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While the utility of experimental free-access alcohol self-administration paradigms is well established, little data exist addressing the question of whether study participation influences subsequent natural alcohol consumption. We here present drinking reports of young adults before and after participation in intravenous alcohol self-administration studies.Timeline Follow-back drinking reports for the 6 weeks immediately preceding the first, and the 6 weeks after the last experimental alcohol challenge were examined from subjects completing 1 of 2 similar alcohol self-administration paradigms. In study 1, 18 social drinkers (9 females, mean age 24.1 years) participated in 3 alcohol self-infusion sessions up to a maximum blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 160 mg%. Study 2 involved 60 participants (30 females, mean age 18.3 years) of the Dresden Longitudinal Study on Alcohol Use in Young Adults (D-LAYA), who participated in 2 sessions of alcohol self-infusion up to a maximum BAC of 120 mg%, and a nonexposed age-matched control group of 42 (28 females, mean age 18.4 years) subjects.In study 1, participants reported (3.7%) fewer heavy drinking days as well as a decrease of 2.5 drinks per drinking day after study participation compared to prestudy levels (p 0.05, respectively). In study 2, alcohol-exposed participants reported 7.1% and non-alcohol-exposed controls 6.5% fewer drinking days at poststudy measurement (p 0.001), while percent heavy drinking days and drinks per drinking day did not differ.These data suggest that participation in intravenous alcohol self-administration experiments does not increase subsequent real-life drinking of young adults.

Summary: The fungal cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum produces deoxynivalenol (DON) during infection. The mycotoxin DON is associated with Fusarium head blight (FHB), a disease that can cause vast grain losses. Whilst investigating the suitability of Brachypodium distachyon as a model for spreading resistance to F.graminearum, we unexpectedly discovered that DON pretreatment of spikelets could reduce susceptibility to FHB in this model grass. We started to analyse the cell wall changes in spikelets after infection with F.graminearum wild-type and defined mutants: the DON-deficient Δtri5 mutant and the DON-producing lipase disruption mutant Δfgl1, both infecting only directly inoculated florets, and the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase disruption mutant Δgpmk1, with strongly decreased virulence but intact DON production. At 14 days post-inoculation, the glucose amounts in the non-cellulosic cell wall fraction were only increased in spikelets infected with the DON-producing strains wild-type, Δfgl1 and Δgpmk1. Hence, we tested for DON-induced cell wall changes in B.distachyon, which were most prominent at DON concentrations ranging from 1 to 100ppb. To test the involvement of DON in defence priming, we pretreated spikelets with DON at a concentration of 1ppm prior to F.graminearum wild-type infection, which significantly reduced FHB disease symptoms. The analysis of cell wall composition and plant defence-related gene expression after DON pretreatment and fungal infection suggested that DON-induced priming of the spikelet tissue contributed to the reduced susceptibility to FHB.

The product of the HDMX (or MDM4) gene is structurally related to the MDM2 oncoprotein and is also capable of interacting with the tumor suppressor protein p53. The aim of our study was to determine the amplification status of the HDMX gene and the expression of the HDMX mRNA (particularly that of the HDMX-S splice variant) in soft-tissue sarcomas (STS). Patients with STS were evaluated for the status of HDMX gene amplification (n = 66) and HDMX-S mRNA expression (n = 57) within their tumors. DNA, total RNA and protein were isolated from frozen tumor tissue. We determined that the HDMX-S splice variant transcript was predominant in a subset (14%) of tumor samples and that its expression was correlated with decreased patient survival (15 vs. 53 months, p < 0.0001, log-rank test) and with a 17-fold increased risk of a tumor-related death (p < 0.0001, multivariate Cox's regression model). The tumors from these patients also expressed elevated levels of HDMX-S protein. The HDMX gene was amplified in 17% of STSs, and the gene amplification was associated with poor prognosis (RR = 6.5, p < 0.0001). There was no correlation between the HDMX gene amplification and overexpression of the HDMX-S splice variant. In summary, our data indicate that both the overexpression of the HDMX-S transcript as well as HDMX gene amplification are important prognostic markers for STS.

Melting in the interface between chip and cutting insert was shown to occur in high speed milling of 7075 aluminium alloy. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that melting increases with cutting speed and preferentially takes place in down-milling. Melting results in a strong enrichment of magnesium in the bottom of the chip.

High speed milling experiments with cutting speeds of up to 7000 m/min have been performed on an aluminium alloy (AlZnMgCu1.5, AA 7075) and a steel (40CrMnMo7). Both materials were heat treated to produce a variety of microstructures in order to investigate the influence of microstructure on segmentation during chip formation. In case of the aluminium alloy it has been shown that chip formation is governed by the precipitation state, but not by the hardness of the material. In contrast, hardness can be used for a qualitative prediction of chip shape of the steel. In all cases, the chip formation mechanisms remain essentially unaffected by cutting speed, i.e. no transition from continuous to segmented chips occurred. Das Gefuge, eine entscheidende Einflusgrose auf die Spanform beim Hochgeschwindigkeitsfrasen In dieser Arbeit wurden Hochgeschwindigkeitsfrasversuche bei Schnittgeschwindigkeiten von bis zu 7000 m/min an einer Aluminiumlegierung (AlZnMgCu1.5, AA 7075) sowie an einem Stahl (40CrMnMo7) durchgefuhrt. Beide Werkstoffe wurden warmebehandelt, um eine breite Variation der Gefuge einzustellen, die es erlaubt, den Gefugeeinfluss auf die Spansegmentierung qualitativ und quantitativ zu untersuchen. Fur die Aluminiumlegierung konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Spanbildung durch den Auslagerungszustand, nicht jedoch durch die Harte des Werkstoffs bestimmt wird. Bei der Spanbildung des Stahls kann die Harte dagegen als Indikator fur die Segmentierung herangezogen werden. Der prinzipielle Spanbildungsmechanismus wird von der Schnittgeschwindigkeit nicht beeinflusst: Es tritt kein schnittgeschwindigkeitsabhangiger Ubergang von kontinuierlichen zu segmentierten Spanen auf.

Timothy grass pollen was investigated in order to determine the carbohydrate moieties of its major grass group I (Phl p I) and to study its impact on allergenicity. Based on computer calculations one N-glycosylation site was deduced from the cDNA data of Phl p I. After two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, followed by blotting of pollen extract and by use of the monoclonal antibody IG 12 we identified at least six isoallergens of Phl p I with the main spots at a molecular mass of 35-37 kDa and a pI range of 6.5-7.3. Deglycosylation by trifluoromethanesulfonic acid resulted in a decrease of about 2 kDa. Treatment with N-glycosidase A resulted in a partial deglycosylation, while N-glycosidase F and O-glycosidase had no effect. Ten lectins were investigated for their binding to Phl p I components: Aleuria aurantia agglutinin showed strong reactivity (indicating fucose residues), while Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (indicating mannose residues) and concanavalin A (indicating mannose, glucose or N-acetylglucosamine residues) showed weak binding. By neutral sugar analysis we determined similar contents of the monosaccharides in the isoallergens. In order to study the influence of the carbohydrate structures of Phl p I on IgE reactivity we tested some patient sera for their reactivity with intact and deglycosylated Phl p I. Even though most of the IgE antibodies bind at the protein core, we detected one serum that recognized carbohydrate moieties on the Phl p I.