulating growth factors, circulating inflammatory mediators have been characterized by animal studies and clinical trials. In this mini-review, recent remarkable progress in resistant starch on gut microbiota, particularly the effect of structure, biochemistry and cell signaling on nutrition has been summarized, with highlights on its regulatory effect on gut microbiota.
KW  - Resistant starch
KW  - Gut microbiota
KW  - Nutrition
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1159/000477386
SN  - 1015-8987
SN  - 1421-9778
VL  - 42
IS  - 1
SP  - 306
EP  - 318
PB  - Karger
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - He, Jing
A1  - Liu, Zhi-Wei
A1  - Lu, Yong-Ping
A1  - Li, Tao-Yuan
A1  - Liang, Xu-Jing
A1  - Arck, Petra
A1  - Huang, Si-Min
A1  - Hocher, Berthold
A1  - Chen, You-Peng
T1  - A systematic review and meta-analysis of influenza a virus infection during pregnancy associated with an increased risk for stillbirth and low birth weight
JF  - Kidney & blood pressure research : official organ of the Gesellschaft für Nephrologie ; official organ of the Deutsche Liga zur Bekämpfung des Hohen Blutdruckes e.V., Deutsche Hypertonie-Gesellschaft
N2  - Background/Aims: Impaired pregnancy outcomes, such as low birth weight are associated with increased disease risk in later life, however little is known about the impact of common infectious diseases during pregnancy on birth weight. The study had two aims: a) to investigate risk factors of influenza virus infection during pregnancy, and b) to analyze the impact of influenza virus infection on pregnancy outcome, especially birth weight.
Methods: Prospective and retrospective observational studies found in PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Google Scholar, and WangFang database were included in this meta analysis. Data of included studies was extracted and analyzed by the RevMan software.
Results: Pregnant women with anemia (P=0.004, RR=1.46, 95% CI: 1.13-1.88), obesity (P<0.00001, RR=1.35, 95% CI: 1.25-1.46) and asthma (P<0.00001, RR=1.99, 95% CI: 1.67-2.37) had higher rates of influenza virus infection. Regarding birth outcomes, influenza A virus infection did not affect the likelihood for cesarean section. Mothers with influenza had a higher rate of stillbirth (P=0.04, RR=2.36, 95% CI: 1.05-5.31), and their offspring had low 5-minute APGR Scores (P=0.009, RR=1.39, 95% CI: 1.08-1.79). Furthermore, the rate for birth weight < 2500g (P=0.04, RR=1.71, 95% CI: 1.03-2.84) was increased.
Conclusion: Results of this study showed that anemia, asthma and obesity during pregnancy are risk factors influenza A virus infection during pregnancy. Moreover, gestational influenza A infection impairs pregnancy outcomes and increases the risk for low birth weight, a known risk factor for later life disease susceptibility.
KW  - Apgar score
KW  - Influenza virus
KW  - Offspring
KW  - Outcome
KW  - Pregnancy
KW  - Stillbirth
KW  - Birth weight
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1159/000477221
SN  - 1420-4096
SN  - 1423-0143
VL  - 42
IS  - 2
SP  - 232
EP  - 243
PB  - Karger
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Reichetzeder, Christoph
A1  - Heunisch, Fabian
A1  - von Einem, Gina-Franziska
A1  - Tsuprykov, Oleg
A1  - Kellner, Karl-Heinz
A1  - Dschietzig, Thomas
A1  - Kretschmer, Axel
A1  - Hocher, Berthold
T1  - Pre-interventional kynurenine predicts medium-term outcome after contrast media exposure due to coronary angiography
JF  - Kidney & blood pressure research : official organ of the Gesellschaft für Nephrologie ; official organ of the Deutsche Liga zur Bekämpfung des Hohen Blutdruckes e.V., Deutsche Hypertonie-Gesellschaft
N2  - Background/Aims: Contrast induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) remains a serious complication of contrast media enhanced procedures like coronary angiography. There is still a lack of established biomarkers that help to identify patients at high risk for short and long-term complications. The aim of the current study was to evaluate plasma kynurenine as a predictive biomarker for CI-AKI and long-term complications, measured by the combined endpoint "major adverse kidney events" (MAKE) up to 120 days after CM application.
Methods: In this prospective cohort study 245 patients undergoing coronary angiography were analyzed. Blood samples were obtained at baseline, 24h and 48h after contrast media (CM) application to diagnose CI-AKI. Patients were followed for 120 days for adverse clinical events including death, the need for dialysis, and a doubling of plasma creatinine. Occurrence of any of these events was summarized in the combined endpoint MAKE.
Results: Preinterventional plasma kynurenine was not associated with CI-AKI. Patients who later developed MAKE displayed significantly increased preinterventional plasma kynurenine levels (p<0.0001). ROC analysis revealed that preinterventional kynurenine is highly predictive for MAKE (AUC=0.838; p<0.0001). The optimal cutoff was found at >= 3.5 mu mol/L. Using this cutoff, the Kaplan-Meier estimator demonstrated that concentrations of plasma kynurenine >= 3.5 mu mol/L were significantly associated with a higher prevalence of MAKE until follow up (p<0.0001). This association remained significant in multivariate Cox regression models adjusted for relevant factors of long-term renal outcome.
Conclusion: Preinterventional plasma kynurenine might serve as a highly predictive biomarker for MAKE up to 120 days after coronary angiography.
KW  - Contrast induced acute kidney injury
KW  - Coronary angiography
KW  - Major adverse kidney event
KW  - Kynurenine
KW  - Preinterventional biomarker
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1159/000477222
SN  - 1420-4096
SN  - 1423-0143
VL  - 42
IS  - 2
SP  - 244
EP  - 256
PB  - Karger
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Xu, Mei
A1  - Lu, Yong-Ping
A1  - Hasan, Ahmed A.
A1  - Hocher, Berthold
T1  - Plasma ET-1 concentrations are elevated in patients with hypertension meta-analysis of clinical studies
JF  - Kidney & blood pressure research : official organ of the Gesellschaft für Nephrologie ; official organ of the Deutsche Liga zur Bekämpfung des Hohen Blutdruckes e.V., Deutsche Hypertonie-Gesellschaft
N2  - Background/Aims: A recent study revealed that global overexpression of ET-1 causes a slight reduction in systemic blood pressure. Moreover, heterozygous ET-1 knockout mice are hypertensive. The role of ET-1 in human hypertension was so far not addressed by a strict meta-analysis of published human clinical studies.
Methods: We included studies published between January 1, 1990 and February 28, 2017. We included case control studies analyzing untreated essential hypertension or hypertensive patients where antihypertensive medication was discontinued for at least two weeks. Based on the principle of Cochrane systematic reviews, case control studies (CCSs) in PubMed (Medline) and Google Scholar designed to identify the role of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in the pathophysiological of hypertension were screened. Review Manager Version 5.0 (Rev-Man 5.0) was applied for statistical analysis. Mean difference and 95% confidence interval (CI) were shown in inverse variance (IV) fixed-effects model or IV random-effects models.
Results: Eleven studies fulfilling our in-and exclusion criteria were eligible for this meta-analysis. These studies included 450 hypertensive patients and 328 controls. Our meta-analysis revealed that ET-1 plasma concentrations were higher in hypertensive patients as compared to the control patients [mean difference between groups 1.57 pg/mL, 95%Ci [0.47 similar to 2.68, P = 0.005]. These finding were driven by patients having systolic blood pressure higher than 160 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure higher than 100 mmHg.
Conclusions: This meta-analysis showed that hypertensive patients do have elevated plasma ET-1 concentrations. This finding is driven by those patients with high systolic/diastolic blood pressure. Given that the ET-1 gene did not appear in any of the whole genome association studies searching for hypertension associated gene loci, it is very likely that the elevated plasma ET-1 concentrations in hypertensive patients are secondary to hypertension and may reflect endothelial cell damage.
KW  - Hypertension
KW  - ET-1
KW  - Meta-analysis
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1159/000477572
SN  - 1420-4096
SN  - 1423-0143
VL  - 42
IS  - 2
SP  - 304
EP  - 313
PB  - Karger
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Weck, Florian
A1  - Witthöft, Michael
T1  - Context effects in the evaluation of bodily symptoms
BT  - comparing three versions of the health norms sorting task
JF  - Journal of experimental psychopathology
N2  - The illness-related evaluation of bodily symptoms is considered to be an important maintaining factor in somatoform disorders. However, little is known about context variables that could influence this evaluation process. In the current study, participants completed three versions of the Health Norms Sorting Task (HNST) and evaluated bodily symptoms in different contexts (i.e., different evaluation perspectives and time frames of evaluation). Additionally, the three HNST versions were presented in different orders. Bodily symptoms were evaluated more often as a sign of illness when a specific time frame (i.e., one week) was given. However, this context effect was only large when participants had previously evaluated symptoms existing without a concrete duration. Thus, previously completed symptom evaluations appear to represent an important frame of reference in terms of a cue that makes specific context variables salient. The results further suggested that these cueing effects might be less relevant for participants with elevated somatic symptom reports.
KW  - context effects
KW  - Health Norms Sorting Task
KW  - somatic symptom disorder
KW  - symptom evaluation
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.5127/jep.054216
SN  - 2043-8087
VL  - 8
SP  - 241
EP  - 251
PB  - Sage Publishing
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Omotosho, Adebayo
A1  - Emuoyibofarhe, Justice
A1  - Meinel, Christoph
T1  - Securing e-prescription from medical identity theft using steganography and antiphishing techniques
JF  - Journal of applied security research
N2  - Drug prescription is among the health care process that usually makes references to the patients’ medical and insurance information among other personal data, because this information is very vital and delicate, it should be adequately protected from identity thieves. This article aims at securing Electronic Prescription (EP) in order to minimize patient’s data theft and foster patients’ trust of EP system.
This paper presents a steganography and antiphishing technique for preventing medical identity theft in EP. The proposed EP system design focused on the security features in the prescriber and dispensers’ modules of EP by ensuring the prescriber sends the prescription of the patient in a safe manner and to the right dispenser without the interference of fake third parties. Hexadecimal steganography image system is used to cover and secure the
sent prescription details. Malicious electronic dispensing system is prevented through an authentication technique where a dispenser uses a captcha together with a one-time password, and the web server encrypted token for prescriber’s device authentication. The steganography system is evaluated using Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR).
The system implementation results showed that steganography
and antiphishing techniques are capable of providing a secure EP systems.
KW  - Electronic prescription
KW  - one-time password
KW  - steganography
KW  - phishing
KW  - medical identity theft
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/19361610.2017.1315788
SN  - 1936-1610
SN  - 1936-1629
VL  - 12
SP  - 447
EP  - 461
PB  - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - Philadelphia
ER  -