Akzente und Fälle für Medien und Distanzhandel

Die Marktbearbeitung der Medien und des Versandhandels verändert sich rasch. Es lohnt sich, zwei wichtige Märkte des Direktmarketing gesondert zu vertiefen. Dabei lassen sich manche Bezüge zu früheren Kapiteln und auch Vertiefungen erkennen. Kernthemen der Entwicklungsarbeit in den Arbeitsteams zu Medien und Versand waren: Konsumverhalten, Customer-Value, Multimedia, Societing, neue Formen der Marktbearbeitung und die Anpassung von Marketing-Organisationen

Elevated levels of iNKT cell and NK cell activation correlate with disease progression in HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections

OBJECTIVE:: In this study we aimed to investigate the frequency and activation of invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells and natural killer (NK) cells among HIV-1, HIV-2, or dually HIV-1/HIV-2 (HIV-D)-infected individuals, in relation to markers of disease progression. DESIGN:: Whole blood samples were collected from treatment-naïve HIV-1 (n?=?23), HIV-2 (n?=?34) and HIV-D (n?=?11) infected individuals, as well as HIV-seronegative controls (n?=?25), belonging to an occupational cohort in Guinea-Bissau. METHODS:: Frequencies and activation levels of iNKT and NK cell subsets were analysed using multi-colour flow cytometry and results were related to HIV-status, CD4+ T cell levels, viral load, and T cell activation. RESULTS:: HIV-1, HIV-D, and viremic HIV-2 individuals had lower numbers of CD4+ iNKT cells in circulation compared to seronegative controls. Numbers of CD56 NK cells were also reduced in HIV-infected individuals as compared to control subjects. Notably, iNKT cell and NK cell activation levels, assessed by CD38 expression, were increased in HIV-1 and HIV-2 single, as well as dual, infections. HIV-2 viremia was associated with elevated activation levels in CD4+ iNKT cells, CD56 and CD56 NK cells, as compared to aviremic HIV-2 infection. Additionally, disease markers such as CD4+ T cell percentages, viral load, and CD4+ T cell activation were associated with CD38 expression levels of both iNKT and NK cells, which activation levels also correlated with each other. CONCLUSIONS:: Our data indicate that elevated levels of iNKT cell and NK cell activation are associated with viremia and disease progression markers in both HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections

Uromodulin and its association with urinary metabolites: the German Chronic Kidney Disease Study

Background. The progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD), a global public health burden, is accompanied by a declining number of functional nephrons. Estimation of remaining nephron mass may improve assessment of CKD progression. Uromodulin has been suggested as a marker of tubularmass.We aimed to identify metabolites associated with uromodulin concentrations in urine and serumto characterize pathophysiologic alterations of metabolic pathways to generate new hypotheses regarding CKD pathophysiology. Methods. We measured urinary and serum uromodulin levels (uUMOD, sUMOD) and 607 urinary metabolites and performed cross-sectional analyses within the German Chronic Kidney Disease study (N = 4628), a prospective observational study. Urinary metabolites significantly associated with uUMOD and sUMODwere used to buildweightedmetabolite scores for urine (uMS) and serum uromodulin (sMS) and evaluated for time to adverse kidney events over 6.5 years. Results. Metabolites cross-sectionally associated with uromodulin included amino acids of the tryptophan metabolism, lipids and nucleotides. Higher levels of the sMS [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.73 (95% confidence interval 0.64; 0.82), P = 7.45e-07] and sUMOD [HR = 0.74 (95% confidence interval 0.63;0.87), P=2.32e-04]were associated with a lower risk of adverse kidney events over time, whereas uUMOD and uMS showed the same direction of association but were not significant. Conclusions. We identified urinary metabolites associated with urinary and serum uromodulin. The sUMOD and the sMS were associated with lower risk of adverse kidney events among CKD patients. Higher levels of sUMOD and sMS may reflect a higher number of functional nephrons and therefore a reduced risk of adverse kidney outcomes