Ethics and regulation of neuronal optogenetics in the European Union.

Neuronal optogenetics is a technique to control the activity of neurons with light. This is achieved by artificial expression of light-sensitive ion channels in the target cells. By optogenetic methods, cells that are naturally light-insensitive can be made photosensitive and addressable by illumination and precisely controllable in time and space.

Investigation and response to a large outbreak of leptospirosis in field workers in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Between June and August 2014, 45 cases of leptospirosis were notified among workers on two strawberry farms in North-West Germany. We describe the characteristics of the outbreak and the actions taken to prevent further cases. The activities of the local, federal and national public health and veterinary authorities included collection of case data, laboratory testing of human specimens and of small mammals trapped on the fields, investigation of weather data, as well as information provided to farmers, field workers, physicians and to the authorities in Poland and Romania.

Therapeutic Living Donor Nephrectomy for Proximal Ureteral Pathology: A Longitudinal Case Series.

Objective: To raise awareness that patients with proximal ureteral stricture who elect for nephrectomy can consider donating the kidney. We present a series of patients undergoing therapeutic living donor nephrectomy (TLDN), a scenario in which a patient undergoing nephrectomy for an underlying medical problem donates the kidney to a person with end-stage renal disease. This practice is underutilized, and only a single TLDN with proximal ureteral stricture has been previously described.

Cluster of human Puumala orthohantavirus infections due to indoor exposure?-An interdisciplinary outbreak investigation.

Puumala orthohantavirus (PUUV) is the most important hantavirus species in Europe, causing the majority of human hantavirus disease cases. In central and western Europe, the occurrence of human infections is mainly driven by bank vole population dynamics influenced by beech mast. In Germany, hantavirus epidemic years are observed in 2- to 5-year intervals.

Influence of Season, Population and Individual Characteristics on the Prevalence of spp. in Bank Voles in North-West Germany.

Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonotic disease with more than 1 million human cases annually. Infections are associated with direct contact to infected animals or indirect contact to contaminated water or soil. As not much is known about the prevalence and host specificity of spp.