Zur Anatomie und Entwicklungsgeschichte der Bromeliaceenwurzeln

Ohne ZusammenfassungMit 15 Textabbildungen.D28.     

Blood Pressure Levels in Male Carriers of Arg82Cys in CD300LG

The genetics of hypertension has been scrutinized in large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with a large number of common genetic variants identified, each exerting subtle effects on disease susceptibility. An amino acid polymorphism, p.Arg82Cys, in CD300LG was recently found to be associated with fasting HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The polymorphism has not been detected in hypertension GWAS potentially due to its low frequency, but CD300LG has been linked to blood pressure as CD300LG knockout mice have changes in blood pressure. Twenty-four-hour ambulatory blood pressure was obtained in human CD300LG CT-carriers to follow up on these observations.

Methods

Twenty healthy male CD300LG rs72836561 CT-carriers matched for age and BMI with 20 healthy male CC-carriers. Office blood pressure, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure, carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), and fasting blood samples were evaluated. The clinical study was combined with a genetic-epidemiological study to replicate the association between blood pressure and CD300LG Arg82Cys in 2,637 men and 3,249 women.

Results

CT-carriers had a higher 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure (122 mmHg versus 115; p = 0.01) and diastolic blood pressure (77 mmHg versus 72; p<0.01) compared with CC-carriers. There were no differences in CIMT between the two groups. Metalloproteinase-9 level was higher in CT-carriers than in CC-carriers (P<0.01). However, no association between office blood pressure and CD300LG genotype was detected in the genetic-epidemiological study.

Conclusions

Although 24-hour blood pressure, measured with a sensitive method, in a small sample of CD300LG rs72836561 CT-carriers was higher than in CC-carriers, this did not translate into significant differences in office blood pressure in a larger cohort. This discrepancy which may reflect differences in methodological approach, underlines the importance of performing replication studies in a larger clinical context, but a formal rejection of a relation between blood pressure and CD300LG requires measurement of 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure in a larger cohort.     

Robotic assisted surgery in gynecology: current insights and future perspectives

To focus on the recent adoption, patents, experience, and future of Robotic assisted surgery (RAS) applications in gynecologic surgery, a computer aided and manual search for clinical and systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, prospective observational studies, retrospective studies and case reports published between 1970 and January of 2011 has been performed. The use of RAS in gynecologic patients includes hysterectomy, myomectomy, tubal reanastomoses, radical hysterectomy, lymph node dissection, and sacrocolpopexies. Although individual studies vary, gynecological RAS is often associated with longer operating room time but similar clinical outcomes, decreased blood loss, and shorter hospital stay. RAS procedures on women have, however, their own limitations: the patented equipment is very large, bulky, and expensive, the staff must be trained specifically on draping and docking the instruments, the lack of surgical haptic feedback, a limited vaginal access, a limited specific instrumentation, and the need for larger port incisions requiring fascial closure. The RAS significantly facilitates gynecologic surgery, even if well-designed, prospective studies are needed to fully assess the value of this equipments in particular studies with well-defined clinical and long-term outcomes, including complications, cost, pain, return to normal activity, and quality of life. The future of robotic surgery in gynecology may be bright, but currently, caution is advisable and clinically meaningful long-term outcomes are needed. These recent patents, however, has exciting potential for future applications, especially in long-distance telesurgery and might change the paradigm of gynecologic surgery in the future.     

Alcohol Intake in Pregnancy Increases the Child's Risk of Atopic Dermatitis. The COPSAC Prospective Birth Cohort Study of a High Risk Population

Background

Atopic dermatitis has increased four-fold over the recent decades in developed countries, indicating that changes in environmental factors associated with lifestyle may play an important role in this epidemic. It has been proposed that alcohol consumption may be one contributing risk factor in this development.

Objective

To analyze the impact of alcohol intake during pregnancy on the development of atopic dermatitis during the first 7 years of life.

Method

The COPSAC cohort is a prospective, longitudinal, birth cohort study of 411 children born to mothers with a history of asthma, followed up for 7 years with scheduled visits every 6 months as well as visits for acute exacerbations of atopic dermatitis. Risk of atopic dermatitis from any alcohol consumption during pregnancy was analyzed as time-to-diagnosis and adjusted for known risk factors.

Results

177 of 411 children developed atopic dermatitis before age 7 years. We found a significant effect of alcohol intake during pregnancy on atopic dermatitis development (HR 1.44, 95% CI 1.05–1.99 p = 0.024). This conclusion was unaffected after adjustment for smoking, mother''s education and mother''s atopic dermatitis.

Limitations

The selection of a high-risk cohort, with all mothers suffering from asthma, and all children having a gestational age above 35 weeks with no congenital abnormality, systemic illness, or history of mechanical ventilation or lower airway infection.

Conclusion

Alcohol intake by pregnant women with a history of asthma, is significantly associated with an increased risk for the child for developing atopic dermatitis during the first 7 years of life.     

Anthropogenic Carbon Stock Dynamics of Pulp and Paper Products in Germany

Carbon‐based materials (CBMs) for energetic and material purposes combine biogenic and anthropogenic carbon cycles. In the latter, numerous manufactured products with various in‐use lifespans accumulate as anthropogenic carbon stocks. Understanding the behavior of these stocks is an important requirement to estimate not only future waste amounts, source for secondary raw materials, but also the impacts and effects in carbon emissions and carbon management. Previous models have estimated material stock changes; however, a lack of research in carbon stocks is perceived. Moreover, studies follow in‐use lifespan estimation approaches, such as decay functions, which do not coincide with observed consumption and waste treatment patterns. In the first part of this article, we present a carbon stock‐flow model to analyze inter‐relationships between carbon flows and stocks from raw materials to waste treatment processes considering a consumer perspective, where the dynamics of anthropogenic carbon stocks are completely described. In the second part, we study the pulp and paper industry in Germany under a scenario approach to analyze the behavior, development, and impacts of paper stocks and flows between 2010 and 2040. The model provided coherent results, with industrial data estimating 33.9 million metric tons in 2010 in paper stocks, equivalent to 410 kilograms per person. Consumption per capita and in‐use lifespan of products were identified as the most significant variables in carbon stock building. Model simulations show a sustained growth in stocks for the next 30 years, with increase in waste and carbon emissions. But in combination with recycling and reuse mechanisms and consumption patterns, environmental impacts are reduced.