1,041 research outputs found
Heritability of radiation response in lung cancer families
No full textRadiation sensitivity is assumed to be a cancer susceptibility factor due to impaired DNA damage signalling and repair. Relevant genetic factors may also determine the observed familial aggregation of early onset lung cancer. We investigated the heritability of radiation sensitivity in families of 177 Caucasian cases of early onset lung cancer. In total 798 individuals were characterized for their radiation-induced DNA damage response. DNA damage analysis was performed by alkaline comet assay before and after in vitro irradiation of isolated lymphocytes. The cells were exposed to a dose of 4 Gy and allowed to repair induced DNA-damage up to 60 minutes. The primary outcome parameter Olive Tail Moment was the basis for heritability estimates. Heritability was highest for basal damage (without irradiation) 70% (95%-CI: 51%-88%) and initial damage (directly after irradiation) 65% (95%-CI: 47%-83%) and decreased to 20%-48% for the residual damage after different repair times. Hence our study supports the hypothesis that genomic instability represented by the basal DNA damage as well as radiation induced and repaired damage is highly heritable. Genes influencing genome instability and DNA repair are therefore of major interest for the etiology of lung cancer in the young. The comet assay represents a proper tool to investigate heritability of the radiation sensitive phenotype. Our results are in good agreement with other mutagen sensitivity assays
Inconsistent marginal association of INSIG2 with body mass index may be explained by gene-time and gene-gene interactions
No full textControversial association results for INSIG2 on body mass index may be explained by interactions with age and with MC4R
No full textAmong the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously reported to be associated with body Mass index (BMI) and obesity, we focus on a common risk variant rs7566605 upstream of the insulin-induced gene 2 (INSIG2) gene and a rare protective variant rs2229616 on the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) gene. INSIG2 is involved in adipogenesis and MC4R effects hormonal appetite control in response to the amount of adipose tissue. The influence of rs2229616 (MC4R) on BMI and obesity has been confirmed repeatedly and insight into the underlying mechanism provided. However, a main effect of rs7566605 (INSIG2) is under debate because of inconsistent replications of association. Interaction of rs7566605 with age may offer an explanation. SNP-age and SNP-SNP interaction models were tested on independent individuals from three population-based longitudinal cohorts, restricting the analysis to an observed age of 25-74 years. KORA S3/F3, KORA S4/F4 (Augsburg, Germany, 1994-2005, 1999-2008), and Framingham-Offspring data (Framingham, USA, 1971-2001) were analysed, with a total sample size of N=6926 in the joint analysis. The effect of interaction between rs7566605 and age on BMI and obesity status is significant and consistent across studies. This new evidence for rs7566605 (INSIG2) complements previous research. In addition, the interaction effect of rs7566605 with the MC4R variant rs2229616 on BMI was observed. This effect size was three times larger than that in a previously reported single-locus main effect of rs2229616. This leads to the conclusion that SNP-age or SNP-SNP interactions can mask genetic effects for complex diseases if left unaccounted for
Umwelt und Gesundheit
No full textFehr R, Hornberg C, Wichmann H-E. Umwelt und Gesundheit. In: Hurrelmann K, Razum O, eds. Handbuch Gesundheitswissenschaften. Vol 5. Weinheim: Beltz; 2012: 573-608
Erich Leyens Collection 1918-1981
No full textThe collection contains documents of Erich Leyens, the bulk of which is correspondence. The collection includes a leaflet written by Heinrich and Erich Leyens protesting treatment of Jewish war veterans in Germany and related newspaper article; two personal letters from Walter Rathenau to Dr. Zaudy; correspondence between Zaudy and Erich Leyens about the Rathenau letters; three letters from Sigmund Freud to Leyens, containing admonishment about German Jews imposing themselves on the German people, written in response to a letter from Leyens with concerns about anti-Semitism in German youth movements; and correspondence bewteen Leyens and Albert Einstein and Leyens and Ralph H. Mottram, author of the book The Spanish Farm, concerning his idea for a meeting of World War I veterans from both sides of the conflict.digitizedBorn in Wesel in 1898. Died on October 1, 2001, in Konstanz at the age of 103. Erich Leyens was the owner of a department store in Wesel (Rhineland). In 1935 he emigrated from Germany to Italy
Umwelt und Gesundheit
No full textFehr R, Kobusch A-B, Wichmann H-E. Umwelt und Gesundheit. In: Hurrelmann K, ed. Gesundheitswissenschaften: Handbuch für Lehre, Forschung und Praxis. Weinheim [u.a.]: Beltz; 1993: 295-314
Bemerkungen zu kommunikationstheoretischen Elementen in der analytischen Sozialpsychologie Erich Fromms
No full textDie Rekonstruktion des Argumentationsganges sollte deutlich machen, dass die
Konzeptualisierung der Frommschen analytischen Sozialpsychologie bis zur
Schrift Die Furcht vor der Freiheit (E. Fromm, 1941a) einer einheitlichen Konstruktionslogik folgt. Kennzeichen der analytischen Sozialpsychologie ist eine funktionalistische Argumentation zur Bestimmung des Verhältnisses von Historischem Materialismus und Psychoanalyse, die in den Funktionsbegriffen der Familie, der libidinösen Struktur der Gesellschaft, d.h. des Gesellschafts-
Charakters, greifbar wird und die in Psychoanalyse und Ethik (E. Fromm, 1947a)
und in Wege aus einer kranken Gesellschaft (E. Fromm. 1955a) im Rahmen einer
anthropologisch-ethisch fundierten Charakterologie weiter ausdifferenziert
wird. Durch Verschiebungen des unterstellten Erklärungsfaktors innerhalb der
funktionalistischen Argumentation, die frühere Unschärfen beseitigen sollte, werden allerdings Bestimmungsmomente sichtbar, die den funktionalistischen Theorierahmen inhaltlich aufsprengen und die kommunikationstheoretisch rekonstruiert werden können. Besonders Fromms Ausführungen zum Bedürfnis der
?Bezogenheit auf andere? bietet die Möglichkeit, kommunikativ strukturierte Interaktionen sowohl in der primären Sozialisationsinstanz der Familie als konkretes Umschlagsfeld gesellschaftlicher und individueller Dispositionen zu dechiffrieren, als auch deren enge Verzahnung mit den sekundären Sozialisationsbedingungen deutlich zu machen. Durch die veränderte Blickrichtung könnten Fromms Ausführungen theoriestrategisch Anknüpfungspunkte für eine Sozialisationstheorie bieten, ?die Freud mit Mead verbindet, die Strukturen der Intersubjektivität zu ihrem Recht bringt und Hypothesen über Triebschicksale durch Annahmen über Interaktionsgeschichte und Identitätsbildung ersetzt? (J. Habermas, 1981, Bd. II, S. 571). Für
den Bereich therapeutischer Praxis könnten kommunikationstheoretische Anregungen H. S. Sullivans den Zugang zu kommunikationstheoretisch verfassten Konzepten systemischer Familientherapie eröffnen (vgl. H. Stierlin, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1989; L. Reiter u. a., 1988; L. Boscolo u.a, 1988).These interpretations represent a systematic attempt to develop (from the viewpoint
of intellectual history) an approach useful in reconstructing elements relevant
to communication theory that are present in the analytic social psychology of
Erich Fromm.
By way of a problem-orientated appraisal of basic conceptual categories, the
author attempts, in somewhat more heuristic fashion, systematically to draw links
between Fromm?s theory and the debate currently being transacted within communication
theory over the viability of a critical social theory characterized by the
shift - incidentally wrought by Habermas - from a philosophy of consciousness
paradigm to a communication theory paradigm (cf. J. Habermas, Theorie des
kommunikativen Handelns, Vols. I and II, Frankfurt am Main 1981).
The interest this interpretive approach has for scholarship lies in the implicit
assumption made that the functionalistically premised constructional logic of the Frommian conception of an analytic social psychology owes its origin to the epistemological status of psychoanalysis within the framework of the interdisciplinary materialism of the Institut für Sozialforschung. Indeed it provokes the question as to what form a theoretically immanent approach might take which, from the perspective of communication theory, could lead beyond functionalistic argumentation.unknownunknow
Innenraumluftqualität in Verkehrsflugzeugen
No full textDie systematische Untersuchung der Innenraumluft von Verkehrsflugzeugen auf chemische Stoffe
und andere Luftqualitätsparameter wurde seit Beginn der 1990er Jahre international und seit 2009
in Deutschland intensiviert (Crump et al. 2011a
und 2011b, Dechow et al. 1997, DeNola et al.
2008 und 2011, Guan et al. 2014a und 2014b, de
Ree et al. 2014, Rosenberger 2012, Rosenberger
et al. 2013, 2014 und 2016, Schuchardt et al.
2017, Solbu et al. 2011, Spengler et al. 2012, van
Netten 2009). Die Gründe hierfür sind vielschichtig, wesentlich ist jedoch die Besorgnis insbesondere des fliegenden Personals über gesundheitsgefährdende Kabinenluft. Es wird angenommen,
dass Emissionen von Schmierstoffbestandteilen
aus dem Bereich der Antriebswellen in den Turbinen über das Belüftungssystem der Flugzeuge in
die Kabine ursächlich für verschiedene Erkrankungen seien. Dabei stehen Additive der Turbinen-
Öle, vornehmlich Trikresylphosphate (TKP, engl.
TCP) sowie Hydraulikflüssigkeiten, die in der Regel ebenfalls phosphororganische Verbindungen
(OPC engl. für organo phosphourus compounds)
enthalten, im Vordergrund. Diskutiert werden
aber auch Emissionen weiterer Stoffgruppen
(flüchtige organische Verbindungen (VOC), Aldehyde oder organische Säuren) in die Kabine. Sehr
häufig werden vermutete Einträge von Chemikalien mit Gerüchen assoziiert, woraufhin der Terminus „Smell Event“ geprägt wurde. Die Beobachtung von Rauch- oder Nebelbildung in der Kabine
führte zum Begriff „Fume Event“. Für beide Begriffe liegen keine wissenschaftlichen begründeten
Definitionen vor, so dass derzeit im Wesentlichen
subjektive Eindrücke zu Geruchsepisoden meist
unbekannter Genese als Handlungsgrundlage,
z.B. für Abbrüche von Flügen, herangezogen werden. Für die Zusammenfassung der vielfältigen
meist unspezifischen Gesundheitsbeeinträchtigungen wurde 2002 der Begriff des sogenannten „Aerotoxischen Syndroms“ eingeführt und bis heute
diskutiert (vgl. auch Abschn. 3) (Winder u. Balouet 2002, Chaturvedi 2011, Harrison et al. 2016,
de Boer et al. 2015, Schwarzer et al. 2014, Michaelis 2011). Das „Aerotoxische Syndrom“ ist medizinisch-wissenschaftlich nicht akzeptiert und stellt
dementsprechend kein Krankheitsbild (Entität)
dar.
In diesem Beitrag werden die besonderen Bedingungen in Flugzeugkabinen beschrieben, mögliche
chemische Stoffeinträge und deren Quellen aufgeführt, die hiermit verknüpften medizinischen Beschwerdebilder diskutiert, Methoden und Ergebnisse von Messungen in Flugzeugen zusammengefasst, um abschließend ein aktuelles bewertendes
Gesamtbild zu beschreiben. Der vorliegende Beitrag fokussiert auf Verkehrsflugzeuge im herkömmlichen Sinne, wobei Untersuchungen von
strahlgetriebenen Flugzeugen die wesentliche Basis
zur Datenlage chemischer Innenraumluftverunreinigungen darstellen
Temporal Changes in Total Serum Immunoglobulin E Levels in East German Children and the Effect of Potential Predictors
No full textBackground: Elevated total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels are a prominent feature of allergic and parasitic diseases. An epidemiologic study was conducted in East German children to describe trends in the development of total serum IgE levels and analyze the impact of potential determinants. Methods: The study consisted of three cross-sectional surveys in 1992-1993, 1995-1996 and 1998-1999 and was conducted in three areas of the former German Democratic Republic. In total, 8,051 questionnaires were completed by the parents of children aged 5-14 years, supplying information on allergic symptoms and potential risk factors. A total of 5,918 measurements of total serum IgE and specific IgE to 5 common aeroallergens were available from 4,353 schoolchildren. Generalized estimating equations were applied to data from all children and stratified for atopic and nonatopic children to identify trends and estimate the effect of potential determinants on total IgE. Results: Total serum IgE levels decreased significantly with a linear trend in East German schoolchildren between 1992 and 1999, the effect being stronger in nonatopic children. The following factors were associated with lower total serum IgE levels: female gender, living in a household with fewer than 4 people, no history of helminth infestation, younger age group (5-7 years), no parental allergy and high socioeconomic status. No association was seen for `smoking at home' and close contact to pets. Conclusion: Total serum IgE declined parallel to helminth infestation; however, the latter explained the decrease only in part. Furthermore, total IgE developed in an opposite direction to specific IgE, indicating that it has determinants other than allergic sensitization. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base
Validation of a fully automated COMET assay: 1.75 million single cells measured over a 5 year period.
No full textThe COMET assay is recognized as a rapid and sensitive method in quantifying radiation induced DNA damage. We investigated the distorting influence of endogenous, assay-inherent factors onto base (single cell level) and primary outcome measures (experimental/slide level), such as olive tail moment (OTM) and percentage DNA in the tail (%tail-DNA). From 2003 to 2008, we performed the assay on lymphocytes isolated from the blood samples of 355 lung cancer patients, 170 controls, and 610 relatives, as well as one single reference individual, repeated 170 times. In total, the data from 10,016 single experiments containing around 1,750,000 cells have been included in this study. This is the first time that the endogenous variability of the COMET assay has been validated systematically on such a huge data set over a 5 year period. Assuming that the reference sample reflects assay specific white noise, we estimated a proportion of 7-95% of the variability of the outcome measures due to assay variation (white noise) depending on parameter, exposure level, and study group. The proportion of white noise was largest for the initial radiation damage. The specific endogenous factors considered attribute to 14.8% of the total variability in the primary outcome measurements of the OTM and 6.9% of the %tail-DNA. OTM turns out to be a sensitive parameter to detect variation, but is also more susceptible to disturbance caused by endogenous factors than %tail-DNA. To reduce the experimental variability in COMET assays, we recommend a highly standardized operation protocol as well as inspecting and/or adjusting the primary outcome measures according to endogenous factors before calculating secondary outcome measures, e.g. DNA repair capacity (DRC) or testing statistical inference. A human reference (HR) sample is also useful to inspect homogeneity in the temporal progression of long lasting investigations, but not for calibrating primary outcome measurements
- …
