Biomedical subjects

H Nothdurft

Publications and source records attributed to H Nothdurft.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

[Malaria protection for short-term travelers].

An average of 800 malaria cases are recorded annually in Germany. One person in a hundred dies of the disease. Travel advice given by experienced physicians is essential to raise awareness of malaria risk in endemic areas. Rational mosquito protection on skin and textiles reduces the risk of malaria and other arthropod-transmitted diseases (e. g. dengue fever). Regular intake of an antimalarial drugs to suppress the development forms the basis of reliable chemo prophylaxis in highly endemic areas. The concept of standby emergency treatment (SET) in areas of low or moderate risk needs to be communicated in a detailed and clear way: take the temperature when feeling unwell; seeing a doctor immediately if a fever arises after 6 days of stay in an area, intake of SET if a doctor can not be reached within 24 hours; see a doctor after taking the SET as quickly as possible. These elements help to reduce the rate of severe malaria cases among travelers.

Antimalarials↗

PubMed2004

Safety and immunogenicity profile of an experimental hepatitis B vaccine adjuvanted with AS04.

The reactogenicity and safety of an experimental hepatitis B (HB) vaccine containing adjuvant system (AS04) was compared with a licensed vaccine in a phase III, single-blind, randomised study in healthy volunteers >or=15 years of age. A total of 1303 subjects were enrolled to receive either two doses of HB-AS04 (0, 6 months) or three doses of the comparator vaccine (0, 1, 6 months). Two doses of HB-AS04 elicited seroprotection rates close to 100% and two-fold higher GMTs than the comparator vaccine. Results showed that both vaccines were well tolerated and the general safety profile of HB-AS04 was similar to that of the comparator vaccine.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗

PubMed2000

Salience from feature contrast: additivity across dimensions.

Test targets ('singletons') that displayed orientation, motion, luminance, or color contrast, or pairwise combinations of these, were presented in line texture arrays, and their saliences were quantified in comparison to reference targets at defined luminance levels. In general, saliency effects in different stimulus dimensions did add, but did not add linearly. That is, targets with feature contrast in two dimensions were generally more salient than targets with only one of these properties, but often less salient than predicted from the sum of the individual saliency components. Salience variations within a dimension were compared with and without a second saliency effect added. The resulting gain reduction in the combined stimulus conditions was interpreted to reflect the amount of overlap between the respective saliency mechanisms. Combinations of orientation and color contrast produced the strongest gain reduction (about 90% for color in orientation) thus indicating the strongest overlap of underlying saliency mechanisms. Combinations of orientation and motion contrast revealed about 50% overlap, slightly smaller rates were found for combinations of color and motion. All combinations with luminance contrast (orientation and luminance, motion and luminance) produced only little gain reduction (<30%) thus indicating a higher degree of independence between the underlying saliency mechanisms than for other stimulus dimensions.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

Salience from feature contrast: temporal properties of saliency mechanisms.

Single cell recordings in area V1 of the macaque monkey had suggested that saliency effects from orientation contrast might be delayed compared to the representation of other stimulus properties. This conjecture was tested in three series of experiments on regular line patterns. Experiment 1 investigated the time courses of saliency effects evoked either by the onset of a single line or by a target that popped out from orientation contrast. Saliency effects from orientation contrast developed later than saliency effects related to stimulus onset. Experiment 2 measured the detectability of such targets in brief presentations. As expected, single line targets were detected at shorter presentation times than popout targets with orientation contrast. Experiment 3 finally investigated the temporal resolution of saliency effects from feature contrast in different dimensions. Line arrays with a popout target (e.g. an orthogonal line) were alternated with complementary line arrays in which the target and the non-target features were exchanged (e.g. all lines were orthogonal to those in the previous pattern). Thus, although feature contrast was present in every single stimulus display, saliency effects could only develop when alternation rates were slow enough to be resolved by the underlying saliency mechanisms. Feature flicker of this sort was tested in orientation, motion (direction), color and luminance. Saliency mechanisms encoding orientation contrast were slower than those encoding differences in luminance or color; motion contrast produced intermediate results that also differed between subjects.

Color Perception↗

PubMed1987

Teratologic studies on the Himalayan rabbit: new aspects of thalidomide-induced teratogenesis.

The aim of our study was to determine the period of maximum sensitivity for the induction of characteristic malformations with thalidomide (TH) in Himalayan rabbits. TH was administered orally in different doses (50, 100, 150 and 200 mg/kg) four times at 24-h intervals starting at 192 h of gestation. The malformations affected various organs: renal defects (dysplasia) and limb anomalies (dysmelia)--which had never occurred spontaneously in this strain--appeared as dose-dependent effects of the drug. By administering single doses of TH (200 and 300 mg/kg body wt) between hours 192 and 264 of gestation, we discovered the different periods of maximum sensitivity for induction of renal dysplasia (clearly prior to the 220th h of gestation) and dysmelia (between hours 230 and 240 of gestation). The types of limb malformations that we observed in the rabbit were identical to those produced in man following the intake of TH. Three doses of TH (300 mg/kg each) given between hours 222 and 228 of gestation produced characteristic limb malformations in 9 of 11 litters treated. These results make it possible to conduct in vivo experiments on a readily available laboratory animal with minor drug exposure of the gravid dam and under avoidance of toxic side effects.

Animals↗

PubMed1980

Rapid assessment of health status and preventive-medicine needs of newly arrived Kampuchean refugees, Sa Kaeo, Thailand.

In the disaster relief programme for Kampuchean refugees in Thailand, epidemiological techniques were incorporated into the health-planning process during the first 2 weeks of the refugee influx. The findings influenced not only health care in the first refugee camp but also the delivery of medical services in subsequent camps. The mortality rate in the first week of refugee settlement was 9.1/10 000/day, and fell to 0.71/10 000/day by the fifth week. Children aged 4 and under had the highest risk of death. Fever/malaria was the main cause of morbidity and mortality. Simple epidemiological techniques, if initiated early in the relief effort, can influence medical decisions and lead to more effective use of health resources.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1970