Language and Literacy Learning and the Hidden Curriculum in Multilingual Learning Settings

in Intercultural Education: Paideia, Polity, Demoi (2009)

Measure and Failure Cost Analysis: Selecting Risk Treatment Strategies

in Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Engineering Design (2009)

Project Risk Management is used to prevent projects to fail. Despite its proven use, barriers still exist that hinder implementation and use by inexperienced persons. One barrier is the additional effort ... [more ▼]

Project Risk Management is used to prevent projects to fail. Despite its proven use, barriers still exist that hinder implementation and use by inexperienced persons. One barrier is the additional effort required by the process of Project Risk Management itself. An additional barrier is the lack of systematic support of important steps like the selection of an appropriate risk treatment strategy. The decision which strategy to select is a challenging task due to the uncertain character of the addressed issue. The trade-off of the perceived additional efforts caused by a method must be addressed by an enhancement of the cost-benefit ratio of the applied methods and implemented risk treatment measures. Decision making using the proposed Measure and Failure Cost Analysis (MFCA) method enables the Risk Manager to compare the arising costs of different risk treatment strategies caused by an occurring risk and risk treatment measures. It is based on a de-escalation principle which analyzes the course of the impact of an event. The method compares the reaction rate of different strategies and proposes the favorite one. [less ▲]

Indibulin, a Novel Microtubule Inhibitor, Discriminates between Mature Neuronal and Nonneuronal Tubulin

in Cancer Research (2009), 69(1), 171-177

Microtubule inhibitors interfere with microtubule dynamics, causing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. These effects are responsible for the chemotherapeutic activities of members of the taxane and Vinca ... [more ▼]

Microtubule inhibitors interfere with microtubule dynamics, causing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. These effects are responsible for the chemotherapeutic activities of members of the taxane and Vinca alkaloid families in oncology. Unfortu- nately, a major side effect of the taxanes and Vinca alkaloids is the development of peripheral neuropathies. Indibulin (N-[pyridin-4-yl]-[1-(4-chlorbenzyl)-indol-3-yl]-glyoxyl-amid; D-24851; ZIO-301), a novel synthetic small molecule microtu- bule inhibitor, destabilizes microtubules and has antitumor activity but does not exhibit neurotoxicity in preclinical animal studies. In the present study, it has been found that indibulin is able to discriminate between highly posttranslationally modified tubulin present in mature neuronal micro- tubules, and less-modified tubulin present in immature neuronal or nonneuronal microtubules. Vincristine and colchicine act on either tubulin equally well. The binding site of indibulin on mature neuronal microtubules seems to be inaccessible due to the posttranslational modifications, a theory that is supported by the observation that indibulin did not disrupt the integrity of highly modified microtubules present in neurites of pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. The specificity of indibulin for unmodified microtubules seems to be dependent on the pyridyl moiety of indibulin because derivatives that have the pyridyl moiety replaced are not able to discriminate between highly and less-modified tubulins. The observed broad antitumor activity of indibulin and the lack of central and peripheral nervous system toxicity in preclinical studies make it a promising candidate for development as a cancer treatment. Indibulin is currently in phase I clinical trials. [less ▲]

Der Romzug Kaiser Heinrichs VII. (29. September 1310 - 24. August 1313)

in Margue, Michel; Pauly, Michel; Schmid, Wolfgang (Eds.) Der Weg zur Kaiserkrone. Der Romzug Heinrichs VII. in der Darstellung Erzbischof Balduins von Trier (2009)

Non-destructive damage assessment of constructions in civil engineering using non-linear vibration characteristics.

in Concrete 21st Century Superhero (2009)

Next steps in propositional Horn contraction

in Proceedings of the 21st International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 2009) (2009)

Novel similarity invariant for space curves using turning angles and its application to object recognition

in IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, 2009. ICASSP 2009 (2009)

Menschenrechtsverletzungen im deutschen Schulsystem: behindert werden durch Sonderbeschulung

in Müller-Heidelberg, Till (Ed.) Grundrechte-Report 2009. Zur Lage der Bürger- und Menschenrechte in Deutschland (2009)

Comparing the Relationship between Vocational and Higher Education in Germany and France

E-print/Working paper (2009)

A number of European initiatives aim to create a European educational space, including vocational training and higher education. Following the logic of difference, we ask whether, despite their different ... [more ▼]

A number of European initiatives aim to create a European educational space, including vocational training and higher education. Following the logic of difference, we ask whether, despite their different institutionalization, these two sectors in France and Germany react similarly to the Europe-wide Copenhagen and Bologna processes. We compare the relationship between vocational education and training (VET) and higher education (HE), contrasting a number of influential typologies. Analyzing the current situation, we ask whether these differences in postsecondary education and training systems continue to exist. [less ▲]

STIM1 but not STIM2 is an essential regulator of Ca2+ influx-mediated NADPH oxidase activity in neutrophil-like HL-60 cells

in Biochemical Pharmacology (2009), 78(5), 504-513

Extracellular Ca2+ entry, primarily mediated through store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE), is known to be a critical event for NADPH oxidase (NOX2) regulation in neutrophils. While defective NOX2 activity has ... [more ▼]

Extracellular Ca2+ entry, primarily mediated through store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE), is known to be a critical event for NADPH oxidase (NOX2) regulation in neutrophils. While defective NOX2 activity has been linked to various inflammatory diseases, regulatory mechanisms that control Ca2+ influx-induced NOX2 activation are poorly understood in SOCE. The role of STIM1, a Ca2+ sensor that transduces the store depletion signal to the plasma membrane, seems well established and supported by numerous studies in non-phagocytic cells. Here, in neutrophil-like HL-60 cells we used a siRNA approach to delineate the effect of STIM1 knock-down on NOX2 activity regulated by Ca2+ influx. Because the function of the STIM1 homolog, STIM2, is still unclear, we determined the consequence of STIM2 knock-down on Ca2+ and NOX2. STIM1 and STIM2 knock-down was effective and isoform specific when assayed by real-time PCR and Western blotting. Consistent with a unique role of STIM1 in the regulation of SOCE, STIM1, but not STIM2, siRNA significantly decreased Ca2+ influx induced by fMLF or the SERCA pump inhibitor thapsigargin. A redistribution of STIM1, originally localized intracellularly, near the plasma membrane was observed by confocal microscopy upon stimulation by fMLF. Inhibition of STIM1-induced SOCE led to a marked decrease in NOX2 activity while STIM2 siRNA had no effect. Thus, our results provide evidence for a role of STIM1 protein in the control of Ca2+ influx in neutrophils excluding a STIM2 involvement in this process. It also places STIM1 as a key modulator of NOX2 activity with a potential interest for anti-inflammatory pharmacological development. [less ▲]