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Background International humanitarian aid workers (iHAWs) are motivated strongly to travel abroad to help communities affected by war, famine, disaster and disease. They expose themselves to dangers and hardships during their field assignments. Despite working under such challenging circumstances, most workers remain healthy. The objective of the present study was to unravel the mechanism that enables workers to remain healthy under the same circumstances that affect these communities. We hypothesised that the different components of the Sense of Coherence (SOC) health mechanism mediate the relationship between field stressors and post-assignment health. Methods and findings The stress-health model was tested among 465 international aid workers using a longitudinal pre-post assignment study design and structural equation modelling for path analyses. The (health) outcome variables were PTSD, anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion, and work engagement. Our findings highlight the importance of being healthy before aid assignment and the negative health impact of field stressors that were not potentially traumatic. The SOC components mediated the relationship between field stress and post-assignment health, with males and females using different SOC components to alleviate stress. Males are more likely trying to understand the nature of the stressor, whereas females mobilise their resources to manage stressors. In both groups, a high level of meaningfulness of the work was an important component in maintaining health. Regarding using the SOC concept for understanding the process of maintaining health, our findings indicated that SOC is best considered context-specific and multidimensional. Conclusion In addition to good pre-mission health, the SOC components help prevent field assignment-related negative health effects in iHAWs. Our findings support the idea to compose gender-balanced teams of iHAWs to maintain and promote health. The findings can be used to develop or refine health conversation tools and SOC based health interventions to promote health and wellbeing and prevent ill-health among aid workers and other stress-exposed populations.

Current longitudinal disaster studies usually focus only on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), although some studies have shown that increased risks for other disorders and comorbidity is common. To obtain an insight into the course of postdisaster psychopathology, a community sample of survivors of the Enschede fireworks disaster was followed from 2-3 weeks to 4-years postdisaster. Diagnostic interviews (Composite International Diagnostic Interview [CIDI]; World Health Organization, 1997) and childhood stressor interviews were administered at 2-years postdisaster (n = 260); the CIDI was repeated at 4-years postdisaster (n = 201, response rate 77.3%). At 2-years postdisaster many survivors (40.6%) suffered from PTSD (21.8%), specific phobia (21.5%), and/or depression (16.1%). These disorders were highly comorbid. At 4-years postdisaster, prevalence significantly diminished. Instead of full recovery, diagnostic classifications shifted in several survivors over time. This resulted in low rates of PTSD but still elevated rates of depression and specific phobia. The course of the 3 entangled disorders of PTSD, depression, and specific phobia was further studied by constructing 4 groups of survivors based on the diagnostic status at 2- and 4-years postdisaster: healthy, recovered, chronic, and delayed-onset. Initial depressive symptoms, maternal dysfunction, childhood physical abuse, and disaster exposure were found to discriminate between the groups and predict long-term psychopathology.

Das reversible Bestrahlungsprodukt der Cytidylsäure konnte durch Dünnschichtchromatographie an Polyäthylenimin-Cellulose aus der Bestrahlungslösung abgetrennt und durch Vergleich mit dem auf chemischem Wege dargestellten Produkt (Umsetzung der Cp in wäßriger Lösung mit Br2 und anschließende katalytische hydrierende Debromierung) als 4-Hydroxy-dihydrocytidylsäure identifiziert werden. In analoger Weise gelang auch die Synthese des 4-Hydroxy-dihydrocytidins. Die Kinetik des Zerfalls der reversiblen Bestrahlungsprodukte von Cn, C und Cp wurde untersucht. Dabei zeigte sich, daß die Beständigkeit wie bei den Uracil-Derivaten in der Reihenfolge Cn, C, Cp - also in Richtung Nucleinsäure - wächst. Durch Verwendung einer besonderen Bestrahlungsanordnung (Hg-Niederdruckbrenner NK 25/7 der Quarzlampen-Gesellschaft, Hanau, mit einer 0,1-m. wäßrigen KBr-Lösung als Filter) gelang es, auch das allerdings sehr instabile reversible Bestrahlungsprodukt des Thymins nachzuweisen.

Der Zerfall der bei der UV-Bestrahlung von Uracil, Uridin, Uridin-2′ (3′) -phosphat, Uridin-5′-phosphat und Uridin-5′-triphosphat 3 entstehenden 6-Hydroxy-dihydrouracil-Derivate I in die entsprechenden Uracil-Verbindungen und Wasser wurde kinetisch bei verschiedenen Temperaturen und in verschiedenen Medien untersucht. Die kinetischen Messungen zeigen, daß der Zerfall sehr ausgeprägt durch den am N-1-Atom befindlichen Ribose- bzw. Ribosephosphat-Rest beeinflußt wird. Die Ursache dieser Beeinflussung wird diskutiert. In Übereinstimmung mit anderen von uns ausgeführten Untersuchungen 2c beweisen die Messungen, daß nicht ohne weiteres vom reaktiven Verhalten eines Pyrimidins selbst auf das des entsprechenden Nucleosids bzw. Nucleotids und damit auf das des Pyrimidin-Teils in der Nucleinsäure geschlossen werden kann.