The COVID-19 Pandemic Affects Seasonality, With Increasing Cases of New-Onset Type 1 Diabetes in Children, From the Worldwide SWEET Registry

Objective: To analyze whether the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic increased the number of cases or impacted seasonality of new-onset type 1 diabetes (T1D) in large pediatric diabetes centers globally. Research design and methods: We analyzed data on 17,280 cases of T1D diagnosed during 2018-2021 from 92 worldwide centers participating in the SWEET registry using hierarchic linear regression models. Results: The average number of new-onset T1D cases per center adjusted for the total number of patients treated at the center per year and stratified by age-groups increased from 11.2 (95% CI 10.1-12.2) in 2018 to 21.7 (20.6-22.8) in 2021 for the youngest age-group, <6 years; from 13.1 (12.2-14.0) in 2018 to 26.7 (25.7-27.7) in 2021 for children ages 6 to <12 years; and from 12.2 (11.5-12.9) to 24.7 (24.0-25.5) for adolescents ages 12-18 years (all P < 0.001). These increases remained within the expected increase with the 95% CI of the regression line. However, in Europe and North America following the lockdown early in 2020, the typical seasonality of more cases during winter season was delayed, with a peak during the summer and autumn months. While the seasonal pattern in Europe returned to prepandemic times in 2021, this was not the case in North America. Compared with 2018-2019 (HbA1c 7.7%), higher average HbA1c levels (2020, 8.1%; 2021, 8.6%; P < 0.001) were present within the first year of T1D during the pandemic. Conclusions: The slope of the rise in pediatric new-onset T1D in SWEET centers remained unchanged during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a change in the seasonality at onset became apparent.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Xenobiotic metabolizing enzyme activities in isolated and cryopreserved human liver parenchymal cells

Liver parenchymal cells (hepatocytes) of human organ donors were isolated using a two-step collagenase perfusion technique. The average viability of the freshly isolated liver parenchymal cells, as judged by trypan blue exclusion, was 82% (SD = 7%; n = 6). The inter-individual differences in the determined enzyme activities were less than a factor of 7.5, despite the different sexes and ages of the donors. Freshly isolated parenchymal cells (PC) were cryopreserved using a computer-controlled freezing protocol. After thawing, cryopreserved cells had a mean viability of 57% (SD = 18%; n = 6). The activities of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes in freshly isolated and cryopreserved cells were compared using PC from two donors. The enzyme activities of phenol sulfotransferase, 1-naphthol UDP-glucuronosyltransferase and microsomal epoxide hydrolase were well maintained after thawing (87-117% of activities in freshly isolated cells), whereas the activities of glutathione S-transferase, monitored with the broad spectrum substrate 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, and the major broad spectrum cytosolic epoxide hydrolase were moderately but markedly reduced after cryopreservation (34-64% and 45-89% of levels in fresh cells, respectively). The decrease of both activities was dependent on the viability after thawing. When cryopreserved cells were purified by a Percoll centrifugation after thawing, the viability was increased from 62 to 92% for cells from one of the donors and from 88 to 98% for PC for the other donor. Subsequently the activity of glutathione S-transferase in Percoll-purified PC from the two donors was increased to 71 and 96% of levels in freshly isolated cells. It is concluded that the use of cryopreserved liver parenchymal cells of humans and other species represents a valuable tool in predicting which animal species best represents humans in hepatic metabolism and therefore should be the preferred species for investigations of metabolism and metabolism-dependent toxicities

Mutational Spectrum in the Δ7-Sterol Reductase Gene and Genotype-Phenotype Correlation in 84 Patients with Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome

Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS), an autosomal recessive malformation syndrome, ranges in clinical severity from mild dysmorphism and moderate mental retardation to severe congenital malformation and intrauterine lethality. Mutations in the gene for Δ7-sterol reductase (DHCR7), which catalyzes the final step in cholesterol biosynthesis in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), cause SLOS. We have determined, in 84 patients with clinically and biochemically characterized SLOS (detection rate 96%), the mutational spectrum in the DHCR7 gene. Forty different SLOS mutations, some frequent, were identified. On the basis of mutation type and expression studies in the HEK293-derived cell line tsA-201, we grouped mutations into four classes: nonsense and splice-site mutations resulting in putative null alleles, missense mutations in the transmembrane domains (TM), mutations in the 4th cytoplasmic loop (4L), and mutations in the C-terminal ER domain (CT). All but one of the tested missense mutations reduced protein stability. Concentrations of the cholesterol precursor 7-dehydrocholesterol and clinical severity scores correlated with mutation classes. The mildest clinical phenotypes were associated with TM and CT mutations, and the most severe types were associated with 0 and 4L mutations. Most homozygotes for null alleles had severe SLOS; one patient had a moderate phenotype. Homozygosity for 0 mutations in DHCR7 appears compatible with life, suggesting that cholesterol may be synthesized in the absence of this enzyme or that exogenous sources of cholesterol can be used

Software development based on multigrid techniques

Will be published in the proceedings of the IFIP TC2 working conference on ''PDE software: modules, interfaces and systems'', Soederkoeping, Sweden, 1983SIGLECopy held by FIZ Karlsruhe; available from UB/TIB Hannover / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

DNA-Schaeden durch berufliche Exposition Schlussbericht

SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: FR 4834+a / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman