“A very orderly retreat”: Democratic transition in East Germany, 1989-90

East Germany's 1989-90 democratisation is among the best known of East European transitions, but does not lend itself to comparative analysis, due to the singular way in which political reform and democratic consolidation were subsumed by Germany's unification process. Yet aspects of East Germany's democratisation have proved amenable to comparative approaches. This article reviews the comparative literature that refers to East Germany, and finds a schism between those who designate East Germany's transition “regime collapse” and others who contend that it exemplifies “transition through extrication”. It inquires into the merits of each position and finds in favour of the latter. Drawing on primary and secondary literature, as well as archival and interview sources, it portrays a communist elite that was, to a large extent, prepared to adapt to changing circumstances and capable of learning from “reference states” such as Poland. Although East Germany was the Soviet state in which the positions of existing elites were most threatened by democratic transition, here too a surprising number succeeded in maintaining their position while filing across the bridge to market society. A concluding section outlines the alchemy through which their bureaucratic power was transmuted into property and influence in the “new Germany”

Gene content evolution in the arthropods

Arthropods comprise the largest and most diverse phylum on Earth and play vital roles in nearly every ecosystem. Their diversity stems in part from variations on a conserved body plan, resulting from and recorded in adaptive changes in the genome. Dissection of the genomic record of sequence change enables broad questions regarding genome evolution to be addressed, even across hyper-diverse taxa within arthropods. Using 76 whole genome sequences representing 21 orders spanning more than 500 million years of arthropod evolution, we document changes in gene and protein domain content and provide temporal and phylogenetic context for interpreting these innovations. We identify many novel gene families that arose early in the evolution of arthropods and during the diversification of insects into modern orders. We reveal unexpected variation in patterns of DNA methylation across arthropods and examples of gene family and protein domain evolution coincident with the appearance of notable phenotypic and physiological adaptations such as flight, metamorphosis, sociality, and chemoperception. These analyses demonstrate how large-scale comparative genomics can provide broad new insights into the genotype to phenotype map and generate testable hypotheses about the evolution of animal diversity

Tiotropium Respimat® add-on therapy to inhaled corticosteroids in patients with symptomatic asthma improves clinical outcomes regardless of baseline characteristics

BACKGROUND: Despite currently available therapies and detailed treatment guidelines, many patients with asthma remain symptomatic. Tiotropium delivered by the soft mist inhaler Respimat®, as add-on therapy to medium-dose inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), has been shown to improve lung function and asthma control in patients with symptomatic moderate asthma. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the efficacy of tiotropium Respimat® in asthma differs by patients' study baseline characteristics. METHODS: Two replicate Phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group studies (MezzoTinA-asthma®; NCT01172808 and NCT01172821) of once-daily tiotropium Respimat 5 μg and 2.5 μg add-on to ICS were conducted in patients with symptomatic asthma despite treatment with medium-dose ICS with or without additional controllers. Subgroup analyses of peak forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), trough FEV1, risk of severe asthma exacerbation and Asthma Control Questionnaire responder rate were performed to determine whether results were influenced by patients' baseline characteristics. RESULTS: In this analysis, 523 patients received placebo while 517 and 519 patients received the 5 μg and 2.5 μg dose of tiotropium Respimat, respectively. The magnitude of the improvements in lung function and asthma control, as well as the reduced risk of severe exacerbation with both doses of tiotropium Respimat versus placebo, was independent of a broad range of baseline characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Once-daily tiotropium Respimat as add-on to ICS is a beneficial treatment option for patients with asthma who remain symptomatic despite at least medium-dose ICS, regardless of baseline characteristics

The disruption of proteostasis in neurodegenerative diseases

Cells count on surveillance systems to monitor and protect the cellular proteome which, besides being highly heterogeneous, is constantly being challenged by intrinsic and environmental factors. In this context, the proteostasis network (PN) is essential to achieve a stable and functional proteome. Disruption of the PN is associated with aging and can lead to and/or potentiate the occurrence of many neurodegenerative diseases (ND). This not only emphasizes the importance of the PN in health span and aging but also how its modulation can be a potential target for intervention and treatment of human diseases.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comparative Analysis of Initial Full Blood Count Parameters in Adults Infected With Plasmodium falciparum for Classification of Disease Severity and Previous Exposure Across Endemic (Gabon) and Nonendemic (Germany) Settings

Background: The clinical presentation of individuals infected with Plasmodium falciparum is exceptionally diverse, ranging from asymptomatic parasitemia to life-threatening disease. Frequent previous exposure to Plasmodium spp results in partial protection from severe disease; however, this protection wanes in individuals emigrating from holoendemic regions, and there are currently no reliable biomarkers that accurately indicate this semi-immunity. Methods: Data were analyzed from 1392 adults infected with P falciparum in Gabon and Germany. Full blood count parameters and ratios were evaluated individually and as a combined ensemble-based machine learning classifier to predict disease severity, ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe malaria. As a secondary objective, the influence of previous exposure to Plasmodium spp was assessed. Results: Comparing asymptomatic parasitemia with uncomplicated malaria in Gabonese and comparing uncomplicated with severe malaria in German patients revealed significantly lower platelet counts (218 vs 150 ×103/µL, P < .0001; 85 vs 40 ×103/µL, P < .0001, respectively) and higher neutrophil counts (2.32 vs 2.57 ×103/µL, P = .0037; 3.08 vs 4.49 ×103/µL, P < .0001) in those with greater infection severity. The machine learning classifier outperformed single parameters in differentiating infection severity in both comparisons (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.94 and 0.84). Lymphocyte and monocyte counts showed a pattern that follows the level of previous malaria exposure, with lower cell counts in naive vs previously exposed patients, regardless of infection severity. Conclusions: The value of simple full blood count parameters for classification of P falciparum infection severity and previous exposure is considerable. The accuracy can be increased by integrating individual parameters into a joint machine learning model