Genetic variation in tumour necrosis factor and lymphotoxin is not associated with endometriosis in an Australian sample

BACKGROUND Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) is a pleiotropic cytokine with a wide range of immunoregulatory effects. Variation in the promoter region of TNF and the neighbouring lymphotoxin alpha (LTA) gene might be associated with endometriosis. METHODS We examined the association between endometriosis and common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or haplotypes in the TNF/LTA region in an Australian sample by analysing 26 SNPs in 958 endometriosis cases and 959 unrelated controls. We selected functional SNPs in the coding and the promoter region of the TNF gene and HapMap tagging SNPs and typed them on a Sequenom MassARRAY platform. A key SNP (rs1800630) in the promoter region typed in previous studies did not give reliable results. Therefore, we also examined a statistically identical (r(2) = 1) SNP (siSNP) (rs2844482), identified using the web based program ssSNPer. RESULTS Genotype completion rate was 99.5% for SNPs spanning a region of 15.5 kb across the TNF/LTA locus. There was no evidence for association between endometriosis and TNF/LTA SNPs or SNP haplotypes in our case-control study. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest both TNF and LTA genes are not major susceptibility genes for endometriosis.

Outdoor portrait of Erich von Kahler.

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Dosage consistency is the key factor in avoiding evolution of resistance to phosphine and population increase in stored-grain pests

BACKGROUND Control of pests in stored grain and the evolution of resistance to pesticides are serious problems worldwide. A stochastic individual-based two-locus model was used to investigate the impact of two important issues, the consistency of pesticide dosage through the storage facility and the immigration rate of the adult pest, on overall population control and avoidance of evolution of resistance to the fumigant phosphine in an important pest of stored grain, the lesser grain borer. RESULTS A very consistent dosage maintained good control for all immigration rates, while an inconsistent dosage failed to maintain control in all cases. At intermediate dosage consistency, immigration rate became a critical factor in whether control was maintained or resistance emerged. CONCLUSION Achieving a consistent fumigant dosage is a key factor in avoiding evolution of resistance to phosphine and maintaining control of populations of stored-grain pests; when the dosage achieved is very inconsistent, there is likely to be a problem regardless of immigration rate. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

Historian Herbert Strauss with CDU Mayor of West Berlin, Richard von Weizsacher.

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Eine Erinnerung an den Geburtstag von Frau Sobernheim (in memory of Mrs. Sobernheim's birthday); Wiesbaden Portraits Groups Women

Image 200 participants include Erna Behr, Lenka Bederheimer, Paula Arendt, Elsa Trum, Hedwig Trum, Ruth Rosenau, Johanna Schoenmann and Martha Bruchfeld

Dr. Curt Bejach, Stadtarzt von Berlin-Kreuzberg 1922-1933 portraits men

Dr. Curt Bejach was town physician of Berlin-Kreuzberg 1922 - 1933. He was born on Dec. 20, 1890, and died in Auschwitz in 1944

[Gedichte von Else Bergmann] 1930-1948

Photocopies of poems

[Testament von Selig Rosenthal und dessen Ehefrau Regine Rosenthal, geb. Michael].

Handwritten last will and testament (photocopy and typed transcript) of Selig Rosenthal and his wife Regine Rosenthal, née Michael, Gleicherwiesen (Thuringia, Germany), 1860.

Lernen im Team: Zusammenhänge zwischen Personen- und Teammerkmalen und der Leistung von Multiplikatoren [Learning in teams: Relationships between individual and team characteristics and the performance of multipliers]

The continuous mutual transfer of knowledge and skills within work teams is increasingly important for organizational practice. According to the situational and experience-based approaches of applied learning research, certain individual and social prerequisites have to be met for successful learning in teams. In a field study at an automobile production site, it was investigated which personal characteristics of multipliers and which characteristics of teams are related to the performance of multipliers in 31 teams with 291 coworkers. Using multi-level analyses (HLM), the amount of variance explained by the predictor variables in teaching success of multipliers and learning success of coworkers was examined. Results showed that multipliers' conscientiousness and team cohesion were related to teaching success of multipliers; extraversion and team cohesion were related to the learning success of coworkers. In closing, the scientific and practical implications for the investigation and promotion of work-based learning processes in teams are discussed.

Die Darstellung von Schwefeltetrafluorid aus den Elementen bei tiefer Temperatur in einem inerten Lösungsmittel

Schwefeltetrafluorid läßt sich in reiner Form in einer CCl3F-Lösung durch direkte Fluorierung von elementarem Schwefel bei -78°C in hoher Ausbeute darstellen.

Flying-Fox Species Density-A Spatial Risk Factor for Hendra Virus Infection in Horses in Eastern Australia

Hendra virus causes sporadic but typically fatal infection in horses and humans in eastern Australia. Fruit-bats of the genus Pteropus (commonly known as flying-foxes) are the natural host of the virus, and the putative source of infection in horses; infected horses are the source of human infection. Effective treatment is lacking in both horses and humans, and notwithstanding the recent availability of a vaccine for horses, exposure risk mitigation remains an important infection control strategy. This study sought to inform risk mitigation by identifying spatial and environmental risk factors for equine infection using multiple analytical approaches to investigate the relationship between plausible variables and reported Hendra virus infection in horses. Spatial autocorrelation (Global Moran’s I) showed significant clustering of equine cases at a distance of 40 km, a distance consistent with the foraging ‘footprint’ of a flying-fox roost, suggesting the latter as a biologically plausible basis for the clustering. Getis-Ord Gi* analysis identified multiple equine infection hot spots along the eastern Australia coast from far north Queensland to central New South Wales, with the largest extending for nearly 300 km from southern Queensland to northern New South Wales. Geographically weighted regression (GWR) showed the density of P. alecto and P. conspicillatus to have the strongest positive correlation with equine case locations, suggesting these species are more likely a source of infection of Hendra virus for horses than P. poliocephalus or P. scapulatus. The density of horses, climate variables and vegetation variables were not found to be a significant risk factors, but the residuals from the GWR suggest that additional unidentified risk factors exist at the property level. Further investigations and comparisons between case and control properties are needed to identify these local risk factors.

Das Tagebuch von Ilse Jacob 1940-1944 1940-1944

Diary of Ilse Jacob, born in Berlin in 1924. Emigrated on children's transport to England in 1940, later followed by her brother Hans. He was interned on the Isle of Man and later sent to Canada. At first Ilse Jacob was housed by the Jewish immigrant community, then got a position of bookkeeper in a store owned by a British Jew. Finally she was accepted by the ATS where she was trained as a cook for the military service. Eventually she passed the entry exams for the university.