Asthma and allergies: is the farming environment (still) protective in Poland? The GABRIEL Advanced Studies

BACKGROUND Evidence exists that a farming environment in childhood may provide protection against atopic respiratory disease. In the GABRIEL project based in Poland and Alpine regions of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, we aimed to assess whether a farming environment in childhood is protective against allergic diseases in Poland and whether specific exposures explain any protective effect. METHODS In rural Poland, 23 331 families of schoolchildren completed a questionnaire enquiring into farming practices and allergic diseases (Phase I). A subsample (n = 2586) participated in Phase II involving a more detailed questionnaire on specific farm exposures with objective measures of atopy. RESULTS Farming differed between Poland and the Alpine centres; in the latter, cattle farming was prevalent, whereas in Poland 18% of village farms kept ≥1 cow and 34% kept ≥1 pig. Polish children in villages had lower prevalences of asthma and hay fever than children from towns, and in the Phase II population, farm children had a reduced risk of atopy measured by IgE (aOR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.57, 0.91) and skin prick test (aOR = 0.65, 95% CI 0.50, 0.86). Early-life contact with grain was inversely related to the risk of atopy measured by IgE (aOR = 0.66, 95% CI 0.47, 0.92) and appeared to explain part of the farming effect. CONCLUSION While farming in Poland differed from that in the Alpine areas as did the exposure-response associations, we found in communities engaged in small-scale, mixed farming, there was a protective farming effect against objective measures of atopy potentially related to contact with grain or associated farm activities.

Health-related quality of life in rural children living in four European countries: the GABRIEL study

OBJECTIVE Measuring children's health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is of growing importance given increasing chronic diseases. By integrating HRQOL questions into the European GABRIEL study, we assessed differences in HRQOL between rural farm and non-farm children from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland to relate it to common childhood health problems and to compare it to a representative, mostly urban German population sample (KIGGS). METHODS The parents of 10,400 school-aged children answered comprehensive questionnaires including health-related questions and the KINDL-R questions assessing HRQOL. RESULTS Austrian children reported highest KINDL-R scores (mean: 80.9; 95 % CI [80.4, 81.4]) and Polish children the lowest (74.5; [73.9, 75.0]). Farm children reported higher KINDL-R scores than non-farm children (p = 0.002). Significantly lower scores were observed in children with allergic diseases (p < 0.001), with sleeping difficulties (p < 0.001) and in overweight children (p = 0.04). The German GABRIEL sample reported higher mean scores (age 7-10 years: 80.1, [79.9, 80.4]; age 11-13 years: 77.1, [74.9, 79.2]) compared to the urban KIGGS study (age 7-10 years: 79.0, [78.7-79.3]; age 11-13 years: 75.1 [74.6-75.6]). Socio-demographic or health-related factors could not explain differences in HRQOL between countries. CONCLUSIONS Future increases in chronic diseases may negatively impact children's HRQOL.

Fürst Bismarck und der Antisemitismus

Josef Popper

Der rabbinische Rationalismus : eine Unterredung d. Grafen Gabriel (Tureson) von Oxenstirn mit d. Rabbiner Isac Vita Cantarini aus Padua (1693)

mit Vorw., Einl. u. Anm. von Samuel Modlinger. Aus d. Französ. mit Textbeil.

Eenige blikken in de negentiende aflevering van het "Beredeneerd Hebr. - en Chald. - Nederl. - Woordenboek bewerkt naar de Grammaticale en Lexicale Werken von Fürst, Landau, Gesenius, Vater en anderen, door I. Waterman"

Philip Elte

Die Juden in Ungarn und Siebenbürgen in alter Zeit. Antwort an "Dr.G." auf seine "Erwiderung" in Nr. 7746 des "Siebenbürgisch-Deutschen Tageblattes"

von A. Horovitz

Rezeption und Orthodoxie : gegenwärtiges Stadium dieser Angelegenheit. Nebst Beleuchtung antijüd. Agitationen Itzig Reichs ...; ein Beitr. z. Gesch. d. jüd. Partei-Streitigkeiten in Ungarn-Siebenbürgen

von M. Ehrentheil

Gabriel Riessers Leben nebst Mittheilungen aus seinen Briefen

von M. Isler

Gabriel Adler, weiland Bezirksrabbiner in Oberdorf : ein Lichtbild

von Alexander Elsässer

Gabriel Riesser, ein Rechtsanwalt : Vortrag im Mendelssohn-Verein zu Dresden

geh. von Emil Lehmann