"Leiden mit Geduld" - Schmerz und Geschlecht im 19. Jahrhundert: Praxistheoretische Rekonstruktionen

Die Forschung zur Geschichte des Schmerzes ist wesentlich geprägt durch die Arbeiten von Elaine Scarry und David Morris, die in den späten 1980er- und frühen 1990er-Jahren im Kontext des Linguistic Turn in den Kulturwissenschaften entstanden sind. Scarry formulierte mit Blick auf die Medizin in den späten 1970er- und frühen 1980er-Jahren die These der "Inexpressibility" des Schmerzes. Schmerz sei der Ausdruck einer "radikalen Subjektivität", die es unmöglich mache, physischen Schmerz zu definieren oder zu beschreiben. Die Grundannahme des Beitrags ist, dass praxeologische Zugänge einen anderen Zugang zur Geschichte des Schmerzes ermöglichen. Nicht der bisher dominierenden Frage nach der Authentizität von Schmerz in den Quellen soll nachgegangen werden, sondern es geht darum, Praktiken im Umgang mit Schmerz zu analysieren. Untersucht werden soll, in welcher Weise Konzeptionen von Geschlecht den Praktiken zum Umgang mit Schmerz im 19. Jahrhundert implizit sind. Das Aufschreiben von Schmerz wird im Folgenden ebenfalls als Praktik begriffen.Research on the history of pain was significantly influenced by the work of Elaine Scarry and David Morris in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the context of the "linguistic turn" in cultural studies. Scarry developed the concept of the "inexpressibility" of pain in the late 1970s and early 1980s in regard to the field of medicine. According to Scarry, pain is an expression of "radical subjectivity", making it impossible to define or describe physical pain. The article argues that praxeological approaches open up new ways into the history of pain. The previously dominant question of how authentic descriptions of pain can be at reflecting the experiences of people concerned will be ignored here, i.e. whether pain can be adequately expressed in words. Rather, the article seeks to analyse practices when it comes to dealing with pain. The investigation focuses on the ways in which concepts of gender informed how pain was dealt with in the 19th century. Writing down and preserving descriptions of pain are also regarded as a practice

Wege zu einer "Patientengeschichte" des Sterbens im 19. Jahrhundert

Die Autorin sieht als Ziel ihres Beitrags, die Wege zu einer patientenzentrierten Geschichte des Sterbens aufzuzeigen, indem die analytische Reichweite der Quellen problematisiert wird und zugleich erste Ergebnisse dieser 'Rekonstruktionen' präsentiert werden. Neben dem medizinischen Diskurs über den Umgang mit Sterbenden um 1800 werden Dokumente über die Beziehungen zwischen Ärzten, Krankenpflegerinnen und Sterbenden in der Klinik und im häuslichen Bereich sowie über Reaktionen der Patienten auf das Sterben präsentiert. Auch wenn die Überlieferung der Situation sterbender Schwerkranker um 1800 wesentlich mehr über die Beschreibenden - Ärzte und Krankenpflegerinnen - aussagt als über die sterbenden Patienten und Patientinnen, so lässt sich aus den Quellen ersehen, wie Schwerkranke unterbürgerlicher Herkunft handelten - sie konnten entscheiden, keine ärztliche Hilfe in Anspruch zu nehmen bzw. den Besuch des Arztes abzulehnen. Umgekehrt hatten sie keine Wahl, wenn Ärzte sie "aufgaben" und sie nicht mehr als ihre Patienten ansahen. Sterbende traten auch als Handelnde in Erscheinung, wenn es um die religiöse Unterweisung durch die Krankenpflegerinnen und schließlich die religiöse Sterbebegleitung ging: Viele Schwerkranke widerstanden den Missionierungsversuchen der Pflegerinnen und machten so ihre Handlungsautonomie geltend. Obgleich an unheilbaren Krankheiten Leidende in der Regel im häuslichen Raum medizinisch versorgt und beim Sterben begleitet wurden, zeigen die analysierten Fallbeschreibungen aus frühmodernen Universitätskliniken, dass auch dort Sterbende medizinisch betreut wurden und das wissenschaftliche Interesse auch der palliativen Therapie galt. (ICG

Nitrogen recycling from the xylem in rice leaves: dependence upon metabolism and associated changes in xylem hydraulics

Measurements of amino acids in the guttation fluid and in the xylem exudates of cut leaves from intact plants provide evidence of the remarkable efficiency with which these nitrogenous compounds are reabsorbed from the xylem sap. This could be achieved by mechanisms involving intercellular transport and/or metabolism. Developmental changes in transcripts and protein showed that transcripts for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) increased from the base to the leaf tip, and were markedly increased by supplying asparagine. Supplying amino acids also increased the amounts of protein of PEPCK and, to a lesser extent, of pyruvate, Pi dikinase. PEPCK is present in the hydathodes, stomata and vascular parenchyma of rice leaves. Evidence for the role of PEPCK was obtained by using 3-mercaptopicolinic acid (MPA), a specific inhibitor of PEPCK, and by using an activation-tagged rice line that had an increase in PEPCK activity, to show that activation of PEPCK resulted in a decrease in N in the guttation fluid and that treatment by MPA resulted in an increase in amino acids in the guttation fluid and xylem sap towards the leaf tip. Furthermore, increasing PEPCK activity decreased the amount of guttation fluid, whereas decreasing PEPCK activity increased the amount of xylem sap or guttation fluid towards the leaf tip. The findings suggest the following hypotheses: (i) both metabolism and transport are involved in xylem recycling and (ii) excess N is the signal involved in modulating xylem hydraulics, perhaps via nutrient regulation of water-transporting aquaporins. Water relations and vascular metabolism and transport are thus intimately linked

Identifying options for funding the NHS and social care in the UK: international evidence

We investigate how other high-income countries have thought about and implemented changes to their funding systems for health and social care to better meet the challenges ahead. This paper is part of a broader project funded by the Health Foundation, which aims to identify a range of feasible options for the future funding of health and social care in the four countries of the UK, and assess the relative (un-)attractiveness of different funding approaches to the general public. The research reported here examines trends and innovations in health and social care funding in a selection of high-income countries. We focus on where the money to pay for care comes from, not on how it is then spent. Drawing on a review of the literature and interviews with 30 key informants in a range of high-income countries, we explore current thinking on the options for funding health care and social care. Our aim is to add to the evidence base and improve the quality of the debate, rather than make recommendations. Specifically, we: • provide examples of funding configurations for health and social care, as well as changes that have been implemented, or are being considered, in a range of high income countries • explore the drivers of recent or planned health and social care funding changes and reforms and the contexts within which decisions around funding were taken • highlight key points that can inform the range of conceivable options for funding health care and social care in the four countries of the UK. Overall we find that: • most reviewed countries fund health care primarily from public sources, such as taxation and mandatory health insurance, while social care often relies to a comparatively greater extent on individuals paying privately • health and social care funding reforms tend to be incremental rather than radical, are path-dependent, and are catalysed by changes in economic conditions rather than by rising demand for care • high-income countries have taken diverse approaches to tackling the need to increase health and social care funding and there is no single optimal, or commonly preferred, solution to achieving sustainable revenues

The European antibody network's practical guide to finding and validating suitable antibodies for research

[EN]Antibodies are widely exploited as research/diagnostic tools and therapeutics. Despite providing exciting research opportunities, the multitude of available antibodies also offers a bewildering array of choice. Importantly, not all companies comply with the highest standards, and thus many reagents fail basic validation tests. The responsibility for antibodies being fit for purpose rests, surprisingly, with their user. This paper condenses the extensive experience of the European Monoclonal Antibody Network to help researchers identify antibodies specific for their target antigen. A stepwise strategy is provided for prioritising antibodies and making informed decisions regarding further essential validation requirements. Web-based antibody validation guides provide practical approaches for testing antibody activity and specificity. We aim to enable researchers with little or no prior experience of antibody characterization to understand how to determine the suitability of their antibody for its intended purpose, enabling both time and cost effective generation of high quality antibody-based data fit for publication.SIOur research has been supported by funding from Cancer Research UK (Program A10702 to A.H.B) and Bloodwise (Program 13047 to A.H.B). The research was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Center based at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and University of Oxford. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. Grant No 310/6 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to F.K.-N. Grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI14/00703, PN de I+D+I 2013-2016) and the CSIC (201320E109 and 201420E109) to L.K. laboratory. Grants of the Spanish Ministry of Health (Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias, PI10/01039), Department of Education of Castilla and León Regional Government (Grant# LE007A10–2) and Mutua Madrileña Foundation (Basic research grants 2012) to J.I.R.B. This work was supported by a grant from the Dutch government to the Netherlands Institute for Regenerative Medicine (NIRM, grant No. FES0908)

Spotlights Lehre. Transferpaket zur Verzahnung und Vernetzung von Fachwissenschaft und Fachdidaktik.

Die vorliegende Publikation versteht sich als Ideengeber für die universitäre Lehre in der Lehrerbildung in Gestalt eines sogenannten Transferpakets. Sie berichtet über Ergebnisse des Teilprojekts ‚Spotlights-Lehre‘ des Projekts ‚Schnittstellen gestalten – Lehrerbildung entlang des Leitbildes des "Reflective Practitioner" an der Universität Bremen' im BMBF-Programm ‚Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung‘. Inhaltlich geht es um innovative Lehrprojekte zur Verzahnung und Vernetzung von Fachwissenschaft und Fachdidaktik, die das Ziel verfolgen, Fragmentierungserfahrungen von Lehramtsstudierenden in den Fächern Mathematik, Englisch, Romanistik, Geschichte und Inklusive Didaktik zu reduzieren. Zentrales Anliegen dieses Transferpakets ist es, Transferstrategien bereitzustellen, an Beispielen zu illustrieren und in Lehrbeschreibungen einzubetten. Umfassend wird gezeigt, wie die Designprozesse zur Lehre in den beiden zentralen Modellprojekten der Fächer Englisch und Mathematik gestaltet sowie die Transfer- und Vernetzungsstrategien gewonnen wurden

Multi-ancestry study of blood lipid levels identifies four loci interacting with physical activity.

Many genetic loci affect circulating lipid levels, but it remains unknown whether lifestyle factors, such as physical activity, modify these genetic effects. To identify lipid loci interacting with physical activity, we performed genome-wide analyses of circulating HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in up to 120,979 individuals of European, African, Asian, Hispanic, and Brazilian ancestry, with follow-up of suggestive associations in an additional 131,012 individuals. We find four loci, in/near CLASP1, LHX1, SNTA1, and CNTNAP2, that are associated with circulating lipid levels through interaction with physical activity; higher levels of physical activity enhance the HDL cholesterol-increasing effects of the CLASP1, LHX1, and SNTA1 loci and attenuate the LDL cholesterol-increasing effect of the CNTNAP2 locus. The CLASP1, LHX1, and SNTA1 regions harbor genes linked to muscle function and lipid metabolism. Our results elucidate the role of physical activity interactions in the genetic contribution to blood lipid levels

Effective Population Size and the Efficacy of Selection on the X Chromosomes of Two Closely Related Drosophila Species

The prevalence of natural selection relative to genetic drift is of central interest in evolutionary biology. Depending on the distribution of fitness effects of new mutations, the importance of these evolutionary forces may differ in species with different effective population sizes. Here, we survey population genetic variation at 105 orthologous X-linked protein coding regions in Drosophila melanogaster and its sister species D. simulans, two closely related species with distinct demographic histories. We observe significantly higher levels of polymorphism and evidence for stronger selection on codon usage bias in D. simulans, consistent with a larger historical effective population size on average for this species. Despite these differences, we estimate that <10% of newly arising nonsynonymous mutations have deleterious fitness effects in the nearly neutral range (i.e., −10 < Nes < 0) in both species. The inferred distributions of fitness effects and demographic models translate into surprisingly high estimates of the fraction of “adaptive” protein divergence in both species (∼85–90%). Despite evidence for different demographic histories, differences in population size have apparently played little role in the dynamics of protein evolution in these two species, and estimates of the adaptive fraction (α) of protein divergence in both species remain high even if we account for recent 10-fold growth. Furthermore, although several recent studies have noted strong signatures of recurrent adaptive protein evolution at genes involved in immunity, reproduction, sexual conflict, and intragenomic conflict, our finding of high levels of adaptive protein divergence at randomly chosen proteins (with respect to function) suggests that many other factors likely contribute to the adaptive protein divergence signature in Drosophila