Psychological predictors of eco-driving: A longitudinal study

Eco-driving has well-known positive effects on fuel economy and greenhouse-gas emissions. Moreover, eco-driving reduces road-traffic noise, which is a serious threat to the health and well-being of many people. We investigated the psychological predictors of the adoption of eco-driving from the perspective of road-traffic noise abatement. The data came from 890 car drivers who participated in a longitudinal survey over four months. Specifically, we tested the effects of the intention to prevent road-traffic noise, variables derived from the theory of planned behavior (social norm, perceived behavioral control, and attitude), and variables derived from the health action process approach (implementation intention, maintenance self-efficacy, and action control) on the intention to practice eco-driving and on eco-driving behavior. The intention to prevent road-traffic noise was not linked to the intention to practice eco-driving. The strongest predictors of the intention to practice eco-driving were attitude and perceived behavioral control. The strongest predictor of eco-driving behavior was action control. The link between behavioral intention and behavior was weak, indicating that drivers have difficulties putting their intention to practice eco-driving into action. Therefore, intervention efforts should directly address and support the transition from intention to behavior. This could be accomplished by providing reminders, which help to maintain behavioral intention, and by providing behavior feedback, which helps car drivers to monitor their behavior.

The Plasmodium Class XIV Myosin, MyoB, Has a Distinct Subcellular Location in Invasive and Motile Stages of the Malaria Parasite and an Unusual Light Chain

Myosin B (MyoB) is one of the two short class XIV myosins encoded in the Plasmodium genome. Class XIV myosins are characterized by a catalytic "head," a modified "neck," and the absence of a "tail" region. Myosin A (MyoA), the other class XIV myosin in Plasmodium, has been established as a component of the glideosome complex important in motility and cell invasion, but MyoB is not well characterized. We analyzed the properties of MyoB using three parasite species as follows: Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium berghei, and Plasmodium knowlesi. MyoB is expressed in all invasive stages (merozoites, ookinetes, and sporozoites) of the life cycle, and the protein is found in a discrete apical location in these polarized cells. In P. falciparum, MyoB is synthesized very late in schizogony/merogony, and its location in merozoites is distinct from, and anterior to, that of a range of known proteins present in the rhoptries, rhoptry neck or micronemes. Unlike MyoA, MyoB is not associated with glideosome complex proteins, including the MyoA light chain, myosin A tail domain-interacting protein (MTIP). A unique MyoB light chain (MLC-B) was identified that contains a calmodulin-like domain at the C terminus and an extended N-terminal region. MLC-B localizes to the same extreme apical pole in the cell as MyoB, and the two proteins form a complex. We propose that MLC-B is a MyoB-specific light chain, and for the short class XIV myosins that lack a tail region, the atypical myosin light chains may fulfill that role.

Zur Bedeutung habitueller sportbezogener Verhaltensmuster in der Familie für die Sportpartizipation Jugendlicher und junger Erwachsener

Einleitung Der Zugang zum Sport wird insbesondere in der Kindheit stark durch die Eltern beein-flusst, weshalb die Einstellung der Eltern zum Sport sowie deren Sportaktivitäten hierbei von großer Bedeutung ist (Thiel, Seiberth & Meyer, 2013). Darüber hinaus kann eine er-höhte Sport- und Bewegungsaktivität im familialen Alltag die sportbezogenen Einstellun-gen der Kinder prägen und damit das Sportverhalten im Jugend- und jungen Erwachse-nenalter beeinflussen (Baur, 1989). Im Familienalltag wird den Aspekten Bewegung und Sport ein ganz unterschiedlicher Stellenwert zugesprochen. In dieser Untersuchung soll deshalb der Frage nachgegangen werden, inwiefern sportbezogene Verhaltensmuster in der Familie sich unterscheiden und sich auf die Sportpraxis der Kinder im Jugend- und jungen Erwachsenenalter auswirken. Methode Basierend auf dem sozialisationstheoretischen Ansatz wurden mit Hilfe einer Online-Umfrage in 33 Gemeinden in der deutsch- und französischsprachigen Schweiz Jugendli-che und junge Erwachsene im Alter zwischen 15 und 30 Jahren (n = 3677) zu ihrem aktu-ellen Bewegungs- und Sportverhalten sowie retrospektiv zum Stellenwert des Sports so-wie den Sport- und Bewegungsgewohnheiten in der Familie befragt. Nebst dieser quantita-tiven Untersuchung wurden 13 leitfadengestützte mit Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachse-nen im Alter zwischen 15 und 25 Jahren geführt. Der Schwerpunkt der Befragung war die individuelle Sportpraxis sowie die eigene sowie familiäre sport- und bewegungsbezogene Einstellung. Die Interviewauswertung fand mittels qualitativer Inhaltsanalyse (Mayring, 2002) statt. Ergebnisse und Diskussion Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass bei derzeit inaktiven Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen der familiäre Stellenwert des Sports (M = 2.49, SD = 1.30) signifikant geringer war als bei den Sportaktiven (M = 3.32, SD = 1.28, F(1, 3042) = 179.08, p < 0.01). Darüber hinaus berichten die derzeit nicht sportaktiven 15- bis 30-Jährigen von einer signifikanten geringe-ren Unterstützung innerhalb ihrer Familien (F(1, 3014) = 170.26, p < 0.01). Die qualitative Auswertung zeigt die unterschiedliche Wahrnehmung und Interpretation der elterlichen Unterstützungsprozesse auf. Nicht nur die Sportaktivität der Eltern, sondern auch die sport- und bewegungsbezogenen Gewohnheiten in der Familie sind offensichtlich für das individuelle Sportverhalten im Jugend- und jungen Erwachsenenalter relevant. Literatur Baur, J. (1989). Körper- und Bewegungskarrieren. Schorndorf: Hofmann. Thiel, A., Seiberth, K., & Mayer, J. (2013). Sportsoziologie. Ein Lehrbuch in 13 Lektionen. Aachen: Meyer & Meyer. Mayring, P. (2002). Einführung in die Qualitative Sozialforschung. Weinheim: Beltz.

Shifts in microbial communities do not explain the response of grassland ecosystem function to plant functional composition and rainfall change

Ecosystem functioning in grasslands is regulated by a range of biotic and abiotic factors, and the role of microbial communities in regulating ecosystem function has been the subject of much recent scrutiny. However, there are still knowledge gaps regarding the impacts of rainfall and vegetation change upon microbial communities and the implications of these changes for ecosystem functioning. We investigated this issue using data from an experimental mesotrophic grassland study in south-east England, which had been subjected to four years of rainfall and plant functional composition manipulations. Soil respiration, nitrogen and phosphorus stocks were measured, and the abundance and community structure of soil microbes were characterised using quantitative PCR and multiplex-TRFLP analysis, respectively. Bacterial community structure was strongly related to the plant functional composition treatments, but not the rainfall treatment. However, there was a strong effect of both rainfall change and plant functional group upon bacterial abundance. There was also a weak interactive effect of the two treatments upon fungal community structure, although fungal abundance was not affected by either treatment. Next, we used a statistical approach to assess whether treatment effects on ecosystem function were regulated by the microbial community. Our results revealed that ecosystem function was influenced by the experimental treatments, but was not related to associated changes to the microbial community. Overall, these results indicate that changes in fungal and bacterial community structure and abundance play a relatively minor role in determining grassland ecosystem function responses to precipitation and plant functional composition change, and that direct effects on soil physical and chemical properties and upon plant and microbial physiology may play a more important role.

David Friedländers Sendschreiben an Probst Teller und sein Echo

Ellen Littmann

Phenotype and genotype in 103 patients with tricho-rhino-phalangeal syndrome.

Tricho-rhino-phalangeal syndrome (TRPS) is characterized by craniofacial and skeletal abnormalities, and subdivided in TRPS I, caused by mutations in TRPS1, and TRPS II, caused by a contiguous gene deletion affecting (amongst others) TRPS1 and EXT1. We performed a collaborative international study to delineate phenotype, natural history, variability, and genotype-phenotype correlations in more detail. We gathered information on 103 cytogenetically or molecularly confirmed affected individuals. TRPS I was present in 85 individuals (22 missense mutations, 62 other mutations), TRPS II in 14, and in 5 it remained uncertain whether TRPS1 was partially or completely deleted. Main features defining the facial phenotype include fine and sparse hair, thick and broad eyebrows, especially the medial portion, a broad nasal ridge and tip, underdeveloped nasal alae, and a broad columella. The facial manifestations in patients with TRPS I and TRPS II do not show a significant difference. In the limbs the main findings are short hands and feet, hypermobility, and a tendency for isolated metacarpals and metatarsals to be shortened. Nails of fingers and toes are typically thin and dystrophic. The radiological hallmark are the cone-shaped epiphyses and in TRPS II multiple exostoses. Osteopenia is common in both, as is reduced linear growth, both prenatally and postnatally. Variability for all findings, also within a single family, can be marked. Morbidity mostly concerns joint problems, manifesting in increased or decreased mobility, pain and in a minority an increased fracture rate. The hips can be markedly affected at a (very) young age. Intellectual disability is uncommon in TRPS I and, if present, usually mild. In TRPS II intellectual disability is present in most but not all, and again typically mild to moderate in severity. Missense mutations are located exclusively in exon 6 and 7 of TRPS1. Other mutations are located anywhere in exons 4-7. Whole gene deletions are common but have variable breakpoints. Most of the phenotype in patients with TRPS II is explained by the deletion of TRPS1 and EXT1, but haploinsufficiency of RAD21 is also likely to contribute. Genotype-phenotype studies showed that mutations located in exon 6 may have somewhat more pronounced facial characteristics and more marked shortening of hands and feet compared to mutations located elsewhere in TRPS1, but numbers are too small to allow firm conclusions.