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T Koehler

Publications and source records attributed to T Koehler.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B) genotype, alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk by age 50 years in a German case-control study.

In a population-based study of 613 cases and 1082 controls, alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B) genotype was not an independent risk factor for breast cancer, although the possibility was raised that it modifies risk associated with high levels of alcohol consumption (OR 1.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8-1.6 for ADH1B*1/*1 genotype vs 0.2, 95% CI 0.1-1.0 for ADH1B*2 carriers).

Adult↗
PubMed2000

mdm2 mRNA level is a prognostic factor in soft tissue sarcoma.

BACKGROUND: The oncogenic properties of murine double minute-2 (mdm2) protein over-expression, which mostly results from the interaction with the tumor suppressor p53, are well described and their negative impacts on the prognosis of affected patients is well characterized. However, clinical relevance of mdm2 mRNA expression is poorly investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, 65 soft tissue sarcoma (STS) samples were analyzed for mdm2 mRNA expression by a quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) approach using available validated ready-to-use assays based on the TaqMan technology (PE Applied Biosystems, Weiterstadt, Germany). Mdm2 data were correlated to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) expression calculated from the same sample. RESULTS: For patients with a mdm2/GAPDH mRNA ratio below 50 zmol/amol the survival was strikingly reduced in comparison to patients with a ratio of > or =50 (p = 0.0241). Multivariate Cox analysis showed that the difference in prognosis for patients with tumor stage 2 and 3 became even more pronounced between patients with a ratio of <50 zmol/amol and patients with a ratio of > or =50 (p = 0.0041; RR = 5.6). To test if the group with an mdm2 mRNA expression > or =50 is homogenous concerning the prognosis, the group was divided into three subgroups with values of 50 to <100, 100 to <500 and > or =500. The subgroup with values of 100 to <500 showed the best prognosis (p = 0.0164); whereas, the one with values of 50 to <100 showed the worst prognosis in this group and, in between, was the one with values of > or =500. After omitting patients of stage 1 and 4, the subgroup with values of 100 to <500 showed an even more striking best prognosis (p = 0.0015); the other subgroups remained in the same sequence. The risk of tumor-related death over 5 years was most conspicuous in patients with mdm2 mRNA expression <50 than in those with ratios of 100 to <500 displaying a 13.3-fold higher risk. In a comparison between mdm2 mRNA levels and P53 protein expression or p53 mutational status, no relationship was found. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, the mdm2 mRNA level appears to be an independent prognostic factor for STS patients, marking its role in STS genesis and as a potential factor for gene therapeutical approaches.

DNA Mutational Analysis↗
PubMed1999

Sequence, assembly and analysis of pX01 and pX02.

Bacillus anthracis plasmids pX01 and pX02, harboured by the Sterne and Pasteur strains, respectively, have been sequenced by random 'shotgun' cloning and high throughout sequence analysis. These sequences have been assembled (Sequencher) to generate a circulate pX01 plasmid containing 181 656 bp and a single linear (gapped) pX02 contig containing at least 93.479 bp. Initial annotation suggests that the two plasmids combined contain at least 200 potential open reading frames (ORFs) with < 40% having significant similarity to sequences registered in open databases. Collectively, only 118 566 bp of the pX01 DNA (65%) represent predicted coding regions. This value is similar to published gene densities for other plasmids and is indicative of the larger intergenic spaces in plasmids vs those found in the chromosomes of the parental microbes (85-93% gene density). A 70 kbp region including the toxin genes (cya, lef and pag) is distinct from the remainder of the pX01 sequence: (1) it has a lower gene density (58 vs 70%) than the remaining 111 kbp; (2) it contains all but one of the co-regulated transcriptional fusions identified by transposon mutagenesis (Hoffmaster & Koehler 1997) and (3) it contains a significantly higher proportion of positive BLAST scores (62 vs 20%) for putative ORFs. These data suggest different origins for the two regions of pX01.

Bacillus anthracis↗
PubMed1992

Psychophysiological reactions of patients with atopic dermatitis.

In a laboratory experiment, 20 female patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and 20 female controls were exposed to two stress situations (watching a film about scarifications and tatooing, mental arithmetic). Recordings were made of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, skin conductance level (SCL), number of spontaneous (non-specific) electrodermal fluctuations (SF) and the PSI, the number of active palmar sweat glands in an area of the finger pad. Neither in the cardiovascular variables nor the PSI were any significant group differences found, neither for baseline nor stress values, nor for the response reactions. Atopic dermatitis persons had significantly lower values for SCL and SF throughout the whole experiment, although response reactions did not differ between groups. This study lends no support to the assumption of a general psychophysiological overreactivity or individual specific reactions of the skin system in patients with AD.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Frequency of migraine among an unselected group of employees and variation of prevalence according to different diagnostic criteria.

A survey was carried out among 940 employees in a mail administration building in Hamburg, Germany to determine the prevalence rates of headache and of migraine, based on several definitions. Headache symptoms were assessed by means of questionnaires, which were returned by 92% of the addressed persons and properly evaluable in 87.8%. When 3 out of the following 4 criteria a) occurrence of headaches in attacks b) unilaterality of pain c) preceding visual disturbances d) pulsating character were required to diagnose migraine, prevalence rate was low (5.3%). It rose dramatically when only 2 of these requirements had to be met (18.0%); based on the definition that 2 of a), b) or c) had to be fulfilled, the prevalence rates were 13.1% for females, 5.6% for males. There was no difference in frequency of migraine between the two large income classes of mail employees. In accordance with other studies we found that only 57.5% of migraine patients had ever consulted a doctor for their headache; only 13.7% had done so within the last half year.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Interpreting palmar sweat prints.

The plastic impression method to assess the number of active palmar sweat glands (PSI) was used to study changes of sweat gland activity during several phases of dental treatment. Subjects were 64 female and 38 male patients at a dental surgery. At the beginning they scaled five typical dental situations in terms of perceived threat: waiting-room before treatment: sitting down in the dental chair; dentist enters and starts treatment; after treatment in the dental chair; and back in waiting-room after treatment. Four prints were taken in the waiting-room before treatment and one in each other situation described above. The average of prints 3 and 4 was used for phase comparisons. Palmar sweat index values were generally in accordance with the threat of the situations. In particular there was a rise from waiting-room to sitting down in the dental chair and a further increase at the dentist's entry, whereafter values dropped considerably. A significant decrease from the first two waiting-room values to the following two suggests that the PSI reacts sensitively to the novelty of the assessment procedure itself and that the very first recordings should hence not be taken into evaluation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Headache syndromes as detected by configural frequency analysis.

Data on headache symptoms obtained in two samples (N = 422 and 304) by means of questionnaires were subjected to configural frequency analysis (CFA). This not widely-known method tests whether certain symptom combinations appear more often or less often than expected by chance. In both samples symptom combinations corresponding to the syndromes of migraine with aura, migraine without aura and tension headache did indeed occur with significant frequency. The same clear-cut symptom patterns appeared when patients with preceding visual disturbances were excluded from analysis. These results seem to lend strong support to a categorical model of headache, rather than to the concept of headache as a spectrum.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗
PubMed1985

Stress and rheumatoid arthritis: a survey of empirical evidence in human and animal studies.

Literature concerning rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was reviewed with regard to the empirical evidence for the widely held view that the onset and course of the disease are influenced by stress variables. Human studies yielded contradictory results; there are at least two large well-controlled investigations that were not able to find a preponderance of life stress variables prior to the onset of the disease in RA patients compared to other patients or healthy subjects. Findings of animal studies are inconsistent, too: Some kinds of stress seem to abrogate, whereas others may rather enhance the development of rheumatic symptoms. Possible pathogenetic models are discussed to explain the influence of stress on the disease. For further research, the use of more sophisticated methods to assess life events, and prospective longitudinal studies in RA patients are suggested to find out whether stressful events antedate relapses. Such correlations should be examined for patients with seronegative and seropositive RA separately.

Adolescent↗