Leidvermeidung durch Pränataldiagnostik?

BefürworterInnen der Pränataldiagnostik (PND) arbeiten mit unterschiedlichen Argumenten. Eines davon, nämlich die Annahme, PND könne helfen Leid zu verhindern, stellt den Ansatzpunkt dieser Arbeit dar. Die Methoden der PND und verschiedene Leid-Konstrukte werden diskutiert, um zu erörtern, welches Leidverständnis dieser Annahme zugrunde liegen könnte. Im Weiteren erfolgt eine Fokussierung auf das Phänomen Down-Syndrom, welches aufzuspüren eines der Hauptziele der PND darstellt. Der Annahme folgend, dass vor allem das antizipierte Leid der von der PND hauptsächlich betroffenen, nämlich der ungeborenen Menschen mit einem nicht erwünschten Merkmal (in diesem Fall dem Down-Syndrom), ausschlaggebend für eine Entscheidung für oder gegen deren Einsatz sein sollte, wird in der Folge der Frage nachgegangen, ob und inwieweit Menschen mit einem Down-Syndrom überhaupt leiden. Diese Fragestellung wird im Rahmen von Problemzentrierten Interviews (nach Witzel) mit Menschen mit Down-Syndrom bearbeitet, welche durch eine strukturierende Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse (nach Mayring) ausgewertet werden. Die Autorin kommt zu dem Schluss, dass ein Down-Syndrom nicht automatisch mit unerträglichem Leid gleichgesetzt werden kann und ein Verhindern bzw. Lindern des Leides nicht durch ein Verhindern von Leben mit Down-Syndrom, sondern durch eine Veränderung der sozialen Strukturen und der Umgebung erfolgen kann und soll. Dieses Verändern und Verbessern der Lebensbedingungen und der sozialen Strukturen, in welche Menschen mit einer Behinderung hineingeboren werden, kann eine zukünftige Aufgabe der Heilpädagogik darstellen. Durch die PND kann eine solche „Vorbereitung“ der Umgebung schon pränatal erfolgen, um die Startvoraussetzungen für Kinder mit Down-Syndrom zu verbessern. Dafür wird es aber nötig sein, den Automatismus „auf positive pränatale Diagnose erfolgt Schwangerschaftsabbruch“ zu durchbrechen

Der Persönliche Referent des Oberbürgermeisters - ein attraktives Amt und Karrieresprungbrett zugleich?

Das Berufsbild des Persönlichen Referenten steht im Fokus der Arbeit und wird insbesondere im Hinblick auf die Attraktivität dieses Amtes und eine mögliche Nutzung als Karrieresprungbrett umfassend beleuchtet

Can dialogue help police officers and young Black adults understand each other? Key findings from a restorative process

Relationships between the police and minority ethnic communities are often characterised by tension, mistrust and a lack of understanding. It seems unlikely that the solutions lie in traditional approaches to police-community engagement. This article outlines the key findings from the first study to use restorative practices to facilitate dialogue between police officers and young Black adults in Europe. This occurred in a part of West Dublin, Ireland, where the police recently shot and killed a Black man. Observational and interview data suggest that the process enabled participants to speak and listen respectfully to each other and to understand how each other’s experiences shaped their perspectives on policing. These data suggest that restorative practices are a viable method for enabling dialogue that can play an educational role and provide a space safely to discuss and reflect upon views and experiences of belonging, policing and police-community relations. While there is sufficient evidence to justify seeking to scale-up dialogic processes, it remains unclear whether and how the contribution that dialogue can make at the individual and local level could translate into cultural change at the institutional level, or address underlying structural inequalities

IDO-Mediated Tryptophan Degradation in the Pathogenesis of Malignant Tumor Disease

Immune escape is a fundamental trait of cancer in which the Th1-type cytokine interferon- γ (IFN-γ) seems to play a key role. Among other tumoricidal biochemical pathways, IFN-γ induces the tryptophan-degrading enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) in a variety of cells including macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs) and tumor cells. IDO activity has been shown to reflect the extent and the course in a plethora of malignancies including prostate, colorectal, pancreatic, cervical, endometrial, gastric, lung, bladder, ovarian, esophageal and renal cell carcinomas, glioblastomas, mesotheliomas, and melanomas. Furthermore IDO activity during malignant tumor diseases seems to be part of the tumoricidal immune defense strategy, which in the long run is detrimental to the host, when tryptophan deprivation and production of pro-apoptotic tryptophan catabolites counteract T-cell responsiveness

Accelerated Tryptophan Degradation Predicts Poor Survival in Trauma and Sepsis Patients

Immune system activation and inflammation accompanies immune dysfunction in trauma and sepsis patients. Immunodeficiency may develop in such patients as one consequence of an activated chronic pro-inflammatory response. According to recent data, degradation of L-tryptophan (TRP) via the kynurenine (KYN) pathway by the cytokine-inducible enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) could represent an important contributor to the deficient responsiveness of immunocompetent cells. Compared to healthy controls, patients post trauma or with sepsis had increasing KYN concentrations and KYN to TRP ratios (KYN/TRP) whereas TRP concentrations decreased. Likewise, concentrations of cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and of immune activation marker neopterin increased in patients (all p < 0.001). Furthermore in patients KYN/TRP, KYN and neopterin concentrations were further increasing (all p < 0.001), whereas the changes of TRP, TNF-α and IL-6 concentrations were not significant. Compared to the survivors, the non-survivors had a higher concentration of KYN, neopterin, TNF-α and IL-6 as well as a higher KYN/TRP ratio. KYN/TRP correlated with neopterin (p < 0.001) and also with TNF-α (p < 0.01) and IL-6 concentrations (p < 0.05) and inversely with the in vitro response of stimulated monocytes. We conclude that increased TRP degradation in patients post trauma is closely associated with immune activation. Cytokines released during the pro-inflammatory response may induce the activity of IDO and thus accelerate TRP degradation. Thus, increased IDO activity most likely represents a result of host response to pro-inflammation in patients. Data support a possible role of inflammation-induced IDO in the diminished immunoresponsiveness in patients

Fatigue in Patients with Lung Cancer Is Related with Accelerated Tryptophan Breakdown

BACKGROUND: Patients with cancer often suffer from fatigue and decreased quality of life which might be related to the breakdown of essential amino acid tryptophan. METHODS: In 50 patients with lung cancer we examined fatigue and the deterioration of quality of life in patients using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Anemia (FACT-An) and -Fatigue (FACT-F) subscales of FACT-General and the Mental adjustment to Cancer (MAC) questionnaires. Results were compared with tryptophan breakdown as well as serum concentrations of immune activation markers. RESULTS: Scores of psychological tests correlated significantly with tryptophan breakdown and with circulatory markers of inflammation. However, immune activation and tryptophan breakdown were not related to MAC scores. CONCLUSIONS: Tryptophan breakdown relates with fatigue and impaired quality of life in patients with lung cancer, while declining tryptophan levels are not associated with patients'coping strategies

ALKBH5-induced demethylation of mono- and dimethylated adenosine

RNA contains methylated A-base derivatives. A methylation to m(6)A and then demethylation regulate homeostasis in mRNA. It is assumed that m(6)A is mainly demethylated by the -ketoglutarate dependent oxidase ALKBH5. Here we show that ALKBH5 also demethylates the dimethylated adenosine m(2)(6)A, which is a non-canonical base present in ribosomal RNA

Assessment of quantitative information for radiation therapy at a first-generation clinical photon-counting computed tomography scanner

As one of the latest developments in X-ray computed tomography (CT), photon-counting technology allows spectral detection, demonstrating considerable advantages as compared to conventional CT. In this study, we investigated the use of a first-generation clinical photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) scanner and estimated proton relative (to water) stopping power (RSP) of tissue-equivalent materials from virtual monoenergetic reconstructions provided by the scanner. A set of calibration and evaluation tissue-equivalent inserts were scanned at 120 kVp. Maps of relative electron density (RED) and effective atomic number (EAN) were estimated from the reconstructed virtual monoenergetic images (VMI) using an approach previously applied to a spectral CT scanner with dual-layer detector technology, which allows direct calculation of RSP using the Bethe-Bloch formula. The accuracy of RED, EAN, and RSP was evaluated by root-mean-square errors (RMSE) averaged over the phantom inserts. The reference RSP values were obtained experimentally using a water column in an ion beam. For RED and EAN, the reference values were calculated based on the mass density and the chemical composition of the inserts. Different combinations of low- and high-energy VMIs were investigated in this study, ranging from 40 to 190 keV. The overall lowest error was achieved using VMIs at 60 and 180 keV, with an RSP accuracy of 1.27% and 0.71% for the calibration and the evaluation phantom, respectively

LabSchoolsEurope: Partizipative Schulforschung und Demokratiepädagogik in europäischen Laboratory Schools

Partizipative Schulforschung und Demokratiepädagogik haben eine lange (Forschungs-)Tradition sowohl an der Universität Bielefeld als auch an der Laborschule Bielefeld. Im Rahmen des Projekts LabSchoolsEurope: Participatory Research for Democratic Education arbeiten die Laborschule Bielefeld und ihre Wissenschaftliche Einrichtung nun auch europaweit eng mit anderen Laboratory Schools und deren kooperierenden Forschungseinrichtungen zu diesen beiden Themenkomplexen zusammen. Der Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über Ausgangspunkt, Zielsetzung und bisherigen Verlauf des Projekts und stellt erste Ergebnisse vor

WNT4 overexpression and secretion in thymic epithelial tumors drive an autocrine loop in tumor cells in vitro

BackgroundWNT4-driven non-canonical signaling is crucial for homeostasis and age-related involution of the thymus. Abnormal WNT signaling is important in many cancers, but the role of WNT signaling in thymic tumors is largely unknown.Materials &amp; MethodsExpression and function of WNT4 and FZD6 were analyzed using qRT–PCR, Western blot, ELISA, in biopsies of non-neoplastic thymi (NT), thymoma and thymic carcinomas. ShRNA techniques and functional assays were used in primary thymic epithelial cells (pTECs) and TC cell line 1889c. Cells were conventionally (2D) grown and in three-dimensional (3D) spheroids.ResultsIn biopsy, WHO classified B3 thymomas and TCs showed increased WNT4 expression compared with NTs. During short-term 2D culture, WNT4 expression and secretion declined in neoplastic pTECs but not in 3D spheroids or medium supplemented with recombinant WNT4 cultures. Under the latter condition, the growth of pTECs was accompanied by increased expression of non-canonical targets RAC1 and JNK. Down-regulation of WNT4 by shRNA induced cell death in pTECs derived from B3 thymomas and led to decreased RAC1, but not JNK protein phosphorylation. Pharmacological inhibition of NF-κB decreased both RAC1 and JNK phosphorylation in neoplastic pTECs.ConclusionsLack of the age-related decline of non-canonical WNT4 expression in TETs and restoration of declining WNT4 expression through exogeneous WNT4 or 3D culture of pTECs hints at an oncogenic role of WNT4 in TETs and is compatible with the WNT4 autocrine loop model. Crosstalk between WNT4 and NF-κB signaling may present a promising target for combined interventions in TETs