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Background
Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most important causes of work disability. Various rehabilitation services and return-to-work programs have been developed in order to reduce sickness absence and increase sustainable return-to-work. As the effects of conventional medical rehabilitation programs on sickness absence duration were shown to be slight, work-related medical rehabilitation programs have been developed and tested. While such studies proved the efficacy of work-related medical rehabilitation compared with conventional medical rehabilitation in well-conducted randomized controlled trials, its effectiveness under real-life conditions has yet to be proved.
Methods/Design
The cohort study will be performed under real-life conditions with two parallel groups. Participants will receive either a conventional or a work-related medical rehabilitation program. Propensity score matching will be used to identify controls that are comparable to treated work-related medical rehabilitation patients. Over a period of three months, about 18,000 insured patients with permission to undergo a musculoskeletal rehabilitation program will be contacted. Of these, 15,000 will receive a conventional and 3,000 a work-related medical rehabilitation. We expect a participation rate of 40 % at baseline. Patients will be aged 18 to 65 years and have chronic musculoskeletal disorders, usually back pain. The control group will receive a conventional medical rehabilitation program without any explicit focus on work, work ability and return to work in diagnostics and therapy. The intervention group will receive a work-related medical rehabilitation program that in addition to common rehabilitation treatments contains 11 to 25 h of work-related treatment modules. Follow-up data will be assessed three and ten months after patients’ discharge from the rehabilitation center. Additionally, department characteristics will be assessed and administrative data records used. The primary outcomes are sick leave duration, stable return to work and subjective work ability. Secondary outcomes cover several dimensions of health, functioning and coping strategies.
Discussion
This study will determine the relative effectiveness of a complex, newly implemented work-related rehabilitation strategy for patients with musculoskeletal disorders.
The internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) is a widely used phylogenetic marker. In the past, it has mainly been used for species level classifications. Nowadays, a wider applicability becomes apparent. Here, the conserved structure of the RNA molecule plays a vital role. We have developed the ITS2 Database (http://its2.bioapps .biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de) which holds information about sequence, structure and taxonomic classification of all ITS2 in GenBank. In the new version, we use Hidden Markov models (HMMs) for the identification and delineation of the ITS2 resulting in a major redesign of the annotation pipeline. This allowed the identification of more than 160 000 correct full ength and more than 50 000 partial structures. In the web interface, these can now be searched with a modified BLAST considering both sequence and structure, enabling rapid taxon sampling. Novel sequences can be annotated using the HMM based approach and modelled according to multiple template structures. Sequences can be searched for known and newly identified motifs. Together, the database and the web server build an exhaustive resource for ITS2 based phylogenetic analyses.
Ischemic stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Only one moderately effective therapy exists, albeit with contraindications that exclude 90% of the patients. This medical need contrasts with a high failure rate of more than 1,000 pre-clinical drug candidates for stroke therapies. Thus, there is a need for translatable mechanisms of neuroprotection and more rigid thresholds of relevance in pre-clinical stroke models. One such candidate mechanism is oxidative stress. However, antioxidant approaches have failed in clinical trials, and the significant sources of oxidative stress in stroke are unknown. We here identify NADPH oxidase type 4 (NOX4) as a major source of oxidative stress and an effective therapeutic target in acute stroke. Upon ischemia, NOX4 was induced in human and mouse brain. Mice deficient in NOX4 (Nox42/2) of either sex, but not those deficient for NOX1 or NOX2, were largely protected from oxidative stress, blood-brain-barrier leakage, and neuronal apoptosis, after both transient and permanent cerebral ischemia. This effect was independent of age, as elderly mice were equally protected. Restoration of oxidative stress reversed the stroke-protective phenotype in Nox42/2 mice. Application of the only validated low-molecular-weight pharmacological NADPH oxidase inhibitor, VAS2870, several hours after ischemia was as protective as deleting NOX4. The extent of neuroprotection was exceptional, resulting in significantly improved long-term neurological functions and reduced mortality. NOX4 therefore represents a major source of oxidative stress and novel class of drug target for stroke therapy.
Es gibt heutzutage eine Vielzahl verschiedener Nahtmaterialien. Der chirurgisch tätige Arzt steht stets vor der Wahl, welches Nahtmaterial er zu welchem Zweck verwenden soll, um optimale Resultate zu erzielen. Ein großes Einsatzgebiet der modernen Chirurgie nehmen resorbierbare Nahtmaterialien ein. Diese sollen nach dem Wundverschluss das Gewebe während der Heilungsphase zusammenhalten und nachfolgend ihre Zugfestigkeit durch Hydrolyse verlieren. Die Anwendung von modernen synthetischen resorbierbaren Nahtmaterialien bei der Erstellung von gastrointestinalen Anastomosen zeigte insbesondere im colorectalen Bereich immer wieder ein Nichtverheilen der durch die Nähte adaptierten Darmenden mit dadurch bedingter Leckage. Die vorliegende Arbeit sollte nun in einem mikrobiologischen in vitro Teil klären, ob Mikroorganismen oder andere Faktoren einen Einfluss auf das Abbauverhalten von resorbierbaren Nahtmaterialien haben. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass das Umgebungsmilieu der Wunde bzw. des Nahtmaterials eine Schlüsselrolle beim Abbauverhalten resorbierbarer Nahtmaterialien einnimmt. Vermögen niedrige ph-Werte des Milieus den Abbau der Nahtmaterialien zu verzögern, so beschleunigen hohe ph-Werte den Abbau. Bakterienkulturen wie Escherichia coli oder Proteus mirabilis, welche ihr Umgebungsmilieu rasch zu alkalisieren vermögen, führen zu einem vorzeitigen Zugfestigkeitsverlust der Nahtmaterialien. Bakterienkulturen wie Enterokokkus faecium und faecalis, welche ihr Umgebungsmilieu ansäuern, verzögern tendenziell den Abbau resorbierbarer Nahtmaterialien im Vergleich zur Reininkubation bei ph 7,4. In welchem Ausmaß Mikroorganismen direkten Einfluss –z.B. durch spezielle Enzyme- auf den Abbau von Nahtmaterialien ausüben, sollte Gegenstand weiterer Untersuchungen sein. In vivo Untersuchungen am Rattencolon konnten zeigen, dass durch eine selektive Darmdekontamination mittels Tobramycin, Polymyxin, Vancomycin und Metronidazol die colorectale Mikroflora verändert und deren Keimzahl messbar reduziert werden kann. Dadurch konnte die Resorptionszeit der resorbierbaren Nahtmaterialien verlängert werden, was sich unmittelbar an den Ergebnissen der Zugfestigkeitsmessung der implantierten Nahtmaterialien belegen ließ. Die Zugfestigkeiten der Gruppen mit SDD waren an jedem Tag und bei jedem Nahtmaterial höher als bei der Kontrollgruppe ohne SDD. Dieser Unterschied war in nahezu der Hälfte der Fälle hoch signifikant. Zudem konnte gezeigt werden, dass eine SDD eine Verbesserung der Anastomosenheilung und eine Erhöhung der mechanischen Stabilität im Anastomosenbereich bewirkt. Dies ließ sich durch folgende Ergebnisse belegen. Bei der Berstungsdruckmessung stellte sich heraus, dass die mittlere Wandspannung der Dekontaminationsgruppe (SDD) an jedem einzelnen Tag höher war als die der unbehandelten Tiere; am Tag 7 war sie sogar signifikant höher (4.2.2.). Durch eine SDD kommt es also zu einer Reduzierung der Entzündungsreaktion im Anastomosensegment. Diese Reduzierung der Entzündungsreaktion bedingt wahrscheinlich die histologisch beobachtete geringere Ödembildung des Gewebes in der exsudativen Phase der Wundheilung, welche der Anastomose bereits an den ersten Tagen der Wundheilung mehr Festigkeit verleiht. Es kommt seltener zum typischen Ausreißen des Nahtmaterials. Auch die proliferative Phase der Wundheilung mit ihrer typischen Kollagenbildung und -integration profitiert von einer SDD. Dies zeigte die höhere Zugfestigkeit und Belastbarkeit der Anastomosen mit SDD der Tage 7 und 14. (...) Ob die Anwendung einer SDD auch am Menschen sinnvoll und von Nutzen ist, dürfte aufgrund der Nebenwirkungen der verschiedenen Antibiotika und der beobachteten Resistenzbildung vor allem von Proteus mirabilis fraglich sein. Der operativ tätige Arzt sollte sich aber der Problematik der resorbierbaren Nahtmaterialien unter der Anwesenheit von Mikroorganismen gerade im colorektalen Bereich bewusst sein. Er sollte ein Nahtmaterial wählen, welches während der Heilungsphase des Gewebes eine ausreichende Festigkeit behält und nicht vorzeitig resorbiert wird.
The cornea is the most-transplanted tissue worldwide. However, the availability and quality of grafts are limited due to the current methods of corneal storage. In this study, a dynamic bioreactor system is employed to enable the control of intraocular pressure and the culture at the air-liquid interface. Thereby, in vivo-like storage conditions are achieved. Different media combinations for endothelium and epithelium are tested in standard and dynamic conditions to enhance the viability of the tissue. In contrast to culture conditions used in eye banks, the combination of the bioreactor and biochrom medium 1 allows to preserve the corneal endothelium and the epithelium. Assessment of transparency, swelling, and the trans-epithelial-electrical-resistance (TEER) strengthens the impact of the in vivo-like tissue culture. For example, compared to corneas stored under static conditions, significantly lower optical densities and significantly higher TEER values were measured (p-value <0.05). Furthermore, healing of epithelial defects is enabled in the bioreactor, characterized by re-epithelialization and initiated stromal regeneration. Based on the obtained results, an easy-to-use 3D-printed bioreactor composed of only two parts was derived to translate the technology from the laboratory to the eye banks. This optimized bioreactor facilitates noninvasive microscopic monitoring. The improved storage conditions ameliorate the quality of corneal grafts and the storage time in the eye banks to increase availability and reduce re-grafting.
Endogenous Testosterone and Exogenous Oxytocin Modulate Attentional Processing of Infant Faces
(2016)
Evidence indicates that hormones modulate the intensity of maternal care. Oxytocin is known for its positive influence on maternal behavior and its important role for childbirth. In contrast, testosterone promotes egocentric choices and reduces empathy. Further, testosterone decreases during parenthood which could be an adaptation to increased parental investment. The present study investigated the interaction between testosterone and oxytocin in attentional control and their influence on attention to baby schema in women. Higher endogenous testosterone was expected to decrease selective attention to child portraits in a face-in-the-crowd-paradigm, while oxytocin was expected to counteract this effect. As predicted, women with higher salivary testosterone were slower in orienting attention to infant targets in the context of adult distractors. Interestingly, reaction times to infant and adult stimuli decreased after oxytocin administration, but only in women with high endogenous testosterone. These results suggest that oxytocin may counteract the adverse effects of testosterone on a central aspect of social behavior and maternal caretaking.
Objective
The biological interpretation of gene expression measurements is a challenging task. While ordination methods are routinely used to identify clusters of samples or co-expressed genes, these methods do not take sample or gene annotations into account. We aim to provide a tool that allows users of all backgrounds to assess and visualize the intrinsic correlation structure of complex annotated gene expression data and discover the covariates that jointly affect expression patterns.
Results
The Bioconductor package covRNA provides a convenient and fast interface for testing and visualizing complex relationships between sample and gene covariates mediated by gene expression data in an entirely unsupervised setting. The relationships between sample and gene covariates are tested by statistical permutation tests and visualized by ordination. The methods are inspired by the fourthcorner and RLQ analyses used in ecological research for the analysis of species abundance data, that we modified to make them suitable for the distributional characteristics of both, RNA-Seq read counts and microarray intensities, and to provide a high-performance parallelized implementation for the analysis of large-scale gene expression data on multi-core computational systems. CovRNA provides additional modules for unsupervised gene filtering and plotting functions to ensure a smooth and coherent analysis workflow.