Familienstruktur und Delinquenz: Rene König zur Vollendung des 85. Lebensjahres gewidmet

Die Unvollständigkeit der Familie ist auf mehreren Ebenen für Jugenddelinquenz und Delinquenzkarrieren relevant, auch wenn das Ausmaß ihrer Bedeutsamkeit variiert und an spezifische Variablen - Geschlecht, Alter, Schicht - gebunden ist. Für die Analyse der Jugenddelinquenz spielt es keine Rolle, welche der verschiedenen Konzeptionalisierungen von 'Broken Home' gewählt wird. Die Resultate ähneln sich weitgehend. Die Streßkonzeption hat sich nicht bewährt. Das stärkt grundsätzlich die sozialisationstheoretische Position und schwächt den Kontrolltheorieansatz wie auch den Familienkrisenansatz. In der untersten sozialen Schicht erweist sich allerdings auch die streßtheoretisch orientierte Konzeptionalisierung bei Diebstahlsdelikten und Körperverletzungen als relevant. Der Beitrag, der einen zusammenfassenden Überblick über die Forschungsergebnisse zum Thema 'broken home' und Delinquenz gibt, stellt fest, daß strukturelle Unvollständigkeit der Familie in ihren verschiedenen Variationen signifikante Auswirkungen auf die Jugendkriminalität hat und daß die Häufigkeit verschiedener Delikttypen in signifikanter Weise mit der Vollständigkeit der Familie korreliert. Ganz deutlich zeigen die Daten, daß die Wirksamkeit der Unvollständigkeit der Familie an bestimmte soziale Voraussetzungen gebunden ist. (pka

Functional identity versus species richness: herbivory resistance in plant communities

The resistance of a plant community against herbivore attack may depend on plant species richness, with monocultures often much more severely affected than mixtures of plant species. Here, we used a plant–herbivore system to study the effects of selective herbivory on consumption resistance and recovery after herbivory in 81 experimental grassland plots. Communities were established from seed in 2002 and contained 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 or 60 plant species of 1, 2, 3 or 4 functional groups. In 2004, pairs of enclosure cages (1 m tall, 0.5 m diameter) were set up on all 81 plots. One randomly selected cage of each pair was stocked with 10 male and 10 female nymphs of the meadow grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus. The grasshoppers fed for 2 months, and the vegetation was monitored over 1 year. Consumption resistance and recovery of vegetation were calculated as proportional changes in vegetation biomass. Overall, grasshopper herbivory averaged 6.8%. Herbivory resistance and recovery were influenced by plant functional group identity, but independent of plant species richness and number of functional groups. However, herbivory induced shifts in vegetation composition that depended on plant species richness. Grasshopper herbivory led to increases in herb cover at the expense of grasses. Herb cover increased more strongly in species-rich mixtures. We conclude that selective herbivory changes the functional composition of plant communities and that compositional changes due to selective herbivory depend on plant species richness

A high fat diet increases influenza A virus-associated cardiovascular damage

Influenza A virus (IAV) causes a wide range of extra-respiratory complications. However, the role of host factors in these complications of influenza virus infection remains to be defined.Here, we sought to use transcriptional profiling, virology, histology and echocardiograms to investigate the role of a high fat diet in IAV associated cardiac damage.Transcriptional profiling showed that, compared to their low fat (LF) counterparts, mice fed a high fat (HF) diet had impairments in inflammatory signalling in the lung and heart after IAV infection. This was associated with increased viral titres in the heart, increased left ventricular mass and thickening of the left ventricular wall in IAV-infected HF mice compared to both IAV-infected LF mice and uninfected HF mice. Retrospective analysis of clinical trials revealed that cardiac complications were more common in patients with excess weight, an association which was significant in 2 out of 4 studies.Together, these data provide the first evidence that a high fat diet may be a risk factor for the development of IAV-associated cardiovascular damageand emphasises the need for further clinical research in this area