Sozial konstruierte Risiken erfordern diskursive Willensbildungsprozesse

Ein Gespräch mit Cornelia Ulbert zur Governance von Risiken zwischen wissenschaftlicher Analyse und politischer Aushandlung. Die Fragen stellte Karsten Schubert

Recombinant Envelope-Proteins with Mutations in the Conserved Fusion Loop Allow Specific Serological Diagnosis of Dengue-Infections

Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus and a major international public health concern in many tropical and sub-tropical areas worldwide. DENV is divided into four major serotypes, and infection with one serotype leads to immunity against the same, but not the other serotypes. The specific diagnosis of DENV-infections via antibody-detection is problematic due to the high degree of cross-reactivity displayed by antibodies against related flaviviruses, such as West Nile virus (WNV), Yellow Fever virus (YFV) or Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). Especially in areas where several flaviviruses co-circulate or in the context of vaccination e.g. against YFV or TBEV, this severely complicates diagnosis and surveillance. Most flavivirus cross-reactive antibodies are produced against the highly conserved fusion loop (FL) domain in the viral envelope (E) protein. We generated insect-cell derived recombinant E-proteins of the four DENV-serotypes which contain point mutations in the FL domain. By using specific mixtures of these mutant antigens, cross-reactivity against heterologous flaviviruses was strongly reduced, enabling sensitive and specific diagnosis of the DENV-infected serum samples in IgG and IgM-measurements. These results have indications for the development of serological DENV-tests with improved specificity

In vivo measurements with robust silicon-based multielectrode arrays with extreme shaft lengths

In this paper, manufacturing and in vivo testing of extreme-long Si-based neural microelectrode arrays are presented. Probes with different shaft lengths (15–70 mm) are formed by deep reactive ion etching and have been equipped with platinum electrodes of various configurations. In vivo measurements on rats indicate good mechanical stability, robust implantation, and targeting capability. High-quality signals have been recorded from different locations of the cerebrum of the rodents. The accompanied tissue damage is characterized by histology

Physiological sharp wave-ripples and interictal events in vitro: What’s the difference?

Sharp wave-ripples and interictal events are physiological and pathological forms of transient high activity in the hippocampus with similar features. Sharp wave-ripples have been shown to be essential in memory consolidation, while epileptiform (interictal) events are thought to be damaging. It is essential to grasp the difference between physiological sharp wave-ripples and pathological interictal events in order to understand the failure of control mechanisms in the latter case. We investigated the dynamics of activity generated intrinsically in the CA3 region of the mouse hippocampus in vitro, using four different types of intervention to induce epiletiform activity. As a result, sharp wave-ripples spontaneously occurring in CA3 disappeared, and following an asynchronous transitory phase, activity reorganized into a new form of pathological synchrony. During epileptiform events, all neurons increased their firing rate compared to sharp wave-ripples. Different cell types showed complementary firing: parvalbumin-positive basket cells and some axo-axonic cells stopped firing due to a depolarization block at the climax of the events in high potassium, 4-aminopyridine and zero magnesium models, but not in the gabazine model. In contrast, pyramidal cells started firing maximally at this stage. To understand the underlying mechanism we measured changes of intrinsic neuronal and transmission parameters in the high potassium model. We found that the cellular excitability increased and excitatory transmission was enhanced, whereas inhibitory transmission was compromised. We observed a strong short-term depression in parvalbumin-positive basket cell to pyramidal cell transmission. Thus, the collapse of pyramidal cell perisomatic inhibition appears to be a crucial factor in the emergence of epileptiform events

Actualización cartográfica de la parte Este de la hoja topográfica de ciudad sandino. (Hoja Nº. 2957-II. Nueva Segovia Escala 1:50 000

El área de estudio se ubica geográficamente en el departamento de Nueva Segovia, al Norte del país y abarca una gran parte de los municipios de El Jícaro, Murra y una pequeña porción Sur del municipio de Jalapa.Litológicamente el área de estudio está constituida por un basamento de rocas metamórficas foliadas (esquistos) de edades leocénicas intruidas por un cuerpo plutónico granítico en el sector Noroeste del área, interpretado como un apófisis del Batolito de Dipilto - Jalapa.Las rocas metamórficas están definidas por esquistos micáceos de bajo grado metamórfico y esquistos grafíticos, estas sub-unidades se caracterizan por presentar estructura foliada debido a la presencia de minerales planares (sericita, biotita, grafito, clorita) como minerales esenciales de este tipo de rocas, otorgándole condiciones para deformaciones plásticas (pliegues) muy comunes.Estructuralmente, el área se encuentra controlada por esfuerzos regionales procedentes de los cuerpos plutónicos locales al Noroeste del área de estudio, que con su mecanismo de intrusión generan esfuerzos de extensión y compresión que deforman las rocas existentes, dando lugar a fallamiento y plegamiento tanto regionales como locales. El análisis e interpretación de los datos permitió definir eventos tectónicos locales, los que se definieron en dos fases de fallamiento, uno con dirección Noreste-Suroeste y otro perpendicular Noroeste-Sureste, siendo este último el sistema de fallas más joven ya que corta y desplaza fallas con direcciones Noreste-Suroeste en algunas zonas

Uptake and fecal excretion of Coxiella burnetii by Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor marginatus ticks

Background: The bacterium Coxiella burnetii is the etiological agent of Q fever and is mainly transmitted via inhalation of infectious aerosols. DNA of C. burnetii is frequently detected in ticks, but the role of ticks as vectors in the epidemiology of this agent is still controversial. In this study, Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor marginatus adults as well as I. ricinus nymphs were fed on blood spiked with C. burnetii in order to study the fate of the bacterium within putative tick vectors. Methods: Blood-feeding experiments were performed in vitro in silicone-membrane based feeding units. The uptake, fecal excretion and transstadial transmission of C. burnetii was examined by quantitative real-time PCR as well as cultivation of feces and crushed tick filtrates in L-929 mouse fibroblast cells and cell-free culture medium. Results: Ticks successfully fed in the feeding system with engorgement rates ranging from 29% (D. marginatus) to 64% (I. ricinus adults). Coxiella burnetii DNA was detected in the feces of both tick species during and after feeding on blood containing 105 or 106 genomic equivalents per ml blood (GE/ml), but not when fed on blood containing only 104 GE/ml. Isolation and cultivation demonstrated the infectivity of C. burnetii in shed feces. In 25% of the I. ricinus nymphs feeding on inoculated blood, a transstadial transmission to the adult stage was detected. Females that molted from nymphs fed on inoculated blood excreted C. burnetii of up to 106 genomic equivalents per mg of feces. Conclusions: These findings show that transstadial transmission of C. burnetii occurs in I. ricinus and confirm that I. ricinus is a potential vector for Q fever. Transmission from both tick species might occur by inhalation of feces containing high amounts of viable C. burnetii rather than via tick bites

A hazai vállalkozások alapítására, növekedésére ható tényezők vizsgálata = The influential factors of start-up and growth of the domestic businesses

Az OTKA kutatás keretén belül két kutatási irányt alakítottunk ki. Egyrészt egy 700 erősségű rétegzetten reprezentatív minta alapján a hazai kkv szektort vizsgáltuk. Részletesebben elemeztük a növekedés, a vállalati innovációs stratégia, a HRM, a finanszírozás és a rendszerszemléletnek megfelelően a komplex versenyképesség tényezőit. A kapott eredmények alapján megállapítható, hogy a magyar kkv szektor problémái nem a világgazdasági válsággal, hanem sokkal korábban elkezdődtek. Vállalkozóink jó része a fejlettség magasabb fokához szükséges vezetési, menedzsmenti, innovációs, együttműködési, pénzügyi ismeretekkel nem rendelkezik. Gazdasági bajaink jelentős része rövid távon nem orvosolható, a kilábaláshoz strukturális reformok szükségesek. A másik kutatási irány a GEM adatbázisa alapján képzett komplex Globális Vállalkozói és Fejlettségi Index kialakítása és elemzése volt. Remény van arra, hogy ez az index a vállalkozásmérés domináns mutatójává válik. Az index kialakításához került sor egy olyan egyedi módszer a Szűk Keresztmetszetekért Történő Büntetés módszerének kifejlesztésére, amely a leggyengébb elemhez igazítja a többi tényezőt. A módszertan alapfeltevése, hogy a vállalati teljesítményt a leggyengébb tényező határozza meg, és ezt a gyengeséget csak részben kompenzálhatják más, ennél jobb elemek.. Összességében 22 tudományos közleményt publikáltunk, 16-ot angolul. 5 folyóiratcikk (3 angol nyelvű) és 2 angol nyelven megjelent könyv is kiadásra került. | Within the OTKA, there were two major lines of research. The first research was about the investigation of the Hungarian SMEs based on a representative sample of 700. We provided a detailed analysis about the growth, the innovation strategy, the HRM, the finance and the complex competitiveness of the Hungarian SMEs. It has been proven that the problems of the domestic SMEs started much before the world wide recession. Our entrepreneurs did not posses the proper leadership, management, innovation, collaboration and financial skills. The problems cannot be improved in a short run, and structural reforms are necessary. The other line of research was based on the GEM data collection. We constructed a unique Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index, that could become a dominant measure of entrepreneurship. It is consistent with the major economic theories, unlike the previous indexes. For this index we developed a new methodology, called the Penalty for Bottleneck that adjust the elements to the weakest element of the system. The basic assumption of the model was that the performance of the system is determined by the weakest performing element. In sum, we have published 22 scientific papers, 16 was in English. Out of these there were five journal articles (three in English) and two books issued by Edward Elgar Printing House

Revealing the distribution of transmembrane currents along the dendritic tree of a neuron from extracellular recordings.

Revealing the current source distribution along the neuronal membrane is a key step on the way to understanding neural computations, however, the experimental and theoretical tools to achieve sufficient spatiotemporal resolution for the estimation remain to be established. Here we address this problem using extracellularly recorded potentials with arbitrarily distributed electrodes for a neuron of known morphology. We use simulations of models with varying complexity to validate the proposed method and to give recommendations for experimental applications. The method is applied to in vitro data from rat hippocampus