German Red Cross

About: German Red Cross is a healthcare organization based out in Berlin, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Transplantation & Mesenchymal stem cell. The organization has 653 authors who have published 1146 publications receiving 40111 citations. The organization is also known as: Deutsches Rotes Kreuz & DRK.

The fetal alcohol syndrome in adolescence

Abstract: At present, alcohol is recognized as the leading teratogenic agent in long-lasting CNS dysfunction. Little is known about the long-term development and outcome of children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Forty-four FAS patients who were diagnosed in early childhood were followed up for 10-14 years. This study documents the developmental changes of the manifestations of FAS from childhood to adolescence and describes a characteristic "juvenile" pattern of FAS, which may help to identify this syndrome even in adolescence. This is especially relevant for patients who were not diagnosed earlier.

Action-based flood forecasting for triggering humanitarian action

Abstract: . Too often, credible scientific early warning information of increased disaster risk does not result in humanitarian action. With financial resources tilted heavily towards response after a disaster, disaster managers have limited incentive and ability to process complex scientific data, including uncertainties. These incentives are beginning to change, with the advent of several new forecast-based financing systems that provide funding based on a forecast of an extreme event. Given the changing landscape, here we demonstrate a method to select and use appropriate forecasts for specific humanitarian disaster prevention actions, even in a data-scarce location. This action-based forecasting methodology takes into account the parameters of each action, such as action lifetime, when verifying a forecast. Forecasts are linked with action based on an understanding of (1) the magnitude of previous flooding events and (2) the willingness to act "in vain" for specific actions. This is applied in the context of the Uganda Red Cross Society forecast-based financing pilot project, with forecasts from the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS). Using this method, we define the "danger level" of flooding, and we select the probabilistic forecast triggers that are appropriate for specific actions. Results from this methodology can be applied globally across hazards and fed into a financing system that ensures that automatic, pre-funded early action will be triggered by forecasts.

Protection from type 1 diabetes by vitamin D receptor haplotypes.

Abstract: Vitamin D has been involved in the modulation of calcium and bone metabolism as well as in the immune system, where it suppresses the proliferation of activated T cells. These effects are exerted via the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Polymorphisms within this gene have been exhaustively studied in diverse autoimmune diseases but with inconsistent results. We previously reported a positive association of polymorphisms within the VDR gene (Apa I, Taq I, Bsm I, and Fok I). In the present article we extended our previous reports to seven additional polymorphisms (rs757343, rs9729, rs2853559, rs1989969, rs3847987, rs2238135, and rs4516035) in a larger set of German simplex type 1 diabetes families. Additionally we correlated serum levels of 25(OH)D(3) and 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) with VDR genotypes and haplotypes. The haplotypes "CG" (Taq I-Apa I), "CGG" (Taq I-Apa I-Tru I), "CGC" (Taq I-Apa I-Fok I), "GCTG" (rs9729-Taq I-Apa I-Tru I), and "CGGC"(Taq I-Apa I, Tru I, Fok I) were less often transmitted, thus negatively associated with type 1 diabetes. Patients who carried the genotype "CC" of the rs3847987 polymorphism had higher median serum levels of 25(OH)D(3). Furthermore, the majority of patients with this genotype possessed normal serum levels of 25(OH)D(3). We conclude that variants of the VDR may confer a genetic protection from type 1 diabetes. Furthermore, normal serum levels of 25(OH)D(3) appear to correlate with a VDR genotype. This supports a role of vitamin D in the immune pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes.

Incidence and clinical characteristics of symptomatic choroidal metastasis from lung cancer.

Abstract: . Purpose: To determine the clinical characteristics of symptomatic choroidal metastasis (CM) resulting from metastatic lung cancer. Methods: Twenty-two consecutive patients with symptomatic CM resulting from lung cancer were retrospectively reviewed for ocular findings, medical history and systemic disease. All patients underwent a complete screening for further organ metastasis by computed tomography (CT) and bone scintigraphy. Annual frequency of CM was determined and compared with the incidence predicted from ocular screening studies. Results: In eight of 22 (36%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 17–59) patients, lung cancer had been diagnosed before occurrence of CM, with a median interval of 13 months. In 14 patients lung cancer was detected after diagnosis of CM, with a median interval of 1 month. Choroidal metastasis was unilateral, solitary and located close to or at the posterior pole in the majority of patients. Further organ metastasis with a median number of three affected organ systems was present in 19 (86%; 95% CI 65–97) patients. Median survival after diagnosis of symptomatic CM was 13 months, by contrast with 2 months in lung cancer patients with CM identified in an ocular screening study. The mean number of patients in Berlin diagnosed with symptomatic CM was 1.4 per year, which was two orders of magnitude less than predicted from screening studies. Conclusions: Symptomatic choroidal lung cancer metastasis in the majority of patients presents as a solitary tumour before diagnosis of lung cancer in patients with multiple organ systems affected by metastatic disease. Contrary to predictions from ocular screening studies, it is a rare clinical entity.

Emotional and psychological trauma in refugees arriving in Germany in 2015.

Abstract: In the current year, 2015, Germany is experiencing the greatest influx of refugees since World War II. The German government is expecting ~ 1 million war refugees from Syria, Iraq, Eritrea and other countries to arrive this year. People who have had to flee their homelands because of war, torture and forced migration are being housed in provisional tent camps and converted sports halls in several German cities, including Dresden; these facilities are being managed by the German Red Cross for an indefinite time. In Dresden, medical care has been available on the premises in the framework of consultations by volunteer medical personnel since 27 July. On the basis of the increasing mental health needs of 1700 refugees, medical care was extended to include 6 h per week of psychiatric care as of 10 August 2015. The first 2 weeks of psychiatric care yielded the preliminary demographic data listed in Table 1. Children and youths under 18 years of age arriving in Germany unaccompanied by a reference person are among the individuals most in need of protection. This particularly vulnerable group presumably has the greatest need for psychiatric attention. They typically have had no previous psychiatric evaluation. The local youth welfare service (Jugendamt) is responsible for taking care of young refugees, who comprise ~ 6% of total refugees and are housed in initial admission facilities. Certain traumatic life events have been experienced specifically by children, for example, separation from parents, forced recruitment as child soldiers or having been victims of child trafficking. Psychiatric care of refugees has posed challenges right from the beginning, particularly the lack of interpreters and of languagespecific psychometric measuring instruments, as well as unsuitable premises for collecting psychiatric clinical data. Furthermore, the general living conditions of the refugees are not acceptable by any medical standards: inappropriate nutrition, lack of temperature regulation (heating/cooling) in the accommodations and deficient hygiene. Hostile and ostracizing utterances from local inhabitants gathering in front of the camps constitute an additional burden for the refugees. Even though they may not understand the statements because of a language barrier, they get the gist via the tone and volume of the voices, quite clearly grasping that local antagonists are demanding their immediate removal. As can be seen in Table 1, the patients we have assessed so far have anxiety-related symptoms (criteria B–E, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition; DSM-V), including unrest, sleeping difficulties and flashbacks, which, in conjunction with the recently experienced events of war, forced migration and torture (criterion A ‘stressor,’ DSM-V), lead to the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As epidemiological data show, 50% of the individuals who became victims of war, forced migration and torture meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Patients with PTSD exhibit altered hypothalamus pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis activity. In addition, there are data supporting dysfunction of stress hormones in PTSD, with the possibility of intergenerational transmission for three generations. Stress and HPA axis dysregulation are elements of the pathophysiology of several disorders, including depression and Cushing’s and Addison’s disease. For an initial evaluation of HPA activity, single blood samples for the determination of adrenocorticotropin hormone and cortisol levels are commonly used, followed by further diagnostic tests such as those for midnight saliva cortisol concentrations and 24-h excretion of cortisol in the urine, as well as several additional functional tests, such as the corticotropin-releasing hormone–dexamethasone suppression test. However, because ultradian and circadian variability make it difficult to evaluate the long-term activity state of the HPA axis, it would be highly desirable to have a biomarker of long-term HPA function, comparable to the HbA1c value in diabetes mellitus. Even with the limitation of current methods, it has already been shown that with growing age, as well as with depression or in PTSD, the HPA axis may be subject to a ‘load factor’ whereby greater HPA activity in old age is accompanied by an increase in physical capacity. Chronic changes in endogenous glucocorticoid production are typically a result of prolonged stress exposure. Patients with depression, generalized anxiety disorders or PTSD may exhibit disrupted HPA axis activity. Continuous activation of the HPA with chronically elevated cortisol concentrations may also result in downregulation of the glucocorticoid receptor or the corticotropin-releasing hormone system, as well as in telomere Table 1. Early demographic data from a sample of psychiatric evaluations of refugees in Dresden, Germany, in 2015 (N= 23)