FU Berlin Research Articles

Mental health and well-being of students at TU Dresden

Abstract Background University life can be a particularly challenging phase in the development of young adults. Current research shows that mental disorders occur more frequently in students compared to workers of the same age. The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the problem. The TUDo! Study, done in cooperation with the FU Berlin, aimed to assess the health status of students at TU Dresden, with a focus on mental health. Methods In 2020/2021 students at TU Dresden (excluding students in the medical school) completed an online-based questionnaire. Validated questionnaires, e.g. the PHQ 4 (depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder) and the ERI student (student gratification crisis) were used. We evaluated descriptively and analytically, according to the questionnaire-specific specifications. Results A total of 2,683 students (12.3%) at the TU Dresden took part in the survey. The majority of study participants were female (n = 1,507; 56.7%) and had an average age of 22.9 years (SD = 4.3). 32.8% (n = 856/2,611) of the participating students reported a depressive syndrome and 32.5% (n = 848/2,612) a generalized anxiety disorder. Almost half of participating students (40,0%; n = 515/1,310) indicated an imbalance between effort (E) and reward (R) (ER ratio>1). 51.23% (n = 693/1,50) of respondents reported a decline of mental well-being because of the coronavirus pandemic. Discussion Unlike similar studies, this study shows that TU Dresden students were particularly affected with regards to perceived psychological stress and complaints. The existing differences seem to be partly due to the coronavirus pandemic. These results indicate that universities should regularly check their studying conditions and provide appropriate preventive measures. Key messages • Students are at higher risk than workers of the same age for mental health problems. • Students reported a decline in mental well-being due to the coronavirus pandemic.

‘Skin beyond the Social: Materialities, Relationalities, Porosities,’ 18 February 2022, FU Berlin, Germany

‘Skin beyond the Social: Materialities, Relationalities, Porosities,’ 18 February 2022, FU Berlin, Germany

Schizo-Realismus

Free AccessSchizo-RealismusDas Reale in der Literatur des 19. JahrhundertsElisabeth StrowickElisabeth StrowickElisabeth Strowick, PhD University of Hamburg, is Full Professor of German at New York University. Having received her Habilitation from the University of Basel, she held positions there and at The Johns Hopkins University. She was Visiting Professor at Yale University, Vanderbilt University and FU Berlin as well as at the Center for Literary and Cultural Research in Berlin. Her areas of expertise are German literature, culture, and thought from the 19th century to the present, with a special emphasis on literary theory, psychoanalysis, aesthetics, rhetoric, and the poetics of knowledge. She is the author of Gespenster des Realismus. Zur literarischen Wahrnehmung von Wirklichkeit (Paderborn: Fink, 2019), Sprechende Körper – Poetik der Ansteckung. Performativa in Literatur und Rhetorik (Paderborn: Fink, 2009) and Passagen der Wiederholung. Kierkegaard – Lacan – Freud (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1999).Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:Feb 2020https://doi.org/10.7788/figu.2019.20.1.49SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book cover ISSN: 1439-4367eISSN: 2194-363XHistoryPublished online:February 2020 PDF download

„Das gemalte nächtliche Tapetenvaterland“

Free Access„Das gemalte nächtliche Tapetenvaterland“Realist Aesthetics and the Politics of RepresentationDorothea von MückeDorothea von MückeDorothea von Mücke, PhD Stanford University, is the Gebhard Professor of German Language and Literature at Columbia University in New York. She was Visiting Professor at the Justus Liebig University Gießen, FU Berlin and USP Saõ Paulo. Her research focuses on the European Enlightenment, German Classicism and Romanticism, aesthetics, semiotics and media, and more recently, 19th century Realism, the histories of anthropology and short forms. Her publications include: Virtue and the Veil of Illusion (Stanford: Stanford UP, 1991); The Seduction of the Occult and the Rise of the Fantastic Tale (Stanford: Stanford UP, 2003); The Practices of the Enlightenment. Aesthetics, Authorship and the Public (New York: Columbia UP, 2015). She is also a co-editor of A New History of German Literature (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2004).Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:Feb 2020https://doi.org/10.7788/figu.2019.20.1.35SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book cover ISSN: 1439-4367eISSN: 2194-363XHistoryPublished online:February 2020 PDF download

Defining metrics of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation in global climate models

Abstract. As the dominant mode of variability in the tropical stratosphere, the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) has been subject to extensive research. Though there is a well-developed theory of this phenomenon being forced by wave–mean flow interaction, simulating the QBO adequately in global climate models still remains difficult. This paper presents a set of metrics to characterize the morphology of the QBO using a number of different reanalysis datasets and the FU Berlin radiosonde observation dataset. The same metrics are then calculated from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 and Chemistry-Climate Model Validation Activity 2 simulations which included a representation of QBO-like behaviour to evaluate which aspects of the QBO are well captured by the models and which ones remain a challenge for future model development.

The holotype of Pseudisograptus manubriatus manubriatus (Hall, 1914)—implications for the identification of Pseudisograptus manubriatus subspecies

VandenBerg, A.H.M. & Maletz, J., April 2016. The holotype of Pseudisograptus manubriatus manubriatus (Hall, 1914)—implications for the identification of Pseudisograptus manubriatus subspecies. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518The holotype of Pseudisograptus manubriatus manubriatus (Hall, 1914) has been rediscovered in the collections of Museum Victoria and is recognized to belong to Pseudisograptus manubriatus harrisi as described by Cooper & Ni (1986). This taxon becomes a junior synonym of P. m. manubriatus. The selected neotype of Pseudisograptus manubriatus manubriatus (Hall, 1914) can be referred to Pseudisograptus manubriatus texanus Cooper & Ni, 1986. The proximal development in all known relief specimens of Pseudisograptus and their descendants indicates that a symmetrical development of the manubrium must be regarded as the rule, and the interpretation of a strong asymmetry in Pseudisograptus manubriatus texanus is rejected.Alfons H.M. VandenBerg [avandenberg@museum.vic.gov.au, lanceolatus@hotmail.com], Geology, Museum Victoria, GPO Box 666, Vic 3001, Australia; Jörg Maletz [yorge@zedat.fu-berlin.de], Department of Earth Sciences, FU Berlin, Malteserstrasse 74-100, D-12249 Berlin, Germany.

“Finance will get less aggressive and smaller”

1. You’re US regulationist… It’s a rather rare species! How did you get there? While I have lived in New York City since 1978, I grew up in post-war Austria. Most of my education and early political formation took place in Europe – as a left-wing undergraduate student in Vienna, at the FU Berlin when it was a center of Marxist thinking, with the Post-Keynesians at Thames Polytechnic in London (today University of Greenwich) where I did my doctorate in the late 1970s, and so forth. In 1980 I m...

What comes next in the global Max Weber reception? Call for participation in the Young Weber Scholars network

What follows is a revised version of a talk held in Edinburgh, Scotland at the Weber/Simmel antagonisms conference, organized by the Max Weber group of the British Sociological Association (10–11 December, 2015). On that occasion a new network for graduate and early-career Max Weber researchers was launched, the Young Weber Scholars. It has been propelled in this initial phase by Victor Strazzeri (São Paulo/Brazil — Doctoral candidate at the FU Berlin) along with Dr. Edith Hanke (Munich) and Dr. Claudius Härpfer (Frankfurt a.M.), in addition to receiving the support of a number of scholars worldwide, all of whom have assisted in the initial search for potential network members.

Forum: The Senses

Over the last decade or so the historical topic of the senses has moved from being a problem space occupied by a limited, and highly disparate, number of studies to constitute itself as a dynamic, busy field of inquiry. Works which only a few years ago sat on the margins of most scholars’ consciousness—of interest more as literary curios than as stimuli to rethink other, seemingly unconnected histories—have retroactively been accorded the status of pioneering interventions; the consolidation of the field, if still incomplete, is such that arguing collectively for the validity of the senses as objects of study has given way to the emergence of increasingly distinct divisions of opinion and ways of thinking within the field itself. In some respects this has followed a familiar dynamic of emergence rooted in the logics of the academic habitus and equally visible in the development of other subfields. Its particular significance perhaps lies in the wider frustration it articulates with the linguistic turn and the legacies of that extended moment—which defined scholarship in the humanities for a generation—and in the tangible, if inchoate, recognition across the discipline and beyond of the need to reconnect with that which (we seem to sense once more) lies anterior to discourse. At the same time we have come to understand the need to historicize not only our sensory perceptions, but also our very understanding of what the senses are, of how many of them exist, and of their functional relationship with one another: other historical cultures have answered these questions very differently. The senses thus pose anew, and in particularly acute form, the question of how far it is ever possible or desirable to peel back the discursive layers which surround the object of study to recuperate the object itself. To discuss the field and the challenges it presents the editors invited Carolyn Birdsall (Amsterdam), Jan-Friedrich Missfelder (Zurich), Daniel Morat (FU Berlin) and Corine Schleif (Arizona State) to participate in a forum.

Professor Dr. Helmut Coper December 30, 1925–August 30, 2013 Professor for Neuropsychopharmacology, FU Berlin (1967–94)

Professor Dr. Helmut Coper December 30, 1925–August 30, 2013 Professor for Neuropsychopharmacology, FU Berlin (1967–94)

Wirksamkeit von Umweltzonen in der ersten Stufe: Analyse der Feinstaubkonzentrationsänderungen (PM10) in 19 deutschen Städten

It is not known/is disputed whether introduction of low emission zones (LEZs) leads to a reduction of fine dust pollutants. Data on PM10 concentrations obtained from measurement stations within and outside of LEZs from 19 German cities (Augsburg, Berlin, Dortmund, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt a. M., Hannover, Herrenberg, Ilsfeld, Karlsruhe, Köln, Ludwigsburg, Mannheim, München, Reutlingen, Stuttgart, Tübingen, Wuppertal) were analyzed in order to investigate the effect of banning vehicles ("tier 1") of the pollutant group 1 (without stickers) on the pollutant concentration, i.e, this study focused on LEZs that restricted cars of EURO 1 standard without appropriate retrofitting systems from entering these zones. For the period from about 2005 until the end of 2009, data from continuous half-hour measurements as well as gravimetrically determined daily measurements of PM10 were collected. The analysis consisted of four pairwise corresponding measurement values as matched quadruples of two index and two reference values (index stations are inside, and reference stations are outside the LEZs). One index value and the simultaneous reference value were measured during the active LEZ period, and the other pair of values was measured before the LEZ was introduced. The pairs of values had a difference in time of 364 days or a multiple of 364 days keeping the season, weekday and time of day constant within the quadruple. Differences in index values were regressed on differences in reference values while meteorological parameters (height of the inversion base, amount of precipitation, wind velocity), school holidays, period of environmental bonus paid, periods when trucks were banned as well as baseline data at index and reference stations were taken into account as covariates in so-called "fixed effects" regression analyses of the quadruples (difference score method in the two-period case). The statistical approach was successfully validated prior to this study in an analysis of simulated data from FU Berlin. 2,110,803 quadruples of continuous PM10 and 15,735 gravimetric quadruples were identified leading to 61,169 quadruples based on daily PM10 averages. The analyses showed that best LEZ effect estimates for fine dust reduction were (at all index stations) ≤ 0.2 μg/m3, i. e., a relative PM10 reduction ≤ 1 %. Best estimates at all index stations near traffic (excluding urban background and industry index stations) were below 1 μg/m3 (less than 5 %, respectively). Effects were smaller than predicted prior to the introduction of LEZs. This study is the first that investigated comprehensively the effectiveness of "tier 1" LEZs in Germany on PM10 reduction with a homogeneous approach in data collection and analysis and taking into account the most relevant confounding factors.

Mycorrhiza for all: an under‐earth revolution

Mycorrhiza for all: an under‐earth revolution

Polymers in the Berlin-Brandenburg Region: A Brief Review on the History on the Occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the German Reunification

From October 3 to October 5, 2010, the 6th Polydays took place, which were organized by the section ‘‘Macromolecular Chemistry’’ of the Society of German Chemists (GDCh) and the Berlin–Brandenburg Polymer Association (BVP). The main topics were ‘‘Polymers in Biomedicine’’ and ‘‘Polymers in Polytronics (Organic Electronics)’’. Both research areas are of great interest for fundamental research as well as for various applications. A committee consisting of polymer chemists and physicists, headed by Andreas Lendlein from the Institute of Polymer Research in Teltow-Seehof belonging to the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, was responsible for the scientific program. The conference, as well as the social events, took place at the Freie Universitat Berlin (FU Berlin). Since the beginning of this century the Polydays have been organized biannually as an international conference. In 2010, more than 340 polymer scientists from institutes and industry in 17 countries attended the meeting. The organizers considered it adequate to revive a good tradition from the nineties,when this event took place as a national symposium named ‘‘Berliner Polymerentage’’ by arranging a science history minded evening lecture. In 2010, this was held by Andreas Lendlein with the title ‘‘Polymers in the Berlin–Brandenburg Region’’, and he also referred to the German reunification on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. The lecture was centred to some extent on the Institute of Polymer Research in Teltow-Seehof on account of its bridging function for many decades between Berlin and Brandenburg. The subsequent contribution is a revised English version of this evening lecture, which considered aspects of fundamental research as well as industrial production of polymers. The roots of ‘‘Polymers in the Berlin–Brandenburg Region’’ can be traced back to the middle of the 19th centurywhen the streets of Berlin began to be lighted by gas lamps, which was around 1850. The gas was produced fromhard coal. At this time Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge investigated for the first time the components of hard coal tar, such as phenol and aniline, at the Oranienburg gas factory in the north of Berlin. In 1871 Adolf von Beyer, who was a teacher at the Graduate Trading School in Berlin observed a polycondensation reaction between phenol and formaldehyde to a resinous product, which was not further characterized at that time. In 1909, a major milestone of industrial polymer production was achieved in Erkner, which is located south of Berlin. The production of the worldwide first synthetic resin, using this polycondensation reaction between phenol and formaldehyde, was started. Thismaterial, whichwas later named Bakelit to honor its inventor Baekeland, very soon proved to be an outstanding electric insulating material. This remarkablematerial function was acknowledged by the Siemens Company, which was the main Macromolecular News

Neural basis of emotional processing of faces and words

Event Abstract Back to Event Neural basis of emotional processing of faces and words Johannes C. Ziegler1*, Mario Braun2, Maria Grazia Di Bono3 and Marco Zorzi3 1 CNRS and AIx-Marseille University, France 2 FU Berlin, Germany 3 University of Padua, Italy Although much reading happens in an emotional context, only little is known about the relationship between emotions and reading. The existence of emotional valence effects in reading is still hotly disputed. While some have found emotion effects in reading in occipital regions of the brain, others found a rather large network of brain activation in parietal, superior temporal and frontal lobes. Almost no studies found specific effects of emotional valence, that is, differences are typically found between emotional and neutral words but not between positive and negative words. We used an event-related fMRI experiment with faces and words to address the following questions: 1. Can we find evidence for specific effects of emotional valence on brain activation using multivariate pattern classifiers that are more sensitive to detect effects that emerge in partially overlapping brain networks? 2. Can we find evidence that basic emotion networks that are involved in processing emotions in faces are also involved in processing emotions in words? The originality of the study is to use pattern classifiers that are trained on classifying emotions in faces to predict specific emotion effects in words. That is, we ask the question of whether brain activity related to happy versus sad faces can predict brain activity when people read happy versus sad words. Funding: Supported by Cluster of Languages of Emotions FU Berlin. Keywords: emotion, fMRI Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Emotion, Motivation and the Social Brain Citation: Ziegler JC, Braun M, Grazia Di Bono M and Zorzi M (2011). Neural basis of emotional processing of faces and words. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00279 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 22 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Johannes C Ziegler, CNRS and AIx-Marseille University, Marseille, France, joziegler1@googlemail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Johannes C Ziegler Mario Braun Maria Grazia Di Bono Marco Zorzi Google Johannes C Ziegler Mario Braun Maria Grazia Di Bono Marco Zorzi Google Scholar Johannes C Ziegler Mario Braun Maria Grazia Di Bono Marco Zorzi PubMed Johannes C Ziegler Mario Braun Maria Grazia Di Bono Marco Zorzi Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Aleksandr Dugin’s transformation from a lunatic fringe figure into a mainstream political publicist, 1980–1998: A case study in the rise of late and post-Soviet Russian fascism

The paper 1 1 The paper expands on my earlier survey : Toward an Uncivil Society? Contextualizing the Recent Decline of Parties of the Extreme Right Wing in Russia, 2002. On Dugin’s fascism, see Griffin, Loh, and Umland (2006); Umland (2006b, 2006c, 2006d), reprinted in: Verkhovskii (2006), and Laruelle (2007). was completed in 2008 and complements previous analyses of post-communist Russian right-wing extremism, in general, and studies of “neo-Eurasianism,” in particular, surveying some circumstances of the emergence of its major ideologist Aleksandr Dugin (b. 1962). It introduces some teachers and collaborators of Dugin who influenced him before he became a known journalist, writer and commentator in the late 1990s. It also sketches some of Dugin’s initiatives and activities until he rose to the position of an official advisor to Gennady Seleznev, the Speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, in 1998. The footnotes provide a comprehensive bibliography on Western and Russian sources on the Russian “New Right.” It concludes with some suggestion where further research into the Dugin phenomenon could go. Current position Assistant Professor of Contemporary Russian History at The Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Bavaria, and editor of the book series Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society ( http://www.ibidem-verlag.de/spps.html), Stuttgart and Hannover. Biographical sketch CertTransl (Leipzig), MA (Stanford), MPhil (Oxford), DipPolSci, DrPhil (FU Berlin), PhD (Cambridge). Visiting fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution in 1997–1999, and Harvard’s Weatherhead Center in 2001–2002. Bosch visiting lecturer at Yekaterinburg’s Urals State University in 1999–2001, and Kyiv’s Mohyla Academy in 2003/2005. In January-December 2004, temporary lecturer in Russian and East European studies at St. Antony’s College Oxford. In 2005–2008, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Lecturer Kyiv’s Shevchenko University. Papers in Problems of Post-Communism, East European Jewish Affairs, Osteuropa, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, Politicheskie issledovaniya, European Political Science, Political Studies Review, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, Voprosy filosofii, Obshchestvennye nauki i sovremennost’, Forum für osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte, Ab Imperio and other journals. Editor of The Implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights in Russia: Philosophical, Legal und Empirical Studies (Stuttgart: Ibidem 2004), Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Hochschullehre in Osteuropa. Vols. 1, 2, 3 & 4 (Frankfurt a.M. u.a.: Peter Lang 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2009), and, with Roger Griffin and Werner Loh, Fascism Past and Present, West and East: An International Debate on Concepts and Cases in the Comparative Study of the Extreme Right. With an afterword by Walter Laqueur (Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag 2006).

From chemical to receptive space

Event Abstract Back to Event From chemical to receptive space Jan Sölter1*, Hartwig Spors2, Jan Schumacher2 and Michael Schmuker1 1 FU Berlin, Institut für Biologie, AG Neuroinformatik, Germany 2 Max Planck Institut für Biophysik, Department of Molecular Neurogenetics, Germany In a high throughput screening process we determine the in vivo response of glomeruli in the mouse olfactory bulb to different odors using intrinsic signal optical imaging. On this basis we identify the receptive range of individual glomeruli and predict further activating odors using pattern recognition algorithms: odor molecules are described by physio-chemical descriptors on which Support Vector Machines are trained to distinguish activating and non-activating molecules. The optimal set of descriptors is obtained by using an Evolutionary Algorithm. In an iterative scheme, the hypotheses are validated or falsified by imaging experiments using previously untested odors. In a first iteration for a GFP labeled glomerulus three new potential ligands were identified. Employing the imaging and prediction results of individual glomeruli our goal is to obtain a molecular property map of the olfactory bulb. Keywords: computational neuroscience Conference: Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany, 27 Sep - 1 Oct, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Abstract Topic: Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience Citation: Sölter J, Spors H, Schumacher J and Schmuker M (2010). From chemical to receptive space. Front. Comput. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.fncom.2010.51.00111 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 08 Sep 2010; Published Online: 23 Sep 2010. * Correspondence: Dr. Jan Sölter, FU Berlin, Institut für Biologie, AG Neuroinformatik, Berlin, Germany, j.soelter@fu-berlin.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Jan Sölter Hartwig Spors Jan Schumacher Michael Schmuker Google Jan Sölter Hartwig Spors Jan Schumacher Michael Schmuker Google Scholar Jan Sölter Hartwig Spors Jan Schumacher Michael Schmuker PubMed Jan Sölter Hartwig Spors Jan Schumacher Michael Schmuker Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Raman Spectroscopic Study of the Phase Transition of Amorphous to Crystalline β‐Carbonic Acid

What's the matter? The laboratory Raman spectra for carbonic acid (H(2)CO(3)), both for the beta-polymorph and its amorphous state, are required to detect carbonic acid on the surface of the pole caps of Mars in 2009, when the Mars Microbeam Raman Spectrometer lands on the planet. The picture shows a martian crater with ice of unknown composition, possibly containing carbonic acid (image adapted from DLR, with permission from ESA, DLR, and FU Berlin--G. Neukum).

Meeting Report: Botanical Congress, Hamburg, 2007

An overview on plant science in Germany was presented when the German Botanical Society held its biannual meeting ‘‘Botanikertagung 2007’’ in Hamburg, 3-7 September 2007. This meeting marked the 125th anniversary of the society. Although this conference traditionally attracts plant scientists from Germany, many renowned international speakers gave plenary or invited lectures. Several sessions addressed plant hormones and related metabolic or developmental processes. The sessions ‘‘Phytohormones—Metabolism and Function I and II,’’ ‘‘Sensing: Receptors and Signalling I and II,’’ and ‘‘Developmental Biology I and II,’’ each covered different fields but all gave interesting updates and summaries of recent research. The sessions consisted of up to ten scientific talks with discussions and were accompanied by poster presentations. The ‘‘Phytohormones—Metabolism and Function’’ session was opened by the invited speaker E. Prinsen (University of Antwerp), who discussed bacterial auxin and cytokinin biosynthesis and presented insights on the controlled auxin and cytokinin production by bacterial strains ranging from pathogens over plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria to obligate symbionts. The next two contributions addressed the topics ‘‘IAA Modified Proteins and Their Potential Role in Auxin Homeostasis’’ (C. Seidl, University of Dresden) and ‘‘Inositol-Phospholipids as Multifunctional Effectors’’ (I. Heilmann, University of Gottingen). A comprehensive overview of ‘‘Gibberllins Regulating Pumpkin Development’’ was given in the invited talk of T. Lange (TU Braunschweig), who elucidated organ-specific GA biosynthesis in young shoot tissues of pumpkin emphasizing the role of the rate-limiting GA 20-oxidation and GA 3oxidation. The second part of the session was opened by T. Werner (FU Berlin), who highlighted ‘‘Cytokinin Catabolism Regulating Plant Development.’’ T. Werner summarized work in which cytokinin oxidases/dehydrogenase genes were used to create plants with constitutively or tissuespecific reduced cytokinin contents, thus revealing different roles of cytokinins in root and shoots. Furthermore, loss-of-function mutants uncovered the fact that individual AtCKX genes regulate meristematic activities of shoot and root meristems in a redundant manner. The subsequent talk by J. Ludwig-Muller (University of Dresden) addressed ‘‘GH3 Proteins from Physcomitrella Linking Auxin and Jasmonate Homeostasis.’’ The topic ‘‘Jasmonates as Inducers of Calcium Signals in the Nucleus of Plants’’ was presented by A. Mithofer (MPI Chemische Okologie, Jena). F. Bittner (TU Braunschweig) presented ‘‘Mitochondria and Iron as Novel Players in ABA Biosynthesis.’’ The Phytohormone session was closed by the invited lecture of M. Sauter (University of Kiel) on ‘‘Phytosulfokine-a Regulating Root Growth and Reproductive Processes in Arabidopsis.’’ Phytosulfokine-a (PSK-a) is a pentapeptide that ubiquitously occurs in higher plants and can act as a growth factor. Promotor:GUS studies of the precursor genes as well as of the receptor gene AtPSKR1 revealed expression in roots. The relevance of PSK-a as a root-growth-signaling compound was further demonstrated by AtPSKR1 receptor knockout plants as well as by application of synthetic PSK-a. Receptor knockout plants also revealed the role of PSK-a signaling in seed formation. K. von Schwartzenberg (&) H. Luthen University Hamburg, Biozentrum Klein Flottbek und Botanischer Garten, Ohnhorststr. 18, 22609 Hamburg, Germany e-mail: kvschwartzenberg@botanik.uni-hamburg.de

A synthetic collagen peptide modulates availability of pro-matrix metalloproteinase-9, a central enzyme for hepatocellular invasion and proliferation: Martin Ruehl, R Somasundaram, FU Berlin, Medical Dept I, Berlin Germany; R Farndale, G Knight, University of Cambridge, Dept of Biochemistry, Cambridge Uk; M Schmid, R Ackermann, M Zeitz, FU Berlin, Medical Dept I, Berlin Germany; D Schuppan, University Erlangen, Medical Dept I,

A synthetic collagen peptide modulates availability of pro-matrix metalloproteinase-9, a central enzyme for hepatocellular invasion and proliferation: Martin Ruehl, R Somasundaram, FU Berlin, Medical Dept I, Berlin Germany; R Farndale, G Knight, University of Cambridge, Dept of Biochemistry, Cambridge Uk; M Schmid, R Ackermann, M Zeitz, FU Berlin, Medical Dept I, Berlin Germany; D Schuppan, University Erlangen, Medical Dept I,

Combining high-field EPR with site-directed spin labeling reveals unique information on proteins in action

In the last decade, joint efforts of biologists, chemists and physicists have helped in understanding the dominant factors determining specificity and directionality of transmembrane transfer processes in proteins. In this endeavor, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy has played an important role. Characteristic examples of such determining factors are hydrogen-bonding patterns and polarity effects of the microenvironment of protein sites involved in the transfer process. These factors may undergo characteristic changes during the reaction and, thereby, control the efficiency of biological processes, e.g. light-induced electron and proton transfer across photosynthetic membranes or ion-channel formation of bacterial toxins. In case the transfer process does not involve stable or transient paramagnetic species or states, site-directed spin labeling with suitable nitroxide radicals still allows EPR techniques to be used for studying structure and conformational dynamics of the proteins in action. By combining site-directed spin labeling with high-field/high-frequency EPR, unique information on the proteins is revealed, which is complementary to that of X-ray crystallography, solid-state NMR, FRET, fast infrared and optical spectroscopic techniques. The main object of this publication is twofold: (i) to review our recent spin-label high-field EPR work on the bacteriorhodopsin light-driven proton pump from Halobacterium salinarium and the Colicin A ion-channel forming bacterial toxin produced in Escherichia coli, (ii) to report on novel high-field EPR experiments for probing site-specific pK(a) values in protein systems by means of pH-sensitive nitroxide spin labels. Taking advantage of the improved spectral and temporal resolution of high-field EPR at 95 GHz/3.4 T and 360 GHz/12.9 T, as compared to conventional X-band EPR (9.5 GHz/0.34 T), detailed information on the transient intermediates of the proteins in biological action is obtained. These intermediates can be observed and characterized while staying in their working states on biologically relevant timescales. The paper concludes with an outlook of ongoing high-field EPR experiments on site-specific protein mutants in our laboratories at FU Berlin and Osnabrück.