Comparing traditional and remote interpreting in police settings: quality and impact factors

The paper describes the aims, the theoretical framework and the quantitative findings of the studies on videoconference-based interpreting in police interviews carried out in the framework of the AVIDICUS 1 and 2 projects

Volume and macroscopic scalar curvature

We prove the macroscopic cousins of three conjectures: (1) a conjectural bound of the simplicial volume of a Riemannian manifold in the presence of a lower scalar curvature bound, (2) the conjecture that rationally essential manifolds do not admit metrics of positive scalar curvature, (3) a conjectural bound of ℓ$^{2}$-Betti numbers of aspherical Riemannian manifolds in the presence of a lower scalar curvature bound. The macroscopic cousin is the statement one obtains by replacing a lower scalar curvature bound by an upper bound on the volumes of 1-balls in the universal cover

Volume and macroscopic scalar curvature

We prove the macroscopic cousins of three conjectures: 1) a conjectural bound of the simplicial volume of a Riemannian manifold in the presence of a lower scalar curvature bound, 2) the conjecture that rationally essential manifolds do not admit metrics of positive scalar curvature, 3) a conjectural bound of $L^2$-Betti numbers of aspherical Riemannian manifolds in the presence of a lower scalar curvature bound. The macroscopic cousin is the statement one obtains by replacing a lower scalar curvature bound by an upper bound on the volumes of $1$-balls in the universal cover.Comment: 48 pages; added a statement about integral foliated simplicial volume in the introduction and made minor corrections; to be published in GAF

Better risk assessment with glycated hemoglobin instead of cholesterol in CVD risk prediction charts

Traditional risk charts for the prediction of cardiovascular disease (CVD) include cholesterol parameters. We evaluated how models predict fatal CVD when cholesterol is replaced by glucose parameters. We used data from NHANES III, a US survey conducted 1988-1994 (follow-up until 2006); 15,454 participants (1,716 CVD deaths) were included. Based on the ESC SCORE method, we used age, sex, blood pressure, smoking and either of the following: (1) total cholesterol, (2) total-to-HDL-cholesterol, (3) glucose, (4) glycated hemoglobin (A1C). Scaled Brier score (BS), Nagelkerke's R2 (NR) and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were used for model comparison. The ranking (best to worst) was: A1C (BS=11.62%; NR=0.0865; IDI=0.0091), glucose (11.16%; 0.0734; 0.0067), total-to-HDL-cholesterol (9.97%; 0.0547; 0.0010), cholesterol (9.75%; 0.0484; 0, reference). Differences between models with cholesterol and glucose or A1C were statistically significant. This study suggests the use of A1C instead of cholesterol parameters in charts to assess CVD ris

Can acute resistance exercise facilitate episodic memory encoding?

Research has shown benefts of physical exercise on memory performance when carried out before or after a memory task. The efects of concurrent physical exercise and particularly resistance exercise are still inconclusive. The current study investigates the infuence of resistance exercise with two intensities (fast and slow squats) on performance in a wordlist learning task using a within-subject design. Sport students (N=58, Mage=23 years; 26 women) were trained in a mnemonic technique to encode word lists (method of loci). In each session they were asked to encode two lists, each consisting of 20 words. During encoding, participants either performed one squat per word (fast-squat-condition), one squat every second word (slow-squat-condition), or stayed seated (control-condition). Participants performed three sessions for each condi tion, in counterbalanced order. Heart rates difered signifcantly according to exercise intensity. Memory performances in the sitting condition were better, compared to the exercise conditions. Performance in sitting and the fast squat conditions improved similarly over time, while performance in the slow squat condition increased faster, and reached the level of the fast squat condition at the end of the study phase. We conclude that light to moderate resistance exercise while working on an episodic memory task may rather represent a dual-task situation (=two tasks that compete for attentional resources). Especially doing a squat every second word may represent an inhibition task that people have to get used to. Future studies should include biochemical markers of arousal and neuronal plasticity in addition to heart rate

Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung - Im Spannungsfeld unterschiedlicher Anforderungen und Interessen

Die Phase der Standardisierung im Nachhaltigkeitsreporting hat schon vor dem CSR-Richtlinie-Umsetzungsgesetz eingesetzt. Zugleich stieg in den vergangenen Jahren die öffentliche  Aufmerksamkeit für Nachhaltigkeitsthemen. Die Praxis der Berichterstattung wird schwieriger, die Ergebnisse werden vielfältiger

Für eine zukunftsfähige Wirtschaft

Als Initiative von Unternehmern geht es future e.V. um die Zukunftsfähigkeit von Unterneh-men. Das macht der Name schon deutlich. Die Aktivitäten beziehen sich deshalb spätestens seit Ende der 1990er Jahre nicht mehr auf den betrieblichen Umweltschutz allein

Aldosterone rapidly activates Src kinase in M-1 cells involving the mineralocorticoid receptor and HSP84

AbstractWe investigated the effect of aldosterone on Src kinase. In the kidney cell line, M-1 aldosterone leads to a >2-fold transient activation of Src kinase seen as early as 2 min after aldosterone administration. Maximal Src kinase activation was measured at an aldosterone concentration of 1 nM. In parallel to activation, autophosphorylation at Tyr-416 of Src kinase increased. Src kinase activation was blocked by spironolactone. Aldosterone led to increased association of Src with HSP84. Furthermore, rapamycin blocked aldosterone-induced Src activation. We conclude that Src activation by aldosterone is mediated through the mineralocorticoid receptor and HSP84

Mucosal protection by phosphatidylcholine

The colonic mucus serves a first barrier towards invasion of commensal bacteria in stools to prevent inflammation. One essential component of intestinal mucus is phosphatidylcholine (PC) which represents more than 90% of the phospholipids in mucus indicative for a selective transport of PC into this compartment. It is arranged in lamellar structures as surfactant-like particles which provide a hydrophobic surface on top of the hydrated mucus gel to prevent the invasion of bacteria from intestinal lumen. In ulcerative colitis (UC), the mucus PC content is reduced by 70%, irrespective of the state of inflammation. Thus, it could represent an intrinsic primary pathogenetic condition predisposing to bacterial invasion and the precipitation of inflammation. Since PC was shown to be mainly secreted by the ileal mucosa from where it is assumed to move distally to the colon, the PC content along the colonic wall towards the rectum gradually thins, with the least PC content in the rectum. This explains the start of the clinical manifestation of UC in the rectum and the expansion from there to the upper parts of the colon. In three clinical trials, when missing mucus PC in UC was supplemented by an oral, delayed release PC preparation, the inflammation improved and even resolved after a 3-month treatment course. The data indicate the essential role of the mucus PC content for protection against inflammation in colon. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base