Determination of islet cell antibodies using an ELISA system with a preparation of rat insulinoma (RIN A2) cells

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was established for the detection of islet cell antibodies in human sera. The antigen was prepared from rat insulinoma (RIN A2) cells. Cells were dissociated in lysis buffer and the lysate was centrifuged at 100,000 x g. The supernatant was used to coat microtiter ELISA plates (10 micrograms protein/ml in PBS pH 7.2). Non-specific binding sites on the plates were blocked with 2% PBS-BSA. Human test sera were preabsorbed on separate plates using 2% PBS-BSA and incubated on precoated plates at an optimal dilution of 1/10 in 60 mM PBS for 60 min at 37 degrees C. Phosphatase-labeled anti-human IgG serum and phosphatase substrate were applied and the reaction was stopped by adding 3 M NaOH. Out of 90 sera from type I diabetic patients, 47 (52.2%) reacted in the new ELISA whereas none of 15 type II diabetics, 50 sera containing non-islet specific antibodies or 100 normal controls were positive. In the same group of patients, ICA were positive in 63.3%. When both, the ELISA and conventional ICA testing were applied, the number of positives was increased to 83%. The ICA-ELISA with the above described antigen preparation provides a well standardized and reproducible test method which is highly specific for type I diabetes. It may therefore be useful for large screening procedures

Treatment of polymer powders by combining an atmospheric plasma jet and a fluidized bed reactor

Recently additive manufacturing processes such as laser beam melting (LBM) of polymers have gained more importance for industrial applications (1). Tailor-made modification of polymers is essential to make these processes more efficient and to cover a wider range of industrial applications. The so far used polymer materials show weak performance regarding the mechanical stability of processed parts being mainly due to poor linkage between LBM powder particles. To overcome this, a new route to functionalize the surface of commercially available polymer particles using an atmospheric plasma jet has been investigated. The process of plasma-functionalization using different gas mixtures allows introducing reactive groups onto the particle surface. Consequently, an improvement of adhesion and wettability of the polymer surface (2), (3) without restraining the bulk properties of the powder is achieved. The experiments are conducted in a fluidized bed reactor (FBR) with a diameter of 0.1 m while the plasma jet is located in the center of the distribution plate at the bottom of the FBR. Since fluidized bed reactors are characterized by excellent heat and mass transfer, a homogenous distribution of generated process heat and the induced reactive species can be achieved. The main influencing parameter is the behavior of the dense plasma jet within the fluidized particles. The resulting contact time of single particles with reactive species formed is a key parameter for the functionalization process. Results for the spread of the jet as well as the effect of the functionalization as a function of treatment time will be shown. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Maispreisverhalten - Maispreistransmission während des Preisbooms an den Terminmärkten

Seit dem Jahr 2000 haben vielfältige Faktoren die Agrarmärkte beeinflusst. Darunter sind wiederholte Angebotsknappheiten und die globale Nachfrageentwicklung zu nennen, welche den beobachteten Preisanstieg begünstigten. Angesichts der zunehmenden Interdependenz der Märkte stellt sich die Frage, ob eine isolierte Betrachtung eines einzelnen Marktes, wie in der bisherigen Literatur üblich, ausreichend ist. Die vorliegende Analyse stellt einen Beitrag zur Diskussion um die im Jahr 2008 beobachtbare Preisblase dar und geht auf die Zusammenhänge von Notierungen von Agrarrohstoffen an verschiedenen Warenterminbörsen ein. Im Fokus steht die Transmission der Preisvolatilität zwischen Warenterminbörsen. Es wird untersucht, ob und in welchem Ausmaß es zu einer Transmission während des drastischen Preisanstieges an den Agrar- und Rohstoffmärkten gekommen ist. Maisnotierungen von drei Warenterminbörsen werden in einem multivariaten GARCH Ansatz abgebildet. Somit ist es möglich, die Interaktionen zwischen den Börsen direkt zu modellieren. Die Ergebnisse werden vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Entwicklungen im Bereich der Agrar- und Biokraftstoffpolitik diskutiert. -- Since 2000 a number of factors impacted agricultural markets. Among these are structural changes in global demand and repeated supply constraints supported in a comprehensible way, the observed positive development of agricultural prices. Given the increasingly interdependent global markets, the question arises of in how far an isolated view of a single market, as usual in the scientific literature, is sufficient? The paper is a contribution to the debate on the recent commodity price bubble in 2008 and the relationship among commodity futures markets for agricultural raw materials. More particularly, the transmission of price volatility between commodity futures markets is analysed. The background question is whether and to what extent the volatility of agricultural commodity prices at different market places have been transferred during the drastic price changes of 2008. In this analysis the volatility of the maize futures price at three different commodity futures exchange is modelled as a multivariate GARCH-process. By doing so, interactions between stock markets in different venues are incorporated. The results of the econometric analysis are discussed against the background of the developments in agricultural and bio-fuel policy.Commodity Futures,Corn,Time Series,price volatility transmission,multi-variate GARCH

Preisvolatilität auf landwirtschaftlichen Märkten

In diesem Beitrag wird die Entwicklung der Preisvolatilität auf deutschen Agrarmärkten analysiert. Ziel ist es das Ausmaß der Preisvolatilität auf ausgewählte deutsche Agrarmärkte zu quantifizieren und festzustellen inwiefern sie sich im Zeitablauf verändert hat. Soweit möglich wird eine Vergleichbarkeit zwischen den Entwicklungen auf nationalen und internationalen Produktmärkten hergestellt, bzw. es werden die jeweiligen Entwicklungen zueinander in Bezug gestellt. In diesem Zusammenhang gestellte Fragen sind: Hat es eine Erhöhung der Preisvolatilität gegeben? Stammt diese aus den Weltmärkten? Welche Auswirkungen hat die Preisvolatilität auf die Marktakteure? Welche Rolle spielen dabei die Instrumente der Agrarpolitik und welche Instrumente stehen zur Verfügung, um die nachteiligen Folgen der Volatilität für die Landwirtschaft zu begrenzen? Die Ergebnisse der Analyse zeigen, dass die Preisvolatilitäten auf den untersuchten deutschen Agrarmärkten in den letzten 40 Jahren gestiegen sind. Dies steht im Gegensatz zur Entwicklung der Volatilitäten auf den Weltmärkten. Diese Entwicklung ist dennoch nachvollziehbar, da Deutschland, als Mitglied der EU in den letzten Jahren an dem anhaltenden Reformprozess der GAP teilgenommen hat, deren letztliches Ziel es ist, die Märkte der EU dem Weltmarkt zu öffnen. Der Rückzug der Politik im Rahmen der Reformen der GAP führt in der EU und in Deutschland zu einer Erhöhung des Austausches von Preissignalen zwischen den EU-Binnenmärkte und dem Weltmarkt. Während dieses Prozesses erhöht sich die Preisvolatilität auf den europäischen Märkten. Ein erhöhtes Niveau der Preisvolatilität führt zu erhöhter Marktunsicherheit und hat zur Folge, dass die auf Investitionen beruhenden Innovationsprozesse ausbleiben oder nur zögerlicher umgesetzt werden. Summa summarum zeichnet sich für die deutschen und europäischen Unternehmer des Agrarsektors ein Wandel bezüglich der Risikominimierungsstrategie ab. Die auf staatliche Intervention basierenden Strategien treten in den Hintergrund, während die auf unternehmerische Kompetenz, Geschicklichkeit und Vorsorge basierenden Strategien in den Vordergrund rücken. Vor dem Hintergrund des Pfades der Reformen der Agrarpolitik und der gegenwärtige Debatte um die 'Finanzialisierung' der Agrarmärkte ist es zunehmend Aufgabe der Politik die Funktionsfähigkeit der Märkten (sowohl physische als auch Warenterminmärkte) zu stärken. Wesentliche Beiträge sind in der Erhöhung der Markttransparenz auf den Finanzmärkten und der Gewährleistung von Marktinformation auf den physischen Märkten zu sehen. -- In this paper, the development of price volatility on German agricultural markets is analyzed. The goal is to quantify the degree of price volatility for selected German agricultural markets and determine how it evolutes over time. Where possible a comparison between the developments in national and international product markets is established. In this context, questions are: Was there an increase in price volatility? Did it came from the world markets? What is the impact of price volatility on the market players? What role do the instruments of agricultural policy play and what tools are available to limit the adverse consequences of volatility for agriculture? The results of the analysis shows that price volatility on the investigated German agricultural markets increased along the last 40 years. This stays in contrast to the trend of volatility in world markets. This development is still reasonable, since Germany has participated as a member of the EU in the reform process of the CAP, whose ultimate goal is to open the markets of the EU the world market. The withdrawal of the policy during the reforms of the CAP in the EU and in Germany to increase the exchange of price signals between the EU's internal markets and the global market. During this process, the increased price volatility in European markets. An increased level of price volatility leads to increased market uncertainty and has the effect that the investment-based innovation processes is interrupted or occurs only haltingly. All in all the German and European operators in the agricultural sector are amid a change in relation to risk minimization strategies. The strategies based on state intervention turn into the background, while those based on entrepreneurship, skill-based, and prevention oriented come to the fore. Against the background of the path of reform of agricultural policy and the current debate on the 'financialisation' of agricultural markets, it is increasingly a mission of the policy, to assure the functioning and strength of markets (both physical and futures market). Major contributions are seen in measures that increase transparency in financial markets and that guarantee broad market information on the physical markets.Volatilität,deutsche Agrarmärkte,Agrarpolitik,volatility,German agricultural markets,agricultural policy

Characteristics of a semi-industrial downer reactor for the rounding of irregular polymer particles

In the past additive manufacturing processes such as laser beam melting (LBM) were almost exclusively applied for the generation of prototypes. In recent years, however, these methods have gradually been transferred to serial production (1). With this grown relevance on industrial applications, the demands on the powder material have increased as well. In consequence, there is a need for fine powders of different polymers showing good powder flowability and high bulk density (2) It has been shown that different polymers can be ground down to the micron size range by a wet grinding process (2). Due to the grinding process the produced particles are in a chiseled state, which leads to a bad flowability. To solve this problem the single particles are melted in a heated downer reactor and spherical particles are obtained by using the effect of the surface tension (3). The rounding process was performed in a reactor with a length of 6 m and a diameter of 0.1 m. The main focus of this work is to describe the flow characteristics of both, gas and particles in the reactor. Other influencing parameters on the outcome of the rounding such as particle load and temperature distribution will also be addressed. One major critical point, the influence of the particle and gas inlet on the flow pattern will be discussed in detail. The mechanism of the rounding process in dependence of particle size, interfacial tension and melt viscosity will be shown within a sintering model (4). Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Importance of and Satisfaction with Domains of Health-Related Quality of Life in Cancer Rehabilitation

Instruments for measuring health-related quality of life (HRQoL) generally do not consider the subjective importance of the dimensions they comprise. The aims of this study were to analyze the subjectively perceived importance of the dimension of HRQoL and to investigate their relationship to the satisfaction ratings with these dimensions. A total of 1108 participants enrolled in a cancer rehabilitation program were surveyed. Patients rated eight dimensions of HRQoL (physical functioning, autonomy, emotional stability, cognitive functioning, social relationships, vitality, absence of pain, and sleep quality), as well as global health in terms of how important those dimensions are to them, and how satisfied they are with them. The dimensions with the highest importance ratings were autonomy and social relationships. There were only small sex differences in the importance ratings, but younger patients rated health as being more important than older patients did. The correlations between the importance ratings and the satisfaction ratings of the specific HRQoL dimensions ranged from 0.06 to 0.40, and the correlation between importance and satisfaction for global health was 0.01. Importance ratings provide relevant information for health care professionals in addition to the HRQoL assessments in the context of cancer rehabilitation

Cancer-Related Distress: How Often Does It Co-occur With a Mental Disorder? – Results of a Secondary Analysis

Objectives: The Distress Thermometer (DT) is a validated and widely used screening tool to identify clinically relevant distress in cancer patients. It is unclear, to which extend subjectively perceived distress measured by the DT is related to objective burden (mental disorder). We therefore examine the co-occurrence of a mental disorder for different DT thresholds and explore the diagnostic properties of the DT in detecting a mental disorder. Methods: In this multicenter cross-sectional study, we included 4,020 patients with mixed cancer diagnoses. After selection of relevant cases, weighting procedure and imputation of missing data we evaluated the data of N = 3,212 patients. We used the DT to assess perceived distress and the standardized Composite International Diagnostic Interview for Oncology (CIDI-O) to assess the 4-week prevalence of mental disorders. The association between distress and any mental disorder (MD) is calculated using Pearson correlations. Relative risks for MD in patients with/without distress and the co-occurrence of distress and MD were calculated with Poisson regression. To assess the operating characteristics between distress and MD, we present the area under the curve (AUC). Results: 22.9% of the participants had a cut-off DT level of 5 and were affected by MD. Each level of distress co-occurs with MD. The proportion of patients diagnosed with MD was not greater than the proportion of patients without MD until distress levels of DT = 6 were reached. The correlation between DT and MD was r = 0.27. The ROCanalysis shows the area under curve (AUC) = 0.67, which is classified as unsatisfactory. With increasing distress severity, patients are not more likely to have a mental disorder. Conclusion: Our results suggests viewing and treating cancer-related distress as a relatively distinct psychological entity. Cancer-related distress may be associated with an increased risk for a mental disorder and vice versa, but the overlap of both concepts is very moderate

Auf lange Dauer gute Erträge in Bio

Die Erträge im Biolandbau sind auch für die wichtigen Kulturen Mais und Soja gut, das zeigt der DOK-Langzeitversuch

Bons rendements bio sur la durée

L’essai DOC montre que les rendements de l’agriculture bio sont aussi bons dans des cultures comme le maïs et le soja