Richard Arwed Pfeifer – a pioneer of ‘medical pedagogy’ and an opponent of Paul Schröder

Richard Arwed Pfeifer (1877–1957) was one of the initiators and foster fathers of the renowned child-psychiatric and special needs education workgroup at Leipzig University under Paul Schröder (1873–1941) in the 1920s and 1930s. This paper is an account of their dispute concerning the interrelations between child and adolescent psychiatry and special needs education, as well as their disagreement about whether adolescent psychopaths should be admitted to specialized child psychiatric wards or elsewhere. Moreover, Pfeifer questioned the practical relevance of the separation of constitutional and environmentally-based psychopathy and fought eugenic research, which he found incompatible with the ethics of his profession as a remedial teacher and child psychiatrist. </jats:p

News and Notes

International audienc

Kraepelin’s views on obsessive neurosis: a comparison with DSM-5 criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder

Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926) is considered one of the founders of modern psychiatric nosology. However, his conceptualization of obsessive-compulsive phenomena is relatively understudied. In this article, we compare and contrast excerpts from the eighth edition (1909-1915) of Kraepelin’s Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry focusing on what Kraepelin called “obsessive neurosis” and related “original pathological conditions” with the current DSM-5 criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Consistently with DSM-5 OCD, Kraepelin described obsessive neurosis as characterized by obsessive ideas, compulsive acts, or both together. His detailed descriptions of these symptoms are broadly coherent with their characterization in DSM-5, which is also true for the differential diagnoses he provided. He also mentioned cases illustrating decreased insight into symptoms and association with tic disorders. In conclusion, Kraepelin’s experience, which reflects decades of consistent clinical work, may help validate current ideas and explain how the current conceptualization has emerged and developed. Even though one can hardly say that the classification laid out in DSM-5 goes back to Kraepelin’s views directly, it still is true that Kraepelin played an outstanding role in systematizing psychiatric diagnostic criteria in general, and provided a major contribution to the conceptual history of OCD

Architektur eines prozessunterstützenden Softwaresystems für den Rettungsdiensteinsatz bei einem Massenanfall von Verletzen

Das Einbringen von Innovationen aus dem Bereich der Informationstechnologie in die Prozesse des Rettungsdienstes, mit dem Ziel der Verbesserung des Einsatzerfolges, stellt eine aktuelle Herausforderung dar. Dieser Herausforderungen nimmt sich das Forschungsprojekt ALARM an, welches als Zielsetzung hat, einen Lösungsansatz für den Gesamtprozess bei einem Massenanfall von Verletzen zu konzipieren und zu evaluieren. Es werden die grundlegenden Anforderungen dieses Systems beschrieben und der bisherige Architekturentwurf für das prozessunterstützende Softwaresystem vorgestellt. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei der verteilte modulare Plattformansatz, welcher sich auf die Bereiche des strategischen und lokalen Einsatzmanagements erstreckt, sowie die technischen Anforderungen, die sich hinsichtlich der Kommunikation der Komponenten ergeben

Structures of the nucleotide-binding domain of the human ABCB6 transporter and its complexes with nucleotides.

The human ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter ABCB6 is involved in haem-precursor transport across the mitochondrial membrane. The crystal structure of its nucleotide-binding domain (NBD) has been determined in the apo form and in complexes with ADP, with ADP and Mg(2+) and with ATP at high resolution. The overall structure is L-shaped and consists of two lobes, consistent with other reported NBD structures. Nucleotide binding is mediated by the highly conserved Tyr599 and the Walker A motif, and induces notable structural changes. Structural comparison with other structurally characterized NBDs and full-length ABC transporters gives the first insight into the possible catalytic mechanism of ABCB6 and the role of the N-terminal helix alpha(1) in full-length ABCB6