[Chemical food safety : National and European aspects].

Chemical food safety deals with the health evaluation of compounds in food with regard to toxicological aspects. In the following, examples of current interest from various categories of compounds in foods, e.g.

Staying connected: young adults' felt obligation toward parents with and without mental illness.

The present study compares 94 young adults' self-reported felt obligation toward parents, psychological symptoms, psychological well-being, and interpersonal loneliness in three family types: families where a mother has serious mental illness, families where a father has serious mental illness, and families with nondistressed parents. Results indicated no significant differences in felt obligation toward mothers or fathers as a function of family type. Young adults with a mother with serious mental illness reported significantly more psychological adjustment difficulties than their peers with a father with serious mental illness or nondistressed parents.

Lower predation risk for migratory birds at high latitudes.

Quantifying the costs and benefits of migration distance is critical to understanding the evolution of long-distance migration. In migratory birds, life history theory predicts that the potential survival costs of migrating longer distances should be balanced by benefits to lifetime reproductive success, yet quantification of these reproductive benefits in a controlled manner along a large geographical gradient is challenging. We measured a controlled effect of predation risk along a 3350-kilometer south-north gradient in the Arctic and found that nest predation risk declined more than twofold along the latitudinal gradient.

[Summary: The correspondence between Karl Abraham and Wilhelm Fliess 1911-1925].

In Berlin, Abraham maintained an ongoing relation with Freud's former friend by sending him some of his own publications as well as material confirming his theory of periodicity, and eventually by choosing him as his doctor. Twelve letters exchanged by the two men attest their contact. They are assembled here and published in the original German for the first time.

Toxicology and risk assessment of coumarin: focus on human data.

Coumarin is a secondary phytochemical with hepatotoxic and carcinogenic properties. For the carcinogenic effect, a genotoxic mechanism was considered possible, but was discounted by the European Food Safety Authority in 2004 based on new evidence. This allowed the derivation of a tolerable daily intake (TDI) for the first time, and a value of 0.

Long-term experience of plasmapheresis in antibody-mediated rejection in renal transplantation.

Background: Antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) continues to pose a serious challenge in renal transplantation with potentially devastating consequences. Treatment options for this condition include plasmapheresis, high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), plasmapheresis with low-dose IVIG, and the use of rituximab (anti-CD20 chimeric antibody). We previously reported on the short-term outcome of plasmapheresis as a rescue therapy for AMR in our centre.

Comparative evaluation of frictional forces in active and passive self-ligating brackets with various archwire alloys.

Introduction: Self-ligating brackets are claimed to eliminate or minimize the force of ligation at the bracket-wire interface; therefore, it is imperative to evaluate the frictional features of contemporary self-ligating brackets with different archwire alloys.

Methods: This in-vitro study compared the effects of stainless steel, nickel-titanium, and beta-titanium archwires on frictional forces of passive and active self-ligating brackets with a conventional bracket. All brackets had 0.

The Becton Dickinson FocalPoint GS Imaging System: clinical trials demonstrate significantly improved sensitivity for the detection of important cervical lesions.

Location-guided screening in cervical cytology offers a potentially significant advance over routine manual screening. A prospective, 2-armed, masked clinical trial of the BD FocalPoint GS Imaging System using SurePath slides (BD Diagnostics-TriPath, Burlington, NC) compared routine manual screening and quality control rescreening with computer-assisted, field-of-view screening and device-directed quality control rescreening. The results obtained in the 2 arms were compared with adjudicated reference diagnoses for each slide.

How social processes distort measurement: the impact of survey nonresponse on estimates of volunteer work in the United States.

The authors argue that both the large variability in survey estimates of volunteering and the fact that survey estimates do not show the secular decline common to other social capital measures are caused by the greater propensity of those who do volunteer work to respond to surveys. Analyses of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS)--the sample for which is drawn from the Current Population Survey (CPS)--together with the CPS volunteering supplement show that CPS respondents who become ATUS respondents report much more volunteering in the CPS than those who become ATUS nonrespondents. This difference is replicated within subgroups.

Case managers' expectations about employment for people with psychiatric disabilities.

Background: The importance of employment in lives of people with psychiatric disabilities is well documented. Yet, the role of case managers in facilitating or inhibiting employment opportunities for consumers is only beginning to be understood. This study examined the psychometric properties of a newly developed self-report measure designed to assess case managers' employment-related expectations of consumers.

'Microalbuminuric anaemia'--the relationship between haemoglobin levels and albuminuria in diabetes.

Background: There is an increasing incidence of anaemia in diabetes despite the absence of significant renal impairment.

Aims: This study set out to determine the prevalence of anaemia in a diabetic population and to explore the relationship between anaemia and urinary albumin excretion in diabetes mellitus. Also, to determine the difference between those with overt nephropathy, microalbuminuria and those without evidence of renal disease.

A real-time PCR assay to identify and discriminate among wild-type and vaccine strains of varicella-zoster virus and herpes simplex virus in clinical specimens, and comparison with the clinical diagnoses.

A real-time PCR assay was developed to identify varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV) DNA in clinical specimens from subjects with suspected herpes zoster (HZ; shingles). Three sets of primers and probes were used in separate PCR reactions to detect and discriminate among wild-type VZV (VZV-WT), Oka vaccine strain VZV (VZV-Oka), and HSV DNA, and the reaction for each virus DNA was multiplexed with primers and probe specific for the human beta-globin gene to assess specimen adequacy. Discrimination of all VZV-WT strains, including Japanese isolates and the Oka parent strain, from VZV-Oka was based upon a single nucleotide polymorphism at position 106262 in ORF 62, resulting in preferential amplification by the homologous primer pair.

Extramedullary plasmacytoma of the pancreas and jejunum.

Plasmacytomas occurring in the gastrointestinal tract are extremely rare. We report one such case of pancreatic and jejunal plasmacytoma in a single patient with known multiple myeloma with emphasis on computed tomographic (CT) findings.

Revision using distal inflow for treatment of heart failure secondary to arteriovenous fistula for hemodialysis.

In patients on hemodialysis, cardiovascular disease can be precipitated or worsened by the presence of a high flow arteriovenous fistula. Fistula closure and banding are the traditional treatment methods of dialysis associated high output cardiac failure. We present a case of fistula-related high output cardiac failure treated by revision using distal inflow (RUDI).

Revision of ploidy status of Dioscorea alata L. (Dioscoreaceae) by cytogenetic and microsatellite segregation analysis.

Dioscorea alata is a polyploid species with several ploidy levels and its basic chromosome number has been considered by most authors to be x = 10. Standard chromosome counting and flow cytometry analysis were used to determine the chromosome number of 110 D. alata accessions of the CIRAD germplasm collection.

Autoreactive IgG memory antibodies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus arise from nonreactive and polyreactive precursors.

Persistent autoantibody production in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) suggests the existence of autoreactive humoral memory, but the frequency of self-reactive memory B cells in SLE has not been determined. Here, we report on the reactivity of 200 monoclonal antibodies from single IgG+ memory B cells of four SLE patients. The overall frequency of polyreactive and HEp-2 self-reactive antibodies in this compartment was similar to controls.

Effect of cytomegalovirus prophylaxis with acyclovir on renal transplant survival.

It is recognized that cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in transplant recipients may lead to graft loss. Prophylaxis with acyclovir has therefore gained widespread acceptance, but the debate on whether this intervention improves long term graft survival continues. All patients who received renal grafts at the National Renal Transplant Centre, Dublin, between January 1992 and December 1999 were retrospectively analyzed.

Zero tolerances in food and animal feed -- are there any scientific alternatives? A European point of view on an international controversy.

A number of zero tolerance provisions are contained in both food and animal feed law, e.g. for chemical substances whose occurrence is not permitted or is directly prohibited in food or animal feed.

Usefulness of detectable levels of troponin, below the 99th percentile of the normal range, as a clue to the presence of underlying coronary artery disease.

The aim of the study was to evaluate whether markers of myocardial injury and ischemia are helpful in detecting coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with stable angina. Venous blood was obtained before and after a bicycle exercise test in 47 outpatients with suspected CAD for measurement of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), heart-type fatty acid binding protein, and glycogen phosphorylase BB. Patients with a coronary artery stenosis >/=70% in diameter (n = 33) were compared with patients with coronary narrowing <50% (controls, n = 14).

Health-related activities in the American Time Use Survey.

Objectives: The Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey (ATUS), launched in 2003, offers the first comprehensive look at how individuals spend their time. Health services researchers can use it to study time spent on a variety of health-related activities. We explain the survey's structure and provide an overview of the health-related activities reported by 34,693 respondents in 2003-2004.

Animal models of obesity and metabolic syndrome: potential tools for Alzheimer's disease research.

Emerging evidence suggests that components of the metabolic syndrome either in isolation or in aggregate may impact the onset or severity of neurodegenerative processes, including those physiologic changes that lead to Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Several animal models that were originally designed to interrogate the metabolic syndrome are readily available. These models can now be used to support studies that may provide new mechanistic links between the metabolic syndrome and neurodegeneration.