Biomedical subjects

Renate Schulze

Publications and source records attributed to Renate Schulze.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Hydrogenophaga defluvii sp. nov. and Hydrogenophaga atypica sp. nov., isolated from activated sludge.

Two Gram-negative, oxidase-positive rods (strains BSB 9.5T and BSB 41.8T) isolated from wastewater were studied using a polyphasic approach. 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons demonstrated that both strains cluster phylogenetically within the family Comamonadaceae: the two strains shared 99.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and were most closely related to the type strains of Hydrogenophaga palleronii (98.5 %) and Hydrogenophaga taeniospiralis (98.0 %). The fatty acid patterns and substrate-utilization profiles displayed similarity to the those of the five Hydrogenophaga species with validly published names, although clear differentiating characteristics were also observed. The two strains showed DNA-DNA hybridization values of 51 % with respect to each other. No close similarities to any other Hydrogenophaga species were detected in hybridization experiments with the genomic DNAs. On the basis of these results, two novel Hydrogenophaga species, Hydrogenophaga defluvii sp. nov. and Hydrogenophaga atypica sp. nov. are proposed, with BSB 9.5T (=DSM 15341T=CIP 108119T) and BSB 41.8T (=DSM 15342T=CIP 108118T) as the respective type strains.

Comamonadaceae↗

PubMed2003

Allostatic load and work conditions.

Adverse work characteristics and poor social support have been associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and other adverse health outcomes in otherwise apparently healthy adults. We undertook a cross-sectional study to evaluate the relationship between objective health status and work characteristics in industrial workers in Germany. Volunteers (n=324) were recruited from a representative random sample (n=537) of employees of an airplane manufacturing plant. Psychosocial work characteristics were assessed by the 52-item, 13-subscale salutogenetic subjective work analysis (SALSA) questionnaire, which assesses potentially salutogenic and pathogenic conditions. Factor analysis revealed three factors: decision latitude, job demands and social support. Biological health status was determined by the revised allostatic load score with 14 components: body-mass index, waist-to-hip ratio; systolic and diastolic blood pressure; plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor-necrosis factor-alpha, HDL, cholesterol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate; glycosylated hemoglobin; urinary cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and albumin. Score points were given for values in the high-risk quartile (maximum=14). General linear models revealed that older individuals and men had significantly higher allostatic load scores than younger participants or women. Of the SALSA factors, only job demands related significantly to allostatic load. The effect of demands was stronger in older individuals. Post-hoc analysis showed possible positive associations between high job demands and blood pressure or CRP, and between low social support and nocturnal excretion of cortisol or plasma levels of CRP. We conclude that this cross-sectional study on industrial employees found a weak association between a health summary score based on objective medical data and self-reported adverse work characteristics.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Assessment of exhaustion and related risk factors in employees in the manufacturing industry--a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: Vital exhaustion, a construct overlapping with burnout, is an independent risk factor for adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease. We aimed to assess vital exhaustion in employees in the manufacturing industry and identify work characteristics associated with exhaustion. METHODS: Cross-sectional study. A stratified, representative random sample of employees from a manufacturing plant for airplane parts and assemblies was invited ( n=647), of whom 537 employees (83% accrual) volunteered to participate. Scores obtained by the nine-item Shortened Maastricht Exhaustion Questionnaire were compared with the mental and physical summary scales of the SF-12 General Health Survey and to a list of 20 health complaints. Pathogenic and salutogenic work characteristics were assessed by the self-reported 52-item, 13-subscale SALSA questionnaire. RESULTS: Vital exhaustion correlated with the mental summary score of the SF-12 and the number of health complaints and was positively associated with age. Exhaustion was not associated with gender, position (socio-economic status) or being on a wage (paid per completed item up to a contracted amount) or salary (payment as fixed monthly income). The instrument identified departments with high levels of exhaustion. Of the observed variance in exhaustion, 29% was explained by age, department, and five work characteristics: High levels of exhaustion (score >10) were related to excessive workload or qualitative demands (scoring in the highest quartile; OR(adj) 7.5; 95% CI 2.4-23), to adverse physical work conditions (OR(adj) 6.9; 95% CI 2.2-21), to adverse co-worker behavior (OR(adj) 4.8; 95% CI 1.4-16), to qualification potential (OR(adj) 0.32; 95% CI 0.11-0.97), and to social support by co-workers (OR(adj) 0.34; 95% CI 0.13-0.99), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The nine-item instrument allows rapid screening of employees for self-reported levels of exhaustion. Besides physical work conditions and workload, absence or presence of social support by co-workers is strongly associated with exhaustion.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Metagenomics: an inexhaustible access to nature's diversity.

The chemical industry has an enormous need for innovation. To save resources, energy and time, currently more and more established chemical processes are being switched to biotechnological routes. This requires white biotechnology to discover and develop novel enzymes, biocatalysts and applications. Due to a limitation in the cultivability of microbes living in certain habitats, technologies have to be established which give access to the enormous resource of uncultivated microbial diversity. Metagenomics promises to provide new and diverse enzymes and biocatalysts as well as bioactive molecules and has the potential to make industrial biotechnology an economic, sustainable success.

Biodiversity↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Hypercoagulability in working men and women with high levels of panic-like anxiety.

BACKGROUND: There is growing evidence that cardiovascular diseases are relatively more prevalent in subjects who feel anxious. An increased clotting diathesis might subject anxious individuals to an elevated arterial thrombotic risk. We investigated whether panic-like anxiety would relate to a hypercoagulable state. METHODS: Study participants with a complete data set were 691 employees (mean age +/- SD 40 +/- 11 years, 83% men) recruited from two German companies. Subjects were asked to self-rate the onset of sudden feelings of panic in the previous week on a 4-point Likert scale: 0=not at all (n=416), 1=not very often (n=179), 2=quite often (n=55), and 3=very often indeed (n=41). Levels of fibrinogen, of the antifibrinolytic enzyme type 1 plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1), and of the hypercoagulability marker fibrin D-dimer were measured in plasma. RESULTS: While the level of D-dimer was significantly different across the 4 scores of panic feelings (F3, 687=6.49, p <0.001), the levels of fibrinogen and PAI-1 were not. After having controlled for a range of confounders of hemostatic function, the 96 subjects reporting panic feelings either 'quite often' or 'very often indeed' had higher D-dimer levels (mean +/- SEM 165 +/- 12.0 vs. 145 +/- 4.3 ng/ml, F20, 670= 4.78, p=0.030) and lower fibrinogen levels (259 +/- 6.9 vs. 274 +/- 2.5 mg/dl, F20, 670=4.71, p=0.030) than the 595 subjects reporting panic feelings either 'not at all' or 'not very often'. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest increased fibrin turnover with sudden feelings of panic. Prospective studies need to show whether such a procoagulant mechanism may contribute to the increased coronary risk with panic-like anxiety.

Adult↗