Bielefeld University

About: Bielefeld University is a education organization based out in Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Quantum chromodynamics. The organization has 10123 authors who have published 26576 publications receiving 728250 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Bielefeld & UNIVERSITAET BIELEFELD.

Coronavirus-Related Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Study in Adults during the COVID-19 Infodemic in Germany.

Abstract: There is an "infodemic" associated with the COVID-19 pandemic-an overabundance of valid and invalid information. Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information, making it crucial for navigating coronavirus and COVID-19 information environments. A cross-sectional representative study of participants ≥ 16 years in Germany was conducted using an online survey. A coronavirus-related health literacy measure was developed (HLS-COVID-Q22). Internal consistency was very high (α = 0.940; ρ = 0.891) and construct validity suggests a sufficient model fit, making HLS-COVID-Q22 a feasible tool for assessing coronavirus-related health literacy in population surveys. While 49.9% of our sample had sufficient levels of coronavirus-related health literacy, 50.1% had "problematic" (15.2%) or "inadequate" (34.9%) levels. Although the overall level of health literacy is high, a vast number of participants report difficulties dealing with coronavirus and COVID-19 information. The participants felt well informed about coronavirus, but 47.8% reported having difficulties judging whether they could trust media information on COVID-19. Confusion about coronavirus information was significantly higher among those who had lower health literacy. This calls for targeted public information campaigns and promotion of population-based health literacy for better navigation of information environments during the infodemic, identification of disinformation, and decision-making based on reliable and trustworthy information.

Plant defense and delayed infection of alfalfa pseudonodules induced by an exopolysaccharide (EPS I)-deficient Rhizobium meliloti mutant

Abstract: Mutants of the symbiotic soil bacterium Rhizobium meliloti that fail to synthesize the acidic exopolysaccharide EPS I were unable to induce infected root nodules on Medicago sativa L. (alfalfa). These strains, however, elicited pseudonodules that contained no infection threads or bacteroids. The cortical cell walls of the pseudonodules were abnormally thick and incrusted with an autofluorescent material. Parts of these cell walls and wall appositions contained callose. Biochemical analysis of nodules induced by the EPS I-deficient R. meliloti mutant revealed an increase of phenolic compounds bound to the nodule cell walls when compared with the wild-type strain. These microscopic and biochemical data indicated that a general plant defence response against the EPS I-deficient mutant of R. meliloti was induced in alfalfa pseudonodules. Following prolonged incubation with the EPS I-deficient R. meliloti mutant, the defence system of the alfalfa plant could be overcome by the rhizobium mutant. In the case of the delayed infections, the mutants colonized lobes of the pseudonodules, but the infection threads in these nodules had an abnormal morphology. They were greatly enlarged and did not contain the typical gum-like matrix inside. The bacteria were tightly packed. Based on the mechanism of phytopathogenic interactions, we propose that EPS I or a related compound may act as a suppressor of the alfalfa plant defence system, enabling R. meliloti to infect the plant.

Two loop two point functions with masses: Asymptotic expansions and Taylor series, in any dimension

Abstract: In all mass cases needed for quark and gluon self-energies, the two-loop master diagram is expanded at large and smallq2, ind dimensions, using identities derived from integration by parts Expansions are given, in terms of hypergeometric series, for all gluon diagrams and for all but one of the quark diagrams; expansions of the latter are obtained from differential equations Pade approximants to truncations of the expansions are shown to be of great utility As an application, we obtain the two-loop photon self-energy, for alld, and achieve highly accelerated convergence of its expansions in powers ofq2/m2 orm2/q2, ford=4

Surfactant-encapsulated clusters (SECs): (DODA)20(NH4)[H3Mo57V6(NO)6O183(H2O)18], a case study.

Abstract: We present a comprehensive study of the partially reduced polyoxomolybdate [H3Mo57V6(NO)(6)O-183(H2O)(18)](21-) encapsulated in a shell of dimethyldioctadecylammonium (DODA) surfactant molecules. Treatment of an aqueous solution of (NH4)(21)[H3Mo57V6-(NO)(6)O-183(H2O)(18)]. 65H(2)O (1a) with a trichloromethane solution of the surfactant leads to instant transfer of the encapsulated complex anion into the organic phase. Results from vibrational spectroscopy, analytical ultracentrifugation, small-angle X-ray scattering, transmission electron microscopy, elemental analysis, and Langmuir compression isotherms are consistent with a single polyoxometalate core encapsulated within a shell of 20 DODA molecules. The molar mass of the supramolecular assembly is 20 249 g mol(-1) and the diameter is 3.5nm. A material with the empirical formula (DODA)(20)(NH4)[H-3-Mo57V6(NO)(6)O-183(H2O)(18)] (2) was isolated as a dark violet solid, which readily dissolves in organic solvents. Slow evaporation of solutions of 2 on solid substrates forces the hydrophobic particles to aggregate into a cubic lattice. Annealing these so-formed films at elevated temperature causes de-wetting with terrace formation similar to liquid crystals and block copolymers. Compound 2 forms a stable Langmuir monolayer at the air-water interface; Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers are readily prepared by repeated transfer of monolayers on solid substrates. The films were characterized by optical ellipsometry, Brewster angle microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray reflectance.

Complex heavy-quark potential at finite temperature from lattice QCD.

Abstract: We calculate for the first time the complex potential between a heavy quark and antiquark at finite temperature across the deconfinement transition in lattice QCD. The real and imaginary part of the potential at each separation distance r is obtained from the spectral function of the thermal Wilson loop. We confirm the existence of an imaginary part above the critical temperature TC, which grows as a function of r and underscores the importance of collisions with the gluonic environment for the melting of heavy quarkonia in the Quark-Gluon-Plasma. Heavy-quark bound states (Q ¯ Q) are essential tools in the experimental and theoretical investigation of the high temperature state of QCD matter, the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) [1]. In particular, the suppression of heavy quarkonia, as has been measured e.g. for J/