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Positive Effekte kognitiver und physischer Trainings auf die Kognition gesunder alterer Menschen sind gut belegt. Zunehmend wird diskutiert, ob durch deren Kombination starkere Effekte erreicht werden konnen. In dieser Arbeit wird der Forschungsstand dazu aufgearbeitet. Vier randomisierte kontrollierte Studien (RCTs) und vier kontrollierte Studien wurden gefunden. In drei Studien, jedoch keiner RCT, wurde tatsachlich eine Uberlegenheit von kombiniertem Training im Vergleich zu Einzelinterventionen in Bezug auf die Kognition gefunden. Wenngleich also positive Hinweise vorliegen, ist der Forschungsstand aufgrund der insgesamt geringen Studienzahl, des Mangels an Evidenz aus RCTs und der mangelnden Vergleichbarkeit der Studien hinsichtlich der Studiendesigns, der Art der Intervention und der Messzeitpunkte als unzureichend zu bewerten. Forschungslucken werden aufgezeigt, wesentliche Aspekte fur zukunftige Studien genannt und mogliche neurobiologische Mechanismen von Trainingseffekten diskutiert.

There is significant evidence for the positive effects of cognitive and physical training on cognition in healthy older adults. Recently, it has been discussed whether stronger effects could be reached with a combination of both interventions. This review analyses the current state of research about this topic. Four randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and four controlled trials were found. Three of these studies (none of which were RCTs) in fact showed the superiority of combined training when compared to single interventions. However, even if positive evidence exists, the current state of research has to be evaluated as insufficient due to the small number of studies, the lack of evidence from RCTs and the lack of comparability of study designs, types of interventions, and test intervals used so far. Gaps in the current state of research are identified, relevant aspects of future studies are listed and possible neurobiological mechanisms of training effects are discussed.

We studied whether common shared environmental or behavioral risk factors, other than tobacco smoking, underlie both atherosclerotic diseases and cancer. We identified a group of 96,891 one-year survivors of acute myocardial infarct through the Danish Hospital Discharge Register between 1977 and 1989. We calculated the incidence of cancer in this group by linking it to the Danish Cancer Registry for the period 1978-1993. There was no consistent excess over the expected figures for any of the categories of cancer not related to tobacco smoking. Specifically, the rates of colorectal cancer in acute myocardial infarct patients were similar to those of the general population, as were the rates for hormone-related cancers, including endometrial and postmenopausal breast cancers. We found a moderate increase in the risk for tobacco-related cancers, which was strongest for patients with early onset of acute myocardial infarct and for female patients. Overall, there do not seem to be major shared environmental or behavioral risk factors for acute myocardial infarct and cancers, except for smoking, and there seems to be no common inherited susceptibility to the development of these diseases.

We studied whether exposure to Agent Orange and its contaminant, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (dioxin), during the Vietnam War is related to current testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, or testicular abnormalities, sperm count, sperm abnormalities, or testicular volume. The index subjects were veterans of-Operation Ranch Hand, the unit responsible for aerial herbicide spraying in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971. The referent cohort comprises Air Force veterans who served in Southeast Asia during the same period but were not involved with spraying herbicides. Referents were matched to Ranch Hands on date of birth, race, and military occupation. We found no consistent or meaningful association between serum dioxin levels and any of these outcome variables.

The possible relationship between exposure to Agent Orange and its contaminant, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (dioxin), during the Vietnam War and chloracne was investigated. The index subjects were veterans of Operation Ranch Hand, the unit responsible for aerial herbicide spraying in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971. Other Air Force veterans who served in Southeast Asia during the same period, but who were not involved with spraying herbicides, served as comparisons. None of the Ranch Hand veterans were diagnosed with chloracne; therefore, we restricted our analyses to acne. We found no meaningful or consistent association between dioxin exposure and prevalence of acne without or with regard to anatomical location. These results suggested that exposure of Ranch Hand veterans to dioxin was insufficient for the production of chloracne or perhaps the exposure may have caused chloracne that resolved and was currently undetectable.

We studied paternal exposure to Agent Orange and its dioxin contaminant (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) and preterm birth, intrauterine growth retardation, or infant death in veterans of Operation Ranch Hand, the unit responsible for spraying herbicides during the Vietnam war. A Comparison group of Air Force veterans who served in Southeast Asia during the same time period and who were not occupationally exposed to herbicides was included. We studied children conceived during or after the father's service in Southeast Asia and based exposure on paternal dioxin measured in 1987 or 1992 extrapolated to the time of conception of the child. We assigned each child to one of four exposure categories: Comparison and three Ranch Hand categories (Background, Low, High). Children in the High (relative risk = 1.3) and Background (relative risk = 1.4) categories were at increased risk of preterm birth. The risk of intrauterine growth retardation was not increased in any exposure category. The risk of infant death was increased in all Ranch Hand children, with the greatest increases in the High (relative risk = 4.5) and Background (relative risk = 3.2) categories. These patterns indicate that the increases in the relative risk of preterm birth and infant death may not be related to paternal dioxin level.

We summarize the distribution of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (dioxin) in 1,302 Air Force veterans who serve as controls in a 20-year prospective epidemiologic study of health and exposure to herbicides and their dioxin contaminant in Air Force veterans of Operation Ranch Hand, the unit responsible for aerial spraying of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam. We present statistics summarizing the dioxin distribution overall and by stratum of age and body mass index of these veterans. The average dioxin measurement was 4.23 and the standard deviation was 2.53 parts per trillion. With 95% confidence, 99% of the distribution is less than or equal to 10.4 parts per trillion.

The last two decades brought a rich harvest of information about the outer planets, their satellites, and their ring systems that dramatically improved our knowledge about these bodies and evolutionary processes in the Solar System. This progress was due both to the successful Pioneer and Voyager missions, and to progressively improved techniques of ground-based observations. These data give insight into numerous new phenomena and mechanisms operating on the outer planets and also give important clues about the intimate relationships between all objects of the Solar System family. Results from the Galileo probe and orbiter have taken us further along that track.

We studied whether exposure to Agent Orange and its contaminant, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (dioxin), during the Vietnam War is related to current testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, or testicular abnormalities, sperm count, sperm abnormalities, or testicular volume. The index subjects were veterans of-Operation Ranch Hand, the unit responsible for aerial herbicide spraying in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971. The referent cohort comprises Air Force veterans who served in Southeast Asia during the same period but were not involved with spraying herbicides. Referents were matched to Ranch Hands on date of birth, race, and military occupation. We found no consistent or meaningful association between serum dioxin levels and any of these outcome variables.

to assess the efficacy of aggressive nonsurgical therapy for urinary incontinence in women and to determine if it is advantageous to perform invasive urodynamic testing prior to initiating treatment.We subjectively assessed 202 incontinent women three months to four years following nonsurgical therapy for urinary incontinence. Therapy in all patients included behavioral modification in the form of timed voiding and pelvic floor exercises. Depending on the suspected diagnosis and menopausal state, patients were also treated with various combinations of pharmacologic agents and estrogen replacement therapy. Based on initial evaluation, patient preference and referring physician preference, 100 women were started on therapy after a minimal evaluation, while 102 women were treated based on invasive urodynamic testing. A subjective assessment of treatment outcome was made via a telephone interview in which patients were asked standardized questions.One hundred nineteen cases (59%) were subjectively improved or cured with nonsurgical therapy. Performing urodynamic testing prior to initiating therapy did not increase the overall success rate: 69 of 100 patients (69%) treated on the basis of history, physical examination and a minimal office evaluation were improved or cured, while only 50 of 102 patients (49%) having electronic multichannel urodynamic testing were improved or cured.All women with urinary incontinence should be initially offered nonsurgical therapy since a large percentage will obtain satisfactory results. It is not beneficial or cost-effective to perform electronic urodynamic testing prior to initiating therapy.

We studied whether paternal exposure to Agent Orange and its dioxin contaminant (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) during the Vietnam War is related to adverse reproductive outcomes after service in Southeast Asia. The index cohort comprises conceptions and children of veterans of Operation Ranch Hand, the unit responsible for aerial spraying of herbicides in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971. The comparison cohort comprises conceptions and children of Air Force veterans who served in Southeast Asia during the same period but who were not involved with spraying herbicides. We found no meaningful elevation in risk for spontaneous abortion or stillbirth. In analyses of birth defects, we found elevations in risk in some organ system categories, which, after review of the clinical descriptions, were found to be not biologically meaningful. There was an increase in nervous system defects in Ranch Hand children with increased paternal dioxin, but it was based on sparse data. We found no indication of increased birth defect severity, delays in development, or hyperkinetic syndrome with paternal dioxin. These data provide little or no support for the theory that paternal exposure to Agent Orange and its dioxin contaminant is associated with adverse reproductive outcomes.

Twenty subjects made a total of 400 threshold visual acquisitions of T-38 aircraft approaching from 9 miles out. Half of the acquisitions were made with the subjects wearing yellow ophthalmic filters, and the other half without filters. No overall statistically significant difference in acquisition performance due to the use of yellow filters was found.

This report investigates the relationship between birth defects and reproductive outcomes versus paternal TCDD levels among children and conceptions of members of Operation Ranch Hand, the unit responsible for the aerial spraying of herbicides in Vietnam and a comparison group. At a baseline physical examination in 1982 and again in 1985 and 1987, participants were asked to report occurrences of birth defects, miscarriages, stillbirths, infant deaths and neonatal deaths of their children. The birth defect status and outcome of all conceptions (N = 10,843) fathered by participants were verified by medical record review. Of these, 8,099 resulted in live births and birth defect status verified for 8,090 (99.9%). During the same period, the Air Force collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control to assay blood of the 1987 physical examination participants for 2,3,7,8 TCDD. The final interpretation of these data is deferred, pending further analyses.

OBJECTIVE : To assess the efficacy of aggressive nonsurgical therapy for urinary incontinence in women and to determine if it is advantageous to perform invasive urodynamic testing prior to initiating treatment. STUDY DESIGN : We subjectively assessed 202 incontinent women three months to four years following nonsurgical therapy for urinary incontinence. Therapy in all patients included behavioral modification in the form of timed voiding and pelvic floor exercises. Depending on the suspected diagnosis and menopausal state, patients were also treated with various combinations of pharmacologic agents and estrogen replacement therapy. Based on initial evaluation, patient preference and referring physician preference, 100 women were started on therapy after a minimal evaluation, while 102 women were treated based on invasive urodynamic testing. A subjective assessment of treatment outcome was made via a telephone interview in which patients were asked standardized questions. RESULTS : One hundred nineteen cases (59%) were subjectively improved or cured with nonsurgical therapy. Performing urodynamic testing prior to initiating therapy did not increase the overall success rate : 69 of 100 patients (69%) treated on the basis of history, physical examination and a minimal office evaluation were improved or cured, while only 50 of 102 patients (49%) having electronic multichannel urodynamic testing were improved or cured. CONCLUSION : All women with urinary incontinence should be initially offered nonsurgical therapy since a large percentage will obtain satisfactory results. It is not beneficial or cost-effective to perform electronic urodynamic testing prior to initiating therapy.

The last two decades brought a rich harvest of information about the outer planets, their satellites, and their ring systems that dramatically improved our knowledge about these bodies and evolutionary processes in the Solar System. This progress was due both to the successful Pioneer and Voyager missions, and to progressively improved techniques of ground-based observations. These data give insight into numerous new phenomena and mechanisms operating on the outer planets and also give important clues about the intimate relationships between all objects of the Solar System family. Results from the Galileo probe and orbiter have taken us further along that track.

The Air Force Health Study is a 20-year comprehensive assessment of the health of Air Force veterans of Operation Ranch Hand, the unit responsible for aerial spraying of herbicides in Vietnam. The study compares the health and noncombat mortality of Ranch Hand veterans with a comparison group of Air Force veterans primarily involved with cargo missions in Southeast Asia but who were not exposed to herbicides. This report summarizes the health of these veterans as determined at the third in a series of physical examinations. Nine hundred ninety-five Ranch Hands and 1299 comparison subjects attended the second follow-up examination in 1987. The two groups were similar in reported health problems, diagnosed skin conditions, and hepatic, cardiovascular, and immune profiles. Ranch Hands have experienced significantly more basal cell carcinomas than comparison subjects. The two groups were not different with respect to melanoma and systemic cancer.

Tribute is paid to those members of Commission 15 who have passed away since the last General Assembly: Dr. Ludwig BIERMANN, Dr. Nicholas BOBROVNIKOFF, Dr. Richard Heinrich GIESE, Dr. Marie-Therese MARTEL, Dr. Reginald WATERFIELD.The Commission had one Business Session, two Science Sessions on “News in Cometary Research” (organized by C. Arpigny), one Science Session on “News in Minor Planet Research” (organized by A.W. Harris), a Joint Discussion with Commission 20 on “Major Observing Programs and Data Bases” (organized by Y. Kozai and L. Kresak), and a Joint Discussion with Commission 22 on “Interrelation of Meteor Streams, Comets and Asteroids” (organized by P. Babadzhanov and L. Kresak)

The12C/13C isotope ratio in the interstellar medium and in stellar atmospheres is discussed and compared to the value found in the solar system and especially in comets. The cometary value (≥100) tends to be slightly above the terrestrial value and is definitively higher than that for interstellar molecular clouds (about 30 to 50).

In the nonparametric comparison of two treatments using paired data, one frequently obtains zeros when computing the absolute difference for each of the N pairs. While Wilcoxon recommends omitting the zeros, Pratt argues that all N differences should be ranked and that only the ranks associated with the nonzero differences (n) be used in the test. Tables of critical values of the Pratt signed rank statistic are presented for n = 5(1) 50 nonzero differences and Z = 0(1) 20 difference-scores of zero at two-tail probability levels of .10, .05, .02, and .01.

The period covered by this report, 1984 July to 1987 June, was of extraordinary importance for the progress of cometary physics. For the first time in the history, special space probes were launched to comets. Vega 1, Vega 2 and Giotto encountered P/Halley, providing us with the first close-up pictures of a cometary nucleus, its surface features, and with the first in situ measurements of the matter escaping from it. ICE, Suisei and Sakigake carried out measurements relevant to P/Giacobini-Zinner and P/Halley in interplanetary space. Unprecedented worldwide campaigns of ground-based observations, with the participation of about 1000 professional and 2000 amateur astronomers, were coordinated in 8 sections of the International Halley Watch. Additional measurements were made from artificial satellites, sounding rockets, and highflying airplanes. The wealth of data collected in this way, to a major extent thanks to an excellent international cooperation, represents a milestone in cometary astronomy. Another important step was the progress in processing the extensive 1983 IRAS observations of minor planets and comets, including the discovery of asteroid dust bands and cometary dust trails.

Optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of the eclipsing binary SV Cen were used to derive orbital elements and absolute dimensions of the peculiar early-type contact system. UV spectroscopic observations obtained with the IUE satellite yielded the detection of mass loss from the system forming an expanding circumbinary envelope. SV Cen exhibits a non-uniform rate of period decrease, with major variations on a time scale of a few years. The period changes are explained in terms of loss of angular momentum carried away by the ejected matter. Short-term fluctuations of the stellar wind on a time scale of a few hours were found from an analysis of the envelope line profiles of UV resonance lines. A model of the system is derived, and the evolutionary stage and interaction processes are discussed.

In 1925 a photographic search for new variable stars was begun at the Remeis-Observatory in Bamberg. Initially the sky patrol covered only the northern hemisphere, but in 1964 it was also extended to the southern sky. At the individual observing stations, the sky is systematically photographed with several wide-angle patrol cameras which are attached to the same mounting, and which have f/6 Tessar lenses of 4-inch aperture. Each camera covers a 13-by-13 degree field. The plates are usually exposed for one hour and a photographic magnitude of 14m is reached.

The photometric variability of CPD-48°1577 in the optical and IR ranges is discussed. The structure and variation of prominent emission line profiles are investigated. An estimate of the distance is given.

During the XlXth General Assembly of the IAU in Delhi the number of members of Cotrmission 42 increased to 260. This simply reflects the growing interest and importance of our field. Growing is not only the number of astronomers involved in research on CBS but also the number of papers resulting from that activity. As an example one can quote the numbers of papers listed during the last few years in Sections 117 (Close Binaries), 119 (Eelipsing Binaries), and 120 (Spectroscopic Binaries) of theAstronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts:705(1982), 775(1983), 836(1984), 1080(1985), and 911(1986); note that many additional references could be added to these numbers from other sections. Naturally, such numbers alone do not reflect the quality and even less so the position and significance of the CBS field. Here one could perhaps mention an impressive record of successful research proposals involving requests for the observing time on large, ground based telescopes and on space instruments. Indeed, in spite of a very strong competition from other fields, programs involving CBS are usually placed very high on the priority lists (cf. Sections 2D and 2E). Obviously, the close binary systems, their evolution, and the physical processes which occur in them (accretion, stellar winds, nuclear burning, etc) appear interesting and important not only to those who are involved in their studies but also to astronomers from other fields.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the prevalence of the palato-gingival groove in maxillary incisor teeth and the health status of the lingual periodontal tissues adjacent to maxillary incisor teeth with and without the grooves. A total of 531 individuals aged 17 to 35 years were examined for the presence or absence of palato-gingival grooves in their maxillary incisor teeth. A Plaque Index (PII), Gingival Index (GI), and Periodontal Disease Index (PDI) were recorded for the lingual aspect of the four maxillary incisors. Tooth mobility was also recorded. The prevalence of the palato-gingival grooves in the 531 individuals examined was 8.5%. Of the 2,099 maxillary incisor teeth examined, 2.33% had a palato-gingival groove. Most of the palato-gingival grooves (93.8%) were in maxillary lateral incisor teeth. Statistical analyses revealed no differences in groove prevalence on the basis of sex or race. Results of the study also indicate that the palato-gingival groove is associated with poorer periodontal health as measured by the GI and PDI and more plaque accumulation as measured with the PII.

The ultraviolet spectrum of the close binary UW CMa, obtained with the Copernicus (OAO-3) and IUE satellites in the wavelength region from 1010 to 1510 A and from 1200 to 3000 A, respectively, is analyzed. The observed P Cygni line profiles are compared with theoretically predicted profiles formed by isotropic and coherent scattering in a spherically symmetric expanding circumstellar envelope. Tables illustrate the identified stellar lines, laboratory wavelengths, and line strengths in terms of peak height for emission or central depth for absorption components, normalized to the local stellar continuum.