forensic genetics, Y chromosom, STR (short tandem repeat) polymorphism, haplotyping method

There are a number of merits that qualify the Y chromosome as a special forensic genetic tool: the male specificity for most of its length, the absence of recombination which provides unambiguous male lineage s and the small effective population size that tends to create population specific allele distributions of the Y chromosomes. Particularly in cases of rape and other sexual assault as well as in kinship testing, Y-STR haplotyping can help to close informativity gaps.Since the main goal of f...

oral candidiasis, animal model, immunodeficiency, therapy

This study applied an animal model to address the following questions: 1. Does a dose/effect relationship exist between C. albicans load and the emergence of an oral C. albicans infection, 2. which cellular immune response takes place following inoculation with defined pathogen loads, 3. is it possible to inhibit C. albicans adhesion to murine epithelium cells through the local application of mucine metabolites (glycopeptides).Material and methods: Immunocompetent inbred mice (Balb/c) (n=27) and...

lattice QCD, static approximation, renormalized axial current, O(a) improvement

The axial current of a light and a heavy quark is studied in thestatic approximation, with the aim of defining a non-perturbativerenormalization scheme.To keep lattice artifacts small, O(a) improvement in the staticapproximation is discussed in detail. It is explained how a finitesize scheme can be used to avoid the necessity of accommodating alarge energy range on a single lattice in the determination of thescale dependence of the renormalized static-light axial current.To that end, Schroedinge...

cyclooxygenase-2, prostaglandin E2, NS 398, melanoma

Accumulating evidence indicates that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce the incidence of colorectal cancers in humans. This antineoplastic activity is largely related to the inhibition of the inducible cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), which catalizes the biosynthesis of prostaglandin H2 the precursor of prostanoids. Elevated expression of COX-2 has been described in several types of epithelial tumors. In this study we evaluate the expression and function of COX-2 in malignant melanoma as a...

Triclabendazole, Fasciola hepatica, Ultrasound, Parasitology

The efficacy and tolerability of triclabendazole (TCZ) was assessed in a clinical phase 2 study. Eighty-one patients (51 female, 30 male, age 15- 81 years) with chronic or latent F. hepatica infection refractory to previous anti-helminthic chemotherapy were enrolled in a 60 day open, non-comparative trial. Patients received 20 mg/kg TCZ as two doses of 10 mg/kg administered after food 12 hr apart. Efficacy of treatment was assessed by stool microscopy, determination of fasciola excretory-secreto...

consequences of divorce, equalization of property after divorce, comparison of law, law of divorce

The number of divorces increases both in Germany and in Korea. That means that it is important for a larger number of people to know what financial and other consequences a divorced couple have to face.Very often the wife is in a socially worse situation, because she has fewer job opportunities and she cares for the children.The law of consequences after a divorce is more exactly worked out in Germany than in Korea. In Korea it is more often a matter of opinion of the court than in Germany.Three...

String vacua, Compactification, Unification, Non-commutative geometry

We discuss various aspects of internal magnetic background fields in open stringtheories. Phenomenologically and conceptually interesting properties ofsuch string theory backgrounds, supersymmetry and gauge symmetry breaking, chiral fermion spectra andnoncommutativity of the internal compactification manifolds, are treated in arather generic framework. We then specialize to type I compactifications on toriand toroidal orbifolds with magnetic fields on the internal space. This allowsto develop a ...

transmission electron microscopy, molecular beam epitaxy, compound semiconductor, ZnSe, (Zn,Cd)Se, CdSe, interface, diffusion, elastical and plastical relaxation, quantum dot, diffraction contrast simulation, finite element method

Low-dimensional structures (2-dimensional layers and 0-dimensional quantum dots) of II-VI compound semiconductors were investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The samples were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (001)-oriented GaAs substrates.2-dimensional layers of (Zn,Cd)Se/ZnSe were investigated with respect to the thermal stability of the interfaces. Special attention was paid to the diffusion process as a function of the density of dislocations caused by the lattice mismat...

allele frequency, genetic polymorphism, pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, pulmonary surfactant-associated protein A

AbstractMany studies give evidence of the role of surfactant protein A (SP-A) in the regulation of surfactant homeostasis and the defence from pathogens in the lung by opsonisation. The genes for the two protein subunits SP-A1 and SP-A2 are characterised by numerous polymorphisms. The most frequently substituted amino acid Val50Leu is located within the collagen-like region, which is recognised by the collectin-receptor on phagocytes. Further amino acids are substituted in the globular region, w...

quantum wire, self-organization, shape transition, MBE

The present work focuses on two types of quantum wire structures which were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). First, the sidewall quantum wires based on the selective growth on mesa stripe patterned GaAs(311)A are studied. Single stacked sidewall quantum wires with strong electronic coupling have been fabricated. p-i-n type LEDs of the quantum wires employing the amphoteric Si incorporation for p- and n-type doping on GaAs(311)A have been fabricated. Strong selective carrier injection into ...

Multiple myeloma, angiogenesis, bone metabolism, high-dose chemotherapy

High-dose chemotherapy is the standard treatment for patients with multiple myeloma younger than 60 years. In 600 cycles of high-dose chemotherapy with autologous blood stem cell transplantation, we found that the type of the malignant disease, age and number of transplanted stem cells were independent prognostic factors for the rate of documented infections. The duration of severe mucositis was significantly associated both with the rate of infections and treatment-related mortality.The angioge...

encephalitis, long-term outcome, neuropsychology, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Acute encephalitis occurs mainly sporadically with heterogenous clinical manifestations and can be caused by viruses, other infectious agents or autoimmune disease; often the etiology remains unclear. The aim of this study was to analyze causes and clinical features in a consecutive study population of immunocompetent adults with acute encephalitis and to evaluate their functional, neuropsychological and social long-term outcome as well as a possible loss of brain parenchyma by means of magnetic...

semiconductor lasers, infinite-dimensional dynamical systems, invariant manifolds, Verzweigungsanalyse

We investigate the longitudinal dynamics of semiconductor lasers using a model which couples a linear hyperbolic system of partial differential equations with ordinary differential equations. We prove the global existence and uniqueness of solutions using the theory of strongly continuous semigroups. Subsequently, we analyse the long-time behavior of the solutions in two steps. First, we find attracting invariant manifolds of low dimension benefitting from the fact that the system is singularly ...

molecular beam epitaxy, semiconductors, group-III nitrides, polarization

In this work, we investigate the synthesis of wurtzite (Al,Ga,In)Nheterostructures by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The layers aregrown along the polar [0001] and the non-polar [1100] direction onSiC(0001) and g-LiAlO2(100) substrates, respectively. We examine the impactof deposition conditions on the structural, morphological, optical,vibrational and electrical properties of the films.An introduction is given to the most important properties of wurtzitenitride semiconductors: strain a...

thymoma, thymic carcinoma, thymectomy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, prognosis

Thymoma belong to the most frequent tumors of the mediastinum. The thymectomy (Thx) is considered as therapy of choice. The adjuvante radiotherapy (RTx) is indicated in invasive thymoma starting from stage II Masaoka depending upon histology. The adjuvante chemotherapy (TX) in invasive thymoma and thymus carcinoma must be further evaluated.Patients and Methods: 40 patients the data were retrospectively analysed, who were submitted from 1/1983 to 12/1998 because of thymus tumors. It took place (R...

Galliumnitrid, (Al,Ga)N, (Al,Ga)N-Heterostrukturen, Quantengräben, Polarisationsfelder, Molekularstrahlepitaxie, reaktive MBE, Feldeffekt-Transistor, Bragg-Reflektor

In this thesis, we investigate the synthesis of wurtzite (Al,Ga)N heterostructures on SiC(0001) by reactive molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). We examine the impact of growth conditions on the structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of the films.MBE of group-III nitrides is almost entirely based on the use of an N2 plasma discharge for providing reactive N. However, an alternative and attractive candidate for producing N radicals is NH3, which decomposes on the growth front by a ...

cereal, biomass, site-specific, sensor

The machine-based biomass sensor pendulum-meter can determine on-line the site-specific differentiation of cereal crop fresh masses and dry masses for the most growth-stages in winter wheat, winter rye, and irrigated rice. The pendulum-meter is well suited in wheat and rye for the growth-stages BBCH 39 to BBCH 69, and to a lesser degree for BBCH 34 and 32. Irrigated rice crop biomass was well sensed by the pendulum-meter at all tested growth-stages BBCH 25 to BBCH 65. Earlier growth-stages were ...

uveal melanoma, magnetic resonance tomography, computed tomography, radiation planning, proton therapy, isotropic voxels, phantom examinations

The radiation therapy of uveal melanomas using proton therapy is a very precise therapy procedure, that makes high demands on the underlying imaging modalities. In general magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) have the potential to fulfill these criteria using suited surface coils and optimized imaging techniques, respectively.Purpose of the investigations was the preparation and evaluation of an imaging system, that allows diagnosis and differetial diagnosis of uveal mel...

Infrastructure, Productivity, Simultaneity, Lobbying, Political Economy

This thesis consists of five self-contained essays on two central subjects. The first subject is the relationship between infrastructure and private productivity. The second subject is the determinants of regional infrastructure investment allocation. Whereas the first and the second essay in this thesis mainly focus on the first subject, i.e. the contribution of infrastructure to private production; the essays three to five study besides the productivity effects also the determinants of infrast...

Lipopolysaccharid binding Protein, LBP, Lipopolysaccharid, LPS, lipoproteins, mice, serum, sepsis

LPS released by gram-negative bacteria is bound by LBP and initiates the release of proinflammatory cytokines in makrophages and monocytes. These cytokines are thought to play a central role in the pathophysiology of sepsis.In these studies I was able to show an inhibitory effect of murine serum on the LPS-induced stimulation of macrophages. Furthermore the role of lipoproteins and LBP in this protective effect of serum was investigated.The inhibitory effect of serum from different mouse strains...

Chernozem, Phaeozem, Soil, Colluvium, Holocene landscape development

Phaeozems and their colluvia in the Uckermark were used as archives for the reconstruction of the holocene landscape history and particularly the pedogenesis. Soil catenas were examined and their palaeoecological information interpreted with the help of a special interdisciplinary combination of methods.Results are differentiated conclusions to stages of the holocene landscape development of the region Uckermark regarding anthropogenic influence, hydrologic conditions, morphodynamics and pedogen...

Robust Hedging, Efficient Hedging, Hyothesis Testing, Model-Uncertainty

We consider an investor who has sold a contingent claim and intends to minimize the maximal expected weighted shortfall. Here, the maximum is taken over a family of models and the minimum is taken over all admissible hedging strategies that satisfy a given cost constraint. We call the associated minimizing strategy robust-efficient. The problem to determine a robust-efficient strategy is closely related to the statistical problem of testing a composite hypothesis against a composite alternative....

microglia, T cells, Th1, Th2, CNS, neuroprotection, neuroinflammation, multiple sclerosis

The invasion of T cells into the central nervous system (CNS) is a hallmark of neuro inflammatory diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and its rodent model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), leading to activation of intrinsic macrophages, the microglia, axonal damage and break down of the blood brain barrier. The initial invading T cells are of the Th1 subtype and specific for parts of the myelin sheet like myelin basic protein (MBP). They produce inflammatory cytokines and recru...

experimental uveitis, melanin, EMIU, intravital microscopy, microcirculation, leukocyte endothelium interaction, macrophages, clodronate, immunology

Experimentelle Melanin-induzierte Uveitis (EMIU): Modulation der Leukozyten-Endothelzell-Interaktion durch Makrophagendepletion - intravitalmikroskopische Analysen. Einleitung: Die Experimentelle Melanininduzierte Uveitis (EMIU) dient als Modell für eine autoimmune Iridozyklitis und Choroiditis. Die frühe Entzündungsreaktion ist durch eine gesteigerte Leukozyten-Endothel-Interaktion gekennzeichnet. Um die Rolle von Makrophagen bei der Induktion der EMIU zu untersuchen,...

Parkinson s Disease, dopamine, visual exploration, neglect

In the present study side preferences in spontaneous visual exploration were assessed systematically in 31 patients with idiopathic Parkinson s disease and 17 age-matched controls. The analysis of the initial visual exploration (IVE) was based on the exploration of texture-arrays derived from texton research requiring attentive oculomotor scanning. Since the left and right half of the arrays contained two different target-elements respectively the side of initial exploration could be deduced fro...

Vitamin D, B-cells, IgE, allergy, IL-4, anti-CD40

Atopic diseases are characterized by a hyperergic immunoreaction towards harmless environmental antigens, expressed by the clinical phenotype of allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma and atopic dermatitis. Even though the pathogenesis of atopic diseases are not completely clear, the regulation of IgE plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of these disorders. In search of new potentially anti-allergic drugs, the effect of 1alpha,25-Dihydroxyvitamin-D3 (VD) and the low-calcemic synth...

reading culture, reading research, reading, book culture, book trade, public libraries, Federal Republic of Germany 1950-1989, system theory (Bielefeld school), media competition, media theory, sociology, librarianship

Taking as its starting point the short-comings of reading as a topic of research for social questions that reach beyond the didactic of learning to read, the present dissertation attempts to approach this subject from another vantage point. The focus of interest is not how many people read what subject matter, in what fashion, and why, but rather its opposite: How do social systems define reading , what persons are assigned the role of reader and what are the motivations that this social distinc...

drift-chamber, aging, corrosion, CF4

The intense radiation environment in the HERA-B experiment, being comparable to that of LHC experiments, requires that the detector be very resistant to high radiation loads. The Outer Tracker of HERA-B consists of drift tubes folded from polycarbonate foils (honeycomb) and is operated with a CF4-containing gas mixture. Aging tests made in HERA-B, under hadronic irradiation, using prototype drift chambers showed a rapid rise of self-sustaining dark currents (Malter effect). Extensive aging studi...

alkali metal cation, organic cation, hydrogen monofluorophosphate, crystal structure, thermal property, hydrogen bonding

In this thesis, the crystal structures and thermal behavior of hydrogen monofluorophosphates and basic monofluorophosphates with alkali metal and N-containing cations were studied. A comparison to the analogous hydrogen sulfates showed interesting structural variations and differences in thermal behavior.Synthesis of the studied monofluorophosphates involved cation exchange and freeze drying. Freeze drying enabled the isolation of raw products by avoiding the escape of HF and consequent phosphat...

Shigella, GTPase, rho, cytoskeleton

Shigella causes bacillary dysentery in humans. Bacterial invasion of enterocytes is an essential step in the pathogenesis of shigellosis. Pathogen-triggered rearrangements of the host cell actin cytoskeleton induce a blossom-like membrane structure for internalisation of the microorganism. Actin remodeling requires activity of the host cell small GTPase rho. Three highly homologous rho isoforms (A, B and C) have been described with amino acid identities of about 90%. During Shigella invasion the...

neural coding, sensory system, grasshopper, acoustic communication

In their natural environment, sensory systems process a wealth of complex stimuli. In contrast, most experimental tests of sensory systems employ simple stimuli that can be described by one or two parameters. However, these simple stimuli do usually not allow to relate the function of a specific system to an animal s behaviour. Furthermore, in many cases a complete characterisation of a sensory system cannot be achieved by simple stimuli alone. Within this thesis, I demonstrate how one can emplo...

phage display technology, antibody, IVIG, superantigen, staphylococcal protein A, SpA

The beneficial therapeutic effects of IVIG are well documented, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. Recent investigations from our laboratory into the molecular analysis of Fabs bound by IVIG from patients suffering from autoimmune thrombocytopenia revealed that the most frequently selected Fabs originated from the V3-23 and V3-30 VH germline genes. A subsequent study with IgG and IgM phage display libraries from a healthy donor also demonstrated a preferential reac...

cultural evolution, biological evolution, nature and culture, sustainable development

This thesis deals with the interrelations between nature and culture from the perspective of evolutionary theory. The theoretical starting point is an overall social-ecological model that focuses on the physical interactions between societies and their natural environments. This social-ecological approach aims to describe society-nature interactions without reverting to "naturalistic" or "culturalistic" reductions. Society is understood here to be a hybrid comprising symbolic...

mitochondrium, prenatal diagnosis, complex I, complex III

Mitochondria have a crucial role in the energy metabolism of the cell, since they constitute the main place for ATP-production. Defects in the mitochondrial metabolism are associated with a wide spectrum of diseases. Due to their high energy demand brain and muscles are regularly affected (epilepsy, ataxia, myopathy). This work describes the cloning of nuclear encoded genes of complex I of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. The main interest is directed towards the 51 kDa subunit (NDUFV1) sinc...

asthma, airway smooth muscle cells, alveolar macrophages, cytokines

The results of this present thesis show a deficiency of IL-10 production in alveolar macrophages in asthma. The reduced IL-10 expression on protein and m-RNA level correlated with an increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-(, MIP1- ( and GM-CSF. These observations implicate an impaired IL-10 synthesis in asthma with a subsequent prolongation of the inflammatory response. This leads to the conclusion that a dysbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines is present ...

T-cells, Interferon-gamma, Flow-cytometry, antigen-specific, epitopes, Cytomegalovirus

Using flow-cytometric and molecular-biology methods subpopulations of peripheral blood T-lymphocytes were examined in healthy donors and renal transplant recipients with respect to phenotype and function. We found that a T-cell population that expressed the surface markers LFA-1 and CD57 (among others), but not CD28, contained terminal effector cells. Because of the known association of an expansion of CD57-positive CD8-positive T-cells with an infection with Cytomegalovirus (CMV), we wanted to ...

perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis, congenital heart diseases, open heart surgery

Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis for patients with congenital heart diseasesRecommendations for antimicrobial prophylaxis regarding the choice of antibiotics and the application time have changed and do not include cardiac surgery for infants. A combination of piperacillin and cefotaxim has been used since 1988 in the German Heart Institute of Berlin. Updated recommendation now propose the use of a I. or II. generation cephalosporin.The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate wheth...

affine stochastic delay differential equations, ill-posed inverse problems, minimax rates, nonparametric projection methods

Let (X(t), t>= -r) be a stationary stochastic process solving the affine stochastic delay differential equation dX(t)=L(X(t+s))dt+sigma dW(t), t>= 0, with sigma>0, (W(t), t>=0) a standard one-dimensional Brownian motion and with a continuous linear functional L on the space of continuous functions on [-r,0], represented by a finite signed measure a. Assume that a trajectory (X(t), -r <= t <= T) is observed up to time T>0. In this setting the nonpa...

In the Cajamarca region of northern Peru periods of peak Tertiary magmatism , had a close association with orogenic episodes and high plate convergence rates. New , 40Ar/39Ar dates show magmatism in the region had commenced by late Palaeocene , times, some 15 m.y. earlier than suggested by previous geochronological studies. , Palaeogene (57-43 Ma) intrusive and volcanic rocks are intermediate in composition , with flat REE profiles and primitive isotope compositions. These magmas were derived , ...

This thesis reports on a study of young women’s experiences, aspirations and relationship to , feminism in the contemporary socio-political context. It brings a feminist analysis to new , social theories about late modernity by exploring the particular relationship that young , women have to the social and psychological processes that are associated with this , reconfigured climate and the prevailing ideology of neo-liberalism. , A feminist theoretical framework informs all features of the resea...

While observations and analysis of supernova remnants (SNRs) located within the Milky Way Galaxy have been extensive, severe limitations have been imposed by massive photoelectric absorption along the Galactic plane and significant uncertainties in distance. Alternatively, the study of extragalactic SNRs offers a unique opportunity to examine them at a relatively known distance without Galactic plane interference. Here, I present multi-frequency identification and analysis of radio SNRs and thei...

Accurate identification of species is critical for studies of biological systems, including biodiversity analyses, understanding evolutionary processes and ecological dynamics, and for effective conservation and management of the environment. However, defining species boundaries in scleractinian corals is impeded by the difficulties of distinguishing between ecological and evolutionary influences on the appearance of colony morphology. In this study, I used three criteria, i.e. reproductive, mor...

SCOPE: Ecosystems are being degraded and destroyed worldwide at a rate unprecedented in human history. Accordingly a great deal of interest is currently being focussed on ecosystems, the role they play in planetary life support, and the need for a market mechanism to conserve these formerly regarded 'free' goods and services. This research project is concerned with the various divisions or branches within economics dealing with environmental valuation, including applied economics in the ...

Conilurine rodents are the most speciose and ecologically diverse rodent group within Australia. Previous research has demonstrated that conilurines are members of a larger Australasian Murid tribe, the Hydromyini, and are generally thought to be an endemic Australian radiation with a fossil history dating to the mid Pliocene. However, monophyly of conilurines is not well established due to the distant placement of some genera in recent systematic studies. I investigated the evolution of conilur...

A species-level phylogeny was constructed for all described (19) Naso species (Family: , Acanthuridae) using three markers in combination, one nuclear (ETS2) and two , mitochondrial (16S rRNA and cytochrome b). A number of taxa representing species , from all acanthurid genera were included to generate a genus-level (total of 38 species)

Long-held doubts about the 1903 Philippines Census occupation statistics , suggest that the data for women were technically defective and misrepresented their , employment. Despite that uncertainty, interpretations of the 1939 Census tend to agree , that a transformation of women's occupations occurred over the period. In this view, , the data showed that women moved fiom small-scale, home-based, textile manufacture , into agriculture and domestic service, or withdrew from the labour market....

This thesis investigates tourism education at the tertiary level in Indonesia from the perspectives , of the stakeholders. It consists of four studies investigating current tourism curriculum, future , master’s degree in tourism, the relationship between tourism education and the tourism industry , and future development of Indonesian tourism education. The aims of the research are as , follows:(1) to investigate the respondents’ perspectives on the current tourism education at the , higher educ...

In Queensland, sugarcane has been cropped as a monoculture for 80 years or more in most districts. In the last 30 years, plough-out and replant (no fallow) has increased, , as has reliance upon inorganic fertilisers, and intensive tillage to remove soil compaction. An associated decline in the productive capacity of the soil to grow sugarcane has been identified, and has been termed ‘yield decline’ (YD). Root health and sugarcane yields are increased after fallowing, crop rotation, and soil fumi...

The degree to which fire influences plant species composition and abundance (referred to in this thesis as floristic patterns) in Australian tropical savannas has been the subject of debate. Available information emphasises floristic patterns rather than the mechanisms that determine patterns. The assessment of critical events in a plant’s life cycle (referred to in this thesis as critical life events) is necessary to understand population dynamics and therefore the processes that determine flor...

ABSTRACT During the past 36 years, the Author has contributed to the science and practice of agriculture in tropical and subtropical Australia, in the areas of crop improvement and sustainable agricultural production. These contributions were made during three phases of activity (i) through postgraduate studies at the University of Queensland (M Agr Sc, 1968-1971) and at the University of Minnesota (Ph D, 1971-1973); (ii) as a research scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Re...