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To comprehensively address global environmental challenges such as biodiversity loss, citizens need an understanding of the socio-economic fundamentals of human behaviour in relation to natural resources. We argue that Global Citizenship Education and Education for Sustainable Development provide a core set of socio-economic competencies that can be applied to tackle such challenges. As a central concern of this article, we report on the development of a competence model and its use in an empirical study. The study analyses the ability of German students (n = 268: 232 pupils in senior secondary school and 36 student teachers) to evaluate solutions for real-world Sustainable Development challenges quantitatively. In doing so, we investigate a theoretically described competence dimension, that is, "Evaluating and Reflecting Solutions Quantitatively-Economically." A Rasch partial credit model indicates that "Evaluating and Reflecting Solutions Quantitatively-Economically" can be modelled as a one-dimensional competence. Grade level, general educational performance and high performance in subjects addressing Education for Sustainable Development positively affect "Evaluating and Reflecting Solutions Quantitatively-Economically" scores. Although applying basic economic insights in a quantitative manner to Sustainable Development challenges is within the mathematical skill set of most students, even older or better-performing students find it difficult to do so. Thus, these findings underscore the need for economic competencies to be incorporated in Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Education.

The concept of energy is one key component of science education curricula worldwide. While it is still being taught in many science classrooms from a mainly conceptual knowledge perspective, the need to frame the concept of energy as a socioscientific issue and implement it in the context of citizenship education and education for sustainable development, is getting more and more explicit. As we will be faced with limited fossil fuels and the consequences of global climate change in the future, students have to be supported in becoming literate citizens who are able to reach informed energy-related decisions. In this article, we focus on students' reasoning and decision-making processes about socioscientific energy-related issues. In more detail, we developed a paper-and-pencil measurement instrument to assess secondary school students' competencies in this domain. The functioning of the measurement instrument was analysed with a sample of 850 students from grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 using item response theory. Findings show that the measurement instrument functions in terms of reliability and validity. Concerning student ability, elaborate reasoning and decision-making was characterised by the use of trade-offs and the ability to weigh arguments and to reflect on the structure of reasoning and decision-making processes. The developed measurement instrument provides a complement for existing test instruments on conceptual knowledge about the concept of energy. It aims to contribute to a change in teaching about energy, especially in physics education in the sense of education for sustainable development.

In this paper, we trace selected strands of the German path to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). We start by addressing pre-ESD research, and move to the concept of "Gestaltungskompetenz," the core concept of German ESD. The concept had to be realigned as to become more compatible with international research on learning outcomes (competencies). Compared to its beginnings, the meaning of "Gestaltungskompetenz" has much advanced, e.g., influenced by German competence research in science education, to which the Göttingen Model for socioscientific reasoning and decision making contributes. The paper presents a new competence dimension on "Evaluating and reflecting solutions quantitatively-economically" for this model. The contribution highlights the integrative and interdisciplinary scope of the educational challenges posed by Sustainable Development.

Comparison of the attitudes of German high school students (n=119) with earlier studies of Irish and Australian students found German students more confident at meeting a person with mental disabilities, more interested in policy changes to ensure better services, less positive about general social integration, and very negative about mainstreaming such individuals in schools. (DB)

Diagnostic procedures aimed at labeling, selection, and placement in special schools for children designated in Germany as learning handicapped are compared with support and intervention-oriented strategies. Construction and administration of alternative diagnostic instruments and approaches such as inventories and surveys are examined. (Author/JDD)

To assess the mental abilities of mentally retarded children, 100 tests were tried out on more than 350 German Ss and the TBGB ("Test-batterie fur geistig behinderte Kinder"Test battery for mentally retarded children") was developed. (SW)

Background: The true burden and geographical distribution of human Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1) encephalitis is unknown. All detected cases so far have been recorded in Bavaria, southern Germany., Case Presentation: A retrospective laboratory and epidemiological investigation of a 2017 case of fatal encephalitis in a farmer in Brandenburg, northeast Germany, demonstrated BoDV-1 as causative agent by polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. Next-generation sequencing showed that the virus belonged to a cluster not known to be endemic in Brandenburg. The investigation was triggered by a recent outbreak of animal Borna disease in the region. Multiple possible exposures were identified. The next-of-kin were seronegative., Conclusions: The investigation highlights clinical awareness for human BoDV-1 encephalitis which should be extended to all areas endemic for animal Borna disease. All previously diagnosed human cases had occurred > 350 km further south. Further testing of shrews and livestock with Borna disease may show whether this BoDV-1 cluster is additionally endemic in the northwest of Brandenburg., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Human bornavirus encephalitis is a severe and often fatal infection caused by variegated squirrel bornavirus 1 (VSBV-1) and Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1). We conducted a prospective study of bornavirus etiology of encephalitis cases in Germany during 2018-2020 by using a serologic testing scheme applied along proposed graded case definitions for VSBV-1, BoDV-1, and unspecified bornavirus encephalitis. Of 103 encephalitis cases of unknown etiology, 4 bornavirus infections were detected serologically. One chronic case was caused by VSBV-1 after occupational-related contact of a person with exotic squirrels, and 3 acute cases were caused by BoDV-1 in virus-endemic areas. All 4 case-patients died. Bornavirus etiology could be confirmed by molecular methods. Serologic testing for these cases was virus specific, discriminatory, and a practical diagnostic option for living patients if no brain tissue samples are available. This testing should be guided by clinical and epidemiologic suspicions, such as residence in virus-endemic areas and animal exposure.

We evaluated formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue specimens from 7 patients who died with encephalitic typhus in Hamburg, Germany, during World War II. The archived specimens included only central nervous system tissues >70 years old that had been stored at room temperature. We demonstrated successful detection of Rickettsia typhi DNA by a nested qPCR specific to prsA in 2 patients. These results indicate that R. typhi infections contributed to typhus outbreaks during World War II. Immunohistochemical analyses of brain tissue specimens of R. typhi DNA-positive and -negative specimens showed perivascular B-cell accumulation. Around blood vessels, nodular cell accumulations consisted of CD4-positive and CD8-positive T cells and CD68-positive microglia and macrophages; neutrophils were found rarely. These findings are similar to those of previously reported R. prowazekii tissue specimen testing. Because R. typhi and R. prowazekii infections can be clinically and histopathologically similar, molecular analyses should be performed to distinguish the 2 pathogens.

Individual Motivational Interventions after alcohol-related event treated in Hospital - Effective Option for Secondary Prevention in Adolescence? In a prospective, randomized, single-blind study 48 adolescents between 13 and 17 years answered a standardized questionnaire about their behavior of alcohol-consumption after an alcohol-related event with hospitalization. They were divided in 2 groups by randomization: Group A (n=28) took part in an individual motivational intervention (HaLT-Präventionsprojekt), Group B (n=20) did not get any intervention. Six and 12 weeks after the hospitalization the same questionnaire was answered again by telephone-based interviews. The interviewer did not know to which group the interview-partner belonged. 58% (n=28) of all adolescents drank less alcohol or in a lower frequency than before the alcohol-related event. 17% (n=8) did not drink any alcohol in that period of 12 weeks. 54% (n=26) explained, that they had no events of drunkenness in that period. 38% (n=18) did not change their behavior in consumption of alcohol. 6% (n=3) drank more or in higher frequency than before. We could not find any significant difference in the behavior of alcohol-consumption of both groups: 58% (A) resp. 65% (B) drank less than the time before the alcohol-related event (χ²=0,6269; p=0,4285). An influence of the individual motivational intervention could not be shown. Further studies should include interventions for parents and peers., Competing Interests: Die Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)