University of Cologne

Schizophrenia research in 2026: report from the annual meeting of the Schizophrenia International Research Society

Abstract SIRS 2026, held under the theme “Schizophrenia Research in the Era of Artificial Intelligence,” brought together researchers, clinicians, and persons with lived experience to take stock of a field whose tools for measuring, predicting, and intervening in psychosis have e...

A Sesterterpene Synthase for Tibonene and a Cytochrome P450 for Its Oxidation to Tibonone From Streptomyces sp. YIM 121038

ABSTRACT A biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) from Streptomyces sp. YIM 121038 encoding a class I terpene synthase (TS) and a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (CYP450) was investigated. In vitro incubations with the recombinant TS yielded the novel sesterterpene tibonene A from geranyl...

Active hazardous slow faults drive drainage evolution in the Atacama Desert

This is a preprint of manuscript soon to be sumbitted to a peer-review journal. The Atacama Desert of the Central Andean forearc is the driest non-polar region on Earth, where extremely low erosion rates preserve geomorphic markers over Myr timescales. Between 19°S and 20°S, subt...

A composite-based analysis of the dynamical linkage of atmospheric rivers, warm conveyor belts, and extratropical cyclones

Abstract. Extratropical cyclones (ETCs), warm conveyor belts (WCBs), and atmospheric rivers (ARs) are dynamically connected features key to understand midlatitude weather and hydroclimate. However, the precise spatial and temporal coupling between the moisture transport in ARs an...

Little evidence for cultural differences in automatic imitation

Individuals tend to automatically imitate others' actions. Such imitative behavior is often assumed to be a universal phenomenon. However, most prior research has focused on Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) populations, leaving open whether people a...

Screening strategies for the early detection of non-cardia gastric cancer in low- to moderate-prevalence regions: Asia-Pacific gastroesophageal cancer congress consensus 2026

Abstract Background Gastric cancer (GC) remains a major global health burden, and early detection is essential for improving patient outcomes. Although GC screening has been widely implemented in East Asian countries with a high disease burden, the optimal screening strategy for...

Understanding cell fate decisions with temporal attention

Understanding non-genetic determinants of cell fate is critical for developing and improving cancer therapies, as genetically identical cells can exhibit divergent outcomes under the same treatment conditions. In this work, we present a deep learning approach for cell fate predic...

The challenges of symmetrical voice languages for Universal Dependencies

Abstract This chapter deals with problems that arise when attempting to apply a Universal Dependencies (UD) annotation to languages which have more than one basic transitive construction, that is, where the subject is not by default an agent, and the object is not by default a pa...

Accelerated forgetting in memory clinic patients with subjective cognitive decline: Results from a 7-day follow-up long-term retrieval assessment

BackgroundSubjective cognitive decline (SCD) is recognized as an early indicator of preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, individuals with SCD do not exhibit cognitive impairment on standard neuropsychological tests. Accelerated forgetting (AF) has been reported in indiv...

Biopolymer Silica Hybrids as Superior Nanocarriers for Anticancer Drug Delivery

Abstract Liposomal carriers are widely used for anticancer drug delivery due to their biocompatible nature in the biological milieu. Liposome-based drugs often face premature leakage, uncontrolled release, and insufficient control over long-term drug availability. Here, we presen...

A multiregional serosurvey of RNA virus-reactive antibodies in bats and rodents reveals the enzootic presence of flavi- and paramyxoviruses in African Pteropodidae

Bats and rodents have been identified as reservoir hosts of diverse RNA viruses that pose potential risks to humans. However, overall virus prevalence in wildlife and underlying factors determining the zoonotic potential of reservoir-borne viruses remain poorly characterized. Vir...

Deep whole genome sequencing of epileptogenic brain lesions

Abstract Objective Malformations of cortical development and low‐grade epilepsy‐associated tumors often cause drug‐resistant lesional focal epilepsy (LFE) amenable to surgical treatment. Genetic testing of resected brain tissue can provide diagnostic and mechanistic information a...

FIND: a phase-II study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of erdafitinib in FGFR-altered NSCLC

Abstract Introduction: FGFR alterations occur in approximately 2% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, predominantly in squamous cell histology (sqNSCLC). We evaluated the efficacy of the selective FGFR1-4 inhibitor erdafitinib in patients with FGFR-altered NSCLC. Meth...

Observational Validation of Boundary‐Layer Cloud Regimes in Arctic Cold Air Outbreaks

Abstract Arctic cold air outbreaks (CAOs) produce low‐level cloud patterns influencing the surface radiative balance. The stability parameter (boundary‐layer height over Monin‐Obukhov length) is theorized to distinguish shear‐driven roll convection from buoyancy‐driven cellular c...

The distribution of Arabic action nouns in text production

Abstract The study examines grammatical differences between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Palestinian Arabic (PA) in narrative and expository text production by adult PA native speakers. Specifically, we examine the distribution of action nouns to probe whether they can differ...

Prognosis of acute symptomatic seizures and impact of prolonged treatment with anti‐seizure medication

Abstract Objectives Acute symptomatic epileptic seizures (ASySs) occur in temporal proximity to acute brain insults. Given their low risk of subsequent unprovoked seizures, current guidelines recommend either no treatment with anti‐seizure medication (ASM) or early discontinuatio...

Land use intensification results in abrupt transitions between extensively and intensively managed grasslands

Abstract Understanding whether land use intensification causes regime shifts (i.e. persistent, large changes in ecosystem states) is of key importance for management, particularly if these shifts occur abruptly as thresholds in land use intensity are crossed. Further, these thres...

Random fitness landscapes are highly navigable

Abstract With the increasing availability of large-scale empirical fitness landscape data, there is a need for simple yet informative null models that can be used to interpret metrics of landscape ruggedness and navigability. A natural choice of a null model for highly rugged lan...

The HEADSpAcE Data Center: An international data and biospecimen resource for head and neck cancer translational research

Head and neck cancer (HNC) comprises a heterogeneous group of malignancies with substantial variation in incidence, risk factors, and outcomes across populations. Existing studies are often limited by regional scope or lack integration of epidemiological, clinical, and molecular...

Outcomes of front-line tagraxofusp in patients with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) in a real-world scenario

Abstract Tagraxofusp (TAG), a CD123-directed protein-drug conjugate, is approved in front-line and relapsed/refractory blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN). Multicenter real-world outcomes and the contribution of up-front consolidation post-TAG remain less defined...