Thresholds of seascape fauna composition along gradients of human pressures and natural conditions to inform marine spatial planning.

Knowledge about the cumulative impacts of anthropogenic activities and environmental conditions on marine ecosystems is incomplete and details are lacking. Compositional community changes can occur along gradients, and community data can be used to assess the state of community resilience against combined impacts of variables representing human pressures and environmental conditions. Here we use a machine learning approach, i.

Framing future trajectories of human activities in the German North Sea to inform cumulative effects assessments and marine spatial planning.

The global industrialization of seascapes and climate change leads to an increased risk of severe impacts on marine ecosystem functioning. While broad scale spatio-temporal assessments of human pressures on marine ecosystems become more available, future trajectories of human activities at regional and local scales remain often speculative. Here we introduce a stepwise process to integrate bottom-up and expert-driven approaches for scenario development to inform cumulative effects assessments and related marine spatial planning (MSP).

Socio-ecological vulnerability to tipping points: A review of empirical approaches and their use for marine management.

Sustainability in the provision of ecosystem services requires understanding of the vulnerability of social-ecological systems (SES) to tipping points (TPs). Assessing SES vulnerability to abrupt ecosystem state changes remains challenging, however, because frameworks do not operationally link ecological, socio-economic and cultural elements of the SES. We conducted a targeted literature review on empirical assessments of SES and TPs in the marine realm and their use in ecosystem-based management.

Fiber Bragg grating temperature sensors in a 6.5-MW generator exciter bridge and the development and simulation of its thermal model.

This work reports the thermal modeling and characterization of a thyristor. The thyristor is used in a 6.5-MW generator excitation bridge.

Multimodal perioperative rehabilitation in elective conventional resection of colonic cancer: results from the German Multicenter Quality Assurance Program 'Fast-Track Colon II'.

Aim: Multimodal perioperative rehabilitation in patients undergoing curative conventional colonic resection for cancer has not yet been studied in a multicenter setting. In 2005, a nationwide quality assurance program was initiated in Germany in an unselected patient population.

Methods: The prospective multicenter data collection includes patients from 24 German hospitals.

The influence of light on the diel vertical migration of young-of-the-year burbot Lota lota in Lake Constance.

The diel vertical distribution of young-of-the-year (YOY) burbot Lota lota in the pelagic zone of Lake Constance was compared to light intensity at the surface and to the light intensity at their mean depth. Lota lota larvae inhabited the pelagic zone of Lake Constance from the beginning of May until the end of August. From early June, after the stratification of the water column, fish performed diel vertical migrations (DVM) between the hypolimnion and epilimnion.

"Fast-track" rehabilitation for elective colonic surgery in Germany--prospective observational data from a multi-centre quality assurance programme.

Background: The results of "Fast-track" colonic surgery in an unselected population outside of specialised units has been unknown yet.

Materials And Methods: Data from 24 German hospitals performing "Fast-track" rehabilitation as the standard peri-operative care for patients undergoing elective colonic resection were collected in a prospective multi-centre study conducted between April 2005 and September 2006 to evaluate local and general morbidity.

Results: One thousand and forty-seven patients undergoing elective "fast-track" colonic resection were included.

Antibiotic use in non-university regional acute care general hospitals in southwestern Germany, 2001-2002.

Background: A previous study from Germany showed high antibiotic use in university hospitals, particularly in intensive care units (ICU) and hematology-oncology services, but there has been no information about recent antibiotic use in non-university hospitals. In the present study, we collected data from 40 non-university regional general hospitals located in the southwestern part of the country, and analyzed use density in the medical and surgical services of these hospitals.

Materials And Methods: Hospital pharmacy records for the calendar years 2001 and 2002 were evaluated.

Lithium intoxication as a result of an interaction with rofecoxib.

Objective: To report the occurrence of lithium intoxication in a patient with bipolar disorder after adding rofecoxib to the medication regimen.

Case Summary: A 68-year-old woman with bipolar disorder under long-term treatment with lithium, carbamazepine, pipamperon, and mirtazapine was prescribed rofecoxib 25 mg twice daily for the treatment of leg pain. Within one week, she showed progressive hypokinesia and tremor, which was treated with propranolol.

Effective prevention of adhesions with hyaluronate.

Hypothesis: Hyaluronate sodium in the form of a bioresorbant membrane reduces the development of intra-abdominal adhesions frequently found after implantation of synthetic mesh in the context of surgical hernia repair.

Design: The effect of hyaluronate on the formation of adhesions was evaluated when applied laparoscopically as a bioresorbant membrane to protect the peritoneal surface of a synthetic mesh.

Setting: Experimental animal model.

Observation of human dentine by focused ion beam and energy-filtering transmission electron microscopy.

Molar dentine was sliced into 100 nm ultrathin sections, by means of a focused ion beam, for observation by energy-filtering transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM). Within the matrix, crystals approximately 10 nm wide and 50-100 nm long were clearly observed. When carbon and calcium were mapped in electron spectroscopic images by EFTEM, carbon failed to localize in crystals.

Comparison of phenytoin serum concentrations in premature neonates following intravenous and oral administration.

Objective: To compare the serum concentrations attained following intravenous and oral administration of phenytoin in premature neonates.

Design: A prospective, uncontrolled study was conducted over 6 years. Phenhydan concentrate for infusion (Desitin, Hamburg, Germany) was used for intravenous infusion, and Epanutin suspension (Parke-Davis, Freiburg, Germany) was used for oral therapy.

Use of a mass-thickness marker to estimate systematic errors and statistical noise in the detection of phosphorus by electron spectroscopic imaging.

The element signal obtained from electron-energy-filtered micrographs depends on the systematic error in calculating the background and on the noise in the background-corrected image. Both systematic error and statistical fluctuation of the background can be assessed experimentally with a specimen that combines the element-containing feature with a mass-thickness marker. The approach is described for the mapping of phosphorus in turnip yellow mosaic viruses prepared on a supporting carbon film of variable thickness.

Low risk of bacteremia during catheter replacement in patients with long-term urinary catheters.

Background: Geriatric patients with long-term urinary catheters have an increased morbidity and mortality. It is conceivable that catheter replacement causes bacteremia and contributes to this morbidity and mortality. The purpose of our study was to determine the incidence and clinical relevance of bacteremia induced by urinary catheter replacements.

Substrate specificity and inhibitor sensitivity of Ca2+/S100-dependent twitchin kinases.

Myosin-associated giant protein kinases of the titin/witchin-like superfamily have previously been implicated in the regulation of muscle function, based on genetic and physiological studies. We find that recombinant constitutively active Caenorhabditis elegans and Aplysia twitchin kinase fragments differ in their catalytic activities and peptide-substrate specificities, as well as in their sensitivities to the naphthalene sulfonamide inhibitors 1-(5-chloronaphthalenesulfonyl)-1H-hexahydro-1,4-diazepine (ML-7) and 1-(5-iodonaphthalenesulfonyl)-1H-hexahydro-1,4-diazepine (ML-9). The constitutively active Aplysia twitchin kinase fragment has a remarkably high activity (Vmax > 100 mumol.

Studies of the calmodulin-binding site of twitchin with synthetic peptides using fluorescence and CD spectroscopy.

The calcium-dependent interaction of two synthetic peptides derived from the putative calmodulin-binding site in the protein kinase autoinhibitory region of twitchin was studied by fluorescence and CD spectroscopy. The peptides interacted with dansylcalmodulin in the presence of Ca2+ as shown by a change in the fluorescence emission spectra. Fluorescence titration of dansylcalmodulin with the peptides was used to quantify this interaction.

Phosphorylation of myosin regulatory light chains by the molluscan twitchin kinase.

The unusually large (approximately 600 to > 3000 kDa) myosin-associated proteins of the titin/twitchin superfamily are considered to be important cytoskeletal rulers for thick filament assembly in muscle. This function is maintained by approximately 60-240 modular fibronectin-type-III and immunoglobulin-C2 repeats in these proteins which further contain a protein serine/threonine kinase domain of unknown function. In this study, the bacterially expressed kinase domain of Aplysia twitchin was used in order to identify a potential physiological substrate.

[How safe is short-term inpatient treatment after laparoscopic cholecystectomy].

In 534 patients after laparoscopic cholecystectomy an earliest discharge was intended. The median day of discharge was day 3 postoperatively. The limitations to discharge were; normal physical findings, temperature back to normal and sonographic findings, which did not exceed the usual fluid accumulation in the gallbladder bed.

Myomodulin application increases cAMP and activates cAMP-dependent protein kinase in the accessory radula closer muscle of Aplysia.

Myomodulin A (MMA) application or stimulation of neuron B16, which releases MMA, increases cAMP levels in the accessory radula closer (ARC) muscle of Aplysia. MMA application also increases cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAPK) activity in one subcellular compartment of the muscle. These results suggest that at least part of MMA's effects in this system are mediated via the cAPK signal transduction pathway.

SCP application or B15 stimulation activates cAPK in the ARC muscle of Aplysia.

Application of small cardioactive peptide (SCP) or stimulation of motorneuron B15 increases the level of activated cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAPK) in the ARC muscle. SCP application also appears to induce a translocation of cAPK between different subcellular compartments of the ARC muscle and this translocation is also induced by cAMP addition to muscle homogenates. These results suggest that the actions of SCP in the Aplysia ARC neuromuscular system are mediated via the cAPK signal transduction pathway.

cAMP-dependent phosphorylation of Aplysia twitchin may mediate modulation of muscle contractions by neuropeptide cotransmitters.

Acting through a cAMP-cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAPK) cascade, members of two neuropeptide families, the small cardioactive peptides and myomodulins, modulate contraction amplitude and relaxation rate in the accessory radula closer (ARC) muscle of the marine mollusc Aplysia californica. An approximately 750-kDa phosphoprotein was identified in the ARC muscle as the major substrate for cAPK activated either by application of neuropeptides or by peptides released by motorneuron stimulation at physiological frequencies. Immunoblot and immunoelectron microscopy experiments revealed the widespread presence of this protein in Aplysia muscles and its colocalization with contractile filaments in the ARC muscle.

Autophosphorylation of molluscan twitchin and interaction of its kinase domain with calcium/calmodulin.

An approximately 750-kDa member of the family of giant titin/twitchin-like myosin-associated proteins was highly purified from muscle of the marine mollusc Aplysia californica. Purified twitchin was able to autophosphorylate on threonine, which demonstrates its protein serine/threonine kinase activity. cDNA sequence analysis of the cloned kinase domain of molluscan twitchin revealed that it is most closely related with the kinase domains of Caenorhabditis elegans twitchin (62% identity) and vertebrate myosin light chain kinases (45% average identity).