Bacterial artificial chromosome-derived molecular markers for early bolting in sugar beet.

Early bolting in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is controlled by the dominant gene B. From an incomplete physical map around the B gene, 18 bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) were selected for marker development. Three BACs were shotgun-sequenced, and 61 open reading frames (ORFs) were identified. Together with 104 BAC ends from 54 BACs, a total number of 55,464 nucleotides were sequenced. Of these, 37 BAC ends and 12 ORFs were selected for marker development. Thirty-one percent of the sequences were found to be single copy and 24%, low copy. From these sequences, 15 markers from ten different BACs were developed. Ten polymorphisms were determined by simple agarose gel electrophoresis of either restricted or non-restricted PCR products. Another five markers were determined by tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system-PCR. In order to select candidate BACs for cloning the gene, genetic linkage between seven markers and the bolting gene was calculated using 1,617 plants from an F2 population segregating for early bolting. The recombination values ranged between 0.0033 and 0.0201. In addition, a set of 41 wild and cultivated Beta accessions differing in their early bolting character was genotyped with seven markers. A common haplotype encompassing two marker loci and the b allele was found in all sugar beet varieties, indicating complete linkage disequilibrium between these loci. This suggests that the bolting gene is located in close vicinity to these markers, and the corresponding BACs can be used for cloning the gene.

A bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library of sugar beet and a physical map of the region encompassing the bolting gene B.

In sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.), early bolting is caused by a single dominant gene, designated B. Twenty AFLP markers selected from a 7.8-cM segment of the B region on chromosome 2 were used to screen a YAC library, and a first-generation physical map including the B gene, made up of 11 YACs, was established. Because the genome coverage of the YAC library was low, a BAC library was constructed in the vector pBeloBAC11. This library consists of 57,600 clones with an average insert size of 116 kb, corresponding to 8.8 genome equivalents. Screening of the BAC library with chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA probes indicated that less than 0.1% of the clones contained organelle-derived DNA. To fill the gaps in the physical map around the B gene, the BAC library was screened with four AFLP markers and 10 YAC-derived probes. In total, 54 different BACs were identified. Overlaps between BACs were detected by using BAC termini amplified by PCR as probes, and by RFLP fingerprinting. In this way, a minimal tiling path of the central 4.6-cM region was constructed, which consists of 14 BACs. The B locus was localized to a 360-kb contig, a size which makes positional cloning of the gene feasible.

[Using interaction-intensive therapeutic nursing measures and "home remedies" in nursing care. An explorative study as a plea for integrated nursing practice]. / Der Einsatz von interaktionsintensiven pflegetherapeutischen Massnahmen und von "Hausmitteln" in der Pflege. Eine explorative Studie als Plädoyer für eine integrierte Pflegepraxis.

BACKGROUND: Until today there existed no major studies about the wide range of currently utilized methods or potential sociodemographic and institutional influences on utilization despite an immense interest among nurses in alternative nursing methods (in this study referred to as home remedies). METHODS: In this study, from standardized questionnaires with a convenience sample of three different settings of nursing practice, i.e. acute-care, nursing homes, and home health care were analyzed using the statistical program SPSS. RESULTS: Our analysis showed that a wide range of traditional home remedies is being utilized, e.g. application of heat and cold or herbal infusion (herbal teas). Furthermore, lay approaches such as aromatherapy were also commonly used. The statistical analysis revealed complex influences of age, duration of nursing practice and institutional setting in the utilization of home remedies. CONCLUSION: There is need for more systematic studies to further examine the alternative methods or home remedies so popular among nurses and their patients. Regarding a more consistent naming of the variety of different methods coming from naturopathy, folk and lay medicine, the authors suggest the term "integrative nursing care".

[Patient-oriented quality assurance. Information and cooperation of the health services as a condition for integrated care]. / Patientenorientierte Qualitätssicherung. Information und Kooperation der Gesundheitsdienste als Voraussetzung für eine integrierte Versorgungspraxis.

The increasing care needs of the elderly and chronically ill have a growing impact on health care services. With complex needs to meet, the patient's quality of life depends on multiple factors, of which the continuity of care plays an important role. Information on the past and present health state and on self care resources are prerequisites for adequate rehabilitation efforts that are patient-oriented and of high quality. Institutionally induced "cascade episodes of incompetence" (Ulmer & Saller, 1994) have to be avoided. To make sure that interventions promote or stabilize the quality of life, the participation of the client is crucial in all stages of the process of care planning and coordination. Integrated care requires the exchange of information and close coordination on the concept of care between all participants in the care process. Yet, collaborative care is often seriously jeopardized by lack of knowledge about the concepts, scope of action and requests of the involved health professionals and services. At the Agnes Karll Institute of Nursing Research an action research project aiming at cooperative quality assurance was carried out. It became obvious that there is a large amount of intersectoral knowledge necessarily needed by all professionals and services to ensure seamless professional care. But often they have no access to the information needed. Therefore a client's accompanying booklet was developed to pass on basic information. It is kept by the client and shall be used and filled out by them, their relatives and the different health professionals and health care services involved.

[Music therapy and internal medicine]. / Musiktherapie und innere Medizin.

Since December 1988 the district hospital of the Oberwallis hosts the 4 year project "Music-Therapy in Internal Medicine" under the scientific guidance of Dr. H. H. Decker-Voigt, director of the Institute of music therapy of the musical academy Hamburg. This therapy can be described as a form of psychotherapy which uses the medium music with its particularities as an adjunct for treatment. The different levels of action of music, a functional and a regressive one and their respective importance for music therapy are described first. An introduction to the two forms of music therapy, the receptive and the active with their respective particularities follows. Indications for music therapy are by large not disease-specific but depend on the assessment of the importance of psychic components in somatic disease. Coping with disease, psychosocial integration and promotion of positive resources or self-healing potential are regarded as indications for music therapy. Music therapy is not indicated when the patient is not motivated or his stay at the hospital is shorter than 2 weeks. We offer a music therapy to all patients in whose illness, according to our evaluation, emotional and psychic factors play an important role and to those patients with functional disorders on whom we would like to learn more by the psychoanalytic possibilities of music therapy. According to our experience music therapy is well suited as an adjunct in many diseases in internal medicine and represents an enrichment of our therapeutic possibilities.

[Music during gastroscopy]. / Musik bei der Gastroskopie.

As part of a project "Music therapy in internal medicine" we investigated 32 consecutive patients undergoing gastroscopy for various reasons. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups, regardless of sex, age or underlying disease. One group listened to music during gastroscopy, while the other did not. The choice of the type of music within the corresponding group was made with the patient and a trained music therapist in a short discussion prior to gastroscopy. The hormones ACTH and cortisol, as well as the catecholamines adrenalin and noradrenaline, were measured in both groups with three blood samples taken before, directly after and one hour after gastroscopy. Parallel measurements included blood pressure and pulse rate as well as questions about the patients' feelings during gastroscopy. The study showed the rise in the plasma levels of the stress hormones ACTH and cortisol to be significantly lower under the influence of music. The subjective feelings of the patients concerning "fear in general" and "fear about gastroscopy" paralleled these findings. Conversely, the plasma adrenalin and noradrenaline levels before and after gastroscopy were virtually unchanged in both groups, as were pulse rate and blood pressure. This study shows the influence of music on human biochemical parameters when used in the setting of a diagnostic procedure.

[Behavior of blood glucose in piglets up to the 10th day of life with reference to colostrum consumption and birth mass]. / Verhalten der Blutglukose bei Ferkeln bis zum 10. Lebenstag unter Berücksichtigung von Kolostrumaufnahme und Geburtsmasse.

The following results were obtained from studies into the behaviour of blood glucose in 439 piglets: -The first experimental group included 48 piglets exposed to follow-up checks in the first ten days of age. Glucose values prior to the first intake of foremilk were higher than those measured afterwards in ten animals (20.8 per cent). The second experimental group included 391 piglets tested under production conditions, and a result identical to the one above was recorded from 48 animals (12.3 per cent). The conclusion is that rise of blood glucose does not take place in all piglets after the first intake of foremilk. -Blood glucose concentrations were found to go up discontinuously up to the tenth day of age, depending on birth weight and feed intake as well as on glycolytical and gluconeogenetical capacities. -Average glucose values between 50.23 and 67.37 mg/100 ml plasma were recorded from newborn piglets prior to first foremilk intake in four groups differentiated by weights a birth between 800 g and 2,200 g. A relationship was statistically secured between blood glucose concentration and birth weight of newborn piglets. The correlation factor appeared to depend on the weight at birth.