Fewer but better: Proportionate size of the group affects evaluation of transgressive leaders

A group may be badly affected if its leader transgresses important rules. Nonetheless, an emerging body of evidence suggests that in intergroup contexts, group members apply a double standard when judging ingroup leaders – They respond less punitively to transgressions by their leader than by non-leaders. In this article, two experiments investigated how proportionate ingroup size affects reactions to transgressive ingroup leaders. We demonstrate that ingroup leaders from larger, but not smaller, groups benefit from the double standard. The experiments testing the effects of two different types of transgressions (nepotistic favouritism and corruption, respectively) show that transgressive leaders from larger groups are evaluated more positively than both comparable non-leaders and leaders from smaller groups. In contrast, transgressive leaders from smaller groups are evaluated similarly to comparable transgressive non-leaders. Experiment 2 investigated a potential explanation for this phenomenon. Faced with a transgressive leader, members of a smaller group report greater embarrassment than do members of larger groups in relation to the leaders’ actions. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed

Two distinct secretory vesicle–priming steps in adrenal chromaffin cells

The calcium-dependent activator proteins for secretion, CAPS1 and CAPS2, facilitate syntaxin opening during synaptic vesicle priming

Ubiquitin ligase UBR3 regulates cellular levels of the essential DNA repair protein APE1 and is required for genome stability

APE1 (Ref-1) is an essential human protein involved in DNA damage repair and regulation of transcription. Although the cellular functions and biochemical properties of APE1 are well characterized, the mechanism involved in regulation of the cellular levels of this important DNA repair/transcriptional regulation enzyme, remains poorly understood. Using an in vitro ubiquitylation assay, we have now purified the human E3 ubiquitin ligase UBR3 as a major activity that polyubiquitylates APE1 at multiple lysine residues clustered on the N-terminal tail. We further show that a knockout of the Ubr3 gene in mouse embryonic fibroblasts leads to an up-regulation of the cellular levels of APE1 protein and subsequent genomic instability. These data propose an important role for UBR3 in the control of the steady state levels of APE1 and consequently error free DNA repair

Special Section How to do with less - Shaping the Future of Natural Resources (Part 1)

Editorial of the Natural Resources Special Issu

Bohrmehl induzierte Osseointegration zur Rehabilitation erworbener und angeborener Hörschäden - BioHear: Poster presented at OTWorld 2014, 13.5.2014 - 16.5.2014, Leipzig

Die Hörrehabilitation stellt neben der nachhaltigen Beseitigung der knochenzerstörenden Entzündung das Haupttherapieziel der chronischen Mittelohrentzündungen dar. Bisher werden nach ausgedehnten entzündungsbedingten Zerstörungen der Gehörknöchelchenkette nur unzureichende postoperative Hörergebnisse erzielt, da eine große Zahl der Implantate disloziert. Eine stabile und dauerhafte Verankerung von Prothesen im Mittelohr könnte durch die Verwendung von körpereigenem Bohrmehl erzielt werden. Das bei Ohroperationen anfallende Bohrmehl kann dabei in einen geeigneten Prothesenfuß eingebracht werden und dieser zunächst ohne auf ihn einwirkende Kräfte knöchern einheilen. In einem zweiten operativen Schritt erfolgt dann die eigentliche Wiederherstellung der Schallankopplung durch eine Partialprothese zwischen Trommelfell und dem stabil eingeheilten Prothesenfuß. Hierfür ist die Entwicklung eines geeigneten Implantates zur Aufnahme des Knochenmehls erforderlich, das einen guten Kontakt des Bohrmehls zur Fußplatte gewährleistet und gleichzeitig dem einsetzenden Verknöcherungsprozess Halt bietet. Die Ergebnisse früherer Arbeiten der Forschergruppe zeigen, dass eine Osseointegration von Titanprothesen mit Wachstumsfaktoren auf der Fußplatte erzielt werden kann. Die Fußplatte ist allerdings höchst filigran und besitzt daher wenige aktivierbare Zellen, so dass ein Lösungsansatz bei dem aktive knochenbildende Zellen mitsamt der Prothese auf die Fußplatte aufgebracht werden deutlich Erfolg versprechender scheint

Economic impact of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: insights from the ALDO‐DHF trial

Aims Although heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a leading cause for hospitalization, its overall costs remain unclear. Therefore, we assessed the health care-related costs of ambulatory HFpEF patients and the effect of spironolactone. Methods and results The aldosterone receptor blockade in diastolic HF trial is a multicentre, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted between March 2007 and April 2011 at 10 sites in Germany and Austria that included 422 ambulatory patients [mean age: 67 years (standard deviation: 8); 52% women]. All subjects suffered from chronic New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II or III HF and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction of 50% or greater. They also showed evidence of diastolic dysfunction. Patients were randomly assigned to receive 25 mg of spironolactone once daily (n = 213) or matching placebo (n = 209) with 12 months of follow-up. We used a single-patient approach to explore the resulting general cost structure and included medication, number of general practitioner and cardiologist visits, and hospitalization in both acute and rehabilitative care facilities. The average annual costs per patient in this cohort came up to euro1, 118 (± 2,475), and the median costs were euro332. We confirmed that the main cost factor was hospitalization and spironolactone did not affect the overall costs. We identified higher HF functional class (NYHA), male patients with low haemoglobin level, with high oxygen uptake (VO(2)max) and coronary artery disease, hyperlipidaemia, and atrial fibrillation as independent predictors for higher costs. Conclusions In this relatively young, oligosymptomatic, and with regard to the protocol without major comorbidities patient cohort, the overall costs are lower than expected compared with the HFrEF population. Further investigation is needed to investigate the impact of, for example, comorbidities and their effect over a longer period of time. Simultaneously, this analysis suggests that prevention of comorbidities are necessary to reduce costs in the health care system