Contact-allergy time

The most commonly used techniques for the in vivo evaluation of the cellular immune response include intracutaneous testing with microbial recall antigens or sensitization with neoantigens. The reliability of these tests for the individual patient usually is low due to the lack of standardization and quantification. Moreover only the efferent branch of the immune response can be judged. The dinitrochlorobenzene-contact allergy time (DNCB-CAT) is a quantitative approach for the assessment of the cellular immune response. 2% DNCBointment is applied on the upper arm in a 1 cm2 area. On the following days patch-testing with 0.05% DNCB-ointment is done on the homolateral forearm in alternating localizations till an allergic contact dermatitis reaction appears. As assessed in patients with malignant melanoma (MM, n=\\5) and with lymphoproliferative disorders (LD, η = 25), the DNCB-CAT correlates with the age of the patients and can be expressed by a formula given by the age (years) χ factor (MM = 0.16; LD = 0.17) + constant figure (MM = 5.5; LD = 4.3). There was no significant difference between the two groups or subgroups investigated. By DNCB-CAT quantitative analysis of the cellular immune response in vivo is possible. It is an appropriate model for further investigations of the cellular immunity under different clinical, histological, prognostic, and therapeutic aspects

Gutenberg war gestern: Ein Beitrag zur Ausbildung in der Medizin gestern, heute und morgen

Zusammenfassung: Eine gute Ausbildung ist die wichtigste Grundlage einer zuverlässigen medizinischen Versorgung und des medizinischen Fortschritts. Unser medizinisches Wissen hat in den vergangenen 50Jahren stärker zugenommen als in den 500Jahren zuvor. Die räumlichen und personellen Kapazitäten unserer Hochschulen sind bei den bestehenden Unterrichtsstrukturen überfordert. Ein Teil der Probleme lässt sich durch "Blended Learning" lösen, d.h. einer Kombination aus klassischen Unterrichtsmethoden (Frontalvorlesungen, Kurse, bettnaher Unterricht) mit ergänzendem webbasiertem E-Learning. Neben einem soliden Grundwissen muss heute auch die Fähigkeit vermittelt werden, mit modernen Medien umzugehen und sich auf ein lebenslanges Lernen vorzubereiten. Aus der großen Zahl von E-Learning-Angeboten sollen hier stellvertretend für eine studentische Ausbildungsplattform das Programm DOIT (Dermatology Online with Interactive Technology; http://www.swisdom.org) sowie das Programm Dermokrates (http://www.Dermokrates.com) der Deutschen, Österreichischen und Schweizerischen Dermatologischen Gesellschaften für die ärztliche Weiter- und Fortbildung genannt werden. Das größte Hindernis bei der Umsetzung neuer Entwicklungen liegt im Festhalten an überkommenen Strukture

The hot gas content of fossil galaxy clusters

We investigate the properties of the hot gas in four fossil galaxy systems detected at high significance in the Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) survey. XMM-Newton observations reveal overall temperatures of kT ~ 5-6 keV and yield hydrostatic masses M500,HE > 3.5 x 10e14 Msun, confirming their nature as bona fide massive clusters. We measure the thermodynamic properties of the hot gas in X-rays (out to beyond R500 in three cases) and derive their individual pressure profiles out to R ~ 2.5 R500 with the SZ data. We combine the X-ray and SZ data to measure hydrostatic mass profiles and to examine the hot gas content and its radial distribution. The average Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) concentration parameter, c500 = 3.2 +/- 0.4, is the same as that of relaxed `normal' clusters. The gas mass fraction profiles exhibit striking variation in the inner regions, but converge to approximately the cosmic baryon fraction (corrected for depletion) at R500. Beyond R500 the gas mass fraction profiles again diverge, which we interpret as being due to a difference in gas clumping and/or a breakdown of hydrostatic equilibrium in the external regions. Overall our observations point to considerable radial variation in the hot gas content and in the gas clumping and/or hydrostatic equilibrium properties in these fossil clusters, at odds with the interpretation of their being old, evolved and undisturbed. At least some fossil objects appear to be dynamically young.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Report of the Symposium on Cutaneous Lymphomas: Sixth International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma

The symposium discussed the pathobiology, classification, and treatment of cutaneous lymphomas. Drs. Burg and Kadin commented on the pathophysiology of mycosis fungoides/Sézary syndrome and cutaneous CD30+ lymphoproliferative disorders, respectively. A proposed classification of primary cutaneous lymphomas from the EORTC was presented by Drs. Kerl and Sterry. Dr. Jaffe presented a classification of cutaneous lymphomas based on the REAL classification. All speakers agreed that primary cutaneous lymphomas are usually distinctive in their clinical behavior and biology, and differ from their nodal counterparts. The symposium concluded with remarks from Drs. Vonderheid and Hoppe on the therapeutic approach to primary cutaneous lymphoid malignancie

Pion photoproduction off the proton in a gauge-invariant chiral unitary framework

We investigate pion photoproduction off the proton in a manifestly gauge-invariant chiral unitary extension of chiral perturbation theory. In a first step, we consider meson-baryon scattering taking into account all next-to-leading order contact interactions. The resulting low-energy constants are determined by a fit to s-wave pion-nucleon scattering and the low-energy data for the reaction pi- p --> eta n. To assess the theoretical uncertainty, we perform two different fit strategies. Having determined the low-energy constants, we then analyse the data on the s-wave multipole amplitudes E0+ of pion and eta photoproduction. These are parameter-free predictions, as the two new low-energy constants are determined by the neutron and proton magnetic moments.Comment: 23 pages, 17 figure

The dynamics of z~1 clusters of galaxies from the GCLASS survey

We constrain the internal dynamics of a stack of 10 clusters from the GCLASS survey at 0.87<z<1.34. We determine the stack cluster mass profile M(r) using the MAMPOSSt algorithm of Mamon et al., the velocity anisotropy profile beta(r) from the inversion of the Jeans equation, and the pseudo-phase-space density profiles Q(r) and Qr(r), obtained from the ratio between the mass density profile and the third power of the (total and, respectively, radial) velocity dispersion profiles of cluster galaxies. Several M(r) models are statistically acceptable for the stack cluster (Burkert, Einasto, Hernquist, NFW). The total mass distribution has a concentration c=r200/r-2=4.0-0.6+1.0, in agreement with theoretical expectations, and is less concentrated than the cluster stellar-mass distribution. The stack cluster beta(r) is similar for passive and star-forming galaxies and indicates isotropic galaxy orbits near the cluster center and increasingly radially elongated with increasing cluster-centric distance. Q(r) and Qr(r) are almost power-law relations with slopes similar to those predicted from numerical simulations of dark matter halos. Combined with results obtained for lower-z clusters we determine the dynamical evolution of galaxy clusters, and compare it with theoretical predictions. We discuss possible physical mechanisms responsible for the differential evolution of total and stellar mass concentrations, and of passive and star-forming galaxy orbits [abridged].Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Version accepted for publication in A&A after minor modification