Regierungsparteien und die Infektionsschutzmaßnahmen der Bundesländer: Der Einfluss von Parteiideologie auf die Abwägung von Freiheit und Gesundheit

In Demokratien weltweit führte die Coronapandemie zu beispiellosen Einschränkungen der individuellen verfassungsrechtlich garantierten Freiheitsrechte und erforderte von Regierungen die Abwägung zwischen individuellen Freiheiten und dem allgemeinen Gesundheitsschutz. In Deutschland sorgte der föderale Staatsaufbau dafür, dass diese Entscheidung maßgeblich in den Kompetenzbereich der Landesregierungen fiel. Dies bedingte einer sichtbaren Varianz der Restriktivität der Infektionsschutzmaßnahmen zwischen den Bundesländern, wobei die unterschiedliche politische Zusammensetzung der Landesregierungen gerade in einer solchen grundrechtlich-relevanten Entscheidung eine potenzielle Rolle spielen könnte, wie die Forschung zeigt. Folglich wird der Einfluss von Parteien anhand von Daten zur Restriktivität der Infektionsschutzmaßnahmen der 16 deutschen Bundesländer im ersten Pandemiejahr mittels wiederholender Querschnitt-Regressionen und gepoolter Regressionen, unter der Kontrolle alternativer Erklärungsfaktoren überprüft. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Stärke der Landesregierungsparteien die Restriktivität der Infektionsschutzmaßnahmen beeinflussen können. Allerdings werden Parteiendifferenzen weniger wahrscheinlich, wenn temporale Effekte stärker berücksichtigt werden. Konstante signifikante Effekte zeigen sich vor allem für zwei Parteien: Die CDU/CSU in Landesregierungen neigen zu restriktiveren Maßnahmen, während die Grünen auf eher permissivere Maßnahmen hinwirken. Zudem deuten die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass Parteiendifferenzen besonders relevant werden, wenn die Bedrohlichkeit der Pandemie abnimmt. Schließlich stützt die Untersuchung das Argument, dass gerade in Krisen und großer Ungewissheit die politische Ideologie von Parteien und ihren Eliten die Entscheidungen in Regierungsverantwortung beeinflussen können

Factors potentially influencing pathogenetic mechanisms and hyperglycemia in pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes : clinical studies in humans

The pathogenetic mechanisms underlying type 2 diabetes (T2D) and prediabetes involve an interaction between β-cell dysfunction and insulin resistance (IR). The resulting hyperglycemia, as well as other clustered cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in T2D, constitutes a severe hazard for development of complications to the disease. To optimally treat these risk factors, it is vital to antagonize the mechanisms of the metabolic disorder. This thesis presents results from studies aiming to understand the mechanisms and effects of some interesting modes of intervention in subjects with T2D, prediabetes and IR. Study I: The effects of exercise training for twelve weeks, with or without the addition of the α-glucosidase inhibitor acarbose, were examined in 48 subjects with T2D and moderate hyperglycemia. Exercise training augmented insulin sensitivity, and improved body composition and blood pressure, but glycemic control was unchanged. When exercise and acarbose were combined, glycemic control was significantly improved, in addition to similar benefits as with exercise alone. Moreover, the overall CV risk factor profile was probably improved with the combination therapy, suggesting it to be an interesting treatment alternative. Study II: The associations between changes in mRNA expression in skeletal muscle of selected key genes, involved in muscle adaptation to exercise, and individual response to physical training were assessed in 19 individuals from study I. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was associated with change in insulin sensitivity and glycemic control. This could constitute a mechanism that contributes to the known variation in the individual adaptation to exercise. Study III: The impact of dual endothelin-1 (ET-1) receptor blockade infusion was investigated in eleven males with IR. The study showed that the dual blockade increased glucose uptake in skeletal muscle, both in the basal and the insulin-stimulated state. The finding supports that endogenous ET-1 is important in regulating muscle glucose uptake in IR. Moreover, in vitro studies in cultured skeletal muscle cells demonstrated that ET-1 inhibits glucose uptake by a receptor dependent mechanism, indicating a direct impact on muscle cells by ET-1. Study IV: Intervention with high-dose vitamin D3 treatment for eight weeks was studied in 43 individuals with prediabetes or drug-naïve T2D, especially with respect to change in β-cell function. No significant effect was seen in first-phase insulin secretion, nor could we detect any effects on second-phase insulin secretion, IR or glycemic control. The study gives no support for treatment with vitamin D in subjects with abnormal glucose homeostasis. In conclusion, combined treatment with exercise and acarbose proved superior to exercise alone. Further, a favorable response to physical training could involve increase in VEGF. In IR, ET-1 seems to be directly involved in muscle glucose uptake. And finally, we found no effect of vitamin D treatment on insulin secretion or IR in prediabetes and mild T2D

The Relationship between Trait Empathy and Memory Formation for Social vs. Non-Social Information

Background: To navigate successfully through their complex social environment, humans need both empathic and mnemonic skills. Little is known on how these two types of psychological abilities relate to each other in humans. Although initial clinical findings suggest a positive association, systematic investigations in healthy subject samples have not yet been performed. Differentiating cognitive and affective aspects of empathy, we assumed that cognitive empathy would be positively associated with general memory performance, while affective empathy, due to enhanced other-related emotional reactions, would be related to a relative memory advantage for information of social as compared to non-social relevance. Methods: We investigated in young healthy participants the relationship between dispositional cognitive and affective empathy, as measured by Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113–126, 1983), and memory formation for stimuli (numbers presented in a lottery choice task) that could be encoded in either a social (other-related) or a non-social (self-related) way within the task. Results: Cognitive empathy, specifically perspective taking, correlated with overall memory performance (regardless of encoding condition), while affective empathy, specifically empathic personal distress, predicted differential memory for socially vs. non-socially encoded information. Conclusion: Both cognitive and affective empathy are associated with memory formation, but in different ways, depending on the social nature of the memory content. These results open new and so far widely neglected avenues of psychological research on the relationship between social and cognitive skills.<br

Carbohydrate receptor-mediated gene transfer to human T leukaemic cells

The mucin-type carbohydrate Tn cryptantigen (GalNAcα1-O-Ser/Thr, where GalNAc is N-acetyl-D-galactosamine) is expressed in many carcinomas, in haemopoietic disorders including the Tn syndrome, and on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coat glycoproteins, but is not expressed on normal, differentiated cells because of the expression of a Tn-processing galactosyltransferase. Using Jurkat T leukaemic cells which express high levels of Tn antigen due to deficient Tn galactosylation, we have established the Tn antigen-mediated gene transfer and demonstrate the considerable efficiency of this approach. We used poly(L-lysine) conjugates of the monoclonal antibody 1E3 directed against the Tn antigen to deliver the luciferase and β-galactosidase reporter genes to Jurkat cells by receptor-mediated endocytosis. Addition of unconjugated 1E3 reduced transfection efficiency in a concentration-dependent manner and incubation with free GalNAc abolished DNA transfer completely, indicating that gene delivery is indeed mediated by the Tn antigen. Pre-treatment of Jurkat cells with Vibrio cholerae sialidase, which uncovers additional Tn antigens, resulted in an improvement of gene transfection. Both human and chicken adenovirus particles attached to the DNA/polylysine complex strongly augmented transgene expression. When the β-galactosidase (lacZ) gene was delivered to Jurkat cells by Tn-mediated endocytosis, up to 60% of the cells were positive in the cytochemical stain using 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-D-galactopyranoside (X-gal) as a chromogenic substrate. The efficiency of the transferrin receptor-mediated DNA uptake into Jurkat cells was comparatively low, although these cells were shown to express considerable amounts of transferrin receptor. We show here that a mucin-type carbohydrate antigen mediates highly efficient DNA uptake by endocytosis into Jurkat T cells. This method represents a 50-fold improvement of Jurkat cell transfection efficiency over other physical gene transfer techniques. Specific gene delivery to primary cancer cells exhibiting Tn epitopes may especially be desirable in immunotherapy protocol

A microscopic Ginzburg--Landau theory and singlet ordering in Sr2_2RuO4_4

The long-standing quest to determine the superconducting order of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ (SRO) has received renewed attention after recent nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) Knight shift experiments have cast doubt on the possibility of spin-triplet pairing in the superconducting state. As a putative solution, encompassing a body of experiments conducted over the years, a $d+ig$-wave order parameter caused by an accidental near-degeneracy has been suggested [S. A. Kivelson et al., npj Quantum Materials $\bf{5}$, 43 (2020)]. Here we develop a general Ginzburg--Landau theory for multiband superconductors. We apply the theory to SRO and predict the relative size of the order parameter components. The heat capacity jump expected at the onset of the second order parameter component is found to be above the current threshold deduced by the experimental absence of a second jump. Our results tightly restrict theories of $d+ig$ order, and other candidates caused by a near-degeneracy, in SRO. We discuss possible solutions to the problem.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Impact on local air quality of the Danish landworks in the fixed link across Øresund.

The combined bridge and tunnel link between Sweden and Denmark (the Øresund Link) and the related land constructions are expected to be in operation around the turn of the century. This new link across the Øresund and the island Amager may result in significant changes in traffic pattern and traffic intensity - and therefore changes in air quality in some areas can not be excluded. An investigation initiated in 1994 on the Danish side of the link comprises monitoring of present air pollution at the Airport Motorway and model evaluations of future pollution levels at the motorway and in six street canyons. For all locations the pollution levels are calculated for the present situation and for scenarios for the years 2000 and 2010 both with and without the fixed link. For the future scenarios an expected development of vehicle technology is taken into account. It appears that the general air quality in the area will not be worsen. Only for benzene there is a continued risk of violation of limit values; this may however be changed by planned emission restrictions.A special situation however, may arise near the apartment buildings "Vinkelhusene". Here it has been decided to cover about 700 m of the motorway, in order to reduce noise and to avoid a barrier effect. This will result in increased pollution levels near the tunnel exits.All calculations are performed with dispersion models developed at the National Environmental Research Institute and are based on traffic scenarios from a traffic model developed by Anders Nyvig Ltd

Probability Models for Degree Distributions of Protein Interaction Networks

The degree distribution of many biological and technological networks has been described as a power-law distribution. While the degree distribution does not capture all aspects of a network, it has often been suggested that its functional form contains important clues as to underlying evolutionary processes that have shaped the network. Generally, the functional form for the degree distribution has been determined in an ad-hoc fashion, with clear power-law like behaviour often only extending over a limited range of connectivities. Here we apply formal model selection techniques to decide which probability distribution best describes the degree distributions of protein interaction networks. Contrary to previous studies this well defined approach suggests that the degree distribution of many molecular networks is often better described by distributions other than the popular power-law distribution. This, in turn, suggests that simple, if elegant, models may not necessarily help in the quantitative understanding of complex biological processes.