The quality of biospecimens stored in a biobank depends tremendously on the technical personnel responsible for processing, storage, and release of biospecimens. Adequate training of these biobank employees would allow harmonization of correct sample handling and thus ensure a high and comparable quality of samples across biobank locations. However, in Germany there are no specific training opportunities for technical biobank staff. To understand the educational needs of the technical personnel a web-based survey was sent to all national biobanks via established e-mail registers. In total, 79 biobank employees completed the survey, including 43 technicians. The majority of the participating technical personnel stated that they had worked in a biobank for less than three years and had never participated in an advanced training. Three-quarters of the technicians indicated that they were not able to understand English content instantly. Based on these results and the results of a workshop with 16 biobank technicians, 41 learning objectives were formulated. These learning objectives can be used as a basis for advanced training programs for technical personnel in biobanks. Setting up courses based on the identified learning objectives for this group of biobank staff could contribute to harmonization and sustainability of biospecimen quality.
Zielsetzung Die Schwangerschaft geht mit Veränderungen von multiplen sowohl metabolischen als auch vaskulären Prozessen einher. Es konnten bereits verschiedene kardiovaskuläre Biomarker mit dem Auftreten von Schwangerschaftskomplikationen, wie beispielsweise eines Gestationsdiabetes mellitus, sowie mit dem Geburtsgewicht korreliert werden. Weiterhin wurden bei gesunden Schwangerschaften im Nabelschnurserum Biomarker nachgewiesen, welche mit der Entwicklung der Gewichtszunahme im frühen Kindesalter assoziiert sind. Um diese Zusammenhänge detaillierter zu ergründen, untersuchten wir mögliche Korrelationen von zirkulierenden kardiovaskulären Biomarkern im Nabelschnurserum bei der Geburt mit der Gewichtsentwicklung des Kindes im ersten Lebensjahr.
Background: The PR (or PQ) interval is the delay between the excitation of the atria and ventricles and is determined by the sum of atrial and atrioventricular nodal conduction. Both long (>200 ms) and short PR intervals (<120 ms) are associated with an increased risk for atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between PR interval and blood markers of cardiac stress, myocardial damage and inflammation. Methods: The LIFE-Adult-Study is a population-based cohort study, which has recently completed the baseline examination of 10,000 randomly selected participants from Leipzig, a major city with 550,000 inhabitants in the east of Germany. In the current analysis, patients >40 years with no overt heart disease, sinus rhythm in ECG, no history of AF or antiarrhythmic drugs (including beta blockers) and available laboratory data (TropT, BNP, CRP, IL6) were included. Results: The study population comprised 3151 patients (58 ± 11 years, 48% males). In uni- and multivariable analyses, age (B = 0.501, 95% CI 0.294–0.708, p < 0.001), male gender (B = 11.437, 95% CI 9.598–13.276, p < 0.001) and TropT (B = 14.875, 95% CI 4.885–24.866, p = 0.004) were significantly associated with the PR interval. The prevalences of patients with short and long PR intervals (177 patients (6%) and 147 (5%), respectively) were similar. While none of the biomarkers was associated with short PR interval, TropT remained significantly associated with PR prolongation >200 ms (OR 2.562, 95%CI 1.068–6.145, p = 0.035). Conclusions: TropT is associated with PR interval prolongation which may indicate subclinical heart disease. Longitudinal studies are needed to assess their association with AF.
Abstract Social isolation has been suggested to increase the risk to develop cognitive decline. However, our knowledge on causality and neurobiological underpinnings is still limited. In this preregistered analysis, we tested the impact of social isolation on central features of brain and cognitive aging using a longitudinal population-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study. Assaying 1335 cognitively healthy participants (50-80 years old, 659 women) at baseline and 895 participants after ∼6 years follow-up, we found baseline social isolation and change in social isolation to be associated with smaller volumes of the hippocampus, reduced cortical thickness and poorer cognitive functions. Combining advanced neuroimaging outcomes with prevalent lifestyle characteristics from a well-characterized population of middle- to older aged adults, we provide evidence that social isolation contributes to human brain atrophy and cognitive decline. Within-subject effects of social isolation were similar to between-subject effects, indicating an opportunity to reduce dementia risk by promoting social networks.
The LIFE-Adult-Study is a population-based cohort study, which has recently completed the baseline examination of 10,000 randomly selected participants from Leipzig, a major city with 550,000 inhabitants in the east of Germany. It is the first study of this kind and size in an urban population in the eastern part of Germany. The study is conducted by the Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases (LIFE). Our objective is to investigate prevalences, early onset markers, genetic predispositions, and the role of lifestyle factors of major civilization diseases, with primary focus on metabolic and vascular diseases, heart function, cognitive impairment, brain function, depression, sleep disorders and vigilance dysregulation, retinal and optic nerve degeneration, and allergies. The study covers a main age range from 40-79 years with particular deep phenotyping in elderly participants above the age of 60. The baseline examination was conducted from August 2011 to November 2014. All participants underwent an extensive core assessment programme (5-6 h) including structured interviews, questionnaires, physical examinations, and biospecimen collection. Participants over 60 underwent two additional assessment programmes (3-4 h each) on two separate visits including deeper cognitive testing, brain magnetic resonance imaging, diagnostic interviews for depression, and electroencephalography. The participation rate was 33 %. The assessment programme was accepted well and completely passed by almost all participants. Biomarker analyses have already been performed in all participants. Genotype, transcriptome and metabolome analyses have been conducted in subgroups. The first follow-up examination will commence in 2016.
