Evaluating Sphingosine and its Analogues as Potential Alternatives for Aggressive Lymphoma Treatment

Ceramide (Cer) and sphingosine (Sph) interfere with critical cellular functions relevant for cancer progression and cell survival. While Cer has already been investigated as a potential drug target for lymphoma treatment, information about the potency of sphingosine is scarce. The aim of this study therefore was to evaluate Sph and its synthetic stereoisomer L-threo- sphingosine (Lt-Sph) as potential treatment options for aggressive lymphomas. Methods: Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cell lines were incubated with Sph and Lt-Sph and consequently analysed by flow cytometry (FACS), enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), liquid chromatography coupled to triple- quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), electron microscopy, and Western blot. Results: Sph induced cell death and blocked cell growth independently of S1P receptors in different DLBCL cell lines. Three different modes of Sph- mediated cell death were observed: Apoptosis, autophagy, and protein kinase C (PKC) inhibition. Generation of pro-apoptotic Cer accounted only for a minor portion of the apoptotic rate. Conclusion: Sph and its analogues could evolve as alternative treatment options for aggressive lymphomas via PKC inhibition, apoptosis, and autophagy. These physiological responses induced by different intracellular signalling cascades (phosphorylation of JNK, PARP cleavage, LC3-II accumulation) identify Sph and analogues as potent cell death inducing agents

Chameleon Effects in Homework Research: The Homework-Achievement Association Depends on the Measures Used and the Level of Analysis Chosen

Using a data set specifically tailored to homework research, with a sample of 1,275 students from 70 classes in Switzerland, the association between homework and achievement in French as a second language was tested at three levels (class level, between-student level, within-student level). The strength and direction of the homework-achievement association depended on the homework indicator chosen and differed to some degree across analytical levels. At the class level, achievement was higher in classes set frequent homework assignments and in classes where students reported low overall levels of negative emotions when doing homework. At the between-student level, high homework effort and low levels of negative homework emotions predicted favorable developments in French achievement, whereas high homework time predicted lower achievement. At the intraindividual level, high homework effort, high homework time, and low levels of negative homework emotions were statistically significantly associated with positive student evaluations of the specific assignment

In search of the authentic nation: landscape and national identity in Canada and Switzerland

While the study of nationalism and national identity has flourished in the last decade, little attention has been devoted to the conditions under which natural environments acquire significance in definitions of nationhood. This article examines the identity-forming role of landscape depictions in two polyethnic nation-states: Canada and Switzerland. Two types of geographical national identity are identified. The first – what we call the ‘nationalisation of nature’– portrays zarticular landscapes as expressions of national authenticity. The second pattern – what we refer to as the ‘naturalisation of the nation’– rests upon a notion of geographical determinism that depicts specific landscapes as forces capable of determining national identity. The authors offer two reasons why the second pattern came to prevail in the cases under consideration: (1) the affinity between wild landscape and the Romantic ideal of pure, rugged nature, and (2) a divergence between the nationalist ideal of ethnic homogeneity and the polyethnic composition of the two societies under consideration

The United States COVID-19 Forecast Hub dataset

Academic researchers, government agencies, industry groups, and individuals have produced forecasts at an unprecedented scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. To leverage these forecasts, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with an academic research lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to create the US COVID-19 Forecast Hub. Launched in April 2020, the Forecast Hub is a dataset with point and probabilistic forecasts of incident cases, incident hospitalizations, incident deaths, and cumulative deaths due to COVID-19 at county, state, and national, levels in the United States. Included forecasts represent a variety of modeling approaches, data sources, and assumptions regarding the spread of COVID-19. The goal of this dataset is to establish a standardized and comparable set of short-term forecasts from modeling teams. These data can be used to develop ensemble models, communicate forecasts to the public, create visualizations, compare models, and inform policies regarding COVID-19 mitigation. These open-source data are available via download from GitHub, through an online API, and through R packages

Leistungshierarchien, Reputationsdifferenzen und Fachkulturen

SIGLEUuStB Koeln(38)-880106278 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische Informationsbibliothekueberarb. FassungDEGerman

Zur institutionellen Stratifizierung im Hochschulsystem der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

SIGLEUuStB Koeln(38)-880106277 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Individual development and cultural evolution of arithmetical thinking

SIGLEUuStB Koeln(38)-860106607 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekPreprintDEGerman