Survey 2016 of the Residue Situation in Turkish Organic Products

Since December 2011, ETO and FiBL are jointly implementing the German-Turkish Bilateral Cooperation - Organic Agriculture. The overall aim of this project is to effectively and efficiently ensure the quality of Turkish organic food produced for the European market. Information from a representative sample of selected private operators of the organic supply chains together with official data from competent authorities about unwanted residues detected in organic products from Turkey have been determined as a major indicator for the extent of reaching the project aim. For this reason, a survey was conducted in late 2013 among German and Turkish trading companies, control bodies and the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE). The study concluded that 50 % of respondents believed that the residue situation had improved significantly since 2011. Moreover, the EU's Rapid Alert System for 2013 showed no abnormalities for Turkish organic products. Interviews during the GFA project progress audit in Turkey in June 2015 confirmed the significant reduction of residue findings and of other suspected cases in Turkish imported organic products. To hedge these findings, a further opinion poll among Central European and Turkish trading companies and institutions was carried out in the present exit phase of the project (early 2016). The same questions were used in both surveys. However, minor changes were made in 2016, to adjust to the different project phase. The objective of the second survey was to collect up-to-date data which can be used for the performance review of the project and for developments beyond the scope of the project. The second survey covered the years 2014 – 15 (after the improvement measures of the project were implemented). As a reference, the year 2011 (before the project activities were started) was also included in the second survey

Extracting Textual Data from Historical Newspaper Scans and its Challenges for “Guerilla-Projects”

In 2022, it is a common place that digital historical newspapers (DHN) have become increasingly available. Despite the undeniable progress in the supply of DHN and the methods to perform rigorous quantitative analysis, however, working with DHN still poses various pitfalls, especially when scholars use data provided by third parties, such as libraries or commercial providers. Reporting from a current project, we want to share our experiences and communicate the various problems we faced while working with DHN. After a short project summary, we present the main problems that we faced in our project and that we think might also be relevant for other scholars, particularly those who work in small research groups. We arrange these problems according to an archetype workflow, which is divided into the three steps of corpus acquisition, corpus evaluation, and corpus preparation. By raising some red flags, we want to call attention to what we think common DHN related problems, to raise awareness for potential pitfalls, and, this way, to provide some guidelines for scholars who consider using DHN for their research

Results of the enhanced COVID-19 surveillance during UEFA EURO 2020 in Germany

In general, mass gatherings might pose a risk to the public health (PH). The UEFA EURO 2020 tournament (EURO 2020) was one of the first mass gathering events since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Germany. To allow early detection and response to any EURO 2020-associated impact on the COVID-19-related epidemiological situation, we initiated enhanced surveillance activities using the routine surveillance system in collaboration with the regional PH authority of Bavaria. Several preventive measures regarding the attendance of football matches and public viewing were implemented according to state regulations. We describe the results from the enhanced surveillance during the EURO 2020. In total, five cases who had attended a football match in the stadium of Munich, nine cases, who attended a football match in a stadium outside of Germany, and 123 cases in association with public viewing events were identified by enhanced surveillance. Concluding, the EURO 2020 seems to not have had a major impact on the COVID-19 pandemic development in Germany. Health measures for stadium visitors and the restriction of large public viewing events may have potentially contributed to the low case numbers detected, emphasising the need of appropriate PH surveillance and regulations to limit the potential risk to PH during mass gathering events.Peer Reviewe

Reciprocal circulation pattern of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses during the influenza seasons 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 in the Bavarian Influenza Sentinel (Germany) – CORRIGENDUM

Peer Reviewe

Is the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine effective in elderly populations? Results from population data from Bavaria, Germany

Background The efficacy of the BioNTech-Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccination in the elderly (≥80 years) could not be fully assessed in the BioNTech-Pfizer trial due to low numbers in this age group. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the BioNTech-Pfizer (BNT162b2) vaccine to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe outcomes in octo- and novo-generians in a German state setting. Methods and findings A prospective observational study of 708,187 persons aged ≥80 years living in Bavaria, Germany, was conducted between Jan 9 to Apr 11, 2021. We assessed the vaccine effectiveness (VE) for two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine with respect to SARS-CoV-2 infection and related hospitalisations and mortality. Additionally, differences in VE by age groups ≥80 to ≤89 years and ≥90 years were studied. Analyses were adjusted by sex. By the end of follow-up, 63.8% of the Bavarian population ≥80 years had received one dose, and 52.7% two doses, of the BNT162b2 vaccine. Two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine lowered the proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections and related outcomes, resulting in VE estimates of 68.3% (95% confidence interval (CI) 65.5%, 70.9%) for infection, 73.2% (95% CI 65.3%, 79.3%) for hospitalisation, and 85.1% (95% CI 80.0%, 89.0%) for mortality. Sex differences in the risk of COVID-19 outcomes observed among unvaccinated persons disappeared after two BNT162b2 vaccine doses. Overall, the BNT162b2 vaccine was equally effective in octo- and novo-genarians. Conclusions Two doses of BioNTech-Pfizer’s BNT162b2 vaccine is highly effective against COVID-19 outcomes in elderly persons

Surveillance of acute SARS-CoV-2 infections in elementary schools and daycare facilities in Bavaria, Germany (09/2020–03/2021)

Introduction: Here we report our results of a multi-center, open cohort study ("COVID-Kids-Bavaria") investigating the distribution of acute SARS-CoV-2 infections among children and staff in 99 daycare facilities and 48 elementary schools in Bavaria, Germany. Materials and Methods: Overall, 2,568 children (1,337 school children, 1,231 preschool children) and 1,288 adults (466 teachers, 822 daycare staff) consented to participate in the study and were randomly tested in three consecutive phases (September/October 2020, November/December 2020, March 2021). In total, 7,062 throat swabs were analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 by commercial RT-PCR kits. Results: In phase I, only one daycare worker tested positive. In phase II, SARS-CoV-2 was detected in three daycare workers, two preschool children, and seven school children. In phase III, no sample tested positive. This corresponds to a positive test rate of 0.05% in phase I, 0.4% in phase II and 0% in phase III. Correlation of a positive PCR test result with the local-7-day incidence values showed a strong association of a 7-day-incidence of more than 100/100,000 as compared to <100/100,000 (OR = 10.3 [1.5-438], p < 0.005). After phase III, antibody testing was offered to 713 study participants in elementary schools. A seroprevalence rate of 7.7% (students) and 4.5% (teachers) was determined. Discussion: During the initial waves of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the risk of a positive SARS-CoV-2 result correlated positively with the local 7-day incidence. Hence, the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infections were reflected in schools and daycare facilities. An increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the setting of daycare and elementary schooling was unlikely

COVID-19-Impfung senkt das Risiko für Infektion, schwere Krankheitsverläufe und Tod

Im Mai 2021 kam es in einem Alten- und Pflegeheim in der Oberpfalz zu einem SARS-CoV-2-Aus-bruch mit einer hohen Anzahl von Impfdurchbrüchen, woraufhin serologische Untersuchungen und epidemiologische Daten der Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner und dem Pflegepersonal ausgewertet wurden. Ziel dieser Untersuchung war es, das Risiko von Hospitalisierung und Tod bei Geimpften im Vergleich zu Ungeimpften darzustellen.Peer Reviewe

Dynamic simulations on the mitochondrial fatty acid Beta-oxidation network

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The oxidation of fatty acids in mitochondria plays an important role in energy metabolism and genetic disorders of this pathway may cause metabolic diseases. Enzyme deficiencies can block the metabolism at defined reactions in the mitochondrion and lead to accumulation of specific substrates causing severe clinical manifestations. Ten of the disorders directly affecting mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation have been well-defined, implicating episodic hypoketotic hypoglycemia provoked by catabolic stress, multiple organ failure, muscle weakness, or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Additionally, syndromes of severe maternal illness (HELLP syndrome and AFLP) have been associated with pregnancies carrying a fetus affected by fatty acid oxidation deficiencies. However, little is known about fatty acids kinetics, especially during fasting or exercise when the demand for fatty acid oxidation is increased (catabolic stress).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A computational kinetic network of 64 reactions with 91 compounds and 301 parameters was constructed to study dynamic properties of mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation. Various deficiencies of acyl-CoA dehydrogenase were simulated and verified with measured concentrations of indicative metabolites of screened newborns in Middle Europe and South Australia. The simulated accumulation of specific acyl-CoAs according to the investigated enzyme deficiencies are in agreement with experimental data and findings in literature. Investigation of the dynamic properties of the fatty acid β-oxidation reveals that the formation of acetyl-CoA – substrate for energy production – is highly impaired within the first hours of fasting corresponding to the rapid progress to coma within 1–2 hours. LCAD deficiency exhibits the highest accumulation of fatty acids along with marked increase of these substrates during catabolic stress and the lowest production rate of acetyl-CoA. These findings might confirm gestational loss to be the explanation that no human cases of LCAD deficiency have been described.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In summary, this work provides a detailed kinetic model of mitochondrial metabolism with specific focus on fatty acid β-oxidation to simulate and predict the dynamic response of that metabolic network in the context of human disease. Our findings offer insight into the disease process (e.g. rapid progress to coma) and might confirm new explanations (no human cases of LCAD deficiency), which can hardly be obtained from experimental data alone.</p