It has been discovered during the past few years that demosponges of the order Verongida such as Aplysina cavernicola exhibit chitin-based skeletons. Verongida sponges are well known to produce bioactive brominated tyrosine derivatives. We could recently demonstrate that brominated compounds do not exclusively occur in the cellular matrix but also in the skeletons of the marine sponges Aplysina cavernicola and Ianthella basta. Our measurements imply that these yet unknown compounds are strongly, possibly covalently bound to the sponge skeletons. In the present work, we determined the skeletal amino acid composition of the demosponge A. cavernicola especially with respect to the presence of halogenated amino acids. The investigations of the skeletons before and after MeOH extraction confirmed that only a small amount of the brominated skeleton-bound compounds dissolves in MeOH. The main part of the brominated compounds is strongly attached to the skeletons but can be extracted for example by using Ba(OH)2. Various halogenated tyrosine derivatives were identified by GC-MS and LC-MS in these Ba(OH)2 extracts of the skeletons.

Background: Since an objective description is essential to determine infant’s postnatal condition and efficacy of interventions, two scores were suggested in the past but weren’t tested yet: The Specified-Apgar uses the 5 items of the conventional Apgar score; however describes the condition regardless of gestational age (GA) or resuscitative interventions. The Expanded-Apgar measures interventions needed to achieve this condition. We hypothesized that the combination of both (Combined-Apgar) describes postnatal condition of preterm infants better than either of the scores alone. Methods: Scores were assessed in preterm infants below 32 completed weeks of gestation. Data were prospectively collected in 20 NICU in 12 countries. Prediction of poor outcome (death, severe/moderate BPD, IVH, CPL and ROP) was used as a surrogate parameter to compare the scores. To compare predictive value the AUC for the ROC was calculated. Results: Of 2150 eligible newborns, data on 1855 infants with a mean GA of 286/7± 23/7 weeks were analyzed. At 1 minute, the Combined-Apgar was significantly better in predicting poor outcome than the Specified- or Expanded-Apgar alone. Of infants with a very low score at 5 or 10 minutes 81% or 100% had a poor outcome, respectively. In these infants the relative risk (RR) for perinatal mortality was 24.93 (13.16-47.20) and 31.34 (15.91-61.71), respectively. Conclusion: The Combined-Apgar allows a more appropriate description of infant’s condition under conditions of modern neonatal care. It should be used as a tool for better comparison of group of infants and postnatal interventions.

Behavioral adaptation and cognitive control are crucial for goal-reaching behaviors. Every creature is ubiquitously faced with choices between behavioral alternatives. Common sense suggests that errors are an important source of information in the regulation of such processes. Several theories exist regarding cognitive control and the processing of undesired outcomes. However, most of these models focus on the consequences of an error, and less attention has been paid to the mechanisms that underlie the commissioning of an error. In this article, we present an integrative review of neuro-cognitive models that detail the determinants of the occurrence of response errors. The factors that may determine the likelihood of committing errors are likely related to the stability of task-representations in prefrontal networks, attentional selection mechanisms and mechanisms of action selection in basal ganglia circuits. An important conclusion is that the likelihood of committing an error is not stable over time but rather changes depending on the interplay of different functional neuro-anatomical and neuro-biological systems. We describe factors that might determine the time-course of cognitive control and the need to adapt behavior following response errors. Finally, we outline the mechanisms that may proof useful for predicting the outcomes of cognitive control and the emergence of response errors in future research.

Background: Hibernomas are rare benign soft-tissue tumours arising from brown fat tissue. Although imaging characteristics are not specific certain imaging features, common locations and patient demographics may suggest hibernoma as a differential diagnosis. Case presentation: We report on two 48-year-old male patients with hibernoma. The tumour presented with local swelling of the inguinal region in the first patient and was an incidental imaging finding in the second patient. Imaging included magnetic resonance imaging in both patients and computed tomography as well as 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography in the second patient. In both cases histological diagnosis was initially based on excisional and needle core biopsy, respectively. Complete surgical resection confirmed the diagnosis of hibernoma thereafter. Conclusion: In soft tissue tumours with fatty components hibernoma may be included into the differential diagnosis. Because of the risk of sampling errors in hibernoma-like tissue components of myxoid and well-differentiated liposarcoma, complete resection is mandatory. This article also reviews the current imaging literature of hibernomas.

Techniques for conditional gene or protein expression are important tools in developmental biology and in the analysis of physiology and disease. On the protein level, the tunable and reversible expression of proteins can be achieved by the fusion of the protein of interest to a destabilizing domain (DD). In the absence of its specific ligand (Shield-1), the protein is degraded by the proteasome. The DD-Shield system has proven to be an excellent tool to regulate the expression of proteins of interests in mammalian systems but has not been applied in teleosts like the medaka. We present the application of the DD-Shield technique in transgenic medaka and show the ubiquitous conditional expression throughout life. Shield-1 administration to the water leads to concentration-dependent induction of a YFP reporter gene in various organs and in spermatogonia at the cellular level.

Polypyrimidine-tract binding protein 1 (PTBP1) is an important cellular regulator of messenger RNAs influencing the alternative splicing profile of a cell as well as its mRNA stability, location and translation. In addition, it is diverted by some viruses to facilitate their replication. Here, we used a novel PTBP1 knockout mouse to analyse the tissue expression pattern of PTBP1 as well as the effect of its complete removal during development. We found evidence of strong PTBP1 expression in embryonic stem cells and throughout embryonic development, especially in the developing brain and spinal cord, the olfactory and auditory systems, the heart, the liver, the kidney, the brown fat and cartilage primordia. This widespread distribution points towards a role of PTBP1 during embryonic development. Homozygous offspring, identified by PCR and immunofluorescence, were able to implant but were arrested or retarded in growth. At day 7.5 of embryonic development (E7.5) the null mutants were about 5x smaller than the control littermates and the gap in body size widened with time. At mid-gestation, all homozygous embryos were resorbed/degraded. No homozygous mice were genotyped at E12 and the age of weaning. Embryos lacking PTBP1 did not display differentiation into the 3 germ layers and cavitation of the epiblast, which are hallmarks of gastrulation. In addition, homozygous mutants displayed malformed ectoplacental cones and yolk sacs, both early supportive structure of the embryo proper. We conclude that PTBP1 is not required for the earliest isovolumetric divisions and differentiation steps of the zygote up to the formation of the blastocyst. However, further post-implantation development requires PTBP1 and stalls in homozygous null animals with a phenotype of dramatically reduced size and aberration in embryonic and extra-embryonic structures.

Aims To estimate the national incidence rate and trend of type 1 diabetes (T1DM) in Germany from 1999 to 2008 and the national prevalence in 2008 in the age group 0–14 years. Methods Data were taken from a nationwide registry for incident cases of T1DM in the ages 0–4 years and 3 regional registries (North-Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Saxony) for incident cases of T1DM in the ages 0–14 years covering 41% of the child population in Germany. The degree of ascertainment was ≥ 97% in all registries. Incident and prevalent cases were grouped by region, sex, age (0–4, 5–9, 10–14 years), and, for incident data, additionally by two 5-year periods (1999–2003, 2004–2008). Poisson regression models were fitted to the data to derive national estimates of incidence rate trends and prevalence in the age groups 5–9, 10–14 and 0–14 years. We used direct age-standardization. Results The estimated national incidence rate in 0-14-year-olds increased significantly by 18.1% (95%CI: 11.6–25.0%, p<0.001) from 1999–2003 to 2004–2008, independent of sex, corresponding to an average annual increase of 3.4% (95%-CI: 2.2–4.6%). The overall incidence rate was estimated at 22.9 per 100,000 person-years and we identified a within-country west-east-gradient previously unknown. The national prevalence in the ages 0–14 years on 31/12/2008 was estimated to be 148.1 per 100,000 persons. Conclusions The national incidence rate of childhood T1DM in Germany is higher than in many other countries around the world. Importantly, the estimated trend of the incidence rate confirms the international data of a global increase of T1DM incidences.

In multitasking, the execution of a prioritized task is in danger of crosstalk by the secondary task. Task shielding allows minimizing this crosstalk. However, the locus and temporal dynamics of crosstalk effects and further sources of influence on the execution of the prioritized task are to-date only vaguely understood. Here we combined a dual-task paradigm with an action dynamics approach and studied how and according to which temporal characteristics crosstalk, previously experienced interference and previously executed responses influenced participants' mouse movements in the prioritized task's execution. Investigating continuous mouse movements of the prioritized task, our results indicate a continuous crosstalk from secondary task processing until the endpoint of the movement was reached, although the secondary task could only be executed after finishing execution of the prioritized task. The motor movement in the prioritized task was further modulated by previously experienced interference between the prioritized and the secondary task. Furthermore, response biases from previous responses of the prioritized and the secondary task in movements indicate different sources of such biases. The bias by previous responses to the prioritized task follows a sustained temporal pattern typical for a contextual reactivation, while the bias by previous responses to the secondary task follows a decaying temporal pattern indicating residual activation of previously activated spatial codes.

Background Identifying orthologous molecular markers that potentially resolve relationships at and below species level has been a major challenge in molecular phylogenetics over the past decade. Non-coding regions of nuclear low- or single-copy markers are a vast and promising source of data providing information for shallow-scale phylogenetics. Taking advantage of public transcriptome data from the One Thousand Plant Project (1KP), we developed a genome-scale mining strategy for recovering potentially orthologous single-copy markers to address low-scale phylogenetics. Our marker design targeted the amplification of intron-rich nuclear single-copy regions from genomic DNA. As a case study we used Hydrangea section Cornidia, one of the most recently diverged lineages within Hydrangeaceae (Cornales), for comparing the performance of three of these nuclear markers to other 'fast' evolving plastid markers. Results Our data mining and filtering process retrieved 73 putative nuclear single-copy genes which are potentially useful for resolving phylogenetic relationships at a range of divergence depths within Cornales. The three assessed nuclear markers showed considerably more phylogenetic signal for shallow evolutionary depths than conventional plastid markers. Phylogenetic signal in plastid markers increased less markedly towards deeper evolutionary divergences. Potential phylogenetic noise introduced by nuclear markers was lower than their respective phylogenetic signal across all evolutionary depths. In contrast, plastid markers showed higher probabilities for introducing phylogenetic noise than signal at the deepest evolutionary divergences within the tribe Hydrangeeae (Hydrangeaceae). Conclusions While nuclear single-copy markers are highly informative for shallow evolutionary depths without introducing phylogenetic noise, plastid markers might be more appropriate for resolving deeper-level divergences such as the backbone relationships of the Hydrangeaceae family and deeper, at which non-coding parts of nuclear markers could potentially introduce noise due to elevated rates of evolution. The herein developed and demonstrated transcriptome based mining strategy has a great potential for the design of novel and highly informative nuclear markers for a range of plant groups and evolutionary scales.

Recently, the fundamental and nanoscale understanding of complex phenomena in materials research and the life sciences, witnessed considerable progress. However, elucidating the underlying mechanisms, governed by entangled degrees of freedom such as lattice, spin, orbit, and charge for solids or conformation, electric potentials, and ligands for proteins, has remained challenging. Techniques that allow for distinguishing between different contributions to these processes are hence urgently required. In this paper we demonstrate the application of scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) as a novel type of nano-probe for tracking transient states of matter. We introduce a sideband-demodulation technique that allows for probing exclusively the stimuli-induced change of near-field optical properties. We exemplify this development by inspecting the decay of an electron-hole plasma generated in SiGe thin films through near-infrared laser pulses. Our approach can universally be applied to optically track ultrafast/-slow processes over the whole spectral range from UV to THz frequencies.