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Biomedical subjects

U Wittig

Publications and source records attributed to U Wittig.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

[Health and migration. Psychosocial determinants].

The article provides an overview of the contemporary literature on the social and psychological factors which are associated with migration. Derived from the operationalisation of "migration" and an examination of the methodological peculiarities of migration research, a (transactional) stress model of migration is proposed incorporating potentially stress-eliciting influences of migration including occupational pressures, social isolation and/or family-related problems and their impact on psychological and physical health. There are inconsistencies in the findings regarding psychological health, which can in part be explained through the phenomena of the "healthy migrant effect", duration of stay in the host culture or the culture-specificity. Moreover, a discussion is provided of the extent that disorders associated with differentially stressed migrants will be manifested in the health care system. Finally, concluding remarks are offered together with a short discussion of the implication of these findings for future research and social and health policy decision-making.

Acculturation↗
PubMed2004

[Complaints and health care system utilisation of ethnic German migrants from the former Soviet Union to Germany and their families].

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study is the description of subjective morbidity, health care system utilisation and complaints of ethnic German migrants from the former Soviet Union at the beginning of migration. At present no data are available concerning aspects of health behaviour among this largest immigrant population in Germany. METHODS: 300 ethnic German migrants and their families (mean age 37.2 and 51% female) were interrogated shortly after migration to Germany. They answered questions about prevalence of diseases, health care system utilization, actual health status and completed the Giessen Subjective Complaints List (GSCL-24). German standards exist for all questionnaires. RESULTS: 237 ethnic German migrants report to have suffered from at least one disease during the course of the last year. They see the gynaecologist and dentist as often as the German population, pay fewer visits to practitioners and specialists but seek more medical advice from the medical lay system. The majority of subjects are satisfied with their health. Migrants describe their health status as lower than the German population compared to which they also report more complaints (Overall distress in GSCL-24 : 17.2 for migrants and 14.0 for Germans) and different complaints (headaches, fatigue). CONCLUSIONS: The different medical care system and differences in the treatment of patients could account for the less frequent use of medical services by ethnic German migrants. Actual stressors like language differences and acculturation problems are discussed as possible reasons for the increased rate of complaints among ethnic German migrants. Although they suffer from more complaints the German migrants do not seem to modify their help-seeking behaviour.

Acculturation↗
PubMed2001

Analysis and comparison of metabolic pathway databases.

Enormous amounts of data result from genome sequencing projects and new experimental methods. Within this tremendous amount of genomic data 30-40 per cent of the genes being identified in an organism remain unknown in terms of their biological function. As a consequence of this lack of information the overall schema of all the biological functions occurring in a specific organism cannot be properly represented. To understand the functional properties of the genomic data more experimental data must be collected. A pathway database is an effort to handle the current knowledge of biochemical pathways and in addition can be used for interpretation of sequence data. Some of the existing pathway databases can be interpreted as detailed functional annotations of genomes because they are tightly integrated with genomic information. However, experimental data are often lacking in these databases. This paper summarises a list of pathway databases and some of their corresponding biological databases, and also focuses on information about the content and the structure of these databases, the organisation of the data and the reliability of stored information from a biological point of view. Moreover, information about the representation of the pathway data and tools to work with the data are given. Advantages and disadvantages of the analysed databases are pointed out, and an overview to biological scientists on how to use these pathway databases is given.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Farnesylation of Ras is important for the interaction with phosphoinositide 3-kinase gamma.

The correct functioning of Ras proteins requires post-translational modification of the GTP hydrolases (GTPases). These modifications provide hydrophobic moieties that lead to the attachment of Ras to the inner side of the plasma membrane. In this study we investigated the role of Ras processing in the interaction with various putative Ras-effector proteins. We describe a specific, GTP-independent interaction between post-translationally modified Ha- and Ki-Ras4B and the G-protein responsive phosphoinositide 3-kinase p110gamma. Our data demonstrate that post-translational processing increases markedly the binding of Ras to p110gamma in vitro and in Sf9 cells, whereas the interaction with p110alpha is unaffected under the same conditions. Using in vitro farnesylated Ras, we show that farnesylation of Ras is sufficient to produce this effect. The complex of p110gamma and farnesylated RasGTP exhibits a reduced dissociation rate leading to the efficient shielding of the GTPase from GTPase activating protein (GAP) action. Moreover, Ras processing affects the dissociation rate of the RasGTP complex with the Ras binding domain (RBD) of Raf-1, indicating that processing induces alterations in the conformation of RasGTP. The results suggest a direct interaction between a moiety present only on fully processed or farnesylated Ras and the putative target protein p110gamma.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

[Successful study outcome with medical faculties--after 4 semesters how many beginning students pass the written medical preliminary exam?].

An institute in Mainz, Germany (Mainzer Institut für Prüfungsfragen, IMPP), regularly publishes statistics comparing the results of the written examinations for medical students in the first stage of their course at different universities. These figures apply to those students who sit the examination in the normal course of their studies and lead to a ranking of the various Medical Schools in Germany according to exam results. Those with a low failure rate and above average exam marks range at the top of the list and are generally considered to provide a better quality medical training than those lower down on the list. For the first time these figures are set in relation to the number of students admitted to the course in the first place, thus including those students who do not sit the exams after the normal period of time. This reveals a very different picture. Taking into account the current political and economic discussion criticising university courses for being too long or too costly a department would then achieve a higher ranking if it can prove that more students sit and pass their first-stage medical exam after the standard period of four semesters, even if this involves lower average exam results and higher failure rates.

Educational Measurement↗
PubMed1995

Expression of 5-lipoxygenase in differentiating human skin keratinocytes.

We studied the expression of arachidonate 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) in a cell line of human keratinocytes (HaCaT) and in normal human skin keratinocytes in tissue culture. In undifferentiated keratinocytes 5-LO gene expression was low or undetectable as determined by 5-LO mRNA, protein, cell-free enzyme activity, and leukotriene production in intact cells. However, after shift to culture conditions that promote conversion of prokeratinocytes into a more differentiated phenotype, 5-LO gene expression was markedly induced in HaCaT cells and, to a lesser extent, in normal keratinocytes. These results show that 5-LO gene expression is an intrinsic property of human skin keratinocytes.

Arachidonate 5-Lipoxygenase↗
PubMed1995

Quantitative lipoxygenase product profiling by gas chromatography negative-ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry.

An assay for the quantitative determination of the hydroxylation profile of long-chain fatty acids is described for gas chromatography negative-ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry and stable isotope dilution using [carboxyl-18O2]-labeled internal standards. The assay has been applied to the study of fatty acids isolated from body fluids, tissue, and cultured cells. Examples for the analyses of biological systems expressing 5-, 8-, 12-, or 15-lipoxygenase activity are given and the most important sources of analytical errors are addressed. Increased specificity compared to analysis by negative-ion chemical ionization, at the cost of sensitivity, can be achieved by the use of positive-ion electron impact ionization for the investigation of hydrogenated pentafluorobenzylester/trimethylsilylether derivatives. The method described provides complete, specific, and quantitative profiles of hydroxylated fatty acids originally present in biological samples or generated in vitro by incubation with polyunsaturated fatty acid substrates such as linoleic or arachidonic acid.

Animals↗