Effects of corticotropin-releasing hormone on gastric electrical activity and sensorimotor function in healthy volunteers: a double-blinded crossover study.

Biopsychosocial factors are associated with disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI) and exacerbate gastrointestinal symptoms. The mechanisms underlying pathophysiological alterations of stress remain unclear. Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is a central regulator of the hormonal stress response and has diverse impact on different organ systems.

Review article: Functional dyspepsia-a gastric disorder, a duodenal disorder or a combination of both?

Background: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is one of the most frequent conditions in gastroenterological outpatient health care. Most recent research in FD has shifted its focus to duodenal pathophysiological mechanisms, although current treatments still focus mainly the stomach.

Aim: The aim of the study was to provide a comprehensive overview of the pathophysiology of FD focusing on a paradigm shift from gastric towards duodenal mechanisms.

Evidence that Pacific tuna mercury levels are driven by marine methylmercury production and anthropogenic inputs.

Pacific Ocean tuna is among the most-consumed seafood products but contains relatively high levels of the neurotoxin methylmercury. Limited observations suggest tuna mercury levels vary in space and time, yet the drivers are not well understood. Here, we map mercury concentrations in skipjack tuna across the Pacific Ocean and build generalized additive models to quantify the anthropogenic, ecological, and biogeochemical drivers.

Multicenter evaluation of therapeutic strategies of inpatients with osteoporotic vertebral fractures in Germany.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess therapeutic strategies of inpatients with osteoporotic thoracolumbar fractures (OTF) in Germany.

Methods: Prospective multi-center study including 16 German-speaking trauma centers over a period of 7 months. All inpatients with OTF were included.

Focused Assessment with Sonography for Urinary Schistosomiasis (FASUS)-pilot evaluation of a simple point-of-care ultrasound protocol and short training program for detecting urinary tract morbidity in highly endemic settings.

Background: Urogenital schistosomiasis (UGS) causes inflammation and fibrosis of the urinary tract. In resource-limited settings, affordable tools for morbidity assessment in clinical care are needed. Point-of-care ultrasound has not yet been validated for UGS-related pathology.

Recommendations for Diagnosis and Treatment of Odontoid Fractures in Geriatric Patients.

Background: Odontoid fractures in geriatric patients represent an entity of increasing incidence with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. The optimal diagnostic and therapeutic management is being controversially discussed in the literature.

Methods: In a consensus process and based on the current literature, the members of the working groups "Osteoporotic Fractures" and "Upper Cervical Spine" of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery (DGOU) defined recommendations for the diagnostics and treatment of odontoid fractures in geriatric patients.

[Nonsurgical and surgical management of osteoporotic vertebral body fractures : Recommendations of the Spine Section of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma (DGOU)].

Study Design: Prospective clinical cohort study (data collection); expert opinion (recommendation development).

Objectives: Treatment options for nonsurgical and surgical management of osteoporotic vertebral body fractures differ widely. Based on the current literature, the knowledge of the experts, and their classification for osteoporotic fractures (OF classification), the Spine Section of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma has now introduced general treatment recommendations.

Nonsurgical and Surgical Management of Osteoporotic Vertebral Body Fractures: Recommendations of the Spine Section of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma (DGOU).

Study Design: Prospective clinical cohort study (data collection); expert opinion (recommendation development).

Objectives: Treatment options for nonsurgical and surgical management of osteoporotic vertebral body fractures are widely differing. Based on current literature, the knowledge of the experts, and their classification for osteoporotic fractures (OF classification) the Spine Section of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma has now introduced general treatment recommendations.

Classification of Osteoporotic Thoracolumbar Spine Fractures: Recommendations of the Spine Section of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma (DGOU).

Study Design: Expert opinion.

Objectives: Osteoporotic vertebral fractures are of increasing medical importance. For an adequate treatment strategy, an easy and reliable classification is needed.

Treatment of Fractures of the Thoracolumbar Spine: Recommendations of the Spine Section of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma (DGOU).

Study Design: consensus paper with systematic literature review.

Objective: The aim of this study was to establish recommendations for treatment of thoracolumbar spine fractures based on systematic review of current literature and consensus of several spine surgery experts.

Methods: The project was initiated in September 2008 and published in Germany in 2011.

Seabirds supply nitrogen to reef-building corals on remote Pacific islets.

Seabirds concentrate nutrients from large marine areas on their nesting islands playing an important ecological role in nutrient transfer between marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Here we investigate the role of guano on corals reefs across scales by analyzing the stable nitrogen isotopic (δN) values of the scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis on fringing reefs around two Pacific remote islets with large seabird colonies. Marine stations closest to the seabird colonies had higher nitrate + nitrite concentrations compared to more distant stations.

First protein and peptide characterization of the tarsal adhesive secretions in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, and the Madagascar hissing cockroach, Gromphadorhina portentosa.

Peptides and proteins have been largely neglected in the analysis of insect tarsal adhesives. After extraction of the protein fraction of the tarsal secretion of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, and Madagascar hissing cockroach, Gromphadorhina portentosa, we combined Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analyses for protein mass detection. In both these insects, SDS-PAGE analysis revealed several protein bands ranging from 8-190 kDa in both the tarsal secretion and the tibia control sample.

Cambial growth season of brevi-deciduous Brachystegia spiciformis trees from south central Africa restricted to less than four months.

We investigate cambial growth periodicity in Brachystegia spiciformis, a dominant tree species in the seasonally dry miombo woodland of southern Africa. To better understand how the brevi-deciduous (experiencing a short, drought-induced leaf fall period) leaf phenology of this species can be linked to a distinct period of cambial activity, we applied a bi-weekly pinning to six trees in western Zambia over the course of one year. Our results show that the onset and end of cambial growth was synchronous between trees, but was not concurrent with the onset and end of the rainy season.

[Recommendations for the treatment of thoracolumbar and lumbar spine injuries].

This paper gives recommendations for treatment of thoracolumbar and lumbar spine injuries. The recommendations are based on the experience of the involved spine surgeons, who are part of a study group of the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Unfallchirurgie" and a review of the current literature. Basics of diagnostic, conservative, and operative therapy are demonstrated.

Bioceramic vertebral augmentation with a calcium sulphate/hydroxyapatite composite (Cerament SpineSupport): in vertebral compression fractures due to osteoporosis.

A prospective, non-randomized multicenter study was initiated to study efficacy and safety of a partly resorbable composite of calcium sulphate and hydroxyapatite (Cerament SpineSupport), a novel, injectable bioceramic, in osteoporotic patients with vertebral compression fractures during 18-month follow-up. Fifteen patients with low-energy trauma and 1-2 vertebral compression fractures verified by magnetic resonance imaging were recruited to undergo percutaneous bioceramic vertebral augmentation under fluoroscopy. The patients were treated with a highly flowable bioceramic containing calcium sulphate, hydroxyapatite and the non-ionic radiocontrast agent iohexol, with final setting time within 1 h.

[Intramedullary nailing of proximal tibial fractures. Complications and risk factors].

Introduction: We performed a consecutive study on patients with proximal tibial fractures without joint participation to determine the early clinical and radiological outcome.

Patients: From January 2000 to December 2005, 22 fractures of the proximal and proximal diaphyseal tibia without joint participation were operated on using the new tibia nail. A total of 18 patients (82%) completed full follow-up after 6 weeks and 3 and 6 months.

[Isolated fractures of the olecranon].

Fractures of the olecranon account for 7% of fractures in adult patients. Of all elbow fractures, 38% are isolated fractures of the olecranon. Falling on the 90 degrees flexed elbow is the most common cause of isolated olecranon fractures.

A patchy growth via successive and simultaneous cambia: key to success of the most widespread mangrove species Avicennia marina?

Background And Aims: Secondary growth via successive cambia has been intriguing researchers for decades. Insight into the mechanism of growth layer formation is, however, limited to the cellular level. The present study aims to clarify secondary growth via successive cambia in the mangrove species Avicennia marina on a macroscopic level, addressing the formation of the growth layer network as a whole.

Comparative anatomy of intervessel pits in two mangrove species growing along a natural salinity gradient in Gazi bay, Kenya.

Background And Aims: According to the air-seeding hypothesis, embolism vulnerability in xylem elements is linked directly to bordered pit structure and functioning. To elucidate the adaptive potential of intervessel pits towards fluctuating environmental conditions, two mangrove species with a distinct ecological distribution growing along a natural salinity gradient were investigated.

Methods: Scanning and transmission electron microscopic observations were conducted to obtain qualitative and quantitative characteristics of alternate intervessel pits in A.