Osteopontin and `Melanoma Inhibitory Activity': Comparison of Two Serological Tumor Markers in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma Patients

Background: Evaluation of the protein osteopontin (OPN) as a potential new marker in comparison to melanoma inhibitory activity (MIA) for screening and detection of metastatic uveal melanoma. Methods: Plasma levels of 32 patients with uveal melanoma were analyzed for OPN and MIA by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Fourteen of these patients had clinically detectable liver metastases. Results: Median plasma concentration of OPN in patients with metastatic disease was 152.01 ng/ml compared to 47.39 ng/ml in patients without clinically detectable metastases (p < 0.001). The difference between the median MIA plasma levels in patients with (13.11 ng/ml) and patients without (5.64 ng/ml) metastatic disease was also statistically significant (p < 0.001). No correlation could be found between MIA or OPN levels and tumor height in patients without clinically detectable metastases. Conclusion: The proteins MIA and OPN seem to be promising tumor markers for the metastasis screening in patients with uveal melanoma. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Base

Grammatikerwerb und grammatische Störungen im Kindesalter. Ergebnisse des Forschungsprojekts GED 4-9 und ihre Implikationen für sprachdiagnostische und –therapeutische Methoden

Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, empirisch robustes, repräsentatives Grundlagenwissen zum Grammatikerwerb deutschsprachiger Kinder jenseits des vierten Lebensjahres zu generieren. Dazu wurden innerhalb des multizentrischen Forschungsprojekts GED 4-9 Daten zu den grammatischen Fähigkeiten von N= 968 Kindern im Alter zwischen 4;0 und 8;11 Jahren erhoben. Bei der Zusammensetzung der Stichprobe wurde auf eine größtmögliche Repräsentativität durch Berücksichtigung möglicher Einflussfaktoren (z.B. Geschlecht, regionale Unterschiede) geachtet. Basierend auf einem standardisierten Vorgehen wurden im Rahmen eines spielerischen Settings gezielt Äußerungen evoziert, die eine Verwendung der entsprechenden grammatischen Zielstrukturen erforderten. Die Äußerungen der Kinder werden im Rahmen der vorliegenden Analyse sowohl in quantitativer als auch in qualitativer Hinsicht ausgewertet. Sie werden anschließend in Beziehung gesetzt zu den bisherigen empirischen Befunden hinsichtlich des grammatischen Erwerbsverlaufs sowie dem aktuellen sprachdiagnostischen und -therapeutischen Vorgehen bei grammatischen Störungen im Kindesalter. Die Arbeit schließt eine Forschungslücke im Bereich des Grundlagenwissens, indem sie eine empirische Basis für sprachdiagnostische Entscheidungsprozesse bereitstellt. Darüber hinaus werden mögliche Implikationen für die Modifikation bzw. Bestätigung des aktuellen sprachtherapeutischen Handelns, die sich auf der Grundlage des neu gewonnenen Wissens zum Grammatikerwerb jenseits des vierten Lebensjahres ergeben, aus der Deskription der erhobenen Daten abgeleitet und diskutiert

Cross section, final spin and zoom-whirl behavior in high-energy black hole collisions

We study the collision of two highly boosted equal mass, nonrotating black holes with generic impact parameter. We find such systems to exhibit zoom-whirl behavior when fine tuning the impact parameter. Near the threshold of immediate merger the remnant black hole Kerr parameter can be near maximal (a/M about 0.95) and the radiated energy can be as large as 35% of the center-of-mass energy.Comment: Rearranged results section; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Myelodysplastic syndromes: Aspects of current medical care and economic considerations in Germany

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of diseases mainly affecting older people. The use of an increasing number of therapeutic options depends on a systematic risk stratification of the patients. A high percentage of MDS patients need blood transfusions as supportive care, which influence quality of life and cause a great part of the costs generated by MDS therapy. In this article which is based on a workshop about the burden of MDS held in October 2006 in Munich, MDS is discussed with regard to different aspects: current therapies, transfusion medicine, geriatrics, quality of life, and health economic aspects

Larger and more law abiding? The impact of enlargement on compliance in the European Union

Although enlargement increases the preference diversity in the EU, this paper shows that enlargement has not led to a deterioration of compliance with EU law. In three of the EU’s four enlargement rounds, the new member states comply better with EU law than the old member states. The southern enlargement in the 1980s is the only one that led to a substantial increase in noncompliance. Particularly surprising for the main compliance theories, which focus on state power, adjustment costs, administrative capacities, or legitimacy, is the good performance of the postcommunist Central and Eastern European new member states after the eastern enlargement in the 2000s. Our analysis suggests that the use of pre-accession conditionality in the eastern enlargement explains why these new members perform so well - unlike their Southern counterparts who faced equally unfavourable country-level conditions for compliance

A quasi-Lagrangian coordinate system based on high resolution tracer observations: implementation for the Antarctic polar vortex

In order to quantitatively analyse the chemical and dynamical evolution of the polar vortex it has proven extremely useful to work with coordinate systems that follow the vortex flow. We propose here a two-dimensional quasi-Lagrangian coordinate system {X i, delta X i}, based on the mixing ratio of a long-lived stratospheric trace gas i, and its systematic use with i = N2O, in order to describe the structure of a well-developed Antarctic polar vortex. In the coordinate system {X i, delta X i} the mixing ratio X i is the vertical coordinate and delta X i = X i(theta) - X i vort(theta) is the meridional coordinate (X i vort(theta) being a vertical reference profile in the vortex core). The quasi-Lagrangian coordinates {X i, delta X i} persist for much longer time than standard isentropic coordinates, potential temperature theta and equivalent latitude Phi e, do not require explicit reference to geographic space, and can be derived directly from high-resolution in situ measurements. They are therefore well-suited for studying the evolution of the Antarctic polar vortex throughout the polar winter with respect to the relevant chemical and microphysical processes. By using the introduced coordinate system {X N2O, delta X N2O} we analyze the well-developed Antarctic vortex investigated during the APE-GAIA (Airborne Polar Experiment – Geophysica Aircraft in Antarctica – 1999) campaign (Carli et al., 2000). A criterion, which uses the local in-situ measurements of X i=X i(theta) and attributes the inner vortex edge to a rapid change (delta-step) in the meridional profile of the mixing ratio X i, is developed to determine the (Antarctic) inner vortex edge. In turn, we suggest that the outer vortex edge of a well-developed Antarctic vortex can be attributed to the position of a local minimum of the X H2O gradient in the polar vortex area. For a well-developed Antarctic vortex, the delta X N2O-parametrization of tracer-tracer relationships allows to distinguish the tracer inter-relationships in the vortex core, vortex boundary region and surf zone and to examine their meridional variation throughout these regions. This is illustrated by analyzing the tracer-tracer relationships X i : X N2O obtained from the in-situ data of the APE-GAIA campaign for i = CFC-11, CFC-12, H-1211 and SF6. A number of solitary anomalous points in the CFC-11 : N2O correlation, observed in the Antarctic vortex core, are interpreted in terms of small-scale cross-isentropic dispersion

Glucose-Dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide (GIP) Induces Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP)-I and Procalcitonin (Pro-CT) Production in Human Adipocytes

Context: Increased plasma levels of glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), calcitonin CT gene-related peptide (CGRP)-I, and procalcitonin (Pro-CT) are associated with obesity. Adipocytes express functional GIP receptors and the CT peptides Pro-CT and CGRP-I. However, a link between GIP and CT peptides has not been studied yet. Objective: The objective of the study was the assessment of the GIP effect on the expression and secretion of CGRP-I and Pro-CT in human adipocytes, CGRP-I and CT gene expression in adipose tissue (AT) from obese vs. lean subjects, and plasma levels of CGRP-I and Pro-CT after a high-fat meal in obese patients. Design and Participants: Human preadipocyte-derived adipocytes, differentiated in vitro, were treated with GIP. mRNA expression and protein secretion of CGRP-I and Pro-CT were measured. Human CGRP-I and CT mRNA expression in AT and CGRP-I and Pro-CT plasma concentrations were assessed. Results: Treatment with 1 nm GIP induced CGRP-I mRNA expression 6.9 ± 1.0-fold (P > 0.001 vs. control) after 2 h and CT gene expression 14.0 ± 1.7-fold (P > 0.001 vs. control) after 6 h. GIP stimulated CGRP-I secretion 1.7 ± 0.2-fold (P > 0.05 vs. control) after 1 h. In AT samples of obese subjects, CGRP-I mRNA expression was higher in sc AT (P > 0.05 vs. lean subjects), whereas CT expression was higher in visceral AT (P > 0.05 vs. lean subjects). CGRP-I plasma levels increased after a high-fat meal in obese patients. Conclusion: GIP induces CGRP-I and CT expression in human adipocytes. Therefore, elevated Pro-CT and CGRP-I levels in obesity might result from GIP-induced Pro-CT and CGRP-I release in AT and might be triggered by a high-fat diet. How these findings relate to the metabolic complications of obesity warrants further investigations

Online tracing of molecular weight evolution during radical polymerization via high-resolution FlowNMR spectroscopy

High-resolution FlowNMR was coupled to a continuous flow reactor to monitor polymer molecular weight evolution online by diffusion ordered NMR spectroscopy. Polymers were synthesized by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization in continuous flow. The setup allows to target various polymer chain lengths in a dynamic manner without requiring additional purification or sample preparation. Obtaining molecular weight information in this manner is shown to be more accurate than classical SEC analysis at comparable measurement times, with relative errors around 5%

Berufsbezeichnungen und ihr Einfluss auf das Berufsinteresse von Mädchen und Jungen

Auf der Basis einer Analyse der amtlichen Ausbildungsstatistik wird versucht festzustellen, welche Aspekte von Berufsbezeichnungen Frauen den Zutritt in 'typisch männlichen' Berufen interessanter erscheinen lassen können. Dabei zeigt sich, dass das Interesse an Berufen stark von der Formulierung abhängt. So wird beispielsweise die Bezeichnung 'Fachfrau' oder 'Fachangestellte' wesentlich häufiger bevorzugt als 'Fachkraft' oder 'Facharbeiterin'. Ähnliche Unterschiede zeigen sich bei Branchenbezeichnungen, Arbeitsverfahren und Materialien als Teilelementen von Berufsbezeichnungen. Was beispielsweise die Berufe 'Mediengestalterin in Digital- und Printmedien' sowie 'IT-System-Elektronikerin' betrifft, so ergibt sich, dass die erstere Bezeichnung sich stärker mit den Präferenzen der Mädchen deckt und zudem eine höhere gesellschaftliche Anerkennung erwarten lässt. Die Regelung, dass seit 1980 alle Berufsbezeichnungen stets in beiden geschlechtsspezifischen Varianten benannt werden müssen, scheint problematisch, da sie wiederum zum Ausgangspunkt für die Etablierung von neuen geschlechtsspezifischen Stereotypen werden könnten. (IAB