Medizinische Beurteilungskriterien zu bandscheibenbedingten Berufskrankheiten der Lendenwirbelsäule (I)

Occupational diseases Nos. 2108 and 2110 correspond to intervertebral disc-related diseases of the lumbar spine from many years of carrying or lifting heavy loads, occupations in extreme postures of full flexion or oscillation of the whole body when seated, and which compel the cessation of all activities which are or could be the cause for the origin, exacerbation or recurrence of the disease. These occupational diseases came into force at the start of 1993, but there have been considerable problems in their implementation. The present Part I of the contribution is the result of the work of an interdisciplinary study group and contains medical criteria for the assessment of possibly strain-related clinical characteristics and the evaluation of other possible causes. Part II is to be published in Volume 4/2005 and will deal with questions related to forced cessation and to the assessment of the loss of earning ability. Agreement was reached in many areas related to the assessment of occupational claims. This should allow for evidence-based decision making in the future for the occupational diseases Nos. 2108 and 2110.     

Youth Tobacco Access and Possession Policy Interventions: Effects on Observed and Perceived Tobacco Use

This study evaluated the effects of tobacco Purchase, Use and Possession (PUP) laws on student perceptions of adolescent tobacco use within towns and schools. Twenty‐four towns were randomly assigned into two conditions, the experimental condition (E PUP) involved efforts to increase both PUP law enforcement and reduce minors' access to commercial sources of tobacco, whereas the control condition (C) focused only on efforts to reduce minors' access to commercial sources of tobacco. A hierarchical linear modeling analytical approach was selected due to the multilevel data and nested design. The present study found that over time, youth in the experimental PUP condition observed less youth tobacco usage at school and in their town, and perceived lower rates of tobacco among their peers at school and among friends than youth in the control condition. The findings suggest that PUP law enforcement might be used to strengthen community norms against youth tobacco use.     

Does age worsen EEG slowing and attention deficits in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome?

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether EEG slowing is more pronounced in older than younger OSAS patients and to verify whether this cortical slowing is correlated to daytime performance, respiratory perturbation and sleep fragmentation. METHODS: Twelve young OSAS patients (mean age 38.2+/-2.0 y) and 13 older OSAS patients (mean age 62.2+/-1.9 y) along with 13 young controls (mean age 35.8+/-2.0 y) and 14 older controls (mean age 60.2+/-2.0 y) underwent a polysomnographic evaluation followed by a waking EEG recording. As a global index of cortical slowing, a ratio of slow-to-fast frequencies was calculated in all cortical regions. Daytime performance was assessed using the four choice reaction time test. RESULTS: Differences in waking EEG and in daytime performance were analyzed by ANOVAs with Group and Age as factors. Waking EEG did not yield a Group by Age interaction. OSAS patients had higher ratios across all regions than controls. Similarly, daytime performance revealed no Group by Age interaction. However, OSAS patients showed more lapses than controls and older subjects were slower than younger subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that age does not interact with OSAS to worsen the severity of cortical slowing, but age can add to the OSAS effect to worsen daytime performance deficits in OSAS patients. SIGNIFICANCE: The daytime performance deficits observed particularly in elderly OSAS patients warrant a careful clinical assessment of these patients to prevent accidents and injuries.     

Medizinische Beurteilungskriterien zu bandscheibenbedingten Berufskrankheiten der Lendenwirbelsäule (II)

The first part of this serial paper dealt with the medical criteria used in evaluation of the clinical picture caused by physical stress and the evaluation of other candidate causes and was published in issue no. 3/2005 (pp. 711–752) of Trauma and Berufskrankheit. This follow-up paper (II) presents criteria to be used in the evaluation of whether it is necessary to give up the occupations putting the spine at risk and in estimation of the degree of disability.     

Polysialylated Neural Cell Adhesion is Involved in Target-induced Morphological Differentiation of Arcuate Dopaminergic Neurons

We have previously shown that the morphological and biochemical maturation of developing rat hypothalamic dopaminergic neurons is accelerated when they are cocultivated with pituitary intermediate lobe cells, one of their targets. Only two subsets of hypothalamic dopaminergic neurons (arcuate, A12, and periventricular, A14, nuclei) may project to the pars intermedia. In order to determine whether the two populations are equally responsive to coculture conditions, we microdissected the hypothalamus of 17-day-old rat fetuses in two fragments containing cell bodies from the A12 and from the A14 regions, prepared neuronal cultures from both portions and incubated them separately with intermediate lobe cells. The presence of intermediate lobe cells increased tyrosine hydroxylase levels in both dopaminergic neuron subsets, but morphological differentiation was accelerated in dopaminergic neurons originating in the arcuate nucleus only. We then investigated whether physical contact between developing arcuate neurons and their target cells was a prerequisite of the morphological effect by interposing a semipermeable membrane between cultivated neurons and intermediate lobe cells in transwell culture dishes. The morphological effect was no longer observed under transwell coculture conditions, pointing to the involvement of membrane-bound molecules. Accordingly, the stimulating effect of coculture on arcuate dopaminergic neurons was completely abolished by the removal of polysialic acid on neural cell adhesion molecules by endoneuraminidase N treatment. Thus, maturation of A12 and A14 dopaminergic neurons exhibits differential susceptibility to intermediate lobe target cells, and polysialylated-NCAM is required for the contact-dependent effect.