Study of Orbitally Excited B(s) Mesons and Evidence for a New B pi Resonance with the CDF II Detector

Mithilfe von Daten des CDF-Experiments wurden die Eigenschaften angeregter B0-, B+- und Bs-Mesonen bestimmt. Die Ergebnisse umfassen Evidenz für eine bisher unbeobachtete Anregung und teils welterste oder weltbeste Messungen

Study of orbitally excited B mesons and evidence for a new Bπ resonance

Analyzing the full CDF Run II data set of 9.6 fb−1, we find first evidence for a new resonance in B0π+ and B+π− mass distributions with a significance of 4.4 standard deviations. We determine its mass, width, and relative production rate and refer to it as the B(5970) state. Also, we present the first study of orbitally excited B+ mesons and updated results on orbitally excited B0 and B0s mesons. We examine the B1 and B∗2 states and measure masses, widths, their relative production rate, the branching fraction of the B∗0s2 state, and the production rate of the orbitally excited B0 states relative to the B0 ground state

Measurement of horizontal air showers with the Auger Engineering Radio Array

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA), at the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina, measures the radio emission of extensive air showers in the 30-80 MHz frequency range. AERA consists of more than 150 antenna stations distributed over 17 km2. Together with the Auger surface detector, the fluorescence detector and the underground muon detector (AMIGA), AERA is able to measure cosmic rays with energies above 1017 eV in a hybrid detection mode. AERA is optimized for the detection of air showers up to 60° zenith angle, however, using the reconstruction of horizontal air showers with the Auger surface array, very inclined showers can also be measured. In this contribution an analysis of the AERA data in the zenith angle range from 62° to 80° will be presented. CoREAS simulations predict radio emission footprints of several km2 for horizontal air showers, which are now confirmed by AERA measurements. This can lead to radio-based composition measurements and energy determination of horizontal showers in the future and the radio detection of neutrino induced showers is possible

Structural and functional cerebral changes in patients with schizophrenia and genetic risk-allele carriers

Schizophrenia is one of the most frequent psychiatric disorders and is associated with a substantial part of worldwide disease burdon1. The clinical symptoms of patients with schizophrenia can be separated into positive symptoms such as halluciations and delusions as well as negative symptoms such as cognitive impairments, apathy, blunted affect and social withdrawal2. It has been suggested that understanding the underlying pathophysiological processes that give rise to these symptoms is a crucial step for the development of efficient treatment for schizophrenia3. In the presented work two aspects of the clinical symptomatology of schizophrenia are analyzed with respect to their potential neurobiological correlate. Following the dopamine-hypothesis, patients with schizophrenia exhibit an increase in dopaminergic neurotransmission in the striatum which might be related to the experience of positive symptoms4,5. In the first publication evidence for this dopamine-hypothesis from in-vivo neuroimaging studies was investigated in a comprehensive meta-analysis. Results are in the line with the dopamine-hypothesis and point to an increase of striatal presynaptic dopamine synthesis in schizophrenia: - Howes OD*, Kambeitz J*, Kim E, Stahl D, Slifstein M, Abi-Dargham A*, Kapur S* (2012): The nature of dopamine dysfunction in schizophrenia and what this means for treatment. Arch Gen Psychiatry 69: 776–786. * these authors contributed equally ISI Web of Knowledge: Archives of General Psychiatry (now: JAMA Psychiatry) impact factor 2012: 13.77 5-year impact factor 2012: 14.47 Ranked 3rd of all psychiatry journals The negative symptoms of schizophrenia such as cognitive impairments have frequently been associated with changes of cerebral gray matter in numerous brain regions including the hippocampus6–9. In the second publication, effects of a potential risk-gene on the hippocampus are analyzed. Results indicate reduced hippocampal structure and function in carriers of the met-allele of the BDNF polymorphism val(66)met: - Kambeitz JP*, Bhattacharyya S*, Kambeitz-Ilankovic LM, Valli I, Collier DA, McGuire P (2012): Effect of BDNF val(66)met polymorphism on declarative memory and its neural substrate: a meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 36: 2165–2177. * these authors contributed equally ISI Web of Knowledge: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews impact factor 2012: 9.44 5-year impact factor 2012: 9.92 Ranked 12th of all neurosciences journal

COLLABORATIVELY DEVELOPING GUIDELINES FOR USING PERSONAL MUSIC PLAYERS IN THE CLASSROOM

The purpose of this study was to work collaboratively with a group of high school students to develop a list of guidelines for using Personal Music Players (PMPs) in their classroom. Even though PMPs are extremely popular with secondary school students (Boal-Palheiros & Hargreaves, 2001; North et al., 2000) and there are benefits associated with music listening that align with learning and academic goals in certain school settings (e.g., Abikoff, Courtney, Szeibel & Koplewicz, 1996; Beentjes, Koolstra & van der voort, 1996; Boal-Palheiros & Hargreaves, 2001; Hallam & Price, 1998; Hallam, Price & Katsarou, 2002; Morton, Kershner & Seigel, 1990; Rainey & Larsen, 2002; Saarikallio & Erkkila, 2007; Savan, 1998,1999; Thompson, Schellenberg & Husain, 2001), school stakeholders remain divided on the use of such devices in schools and outright banning occurs in many school environments (Domitrek & Raby, 2008). Another approach would be to consult with and include students in developing guidelines for incorporating new technologies. Researchers have recommended the inclusion of student voices in both research that affects them (Powers & Tiffany, 2006; Rodriguez & Brown, 2009) and in the development of rules and regulations (Domitrek & Raby, 2008; Raby & Domitrek, 2007; Raby, 2008). Student involvement can decrease rule-breaking behavior, increase student responsibility and ownership, and to teach students to be participate and be involved in matters that affect them (Raby & Domitrek, 2007; Raby, 2008). Using an action research model (Mertler & Charles, 2005; Mertler, 2006), a research team composed of myself and a small group of high school students moved through three cycles of the action research process in order to collaboratively develop, reflect upon and revise guidelines for using PMPs in their classroom. A list of seven guidelines was generated. Additionally, the student members of the research team provided information about their thoughts and feelings regarding music listening in their classroom and I provided reflections on conducting an action research project with youth. Implications for practice and further research were identified

Structural and functional cerebral changes in patients with schizophrenia and genetic risk-allele carriers

Schizophrenia is one of the most frequent psychiatric disorders and is associated with a substantial part of worldwide disease burdon1. The clinical symptoms of patients with schizophrenia can be separated into positive symptoms such as halluciations and delusions as well as negative symptoms such as cognitive impairments, apathy, blunted affect and social withdrawal2. It has been suggested that understanding the underlying pathophysiological processes that give rise to these symptoms is a crucial step for the development of efficient treatment for schizophrenia3. In the presented work two aspects of the clinical symptomatology of schizophrenia are analyzed with respect to their potential neurobiological correlate. Following the dopamine-hypothesis, patients with schizophrenia exhibit an increase in dopaminergic neurotransmission in the striatum which might be related to the experience of positive symptoms4,5. In the first publication evidence for this dopamine-hypothesis from in-vivo neuroimaging studies was investigated in a comprehensive meta-analysis. Results are in the line with the dopamine-hypothesis and point to an increase of striatal presynaptic dopamine synthesis in schizophrenia: - Howes OD*, Kambeitz J*, Kim E, Stahl D, Slifstein M, Abi-Dargham A*, Kapur S* (2012): The nature of dopamine dysfunction in schizophrenia and what this means for treatment. Arch Gen Psychiatry 69: 776–786. * these authors contributed equally ISI Web of Knowledge: Archives of General Psychiatry (now: JAMA Psychiatry) impact factor 2012: 13.77 5-year impact factor 2012: 14.47 Ranked 3rd of all psychiatry journals The negative symptoms of schizophrenia such as cognitive impairments have frequently been associated with changes of cerebral gray matter in numerous brain regions including the hippocampus6–9. In the second publication, effects of a potential risk-gene on the hippocampus are analyzed. Results indicate reduced hippocampal structure and function in carriers of the met-allele of the BDNF polymorphism val(66)met: - Kambeitz JP*, Bhattacharyya S*, Kambeitz-Ilankovic LM, Valli I, Collier DA, McGuire P (2012): Effect of BDNF val(66)met polymorphism on declarative memory and its neural substrate: a meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 36: 2165–2177. * these authors contributed equally ISI Web of Knowledge: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews impact factor 2012: 9.44 5-year impact factor 2012: 9.92 Ranked 12th of all neurosciences journal

Altersunterschiede in der Stressantwort auf Ethanol in primären Rattenhepatozyten

Auf Grund des demographischen Wandels rückt die alternde Gesellschaft in den Fokus des Interesses. Da viele Mechanismen im Zusammenhang mit der Alterung der Leber noch immer unverstanden sind, beleuchtet die vorliegende Arbeit Altersunterschieden in der Reaktion auf Ethanol-induzierten oxidativen Stress. Kultiviert und untersucht wurden Rattenhepatozyten zweier Altersgruppen: Ratten mittleren (sechs bis acht Monate) und höheren Lebensalters (23 Monate). Zusammenfassend zeigten sich im Altersvergleich metabolisch aktivere und anpassungsfähigere Hepatozyten mittelalter Ratten sowie ein basal erhöhtes Stressniveau in den Hepatozyten der alten Ratten

Aufmerksamkeitskontrolle von Attributionsprozessen in Schizophrenie

In patients with schizophrenia, the misattribution of self-generated events to an external source is associated with self-recognition deficits and the presence of psychotic symptoms. The aim of the present study was to investigate how this misattribution is influenced by dysfunction of attentional processing, which is also impaired in schizophrenia. I conducted two different studies. In both studies participant’s expectancies were manipulated using visual cues that were either congruent (valid) or incongruent (invalid) with the speech. The source (self/alien) and the acoustic quality (undistorted/distorted) of the speech were also manipulated. First, twentythree patients with schizophrenia, with hallucinations and delusions (H/D patients) and twentythree matched healthy controls (HC) were tested for the behavioral study. Later on, twenty patients with first episode psychosis (FEP) and twenty matched healthy controls (HC) underwent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) while listening to prerecorded speech. The results of the behavioral part of the study showed that H/D patients exhibited increased error rates comparing to HC, when listening to the distorted self spoken words, misidentifying their own speech as produced by others. Importantly, patients made significantly more errors across all the invalid cue conditions. This suggested not only the presence of pathological misattribution bias, but also an inadequate balance between top-down and bottom-up attentional processes in patients, which could be responsible for misattribution of the ambiguous sensory material. Analysis of fMRI data showed that FEP patients when listening to self-generated speech preceded by an invalid (alien) cue, relative to HC showed a strong trend to misidentify their own speech as an other person's. The patient group had reduced activation in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and left precuneus (Pc) relative to HC. Within the FEP group, the level of activation in the right MTG was negatively correlated with the severity of their positive psychotic symptoms. I conclude that impaired attentional modulation in schizophrenia may contribute to the tendency for FEP patients to misattribute the source of self-generated material, and this may be mediated through the right MTG and Pc, regions that are involved in both self-referential processing and the integration of sensory information.Schizophrene Patienten neigen dazu selbstgenerierte Handlungen auf externe Quellen zu misattribuieren. Dieser Bias ist assoziiert mit kognitiven Defiziten im Bereich der Selbsterkennung sowie mit psychotischen Symptomen. Das Ziel der präsentierten Studien ist es, zu untersuchen in wie weit dieser Misattributionsbias durch Aufmerksamkeitsprozesse beeinflusst wird, welche ebenfalls in schizophrenen Patienten beeinträchtigt sind. Ich führte zwei Studien durch in welchen die Probanden unterscheiden sollten, ob ein auditiv präsentiertes Wort in der eigenen Stimme oder einer fremden Stimme dargeboten wurde. Dabei wurden die Erwartungen der Probanden manipuliert durch visuelle Hinweisreize die entweder kongruent oder inkongruent zu einem auditiven Stimulus waren. Zudem wurde die akustische Qualität (unverzerrt / verzerrt) manipuliert. In der ersten Studie wurden 23 Patienten mit Schizophrenie sowie 23 gesunde Probanden in einem behavioralen Design untersucht. In der zweiten Studie wurden bei 20 Patienten mit Schizophrenie sowie bei 20 gesunden Probanden das gleiche Paradigma mittels fMRT untersucht. In der behavioralen Studie zeigte sich bei Patienten mit Schizophrenie im Vergleich zu gesunden Probanden eine erhöhte Fehlerrate und somit eine Tendenz die eigene Stimme zu missattribuieren, wenn selbstgesprochene Wörter verzerrt präsentiert wurden. Interessanterweise zeigten Patienten in allen Bedingungen mit inkongruenten Hinweisreizen eine signifikant erhöhte Fehlerrate. Dies lässt vermuten, dass bei schizophrenen Patienten ein generelles Muster kognitiver Beeinträchtigung vorliegt. Möglicherweise zeigen Patienten auf Grund einer Dysbalance von top-down und bottom-up gesteuerten Aufmerksamkeitsprozessen, eine beeinträchtigte Leistung bei der Attribuierung inkongruenter Stimuli. In der fMRT-Studie zeigten schizophrene Patienten eine ausgeprägte Tendenz ihre eigene Stimme als eine fremde Stimme zu misattribuieren, wenn inkongruente Hinweisreize präsentiert wurden. Dabei zeigten Patienten eine reduzierte Aktivität im rechten mittleren Temporallappen sowie im linken Precuneus. Zudem zeigte sich eine negative Korrelation zwischen der Aktivität im rechten mittleren Temporallappen und der Ausprägung der positiven Symptomatik. Daher ist anzunehmen, dass möglichweise eine beeinträchtigte Balance zwischen top-down und bottom-up gesteuerten Aufmerksamkeitsprozessen zum Misattributionbias in schizophrenen Patienten beiträgt. Zudem ist dieser Einfluss assoziiert mit Aktivität in Hirnregionen, die in der Integration sensorischer Information sowie in der Verabeitung selbstreferentieller Information involviert sind, wie der rechte mittlere Temporallappen sowie der Precuneu