[Vaccinovigilance: Reports of adverse reactions in the year 2017]. / Vaccinovigilance: Gemeldete ­unerwünschte Wirkungen im Jahr 2017.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the Vaccinovigilance system is the identification of adverse reactions and rare events after the use of immunological veterinary medicinal products. In the year 2017, 128 reports of adverse reactions following the application of various authorized vaccines were received and evaluated. The notifications were submitted primarily by marketing authorization holders (96) or veterinarians (27) and private persons (5). As in previous years, dogs were involved in most of the adverse effects (55%), followed by cattle (18%) and swine (10%). Unlike the previous years, significantly fewer reports were submitted on cats (8%). The correlation between reaction and vaccination was considered probable in 43% of the - cases.

INTRODUCTION: L'objectif du système d'annonces de vaccinovigilance est d'identifier les effets indésirables pouvant survenir à la suite de l'utilisation de médicaments vétérinaires immunologiques. En 2017, 128 notifications concernant des médicaments vétérinaires immunologiques approuvées commercialement ont été soumises. Elles ont été envoyés soit par les sociétés d'enregistrement (96), les vétérinaires praticiens (27) ou des particuliers (5). Comme les années précédentes, les effets indésirables concernent principalement les chiens (55%), suivis des bovins (18%) et des porcs (10%). Contrairement aux années précédentes, il y a beaucoup moins de rapports sur les chats (8%). Dans 43% des cas, la relation entre la réaction et le vaccin a été jugée probable.

[Vaccinovigilance: Reports of adverse reactions in the year 2016]. / Vaccinovigilance: Gemeldete unerwünschte Wirkungen im Jahr 2016.

INTRODUCTION: In the year 2016, 107 reports of adverse reactions following the application of various authorized vaccines were received and evaluated by the IVI (Institute of Virology and Immunology). The notifications were submitted primarily by marketing authorization holders (81) or veterinarians and private persons (26). The aim of the Vigilance System is the identification of rare events to assess the individual risks of the vaccine application. During the last year, the correlation between reaction and vaccination was considered probable in 34% of the cases. As in previous years, companion animals were involved in most of the adverse effects (48% dogs, 21% cats), followed by cattle (13%). In dogs, approximately half of the reports concern the combination vaccines against distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus, parainfluenza and leptospirosis. The reported symptoms, such as itching, facial edema, acute vomiting and diarrhea, usually indicated forms of hypersensitivity. In cats, apathy was most frequently observed regardless of the vaccination.

INTRODUCTION: En 2016, 107 annonces de réactions après l'utilisation de médicaments immunologiques enregistrés ont été faites et analysées à l'IVI (Institut de Virologie et d'Immunologie). Ces annonces ont été faites primairement par les firmes distribuant ces produits (81) ou par les vétérinaires praticiens et des personnes privées (26). Le but du système d'annonce est d'identifier les événements exceptionnels afin d'estimer les risques individuels de l'utilisation de vaccins. L'année dernière, 34% des cas annoncés ont été considérés comme vraisemblablement en rapport avec la vaccination. Comme les années précédentes, les effets indésirables concernaient principalement les petits animaux (chiens 48%, chats 21%) suivis par les bovins (13%). Chez le chien, il s'agissait pour environ une moitié d'annonces en relation avec des vaccins combinés contre la maladie de Carré, l'hépatite, la parvovirose, la parainfluenza et la leptospirose. Les symptômes annoncés comme des démangeaisons, un oedème de la face, des vomissements aigus ou de la diarrhée indiquaient la plupart du temps des formes d'hypersensibilité. Chez les chats, indépendamment du vaccin appliqué, c'est l'apathie qui était le plus souvent rapportée.

[Vaccinovigilance in Switzerland: Reported adverse reactions during the last 13 years]. / Vaccinovigilance Schweiz: Gemeldete unerwünschte Wirkungen während der letzten 13 Jahre.

INTRODUCTION: In the year 2015, 93 reports (124 in the year 2014) of adverse reactions following the application of various vaccines were received. The distribution among species remained similar within previous years. Companion animals were involved in most of the reports (38% dogs, 17% cats), followed by horses (16%) and cows (12%). The main symptoms are lethargy, fever and swelling on the injection site. The pharmaco- and vaccinovigilance is still a very important tool to monitor licensed veterinary pharmaceuticals. It helps to control safety and efficacy by regular evaluation and classification of information about suspected adverse drug reactions. The last 13 years since the introduction of this scheme are reviewed.

INTRODUCTION: En 2015 le service de vaccinovigilance de l'IVI a enregistré 93 annonces de réactions après l'application de divers vaccins vétérinaires (124 en 2014). La répartition des annonces entre les diverses espèces reste grandement comparable à celle des années précédentes. Des effets indésirables ont été principalement signalés chez les petits animaux (38% chez des chiens et 17% chez des chats), suivis par les chevaux (16%) et les bovins (12%). Des troubles de l'état général, de la fièvre et des réactions au point d'injection sont les symptômes les plus fréquemment rapportés. La pharmacovigilance et la vaccinovigilance restent des instruments très importants pour la surveillance de l'utilisation sûre des médicaments vétérinaires, car elles permettent, après leur enregistrement et leur autorisation de mise sur le marché également, un contrôle régulier de leur efficacité et de leur tolérance chez les patients. Une courte rétrospective sur les 13 années écoulées depuis l'introduction du système d'annonce est également proposée.

[Planning and controlling care services for elderly migrants--an analysis of health-care reporting in nursing homes and at home]. / Planung und Steuerung der Pflegeversorgung auch für Migranten und Migrantinnen?--Eine Analyse der Pflege- und Gesundheitsberichterstattung in der ambulanten und stationären Altenpflege.

Elderly migrants are a rapidly growing group in Germany. Well-grounded health and nursing care reports which deal with the situation of migrants are therefore necessary to secure an appropriate local and national planning of care for elderly migrants. Also quality control and development need substantiated data in order to ensure proper nursing care services for this segment of the population. This contribution explores whether and to what extent data sources provide information about access, quality and use of care services by migrants. The result: the major data sources for regional and national care planning and quality control render no specific information about migrants. This is problematic since several studies indicate severe deficits in nursing care services for this group.

Increase in the share of steady partners as a source of HIV infection: a 17-year study of seroconversion among gay men.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the share of steady versus casual partners as the source of HIV infection in gay male seroconversions between 1984 and 2000 and the effect of age at seroconversion on the source of HIV transmission. METHODS: The sample consisted of 144 seroconverstors from the Amsterdam Cohort Study among Homosexual Men. Questionnaires and post-seroconversion interviews were used to determine the source of HIV transmission. RESULTS: Analysis revealed an interaction effect between calendar year and age at seroconversion (P < 0.05). Younger seroconverters had higher odds ratios [odds ratio, 11.33; 95% confidence interval, 1.77--72.13] to be infected by their steady partner late in the AIDS epidemic: 15% (three of 20) between 1984 and 1987 versus 67% (six of nine) between 1994 and 2000. No such time effect was present for older seroconverters who were consistently more likely to be infected by a casual partner: 79% (37 of 47) between 1984 and 1987, and 83% (15 of 18) between 1994 and 2000. CONCLUSIONS: Young gay seroconverters today are more likely to have contracted HIV from a steady partner than from a casual partner, compared with early in the AIDS epidemic and compared also with older gay seroconverters. There is a pressing need for preventive measures addressing sexual risk behaviour within steady relationships among younger gay men.

[Bone evaluation in microcellular cancer treated by chemotherapy]. / Le bilan osseux dans le cancer microcellulaire traité par chimiothérapie.

Bone surveys represent a particular problem in the investigation of secondary tumours, especially in the case of small cell cancer. This study was based on 70 patients in which qualitative criteria (clinical, radiographic, bone scan, bone aspiration-biopsy) replaced quantitative criteria (calcium, alkaline phosphatase, phosphorus). The histological (BPO) and clinical (pain) markers were determinant in the prognosis; in contrast, the repetition of the bone scan in the evaluation of response to treatment is only of very limited value.

[Migration-sensitive data collection for public health surveillance]. / Migrationssensible Datenerhebung für die Gesundheitsberichterstattung. Arbeitsgruppe Gesundheitsberichterstattung des Arbeitskreises "Migration und öffentliche Gesundheit".

Despite the many potential sources of stress and strain that accompany a migration situation, there are very few data in official statistics with regard to the health and social situation of migrants in Germany. The fact that this information is not available for public health reporting could lead to problems of improper, lacking or excessive health care. A working group within the Arbeitskreis Migration und Offentliche Gesundheit has been addressing this problem since 2003. In this article, a systematic overview of the most important data sources for public health reporting and of the indicators for migration background and social status that each one contains will be given. After that we will present examples of good practice in migration-sensitive data collection at the local and national level. Finally suggestions for improving the data situation with regard to the health of migrants based on the recommendation for recording the migration status in epidemiological studies will be made.

The effect of donepezil on sleep in elderly, healthy persons: a double-blind placebo-controlled study.

INTRODUCTION: Previous research in younger individuals has shown that acetylcholinesterase inhibitors tend to enhance REM sleep. METHODS: Forty-two healthy elderly persons participated in a double-blind placebo-controlled polysomnographic study (parallel group design). RESULTS: The present study indicates that in the elderly persons, donepezil, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor also exerts a marked effect on REM sleep parameters: REM density was increased whereas REM latency was reduced, thus, confirming the findings of our pilot study described earlier. CONCLUSION: Whether the cholinergic stimulation measured by polysomnography is related to treatment efficacy is a very interesting but an open question. Based on the findings that REM sleep is associated with memory consolidation, the question whether REM sleep augmentation enhances memory performance-as suggested by the findings of the pilot study-seems to be an interesting topic for future research.

Assessment of intellectual functioning of patients with Parkinson's disease using the Satz-Mogel (1962) short form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.

The purpose of the present study was to compare the Satz-Mogel (S-M) short form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised (WAIS-R) with the full-scale WAIS-R to establish its utility in the assessment of intellectual functioning in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). PD patients and elderly control subjects were administered a neuropsychological test battery that included the complete WAIS-R or the S-M. Results indicated that the S-M was a reliable measure of IQ. The PD subjects' Verbal, Performance, and Full-Scale IQ scores were inferior to that of controls, regardless of test form. Adjustments for depression and age did not alter these results. PD patients with more severe disease scored lower on some visual-spatial measures. Verbal decrements among PD patients may relate to problems in verbal fluency, categorical thinking, and impaired retrieval of verbal material. PD patients may experience patterns of subtle cognitive changes that include deterioration of some specific abilities as the disease progresses.

Changes in the performance of parkinsonian patients and normal aged on the Benton Visual Retention Test.

Performance on the Benton Visual Retention Test was compared between those with Parkinson's disease (PD) and age-equivalent controls. The major difference between groups was that those with PD showed an increase in figural reproduction errors between test periods spaced six months apart, while controls showed little increase in errors over this time and made fewer errors at each time of testing. Age and IQ accounted for major proportions of variance in performance for both groups (about 50%), far more than that attributable to group membership. Within the PD group, however, age and disease onset were confounded (r = .92), indicating that age as a variable is quite when disease onset is considered. The results support the notion that PD is associated with change in visual-spatial memory, beyond that predicted by age per se.

Molecular analysis of the lissencephaly gene 1 (LIS-1) in medulloblastomas.

Although medulloblastoma (MB) represents the most frequent malignant brain tumour in children, the molecular pathogenesis of this tumour is still poorly understood. Microsatellite and RFLP studies have revealed allelic losses on the short arm of chromosome 17 in the region 17p13 in approximately 50% of MBs. A candidate for this putative MB suppressor on chromosome 17p13.3 is the recently cloned LIS-1 gene which codes for a regulatory subunit of the intracellular form of the platelet activating factor (PAF) acetylhydrolase. PAF is involved in signal transduction pathways during cerebral development and in the process of neuronal cell migration and differentiation. In this study, 42 medulloblastomas including seven tumour cell lines and 35 primary tumours were analysed for LIS-1 mRNA expression by RT-PCR and Northern blot analysis. Twenty-four paired blood and MB DNA samples were examined by PCR analysis with a panel of microsatellites located on chromosome 17p to detect loss of heterozygosity (LOH). Finally, the single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) technique and DNA sequencing were employed to detect mutations or small deletions in the coding region of the LIS-1 gene. Of 24 MBs, 13 exhibited loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 17p13.3 for at least one of the microsatellite markers. LIS-1 mRNA expression was detected in all MB tumours and MB cell lines. None of the tumours showed a somatic mutation in the LIS-1 coding region. A novel polymorphism in the 3'UTR of LIS-1 was found in MB patients, but also in healthy control persons. These data indicate that the LIS-1 gene located at 17p13.3 is not involved in the molecular pathogenesis of MBs.

MMPI profiles in PTSD as a function of comorbidity.

A sample of 135 Vietnam veteran inpatients with combat-related PTSD was sorted into three groups, depending upon the presence of concurrent psychiatric disorders: Depression (n = 68), Psychosis (n = 31), and Other (n = 36). Pairwise comparisons were made on the MMPI with respect to the validity indicators, clinical scales, four relevant Harris-Lingoes subscales, the Psychoticism content scale, and the MMPI-PTSD subscale. Results indicate variations in scale elevations as a function of comorbid diagnosis. Various items and scales appear to differentiate the Psychosis group due to greater psychopathology. In general, the results spotlight the heterogeneous aspects that comorbidity brings to PTSD assessment.

A comparison of MMPI and MMPI-2 in PTSD assessment.

A sample of 47 Vietnam veterans with the diagnosis of combat-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was administered the MMPI and MMPI-2. Pairwise comparisons were performed on the clinical scales, Harris Lingoes subscales, and scales relevant to the assessment of PTSD. Correlational analyses were performed as well. Hit rates of high-point pairs were compared across the tests. The results suggest a high degree of congruence between tests. Differences were seen on evaluations of some scales between tests that may influence interpretation and treatment.