Untersuchung der zytoprotektiven Funktion humaner UDP-Glukuronosyltransferasen (UGT) im Zellkulturmodell

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Civic participation in the model project "Area-wide traffic calming"

Die Träger des gemeinsamen Forschungsvorhabens Flächenhafte Verkehrsberuhigung, die Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen, das Umweltbundesamt und die Bundesforschungsanstalt für Landeskunde und Raumordnung - erwarten von der systematisch und flächenhaft angewandten Verkehrsberuhigung eine grundlegende Verbesserung städtischer Wohnverhältnisse sowie eine entscheidende Verbesserung der Verkehrssicherheit und der städtischen Umweltqualität. Beispielhafte bauliche und technische Einzellösungen und kostengünstige Maßnahmen sollten erprobt werden, um daraus Planungsempfehlungen für zukünftige flächenhafte Verkehrsberuhigungsmaßnahmen abzuleiten. Diesen Zielvorgaben stehen die kommunalen Gegebenheiten in den sechs Modellgemeinden Berlin-Moabit, Borgentreich, Buxtehude, Esslingen, Ingolstadt und Mainz-Bretzenheim gegenüber: die Bandbreite der mit Verkehrsberuhigung verbundenen Vorstellungen, Ziele und Einzelmaßnahmen bei den einzelnen Planungsbeteiligten, die kommunalen Bedingungsfelder, Erfahrungen mit Bürgerbeteiligung und bisherigen Verkehrsberuhigungsmaßnahmen, Finanzierungsprobleme et cetera. Ziel des Projekts ist es, die im Rahmen des Modellvorhabens Flächenhafte Verkehrsberuhigung initiierten Versuche der Bürgerbeteiligung zu dokumentieren, vergleichend zu analysieren und hinsichtlich des Ausmaßes, der Formen und der beobachtbaren Auswirkungen der Beteiligung zu bewerten. Anhand der gewonnenen Ergebnisse wird versucht, Folgerungen für Formen zukünftiger Bürgerbeteiligung bei Maßnahmen der Verkehrsberuhigung abzuleiten. Grundlage der vergleichenden Darstellung der praktizierten Beteiligungsformen bildet der erstellte Katalog möglicher Informations- und Beteiligungsformen in der räumlichen Planung und die Bandbreite der Definitionen und Konzepte von Verkehrsberuhigung (Teil I). Die Rekonstruktion des Planungsprozesses und die praktizierten Formen der Bürgerbeteiligung in den einzelnen Modellgemeinden (Teil II) sind das Ergebnis der Analyse des vorliegenden dokumentarischen Materials und der ergänzenden Experteninterviews mit den Hauptakteuren des Modellvorhabens (zum Beispiel Planer in der Verwaltung, Politiker, Bürgergruppen/Bürgerinitiativen, Interessensverbände). Dabei wurde die Auswertung des dokumentarischen Materials (Protokolle der politischen Gremien, von verwaltungsinternen Besprechungen, Bürgerbroschüren, Presseartikeln) anhand der formulierten Forschungsfragen (Teil I, Punkt 4) vorgenommen.The institutions responsible for the joint research project "Areawide Traffic Calming" - Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), Federal Environmental Agency (UBA), and Federal Research Institute for Regional Geography and Regional Planning (BfLR) - expect that systematically applied area-wide traffic calming will fundamentally improve urban living conditions, road safety and the quality of the urban environment. Exemplary designs and technical solutions as well as cost-effective measures should be tested to derive planning recommendations for future area-wide traffic calming measures. These conceptual goals have to be compared with the municipal conditions prevailing in the six model cities of Berlin-Moabit, Borgentreich, Buxtehude, Esslingen, Ingolstadt and Mainz- Bretzenheim: the' wide range of expectations with respect to traffic calming, the aims and individual measures envisaged by the ones participating in the planning process, the factors influencing municipal conditions, experience with respect to civic participation and previous traffic calming measures, funding problems, etc. It is the objective of this project to document, compare and analyze the attempts initiated at civic participation within the framework of the model project "Area-wide Traffic Calming" and evaluate its extent, its forms and the effects measurable on the participants. Based on the results obtained, the drawing of conclusions with respect to future forms of civic participation in traffic calming will be attempted

Variations in macadamia varietal susceptibility to Phytophthora multivora and P. cinnamomi

Incidence of diseases caused by various Phytophthora spp. in macadamia is increasing worldwide, often resulting in severe yield loss and death of both juvenile and old macadamia trees. In Australia, P. cinnamomi and P. multivora has been identified to cause severe stem canker in macadamia orchards. Currently, various varietal improvement research programs on macadamia are underway, not only to obtain high-yielding and precocious macadamia germplasm but to develop macadamia genotypes with acceptable levels of tolerance/resistance to pests and diseases. In this study, we selected macadamia genotypes for their acceptable levels of tolerance/resistance to Phytophthora infection, after screening about 360 macadamia genotypes against to P. cinnamomi and P. multivora, using a rapid detached leaf and plant inoculation assays. These macadamia plant materials were collected from a major macadamia arboretum in Queensland. Our results revealed segregation of macadamia genotypes into two spectrum of susceptible and tolerant macadamia genotypes. Hence, strong representatives within the tolerant and susceptible spectrum were further investigated in order to understand if the basis of the differential response is driven by a variation in structural, physiological or genetic markers, following a challenge with Phytophthora spp. Our result revealed a marked variation in structural response during the infection process, between the selected susceptible, ‘HAES816’ and tolerant germplasm and ‘HAES344’. This information will provide evidence to support potential preferential selection of tolerant macadamia genotypes potentially useful for breeding against Phytophthora diseases. Further studies will characterize tolerant macadamia progenies to develop marker-assisted selection protocols for resistance, and explore defense mechanisms response

Variability and inheritance in macadamia progenies to Phytophthora cinnamomi and P. multivora the causal agents of root rot and stem canker

Phytophthora species cause root rot and stem canker in macadamia, resulting in yield reduction and tree death. Differences in disease severity between trees in commercial orchards may be attributed to genetic factors and stochastic variation. Here we examined variability in half-sib, open-pollinated macadamia seedling progenies and their maternal parents to Phytophthora stem, root and leaf infections

Resistance in wild macadamia germplasm to Phytophthora cinnamomi and P. multivora

The four Macadamia species (M. integrifolia, M. tetraphylla, M. ternifolia and M. jansenii) occur naturally in the wild in fragmented habitats in Australia and there is limited information on their vulnerability to pathogens including species of the genus Phytophthora. Macadamias in commercial orchards are affected by P. cinnamomi and P. multivora causing stem canker and root rot. Wild germplasm is often regarded as sources of resistance in macadamia breeding program. We assessed the performance of 152 trees of wild macadamia genotypes in the field using a Phytophthora disease severity rating scale and used in vivo leaf assay to examine their susceptibility to P. cinnamomi and P. multivora. Macadamia ternifolia trees showed the highest Phytophthora disease severity compared with the other species. In the in vivo trial, there were significant variations in disease severity among the genotypes within each Macadamia species. Comparison of the mean leaf lesion area of the Macadamia spp. showed that M. tetraphylla and M. jansenii were the most resistant to P. cinnamomi, whereas, M. ternifolia and M. jansenii followed by M. tetraphylla had the least disease severity to P. multivora. The quantitative variations among the genotypes with strong differential effects resulted in demarcation of the wild genotypes into three resistance groups. Overall, a total of 14 M. tetraphylla and two M. integrifolia genotypes were identified as resistant to both P. cinnamomi and P. multivora in the in vivo assay. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Point Mutations Throughout the GLI3 Gene Cause Greig Cephalopolysyndactyly Syndrome

Greig cephalopolysyndactyly syndrome, characterized by craniofacial and limb anomalies (GCPS; MIM 175700), previously has been demonstrated to be associated with translocations as well as point mutations affecting one allele of the zinc finger gene GLI3. In addition to GCPS, Pallister-Hall syndrome (PHS; MIM 146510) and post-axial polydactyly type A (PAP-A; MIM 174200), two other disorders of human development, are caused by GLI3 mutations. In order to gain more insight into the mutational spectrum associated with a single phenotype, we report here the extension of the GLI3 mutation analysis to 24 new GCPS cases. We report the identification of 15 novel mutations present in one of the patient's GLI3 alleles. The mutations map throughout the coding gene regions. The majority are truncating mutations (nine of 15) that engender prematurely terminated protein products mostly but not exclusively N-terminally to or within the central region encoding the DNA-binding domain. Two missense and two splicing mutations mapping within the zinc finger motifs presumably also interfere with DNA binding. The five mutations identified within the protein regions C-terminal to the zinc fingers putatively affect additional functional properties of GLI3. In cell transfection experiments using fusions of the DNA-binding domain of yeast GAL4 to different segments of GLI3, transactivating capacity was assigned to two adjacent independent domains (TA1 and TA2) in the C-terminal third of GLI3. Since these are the only functional domains affected by three C-terminally truncating mutations, we postulate that GCPS may be due either to haploinsufficiency resulting from the complete loss of one gene copy or to functional haploinsufficiency related to compromised properties of this transcription factor such as DNA binding and transactivatio