Recent developments in linguistic annotations of the TüBa-D/Z treebank

The purpose of this paper is to describe recent developments in the morphological, syntactic, and semantic annotation of the TüBa-D/Z treebank of German. The TüBa-D/Z annotation scheme is derived from the Verbmobil treebank of spoken German [4, 10], but has been extended along various dimensions to accommodate the characteristics of written texts. TüBa-D/Z uses as its data source the "die tageszeitung" (taz) newspaper corpus. The Verbmobil treebank annotation scheme distinguishes four levels of syntactic constituency: the lexical level, the phrasal level, the level of topological fields, and the clausal level. The primary ordering principle of a clause is the inventory of topological fields, which characterize the word order regularities among different clause types of German, and which are widely accepted among descriptive linguists of German [3, 6]. The TüBa-D/Z annotation relies on a context-free backbone (i.e. proper trees without crossing branches) of phrase structure combined with edge labels that specify the grammatical function of the phrase in question. The syntactic annotation scheme of the TüBa-D/Z is described in more detail in [12, 11]. TüBa-D/Z currently comprises approximately 15 000 sentences, with approximately 7 000 sentences being in the correction phase. The latter will be released along with an updated version of the existing treebank before the end of this year. The treebank is available in an XML format, in the NEGRA export format [1] and in the Penn treebank bracketing format. The XML format contains all types of information as described above, the NEGRA export format contains all sentenceinternal information while the Penn treebank format includes only those layers of information that can be expressed as pure tree structures. Over the course of the last year, more fine grained linguistic annotations have been added along the following dimensions: 1. the basic Stuttgart-Tübingen tagset, STTS, [9] labels have been enriched by relevant features of inflectional morphology, 2. named entity information has been encoded as part of the syntactic annotation, and 3. a set of anaphoric and coreference relations has been added to link referentially dependent noun phrases. In the following sections, we will describe each of these innovations in turn and will demonstrate how the additional annotations can be incorporated into one comprehensive annotation scheme

Extrusion processing of rapeseed press cake-starch blends: Effect of starch type and treatment temperature on protein, fiber and starch solubility

For the valorization of oilseed press cakes into food products, extrusion can be used. A common way of applying the protein- and fiber-rich press cakes in directly expanded products is the combination thereof with starch, since starch gives a favourable texture, which correlates directly to expansion. To control product properties like expansion of protein and fiber-rich extruded products, the underlying physicochemical changes of proteins, fibers and starch due to thermomechanical input need to be comprehensively described. In this study, rapeseed press cake (RPC) was extruded and treated under defined thermomechanical conditions in a closed-cavity rheometer, pure and in combination with four starches. The impact of starch type (potato PS, waxy potato WPS, maize MS, high-amylose maize HAMS) and temperature (20/25, 80, 100, 120, 140 °C) on protein solubility, starch gelatinization (D$_{gel}$), starch hydrolysis (S$_{H}$) and fiber solubility of the blends was evaluated. The extrusion process conditions were significantly affected by the starch type. In the extruded blends, the starch type had a significant impact on the protein solubility which decreased with increasing barrel temperature. Increasing barrel temperatures significantly increased the amount of soluble fiber fractions in the blends. At defined thermomechanical conditions, the starch type showed no significant impact on the protein solubility of the blends. Therefore, the observed effects of starch type on the protein solubility of extruded blends could be attributed to the indistinct process conditions due to differences in the rheological properties of the starches rather than to molecular interactions of the starches with the rapeseed proteins in the blends

Long-term outcome of a randomized controlled universal prevention trial through a positive parenting program: is it worth the effort?

Hahlweg K, Heinrichs N, Kuschel A, Bertram H, Naumann S. Long-term outcome of a randomized controlled universal prevention trial through a positive parenting program: is it worth the effort? Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health. 2010;4(1): 14.Background Approximately 20% of children experience internalizing or externalizing DSM-IV-TR disorders. This prevalence rate cannot be reduced through treatment only. Effective preventive interventions are therefore urgently needed. The aim of the current investigation is to evaluate the two-year efficacy of the group Triple P parenting program administered universally for the prevention of child behavior problems. Methods Based on their respective preschool, N = 280 families were randomly assigned either to the parent training or to the control group. The efficacy was analyzed using multi-source assessments, including questionnaires by mother and father, behavioral observation of mother-child interaction, and teacher evaluations. Results At the 2-year follow-up, both parents in the Triple P intervention reported significant reductions in dysfunctional parenting behavior, and mothers also an increase in positive parenting behavior. In addition, mothers reported significant reductions in internalizing and externalizing child behavior. Single-parent mothers in the Triple P intervention did not report significant changes in parenting or child problem behavior which is primarily due to inexplicable high positive effects in single parent mothers of the control group. Neither mother-child interactions nor teacher ratings yielded significant results. Conclusions The results support the long-term efficacy of the Triple P - group program as a universal prevention intervention for changing parenting behavior in two-parent households, but not necessarily in single-parent mothers

Stepwise reprogramming of liver cells to a pancreas progenitor state by the transcriptional regulator Tgif2

The development of a successful lineage reprogramming strategy of liver to pancreas holds promises for the treatment and potential cure of diabetes. The liver is an ideal tissue source for generating pancreatic cells, because of its close developmental origin with the pancreas and its regenerative ability. Yet, the molecular bases of hepatic and pancreatic cellular plasticity are still poorly understood. Here, we report that the TALE homeoprotein TGIF2 acts as a developmental regulator of the pancreas versus liver fate decision and is sufficient to elicit liver-to-pancreas fate conversion both ex vivo and in vivo. Hepatocytes expressing Tgif2 undergo extensive transcriptional remodelling, which represses the original hepatic identity and, over time, induces a pancreatic progenitor-like phenotype. Consistently, in vivo forced expression of Tgif2 activates pancreatic progenitor genes in adult mouse hepatocytes. This study uncovers the reprogramming activity of TGIF2 and suggests a stepwise reprogramming paradigm, whereby a ‘lineage-restricted’ dedifferentiation step precedes the identity switch

Effects of acetyl-DL-leucine on cerebellar ataxia (ALCAT trial): study protocol for a multicenter, multinational, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover phase III trial

BACKGROUND: Cerebellar ataxia (CA) is a frequent and often disabling condition that impairs motor functioning and impacts on quality of life (QoL). No medication has yet been proven effective for the symptomatic or even causative treatment of hereditary or non-hereditary, non-acquired CA. So far, the only treatment recommendation is physiotherapy. Therefore, new therapeutic options are needed. Based on three observational studies, the primary objective of the acetyl-DL-leucine on ataxia (ALCAT) trial is to examine the efficacy and tolerability of a symptomatic therapy with acetyl-DL-leucine compared to placebo on motor function measured by the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) in patients with CA. METHODS/DESIGN: An investigator-initiated, multicenter, European, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2-treatment 2-period crossover phase III trial will be carried out. In total, 108 adult patients who meet the clinical criteria of CA of different etiologies (hereditary or non-hereditary, non-acquired) presenting with a SARA total score of at least 3 points will be randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to one of two different treatment sequences, either acetyl-DL-leucine (up to 5 g per day) followed by placebo or vice versa. Each sequence consists of two 6-week treatment periods, separated by a 4-week wash-out period. A follow-up examination is scheduled 4 weeks after the end of treatment. The primary efficacy outcome is the absolute change in the SARA total score. Secondary objectives are to demonstrate that acetyl-DL-leucine is effective in improving (1) motor function measured by the Spinocerebellar Ataxia Functional Index (SCAFI) and SARA subscore items and (2) QoL (EuroQoL 5 dimensions and 5 level version, EQ-5D-5 L), depression (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI-II) and fatigue (Fatigue Severity Score, FSS). Furthermore, the incidence of adverse events will be investigated. DISCUSSION: The results of this trial will inform whether symptomatic treatment with the modified amino-acid acetyl-DL-leucine is a worthy candidate for a new drug therapy to relieve ataxia symptoms and to improve patient care. If superiority of the experimental drug to placebo can be established it will also be re-purposing of an agent that has been previously used for the symptomatic treatment of dizziness. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was prospectively registered at www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu (EudraCT no. 2015-000460-34) and at https://www.germanctr.de (DRKS-ID: DRKS00009733 )

Does water stress affect composition and stabilization of SON? - A 15N labelling phytotron experiment

Comunicación oral S01.C.04, en la Sesión S01 Soil Organic Matter, dentro del capítulo Symposia.-- Congreso celebrado del 25-29 de agosto 2008, en Viena, Austria.Peer reviewe

Förderung der Elternkompetenz durch Triple P-Elterntrainings

In einer randomisierten Kontrollgruppenstudie wurden die Effekte der Teilnahme an einem Triple P-Elterntraining auf die Erziehungskompetenz untersucht. Insgesamt 280 Familien wurden per Zufall der Experimental- oder der Kontrollgruppe zugewiesen. Nach einer Prä-Messung nahm die Experimentalgruppe an einem Triple P-Elterntraining teil. Sechs bzw. zwölf Monate nach der Prä-Messung erfolgte die Post- bzw. Follow-Up-Untersuchung. Bei den Müttern zeigte sich eine Verbesserung der Erziehungskompetenz in der Experimentalgruppe im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe (weniger dysfunktionales, mehr positives Erziehungsverhalten). Bei den Vätern war ein Interventionseffekt nicht feststellbar, allerdings nahmen auch nur wenige Väter, und diese meist unregelmäßig, an dem Training teil. (ZPID

Robo signalling controls pancreatic progenitor identity by regulating Tead transcription factors

A role for Slit/Robo signalling in pancreas development has not been defined. Here, the authors generate Robo1/Robo2 knockout mice to identify both as needed for establishing initial pancreatic cell identity as well as for proliferation and survival of pancreatic progenitors

The RhoGAP Stard13 controls insulin secretion through F-actin remodeling

OBJECTIVE: Actin cytoskeleton remodeling is necessary for glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in pancreatic {beta}-cells. A mechanistic understanding of actin dynamics in the islet is paramount to a better comprehension of {beta}-cell dysfunction in diabetes. Here, we investigate the Rho GTPase regulator Stard13 and its role in F-actin cytoskeleton organization and islet function in adult mice. METHODS: We used Lifeact-EGFP transgenic animals to visualize actin cytoskeleton organization and dynamics in vivo in the mouse islets. Furthermore, we applied this model to study actin cytoskeleton and insulin secretion in mutant mice deleted for Stard13 selectively in pancreatic cells. We isolated transgenic islets for 3D-imaging and perifusion studies to measure insulin secretion dynamics. In parallel, we performed histological and morphometric analyses of the pancreas and used in vivo approaches to study glucose metabolism in the mouse. RESULTS: In this study, we provide the first genetic evidence that Stard13 regulates insulin secretion in response to glucose. Postnatally, Stard13 expression became restricted to the mouse pancreatic islets. We showed that Stard13 deletion results in a marked increase in actin polymerization in islet cells, which is accompanied by severe reduction of insulin secretion in perifusion experiments. Consistently, Stard13-deleted mice displayed impaired glucose tolerance and reduced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our results suggest a previously unappreciated role for the RhoGAP protein Stard13 in the interplay between actin cytoskeletal remodeling and insulin secretion