Kinder als Mitbetroffene von häuslicher Gewalt : die Vernetzung der betroffenen Kinder mit der Opferhilfe im Kanton Bern

Dans le présent travail, on se pose les questions de savoir si, dans le canton de Berne, il existe un besoin d'agir et d'intégrer les enfants touchés par la violence conjugale (on parle ici des actes de violence entre les parents) à l'aide aux victimes d'infractions. Le travail se concentre sur des enfants de moins de 12 ans, dont les parents, conscients de leur violence, se sont annoncés eux-mêmes à un centre de consultation. Les enfants n'ont aucune offre de soutien (par ex : protection de droit civil de l'enfant). Ces parents sont donc les personnes de contact de référence capables de défendre les intérêts des enfants, ce sont eux qui peuvent mettre les enfants en contact avec les systèmes de soutien appropriés. Généralement, à cet âge, les enfants ne peuvent pas encore chercher de l'aide eux-mêmes. Les centres de consultation sont donc les seules institutions d'état qui, dans de tels cas, offrent des aides de soutien, qui connaissent la situation des enfants, et qui par l'intermédiaire des parents, ont un contact indirect avec les enfants. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird den Fragen nachgegangen, ob im Kanton Bern ein Handlungsbedarf besteht, Kinder, die von häuslicher Gewalt (hier verstanden als Gewalthandlungen zwischen den Eltern) betroffen sind, mit der Opferhilfe zu vernetzen? Der Fokus der Arbeit liegt auf Kindern unter 12 Jahren, deren gewaltbetroffene Elternteile sich aufgrund des eigenen Gewalterlebens selbständig bei einer Opferhilfeberatungsstelle gemeldet haben. Ihre Kinder sind mit keinem Unterstützungsangebot vernetzt (z.B. zivilrechtlicher Kindesschutz). Diese Elternteile sind die zentralen Ansprechpersonen für die Belange der Kinder, sie können die Kinder mit geeigneten Unterstützungssystemen vernetzen. Die Kinder selbst können sich in diesem Alter in der Regel noch nicht selbständig Hilfe organisieren. Die Opferhilfeberatungsstellen sind damit die einzigen staatlichen Institutionen, die in solchen Fällen Unterstützungsleistungen bieten, von der Situation der Kinder Kenntnis haben und über die gewaltbetroffenen Eltern auch indirekten Kontakt zu den Kindern haben

The Post-Pericenter Evolution of the Galactic Center Source G2

In early 2014 the fast-moving near-infrared source G2 reached its closest approach to the supermassive black hole Sgr A* in the Galactic Center. We report on the evolution of the ionized gaseous component and the dusty component of G2 immediately after this event, revealed by new observations obtained in 2015 and 2016 with the SINFONI integral field spectrograph and the NACO imager at the ESO VLT. The spatially resolved dynamics of the Br$\gamma$ line emission can be accounted for by the ballistic motion and tidal shearing of a test-particle cloud that has followed a highly eccentric Keplerian orbit around the black hole for the last 12 years. The non-detection of a drag force or any strong hydrodynamic interaction with the hot gas in the inner accretion zone limits the ambient density to less than a few 10$^3$ cm$^{-3}$ at the distance of closest approach (1500 $R_s$), assuming G2 is a spherical cloud moving through a stationary and homogeneous atmosphere. The dust continuum emission is unresolved in L'-band, but stays consistent with the location of the Br$\gamma$ emission. The total luminosity of the Br$\gamma$ and L' emission has remained constant to within the measurement uncertainty. The nature and origin of G2 are likely related to that of the precursor source G1, since their orbital evolution is similar, though not identical. Both object are also likely related to a trailing tail structure, which is continuously connected to G2 over a large range in position and radial velocity.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures; accepted for publication in Ap

Genome-Wide Analysis of the Yeast Transcriptome Upon Heat and Cold Shock

DNA arrays were used to measure changes in transcript levels as yeast cells responded to temperature shocks. The number of genes upregulated by temperature shifts from 30 ℃ to 37℃ or 45℃ was correlated with the severity of the stress. Pre-adaptation of cells, by growth at 37 ℃ previous to the 45℃ shift, caused a decrease in the number of genes related to this response. Heat shock also caused downregulation of a set of genes related to metabolism, cell growth and division, transcription, ribosomal proteins, protein synthesis and destination. Probably all of these responses combine to slow down cell growth and division during heat shock, thus saving energy for cell rescue. The presence of putative binding sites for Xbp1p in the promoters of these genes suggests a hypothetical role for this transcriptional repressor, although other mechanisms may be considered. The response to cold shock (4℃) affected a small number of genes, but the vast majority of those genes induced by exposure to 4 ℃ were also induced during heat shock; these genes share in their promoters cis-regulatory elements previously related to other stress responses

An integrated gene annotation and transcriptional profiling approach towards the full gene content of the Drosophila genome

BACKGROUND: While the genome sequences for a variety of organisms are now available, the precise number of the genes encoded is still a matter of debate. For the human genome several stringent annotation approaches have resulted in the same number of potential genes, but a careful comparison revealed only limited overlap. This indicates that only the combination of different computational prediction methods and experimental evaluation of such in silico data will provide more complete genome annotations. In order to get a more complete gene content of the Drosophila melanogaster genome, we based our new D. melanogaster whole-transcriptome microarray, the Heidelberg FlyArray, on the combination of the Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project (BDGP) annotation and a novel ab initio gene prediction of lower stringency using the Fgenesh software. RESULTS: Here we provide evidence for the transcription of approximately 2,600 additional genes predicted by Fgenesh. Validation of the developmental profiling data by RT-PCR and in situ hybridization indicates a lower limit of 2,000 novel annotations, thus substantially raising the number of genes that make a fly. CONCLUSIONS: The successful design and application of this novel Drosophila microarray on the basis of our integrated in silico/wet biology approach confirms our expectation that in silico approaches alone will always tend to be incomplete. The identification of at least 2,000 novel genes highlights the importance of gathering experimental evidence to discover all genes within a genome. Moreover, as such an approach is independent of homology criteria, it will allow the discovery of novel genes unrelated to known protein families or those that have not been strictly conserved between species

A Detection of Sgr A* in the far infrared

We report the first detection of the Galactic Centre massive black hole, Sgr~A*, in the far infrared. Our measurements were obtained with PACS on board the \emph{Herschel} satellite at $100~\mathrm{\mu m}$ and $160~\mathrm{\mu m}$. While the warm dust in the Galactic Centre is too bright to allow for a direct detection of Sgr~A*, we measure a significant and simultaneous variation of its flux of $\Delta F_{\nu\widehat{=}160 ~\mathrm{\mu m}} = (0.27\pm0.06)~\mathrm{Jy}$ and $\Delta F_{\nu\widehat{=}100 ~\mathrm{\mu m}}= (0.16\pm0.10)~\mathrm{Jy}$ during one observation. The significance level of the $160 ~\mathrm{\mu m}$ band variability is $4.5\sigma$ and the corresponding $100 ~\mathrm{\mu m}$ band variability is significant at $1.6\sigma$. We find no example of an equally significant false positive detection. Conservatively assuming a variability of $25\%$ in the FIR, we can provide upper limits to the flux. Comparing the latter with theoretical models we find that 1D RIAF models have difficulties explaining the observed faintness. However, the upper limits are consistent with modern ALMA and VLA observations. Our upper limits provide further evidence for a spectral peak at $\sim 10^{12} ~ \mathrm{Hz}$ and constrain the number density of $\gamma \sim 100$ electrons in the accretion disk and or outflow.Comment: accepted for publication in AP

Overexpression of Inosine 5′-Monophosphate Dehydrogenase Type II Mediates Chemoresistance to Human Osteosarcoma Cells

overexpression in osteosarcoma patients with poor response to chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to provide evidence for direct involvement of IMPDH2 in the development of chemoresistance..IMPDH2 is directly involved in the development of chemoresistance in osteosarcoma cells, suggesting that targeting of IMPDH2 by RNAi or more effective pharmacological inhibitors in combination with chemotherapy might be a promising means of overcoming chemoresistance in osteosarcomas with high IMPDH2 expression

Optical Distortion in the NACO Imager

In this research note, we present a set of distortion solutions that may be used to correct geometric optical distortion in images taken with the S13 camera of the NACO adaptive optics imager.Comment: published in the RNAA

Sgr A* near-infrared flares from reconnection events in a magnetically arrested disc

Large-amplitude Sgr A* near-infrared flares result from energy injection into electrons near the black hole event horizon. Astrometry data show continuous rotation of the emission region during bright flares, and corresponding rotation of the linear polarization angle. One broad class of physical flare models invokes magnetic reconnection. Here we show that such a scenario can arise in a general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulation of a magnetically arrested disc. Saturation of magnetic flux triggers eruption events, where magnetically dominated plasma is expelled from near the horizon and forms a rotating, spiral structure. Dissipation occurs via reconnection at the interface of the magnetically dominated plasma and surrounding fluid. This dissipation is associated with large increases in near-infrared emission in models of Sgr A*, with durations and amplitudes consistent with the observed flares. Such events occur at roughly the timescale to re-accumulate the magnetic flux from the inner accretion disc, 10h for Sgr A*. We study near-infrared observables from one sample event to show that the emission morphology tracks the boundary of the magnetically dominated region. As the region rotates around the black hole, the near-infrared centroid and linear polarization angle both undergo continuous rotation, similar to the behavior seen in Sgr A* flares.Comment: revised version, MNRAS, in pres

What stellar orbit is needed to measure the spin of the Galactic center black hole from astrometric data?

Astrometric and spectroscopic monitoring of individual stars orbiting the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Center offer a promising way to detect general relativistic effects. While low-order effects are expected to be detected following the periastron passage of S2 in Spring 2018, detecting higher-order effects due to black hole spin will require the discovery of closer stars. In this paper, we set out to determine the requirements such a star would have to satisfy to allow the detection of black hole spin. We focus on the instrument GRAVITY, which saw first light in 2016 and which is expected to achieve astrometric accuracies $10-100 \mu$as. For an observing campaign with duration $T$ years, $N_{obs}$ total observations, astrometric precision $\sigma_x$ and normalized black hole spin $\chi$, we find that $a_{orb}(1-e^2)^{3/4} \lesssim 300 R_S \sqrt{\frac{T}{4 \text{years}}} \left(\frac{N_{obs}}{120}\right)^{0.25} \sqrt{\frac{10 \mu as}{\sigma_x}} \sqrt{\frac{\chi}{0.9}}$ is needed. For $\chi=0.9$ and a potential observing campaign with $\sigma_x = 10 \mu$as, 30 observations/year and duration 4-10 years, we expect $\sim 0.1$ star with $K<19$ satisfying this constraint based on the current knowledge about the stellar population in the central 1". We also propose a method through which GRAVITY could potentially measure radial velocities with precision $\sim 50$ km/s. If the astrometric precision can be maintained, adding radial velocity information increases the expected number of stars by roughly a factor of two. While we focus on GRAVITY, the results can also be scaled to parameters relevant for future extremely large telescopes.Comment: Accepted to MNRA

Phenotype of autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia linked to chromosome 2

Summary We report the clinical features of 12 families with autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia (ADSP) linked to the SPG4 locus on chromosome 2p, the major locus for this disorder that accounts for ∼40% of the families. Among 93 gene carriers, 32 (34%) were unaware of symptoms but were clinically affected. Haplotype reconstruction showed that 90% of the asymptomatic gene carriers presented increased reflexes and/or extensor plantar responses independent of age at examination. The mean age at onset was 29 years, ranging from 1 to 63 years. Intra- as well as inter-familial variability of age at onset was important, but did not result from anticipation. Phenotype—genotype correlations and comparison with SPG3 and SPG5 families indicated that despite the variability of age at onset, SPG4 is a single genetic entity but no clinical features distinguish individual SPG4 patients from those with SPG3 or SPG5 mutation