Early food production in the Sahel of Burkina Faso

This paper is concerned with the transition from hunting and gathering to food production in West Africa, based on evidence from the Sahel Zone of Burkina Faso compiled by field research during the last years. Our study intends to enhance the knowledge about the West African versions of this transition, traditionally seen as one of the most fundamental changes in human prehistory. Embedded in an interregional program the Sahel Zone of Burkina Faso has proved to be one of its most unexpected examples

Kinetic calibration of the calcium indicator arsenazo III. I. Stopped-flow spectroscopy

Clemen S, Rabl C-R, Neumann E. Kinetic calibration of the calcium indicator arsenazo III. I. Stopped-flow spectroscopy. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes. 1988;938(3):456-460

Microvascular Impairment in Patients With Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Assessed With Arterial Spin Labeling Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Pilot Study

In this pilot study, we investigated microvascular impairment in patients with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) using non-invasive arterial spin labeling (ASL) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This method enabled us to measure the perfusion parameters, cerebral blood flow (CBF), and arterial transit time (ATT), and the effective T1-relaxation time (T1eff) to research a novel approach of assessing perivascular clearance. CSVD severity was characterized using the Standards for Reporting Vascular Changes on Neuroimaging (STRIVE) and included a rating of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), lacunes, enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVSs), and cerebral microbleeds (CMBs). Here, we found that CBF decreases and ATT increases with increasing CSVD severity in patients, most prominent for a white matter (WM) region-of-interest, whereas this relation was almost equally driven by WMHs, lacunes, EPVSs, and CMBs. Additionally, we observed a longer mean T1eff of gray matter and WM in patients with CSVD compared to elderly controls, providing an indication of impaired clearance in patients. Mainly T1eff of WM was associated with CSVD burden, whereas lobar lacunes and CMBs contributed primary to this relation compared to EPVSs of the centrum semiovale. Our results complement previous findings of CSVD-related hypoperfusion by the observation of retarded arterial blood arrival times in brain tissue and by an increased T1eff as potential indication of impaired clearance rates using ASL

Ist die Etablierung eines Hörscreenings in Schuleinrichtungen für geistig Behinderte notwendig? : das hessische Healthy Hearing Projekt der deutschen Special Olympics

Geistig behinderte Personen haben ein erhöhtes Risiko für eine Hörbehinderung. Häufig nicht erkannt und therapiert führt das zu einer reduzierten Lebensqualität. Aus diesem Grunde wurde Healthy Hearing in das Healthy Athletes Programm der Special Olympics mit aufgenommen. Seit der Einführung des Healthy Athletes Programms in die deutschen Special Olympics im Jahre 2004 betreut die Phoniatrie/Pädaudiologie des Universitätsklinikums Frankfurt M. das Projekt "Healthy Hearing". Während der deutschen Special Olympics Sommerspiele 2004, 2006 und 2008 erhielten 1944 Athleten ein Hörscreening nach den internationalen Richtlinien. Das Ergebnis: viele Athleten sind medizinisch unterversorgt. Aus diesem Grunde wurde eine hessische Healthy Athletes Gruppe gebildet, die zur Verifizierung der Prävalenz von geistig behinderten Schülern in einem Pilotprojekt 198 geistig behinderte Schüler (76 Mädchen, 122 Jungen; Altersmedian 12 Jahre, Spanne 6–20 Jahre) einer Frankfurter Schuleinrichtung mit dem Hörscreening des Healthy Athletes Programms untersuchte. Dieses Hörscreening beinhaltet die Otoskopie, die Messung otoakustischer Emissionen und im Falle eines Fails die Tympanometrie bzw. Tonschwellenaudiometrie bei 0,5 kHz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz und 4 kHz. 152 der Schüler konnten so komplett erfasst werden. Davon zeigten 119 ein Pass, 33 ein Fail. 98 erhielten die Empfehlung zu weiteren Kontrollen. Diese Ergebnisse unterstreichen die Wichtigkeit der Einführung eines regelmäßigen Hörscreenings in Schuleinrichtungen für geistig Behinderte

SuperNatural: a searchable database of available natural compounds

Although tremendous effort has been put into synthetic libraries, most drugs on the market are still natural compounds or derivatives thereof. There are encyclopaedias of natural compounds, but the availability of these compounds is often unclear and catalogues from numerous suppliers have to be checked. To overcome these problems we have compiled a database of ∼50 000 natural compounds from different suppliers. To enable efficient identification of the desired compounds, we have implemented substructure searches with typical templates. Starting points for in silico screenings are about 2500 well-known and classified natural compounds from a compendium that we have added. Possible medical applications can be ascertained via automatic searches for similar drugs in a free conformational drug database containing WHO indications. Furthermore, we have computed about three million conformers, which are deployed to account for the flexibilities of the compounds when the 3D superposition algorithm that we have developed is used. The SuperNatural Database is publicly available at . Viewing requires the free Chime-plugin from MDL (Chime) or Java2 Runtime Environment (MView), which is also necessary for using Marvin application for chemical drawing

ENHANCING MUNICIPAL ANALYTICS CAPABILITIES TO ENABLE SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORTATION

Intermodal mobility, the IT-enabled, seamless transition between different modes of transportation to reach one’s destination, is a promising approach towards reducing the environmental footprint of urban mobility. We introduce a prototype, a geospatial data analytics system, that allows decision-makers at the municipal level to better understand how different means of transportation interact and interfere with each other within their city. Through a demonstration case, we particularly focus on the relationship between public transportation and private sector carsharing services in the city of Berlin. We outline the methods employed by the prototype to investigate the spatial and temporal dimensions of carsharing usage and how they relate to public transport offers. Our results suggest that carsharing complements public transport in some ways – e.g. by linking parts of the city with an insufficient public transport connection but also low demand – while potentially cannibalizing customers from public transport in the city center due to the increased comfort. We conclude by discussing how stakeholders can transform these insights into actionable advice

Warum Facebook Spaß macht: Freudvolles Erleben in sozialen Netzwerkdiensten

1 EINLEITUNG Kaum eine Anwendung des Internet hat in den letzten Jahren eine ähnlich dynamische Entwicklung genommen wie soziale Netzwerkdienste. Insbesondere Facebook hat mit seinen etwa 955 Millionen Nutzern (Stand Juni 2012) eine beispiellose Diffusionsdynamik entfaltet. Nach Boyd und Ellison [BE08] sind soziale Netzwerkdienste durch drei wesentliche Funktionen gekennzeichnet. Sie erlauben ihren individuellen Nutzern: (1) die Einrichtung eines öffentlichen oder halb-öffentlichen Profils, (2) das Anlegen einer Liste anderer Nutzer zu denen eine Verbindung besteht und (3) das Visualisieren und Traversieren der eigenen Liste und der Listen anderer Benutzer. Daneben beinhalten die verschiedenen Netzwerkdienste inzwischen eine Reihe weiterer Funktionen. So hat sich um Facebook durch die Bereitstellung einer Programmierschnittstelle ein ganzes Ökosystem von Anwendungen, wie etwa Social Games oder Voting-Apps, entwickelt. [...

COESÃO EM UM GRUPO DE APOIO A MULHERES COM CÂNCER DE MAMA

Este estudo investigou a coesão num grupo de apoio a mulheres com câncer de mama. Um dos fatores terapêuticos que, segundo Yalom, opera no grupo é a coesão. É caracterizada por uma atmosfera de confiança e aceitação. Participaram da pesquisa oito mulheres, integrantes de um grupo de apoio a mulheres com o diagnóstico de câncer de mama, cadastradas no serviço de oncologia de um hospital da região norte do Rio Grande do Sul. Os dados foram coletados através de uma entrevista em um grupo focal. As transcrições formaram o corpus que foi analisado com base nas categorias para elucidar os fatores terapêuticos que determinam a coesão. As categorias de resultados referem-se a sua dinâmica funcional, os sentimentos interpessoais compartilhados, altruísmo, ajuda mútua, solidariedade, suas conquistas, ideias a respeito do câncer e da morte, fatores de mudança e busca por outros recursos