[Data protection in rehabilitation research]. / Datenschutz in der Rehabilitationsforschung.

Data protection is regulated by legislation and has to be adhered to by scientists, too. This overview shows where aspects of data protection have to be considered in rehabilitation research. Important legal sources are the code of social law X, the German Federal Data Protection Act and the data protection acts of the German states. Specific recommendations about patient information sheet and written informed consent are given for research based on interviews with study participants. Furthermore, operations such as collecting, processing, using, storing, publishing and archiving of personal data are explained, taking into account the requirements of data protection. A practical example (URL: www.thieme-connect.de/ejournals/toc/rehabilitation) shows how to separate personal data and research data using the services of an external data custodian.

[Cutaneous melanoma - "black death" of modern times? Traces in contemporary literature]. / Melanom der Haut - der "Schwarze Tod" der Neuzeit? Spurensuche in der zeitgenössischen Literatur.

Cutaneous melanoma, sometimes labeled as "black skin cancer", is increasing in frequency and becoming a more common literary motive. In US literature, Sylvia Plath and Charles Bukowski depicted melanoma more than 50 years ago, later Stephen King and Thomas C. Boyle. In German literature, Charlotte Roche shortly mentioned this tumor. Jörg Pönnighaus, both poet and dermatologist, intensively deals in his poems with the effects melanoma has on patients and doctors alike. Melanoma definitely is not the "Black Death" of modern times. However, the perception of this tumor as extremely malignant and as life-threatening makes melanoma a metaphor of the deadly danger of cancer.

[Charles Bukowski's acne]. / Charles Bukowskis Akne.

In his autobiography, Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) describes his severe acne conglobata, his experience with therapy, family conflicts and emotional tension. Despite the stigmatization by his acne scars, Bukowski became a philobatic writer and a true chronist of the American way of life in the second half of the 20th century, writing in a coarse and obscene language.

["Wetlands". Charles Bukowski and Charlotte Roche on hemorrhoids]. / "Feuchtgebiete". Charles Bukowski und Charlotte Roche über Hämorrhoiden.

More than 40 years ago Charles Bukowski described his experiences with coloscopy and the ensuing surgery on his hemorrhoids, both performed by a doctor pictured as sadistic. Bukowski not only depicts these procedures but also characterizes his compassionate inpatients as well as the nursing staff. In her bestseller published in 2008 Charlotte Roche's protagonist Helen needs surgical inpatient treatment because of hemorrhoidal bleeding. Her stay in the hospital, prolonged by a postoperative self-inflicted bleeding, provides the basis not only for strategies to bring her divorced parents together but also for thoughts on genitalia, manifold sexual practices, as well as on rules of hygiene. From a psychodynamic viewpoint the protagonists in both stories suffer from a depressive basic conflict, compensated in Bukowski's work by a dependent, self-destructive, philobatic form of coping and in Roche's alter ego Helen by an impulsive, sexualized behaviour.

[Psychosocial factors in psoriasis. A pilot study]. / Psychosoziale Belastungen bei Psoriasis vulgaris. Eine Pilotstudie.

BACKGROUND: The successful treatment of patients with chronic plaque psoriasis depends not only on the method of therapy but also on psychosocial factors. METHODS AND RESULTS: A pilot study was performed on 22 patients with chronic plaque psoriasis. The psychosocial stress, psychiatric features and their changes were assessed over a 3-week inpatient rehabilitation stay in a specialty clinic. The severity of the psoriasis, the subjective degree of suffering and the psychometric variables related to psychosomatic symptoms were assessed before and at the end of the treatment. After the hospitalization, the severity of disease and anger were both significantly decreased, along with an increased interest in social interactions. CONCLUSION: In psoriasis patients, one can distinguish between different psychosocial factors, some of which are more likely to change. Stable attributes such as personality style can impact on compliance as well as on coping behaviors, thereby influencing treatment success. Our study shows that even within a rather short inpatient treatment period of 3 weeks not only the disease severity but also negative psychosocial stressors can be improved.