Stadt.Geschichte.Basel: Gesamtkonzept für eine neue Basler Stadtgeschichte

Die neue, fundierte Gesamtdarstellung ist ein Kompass für alle, die Basel tagtäglich beleben und mitgestalten – als Einwohnerin und Pendler, als Arbeitnehmer und Unternehmerin, als Fasnächtler, Durchreisende oder Rheinschwimmerin. Die Stadt.Geschichte.Basel schliesst eine Lücke für die vielen Geschichtsinteressierten und Mitglieder der historischen Vereinigungen, für Lehrerinnen, Kulturschaffende und Politiker. Und sie ist ein unentbehrliches Arbeitsinstrument für alle, die sich genauer mit der Stadt und ihrer Vergangenheit befassen und ihr Wissen weitergeben wollen: für Frauen und Männer in Archiven, Museen, Bibliotheken und Universitäten

Vom physiologischen Stress zum Prinzip „Lebensqualität“: Lennart Levi und der Wandel des Stresskonzepts um 1970

In the mid-seventies, a psychosocial concept of stress evolved in Scandinavia and the German-speaking countries. The Swedish endocrinologist and social medic Lennart Levi played a crucial role in this process. In 1959 he founded the (now famous) Stress Research Laboratory based at the Karolinska Institute. The latter was designated a WHO collaboration center for research and training dealing with psychosocial health. The same year, Levi also published an introduction to psychosomatic medicine, which was translated into German five years later. This book, “Stress: Body, Soul, and Illness,” became a milestone in German research on stress. The paper analyses the pioneering role of Levi in establishing stress research in German-speaking countries, and explores the relevance of his body concept in the late Fordist period

Der Wunsch nach Homogenität: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer schweizerischen Bevölkerungspolitik in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts

'Bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg betrieben in der Schweiz Kantone und Gemeinden Bevölkerungspolitik. Erst mit dem Ersten Weltkrieg begannen auch bundesstaatliche Stellen sich vermehrt für bevölkerungspolitische und -wissenschaftliche Fragen zu interessieren. Die während des Ersten Weltkriegs geschaffene Fremdenpolizei versuchte, mit einer möglichst zurückhaltenden Niederlassung- und Einbürgerungspolitik und -praxis die Zusammensetzung der in der Schweiz lebenden Bevölkerung zu steuern und so genannte 'unerwünschte' Ausländerinnen und Ausländern fern zu halten. Diese Haltung, die sich stark gegen jüdische Immigranten richtete, war geprägt vom damals vorherrschenden Überfremdungsdiskurs. Die Behördenvertreter orientierten sich an einer engen Abstammungslehre und nahmen dabei insbesondere die Diskriminierung der Frauen in Kauf. Gleichzeitig traten private Organisationen und einige Kantone für sozialpolitische Maßnahmen ein, die das Ziel hatten, die Geburtenrate zu steigern. So entwickelte sich in der Zwischenkriegszeit ein schweizerischer bevölkerungswissenschaftlicher Diskurs, der sich durch eine nach außen gerichtete Abwehr und einer zunehmenden Diskriminierung der Frauen auszeichnete.' (Autorenreferat)'The paper analyses the beginning of a Swiss population policy at the intersection of federal, cantonal and non-governmental interests in the twenties and thirties. During World War One, the Federal Council founded the Swiss Foreign Police, a special police unit which formed part of the immigration office. This new police unit was the first federal institution which followed a population policy. In the case of immigration and naturalisation the authorities brought to life a strict population-control. Their point of view was influenced by the discourse about the threat of foreigners ('Überfremdung'), the catchphrase during the decade after World War One. While they were trying to exclude the 'unwanted people' they also encouraged the discrimination of women. At the same time several private associations and some cantons demanded a social policy for families with the aim to raise the birth rate. Because the Swiss federalism was also very strong between the World Wars a population policy under Helvetic conditions there was developing: Exclusion against outside, discrimination of women inside.' (author's abstract

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

NEXMIF encephalopathy:an X-linked disorder with male and female phenotypic patterns

Purpose Pathogenic variants in the X-linked gene NEXMIF (previously KIAA2022) are associated with intellectual disability (ID), autism spectrum disorder, and epilepsy. We aimed to delineate the female and male phenotypic spectrum of NEXMIF encephalopathy. Methods Through an international collaboration, we analyzed the phenotypes and genotypes of 87 patients with NEXMIF encephalopathy. Results Sixty-three females and 24 males (46 new patients) with NEXMIF encephalopathy were studied, with 30 novel variants. Phenotypic features included developmental delay/ID in 86/87 (99%), seizures in 71/86 (83%) and multiple comorbidities. Generalized seizures predominated including myoclonic seizures and absence seizures (both 46/70, 66%), absence with eyelid myoclonia (17/70, 24%), and atonic seizures (30/70, 43%). Males had more severe developmental impairment; females had epilepsy more frequently, and varied from unaffected to severely affected. All NEXMIF pathogenic variants led to a premature stop codon or were deleterious structural variants. Most arose de novo, although X-linked segregation occurred for both sexes. Somatic mosaicism occurred in two males and a family with suspected parental mosaicism. Conclusion NEXMIF encephalopathy is an X-linked, generalized developmental and epileptic encephalopathy characterized by myoclonic-atonic epilepsy overlapping with eyelid myoclonia with absence. Some patients have developmental encephalopathy without epilepsy. Males have more severe developmental impairment. NEXMIF encephalopathy arises due to loss-of-function variants

Discovery of common and rare genetic risk variants for colorectal cancer

To further dissect the genetic architecture of colorectal cancer (CRC), we performed whole-genome sequencing of 1,439 cases and 720 controls, imputed discovered sequence variants and Haplotype Reference Consortium panel variants into genome-wide association study data, and tested for association in 34,869 cases and 29,051 controls. Findings were followed up in an additional 23,262 cases and 38,296 controls. We discovered a strongly protective 0.3% frequency variant signal at CHD1. In a combined meta-analysis of 125,478 individuals, we identified 40 new independent signals at P < 5 × 10−8, bringing the number of known independent signals for CRC to ~100. New signals implicate lower-frequency variants, Krüppel-like factors, Hedgehog signaling, Hippo-YAP signaling, long noncoding RNAs and somatic drivers, and support a role for immune function. Heritability analyses suggest that CRC risk is highly polygenic, and larger, more comprehensive studies enabling rare variant analysis will improve understanding of biology underlying this risk and influence personalized screening strategies and drug development