Browsing by Subject "Germany"
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Item Open Access Do You Want to Hear the Bad News? The Value of Diagnostic Tests for Alzheimer's Disease.(Value Health, 2016-01) Mühlbacher, Axel; Johnson, F Reed; Yang, Jui-Chen; Happich, Michael; Belger, MarkOBJECTIVE: The diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains difficult. Lack of diagnostic certainty or possible distress related to a positive result from diagnostic testing could limit the application of new testing technologies. The objective of this paper is to quantify respondents' preferences for obtaining AD diagnostic tests and to estimate the perceived value of AD test information. METHODS: Discrete-choice experiment and contingent-valuation questions were administered to respondents in Germany and the United Kingdom. Choice data were analyzed by using random-parameters logit. A probit model characterized respondents who were not willing to take a test. RESULTS: Most respondents indicated a positive value for AD diagnostic test information. Respondents who indicated an interest in testing preferred brain imaging without the use of radioactive markers. German respondents had relatively lower money-equivalent values for test features compared with respondents in the United Kingdom. CONCLUSIONS: Respondents preferred less invasive diagnostic procedures and tests with higher accuracy and expressed a willingness to pay up to €700 to receive a less invasive test with the highest accuracy.Item Open Access Evaluating the Effect of Intermittent Renewables on the Wholesale Electricity Market in Germany(2014-04-24) Adelfio, AndrewFor years, Germany has been a pioneer in the aggressive build out of intermittent renewables (solar and wind). The Energy Concept launched in 2010, in conjunction with previously established federal energy policies, has further enhanced Germany’s ability to reach lofty renewable generation targets via ratepayer surcharges that support feed-in tariffs. However, as the penetration of renewables has increased, wholesale electricity prices have demonstrated a steady decline. Through statistical and market-based analysis, this project 1) quantifies the price decrease that is caused by build out of renewables, 2) examines the market mechanics that result in a price decrease, and 3) evaluates the effect of the price decrease on relevant electricity market participants. Regression analysis indicates that average wholesale electricity prices will experience a decrease of 6.5 €/MWh – 8.5 €/MWh by 2020, solely due to the build out of renewable energy to comply with Energy Concept targets. Based on current electricity demand, this price reduction will result in an annual revenue loss of €2.96 billion – €3.88 billion. Importantly, this revenue loss will not be distributed equally amongst wholesale generators. Generators with higher marginal costs will be affected disproportionately because the frequency with which they can be dispatched profitably will decrease more than for cheaper generators. Specifically, this will hurt natural gas plants, many of which will be phased out due to unfavorable economics. This loss of natural gas plants will 1) present challenges to the grid’s ability to maintain stability while introducing more intermittent renewables and 2) force Germany to remain reliant on carbon-rich coal for electricity. The findings of this study are then applied to other locations that are also pursuing aggressive renewable energy targets.Item Open Access Evidence from case-control and longitudinal studies supports associations of genetic variation in APOE, CETP, and IL6 with human longevity.(Age (Dordr), 2013-04) Soerensen, Mette; Dato, Serena; Tan, Qihua; Thinggaard, Mikael; Kleindorp, Rabea; Beekman, Marian; Suchiman, H Eka D; Jacobsen, Rune; McGue, Matt; Stevnsner, Tinna; Bohr, Vilhelm A; de Craen, Anton JM; Westendorp, Rudi GJ; Schreiber, Stefan; Slagboom, P Eline; Nebel, Almut; Vaupel, James W; Christensen, Kaare; Christiansen, LeneIn this study, we investigated 102 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) covering the common genetic variation in 16 genes recurrently regarded as candidates for human longevity: APOE; ACE; CETP; HFE; IL6; IL6R; MTHFR; TGFB1; APOA4; APOC3; SIRTs 1, 3, 6; and HSPAs 1A, 1L, 14. In a case-control study of 1,089 oldest-old (ages 92-93) and 736 middle-aged Danes, the minor allele frequency (MAF) of rs769449 (APOE) was significantly decreased in the oldest-old, while the MAF of rs9923854 (CETP) was significantly enriched. These effects were supported when investigating 1,613 oldest-old (ages 95-110) and 1,104 middle-aged Germans. rs769449 was in modest linkage equilibrium (R (2)=0.55) with rs429358 of the APOE-ε4 haplotype and adjusting for rs429358 eliminated the association of rs769449, indicating that the association likely reflects the well-known effect of rs429358. Gene-based analysis confirmed the effects of variation in APOE and CETP and furthermore pointed to HSPA14 as a longevity gene. In a longitudinal study with 11 years of follow-up on survival in the oldest-old Danes, only one SNP, rs2069827 (IL6), was borderline significantly associated with survival from age 92 (P-corrected=0.064). This advantageous effect of the minor allele was supported when investigating a Dutch longitudinal cohort (N=563) of oldest-old (age 85+). Since rs2069827 was located in a putative transcription factor binding site, quantitative RNA expression studies were conducted. However, no difference in IL6 expression was observed between rs2069827 genotype groups. In conclusion, we here support and expand the evidence suggesting that genetic variation in APOE, CETP, and IL6, and possible HSPA14, is associated with human longevity.Item Open Access Flashbulb memories and posttraumatic stress reactions across the life span: age-related effects of the German occupation of Denmark during World War II.(Psychol Aging, 2006-03) Berntsen, Dorthe; Rubin, David CA representative sample of older Danes were interviewed about experiences from the German occupation of Denmark in World War II. The number of participants with flashbulb memories for the German invasion (1940) and capitulation (1945) increased with participants' age at the time of the events up to age 8. Among participants under 8 years at the time of their most traumatic event, age at the time correlated positively with the current level of posttraumatic stress reactions and the vividness of stressful memories and their centrality to life story and identity. These findings were replicated in Study 2 for self-nominated stressful events sampled from the entire life span using a representative sample of Danes born after 1945. The results are discussed in relation to posttraumatic stress disorder and childhood amnesia.Item Open Access Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies common variants in CTNNA2 associated with excitement-seeking.(Translational psychiatry, 2011-10-18) Terracciano, A; Esko, T; Sutin, AR; de Moor, MHM; Meirelles, O; Zhu, G; Tanaka, T; Giegling, I; Nutile, T; Realo, A; Allik, J; Hansell, NK; Wright, MJ; Montgomery, GW; Willemsen, G; Hottenga, J-J; Friedl, M; Ruggiero, D; Sorice, R; Sanna, S; Cannas, A; Räikkönen, K; Widen, E; Palotie, A; Eriksson, JG; Cucca, F; Krueger, RF; Lahti, J; Luciano, M; Smoller, JW; van Duijn, CM; Abecasis, GR; Boomsma, DI; Ciullo, M; Costa, PT; Ferrucci, L; Martin, NG; Metspalu, A; Rujescu, D; Schlessinger, D; Uda, MThe tendency to seek stimulating activities and intense sensations define excitement-seeking, a personality trait akin to some aspects of sensation-seeking. This trait is a central feature of extraversion and is a component of the multifaceted impulsivity construct. Those who score high on measures of excitement-seeking are more likely to smoke, use other drugs, gamble, drive recklessly, have unsafe/unprotected sex and engage in other risky behaviors of clinical and social relevance. To identify common genetic variants associated with the Excitement-Seeking scale of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, we performed genome-wide association studies in six samples of European ancestry (N=7860), and combined the results in a meta-analysis. We identified a genome-wide significant association between the Excitement-Seeking scale and rs7600563 (P=2 × 10(-8)). This single-nucleotide polymorphism maps within the catenin cadherin-associated protein, alpha 2 (CTNNA2) gene, which encodes for a brain-expressed α-catenin critical for synaptic contact. The effect of rs7600563 was in the same direction in all six samples, but did not replicate in additional samples (N=5105). The results provide insight into the genetics of excitement-seeking and risk-taking, and are relevant to hyperactivity, substance use, antisocial and bipolar disorders.Item Embargo Moral Politics: Global Humanitarianism, Africa, and West Germany, 1960-1985(2022) Sharman, William BradfordThis dissertation excavates historical fragments, moments, and broader patterns of humanitarian connection between West Germany and the wider world, and specifically to Nigeria-Biafra and Ethiopia, from the 1960s to the 1980s. It brings them together under the sign of global humanitarianism, but it does not tally them to an uplifting account or cautionary tale about humanitarianism’s rise and fall. Engaging history transnationally, beyond the Cold War, and outside the bounds of former empires, each chapter works micro-historically outward from specific places and conjunctures in order, first, to analyze the logics and effects of humanitarian aid, activism, and intervention in concrete circumstances; second, to assert West Germany’s changing placement in the postcolonial world; and third, to show how humanitarian concerns were tied to and impacted some of the key political issues of European and African history in the later twentieth century, including nationalisms and civil wars, student activisms, refugee migrations, child malnutrition, capitalist-socialist economic development, novel media forms, Holocaust memories, and new African diasporas. To define and explain the interrelation of the humanitarian and the political, this dissertation uses the concept of “moral politics.” By examining archival, visual, and oral-historical sources that shed light on West German, Nigerian-Biafran, and Ethiopian pasts from oblique angles, this dissertation pushes the study of twentieth-century global history beyond masternarratives of the Cold War and colonial imperialism. It also highlights people, ideas, and processes that defined an era when the faint futures of our present and the distant echoes of an earlier age were in dynamic tension.
Item Open Access Mother, Matron, Matriarch: Sanctity and Social Change in the Cult of St. Anne, 1450-1750(2009) Welsh, Jennifer LynnAs a saint with no biblical or historical basis for her legend, St. Anne could change radically over time with cultural and doctrinal shifts even as her status as Mary's mother remained at the core of her legend and provided an appearance of consistency. "Mother, Matron, Matriarch: Sanctity and Social Change in the Cult of St. Anne, 1450-1750" takes issue with the general view that the cult of St. Anne in Northern Europe flourished in the late Middle Ages, only to wither away in the Reformation, and advances a new understanding of it. It does so by taking a longer view, beginning around 1450 and extending to 1750 in order to show how St. Anne's cult and the Holy Kinship elucidated long-term shifts in religious and cultural mores regarding the relationships between domesticity and sanctity, what constituted properly pious lay behavior, and attitudes towards women (in particular older women). Materials used include vita, devotional texts, confraternal records, sermons, treatises, and works of art across the time period under investigation. After a definite period of decline during the mid-sixteenth century (as evidenced by lower pilgrimage statistics, confraternity records, and a lack of text production), St. Anne enjoyed a revival in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Catholicism in a "purified" form, reconfigured to suit new religious and social norms which emphasized patriarchal authority within the household and obedience to the Catholic Church among the laity. In this context, St. Anne became a humble, pious widow whose own purity serves as proof of Mary's Immaculate Conception, and whose meek devotion to her holy daughter and grandson exemplified properly obedient reverence for the laity.
Item Open Access Preferring Refugees: How German Attitudes Changed During the European Refugee Crisis and Along Historical State Divides(2017-05-15) McMichael, JohnThe 2015 refugee crisis brought 1.3 million migrants to Europe; of those, one million sought asylum in Germany, bringing profound social and political repercussions. Germany is now challenged with aiding and integrating over a million migrants; my thesis aims to understand how German attitudes towards refugees have changed over the course of the refugee crisis. This study uses data from national surveys to determine trends in German public opinion on migrants between March 2015 and March 2016. A discrete choice experiment revealed implicit preference biases among German citizens on the bases of religious affiliation, gender, profession and education level, origin, and reason for immigrating. German citizens felt most strongly towards religion and reason for immigrating; Muslim refugees and migrants seeking economic improvement were heavily disfavored when compared to Christians and migrants claiming persecution. Respondents in the former GDR disfavored Muslim migrants more than respondents in western Germany, but western Germans’ attitudes towards Muslims changed significantly during the refugee crisis. Respondents in west Germany also held stronger preferences against economic migrants; these attitudes changed significantly more than eastern respondents’ over time. These trends in German public opinion on refugees have important social and political implications for integration efforts and asylum policies moving forward.Item Open Access Reproductive improvement and senescence in a long-lived bird.(Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2010-04-27) Rebke, Maren; Coulson, Tim; Becker, Peter H; Vaupel, James WHeterogeneity within a population is a pervasive challenge for studies of individual life-histories. Population-level patterns in age-specific reproductive success can be broken down into relative contributions from selective disappearance, selective appearance of individuals into the study population, and average change in performance for survivors (average ontogenetic development). In this article, we provide an exact decomposition. We apply our formula to data on the reproductive performance of a well characterized population of common terns (Sterna hirundo). We show that improvements with age over most of adult life and senescence at old ages are primarily due to a genuine change in the mean among surviving individuals rather than selective disappearance or selective appearance of individuals. Average ontogenetic development accounts for approximately 87% of the overall age-specific population change.Item Open Access The importance of regional availability of health care for old age survival - Findings from German reunification.(Popul Health Metr, 2015) Vogt, Tobias C; Vaupel, James WBACKGROUND: This article investigates the importance of regional health care availability for old age survival. Using German reunification as a natural experiment, we show that spatial variation in health care in East Germany considerably influenced the convergence of East German life expectancy toward West German levels. METHOD: We apply cause-deleted life tables and continuous mortality decomposition for the years 1982-2007 to show how reductions in circulatory mortality among the elderly affected the East German catch-up in life expectancy. RESULTS: Improvements in remaining life expectancy at older ages were first seen in towns with university hospitals, where state-of-the-art services became available first. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the modernization of the health care system had a substantial effect on old-age life expectancy and helped to significantly reduce circulatory diseases as the main cause of death in East Germany.Item Open Access The Modernist Kaleidoscope: Schoenberg's Reception History in England, America, Germany and Austria 1908-1924(2014) Neill, Sarah ElaineMuch of our understanding of Schoenberg and his music today is colored by early responses to his so-called free-atonal work from the first part of the twentieth century, especially in his birthplace, Vienna. This early, crucial reception history has been incredibly significant and subversive; the details of the personal and political motivations behind deeply negative or manically positive responses to Schoenberg's music have not been preserved with the same fidelity as the scandalous reactions themselves. We know that Schoenberg was feared, despised, lauded, and imitated early in his career, but much of the explanation as to why has been forgotten or overlooked. As a result our own reception of Schoenberg's music is built upon inherited fears, hopes, and insecurities that are now nearly a century old. In order to more fully approach these musical works and their composer it is necessary to attempt to separate his reputation from the sound of the music.
This dissertation, which studies Schoenberg's reception from 1908 through 1924 in the United States, Britain, and Austria and German through select works (Opp. 10, 15, 16, 17), contributes to the field by uncovering additional primary sources, including previously unknown performances and reviews. My work interacts with larger trends in musicology, including questioning the narrative of atonality, assessing the value of social and artistic movements (i.e. expressionism) as applied to music, and examining how the reception of a work is the combination of many factors - from the aural to the political - which intertwine to form our idea of a musical text. Ultimately, through a study based on close musical analysis employing elements of set-class theory, the methodology of Rezeptionsästhetik, and a focus on historical context, I present an interpretation in which Schoenberg's reception is strongly determined by early critical responses from Vienna, where conservative views of music's role in society combined with undercurrents of anti-Semitic thought to brand Schoenberg as mentally unstable and his music as socially detrimental.
Item Open Access The Wesselhoefts: A medical dynasty from the age of Goethe to the era of nuclear medicine.(Journal of medical biography, 2017-11) Davidson, Jonathan RtFor six generations, members of the Wesselhoeft family have practiced medicine in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Canada and/or the USA. In the early decades of the 19th century, two Wesselhoeft brothers left Europe to eventually settle in New England, where they and their progeny gave rise to a regional medical dynasty. The Wesselhoeft doctors became well-known practitioners of homeopathy, hydropathy, conventional medicine and surgery, in academic and general clinical settings. An additional connection was established to the literary worlds of Germany and the USA, either through friendships or as personal physicians.Item Open Access "Three and a Half Men": the Bülow-Hammann System of Public Relations before the First World War(2009) Orgill, Nathan NeilThis dissertation analyzes the history of the press bureau of the German Foreign Office before the First World War. Methodologically, the work tries to locate European international history in a larger political, intellectual, and cultural context by examining German statesmen and their attempts to cultivate a consensus for their policies in the Reichstag and the press from 1890 to 1914. Relying upon official documents, memoirs, personal letters, and published newspaper articles, it argues that the death of the "Old Diplomacy," usually associated with the years after the Versailles Peace Treaty, actually began as early as 1890. This development caused German statesmen after Bismarck's dismissal to invent new ways of building public support for their policies through the creation of what is labeled here the "Bülow-Hammann System" of public relations. Eschewing Bismarckian methods of compulsion, this new system cultivated personal connections with journalists from trusted newspapers who would toe a government line for inside information. The system initially worked well to meet the new openness of the international milieu after 1890. But eventually these methods failed to stem criticism on the nationalist right and socialist left after 1909, when Germany's position vis-à-vis France, Britain, and Russia greatly deteriorated. As a result, more modern methods of dealing with public opinion had to be developed in Germany after 1914--the dissemination of outright propaganda and the use of modern press conferences--to cultivate support for governmental policies.