University of Kiel

About: University of Kiel is a education organization based out in Kiel, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Transplantation. The organization has 27816 authors who have published 57114 publications receiving 2061802 citations. The organization is also known as: Christian Albrechts University & Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.

The IASP classification of chronic pain for ICD-11: chronic neuropathic pain.

Abstract: The upcoming 11th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) of the World Health Organization (WHO) offers a unique opportunity to improve the representation of painful disorders. For this purpose, the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) has convened an interdisciplinary task force of pain specialists. Here, we present the case for a reclassification of nervous system lesions or diseases associated with persistent or recurrent pain for ≥3 months. The new classification lists the most common conditions of peripheral neuropathic pain: trigeminal neuralgia, peripheral nerve injury, painful polyneuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, and painful radiculopathy. Conditions of central neuropathic pain include pain caused by spinal cord or brain injury, poststroke pain, and pain associated with multiple sclerosis. Diseases not explicitly mentioned in the classification are captured in residual categories of ICD-11. Conditions of chronic neuropathic pain are either insufficiently defined or missing in the current version of the ICD, despite their prevalence and clinical importance. We provide the short definitions of diagnostic entities for which we submitted more detailed content models to the WHO. Definitions and content models were established in collaboration with the Classification Committee of the IASP's Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group (NeuPSIG). Up to 10% of the general population experience neuropathic pain. The majority of these patients do not receive satisfactory relief with existing treatments. A precise classification of chronic neuropathic pain in ICD-11 is necessary to document this public health need and the therapeutic challenges related to chronic neuropathic pain.

The involution of the ageing human thymic epithelium is independent of puberty. A morphometric study.

Abstract: One hundred and thirty-six thymuses completely removed at autopsy from persons suffering a sudden death were examined by stereological and morphometrical methods. Adding biopsy material from immunologically healthy cardiac patients we obtained relative volumes from 204 persons ranging in age from 1 month to 107 years. The size of the human thymus remains unchanged during ageing under normal physiological conditions (median: 19.5 cm3). Individual maximum size (range: 5-70 cm3) is reached in the first year of life. Early histological changes are in the enlargement of the perivascular space, the Hassall's bodies, and the connective tissue. This begins in the first year of life, reaches a maximum from 10 to 25 years, then declines again. Adipose tissue replaces the lymphocytic perivascular space and the connective tissue only. This occurs extensively after the age of 15 years. When defined by the silver impregnation technique, the volumes of the thymic epithelium (cortex and medulla), show a continuous involution from the first year to the end of life. The curve can be approximated to simple negative logarithmic functions. The velocity and nature of involution of the thymic epithelium do not change under the influence of the changing hormonal balance due to puberty. Since important thymic functions (T lymphopoiesis and T-cell differentiation) are located in the epithelial space, the age-related involution of the human thymus is not related to puberty.

Mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa, TNF-alpha, and IL-1beta, but not IL-6, induce human beta-defensin-2 in respiratory epithelia

Abstract: Cultured lung epithelial cells release antibacterial activity upon contact with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA), which is impaired in cystic fibrosis (CF). In order to identify the factors responsible for killing PA by a biochemical approach, we purified antimicrobial activity from supernatants of the A549 lung epithelial cell line, previously stimulated with PA bacteria, by subsequent high performance liquid chromatography. NH(2)-terminal sequencing of a major bactericidal compound revealed it to be identical with human beta-defensin-2 (hBD-2). A mucoid phenotype of PA, but not two nonmucoid PA strains, high concentrations (> 10 microg/ml) of PA lipopolysaccharide, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin (IL)-1beta, but not IL-6, dose-dependently induced hBD-2 messenger RNA in cultured normal bronchial, tracheal, as well as normal and CF-derived nasal epithelial cells. Genomic analysis of hBD-2 revealed a promoter region containing several putative transcription factor binding sites, including nuclear factor (NF) kappaB, activator protein (AP)-1, AP-2, and NF-IL-6, known to be involved in the regulation of inflammatory responses. Thus, hBD-2 represents a major inducible antimicrobial factor released by airway epithelial cells either on contact with mucoid PA or by endogenously produced primary cytokines. Therefore, it might be important in lung infections caused by mucoid PA, including those seen in patients with CF.

Dimensions of Reading Motivation and Their Relation to Reading Behavior and Competence.

Abstract: This review of research examines the constructs of reading motivation and synthesizes research findings of the past 20 years on the relationship between reading motivation and reading behavior (amount, strategies, and preferences), and the relationship between reading motivation and reading competence (reading skills and comprehension). In addition, evidence relating to the causal role of motivational factors and to the role of reading behavior as a mediator of the effects of motivation on reading competence is examined. We identify seven genuine dimensions of reading motivation: curiosity, involvement, competition, recognition, grades, compliance, and work avoidance. Evidence for these dimensions comes from both quantitative and qualitative research. Moreover, evidence from previous studies confirms the positive contribution of intrinsic reading motivation, and the relatively small or negative contribution of extrinsic reading motivation, to reading behavior and reading competence. The positive contribution of intrinsic motivation is particularly evident in relation to amount of reading for enjoyment and reading competence and holds even when accounting for relevant control variables. However, the causal role of reading motivation and the mediating role of reading behavior remain largely unresolved issues.

Reference data for quantitative sensory testing (QST): Refined stratification for age and a novel method for statistical comparison of group data

Abstract: Clinical use of quantitative sensory testing (QST) requires standardization. The German research network on neuropathic pain (DFNS) solves this problem by defining reference data stratified for test site, gender and age for a standardized QST protocol. In this report we have targeted two further problems: how to adjust for age-related sensory changes, and how to compare groups of patients with the reference database. We applied a moving average across ages to define reference values per decade. This analysis revealed that women were more sensitive to heat pain independent of age. In contrast, functions were converging at older age for blunt pressure pain, but diverging for punctate mechanical pain (pin prick). The probability that an individual patient dataset is within the range of normal variability is calculated by z-transform using site-, gender- and age-specific reference data. To compare groups of patients with reference data, we evaluated two techniques: A: paired t-test versus fixed mean; i.e. the reference mean value is considered as the known population mean, B: non-paired t-test versus the reference dataset and number of cases restrained to the same number of cases as the patient data set. Simulations for various sample sizes and variances showed that method B was more conservative than method A. We present a simple way of calculating method B for data that have been z-normalized. This technique makes the DFNS reference data bank applicable for researchers beyond the DFNS community without a need for subsampling of subjects from the database.