Brückenexkursion in die Schweiz

Bericht einer Exkursion des Fakultät Bauingenieurwesen der Hochschule Konstanz zu markanten Brückenbauwerken in der Ostschweiz. Vorgestellt werden ca. 14 Brückenbauwerke mit Bildern und wesentlichen Konstruktionsdetails

EuRegionale 2008: Drei + drei + fünf = eine Region?!

Die Bedeutung von Kommunikation nimmt bei grenzüberschreitenden Regional­entwicklungsprojekten zu. Ein Beispiel ist das Drei-Länder-Land um Aachen, das derzeit die EuRegionale 2008 vorbereitet. Aus dem Entwicklungsprozess des Konzeptes lassen sich erste Schlussfolgerungen für ein grenzüberschreitendes Regionalmanagement ableite

Prevalence of loneliness among older adults in Germany

Background: Loneliness refers to the subjective perception of a mismatch between a person’s social needs and their actual personal relationships. In this paper, the prevalence of loneliness in the older population was examined based on current data. Methods: The German Ageing Survey is an ongoing, population-representative study. A total of 4,261 people 50 years of age and older were surveyed in 2020/2021 with regard to their experience of loneliness. Results: Overall, 8.3 % of the population 50 years of age and older feel lonely. The findings showed no differences between different age groups over 50 years of age, nor are there gender or educational differences. Conclusions: There was no evidence that older individuals living in private households experience loneliness more commonly than middle-aged individuals. Data from nursing home residents indicate that there may be a higher risk of loneliness

Prevalence of loneliness among older adults in Germany

Loneliness refers to the subjective perception of a mismatch between a person’s social needs and their actual personal relationships. In this paper, the prevalence of loneliness in the older population was examined based on current data. Methods: The German Ageing Survey is an ongoing, population-representative study. A total of 4,261 people 50 years of age and older were surveyed in 2020/2021 with regard to their experience of loneliness. Results: Overall, 8.3 % of the population 50 years of age and older feel lonely. The findings showed no differences between different age groups over 50 years of age, nor are there gender or educational differences. Conclusions: There was no evidence that older individuals living in private households experience loneliness more commonly than middle-aged individuals. Data from nursing home residents indicate that there may be a higher risk of lonelines

Need, Equity, and Accountability – Evidence on Third-Party Distributive Decisions from an Online Experiment

We report the results of a vignette experiment with a quota sample of the German population in which we analyze the interplay between need, equity, and accountability in third-party distributive decisions. We asked subjects to divide firewood between two hypothetical persons who either differ in their need for heat or in their productivity in terms of their ability to chop wood. The experiment systematically varies the persons’ accountability for their neediness as well as for their productivity. We find that subjects distribute significantly fewer logs of wood to persons who are held accountable for their disadvantage. Independently of being held accountable or not, the needier person is always compensated with a share of logs that exceeds her contribution, while the person who contributes less is punished in terms of receiving a share of logs smaller than her need share. Moreover, there is a domain effect in terms of subjects being more sensitive to lower contributions than to greater need

Gas-Phase Fluorination on PLA Improves Cell Adhesion and Spreading

For the regeneration or creation of functional tissues, biodegradable biomaterials including polylactic acid (PLA) are widely preferred. Modifications of the material surface are quite common to improve cell-material interactions and thereby support the biological outcome. Typical approaches include a wet chemical treatment with mostly hazardous substances or a functionalization with plasma. In the present study, gas-phase fluorination was applied to functionalize the PLA surfaces in a simple and one-step process. The biological response including biocompatibility, cell adhesion, cell spreading, and proliferation was analyzed in cell culture experiments with fibroblasts L929 and correlated with changes in the surface properties. Surface characterization methods including surface energy and isoelectric point measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy were applied to identify the effects of fluorination on PLA. Gas-phase fluorination causes the formation of C-F bonds in the PLA backbone, which induce a shift to a more hydrophilic and polar surface. The slightly negatively charged surface dramatically improves cell adhesion and spreading of cells on the PLA even with low fluorine content. The results indicate that this improved biological response is protein-but not integrin-dependent. Gas-phase fluorination is therefore an efficient technique to improve cellular response to biomaterial surfaces without losing cytocompatibility. Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society

Verbreitung von Einsamkeit bei älteren Erwachsenen in Deutschland

Hintergrund: Einsamkeit bezeichnet das subjektive Gefühl einer Kluft zwischen den persönlichen sozialen Bedürfnissen und den tatsächlichen persönlichen Beziehungen. Anhand aktueller Daten wird die Verbreitung von Einsamkeit in der älteren Bevölkerung betrachtet. Methode: Der Deutsche Alterssurvey ist eine regelmäßige, bevölkerungsrepräsentative Studie. 4.261 Personen ab 50 Jahren wurden 2020/2021 zum Erleben von Einsamkeit befragt. Ergebnisse: Insgesamt sind 8,3 % der Bevölkerung ab 50 Jahren einsam. Die Befunde zeigen keine Unterschiede zwischen verschiedenen Altersgruppen ab 50 Jahren, ebenso wenig sind Geschlechts- oder Bildungsunterschiede festzustellen. Schlussfolgerungen: Bei älteren Menschen in Privathaushalten gibt es keine Hinweise darauf, dass sie stärker von Einsamkeit betroffen sind als jene im mittleren Alter. Auf höhere Einsamkeitsrisiken weisen Daten von Heimbewohnerinnen und -bewohnern hin

Verbreitung von Einsamkeit bei älteren Erwachsenen in Deutschland

Einsamkeit bezeichnet das subjektive Gefühl einer Kluft zwischen den persönlichen sozialen Bedürfnissen und den tatsächlichen persönlichen Beziehungen. Anhand aktueller Daten wird die Verbreitung von Einsamkeit in der älteren Bevölkerung betrachtet. Methode: Der Deutsche Alterssurvey ist eine regelmäßige, bevölkerungsrepräsentative Studie. 4.261 Personen ab 50 Jahren wurden 2020/2021 zum Erleben von Einsamkeit befragt. Ergebnisse: Insgesamt sind 8,3 % der Bevölkerung ab 50 Jahren einsam. Die Befunde zeigen keine Unterschiede zwischen verschiedenen Altersgruppen ab 50 Jahren, ebenso wenig sind Geschlechts- oder Bildungsunterschiede festzustellen. Schlussfolgerungen: Bei älteren Menschen in Privathaushalten gibt es keine Hinweise darauf, dass sie stärker von Einsamkeit betroffen sind als jene im mittleren Alter. Auf höhere Einsamkeitsrisiken weisen Daten von Heimbewohnerinnen und -bewohnern hin

Cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma (PPARG) Are Stage-Dependent Prognostic Markers of Malignant Melanoma

Using tissue microarrays (TMAs) we studied COX2/PPARG immunoreactivity in a broad spectrum of tumors focussing on clinicopathological correlations and the outcome of patients with malignant melanoma (MM). TMA-1 contained normal and tumor tissues (n = 3448) from 47 organs including skin neoplasms (n = 323); TMA-2 88 primary MM, 101 metastases, and 161 benign nevi. Based on a biomodulatory approach combining COX/PPAR-targeting with metronomic low-dose chemotherapy metastases of 36 patients participating in a randomized trial with metastatic (stage IV) melanoma were investigated using TMA-3. COX2/PPARG immunoreactivity significantly increased from nevi to primary MM and metastases; COX2 positivity was associated with advanced Clark levels and shorter recurrence-free survival. Patients with PPARG-positive metastases and biomodulatory metronomic chemotherapy alone or combined with COX2/PPARG-targeting showed a significantly prolonged progression-free survival. Regarding primary MM, COX2 expression indicates an increased risk of tumor recurrence. In metastatic MM, PPARG expression may be a predicitive marker for response to biomodulatory stroma-targeted therapy