@article{WarschburgerKamrathLanzingeretal.2023, author = {Warschburger, Petra and Kamrath, Clemens and Lanzinger, Stefanie and Sengler, Claudia and Wiegand, Susanna and G{\"o}ldel, Julia Marlen and Weihrauch-Bl{\"u}her, Susann and Holl, Reinhard and Minden, Kirsten}, title = {A prospective analysis of the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on well-being and health care among children with a chronic condition and their families}, series = {BMC pediatrics}, volume = {23}, journal = {BMC pediatrics}, number = {1}, publisher = {BioMed Central}, address = {London}, issn = {1471-2431}, doi = {10.1186/s12887-023-03912-7}, pages = {15}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Background There is consistent evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with an increased psychosocial burden on children and adolescents and their parents. Relatively little is known about its particular impact on high-risk groups with chronic physical health conditions (CCs). Therefore, the primary aim of the study is to analyze the multiple impacts on health care and psychosocial well-being on these children and adolescents and their parents. Methods We will implement a two-stage approach. In the first step, parents and their underage children from three German patient registries for diabetes, obesity, and rheumatic diseases, are invited to fill out short questionnaires including questions about corona-specific stressors, the health care situation, and psychosocial well-being. In the next step, a more comprehensive, in-depth online survey is carried out in a smaller subsample. Discussion The study will provide insights into the multiple longer-term stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic in families with a child with a CC. The simultaneous consideration of medical and psycho-social endpoints will help to gain a deeper understanding of the complex interactions affecting family functioning, psychological well-being, and health care delivery.}, language = {en} } @article{Paessler2017, author = {P{\"a}ßler, Ulrich}, title = {A Political Economy of Nature}, series = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; International Review for Humboldtian Studies}, volume = {XVIII}, journal = {HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; International Review for Humboldtian Studies}, number = {34}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {1617-5239}, doi = {10.18443/252}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-395781}, pages = {80 -- 91}, year = {2017}, abstract = {In seinem Aufsatz „Ueber die Schwankungen der Goldproduktion mit R{\"u}cksicht auf staatswirthschaftliche Probleme" (1838) entfaltet Alexander von Humboldt auf wenigen Seiten eine Weltgeschichte des Edelmetallverkehrs von der Antike bis ins 19. Jahrhundert. Der vorliegende Artikel geht Humboldts {\"o}konomischem Denken als Teil seiner Forschungen zur Natur- und Menschheitsgeschichte nach. Er beginnt mit einem kurzen Abriss der von sp{\"a}tmerkantilistischen und fr{\"u}hliberalen Einfl{\"u}ssen gepr{\"a}gten Ausbildung Humboldts. Der Artikel diskutiert anschließend eine von Humboldt angefertigte Weltkarte sowie vier darauf bezogene Schaubilder, die historische und zeitgen{\"o}ssische statistische Daten zur graphischen Vision eines globalen Wirtschaftskreislaufs kombinieren. In einem weiteren Schritt geht der Artikel Humboldts Anwendung historischer und naturgeschichtlicher Forschungsmethoden auf dem Gebiet der politischen {\"O}konomie am Beispiel des Aufsatzes von 1838 nach. Den Schluss der Untersuchung bildet Humboldts Auseinandersetzung mit dem Edelmetall Platin, dessen begrenzte Verbreitung im Widerspruch zur Idee eines freien weltweiten Austauschs stand.}, language = {en} } @article{HintscheWaljorGrossmannetal.2017, author = {Hintsche, Marius and Waljor, Veronika and Grossmann, Robert and K{\"u}hn, Marco J. and Thormann, Kai M. and Peruani, Fernando and Beta, Carsten}, title = {A polar bundle of flagella can drive bacterial swimming by pushing, pulling, or coiling around the cell body}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {7}, journal = {Scientific reports}, publisher = {Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-017-16428-9}, pages = {10}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Bacteria swim in sequences of straight runs that are interrupted by turning events. They drive their swimming locomotion with the help of rotating helical flagella. Depending on the number of flagella and their arrangement across the cell body, different run-and-turn patterns can be observed. Here, we present fluorescence microscopy recordings showing that cells of the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida that are decorated with a polar tuft of helical flagella, can alternate between two distinct swimming patterns. On the one hand, they can undergo a classical push-pull-push cycle that is well known from monopolarly flagellated bacteria but has not been reported for species with a polar bundle of multiple flagella. Alternatively, upon leaving the pulling mode, they can enter a third slow swimming phase, where they propel themselves with their helical bundle wrapped around the cell body. A theoretical estimate based on a random-walk model shows that the spreading of a population of swimmers is strongly enhanced when cycling through a sequence of pushing, pulling, and wrapped flagellar configurations as compared to the simple push-pull-push pattern.}, 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{MalassTarkhanov2020, author = {Malass, Ihsane and Tarkhanov, Nikolaj Nikolaevič}, title = {A perturbation of the de Rham complex}, series = {Journal of Siberian Federal University : Mathematics \& Physics}, volume = {13}, journal = {Journal of Siberian Federal University : Mathematics \& Physics}, number = {5}, publisher = {Siberian Federal University}, address = {Krasnojarsk}, issn = {1997-1397}, doi = {10.17516/1997-1397-2020-13-5-519-532}, pages = {519 -- 532}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We consider a perturbation of the de Rham complex on a compact manifold with boundary. This perturbation goes beyond the framework of complexes, and so cohomology does not apply to it. On the other hand, its curvature is "small", hence there is a natural way to introduce an Euler characteristic and develop a Lefschetz theory for the perturbation. This work is intended as an attempt to develop a cohomology theory for arbitrary sequences of linear mappings.}, language = {en} } @article{GrossmannAransonPeruani2020, author = {Großmann, Robert and Aranson, Igor S. and Peruani, Fernando}, title = {A particle-field approach bridges phase separation and collective motion in active matter}, series = {Nature Communications}, volume = {11}, journal = {Nature Communications}, number = {1}, publisher = {Nature Publishing Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-020-18978-5}, pages = {12}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Whereas self-propelled hard discs undergo motility-induced phase separation, self-propelled rods exhibit a variety of nonequilibrium phenomena, including clustering, collective motion, and spatio-temporal chaos. In this work, we present a theoretical framework representing active particles by continuum fields. This concept combines the simplicity of alignment-based models, enabling analytical studies, and realistic models that incorporate the shape of self-propelled objects explicitly. By varying particle shape from circular to ellipsoidal, we show how nonequilibrium stresses acting among self-propelled rods destabilize motility-induced phase separation and facilitate orientational ordering, thereby connecting the realms of scalar and vectorial active matter. Though the interaction potential is strictly apolar, both, polar and nematic order may emerge and even coexist. Accordingly, the symmetry of ordered states is a dynamical property in active matter. The presented framework may represent various systems including bacterial colonies, cytoskeletal extracts, or shaken granular media. Interacting self-propelled particles exhibit phase separation or collective motion depending on particle shape. A unified theory connecting these paradigms represents a major challenge in active matter, which the authors address here by modeling active particles as continuum fields.}, language = {en} } @article{WehrhanSommer2021, author = {Wehrhan, Marc and Sommer, Michael}, title = {A parsimonious approach to estimate soil organic carbon applying Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) multispectral imagery and the topographic position index in a heterogeneous soil landscape}, series = {Remote sensing / Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)}, volume = {13}, journal = {Remote sensing / Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)}, number = {18}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2072-4292}, doi = {10.3390/rs13183557}, pages = {20}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Remote sensing plays an increasingly key role in the determination of soil organic carbon (SOC) stored in agriculturally managed topsoils at the regional and field scales. Contemporary Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) carrying low-cost and lightweight multispectral sensors provide high spatial resolution imagery (<10 cm). These capabilities allow integrate of UAS-derived soil data and maps into digitalized workflows for sustainable agriculture. However, the common situation of scarce soil data at field scale might be an obstacle for accurate digital soil mapping. In our case study we tested a fixed-wing UAS equipped with visible and near infrared (VIS-NIR) sensors to estimate topsoil SOC distribution at two fields under the constraint of limited sampling points, which were selected by pedological knowledge. They represent all releva nt soil types along an erosion-deposition gradient; hence, the full feature space in terms of topsoils' SOC status. We included the Topographic Position Index (TPI) as a co-variate for SOC prediction. Our study was performed in a soil landscape of hummocky ground moraines, which represent a significant of global arable land. Herein, small scale soil variability is mainly driven by tillage erosion which, in turn, is strongly dependent on topography. Relationships between SOC, TPI and spectral information were tested by Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) using: (i) single field data (local approach) and (ii) data from both fields (pooled approach). The highest prediction performance determined by a leave-one-out-cross-validation (LOOCV) was obtained for the models using the reflectance at 570 nm in conjunction with the TPI as explanatory variables for the local approach (coefficient of determination (R-2) = 0.91; root mean square error (RMSE) = 0.11\% and R-2 = 0.48; RMSE = 0.33, respectively). The local MLR models developed with both reflectance and TPI using values from all points showed high correlations and low prediction errors for SOC content (R-2 = 0.88, RMSE = 0.07\%; R-2 = 0.79, RMSE = 0.06\%, respectively). The comparison with an enlarged dataset consisting of all points from both fields (pooled approach) showed no improvement of the prediction accuracy but yielded decreased prediction errors. Lastly, the local MLR models were applied to the data of the respective other field to evaluate the cross-field prediction ability. The spatial SOC pattern generally remains unaffected on both fields; differences, however, occur concerning the predicted SOC level. Our results indicate a high potential of the combination of UAS-based remote sensing and environmental covariates, such as terrain attributes, for the prediction of topsoil SOC content at the field scale. The temporal flexibility of UAS offer the opportunity to optimize flight conditions including weather and soil surface status (plant cover or residuals, moisture and roughness) which, otherwise, might obscure the relationship between spectral data and SOC content. Pedologically targeted selection of soil samples for model development appears to be the key for an efficient and effective prediction even with a small dataset.}, language = {en} } @article{KagelBierFrohmeetal.2019, author = {Kagel, Heike and Bier, Frank Fabian and Frohme, Marcus and Gl{\"o}kler, J{\"o}rn F.}, title = {A Novel Optical Method To Reversibly Control Enzymatic Activity Based On Photoacids}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {9}, journal = {Scientific reports}, publisher = {Nature Publishing Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-019-50867-w}, pages = {6}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Most biochemical reactions depend on the pH value of the aqueous environment and some are strongly favoured to occur in an acidic environment. A non-invasive control of pH to tightly regulate such reactions with defined start and end points is a highly desirable feature in certain applications, but has proven difficult to achieve so far. We report a novel optical approach to reversibly control a typical biochemical reaction by changing the pH and using acid phosphatase as a model enzyme. The reversible photoacid G-acid functions as a proton donor, changing the pH rapidly and reversibly by using high power UV LEDs as an illumination source in our experimental setup. The reaction can be tightly controlled by simply switching the light on and off and should be applicable to a wide range of other enzymatic reactions, thus enabling miniaturization and parallelization through non-invasive optical means.}, language = {en} } @article{WoutersenJardineGiovanniBogotaAngeletal.2018, author = {Woutersen, Amber and Jardine, Phillip E. and Giovanni Bogota-Angel, Raul and Zhang, Hong-Xiang and Silvestro, Daniele and Antonelli, Alexandre and Gogna, Elena and Erkens, Roy H. J. and Gosling, William D. and Dupont-Nivet, Guillaume and Hoorn, Carina}, title = {A novel approach to study the morphology and chemistry of pollen in a phylogenetic context, applied to the halophytic taxon Nitraria L.(Nitrariaceae)}, series = {PeerJ}, volume = {6}, journal = {PeerJ}, publisher = {PeerJ Inc.}, address = {London}, issn = {2167-8359}, doi = {10.7717/peerj.5055}, pages = {31}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Nitraria is a halophytic taxon (i.e., adapted to saline environments) that belongs to the plant family Nitrariaceae and is distributed from the Mediterranean, across Asia into the south-eastern tip of Australia. This taxon is thought to have originated in Asia during the Paleogene (66-23 Ma), alongside the proto-Paratethys epicontinental sea. The evolutionary history of Nitraria might hold important clues on the links between climatic and biotic evolution but limited taxonomic documentation of this taxon has thus far hindered this line of research. Here we investigate if the pollen morphology and the chemical composition of the pollen wall are informative of the evolutionary history of Nitraria and could explain if origination along the proto-Paratethys and dispersal to the Tibetan Plateau was simultaneous or a secondary process. To answer these questions, we applied a novel approach consisting of a combination of Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), to determine the chemical composition of the pollen wall, and pollen morphological analyses using Light Microscopy (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). We analysed our data using ordinations (principal components analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling), and directly mapped it on the Nitrariaceae phylogeny to produce a phylomorphospace and a phylochemospace. Our LM, SEM and FTIR analyses show clear morphological and chemical differences between the sister groups Peganum and Nitraria. Differences in the morphological and chemical characteristics of highland species (Nitraria schoberi, N. sphaerocarpa, N. sibirica and N. tangutorum) and lowland species (Nitraria billardierei and N. retusa) are very subtle, with phylogenetic history appearing to be a more important control on Nitraria pollen than local environmental conditions. Our approach shows a compelling consistency between the chemical and morphological characteristics of the eight studied Nitrariaceae species, and these traits are in agreement with the phylogenetic tree. Taken together, this demonstrates how novel methods for studying fossil pollen can facilitate the evolutionary investigation of living and extinct taxa, and the environments they represent.}, language = {en} } @article{GoethelListekMesserschmidtetal.2021, author = {G{\"o}thel, Markus and Listek, Martin and Messerschmidt, Katrin and Schl{\"o}r, Anja and H{\"o}now, Anja and Hanack, Katja}, title = {A New Workflow to Generate Monoclonal Antibodies against Microorganisms}, series = {Applied Sciences}, volume = {11}, journal = {Applied Sciences}, number = {20}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {1454-5101}, doi = {10.3390/app11209359}, pages = {15}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Monoclonal antibodies are used worldwide as highly potent and efficient detection reagents for research and diagnostic applications. Nevertheless, the specific targeting of complex antigens such as whole microorganisms remains a challenge. To provide a comprehensive workflow, we combined bioinformatic analyses with novel immunization and selection tools to design monoclonal antibodies for the detection of whole microorganisms. In our initial study, we used the human pathogenic strain E. coli O157:H7 as a model target and identified 53 potential protein candidates by using reverse vaccinology methodology. Five different peptide epitopes were selected for immunization using epitope-engineered viral proteins. The identification of antibody-producing hybridomas was performed by using a novel screening technology based on transgenic fusion cell lines. Using an artificial cell surface receptor expressed by all hybridomas, the desired antigen-specific cells can be sorted fast and efficiently out of the fusion cell pool. Selected antibody candidates were characterized and showed strong binding to the target strain E. coli O157:H7 with minor or no cross-reactivity to other relevant microorganisms such as Legionella pneumophila and Bacillus ssp. This approach could be useful as a highly efficient workflow for the generation of antibodies against microorganisms.}, language = {en} }