TY - JOUR A1 - Vignon-Zellweger, Nicolas A1 - Rahnenführer, Jan A1 - Theuring, Franz A1 - Hocher, Berthold T1 - Analysis of cardiac and renal endothelin receptors by in situ hybridization in mice JF - Clinical laboratory : the peer reviewed journal for clinical laboratories and laboratories related to blood transfusion N2 - Background: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a multifunctional peptide, which is implicated in the renal and cardiac physicology as well as in many pathologies of these systems. ET-1's actions take place after the activation of two receptors: ETA and ETB. The expression of these receptors may be modulated during the pathologic process. The analysis of the distribution and level of expression of the receptors in animal models is therefore crucial. Methods: We developed a protocol for non-radioactive in situ hybridization for the mRNA of the two endothelin receptors on paraffin-embedded tissue using digoxigenin-labeled RNA probes. Results: In heart and kidney, the staining was reliable and specific. In a mouse model for endothelin/nitric oxide imbalance, cardiac ETB expression was reduced. The distribution of the receptors was in accordance with the actual knowledge. Differences in cell specific expression are discussed. Conclusions: We developed a protocol for the in situ hybridization of the endothelin receptors in mice. Given that the endothelin system is implicated in the development of many diseases, we believe that this protocol may be useful for a number of future preclinical studies. KW - Endothelin-1 KW - endothelin receptors KW - in situ hybridization KW - mouse Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.7754/Clin.Lab.2012.120216 SN - 1433-6510 VL - 58 IS - 9-10 SP - 939 EP - 949 PB - Clin Lab Publ., Verl. Klinisches Labor CY - Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ilnytskyi, Jaroslav M. A1 - Saphiannikova, Marina A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Allen, Michael P. T1 - Modelling elasticity and memory effects in liquid crystalline elastomers by molecular dynamics simulations JF - Soft matter N2 - We performed molecular dynamics simulations of a liquid crystal elastomer of side-chain architecture. The network is formed from a melt of 28 molecules each having a backbone of 100 hydrocarbon monomers, to which 50 side chains are attached in a syndiotactic way. Crosslinking is performed in the smectic A phase. We observe an increase of the smectic-isotropic phase transition temperature of about 5 degrees as compared to the uncrosslinked melt. Memory effects in liquid crystalline order and in sample shape are well reproduced when the elastomer is driven through the smectic-isotropic transition. Above this transition, in the isotropic phase, the polydomain smectic phase is induced by a uniaxial load. Below the transition, in a monodomain smectic A phase, both experimentally observed effects of homogeneous director reorientation and stripe formation are reproduced when the sample is stretched along the director. When the load is applied perpendicularly to the director, the sample demonstrates reversible deformation with no change of liquid crystalline order, indicating elasticity of the two-dimensional network of polymer layers. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c2sm26499d SN - 1744-683X VL - 8 IS - 43 SP - 11123 EP - 11134 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gärtner, Mirijam A1 - Nottebrock, Henning A1 - Fourie, Helanya A1 - Privett, Sean D. J. A1 - Richardson, David M. T1 - Plant invasions, restoration, and economics perspectives from South African fynbos JF - Perspectives in plant ecology, evolution and systematics N2 - Restoration is gaining importance in the management of plant invasions. As the success of restoration projects is frequently determined by factors other than ecological ones, we explored the ecological and financial feasibility of active restoration on three different invaded sites in South Africa's Cape Floristic Region. The aim of our study was to identify cost-effective ways of restoring functional native ecosystems following invasion by alien plants. Over three years we evaluated different restoration approaches using field trials and experimental manipulations (i.e. mechanical clearing, burning, different soil restoration techniques and sowing of native species) to reduce elevated soil nutrient levels and to re-establish native fynbos communities. Furthermore we investigated the possibility of introducing native fynbos species that can be used for sustainable harvesting to create an incentive for restoration on private land. Diversity and evenness of native plant species increased significantly after restoration at all three sites, whereas cover of alien plants decreased significantly, confirming that active restoration was successful. However, sowing of native fynbos species had no significant effect on native cover, species richness, diversity or evenness in the Acacia thicket and Kikuyu field, implying that the ecosystem was sufficiently resilient to allow autogenic recovery following clearing and burning of the invasive species. Soil restoration treatments resulted in an increase of available nitrogen in the Acacia thicket, but had no significant effects in the Eucalyptus plantation. However, despite elevated available soil nitrogen levels, native species germinated irrespective whether sown or unsown (i.e. regeneration from the soil seed bank). Without active introduction of native species, native grasses, forbs and other shrubs would have dominated, and proteoids and ericoids (the major fynbos growth forms) would have been under-represented. The financial analysis shows that income from flower harvesting following active restoration consistently outweighs income following passive restoration, but that the associated increase in income does not always justify the higher costs. We conclude that active restoration can be effective and financially feasible when compared to passive restoration, depending on the density of invasion. Active restoration of densely invaded sites may therefore only be justifiable if the target area is in a region of high conservation priority. KW - Biological invasions KW - Cost-benefit analysis KW - Degradation KW - Exotic species KW - Flower harvesting KW - Rehabilitation Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2012.05.001 SN - 1433-8319 VL - 14 IS - 5 SP - 341 EP - 353 PB - Elsevier CY - Jena ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heidler, Maria-Dorothea T1 - Clock test in patients with severe aphasia JF - Nervenheilkunde : Zeitschrift für interdisziplinäre Fortbildung N2 - Objective: How do patients with severe aphasia perform in the clock test? Methods:Ten patients with severe aphasia performed the clock test in two modes: copy a given clock (copy condition) and set a clock by drawing the clock hands, where a given digital display (11:10) should be transformed into an analogue display (time setting condition). Results: Not a single patient with severe aphasia was able to master any mode of the clock test. Both copy and time conditions were severely impaired by executive, conceptual, motoric visuospatial and apraxic disorders - impairments of language system were only one of numerous influencing factors. Conclusions and clinical relevance:The clock test measures and requires for its execution so many different cognitive, motoric and perceptual functions that it cannot adequately differentiate between patients with severe aphasia and other severe brain damage. KW - Clock test KW - aphasia KW - apraxia KW - executive functions Y1 - 2012 SN - 0722-1541 VL - 31 IS - 11 SP - 837 EP - 843 PB - Schattauer CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Breitenbach, Sebastian Franz Martin A1 - Rehfeld, Kira A1 - Goswami, Bedartha A1 - Baldini, James U. L. A1 - Ridley, H. E. A1 - Kennett, D. J. A1 - Prufer, K. M. A1 - Aquino, Valorie V. A1 - Asmerom, Yemane A1 - Polyak, V. J. A1 - Cheng, Hai A1 - Kurths, Jürgen A1 - Marwan, Norbert T1 - Constructing Proxy Records from Age models (COPRA) JF - Climate of the past : an interactive open access journal of the European Geosciences Union N2 - Reliable age models are fundamental for any palaeoclimate reconstruction. Available interpolation procedures between age control points are often inadequately reported, and very few translate age uncertainties to proxy uncertainties. Most available modeling algorithms do not allow incorporation of layer counted intervals to improve the confidence limits of the age model in question. We present a framework that allows detection and interactive handling of age reversals and hiatuses, depth-age modeling, and proxy-record reconstruction. Monte Carlo simulation and a translation procedure are used to assign a precise time scale to climate proxies and to translate dating uncertainties to uncertainties in the proxy values. The presented framework allows integration of incremental relative dating information to improve the final age model. The free software package COPRA1.0 facilitates easy interactive usage. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1765-2012 SN - 1814-9324 VL - 8 IS - 5 SP - 1765 EP - 1779 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wildish, J. A1 - Pavesi, Laura A1 - Ketmaier, Valerio T1 - Talitrid amphipods (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae) and the driftwood ecological niche a morphological and molecular study JF - Journal of natural history : an international journal of systematics, interactive biology and biodiversity. - London : Taylor & Francis   1.1967 - N2 - Coastal regions of the North East Atlantic and Mediterranean Seas have four known species of driftwood talitrids. Records are extremely scanty, often limited to the type locality and dating to 1950. We were able to study three of them, all belonging to the genus Macarorchestia, using fresh and archived samples including type material. Allometric and molecular analyses support: (1) a close relationship among all the three classically defined Macarorchestia species, (2) Macarorchestia was well separated from non-driftwood taxa, and (3) a putative new driftwood talitrid discovered during this study was not closely related to Macarorchestia. Genetic divergence between the new species and Macarorchestia remyi is as high as the average distance among a number of talitrid species included in the study for comparison. A key is provided to identify all three of the presently known species of Macarorchestia, using morphological characters employed in the allometric study. KW - Macarorchestia remyi KW - Macarorchestia roffensis KW - Macarorchestia martini KW - Driftwood habitat KW - COI-DNA barcoding KW - allometry Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2012.717971 SN - 0022-2933 VL - 46 IS - 43-44 SP - 2677 EP - 2700 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Stoll, Josefine A1 - Müller, Juliane A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Validity of isokinetic trunk measurements with respect to healthy adults, athletes and low back pain patients JF - Isokinetics and exercise science : official journal of the European Isokinetic Society N2 - Background: Isokinetic measurements are widely used to assess strength capacity in a clinical or research context. Nevertheless, the validity of isokinetic measures for identifying strength deficits and the evaluation of therapeutic process regarding different pathologies is yet to be established. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to evaluate the validity of isokinetic measures in a specific case: that of muscular capacity in low back pain (LBP). Methods: A literature search (PubMed; ISI Web of Knowledge; The Cochrane Library) covering the last 10 years was performed. Relevant papers regarding isokinetic trunk strength measures in healthy and patients with low back pain (PLBP) were searched. Peak torque values [Nm] and peak torque normalized to body weight [Nm/kg BW] were extracted for healthy and PLBP. Ranked mean values across studies were calculated for the concentric peak torque at 60 degrees/s as well as the flexion/extension (F/E) ratio. Results: 34 publications (31 flexion/extension; 3 rotation) were suitable for reporting detailed isokinetic strength measures in healthy or LBP (untrained adults, adolescents, athletes). Adolescents and athletes were different compared to normal adults in terms of absolute trunk strength values and the F/E ratio. Furthermore, isokinetic measures evaluating therapeutic process and isokinetic rehabilitation training were infrequent in literature (8 studies). Conclusion: Isokinetic measurements are valid for measuring trunk flexion/extension strength and F/E ratio in athletes, adolescents and (untrained) adults with/without LBP. The validity of trunk rotation is questionable due to a very small number of publications whereas no reliable source regarding lateral flexion could be traced. Therefore, isokinetic dynamometry may be utilized for identifying trunk strength deficits in healthy adults and PLBP. KW - Isokinetic KW - validity KW - low back pain KW - peak torque KW - trunk Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3233/IES-2012-00482 SN - 0959-3020 VL - 20 IS - 4 SP - 255 EP - 266 PB - IOS Press CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Uhlig, Katja A1 - Madaboosi, Narayanan A1 - Schmidt, Stephan A1 - Jäger, Magnus S. A1 - Rose, Jürgen A1 - Duschl, Claus A1 - Volodkin, Dmitry V. T1 - 3d localization and diffusion of proteins in polyelectrolyte multilayers JF - Soft matter N2 - The interaction of diverse biomaterials with surfaces is more crucial than ever for biomedical applications to ensure efficiency and reproducibility. Very interesting surface materials are micrometer-thick polyelectrolyte multilayers. Not only their surface but also the bulk can be loaded with biomaterials like proteins or DNA for various purposes. Therefore, we established a method to analyze the lateral and vertical distribution of fluorescently labelled proteins of various size and charge in polyelectrolyte films composed of poly(L-lysine) and hyaluronic acid by confocal laser scanning microscopy. This approach enables us to measure the diffusion coefficients of the proteins via fluorescence recovery after photobleaching as a function of their vertical position in the film and facilitates the understanding of molecular interactions in the film with a high resolution in both space and time. As a result, we confirm that protein loading in the film is driven by electrostatic interactions - uncharged dextran molecules of 10 and 500 kDa do not diffuse into the film. Proteins of different sizes (3-11 nm) can diffuse relatively fast (D = 2-4 mm(2) s(-1)) independent of their net charge, indicating complex interpolymer interactions. This approach is a new powerful experimental tool to design the polyelectrolyte multilayers for bio-applications by finding a relationship between intermolecular interactions and mobility and availability of biomolecules to biological samples (e.g. cells) or detection units (e.g. biosensors). Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c2sm26500a SN - 1744-683X VL - 8 IS - 47 SP - 11786 EP - 11789 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schneider, Tobias A1 - Kohl, Benjamin A1 - Sauter, Tilman A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Lendlein, Andreas A1 - Ertel, Wolfgang A1 - Schulze-Tanzil, Gundula T1 - Influence of fiber orientation in electrospun polymer scaffolds on viability, adhesion and differentiation of articular chondrocytes JF - Clinical hemorheology and microcirculation : blood flow and vessels N2 - Degradable polymers with a tailorable degradation rate might be promising candidate materials for biomaterial-based cartilage repair. In view of the poor intrinsic healing capability of cartilage, implantation of autologous chondrocytes seeded on a biocompatible slow degrading polymer might be an encouraging approach to improve cartilage repair in the future. This study was undertaken to test if the fiber orientation (random versus aligned) of two different degradable polymers and a polymer intended for long term applications could influence primary articular chondrocytes growth and ultrastructure. A degradable copoly(ether) esterurethane (PDC) was synthesized via co-condensation of poly(p-dioxanone) diol and poly(epsilon-caprolactone) diol using an aliphatic diisocyanate as linker. Poly(p-dioxanone) (PPDO) was applied as commercially available degradable polymer, while polyetherimide (PEI) was chosen as biomaterial enabling surface functionalization. The fibrous scaffolds of PDC and PPDO were obtained by electrospinning using 1,1,1,3,3,3 hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFP), while for PEI dimethyl acetamide (DMAc) was applied as solvent. Primary porcine articular chondrocytes were seeded at different cell densities on the fibrous polymer scaffolds and analyzed for viability (fluorescein diacetate/ethidiumbromide staining), for type II collagen synthesis (immunolabelling), ultrastructure and orientation on the fibers (SEM: scanning electron microscopy). Vital chondrocytes adhered on all electrospun scaffolds irrespective of random and aligned topologies. In addition, the chondrocytes produced the cartilage-specific type II collagen on all tested polymer topologies suggesting their differentiated functions. SEM revealed an almost flattened chondrocytes shape on scaffolds with random fiber orientation: whereby chondrocytes growth remained mainly restricted to the scaffold surface. On aligned fibers the chondrocytes exhibited a more spindle-shaped morphology with rougher cell surfaces but only a minority of the cells aligned according to the fibers. As a next step the reduction of the fiber diameter of electrospun scaffolds should be addressed as an important parameter to mimic cartilage ECM structure. KW - Chondrocytes KW - electrospinning KW - scaffold KW - differentiation KW - multiblock copolymer Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3233/CH-2012-1608 SN - 1386-0291 VL - 52 IS - 2-4 SP - 325 EP - 336 PB - IOS Press CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sommer, Ulrich A1 - Adrian, Rita A1 - Domis, Lisette Nicole de Senerpont A1 - Elser, James J. A1 - Gaedke, Ursula A1 - Ibelings, Bas A1 - Jeppesen, Erik A1 - Lurling, Miquel A1 - Molinero, Juan Carlos A1 - Mooij, Wolf M. A1 - van Donk, Ellen A1 - Winder, Monika ED - Futuyma, DJ T1 - Beyond the Plankton Ecology Group (PEG) Model mechanisms driving plankton succession JF - Annual review of ecology, evolution, and systematics JF - Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics N2 - The seasonal succession of plankton is an annually repeated process of community assembly during which all major external factors and internal interactions shaping communities can be studied. A quarter of a century ago, the state of this understanding was described by the verbal plankton ecology group (PEG) model. It emphasized the role of physical factors, grazing and nutrient limitation for phytoplankton, and the role of food limitation and fish predation for zooplankton. Although originally targeted at lake ecosystems, it was also adopted by marine plankton ecologists. Since then, a suite of ecological interactions previously underestimated in importance have become research foci: overwintering of key organisms, the microbial food web, parasitism, and food quality as a limiting factor and an extended role of higher order predators. A review of the impact of these novel interactions on plankton seasonal succession reveals limited effects on gross seasonal biomass patterns, but strong effects on species replacements. KW - lakes KW - oceans KW - seasonal patterns KW - pelagic zone KW - light KW - overwintering KW - grazing KW - parasitism KW - food quality Y1 - 2012 SN - 978-0-8243-1443-9 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110411-160251 SN - 1543-592X VL - 43 IS - 2-4 SP - 429 EP - 448 PB - Annual Reviews CY - Palo Alto ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Küppers, Patrick T1 - Ingo Stöckmann: Der Wille zum Willen. Der Naturalismus und die Gründung der literarischen Moderne 1880-1900, Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2009, 561 S. JF - Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte T2 - The will to will naturalism and the founding of modern literature 1880-1900 Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1163/15700739-90000016 SN - 0044-3441 SN - 1570-0739 VL - 64 IS - 3 SP - 303 EP - 304 PB - Brill CY - Leiden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Salazar, S. A1 - Frances, F. A1 - Komma, J. A1 - Blume, Theresa A1 - Francke, Till A1 - Bronstert, Axel A1 - Blöschl, Günter T1 - A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of flood management measures based on the concept of "retaining water in the landscape" in different European hydro-climatic regions JF - Natural hazards and earth system sciences N2 - In this paper, we analyse the effectiveness of flood management measures based on the concept known as "retaining water in the landscape". The investigated measures include afforestation, micro-ponds and small-reservoirs. A comparative and model-based methodological approach has been developed and applied for three meso-scale catchments located in different European hydro-climatological regions: Poyo (184 km(2)) in the Spanish Mediterranean, Upper Iller (954 km(2)) in the German Alps and Kamp (621 km(2)) in Northeast-Austria representing the Continental hydro-climate. This comparative analysis has found general similarities in spite of the particular differences among studied areas. In general terms, the flood reduction through the concept of "retaining water in the landscape" depends on the following factors: the storage capacity increase in the catchment resulting from such measures, the characteristics of the rainfall event, the antecedent soil moisture condition and the spatial distribution of such flood management measures in the catchment. In general, our study has shown that, this concept is effective for small and medium events, but almost negligible for the largest and less frequent floods: this holds true for all different hydro-climatic regions, and with different land-use, soils and morphological settings. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-12-3287-2012 SN - 1561-8633 VL - 12 IS - 11 SP - 3287 EP - 3306 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lago, M. A1 - de la Horra, R. A1 - Ubide, T. A1 - Gale, C. A1 - Galan-Abellan, B. A1 - Barrenechea, J. F. A1 - Lopez-Gomez, J. A1 - Benito, M. I. A1 - Arche, A. A1 - Alonso-Azcarate, J. A1 - Luque, F. J. A1 - Timmerman, Martin Jan T1 - First report of a Middle-Upper Permian magmatism in the SE Iberian Ranges characterisation and comparison with coeval magmatisms in the western Tethys JF - Journal of Iberian geology N2 - A multiple basic to intermediate sill is reported for the first time in the south-eastern Iberian Ranges. It is composed of several tabular to irregular levels intercalated within the fluvial sediments of the Alcotas Formation (Middle-Upper Permian). The sill could represent the youngest Paleozoic subvolcanic intrusion in the Iberian Ranges. The igneous rocks are classified as basaltic andesites. They show a subophitic microstructure constituted by plagioclase (An62 - An6), augite (En48Wo44Fs7 - En46Wo39Fs15), pseudomorphosed olivine, minor amounts of oxides (magnetite and ilmenite) and accessory F-apatite. According to the mineralogy and whole-rock composition, their geochemical affinity is transitional from subalkaline to alkaline. Radiometric dating of the sill is not feasible due to its significant alteration. Field criteria, however, suggest an emplacement coeval to the deposition of the Alcotas Formation (Middle-Upper Permian). This hypothesis is supported by the transitional affinity of these rocks, similar to other Middle-Upper Permian magmatisms in the western Tethys, e.g., from the Pyrenees. Taking into account their isotopic signature (epsilon(Sr) : -6.8 to -9.2; epsilon(Nd) : + 1.7 to + 8.3), an enriched mantle source with the involvement of a HIMU component has been identified. This interpretation is supported by the trace element contents. Some of these HIMU characteristics have been recognised in the Middle-Upper Permian magmatisms of the Central Pyrenees (Anayet Basin) and the High Atlas (Argana Basin). However, none of these source features are shared with other Middle-Upper Permian magmatisms of the western Tethys (Catalonian Coastal Ranges, Corsica-Sardinia and southern France), nor with the Lower Permian magmatism of the Iberian Ranges. These differences support the presence of a heterogeneous mantle in the western Tethys during the Permian. KW - sill KW - peperite KW - subalkaline to alkaline magmatism KW - Middle-Upper Permian KW - Iberian Basin Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_JIGE.2012.v38.n2.40462 SN - 1698-6180 VL - 38 IS - 2 SP - 331 EP - 348 PB - Instituto de Geología Económica, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad Complutense Madrid CY - Madrid ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kraus, Uta A1 - Engbert, Kai A1 - Dollinger, Anika A1 - Heiss, Christian A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Evaluation of a mitial interview guide for sport psychology counseling JF - Zeitschrift für Sportpsychologie N2 - The initial interview is important for psychological counseling regarding the acquisition of diagnostic information and in terms of establishing a professional counseling relationship. In applied sports psychology there so far exist no clear guidelines to structure this process. To improve the quality of sports psychological consultations, the present study introduces and evaluates a semi-structured guideline for an initial interview in which the content and form of the consultation are determined, the concerns of the client are systematically explored, and the objectives of the collaboration and the further process are defined. Eleven sport psychology trainees participated in our study and conducted initial interviews with actors. One interview was conducted by using the initial interview guide and the other interview was created individually by each sport psychology trainee based on his own expertise. The results showed that the quality of the interview process (i.e., formal requirements, use of open questions) as well as the satisfaction of the consultant with the interview was significantly higher when following the guideline. No differences were found regarding the quality of the consultation findings and the satisfaction of the athletes with the interview. The results are discussed with respect to their theoretical and practical implications. KW - Initial Interview KW - Assessment KW - Sport Psychology Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1026/1612-5010/a000080 SN - 1612-5010 VL - 19 IS - 4 SP - 145 EP - 162 PB - Hogrefe CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kosta, Peter A1 - Krivochen, Diego Gabriel T1 - Some thoughts on language diversity, UG and the importance of language typology scrambling and non-monotonic merge of adjuncts and specifiers in Czech and German JF - Zeitschrift für Slawistik N2 - The following article is concerned with the problem of language diversity within the framework of Radical Minimalism (Krivochen 2011, 2012). How can the diversity and variation of languages be explained? For Noam Chomsky, language faculty in the narrow sense (FLN) is nothing but an "organ of the body,' along with other cognitive systems. Our analysis of human language builds on Chomsky's (1995, 2005, 2010) minimalist assumption that the design of language is grounded in conceptual necessity. Adopting this idea, we expect to find three factors that interact to determine (I-) languages attained: genetic endowment (the topic of Universal Grammar), experience, and principles that are language- or even organism-independent." (Chomsky 2005:1). In the present article we provide some ideas about how generative research based on Radical Minimalism can contribute on a par with the typology of languages to a more profound and sound exploration of language variation. The scope of the paper is to compare the distribution of adverbs within the three domains of the clause in Czech and German. The aim of this paper is to show that the feature-based theory of adverb licensing is not able to handle the problem of adverb order variation. Instead, a more parsimonious approach based on the Theory of Radical Minimalism will be chosen. The paper is organized as follows: After some remarks on the role of Universal Grammar, Variation and Typology in section 1, section 2 introduces the theoretical background by introducing the principles and the core of Radical Minimalism, e.g. free unbounded merge, asymmetric c-command and the restrictions within the clause structure composition. In section 3, the distribution of adverbs in the middle field is discussed for Czech and German. In the last part, we introduce the so-called Late Adjunction Hypothesis that results in similar effects to the Early Spell-Out model argued for in our paper. KW - Universal Grammar KW - Variation KW - Scrambling of Adverbial Phrases KW - Strong Minimalist Thesis KW - Radical Minimalism KW - Multiple Spell-Out Y1 - 2012 SN - 0044-3506 VL - 57 IS - 4 SP - 377 EP - 407 PB - De Gruyter CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Menz, Stephan A1 - Latorre, Juan C. A1 - Schütte, Christof A1 - Huisinga, Wilhelm T1 - Hybrid stochastic-deterministic solution of the chemical master equation JF - Multiscale modeling & simulation : a SIAM interdisciplinary journal N2 - The chemical master equation (CME) is the fundamental evolution equation of the stochastic description of biochemical reaction kinetics. In most applications it is impossible to solve the CME directly due to its high dimensionality. Instead, indirect approaches based on realizations of the underlying Markov jump process are used, such as the stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA). In the SSA, however, every reaction event has to be resolved explicitly such that it becomes numerically inefficient when the system's dynamics include fast reaction processes or species with high population levels. In many hybrid approaches, such fast reactions are approximated as continuous processes or replaced by quasi-stationary distributions in either a stochastic or a deterministic context. Current hybrid approaches, however, almost exclusively rely on the computation of ensembles of stochastic realizations. We present a novel hybrid stochastic-deterministic approach to solve the CME directly. Our starting point is a partitioning of the molecular species into discrete and continuous species that induces a partitioning of the reactions into discrete-stochastic and continuous-deterministic processes. The approach is based on a WKB (Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin) ansatz for the conditional probability distribution function (PDF) of the continuous species (given a discrete state) in combination with Laplace's method of integral approximation. The resulting hybrid stochastic-deterministic evolution equations comprise a CME with averaged propensities for the PDF of the discrete species that is coupled to an evolution equation of the related expected levels of the continuous species for each discrete state. In contrast to indirect hybrid methods, the impact of the evolution of discrete species on the dynamics of the continuous species has to be taken into account explicitly. The proposed approach is efficient whenever the number of discrete molecular species is small. We illustrate the performance of the new hybrid stochastic-deterministic approach in an application to model systems of biological interest. KW - chemical master equation KW - hybrid model KW - multiscale analysis KW - partial averaging KW - asymptotic approximation KW - WKB ansatz Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1137/110825716 SN - 1540-3459 VL - 10 IS - 4 SP - 1232 EP - 1262 PB - Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Melnick, Daniel A1 - Moreno, Marcos A1 - Cisternas, Marco A1 - Tassara, Andres T1 - Darwin seismic gap closed by the 2010 Maule earthquake JF - Andean geology N2 - The Maule earthquake (Mw 8.8) that affected south-central Chile on February 27, 2010 was preceded by the 1835 event documented by FitzRoy and Darwin. The relation between both events has been controversial. Fault slip in 2010 estimated by Lorito et al. (2011) is less than expected from 175 years of strain accumulation, leading them to conclude only limited overlap between the 2010 and 1835 events, and that a Mw 7.5-8 event could still strike the Concepcion region. However, Lorito et al.'s model was based on displacements obtained from only 6 GPS stations and underpredicts observations from recent studies. Here we show that an alternative model based on 169 GPS displacements reproduces the data better, suggesting Lorito et al.'s main conclusion is not correct. Based on a slip deficit map, we suggest the seismic gap opened in 1835 was most likely closed in 2010. KW - Maule earthquake KW - Coseismic slip distribution KW - Slip deficit KW - Seismic gap Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5027/andgeoV39n3-a11 SN - 0718-7092 VL - 39 IS - 3 SP - 558 EP - 563 PB - Servicio Nacional de Geologìa y Minerìa CY - Santiago ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stecker, Christian T1 - The role of governments in legislative agenda setting JF - Politische Vierteljahresschrift : Zeitschrift der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft Y1 - 2012 SN - 0032-3470 VL - 53 IS - 4 SP - 703 EP - 705 PB - Nomos CY - Hannover ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ganghof, Steffen T1 - The order of public reason a theory of freedom and morality in a diverse and bounded world JF - Politische Vierteljahresschrift : Zeitschrift der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft Y1 - 2012 SN - 0032-3470 VL - 53 IS - 4 SP - 692 EP - 695 PB - Nomos CY - Hannover ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Küppers, Patrick T1 - Ingo Stöckmann: Naturalismus. Lehrbuch Germanistik, Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler 2011, 198+IX S. JF - Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte T2 - Naturalism textbook German studies Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1163/15700739-90000030 SN - 0044-3441 SN - 1570-0739 VL - 64 IS - 4 SP - 412 EP - 413 PB - Brill CY - Leiden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schneider, Ulrike T1 - Positionings in early post-war literature Jean Amery and Alfred Andersch JF - Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte Y1 - 2012 SN - 0044-3441 VL - 64 IS - 4 SP - 313 EP - 337 PB - Brill CY - Leiden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Knobloch, Jörn T1 - Between self-reference and other-reference typology and transformation of authoritarianism within the world society JF - Politische Vierteljahresschrift : Zeitschrift der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft N2 - Jorn Knobloch, Between Self-reference and Other-reference: Typology and Transformation of Authoritarianism within the World Society, pp. 35-59. The article offers a conceptual framework for the analysis of the interdependence of the world society and the new authoritarianism. At first the article criticizes existing conceptual approaches and develops a new approach, which will use the assumptions of the systems theory. In the next part we discuss different theoretical impacts of the world society and the possible reactions of the authoritarianism. The third part evaluates the theoretical reactions. Therefore we use the empirical case of Russia. The empirical investigation of the approach permits the development of a conceptual framework for the further empirical research of the new authoritarianism. Y1 - 2012 SN - 0032-3470 IS - 4 SP - 35 EP - + PB - Nomos CY - Hannover ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Alter, Markus L. A1 - Ott, Ina M. A1 - von Websky, Karoline A1 - Tsuprykov, Oleg A1 - Sharkovska, Yuliya A1 - Krause-Relle, Katharina A1 - Raila, Jens A1 - Henze, Andrea A1 - Klein, Thomas A1 - Hocher, Berthold T1 - DPP-4 Inhibition on top of angiotensin receptor blockade offers a new therapeutic approach for diabetic nephropathy JF - Kidney & blood pressure research : official organ of the Gesellschaft für Nephrologie N2 - Background: The need for an improved treatment for diabetic nephropathy is greatest in patients who do not adequately respond to angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs). This study investigated the effect of the novel dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor linagliptin alone and in combination with the ARB telmisartan on the progression of diabetic nephropathy in diabetic endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) knockout mice. Methods: Sixty male eNOS knockout C57BL/6J mice were divided into four groups after receiving intraperitoneal high-dose streptozotocin: telmisartan (1 mg/kg), linagliptin (3 mg/kg), linagliptin + telmisartan (3 mg/kg + 1 mg/kg) and vehicle. Fourteen mice were used as non-diabetic controls. Results: After 12 weeks, urine and blood were obtained and blood pressure measured. Glucose concentrations were increased and similar in all diabetic groups. Telmisartan alone reduced systolic blood pressure by 5.9 mmHg versus diabetic controls (111.2 +/- 2.3 mmHg vs 117.1 +/- 2.2 mmHg; mean +/- SEM; P = 0.071). Combined treatment significantly reduced albuminuria compared with diabetic controls (71.7 +/- 15.3 mu g/24 h vs 170.8 +/- 34.2 mu g/24 h; P = 0.017), whereas the effects of single treatment with either telmisartan (97.8 +/- 26.4 mu g/24 h) or linagliptin (120.8 +/- 37.7 mu g/24 h) were not statistically significant. DPP-4 inhibition, alone and in combination, led to significantly lower plasma osteopontin levels compared with telmisartan alone. Histological analysis revealed reduced glomerulosclerosis after Linagliptin alone and in combination with telmisartan in comparison to non treated diabetic animals (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05). Kidney malonaldehyde immune-reactivity, a marker of oxidative stress, was significantly lower in animals treated with linagliptin. Conclusions: DPP-4 inhibition on top of ARB treatment significantly reduced urinary albumin excretion and oxidative stress in diabetic eNOS knockout mice. Linagliptin on top of an angiotensin II receptor blocker may offer a new therapeutic approach for patients with diabetic nephropathy. KW - Diabetic nephropathy KW - DPP-4 inhibitor KW - Linagliptin KW - Renin-angiotensin system Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1159/000341487 SN - 1420-4096 VL - 36 IS - 1 SP - 119 EP - 130 PB - Karger CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hocher, Berthold A1 - Reichetzeder, Christoph A1 - Alter, Markus L. T1 - Renal and cardiac effects of DPP-4 inhibitors - from preclinical development to clinical research JF - Kidney & blood pressure research : official organ of the Gesellschaft für Nephrologie N2 - Inhibitors of type 4 dipeptidyl peptidase (DDP-4) were developed and approved for the oral treatment of type 2 diabetes. Its mode of action is to inhibit the degradation of incretins, such as type 1 glucagon like peptide (GLP-1), and GIP. GLP-1 stimulates glucose-dependent insulin secretion from pancreatic beta-cells and suppresses glucagon release from alpha-cells, thereby improving glucose control. Besides its action on the pancreas type 1 glucagon like peptide has direct effects on the heart, vessels and kidney mainly via the type 1 glucagon like peptide receptor (GLP-1R). Moreover, there are substrates of DPP-4 beyond incretins that have proven renal and cardiovascular effects such as BNP/ANP, NPY, PYY or SDF-1 alpha. Preclinical evidence suggests that DPP-4 inhibitors may be effective in acute and chronic renal failure as well as in cardiac diseases like myocardial infarction and heart failure. Interestingly, large cardiovascular meta-analyses of combined Phase II/III clinical trials with DPP-4 inhibitors point all in the same direction: a potential reduction of cardiovascular events in patients treated with these agents. A pooled analysis of pivotal Phase III, placebo-controlled, registration studies of linagliptin further showed a significant reduction of urinary albumin excretion after 24 weeks of treatment. The observation suggests direct renoprotective effects of DPP-4 inhibition that may go beyond its glucose-lowering potential. Type 4 dipeptidyl peptidase inhibitors have been shown to be very well tolerated in general, but for those excreted via the kidney dose adjustments according to renal function are needed to avoid side effects. In conclusion, the direct cardiac and renal effects seen in preclinical studies as well as meta-analysis of clinical trials may offer additional potentials - beyond improvement of glycemic control - for this newer class of drugs, such as acute kidney failure, chronic kidney failure as well as acute myocardial infarction and heart failure. KW - DDP-4 inhibition KW - Diabetes KW - GLP-1 KW - Cardiovascular effects KW - Myocardial infarction KW - Kidney KW - Diabetic nephropathy KW - Acute renal failure Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1159/000339028 SN - 1420-4096 VL - 36 IS - 1 SP - 65 EP - 84 PB - Karger CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Welker, Martin A1 - Dittmann-Thünemann, Elke A1 - von Doehren, Hans ED - Hopwood, DA T1 - Cyanobacteria as a source of natural products JF - Methods in enzymology JF - Methods in Enzymology N2 - Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae from various environments have been recognized as sources of a variety of bioactive metabolites. Strategies of strain isolation from aquatic habitats, and cultivation and harvesting for metabolite production are described. Strategies for screening of compounds are discussed, including their direct MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric detection in whole cells. Genetic approaches including genomic mining, mutagenesis including transcriptional activation, heterologous expression, and in vitro. reconstitution of pathways are presented. Y1 - 2012 SN - 978-0-12-404634-4 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-404634-4.00002-4 SN - 0076-6879 VL - 517 IS - 1 SP - 23 EP - 46 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mulder, Christian A1 - Boit, Alice A1 - Mori, Shigeta A1 - Vonk, J. Arie A1 - Dyer, Scott D. A1 - Faggiano, Leslie A1 - Geisen, Stefan A1 - Gonzalez, Angelica L. A1 - Kaspari, Michael A1 - Lavorel, Sandra A1 - Marquet, Pablo A. A1 - Rossberg, Axel G. A1 - Sterner, Robert W. A1 - Voigt, Winfried A1 - Wall, Diana H. ED - Jacob, U ED - Woodward, G T1 - Distributional (In)Congruence of Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning JF - Advances in ecological research JF - Advances in Ecological Research N2 - The majority of research on biodiversity ecosystem functioning in laboratories has concentrated on a few traits, but there is increasing evidence from the field that functional diversity controls ecosystem functioning more often than does species number. Given the importance of traits as predictors of niche complementarity and community structures, we (1) examine how the diversity sensu lato of forest trees, freshwater fishes and soil invertebrates might support ecosystem functioning and (2) discuss the relevance of productive biota for monophyletic assemblages (taxocenes). In terrestrial ecosystems, correlating traits to abiotic factors is complicated by the appropriate choice of body-size distributions. Angiosperm and gymnosperm trees, for example, show metabolic incongruences in their respiration rates despite their pronounced macroecological scaling. Scaling heterotrophic organisms within their monophyletic assemblages seems more difficult than scaling autotrophs: in contrast to the generally observed decline of mass-specific metabolic rates with body mass within metazoans, soil organisms such as protozoans show opposite mass-specific trends. At the community level, the resource demand of metazoans shapes multitrophic interactions. Hence, population densities and their food web relationships reflect functional diversity, but the influence of biodiversity on stability and ecosystem functioning remains less clear. We focused on fishes in 18 riverine food webs, where the ratio of primary versus secondary extinctions (hereafter, 'extinction partitioning') summarizes the responses of fish communities to primary species loss (deletions) and its consequences. Based on extinction partitioning, our high-diversity food webs were just as (or even more) vulnerable to extinctions as low-diversity food webs. Our analysis allows us to assess consequences of the relocation or removal of fish species and to help with decision-making in sustainable river management. The study highlights that the topology of food webs (and not simply taxonomic diversity) plays a greater role in stabilizing the food web and enhancing ecological services than is currently acknowledged. Y1 - 2012 SN - 978-0-12-396992-7 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-396992-7.00001-0 SN - 0065-2504 VL - 46 SP - 1 EP - 88 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cheng, Yuan A1 - Lenkoshi, Alex T1 - Hierarchical gaussian graphical models beyond reversible jump JF - Electronic journal of statistics N2 - The Gaussian Graphical Model (GGM) is a popular tool for incorporating sparsity into joint multivariate distributions. The G-Wishart distribution, a conjugate prior for precision matrices satisfying general GGM constraints, has now been in existence for over a decade. However, due to the lack of a direct sampler, its use has been limited in hierarchical Bayesian contexts, relegating mixing over the class of GGMs mostly to situations involving standard Gaussian likelihoods. Recent work has developed methods that couple model and parameter moves, first through reversible jump methods and later by direct evaluation of conditional Bayes factors and subsequent resampling. Further, methods for avoiding prior normalizing constant calculations-a serious bottleneck and source of numerical instability-have been proposed. We review and clarify these developments and then propose a new methodology for GGM comparison that blends many recent themes. Theoretical developments and computational timing experiments reveal an algorithm that has limited computational demands and dramatically improves on computing times of existing methods. We conclude by developing a parsimonious multivariate stochastic volatility model that embeds GGM uncertainty in a larger hierarchical framework. The method is shown to be capable of adapting to swings in market volatility, offering improved calibration of predictive distributions. KW - Gaussian graphical models KW - G-Wishart distribution KW - conditional Bayes factors KW - exchange algorithms Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1214/12-EJS746 SN - 1935-7524 VL - 6 SP - 2309 EP - 2331 PB - Institute of Mathematical Statistics CY - Cleveland ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolf, Hans-Georg A1 - Polzenhagen, Frank T1 - Cognitive sociolinguistics in L2-variety dictionaries of english JF - Review of cognitive linguistics N2 - The recent decades have witnessed the incorporation of new linguistic trends into lexicography. One of these trends is a usage-based approach, with the first major application of computer-corpus data in the Collins COBUILD English dictionary (1995) and successive adaptation in other L1-dictionaries. Another, concurrent innovation-inspired by Conceptual Metaphor Theory-is the provision of conceptual information in monolingual dictionaries of English. So far, however, only the Macmillan English dictionary for advanced learners (1st and 2nd edition) has paid tribute to the fact that understanding culturespecific metaphors and being aware of metaphoric usage are crucial for learning a foreign language. Given that most of the English as lingua franca interactions take place between L2-speakers of English (see Kachru, 1994), providing conceptual information is not only a desideratum for L1- and learner dictionaries, but especially for (L2-) variety dictionaries of English. In our paper, we follow earlier tentative proposals by Polzenhagen (2007) and Wolf (2012) and present examples from A dictionary of Hong Kong English (Cummings & Wolf, 2011), showing how culturally salient conceptual information can be made explicit and conceptual links between lexical items retrievable. The examples demonstrate that fixed expressions and idioms -a perennial problem for lexicographers are explicable by means of the proposed lexicographic design, too. Our approach is cognitive-sociolinguistic in that the Conceptual Metaphor approach is coupled with the study of regional varieties of English, more specifically Hong Kong English. Our analysis is empirically backed up by corpus-linguistic insights into this L2 variety. KW - lexicography KW - cultural conceptualisations KW - variety dictionaries of English KW - Hong Kong English Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.10.2.06wol SN - 1877-9751 VL - 10 IS - 2 SP - 373 EP - 400 PB - Benjamins CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Szelat, Sebastian A1 - Wehr, Katharina T1 - "Military history editions today new challenges, old problems?" Workshop of the military history research institute, 1-2 June 2012 in Potsdam JF - Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift Y1 - 2012 SN - 2193-2336 VL - 71 IS - 2 SP - 398 EP - 402 PB - De Gruyter Oldenbourg CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ghobadi, Ehsan A1 - Heuchel, Matthias A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Simulation of volumetric swelling of degradable poly[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide] based polyesterurethanes containing different urethane-linkers JF - Journal of applied biomaterials & functional materials N2 - Aim: The hydrolytic degradation behavior of degradable aliphatic polyester-based polymers is strongly influenced by the uptake or transport of water into the polymer matrix and also the hydrolysis rate of ester bonds. Methods: We examined the volumetric swelling behavior of poly[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide] (PLGA) and PLGA-based polyurethanes (PLGA-PU) with water contents of 0 wt%, 2 wt% and 7 wt% water at 310 K using a molecular modeling approach. Polymer systems with a number average molecular weight of M-n = 10,126 g.mol(-1) were constructed from PLGA with a lactide content of 67 mol%, whereby PLGA-PU systems were composed of five PLGA segments with M-n = 2052 g.mol(-1), which were connected via urethane linkers originated from 2,2,4-trimethyl hexamethylene-1,6-diisocyanate (TMDI), hexamethyl-1,6-diisocyanate (HDI), or L-lysine-1,6-diisocyanate (LDI). Results: The calculated densities of the dry PLGA-PU systems were found to be lower than for pure PLGA. The obtained volumetric swelling of the PLGA-PU was depending on the type of urethane linker, whereby all swollen PLGA-PUs contained larger free volume distribution compared to pure PLGA. The mean square displacement curves for dry PLGA and PLGA-PUs showed that urethane linker units reduce the mobility of the polymer chains, while an increase in backbone atoms mobility was found, when water was added to these systems. Consequently, an increased water uptake of PLGA-PU matrices combined with a higher mobility of the chain segments should result in an accelerated hydrolytic chain scission rate in comparison to PLGA. Conclusions: It can be anticipated that the incorporation of urethane linkers might be a helpful tool to adjust the degradation behavior of polyesters. KW - Hydrolytic degradation KW - Molecular dynamics simulation KW - Polyesterurethane Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5301/JABFM.2012.10432 SN - 2280-8000 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 293 EP - 301 PB - Wichtig CY - Milano ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Friess, Fabian A1 - Wischke, Christian A1 - Behl, Marc A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Oligo(epsilon-caprolactone)-based polymer networks prepared by photocrosslinking in solution JF - Journal of applied biomaterials & functional materials N2 - Purpose: Polymer networks with adjustable properties prepared from endgroup-functionalized oligoesters by UV-crosslinking in melt have evolved into versatile multifunctional biomaterials. In addition to the molecular weight or architecture of precursors, the reaction conditions for crosslinking are pivotal for the polymer network properties. Crosslinking of precursors in solution may facilitate low-temperature processes and are compared here to networks synthesized in melt. Methods: Oligo(epsilon-caprolactone)-(z) methacrylate (oCL-(z) IEMA) precursors with a linear (z = di) or a four-armed star-shaped (z = tetra) architecture were crosslinked by radical polymerization in melt or in solution with UV irradiation. The thermal, mechanical, and swelling properties of the polymer networks obtained were characterized. Results: Crosslinking in solution resulted in materials with lower Young's moduli (E), lower maximum stress (sigma(max)), and higher elongation at break (epsilon(B)) as determined at 70 degrees C. Polymer networks from 8 kDa star-shaped precursors exhibited poor elasticity when synthesized in the melt, but can be established as stretchable materials with a semi-crystalline morphology, a high gel-content, and a high elongation at break when prepared in solution. Conclusions: The crosslinking condition of methacrylate functionalized precursors significantly affected network properties. For some types of precursors such as star-shaped telechelics, synthesis in solution provided semi-crystalline elastic materials that were not accessible from crosslinking in melt. KW - Crosslinking KW - Methacrylate KW - Multifunctional polyester networks KW - Poly(epsilon-caprolactone) KW - Polymer network properties Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5301/JABFM.2012.10372 SN - 2280-8000 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 273 EP - 279 PB - Wichtig CY - Milano ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ghobadi, Ehsan A1 - Heuchel, Matthias A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Influence of different heating regimes on the shape-recovery behavior of poly(L-lactide) in simulated thermomechanical tests JF - Journal of applied biomaterials & functional materials N2 - Aim: Multifunctional polymer-based biomaterials, which combine degradability with a shape-memory capability and in this way enable the design of actively moving implants such as self-anchoring implants or controlled release systems, have been recently introduced. Of particular interest are approved degradable polymers such as poly(L-lactide) (PLLA), which can be easily functionalized with a shape-memory effect. In the case of semicrystalline PLLA, the glass transition can be utilized as shape-memory switching domain. Methods: In this work we applied a fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulation to study the shape-memory behavior of PLLA. A heating-deformation-cooling programming procedure was applied to atomistic PLLA packing models followed by a recovery module under stress-free conditions allowing the shape recovery. The recovery was simulated by heating the samples from T-low = 250 K to T-high = 500 K with different heating rates beta of 125, 40 and 4 K.ns(-1). Results: We could demonstrate that the obtained strain recovery rate (R-r) was strongly influenced by the applied simulation time and heating rate, whereby R-r values in the range from 46% to 63% were achieved. On its own the application of a heating rate of 4 K.ns(-1) enabled us to determine a characteristic switching temperature of T-sw = 473 K for the modeled samples. Conclusions: We anticipate that the atomistic modeling approach presented should be capable of enabling further study of T-sw with respect to the molecular structure of the investigated SMP and therefore could be applied in the context of design and development of new shape-memory (bio) materials. KW - Molecular modeling KW - Polymers KW - Shape-memory effect Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5301/JABFM.2012.10440 SN - 2280-8000 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 259 EP - 264 PB - Wichtig CY - Milano ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tartivel, Lucile A1 - Behl, Marc A1 - Schröter, Michael A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Hydrogel networks based on ABA triblock copolymers JF - Journal of applied biomaterials & functional materials N2 - Background: Triblock copolymers from hydrophilic oligo(ethylene glycol) segment A and oligo(propylene glycol) segment B, providing an ABA structure (OEG-OPG-OEG triblock), are known to be biocompatible and are used as self-solidifying gels in drug depots. A complete removal of these depots would be helpful in cases of undesired side effects of a drug, but this remains a challenge as they liquefy below their transition temperature. Therefore we describe the synthesis of covalently cross-linked hydrogel networks. Method: Triblock copolymer-based hydrogels were created by irradiating aqueous solutions of the corresponding macro-dimethacrylates with UV light. The degree of swelling, swelling kinetics, mechanical properties and morphology of the networks were investigated. Results: Depending on precursor concentration, equilibrium degree of swelling of the films ranged between 500% and 880% and was reached in 1 hour. In addition, values for storage and loss moduli of the hydrogel networks were in the 100 Pa to 10 kPa range. Conclusion: Although OEG-OPG-OEG triblocks are known for their micellization, which could hamper polymer network formation, reactive OEG-OPG-OEG triblock oligomers could be successfully polymerized into hydrogel networks. The degree of swelling of these hydrogels depends on their molecular weight and on the oligomer concentration used for hydrogel preparation. In combination with the temperature sensitivity of the ABA triblock copolymers, it is assumed that such hydrogels might be beneficial for future medical applications -e.g., removable drug release systems. KW - Hydrogel KW - Rheological characterization KW - Oligo(ethylene glycol) derivatization KW - OEG-OPG-OEG triblock copolymer KW - UV crosslinking Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5301/JABFM.2012.10295 SN - 2280-8000 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 243 EP - 248 PB - Wichtig CY - Milano ER - TY - JOUR A1 - von Rüsten-Lange, Maik A1 - Luetzow, Karola A1 - Neffe, Axel T. A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Characterization of oligo(ethylene glycol) and oligoglycerol functionalized poly(ether imide) by angle-dependent X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy JF - Journal of applied biomaterials & functional materials N2 - Purpose: Previous investigations have shown that poly(ether imide) (PEI) membranes can be functionalized with aminated macromolecules. In this study we explored whether the characterization of PEI functionalized with oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) or linear, side chain methylated oligoglycerols (OGMe), by angle-dependent X-ray induced photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) can be used to prove the functionalization, give insight into the reaction mechanism and reveal the spatial distribution of the grafts. Methods: PEI membranes were functionalized under alkaline conditions using an aqueous solution with 2 wt% of alpha-amino-methoxy oligo(ethylene glycol) (M-n = 1,320 g.mol(-1)) or linear, side chain methylated monoamine oligoglycerols (M-n = 1,120, 1,800 or 2,270 g.mol(-1)), respectively. The functionalized membranes were investigated using XPS measurements at different detector angles to enable comparison between the signals related to the bulk and surface volume and were compared with untreated and alkaline-treated PEI membranes. Results: While at a perpendicular detector angle the bulk signals of the PEI were prominent, at larger surface volume-related detector angles, the signals for OGMe and OEG were determinable. Conclusion: The surface functionalization of PEI with OEG and OGMe could be verified by the angle-dependent XPS. The observations proved the functionalization at the PEI surface, as the polyethers were detected at angles providing signals of the surface volume. Furthermore, the chemical functions determined verified a covalent binding via the nucleophilic addition of the amine functionalized OGMe and OEG to the PEI imide function. KW - Poly(ether imide) KW - Oligo(ethylene glycol) KW - Oligoglycerols KW - Angle-dependent X-ray induced photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Surface functionalization Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5301/JABFM.2012.10345 SN - 2280-8000 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 215 EP - 222 PB - Wichtig CY - Milano ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wang, Li A1 - Heuchel, Matthias A1 - Fang, Liang A1 - Kratz, Karl A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Influence of a polyester coating of magnetic nanoparticles on magnetic heating behavior of shape-memory polymer-based composites JF - Journal of applied biomaterials & functional materials N2 - Background: Magnetic composites of thermosensitive shape-memory polymers (SMPs) and magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) allow noncontact actuation of the shape-memory effect in an alternating magnetic field. In this study, we investigated whether the magnetic heating capability of cross-linked poly(epsilon-caprolactone)/MNP composites (cPCLC) could be improved by covalent coating of MNPs with oligo(epsilon-caprolactone) (OCL). Methods: Two different types of cPCLC containing uncoated and OCL-coated MNP with identical magnetite weight content were prepared by thermally induced polymerization of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) diisocyanatoethyl methacrylate. Both cPCLCs exhibited a melting transition at T-m = 48 degrees C, which could be used as switching transition. Results: The dispersion of the embedded nanoparticles within the polymer matrix could be substantially improved, when the OCL-coated MNPs were used, as visualized by scanning electron microscopy. We could further demonstrate that in this way the maximal achievable bulk temperature (T-bulk) obtained within the cPCLC test specimen in magnetic heating experiments at a magnetic field strength of H = 30 kA.m(-1) could be increased from T bulk = 48 degrees C to T bulk = 74 degrees C. KW - Magnetic composites KW - Magnetite nanoparticles KW - Polymer networks KW - Shape-memory effect Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5301/JABFM.2012.10293 SN - 2280-8000 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 203 EP - 209 PB - Wichtig CY - Milano ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Melchert, Christian A1 - Yongvongsoontorn, Nunnarpas A1 - Behl, Marc A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Synthesis and characterization of telechelic oligoethers with terminal cinnamylidene acetic acid moieties JF - Journal of applied biomaterials & functional materials N2 - Purpose: The formation of photoresponsive hydrogels were reported by irradiation of star-shaped poly(ethylene glycol)s with terminal cinnamylidene acetic acid (CAA) groups, which are capable of a photoinduced [2+2] cycloaddition. In this study we explored whether oligo(ethylene glycol) s and oligo(propylene glycol)s of varying molecular architecture (linear or star-shaped) or molecular weights could be functionalized with CAA as terminal groups by esterification or by amide formation. Methods: Oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) and oligo(propylene glycol) (OPG) with varying molecular architecture (linear, star-shaped) and weight average molecular weights between 1000 and 5000 g.mol(-1) were functionalized by means of esterification of hydroxyl or amine endgroups with cinnamylidene acetic acid (CAA) or cinnamylidene acetyl chloride (CAC) as telechelic endgroups. The chemical structure, thermal properties, and molecular weights of the oligoethers obtained were determined by NMR spectroscopy, UV spectroscopy, DSC, and MALDI-TOF. Results: CAA-functionalized linear and star-shaped OEGs or OPGs could be obtained with a degree of functionalization higher than 90%. In MALDI-TOF measurements an increase in Mw of about 150 g.mol(-1) (for each terminal end) after the functionalization reaction was observed. OEGCAA and OPGCAA showed an increase in glass transition temperature (T-g) from about -70 degrees C to -50 degrees C, compared to the unfunctionalized oligoethers. In addition, the melting temperature (T-m) of OEGCAA decreased from about 55 C to 30 degrees C, which can be accounted for by the hampered crystallization of the precursors because of the bulky CAA end groups as well as by the loss of the hydroxyl telechelic end groups. Conclusion: The synthesis of photoresponsive oligoethers containing cinnamylidene acetic acid as telechelic endgroup was reported and high degrees of functionalization could be achieved. Such photosensitive oligomers are promising candidates as reactive precursors, for the preparation of biocompatible high molecular weight polymers and polymer networks. KW - Biocompatible polymers KW - Cinnamylidene acetic acid KW - Photoresponsive polymers Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5301/JABFM.2012.10364 SN - 2280-8000 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 185 EP - 190 PB - Wichtig CY - Milano ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Romy A1 - Schippers, Jos H. M. A1 - Welker, Annelie A1 - Mieulet, Delphine A1 - Guiderdoni, Emmanuel A1 - Müller-Röber, Bernd T1 - Transcription factor OsHsfC1b regulates salt tolerance and development in Oryza sativa ssp japonica JF - AoB PLANTS N2 - Background and aims Salt stress leads to attenuated growth and productivity in rice. Transcription factors like heat shock factors (HSFs) represent central regulators of stress adaptation. Heat shock factors of the classes A and B are well established as regulators of thermal and non-thermal stress responses in plants; however, the role of class C HSFs is unknown. Here we characterized the function of the OsHsfC1b (Os01g53220) transcription factor from rice. Methodology We analysed the expression of OsHsfC1b in the rice japonica cultivars Dongjin and Nipponbare exposed to salt stress as well as after mannitol, abscisic acid (ABA) and H2O2 treatment. For functional characterization of OsHsfC1b, we analysed the physiological response of a T-DNA insertion line (hsfc1b) and two artificial micro-RNA (amiRNA) knock-down lines to salt, mannitol and ABA treatment. In addition, we quantified the expression of small Heat Shock Protein (sHSP) genes and those related to signalling and ion homeostasis by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in roots exposed to salt. The subcellular localization of OsHsfC1b protein fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP) was determined in Arabidopsis mesophyll cell protoplasts. Principal results Expression of OsHsfC1b was induced by salt, mannitol and ABA, but not by H2O2. Impaired function of OsHsfC1b in the hsfc1b mutant and the amiRNA lines led to decreased salt and osmotic stress tolerance, increased sensitivity to ABA, and temporal misregulation of salt-responsive genes involved in signalling and ion homeostasis. Furthermore, sHSP genes showed enhanced expression in knock-down plants under salt stress. We observed retarded growth of hsfc1b and knock-down lines in comparison with control plants under non-stress conditions. Transient expression of OsHsfC1b fused to GFP in protoplasts revealed nuclear localization of the transcription factor. Conclusions OsHsfC1b plays a role in ABA-mediated salt stress tolerance in rice. Furthermore, OsHsfC1b is involved in the response to osmotic stress and is required for plant growth under non-stress conditions. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/pls011 SN - 2041-2851 IS - 3 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hundertmark, Michaela A1 - Popova, Antoaneta V. A1 - Rausch, Saskia A1 - Seckler, Robert A1 - Hincha, Dirk K. T1 - Influence of drying on the secondary structure of intrinsically disordered and globular proteins JF - Biochemical and biophysical research communications N2 - Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy of five Arabidopsis late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins constituting the plant specific families LEA_5 and LEA_6 showed that they are intrinsically disordered in solution and partially fold during drying. Structural predictions were comparable to these results for hydrated LEA_6, but not for LEA_5 proteins. FTIR spectroscopy showed that verbascose, but not sucrose, strongly affected the structure of the dry proteins. The four investigated globular proteins were only mildly affected by drying in the absence, but strongly in the presence of sugars. These data highlight the larger structural flexibility of disordered compared to globular proteins and the impact of sugars on the structure of both disordered and globular proteins during drying. KW - Desiccation KW - CD spectroscopy KW - FTIR spectroscopy KW - Intrinsically disordered proteins KW - LEA proteins KW - Protein secondary structure Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2011.11.067 SN - 0006-291X VL - 417 IS - 1 SP - 122 EP - 128 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herzog, Marc A1 - Schick, Daniel A1 - Leitenberger, Wolfram A1 - Shayduk, Roman A1 - van der Veen, Renske M. A1 - Milne, Christopher J. A1 - Johnson, Steven Lee A1 - Vrejoiu, Ionela A1 - Bargheer, Matias T1 - Tailoring interference and nonlinear manipulation of femtosecond x-rays JF - New journal of physics : the open-access journal for physics N2 - We present ultrafast x-ray diffraction (UXRD) experiments on different photoexcited oxide superlattices. All data are successfully simulated by dynamical x-ray diffraction calculations based on a microscopic model, that accounts for the linear response of phonons to the excitation laser pulse. Some Bragg reflections display a highly nonlinear strain dependence. The origin of linear and two distinct nonlinear response phenomena is discussed in a conceptually simpler model using the interference of envelope functions that describe the diffraction efficiency of the average constituent nanolayers. The combination of both models facilitates rapid and accurate simulations of UXRD experiments. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/14/1/013004 SN - 1367-2630 VL - 14 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shainyan, Bagrat A. A1 - Kleinpeter, Erich T1 - Conformational preferences of Si-Ph,H and Si-Ph,Me silacyclohexanes and 1,3-thiasilacyclohexanes. Additivity of conformational energies in 1,1-disubstituted heterocyclohexanes JF - Tetrahedron N2 - The conformational equilibria of 1-phenyl-1-silacyclohexane 1, 3-phenyl-1,3-thiasilacyclohexane 2, 1-methyl-1-phenyl-1-silacyclohexane 3, and 3-methyl-3-phenyl-1,3-thiasilacyclohexane 4 have been studied for the first time by low temperature C-13 NMR spectroscopy at 103 K. Predominance of the equatorial conformer of compound 1 (Ph-eq/Ph-ax=78%:22%) is much less than in its carbon analog, phenylcyclohexane (nearly 100% of Ph-eq). And in contrast to 1-methyl-1-phenylcyclohexane, the conformers with the equatorial Ph group are predominant for compounds 3 and 4: at 103 K, Ph-eq/Ph-ax ratios are 63%:37% (3) and 68%:32% (4). As the Si-C bonds are elongated with respect to C-C bonds, the barriers to ring inversion are only between 5.2-6.0 (ax -> eq) and 5.4-6.0 (eq -> ax) kcal mol(-1). Parallel calculations at the DFT and MP2 level of theory (as well as the G2 calculations for compound 1) show qualitative agreement with the experiment. The additivity/nonadditivity of conformational energies of substituents on cyclohexane and silacyclohexane derivatives is analyzed. The geminally disubstituted cyclohexanes containing a phenyl group show large deviations from additivity, whereas in 1-methyl-1-phenyl-1-silacyclohexane and 3-methyl-3-phenyl-1,3-thiasilacyclohexane the effects of the methyl and phenyl groups are almost additive. The reasons for the different conformational preferences in carbocyclic and heterocyclic compounds are analyzed using the homodesmotic reactions approach. KW - Conformational analysis KW - Heterocycles KW - Dynamic NMR KW - Theoretical calculations KW - Additivity of conformational energies Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tet.2011.10.082 SN - 0040-4020 VL - 68 IS - 1 SP - 114 EP - 125 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tonita, Aaryn T1 - Distributional sources for black hole initial data JF - Classical and quantum gravit N2 - Black hole initial data are usually produced using Bowen-York-type puncture initial data or by applying an excision boundary condition. The benefits of the Bowen-York initial data are the ability to specify the spin and momentum of the system as parameters of the initial data. In an attempt to extend these benefits to other formulations of the Einstein constraints, the puncture method is reformulated using distributions as source terms. It is shown how the Bowen-York puncture black hole initial data and the trumpet variation are generated by distributional sources. A heuristic argument is presented to argue that these sources are the general sources of spin and momentum. In order to clarify the meaning of other distributional sources, an exact family of initial data with generalized sources to the Hamiltonian constraint are studied; spinning trumpet black hole initial data and black hole initial data with higher order momentum sources are also studied. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/29/1/015001 SN - 0264-9381 VL - 29 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Guljamow, Arthur A1 - Delissen, Friedmar A1 - Baumann, Otto A1 - Thuenemann, Andreas F. A1 - Dittmann-Thünemann, Elke T1 - Unique properties of eukaryote-type actin and profilin horizontally transferred to cyanobacteria JF - PLoS one N2 - A eukaryote-type actin and its binding protein profilin encoded on a genomic island in the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa PCC 7806 co-localize to form a hollow, spherical enclosure occupying a considerable intracellular space as shown by in vivo fluorescence microscopy. Biochemical and biophysical characterization reveals key differences between these proteins and their eukaryotic homologs. Small-angle X-ray scattering shows that the actin assembles into elongated, filamentous polymers which can be visualized microscopically with fluorescent phalloidin. Whereas rabbit actin forms thin cylindrical filaments about 100 mu m in length, cyanobacterial actin polymers resemble a ribbon, arrest polymerization at 510 lam and tend to form irregular multi-strand assemblies. While eukaryotic profilin is a specific actin monomer binding protein, cyanobacterial profilin shows the unprecedented property of decorating actin filaments. Electron micrographs show that cyanobacterial profilin stimulates actin filament bundling and stabilizes their lateral alignment into heteropolymeric sheets from which the observed hollow enclosure may be formed. We hypothesize that adaptation to the confined space of a bacterial cell devoid of binding proteins usually regulating actin polymerization in eukaryotes has driven the co-evolution of cyanobacterial actin and profilin, giving rise to an intracellular entity. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029926 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - 221 EP - 231 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Campbell, Earl T. A1 - Eisert, Jens T1 - Gaussification and entanglement distillation of continuous-variable systems a unifying picture JF - Physical review letters N2 - Distillation of entanglement using only Gaussian operations is an important primitive in quantum communication, quantum repeater architectures, and distributed quantum computing. Existing distillation protocols for continuous degrees of freedom are only known to converge to a Gaussian state when measurements yield precisely the vacuum outcome. In sharp contrast, non-Gaussian states can be deterministically converted into Gaussian states while preserving their second moments, albeit by usually reducing their degree of entanglement. In this work-based on a novel instance of a noncommutative central limit theorem-we introduce a picture general enough to encompass the known protocols leading to Gaussian states, and new classes of protocols including multipartite distillation. This gives the experimental option of balancing the merits of success probability against entanglement produced. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.020501 SN - 0031-9007 VL - 108 IS - 2 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kneis, David A1 - Buerger, Gerd A1 - Bronstert, Axel T1 - Evaluation of medium-range runoff forecasts for a 50 km(2) watershed JF - Journal of hydrology N2 - We generated medium-range forecasts of runoff for a 50 km(2) headwater catchment upstream of a reservoir using numerical weather predictions (NWPs) of the past as input to an operational hydrological model. NWP data originating from different sources were tested. For a period of 8.5 years, we computed daily forecasts with a lead time of +120 h based on an empirically downscaled version of the ECMWF's ensemble prediction system. For the last 3.5 years of the test period, we also tried the deterministic COSMO-EU forecast disseminated by the German Weather Service for lead times of up to +72 h. Common measures of skill indicate superiority of the ensemble runoff forecast over single-value forecasts for longer lead times. However, regardless of which NWP data were being used, the probability of event detection (POD) was found to be generally lower than 50%. In many cases, values in the range of 20-30% were obtained. At the same time, the false alarms ratio (FAR) was often found to be considerably high. The observed uncertainties in the hydrological forecasts were shown to originate from both the insufficient quality of precipitation forecasts as well as deficiencies in hydrological modeling and quantitative precipitation estimation. With respect to the anticipatory control of reservoirs in the studied catchment, the value of the tested runoff forecasts appears to be limited. This is due to the unfavorably low POD/FAR ratio in conjunction with a high cost-loss ratio. However, our results indicate that, in many cases, major runoff events related to snow melt can be successfully predicted as early as 4-5 days in advance. KW - Runoff forecast KW - Small catchments KW - Forecast verification KW - Reservoir control Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.11.005 SN - 0022-1694 VL - 414 IS - 2 SP - 341 EP - 353 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shainyan, Bagrat A. A1 - Kirpichenko, Svetlana V. A1 - Shlykov, Sergei A. A1 - Keinpeter, Erich T1 - Structure and conformational properties of 1,3,3-Trimethyl-1,3-Azasilinane gas electron diffraction, dynamic NMR, and theoretical study JF - The journal of physical chemistry : A, Molecules, spectroscopy, kinetics, environment & general theory N2 - Structure and the conformational properties of 1,3,3-trimethyl-1,3-azasilinane have been studied. According to gas electron diffraction (GED), the molecule exists in a slightly distorted chair conformation with the N-Me group in equatorial position. High-level quantum chemical calculations excellently, reproduce the experimental geometry. Employing variable temperature H-1 and C-13 NMR spectroscopy down to 103 K, the conformational equilibrium could be frozen and the barrier to ring inversion determined. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jp2110852 SN - 1089-5639 VL - 116 IS - 1 SP - 784 EP - 789 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bomm, Jana A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Stumpe, Joachim T1 - Synthesis and optical characterization of thermosensitive, luminescent gold nanodots JF - The journal of physical chemistry : C, Nanomaterials and interfaces N2 - A facile one-pot synthesis for preparing thermosensitive, luminescent gold nanodots with diameters of 1-2 nm is presented. The influence of the alkyl chain length of the surface ligands (alkyl thiols) on the optical properties of the gold nanodots was investigated. The synthesized gold nanodots show strong thermosensitive photoluminescence. A photoluminescence quantum yield of 16.6% was observed at room temperature, which could be improved to a value of 28.6% when cooling the gold nanodot solutions to -7 degrees C. The synthesized thermosensitive, luminescent gold nanodots are interesting candidates for optoelectronic devices, medical imaging, sensing, or security labels. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jp206260r SN - 1932-7447 VL - 116 IS - 1 SP - 81 EP - 85 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gruden, Kristina A1 - Hren, Matjaz A1 - Herman, Ana A1 - Blejec, Andrej A1 - Albrecht, Tanja A1 - Selbig, Joachim A1 - Bauer, Christian G. A1 - Schuchardt, Johannes A1 - Or-Guil, Michal A1 - Zupancic, Klemen A1 - Svajger, Urban A1 - Stabuc, Borut A1 - Ihan, Alojz A1 - Kopitar, Andreja Natasa A1 - Ravnikar, Maja A1 - Knezevic, Miomir A1 - Rozman, Primoz A1 - Jeras, Matjaz T1 - A "Crossomics" study analysing variability of different components in peripheral blood of healthy caucasoid individuals JF - PLoS one N2 - Background: Different immunotherapy approaches for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases are being developed and tested in clinical studies worldwide. Their resulting complex experimental data should be properly evaluated, therefore reliable normal healthy control baseline values are indispensable. Methodology/Principal Findings: To assess intra- and inter-individual variability of various biomarkers, peripheral blood of 16 age and gender equilibrated healthy volunteers was sampled on 3 different days within a period of one month. Complex "crossomics'' analyses of plasma metabolite profiles, antibody concentrations and lymphocyte subset counts as well as whole genome expression profiling in CD4(+)T and NK cells were performed. Some of the observed age, gender and BMI dependences are in agreement with the existing knowledge, like negative correlation between sex hormone levels and age or BMI related increase in lipids and soluble sugars. Thus we can assume that the distribution of all 39.743 analysed markers is well representing the normal Caucasoid population. All lymphocyte subsets, 20% of metabolites and less than 10% of genes, were identified as highly variable in our dataset. Conclusions/Significance: Our study shows that the intra- individual variability was at least two-fold lower compared to the inter-individual one at all investigated levels, showing the importance of personalised medicine approach from yet another perspective. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0028761 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 7 IS - 1 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hinz, Justyna A1 - Lehnhardt, Lothar A1 - Zakrzewski, Silke A1 - Zhang, Gong A1 - Ignatova, Zoya T1 - Polyglutamine expansion alters the dynamics and molecular architecture of aggregates in dentatorubropallidoluysian atrophy JF - The journal of biological chemistry N2 - Preferential accumulation of mutant proteins in the nucleus has been suggested to be the molecular culprit that confers cellular toxicity in the neurodegenerative disorders caused by polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion. Here, we use dynamic imaging approaches, orthogonal cross-seeding, and composition analysis to examine the dynamics and structure of nuclear and cytoplasmic inclusions of atrophin-1, implicated in dentatorubropallidoluysian atrophy, a polyQ-based disease with complex clinical features. Our results reveal a large heterogeneity in the dynamics of the nuclear inclusions compared with the compact and immobile cytoplasmic aggregates. At least two types of inclusions of expanded atrophin-1 with different mobility of the molecular species and ability to exchange with the surrounding monomer pool coexist in the nucleus. Intriguingly, the enrichment of nuclear inclusions with slow dynamics parallels changes in the aggregate core architecture that are dominated by the polyQ stretch. We propose that the observed complexity in the dynamics of the nuclear inclusions provides a molecular explanation for the enhanced cellular toxicity of the nuclear aggregates in polyQ-based neurodegeneration. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M111.318915 SN - 0021-9258 VL - 287 IS - 3 SP - 2068 EP - 2078 PB - American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology CY - Bethesda ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krüger, Anne A1 - Batsios, Petros A1 - Baumann, Otto A1 - Luckert, Eva A1 - Schwarz, Heinz A1 - Stick, Reimer A1 - Meyer, Irene A1 - Gräf, Ralph T1 - Characterization of NE81, the first lamin-like nucleoskeleton protein in a unicellular organism JF - Molecular biology of the cell : the official publication of the American Society for Cell Biology N2 - Lamins build the nuclear lamina and are required for chromatin organization, gene expression, cell cycle progression, and mechanical stabilization. Despite these universal functions, lamins have so far been found only in metazoans. We have identified protein NE81 in Dictyostelium, which has properties that justify its denomination as a lamin-like protein in a lower eukaryote. This is based on its primary structure, subcellular localization, and regulation during mitosis, and its requirement of the C-terminal CaaX box as a posttranslational processing signal for proper localization. Our knockout and overexpression mutants revealed an important role for NE81 in nuclear integrity, chromatin organization, and mechanical stability of cells. All our results are in agreement with a role for NE81 in formation of a nuclear lamina. This function is corroborated by localization of Dictyostelium NE81 at the nuclear envelope in human cells. The discovery of a lamin-like protein in a unicellular organism is not only intriguing in light of evolution, it may also provide a simple experimental platform for studies of the molecular basis of laminopathies. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1091/mbc.E11-07-0595 SN - 1059-1524 VL - 23 IS - 2 SP - 360 EP - 370 PB - American Society for Cell Biology CY - Bethesda ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kizilirmak, J. M. A1 - Rösler, Frank A1 - Khader, P. H. T1 - Control processes during selective long-term memory retrieval JF - NeuroImage : a journal of brain function N2 - In our daily life, we often need to selectively remember information related to the same retrieval cue in a consecutive manner (e.g., ingredients from a recipe). To investigate such selection processes during cued long-term memory (LTM) retrieval, we used a paradigm in which the retrieval demands were systematically varied from trial to trial and analyzed, by means of behavior and slow cortical EEG potentials (SCPs), the retrieval processes in the current trial depending on those of the previous trial. We varied whether the retrieval cue, the type of to-be-retrieved association (feature), or retrieval load was repeated or changed from trial to trial. The behavioral data revealed a benefit of feature repetition, probably due to trial-by-trial feature priming. SCPs further showed an effect of cue change with a mid-frontal maximum, suggesting increased control demands when the cue was repeated, as well as a parietal effect of retrieval-load change, indicating increased activation of posterior neural resources when focusing on a single association after all learned associations had been activated previously, compared to staying with single associations across trials. These effects suggest the existence of two distinct types of dynamic (trial-by-trial) control processes during LTM retrieval: (1) medial frontal processes that monitor or regulate interference within a set of activated associations, and (2) posterior processes regulating attention to LTM representations. The present study demonstrates that processes mediating selective LTM retrieval can be successfully studied by manipulating the history of processing demands in trial sequences. KW - Cognitive control KW - Long-term memory KW - ERPs KW - SCPs KW - Retrieval KW - Selection processes Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.041 SN - 1053-8119 VL - 59 IS - 2 SP - 1830 EP - 1841 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER -