22455 research outputs found
Sort by
Inflammatory and prognostic biomarkers associated with pulmonary tuberculosis long-term sequelae after TB treatment in relation to HIV status and lung impairment
Get PDFBackground: Monitoring of tuberculosis treatment is challenging, especially in people living with HIV (PLHIV) who often present with paucibacillary tuberculosis. Microbiological methods used for treatment monitoring have reduced sensitivity after TB treatment initiation due to the reduction in bacterial load. MTB culture needs highly skilled personnel and complex infrastructure, limited in Mozambican settings. This thesis aimed to study the dynamics of MTB-specific CD4+ T-cells expressing activation and maturation markers, and plasma levels of neutrophil-based mediators during TB treatment to identify inflammatory and prognostic biomarkers for TB treatment monitoring.
Methods: During TB sequel cohort study in Maputo Mozambique, plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from baseline, month 2, and at the end of treatment at month 6 were analyzed from selected tuberculosis patients living with and without HIV. Expression of activation and maturation markers on MTB-specific CD4+ T-cells after stimulation with H37Rv cell lysate, purified protein derivative and early secreted antigenic target 6/ culture filtrate protein 10 antigens, was analyzed by interferon-gamma intra-cellular cytokine staining using flow cytometry. Multiple soluble plasma cytokines were quantified by magnetic Luminex assays, where an additional sample from month 12 visit was added. Results were compared between groups at different time points.
Results: Regardless of HIV status, activation markers (CD38, HLA-DR and Ki67) on MTB-specific CD4+ T-cells and plasma levels of MMP-1, MMP-8, MPO and S100A8 were reduced after TB treatment initiation. In contrast, the expression of the T cell maturation marker CD27 did not change over the course of TB treatment. During TB treatment, significantly elevated plasma levels of MMP-8 were detected in TB patients living with HIV, especially those who were naïve for antiretroviral treatment at baseline visit.
Conclusion: MTB-specific CD4+ T-cells expressing activation markers and plasma levels of neutrophil-based biomarkers can be used as surrogate markers for microbiological TB treatment outcome
Optimization of a mitochondrial calcium uptake enhancer for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmia
Get PDF„Partner“ Latein - Chancen und Grenzen sprachenvergleichender Grammatikarbeit im Englischunterricht
Get PDFDer Englischunterricht an deutschen weiterführenden Schulen wird seit Jahrzehnten überwiegend einsprachig abgehalten, wobei das sprachliche Handeln der Lernenden in realen oder fiktiven Kommunikationssituationen im Mittelpunkt steht. Sprachliche Analysen und Reflexionen, die zu einer erkenntnisorientierten Auseinandersetzung mit Sprache führen, scheinen angesichts dieses funktionalen Ansatzes vernachlässigt zu werden. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung wird sowohl aus einer theoretischen als auch unterrichtspraktischen Perspektive gezeigt, wie grammatische Vergleiche zwischen dem Englischen und Lateinischen einen Beitrag dazu leisten können, das sprachstrukturelle Denken der Lernenden im Englischunterricht zu fördern. Grammatische Vergleiche stehen dabei im Zeichen einer vertieften sprachlichen Allgemeinbildung, die nicht nur mit language awareness und metalinguistischen Konstrukten, sondern auch mit Sprachlernkompetenzen und Interkomprehensionskompetenzen in Zusammenhang steht.
Stefan Altinger studierte Englisch und Latein für das Lehramt an Gymnasien an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (München). Nach der Ablegung des 2. Staatsexamens, einer weiteren Staatsprüfung im Fach Geschichte und einer Assistentenstelle am Lehrstuhl für Didaktik der englischen Sprache und Literatur, ebenfalls an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, wurde er 2024 mit der vorliegenden Dissertation promoviert
Basis of the vocal communication in hummingbirds
Get PDFAlthough hummingbirds draw attention to their unique hovering flight, as other birds, they strongly rely on sounds to communicate. As songbirds and parrots, hummingbirds convergently evolved the capacity of learning how to produce certain vocalizations early in life in a process similar to speech acquisition, vocal production learning, based on analogous neural substrate. During the past two decades of investigation on vocal production learning in birds, many similarities have been shown among avian vocal learners. However, comparative studies were mainly focused on the North American radiation of hummingbirds which is more than 15 million years apart to the common ancestors originated in the lowlands of South America. Furthermore, investigations on the principles governing vocal production learning in South American hummingbirds meets the lack of information about the basis of their vocal communication. Therefore, in this thesis, I investigate the vocal communication of hummingbirds using a comprehensive approach on an evolutionary perspective by focusing each chapter on a different yet complementary aspect: (i) evolution of their vocal behavior, (ii) anatomy of their vocal organ, sensibility of their (iii) vocal behavior and (iv) brain to androgens and (v) neural activity during vocalizations in the wild. I found that when investigated comparatively, hummingbirds show a number of dissimilarities concerning their vocal organ, brain and androgen sensibility when compared to other vocal learners and a hitherto overlooked heterogeneity in their vocal communication within the family. Towards the base of the hummingbird phylogeny, both sexes vocalize in similar rates independently of androgen. I propose the black jacobin (Florisuga fusca) as a model species here and in future studies to better represent the putative ancestral condition of the family. The inclusion of key yet understudied species, such as the black jacobin, in comparative studies can shed a different light on the understanding of vocal production learning in birds. This thesis paves the way to further investigations on the evolution of vocal production learning from a more comprehensive perspective
Bretschneider, Buckberg, Del Nido - Vergleich dreier kardioplegischer Lösungen bei isolierter koronarer Bypassoperation am Erwachsenen im klinischen Setting
Get PDF
CD44 signaling in Müller cells affects photoreceptor function and survival in healthy and diseased retinas
Get PDFDie Auslassung des Auxiliars im Perfekt des Serbischen
Get PDFDiese Dissertation untersucht das Phänomen der Hilfsverb-Auslassung in den Perfektformen des Serbischen. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit wird die Erscheinung der Auxiliarauslassung in einem breiteren gesamtslavisch-historischen sowie im modernen balkanslavischen und darüber hinaus im europäischen Kontext betrachtet. Dabei werden mögliche Einflussfaktoren wie der Wandel des Perfekts zum Präteritum, bestimmte Narrationsmuster und evidentiale Nuancen beleuchtet.
Der zweite Teil der Arbeit fokussiert sich ausschließlich auf die Hilfsverb-Auslassung im Serbischen. Mithilfe qualitativer und quantitativer korpuslinguistischer Methoden werden Verwendungsmuster der Formen ohne Auxiliar im Serbischen identifiziert und die im ersten Teil gemachten Annahmen über die Auxiliarauslassung überprüft.
Auf der Grundlage der Ergebnisse aus Teil 2 wird ein Modell zur umfassenden Beschreibung der Funktion der Formen ohne Auxiliar im Serbischen entwickelt. Schließlich wird der Frage nach dem Zusammenhang zwischen der Auslassung des Auxiliars und der damit verbundenen Semantik nachgegangen.This dissertation investigates the phenomenon of auxiliary omission in the perfect forms of Serbian. The first part of the study examines the occurrence of auxiliary omission within a broader Slavic-historical context, as well as in modern Balkan Slavic and European contexts. Possible influencing factors such as the evolution from perfect to preterite, specific narrative patterns, and evidential nuances are highlighted.
The second part of the study focuses exclusively on auxiliary omission in Serbian. Using qualitative and quantitative corpus linguistic methods, usage patterns of perfect forms without auxiliary in Serbian are identified, and the assumptions about auxiliary omission made in the first part are tested.
Based on the results from Part 2, a model for comprehensively describing the function of unauxiliated perfect forms in Serbian is developed. Finally, the study explores the relationship between auxiliary omission and the associated semantics