@article{TofeldeBernhardtGueritetal.2020, author = {Tofelde, Stefanie and Bernhardt, Anne and Guerit, Laure and Romans, Brian W.}, title = {Times Associated With Source-to-Sink Propagation of Environmental Signals During Landscape Transience}, series = {Frontiers in Earth Science}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in Earth Science}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2296-6463}, doi = {10.3389/feart.2021.628315}, pages = {1 -- 26}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Sediment archives in the terrestrial and marine realm are regularly analyzed to infer changes in climate, tectonic, or anthropogenic boundary conditions of the past. However, contradictory observations have been made regarding whether short period events are faithfully preserved in stratigraphic archives; for instance, in marine sediments offshore large river systems. On the one hand, short period events are hypothesized to be non-detectable in the signature of terrestrially derived sediments due to buffering during sediment transport along large river systems. On the other hand, several studies have detected signals of short period events in marine records offshore large river systems. We propose that this apparent discrepancy is related to the lack of a differentiation between different types of signals and the lack of distinction between river response times and signal propagation times. In this review, we (1) expand the definition of the term 'signal' and group signals in sub-categories related to hydraulic grain size characteristics, (2) clarify the different types of 'times' and suggest a precise and consistent terminology for future use, and (3) compile and discuss factors influencing the times of signal transfer along sediment routing systems and how those times vary with hydraulic grain size characteristics. Unraveling different types of signals and distinctive time periods related to signal propagation addresses the discrepancies mentioned above and allows a more comprehensive exploration of event preservation in stratigraphy - a prerequisite for reliable environmental reconstructions from terrestrially derived sedimentary records.}, language = {en} } @article{PillaiOngOngetal.2020, author = {Pillai, Stefanie and Ong, Sue Lyn and Ong, Duu Sheng and Abdul Rahman, Mohd Basyaruddin}, title = {Lessons Drawn from Evaluation and Implementation of the Malaysian Chapter of the International Deans' Course}, series = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, journal = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, number = {5}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-496-8}, issn = {2192-1075}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49345}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-493454}, pages = {53 -- 84}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Deans at Institutions of Higher Education are seldom recipients of effective or specific professional management training, institutional mentorship, and coaching despite an increasing demand on them to play a more dynamic leadership role in the face of ever-changing local and global challenges. To address this deficiency, the inaugural Malaysian Chapter of the International Deans' Course (MyIDC) was held in three parts over 2019 and 2020. In this paper, findings related to feedback on the programme are presented and discussed. Responses from the participants from two sets of surveys, and written feedback provided by two IDC international trainers involved in MyIDC were analysed. These reveal potential areas of improvement for the forthcoming MyIDC programme, such as in terms of planning and organisation, duration, content, and delivery. The article explores the lessons learnt from the MyIDC 2019/2020 training programme and discusses the improvements that can be made arising from the feedback received.}, language = {en} } @article{WaswaAbengaIndede2020, author = {Waswa, Fuchaka and Abenga, Elizabeth and Indede, Florence}, title = {Enhancing Completion Rates through Structural and Operational Changes in the Management of Postgraduate Programmes in Kenya's Public Universities}, series = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, journal = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, number = {5}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-496-8}, issn = {2192-1075}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49346}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-493468}, pages = {85 -- 101}, year = {2020}, abstract = {During the National Multiplication Training in Kenya in 2018, participants raised concerns about attrition, completion rates and quality of PhD programmes in Kenya's public universities. This led the authors of this article to further examine the question of PhD completion rates. Available data underlined that PhD students across various disciplines in Kenya's public universities take unnecessarily long to complete their studies due to a myriad of factors that are related to their supervisors, university guidelines for post-graduate studies, or the students themselves. This article examines inertia areas along the PhD training pathway at three public universities in Kenya and provides suggestions on structural and operational changes universities must make to shorten completion periods.}, language = {en} } @article{EcheverriaKingAcunaPaezCoronadoVargas2020, author = {Echeverr{\´i}a King, Luisa Fernanda and Acu{\~n}a Paez, Katherine and Coronado Vargas, Carlos}, title = {Enhancing Internationalisation for Peacebuilding among Higher Education Institutions in Post-Conflict Colombia}, series = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, journal = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, number = {5}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-496-8}, issn = {2192-1075}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49350}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-493500}, pages = {103 -- 121}, year = {2020}, abstract = {This article collected the results of a qualitative study focused on Colombian Higher Education Institutions' representatives partaking in the training 'Internationalisation for Peacebuilding 2018'. The selected Higher Education Institutions and representatives were all located in regions acutely affected by the Colombian armed conflict, now experiencing multifaceted challenges and opportunities in a post-conflict scenario. Interviews with participants of the training were conducted to analyse the skills acquired and to identify possible improvements brought about by the training at the institutions. The article further identifies specific needs of the institutions, to be taken into account for future courses on internationalisation for higher education institutions.}, language = {en} } @article{ChengOngMustafaetal.2020, author = {Cheng, Ming Yu and Ong, Duu Sheng and Mustafa, Marzuki and Ewe, Hong Tat}, title = {Leadership Training in Malaysia}, series = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, journal = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, number = {5}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-496-8}, issn = {2192-1075}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49344}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-493444}, pages = {37 -- 51}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The higher education structure in Malaysia has experienced significant changes since the implementation of the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act of 1996. The unprecedented expansion of the higher education sector and the increasing autonomy conferred to universities have created a huge demand for competent university leadership that supports the development of higher education in Malaysia. This article discusses the very first national multiplication training in Malaysia in 2014 and analyses such out-comes as the identification of good practices for future initiatives and applications in university leadership training.}, language = {en} } @article{MusaAlokpo2020, author = {Musa Alokpo, Dieudonn{\´e}}, title = {Implementation of a Proposal Writing Workshop in the Democratic Republic of Congo}, series = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, journal = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, number = {5}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-496-8}, issn = {2192-1075}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49387}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-493873}, pages = {145 -- 165}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Whilst providing a framework for learning and scientific emancipation, a proposal writing training is confronted with various organisational and didactic challenges, which influence the achievement of the set training objectives. Based on observations made during the workshops for proposal writing organised in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, as part of the NMT Programme, the article raises two main questions: (a) How could these challenges be overcome and successfully addressed in the training? (b) What is the level of learning outcomes of the participants at the end of the training? The article shows that the success of the training lays in the relevance of the employed training approaches. The use of a participatory approach encouraged constructive exchanges between participants, trainers, and experts, and enabled all participants to finalise coherent projects to apply for national and international funding.}, language = {en} } @article{Mawa2020, author = {Mawa, Michael}, title = {The Sustainability Mechanisms for Higher Education Quality Assurance Training in Uganda}, series = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, journal = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, number = {5}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-496-8}, issn = {2192-1075}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49393}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-493931}, pages = {205 -- 223}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The paper investigates the question of sustainability of capacity building initiatives by reporting about the multiplication training in the frame of DIES NMT Programme on quality assurance in Uganda and how it could make use of the social capital within the existing quality assurance network to sustain and address challenges during its implementation. The purpose of the article is to explore the nature of networking (social and institutional) which was established by the Ugandan Universities Quality Assurance Forum (UUQAF) and share the strategies used in this training experience for future sustainable capacity building training initiatives in emerging economies. The paper employed a qualitative research method to describe and analyse the training framework based on primary and secondary documents.}, language = {en} } @article{OulareRandhahn2020, author = {Oulare, Kabin{\´e} and Randhahn, Solveig}, title = {Quality Assurance in Guinean Higher Education Institutions}, series = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, journal = {Potsdamer Beitr{\"a}ge zur Hochschulforschung}, number = {5}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-496-8}, issn = {2192-1075}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49391}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-493917}, pages = {187 -- 204}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Higher education institutions in Guinea face many challenges, including reporting responsibilities, globalisation, and massification. Institutional evaluations of higher education and research institutions in 2013 could not initiate the implementation of change processes within the institutions. Recently, however, various initiatives have been started to change this situation with the purpose to sensitise and raise awareness and capabilities for quality assurance structures in Guinean HEIs. So far, the emphasis has been put on quality enhancement in higher education, especially on teaching evaluation, curriculum development, as well as on establishing quality assurance structures. This article gives an overview of the state of play and takes stock of the activities that have been initiated to set up quality assurance mechanisms in higher education and research institutions, and presents perspectives for further development of the quality approach in Guinea. The project 'Quality Assurance Multiplication 2017-2018' serves as an example to describe approaches and activities in setting up stable quality assurance structures, and to strengthen and raise awareness for a 'quality culture'.}, language = {en} } @article{WrightWachsHuang2020, author = {Wright, Michelle F. and Wachs, Sebastian and Huang, Zheng}, title = {Adolescents' Popularity-Motivated Aggression and Prosocial Behaviors: The Roles of Callous-Unemotional Traits and Social Status Insecurity}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2021.606865}, pages = {1 -- 8}, year = {2020}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{GranacherNobariRuivoAlvesetal.2020, author = {Granacher, Urs and Nobari, Hadi and Ruivo Alves, Ana and Clemente, Filipe Manuel and P{\´e}rez-G{\´o}mez, Jorge and Clark, Cain Craig Truman and Zouhal, Hassane}, title = {Associations Between Variations in Accumulated Workload and Physiological Variables in Young Male Soccer Players Over the Course of a Season}, series = {Frontiers in physiology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in physiology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-042X}, doi = {10.3389/fphys.2021.638180}, pages = {1 -- 12}, year = {2020}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{WippertNiedererDriessleinetal.2020, author = {Wippert, Pia-Maria and Niederer, Daniel and Drießlein, David and Beck, Heidrun and Banzer, Winfried Eberhard and Schneider, Christian and Schiltenwolf, Marcus and Mayer, Frank}, title = {Psychosocial Moderators and Mediators of Sensorimotor Exercise in Low Back Pain: A Randomized Multicenter Controlled Trial}, series = {Frontiers in Psychiatry}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychiatry}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-0640}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyt.2021.629474}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The effects of exercise interventions on unspecific chronic low back pain (CLBP) have been investigated in many studies, but the results are inconclusive regarding exercise types, efficiency, and sustainability. This may be because the influence of psychosocial factors on exercise induced adaptation regarding CLBP is neglected. Therefore, this study assessed psychosocial characteristics, which moderate and mediate the effects of sensorimotor exercise on LBP. A single-blind 3-arm multicenter randomized controlled trial was conducted for 12-weeks. Three exercise groups, sensorimotor exercise (SMT), sensorimotor and behavioral training (SMT-BT), and regular routines (CG) were randomly assigned to 662 volunteers. Primary outcomes (pain intensity and disability) and psychosocial characteristics were assessed at baseline (M1) and follow-up (3/6/12/24 weeks, M2-M5). Multiple regression models were used to analyze whether psychosocial characteristics are moderators of the relationship between exercise and pain, meaning that psychosocial factors and exercise interact. Causal mediation analysis were conducted to analyze, whether psychosocial characteristics mediate the exercise effect on pain. A total of 453 participants with intermittent pain (mean age = 39.5 ± 12.2 years, f = 62\%) completed the training. It was shown, that depressive symptomatology (at M4, M5), vital exhaustion (at M4), and perceived social support (at M5) are significant moderators of the relationship between exercise and the reduction of pain intensity. Further depressive mood (at M4), social-satisfaction (at M4), and anxiety (at M5 SMT) significantly moderate the exercise effect on pain disability. The amount of moderation was of clinical relevance. In contrast, there were no psychosocial variables which mediated exercise effects on pain. In conclusion it was shown, that psychosocial variables can be moderators in the relationship between sensorimotor exercise induced adaptation on CLBP which may explain conflicting results in the past regarding the merit of exercise interventions in CLBP. Results suggest further an early identification of psychosocial risk factors by diagnostic tools, which may essential support the planning of personalized exercise therapy. Level of Evidence: Level I. Clinical Trial Registration: DRKS00004977, LOE: I, MiSpEx: grant-number: 080102A/11-14. https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML\&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00004977.}, language = {en} } @article{RischStollSchomoelleretal.2020, author = {Risch, Lucie and Stoll, Josefine and Schom{\"o}ller, Anne and Engel, Tilman and Mayer, Frank and Cassel, Michael}, title = {Intraindividual Doppler Flow Response to Exercise Differs Between Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Achilles Tendons}, series = {Frontiers in physiology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in physiology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-042X}, doi = {10.3389/fphys.2021.617497}, pages = {1 -- 8}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Objective: This study investigated intraindividual differences of intratendinous blood flow (IBF) in response to running exercise in participants with Achilles tendinopathy. Design: This is a cross-sectional study. Setting: The study was conducted at the University Outpatient Clinic. Participants: Sonographic detectable intratendinous blood flow was examined in symptomatic and contralateral asymptomatic Achilles tendons of 19 participants (42 ± 13 years, 178 ± 10 cm, 76 ± 12 kg, VISA-A 75 ± 16) with clinically diagnosed unilateral Achilles tendinopathy and sonographic evident tendinosis. Intervention: IBF was assessed using Doppler ultrasound "Advanced Dynamic Flow" before (Upre) and 5, 30, 60, and 120 min (U5-U120) after a standardized submaximal constant load run. Main Outcome Measure: IBF was quantified by counting the number (n) of vessels in each tendon. Results: At Upre, IBF was higher in symptomatic compared with asymptomatic tendons [mean 6.3 (95\% CI: 2.8-9.9) and 1.7 (0.4-2.9), p < 0.01]. Overall, 63\% of symptomatic and 47\% of asymptomatic Achilles tendons responded to exercise, whereas 16 and 11\% showed persisting IBF and 21 and 42\% remained avascular throughout the investigation. At U5, IBF increased in both symptomatic and asymptomatic tendons [difference to baseline: 2.4 (0.3-4.5) and 0.9 (0.5-1.4), p = 0.05]. At U30 to U120, IBF was still increased in symptomatic but not in asymptomatic tendons [mean difference to baseline: 1.9 (0.8-2.9) and 0.1 (-0.9 to 1.2), p < 0.01]. Conclusion: Irrespective of pathology, 47-63\% of Achilles tendons responded to exercise with an immediate acute physiological IBF increase by an average of one to two vessels ("responders"). A higher amount of baseline IBF (approximately five vessels) and a prolonged exercise-induced IBF response found in symptomatic ATs indicate a pain-associated altered intratendinous "neovascularization."}, language = {en} } @article{KuehneFauthDestinaSevdeetal.2021, author = {K{\"u}hne, Franziska and Fauth, Henriette and Destina Sevde, Ay-Bryson and Visser, Leonie N.C. and Weck, Florian}, title = {Communicating the diagnosis of cancer or depression: Results of a randomized controlled online study using video vignettes}, series = {Cancer Medicine}, volume = {10}, journal = {Cancer Medicine}, edition = {24}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken, New Jersey, USA}, issn = {2045-7634}, doi = {10.1002/cam4.4396}, pages = {9012 -- 9021}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{RoseGroegerHoelzle2021, author = {Rose, Robert and Groeger, Lars and H{\"o}lzle, Katharina}, title = {The Emergence of Shared Leadership in Innovation Labs}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers in psychology}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2021.685167}, pages = {1 -- 13}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Implementing innovation laboratories to leverage intrapreneurship are an increasingly popular organizational practice. A typical feature in these creative environments are semi-autonomous teams in which multiple members collectively exert leadership influence, thereby challenging traditional command-and-control conceptions of leadership. An extensive body of research on the team-centric concept of shared leadership has recognized the potential for pluralized leadership structures in enhancing team effectiveness; however, little empirical work has been conducted in organizational contexts in which creativity is key. This study set out to explore antecedents of shared leadership and its influence on team creativity in an innovation lab. Building on extant shared leadership and innovation research, we propose antecedents customary to creative teamwork, that is, experimental culture, task reflexivity, and voice. Multisource data were collected from 104 team members and 49 evaluations of 29 coaches nested in 21 teams working in a prototypical innovation lab. We identify factors specific to creative teamwork that facilitate the emergence of shared leadership by providing room for experimentation, encouraging team members to speak up in the creative process, and cultivating a reflective application of entrepreneurial thinking. We provide specific exemplary activities for innovation lab teams to increase levels of shared leadership.}, language = {en} } @article{SpikesRodriguezSilvaBennettetal.2021, author = {Spikes, Montrai and Rodr{\´i}guez-Silva, Rodet and Bennett, Kerri-Ann and Br{\"a}ger, Stefan and Josaphat, James and Torres-Pineda, Patricia and Ernst, Anja and Havenstein, Katja and Schlupp, Ingo and Tiedemann, Ralph}, title = {A phylogeny of the genus Limia (Teleostei: Poeciliidae) suggests a single-lake radiation nested in a Caribbean-wide allopatric speciation scenario}, series = {BMC Research Notes}, volume = {14}, journal = {BMC Research Notes}, publisher = {BMC Research Notes / Biomed Central}, address = {London}, issn = {1756-0500}, doi = {10.1186/s13104-021-05843-x}, pages = {1 -- 8}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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 Mirago{\^a}ne, pointing towards extraordinary sympatric speciation. This study examines the evolutionary history of the Limia species in Lake Mirago{\^a}ne, 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 Mirago{\^a}ne in Haiti are monophyletic, confirming a recent local radiation. Within Lake Mirago{\^a}ne, 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 Mirago{\^a}ne clade.}, language = {en} } @article{KruegerFoersterTrauthetal.2021, author = {Kr{\"u}ger, Johanna and Foerster, Verena Elisabeth and Trauth, Martin H. and Hofreiter, Michael and Tiedemann, Ralph}, title = {Exploring the Past Biosphere of Chew Bahir/Southern Ethiopia: Cross-Species Hybridization Capture of Ancient Sedimentary DNA from a Deep Drill Core}, series = {Frontiers in Earth Science}, journal = {Frontiers in Earth Science}, publisher = {Frontiers in Earth Science}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2296-6463}, doi = {10.3389/feart.2021.683010}, pages = {1 -- 20}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Eastern Africa has been a prime target for scientific drilling because it is rich in key paleoanthropological sites as well as in paleolakes, containing valuable paleoclimatic information on evolutionary time scales. The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) explores these paleolakes with the aim of reconstructing environmental conditions around critical episodes of hominin evolution. Identification of biological taxa based on their sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) traces can contribute to understand past ecological and climatological conditions of the living environment of our ancestors. However, sedaDNA recovery from tropical environments is challenging because high temperatures, UV irradiation, and desiccation result in highly degraded DNA. Consequently, most of the DNA fragments in tropical sediments are too short for PCR amplification. We analyzed sedaDNA in the upper 70 m of the composite sediment core of the HSPDP drill site at Chew Bahir for eukaryotic remnants. We first tested shotgun high throughput sequencing which leads to metagenomes dominated by bacterial DNA of the deep biosphere, while only a small fraction was derived from eukaryotic, and thus probably ancient, DNA. Subsequently, we performed cross-species hybridization capture of sedaDNA to enrich ancient DNA (aDNA) from eukaryotic remnants for paleoenvironmental analysis, using established barcoding genes (cox1 and rbcL for animals and plants, respectively) from 199 species that may have had relatives in the past biosphere at Chew Bahir. Metagenomes yielded after hybridization capture are richer in reads with similarity to cox1 and rbcL in comparison to metagenomes without prior hybridization capture. Taxonomic assignments of the reads from these hybridization capture metagenomes also yielded larger fractions of the eukaryotic domain. For reads assigned to cox1, inferred wet periods were associated with high inferred relative abundances of putative limnic organisms (gastropods, green algae), while inferred dry periods showed increased relative abundances for insects. These findings indicate that cross-species hybridization capture can be an effective approach to enhance the information content of sedaDNA in order to explore biosphere changes associated with past environmental conditions, enabling such analyses even under tropical conditions.}, language = {en} } @article{KabothBahrBahrStepaneketal.2021, author = {Kaboth-Bahr, Stefanie and Bahr, Andr{\´e} and Stepanek, Christian and Catunda, Maria Carolina Amorim and Karas, Cyrus and Ziegler, Martin and Garc{\´i}a-Gallardo, {\´A}ngela and Grunert, Patrick}, title = {Mediterranean heat injection to the North Atlantic delayed the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciations}, series = {Communications Earth \& Environment}, journal = {Communications Earth \& Environment}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {2662-4435}, doi = {10.1038/s43247-021-00232-5}, pages = {1 -- 9}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciations at the end of the Pliocene epoch marks one of the most substantial climatic shifts of the Cenozoic. Despite global cooling, sea surface temperatures in the high latitude North Atlantic Ocean rose between 2.9-2.7 million years ago. Here we present sedimentary geochemical proxy data from the Gulf of Cadiz to reconstruct the variability of Mediterranean Outflow Water, an important heat source to the North Atlantic. We find evidence for enhanced production of Mediterranean Outflow from the mid-Pliocene to the late Pliocene which we infer could have driven a sub-surface heat channel into the high-latitude North Atlantic. We then use Earth System Models to constrain the impact of enhanced Mediterranean Outflow production on the northward heat transport in the North Atlantic. In accord with the proxy data, the numerical model results support the formation of a sub-surface channel that pumped heat from the subtropics into the high latitude North Atlantic. We further suggest that this mechanism could have delayed ice sheet growth at the end of the Pliocene.}, language = {en} } @article{dePinhoTavaresLealdaSilvaRochaGomesetal.2021, author = {de Pinho Tavares Leal, Pedro Ernesto and da Silva, Alexandre Alves and Rocha-Gomes, Arthur and Riul, Tania Regina and Cunha, Rennan Augusto and Reichetzeder, Christoph and Villela, Daniel Campos}, title = {High-Salt Diet in the Pre- and Postweaning Periods Leads to Amygdala Oxidative Stress and Changes in Locomotion and Anxiety-Like Behaviors of Male Wistar Rats}, series = {Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience}, volume = {15}, journal = {Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1662-5153}, doi = {10.3389/fnbeh.2021.779080}, pages = {1 -- 12}, year = {2021}, abstract = {High-salt (HS) diets have recently been linked to oxidative stress in the brain, a fact that may be a precursor to behavioral changes, such as those involving anxiety-like behavior. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study has evaluated the amygdala redox status after consuming a HS diet in the pre- or postweaning periods. This study aimed to evaluate the amygdala redox status and anxiety-like behaviors in adulthood, after inclusion of HS diet in two periods: preconception, gestation, and lactation (preweaning); and only after weaning (postweaning). Initially, 18 females and 9 male Wistar rats received a standard (n = 9 females and 4 males) or a HS diet (n = 9 females and 5 males) for 120 days. After mating, females continued to receive the aforementioned diets during gestation and lactation. Weaning occurred at 21-day-old Wistar rats and the male offspring were subdivided: control-control (C-C)—offspring of standard diet fed dams who received a standard diet after weaning (n = 9-11), control-HS (C-HS)—offspring of standard diet fed dams who received a HS diet after weaning (n = 9-11), HS-C—offspring of HS diet fed dams who received a standard diet after weaning (n = 9-11), and HS-HS—offspring of HS diet fed dams who received a HS diet after weaning (n = 9-11). At adulthood, the male offspring performed the elevated plus maze and open field tests. At 152-day-old Wistar rats, the offspring were euthanized and the amygdala was removed for redox state analysis. The HS-HS group showed higher locomotion and rearing frequency in the open field test. These results indicate that this group developed hyperactivity. The C-HS group had a higher ratio of entries and time spent in the open arms of the elevated plus maze test in addition to a higher head-dipping frequency. These results suggest less anxiety-like behaviors. In the analysis of the redox state, less activity of antioxidant enzymes and higher levels of the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in the amygdala were shown in the amygdala of animals that received a high-salt diet regardless of the period (pre- or postweaning). In conclusion, the high-salt diet promoted hyperactivity when administered in the pre- and postweaning periods. In animals that received only in the postweaning period, the addition of salt induced a reduction in anxiety-like behaviors. Also, regardless of the period, salt provided amygdala oxidative stress, which may be linked to the observed behaviors.}, language = {en} } @article{VogelPatonAich2021, author = {Vogel, Johannes and Paton, Eva Nora and Aich, Valentin}, title = {Seasonal ecosystem vulnerability to climatic anomalies in the Mediterranean}, series = {Biogeosciences}, volume = {18}, journal = {Biogeosciences}, edition = {22}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {G{\"o}ttingen}, issn = {1726-4189}, doi = {10.5194/bg-18-5903-2021}, pages = {5903 -- 5927}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Mediterranean ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to climate change and the associated increase in climate anomalies. This study investigates extreme ecosystem responses evoked by climatic drivers in the Mediterranean Basin for the time span 1999-2019 with a specific focus on seasonal variations as the seasonal timing of climatic anomalies is considered essential for impact and vulnerability assessment. A bivariate vulnerability analysis is performed for each month of the year to quantify which combinations of the drivers temperature (obtained from ERA5-Land) and soil moisture (obtained from ESA CCI and ERA5-Land) lead to extreme reductions in ecosystem productivity using the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR; obtained from the Copernicus Global Land Service) as a proxy. The bivariate analysis clearly showed that, in many cases, it is not just one but a combination of both drivers that causes ecosystem vulnerability. The overall pattern shows that Mediterranean ecosystems are prone to three soil moisture regimes during the yearly cycle: they are vulnerable to hot and dry conditions from May to July, to cold and dry conditions from August to October, and to cold conditions from November to April, illustrating the shift from a soil-moisture-limited regime in summer to an energy-limited regime in winter. In late spring, a month with significant vulnerability to hot conditions only often precedes the next stage of vulnerability to both hot and dry conditions, suggesting that high temperatures lead to critically low soil moisture levels with a certain time lag. In the eastern Mediterranean, the period of vulnerability to hot and dry conditions within the year is much longer than in the western Mediterranean. Our results show that it is crucial to account for both spatial and temporal variability to adequately assess ecosystem vulnerability. The seasonal vulnerability approach presented in this study helps to provide detailed insights regarding the specific phenological stage of the year in which ecosystem vulnerability to a certain climatic condition occurs. How to cite. Vogel, J., Paton, E., and Aich, V.: Seasonal ecosystem vulnerability to climatic anomalies in the Mediterranean, Biogeosciences, 18, 5903-5927, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5903-2021, 2021.}, language = {en} } @article{BaritelloSalzwedelSuendermannetal.2021, author = {Baritello, Omar and Salzwedel, Annett and S{\"u}ndermann, Simon and Niebauer, Josef and V{\"o}ller, Heinz}, title = {The Pandora's Box of frailty assessments: Which is the best for clinical purposes in TAVI patients? A critical review}, series = {Journal of Clinical Medicine}, volume = {10}, journal = {Journal of Clinical Medicine}, edition = {19}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {2077-0383}, doi = {10.3390/jcm10194506}, pages = {1 -- 17}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Frailty assessment is recommended before elective transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) to determine post-interventional prognosis. Several studies have investigated frailty in TAVI-patients using numerous assessments; however, it remains unclear which is the most appropriate tool for clinical practice. Therefore, we evaluate which frailty assessment is mainly used and meaningful for ≤30-day and ≥1-year prognosis in TAVI patients. Randomized controlled or observational studies (prospective/retrospective) investigating all-cause mortality in older (≥70 years) TAVI patients were identified (PubMed; May 2020). In total, 79 studies investigating frailty with 49 different assessments were included. As single markers of frailty, mostly gait speed (23 studies) and serum albumin (16 studies) were used. Higher risk of 1-year mortality was predicted by slower gait speed (highest Hazard Ratios (HR): 14.71; 95\% confidence interval (CI) 6.50-33.30) and lower serum albumin level (highest HR: 3.12; 95\% CI 1.80-5.42). Composite indices (five items; seven studies) were associated with 30-day (highest Odds Ratio (OR): 15.30; 95\% CI 2.71-86.10) and 1-year mortality (highest OR: 2.75; 95\% CI 1.55-4.87). In conclusion, single markers of frailty, in particular gait speed, were widely used to predict 1-year mortality. Composite indices were appropriate, as well as a comprehensive assessment of frailty. View Full-Text}, language = {en} } @article{WiepkeMiklashevsky2021, author = {Wiepke, Axel P. and Miklashevsky, Alex}, title = {Imaginary Worlds and Their Borders: An Opinion Article}, series = {Frontiers Media SA}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers Media SA}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2021.793764}, pages = {1 -- 2}, year = {2021}, language = {en} } @article{LadleifWeske2021, author = {Ladleif, Jan and Weske, Mathias}, title = {Which event happened first?}, series = {Frontiers in blockchain}, volume = {4}, journal = {Frontiers in blockchain}, publisher = {Frontiers in Blockchain}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2624-7852}, doi = {10.3389/fbloc.2021.758169}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2021}, abstract = {First come, first served: Critical choices between alternative actions are often made based on events external to an organization, and reacting promptly to their occurrence can be a major advantage over the competition. In Business Process Management (BPM), such deferred choices can be expressed in process models, and they are an important aspect of process engines. Blockchain-based process execution approaches are no exception to this, but are severely limited by the inherent properties of the platform: The isolated environment prevents direct access to external entities and data, and the non-continual runtime based entirely on atomic transactions impedes the monitoring and detection of events. In this paper we provide an in-depth examination of the semantics of deferred choice, and transfer them to environments such as the blockchain. We introduce and compare several oracle architectures able to satisfy certain requirements, and show that they can be implemented using state-of-the-art blockchain technology.}, language = {en} } @article{RaatzPirhoferWalzlMuelleretal.2021, author = {Raatz, Larissa and Pirhofer-Walzl, Karin and M{\"u}ller, Marina E.H. and Scherber, Christoph and Joshi, Jasmin Radha}, title = {Who is the culprit: Is pest infestation responsible for crop yield losses close to semi-natural habitats?}, series = {Ecology and Evolution}, volume = {11}, journal = {Ecology and Evolution}, edition = {19}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1467-6435}, doi = {10.1002/ece3.8046}, pages = {13232 -- 13246}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Semi-natural habitats (SNHs) are becoming increasingly scarce in modern agricultural landscapes. This may reduce natural ecosystem services such as pest control with its putatively positive effect on crop production. In agreement with other studies, we recently reported wheat yield reductions at field borders which were linked to the type of SNH and the distance to the border. In this experimental landscape-wide study, we asked whether these yield losses have a biotic origin while analyzing fungal seed and fungal leaf pathogens, herbivory of cereal leaf beetles, and weed cover as hypothesized mediators between SNHs and yield. We established experimental winter wheat plots of a single variety within conventionally managed wheat fields at fixed distances either to a hedgerow or to an in-field kettle hole. For each plot, we recorded the fungal infection rate on seeds, fungal infection and herbivory rates on leaves, and weed cover. Using several generalized linear mixed-effects models as well as a structural equation model, we tested the effects of SNHs at a field scale (SNH type and distance to SNH) and at a landscape scale (percentage and diversity of SNHs within a 1000-m radius). In the dry year of 2016, we detected one putative biotic culprit: Weed cover was negatively associated with yield values at a 1-m and 5-m distance from the field border with a SNH. None of the fungal and insect pests, however, significantly affected yield, neither solely nor depending on type of or distance to a SNH. However, the pest groups themselves responded differently to SNH at the field scale and at the landscape scale. Our findings highlight that crop losses at field borders may be caused by biotic culprits; however, their negative impact seems weak and is putatively reduced by conventional farming practices.}, language = {en} } @article{PuertoValenciaArampatzisBecketal.2021, author = {Puerto Valencia, Laura Maria and Arampatzis, Adamantios and Beck, Heidrun and Dreinh{\"o}fer, Karsten E. and Drießlein, Drießlein and Mau, Wilfried and Zimmer, Julia-Marie and Sch{\"a}fer, Michael and Steinfeldt, Friedemann and Wippert, Pia-Maria}, title = {RENaBack: Low back pain patients in rehabilitation: Study Protocol for a Multicenter, Randomized Controlled Trial}, series = {Trials}, journal = {Trials}, publisher = {Springer Nature / BMC}, address = {Heidelberg}, issn = {1745-6215}, doi = {10.1186/s13063-021-05823-3}, pages = {1 -- 18}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background Millions of people in Germany suffer from chronic pain, in which course and intensity are multifactorial. Besides physical injuries, certain psychosocial risk factors are involved in the disease process. The national health care guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of non-specific low back pain recommend the screening of psychosocial risk factors as early as possible, to be able to adapt the therapy to patient needs (e.g., unimodal or multimodal). However, such a procedure has been difficult to implement in practice and has not yet been integrated into the rehabilitation care structures across the country. Methods The aim of this study is to implement an individualized therapy and aftercare program within the rehabilitation offer of the German Pension Insurance in the area of orthopedics and to examine its success and sustainability in comparison to the previous standard aftercare program. The study is a multicenter randomized controlled trial including 1204 patients from six orthopedic rehabilitation clinics. A 2:1 allocation ratio to intervention (individualized and home-based rehabilitation aftercare) versus the control group (regular outpatient rehabilitation aftercare) is set. Upon admission to the rehabilitation clinic, participants in the intervention group will be screened according to their psychosocial risk profile. They could then receive either unimodal or multimodal, together with an individualized training program. The program is instructed in the clinic (approximately 3 weeks) and will continue independently at home afterwards for 3 months. The success of the program is examined by means of a total of four surveys. The co-primary outcomes are the Characteristic Pain Intensity and Disability Score assessed by the German version of the Chronic Pain Grade questionnaire (CPG). Discussion An improvement in terms of pain, work ability, patient compliance, and acceptance in our intervention program compared to the standard aftercare is expected. The study contributes to provide individualized care also to patients living far away from clinical centers. Trial registration DRKS, DRKS00020373. Registered on 15 April 2020}, language = {en} } @article{RichterKunterMarxetal.2021, author = {Richter, Eric and Kunter, Mareike and Marx, Alexandra and Richter, Dirk}, title = {Who participates in content-focused teacher professional development?}, series = {Frontiers in education}, journal = {Frontiers in education}, number = {6}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2504-284X}, doi = {10.3389/feduc.2021.722169}, pages = {1 -- 10}, year = {2021}, abstract = {This study investigates the relationship between teacher quality and teachers' engagement in professional development (PD) activities using data on 229 German secondary school mathematics teachers. We assessed different aspects of teacher quality (e.g. professional knowledge, instructional quality) using a variety of measures, including standardised tests of teachers' content knowledge, to determine what characteristics are associated with high participation in PD. The results show that teachers with higher scores for teacher quality variables take part in more content-focused PD than teachers with lower scores for these variables. This suggests that teacher learning may be subject to a Matthew effect, whereby more proficient teachers benefit more from PD than less proficient teachers.}, language = {en} } @article{ZuehlkeMeilingRoderetal.2021, author = {Z{\"u}hlke, Martin and Meiling, Till Thomas and Roder, Phillip and Riebe, Daniel and Beitz, Toralf and Bald, Ilko and L{\"o}hmannsr{\"o}ben, Hans-Gerd and Janßen, Traute and Erhard, Marcel and Repp, Alexander}, title = {Photodynamic inactivation of E. coli bacteria via carbon nanodots}, series = {ACS omega / American Chemical Society}, volume = {6}, journal = {ACS omega / American Chemical Society}, number = {37}, publisher = {ACS Publications}, address = {Washington, DC}, issn = {2470-1343}, doi = {10.1021/acsomega.1c01700}, pages = {23742 -- 23749}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The increasing development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria has been a major problem for years, both in human and veterinary medicine. Prophylactic measures, such as the use of vaccines, are of great importance in reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock. These vaccines are mainly produced based on formaldehyde inactivation. However, the latter damages the recognition elements of the bacterial proteins and thus could reduce the immune response in the animal. An alternative inactivation method developed in this work is based on gentle photodynamic inactivation using carbon nanodots (CNDs) at excitation wavelengths λex > 290 nm. The photodynamic inactivation was characterized on the nonvirulent laboratory strain Escherichia coli K12 using synthesized CNDs. For a gentle inactivation, the CNDs must be absorbed into the cytoplasm of the E. coli cell. Thus, the inactivation through photoinduced formation of reactive oxygen species only takes place inside the bacterium, which means that the outer membrane is neither damaged nor altered. The loading of the CNDs into E. coli was examined using fluorescence microscopy. Complete loading of the bacterial cells could be achieved in less than 10 min. These studies revealed a reversible uptake process allowing the recovery and reuse of the CNDs after irradiation and before the administration of the vaccine. The success of photodynamic inactivation was verified by viability assays on agar. In a homemade flow photoreactor, the fastest successful irradiation of the bacteria could be carried out in 34 s. Therefore, the photodynamic inactivation based on CNDs is very effective. The membrane integrity of the bacteria after irradiation was verified by slide agglutination and atomic force microscopy. The method developed for the laboratory strain E. coli K12 could then be successfully applied to the important avian pathogens Bordetella avium and Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale to aid the development of novel vaccines.}, language = {en} } @article{BornhorstAbdelilahSeyfried2021, author = {Bornhorst, Dorothee and Abdelilah-Seyfried, Salim}, title = {Strong as a Hippo's Heart: Biomechanical Hippo Signaling During Zebrafish Cardiac Development}, series = {Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2296-634X}, doi = {10.3389/fcell.2021.731101}, pages = {1 -- 10}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The heart is comprised of multiple tissues that contribute to its physiological functions. During development, the growth of myocardium and endocardium is coupled and morphogenetic processes within these separate tissue layers are integrated. Here, we discuss the roles of mechanosensitive Hippo signaling in growth and morphogenesis of the zebrafish heart. Hippo signaling is involved in defining numbers of cardiac progenitor cells derived from the secondary heart field, in restricting the growth of the epicardium, and in guiding trabeculation and outflow tract formation. Recent work also shows that myocardial chamber dimensions serve as a blueprint for Hippo signaling-dependent growth of the endocardium. Evidently, Hippo pathway components act at the crossroads of various signaling pathways involved in embryonic zebrafish heart development. Elucidating how biomechanical Hippo signaling guides heart morphogenesis has direct implications for our understanding of cardiac physiology and pathophysiology.}, language = {en} } @article{BarthWeingartenOgden2021, author = {Barth-Weingarten, Dagmar and Ogden, Richard}, title = {"Chunking" spoken language}, series = {Open linguistics}, volume = {7}, journal = {Open linguistics}, number = {1}, publisher = {De Gruyter}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {2300-9969}, doi = {10.1515/opli-2020-0173}, pages = {531 -- 548}, year = {2021}, abstract = {In this introductory paper to the special issue on "Weak cesuras in talk-in-interaction", we aim to guide the reader into current work on the "chunking" of naturally occurring talk. It is conducted in the methodological frameworks of Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics - two approaches that consider the interactional aspect of humans talking with each other to be a crucial starting point for its analysis. In doing so, we will (1) lay out the background of this special issue (what is problematic about "chunking" talk-in-interaction, the characteristics of the methodological approach chosen by the contributors, the cesura model), (2) highlight what can be gained from such a revised understanding of "chunking" in talk-in-interaction by referring to previous work with this model as well as the findings of the contributions to this special issue, and (3) indicate further directions such work could take starting from papers in this special issue. We hope to induce a fruitful exchange on the phenomena discussed, across methodological divides.}, language = {en} } @article{HauffeRathSchelletal.2021, author = {Hauffe, Robert and Rath, Michaela and Schell, Mareike and Ritter, Katrin and Kappert, Kai and Deubel, Stefanie and Ott, Christiane and J{\"a}hnert, Markus and Jonas, Wenke and Sch{\"u}rmann, Annette and Kleinridders, Andr{\´e}}, title = {HSP60 reduction protects against diet-induced obesity by modulating energy metabolism in adipose tissue}, series = {Molecular Metabolism}, volume = {53}, journal = {Molecular Metabolism}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam, Niederlande}, issn = {2212-8778}, doi = {10.1016/j.molmet.2021.101276}, pages = {1 -- 14}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Objective Insulin regulates mitochondrial function, thereby propagating an efficient metabolism. Conversely, diabetes and insulin resistance are linked to mitochondrial dysfunction with a decreased expression of the mitochondrial chaperone HSP60. The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of a reduced HSP60 expression on the development of obesity and insulin resistance. Methods Control and heterozygous whole-body HSP60 knockout (Hsp60+/-) mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD, 60\% calories from fat) for 16 weeks and subjected to extensive metabolic phenotyping. To understand the effect of HSP60 on white adipose tissue, microarray analysis of gonadal WAT was performed, ex vivo experiments were performed, and a lentiviral knockdown of HSP60 in 3T3-L1 cells was conducted to gain detailed insights into the effect of reduced HSP60 levels on adipocyte homeostasis. Results Male Hsp60+/- mice exhibited lower body weight with lower fat mass. These mice exhibited improved insulin sensitivity compared to control, as assessed by Matsuda Index and HOMA-IR. Accordingly, insulin levels were significantly reduced in Hsp60+/- mice in a glucose tolerance test. However, Hsp60+/- mice exhibited an altered adipose tissue metabolism with elevated insulin-independent glucose uptake, adipocyte hyperplasia in the presence of mitochondrial dysfunction, altered autophagy, and local insulin resistance. Conclusions We discovered that the reduction of HSP60 in mice predominantly affects adipose tissue homeostasis, leading to beneficial alterations in body weight, body composition, and adipocyte morphology, albeit exhibiting local insulin resistance.}, language = {en} } @article{RosenblumPikovskijKuehnetal.2021, author = {Rosenblum, Michael and Pikovskij, Arkadij and K{\"u}hn, Andrea A. and Busch, Johannes Leon}, title = {Real-time estimation of phase and amplitude with application to neural data}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {11}, journal = {Scientific reports}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-021-97560-5}, pages = {11}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Computation of the instantaneous phase and amplitude via the Hilbert Transform is a powerful tool of data analysis. This approach finds many applications in various science and engineering branches but is not proper for causal estimation because it requires knowledge of the signal's past and future. However, several problems require real-time estimation of phase and amplitude; an illustrative example is phase-locked or amplitude-dependent stimulation in neuroscience. In this paper, we discuss and compare three causal algorithms that do not rely on the Hilbert Transform but exploit well-known physical phenomena, the synchronization and the resonance. After testing the algorithms on a synthetic data set, we illustrate their performance computing phase and amplitude for the accelerometer tremor measurements and a Parkinsonian patient's beta-band brain activity.}, language = {en} } @article{GrebenkovMetzlerOshanin2021, author = {Grebenkov, Denis S. and Metzler, Ralf and Oshanin, Gleb}, title = {Distribution of first-reaction times with target regions on boundaries of shell-like domains}, series = {New Journal of Physics (NJP)}, volume = {2021}, journal = {New Journal of Physics (NJP)}, edition = {23}, publisher = {IOP Publishing}, address = {London}, issn = {1367-2630}, doi = {10.1088/1367-2630/ac4282}, pages = {1 -- 23}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{PurintonBookhagen2021, author = {Purinton, Benjamin and Bookhagen, Bodo}, title = {Beyond Vertical Point Accuracy}, series = {Frontiers in Earth Science}, journal = {Frontiers in Earth Science}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2296-6463}, doi = {10.3389/feart.2021.758606}, pages = {1 -- 24}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{PawassarTiberius2021, author = {Pawassar, Christian Matthias and Tiberius, Victor}, title = {Virtual reality in health care}, series = {JMIR Serious Games}, volume = {9}, journal = {JMIR Serious Games}, edition = {4}, publisher = {JMIR Publications}, address = {Toronto, Kanada}, issn = {2291-9279}, doi = {10.2196/32721}, pages = {1 -- 19}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background: Research into the application of virtual reality technology in the health care sector has rapidly increased, resulting in a large body of research that is difficult to keep up with. Objective: We will provide an overview of the annual publication numbers in this field and the most productive and influential countries, journals, and authors, as well as the most used, most co-occurring, and most recent keywords. Methods: Based on a data set of 356 publications and 20,363 citations derived from Web of Science, we conducted a bibliometric analysis using BibExcel, HistCite, and VOSviewer. Results: The strongest growth in publications occurred in 2020, accounting for 29.49\% of all publications so far. The most productive countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain; the most influential countries are the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The most productive journals are the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), JMIR Serious Games, and the Games for Health Journal; the most influential journals are Patient Education and Counselling, Medical Education, and Quality of Life Research. The most productive authors are Riva, del Piccolo, and Schwebel; the most influential authors are Finset, del Piccolo, and Eide. The most frequently occurring keywords other than "virtual" and "reality" are "training," "trial," and "patients." The most relevant research themes are communication, education, and novel treatments; the most recent research trends are fitness and exergames. Conclusions: The analysis shows that the field has left its infant state and its specialization is advancing, with a clear focus on patient usability.}, language = {en} } @article{MarimonTarterHofmannVerissimoetal.2021, author = {Marimon Tarter, Mireia and Hofmann, Andrea and Ver{\´i}ssimo, Joao Marques and M{\"a}nnel, Claudia and Friederici, Angela Dorkas and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Wartenburger, Isabell}, title = {Children's Learning of Non-adjacent Dependencies Using a Web-Based Computer Game Setting}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2021.734877}, pages = {1 -- 15}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{Perscheid2021, author = {Perscheid, Cindy}, title = {Comprior}, series = {BMC Bioinformatics}, volume = {22}, journal = {BMC Bioinformatics}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {1471-2105}, doi = {10.1186/s12859-021-04308-z}, pages = {1 -- 15}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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}, language = {en} } @article{LiuZhouFettke2021, author = {Liu, Qingting and Zhou, Yuan and Fettke, J{\"o}rg}, title = {Starch granule size and morphology of Arabidopsis thaliana starch-related mutants analyzed during diurnal rhythm and development}, series = {Molecules : a journal of synthetic chemistry and natural product chemistry / Molecular Diversity Preservation International}, volume = {26}, journal = {Molecules : a journal of synthetic chemistry and natural product chemistry / Molecular Diversity Preservation International}, edition = {19}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {1420-3049}, doi = {10.3390/molecules26195859}, pages = {1 -- 9}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Transitory starch plays a central role in the life cycle of plants. Many aspects of this important metabolism remain unknown; however, starch granules provide insight into this persistent metabolic process. Therefore, monitoring alterations in starch granules with high temporal resolution provides one significant avenue to improve understanding. Here, a previously established method that combines LCSM and safranin-O staining for in vivo imaging of transitory starch granules in leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana was employed to demonstrate, for the first time, the alterations in starch granule size and morphology that occur both throughout the day and during leaf aging. Several starch-related mutants were included, which revealed differences among the generated granules. In ptst2 and sex1-8, the starch granules in old leaves were much larger than those in young leaves; however, the typical flattened discoid morphology was maintained. In ss4 and dpe2/phs1/ss4, the morphology of starch granules in young leaves was altered, with a more rounded shape observed. With leaf development, the starch granules became spherical exclusively in dpe2/phs1/ss4. Thus, the presented data provide new insights to contribute to the understanding of starch granule morphogenesis.}, language = {en} } @article{SchefflerRogolIancuetal.2021, author = {Scheffler, Christiane and Rogol, Alan D. and Iancu, Mirela and Hanc, Tomasz and Moelyo, Annang Giri and Suchomlinov, Andrej and Lebedeva, Lidia and Limony, Yehuda and Musalek, Martin and Veldre, Gudrun and Godina, Elena Z. and Kirchengast, Sylvia and Mumm, Rebekka and Groth, Detlef and Tutkuviene, Janina and B{\"o}ker, Sonja and Ozer, Basak Koca and Navazo, Barbara and Spake, Laure and Koziel, Slawomir and Hermanussen, Michael}, title = {Growth during times of fear and emotional stress}, series = {Human biology and public health}, journal = {Human biology and public health}, number = {2}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2748-9957}, doi = {10.52905/hbph.v2.15}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Twenty-one scientists met for this year's virtual conference on Auxology held at the University Potsdam, Germany, to discuss child and adolescent growth during times of fear and emotional stress. Growth within the broad range of normal for age and sex is considered a sign of good general health whereas fear and emotional stress can lead to growth faltering. Stunting is a sign of social disadvantage and poor parental education. Adverse childhood experiences affect child development, particularly in families with low parental education and low socioeconomic status. Negative effects were also shown in Indian children exposed prenatally and in early postnatal life to the cyclone Aila in 2009. Distrust, fears and fake news regarding the current Corona pandemic received particular attention though the effects generally appeared weak. Mean birth weight was higher; rates of low, very and extremely low birth weight were lower. Other topics discussed by the participants, were the influences of economic crises on birth weight, the measurement of self-confidence and its impact on growth, the associations between obesity, peer relationship, and behavior among Turkish adolescents, height trends in Indonesia, physiological neonatal weight loss, methods for assessing biological maturation in sportsmen, and a new method for skeletal age determination. The participants also discussed the association between acute myocardial infarction and somatotype in Estonia, rural-urban growth differences in Mongolian children, socio-environmental conditions and sexual dimorphism, biological mortality bias, and new statistical techniques for describing inhomogeneity in the association of bivariate variables, and for detecting and visualizing extensive interactions among variables.}, language = {en} } @article{Thulin2021, author = {Thulin, Mirjam}, title = {Instituting Transnational Jewish Learning}, series = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, journal = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, number = {27}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-520-0}, issn = {1614-6492}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53284}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-532842}, pages = {53 -- 67}, year = {2021}, abstract = {When the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau opened its doors in 1854, it established a novel form of rabbinical education: the systematic combination of Jewish studies at the seminary in parallel with university studies. The Breslau seminary became the model for most later institutions for rabbinical training in Europe and the United States. The seminaries were the new sites of modern Jewish scholarship, especially the academic study of Judaism (Wissenschaft des Judentums). Their function and goal were to preserve, (re)organize, and transmit Jewish knowledge in the modern age. As such, they became central nodes in Jewish scholarly networks. This case study highlights the multi-nodal connections between the Conservative seminaries in Breslau, Philadelphia, New York, Budapest, and Vienna. At the same time, it is intended to provide an example of the potential of transnational and transfer studies for the history of the Jewish religious learning in Europe and the United States.}, language = {en} } @article{Rabin2021, author = {Rabin, Shari}, title = {Mobile Jews and Porous Borders}, series = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, journal = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, number = {27}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-520-0}, issn = {1614-6492}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53282}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-532822}, pages = {25 -- 38}, year = {2021}, abstract = {This article explores the multi-directional geographic trajectories and ties of Jews who came to the United States in the 19th century, working to complicate simplistic understandings of "German" Jewish immigration. It focuses on the case study of Henry Cohn, an ordinary Russian-born Jew whose journeys took him to Prussia, New York, Savannah, and California. Once in the United States he returned to Europe twice, the second time permanently, although a grandson ended up in California, where he worked to ensure the preservation of Cohn's records. This story highlights how Jews navigated and transgressed national boundaries in the 19th century and the limitations of the historical narratives that have been constructed from their experiences.}, language = {en} } @article{Schmidt2021, author = {Schmidt, Imanuel Clemens}, title = {A Secular Tradition}, series = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, journal = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, number = {27}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-520-0}, issn = {1614-6492}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53286}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-532868}, pages = {85 -- 100}, year = {2021}, abstract = {This article focuses on the social philosopher Horace Kallen and the revisions he made to the concept of cultural pluralism that he first developed in the early 20th century, applying it to postwar America and the young State of Israel. It shows how he opposed the assumption that the United States' social order was based on a "Judeo-Christian tradition." By constructing pluralism as a civil religion and carving out space for secular self-understandings in midcentury America, Kallen attempted to preserve the integrity of his earlier political visions, developed during World War I, of pluralist societies in the United States and Palestine within an internationalist global order. While his perspective on the State of Israel was largely shaped by his American experiences, he revised his approach to politically functionalizing religious traditions as he tested his American understanding of a secular, pluralist society against the political theology effective in the State of Israel. The trajectory of Kallen's thought points to fundamental questions about the compatibility of American and Israeli understandings of religion's function in society and its relation to political belonging, especially in light of their transnational connection through American Jewish support for the recently established state.}, language = {en} } @article{Schwartz2021, author = {Schwartz, Yitzchak}, title = {American Jewish Ideas in a Transnational Jewish World, 1843-1900}, series = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, journal = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, number = {27}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-520-0}, issn = {1614-6492}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53283}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-532835}, pages = {39 -- 52}, year = {2021}, abstract = {As mid-19th-century American Jews introduced radical changes to their religious observance and began to define Judaism in new ways, to what extent did they engage with European Jewish ideas? Historians often approach religious change among Jews from German lands during this period as if Jewish immigrants had come to America with one set of ideas that then evolved solely in conversation with their American contexts. Historians have similarly cast the kinds of Judaism Americans created as both unique to America and uniquely American. These characterizations are accurate to an extent. But to what extent did Jewish innovations in the United States take place in conversation with European Jewish developments? Looking to the 19th-century American Jewish press, this paper seeks to understand how American Jews engaged European Judaism in formulating their own ideas, understanding themselves, and understanding their place in world Judaism.}, language = {en} } @article{Czendze2021, author = {Czendze, Oskar}, title = {In Search of Belonging}, series = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, journal = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, number = {27}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-520-0}, issn = {1614-6492}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53285}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-532857}, pages = {69 -- 83}, year = {2021}, abstract = {More than 200,000 Jews left the Habsburg province of Galicia between 1881 and 1910. No longer living in the places of their childhood, they settled in urban centers, such as in New York's Lower East Side. In this neighborhood, Galician Jews began to search for new relationships that linked the places they left and the ones where they arrived and settled. By looking at Galicia through the lens of autobiographical writings by former Jewish immigrants who became established residents of New York, this article emphasizes the role of regionalism in the context of transnational conceptions of a new American Jewish self-understanding. It argues that the key to analyzing the evolution of "eastern Europe" as a common place of origin for American Jewry is the constant dialogue between the places of origin and arrival. Specifically, philanthropic efforts during and after the First World War and the proliferation of tourism both enabled these settled immigrants to gradually replace regional notions, such as the idea of Galicia, with a mythical image of eastern Europe to create a sense of community as American Jews.}, language = {en} } @article{Cooperman2021, author = {Cooperman, Jessica}, title = {Jewish-Christian Dialogue and American Visions of the Postwar World}, series = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, journal = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, number = {27}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-520-0}, issn = {1614-6492}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53748}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-537488}, pages = {117 -- 131}, year = {2021}, abstract = {American occupying forces made the promotion of Jewish-Christian dialogue part of their plans for postwar German reconstruction. They sought to export American models of Jewish-Christian cooperation to Germany, while simultaneously validating and valorizing claims about the connection between democracy and tri-faith religious pluralism in the United States. The small size of the Jewish population in Germany meant that Jews did not set the terms of these discussions, and evidence shows that both German and American Jews expressed skepticism about participating in dialogue in the years immediately following the Holocaust. But opting out would have meant that discussions in Germany about the Judeo-Christian tradition that the American government advanced as the centerpiece of postwar democratic reconstruction would take place without a Jewish contribution. American Jewish leaders, present in Germany and in the US, therefore decided to opt in, not because they supported the project, but because it seemed far riskier to be left out.}, language = {en} } @article{CleggWackerSpijkerman2021, author = {Clegg, Mark R. and Wacker, Alexander and Spijkerman, Elly}, title = {Phenotypic Diversity and Plasticity of Photoresponse Across an Environmentally Contrasting Family of Phytoflagellates}, series = {Frontiers in plant science : FPLS}, journal = {Frontiers in plant science : FPLS}, number = {12}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-462X}, doi = {10.3389/fpls.2021.707541}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Organisms often employ ecophysiological strategies to exploit environmental conditions and ensure bio-energetic success. However, the many complexities involved in the differential expression and flexibility of these strategies are rarely fully understood. Therefore, for the first time, using a three-part cross-disciplinary laboratory experimental analysis, we investigated the diversity and plasticity of photoresponsive traits employed by one family of environmentally contrasting, ecologically important phytoflagellates. The results demonstrated an extensive inter-species phenotypic diversity of behavioural, physiological, and compositional photoresponse across the Chlamydomonadaceae, and a multifaceted intra-species phenotypic plasticity, involving a broad range of beneficial photoacclimation strategies, often attributable to environmental predisposition and phylogenetic differentiation. Deceptively diverse and sophisticated strong (population and individual cell) behavioural photoresponses were observed, with divergence from a general preference for low light (and flexibility) dictated by intra-familial differences in typical habitat (salinity and trophy) and phylogeny. Notably, contrasting lower, narrow, and flexible compared with higher, broad, and stable preferences were observed in freshwater vs. brackish and marine species. Complex diversity and plasticity in physiological and compositional photoresponses were also discovered. Metabolic characteristics (such as growth rates, respiratory costs and photosynthetic capacity, efficiency, compensation and saturation points) varied elaborately with species, typical habitat (often varying more in eutrophic species, such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii), and culture irradiance (adjusting to optimise energy acquisition and suggesting some propensity for low light). Considerable variations in intracellular pigment and biochemical composition were also recorded. Photosynthetic and accessory pigments (such as chlorophyll a, xanthophyll-cycle components, chlorophyll a:b and chlorophyll a:carotenoid ratios, fatty acid content and saturation ratios) varied with phylogeny and typical habitat (to attune photosystem ratios in different trophic conditions and to optimise shade adaptation, photoprotection, and thylakoid architecture, particularly in freshwater environments), and changed with irradiance (as reaction and harvesting centres adjusted to modulate absorption and quantum yield). The complex, concomitant nature of the results also advocated an integrative approach in future investigations. Overall, these nuanced, diverse, and flexible photoresponsive traits will greatly contribute to the functional ecology of these organisms, addressing environmental heterogeneity and potentially shaping individual fitness, spatial and temporal distribution, prevalence, and ecosystem dynamics.}, language = {en} } @article{GallasRuerup2021, author = {Gallas, Elisabeth and R{\"u}rup, Miriam}, title = {"Advocate of the Jewish People"}, series = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, journal = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany}, number = {27}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-520-0}, issn = {1614-6492}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53750}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-537501}, pages = {135 -- 142}, year = {2021}, language = {en} } @article{SchefflerNguyenHermanussen2021, author = {Scheffler, Christiane and Nguyen, Thi Hong and Hermanussen, Michael}, title = {Vietnamese migrants are as tall as they want to be}, series = {Human biology and public health}, journal = {Human biology and public health}, number = {2}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2748-9957}, doi = {10.52905/hbph.v2.12}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background: Members of the same social group tent to have the same body height. Migrants tend to adjust in height to their host communities. Objectives: Social-Economic-Political-Emotional (SEPE) factors influence growth. We hypothesized that Vietnamese young adult migrants in Germany (1) are taller than their parents, (2) are as tall as their German peers, and (3) are as tall as predicted by height expectation at age 13 years. Sample: The study was conducted in 30 male and 54 female Vietnamese migrants (mean age 26.23 years. SD=4.96) in Germany in 2020. Methods: Information on age, sex, body height, school and education, job, height and ethnicity of best friend, migration history and cultural identification, parental height and education, and recalled information on their personal height expectations at age 13 years were obtained by questionnaire. The data were analyzed by St. Nicolas House Analysis (SNHA) and multiple regression. Results: Vietnamese young adults are taller than their parents (females 3.85cm, males 7.44cm), but do not fully attain height of their German peers. The body height is positively associated with the height of best friend (p < 0.001), the height expectation at age 13 year (p < 0.001), and father's height (p=0.001). Conclusion: Body height of Vietnamese migrants in Germany reflects competitive growth and strategic growth adjustments. The magnitude of this intergenerational trend supports the concept that human growth depends on SEPE factors.}, language = {en} } @article{SchefflerHermanussen2021, author = {Scheffler, Christiane and Hermanussen, Michael}, title = {Stunting does not impair physical fitness in Indonesian school children}, series = {Human biology and public health}, journal = {Human biology and public health}, number = {2}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2748-9957}, doi = {10.52905/hbph.v2.19}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background: Physical fitness is decreased in malnourished children and adults. Poor appearance and muscular flaccidity are among the first signs of malnutrition. Malnutrition is often associated with stunting. Objectives: We test the hypotheses that stunted children of low social strata are physically less fit than children of high social strata. Sample: We investigated 354 school girls and 369 school boys aged 5.83 to 13.83 (mean 9.54) years from three different social strata in Kupang (West-Timor, Indonesia) in 2020. Methods: We measured height, weight, and elbow breadth, calculated standard deviation (SDS) of height and weight according to CDC references, and the Frame index as an indicator of long-term physical fitness, and we tested physical fitness in standing long jump and hand grip strength. Results: Children of low social strata are physically fittest. They jump longer distances, and they have higher values in the Frame index. No association exists between height SDS and physical fitness, neither in respect to standing long jump, nor to hand grip strength. Conclusion: Stunting does not impair physical fitness in Indonesian school children. Our results support the concept that SEPE (social-economic-political-emotional) factors are involved in the regulation of human growth.}, language = {en} } @article{JararnezhadgeroMamashliGranacher2021, author = {Jararnezhadgero, AmirAli and Mamashli, Elaheh and Granacher, Urs}, title = {An Endurance-Dominated Exercise Program Improves Maximum Oxygen Consumption, Ground Reaction Forces, and Muscle Activities in Patients With Moderate Diabetic Neuropathy}, series = {Frontiers in physiology / Frontiers Research Foundation}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in physiology / Frontiers Research Foundation}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-042X}, doi = {10.3389/fphys.2021.654755}, pages = {1 -- 15}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{KasmiZouhalHammamietal.2021, author = {Kasmi, Sofien and Zouhal, Hassane and Hammami, Raouf and Clark, Cain Craig Truman and Hackney, Anthony C. and Hammami, Amri and Chtara, Moktar and Chortane, Sabri Gaied and Ben Salah, Fatma Zohra and Granacher, Urs and Ben Ounis, Omar}, title = {The Effects of Eccentric and Plyometric Training Programs and Their Combination on Stability and the Functional Performance in the Post-ACL-Surgical Rehabilitation Period of Elite Female Athletes}, series = {Frontiers in physiology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in physiology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-042X}, doi = {10.3389/fphys.2021.688385}, pages = {1 -- 11}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background: The standard method to treat physically active patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is ligament reconstruction surgery. The rehabilitation training program is very important to improve functional performance in recreational athletes following ACL reconstruction. Objectives: The aims of this study were to compare the effects of three different training programs, eccentric training (ECC), plyometric training (PLYO), or combined eccentric and plyometric training (COMB), on dynamic balance (Y-BAL), the Lysholm Knee Scale (LKS), the return to sport index (RSI), and the leg symmetry index (LSI) for the single leg hop test for distance in elite female athletes after ACL surgery. Materials and Methods: Fourteen weeks after rehabilitation from surgery, 40 elite female athletes (20.3 ± 3.2 years), who had undergone an ACL reconstruction, participated in a short-term (6 weeks; two times a week) training study. All participants received the same rehabilitation protocol prior to the training study. Athletes were randomly assigned to three experimental groups, ECC (n = 10), PLYO (n = 10), and COMB (n = 10), and to a control group (CON: n = 10). Testing was conducted before and after the 6-week training programs and included the Y-BAL, LKS, and RSI. LSI was assessed after the 6-week training programs only. Results: Adherence rate was 100\% across all groups and no training or test-related injuries were reported. No significant between-group baseline differences (pre-6-week training) were observed for any of the parameters. Significant group-by-time interactions were found for Y-BAL (p < 0.001, ES = 1.73), LKS (p < 0.001, ES = 0.76), and RSI (p < 0.001, ES = 1.39). Contrast analysis demonstrated that COMB yielded significantly greater improvements in Y-BAL, LKS, and RSI (all p < 0.001), in addition to significantly better performances in LSI (all p < 0.001), than CON, PLYO, and ECC, respectively. Conclusion: In conclusion, combined (eccentric/plyometric) training seems to represent the most effective training method as it exerts positive effects on both stability and functional performance in the post-ACL-surgical rehabilitation period of elite female athletes.}, language = {en} } @article{SariatiHammamiZouhaletal.2021, author = {Sariati, Dorsaf and Hammami, Raouf and Zouhal, Hassane and Clark, Cain Craig Truman and Nebigh, Ammar and Chtara, Moktar and Chortane, Sabri Gaied and Hackney, Anthony C. and Souissi, Nizar and Granacher, Urs and Ben Ounis, Omar}, title = {Improvement of Physical Performance Following a 6 Week Change-of-Direction Training Program in Elite Youth Soccer Players of Different Maturity Levels}, series = {Frontiers in physiology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in physiology}, editor = {Trecroci, Athos}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-042X}, doi = {10.3389/fphys.2021.668437}, pages = {1 -- 8}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background: Change-of-direction (CoD) is a necessary physical ability of a field sport and may vary in youth players according to their maturation status. Objectives: The aim of this study is: to compare the effectiveness of a 6-week CoD training intervention on dynamic balance (CS-YBT), horizontal jump (5JT), speed (10 and 30-m linear sprint times), CoD with (15 m-CoD + B) and without (15 m-CoD) the ball, in youth male soccer players at different levels of maturity [pre- and post-peak height velocity (PHV)]. Materials and Methods: Thirty elite male youth soccer players aged 10-17 years from the Tunisian first division participated in this study. The players were divided into pre- (G1, n = 15) and post-PHV (G2, n = 15) groups. Both groups completed a similar 6-week training program with two sessions per week of four CoD exercises. All players completed the following tests before and after intervention: CS-YBT; 5 JT; 10, 30, and 15 m-CoD; and 15 m-CoD + B, and data were analyzed using ANCOVA. Results: All 30 players completed the study according to the study design and methodology. Adherence rate was 100\% across all groups, and no training or test-related injuries were reported. Pre-PHV and post-PHV groups showed significant amelioration post-intervention for all dependent variables (after test > before test; p < 0.01, d = 0.09-1.51). ANOVA revealed a significant group × time interaction only for CS-YBT (F = 4.45; p < 0.04; η2 = 0.14), 5JT (F = 6.39; p < 0.02; η2 = 0.18), and 15 m-CoD (F = 7.88; p < 0.01; η2 = 0.22). CS-YBT, 5JT, and 15 m-CoD improved significantly in the post-PHV group (+ 4.56\%, effect size = 1.51; + 4.51\%, effect size = 1.05; and -3.08\%, effect size = 0.51, respectively), more than the pre-PHV group (+ 2.77\%, effect size = 0.85; + 2.91\%, effect size = 0.54; and -1.56\%, effect size = 0.20, respectively). Conclusion: The CoD training program improved balance, horizontal jump, and CoD without the ball in male preadolescent and adolescent soccer players, and this improvement was greater in the post-PHV players. The maturity status of the athletes should be considered when programming CoD training for soccer players.}, language = {en} } @article{SariatiZouhalHammamietal.2021, author = {Sariati, Dorsaf and Zouhal, Hassane and Hammami, Raouf and Clark, Cain Craig Truman and Nebigh, Ammar and Chtara, Moktar and Hackney, Anthony C. and Souissi, Nizar and Granacher, Urs and Ben Ounis, Omar}, title = {Association Between Mental Imagery and Change of Direction Performance in Young Elite Soccer Players of Different Maturity Status}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2021.665508}, pages = {1 -- 9}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{GaeblerBerberyanPrieskeetal.2021, author = {G{\"a}bler, Martijn and Berberyan, Hermine S. and Prieske, Olaf and Elferink-Gemser, Marije Titia and Hortob{\´a}gyi, Tibor and Warnke, Torsten and Granacher, Urs}, title = {Strength Training Intensity and Volume Affect Performance of Young Kayakers/Canoeists}, series = {Frontiers in physiology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in physiology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-042X}, doi = {10.3389/fphys.2021.686744}, pages = {1 -- 10}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of moderate intensity, low volume (MILV) vs. low intensity, high volume (LIHV) strength training on sport-specific performance, measures of muscular fitness, and skeletal muscle mass in young kayakers and canoeists. Methods: Semi-elite young kayakers and canoeists (N = 40, 13 ± 0.8 years, 11 girls) performed either MILV (70-80\% 1-RM, 6-12 repetitions per set) or LIHV (30-40\% 1-RM, 60-120 repetitions per set) strength training for one season. Linear mixed-effects models were used to compare effects of training condition on changes over time in 250 and 2,000 m time trials, handgrip strength, underhand shot throw, average bench pull power over 2 min, and skeletal muscle mass. Both between- and within-subject designs were used for analysis. An alpha of 0.05 was used to determine statistical significance. Results: Between- and within-subject analyses showed that monthly changes were greater in LIHV vs. MILV for the 2,000 m time trial (between: 9.16 s, SE = 2.70, p < 0.01; within: 2,000 m: 13.90 s, SE = 5.02, p = 0.01) and bench pull average power (between: 0.021 W⋅kg-1, SE = 0.008, p = 0.02; within: 0.010 W⋅kg-1, SE = 0.009, p > 0.05). Training conditions did not affect other outcomes. Conclusion: Young sprint kayakers and canoeists benefit from LIHV more than MILV strength training in terms of 2,000 m performance and muscular endurance (i.e., 2 min bench pull power).}, language = {en} } @article{PuschmannLinWippert2021, author = {Puschmann, Anne-Katrin and Lin, Chiao-I and Wippert, Pia-Maria}, title = {Sustainability of a motor control exercise intervention}, series = {Frontiers in sports and active living}, volume = {3}, journal = {Frontiers in sports and active living}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2624-9367}, doi = {10.3389/fspor.2021.659982}, pages = {1 -- 8}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Development of chronic pain after a low back pain episode is associated with increased pain sensitivity, altered pain processing mechanisms and the influence of psychosocial factors. Although there is some evidence that multimodal therapy (such as behavioral or motor control therapy) may be an important therapeutic strategy, its long-term effect on pain reduction and psychosocial load is still unclear. Prospective longitudinal designs providing information about the extent of such possible long-term effects are missing. This study aims to investigate the long-term effects of a homebased uni- and multidisciplinary motor control exercise program on low back pain intensity, disability and psychosocial variables. 14 months after completion of a multicenter study comparing uni- and multidisciplinary exercise interventions, a sample of one study center (n = 154) was assessed once more. Participants filled in questionnaires regarding their low back pain symptoms (characteristic pain intensity and related disability), stress and vital exhaustion (short version of the Maastricht Vital Exhaustion Questionnaire), anxiety and depression experiences (the Hospital and Anxiety Depression Scale), and pain-related cognitions (the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire). Repeated measures mixed ANCOVAs were calculated to determine the long-term effects of the interventions on characteristic pain intensity and disability as well as on the psychosocial variables. Fifty four percent of the sub-sample responded to the questionnaires (n = 84). Longitudinal analyses revealed a significant long-term effect of the exercise intervention on pain disability. The multidisciplinary group missed statistical significance yet showed a medium sized long-term effect. The groups did not differ in their changes of the psychosocial variables of interest. There was evidence of long-term effects of the interventions on pain-related disability, but there was no effect on the other variables of interest. This may be partially explained by participant's low comorbidities at baseline. Results are important regarding costless homebased alternatives for back pain patients and prevention tasks. Furthermore, this study closes the gap of missing long-term effect analysis in this field.}, language = {en} } @article{SchaeferDechAehleetal.2021, author = {Schaefer, Laura and Dech, Silas and Aehle, Markus and Bittmann, Frank}, title = {Disgusting odours affect the characteristics of the adaptive force in contrast to neutral and pleasant odours}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {11}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-021-95759-0}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{WarschburgerPetersenvonRezorietal.2021, author = {Warschburger, Petra and Petersen, Ann-Christin and von Rezori, Roman Enzio and Buchallik, Friederike and Baumeister, Harald and Holl, Reinhard and Minden, Kirsten and M{\"u}ller-​Stierlin, Annabel Sandra and Reinauer, Christina and Staab, Doris and COACH consortium,}, title = {A prospective investigation of developmental trajectories of psychosocial adjustment in adolescents facing a chronic condition - study protocol of an observational, multi-center study}, series = {BMC Pediatrics}, volume = {21}, journal = {BMC Pediatrics}, publisher = {BMC pediatrics}, address = {London}, issn = {1471-2431}, doi = {10.1186/s12887-021-02869-9}, pages = {1 -- 13}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{FuehnerGranacherGolleetal.2021, author = {F{\"u}hner, Thea Heidi and Granacher, Urs and Golle, Kathleen and Kliegl, Reinhold}, title = {Age and sex effects in physical fitness components of 108,295 third graders including 515 primary schools and 9 cohorts}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {11}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, publisher = {Nature Portfolio}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-021-97000-4}, pages = {1 -- 13}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{PerezChaparroSchuchZechetal.2021, author = {P{\´e}rez Chaparro, Camilo Germ{\´a}n Alberto and Schuch, Felipe Barreto and Zech, Philipp and Kangas, Maria and Rapp, Michael A. and Heißel, Andreas}, title = {Recreational exercising and self-reported cardiometabolic diseases in German people living with HIV}, series = {International journal of environmental research and public health : IJERPH / Molecular Diversity Preservation International}, volume = {18}, journal = {International journal of environmental research and public health : IJERPH / Molecular Diversity Preservation International}, number = {21}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {1660-4601}, doi = {10.3390/ijerph182111579}, pages = {1 -- 10}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Exercise is known for its beneficial effects on preventing cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) in the general population. People living with the human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH) are prone to sedentarism, thus raising their already elevated risk of developing CMDs in comparison to individuals without HIV. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine if exercise is associated with reduced risk of self-reported CMDs in a German HIV-positive sample (n = 446). Participants completed a self-report survey to assess exercise levels, date of HIV diagnosis, CD4 cell count, antiretroviral therapy, and CMDs. Participants were classified into exercising or sedentary conditions. Generalized linear models with Poisson regression were conducted to assess the prevalence ratio (PR) of PLWH reporting a CMD. Exercising PLWH were less likely to report a heart arrhythmia for every increase in exercise duration (PR: 0.20: 95\% CI: 0.10-0.62, p < 0.01) and diabetes mellitus for every increase in exercise session per week (PR: 0.40: 95\% CI: 0.10-1, p < 0.01). Exercise frequency and duration are associated with a decreased risk of reporting arrhythmia and diabetes mellitus in PLWH. Further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying exercise as a protective factor for CMDs in PLWH.}, language = {en} } @article{SchraplauBlockHaeusleretal.2021, author = {Schraplau, Anne and Block, Andrea and H{\"a}usler, Andreas and Wippert, Pia-Maria and Rapp, Michael A. and V{\"o}ller, Heinz and Bonaventura, Klaus and Mayer, Frank}, title = {Mobile diagnostics and consultation for the prevention of the metabolic syndrome and its secondary diseases in Brandenburg—study protocol of a regional prospective cohort study}, series = {Pilot and Feasibility Studies}, volume = {7}, journal = {Pilot and Feasibility Studies}, publisher = {BioMed Central (Springer Nature)}, address = {London}, issn = {2055-5784}, doi = {10.1186/s40814-021-00898-w}, pages = {1 -- 11}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a risk cluster for a number of secondary diseases. The implementation of prevention programs requires early detection of individuals at risk. However, access to health care providers is limited in structurally weak regions. Brandenburg, a rural federal state in Germany, has an especially high MetS prevalence and disease burden. This study aims to validate and test the feasibility of a setup for mobile diagnostics of MetS and its secondary diseases, to evaluate the MetS prevalence and its association with moderating factors in Brandenburg and to identify new ways of early prevention, while establishing a "Mobile Brandenburg Cohort" to reveal new causes and risk factors for MetS. Methods In a pilot study, setups for mobile diagnostics of MetS and secondary diseases will be developed and validated. A van will be equipped as an examination room using point-of-care blood analyzers and by mobilizing standard methods. In study part A, these mobile diagnostic units will be placed at different locations in Brandenburg to locally recruit 5000 participants aged 40-70 years. They will be examined for MetS and advice on nutrition and physical activity will be provided. Questionnaires will be used to evaluate sociodemographics, stress perception, and physical activity. In study part B, participants with MetS, but without known secondary diseases, will receive a detailed mobile medical examination, including MetS diagnostics, medical history, clinical examinations, and instrumental diagnostics for internal, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and cognitive disorders. Participants will receive advice on nutrition and an exercise program will be demonstrated on site. People unable to participate in these mobile examinations will be interviewed by telephone. If necessary, participants will be referred to general practitioners for further diagnosis. Discussion The mobile diagnostics approach enables early detection of individuals at risk, and their targeted referral to local health care providers. Evaluation of the MetS prevalence, its relation to risk-increasing factors, and the "Mobile Brandenburg Cohort" create a unique database for further longitudinal studies on the implementation of home-based prevention programs to reduce mortality, especially in rural regions. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register, DRKS00022764; registered 07 October 2020—retrospectively registered.}, language = {en} } @article{PerkinsRoseGrossartetal.2021, author = {Perkins, Anita and Rose, Andrew and Grossart, Hans-Peter and Rojas-Jimenez, Keilor Osvaldo and Barroso Prescott, Selva Kiri and Oakes, Joanne M.}, title = {Oxic and Anoxic Organic Polymer Degradation Potential of Endophytic Fungi From the Marine Macroalga, Ecklonia radiata}, series = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, publisher = {Frontiers in microbiology}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-302X}, doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2021.726138}, pages = {1 -- 13}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Cellulose and chitin are the most abundant polymeric, organic carbon source globally. Thus, microbes degrading these polymers significantly influence global carbon cycling and greenhouse gas production. Fungi are recognized as important for cellulose decomposition in terrestrial environments, but are far less studied in marine environments, where bacterial organic matter degradation pathways tend to receive more attention. In this study, we investigated the potential of fungi to degrade kelp detritus, which is a major source of cellulose in marine systems. Given that kelp detritus can be transported considerable distances in the marine environment, we were specifically interested in the capability of endophytic fungi, which are transported with detritus, to ultimately contribute to kelp detritus degradation. We isolated 10 species and two strains of endophytic fungi from the kelp Ecklonia radiata. We then used a dye decolorization assay to assess their ability to degrade organic polymers (lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose) under both oxic and anoxic conditions and compared their degradation ability with common terrestrial fungi. Under oxic conditions, there was evidence that Ascomycota isolates produced cellulose-degrading extracellular enzymes (associated with manganese peroxidase and sulfur-containing lignin peroxidase), while Mucoromycota isolates appeared to produce both lignin and cellulose-degrading extracellular enzymes, and all Basidiomycota isolates produced lignin-degrading enzymes (associated with laccase and lignin peroxidase). Under anoxic conditions, only three kelp endophytes degraded cellulose. We concluded that kelp fungal endophytes can contribute to cellulose degradation in both oxic and anoxic environments. Thus, endophytic kelp fungi may play a significant role in marine carbon cycling via polymeric organic matter degradation.}, language = {en} } @article{FischerWinterFelisattietal.2021, author = {Fischer, Martin H. and Winter, Bodo and Felisatti, Arianna and Myachykov, Andriy and Jeglinski-Mende, Melinda A. and Shaki, Samuel}, title = {More instructions make fewer subtractions}, series = {Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2021.720616}, pages = {1 -- 3}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Research on problem solving offers insights into how humans process task-related information and which strategies they use (Newell and Simon, 1972; {\"O}llinger et al., 2014). Problem solving can be defined as the search for possible changes in one's mind (Kahneman, 2003). In a recent study, Adams et al. (2021) assessed whether the predominant problem solving strategy when making changes involves adding or subtracting elements. In order to do this, they used several examples of simple problems, such as editing text or making visual patterns symmetrical, either in naturalistic settings or on-line. The essence of the authors' findings is a strong preference to add rather than subtract elements across a diverse range of problems, including the stabilizing of artifacts, creating symmetrical patterns, or editing texts. More specifically, they succeeded in demonstrating that "participants were less likely to identify advantageous subtractive changes when the task did not (vs. did) cue them to consider subtraction, when they had only one opportunity (vs. several) to recognize the shortcomings of an additive search strategy or when they were under a higher (vs. lower) cognitive load" (Adams et al., 2021, p. 258). Addition and subtraction are generally defined as de-contextualized mathematical operations using abstract symbols (Russell, 1903/1938). Nevertheless, understanding of both symbols and operations is informed by everyday activities, such as making or breaking objects (Lakoff and N{\´u}{\~n}ez, 2000; Fischer and Shaki, 2018). The universal attribution of "addition bias" or "subtraction neglect" to problem solving activities is perhaps a convenient shorthand but it overlooks influential framing effects beyond those already acknowledged in the report and the accompanying commentary (Meyvis and Yoon, 2021). Most importantly, while Adams et al.'s study addresses an important issue, their very method of verbally instructing participants, together with lack of control over several known biases, might render their findings less than conclusive. Below, we discuss our concerns that emerged from the identified biases, namely those regarding the instructions and the experimental materials. Moreover, we refer to research from mathematical cognition that provides new insights into Adams et al.'s findings.}, language = {en} } @article{TofeldeBufeTurowski2022, author = {Tofelde, Stefanie and Bufe, Aaron and Turowski, Jens M.}, title = {Hillslope Sediment Supply Limits Alluvial Valley Width}, series = {AGU Advances}, journal = {AGU Advances}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union (AGU); Wiley}, address = {Hoboken, New Jersey, USA}, issn = {2576-604X}, doi = {10.1029/2021AV000641}, pages = {20}, year = {2022}, abstract = {River-valley morphology preserves information on tectonic and climatic conditions that shape landscapes. Observations suggest that river discharge and valley-wall lithology are the main controls on valley width. Yet, current models based on these observations fail to explain the full range of cross-sectional valley shapes in nature, suggesting hitherto unquantified controls on valley width. In particular, current models cannot explain the existence of paired terrace sequences that form under cyclic climate forcing. Paired river terraces are staircases of abandoned floodplains on both valley sides, and hence preserve past valley widths. Their formation requires alternating phases of predominantly river incision and predominantly lateral planation, plus progressive valley narrowing. While cyclic Quaternary climate changes can explain shifts between incision and lateral erosion, the driving mechanism of valley narrowing is unknown. Here, we extract valley geometries from climatically formed, alluvial river-terrace sequences and show that across our dataset, the total cumulative terrace height (here: total valley height) explains 90\%-99\% of the variance in valley width at the terrace sites. This finding suggests that valley height, or a parameter that scales linearly with valley height, controls valley width in addition to river discharge and lithology. To explain this valley-width-height relationship, we reformulate existing valley-width models and suggest that, when adjusting to new boundary conditions, alluvial valleys evolve to a width at which sediment removal from valley walls matches lateral sediment supply from hillslope erosion. Such a hillslope-channel coupling is not captured in current valley-evolution models. Our model can explain the existence of paired terrace sequences under cyclic climate forcing and relates valley width to measurable field parameters. Therefore, it facilitates the reconstruction of past climatic and tectonic conditions from valley topography.}, language = {en} } @article{MiklashevskyFischerLindemann2022, author = {Miklashevsky, Alex and Fischer, Martin H. and Lindemann, Oliver}, title = {Spatial-numerical associations without a motor response? Grip force says 'Yes'}, series = {Acta Psychologica}, volume = {231}, journal = {Acta Psychologica}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {1873-6297}, doi = {10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103791}, pages = {1 -- 17}, year = {2022}, abstract = {In numerical processing, the functional role of Spatial-Numerical Associations (SNAs, such as the association of smaller numbers with left space and larger numbers with right space, the Mental Number Line hypothesis) is debated. Most studies demonstrate SNAs with lateralized responses, and there is little evidence that SNAs appear when no response is required. We recorded passive holding grip forces in no-go trials during number processing. In Experiment 1, participants performed a surface numerical decision task ("Is it a number or a letter?"). In Experiment 2, we used a deeper semantic task ("Is this number larger or smaller than five?"). Despite instruction to keep their grip force constant, participants' spontaneous grip force changed in both experiments: Smaller numbers led to larger force increase in the left than in the right hand in the numerical decision task (500-700 ms after stimulus onset). In the semantic task, smaller numbers again led to larger force increase in the left hand, and larger numbers increased the right-hand holding force. This effect appeared earlier (180 ms) and lasted longer (until 580 ms after stimulus onset). This is the first demonstration of SNAs with passive holding force. Our result suggests that (1) explicit motor response is not a prerequisite for SNAs to appear, and (2) the timing and strength of SNAs are task-dependent. (216 words).}, language = {en} } @article{LindnerMoellerHildebrandtetal.2022, author = {Lindner, Nadja and Moeller, Korbinian and Hildebrandt, Frauke and Hasselhorn, Marcus and Lonnemann, Jan}, title = {Children's use of egocentric reference frames in spatial language is related to their numerical magnitude understanding}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2022.943191}, pages = {1 -- 13}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{ReegStriglJeltsch2022, author = {Reeg, Jette and Strigl, Lea and Jeltsch, Florian}, title = {Agricultural buffer zone thresholds to safeguard functional bee diversity}, series = {Ecology and Evolution}, volume = {12}, journal = {Ecology and Evolution}, edition = {3}, publisher = {Wiley Online Library}, address = {Hoboken, New Jersey, USA}, issn = {2045-7758}, doi = {10.1002/ece3.8748}, pages = {1 -- 17}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{LiebeDordevicKaufmannetal.2022, author = {Liebe, Thomas and Dordevic, Milos and Kaufmann, J{\"o}rn and Avetisyan, Araks and Skalej, Martin and M{\"u}ller, Notger Germar}, title = {Investigation of the functional pathogenesis of mild cognitive impairment by localisation-based locus coeruleus resting-state fMRI}, series = {Human Brain Mapping}, volume = {43}, journal = {Human Brain Mapping}, edition = {18}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, issn = {1097-0193}, doi = {10.1002/hbm.26039}, pages = {5630 -- 5642}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Dementia as one of the most prevalent diseases urges for a better understanding of the central mechanisms responsible for clinical symptoms, and necessitates improvement of actual diagnostic capabilities. The brainstem nucleus locus coeruleus (LC) is a promising target for early diagnosis because of its early structural alterations and its relationship to the functional disturbances in the patients. In this study, we applied our improved method of localisation-based LC resting-state fMRI to investigate the differences in central sensory signal processing when comparing functional connectivity (fc) of a patient group with mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 28) and an age-matched healthy control group (n = 29). MCI and control participants could be differentiated in their Mini-Mental-State-Examination (MMSE) scores (p < .001) and LC intensity ratio (p = .010). In the fMRI, LC fc to anterior cingulate cortex (FDR p < .001) and left anterior insula (FDR p = .012) was elevated, and LC fc to right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ, FDR p = .012) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC, FDR p = .021) was decreased in the patient group. Importantly, LC to rTPJ connectivity was also positively correlated to MMSE scores in MCI patients (p = .017). Furthermore, we found a hyperactivation of the left-insula salience network in the MCI patients. Our results and our proposed disease model shed new light on the functional pathogenesis of MCI by directing to attentional network disturbances, which could aid new therapeutic strategies and provide a marker for diagnosis and prediction of disease progression.}, language = {en} } @article{HauffeRathAgyapongetal.2022, author = {Hauffe, Robert and Rath, Michaela and Agyapong, Wilson and Jonas, Wenke and Vogel, Heike and Schulz, Tim Julius and Schwarz, Maria and Kipp, Anna Patricia and Bl{\"u}her, Matthias and Kleinridders, Andr{\´e}}, title = {Obesity Hinders the Protective Effect of Selenite Supplementation on Insulin Signaling}, series = {Antioxidants}, volume = {11}, journal = {Antioxidants}, edition = {5}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {2076-3921}, doi = {10.3390/antiox11050862}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The intake of high-fat diets (HFDs) containing large amounts of saturated long-chain fatty acids leads to obesity, oxidative stress, inflammation, and insulin resistance. The trace element selenium, as a crucial part of antioxidative selenoproteins, can protect against the development of diet-induced insulin resistance in white adipose tissue (WAT) by increasing glutathione peroxidase 3 (GPx3) and insulin receptor (IR) expression. Whether selenite (Se) can attenuate insulin resistance in established lipotoxic and obese conditions is unclear. We confirm that GPX3 mRNA expression in adipose tissue correlates with BMI in humans. Cultivating 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes in palmitate-containing medium followed by Se treatment attenuates insulin resistance with enhanced GPx3 and IR expression and adipocyte differentiation. However, feeding obese mice a selenium-enriched high-fat diet (SRHFD) only resulted in a modest increase in overall selenoprotein gene expression in WAT in mice with unaltered body weight development, glucose tolerance, and insulin resistance. While Se supplementation improved adipocyte morphology, it did not alter WAT insulin sensitivity. However, mice fed a SRHFD exhibited increased insulin content in the pancreas. Overall, while selenite protects against palmitate-induced insulin resistance in vitro, obesity impedes the effect of selenite on insulin action and adipose tissue metabolism in vivo.}, language = {en} } @article{KayhanMatthesMarriottHaresignetal.2022, author = {Kayhan, Ezgi and Matthes, Daniel and Marriott Haresign, Ira and B{\´a}nki, Anna and Michel, Christine and Langeloh, Miriam and Wass, Sam and Hoehl, Stefanie}, title = {DEEP: A dual EEG pipeline for developmental hyperscanning studies}, series = {Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience}, volume = {54}, journal = {Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam, Niederlande}, issn = {1878-9307}, doi = {10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101104}, pages = {1 -- 11}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{TiedemannIobbiNivolLeimkuehler2022, author = {Tiedemann, Kim and Iobbi-Nivol, Chantal and Leimk{\"u}hler, Silke}, title = {The Role of the Nucleotides in the Insertion of the bis-Molybdopterin Guanine Dinucleotide Cofactor into apo-Molybdoenzymes}, series = {Molecules}, volume = {27}, journal = {Molecules}, edition = {9}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {1420-3049}, doi = {10.3390/molecules27092993}, pages = {1 -- 15}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The role of the GMP nucleotides of the bis-molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide (bis-MGD) cofactor of the DMSO reductase family has long been a subject of discussion. The recent characterization of the bis-molybdopterin (bis-Mo-MPT) cofactor present in the E. coli YdhV protein, which differs from bis-MGD solely by the absence of the nucleotides, now enables studying the role of the nucleotides of bis-MGD and bis-MPT cofactors in Moco insertion and the activity of molybdoenzymes in direct comparison. Using the well-known E. coli TMAO reductase TorA as a model enzyme for cofactor insertion, we were able to show that the GMP nucleotides of bis-MGD are crucial for the insertion of the bis-MGD cofactor into apo-TorA.}, language = {en} } @article{WeithoffBell2022, author = {Weithoff, Guntram and Bell, Elanor Margaret}, title = {Complex Trophic Interactions in an Acidophilic Microbial Community}, series = {Microorganisms}, volume = {10}, journal = {Microorganisms}, edition = {7}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {2076-2607}, doi = {10.3390/microorganisms10071340}, pages = {1 -- 10}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{PrasseIversenLienhardetal.2022, author = {Prasse, Paul and Iversen, Pascal and Lienhard, Matthias and Thedinga, Kristina and Herwig, Ralf and Scheffer, Tobias}, title = {Pre-Training on In Vitro and Fine-Tuning on Patient-Derived Data Improves Deep Neural Networks for Anti-Cancer Drug-Sensitivity Prediction}, series = {MDPI}, volume = {14}, journal = {MDPI}, edition = {16}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {2072-6694}, doi = {10.3390/cancers14163950}, pages = {1 -- 14}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Large-scale databases that report the inhibitory capacities of many combinations of candidate drug compounds and cultivated cancer cell lines have driven the development of preclinical drug-sensitivity models based on machine learning. However, cultivated cell lines have devolved from human cancer cells over years or even decades under selective pressure in culture conditions. Moreover, models that have been trained on in vitro data cannot account for interactions with other types of cells. Drug-response data that are based on patient-derived cell cultures, xenografts, and organoids, on the other hand, are not available in the quantities that are needed to train high-capacity machine-learning models. We found that pre-training deep neural network models of drug sensitivity on in vitro drug-sensitivity databases before fine-tuning the model parameters on patient-derived data improves the models' accuracy and improves the biological plausibility of the features, compared to training only on patient-derived data. From our experiments, we can conclude that pre-trained models outperform models that have been trained on the target domains in the vast majority of cases.}, language = {en} } @article{DordevicHoelzerRussoetal.2022, author = {Dordevic, Milos and H{\"o}lzer, Sonja and Russo, Augusta and Garc{\´i}a Alanis, Jos{\´e} Carlos and M{\"u}ller, Notger Germar}, title = {The Role of the Precuneus in Human Spatial Updating in a Real Environment Setting—A cTBS Study}, series = {Life}, volume = {12}, journal = {Life}, edition = {8}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {2075-1729}, doi = {10.3390/life12081239}, pages = {1 -- 13}, year = {2022}, abstract = {As we move through an environment, we update positions of our body relative to other objects, even when some objects temporarily or permanently leave our field of view—this ability is termed egocentric spatial updating and plays an important role in everyday life. Still, our knowledge about its representation in the brain is still scarce, with previous studies using virtual movements in virtual environments or patients with brain lesions suggesting that the precuneus might play an important role. However, whether this assumption is also true when healthy humans move in real environments where full body-based cues are available in addition to the visual cues typically used in many VR studies is unclear. Therefore, in this study we investigated the role of the precuneus in egocentric spatial updating in a real environment setting in 20 healthy young participants who underwent two conditions in a cross-over design: (a) stimulation, achieved through applying continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) to inhibit the precuneus and (b) sham condition (activated coil turned upside down). In both conditions, participants had to walk back with blindfolded eyes to objects they had previously memorized while walking with open eyes. Simplified trials (without spatial updating) were used as control condition, to make sure the participants were not affected by factors such as walking blindfolded, vestibular or working memory deficits. A significant interaction was found, with participants performing better in the sham condition compared to real stimulation, showing smaller errors both in distance and angle. The results of our study reveal evidence of an important role of the precuneus in a real-environment egocentric spatial updating; studies on larger samples are necessary to confirm and further investigate this finding.}, language = {en} } @article{WestphalKalinowskiHoferichteretal.2022, author = {Westphal, Andrea and Kalinowski, Eva and Hoferichter, Clara Josepha and Vock, Miriam}, title = {K-12 teachers' stress and burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2022.920326}, pages = {1 -- 29}, year = {2022}, abstract = {We present the first systematic literature review on stress and burnout in K-12 teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a systematic literature search, we identified 17 studies that included 9,874 K-12 teachers from around the world. These studies showed some indication that burnout did increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were, however, almost no differences in the levels of stress and burnout experienced by K-12 teachers compared to individuals employed in other occupational fields. School principals' leadership styles emerged as an organizational characteristic that is highly relevant for K-12 teachers' levels of stress and burnout. Individual teacher characteristics associated with burnout were K-12 teachers' personality, self-efficacy in online teaching, and perceived vulnerability to COVID-19. In order to reduce stress, there was an indication that stress-management training in combination with training in technology use for teaching may be superior to stress-management training alone. Future research needs to adopt more longitudinal designs and examine the interplay between individual and organizational characteristics in the development of teacher stress and burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.}, language = {en} } @article{BlockBonaventuraGrahnetal.2022, author = {Block, Andrea and Bonaventura, Klaus and Grahn, Patricia and Bestgen, Felix and Wippert, Pia-Maria}, title = {Stress management in pre-and postoperative care amongst practitioners and patients in cardiac catheterization laboratory: a study protocol}, series = {Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2297-055X}, doi = {10.3389/fcvm.2022.830256}, pages = {1 -- 10}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background: As the number of cardiac diseases continuously increases within the last years in modern society, so does cardiac treatment, especially cardiac catheterization. The procedure of a cardiac catheterization is challenging for both patients and practitioners. Several potential stressors of psychological or physical nature can occur during the procedure. The objective of the study is to develop and implement a stress management intervention for both practitioners and patients that aims to reduce the psychological and physical strain of a cardiac catheterization. Methods: The clinical study (DRKS00026624) includes two randomized controlled intervention trials with parallel groups, for patients with elective cardiac catheterization and practitioners at the catheterization lab, in two clinic sites of the Ernst-von-Bergmann clinic network in Brandenburg, Germany. Both groups received different interventions for stress management. The intervention for patients comprises a psychoeducational video with different stress management technics and additional a standardized medical information about the cardiac catheterization examination. The control condition includes the in hospitals practiced medical patient education before the examination (usual care). Primary and secondary outcomes are measured by physiological parameters and validated questionnaires, the day before (M1) and after (M2) the cardiac catheterization and at a postal follow-up 6 months later (M3). It is expected that people with standardized information and psychoeducation show reduced complications during cardiac catheterization procedures, better pre- and post-operative wellbeing, regeneration, mood and lower stress levels over time. The intervention for practitioners includes a Mindfulness-based stress reduction program (MBSR) over 8 weeks supervised by an experienced MBSR practitioner directly at the clinic site and an operative guideline. It is expected that practitioners with intervention show improved perceived and chronic stress, occupational health, physical and mental function, higher effort-reward balance, regeneration and quality of life. Primary and secondary outcomes are measured by physiological parameters (heart rate variability, saliva cortisol) and validated questionnaires and will be assessed before (M1) and after (M2) the MBSR intervention and at a postal follow-up 6 months later (M3). Physiological biomarkers in practitioners will be assessed before (M1) and after intervention (M2) on two work days and a two days off. Intervention effects in both groups (practitioners and patients) will be evaluated separately using multivariate variance analysis. Discussion: This study evaluates the effectiveness of two stress management intervention programs for patients and practitioners within cardiac catheter laboratory. Study will disclose strains during a cardiac catheterization affecting both patients and practitioners. For practitioners it may contribute to improved working conditions and occupational safety, preservation of earning capacity, avoidance of participation restrictions and loss of performance. In both groups less anxiety, stress and complications before and during the procedures can be expected. The study may add knowledge how to eliminate stressful exposures and to contribute to more (psychological) security, less output losses and exhaustion during work. The evolved stress management guidelines, training manuals and the standardized patient education should be transferred into clinical routines}, language = {en} } @article{EllermannMcDowellSchirrenetal.2022, author = {Ellermann, Christin and McDowell, Michelle and Schirren, Clara O. and Lindemann, Ann-Kathrin and Koch, Severine and Lohmann, Mark and Jenny, Mirjam Annina}, title = {Identifying content to improve risk assessment communications within the Risk Profile: Literature reviews and focus groups with expert and non-expert stakeholders}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {17}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, edition = {4}, publisher = {Public Library of Science (PLOS)}, address = {San Francisco, California, USA}, issn = {1553-7358}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0266800}, pages = {23}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Objective To improve consumer decision making, the results of risk assessments on food, feed, consumer products or chemicals need to be communicated not only to experts but also to non-expert audiences. The present study draws on evidence from literature reviews and focus groups with diverse stakeholders to identify content to integrate into an existing risk assessment communication (Risk Profile). Methods A combination of rapid literature reviews and focus groups with experts (risk assessors (n = 15), risk managers (n = 8)), and non-experts (general public (n = 18)) were used to identify content and strategies for including information about risk assessment results in the "Risk Profile" from the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. Feedback from initial focus groups was used to develop communication prototypes that informed subsequent feedback rounds in an iterative process. A final prototype was validated in usability tests with experts. Results Focus group feedback and suggestions from risk assessors were largely in line with findings from the literature. Risk managers and lay persons offered similar suggestions on how to improve the existing communication of risk assessment results (e.g., including more explanatory detail, reporting probabilities for individual health impairments, and specifying risks for subgroups in additional sections). Risk managers found information about quality of evidence important to communicate, whereas people from the general public found this information less relevant. Participants from lower educational backgrounds had difficulties understanding the purpose of risk assessments. User tests found that the final prototype was appropriate and feasible to implement by risk assessors. Conclusion An iterative and evidence-based process was used to develop content to improve the communication of risk assessments to the general public while being feasible to use by risk assessors. Remaining challenges include how to communicate dose-response relationships and standardise quality of evidence ratings across disciplines.}, language = {en} } @article{YangKimTuomainenetal.2022, author = {Yang, Jingdan and Kim, Jae-Hyun and Tuomainen, Outi and Rattanasone, Nan Xu}, title = {Bilingual Mandarin-English preschoolers' spoken narrative skills and contributing factors}, series = {Frontiers in Psyhology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in Psyhology}, publisher = {Frontiers Media SA}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2022.797602}, pages = {12}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{OrlandPadubrin2022, author = {Orland, Andreas and Padubrin, Max}, title = {Is there a gender hiring gap in academic economics? Evidence from a network analysis}, series = {Royal Society Open Science}, volume = {9}, journal = {Royal Society Open Science}, edition = {2}, publisher = {Royal Society of London}, address = {London}, issn = {2054-5703}, doi = {10.1098/rsos.210717}, pages = {1 -- 9}, year = {2022}, abstract = {We collect a network dataset of tenured economics faculty in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. We rank the 100 institutions included with a minimum violation ranking. This ranking is positively and significantly correlated with the Times Higher Education ranking of economics institutions. According to the network ranking, individuals on average go down about 23 ranks from their doctoral institution to their employing institution. While the share of females in our dataset is only 15\%, we do not observe a significant gender hiring gap (a difference in rank changes between male and female faculty). We conduct a robustness check with the Handelsblatt and the Times Higher Education ranking. According to these rankings, individuals on average go down only about two ranks. We do not observe a significant gender hiring gap using these two rankings (although the dataset underlying this analysis is small and these estimates are likely to be noisy). Finally, we discuss the limitations of the network ranking in our context.}, language = {en} } @article{TeichmannLewandowskiAlemani2022, author = {Teichmann, Erik and Lewandowski, Heather J. and Alemani, Micol}, title = {Investigating students' views of experimental physics in German laboratory classes}, series = {Physical Review Physics Education Research}, volume = {18}, journal = {Physical Review Physics Education Research}, edition = {1}, publisher = {APS}, address = {College Park, Maryland, United States}, issn = {1554-9178}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.18.010135}, pages = {010135-1 -- 010135-17}, year = {2022}, abstract = {There is a large variety of goals instructors have for laboratory courses, with different courses focusing on different subsets of goals. An often implicit, but crucial, goal is to develop students' attitudes, views, and expectations about experimental physics to align with practicing experimental physicists. The assessment of laboratory courses upon this one dimension of learning has been intensively studied in U.S. institutions using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics (E-CLASS). However, there is no such an instrument available to use in Germany, and the influence of laboratory courses on students views about the nature of experimental physics is still unexplored at German-speaking institutions. Motivated by the lack of an assessment tool to investigate this goal in laboratory courses at German-speaking institutions, we present a translated version of the E-CLASS adapted to the context at German-speaking institutions. We call the German version of the E-CLASS, the GE-CLASS. We describe the translation process and the creation of an automated web-based system for instructors to assess their laboratory courses. We also present first results using GE-CLASS obtained at the University of Potsdam. A first comparison between E-CLASS and GE-CLASS results shows clear differences between University of Potsdam and U.S. students' views and beliefs about experimental physics.}, language = {en} } @article{EhlertPoltzQuandteetal.2022, author = {Ehlert, Antje and Poltz, Nadine and Quandte, Sabine and Kohn-Henkel, Juliane and Kucian, Karin and Aster, Michael von and Esser, G{\"u}nter}, title = {Taking a closer look: The relationship between pre-school domain general cognition and school mathematics achievement when controlling for intelligence}, series = {Journal of Intelligence}, volume = {10}, journal = {Journal of Intelligence}, edition = {3}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {2079-3200}, doi = {10.3390/jintelligence10030070}, pages = {1 -- 23}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Intelligence, as well as working memory and attention, affect the acquisition of mathematical competencies. This paper aimed to examine the influence of working memory and attention when taking different mathematical skills into account as a function of children's intellectual ability. Overall, intelligence, working memory, attention and numerical skills were assessed twice in 1868 German pre-school children (t1, t2) and again at 2nd grade (t3). We defined three intellectual ability groups based on the results of intellectual assessment at t1 and t2. Group comparisons revealed significant differences between the three intellectual ability groups. Over time, children with low intellectual ability showed the lowest achievement in domain-general and numerical and mathematical skills compared to children of average intellectual ability. The highest achievement on the aforementioned variables was found for children of high intellectual ability. Additionally, path modelling revealed that, depending on the intellectual ability, different models of varying complexity could be generated. These models differed with regard to the relevance of the predictors (t2) and the future mathematical skills (t3). Causes and conclusions of these findings are discussed.}, language = {en} } @article{SarabadaniMetzlerAlaNissila2022, author = {Sarabadani, Jalal and Metzler, Ralf and Ala-Nissila, Tapio}, title = {Driven polymer translocation into a channel: Isoflux tension propagation theory and Langevin dynamics simulations}, series = {Physical Review Research}, volume = {4}, journal = {Physical Review Research}, edition = {3}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park, Maryland, USA}, issn = {2643-1564}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.033003}, pages = {033003-1 -- 033003-14}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{SposiniKrapfMarinarietal.2022, author = {Sposini, Vittoria and Krapf, Diego and Marinari, Enzo and Sunyer, Raimon and Ritort, Felix and Taheri, Fereydoon and Selhuber-Unkel, Christine and Benelli, Rebecca and Weiss, Matthias and Metzler, Ralf and Oshanin, Gleb}, title = {Towards a robust criterion of anomalous diffusion}, series = {Communications Physics}, volume = {5}, journal = {Communications Physics}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {2399-3650}, doi = {10.1038/s42005-022-01079-8}, pages = {10}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Anomalous-diffusion, the departure of the spreading dynamics of diffusing particles from the traditional law of Brownian-motion, is a signature feature of a large number of complex soft-matter and biological systems. Anomalous-diffusion emerges due to a variety of physical mechanisms, e.g., trapping interactions or the viscoelasticity of the environment. However, sometimes systems dynamics are erroneously claimed to be anomalous, despite the fact that the true motion is Brownian—or vice versa. This ambiguity in establishing whether the dynamics as normal or anomalous can have far-reaching consequences, e.g., in predictions for reaction- or relaxation-laws. Demonstrating that a system exhibits normal- or anomalous-diffusion is highly desirable for a vast host of applications. Here, we present a criterion for anomalous-diffusion based on the method of power-spectral analysis of single trajectories. The robustness of this criterion is studied for trajectories of fractional-Brownian-motion, a ubiquitous stochastic process for the description of anomalous-diffusion, in the presence of two types of measurement errors. In particular, we find that our criterion is very robust for subdiffusion. Various tests on surrogate data in absence or presence of additional positional noise demonstrate the efficacy of this method in practical contexts. Finally, we provide a proof-of-concept based on diverse experiments exhibiting both normal and anomalous-diffusion.}, language = {en} } @article{EvansHyde2022, author = {Evans, Myfanwy E. and Hyde, Stephen T.}, title = {Symmetric Tangling of Honeycomb Networks}, series = {Symmetry}, volume = {14}, journal = {Symmetry}, edition = {9}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {2073-8994}, doi = {10.3390/sym14091805}, pages = {1 -- 13}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Symmetric, elegantly entangled structures are a curious mathematical construction that has found their way into the heart of the chemistry lab and the toolbox of constructive geometry. Of particular interest are those structures—knots, links and weavings—which are composed locally of simple twisted strands and are globally symmetric. This paper considers the symmetric tangling of multiple 2-periodic honeycomb networks. We do this using a constructive methodology borrowing elements of graph theory, low-dimensional topology and geometry. The result is a wide-ranging enumeration of symmetric tangled honeycomb networks, providing a foundation for their exploration in both the chemistry lab and the geometers toolbox.}, language = {en} } @article{StuchteyBlockOseietal.2022, author = {Stuchtey, Fidelis Christin and Block, Andrea and Osei, Francis and Wippert, Pia-Maria}, title = {Lipid Biomarkers in Depression: Does Antidepressant Therapy Have an Impact?}, series = {Healthcare : open access journal}, volume = {10}, journal = {Healthcare : open access journal}, edition = {2}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {2227-9032}, doi = {10.3390/healthcare10020333}, pages = {1 -- 11}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Studies have revealed mixed results on how antidepressant drugs affect lipid profiles of patients with major depression disorder (MDD). Even less is known about how patients respond to a switch of antidepressant medication with respect to their metabolic profile. For this, effects of a switch in antidepressants medication on lipid markers were studied in MDD patients. 15 participants (females = 86.67\%; males = 13.33\%; age: 49.45 ± 7.45 years) with MDD and a prescribed switch in their antidepressant medication were recruited at a psychosomatic rehabilitation clinic. Participants were characterized (with questionnaires and blood samples) at admission to the rehabilitation clinic (baseline, T0) and followed up with a blood sample two weeks (T1) later. HDL, LDL, total cholesterol, and triglycerides were determined (T0), and their change analyzed (Wilcoxon test) at follow up (T1). Decrements in HDL (p = 0.041), LDL (p < 0.001), and total cholesterol (p < 0.001) were observed two weeks after a switch in antidepressant medication. Triglycerides showed no difference (p = 0.699). Overall, LDL, HDL, and total cholesterol are affected by a change in antidepressant drugs in patients with MDD. These observations are of clinical relevance for medical practitioners in the planning and management of treatment strategies for MDD patients.}, language = {en} } @article{PueschelKlauderHenkelOberlaender2022, author = {P{\"u}schel, Gerhard and Klauder, Julia and Henkel-Oberl{\"a}nder, Janin}, title = {Macrophages, low-grade inflammation, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia}, series = {Journal of Clinical Medicine : open access journal}, volume = {11}, journal = {Journal of Clinical Medicine : open access journal}, number = {15}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {2077-0383}, doi = {10.3390/jcm11154358}, pages = {1 -- 30}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Metabolic derangement with poor glycemic control accompanying overweight and obesity is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation and hyperinsulinemia. Macrophages, which present a very heterogeneous population of cells, play a key role in the maintenance of normal tissue homeostasis, but functional alterations in the resident macrophage pool as well as newly recruited monocyte-derived macrophages are important drivers in the development of low-grade inflammation. While metabolic dysfunction, insulin resistance and tissue damage may trigger or advance pro-inflammatory responses in macrophages, the inflammation itself contributes to the development of insulin resistance and the resulting hyperinsulinemia. Macrophages express insulin receptors whose downstream signaling networks share a number of knots with the signaling pathways of pattern recognition and cytokine receptors, which shape macrophage polarity. The shared knots allow insulin to enhance or attenuate both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory macrophage responses. This supposedly physiological function may be impaired by hyperinsulinemia or insulin resistance in macrophages. This review discusses the mutual ambiguous relationship of low-grade inflammation, insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia and the insulin-dependent modulation of macrophage activity with a focus on adipose tissue and liver.}, language = {en} } @article{AgnePreickStraubeetal.2022, author = {Agne, Stefanie and Preick, Michaela and Straube, Nicolas and Hofreiter, Michael}, title = {Simultaneous Barcode Sequencing of Diverse Museum Collection Specimens Using a Mixed RNA Bait Set}, series = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, publisher = {Frontiers Media S.A.}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2296-701X}, doi = {10.3389/fevo.2022.909846}, pages = {5}, year = {2022}, abstract = {A growing number of publications presenting results from sequencing natural history collection specimens reflect the importance of DNA sequence information from such samples. Ancient DNA extraction and library preparation methods in combination with target gene capture are a way of unlocking archival DNA, including from formalin-fixed wet-collection material. Here we report on an experiment, in which we used an RNA bait set containing baits from a wide taxonomic range of species for DNA hybridisation capture of nuclear and mitochondrial targets for analysing natural history collection specimens. The bait set used consists of 2,492 mitochondrial and 530 nuclear RNA baits and comprises specific barcode loci of diverse animal groups including both invertebrates and vertebrates. The baits allowed to capture DNA sequence information of target barcode loci from 84\% of the 37 samples tested, with nuclear markers being captured more frequently and consensus sequences of these being more complete compared to mitochondrial markers. Samples from dry material had a higher rate of success than wet-collection specimens, although target sequence information could be captured from 50\% of formalin-fixed samples. Our study illustrates how efforts to obtain barcode sequence information from natural history collection specimens may be combined and are a way of implementing barcoding inventories of scientific collection material.}, language = {en} } @article{MaassKuehneHeinzeetal.2022, author = {Maaß, Ulrike and K{\"u}hne, Franziska and Heinze, Peter Eric and Ay-Bryson, Destina Sevde and Weck, Florian}, title = {The concise measurement of clinical communication skills}, series = {Frontiers in Psychiatry}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychiatry}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-0640}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyt.2022.977324}, pages = {10}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Objective: There is a lack of brief rating scales for the reliable assessment of psychotherapeutic skills, which do not require intensive rater training and/or a high level of expertise. Thus, the objective is to validate a 14-item version of the Clinical Communication Skills Scale (CCSS-S). Methods: Using a sample of N = 690 video-based ratings of role-plays with simulated patients, we calculated a confirmatory factor analysis and an exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), assessed convergent validities, determined inter-rater reliabilities and compared these with those who were either psychology students, advanced psychotherapy trainees, or experts. Results: Correlations with other competence rating scales were high (rs > 0.86-0.89). The intraclass correlations ranged between moderate and good [ICC(2,2) = 0.65-0.80], with student raters yielding the lowest scores. The one-factor model only marginally replicated the data, but the internal consistencies were excellent (α = 0.91-95). The ESEM yielded a two-factor solution (Collaboration and Structuring and Exploration Skills). Conclusion: The CCSS-S is a brief and valid rating scale that reliably assesses basic communication skills, which is particularly useful for psychotherapy training using standardized role-plays. To ensure good inter-rater reliabilities, it is still advisable to employ raters with at least some clinical experience. Future studies should further investigate the one- or two-factor structure of the instrument.}, language = {en} } @article{PawlakNoetzelDragoetal.2022, author = {Pawlak, Julia and Noetzel, Dominique Christian and Drago, Claudia and Weithoff, Guntram}, title = {Assessing the toxicity of polystyrene beads and silica particles on the microconsumer Brachionus calyciflorus at different timescales}, series = {Frontiers in Environmental Science}, journal = {Frontiers in Environmental Science}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2296-665X}, doi = {10.3389/fenvs.2022.955425}, pages = {1 -- 11}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{FischerBrettinRoessneretal.2022, author = {Fischer, Melanie and Brettin, Jana and Roessner, Sigrid and Walz, Ariane and Fort, Monique and Korup, Oliver}, title = {Rare flood scenarios for a rapidly growing high-mountain city: Pokhara, Nepal}, series = {Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences}, volume = {22}, journal = {Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences}, edition = {9}, publisher = {Copernicus Publications}, address = {Katlenburg-Lindau}, issn = {1684-9981}, doi = {10.5194/nhess-22-3105-2022}, pages = {3105 -- 3123}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Pokhara (ca. 850 m a.s.l.), Nepal's second-largest city, lies at the foot of the Higher Himalayas and has more than tripled its population in the past 3 decades. Construction materials are in high demand in rapidly expanding built-up areas, and several informal settlements cater to unregulated sand and gravel mining in the Pokhara Valley's main river, the Seti Khola. This river is fed by the Sabche glacier below Annapurna III (7555 m a.s.l.), some 35 km upstream of the city, and traverses one of the steepest topographic gradients in the Himalayas. In May 2012 a sudden flood caused >70 fatalities and intense damage along this river and rekindled concerns about flood risk management. We estimate the flow dynamics and inundation depths of flood scenarios using the hydrodynamic model HEC-RAS (Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Analysis System). We simulate the potential impacts of peak discharges from 1000 to 10 000 m3 s-1 on land cover based on high-resolution Maxar satellite imagery and OpenStreetMap data (buildings and road network). We also trace the dynamics of two informal settlements near Kaseri and Yamdi with high potential flood impact from RapidEye, PlanetScope, and Google Earth imagery of the past 2 decades. Our hydrodynamic simulations highlight several sites of potential hydraulic ponding that would largely affect these informal settlements and sites of sand and gravel mining. These built-up areas grew between 3- and 20-fold, thus likely raising local flood exposure well beyond changes in flood hazard. Besides these drastic local changes, about 1 \% of Pokhara's built-up urban area and essential rural road network is in the highest-hazard zones highlighted by our flood simulations. Our results stress the need to adapt early-warning strategies for locally differing hydrological and geomorphic conditions in this rapidly growing urban watershed.}, language = {en} } @article{CajarEngbertLaubrock2022, author = {Cajar, Anke and Engbert, Ralf and Laubrock, Jochen}, title = {Potsdam Eye-Movement Corpus for Scene Memorization and Search With Color and Spatial-Frequency Filtering}, series = {Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2022.850482}, pages = {1 -- 7}, year = {2022}, language = {en} } @article{StoneVasishthMalsburg2022, author = {Stone, Kate and Vasishth, Shravan and Malsburg, Titus von der}, title = {Does entropy modulate the prediction of German long-distance verb particles?}, series = {PLOS ONE}, journal = {PLOS ONE}, publisher = {PLOS ONE}, address = {San Francisco, California, US}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0267813}, pages = {1 -- 25}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{HaaseHanel2022, author = {Haase, Jennifer and Hanel, Paul H. P.}, title = {Priming creativity: Doing math reduces creativity and happiness whereas playing short online games enhance them}, series = {Frontiers in Education}, journal = {Frontiers in Education}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2504-284X}, doi = {10.3389/feduc.2022.976459}, pages = {14}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Creative thinking is an indispensable cognitive skill that is becoming increasingly important. In the present research, we tested the impact of games on creativity and emotions in a between-subject online experiment with four conditions (N = 658). (1) participants played a simple puzzle game that allowed many solutions (priming divergent thinking); (2) participants played a short game that required one fitting solution (priming convergent thinking); (3) participants performed mental arithmetic; (4) passive control condition. Results show that divergent and convergent creativity were higher after playing games and lower after mental arithmetic. Positive emotions did not function as a mediator, even though they were also heightened after playing the games and lower after mental arithmetic. However, contrary to previous research, we found no direct effect of emotions, creative self-efficacy, and growth- vs. fixed on creative performance. We discuss practical implications for digital learning and application settings.}, language = {en} } @article{SchloerHirschbergBenAmoretal.2022, author = {Schl{\"o}r, Anja and Hirschberg, Stefan and Ben Amor, Ghada and Meister, Toni Luise and Arora, Prerna and P{\"o}hlmann, Stefan and Hoffmann, Markus and Pf{\"a}nder, Stephanie and Eddin, Omar Kamal and Kamhieh-Milz, Julian and Hanack, Katja}, title = {SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing camelid heavy-chain-only antibodies as powerful tools for diagnostic and therapeutic applications}, series = {Frontiers in Immunology}, journal = {Frontiers in Immunology}, publisher = {Frontiers Media SA}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-3224}, doi = {10.3389/fimmu.2022.930975}, pages = {1 -- 14}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Introduction: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation caused by SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern such as B.1.617.2 (Delta) and recently, B.1.1.529 (Omicron) is posing multiple challenges to humanity. The rapid evolution of the virus requires adaptation of diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Objectives: In this study, we describe camelid heavy-chain-only antibodies (hcAb) as useful tools for novel in vitro diagnostic assays and for therapeutic applications due to their neutralizing capacity. Methods: Five antibody candidates were selected out of a na{\"i}ve camelid library by phage display and expressed as full length IgG2 antibodies. The antibodies were characterized by Western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, surface plasmon resonance with regard to their specificity to the recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and to SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles. Neutralization assays were performed with authentic SARS-CoV-2 and pseudotyped viruses (wildtype and Omicron). Results: All antibodies efficiently detect recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles in different ELISA setups. The best combination was shown with hcAb B10 as catcher antibody and HRP-conjugated hcAb A7.2 as the detection antibody. Further, four out of five antibodies potently neutralized authentic wildtype SARS-CoV-2 and particles pseudotyped with the SARS-CoV-2 Spike proteins of the wildtype and Omicron variant, sublineage BA.1 at concentrations between 0.1 and 0.35 ng/mL (ND50). Conclusion: Collectively, we report novel camelid hcAbs suitable for diagnostics and potential therapy.}, language = {en} } @article{CzarneckaWeicheltRoedigeretal.2022, author = {Czarnecka, Malgorzata and Weichelt, Ulrike and R{\"o}diger, Stefan and Hanack, Katja}, title = {Novel Anti Double-Stranded Nucleic Acids Full-Length Recombinant Camelid Heavy-Chain Antibody for the Detection of miRNA}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {23}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, edition = {11}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms23116275}, pages = {1 -- 18}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The discovery that certain diseases have specific miRNA signatures which correspond to disease progression opens a new biomarker category. The detection of these small non-coding RNAs is performed routinely using body fluids or tissues with real-time PCR, next-generation sequencing, or amplification-based miRNA assays. Antibody-based detection systems allow an easy onset handling compared to PCR or sequencing and can be considered as alternative methods to support miRNA diagnostic in the future. In this study, we describe the generation of a camelid heavy-chain-only antibody specifically recognizing miRNAs to establish an antibody-based detection method. The generation of nucleic acid-specific binders is a challenge. We selected camelid binders via phage display, expressed them as VHH as well as full-length antibodies, and characterized the binding to several miRNAs from a signature specific for dilated cardiomyopathy. The described workflow can be used to create miRNA-specific binders and establish antibody-based detection methods to provide an additional way to analyze disease-specific miRNA signatures.}, language = {en} } @article{KiemelGurkeParaskevopoulouetal.2022, author = {Kiemel, Katrin and Gurke, Marie and Paraskevopoulou, Sofia and Havenstein, Katja and Weithoff, Guntram and Tiedemann, Ralph}, title = {Variation in heat shock protein 40 kDa relates to divergence in thermotolerance among cryptic rotifer species}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {12}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-022-27137-3}, pages = {14}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Genetic divergence and the frequency of hybridization are central for defining species delimitations, especially among cryptic species where morphological differences are merely absent. Rotifers are known for their high cryptic diversity and therefore are ideal model organisms to investigate such patterns. Here, we used the recently resolved Brachionus calyciflorus species complex to investigate whether previously observed between species differences in thermotolerance and gene expression are also reflected in their genomic footprint. We identified a Heat Shock Protein gene (HSP 40 kDa) which exhibits cross species pronounced sequence variation. This gene exhibits species-specific fixed sites, alleles, and sites putatively under positive selection. These sites are located in protein binding regions involved in chaperoning and may therefore reflect adaptive diversification. By comparing three genetic markers (ITS, COI, HSP 40 kDa), we revealed hybridization events between the cryptic species. The low frequency of introgressive haplotypes/alleles suggest a tight, but not fully impermeable boundary between the cryptic species.}, language = {en} } @article{SaguTchewonpiHuschekWaldbachBragaetal.2022, author = {Sagu Tchewonpi, Sorel and Huschek, Gerd and Waldbach Braga, Tess and Rackiewicz, Michal and Homann, Thomas and Rawel, Harshadrai Manilal}, title = {Design of Experiment (DoE) for Optimization of HPLC Conditions for the Simultaneous Fractionation of Seven α-Amylase/Trypsin Inhibitors from Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)}, series = {Processes : open access journal}, volume = {10}, journal = {Processes : open access journal}, edition = {2}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel, Schweiz}, issn = {2227-9717}, doi = {10.3390/pr10020259}, pages = {1 -- 18}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{KindermannDoblerNiedeggenetal.2022, author = {Kindermann, Liana and Dobler, Magnus and Niedeggen, Daniela and Chimbioputo Fabiano, Ezequiel and Linst{\"a}dter, Anja}, title = {Dataset on woody aboveground biomass, disturbance losses, and wood density from an African savanna ecosystem}, series = {Data in Brief}, volume = {42}, journal = {Data in Brief}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam, Niederlande}, issn = {2352-3409}, doi = {10.1016/j.dib.2022.108155}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{RamirezCampilloPerezCastillaThapaetal.2022, author = {Ramirez-Campillo, Rodrigo and P{\´e}rez-Castilla, Alejandro and Thapa, Rohit Kumar and Afonso, Jos{\´e} and Clemente, Filipe Manuel Batista and Colado, Juan C. and Eduardo, Sa{\´e}z de Villarreal and Chaabene, Helmi}, title = {Effects of Plyometric Jump Training on Measures of Physical Fitness and Sport-Specific Performance of Water Sports Athletes}, series = {Sports Medicine - Open}, volume = {8}, journal = {Sports Medicine - Open}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {2198-9761}, doi = {10.1186/s40798-022-00502-2}, pages = {1 -- 27}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background A growing body of literature is available regarding the effects of plyometric jump training (PJT) on measures of physical fitness (PF) and sport-specific performance (SSP) in-water sports athletes (WSA, i.e. those competing in sports that are practiced on [e.g. rowing] or in [e.g. swimming; water polo] water). Indeed, incoherent findings have been observed across individual studies making it difficult to provide the scientific community and coaches with consistent evidence. As such, a comprehensive systematic literature search should be conducted to clarify the existent evidence, identify the major gaps in the literature, and offer recommendations for future studies. Aim To examine the effects of PJT compared with active/specific-active controls on the PF (one-repetition maximum back squat strength, squat jump height, countermovement jump height, horizontal jump distance, body mass, fat mass, thigh girth) and SSP (in-water vertical jump, in-water agility, time trial) outcomes in WSA, through a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized and non-randomized controlled studies. Methods The electronic databases PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched up to January 2022. According to the PICOS approach, the eligibility criteria were: (population) healthy WSA; (intervention) PJT interventions involving unilateral and/or bilateral jumps, and a minimal duration of ≥ 3 weeks; (comparator) active (i.e. standard sports training) or specific-active (i.e. alternative training intervention) control group(s); (outcome) at least one measure of PF (e.g. jump height) and/or SSP (e.g. time trial) before and after training; and (study design) multi-groups randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. The DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model was used to compute the meta-analyses, reporting effect sizes (ES, i.e. Hedges' g) with 95\% confidence intervals (95\% CIs). Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Certainty or confidence in the body of evidence for each outcome was assessed using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE), considering its five dimensions: risk of bias in studies, indirectness, inconsistency, imprecision, and risk of publication bias. Results A total of 11,028 studies were identified with 26 considered eligible for inclusion. The median PEDro score across the included studies was 5.5 (moderate-to-high methodological quality). The included studies involved a total of 618 WSA of both sexes (330 participants in the intervention groups [31 groups] and 288 participants in the control groups [26 groups]), aged between 10 and 26 years, and from different sports disciplines such as swimming, triathlon, rowing, artistic swimming, and water polo. The duration of the training programmes in the intervention and control groups ranged from 4 to 36 weeks. The results of the meta-analysis indicated no effects of PJT compared to control conditions (including specific-active controls) for in-water vertical jump or agility (ES =  - 0.15 to 0.03; p = 0.477 to 0.899), or for body mass, fat mass, and thigh girth (ES = 0.06 to 0.15; p = 0.452 to 0.841). In terms of measures of PF, moderate-to-large effects were noted in favour of the PJT groups compared to the control groups (including specific-active control groups) for one-repetition maximum back squat strength, horizontal jump distance, squat jump height, and countermovement jump height (ES = 0.67 to 1.47; p = 0.041 to < 0.001), in addition to a small effect noted in favour of the PJT for SSP time-trial speed (ES = 0.42; p = 0.005). Certainty of evidence across the included studies varied from very low-to-moderate. Conclusions PJT is more effective to improve measures of PF and SSP in WSA compared to control conditions involving traditional sport-specific training as well as alternative training interventions (e.g. resistance training). It is worth noting that the present findings are derived from 26 studies of moderate-to-high methodological quality, low-to-moderate impact of heterogeneity, and very low-to-moderate certainty of evidence based on GRADE. Trial registration The protocol for this systematic review with meta-analysis was published in the Open Science platform (OSF) on January 23, 2022, under the registration doi https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/NWHS3 (internet archive link: https://archive.org/details/osf-registrations-nwhs3-v1).}, language = {en} } @article{ZurellKoenigMalchowetal.2022, author = {Zurell, Damaris and K{\"o}nig, Christian and Malchow, Anne-Kathleen and Kapitza, Simon and Bocedi, Greta and Travis, Justin M. J. and Fandos, Guillermo}, title = {Spatially explicit models for decision-making in animal conservation and restoration}, series = {Ecography : pattern and diversity in ecology / Nordic Ecologic Society Oikos}, journal = {Ecography : pattern and diversity in ecology / Nordic Ecologic Society Oikos}, number = {4}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1600-0587}, doi = {10.1111/ecog.05787}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Models are useful tools for understanding and predicting ecological patterns and processes. Under ongoing climate and biodiversity change, they can greatly facilitate decision-making in conservation and restoration and help designing adequate management strategies for an uncertain future. Here, we review the use of spatially explicit models for decision support and to identify key gaps in current modelling in conservation and restoration. Of 650 reviewed publications, 217 publications had a clear management application and were included in our quantitative analyses. Overall, modelling studies were biased towards static models (79\%), towards the species and population level (80\%) and towards conservation (rather than restoration) applications (71\%). Correlative niche models were the most widely used model type. Dynamic models as well as the gene-to-individual level and the community-to-ecosystem level were underrepresented, and explicit cost optimisation approaches were only used in 10\% of the studies. We present a new model typology for selecting models for animal conservation and restoration, characterising model types according to organisational levels, biological processes of interest and desired management applications. This typology will help to more closely link models to management goals. Additionally, future efforts need to overcome important challenges related to data integration, model integration and decision-making. We conclude with five key recommendations, suggesting that wider usage of spatially explicit models for decision support can be achieved by 1) developing a toolbox with multiple, easier-to-use methods, 2) improving calibration and validation of dynamic modelling approaches and 3) developing best-practise guidelines for applying these models. Further, more robust decision-making can be achieved by 4) combining multiple modelling approaches to assess uncertainty, and 5) placing models at the core of adaptive management. These efforts must be accompanied by long-term funding for modelling and monitoring, and improved communication between research and practise to ensure optimal conservation and restoration outcomes.}, language = {en} } @article{NeumannTiberiusBiendarra2022, author = {Neumann, Daniel and Tiberius, Victor and Biendarra, Florin}, title = {Adopting wearables to customize health insurance contributions}, series = {BMC medical informatics and decision making}, volume = {22}, journal = {BMC medical informatics and decision making}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {1472-6947}, doi = {10.1186/s12911-022-01851-4}, pages = {1 -- 7}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{KwarikundaSchiefeleMuwongeetal.2022, author = {Kwarikunda, Diana and Schiefele, Ulrich and Muwonge, Charles Magoba and Ssenyonga, Joseph}, title = {Profiles of learners based on their cognitive and metacognitive learning strategy use: occurrence and relations with gender, intrinsic motivation, and perceived autonomy support}, series = {Humanities and Social Sciences Communications}, volume = {9}, journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences Communications}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, issn = {2055-1045}, doi = {10.1057/s41599-022-01322-1}, pages = {12}, year = {2022}, abstract = {For life-long learning, an effective learning strategy repertoire is particularly important during acquisition of knowledge in lower secondary school—an educational level characterized with transition into more autonomous learning environments with increased complex academic demands. Using latent profile analysis, we explored the occurrence of different secondary school learner profiles depending on their various combinations of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategy use, as well as their differences in perceived autonomy support, intrinsic motivation, and gender. Data were collected from 576 ninth grade students in Uganda using self-report questionnaires. Four learner profiles were identified: competent strategy user, struggling user, surface-level learner, and deep-level learner profiles. Gender differences were noted in students' use of elaboration and organization strategies to learn Physics, in favor of girls. In terms of profile memberships, significant differences in gender, intrinsic motivation and perceived autonomy support were also noted. Girls were 2.4-2.7 times more likely than boys to be members of the competent strategy user and surface-level learner profiles. Additionally, higher levels of intrinsic motivation predicted an increased likelihood membership into the deep-level learner profile, while higher levels of perceived teacher autonomy predicted an increased likelihood membership into the competent strategy user profile as compared to other profiles. Further, implications of the findings were discussed.}, language = {en} } @article{BrandNosratSpaethetal.2022, author = {Brand, Ralf and Nosrat, Sanaz and Sp{\"a}th, Constantin and Timme, Sinika}, title = {Using COVID-19 Pandemic as a Prism: A Systematic Review of Methodological Approaches and the Quality of Empirical Studies on Physical Activity Behavior Change}, series = {Frontiers in Sports and Active Living}, volume = {4}, journal = {Frontiers in Sports and Active Living}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2624-9367}, doi = {10.3389/fspor.2022.864468}, pages = {1 -- 17}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of scientific endeavors. The goal of this systematic review is to evaluate the quality of the research on physical activity (PA) behavior change and its potential to contribute to policy-making processes in the early days of COVID-19 related restrictions. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of methodological quality of current research according to PRISMA guidelines using Pubmed and Web of Science, of articles on PA behavior change that were published within 365 days after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Items from the JBI checklist and the AXIS tool were used for additional risk of bias assessment. Evidence mapping is used for better visualization of the main results. Conclusions about the significance of published articles are based on hypotheses on PA behavior change in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Among the 1,903 identified articles, there were 36\% opinion pieces, 53\% empirical studies, and 9\% reviews. Of the 332 studies included in the systematic review, 213 used self-report measures to recollect prepandemic behavior in often small convenience samples. Most focused changes in PA volume, whereas changes in PA types were rarely measured. The majority had methodological reporting flaws. Few had very large samples with objective measures using repeated measure design (pre and during the pandemic). In addition to the expected decline in PA duration, these studies show that many of those who were active prepandemic, continued to be active during the pandemic. Conclusions: Research responded quickly at the onset of the pandemic. However, most of the studies lacked robust methodology, and PA behavior change data lacked the accuracy needed to guide policy makers. To improve the field, we propose the implementation of longitudinal cohort studies by larger organizations such as WHO to ease access to data on PA behavior, and suggest those institutions set clear standards for this research. Researchers need to ensure a better fit between the measurement method and the construct being measured, and use both objective and subjective measures where appropriate to complement each other and provide a comprehensive picture of PA behavior.}, language = {en} }