Manfred Kyber: Die drei Lichter der kleinen Veronika [Rezension]

Clem. Krämer

Viktoria Ballasko als Veronika Zumtobel, Rollenbild, Brustbild, in: Karl Schulz: Im Schatten des Berges

Signatur des Originals: S 36/F10581

Food profitability affects intranidal recruitment behaviour in the stingless bee Nannotrigona testaceicornis

Does the food's sugar concentration affect recruitment behaviour in the stingless bee Nan-notrigona testaceicornis? We recorded intranidal forager behaviour while offering sugar water of constant, increasing, or decreasing concentrations. Running speed was not correlated with sugar concentration but the jostling contacts/sec were. Food profitability also affected the recruiter's thorax vibrations: Pulse duration and duty cycle followed both concentration increases and decreases. Sugar concentration also influenced the number of recruited bees. In comparison to the phylogenetically closely related Scaptotrigona, Nan-notrigona's intranidal recruitment behaviour showed a more elaborate association with food profitability. This is likely to reflect differences in ecology and foraging strategies as Nannotrigona - in contrast to Scaptotrigona - does not lay scent trails to guide recruits to a food source.

Thoracic vibrations in stingless bees (Melipona seminigra): resonances of the thorax influence vibrations associated with flight but not those associated with sound production

Bees generate thoracic vibrations with their indirect flight muscles in various behavioural contexts. The main frequency component of non-flight vibrations, during which the wings are usually folded over the abdomen, is higher than that of thoracic vibrations that drive the wing movements for flight. So far, this has been concluded from an increase in natural frequency of the oscillating system in association with the wing adduction. In the present study, we measured the thoracic oscillations in stingless bees during stationary flight and during two types of non-flight behaviour, annoyance buzzing and forager communication, using laser vibrometry. As expected, the flight vibrations met all tested assumptions for resonant oscillations: slow build-up and decay of amplitude; increased frequency following reduction of the inertial load; and decreased frequency following an increase of the mass of the oscillating system. Resonances, however, do not play a significant role in the generation of non-flight vibrations. The strong decrease in main frequency at the end of the pulses indicates that these were driven at a frequency higher than the natural frequency of the system. Despite significant differences regarding the main frequency components and their oscillation amplitudes, the mechanism of generation is apparently similar in annoyance buzzing and forager vibrations. Both types of non-flight vibration induced oscillations of the wings and the legs in a similar way. Since these body parts transform thoracic oscillations into airborne sounds and substrate vibrations, annoyance buzzing can also be used to study mechanisms of signal generation and transmission potentially relevant in forager communication under controlled conditions.

The sound field generated by tethered stingless bees (Melipona scutellaris): inferences on its potential as a recruitment mechanism inside the hive

In stingless bees, recruitment of hive bees to food sources involves thoracic vibrations by foragers during trophallaxis. The temporal pattern of these vibrations correlates with the sugar concentration of the collected food. One possible pathway for transfering such information to nestmates is through airborne sound. In the present study, we investigated the transformation of thoracic vibrations into air particle velocity, sound pressure, and jet airflows in the stingless bee Melipona scutellaris. Whereas particle velocity and sound pressure were found all around and above vibrating individuals, there was no evidence for a jet airflow as with honey bees. The largest particle velocities were measured 5 mm above the wings (16.0 +/- 4.8 mm s(-1)). Around a vibrating individual, we found maximum particle velocities of 8.6 +/- 3.0 mm s(-1) (horizontal particle velocity) in front of the bee`s head and of 6.0 +/- 2.1 mm s(-1) (vertical particle velocity) behind its wings. Wing oscillations, which are mainly responsible for air particle movements in honey bees, significantly contributed to vertically oriented particle oscillations only close to the abdomen in M. scutellaris(distances <= 5 mm). Almost 80% of the hive bees attending trophallactic food transfers stayed within a range of 5 mm from the vibrating foragers. It remains to be shown, however, whether air particle velocity alone is strong enough to be detected by Johnston`s organ of the bee antenna. Taking the physiological properties of the honey bee`s Johnston`s organ as the reference, M. scutellaris hive bees are able to detect the forager vibrations through particle movements at distances of up to 2 cm.

Mandibular gland secretions of meliponine worker bees: further evidence for their role in interspecific and intraspecific defence and aggression and against their role in food source signalling

Like ants and termites some species of stingless bees (Meliponini), which are very important pollinators in the tropics, use pheromone trails to communicate the location of a food source. We present data on the communicative role of mandibular gland secretions of Meliponini that resolve a recent controversy about their importance in the laying of such trails. Volatile constituents of the mandibular glands have been erroneously thought both to elicit aggressive/defensive behaviour and to signal food source location. We studied Trigona spinipes and Scaptotrigona aff. depilis (`postica`), two sympatric species to which this hypothesis was applied. Using extracts of carefully dissected glands instead of crude cephalic extracts we analysed the substances contained in the mandibular glands of worker bees. Major components of the extracts were 2-heptanol (both species), nonanal (T. spinipes), benzaldehyde and 2-tridecanone (S. aff. depilis). The effect of mandibular gland extracts and of individual components thereof on the behaviour of worker bees near their nest and at highly profitable food sources was consistent. Independent of the amount of mandibular gland extract applied, the bees overwhelmingly reacted with defensive behaviour and were never attracted to feeders scented with mandibular gland extract or any of the synthetic chemicals tested. Both bee species are capable of using mandibular gland secretions for intra-and interspecific communication of defence and aggression and share 2-heptanol as a major pheromone compound. While confirming the role of the mandibular glands in nest defence, our experiments provide strong evidence against their role in food source signalling.

Reconstruction of the regulatory network for Bacillus subtilis and reconciliation with gene expression data

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb. 2016.00275

Bedeutung der Expression der G-Protein-gekoppelten-Rezeptoren BRS 3, CCKA, CXCR 4, GHRH, GRPR, NK 1, NMBR, NT 2, PAC 1, VPAC 1 und VPAC 2 bei kolorektalen Tumoren in Abhängigkeit von Tumorstadium und Differenzierungsgrad

Magdeburg, Univ., Med. Fak., Diss., 2012

Gefäßchirurgische Aspekte in der Viszeralchirurgie : Spektrum, Spezifika und nutzbringendes Potenzial für das postoperative Outcome

Universität Magdeburg, Univ., Dissertation, 2015

Wissen um Stimmung : zu einem vagen Begriff in Robert Musils Frühwerk

Diese Studie untersucht die Poetik und Wirkungsästhetik von Robert Musils Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß (1906) und Die Vereinigungen (1911) anhand des Schlüsselbegriffs >Stimmung<. Wegen der Vagheit des Begriffs und seiner Relevanz in Psychologie, Philosophie und Ästhetik um 1900 wird das Wissen um >Stimmung< im ersten Teil der Studie diskursgeschichtlich beschrieben. Es kann dabei anhand von Robert Mayer, Gustav Theodor Fechner, Hermann von Helmholtz und Wilhelm Wundt gezeigt werden, dass >Stimmungen< als psychologische Zustände wie ästhetische Phänomene in einem engen Verhältnis mit der thermodynamischen Theorie und der Denkfigur des psychophysischen Parallelismus standen. >Stimmungen< galten zum Ende des 19. Jh. einerseits als gleichermaßen experimentell unzugängliche wie grundlegende psychologische Dispositionen, die Körper, Emotion und Intellekt umfassen können, und andererseits als energetisch konzipiertes Verhältnis des Einzelnen zur Außenwelt, das sich in Schwingungen und Strahlen äußert. Im zweiten und dritten Teil wurden die Wissensübertragungen und die genuin literarischen Ausdifferenzierungen von >Stimmungen< in einer dezidiert textnahen Lektüre von Musils Frühwerk entwickelt. Die Textanalyse zeigte, dass in Musils Frühwerk auf thematischer, metaphorologischer, poetologischer und wirkungsästhetischer Ebene von Stimmungen konstituiert wird. Von herausragender Bedeutung sind dabei immaterielle Phänomene. In Auseinandersetzung mit der Ästhetik des Fin de Siècle und dem >Psychophysischen< formuliert der Roman Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß eine Poetik des Duftes, mit der das dichtungstheoretische Ideal einer gleichsam emotional wie rational wirksamen Literatur umgesetzt werden soll. Die Novellen Die Vollendung der Liebe und Die Versuchung der stillen Veronika übertragen psychologisches Stimmungswissen in den literarischen Text und differenzieren es zu ästhetischen Strukturen aus. Zwei verschiedene Leitkonzepte konnten in Die Vereinigungen identifiziert werden: Während Die Versuchung der stillen Veronika eine Poetik bzw. eine Wirkungsästhetik der Wellen entwirft, formuliert Die Vollendung der Liebe eine literarische Anthropologie anhand musikalischen Metaphern und Texturen aus.

Blood lipid and lipoprotein concentrations and colorectal cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition

Objective To examine the association between serum concentrations of total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoprotein A-I (apoA), apolipoprotein B and the incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC). Design Nested case–control study. Setting The study was conducted within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), a cohort of more than 520 000 participants from 10 western European countries. Participants 1238 cases of incident CRC, which developed after enrolment into the cohort, were matched with 1238 controls for age, sex, centre, follow-up time, time of blood collection and fasting status. Main outcome measures Serum concentrations were quantitatively determined by colorimetric and turbidimetric methods. Dietary and lifestyle data were obtained from questionnaires. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate incidence rate ratios (RRs) and 95% CIs which were adjusted for height, weight, smoking habits, physical activity, education, consumption of fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, alcohol, fibre and energy. Results After adjustments, the concentrations of HDL and apoA were inversely associated with the risk of colon cancer (RR for 1 SD increase of 16.6 mg/dl in HDL and 32.0 mg/dl in apoA of 0.78 (95% CI 0.68 to 0.89) and 0.82 (95% CI 0.72 to 0.94), respectively). No association was observed with the risk of rectal cancer. Additional adjustment for biomarkers of systemic inflammation, insulin resistance and oxidative stress or exclusion of the first 2 years of follow-up did not influence the association between HDL and risk of colon cancer. Conclusions These findings show that high concentrations of serum HDL are associated with a decreased risk of colon cancer. The mechanism behind this association needs further elucidation.

Multiple miscarriages are associated with the risk of ovarian cancer: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

While the risk of ovarian cancer clearly reduces with each full-term pregnancy, the effect of incomplete pregnancies is unclear. We investigated whether incomplete pregnancies (miscarriages and induced abortions) are associated with risk of epithelial ovarian cancer. This observational study was carried out in female participants of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). A total of 274,442 women were followed from 1992 until 2010. The baseline questionnaire elicited information on miscarriages and induced abortions, reproductive history, and lifestyle-related factors. During a median follow-up of 11.5 years, 1,035 women were diagnosed with incident epithelial ovarian cancer. Despite the lack of an overall association (ever vs. never), risk of ovarian cancer was higher among women with multiple incomplete pregnancies (HR(≥4vs.0): 1.74, 95% CI: 1.20-2.70; number of cases in this category: n = 23). This association was particularly evident for multiple miscarriages (HR(≥4vs.0): 1.99, 95% CI: 1.06-3.73; number of cases in this category: n = 10), with no significant association for multiple induced abortions (HR(≥4vs.0): 1.46, 95% CI: 0.68-3.14; number of cases in this category: n = 7). Our findings suggest that multiple miscarriages are associated with an increased risk of epithelial ovarian cancer, possibly through a shared cluster of etiological factors or a common underlying pathology. These findings should be interpreted with caution as this is the first study to show this association and given the small number of cases in the highest exposure categories.