Die Orientierung an Menschenrechtsübergriffen als Störfaktor in einer Feldforschung bei den Zeugen Jehovas

In ihrem Beitrag berichten Lena Schlör und Johanna Faber von ihrer dreimonatigen Feldforschung bei der Religionsgemeinschaft der Zeugen Jehovas in Berlin. Er beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, wie eine menschenrechtliche Perspektive in einer solchen Forschung aussehen kann. Die Autorinnen vertreten die These, dass eine an Menschenrechtsverletzungen orientierte Perspektive für eine ethnologische Forschung bei den Zeugen Jehovas ungeeignet ist. Verdeutlicht wird dies durch eine nachträgliche Reflexion der eigenen Position der Forscherinnen im Feld, welche durch ein ständiges Aushandeln von Nähe und Distanz geprägt war. Der zweite Teil des Textes soll dem Leser einen Einblick in Lebenswelten der Zeugen Jehovas ermöglichen und versucht, Besonderheiten des Glaubens herauszustellen

Zur Situation bei wichtigen Infektionskrankheiten – Importierte Infektionskrankheiten 2022

Der im Epidemiologischen Bulletin 46/2023 veröffentlichte Bericht zu reiseassoziierten Erkrankungen 2022 basiert auf den Meldedaten gemäß Infektionsschutzgesetz, die dem RKI mit Datenstand 1. März 2023 übermittelt wurden. Dabei wird das Auftreten von Erkrankungen wie z. B. Malaria, Shigellose, Typhus abdominalis, Hepatitis A und weiteren mit den Vorjahren verglichen. Die Jahre 2020 und 2021 waren durch Reisebeschränkungen im Rahmen der COVID-19-Pandemie und dem damit verbundenen deutlichen Rückgang aller Erkrankungen gekennzeichnet, die in Deutschland überwiegend als im Ausland erworbene Infektionen auftreten. 2022 sind die Fallzahlen gegenüber 2021 – mutmaßlich aufgrund intensiverer Reiseaktivität – bei fast allen gemeldeten Erkrankungen wieder deutlich angestiegen. Sie liegen jedoch mit wenigen Ausnahmen weiterhin unter dem vorpandemischen Niveau von 2019

Targeting Tumor Vascular CD99 Inhibits Tumor Growth

CD99 (MIC2; single-chain type-1 glycoprotein) is a heavily O-glycosylated transmembrane protein (32 kDa) present on leukocytes and activated endothelium. Expression of CD99 on endothelium is important in lymphocyte diapedesis. CD99 is a diagnostic marker for Ewing's Sarcoma (EWS), as it is highly expressed by these tumors. It has been reported that CD99 can affect the migration, invasion and metastasis of tumor cells. Our results show that CD99 is also highly expressed in the tumor vasculature of most solid tumors. Furthermore, we found that in vitro CD99 expression in cultured endothelial cells is induced by starvation. Targeting of murine CD99 by a conjugate vaccine, which induced antibodies against CD99 in mice, resulted in inhibition of tumor growth in both a tumor model with high CD99 (Os-P0109 osteosarcoma) and low CD99 (CT26 colon carcinoma) expression. We demonstrated that vaccination against CD99 is safe, since no toxicity was observed in mice with high antibody titers against CD99 in their sera during a period of almost 11 months. Targeting of CD99 in humans is more complicated due to the fact that the human and mouse CD99 protein are not identical. We are the first to show that growth factor activated endothelial cells express a distinct human CD99 isoform. We conclude that our observations provide an opportunity for specific targeting of CD99 isoforms in human tumor vasculature

Costs of shoulder pain and resource use in primary health care: a cost-of-illness study in Sweden

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Painful shoulders pose a substantial socioeconomic burden. A prospective cost-of-illness study was performed to assess the costs associated with healthcare use and loss of productivity in patients with shoulder pain in primary health care in Sweden.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was performed in western Sweden, in a region with 24 000 inhabitants. Data were collected during six months from electronic patient records at three primary healthcare centres in two municipalities. All patients between 20 and 64 years of age who presented with shoulder pain to a general practitioner or a physiotherapist were included. Diagnostic codes were used for selection, and the cases were manually controlled. The cost for sick leave was calculated according to the human capital approach. Sensitivity analysis was used to explore uncertainty in various factors used in the model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>204 (103 women) patients, mean age 48 (SD 11) years, were registered. Half of the cases were closed within six weeks, whereas 32 patients (16%) remained in the system for more than six months. A fifth of the patients were responsible for 91% of the total costs, and for 44% of the healthcare costs. The mean healthcare cost per patient was €326 (SD 389) during six months. Physiotherapy treatments accounted for 60%. The costs for sick leave contributed to 84% of the total costs. The mean annual total cost was €4139 per patient. Estimated costs for secondary care increased the total costs by one third.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The model applied in this study provides valuable information that can be used in cost evaluations. Costs for secondary care and particularly for sick leave have a major influence on total costs and interventions that can reduce long periods of sick leave are warranted.</p

miRNAs in Newt Lens Regeneration: Specific Control of Proliferation and Evidence for miRNA Networking

Background: Lens regeneration in adult newts occurs via transdifferentiation of the pigment epithelial cells (PECs) of the dorsal iris. The same source of cells from the ventral iris is not able to undergo this process. In an attempt to understand this restriction we have studied in the past expression patterns of miRNAs. Among several miRNAs we have found that mir-148 shows an up-regulation in the ventral iris, while members of the let-7 family showed down-regulation in dorsal iris during dedifferentiation. Methodology/Principal Findings: We have performed gain- and loss-of–function experiments of mir-148 and let-7b in an attempt to delineate their function. We find that up-regulation of mir-148 caused significant decrease in the proliferation rates of ventral PECs only, while up-regulation of let-7b affected proliferation of both dorsal and ventral PECs. Neither miRNA was able to affect lens morphogenesis or induction. To further understand how this effect of miRNA up-regulation is mediated we examined global expression of miRNAs after up-regulation of mir148 and let-7b. Interestingly, we identified a novel level of mirRNA regulation, which might indicate that miRNAs are regulated as a network. Conclusion/Significance: The major conclusion is that different miRNAs can control proliferation in the dorsal or ventral iris possibly by a different mechanism. Of interest is that down-regulation of the let-7 family members has also been documented in other systems undergoing reprogramming, such as in stem cells or oocytes. This might indicate tha

Rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3, and TREM2 implicate microglial-mediated innate immunity in Alzheimer's disease

We identified rare coding variants associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in a 3-stage case-control study of 85,133 subjects. In stage 1, 34,174 samples were genotyped using a whole-exome microarray. In stage 2, we tested associated variants (P<1×10-4) in 35,962 independent samples using de novo genotyping and imputed genotypes. In stage 3, an additional 14,997 samples were used to test the most significant stage 2 associations (P<5×10-8) using imputed genotypes. We observed 3 novel genome-wide significant (GWS) AD associated non-synonymous variants; a protective variant in PLCG2 (rs72824905/p.P522R, P=5.38×10-10, OR=0.68, MAFcases=0.0059, MAFcontrols=0.0093), a risk variant in ABI3 (rs616338/p.S209F, P=4.56×10-10, OR=1.43, MAFcases=0.011, MAFcontrols=0.008), and a novel GWS variant in TREM2 (rs143332484/p.R62H, P=1.55×10-14, OR=1.67, MAFcases=0.0143, MAFcontrols=0.0089), a known AD susceptibility gene. These protein-coding changes are in genes highly expressed in microglia and highlight an immune-related protein-protein interaction network enriched for previously identified AD risk genes. These genetic findings provide additional evidence that the microglia-mediated innate immune response contributes directly to AD development

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Galaxy bulges and their massive black holes: a review

With references to both key and oft-forgotten pioneering works, this article starts by presenting a review into how we came to believe in the existence of massive black holes at the centres of galaxies. It then presents the historical development of the near-linear (black hole)-(host spheroid) mass relation, before explaining why this has recently been dramatically revised. Past disagreement over the slope of the (black hole)-(velocity dispersion) relation is also explained, and the discovery of sub-structure within the (black hole)-(velocity dispersion) diagram is discussed. As the search for the fundamental connection between massive black holes and their host galaxies continues, the competing array of additional black hole mass scaling relations for samples of predominantly inactive galaxies are presented.Comment: Invited (15 Feb. 2014) review article (submitted 16 Nov. 2014). 590 references, 9 figures, 25 pages in emulateApJ format. To appear in "Galactic Bulges", E. Laurikainen, R.F. Peletier, and D.A. Gadotti (eds.), Springer Publishin