Comment on "Ultrapotassic magmatism in the heyday of the Variscan Orogeny: the story of the Trebíc Pluton, the largest durbachitic body in the Bohemian Massif" by Janousek et al.

This comment addresses the incorrect treatment and presentation of data from laser ablation ICP-MS U-Pb age determinations of two samples of the Trebíc Pluton. This results in inaccurate ages and error assessment, invalidating the age interpretations of the authors. To corroborate our arguments, new high-precision chemical abrasion ID-TIMS data are presented that unequivocally define the emplacement age of the Trebíc pluton.

Psychometric properties of the German version of the Diabetes Eating Problem Survey-Revised: additional benefit of disease-specific screening in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes.

AIM: To examine the psychometric properties of the German version of the abbreviated 16-item Diabetes Eating Problem Survey-Revised in a sample of young people with Type 1 diabetes. METHODS: A total of 246 young people, aged 11-19 years, with Type 1 diabetes from six pediatric diabetes centres in Germany were assessed using the Diabetes Eating Problem Survey-Revised. In addition, they underwent screening with two generic tools as well as the WHO five-question well-being index. A clinician's report was also obtained. RESULTS: The Diabetes Eating Problem Survey-Revised was found to have good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.84). The Diabetes Eating Problem Survey-Revised scores significantly correlated with those provided by the non-specific screening tools (r = 0.37, P ≤ 0.000 and r = 0.50, P ≤ 0.000 for boys and r = 0.62, P ≤ 0.000 and r = 0.79, P ≤ 0.000 for girls), indicating convergent validity. The mean (sd) total of the scores was 12.0 (9.6). Criterion validity was confirmed against HbA1c value, BMI standard deviation score and expert (clinician) report. Of the boys included in the study, 11 scored higher than the threshold score on the Diabetes Eating Problem Survey-Revised, of whom only three (27%) were classified as 'suspected to have a disordered eating behaviour' by their clinicians. CONCLUSIONS: The Diabetes Eating Problem Survey-Revised delivered more specific information than generic screening instruments and identified more young people with eating disorders than did clinician report, especially regarding the detection of boys at risk. The results of this study support the utility of the German version of the Diabetes Eating Problem Survey-Revised to identify eating disorders in young people with Type 1 diabetes at an early stage. (German Clinical Trials Registry no.: DRKS00004699).

A genome-wide association study indicates LCORL/NCAPG as a candidate locus for withers height in German Warmblood horses.

A genome-wide association scan for loci affecting withers height was conducted in 782 German Warmblood stallions, which were genotyped using the Illumina EquineSNP50 Bead Chip. A principal components approach was applied to correct for population structure. The analysis revealed a single major QTL on ECA3 explaining ~18 per cent of the phenotypic variance, which is in concordance with recent reports from other horse populations. The LCORL/NCAPG locus represents a strong candidate gene for this QTL. This locus is among a small number that have consistently been identified to influence human height in several large meta-analyses. Furthermore, a mutation within the NCAPG gene was found to affect growth and body frame size in cattle. Together with the results of this study in German Warmbloods, these findings strongly indicate LCORL/NCAPG as a candidate locus for withers height in horses. Further studies are, however, needed to confirm this.

Revisiting the quantitative trait loci for milk production traits on BTA6.

A parallel association study was performed in two independent cattle populations based on 41 validated, targeted single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and four microsatellite markers to re-evaluate the multiple quantitative trait loci (QTL) architecture for milk performance on bovine chromosome 6 (BTA6). Two distinct QTL located in the vicinity of the middle region of BTA6, but differing unambiguously regarding their effects on milk composition and yield traits were validated in the German Holstein population. A highly significant association of the protein variant ABCG2 p.Tyr581Ser with milk composition traits reconfirmed the causative molecular relevance of the ABCG2 gene in QTL region 1, whereas in QTL region 2, significant and tentative associations between gene variants RW070 and RW023 (located in the promoter region and exon 9 of the PPARGC1A gene for milk yield traits) were detected. For the German Fleckvieh population, only RW023 showed a tentative association with milk yield traits, whereas those loci with significant effects in German Holsteins (ABCG2 p.Tyr581Ser, RW070) showed fixed alleles. Even though our new data highlight two variants in the PPARGC1A gene (RW023, RW070) in QTL region 2, based on the results of our study, currently no unequivocal conclusion about the causal background of this QTL affecting milk yield traits can be drawn. Notably, the German Holstein and Fleckvieh populations, known for their divergent degree of dairy type, differ substantially in their allele frequencies for the growth-associated NCAPG p.Ile442Met locus.

[Diabetes in childhood: everyday burden and professional consequences for parents]. / Diabetesmanifestation im Kindesalter: Alltagsbelastungen und berufliche Entwicklung der Eltern.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To investigate the burden and the financial and professional consequences for mothers and fathers after the onset of diabetes in their child in relationship to age at onset and family structure. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All families of children with an age at onset < 14 years and a diabetes duration < 10 years treated at four large pediatric diabetes centers received a structured questionnaire (burden of diabetes, professional position and career development, financial consequences for both parents, demographic data). RESULTS: 580 families with 583 children with type 1 diabetes (46 % girls, diabetes duration 5.0 +/- 3.2 years, age at onset 6.9 +/- 3.9 years) participated. 42 % of the children had an age at onset below 6 years. 11 % had single parents. Before the onset of diabetes in their children 93 % of the fathers worked full-time, thereafter 4 % changed their employment. Mothers worked at onset full-time in 22 % and part-time in 38 %; thereafter 31 % reduced their working time or stopped working. 33 % of the mothers reported handicaps in their professional career development, especially those with a child with age at onset below 6 years (44 %). Negative financial consequences were present in 44 % of the families. The day to day burden on a scale from 1 to 5 decreased both in mothers and in fathers with increasing age at onset. The individual burden was higher in mothers (3.6 +/-1.1) than in fathers (2.8 +/- 1.1) (p = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS: Initiatives to reduce the burden on families with a child with diabetes are urgently needed. Particularly the social and professional integration of mothers with younger children at diabetes onset need to be improved through support measures outside the family.

Use of water jet resection in organ-sparing kidney surgery.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The morbidity of organ-sparing renal surgery is related to intraoperative hemorrhaging and secondarily to urinary fistulae and urinoma. Various tools have been developed for gentle transection and precise control of bleeding. Water jet technology is already established in clinical practice for surgery of the liver and other parenchymatous organs. We report our clinical experience with a new water jet resection device in kidney surgery and the histologic effects of water jet resection on kidney tissue. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A series of 24 patients underwent open surgery for renal-cell carcinoma, nephrolithiasis, complicated cysts, or oncocytoma. In tumor patients, a partial nephrectomy; in two stone patients, a nephrolithotomy; and in the third stone patient, a lower-pole resection were performed. The cysts and the oncocytoma were enucleated in toto. In one patient, an endoscopic pyeloplasty was performed because of ureteropelvic stenosis. Tissue samples were investigated histologically using standard light microscopy after hematoxylin-eosin staining and compared with those subjected to thermal dissection techniques. RESULTS: The water jet produced a corridor in the desired dissection line without interfering with the intrarenal vessels and pelvicalical system. This way, precise hemostasis was possible, and damages to the surrounding tissue was avoided. Resection took between 14 and 40 minutes with minimal intraoperative blood loss. No significant postoperative complications occurred. Histologic evaluation demonstrated a sharp dissection line without thermal alterations or deep necrosis. Only a small disruption zone could be seen at the margins of the dissection. CONCLUSIONS: Water jet resection is a gentle method for dissection of kidney tissue. Histologic examination confirmed minimal traumatic parenchymal alteration. In our opinion, the water jet dissector is a useful device for renal transection in organ-sparing kidney surgery.