Red list and checklist of the reptiles

Aktuell kommen in Berlin sechs Reptilienarten vor, die autochthonen Bestände einer weiteren Art sind ausgestorben. Aufgrund der hier verwendeten Bewertungsmethodik des Bundesamtes für Naturschutz ergeben sich Änderungen gegenüber den vorhergehenden Listen, die nur teilweise realen Bestandsveränderungen entsprechen. Gegenüber der letzten Roten Liste konnte die dort als „ausgestorben“ bewertete Kreuzotter (Vipera berus) auf Berliner Gebiet wiederentdeckt werden und wird jetzt „als vom Aussterben bedroht“ geführt. Für eine weitere Schlangenart, die Schlingnatter (Coronella austriaca), liegen so wenige Daten vor, dass sie nicht bewertet werden konnte (Kategorie „D“). Die Waldeidechse (Zootoca vivipara) wurde gegenüber der vorhergehenden Roten Liste in eine höhere Gefährdungskategorie eingestuft, während die anderen drei Arten, in der Liste von 2005 noch als „gefährdet“ geführt, jetzt in die Vorwarnliste überführt wurden. Abgesehen von der Ringelnatter (Natrix natrix) halten aber bei allen Arten die Bestandsrückgänge an und die Einstufung in die Vorwarnliste erfolgte vor allem auf Grund der noch weiten Verbreitung dieser Arten.Currently, six species of reptiles occur in Berlin. The autochthonous populations of a further species have become extinct. The reassessments of some species do not reflect real trends in population development, but are consequences of changed assessment methods. The assessment methods used in the present list are in accordance with the guidelines of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Compared to the previous version of the Red List, the adder (Vipera berus) was rediscovered in Berlin and placed in the category “critically endangered” instead of “extinct”. The common lizard (Zootoca vivipara) has been assigned to a higher category of threat. For the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) data on distribution and population status are lacking. Consequently, it was classified as “data deficient”. Further three species, classified as “endangered” in the previous Red List, have now been listed as “near threatened”. Aside from the ringed snake (Natrix natrix) all these species show a decline in the short term trend of population size. The classification as “near threatened” is a consequence of the relatively wide distribution these species still have

Red list and checklist of the amphibians

Aktuell kommen in Berlin zwölf Amphibienarten vor, von denen eine nicht autochthon ist und in der Roten Liste nicht bewertet wird (Bergmolch Ichthyosaura alpestris). Die autochthonen Populationen von zwei weiteren Arten sind ausgestorben. Die verwendete Einstufungsmethodik folgt den entsprechenden Vorgaben des Bundesamtes für Naturschutz. Zehn der 13 bewerteten Arten stehen in einer der Gefährdungskategorien der Roten Liste. Nahezu alle zeigen Rückgänge im kurzfristigen und langfristigen Bestandstrend. Zwei Arten (Rotbauchunke Bombina bombina und Kreuzkröte Epidalea calamita) wurden als „vom Aussterben bedroht” eingestuft. Im Vergleich zur vorhergehenden Roten Liste haben sieben Arten ihre Einstufung beibehalten, während bei vier Arten eine Heraufstufung erfolgte. Eine Art (Knoblauchkröte Pelobates fuscus) wurde herabgestuft, aber diese Einstufung bildet nicht die realen Trends in der Bestandsentwicklung ab, sondern ist der veränderten Bewertungsmethodik geschuldet. Trotz lokaler Erfolge im Amphibienschutz gehört diese Wirbeltierklasse in Berlin weiterhin zu den im hohen Maße bedrohten Tiergruppen.Currently, 12 species of amphibians occur in Berlin. One of these species (alpine newt Ichthyosaura alpestris) is introduced and is not included in the Red List. The autochthonous populations of two further species have become extinct. The assessment methods used in the present list are in accordance with the guidelines of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Ten of the 13 native species have been assigned to one of the threat categories. Almost all amphibian species reveal an ongoing decline both in short time and in long time population development. Two species (fire-bellied toad Bombina bombina and natterjack toad Epidalea calamita) have been listed as “critically endangered”. Compared to the previous version of the Red List, seven species remained in the same category, while another four species were upgraded to a higher category of threat. One species (common spadefoot Pelobates fuscus) is placed in a lower category of endangerment (from “endangered” to “vulnerable”). This does not reflect a real trend in population development, but is a consequence of changes in assessment methods. Even though conservation measures show a certain success on the local level, amphibians are still highly endangered in Berlin

Göttliche, menschliche und teuflische Komödien - Europäische Welttheater-Entwürfe im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert

Theater kann nicht nur Welt abbilden, sondern auch die Welt selbst als ein Theater darstellen, in dem Gott (oder das Schicksal) die Rollen verteilt und Regie führt. So wurde 'Welttheater' im europäischen Barock aufgefasst. Seit der Aufklärung schwindet der Glaube an den göttlichen Regisseur, die Denkfigur 'Welttheater' behält aber auch im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert ihre Attraktivität. Im Rahmen einer Ringvorlesung an der Fakultät Geistes- und Kulturwissenschaften der Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg im Wintersemester 2009/2010 wurden dreizehn Beispiele modernen Welttheaters aus Sprech- und Musiktheater Frankreichs, Italiens, Ungarns, Rußlands und Deutschlands vorgestellt (mit Ausblicken zu Film und Fernsehen), von Goethes Faust über Wagners Ring des Nibelungen, Imre Madàchs Tragödie des Menschen, Hofmannsthals Großes Salzburger Welttheater oder Paul Claudels Seidenen Schuh bis hin zu Tankred Dorsts Merlin und Karlheinz Stockausens LICHT-Zyklus. Den Abschluss bildet ein Werkstattgespräch mit dem Komponisten Peter Eötvös und seinem Librettisten Albert Ostermaier, deren Oper Die Tragödie des Teufels im Februar 2010 in München uraufgeführt wurde

Genetic loci and prioritization of genes for kidney function decline derived from a meta-analysis of 62 longitudinal genome-wide association studies

Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) reflects kidney function. Progressive eGFR-decline can lead to kidney failure, necessitating dialysis or transplantation. Hundreds of loci from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for eGFR help explain population cross section variability. Since the contribution of these or other loci to eGFR-decline remains largely unknown, we derived GWAS for annual eGFR-decline and meta-analyzed 62 longitudinal studies with eGFR assessed twice over time in all 343,339 individuals and in high-risk groups. We also explored different covariate adjustment. Twelve genome-wide significant independent variants for eGFR-decline unadjusted or adjusted for eGFR-baseline (11 novel, one known for this phenotype), including nine variants robustly associated across models were identified. All loci for eGFR-decline were known for cross-sectional eGFR and thus distinguished a subgroup of eGFR loci. Seven of the nine variants showed variant-by-age interaction on eGFR cross section (further about 350,000 individuals), which linked genetic associations for eGFR-decline with age-dependency of genetic cross-section associations. Clinically important were two to four-fold greater genetic effects on eGFR-decline in high-risk subgroups. Five variants associated also with chronic kidney disease progression mapped to genes with functional in-silico evidence (UMOD, SPATA7, GALNTL5, TPPP). An unfavorable versus favorable nine-variant genetic profile showed increased risk odds ratios of 1.35 for kidney failure (95% confidence intervals 1.03-1.77) and 1.27 for acute kidney injury (95% confidence intervals 1.08-1.50) in over 2000 cases each, with matched controls). Thus, we provide a large data resource, genetic loci, and prioritized genes for kidney function decline, which help inform drug development pipelines revealing important insights into the age-dependency of kidney function genetics

Eine Generation im Aufbruch: Zwischen wachsendem politischen Interesse und anhaltender Politikverdrossenheit

Albert M, Schneekloth U, Hurrelmann K, Quenzel G. Eine Generation im Aufbruch: Zwischen wachsendem politischen Interesse und anhaltender Politikverdrossenheit. In: Kühnel W, Willems H, eds. Politisches Engagement im Jugendalter. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa; 2017: 18-44

Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation normalizes food liking and improves liking ratings in depression

Introduction: The vagus nerve plays a prominent role in the regulation of food reward and energy metabolism. However, previous studies using vagus nerve stimulation yielded conflicting results regarding changes in food reward in healthy participants and participants with major depressive disorder (MDD), for which vagal nerve stimulation is an effective treatment. Methods: We investigated the acute effects of right transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) on ratings of liking and wanting of food and non-food items in 63 participants, including 31 patients with MDD. To test for taVNS-induced changes and interactions with between-subject variables group (MDD vs. healthy controls) and questionnaire scores as well as within-subject variables, we performed linear mixed-effects analysis. In addition, we assessed whether individual taVNS-induced changes in food reward ratings were dependent on average ratings. Results: taVNS increased liking of food cues in participants with MDD (p= 0.023), but not in healthy participants (p= 0.657). Specifically, taVNS induced larger improvements in liking ratings with increasing scores of anhedonia (p= 0.029). Notably, across all participants, taVNS reduced the variance of food liking compared to sham, suggesting that taVNS normalizes extreme liking ratings towards moderate levels (p = 0.039). Discussion: Our results show that taVNS acutely ameliorates hedonic responses in MDD suggesting that it could provide an effective treatment of anhedonia. Since anhedonia is difficult to treat with conventional therapies, taVNS may provide a powerful adjuvant to rapidly improve motivational deficiencies

Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation boosts mood recovery after effort exertion

BACKGROUND: Mood plays an important role in our life which is illustrated by the disruptive impact of aberrant mood states in depression. Although vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been shown to improve symptoms of depression, the exact mechanism is still elusive, and it is an open question whether non-invasive VNS could be used to swiftly and robustly improve mood. METHODS: Here, we investigated the effect of left- and right-sided transcutaneous auricular VNS (taVNS) v. a sham control condition on mood after the exertion of physical and cognitive effort in 82 healthy participants (randomized cross-over design) using linear mixed-effects and hierarchical Bayesian analyses of mood ratings. RESULTS: We found that 90 min of either left-sided or right-sided taVNS improved positive mood [b = 5.11, 95% credible interval, CI (1.39–9.01), 9.6% improvement relative to the mood intercept, BF(10) = 7.69, p(LME) = 0.017], yet only during the post-stimulation phase. Moreover, lower baseline scores of positive mood were associated with greater taVNS-induced improvements in motivation [r = −0.42, 95% CI (−0.58 to −0.21), BF(10) = 249]. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that taVNS boosts mood after a prolonged period of effort exertion with concurrent stimulation and that acute motivational effects of taVNS are partly dependent on initial mood states. Collectively, our results show that taVNS may help quickly improve affect after a mood challenge, potentially by modulating interoceptive signals contributing to the reappraisal of effortful behavior. This suggests that taVNS could be a useful add-on to current behavioral therapies