Gleichheit und Freiheit

Ute Gerhard unterstreicht, dass das Recht auf Gleichheit, die Anerkennung der Menschen als Gleiche, bei aller Anerkennung gleicher Freiheit immer erst der Konkretisierung oder einer Verständigung darüber bedarf, wie viel Gleichheit oder in welcher Hinsicht Gleichheit herzustellen ist. Laut Ulrike Ackermann ist Ungleichheit Ausdruck von sozialer Differenzierung und Bedingung für Vielfalt und damit Innovationskraft für gesellschaftlichen Fortschritt. Für Jasper von Altenbockum besteht die Herausforderung der Freiheit im Widerstreit zwischen Dezentralisierung und Zentralisierung; zwar werde gerne die befreiende Kraft des Kleinteiligen beschworen, doch am Ende siege die Nivellierung der Provinz (Anm. d. Red.)

Heritability, determinants and reference values of renal length: a family-based population study

Objectives: In this population-based study, reference values were generated for renal length, and the heritability and factors associated with kidney length were assessed. Methods: Anthropometric parameters and renal ultrasound measurements were assessed in randomly selected nuclear families of European ancestry (Switzerland). The adjusted narrow sense heritability of kidney size parameters was estimated by maximum likelihood assuming multivariate normality after power transformation. Gender-specific reference centiles were generated for renal length according to body height in the subset of non-diabetic non-obese participants with normal renal function. Results: We included 374 men and 419 women (mean ± SD, age 47 ± 18 and 48 ± 17years, BMI 26.2 ± 4 and 24.5 ± 5kg/m2, respectively) from 205 families. Renal length was 11.4 ± 0.8cm in men and 10.7 ± 0.8cm in women; there was no difference between right and left renal length. Body height, weight and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were positively associated with renal length, kidney function negatively, age quadratically, whereas gender and hypertension were not. The adjusted heritability estimates of renal length and volume were 47.3 ± 8.5% and 45.5 ± 8.8%, respectively (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The significant heritability of renal length and volume highlights the familial aggregation of this trait, independently of age and body size. Population-based references for renal length provide a useful guide for clinicians. Key Points: • Renal length and volume are heritable traits, independent of age and size. • Based on a European population, gender-specific reference values/percentiles are provided for renal length. • Renal length correlates positively with body length and weight. • There was no difference between right and left renal lengths in this study. • This negates general teaching that the left kidney is larger and longe

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase&nbsp;1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation&nbsp;disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age&nbsp; 6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score&nbsp; 652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc&nbsp;= 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N&nbsp;= 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in&nbsp;Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in&nbsp;Asia&nbsp;and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Geheimrezept oder chemische Reaktion? Die westdeutsche chemische Industrie (1950-1964): Firmen, Produkte und Märkte

Supervisor: A. MilwardDefence date: 11 May 2000PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 201

Prevalence of active hepatitis E virus infection and efficacy of ribavirin treatment in renal allograft recipients

Background Hepatitis E virus (HEV) genotype 3 infection frequently progresses to chronic disease with persisting HEV viremia in immunocompromised patients. Here, we evaluated the prevalence of HEV infection in renal allograft recipients and investigated the efficacy and tolerability of ribavirin monotherapy. Methods A total of 947 recipients on average 8.7 years post transplant were screened for anti-HEV IgG, IgM and HEV-RNA. Sixteen HEV-viremic renal allograft recipients were treated with ribavirin for 12 weeks. HEV-RNA concentration, laboratory and clinical parameters were assessed at baseline, during therapy and 12 weeks after treatment cessation. HEV-genotyping was performed in all HEV-viremic patients. Results Past HEV infection was detected serologically in 18% of the renal allograft recipients. Ongoing HEV replication was found in 16 recipients (all genotype 3). Unanimously, distinct HEV sequences were revealed in all HEV-viremic patients. At the start of ribavirin treatment, median HEV-RNA viral load was 4.3 x 10(6) (8000-5.0 x 10(6)) IU/mL. Ninety-four percentage of HEV-infected allograft recipients showed a sustained virological response 12 weeks after treatment cessation. Ribavirin treatment was associated with rapid decrease in liver enzymes and rare occurrence of anemia. Conclusions Prevalence of active HEV infection is important in renal transplant patients without signs of nosocomial infection. Ribavirin treatment was safe and effective

Improvement of DNA vector delivery of DOTAP lipoplexes by short-chain aminolipids

Cellular delivery of DNA vectors for the expression of therapeutic proteins is a promising approach to treat monogenic disorders or cancer. Significant efforts in a preclinical and clinical setting have been made to develop potent nonviral gene delivery systems based on lipoplexes composed of permanently cationic lipids. However, transfection efficiency and tolerability of such systems are in most cases not satisfactory. Here, we present a one-pot combinatorial method based on double- reductive amination for the synthesis of short-chain aminolipids. These lipids can be used to maximize the DNA vector delivery when combined with the cationic lipid 1,2- dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium propane (DOTAP). We incorporated various aminolipids into such lipoplexes to complex minicircle DNA and screened these systems in a human liver-derived cell line (HuH7) for gene expression and cytotoxicity. The lead aminolipid AL-A12 showed twofold enhanced gene delivery and reduced toxicity compared to the native DOTAP:cholesterol lipoplexes. Moreover, AL-A12- containing lipoplexes enabled enhanced transgene expression in vivo in the zebrafish embryo model

Rapid establishment of laboratory diagnostics for the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in Bavaria, Germany, February 2020

The need for timely establishment of diagnostic assays arose when Germany was confronted with the first travel-associated outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Europe. We describe our laboratory experiences during a large contact tracing investigation, comparing previously published real-time RT-PCR assays in different PCR systems and a commercial kit. We found that assay performance using the same primers and probes with different PCR systems varied and the commercial kit performed well