Public controversy and citizens' attitude formation about animal research: A case for scholarship and recommendations on conflicts at the science-society interface

Activist groups attack animal research and put scientists and their institutions under pressure, whereas scientists often remain silent. We report an interdisciplinary research project driven by a communication science perspective on how citizens respond to news reports about animal research (3 experiments, overall N = 765) and a German science-initiated information platform ("Tierversuche verstehen"; controlled user study, N = 100). Findings demonstrate that a critical journalist perspective within neutral, two-sided news reports (e.g., skeptical expert statements or images of suffering animals) does not affect citizen opinion strongly. Information media provided by scientific institutions seem to be welcomed even by citizens who hold critical prior attitudes. From these results, we develop a set of recommendations for future public communication of animal research that builds on best practices in organizational and crisis communication. These suggestions are intended to empower animal researchers to actively participate in public debate to support citizens' informed attitude formation.

In-Situ X-ray Tomography Study of Cement Exposed to CO2 Saturated Brine

For successful CO₂ storage in underground reservoirs, the potential problem of CO₂ leakage needs to be addressed. A profoundly improved understanding of the behavior of fractured cement under realistic subsurface conditions including elevated temperature, high pressure and the presence of CO₂ saturated brine is required. Here, we report in situ X-ray micro computed tomography (μ-CT) studies visualizing the microstructural changes upon exposure of cured Portland cement with an artificially engineered leakage path (cavity) to CO₂ saturated brine at high pressure. Carbonation of the bulk cement, self-healing of the leakage path in the cement specimen, and leaching of CaCO₃ were thus directly observed. The precipitation of CaCO₃, which is of key importance as a possible healing mechanism of fractured cement, was found to be enhanced in confined regions having limited access to CO₂. For the first time, the growth kinetics of CaCO₃ under more realistic well conditions have thus been estimated quantitatively. Combining the μ-CT observations with scanning electron microscopy resulted in a detailed understanding of the processes involved in the carbonation of cement.

Miniaturized modules for light sheet microscopy with low chromatic aberration

Two miniaturized fibre-coupled modules for light sheet-based microscopy are described and compared with respect to image quality, chromatic aberration and beam alignment. Whereas in one module the light sheet is created by an achromatic cylindrical lens, reflection by a spherical mirror and concomitant astigmatic distortion are used to create the light sheet in the second module. Test experiments with fluorescent dyes in solution and multicellular tumour spheroids are reported, and some details on construction are given for both systems. Both modules are optimized for imaging individual cell layers of 3D biological samples and can be adapted to fit commercial microscopes.

The thio-Mitsunobu reaction of D-glucitol, D-mannitol, galactitol and 1-seleno-D-xylitol

Unprotected D-glucitol is transformed into 5-O-acetyl-1,4-anhydro-6-thio-D-glucitol (3) in one step by use of the thio-Mitsunobu reaction. Rearrangement (acetyl group migration) to form 3-O-acetyl-1,4-anhydro-6-thio-D-glucitol occurs during column chromatography of 3 on silica gel. 2,5-Di-O-acetyl-1,6-dithio-D-mannitol and 1,6-di-S-acetyl-2,5-anhydro-1,6-dithio-D-glucitol (characterized as the corresponding p-nitrobenzoates) are formed from D-mannitol, whereas galactitol yields a mass of unidentified products. 1-Seleno-D-xylitol, produced by reduction of D-xylose with hydrogen selenide, does not undergo a Mitsunobu reaction.

Real continuous biomass production ofBradyrhizobium japonicum in a veterinary vaccine production unit

In a real continuous culture,Bradyrhizobium japonicum strain 1755 was maintained in the 'Göttingen bioreactor unit' developed to produce veterinary bacterial vaccines for a period of 110 days without contamination or mutations. The average yield of viable bacteria over the whole period was more than 10(10)/ml.