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Simple Summary: Sepsis is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It reflects a deficiency in the interplay between the innate and adaptive immune response and leads to an injury of the body's own tissue with dramatic and long-lasting consequences for the patient. However, understanding the immunological background of peritonitis and abdominal sepsis together with its molecular pathomechanism still remains elusive, leading to limited therapeutic options. The TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) has already been shown to induce neutrophil apoptosis and enhance survival in a murine sepsis model. In the present work, we investigated how neutrophil granulocytes regulate their sensitivity to TRAIL-induced apoptosis during the course of sepsis. Despite intensive scientific efforts, the therapy of peritonitis is presently limited to symptomatic measures, including infectious source control and broad-spectrum antibiotics. Promising therapeutic approaches to reduce morbidity and mortality are still missing. Within the early phase of abdominal sepsis, apoptosis of neutrophil granulocytes is inhibited, which is linked to tissue damage and septic shock. TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a promising agent to stimulate neutrophil apoptosis. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated so far. The objective of the present study was to characterize the molecular mechanisms of TRAIL-stimulated apoptosis in early abdominal sepsis. Therefore, the murine sepsis model Colon ascendens stent peritonitis (CASP) was applied in wild type (WT) and TRAIL knock-out (TRAIL–/–) C57/BL6j mice. Neutrophil granulocytes were isolated from spleen, blood, bone marrow, and peritoneal lavage using magnetic-activated cell sorting. Neutrophil maturation was analyzed by light microscopy, and apoptotic neutrophils were quantified by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). Western blot and FACS were used to investigate expression changes in apoptotic proteins and TRAIL receptors. The impact of TRAIL-induced apoptosis was studied in vitro. In septic mice (CASP 6 h), the number of neutrophils in the BM was reduced but increased in the blood and peritoneal lavage. This was paralleled by an increased maturation of neutrophils from rod-shaped to segmented neutrophils (right shift). In vitro, extrinsic TRAIL stimulation did not alter the apoptosis level of naïve neutrophils but stimulated apoptosis in neutrophils derived from septic WT and TRAIL–/– mice. Neutrophils of the bone marrow and spleen showed enhanced protein expression of anti-apoptotic Flip, c-IAP1, and McL-1 and reduced expression levels of pro-apoptotic Bax in neutrophils, which might correlate with apoptosis inhibition in these cells. CASP increased the expression of intrinsic TRAIL in neutrophils derived from the bone marrow and spleen. This might be explained by an increased expression of the TRAIL receptors DR5, DcR1, and DcR2 on neutrophils in sepsis. No differences were observed between septic or naïve WT and TRAIL–/– mice. In conclusion, the present study shows that neutrophil granulocytes are sensitive to TRAIL-stimulated apoptosis in the early stage of abdominal sepsis, emphasizing the promising role of TRAIL as a therapeutic agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing obesity is a world-wide health concern. Its most commonly used indicator, body mass index (BMI), consistently shows considerable genetic and shared environmental variance throughout life, the latter particularly in youth. Several adult studies have observed less total and genetically influenced variance with higher attained SES. These studies offer clues about sources of the 'obesity epidemic' but analogous youth studies of SES-of-origin are needed. Genetic and environmental influences and moderating effects of SES may vary in countries with different health policies, lifestyles, and degrees/sources of social inequality, offering further clues to the sources of the obesity epidemic. We examined SES-of-origin moderation of BMI variance in the German TwinLife study's cohorts assessed around ages 5, 11, 17, and 23-24, and in the Minnesota Twin Family Study's (MTFS) 11- and 17-year-old birth cohorts assessed longitudinally around ages 11, 17, and 23-24, comparing male and female twins and their parents. Age for age, both sexes' means and variances were greater in MTFS than in TwinLife. We observed that SES generally moderated genetic influences, more strongly in females, similar to most adult studies of attained-SES moderation of BMI. We interpreted differences in our SES-of-origin observations in light of inevitably-missing covariance between SES-of-origin and BMI in the models, mother-father and parent-offspring BMI correlations, and parental attained-SES-BMI correlations. We suggest that one source of the present obesity epidemic is social change that amplifies expression of genes both constraining SES attainment and facilitating weight gain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research focuses on problematic behavior patterns related to the use of the Internet to identify contextual as well as individual risk factors of this new phenomenon called Internet addiction (IA). IA can be described as a multidimensional syndrome comprising aspects such as craving, development of tolerance, loss of control and negative consequences. Given that previous research on other addictive behaviors showed substantial heritability, it can be expected that the vulnerability to IA may also be due to a person's genetic predisposition. However, it is questionable whether distinct components of IA have different etiologies. Using data from a sample of adult monozygotic and dizygotic twins and non-twin siblings (N=784 individuals, N=355 complete pairs, M=30.30years), we investigated the magnitude of genetic and environmental influences on generalized IA as well as on specific facets such as excessive use, self-regulation, preference for online social interaction or negative consequences. To explain the heritability in IA, we further examined the relation to Self-Directedness as potential mediating source. Results showed that relative contributions of genetic influences vary considerable for different components of IA. For generalized IA factors, individual differences could be explained by shared and non-shared environmental influences while genetic influences did not play a role. For specific facets of IA and private Internet use in hours per week, heritability estimates ranged between 21% and 44%. Bivariate analysis indicated that Self-Directedness accounted for 20% to 65% of the genetic variance in specific IA facets through overlapping genetic pathways. Implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The German twin family study ‘TwinLife’ was designed to enhance our understanding of the development of social inequalities over the life course. The interdisciplinary project investigates mechanisms of social inequalities across the lifespan by taking into account psychological as well as social mechanisms, and their genetic origin as well as the interaction and covariation between these factors. Main characteristics of the study are: (1) a multidimensional perspective on social inequalities, (2) the assessment of developmental trajectories in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood in a longitudinal design by using (3) a combination of a multi-cohort cross-sequential and an extended twin family design, while (4) capturing a large variation of behavioral and environmental factors in a representative sample of about 4,000 German twin families. In the present article, we first introduce the theoretical and empirical background of the TwinLife study, and second, describe the design, content, and implementation of TwinLife. Since the data will be made available as scientific use file, we also illustrate research possibilities provided by this project to the scientific community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Work-related health problems such as depression or burnout syndrome are highly relevant for personal well-being but also for factors such as absenteeism and early retirement from work. It is therefore desirable to identify factors that influence the ability to cope with professional stress and demands to provide interventions before mental or physical symptoms even occur. Numerous studies identified broad personality factors to be associated with different coping strategies but it remains an open question which variables, particularly those considered to be good candidates for interventions, mediate the relationship between personality and coping with professional demands and why (i.e., through genetic or environmental effects). Here we addressed this issue by exploring the mediating influence of optimism, self-efficacy, and self-regulation phenotypically and etiologically. We found the most pronounced mediating effects for self-regulation in the relationship between neuroticism and stress resistance, as well as for optimism linking extraversion and occupational attitudes towards life. As to the etiology of this mediation, we found that genetic influences on these associations largely overlapped with genetic factors affecting the mediators, whereas nonshared environmental influences on the relation between personality and coping with professional demands only modestly overlapped with those on the respective mediating variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree to which genetic and environmental influences explain differences in job satisfaction and its relationship to personality in order to explain the heritability of job satisfaction. Design: Behavior genetic analyses are based on a dataset containing 622 individuals, including 185 MZ ( M = 39.5 years) and 126 DZ twin pairs ( M = 40.1 years). Findings: The results showed that all genetic influences (28 %) on job satisfaction could be explained by its relation to personality, especially Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness, representing a high genetic overlap between job satisfaction and personality. Non-shared environmental influences explained the remaining three fourths of the variance. Implications: By showing that genetic influences of job satisfaction overlap completely with personality, including common non-additive genetic influences, the results support an interactionist view of job satisfaction in that both situational and dispositional determinants of job satisfaction are relevant. Originality: In contrast to previous studies, we used a more appropriate behavior genetic approach meaning that our approach allows to directly estimate parameters of specific and common (additive and non-additive) genetic and environmental influences. Building on this, interpretations of behavior genetic findings were explained in detail to avoid common misunderstandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated for the first time the relative importance of genetics and environment on individual differences in primary emotionality as measured with the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) by means of a twin-sibling study design. In N = 795 participants (n = 303 monozygotic twins, n = 172 dizygotic twins and n = 267 non-twin full siblings), moderate to strong influences of genetics on individual differences in these emotional systems are observed. Lowest heritability estimates are presented for the SEEKING system (33%) and highest for the PLAY system (69%). Further, multivariate genetic modeling was applied to the data showing that associations among the six ANPS scales were influences by both, a genetic as well as an environmental overlap between them. In sum, the study underlines the usefulness of the ANPS for biologically oriented personality psychology research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unemployment is a major life event that causes an enormous drop in people's life satisfaction. However, there is substantial variability in people's ability (or inability) to cope with the experience of unemployment. In the present study, we examined the causes of individual differences in trajectories of life satisfaction when people were faced with unemployment by taking into account the persistence of unemployment, pre-event personality and age. Analyses were based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. Using latent growth curve modelling, life satisfaction was investigated from 3 years before to 3 years after a person became unemployed in a total sample of 908 individuals. As expected, unemployment caused a substantial drop in life satisfaction that persisted for at least 3 years after the event. On average, individuals did not completely return to their previous satisfaction level. This pattern existed even for participants who re-entered the labour market. Moreover, our results showed that variability in coping with unemployment can be explained in part by personality traits. For people with short periods of unemployment, Conscientiousness reinforced the negative effect of unemployment, whereas Extraversion softened the effect. In sum, our analyses showed that (a) the negative effect of unemployment on life satisfaction differs according to the length of the unemployment period and (b) personality partially moderates responses to unemployment over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students’ learning strategies as well as the search for its determinants have gained expanding interest in psychology and educational research. The present study investigated the contribution of chronotype, another construct of increasing importance in the academic context, to students’ learning strategies controlling for the established predictor of personality and its relations to chronotype. A sample of 318 college students (mean age = 22.6, SD = 2.5; age range = 19–34) was assessed online through self-report questionnaires. We discriminated between two learning strategy factors aggregated by a diverse set of learning strategies, learning discipline and elaboration. First, results confirmed significant associations between most personality scales and students’ strategy use. Furthermore, we found evidence for significant associations between chronotype and personality, as well as chronotype and learning strategies. Finally, structural equation modeling revealed that openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and morningness were significant predictors for elaboration, whereas learning discipline was significantly predicted by conscientiousness and morningness. We conclude that chronotype plays an important role explaining students’ learning strategies over and above personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We examined life satisfaction and personality in an extended twin design. [•] Focus on shared environmental influences and twin specific effects. [•] Importance of social comparison processes for life satisfaction evaluations. [•] Results showed different sources of environmental effects for twins and non-twins. [•] Heritability of life satisfaction was completely shared with personality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article summarizes the status of three recent German twin studies: CoSMoS, SOEP, and ChronoS. The German twin study on Cognitive Ability, Self-Reported Motivation, and School Achievement (CoSMoS) is a three-wave longitudinal study of monozygotic and dizygotic twins reared together, and aims to investigate predictors of and influences on school performance. In the first wave of the data collection in 2005, 408 pairs of twins aged between 7 and 11 as well as their parents participated in CoSMoS. The SOEP twin study is an extended twin study, which has combined data from monozygotic and dizygotic twins reared together with additional data from full sibling pairs, mother–child, and grandparent–child dyads who participated in the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) study. The SOEP twin project comprises about 350 twin and 950 non-twin pairs aged between 17 and 70. Data were collected between 2009 and 2010, with a focus on personality traits, wellbeing, education, employment, income, living situation, life-satisfaction, and several attitudes. The aim of the Chronotype twin study (ChronoS) was to examine genetic and environmental influences on chronotype (morningness and eveningness), coping strategies, and several aspects of the previous SOEP twin project in a sample of 301 twin pairs aged between 19 and 76 years, recruited in 2010 and 2011. Part of the ChronoS twin sample also participated in the earlier SOEP twin study, representing a second wave of assessments. We briefly describe the design and contents of these three studies as well as selected recent findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the last decade, an upward trend in the use of short measurements for personality can be observed. The goal of this study was to explore the psychometric characteristics of the GSOEP Big Five Inventory (BFI-S; ), a 15-item instrument. We compared the BFI-S with the NEO-PI-R () in a sample of 598 German adults (mean age=42years). Despite shortcomings for Agreeableness, the short scales generally showed acceptable levels of: (1) internal consistency, (2) stability over a period of 18months, (3) convergent validity in relation to the NEO-PI-R and (4) discriminant validity. We conclude that in research settings with a pronounced need for parsimony, the BFI-S offers a sufficient level of utility. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Findings from many behavioral genetic studies utilizing the classical twin design suggest that genetic and non-shared environmental effects play a significant role in human personality traits. This study focuses on the methodological advantages of extending the sampling frame to include multiple dyads of relatives. We investigated the sensitivity of heritability estimates to the inclusion of sibling pairs, mother-child pairs and grandparent-grandchild pairs from the German Socio- Economic Panel Study in addition to a classical German twin sample consisting of monozygotic- and dizygotic twins. The resulting dataset contained 1.308 pairs, including 202 monozygotic and 147 dizygotic twin pairs, along with 419 sibling pairs, 438 mother-child dyads, and 102 grandparent-child dyads. This genetically sensitive multi-group design allowed the simultaneous testing of additive and non-additive genetic, common and specific environmental effects, including cultural transmission and twin-specific environmental influences. Using manifest and latent modeling of phenotypes (i.e., controlling for measurement error), we compare results from the extended sample with those from the twin sample alone and discuss implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an obituary for University of California at Berkeley emeritus professor of history Roger Hahn.

Simple Summary: The role of the TNF-superfamily member TRAIL (TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand) for potential interactions with the immunological tumor network is not completely understood. This article provides a comprehensive immune phenotype profile of a TRAIL-knockout (TRAIL−/−) mouse model and should serve as a tool to study the functional relevance of TRAIL in proof-of-concept studies. The TNF-superfamily member TRAIL is known to mediate selective apoptosis in tumor cells suggesting this protein as a potential antitumor drug target. However, initial successful pr-clinical results could not be translated into the clinic. Reasons for the ineffectiveness of TRAIL-targeting in tumor therapies could include acquired TRAIL resistance. A tumor cell acquires TRAIL resistance, for example, by upregulation of antiapoptotic proteins. In addition, TRAIL can also influence the immune system and thus, tumor growth. We were able to show in our previous work that TRAIL−/− mice show improved survival in a mouse model of pancreatic carcinoma. Therefore, in this study we aimed to immunologically characterize the TRAIL−/− mice. We observed no significant differences in the distribution of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ T-cells, Tregs, and central memory CD4+ and CD8+ cells. However, we provide evidence for relevant differences in the distribution of effector memory T-cells and CD8+CD122+ cells but also in dendritic cells. Our findings suggest that T-lymphocytes of TRAIL−/− mice proliferate at a lower rate, and that the administration of recombinant TRAIL significantly increases their proliferation, while regulatory T-cells (Tregs) from TRAIL−/− mice are less suppressive. Regarding the dendritic cells, we found more type-2 conventional dendritic cells (DC2s) in the TRAIL−/− mice. For the first time (to the best of our knowledge), we provide a comprehensive characterization of the immunological landscape of TRAIL-deficient mice. This will establish an experimental basis for future investigations of TRAIL-mediated immunology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying victimization is a serious problem with far-reaching consequences for the victims. Research has concluded that certain personality factors are associated with the frequency of bullying victimization experiences, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Most longitudinal research to date has primarily focused on adulthood (e.g., workplace experiences), neglecting the reciprocal effects that bullying victimization and personality may have during adolescence, a phase particularly susceptible to personality change. Hence, this project investigated the reciprocal relationship between personality factors and bullying victimization using data from TwinLife, a study with a representative sample of about 4000 German twin families. Focusing on middle adolescence (N ≈ 1500, M = 13 years), cross-lagged modeling revealed cross-sectional associations and correlated changes, but no reciprocal longitudinal relationship between certain personality dimensions and the frequency of bullying victimization. Bivariate Cholesky modeling was utilized to investigate the etiology of the cross-sectional associations. We identified common genetic causes underlying both bullying victimization and Agreeableness, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness, which decreased with age. Thus, environmental factors, such as the social peer group and social connectedness, appeared to gain importance throughout adolescence, influencing both personality and the likelihood of experiencing victimization. Further research should incorporate and further examine environmental processes to improve our understanding of bullying victimization. • Study identified link between personality and bullying victimization in adolescents. • No reciprocal longitudinal relationship found between personality and victimization. • Genetic factors initially explained most of the link in adolescents. • Environmental factors gained importance in the course of adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The hedgehog signaling pathway is a crucial regulator of the postnatal intestinal development. Regulation of hedgehog expression itself is poorly understood. MicroRNAs were demonstrated to control differentiation and proliferation in postnatal intestinal development. This study identifies members of the miR-15 family to regulate the expression of key hedgehog factors employing in silico and in vitro experiments. Physiological relevance is demonstrated by incorporation of in vivo expression data from the ileum and colon from 7 to 56 days old piglets. Results presented in this study improve the understanding of the complex regulation of hedgehog signaling during intestinal development and disease. Highlights • Hedgehog signaling in the porcine intestine is regulated in a development dependent manner. • Indian Hedgehog is identified as a direct target of the miR-15 family. • MiR-195 is localized in the Tunica mucosa of porcine colon samples. • This study improves the understanding of the complex regulation of hedgehog signaling during the intestinal development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A well-known hypothesis in the behavioral genetic literature predicts that the heritability of cognitive abilities is higher in the presence of higher socioeconomic contexts. However, studies suggest that the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on the heritability of cognitive ability may not be universal, as it has mostly been demonstrated in the United States, but not in other Western nations. In the present study we tested whether the importance of genetic and environmental effects on cognitive abilities varies as a function of parental education in a German twin sample. Cognitive ability scores (general, verbal, and nonverbal) were obtained on 531 German twin pairs (192 monozygotic, 339 dizygotic, ranging from 7 to 14 years of age; Mage = 10.25, SD = 1.83). Data on parental education were available from mothers and fathers. Results for general cognitive ability and nonverbal ability indicated no significant gene x parental education interaction effect. For verbal ability, a significant nonshared environment (E) x parental education interaction was found in the direction of greater nonshared environmental influences on verbal abilities among children raised by more educated parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores relations between measures of individuals’ circadian preferences and the Big Five. To this end, we compared a model of circadian preferences that acknowledges morningness (M) and eveningness (E) as separate dimensions to that of a model that places M and E on a single continuum (M-E). Analyses of 620 correlations from 44 independent samples (N = 16,647) revealed weak to modest relations between both dimensions of circadian preferences and the Big Five personality traits. The strongest observed relation was found between Conscientiousness and M (ρ = .37). In the next step, regression analyses revealed that personality traits accounted for between 10.9% and 16.4% of the variance in circadian preferences. Of all the Big Five dimensions, Conscientiousness exhibited the strongest unique relation with M (β = .32), E (β = −.26), and M-E (β = .32). Extraversion and Openness exhibited moderate unique relations with E (β = .23 and β = .17, respectively), whereas relations with M (β = .00 and β = .04), and M-E (β = −.05 and β = −.06) were relatively weak. Neuroticism exhibited a modest unique and negative relation with M (β = −.16), and Agreeableness was largely unrelated to all circadian preference variables. To determine whether these findings translated into anything of applied significance, we explored relations between circadian preference and academic performance. M and E incremented slightly over the Big Five factors in predicting grade-point average. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Self‐control is a meaningful predictor of crucial life outcomes. Knowingly, genes contribute substantially to differences in self‐control, but behavioral genetic findings are often misinterpreted regarding environmental influences. Therefore, we reinvestigate the heritability of self‐control as well as potential environmental influences, namely parenting and a chaotic home environment. Method: We used cross‐sectional and longitudinal data from the German twin family study TwinLife (N = 3354 individuals), structured in a multicohort design in which 13‐, 19‐, and 25‐year‐old twins rated their self‐control, parents' behavior, and home environment. Results: Results showed increasing mean levels and 1‐year stabilities for self‐control accompanied by substantial genetic influences, increasing particularly from ages 19 to 25 (53% to 76%). While chaotic home environments and negative parenting were phenotypically associated with lower self‐control, twin difference models revealed that differences in these individually perceived "environments" directly predicted self‐control differences (β = −0.16 to −0.28) within families when controlling for genetic and environmental similarities. Conclusions: In addition to the genetic anchoring of self‐control, results indicate that environmental factors such as negative family environments are meaningful and depend on individual perceptions within families. Interventions for enhancing self‐control should, therefore, rely on individual perspectives rather than objective characteristics of home environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to investigate longitudinal changes in mental well-being as well as the role of individual differences in personality traits (Big Five) and the level of Personality Organisation during the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Overall, 272 adults (Mage= 36.94, SDage= 16.46; 68.62% female, 23.45% male, 0.69% non-binary) took part in our study with four weekly surveys during the lockdown as well as a follow-up one month after restrictions were lifted. To analyse the development of mental well-being during and shortly after the first lockdown in Germany latent growth curve models (LGCM) were calculated. The considered facets of well-being differ by their trajectory. Additionally, results suggest that the lockdown did not affect all facets to the same extent. While Life Satisfaction decreases in the short term as a reaction to the lockdown, Stress and Psychological Strain were reduced after the second week of contact restrictions. When adding personality characteristics, our results showed that Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were the two dimensions associated most strongly with SWB during the first month of the pandemic. Thus, our research suggests that personality traits should be considered when analysing mental well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Western countries, children's education is strongly influenced by their social background, which cannot be fully explained by individual differences in cognitive ability between social classes. It is still an open question how, to what extent and at what point along the educational path individual and family factors shape children's educational success. In the present study, twins (N = 6174) clustered in three age cohorts (11, 17 and 23 years) were examined using multilevel analyses to test if parental socioeconomic status (SES) and children's cognitive ability, as well as family's quality of home environment and children's self-efficacy can explain the development of educational inequalities captured via school track recommendations and university attendance. Results showed educational inequalities at each critical point along the entire path of education. With increasing parental SES, individual cognitive abilities mattered significantly less, so that children from high parental SES families often received a recommendation to attend upper secondary education even with low cognitive abilities. In contrast, the association between cognitive abilities and university attendance increased with increasing parental SES in the older age cohort, whereby individuals with high cognitive abilities but low parental SES rarely attended university. Furthermore, for school track recommendations, with increasing children's self-efficacy and better home environment the educational recommendation improved, while home environment amplified the effect of SES on the development of educational inequalities. These results suggest a waste of academic potential of low SES children. Subsequent studies should examine further constructs that could contribute to the development of educational inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Previous research indicated that the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) item bank v2.0 'Ability to Participate in Social Roles and Activities' may miss subdomains of social participation. The purpose of this study was to generate items for these missing subdomains and to evaluate their content validity.Methods: A three-step approach was followed: (1) Item generation for 16 International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health subdomains currently not covered by the item bank; (2) Evaluation of content validity of generated items through expert review (n = 20) and think-aloud interviews with a purposeful sample of people with and without (chronic) health conditions (n = 10), to assess item comprehensibility, relevance, and comprehensiveness; and 3) Item revision based on the results of step 2, in a consensus procedure.Results: First, 48 items were generated. Second, overall, content experts indicated that the generated items were relevant. Furthermore, based on experts' responses, items were simplified and 'participation in social media' was identified as an important additional subdomain of social participation. Additionally, 'participating in various social roles simultaneously' was identified as a missing item. Based on the responses of the interviewed adults items were simplified. Third, in total 17 items, covering 17 subdomains, were proposed to be added to the original item bank.Discussion: The relevance, comprehensibility and comprehensiveness of the 17 proposed items were supported. Whether the proposed extension of the item bank leads to better psychometric properties of the item bank should be tested in a large-scale field study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The German Twin Family Panel (TwinLife) is a German longitudinal study of monozygotic and dizygotic same-sex twin pairs and their families that was designed to investigate the development of social inequalities over the life course. The study covers an observation period from approximately 2014 to 2023. The target population of the sample are reared-together twins of four different age cohorts that were born in 2009/2010 (cohort 1), in 2003/2004 (cohort 2), in 1997/1998 (cohort 3) and between 1990 and 1993 (cohort 4). In the first wave, the study included data on 4097 twin families. Families were recruited in all parts of Germany so that the sample comprises the whole range of the educational, occupational and income structure. As of 2019, two face-to-face, at-home interviews and two telephone interviews have been conducted. Data from the first home and telephone interviews are already available free of charge as a scientific use-file from the GESIS data archive. This report aims to provide an overview of the study sample and design as well as constructs that are unique in TwinLife in comparison with previous twin studies - such as an assessment of cognitive abilities or information based on the children's medical records and report cards. In addition, major findings based on the data already released are displayed, and future directions of the study are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Response styles (RS) are an important research matter in questionnaire research and have even been interpreted as implicit personality variables aside from explicit personality measurement. To better understand RS and their impact on explicit personality measurement, it is necessary to explore causes of variability in RS, including heritability. Therefore, the current study followed two aims: First, we investigated the heritability of two of the most common RS (acquiescence RS and extreme RS; ARS & ERS). Second, we tested whether correcting for RS affects the genetic component for and correlations among explicit personality measures. We used an extended classical twin design with twins (n = 464) and non-twin siblings (n = 242). Personality was measured administering the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS). Results indicated a heritability of 37% for ARS and 57% for ERS. This difference between the two RS might be explained by their genesis: ARS has been associated with social adaption, and thus might depend primarily on environmental experiences, while ERS has been related to anxiety and temperament, which are majorly hereditary. Correcting explicit personality for RS did not change estimations of heritability for the ANPS traits suggesting that RS does not majorly influence estimations of heritability for explicitly measured personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epstein-Barr-Virus (EBV) plays an important role as trigger or cofactor for various autoimmune diseases. In a subset of patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) disease starts with infectious mononucleosis as late primary EBV-infection, whereby altered levels of EBV-specific antibodies can be observed in another subset of patients. Methods: We performed a comprehensive mapping of the IgG response against EBV comparing 50 healthy controls with 92 CFS patients using a microarray platform. Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and cancer-related fatigue served as controls. 3054 overlapping peptides were synthesised as 15-mers from 14 different EBV proteins. Array data was validated by ELISA for selected peptides. Prevalence of EBV serotypes was determined by qPCR from throat washing samples. Results: EBV type 1 infections were found in patients and controls. EBV seroarray profiles between healthy controls and CFS were less divergent than that observed for MS or SLE. We found significantly enhanced IgG responses to several EBNA-6 peptides containing a repeat sequence in CFS patients compared to controls. EBNA-6 peptide IgG responses correlated well with EBNA-6 protein responses. The EBNA-6 repeat region showed sequence homologies to various human proteins. Conclusion: Patients with CFS had a quite similar EBV IgG antibody response pattern as healthy controls. Enhanced IgG reactivity against an EBNA-6 repeat sequence and against EBNA-6 protein is found in CFS patients. Homologous sequences of various human proteins with this EBNA-6 repeat sequence might be potential targets for antigenic mimicry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empathy is an important psychological concept influencing social interaction. However, knowledge about its etiological components is still scarce. Estimates for the heritability of empathy range between 0 and 70 % depending on the sample, method of measurement, and level of aggregation. In this study, we investigated the heritability of empathy using an extended twin design. We employed the self-report questionnaire Interpersonal Reactivity Index and an emotion recognition task (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test). N = 742 twins and non-twin siblings were investigated. For affective empathy and the behavioral paradigm, we found heritability estimates between 52 and 57 %. For cognitive empathy, genetic variance was smaller (27 %), indicating that the heritability of empathy depends on the measured subcomponent, which could be relevant for intervention programs like empathy or compassion trainings. Environmental influences on empathy are mainly effects of non-shared environment, which is an important finding for our understanding of the development of empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]