Das Problem der verantworteten Therapieentscheidung in der Neonatologie

Definition of the problem: Physicians and nurses who work in neonatology—as in intensive care at all—are often forced to decide whether to stop or to continue with the treatment of a severely ill patient. The literature provides several decision making instruments, which are meant to help and to rationalize such decisions. Method and conclusion: Two of these instruments (“Schema zur ethischen Urteilsbildung nach dem Muster der aristotelischen Ethik”, Honnefelder 1994; “Nimwegener Methode für ethische Fallbesprechung”, Gordijn 1998) were tested by retrospectively examining two cases of our NICU. Results of our study show that the use of a decision making instrument is basically helpful. But the above mentioned instruments showed also shortcomings when used in the framework of neonatology. Therefore we developed the “Kölner Arbeitsbogen zur ethischen Entscheidungsfindung in der Neonatologie”, which is adapted to the specific needs of neonatology.     

Kommentar I

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Bolus ingestion of white and green tea increases the concentration of several flavan‐3‐ols in plasma,but does not affect markers of oxidative stress in healthy non‐smokers

White tea (WT) is rich in flavan‐3‐ols as green tea (GT) and might provide health protective effects due to the strong antioxidant properties of flavan‐3‐ols. Since intervention studies with WT are lacking, we evaluated the effects of WT consumption on antioxidant status, antioxidant capacity and biomarkers of oxidative stress compared to water and GT. After an overnight fast, 70 healthy non‐smokers were randomized to consume 600 mL of WT, GT or water (control). Plasma (epi‐)catechin and epi(gallo)catechingallate, antioxidant capacity (Folin assay, trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity test), 8‐iso‐prostaglandin F_2α, ascorbic acid and uric acid were determined before and several times within 8 h after consumption. DNA strand breaks were measured in vivo and ex vivo (H₂O₂ stimulation) in leukocytes. Plasma flavan‐3‐ols significantly increased after WT and GT ingestion. Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity was lower after 5 h in controls versus WT (p=0.031) and GT (p=0.005). Folin‐Ciocalteu reducing capacity, ascorbic and uric acid as well as markers of oxidative stress (8‐iso‐prostaglandin‐F_2α, DNA strand breaks) were not affected by the beverages. A short‐term increase of catechins does not change plasma antioxidant capacity in healthy subjects. Conclusions with respect to health protective effects of WT and GT on the basis of these biomarkers can, thus, not be drawn.     

Modeling,classifying and annotating weakly annotated images using Bayesian network

In this paper, we propose a probabilistic graphical model to represent weakly annotated images. We consider an image as weakly annotated if the number of keywords defined for it is less than the maximum number defined in the ground truth. This model is used to classify images and automatically extend existing annotations to new images by taking into account semantic relations between keywords. The proposed method has been evaluated in visual-textual classification and automatic annotation of images. The visual-textual classification is performed by using both visual and textual information. The experimental results, obtained from a database of more than 30,000 images, show an improvement by 50.5% in terms of recognition rate against only visual information classification. Taking into account semantic relations between keywords improves the recognition rate by 10.5%. Moreover, the proposed model can be used to extend existing annotations to weakly annotated images, by computing distributions of missing keywords. Semantic relations improve the mean rate of good annotations by 6.9%. Finally, the proposed method is competitive with a state-of-art model.     

Improved compressed sensing reconstruction for $$^{19}$$ F magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), compressed sensing (CS) enables the reconstruction of undersampled sparse data sets. Thus,...     

Sensory profiles and preference analysis in ornamental horticulture: The case of the rosebush

The context of ornamental horticulture is considered in order to extend the techniques of sensory and preference evaluation by taking the rosebush as a plant model. In a preliminary study (Boumaza, Demotes-Mainard, Huché-Thélier, & Guérin, 2009), a sensory evaluation was conducted in order to set up a list of attributes. Subsequently, this list was adapted to assess 10 rosebushes. After the control of the panel performance using a multivariate strategy of analysis, the average scores were used in product mapping. The evaluation of the preferences with regard to these rosebushes was undertaken: 253 subjects were asked to rank the products by decreasing order of liking. Thereafter, the preference data were subjected to an internal preference mapping and a cluster analysis. Six homogeneous segments of consumers were eventually retained. By way of performing an external preference mapping, the average ranks were regressed upon the sensory attributes using principal component regression: the preferences of 67% of the consumers were satisfactorily explained by the attributes.     

Intra-muscular and inter-muscular variation in carbon turnover of ovine muscles as recorded by stable isotope ratios

In the case of muscle-based foods, the incorporation of dietary isotopic signals into muscle tissue is a dynamic process and it is not known whether all muscles, or locations within a muscle, have the same isotopic composition. Therefore, an experiment was conducted in which 28 lambs were switched from a control diet to an isotopically distinct experimental diet offered at two different energy allowances (EA). Small, albeit significant, differences were detected in tissue carbon (C) turnover within the muscle Longissimus dorsi. Inter-muscular comparison showed similar C half-lives for four of the five analysed muscles. The results also clearly demonstrated that the EA had a significant impact on intra- and inter-muscular C turnover. The findings of similar tissue C turnover of several muscles sold as meats and the comparable tissue-diet fractionation of the analysed muscles (both within the same EA) will enable scientists to analyse different meat samples according to availability without introducing large biases. However, EA must be considered a factor of uncertainty.