Internationales Colloquium "Nach der Theorie, jenseits von Bologna, am Ende der Exzellenz? : Perspektiven der Germanistik im 21. Jahrhundert" : Schloss Herrenhausen, Hannover, 4. - 6. April 2013 ; Online-Publikation der Diskussionen und Ergebnisse

Vom 4. bis 6. April 2013 fand im Schloss Herrenhausen (Hannover) das Colloquium "Nach der Theorie, jenseits von Bologna, am Ende der Exzellenz? Perspektiven der Germanistik im 21. Jahrhundert" statt. Fünfundfünfzig geladene Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer sowie rund sechzig Gäste diskutierten auf Podiumsdiskussionen und abseits davon streitbar und produktiv über die Entwicklungen und Perspektiven der Germanistik. Mit rund 80.000 Studierenden ist sie noch immer das größte geisteswissenschaftliche Fach an deutschen Universitäten. Diese Website dokumentiert und evaluiert die Diskussionen, um sie einem größeren interessierten Publikum zugänglich zu machen. - Die Debatten und Vorträge der Konferenz sind als Audiomitschnitte abrufbar. - Alle Statements, die den Diskussionen zugrunde lagen, stehen zusätzlich als Textdateien zur Verfügung. - Nach der Konferenz erstellte Berichte stellen die debattierten Probleme zusammen und kommentieren sie

Lean back and wait for the alarm? Testing an automated alarm system for nosocomial outbreaks to provide support for infection control professionals

INTRODUCTION: Outbreaks of communicable diseases in hospitals need to be quickly detected in order to enable immediate control. The increasing digitalization of hospital data processing offers potential solutions for automated outbreak detection systems (AODS). Our goal was to assess a newly developed AODS. METHODS: Our AODS was based on the diagnostic results of routine clinical microbiological examinations. The system prospectively counted detections per bacterial pathogen over time for the years 2016 and 2017. The baseline data covers data from 2013-2015. The comparative analysis was based on six different mathematical algorithms (normal/Poisson and score prediction intervals, the early aberration reporting system, negative binomial CUSUMs, and the Farrington algorithm). The clusters automatically detected were then compared with the results of our manual outbreak detection system. RESULTS: During the analysis period, 14 different hospital outbreaks were detected as a result of conventional manual outbreak detection. Based on the pathogens' overall incidence, outbreaks were divided into two categories: outbreaks with rarely detected pathogens (sporadic) and outbreaks with often detected pathogens (endemic). For outbreaks with sporadic pathogens, the detection rate of our AODS ranged from 83% to 100%. Every algorithm detected 6 of 7 outbreaks with a sporadic pathogen. The AODS identified outbreaks with an endemic pathogen were at a detection rate of 33% to 100%. For endemic pathogens, the results varied based on the epidemiological characteristics of each outbreak and pathogen. CONCLUSION: AODS for hospitals based on routine microbiological data is feasible and can provide relevant benefits for infection control teams. It offers in-time automated notification of suspected pathogen clusters especially for sporadically occurring pathogens. However, outbreaks of endemically detected pathogens need further individual pathogen-specific and setting-specific adjustments

Realizing High Thermoelectric Performance of Bi-Sb-Te-Based Printed Films through Grain Interface Modification by an In Situ-Grown β-Cu2-δSe Phase

It has been a substantial challenge to develop a printed thermoelectric (TE) material with a figure-of-merit ZT > 1. In this work, high ZT p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3-based printable TE materials have been advanced by interface modification of the TE grains with a nonstoichiometric β-Cu2-δSe-based inorganic binder (IB) through a facile printing–sintering process. As a result, a very high TE power factor of ∼17.5 μW cm–1 K–2 for a p-type printed material is attained in the optimized compounds at room temperature (RT). In addition, a high ZT of ∼1.2 at RT and of ∼1.55 at 360 K is realized using thermal conductivity (κ) of a pellet made of the prepared printable material containing 10 wt % of IB. Using the same material for p-type TE legs and silver paste for n-type TE legs, a printed TE generator (print-TEG) of four thermocouples has been fabricated for demonstration. An open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 14 mV and a maximum power output (Pmax) of 1.7 μW are achieved for ΔT = 40 K for the print-TEG

Metabolic Rearrangements Causing Elevated Proline and Polyhydroxybutyrate Accumulation During the Osmotic Adaptation Response of Bacillus megaterium

For many years now, Bacillus megaterium serves as a microbial workhorse for the high-level production of recombinant proteins in the g/L-scale. However, efficient and stable production processes require the knowledge of the molecular adaptation strategies of the host organism to establish optimal environmental conditions. Here, we interrogated the osmotic stress response of B. megaterium using transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, and fluxome analyses. An initial transient adaptation consisted of potassium import and glutamate counterion synthesis. The massive synthesis of the compatible solute proline constituted the second longterm adaptation process. Several stress response enzymes involved in iron scavenging and reactive oxygen species (ROS) fighting proteins showed higher levels under prolonged osmotic stress induced by 1.8 M NaCl. At the same time, the downregulation of the expression of genes of the upper part of glycolysis resulted in the activation of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), generating an oversupply of NADPH. The increased production of lactate accompanied by the reduction of acetate secretion partially compensate for the unbalanced (NADH/NAD+) ratio. Besides, the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) mainly supplies the produced NADH, as indicated by the higher mRNA and protein levels of involved enzymes, and further confirmed by 13C flux analyses. As a consequence of the metabolic flux toward acetyl-CoA and the generation of an excess of NADPH, B. megaterium redirected the produced acetyl-CoA toward the polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) biosynthetic pathway accumulating around 30% of the cell dry weight (CDW) as PHB. This direct relation between osmotic stress and intracellular PHB content has been evidenced for the first time, thus opening new avenues for synthesizing this valuable biopolymer using varying salt concentrations under non-limiting nutrient conditions

Host-specific assembly of sponge-associated prokaryotes at high taxonomic ranks

Sponges (Porifera) are abundant and diverse members of benthic filter feeding communities in most marine ecosystems, from the deep sea to tropical reefs. A characteristic feature is the associated dense and diverse prokaryotic community present within the sponge mesohyl. Previous molecular genetic studies revealed the importance of host identity for the community composition of the sponge-associated microbiota. However, little is known whether sponge host-specific prokaryotic community patterns observed at 97% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity are consistent at high taxonomic ranks (from genus to phylum level). In the present study, we investigated the prokaryotic community structure and variation of 24 sponge specimens (seven taxa) and three seawater samples from Sweden. Results show that the resemblance of prokaryotic communities at different taxonomic ranks is consistent with patterns present at 97% operational taxonomic unit level

Clinical relevance of molecular characteristics in Burkitt lymphoma differs according to age

While survival has improved for Burkitt lymphoma patients, potential differences in outcome between pediatric and adult patients remain unclear. In both age groups, survival remains poor at relapse. Therefore, we conducted a comparative study in a large pediatric cohort, including 191 cases and 97 samples from adults. While TP53 and CCND3 mutation frequencies are not age related, samples from pediatric patients showed a higher frequency of mutations in ID3, DDX3X, ARID1A and SMARCA4, while several genes such as BCL2 and YY1AP1 are almost exclusively mutated in adult patients. An unbiased analysis reveals a transition of the mutational profile between 25 and 40 years of age. Survival analysis in the pediatric cohort confirms that TP53 mutations are significantly associated with higher incidence of relapse (25 ± 4% versus 6 ± 2%, p-value 0.0002). This identifies a promising molecular marker for relapse incidence in pediatric BL which will be used in future clinical trials

Temporal limits on rubber hand illusion reflect individuals? temporal resolution in multisensory perception

Synchronous, but not asynchronous, multisensory stimulation has been successfully employed to manipulate the experience of body ownership, as in the case of the rubber hand illusion. Hence, it has been assumed that the rubber hand illusion is bound by the same temporal rules as in multisensory integration. However, empirical evidence of a direct link between the temporal limits on the rubber hand illusion and those on multisensory integration is still lacking. Here we provide the first comprehensive evidence that individual susceptibility to the rubber hand illusion depends upon the individual temporal resolution in multisensory perception, as indexed by the temporal binding window. In particular, in two studies we showed that the degree of temporal asynchrony necessary to prevent the induction of the rubber hand illusion depends upon the individuals? sensitivity to perceiving asynchrony during visuo-tactile stimulation. That is, the larger the temporal binding window, as inferred from a simultaneity judgment task, the higher the level of asynchrony tolerated in the rubber hand illusion. Our results suggest that current neurocognitive models of body ownership can be enriched with a temporal dimension. Moreover, our results suggest that the different aspects of body ownership operate over different time scales

Pentraxin-3 as a Marker of Advanced Atherosclerosis Results from the Bruneck, ARMY and ARFY Studies

PubMed ID: 22319633This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited