95 research outputs found

    The neural basis of non-verbal communication – enhanced processing of perceived give-me gestures in 9-month-old girls

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    This study investigated the neural basis of non-verbal communication. Event-related potentials were recorded while twenty-nine 9-month-old infants were presented with a give-me gesture (experimental condition) and the same hand shape but rotated 90 degrees, resulting in a non-communicative hand configuration (control condition). We found different responses in amplitude between the two conditions, captured in the P400 ERP component. Moreover, the size of this effect was modulated by participants’ sex, with girls generally demonstrating a larger relative difference between the two conditions than boys

    Analyse des Modellierprozesses von Grundschüler*innen zum Thema Löslichkeit

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    Die Autorinnen untersuchen im Rahmen ihrer Prä-Post-Studie mit Viertklässlern, ob der Modellierungsprozess durch analoges Schließen zwischen mehreren Phänomenen unterstützt werden kann, und ob chemische Konzepte zum Thema Löslichkeit erlernt werden können. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Grundschüler*innen ihre mentalen Modelle in einem Modell ausdrücken und teilweise revidieren können. In einigen Fällen werden die Modelle reflektiert und Grenzen erkannt. (DIPF/Orig.)Learning scientific concepts and methods is part of scientific literacy (Bybee 2002) and can be supported by modeling-based learning. Modeling-based learning involves creating, using, revising and reflecting about models (Constantinou et al. 2019). At primary level, it has been shown that primary school students can express their mental models about phenomena, such as the water cycle, but need support (Forbes et al. 2019). Whether the results can be transferred to chemistry-related phenomena requires empirical investigation. Therefore, it will be investigated to what extent a) the modeling process can be supported by analogical reasoning between multiple phenomena and b) whether chemical concepts on the topic of solubility can be learned. To answer these research questions, a pre-post study in a comparison group design was conducted with 63 fourth graders. The focus is on a learning setting with multiple phenomena on the topic of solubility. The intervention group is explicitly supported by analogical reasoning between the phenomena. Concept acquisition is assessed with the help of pre-post interviews, which are videotaped and analyzed in a video analysis. The results show that primary school students can express their mental models in a model and partly revise it. In some cases, the models are reflected and limitations are recognized. These results are presented and discussed in this paper. (DIPF/Orig.

    Bovine herpesviruses do not play a major role in the differential diagnosis of rabies in cattle in Southern Brazil

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    Background: Rabies has long been recognized as the major cause of encephalitis in cattle in Latin American countries. It has been estimated that nearly 50.000 cattle heads per year are lost due to encephalitis in that subcontinent, with a signifi cant economic impact on cattle productive chains. In Brazil only, 2.500 to 3.000 cattle heads are estimated to be lost every year due to rabies. However, it is believed that rabies incidence in cattle is much larger, since usually only a few samples from affected animals in disease outbreaks are submitted to diagnostic laboratories. Rabies encephalitis is promptly and accurately diagnosed; however, particularly when rabies is excluded as causa mortis, the agent responsible for neurological disease of infectious origin often remains undetermined. Two bovine herpesviruses (BoHVs), bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BoHV-1) and bovine herpesvirus type 5 (BoHV-5) are major pathogens of cattle which are widely disseminated in Brazil. As usual in herpesvirus’ biology, these tend to infect a large number of hosts and establish lifelong latent infections which may occasionally be reactivated. Both viruses, particularly BoHV-5, are often recovered from cases of neurological disease in cattle. The participation of BoHVs in the differential diagnosis of rabies must be evaluated. Besides, there might be associations between the occurrence of rabies and BoHV infections that deserve investigation. The aim of this study was to investigate whether bovine herpesvirus 1 and 5 would play a signifi cant role in cases of neurological disease where rabies was the presumptive clinical diagnosis. In addition, associations between the occurrence of rabies and BoHV infections were searched for. The approach adopted for conducting such investigations was based on the search for viral nucleic acids as well as classical virus isolation on tissues of cattle submitted to rabies diagnosis over a two-year Materials, Methods & Results: Brain tissue samples of 101 cattle originally submitted to rabies diagnosis were collected over a two year period (2009-2010) from various municipalities within the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Thirty nine of these samples had the diagnosis of rabies confi rmed by standard laboratory diagnostic methods. Aliquots of tissues were submitted to DNA extraction and examined in search for genomes of bovine herpesviruses (BoHV) types 1 (BoHV-1) and 5 (BoHV-5) by as well as for infectious virus. Bovine herpesvirus genomes were detected in 78/101 (77.2%) samples, in which BoHV-1 genomes were detected in 26/78 (25.7%), BoHV-5 genomes in 22/78 (21.8%) and mixed BoHV infections (BoHV-1 and BoHV-5 genomes) were detected in 30/101 (29.7%) samples. In the 39 samples with confi rmed rabies diagnosis, BoHV-1 DNA was detected in 9/39 (23%), BoHV-5 DNA in 6/39 (15.4%) and mixed infections with both BoHV types in 16/39 (41%) samples. However, no infectious herpesvirus was recovered from any of the specimens examined. Discussion: The high prevalence of BoHV1 and BoHV-5 infections was evidenced in the sampled population, but the absence of infectious BoHVs indicate that these were not associated to the occurrence of the cases of encephalitis where rabies was the primary suspicion. In addition, no association was detected between occurrence of rabies and detection of BoHVs, since the frequency of detection of herpesvirus genomes did not signifi cantly differ between rabies-positive and rabies-negative samples. The detection of BoHV DNA in scattered areas of the brain with no infectious virus suggests that latency may take place in different regions of the brain

    Efficient Killing of Murine Pluripotent Stem Cells by Natural Killer (NK) Cells Requires Activation by Cytokines and Partly Depends on the Activating NK Receptor NKG2D

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    Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role as cytotoxic effector cells, which scan the organism for infected or tumorigenic cells. Conflicting data have been published whether NK cells can also kill allogeneic or even autologous pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) and which receptors are involved. A clarification of this question is relevant since an activity of NK cells against PSCs could reduce the risk of teratoma growth after transplantation of PSC-derived grafts. Therefore, the hypothesis has been tested that the activity of NK cells against PSCs depends on cytokine activation and specifically on the activating NK receptor NKG2D. It is shown that a subcutaneous injection of autologous iPSCs failed to activate NK cells against these iPSCs and can give rise to teratomas. In agreement with this result, several PSC lines, including two iPSC, two embryonic stem cell (ESC), and two so-called multipotent adult germline stem cell (maGSC) lines, were largely resistant against resting NK cells although differences in killing were found at low level. All PSC lines were killed by interleukin (IL)-2-activated NK cells, and maGSCs were better killed than the other PSC types. The PSCs expressed ligands of the activating NK receptor NKG2D and NKG2D-deficient NK cells from Klrk1−/− mice were impaired in their cytotoxic activity against PSCs. The low-cytotoxic activity of resting NK cells was almost completely dependent on NKG2D. The cytotoxic activity of IL-2-activated NKG2D-deficient NK cells against PSCs was reduced, indicating that also other activating receptors on cytokine-activated NK cells must be engaged by ligands on PSCs. Thus, NKG2D is an important activating receptor involved in killing of murine PSCs. However, NK cells need to be activated by cytokines before they efficiently target PSCs and then also other NK receptors become relevant. These features of NK cells might be relevant for transplantation of PSC-derived grafts since NK cells have the capability to kill undifferentiated cells, which might be present in grafts in trace amount

    Spurenstoffe und antibiotikaresistente Bakterien - Schnittstelle Abwasserent- und Wasserversorgung

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    Thema des Abwasserkolloquiums 2018 ist die Schnittstelle Abwasserentsorgung-Wasserversorgung. Renommierte Expert*innen präsentieren ihre aktuelle Sicht auf Spurenstoffe und antibiotikaresistente Bakterien in der Umwelt: Herkunft, Verbreitungswege, Wirkungen und Gefahren, analytische Nachweisverfahren sowie konzeptionelle und technische Maßnahmen zur Minderung bzw. Elimination. Welche diesbezüglichen gemeinsamen oder auch unterschiedlichen Aufgaben werden Abwasserentsorger und Wasserversorger in Zukunft zu bewältigen haben

    The impact of the temporal sequence of cranial radiotherapy and platin-based chemotherapy on hearing impairment in pediatric and adolescent CNS and head-and-neck cancer patients: A report from the PanCareLIFE consortium.

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    The impact of the temporal sequence by which cranial radiotherapy (CRT) and platin-based chemotherapy (PCth) are administered on sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in pediatric and adolescent central nervous system (CNS) and head-and-neck (HN) cancer patients has not yet been studied in detail. We examined the ototoxic effects of sequentially applied CRT and PCth. This study included children and adolescents with CNS and HN tumors who participated in the multicountry PanCareLIFE (PCL) consortium. Audiological outcomes were compared between patients who received CRT prior to PCth and those who received it afterwards. The incidence, degree and posttreatment progression of SNHL, defined as Muenster classification grade ≥MS2b, were evaluated in 141 patients. One hundred and nineteen patients were included in a time-to-onset analysis. Eighty-eight patients received CRT prior to PCth (Group 1) and 53 patients received PCth before CRT (Group 2). Over a median follow-up time of 1.6 years, 72.7% of patients in Group 1 experienced SNHL ≥ MS2b compared to 33.9% in Group 2 (P < .01). A time-to-onset analysis was performed for 74 patients from Group 1 and 45 patients from Group 2. Median time to hearing loss (HL) ≥ MS2b was 1.2 years in Group 1 and 4.4 years in Group 2 (P < .01). Thus, audiological outcomes were better for patients who received CRT after PCth than before. This finding should be further evaluated and considered within clinical practice in order to minimize hearing loss in children and adolescents with CNS and HN tumors

    Association of candidate pharmacogenetic markers with platinum-induced ototoxicity:PanCareLIFE dataset

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    Genetic association studies suggest a genetic predisposi- tion for cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. Among other candidate genes, thiopurine methyltransferase ( TPMT ) is considered a critical gene for susceptibility to cisplatin-induced hearing loss in a pharmacogenetic guideline. The PanCareLIFE cross- sectional cohort study evaluated the genetic associations in a large pan-European population and assessed the diagnos- tic accuracy of the genetic markers. 1,112 pediatric cancer survivors who had provided biomaterial for genotyping were screened for participation in the pharmacogenetic association study. 900 participants qualified for inclusion. Based on the assessment of original audiograms, patients were assigned to three phenotype categories: no, minor, and clinically relevant hearing loss. Fourteen variants in eleven candidate genes ( ABCC3, OTOS, TPMT, SLC22A2, NFE2L2, SLC16A5, LRP2, GSTP1, SOD2, WFS1, and ACYP2 ) were genotyped. The genotype and phenotype data represent a resource for conducting meta- analyses to derive a more precise pooled estimate of the ef- fects of genes on the risk of hearing loss due to platinum treatment

    Association of candidate pharmacogenetic markers with platinum-induced ototoxicity: PanCareLIFE dataset

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    Genetic association studies suggest a genetic predisposition for cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. Among other candidate genes, thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) is considered a critical gene for susceptibility to cisplatin-induced hearing loss in a pharmacogenetic guideline. The PanCareLIFE cross-sectional cohort study evaluated the genetic associations in a large pan-European population and assessed the diagnostic accuracy of the genetic markers. 1,112 pediatric cancer survivors who had provided biomaterial for genotyping were screened for participation in the pharmacogenetic association study. 900 participants qualified for inclusion. Based on the assessment of original audiograms, patients were assigned to three phenotype categories: no, minor, and clinically relevant hearing loss. Fourteen variants in eleven candidate genes (ABCC3, OTOS, TPMT, SLC22A2, NFE2L2, SLC16A5, LRP2, GSTP1, SOD2, WFS1, and ACYP2) were genotyped. The genotype and phenotype data represent a resource for conducting meta-analyses to derive a more precise pooled estimate of the effects of genes on the risk of hearing loss due to platinum treatment

    The Tumorigenicity of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells and In Vitro Differentiated Neuronal Cells Is Controlled by the Recipients' Immune Response

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    Embryonic stem (ES) cells have the potential to differentiate into all cell types and are considered as a valuable source of cells for transplantation therapies. A critical issue, however, is the risk of teratoma formation after transplantation. The effect of the immune response on the tumorigenicity of transplanted cells is poorly understood. We have systematically compared the tumorigenicity of mouse ES cells and in vitro differentiated neuronal cells in various recipients. Subcutaneous injection of 1×106 ES or differentiated cells into syngeneic or allogeneic immunodeficient mice resulted in teratomas in about 95% of the recipients. Both cell types did not give rise to tumors in immunocompetent allogeneic mice or xenogeneic rats. However, in 61% of cyclosporine A-treated rats teratomas developed after injection of differentiated cells. Undifferentiated ES cells did not give rise to tumors in these rats. ES cells turned out to be highly susceptible to killing by rat natural killer (NK) cells due to the expression of ligands of the activating NK receptor NKG2D on ES cells. These ligands were down-regulated on differentiated cells. The activity of NK cells which is not suppressed by cyclosporine A might contribute to the prevention of teratomas after injection of ES cells but not after inoculation of differentiated cells. These findings clearly point to the importance of the immune response in this process. Interestingly, the differentiated cells must contain a tumorigenic cell population that is not present among ES cells and which might be resistant to NK cell-mediated killing
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