Turning accidents between cars and trucks and cyclists driving straight ahead

Two projects contain the conflict between turning vehicles and straight ahead driving cyclists. One out of four of all accidents in Germany are accidents with bicycles. In Addition, most of the accidents end with heavy or deathly personal injury. Especially accidents with right turning trucks and straight ahead driving cyclist are on one hand rarely but on the other hand very dangerous because of gravity results of an accident. Finally one of the main problems is the conflict during the driving by green traffic light. Furthermore the obstructed view is a big problem for this accident constellation

Decoding the “Meh” – Assessment of Negative Symptoms in Psychosis

Negativsymptomatik beeinträchtigt die meisten Patienten mit Schizophrenie im Verlauf der Erkrankung. Sie stellt einen wichtigen Prädiktor für Krankheitsverlauf sowie soziale und berufliche Funktionsfähigkeit dar und ist bislang schwer positiv beeinflussbar. Um Negativsymptomatik als verlässlichen primären Endpunkt in Studien zu etablieren, muss das Konstrukt klar operationalisiert und validiert werden. Aktuelle Faktorenanalysen ergeben meist zwei Faktoren: Expressions-Defizite und Amotivation. Es finden sich konzeptionelle Überschneidungen zwischen Negativ- und depressiver Symptomatik. Zwei neu entwickelte Instrumente für Negativsymptomatik sind das Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS; Subskalen Expression und Motivation und Freude) sowie der Motivation and Pleasure – Self Report (MAP-SR; aus der „Motivation und Freude“-Skala des CAINS entwickelt). Wir evaluierten umfassend ihre psychometrischen Eigenschaften und untersuchen, ob das CAINS das Konstrukt Negativsymptomatik und der MAP-SR die Subdomäne Amotivation zuverlässig misst. Ebenfalls wurde untersucht, ob CAINS und MAP-SR sowie zwei Depressions-Testverfahren Patienten mit Schizophrenie, Patienten mit Depression und Kontrollpersonen differenzieren können. Die zweifaktorielle Struktur des CAINS konnte bestätigt werden; wir fanden weiter insgesamt gute Validität und Reliabilität. Der MAP-SR ist geeignet, Anhedonie zu messen, scheint aber weniger gut einsetzbar für die Beurteilung von Motivation. Die Expressions-Subskala des CAINS differenzierte Personen mit Schizophrenie und Personen mit Depression. Für die selbstbewertete Negativsymptomatik zeigte sich kein signifikanter Unterschied zwischen den psychiatrisch erkrankten Stichproben. Expressive Defizite und moderate Depressionswerte deuten auf ein Negativsyndrom hin, wohingegen eine relativ unbeeinträchtigte Expression und viel selbstberichtete depressive Symptomatik auf ein depressives Syndrom hinweisen. Es besteht Bedarf an validen und reliablen Selbstbeurteilungs-Instrumenten für Negativsymptomatik. Das CAINS ist insgesamt gut geeignet, Negativsymptomatik reliabel zu beurteilen; seine beiden Unterskalen messen klar und weitgehend reliabel unterschiedliche Aspekte von Negativsymptomatik.Negative symptoms are prevalent in most patients with schizophrenia at some point of the illness. They constitute an important predictor of course of illness as well as social and occupational functioning and remain a major challenge with regard to treatment. For negative symptoms to become a reliable primary endpoint in studies, clear operationalization and construct validation is needed. Recent factor analyses mostly find the two factors diminished expression and amotivation. There is conceptual overlap between negative and depressive symptoms. Two recently developed instruments for negative symptoms are the Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS; subscales expression, and motivation and pleasure), as well as the Motivation and Pleasure – Self Report (MAP-SR, derived from the CAINS motivation and pleasure subscale). We comprehensively assessed their psychometric properties, inquiring whether the CAINS reliably measures the construct negative symptoms and the MAP-SR the subdomain amotivation. Further, we examined whether CAINS and MAP-SR and two depression ratings could differentiate subjects with schizophrenia, with depression and controls. We confirmed the CAINS’ two-factorial structure with the domains expressive deficits and amotivation and found overall good validity and reliability. The MAP-SR was found adequate to assess anhedonia but less suitable when assessing motivation. Particularly the CAINS’ expression subscale discriminated subjects with schizophrenia and subjects with MDE. The MAP-SR ratings showed no significant difference in self-rated negative symptoms between the psychiatric samples. Reduced expression and moderate levels of depression point to a negative syndrome, whereas relatively unimpaired expression and high scores of self-reported depressive symptoms indicate a depressive syndrome. There is need for valid and reliable self-rating instruments of negative symptoms. The CAINS is overall well suited to reliably assess negative symptoms; its two subscales clearly and mostly reliably measure distinct aspects of negative symptoms

A Three-pronged View on Organizational Agility

The ability of organizations to sense and respond to changes–defined as organizational agility–is considered by senior executives among their top information technology (IT) concerns as an important ability for organizations on their quest toward sustained competitive advantage. However, every transformation toward agility also comes at a cost, requiring resource commitment and IT landscape changes. We present examples of successful and unsuccessful attempts at achieving agility while leveraging IT. Our presented cases focus on information systems development agility, customer agility, and entrepreneurial agility. Our findings suggest that agility is neither achieved easily, nor is a guarantor for success. Depending on the context and implementation of organizational agility, however, it can significantly improve process and product performance. We develop a three-pronged view consisting of a functional, temporal, and ambidextrous view to resolve these challenges. We end with three recommendations for practitioners that seek to shape their organization’s journey toward agility

A Three-pronged View on Organizational Agility

The ability of organizations to sense and respond to changes–defined as organizational agility–is considered by senior executives among their top information technology (IT) concerns as an important ability for organizations on their quest toward sustainedcompetitive advantage. However, every transformation toward agility also comes at a cost, requiring resource commitment and IT landscape changes. We present examples of successful and unsuccessful attempts at achieving agility while leveraging IT. Our presented cases focus on information systems development agility, customer agility, and entrepreneurial agility. Our findings suggest that agility is neither achieved easily, nor is a guarantor for success.Depending on the context and implementation of organizational agility, however, it can significantly improve process and product performance. We develop a three-pronged viewconsisting of a functional,temporal,andambidextrous viewtoresolve thesechallenges. We end with three recommendations for practitioners that seek to shape their organization’s journey toward agility

Different K+-release in distal myogenic and neurogenic muscular weakness during non-ischemic exercise

Introduction: In myotonic dystrophy, an increased potassium release upon ischemic forearm exercise has been previously described. However, it remains unclear whether this is specific for myotonic dystrophies or just due to distal muscular weakness. Methods: Non-ischemic forearm test (NIFET) was performed and venous K+ concentration was measured at rest and at three different force levels (20–30%, 50–60%, 70–80%) related to maximal contraction force (MCF) in patients with distal myogenic (n = 7), neurogenic (n = 7) muscular weakness and healthy volunteers (n = 12). The specific K+ release was defined as K+ increase related to workload as force-time-integral during repetitive contraction. Results: Workload was lower at all force levels in both disease groups compared to the control group. With increasing workload, the K+ concentrations increased in all study groups. Analysing individual force levels related to the maximum contraction force (MCF), a higher specific K+ release was measured at low force levels in myopathies (20–30% MCF) in comparison to higher force levels (p = 0.02). At 20–30% MCF, the specific K+ release was significantly higher in myogenic compared to neurogenic muscular weakness (p = 0.005). At 50–60% and 70–80% MCF, the specific K+ values converged and did not significantly differ between the three groups (p = 0.09 and p = 0.37). Discussion: At low force levels, K+ efflux related to workload is higher in patients with myogenic in comparison to neurogenic distal paresis. Our results indicate a different regulation of K+ balance in neurogenic and myogenic muscular weakness possibly due to a different recruitment behaviour of motor units and the firing rate of motor neurons.Publikationsfonds ML

Usability - Bericht: Beitrag zur Usability Evaluation Challenge 2010 der Gesellschaft für Informatik

Der vorliegende Usability-Bericht entstand im Rahmen eines Multimedia-Tutoriums, das dazu vorgesehen ist, praktisch umzusetzen, was in anderen Seminaren über Multimediapsychologie, Diagnostik der Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion, Softwaregestaltung und –evaluation sowie Screendesign theoretisch vermittelt wurde. Der Wettbewerb zur Evaluation der Webseite des Fachbereichs Mensch-Computer-Interaktion (FB MCI) der Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI) bot uns durch die Aufgabenstellung eine geeignete Möglichkeit, übergreifendes theoretisches und psychologisch fundiertes Wissen an einem realen Beispiel anzuwenden und somit in die Praxis umzusetzen. Unser Team, bestehend aus sieben angehenden Usability-Experten, hat die Webseite des MCI ausführlich inspiziert und mit ausgewählten Methoden systematisch evaluiert. Dazu wurden in einem Auswahlprozess zwei geeignete Methoden gewählt. Unser Vorgehen ist in einem Projektplan festgehalten. Die Ergebnisse der Evaluation, deren Erhebung und die verwendeten Methoden sind in diesem Bericht ausführlich protokolliert.:1. Einleitung 2. Erläuterung angewendeter Methoden 2.1. Heuristische Evaluation 2.2. Card Sorting 3. Projektplan 4. Wichtigste Erkenntnisse und Empfehlungen – Zusammenfassung 5. Heuristische Evaluation 5.1. Auswahl und Spezifikation der Heuristiken 5.2. Darstellung des Vorgehens 5.3. Erläuterung zu den Tabellen 5.4. Erläuterung zu Schweregrad und Behebbarkeit 5.5. Ergebnisse heuristische Betrachtung: Übersicht 5.5.1. Heuristische Betrachtung: Gesamte Homepage 5.5.2. Heuristische Betrachtung: Startseite 5.5.3. Heuristische Betrachtung: Hauptnavigation 5.5.4. Heuristische Betrachtung: Fachgruppen 5.5.5. Heuristische Betrachtung: Arbeitskreise 5.6. Visualisierung ausgewählter Verbesserungsvorschläge 6. Card Sorting 6.1. Psychologische Fundierung 6.2. Darstellung des Vorgehens 6.3. Auswertung 6.3.1. Ergebnisse Hauptmenü (Gruppe A) 6.3.2. Ergebnisse Fachgruppen und Arbeitskreise (Gruppe B) 7. Design-Vorschläge 8. Evaluation der Barrierefreiheit nach BITV 9. Schlusswort 10. Literaturverzeichnis Anhang A) Heuristiken B) Auswertung Card Sorting Gruppe A C) Auswertung Card Sorting Aufgabe A D) Auswertung Fachgruppen und Arbeitskreise (Gruppe B

Structure and dynamics of the deoxyguanosine-sensing riboswitch studied by NMR-spectroscopy

The mfl-riboswitch regulates expression of ribonucleotide reductase subunit in Mesoplasma florum by binding to 2′-deoxyguanosine and thereby promoting transcription termination. We characterized the structure of the ligand-bound aptamer domain by NMR spectroscopy and compared the mfl-aptamer to the aptamer domain of the closely related purine-sensing riboswitches. We show that the mfl-aptamer accommodates the extra 2′-deoxyribose unit of the ligand by forming a more relaxed binding pocket than these found in the purine-sensing riboswitches. Tertiary structures of the xpt-aptamer bound to guanine and of the mfl-aptamer bound to 2′-deoxyguanosine exhibit very similar features, although the sequence of the mfl-aptamer contains several alterations compared to the purine-aptamer consensus sequence. These alterations include the truncation of a hairpin loop which is crucial for complex formation in all purine-sensing riboswitches characterized to date. We further defined structural features and ligand binding requirements of the free mfl-aptamer and found that the presence of Mg2+ is not essential for complex formation, but facilitates ligand binding by promoting pre-organization of key structural motifs in the free aptamer

13C-direct detected NMR experiments for the sequential J-based resonance assignment of RNA oligonucleotides

We present here a set of 13C-direct detected NMR experiments to facilitate the resonance assignment of RNA oligonucleotides. Three experiments have been developed: (1) the (H)CC-TOCSY-experiment utilizing a virtual decoupling scheme to assign the intraresidual ribose 13C-spins, (2) the (H)CPC-experiment that correlates each phosphorus with the C4′ nuclei of adjacent nucleotides via J(C,P) couplings and (3) the (H)CPC-CCH-TOCSY-experiment that correlates the phosphorus nuclei with the respective C1′,H1′ ribose signals. The experiments were applied to two RNA hairpin structures. The current set of 13C-direct detected experiments allows direct and unambiguous assignment of the majority of the hetero nuclei and the identification of the individual ribose moieties following their sequential assignment. Thus, 13C-direct detected NMR methods constitute useful complements to the conventional 1H-detected approach for the resonance assignment of oligonucleotides that is often hindered by the limited chemical shift dispersion. The developed methods can also be applied to large deuterated RNAs

Premature termination, satisfaction with care, and shared decision-making during home treatment compared to inpatient treatment: A quasi-experimental trial

Abstract Background Inpatient equivalent home treatment (IEHT), implemented in Germany since 2018, is a specific form of home treatment. Between 2021 and 2022, IEHT was compared to inpatient psychiatric treatment in a 12-months follow-up quasi-experimental study with two propensity score matched cohorts in 10 psychiatric centers in Germany. This article reports results on the treatment during the acute episode and focuses on involvement in decision-making, patient satisfaction, and drop-out rates. Methods A total of 200 service users receiving IEHT were compared with 200 matched statistical “twins” in standard inpatient treatment. Premature termination of treatment as well as reasons for this was assessed using routine data and a questionnaire. In addition, we measured patient satisfaction with care with a specific scale. For the evaluation of patient involvement in treatment decisions, we used the 9-item Shared Decision Making Questionnaire (SDM-Q-9). Results Patients were comparable in both groups with regard to sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Mean length-of-stay was 37 days for IEHT and 28 days for inpatient treatment. In both groups, a similar proportion of participants stopped treatment prematurely. At the end of the acute episode, patient involvement in decision-making (SDM-Q-9) as well as treatment satisfaction scores were significantly higher for IEHT patients compared to inpatients. Conclusions Compared to inpatient care, IEHT treatment for acute psychiatric episodes was associated with higher treatment satisfaction and more involvement in clinical decisions

Factors associated with diversity, quantity and zoonotic potential of ectoparasites on urban mice and voles

Wild rodents are important hosts for tick larvae but co-infestations with other mites and insects are largely neglected. Small rodents were trapped at four study sites in Berlin, Germany, to quantify their ectoparasite diversity. Host-specific, spatial and temporal occurrence of ectoparasites was determined to assess their influence on direct and indirect zoonotic risk due to mice and voles in an urban agglomeration. Rodent-associated arthropods were diverse, including 63 species observed on six host species with an overall prevalence of 99%. The tick Ixodes ricinus was the most prevalent species, found on 56% of the rodents. The trapping location clearly affected the presence of different rodent species and, therefore, the occurrence of particular host-specific parasites. In Berlin, fewer temporary and periodic parasite species as well as non-parasitic species (fleas, chiggers and nidicolous Gamasina) were detected than reported from rural areas. In addition, abundance of parasites with low host-specificity (ticks, fleas and chiggers) apparently decreased with increasing landscape fragmentation associated with a gradient of urbanisation. In contrast, stationary ectoparasites, closely adapted to the rodent host, such as the fur mites Myobiidae and Listrophoridae, were most abundant at the two urban sites. A direct zoonotic risk of infection for people may only be posed by Nosopsyllus fasciatus fleas, which were prevalent even in the city centre. More importantly, peridomestic rodents clearly supported the life cycle of ticks in the city as hosts for their subadult stages. In addition to trapping location, season, host species, body condition and host sex, infestation with fleas, gamasid Laelapidae mites and prostigmatic Myobiidae mites were associated with significantly altered abundance of I. ricinus larvae on mice and voles. Whether this is caused by predation, grooming behaviour or interaction with the host immune system is unclear. The present study constitutes a basis to identify interactions and vector function of rodent-associated arthropods and their potential impact on zoonotic diseases