A record of morbidity and medical request profiles in international humanitarian aid, taking the earthquake in Bam in Iran in 2003 as an example

Objective: With the humanitarian work of the International Red Cross after the earthquake in Bam, Iran, it should be noted that international and national cooperation is possible according to recognised standards and concepts, and therefore morbidity records can be included uniformly in the context of day-to-day work even in post-disaster situations. The data ascertained show changes in the disease spectrum. Basic health provision according to the primary health care concept has priority in the post-disaster response (> 6 days) to the earthquake compared to more surgically oriented medical acute aid from abroad. Material and methodology: In the international consensus conference at the beginning of January 2004, uniform morbidity recording was fixed to simple standardised disaster case definitions. The recording of traumatic, infectious and non-infectious diseases was carried out during the routine work in the outpatient facilities of the emergency response units of 3–31 January 2004. Examination was according to the following indicators: proportional morbidities and sum of the proportional morbidities. Results and discussion: The complete examination time period included 16,677 new cases. The health facility rate only gradually increased. Temporal fluctuations in the numbers treated may be caused by secondary care of the injured, by a possible lack of accessibility (transport problems) or an increased acceptance of facilities. A written specification of the case definitions was not carried out in Bam, and so a comparison is not possible for recorded morbidities at the same time, and consistency cannot be reached for some of the data. Nine diagnoses/categories cover 98.68% of the consultations in the complete time period. Non-traumatic health problems predominate for the whole of the month. The category "others" is too high with 57.94%. Therefore, it may be assumed that certain diagnoses were overestimated, underestimated or not recognised. Vulnerable groups (children, women, the old) were not completely included. Conclusion: Standards and guidelines for health care in humanitarian aid exist and are of help during planning, decision finding, execution and communication. Data acquisition instruments (registering books and patient files) should be developed and standardised by national and international humanitarian groups. The recording of morbidity is a simple instrument in the context of outpatient facilities and provides valuable information for further work during disasters

Frequency and potential reasons

Background: Generic substitution can have unintended consequences. In Germany, brand name to generic or generic to generic switching is mainly driven by rebate contracts. Frequent switching may raise concerns about bio-and therapeutic equivalence. Expected patient confusion may result in compromised medication adherence or new onset of other drug-related problems. Since 2008, pharmacists are allowed to deviate from rebate contracts by denying substitution due to pharmaceutical concerns on an individual basis. Objectives: To explore the frequency of documented pharmaceutical concerns in Germany between July 2011 and December 2013 and to identify the medicines most frequently related to pharmaceutical concerns in 2013. Methods: We analyzed documented pharmaceutical concerns in all prescribed drugs at the expense of any statutory health insurance company requiring pharmacies’ generic substitution according to rebate contracts. Results: Since July 2011, the frequency of documented pharmaceutical concerns in relation to prescribed drug products with rebate contracts requiring substitution increased consistently and doubled between July 2011 and July 2013. Overall in 2013, the trend of the two previous years continued and reached approximately 1.5%. The most affected drugs/drug classes were thyroid hormones (in particular combinations with iodide; 15.9%) followed by ondansetron (12.5%), and levothyroxine (11.3%). For all drugs/drug classes under investigation, product-, patient-or disease- related aspects could be identified which are potential reasons to deny substitution and to document pharmaceutical concerns. Conclusions: Although there is no electronic recording of the specific reasons for pharmaceutical concerns in claims data, our analyses support the assumption that pharmacists make use of this instrument based on individual clinical decisions and as required by contract. Pharmaceutical concerns are, therefore, an important instrument for pharmacies to refuse generic substitution. They are considered to prevent compromised medication safety and to assure pharmacotherapy effectiveness in a generic substitution environment driven by low drug prizes above all. © 2016, Grupo de Investigacion en Atencion Farmaceutica. All rights reserved

Interessenentwicklung im Kontext von Klassenprofilierung in der Sekundarstufe I

Classes with a special emphasis (so-called profile classes) represent a central element of current school development processes and are considered as one of the most prominent ways of practical implementation of school autonomy. At the secondary level, profile classes in music and science (music and STEM classes) are becoming increasingly popular. Specific features of profile classes (including additional lessons, innovative and practice-based teaching and learning formats, and the involvement of student labs) are associated with various pedagogical potentials – especially in terms of fostering students’ interest and their self-concept. However, there is a research gap regarding the development of students’ subject-related interests and their self-concept in profile classes at the secondary level. The findings of the present study indicate differences in the development of the interests in music and science as well as the domain-specific self-concept between music classes, STEM classes and classes without a specific profile. Using cross-lagged-panel-models, the longitudinal relations among interest and self-concept are estimated in addition to the correlations of the constructs within each wave and the autoregressive effects within each construct over time. In this regard, differences in the cross-lagged panel models between profile classes and classes without a specific profile are examined. The results allow an evaluation of the potential of profile classes in order to promote students’ interest and self-concept and offer a variety of implications for pedagogical practice

Beeinflussung des Essentiellen Tremors durch kontinuierliche Theta- Burst- Stimulation des Primär motorischen Kortex

Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Beeinflussbarkeit des Essentiellen Tremors über den Primär motorischen Kortex (M1) zu untersuchen und damit einerseits dessen Stellenwert für die Tremorentstehung und andererseits sein Potential als therapeutisches Zielgebiet zu überprüfen. Mittels der Theta- Burst- Stimulation, einem besonders effektiven Stimulationsprotokoll der repetitiven Transkraniellen Magnetstimulation, wurde der rechte Primärmotorische Kortex von 10 Patienten mit Essentiellem Tremor und 10 Normalprobanden einmal mit einer efektiven Intensität und einmal mit einer anzunehmend nicht effektiven Intensität gereitzt. Bei den mit hoher Intensität stimulierten Patienten konnte eine signifikante Tremorreduktion nachgewiesen werden, welche über 45 Minuten nach der Stimulation fortbestand. Nach nicht effektiver Stimulation und bei den Normalprobanden fanden sich keine signifikanten Tremoränderungen. Eine Exzitabilitätsminderung des Motorkortex konnte nur bei den Normalprobanden gezeigt werden. Den Ergebnissen zu Folge ist eine direkte oder indirekte Beteiligung des Primärmotorischen Kortex an der Entstehung des Essentiellen Tremors anzunehmen

Interessenentwicklung im Kontext von Klassenprofilierung in der Sekundarstufe I

Classes with a special emphasis (so-called profile classes) represent a central element of current school development processes and are considered as one of the most prominent ways of practical implementation of school autonomy. At the secondary level, profile classes in music and science (music and STEM classes) are becoming increasingly popular. Specific features of profile classes (including additional lessons, innovative and practice-based teaching and learning formats, and the involvement of student labs) are associated with various pedagogical potentials – especially in terms of fostering students’ interest and their self-concept. However, there is a research gap regarding the development of students’ subject-related interests and their self-concept in profile classes at the secondary level. The findings of the present study indicate differences in the development of the interests in music and science as well as the domain-specific self-concept between music classes, STEM classes and classes without a specific profile. Using cross-lagged-panel-models, the longitudinal relations among interest and self-concept are estimated in addition to the correlations of the constructs within each wave and the autoregressive effects within each construct over time. In this regard, differences in the cross-lagged panel models between profile classes and classes without a specific profile are examined. The results allow an evaluation of the potential of profile classes in order to promote students’ interest and self-concept and offer a variety of implications for pedagogical practice

Lernen gestalten

Questions of digitization and the increasing heterogeneity of learners are just two of the central challenges that schools and universities currently face. Educational institutions are therefore undergoing constant change in order to ensure and develop the quality of education. The resulting innovation processes can be very diverse and relate to both structural conditions and social interactions in the teaching situation. This book deals with these changes (innovations) in teaching and learning in a variety of ways and addresses structural development measures as well as individual conditions of learning. Reference is made to both the school and the university context

From Theory to Practice: Applying Neural Networks to Simulate Real Systems with Sign Problems

The numerical sign problem poses a seemingly insurmountable barrier to the simulation of many fascinating systems. We apply neural networks to deform the region of integration, mitigating the sign problem of systems with strongly correlated electrons. In this talk we present our latest architectural developments as applied to contour deformation. We also demonstrate its applicability to real systems, namely perylene

MitoNeoD:a mitochondria-targeted superoxide probe

Mitochondrial superoxide (O2⋅−) underlies much oxidative damage and redox signaling. Fluorescent probes can detect O2⋅−, but are of limited applicability in vivo, while in cells their usefulness is constrained by side reactions and DNA intercalation. To overcome these limitations, we developed a dual-purpose mitochondrial O2⋅− probe, MitoNeoD, which can assess O2⋅− changes in vivo by mass spectrometry and in vitro by fluorescence. MitoNeoD comprises a O2⋅−-sensitive reduced phenanthridinium moiety modified to prevent DNA intercalation, as well as a carbon-deuterium bond to enhance its selectivity for O2⋅− over non-specific oxidation, and a triphenylphosphonium lipophilic cation moiety leading to the rapid accumulation within mitochondria. We demonstrated that MitoNeoD was a versatile and robust probe to assess changes in mitochondrial O2⋅− from isolated mitochondria to animal models, thus offering a way to examine the many roles of mitochondrial O2⋅−production in health and disease

Modulating hESC-derived cardiomyocyte and endothelial cell function with triple-helical peptides for heart tissue engineering.

In this study, we investigated the role of cardiomyocyte (CM) and endothelial cell (EC) specific interactions with collagen in the assembly of an operational myocardium in vitro. Engineered cardiac patches represent valuable tools for myocardial repair following infarction and are generally constituted of a suitable biomaterial populated by CMs and supportive cell types. Among those, ECs are required for tissue vascularization and positively modulate CM function. To direct the function of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived CM and EC seeded on biomaterials, we replicated cell-collagen interactions, which regulate cellular behaviour in the native myocardium, using triple-helical peptides (THPs) that are ligands for collagen-binding proteins. THPs enhanced proliferation and activity of CMs and ECs separately and in co-culture, drove CM maturation and enabled coordinated cellular contraction on collagen films. These results highlight the importance of collagen interactions on cellular response and establish THP-functionalized biomaterials as novel tools to produce engineered cardiac tissues

Optimized RNA Extraction and Northern Hybridization in Streptomycetes

Northern blot hybridization is a useful tool for analyzing transcript patterns. To get a picture of what really occurs in vivo, it is necessary to use a protocol allowing full protection of the RNA integrity and recovery and unbiased transfer of the entire transcripts population. Many protocols suffer from severe limitations including only partial protection of the RNA integrity and/or loss of small sized molecules. Moreover, some of them do not allow an efficient and even transfer in the entire sizes range. These difficulties become more prominent in streptomycetes, where an initial quick lysis step is difficult to obtain. We present here an optimized northern hybridization protocol to purify, fractionate, blot, and hybridize Streptomyces RNA. It is based on grinding by a high-performance laboratory ball mill, followed by prompt lysis with acid phenol-guanidinium, alkaline transfer, and hybridization to riboprobes. Use of this protocol resulted in sharp and intense hybridization signals relative to long mRNAs previously difficult to detect