Investigation of soluble adhesion molecules in cancer: beneficial approach or expensive toy? The case of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1)

Adhesion molecules are key topobiological components in almost any kind of cell-cell and cell-matrix interaction in both human physiology and pathology. Heterogeneous processes as platelet adhesion to subendothelial matrix components or leukocyte extravasation at sites of tissue damage are at least in part mediated by adhesion molecules and their corresponding receptors (counter receptors). Using a multitude of modem analytical and preparative approaches ranging from "simple" immunohistochemistry to cloning and gene transfer, in vitro studies provided detailed data on a variety of adhesion molecules and their receptors. However, compared to the speedy accumulation of basic knowledge the evaluation of the diagnostic usefulness of adhesion molecules is still in its infancy.Biomedical Reviews 1994; 3: 73-75

Analysis of differences and commonalities in wildlife hunting across the Africa-Europe South-North gradient

Hunting and its impacts on wildlife are typically studied regionally, with a particular focus on the Global South. Hunting can, however, also undermine rewilding efforts or threaten wildlife in the Global North. Little is known about how hunting manifests under varying socioeconomic and ecological contexts across the Global South and North. Herein, we examined differences and commonalities in hunting characteristics across an exemplary Global South-North gradient approximated by the Human Development Index (HDI) using face-to-face interviews with 114 protected area (PA) managers in 25 African and European countries. Generally, we observed that hunting ranges from the illegal, economically motivated, and unsustainable hunting of herbivores in the South to the legal, socially and ecologically motivated hunting of ungulates within parks and the illegal hunting of mainly predators outside parks in the North. Commonalities across this Africa-Europe South-North gradient included increased conflict-related killings in human-dominated landscapes and decreased illegal hunting with beneficial community conditions, such as mutual trust resulting from community involvement in PA management. Nevertheless, local conditions cannot outweigh the strong effect of the HDI on unsustainable hunting. Our findings highlight regional challenges that require collaborative, integrative efforts in wildlife conservation across actors, while identified commonalities may outline universal mechanisms for achieving this goal.publishedVersio

A new model of development of the mammalian ovary and follicles

Ovarian follicular granulosa cells surround and nurture oocytes, and produce sex steroid hormones. It is believed that during development the ovarian surface epithelial cells penetrate into the ovary and develop into granulosa cells when associating with oogonia to form follicles. Using bovine fetal ovaries (n = 80) we identified a novel cell type, termed GREL for Gonadal Ridge Epithelial-Like. Using 26 markers for GREL and other cells and extracellular matrix we conducted immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy and chronologically tracked all somatic cell types during development. Before 70 days of gestation the gonadal ridge/ovarian primordium is formed by proliferation of GREL cells at the surface epithelium of the mesonephros. Primordial germ cells (PGCs) migrate into the ovarian primordium. After 70 days, stroma from the underlying mesonephros begins to penetrate the primordium, partitioning the developing ovary into irregularly-shaped ovigerous cords composed of GREL cells and PGCs/oogonia. Importantly we identified that the cords are always separated from the stroma by a basal lamina. Around 130 days of gestation the stroma expands laterally below the outermost layers of GREL cells forming a sub-epithelial basal lamina and establishing an epithelial-stromal interface. It is at this stage that a mature surface epithelium develops from the GREL cells on the surface of the ovary primordium. Expansion of the stroma continues to partition the ovigerous cords into smaller groups of cells eventually forming follicles containing an oogonium/oocyte surrounded by GREL cells, which become granulosa cells, all enclosed by a basal lamina. Thus in contrast to the prevailing theory, the ovarian surface epithelial cells do not penetrate into the ovary to form the granulosa cells of follicles, instead ovarian surface epithelial cells and granulosa cells have a common precursor, the GREL cell.Katja Hummitzsch, Helen F. Irving-Rodgers, Nicholas Hatzirodos, Wendy Bonner, Laetitia Sabatier, Dieter P. Reinhardt, Yoshikazu Sado, Yoshifumi Ninomiya, Dagmar Wilhelm and Raymond J. Rodger

Praktikum

Hedtke R. Praktikum. In: Richter D, Reinhardt S, eds. Politik-Methodik. Handbuch für die Sekundarstufe I und II. Berlin: Cornelsen Scriptor; 2007: 83-87

Robotic Fabrication in Architecture, Art and Design 2016

The book presents the proceedings of Rob/Arch 2016, the third international conference on robotic fabrication in architecture, art, and design. The work contains a wide range of contemporary topics, from methodologies for incorporating dynamic material feedback into existing fabrication processes, to novel interfaces for robotic programming, to new processes for large-scale automated construction. The latent argument behind this research is that the term ‘file-to-factory’ must not be a reductive celebration of expediency but instead a perpetual challenge to increase the quality of feedback between design, matter, and making

Robotic Fabrication in Architecture, Art and Design 2016

The adoption of digital fabrication in the creative industries continues to accelerate as the potential for innovation and creative expression using robotics is being harnessed. ROB|ARCH2016 will provide hands-on experience with the most recent robotic technologies as well as a platform for dissemination and an opportunity for researchers and industry to exchange expertise, explore methods, compare techniques and forge new connections

Materially Informed Design to Robotic Production: A Robotic 3D Printing System for Informed Material Deposition

This paper presents and discusses the development of a materially informed Design-to-Robotic-Production (D2RP) process for additive manufacturing aiming to achieve performative porosity in architecture at various scales. An extended series of experiments on materiality employing robotic fabrication techniques were implemented in order to finally produce a prototype on one-to-one scale. In this context, design materiality has been approached from both digital and physical perspectives. At digital materiality level, a customized computational design framework has been implemented for form finding of compression only structures combined with a material distribution optimization method. Moreover, the chained connection between the parametric design model and the robotic production setup has enabled a systematic study of specific aspects of physicality that cannot be fully simulated in the digital medium. This established a feedback loop for not only understanding material behaviours and properties but also robotically deposit material in order to create an informed material architecture