"Familien in Deutschland" - FiD: Enhancing research on families in Germany

The full range of public benefits for married people and families is being evaluated on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) and the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) for the first time. To strengthen existing datasets such as the Socio-economic Panel (SOEP) in their statistical power, Familien in Deutschland (FiD) was initiated. FiD is one of the related studies of the SOEP, i.e. a data collection effort closely related to the SOEP in concepts and contents. The main difference lies in the sample, as FiD provides information on families only, specifically on single parents, large families, low-income families, and families with very young children. These groups are main targets of family policies but their numbers in regular surveys such as the SOEP are too small to conduct meaningful statistical analyses. This paper provides an overview of the sampling concepts and questionnaire contents in FiD, along with case numbers and quality indicators for the first three waves of data collection from 2010 to 2012

White Paper on implementing the FAIR principles for data in the social, behavioural, and economic sciences

The FAIR principles formulate guidelines for the sustainable reusability of research data. FAIR stands for Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability of data and metadata. While there is a growing body of general implementation guidelines, so far there is a lack of specific recommendations on how to apply the FAIR principles to the specific needs of social, behavioural and economic science data. These disciplines work with highly diverse data types that often contain confidential information on individuals, companies, or institutions. These features pose some challenges to the useful implementation of the FAIR principles - especially regarding the machine-actionability of data and metadata that is at the core of the FAIR principles. This White Paper defines the FAIR principles for the social, behavioural and economic sciences. For each of the 15 FAIR (sub)principles, the paper proposes minimum requirements and provides a vision for a full-implementation of the FAIR principles by repositories and data centres. The paper was authored by members of the Economic and Social Sciences goINg FAIR Implementation Network (EcoSoc-IN) and addresses research data centres and other stakeholders who strive for a FAIR research data infrastructure in the disciplines of KonsortSWD

Unpacking the black box: Empirical evidence to understand the human factor for effective rapid testing against SARS-CoV2

SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen point-of-care (PoC) and home tests are available to laypeople. This raises questions regarding the drivers and barriers of people’s willingness to use tests, their understanding of test results and the psychological and behavioural consequences of positive and negative test results. Four cross-sectional data collections, including survey items, open text answers and three experiments, were therefore conducted between December 2020 and March 2021, involving 4,026 German participants. The majority was willing to use PoC or home tests. People will be more likely to use tests when they are inexpensive and easy to use or when they are a necessary (given low infection rates) for obtaining access to public and social life. However, people urgently need information about what a test result means and how they should behave. Recommendations based on the present findings could make rapid testing a successful pillar of pandemic management

Empirical evidence to understand the human factor for effective rapid testing against SARS-CoV-2

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) rapid antigen point-of-care and home tests are available to laypeople. In four cross-sectional mixed-methods data collections conducted between December 2020 and March 2021 (n = 4,026), we showed that a majority of subjects were willing to test despite mistrust and ignorance regarding rapid tests’ validity. Experimental evidence shows that low costs and access to events could increase testing intentions. Mandatory reporting and isolation after positive results were not identified as major barriers. Instead, assuming that testing and isolation can slow down the pandemic and the possibility to protect others were related to greater willingness to get tested. While we did not find evidence for risk compensation for past tests, experimental evidence suggests that there is a tendency to show less mask wearing and physical distancing in a group of tested individuals. A short communication intervention reduced complacent behavior. The derived recommendations could make rapid testing a successful pillar of pandemic management

Flecainide overdose – support using an intra-aortic balloon pump

BACKGROUND: Flecainide is an antiarrhythmic agent which is being used increasingly for the management of super-ventricular arrhythmias. Overdose with flecainide is frequently fatal with mortality reported as high as 22% due to arrhythmias, myocardial depression and conduction defects leading to electro-mechanical dissociation and asytole. Supportive measures are often required during the case and previously have included inotropes, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and cardiopulmonary bypass. CASE PRESENTATION: A 47 year old lady presented to the emergency department with a four hour history of severe central chest pain. Her ECG showed atrial fibrillation and broad QRS complexes with a sine wave appearance. She had a past history of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and significant psychiatric history. Following thrombolysis for a presumed myocardial infarction she developed cardiogenic shock with severely impaired left ventricular function. An intra-aortic balloon pump was inserted and coronary angiography demonstrated normal coronary arteries. With inotropic support she improved over 48 hours, with both her QRS duration and left ventricular function returning to normal. Biochemical testing following her discharge demonstrated significantly elevated levels of flecainide. CONCLUSION: The use of an intra-aortic balloon pump is a useful supportive measure during the acute phase of flecainide overdose associated with severe myocardial depression

Electrocardiographic changes in a rare case of flecainide poisoning: a case report

Flecainide is a class Ic anti - arrhythmic drug with sodium channel blocking activities. We report a case of a 57 year - old woman who attempted a suicide by ingesting approximately 1,8 gr of flecainide. On the surface electrocardiogram this results in a large QRS complex and in prolongation of the QTc interval. Overdose with a class Ic drug is very uncommon, its management is difficult and the mortality high

Mini viral RNAs act as innate immune agonists during influenza virus infection

We thank the High-Throughput Genomics Group at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics (funded by Wellcome Trust grant 090532/Z/09/Z) for the generation of adapter-ligated mvRNA sequencing data. This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust grant 098721/Z/12/Z, the joint Wellcome Trust and Royal Society grant 206579/Z/17/Z and a Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) grant 825.11.029 to A.J.W.t.V.; EPA Cephalosporin Junior Research Fellowship to D.L.V.B.; support by the Intramural Research Program of NIAID, NIH, to E.d.W.; Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, project no. T11-705/14N and a Croucher Senior Research Fellowship to L.L.M.P.; and Medical Research Council (MRC) programme grants MR/K000241/1 and MR/R009945/1 to E.F. and studentship to J.C.L.The molecular processes that determine the outcome of influenza virus infection in humans are multifactorial and involve a complex interplay between host, viral and bacterial factors1. However, it is generally accepted that a strong innate immune dysregulation known as ‘cytokine storm’ contributes to the pathology of infections with the 1918 H1N1 pandemic or the highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses of the H5N1 subtype2,3,4. The RNA sensor retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) plays an important role in sensing viral infection and initiating a signalling cascade that leads to interferon expression5. Here, we show that short aberrant RNAs (mini viral RNAs (mvRNAs)), produced by the viral RNA polymerase during the replication of the viral RNA genome, bind to and activate RIG-I and lead to the expression of interferon-β. We find that erroneous polymerase activity, dysregulation of viral RNA replication or the presence of avian-specific amino acids underlie mvRNA generation and cytokine expression in mammalian cells. By deep sequencing RNA samples from the lungs of ferrets infected with influenza viruses, we show that mvRNAs are generated during infection in vivo. We propose that mvRNAs act as the main agonists of RIG-I during influenza virus infection.PostprintPeer reviewe

Activation of the B cell receptor leads to increased membrane proximity of the Igα cytoplasmic domain.

Binding of antigen to the B cell receptor (BCR) induces conformational changes in BCR's cytoplasmic domains that are concomitant with phosphorylation of the immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAMs). Recently, reversible folding of the CD3ε and ξ chain ITAMs into the plasma membrane has been suggested to regulate T cell receptor signaling. Here we show that the Igα and Igβ cytoplasmic domains of the BCR do not associate with plasma membrane in resting B cells. However, antigen binding and ITAM phosphorylation specifically increased membrane proximity of Igα, but not Igβ. Thus, BCR activation is accompanied by asymmetric conformational changes, possibly promoting the binding of Igα and Igβ to differently localized signaling complexes