Die volkswirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Familienunternehmen : Aktualisierung 2014

Bei dieser Studie handelt es sich um die Aktualisierung der Untersuchung aus den Jahren 2009 und 2011, in der das ZEW und das ifm Mannheim die volkswirtschaftliche Bedeutung von Familienunternehmen in Deutschland untersucht hatten (Stiftung Familienunternehmen 2009 und 2011). Sie basiert zum einen auf einer Auswertung des Mannheimer Unternehmenspanels (MUP), das auf die umfangreiche Unternehmensdatenbank des Verbands der Vereine Creditreform zurückzuführen ist. Das MUP bildet den deutschen Unternehmensbestand nahezu vollständig ab. Zum anderen wurde eine neue Liste der 500 größten deutschen Familienunternehmen erstellt und deren Bedeutung für die Gesamtwirtschaft untersucht

Badania kliniczne nad skutecznością łagodnej hipertermii całego ciała metodą podczerwieni filtrowanej wodą jako uzupełnienie standardowej rehabilitacji multimodalnej w leczeniu fibromialgii

Wstęp: Określenie czy łagodna hipertermia całego ciała metodą podczerwieni filtrowanej wodą (NI-WBH) przynosi dodatkowe korzyści, kiedy jest stosowana jako uzupełnienie standardowej rehabilitacji multimodalnej (MR) w porównaniu z MR bez NI-WBH u pacjentów z syndromem fibromialgii (FM). Metody: Stu trzydziestu dziewięciu pacjentów z niemieckiego szpitala rehabilitacyjnego spełniających kryteria ACR 1990 dla rozpoznania FM losowo podzielono do grupy pacjentów poddanej terapii NI-WBH (podniesienie temperatury wewnętrznej ciała do 38,1ºC, po której następowała faza podtrzymania temperatury przez okres 15 min) oraz MR i grupy poddanej tylko MR, dwa razy w tygodniu przez okres 3 tygodni. Większość pomiarów dotyczyła bólu emocjonalnego oraz bólu sensorycznego i oceniono ją za pomocą niemieckiej wersji McGill Pain Questionnaire z pomiarami: wyjściowym, bezpośrednio po terapii, 3 oraz 6 miesięcy po terapii, a następnie poddano analizie w celu leczniczym. Wyniki: Powtórzone analizy kowariancji wykazały znaczne różnice pomiędzy obydwoma pomiarami pierwotnymi na korzyść NI-WBH + MR w porównaniu z samą MR (P < 0,001 dla bólu emocjonalnego, P = 0,001 dla bólu sensorycznego). Wtórne analizy intensywności bólu, jakości życia z FM oraz oceny punktów wrażliwych wykazały podobne wyniki. Umiarkowane efekty terapii zaobserwowano we wszystkich przypadkach poddanych pomiarom (w zakresie 0,41–0,75). Efekty niepożądane powiązane z NI-WBH zaobserwowano u 14 z 69 uczestników (20%), ale u wszystkich ustąpiły przed upływem 30 minut. Dyskusja: Z badania wynika, że NI-WBH jest wartym uwagi uzupełnieniem MR w leczeniu FM. Forum Reumatol. 2019, tom 5, nr 3: 105–117 Przedrukowano za zgodą z: Thomas Brockow, MD, Andreas Wagner, MD, Annegret Franke, PhD, Martin Offenbächer, MD, MPH, oraz L. Resch, MD, PhD, A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effectiveness of Mild Water-filtered Near Infrared Whole-body Hyperthermia as an Adjunct to a Standard Multimodal Rehabilitation in the Treatment of Fibromyalgia. The Clinical Journal of Pain/Clin J Pain 2007; 23(1): 67–75. www.clinicalpain.co

Small RNAs Establish Delays and Temporal Thresholds in Gene Expression

Non-coding RNAs are crucial regulators of gene expression in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, but it remains poorly understood how they affect the dynamics of transcriptional networks. We analyzed the temporal characteristics of the cyanobacterial iron stress response by mathematical modeling and quantitative experimental analyses, and focused on the role of a recently discovered small non-coding RNA, IsrR. We found that IsrR is responsible for a pronounced delay in the accumulation of isiA mRNA encoding the late-phase stress protein, IsiA, and that it ensures a rapid decline in isiA levels once external stress triggers are removed. These kinetic properties allow the system to selectively respond to sustained (as opposed to transient) stimuli, and thus establish a temporal threshold, which prevents energetically costly IsiA accumulation under short-term stress conditions. Biological information is frequently encoded in the quantitative aspects of intracellular signals (e.g., amplitude and duration). Our simulations reveal that competitive inhibition and regulated degradation allow intracellular regulatory networks to efficiently discriminate between transient and sustained inputs

Efficacy against nematode and cestode infections and safety of a novel topical fipronil, (S)-methoprene, eprinomectin and praziquantel combination product in domestic cats under field conditions in Europe

AbstractA novel topical combination product (BROADLINE®, Merial) composed of fipronil, (S)-methoprene, eprinomectin and praziquantel was evaluated for safety and efficacy against nematode and cestode infections in domestic cats. The study comprised a multi-centre, positive control, blinded, field study, using a randomized block design based on order of presentation for allocation. In total 196 client-owned cats, confirmed as positive for naturally acquired infections of nematodes and/or cestodes by pre-treatment faecal examination, were studied in seven countries in Europe. Pre-treatment faecal examination revealed the presence of Toxocara, hookworm, Capillaria and/or spirurid nematode infections in 129, 73, 33 or 1 cat(s), respectively; infections with taeniid and Dipylidium cestodes were demonstrated in 39 and 17 cats, respectively. Cats were allocated randomly to one of two treatments in a ratio of 2, topical fipronil (8.3%, w/v), (S)-methoprene (10%, w/v), eprinomectin (0.4%, w/v) and praziquantel (8.3%, w/v) (BROADLINE®, Merial; 130 cats); and 1, topical PROFENDER® Spot-On (Bayer; 66 cats) and treated once on Day 0. For evaluation of efficacy, two faecal samples were collected, one prior to treatment (Day −4±4 days) and one at the end of the study (Day 14±5 days). These were examined for fecal forms of nematode and cestode parasites. For evaluation of safety, cats were examined by a veterinarian before treatment and at the end of the study, and cat owners recorded the health status of their cats daily until the end of the study.For cats treated with Broadline®, the efficacy was >99.9%, 100%, and 99.6% for Toxocara, hookworms, and Capillaria, respectively; and the efficacy was >99.9%, >99.9%, and 98.5%, respectively, for the cats treated with Profender® (p<0.001 for all nematodes and both treatments). Efficacy was 100% for both cestodes for both treatments (p<0.001).No treatment related adverse experiences were observed throughout the study. For both treatments, every cat that completed the study was given a safety score of ‘excellent’ for both local and systemic evaluations. The topical combination product of fipronil, (S)-methoprene, eprinomectin and praziquantel was shown to have an excellent safety profile and demonstrated high levels of efficacy when administered once as topical solution to cats infected with nematodes and cestodes under field conditions

Locating New Stops in a Railway Network

Given a railway network together with information on the population and their use of the railway infrastructure, we are considering the e ffects of introducing new train stops in the existing railway network. One e ffect concerns the accessibility of the railway infrastructure to the population, measured in how far people live from their nearest train stop. The second effect we study is the change in travel time for the railway customers that is induced by new train stops. Based on these two models, we introduce two combinatorial optimization problems and give NP-hardness results for them. We suggest an algorithmic approach for the model based on travel time and give first experimental results

On the Hardness of Recognizing Bundles in Time Table Graphs

. Motivated by a problem arising in a cooperation with the national German railway company, we construct a directed graph from a set of train time tables where train stations correspond to vertices, and where pairs of consecutive stops of trains correspond to edges. We consider the problem of locating vertices of this time table graph that intuitively correspond to train stations where the underlying railroad network branches into several directions, and that induce a partition of the edge set into bundles. We formulate this problem as a graph theoretic optimization problem, and show for two versions of the problem that they are NP-hard. For the rst version we show that it is even NP-complete to decide whether any other solution besides the trivial one exists. 1 Introduction In a cooperation with the German railway company Deutsche Bahn AG we are given train time tables of long distance, regional, and local trains consisting of more than 140 000 trains. Together, they stop at about ..

Recognizing Bundles in Time Table Graphs -- A Structural Approach

We are dealing with an application problem arising in a cooperation with the national German railway company which occurs in the analysis of time table data. The purpose is to infer the underlying railroad network and the actual travel route of the trains when only their time tables are known. The structural basis of our considerations in this paper is a directed graph constructed from train time tables, where train stations correspond to vertices, and where pairs of consecutive stops of trains correspond to edges. Determining the travel route of trains corresponds to an edge classification problem in this graph. Exploiting the structure of this graph, we approach the edge classification problem by locating vertices that intuitively correspond to train stations where the underlying railroad network branches into several directions, and that induce a partition of the edge set into bundles. We describ

Die Verfassung des Internets : die EU muss eine gemeinsame Strategie für Cybersicherheit erarbeiten

Die globale Cyberpolitik befindet sich in einer entscheidenden Phase. Im Dezember 2012 werden Vertreter von über 190 Staaten in Dubai über die International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs) verhandeln, wobei nicht nur die Regulierung, sondern auch die normativen Grundlagen des Internets der Zukunft beraten werden. Dabei stellen sich folgende Fragen: Wie viel Freiheit soll das Internet gewährleisten, welche Sicherheitsvorkehrungen muss es gegen Kriminalität und Terrorismus geben und wo sollen die Grenzen zwischen nationaler Selbstbestimmung und globalem Raum verlaufen? Wird es zukünftig überhaupt noch ein globales Internet geben oder verstärkt sich der bereits zu beobachtende Trend einer Fragmentierung des Netzes und vermehrter nationaler Kontrolle über Zugang und Inhalte? Die EU koordiniert die nationalen Politiken ihrer 27 Mitgliedstaaten und verwaltet den größten Binnenmarkt der Welt. Entscheidungen, die in der EU getroffen werden, haben auch eine hohe Relevanz für den Rest der Welt. In der aktuellen Debatte um eine EUStrategie zur Cybersicherheit stoßen ganz unterschiedliche Verständnisse des angemessenen Verhältnisses von Staat und Gesellschaft, von Sicherheit und Freiheit und von intergouvernemental versus parlamentarisch geprägter Politik aufeinander. Wie sie miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt werden und welche langfristigen Entscheidungen hier getroffen werden, wird die neue Ordnung des Cyberspace in den nächsten Jahren entscheidend prägen

Locating New Stops in a Railway Network

Given a railway network together with information on the population and their use of the railway infrastructure, we are considering the e ffects of introducing new train stops in the existing railway network. One e ffect concerns the accessibility of the railway infrastructure to the population, measured in how far people live from their nearest train stop. The second effect we study is the change in travel time for the railway customers that is induced by new train stops. Based on these two models, we introduce two combinatorial optimization problems and give NP-hardness results for them. We suggest an algorithmic approach for the model based on travel time and give first experimental results