Functional Anatomy: A Taxonomic Proposal

It is argued that medical science requires a classificatory system that (a) puts functions in the taxonomic center and (b) does justice ontologically to the difference between the processes which are the realizations of functions and the objects which are their bearers. We propose formulae for constructing such a system and describe some of its benefits. The arguments are general enough to be of interest to all the life sciences

Center and Periphery. Theological Perspectives on Church and Society

Krisenzeit – Zeit der Kirche – Zeit der Theologie? Die Problemlagen der Gegenwart stellen die wissenschaftliche Theologie vor so große Herausforderungen wie selten zuvor. Nicht allein stehen in den kommenden Jahren strukturelle Weichenstellungen an, welche die Kirche kaum unberührt lassen werden. Schon jetzt verlangt die prekäre Situation vieler Menschen und ganzer Völker nach einer tragfähigen Reflexion und Verkündigung des Glaubens. Christliche Theologie darf die notwendigen Antworten hier nicht schuldig bleiben. In der vorliegenden Festschrift haben sich Kollegen, Freunde und Schüler von Otmar Meuffels den vielfältigen Fragestellungen zugewandt, welche die Arbeit an der zeitgenössischen Heilsbedeutung des christlichen Glaubens aufwirft. Sie schreiben damit seinen prägenden Ansatz fort, der stets die aktuelle Relevanz der Rede von Gott im Blick hat. In diesem Sinn zeigen die in diesem Band versammelten Beiträge auf ganz unterschiedlichen Feldern die Anschlussfähigkeit der Theologie in den heute virulenten gesellschaftlichen Debatten.Time of Crisis – Times of Church – Time of Theology? Academic theology has rarely faced bigger challenges than those of the present. The coming years will see structural course changes which will leave the church hardly untouched. Even today, the precarious situation of people and people’s demands for viable reflection and proclamation of Faith. Christian theology must not fail to give necessary answers in this regard. In this publication, colleagues, friends, and students of Otmar Meuffels faced these diverse questions, which are posed by working with the contemporary soteriological significance of Christian faith. With this, they continue his defining approach which always focuses on the current relevance of the speech of God. Therefore, all contributions collected in this publication show the ability to connect theology with current and relevant societal controversies in completely different fields

Prognostic and predictive value of circulating tumor cell analysis in colorectal cancer patients

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic and predictive values of circulating tumor cell (CTC) analysis in colorectal cancer patients. Patients and methods Presence of CTCs was evaluated in 60 colorectal cancer patients before systemic therapy - from which 33 patients were also evaluable for CTC analysis during the first 3 months of treatment - through immunomagnetic enrichment, using the antibodies BM7 and VU1D9 (targeting mucin 1 and EpCAM, respectively), followed by real-time RT-PCR analysis of the tumor-associated genes KRT19, MUC1, EPCAM, CEACAM5 and BIRC5. Results Patients were stratified into groups according to CTC detection (CTC negative, when all marker genes were negative; and CTC positive when at least one of the marker genes was positive). Patients with CTC positivity at baseline had a significant shorter median progression-free survival (median PFS 181.0 days; 95% CI 146.9-215.1) compared with patients with no CTCs (median PFS 329.0 days; 95% CI 299.6-358.4; Log-rank P Conclusion The present study provides evidence of a strong correlation between CTC detection and radiographic disease progression in patients receiving chemotherapy for colorectal cancer. Our results suggest that in addition to the current prognostic factors, CTC analysis represent a potential complementary tool for prediction of colorectal cancer patients’ outcome. Moreover, the present test allows for molecular characterization of CTCs, which may be of relevance to the creation of personalized therapies.</p