Rewetting does not return drained fen peatlands to their old selves.

Peatlands have been drained for land use for a long time and on a large scale, turning them from carbon and nutrient sinks into respective sources, diminishing water regulation capacity, causing surface height loss and destroying biodiversity. Over the last decades, drained peatlands have been rewetted for biodiversity restoration and, as it strongly decreases greenhouse gas emissions, also for climate protection. We quantify restoration success by comparing 320 rewetted fen peatland sites to 243 near-natural peatland sites of similar origin across temperate Europe, all set into perspective by 10k additional European fen vegetation plots. Results imply that rewetting of drained fen peatlands induces the establishment of tall, graminoid wetland plants (helophytisation) and long-lasting differences to pre-drainage biodiversity (vegetation), ecosystem functioning (geochemistry, hydrology), and land cover characteristics (spectral temporal metrics). The Paris Agreement entails the rewetting of 500,000 km2 of drained peatlands worldwide until 2050-2070. A better understanding of the resulting locally novel ecosystems is required to improve planning and implementation of peatland rewetting and subsequent management.

The auditory startle response in post-traumatic stress disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients are considered to have excessive EMG responses in the orbicularis oculi (OO) muscle and excessive autonomic responses to startling stimuli. The aim of the present study was to gain more insight into the pattern of the generalized auditory startle reflex (ASR). Reflex EMG responses to auditory startling stimuli in seven muscles rather than the EMG response of the OO alone as well as the psychogalvanic reflex (PGR) were studied in PTSD patients and healthy controls. Ten subjects with chronic PTSD (>3 months) and a history of excessive startling and 11 healthy controls were included. Latency, amplitude and duration of the EMG responses and the amplitude of the PGR to 10 auditory stimuli of 110 dB SPL were investigated in seven left-sided muscles. The size of the startle reflex, defined by the number of muscles activated by the acoustic stimulus and by the amplitude of the EMG response of the OO muscle as well, did not differ significantly between patients and controls. Median latencies of activity in the sternocleidomastoid (SC) (patients 80 ms; controls 54 ms) and the deltoid (DE) muscles (patients 113 ms; controls 69 ms) were prolonged significantly in PTSD compared to controls (P < 0.05). In the OO muscle, a late response (median latency in patients 308 ms; in controls 522 ms), probably the orienting reflex, was more frequently present in patients (56%) than in controls (12%). In patients, the mean PGR was enlarged compared to controls (P < 0.05). The size of the ASR response is not enlarged in PTSD patients. EMG latencies in the PTSD patients are prolonged in SC and DE muscles. The presence of a late response in the OO muscle discriminates between groups of PTSD patients with a history of startling and healthy controls. In addition, the autonomic response, i.e. the enlarged amplitude of the PGR can discriminate between these groups.

[Attempted suicide--a challenge for the trauma surgeon?]. / Der Suizidversuch--eine Herausforderung für den Unfallchirurgen?

The data from 767 patients after a suicide attempt or suicide were analyzed retrospectively. Skeletal damage was present in 52% of the patients. This was also the highest percentage in the breakdown of the injury patterns, followed by damage of the central nervous system (26.6%). Injuries to parenchymatous organs (20.1%) took third place. Extensive soft tissue injuries were diagnosed in 18.1% and relevant vascular lesions in 16% of suicide cases. At the same time, the high percentage of multiple trauma patients (22.9%) reflects the severity and the extent of injuries suffered in the application of "violent methods". Injuries of suicide cases involving violence often resemble those of serious road traffic accidents. In contrast to unselected patients, the injury pattern of suicide cases with multiple trauma is dominated by jumps from a great height and being run over by a train. However, when unusual suicide techniques are used, the surgeon's experience may soon become insufficient. To our knowledge, special traumatology wards provide the best available diagnosis and emergency care for these patients unless they have suffered purely trivial injuries.

[Comparative study between conservative and surgical therapy of fibular ligament ruptures of the upper ankle joint]. / Vergleichende Untersuchung zwischen der konservativen und der operativen Therapie fiburaler Bandrupturen am oberen Sprunggelenk.

From January 1985 to February 1987 361 patients with ruptured lateral ankle ligaments were treated at the Department of Trauma and reconstructive Surgery at the University Hospital of Hamburg. 225 patients were included in a retrospective study. They were divided into conservative and operative groups of treatment with subdivision of immobilized treatment (Plaster Paris short-leg-cast for 6 weeks) and functional therapy (special shoe). Clinical-radiological follow-up examinations of 49 operatively and 44 conservative treated patients were carried out 2 to 4 years after cessation of therapy. The clinical results were evaluated according to a questionnaire, X-ray and clinical controls. These results lead to the conclusion that operative treatment combined with conservative plaster cast immobilization yielded better mechanical stability than conservative-functional therapy. Best results were seen after surgical treatment, but conservative immobilization with prevailing good clinical-radiological results seems to be an alternative to operative therapy in carefully elected patients.

[Postnatal growth of the exterior nose]. / Uber das postnatale Wachstum der Aussennase.

The anthropological measurements about the nasal growth and the growth of different parts of the face have been done at 201 children between 3 and 14 a and 119 students of the Würzburg University. The jugal distance, the morphological face height, the nasal height, and the nasal depth, the nasal length, the intercanthal distance, and the alar distance were estimated. Included are measurements of the sagittal orbital angle, different indices of the face and nose.