The nu(5) antisymmetric stretching mode of linear C(7) revisited in high resolution.

The nu(5) antisymmetric stretching mode of the linear carbon cluster C(7) has been revisited using a sensitive high-resolution spectrometer, including an external-cavity quantum cascade laser covering the range of interest of 1894-1901 cm(-1). 50 transitions of the nu(5)-band have been recorded and analyzed together with 45 transitions of the nu(4)-band measured by Neubauer-Guenther et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 127, 014313 (2007)]. We determined the band centers, rotational and centrifugal constants very precisely. In addition, 29 hot band transitions have been measured and tentatively assigned to the nu(5)+nu(11)-nu(11) hot band. A global fit of the hot bands nu(5)+nu(11)-nu(11) and nu(4)+nu(11)-nu(11) is presented. Derived l-type doubling constants allow for an experimental estimation of the nu(11)-band center.

[Local health policies and health planning from the viewpoint of the decision-makers of the local authorities]. / Lokale Gesundheitspolitik und Gesundheitsplanung aus der Sicht der EntscheidungsträgerInnen des kommunalen politisch-administrativen Systems.

In 1997 the new law about Public Health Service (OGDG) in Northrhine-Westfalia was put into operation. It included two new sets of compulsory tasks: local health reporting (GBE) and local health conferences (KGK). These new tasks are installed as planning and steering instruments aiming for a better health-care on the local level. The central object is the knowledge-based formation of local health policies. Thereby, local representatives concerned with health and social services should participate as well as administrators and politicians. Since the middle of the 1990 s both new tasks have been established by the public health department of the county of Heinsberg in Northrhine-Westfalia. The experience of this department over almost ten years is the background for the empirical research project that is described in this paper. The study investigates the vocational practices, the decision-making and the health-related attitudes of the relevant local administrative and political representatives. The impulse for the start of the study was given by the constant reluctance of political and administrative top managers to make use of these new planning instruments in agenda setting and decision making. 44 high-ranking staff members and politicians (mayors, party chairmen, heads of departments far beyond the health office) were personally interviewed. Although they are not part of the health administration they claim to be occupied with quite a few health-related tasks. The overlapping of their set of tasks with the local health policies is evident for the interviewed managers. How-ever, this does not cause them to use the two new planning instruments. In particular, they do not participate in the local health conferences. They rather prefer the traditional path of policy making (parties, committees, fractions) even if these paths are less efficient than the new ones. The health conference is much more used by health-service providers as a platform for setting priorities and organising their implementation effectively. So far, the inclusion of the other local representatives (administrative managers, etc.) although they are concerned with health issues has not been achieved. This is also true for local politicians who are responsible for health-care policies. The authors of the paper see it to be the task of the local public health department to convince all these players that the health conference is a productive tool and a useful platform for the discussion of the health problems in the county and the coordination of necessary actions to be taken. The most important focus point is seen in the intersection of health policies with other local policies.

[The self-help groups' need for support as seen by the participants]. / Unterstützungsbedarf gesundheitsbezogener Selbsthilfegruppen aus der Sicht der TeilnehmerInnen--Eine Studie zur Situation von Selbsthilfegruppen und -organisationen im Rahmen der Kommunalen Gesundheitskonferenz im Kreis Wesel (Nordrhein-Westfalen).

BACKGROUND: Since section 20(4) of the revised German Social Code Book V became effective in 2001, German statutory health insurance providers are obliged to support self-help groups (SHG) financially. Additionally, public health services in North Rhine-Westphalia have--according to the "Law for Public Health Services"--to establish district health conferences (DHC) designed to coordinate medical and social care. The DHC of the district of Wesel (population;500,000) decided to choose the "coordination of health-related SHG" as their first topic. In this framework the aim of the study was to quantify the need for development and promotion of health-related SHG from the perspective of SHG. METHODS: Collection of primary data in 120 SHG in the district of Wesel by a questionnaire with a return of 77 analysable answers (Rate 64 %). RESULTS: From the perspective of SHG in the district of Wesel a need for assistance/promotion exists primarily in: Training group leaders, chairman (55% of the entries), recruitment/placement of experts (53% of the entries, and public relation/"Advertisement" (52% of the entries. In the first place, a need for development is seen in an improvement of cooperation with the professional sector, especially with office-based physicians DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: The results of this study quantify and specify SHGs' need for support on district level from the perspective of SHG. These results can be used for local public health policy and health planning.

Place of residence as a health resort for rheumatic patients.

This paper deals with institutional aspects of health promotion in relation to a research programme comprising five projects currently in operation in various regions of the Federal Republic of Germany. The aim of these projects, which are supported at the federal level, is to provide locally based, interdisciplinary care for rheumatic patients throughout the course of the disease. Different organizational means are applied by the different projects to realize these goals. The project described here started in 1985 in Unna, a small town of some 60,000 inhabitants located in the Ruhr area. It involves intensive efforts in health promotion, the aim being to firmly establish self-help activities in everyday life. The following gives an overview of the project, its objective, structure and programme--especially the "cure seminars" organized on an outpatient basis--and some of the difficulties encountered with regard to practical implementation and the long-term provision of health-oriented care. The last part of the paper deals with the research component of the model.

[Possibilities and limits of daily coping with illness by patients with chronic polyarthritis]. / Möglichkeiten und Grenzen alltäglicher Krankheitsbewältigung durch cP-Patienten.

A central problem of persons with chronic polyarthritis is the necessary adaptation to deteriorating health in everyday activities. Difficulties and burdens of this adaptation are parts of the study undertaken in the Unna Model, which was part of the research on "Local Services for CP-Patients". In the first part two female patients are described with regards to these everyday problems of "normalization", i.e., including health conditions resp. daily activities. An important element is the microsocial context: mutual expectations and support in the family and at the work place. In the second part some quantitative results of interviews with 93 cP-patients are presented. They show the importance that is given by these interviewed persons to these daily adaptations, self help, and support.