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The article presents information on the 2012 German church music initiative "366+1, Kirche klingt 2012." The author offers information on the concerts of church and sacred music which took place within the context of the initiative, examines the funding of the initiative by the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland and the Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien media ministry of Germany.

News briefs pertaining to church music in Germany are offered. The author announces the online availability of continuing education courses and conferences on church music at www.miz.org/kurse-kongresse.html and discusses the publication of a mobile device application by the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland church society.

Purpose: In 1994 a prospective study of the ‘Arbeitsgemeinschaft Radiologische Onkologie’ of the German Cancer Society was initiated to examine the results of a standardized radiation therapy for choroidal metastases with 40 Gy. Recommendations in the literature vary from 21 to 50 Gy of total dose and from 2 to 5 Gy per single fraction. To date, no larger series treated with both a standardized technique and dose has been reported.Patients and methods: Between 1994 and 1998, 56 patients were enrolled and 50 patients with 65 involved eyes were available for analysis. Thirty-five patients (70%) had unilateral and 15 patients (30%) had bilateral choroidal metastases. Fifty eyes (77%) were symptomatic and 15 eyes (23%) were asymptomatic. Thirty-one patients (62%) had breast cancer and 13 patients (26%) lung cancer as the primary tumor. Patients were treated with 40 Gy in 20 fractions with bilateral asymmetric fields for bilateral or a unilateral field for unilateral choroidal metastasis. Seventeen patients had additional chemotherapy after radiotherapy for general tumor progression.Results: With a median follow-up of 5.8 months (1–44 months) 41 out of 50 patients were dead. The median survival of all patients was 7 months and for patients with breast cancer 10 months. Of the 50 symptomatic eyes visual acuity increased for two or more lines in 36% (18/50), was stabilized in 50% (25/50 eyes), and decreased in 14% (7/50). No patient with asymptomatic metastasis (n=15 eyes) developed ocular symptoms during follow-up. No patient with unilateral tumor and unilateral irradiation developed contralateral metastasis. Severe side effects, possibly related to tumor progression, occurred in three eyes (5%).Conclusion: Radiation therapy with 40 Gy is an effective and safe palliative treatment for symptomatic and asymptomatic choroidal metastases to preserve vision in the majority of the patients. A unilateral field for unilateral metastasis seems to be sufficient to prevent contralateral disease. Side effects of radiotherapy are acceptable: 50% of patients developed a mild skin erythema and conjunctivitis (RTOG I). Late side effects were seen in three eyes (5%). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper reviews the traditional approach to sediment budget studies in geomorphology, new approaches and more specifically the potential impact of new methodological advances. Each component of the budget is discussed including the spatial and volumetric estimations of erosion, deposition and storage and the precision and accuracy of flux rate estimation. Examples are used from recent work in Germany, The Netherlands and the UK and include the pedogenic approach to erosion estimation, remote sensing (LiDAR), geophysics and sediment-based dating techniques for flux rate estimation. The precision and accuracy of catchment sediment flux estimates based upon sediment storage is not only dependant upon volumetric accuracy but also on the precision and accuracy of sediment dating. In this area there has been a revolution with direct sediment dating techniques (TL, OSL, ESR) freeing budget studies from the constraints and biases of radiocarbon. Of particular importance is the use of cosmogenic nuclides for dating but which can also be used to derive long-term erosion rates but only using a steady state assumption. Finally a tentative initial application of the sediment budget approach to Pleistocene terrace staircase in unglaciated basins is discussed. It is argued that only now do we have the techniques available to be able to produce accurate sediment budget estimations at spatial scales greater than that of zero order basins and over time periods greater than that covered by direct observations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

11 C-methionine (MET) has recently emerged as an accurate marker of tumor burden and disease activity in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). This dual-center study aimed at further corroboration of the superiority of MET as positron emission tomography (PET) tracer for staging and re-staging MM, as compared to 18 F-2`-deoxy-2`-fluoro-D-glucose (FDG). 78 patients with a history of solitary plasmacytoma (n=4), smoldering MM (SMM, n=5), and symptomatic MM (n=69) underwent both MET- and FDG-PET/computed tomography (CT) at the University Centers of Würzburg, Germany and Navarra, Spain. Scans were compared on a patient and on a lesion basis. Inter-reader agreement was also evaluated. In 2 patients, tumor biopsies for verification of discordant imaging results were available. MET-PET detected focal lesions (FL) in 59/78 subjects (75.6%), whereas FDG-PET/CT showed lesions in only 47 patients (60.3%; p<0.01), accordingly disease activity would have been missed in 12 patients. Directed biopsies of discordant results confirmed MET-PET/CT results in both cases. MET depicted more FL in 44 patients (56.4%; p<0.01), whereas in two patients (2/78), FDG proved superior. In the remainder (41.0%, 32/78), both tracers yielded comparable results. Inter-reader agreement for MET was higher than for FDG (κ = 0.82 vs κ = 0.72). This study demonstrates higher sensitivity of MET in comparison to standard FDG to detect intra- and extramedullary MM including histologic evidence of FDG-negative, viable disease exclusively detectable by MET-PET/CT. MET holds the potential to replace FDG as functional imaging standard for staging and re-staging of MM., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

Based on several case-control studies, it has been estimated that familial aggregation and genetic susceptibility play a role in up to 10% of patients with pancreatic cancer, although conclusive epidemiologic data are still lacking. Therefore, we evaluated the prevalence of familial pancreatic cancer and differences to its sporadic form in a prospective multicenter trial. A total of 479 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed, histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the pancreas were prospectively evaluated regarding medical and family history, treatment and pathology of the tumour. A family history for pancreatic cancer was confirmed whenever possible by reviewing the tumour specimens and medical reports. Statistical analysis was performed by calculating odds ratios, regression analysis with a logit-model and the Kaplan-Meier method. Twenty-three of 479 (prevalence 4.8%, 95% CI 3.1-7.1) patients reported at least 1 first-degree relative with pancreatic cancer. The familial aggregation could be confirmed by histology in 5 of 23 patients (1.1%, 95% CI 0.3-2.4), by medical records in 9 of 23 patients (1.9%, 95% CI 0.9-3.5) and by standardized interviews of first-degree relatives in 17 of 23 patients (3.5%, 95% CI 2.1-5.6), respectively. There were no statistical significant differences between familial and sporadic pancreatic cancer cases regarding sex ratio, age of onset, presence of diabetes mellitus and pancreatitis, tumour histology and stage, prognosis after palliative or curative treatment as well as associated tumours in index patients and families, respectively. The prevalence of familial pancreatic cancer in Germany is at most 3.5% (range 1.1-3.5%) depending on the mode of confirmation of the pancreatic carcinoma in relatives. This prevalence is lower than so far postulated in the literature. There were no significant clinical differences between the familial and sporadic form of pancreatic cancer., (Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Objective: To examine the influence of genetic variations in heat shock proteins on trauma outcome., Design: Prospective, noninterventional, single-center study., Setting: Level I trauma center., Subjects: Eighty consecutive severe multiple trauma patients., Interventions: None., Measurements and Main Results: Plasma concentrations of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha were measured over a 5-day course by chemiluminescence-immunoassay. The genotypes of the polymorphisms HSPA1B (HSP70-2) G1538A and HSPA1L (HSP70-Hom) C2437T were determined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction cleavage with PstlI or NcoI, respectively. Allele frequency of the HSPA1B 1538 G allele was 0.569, and that of the HSPA1L 2437 T allele was 0.821. Interleukin-6 concentrations rapidly increased and dropped to almost normal after 5 days, whereas tumor necrosis factor-alpha concentrations increased until day 5. Patients carrying the genotypes HSPA1B AG or HSPA1L CT had significantly higher plasma concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 compared with those with genotype GG or TT. Presence of the HSPA1L genotype CT also was a significant risk factor to develop liver failure (odds ratio, 4.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-14.1) and to acquire at least one complication severe enough to score three points according to the Denver multiple organ failure score (odds ratio, 3.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-9.2)., Conclusion: The data indicate that genetic variations of the heat shock proteins HSPA1B and HSPA1L may contribute to clinical outcome after severe injury.