[Impact of breast ultrasound screening in gynecological practice]. / Bedeutung der Mammasonografie für die Brustkrebsfrüherkennung in der gynäkologischen Praxis.

PURPOSE: To define the value of whole breast ultrasound for breast cancer detection in primary women's health care in gynecological routing practice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Among women who were operated at the breast center of the German Diagnostic Clinic (DKD) in the year 2007, we selected different indications for the examinations which were relevant for the detection of breast lesions. RESULTS: Twenty-one of 86 breast cancers (24 %) which were treated at the DKD in the year 2007 were detected only because of an individual ultrasound screening examination. None of these women had abnormal clinical findings and only 8 of these women had abnormal mammograms. The majority of these cancers were early stages, pT1a/b. In this group of patients, only 8 benign lesions detected by ultrasound were operated. This corresponds to a ratio of benign vs. malignant operations of 0.4 to 1, which is far superior to the recommendations of international guidelines for quality assurance. CONCLUSION: Our results show that ultrasound screening considerably increases the detection of early breast cancers without increasing the rate of unnecessary biopsies. This should encourage gynecologists to learn and perform systematic breast ultrasound examinations and to increase their own performance by continuous training. We can expect that additional studies will prove breast ultrasound to be a powerful method for improving breast cancer detection. Currently available state-of-the-art ultrasound technology allows for early detection, but further education and quality control are important for implementation in nation-wide health care.

Membrane traffic in myelinating oligodendrocytes.

In the central nervous system (CNS), the myelin sheath is synthesised by oligodendrocytes as a specialised subdomain of an extended plasma membrane, reminiscent of the segregated membrane domains of polarised cells. Myelination takes place within a relatively short period of time and oligodendrocytes must have adapted membrane sorting and transport mechanisms to achieve such a high rate of myelin synthesis and to maintain the unique organisation of the myelin membrane. In adult life, maintenance of the functional myelin sheath requires a carefully orchestrated balance of myelin synthesis and turnover. Imbalance in these processes may cause dys- or demyelination and disease. This review summarises what is currently known about myelin protein trafficking and mistrafficking in oligodendrocytes. We also present data demonstrating distinct transport pathways for myelin structural proteins and the expression of SNARE proteins in differentiating oligodendrocytes. Myelinating glial cells may well serve as a model system for studying general aspects of membrane trafficking and organisation of membrane domains.

[Assessment of stress on the spine using a biomechanical model in relation to time studies]. / Beurteilung der Wirbelsäulenbelastung mit Hilfe des biomechanischen Modells unter Einbeziehung von Zeitstudien.

The loading of the lumbar spine in the working process can be judged by the loads to be raised or carried and the bending of the body, a biomechanical model serving as the basis of calculation. Up to now our knowledge on the length of work loading the body in the working process in insufficient, that's why statements on the amount of heavy labour causing harm to the body can scarcely be given. The results of detailed time studies done with welders and mechanics in the field of heavy mechanical engineering and the building of installations were: postures loading the lumbar spine were taken for less than 1 minute on average, in most cases up to 20 seconds, and altogether they had a share in the shift of 16% on average.

Energetic Charged Particles in Saturn's Magnetosphere: Voyager 2 Results.

Results from the cosmic-ray system on Voyager 2 in Saturn's magnetosphere are presented. During the inbound pass through the outer magnetosphere, the >/= 0.43-million-electron-volt proton flux was more intense, and both the proton and electron fluxes were more variable, than previously observed. These changes are attributed to the influence on the magnetosphere of variations in the solar wind conditions. Outbound, beyond 18 Saturn radii, impulsive bursts of 0.14- to > 1.0- million-electron-volt electrons were observed. In the inner magnetosphere, the charged particle absorption signatures of Mimas, Enceladus, and Tethys are used to constrain the possible tilt and offset of Saturn's internal magnetic dipole. At approximately 3 Saturn radii, a transient decrease was observed in the electron flux which was not due to Mimas. Characteristics of this decrease suggest the existence of additional material, perhaps another satellite, in the orbit of Mimas.

Energetic Charged Particles in Saturn's Magnetosphere: Voyager 1 Results.

Voyager 1 provided the first look at Saturn's magnetotail and magnetosphere during relatively quiet interplanetary conditions. This report discusses the energetic particle populations of the outer magnetosphere of Saturn and absorption features associated with Titan and Rhea, and compares these observations with Pioneer 11 data of a year earlier. The trapped proton fluxes had soft spectra, represented by power laws E(-gamma) in kinetic energy E, with gamma approximately 7 in the outer magnetosphere and gamma approximately 9 in the magnetotail. Structure associated with the magnetotial was observed as close as 10 Saturn radii (R(s)) on the outbound trajectory. The proton and electron fluxes in the outer magnetosphere and in the magnetotail were variable and appeared to respond to changes in interplanetary conditions. Protons with energies >/= 2 million electron volts had free access to the magnetosphere from interplanetary space and were not stably trapped outside approximately 7.5 R(s).

Observations of Energetic Ions and Electrons in Saturn's Magnetosphere.

The passage of Pioneer 11 by Saturn provided a detailed view of a planetary magnetosphere that is intermediate between those of Jupiter and Earth in both scale and the complexity of its dynamic processes. It appears to have at least three distinct regions: (i) an outer magnetosphere, extending from 17 to 7.5 Saturn radii, that resembles that of Earth in many important aspects; (ii) a slot region, between 7.5 and 4 Saturn radii, where a marked decrease in all protons and low-energy electrons is observed; and (iii) an inner region, extending from 4 Saturn radii to the ring edge, that features a sharp increase in the proton flux extending to energies greater than 20 million electron volts. A cutoff of both proton and electron fluxes occurred just beyond the nominal edge of the A ring.

Voyager 2: energetic ions and electrons in the jovian magnetosphere.

The Voyager 2 encounter has enhanced our understanding of earlier results and provided measurements beyond 160 Jupiter radii (R(J)) in the magnetotail. Significant fluxes of energetic sulfur and oxygen nuclei (4 to 15 million electron volts per nucleon) of Jovian origin were observed inside 25 R(J), and the gradient in phase space density at 12 R(J) indicates that the ions are diffusing inward. A substantially longer time delay versus distance was found for proton flux maxima in the active hemisphere in the magnetotail at Jovicentric longitudes lambda(III), = 260 degrees to 320 degrees than in the inactive hemisphere at lambda(III), = 85 degrees to l10 degrees . These delays can be related to the radial motion of plasma expanding into the magnetotail, and differences in the expansion speeds between the active and inactive hemispheres can produce rarefaction regions in trapped particles. It is suggested that the 10-hour modulation of interplanetary Jovian electrons may be associated with the arrival at the dawn magnetopause of a rarefaction region each planetary rotation.

Voyager 1: energetic ions and electrons in the jovian magnetosphere.

The observations of the cosmic-ray subsystem have added significantly to our knowledge of Jupiter's magnetosphere. The most surprising result is the existence of energetic sulfur, sodium, and oxygen nuclei with energies above 7 megaelectron volts per nucleon which were found inside of Io's orbit. Also, significant fluxes of similarly energetic ions reflecting solar cosmic-ray composition were observed throughout the magnetosphere beyond 11 times the radius of Jupiter. It was also found that energetic protons are enhanced by 30 to 70 percent in the active hemisphere. Finally, the first observations were made of the magnetospheric tail in the dawn direction out to 160 Jupiter radii.