Temporal Changes in Total Serum Immunoglobulin E Levels in East German Children and the Effect of Potential Predictors

Background: Elevated total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels are a prominent feature of allergic and parasitic diseases. An epidemiologic study was conducted in East German children to describe trends in the development of total serum IgE levels and analyze the impact of potential determinants. Methods: The study consisted of three cross-sectional surveys in 1992-1993, 1995-1996 and 1998-1999 and was conducted in three areas of the former German Democratic Republic. In total, 8,051 questionnaires were completed by the parents of children aged 5-14 years, supplying information on allergic symptoms and potential risk factors. A total of 5,918 measurements of total serum IgE and specific IgE to 5 common aeroallergens were available from 4,353 schoolchildren. Generalized estimating equations were applied to data from all children and stratified for atopic and nonatopic children to identify trends and estimate the effect of potential determinants on total IgE. Results: Total serum IgE levels decreased significantly with a linear trend in East German schoolchildren between 1992 and 1999, the effect being stronger in nonatopic children. The following factors were associated with lower total serum IgE levels: female gender, living in a household with fewer than 4 people, no history of helminth infestation, younger age group (5-7 years), no parental allergy and high socioeconomic status. No association was seen for `smoking at home' and close contact to pets. Conclusion: Total serum IgE declined parallel to helminth infestation; however, the latter explained the decrease only in part. Furthermore, total IgE developed in an opposite direction to specific IgE, indicating that it has determinants other than allergic sensitization. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

Exercise and Physical Activity in the Therapy of Substance Use Disorders

Exercise and physical activity are constantly gaining attention as adjuvant treatment for substance use disorders, supplementing classical pharmacological and psychotherapeutic approaches. The present work reviews studies addressing the therapeutic effects of exercise in alcohol abuse/dependence, nicotine abuse/dependence, and illicit drug abuse/dependence. In the field of smoking cessation, evidence is strong for exercise as an effective adjuvant treatment, whereas no generalizable and methodologically strong studies have been published for alcohol and drug treatment so far, allowing only preliminary conclusions about the effectiveness of exercise in these disorders. A couple of potential mechanisms are discussed, by which exercise may act as an effective treatment, as well as future directions for studies investigating exercise as a treatment strategy for substance use disorders

Visualisation of tissue kallikrein, kininogen and kinin receptors in human skin following trauma and in dermal diseases

During dermal injury and inflammation the serine proteases kallikreins cleave endogenous, multifunctional substrates (kininogens) to form bradykinin and kallidin. The actions of kinins are mediated by preferential binding to constitutively expressed kinin-B2 receptors or inducible kinin-B1 receptors. A feature of the kinin-B1 receptors is that they show low levels of expression, but are distinctly upregulated following tissue injury and inflammation. Because recent evidence suggested that kinin-B1 receptors may perform a protective role during inflammation, we investigated the specific occurrence of the kallikrein-kinin components in skin biopsies obtained from normal skin, patients undergoing surgery, basalioma, lichenificated atopic eczema, and psoriasis. The tissue was immunolabelled in order to determine the localisation of tissue pro-kallikrein, kallikrein, kininogen and kinin receptors. The kinin components were visualised in normal, diseased and traumatised skin, except that no labelling was observed for kininogen in normal skin. Of the five types of tissue examined, upregulation of kinin-B1 receptors was observed only in skin biopsies obtained following surgery. In essence, the expression of kinin-B1 receptors did not appear to be enhanced in the other biopsies. Within the multiple steps of the inflammatory cascade in wound healing, our results suggest an important regulatory role for kinin-B1 receptors during the first phase of inflammation following injury

Reduktion von Muskelskelettbeschwerden durch arbeitsorganisatorische Maßnahmen bei laparoskopischen Eingriffen: Subjektiver Bedarf und Einstellungen der Beschäftigten zu intraoperativen Pausen

Die Studie „Reduktion von Muskelskelettbeschwerden durch arbeitsorganisatorische Maßnahmen bei laparoskopischen Eingriffen: Subjektiver Bedarf und Einstellungen der Beschäftigten zu intraoperativen Pausen“ ist eine Querschnittstudie mit Fragebögen und Experten-Interviews, welche erstmals die muskuloskelettale und psychosoziale Belastung von Beschäftigten im laparoskopischen OP-Saal und einer Vergleichsgruppe untersuchte. Darüber hinaus wurde die Einstellung der operativ Beschäftigten zu intraoperativen (Kurz-)Pausen ermittelt (Erhebungszeitraum 01.12.2018 bis 01.07.2019). Die OP-Gruppe bestand aus Operateuren/innen, Assistenzärzten/innen und sterilem Pflegepersonal (N=95, Rücklauf 15,8%); die Vergleichsgruppe aus Verwaltungsangestellten (N=182, Rücklauf 30,3%). Am Interview nahmen sechs Führungskräfte aus gynäkologischen Einrichtungen teil. Es zeigte sich trotz einer qualitativ und quantitativ deutlich höheren Arbeitsbelastung der OP-Gruppe eine vergleichbare körperliche Beanspruchung der Verwaltung. Die höchsten Beschwerdeprävalenzen (in den letzten zwölf Monaten) zeigten sich im Nacken- und/oder Schulterbereich (OP-Gruppe 73%, N=66; Vergleichsgruppe 82%, N=149); (p=0,09). Die subjektiv empfundene psychische Arbeitsfähigkeit sowie das Geschlecht der Probanden hatte hierbei in der bivariaten logistischen Regressionsanalyse einen signifikanten Einfluss auf das Vorhandensein der Beschwerden; die Dauer der beruflichen Exposition im laparoskopischen Bereich zeigte keinen signifikanten Effekt (Cohens d=0,862). Die prinzipielle Bereitschaft zur Einführung intraoperativer Pausen war hoch (Zustimmung 77%; N=69). Von 95% der Probanden war gewünscht, dass sich die Zeitpunkte der Erholungsphasen nach dem OP-Verlauf und/oder dem Aufmerksamkeitsniveau der Beschäftigten richten (N=84). Die Inhalte der Pausen sollten individuell gestaltbar sein. Die Diskrepanz zwischen Belastung und Beanspruchung der OP-Gruppe und der Vergleichsgruppe könnte einen Hinweis auf eine Positivselektion der Personen geben, welche sich für eine operative Laufbahn entscheiden. Eine Verbesserung der Arbeitsverhältnisse könnte den Berufszweig für eine breitere Personengruppe öffnen. Dies würde auch dem prognostizierten Ärztemangel in operativen Fächern entgegenwirken

Partizipation und Vertretung von Senioren

'Für die Entwicklung einer beteiligenden Kultur in lokalen Öffentlichkeiten gibt es unter älteren Menschen große Potenziale. Um sie wirksam zu machen, bedarf es entsprechender Voraussetzungen und Rahmenbedingungen. Einführend stellen wir unsere Überlegungen zur Partizipation in den allgemeineren Rahmen von Modernisierung und skizzieren die empirische Basis unserer qualitativen Studien. Dabei haben das Nachwirken von Defiziten der demokratischen Kultur sowie die fortschreitende Differenzierung der Altersbilder unseren Blick auf die Ebene der kommunalen Sozialpolitik als der unmittelbaren Lebens- und Lernumwelt alter Menschen gelenkt: Hier wird Wohlfahrt im komplexen 'Mix' verschiedener Handlungsbereiche produziert, an denen ganz unterschiedliche Akteure in verschiedenartiger Weise beteiligt sind und die Anliegen von Senioren beeinflussen. Nachdem wir das Spektrum möglicher Partizipationsformen im Allgemeinen aufgezeigt haben, konzentrieren wir uns im Hauptteil auf Seniorenvertretungen: Wir zeichnen deren historische Entwicklung und typologische Vielfalt nach und fassen schließlich unsere Erfahrungen zu ihren Tätigkeiten und den Kompetenzanforderungen zusammen, aus denen wir zuletzt Perspektiven und Forderungen für die weitere Entwicklung ableiten.' (Autorenreferat)'To develop a participatory culture of local publics, crucial potentials can be found among the elder generations. Appropriate conditions, know-how and support are needed to activate these potentials. First, we discuss participation in the context of modernization and outline the empirical basis of our qualitative studies. After considering deficits of democratic political culture and the differentiation of images of old age, we take a look at social politics at the municipal level as the nearest context of living and learning for senior citizens. Here, social welfare is being produced in a complex mix of a manifold decision-making, with different local actors participating in distinctive manners and influencing the needs and requests of the elder generations. After outlining the spectrum of their participation in general, we concentrate on representative participation of senior citizens, and trace its history and typological diversity. Finally, we compile our studies of their representative activities, claims and required competences, concluding with some outlooks and demands for future developments.' (author's abstract)

In Situ Study of Nanoporosity Evolution during Dealloying AgAu and CoPd by Grazing-Incidence Small-Angle X-ray Scattering

Electrochemical dealloying has become a standard technique to produce nanoporous network structures of various noble metals, exploiting the selective dissolution of one component from an alloy. While achieving nanoporosity during dealloying has been intensively studied for the prime example of nanoporous Au from a AgAu alloy, dealloying from other noble-metal alloys has been rarely investigated in the scientific literature. Here, we study the evolution of nanoporosity in the electrochemical dealloying process for both CoPd and AgAu alloys using a combination of in situ grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS), kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations, and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). When comparing dealloying kinetics, we find a more rapid progression of the dealloying front for CoPd and also a considerably slower coarsening of the nanoporous structure for Pd in relation to Au. We argue that our findings are natural consequences of the effectively higher dealloying potential and the higher interatomic binding energy for the CoPd alloy. Our results corroborate the understanding of electrochemical dealloying on the basis of two rate equations for dissolution and surface diffusion and suggest the general applicability of this dealloying mechanism to binary alloys. The present study contributes to the future tailoring of structural size in nanoporous metals for improved chemical surface activity

Silencing β1,2-xylosyltransferase in Transgenic Tomato Fruits Reveals xylose as Constitutive Component of Ige-Binding Epitopes

Complex plant N-glycans containing β1,2-xylose and core α1,3-fucose are regarded as the major class of the so-called “carbohydrate cross-reactive determinants” reactive with IgE antibodies in sera of many allergic patients, but their clinical relevance is still under debate. Plant glycosyltransferases, β1,2-xylosyltransferase (XylT), and core α1,3-fucosyltransferase (FucT) are responsible for the transfer of β1,2-linked xylose and core α1,3-linked fucose residues to N-glycans of glycoproteins, respectively. To test the clinical relevance of β1,2-xylose-containing epitopes, expression of the tomato β1,2-xylosyltransferase was down-regulated by RNA interference (RNAi) in transgenic plants. Fruits harvested from these transgenic plants were analyzed for accumulation of XylT mRNA, abundance of β1,2-xylose epitopes and their allergenic potential. Based on quantitative real-time PCR analysis XylT mRNA levels were reduced up to 10-fold in independent transgenic lines as compared to untransformed control, whereas no xylosylated N-glycans could be revealed by MS analysis. Immunoblotting using anti-xylose-specific IgG antibodies revealed a strong reduction of β1,2-xylose-containing epitopes. Incubating protein extracts from untransformed controls and XylT_RNAi plants with sera from tomato allergic patients showed a patient-specific reduction in IgE-binding, indicating a reduced allergenic potential of XylT_RNAi tomato fruits, in vitro. To elucidate the clinical relevance of β1,2-xylose-containing complex N-glycans skin prick tests were performed demonstrating a reduced responsiveness of tomato allergic patients, in vivo. This study provides strong evidence for the clinical relevance of β1,2-xylose-containing epitopes in vivo

Do biotransformation data from laboratory experiments reflect micropollutant degradation in a large river basin?

Identifying a chemical's potential for biotransformation in the aquatic environment is crucial to predict its fate and manage its potential hazards. Due to the complexity of natural water bodies, especially river networks, biotransformation is often studied in laboratory experiments, assuming that study outcomes can be extrapolated to compound behavior in the field. Here, we investigated to what extent outcomes of laboratory simulation studies indeed reflect biotransformation kinetics observed in riverine systems. To determine in-field biotransformation, we measured loads of 27 wastewater treatment plant effluent-borne compounds along the Rhine and its major tributaries during two seasons. Up to 21 compounds were detected at each sampling location. Measured compound loads were used in an inverse model framework of the Rhine river basin to derive k’bio,field values – a compound-specific parameter describing the compounds’ average biotransformation potential during the field studies. To support model calibration, we performed phototransformation and sorption experiments with all the study compounds, identifying 5 compounds that are susceptible towards direct phototransformation and determining Koc values covering four orders of magnitude. On the laboratory side, we used a similar inverse model framework to derive k’bio,lab values from water-sediment experiments run according to a modified OECD 308-type protocol. The comparison of k’bio,lab and k’bio,field revealed that their absolute values differed, pointing towards faster transformation in the Rhine river basin. Yet, we could demonstrate that relative rankings of biotransformation potential and groups of compounds with low, moderate and high persistence agree reasonably well between laboratory and field outcomes. Overall, our results provide evidence that laboratory-based biotransformation studies using the modified OECD 308 protocol and k’bio values derived thereof bear considerable potential to reflect biotransformation of micropollutants in one of the largest European river basins