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Dies ergibt über das Jahr hinweg einen Gewinn an Zeitressourcen von beinahe 2 VZÄ Dienstposten (5min*25Betten*4Stationen*365T age/Jahresnettoarbeitszeit), welche ganz nach unserem Leitsatz „patient first“ nun mehr am Patienten ankommen und wiederum zu einer Steigerung der Patientenund Angehörigenzufriedenheit führen. Projektteam: Andrea Sallegger BSc MSc, Andrea Frießnegg, Karin Prisching, Eva Kogler, BSc., Christa Schnabl, Walpurga Kaiser 1. Ziele Vor diesem Hintergrund wurde im Rahmen eines Pilotprojektes evaluiert, welchen Einfluss die Pflege auf die Lebensqualität der Bewohner nimmt bzw. nehmen kann. Durch die intensive Auseinandersetzung der Mitarbeiter mit den Ausprägungen der Lebensqualität im Kontext von Pflegequalität wurden außerdem die fachliche Diskussion und der Austausch im Haus angeregt und intensiviert. Auch für Absolventen und Absolventinnen der regulären Ausbildung bzw. langjährig erfahrene Mitarbeiter (Diplom vor 1997), gab es im Klinikum wenige Möglichkeiten, pflegewissenschaftliche Kenntnisse zu vertiefen bzw. sich diese anzueignen und den gesetzlichen Vorgaben nachzukommen. Ziele ▪ Erhöhung des Forschungsbewusstseins der Teilnehmenden ▪ Verbesserung von Kritik- und Analysefähigkeiten ▪ Erweiterung der Lesegewohnheiten ▪ Generierung von neuen Ideen gemeinsam im Kollegium ▪ Implikationen von Forschung auf die gegenwärtige Pflegepraxis diskutieren ▪ Kritisches Hinterfragen der eigenen Pflegepraxis ▪ Ggf. Zusammentreffen in Form eines Journal Club leisten einen wichtigen Beitrag zum lebenslangen Lernen (Campbell-Fleming, Catania & Courtney, 2008). Die Ergebnisse zeigen einen deutlichen Zuwachs bzw. eine Vertiefung von wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen: Bei der zweiten Befragung gaben 50 Prozent der Teilnehmer an, dass es „völlig zutrifft“, dass sie die Kennzeichen einer wissenschaftlichen Studie kennen.

In postconflict settings risk factors at multiple levels of the social ecology, including community, family, and relationship factors, potentially affect children's mental health. In addition, intergenerational risk factors such as guardians’ history of childhood family violence, war exposure, and psychopathology may contribute to children's psychopathological symptoms. In this study, we aimed to identify risk constellations that predict child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, depression, and posttraumatic stress symptoms in the postconflict setting of northern Uganda. In a cross-sectional epidemiological study, 513 second-grade students and their female guardians were interviewed using standardized clinical questionnaires. A higher exposure to traumatic events, more witnessed or experienced violence within the family, and lower child-reported care from female guardians independently predicted psychopathological symptoms in children. While controlling for intergenerational risk factors in female guardians, serial mediation modeling revealed that the effect of trauma exposure on children's psychopathological symptoms was partially mediated by higher exposure to family violence and lower child-perceived care from female guardians. The mediation appeared to be stronger for children's depression symptoms and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems than for posttraumatic stress symptoms. The current findings support the need for targeted interventions at the individual and family system levels that are matched to children's psychopathological symptoms.

Objective Niemann–Pick disease type C1 (NPC1) is a rare autosomal-recessive lysosomal storage disorder presenting with a broad clinical spectrum ranging from a severe infantile-onset neurovisceral disorder to late-onset neurodegenerative disease. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is established to detect retinal degeneration in vivo. We examined NPC1-patients (NPC1-P), clinically asymptomatic NPC1-mutation carriers (NPC1-MC), and healthy controls (HC) to (1) identify retinal degeneration in NPC1-disease and (2) to investigate possible subclinical retinal degeneration in NPC1-MC. Methods Fourteen NPC1-P, 17 NPC1-MC, and 31 age-matched HC were examined using spectral-domain OCT. Neurological examinations, clinical scales [modified Disability Rating Scale (mDRS); Scale for the Rating and Assessment of Ataxia (SARA); Spinocerebellar Ataxia Functional Index (SCAFI)], and video-oculography (VOG) were correlated with OCT data. Results Macular retinal nerve fiber layer and volumes of combined ganglion cell and inner plexiform layer were significantly lower in NPC1-P compared to HC [mRNFL (µm):0.13 ± 0.01 vs. 0.14 ± 0.02; p  = 0.01; GCIPL (mm 3 ):0.60 ± 0.05 vs. 0.62 ± 0.04; p  = 0.04]. No significant differences were found in NPC1-MC in comparison to HC. In NPC1-P, the amplitude of upward vertical saccades showed positive associations with peripapillary RNFL ( ρ  = 0.645; p  < 0.05), and thinned GCIP ( ρ  = 0.609; p  < 0.05), but not in NPC1-MC. In NPC1-P correlations between combined outer plexiform layer and outer nuclear layer (OPONL) with mDRS ( r  = − 0.617; p  < 0.05) and GCIP with SARA ( r  = − 0.622; p  < 0.05) were observed. Furthermore, in NPC1-MC, motor scores were negatively associated with pRNFL ( ρ  = − 0.677; p  < 0.01). Conclusions Using OCT, we showed retinal degeneration in NPC1-P and significant correlation between retinal neuroaxonal degeneration with clinical measurements. We observed a non-significant trend of retinal degeneration in NPC1-MC correlating with subclinical motor abnormalities. Based on these preliminary data, OCT may be an important marker of neurodegeneration in NPC1-disease after onset of clinical symptoms.

Background It is likely that alcohol use and abuse increase during and after violent conflicts. The most prominent explanation of this phenomenon has been referred to as self-medication hypothesis. It predicts that psychotropic substances are consumed to deal with conflict-related psychic strains and trauma. In northern Uganda, a region that has been affected by a devastating civil war and is characterized by high levels of alcohol abuse we examined the associations between war-trauma, childhood maltreatment and problems related to alcohol use. Deducing from the self-medication hypothesis we assumed alcohol consumption moderates the relationship between trauma-exposure and psychopathology. Methods A cross-sectional epidemiological survey targeting war-affected families in post-conflict northern Uganda included data of male ( n  = 304) and female ( n  = 365) guardians. We used standardized questionnaires in an interview format to collect data on the guardians’ socio-demography, trauma-exposure, alcohol consumption and symptoms of alcohol abuse, PTSD and depression. Results Symptoms of current alcohol use disorders were present in 46 % of the male and 1 % of the female respondents. A multiple regression model revealed the unique contributions of emotional abuse in the families of origin and trauma experienced outside the family-context in the prediction of men’s alcohol-related symptoms. We found that alcohol consumption moderated the dose-effect relationship between trauma-exposure and symptoms of depression and PTSD. Significant interactions indicated that men who reported more alcohol-related problems experienced less increase in symptoms of PTSD and depression with increasing trauma-exposure. Conclusions The gradual attenuation of the dose-effect the more alcohol-related problems were reported is consistent with the self-medication hypothesis. Hence, the functionality of alcohol consumption has to be considered when designing and implementing addiction treatment in post-conflict contexts.

Parkinson’s disease, an aging-associated neurodegenerative disorder, is characterised by nigrostriatal pathway dysfunction caused by the gradual loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta of the midbrain. Human in vitro models are enabling the study of the dopaminergic neurons’ loss, but not the dysregulation within the dopaminergic network in the nigrostriatal pathway. Additionally, these models do not incorporate aging characteristics which potentially contribute to the development of Parkinson’s disease. Here we present a nigrostriatal pathway model based on midbrain-striatum assembloids with inducible aging. We show that these assembloids can develop characteristics of the nigrostriatal connectivity, with catecholamine release from the midbrain to the striatum and synapse formation between midbrain and striatal neurons. Moreover, Progerin-overexpressing assembloids acquire aging traits that lead to early neurodegenerative phenotypes. This model shall help to reveal the contribution of aging as well as nigrostriatal connectivity to the onset and progression of Parkinson’s disease. Generation of a midbrain-striatum assembloid with progerin overexpression as an in vitro model of possessing aging and senescence characteristics for studying Parkinson’s disease.

Background With the rising number of hip surgeries, simple and cost-effective tools for surgery risk assessment are warranted. The analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) may not only provide critical insights into the general frailty of patients with hip surgery, but also allow for better differentiation of health profiles in different hip surgery groups. Using HRV analysis, the present study compared cardiovascular as well as anthropometric parameters between patients with hip surgery, the hip fracture surgery group (HFS) and the total hip arthroplasty group (THA), and a control group. Methods 71 participants (56.3% women), aged 60–85 years, took part, divided into three groups—patients after hip surgery (21 HFS and 30 THA patients) and a control group (20 participants). Electrocardiogram was recorded at baseline and after the application of a physical stressor (grip strength). A 3 (group) × 2 (time) repeated measures ANOVA, and a chi square test were carried out to test for group differences. Results Higher weight ( p  = .002), body mass index ( p  = .001), and systolic blood pressure ( p  = .034) were found in THA patients compared to HFS patients. Lower calf circumference ( p  = .009) and diastolic blood pressure ( p  = .048) were observed for the HFS group compared to the control group. For cardiovascular parameters, significant differences emerged between the HFS group and the control group in HR ( p  = .005), SDNN ( p  = .034) and SD2 ( p  = .012). No significant differences in cardiovascular parameters were observed between the two hip surgery groups: neither at baseline nor during stressor recovery. Conclusions While HRV seems to differentiate well between HFS patients and controls, more research with larger samples is needed to scrutinize similaritites and differences in cardiovascular profiles between HFS and THA patients.

Voluntary selection between response alternatives belongs to cognitive abilities controlling and regulating goal-directed behaviour. Voluntary selection processes are associated with increased neural activity, especially in medial and lateral frontal brain regions as well as the inferior parietal gyrus. However, the precise function of each brain region as well as the spatiotemporal characteristic of the brain regions involved is not yet clear. The aim of the present study was to disentangle distinct aspects of voluntary selection and their underlying neural processes. Hence, event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional MRI data were acquired simultaneously. Brain regions modulated by the task-induced amplitude variation of ERPs (N2, P3) were identified. The results showed N2-related hemodynamic responses, especially in medial and lateral frontal brain regions. Among other things, medial frontal brain regions are related to conflict monitoring, control of voluntary action and decision making. By contrast, the P3-amplitude proved to be predominantly related to increased BOLD responses in the temporo-parietal junction and lateral frontal brain regions. These brain regions are thought to play a decisive role in an attentional network involved in detecting auditory and visual stimuli. Overall, the results of the study indicated a whole network of brain regions to be associated with voluntary selection processes. In addition, at least some frontal brain regions seemed to be involved at an earlier stage than temporo-parietal regions, probably indicating a top-down process.

BACKGROUND: Cats infected with exogenous feline leukemia virus (exFeLV) have a higher chance of lymphoma development than uninfected cats. Furthermore, an increased exFeLV transcription has been detected in lymphomas compared to non-malignant tissues. The possible mechanisms of lymphoma development by exFeLV are insertional mutagenesis or persistent stimulation of host immune cells by viral antigens, bringing them at risk for malignant transformation. Vaccination of cats against exFeLV has in recent years decreased the overall infection rate in most countries. Nevertheless, an increasing number of lymphomas have been diagnosed among exFeLV-negative cats. Endogenous feline leukemia virus (enFeLV) is another retrovirus for which transcription has been observed in cat lymphomas. EnFeLV provirus elements are present in the germline of various cat species and share a high sequence similarity with exFeLV but, due to mutations, are incapable of producing infectious viral particles. However, recombination between exFeLV and enFeLV could produce infectious particles. RESULTS: We examined the FeLV expression in cats that have developed malignant lymphomas and discussed the possible mechanisms that could have induced malignant transformation. For expression analysis we used next-generation RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) and for validation reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). First, we showed that there was no expression of exFeLV in all samples, which eliminates the possibility of recombination between exFeLV and enFeLV. Next, we analyzed the difference in expression of three enFeLV genes between control and lymphoma samples. Our analysis showed an average of 3.40-fold decreased viral expression for the three genes in lymphoma compared to control samples. The results were confirmed by RT-qPCR. CONCLUSIONS: There is a decreased expression of enFeLV genes in lymphomas versus control samples, which contradicts previous observations for the exFeLV. Our results suggest that a persistent stimulation of host immune cells is not an appropriate mechanism responsible for malignant transformation caused by feline endogenous retroviruses.