Gleiche Sicherheit für alle statt NATO-Vorherrschaft: Beiträge zum 17. Dresdner Friedenssymposium am 21. Februar 2009

Die Projektgruppe „Für eine Globale Friedensordnung“ stellt im Dresdener Friedenssymposium Arbeitsergebnisse vor.:Gerda Krause, Eröffnung. Autorenbeiträge: Peter Strutynsky, Die Globalisierung der NATO oder die Militarisierung des Globus. Erhard Crome, Gleiche Sicherheit für alle - Alternativen zur NATO. Manfred Sauer, NATO – nicht die Sicherheit, die wir meinen. Horst Schneider, Gedanken zum Kolloquiumsthema Gleiche Sicherheit für alle statt NATO-Vorherrschaft. Nachträglich eingereichter Beitrag zum 13. Dresdner Symposium Für eine globale Friedensordnung, Heft 93/2009: Detlef Bald, Das Beispiel vom Primat der Politik – Die Kontrolle der Atomwaffen in der Bonner Republik

Epithelial and dendritic cells in the thymic medulla promote CD4(+)Foxp3(+) regulatory T cell development via the CD27-CD70 pathway

This work was supported by grants NKI 2004-3087 and NKI 2008-2023 from the Dutch Cancer Society to J. Borst, European Molecular Biology Organization long-term fellowships to J.M. Coquet and J.C. Ribot, a Rubicon (The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research [NWO]) fellowship to J.M. Coquet, and a Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia project grant (PTDC/SAU-MII/104158/2008) and a European Research Council starting grant (StG260352) to B. Silva-Santos. J.F. Neves is funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Technologia of Portugal; D.J. Pennington is funded by the Wellcome Trust

Physical activity differences between children from migrant and native origin

BACKGROUND: Children from migrant origin are at higher risk for overweight and obesity. As limited physical activity is a key factor in this overweight and obesity risk, in general, the aim of this study is to assess to what degree children from migrant and native Dutch origin differ with regard to levels of physical activity and to determine which home environment aspects contribute to these differences. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey among primary caregivers of primary school children at the age of 8–9 years old (n = 1943) from 101 primary schools in two urban areas in The Netherlands. We used bivariate correlation and multivariate regression techniques to examine the relationship between physical and social environment aspects and the child’s level of physical activity. All outcomes were reported by primary caregivers. Outcome measure was the physical activity level of the child. Main independent variables were migrant background, based on country of birth of the parents, and variables in the physical and social home environment which may enhance or restrict physical activity: the availability and the accessibility of toys and equipment, as well as sport club membership (physical environment), and both parental role modeling, and supportive parental policies (social environment). We controlled for age and sex of the child, and for socio-economic status, as indicated by educational level of the parents. RESULTS: In this sample, physical activity levels were significantly lower in migrant children, as compared to children in the native population. Less physical activity was most often seen in Turkish, Moroccan, and other non-western children (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Although traditional home characteristics in both the physical, and the social environment are often associated with child’s physical activity, these characteristics provided only modest explanation of the differences in physical activity between migrant and non-migrant children in this study. The question arises whether interventions aimed at overweight and obesity should have to focus on home environmental characteristics with regard to physical activity

Gleiche Sicherheit für alle statt NATO-Vorherrschaft: Beiträge zum 17. Dresdner Friedenssymposium am 21. Februar 2009

Die Projektgruppe „Für eine Globale Friedensordnung“ stellt im Dresdener Friedenssymposium Arbeitsergebnisse vor.:Gerda Krause, Eröffnung. Autorenbeiträge: Peter Strutynsky, Die Globalisierung der NATO oder die Militarisierung des Globus. Erhard Crome, Gleiche Sicherheit für alle - Alternativen zur NATO. Manfred Sauer, NATO – nicht die Sicherheit, die wir meinen. Horst Schneider, Gedanken zum Kolloquiumsthema Gleiche Sicherheit für alle statt NATO-Vorherrschaft. Nachträglich eingereichter Beitrag zum 13. Dresdner Symposium Für eine globale Friedensordnung, Heft 93/2009: Detlef Bald, Das Beispiel vom Primat der Politik – Die Kontrolle der Atomwaffen in der Bonner Republik

Serum amyloid P component binds to late apoptotic cells and mediates their uptake by monocyte-derived macrophages

Objective. Some pentraxins, such as C-reactive protein, bind to apoptotic cells and are involved in the clearance of these cells. We undertook this study to determine whether serum amyloid P component (SAP; a pentraxin that, when deficient in mice, results in lupus-like disease) binds to apoptotic cells and to assess the functional consequences of SAP binding for their phagocytosis by macrophages. Methods. Human peripheral blood monocytes were isolated and cultured for 7 days to obtain monocyte-derived macrophages. Jurkat cells were irradiated with ultraviolet B to induce apoptosis. After 4 hours, a mean +/- SEM of 54.0 +/- 5.1% of these cells stained with annexin V and were propidium iodide negative (early apoptotic [EA] cells). After 24 hours, 77.3 +/- 2.7% of cells stained positive with both annexin V and propidium iodide (late apoptotic [LA] cells or secondary necrotic cells). EA and LA cells were incubated with fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled SAP in the presence or absence of Ca2+, and binding was measured by How cytometry. Phagocytosis was tested by incubation of macrophages with EA or LA cells in the presence of normal human serum (NHS) and quantified as a phagocytosis index (PI; number of Jurkat cells internalized by 100 macrophages). Experiments were repeated with SAP-depleted serum and after reconstitution with increasing concentrations of SAP. Results. The majority of LA cells did bind SAP in the presence of Ca2+, whereas EA cells did not. SAP depletion of NHS resulted in a 50% decrease in the PI for LA cells, and complete restoration of the PI could be demonstrated with SAP reconstitution up to 100 mug/ml. SAP depletion had no effect on phagocytosis of EA cells. Conclusion. SAP binds to LA cells and is involved in the phagocytosis of these cells by human monocyte-derived macrophages. This may have consequences for diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, in which phagocytosis of apoptotic cells is decreased

Long-Term Dosimetry of Solar UV Radiation in Antarctica with Spores of Bacillus subtilis

The main objective was to assess the influence of the seasonal stratospheric ozone depletion on the UV climate in Antarctica by using a biological test system. This method is based on the UV sensitivity of a DNA repair-deficient strain of Bacillus subtilis (TKJ 6321). In our field experiment, dried layers of B. subtilis spores on quartz discs were exposed in different seasons in an exposure box open to solar radiation at the German Antarctic Georg von Neumayer Station (70°37′S, 8°22′W). The UV-induced loss of the colony-forming ability was chosen as the biological end point and taken as a measure for the absorbed biologically harmful UV radiation. Inactivation constants were calculated from the resulting dose-response curves. The results of field experiments performed in different seasons indicate a strongly season-dependent trend of the daily UV-B level. Exposures performed at extremely depleted ozone concentrations (October 1990) gave higher biologically harmful UV-B levels than expected from the calculated season-dependent trend, which was determined at normal ozone values. These values were similar to values which were measured during the Antarctic summer, indicating that the depleted ozone column thickness has an extreme influence on the biologically harmful UV climate on ground