Towards risk stratification in systemic atherosclerosis: value of myocardial function and viability imaging as an adjunct to MR angiography.

Objectives: To longitudinally assess the value of cardiac functional and viability imaging as a supplement to MR angiography in patients with atherosclerotic disease.

Methods: Cardiac MRI was performed in 195 consecutive patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease. Of these, 186 patients were followed for 22 +/- 5 months for the presence of cardiac events (cardiac death, acute coronary syndrome and hospitalisation as a result of congestive heart failure).

Specificities of defense mechanisms in bipolar affective disorder: relations with symptoms and therapeutic alliance.

Defense mechanisms as a central notion of psychoanalysis have inspired various levels of interest in research in psychotherapy and psychopathology. Defense specificities have only recently been investigated systematically with regard to several clinical diagnoses, such as affective and personality disorders. For the present study, 30 inpatients diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder I (BD) were interviewed.

Long-term exposure to traffic-related particulate matter impairs cognitive function in the elderly.

Animal studies have suggested that fine particulate matter (PM) can translocate from the upper respiratory tract to the brain and cause brain inflammation. Brain inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Hypothesizing therefore that long-term exposure to fine PM might contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD), the objective of this study was to investigate the association between exposure to fine PM and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) which is associated with a high risk of progression to AD.

Eczema, respiratory allergies, and traffic-related air pollution in birth cohorts from small-town areas.

Background: Traffic-related air pollution (TAP) impairs respiratory health and could influence the development of allergies, as was demonstrated in urban areas with relatively high pollution. Whether eczema is affected by TAP was rarely investigated.

Objective: To investigate whether exposure to TAP affects eczema and respiratory allergies also in small-town areas with lower concentrations of pollution.

Metabolome-ionome-biomass interactions: What can we learn about salt stress by multiparallel phenotyping?

Long-term exposure of plants to saline soil results in mineral ion imbalance, altered metabolism and reduced growth. Currently, the interaction between ion content and plant metabolism under salt-stress is poorly understood. Here we present a multivariate correlation study on the metabolome, ionome and biomass changes of Lotus japonicus challenged by salt stress.

Interference of nickel with copper and iron homeostasis contributes to metal toxicity symptoms in the nickel hyperaccumulator plant Alyssum inflatum.

The divalent cations of several transition metal elements have similar chemical properties and, when present in excess, one metal can interfere with the homeostasis of another. To better understand the role of interactions between transition metals in the development of metal toxicity symptoms in plants, the effects of exposure to excess nickel (Ni) on copper (Cu) and iron (Fe) homeostasis in the Ni hyperaccumulator plant Alyssum inflatum were examined. Alyssum inflatum was hypertolerant to Ni, but not to Cu.

Early allergic sensitizations and their relevance to atopic diseases in children aged 6 years: results of the GINI study.

Background: Only a few studies have analyzed the value of early sensitization in predicting the development of atopic disease. The relevance of low immunoglobulin (Ig) E antibody levels in this respect also remains unclear.

Objective: To investigate the relevance of sensitization in 12-month-old children in the development of atopic disease by the age of 6 years.

Alliance patterns over the course of short-term dynamic psychotherapy: the shape of productive relationships.

The shape of alliance processes over the course of psychotherapy has already been studied in several process-outcome studies on very brief psychotherapy. The present study applies the shape-of-change methodology to short-term dynamic psychotherapies and complements this method with hierarchical linear modeling. A total of 50 psychotherapies of up to 40 sessions were included.

Contact to cat or dog, allergies and parental education.

Whether or not associations between animal contact and allergy/atopy are homogeneous across social strata has not yet been investigated. The aim of this study was to estimate the association between animal contact (cat, dog) and allergy/atopy in 6-yr-old school beginners, stratified by parental educational level. A total of 30794, 6-yr old children participated in cross-sectional studies between 1991 and 2000 in Germany.

Individual differences in true and false memory retrieval are related to white matter brain microstructure.

We sometimes vividly remember things that did not happen, a phenomenon with general relevance, not only in the courtroom. It is unclear to what extent individual differences in false memories are driven by anatomical differences in memory-relevant brain regions. Here we show in humans that microstructural properties of different white matter tracts as quantified using diffusion tensor imaging are strongly correlated with true and false memory retrieval.

Defence and coping in bipolar affective disorder: stability and change of adaptational processes.

Objectives: Defence mechanisms and coping have rarely been investigated from an integrative point of view. We are particularly interested in stability and change of these adaptational processes in clinical crisis situations of in-patients presenting with bipolar affective disorder.

Design: We conducted a controlled interview study including an in-patient and a matched control group; longitudinal data are provided by follow-up interviewing for all participants.

Epilepsy in children with infantile thiamine deficiency.

Objective: To report the follow-up findings of 7 children with severe epilepsy as a result of thiamine deficiency in infancy caused by a defective soy-based formula.

Methods: The medical records of 7 children aged 5-6 years with thiamine deficiency in infancy who developed epilepsy were reviewed and their clinical data, EEG tracings, and neuroimaging results were recorded. The clinical course and present outcome of these children, now 5 years after exposure to thiamine deficiency, are described.

Western lifestyle and increased prevalence of atopic diseases: an example from a small papua new guinean island.

Background: : Allergic diseases represent an increasing problem in public health in most modern societies as their prevalence has risen markedly during recent decades. Nevertheless, the causes of this increase are not yet fully explained.

Objective: : We investigated the correlation of Western lifestyle pattern in varying intensity to the prevalence of atopic diseases in 5 small villages on Karkar Island, in northeast Papua New Guinea.

Period-specific growth, overweight and modification by breastfeeding in the GINI and LISA birth cohorts up to age 6 years.

Children's weight/growth development is age-specific and may be influenced by breastfeeding. We therefore assessed velocities of weight, length, body-mass-index and overweight/obesity development from birth up to age 6 years overall and in relation to breastfeeding. The method of this study is based on pooled data of the birth-cohorts GINI-plus and LISA-plus and follows 7,643 healthy full-term neonates in four study-centers in Germany.

Epileptic negative myoclonus as the presenting seizure type in rolandic epilepsy.

Epileptic negative myoclonus is an uncommon seizure type characterized by a sudden, brief loss of muscle tone that may lead to falling. It has been associated largely with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (rolandic epilepsy), although it may also be a feature of other epileptic syndromes. In patients with rolandic epilepsy, epileptic negative myoclonus usually appears during the course of the disease, well after a diagnosis of the epilepsy has been established.

Increase of inflammatory markers after indoor renovation activities: the LISA birth cohort study.

There is concern about indoor air quality as a possible cause for health impairment. Exposure to indoor renovation activities has been shown to be associated with airway symptoms and allergic manifestations in children. The aim of this study is to analyse immune markers responsible for disease development in relation to renovation activities.

Embodied emotion modulates neural signature of performance monitoring.

Background: Recent research on the "embodiment of emotion" implies that experiencing an emotion may involve perceptual, somatovisceral, and motor feedback aspects. For example, manipulations of facial expression and posture appear to induce emotional states and influence how affective information is processed. The present study investigates whether performance monitoring, a cognitive process known to be under heavy control of the dopaminergic system, is modulated by induced facial expressions.

The role of alliance in the relationship between therapist competence and outcome in brief psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Therapist competence is a key variable for psychotherapy research. Empirically, the relationship between competence and therapeutic outcome has shown contradictory results and needs to be clarified, especially with regard to possible variables influencing this relationship. A total of 78 outpatients were treated by 15 therapists in a very brief 4-session format, based on psychoanalytic theory.

Short- and long-term effects of feeding hydrolyzed protein infant formulas on growth at < or = 6 y of age: results from the German Infant Nutritional Intervention Study.

Background: The short- and long-term effects of feeding with hydrolyzed formulas on growth are uncertain.

Objective: Our aim was to investigate the potential differences in body mass index (BMI) over the first 6 y of life between infants fed with partially hydrolyzed whey (pHF-W), extensively hydrolyzed whey (eHF-W), extensively hydrolyzed casein (eHF-C), or cow-milk formula (CMF) and infants exclusively breastfed for the first 16 wk of life.

Design: We established a prospective, randomized, double-blind trial of full-term neonates with atopic heredity in the German birth cohort followed by the German Infant Nutritional Intervention Study through the first 6 y of life.

Early change in defence mechanisms and coping in short-term dynamic psychotherapy: relations with symptoms and alliance.

Several patient-related variables have already been investigated as predictors of change in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Defensive functioning is one of them. However, few studies have investigated adaptational processes, encompassing defence mechanisms and coping, from an integrative or comparative viewpoint.

Multicenter long-term follow-up of children with idiopathic West syndrome: ACTH versus vigabatrin.

Background And Purpose: Long-term follow-up of children with idiopathic West syndrome (WS) treated with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) or vigabatrin.

Methods: Records of 28 normal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) WS cases were reviewed for seizure development and cognitive outcome in relation to treatment type and lag.

Results: Average age at disease onset was 5.

Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation using the Navx-/Ensite-system and a CT-/MRI-guided approach.

Background: Catheter ablation has become the first line of therapy in patients with symptomatic, recurrent, drug refractory atrial fibrillation. However, catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation is still a challenge. This is partially due to the high degree of variability with regard to the individual anatomy.

Genetic variability in the dopamine system (dopamine receptor D4, catechol-O-methyltransferase) modulates neurophysiological responses to gains and losses.

Background: Interindividual variability in the processing of reward might be partially explained by genetic differences in the dopamine system. Here, we study whether brain responses (event-related potentials [ERPs], oscillatory activity) to monetary gains and losses in normal human subjects are modulated as a function of two dopaminergic polymorphisms (catechol-O-methyltransferase [COMT] valine [Val]158methionine [Met], dopamine receptor D4 [DRD4] single nucleotide polymorphism [SNP] -521).

Methods: Forty participants homozygous for the different alleles of both polymorphisms were selected from a larger population to assess the main effects and interactions.

Common variants in FCER1A influence total serum IgE levels from cord blood up to six years of life.

Background: In a recent genome wide scan, a functional promoter variant (rs2251746) in the gene encoding the alpha chain of the high affinity receptor for immunoglobulin E (IgE) (FCER1A) was identified as major determinant of serum IgE levels.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of rs2251746 on total IgE levels measured at different stages of life from birth (cord blood) up to the age of 6 and to evaluate its interaction with the environmental influences in two German birth cohorts.

Method: Data from two German birth cohorts were analysed (n = 1043 for the LISA cohort and n = 1842 for the GINI cohort).

Psychotherapeutic case conceptualization using plan analysis for bipolar affective disorder.

Valid individualized case conceptualization methodologies, such as plan analysis, are rarely used for the psychotherapeutic treatment conceptualization and planning of bipolar affective disorder (BD), even if data do exist showing that psychotherapy interventions might be enhanced by applying such analyses for treatment planning for several groups of patients. We applied plan analysis as a research tool (Caspar, 1995) to N=30 inpatients presenting BD, who were interviewed twice. Our study aimed at producing a prototypical plan structure encompassing the most relevant data from the 30 individual case conceptualizations.