«Paarungsszenen sind nie zu sehen» - Kolonialerbe im Schaukasten: ein Berner Museum klärt auf (Gesine Krüger im Interview mit Regula Fuchs)

Wie entstanden die Idyllen mit ausgestopften Löwen und Gazellen im Naturhistorischen Museum Bern? Das Haus erklärt nun deren Geschichte. Gut so, sagt Historikerin Gesine Krüger

«I would definitely do it again»: Das Potenzial von filmbasierten didaktischen Handlungsmodellen für die Ausbildung von Fremdsprachenlehrpersonen an den Pädagogischen Hochschulen

Der Beitrag diskutiert die Bedeutung von fremdsprachenspezifischen Praxiserfahrungen und filmbasierten didaktischen Handlungsmodellen für die Professionalisierung von Fremdsprachenlehrpersonen der Primarstufe. Ausgehend von einem soziokonstruktivistischen Lehr- und Lernverständnis, dem zufolge Lernen durch die Interaktion von Lernenden und Lehrenden in einem spezifischen Kontext stattfindet, wird aufgezeigt, inwiefern Studierende während Praktika von einer gleichzeitigen Begleitung durch Lehrpersonen und Fremdsprachenexpertinnen profitieren. Das Potenzial der filmbasierten didaktischen Handlungsmodelle wird anhand von Reflexionen der Studierenden evaluiert

"I would definitely do it again". The potential of film-based models for the professional development of student teachers of foreign languages at universities of teacher education

Der Beitrag diskutiert die Bedeutung von fremdsprachenspezifischen Praxiserfahrungen und filmbasierten didaktischen Handlungsmodellen für die Professionalisierung von Fremdsprachenlehrpersonen der Primarstufe. Ausgehend von einem soziokonstruktivistischen Lehr- und Lernverständnis, dem zufolge Lernen durch die Interaktion von Lernenden und Lehrenden in einem spezifischen Kontext stattfindet, wird aufgezeigt, inwiefern Studierende während Praktika von einer gleichzeitigen Begleitung durch Lehrpersonen und Fremdsprachenexpertinnen profitieren. Das Potenzial der filmbasierten didaktischen Handlungsmodelle wird anhand von Reflexionen der Studierenden evaluiert. (DIPF/Orig.)The article considers the significance of film-based models and teaching practice experiences in the primary foreign language classroom for the professional development of student teachers. From a socio-constructivist perspective, learning takes place through collaborative interaction between learners and experts in specific contexts. We discuss in this paper in what ways student teachers can benefit during teaching practice if they are supported by mentor teachers and foreign language methodology experts at the same time. The potential of the film-based models is evaluated based on reflection texts written by the student teachers after the experience. (DIPF/Orig.

Pollen exposure is associated with risk of respiratory symptoms during the first year of life

BACKGROUND: Pollen exposure is associated with respiratory symptoms in children and adults. However, the association of pollen exposure with respiratory symptoms during infancy, a particularly vulnerable period, remains unclear. We examined whether pollen exposure is associated with respiratory symptoms in infants and whether maternal atopy, infant's sex or air pollution modifies this association. METHODS: We investigated 14,874 observations from 401 healthy infants of a prospective birth cohort. The association between pollen exposure and respiratory symptoms, assessed in weekly telephone interviews, was evaluated using generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs). Effect modification by maternal atopy, infant's sex, and air pollution (NO$_{2}$ , PM$_{2.5}$ ) was assessed with interaction terms. RESULTS: Per infant, 37 ± 2 (mean ± SD) respiratory symptom scores were assessed during the analysis period (January through September). Pollen exposure was associated with increased respiratory symptoms during the daytime (RR [95% CI] per 10% pollen/m$^{3}$ : combined 1.006 [1.002, 1.009]; tree 1.005 [1.002, 1.008]; grass 1.009 [1.000, 1.23]) and nighttime (combined 1.003 [0.999, 1.007]; tree 1.003 [0.999, 1.007]; grass 1.014 [1.004, 1.024]). While there was no effect modification by maternal atopy and infant's sex, a complex crossover interaction between combined pollen and PM$_{2.5}$ was found (p-value 0.003). CONCLUSION: Even as early as during the first year of life, pollen exposure was associated with an increased risk of respiratory symptoms, independent of maternal atopy and infant's sex. Because infancy is a particularly vulnerable period for lung development, the identified adverse effect of pollen exposure may be relevant for the evolvement of chronic childhood asthma

Concepts for risk-based surveillance in the field of veterinary medicine and veterinary public health: Review of current approaches

BACKGROUND: Emerging animal and zoonotic diseases and increasing international trade have resulted in an increased demand for veterinary surveillance systems. However, human and financial resources available to support government veterinary services are becoming more and more limited in many countries world-wide. Intuitively, issues that present higher risks merit higher priority for surveillance resources as investments will yield higher benefit-cost ratios. The rapid rate of acceptance of this core concept of risk-based surveillance has outpaced the development of its theoretical and practical bases. DISCUSSION: The principal objectives of risk-based veterinary surveillance are to identify surveillance needs to protect the health of livestock and consumers, to set priorities, and to allocate resources effectively and efficiently. An important goal is to achieve a higher benefit-cost ratio with existing or reduced resources. We propose to define risk-based surveillance systems as those that apply risk assessment methods in different steps of traditional surveillance design for early detection and management of diseases or hazards. In risk-based designs, public health, economic and trade consequences of diseases play an important role in selection of diseases or hazards. Furthermore, certain strata of the population of interest have a higher probability to be sampled for detection of diseases or hazards. Evaluation of risk-based surveillance systems shall prove that the efficacy of risk-based systems is equal or higher than traditional systems; however, the efficiency (benefit-cost ratio) shall be higher in risk-based surveillance systems. SUMMARY: Risk-based surveillance considerations are useful to support both strategic and operational decision making. This article highlights applications of risk-based surveillance systems in the veterinary field including food safety. Examples are provided for risk-based hazard selection, risk-based selection of sampling strata as well as sample size calculation based on risk considerations

Proteomics Characterization of Cytoplasmic and Lipid-Associated Membrane Proteins of Human Pathogen Mycoplasma fermentans M64

Mycoplasma fermentans is a potent human pathogen which has been implicated in several diseases. Notably, its lipid-associated membrane proteins (LAMPs) play a role in immunomodulation and development of infection-associated inflammatory diseases. However, the systematic protein identification of pathogenic M. fermentans has not been reported. From our recent sequencing results of M. fermentans M64 isolated from human respiratory tract, its genome is around 1.1 Mb and encodes 1050 predicted protein-coding genes. In the present study, soluble proteome of M. fermentans was resolved and analyzed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. In addition, Triton X-114 extraction was carried out to enrich amphiphilic proteins including putative lipoproteins and membrane proteins. Subsequent mass spectrometric analyses of these proteins had identified a total of 181 M. fermentans ORFs. Further bioinformatics analysis of these ORFs encoding proteins with known or so far unknown orthologues among bacteria revealed that a total of 131 proteins are homologous to known proteins, 11 proteins are conserved hypothetical proteins, and the remaining 39 proteins are likely M. fermentans-specific proteins. Moreover, Triton X-114-enriched fraction was shown to activate NF-kB activity of raw264.7 macrophage and a total of 21 lipoproteins with predicted signal peptide were identified therefrom. Together, our work provides the first proteome reference map of M. fermentans as well as several putative virulence-associated proteins as diagnostic markers or vaccine candidates for further functional study of this human pathogen

Als Autor war Dürrenmatt ein eigener Planet

Interview zu Friedrich Dürrenmatts Verhältnis zum Fil

Obesity in Humans Is Characterized by Gut Inflammation as Shown by Pro-Inflammatory Intestinal Macrophage Accumulation

Chronic low-grade inflammation is a hallmark of obesity and associated with cardiovascular complications. However, it remains unclear where this inflammation starts. As the gut is constantly exposed to food, gut microbiota, and metabolites, we hypothesized that mucosal immunity triggers an innate inflammatory response in obesity. We characterized five distinct macrophage subpopulations (P1-P5) along the gastrointestinal tract and blood monocyte subpopulations (classical, non-classical, intermediate), which replenish intestinal macrophages, in non-obese (BMI32kg/m2). To elucidate factors that potentially trigger gut inflammation, we correlated these subpopulations with cardiovascular risk factors and lifestyle behaviors. In obese individuals, we found higher pro-inflammatory macrophages in the stomach, duodenum, and colon. Intermediate blood monocytes were also increased in obesity, suggesting enhanced recruitment to the gut. We identified unhealthy lifestyle habits as potential triggers of gut and systemic inflammation (i.e., low vegetable intake, high processed meat consumption, sedentary lifestyle). Cardiovascular risk factors other than body weight did not affect the innate immune response. Thus, obesity in humans is characterized by gut inflammation as shown by accumulation of pro-inflammatory intestinal macrophages, potentially via recruited blood monocytes. Understanding gut innate immunity in human obesity might open up new targets for immune-modulatory treatments in metabolic disease. Keywords: Obesity; chronic inflammation; diabetes; intestinal inflammation; macrophages; metabolic disease; monocytes; mucosal immunity

Barrett's registries in Europe: report of an international workshop

Abstract A workshop on Barrett's Registries in Europe was held in Venice in February 2007 with the aim of establishing the feasibility of joint projects. It was concluded that there were enough areas of similarity and common objectives for EBRA to be set up for future collaboration