Die Forschungsorientierten Gleichstellungsstandards der DFG: Umsetzung und Wirkungsweisen

The study ‘Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality: Implementation and Impact’ reviews the measures and outcomes of the Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality. The study is based on various sources of data and analytical approaches. It traces the trend in the representation of female researchers in a national and international context on the basis of official statistics and reports from the Joint Science Conference (GWK) on the current 426 higher education institutions in Germany. For the 68 member institutions of the DFG who were involved in the implementation of the Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality, the study examines how the number of women on the academic staff has developed and to what extent the voluntary targets have been met

Nonlinear electromagnetic wave equations for superdense magnetized plasmas

By using the quantum hydrodynamic and Maxwell equations, we derive the generalized nonlinear electron magnetohydrodynamic, the generalized nonlinear Hall-MHD (HMHD), and the generalized nonlinear dust HMHD equations in a self-gravitating dense magnetoplasma. Our nonlinear equations include the self-gravitating, the electromagnetic, the quantum statistical electron pressure, as well as the quantum electron tunneling and electron spin forces. They are useful for investigating a number of wave phenomena including linear and nonlinear electromagnetic waves, as well as three-dimensional electromagnetic wave turbulence spectra and structures arising from mode coupling processes at nanoscales in dense quantum magnetoplasmas

Milestones and Impact Factors

Environmental Health has just received its first Impact Factor by Thomson ISI. At a level of 2.48, this achievement is quite satisfactory and places Environmental Health in the top 25% of environmental science journals. When the journal was launched in 2002, it was still unclear whether the Open Access publishing model could be made into a viable commercial enterprise within the biomedical field. During the past eight years, Open Access journals have become widely available, although still covering only about 15% of journal titles. Major funding agencies and institutions, including prominent US universities, now require that researchers publish in Open Access journals. Because of the profound role of scientific journals for the sharing of results and communication between researchers, the advent of Open Access may be of as much significance as the transition from handwriting to printing via moveable type. As Environmental Health is an electronic Open Access journal, the numbers of downloads at the journal website can be retrieved. The top-20 list of articles most frequently accessed shows that all of them have been downloaded over 10,000 times. Back in 2002, the first article published was accessed only 49 times during the following month. A year later, the server had over 1,000 downloads per month, and now the total number of monthly downloads approaches 50,000. These statistics complement the Impact Factor and confirm the viability of Open Access in our field of research. The advent of digital media and its decentralized mode of distribution - the internet - have dramatically changed the control and financing of scientific information dissemination, while facilitating peer review, accelerating editorial handling, and supporting much needed transparency. Both the meaning and means of "having an impact" are therefore changing, as will the degree and way in which scientific journals remain "factors" in that impact

Inhalative Exposure to Vanadium Pentoxide Causes DNA Damage in Workers: Results of a Multiple End Point Study

BackgroundInhalative exposure to vanadium pentoxide (V(2)O(5)) causes lung cancer in rodents.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to investigate the impact of V(2)O(5) on DNA stability in workers from a V(2)O(5) factory.MethodsWe determined DNA strand breaks in leukocytes of 52 workers and controls using the alkaline comet assay. We also investigated different parameters of chromosomal instability in lymphocytes of 23 workers and 24 controls using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus (MN) cytome method.ResultsSeven of eight biomarkers were increased in blood cells of the workers, and vanadium plasma concentrations in plasma were 7-fold higher than in the controls (0.31 microg/L). We observed no difference in DNA migration under standard conditions, but we found increased tail lengths due to formation of oxidized purines (7%) and pyrimidines (30%) with lesion-specific enzymes (formamidopyrimidine glycosylase and endonuclease III) in the workers. Bleomycin-induced DNA migration was higher in the exposed group (25%), whereas the repair of bleomycin-induced lesions was reduced. Workers had a 2.5-fold higher MN frequency, and nucleoplasmic bridges (NPBs) and nuclear buds (Nbuds) were increased 7-fold and 3-fold, respectively. Also, apoptosis and necrosis rates were higher, but only the latter parameter reached statistical significance.ConclusionsV(2)O(5) causes oxidation of DNA bases, affects DNA repair, and induces formation of MNs, NPBs, and Nbuds in blood cells, suggesting that the workers are at increased risk for cancer and other diseases that are related to DNA instability.Veronika A. Ehrlich, Armen K. Nersesyan, Kambis Atefie, Christine Hoelzl, Franziska Ferk, Julia Bichler, Eva Valic, Andreas Schaffer, Rolf Schulte‑Hermann, Michael Fenech, Karl‑Heinz Wagner and Siegfried Knasmüllerhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2599764

Convulsions and hypoglycemia due to tetramethyl succinonitrile intoxication in the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) industry: A 4-year follow-up

Objectives: Exposure and clinical data concerning cases of toxic convulsions and hypoglycemia due to tetramethyl succinonitrile (TMSN) exposure are reported. Material and Methods: Forty-four workers exposed to TMSN in the PVC production plant participated in occupational health medical check-ups including medical history, clinical examination and clinical chemistry. A 4-year follow-up was performed. To evaluate occupational exposure, measurements of TMSN in the ambient air as well as personal air sampling were conducted. Results: Four workers suffered from convulsions with reversible pathologic EEG and 16 other persons were hypoglycemic. Other frequent symptoms included headaches, dizziness and unpleasant taste sensations. TMSN levels had been clearly above the Swiss occupational exposure limit value (MAK). Occupational hygiene interventions resulted in a reduction of the TMSN concentration below the MAK value. TMSN related symptoms have not been observed anymore in the 4-year follow-up. Conclusion: TMSN is a convulsive substance which in humans has also a hypoglycemic effect

µLC-ICP-MS determinations of unexposed UK urinary arsenic speciation reference values

This study provides background levels for five arsenic species in urine, based on urinary data obtained from 95 nonoccupationally exposed volunteers based in the UK. Using a novel, sensitive, robust and reliable speciation methodology, five species of arsenic (arsenobetaine [AB], arsenite [As3+], arsenate [As5+], monomethylarsonic acid [MMA5+] and dimethylarsinic acid [DMA5+]) were determined in urine samples collected from 95 adults. The analytical instrumentation used to analyze the urine samples was a hyphenated micro liquid chromatography (μLC) system coupled to an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Separation was achieved using an anion exchange micro-sized column. The results presented give the 95th percentile of concentrations, both uncorrected for creatinine (µg/L) and creatinine corrected (µmol/mol) in urine for the 95 volunteers. Statistical analysis was performed on the dataset using a Bayesian model to determine and quantify effects of gender, smoking and diet. The statistical results show that the consumption of fish, shellfish and red wine has a significant elevating effect on AB, DMA and MMA urinary concentrations; however, no significant effect was observed for smoking. The regression model results indicate that creatinine correction was effective for arsenic species As3+, MMA, DMA and AB. The background levels established here can be used as reference values to help aid interpretation of arsenic speciation results and better assess exposure