Zervikale Belastung während des Sicherns – der Einfluss verschiedener Sicherungstechniken auf die Mobilität der Halswirbelsäule

BackgroundAlways carefully watching the climber, the belayer has to keep a position for a long time, which is damaging to the cervical spine. This often causes stiffness in the neck, which leads to cervical restrictions of motion. 3 types of belaying, the habitual belaying, the “CU glasses” and the “coordinated head position”, have been examined relating to their ability to avoid muscular tensions.Materials and methodsThe mobility of the cervical spine of 30 male and female climbers has been measured with an inclinometer immediately before and after defined belaying of 10 min. The subjects have been distributed to the 3 types of belaying at random. Additional the subjects had to answer questions concerning their personal feelings and a pain-rating-scale.ResultsWithin the group with habitual belaying, significant limitations in the mobility of the cervical spine in each direction could be determined, connected with strong pain after defined belaying. While using the “CU glasses” or “coordinated head posture”, no restrictions in movement (for each direction p>.05) has been noticed. Subjects that belayed with the “coordinated head posture” complained about backache because of the unfamiliar, active posture.ConclusionsDepending on the actual climbing-situation, the belayer should use either the „CU glasses“ or the „coordinated head posture“, in order to avoid muscular tension in the neck.Level of evidenceIIa     

Identification of genetic variants of Brucella spp. through genome-wide association studies

Brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease caused by Brucella spp. We present a phylogeny of 552 strains based on genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) determined by an alignment-free k-mer approach. A total of 138,029 SNPs were identified from 552 Brucella genomes. Of these, 31,152 and 106,877 were core and non-core SNPs, respectively. Based on pan-genome analysis 11,937 and 972 genes were identified as pan and core genome, respectively. The pan-genome-wide analysis studies (Pan-GWAS) could not identify the group-specific variants in Brucella spp. Therefore, we focused on SNP based genome-wide association studies (SNP-GWAS) to identify the species-specific genetic determinants in Brucella spp. Phylogenetic tree representing eleven recognized Brucella spp. showed 16 major lineages. We identified 143 species-specific SNPs in Brucella abortus that are conserved in 311 B. abortus genomes. Of these, 141 species-specific SNPs were confined in the positively significant SNPs of B. abortus using SNP-GWAS. Since conserved in all the B. abortus genomes studied, these SNPs might have originated very early during the evolution of B. abortus and might be responsible for the evolution of B. abortus with cattle as the preferred host. Similarly, we identified 383 species-specific SNPs conserved in 132 Brucella melitensis genomes. Of these 379 species-specific SNPs were identified as positively associated using GWAS. Interestingly, > 98% of the SNPs that are significantly, positively associated with the traits showed 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. These identified species-specific core-SNPs identified in Brucella genomes could be responsible for the speciation and their respective host adaptation.     

Real-time assessment of bacteriophage T3-derived antimicrobial activity against planktonic and biofilm-embedded Escherichia coli by isothermal microcalorimetry

Bacterial biofilms, highly resistant to the conventional antimicrobial therapy, remain an unresolved challenge pressing the medical community to investigate new and alternative strategies to fight chronic implant-associated infections. Recently, strictly lytic bacteriophages have been revalued as powerful agents to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria even in biofilm. Here, the interaction of T3 bacteriophage and planktonic and biofilm Escherichia coli TG1, respectively, was evaluated using isothermal microcalorimetry. Microcalorimetry is a non-invasive and highly sensitive technique measuring growth-related heat production of microorganisms in real-time. Planktonic and biofilm E. coli TG1 were exposed to different titers of T3 bacteriophage, ranging from 10² to 10⁷ PFU/ml. The incubation of T3 with E. coli TG1 showed a strong inhibition of heat production both in planktonic and biofilm already at lower bacteriophage titers (10³ PFU/ml). This method could be used to screen and evaluate the antimicrobial potential of different bacteriophages, alone and in combination with antibiotics in order to improve the treatment success of biofilm-associated infections.     

Mussel oligopeptides ameliorate cognition deficit and attenuate brain senescence in d-galactose-induced aging mice

Dietary supplementation exerts beneficial effects in reducing incidence of chronic neurodegenerative diseases. The purpose of this study was to examine protective effects of mussel (Mytilus edulis) oligopeptides supplementation on brain function in d-galactose induced aging mice. Sixty female 8-month-old mice were randomly divided into five groups: vehicle control, d-galactose, and d-galactose combined with 200, 500, 1000 mg/kg mussel oligopeptides. The results showed that mussel oligopeptides could improve cognitive learning and memory ability and protect the hippocampal neurons. In addition, GSH, SOD and GSH-pX activities were increased and MDA level was significantly decreased in mice fed with mussel oligopeptides. It was also found that mussel oligopeptides supplementation prevented d-galactose-induced elevations of iNOS activity and NO production and lactate acid levels in brain. Moreover, PI3K and Akt genes were up-regulated by mussel oligopeptides supplementation. These findings suggest that mussel oligopeptides are able to enhance exercise capacity and protect against oxidative damage caused by d-galactose in aging model mice through regulating oxidation metabolism and PI3K/Akt/NOS signal pathway. Therefore, mussel oligopeptides are good materials for future development of healthcare products to combat age-related brain dysfunction and to improve healthy life span.     

大剂量甲氨蝶呤在急性淋巴细胞白血病应用后两种解毒方法的比较

目的探讨大剂量甲氨蝶呤(MTX)治疗急性淋巴细胞白血病的有效解救方法。方法选取我院收治的急性淋巴细胞白血病患者45例,随机分成观察组(23例)和对照组(22例)。45例患者均应用大剂量MTX进行治疗,观察组患者监测血药浓度并随时调整解救药的剂量,对照组患者应用固定剂量的解救药进行解救。比较两组患者不良反应的发生情况。结果观察组皮肤黏膜损害、胃肠道反应、肝功能损害、肾功能损害、骨髓抑制的发生率均低于对照组,且两组胃肠道反应、肝功能损害、骨髓抑制发生率的差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论在应用大剂量MTX进行治疗的过程中进行血药浓度的密切监测并及时调整解救药浓度能够达到更好的治疗效果。