Petrogenesis of Tertiary Alkaline Magmas in the Siebengebirge, Germany

Basanites from the Tertiary Siebengebirge area of Germany (part of the Central European Volcanic Province; CEVP) have high Mg# (>0·60), moderate to high Cr (>300 ppm) and Ni (>200 ppm) contents and strong light rare earth element enrichment, but systematic depletion in Rb and K relative to trace elements of similar compatibility in anhydrous mantle. Rare earth element melting models can explain the petrogenesis of these basanites in terms of partial melting of a spinel peridotite source containing residual amphibole. It is inferred that amphibole, indicated by the relative K and Rb depletion and the melting model, was precipitated in the spinel peridotite lithospheric mantle beneath the Siebengebirge, by metasomatic fluids or melts from a rising mantle diapir or plume. Alkali basalts and more differentiated rocks have lower Mg# and lower abundances of Ni and Cr, and have undergone fractionation of mainly olivine, clinopyroxene, Fe-Ti oxides, amphibole and plagioclase. Most of the basanites and alkali basalts approach the Sr-Nd-Pb isotope compositions inferred for the European Asthenospheric Reservoir component. Trace element constraints (i.e. low Nb/U and Ce/Pb ratios) and the Sr-Nd-Pb isotope composition of the differentiated rocks indicate that assimilation of lower crustal material has modified the composition of the primary mantle-derived magmas. High 207Pb/204Pb ratios in the differentiated lavas point to assimilation of ancient lower crustal components having high U/Pb and Th/Pb ratios. Relatively shallow melting of inferred amphibole-bearing spinel peridotite sources may suggest an origin from the metasomatized part of the thermal boundary layer. Application of new thermobarometric equations for the basaltic magmas indicates relatively normal mantle potential temperatures (1300-1400°C); thus the inferred mantle ‘baby plume' or ‘hot finger' is not thermally anomalou

'I-I' and 'I-me' : Transposing Buber's interpersonal attitudes to the intrapersonal plane

Hermans' polyphonic model of the self proposes that dialogical relationships can be established between multiple I-positions1 (e.g., Hermans, 2001a). There have been few attempts, however, to explicitly characterize the forms that these intrapersonal relationships may take. Drawing on Buber's (1958) distinction between the 'I-Thou' and 'I-It' attitude, it is proposed that intrapersonal relationships can take one of two forms: an 'I-I' form, in which one I-position encounters and confirms another I-position in its uniqueness and wholeness; and an 'I-Me' form, in which one I-position experiences another I-position in a detached and objectifying way. This article argues that this I-Me form of intrapersonal relating is associated with psychological distress, and that this is so for a number of reasons: Most notably, because an individual who objectifies and subjugates certain I-position cannot reconnect with more central I-positions when dominance reversal (Hermans, 2001a) takes place. On this basis, it is suggested that a key role of the therapeutic process is to help clients become more able to experience moments of I-I intrapersonal encounter, and it is argued that this requires the therapist to confirm the client both as a whole and in terms of each of his or her different voices

A Flagellar A-Kinase Anchoring Protein with Two Amphipathic Helices Forms a Structural Scaffold in the Radial Spoke Complex

A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) contain an amphipathic helix (AH) that binds the dimerization and docking (D/D) domain, RIIa, in cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA). Many AKAPs were discovered solely based on the AH–RIIa interaction in vitro. An RIIa or a similar Dpy-30 domain is also present in numerous diverged molecules that are implicated in critical processes as diverse as flagellar beating, membrane trafficking, histone methylation, and stem cell differentiation, yet these molecules remain poorly characterized. Here we demonstrate that an AKAP, RSP3, forms a dimeric structural scaffold in the flagellar radial spoke complex, anchoring through two distinct AHs, the RIIa and Dpy-30 domains, in four non-PKA spoke proteins involved in the assembly and modulation of the complex. Interestingly, one AH can bind both RIIa and Dpy-30 domains in vitro. Thus, AHs and D/D domains constitute a versatile yet potentially promiscuous system for localizing various effector mechanisms. These results greatly expand the current concept about anchoring mechanisms and AKAPs

Controlling the direction of division

Quyn and colleagues report that gut stem cells have a biased spindle orientation and asymmetric retention of label-retaining DNA. These features are lost in mouse and human tissues when the microtubule binding protein Apc is mutated. In the developing kidney, Apc acts downstream from primary cilium signaling to influence spindle orientation when noncanonical Wnt signaling predominates. Do gut stem cells also have primary cilia

Prescribing errors in children

Prescribing errors are a well-known safety concern in pediatric patients. The aim of this thesis was to investigate factors related to patients, drugs, and the mode of prescription, that influenced the rate of prescribing errors in a population of 1000 pediatric patients hospitalized on general medical and surgical wards at the University Children's Hospital Zurich. The data were collected during two periods in 2018 and 2019. In total 5022 prescriptions were analyzed. The prevalence of prescribing errors under different circumstances of prescribing (2299 pre-CPOE prescriptions with semi-structured order forms or handwritten prescriptions versus 2723 post-CPOE prescriptions as electronic prescriptions with limited clinical decision support (CDS)), was investigated in different age groups and different types of drugs. Additionally, the types of errors that occurred and the severity of harm potentially caused by these errors were revealed. Furthermore, associations of errors withs specific drug types or patients were investigated, with a particular emphasis on unlicensed drugs. In the first study Prescribing errors in children – what is the influence of a computerized physician order entry (CPOE)? the influence of the prescribing mode was investigated. The prescriptions of 500 patients before (2018) and after (2019) introduction of a CPOE were analyzed and prescribing errors assessed. It was found that the post-CPOE prescriptions overall contained significantly fewer prescribing errors (25 errors / 100 prescriptions) than pre-CPOE prescriptions (78 errors / 100 prescriptions) (p < 0.001). Errors that actually could have led to patient harm with a severity rated as “temporary harm possible” to “death” (further referred to as potentially harmful errors: PHE), were also reduced from 18 errors / 100 prescriptions pre-CPOE to 11 errors / 100 prescriptions post-CPOE (p < 0.001). The errors that occurred most frequently in the pre-CPOE period were errors due to missing information. These errors were of minor severity and were strongly decreased post-CPOE, where dosing errors were the most frequent type of error. A statistically significant increase in medication reconciliation errors was observed after CPOE introduction due to remaining hybrid prescriptions in certain cases. Overall, the CPOE had a positive impact on patient safety. In Prescribing patterns in pediatric general wards and their association with prescribing errors, the second study, a sub-analysis of the first study was conducted in which prescribing patterns in the post- CPOE population were revealed. Newborns were excluded from the study due to small sample size, leading to a remaining population of 489 patients with 2693 prescriptions. Drugs for the nervous system, drugs for the alimentary system and anti-infective drugs were the most frequently prescribed drug classes, with paracetamol, metamizole and ibuprofen being the most frequently prescribed active substances. Patient characteristics like age and gender as well as drug use were associated with prescribing errors. Children between 2 and 11 years experienced higher error rates than infants under 2 years of age: 12.2 potentially harmful errors (PHE) / 100 prescriptions, vs. 8.5 PHE / 100 prescriptions (p = 0.026). A statistically significant difference was also found for female patients as compared to male patients, with the female patients having higher rates of PHE than the male (25.6 errors or 12.1 PHE / 100 prescriptions vs. 24.7 errors or 9.3 PHE / 100 prescriptions) (p = 0.035 for PHE), even though there was no difference in the overall error rates. This finding needs further investigation. The third study, Use of unlicensed drugs in a Swiss Pediatric University Hospital and associated prescribing error rates, another sub-analysis of the first study laid a focus on unlicensed drugs in the population of 1000 patients (pre- and post-CPOE), which accounted for a proportion of 10.8% of all prescriptions. 34% of patients were prescribed at least one unlicensed drug. Oral liquid forms were the most frequently prescribed drug form in unlicensed drugs. In the post-CPOE population unlicensed drugs were more prone to prescribing errors than licensed drugs (32 errors / 100 prescriptions vs. 24 errors / 100 prescriptions, p = 0.024). Particularly extemporaneously prepared drugs had high error rates of 36.4 errors / 100 prescriptions. Therefore, licensed drugs are favorable in terms of medication safety. Overall, this thesis highlights various aspects of prescribing errors in children and illustrates, that pediatric patients are still at a high risk of experiencing a prescribing error. Ongoing efforts are necessary to improve medication safety. These include electronic solutions like CPOE and CDS, multifaceted approaches on healthcare professional and organizational level as well as support from the pharmaceutical industry by licensing more suitable formulations for pediatric patients

Mechanisms of Ciliary Movement: Contributions from Electron Microscopy

A brief review of important contributions of electron microscopy to the study of ciliary motility is presented. The electron microscope was used to show the universality of axonemal structure of cilia, and to develop the sliding microtubule model of ciliary motility and later the switch point hypothesis to explain the conversion of sliding into bending. Unexpectedly, insights into the importance of cilia in human health have stemmed from these studies