Ein Ding unter vielen. Robbert&Frank/Frank&Robberts Theaterinstallation TO BREAK – The Window of Opportunity

Eine Bühne, so karg wie die Prärie im Mittleren Westen der USA. Lediglich ein Hintergrundprospekt ist zu sehen, auf dem ebendiese Landschaft aufgemalt ist. Doch diese suggerierte Einöde trügt, denn auf den zweiten Blick sind neben Cowboys und Indianern auch eine Sphinx, Skulpturen von der Osterinsel und gar fliegende Wale zu entdecken. Das Bühnenbild von TO BREAK – The Window of Opportunity (2014) deutet es bereits an: In dieser Performance ist nichts so, wie es zunächst scheint

Crossing Borders

An Interview with Cristina Galbiati (TricksterP, Novazzano) on Sight

Unraveling differences in fecal microbiota stability in mammals: from high variable carnivores and consistently stable herbivores

BACKGROUND Through the rapid development in DNA sequencing methods and tools, microbiome studies on a various number of species were performed during the last decade. This advance makes it possible to analyze hundreds of samples from different species at the same time in order to obtain a general overview of the microbiota. However, there is still uncertainty on the variability of the microbiota of different animal orders and on whether certain bacteria within a species are subject to greater fluctuations than others. This is largely due to the fact that the analysis in most extensive comparative studies is based on only a few samples per species or per study site. In our study, we aim to close this knowledge gap by analyzing multiple individual samples per species including two carnivore suborders Canoidea and Feloidea as well as the orders of herbivore Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla held in different zoos. To assess microbial diversity, 621 fecal samples from 31 species were characterized by sequencing the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene using Illumina MiSeq. RESULTS We found significant differences in the consistency of microbiota composition and in fecal microbial diversity between carnivore and herbivore species. Whereas the microbiota of Carnivora is highly variable and inconsistent within and between species, Perissodactyla and Ruminantia show fewer differences across species boundaries. Furthermore, low-abundance bacterial families show higher fluctuations in the fecal microbiota than high-abundance ones. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that microbial diversity is significantly higher in herbivores than in carnivores, whereas the microbiota in carnivores, unlike in herbivores, varies widely even within species. This high variability has methodological implications and underlines the need to analyze a minimum amount of about 10 samples per species. In our study, we found considerable differences in the occurrence of different bacterial families when looking at just three and six samples. However, from a sample number of 10 onwards, these within-species fluctuations balanced out in most cases and led to constant and more reliable results

Unordered load/store queue

A method and processor for providing full load/store queue functionality to an unordered load/store queue for a processor with out-of-order execution. Load and store instructions are inserted in a load/store queue in execution order. Each entry in the load/store queue includes an identification corresponding to a program order. Conflict detection in such an unordered load/store queue may be performed by searching a first CAM for all addresses that are the same or overlap with the address of the load or store instruction to be executed. A further search may be performed in a second CAM to identify those entries that are associated with younger or older instructions with respect to the sequence number of the load or store instruction to be executed. The output results of the Address CAM and Age CAM are logically ANDed.Board of Regents, University of Texas Syste

Asymmetric Whole-Cell Bio-Reductions of (R)-Carvone Using Optimized Ene Reductases

(2R,5R)-dihydrocarvone is an industrially applied building block that can be synthesized by site-selective and stereo-selective C=C bond bio-reduction of (R)-carvone. Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells overexpressing an ene reductase from Nostoc sp. PCC7120 (NostocER1) in combination with a cosubstrate regeneration system proved to be very effective biocatalysts for this reaction. However, the industrial applicability of biocatalysts is strongly linked to the catalysts’ activity. Since the cell-internal NADH concentrations are around 20-fold higher than the NADPH concentrations, we produced E. coli cells where the NADPH-preferring NostocER1 was exchanged with three different NADH-accepting NostocER1 mutants. These E. coli whole-cell biocatalysts were used in batch operated stirred-tank reactors on a 0.7 l-scale for the reduction of 300 mM (R)-carvone. 287 mM (2R,5R)-dihydrocarvone were formed within 5 h with a diasteromeric excess of 95.4% and a yield of 95.6%. Thus, the whole-cell biocatalysts were strongly improved by using NADH-accepting enzymes, resulting in an up to 2.1-fold increased initial product formation rate leading to a 1.8-fold increased space-time yield when compared to literature

Using a conversational agent for thought recording as a cognitive therapy task: Feasibility, content, and feedback

E-mental health for depression is increasingly used in clinical practice, but patient adherence suffers as therapist involvement decreases. One reason may be the low responsiveness of existing programs: especially autonomous systems are lacking in their input interpretation and feedback-giving capabilities. Here, we explore (a) to what extent a more socially intelligent and, therefore, technologically advanced solution, namely a conversational agent, is a feasible means of collecting thought record data in dialog, (b) what people write about in their thought records, (c) whether providing content-based feedback increases motivation for thought recording, a core technique of cognitive therapy that helps patients gain an understanding of how their thoughts cause their feelings. Using the crowd-sourcing platform Prolific, 308 participants with subclinical depression symptoms were recruited and split into three conditions of varying feedback richness using the minimization method of randomization. They completed two thought recording sessions with the conversational agent: one practice session with scenarios and one open session using situations from their own lives. All participants were able to complete thought records with the agent such that the thoughts could be interpreted by the machine learning algorithm, rendering the completion of thought records with the agent feasible. Participants chose interpersonal situations nearly three times as often as achievement-related situations in the open chat session. The three most common underlying schemas were the Attachment, Competence, and Global Self-evaluation schemas. No support was found for a motivational effect of providing richer feedback. In addition to our findings, we publish the dataset of thought records for interested researchers and developers

Fast-exchanging spirocyclic rhodamine probes for aptamer-based super-resolution RNA imaging

Live-cell RNA imaging with high spatial and temporal resolution remains a major challenge. Here we report the development of RhoBAST:SpyRho, a fluorescent light-up aptamer (FLAP) system ideally suited for visualizing RNAs in live or fixed cells with various advanced fluorescence microscopy modalities. Overcoming problems associated with low cell permeability, brightness, fluorogenicity, and signal-to-background ratio of previous fluorophores, we design a novel probe, SpyRho (Spirocyclic Rhodamine), which tightly binds to the RhoBAST aptamer. High brightness and fluorogenicity is achieved by shifting the equilibrium between spirolactam and quinoid. With its high affinity and fast ligand exchange, RhoBAST:SpyRho is a superb system for both super-resolution SMLM and STED imaging. Its excellent performance in SMLM and the first reported super-resolved STED images of specifically labeled RNA in live mammalian cells represent significant advances over other FLAPs. The versatility of RhoBAST:SpyRho is further demonstrated by imaging endogenous chromosomal loci and proteins

Risk factors for bladder neck contracture after transurethral resection of the prostate

Introduction Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is the most frequently used treatment of benign prostate hyperplasia with a prostate volume of <80 mL. A long-term complication is bladder neck contracture (BNC). The aim of the present study was to identify the risk factors for BNC formation after TURP. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of all TURP primary procedures which were performed at one academic institution between 2013 and 2018. All patients were analyzed and compared with regard to postoperative formation of a BNC requiring further therapy. Uni- and multivariable logistic regression analyses (MVAs) were performed to identify possible risk factors for BNC development. Results We included 1368 patients in this analysis. Out of these, 88 patients (6.4%) developed BNC requiring further surgical therapy. The following factors showed a statistically significant association with BNC development: smaller preoperative prostate volume (p = 0.001), lower resected prostate weight (p = 0.004), lower preoperative levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA, p < 0.001), shorter duration of the surgery (p = 0.027), secondary transurethral intervention (due to urinary retention or gross hematuria) during inpatient stay (p = 0.018), positive (≥100  CFU/mL) preoperative urine culture (p = 0.010), and urethral stricture (US) formation requiring direct visual internal urethrotomy (DVIU) postoperatively after TURP (p < 0.001), in particular membranous (p = 0.046) and bulbar (p < 0.001) strictures. Preoperative antibiotic treatment showed a protective effect (p = 0.042). Histopathological findings of prostate cancer (PCA) in the resected prostate tissue were more frequent among patients who did not develop BNC (p = 0.049). On MVA, smaller preoperative prostate volume (p = 0.046), positive preoperative urine culture (p = 0.021), and US requiring DVIU after TURP (p < 0.001) were identified as independent predictors for BNC development. Conclusion BNC is a relevant long-term complication after TURP. In particular, patients with a smaller prostate should be thoroughly informed about this complication