Anxiety, depression, somatization and psychological distress before and 2-6 years after a late termination of pregnancy due to fetal anomalies.

Background: For many women, a late termination of pregnancy (TOP) can be an enormous psychological burden. Few studies have investigated the long-term psychological impact of late TOP.

Methods: N = 90 women answered a questionnaire containing questions about anxiety, depression and somatization (Brief-Symptom Inventory, BSI-18) shortly before (T1) and 2-6 years after (T4) their late termination of pregnancy.

Online Interaction Turns the Congeniality Bias Into an Uncongeniality Bias.

Online phenomena like echo chambers and polarization are believed to be driven by humans' penchant to selectively expose themselves to attitudinally congenial content. However, if like-minded content were the only predictor of online behavior, heated debate and flaming on the Internet would hardly occur. Research has overlooked how online behavior changes when people are given an opportunity to reply to dissenters.

Deaf awareness workshop for medical students - an evaluation.

Due to a lack of communication strategies and knowledge about the Deaf community, health care professionals are often not prepared to provide deaf or hard of hearing patients with accessible and adapted healthcare. : In the present study, a workshop was designed to determine the effect of deaf awareness training on medical students concerning their gain of knowledge regarding deafness and their competence in providing adapted communication and healthcare for deaf and hard of hearing patients. 95 medical students were evaluated in an online survey prior to as well as following the workshop.

COMSKIL: a communication skills training program for medical students.

Training communication skills has come to be recognized as a vital aspect of medical school education. A medical communication course based on the COMSKIL Communication Skills Training (CST) Program was developed, integrated into the core curriculum, and evaluated at the Leipzig University Medical School. Between October 2016 and July 2017, 312 medical students (mean age 21.

The Longitudinal Communication Curriculum at Leipzig University, Medical Faculty - implementation and first experiences.

Communication skills are an essential instrument for building a sustainable patient-doctor-relationship for future doctors. They are learnable and teachable. The learning should be facilitated with the help of a longitudinal curriculum, which is planned at Leipzig University.

Clinical application of genomic high-throughput data: Infrastructural, ethical, legal and psychosocial aspects.

Genomic high-throughput technologies (GHTT) such as next-generation sequencing represent a fast and cost-effective tool toward a more comprehensive understanding of the molecular background of complex diseases. However, technological advances contrast with insufficient application in clinical practice. Thus, patients, physicians, and other professionals are faced with tough challenges that forestall the efficient and effective implementation.

A randomized controlled trial of problem-solving training (PST) for hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients: Effects on anxiety, depression, distress, coping and pain.

The effect of problem-solving training (PST) on psychological distress, coping, pain, overall distress, and problem-solving behavior in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients was investigated in a randomized controlled trial. The intervention was performed during aplasia and included five 1-hour individual sessions; it was started 2 days before HSCT. Forty-five patients were included in the intervention group (IG) and 46 in the control group (CG).

International Peer-teaching: the LernKlinik Leipzig "Erasmus-Week" for Incoming Erasmus Students.

This project report describes the development, pilot phase, evaluation and implementation of a preparatory course week for incoming Erasmus medical students at the LernKlinik Leipzig, the Skills and Simulation Centre of the Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig. The aim of this project is to prepare Erasmus students for their year abroad using peer-assisted teaching as the method of choice. Major intended outcomes were support of language and clinical practical skill competency development, as well as enhancement of integration among international and German-speaking peer tutors.

Conception and Associated Evaluation of a Problem-Solving Training (PST) for Patients in the Hospital Context of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT).

It appears from empirical studies that the problem-solving ability of patients is associated with the experience of distress and the patients' mental state. The goals of this study were the (1) conception and (2) associated evaluation of the psychological short-time intervention "problem-solving training" (PST) for patients hospitalized for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). (1) The conception of the PST comprised a multi-stage development phase.

CMV-promoter driven codon-optimized expression alters the assembly type and morphology of a reconstituted HERV-K(HML-2).

The HERV-K(HML-2) family contains the most recently integrated and best preserved endogenized proviral sequences in the human genome. All known elements have nevertheless been subjected to mutations or deletions that render expressed particles non-infectious. Moreover, these post-insertional mutations hamper the analysis of the general biological properties of this ancient virus family.

A simple procedure to analyze positions of interest in infectious cell cultures by correlative light and electron microscopy.

Plastic cell culture dishes that contain a thin bottom of highest optical quality including an imprinted finder grid (μ-Dish Grid-500) are optimally suited for routine correlative light and electron microscopy using chemical fixation. Such dishes allow high-resolution fluorescence and bright-field imaging using fixed and living cells and are compatible with standard protocols for scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Ease of use during cell culture and imaging, as well as a tight cover render the dishes particularly suitable for working with infectious organisms up to the highest biosafety level.

Identification of late assembly domains of the human endogenous retrovirus-K(HML-2).

Background: Late assembly (L)-domains are protein interaction motifs, whose dysfunction causes characteristic budding defects in enveloped viruses. Three different amino acid motifs, namely PT/SAP, PPXY and YPX(n)L have been shown to play a major role in the release of exogenous retroviruses. Although the L-domains of exogenous retroviruses have been studied comprehensively, little is known about these motifs in endogenous human retroviruses.

Relation between depressed mood, somatic comorbidities and health service utilisation in older adults: results from the KORA-Age study.

Background: prior literature suggests that comorbidity with depression significantly worsens the health state of people with chronic diseases.

Objective: the present study examines whether depressed mood increased medical care use for patients with a comorbid physical disease.

Design, Setting And Subjects: the study was a population-based study (KORA-Age), with 3,938 participants aged 64-94.

Identification of the protease cleavage sites in a reconstituted Gag polyprotein of an HERV-K(HML-2) element.

Background: The human genome harbors several largely preserved HERV-K(HML-2) elements. Although this retroviral family comes closest of all known HERVs to producing replication competent virions, mutations acquired during their chromosomal residence have rendered them incapable of expressing infectious particles. This also holds true for the HERV-K113 element that has conserved open reading frames (ORFs) for all its proteins in addition to a functional LTR promoter.

Immature mast cells exhibit rolling and adhesion to endothelial cells and subsequent diapedesis triggered by E- and P-selectin, VCAM-1 and PECAM-1.

Mast cell numbers are markedly increased at sites of chronic inflammation. However, the underlying mechanisms of mast cell accumulation including mast cell progenitor trafficking remain to be identified in detail. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the adhesion molecules involved in rolling, firm adhesion and transendothelial diapedesis of murine bone marrow-derived cultured mast cells (BMCMC) as a model for immature mast cells.

Impairments of biological motion perception in congenital prosopagnosia.

Prosopagnosia is a deficit in recognizing people from their faces. Acquired prosopagnosia results after brain damage, developmental or congenital prosopagnosia (CP) is not caused by brain lesion, but has presumably been present from early childhood onwards. Since other sensory, perceptual, and cognitive abilities are largely spared, CP is considered to be a stimulus-specific deficit, limited to face processing.

Glycodelin binding to human ejaculated spermatozoa is correlated with sperm morphology.

Objective: To investigate glycodelin (Gd) binding to the surface of sperm cells in relation to sperm morphology and seminal plasma Gd.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: University-based IVF Unit, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Effect of biopassive and bioactive surface-coatings on the hemocompatibility of membrane oxygenators.

Postoperative complications associated with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery and extracorporeal circulation (ECC) procedures are still a major clinical issue. Improving the hemocompatibility of blood contacting devices used for ECC procedures may ameliorate various postpump syndromes. In a simulated CPB model using human blood, we investigated the hemocompatibility, fibrinogen adsorption, and platelet receptor (GPIIb-IIIa) binding capacity of surface-modified membrane oxygenators (Jostra Quadrox).

Thrombospondin 1 as possible key factor in the hemocompatibility of endocoronary prostheses.

Intracoronary stenting has markedly improved the patency of native coronary arteries after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Advances in stent technology and design, including drug releasing stents, have contributed to reduce the long-term restenosis rate. However, stenosis caused by neointimal hyperplasia, vascular remodeling and thrombosis is still a major problem after endocoronary stent procedures.

Hemocompatibility of PMEA coated oxygenators used for extracorporeal circulation procedures.

An inflammatory response to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) caused by bioincompatibility of extracorporeal circuits is one of the major clinical issues in cardiac surgery. Recently a new coating material, poly-2-methoxyethylacrylate (PMEA), was developed to improve the biocompatibility of blood contacting surfaces. In a simulated cardiopulmonary bypass model, using fresh human whole blood, 15 membrane oxygenators (Capiox SX18, Terumo Corp.

A PCR system for detection of species and genotypes of the Echinococcus granulosus-complex, with reference to the epidemiological situation in eastern Africa.

We describe the development of a specific and sensitive PCR/semi-nested PCR system for the rapid diagnosis of Echinococcus granulosus genotype G1, E. granulosus genotype G6/7, and Echinococcus ortleppi (G5). Diagnosis of G1 and the group G5/6/7 is performed by a simple PCR, while discrimination between E.

Cytokine gene expression in monocytes of patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass surgery evaluated by real-time PCR.

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery induces systemic release of proinflammatory cytokines causing unspecific inflammatory reactions. This study deals with the development of a sensitive technique for detecting changes at the mRNA level in monocytes of patients undergoing CPB surgery, by using real-time PCR. Blood samples from patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting were obtained at six different time points.

HypF, a carbamoyl phosphate-converting enzyme involved in [NiFe] hydrogenase maturation.

HypF has been characterized as an auxiliary protein whose function is required for the synthesis of active [NiFe] hydrogenases in Escherichia coli and other bacteria. To approach the functional analysis, in particular the involvement in CO/CN ligand synthesis, HypF was purified from an overproducing strain to apparent homogeneity. The purified protein behaves as a monomer on size exclusion chromatography, and it is devoid of nickel or other cofactors.