Thermal tolerance and cadmium susceptibility of amphipods endemic to Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is affected by global change and regional human activities. The effects of rising temperature and pollution on the unique endemic littoral amphipod fauna of Lake Baikal are unresolved yet. This thesis provides insights into physiological processes determining thermal tolerance and cadmium (Cd) susceptibility in two littoral amphipod species (Eulimnogammarus verrucosus and Eulimnogammarus cyaneus) compared to the related gammarid Gammarus lacustris, which is ubiquitously spread in the Holarctic. Thermal constraints on the oxygen supply system in E. verrucosus, E. cyaneus and G. lacustris may shape the upper temperature limits to the thermal habitats of the species, in line with the theories of allometry of thermal tolerance and systemic to molecular hierarchy of thermal tolerance. Lethal concentrations of Cd were much lower for E. cyaneus and G. lacustris than for E. verrucosus. However, E. verrucosus showed metabolic depression when exposed to Cd concentrations far below lethal ones. These findings underscore the necessity of water management strategies strictly avoiding chemical contamination of Lake Baikal waters

GABEK WinRelan® – a Qualitative Method for Crisis Research Engaging Crisis Management Personnel

Qualitative research methods like GABEK WinRelan are advantageous tools to analyze and thereby improve crisis management planning and communication systems by interrogating crisis management personnel. Contrary to quantitative methods they help to identify, explore, and structure new important aspects in this field and to formulate more specific research questions. This paper describes the usage and advantages of the qualitative method GABEK WinRelan within crisis management research, particularly within the e-Triage project which aims at the development of an electronic registration system of affected persons in mass casualty incidents. Furthermore it addresses different corresponding research fields like stress within emergency missions and the role GABEK WinRelan could play in examining these research fields

External control strategies for self-propelled particles: optimizing navigational efficiency in the presence of limited resources

We experimentally and numerically study the dependence of different navigation strategies regarding the effectivity of an active particle to reach a predefined target area. As the only control parameter, we vary the particle's propulsion velocity depending on its position and orientation relative to the target site. By introducing different figures of merit, e.g. the time to target or the total consumed propulsion energy, we are able to quantify and compare the efficiency of different strategies. Our results suggest, that each strategy to navigate towards a target, has its strengths and weaknesses and none of them outperforms the other in all regards. Accordingly, the choice of an ideal navigation strategy will strongly depend on the specific conditions and the figure of merit which should be optimized

Delayed wound repair in sepsis is associated with reduced local pro-inflammatory cytokine expression

Sepsis is one of the main causes for morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Moreover, sepsis associated complications involving impaired wound healing are common. Septic patients often require surgical interventions that in-turn may lead to further complications caused by impaired wound healing. We established a mouse model to the study delayed wound healing during sepsis distant to the septic focus point. For this reason cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) was combined with the creation of a superficial wound on the mouse ear. Control animals received the same procedure without CPL. Epithelialization was measured every second day by direct microscopic visualization up to complete closure of the wound. As interplay of TNF-α, TGF-β, matrix metalloproteinases (MMP), and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP) is important in wound healing in general, TNF-α, TGF-β, MMP7, and TIMP1 were assessed immunohistochemical in samples of wounded ears harvested on days 2, 6, 10 and 16 after wounding. After induction of sepsis, animals showed a significant delay in wound epithelialization from day 2 to 12 compared to control animals. Complete wound healing was attained after mean 12.2± standard deviation (SD) 3.0 days in septic animals compared to 8.7± SD 1.7 days in the control group. Septic animals showed a significant reduction in local pro-inflammatory cytokine level of TNF-α on day 2 and day 6 as well as a reduced expression of TGF-β on day 2 in wounds. A significant lower expression of MMP7 as well as TIMP1 was also observed on day 2 after wounding. The induction of sepsis impairs wound healing distant to the septic focus point. We could demonstrate that expression of important cytokines for wound repair is deregulated after induction of sepsis. Thus restoring normal cytokine response locally in wounds could be a good strategy to enhance wound repair in sepsis

Gas-liquid mass transfer intensification for bubble generation and breakup in micronozzles

The local gas-liquid mass transfer was characterized during bubble generation in T-contactors and in an adjacent micronozzle. A colorimetric technique with the oxygen sensitive dye resazurin was investigated to visualize gas-liquid mass transfer during slug flow, bubble deformation, as well as laminar and turbulent bubble breakup in the wake of a micronozzle. Two optimized nozzle geometries from previous studies were evaluated concerning volumetric mass transfer coefficients for low pressure loss, narrow residence time distribution, or high dispersion rates. Highest values in kla up to 60 s−1 were found for turbulent bubble breakup and an optimized micronozzle design in respect to pressure drop and dispersion rate. The achieved mass transfer coefficients were correlated with the energy dissipation rate within the micronozzles and with the inverse Kolmogorov time scale in vortex dissipation in good agreement for laminar and turbulent breakup regimes

Non-AIDS Associated Kaposi's Sarcoma: Clinical Features and Treatment Outcome

Background: Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) in HIV negative patients is rare and has to be distinguished from AIDS associated KS. Two groups are at risk to develop non-AIDS related KS: elderly men mainly of Mediterranean origin and persons with iatrogenic immunosuppression. Patients and Methods: In order to define risk-groups and major clinical features we retrospectively evaluated clinical data of all patients with non-AIDS associated KS presenting to the Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Tuebingen between 1987 and 2009. Data were extracted from the tumor registry of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Tuebingen and from patient records. Results: 20 patients with non-AIDS KS have been identified. The average age at KS onset was 66.6 years; the male-to-femaleratio was 3:1. Most of the patients were immigrants from Mediterranean or Eastern European countries (60%). 15 cases of classic KS versus 5 cases of iatrogenic KS were observed. In 95 % of the cases, KS was limited to the skin, without mucosal, lymph node or visceral manifestation. KS lesions were in all cases multiple and mostly bilateral, the most common localization was the skin of the lower extremities. Tumor control was achieved in nearly all cases by the use of local or systemic therapy. No patient died from KS. Conclusions: Unlike KS in AIDS patients, non-AIDS associated KS is a rather localized process which rarely involves lymph nodes or organs. It is mostly seen in elderly males from Mediterranean or Eastern European countries and in most cases responsive on local or systemic therapeutic strategies

Levels of Structural Integration Mediate the Impact of Metacognition on Functioning in Non-affective Psychosis: Adding a Psychodynamic Perspective to the Metacognitive Approach

Synthetic metacognition is defined by integrative and contextualizing processes of discrete reflexive moments. These processes are supposed to be needed to meet intrapsychic as well as interpersonal challenges and to meaningfully include psychotic experience in a personal life narrative. A substantial body of evidence has linked this phenomenon to psychosocial functioning and treatment options were developed. The concept of synthetic metacognition, measured with the Metacognition Assessment Scale-Abbreviated (MAS-A), rises hope to bridge gaps between therapeutic orientations and shares valuable parallels to modern psychodynamic constructs, especially the 'levels of structural integration' of the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis (OPD-2). As theoretical distinctions remain, aim of this study was to compare the predictive value of both constructs with regard to psychosocial functioning of patients with non-affective psychoses, measured with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (MINI-ICF-APP). It was further explored if levels of structural integration (OPD-LSIA) would mediate the impact of metacognition (MAS-A) on function (MINI-ICF-APP). Expert ratings of synthetic metacognition (MAS-A), the OPD-2 'levels of structural integration' axis (OPD-LSIA), psychosocial functioning (MINI-ICF-APP) and assessments of general cognition and symptoms were applied to 100 individuals with non-affective psychoses. Whereas both, MAS-A and OPD-LSIA, significantly predicted MINI-ICF-APP beyond cognition and symptoms, OPD-LSIA explained a higher share of variance and mediated the impact of MAS-A on MINI-ICF-APP. Levels of structural integration, including the quality of internalized object representations and unconscious interpersonal schemas, might therefore be considered as valuable predictors of social functioning and as one therapeutic focus in patients with non-affective psychoses. Structural integration might go beyond and form the base of a person's actual reflexive and metacognitive capabilities. Psychotherapeutic procedures specific for psychoses may promote and challenge a patient's metacognitive capacities, but should equally take the need for maturing structural skills into account. Modern psychodynamic approaches to psychosis are shortly presented, providing concepts and techniques for the implicit regulation of interpersonal experience and aiming at structural integration in this patient group

Process-Oriented Stream Classification Pipeline:A Literature Review

Featured Application: Nowadays, many applications and disciplines work on the basis of stream data. Common examples are the IoT sector (e.g., sensor data analysis), or video, image, and text analysis applications (e.g., in social media analytics or astronomy). With our work, we gather different approaches and terminology, and give a broad overview over the topic. Our main target groups are practitioners and newcomers to the field of data stream classification. Due to the rise of continuous data-generating applications, analyzing data streams has gained increasing attention over the past decades. A core research area in stream data is stream classification, which categorizes or detects data points within an evolving stream of observations. Areas of stream classification are diverse—ranging, e.g., from monitoring sensor data to analyzing a wide range of (social) media applications. Research in stream classification is related to developing methods that adapt to the changing and potentially volatile data stream. It focuses on individual aspects of the stream classification pipeline, e.g., designing suitable algorithm architectures, an efficient train and test procedure, or detecting so-called concept drifts. As a result of the many different research questions and strands, the field is challenging to grasp, especially for beginners. This survey explores, summarizes, and categorizes work within the domain of stream classification and identifies core research threads over the past few years. It is structured based on the stream classification process to facilitate coordination within this complex topic, including common application scenarios and benchmarking data sets. Thus, both newcomers to the field and experts who want to widen their scope can gain (additional) insight into this research area and find starting points and pointers to more in-depth literature on specific issues and research directions in the field.</p