Liebe deinen Nächsten wie dich selbst. Untersuchungen zum alttestamentlichen Gebot der Nächstenliebe (Lev 19,18)

Die vorliegende Studie bündelt die Auslegungsgeschichte zu einem Bibelvers, der in seiner Rezeption stark nachgewirkt hat. Hinzu treten zahlreiche weiterführende Erkenntnisse, die Verfasser durch das Integrieren biblischer und ausserbiblischer Perspektiven formulieren konnte. Neben intensiven Übersetzungsstudien zum Liebesgebot, wird vor allem durch die Diskussion der Kontextbegriffe das theologische Feld umrissen, das zu einer adäquaten Deutung und zum theologischen Verständnis beiträgt. Studien zum Verhältnis von Liebesgebot und Heiligkeitsgesetz sowie zur historischen Verortung des Liebesgebotes beleuchten die literarischen Kontexte und die Entstehungsgeschichte eindrücklich. Abschliessend nimmt Verf. eine systematische Verortung des Liebesgebotes vor: In diesem Rahmen gelingt es ihm, eine weiterführende theologische Perspektive zu präsentieren, die letztlich anknüpfungsfähig für die umliegenden theologischen Disziplinen ist

Interferon-beta-related tumefactive brain lesion in a Caucasian patient with neuromyelitis optica and clinical stabilization with tocilizumab

Background: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a severely disabling inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system and is often misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis (MS). There is increasing evidence that treatment options shown to be beneficial in MS, including interferon-β (IFN-β), are detrimental in NMO. Case presentation: We here report the first Caucasian patient with aquaporin 4 (AQP4) antibody (NMO-IgG)-seropositive NMO presenting with a tumefactive brain lesion on treatment with IFN-β. Disease started with relapsing optic neuritis and an episode of longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM) in the absence of any brain MRI lesions or cerebrospinal fluid-restricted oligoclonal bands. After initial misdiagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) the patient received subcutaneous IFN-β1b and, subsequently, subcutaneous IFN-β1a therapy for several years. Under this treatment, the patient showed persisting relapse activity and finally presented with a severe episode of subacute aphasia and right-sided hemiparesis due to a large T2 hyperintensive tumefactive lesion of the left brain hemisphere and a smaller T2 lesion on the right side. Despite rituximab therapy two further LETM episodes occurred, resulting in severe neurological deficits. Therapeutic blockade of the interleukin (IL)-6 signalling pathway by tocilizumab was initiated, followed by clinical and radiological stabilization. Conclusion: Our case (i) illustrates the relevance of correctly distinguishing NMO and MS since these disorders differ markedly in their responsiveness to immunomodulatory and -suppressive therapies; (ii) confirms and extends a previous report describing the development of tumefactive brain lesions under IFN-β therapy in two Asian NMO patients; and (iii) suggests tocilizumab as a promising therapeutic alternative in highly active NMO disease courses

Predicting the Response to Intravenous Immunoglobulins in an Animal Model of Chronic Neuritis

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) is a disabling autoimmune disorder of the peripheral nervous system (PNS). Intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIg) are effective in CIDP, but the treatment response varies greatly between individual patients. Understanding this interindividual variability and predicting the response to IVIg constitute major clinical challenges in CIDP. We previously established intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 deficient non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice as a novel animal model of CIDP. Here, we demonstrate that similar to human CIDP patients, ICAM-1 deficient NOD mice respond to IVIg treatment by clinical and histological measures. Nerve magnetic resonance imaging and histology demonstrated that IVIg ameliorates abnormalities preferentially in distal parts of the sciatic nerve branches. The IVIg treatment response also featured great heterogeneity allowing us to identify IVIg responders and non- responders. An increased production of interleukin (IL)-17 positively predicted IVIg treatment responses. In human sural nerve biopsy sections, high numbers of IL-17 producing cells were associated with younger age and shorter disease duration. Thus, our novel animal model can be utilized to identify prognostic markers of treatment responses in chronic inflammatory neuropathies and we identify IL-17 production as one potential such prognostic marker

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file

Multiple Scenario Generation of Subsurface Models:Consistent Integration of Information from Geophysical and Geological Data throuh Combination of Probabilistic Inverse Problem Theory and Geostatistics

Neutrinos with energies above 1017 eV are detectable with the Surface Detector Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The identification is efficiently performed for neutrinos of all flavors interacting in the atmosphere at large zenith angles, as well as for Earth-skimming \u3c4 neutrinos with nearly tangential trajectories relative to the Earth. No neutrino candidates were found in 3c 14.7 years of data taken up to 31 August 2018. This leads to restrictive upper bounds on their flux. The 90% C.L. single-flavor limit to the diffuse flux of ultra-high-energy neutrinos with an E\u3bd-2 spectrum in the energy range 1.0 7 1017 eV -2.5 7 1019 eV is E2 dN\u3bd/dE\u3bd < 4.4 7 10-9 GeV cm-2 s-1 sr-1, placing strong constraints on several models of neutrino production at EeV energies and on the properties of the sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays