Synthese 18^F-markierter NO-Synthase-Inhibitoren

Nitric oxide (NO), an important signalling molecule, is synthesized from L-arginine by threeisoforms of NO-synthase (NOS. Its overproduction has been associated with neurodegenerativedisorders. Therefore, developing selective inhibitors of iNOS or nNOS is of greatinterest for decoding neurodestructive key factors. Suitable $^{18}$F-labelled analogues wouldallow for investigation of the NOS-function by molecular in vivo imaging with positronemission-tomography. Potentially, the highly selective nNOS inhibitor 6-((3-((3-fluorophenylethylamino)methyl)phenoxy)methyl)-4-methyl-pyridine-2-amine (1) is a suitable compoundfor labelling with no-carrier-added (n.c.a.) [$^{18}$F]fluoride, complementing the established iNOSinhibitor 6-(2-[$^{18}$F]fluoropropyl)-4-methylpyridine-2-amine [Abb.] Presently the radioorganic syntheses of n.c.a. $^{18}$F-labelled products are practically limited to nucleophilic procedures. Based on cyclic voltammetric measurements an electrochemical synthesis of n.c.a. $\textit{N}$-[$^{18}$F]fluorobis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (Tf$_{2}$N-[$^{18}$F]F) was attempted. The following conversion of the electrosynthetic product with an activated arene led to an $^{18}$F-labelled derivative. In this early developmental stage, a production of an n.c.a. electrophilic $^{18}$F-fluorinating reagent from [$^{18}$F]fluoride appears probable. For the effective labelling of NOS-inhibitors, however more sophisticated labelling methods had to be chosen. With regard to the nNOS-Inhibitor [$^{18}$F]1 a built-up radiosynthesis based on a iodonium ylide 2 as precursor was attempted. The activated aromatic system was efficiently and regionselectively labelled with n.c.a. [$^{18}$F]fluoride in 79 % radiochemical yield (RCY). After conversion by reductive amination and microwave assisted displacement of the protecting groups the desired nNOS inhibitor was obtained in 15 % RCY. Alternatively, for a simplified late-stage $^{18}$F-labelling procedure the corresponding boronic ester precursor 3 was synthesized and labelled starting by novel copper(II) mediated n.c.a. $^{18}$F-fluorination and led to the same RCY. After optimizing the radiolabelling procedure of the established iNOS inhibitor 6-(2-[$^{18}$F]Fluorpropyl)-4-methylpyridin-2-amin, now there are two highly selective NOS-inhibitors available for preclinical $\textit{in vivo}$ evaluation studies

Habitat preference and behavioural ecology of bobtail squids (Sepiolidae)

Bobtail squids (Sepiolidae, Cephalopoda) have recently become popular in scientific studies as model organisms due to their symbiotic relationship with light producing bacteria. However, the overall knowledge on the behaviour of sepiolids is based on observations on just a few of the roughly 70 extant species and must still be considered as sparsely. As understanding their behavioural ecology is vital for establishing a good welfare when holding sepiolids in captivity, the present thesis aimed at improving the knowledge on the ecology of these cephalopods. In a first study, several behavioural aspects of the so far less-investigated bobtail squid species Sepiola parva were analysed, showing that the behavioural ecology of this sepiolid greatly resembled the observations reported for other bobtail squids. Furthermore, this study did not only present the first detailed information for sepiolids about activity and time budgets as well as the positioning towards the prey and the tentacle speed during hunting events; it also provided the first evidence for the ability to adhere a ‘sand coat’ in the genus Sepiola and the use of ‘ink ropes’ for sepiolids in general. In a subsequent study, the burying behaviour of Sepiola sp. was analysed with regards to the effect of different sediment types. It was shown that the mean grain size played a major role in both the duration and the number of body movements (funnel jets/ arm sweeps) in different burying characteristics. While the latency until the start of burying, the duration and number of funnel jets of phase 1 and the total burying duration was the shortest/lowest on medium grained sediment samples and correspondingly extended on finer and coarser sediment samples, the duration of phase 2 and the number of arm sweeps within phase 2 was the longest/highest on coarser sediment and decreased the finer the sediment was.Nas últimas décadas, algumas espécies de cefalópodes têm sido estudadas devido ao seu potencial enquanto novas espécies para aquacultura mas também devido aos seus repertórios comportamentais notáveis, pigmentação cutânea neuralmente controlada e habilidades cognitivas complexas. Entre estas encontram-se cefalópodes de maior porte e comercialmente valiosos, como polvos (Octopoda), lulas (Teuthida) e chocos (Sepiidae). No entanto, não existe muita informação acerca de outros géneros e da maioria das outras famílias de cefalópodes. Esta lacuna na literatura incide principalmente sobre a sua ecologia comportamental e deve-se essencialmente ao papel menor desempenhado enquanto espécies-modelo para investigação científica até ao presente. Neste grupo incluem-se as lulas bobtail (Sepiolidae, Cephalopoda), uma família de cefalópodes com distribuição global que inclui cerca de 70 espécies com valor comercial baixo ou nulo. Recentemente, o interesse em utilizar espécies desta família como organismos modelo tornou-se mais popular devido à relação simbiótica que possuem com bactérias que emitem luminescência e os órgãos emissores da mesma. No entanto, o conhecimento geral sobre o comportamento desta família é baseado em observações de apenas algumas espécies e deve ser considerado escasso. Devido à recente inclusão da classe Cephalopoda na Diretiva Europeia de bem-estar animal 2010/63/EU, sobre a proteção de animais utilizados para fins científicos, entender a sua ecologia comportamental não é apenas necessário para compreender os complexos padrões comportamentais dos cefalópodes, mas também é vital para assegurar um nível de bem-estar animal quando se mantêm estas lulas em cativeiro. Nesse sentido, a presente tese teve como objetivo ampliar o conhecimento sobre a ecologia comportamental desta família de cefalópodes. Um primeiro estudo foi realizado no Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia de Okinawa no Japão, no qual vários aspectos comportamentais de Sepiola parva foram estudados. Para tal foram capturados indivíduos selvagens e registrado o seu comportamento em cativeiro por um total de 41 dias e noites consecutivos. Adicionalmente, foram registados detalhes de seu comportamento de enterrar e caçar através de filmagens em tanques separados. Foi demonstrado que o comportamento de enterrar, caçar e acasalar, bem como as respostas de fuga desta espécie se assemelhavam muito a observações documentadas em outras lulas bobtail. No entanto, foram encontradas diferenças para outros géneros ou até mesmo para outras espécies do mesmo género principalmente no comportamento relacionado com o acasalamento. Ao contrário do que foi relatado para outras espécies, todo o ato de acasalamento de S. parva ocorre na coluna de água e nem o macho nem a fêmea tocam o fundo em nenhum momento durante a cópula. Além do mais, este estudo não forneceu apenas as primeiras informações detalhadas para sepiólidos no que concerne orçamentos de atividades e de tempo, bem como de posicionamento em relação à presa e velocidade do tentáculo durante os eventos de caça; também contribuiu com novo conhecimento para o género Sepiola ou lulas bobtail de um modo geral. Demonstrou-se que S. parva é capaz de aderir uma camada de grãos de areia ao manto ('revestimento de areia'), característica comportamental até agora relatada apenas para sepiólidos do género Euprymna. Além disso, observou-se que S. parva ejeta uma 'corda de tinta', aproximadamente 4-5 vezes o comprimento do indivíduo, mantendo-o imóvel e uma coloração de corpo escura. Este tipo de comportamento foi apenas descrito até agora em lulas de profundidade, e pressupõe-se que o objetivo das ‘cordas de tinta’ de S. parva é o de mimetizar as folhas em forma de lâminas flutuantes de ervas marinhas, como parte de seu comportamento críptico. Um estudo subsequente, realizado na estação de trabalho de campo da empresa HYDRA (Elba, Itália), foi analisado o efeito de sete amostras diferentes de sedimentos, com propriedades geológicas variadas, no comportamento de enterrar de lulas bobtail. Quatro dessas amostras de sedimentos foram recolhidas em baías onde existem lulas de cauda cortada com abundância, enquanto as três restantes foram preparadas artificialmente através da adição de partições de sedimentos do mesmo tamanho. Embora os indivíduos utilizados neste estudo possam ser identificados como Sepiola sp., devido à presença de órgãos de luz em forma de rim dentro de sua cavidade do manto; nem uma abordagem morfológica ou genética permitiram a identificação exata destas lulas, o que leva à assumpção que estas possam presumivelmente representar uma nova espécie, até agora não descrita. No sentido de se testar possíveis diferenças no procedimento de enterrar das lulas bobtail, relacionadas com as propriedades das amostras de sedimento utilizadas, o comportamento de vários indivíduos de Sepiola sp. foi filmado em laboratório e posteriormente analisado quanto à duração e execução de diferentes características de enterrar. Embora todos os indivíduos testados tenham realizado o mesmo comportamento de enterrar em duas fases em todas as amostras de sedimentos, não foi encontrada correlação entre o tamanho de Sepiola sp. e seu correspondente comportamento de enterrar. No entanto, os resultados obtidos demonstraram que o tamanho médio do grão afeta muito o comportamento de enterrar das lulas bobtail, pois a duração ou o número de movimentos do corpo (jatos de funil / varreduras de braço) por fase de enterrar foi significativamente alterado pelo tamanho médio do grão do sedimento usado. Foi demonstrado que a latência até o início do enterro, a duração da primeira fase, o número de jatos de funil durante a primeira fase e a duração total do enterro foram os mais curtos / mais baixos nas amostras de sedimentos de grão médio e estendidos correspondentemente nos mais finos e amostras de sedimentos mais grossas. Por outro lado, a duração da segunda fase do comportamento de enterrar, bem como o número de varreduras de braço na segunda fase, foram os mais longos / mais altos nos sedimentos mais grossos e diminuíram quanto mais finos os sedimentos. Como todas as lulas bobtail observadas realizaram a mesma técnica de enterrar, independentemente do tamanho médio dos grãos da amostra de sedimentos e da duração ou número correspondente de movimentos corporais, o comportamento de enterrar de Sepiola sp. pode ser considerado como um padrão comportamental relativamente fixo, exibindo uma característica incomum para cefalópodes que são conhecidos por sua imensa flexibilidade comportamental. Os resultados da presente tese indicam claramente que as lulas bobtail não devem ser investigadas apenas em termos de simbiose bacteriana e órgãos emissores de luz, mas também em termos da sua notável ecologia comportamental. Embora presumivelmente negligenciadas devido ao seu tamanho pequeno e estilo de vida noturno, o presente estudo demonstrou que as lulas bobtail também apresentam comportamentos complexos e que pode valer a pena incluílas em estudos ecológicos adicionais para entender a notável biologia comportamental da classe Cephalopoda

Field observations on the behavioural ecology of the stout bobtail squid Rossia macrosoma (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) from Scottish waters

Abstract: Bobtail squids (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) are emerging model organisms for a wide range of genetic, anatomical, neurophysiological and behavioural studies. However, the knowledge about their behavioural ecology is scarce and derives mainly from laboratory-based studies, whereas observations from the wild are rare. Here, we use photo and video footage collected through the Cephalopod Citizen Science Project to describe the hunting, burying, mating and spawning behaviour of the stout bobtail squid Rossia macrosoma (Delle Chiaje, 1830) from Scottish waters. Based on our long-term observations, we were able to determine a spawning period from August to November based on different behavioural traits for this species. Furthermore, we observed R. macrosoma to be able to adhere a sand grain layer (‘sand coat’) to its dorsal mantle. This behavioural feature has only been reported for two genera of the sepiolid subfamily Sepiolinae so far, and therefore represents the first of this kind for the subfamily Rossiinae. Lastly, we identified a local sea urchin species as an active predator of egg batches of R. macrosoma and discussed the cryptic egg laying behaviour of this bobtail squid species in terms of its protective traits to avoid egg predation

Dynamic lighting and its impact on the behaviour of marine invertebrates

All animals face the fundamental problem of extracting information from noisy environments. To mitigate or exploit the impacts that environmental noise may have on their sensory systems, many animals adapt their behaviour when exposed to environmental stimuli that interfere with their ability to detect information from their habitat. Understanding if and how animals are affected by environmental noise, therefore, allows us to understand the behavioural strategies that have evolved in response to perceptual challenges imposed on animals by their environment. One common form of environmental noise in shallow aquatic habitats comes from a form of dynamic lighting known as caustics, where refraction of light through surface waves creates fluctuations in the light intensity as well as false motion cues in the visual scene. While caustics impair the visual systems of teleost fishes, whether they impact other aquatic organisms with different visual systems remains unknown. In this thesis, I tested whether, and to what extent, dynamic lighting in the form of caustics affects information detection and behaviour of three marine invertebrates, the common cuttlefish *Sepia officinalis*, the shore crab *Carcinus maenas*, and the brown shrimp *Crangon crangon*. In Chapter 2, I investigated whether caustics impaired the hunting success of cuttlefish. By exposing cuttlefish to live prey in different caustic conditions, I found that cuttlefish maintained their hunting success irrespective of the prevailing caustic conditions, and these stable success rates were not caused by changes in the cuttlefish hunting behaviour in response to the caustic conditions. In Chapter 3, I tested whether cuttlefish, crabs or shrimp preferred or avoided areas with caustics. All three invertebrates did not select or avoid areas with caustic patterns, and there was limited evidence that these species adjusted their movements or exploration based on the prevailing caustic conditions. In Chapter 4, I investigated the temporal effects of caustic exposure on object detection in *C. maenas*. Prior exposure to caustics reduced crabs’ ability to detect intensity-based objects for at least 2 s after caustics had ceased, indicating that caustics can have a negative historical effect on visual perception. In Chapters 5 and 6, I investigated whether cuttlefish changed two aspects of their camouflage in caustics; the expression of body patterns and the erection of skin papillae. Cuttlefish adopted disruptive patterns and textured skin when exposed to caustics, and these camouflage responses were related to the increased contrast levels in the visual scene produced by caustics. Overall, my thesis documents if and how marine invertebrate behaviour is affected by dynamic lighting. I provide explanations for why caustics can affect some aspects of behaviour (e.g., intensity-based object detection and camouflage) but not others (e.g., hunting behaviour and habitat selection), and further explore the consequences this form of dynamic lighting can have on predator-prey interactions

Cephalopod ID Guide for the Mediterranean Sea

The intention of this guide is to help identifying cephalopod species in the Mediterranean Sea which you may find while SCUBA diving, snorkelling, a boat trip or even while walking along a rocky shore. It focuses on shallow water and subsurface-inhabiting species or those which at least partially spent their life in depths less than 50 meters. As you may encounter these animals in the wild most likely just for a short glance, we kept the description of each cephalopod rather simple and based on easy-to-spot external features. This guide was made within the scope of the project “Cephalopod Citizen Science”. This project tries to gather scientific information about the “daily life” of cephalopods by analysing pictures of those animals which were posted in several, project-related facebook groups. For further information about this project, please follow the link below: https://www.researchgate.net/project/Cephalopod-Citizen-Science We hope this guide will provide useful information and help you to identify those cephalopods you may encounter soon

Global Citizenship Education: Problemvorgaben und Herausforderungen weltbürgerlicher Erziehung

Zunehmend müssen sich pädagogische und erziehungswissenschaftliche Theorien und Konzepte mit dem Vorwurf auseinandersetzen, eurozentrische Perspektiven zu vertreten und dadurch koloniale Denkmuster zu reproduzieren. Deutlich zeigt sich dies in den Diskussionen über Global Citizenship Education, in denen daher auch Forderungen nach epistemischer Dekolonialisierung erhoben werden. Vor diesem Hintergrund versucht der vorliegende Beitrag exemplarisch an dem von der österreichischen UNESCO-Kommission herausgegebenen Konzept einer politischen Bildung für die Weltgesellschaft zu klären, wann und warum derartige Konzepte als eurozentrisch bezeichnet werden sollten, und wie ein solcher Eurozentrismus im Sinne epistemischer Dekolonialisierung überwunden werden kann. Dazu wird auf dekoloniale Theorien aus dem lateinamerikanischen Kontext zurückgegriffen. Dies führt zu der abschließenden These, dass diese Theorien als eine spezifische Form von Global Citizenship Education verstanden werden sollten, in der Sichtweisen des Globalen Südens artikuliert werden. Um die Herausforderung epistemischer Dekolonialisierung anzunehmen erscheint es daher empfehlenswert, auch im Globalen Norden stärker auf diese Theorien Bezug zu nehmen. (DIPF/Orig.) Abstract (Englisch): Increasingly, pedagogical and educational theories and concepts have to deal with the reproach of representing Eurocentric perspectives and thereby reproducing colonial thought patterns. This can also be clearly seen in the discussions on Global Citizenship Education, in which demands for epistemic decolonization are raised. Against this background, this contribution attempts to clarify, using the concept of Global Citizenship Education published by the Austrian UNESCO Commission as an example, when and why such concepts should be described as Eurocentric, and how such Eurocentrism can be overcome in the sense of epistemic decolonisation. Decolonial theories from the Latin American context will be used for this purpose. This leads to the concluding thesis that these theories should be understood as a specific form of Global Citizenship Education, which articulates perspectives of the Global South. In order to meet the challenge of epistemic decolonization, it would therefore seem advisable to make greater reference to these theories in the Global North as well. (DIPF/Orig.

Skewness expectations and portfolio choice

Many models of investor behavior predict that investors prefer assets that they believe to have positively skewed return distributions. We elicit detailed return expectations for a broad index fund and a single stock in a representative sample of the Dutch population. The data show substantial heterogeneity in individuals’ skewness expectations of which only very little is captured by sociodemographics. Across assets, most respondents expect a higher variance and skewness for the individual stock compared to the index fund. Portfolio allocations increase with the skewness of respondents’ return expectations for the respective asset, controlling for other moments of a respondent’s expectations