[Newly developed biofeedback program for facial muscle training in patients with facial paralysis]. / Ein neu entwickeltes Biofeedbackprogramm zum Gesichtsmuskeltraining für Patienten mit Fazialisparese.

BACKGROUND: Patients with facial paralysis are significantly limited in their quality of life (QoL). If no irreversible nerve damage is apparent, intensive training of the facial muscles is recommended in addition to drug-based therapy with cortisone. In order to improve training, we have developed a digital biofeedback mirror with motion magnification to indirectly influence the vegetative nervous system. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to evaluate the reliability of the biofeedback program compared to clinical examination and classification according to House-Brackmann. METHODS: Our biofeedback system is similar to a mirror with the additional advantage of increasing a patient's self-control. It not only reflects the patient's image, but also potentiates movement through video processing and a magnifying function. For this purpose, patient's facial movements are filmed and amplified in real-time. Thus, even the smallest movements can be made visible and measured so that patients receive feedback on nerve regeneration. This can increase patient's motivation for daily facial muscle training and improve compliance. RESULTS: In the present study, restriction of QoL was evaluated and objectivized with Facial Clinimetric Evaluation Scale (FaCE) and Facial Disability Index (FDI) questionnaires. It was demonstrated that the patients' self-perception was associated with poor QoL. CONCLUSION: In the current study, measurement of the facial movements showed a reliable agreement with the clinical classification according to House-Brackmann. The biofeedback system is a reliable support tool during the regeneration phase in patients with facial paralysis..

Registration of real and virtual endoscopy--a model and image based approach.

This paper describes work in progress to integrate real and virtual endoscopy and to apply virtual endoscopy to the intra-operative guidance of endoscopic procedures. We propose a method for real-time tracking of the endoscope's shape and position. Our approach makes use of a simple and small external device, a computer model of a flexible endoscope and an image-based registration technique.

Elevated zinc induces siderophore biosynthesis genes and a zntA-like gene in Pseudomonas fluorescens.

Zinc-regulated genes were analyzed in Pseudomonas fluorescens employing mutagenesis with a reporter gene transposon. Six mutants responded with increased gene expression to elevated concentrations of zinc. Genetic and biochemical analysis revealed that in four of the six mutants the transposon had inserted into genes essential for the biosynthesis of the siderophore pyoverdine. The growth of one of the mutants was severely impaired in the presence of elevated concentrations of cadmium and zinc ions. In this mutant, the transposon had inserted in a gene with high similarity to P-type ATPases involved in zinc and cadmium ion transport. Four mutants reacted with reduced gene expression to elevated concentrations of zinc. One of these mutants was sensitive to zinc, cadmium and copper ions. The genetic region targeted in this mutant did not show similarity to any known gene.

Cadmium-regulated gene fusions in Pseudomonas fluorescens.

To study the mechanisms soil bacteria use to cope with elevated concentrations of heavy metals in the environment, a mutagenesis with the lacZ-based reporter gene transposon Tn5B20 was performed. Random gene fusions in the genome of the common soil bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens strain ATCC 13525 were used to create a bank of 5,000 P. fluorescens mutants. This mutant bank was screened for differential gene expression in the presence of the toxic metal cadmium. Fourteen mutants were identified that responded with increased or reduced gene expression to the presence of cadmium. The mutants were characterized with respect to their metal-dependent gene expression and their metal tolerance. Half the identified mutants reacted with differential gene expression specifically to the metal cadmium, whereas some of the other mutants also responded to elevated concentrations of copper and zinc ions. One of the mutants, strain C8, also showed increased gene expression in the presence of the solvent ethanol, but otherwise no overlap between cadmium-induced gene expression and general stress response was detected. Molecular analysis of the corresponding genetic loci was performed using arbitrary polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA sequencing and comparison of the deduced protein products with sequences deposited in genetic databases. Some of the genetic loci targeted by the transposon did not show any similarities to any known genes; thus, they may represent 'novel' loci. The hypothesis that genes that are differentially expressed in the presence of heavy metals play a role in metal tolerance was verified for one of the mutants. This mutant, strain C11, was hypersensitive to cadmium and zinc ions. In mutant C11, the transposon had inserted into a genetic region displaying similarity to genes encoding the sensor/regulator protein pairs of two-component systems that regulate gene expression in metal-resistant bacteria, including czcRS of Ralstonia eutropha, czrRS of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and copRS of Pseudomonas syringae. Although the P. fluorescens strain used in this study had not been isolated from a metal-rich environment, it nevertheless contained at least one genetic region enabling it to cope with elevated concentrations of heavy metals.

[About suicide methods of physicians, medical personnel and related professions]. / Zur Suizidmethode von Arzten, medizinischem Personal und verwandten Berufsgruppen.

UNLABELLED: A collective of 131 suicides of physicians (n = 40), female and male nurses (n = 38), pharmacists/chemist/biologists (n = 17) and medical/chemical assistant personnel (n = 36) was evaluated with regard to the method of suicide. Preferred methods were ingestion of medicaments orally (29%) and by infusion/injection (18%), hanging (13%), cyanide poisoning (10%), jumping from great height (10%) and drowning (8%). The results were compared with a control group (n = 739: hanging 32%, oral ingestion of medicaments 16%, jumping from great height 13%, shooting 9%, drowning 8%, railway suicides 7%). Methods such as infusion/injection (anesthesiologists) and cyanide poisoning (chemists/chemical staff) being typical of occupation were over-represented within the first group, however, at the same time concentrated on specialized subgroups. Intoxications by infusion/injection and medicaments predominated even more clearly in physicians (58%) than in the total collective. CONCLUSION: The tendency to a method of suicide being typical of the profession rises among physicians and related occupations with the degree of specialization (increasing knowledge, easier access to appropriate drugs and methods). Medical/chemical education and occupation alone is not yet associated with such a predisposition.