Religious Identity and Integration of Armenians as an Ethnic Group in Germany

Through overall developments and movements, migration has spread throughout the world, causing concurrence and amalgamation of heterogeneous and culturally different societies. Present day societies are culturally even more diverse: individuals live in numerous cultures, speak in various languages, and have different identities. Despite the fact that the movement of Armenians previously existed in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and Armenians have made numerous networks around the world, the considerable flow of relocation and the modern term of the Armenian Diaspora has developed because of the First World War after the Armenian Genocide in 1915, more explicitly, it comprises mostly individuals who survived the Armenian Genocide. The current research investigates the lives of the Armenian Diaspora in Germany, more specifically, the ones that have moved to Germany from Armenia, Iran, and Turkey. Studying the lives of the Armenian ethnic group in a host society, it discusses the issues of living in heterogeneous societies and cultures, the role that religion plays in the migration and integration context, affiliation and attachment to various cultures, hybrid cultural, religious and social identities: how Armenians perceive themselves and different societies in Germany, what it feels like to be away from their homeland and live in various cultures simultaneously, to what cultures they have a sense of belonging, how they endeavour to retain their ethnic, religious, and cultural identities, what assists them in the integration process, and how they assess their lives in Germany. The research applies three methods: participant observation, semi-structured interview and Stefan Huber’s questionnaire “The Centrality of Religiosity Scale”. Religion plays a vital role in most of the interviewees’ lives, depending on various circumstances, such as a spiritual nourishment, a psychological support, closeness to one’s ethnicity or ethnic group, access to the host society, etc. According to the current research results, the Armenian interviewees in Germany perceive religion as an inseparable part of their culture, since their religious, ethnic, and cultural identities are intertwined and regarded as an inseparable unit: religious identity – Christian, ethnic identity – Armenian, cultural identity – customs and traditions. Christianity is perceived and practiced by the Armenian interviewees as a ‘cultural religion’ for the following reasons. They consider themselves to be Christians, but are not actively engaged in religious rituals or prayers. Christianity played an important role in the history of Armenians since it helped them preserve their ethnic identity and culture throughout history. Christianity has become an inseparable part of their culture since many Armenian customs and traditions are tightly connected to it and play an important role in their ethnic, national, cultural and religious identities. Interestingly enough, even those, who consider themselves to be atheists, conceive Christianity as an indispensable part of the Armenian culture and identity.2022-03-0

Effects of alcohol on interferon-gamma and tumor necrosis factor-alpha producing splenic CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes during lipopolysaccharide-induced endotoxemia in a surgical mice model

Der Anteil der Alkoholkranken beträgt bis zu 50% aller operativmedizinischen Patienten. Postoperative infektiöse Komplikationen treten bei ihnen vermehrt auf. Grammnegative Bakterien und vor allem E.Coli spielen bei der Entwicklung von nosokomialen Infektionen eine wichtige Rolle. T-Lymphozyten und von ihnen produzierte Tumornekrosefaktor-alpha (TNF-α) und Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) sind bei der Abwehr von Infektionen von großer Bedeutung. Zur Untersuchung der Auswirkung einer präoperativen Alkoholbehandlung auf die Immunantwort bei Infektion wurde ein operatives endotoxisches Mausmodell etabliert. 60 weibliche Balb/c Mäuse wurden acht Tage intraperitoneal mit Ethanol (3 g/kg Körpergewicht) oder 0,9%-Kochsalzlösung behandelt, bevor am achten Tag des Experiments eine mediane Laparotomie erfolgte. Am zweiten postoperativen Tag wurde zwei der Versuchsgruppen intraperitoneal Lypopolysaccharid (LPS) von E. coli appliziert. Die Gewichte der Tiere wurden im Verlaufe des Versuchs kontrolliert und ein klinischer Score erhoben. Am dritten postoperativen Tag erfolgte Euthanasie der Tiere mit darauf folgender Organentnahme. Milz T-Lymphozyten wurden isoliert und durchflusszytometrisch untersucht, indem die CD4 und CD8 T-Lymphozyten anhand ihrer TNFα- und IFNγ-Produktion detektiert und analysiert wurden. Zusätzlich wurden Milz und Leber histologisch untersucht. Nach LPS-Gabe und Ethanolbehandlung zeigte sich eine signifikante Reduktion von den TNF-α und IFN-γ produzierenden CD8+ T-Zellen. Die Anzahl der CD4+ T-Zellen blieb unverändert. Damit einher ging ein schlechterer klinischer Score. Histologisch konnten Anzeichen einer Entzündung nachgewiesen werden. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie zeigen, dass Alkohol beim Auftreten einer Infektion eine Beeinträchtigung der CD8-spezifischen Immunantwort hervorruft, was zu einer besonderen Anfälligkeit für Generalisierung des pathologischen Zustandes und einer weiteren Infektionsentwicklung führen kann.The rate of long-term alcoholic patients amounts up to 50% of all surgical patients. The postoperative infectious complications appear more frequently in that cases. Gramme negative bacteria and especially E.Coli play by the development of nosocomial infections an important role. T-lymphocytes and produced from them tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) are of great importance for the defense of infections. A surgical endotoxical mouse model was established to investigate the effect of a preoperative alcohol treatment upon the immune answer during infection. Sixty female Balb/c mice were pretreated with ethanol at a dose of 3 g/kg body weight or saline for 8 days. On the 8th day of the experiment all mice underwent a median laparotomy. Two days postsurgery two of the test groups were intraperitoneal applicated lypopolysaccharid (LPS) from E. coli. The weights of the animals have been controlled during the attempt and a clinical score was evaluated. On the third postoperative day an euthanasia of the animals took place with the following organ removal. The Spleen T-lymphocytes were isolated and flow cytometric analysed by detecting and examining of CD4 and CD8 T-lymphocytes with their TNF-α and IFN- γ production. Furthermore, spleen and liver were histologically analysed. The TNF-α and IFN-γ production of CD8+ T-cells was significantly decreased after LPS-application and ethanol treatment. The number of CD4+ T-cells remained unchanged. It came along with a worse clinical score. Histological symptoms of an inflammation could be proved. The results of this study show that alcohol causes an interference of the CD8 specific immune reaction at the appearance of infection, what can lead to a special susceptibility to generalisation of the pathological state and further infection development

PSYCHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS AS REACTIONS TO ENSURE THE WHOLENESS OF PERSONALITY

The article discusses the setting of the stress, posttraumatic stress disorder issue, the characteristics of psycho-physiological manifestations, personality characteristics and the typical stages oftheir impact on the body. It reveals the psychological analysis ofthe main characteristics for the prevention and it is suggested the ways and resources of psychological support of posttraumatic stress

Urban environment harmonious development in the pedestrian crossings’ organization process in Yerevan

From the beginning of the 20th century to the present day, the intensively developing transport system in the world causes new problems in the organization of the architectural environment. The invasion of vehicles into the urban environment brought about the need for new approaches due to the modern architectural organization of the spatial environment with the requirement to organize conditions that meet the comfort, safety and modern needs of human life activity. The subject of the study is the new problems generated by the rapidly developing transport system in the issue of comfortable life of the pedestrians in the architectural environment. Vehicles, especially in urban settlements, occupying huge territories, cause serious difficulties in the movement of pedestrians. As a result, regulated ground and underground crossings have become the main route of interchange in the city of Yerevan, which today need new approaches. The purpose of the article is to outline new approaches to improving the spatial environment aimed at improving the pedestrian-transportation relationship

Detection and development of a quantitation method for undeclared compounds in antidiabetic biologically active additives and its validation by high performance liquid chromatography

An isocratic, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) quantitation method was developed for the quantitative determination of metformin, glibenclamide, gliclazide, glimepiride in some antidiabetic biologically active additives. A Nucleosil C18, 5 μm, 4.6 mm × 150 mm, column with mobile phase containing buffer (10 mm Na2HPO4, 10 mm sodium dodecyl sulfate): acetonitrile = 68 : 32 (V/V), pH = 7.5 was used. The flow rate was 1.0 mL/min, and effluents were monitored at 226 nm. The retention times of gliclazide glibenclamide, glimepiride and metformin, were 2.203, 4.587, 5.667 and 10.182 min, respectively. Linearity was studied by preparing standard solutions of gliclazide, glibenclamide, glimepiride and metformin at the concentration range of 50% to 150% of working concentration from a stock solution. The method was successfully applied to the estimation of gliclazide, glibenclamide, glimepiride and metformin in some antidiabetic biologically active additives. This method was validated to confirm its system suitability, selectivity, linearity, precision and accuracy according to international conference on harmonization (ICH) guidelines

Ethanol-Induced Alterations of T Cells and Cytokines after Surgery in a Murine Infection Model

Background. Interactions between alcohol, infection, and surgery and their effect on differentiation and functionality of T helper cells are not yet completely understood. We hypothesized that alcohol and surgery disturb differentiation of T helper cells and contribute to an impaired immune response. Methods. Mice were treated with alcohol for two weeks. Saline treatment served as control. Clinical performance and weight were assessed. On day 14, a median laparotomy was performed and animals were challenged with Klebsiella pneumoniae intranasally. Bacterial load was determined in lungs and blood. T helper cell subpopulations and the released cytokines were assessed in lungs, spleens, and plasma. Key transcription factors of T cell differentiation were evaluated. Results. Alcohol significantly impaired clinical appearance and body weight of animals with postsurgical infection (p<0.05). Bacterial load was significantly higher after alcohol treatment (p<0.05). T helper cell subsets and released cytokine levels were significantly altered in lung, but not in spleen. Expression of transcription factors of T helper cell lineage commitment did not translate into different counts of T helper cells. Conclusions. Alcohol and surgery lead to significant cellular and functional modulations of T helper cells during postsurgical infection. These effects may contribute to an impaired immune response after surgery