Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

From a co-constructive perspective, interactions between adults and children are key variables for learning processes, especially in early childhood. The following paper focuses on such interactions that emerge in ‘mathematical situations of play and exploration’ in German kindergartens. These mathematical situations are conducted by adults who are specially trained in so-called ‘design patterns of mathematical situations’. The paper examines within this context the extent to which interactions carried out by such trained adults are characterized by a high degree of adaptive moves by the adult and a high degree of interactional responsiveness. For this purpose, the construct of responsiveness is presented and two scenes from a German kindergarten are analyzed. Finally, the empirical findings of the paper draw initial conclusions for a professional development concept for preschool teachers based on the determined ‘patterns’.

Play is often described as the foundation of early mathematical learning processes. Helenius and colleagues state in this context that not only mathematical content is negotiated and learned in play, but those play situations also enable the emergence of process-related mathematical competencies, such as problem solving. The article focuses on such problem-solving processes. Comparative analyses show how construction problems in peer situations in free play situations can function as a catalyst for discursive mathematical learning processes in block play situations in kindergarten. Thus, various heuristics can be elaborated, which emerge in peer interactions.

Introduction Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) with biventricular pacing (BiV‐CRT) is ineffective in approximately one‐third of patients. CRT with Conduction system pacing (CSP‐CRT) may achieve greater synchronization. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of CRT with His pacing (His‐CRT) or left bundle branch pacing (LBB‐CRT) in lieu of biventricular CRT. Methods and Results The PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library were systematically searched until August 19, 2023, for original studies including patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) who received His‐ or LBB‐CRT, that reported either CSP‐CRT success, LVEF, QRS duration (QRSd), or New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification. Effect measures were compared with frequentist network meta‐analysis. Thirty‐seven publications, including 20 comparative studies, were included. Success rates were 73.5% (95% CI: 61.2–83.0) for His‐CRT and 91.5% (95% CI: 88.0–94.1) for LBB‐CRT. Compared to BiV‐CRT, greater improvements were observed for LVEF (mean difference [MD] for His‐CRT +3.4%; 95% CI [1.0; 5.7], and LBB‐CRT: +4.4%; [2.5; 6.2]), LV end‐systolic volume (His‐CRT:17.2mL [29.7; 4.8]; LBB‐CRT:15.3mL [28.3; 2.2]), QRSd (His‐CRT: –17.1ms [–25.0; –9.2]; LBB‐CRT: –17.4ms [–23.2; –11.6]), and NYHA (Standardized MD [SMD]: His‐CRT:0.4 [0.8; 0.1]; LBB‐CRT:0.4 [–0.7; –0.2]). Pacing thresholds at baseline and follow‐up were significantly lower with LBB‐CRT versus both His‐CRT and BiV‐CRT. CSP‐CRT was associated with reduced mortality ( R = 0.75 [0.61–0.91]) and hospitalizations risk (RR = 0.63 [0.42–0.96]). Conclusion This study found that CSP‐CRT is associated with greater improvements in QRSd, echocardiographic, and clinical response. LBB‐CRT was associated with lower pacing thresholds. Future randomized trials are needed to determine CSP‐CRT efficacy.

Protestants on Screen explores the Protestant contributions to American and European film over the past hundred years, focusing on the post-1960 period. It analyzes how Protestant filmmakers, beliefs, theology, symbols, sensibilities, and cultural patterns have shaped film. This book argues that Protestants helped birth and shape the film industry and harness the power of motion pictures for spiritual instruction, edification, and cultural influence. Despite the rapid secularization of the film industry, Protestants influenced U.S. filmmaking in three distinct ways since the 1920s. It tracks key Protestant themes like faith and doubt, sin and depravity, biblical literalism, personal conversion and redemption, holiness and sanctification, moralism and pietism, Providence and secularism, apocalypticism, righteousness and justice, religion and race, and the priesthood of all believers and its offshoots, democratization and individualism. The book problematizes the stereotype of Protestants as world-denouncing and -defying puritans and iconoclasts who stood in the way of film’s maturation as an art. The authors contend that Protestants were instead among the key catalysts in the origins and development of film and contribute to this day an identifiable aesthetic impulse manifest in themes like reform, embodiment of the biblical Word, a reenchantment of the mundane, and the interplay of the literal and the symbolic.

INTRODUCTION We investigated the effectiveness of a multidomain intervention to preserve cognitive function in older adults at risk for dementia in Germany in a cluster‐randomized trial. METHODS Individuals with a Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Dementia (CAIDE) risk score ≥ 9 aged 60 to 77 years were recruited. After randomization of their general practitioner (GP), patients received a multidomain intervention (including optimization of nutrition and medication, and physical, social, and cognitive activity) or general health advice and GP treatment as usual over 24 months. Primary outcome was global cognitive performance (composite z score, based on domain‐specific neuropsychological tests). RESULTS Of 1030 participants at baseline, n = 819 completed the 24‐month follow‐up assessment. No differences regarding global cognitive performance (average marginal effect = 0.010, 95% confidence interval: –0.113, 0.133) were found between groups at follow‐up. Perceived restrictions in intervention conduct by the COVID‐19 pandemic did not impact intervention effectiveness. DISCUSSION The intervention did not improve global cognitive performance. HIGHLIGHTS Overall, no intervention effects on global cognitive performance were detected. The multidomain intervention improved health‐related quality of life in the total sample. In women, the multidomain intervention reduced depressive symptoms. The intervention was completed during the COVID‐19 pandemic.

The Anthropocene is characterized by a rapid pace of environmental change and is causing a multitude of biotic responses, including those that affect the spatial distribution of species. Lagged responses are frequent and species distributions and assemblages are consequently pushed into a disequilibrium state. How the characteristics of environmental change—for example, gradual ‘press’ disturbances such as rising temperatures due to climate change versus infrequent ‘pulse’ disturbances such as extreme events—affect the magnitude of responses and the relaxation times of biota has been insufficiently explored. It is also not well understood how widely used approaches to assess or project the responses of species to changing environmental conditions can deal with time lags. It, therefore, remains unclear to what extent time lags in species distributions are accounted for in biodiversity assessments, scenarios and models; this has ramifications for policymaking and conservation science alike. This perspective piece reflects on lagged species responses to environmental change and discusses the potential consequences for species distribution models (SDMs), the tools of choice in biodiversity modelling. We suggest ways to better account for time lags in calibrating these models and to reduce their leverage effects in projections for improved biodiversity science and policy.

Geometric morphometrics can effectively distinguish isolated third lower molars of present-day sheep and goat, but its applicability to archaeological specimens has yet to be established. Using a modern reference collection of 743 sheep and goats and a two-dimensional landmark-based geometric morphometric (GMM) protocol, this study aimed to morphometrically identify 109 archaeological specimens, used as case studies, dating from the Late Neolithic to the modern period/era. These morphometric identifications were then compared to molecular identifications via collagen peptide mass fingerprinting, known as Zooarcheology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS). ZooMS confirmed the morphometric identifications for 104 specimens, with the five misidentified specimens all morphometrically identified as goat. Modern sheep and goats have larger teeth and distinct shapes compared to their archaeological counterparts, suggesting strong differences between archaeological and modern specimens potentially linked with recent breed improvement or geographical origin of the specimens. In addition, for both species, some of the archaeological dental morphologies do not match with any of our modern references. This study validates the applicability of geometric morphometrics for identifying isolated archaeological sheep and goat teeth. It represents a stepping stone for future, non-destructive, bioarchaeological studies of the two species.

Powdery mildews are highly destructive fungal plant pathogens that have a significant economic impact on both agricultural and ecological systems worldwide. The intricate relationship between powdery mildews and their host plants has led to co-speciation. In this study, we conducted an extensive evaluation of powdery mildew hosts to provide an updated understanding of the host ranges and distributions of these fungi. The "United States National Fungus Collections Fungus-Host Dataset" is the primary source of information for our analyses. The analysis of the dataset demonstrated the worldwide prevalence of powdery mildews; the data contained over 72,000 reports of powdery mildews, representing ~8.7% of all host-fungal records. We have updated the taxonomy and nomenclature of powdery mildews. In total, powdery mildews infect ~10,125 host taxa belonging to 205 families of flowering plants accounting for 1,970 genera in 200 countries across six continents. Furthermore, we estimate that powdery mildews infect approximately 2.9% of described angiosperm species. Our study underscores the need for regular updates on powdery mildew host information due to the continuously evolving taxonomy and the discovery of new host taxa; since 1986 we estimate an additional 1,866 host taxa, 353 genera, and 36 families have been reported. Additionally, the identification of powdery mildew hosts provides valuable insights into the co-evolutionary dynamics between the fungi and their plant hosts. Overall, this updated list provides valuable insights into the taxonomy and geographic distribution of powdery mildew species, building upon the previous work of Amano in 1986. Discerning the geographic spread and host range of economically significant plant pathogens is vital for biosecurity measures and identifying the origins and expansion of potentially harmful pathogens.

Purpose Sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of malignant neoplasms with a wide range of histological types and occur in almost any anatomic site and side. This study evaluated the prognostic factors in sarcoma patients based on German clinical cancer registry data. Methods The German clinical cancer register of Saxony-Anhalt was used for all data analyses. Sarcoma cases of all clinical or pathological T-stages (T1a–T4c), all N-stages (N0-3) and M-stages (0–1b) corresponding to the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) stages I to IVB were considered. In our analyses, 787 cases diagnosed between 2005 and 2022 were included. Further, we assessed the association of cancer-related parameters with mortality and hazard ratios (HR) from the Cox proportional hazard models. We included sex, age at diagnosis, histological grade, T-, N- and M-stages, tumor size, tumor localization and tumor side as parameters in our regression models. Results The majority of sarcoma patients were diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma (12%), liposarcoma (11%), angiosarcoma (5.3%) and myxofibrosarcoma (2.7%). In our univariate regression models, tumors localized in more than one location, head, face and neck region as well as the pelvis and lower extremity were associated with increased mortality risk (more than one location: HR 7.10, 95% CI 2.20–22.9; head, face and neck: HR 1.35, 95% CI 0.89–2.06; pelvis: HR 1.27, 95% CI 0.86–1.89; lower extremity: HR 1.44, 95% CI 1.05–1.96). Higher histological grades, UICC-grades and TNM-stages were related to a higher mortality risk. Differing histological subtypes had significant influence on overall survival and progression-free survival. Patients diagnosed with fibromyxoid sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and angiosarcoma were related to higher mortality risk compared to other histological subtypes (fibromyxoid sarcoma: HR 5.2, 95% CI 0.71–38.1; rhabdomyosarcoma: HR 2.93, 95% CI 1.44–6.00; angiosarcoma: HR 1.07, 95% CI 0.53–2.18). Conclusions Histological grade, tumor size, nodal and distant metastasis, tumor localization and histological subtype were determined as prognostic factors in terms of survival.

The article explores the question of how political and pedagogical programs are intertwined in the process of designing a sustainable future, using the climate change protest movement Fridays for Future (FFF) as an empirical example. Particular attention is payed to the German Public Climate Schools, a collection of educational courses offered by FFF. The FFF movement emphasizes science and education and has created postdigital spaces for climate education. The article outlines the connection between education and the future, describes FFF and its approach to designing a sustainable future, explores the educational spaces developed by the movement via an analysis of some of the movement’s Twitter (now rebranding as ‘X’) feeds and web site, and provides a basis for further reflection and exploration. It is argued that the FFF movement represents a contemporary form of political future practice that is focused on creating a livable and shapeable future within a postdigital context.

Cyanobacteria are infamous producers of toxins. While the toxic potential of planktonic cyanobacterial blooms is well documented, the ecosystem level effects of toxigenic benthic and epiphytic cyanobacteria are an understudied threat. The freshwater epiphytic cyanobacterium Aetokthonos hydrillicola has recently been shown to produce the “eagle killer” neurotoxin aetokthonotoxin (AETX) causing the fatal neurological disease vacuolar myelinopathy. The disease affects a wide array of wildlife in the southeastern United States, most notably waterfowl and birds of prey, including the bald eagle. In an assay for cytotoxicity, we found the crude extract of the cyanobacterium to be much more potent than pure AETX, prompting further investigation. Here, we describe the isolation and structure elucidation of the aetokthonostatins (AESTs), linear peptides belonging to the dolastatin compound family, featuring a unique modification of the C-terminal phenylalanine-derived moiety. Using immunofluorescence microscopy and molecular modeling, we confirmed that AEST potently impacts microtubule dynamics and can bind to tubulin in a similar matter as dolastatin 10. We also show that AEST inhibits reproduction of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans . Bioinformatic analysis revealed the AEST biosynthetic gene cluster encoding a nonribosomal peptide synthetase/polyketide synthase accompanied by a unique tailoring machinery. The biosynthetic activity of a specific N-terminal methyltransferase was confirmed by in vitro biochemical studies, establishing a mechanistic link between the gene cluster and its product.