TY - THES A1 - Wenk, Sebastian T1 - Engineering formatotrophic growth in Escherichia coli N2 - To meet the demands of a growing world population while reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, it is necessary to capture CO2 and convert it into value-added compounds. In recent years, metabolic engineering of microbes has gained strong momentum as a strategy for the production of valuable chemicals. As common microbial feedstocks like glucose directly compete with human consumption, the one carbon (C1) compound formate was suggested as an alternative feedstock. Formate can be easily produced by various means including electrochemical reduction of CO2 and could serve as a feedstock for microbial production, hence presenting a novel entry point for CO2 to the biosphere and a storage option for excess electricity. Compared to the gaseous molecule CO2, formate is a highly soluble compound that can be easily handled and stored. It can serve as a carbon and energy source for natural formatotrophs, but these microbes are difficult to cultivate and engineer. In this work, I present the results of several projects that aim to establish efficient formatotrophic growth of E. coli – which cannot naturally grow on formate – via synthetic formate assimilation pathways. In the first study, I establish a workflow for growth-coupled metabolic engineering of E. coli. I demonstrate this approach by presenting an engineering scheme for the PFL-threonine cycle, a synthetic pathway for anaerobic formate assimilation in E. coli. The described methods are intended to create a standardized toolbox for engineers that aim to establish novel metabolic routes in E. coli and related organisms. The second chapter presents a study on the catalytic efficiency of C1-oxidizing enzymes in vivo. As formatotrophic growth requires generation of both energy and biomass from formate, the engineered E. coli strains need to be equipped with a highly efficient formate dehydrogenase, which provides reduction equivalents and ATP for formate assimilation. I engineered a strain that cannot generate reducing power and energy for cellular growth, when fed on acetate. Under this condition, the strain depends on the introduction of an enzymatic system for NADH regeneration, which could further produce ATP via oxidative phosphorylation. I show that the strain presents a valuable testing platform for C1-oxidizing enzymes by testing different NAD-dependent formate and methanol dehydrogenases in the energy auxotroph strain. Using this platform, several candidate enzymes with high in vivo activity, were identified and characterized as potential energy-generating systems for synthetic formatotrophic or methylotrophic growth in E. coli.   In the third chapter, I present the establishment of the serine threonine cycle (STC) – a synthetic formate assimilation pathway – in E. coli. In this pathway, formate is assimilated via formate tetrahydrofolate ligase (FtfL) from Methylobacterium extorquens (M. extorquens). The carbon from formate is attached to glycine to produce serine, which is converted into pyruvate entering central metabolism. Via the natural threonine synthesis and cleavage route, glycine is regenerated and acetyl-CoA is produced as the pathway product. I engineered several selection strains that depend on different STC modules for growth and determined key enzymes that enable high flux through threonine synthesis and cleavage. I could show that expression of an auxiliary formate dehydrogenase was required to achieve growth via threonine synthesis and cleavage on pyruvate. By overexpressing most of the pathway enzymes from the genome, and applying adaptive laboratory evolution, growth on glycine and formate was achieved, indicating the activity of the complete cycle. The fourth chapter shows the establishment of the reductive glycine pathway (rGP) – a short, linear formate assimilation route – in E. coli. As in the STC, formate is assimilated via M. extorquens FtfL. The C1 from formate is condensed with CO2 via the reverse reaction of the glycine cleavage system to produce glycine. Another carbon from formate is attached to glycine to form serine, which is assimilated into central metabolism via pyruvate. The engineered E. coli strain, expressing most of the pathway genes from the genome, can grow via the rGP with formate or methanol as a sole carbon and energy source. N2 - Um den steigenden Bedarf einer wachsenden Weltbevölkerung zu decken und gleichzeitig die CO2-Emissionen zu reduzieren, ist es notwendig, CO2 aufzufangen und zu recyceln. Durch gentechnische Veränderungen von Mikroorganismen ist es möglich diese zur Produktion wertvoller organischer Verbindungen zu nutzen. Da mikrobielle Kulturen primär mit Glucose gefüttert werden und somit mit menschlicher Nahrungsversorgung konkurrieren, wurde die C1-Verbindung Formiat als alternativer bakterieller Nährstoff vorgeschlagen.. Formiat kann durch unterschiedliche Verfahren hergestellt werden, unter anderem durch elektrochemische Reduktion von CO2. Dieses Verfahren ermöglicht das Recycling von CO2 und weiterhin eine Speichermöglichkeit für überschüssige Elektrizität. Formiat ist im Vergleich zum gasförmigen CO2 gut wasserlöslich, was den Transport und die Verwendung als mikrobiellen Nährstoff erleichtert. Natürlich vorkommende formatotrophe Mikroorganismen nutzen Formiat als Kohlenstoff- und Energiequelle. Diese lassen sich allerdings meist schwierig kultivieren und genetisch verändern. In dieser Arbeit stelle ich die Ergebnisse verschiedener Projekte vor, die gemeinsam darauf abzielen, effizientes formatotrophes Wachstum von E. coli – welches natürlicherweise nicht auf Formiat wachsen kann – mittels synthetischer Formiat-Assimilierungswege zu ermöglichen. In der ersten Studie stelle ich eine Strategie für wachstumsgekoppeltes Stoffwechsel-Engineering in E. coli vor. Ich erläutere diese Strategie anhand eines Beispiels, der schrittweisen Etablierung eines synthetischen Formiat- Assimilierungswegs, des PFL-Threonin-Zyklus. Die in diesem Kapitel beschriebenen Methoden sollen einen Leitfaden für Ingenieure bereitstellen, die neue Stoffwechselwege in E. coli und verwandten Organismen etablieren wollen. Im zweiten Kapitel stelle ich eine Studie über die katalytische Effizienz von C1-oxidierenden Enzymen vor. Da formatotrophes Wachstum sowohl die Erzeugung von Energie als auch von Biomasse aus Formiat erfordert, müssen synthetisch formatotrophe E. coli Stämme mit einer hocheffizienten Formiat-Dehydrogenase ausgestattet werden, welche Reduktionsäquivalente und ATP für die Assimilierung von Formiat liefert. Um die Effizienz verschiedener Enzyme testen und vergleichen zu können, entwickelte ich einen E. coli Stamm, der aus Acetat weder Reduktionsäquivalente noch Energie für das Zellwachstum erzeugen kann. Dieser „energie-auxotrophe“ Stamm benötigt eines zusätzlichen enzymatischen Systems zur NADH-Regenerierung, um auf Acetat wachsen zu können. Ich testete verschiedene NAD-abhängige Formiat- und Methanol-Dehydrogenasen in diesem Stamm und konnte zeigen, dass Wachstum auf Acetat durch Zugabe von Formiat oder Methanol ermöglicht wurde. Dies zeigt, dass der Stamm eine zuverlässige Testplattform für C1-oxidierende Enzyme darstellt. Unter Verwendung dieser Plattform wurden mehrere Kandidatenenzyme mit hoher in vivo-Aktivität identifiziert und als Kandidatenenzyme für synthetisches formatotrophes oder methylotrophes Wachstum in E. coli charakterisiert.   Im dritten Kapitel stelle ich die Etablierung des Serin-Threonin-Zyklus (STZ) – eines synthetischen Formiat-Assimilationswegs – in E. coli vor. In diesem Stoffwechselweg wird Formiat über die Formiat-Tetrahydrofolat-Ligase (FtfL) aus Methylobacterium extorquens (M. extorquens) assimiliert. Der Kohlenstoff aus Formiat wird an Glycin gebunden, um Serin zu produzieren, welches im nächsten Schritt in Pyruvat umgewandelt wird und so in den zentralen Kohlenstoffmetabolismus gelangt. Über den natürlichen Threonin-Synthese- und Spaltweg wird Glycin regeneriert und Acetyl-CoA als Produkt des Stoffwechselwegs generiert. Ich entwickelte mehrere E. coli Selektionsstämme, deren Wachstum von verschiedenen STZ-Modulen abhängt, und konnte Schlüsselenzyme bestimmen, die einen hohen Reaktionsfluss durch die Threonin-Synthese und -Spaltung ermöglichen. Ich konnte zeigen, dass die Expression einer Formiat-Dehydrogenase erforderlich ist, um Wachstum auf Pyruvat über Threonin zu erreichen. Durch Integration und Überexpression der meisten Enzyme des STZ auf Genomebene und Anwendung adaptiver Laborevolution wurde Wachstum auf Glycin und Formiat erreicht, was bedeutet, dass der gesamte Serin-Threonin-Zyklus in E. coli aktiv ist. Das vierte Kapitel zeigt die Etablierung des reduktiven Glycinwegs (rGW) – eines kurzen, linearen Formiat-Assimilierungswegs – in E. coli. Wie im STZ wird Formiat über M. extorquens FtfL assimiliert. Dabei wird das Kohlenstoffatom aus Formiat mit CO2 über die umgekehrte Reaktion des Glycin-Spaltungssystems zu Glycin kondensiert. Ein weiteres Kohlenstoffatom aus Formiat wird an Glycin gebunden, um Serin zu bilden, welches über Pyruvat in den Zentralstoffwechsel gelangt. Durch Expression der rGW Enzyme auf Genomebene und adaptive Laborevolution wurde ein E. coli Stamm erzeugt welcher über den rGW auf Formiat oder Methanol als einziger Kohlenstoff- und Energiequelle wachsen kann. KW - metabolic engineering KW - E. coli KW - formate assimilation KW - methanol assimilation KW - energy metabolism Y1 - 2020 ER - TY - THES A1 - Schimpf, Stefan T1 - Herkunft und Ablagerungsmilieu quartärer Sedimente im Einzugsgebiet des Heihe, NW China N2 - Der zentralasiatische Naturraum, wie er sich uns heute präsentiert, ist das Ergebnis eines Zusammenwirkens vieler verschiedener Faktoren über Jahrmillionen hinweg. Im aktuellen Kontext des Klimawandels zeigt sich jedoch, wie stark sich Stoffflüsse auch kurzfristig ändern und dabei das Gesicht der Landschaft verwandeln können. Die Gobi-Wüste in der Inneren Mongolei (China), als Teil der gleichnamigen Trockenregionen Nordwestchinas, ist aufgrund der Ausgestaltung ihrer landschaftsprägenden Elemente sowie ihrer Landschaftsdynamik, im Zusammenhang mit der Lage zum Tibet-Plateau, in den Fokus der klimageschichtlichen Grundlagenforschung gerückt. Als großes Langzeitarchiv unterschiedlichster fluvialer, lakustriner und äolischer Sedimente stellt sie eine bedeutende Lokalität zur Rekonstruktion von lokalen und regionalen Stoffflüssen dar.. Andererseits ist die Gobi-Wüste zugleich auch eine bedeutende Quelle für den überregionalen Staubtransport, da sie aufgrund der klimatischen Bedingungen insbesondere der Erosion durch Ausblasung preisgegeben wird. Vor diesem Hintergrund erfolgten zwischen 2011 und 2014, im Rahmen des BMBF-Verbundprogramms WTZ Zentralasien – Monsundynamik & Geoökosysteme (Förderkennzeichen 03G0814), mehrere deutsch-chinesische Expeditionen in das Ejina-Becken (Innere Mongolei) und das Qilian Shan-Vorland. Im Zuge dieser Expeditionen wurden für eine Bestimmung potenzieller Sedimentquellen erstmals zahlreiche Oberflächenproben aus dem gesamten Einzugsgebiet des Heihe (schwarzer Fluss) gesammelt. Zudem wurden mit zwei Bohrungen im inneren des Ejina-Beckens, ergänzende Sedimentbohrkerne zum bestehenden Bohrkern D100 (siehe Wünnemann (2005)) abgeteuft, um weit reichende, ergänzende Informationen zur Landschaftsgeschichte und zum überregionalen Sedimenttransfer zu erhalten. Gegenstand und Ziel der vorliegenden Doktorarbeit ist die sedimentologisch-mineralogische Charakterisierung des Untersuchungsgebietes in Bezug auf potenzielle Sedimentquellen und Stoffflüsse des Ejina-Beckens sowie die Rekonstruktion der Ablagerungsgeschichte eines dort erbohrten, 19m langen Sedimentbohrkerns (GN100). Schwerpunkt ist hierbei die Klärung der Sedimentherkunft innerhalb des Bohrkerns sowie die Ausweisung von Herkunftssignalen und möglichen Sedimentquellen bzw. Sedimenttransportpfaden. Die methodische Herangehensweise basiert auf einem Multi-Proxy-Ansatz zur Charakterisierung der klastischen Sedimentfazies anhand von Geländebeobachtungen, lithologisch-granulometrischen und mineralogisch-geochemischen Analysen sowie statistischen Verfahren. Für die mineralogischen Untersuchungen der Sedimente wurde eine neue, rasterelektronenmikroskopische Methode zur automatisierten Partikelanalyse genutzt und den traditionellen Methoden gegenübergestellt. Die synoptische Betrachtung der granulometrischen, geochemischen und mineralogischen Befunde der Oberflächensedimente ergibt für das Untersuchungsgebiet ein logisches Kaskadenmodell mit immer wiederkehrenden Prozessbereichen und ähnlichen Prozesssignalen. Die umfangreichen granulometrischen Analysen deuten dabei auf abnehmende Korngrößen mit zunehmender Entfernung vom Qilian Shan hin und ermöglichen die Identifizierung von vier texturellen Signalen: den fluvialen Sanden, den Dünensanden, den Stillwassersedimenten und Stäuben. Diese Ergebnisse können als Interpretationsgrundlage für die Korngrößenanalysen des Bohrkerns genutzt werden. Somit ist es möglich, die Ablagerungsgeschichte der Bohrkernsedimente zu rekonstruieren und in Verbindung mit eigenen und literaturbasierten Datierungen in einen Gesamtkontext einzuhängen. Für das Untersuchungsgebiet werden somit vier Ablagerungsphasen ausgewiesen, die bis in die Zeit des letzten glazialen Maximums (LGM) zurückreichen. Während dieser Ablagerungsphasen kam es im Zuge unterschiedlicher Aktivitäts- und Stabilitätsphasen zu einer kontinuierlichen Progradation und Überprägung des Schwemmfächers. Eine besonders aktive Phase kann zwischen 8 ka und 4 ka BP festgestellt werden, während der es aufgrund zunehmender fluvialer Aktivitäten zu einer deutlich verstärkten Schwemmfächerdynamik gekommen zu sein scheint. In den Abschnitten davor und danach waren es vor allem äolische Prozesse, die zu einer Überprägung des Schwemmfächers geführt haben. Hinsichtlich der mineralogischen Herkunftssignale gibt es eine große Variabilität. Dies spiegelt die enorme Heterogenität der Geologie des Untersuchungsgebietes wider, wodurch die räumlichen Signale nicht sehr stark ausgeprägt sind. Dennoch, können für das Einzugsgebiet drei größere Bereiche deklariert werden, die als Herkunftsgebiet in Frage kommen. Das östliche Qilian Shan Vorland zeichnet sich dabei durch deutlich höhere Chloritgehalte als primäre Quelle für die Sedimente im Ejina-Becken aus. Sie unterscheiden sich insbesondere durch stark divergierende Chloritgehalte in der Tonmineral- und Gesamtmineralfraktion, was das östliche Qilian Shan Vorland als primäre Quelle für die Sedimente im Ejina-Becken auszeichnet. Dies steht in Zusammenhang mit den Grünschiefern, Ophioliten und Serpentiniten in diesem Bereich. Geochemisch deutet vor allem das Cr/Rb-Verhältnis eine große Variabilität innerhalb des Einzugsgebietes an. Auch hier ist es das östliche Vorland, welches aufgrund seines hohen Anteils an mafischen Gesteinen reich an Chromiten und Spinellen ist und sich somit vom restlichen Untersuchungsgebiet abhebt. Die zeitliche aber auch die generelle Variabilität der Sedimentherkunft lässt sich in den Bohrkernsedimenten nicht so deutlich nachzeichnen. Die mineralogisch-sedimentologischen Eigenschaften der erbohrten klastischen Sedimente zeugen zwar von zwischenzeitlichen Änderungen bei der Sedimentherkunft, diese sind jedoch nicht so deutlich ausgeprägt, wie es die Quellsignale in den Oberflächensedimenten vermuten lassen. Ein Grund dafür scheint die starke Vermischung unterschiedlichster Sedimente während des Transportes zu sein. Die Kombination der Korngrößenergebnisse mit den Befunden der Gesamt- und Schwermineralogie deuten darauf hin, dass es zwischenzeitlich eine Phase mit überwiegend äolischen Prozessen gegeben hat, die mit einem Sedimenteintrag aus dem westlichen Bei Shan in Verbindung stehen. Neben der Zunahme ultrastabiler Schwerminerale wie Zirkon und Granat und der Abnahme opaker Schwerminerale, weisen vor allem die heutigen Verhältnisse darauf hin. Der Vergleich der traditionellen Schwermineralanalyse mit der Computer-Controlled-Scanning-Electron-Microscopy (kurz: CCSEM), die eine automatisierte Partikelauswertung der Proben ermöglicht, zeigt den deutlichen Vorteil der modernen Analysemethode. Neben einem zeitlichen Vorteil, den man durch die automatisierte Abarbeitung der vorbereiteten Proben erlangen kann, steht vor allem die deutlich größere statistische Signifikanz des Ergebnisses im Vordergrund. Zudem können mit dieser Methode auch chemische Varietäten einiger Schwerminerale bestimmt werden, die eine noch feinere Klassifizierung und sicherere Aussagen zu einer möglichen Sedimentherkunft ermöglichen. Damit ergeben sich außerdem verbesserte Aussagen zu Zusammensetzungen und Entstehungsprozessen der abgelagerten Sedimente. Die Studie verdeutlicht, dass die Sedimentherkunft innerhalb des Untersuchungsgebietes sowie die ablaufenden Prozesse zum Teil stark von lokalen Gegebenheiten abhängen. Die Heterogenität der Geologie und die Größe des Einzugsgebietes sowie die daraus resultierende Komplexität der Sedimentgenese, machen exakte Zuordnungen zu klar definierten Sedimentquellen sehr schwer. Dennoch zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass die Sedimentzufuhr in das Ejina-Becken in erster Linie durch fluviale klastische Sedimente des Heihe aus dem Qilian Shan erfolgt sein muss. Die Untersuchungsergebnisse zeigen jedoch ebenso die Notwendigkeit einer ergänzenden Bearbeitung angrenzender Untersuchungsgebiete, wie beispielsweise den Gobi-Altai im Norden oder den Beishan im Westen, sowie die Verdichtung der Oberflächenbeprobung zur feineren Auflösung von lokalen Sedimentquellen. N2 - The Central Asian natural space, as it presents itself today, is the result of a combination of many different factors over millions of years. However, in the current context of climate change it becoming obvious how strongly material fluxes can change in the short-term and thereby transform the face of the landscape. As a large long-term archive of different fluvial, lacustrine and aeolian sediments, the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia (China) represents a significant locality for the reconstruction of local and regional material flows as well as an important source for supra-regional dust transport due to erosion by aeolian processes. This, in connection with its location to the Tibetan Plateau, has moved the Gobi Desert into the focus of climate-historical basic research. Against this background, several German-Chinese expeditions to Ejina Basin (Inner Mongolia) and the Qilian Shan foreland were accomplished between 2011 and 2014. They were part of the BMBF joint program WTZ Central Asia - Monsoon Dynamics & Geo-Ecosystems (Grant No. 03G0814). In the course of these expeditions numerous surface samples from the entire catchment area of the Heihe (Black River) were collected for the determination of potential sediment sources. Additionally, two drillings in the interior of the Ejina Basin were conducted as a continuation of the existing drill-core D100 (see Wünnemann (2005)) and for gathering complementary information on landscape history and supra-regional sediment transfer. The goals of this doctoral thesis are a sedimentological-mineralogical characterization of the study area with regard to potential sediment sources and material fluxes of the Ejina Basin as well as the reconstruction of the sedimentation history of a 19 m sediment drill-core (GN100) drilled in the northern part of the basin. The main focus is on the clarification of the sediment provenance within the drill core as well as the designation of provenance signals and possible sediment sources or sediment transport paths. The methodological approach is based on a multi-proxy approach to characterize the clastic sedimentary facies using field observations, lithological-granulometric and mineralogical-geochemical analyses as well as statistical methods. For the mineralogical investigations of the sediments, a new scanning electron microscopic method for automated particle analysis was used and compared with traditional methods. The synoptic analysis of the granulometric, geochemical and mineralogical findings of the surface sediments result in a logical cascade model with recurring process areas and similar process signals. The results of the extensive granulometric analyses indicate decreasing grain sizes as the distance from the Qilian Shan increases and allow the identification of four textural signals: fluvial sands, dune sands, still water sediments and dusts. They can be used as the basis of interpretation for the grain size analyses of the drill core. This makes it possible to reconstruct the depositional history of the core sediments and to put them in an overall context in conjunction with own and literature-based datings. For the study area four depositional phases can be identified which date back until the time of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). During these depositional phases, various phases of activity and stability led to a continuous progradation and overprinting of the alluvial fan. A particularly active phase can be observed between 8 ka and 4 ka BP. During this period there seems to have been a significant increase in alluvial fan dynamics due to increasing fluvial activity. In the periods before and after mainly aeolian processes have led to an overprinting of the alluvial fan. Regarding the mineralogical provenance signals there is a great variability. This reflects the enormous geological heterogeneity of the study area, by which the spatial signals are not very pronounced. Nonetheless, within the catchment three larger areas can be declared which can be considered as possible sediment sources. These are the eastern and western foreland of the Qilian Shan mountains as wells as the Bei Shan in the west of the Ejina basin. They differ, in particular, from strongly diverging chlorite contents in the clay mineral and total mineral fraction. The eastern Qilian Shan foreland is characterized by significantly higher chlorite contents as the primary source for the sediments in the Ejina Basin. This is related to the greenschists, ophiolites and serpentinites in this area. Geochemically, the Cr/Rb-ratio in particular indicates a large variability within the catchment area. In this case its again the eastern Qilian Shan foreland which stands out from the rest of the study area with high values due to its high proportion of mafic rocks which are rich in chromites and spinels. Within the drill core sediments of GN100 the temporal but also the general variability of the sediment provenance according to the surface sediment results cannot be clearly traced. The mineralogical-sedimentological characteristics of the drilled clastic sediments exhibit meantime changes in sediment provenance. However, they are not as pronounced as the source signals within the surface sediments suggest. One reason seems to be the strong mixing of different sediments during transport. The combination of the particle size results with the results of the total and heavy mineralogy indicate that there must have been a phase in the meantime with predominantly aeolian processes.. These processes were connected with a sediment input from the Bei Shan mountains in the west. In addition to the increase in ultrastable heavy minerals such as zirconium and garnet and the decline of opaque heavy minerals, mainly present conditions point to this. The comparison of the traditional heavy mineral analysis (polarized light microscopy) with computer-controlled scanning electron microscopy (short: CCSEM) shows the clear advantage of the modern analysis method. Above all is the significant greater statistical significance of the counting results. In addition, this method can also be used to determine chemical varieties of some heavy minerals, which allows an even finer classification and more reliable conclusions about a possible sediment provenance. Furthermore, better statements can be made about the composition and the development process of the deposited sediments. This thesis shows that the sediment provenance within the study area as well as the ongoing processes partly depend strongly on local conditions. Therefore, the heterogeneity of the geology and the size of the catchment as well as the resulting complexity of the sediment genesis makes it very difficult to make exact assignments to clearly defined sediment sources. Nevertheless, the results indicate a primary input of fluvial clastic sediments of the Heihe coming from the Qilian Shan mountains. However, the findings also indicate the need to complement the study with adjacent study areas such as the Gobi Altai in the north or the Beishan in the west as well as a densification of the surface sampling for a better resolution of possible local sediment sources. KW - Heihe KW - Ejina Becken KW - Gaxun Nur KW - Schwerminerale KW - China KW - CCSEM KW - Herkunftsanalyse KW - Tonminerale KW - Heihe KW - Ejina Basin KW - Gaxun Nur KW - Heavy Minerals KW - China KW - CCSEM KW - Provenance Analysis KW - Clay Minerals Y1 - 2020 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tofelde, Stefanie A1 - Bufe, Aaron A1 - Turowski, Jens M. T1 - Hillslope Sediment Supply Limits Alluvial Valley Width JF - AGU Advances N2 - 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. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2021AV000641 SN - 2576-604X PB - American Geophysical Union (AGU); Wiley CY - Hoboken, New Jersey, USA ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Miklashevsky, Alex A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Lindemann, Oliver T1 - Spatial-numerical associations without a motor response? Grip force says ‘Yes’ JF - Acta Psychologica N2 - 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). KW - SNARC KW - Mental number line KW - Number processing KW - Embodied cognition KW - Grip force KW - Motor system Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103791 SN - 1873-6297 VL - 231 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Kienbaum, Janna A1 - Fischer, Patryk A1 - Passmann, Sven T1 - Forschungsdatenmanagement bei personenbezogenen Daten BT - eine Handreichung N2 - Das Dokument "Forschungsdatenmanagement bei personenbezogenen Daten - eine Handreichung" versammelt zentrale Inhalte, Verweise und Vorgehensweisen für Forscher*innen, die in einer Studie personenbezogene Daten erheben und diese verarbeiten, archivieren oder veröffentlichen wollen. Die Handreichung verweist an den entsprechenden Abschnitten auf weiterführende Materialien wie insbesondere die Handreichung „Datenschutz“ des Rats für die Sozial-, Verhaltens-, Bildungs- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften (RatSWD). KW - research data management KW - personal information KW - General Data Protection Regulation KW - legal aspects KW - research data KW - discipline specific rdm KW - psychology KW - educational sciences KW - Forschungsdatenmanagement KW - Personenbezogene Daten KW - Datenschutzgrundverordnung KW - rechtliche Aspekte KW - Forschungsdaten KW - Disziplinspezifisches FDM KW - Psychologie KW - Bildungswissenschaften Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7428524 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Kienbaum, Janna A1 - Würfl, Katja A1 - Favella, Gianpiero T1 - Leitfaden für einen qualitativen Methoden- und Feldbericht N2 - Der Leitfaden für einen qualitativen Methoden- und Feldbericht ist im Rahmen des DFG-Verbundprojektes “FDNext” (2020-2023) entstanden und dient als Orientierungshilfe für die Dokumentation erhobener Daten mit dem Schwerpunkt auf die qualitative Bildungsforschung. KW - research data management KW - rdm in disciplines KW - data documentation KW - educational sciences KW - qualitative research data KW - Forschungsdatenmanagement KW - disziplinspezifisches FDM KW - Datendokumentation KW - Bildungswissenschaften KW - Qualitative Forschungsdaten Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7247993 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lindner, Nadja A1 - Moeller, Korbinian A1 - Hildebrandt, Frauke A1 - Hasselhorn, Marcus A1 - Lonnemann, Jan T1 - Children's use of egocentric reference frames in spatial language is related to their numerical magnitude understanding JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - Numerical magnitude information is assumed to be spatially represented in the form of a mental number line defined with respect to a body-centred, egocentric frame of reference. In this context, spatial language skills such as mastery of verbal descriptions of spatial position (e.g., in front of, behind, to the right/left) have been proposed to be relevant for grasping spatial relations between numerical magnitudes on the mental number line. We examined 4- to 5-year-old’s spatial language skills in tasks that allow responses in egocentric and allocentric frames of reference, as well as their relative understanding of numerical magnitude (assessed by a number word comparison task). In addition, we evaluated influences of children’s absolute understanding of numerical magnitude assessed by their number word comprehension (montring different numbers using their fingers) and of their knowledge on numerical sequences (determining predecessors and successors as well as identifying missing dice patterns of a series). Results indicated that when considering responses that corresponded to the egocentric perspective, children’s spatial language was associated significantly with their relative numerical magnitude understanding, even after controlling for covariates, such as children’s SES, mental rotation skills, and also absolute magnitude understanding or knowledge on numerical sequences. This suggests that the use of egocentric reference frames in spatial language may facilitate spatial representation of numbers along a mental number line and thus seem important for preschoolers’ relative understanding of numerical magnitude. KW - spatial language KW - frames of reference KW - numerical development KW - mental number line KW - preschool children Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.943191 SN - 1664-1078 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hecker, Pascal A1 - Steckhan, Nico A1 - Eyben, Florian A1 - Schuller, Björn Wolfgang A1 - Arnrich, Bert T1 - Voice Analysis for Neurological Disorder Recognition – A Systematic Review and Perspective on Emerging Trends JF - Frontiers in Digital Health N2 - Quantifying neurological disorders from voice is a rapidly growing field of research and holds promise for unobtrusive and large-scale disorder monitoring. The data recording setup and data analysis pipelines are both crucial aspects to effectively obtain relevant information from participants. Therefore, we performed a systematic review to provide a high-level overview of practices across various neurological disorders and highlight emerging trends. PRISMA-based literature searches were conducted through PubMed, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore to identify publications in which original (i.e., newly recorded) datasets were collected. Disorders of interest were psychiatric as well as neurodegenerative disorders, such as bipolar disorder, depression, and stress, as well as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease, and speech impairments (aphasia, dysarthria, and dysphonia). Of the 43 retrieved studies, Parkinson's disease is represented most prominently with 19 discovered datasets. Free speech and read speech tasks are most commonly used across disorders. Besides popular feature extraction toolkits, many studies utilise custom-built feature sets. Correlations of acoustic features with psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders are presented. In terms of analysis, statistical analysis for significance of individual features is commonly used, as well as predictive modeling approaches, especially with support vector machines and a small number of artificial neural networks. An emerging trend and recommendation for future studies is to collect data in everyday life to facilitate longitudinal data collection and to capture the behavior of participants more naturally. Another emerging trend is to record additional modalities to voice, which can potentially increase analytical performance. KW - neurological disorders KW - voice KW - speech KW - everyday life KW - multiple modalities KW - machine learning KW - disorder recognition Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2022.842301 SN - 2673-253X PB - Frontiers Media SA CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ogunkola, Moses Olalekan A1 - Guiraudie-Capraz, Gaelle A1 - Féron, François A1 - Leimkühler, Silke T1 - The Human Mercaptopyruvate Sulfurtransferase TUM1 Is Involved in Moco Biosynthesis, Cytosolic tRNA Thiolation and Cellular Bioenergetics in Human Embryonic Kidney Cells JF - Biomolecules N2 - Sulfur is an important element that is incorporated into many biomolecules in humans. The incorporation and transfer of sulfur into biomolecules is, however, facilitated by a series of different sulfurtransferases. Among these sulfurtransferases is the human mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (MPST) also designated as tRNA thiouridine modification protein (TUM1). The role of the human TUM1 protein has been suggested in a wide range of physiological processes in the cell among which are but not limited to involvement in Molybdenum cofactor (Moco) biosynthesis, cytosolic tRNA thiolation and generation of H2S as signaling molecule both in mitochondria and the cytosol. Previous interaction studies showed that TUM1 interacts with the L-cysteine desulfurase NFS1 and the Molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis protein 3 (MOCS3). Here, we show the roles of TUM1 in human cells using CRISPR/Cas9 genetically modified Human Embryonic Kidney cells. Here, we show that TUM1 is involved in the sulfur transfer for Molybdenum cofactor synthesis and tRNA thiomodification by spectrophotometric measurement of the activity of sulfite oxidase and liquid chromatography quantification of the level of sulfur-modified tRNA. Further, we show that TUM1 has a role in hydrogen sulfide production and cellular bioenergetics. KW - Moco biosynthesis KW - sulfite oxidase KW - cytosolic tRNA thiolation KW - 5-methoxycarbonylmethyl-2-thiouridine KW - H2S biosynthesis KW - cellular bioenergetics Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13010144 SN - 2218-273X VL - 13 SP - 1 EP - 23 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Göldel, Julia M. A1 - Kamrath, Clemens A1 - Minden, Kirsten A1 - Wiegand, Susanna A1 - Lanzinger, Stefanie A1 - Sengler, Claudia A1 - Weihrauch-Blüher, Susann A1 - Holl, Reinhard W. A1 - Tittel, Sascha René A1 - Warschburger, Petra T1 - Access to Healthcare for Children and Adolescents with a Chronic Health Condition during the COVID-19 Pandemic: First Results from the KICK-COVID Study in Germany JF - Children N2 - This study examines the access to healthcare for children and adolescents with three common chronic diseases (type-1 diabetes (T1D), obesity, or juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)) within the 4th (Delta), 5th (Omicron), and beginning of the 6th (Omicron) wave (June 2021 until July 2022) of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany in a cross-sectional study using three national patient registries. A paper-and-pencil questionnaire was given to parents of pediatric patients (<21 years) during the routine check-ups. The questionnaire contains self-constructed items assessing the frequency of healthcare appointments and cancellations, remote healthcare, and satisfaction with healthcare. In total, 905 parents participated in the T1D-sample, 175 in the obesity-sample, and 786 in the JIA-sample. In general, satisfaction with healthcare (scale: 0–10; 10 reflecting the highest satisfaction) was quite high (median values: T1D 10, JIA 10, obesity 8.5). The proportion of children and adolescents with canceled appointments was relatively small (T1D 14.1%, JIA 11.1%, obesity 20%), with a median of 1 missed appointment, respectively. Only a few parents (T1D 8.6%; obesity 13.1%; JIA 5%) reported obstacles regarding health services during the pandemic. To conclude, it seems that access to healthcare was largely preserved for children and adolescents with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. KW - chronic health condition KW - children and adolescents KW - health care KW - COVID-19 pandemic KW - diabetes KW - rheumatic diseases KW - obesity Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/children10010010 SN - 2227-9067 VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marggraf, Lara Christin A1 - Lindecke, Oliver A1 - Voigt, Christian C. A1 - Pētersons, Gunārs A1 - Voigt-Heucke, Silke Luise T1 - Nathusius’ bats, Pipistrellus nathusii, bypass mating opportunities of their own species, but respond to foraging heterospecifics on migratory transit flights JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution N2 - In late summer, migratory bats of the temperate zone face the challenge of accomplishing two energy-demanding tasks almost at the same time: migration and mating. Both require information and involve search efforts, such as localizing prey or finding potential mates. In non-migrating bat species, playback studies showed that listening to vocalizations of other bats, both con-and heterospecifics, may help a recipient bat to find foraging patches and mating sites. However, we are still unaware of the degree to which migrating bats depend on con-or heterospecific vocalizations for identifying potential feeding or mating opportunities during nightly transit flights. Here, we investigated the vocal responses of Nathusius’ pipistrelle bats, Pipistrellus nathusii, to simulated feeding and courtship aggregations at a coastal migration corridor. We presented migrating bats either feeding buzzes or courtship calls of their own or a heterospecific migratory species, the common noctule, Nyctalus noctula. We expected that during migratory transit flights, simulated feeding opportunities would be particularly attractive to bats, as well as simulated mating opportunities which may indicate suitable roosts for a stopover. However, we found that when compared to the natural silence of both pre-and post-playback phases, bats called indifferently during the playback of conspecific feeding sounds, whereas P. nathusii echolocation call activity increased during simulated feeding of N. noctula. In contrast, the call activity of P. nathusii decreased during the playback of conspecific courtship calls, while no response could be detected when heterospecific call types were broadcasted. Our results suggest that while on migratory transits, P. nathusii circumnavigate conspecific mating aggregations, possibly to save time or to reduce the risks associated with social interactions where aggression due to territoriality might be expected. This avoidance behavior could be a result of optimization strategies by P. nathusii when performing long-distance migratory flights, and it could also explain the lack of a response to simulated conspecific feeding. However, the observed increase of activity in response to simulated feeding of N. noctula, suggests that P. nathusii individuals may be eavesdropping on other aerial hawking insectivorous species during migration, especially if these occupy a slightly different foraging niche. KW - playback KW - phonotaxis KW - bats KW - acoustic communication KW - animal migration KW - eavesdropping KW - echolocation KW - Pipistrellus nathusii Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.908560 SN - 2296-701X SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kühne, Franziska A1 - Fauth, Henriette A1 - Destina Sevde, Ay-Bryson A1 - Visser, Leonie N.C. A1 - Weck, Florian T1 - Communicating the diagnosis of cancer or depression: Results of a randomized controlled online study using video vignettes JF - Cancer Medicine N2 - Background Communicating a diagnosis is highly important, yet complex, especially in the context of cancer and mental disorders. The aim was to explore the communication style of an oncologist vs. psychotherapist in an online study. Methods Patients (N = 136: 65 cancer, 71 depression) were randomly assigned to watch a standardized video vignette with one of two communication styles (empathic vs. unempathic). Outcome measures of affectivity, information recall, communication skills, empathy and trust were applied. Results Regardless of diagnosis, empathic communication was associated with the perception of a significantly more empathic (p < 0.001, η2partial = 0.08) and trustworthy practitioner (p = 0.014, η2partial = 0.04) with better communication skills (p = 0.013, η2partial = 0.05). Cancer patients reported a larger decrease in positive affect (p < 0.001, η2partial = 0.15) and a larger increase in negative affect (p < 0.001, η2partial = 0.14) from pre- to post-video than depressive patients. Highly relevant information was recalled better in both groups (p < 0.001, d = 0.61–1.06). Conclusions The results highlight the importance of empathy while communicating both a diagnosis of cancer and a mental disorder. Further research should focus on the communication of a mental disorder in association with cancer. KW - consultation KW - mental health KW - oncology KW - psycho-oncology KW - skills Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.4396 SN - 2045-7634 VL - 10 SP - 9012 EP - 9021 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken, New Jersey, USA ET - 24 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reeg, Jette A1 - Strigl, Lea A1 - Jeltsch, Florian T1 - Agricultural buffer zone thresholds to safeguard functional bee diversity BT - Insights from a community modeling approach JF - Ecology and Evolution N2 - Wild bee species are important pollinators in agricultural landscapes. However, population decline was reported over the last decades and is still ongoing. While agricultural intensification is a major driver of the rapid loss of pollinating species, transition zones between arable fields and forest or grassland patches, i.e., agricultural buffer zones, are frequently mentioned as suitable mitigation measures to support wild bee populations and other pollinator species. Despite the reported general positive effect, it remains unclear which amount of buffer zones is needed to ensure a sustainable and permanent impact for enhancing bee diversity and abundance. To address this question at a pollinator community level, we implemented a process-based, spatially explicit simulation model of functional bee diversity dynamics in an agricultural landscape. More specifically, we introduced a variable amount of agricultural buffer zones (ABZs) at the transition of arable to grassland, or arable to forest patches to analyze the impact on bee functional diversity and functional richness. We focused our study on solitary bees in a typical agricultural area in the Northeast of Germany. Our results showed positive effects with at least 25% of virtually implemented agricultural buffer zones. However, higher amounts of ABZs of at least 75% should be considered to ensure a sufficient increase in Shannon diversity and decrease in quasi-extinction risks. These high amounts of ABZs represent effective conservation measures to safeguard the stability of pollination services provided by solitary bee species. As the model structure can be easily adapted to other mobile species in agricultural landscapes, our community approach offers the chance to compare the effectiveness of conservation measures also for other pollinator communities in future. KW - agricultural landscape KW - buffer zones KW - community model KW - functional traits KW - solitary bees KW - spatially explicit Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8748 SN - 2045-7758 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Wiley Online Library CY - Hoboken, New Jersey, USA ET - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ziegler, Joceline A1 - Pfitzner, Bjarne A1 - Schulz, Heinrich A1 - Saalbach, Axel A1 - Arnrich, Bert T1 - Defending against Reconstruction Attacks through Differentially Private Federated Learning for Classification of Heterogeneous Chest X-ray Data JF - Sensors N2 - Privacy regulations and the physical distribution of heterogeneous data are often primary concerns for the development of deep learning models in a medical context. This paper evaluates the feasibility of differentially private federated learning for chest X-ray classification as a defense against data privacy attacks. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to directly compare the impact of differentially private training on two different neural network architectures, DenseNet121 and ResNet50. Extending the federated learning environments previously analyzed in terms of privacy, we simulated a heterogeneous and imbalanced federated setting by distributing images from the public CheXpert and Mendeley chest X-ray datasets unevenly among 36 clients. Both non-private baseline models achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.940.94 on the binary classification task of detecting the presence of a medical finding. We demonstrate that both model architectures are vulnerable to privacy violation by applying image reconstruction attacks to local model updates from individual clients. The attack was particularly successful during later training stages. To mitigate the risk of a privacy breach, we integrated Rényi differential privacy with a Gaussian noise mechanism into local model training. We evaluate model performance and attack vulnerability for privacy budgets ε∈{1,3,6,10}�∈{1,3,6,10}. The DenseNet121 achieved the best utility-privacy trade-off with an AUC of 0.940.94 for ε=6�=6. Model performance deteriorated slightly for individual clients compared to the non-private baseline. The ResNet50 only reached an AUC of 0.760.76 in the same privacy setting. Its performance was inferior to that of the DenseNet121 for all considered privacy constraints, suggesting that the DenseNet121 architecture is more robust to differentially private training. KW - federated learning KW - privacy and security KW - privacy attack KW - X-ray Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/s22145195 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 22 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 14 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liebe, Thomas A1 - Dordevic, Milos A1 - Kaufmann, Jörn A1 - Avetisyan, Araks A1 - Skalej, Martin A1 - Müller, Notger Germar T1 - Investigation of the functional pathogenesis of mild cognitive impairment by localisation-based locus coeruleus resting-state fMRI JF - Human Brain Mapping N2 - 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. KW - attention KW - locus coeruleus KW - mild cognitive impairment KW - resting-state fMRI Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26039 SN - 1097-0193 VL - 43 SP - 5630 EP - 5642 PB - Wiley CY - New York, NY, USA ET - 18 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hauffe, Robert A1 - Rath, Michaela A1 - Agyapong, Wilson A1 - Jonas, Wenke A1 - Vogel, Heike A1 - Schulz, Tim Julius A1 - Schwarz, Maria A1 - Kipp, Anna Patricia A1 - Blüher, Matthias A1 - Kleinridders, André T1 - Obesity Hinders the Protective Effect of Selenite Supplementation on Insulin Signaling JF - Antioxidants N2 - 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. KW - selenite KW - insulin KW - adipose tissue KW - obesity KW - insulin resistance Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox11050862 SN - 2076-3921 VL - 11 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wright, Michelle F. A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Huang, Zheng T1 - Adolescents’ Popularity-Motivated Aggression and Prosocial Behaviors: The Roles of Callous-Unemotional Traits and Social Status Insecurity JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - As competition over peer status becomes intense during adolescence, some adolescents develop insecure feelings regarding their social standing among their peers (i.e., social status insecurity). These adolescents sometimes use aggression to defend or promote their status. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among social status insecurity, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and popularity-motivated aggression and prosocial behaviors among adolescents, while controlling for gender. Another purpose was to examine the potential moderating role of CU traits in these relationships. Participants were 1,047 (49.2% girls; Mage = 12.44 years; age range from 11 to 14 years) in the 7th or 8th grades from a large Midwestern city. They completed questionnaires on social status insecurity, CU traits, and popularity-motivated relational aggression, physical aggression, cyberaggression, and prosocial behaviors. A structural regression model was conducted, with gender as a covariate. The model had adequate fit. Social status insecurity was associated positively with callousness, unemotional, and popularity-motivated aggression and related negatively to popularity-motivated prosocial behaviors. High social status insecurity was related to greater popularity-motivated aggression when adolescents had high callousness traits. The findings have implications for understanding the individual characteristics associated with social status insecurity. KW - social status insecurity KW - callousness KW - unemotional KW - uncaring KW - callous-unemotional traits KW - aggression KW - cyberaggression KW - prosocial Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.606865 SN - 1664-1078 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kayhan, Ezgi A1 - Matthes, Daniel A1 - Marriott Haresign, Ira A1 - Bánki, Anna A1 - Michel, Christine A1 - Langeloh, Miriam A1 - Wass, Sam A1 - Hoehl, Stefanie T1 - DEEP: A dual EEG pipeline for developmental hyperscanning studies JF - Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience N2 - Cutting-edge hyperscanning methods led to a paradigm shift in social neuroscience. It allowed researchers to measure dynamic mutual alignment of neural processes between two or more individuals in naturalistic contexts. The ever-growing interest in hyperscanning research calls for the development of transparent and validated data analysis methods to further advance the field. We have developed and tested a dual electroencephalography (EEG) analysis pipeline, namely DEEP. Following the preprocessing of the data, DEEP allows users to calculate Phase Locking Values (PLVs) and cross-frequency PLVs as indices of inter-brain phase alignment of dyads as well as time-frequency responses and EEG power for each participant. The pipeline also includes scripts to control for spurious correlations. Our goal is to contribute to open and reproducible science practices by making DEEP publicly available together with an example mother-infant EEG hyperscanning dataset. KW - Developmental hyperscanning KW - Dual EEG analysis KW - Adult-child interaction KW - Phase Locking Value KW - PLV KW - Cross-frequency PLV KW - FieldTrip Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101104 SN - 1878-9307 VL - 54 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam, Niederlande ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tiedemann, Kim A1 - Iobbi-Nivol, Chantal A1 - Leimkühler, Silke T1 - The Role of the Nucleotides in the Insertion of the bis-Molybdopterin Guanine Dinucleotide Cofactor into apo-Molybdoenzymes JF - Molecules N2 - 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. KW - bis-MGD KW - chaperone KW - molybdenum cofactor KW - TMAO reductase Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27092993 SN - 1420-3049 VL - 27 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schaefer, Laura V. A1 - Dech, Silas A1 - Aehle, Markus A1 - Bittmann, Frank T1 - Disgusting odours affect the characteristics of the adaptive force in contrast to neutral and pleasant odours JF - Scientific Reports N2 - The olfactomotor system is especially investigated by examining the sniffing in reaction to olfactory stimuli. The motor output of respiratory-independent muscles was seldomly considered regarding possible influences of smells. The Adaptive Force (AF) characterizes the capability of the neuromuscular system to adapt to external forces in a holding manner and was suggested to be more vulnerable to possible interfering stimuli due to the underlying complex control processes. The aim of this pilot study was to measure the effects of olfactory inputs on the AF of the hip and elbow flexors, respectively. The AF of 10 subjects was examined manually by experienced testers while smelling at sniffing sticks with neutral, pleasant or disgusting odours. The reaction force and the limb position were recorded by a handheld device. The results show, inter alia, a significantly lower maximal isometric AF and a significantly higher AF at the onset of oscillations by perceiving disgusting odours compared to pleasant or neutral odours (p < 0.001). The adaptive holding capacity seems to reflect the functionality of the neuromuscular control, which can be impaired by disgusting olfactory inputs. An undisturbed functioning neuromuscular system appears to be characterized by a proper length tension control and by an earlier onset of mutual oscillations during an external force increase. This highlights the strong connection of olfaction and motor control also regarding respiratory-independent muscles. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95759-0 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 11 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weithoff, Guntram A1 - Bell, Elanor Margaret T1 - Complex Trophic Interactions in an Acidophilic Microbial Community JF - Microorganisms N2 - Extreme habitats often harbor specific communities that differ substantially from non-extreme habitats. In many cases, these communities are characterized by archaea, bacteria and protists, whereas the number of species of metazoa and higher plants is relatively low. In extremely acidic habitats, mostly prokaryotes and protists thrive, and only very few metazoa thrive, for example, rotifers. Since many studies have investigated the physiology and ecology of individual species, there is still a gap in research on direct, trophic interactions among extremophiles. To fill this gap, we experimentally studied the trophic interactions between a predatory protist (Actinophrys sol, Heliozoa) and its prey, the rotifers Elosa woralli and Cephalodella sp., the ciliate Urosomoida sp. and the mixotrophic protist Chlamydomonas acidophila (a green phytoflagellate, Chlorophyta). We found substantial predation pressure on all animal prey. High densities of Chlamydomonas acidophila reduced the predation impact on the rotifers by interfering with the feeding behaviour of A. sol. These trophic relations represent a natural case of intraguild predation, with Chlamydomonas acidophila being the common prey and the rotifers/ciliate and A. sol being the intraguild prey and predator, respectively. We further studied this intraguild predation along a resource gradient using Cephalodella sp. as the intraguild prey. The interactions among the three species led to an increase in relative rotifer abundance with increasing resource (Chlamydomonas) densities. By applying a series of laboratory experiments, we revealed the complexity of trophic interactions within a natural extremophilic community. KW - acid mine drainage KW - extremophiles KW - food web KW - heliozoa KW - intraguild predation KW - mining lakes KW - Rotifera Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10071340 SN - 2076-2607 VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Prasse, Paul A1 - Iversen, Pascal A1 - Lienhard, Matthias A1 - Thedinga, Kristina A1 - Herwig, Ralf A1 - Scheffer, Tobias T1 - Pre-Training on In Vitro and Fine-Tuning on Patient-Derived Data Improves Deep Neural Networks for Anti-Cancer Drug-Sensitivity Prediction JF - MDPI N2 - 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. KW - deep neural networks KW - drug-sensitivity prediction KW - anti-cancer drugs Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14163950 SN - 2072-6694 VL - 14 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 16 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Omane, Paul Okyere A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Acquiring syntactic variability BT - The production of Wh-questions in children and adults speaking Akan JF - Frontiers in communication N2 - This paper investigates the predictions of the Derivational Complexity Hypothesis by studying the acquisition of wh-questions in 4- and 5-year-old Akan-speaking children in an experimental approach using an elicited production and an elicited imitation task. Akan has two types of wh-question structures (wh-in-situ and wh-ex-situ questions), which allows an investigation of children’s acquisition of these two question structures and their preferences for one or the other. Our results show that adults prefer to use wh-ex-situ questions over wh-in-situ questions. The results from the children show that both age groups have the two question structures in their linguistic repertoire. However, they differ in their preferences in usage in the elicited production task: while the 5-year-olds preferred the wh-in-situ structure over the wh-ex-situ structure, the 4-year-olds showed a selective preference for the wh-in-situ structure in who-questions. These findings suggest a developmental change in wh-question preferences in Akan-learning children between 4 and 5 years of age with a so far unobserved u-shaped developmental pattern. In the elicited imitation task, all groups showed a strong tendency to maintain the structure of in-situ and ex-situ questions in repeating grammatical questions. When repairing ungrammatical ex-situ questions, structural changes to grammatical in-situ questions were hardly observed but the insertion of missing morphemes while keeping the ex-situ structure. Together, our findings provide only partial support for the Derivational Complexity Hypothesis. KW - Akan KW - wh-questions KW - wh-in-situ KW - wh-ex-situ KW - derivational complexity KW - language acquisition Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.604951 SN - 2297-900X VL - 2021 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rose, Robert A1 - Groeger, Lars A1 - Hölzle, Katharina T1 - The Emergence of Shared Leadership in Innovation Labs JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - 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. KW - innovation laboratories KW - intrapreneurship KW - team creativity KW - shared leadership KW - social network analysis Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.685167 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Frontiers in psychology CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dordevic, Milos A1 - Hölzer, Sonja A1 - Russo, Augusta A1 - García Alanis, José Carlos A1 - Müller, Notger Germar T1 - The Role of the Precuneus in Human Spatial Updating in a Real Environment Setting—A cTBS Study JF - Life N2 - 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. KW - precuneus KW - spatial updating KW - TMS KW - cTBS Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/life12081239 SN - 2075-1729 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Westphal, Andrea A1 - Kalinowski, Eva A1 - Hoferichter, Clara Josepha A1 - Vock, Miriam T1 - K−12 teachers' stress and burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - 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. KW - burnout KW - stress KW - COVID-19 KW - pandemic KW - K−12 teachers KW - remote teaching Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.920326 SN - 1664-1078 SP - 1 EP - 29 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Spikes, Montrai A1 - Rodríguez-Silva, Rodet A1 - Bennett, Kerri-Ann A1 - Bräger, Stefan A1 - Josaphat, James A1 - Torres-Pineda, Patricia A1 - Ernst, Anja A1 - Havenstein, Katja A1 - Schlupp, Ingo A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph T1 - A phylogeny of the genus Limia (Teleostei: Poeciliidae) suggests a single-lake radiation nested in a Caribbean-wide allopatric speciation scenario JF - BMC Research Notes N2 - Objective The Caribbean is an important global biodiversity hotspot. Adaptive radiations there lead to many speciation events within a limited period and hence are particularly prominent biodiversity generators. A prime example are freshwater fish of the genus Limia, endemic to the Greater Antilles. Within Hispaniola, nine species have been described from a single isolated site, Lake Miragoâne, pointing towards extraordinary sympatric speciation. This study examines the evolutionary history of the Limia species in Lake Miragoâne, relative to their congeners throughout the Caribbean. Results For 12 Limia species, we obtained almost complete sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, a well-established marker for lower-level taxonomic relationships. We included sequences of six further Limia species from GenBank (total N  = 18 species). Our phylogenies are in concordance with other published phylogenies of Limia. There is strong support that the species found in Lake Miragoâne in Haiti are monophyletic, confirming a recent local radiation. Within Lake Miragoâne, speciation is likely extremely recent, leading to incomplete lineage sorting in the mtDNA. Future studies using multiple unlinked genetic markers are needed to disentangle the relationships within the Lake Miragoâne clade. KW - Cytochrome b KW - Island biogeography KW - Fresh water fish KW - Phylogeny Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-021-05843-x SN - 1756-0500 VL - 14 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - BMC Research Notes / Biomed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krüger, Johanna A1 - Foerster, Verena Elisabeth A1 - Trauth, Martin H. A1 - Hofreiter, Michael A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph T1 - Exploring the Past Biosphere of Chew Bahir/Southern Ethiopia: Cross-Species Hybridization Capture of Ancient Sedimentary DNA from a Deep Drill Core JF - Frontiers in Earth Science N2 - 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. KW - Chew Bahir KW - hybridization capture KW - ICDP KW - paleoclimate KW - past biosphere KW - sedaDNA KW - sediment core Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.683010 SN - 2296-6463 SP - 1 EP - 20 PB - Frontiers in Earth Science CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - THES A1 - Kempa, Stefan T1 - Analysen zur Stressantwort von Arabidopsis thaliana unter Schwefelmangelbedingungen : Studien zur Funktion der Dehydroascorbatreduktase in vivo Y1 - 2004 CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - EL-Ashker, Said A1 - Chaabene, Helmi A1 - Prieske, Olaf T1 - Maximal isokinetic elbow and knee flexor–extensor strength measures in combat sports athletes: the role of movement velocity and limb side JF - BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation N2 - Background Maximal isokinetic strength ratios of joint flexors and extensors are important parameters to indicate the level of muscular balance at the joint. Further, in combat sports athletes, upper and lower limb muscle strength is affected by the type of sport. Thus, this study aimed to examine the differences in maximal isokinetic strength of the flexors and extensors and the corresponding flexor–extensor strength ratios of the elbows and knees in combat sports athletes. Method Forty male participants (age = 22.3 ± 2.5 years) from four different combat sports (amateur boxing, taekwondo, karate, and judo; n = 10 per sport) were tested for eccentric peak torque of the elbow/knee flexors (EF/KF) and concentric peak torque of the elbow/knee extensors (EE/KE) at three different angular velocities (60, 120, and 180°/s) on the dominant and non-dominant side using an isokinetic device. Results Analyses revealed significant, large-sized group × velocity × limb interactions for EF, EE, and EF–EE ratio, KF, KE, and KF–KE ratio (p ≤ 0.03; 0.91 ≤ d ≤ 1.75). Post-hoc analyses indicated that amateur boxers displayed the largest EE strength values on the non-dominant side at ≤ 120°/s and the dominant side at ≥ 120°/s (p < 0.03; 1.21 ≤ d ≤ 1.59). The largest EF–EE strength ratios were observed on amateur boxers’ and judokas’ non-dominant side at ≥ 120°/s (p < 0.04; 1.36 ≤ d ≤ 2.44). Further, we found lower KF–KE strength measures in karate (p < 0.04; 1.12 ≤ d ≤ 6.22) and judo athletes (p ≤ 0.03; 1.60 ≤ d ≤ 5.31) particularly on the non-dominant side. Conclusions The present findings indicated combat sport-specific differences in maximal isokinetic strength measures of EF, EE, KF, and KE particularly in favor of amateur boxers on the non-dominant side. KW - Dynamometry KW - Martial arts KW - Hamstring-quadriceps ratio KW - Eccentric muscle action KW - Injury Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-022-00432-2 SN - 1758-2555 VL - 13 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Block, Andrea A1 - Bonaventura, Klaus A1 - Grahn, Patricia A1 - Bestgen, Felix A1 - Wippert, Pia-Maria T1 - Stress management in pre-and postoperative care amongst practitioners and patients in cardiac catheterization laboratory: a study protocol JF - Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine N2 - 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 KW - stress management KW - mindfulness-based stress reduction KW - psychoeducation KW - standardized patient information KW - stress intervention KW - distress KW - study protocol KW - cardiac catheterization (CC) Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2022.830256 SN - 2297-055X VL - 9 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Risch, Lucie A1 - Stoll, Josefine A1 - Schomöller, Anne A1 - Engel, Tilman A1 - Mayer, Frank A1 - Cassel, Michael T1 - Intraindividual Doppler Flow Response to Exercise Differs Between Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Achilles Tendons JF - Frontiers in physiology N2 - 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.” KW - achilles tendinopathy KW - tendinosis KW - neovascularization KW - ultrasound KW - advanced dynamic flow KW - sonography Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.617497 SN - 1664-042X VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ellermann, Christin A1 - McDowell, Michelle A1 - Schirren, Clara O. A1 - Lindemann, Ann-Kathrin A1 - Koch, Severine A1 - Lohmann, Mark A1 - Jenny, Mirjam Annina T1 - Identifying content to improve risk assessment communications within the Risk Profile: Literature reviews and focus groups with expert and non-expert stakeholders JF - PLoS ONE N2 - 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. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266800 SN - 1553-7358 VL - 17 PB - Public Library of Science (PLOS) CY - San Francisco, California, USA ET - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yang, Jingdan A1 - Kim, Jae-Hyun A1 - Tuomainen, Outi A1 - Rattanasone, Nan Xu T1 - Bilingual Mandarin-English preschoolers’ spoken narrative skills and contributing factors BT - A remote online story-retell study JF - Frontiers in Psyhology N2 - This study examined the spoken narrative skills of a group of bilingual Mandarin–English speaking 3–6-year-olds (N = 25) in Australia, using a remote online story-retell task. Bilingual preschoolers are an understudied population, especially those who are speaking typologically distinct languages such as Mandarin and English which have fewer structural overlaps compared to language pairs that are typologically closer, reducing cross-linguistic positive transfer. We examined these preschoolers’ spoken narrative skills as measured by macrostructures (the global organization of a story) and microstructures (linguistic structures, e.g., total number of utterances, nouns, verbs, phrases, and modifiers) across and within each language, and how various factors such as age and language experiences contribute to individual variability. The results indicate that our bilingual preschoolers acquired spoken narrative skills similarly across their two languages, i.e., showing similar patterns of productivity for macrostructure and microstructure elements in both of their two languages. While chronological age was positively correlated with macrostructures in both languages (showing developmental effects), there were no significant correlations between measures of language experiences and the measures of spoken narrative skills (no effects for language input/output). The findings suggest that although these preschoolers acquire two typologically diverse languages in different learning environments, Mandarin at home with highly educated parents, and English at preschool, they displayed similar levels of oral narrative skills as far as these macro−/micro-structure measures are concerned. This study provides further evidence for the feasibility of remote online assessment of preschoolers’ narrative skills. KW - narrative skills KW - Mandarin-English bilinguals KW - preschoolers KW - macrostructure KW - microstructure Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.797602 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 13 PB - Frontiers Media SA CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Orland, Andreas A1 - Padubrin, Max T1 - Is there a gender hiring gap in academic economics? Evidence from a network analysis JF - Royal Society Open Science N2 - 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. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210717 SN - 2054-5703 VL - 9 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Royal Society of London CY - London ET - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herold, Fabian A1 - Labott, Berit K. A1 - Grässler, Bernhard A1 - Halfpaap, Nicole A1 - Langhans, Corinna A1 - Müller, Patrick A1 - Ammar, Achraf A1 - Dordevic, Milos A1 - Hökelmann, Anita A1 - Müller, Notger Germar T1 - A Link between Handgrip Strength and Executive Functioning: A Cross-Sectional Study in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Healthy Controls JF - Healthcare : open access journal N2 - Older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) who in addition to their memory deficits also suffer from frontal-executive dysfunctions have a higher risk of developing dementia later in their lives than older adults with aMCI without executive deficits and older adults with non-amnestic MCI (naMCI). Handgrip strength (HGS) is also correlated with the risk of cognitive decline in the elderly. Hence, the current study aimed to investigate the associations between HGS and executive functioning in individuals with aMCI, naMCI and healthy controls. Older, right-handed adults with amnestic MCI (aMCI), non-amnestic MCI (naMCI), and healthy controls (HC) conducted a handgrip strength measurement via a handheld dynamometer. Executive functions were assessed with the Trail Making Test (TMT A&B). Normalized handgrip strength (nHGS, normalized to Body Mass Index (BMI)) was calculated and its associations with executive functions (operationalized through z-scores of TMT B/A ratio) were investigated through partial correlation analyses (i.e., accounting for age, sex, and severity of depressive symptoms). A positive and low-to-moderate correlation between right nHGS (rp (22) = 0.364; p = 0.063) and left nHGS (rp (22) = 0.420; p = 0.037) and executive functioning in older adults with aMCI but not in naMCI or HC was observed. Our results suggest that higher levels of nHGS are linked to better executive functioning in aMCI but not naMCI and HC. This relationship is perhaps driven by alterations in the integrity of the hippocampal-prefrontal network occurring in older adults with aMCI. Further research is needed to provide empirical evidence for this assumption. KW - MCI KW - hippocampal-prefrontal network KW - handgrip strength KW - exercise cognition KW - aging KW - brain health Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10020230 SN - 2227-9032 VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kaboth-Bahr, Stefanie A1 - Bahr, André A1 - Stepanek, Christian A1 - Catunda, Maria Carolina Amorim A1 - Karas, Cyrus A1 - Ziegler, Martin A1 - García-Gallardo, Ángela A1 - Grunert, Patrick T1 - Mediterranean heat injection to the North Atlantic delayed the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciations JF - Communications Earth & Environment N2 - 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. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00232-5 SN - 2662-4435 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - de Pinho Tavares Leal, Pedro Ernesto A1 - da Silva, Alexandre Alves A1 - Rocha-Gomes, Arthur A1 - Riul, Tania Regina A1 - Cunha, Rennan Augusto A1 - Reichetzeder, Christoph A1 - Villela, Daniel Campos T1 - 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 JF - Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience N2 - 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. KW - high-sodium KW - open-field KW - elevated plus-maze KW - pre-natal KW - post-natal KW - redox state Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.779080 SN - 1662-5153 VL - 15 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vogel, Johannes A1 - Paton, Eva Nora A1 - Aich, Valentin T1 - Seasonal ecosystem vulnerability to climatic anomalies in the Mediterranean JF - Biogeosciences N2 - 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. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5903-2021 SN - 1726-4189 VL - 18 SP - 5903 EP - 5927 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ET - 22 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baritello, Omar A1 - Salzwedel, Annett A1 - Sündermann, Simon A1 - Niebauer, Josef A1 - Völler, Heinz T1 - The Pandora's Box of frailty assessments: Which is the best for clinical purposes in TAVI patients? A critical review JF - Journal of Clinical Medicine N2 - 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 KW - frailty tool KW - TAVI KW - older patients KW - elderly KW - cardiology KW - mortality Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10194506 SN - 2077-0383 VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 19 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wiepke, Axel P. A1 - Miklashevsky, Alex T1 - Imaginary Worlds and Their Borders: An Opinion Article JF - Frontiers Media SA KW - imaginary world KW - fiction KW - narrative KW - embodied cognition KW - virtual reality KW - feeling of presence KW - mental simulation Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.793764 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 2 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Warschburger, Petra A1 - Petersen, Ann-Christin A1 - von Rezori, Roman Enzio A1 - Buchallik, Friederike A1 - Baumeister, Harald A1 - Holl, Reinhard A1 - Minden, Kirsten A1 - Müller-​Stierlin, Annabel Sandra A1 - Reinauer, Christina A1 - Staab, Doris A1 - COACH consortium, T1 - A prospective investigation of developmental trajectories of psychosocial adjustment in adolescents facing a chronic condition - study protocol of an observational, multi-center study JF - BMC Pediatrics N2 - Background Relatively little is known about protective factors and the emergence and maintenance of positive outcomes in the field of adolescents with chronic conditions. Therefore, the primary aim of the study is to acquire a deeper understanding of the dynamic process of resilience factors, coping strategies and psychosocial adjustment of adolescents living with chronic conditions. Methods/design We plan to consecutively recruit N = 450 adolescents (12–21 years) from three German patient registries for chronic conditions (type 1 diabetes, cystic fibrosis, or juvenile idiopathic arthritis). Based on screening for anxiety and depression, adolescents are assigned to two parallel groups – “inconspicuous” (PHQ-9 and GAD-7 < 7) vs. “conspicuous” (PHQ-9 or GAD-7 ≥ 7) – participating in a prospective online survey at baseline and 12-month follow-up. At two time points (T1, T2), we assess (1) intra- and interpersonal resiliency factors, (2) coping strategies, and (3) health-related quality of life, well-being, satisfaction with life, anxiety and depression. Using a cross-lagged panel design, we will examine the bidirectional longitudinal relations between resiliency factors and coping strategies, psychological adaptation, and psychosocial adjustment. To monitor Covid-19 pandemic effects, participants are also invited to take part in an intermediate online survey. Discussion The study will provide a deeper understanding of adaptive, potentially modifiable processes and will therefore help to develop novel, tailored interventions supporting a positive adaptation in youths with a chronic condition. These strategies should not only support those at risk but also promote the maintenance of a successful adaptation. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS), no. DRKS00025125. Registered on May 17, 2021. KW - Chronic conditions KW - Adolescents KW - Prospective KW - Quality of life KW - Resiliency KW - Coping KW - Protective factors KW - Type 1 diabetes KW - Juvenile idiopathic arthritis KW - Cystic fibrosis Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-021-02869-9 SN - 1471-2431 VL - 21 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - BMC pediatrics CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Teichmann, Erik A1 - Lewandowski, Heather J. A1 - Alemani, Micol T1 - Investigating students’ views of experimental physics in German laboratory classes JF - Physical Review Physics Education Research N2 - 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. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.18.010135 SN - 1554-9178 VL - 18 SP - 010135-1 EP - 010135-17 PB - APS CY - College Park, Maryland, United States ET - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wachs, Sebastian A1 - Machimbarrena, Juan Manuel A1 - Wright, Michelle F. A1 - Gámez-Guadix, Manuel A1 - Yang, Soeun A1 - Sittichai, Ruthaychonnee A1 - Singh, Ritu A1 - Biswal, Ramakrishna A1 - Flora, Katerina A1 - Daskalou, Vassiliki A1 - Maziridou, Evdoxia A1 - Sung Hong, Jun A1 - Krause, Norman T1 - Associations between Coping Strategies and Cyberhate Involvement: Evidence from Adolescents across Three World Regions JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health N2 - Cyberhate represents a risk to adolescents’ development and peaceful coexistence in democratic societies. Yet, not much is known about the relationship between adolescents’ ability to cope with cyberhate and their cyberhate involvement. To fill current gaps in the literature and inform the development of media education programs, the present study investigated various coping strategies in a hypothetical cyberhate scenario as correlates for being cyberhate victims, perpetrators, and both victim–perpetrators. The sample consisted of 6829 adolescents aged 12–18 years old (Mage = 14.93, SD = 1.64; girls: 50.4%, boys: 48.9%, and 0.7% did not indicate their gender) from Asia, Europe, and North America. Results showed that adolescents who endorsed distal advice or endorsed technical coping showed a lower likelihood to be victims, perpetrators, or victim–perpetrators. In contrast, if adolescents felt helpless or endorsed retaliation to cope with cyberhate, they showed higher odds of being involved in cyberhate as victims, perpetrators, or victim–perpetrators. Finally, adolescents who endorsed close support as a coping strategy showed a lower likelihood to be victim–perpetrators, and adolescents who endorsed assertive coping showed higher odds of being victims. In conclusion, the results confirm the importance of addressing adolescents’ ability to deal with cyberhate to develop more tailored prevention approaches. More specifically, such initiatives should focus on adolescents who feel helpless or feel inclined to retaliate. In addition, adolescents should be educated to practice distal advice and technical coping when experiencing cyberhate. Implications for the design and instruction of evidence-based cyberhate prevention (e.g., online educational games, virtual learning environments) will be discussed. KW - cyberhate KW - hate speech KW - coping strategies KW - cross-national KW - counter-speech Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116749 SN - 1660-4601 VL - 19 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ehlert, Antje A1 - Poltz, Nadine A1 - Quandte, Sabine A1 - Kohn-Henkel, Juliane A1 - Kucian, Karin A1 - Aster, Michael von A1 - Esser, Günter T1 - Taking a closer look: The relationship between pre-school domain general cognition and school mathematics achievement when controlling for intelligence JF - Journal of Intelligence N2 - 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. KW - intellectual ability KW - intelligence KW - pre-school KW - mathematical development KW - school mathematics KW - longitudinal KW - numerical skills KW - working memory KW - attention Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence10030070 SN - 2079-3200 VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 23 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ladleif, Jan A1 - Weske, Mathias T1 - Which event happened first? BT - Deferred choice on blockchain using oracles JF - Frontiers in blockchain N2 - 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. KW - business processes KW - business process management KW - deferred choice KW - workflow patterns KW - blockchain KW - smart contracts KW - oracles KW - formal semantics Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fbloc.2021.758169 SN - 2624-7852 VL - 4 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Frontiers in Blockchain CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eckert, Silvia A1 - Herden, Jasmin A1 - Stift, Marc A1 - Durka, Walter A1 - Kleunen, Mark Van A1 - Joshi, Jasmin Radha T1 - Traces of Genetic but Not Epigenetic Adaptation in the Invasive Goldenrod Solidago canadensis Despite the Absence of Population Structure JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution N2 - Biological invasions may result from multiple introductions, which might compensate for reduced gene pools caused by bottleneck events, but could also dilute adaptive processes. A previous common-garden experiment showed heritable latitudinal clines in fitness-related traits in the invasive goldenrod Solidago canadensis in Central Europe. These latitudinal clines remained stable even in plants chemically treated with zebularine to reduce epigenetic variation. However, despite the heritability of traits investigated, genetic isolation-by-distance was non-significant. Utilizing the same specimens, we applied a molecular analysis of (epi)genetic differentiation with standard and methylation-sensitive (MSAP) AFLPs. We tested whether this variation was spatially structured among populations and whether zebularine had altered epigenetic variation. Additionally, we used genome scans to mine for putative outlier loci susceptible to selection processes in the invaded range. Despite the absence of isolation-by-distance, we found spatial genetic neighborhoods among populations and two AFLP clusters differentiating northern and southern Solidago populations. Genetic and epigenetic diversity were significantly correlated, but not linked to phenotypic variation. Hence, no spatial epigenetic patterns were detected along the latitudinal gradient sampled. Applying genome-scan approaches (BAYESCAN, BAYESCENV, RDA, and LFMM), we found 51 genetic and epigenetic loci putatively responding to selection. One of these genetic loci was significantly more frequent in populations at the northern range. Also, one epigenetic locus was more frequent in populations in the southern range, but this pattern was lost under zebularine treatment. Our results point to some genetic, but not epigenetic adaptation processes along a large-scale latitudinal gradient of S. canadensis in its invasive range. KW - AFLP KW - MSAP KW - cytosine methylation KW - spatial autocorrelation KW - genome scan Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.856453 SN - 2296-701X VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Raatz, Larissa A1 - Pirhofer-Walzl, Karin A1 - Müller, Marina E.H. A1 - Scherber, Christoph A1 - Joshi, Jasmin Radha T1 - Who is the culprit: Is pest infestation responsible for crop yield losses close to semi-natural habitats? JF - Ecology and Evolution N2 - 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. KW - arable weeds KW - cereal leaf beetle KW - fungal pathogens KW - herbivory KW - structural equation model KW - wheat Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8046 SN - 1467-6435 VL - 11 SP - 13232 EP - 13246 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford ET - 19 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Möller, Klaus-Peter T1 - In der Ruhmeshalle der deutschen Literatur BT - das Porträt des Autors und die Medien JF - Fontanes Medien Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-3-11-073323-5 SN - 978-3-11-073810-0 SN - 978-3-11-073330-3 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110733235-031 SP - 533 EP - 574 PB - de Gruyter CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sarabadani, Jalal A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Ala-Nissila, Tapio T1 - Driven polymer translocation into a channel: Isoflux tension propagation theory and Langevin dynamics simulations JF - Physical Review Research N2 - Isoflux tension propagation (IFTP) theory and Langevin dynamics (LD) simulations are employed to study the dynamics of channel-driven polymer translocation in which a polymer translocates into a narrow channel and the monomers in the channel experience a driving force fc. In the high driving force limit, regardless of the channel width, IFTP theory predicts τ ∝ f βc for the translocation time, where β = −1 is the force scaling exponent. Moreover, LD data show that for a very narrow channel fitting only a single file of monomers, the entropic force due to the subchain inside the channel does not play a significant role in the translocation dynamics and the force exponent β = −1 regardless of the force magnitude. As the channel width increases the number of possible spatial configurations of the subchain inside the channel becomes significant and the resulting entropic force causes the force exponent to drop below unity. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.033003 SN - 2643-1564 VL - 4 SP - 033003-1 EP - 033003-14 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park, Maryland, USA ET - 3 ER -