Impact and Modulations of Peripheral and Edaphic B Cell Subpopulations in Chronic Rhinosinusitis With Nasal Polyposis

Objectives The pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) still are discussed controversially. Regulatory B cells (Breg) are responsible for the suppression of T cell activity: deficiencies for Breg have been demonstrated to contribute to autoimmune disorders, e.g., systemic lupus erythematosus. In order to evaluate the influence of B cell subpopulations, especially Breg, on the etiology of this disease, the aim of this study was to characterize subpopulations of peripheral and edaphic B cells in CRSwNP. Methods Polypoid tissue and blood samples were collected from 10 patients undergoing paranasal sinus surgery and lymphocytes were analyzed by multicolor flow cytometry. Results There was a significantly lower frequency of B cells in nasal polyps compared to peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in patients with CRSwNP. Mature resting B cells were the main population within B cells in PBMC, and memory B cells in nasal polyps. Remarkably, Breg and mature B cells significantly decreased in nasal polyps compared to PBMC. Memory B cells significantly increased and represented the main subpopulation in nasal polyps in patients with CRSwNP. Conclusion In this study a detailed contemporary characterization of B cell subpopulations in patients with CRSwNP is presented. The influence of edaphic B cells could play a key role in the maintenance of this chronic infectious disease

Why do we treat adolescent idiopathic scoliosis? What we want to obtain and to avoid for our patients. SOSORT 2005 Consensus paper

BACKGROUND: Medicine is a scientific art: once science is not clear, choices are made according to individual and collective beliefs that should be better understood. This is particularly true in a field like adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, where currently does not exist definitive scientific evidence on the efficacy either of conservative or of surgical treatments. AIM OF THE STUDY: To verify the philosophical choices on the final outcome of a group of people believing and engaged in a conservative treatment of idiopathic scoliosis. METHODS: We performed a multifaceted study that included a bibliometric analysis, a questionnaire, and a careful Consensus reaching procedure between experts in the conservative treatment of scoliosis (SOSORT members). RESULTS: The Consensus reaching procedure has shown to be useful: answers changed in a statistically significant way, and 9 new outcome criteria were included. The most important final outcomes were considered Aesthetics (100%), Quality of life and Disability (more than 90%), while more than 80% of preferences went to Back Pain, Psychological well-being, Progression in adulthood, Breathing function, Scoliosis Cobb degrees (radiographic lateral flexion), Needs of further treatments in adulthood. DISCUSSION: In the literature prevail outcome criteria driven by the contingent treatment needs or the possibility to have measurement systems (even if it seems that usual clinical and radiographic methods are given much more importance than more complex Disability or Quality of Life instruments). SOSORT members give importance to a wide range of outcome criteria, in which clinical and radiographic issues have the lowest importance. CONCLUSION: We treat our patients for what they need for their future (Breathing function, Needs of further treatments in adulthood, Progression in adulthood), and their present too (Aesthetics, Disability, Quality of life). Technical matters, such as rib hump or radiographic lateral alignment and rotation, but not lateral flexion, are secondary outcomes and only instrumental to previously reported primary outcomes. We advocate a multidimensional, comprehensive evaluation of scoliosis patients, to gather all necessary data for a complete therapeutic approach, that goes beyond x-rays to reach the person and the family

Untersuchung zur räumlichen und zeitlichen Tendenz der Belastung von Fischen des atlantischen und südpazifischen Ozeans mit persistenten Organohalogen-Verbindungen

Fische des atlantischen und südpazifischen Ozeans wurden auf ihre Belastung mit bioakkumulierbaren persistenten Schadstoffen untersucht. Für nordatlantische Dorsche wird eine Abnahme der Belastung durch chlorierte Xenobiotika gefunden, während bromierte Diphenylether eine Tendenz zu steigenden Konzentrationen zeigen. Die erneute Untersuchung von archivierten Lipidextrakten aus den Jahren 1981/82 mittels ECNI-MSD unterstützt diesen Befund. Aus den für diese Arbeit untersuchten südatlantischen Proben lässt sich kein so eindeutiger Trend ablesen. Während die Belastung mit 4,4’-DDT zurückgeht, werden für das Lindan Werte erhalten, die im Vergleich mit Ergebnissen aus dem Jahr 1985 nahezu keine Veränderung aufweisen. In einer Probe aus der Region um Kapstadt wurden hohe Gehalte für die bromierten Diphenylether festgestellt, die zwei Drittel des Wertes aus dem nordatlantischen Dorsch betragen. Im neuseeländischen Raum sind die untersuchten Granatbarsche (fünf Proben 1999 - 2001) einheitlich durch eine bemerkenswerte Belastung von 4,4’-DDT und Mirex gekennzeichnet. Die Proben aus dem östlichen Südpazifik (drei Proben 1999 - 2001) weisen deutliche Unterschiede zueinander auf. Während die Probe aus dem Jahr 1999 eine insgesamt schwache Belastung zeigt, ist in den beiden anderen Proben das Endosulfan-Sulfat in hohen Konzentrationen nachweisbar - auch wird eine hohe Belastung mit Komponenten der DDT-Gruppe gefunden. Ein Verfahren, wie sich der log Kow und weitere Verteilungsparameter für unpolare Substanzen allein aus gaschromatographischen Trennungen über geeignete Korrelationen ableiten lassen, wird dargestellt. Diese Methode kann auch auf Komponenten, die in komplexen Mischungen von Realproben enthalten sind, angewendet werden und verlangt nicht die Verfügbarkeit der untersuchten Substanz in reiner Form

Current Understanding of Nasal Epithelial Cell Mis-Differentiation

The functional role of the respiratory epithelium is to generate a physical barrier. In addition, the epithelium supports the innate and acquired immune system through various cytokines and chemokines. However, epithelial cells are also involved in the pathogenesis of various respiratory diseases, some of which are mediated by increased permeability of the mucosal membrane or disturbed mucociliary transport. In addition, it has been shown that epithelial cells are involved in the development of inflammatory respiratory diseases. The following review article focuses on the aspects of epithelial mis-differentiation, in particular with respect to nasal mucosal barrier function, epithelial immunogenicity, nasal epithelial-mesenchymal transition and nasal microbiome

Work in Progress: Security Analysis for Safety-critical Systems: Smart Grid and IoT

Internet of Thing (IoT) and Smart Grid (SG) are separate technologies. The digital transformation of the energy industry and the increasing digitalization in the private sector connect these technologies. Currently in Germany, the SG is under construction. In order to use future innovative services, SG and IoT must be combined. For this, we connect the SG Infrastructure with the IoT. A potential insecure device and network (IoT) should be able to transfer data to and from a critical infrastructure (SG). Open research question in this context are the security requirements architecture SG and IoT and the mechanism for authentication and authorisation in future application (SG and IoT). Due to the increasing networking of the systems (SG and IoT) new threats and attack vectors arise. The attacks to the architecture influence the target of authenticity, security and privacy. For the security analysis we focus on two communication points: the communication between the smart meter gateway, and the IoT device. In our example, a connected charging station with cloud services is connected with a SG infrastructure. To create a really smart service, the charging station needs a connection to the SG to get the current amount of renewable energy in the grid. With this two connections, new threats emerge. A security analysis over all the connections, including the vulnerability and the ability of an attacker, is developed in this paper. The analysis shows us challenges of the communication between IoT and SG. For this, we defined technical and organizational requirements for authentication and authorization. Current authentication and authorization mechanisms are no longer sufficient for the defined requirements. We present the Role-based trust model for Safety critical Systems for these defined requirements. The new trust model is integrated into a role-based access control model. It defines data classes, which separate the sensitive and non-sensitive information