TY - JOUR A1 - Herold, Fabian A1 - Labott, Berit K. A1 - Grässler, Bernhard A1 - Halfpaap, Nicole A1 - Langhans, Corinna A1 - Müller, Patrick A1 - Ammar, Achraf A1 - Dordevic, Milos A1 - Hökelmann, Anita A1 - Müller, Notger Germar T1 - A Link between Handgrip Strength and Executive Functioning: A Cross-Sectional Study in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Healthy Controls JF - Healthcare : open access journal N2 - Older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) who in addition to their memory deficits also suffer from frontal-executive dysfunctions have a higher risk of developing dementia later in their lives than older adults with aMCI without executive deficits and older adults with non-amnestic MCI (naMCI). Handgrip strength (HGS) is also correlated with the risk of cognitive decline in the elderly. Hence, the current study aimed to investigate the associations between HGS and executive functioning in individuals with aMCI, naMCI and healthy controls. Older, right-handed adults with amnestic MCI (aMCI), non-amnestic MCI (naMCI), and healthy controls (HC) conducted a handgrip strength measurement via a handheld dynamometer. Executive functions were assessed with the Trail Making Test (TMT A&B). Normalized handgrip strength (nHGS, normalized to Body Mass Index (BMI)) was calculated and its associations with executive functions (operationalized through z-scores of TMT B/A ratio) were investigated through partial correlation analyses (i.e., accounting for age, sex, and severity of depressive symptoms). A positive and low-to-moderate correlation between right nHGS (rp (22) = 0.364; p = 0.063) and left nHGS (rp (22) = 0.420; p = 0.037) and executive functioning in older adults with aMCI but not in naMCI or HC was observed. Our results suggest that higher levels of nHGS are linked to better executive functioning in aMCI but not naMCI and HC. This relationship is perhaps driven by alterations in the integrity of the hippocampal-prefrontal network occurring in older adults with aMCI. Further research is needed to provide empirical evidence for this assumption. KW - MCI KW - hippocampal-prefrontal network KW - handgrip strength KW - exercise cognition KW - aging KW - brain health Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10020230 SN - 2227-9032 VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pornsawad, Pornsarp A1 - Sapsakul, Nantawan A1 - Böckmann, Christine T1 - A modified asymptotical regularization of nonlinear ill-posed problems JF - Mathematics N2 - In this paper, we investigate the continuous version of modified iterative Runge–Kutta-type methods for nonlinear inverse ill-posed problems proposed in a previous work. The convergence analysis is proved under the tangential cone condition, a modified discrepancy principle, i.e., the stopping time T is a solution of ∥𝐹(𝑥𝛿(𝑇))−𝑦𝛿∥=𝜏𝛿+ for some 𝛿+>𝛿, and an appropriate source condition. We yield the optimal rate of convergence. KW - nonlinear operator KW - regularization KW - discrepancy principle KW - asymptotic method KW - optimal rate Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/math7050419 SN - 2227-7390 VL - 7 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Spikes, Montrai A1 - Rodríguez-Silva, Rodet A1 - Bennett, Kerri-Ann A1 - Bräger, Stefan A1 - Josaphat, James A1 - Torres-Pineda, Patricia A1 - Ernst, Anja A1 - Havenstein, Katja A1 - Schlupp, Ingo A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph T1 - A phylogeny of the genus Limia (Teleostei: Poeciliidae) suggests a single-lake radiation nested in a Caribbean-wide allopatric speciation scenario JF - BMC Research Notes N2 - Objective The Caribbean is an important global biodiversity hotspot. Adaptive radiations there lead to many speciation events within a limited period and hence are particularly prominent biodiversity generators. A prime example are freshwater fish of the genus Limia, endemic to the Greater Antilles. Within Hispaniola, nine species have been described from a single isolated site, Lake Miragoâne, pointing towards extraordinary sympatric speciation. This study examines the evolutionary history of the Limia species in Lake Miragoâne, relative to their congeners throughout the Caribbean. Results For 12 Limia species, we obtained almost complete sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, a well-established marker for lower-level taxonomic relationships. We included sequences of six further Limia species from GenBank (total N  = 18 species). Our phylogenies are in concordance with other published phylogenies of Limia. There is strong support that the species found in Lake Miragoâne in Haiti are monophyletic, confirming a recent local radiation. Within Lake Miragoâne, speciation is likely extremely recent, leading to incomplete lineage sorting in the mtDNA. Future studies using multiple unlinked genetic markers are needed to disentangle the relationships within the Lake Miragoâne clade. KW - Cytochrome b KW - Island biogeography KW - Fresh water fish KW - Phylogeny Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-021-05843-x SN - 1756-0500 VL - 14 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - BMC Research Notes / Biomed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Warschburger, Petra A1 - Petersen, Ann-Christin A1 - von Rezori, Roman Enzio A1 - Buchallik, Friederike A1 - Baumeister, Harald A1 - Holl, Reinhard A1 - Minden, Kirsten A1 - Müller-​Stierlin, Annabel Sandra A1 - Reinauer, Christina A1 - Staab, Doris A1 - COACH consortium, T1 - A prospective investigation of developmental trajectories of psychosocial adjustment in adolescents facing a chronic condition - study protocol of an observational, multi-center study JF - BMC Pediatrics N2 - Background Relatively little is known about protective factors and the emergence and maintenance of positive outcomes in the field of adolescents with chronic conditions. Therefore, the primary aim of the study is to acquire a deeper understanding of the dynamic process of resilience factors, coping strategies and psychosocial adjustment of adolescents living with chronic conditions. Methods/design We plan to consecutively recruit N = 450 adolescents (12–21 years) from three German patient registries for chronic conditions (type 1 diabetes, cystic fibrosis, or juvenile idiopathic arthritis). Based on screening for anxiety and depression, adolescents are assigned to two parallel groups – “inconspicuous” (PHQ-9 and GAD-7 < 7) vs. “conspicuous” (PHQ-9 or GAD-7 ≥ 7) – participating in a prospective online survey at baseline and 12-month follow-up. At two time points (T1, T2), we assess (1) intra- and interpersonal resiliency factors, (2) coping strategies, and (3) health-related quality of life, well-being, satisfaction with life, anxiety and depression. Using a cross-lagged panel design, we will examine the bidirectional longitudinal relations between resiliency factors and coping strategies, psychological adaptation, and psychosocial adjustment. To monitor Covid-19 pandemic effects, participants are also invited to take part in an intermediate online survey. Discussion The study will provide a deeper understanding of adaptive, potentially modifiable processes and will therefore help to develop novel, tailored interventions supporting a positive adaptation in youths with a chronic condition. These strategies should not only support those at risk but also promote the maintenance of a successful adaptation. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS), no. DRKS00025125. Registered on May 17, 2021. KW - Chronic conditions KW - Adolescents KW - Prospective KW - Quality of life KW - Resiliency KW - Coping KW - Protective factors KW - Type 1 diabetes KW - Juvenile idiopathic arthritis KW - Cystic fibrosis Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-021-02869-9 SN - 1471-2431 VL - 21 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - BMC pediatrics CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Göldel, Julia M. A1 - Kamrath, Clemens A1 - Minden, Kirsten A1 - Wiegand, Susanna A1 - Lanzinger, Stefanie A1 - Sengler, Claudia A1 - Weihrauch-Blüher, Susann A1 - Holl, Reinhard W. A1 - Tittel, Sascha René A1 - Warschburger, Petra T1 - Access to Healthcare for Children and Adolescents with a Chronic Health Condition during the COVID-19 Pandemic: First Results from the KICK-COVID Study in Germany JF - Children N2 - This study examines the access to healthcare for children and adolescents with three common chronic diseases (type-1 diabetes (T1D), obesity, or juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)) within the 4th (Delta), 5th (Omicron), and beginning of the 6th (Omicron) wave (June 2021 until July 2022) of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany in a cross-sectional study using three national patient registries. A paper-and-pencil questionnaire was given to parents of pediatric patients (<21 years) during the routine check-ups. The questionnaire contains self-constructed items assessing the frequency of healthcare appointments and cancellations, remote healthcare, and satisfaction with healthcare. In total, 905 parents participated in the T1D-sample, 175 in the obesity-sample, and 786 in the JIA-sample. In general, satisfaction with healthcare (scale: 0–10; 10 reflecting the highest satisfaction) was quite high (median values: T1D 10, JIA 10, obesity 8.5). The proportion of children and adolescents with canceled appointments was relatively small (T1D 14.1%, JIA 11.1%, obesity 20%), with a median of 1 missed appointment, respectively. Only a few parents (T1D 8.6%; obesity 13.1%; JIA 5%) reported obstacles regarding health services during the pandemic. To conclude, it seems that access to healthcare was largely preserved for children and adolescents with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. KW - chronic health condition KW - children and adolescents KW - health care KW - COVID-19 pandemic KW - diabetes KW - rheumatic diseases KW - obesity Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/children10010010 SN - 2227-9067 VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Omane, Paul Okyere A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Acquiring syntactic variability BT - The production of Wh-questions in children and adults speaking Akan JF - Frontiers in communication N2 - This paper investigates the predictions of the Derivational Complexity Hypothesis by studying the acquisition of wh-questions in 4- and 5-year-old Akan-speaking children in an experimental approach using an elicited production and an elicited imitation task. Akan has two types of wh-question structures (wh-in-situ and wh-ex-situ questions), which allows an investigation of children’s acquisition of these two question structures and their preferences for one or the other. Our results show that adults prefer to use wh-ex-situ questions over wh-in-situ questions. The results from the children show that both age groups have the two question structures in their linguistic repertoire. However, they differ in their preferences in usage in the elicited production task: while the 5-year-olds preferred the wh-in-situ structure over the wh-ex-situ structure, the 4-year-olds showed a selective preference for the wh-in-situ structure in who-questions. These findings suggest a developmental change in wh-question preferences in Akan-learning children between 4 and 5 years of age with a so far unobserved u-shaped developmental pattern. In the elicited imitation task, all groups showed a strong tendency to maintain the structure of in-situ and ex-situ questions in repeating grammatical questions. When repairing ungrammatical ex-situ questions, structural changes to grammatical in-situ questions were hardly observed but the insertion of missing morphemes while keeping the ex-situ structure. Together, our findings provide only partial support for the Derivational Complexity Hypothesis. KW - Akan KW - wh-questions KW - wh-in-situ KW - wh-ex-situ KW - derivational complexity KW - language acquisition Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.604951 SN - 2297-900X VL - 2021 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wutzler, Bianca A1 - Hudson, Paul A1 - Thieken, Annegret T1 - Adaptation strategies of flood-damaged businesses in Germany JF - Frontiers in Water N2 - Flood risk management in Germany follows an integrative approach in which both private households and businesses can make an important contribution to reducing flood damage by implementing property-level adaptation measures. While the flood adaptation behavior of private households has already been widely researched, comparatively less attention has been paid to the adaptation strategies of businesses. However, their ability to cope with flood risk plays an important role in the social and economic development of a flood-prone region. Therefore, using quantitative survey data, this study aims to identify different strategies and adaptation drivers of 557 businesses damaged by a riverine flood in 2013 and 104 businesses damaged by pluvial or flash floods between 2014 and 2017. Our results indicate that a low perceived self-efficacy may be an important factor that can reduce the motivation of businesses to adapt to flood risk. Furthermore, property-owners tended to act more proactively than tenants. In addition, high experience with previous flood events and low perceived response costs could strengthen proactive adaptation behavior. These findings should be considered in business-tailored risk communication. KW - risk management KW - climate change adaptation KW - floods KW - disaster risk reduction KW - Germany KW - precaution KW - emergency management Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2022.932061 SN - 2624-9375 PB - Frontiers Media SA CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fuehrer, Felix N. A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - ADMET polymerization of amino-acid-based diene JF - Macromolecular chemistry and physics N2 - 1,4-Di(homo)allyl-2,5-diketopiperazines are synthesized and polymerized via ADMET using the Hoveyda-Grubbs 2nd generation catalyst. The but-3-enylated diketopiperazine can be converted into unsaturated tertiary polyamide with molar mass of <3000 g mol(-1), whereas the allylated diketopiperazine cannot. Double-bond isomerization occurs regardless of whether or not benzoquinone is present. A polyesteramide with a higher molar mass of ca. 4800 g mol(-1) is obtained by the alternating copolymerization (ALTMET) of 1,4-di(but-3-enyl)-2,5-di ketopiperazine and ethylene glycol diacrylate. A post-polymerization modification of the poly(ester)amides via radical thiol-ene chemistry, however, fails. KW - acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) polymerization KW - amino acids KW - diketopiperazine KW - metathesis KW - step-growth polymerization Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.201400166 SN - 1022-1352 SN - 1521-3935 VL - 215 IS - 22 SP - 2268 EP - 2273 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wright, Michelle F. A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Huang, Zheng T1 - Adolescents’ Popularity-Motivated Aggression and Prosocial Behaviors: The Roles of Callous-Unemotional Traits and Social Status Insecurity JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - As competition over peer status becomes intense during adolescence, some adolescents develop insecure feelings regarding their social standing among their peers (i.e., social status insecurity). These adolescents sometimes use aggression to defend or promote their status. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among social status insecurity, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and popularity-motivated aggression and prosocial behaviors among adolescents, while controlling for gender. Another purpose was to examine the potential moderating role of CU traits in these relationships. Participants were 1,047 (49.2% girls; Mage = 12.44 years; age range from 11 to 14 years) in the 7th or 8th grades from a large Midwestern city. They completed questionnaires on social status insecurity, CU traits, and popularity-motivated relational aggression, physical aggression, cyberaggression, and prosocial behaviors. A structural regression model was conducted, with gender as a covariate. The model had adequate fit. Social status insecurity was associated positively with callousness, unemotional, and popularity-motivated aggression and related negatively to popularity-motivated prosocial behaviors. High social status insecurity was related to greater popularity-motivated aggression when adolescents had high callousness traits. The findings have implications for understanding the individual characteristics associated with social status insecurity. KW - social status insecurity KW - callousness KW - unemotional KW - uncaring KW - callous-unemotional traits KW - aggression KW - cyberaggression KW - prosocial Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.606865 SN - 1664-1078 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Neumann, Daniel A1 - Tiberius, Victor A1 - Biendarra, Florin T1 - Adopting wearables to customize health insurance contributions BT - a ranking-type Delphi JF - BMC medical informatics and decision making N2 - Background Wearables, as small portable computer systems worn on the body, can track user fitness and health data, which can be used to customize health insurance contributions individually. In particular, insured individuals with a healthy lifestyle can receive a reduction of their contributions to be paid. However, this potential is hardly used in practice. Objective This study aims to identify which barrier factors impede the usage of wearables for assessing individual risk scores for health insurances, despite its technological feasibility, and to rank these barriers according to their relevance. Methods To reach these goals, we conduct a ranking-type Delphi study with the following three stages. First, we collected possible barrier factors from a panel of 16 experts and consolidated them to a list of 11 barrier categories. Second, the panel was asked to rank them regarding their relevance. Third, to enhance the panel consensus, the ranking was revealed to the experts, who were then asked to re-rank the barriers. Results The results suggest that regulation is the most important barrier. Other relevant barriers are false or inaccurate measurements and application errors caused by the users. Additionally, insurers could lack the required technological competence to use the wearable data appropriately. Conclusion A wider use of wearables and health apps could be achieved through regulatory modifications, especially regarding privacy issues. Even after assuring stricter regulations, users’ privacy concerns could partly remain, if the data exchange between wearables manufacturers, health app providers, and health insurers does not become more transparent. KW - Delphi study KW - Health insurance KW - Wearable electronic device KW - Wearable technology KW - Internet of Things KW - Barriers Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-022-01851-4 SN - 1472-6947 VL - 22 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fühner, Thea A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Golle, Kathleen A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Age and sex effects in physical fitness components of 108,295 third graders including 515 primary schools and 9 cohorts JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Children’s physical fitness development and related moderating effects of age and sex are well documented, especially boys’ and girls’ divergence during puberty. The situation might be different during prepuberty. As girls mature approximately two years earlier than boys, we tested a possible convergence of performance with five tests representing four components of physical fitness in a large sample of 108,295 eight-year old third-graders. Within this single prepubertal year of life and irrespective of the test, performance increased linearly with chronological age, and boys outperformed girls to a larger extent in tests requiring muscle mass for successful performance. Tests differed in the magnitude of age effects (gains), but there was no evidence for an interaction between age and sex. Moreover, “physical fitness” of schools correlated at r = 0.48 with their age effect which might imply that "fit schools” promote larger gains; expected secular trends from 2011 to 2019 were replicated. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97000-4 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 11 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Nature Portfolio CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reeg, Jette A1 - Strigl, Lea A1 - Jeltsch, Florian T1 - Agricultural buffer zone thresholds to safeguard functional bee diversity BT - Insights from a community modeling approach JF - Ecology and Evolution N2 - Wild bee species are important pollinators in agricultural landscapes. However, population decline was reported over the last decades and is still ongoing. While agricultural intensification is a major driver of the rapid loss of pollinating species, transition zones between arable fields and forest or grassland patches, i.e., agricultural buffer zones, are frequently mentioned as suitable mitigation measures to support wild bee populations and other pollinator species. Despite the reported general positive effect, it remains unclear which amount of buffer zones is needed to ensure a sustainable and permanent impact for enhancing bee diversity and abundance. To address this question at a pollinator community level, we implemented a process-based, spatially explicit simulation model of functional bee diversity dynamics in an agricultural landscape. More specifically, we introduced a variable amount of agricultural buffer zones (ABZs) at the transition of arable to grassland, or arable to forest patches to analyze the impact on bee functional diversity and functional richness. We focused our study on solitary bees in a typical agricultural area in the Northeast of Germany. Our results showed positive effects with at least 25% of virtually implemented agricultural buffer zones. However, higher amounts of ABZs of at least 75% should be considered to ensure a sufficient increase in Shannon diversity and decrease in quasi-extinction risks. These high amounts of ABZs represent effective conservation measures to safeguard the stability of pollination services provided by solitary bee species. As the model structure can be easily adapted to other mobile species in agricultural landscapes, our community approach offers the chance to compare the effectiveness of conservation measures also for other pollinator communities in future. KW - agricultural landscape KW - buffer zones KW - community model KW - functional traits KW - solitary bees KW - spatially explicit Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8748 SN - 2045-7758 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Wiley Online Library CY - Hoboken, New Jersey, USA ET - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kempa, Stefan A1 - Hummel, Jan A1 - Schwemmer, Thorsten A1 - Pietzke, Matthias A1 - Strehmel, Nadine A1 - Wienkoop, Stefanie A1 - Kopka, Joachim A1 - Weckwerth, Wolfram T1 - An automated GCxGC-TOF-MS protocol for batch-wise extraction and alignment of mass isotopomer matrixes from differential C-13-labelling experiments : a case study for photoautotrophic-mixotrophic grown Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells N2 - Two dimensional gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GCxGC-TOF-MS) is a promising technique to overcome limits of complex metabolome analysis using one dimensional GC-TOF-MS. Especially at the stage of data export and data mining, however, convenient procedures to cope with the complexity of GCxGC-TOF-MS data are still in development. Here, we present a high sample throughput protocol exploiting first and second retention index for spectral library search and subsequent construction of a high dimensional data matrix useful for statistical analysis. The method was applied to the analysis of 13 C-labelling experiments in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We developed a rapid sampling and extraction procedure for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii laboratory strain (CC503), a cell wall deficient mutant. By testing all published quenching protocols we observed dramatic metabolite leakage rates for certain metabolites. To circumvent metabolite leakage, samples were directly quenched and analyzed without separation of the medium. The growth medium was adapted to this rapid sampling protocol to avoid interference with GCxGC-TOF-MS analysis. To analyse batches of samples a new software tool, MetMax, was implemented which extracts the isotopomer matrix from stable isotope labelling experiments together with the first and second retention index (RI1 and RI2). To exploit RI1 and RI2 for metabolite identification we used the Golm metabolome database (GMD [1] with RI1/ RI2-reference spectra and new search algorithms. Using those techniques we analysed the dynamics of (CO2)-C-13 and C-13- acetate uptake in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells in two different steady states namely photoautotrophic and mixotrophic growth conditions. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/5007687 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/jobm.200800337 SN - 0233-111X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jararnezhadgero, AmirAli A1 - Mamashli, Elaheh A1 - Granacher, Urs T1 - An Endurance-Dominated Exercise Program Improves Maximum Oxygen Consumption, Ground Reaction Forces, and Muscle Activities in Patients With Moderate Diabetic Neuropathy JF - Frontiers in physiology / Frontiers Research Foundation N2 - Background: The prevalence of diabetes worldwide is predicted to increase from 2.8% in 2000 to 4.4% in 2030. Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is associated with damage to nerve glial cells, their axons, and endothelial cells leading to impaired function and mobility. Objective: We aimed to examine the effects of an endurance-dominated exercise program on maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max), ground reaction forces, and muscle activities during walking in patients with moderate DN. Methods: Sixty male and female individuals aged 45–65 years with DN were randomly assigned to an intervention (IG, n = 30) or a waiting control (CON, n = 30) group. The research protocol of this study was registered with the Local Clinical Trial Organization (IRCT20200201046326N1). IG conducted an endurance-dominated exercise program including exercises on a bike ergometer and gait therapy. The progressive intervention program lasted 12 weeks with three sessions per week, each 40–55 min. CON received the same treatment as IG after the post-tests. Pre- and post-training, VO2max was tested during a graded exercise test using spiroergometry. In addition, ground reaction forces and lower limbs muscle activities were recorded while walking at a constant speed of ∼1 m/s. Results: No statistically significant baseline between group differences was observed for all analyzed variables. Significant group-by-time interactions were found for VO2max (p < 0.001; d = 1.22). The post-hoc test revealed a significant increase in IG (p < 0.001; d = 1.88) but not CON. Significant group-by-time interactions were observed for peak lateral and vertical ground reaction forces during heel contact and peak vertical ground reaction force during push-off (p = 0.001–0.037; d = 0.56–1.53). For IG, post-hoc analyses showed decreases in peak lateral (p < 0.001; d = 1.33) and vertical (p = 0.004; d = 0.55) ground reaction forces during heel contact and increases in peak vertical ground reaction force during push-off (p < 0.001; d = 0.92). In terms of muscle activity, significant group-by-time interactions were found for vastus lateralis and gluteus medius during the loading phase and for vastus medialis during the mid-stance phase, and gastrocnemius medialis during the push-off phase (p = 0.001–0.044; d = 0.54–0.81). Post-hoc tests indicated significant intervention-related increases in vastus lateralis (p = 0.001; d = 1.08) and gluteus medius (p = 0.008; d = 0.67) during the loading phase and vastus medialis activity during mid-stance (p = 0.001; d = 0.86). In addition, post-hoc tests showed decreases in gastrocnemius medialis during the push-off phase in IG only (p < 0.001; d = 1.28). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that an endurance-dominated exercise program has the potential to improve VO2max and diabetes-related abnormal gait in patients with DN. The observed decreases in peak vertical ground reaction force during the heel contact of walking could be due to increased vastus lateralis and gluteus medius activities during the loading phase. Accordingly, we recommend to implement endurance-dominated exercise programs in type 2 diabetic patients because it is feasible, safe and effective by improving aerobic capacity and gait characteristics. KW - oxygen consumption KW - kinetics KW - electromyography KW - diabetic KW - gait Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.654755 SN - 1664-042X VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Warschburger, Petra A1 - Wortmann, Hanna Rosalie A1 - Gisch, Ulrike A. A1 - Baer, Nadja-Raphaela A1 - Schenk, Liane A1 - Anton, Verena A1 - Bergmann, Manuela M. T1 - An experimental approach to training interoceptive sensitivity BT - study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial JF - Nutrition Journal N2 - Background Eating in absence of hunger is quite common and often associated with an increased energy intake co-existent with a poorer food choice. Intuitive eating (IE), i.e., eating in accordance with internal hunger and satiety cues, may protect from overeating. IE, however, requires accurate perception and processing of one’s own bodily signals, also referred to as interoceptive sensitivity. Training interoceptive sensitivity might therefore be an effective method to promote IE and prevent overeating. As most studies on eating behavior are conducted in younger adults and close social relationships influence health-related behavior, this study focuses on middle-aged and older couples. Methods The present pilot randomized intervention study aims at investigating the feasibility and effectiveness of a 21-day mindfulness-based training program designed to increase interoceptive sensitivity. A total of N = 60 couples participating in the NutriAct Family Study, aged 50–80 years, will be recruited. This randomized-controlled intervention study comprises three measurement points (pre-intervention, post-intervention, 4-week follow-up) and a 21-day training that consists of daily mindfulness-based guided audio exercises (e.g., body scan). A three-arm intervention study design is applied to compare two intervention groups (training together as a couple vs. training alone) with a control group (no training). Each measurement point includes the assessment of self-reported and objective indicators of interoceptive sensitivity (primary outcome), self-reported indicators of intuitive and maladaptive eating (secondary outcomes), and additional variables. A training evaluation applying focus group discussions will be conducted to assess participants’ overall acceptance of the training and its feasibility. Discussion By investigating the feasibility and effectiveness of a mindfulness-based training program to increase interoceptive sensitivity, the present study will contribute to a deeper understanding of how to promote healthy eating in older age. KW - Digital intervention KW - Older adults KW - Interoception KW - Eating behavior KW - Intuitive eating KW - Partnership KW - Mindfulness KW - Randomized-controlled trial KW - NutriAct Family Study KW - Mixed methods Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-022-00827-4 SN - 1475-2891 VL - 21 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - THES A1 - Kempa, Stefan T1 - Analysen zur Stressantwort von Arabidopsis thaliana unter Schwefelmangelbedingungen : Studien zur Funktion der Dehydroascorbatreduktase in vivo Y1 - 2004 CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wochatz, Monique A1 - Schraplau, Anne A1 - Engel, Tilman A1 - Zecher, Mahli Megan A1 - Sharon, Hadar A1 - Alt, Yasmin A1 - Mayer, Frank A1 - Kalron, Alon T1 - Application of eccentric training in various clinical populations BT - Protocol for a multi-centered pilot and feasibility study in people with low back pain and people with multiple sclerosis JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Physical activity and exercise are effective approaches in prevention and therapy of multiple diseases. Although the specific characteristics of lengthening contractions have the potential to be beneficial in many clinical conditions, eccentric training is not commonly used in clinical populations with metabolic, orthopaedic, or neurologic conditions. The purpose of this pilot study is to investigate the feasibility, functional benefits, and systemic responses of an eccentric exercise program focused on the trunk and lower extremities in people with low back pain (LBP) and multiple sclerosis (MS). A six-week eccentric training program with three weekly sessions is performed by people with LBP and MS. The program consists of ten exercises addressing strength of the trunk and lower extremities. The study follows a four-group design (N = 12 per group) in two study centers (Israel and Germany): three groups perform the eccentric training program: A) control group (healthy, asymptomatic); B) people with LBP; C) people with MS; group D (people with MS) receives standard care physiotherapy. Baseline measurements are conducted before first training, post-measurement takes place after the last session both comprise blood sampling, self-reported questionnaires, mobility, balance, and strength testing. The feasibility of the eccentric training program will be evaluated using quantitative and qualitative measures related to the study process, compliance and adherence, safety, and overall program assessment. For preliminary assessment of potential intervention effects, surrogate parameters related to mobility, postural control, muscle strength and systemic effects are assessed. The presented study will add knowledge regarding safety, feasibility, and initial effects of eccentric training in people with orthopaedic and neurological conditions. The simple exercises, that are easily modifiable in complexity and intensity, are likely beneficial to other populations. Thus, multiple applications and implementation pathways for the herein presented training program are conceivable. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270875 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 17 IS - 12 PB - Public Library of Science CY - San Francisco, California, USA ER - TY - THES A1 - Graber Majchrzak, Sarah T1 - Arbeit – Produktion – Protest BT - die Leninwerft in Gdańsk und die AG »Weser« in Bremen im Vergleich (1968–1983) T2 - Zeithistorische Studien N2 - Am 14. August 1980 begannen die Arbeiter*innen auf der Danziger Leninwerft einen Besetzungsstreik, in deren Folge die erste unabhängige Gewerkschaft Solidarność gegründet wurde. Einen Monat später am 17. September 1980 gingen auf der anderen Seite des „Eisernen Vorhangs“ die Arbeiter*innen der „AG Weser“ Werft in Bremen auf die Straße, um gegen den Verlust ihrer Arbeitsplätze zu protestieren. Die vorliegende Studie zeigt aus einer Perspektive „von unten“, wie seit den 1970er Jahren Betriebe in zwei unterschiedlichen politisch-ökonomischen Systeme auf technische Veränderungen und die verschärfte Konkurrenz auf dem Weltmarkt reagierten und verweist darauf, dass die Krisen in Ost und West Ende der 1970er Jahre eng miteinander verbunden waren. N2 - On August 14, 1980, the workers at the Gdańsk Lenin Shipyard began an occupation strike, as a result of which the first independent trade union Solidarność was founded. One month later, on September 17, 1980, workers from the “AG Weser” shipyard in Bremen took to the streets on the other side of the “Iron Curtain” to protest against the loss of their jobs. The present study shows from a perspective “from below” how companies in two different political-economic systems have reacted to technical changes and increased competition on the world market since the 1970s and points out that the crises in East and West at the end of the 1970s Years were closely related. KW - Schiffbau KW - West-Ost Vergleich KW - AG "Weser" Solidarność Leninwerft KW - shipbuildung KW - west-east comparison KW - global labour history KW - politics of production shipyards Y1 - 2018 SN - 978-3-412-51917-9 IS - 62 PB - Böhlau CY - Köln ER - TY - THES A1 - Rolo, David T1 - Assembly of photosystem I in thylakoid membranes T1 - Die Assemblierung des Photosystems I in der Thylakoidmembran N2 - The light reactions of photosynthesis are carried out by a series of multiprotein complexes embedded in thylakoid membranes. Among them, photosystem I (PSI), acting as plastocyanin-ferderoxin oxidoreductase, catalyzes the final reaction. Together with light-harvesting antenna I, PSI forms a high-molecular-weight supercomplex of ~600 kDa, consisting of eighteen subunits and nearly two hundred co-factors. Assembly of the various components into a functional thylakoid membrane complex requires precise coordination, which is provided by the assembly machinery. Although this includes a small number of proteins (PSI assembly factors) that have been shown to play a role in the formation of PSI, the process as a whole, as well as the intricacy of its members, remains largely unexplored. In the present work, two approaches were used to find candidate PSI assembly factors. First, EnsembleNet was used to select proteins thought to be functionally related to known PSI assembly factors in Arabidopsis thaliana (approach I), and second, co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) of tagged PSI assembly factors in Nicotiana tabacum was performed (approach II). Here, the novel PSI assembly factors designated CO-EXPRESSED WITH PSI ASSEMBLY 1 (CEPA1) and Ycf4-INTERACTING PROTEIN 1 (Y4IP1) were identified. A. thaliana null mutants for CEPA1 and Y4IP1 showed a growth phenotype and pale leaves compared with the wild type. Biophysical experiments using pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) revealed insufficient electron transport on the PSII acceptor side. Biochemical analyses revealed that both CEPA1 and Y4IP1 are specifically involved in PSI accumulation in A. thaliana at the post-translational level but are not essential. Consistent with their roles as factors in the assembly of a thylakoid membrane protein complex, the two proteins localize to thylakoid membranes. Remarkably, cepa1 y4ip1 double mutants exhibited lethal phenotypes in early developmental stages under photoautotrophic growth. Finally, co-IP and native gel experiments supported a possible role for CEPA1 and Y4IP1 in mediating PSI assembly in conjunction with other PSI assembly factors (e.g., PPD1- and PSA3-CEPA1 and Ycf4-Y4IP1). The fact that CEPA1 and Y4IP1 are found exclusively in green algae and higher plants suggests eukaryote-specific functions. Although the specific mechanisms need further investigation, CEPA1 and Y4IP1 are two novel assembly factors that contribute to PSI formation. N2 - Die Lichtreaktionen der Photosynthese werden von einer Reihe von Multiproteinkomplexen durchgeführt, die in Thylakoidmembranen eingebettet sind. Hier katalysiert das Photosystem I (PSI), das als Plastocyanin-Ferderoxin-Oxidoreduktase fungiert, die letzte Reaktion. Zusammen mit der lichtsammelnden Antenne I bildet PSI einen hochmolekularen Superkomplex von etwa 600 kDa, der aus achtzehn Untereinheiten und fast zweihundert Co-Faktoren besteht. Der Zusammenbau der verschiedenen Komponenten zu einem funktionsfähigen Thylakoidmembrankomplex erfordert eine präzise Koordination, die durch den Assemblierungsapparat gewährleistet wird. Obwohl dieser eine kleine Anzahl von Proteinen (PSI-Assemblierungsfaktoren) umfasst, die nachweislich eine Rolle bei der Bildung des PSI spielen, ist der Prozess als Ganzes sowie die Komplexität seiner Mitglieder noch weitgehend unerforscht. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden zwei Ansätze verwendet, um Kandidaten für PSI-Assemblierungsfaktoren zu finden. Erstens wurde EnsembleNet verwendet, um Proteine auszuwählen, von denen angenommen wird, dass sie funktionell mit bekannten PSI-Assemblierungsfaktoren in Arabidopsis thaliana verwandt sind (Ansatz I), und zweitens wurde eine Co-Immunopräzipitation (Co-IP) von markierten PSI-Assemblierungsfaktoren in Nicotiana tabacum durchgeführt (Ansatz II). Dabei wurden die neuartigen PSI-Assemblierungsfaktoren mit der Bezeichnung CO-EXPRESSED WITH PSI ASSEMBLY 1 (CEPA1) und Ycf4-INTERACTING PROTEIN 1 (Y4IP1) identifiziert. A. thaliana Nullmutanten für CEPA1 und Y4IP1 zeigten einen Wachstumsphänotyp und blasse Blätter im Vergleich zum Wildtyp. Biophysikalische Experimente unter Verwendung der Pulsamplitudenmodulation (PAM) zeigten einen unzureichenden Elektronentransport auf der PSII-Akzeptorseite. Biochemische Analysen ergaben, dass sowohl CEPA1 als auch Y4IP1 spezifisch an der PSI-Akkumulation in A. thaliana auf posttranslationaler Ebene beteiligt, jedoch nicht essentiell sind. Entsprechend ihrer Rolle als Faktoren für den Aufbau eines Thylakoidmembran-Proteinkomplexes sind die beiden Proteine an Thylakoidmembranen lokalisiert. Bemerkenswerterweise wiesen cepa1 y4ip1-Doppelmutanten in frühen Entwicklungsstadien unter photoautotrophem Wachstum tödliche Phänotypen auf. Schließlich untermauerten Co-IP- und native Gelexperimente eine mögliche Rolle von CEPA1 und Y4IP1 bei der Vermittlung des PSI-Aufbaus in Verbindung mit anderen PSI-Aufbaufaktoren (z. B. PPD1- und PSA3-CEPA1, und Ycf4-Y4IP1). Die Tatsache, dass CEPA1 und Y4IP1 ausschließlich in Grünalgen und höheren Pflanzen vorkommen, lässt auf eukaryontenspezifische Funktionen schließen. Obwohl die spezifischen Mechanismen noch weiter untersucht werden müssen, sind CEPA1 und Y4IP1 zwei neuartige Assemblierungsfaktoren, die zur PSI-Bildung beitragen. KW - photosynthesis KW - photosystem I KW - biogenesis KW - thylakoid membranes KW - assembly factor KW - Photosynthese KW - Photosystem I KW - Biogenese KW - Thylakoidmembran KW - Assemblierungsfaktor Y1 - 2023 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gasparatos, Nikolaos A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - Assessing the applicability of changepoint analysis to analyse short-term growth JF - Human biology and public health N2 - Background: Assessing short-term growth in humans is still fraught with difficulties. Especially when looking for small variations and increments, such as mini growth spurts, high precision instruments or frequent measurements are necessary. Daily measurements however require a lot of effort, both for anthropologists and for the subjects. Therefore, new sophisticated approaches are needed that reduce fluctuations and reveal underlying patterns. Objectives: Changepoints are abrupt variations in the properties of time series data. In the context of growth, such variations could be variation in mean height. By adjusting the variance and using different growth models, we assessed the ability of changepoint analysis to analyse short-term growth and detect mini growth spurts. Sample and Methods: We performed Bayesian changepoint analysis on simulated growth data using the bcp package in R. Simulated growth patterns included stasis, linear growth, catch-up growth, and mini growth spurts. Specificity and a normalised variant of the Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) were used to assess the algorithm’s performance. Welch’s t-test was used to compare differences of the mean. Results: First results show that changepoint analysis can detect mini growth spurts. However, the ability to detect mini growth spurts is highly dependent on measurement error. Data preparation, such as ranking and rotating time series data, showed negligible improvements. Missing data was an issue and may affect the prediction quality of the classification metrics. Conclusion: Changepoint analysis is a promising tool to analyse short-term growth. However, further optimisation and analysis of real growth data is needed to make broader generalisations. KW - changepoint analysis KW - changepoint detection KW - performance evaluation KW - mini growth spurt KW - short-term growth Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2023.1.62 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 1 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pawlak, Julia A1 - Noetzel, Dominique Christian A1 - Drago, Claudia A1 - Weithoff, Guntram T1 - Assessing the toxicity of polystyrene beads and silica particles on the microconsumer Brachionus calyciflorus at different timescales JF - Frontiers in Environmental Science N2 - Environmental pollution by microplastics has become a severe problem in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and, according to actual prognoses, problems will further increase in the future. Therefore, assessing and quantifying the risk for the biota is crucial. Standardized short-term toxicological procedures as well as methods quantifying potential toxic effects over the whole life span of an animal are required. We studied the effect of the microplastic polystyrene on the survival and reproduction of a common freshwater invertebrate, the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus, at different timescales. We used pristine polystyrene spheres of 1, 3, and 6 µm diameter and fed them to the animals together with food algae in different ratios ranging from 0 to 50% nonfood particles. As a particle control, we used silica to distinguish between a pure particle effect and a plastic effect. After 24 h, no toxic effect was found, neither with polystyrene nor with silica. After 96 h, a toxic effect was detectable for both particle types. The size of the particles played a negligible role. Studying the long-term effect by using life table experiments, we found a reduced reproduction when the animals were fed with 3 µm spheres together with similar-sized food algae. We conclude that the fitness reduction is mainly driven by the dilution of food by the nonfood particles rather than by a direct toxic effect. KW - microplastics KW - rotifer KW - freshwater KW - natural particle KW - toxicity KW - environmental pollution Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.955425 SN - 2296-665X SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sariati, Dorsaf A1 - Zouhal, Hassane A1 - Hammami, Raouf A1 - Clark, Cain Craig Truman A1 - Nebigh, Ammar A1 - Chtara, Moktar A1 - Hackney, Anthony C. A1 - Souissi, Nizar A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Ben Ounis, Omar T1 - Association Between Mental Imagery and Change of Direction Performance in Young Elite Soccer Players of Different Maturity Status JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - Previous studies have not considered the potential influence of maturity status on the relationship between mental imagery and change of direction (CoD) speed in youth soccer. Accordingly, this cross-sectional study examined the association between mental imagery and CoD performance in young elite soccer players of different maturity status. Forty young male soccer players, aged 10-17 years, were assigned into two groups according to their predicted age at peak height velocity (PHV) (Pre-PHV; n = 20 and Post-PHV; n = 20). Participants were evaluated on soccer-specific tests of CoD with (CoDBall-15m) and without (CoD-15m) the ball. Participants completed the movement imagery questionnaire (MIQ) with the three- dimensional structure, internal visual imagery (IVI), external visual imagery (EVI), as well as kinesthetic imagery (KI). The Post-PHV players achieved significantly better results than Pre-PHV in EVI (ES = 1.58, large; p < 0.001), CoD-15m (ES = 2.09, very large; p < 0.001) and CoDBall-15m (ES = 1.60, large; p < 0.001). Correlations were significantly different between maturity groups, where, for the pre-PHV group, a negative very large correlation was observed between CoDBall-15m and KI (r = –0.73, p = 0.001). For the post-PHV group, large negative correlations were observed between CoD-15m and IVI (r = –0.55, p = 0.011), EVI (r = –062, p = 0.003), and KI (r = –0.52, p = 0.020). A large negative correlation of CoDBall-15m with EVI (r = –0.55, p = 0.012) and very large correlation with KI (r = –0.79, p = 0.001) were also observed. This study provides evidence of the theoretical and practical use for the CoD tasks stimulus with imagery. We recommend that sport psychology specialists, coaches, and athletes integrated imagery for CoD tasks in pre-pubertal soccer players to further improve CoD related performance. KW - mental imagery KW - football KW - maturation KW - speed KW - adolescents Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.665508 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Machimbarrena, Juan Manuel A1 - Wright, Michelle F. A1 - Gámez-Guadix, Manuel A1 - Yang, Soeun A1 - Sittichai, Ruthaychonnee A1 - Singh, Ritu A1 - Biswal, Ramakrishna A1 - Flora, Katerina A1 - Daskalou, Vassiliki A1 - Maziridou, Evdoxia A1 - Sung Hong, Jun A1 - Krause, Norman T1 - Associations between Coping Strategies and Cyberhate Involvement: Evidence from Adolescents across Three World Regions JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health N2 - Cyberhate represents a risk to adolescents’ development and peaceful coexistence in democratic societies. Yet, not much is known about the relationship between adolescents’ ability to cope with cyberhate and their cyberhate involvement. To fill current gaps in the literature and inform the development of media education programs, the present study investigated various coping strategies in a hypothetical cyberhate scenario as correlates for being cyberhate victims, perpetrators, and both victim–perpetrators. The sample consisted of 6829 adolescents aged 12–18 years old (Mage = 14.93, SD = 1.64; girls: 50.4%, boys: 48.9%, and 0.7% did not indicate their gender) from Asia, Europe, and North America. Results showed that adolescents who endorsed distal advice or endorsed technical coping showed a lower likelihood to be victims, perpetrators, or victim–perpetrators. In contrast, if adolescents felt helpless or endorsed retaliation to cope with cyberhate, they showed higher odds of being involved in cyberhate as victims, perpetrators, or victim–perpetrators. Finally, adolescents who endorsed close support as a coping strategy showed a lower likelihood to be victim–perpetrators, and adolescents who endorsed assertive coping showed higher odds of being victims. In conclusion, the results confirm the importance of addressing adolescents’ ability to deal with cyberhate to develop more tailored prevention approaches. More specifically, such initiatives should focus on adolescents who feel helpless or feel inclined to retaliate. In addition, adolescents should be educated to practice distal advice and technical coping when experiencing cyberhate. Implications for the design and instruction of evidence-based cyberhate prevention (e.g., online educational games, virtual learning environments) will be discussed. KW - cyberhate KW - hate speech KW - coping strategies KW - cross-national KW - counter-speech Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116749 SN - 1660-4601 VL - 19 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Nobari, Hadi A1 - Ruivo Alves, Ana A1 - Clemente, Filipe Manuel A1 - Pérez-Gómez, Jorge A1 - Clark, Cain Craig Truman A1 - Zouhal, Hassane T1 - Associations Between Variations in Accumulated Workload and Physiological Variables in Young Male Soccer Players Over the Course of a Season JF - Frontiers in physiology N2 - This study sought to analyze the relationship between in-season training workload with changes in aerobic power (VO2max), maximum and resting heart rate (HRmax and HRrest), linear sprint medium (LSM), and short test (LSS), in soccer players younger than 16 years (under-16 soccer players). We additionally aimed to explain changes in fitness levels during the in-season through regression models, considering accumulated load, baseline levels, and peak height velocity (PHV) as predictors. Twenty-three male sub-elite soccer players aged 15.5 ± 0.2 years (PHV: 13.6 ± 0.4 years; body height: 172.7 ± 4.2 cm; body mass: 61.3 ± 5.6 kg; body fat: 13.7% ± 3.9%; VO2max: 48.4 ± 2.6 mL⋅kg–1⋅min–1), were tested three times across the season (i.e., early-season (EaS), mid-season (MiS), and end-season (EnS) for VO2max, HRmax, LSM, and LSS. Aerobic and speed variables gradually improved over the season and had a strong association with PHV. Moreover, the HRmax demonstrated improvements from EaS to EnS; however, this was more evident in the intermediate period (from EaS to MiS) and had a strong association with VO2max. Regression analysis showed significant predictions for VO2max [F(2, 20) = 8.18, p ≤ 0.001] with an R2 of 0.45. In conclusion, the meaningful variation of youth players’ fitness levels can be observed across the season, and such changes can be partially explained by the load imposed. KW - internal load KW - heart rate KW - linear sprint KW - aerobic power KW - football Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.638180 SN - 1664-042X VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pietrek, Anou F. A1 - Kangas, Maria A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Heinzel, Stephan A1 - Van der Kaap-Deeder, Jolene A1 - Heissel, Andreas T1 - Basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration in major depressive disorder JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry - Mood Disorders N2 - Basic psychological needs theory postulates that a social environment that satisfies individuals’ three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness leads to optimal growth and well-being. On the other hand, the frustration of these needs is associated with ill-being and depressive symptoms foremost investigated in non-clinical samples; yet, there is a paucity of research on need frustration in clinical samples. Survey data were compared between adult individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 115; 48.69% female; 38.46 years, SD = 10.46) with those of a non-depressed comparison sample (n = 201; 53.23% female; 30.16 years, SD = 12.81). Need profiles were examined with a linear mixed model (LMM). Individuals with depression reported higher levels of frustration and lower levels of satisfaction in relation to the three basic psychological needs when compared to non-depressed adults. The difference between depressed and non-depressed groups was significantly larger for frustration than satisfaction regarding the needs for relatedness and competence. LMM correlation parameters confirmed the expected positive correlation between the three needs. This is the first study showing substantial differences in need-based experiences between depressed and non-depressed adults. The results confirm basic assumptions of the self-determination theory and have preliminary implications in tailoring therapy for depression. KW - basic need satisfaction and frustration KW - depressive symptoms KW - clinical sample KW - need profiles KW - social environment Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.962501 SN - 1664-0640 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Frontiers Media S.A. CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Purinton, Benjamin A1 - Bookhagen, Bodo T1 - Beyond Vertical Point Accuracy BT - Assessing Inter-pixel Consistency in 30 m Global DEMs for the Arid Central Andes JF - Frontiers in Earth Science N2 - Quantitative geomorphic research depends on accurate topographic data often collected via remote sensing. Lidar, and photogrammetric methods like structure-from-motion, provide the highest quality data for generating digital elevation models (DEMs). Unfortunately, these data are restricted to relatively small areas, and may be expensive or time-consuming to collect. Global and near-global DEMs with 1 arcsec (∼30 m) ground sampling from spaceborne radar and optical sensors offer an alternative gridded, continuous surface at the cost of resolution and accuracy. Accuracy is typically defined with respect to external datasets, often, but not always, in the form of point or profile measurements from sources like differential Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), spaceborne lidar (e.g., ICESat), and other geodetic measurements. Vertical point or profile accuracy metrics can miss the pixel-to-pixel variability (sometimes called DEM noise) that is unrelated to true topographic signal, but rather sensor-, orbital-, and/or processing-related artifacts. This is most concerning in selecting a DEM for geomorphic analysis, as this variability can affect derivatives of elevation (e.g., slope and curvature) and impact flow routing. We use (near) global DEMs at 1 arcsec resolution (SRTM, ASTER, ALOS, TanDEM-X, and the recently released Copernicus) and develop new internal accuracy metrics to assess inter-pixel variability without reference data. Our study area is in the arid, steep Central Andes, and is nearly vegetation-free, creating ideal conditions for remote sensing of the bare-earth surface. We use a novel hillshade-filtering approach to detrend long-wavelength topographic signals and accentuate short-wavelength variability. Fourier transformations of the spatial signal to the frequency domain allows us to quantify: 1) artifacts in the un-projected 1 arcsec DEMs at wavelengths greater than the Nyquist (twice the nominal resolution, so > 2 arcsec); and 2) the relative variance of adjacent pixels in DEMs resampled to 30-m resolution (UTM projected). We translate results into their impact on hillslope and channel slope calculations, and we highlight the quality of the five DEMs. We find that the Copernicus DEM, which is based on a carefully edited commercial version of the TanDEM-X, provides the highest quality landscape representation, and should become the preferred DEM for topographic analysis in areas without sufficient coverage of higher-quality local DEMs. KW - DEM noise KW - Fourier analysis KW - TanDEM-X KW - ASTER GDEM KW - Copernicus DEM KW - WorldDEM KW - SRTM KW - ALOS World 3D Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.758606 SN - 2296-6463 SP - 1 EP - 24 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yang, Jingdan A1 - Kim, Jae-Hyun A1 - Tuomainen, Outi A1 - Rattanasone, Nan Xu T1 - Bilingual Mandarin-English preschoolers’ spoken narrative skills and contributing factors BT - A remote online story-retell study JF - Frontiers in Psyhology N2 - This study examined the spoken narrative skills of a group of bilingual Mandarin–English speaking 3–6-year-olds (N = 25) in Australia, using a remote online story-retell task. Bilingual preschoolers are an understudied population, especially those who are speaking typologically distinct languages such as Mandarin and English which have fewer structural overlaps compared to language pairs that are typologically closer, reducing cross-linguistic positive transfer. We examined these preschoolers’ spoken narrative skills as measured by macrostructures (the global organization of a story) and microstructures (linguistic structures, e.g., total number of utterances, nouns, verbs, phrases, and modifiers) across and within each language, and how various factors such as age and language experiences contribute to individual variability. The results indicate that our bilingual preschoolers acquired spoken narrative skills similarly across their two languages, i.e., showing similar patterns of productivity for macrostructure and microstructure elements in both of their two languages. While chronological age was positively correlated with macrostructures in both languages (showing developmental effects), there were no significant correlations between measures of language experiences and the measures of spoken narrative skills (no effects for language input/output). The findings suggest that although these preschoolers acquire two typologically diverse languages in different learning environments, Mandarin at home with highly educated parents, and English at preschool, they displayed similar levels of oral narrative skills as far as these macro−/micro-structure measures are concerned. This study provides further evidence for the feasibility of remote online assessment of preschoolers’ narrative skills. KW - narrative skills KW - Mandarin-English bilinguals KW - preschoolers KW - macrostructure KW - microstructure Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.797602 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 13 PB - Frontiers Media SA CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - THES A1 - Zhou, Shuo T1 - Biological evaluation and sulfation of polymer networks from glycerol glycidyl ether N2 - Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death worldwide, and their prevalence is expected to rise in the coming years. Polymer-based artificial replacements have been widely used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Coagulation and thrombus formation on the interfaces between the materials and the human physiological environment are key issues leading to the failure of the medical device in clinical implantation. The surface properties of the materials have a strong influence on the protein adsorption and can direct the blood cell adhesion behavior on the interfaces. Furthermore, implant-associated infections will be induced by bacterial adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation at the implantation site. Thus, it is important to improve the hemocompatibility of an implant by altering the surface properties. One of the effective strategies is surface passivation to achieve protein/cell repelling ability to reduce the risk of thrombosis. This thesis consists of synthesis, functionalization, sterilization, and biological evaluation of bulk poly(glycerol glycidyl ether) (polyGGE), which is a highly crosslinked polyether-based polymer synthesized by cationic ring-opening polymerization. PolyGGE is hypothesized to be able to resist plasma protein adsorption and bacterial adhesion due to analogous chemical structure as polyethylene glycol and hyperbranched polyglycerol. Hydroxyl end groups of polyGGE provide possibilities to be functionalized with sulfates to mimic the anti-thrombogenic function of the endothelial glycocalyx. PolyGGE was synthesized by polymerization of the commercially available monomer glycerol glycidyl ether, which was characterized as a mixture of mono-, di- and tri-glycidyl ether. Cationic ring opening-polymerization of this monomer was carried out by ultraviolet (UV) initiation of the photo-initiator diphenyliodonium hexafluorophosphate. With the increased UV curing time, more epoxides in the side chains of the monomers participated in chemical crosslinking, resulting in an increase of Young’s modulus, while the value of elongation at break of polyGGE first increased due to the propagation of the polymer chains then decreased with the increase of crosslinking density. Eventually, the chain propagation can be effectively terminated by potassium hydroxide aqueous solution. PolyGGE exhibited different tensile properties in hydrated conditions at body temperature compared to the values in the dry state at room temperature. Both Young’s modulus and values of elongation at break were remarkably reduced when tested in water at 37 °C, which was above the glass transition temperature of polyGGE. At physiological conditions, entanglements of the ployGGE networks unfolded and the free volume of networks were replaced by water molecules as softener, which increased the mobility of the polymer chains, resulting in a lower Young’s modulus. Protein adsorption analysis was performed on polyGGE films with 30 min UV curing using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. PolyGGE could effectively prevent the adsorption of human plasma fibrinogen, albumin, and fibronectin at the interface of human plasma and polyGGE films. The protein resistance of polyGGE was comparable to the negative controls: the hemocompatible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), showing its potential as a coating material for cardiovascular implants. Moreover, antimicrobial tests of bacterial activity using isothermal microcalorimetry and the microscopic image of direct bacteria culturing demonstrated that polyGGE could directly interfere biofilm formation and growth of both Gram-negative and antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive bacteria, indicating the potential application of polyGGE for combating the risk of hospital-acquired infections and preventing drug-resistant superbug spreading. To investigate its cell compatibility, polyGGE films were extracted by different solvents (ethanol, chloroform, acetone) and cell culture medium. Indirect cytotoxicity tests showed extracted polyGGE films still had toxic effects on L929 fibroblast cells. High-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry revealed the occurrence of organochlorine-containing compounds released during the polymer-cell culture medium interaction. A constant level of those organochlorine-containing compounds was confirmed from GGE monomer by a specific peak of C-Cl stretching in infrared spectra of GGE. This is assumed to be the main reason causing the increased cell membrane permeability and decreased metabolic activity, leading to cell death. Attempts as changing solvents were made to remove toxic substances, however, the release of these small molecules seems to be sluggish. The densely crosslinked polyGGE networks can possibly contribute to the trapping of organochlorine-containing compounds. These results provide valuable information for exploring the potentially toxic substances, leaching from polyGGE networks, and propose a feasible strategy for minimizing the cytotoxicity via reducing their crosslinking density. Sulfamic acid/ N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) were selected as the reagents for the sulfation of polyGGE surfaces. Fourier transform attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR) was used to monitor the functionalization kinetics and the results confirmed the successful sulfate grafting on the surface of polyGGE with the covalent bond -C-O-S-. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to determine the element composition on the surface and the cross-section of the functionalized polyGGE and sulfation within 15 min guarantees the sulfation only takes place on the surface while not occurring in the bulk of the polymer. The concentration of grafted sulfates increased with the increasing reaction time. The hydrophilicity of the surface of polyGGE was highly increased due to the increase of negatively charged end groups. Three sterilization techniques including autoclaving, gamma irradiation, and ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization were used for polyGGE sulfates. Results from ATR-FT-IR and Toluidine Blue O quantitative assay demonstrated the total loss of the sulfates after autoclave sterilization, which was also confirmed by the increased water contact angle. Little influence on the concentration of sulfates was found for gamma-irradiated and autoclaving sterilized polyGGE sulfates. To investigate the thermal influence on polyGGE sulfates, one strategy was to use poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate) sulfates (PHEAS) for modeling. The thermogravimetric analysis profile of PHEAS demonstrated that sulfates are not thermally stable independent of the substrate materials and decomposition of sulfates occurs at around 100 °C. Although gamma irradiation also showed little negative effect on the sulfate content, the color change in the polyGGE sulfates indicates chemical or physical change might occur in the polymer. EtO sterilization was validated as the most suitable sterilization technique to maintain the chemical structure of polyGGE sulfates. In conclusion, the conducted work proved that bulk polyGGE can be used as an antifouling coating material and shows its antimicrobial potential. Sulfates functionalization can be effectively realized using sulfamic acid/NMP. EtO sterilization is the most suitable sterilization technique for grafted sulfates. Besides, this thesis also offers a good strategy for the analysis of toxic leachable substances using suitable physicochemical characterization techniques. Future work will focus on minimizing/eliminating the release of toxic substances via reducing the crosslinking density. Another interesting aspect is to study whether grafted sulfates can meet the need for anti-thrombogenicity. N2 - Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen sind weltweit die Haupttodesursache, und es wird erwartet, dass ihre Prävalenz in den kommenden Jahren zunehmen wird. Künstlicher Ersatz auf Polymerbasis wird in großem Umfang für die Behandlung von Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen eingesetzt. Gerinnung und Thrombenbildung an den Grenzflächen zwischen den Materialien und der menschlichen physiologischen Umgebung sind ein Hauptproblem, das zum Versagen des Medizinprodukts bei der klinischen Implantation führt. Die Oberflächeneigenschaften der Materialien haben einen starken Einfluss auf die Proteinadsorption und können das Adhäsionsverhalten von Blutzellen an den Grenzflächen steuern. Darüber hinaus werden Implantat-assoziierte Infektionen durch bakterielle Adhäsion und anschließende Biofilmbildung an der Implantationsstelle ausgelöst. Daher ist es wichtig, die Hämokompatibilität eines Implantats durch Veränderung der Oberflächeneigenschaften zu verbessern. Eine der wirksamen Strategien ist die Oberflächenpassivierung, um die Fähigkeit zur Protein-/Zellabweisung zu erreichen und so das Thromboserisiko zu verringern. Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit der Synthese, Funktionalisierung, Sterilisation und biologischen Bewertung von Poly(glycerin glycidyl ether) (polyGGE), einem stark vernetzten Polymer auf Polyetherbasis, das durch kationische Ringöffnungspolymerisation hergestellt wird. Es wird angenommen, dass PolyGGE aufgrund seiner ähnlichen chemischen Struktur wie Polyethylenglykol und hyperverzweigtes Polyglycerin der Adsorption von Plasmaproteinen und der Anhaftung von Bakterien widerstehen kann. Die Hydroxyl-Endgruppen von PolyGGE können mit Sulfaten funktionalisiert werden, um die antithrombogene Funktion der endothelialen Glykokalyx zu imitieren. PolyGGE wurde durch Polymerisation des kommerziell erhältlichen Monomers Glycerin Glycidyl ether synthetisiert, das als Mischung aus Mono-, Di- und Triglycidylether charakterisiert wurde. Die kationische Ringöffnungspolymerisation dieses Monomers wurde mit Hilfe des Photoinitiators Diphenyliodoniumhexafluorophosphat durch Ultraviolett (UV) ausgelöst. Mit zunehmender UV-Härtungszeit nahmen mehr Epoxide in den Seitenketten der Monomere an der chemischen Vernetzung teil, was zu einem Anstieg des Elastizitätsmoduls führte, während der Wert der Bruchdehnung von polyGGE zunächst aufgrund der Ausbreitung der Polymerketten anstieg und dann mit zunehmender Vernetzungsdichte abnahm. Schließlich kann die Kettenausbreitung durch wässrige Kaliumhydroxidlösung wirksam gestoppt werden. PolyGGE wies im hydratisierten Zustand bei Körpertemperatur andere Zugeigenschaften auf als im trockenen Zustand bei Raumtemperatur. Sowohl der Elastizitätsmodul als auch die Werte der Bruchdehnung waren deutlich reduziert, wenn sie in Wasser bei 37 °C getestet wurden, was oberhalb der Glasübergangstemperatur von PolyGGE lag. Unter physiologischen Bedingungen entfalteten sich die Verflechtungen der PolyGGE-Netzwerke und das freie Volumen der Netzwerke wurde durch Wassermoleküle als Weichmacher ersetzt, was die Mobilität der Polymerketten erhöhte und zu einem niedrigeren Elastizitätsmodul führte. Die Proteinadsorptionsanalyse wurde an PolyGGE-Filmen mit 30-minütiger UV-Härtung unter Verwendung eines Enzymimmunoassays durchgeführt. PolyGGE konnte die Adsorption von Fibrinogen, Albumin und Fibronektin aus menschlichem Plasma an der Grenzfläche zwischen menschlichem Plasma und PolyGGE-Filmen wirksam verhindern. Die Proteinresistenz von PolyGGE war vergleichbar mit den Negativkontrollen: dem hämokompatiblen Polydimethylsiloxan, was sein Potenzial als Beschichtungsmaterial für kardiovaskuläre Implantate zeigt. Darüber hinaus zeigten antimikrobielle Tests der bakteriellen Aktivität mittels isothermischer Mikrokalorimetrie und das mikroskopische Bild der direkten Bakterienkultur, dass PolyGGE die Biofilmbildung und das Wachstum sowohl von gramnegativen als auch von antibiotikaresistenten grampositiven Bakterien direkt stören kann, was auf die potenzielle Anwendung von PolyGGE zur Bekämpfung des Risikos von Krankenhausinfektionen und zur Verhinderung der Ausbreitung arzneimittelresistenter Superbugs hinweist. Um die Zellkompatibilität zu untersuchen, wurden polyGGE-Folien mit verschiedenen Lösungsmitteln (Ethanol, Chloroform, Aceton) und Zellkulturmedium extrahiert. Indirekte Zytotoxizitätstests zeigten, dass die extrahierten polyGGE-Filme immer noch eine toxische Wirkung auf L929-Fibroblastenzellen hatten. Die Hochleistungsflüssigkeitschromatographie/Elektrospray-Ionisations-Massenspektrometrie zeigte das Auftreten von chlororganischen Derivaten, die während der Interaktion zwischen Polymer und Zellkulturmedium freigesetzt wurden. Ein konstantes Niveau dieser chlororganischen Derivate wurde vom GGE-Monomer durch einen spezifischen C-Cl-Streckungspeak im Infrarotspektrum von GGE bestätigt. Es wird angenommen, dass dies der Hauptgrund für die erhöhte Permeabilität der Zellmembran und die verringerte Stoffwechselaktivität ist, was zum Zelltod führt. Es wurden Versuche unternommen, die Lösungsmittel zu wechseln, um die toxischen Substanzen zu entfernen, aber die Freisetzung dieser kleinen Moleküle scheint nur langsam zu erfolgen. Die dicht vernetzten polyGGE-Netzwerke können möglicherweise zum Einschluss chloridhaltiger Verbindungen beitragen. Diese Ergebnisse liefern wertvolle Informationen für die Erforschung potenzieller toxischer Substanzen, die aus PolyGGE-Netzwerken ausgewaschen werden, und schlagen eine praktikable Strategie zur Minimierung der Zytotoxizität durch Verringerung der Vernetzungsdichte vor. Als Reagenzien für die Sulfatierung von PolyGGE-Oberflächen wurden Sulfaminsäure und N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidon (NMP) gewählt. Die Fourier-Transformations-Infrarotspektroskopie mit abgeschwächter Totalreflexion (ATR-FT-IR) wurde zur Überwachung der Funktionalisierungskinetik eingesetzt, und die Ergebnisse bestätigten die erfolgreiche Sulfatpfropfung auf der Oberfläche von PolyGGE mit der kovalenten Bindung -C-O-S-. Mit Hilfe der Röntgen-Photoelektronenspektroskopie wurde die Elementzusammensetzung auf der Oberfläche und der Querschnitt des funktionalisierten PolyGGE bestimmt, und die Sulfatierung innerhalb von 15 Minuten garantiert, dass die Sulfatierung nur auf der Oberfläche stattfindet, während sie in der Masse des Polymers nicht vorkommt. Die Konzentration der gepfropften Sulfate nahm mit zunehmender Reaktionszeit zu. Die Hydrophilie der Oberfläche von polyGGE wurde durch die Zunahme negativ geladener Endgruppen stark erhöht. Für die PolyGGE-Sulfate wurden drei Sterilisationstechniken verwendet: Autoklavieren, Gammastrahlenbestrahlung und Ethylenoxid (EtO)-Sterilisation. Die Ergebnisse der quantitativen ATR-FT-IR und Toluidinblau O-Untersuchung zeigten den vollständigen Verlust der Sulfate nach der Sterilisation im Autoklaven, was auch durch den erhöhten Wasserkontaktwinkel bestätigt wurde. Bei den mit Gammastrahlen und im Autoklaven sterilisierten PolyGGE-Sulfaten wurde nur ein geringer Einfluss auf die Sulfatkonzentration festgestellt. Um den thermischen Einfluss auf PolyGGE-Sulfate zu untersuchen, bestand eine Strategie darin, ein Poly(hydroxyethylacrylat)-Sulfat (PHEAS) für die Modellierung zu verwenden. Das Profil der thermogravimetrischen Analyse von PHEAS zeigte, dass Sulfate unabhängig von den Substratmaterialien thermisch nicht stabil sind und die Zersetzung der Sulfate bei etwa 100 °C stattfindet. Obwohl die Gammasterilisation ebenfalls kaum negative Auswirkungen auf den Sulfatgehalt hat, deutet die Farbveränderung der PolyGGE-Sulfate darauf hin, dass chemische oder physikalische Veränderungen im Polymer auftreten könnten. Die EtO-Sterilisation erwies sich als die am besten geeignete Sterilisationstechnik, um die chemische Struktur der PolyGGE-Sulfate zu erhalten. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die durchgeführte Arbeit bewiesen hat, dass PolyGGE als Antifouling-Beschichtungsmaterial verwendet werden kann und sein antimikrobielles Potenzial zeigt. Die Funktionalisierung der Sulfate kann mit Sulfaminsäure/NMP effektiv durchgeführt werden. Die EtO-Sterilisation ist die am besten geeignete Sterilisationstechnik für gepfropfte Sulfate. Darüber hinaus bietet diese Arbeit auch eine gute Strategie für die Analyse toxischer auslaugbarer Substanzen mit Hilfe geeigneter physikalisch-chemischer Charakterisierungstechniken. Zukünftige Arbeiten werden sich darauf konzentrieren, die Freisetzung toxischer Substanzen durch Verringerung der Vernetzungsdichte zu minimieren bzw. zu eliminieren. Ein weiterer interessanter Aspekt ist die Untersuchung, ob gepfropfte Sulfate den Anforderungen an die Anti-Thrombogenität gerecht werden können. KW - Sulfation KW - Antifouling KW - antimicrobial KW - Polyether Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Quarmby, Andrew A1 - Mönnig, Jamal A1 - Mugele, Hendrik A1 - Henschke, Jakob A1 - Kim, MyoungHwee A1 - Cassel, Michael A1 - Engel, Tilman T1 - Biomechanics and lower limb function are altered in athletes and runners with achilles tendinopathy compared with healthy controls: A systematic review JF - Frontiers in Sports and Active Living N2 - Achilles tendinopathy (AT) is a debilitating injury in athletes, especially for those engaged in repetitive stretch-shortening cycle activities. Clinical risk factors are numerous, but it has been suggested that altered biomechanics might be associated with AT. No systematic review has been conducted investigating these biomechanical alterations in specifically athletic populations. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to compare the lower-limb biomechanics of athletes with AT to athletically matched asymptomatic controls. Databases were searched for relevant studies investigating biomechanics during gait activities and other motor tasks such as hopping, isolated strength tasks, and reflex responses. Inclusion criteria for studies were an AT diagnosis in at least one group, cross-sectional or prospective data, at least one outcome comparing biomechanical data between an AT and healthy group, and athletic populations. Studies were excluded if patients had Achilles tendon rupture/surgery, participants reported injuries other than AT, and when only within-subject data was available.. Effect sizes (Cohen's d) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for relevant outcomes. The initial search yielded 4,442 studies. After screening, twenty studies (775 total participants) were synthesised, reporting on a wide range of biomechanical outcomes. Females were under-represented and patients in the AT group were three years older on average. Biomechanical alterations were identified in some studies during running, hopping, jumping, strength tasks and reflex activity. Equally, several biomechanical variables studied were not associated with AT in included studies, indicating a conflicting picture. Kinematics in AT patients appeared to be altered in the lower limb, potentially indicating a pattern of “medial collapse”. Muscular activity of the calf and hips was different between groups, whereby AT patients exhibited greater calf electromyographic amplitudes despite lower plantar flexor strength. Overall, dynamic maximal strength of the plantar flexors, and isometric strength of the hips might be reduced in the AT group. This systematic review reports on several biomechanical alterations in athletes with AT. With further research, these factors could potentially form treatment targets for clinicians, although clinical approaches should take other contributing health factors into account. The studies included were of low quality, and currently no solid conclusions can be drawn. KW - achilles tendinopathy KW - biomechanics KW - neuromuscular KW - kinetics KW - electromyography KW - athletes KW - runners KW - kinematics Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2022.1012471 SN - 2624-9367 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lindner, Nadja A1 - Moeller, Korbinian A1 - Hildebrandt, Frauke A1 - Hasselhorn, Marcus A1 - Lonnemann, Jan T1 - Children's use of egocentric reference frames in spatial language is related to their numerical magnitude understanding JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - Numerical magnitude information is assumed to be spatially represented in the form of a mental number line defined with respect to a body-centred, egocentric frame of reference. In this context, spatial language skills such as mastery of verbal descriptions of spatial position (e.g., in front of, behind, to the right/left) have been proposed to be relevant for grasping spatial relations between numerical magnitudes on the mental number line. We examined 4- to 5-year-old’s spatial language skills in tasks that allow responses in egocentric and allocentric frames of reference, as well as their relative understanding of numerical magnitude (assessed by a number word comparison task). In addition, we evaluated influences of children’s absolute understanding of numerical magnitude assessed by their number word comprehension (montring different numbers using their fingers) and of their knowledge on numerical sequences (determining predecessors and successors as well as identifying missing dice patterns of a series). Results indicated that when considering responses that corresponded to the egocentric perspective, children’s spatial language was associated significantly with their relative numerical magnitude understanding, even after controlling for covariates, such as children’s SES, mental rotation skills, and also absolute magnitude understanding or knowledge on numerical sequences. This suggests that the use of egocentric reference frames in spatial language may facilitate spatial representation of numbers along a mental number line and thus seem important for preschoolers’ relative understanding of numerical magnitude. KW - spatial language KW - frames of reference KW - numerical development KW - mental number line KW - preschool children Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.943191 SN - 1664-1078 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marimon Tarter, Mireia A1 - Hofmann, Andrea A1 - Veríssimo, Joao Marques A1 - Männel, Claudia A1 - Friederici, Angela Dorkas A1 - Höhle, Barbara A1 - Wartenburger, Isabell T1 - Children’s Learning of Non-adjacent Dependencies Using a Web-Based Computer Game Setting JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - Infants show impressive speech decoding abilities and detect acoustic regularities that highlight the syntactic relations of a language, often coded via non-adjacent dependencies (NADs, e.g., is singing). It has been claimed that infants learn NADs implicitly and associatively through passive listening and that there is a shift from effortless associative learning to a more controlled learning of NADs after the age of 2 years, potentially driven by the maturation of the prefrontal cortex. To investigate if older children are able to learn NADs, Lammertink et al. (2019) recently developed a word-monitoring serial reaction time (SRT) task and could show that 6–11-year-old children learned the NADs, as their reaction times (RTs) increased then they were presented with violated NADs. In the current study we adapted their experimental paradigm and tested NAD learning in a younger group of 52 children between the age of 4–8 years in a remote, web-based, game-like setting (whack-a-mole). Children were exposed to Italian phrases containing NADs and had to monitor the occurrence of a target syllable, which was the second element of the NAD. After exposure, children did a “Stem Completion” task in which they were presented with the first element of the NAD and had to choose the second element of the NAD to complete the stimuli. Our findings show that, despite large variability in the data, children aged 4–8 years are sensitive to NADs; they show the expected differences in r RTs in the SRT task and could transfer the NAD-rule in the Stem Completion task. We discuss these results with respect to the development of NAD dependency learning in childhood and the practical impact and limitations of collecting these data in a web-based setting. KW - non-adjacent dependencies KW - rule learning KW - web-based KW - implicit learning KW - serial reaction time (SRT) task KW - SRT Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.734877 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kühne, Franziska A1 - Fauth, Henriette A1 - Destina Sevde, Ay-Bryson A1 - Visser, Leonie N.C. A1 - Weck, Florian T1 - Communicating the diagnosis of cancer or depression: Results of a randomized controlled online study using video vignettes JF - Cancer Medicine N2 - Background Communicating a diagnosis is highly important, yet complex, especially in the context of cancer and mental disorders. The aim was to explore the communication style of an oncologist vs. psychotherapist in an online study. Methods Patients (N = 136: 65 cancer, 71 depression) were randomly assigned to watch a standardized video vignette with one of two communication styles (empathic vs. unempathic). Outcome measures of affectivity, information recall, communication skills, empathy and trust were applied. Results Regardless of diagnosis, empathic communication was associated with the perception of a significantly more empathic (p < 0.001, η2partial = 0.08) and trustworthy practitioner (p = 0.014, η2partial = 0.04) with better communication skills (p = 0.013, η2partial = 0.05). Cancer patients reported a larger decrease in positive affect (p < 0.001, η2partial = 0.15) and a larger increase in negative affect (p < 0.001, η2partial = 0.14) from pre- to post-video than depressive patients. Highly relevant information was recalled better in both groups (p < 0.001, d = 0.61–1.06). Conclusions The results highlight the importance of empathy while communicating both a diagnosis of cancer and a mental disorder. Further research should focus on the communication of a mental disorder in association with cancer. KW - consultation KW - mental health KW - oncology KW - psycho-oncology KW - skills Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.4396 SN - 2045-7634 VL - 10 SP - 9012 EP - 9021 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken, New Jersey, USA ET - 24 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weithoff, Guntram A1 - Bell, Elanor Margaret T1 - Complex Trophic Interactions in an Acidophilic Microbial Community JF - Microorganisms N2 - Extreme habitats often harbor specific communities that differ substantially from non-extreme habitats. In many cases, these communities are characterized by archaea, bacteria and protists, whereas the number of species of metazoa and higher plants is relatively low. In extremely acidic habitats, mostly prokaryotes and protists thrive, and only very few metazoa thrive, for example, rotifers. Since many studies have investigated the physiology and ecology of individual species, there is still a gap in research on direct, trophic interactions among extremophiles. To fill this gap, we experimentally studied the trophic interactions between a predatory protist (Actinophrys sol, Heliozoa) and its prey, the rotifers Elosa woralli and Cephalodella sp., the ciliate Urosomoida sp. and the mixotrophic protist Chlamydomonas acidophila (a green phytoflagellate, Chlorophyta). We found substantial predation pressure on all animal prey. High densities of Chlamydomonas acidophila reduced the predation impact on the rotifers by interfering with the feeding behaviour of A. sol. These trophic relations represent a natural case of intraguild predation, with Chlamydomonas acidophila being the common prey and the rotifers/ciliate and A. sol being the intraguild prey and predator, respectively. We further studied this intraguild predation along a resource gradient using Cephalodella sp. as the intraguild prey. The interactions among the three species led to an increase in relative rotifer abundance with increasing resource (Chlamydomonas) densities. By applying a series of laboratory experiments, we revealed the complexity of trophic interactions within a natural extremophilic community. KW - acid mine drainage KW - extremophiles KW - food web KW - heliozoa KW - intraguild predation KW - mining lakes KW - Rotifera Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10071340 SN - 2076-2607 VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Perscheid, Cindy T1 - Comprior BT - Facilitating the implementation and automated benchmarking of prior knowledge-based feature selection approaches on gene expression data sets JF - BMC Bioinformatics N2 - Background Reproducible benchmarking is important for assessing the effectiveness of novel feature selection approaches applied on gene expression data, especially for prior knowledge approaches that incorporate biological information from online knowledge bases. However, no full-fledged benchmarking system exists that is extensible, provides built-in feature selection approaches, and a comprehensive result assessment encompassing classification performance, robustness, and biological relevance. Moreover, the particular needs of prior knowledge feature selection approaches, i.e. uniform access to knowledge bases, are not addressed. As a consequence, prior knowledge approaches are not evaluated amongst each other, leaving open questions regarding their effectiveness. Results We present the Comprior benchmark tool, which facilitates the rapid development and effortless benchmarking of feature selection approaches, with a special focus on prior knowledge approaches. Comprior is extensible by custom approaches, offers built-in standard feature selection approaches, enables uniform access to multiple knowledge bases, and provides a customizable evaluation infrastructure to compare multiple feature selection approaches regarding their classification performance, robustness, runtime, and biological relevance. Conclusion Comprior allows reproducible benchmarking especially of prior knowledge approaches, which facilitates their applicability and for the first time enables a comprehensive assessment of their effectiveness KW - Feature selection KW - Prior knowledge KW - Gene expression KW - Reproducible benchmarking Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12859-021-04308-z SN - 1471-2105 VL - 22 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bouamra, Marwa A1 - Zouhal, Hassane A1 - Ratel, Sébastien A1 - Makhlouf, Issam A1 - Bezrati, Ikram A1 - Chtara, Moktar A1 - Behm, David George A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Chaouachi, Anis T1 - Concurrent Training Promotes Greater Gains on Body Composition and Components of Physical Fitness Than Single-Mode Training (Endurance or Resistance) in Youth With Obesity JF - Frontiers in Physiology N2 - The prevalence of obesity in the pediatric population has become a major public health issue. Indeed, the dramatic increase of this epidemic causes multiple and harmful consequences, Physical activity, particularly physical exercise, remains to be the cornerstone of interventions against childhood obesity. Given the conflicting findings with reference to the relevant literature addressing the effects of exercise on adiposity and physical fitness outcomes in obese children and adolescents, the effect of duration-matched concurrent training (CT) [50% resistance (RT) and 50% high-intensity-interval-training (HIIT)] on body composition and physical fitness in obese youth remains to be elucidated. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of 9-weeks of CT compared to RT or HIIT alone, on body composition and selected physical fitness components in healthy sedentary obese youth. Out of 73 participants, only 37; [14 males and 23 females; age 13.4 ± 0.9 years; body-mass-index (BMI): 31.2 ± 4.8 kg·m-2] were eligible and randomized into three groups: HIIT (n = 12): 3-4 sets×12 runs at 80–110% peak velocity, with 10-s passive recovery between bouts; RT (n = 12): 6 exercises; 3–4 sets × 10 repetition maximum (RM) and CT (n = 13): 50% serial completion of RT and HIIT. CT promoted significant greater gains compared to HIIT and RT on body composition (p < 0.01, d = large), 6-min-walking test distance (6 MWT-distance) and on 6 MWT-VO2max (p < 0.03, d = large). In addition, CT showed substantially greater improvements than HIIT in the medicine ball throw test (20.2 vs. 13.6%, p < 0.04, d = large). On the other hand, RT exhibited significantly greater gains in relative hand grip strength (p < 0.03, d = large) and CMJ (p < 0.01, d = large) than HIIT and CT. CT promoted greater benefits for fat, body mass loss and cardiorespiratory fitness than HIIT or RT modalities. This study provides important information for practitioners and therapists on the application of effective exercise regimes with obese youth to induce significant and beneficial body composition changes. The applied CT program and the respective programming parameters in terms of exercise intensity and volume can be used by practitioners as an effective exercise treatment to fight the pandemic overweight and obesity in youth. KW - weight loss KW - adolescents KW - high-intensity-interval training KW - resistance training KW - DXA KW - matched time Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.869063 SN - 1664-042X VL - 13 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kindermann, Liana A1 - Dobler, Magnus A1 - Niedeggen, Daniela A1 - Chimbioputo Fabiano, Ezequiel A1 - Linstädter, Anja T1 - Dataset on woody aboveground biomass, disturbance losses, and wood density from an African savanna ecosystem JF - Data in Brief N2 - This dataset comprises tree inventories and damage assessments performed in Namibia's semi-arid Zambezi Region. Data were sampled in savannas and savanna woodlands along steep gradients of elephant population densities to capture the effects of those (and other) disturbances on individual-level and stand-level aboveground woody biomass (AGB). The dataset contains raw data on dendrometric measures and processed data on specific wood density (SWD), woody aboveground biomass, and biomass losses through disturbance impacts. Allometric proxies (height, canopy diameters, and in adult trees also stem circumferences) were recorded for n = 6,179 tree and shrub individuals. Wood samples were taken for each encountered species to measure specific wood density. These measurements have been used to estimate woody aboveground biomass via established allometric models, advanced through our improved methodologies and workflows that accounted for tree and shrub architecture shaped by disturbance impacts. To this end, we performed a detailed damage assessment on each woody individual in the field. In addition to estimations of standing biomass, our new method also delivered data on biomass losses to different disturbance agents (elephants, fire, and others) on the level of plant individuals and stands. The data presented here have been used within a study published with Ecological Indicators (Kindermann et al., 2022) to evaluate the benefits of our improved methodology in comparison to a standard reference method of aboveground biomass estimations. Additionally, it has been employed in a study on carbon storage and sequestration in vegetation and soils (Sandhage-Hofmann et al., 2021). The raw data of dendrometric measurements can be subjected to other available allometric models for biomass estimation. The processed data can be used to analyze disturbance impacts on woody aboveground biomass, or for regional carbon storage estimates. The data on species-specific wood density can be used for application to other dendrometric datasets to (re-) estimate biomass through allometric models requiring wood density. It can further be used for plant functional trait analyses. KW - Damage assessment KW - Disturbance impacts KW - Disturbance indicator KW - Elephant disturbance KW - Tree allometry KW - Specific wood density KW - Woody aboveground biomass KW - Wood specific gravity Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2022.108155 SN - 2352-3409 VL - 42 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam, Niederlande ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kayhan, Ezgi A1 - Matthes, Daniel A1 - Marriott Haresign, Ira A1 - Bánki, Anna A1 - Michel, Christine A1 - Langeloh, Miriam A1 - Wass, Sam A1 - Hoehl, Stefanie T1 - DEEP: A dual EEG pipeline for developmental hyperscanning studies JF - Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience N2 - Cutting-edge hyperscanning methods led to a paradigm shift in social neuroscience. It allowed researchers to measure dynamic mutual alignment of neural processes between two or more individuals in naturalistic contexts. The ever-growing interest in hyperscanning research calls for the development of transparent and validated data analysis methods to further advance the field. We have developed and tested a dual electroencephalography (EEG) analysis pipeline, namely DEEP. Following the preprocessing of the data, DEEP allows users to calculate Phase Locking Values (PLVs) and cross-frequency PLVs as indices of inter-brain phase alignment of dyads as well as time-frequency responses and EEG power for each participant. The pipeline also includes scripts to control for spurious correlations. Our goal is to contribute to open and reproducible science practices by making DEEP publicly available together with an example mother-infant EEG hyperscanning dataset. KW - Developmental hyperscanning KW - Dual EEG analysis KW - Adult-child interaction KW - Phase Locking Value KW - PLV KW - Cross-frequency PLV KW - FieldTrip Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101104 SN - 1878-9307 VL - 54 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam, Niederlande ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ziegler, Joceline A1 - Pfitzner, Bjarne A1 - Schulz, Heinrich A1 - Saalbach, Axel A1 - Arnrich, Bert T1 - Defending against Reconstruction Attacks through Differentially Private Federated Learning for Classification of Heterogeneous Chest X-ray Data JF - Sensors N2 - Privacy regulations and the physical distribution of heterogeneous data are often primary concerns for the development of deep learning models in a medical context. This paper evaluates the feasibility of differentially private federated learning for chest X-ray classification as a defense against data privacy attacks. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to directly compare the impact of differentially private training on two different neural network architectures, DenseNet121 and ResNet50. Extending the federated learning environments previously analyzed in terms of privacy, we simulated a heterogeneous and imbalanced federated setting by distributing images from the public CheXpert and Mendeley chest X-ray datasets unevenly among 36 clients. Both non-private baseline models achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.940.94 on the binary classification task of detecting the presence of a medical finding. We demonstrate that both model architectures are vulnerable to privacy violation by applying image reconstruction attacks to local model updates from individual clients. The attack was particularly successful during later training stages. To mitigate the risk of a privacy breach, we integrated Rényi differential privacy with a Gaussian noise mechanism into local model training. We evaluate model performance and attack vulnerability for privacy budgets ε∈{1,3,6,10}�∈{1,3,6,10}. The DenseNet121 achieved the best utility-privacy trade-off with an AUC of 0.940.94 for ε=6�=6. Model performance deteriorated slightly for individual clients compared to the non-private baseline. The ResNet50 only reached an AUC of 0.760.76 in the same privacy setting. Its performance was inferior to that of the DenseNet121 for all considered privacy constraints, suggesting that the DenseNet121 architecture is more robust to differentially private training. KW - federated learning KW - privacy and security KW - privacy attack KW - X-ray Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/s22145195 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 22 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 14 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boeker, Sonja A1 - Hermanussen, Michael A1 - Scheffler, Christiane T1 - Dental age is an independent marker of biological age JF - Human biology and public health N2 - Background: Biological age markers are a crucial indicator whether children are decelerated in growth tempo. Skeletal maturation is the standard measure. Yet, it relies on exposing children to x-radiation. Dental eruption is a potential, but highly debated, radiation free alternative.  Objectives: We assess the interrelationship between dental eruption and other maturational markers. We hypothesize that dental age correlates with body height and skeletal age. We further evaluate how the three different variables behave in cohorts from differing social backgrounds. Sample and Method: Dental, skeletal and height data from the 1970s to 1990s from Guatemalan boys were converted into standard deviation scores, using external references for each measurement. The boys, aged between 7 and 12, derived from different social backgrounds (middle SES (N = 6529), low-middle SES (N = 736), low SES Ladino (N = 3653) and low SES Maya (N = 4587). Results: Dental age shows only a weak correlation with skeletal age (0.18) and height (0.2). The distinction between cohorts differs according to each of the three measurements. All cohorts differ significantly in height. In skeletal maturation, the middle SES cohort is significantly advanced compared to all other cohorts. The periodically malnourished cohorts of low SES Mayas and Ladinos are significantly delayed in dental maturation compared to the well-nourished low-middle and middle class Ladino children. Conclusion: Dental development is an independent system, that is regulated by different mechanisms than skeletal development and growth. Tooth eruption is sensitive to nutritional status, whereas skeletal age is more sensitive to socioeconomic background. KW - dental eruption KW - biological age KW - skeletal age KW - growth tempo KW - maturation KW - malnutrition Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2021.3.24 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2021 IS - 3, Summer School Supplement PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rancan, Fiorenza A1 - Volkmann, Hildburg A1 - Giulbudagian, Michael A1 - Schumacher, Fabian A1 - Stanko, Jessica Isolde A1 - Kleuser, Burkhard A1 - Blume-Peytavi, Ulrike A1 - Calderon, Marcelo A1 - Vogt, Annika T1 - Dermal Delivery of the High-Molecular-Weight Drug Tacrolimus by Means of Polyglycerol-Based Nanogels JF - Pharmaceutics : Molecular Diversity Preservation International N2 - Polyglycerol-based thermoresponsive nanogels (tNGs) have been shown to have excellent skin hydration properties and to be valuable delivery systems for sustained release of drugs into skin. In this study, we compared the skin penetration of tacrolimus formulated in tNGs with a commercial 0.1% tacrolimus ointment. The penetration of the drug was investigated in ex vivo abdominal and breast skin, while different methods for skin barrier disruption were investigated to improve skin permeability or simulate inflammatory conditions with compromised skin barrier. The amount of penetrated tacrolimus was measured in skin extracts by liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), whereas the inflammatory markers IL-6 and IL-8 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Higher amounts of tacrolimus penetrated in breast as compared to abdominal skin or in barrier-disrupted as compared to intact skin, confirming that the stratum corneum is the main barrier for tacrolimus skin penetration. The anti-proliferative effect of the penetrated drug was measured in skin tissue/Jurkat cells co-cultures. Interestingly, tNGs exhibited similar anti-proliferative effects as the 0.1% tacrolimus ointment. We conclude that polyglycerol-based nanogels represent an interesting alternative to paraffin-based formulations for the treatment of inflammatory skin conditions. KW - tacrolimus formulation KW - nanogels KW - skin penetration KW - drug delivery KW - human excised skin KW - Jurkat cells Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics11080394 SN - 1999-4923 VL - 11 IS - 8 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sagu Tchewonpi, Sorel A1 - Huschek, Gerd A1 - Waldbach Braga, Tess A1 - Rackiewicz, Michal A1 - Homann, Thomas A1 - Rawel, Harshadrai Manilal T1 - Design of Experiment (DoE) for Optimization of HPLC Conditions for the Simultaneous Fractionation of Seven α-Amylase/Trypsin Inhibitors from Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) JF - Processes : open access journal N2 - Wheat alpha-amylase/trypsin inhibitors remain a subject of interest considering the latest findings showing their implication in wheat-related non-celiac sensitivity (NCWS). Understanding their functions in such a disorder is still unclear and for further study, the need for pure ATI molecules is one of the limiting problems. In this work, a simplified approach based on the successive fractionation of ATI extracts by reverse phase and ion exchange chromatography was developed. ATIs were first extracted from wheat flour using a combination of Tris buffer and chloroform/methanol methods. The separation of the extracts on a C18 column generated two main fractions of interest F1 and F2. The response surface methodology with the Doehlert design allowed optimizing the operating parameters of the strong anion exchange chromatography. Finally, the seven major wheat ATIs namely P01083, P17314, P16850, P01085, P16851, P16159, and P83207 were recovered with purity levels (according to the targeted LC-MS/MS analysis) of 98.2 ± 0.7; 98.1 ± 0.8; 97.9 ± 0.5; 95.1 ± 0.8; 98.3 ± 0.4; 96.9 ± 0.5, and 96.2 ± 0.4%, respectively. MALDI-TOF-MS analysis revealed single peaks in each of the pure fractions and the mass analysis yielded deviations of 0.4, 1.9, 0.1, 0.2, 0.2, 0.9, and 0.1% between the theoretical and the determined masses of P01083, P17314, P16850, P01085, P16851, P16159, and P83207, respectively. Overall, the study allowed establishing an efficient purification process of the most important wheat ATIs. This paves the way for further in-depth investigation of the ATIs to gain more knowledge related to their involvement in NCWS disease and to allow the absolute quantification in wheat samples. KW - wheat KW - α-amylase/trypsin inhibitors KW - fractionation KW - purification KW - reversed-phase chromatography KW - ion-exchange chromatography KW - design of experiment KW - LC–MS/MS KW - MALDI-TOF-MS Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10020259 SN - 2227-9717 VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dragičević, Nikolina A1 - Vladova, Gergana A1 - Ullrich, André T1 - Design thinking capabilities in the digital world BT - A bibliometric analysis of emerging trends JF - Frontiers in Education N2 - Recent research suggests that design thinking practices may foster the development of needed capabilities in new digitalised landscapes. However, existing publications represent individual contributions, and we lack a holistic understanding of the value of design thinking in a digital world. No review, to date, has offered a holistic retrospection of this research. In response, in this bibliometric review, we aim to shed light on the intellectual structure of multidisciplinary design thinking literature related to capabilities relevant to the digital world in higher education and business settings, highlight current trends and suggest further studies to advance theoretical and empirical underpinnings. Our study addresses this aim using bibliometric methods—bibliographic coupling and co-word analysis as they are particularly suitable for identifying current trends and future research priorities at the forefront of the research. Overall, bibliometric analyses of the publications dealing with the related topics published in the last 10 years (extracted from the Web of Science database) expose six trends and two possible future research developments highlighting the expanding scope of the design thinking scientific field related to capabilities required for the (more sustainable and human-centric) digital world. Relatedly, design thinking becomes a relevant approach to be included in higher education curricula and human resources training to prepare students and workers for the changing work demands. This paper is well-suited for education and business practitioners seeking to embed design thinking capabilities in their curricula and for design thinking and other scholars wanting to understand the field and possible directions for future research. KW - design thinking KW - digital technologies KW - digital transformation KW - capabilities KW - skills Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.1012478 SN - 2504-284X VL - 7 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schaefer, Laura A1 - Dech, Silas A1 - Aehle, Markus A1 - Bittmann, Frank T1 - Disgusting odours affect the characteristics of the adaptive force in contrast to neutral and pleasant odours JF - Scientific Reports N2 - The olfactomotor system is especially investigated by examining the sniffing in reaction to olfactory stimuli. The motor output of respiratory-independent muscles was seldomly considered regarding possible influences of smells. The Adaptive Force (AF) characterizes the capability of the neuromuscular system to adapt to external forces in a holding manner and was suggested to be more vulnerable to possible interfering stimuli due to the underlying complex control processes. The aim of this pilot study was to measure the effects of olfactory inputs on the AF of the hip and elbow flexors, respectively. The AF of 10 subjects was examined manually by experienced testers while smelling at sniffing sticks with neutral, pleasant or disgusting odours. The reaction force and the limb position were recorded by a handheld device. The results show, inter alia, a significantly lower maximal isometric AF and a significantly higher AF at the onset of oscillations by perceiving disgusting odours compared to pleasant or neutral odours (p < 0.001). The adaptive holding capacity seems to reflect the functionality of the neuromuscular control, which can be impaired by disgusting olfactory inputs. An undisturbed functioning neuromuscular system appears to be characterized by a proper length tension control and by an earlier onset of mutual oscillations during an external force increase. This highlights the strong connection of olfaction and motor control also regarding respiratory-independent muscles. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95759-0 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 11 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grebenkov, Denis S. A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Oshanin, Gleb T1 - Distribution of first-reaction times with target regions on boundaries of shell-like domains JF - New Journal of Physics (NJP) N2 - We study the probability density function (PDF) of the first-reaction times between a diffusive ligand and a membrane-bound, immobile imperfect target region in a restricted 'onion-shell' geometry bounded by two nested membranes of arbitrary shapes. For such a setting, encountered in diverse molecular signal transduction pathways or in the narrow escape problem with additional steric constraints, we derive an exact spectral form of the PDF, as well as present its approximate form calculated by help of the so-called self-consistent approximation. For a particular case when the nested domains are concentric spheres, we get a fully explicit form of the approximated PDF, assess the accuracy of this approximation, and discuss various facets of the obtained distributions. Our results can be straightforwardly applied to describe the PDF of the terminal reaction event in multi-stage signal transduction processes. KW - diffusion KW - first-passage time KW - first-reaction time KW - shell-like geometries KW - approximate methods Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac4282 SN - 1367-2630 VL - 2021 SP - 1 EP - 23 PB - IOP Publishing CY - London ET - 23 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stone, Kate A1 - Vasishth, Shravan A1 - Malsburg, Titus von der T1 - Does entropy modulate the prediction of German long-distance verb particles? JF - PLOS ONE N2 - In this paper we examine the effect of uncertainty on readers’ predictions about meaning. In particular, we were interested in how uncertainty might influence the likelihood of committing to a specific sentence meaning. We conducted two event-related potential (ERP) experiments using particle verbs such as turn down and manipulated uncertainty by constraining the context such that readers could be either highly certain about the identity of a distant verb particle, such as turn the bed […] down, or less certain due to competing particles, such as turn the music […] up/down. The study was conducted in German, where verb particles appear clause-finally and may be separated from the verb by a large amount of material. We hypothesised that this separation would encourage readers to predict the particle, and that high certainty would make prediction of a specific particle more likely than lower certainty. If a specific particle was predicted, this would reflect a strong commitment to sentence meaning that should incur a higher processing cost if the prediction is wrong. If a specific particle was less likely to be predicted, commitment should be weaker and the processing cost of a wrong prediction lower. If true, this could suggest that uncertainty discourages predictions via an unacceptable cost-benefit ratio. However, given the clear predictions made by the literature, it was surprisingly unclear whether the uncertainty manipulation affected the two ERP components studied, the N400 and the PNP. Bayes factor analyses showed that evidence for our a priori hypothesised effect sizes was inconclusive, although there was decisive evidence against a priori hypothesised effect sizes larger than 1μV for the N400 and larger than 3μV for the PNP. We attribute the inconclusive finding to the properties of verb-particle dependencies that differ from the verb-noun dependencies in which the N400 and PNP are often studied. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267813 SN - 1932-6203 SP - 1 EP - 25 PB - PLOS ONE CY - San Francisco, California, US ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Thonig, Richard A1 - Del Rio, Pablo A1 - Kiefer, Christoph A1 - Lazaro Touza, Lara A1 - Escribano, Gonzalo A1 - Lechon, Yolanda A1 - Spaeth, Leonhard A1 - Wolf, Ingo A1 - Lilliestam, Johan T1 - Does ideology influence the ambition level of climate and renewable energy policy? BT - Insights from four European countries JF - Energy sources, part B: economics, planning, and policy N2 - We investigate whether political ideology has an observable effect on decarbonization ambition, renewable power aims, and preferences for power system balancing technologies in four European countries. Based on the Energy Logics framework, we identify ideologically different transition strategies (state-centered, market-centered, grassroots-centered) contained in government policies and opposition party programs valid in 2019. We compare these policies and programs with citizen poll data. We find that ideology has a small effect: governments and political parties across the spectrum have similar, and relatively ambitious, decarbonization and renewables targets. This mirrors citizens' strong support for ambitious action regardless of their ideological self-description. However, whereas political positions on phasing out fossil fuel power are clear across the policy space, positions on phasing in new flexibility options to balance intermittent renewables are vague or non-existent. As parties and citizens agree on strong climate and renewable power aims, the policy ambition is likely to remain high, even if governments change. KW - political ideology KW - climate policy KW - energy policy KW - europe KW - european KW - Union KW - renewable energy KW - flexibility Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/15567249.2020.1811806 SN - 1556-7249 SN - 1556-7257 VL - 16 IS - 1 SP - 4 EP - 22 PB - Taylor & Francis Group CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Poltz, Nadine A1 - Quandte, Sabine A1 - Kohn, Juliane A1 - Kucian, Karin A1 - Wyschkon, Anne A1 - von Aster, Michael A1 - Esser, Günter T1 - Does It Count? Pre-School Children’s Spontaneous Focusing on Numerosity and Their Development of Arithmetical Skills at School JF - Brain Sciences N2 - Background: Children’s spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) is related to numerical skills. This study aimed to examine (1) the developmental trajectory of SFON and (2) the interrelations between SFON and early numerical skills at pre-school as well as their influence on arithmetical skills at school. Method: Overall, 1868 German pre-school children were repeatedly assessed until second grade. Nonverbal intelligence, visual attention, visuospatial working memory, SFON and numerical skills were assessed at age five (M = 63 months, Time 1) and age six (M = 72 months, Time 2), and arithmetic was assessed at second grade (M = 95 months, Time 3). Results: SFON increased significantly during pre-school. Path analyses revealed interrelations between SFON and several numerical skills, except number knowledge. Magnitude estimation and basic calculation skills (Time 1 and Time 2), and to a small degree number knowledge (Time 2), contributed directly to arithmetic in second grade. The connection between SFON and arithmetic was fully mediated by magnitude estimation and calculation skills at pre-school. Conclusion: Our results indicate that SFON first and foremost influences deeper understanding of numerical concepts at pre-school and—in contrast to previous findings –affects only indirectly children’s arithmetical development at school. KW - SFON KW - school mathematics KW - mathematical precursor KW - counting KW - number knowledge KW - magnitude estimation KW - transformation KW - pre-school KW - longitudinal KW - development Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12030313 SN - 2076-3425 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hering, Robert A1 - Hauptfleisch, Morgan A1 - Jago, Mark A1 - Smith, Taylor A1 - Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie A1 - Stiegler, Jonas A1 - Blaum, Niels T1 - Don't stop me now: Managed fence gaps could allow migratory ungulates to track dynamic resources and reduce fence related energy loss JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution N2 - In semi-arid environments characterized by erratic rainfall and scattered primary production, migratory movements are a key survival strategy of large herbivores to track resources over vast areas. Veterinary Cordon Fences (VCFs), intended to reduce wildlife-livestock disease transmission, fragment large parts of southern Africa and have limited the movements of large wild mammals for over 60 years. Consequently, wildlife-fence interactions are frequent and often result in perforations of the fence, mainly caused by elephants. Yet, we lack knowledge about at which times fences act as barriers, how fences directly alter the energy expenditure of native herbivores, and what the consequences of impermeability are. We studied 2-year ungulate movements in three common antelopes (springbok, kudu, eland) across a perforated part of Namibia's VCF separating a wildlife reserve and Etosha National Park using GPS telemetry, accelerometer measurements, and satellite imagery. We identified 2905 fence interaction events which we used to evaluate critical times of encounters and direct fence effects on energy expenditure. Using vegetation type-specific greenness dynamics, we quantified what animals gained in terms of high quality food resources from crossing the VCF. Our results show that the perforation of the VCF sustains herbivore-vegetation interactions in the savanna with its scattered resources. Fence permeability led to peaks in crossing numbers during the first flush of woody plants before the rain started. Kudu and eland often showed increased energy expenditure when crossing the fence. Energy expenditure was lowered during the frequent interactions of ungulates standing at the fence. We found no alteration of energy expenditure when springbok immediately found and crossed fence breaches. Our results indicate that constantly open gaps did not affect energy expenditure, while gaps with obstacles increased motion. Closing gaps may have confused ungulates and modified their intended movements. While browsing, sedentary kudu's use of space was less affected by the VCF; migratory, mixed-feeding springbok, and eland benefited from gaps by gaining forage quality and quantity after crossing. This highlights the importance of access to vast areas to allow ungulates to track vital vegetation patches. KW - veterinary cordon fence KW - ungulate KW - fence ecology KW - resource-tracking KW - energy expenditure KW - accelerometer KW - GPS KW - wildlife and habitat management Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.907079 SN - 2296-701X SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sarabadani, Jalal A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Ala-Nissila, Tapio T1 - Driven polymer translocation into a channel: Isoflux tension propagation theory and Langevin dynamics simulations JF - Physical Review Research N2 - Isoflux tension propagation (IFTP) theory and Langevin dynamics (LD) simulations are employed to study the dynamics of channel-driven polymer translocation in which a polymer translocates into a narrow channel and the monomers in the channel experience a driving force fc. In the high driving force limit, regardless of the channel width, IFTP theory predicts τ ∝ f βc for the translocation time, where β = −1 is the force scaling exponent. Moreover, LD data show that for a very narrow channel fitting only a single file of monomers, the entropic force due to the subchain inside the channel does not play a significant role in the translocation dynamics and the force exponent β = −1 regardless of the force magnitude. As the channel width increases the number of possible spatial configurations of the subchain inside the channel becomes significant and the resulting entropic force causes the force exponent to drop below unity. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.033003 SN - 2643-1564 VL - 4 SP - 033003-1 EP - 033003-14 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park, Maryland, USA ET - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Arntz, Fabian A1 - Mkaouer, Bessem A1 - Markov, Adrian A1 - Schoenfeld, Brad A1 - Moran, Jason A1 - Ramirez-Campillo, Rodrigo A1 - Behrens, Martin A1 - Baumert, Philipp A1 - Erskine, Robert M. A1 - Hauser, Lukas A1 - Chaabene, Helmi T1 - Effect of Plyometric Jump Training on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy in Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review With Multilevel Meta-Analysis JF - Frontiers in Physiology N2 - Objective: To examine the effect of plyometric jump training on skeletal muscle hypertrophy in healthy individuals. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in the databases PubMed, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library up to September 2021. Results: Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The main overall finding (44 effect sizes across 15 clusters median = 2, range = 1–15 effects per cluster) indicated that plyometric jump training had small to moderate effects [standardised mean difference (SMD) = 0.47 (95% CIs = 0.23–0.71); p < 0.001] on skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Subgroup analyses for training experience revealed trivial to large effects in non-athletes [SMD = 0.55 (95% CIs = 0.18–0.93); p = 0.007] and trivial to moderate effects in athletes [SMD = 0.33 (95% CIs = 0.16–0.51); p = 0.001]. Regarding muscle groups, results showed moderate effects for the knee extensors [SMD = 0.72 (95% CIs = 0.66–0.78), p < 0.001] and equivocal effects for the plantar flexors [SMD = 0.65 (95% CIs = −0.25–1.55); p = 0.143]. As to the assessment methods of skeletal muscle hypertrophy, findings indicated trivial to small effects for prediction equations [SMD = 0.29 (95% CIs = 0.16–0.42); p < 0.001] and moderate-to-large effects for ultrasound imaging [SMD = 0.74 (95% CIs = 0.59–0.89); p < 0.001]. Meta-regression analysis indicated that the weekly session frequency moderates the effect of plyometric jump training on skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with a higher weekly session frequency inducing larger hypertrophic gains [β = 0.3233 (95% CIs = 0.2041–0.4425); p < 0.001]. We found no clear evidence that age, sex, total training period, single session duration, or the number of jumps per week moderate the effect of plyometric jump training on skeletal muscle hypertrophy [β = −0.0133 to 0.0433 (95% CIs = −0.0387 to 0.1215); p = 0.101–0.751]. Conclusion: Plyometric jump training can induce skeletal muscle hypertrophy, regardless of age and sex. There is evidence for relatively larger effects in non-athletes compared with athletes. Further, the weekly session frequency seems to moderate the effect of plyometric jump training on skeletal muscle hypertrophy, whereby more frequent weekly plyometric jump training sessions elicit larger hypertrophic adaptations. KW - muscle tissue KW - muscle strength KW - stretch shortening cycle exercise KW - muscle growth KW - human physical conditioning KW - youth sports KW - aged Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.888464 SN - 1664-042X VL - 13 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ET - 888464 ER -