Vegetarische Ernährung : Eine Ernährungsweise mit Zukunft

Ernährung ist auch aus gesundheitspolitischer Sicht ein Thema von wachsendem Interesse, denn die ernährungsbedingten oder –assoziierten Krankheiten nehmen ständig zu. Unsere Ernährung beinhaltet aber auch gesellschaftliche, ethische, ökologische und ökonomische Aspekte. Zahlreiche Forschungsergebnisse der letzten Jahre zeigen, dass eine vegetarische Ernährungs- und Lebensweise sich in diesen Bereichen deutlich positiver auswirkt als die übliche Durchschnittskost

Green agricultural policy in Schleswig-Holstein: Symbolic policy for the postmaterial elite or the new key to power?

Kernstück und Absicht der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Entwicklung und Darstellung eines empirischen und mikrofundierten agrarpolitischen Totalmodells zur Landtagswahl in Schleswig-Holstein, das Konsequenzen verschiedener politischer Strategien zur Nachhaltigkeit in der Landwirtschaft seitens der Parteien abbildet und deren Folgen verdeutlicht. Strategische Optionen sind das Ausmaß der Bereitstellung globaler und lokale Umweltgüter in einer multifunktionalen und Nachhaltigkeitsanforderungen gerecht werdenden Landwirtschaft. Der thematische Hintergrund der Untersuchung ist die schleswig-holsteinische Landtagswahl von 2017. Im Wahlkampf versuchte die CDU als Oppositionsführerin eine agrarpolitisch Neupositionierung und näherte sich den Grünen, einem ihrer späteren Koalitionspartner räumlich an. In diesem Modell wird die Relevanz dieser globalen und lokalen Umweltaspekte in der Agrarpolitik zunächst auf empirischer Grundlage auf der partiellen (=individuellen) Ebene identifiziert. An dessen Ende steht als erstes Zwischenergebnis die Entwicklung eines probabilistischen Wählermodells. Die empirisch ermittelten politischen Präferenzen werden zu einem Makromodell (Wahlmodell) aggregiert. Im Totalmodell können sich CDU und SPD im Policy-Raum sequentiell positionieren. Daraus lassen sich Wahlergebnisse errechnen. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit zeigen auf der Mikroebene eine hohe Signifikanz von Umweltdistanzen und Potential versprechende partielle Effekte. Die Ergebnisse des Totalmodells zeigen, dass die Neupositionierung der CDU alleine die Mehrheitsverhältnisse nicht ändert, im schlimmsten Fall sogar für die CDU verschlechtert. Das limitiert laut Modell auch die Relevanz der Agrarpolitik hinsichtlich des Regierungswechsels. Das Ergebnis des Totalmodells stellt aber keine Absage an die Relevanz der Agrarpolitik dar, denn die Berechnungen zeigen auch, dass grobe Fehlpositionierungen und schlechte Werte bei den Valenzfragen sehr wohl sanktiniert werden. Wohl aber zweifelt es die Wichtigkeit der Neupositionierung an.The core of the dissertation is the gradual development of an empirically- and micro-funded model assessing the potential implications of ag policy measures by various parties at a state election in Schleswig-Holstein. Strategic options are the allocation of global and local environmental goods in a multi-functional agricultural sector. The background is the 2017 campaign when the then strongest opposition party, the conservative CDU, re-positioned itself and reduced its distance to the Greens, its later coalition partner. The study first tries to assess the relevance of local and global environmental goods on the individual level by developing a probabilistic decision model. The empirically-funded policy preferences are then aggregated into a total/macro-level model. Here, the two biggest parties, the CDU and the social democrats (SPD), can position themselves in a policy space, and election results can be derived. The calculations show that environmental and ag policy variables (distances) have highly significant effects on the voting decision. The marginal effects are promising. The macro model however shows that the ‘greening’ of the CDU alone does not alter majorities alone, in the worst case, it even darkens its expected results. This limits the relevance of the CDU’s steps taken in 2017 with respect to the later result. To clarify, the results do not mean that ag policy is not relevant at all, as other calculations show that miscalculations and a weak performance in valence issues can have devastating effects on party results. However, the model doubts the positive impact of the CDU’s march towards the position of the Greens

Insights from the German Compassionate Use Program of Nintedanib for the Treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Background: Nintedanib is approved for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis(IPF) and has been shown to slow disease progression by reducing annual lung function decline. Objective: To evaluate the results of a large cohort of IPF patients treated with nintedanib within a compassionate use program(CUP) in Germany(9 centers). Methods: Patients ( >= 40 years) were required to have a confirmed diagnosis of IPF, a forced vital capacity(FVC) >= 50% predicted ( pred.) and a carbon monoxide diffusing capacity(DLCO) 30-79% pred. and not to be eligible for pirfenidone treatment. Clinical data, pulmonary function tests and adverse events were recorded up to July 2015. Results: Sixty-two patients (48 male/14 female) with moderate IPF (FVC 64 +/- 17% pred. and DLCO 40 +/- 10% pred.) were treated with nintedanib. 77% of patients switched from pirfenidone (mean treatment duration 14 +/- 2 months) mostly due to disease progression (mean decline in FVC 7.4 +/- 3% pred. in the 6 months prior to nintedanib intake). Initiation of nintedanib treatment occurred 69 +/- 29 months after IPF diagnosis, and mean treatment duration was 8 +/- 4 months. Most patients (63%) stabilized 6 months after treatment start (mean FVC decline 3 +/- 1 vs. -17 +/- 2% in patients with disease progression;p < 0.01). The most common adverse events were diarrhea (63%) and weight loss (50%). Dose reduction occurred in 34% of cases and treatment discontinuation in 10%. Conclusion: Nintedanib treatment was generally well tolerated and was associated with FVC stabilization in the majority of IPF patients in this CUP setting where most patients were not treatment naive. Our data are in agreement with the previously published data. (C) 2016 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Base

Understanding Dry Powder Inhalers: Key Technical and Patient Preference Attributes

Inhalable medications for patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can be confusing even for health care professionals because of the multitude of available devices each with different operating principles. Dry powder inhalers (DPI) are a valuable option for almost all of the patients with asthma or COPD. Based on recorded patient inspiratory profiles, the peak inspiratory flow requirement of 30 L min−1 of high-resistance devices does not usually pose any practical limitations for the patients. Suboptimal adherence and errors in device handling are common and require continuous checking and patient education in order to avoid these pitfalls of all inhalation therapy. The aim of this opinion paper is to describe the working principles of DPIs and to summarise their key properties in order to help prescribing the correct inhaler for each patient

Large Ca Isotope Effect in CaC6

We have measured the Ca isotope effect in the newly discovered superconductor CaC6. The isotope effect coefficient is 0.50(7). If one assumes that this material is a conventional electron-phonon coupled superconductor, this result shows that the superconductivity is dominated by coupling of the electrons by Ca phonon modes and that C phonons contribute very little. Thus, in contrast to MgB2, where phonons in the B layers are responsible for the superconductivity, in CaC6 the phonons are primarily modes of the intercalated Ca.Comment: 11 pages including 2 Figure

Environmental release, fate and ecotoxicological effects of manufactured ceria nanomaterials

Recent interest in the environmental fate and effects of manufactured CeO2 nanomaterials (nanoceria) has stemmed from its expanded use for a variety of applications including fuel additives, catalytic converters, chemical and mechanical planarization media and other uses. This has led to a wave of publications on the toxicological effects of nanoceria in ecological receptor species, but only limited information is available on possible environmental releases, concentrations in environmental media, or environmental transformations. In this paper, we make initial estimates of likely environmental releases and exposure concentrations in soils and water and compare them to published toxicity values. Insufficient information was available to estimate aquatic exposures, but we estimated inputs to a hypothetical wastewater treatment plant that could result in effluent concentrations that would result in acute toxicity to the most sensitive aquatic organisms tested so far, cyanobacteria. The purpose of this exercise is to identify which areas are lacking in data to perform either regional or site specific ecological risk assessments. While estimates can be made for releases from use as a diesel fuel additive, and predicted toxicity is low in most terrestrial species tested to date, estimates for releases from other uses are difficult at this stage. We recommend that future studies focus on environmentally realistic exposures that take into account potential environmental transformations of the nanoceria surface as well as chronic toxicity studies in benthic aquatic organisms, soil invertebrates and microorgansims

The price of tumor control

Ipilimumab, a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) blocking antibody, has been approved for the treatment of metastatic melanoma and induces adverse events (AE) in up to 64% of patients. Treatment algorithms for the management of common ipilimumab-induced AEs have lead to a reduction of morbidity, e.g. due to bowel perforations. However, the spectrum of less common AEs is expanding as ipilimumab is increasingly applied. Stringent recognition and management of AEs will reduce drug-induced morbidity and costs, and thus, positively impact the cost-benefit ratio of the drug. To facilitate timely identification and adequate management data on rare AEs were analyzed at 19 skin cancer centers. Patient files (n = 752) were screened for rare ipilimumab-associated AEs. A total of 120 AEs, some of which were life-threatening or even fatal, were reported and summarized by organ system describing the most instructive cases in detail. Previously unreported AEs like drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS), granulomatous inflammation of the central nervous system, and aseptic meningitis, were documented. Obstacles included patientś delay in reporting symptoms and the differentiation of steroid-induced from ipilimumab-induced AEs under steroid treatment. Importantly, response rate was high in this patient population with tumor regression in 30.9% and a tumor control rate of 61.8% in stage IV melanoma patients despite the fact that some patients received only two of four recommended ipilimumab infusions. This suggests that ipilimumab-induced antitumor responses can have an early onset and that severe autoimmune reactions may reflect overtreatment. The wide spectrum of ipilimumab-induced AEs demands doctor and patient awareness to reduce morbidity and treatment costs and true ipilimumab success is dictated by both objective tumor responses and controlling severe side effects