Large-Scale Web Scraping for Problem Gambling Research: A Case Study of COVID-19 Lockdown Effects in Germany.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to prevent its spread have had a negative impact on substance use behaviour. It is likely that social distancing and lockdown measures have also altered gambling behaviour, for instance shifting from land-based to online gambling. We used large-scale web scraping to analyse posting behaviour on a major German online gambling forum, gathering a database of more than 200k posts. We examined the usage of different subforums, i.e. terrestrial, online gambling and problem gambling sections, and changes in posting behaviour related to the casino closures that were part of the nationwide restrictions in Germany in 2020. There was a marked increase in newly registered users during the first lockdown compared to the preceding weeks, an increase in the number of posts in the online gambling subforum and concurrent decrease in the terrestrial gambling subforum. Further, the number of short-latency replies was higher during the first lockdown compared to the preceding weeks. Many users who posted in both the online and terrestrial forum contributed at least once to the problem gambling subforum, implying that the topic of problem gambling is widely discussed. Our findings may indicate a shift from terrestrial to online gambling during lockdown, and mirror the general increase in screen time and usage of online platforms after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analyses help to identify lockdown-related effects on gambling behaviour. These potentially detrimental effects pose a special threat for individuals at risk and may require monitoring and special public health measures.

[Implementation of the principle of supported employment in Germany : Position paper of a task force of the DGPPN]. / Umsetzung der Prinzipien des Supported Employment in Deutschland : Positionspapier einer Task-Force der DGPPN.

The effects of mental diseases on the employment and working situation can be substantial. They are one of the main reasons for inability to work and reduced earning capacity. Against this background the question arises about suitable occupational reintegration measures for people with severe mental illnesses. In recent years, the principle of supported employment has been internationally shown to be increasingly more successful. In this context mentally ill people are primarily placed at a position of the first employment market and supported on-site by a job coach. This concept is inclusive, individual and evidence based. Despite proven effectiveness, it has so far been insufficiently implemented in German-speaking regions. In the future it will be a matter of considering the individual needs for assistance of mentally ill people more intensively than previously and to respond with functional and in a best-case scenario, multiprofessional and flexible offers.

[Participatory Quality Development: Engaging Community Members in All Phases of Project Planning and Implementation]. / Partizipative Qualitätsentwicklung: Zielgruppen in alle Phasen der Projektgestaltung einbeziehen.

Community participation, recognised as a central feature of successful health promotion and prevention, is often difficult to implement. In this research project internationally recognised methods of participatory health research were applied to demonstrate ways in which community members can be engaged. Participatory health research is characterised by a close collaboration between academic researchers, practitioners and community members in order to generate common knowledge. It is not a question of translating knowledge from research into practice, but rather a question of promoting a collective learning process on the part of all participants for the purpose of developing solutions which address the interests and needs of local people. The result of the project is a new approach for strengthening the quality of prevention and health promotion interventions: participatory quality development (PQD).

Modelling the growth of plants with a uniform growth logistics.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The increment model has previously been used to describe the growth of plants in general. Here, we examine how the same logistics enables the development of different superstructures. METHODS: Data from the literature are analyzed with the increment model. Increments are growth-invariant molecular clusters, treated as heuristic particles. This approach formulates the law of mass action for multi-component systems, describing the general properties of superstructures which are optimized via relaxation processes. RESULTS: The daily growth patterns of hypocotyls can be reproduced implying predetermined growth invariant model parameters. In various species, the coordinated formation and death of fine roots are modeled successfully. Their biphasic annual growth follows distinct morphological programs but both use the same logistics. In tropical forests, distributions of the diameter in breast height of trees of different species adhere to the same pattern. Beyond structural fluctuations, competition and cooperation within and between the species may drive optimization. CONCLUSION: All superstructures of plants examined so far could be reproduced with our approach. With genetically encoded growth-invariant model parameters (interaction with the environment included) perfect morphological development runs embedded in the uniform logistics of the increment model.

[Practice-based evidence in prevention and health promotion among socially disadvantaged communities]. / Praxisbasierte Evidenz in der Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung bei sozial Benachteiligten.

In recent years numerous health promotion and prevention efforts have been created for socially disadvantaged communities. There is a broad consensus that such measures should be scientifically sound; however, the criteria for evidence-based medicine (EBM) have been shown to have limited applicability in this area. It is widely debated which scientific approaches are most appropriate. Several authors have called for the production of "practice-based evidence"(PBE) as an alternative, focusing on ways to produce evidence based directly on practical experience. Implied is a variety of methodological and epistemological approaches for generating knowledge about the effectiveness of interventions. In contrast to the usual means of generating evidence, PBE suggests that practitioners instead of researchers take on the leading role in the generation and interpretation of intervention data. To date, PBE is an idea in need of further definition, both in terms of theory and practice. On the basis of recent research the authors present a definition for PBE and a model for how it could be generated. The authors propose an "Evidence Cycle" which would synthesize the findings from local evaluations for the purpose of generating practice guidelines (Good Practice Criteria) which can be developed in an ongoing way as new data becomes available. In this way local theories of disease causation and development and local evidence for intervention effectiveness could be drawn together to produce empirically-based, generalizable statements about effective health promotion and prevention for disadvantaged communities.

The general growth logistics of cell populations.

An increment model based on thermodynamics lays bare that the cell size distributions of archaea, prokaryotes and eukaryotes are optimized and belong to the same universal class. Yet, when a cell absorbs mass or signals are processed, these conditions are disturbed. Relaxation re-installs ideal growth conditions via an exponential process with a rate that slows down with the cell size. In a growing ensemble, a distribution of relaxation modes comes in existence, exactly defined by the universal cell size distribution. The discovery of nano-mechanic acoustic activities in cells led us to assume that in a growing ensemble acoustic signals may contribute significantly to the transmission of essential information about growth-induced disturbances to all cells, initiating that way coordinated relaxation. The frequency increases with the cell number shortening the period between successive signals. The completion of rearrangements occurring at a constant rate is thus progressively impaired, until cellular growth stops, totally. Due to this phenomenon, the so-called "relaxation-frequency-dispersion" cell colonies should exhibit a maximum cell number. In populations with large cell numbers, subsystems, behaving similar-like colonies, should form network-like patterns. Based on these ideas, we formulate equations that describe the growth curves of all cell types, verifying that way the general nature of the growth logistics.

Polyamine metabolism in filarial worms.

The human and animal filarial parasites Onchocerca volvulus, Dirofilaria immitis, Brugia patei and Litomosoides carinii contained low levels of putrescine but much higher levels of spermidine and spermine as estimated by ion-pair high pressure liquid chromatography; N-acetylated polyamines were present only in minute amounts. Enzyme activities of ornithine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.17) and arginine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.19), respectively, were not detectable. Experiments carried out with O. volvulus and D. immitis demonstrated the uptake and bioconversion of labeled polyamines. There is evidence for the existence of a complete reverse pathway generating putrescine from spermidine and spermine, respectively, in both worms. N-Acetylating enzyme activities were detected in 100,000 X g preparations of homogenates from D. immitis which were capable to acetylate putrescine, spermidine and spermine. Long term incubation of the worms in the presence of labeled polyamines resulted in the excretion of putrescine and N-acetylputrescine.

Gases released from tissue and analyzed by infrared and gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy techniques.

Two techniques for analyzing contaminants released as gases from postmortem tissues were described and compared. One technique used gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS); the other, infrared spectroscopy (IR). Brain, lung, liver, blood and urine specimens were obtained from suspected drug-overdose victims whose deaths were contributed to or caused by inhalation of unknown gases or vapors during the period immediately preceding death. Gases from the postmortem tissues and liquid samples were separately admitted into an evacuated IR gas cell, the IR spectra recorded, and gas samples then removed for GC/MS analysis. Nitrous oxide, glue, and paint solvent constituents were identified and measured. Only the brain and lung tissues contained measurable amounts of inhalants. Both IR and GC/MS methods were adequate for normal confirmatory analyses; the GC/MS system was judged superior for fast routine efforts normally hampered by incomplete sample history.

[Psychodiagnosis as a possibility for systemic intervention? Some comments on tests and systemic approach]. / Psychodiagnostik als Möglichkeit für systemische Intervention? Einige Gedanken zu Tests und systemischem Ansatz.

Proceeding from contradicting practical requirements some reflections are being made on the possibility of using psycho-diagnostic requests for systemic short interventions in "problem determined systems". Referred to a standard diagnostic situation some possible circular and hypothetic questions of a first interview and potential new interpretations within a concluding statement are listed and being illustrated with 2 case studies. There are finally some considerations on possible functions of requests for psychological testing in "problem-determined systems".

[A systemic view of hyperactivity--considerations and case reports]. / Eine systemische Betrachtung zur Hyperaktivität--Uberlegungen und Fallbeispiele.

It is remarkable that in the latest literature on treatment of hyperactivity the aspects of relationship being connected with this symptom are almost being neglected--the ordinary treatments seem to be mostly centered on symptom or individual aspects although often "accompanying steps" are considered to be important. Based on case studies in the practice of family therapy the inclusion of relational aspects in the treatment of hyperactive children is being outlined. It has been tried to put special stress on the importance of this symptom for the family relationships context.

[Some remarks on early education and therapy from the systemic viewpoint]. / Einige Anmerkungen zu Frühförderung und-therapie aus systemischer Sicht.

Proceeding from a systemic approach some concepts of early education and therapy are looked at more closely. In this connexion special attention is given to the description of typical interactions of the parents-child-expert triad. Based on a case study it is finally tried to point out practical conclusions, resulting from a systemic approach.

On the structure-bounded growth processes in plant populations.

If growing cells in plants are considered to be composed of increments (ICs) an extended version of the law of mass action can be formulated. It evidences that growth of plants runs optimal if the reaction-entropy term (entropy times the absolute temperature) matches the contact energy of ICs. Since these energies are small, thermal molecular movements facilitate via relaxation the removal of structure disturbances. Stem diameter distributions exhibit extra fluctuations likely to be caused by permanent constraints. Since the signal-response system enables in principle perfect optimization only within finite-sized cell ensembles, plants comprising relatively large cell numbers form a network of size-limited subsystems. The maximal number of these constituents depends both on genetic and environmental factors. Accounting for logistical structure-dynamics interrelations, equations can be formulated to describe the bimodal growth curves of very different plants. The reproduction of the S-bended growth curves verifies that the relaxation modes with a broad structure-controlled distribution freeze successively until finally growth is fully blocked thus bringing about "continuous solidification".

[Health promoting interventions for migrants. Analysis of the database "Health Promotion for the Socially Disadvantaged" www.gesundheitliche-chancengleichheit.de]. / Gesundheitsfördernde Angebote für Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund. Sonderauswertung der Projektdatenbank "Gesundheitsförderung bei sozial Benachteiligten" www.gesundheitliche-chancengleichheit.de.

The nationwide database "Health Promotion for the Socially Disadvantaged" (http:// www.gesundheitliche-chancengleichheit. de), set up by Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA), includes about 2,700 projects, and amongst other activities also interventions for migrants living under socially disadvantaged circumstances. Based on qualitative interviews with the coordinators of some selected interventions, this contribution presents basic strategies and methods for reaching the target group.

Stationary cell size distributions and mean protein chain length distributions of Archaea, Bacteria and Eukaryotes described with an increment model in terms of irreversible thermodynamics.

In terms of an increment model irreversible thermodynamics allows to formulate general relations of stationary cell size distributions observed in growing colonies. The treatment is based on the following key postulates: i) The growth dynamics covers a broad spectrum of fast and slow processes. ii) Slow processes are considered to install structural patterns that operate in short periods as temporary stationary states of reference in the sense of irreversible thermodynamics. iii) Distortion during growth is balanced out via the many fast processes until an optimized stationary state is achieved. The relation deduced identifies the numerous different stationary patterns as equivalents, predicting that they should fall on one master curve. Stationary cell size distributions of different cell types, like Hyperphilic archaea, E. coli (Prokaryotes) and S. cerevisiae (Eukaryotes), altogether taken from the literature, are in fact consistently described. As demanded by the model they agree together with the same master curve. Considering the "protein factories" as subsystems of cells the mean protein chain length distributions deduced from completely sequenced genomes should be optimized. In fact, the mean course can be described with analogous relations as used above. Moreover, the master curve fits well to the patterns of different species of Archaea, Bacteria and Eukaryotes. General consequences are discussed.

The use of a topical Mazzotti test in the diagnosis of onchocerciasis.

The use of locally applied 1.6% diethylcarbamazine citrate in Nivea lotion as a diagnostic test for onchocerciasis was studied in 473 Liberians aged 2 to 55 years. The lotion was administered on an area of skin of 10 X 10 cm. Only papular reactions were considered as positive test results. The sensitivity of the test increased significantly with higher microfilaria densities and was higher in a hyperendemic area than in hypoendemic villages. No correlations were found between sensitivity and age and between intensity of papular reactions and microfilaria densities. Positive test results in persons without microfilariae in their skin snips produced only a minor increase of 2-3% in prevalence figures. Predictive values were calculated for different degrees of endemicity. They show that under certain conditions the topical Mazzotti test can be a simple and useful test. However, it cannot replace the search for microfilariae in skin snips.

Deep onchocercomata close to the thigh bones of a Liberian patient.

During nodulectomies on a 53 year old Liberian woman, multiple onchocercomata were detected on the femur distal to the greater trochanter on both sides of the body. The nodules were attached to the periosteum. This location along the shaft of the thigh bone provides a further hint as to where clinically undetectable deep onchocercomata can be located.

Stained native collagen: interpretation of the small angle X-ray scattering and electron microscopic pictures in terms of the primary structure.

The average axial electron-density distribution of stained collagen fibers derived from X-ray small angle pattern, is shown to be substantially related to the projection of the polar amino acid residues onto the axis of the microfibril taking into consideration the staggering of neighbouring molecules. In order to arrive ultimately at a quantitative representation of the experimental data, an additional periodic fluctuation of the density in direction of the fibril axis is required. The necessity of this regular microphase structure for an understanding of known physical properties of collagen fibers will be indicated.