Sickle cell disease in Germany: Results from a national registry.

Background: Limited data on the prevalence and medical care of sickle cell disease (SCD) in Germany are available. Here, we make use of a patient registry to characterize the burden of disease and the treatment modalities for patients with SCD in Germany.

Procedure: A nationwide German registry for patients with SCD documents basic data on diagnosis and patient history retrospectively at the time of registration.

Building Bridges through Science.

Science is ideally suited to connect people from different cultures and thereby foster mutual understanding. To promote international life science collaboration, we have launched "The Science Bridge" initiative. Our current project focuses on partnership between Western and Middle Eastern neuroscience communities.

Novel mutations in TNFRSF7/CD27: Clinical, immunologic, and genetic characterization of human CD27 deficiency.

Background: The clinical and immunologic features of CD27 deficiency remain obscure because only a few patients have been identified to date.

Objective: We sought to identify novel mutations in TNFRSF7/CD27 and to provide an overview of clinical, immunologic, and laboratory phenotypes in patients with CD27 deficiency.

Methods: Review of the medical records and molecular, genetic, and flow cytometric analyses of the patients and family members were performed.

Difficulties in screening for peripheral neuropathies in children with diabetes.

Aims: To assess the diagnostic utility of a novel abbreviated monofilament test in comparison with the tuning fork test to detect diabetic peripheral neuropathy in children.

Methods: A total of 88 children with Type 1 diabetes mellitus were screened for diabetic peripheral neuropathy using the monofilament test and the tuning fork. Nerve conduction studies were performed according to the 'gold standard' for neuropathy.