Language contact phenomena in the language use of speakers of German descent and the significance of their language attitudes

Within the scope of my investigation on language use and language attitudes of People of German Descent from the USSR, I find almost regular different language contact phenomena, such as viel bliny habn=wir gbackt (engl.: 'we cooked lots of pancakes') (cf. Ries 2011). The aim of analysis is to examine both language use with regard to different forms of language contact and the language attitudes of the observed speakers. To be able to analyse both of these aspects and synthesize them, different types of data are required. The research is based on the following two data types: everyday conversations and interviews. In addition, the individual speakers' biography is a key part of the analysis, because it allows one to draw conclusions about language attitudes and use. This qualitative research is based on morpho-syntactic and interactional linguistic analysis of authentic spoken data. The data arise from a corpus compiled and edited by myself. My being a member of the examined group allowed me to build up an authentic corpus. The natural language use is analysed from the perspective of different language contact phenomena and potential functions of language alternations. One central issue is: How do speakers use the languages available to them, German and Russian? Structural characteristics such as code switching and discursive motives for these phenomena are discussed as results, together with the socio-cultural background of the individual speaker. Within the scope of this article I present exemplarily the data and results of one speaker

Discovering the prehistory of multilingual situations in the lexicon. An empirical study on the Caucasian Urum vocabulary

Multilingual situations are reflected in the lexicon; by consequence, lexical borrowings are powerful evidence for language contact in the prehistory of linguistic communities. This article presents an empirical study on the lexical knowledge of Caucasian Urum speakers, i. e., ethnic Greek speakers in the Small Caucasus, who are bilingual in a variety of Turkish (Urum) and Russian. The analysis is based on the established assumption that certain concepts are cross-linguistically associated with a certain likelihood of borrowing. Based on this assumption the data from lexical knowledge allow for insights with respect to the substrate/superstrate status of the involved languages in a multilingual situation and provide evidence for the type of relation (genetic or contact-induced) between compared languages

Live Imaging of Xwnt5A-ROR2 Complexes

Secreted molecules of the Wnt family regulate key decisions in embryogenesis and adult tissue homeostasis by activating a complex network of Wnt signaling pathways. Although the different branches of Wnt signaling have been studied for more than 25 years, fluorophore tagged constructs for live cell imaging of Wnt molecules activating the Wnt/β-catenin pathway have become available only recently. We have generated a fluorophore tagged Wnt construct of the Xenopus Wnt5a protein (Xwnt5A) with the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), Xwnt5A-EGFP. This construct activates non-canonical Wnt pathways in an endocytosis dependent manner and is capable of compensating for the loss of endogenous Xwnt5A in Xenopus embryos. Strikingly, non-canonical Wnt pathway activation was restricted to short-range signaling while an inhibitory effect was observed in transwell cell cultures taken as long-range signaling model sytem. We used our Xwnt5A-EGFP construct to analyze in vivo binding of Wnt5A to its co-receptor ROR2 on the microscopic and on the molecular level. On the microscopic level, Xwnt5A-EGFP clusters in the membrane and recruits ROR2-mCherry to these clusters. Applying dual-colour dual-focus line-scanning fluorescence correlation spectroscopy on dorsal marginal zone explants, we identified membrane tethered Xwnt5A-EGFP molecules binding to ROR2-mCherry molecules. Our data favour a model, in which membrane-tethered Wnt-5A recruits ROR2 to form large ligand/receptor clusters and signals in an endocytosis-dependent manner

da=kommt das=so quer rein: Sprachgebrauch und Spracheinstellungen Russlanddeutscher in Deutschland

Ries V. da=kommt das=so quer rein: Sprachgebrauch und Spracheinstellungen Russlanddeutscher in Deutschland. Bielefeld: Bielefeld University; 2011

Metabolic resistance to pre-emergence herbicides in grasses

Black-grass (Alopecurus myosuroides Huds.) and rye-grass (Lolium spp) are very competitive grass weeds. During the last decades, they have evolved resistance to post-emergence herbicides, in particular ACCase- and ALS- inhibitors. This requires more complex weed management strategies. To ensure good control of both weeds, pre-emergence treatments become increasingly important. Particularly flufenacet has become a key herbicide for the control of multiple-resistant black-grass and rye-grass. Yet, in some of those populations, reduced flufenacet efficacy start to be observed. In a screening with black-grass and rye-grass populations of worldwide origins, most populations could be controlled with the registered field rate of flufenacet, however differences in the level of flufenacet efficacy were observed and were in correlation with enhanced flufenacet metabolism. This was particularly the case for rye-grass populations. The use of flufenacet in mixtures with diflufenican, particularly in combination with flurtamone or metribuzin or aclonifen, improved the efficacy significantly. In decreased flufenacet sensitive populations, the efficacy of other pre-emergence herbicides like pendimethalin, prosulfocarb, S-metolachlor, dimethenamid-P and pethoxamid, was also significantly decreased whereas other herbicides like pyroxasulfone or diflufenican remained highly active. This decreased efficacy of flufenacet as well as S-metolachlor was associated with higher metabolism involving glutathione-s-transferases. Although differences between populations were sometimes relatively small, best weed management practices (e.g. application of full dose rates and mixtures) should be applied to reduce selection pressure and prevent the development of resistance. This is particularly important as flufenacet is one of the few still active herbicides suitable for the control of multiple-resistant grass weeds. Use of mixtures associated with agronomic solutions in an Integrated Weed Management approach has to be the main approach

Characterizing responsive and refractory orthotopic mouse models of hepatocellular carcinoma in cancer immunotherapy

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide and has a high mortality rate due to limited treatment options. Hence, the response of HCC to different cancer immunotherapies is being intensively investigated in clinical trials. Immune checkpoint blockers (ICB) show promising results, albeit for a minority of HCC patients. Mouse models are commonly used to evaluate new therapeutic agents or regimens. However, to make clinical translation more successful, better characterized preclinical models are required. We therefore extensively investigated two immune-competent orthotopic HCC mouse models, namely transplanted Hep-55.1c and transgenic iAST, with respect to morphological, immunological and genetic traits and evaluated both models' responsiveness to immunotherapies. Hep-55.1c tumors were characterized by rich fibrous stroma, high mutational load and pronounced immune cell infiltrates, all of which are features of immune-responsive tumors. These characteristics were less distinct in iAST tumors, though these were highly vascularized. Cell depletion revealed that CD8+ T cells from iAST mice do not affect tumor growth and are tumor tolerant. This corresponds to the failure of single and combined ICB targeting PD-1 and CTLA-4. In contrast, combining anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 showed significant antitumor efficacy in the Hep-55.1c mouse model. Collectively, our data comprehensively characterize two immune-competent HCC mouse models representing ICB responsive and refractory characteristics. Our characterization confirms these models to be suitable for preclinical investigation of novel cancer immunotherapy approaches that aim to either deepen preexisting immune responses or generate de novo immunity against the tumor