Lifestyle behaviour and prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors - a pilot study comparing Kiribati and European seafarers.

BACKGROUND: According to internal observations within a German shipping company, obvious risk-behaviour persists among the crew members coming from the Pacific Island State of Kiribati and representing a large part of the crew aboard merchant vessels of this company. These observations were related to excessive eating habits. This study aims to assess the cardiovascular risk among seafarers and to compare lifestyle factors between Kiribati and European crew members. METHODS: In the present maritime field study 81 sailors (48 Kiribati, 33 European, average age at 38.9 and 36.8 years respectively) were examined from April until August 2014 aboard four container ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean (participation rate of 90.9%). RESULTS: Based on the number of established risk factors, 35.4% of the Kiribati and 16.7% of the European crew members were regarded as a high risk group for cardiovascular diseases. The HDL-values of Kiribati were found to be considerably lower (34.9 mg/dl) than the references values given by the WHO and in comparison to the European crew members (44.8 mg/dl) (p = 0.002). 91.7% of Kiribati and 51.5% of European participants were found to be overweight according to WHO-criteria - with a mean Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30.3 kg/m2 and 25.6 kg/m2 (p <  0.001). Regarding lifestyle factors Kiribati often claimed to eat significantly larger amounts of food aboard while most European sailors stated to eat less or about the same during their shipboard stay (p = 0.017). Daily sleeping hours were slight on both sides; however with a mean of 5.2 h a day Kiribati crew members had significant fewer sleep (p = 0.038). The examined Kiribati sailors had a mean increase in weight of 6 kg over a 12 months period of observation. CONCLUSIONS: In total the compiled data points towards a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases particularly due to alimentary habits within the Kiribati crew members. The distinct weight-gain measured among the Kiribati in spite of higher energy consumption levels at sea is alarming. Thus, the results of this study confirm the necessity of health-improving interventions aboard cargo vessels.

Systematic review of maritime field studies about stress and strain in seafaring.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to summarize and evaluate the current scientific literature on stress and strain on seafarers on board as defined by maritime field surveys. METHODS: Using a systematic review, 109 studies on the stress and strain experienced by seafarers were identified for the period January 1990 to January 2012. RESULTS: Only 13 of the identified maritime studies were conducted as field studies, and in 10 of these studies, the focus was on the watch system and/or on fatigue. According to the study results, sleepiness tends to be stronger in the 2-watch system than in the 3-watch system (particularly between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m.). Occasional short sleep episodes appear to provide adequate recovery. Fatigue does not appear to depend on the seafarers' age and is often associated with poor sleep quality; noise and night shifts are also considered to contribute to fatigue. Stress among the seafarers was primarily recorded in sleep diaries (9 times) and with devices for measuring physical activity (4 times). As a rule, a questionnaire was used to assess the strain on the crew on board; 7 studies also additionally recorded biometrical parameters. Only in 6 cases were several groups with different ranks on board investigated. CONCLUSION: The conducted literature review makes it clear that most maritime field studies have focused on fatigue and watch systems in the shipping industry--in each case as univariate parameters. Thus, scientific field studies with comprehensive multivariate stress and strain analyses on board are required.

Burnout syndrome in seafarers in the merchant marine service.

PURPOSE: As seafarers face a wide range of psychosocial stressors on board, they may be endangered to develop burnout syndrome. This study aims to investigate respective indicators. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 251 seafarers were asked about demographic data and job-related stressors. Particularly, the subscale emotional exhaustion (EE) of the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale were used to assess the respective risks of job-related burnout and daytime sleepiness among seafarers. The statistical analysis was carried out using multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Within the whole study group, the EE score was elevated in 10.8 %. A higher EE score was found in 10.7 % of officers, in 4.5 % of lower crew ranks and in 25.0 % of the galley staff (p = 0.05). Furthermore, long working days were associated with an elevated EE score [OR 3.83 (CI 1.46-10.03)]. Emotional exhaustion was associated with a subjective perception of enough sleep on board [OR 3.33 (CI 1.17-9.46)], lack of care taken by the shipboard superiors and/or the shipping company [OR 1.19 (CI 1.04-1.36)], with high responsibility for work organisation of those involved in leadership [OR 1.46 (CI 1.20-1.78)] and with social problems due to the long periods of separation from their families [OR 1.19 (CI 1.02-1.39)], taking into account relevant demographic parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the majority of on-shore occupations, the burnout risk in seafaring seems to be moderate. To reduce the EE among seafarers, it is recommended to extend the sleeping time, to avoid long working hours, to improve the superiors' communication and leadership skills, to diminish the superiors' stress load caused by organisational duties and to support low-price telecommunication possibilities at home.

Group dynamics and record signals in the ant Temnothorax albipennis.

Many purely physical complex systems, in which there are both stochasticity and local interactions between the components, exhibit record dynamics. The temporal statistics of record dynamics is a Poisson process operating on a logarithmic rather than a linear time scale (i.e. a log-Poisson process). Record dynamics often drive substantial changes in complex systems when new high water marks in partially stochastic processes trigger new events. Social insect colonies are exemplary complex biological systems in which many of the local interactions of the components have been moulded by natural selection for the common good. Here, we combine experimental manipulation of ant colony demography with modelling to test the hypothesis that social interactions are the mechanism underlying the record dynamics. We found that compared with the control, log-Poisson statistics were disrupted in colonies in which the pattern of interactions was modified by the removal of the brood, and disappeared completely in 'callow' colonies composed entirely of very young workers from the same age cohort. We conclude that a subtle interplay between the demography of the society and the pattern of the interactions between the ants is crucial for the emergence of record dynamics. This could help identify what makes an ant colony a cohesive society.

Astatinated trastuzumab, a putative agent for radionuclide immunotherapy of ErbB2-expressing tumours.

The anti-ErbB2 antibody trastuzumab is used for the treatment of patients with advanced breast cancer, resulting in a response rate of 40-60%. Coupling with a cytotoxic nuclide, e.g. alpha-emitting 211At, may further increase tumour response. The tumour-targeting properties of trastuzumab, astatinated using N-succinimidyl-para-(tri-n-methylstannyl)-benzoate, were evaluated and compared with those of radioiodinated trastuzumab in this study. We found that astatinated trastuzumab retains high specificity towards ErbB2. While the immunoreactive fraction of radioiodinated trastuzumab was higher than that of astatinated trastuzumab (76+/-9% versus 54+/-28%), both radioconjugates showed high affinity (KD 0.75+/-0.16 nM versus 1.8+/-0.3 nM). A growth inhibition study indicated a dose-dependent cell deactivation, in which approximately 74 cell-associated astatine decays per cell gave a survival fraction of 4.5+/-0.8x10(-4). Results of a comparative animal study on normal mice gave no indication that astatination would have any adverse effects on the biodistribution of the antibody. In conclusion, the results of the study suggest that astatinated trastuzumab is a promising candidate for treating ErbB2-expressing tumours.

In vitro evaluation of the astatinated chimeric monoclonal antibody U36, a potential candidate for treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyse the properties of the astatinated chimeric MAb (cMAb) U36 as a conjugate to selectively target and eradicate head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS: cMAb U36 was labelled with 211At via the linker N-succinimidyl 4-(trimethylstannyl)benzoate (SPMB). The quality of the conjugate was extensively evaluated for binding and internalisation capacity, and compared with 125I-SPMB-cMAb U36. The cellular toxicity of the astatinated conjugate was assessed in two types of in vitro growth assay and compared with 131I-labelled cMAb U36 (directly labelled). RESULTS: Comparisons between 211At-cMAb U36 and 125I-cMAb U36 demonstrated an optimal functional capacity of the labelled products. Immunoreactivity and affinity assays showed high immunoreactive fractions (>93%), and an affinity in good agreement between the astatinated and iodinated antibodies. For both conjugates, specific binding to HNSCC cells could be demonstrated, as well as some internalisation. Retention of the astatinated conjugate was just slightly lower than for the iodinated conjugate and still reasonable for therapeutic use (31+/-2% vs 42.6+/-1.0% at 22 h), demonstrating no adverse effects from astatination of the antibody. Studies on cellular toxicity demonstrated a dose-dependent and antigen-specific cellular toxicity for 211At-cMAb U36, with about 10% cell survival at 50 decays per cell. The 131I-labelled conjugate was not as efficient, with a surviving cell fraction of about 50% at 55 decays per cell. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that 211At-cMAb U36 might be a promising future candidate for eradicating HNSCC micrometastases in vivo.

Dry-distillation of astatine-211 from irradiated bismuth targets: a time-saving procedure with high recovery yields.

Astatine-211 was produced via the 209Bi(alpha,2n) 211At reaction. The radionuclide was isolated with a novel procedure employing dry-distillation of the irradiated target material. The astatine was condensed as a dry residue in a PEEK-capillary cryotrap. Distillation was completed within 1-2 min with isolation yields of 92 +/- 3%. Subsequent work-up of the nuclide resulted in final recovery yields of 79 +/- 3%.

Determination of the excitation function for the 10B(p,n)10C reaction with implications for the production of [10C]carbon dioxide for use as a PET tracer.

To evaluate the possibilities of producing useful amounts of 10C (T1/2 = 19 s) for use as an on-line, steady state positron emission tomography (PET) tracer, the excitation function and the thick target yield for the 10B(p,n)10C reaction up to 30 MeV were measured using an adapted version of the stacked-foil technique. The radionuclidic purity of the produced 10C versus the inevitable 11C contamination was evaluated as function of target thickness and incident proton beam energy.

Working in regional health network.

This paper describes the conditions for, and actually use of telematics in a regional Health Network in a Danish county. This paper gives an introductory view over the organisation of the Danish health care system, and the general practitioners place in it. The advantages experienced and the actual use of telematics in general practice today is described. Finally, the expectations for the near future is mentioned.

On the critical behaviour of simple epidemics.

We show how ideas and models which were originally introduced to gain an understanding of critical phenomena can be used to interpret the dynamics of epidemics of communicable disease in real populations. Specifically, we present an analysis of the dynamics of disease outbreaks for three common communicable infections from a small isolated island population. The strongly fluctuating nature of the temporal incidence of disease is captured by the model, and comparisons between exponents calculated from the data and from simulations are made. A forest-fire model with sparks is used to classify the observed scaling dynamics of the epidemics and provides a unified picture of the epidemiology which conventional epidemiological analysis is unable to reproduce. This study suggests that power-law scaling can emerge in natural systems when they are driven on widely separated time-scales, in accordance with recent analytic renormalization group calculations.

A serological indication of the existence of a guineapig poliovirus.

Attempts were made to clarify whether laboratory guineapigs may harbour a poliovirus which, in 1911, was described as the cause of a disease called guineapig lameness. By the use of ELISA for antibodies against the poliovirus, Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV), it was shown that two pet shop guineapigs suffering from lameness had extremely high titres against poliovirus, while healthy guineapigs from the same pet shop were negative. Clearly positive results were also found in 35 out of 152 laboratory guineapig sera. Positive results were found in only two out of six breeding centres, but in three out of three experimental units, all of which purchased guineapigs from one of the seropositive breeding colonies. The diseased guineapigs recovered fully after treatment with vitamins in the drinking water, a treatment used for guineapig lameness by small animal practitioners. A theory that vitamin C deficient guineapigs are, due to an impaired steroid secretion, predisposed to succumbing to infection and develop demyelinating disease similar to that in TMEV infected mice is discussed briefly. Guineapig sera were also tested serologically for other infections. Antibodies against lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, Clostridium piliforme and Toxoplasma gondii were not found, but one breeding colony was infected with adenovirus, pneumonia virus of mice, reovirus type 3, Sendai virus, parainfluenza (simian) virus type 5 and Encephalitozoon cuniculi. Two other breeding colonies were infected with both reovirus type 3 and E. cuniculi. In all three experimental units infection with adenovirus was observed, and in two of these Sendai virus and E. cuniculi antibodies were also found. The pet shop guineapigs were infected with adenovirus, reovirus type 3 and E. cuniculi.

[Hysterosalpingography using iotrolan--a new contrast medium]. / Hysterosalpingographie mit Iotrolan--Ein neues Kontrastmittel.

Iotrolan was investigated as a new contrast medium for hysterosalpingography. Fertility rates and side-effects were registered in a series of 108 consecutive patients. The results indicate a higher fertility rate after hysterosalpingography with iotrolan than after the use of other water-soluble contrast media but a lower fertility rate when compared to lipiodol. As for side-effects, the study indicates that the frequencies of low abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding after hysterosalpingography are equal for iotrolan and lipiodol but higher for other, water-soluble contrast media. A prospective, randomized study is recommended for the clarification of these aspects.

Rederivation of rat colonies seropositive for Bacillus piliformis and the subsequent screening for antibodies.

Latent infection of rats in a breeding colony with Bacillus piliformis detectable by antibodies to the agent in an immunofluorescence assay was eliminated by a combination of traditional rederivation techniques, using animal units not previously used for rat breeding, and the use of specific disinfection procedures. The success rate was apparently correlated with the use of peracetic acid instead of aldehyde products to decontaminate the animal unit.

[Periventricular cerebral hemorrhage in children with very low birth weights in the county of North Jutland. Retrospective study]. / Periventrikulaer hjerneblødning hos børn med meget lav fødselsvaegt i Nordjyllands Amt. En retrospektiv opgørelse.

The object of this investigation was to determine the frequency of intracerebral periventricular haemorrhage in neonates with very low birthweights in an unselected material from the County of North Jutland. During the years 1988-1989 a total of 86 infants with low birthweights were born in the county. Intracerebral periventricular haemorrhage was diagnosed by means of ultrasonic scanning of the cerebrum and/or postmortem examination. Seven infants had to be excluded as neither of these examinations had been performed. The material thus consisted of 79 infants with a median weight of 1,196 gram (range 565-1,500 g) and a median gestational age of 30 weeks (range 25-37 weeks). Periventricular haemorrhage was found in a total of 13 infants, corresponding to 16% and the haemorrhages were found mainly in infants with gestational ages less than or equal to 29 weeks (32%). Haemorrhages with involvement of the parenchyma and/or dilation of the ventricular system comprised more than half of the cases of haemorrhage (8 out 13). The frequency of periventricular haemorrhage fell with gestational ages less than or equal to 30 weeks and the haemorrhages were less extensive. The respiratory distress syndrome and asphyxia were found to important risk factors for the development of periventricular haemorrhage.

A new mouse mutant with progressive motor neuronopathy.

A new autosomal-recessive mouse mutant with progressive motor neuronopathy (pmn) is described. Homozygotes develop paralysis of the hindlimbs during the third week of life. Soon thereafter the forelimbs also become weak, and all mice die six to seven weeks after birth. Heterozygotes are normal. Skeletal muscles show neurogenic atrophy without histological signs of reinnervation. Axonal degeneration apparently starts at the endplates and is prominent in the sciatic nerve and its branches and the phrenic nerve. Axonal sprouts are abundant. There is no evidence of demyelination, and unaffected nerve fibers are normally myelinated. Sensory axons are spared. Almost all distal motor axons have disappeared in four to five weeks after birth. Ventral nerve roots show a reduced diameter of the largest fibers but no fiber deficits. The ventral horn cells show slight chromatolysis. The corticospinal tract is normal, but in terminally ill animals the fasciculus gracilis, the rubrospinal tract and possibly also reticulospinal fibers degenerate. The brain is histologically normal. The disease manifests itself in a dying-back fashion in the distal portion of the motor neurons and may represent an animal model of hereditary motor neuron diseases in man.

Impact of bacteria on metabolism of collagen in colonic obstruction in rats.

The influence of bacteria on metabolism of collagen in the colonic wall under normal conditions and after obstruction was evaluated by using germ-free and conventionally bred rats. Under normal conditions, no differences in synthesis and content of collagen or tissue dry weight in the colonic wall were found between germ-free and conventionally bred rats. After obstruction, both groups reacted similarly with an equally increased collagen synthesis. The findings imply that bacteria do not play any major role in the regulation of collagen metabolism in the colonic wall, neither under normal conditions nor in the strained situation with colonic obstruction and fecal impaction.