Psychosocial stress modulates social cognition and behavior in humans. One potentially mediating factor is cortisol as part of the human endocrine stress response. With a double-blind, placebo-controlled between-subject study design, we tested possible dose-dependent effects of hydrocortisone (0 mg, 5 mg and 20 mg) in 85 healthy males. During a socio-economic decision-making task we measured trust, trustworthiness, sharing, punishment, and non-social risk behavior. Social value orientation (SVO) was also assessed. We observed significantly lower levels of punishment after hydrocortisone, especially in the 20 mg group. Drug-induced salivary cortisol correlated negatively with punishment behavior. None of the other facets of social behavior or the SVO were affected by hydrocortisone. Our results suggest that hydrocortisone reduces the propensity to punish unfair behavior. Future studies are needed to further disentangle the role played by various psychobiological mechanisms within the stress response as well as their complex interplay on social behavior and cognition.

Julia Strojny; Bernadette von Dawans; Hartmut Schächinger; Gregor Domes. Hydrocortisone reduces altruistic punishment in healthy men. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024, 165, 107027 .

Julia Strojny, Bernadette von Dawans, Hartmut Schächinger, Gregor Domes. Hydrocortisone reduces altruistic punishment in healthy men. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2024; 165 ():107027.

Julia Strojny; Bernadette von Dawans; Hartmut Schächinger; Gregor Domes. 2024. "Hydrocortisone reduces altruistic punishment in healthy men." Psychoneuroendocrinology 165, no. : 107027.

Soil organic matter (SOM) plays a central role for both the C cycle and soil functions. Plants provide the input and heterotrophic (micro)organisms are essential for the turnover. Microbial metabolism links matter and energy fluxes and generates the highest energy turnover dynamics in SOM because the organisms need both energy and matter for maintenance and growth. In this perspectives paper, we evaluate the knowledge on thermodynamic approaches potentially applicable to study the turnover of organic matter in the soil system. Thermodynamics is essential for understanding organic matter turnover in soil as turnover and storage are controlled by the energy supply to, and consumption by, microbes. Instead of just comparing the heat of combustion of compounds without considering microbial anabolism, we need to apply conventional thermodynamic state variables that can be either estimated using established thermodynamic equations, or measured empirically in soil. In particular, we can follow and quantify overall changes of enthalpies by calorimetry. Here, we suggest to apply a thermodynamic concept with the related experimental approaches of calo(respiro)metry and turnover mass balances including biomass formation. This enables us to better interpret and understand the highly variable carbon use efficiency (CUE) in a multi-substrate system such as soil and to relate this to energy use efficiency (EUE). Combining the experimental measurements of the thermodynamic state variables with mass turnover data allow prediction of whether compounds can be metabolized with energy delivery to microorganisms, or be thermodynamically stabilized under the respective redox and electron acceptor conditions. Energy balancing shows how much energy is actually used and retained in the soil, how much is emitted as heat, and how much may be stabilized due to endergonic turnover reactions. Thermodynamic stabilization should therefore be considered as basic stabilization process for organic compounds in soil.

Matthias Kästner; Thomas Maskow; Anja Miltner; Marcel Lorenz; Sören Thiele-Bruhn. Assessing energy fluxes and carbon use in soil as controlled by microbial activity - A thermodynamic perspective A perspective paper. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 2024, 193 .

Matthias Kästner, Thomas Maskow, Anja Miltner, Marcel Lorenz, Sören Thiele-Bruhn. Assessing energy fluxes and carbon use in soil as controlled by microbial activity - A thermodynamic perspective A perspective paper. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 2024; 193 ():.

Matthias Kästner; Thomas Maskow; Anja Miltner; Marcel Lorenz; Sören Thiele-Bruhn. 2024. "Assessing energy fluxes and carbon use in soil as controlled by microbial activity - A thermodynamic perspective A perspective paper." Soil Biology and Biochemistry 193, no. : .

Shape optimization methods have been proven useful for identifying interfaces in models governed by partial differential equations. Here we consider a class of shape optimization problems constrained by nonlocal equations which involve interface–dependent kernels. We derive a novel shape derivative associated to the nonlocal system model and solve the problem by established numerical techniques. The code for obtaining the results in this paper is published at (https://github.com/schustermatthias/nlshape).

Matthias Schuster; Christian Vollmann; Volker Schulz. Shape optimization for interface identification in nonlocal models. Computational Optimization and Applications 2024, 1 -35.

Matthias Schuster, Christian Vollmann, Volker Schulz. Shape optimization for interface identification in nonlocal models. Computational Optimization and Applications. 2024; ():1-35.

Matthias Schuster; Christian Vollmann; Volker Schulz. 2024. "Shape optimization for interface identification in nonlocal models." Computational Optimization and Applications , no. : 1-35.