TY - JOUR
A1 - Börnert-Ringleb, Moritz
A1 - Westphal, Andrea
A1 - Zaruba, Nicole
A1 - Gutmann, Franziska
A1 - Vock, Miriam
T1 - The relationship between attitudes toward inclusion, beliefs about teaching and learning, and subsequent automatic evaluations amongst student teachers
JF - Frontiers in education
N2 - Teachers' attitudes toward inclusion are frequently cited as being an important predictor of how successfully a given inclusive school system is implemented. At the same time, beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning are discussed as a possible predictor of attitudes toward inclusion. However, more recent research emphasizes the need of considering implicit processes, such as automatic evaluations, when describing attitudes and beliefs. Previous evidence on the association of attitudes toward inclusion and beliefs about teaching and learning is solely based on explicit reports. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between attitudes toward inclusion, beliefs about teaching and learning, and the subsequent automatic evaluations of pre-service teachers (N = 197). The results revealed differences between pre-service teachers' explicit attitudes/beliefs and their subsequent automatic evaluations. Differences in the relationship between attitudes toward inclusion and beliefs about teaching and learning occur when teachers focus either on explicit measures or automatic evaluations. These differences might be due to different facets of the same attitude object being represented. Relying solely on either explicit measures or automatic evaluations at the exclusion of the other might lead to erroneous assumptions about the relation of attitudes toward inclusion and beliefs about teaching and learning.
KW - inclusion
KW - attitudes
KW - teaching
KW - automatic evaluation
KW - beliefs
KW - implicit
Y1 - 2020
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.584464
SN - 2504-284X
VL - 5
PB - Frontiers Media
CY - Lausanne
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Zoll, Felix
A1 - Diehl, Katharina
A1 - Siebert, Rosemarie
T1 - Integrating sustainability goals in innovation processes
BT - applying a decision support tool in a dual-purpose chicken case study
JF - Sustainability
N2 - The innovative dual-purpose chicken approach aims at contributing to the transition towards sustainable poultry production by avoiding the culling of male chickens. To successfully integrate sustainability aspects into innovation, goal congruency among actors and clearly communicating the added value within the actor network and to consumers is needed. The challenge of identifying common sustainability goals calls for decision support tools. The objectives of our research were to investigate whether the tool could assist in improving communication and marketing with respect to sustainability and optimizing the value chain organization. Three actor groups participated in the tool application, in which quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The results showed that there were manifold sustainability goals within the innovation network, but only some goals overlapped, and the perception of their implementation also diverged. While easily marketable goals such as ‘animal welfare’ were perceived as being largely implemented, economic goals were prioritized less often, and the implementation was perceived as being rather low. By visualizing congruencies and differences in the goals, the tool helped identify fields of action, such as improved information flows and prompted thinking processes. We conclude that the tool is useful for managing complex decision processes with several actors involved.
KW - value-based sustainability assessment
KW - stakeholder participation
KW - niche level
KW - culling of male chickens
KW - mixed methods
Y1 - 2019
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143761
SN - 2071-1050
VL - 11
IS - 14
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Brinkmann, Pia
A1 - Köllner, Nicole
A1 - Merk, Sven
A1 - Beitz, Toralf
A1 - Altenberger, Uwe
A1 - Löhmannsröben, Hans-Gerd
T1 - Comparison of handheld and echelle spectrometer to assess copper in ores by means of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)
JF - Minerals
N2 - Its properties make copper one of the world’s most important functional metals. Numerous megatrends are increasing the demand for copper. This requires the prospection and exploration of new deposits, as well as the monitoring of copper quality in the various production steps. A promising technique to perform these tasks is Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). Its unique feature, among others, is the ability to measure on site without sample collection and preparation. In this work, copper-bearing minerals from two different deposits are studied. The first set of field samples come from a volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit, the second part from a stratiform sedimentary copper (SSC) deposit. Different approaches are used to analyze the data. First, univariate regression (UVR) is used. However, due to the strong influence of matrix effects, this is not suitable for the quantitative analysis of copper grades. Second, the multivariate method of partial least squares regression (PLSR) is used, which is more suitable for quantification. In addition, the effects of the surrounding matrices on the LIBS data are characterized by principal component analysis (PCA), alternative regression methods to PLSR are tested and the PLSR calibration is validated using field samples.
KW - LIBS
KW - copper-bearing minerals
KW - UVR
KW - PCA
KW - PLSR
Y1 - 2023
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/min13010113
SN - 2075-163X
VL - 13
IS - 1
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Vidal-Garcia, Marta
A1 - Bandara, Lashi
A1 - Keogh, J. Scott
T1 - ShapeRotator
BT - an R tool for standardized rigid rotations of articulated three-dimensional structures with application for geometric morphometrics
JF - Ecology and evolution
N2 - The quantification of complex morphological patterns typically involves comprehensive shape and size analyses, usually obtained by gathering morphological data from all the structures that capture the phenotypic diversity of an organism or object. Articulated structures are a critical component of overall phenotypic diversity, but data gathered from these structures are difficult to incorporate into modern analyses because of the complexities associated with jointly quantifying 3D shape in multiple structures. While there are existing methods for analyzing shape variation in articulated structures in two-dimensional (2D) space, these methods do not work in 3D, a rapidly growing area of capability and research. Here, we describe a simple geometric rigid rotation approach that removes the effect of random translation and rotation, enabling the morphological analysis of 3D articulated structures. Our method is based on Cartesian coordinates in 3D space, so it can be applied to any morphometric problem that also uses 3D coordinates (e.g., spherical harmonics). We demonstrate the method by applying it to a landmark-based dataset for analyzing shape variation using geometric morphometrics. We have developed an R tool (ShapeRotator) so that the method can be easily implemented in the commonly used R package geomorph and MorphoJ software. This method will be a valuable tool for 3D morphological analyses in articulated structures by allowing an exhaustive examination of shape and size diversity.
KW - articulation
KW - morphology
KW - motion correction
KW - multi-modular morphology
Y1 - 2018
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4018
SN - 2045-7758
VL - 8
IS - 9
SP - 4669
EP - 4675
PB - Wiley
CY - Hoboken
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Scheibel, Willy
A1 - Trapp, Matthias
A1 - Limberger, Daniel
A1 - Döllner, Jürgen Roland Friedrich
T1 - A taxonomy of treemap visualization techniques
JF - Science and Technology Publications
N2 - A treemap is a visualization that has been specifically designed to facilitate the exploration of tree-structured data and, more general, hierarchically structured data. The family of visualization techniques that use a visual metaphor for parent-child relationships based “on the property of containment” (Johnson, 1993) is commonly referred to as treemaps. However, as the number of variations of treemaps grows, it becomes increasingly important to distinguish clearly between techniques and their specific characteristics. This paper proposes to discern between Space-filling Treemap TS, Containment Treemap TC, Implicit Edge Representation Tree TIE, and Mapped Tree TMT for classification of hierarchy visualization techniques and highlights their respective properties. This taxonomy is created as a hyponymy, i.e., its classes have an is-a relationship to one another: TS TC TIE TMT. With this proposal, we intend to stimulate a discussion on a more unambiguous classification of treemaps and, furthermore, broaden what is understood by the concept of treemap itself.
KW - Treemaps
KW - Taxonomy
Y1 - 2020
PB - Springer
CY - Berlin
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Hudson, Paul
A1 - Hagedoorn, Liselotte
A1 - Bubeck, Philip
T1 - Potential linkages between social capital, flood risk perceptions, and self-efficacy
JF - International journal of disaster risk science
N2 - A growing focus is being placed on both individuals and communities to adapt to flooding as part of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. Adaptation to flooding requires sufficient social capital (linkages between members of society), risk perceptions (understanding of risk), and self-efficacy (self-perceived ability to limit disaster impacts) to be effective. However, there is limited understanding of how social capital, risk perceptions, and self-efficacy interact. We seek to explore how social capital interacts with variables known to increase the likelihood of successful adaptation. To study these linkages we analyze survey data of 1010 respondents across two communities in Thua Tien-Hue Province in central Vietnam, using ordered probit models. We find positive correlations between social capital, risk perceptions, and self-efficacy overall. This is a partly contrary finding to what was found in previous studies linking these concepts in Europe, which may be a result from the difference in risk context. The absence of an overall negative exchange between these factors has positive implications for proactive flood risk adaptation.
KW - flood risk
KW - protection motivation theory
KW - risk perceptions
KW - social
KW - capital
KW - self-efficacy
KW - Vietnam
Y1 - 2020
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-020-00259-w
SN - 2095-0055
SN - 2192-6395
VL - 11
IS - 3
SP - 251
EP - 262
PB - Springer
CY - Berlin
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Banerjee, Pallavi
A1 - Lipowsky, Reinhard
A1 - Santer, Mark
T1 - Coarse-grained molecular model for the Glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor with and without protein
JF - Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
N2 - Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchors are a unique class of complex glycolipids that anchor a great variety of proteins to the extracellular leaflet of plasma membranes of eukaryotic cells. These anchors can exist either with or without an attached protein called GPI-anchored protein (GPI-AP) both in vitro and in vivo. Although GPIs are known to participate in a broad range of cellular functions, it is to a large extent unknown how these are related to GPI structure and composition. Their conformational flexibility and microheterogeneity make it difficult to study them experimentally. Simplified atomistic models are amenable to all-atom computer simulations in small lipid bilayer patches but not suitable for studying their partitioning and trafficking in complex and heterogeneous membranes. Here, we present a coarse-grained model of the GPI anchor constructed with a modified version of the MARTINI force field that is suited for modeling carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids in an aqueous environment using MARTINI's polarizable water. The nonbonded interactions for sugars were reparametrized by calculating their partitioning free energies between polar and apolar phases. In addition, sugar-sugar interactions were optimized by adjusting the second virial coefficients of osmotic pressures for solutions of glucose, sucrose, and trehalose to match with experimental data. With respect to the conformational dynamics of GPI-anchored green fluorescent protein, the accessible time scales are now at least an order of magnitude larger than for the all-atom system. This is particularly important for fine-tuning the mutual interactions of lipids, carbohydrates, and amino acids when comparing to experimental results. We discuss the prospective use of the coarse-grained GPI model for studying protein-sorting and trafficking in membrane models.
KW - Martini force-field
KW - osmotic-pressure
KW - potential-functions
KW - aqueous-solution
KW - dynamics
KW - coefficient
KW - simulation
KW - trypanosoma
KW - transition
KW - parameters
Y1 - 2020
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.0c00056
SN - 1549-9626
SN - 1549-9618
VL - 16
IS - 6
PB - ACS Publications
CY - Washington DC
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Hartung, Niklas
A1 - Borghardt, Jens Markus
T1 - A mechanistic framework for a priori pharmacokinetic predictions of orally inhaled drugs
JF - PLoS Computational Biology : a new community journal
N2 - Author summary
The use of orally inhaled drugs for treating lung diseases is appealing since they have the potential for lung selectivity, i.e. high exposure at the site of action -the lung- without excessive side effects. However, the degree of lung selectivity depends on a large number of factors, including physiochemical properties of drug molecules, patient disease state, and inhalation devices. To predict the impact of these factors on drug exposure and thereby to understand the characteristics of an optimal drug for inhalation, we develop a predictive mathematical framework (a "pharmacokinetic model"). In contrast to previous approaches, our model allows combining knowledge from different sources appropriately and its predictions were able to adequately predict different sets of clinical data. Finally, we compare the impact of different factors and find that the most important factors are the size of the inhaled particles, the affinity of the drug to the lung tissue, as well as the rate of drug dissolution in the lung. In contrast to the common belief, the solubility of a drug in the lining fluids is not found to be relevant. These findings are important to understand how inhaled drugs should be designed to achieve best treatment results in patients.
The fate of orally inhaled drugs is determined by pulmonary pharmacokinetic processes such as particle deposition, pulmonary drug dissolution, and mucociliary clearance. Even though each single process has been systematically investigated, a quantitative understanding on the interaction of processes remains limited and therefore identifying optimal drug and formulation characteristics for orally inhaled drugs is still challenging. To investigate this complex interplay, the pulmonary processes can be integrated into mathematical models. However, existing modeling attempts considerably simplify these processes or are not systematically evaluated against (clinical) data. In this work, we developed a mathematical framework based on physiologically-structured population equations to integrate all relevant pulmonary processes mechanistically. A tailored numerical resolution strategy was chosen and the mechanistic model was evaluated systematically against data from different clinical studies. Without adapting the mechanistic model or estimating kinetic parameters based on individual study data, the developed model was able to predict simultaneously (i) lung retention profiles of inhaled insoluble particles, (ii) particle size-dependent pharmacokinetics of inhaled monodisperse particles, (iii) pharmacokinetic differences between inhaled fluticasone propionate and budesonide, as well as (iv) pharmacokinetic differences between healthy volunteers and asthmatic patients. Finally, to identify the most impactful optimization criteria for orally inhaled drugs, the developed mechanistic model was applied to investigate the impact of input parameters on both the pulmonary and systemic exposure. Interestingly, the solubility of the inhaled drug did not have any relevant impact on the local and systemic pharmacokinetics. Instead, the pulmonary dissolution rate, the particle size, the tissue affinity, and the systemic clearance were the most impactful potential optimization parameters. In the future, the developed prediction framework should be considered a powerful tool for identifying optimal drug and formulation characteristics.
Y1 - 2020
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008466
SN - 1553-734X
SN - 1553-7358
VL - 16
IS - 12
PB - PLoS
CY - San Fransisco
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Canitz, Julia
A1 - Kirschbaum, Frank
A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph
T1 - Transcriptome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms related to electric organ discharge differentiation among African weakly electric fish species
JF - PLoS one
N2 - African weakly electric fish of the mormyrid genus Campylomormyrus generate pulse-type electric organ discharges (EODs) for orientation and communication. Their pulse durations are species-specific and elongated EODs are a derived trait. So far, differential gene expression among tissue-specific transcriptomes across species with different pulses and point mutations in single ion channel genes indicate a relation of pulse duration and electrocyte geometry/excitability. However, a comprehensive assessment of expressed Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) throughout the entire transcriptome of African weakly electric fish, with the potential to identify further genes influencing EOD duration, is still lacking. This is of particular value, as discharge duration is likely based on multiple cellular mechanisms and various genes. Here we provide the first transcriptome-wide SNP analysis of African weakly electric fish species (genus Campylomormyrus) differing by EOD duration to identify candidate genes and cellular mechanisms potentially involved in the determination of an elongated discharge of C. tshokwe. Non-synonymous substitutions specific to C. tshokwe were found in 27 candidate genes with inferred positive selection among Campylomormyrus species. These candidate genes had mainly functions linked to transcriptional regulation, cell proliferation and cell differentiation. Further, by comparing gene annotations between C. compressirostris (ancestral short EOD) and C. tshokwe (derived elongated EOD), we identified 27 GO terms and 2 KEGG pathway categories for which C. tshokwe significantly more frequently exhibited a species-specific expressed substitution than C. compressirostris. The results indicate that transcriptional regulation as well cell proliferation and differentiation take part in the determination of elongated pulse durations in C. tshokwe. Those cellular processes are pivotal for tissue morphogenesis and might determine the shape of electric organs supporting the observed correlation between electrocyte geometry/tissue structure and discharge duration. The inferred expressed SNPs and their functional implications are a valuable resource for future investigations on EOD durations.
Y1 - 2020
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240812
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 15
IS - 10
PB - PLoS
CY - San Francisco, California, US
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Wiebking, Christine
A1 - Lin, Chiao-I
A1 - Wippert, Pia-Maria
T1 - Training intervention effects on cognitive performance and neuronal plasticity — A pilot study
JF - Frontiers in Neurology, section Neurorehabilitation
N2 - Studies suggest that people suffering from chronic pain may have altered brain plasticity, along with altered functional connectivity between pain-processing brain regions. These may be related to decreased mood and cognitive performance. There is some debate as to whether physical activity combined with behavioral therapy (e.g. cognitive distraction, body scan) may counteract these changes. However, underlying neuronal mechanisms are unclear. The aim of the current pilot study with a 3-armed randomized controlled trial design was to examine the effects of sensorimotor training for nonspecific chronic low back pain on (1) cognitive performance; (2) fMRI activity co-fluctuations (functional connectivity) between pain-related brain regions; and (3) the relationship between functional connectivity and subjective variables (pain and depression). Six hundred and sixty two volunteers with non-specific chronic low back pain were randomly allocated to a unimodal (sensorimotor training), multidisciplinary (sensorimotor training and behavioral therapy) intervention, or to a control group within a multicenter study. A subsample of patients (n = 21) from one study center participated in the pilot study presented here. Measurements were at baseline, during (3 weeks, M2) and after intervention (12 weeks, M4 and 24 weeks, M5). Cognitive performance was measured by the Trail Making Test and functional connectivity by MRI. Pain perception and depression were assessed by the Von Korff questionnaire and the Hospital and Anxiety. Group differences were calculated by univariate and repeated ANOVA measures and Bayesian statistics; correlations by Pearson's r. Change and correlation of functional connection were analyzed within a pooled intervention group (uni-, multidisciplinary group). Results revealed that participants with increased pain intensity at baseline showed higher functional connectivity between pain-related brain areas used as ROIs in this study. Though small sample sizes limit generalization, cognitive performance increased in the multimodal group. Increased functional connectivity was observed in participants with increased pain ratings. Pain ratings and connectivity in pain-related brain regions decreased after the intervention. The results provide preliminary indication that intervention effects can potentially be achieved on the cognitive and neuronal level. The intervention may be suitable for therapy and prevention of non-specific chronic low back pain.
KW - chronic back pain
KW - sensorimotor training intervention
KW - multimodal intervention
KW - MRI
KW - neuroplasticity
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2022.773813
SN - 1664-2295
VL - 13
PB - Frontiers
CY - Lausanne, Schweiz
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 - 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 - Osei, Francis
A1 - Block, Andrea
A1 - Wippert, Pia-Maria
T1 - Association of primary allostatic load mediators and metabolic syndrome (MetS): A systematic review
JF - Frontiers in Endocrinology
N2 - Allostatic load (AL) exposure may cause detrimental effects on the neuroendocrine system, leading to metabolic syndrome (MetS). The primary mediators of AL involve serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS; a functional HPA axis antagonist); further, cortisol, urinary norepinephrine (NE), and epinephrine (EPI) excretion levels (assessed within 12-h urine as a golden standard for the evaluation of the HPA axis activity and sympathetic nervous system activity). However, the evidence of an association between the primary mediators of AL and MetS is limited. This systematic review aimed to critically examine the association between the primary mediators of AL and MetS. PubMed and Web of Science were searched for articles from January 2010 to December 2021, published in English. The search strategy focused on cross-sectional and case–control studies comprising adult participants with MetS, obesity, overweight, and without chronic diseases. The STROBE checklist was used to assess study quality control. Of 770 studies, twenty-one studies with a total sample size (n = 10,666) met the eligibility criteria. Eighteen studies were cross-sectional, and three were case–control studies. The included studies had a completeness of reporting score of COR % = 87.0 ± 6.4%. It is to be noted, that cortisol as a primary mediator of AL showed an association with MetS in 50% (urinary cortisol), 40% (serum cortisol), 60% (salivary cortisol), and 100% (hair cortisol) of the studies. For DHEAS, it is to conclude that 60% of the studies showed an association with MetS. In contrast, urinary EPI and urinary NE had 100% no association with MetS. In summary, there is a tendency for the association between higher serum cortisol, salivary cortisol, urinary cortisol, hair cortisol, and lower levels of DHEAS with MetS. Future studies focusing on longitudinal data are warranted for clarification and understanding of the association between the primary mediators of AL and MetS.
KW - allostatic load
KW - cortisol
KW - dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate
KW - epinephrine
KW - norepinephrine
KW - metabolic syndrome
KW - primary marker
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2022.946740
SN - 1664-2392
VL - 13
PB - Frontiers
CY - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Kolyvushko, Oleksandr
A1 - Latzke, Juliane
A1 - Dahmani, Ismail
A1 - Osterrieder, Nikolaus
A1 - Chiantia, Salvatore
A1 - Azab, Walid
T1 - Differentially-charged liposomes interact with alphaherpesviruses and interfere with virus entry
JF - Pathogens
N2 - Exposure of phosphatidylserine (PS) in the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane is induced by infection with several members of the Alphaherpesvirinae subfamily. There is evidence that PS is used by the equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) during entry, but the exact role of PS and other phospholipids in the entry process remains unknown. Here, we investigated the interaction of differently charged phospholipids with virus particles and determined their influence on infection. Our data show that liposomes containing negatively charged PS or positively charged DOTAP (N-[1-(2,3-Dioleoyloxy)propyl]-N,N,N-trimethylammonium) inhibited EHV-1 infection, while neutral phosphatidylcholine (PC) had no effect. Inhibition of infection with PS was transient, decreased with time, and was dose dependent. Our findings indicate that both cationic and anionic phospholipids can interact with the virus and reduce infectivity, while, presumably, acting through different mechanisms. Charged phospholipids were found to have antiviral effects and may be used to inhibit EHV-1 infection.
KW - alphaherpesvirus
KW - EHV-1
KW - phosphatidylserine
KW - inhibition
KW - pathogen host
KW - interaction
Y1 - 2020
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9050359
SN - 2076-0817
VL - 9
IS - 5
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Seržant, Ilja A.
A1 - Moroz, George A.
T1 - Universal attractors in language evolution provide evidence for the kinds of efficiency pressures involved
JF - Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
N2 - Efficiency is central to understanding the communicative and cognitive underpinnings of language. However, efficiency management is a complex mechanism in which different efficiency effects-such as articulatory, processing and planning ease, mental accessibility, and informativity, online and offline efficiency effects-conspire to yield the coding of linguistic signs. While we do not yet exactly understand the interactional mechanism of these different effects, we argue that universal attractors are an important component of any dynamic theory of efficiency that would be aimed at predicting efficiency effects across languages. Attractors are defined as universal states around which language evolution revolves. Methodologically, we approach efficiency from a cross-linguistic perspective on the basis of a world-wide sample of 383 languages from 53 families, balancing all six macro-areas (Eurasia, North and South America, Australia, Africa, and Oceania). We explore the grammatical domain of verbal person-number subject indexes. We claim that there is an attractor state in this domain to which languages tend to develop and tend not to leave if they happen to comply with the attractor in their earlier stages of evolution. The attractor is characterized by different lengths for each person and number combination, structured along Zipf's predictions. Moreover, the attractor strongly prefers non-compositional, cumulative coding of person and number. On the basis of these and other properties of the attractor, we conclude that there are two domains in which efficiency pressures are most powerful: strive towards less processing and articulatory effort. The latter, however, is overridden by constant information flow. Strive towards lower lexicon complexity and memory costs are weaker efficiency pressures for this grammatical category due to its order of frequency.
KW - Duration
KW - Explanations
KW - Redundancy
KW - Pronouns
KW - Usage
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01072-0
SN - 2662-9992
VL - 9
IS - 1
PB - Springer Nature
CY - London
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Fliesser, Michael
A1 - De Witt Huberts, Jessie
A1 - Wippert, Pia-Maria
T1 - The choice that matters: the relative influence of socioeconomic status indicators on chronic back pain- a longitudinal study
JF - BMC health services research
N2 - Background: In health research, indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) are often used interchangeably and often lack theoretical foundation. This makes it difficult to compare results from different studies and to explore the relationship between SES and health outcomes. To aid researchers in choosing appropriate indicators of SES, this article proposes and tests a theory-based selection of SES indicators using chronic back pain as a health outcome. Results: Chronic back pain intensity was best predicted by the multidimensional index (beta = 0.31, p < 0.05), followed by job position (beta = 0.29, p < 0.05) and education (beta = -0.29, p < 0.05); whereas, income exerted no significant influence. Back pain disability was predicted strongest by education (beta = -0.30, p < 0.05) and job position (beta = 0. 29, p < 0.05). Here, multidimensional index and income had no significant influence. Conclusions: The choice of SES indicators influences predictive power on both back pain dimensions, suggesting SES predictors cannot be used interchangeably. Therefore, researchers should carefully consider prior to each study which SES indicator to use. The introduced framework can be valuable in supporting this decision because it allows for a stable prediction of SES indicator influence and their hierarchy on a specific health outcomes.
KW - socioeconomic status
KW - Indicators of socioeconomic status
KW - health inequality
KW - education
KW - job position
KW - income
KW - chronic back pain
Y1 - 2017
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2735-9
SN - 1472-6963
VL - 17
PB - BioMed Central
CY - London
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Starzonek, Janine
A1 - Roscher, Katja
A1 - Blither, Matthias
A1 - Blaue, Dominique
A1 - Schedlbauer, Carola
A1 - Hire, Manuela
A1 - Raila, Jens
A1 - Vervuert, Ingrid
T1 - Effects of a blend of green tea and curcuma extract supplementation on lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation in horses and ponies
JF - PeerJ
N2 - Background. In horses and ponies numerous medical conditions are known to be linked with inflammation in different tissues, especially in the liver. Besides affecting other metabolic pathways such as the expression of certain interleukins (IL), inflammation is associated with stress of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In particular, ER stress leads to adaptive stress response and can be measured by several markers of inflammatory and stress signalling pathways, like nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB). Objectives. To investigate lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory reactions and their modulation in horses and ponies by feeding a polyphenol-rich supplement consisting of green tea and curcuma. Methods. In a cross-over study, 11 animals were allocated to either a placebo or a supplement group and supplemented with 10 g of a blend of green tea and curcuma extract (GCE) or a placebo (calcium carbonate) once daily. After 21 days of supplementation, all animals underwent a LPS challenge to induce moderate systemic inflammation. Blood samples and liver biopsies were taken at standardized time points: 24 hours before and 12 hours after LPS challenge. Inflammatory blood parameters such as serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin and retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) were measured in serum. Hepatic mRNA levels of selected markers of inflammation such as haptoglobin, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-1 beta, IL-6, cluster of differentiation 68 (CD68), fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF-21), NF-kappa B, activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) were quantified by RT-qPCR. In addition, liver biopsies were examined histologically for inflammatory alterations. Results. Blood markers of acute inflammatory response increased after LPS challenge. In the liver, the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1 beta showed significantly lower mRNA levels after LPS challenge in the supplemented group (P = 0.04) compared to the placebo group. Levels of the hepatic CD68 mRNA increased significantly in the placebo group (P = 0.04). There were no significant differences between supplemented and placebo groups concerning other markers of inflammation and markers of ER stress within the liver. The number of hepatic macrophages were not different after LPS challenge in both feeding groups. Conclusion. LPS was able to induce inflammation but seemed less suitable to induce ER stress in the horses and ponies. The polyphenol-rich supplement showed some potential to reduce inflammatory responses. Nevertheless, the supplementation did not exert an overall anti-inflammatory effect in horses and ponies.
KW - Curcumin
KW - Catechin
KW - Equines
KW - ER-stress
KW - Polyphenols
Y1 - 2019
U6 - https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8053
SN - 2167-8359
VL - 7
PB - PeerJ Inc.
CY - London
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Tutu, Anthony Osei
A1 - Steinberger, Bernhard
A1 - Sobolev, Stephan Vladimir
A1 - Rogozhina, Irina
A1 - Popov, Anton A.
T1 - Effects of upper mantle heterogeneities on the lithospheric stress field and dynamic topography
JF - Solid earth
N2 - The orientation and tectonic regime of the observed crustal/lithospheric stress field contribute to our knowledge of different deformation processes occurring within the Earth's crust and lithosphere. In this study, we analyze the influence of the thermal and density structure of the upper mantle on the lithospheric stress field and topography. We use a 3-D lithosphere–asthenosphere numerical model with power-law rheology, coupled to a spectral mantle flow code at 300 km depth. Our results are validated against the World Stress Map 2016 (WSM2016) and the observation-based residual topography. We derive the upper mantle thermal structure from either a heat flow model combined with a seafloor age model (TM1) or a global S-wave velocity model (TM2). We show that lateral density heterogeneities in the upper 300 km have a limited influence on the modeled horizontal stress field as opposed to the resulting dynamic topography that appears more sensitive to such heterogeneities. The modeled stress field directions, using only the mantle heterogeneities below 300 km, are not perturbed much when the effects of lithosphere and crust above 300 km are added. In contrast, modeled stress magnitudes and dynamic topography are to a greater extent controlled by the upper mantle density structure. After correction for the chemical depletion of continents, the TM2 model leads to a much better fit with the observed residual topography giving a good correlation of 0.51 in continents, but this correction leads to no significant improvement of the fit between the WSM2016 and the resulting lithosphere stresses. In continental regions with abundant heat flow data, TM1 results in relatively small angular misfits. For example, in western Europe the misfit between the modeled and observation-based stress is 18.3°. Our findings emphasize that the relative contributions coming from shallow and deep mantle dynamic forces are quite different for the lithospheric stress field and dynamic topography.
Y1 - 2018
U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-649-2018
SN - 1869-9510
SN - 1869-9529
VL - 9
IS - 3
SP - 649
EP - 668
PB - Copernicus
CY - Göttingen
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Aloni, Sapir Shekef
A1 - Perovic, Milena
A1 - Weitman, Michal
A1 - Cohen, Reut
A1 - Oschatz, Martin
A1 - Mastai, Yitzhak
T1 - Amino acid-based ionic liquids as precursors for the synthesis of chiral nanoporous carbons
JF - Nanoscale Advances
N2 - The synthesis of chiral nanoporous carbons based on chiral ionic liquids (CILs) of amino acids as precursors is described. Such unique precursors for the carbonization of CILs yield chiral carbonaceous materials with high surface area (approximate to 620 m(2) g(-1)). The enantioselectivities of the porous carbons are examined by advanced techniques such as selective adsorption of enantiomers using cyclic voltammetry, isothermal titration calorimetry, and mass spectrometry. These techniques demonstrate the chiral nature and high enantioselectivity of the chiral carbon materials. Overall, we believe that the novel approach presented here can contribute significantly to the development of new chiral carbon materials that will find important applications in chiral chemistry, such as in chiral catalysis and separation and in chiral sensors. From a scientific point of view, the approach and results reported here can significantly deepen our understanding of chirality at the nanoscale and of the structure and nature of chiral nonporous materials and surfaces.
Y1 - 2019
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c9na00520j
SN - 2516-0230
VL - 1
IS - 12
SP - 4981
EP - 4988
PB - Royal Society of Chemistry
CY - Cambridge
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Mendel, Ralf R.
A1 - Hercher, Thomas W.
A1 - Zupok, Arkadiusz
A1 - Hasnat, Muhammad Abrar
A1 - Leimkühler, Silke
T1 - The requirement of inorganic Fe-S clusters for the biosynthesis of the organometallic molybdenum cofactor
JF - Inorganics : open access journal
N2 - Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are essential protein cofactors. In enzymes, they are present either in the rhombic [2Fe-2S] or the cubic [4Fe-4S] form, where they are involved in catalysis and electron transfer and in the biosynthesis of metal-containing prosthetic groups like the molybdenum cofactor (Moco). Here, we give an overview of the assembly of Fe-S clusters in bacteria and humans and present their connection to the Moco biosynthesis pathway. In all organisms, Fe-S cluster assembly starts with the abstraction of sulfur froml-cysteine and its transfer to a scaffold protein. After formation, Fe-S clusters are transferred to carrier proteins that insert them into recipient apo-proteins. In eukaryotes like humans and plants, Fe-S cluster assembly takes place both in mitochondria and in the cytosol. Both Moco biosynthesis and Fe-S cluster assembly are highly conserved among all kingdoms of life. Moco is a tricyclic pterin compound with molybdenum coordinated through its unique dithiolene group. Moco biosynthesis begins in the mitochondria in a Fe-S cluster dependent step involving radical/S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) chemistry. An intermediate is transferred to the cytosol where the dithiolene group is formed, to which molybdenum is finally added. Further connections between Fe-S cluster assembly and Moco biosynthesis are discussed in detail.
KW - Moco biosynthesis
KW - Fe-S cluster assembly
KW - l-cysteine desulfurase
KW - ISC
KW - SUF
KW - NIF
KW - iron
KW - molybdenum
KW - sulfur
Y1 - 2020
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics8070043
SN - 2304-6740
VL - 8
IS - 7
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -