Assessment of Soil Structure and Root Patterns by Means of Micro-X-ray Computed Tomography in Temperate Grassland Sites

Grassland sites are important ecosystems delivering essential ecosystem services such as carbon storage and filtering of water. Adequate management necessitates a better understanding of soil ecological processes in grassland ecosystems. Of special interest is the relationship between soil structure and root development. In a project within the Biodiversity Exploratory Initiative (http://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de), undisturbed soil cores from 31 grassland plots from Swabian Alb Biodiversity exploratory in Germany were investigated by means of X-ray micro computed tomography. This allows the simultaneous determination of soil physical and root parameters in one sample. VG StudioMax® version 2.1 was used to apply a combination of histogram analysis and spatial transformation to distinguish between solids, root system, and pore space. The results of this study reveal close relationships between the soil physical state and root development in grassland soil. Roots have been identified as important contributors to the prevention of soil compaction. Whereas soil compaction is a major threat to soil functions and ecosystem services, which should be mitigated with enhanced awareness of root growth, e.g. with the right choice of varieties, implementation of legumes, adapted management

Social Media Mining in Drug Development Decision Making: Prioritizing Multiple Sclerosis Patients’ Unmet Medical Needs

Pharmaceutical companies increasingly must consider patients’ needs in drug development. Since patients’ needs are often difficult to measure, especially in rare diseases, information in drug development decision-making is limited. In the proposed study, we employ the opportunity algorithm to identify and prioritize unmet medical needs of multiple sclerosis patients shared in social media posts. Using topic modeling and sentiment analysis features of the opportunity algorithm are generated. The result implies that sensory problems, pain, mental health problems, fatigue and sleep disturbances represent the highest unmet medical needs of the samples population. The present study suggests a promising potential of this method to provide relevant insights into rare disease populations to promote patient-centered drug development

CSR Communication on Twitter - A Scoping Review on Social Media Mining and Analytic Methods

Adopting corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming increasingly mandatory as international legislation puts pressure on companies to implement and report on appropriate CSR measures. As of 2024, a significant number of companies will need to report on CSR topics for the first time. To identify relevant topics that resonate best in the industry or even with one's own stakeholder groups and should therefore be picked up, addressed and reported on preferentially, social media mining (SMM) can be an efficient ap-proach for companies. By reviewing applied SMM and analytic methods of Twitter data, we identified four methodological approaches that use algorithms to identify relevant CSR topics for companies to engage with. This scoping review thus provides a systematized overview of SMM pipelines for use, being equally relevant for academics and practitioners aiming at computational analysis of Twitter content regarding CSR activities and communication

Analysis of financial and technical feasibilty of a clinicians generated data platform of fybromyalgia syndrome patients

This master thesis analyzes the technical and economical feasibility for a medical database, based on clinically generated data of patients with the fibromyalgia syndrome. The main idea is to collect patient data on a regular basis during standard visiting hours at their doctor. Therefore it is essential to provide a data collection platform that can be simply used by the patient and doctor. The collected information (no personal data) shall be shared between researchers to enhance collaborative studies, make studies with rare diseases possible as well as to reduce the cost and effort to gather a big enough cohort group for the study. There are already several medical databases in place that collect and share patient information for research. Yet, despite the significant socioeconomic impact of fibromyalgia, no large database about this disease exists. An introduction to the fibromyalgia syndrome and its impact on society are given. Furthermore medical database technologies and medical database projects for other diseases are described. The presented technologies are further analyzed for their usefulness of creating a database to collect information about fibromyalgia syndrome patients and to use it to enhance its research. Additionally the legal requirements for maintaining such a platform as well as the potential cost are examined. Two possible business models to provide such a platform with funding are presented. Last but not least a possible use case for the collection of patient data via a survey created with REDCap and the integration process into i2b2 has been created and possible suggestions for improvements in the future have been made to bring the platform to a release ready state

Darstellung und Charakterisierung der neuartigen tetragonalen Bronzen CaxBa1-xNb2O6 und CaxSryBa1-x-yNb2O6

Die vorliegende Arbeit wurde im Rahmen des Graduiertenkollegs 549 (Azentrische Kristalle) durchgefuehrt. Sie beschaeftigt sich mit weiterfuehrenden materialwissenschaftlichen Unter-suchungen an den neuartigen, ferroelektrischen tetragonalen Bronzen CaxBa1-xNb2O6 (CBN) und CaxSryBa1-x-yNb2O6 (CSBN). Mit Hilfe des Czochralski-Verfahrens wurden erstmals große und rissfreie Einkristalle der Verbindung CaxBa1-xNb2O6 (x zwischen 0,2 und 0,4) gezuechtet, die einen anderen Ca-Gehalt aufwiesen, als den aus der Literatur bisher bekannten Wert von 0,28. Die hochpraezise chemische Analyse der Kristalle erfolgte dabei mittels Roentgenfluoreszenzanalyse (RFA) und ergab folgende Kristallzusammensetzungen: Ca0,257(2)Ba0,741(2)Nb2,000(6)O6 (CBN-25,7), Ca0,270(2)Ba0,729(2)Nb2,000(6)O6, (CBN-27,0), Ca0,279(2)Ba0,722(2)Nb2,000(6)O6 (CBN-27,9), Ca0,288(2)Ba0,711(2)Nb2,000(6)O6 (CBN-28,8) und Ca0,311(2)Ba0,690(2)Nb2,000(6)O6 (CBN-31,1). Die Einkristalle besaßen einen polarisationsoptisch stark gestoerten Bereich, den sogenannten ghost seed. Dieser besitzt den Umriss des Impfkristalls und pflanzt sich durch den gesamten Kristall fort. Mit Hilfe von Aetzversuchen und synchrotrontopographischen Aufnahmen konnte erstmals gezeigt werden, dass der ghost seed aus geradlinigen Versetzungen besteht, welche das sonst homogene Kristallgitter stoeren. Durch Verringerung des Durchmessers des anwachsenden Kristalls (Hals) gegenueber dem Durchmesser des Impfkristalls um 1-3 mm und anschließende Verbreiterung konnte der ghost seed erfolgreich eliminiert werden. Das Phasendiagramm des Zweikomponentensystems BaNb2O6-CaNb2O6 konnte erstmals bestimmt werden. Hierzu wurden Sinterproben der Zusammensetzungen CaxBa1-xNb2O6 (x zwischen 0,00 und 1,00) im Abstand von 0,05 mittels Differenz-Thermoanalyse (DTA) hinsichtlich ihres Schmelzpunktes und mittels Roentgenpulverdiffraktometrie (XRD) hinsichtlich der vorhandenen Phasen untersucht. Fuer den Bereich von x zwischen 0,20 und 0,40 im Phasendiagramm standen zur Untersuchung die oben genannten Einkristalle zur Verfuegung. Durch die Gegenueberstellung der Ausgangszusammensetzung der Schmelze und der Zusammensetzung des aus ihr gezuechteten Kristalls, konnte mittels einer graphischen Analye erstmals die kongruent schmelzende Zusammensetzung bei einem Ca-Gehalt von 0,281(2) bestimmt werden. Die Abhaengigkeiten einiger physikalischer Eigenschaften wie Phasenuebergangstemperatur, Gitterkonstanten, Dichte und Brechwerte vom Ca-Gehalt erwiesen sich in allen Faellen als linear und deutlich. Geht man von einem der Kristallzuechtung zugaenglichen Bereich von x zwischen 0,25 und 0,32 aus,so laesst sich die Phasenuebergangstemperatur um rund 100 K von 304 bis 199 Grad Celsius variieren. Bei frequenz- und temperaturabhaengigen Messungen der Kapazitaet an einer (001)-Platte der Probe CBN-31,1 erwiesen sich die Maxima der dielektrischen Anomalie als schmal. Sie verschieben sich mit hoeheren Frequenzen nicht zu hoeheren Temperaturen. Dies legt die Vermutung nahe, dass der Relaxorcharakter in dieser Substanz eher schwach ausgepraegt ist. Desweiteren gelang, nach vorausgegangenen phasenanalytischen Untersuchungen im Dreistoffsystem CaNb2O6�SrNb2O6�BaNb2O6, die Zuechtung großer und optisch homogener Einkristalle der tetragonalen Bronze Ca0,18(2)Sr0,226(6)Ba0,60(1)Nb2O6. Die Phasenuebergangstemperatur wurde mittels Leistungskompensations-DSC bestimmt und ergab einen Wert von 180(2) Grad Celsius

Prefrontal leucotomy : an ex post facto archival study of a complete hospital sample.

Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1977 .J683. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1977

The Role of the Tumour Suppressor p53 in the Elimination of Hepatitis B Virus-infected Hepatocytes - Implications for Viral Clearance

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and more than 350 million people are chronically infected with HBV worldwide. The non-cytopathic hepatitis B virus is acting as a “stealth” virus and is, therefore, hardly detected by the innate immune system, thus, contributing to chronicity. So far, it is known that infiltrating cytotoxic T cells are the main effector cells involved in the elimination of HBV-infected hepatocytes. However, the direct molecular mechanisms through which HBV-infected cells are eliminated by the immune system, as well as the signalling pathways up-regulated in infected host cells to combat the virus remain unclear. The present study was designed to investigate both the influence of the hepatocytes’ p53 status on the outcome of HBV infection and vice versa the influence of HBV infection on p53 and p53 target gene activation in hepatocytes. In summary, hepatitis B virus infection triggers the activation of the DNA damage response leading to the stabilization and activation of the tumour suppressor p53 in an ATM/ATR-dependent manner. Activation of p53 upon HBV infection induces the up-regulation of different p53 target genes playing important roles in the extrinsic and the intrinsic apoptosis signalling pathway. In the present study the functionality of the CD95 pathway has been identified to be an essential factor for the elimination of HBV-infected hepatocytes. The expression of proteins involved in apoptosis signalling leads to the alteration of the mitochondrial membrane potential, the subsequent release of cytochrome c and finally to apoptosis induction of HBV-infected hepatocytes. Furthermore, HBV infection triggers the induction of CD95L gene transactivation in an AP-1-dependent manner which leads to the, so far, unrecognized capability of virus-infected hepatocytes to secret CD95L by themselves. Our results propose a new p53-dependent model for virus elimination in HBV-infected hepatocytes and show that p53 beyond its role as a tumour suppressor also plays an important role in viral clearance. The identification of prominent members of the apoptosis signalling pathways as crucial proteins activated upon HBV-infection demonstrate an underlying mechanism for the diverse outcomes (clearance vs. chronicity) of a HBV infection. The significant contribution of p53 in cellular antiviral defence suggests a potential implication in the pathogenesis of HBV infection and opens new therapeutic options via stabilization of p53

Nature-Based Therapy in Individuals with Mental Health Disorders, with a Focus on Mental Well-Being and Connectedness to Nature—A Pilot Study

In times of social and ecological crises, such as COVID-19 with lockdowns and implementing the impact of climate change, mental health degrades. Being outdoors in nature can be health-promoting, can decrease depression, and increase mental well-being. This pilot study investigated the relationships between nature-based therapy, mental health, and individuals’ connectedness to nature. We hypothesize that nature-based therapy has a positive impact on individual mental health and connectedness to nature. A mixed-method approach was used to evaluate the effectiveness of nature-based therapy for young psychosomatic patients. The results demonstrated improvements in mental well-being and connectedness to nature through therapy. Additionally, depression scores decreased. Patients reported the importance of the therapist setting the space, the supportive environment, the poems that fostered the nature connection, improvement at the soul level, and overall doing something meaningful. Every patient experienced nature-based therapy as effective. To conclude, the study gives a first insight into the processes of nature-based therapy in the German population at work and the effectiveness of nature-based therapy. Further questions, e.g., season effects, longitudinal effects, and whether patients with low connectedness to nature gain more out of the intervention remain unanswered

Nature-Based Therapy in Individuals with Mental Health Disorders, with a Focus on Mental Well-Being and Connectedness to Nature—A Pilot Study

In times of social and ecological crises, such as COVID-19 with lockdowns and implementing the impact of climate change, mental health degrades. Being outdoors in nature can be health-promoting, can decrease depression, and increase mental well-being. This pilot study investigated the relationships between nature-based therapy, mental health, and individuals' connectedness to nature. We hypothesize that nature-based therapy has a positive impact on individual mental health and connectedness to nature. A mixed-method approach was used to evaluate the effectiveness of nature-based therapy for young psychosomatic patients. The results demonstrated improvements in mental well-being and connectedness to nature through therapy. Additionally, depression scores decreased. Patients reported the importance of the therapist setting the space, the supportive environment, the poems that fostered the nature connection, improvement at the soul level, and overall doing something meaningful. Every patient experienced nature-based therapy as effective. To conclude, the study gives a first insight into the processes of nature-based therapy in the German population at work and the effectiveness of nature-based therapy. Further questions, e.g., season effects, longitudinal effects, and whether patients with low connectedness to nature gain more out of the intervention remain unanswered