Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in influents, suspended particulate matter, sediments, sewage treatment plant and effluents and biota from the Netherlands.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been determined in 133 samples of suspended particulate matter (SPM), sediments, sewage treatment plant (STP) influents and effluents, fish and mussels from various locations in The Netherlands, as a part of a large Dutch national study on estrogenic contaminants in the aquatic environment (LOES project). Some PBBs were also analysed but not found in any of the samples at detectable levels. PBDEs and PBBs were included in this study because indications of long term effects on the balance of endocrine systems were found in the literature.

Breakthrough of polymers in interactive liquid chromatography.

Two separate peaks are observed for narrow polymer standards in both isocratic and gradient HPLC. One peak appears around the solvent front (the "solvent-plug peak" or "breakthrough peak"), whereas the second peak is retained significantly--or even highly. Although the effect has been observed many times before, it has never been rigorously explained.

Detection and characterization of plasma cells in peripheral blood: correlation of IgE+ plasma cell frequency with IgE serum titre.

In atopic patients and patients with hyper-IgE syndrome (HIE) highly elevated IgE serum levels can be detected. Due to their very low frequency little is known about IgE-producing plasma cells (PC) in peripheral blood. We used CD138 MACS microbeads to enrich plasma cells from peripheral blood of normal donors, atopic patients and one HIE patient.

Cell cycle inhibition by FoxO forkhead transcription factors involves downregulation of cyclin D.

The FoxO forkhead transcription factors FoxO4 (AFX), FoxO3a (FKHR.L1), and FoxO1a (FKHR) represent important physiological targets of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (PKB) signaling. Overexpression or conditional activation of FoxO factors is able to antagonize many responses to constitutive PI3K/PKB activation including its effect on cellular proliferation.

Determination of diuron and the antifouling paint biocide irgarol 1051 in Dutch marinas and coastal waters.

A sensitive LC-electrospray MS-MS method using off-line solid-phase extraction for the determination of diuron and Irgarol 1051 has been developed, enabling determination of both compounds at sub-ppt levels. Diuron and Irgarol 1051 are used as alternatives for tributyltin in antifouling paints that prevent growth on boats, and an increase in their application is anticipated because of the upcoming ban on tributyltin in 2003. In 2000, a survey was carried out to assess contamination with diuron and Irgarol 1051 of a number of Dutch marinas and coastal waters.

Interinstitutional variations of sensitometric curves of radiographic dosimetric films.

Depth and field size dependence of the sensitometric curves of radiographic films have been studied by various groups. Limited information is, however, available on the magnitude of the variations in sensitometric curves applied in clinical practice in different institutions. In this study we assessed in a systematic way the effect of the various parameters influencing the shape of the sensitometric curve: batch composition, irradiation conditions, film processing, and film scanning.

No association between transforming growth factor beta gene polymorphism and acute allograft rejection after cardiac transplantation.

Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) is a multifunctional cytokine, which inhibits both development of Th1 and Th2 subsets and the Th1 proinflammatory response. TGF-beta1 production is influenced through several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the structural gene and promoter region. Acute rejection of transplants depends on the Th1/Th2 balance within the graft, high levels of TGF-beta1 shift this balance towards Th2.

Binding inhibition of type 1 fimbriae to human granulocytes: a flow cytometric inhibition assay using trivalent cluster mannosides.

The binding of type 1 fimbriae from Escherichia coli to vital human neutrophilic granulocytes was inhibited by synthetic trivalent cluster mannosides. Binding of type 1 fimbriae was measured in a flow cytometric assay. Based on the molarity of mannosyl residues, the clusters exceed the inhibitory potency of methyl alpha-D-mannoside by a factor of more than 1,000 and the inhibitory potency of p-nitrophenyl alpha-D-mannoside by a factor of more than 10.

Integrative efforts in occupational safety and health in the European union.

The European Union has had a long tradition in developing a common European social policy from its beginning. A milestone to European social policy in the field of occupational safety and health was the Single European Act in 1986. With this Single European Act the improvement of the work environment became an explicit objective of the community.

Needs for mental health care and service provision in single homeless people.

Background: Specific problems in sampling methodology, case-finding strategies and a standardised needs assessment in mentally ill homeless people have contributed to their being neglected as a mental health care clientele.

Method: We assessed a representative sample of homeless people (n=102) in the highly industrialised city of Mannheim (Germany) regarding their prevalence of mental disorders (using the SCID) and their needs for mental health care (using the NCA).

Results: We found high prevalences, with 68.

[How do mentally ill homeless persons evaluate their quality of life].

Besides pronounced deficiencies in psychiatric research concerning homeless mentally ill in Germany, studies concerned with the quality of life of homeless mentally ill were missing until now. This study reveals in a representative sample of 102 homeless people from the City of Mannheim, Germany that--compared to the homeless without psychiatric disorders of the sample--the mentally ill homeless (prevalence 68.6%) have significantly different subjective views of their quality of life regarding the items "state of health", "physical capabilities" and "support from others".

Planning, computer optimization, and dosimetric verification of a segmented irradiation technique for prostate cancer.

Purpose: To develop and verify a multisegment technique for prostate irradiation that results in better sparing of the rectal wall compared to a conventional three-field technique, for patients with a concave-shaped planning target volume (PTV) overlapping the rectal wall.

Methods And Materials: Five patients have been selected with various degrees of overlap between PTV and rectal wall. The planned dose to the ICRU reference point is 78 Gy.

CEA-related cell adhesion molecule 1: a potent angiogenic factor and a major effector of vascular endothelial growth factor.

CEA-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) exhibits angiogenic properties in in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis assays. CEACAM1 purified from granulocytes and endothelial cell media as well as recombinant CEACAM1 expressed in HEK293 cells stimulate proliferation, chemotaxis, and capillary-like tube formation of human microvascular endothelial cells. They increase vascularization of chick chorioallantoic membrane and potentiate the effects of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)165.

Cardiac and lung complication probabilities after breast cancer irradiation.

Purpose: To assess for locoregional irradiation of breast cancer patients, the dependence of cardiac (cardiac mortality) and lung (radiation pneumonitis) complications on treatment technique and individual patient anatomy.

Materials And Methods: Three-dimensional treatment planning was performed for 30 patients with left-sided breast cancer and various breast sizes. Two locoregional techniques (Techniques A and B) and a tangential field technique, including only the breast in the target volume, were planned and evaluated for each patient.

Beam intensity modulation to reduce the field sizes for conformal irradiation of lung tumors: a dosimetric study.

Purpose: In conformal radiotherapy of lung tumors, penumbra broadening in lung tissue necessitates the use of larger field sizes to achieve the same target coverage as in a homogeneous environment. In an idealized model configuration, some fundamental aspects of field size reduction were investigated, both for the static situation and for a moving tumor, while maintaining the dose homogeneity in the target volume by employing a simple beam-intensity modulation technique.

Methods And Materials: An inhomogeneous phantom, consisting of polystyrene, cork, and polystyrene layers, with a 6 x 6 x 6 cm3 polystyrene cube inside the cork representing the tumor, was used to simulate a lung cancer treatment.

Analysis and occurrence of estrogenic hormones and their glucuronides in surface water and waste water in The Netherlands.

An analytical procedure was developed that enables routine analysis of four estrogenic hormones in concentrations below 1 ng/l in surface water and waste water. The recovery was 88-98% with a limit of detection of 0.1-2.

Dosimetric verification of the 95% isodose surface for a conformal irradiation technique.

In the treatment planning of conformal radiotherapy, field shapes are often designed in such a way that a high-value isodose surface fully encompasses the target volume. Therefore, knowledge about the accuracy with which the treatment planning system calculates the position of that isodose surface is essential to prevent field shapes which are either too large or too small. To determine this accuracy for a conformal multi-field technique, the dose in the high-dose region must be measured with a high spatial resolution.

HLA-DRB4 gene encoded HLA-DR53 specificity segregating with the HLA-DR7, -DQ9 haplotype: unusual association.

HLA phenotyping of a leukemia patient of Caucasoid origin revealed the presence of the serological HLA-DR53 specificity. Comprehensive pedigree analysis demonstrated that the HLA-DR53 specificity segregated with the HLA-DR7, -DQ3 haplotype. High resolution PCR- SSP genotyping of the HLA class II genes revealed the presence of the HLA-DRB4*0101101 allele segregating together with the HLA-DRB1*0701, -DQA1*0201 and DQB1*03032 alleles.

Full-length cDNA nucleotide sequence of a serologically undetectable HLA-DQA1 allele: HLA-DQA1*"LA".

This study describes the characterization of a serological HLA-DQ"blank" specificity that segregates with the HLA-A2, -B7, -DR14, -DR52 haplotype. Although conventional serological typing techniques could not detect an HLA-DQ product on the haplotype positive for the HLA-DQ"blank" specificity, sequence-specific oligonucleotide (SSO) dot-blot analysis demonstrated the presence of the HLA-DQA1*01 and HLA-DQB1*05 alleles. Full-length cDNA nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the HLA-DQB1 allele that segregated with the HLA-DQ"blank" specificity was identical to HLA-DQB1*05031.

Influence of HLA-DRB1* incompatibility on the occurrence of rejection episodes and graft survival in serologically HLA-DR-matched renal transplant combinations.

Background: The aim of the present study was to analyze the effect of HLA-DRB1* mismatches on graft function and graft survival in 92 patients who received serologically HLA-DR split antigen-matched cadaveric renal transplants.

Methods: The polymorphic second exon of the HLA-DRB1 alleles was typed using the sequence-specific oligonucleotides technique.

Results: The results show that in 26 of the 92 analyzed combinations, one or more HLA-DRB1* mismatches were found (28%).

5' regulatory nucleotide sequence of an HLA-A*0101null allele.

We have previously demonstrated an HLA-A*0101null allele segregating in a family with the HLA-B8, -Cw7, -DR3, -DR52, -DQ2 haplotype. In the present study the regulatory elements with known transcription enhancement activity of the silenced HLA-A*0101 allele were analyzed. In the enhancer B element, a T was substituted for a C at position - 106, whereas no other alterations were found in the adjacent 5' section of the HLA-A*0101null allele.

The role of MHC class I heterodimer expression in mouse ankylosing enthesopathy.

Ankylosing enthesopathy (ANKENT) is a spontaneous mouse joint disease with strikingly similar pathology to human HLA-B27-associated enthesopathies such as ankylosing spondylitis. In C57Bl/10 mice, transgenic HLA-B*2702 as well as H2 genes have been shown to be relative risk factors for ANKENT. To investigate the role of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I expression in disease pathogenesis, ANKENT occurrence was compared among beta2-microglobulin (beta2m) knockout littermates with or without transgenes for HLA-B*2702 and human beta2m.

[Voluntary aids in psychiatry].

Lay helpers fill in in situations where the natural system of help-family and friends-can no longer cope or where professional help is also not able to offer adequate help. Since no representative studies on this group of people exist, we wanted to take stock of the current situation by conducting a questionnaire in Baden-Württemberg. We identified 891 lay helpers in psychiatric facilities, of which 330 (37%) took part in the survey.