Do different subjective evaluation criteria reflect distinct constructs?

This is not the published version. Published version available from: http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/pages/default.asp

Human liver mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase: a C-terminal segment positions and defines the structure corresponding to the one reported to differ in the Oriental enzyme variant

AbstractA C-terminal segment of mitochondrial human liver aldehyde dehydrogenase was characterized. The results prove that a central part of this segment largely but not completely agrees with a structure of a tryptic peptide previously reported for the same isoenzyme. This part corresponds to a segment that contains the exchanged residue in the functionally deficient Oriental variant of mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase [(1984) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81, 258-261]. The data suggest important functions for the C-terminal region of aldehyde dehydrogenase, clarify previously inconsistent results, and establish this structure in the typical enzyme, including the position corresponding to the mutation in the functional variant.Mitochondrial isoenzymeAmino acid sequenceIsoenzyme differenceStructure-function relationshi

Zur Gliederung mittel- und jungpleistozäner Schichten in der Niederrheinischen Bucht

Vom Wasserwerk Bensberg östlich Köln und einer Kiesgrube bei Efferen westlich Köln werden aus einer Tiefe von 16-18,20 m unter der Oberfläche der Unteren Mittelterrasse des Rheines (ca. 58 m über NN.) fossilführende Ton- und Feinsandschichten mit humosen Einschaltungen beschrieben, die eine stratigraphische Trennung hangender von liegenden Sand-Kies-Folgen ermöglichen. Sedimentpetrographische Untersuchungen erweisen eine Zuordnung der Liegendserien zur spätmindeleiszeitlichen Mittleren Mittelterrasse des Rheines, deren Verbreitung im Niederrheingebiet somit nicht nur auf wenig breite Rinnen („Rinnenschotter") beschränkt ist, sondern wie im Mittelrheintal auf der ganzen Talbreite, hier jedoch begraben von den Ablagerungen der Unteren Mittelterrasse, entwickelt sein dürfte. Die palynologische Untersuchung der humosen Einschaltungen in den Ton- und Feinsandschichten am Wasserwerk Bensberg vermittelt eine Florengemeinschaft, die auf Grund hoher Abies-Alnus-Picea-Werte auf ein spät-interglaziales Alter hindeutet und nach den stratigraphischen Gegebenheiten nur den mindel/riß-interglazialen Krefelder Schichten zugeordnet werden können. Die durchgeführten Untersuchungen veranlaßten außerdem eine kritische Überprüfung der derzeitig vorliegenden Gliederungsversuche mittel- und jungpleistozäner Schichtenfolgen in der Niederrheinischen Bucht. Die Kempener und Neuwerker Schichten müssen mit größter Wahrscheinlichkeit, vor allem nach den stratigraphischen Gegebenheiten und den faunistischen Befunden, von den Krefelder Schichten getrennt und dem Gerdau-Interstadial zugeordnet werden, wobei erstere einem späten und letztere einem mittleren Abschnitt dieses Drenthe/Warthe-Interstadials zugehören dürften. Die klimazeitliche Einordnung aller entsprechenden Schichtenfolgen der Niederrheinischen Bucht wird in einer Tabelle darzulegen versucht.researc

Akademische Gedenkfeier zu Ehren von Herrn Universitätsprofessor Dr. Rolf Hachmann : 28. November 2014

Gedenkfeier für Prof. Rolf Hachmann, 26 Jahre Ordinarius für Vor- und Frühgeschichte und Vorderasiatische Archäologie an der Universität des Saarlandes anlässlich seines Todes am 5. Juni 2014. Er gehörte zu den ältesten Professoren der Universität des Saarlandes

Vascular smooth muscle BK channels limit ouabain‐induced vasocontraction: dual role of the Na/K‐ATPase as a hub for Src‐kinase and the Na/Ca‐exchanger

Large-conductance, calcium-activated potassium channels (BK channels) and the Na/K-ATPase are expressed universally in vascular smooth muscle. The Na/K-ATPase may act via changes in the intracellular Ca2+ concentration mediated by the Na/Ca exchanger (NCX) and via Src kinase. Both pathways are known to regulate BK channels. Whether BK channels functionally interact in vascular smooth muscle cells with the Na/K-ATPase remains to be elucidated. Thus, this study addressed the hypothesis that BK channels limit ouabain-induced vasocontraction. Rat mesenteric arteries were studied using isometric myography, FURA-2 fluorimetry and proximity ligation assay. The BK channel blocker iberiotoxin potentiated methoxamine-induced contractions. The cardiotonic steroid, ouabain (10−5 M), induced a contractile effect of IBTX at basal tension prior to methoxamine administration and enhanced the pro-contractile effect of IBTX on methoxamine-induced contractions. These facilitating effects of ouabain were prevented by the inhibition of either NCX or Src kinase. Furthermore, inhibition of NCX or Src kinase reduced the BK channel-mediated negative feedback regulation of arterial contraction. The effects of NCX and Src kinase inhibition were independent of each other. Co-localization of the Na/K-ATPase and the BK channel was evident. Our data suggest that BK channels limit ouabain-induced vasocontraction by a dual mechanism involving the NCX and Src kinase signaling. The data propose that the NCX and the Src kinase pathways, mediating the ouabain-induced activation of the BK channel, act in an independent manner

Development of a high density 600K SNP genotyping array for chicken

Background: High density (HD) SNP genotyping arrays are an important tool for genetic analyses of animals and plants. Although the chicken is one of the most important farm animals, no HD array is yet available for high resolution genetic analysis of this species.Results: We report here the development of a 600 K Affymetrix® Axiom® HD genotyping array designed using SNPs segregating in a wide variety of chicken populations. In order to generate a large catalogue of segregating SNPs, we re-sequenced 243 chickens from 24 chicken lines derived from diverse sources (experimental, commercial broiler and layer lines) by pooling 10-15 samples within each line. About 139 million (M) putative SNPs were detected by mapping sequence reads to the new reference genome (Gallus_gallus_4.0) of which ~78 M appeared to be segregating in different lines. Using criteria such as high SNP-quality score, acceptable design scores predicting high conversion performance in the final array and uniformity of distribution across the genome, we selected ~1.8 M SNPs for validation through genotyping on an independent set of samples (n = 282). About 64% of the SNPs were polymorphic with high call rates (>98%), good cluster separation and stable Mendelian inheritance. Polymorphic SNPs were further analysed for their population characteristics and genomic effects. SNPs with extreme breach of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P < 0.00001) were excluded from the panel. The final array, designed on the basis of these analyses, consists of 580,954 SNPs and includes 21,534 coding variants. SNPs were selected to achieve an essentially uniform distribution based on genetic map distance for both broiler and layer lines. Due to a lower extent of LD in broilers compared to layers, as reported in previous studies, the ratio of broiler and layer SNPs in the array was kept as 3:2. The final panel was shown to genotype a wide range of samples including broilers and layers with over 100 K to 450 K informative SNPs per line. A principal component analysis was used to demonstrate the ability of the array to detect the expected population structure which is an important pre-investigation step for many genome-wide analyses.Conclusions: This Affymetrix® Axiom® array is the first SNP genotyping array for chicken that has been made commercially available to the public as a product. This array is expected to find widespread usage both in research and commercial application such as in genomic selection, genome-wide association studies, selection signature analyses, fine mapping of QTLs and detection of copy number variants

Orienting asymmetries and lateralized processing of sounds in humans

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lateralized processing of speech is a well studied phenomenon in humans. Both anatomical and neurophysiological studies support the view that nonhuman primates and other animal species also reveal hemispheric differences in areas involved in sound processing. In recent years, an increasing number of studies on a range of taxa have employed an orienting paradigm to investigate lateralized acoustic processing. In this paradigm, sounds are played directly from behind and the direction of turn is recorded. This assay rests on the assumption that a hemispheric asymmetry in processing is coupled to an orienting bias towards the contralateral side. To examine this largely untested assumption, speech stimuli as well as artificial sounds were presented to 224 right-handed human subjects shopping in supermarkets in Germany and in the UK. To verify the lateralized processing of the speech stimuli, we additionally assessed the brain activation in response to presentation of the different stimuli using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the naturalistic behavioural experiments, there was no difference in orienting behaviour in relation to the stimulus material (speech, artificial sounds). Contrary to our predictions, subjects revealed a significant left bias, irrespective of the sound category. This left bias was slightly but not significantly stronger in German subjects. The fMRI experiments confirmed that the speech stimuli evoked a significant left lateralized activation in BA44 compared to the artificial sounds.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings suggest that in adult humans, orienting biases are not necessarily coupled with lateralized processing of acoustic stimuli. Our results – as well as the inconsistent orienting biases found in different animal species – suggest that the orienting assay should be used with caution. Apparently, attention biases, experience, and experimental conditions may all affect head turning responses. Because of the complexity of the interaction of factors, the use of the orienting assay to determine lateralized processing of sound stimuli is discouraged.</p

Functional, size and taxonomic diversity of fish along a depth gradient in the deep sea

Biodiversity is well studied in ecology and the concept has been developed to include traits of species, rather than solely taxonomy, to better reflect the functional diversity of a system. The deep sea provides a natural environmental gradient within which to study changes in different diversity metrics, but traits of deep-sea fish are not widely known, hampering the application of functional diversity to this globally important system. We used morphological traits to determine the functional richness and functional divergence of demersal fish assemblages along the continental slope in the Northeast Atlantic, at depths of 300–2,000 m. We compared these metrics to size diversity based on individual body size and species richness. Functional richness and size diversity showed similar patterns, with the highest diversity at intermediate depths; functional divergence showed the opposite pattern, with the highest values at the shallowest and deepest parts of the study site. Species richness increased with depth. The functional implications of these patterns were deduced by examining depth-related changes in morphological traits and the dominance of feeding guilds as illustrated by stable isotope analyses. The patterns in diversity and the variation in certain morphological traits can potentially be explained by changes in the relative dominance of pelagic and benthic feeding guilds. All measures of diversity examined here suggest that the deep areas of the continental slope may be equally or more diverse than assemblages just beyond the continental shelf