Verbraucherpreise in Deutschland

Im abgelaufenen Jahr hat sich in Deutschland der Preisauftrieb auf der Verbraucherstufe durch die kumulative Wirkung von Euro-Schwaeche und Oelexpansion deutlich beschleunigt. Gemessen am Preisindex fuer die Lebenshaltung aller privaten Haushalte stiegen die Preise im Jahr 2000 um 1,9%, in Ostdeutschland um 1,7%. In den vorherigen Jahren erhoehten sich die Preise im Osten staerker. Trotzdem ist die Kaufkraft der D-Mark in Ostdeutschland um 9% (Sachsen knapp 8,5%) hoeher als in den alten Bundeslaendern.Neue Bundeslaender, Preisindex, Lebenshaltungskosten

Der Arbeitsmarkt in Sachsen - regionale Aspekte der Unterbeschaeftigung

Der Artikel gibt einen Ueberblick ueber die wichtigsten aktuellen Entwicklungen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt in Deutschland insgesamt, in den neuen Bundeslaendern und insbesondere im Freistaat Sachsen. Weiterhin wird auf einige Aspekte zur unterschiedlichen Arbeitsmarktlage in den einzelnen saechsischen Arbeitsbezirken eingegangen. So lag innerhalb des Freistaats die Arbeitslosenquote im Jahresdurchschnitt 2000 in dem Arbeitsbezirk mit der hoechsten Quote (Bautzen) um mehr als 40% ueber dem Wert des Arbeitsbezirks mit der geringsten Quote (Plauen).Neue Bundeslaender, Arbeitsmarkt, Arbeitslosenquote, Arbeitsverwaltung, Arbeitslosigkeit

Der Arbeitsmarkt in Sachsen - Jahresrueckblick 2000

Mit 387.000 im Jahresdurchschnitt 2000 ist die Zahl der Arbeitslosen in Sachsen auf ein neues Rekordniveau angestiegen. Steigende Einstellungen im Verarbeitenden Gewerbe wurden durch den fortgesetzten Stellenabbau im Baugewerbe und im oeffentlichen Bereich ueberlagert. Die im Vergleich zum Vorjahr geringere Entlastung durch die Arbeitsmarktpolitik erklaert hauptsaechlich den Anstieg der Erwerbslosigkeit. Im Jahr 2001 duerfte der saechsische Arbeitsmarkt freundlicher tendieren.Neue Bundeslaender, Arbeitsmarkt, Arbeitslosigkeit, Entwicklung

A case study for a new invasive extension of Intel's Threading Building Blocks.

We study codes deploying multiple MPI ranks to one node where each rank is parallelised with TBB. A static assignment of cores to ranks here is disadvantageous if the load is not perfectly balanced, the runtime is subject to fluctuations or one MPI rank runs through phases with low concurrency. We propose an extension to TBB where developers manually annotate which code parts could exploit further cores. The cores are then dynamically associated with ranks. Our approach is decentralised, lightweight and minimally invasive w.r.t. code modifications. Some brief performance studies suggest that a flexible, permanently changing assignment of cores to compute ranks can outperform a static distribution, while greedily haggling over cores throughout a simulation might perform even better

W 2.1.3 Bedarfserhebung mit Literaturrecherche und explorativen Interviews zur Konzeption und Durchführung modularer FDM-Zertifikatskurse für FDM-Verantwortliche, Forschende und Studierende

Um ein institutionalisiertes und nachhaltiges Forschungsdatenmanagement (FDM) in Brandenburg zu erreichen, ist es unabdingbar, strukturierte Schulungsangebote für Forschende und Studierende sowie Schulungs- und Weiterbildungsangebote für FDM-Verantwortliche an jeder Hochschule aufzubauen. Deshalb werden im Rahmen des Verbundprojekts „Institutionalisiertes und nachhaltiges Forschungsdatenmanagement in Brandenburg“ (IN-FDM-BB) modulare FDM-Zertifikatskurse für FDM-Verantwortliche, Forschende und Studierende aller acht am Projekt beteiligten staatlichen, forschenden Hochschulen konzipiert, die sowohl den Hochschulangehörigen sowie den Angehörigen der außeruniversitären Forschungseinrichtungen Brandenburgs offenstehen. Ein Zertifikatskurs „Forschungsdatenmanagement für Studierende“ wurde innerhalb des Projekts bereits konzipiert und durchgeführt. Um ein passgenaues Schulungsangebot für alle drei Zielgruppen entwickeln zu können, wurden auf Basis (1) einer Literaturrecherche zur Vermittlung von FDM-Kompetenzen im Hochschulkontext, (2) eines explorativen Gruppeninterviews im Rahmen eines gemeinsamen Online-Workshops inkl. Gruppendiskussionen mit FDM-Verantwortlichen der acht brandenburgischen Hochschulen, (3) einer Bedarfserhebung unter den Forschenden der Hochschulen und (4), ergänzend, durch Auswertung der Kursevaluationen des oben genannten Zertifikatskurses für Studierende entsprechende Bedarfe, Wünsche und Erfahrungen ermittelt. Diese fließen in die Konzipierung der Kurse ein, beziehungsweise ergänzen das bereits bestehende Konzept eines Zertifikatskurses für Studierende. Nach der Zusammenfassung und dem Ausblick folgt noch ein kurzer Exkurs zu dem projektspezifischen Wissensspeicher für FDM-Materialien.Finanziert durch das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) und die Europäische Union (NextGenerationEU), sowie das Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur (MWFK) des Landes Brandenburg

Genetic Determinants of Circulating Sphingolipid Concentrations in European Populations

Sphingolipids have essential roles as structural components of cell membranes and in cell signalling, and disruption of their metabolism causes several diseases, with diverse neurological, psychiatric, and metabolic consequences. Increasingly, variants within a few of the genes that encode enzymes involved in sphingolipid metabolism are being associated with complex disease phenotypes. Direct experimental evidence supports a role of specific sphingolipid species in several common complex chronic disease processes including atherosclerotic plaque formation, myocardial infarction (MI), cardiomyopathy, pancreatic beta-cell failure, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Therefore, sphingolipids represent novel and important intermediate phenotypes for genetic analysis, yet little is known about the major genetic variants that influence their circulating levels in the general population. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) between 318,237 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and levels of circulating sphingomyelin (SM), dihydrosphingomyelin (Dih-SM), ceramide (Cer), and glucosylceramide (GluCer) single lipid species (33 traits); and 43 matched metabolite ratios measured in 4,400 subjects from five diverse European populations. Associated variants (32) in five genomic regions were identified with genome-wide significant corrected p-values ranging down to 9.08 x 10(-66). The strongest associations were observed in or near 7 genes functionally involved in ceramide biosynthesis and trafficking: SPTLC3, LASS4, SGPP1, ATP10D, and FADS1-3. Variants in 3 loci (ATP10D, FADS3, and SPTLC3) associate with MI in a series of three German MI studies. An additional 70 variants across 23 candidate genes involved in sphingolipid-metabolizing pathways also demonstrate association (p = 10(-4) or less). Circulating concentrations of several key components in sphingolipid metabolism are thus under strong genetic control, and variants in these loci can be tested for a role in the development of common cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological, and psychiatric diseases

Informal Caregiving in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS): A High Caregiver Burden and Drastic Consequences on Caregivers’ Lives

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that causes progressive autonomy loss and need for care. This does not only affect patients themselves, but also the patients’ informal caregivers (CGs) in their health, personal and professional lives. The big efforts of this multi-center study were not only to evaluate the caregivers’ burden and to identify its predictors, but it also should provide a specific understanding of the needs of ALS patients’ CGs and fill the gap of knowledge on their personal and work lives. Using standardized questionnaires, primary data from patients and their main informal CGs (n = 249) were collected. Patients’ functional status and disease severity were evaluated using the Barthel Index, the revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R) and the King’s Stages for ALS. The caregivers’ burden was recorded by the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Comorbid anxiety and depression of caregivers were assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Additionally, the EuroQol Five Dimension Five Level Scale evaluated their health-related quality of life. The caregivers’ burden was high (mean ZBI = 26/88, 0 = no burden, ≥24 = highly burdened) and correlated with patients’ functional status (rp = −0.555, p < 0.001, n = 242). It was influenced by the CGs’ own mental health issues due to caregiving (+11.36, 95% CI [6.84; 15.87], p < 0.001), patients’ wheelchair dependency (+9.30, 95% CI [5.94; 12.66], p < 0.001) and was interrelated with the CGs’ depression (rp = 0.627, p < 0.001, n = 234), anxiety (rp = 0.550, p < 0.001, n = 234), and poorer physical condition (rp = −0.362, p < 0.001, n = 237). Moreover, female CGs showed symptoms of anxiety more often, which also correlated with the patients’ impairment in daily routine (rs = −0.280, p < 0.001, n = 169). As increasing disease severity, along with decreasing autonomy, was the main predictor of caregiver burden and showed to create relevant (negative) implications on CGs’ lives, patient care and supportive therapies should address this issue. Moreover, in order to preserve the mental and physical health of the CGs, new concepts of care have to focus on both, on not only patients but also their CGs and gender-associated specific issues. As caregiving in ALS also significantly influences the socioeconomic status by restrictions in CGs’ work lives and income, and the main reported needs being lack of psychological support and a high bureaucracy, the situation of CGs needs more attention. Apart from their own multi-disciplinary medical and psychological care, more support in care and patient management issues is required

Hundreds of variants clustered in genomic loci and biological pathways affect human height

Most common human traits and diseases have a polygenic pattern of inheritance: DNA sequence variants at many genetic loci influence the phenotype. Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified more than 600 variants associated with human traits, but these typically explain small fractions of phenotypic variation, raising questions about the use of further studies. Here, using 183,727 individuals, we show that hundreds of genetic variants, in at least 180 loci, influence adult height, a highly heritable and classic polygenic trait. The large number of loci reveals patterns with important implications for genetic studies of common human diseases and traits. First, the 180 loci are not random, but instead are enriched for genes that are connected in biological pathways (P = 0.016) and that underlie skeletal growth defects (P < 0.001). Second, the likely causal gene is often located near the most strongly associated variant: in 13 of 21 loci containing a known skeletal growth gene, that gene was closest to the associated variant. Third, at least 19 loci have multiple independently associated variants, suggesting that allelic heterogeneity is a frequent feature of polygenic traits, that comprehensive explorations of already-discovered loci should discover additional variants and that an appreciable fraction of associated loci may have been identified. Fourth, associated variants are enriched for likely functional effects on genes, being over-represented among variants that alter amino-acid structure of proteins and expression levels of nearby genes. Our data explain approximately 10% of the phenotypic variation in height, and we estimate that unidentified common variants of similar effect sizes would increase this figure to approximately 16% of phenotypic variation (approximately 20% of heritable variation). Although additional approaches are needed to dissect the genetic architecture of polygenic human traits fully, our findings indicate that GWA studies can identify large numbers of loci that implicate biologically relevant genes and pathways.