Gottesdienste als Beitrag zum Schulleben?:Chancen und Grenzen einer religiösen Dimension in der Grundschule

Die gegenwärtige Bildungsdiskussion hebt stets die besondere Bedeutung der Schule und des Schullebens hervor. Hierbei wird das Schulleben auch als Synthese von religiösen Bildungsangeboten der Schule und sozialer Lebenswelt der Kinder identifiziert. Inwiefern jedoch ist der Zugang von Religion in das Schulleben überhaupt legitimiert? Ist der Schulgottesdienst als besondere Form religiösen Schullebens pädagogisch begründet? Welche Zielsetzungen werden mit dem Schulgottesdienst verfolgt und an welchen Stellen lassen sich Chancen und Grenzen in der Umsetzung aufzeigen? Aufbauend auf theoretischen Grundsatzüberlegungen werden diese Fragen durch Experten aus Schule und Kirche evaluiert. Methodisch wird dies über qualitative Interviews mit Pfarrern und Lehrpersonen von Münsteraner Schulen erreicht. Auf diesen Erkenntnissen aufbauend werden in einer anspruchsgruppenspezifischen Analyse die religiösen Elemente im Schulleben zusammenführend beurteilt

Die Corporate Identity einer Universität als Mittel Ihrer strategischen Positionierung : Erkenntnisse gewonnen aus einem deutsch-amerikanischen Vergleich

Nordamerikanische Universitäten handeln im Hinblick auf die Präsentation ihrer Leistungen konsequent nach marketingstrategischen Vorgaben, was nicht zuletzt durch das universitäre System bedingt ist. Deutsche Universitäten verfolgen im Allgemeinen keine strategisch orientierte Ausrichtung ihrer marketingpolitischen Aktivitäten. Der Grund ist in der universitären Organisation zu suchen, die trotz einer immer weiter steigenden Zahl von Studienanfängern (vgl. Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland 2002) mit dem Fehlen von Studiengebühren und der Zuweisung der Studienplätze nach Sozial- und erst in zweiter Linie Leistungskriterien konfrontiert ist. Der marketingpolitische Spielraum im Bereich des Preis- und Distributionsmanagements ist daher weitestgehend begrenzt. Die vorliegende Studie zeigt durch die Betrachtung der Marketing-Aktivitäten nordamerikanischer Universitäten Möglichkeiten für deutsche Hochschulen auf, durch strategische Maßnahmen im Bereich der Produkt- und Kommunikationspolitik eine herausragende Stellung gegenüber ihren Wettbewerbern auf dem nationalen und internationalen Bildungsparkett einzunehmen. Um die Gegenüberstellung strukturell vergleichbarerer Einheiten zu gewährleisten, wurde nicht die Gesamtheit der Universitäten betrachtet, sondern lediglich die marketingpolitischen Maßnahmen der von der AACSB akkreditierten US-amerikanischen Business Schools im Vergleich zu denen der deutschen wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultäten analysiert. Neben der Ableitung von Handlungsempfehlungen durch einen deutsch-amerikanischen Vergleich bestand ein zweites Untersuchungsziel in der Übertragung des Corporate Identity-Konzepts auf Universitäten. Das Konstrukt der Corporate Identity (CI) konkretisiert durch den CI-Mix – Corporate Communication, Corporate Behavior, Corporate Design und Corporate Culture – stellt einen konzeptionellen Rahmen für die Übertragung strategischer produkt- und kommunikationspolitischer Aktivitäten auf die Universität zur Verfügung

Luteolin triggers global changes in the microglial transcriptome leading to a unique anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective phenotype

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Luteolin, a plant derived flavonoid, exerts a variety of pharmacological activities and anti-oxidant properties associated with its capacity to scavenge oxygen and nitrogen species. Luteolin also shows potent anti-inflammatory activities by inhibiting nuclear factor kappa B (NFkB) signaling in immune cells. To better understand the immuno-modulatory effects of this important flavonoid, we performed a genome-wide expression analysis in pro-inflammatory challenged microglia treated with luteolin and conducted a phenotypic and functional characterization.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Resting and LPS-activated BV-2 microglia were treated with luteolin in various concentrations and mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory markers were determined. DNA microarray experiments and bioinformatic data mining were performed to capture global transcriptomic changes following luteolin stimulation of microglia. Extensive qRT-PCR analyses were carried out for an independent confirmation of newly identified luteolin-regulated transcripts. The activation state of luteolin-treated microglia was assessed by morphological characterization. Microglia-mediated neurotoxicity was assessed by quantifying secreted nitric oxide levels and apoptosis of 661W photoreceptors cultured in microglia-conditioned medium.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Luteolin dose-dependently suppressed pro-inflammatory marker expression in LPS-activated microglia and triggered global changes in the microglial transcriptome with more than 50 differentially expressed transcripts. Pro-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic gene expression was effectively blocked by luteolin. In contrast, mRNA levels of genes related to anti-oxidant metabolism, phagocytic uptake, ramification, and chemotaxis were significantly induced. Luteolin treatment had a major effect on microglial morphology leading to ramification of formerly amoeboid cells associated with the formation of long filopodia. When co-incubated with luteolin, LPS-activated microglia showed strongly reduced NO secretion and significantly decreased neurotoxicity on 661W photoreceptor cultures.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings confirm the inhibitory effects of luteolin on pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in microglia. Moreover, our transcriptomic data suggest that this flavonoid is a potent modulator of microglial activation and affects several signaling pathways leading to a unique phenotype with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and neuroprotective characteristics. With the identification of several novel luteolin-regulated genes, our findings provide a molecular basis to understand the versatile effects of luteolin on microglial homeostasis. The data also suggest that luteolin could be a promising candidate to develop immuno-modulatory and neuroprotective therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.</p

Radiation Driven Implosion and Triggered Star Formation

We present simulations of initially stable isothermal clouds exposed to ionizing radiation from a discrete external source, and identify the conditions that lead to radiatively driven implosion and star formation. We use the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics code SEREN (Hubber et al. 2010) and the HEALPix-based photoionization algorithm described in Bisbas et al. (2009). We find that the incident ionizing flux is the critical parameter determining the evolution: high fluxes simply disperse the cloud, whereas low fluxes trigger star formation. We find a clear connection between the intensity of the incident flux and the parameters of star formation.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, conference proceedings, IAU Symposium 270 (eds. Alves, Elmegreen, Girart, Trimble

Leistungsprüfung offen-abblühender Maispopulationen

Auf modernem Zuchtmaterial basierende, offen-abblühende Maispopulationen könnten vor allem für ökologische und Low-Input Anbausysteme eine alternative zu Hybriden darstellen. Im Rahmen des zeitlich befristeten Experiments 2014/150/EU der EU-Kommission wurden 2016 fünf moderne Maispopulationen vom Bundessortenamt zugelassen. In einem BÖLN-Projekt wurden in 2017 und 2018 Leistungsprüfungen aller zugelassenen Maispopulationen (mit Hybriden als Referenzsorten) unter konventionellen und  ökologischen Anbaubedingungen durchgeführt. Wir stellen die Ergebnisse dieser Leistungsprüfungen vor, ziehen Schlussfolgerungen über das agronomische Potential von Maispopulationen und diskutieren zukünftige Perspektiven

Effects of Weight Loss on Glutathione Peroxidase 3 Serum Concentrations and Adipose Tissue Expression in Human Obesity

Background/Aims: Altered expression and circulating levels of glutathione peroxidase 3 (GPX3) have been observed in obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) across species. Here, we investigate whether GPX3 serum concentrations and adipose tissue (AT) GPX3 mRNA expression are related to obesity and weight loss. Methods: GPX3 serum concentration was measured in 630 individuals, including a subgroup (n = 293) for which omental and subcutaneous (SC) GPX3 mRNA expression has been analyzed. GPX3 analyses include three interventions: 6 months after bariatric surgery (n = 80) or combined exercise/hypocaloric diet (n = 20) or two-step bariatric surgery (n = 24) studies. Results: Bariatric surgery-induced weight loss (–25.8 ± 8.4%), but not a moderate weight reduction of –8.8 ± 6.5% was associated with significantly reduced GPX3 serum concentrations. GPX3 mRNA is significantly higher expressed in AT from individuals with normal glucose metabolism compared to T2D patients. SC AT GPX3 expression is significantly higher in lean compared to obese as well as in insulin-sensitive compared insulin-resistant individuals with obesity. Weight loss after bariatric surgery causes a significant increase in SC AT GPX3 expression. AT GPX3 expression significantly correlates with age, BMI, fat distribution, insulin sensitivity (only SC AT), but not with circulating GPX3. Conclusion: Our data support the notion that SC AT GPX3 expression is associated with obesity, fat distribution and related to whole body insulin resistance

Grip strength values and cut-off points based on over 200,000 adults of the German National Cohort - a comparison to the EWGSOP2 cut-off points

BACKGROUND: The European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) updated in 2018 the cut-off points for low grip strength to assess sarcopenia based on pooled data from 12 British studies. OBJECTIVE: Comparison of the EWGSOP2 cut-off points for low grip strength to those derived from a large German sample. METHODS: We assessed the grip strength distribution across age and derived low grip strength cut-off points for men and women (peak mean -2.5 × SD) based on 200,389 German National Cohort (NAKO) participants aged 19–75 years. In 1,012 Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg (KORA)-Age participants aged 65–93 years, we calculated the age-standardised prevalence of low grip strength and time-dependent sensitivity and specificity for all-cause mortality. RESULTS: Grip strength increased in the third and fourth decade of life and declined afterwards. Calculated cut-off points for low grip strength were 29 kg for men and 18 kg for women. In KORA-Age, the age-standardised prevalence of low grip strength was 1.5× higher for NAKO-derived (17.7%) compared to EWGSOP2 (11.7%) cut-off points. NAKO-derived cut-off points yielded a higher sensitivity and lower specificity for all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Cut-off points for low grip strength from German population-based data were 2 kg higher than the EWGSOP2 cut-off points. Higher cut-off points increase the sensitivity, thereby suggesting an intervention for more patients at risk, while other individuals might receive additional diagnostics/treatment without the urgent need. Research on the effectiveness of intervention in patients with low grip strength defined by different cut-off points is needed

Flexible Usage and Interconnectivity of Diverse Cell Death Pathways Protect against Intracellular Infection.

Programmed cell death contributes to host defense against pathogens. To investigate the relative importance of pyroptosis, necroptosis, and apoptosis during Salmonella infection, we infected mice and macrophages deficient for diverse combinations of caspases-1, -11, -12, and -8 and receptor interacting serine/threonine kinase 3 (RIPK3). Loss of pyroptosis, caspase-8-driven apoptosis, or necroptosis had minor impact on Salmonella control. However, combined deficiency of these cell death pathways caused loss of bacterial control in mice and their macrophages, demonstrating that host defense can employ varying components of several cell death pathways to limit intracellular infections. This flexible use of distinct cell death pathways involved extensive cross-talk between initiators and effectors of pyroptosis and apoptosis, where initiator caspases-1 and -8 also functioned as executioners when all known effectors of cell death were absent. These findings uncover a highly coordinated and flexible cell death system with in-built fail-safe processes that protect the host from intracellular infections.Wellcome Trus

ISL1 is a major susceptibility gene for classic bladder exstrophy and a regulator of urinary tract development.

Previously genome-wide association methods in patients with classic bladder exstrophy (CBE) found association with ISL1, a master control gene expressed in pericloacal mesenchyme. This study sought to further explore the genetics in a larger set of patients following-up on the most promising genomic regions previously reported. Genotypes of 12 markers obtained from 268 CBE patients of Australian, British, German Italian, Spanish and Swedish origin and 1,354 ethnically matched controls and from 92 CBE case-parent trios from North America were analysed. Only marker rs6874700 at the ISL1 locus showed association (p = 2.22 × 10-08). A meta-analysis of rs6874700 of our previous and present study showed a p value of 9.2 × 10-19. Developmental biology models were used to clarify the location of ISL1 activity in the forming urinary tract. Genetic lineage analysis of Isl1-expressing cells by the lineage tracer mouse model showed Isl1-expressing cells in the urinary tract of mouse embryos at E10.5 and distributed in the bladder at E15.5. Expression of isl1 in zebrafish larvae staged 48 hpf was detected in a small region of the developing pronephros. Our study supports ISL1 as a major susceptibility gene for CBE and as a regulator of urinary tract development