Supplement to Koller, Maier, & Hatzinger: "An Empirical Power Analysis of Quasi-Exact Tests for the Rasch Model: Measurement Invariance in Small Samples"

This document is a supplementary text to "An Empirical Power Analysis of Quasi-Exact Tests for the Rasch Model: Measurement Invariance in Small Samples" by Koller, Maier, & Hatzinger (to be published in Methodology, ISSN-L 1614-1881), which covers all technical details regarding the simulation and its results. First, the simulation scenarios and the introduction of differential item functioning (DIF) are described. Next, the different populations' distributions that were investigated are discussed, and finally, actual type-I-error rates and empirical power are displayed for all simulated scenarios. (authors' abstract)Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematic

Osteopontin and `Melanoma Inhibitory Activity': Comparison of Two Serological Tumor Markers in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma Patients

Background: Evaluation of the protein osteopontin (OPN) as a potential new marker in comparison to melanoma inhibitory activity (MIA) for screening and detection of metastatic uveal melanoma. Methods: Plasma levels of 32 patients with uveal melanoma were analyzed for OPN and MIA by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Fourteen of these patients had clinically detectable liver metastases. Results: Median plasma concentration of OPN in patients with metastatic disease was 152.01 ng/ml compared to 47.39 ng/ml in patients without clinically detectable metastases (p < 0.001). The difference between the median MIA plasma levels in patients with (13.11 ng/ml) and patients without (5.64 ng/ml) metastatic disease was also statistically significant (p < 0.001). No correlation could be found between MIA or OPN levels and tumor height in patients without clinically detectable metastases. Conclusion: The proteins MIA and OPN seem to be promising tumor markers for the metastasis screening in patients with uveal melanoma. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Base

Chapter Русский перевод книги Антуана де Плювинеля

In the second half of the 17th century, the translators of the Russian ambassadorial office had to translate a large number of books. Among them, the equestrian books by Antoine de Pluvinel from the 1620s stand out: Maneige Royal and L'Instruction du Roy / Reitkunst. Ingrid Maier focuses on the Russian translation of L'Instruction du Roy / Reitkunst from 1677, but the history of this edition is inseparable from that of Maneige Royal. The author compares selected fragments of the translations. Even this first selective analysis leads to surprising insights into translation techniques and the translators' interventions in the texts

Gathering Information for The Kuranty and Translation Technique at the Collegium of Foreign Affairs in the 1720s

This paper deals with the Kuranty (digests of foreign newspapers) during the 1720s. The authors’ main focus is on the work of translators of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs on selection of materials for translation out of the newspapers sent to the Collegium by regular mail. The translation technique used for translating the foreign newspapers has also been analyzed. One of the conclusions consists in the fact that before translating newspapers, translators made notes in original texts thus marking the fragments necessary for translation, then they translated those fragments and passed the texts for reviewing to the heads of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, who decided, which of the translated articles had to be presented to the Russian diplomats. During the 1720s, in contrast to the practice adopted in the 17th century, the Kuranty was a tool for not only learning about foreign events, but also for keeping the European newspapers under observation. A comparison of the translation techniques applied for the “old” and the “new” Kuranty shows that these techniques had not changed a lot since the 1670s: in both cases the translators put aside irrelevant information. For instance, they left out entire sentences, if they were of low importance for the Russian officials, and so forth. Talking about the newspaper articles, which have been compared with their German originals, they may be characterized as more accurate than the Kuranty of the 1670s – almost every single word of the original German text had an equivalent in the translation. Generally speaking, the professional level of the translators – which was quite high already in the 1660s–1670s – had improved still more during the reign of Peter I

Иностранные известия о казни Степана Разина. Новые документы из стокгольмского архива

This paper analyzes reports written by foreign authors about the execution of Stepan Razin. The main focus is on two dispatches written by the Swedish citizen and merchant in Moscow, Christoff Koch, in May–June 1671 and sent to Narva, and from there, they were forwarded to the Swedish capital, among other places. They are now kept at the State Archives in Stockholm, and they have not been discussed previously in the scholarly literature. The paper contains the full translation into Russian of two long reports written by Koch about Razin’s capture, delivery to Moscow, interrogation, and execution, with our comments. Special attention is given to a unique colored drawing, showing the brothers, Stepan and Frol Razin, as well as the body parts of the executed Stepan. From the written documents it becomes clear that the drawing was sent from Moscow to the governor of Swedish Ingria in Narva, and then forwarded to Stockholm, together with the two Koch dispatches. The authors come to the conclusion that several copies must have been made and that they were intentionally distributed among foreigners in Moscow. Most probably only one copy has survived to our days, the one in Stockholm. Arguments are given for the hypothesis that one copy of the drawing ended up in England and served as the prototype for the well-known imprint of 1672, which shows the Razin brothers when they were being delivered to Moscow. In our study we also compare the information given by Koch with descriptions of Razin’s death that were published in West-European newspapers, pamphlets, and books during the 1670s. This comparison brings us to the conclusion that the information about the execution of the leader of the rebellion reached the European press from several witnesses to the events, and that, over time, the original information was filled out with invented details.В статье анализируются сообщения западноевропейских источников о казни Степана Разина. При этом в центре внимания находятся обнаруженные в стокгольмском Государственном архиве и до настоящего времени не введенные в научный оборот донесения шведского купца в Москве Кристофа Коха, отправленные им в мае–июне 1671 г. в Нарву, откуда они пересылались, в частности, в шведскую столицу. В статье приводится полный русский пере вод двух длинных писем Коха, посвященных поимке, допросу и казни Разина, с нашими комментариями. Особое внимание уделено уникальному раскрашенному рисунку, изображающему плененных Степана и Фрола Разиных и части тела казненного Степана. Из документов следует, что рисунок был отправлен из Москвы ингерманландскому губернатору в Нарве, а оттуда дальше в Стокгольм, вместе с двумя донесениями Коха. Авторы приходят к выводу, что подобных рисунков в Москве было сделано несколько, и что они специально распространялись среди иностранцев. По всей вероятности, только один экземпляр сохранился до наших дней, а именно в Стокгольме. Приводятся аргументы в пользу предположения, что один из рисунков оказался в Англии и там послужил прототипом для известной гра вюры 1672 г., изображающей братьев Разиных в момент доставки в Москву. В рамках исследования также проведено подробное сопоставление информации, сообщаемой в донесениях Коха, с рассказами о смерти Разина, опубликованными в западноевропейских газетах, брошюрах и книгах 1670-х гг. Такое сопоставление позволяет заключить, что сведения о казни главы восстания попадали в европейскую печать от нескольких информантов — свидетелей событий, причем эти рассказы со временем начинали обрастать вымышленными деталями

Skeletal muscle alterations in tachycardia-induced heart failure are linked to deficient natriuretic peptide signalling and are attenuated by RAS-/NEP-inhibition

Background Heart failure induced cachexia is highly prevalent. Insights into disease progression are lacking. Methods Early state of left ventricular dysfunction (ELVD) and symptomatic systolic heart failure (HF) were both induced in rabbits by tachypacing. Tissue of limb muscle (LM) was subjected to histologic assessment. For unbiased characterisation of early and late myopathy, a proteomic approach followed by computational pathway-analyses was performed and combined with pathway-focused gene expression analyses. Specimen of thoracic diaphragm (TD) served as control for inactivity-induced skeletal muscle alterations. In a subsequent study, inhibition of the renin-angiotensin-system and neprilysin (RAS-/NEP) was compared to placebo. Results HF was accompanied by loss of protein content (8.7±0.4% vs. 7.0±0.5%, mean±SEM, control vs. HF, p<0.01) and a slow-to-fast fibre type switch, establishing hallmarks of cachexia. In ELVD, the enzymatic set-up of LM and TD shifted to a catabolic state. A disturbed malate-aspartate shuttle went well with increased enzymes of glycolysis, forming the enzymatic basis for enforced anoxic energy regeneration. The histological findings and the pathway analysis of metabolic results drew the picture of suppressed PGC-1α signalling, linked to the natriuretic peptide system. In HF, natriuretic peptide signalling was desensitised, as confirmed by an increase in the ratio of serum BNP to tissue cGMP (57.0±18.6pg/ml/nM/ml vs. 165.8±16.76pg/ml/nM/ml, p<0.05) and a reduced expression of natriuretic peptide receptor-A. In HF, combined RAS-/NEP-inhibition prevented from loss in protein content (8.7±0.3% vs. 6.0±0.6% vs. 8.3±0.9%, Baseline vs. HF-Placebo vs. HF-RAS/NEP, p<0.05 Baseline vs. HF-Placebo, p = 0.7 Baseline vs. HF-RAS/NEP). Conclusions Tachypacing-induced heart failure entails a generalised myopathy, preceding systolic dysfunction. The characterisation of “pre-cachectic” state and its progression is feasible. Early enzymatic alterations of LM depict a catabolic state, rendering LM prone to futile substrate metabolism. A combined RAS-/NEP-inhibition ameliorates cardiac-induced myopathy independent of systolic function, which could be linked to stabilised natriuretic peptide/cGMP/PGC-1α signalling

Effects of point source emission heights in WRF–STILT: a step towards exploiting nocturnal observations in models

An appropriate representation of point source emissions in atmospheric transport models is very challenging. In the Stochastic Time-Inverted Lagrangian Transport model (STILT), all point source emissions are typically released from the surface, meaning that the actual emission stack height plus subsequent plume rise is not considered. This can lead to erroneous predictions of trace gas concentrations, especially during nighttime when vertical atmospheric mixing is minimal. In this study we use two Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)–STILT model approaches to simulate fossil fuel CO2 (ffCO2) concentrations: (1) the standard “surface source influence (SSI)” approach and (2) an alternative “volume source influence (VSI)” approach where nearby point sources release CO2 according to their effective emission height profiles. The comparison with 14C-based measured ffCO2 data from 2-week integrated afternoon and nighttime samples collected at Heidelberg, 30 m above ground level shows that the root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) between modelled and measured ffCO2 is indeed almost twice as high during the night (RMSD =6.3 ppm) compared to the afternoon (RMSD =3.7 ppm) when using the standard SSI approach. In contrast, the VSI approach leads to a much better performance at nighttime (RMSD =3.4 ppm), which is similar to its performance during afternoon (RMSD =3.7 ppm). Representing nearby point source emissions with the VSI approach could thus be a first step towards exploiting nocturnal observations in STILT. The ability to use nighttime observations in atmospheric inversions would dramatically increase the observational data and allow for the investigation of different source mixtures or diurnal cycles. To further investigate the differences between these two approaches, we conducted a model experiment in which we simulated the ffCO2 contributions from 12 artificial power plants with typical annual emissions of 1 million tonnes of CO2 and with distances between 5 and 200 km from the Heidelberg observation site. We find that such a power plant must be more than 50 km away from the observation site in order for the mean modelled ffCO2 concentration difference between the SSI and VSI approach to fall below 0.1 ppm during situations with low mixing heights smaller than 500 m

Soluble iron modulates iron oxide particle-induced inflammatory responses via prostaglandin E2 synthesis: In vitro and in vivo studies

© 2009 Beck-Speier et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Monoallelic Mutations in the Translation Initiation Codon of KLHL24 Cause Skin Fragility

The genetic basis of epidermolysis bullosa, a group of genetic disorders characterized by the mechanically induced formation of skin blisters, is largely known, but a number of cases still remain genetically unsolved. Here, we used whole-exome and targeted sequencing to identify monoallelic mutations, c.1A>G and c.2T>C, in the translation initiation codon of the gene encoding kelch-like protein 24 (KLHL24) in 14 individuals with a distinct skin-fragility phenotype and skin cleavage within basal keratinocytes. Remarkably, mutation c.1A>G occurred de novo and was recurrent in families originating from different countries. The striking similarities of the clinical features of the affected individuals point to a unique and very specific pathomechanism. We showed that mutations in the translation initiation codon of KLHL24 lead to the usage of a downstreamtranslation initiation site with the same reading frame and formation of a truncated polypeptide. The pathobiology was examined in keratinocytes and fibroblasts of the affected individuals and via expression of mutant KLHL24, and we found mutant KLHL24 to be associated with abnormalities of intermediate filaments in keratinocytes and fibroblasts. In particular, KLHL24 mutations were associated with irregular and fragmented keratin 14. Recombinant overexpression of normal KLHL24 promoted keratin 14 degradation, whereas mutant KLHL24 showed less activity than the normal molecule. These findings identify KLHL24 mutations as a cause of skin fragility and identify a role for KLHL24 in maintaining the balance between intermediate filament stability and degradation required for skin integrity.Peer reviewe