Gesundheitslernen in betrieblichen Maßnahmen der Prävention: ReSuDi; ein Beispiel aus der Praxis

ReSuDi ist ein innovatives, betriebliches Präventionskonzept für un- und angelernte Beschäftigte, die in Deutschland zunehmend Migrant/inn/en sind. Der Zugang zu dieser schwierig zu erreichenden Zielgruppe erfolgt in ReSuDi über Multiplikatoren, die im alltäglichen Arbeitsumfeld auf die Beschäftigten einwirken und so Lernprozesse initiieren und eine Verbesserung der Arbeitsbedingungen erwirken können. ReSuDi ist ein organisationsumfassendes Programm, d.h. alle Hierarchieebenen sind einbezogen und es werden personen- und bedingungsbezogene Interventionsziele verfolgt, wodurch der Transfer und die Nachhaltigkeit der Effekte gestärkt werden. ReSuDi ist in verschiedenen Betrieben erfolgreich evaluiert worden

Effects of Physical and Mental Fatigue on Postural Sway and Cortical Activity in Healthy Young Adults

Physical fatigue (PF) negatively affects postural control, resulting in impaired balance performance in young and older adults. Similar effects on postural control can be observed for mental fatigue (MF) mainly in older adults. Controversial results exist for young adults. There is a void in the literature on the effects of fatigue on balance and cortical activity. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the acute effects of PF and MF on postural sway and cortical activity. Fifteen healthy young adults aged 28 ± 3 years participated in this study. MF and PF protocols comprising of an all-out repeated sit-to-stand task and a computer-based attention network test, respectively, were applied in random order. Pre and post fatigue, cortical activity and postural sway (i.e., center of pressure displacements [CoPd], velocity [CoPv], and CoP variability [CV CoPd, CV CoPv]) were tested during a challenging bipedal balance board task. Absolute spectral power was calculated for theta (4–7.5 Hz), alpha-2 (10.5–12.5 Hz), beta-1 (13–18 Hz), and beta-2 (18.5–25 Hz) in frontal, central, and parietal regions of interest (ROI) and baseline-normalized. Inference statistics revealed a significant time-by-fatigue interaction for CoPd (p = 0.009, d = 0.39, Δ 9.2%) and CoPv (p = 0.009, d = 0.36, Δ 9.2%), and a significant main effect of time for CoP variability (CV CoPd: p = 0.001, d = 0.84; CV CoPv: p = 0.05, d = 0.62). Post hoc analyses showed a significant increase in CoPd (p = 0.002, d = 1.03) and CoPv (p = 0.003, d = 1.03) following PF but not MF. For cortical activity, a significant time-by-fatigue interaction was found for relative alpha-2 power in parietal (p < 0.001, d = 0.06) areas. Post hoc tests indicated larger alpha-2 power increases after PF (p < 0.001, d = 1.69, Δ 3.9%) compared to MF (p = 0.001, d = 1.03, Δ 2.5%). In addition, changes in parietal alpha-2 power and measures of postural sway did not correlate significantly, irrespective of the applied fatigue protocol. No significant changes were found for the other frequency bands, irrespective of the fatigue protocol and ROI under investigation. Thus, the applied PF protocol resulted in increased postural sway (CoPd and CoPv) and CoP variability accompanied by enhanced alpha-2 power in the parietal ROI while MF led to increased CoP variability and alpha-2 power in our sample of young adults. Potential underlying cortical mechanisms responsible for the greater increase in parietal alpha-2 power after PF were discussed but could not be clearly identified as cause. Therefore, further future research is needed to decipher alternative interpretations

SARS-CoV-2 in Pediatric Inpatient Care: Management, Clinical Presentation and Utilization of Healthcare Capacity

This study scrutinizes management and clinical presentation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in pediatric inpatient care and evaluates the utilization of pediatric healthcare capacity during the pandemic. Within this retrospective cohort study, we systematically reviewed data of all 16,785 pediatric patients (<18 years admitted to our clinical center between January 2018 and June 2021). Data on SARS-CoV-2 test numbers, hospital admissions and clinical characteristics of infected patients were collected. Since January 2020, a total of 2513 SARS-CoV-2 tests were performed. In total, 36 patients had a positive test result. In total, 25 out of 36 SARS-CoV-2 positive children showed at least mild clinical symptoms while 11 were asymptomatic. Most common clinical symptoms were fever (60%), cough (60%) and rhinitis (20%). In parallel with the rising slope of SARS-CoV-2 in spring and fall 2020, we observed a slight decrease in the number of patients admitted to the pediatric department while the median duration of hospital treatment and intensive care occupancy remained unchanged. This study underlines that SARS-CoV-2 infected children most frequently exhibit an asymptomatic or mild clinical course. Noteworthy, the number of hospital admissions went down during the pandemic. The health and economic consequences need to be discussed within health care society and politics

Testing the Coulomb/Accessible Surface Area solvent model for protein stability, ligand binding, and protein design

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Protein structure prediction and computational protein design require efficient yet sufficiently accurate descriptions of aqueous solvent. We continue to evaluate the performance of the Coulomb/Accessible Surface Area (CASA) implicit solvent model, in combination with the Charmm19 molecular mechanics force field. We test a set of model parameters optimized earlier, and we also carry out a new optimization in this work, using as a target a set of experimental stability changes for single point mutations of various proteins and peptides. The optimization procedure is general, and could be used with other force fields. The computation of stability changes requires a model for the unfolded state of the protein. In our approach, this state is represented by tripeptide structures of the sequence Ala-X-Ala for each amino acid type X. We followed an iterative optimization scheme which, at each cycle, optimizes the solvation parameters and a set of tripeptide structures for the unfolded state. This protocol uses a set of 140 experimental stability mutations and a large set of tripeptide conformations to find the best tripeptide structures and solvation parameters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using the optimized parameters, we obtain a mean unsigned error of 2.28 kcal/mol for the stability mutations. The performance of the CASA model is assessed by two further applications: (i) calculation of protein-ligand binding affinities and (ii) computational protein design. For these two applications, the previous parameters and the ones optimized here give a similar performance. For ligand binding, we obtain reasonable agreement with a set of 55 experimental mutation data, with a mean unsigned error of 1.76 kcal/mol with the new parameters and 1.47 kcal/mol with the earlier ones. We show that the optimized CASA model is not inferior to the Generalized Born/Surface Area (GB/SA) model for the prediction of these binding affinities. Likewise, the new parameters perform well for the design of 8 SH3 domain proteins where an average of 32.8% sequence identity relative to the native sequences was achieved. Further, it was shown that the computed sequences have the character of naturally-occuring homologues of the native sequences.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Overall, the two CASA variants explored here perform very well for a wide variety of applications. Both variants provide an efficient solvent treatment for the computational engineering of ligands and proteins.</p

Autenticitet i spil: gymnasieelevers møde med naturvidenskabelig forskning

Danske universiteter udbyder undervisningsforløb til gymnasieelever for at øge viden om oginteresse for naturvidenskab og teknologi. Der er begrænset evidens for effekten af de forskellige tilbud.Artiklen beskriver resultaterne fra et casestudie af tre undervisningsforløb ved Aarhus Universitet Foulum.Analysen af data fra gymnasielærere og forskere synliggjorde tre dimensioner med betydning forelevernes faglige læring og deres indsigt i naturvidenskabelige metoder. Disse dimensioner er: autentiskforskningsmiljø, autentiske forskningsmetoder og autentisk forsker. Yderligere undersøgelser er dognødvendige for en mere indgående forståelse af betydningen af elevernes møde med en autentiskforskningsverden samt effekten af de tre dimensioner. Danish universities offer teaching modules to upper secondary school students to increase theirknowledge of and interest in science and tech nology. This article presents findings from a case studyat Aarhus University in Foulum. Three dimensions of authentic science context emerged from dataanalysis of interviews and a survey of involved teachers and scientists: authentic research environment,authentic research methods, and the authentic scientist. The findings indicate that authenticscience context affected students’ learning about science and the nature of science. Further studiesare needed to investigate dimensions and effects of science culture in this context

Modelling of long-term along-fault flow of CO2 from a natural reservoir

Geological sequestration of CO2 requires the presence of at least one competent seal above the storage reservoir to ensure containment of the stored CO2. Most of the considered storage sites are overlain by low-permeability evaporites or mudrocks that form competent seals in the absence of defects. Potential defects are formed by man-made well penetrations (necessary for exploration and appraisal, and injection) as well as (for mudrocks) natural or injection-induced fracture systems through the caprock. These defects need to be de-risked during site selection and characterisation. A European ACT-sponsored research consortium, DETECT, developed an integrated characterisation and risk assessment toolkit for natural fault/fracture pathways. In this paper we describe the DETECT experimental-modelling workflow, which aims to be predictive for fault-related leakage quantification, and its application to a field case example for validation. The workflow combines laboratory experiments to obtain single-fracture stress-sensitive permeabilities; single-fracture modelling for stress-sensitive relative permeabilities and capillary pressures; fracture network characterisation and modelling for the caprock(s); upscaling of properties and constitutive functions in fracture networks; and full compositional flow modelling at field scale. We focus the paper on the application of the workflow to the Green River Site in Utah. This is a rare case of leakage from a natural CO2 reservoir, where CO2 (dissolved or gaseous) migrates along two fault zones to the surface. This site provides a unique opportunity to understand CO2 leakage mechanisms and volumes along faults, because of its extensive characterisation including a large dataset of present-day CO2 surface flux measurements as well as historical records of CO2 leakage in the form of travertine mounds. When applied to this site, our methodology predicts leakage locations accurately and, within an order of magnitude, leakage rates correctly without extensive history matching. Subsequent history matching achieves accurate leak rate matches within a-priori uncertainty ranges for model input parameters

Increased plasma level of terminal complement complex in AMD patients: potential functional consequences for RPE cells

Purpose: Polymorphisms in complement genes are risk-associated for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Functional analysis revealed a common deficiency to control the alternative complement pathway by risk-associated gene polymorphisms. Thus, we investigated the levels of terminal complement complex (TCC) in the plasma of wet AMD patients with defined genotypes and the impact of the complement activation of their plasma on second-messenger signaling, gene expression, and cytokine/chemokine secretion in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. Design: Collection of plasma from patients with wet AMD (n = 87: 62% female and 38% male; median age 77 years) and controls (n = 86: 39% female and 61% male; median age 58 years), grouped for risk factor smoking and genetic risk alleles CFH 402HH and ARMS2 rs3750846, determination of TCC levels in the plasma, in vitro analysis on RPE function during exposure to patients' or control plasma as a complement source. Methods: Genotyping, measurement of TCC concentrations, ARPE-19 cell culture, Ca2+ imaging, gene expression by qPCR, secretion by multiplex bead analysis of cell culture supernatants. Main outcome measures: TCC concentration in plasma, intracellular free Ca2+, relative mRNA levels, cytokine secretion. Results: TCC levels in the plasma of AMD patients were five times higher than in non-AMD controls but did not differ in plasma from carriers of the two risk alleles. Complement-evoked Ca2+ elevations in RPE cells differed between patients and controls with a significant correlation between TCC levels and peak amplitudes. Comparing the Ca2+ signals, only between the plasma of smokers and non-smokers, as well as heterozygous (CFH 402YH) and CFH 402HH patients, revealed differences in the late phase. Pre-stimulation with complement patients' plasma led to sensitization for complement reactions by RPE cells. Gene expression for surface molecules protective against TCC and pro-inflammatory cytokines increased after exposure to patients' plasma. Patients' plasma stimulated the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the RPE. Conclusion: TCC levels were higher in AMD patients but did not depend on genetic risk factors. The Ca2+ responses to patients' plasma as second-messenger represent a shift of RPE cells to a pro-inflammatory phenotype and protection against TCC. We conclude a substantial role of high TCC plasma levels in AMD pathology

Predictors of response to intra-arterial vasodilatory therapy of non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia in patients with severe shock: results from a prospective observational study

Background: Non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia (NOMI) is a life-threatening condition occurring in patients with shock and is characterized by vasoconstriction of the mesenteric arteries leading to intestinal ischemia and multi-organ failure. Although minimal invasive local intra-arterial infusion of vasodilators into the mesenteric circulation has been suggested as a therapeutic option in NOMI, current knowledge is based on retrospective case series and it remains unclear which patients might benefit. Here, we prospectively analyzed predictors of response to intra-arterial therapy in patients with NOMI. Methods: This is a prospective single-center observational study to analyze improvement of ischemia (indicated by reduction of blood lactate > 2 mmol/l from baseline after 24 h, primary endpoint) and 28-day mortality (key secondary endpoint) in patients with NOMI undergoing intra-arterial vasodilatory therapy. Predictors of response to therapy concerning primary and key secondary endpoint were identified using a) clinical parameters as well as b) data from 2D-perfusion angiography and c) experimental biomarkers of intestinal injury. Results: A total of 42 patients were included into this study. At inclusion patients had severe shock, indicated by high doses of norepinephrine (NE) (median (interquartile range (IQR)) 0.37 (0.21-0.60) μg/kg/min), elevated lactate concentrations (9.2 (5.2-13) mmol/l) and multi-organ failure. Patients showed a continuous reduction of lactate following intra-arterial prostaglandin infusion (baseline: (9.2 (5.2-13) mmol/l vs. 24 h: 4.4 (2.5-9.1) mmol/l, p 2 mmol/l at 24 h following intervention. Initial higher lactate concentrations and lower NE doses at baseline were independent predictors of an improvement of ischemia. 28-day mortality was 59% in patients with a reduction of lactate > 2 mmol/l 24 h after inclusion, while it was 85% in all other patients (hazard ratio 0.409; 95% CI, 0.14-0.631, p = 0.005). Conclusions: A reduction of lactate concentrations was observed following implementation of intra-arterial therapy, and lactate reduction was associated with better survival. Our findings concerning outcome predictors in NOMI patients undergoing intra-arterial prostaglandin therapy might help designing a randomized controlled trial to further investigate this therapeutic approach. Trial registration Retrospectively registered on January 22, 2020, at clinicaltrials.gov (REPERFUSE, NCT04235634), https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04235634?cond=NOMI&draw=2&rank=1 . Keywords: Intestinal failure; Non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia; Sepsis; Shoc