Activity concentrations of U and Ra in two European black shales and their experimentally-derived leachates.

The production of gas from unconventional resources became an important position in the world energy economics. In 2012, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre estimate 16 trillion cubic meters (Tcm) of technically recoverable shale gas in Europe. Taking into account that the exploitation of unconventional gas can be accompanied by serious health risks due to the release of toxic chemical components and natural occurring radionuclides into the return flow water and their near-surface accumulation in secondary precipitates, we investigated the release of U, Th and Ra from black shales by interaction with drilling fluids containing additives that are commonly employed for shale gas exploitation.

Influence of the intertropical convergence zone on the East Asian monsoon.

The Asian-Australian monsoon is an important component of the Earth's climate system that influences the societal and economic activity of roughly half the world's population. The past strength of the rain-bearing East Asian summer monsoon can be reconstructed with archives such as cave deposits, but the winter monsoon has no such signature in the hydrological cycle and has thus proved difficult to reconstruct. Here we present high-resolution records of the magnetic properties and the titanium content of the sediments of Lake Huguang Maar in coastal southeast China over the past 16,000 years, which we use as proxies for the strength of the winter monsoon winds.

Tel-Aviv-Heidelberg Three Generation Offspring Study: Genetic and environmental sources of variation and covariation among plasma lipids, lipoproteins, and apoliproteins.

Multivariate genetic analysis, implemented in the statistical package for pedigree analysis, FISHER, was carried out on a large sample of Israeli pedigrees to evaluate heritability and genetic correlations among an array of plasma lipids: total cholesterol (TCHL), triglycerides (TRIG), HDL-C and HDL2-C, HDL3-C, LDL-C and HDL-C%, apolipoproteins A and B (APO-A1 and APO-B), lipoprotein LP(a) and fibrinogen (FIBR). Multiple regression analysis showed that although sex, age, smoking and other study environmental factors, have a significant contribution to the variation of each plasma lipid, they exert little effect on covariation in lipids. Genes, however, are important factors of the variation and covariation in lipids.

Tel Aviv-Heidelberg three-generation offspring study: genetic determinants of plasma fibrinogen level.

Elevated plasma fibrinogen concentrations (fibrinogen) are an important independent risk factor of atherosclerotic disease. Using the kinetic method, we measured fibrinogen in 808 individuals, of which 757 were members of 204 pedigrees. Correlation analysis and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a significant association of fibrinogen with age, body mass index (BMI), sex, smoking habits, sport activity, and other lifestyle factors.

[Geriatrics, a social medicine challenge].

The number of old people in our society is strongly increasing. In 1960 1.4 percent of the German population were older than 80 years, in 1993 this percentage was 3.

Tel Aviv-Heidelberg three-generation offspring study: genetic determinants of apolipoprotein A1 and apolipoprotein B.

The contribution of major gene and multifactorial effects on variation of plasma apolipoproteins A1 and B has been tested in a large sample of population-based Israeli pedigrees. Our most parsimonious and best fitting model for both apolipoproteins is consistent with Mendelian transmissibility, with significant contribution of major genes (with 2 alleles recessive and dominant within each locus) and polygenes, but neglects effects of common sib environment as well as related intergeneration differences in polygenic effects. Total genetic effects explain 71 and 58% of phenotypic variance of APO-A1 and APO-B levels.

Risk factor patterns for coronary heart disease in China, Japan and Germany.

The risk factor patterns for coronary heart disease in China, Japan and Germany were studied. 6,025 Germans, 7,580 Japanese and 2,047 Chinese aged 30-59 were investigated following the protocol of the Göttingen Risk, Incidence, and Prevalence Study carried out in West Germany in 1982. It is concluded that in China, the risk factor intervention focuses mainly on smoking and hypertension; smoking also remains the most important risk factor in Japan; while in Germany the major targets are obesity and hyperlipidemia.

A new role for nicotine: selective inhibition of thromboxane formation by direct interaction with thromboxane synthase in human promyelocytic leukaemia cells differentiating into macrophages.

Thromboxane, one of the major oxygenated arachidonic acid metabolites of human macrophages, is the most potent vasoconstricting and proaggregatory molecule known. In addition, thromboxane has been shown to be related to host defence mechanisms. We studied the effects of nicotine and its major metabolites on thromboxane formation using cultured macrophage-like cells (HL-60), microsomal assays and purified thromboxane synthase.

[Molecular mechanisms in atherogenesis].

Disturbances of the lipid metabolism play a key role in atherogenesis, cholesterol, however, is not stored passively in the arterial wall, but on the basis of complex, partly still unknown humoral and cellular processes. The proliferative lesion of the arteriosclerotic vascular wall is characterized by injured endothelial cells, differentiating macrophages, immunocompetent T-lymphocytes and proliferating smooth muscle cells. Molecular biological investigations on cells of arteriosclerotic plaques among others clarified growth factors, cytokines, factors of angiogenesis and growth inhibitors in form and significance.

Differences in the risk factor patterns for coronary heart disease in China, Japan, and Germany.

In Asia coronary heart disease mortality is almost 10 fold less frequent than in European countries. These findings attract interest to search for different risk factor patterns. From 1982 to 1985 epidemiologic surveys were carried out in China (n = 2047), Japan (n = 7580) and Germany (n = 6052).

Incidence and mortality rates of myocardial infarction in Chinese workers aged 40-59 in relation to coronary risk factors. Results of a Chinese prospective study (Wuhan Study) in comparison to the Göttingen Risk Incidence and Prevalence Study (GRIPS).

Some 2045 male Chinese industrial workers aged 40-59 years living in the city of Wuhan in the People's Republic of China were examined for coronary risk factors in the year 1983. The investigation included a patient history, clinical examination, and ECG and laboratory tests, with special attention to serum lipids. After 5 years, a follow-up investigation of the study group was carried out.

Socioeconomic differences in cardiovascular risk factors in China.

Socioeconomic conditions are important in explaining variation in cardiovascular morbidity in advanced societies. To analyse whether cardiovascular risk factors vary according to socioeconomic status in a developing country, and more specifically, in an urban area of China, we compared data from structured interviews and cardiovascular screenings in a group of 1169 male workers (45-65 years). These men participated in the five-year follow-up of a prospective investigation started in 1982/83 in several plants in Wuhan.

[The European cholesterol concensus conferences. Do coronary heart diseases still play a major role in our society?].

Despite of certain successes from preventive measures, myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease are still responsible for a great part of deaths and premature disabilities in western industrialized nations. The rates are even increasing in Eastern Europe. In the Far East, however, incidence of myocardial infarction is low due to nutrition habits low in fat and low serum cholesterol levels.

Platelet-derived growth factor--a growth factor with an expanding role in health and disease.

Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) is the principal mitogen for connective tissue-derived cells such as fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, and glial cells. It is synthesized by a variety of cell types and the synthesis of PDGF and its receptors is tightly controlled. Accumulating evidence obtained in vitro and in vivo suggests that PDGF plays important roles in the pathogenesis of clinically important diseases such as atherogenesis and cancer.

LDL-metabolism of the arterial wall--new implications for atherogenesis.

Increasing evidence arising from experimental work and epidemiological studies through the last few years shows an important role of LDL antioxidants in the pathogenesis of the early atherosclerotic lesions characterized by macrophagocytic foam cells. Also the maturation of the atherosclerotic lesion evolving from the fatty streak could be driven by pathological peroxidation of the LDL in the arterial wall. The search for new drugs against atherosclerosis should therefore include compounds that increase stability of LDL and reduce formation of cholesteryl ester formation in the foam cells via the scavenger receptor pathway.

Plasma cholesterol, lipid lowering, and risk for cancer. An update of the results from epidemiologic studies and intervention trials.

Plasma cholesterol has been shown to be correlated to the incidence of cardiovascular events. This observation and experimental data on the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis have led to a number of recommendations for the treatment of elevated plasma lipids by national and international consensus panels and organizations. However, the issue whether lowering cholesterol might increase the risk for other diseases including cancer is still controversial.

Atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease.

The formation of the "early proliferative lesion" of arteriosclerosis is the result of a chronic interaction of endothelial cells, monocytes/macrophages, smooth muscle cells, and potentially other cells such as T-lymphocytes and platelets. The precise manner in which these cells ineract during the early stage of the disease is unclear. The initial mechanisms involved in the pathophysiological interaction of these cells in the presence of the clinically important risk factors remain to be determined and represent a major challenge for future research.

[New aspects of the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases].

While a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis has not been forthcoming until now, considerable progress has been made in several important areas of the biology of the arterial wall. Progress was mainly accomplished by the use of tissue culture and techniques of molecular biology. Focuses of current interests are the roles of endothelium and of white blood cells, the properties and biological activities of growth factors, and the function of oncogenes.

Iliac crest needle biopsy as a method for determining estrogen receptors in bone metastases from breast cancer.

The purpose of our study was to clarify whether the amount of tissue extracted by means of iliac crest needle biopsy (ICNB) would suffice for a quantitative determination of estrogen receptors (ER) in bone metastases, and to see if the method currently used for determining ER in primary tumors could also be successfully utilized in ICNB. 22 of 31 breast cancer patients examined could be evaluated. ER was positive in 7 (31.