Die deutsche Version des Big Five Inventory 2 (BFI-2)

Die deutsche Version des Big Five Inventory 2 (BFI-2) erfasst die Big Five Persönlichkeitseigenschaften Extraversion, Verträglichkeit, Gewissenhaftigkeit, Negative Emotionalität (früher: Neurotizismus) und Offenheit mit jeweils drei Facetten. Die Skala basiert auf dem Big Five Inventory 2 von Christopher Soto und Oliver John. Die Items wurden in einem mehrstufigen Verfahren vom Englischen ins Deutsche übertragen. Erste empirische Untersuchungen belegen die Reliabilität und Validität der Messungen

Das Big Five Inventar 2: Validierung eines Persönlichkeitsinventars zur Erfassung von 5 Persönlichkeitsdomänen und 15 Facetten

Die deutsche Version des Big Five Inventars 2 (BFI-2) erfasst die 5 Persönlichkeitsdomänen Extraversion, Verträglichkeit, Gewissenhaftigkeit, Negative Emotionalität (Neurotizismus) und Offenheit sowie insgesamt 15 Persönlichkeitsfacetten mit 60 Items. Das Inventar wurde im Rahmen eines mehrstufigen Übersetzungsprozesses vom Englischen ins Deutsche übertragen. Anhand einer nach Alter, Geschlecht und Bildungsabschluss quotieren Bevölkerungsstichprobe (N = 1 224) wurden Reliabilität, Validität und Messinvarianz über Geschlechter und Altersgruppen untersucht. Die Ergebnisse der Studien deuten auf gute Reliabilitäten der Domänenwerte und ausreichende Reliabilitäten der Facettenwerte hin. Einzelitems und die Facettenwerte zeigen erwartungskonforme Ladungsmuster. Die Domänen- und Facettenwerte korrelieren erwartungsgemäß mit anderen Persönlichkeitsinventaren und sind mit Kriterien wie Bildungsabschluss, Einkommen, Gesundheit und Lebenszufriedenheit assoziiert. Strukturgleichungsmodelle belegen die residuale Invarianz über Geschlechter. Die durchschnittliche Bearbeitungszeit beträgt 8 Minuten. Normwerte für die deutsche Allgemeinbevölkerung werden berichtet.The German version of the 60-item Big Five Inventory 2 (BFI-2) captures the five personality domains Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Negative Emotionality (Neuroticism), and Open-Mindedness (Openness) and15 facets of personality. The inventory was translated from English into German in multiple steps. On the basis of a population survey (N = 1,224) quoted for age, sex, and education, we examined the reliability, validity, and measurement invariance for gender and age groups. The results suggested good reliability at the domain level and sufficient reliability at the facet level. Overall, items and facets showed the expected loadings on the five personality domains. Also, domain and facet scores correlated with other personality inventories and were associated with external criteria such as educational attainment, income, health, and life satisfaction. Structural equation modeling confirmed residual measurement invariance across gender. Completing the BFI-2 takes 8 min on average. Statistics for the general population in Germany are reported for future reference

The Integrative Conjugative Element clc (ICEclc) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa JB2

Integrative conjugative elements (ICE) are a diverse group of chromosomally integrated, self-transmissible mobile genetic elements (MGE) that are active in shaping the functions of bacteria and bacterial communities. Each type of ICE carries a characteristic set of core genes encoding functions essential for maintenance and self-transmission, and cargo genes that endow on hosts phenotypes beneficial for niche adaptation. An important area to which ICE can contribute beneficial functions is the biodegradation of xenobiotic compounds. In the biodegradation realm, the best-characterized ICE is ICEclc, which carries cargo genes encoding for ortho-cleavage of chlorocatechols (clc genes) and aminophenol metabolism (amn genes). The element was originally identified in the 3-chlorobenzoate-degrader Pseudomonas knackmussii B13, and the closest relative is a nearly identical element in Burkholderia xenovorans LB400 (designated ICEclc-B13 and ICEclc-LB400, respectively). In the present report, genome sequencing of the o-chlorobenzoate degrader Pseudomonas aeruginosa JB2 was used to identify a new member of the ICEclc family, ICEclc-JB2. The cargo of ICEclc-JB2 differs from that of ICEclc-B13 and ICEclc-LB400 in consisting of a unique combination of genes that encode for the utilization of o-halobenzoates and o-hydroxybenzoate as growth substrates (ohb genes and hyb genes, respectively) and which are duplicated in a tandem repeat. Also, ICEclc-JB2 lacks an operon of regulatory genes (tciR-marR-mfsR) that is present in the other two ICEclc, and which controls excision from the host. Thus, the mechanisms regulating intracellular behavior of ICEclc-JB2 may differ from that of its close relatives. The entire tandem repeat in ICEclc-JB2 can excise independently from the element in a process apparently involving transposases/insertion sequence associated with the repeats. Excision of the repeats removes important niche adaptation genes from ICEclc-JB2, rendering it less beneficial to the host. However, the reduced version of ICEclc-JB2 could now acquire new genes that might be beneficial to a future host and, consequently, to the survival of ICEclc-JB2. Collectively, the present identification and characterization of ICEclc-JB2 provides insights into roles of MGE in bacterial niche adaptation and the evolution of catabolic pathways for biodegradation of xenobiotic compounds

Janus kinase 2 inhibition by pacritinib as potential therapeutic target for liver fibrosis

anus kinase 2 (JAK2) signaling is increased in human and experimental liver fibrosis with portal hypertension. JAK2 inhibitors, such as pacritinib, are already in advanced clinical development for other indications and might also be effective in liver fibrosis. Here, we investigated the antifibrotic role of the JAK2 inhibitor pacritinib on activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in vitro and in two animal models of liver fibrosis in vivo.Jonel Trebicka is supported by the German Research Foundation project ID 403224013–SFB 1382 (A09); by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for the DEEP‐HCC project; by the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and the Arts (HMWK) for the ENABLE cluster project; and by Eurostars (Grant ID 12350). The MICROB‐PREDICT (project ID 825694), DECISION (project ID 847949), GALAXY (project ID 668031), LIVERHOPE (project ID 731875), and IHMCSA (project ID 964590) projects have received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. The manuscript reflects only the authors' views, and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. The funders had no influence on study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Identifying Archaeological Bone via Non-Destructive ZooMS and the Materiality of Symbolic Expression: Examples from Iroquoian Bone Points.

Today, practical, functional and symbolic choices inform the selection of raw materials for worked objects. In cases where we can discern the origin of worked bone, tooth, ivory and antler objects in the past, we assume that similar choices are being made. However, morphological species identification of worked objects is often impossible due to the loss of identifying characteristics during manufacture. Here, we describe a novel non-destructive ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) method which was applied to bone points from Pre-Contact St. Lawrence Iroquoian village sites in southern Quebec, Canada. The traditional ZooMS technique requires destructive analysis of a sample, which can be problematic when dealing with artefacts. Here we instead extracted proteins from the plastic bags in which the points had been stored. ZooMS analysis revealed hitherto unexpected species, notably black bear (Ursus americanus) and human (Homo sapiens sapiens), used in point manufacture. These surprising results (confirmed through genomic sequencing) highlight the importance of advancing biomolecular research in artefact studies. Furthermore, they unexpectedly and exceptionally allow us to identify and explore the tangible, material traces of the symbolic relationship between bears and humans, central to past and present Iroquoian cosmology and mythology

A hierarchy of heuristic-based models of crowd dynamics

International audienceWe derive a hierarchy of kinetic and macroscopic models from a noisy variant of the heuristic behavioral Individual-Based Model of Moussaid et al, PNAS 2011, where the pedestrians are supposed to have constant speeds. This IBM supposes that the pedestrians seek the best compromise between navigation towards their target and collisions avoidance. We first propose a kinetic model for the probability distribution function of the pedestrians. Then, we derive fluid models and propose three different closure relations. The first two closures assume that the velocity distribution functions are either a Dirac delta or a von Mises-Fisher distribution respectively. The third closure results from a hydrodynamic limit associated to a Local Thermodynamical Equilibrium. We develop an analogy between this equilibrium and Nash equilibia in a game theoretic framework. In each case, we discuss the features of the models and their suitability for practical use