Double Vision: Encountering Early Ethnographic Films in the Digital Archive

In 1908, Georg Thilenius, director of the Hamburg Museum für Völkerkunde, sent a group of researchers on an expedition to the then-German colonies in Melanesia and Micronesia. The team was also equipped with a film camera. In comparison to the several thousand photographs, sketches, and notes the quantity of film produced was very low: only around eleven minutes could be shot on 35mm footage. This footage, transferred to 16mm film in the 1940s and digitised in 2018-19, is analysed both as an event of early ethnographic filmmaking and as a specific archival object: to date the object biography of the Hamburg films shows significant changes of their materiality and no less important ruptures concerning their preserving archives. This featurette raises questions about the significance of film recordings for ethnographic research, the role of archives and museums in their preservation or digitisation, and, not least, their entanglement in German colonial politics. It reconstructs the object biography of the Hamburg films based on signatures, inventory lists, and descriptions of the expedition members to shed light on this entanglement and to question its status as an archival object. In doing so it argues for a relational understanding of ethnographic filmmaking and its preservation that accounts for the responsibilities, constraints, and different interests of the people and institutions involved in capturing, distributing, and transforming moving images into an archival object. &nbsp

Ghosts of the City: A Spectrology of Cinematic Spaces

This paper investigates how, in early cinema, in-between spaces were created that were receptive to scenes of haunting. Adopting Derrida’s notions of a hauntology and a spectrology it argues for a genuine productivity of cinematic space that is able to build ghostly environments without incorporating an actual specter. This productivity is described as ‘making appear’ and ‘making act’. Furthermore, the paper explains how, in the era of silent cinema, cinematic techniques were used to create scenes of haunting

Untersuchung von Saatgutbehandlungsmitteln / Resistenzinduktoren mit Wirksamkeit gegen Gersten- und Weizenflugbrand (Ustilago nuda var. nuda u. U. nuda var. tritici)

Ziel dieses Projektes war es, alternative Saatgutbehandlungsmittel mit systemisch-fungizider oder resistenzinduzierender Wirkung gegen Ustilago nuda zu finden. Es wurden Pflanzenstärkungsmittel, Resistenzinduktoren, Pflanzenextrakte und Mikroorganismen als Samenbehandlung erprobt. Unter kontrollierten Bedingungen konnte an der Weizensorte Apogee eine Wirksamkeit von 30 bis 60 % in der Gruppe der Pflanzenextrakte gefunden werden: Bei den Pflanzenstärkungsmitteln erzielte „EnviRepel“ eine Wirksamkeit von 41,96 % und das Pseudomonas-Präparat „Pro Radix“ 69,70 %. Aus der Gruppe der mikrobiellen Antagonisten konnten neben einem Pilzisolat ausschließlich Trichoderma-Isolate erhöhte Wirksamkeiten bis zu 65 % erreichen. Bei wiederholter Testung war die Wirksamkeit allerdings nicht konsistent. In einem Feldversuch an Sommergerste ließ sich bei den Extrakten von Beinwell, Bärenklau, Stechapfel und Beifuß eine Wirksamkeit zwar tendenziell bestätigen, allerdings war der Wirkungsgrad mit 30% zu gering für die Anwendung in der Praxis. Nach den vorliegenden Erfahrungen scheint eine Beschränkung auf die Samenbehandlung nicht sinnvoll. Eine zusätzliche Behandlung zu einem späteren Entwicklungszeitpunkt (Keimlingsstadium) könnte eventuell die Wirksamkeit steigern. Eine weitere Strategie wäre es, die Infektion durch Mittelapplikation während der Blütezeit zu verhindern. Zudem wurde ein immunologischen Frühdiagnossystem über ELISA weiterentwickelt und standardisiert. Dabei konnte infiziertes Saatgut eindeutig von gesundem Saatgut unterschieden werden. Bei Untersuchungen junger Pflanzen konnte der Flugbranderreger in den Stadien EC 14 und EC 30 nicht nur im Vegetationspunkt, sondern auch in den Knoten der Haupt- und Seitentriebe nachgewiesen werden. Eine hinreichend exakte Vorhersage des späteren Ährenbefalls konnte allerdings weder durch ELISA-Messungen von bis zu 100 Einzelkörnern noch durch Untersuchungen des Sprossansatzes oder der Knoten von Jungpflanzen getroffen werden. Hier wären weitere Optimierungen der Methodik nötig

Ökologien der Erde: zur Wissensgeschichte und Aktualität der Gaia-Hypothese

Ökologien der Erde bestimmen die Gegenwart. Dabei gewinnt die in den 1970er Jahren von James Lovelock gemeinsam mit Lynn Margulis entwickelte Gaia-Theorie heute neue Erklärungskraft. Wenn Gaia bei Bruno Latour sogar zum allgemeinen Modell der Welterklärung im 21. Jahrhundert wird, gilt es, nach der Plausibilität zu fragen, die die Rede von Gaia aktuell entwickelt. Die vier Beiträge des Bandes geben hierauf eine Antwort, indem sie die metaphorologischen und begriffshistorischen Linien der Gaia-Theorie nachzeichnen und ihren Bezug auf zeitgenössische Computersimulationen in den Blick nehmen. So wird der gegenwärtige Ort des Wiederauflebens Gaias deutlich - und damit die Verschränkung von kybernetischen und organizistischen Ökologien mit der Annahme einer Programmierbarkeit von Umgebungen

Converting habits of antibiotic use for respiratory tract infections in German primary care – study protocol of the cluster-randomized controlled CHANGE-3 trial

Background: The overuse of antibiotics is a major cause for the worldwide rise of antibiotic resistance. Although it is well known that acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) are mainly caused by viruses and are often self limiting, antibiotics are too frequently prescribed in primary care. CHANGE-3 examines whether a complex intervention focusing on improving communication and provision of prescribing feedback reduces antibiotic use in patients suffering from ARTI. Methods/design: The CHANGE-3 trial is a cluster-randomized controlled trial nested within a web-based public campaign conducted in two regions in Germany. A total of 114 medical practices will be included. Practices randomized to the intervention will receive a practice-specific antibiotic-prescription feedback and an educational outreach visit. During the visit the whole practice team will receive an introduction to e-learning modules addressing patient-centered communication on antibiotics. Furthermore, the practices will receive tablet PCs with information on antibiotics and the treatment of ARTI to be presented to patients. Practices randomized to the control will provide care as usual. The primary outcome measure is the antibiotic prescribing rate for patients with a history of ARTI. Data collected before the intervention, during the intervention and after the intervention will be compared. The use of narrow- vs. broad-spectrum antibiotics will be analyzed as a secondary outcome. A process evaluation is also part of the trial. Discussion: This study should contribute to the growing body of research on reducing antibiotic prescription. Trial registration: ISRCTN, ISRCTN15061174. Registered retrospectively on 13 July 2018

Ligelizumab for Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria

Background: In the majority of patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria, most currently available therapies do not result in complete symptom control. Ligelizumab is a next-generation high-affinity humanized monoclonal anti-IgE antibody. Data are limited regarding the dose–response relationship of ligelizumab and the efficacy and safety of ligelizumab as compared with omalizumab and placebo in patients who have moderate-to-severe chronic spontaneous urticaria that is inadequately controlled with H1-antihistamines at approved or increased doses, alone or in combination with H2-antihistamines or leukotriene-receptor antagonists. Methods: In a phase 2b dose-finding trial, we randomly assigned patients to receive ligelizumab at a dose of 24 mg, 72 mg, or 240 mg, omalizumab at a dose of 300 mg, or placebo, administered subcutaneously every 4 weeks for a period of 20 weeks, or a single 120-mg dose of ligelizumab. Disease symptoms of hives, itch, and angioedema were monitored by means of weekly activity scores. The main objective was to determine a dose–response relationship for the complete control of hives (indicated by a weekly hives-severity score of 0, on a scale from 0 to 21, with higher scores indicating greater severity); the primary end point of this response was assessed at week 12. Complete symptom control was indicated by a weekly urticaria activity score of 0 (on a scale from 0 to 42, with higher scores indicating greater severity). Safety was analyzed throughout the trial. Results: A total of 382 patients underwent randomization. At week 12, a total of 30%, 51%, and 42% of the patients treated with 24 mg, 72 mg, and 240 mg, respectively, of ligelizumab had complete control of hives, as compared with 26% of the patients in the omalizumab group and no patients in the placebo group. A dose–response relationship was established. At week 12, a total of 30%, 44%, and 40% of the patients treated with 24 mg, 72 mg, and 240 mg, respectively, of ligelizumab had complete control of symptoms, as compared with 26% of the patients in the omalizumab group and no patients in the placebo group. In this small and short trial, no safety concerns regarding ligelizumab or omalizumab emerged. Conclusions: A higher percentage of patients had complete control of symptoms of chronic spontaneous urticaria with ligelizumab therapy of 72 mg or 240 mg than with omalizumab or placebo. (Funded by Novartis Pharma; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02477332. opens in new tab.

Impact of Metabolic Regulators on the Expression of the Obesity Associated Genes FTO and NAMPT in Human Preadipocytes and Adipocytes

FTO and NAMPT/PBEF/visfatin are thought to play a role in obesity but their transcriptional regulation in adipocytes is not fully understood. In this study, we evaluated the transcriptional regulation of FTO and NAMPT in preadipocytes and adipocytes by metabolic regulators.We assessed FTO mRNA expression during human adipocyte differentiation of Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome (SGBS) cells and primary subcutaneous preadipocytes in vitro and evaluated the effect of the metabolic regulators glucose, insulin, dexamethasone, IGF-1 and isoproterenol on FTO and NAMPT mRNA expression in SGBS preadipocytes and adipocytes. FTO mRNA levels were not significantly modulated during adipocyte differentiation. Also, metabolic regulators had no impact on FTO expression in preadipocytes or adipocytes. In SGBS preadipocytes NAMPT expression was more than 3fold induced by dexamethasone and isoproterenol and 1.6fold by dexamethasone in adipocytes. Complete glucose restriction caused an increase in NAMPT mRNA expression by more than 5fold and 1.4fold in SGBS preadipocytes and adipocytes, respectively.FTO mRNA expression is not significantly affected by differentiation or metabolic regulators in human adipocytes. The stimulation of NAMPT expression by dexamethasone, isoproterenol and complete glucose restriction may indicate a regulation of NAMPT by metabolic stress, which was more pronounced in preadipocytes compared to mature adipocytes