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This study aimed to examine the degree of homogeneity versus heterogeneity of individuals' political information environments across offline and online media types and relations with sociodemographic variables, personality, and political attitudes. In two online surveys, German participants (sample 1: N = 686; sample 2: N = 702) provided information on sociodemographic variables, consumption of political news, and voting intentions, and completed the Big Five Inventory and Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) scales. Results revealed that absolutely homogeneous political news consumption was evident for a small proportion of individuals (2.04% and 0.43%). Openness (positively) and Agreeableness (negatively) exhibited significant associations with the degree of heterogeneity of political information environments across samples. No consistent patterns of relations with either the ideological attitudes of RWA and SDO or voting intentions were observed. The findings shed light on the existence of absolutely homogeneous political information environments and "who" might be prone to a more homogeneous versus more heterogeneous information environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: One potential therapy treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is to modulate dysfunctional brain activations using brain stimulation techniques. While the number of studies investigating the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on ADHD symptoms continues to increase, transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is poorly examined. Previous studies reported impaired alpha brain oscillation (8-12 Hz) that may be associated with increased attention deficits in ADHD. Our aim was to enhance alpha power in adult ADHD patients via tACS, using different methods to explore potential therapeutic effects. Methods: Undergoing a crossover design, adults with ADHD received active and sham stimulation on distinct days. Before and after each intervention, mean alpha power, attention performance, subjective symptom ratings, as well as head and gaze movement were examined. Results: Frequency analyses revealed a significant power increase in the alpha band after both interventions. Despite a trend toward an interaction effect, this alpha power increase was, however, not significantly higher after active stimulation compared to sham stimulation. For the other measures, some additional pre-post effects were found, which were not intervention-related. Conclusion: Our study cannot provide clear evidence for a tACS-induced increase in alpha power in adult ADHD patients, and thus no stimulation related improvement of attention parameters. We provide further recommendations for the future investigation of tACS as a potential ADHD treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several types of 1,4-diphenylanthracene derivatives 1–4 were prepared, and their photophysical properties were observed in the solid and solution states. Interestingly, the CN-group-substituted 1,4-diphenylanthracene derivative 2 was found to exhibit a higher fluorescence quantum yield (ϕf = 0.71) in the solid state than in the solution state, probably due to the formation of an intermolecular Ar–CN⋯H–Ar hydrogen bond and antiparallel type locked packing structure in the solid state. Furthermore, for some derivatives, an increase in the fluorescence quantum yield was observed in the PMMA film (1 wt%) over both the solid state and the solution state. More interestingly, some of the 1,4-diphenylanthracene derivatives exhibited unusual mechanofluorochromic properties with a "hypsochromic shift" in luminous color depending on the substituents of the phenyl group, and with the derivatives having CF3, OMe, CN, and two F substituents (1d–1f, 2–4) showing a significant luminous color change with a "hypsochromic shift" after grinding. However, no change in the luminous color was observed for the derivatives having H, Me, and one F substituent (1a–1c), and especially for some of the CN-substituted derivatives, a reversible luminous color change with a "hypsochromic shift" was observed, probably due to the formation of an antiparallel type packing structure. These "hypsochromic" anthracene derivatives could probably be utilized as new mechanofluorochromic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the series of the alkali metal intercalates of VSe2 synthesised by electrochemical means in an aqueous environment. For all alkali metals we find water‐conintercalated structures (stage I and stage II), of which only the sodium structure had been reported so far. The new structures are analyzed by powder X‐ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement. Their (meta‐)stability is investigated in terms of the open circuit potential, revealing the sensitivity towards oxygen. Except for the lithium intercalate these structures transform into water‐free alkali metal intercalates under vacuum. In addition, scanning electron microscopy reveals the impact of different electrochemical intercalation techniques yielding different intercalation rates. This paves the way for future single crystal investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the assessment of adult attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, the diagnostic value of neuropsychological testing is limited. Partly, this is due to the rather low ecological validity of traditional neuropsychological tests, which usually present abstract stimuli on a computer screen. A potential remedy for this shortcoming might be the use of virtual reality (VR), which enables a more realistic and complex, yet still standardized test environment. The present study investigates a new VR‐based multimodal assessment tool for adult ADHD, the virtual seminar room (VSR). Twenty‐five unmedicated ADHD patients, 25 medicated ADHD patients, and 25 healthy controls underwent a virtual continuous performance task (CPT) in the VSR with concurrent visual, auditive, and audiovisual distractions. Simultaneously, head movements (actigraphy), gaze behaviour (eye tracking), subjective experience, electroencephalography (EEG), and functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) were recorded. Significant differences between unmedicated patients with ADHD and healthy controls were found in CPT performance, head actigraphy, distractor gaze behaviour, and subjective experience. Moreover, CPT performance parameters demonstrated potential utility for assessing medication effects within the ADHD population. No group differences were found in the Theta‐Beta‐Ratio (EEG) or dorsolateral‐prefrontal oxy‐haemoglobin (fNIRS). Overall, the results are very promising regarding the potential of the VSR as an assessment tool for adult ADHD. In particular, the combined assessment of CPT, actigraphy, and eye tracking parameters appears to be a valid approach to more accurately capture the heterogeneous symptom presentation of the disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Cancer development depends on interactions between the tumor microenvironment and the immune system. PARP7 negatively regulates the type I interferon pathway, ultimately preventing immune cells from detecting and eliminating cancer cells. Recently, inhibition of PARP7 activity has been shown to restore type I interferon signaling, resulting in tumor regression. Here we investigated the effect of stable PARP7 knockout in mammary cancer cells and used a genetic mouse model to study the effects of PARP7 loss on tumor growth in vivo. PARP7 is a member of the ADP-ribosyltransferase diphtheria toxin-like (ARTD) family and acts as a repressor of type I interferon (IFN) signaling. PARP7 inhibition causes tumor regression by enhancing antitumor immunity, which is dependent on the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway, TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) activity, and cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. To better understand PARP7′s role in cancer, we generated and characterized PARP7 knockout (Parp7KO) EO771 mouse mammary cancer cells in vitro and in a preclinical syngeneic tumor model using catalytic mutant Parp7H532A mice. Loss of PARP7 expression or inhibition of its activity increased type I IFN signaling, as well as the levels of interferon-stimulated gene factor 3 (ISGF3) and specifically unphosphorylated-ISGF3 regulated target genes. This was partly because PARP7′s modification of the RelA subunit of nuclear factor κ-B (NF-κB). PARP7 loss had no effect on tumor growth in immunodeficient mice. In contrast, injection of wildtype cells into Parp7H532A mice resulted in smaller tumors compared with cells injected into Parp7+/+ mice. Parp7H532A mice injected with Parp7KO cells failed to develop tumors and those that developed regressed. Our data highlight the importance of PARP7 in the immune cells and further support targeting PARP7 for anticancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuropsychological assessments are often surprisingly inaccurate in mapping clinically-reported attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, presumably due to their low ecological validity. Virtual reality (VR) might offer a potential solution for this problem, given its capability to generate standardized and yet highly realistic virtual environments. As the first adaptation of existing virtual classroom scenarios to an adult population, we developed a Virtual Seminar Room (VSR) for multimodal characterization of ADHD symptoms. To test its feasibility, N = 35 healthy participants were immersed into the VSR via a head-mounted display and carried out a VR-embedded continuous performance task (CPT) under varying levels of distractions in two experimental blocks (24 min each). CPT performance, electroencephalography (EEG) measures, and head movements (actigraphy) were simultaneously recorded and analyzed offline. Although CPT performance remained constant throughout the task, head movements increased significantly from Block 1 to Block 2. In addition, EEG theta (4–7 Hz) and beta (13–30 Hz) power was higher during Block 1 than Block 2, and during distractor-present than distractor-absent phases. Moreover, P300 amplitudes were higher during Block 1 than Block 2, and P300 latencies were prolonged in distractor-absent compared with distractor-present phases. Although the paradigm awaits further improvements, this study confirms the general feasibility of the VSR and provides a first step toward a multimodal, ecologically valid, and reliable VR-based adult ADHD assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shares an early-career perspective on potential themes for the upcoming International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) Scientific Decade (SD). This opinion paper synthesizes six discussion sessions in western Europe identifying three themes that all offer a different perspective on the hydrological threats the world faces and could serve to direct the broader hydrological community: "Tipping points and thresholds in hydrology," "Intensification of the water cycle," and "Water services under pressure." Additionally, four trends were distinguished concerning the way in which hydrological research is conducted: big data, bridging science and practice, open science, and inter- and multidisciplinarity. These themes and trends will provide valuable input for future discussions on the theme for the next IAHS SD. We encourage other early-career scientists to voice their opinion by organizing their own discussion sessions and commenting on this paper to make this initiative grow from a regional initiative to a global movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by substantial interindividual heterogeneity that challenges the systematic assessment and treatment. Considering mixed evidence from previous neurofeedback research, we present a novel feedback system that relies on gaze behavior to detect signs of inattention while performing a neuropsychological attention task in a virtual seminar room. More specifically, an audiovisual feedback was given whenever participants averted their gaze from the given task. Methods: Eighteen adults with ADHD and 18 healthy controls performed a continuous performance task (CPT) in virtual reality under three counterbalanced conditions in which either gaze-based feedback, sham feedback, or no feedback was provided. In all conditions, phases of high and low virtual distraction alternated. CPT errors and reaction times, proportions of gaze dwell times (e.g., task focus or distraction focus), saccade characteristics, EEG theta/beta ratios, head movements, and an experience sampling of ADHD symptoms were analyzed. Results: While patients can be discriminated well from healthy controls in that they showed more omission errors, higher reaction times, higher distraction-related dwell times, and more head movements, the feedback did not immediately improve task performance. It was also indicated that sham feedback was rather associated with an aggravation of symptoms in patients. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate sufficient suitability and specificity for this holistic ADHD symptom assessment. Regarding the feedback, a single-session training was insufficient to achieve learning effects based on the proposed metacognitive strategies. Future longitudinal, multi-session trials should conclusively examine the therapeutic efficacy of gaze-based virtual reality attention training in ADHD. Trial registration: drks.de (identifier: DRKS00022370). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed at investigating associations of both ideological attitudes and personal value types with the personality traits derived from the Affective Neuroscience Theory (ANT). For that, data of N = 626 (n = 403 men, n = 220 women, n = 3 identifying as neither a man nor a woman) participants of an online survey in the German language were analyzed. Relations of primary emotional traits derived from the ANT with Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), and personal value types, such as the higher-order value type dimensions "Conservation–Openness to Change" and "Self-Enhancement–Self-Transcendence", were examined by means of correlational analyses and structural equation modeling. Results revealed among others relations between low SEEKING, high ANGER and high RWA. Low CARE and high ANGER were associated with high SDO. Moreover, FEAR was related to the higher-order value type dimension ranging from Conservation to Openness to Change. ANGER was associated with the higher-order value type dimension ranging from Self-Enhancement to Self-Transcendence. The present results do not only expand knowledge on the personality traits associated with ideological attitudes and personal value types. Beyond this, considering the neuroanatomical, functional, and neurochemical correlates of the primary emotional traits SEEKING, ANGER, CARE, and FEAR, the present results may provide a roadmap for forthcoming studies aiming at examining biological correlates of ideological attitudes and personal value types, such as those works in the field of political neuroscience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Prevention in psychiatry provides a promising way to address the burden of mental illness. However, established approaches focus on specific diagnoses and do not address the heterogeneity and manifold potential outcomes of help-seeking populations that present at early recognition services. Conceptualizing the psychopathology manifested in help-seeking populations from a network perspective of interacting symptoms allows transdiagnostic investigations beyond binary disease categories. Furthermore, modern technologies such as smartphones facilitate the application of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). Objective: This study is a combination of ESM with network analyses to provide valid insights beyond the established assessment instruments in a help-seeking population. Methods: We will examine 75 individuals (aged 18-40 years) of the help-seeking population of the Cologne early recognition center. For a maximally naturalistic sample, only minimal exclusion criteria will be applied. We will collect data for 14 days using a mobile app to assess 10 transdiagnostic symptoms (ie, depressive, anxious, and psychotic symptoms) as well as distress level 5 times a day. With these data, we will generate average group-level symptom networks and personalized symptom networks using a 2-step multilevel vector autoregressive model. Additionally, we will explore associations between symptom networks and sociodemographic, risk, and resilience factors, as well as psychosocial functioning. Results: The protocol was designed in February 2020 and approved by the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital Cologne in October 2020. The protocol was reviewed and funded by the Köln Fortune program in September 2020. Data collection began in November 2020 and was completed in November 2021. Of the 258 participants who were screened, 93 (36%) fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were willing to participate in the study. Of these 93 participants, 86 (92%) completed the study. The first results are expected to be published in 2022. Conclusions: This study will provide insights about the feasibility and utility of the ESM in a help-seeking population of an early recognition center. Providing the first explorative phenotyping of transdiagnostic psychopathology in this population, our study will contribute to the innovation of early recognition in psychiatry. The results will help pave the way for prevention and targeted early intervention in a broader patient group, and thus, enable greater intended effects in alleviating the burden of psychiatric disorders. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/35206 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: A repeated finding regarding event-related potentials (ERPs) is that patients with ADHD show a reduced P300 amplitude. This raises the question of whether the attention of ADHD patients can be increased by stabilizing the P300. Assuming that the P300 is generated by event-related oscillations (EROs) in the low frequency range (0–8 Hz), one approach to increase the P300 could be to stimulate the patient’s P300 underlying ERO by means of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). The aim of this follow-up study was to investigate this hypothesized mechanism of action in adult ADHD patients. Materials and Methods: Undergoing a crossover design, 20 adult ADHD patients (10 female) received an actual stimulation via tACS on one day and a sham stimulation on another day. Before and after each intervention, EEG characteristics (P300 amplitudes, low frequency power) and attention performances (d2 attention test, visual oddball task (VOT)) were recorded. Results: Electrophysiological analyses revealed no evidence for an enhanced P300 amplitude or low frequency power increase after actual stimulation compared to sham stimulation. Instead, a significant effect was found for a stronger N700 amplitude increase after actual stimulation compared to sham stimulation. Consistent with the P300 null results, none of the examined neuropsychological performance measures indicated a tACS-induced improvement in attentional ability. Conclusion: Contrary to a previous study using tACS to modulate the P300 in adult ADHD patients, the current study yields no evidence that tACS can increase the P300 amplitude in adult ADHD patients and that such P300 enhancement can directly improve neuropsychological parameters of attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by a recent and ongoing debate about whether foreign direct investment (FDI) represents a blessing for or an impediment to economic, social, and political development in FDI host countries this paper addresses two issues: Does the presence of foreign investors impact the occurrence of petty corruption? If so, what are the main underlying mechanisms? Geocoding an original firm-level dataset and combining it with georeferenced household survey data, this is a first attempt to analyse whether the presence of foreign investors is associated with changes in local corruption around foreign-owned production facilities in 19 Sub-Saharan African countries. Applying an estimation strategy that explores the spatial and temporal variation in the data, we find strong and consistent evidence that the presence of foreign firms increases bribery among people living nearby. When examining two potential channels, we find no clear support that FDI-induced economic activity leads to more corruption. In contrast, the results provide evidence that FDI affects corruption via norm transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Due to the ubiquitous use of smartphones in daily life, they offer unique opportunities to study human behavior. This study sheds light on associations between self-reported stress, drive, and mood levels and smartphone usage behavior. Methods: A total of 157 students installed the Insights app on their personal smartphone and tracked smartphone usage behavior. Furthermore, students assessed self-reported levels of stress, drive, and mood for 8 weeks. Results: Three multilevel models were used to associate smartphone usage behavior and self-reported mood, drive, and stress levels. Results indicate a negative association of self-reported stress and number of SMS (–3.539, SE = 0.937) as well as a positive relation of stress and call duration (0.018, SE = 0.937). Mood was linked negatively with total usage time (–0.019, SE = 0.004) and call duration (–0.016, SE = 0.007). Moreover, drive was negatively associated with Facebook usage time (–0.127, SE = 0.041). Discussion: Overall smartphone usage behavior is negatively associated with measurements of well-being. Conclusion: Passive smartphone tracking could assist in the standardized assessment of behavioral data in real life in the future. Due to the risk of data misuse, ethical, legal, and clinical guidelines have to be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disordered gaming has gained increased medical attention and was recently included in the eleventh International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) by the World Health Organization (WHO) after its earlier inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fifth revision) (DSM-5) as an emerging disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Although many studies have investigated associations between personality and disordered gaming, no previous research compared the differential associations between personality and disordered gaming with time spent gaming. Due to the novelty of the WHO diagnostic framework for disordered gaming, previous research focused mainly on the associations between personality and disordered gaming in relation to the APA framework. Beyond that, these studies are generally limited by small sample sizes and/or the lack of cross-cultural emphasis due to single-country sampling. To address these limitations, the present study aimed to investigate the associations between personality and gaming behavior in a large and culturally heterogeneous sample (N = 50,925) of individuals from 150 countries. The results obtained suggested that low conscientiousness and high neuroticism were robustly associated with disordered gaming across both the APA and WHO frameworks. Interestingly, personality associations with weekly time spent gaming were smaller. The findings of the present study suggest that personality is of higher importance to predict disordered gaming compared to weekly time spent gaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Brazil is the largest country in South America. Although a developing nation, birth rates have been decreasing in the last few decades, while its overall population is undergoing lifestyle changes and ageing significantly. Moreover, Brazil has had increasingly high mortality rates related to colorectal cancer (CRC). Herein, we investigated whether the Brazilian population is exhibiting increasing mortality rates related to colon cancer (CC) or rectal cancer (RC) in recent years. Methods: We examined data from the Brazilian Federal Government from 1979 to 2015 to determine whether CRC mortality and the population ageing process may be associated. Results: Our mathematical modelling suggests that mortality rates related to CC and RC events in the Brazilian population may increase by 79% and 66% in the next 24 years, respectively. This finding led us to explore the mortality rates for both diseases in the country, and we observed that the highest levels were in the south and southeast regions from the year 2000 onwards. CC events appear to decrease life expectancy among people during their second decade of life in recent years, whereas RC events induced decreases in life expectancy in those aged >30 years. Additionally, both CC and RC events seem to promote significant mortality rates in the male population aged > 60 years and living in the southern states. Conclusion: Our dataset suggests that both CC and RC events may lead to a significantly increasing number of deaths in the Brazilian male population in coming years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ideas of outspoken feminist celebrities are met with scepticism. This scepticism is rooted in the idea that, while celebrities have a platform for expression, they are not academics and their role in education should therefore be limited. This article explores the role of Jameela Jamil, a British, queer actor, and analyses her use of Instagram and Twitter as platforms for education and social change. I argue that she uses social media to teach and learn from her followers regarding body acceptance, racial and sexual inclusivity and queer representation. This work also explores the realities of clapbacks, cancel culture, mistake-making, shame culture and affective solidarity via her use of language, such as through the vulnerable phrase 'I want to delete this tweet so much, but...'. In positioning Jamil as more than simply a celebrity feminist, and beyond what is considered a normative public intellectual, I assert that she embodies the role of a celebrity feminist educator. This role is unique as it creates space for Jamil's online feminist activism, her accessible use of language and her desire to teach and learn from her followers to be made meaningful within the context of feminist education and celebrity studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most empirical studies examining the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic development use aggregate monetary‐based measures such as GDP or TFP growth as indicators for development. We deviate from this approach and use instead the recently developed economic complexity index; this measure summarises the complexity of the productive structure of an economy, and its values can be interpreted as the number of capabilities present in a country. These capabilities are units of productive knowledge necessary for the production of goods, and goods differ in the number of necessary capabilities. Furthermore, we use sectoral FDI data to take differences between sectors of an economy into account, since the number of necessary capabilities also varies between the sectors. In our empirical analysis, covering 63 developing and developed countries over the period 2005–14, we find that FDI in the tertiary sector has a statistically significant and robust positive effect on the number of capabilities, whereas FDI in the primary and secondary sectors generally does not increase the capability set of an economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serotonin (5‐HT) signaling pathways are thought to be involved in colorectal tumorigenesis (CRT), but the role of 5‐HT synthesis in the early steps of this process is presently unknown. In this study, we used carcinogen treatment in the tryptophan hydroxylase 1 knockout (Tph1KO) and transgenic (Tph1fl/flVillinCre) mouse models defective in 5‐HT synthesis to investigate the early mutagenic events associated with CRT. Our observations of the colonic crypt post‐treatment followed a timeline designed to understand how disruption of 5‐HT synthesis affects the initial steps leading to CRT. We found Tph1KO mice had decreased development of both allograft tumors and colitis‐related CRT. Interestingly, carcinogenic exposure alone induced multiple colon tumors and increased cyclooxygenase‐2 (Ptgs2) expression in Tph1KO mice. Deletion of interleukin 6 (Il6) in Tph1KO mice confirmed that inflammation was a part of the process. 5‐HT deficiency increased colonic DNA damage but inhibited genetic repair of specific carcinogen‐related damage, leading to CRT‐related inflammatory reactions and dysplasia. To validate a secondary effect of 5‐HT deficiency on another DNA repair pathway, we exposed Tph1KO mice to ionizing radiation and found an increase in DNA damage associated with reduced levels of ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related (Atr) gene expression in colonocytes. Restoring 5‐HT levels with 5‐hydroxytryptophan treatment decreased levels of DNA damage and increased Atr expression. Analysis of Tph1fl/flVillinCre mice with intestine‐specific loss of 5‐HT synthesis confirmed that DNA repair was tissue specific. In this study, we report a novel protective role for 5‐HT synthesis that promotes DNA repair activity during the early stages of colorectal carcinogenesis. © 2019 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hintergrund: Die Einbindung von Smartphones in den Alltag ermöglicht es, longitudinale Echtzeit-Daten aufzuzeichnen, die keine aktive Eingabe der Nutzer benötigen. Mithilfe der vorliegenden Studie soll gezeigt werden, dass das aktuelle -Befinden (Stimmung, Antrieb, Stress) mit Smartphone-Nutzungsvariablen assoziiert ist. Methoden: An der Studie nahmen 157 Studierende teil, welche für 8 Wochen die App Insights auf ihrem Smartphone installierten. Insightszeichnete das Smartphone-Nutzungsverhalten (z.B. Gesamtnutzungsdauer, Anrufdauer, Anzahl der SMS, Facebook-Nutzung) auf und erfasste täglich mittels Selbstbericht Stimmung, Antrieb und Stress. Ergebnisse: In 3 Mehrebenenmodellen wurde das aktuelle Befinden über Smartphone-Nutzungsverhalten vorhergesagt. Die Ergebnisse demonstrieren, dass Stress negativ mit der Anzahl der SMS (–3,539, SE = 0,937) und positiv mit der Anrufdauer (0,018, SE = 0,937) assoziiert ist. Stimmung ist negativ mit der Gesamtnutzungsdauer (–0,019, SE = 0,004) und der Anrufdauer (–0,016, SE = 0,007) verbunden. Ebenso ist der Antrieb negativ mit der Facebook-Nutzung (–0,127, SE = 0,041) korreliert. Diskussion: In zukünftigen Studien sollte der Kausalität des negativen Zusammenhanges zwischen -Befindlichkeitsparametern und der Smartphone-Nutzung nachgegangen werden. Schlussfolgerung: In Zukunft könnte passives Smartphone-Tracking eingesetzt werden, um standardisiert Verhaltensdaten von Personen mit psychischen Problemen zu sammeln. Aufgrund der immanenten Gefahr des Datenmissbrauchs sind ethische, rechtliche und berufspolitische Leitlinien zu entwickeln. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most frequent malignancy worldwide. Coffee is the second most consumed drink in the globe and suggested to decrease the CRC risk. Here, we explored whether coffee, decaffeinated coffee, or caffeine impact on the development of colorectal carcinogenesis induced by the direct carcinogen N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) in rats. To this end, sixty-four young male Wistar rats were divided into eight groups of eight animals each. We analyzed the frequency of dysplastic crypts and expression of metallothionein as a biomarker of the cancer risk, as well the expression of phosphorylated H2A histone family/member X (γH2AX) for DNA damage and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) for inflammatory response. We also studied the oxidative stress profile in hepatic and colonic frozen samples (malondialdehyde [MDA], glutathione [GSH], and α-tocopherol). We found that coffee but neither decaffeinated coffee nor caffeine decreased the development of dysplastic crypts in MNNG-exposed rats. All treatments reduced DNA damage intensity in colonocytes. Only decaffeinated coffee increased the numbers of metallothionein positive crypts in comparison with coffee-treated rats. Coffee and caffeine inhibited COX-2 expression in the colon. Both decaffeinated coffee and caffeine decreased hepatic α-tocopherol levels. We suggest that coffee may have other compounds that elicit greater chemoprotective effects than caffeine reducing the CRC risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) infects millions of Latin Americans each year and can induce chagasic megacolon. Little is known about how serotonin (5-HT) modulates this condition. Aim We investigated whether 5-HT synthesis alters T. cruzi infection in the colon.Materials and Methods: Forty-eight paraffin-embedded samples from normal colon and chagasic megacolon were histopathologically analyzed (173/2009). Tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (Tph1) knockout (KO) mice and c-KitW-sh mice underwent T. cruzi infection together with their wild-type counterparts. Also, mice underwent different drug treatments (16.1.1064.60.3).Results: In both humans and experimental mouse models, the serotonergic system was activated by T. cruzi infection (p < 0.05). While treating Tph1KO mice with 5-HT did not significantly increase parasitemia in the colon (p > 0.05), rescuing its synthesis promoted trypanosomiasis (p < 0.01). T. cruzi-related 5-HT release (p < 0.05) seemed not only to increase inflammatory signaling, but also to enlarge the pericryptal macrophage and mast cell populations (p < 0.01). Knocking out mast cells reduced trypanosomiasis (p < 0.01), although it did not further alter the neuroendocrine cell number and Tph1 expression (p > 0.05). Further experimentation revealed that pharmacologically inhibiting mast cell activity reduced colonic infection (p < 0.01). A similar finding was achieved when 5-HT synthesis was blocked in c-KitW-sh mice (p > 0.05). However, inhibiting mast cell activity in Tph1KO mice increased colonic trypanosomiasis (p < 0.01).Conclusion: We show that mast cells may modulate the T. cruzi-related increase of 5-HT synthesis in the intestinal colon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtually everybody would agree that life satisfaction is of immense importance in everyday life. Thus, it is not surprising that a considerable amount of research using many different methodological approaches has investigated what the best predictors of life satisfaction are. In the present study, we have focused on several key potential influences on life satisfaction including bottom-up and top-down models, cross-cultural effects, and demographic variables. In four independent (large scale) surveys with sample sizes ranging from N = 488 to 40,297, we examined the associations between life satisfaction and various related variables. Our findings demonstrate that prediction of overall life satisfaction works best when including information about specific life satisfaction variables. From this perspective, satisfaction with leisure showed the highest impact on overall life satisfaction in our European samples. Personality was also robustly associated with life satisfaction, but only when life satisfaction variables were not included in the regression model. These findings could be replicated in all four independent samples, but it was also demonstrated that the relevance of life satisfaction variables changed under the influence of cross-cultural effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our understanding of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide mitochondrial transporter 1 (Ndt1A) in Aspergillus fumigatus remains poor. Thus, we investigated whether Ndt1A could alter fungi survival. To this end, we engineered the expression of an Ndt1A-encoding region in a Δndt1Δndt2 yeast strain. The resulting cloned Ndt1A protein promoted the mitochondrial uptake of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), generating a large mitochondrial membrane potential. The NAD carrier utilized the electrochemical proton gradient to drive NAD entrance into mitochondria when the mitochondrial membrane potential was sustained by succinate. Its uptake has no impact on oxidative stress, and Ndt1A expression improved growth and survival of the Δndt1Δndt2 Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A renewable-energy transition evokes the question 'Renewables? Yes, please!' or 'Renewables? No, thanks!' to people, communities and regions, because it initiates a physical and social transition to places and communities. Although 'community renewable energy' emerged as a grassroots-based innovation and is thus of increasing interest to the public and politicians, actual interwoven community benefits and challenges of renewable-energy projects are not well understood yet. Recent studies mainly consider potential community benefits and not experienced benefits and hardly address challenges which affected communities face. To address this research gap, we empirically investigated how people perceive community-based renewables and assess the change in the social fabric of communities, the so named 'community transition' resulting as outcome of local energy transition. We explored trade-offs between benefits and challenges by conducting a regional literature analysis, two sets of interviews in municipalities of North Frisia (Germany) and a household survey in one of them. Our results lead to two important insights: First, community renewables provide interwoven and offsetting physical, environmental, social, economic, planning and political benefits and challenges for communities. Second, a local participatory process and a fair distribution of revenues are essential for the success of community benefits, holding the potential for a sustainable development in rural areas. Thus, multifaceted and interlinked local benefits but also challenges of local energy transition need to be addressed more by developers and political decision-makers in order to enable and retain positive, sustainable outcomes of community renewable-energy projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is a very aggressive cancer, considered to be a subtype of the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Despite significant advances in the understanding and treatment of cancer, prognosis of patients with LSCC has not improved recently. In the present study, we sought to understand better the genetic mechanisms underlying LSCC development. Thirty-two tumor samples were collected from patients undergoing surgical resection of LSCC. The samples were submitted to whole-genome cDNA microarray analysis aiming to identify genetic targets in LSCC. We also employed bioinformatic approaches to expand our findings using the TCGA database and further performed functional assays, using human HNSCC cell lines, to evaluate viability, cell proliferation, and cell migration after silencing of selected genes. Eight members of the homeobox gene family (HOX) were identified to be overexpressed in LSCC samples when compared to normal larynx tissue. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis validated the overexpression of HOX gene family members in LSCC. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) statistical method curve showed that the expression level of seven members of HOX gene family can distinguish tumor from nontumor tissue. Correlation analysis of clinical and gene expression data revealed that HOXC8 and HOXD11 genes were associated with the differentiation degree of tumors and regional lymph node metastases, respectively. Additionally, siRNA assays confirmed that HOXC8, HOXD10, and HOXD11 genes might be critical for cell colony proliferation and cell migration. According to our findings, several members of the HOX genes were overexpressed in LSCC samples and seem to be required in biological processes involved in tumor development. This suggests that HOX genes might play a critical role in the physiopathology of LSCC tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light-at-night exposure enhances the risk of cancer. Colon cancer is among the most dangerous tumors affecting humankind. Physical exercise has shown positive effects against colon cancer. Here, we investigated whether pineal gland modulates antipreneoplastic effects of physical exercise in the colon. Surgical and non-surgical pineal impairments were performed to clarify the relationship between the pineal gland activity and manifestation of colonic preneoplastic lesions. Next, a progressive swimming training was applied in rats exposed or not to either non-surgical pineal impairment or carcinogen treatment for 10 weeks. Both surgical and non-surgical pineal impairments increased the development of colon preneoplasia. It was further found that impairing the pineal gland function, higher rates of DNA damage were induced in colonic epithelial and enteric glial cells. Physical exercise acted positively against preneoplasia, whereas impairing the pineal function with constant light exposure disrupts its positive effects on the development of preneoplastic lesions in the colon. This was yet related to increased DNA damage in glial cells and enteric neuronal activation aside from serum melatonin levels. Our findings suggest that protective effects of physical exercise against colon cancer are dependent on the pineal gland activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Trypanosomiasis induces a remarkable myenteric neuronal degeneration leading to megacolon. Very little is known about the risk for colon cancer in chagasic megacolon patients. To clarify whether chagasic megacolon impacts on colon carcinogenesis, we investigated the risk for colon cancer in Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) infected patients and rats. Methods: Colon samples from T. cruzi-infected and uninfected patients and rats were histopathologically investigated with colon cancer biomarkers. An experimental model for chemical myenteric denervation was also performed to verify the myenteric neuronal effects on colon carcinogenesis. All experiments complied the guidelines and approval of ethical institutional review boards. Results: No colon tumors were found in chagasic megacolon samples. A significant myenteric neuronal denervation was observed. Epithelial cell proliferation and hyperplasia were found increased in chagasic megacolon. Analyzing the argyrophilic nucleolar organiser regions within the cryptal bottom revealed reduced risk for colon cancer in Chagas' megacolon patients. T. cruzi-infected rats showed a significant myenteric neuronal denervation and decreased numbers of colon preneoplastic lesions. In chemical myenteric denervated rats preneoplastic lesions were reduced from the 2nd wk onward, which ensued having the colon myenteric denervation significantly induced. Conclusion/Significance: Our data suggest that the trypanosomiasis-related myenteric neuronal degeneration protects the colon tissue from carcinogenic events. Current findings highlight potential mechanisms in tropical diseases and cancer research. Author Summary: The myenteric neuronal activity on colon carcinogenesis is a matter of debate. Chagas disease (a trypanosomiasis-related chronic infection) induces megacolon damaging myenteric neurons. Puzzling, tumors have been rarely reported in chagasic megacolon patients. We reveal here hyperplasia-related high-proliferation occurs in chagasic megacolon, although the risk for colon cancer is reduced. Having carcinogen-exposed rats infected with Trypanosoma cruzi reduced the numbers of myenteric neurons and colon preneoplastic lesions. An experimental model for chemical myenteric denervation was applied in carcinogen-exposed rats revealing that myenteric neurons promote the development of colon preneoplastic lesions. Yet, activity of the fecal content had to be secluded from the myenteric neuronal activity on colon carcinogenesis. Hartmann's surgical procedure enabled that. This was applied together with carcinogenic exposure and myenteric neuronal denervation ensuring that the neuronal activity is associated with enhanced development of colon carcinogenesis. Taken together, we believe colon tumors are not found within the chagasic megacolon region because the myenteric neuronal density is impaired. These observations shed lights on novel potential cell to cell interactions promoting the colon cancer development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose Hormonal and mechanical factors might increase the risk for cervical artery dissection (CAD) during pregnancy and the puerperium. There is uncertainty how to counsel women with a previous CAD regarding the risk of CAD recurrence during pregnancy and the puerperium. Methods In an observational study of four stroke centers, all women aged 16-45 years with primary CAD in the previous decade were asked to participate in a standardized assessment on long-term follow-up with a special focus on pregnancies and recurrent CAD. Results Ninety-two women were identified and 53 of them were included in the analysis (60%). Eleven women declined to participate, 28 were untraceable. The 39 non-participants did not differ from participants regarding key baseline characteristics. Average follow-up time was 72 months. Nine women (17%) had recurrent CAD after a median of 14 days (range 2 days to 117 months). Eleven women (20%) had a total of 13 completed pregnancies at a median of 44 months (range 12-84 months) after index CAD. Two of the pregnant women (18%) had suffered recurrent CAD ≥18 months prior to the pregnancy. All 13 pregnancies and puerperia went without recurrent CADs or cerebrovascular events. This includes giving birth by vaginal delivery ( n = 6) and caesarean section ( n = 7). None of the five women with typical connective tissue disease became pregnant. Conclusions Our observation suggests that the risk of recurrent CAD may not be greatly increased with pregnancies starting at least 12 months after CAD in women without typical connective tissue disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Trypanosomiasis induces a remarkable myenteric neuronal degeneration leading to megacolon. Very little is known about the risk for colon cancer in chagasic megacolon patients. To clarify whether chagasic megacolon impacts on colon carcinogenesis, we investigated the risk for colon cancer in Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) infected patients and rats. Methods: Colon samples from T. cruzi-infected and uninfected patients and rats were histopathologically investigated with colon cancer biomarkers. An experimental model for chemical myenteric denervation was also performed to verify the myenteric neuronal effects on colon carcinogenesis. All experiments complied the guidelines and approval of ethical institutional review boards. Results: No colon tumors were found in chagasic megacolon samples. A significant myenteric neuronal denervation was observed. Epithelial cell proliferation and hyperplasia were found increased in chagasic megacolon. Analyzing the argyrophilic nucleolar organiser regions within the cryptal bottom revealed reduced risk for colon cancer in Chagas’ megacolon patients. T. cruzi-infected rats showed a significant myenteric neuronal denervation and decreased numbers of colon preneoplastic lesions. In chemical myenteric denervated rats preneoplastic lesions were reduced from the 2nd wk onward, which ensued having the colon myenteric denervation significantly induced. Conclusion/Significance: Our data suggest that the trypanosomiasis-related myenteric neuronal degeneration protects the colon tissue from carcinogenic events. Current findings highlight potential mechanisms in tropical diseases and cancer research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, increasing use intensity and establishment of new sea uses such as offshore wind farming can be observed in coastal and marine waters. This development also increases the pressure on coastal and marine ecosystems. The exclusive economic zone of the German North Sea can serve as an example for this development, in particular illustrating the need to combine multiple uses and societal demands within a given sea area. In order to deal with the resulting conflicts and cumulative impacts, new planning tools and integrated approaches to planning and management are developing. While the sea becomes a contested but at the same time politically recognised area, also conflicts rooted in different perceptions, values and attitudes of coastal people can be observed. In order to deal with the current challenges in marine areas, marine spatial planning and similar tools for integrated planning need to be developed in the form of communication processes, which link diverse sets of information and span a dialogue between groups of society and across spatial scales including the transnational dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several different cell types constitute the intestinal wall and interact in different manners to maintain tissue homeostasis. Elegant reports have explored these physiological cellular interactions revealing that glial cells and neurons not only modulate peristalsis and mechanical stimulus in the intestines but also control epithelial proliferation and sub-epithelial angiogenesis. Although colon carcinoma arises from epithelial cells, different sub-epithelial cell phenotypes are known to support the manifestation and development of tumors from their early steps on. Therefore, new perspectives in cancer research have been proposed, in which neurons and glial cells not only lead to higher cancer cell proliferation at the tumor invasion front but also further enhance angiogenesis and neurogenesis in tumors. Transformation of physiological neural activity into a pro-cancer event is thus discussed for colon carcinogenesis herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, combined therapy using chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been proposed as a means of improving treatment outcomes. In order to evaluate the efficacy of combined therapy, it is necessary to determine the distribution of the anticancer drug and the photosensitizer. We investigated the use of imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) to simultaneously observe the distributions of an anticancer drug and photosensitizer administered to cancer cells. In particular, we sought to increase the sensitivity of detection of the anticancer drug docetaxel and the photosensitizer protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) by optimizing the ionization-assisting reagents. When we used a matrix consisting of equal weights of a zeolite (NaY5.6) and a conventional organic matrix (6-aza-2-thiothymine) in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization, the signal intensity of the sodium-adducted ion of docetaxel (administered at 100 μM) increased about 13-fold. Moreover, we detected docetaxel with the zeolite matrix using the droplet method, and detected PpIX by fluorescence and IMS with α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (CHCA) using the spray method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The appearance of bodies in social space is a theoretically rich subject for discussion. The study of bodies and identities is a personally complex endeavour as researchers are often implicated in their own subject of investigation. This article explores one researcher's engagement with issues of power and identity; while undertaking a study on gender, race, and ability in the critical identity classroom (i.e. Women and Gender Studies), I, the researcher, became part of the study as my age and non/pregnant body began to emerge as crucial to the study itself. In this paper, I examine how my body became intertwined with notions of the ‘right and wrong’ pregnant body, the ‘good and bad’ mother/academic/feminist/researcher, and the ‘insider and outsider’ within academic hierarchies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]