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Research has shown that parental pressure is negatively whereas parental support is positively associated with various scholastic outcomes, such as school engagement, motivation, and achievement. However, only few studies investigate boys' and girls' perception of mother and father pressure/support in detail. This might be particularly essential when it comes to girls' and boys' achievement in STEM subjects, as girls and boys might profit differently from parental pressure/support regarding their achievement in STEM and vice versa. This study aims to shed light on this topic and explores potential within—and over time associations between students' perception of parental pressure/support and grades in mathematics and biology. Using self-report data from 1,088 8th grade students at T1 (Mage = 13.70, SD = 0.53, 54% girls) from Brandenburg, Germany, multigroup cross-lagged models were conceptualized with Mplus. The results indicate that there are gender differences in the interplay of students' grades in mathematics, biology, and their perception of parental pressure and support: Whereas, mother support plays a central beneficial role for girls' achievement in STEM subjects as well as for the other parental variables over time, for boys mother support is negatively associated with math performance over time. Within-time associations further show that boys—in contrast to girls—do not benefit from any parental support regarding their performance in mathematics or biology. Finally, results suggest that the relationship between adolescents' STEM achievement and parental pressure/support is rather mono-directional than bi-directional over time.
Extracts from the leaves and flowers of Crataegus spp. (i.e., hawthorn species) have been traditionally used with documented preclinical and clinical activities in cardiovascular medicine. Based on reported positive effects on heart muscle after ischemic injury and the overall cardioprotective profile, the present study addressed potential contributions of Crataegus extracts to cardiopoietic differentiation from stem cells. The quantified Crataegus extract WS®1442 stimulated cardiomyogenesis from murine and human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Mechanistically, this effect was found to be induced by promoting differentiation of cardiovascular progenitor cell populations but not by proliferation. Bioassay-guided fractionation, phytochemical and analytical profiling suggested high-molecular weight ingredients as the active principle with at least part of the activity due to oligomeric procyanidines (OPCs) with a degree of polymerization between 3 and 6 (DP3–6). Transcriptome profiling in mESCs suggested two main, plausible mechanisms: These were early, stress-associated cellular events along with the modulation of distinct developmental pathways, including the upregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and retinoic acid as well as the inhibition of transforming growth factor β/bone morphogenetic protein (TGFβ/BMP) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling. In addition, WS®1442 stimulated angiogenesis ex vivo in Sca-1+ progenitor cells from adult mice hearts. These in vitro data provide evidence for a differentiation promoting activity of WS®1442 on distinct cardiovascular stem/progenitor cells that could be valuable for therapeutic heart regeneration after myocardial infarction. However, the in vivo relevance of this new pharmacological activity of Crataegus spp. remains to be investigated and active ingredients from bioactive fractions will have to be further characterized.
Type I interferonopathies cover a phenotypically heterogeneous group of rare genetic diseases including the recently described proteasome-associated autoinflammatory syndromes (PRAAS). By definition, PRAAS are caused by inherited and/or de novo loss-of-function mutations in genes encoding proteasome subunits such as PSMB8, PSMB9, PSMB7, PSMA3, or proteasome assembly factors including POMP and PSMG2, respectively. Disruption of any of these subunits results in perturbed intracellular protein homeostasis including accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins which is accompanied by a type I interferon (IFN) signature. The observation that, similarly to pathogens, proteasome dysfunctions are potent type I IFN inducers is quite unexpected and, up to now, the underlying molecular mechanisms of this process remain largely unknown. One promising candidate for triggering type I IFN under sterile conditions is the unfolded protein response (UPR) which is typically initiated in response to an accumulation of unfolded and/or misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) (also referred to as ER stress). The recent observation that the UPR is engaged in subjects carrying POMP mutations strongly suggests its possible implication in the cause-and-effect relationship between proteasome impairment and interferonopathy onset. The purpose of this present review is therefore to discuss the possible role of the UPR in the pathogenesis of PRAAS. We will particularly focus on pathways initiated by the four ER-membrane proteins ATF6, PERK, IRE1-α, and TCF11/Nrf1 which undergo activation under proteasome inhibition. An overview of the current understanding of the mechanisms and potential cross-talk between the UPR and inflammatory signaling casacades is provided to convey a more integrated picture of the pathophysiology of PRAAS and shed light on potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Staphylococcus aureus has acquired resistance to antibiotics since their first use. The S. aureus protein NorA, an efflux pump belonging to the major facilitator superfamily (MFS), contributes to resistance to fluoroquinolones (e.g., ciprofloxacin), biocides, dyes, quaternary ammonium compounds, and antiseptics. Different compounds have been identified as potential efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs) of NorA that result in increased intracellular concentration of antibiotics, restoring their antibacterial activity and cell susceptibility. However, none of the currently known EPIs have been approved for clinical use, probably due to their toxicity profiles. In the present study, we screened approved drugs for possible efflux pump inhibition. By screening a compound library of approximately 1200 different drugs, we identified nilotinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, as showing the best efflux pump inhibitory activity, with a fractional inhibitory concentration index of 0.1875, indicating synergism with ciprofloxacin, and a minimum effective concentration as low as 0.195 μM. Moreover, at 0.39 μM, nilotinib, in combination with 8 μg/mL of ciprofloxacin, led to a significant reduction in biofilm formation and preformed mature biofilms. This is the first description of an approved drug that can be used as an efflux pump inhibitor and to reduce biofilms formation at clinically achievable concentrations.
Duckweeds include the world's smallest and fastest growing flowering plants that have the capacity to produce huge biomass with a broad range of potential applications like production of feed and food, biofuel and biogas. In order to achieve optimal and sustainable commercial system, it is necessary that suitable species and clones of duckweeds be identified and selected based on appropriate strategies. However, a high degree of reduction in their structural complexity poses serious problems in identification of closely related species of duckweeds, on a morphological basis. Use of molecular taxonomic tools is the present solution. The state of the art of molecular taxonomy of all the five genera of duckweeds (Spirodela, Landoltia, Lemna, Wolffiella, and Wolffia) is based mainly on the techniques of fingerprinting by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and barcoding using sequences of plastidic DNA fragments. After more than 15 years of molecular taxonomic investigations, a certain viewpoint is now available demonstrating all five genera to be monophyletic. Also, the phenetic analyses had made huge progress in delineating the currently defined 36 species of duckweeds, although, all species cannot yet be defined with confidence. Wolffiella has turned out to be the most complicated genus as only 6 to 7 species out of the 10 can be reliably delineated. Further progress in the phylogenetic and phenetic analyses requires more advanced methods like next generation and/or whole genome sequencing. First results using the method genotyping-by-sequencing in the genus Lemna (in combination with metabolomic profiling by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass-spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) as well as AFLP and barcoding by plastidic sequences) are more promising: The species Lemna valdiviana and Lemna yungensis were united to one species, Lemna valdiviana. This reduced the total number of Lemnaceae species to 36.
Stigma of Mental Illness in Germans and Turkish Immigrants in Germany: The Effect of Causal Beliefs
(2019)
Background: Stigma poses an additional burden for people suffering from mental illness, one that often impairs their social participation and can prevent them from seeking adequate help. It is therefore crucial to understand how stigma develops in order to counteract it by setting up effective evidence-based anti-stigma interventions. The present study examines the effect of causal beliefs on stigmatizing behavioral intentions, namely people's desire to distance themselves from persons with mental illness. In addition, we draw cross-cultural comparisons between native Germans and Turkish immigrants to investigate the influence of culture on stigma and causal beliefs and to broaden knowledge on the biggest immigrant group in Germany and on immigrants in Western countries in general.
Methods: n = 302 native Germans and n = 173 Turkish immigrants were presented either a depression or a schizophrenia vignette. Then, causal beliefs, emotional reaction and desire for social distance were assessed with questionnaires. Path analyses were carried out to investigate the influence of causal beliefs on the desire for social distance and their mediation by emotional reactions for Germans and Turkish immigrants, respectively.
Results: We found an influence of causal beliefs on the desire for social distance. Emotional reactions partly mediated this relationship. Causal attribution patterns as well as the relationship between causal attributions and stigma varied across both subsamples and mental illnesses. In the German subsample, the ascription of unfavorable personal traits resulted in more stigma. In the Turkish immigrant subsample, supernatural causal beliefs increased stigma while attribution to current stress reduced stigma.
Conclusion: Our study has implications for future anti-stigma interventions that intend to reduce stigmatization of mentally ill people. Targeting the ascription of unfavorable personal traits and supernatural causal attributions as well as promoting current stress as the cause for mental illness appears to be of particular importance. Also, the mediating influence of emotional responses to causal beliefs needs to be addressed. Furthermore, differential interventions across cultural groups and specific mental illnesses may be appropriate.
Despite major research interest regarding gender differences in emotion regulation, it is still not clear whether men and women differ in their basic capacity to implement specific emotion regulation strategies, as opposed to indications of the habitual use of these strategies in self-reports. Similarly, little is known on how such basic capacities relate to indices of well-being in both sexes. This study took a novel approach by investigating gender differences in the capacity for generating cognitive reappraisals in adverse situations in a sample of 67 female and 59 male students, using a maximum performance test of the inventiveness in generating reappraisals. Participants’ self-perceived efficacy in emotion regulation was additionally assessed. Analyses showed that men and women did not differ in their basic capacity to generate alternative appraisals for anxiety-eliciting scenarios, suggesting similar functional cognitive mechanisms in the implementation of this strategy. Yet, higher cognitive reappraisal capacity predicted fewer depressive daily-life experiences in men only. These findings suggest that in the case of cognitive reappraisal, benefits for well-being in women might depend on a more complex combination of basic ability, habits, and efficacy-beliefs, along with the use of other emotion regulation strategies. The results of this study may have useful implications for psychotherapy research and practice.
Clostridioides difficile is an intestinal human pathogen that uses the opportunity of a depleted microbiota to cause an infection. It is known, that the composition of the intestinal bile acid cocktail has a great impact on the susceptibility toward a C. difficile infection. However, the specific response of growing C. difficile cells to diverse bile acids on the molecular level has not been described yet. In this study, we recorded proteome signatures of shock and long-term (LT) stress with the four main bile acids cholic acid (CA), chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), deoxycholic acid (DCA), and lithocholic acid (LCA). A general overlapping response to all tested bile acids could be determined particularly in shock experiments which appears plausible in the light of their common steroid structure. However, during LT stress several proteins showed an altered abundance in the presence of only a single or a few of the bile acids indicating the existence of specific adaptation mechanisms. Our results point at a differential induction of the groEL and dnaKJgrpE chaperone systems, both belonging to the class I heat shock genes. Additionally, central metabolic pathways involving butyrate fermentation and the reductive Stickland fermentation of leucine were effected, although CA caused a proteome signature different from the other three bile acids. Furthermore, quantitative proteomics revealed a loss of flagellar proteins in LT stress with LCA. The absence of flagella could be substantiated by electron microscopy which also indicated less flagellated cells in the presence of DCA and CDCA and no influence on flagella formation by CA. Our data break down the bile acid stress response of C. difficile into a general and a specific adaptation. The latter cannot simply be divided into a response to primary and secondary bile acids, but rather reflects a complex and variable adaptation process enabling C. difficile to survive and to cause an infection in the intestinal tract.
Finding suitable places to establish a mussel farm is challenging, as many aspects like mussel growth, clearance effect and the risk of low oxygen conditions, have to be considered. We present a tailor-made approach, combining field experiments with a spatially explicit model tool, to support the planning process. A case study was set up in the German part of Szczecin (Oder) Lagoon (Baltic Sea), as it shows all typical eutrophication problems and has a strong need and high potential for nutrient retention measures. Farming zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) is an innovative approach that utilizes a species which is often perceived as a pest. The practical applicability and water quality improvement potential was proven by a pilot farm. Combining the gained knowledge with the simulation model led to a cascade of mussel farm options that differ in purpose, location, and biomass. Placing a mussel farm in an enclosed bay resulted in a remarkable water quality improvement (Secchi Depth increased up to 2 m), but the effect stayed local, the growth was limited and the potential annual nutrient removal reached a threshold of ~30 t N and 2.8 t P. The same nutrient removal could be reached with much smaller farms in an open sea area, whereas the change of water transparency or bottom oxygen conditions were neglectable. A maximal nutrient removal potential of 1,750 t N and 160 t P per year was estimated, when nearly the entire German part of Szczecin Lagoon with mussel farms was used. This led to a strong reduction of phytoplankton and an increase of Secchi Depth, but also a rising risk of anoxia. Overall, all mussel farm options are only a supportive measure, but not sufficient to reach the Good Environmental Status demanded by the Water Framework Directive. At once, the nutrient export from Szczecin Lagoon to the open Baltic was reduced by up to 3,500 t N and 420 t P per year, making the large-scale mussel farm option also a potential measure within the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.