BEACH 2014 Theory summary

I summarize key aspects of the quest for physics beyond the Standard Model in flavour physics as discussed at the BEACH 2014 conference in Birmingham

Assessment of Sustainability Governance in Higher Education Institutions - a Systemic Tool using a Governance Equalizer

The paper aims to add to the discussion on sustainability governance in higher education institutions by examining the role of sustainability assessment and introducing an assessment tool inspired by systemic thinking and centered on a ‘governance equalizer’. It discusses recent research and argues that the complexity inherent in sustainability governance remains to be addressed adequately. While a number of models and frameworks have been proposed, most of them remain caught between narrow, management-oriented approaches on the one hand, and rather abstract approaches that provide little guidance for improving the field on the other. Sustainability assessment tools represent a potential way to bridge this gap. While there are existing tools which include issues of sustainability governance, these are often limited to aspects that are easily quantifiable and neglect more complex aspects. Against this background, the article proposes an alternative tool to assess sustainability governance in higher education institutions. The tool is based on a multi-case study in Germany and has been tested in a series of workshops. Drawing on the concept of a ‘governance equalizer’, it focuses on the functional requirements of sustainability governance in five dimensions - politics, profession, organization, knowledge, and the public—and how they are addressed by the HEI. The tool raises the level of abstraction in order to capture complexity, but at the same time keeps sight of governance structures, processes, instruments, and practices. It combines clearly defined criteria that are assessed using carefully developed maturity scales with a focus on stakeholder participation and knowledge

Interdependencies of Culture and Functions of Sustainability Governance at Higher Education Institutions

Sustainable development practices in higher education institutions are diverse, with regard not only to the types of challenges that have to be addressed, but also to the forms of sustainability governance adopted by individual higher education institutions. This paper aims to reflect on the aspects of organizational culture that are particularly crucial for the implementation of sustainable practices at higher education institutions. Specifically, it addresses the research question: how do different organizational cultures affect approaches to sustainability governance at higher education institutions (HEIs)? It reflects on data from multi-case studies at eleven German higher education institutions. Four of the cases are analyzed in this paper to draw out the insights they offer on how organizational culture shapes the institutions’ approach to sustainable development. A governance equalizer is used as a functional framework for evaluating and discussing the influence of different cultural orientations on sustainability governance. In addition to providing many insights and findings in relation to specific cases, comparison of the different institutions, their governance structures and their cultures of sustainable development helps to emphasize that there is no single cultural factor that can be identified as directly promoting particular governance structures. Rather, there is an active interplay between cultural orientations, which influence, and are also influenced by, the measures deployed. Such influence is not instantly apparent but needs time to develop, and it evolves in a variety of ways as illustrated by the case studies

Dissociation of liner from cup in THA: does liner damage affect the risk of dissociation?

INTRODUCTION A rare catastrophic failure of modular component Total Hip Arthroplasty is dissociation between liner and cup, which has been associated with component malposition and/or impingement and seems to be more frequently associated with the Pinnacle system. The goal of this study was to evaluate the resistance of a polyethylene liner to lever-out-forces of the Pinnacle locking mechanism and the locking mechanisms of two other current cup/liner systems using a standardized testing method (ASTM). MATERIALS AND METHODS Five of each of the following cups were evaluated with their corresponding polyethylene liners: Pinnacle Multihole cup with and without intact anti-rotation tabs (ART's); Allofit-S-Alloclassic and Plasmafit Plus7 cups. The ASTM test set-up was used to evaluate the lever-out force resulting in liner dissociation for each construct. RESULTS The Pinnacle construct with intact ARTs required the greatest force (F) to achieve dissociation (263.2 ± 79.2 N) followed by the Plasmafit Plus7 (185.8 ± 36.9 N) and the Allofit-S (101.4 ± 35.3 N) constructs, respectively. However, after removal of the ARTs, the Pinnacle system required the least force to achieve dissociation (75.1 ± 22.2 N) (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS The intact Pinnacle system appeared the most stable in lever-out tests when compared to the other systems. However, after removal of the ARTs, the Pinnacle system required the least force for dissociation, consistent with locking mechanism failure, and suggesting that the ARTs are a critical component of the locking mechanism. Our findings are consistent with the clinical experience of dissociated Pinnacle constructs displaying damaged or missing ARTs, and that damage to these may increase risk of liner dissociation

Impact of Mistletoe Triterpene Acids on the Uptake of Mistletoe Lectin by Cultured Tumor Cells

Complementary treatment possibilities for the therapy of cancer are increasing in demand due to the severe side effects of the standard cytostatics used in the first-line therapy. A common approach as a complementary treatment is the use of aqueous extracts of Viscum album L. (Santalaceace). The therapeutic activity of these extracts is attributed to Mistletoe lectins which are Ribosome-inactivating proteins type II. Besides these main constituents the extract of Viscum album L. comprises also a mixture of lipophilic ingredients like triterpene acids of the oleanane, lupane and ursane type. However, these constituents are not contained in commercially available aqueous extracts due to their high lipophilicity and insolubility in aqueous extraction media. To understand the impact of the extract ingredients in cancer therapy, the intracellular uptake of the mistletoe lectin I (ML) by cultured tumor cells was investigated in relation to the mistletoe triterpene acids, mainly oleanolic acid. Firstly, these hydrophobic triterpene acids were solubilized using cyclodextrins ("TT" extract). Afterwards, the uptake of either single compounds (isolated ML and the aqueous "viscum" extract) or in combination with the TT extract (ML+TT, viscumTT), was analyzed. The uptake of ML was studied inTHP-1-, HL-60-, 143B- and Ewing TC-71-cells and determined after 30, 60 and 120 minutes by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay which quantifies the A-chain of the hololectin. It could be shown that the intracellular uptake after 120 minutes amounted to 20 % in all cell lines after incubation with viscumTT. The studies further revealed that the uptake in THP-1-, HL-60- and Ewing TC-71-cells was independent of the addition of TT extract. Interestingly, the uptake of ML by 143B-cells could only be measured after addition of triterpenes pointing to resistance to mistletoe lectin

Revealing Hidden Potentials of the q-Space Signal in Breast Cancer

Mammography screening for early detection of breast lesions currently suffers from high amounts of false positive findings, which result in unnecessary invasive biopsies. Diffusion-weighted MR images (DWI) can help to reduce many of these false-positive findings prior to biopsy. Current approaches estimate tissue properties by means of quantitative parameters taken from generative, biophysical models fit to the q-space encoded signal under certain assumptions regarding noise and spatial homogeneity. This process is prone to fitting instability and partial information loss due to model simplicity. We reveal unexplored potentials of the signal by integrating all data processing components into a convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture that is designed to propagate clinical target information down to the raw input images. This approach enables simultaneous and target-specific optimization of image normalization, signal exploitation, global representation learning and classification. Using a multicentric data set of 222 patients, we demonstrate that our approach significantly improves clinical decision making with respect to the current state of the art.Comment: Accepted conference paper at MICCAI 201

Synergistic Antitumour Properties of viscumTT in Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma

Aqueous mistletoe extracts from the European mistletoe (Viscum album) contain mainly mistletoe lectins and viscotoxins as cytotoxic compounds. Lipophilic triterpene acids, which do not occur in conventional mistletoe preparations, were solubilised with β-cyclodextrins. The combination of an aqueous extract (viscum) and a triterpene-containing extract (TT) recreated a whole mistletoe extract (viscumTT). These extracts were tested on rhabdomyosarcoma in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo with regard to anticancer effects. Viscum and viscumTT inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis effectively in a dose- dependent manner in vitro and ex vivo, whereas TT showed only moderate inhibitory effects. viscumTT proved to be more effective than the single extracts and displayed a synergistic effect in vitro and a stronger effect in vivo. viscumTT induced apoptosis via the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways, evidenced by the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and activation of CASP8 and CASP9. CASP10 inhibitor inhibited apoptosis effectively, emphasising the importance of CASP10 in viscumTT-induced apoptosis. Additionally, viscumTT changed the ratio of apoptosis-associated proteins by downregulation of antiapoptotic proteins such as XIAP and BIRC5, thus shifting the balance towards apoptosis. viscumTT effectively reduced tumour volume in patient- derived xenografts in vivo and may be considered a promising substance for rhabdomyosarcoma therapy

A Recovery-Oriented Approach for an Acute Psychiatric Ward: Is It Feasible and How Does It Affect Staff Satisfaction?

To evaluate professionals' attitudes to recovery and coercion, as well their satisfaction with working conditions before and after the implementation of a recovery-oriented ward concept on an admission ward. Longitudinal study design with two measurement times of the study sample, with a control group assessed at study end. Evaluating the implementation of the recovery concept, attitudes towards recovery, coercion, perceptions of the ward and working satisfaction were assessed with questionnaires and computed using Chi square and ANOVA variance analyses. The members of the intervention ward (n=17) did not differ from the control group (n=21), except that control group members were younger. The recovery-orientation of the study ward (ROSE questionnaire) increased significantly (alpha level=0.05) from study begin to study end (p=0.003), and compared to the control group (p=0.002). The attitudes towards coercion did not change significantly in the intervention group, but did so compared to the control group. The contentedness (GMI) and the satisfaction with working conditions (ABB) of the intervention group members compared to control group was significantly higher (GMI: p=0.004, ABB subscale working conditions: p=0.043, satisfaction: p=0.023). The study indicates that recovery-oriented principles can be implemented even in an acute admission ward, increasing team satisfaction with work, while attitudes towards coercion did not change significantly within this single-unit project