University of Basel

About: University of Basel is a education organization based out in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Gene. The organization has 25084 authors who have published 52975 publications receiving 2388002 citations. The organization is also known as: Universität Basel & Basel University.

Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire

Abstract: Zusammenfassung. Der Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire von Fairburn und Beglin (EDE-Q; 1994) ist die Fragebogenversion des strukturierten Essstorungsinterviews Eating Disorder Examination (EDE). Der EDE-Q erfasst die spezifische Essstorungspsychopathologie mithilfe von vier Subskalen zum gezugelten Essverhalten, zu Sorgen uber das Essen, Gewicht und Figur. Die in diesem Beitrag vorgestellte deutschsprachige Ubersetzung des EDE-Q wurde in Stichproben mit Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa und atypischen Essstorungen, sowie nicht-klinischen, subklinischen und psychiatrischen Vergleichsgruppen teststatistisch untersucht (N = 706). Der EDE-Q erwies sich als intern konsistent und stabil. Seine faktorielle Struktur wurde teilweise reproduziert. Die Kennwerte des EDE-Q waren signifikant mit denen des EDE korreliert, fielen erwartungsgemas jedoch teilweise hoher aus. Weitere Hinweise fur die konvergente Validitat ergaben sich durch Korrelationen mit konzeptverwandten Fragebogen. Der EDE-Q zeigte eine gute ...

Mindfulness Training as an Intervention for Fibromyalgia: Evidence of Postintervention and 3-Year Follow-Up Benefits in Well-Being

Abstract: Background: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) proposes a systematic program for reduction of suffering associated with a wide range of medical conditions. Studies suggest improvements in general aspects of well-being, including quality of life (QoL), coping and positive affect, as well as decreased anxiety and depression. Methods: A quasi-experimental study examined effects of an 8-week MBSR intervention among 58 female patients with fibromyalgia (mean, 52 8 8 years) who underwent MBSR or an active social support procedure. Participants were assigned to groups by date of entry, and 6 subjects dropped out during the study. Self-report measures were validated German inventories and included the following scales: visual analog pain, pain perception, coping with pain, a symptom checklist and QoL. Pre- and postintervention measurements were made. Additionally, a 3-year follow-up was carried out on a subgroup of 26 participants. Results: Pre- to postintervention analyses indicated MBSR to provide significantly greater benefits than the control intervention on most dimensions, including visual analog pain, QoL subscales, coping with pain, anxiety, depression and somatic complaints (Cohen d

The Accretion Origin of the Milky Way’s Stellar Halo

Abstract: We have used data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 5 to explore the overall structure and substructure of the stellar halo of the Milky Way using ~4 million color-selected main-sequence turnoff stars with -->0.2 18.5 ? r 0.5 3.7 ? 1.2 ? 108 M?. The density profile of the stellar halo is approximately -->? r??, where ? -->2 > ? > ? 4. Yet, we found that all smooth and symmetric models were very poor fits to the distribution of stellar halo stars because the data exhibit a great deal of spatial substructure. We quantified deviations from a smooth oblate/triaxial model using the rms of the data around the model profile on scales 100 pc, after accounting for the (known) contribution of Poisson uncertainties. Within the DR5 area of the SDSS, the fractional rms deviation ?/total of the actual stellar distribution from any smooth, parameterized halo model is 40%: hence, the stellar halo is highly structured. We compared the observations with simulations of galactic stellar halos formed entirely from the accretion of satellites in a cosmological context by analyzing the simulations in the same way as the SDSS data. While the masses, overall profiles, and degree of substructure in the simulated stellar halos show considerable scatter, the properties and degree of substructure in the Milky Way's halo match well the properties of a typical stellar halo built exclusively out of the debris from disrupted satellite galaxies. Our results therefore point toward a picture in which an important fraction of the stellar halo of the Milky Way has been accreted from satellite galaxies.

Ecosystem effects of biodiversity manipulations in european grasslands

Abstract: We present a multisite analysis of the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning within the European BIODEPTH network of plant-diversity manipulation experiments. We report results of the analysis of 11 variables addressing several aspects of key ecosystem processes like biomass production, resource use (space, light, and nitrogen), and decomposition, measured across three years in plots of varying plant species richness at eight different European grassland field sites. Differences among sites explained substantial and significant amounts of the variation of most of the ecosystem processes examined. However, against this background of geographic variation, all the aspects of plant diversity and composition we examined (i.e., both numbers and types of species and functional groups) produced significant, mostly positive impacts on ecosystem processes. Analyses using the additive partitioning method revealed that complementarity effects (greater net yields than predicted from monocultures due to resource partitioning, positive interactions, etc.) were stronger and more consistent than selection effects (the covariance between monoculture yield and change in yield in mixtures) caused by dominance of species with particular traits. In general, communities with a higher diversity of species and functional groups were more productive and utilized resources more completely by intercepting more light, taking up more nitrogen, and occupying more of the available space. Diversity had significant effects through both increased vegetation cover and greater nitrogen retention by plants when this resource was more abundant through N2 fixation by legumes. However, additional positive diversity effects remained even after controlling for differences in vegetation cover and for the presence of legumes in communities. Diversity effects were stronger on above- than belowground processes. In particular, clear diversity effects on decomposition were only observed at one of the eight sites. The ecosystem effects of plant diversity also varied between sites and years. In general, diversity effects were lowest in the first year and stronger later in the experiment, indicating that they were not transitional due to community establishment. These analyses of our complete ecosystem process data set largely reinforce our previous results, and those from comparable biodiversity experiments, and extend the generality of diversity–ecosystem functioning relationships to multiple sites, years, and processes.