462 research outputs found
The EU in Times of COVID-19: Together into a Future Based on (More) Solidarity?
The outbreak of the COVID-19-pandemic in spring 2020 put solidarity within the European Union to the test and called for far-reaching responses by all member states to mitigate the pandemic’s effects. But how does this crisis affect public support for transnational solidarity in the European Union? Are EU citizens willing to collectively overcome a financial crisis caused by the COVID-19-pandemic? And what is the public opinion on the establishment of a fictional EU-wide fund to mitigate future crises? Those questions have been addressed by a multi-country survey run by the ‘Solikris’-project. A resulting analysis in the project’s Policy Brief #5 shows that particularly the macroeconomic differences between countries correlate with attitudes towards solidarity policies and that transnational solidarity is higher in situations of acute crisis.Der Ausbruch der COVID-19-Pandemie im Frühjahr 2020 stellte die Solidarität innerhalb der Europäischen Union auf die Probe und erforderte weitreichende Reaktionen aller Mitgliedsstaaten, um die Auswirkungen der Pandemie zu mildern. Doch wie wirkt sich diese Krise auf die öffentliche Unterstützung für transnationale Solidarität in der Europäischen Union aus? Sind die EU-Bürger*innen bereit, eine durch die COVID-19-Pandemie verursachte Finanzkrise kollektiv zu bewältigen? Und wie ist die öffentliche Meinung zur Einrichtung eines fiktiven EU-weiten Fonds zur Abfederung zukünftiger Krisen? Diese Fragen wurden in einer länderübergreifenden Umfrage des ‘Solikris’-Projekts untersucht. Eine daraus resultierende Analyse im Policy Brief #5 des Projekts zeigt, dass insbesondere die makroökonomischen Unterschiede zwischen den Ländern mit den Einstellungen zur Solidaritätspolitik korrelieren und dass die transnationale Solidarität in akuten Krisensituationen höher is
Die EU in Zeiten von COVID-19: Gemeinsam in eine solidarische(re) Zukunft?
Die Covid-19-Pandemie stellt die europäische Gemeinschaft vor neue Herausforderungen. Sind EU-Bürger:innen gewillt eine durch COVID-19 entstandene Finanzkrise gemeinsam zu bewältigen und wie gestaltet sich das öffentliche Meinungsbild zur Einrichtung eines fiktiven EU-weiten Fonds für die Bekämpfung von zukünftigen Krisen? Die Ergebnisse einer Mehrländer-Befragung zeigen, dass die makroökonomischen Unterschiede der Länder die dominierende Konfliktdimension darstellen
Temperature compensation of NdFeB permanent magnets
Permanent magnet blocks of NdFeB have a relatively high maximum energy product. Because of its relatively low Curie temperature, however, NdFeB has a large temperature coefficient for its residual induction. The temperature coefficients of the relative magnetic fields ({Delta}B/B)/{Delta}T in the air gap of NdFeB dipole magnets were reduced from {minus}1.1 {times} 10{sup {minus}3}/c to less than 2 {times} 10{sup {minus}5}/{degree}C under operating temperatures of {+-} 6 C. This was achieved passively by using 1.25-mm-thick strips of 30%-Ni-Fe alloy as flux shunts for the NdFeB blocks. The magnets with soft-steel poles and flux-return yokes were assembled and measured in a temperature-controlled environment
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Investigation of open-loop beam motion at low frequencies at the APS
Sources of transverse beam motion in the APS storage ring have been investigated for ground-motion- and water-system-induced vibrations of the magnet and vacuum systems, and for power supply ripple. The displacement of magnets in a bandwidth of 4-30 Hz have been reduced significantly by inserting viscoelastic damping pads between the girder supports and pedestals, and by welding the magnet cooling headers to the ceiling of the storage ring tunnel. Current ripple on magnet power supplies was identified as a source of horizontal beam motion. Beam motion was measured without the closed-orbit feedback system activated. At {beta}{sub x} = 15.4 m and {beta}{sub y} = 10.4 m the rms beam motion in the 0.02-30 Hz band was 22.7 {mu}m and 6.3 {mu}m in the horizontal and verticle planes, respectively. A few narrow-band structures of the horizontal beam motion spectrum in the 1-4 Hz band have to be investigated further to identify the sources
Changes of bivalent chromatin coincide with increased expression of developmental genes in cancer
Bivalent (poised or paused) chromatin comprises activating and repressing histone modifications at the same location. This combination of epigenetic marks at promoter or enhancer regions keeps genes expressed at low levels but poised for rapid activation. Typically, DNA at bivalent promoters is only lowly methylated in normal cells, but frequently shows elevated methylation levels in cancer samples. Here, we developed a universal classifier built from chromatin data that can identify cancer samples solely from hypermethylation of bivalent chromatin. Tested on over 7,000 DNA methylation data sets from several cancer types, it reaches an AUC of 0.92. Although higher levels of DNA methylation are often associated with transcriptional silencing, counter-intuitive positive statistical dependencies between DNA methylation and expression levels have been recently reported for two cancer types. Here, we re-analyze combined expression and DNA methylation data sets, comprising over 5,000 samples, and demonstrate that the conjunction of hypermethylation of bivalent chromatin and up-regulation of the corresponding genes is a general phenomenon in cancer. This up-regulation affects many developmental genes and transcription factors, including dozens of homeobox genes and other genes implicated in cancer. Thus, we reason that the disturbance of bivalent chromatin may be intimately linked to tumorigenesis
The initial step of DNA hairpin folding: a kinetic analysis using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy
Conformational fluctuations of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) oligonucleotides were studied in aqueous solution by monitoring contact-induced fluorescence quenching of the oxazine fluorophore MR121 by intrinsic guanosine residues (dG). We applied fluorescence correlation spectroscopy as well as steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy to analyze kinetics of DNA hairpin folding. We first characterized the reporter system by investigating bimolecular quenching interactions between MR121 and guanosine monophosphate in aqueous solution estimating rate constants, efficiency and stability for formation of quenched complexes. We then studied the kinetics of complex formation between MR121 and dG residues site-specifically incorporated in DNA hairpins. To uncover the initial steps of DNA hairpin folding we investigated complex formation in ssDNA carrying one or two complementary base pairs (dC–dG pairs) that could hybridize to form a short stem. Our data show that incorporation of a single dC–dG pair leads to non-exponential decays for opening and closing kinetics and reduces rate constants by one to two orders of magnitude. We found positive activation enthalpies independent of the number of dC–dG pairs. These results imply that the rate limiting step of DNA hairpin folding is not determined by loop dynamics, or by mismatches in the stem, but rather by interactions between stem and loop nucleotides
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Alkenone sea-surface temperatures and carbon burial at site 846 (Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean) : the last 1.3 M.Y.
We analyzed the unsaturation ratio (U k/37 ) of long-chain ketones—a molecular sea-surface temperature (SST) indicator—concentrations of carbonate and organic carbon in sediments from Site 846 in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. Based on an isotopic age model for the composite depth section of 0-46 m below seafloor and on estimates of sediment density, accumulation rates of these biogenic compounds were calculated. Our combined temperature and biogenic flux record traces conditions at the origin of the South Equatorial Current over the last 1.3 m.y. S STs have fluctuated considerably over the interval studied. A long trend of gradual decrease from 24°C at 1.3 Ma ends between 500 and 400 Ka, when lowest values of 19°C were reached. Since this time, the temperature data indicate a warming trend to the Holocene modulated by high-amplitude variation (19° to 27°C). The inversion of the trend between 400 and 500 Ka coincides with maximal accumulation rates of carbonate, which since then have decreased. In contrast, organic carbon accumulation since then has increased in variability and in absolute values. On shorter time scales, the records show a strong link to the global climatic background. Since 1.3 Ma, carbonate (0.2-3 g/cm² k.y.¯¹) and organic carbon accumulation rates (2-30 mg/cm² k.y¯¹) were consistently high (more than twice their modern values and those of interglacials) during glacial maxima in the benthic isotope record, when temperatures were low. However, cross-spectral analyses with the δ¹⁸O record suggest that variation in organic carbon flux is not linked directly to variations in SST. Temperature maxima in our record led interglacial events by 7 k.y. in the 100-k.y. eccentricity cycle and by 5 k.y. in the 41-k.y. obliquity cycle. In contrast, maxima in organic carbon accumulation lag behind glacial maxima and low temperatures by 14 k.y. in the eccentricity cycle. On glacial/interglacial time scales, a prominent influence on SST—but not on organic carbon burial—at Site 846 appears to be the advection of cold water into the South Equatorial Current
Differential transcriptional responses to Ebola and Marburg virus infection in bat and human cells
The unprecedented outbreak of Ebola in West Africa resulted in over 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths, underlining the need for a better understanding of the biology of this highly pathogenic virus to develop specific counter strategies. Two filoviruses, the Ebola and Marburg viruses, result in a severe and often fatal infection in humans. However, bats are natural hosts and survive filovirus infections without obvious symptoms. The molecular basis of this striking difference in the response to filovirus infections is not well understood. We report a systematic overview of differentially expressed genes, activity motifs and pathways in human and bat cells infected with the Ebola and Marburg viruses, and we demonstrate that the replication of filoviruses is more rapid in human cells than in bat cells. We also found that the most strongly regulated genes upon filovirus infection are chemokine ligands and transcription factors. We observed a strong induction of the JAK/STAT pathway, of several genes encoding inhibitors of MAP kinases (DUSP genes) and of PPP1R15A, which is involved in ER stress-induced cell death. We used comparative transcriptomics to provide a data resource that can be used to identify cellular responses that might allow bats to survive filovirus infections.Additional co-authors: Andreas J. Gruber, Franziska Hufsky, Henrike Indrischek, Sabina Kanton, Jörg Linde, Nelly Mostajo, Roman Ochsenreiter, Konstantin Riege, Lorena Rivarola-Duarte, Abdullah H. Sahyoun, Sita J. Saunders, Stefan E. Seemann, Andrea Tanzer, Bertram Vogel, Michael T. Wolfinger, Rolf Backofen, Jan Gorodkin, Ivo Grosse, Ivo Hofacker, Steve Hoffmann, Christoph Kaleta, Peter F. Stadler, Stephan Becker, and Manja Marz
Hydrogen-Bond Driven Loop-Closure Kinetics in Unfolded Polypeptide Chains
Characterization of the length dependence of end-to-end loop-closure kinetics in unfolded polypeptide chains provides an understanding of early steps in protein folding. Here, loop-closure in poly-glycine-serine peptides is investigated by combining single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy with molecular dynamics simulation. For chains containing more than 10 peptide bonds loop-closing rate constants on the 20–100 nanosecond time range exhibit a power-law length dependence. However, this scaling breaks down for shorter peptides, which exhibit slower kinetics arising from a perturbation induced by the dye reporter system used in the experimental setup. The loop-closure kinetics in the longer peptides is found to be determined by the formation of intra-peptide hydrogen bonds and transient β-sheet structure, that accelerate the search for contacts among residues distant in sequence relative to the case of a polypeptide chain in which hydrogen bonds cannot form. Hydrogen-bond-driven polypeptide-chain collapse in unfolded peptides under physiological conditions found here is not only consistent with hierarchical models of protein folding, that highlights the importance of secondary structure formation early in the folding process, but is also shown to speed up the search for productive folding events
Characterization of the 6-methyl isoxanthopterin (6-MI) base analog dimer, a spectroscopic probe for monitoring guanine base conformations at specific sites in nucleic acids
We here characterize local conformations of site-specifically placed pairs of guanine (G) residues in RNA and DNA, using 6-methyl isoxanthopterin (6-MI) as a conformational probe. 6-MI is a base analog of G and spectroscopic signals obtained from pairs of adjacent 6-MI residues reflect base–base interactions that are sensitive to the sequence context, local DNA conformation and solvent environment of the probe bases. CD signals show strong exciton coupling between stacked 6-MI bases in double-stranded (ds) DNA; this coupling is reduced in single-stranded (ss) DNA sequences. Solvent interactions reduce the fluorescence of the dimer probe more efficiently in ssDNA than dsDNA, while self-quenching between 6-MI bases is enhanced in dsDNA. 6-MI dimer probes closely resemble adjacent GG residues, in that these probes have minimal effects on the stability of dsDNA and on interactions with solvent additive betaine. They also serve as effective template bases, although further polymerase-dependent extension of DNA primers past 6-MI template bases is significantly inhibited. These probes are also used to monitor DNA ‘breathing’ at model replication forks. The 6-MI dimer probe can serve in many contexts as a useful tool to investigate GG conformations at specific sites within the nucleic acid frameworks of functioning macromolecular machines in solution
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