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Das Leopoldina-Mitglied Richard Siebeck (1883 –1965) im Nationalsozialismus und in der frühen Nachkriegszeit
Full text linkDer Beitrag rekonstruiert die Haltung und das Handeln des Internisten und Leopoldina-Mitglieds Richard Siebeck (1883 –1965) im Nationalsozialismus und in der frühen Nachkriegszeit. Insbesondere im Bereich der Eugenik, der damit verbundenen „Erbgesundheitspflege“ und in militärmedizinischen Kontexten war Siebeck sehr deutlich engagiert, wobei die in der historischen Forschung dokumentierten Handlungsspielräume von ärztlichen Akteuren deutlich machen, dass Siebecks Handeln nicht als Resultat von äußerem Zwang gedeutet werden kann. Der Beitrag zeigt, dass Siebeck sich in verschiedenen Handlungskontexten durchaus unterschiedlich zu den Erwartungen der verschiedenen Machtinstanzen des nationalsozialistischen Regimes, zu dessen Herrschaftspraxis und zu den damit verbundenen Wertehierarchien verhielt. Der genaue Blick auf das Beispiel von Siebeck im Nationalsozialismus illustriert darüber hinaus, dass die Einstellungen, konkreten Verhaltensweisen und auch Handlungsbegründungen von wissenschaftlichen Akteuren in diesem zeitlichen Rahmen nicht pauschal durch Kategorien wie „Täter“, „Mitläufer“, „Opfer“ oder „Gegner“ charakterisiert werden können und sich somit auch nicht durch eine Bewertung von „Belastung“ abbilden lassen. Vielmehr muss eine angemessene Beschreibung sowohl unterschiedliche spezifische Handlungskontexte (z. B. Forschung, Lehre, Hochschulpolitik, Verhalten gegenüber politischen Instanzen und Militär) als auch Veränderungen über die Zeit zwischen 1933 und 1945 berücksichtigen.The contribution describes the attitudes and activities of the specialist in internal medicine and member of the Leopoldina Richard Siebeck (1883 –1965) during the period of National Socialism and the early post-World War IIvperiod. Siebeck was clearly engaged in the regime’s eugenically inspired “hereditary health policies” (Erbgesundheitspolitik) and in contexts of military medicine during the war. The scope of action for physicians in these fields as documented in historical research shows that Siebeck’s behaviour in these contexts should not simply be interpreted as the result of external pressure. The contribution also clarifies that in different contexts, Siebeck showed a range of behaviours towards the expectations of various political entities within the regime, towards it’s concrete ruling practices, and the associated value hierarchies. The close view at the example of Siebeck during National Socialism further illustrates that the attitudes, concrete activities, and also the justifications of behaviours by scientists during that period may not flatly be characterized by categories such as “perpetrator”, “follower”, “victim”, or “opponent”, and that it is inadequate to summarily evaluate these behaviours in terms of a “political burden”. Rather, an appropriate description has to take into account the various specific contexts of concrete activities (e.g. research, teaching, academic politics, behaviours towards political instances or the military), as well as changes within the period between 1933 and 1945
Berlin Declaration: On the Path to Carbon Neutrality
Full text linkJoint Declaration of the second Science for Future-Conference by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Carbon emissions play a key role in anthropogenic global warming. In order to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement, China and Germany have set themselves the goal of significantly reducing their carbon emissions within the next decades. The President of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Prof. (ETHZ) Dr. Gerald Haug, and the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Dr. Jianguo Hou, signed the joint declaration “Berlin Declaration: On the Path to Carbon Neutrality” at the second Science for Future conference entitled “On the Path to Carbon Neutrality”. In their joint declaration, the two academies emphasize the importance of basic research and international cooperation in achieving carbon neutrality and recommend concrete measures to reduce CO2 emissions
Preface
Full text linkThe 2nd Leopoldina Symposium "Transplantation – Ethics – Techniques – Immunology" took place on May 26-27, 2022 at the CIPMM building of Saarland University on the campus in Homburg/Saar. The Saarland University Hospital UKS is the only university medical center in southwestern Germany left of the Rhine. The campus is located in a charming and quiet environment with a personal atmosphere that facilitated scientific exchange away from the hectic everyday life. The CIPMM is a state-of-the-art multifunctional building that provided an adequate setting for our international symposium. Today, numerous tissues and organs are transplanted routinely and with increasing success rate. Transplantation is also playing an increasingly important role in cancer therapy. Furthermore, transplantation saves people's lives and secures their quality of life. A pressing current problem in transplantation medicine is the large demand for organs/tissues, compared to the low willingness to donate. Accordingly, the stagnating willingness to donate organs, the importance of saving lives through organ donation, the increasing need for organ donation, and underlying ethical issues are currently being weighed against each other in an intensive social debate with regard to possible legal requirements for organ donation. The realization of strategies that have been used since the turn of the century to grow tissues and whole organs from stem cells and use them as organ substitutes, as well as to create conditions for transferring non-human organs to humans, could defuse this debate in the future. Our international event brought together clinicians, fundamental researchers and interested non-professionals to discuss the latest developments in the field of transplantation medicine, to answer open questions regarding organ donation and to promote social consensus on the importance of transplantation and organ donation as a whole. During the scientific symposium, we consciously focused on four main topics: 1. "Solid Organs", 2. "In Translation", 3. "Eye" and 4. "Immunology and Ethics"
Förderung der Selbstregulationskompetenzen von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Kindertageseinrichtungen und Schulen
Full text linkKinder und Jugendliche sind die Zukunft unserer Gesellschaft. Aber zahlreiche Studien zeigen beträchtliche Bedrohungen für ihr Wohlergehen und ihre Entfaltungsmöglichkeiten, z.B. psychische Probleme, Klimakrise und Kriege, niedrige Kompetenzstände in den Bereichen Mathematik, Lesen und Naturwissenschaften und negative Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung. Es stellt sich daher die Frage, wie Kinder und Jugendliche in ihrem Wohlergehen und ihren Entfaltungsmöglichkeiten in Kindertageseinrichtungen und Schule gezielter gefördert werden können. Von hoher Bedeutung sind dabei die Selbstregulationskompetenzen, also Fähigkeiten, die es erlauben, persönliche Ziele zu erreichen und flexibel auf Veränderungen zu reagieren
Wissenschaftsfreiheit und Sicherheitsinteressen in Zeiten geopolitischer Polarisierung: Tätigkeits- und Sachstandsbericht : November 2024
Full text link„NS-Belastung“ unter Akademiemitgliedern. Strategien der (Neu-) Ausrichtung im Nationalsozialismus am Beispiel der Psychiatrisch- Neurologischen Sektion der Leopoldina
Full text linkDer Beitrag untersucht an einer Gruppe von Neurologen, Psychiatern und Psychologen, Mitgliedern der Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina im Zeitraum zwischen 1933 und 1945, die Positionierung von Ärzten und Wissenschaftlern zu den sich im Nationalsozialismus ergebenden Möglichkeiten und Spielräumen sowie deren Nutzung beispielsweise durch Kooperation mit dem NS-Regime oder veränderte Forschungsthemen. Es ergibt sich ein weites Spektrum der Reaktionsformen bis in die Alltagspraxis und Alltagsforschung mit Übergängen zu den Medizinverbrechen (Zwangssterilisation, Patientenmorde, verbrecherische Forschung am Menschen). Es wird versucht, die unterschiedlichen Reaktionsformen durch eine kollektive Biographie jener Gruppe und durch eine Typologie mit den fünf Typen „Nestoren“, „führende Männer“, „Praktiker“, „Ideologen“ und „Spezialisten“ zu erschließen.With a group of neurologists, psychiatrists and psychologists, members of the German Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina between 1933 and 1945, the paper examines the positioning of doctors and scientists to the opportunities and leeway that arise in National Socialism and their exploitation for example through cooperation with the Nazi regime or changed research topics. The contribution reveals a wide spectrum of reaction forms up to everyday practice and research as well as transitions to medical crimes (forced sterilization, “euthanasia”, coercive research). An attempt is made to analyse the different forms of reaction through a collective biography of that group ad by means of a corresponding typology with the five types “Nestors”, “Leaders”, “Practitioners”, “Ideologists” and “Specialists”
Generative KI – jenseits von Euphorie und einfachen Lösungen
Full text linkGenerative Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) verändert seit Ende 2022 drastisch weite Bereiche unserer Lebens- und Arbeitswelt. Inzwischen gibt es zahlreiche KI-basierte Anwendungen, die anhand von Trainingsdaten Muster erlernen und damit neue sprachliche oder visuelle Produkte erstellen. Diese Anwendungen sind mittlerweile allgemein zugänglich und leicht zu nutzen. Vor diesem Hintergrund werfen die drei Autorinnen des Diskussionspapiers einen nüchternen Blick auf Chancen, aber auch Gefährdungen für Individuen und die Gesellschaft durch den Einsatz von generativer KI. Die Autorinnen skizzieren Problemfelder, die in der allgemeinen Diskussion noch nicht ausreichend reflektiert werden, u. a. die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen von erklärbarer KI, Machtasymmetrien, Verantwortungsdiffusion und Kontrolldefizite. Diese sind zum Teil in der Funktionslogik der KI-Technologie selbst angelegt, ergeben sich aber auch im Zusammenspiel zwischen Mensch und Technik in unterschiedlichen Kontexten
Retinal Cell Therapy Now and Future
Full text linkOur goal is to develop cell and gene therapies for outer retinal layer diseases. First, we performed an autologous iPS cell sheet transplantation of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) to demonstrate the safe use of iPS cells from 2013. The cell sheet still works. In a 2017 allogeneic transplant clinical study, we confirmed that the immune response can be controlled by topical steroids alone if HLA mismatching is avoided, which led us to the HLA partial KO iPS cell pipeline. Currently, we have expanded our target diseases to include RPE-impaired diseases and are using RPE strips in our phase 2 clinical study for easy transplantation through small holes. The greatest challenge in the reconstruction of the outer retinal layer is the replacement of photoreceptors. The transplantation of retinal iPSC organoids was performed last year in two cases of retinitis pigmentosa. Based on these experiences, we believe that we should create therapies for each category of outer retinal diseases. In addition, since replacement therapies are surgical treatments, there is a gap between the end product and the treatment that does not exist in drug development. Therefore, for ideal treatment, we must strictly select the right cases for each therapy and prepare clinical methods such as examination tests, surgical techniques, etc. Otherwise, cell therapy will become an expensive gamble. As far as cell production is concerned, all the equipment in the facility is usually validated, but the cell culture technique is not validated, so the condition of the cells varies from person to person. For this problem, we use a humanoid robot that performs the same manipulation as the silent technical staff to ensure stable cell quality at all times. There are many differences between cell therapy and small molecule drugs
Uterus Transplantation: Where are We Today?
Full text linkUterus transplantation (UTx) has in recent years been demonstrated to provide a route to having their own genetic child for women with absolute uterine factor infertility (AUFI), whose only other option to attain biological motherhood would be surrogacy. AUFI may be acquired as a result of hysterectomy for benign or malignant disease or due to iatrogenic loss of uterine function. However, AUFI can also occur congenitally as in Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome (MRKHS), also known as utero-vaginal aplasia or Müllerian agenesis. This rare female genital malformation affects about one in 4000 –5000 live female births. Genetically, women with MRKHS are females with a normal 46, XX karyotype, but phenotypically they lack a vagina (vaginal aplasia) and uterus (uterine aplasia). However, as they have functional ovaries, girls with MRKHS develop normal secondary sexual characteristics, including breast growth and body hair. The primary diagnosis of MRKHS is generally made relatively late, often only when menstruation fails to set in at the onset of puberty or, less frequently, when they are unable to have vaginal sexual intercourse. Hence, the first treatment goal in MRKHS is to enable the patient to have vaginal intercourse “like any other woman”. To this end, our team developed and optimized a minimally invasive technique that creates a neovagina with a functional epithelial lining, enabling normal sexual intercourse and orgasm ability. The procedure is fast, effective, and minimally traumatic, has a very low complication rate, and produces excellent longterm functional results, including the correct anatomical axis. The ultimate treatment goal is to give MRKHS patients the opportunity to experience pregnancy and childbirth. With the advent of UTx in recent years, transplantation provides the only alternative to surrogacy in many countries, such as Germany, where surrogacy is prohibited by law. In such countries, UTx is the only future option these women have to conceive their own biological children. Human living-donor (LD) UTx was established in Sweden after meticulous, systematic animal-based research. The first livebirth after human LD-UTx was performed in Gothenburg (Sweden) in 2014. The development of the UTx technique in Sweden was preceded by, and progressed in parallel with, basic experimental and clinical research by our multidisciplinary teams with regard to neovaginoplasty and patient evaluation for UTx eligibility. The first UTx in Germany was performed at Tübingen University Hospital in collaboration with the Gothenburg team in 2016, marking the initiation of the hitherto only clinical UTx program in Germany. Establishment of our UTx program incorporated advice from several institutions, including the Ethical Committee of the University of Tübingen, the Standing Organ Transplantation Committee of the German Medical Association, the Baden-Württemberg State Board of Physicians, the Living Donor Committee of the District Chamber of Physicians, and the Multidisciplinary Transplantation Board of Tübingen University Hospital. Our approach is to provide gynecological, surgical, fertility, UTx, and obstetric services for women with AUFI to offer them a route to biological motherhood. As of May 2022, 4 LD-UTx procedures had been performed in Germany, all of them at our hospital. Each patient has given birth to a healthy child, and the first child is now 3 years old. Tübingen University Hospital so far is the only official UTx center approved by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Social Affairs and health insurance providers. In many respects, UTx is still clinically in the experimental phase, warranting further research. Hence, data need to be collected in an international registry such as the one recently initiated by the International Society of Uterus Transplantation (ISUTx)