Uniform existence of the IDS on lattices and groups

We present a general framework for thermodynamic limits and its applications to a variety of models. In particular we will identify criteria such that the limits are uniform in a parameter. All results are illustrated with the example of eigenvalue counting functions converging to the integrated density of states. In this case, the convergence is uniform in the energy.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures, proceedings of the conference Analysis and Geometry on Graphs and Manifolds 2017 at the University of Potsda

Produktionskosten-Faktoren im Deutschschweizer Weinbau

Die Produktionskosten im Weinbau werden jährlich von der AGRIDEA in einer Broschüre veröffentlicht (s. SZOW 6/07). Sie werden getrennt nach Mechanisierung und Erziehungssystem berechnet, wobei zum Teil grosse Unterschiede auch innerhalb der Kategorien feststellbar sind. Im Rahmen einer Diplomarbeit an der Hochschule Wädenswil (HSW) wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit AGRIDEA untersucht, welche Faktoren diese Streuungen bewirken. Dazu wurden 17 Betriebe der Kategorie «Mittlerer Drahtbau mit Traktoreinsatz» in der Deutschschweiz durchleuchtet

Development of Comorbid Depression after Social Fear Conditioning in Mice and Its Effects on Brain Sphingolipid Metabolism

Currently, there are no animal models for studying both specific social fear and social fear with comorbidities. Here, we investigated whether social fear conditioning (SFC), an animal model with face, predictive and construct validity for social anxiety disorder (SAD), leads to the development of comorbidities at a later stage over the course of the disease and how this affects the brain sphingolipid metabolism. SFC altered both the emotional behavior and the brain sphingolipid metabolism in a time-point-dependent manner. While social fear was not accompanied by changes in non-social anxiety-like and depressive-like behavior for at least two to three weeks, a comorbid depressive-like behavior developed five weeks after SFC. These different pathologies were accompanied by different alterations in the brain sphingolipid metabolism. Specific social fear was accompanied by increased activity of ceramidases in the ventral hippocampus and ventral mesencephalon and by small changes in sphingolipid levels in the dorsal hippocampus. Social fear with comorbid depression, however, altered the activity of sphingomyelinases and ceramidases as well as the sphingolipid levels and sphingolipid ratios in most of the investigated brain regions. This suggests that changes in the brain sphingolipid metabolism might be related to the short- and long-term pathophysiology of SAD

Dermal Delivery of the High-Molecular-Weight Drug Tacrolimus by Means of Polyglycerol-Based Nanogels

Polyglycerol-based thermoresponsive nanogels (tNGs) have been shown to have excellent skin hydration properties and to be valuable delivery systems for sustained release of drugs into skin. In this study, we compared the skin penetration of tacrolimus formulated in tNGs with a commercial 0.1% tacrolimus ointment. The penetration of the drug was investigated in ex vivo abdominal and breast skin, while different methods for skin barrier disruption were investigated to improve skin permeability or simulate inflammatory conditions with compromised skin barrier. The amount of penetrated tacrolimus was measured in skin extracts by liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), whereas the inflammatory markers IL-6 and IL-8 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Higher amounts of tacrolimus penetrated in breast as compared to abdominal skin or in barrier-disrupted as compared to intact skin, confirming that the stratum corneum is the main barrier for tacrolimus skin penetration. The anti-proliferative effect of the penetrated drug was measured in skin tissue/Jurkat cells co-cultures. Interestingly, tNGs exhibited similar anti-proliferative effects as the 0.1% tacrolimus ointment. We conclude that polyglycerol-based nanogels represent an interesting alternative to paraffin-based formulations for the treatment of inflammatory skin conditions

Intestinal Acid Sphingomyelinase Protects From Severe Pathogen-Driven Colitis

Inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are emerging as a global problem with increased evidence and prevalence in numerous countries. A dysregulated sphingolipid metabolism occurs in patients with ulcerative colitis and is discussed to contribute to its pathogenesis. In the present study, we determined the impact of acid sphingomyelinase (Asm), which catalyzes the hydrolysis of sphingomyelin to ceramide, on the course of Citrobacter (C.) rodentium-driven colitis. C. rodentium is an enteric pathogen and induces colonic inflammation very similar to the pathology in patients with ulcerative colitis. We found that mice with Asm deficiency or Asm inhibition were strongly susceptible to C. rodentium infection. These mice showed increased levels of C. rodentium in the feces and were prone to bacterial spreading to the systemic organs. In addition, mice lacking Asm activity showed an uncontrolled inflammatory Th1 and Th17 response, which was accompanied by a stronger colonic pathology compared to infected wild type mice. These findings identified Asm as an essential regulator of mucosal immunity to the enteric pathogen C. rodentium

Flip the Seminar – Digitale Vorbereitung auf Praxisphasen im Lehramt

Das Praxissemester in NRW stellt Lehramtsstudierende vor eine große Herausforderung. Begleitend zur schulischen Praxisphase müssen Studienprojekte im Sinne des Forschenden Lernens verfasst werden. Universitäre Seminare bereiten auf diese methodisch anspruchsvollen Arbeiten vor. Um den Erwerb des forschungsmethodischen Wissens zeitlich und örtlich zu flexibilisieren und den Dozierenden-Studierenden-Kontakt im Seminar zu intensivieren, wurde das Konzept des Inverted Classrooms (IC) eingeführt. Mit dem Ziel, die IC-Video-Sequenzen als OER zu veröffentlichen, wird mit einem Vor-/Nachtest-Interventions-Design mit Kontrollgruppe evaluiert, ob dieses Format u. a. motivational überlegen ist