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Mood disorder is the leading intrinsic risk factor for suicidal ideation. Questioning any potency of mood-stabilizers, the monovalent cation lithium still holds the throne in medical psychiatric treatment. Furthermore, lithium's anti-aggressive and suicide-preventive capacity in clinical practice is well established. But little is still known about trace lithium distribution and any associated metabolic effects in the human body. We applied a new technique (neutron-induced coincidence method "NIK") utilizing the 6Li(n,α)3H reaction for the position sensitive, 3D spatially resolved detection of lithium traces in post-mortem human brain tissue in suicide versus control. NIK allowed, for the first time in lithium research, to collect a three dimensional high resolution map of the regional trace lithium content in the non lithium-medicated human brain. The results show an anisotropic distribution of lithium, thus indicating a homeostatic regulation under physiological conditions as a remarkable link to essentiality. In contrast to suicide we could empirically prove significantly higher endogenous lithium concentrations in white compared to gray matter as a general trend in non-suicidal individuals and lower lithium concentrations in emotion-modulating regions in suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study assessed the publication performance of university departments of anesthesiology in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The number of publications, original articles, impact factors and citations were evaluated.Material and Methods: A search was performed in PubMed to identify publications related to anesthesiology from 2001 to 2010. All articles from anesthesiology journals listed in the fields of anesthesia/pain therapy, critical care and emergency medicine by the "journal citation report 2013" in Thomson Reuters ISI web of knowledge were included. Articles from non-anaesthesiology journals, where the stem of the word anesthesia (anes*, anaes*, anäst*, anast*) appears in the affiliation field of PubMed, were included as well. The time periods 2001-2005 and 2006-2010 were compared. Articles were allocated to university departments in Austria, Germany and Switzerland via the affiliation field.Results: A total of 45 university departments in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and 125,979 publications from 2,863 journals (65 anesthesiology journals, 2,798 non-anesthesiology journals) were analyzed. Of the publications 23 % could not be allocated to a given university department of anesthesiology. In the observation period the university department of anesthesiology in Berlin achieved most publications (n = 479) and impact points (1,384), whereas Vienna accumulated most original articles (n = 156). Austria had the most publications per million inhabitants in 2006-2010 (n=50) followed by Switzerland (n=49) and Germany (n=35). The number of publications during the observation period decreased in Germany (0.5 %), Austria (7 %) and Switzerland (8 %). Tables 2 and 4-8 of this article are available at Springer Link under Supplemental.Conclusions: The research performance varied among the university departments of anesthesiology in Germany, Austria and Switzerland whereby larger university departments, such as Berlin or Vienna published most. Publication output in Germany, Austria and Switzerland has decreased. Data processing in PubMed should be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Early broad-spectrum antimicrobial treatment reduces mortality in patients with septic shock. In a multicenter, prospective observational study, we explored whether delayed appropriate antimicrobial therapy (AAT) influences outcome in Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (SAB). Methods: Two hundred and fifty-six patients with SAB from ten German study centers were enrolled and followed for 3 months. Predisposing factors, clinical features, diagnostic procedures, antimicrobial therapy, and outcome were recorded. The appropriateness of antimicrobial therapy was judged by a trained physician based on in vitro activity, dosage, and duration of therapy. Therapy was considered to be delayed when more than 24 h elapsed between the first positive blood culture and the start of appropriate therapy. The association of delayed therapy with overall mortality and SAB-related events (i.e., attributable mortality or late SAB-related complications) was assessed by crosstabulation and propensity score-based logistic regression. Results: One hundred and sixty-eight patients received AAT during their hospital stay, of whom 42 (25 %) received delayed AAT. The overall mortality and the occurrence of severe sepsis or septic shock were lower in patients with delayed AAT, pointing towards confounding by indication. Adjusted 90-day mortality (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.91, 95 % confidence interval [CI] [0.39-2.13], p 0.82) and SAB-related events (adjusted OR 1.46, 95 % CI [0.47-4.51], p 0.52) also failed to show a significant impact of delayed AAT on outcome. Conclusion: In patients with SAB, early AAT may not improve survival. However, confounding by indication is a major challenge when analyzing and interpreting observational studies on the impact of delayed AAT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Both Alcaligenes eutrophus JMP 134 and its plasmid-free derivative Alcaligenes eutrophus JMP 222 utilize 2,6-dinitrophenol as sole source of carbon, energy, and nitrogen. In the presence of ammonia resting cells of these strains release two mol of nitrite per mol of 2,6-dinitrophenol. Alcaligenes eutrophus JMP 222-α1D, a mutant of strain JMP 222 obtained by transposon (Tn5) mutagenesis, is able to use 2,6-dinitrophenol as nitrogen source but not as source of carbon and energy. Resting cells of this mutant liberate only one mol of nitrite per mol of 2,6-dinitrophenol. A single metabolite was detected by high-pressure liquid chromatography and identified as 2-hydroxy-5-nitropenta-2,4-dienoic acid from the mass spectrum, the H-, and C-NMR spectra. Strain JMP 222-α1S, a spontaneous mutant of strain JMP 222-α1D, accumulates 4-nitropyrogallol which was identified as the initial metabolite of 2,6-dinitrophenol degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose that the same mechanism which leads to light-adaptation in invertebrate photoreceptors is responsible for the excitation of the receptor potential in vertebrates. Several qualitative and quantitative features of the vertebrate receptor response support this hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is already a textbook item that in patients with prostatic cancer stage T−T N0M0 radical prostatectomy is the only curative treatment. Radical prostatectomy is indicated also for patients in stage T N0M0 who underwent antiandrogenic (Fugerel) treatement for 3 months with the aim of reducing tumour volume. In the following 35 cases will be scrutinized, with special regard to preoperative staging and early postoperative complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]