The Origin of Petroleum

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Bell's local causality is a d-separation criterion

This paper aims to motivate Bell's notion of local causality by means of Bayesian networks. In a locally causal theory any superluminal correlation should be screened off by atomic events localized in any so-called \textit{shielder-off region} in the past of one of the correlating events. In a Bayesian network any correlation between non-descendant random variables are screened off by any so-called \textit{d-separating set} of variables. We will argue that the shielder-off regions in the definition of local causality conform in a well defined sense to the d-separating sets in Bayesian networks.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Risk management of water systems in residential homes : The ‘process’ of Legionella prevention

In the present study data was collect and analysed to gain evidence for the present situation of Legionella risk management and prevention of water systems in different buildings in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. These buildings comprise retirement homes, care homes and dwellings for people with a disability. According to given legislation, standards and technical rules, duty holders are liable for the quality of drinking water distributed by the water system in a building. Showers represent a frequently used, aerosol-generating device in the domestic setting and have been proposed as a source of Legionnaires’ disease, caused by Legionella bacteria. This study investigated the prevalence of Legionella in showers which are recognised as a potential source of risk of contamination for users. During a field campaign, data from ten buildings were collected. Water was sampled from showers and analysed with reproducible sampling procedures. As a second source of data, information concerning technical specifications and operating parameters of the (hot) water systems and shower facilities was collected from the operating manager through a semi-structured questionnaire. Based on the microbiological results provided by the classical culture method, a Legionella contamination was detected in two objects. Three additional care facilities showed raised results according to a different method applied. Evaluation of the responses given in the questionnaire revealed that control functions and documentation seem to be either unsatisfactory within the institutions, or are missing completely. Although the small size of the sample in this study does not permit generalizable statements, the results provide a solid foundation upon which further investigations can be based

Nervenschwäche und Krieg

Since the 1880s neurasthenia - a term popularised by New York-physician George Beard - was discussed an a phenomenon of modernity, but over a long period of debate, psychiatry were not able to define what this "modern malady" exactly meant nor was it able to find any discernible causes for the epidemic disease. Neurasthenia was not simply a diagnostic term, which was often applied by fin de siècle-physicians to their workaday routine, but a kind of lifestyle, a sign of a certain emotional sensitivity in modern times. In the last decade historical research on neurasthenia has focused on Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. But what happened in Austria-Hungary, especially in Vienna? Focusing on Viennese psychiatry, part one of the book analyses the "invention" of Neurasthenia and the adoption of Beards thesis in Austrian medicine, bringing out various figures and alternative methods of explanations of the disease that was identified as a central, yet unwanted feature of modern manliness. Based on this the outcome of war could be seen as an instance of 'nerve-corrections'. Like many medical professionals in Austria-Hungary, psychiatrists had reacted to the war with nearly unanimous support: patriotic habits went hand in hand with high psychiatric expectations of the powerful mental effects of war. These hopes were badly disappointed. In the more recent literature on the medical and cultural history of the Great War, the phenomenon of the epidemic mental breakdowns of soldiers has been given a prominent place. 'Shellshock' and 'war neurosis' are now key words and frequent metaphors for the shattering effects of an industrialized war. In a sense these psychiatric labels symbolically represent the destructive impact of mechanized weapons on body and soul, the loss of narrative structures and the traumatic after-effects of modern warfare. How can Viennese-centred Austrian psychiatry in the First World War be characterized? With regard to new studies on the history of trauma, war and psychiatry I intend to emphasize two interpretations. Firstly, as in German and other European psychiatric war communities, models of rationalisation and modernisation are of significance when focusing on this topic. Viennese psychiatrists were neither particularly brutal nor especially tolerant in the way they dealt with the situation. Instead, as in other European countries in the Great War, they acted in keeping with military requirements and standards. Secondly, the specific political and cultural context of the Austro-Hungarian situation is of utmost importance as well. Shell-shock was a phenomenon that affected all nations, but reactions differed according to different national traditions and different medical ways of understanding, representing and acting. In a comparative cultural history of World War One, Austria-Hungary is a model of a shattered society, paralysed by ethnic conflicts and cultural differences. In this context, the therapeutic response to war neurosis was affected by language confusion, national stereotypes and malingering. The German-Austrian psychiatrists not only emerged as a group of experts who had taken responsibility for the efficient treatment of war neurosis, but also as a pressure group that intended to keep centrifugal forces of the multinational empire under control.Das Unbehagen an der Moderne hatte um 1900 einen Namen: Neurasthenie. Dieses Buch führt in die unruhigen mentalen Landschaften Kakaniens und thematisiert als zentrale Fragen: Wie wurde die Neurasthenie in den österreichischen Ärztemilieus debattiert? Was hieß es für Patienten, mit dieser Diagnose konfrontiert zu sein? Neurasthenie stand für die Erschöpfung der modernen städtischen Gesellschaft, die sich durch eine rastlose Lebensführung überfordert sah, und machte ihre emotionalen Sensibilitäten und Sicherheitsbedürfnisse transparent. Insbesondere Männer des Bürgertums griffen auf das neue psychiatrische Deutungsangebot zurück. Die Diagnose der Neurasthenie konnte "unmännliche" Verhaltensweisen sinnstiftend erklären. Zugleich ließ sie aber auch Bedürfnisse nach deren Überwindung entstehen. Im Spiegel dieser Nervendiskurse lässt sich besser verstehen, warum 1914 der Krieg als "therapeutisches Erlebnis" und männliches Erneuerungsprojekt angepriesen wurde. Die Realitäten des modernen Maschinenkrieges setzten diesen Vorstellungen ein rasches Ende: Der Zitterer wurde zu einer massenhaft auftretenden Erscheinung, zum umstrittenen Patienten und zur Krisenfigur der Abhärtungsutopisten, die aus dem Krieg den "neuen Menschen" hervorgehen sahen. Da die Militärs in den Kriegsneurosen eine gefährliche Schwächung der Schlagkraft der Armee sahen, wurden wissenschaftliche Experten gebraucht, die rasch und effizient mit diesem Problem umgehen konnten. Die Psychiatrie befand sich dadurch in einer völlig neuen Situation, da sie nicht nur Kritik an einer gesellschaftlichen Krisensituation formulieren konnte, sondern auch Ressourcen und Instrumentarien zu deren Bewältigung bereitzustellen hatte. Welche Akzentverschiebungen ergaben sich in der psychiatrischen Wahrnehmung und Deutung sowie im Umgang mit Nervenkrankheiten? Wie lässt sich die österreichische Psychiatrie des Ersten Weltkriegs in historischer Perspektive charakterisieren? Mit Bezug auf die neuere medizinhistorische und kulturwissenschaftliche Forschung wird die Kriegspsychiatrie auf der Folie der Herausbildung der Medizin als Schlüsselwissenschaft des modernen Krieges analysiert. Dies bedeutete, dass die therapeutische Arbeit der Psychiater an den Vorgaben und Zielvorstellungen des Krieg führenden Staates ausgerichtet war. Darüber hinaus wird auf einige Problemkonstellationen des Vielvölkerstaates und deren Auswirkungen auf psychiatrisches Handeln im Krieg eingegangen. Die elektrischen Behandlungsmethoden der Psychiater werden auf der Folie der ethnisch-sprachlichen Pluralität der österreichisch-ungarischen Armee diskutiert. Der zweite Teil der Arbeit bietet solcherart eine differenzierte Analyse und Neubewertung des Phänomens der "Kriegsneurosen" wie auch der Rolle der österreichischen Psychiatrie im Ersten Weltkrieg

Inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B by reactive oxygen species leads to maintenance of Ca2+ influx following store depletion in HEK 293 cells

Depletion of inositol 1,4,5 trisphosphate-sensitive Ca2+ stores generates a yet unknown signal, which leads to increase in Ca2+ influx in different cell types [J.W. Putney Jr., A model for receptor-regulated calcium entry, Cell Calcium 7 (1986) 1–12]. Here, we describe a mechanism that modulates this store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOC). Ca2+ influx leads to inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) activity in HEK 293 cells [L. Sternfeld, et al., Tyrosine phosphatase PTP1B interacts with TRPV6 in vivo and plays a role in TRPV6-mediated calcium influx in HEK293 cells, Cell Signal 17 (2005) 951–960]. Since Ca2+ does not directly inhibit PTP1B, we assumed an intermediate signal, which links the rise in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration and PTP1B inhibition.We now show that Ca2+ influx is followed by generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and that it is reduced in cells preincubated with catalase. Furthermore, Ca2+-dependent inhibition of PTP1B can be abolished in the presence of catalase. H2O2 (100�M) directly added to cells inhibits PTP1B and leads to increase in Ca2+ influx after store depletion. PP1, an inhibitor of the Src family tyrosine kinases, prevents H2O2-induced Ca2+ influx. Our results show that ROS act as fine tuning modulators of Ca2+ entry. We assume that the Ca2+ influx channel or a protein involved in its regulation remains tyrosine phosphorylated as a consequence of PTP1B inhibition by ROS. This leads to maintained Ca2+ influx in the manner of a positive feedback loop

Nervenschwäche und Krieg

Since the 1880s neurasthenia - a term popularised by New York-physician George Beard - was discussed an a phenomenon of modernity, but over a long period of debate, psychiatry were not able to define what this "modern malady" exactly meant nor was it able to find any discernible causes for the epidemic disease. Neurasthenia was not simply a diagnostic term, which was often applied by fin de siècle-physicians to their workaday routine, but a kind of lifestyle, a sign of a certain emotional sensitivity in modern times. In the last decade historical research on neurasthenia has focused on Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. But what happened in Austria-Hungary, especially in Vienna? Focusing on Viennese psychiatry, part one of the book analyses the "invention" of Neurasthenia and the adoption of Beards thesis in Austrian medicine, bringing out various figures and alternative methods of explanations of the disease that was identified as a central, yet unwanted feature of modern manliness. Based on this the outcome of war could be seen as an instance of 'nerve-corrections'. Like many medical professionals in Austria-Hungary, psychiatrists had reacted to the war with nearly unanimous support: patriotic habits went hand in hand with high psychiatric expectations of the powerful mental effects of war. These hopes were badly disappointed. In the more recent literature on the medical and cultural history of the Great War, the phenomenon of the epidemic mental breakdowns of soldiers has been given a prominent place. 'Shellshock' and 'war neurosis' are now key words and frequent metaphors for the shattering effects of an industrialized war. In a sense these psychiatric labels symbolically represent the destructive impact of mechanized weapons on body and soul, the loss of narrative structures and the traumatic after-effects of modern warfare. How can Viennese-centred Austrian psychiatry in the First World War be characterized? With regard to new studies on the history of trauma, war and psychiatry I intend to emphasize two interpretations. Firstly, as in German and other European psychiatric war communities, models of rationalisation and modernisation are of significance when focusing on this topic. Viennese psychiatrists were neither particularly brutal nor especially tolerant in the way they dealt with the situation. Instead, as in other European countries in the Great War, they acted in keeping with military requirements and standards. Secondly, the specific political and cultural context of the Austro-Hungarian situation is of utmost importance as well. Shell-shock was a phenomenon that affected all nations, but reactions differed according to different national traditions and different medical ways of understanding, representing and acting. In a comparative cultural history of World War One, Austria-Hungary is a model of a shattered society, paralysed by ethnic conflicts and cultural differences. In this context, the therapeutic response to war neurosis was affected by language confusion, national stereotypes and malingering. The German-Austrian psychiatrists not only emerged as a group of experts who had taken responsibility for the efficient treatment of war neurosis, but also as a pressure group that intended to keep centrifugal forces of the multinational empire under control

Specific Traumatic Events Elevate the Risk of a Suicide Attempt in a 10-year Longitudinal Community Study on Adolescents and Young Adults

Traumatic events (TEs) have been associated with suicide attempts (SAs). However, the empirical status of some TEs is inconclusive. This also concerns community adolescents and young adults, known to be a high-risk group for SAs. We examined associations between (a) a range of prior TEs (physical attack, rape/sexual abuse, serious accident, and witnessing somebody else experiencing a TE) and a subsequent SA, and (b) the number of prior TEs and an SA, and (c) we estimated attributable proportions of SAs, in relation to each TE. Over a 10-year period, the Early Developmental Stages of Psychopathology (EDSP) study prospectively assessed community members, aged 14-24 years at baseline. Starting with 3021 subjects, each individual was assessed up to four times. Assessment was based on the Munich-Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Temporal associations were estimated using the Cox model with time-dependent covariates. Attributable proportions were based on the results of the Cox models. All four TEs elevated the risk for a subsequent SA, adjusting for confounders. Highest risk was found for the combined TE rape/sexual abuse. Results showed that 56-90% of SAs could be attributed to TEs in the exposed group; on the population level, attributable proportions ranged between 6.9% and 23.5%. Different TEs have been shown to elevate the risk of an SA in a young community sample. Our results suggest that both health professionals and health policy decision-makers consider specific TEs and the number of prior TEs as risk factors for SAs

Bell's local causality is a d-separation criterion

This paper aims to motivate Bell’s notion of local causality by means of Bayesian networks. In a locally causal theory any superluminal correlation should be screened off by atomic events localized in any so-called shielder-off region in the past of one of the correlating events. In a Bayesian network any correlation between non-descendant random variables are screened off by any so-called d-separating set of variables. We will argue that the shielder-off regions in the definition of local causality conform in a well defined sense to the d-separating sets in Bayesian networks