Health promotion in German kindergartens-design and methods of the exploratory, cluster-randomized, mixed methods KNEIPP-KITA Bavaria study.

Background: The Kneipp Health Concept, which can be traced back to the German Sebastian Kneipp, integrates five health-promoting elements: physical activity, healthy nutrition, medicinal herbs, mental wellbeing and hydrotherapy. This concept is embedded in a pedagogical framework for children and has been adopted by more than 500 kindergartens across Germany and in other countries. The KNEIPP-KITA study Bavaria aims to evaluate the short- and medium-term effects of KHC on the health and wellbeing of children, their parents, and educational staff.

Advancing the implementation of quality-assured oncological exercise therapy in Germany: protocol for the IMPLEMENT project.

Background: Although quality-assured oncological exercise therapy (qOET) has proven effective for cancer patients at any stage of treatment and during aftercare, it is not yet incorporated into standard care in Germany and, to the best of our knowledge, in any other country. A collaboration involving eight German research institutions was initiated to investigate the barriers and facilitators to implementation and promote the wider dissemination of qOET for cancer patients across various settings in Germany.

Methods: The IMPLEMENT project is designed as an exploratory study with a quasi-experimental design and a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative data collection.

Tinnitus Is Marginally Associated with Body Mass Index, Heart Rate and Arterial Blood Pressure: Results from a Large Clinical Sample.

Introduction: This study aimed to explore whether body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (RR syst), diastolic blood pressure (RR diast) or heart rate (HR) are associated with tinnitus status and/or severity.

Methods: To that end, we evaluated the influence of tinnitus status and Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) score on BMI, RR syst, RR diast and HR by comparing data from a large sample of patients presenting to a specialized tertiary referral clinic (N = 1066) with data from a population-based control group (N = 9885) by means of linear models.

Results: Tinnitus patients had a significantly lower BMI and higher RR syst, RR diast and HR than non-tinnitus patients; however, the contribution of the case-control status to was very small (0.

Association of physical activity and sedentary behavior with type 2 diabetes and glycemic traits: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

Introduction: Observational studies suggest that physical activity lowers and sedentary behavior increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. Despite of some supportive trial data for physical activity, it is largely unresolved whether these relations are causal or due to bias.

Objective: We investigated the associations between accelerometer-based physical activity and sedentary behavior with type 2 diabetes and several glycemic traits using two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis.

Wnt5a: a potential factor linking psoriasis to metabolic complications.

Psoriasis is associated with comorbidity including obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus type 2. In obesity, the protein wingless-type MMTV integration site Family, Member 5a (wnt5a) is released from adipose tissue macrophages and was shown to be of importance in the development of insulin resistance. As wnt5a was also shown to be upregulated in psoriatic skin lesions, we investigated whether wnt5a and its counterpart secreted frizzled-related protein 5 are altered in the circulation of lean and obese patients with psoriasis compared with lean and obese healthy volunteers by measuring serum concentrations of both proteins.

Cardiovascular biomarkers in patients with psoriasis.

Psoriasis is a systemic inflammatory disease of the skin with associated comorbidity. Severe forms of psoriasis are associated with increased mortality, which might be due to cardiovascular (CV) comorbidity. In this study, we investigated in 79 patients with psoriasis compared to 80 healthy volunteers different biomarkers that play a role in vascular disease and inflammation, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), human soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L), oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL), human matrix Gla protein (MGP) and fetuin-A.

Nuclear pregnane X receptor single nucleotide polymorphism (-25385C/T) is not associated with inflammatory bowel disease in pediatric patients.

Objective: Studies in adults characterized the role of the pregnane X receptor (PXR) in the pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with conflicting results; pediatric studies are still lacking.

Patients And Methods: Genotyping for the -25385C/T polymorphism of the PXR gene in 187 white children with IBD and 185 controls. Determination of colonic PXR expression in selected patients with IBD.

Prevalence and incidence of the metabolic syndrome in the European Lacidipine Study on Atherosclerosis (ELSA) and its relation with carotid intima-media thickness.

Background: The European Lacidipine Study on Atherosclerosis (ELSA) randomized 2334 hypertensive patients to either the lipophilic calcium antagonist lacidipine or the beta-blocker atenolol for 4 years. About 35% of subjects in both groups received additional hydrochlorothiazide (12.5-25 mg/day).

Association of a CXCL9 polymorphism with pediatric Crohn's disease.

Genetic and environmental factors contribute to the etiopathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). To identify new susceptibility genes, we determined the mRNA expression level of 88 genes from different biological contexts on colonic biopsies of CD and UC patients. We show that CXCL9 was overexpressed in colonic tissue of 3/5 CD and 3/3 UC patients compared to healthy controls.

Association of NOD1 polymorphisms with atopic eczema and related phenotypes.

Background: Interactions with microbial pathogens are crucial for the maturation of the immune system. The nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain protein 1 (NOD1) is a cytosolic receptor sensing a muropeptide found mostly in gram-negative bacterial peptidoglycans. NOD1 is located on chromosome 7p14-p15, a region that has been linked with atopy.