Towards a national ecosystem assessment in Germany

We present options for a National Ecosystem Assessment in Germany (NEA-DE) that could inform decision-makers on the state and trends of ecosystems and ecosystem services. Characterizing a NEA-DE, we argue that its cross-sectoral, integrative approach would have the advantages of increased scientific understanding, addressing specific policy questions and creating science-policy dialogues. Challenges include objections against a utilitarian perspective, reservations concerning power relations, and responsibilities concerning the funding

Can auditors be independent? – Experimental evidence on the effects of client type

Recent regulatory initiatives stress that an independent oversight board, rather than the management board, should be the client of the auditor. In an experiment, we test whether the type of client affects auditors’ independence. Unique features of the German institutional setting enable us to realistically vary the type of auditors’ client as our treatment variable: we portray the client either as the management preferring aggressive accounting or the oversight board preferring conservative accounting. We measure auditors’ perceived client retention incentives and accountability pressure in a post-experiment questionnaire to capture potential threats to independence. We find that the type of auditors’ client affects auditors’ behaviour contingent on the degree of the perceived threats to independence. Our findings imply that both client retention incentives and accountability pressure represent distinctive threats to auditors’ independence and that the effectiveness of an oversight board in enhancing auditors’ independence depends on the underlying threat

In search of features that constitute an "enriched environment" in humans. Associations between geographical properties and brain structure

Enriched environments elicit brain plasticity in animals. In humans it is unclear which environment is enriching. Living in a city has been associated with increased amygdala activity in a stress paradigm, and being brought up in a city with increased pregenual anterior cingulate (pACC) activity. We set out to identify geographical characteristics that constitute an enriched environment affecting the human brain. We used structural equation modelling on 341 older adults to establish three latent brain factors (amygdala, pACC and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)) to test the effects of forest, urban green, water and wasteland around the home address. Our results reveal a significant positive association between the coverage of forest and amygdala integrity. We conclude that forests may have salutogenic effects on the integrity of the amygdala. Since cross-sectional data does not allow causal inference it could also be that individuals with high structural integrity choose to live closer to forest

Elevated microRNA expression could be diagnostic biomarker for PDAC

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common type of PCa with 2-9% 5-year survival rate. PDAC is the most lethal malignancy worldwide and hence the molecular mechanisms, which are linked to the aggressive features, should be further examined to develop better diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic agents. microRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNAs (18–24 nucleotides), that can control cell growth, proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, metastasis and angiogenesis. Furthermore, several studies have suggested that miRs could be utilized for the discrimination between PDAC and non-malignant lesions and thus the evaluation of them as novel diagnostic biomarkers is crucial for PDAC. Aim of this study is to examine miRs and their role in PDAC progression and metastasis. Methodology: miR expression levels of paired normal and malignant pancreatic tissue samples from ten PDAC patients were analyzed by using their RNA-sequencing data. Then, their cellular and molecular functions as well as the associated molecular signaling pathways with the target genes were identified. The most significant miRs were selected based on their fold changes (FC) and p-value (p<0.05). Data analysis was performed by using SPSS software and specifically paired t-tests between normal and malignant patient tissue samples. Moreover, expression levels of the most significantly altered miRs were further analysed by using Panc-1, CAPAN-2, MiaPaca-2 and Panc10.05 PDAC cell lines. Results: 31 upregulated and 13 downregulated miRs were reported, approximately 3000 target genes were detected to be modulated by abnormally expressed miRs, while the bioinformatic analysis disseminated that the dysregulated miRNAs were correlated to numerous signaling pathways such as EGF-Jak-STAT, KRAS/NRAS and PI3K. The PDAC cell line-based analysis confirmed the aberrant miR expression. Conclusions: Taking the data together, we suggest that specific miR signature profiles could prove useful for PDAC in order to determine patient diagnosis and prognosis. miRs modulate expression of other miRs and/or genes, which are interrelated with metastasis in human neoplasms. In addition, both form mutual feedback circuits, thereby increasing the connectivity and complexity of the regulatory network. Targeting this network will facilitate not only the development and advancement of miR-based clinical applications, but also will illuminate the gap between genotypic and phenotypic features of PDAC. Conclusively, the findings of this research could be the cornerstone of a pioneer precision medicine era of research