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Epidemiological data provide evidence that diabetes mellitus is a highly relevant public health issue in Germany as in many other countries. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is in the process of building a national diabetes surveillance system that is aimed at establishing indicator-based public health monitoring of diabetes population dynamics using primary and secondary data. The purpose of the workshop was to conduct an inventory of available secondary data sources and to discuss data contents, data access, data analysis examples in addition to the options for ongoing data use for diabetes surveillance.

Side effects in the therapy of malignant melanoma are primarily of importance for radiologists in advanced tumor stages. The available treatment options and their respective side effect profiles have undergone a profound change in recent years after the introduction of modern oncological therapies (e.g. immunotherapy and targeted therapy) with an increasing focus on individual tumor biology and differ significantly from those of classical chemotherapy. The immunotherapeutic agents, in particular ipilimumab, take on a special position because of their specific immune-mediated mechanisms of action and the associated side effects, so-called immune-related adverse events (irAE). The majority of the treatment effects are manifested on the skin (> 50 %) and are generally not detectable by diagnostic radiology. Only a comparatively small proportion of treatment side effects is detectable with diagnostic imaging (15-20 %) but as in the example of therapy-induced colitis with ipilimumab, may be rapidly fatal. In addition to colitis (10-20 %) further therapy side effects apparent in diagnostic imaging are hypophysitis (1.8-17 %), thyroiditis (0.8 %), myositis (1.7 %), fasciitis and sarcoid-like lymph node alterations (6.8 %). To detect radiologically detectable side effects early on and to delineate them especially from tumor progression and (opportunistic) infections, detailed knowledge of the therapeutic methods for melanoma, the mechanisms of action and in particular the sometimes very specific side effects is imperative for radiologists.

In recent years, the use of tar-containing parquet glue led to intensive discussion because of the health effects associated with indoor pollution caused by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) contained in these materials. In addition to environmental tobacco smoke, fossil and organic fuels in stoves, cookers, firesides and other combustion processes contribute to the build up of PAH in the indoor environment. However, food remains to be the greatest source of PAH exposure to man; >90% of the daily PAH intake is food related. In the present review, an attempt will be made to throw light on the question of whether PAH exposure from indoor air sources may cause health effects.