Bibliometrie-Service an der KIT-Bibliothek

Quantitative Indikatoren für Forschungsleistung haben in den vergangenen Jahren stetig an Bedeutung gewonnen. Sie tragen dazu bei, Leistungsunterschiede in der Forschung transparenter und nachvollziehbarer zu machen. Dabei kommt bibliometrischen Indikatoren neben Peer Review-Verfahren ein besonderer Stellenwert zu. Publikations- und Zitationszahlen geben Auskunft über die Produktivität der Forschung bzw. den Rezeptionserfolg von Publikationen. Die KIT-Bibliothek hat aus dem Hintergrund langjähriger Erfahrung im Publikationswesen einen Bibliometrie-Service etabliert. Anhand von Beispielen aus der Praxis wird aufgezeigt, welche Bereiche des KIT einen besonderen Informationsbedarf haben und welches Spektrum an Beratungs- und Serviceleistungen im Bereich der Bibliometrie abgedeckt wird. Besonderheiten bei bibliometrischen Analysen in den Sozialwissenschaften werden aufgezeigt. Diese fachspezifischen Charakteristika verdeutlichen die Notwendigkeit, integrierte Forschungs-informationssysteme aufzubauen, in denen fachinterne Veröffentlichungsstandards berücksichtigt und mit ergänzenden Indikatoren kombiniert werden können. Auch die Zitierbarkeit von Forschungsdatensätzen rückt zunehmend in den Fokus der Bewertung von Forschungsleistungen

The Energy Budget of Steady State Photosynthesis

Progress is reported in addressing these questions: Why do hcef mutants have increased CEF1? Is increased CEF1 caused by elevated expression or altered regulation of CEF1 components? Which metabolic pools can be regulators of CEF1? Do metabolites influence CEF1 directly or indirectly? Which CEF1 pathways are activated in high CEF1 mutants? Is PQR a proton pump? Is elevated CEF1 activated by state transitions

Incidence and progression of diabetic retinopathy within a private diabetes mellitus clinic in South Africa

Objective: The study objective was to examine the influence of glycaemic control and ethnic variations on the incidence and progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR).Design, subjects and setting: Eight hundred and ninety-two persons with type 1 diabetes mellitus, and 1 998 persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus, who were enrolled in a private diabetes mellitus management programme in South Africa, participated in the study. Survival analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between the risk factors and the incidence of DR and referable DR, and the progression of DR.Outcome measures: Cumulative incidence of diabetic retinopathy and referable diabetic retinopathy.Results: The seven-year cumulative incidence of DR and referable DR was 536 and 50 cases per 1 000 persons with type 1 diabetes mellitus without DR at baseline, and 351 and 47 cases per 1 000 persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The seven-year cumulative incidence of referable DR was 332 cases per 1 000 persons with type 1 diabetes mellitus with background DR at baseline, and 360 cases with type 2 diabetes mellitus, representing a seven- and eightfold increase compared to no DR at baseline. After controlling for known risk factors for DR, a high baseline haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and non-Caucasian ethnicity were associated with the incidence of referable DR in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.Conclusion: It was revealed in the first study to report on the incidence and progression of DR in South Africa that a high baseline HbA1c, ethnicity, and the presence of background DR increased the risk of the development of referable DR.Keywords: diabetes mellitus, diabetic retinopathy, epidemiology, incidence, risk factors, South Afric

¹⁸F-meta-fluorobenzylguanidine (¹⁸F-mFBG) to monitor changes in norepinephrine transporter expression in response to therapeutic intervention in neuroblastoma models

argeted radiotherapy with {13}^1I-mIBG, a substrate of the human norepinephrine transporter (NET-1), shows promising responses in heavily pre-treated neuroblastoma (NB) patients. Combinatorial approaches that enhance {13}^1I-mIBG tumour uptake are of substantial clinical interest but biomarkers of response are needed. Here, we investigate the potential of {18}^F-mFBG, a positron emission tomography (PET) analogue of the {123}^I-mIBG radiotracer, to quantify NET-1 expression levels in mouse models of NB following treatment with AZD2014, a dual mTOR inhibitor. The response to AZD2014 treatment was evaluated in MYCN amplified NB cell lines (Kelly and SK-N-BE(2)C) by Western blot (WB) and immunohistochemistry. PET quantification of {18}^F-mFBG uptake post-treatment in vivo was performed, and data correlated with NET-1 protein levels measured ex vivo. Following 72 h AZD2014 treatment, in vitro WB analysis indicated decreased mTOR signalling and enhanced NET-1 expression in both cell lines, and {18}^F-mFBG revealed a concentration-dependent increase in NET-1 function. AZD2014 treatment failed however to inhibit mTOR signalling in vivo and did not significantly modulate intratumoural NET-1 activity. Image analysis of {18}^F-mFBG PET data showed correlation to tumour NET-1 protein expression, while further studies are needed to elucidate whether NET-1 upregulation induced by blocking mTOR might be a useful adjunct to {131}^I-mIBG therapy

Primary somatosensory cortex organization for engineering artificial somatosensation

\ua9 2024 The Authors. Somatosensory deficits from stroke, spinal cord injury, or other neurologic damage can lead to a significant degree of functional impairment. The primary (SI) and secondary (SII) somatosensory cortices encode information in a medial to lateral organization. SI is generally organized topographically, with more discrete cortical representations of specific body regions. SII regions corresponding to anatomical areas are less discrete and may represent a more functional rather than topographic organization. Human somatosensory research continues to map cortical areas of sensory processing with efforts primarily focused on hand and upper extremity information in SI. However, research into SII and other body regions is lacking. In this review, we synthesize the current state of knowledge regarding the cortical organization of human somatosensation and discuss potential applications for brain computer interface. In addition to accurate individualized mapping of cortical somatosensation, further research is required to uncover the neurophysiological mechanisms of how somatosensory information is encoded in the cortex

Radio pulsar populations

The goal of this article is to summarize the current state of play in the field of radio pulsar statistics. Simply put, from the observed sample of objects from a variety of surveys with different telescopes, we wish to infer the properties of the underlying sample and to connect these with other astrophysical populations (for example supernova remnants or X-ray binaries). The main problem we need to tackle is the fact that, like many areas of science, the observed populations are often heavily biased by a variety of selection effects. After a review of the main effects relevant to radio pulsars, I discuss techniques to correct for them and summarize some of the most recent results. Perhaps the main point I would like to make in this article is that current models to describe the population are far from complete and often suffer from strong covariances between input parameters. That said, there are a number of very interesting conclusions that can be made concerning the evolution of neutron stars based on current data. While the focus of this review will be on the population of isolated Galactic pulsars, I will also briefly comment on millisecond and binary pulsars as well as the pulsar content of globular clusters and the Magellanic Clouds.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Proceedings of ICREA Workshop on The High-Energy Emission from Pulsars and their Systems, Sant Cugat, Spain, 2010 April 12-16 (Springer

Physics of Neutron Star Kicks

It is no longer necessary to `sell' the idea of pulsar kicks, the notion that neutron stars receive a large velocity (a few hundred to a thousand km s$^{-1}$) at birth. However, the origin of the kicks remains mysterious. We review the physics of different kick mechanisms, including hydrodynamically driven, neutrino and magnetically driven kicks.Comment: 8 pages including 1 figure. To be published in "Stellar Astrophysics" (Pacific Rim Conference Proceedings), (Kluwer Pub.

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars at the New Millennium

We review the properties and applications of binary and millisecond pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population to over 1300. There are now 56 binary and millisecond pulsars in the Galactic disk and a further 47 in globular clusters. This review is concerned primarily with the results and spin-offs from these surveys which are of particular interest to the relativity community.Comment: 59 pages, 26 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativity (http://www.livingreviews.org