Different cardiorespiratory responses to hemorrhage and hyperoxia in normotensive (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats.

Objective: To compare the cardiorespiratory responses underlying the beneficial effects of hyperoxia during blood loss between normotensive (WKY) and hypertensive (SHR) rats.

Methods: Experiments were carried out in anesthetized animals with both carotid bifurcations either innervated or denervated. The effects of breathing 60% O2 in N2 were studied either in combination with non-hypotensive hemorrhage or during hemorrhagic hypotension.

Mental and physical distress is modulated by a polymorphism in the 5-HT transporter gene interacting with social stressors and chronic disease burden.

Previous studies have yielded conflicting results as to the putative role of the functional polymorphism of the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) in the etiology of anxiety-related traits and depressive disorders. Recently, a significant gene-environment interaction was found between life stressors, the short allele of the SLC6A4 polymorphism and depression. The aim of the present study was to investigate if such a gene-environment interaction could be replicated within a different population with a different risk structure.

Alexithymia and personality in relation to dimensions of psychopathology.

Objective: The authors examined the capacity of alexithymia to predict a broad range of psychiatric symptoms relative to that of other personality dimensions, age, and gender.

Method: The Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Temperament and Character Inventory, and the SCL-90-R were administered to 254 psychiatric patients. Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed.

Impact of psychiatric disorders in the general population: satisfaction with life and the influence of comorbidity and disorder duration.

Background: Psychiatric disorders as defined by DSM-IV are found to be highly prevalent in the general population. However, little is known about aspects defining the burden caused by different disorders.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of different psychiatric disorders in the community with respect to life satisfaction taking into account the effects of comorbidity and disorder duration.

Association of interleukin-10 promoter polymorphism with the incidence of multiple organ dysfunction following major trauma: results of a prospective pilot study.

A dysbalanced immune response is thought to account for a substantial part of the morbidity and mortality after severe trauma. The cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) suppresses the transcription of proinflammatory cytokines, mainly in macrophages and monocytes. The objectives of this prospective study in a level I trauma center in Germany were to examine the distribution of IL-10 promoter polymorphisms in a cohort of severely injured patients, to measure IL-10 cytokine levels and relate these to the genotype, and to identify associations of IL-10 polymorphisms with the incidence of severe multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS).

Influence of age of patients who wish to die on treatment decisions by physicians and nurses.

Objective: There is an ongoing debate on whether the wish to die in old age is a normal phenomenon and should be accepted as opposed to similar wishes in younger ages. The authors asked to what extent the age of a patient influences treatment decisions of physicians and nurses.

Methods: Real-life case vignettes of three persons ages 70 and over, with subthreshold depression and a wish to die, were presented to 19 physicians and 83 nurses, with the question of whether they would initiate psychopharmacological treatment or psychotherapy.

Interactions between the sympathetic nervous system and the kidneys in arterial hypertension.

Elevated sympathetic activity changes renal function and accelerates the development of hypertension. Principles of sympatho-renal interactions in chronic hypertension are reviewed. Alterations in the ontogeny of the sympathetic nervous system and the kidney, inherited abnormalities in sensory receptor function and exaggerated responsiveness to mental stress contribute to inappropriately high sympathetic activity in primary or essential hypertension.

Characterization of calixarene- and resorcinarene-bonded stationary phases. I. Hydrophobic interactions.

New HPLC phases with supramolecular selectors on the basis of calixarenes and resorcinarenes were investigated for the first time by means of empirically based test mixtures. The tests, originally developed for common reversed phases, were chosen to evaluate fundamental chromatographic properties of the new materials. In the first part of these studies three descriptors (hydrophobic retention capacity--k'(hyd), hydrophobic selectivity--alpha(hyd), steric selectivity--alpha(ster)) were determined.

20-MHz ultrasound and its value in imaging of lacrimal plugs.

Background: High-frequency B scan ultrasonography is a proven method for the assessment of anterior segment diseases. Only few studies have used sonography to examine the lacrimal drainage system. We examined the proximal lacrimal drainage system by high-resolution 20-MHz ultrasound to verify the possibility to identify intracanalicular lacrimal plugs.

Multiple and high-titer single autoantibodies in schoolchildren reflecting the genetic predisposition for type 1 diabetes.

The study aimed to compare the HLA specificities of AAb-positive healthy schoolchildren with those of patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). HLA-DRB1 and DQB1 alleles were determined in 178 AAb-positive and 339 AAb-negative schoolchildren aged 6-17 years without first-degree relatives with T1D and in 274 patients with T1D. AAbs against glutamic acid decarboxylase (GADA), protein tyrosine phosphatase (IA-2A), and insulin (IAA) were determined by (125)I-antigen binding, and islet cell cytoplasmic antibodies (ICAs) immunohistochemically.

The relation of a family history of alcoholism, obstetric complications and family environment to behavioral problems among 154 adolescents in Germany: results from the children of alcoholics study in Pomerania.

Background: Behavioral problems in adolescence have been shown to be associated with the presence of a positive family history of alcoholism (FH+), obstetric complications (OCs), and negative parenting practices.

Method: This study tested the relation of these factors to aggression/delinquency and attention problems in an untreated population sample of 154 adolescents in Pomerania. Furthermore, we evaluated the predictive strength of a FH+, OCs and negative parenting styles in a prospective subsample of 127 adolescents using a hierarchical regression analysis.

Numerical simulation of airflow in the human nose.

Unobstructed air passageways as well as sufficient contact of the air stream with the mucous membrane are essential for the correct function of the nose. For that, local flow phenomena, which often cannot be captured by standard diagnostic methods, are important. We developed and validated a method for the numerical simulation of the nasal airflow.

Temporal dynamics of degenerative and regenerative events associated with cerebral ischemia in aged rats.

Background And Purpose: The age-related decline in plasticity of the brain may be one factor underlying the poor functional recovery after stroke. In the present work we tested the hypothesis that the attenuation of neural plasticity could be the result of an age-related REDUCTION in the upregulation of factors promoting brain plasticity (microtubule-associated protein 1B [MAP1B], beta-amyloid precursor protein [betaAPP]), and an age-related INCREASE in glial reactivity and the accumulation of Abeta, a proteolytic cleavage product of betaAPP with neurotoxic properties.

Methods: Focal cerebral ischemia was produced by reversible occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery in 3- and 20-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats.

The influence of antimicrobial treatments on the cytocompatibility of polyurethane biosensor membranes.

The cytocompatibility of polyurethane membranes was tested following ultraviolet or gamma irradiation as well as treatment with hydrogen peroxide or glutaraldehyde containing solutions. Despite the fact that all of the methods had been recommended for antimicrobial treatment of glucose biosensors, the treatments investigated significantly influenced cytocompatibility characteristics. Cytotoxicity of membrane eluates was not observed following irradiation treatments.

Antimicrobial efficacy and potential application of a newly developed plasma-based ultraviolet irradiation facility.

A low-pressure mercury vapour discharge tube generating high-intensity ultraviolet (UV) resonance radiation at 254 nm was designed to achieve a nearly simultaneous all-round UV irradiation of products. Testing this 'universal homogeneous ultraviolet (UHUV) irradiation facility' with suspended Bacillus subtilis spores, resulted in a 10(6)-fold reduction in viable count within 30 s applying irradiation energy of 0.3 mW/cm(2).

Cytokine sensitivity of Langerhans' islets of diabetes-prone BB/OK rats under hypoglycemic conditions.

Islets of Langerhans isolated from diabetes-prone BB/OK rats were exposed to interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) or to a combination of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) plus interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) under hypoglycemia at glucose concentrations of 2.2 and 3.2 mmol/l or in the presence of stimulatory conditions at 6.

Accelerated glial reactivity to stroke in aged rats correlates with reduced functional recovery.

Following cerebral ischemia, perilesional astrocytes and activated microglia form a glial scar that hinders the genesis of new axons and blood vessels in the infarcted region. Since glial reactivity is chronically augmented in the normal aging brain, the authors hypothesized that postischemic gliosis would be temporally abnormal in aged rats compared to young rats. Focal cerebral ischemia was produced by reversible occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery in 3- and 20-month-old male Sprague Dawley rats.

IL-1beta, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha increase vulnerability of pancreatic beta cells to autoimmune destruction.

In the pathogenesis of type-1 diabetes insulin-producing beta-cells are destroyed by cellular autoimmune processes. The locality of beta-cell destruction is the inflamed pancreatic islet. During insulitis cytokines released from islet-infiltrating mononuclear cells affect beta-cells at several levels.

Somatoform pain disorder in the general population.

Background: Chronic pain disorder is assumed to represent a frequent and disabling condition. However, data on the prevalence of somatoform pain symptoms and somatoform pain disorder in the community are limited to date.

Methods: German versions of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview were administered to a representative national sample of 4,075 people.

Microsatellite analysis at 1p36.3 in malignant melanoma of the skin: fine mapping in search of a possible tumour suppressor gene region.

Deletions in 1p36 in malignant melanoma have been found in high percentages in nodular melanomas and melanoma metastases. Despite many efforts, no candidate tumour suppressor gene associated with malignant melanoma has so far been found in this region. To further determine a possible tumour suppressor gene locus, we carried out a deletion mapping of chromosome 1p36 at nine microsatellite loci in 74 malignant melanomas.

Stress response of pancreatic islets from diabetes prone BB rats of different age.

Protective and/or repair mechanisms are thought to be activated in pancreatic beta cells in response to injury during insulitis. Manifestation of type-1 diabetes may depend on an imbalance between beta cell damage and repair. To prove this hypothesis, the ability of collagenase-isolated islets to respond to heat stress depending on the age of BB rats was investigated.

Transforming growth factor-beta1 and major trauma: time-dependent association with hepatic and renal insufficiency.

Dysbalance in the immune system is perceived as a major factor for adverse outcome after trauma. Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) is a multifunctional cytokine that regulates proliferation, differentiation of cells, wound healing, and angiogenesis. The influence of TGF-beta1 on trauma patients outcome is still unclear.

Heat shock protein 70 genotypes HSPA1B and HSPA1L influence cytokine concentrations and interfere with outcome after major injury.

Objective: To examine the influence of genetic variations in heat shock proteins on trauma outcome.

Design: Prospective, noninterventional, single-center study.

Setting: Level I trauma center.

Affective blindsight: intact fear conditioning to a visual cue in a cortically blind patient.

Blindsight refers to remarkable residual visual abilities of patients with damage to the primary visual cortex (V1). Recent studies revealed that such residual abilities do not apply only to relatively simple object discriminations, but that these patients can also differentially categorize and respond to emotionally salient stimuli. The current study reports on a case of intact fear conditioning to a visual cue in a male patient with complete bilateral cortical blindness.