University of Hamburg

About: University of Hamburg is a education organization based out in Hamburg, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Laser. The organization has 45564 authors who have published 89286 publications receiving 2850161 citations. The organization is also known as: Hamburg University.

Brain gray matter decrease in chronic pain is the consequence and not the cause of pain.

Abstract: Recently, local morphologic alterations of the brain in areas ascribable to the transmission of pain were reported in patients suffering from chronic pain. Although some authors discussed these findings as damage or loss of brain gray matter, one of the key questions is whether these structural alterations in the cerebral pain-transmitting network precede or succeed the chronicity of pain. We investigated 32 patients with chronic pain due to primary hip osteoarthritis and found a characteristic gray matter decrease in patients compared with controls in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right insular cortex and operculum, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), amygdala, and brainstem. We then investigated a subgroup of these patients (n = 10) 6 weeks and 4 months after total hip replacement surgery, monitoring whole brain structure. After surgery, all 10 patients were completely pain free and we observed a gray matter increase in the DLPFC, ACC, amygdala, and brainstem. As gray matter decrease is at least partly reversible when pain is successfully treated, we suggest that the gray matter abnormalities found in chronic pain do not reflect brain damage but rather are a reversible consequence of chronic nociceptive transmission, which normalizes when the pain is adequately treated.

The Diarrheal Response of Humans to Some Classic Serotypes of Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli is Dependent on a Plasmid Encoding an Enteroadhesiveness Factor

Abstract: Isolates of the most common O serogroups of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) associated with infant diarrhea (designated class I) adhere to Hep-2 cells; the genes for this adhesin, termed EPEC adherence factor (EAF), are located on plasmids 50-70 MDa in size. Volunteers ingested 10(10) organisms of an O127:H6 Hep-2-adhesive class I strain (E2348/69) or its plasmid-minus, nonadhesive derivative. Diarrhea occurred in nine of 10 volunteers who ingested the parent strain (mean, 1,178 ml) but in only two of nine who took the plasmid-minus variant (mean, 433 ml; P less than .006). All volunteers ill from strain E2348/69 mounted serum IgA and IgG responses to a 94-kDa plasmid-associated outer membrane protein of E2348/69; this protein was found in other class I EPEC but not in enterotoxigenic or meningitic strains. The 50-70-MDa EAF plasmid seems necessary for full expression of pathogenicity in EPEC that exhibit Hep-2 adhesiveness. EPEC isolates of certain other, less common, O serogroups (O44, O86, and O114) are rarely Hep-2 adhesive. These EPEC, designated class II, possess distinct 50-70 MDa plasmids lacking EAF genes. Diarrhea was caused by 10(8) or 10(10) organisms of an O114:H2 class II EPEC strain (mean, 1,156 ml) in six of 11 volunteers. This result confirmed that class II EPEC are pathogenic by a mechanism not involving Hep-2 adhesiveness.

Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH): Guidelines for Diagnosis, Clinical Work-Up, and Treatment for Patients Till the Age of 18 Years

Abstract: These guidelines for the management of patients up to 18 years with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) have been set up by a group of experts involved in the Euro Histio Net project who participated in national or international studies and in peer reviewed publications. Existing guidelines were reviewed and changed where new evidence was available in the literature up to 2012. Data and publications have been ranked according to evidence based medicine and when there was a lack of published data, consensus between experts was sought. Guidelines for diagnosis, initial clinical work-up, and treatment and long-term follow-up of LCH patients are presented.

Possible light-induced superconductivity in K3C60 at high temperature.

Abstract: The use of light to control the properties of condensed-matter materials is a promising area of research, with the long-term prospect that it might lead to the development of quantum devices driven by light. In particular, it was shown recently that nonlinear excitation of certain phonons in bilayer copper oxides induces superconducting-like optical properties at temperatures far above the material's superconducting transition temperature (Tc). This effect was accompanied by the disruption of competing charge-density-wave correlations, explaining some, but not all, of the experimental results. Andrea Cavalleri and colleagues now report that by exciting metallic K3C60 with mid-infrared optical pulses, they can induce a large increase in carrier mobility, accompanied by the opening of a gap in the optical conductivity. Strikingly, these same signatures are observed at equilibrium when K3C60 cools below its Tc of 20 K.

Myf-6, a new member of the human gene family of myogenic determination factors: evidence for a gene cluster on chromosome 12.

Abstract: The Myf-6 gene, a novel member of the human gene family of muscle determination factors has been detected by its highly conserved sequence coding for a putative helix-loop-helix domain. This sequence motif is a common feature of all Myf factors and other regulatory proteins. The new Myf gene is located on human chromosome 12, approximately 6.5 Kb upstream of the Myf-5 locus in a closely linked cluster of myogenic determination genes. Myf-6 cDNAs were isolated from human and mouse skeletal muscle, the only tissue in which expression of the corresponding mRNA was observed. In contrast to human primary muscle cell cultures which express moderate levels of Myf-6 mRNA, most established rodent muscle cell lines completely lack this mRNA. Myogenic 10T1/2 cells, however, induced by the expression of either pEMSV-Myf-4 or pEMSV-Myf-5 activate their endogenous mouse Myf-6 gene. Constitutive expression of Myf-6 cDNA in C3H 10T1/2 fibroblasts establishes the muscle phenotype at a similar frequency to the previously characterized myogenic factors. Moreover, muscle-specific CAT reporter constructs containing either the human myosin light chain (MLC) enhancer or the promoter of the embryonic myosin light chain gene are activated in NIH 3T3 fibroblasts or in CV1 kidney cells by cotransfection of Myf-6 expression vehicles. This transcriptional activation occurs in the absence of any apparent conversion of the cellular phenotype of the recipient cells. Glutathione-S-transferase fusion proteins with Myf-3, Myf-4 or Myf-5 specifically bind to a MEF-like consensus sequence present in the human MLC enhancer and the MLC1 emb promoter. In contrast, the Myf-6 hybrid protein interacts weakly with the same sequences showing lower affinity and reduced specificity. Since co-expressed pEMSV-Myf-6, nevertheless, is able to activate transcription of the MLC-CAT reporter constructs in non-muscle tissue culture cells, the different DNA binding properties in vitro might suggest that transactivation of gene expression by Myf-6 involves distinct binding sites and/or additional protein factors.