Increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the fields of nutrition and obesity: A road map to equity in academia

Research shows that a diverse faculty improves academic, clinical, and research outcomes in higher education. Despite that, persons in minority groups, usually categorized by race or ethnicity, are underrepresented in academia (URiA). The Nutrition Obesity Research Centers (NORCs), supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, hosted workshops on five separate days in September and October 2020. NORCs convened these workshops to identify barriers and facilitators for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and provide specific recommendations to improve DEI within obesity and nutrition for individuals from URiA groups. Recognized experts on DEI presented each day, after which the NORCs conducted breakout sessions with key stakeholders who engage in nutrition and obesity research. The breakout session groups included early-career investigators, professional societies, and academic leadership. The consensus from the breakout sessions was that glaring inequities affect URiA in nutrition and obesity, particularly related to recruitment, retention, and advancement. Recommendations from the breakout sessions to improve DEI across academia focused on six themes: (1) recruitment, (2) retention, (3) advancement, (4) intersectionality of multiple challenges (e.g., being Black and a woman), (5) funding agencies, and (6) implementation of strategies to address problems related to DEI.

Increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the fields of nutrition and obesity: A roadmap to equity in academia

Research shows that a diverse faculty improves academic, clinical, and research outcomes in higher education. Despite that, persons in minority groups, usually categorized by race or ethnicity, are underrepresented in academia (URiA). The Nutrition Obesity Research Centers (NORCs), supported by the NIDDK, hosted workshops on five separate days in September and October 2020. NORCs convened these workshops to identify barriers and facilitators for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and provide specific recommendations to improve DEI within obesity and nutrition for individuals from URiA groups. Recognized experts on DEI presented each day, after which the NORCs conducted breakout sessions with key stakeholders who engage in nutrition and obesity research. The breakout session groups included early-career investigators, professional societies, and academic leadership. The consensus from the breakout sessions was that glaring inequities affect URiA in nutrition and obesity, particularly related to recruitment, retention, and advancement. Recommendations from the breakout sessions to improve DEI across the academe focused on six themes: (1) recruitment, (2) retention, (3) advancement, (4) intersectionality of multiple challenges (e.g., being Black and a woman), (5) funding agencies, and (6) implementation of strategies to address problems related to DEI.

Low-temperature ion beam sputtered optical coatings

In thin film deposition processes, the lower limit of the deposition temperature is determined by the used coating technology and the duration of the coating process and is usually higher than room temperature. Hence, the processing of thermally sensitive materials and the adjustability of thin film morphology are limited. In consequence, for factual low-temperature deposition processes, an active cooling of the substrate is required. The effect of low substrate temperature on thin film properties during ion beam sputtering was investigated. The S i O ₂ and T a ₂ O ₅ films grown at 0°C show a trend of lower optical losses and higher laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) compared to 100°C.

Closed venereology wards in postwar Hamburg

BACKGROUND

A number of research results on closed venereology facilities in the Soviet Occupation Zone (SOZ) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) have been presented in recent years. However, little is known about similar facilities in the Western Occupation Zones (WOZ) and in the early Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).

METHOD

We have researched the records of the State Archive in Hamburg. Subsequently, the analysed sources were evaluated using the historically critical method.

RESULTS

Three closed venereology wards existed in Hamburg. Compulsory commitments were conducted according to a three-stage procedure. In the immediate postwar period, the wards had barred windows and the doors were locked. Everyday life in the wards was initially determined by the postwar situation - poor facilities, poor hygiene, overcrowding. In the early 1950s, the number of beds was drastically reduced. The function of the wards consisted of isolation and medical care for the compulsorily committed persons. Medical care was in accordance with professional medical standards.

DISCUSSION

Closed venereology wards in Hamburg followed the tradition established during the period of the Weimar Republic. This becomes apparent both in terms of the legal framework and in terms of the structure and functions of the wards. Thus, they clearly differ from the closed venereology facilities in the SOZ and in the GDR. These facilities were established in the tradition of Soviet prophylactics institutions. The wards in Hamburg served as isolation and treatment centres, the facilities in the SOZ and in the GDR also had a disciplinary function.

The rise of Chemical Peeling in 19th-century European Dermatology: emergence of agents, formulations and treatments

BACKGROUND

Considering the increasing number of chemical peeling applications, also the interest in the history of chemical peelings and agents, has grown in dermatology. Research ascribes the first use of phenol as a chemical peeling agent to William Tilbury Fox (1836-1879) in 1871. Furthermore, Ferdinand von Hebra (1847-1902) is said to describe the properties of various peeling agents in 1874, and Paul Gerson Unna (1850-1929) adds resorcinol and trichloroacetic acid in 1882.

OBJECTIVE

To identify the first mentions of chemical peeling applications and agents in 19th-century dermatology.

METHODS

Nineteenth-century dermatologists were identified by an examination of literature of the last 30 years on the history of chemical peeling. Systematic examination of the medical textbooks of Hebra, Fox and Unna was conducted. It was proved whether the mentioned agents were used for chemical peeling applications.

RESULTS

The skin peeling property of phenol was already discovered by its first describer, the chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge (1795-1867) in 1834. The Viennese dermatologist Hebra described phenol as a chemical peeling agent in 1860. Hebra and his associate Moriz Kaposi (1837-1902) stated that 'Lotio carbolica' was already used in London. Fox used phenol mostly as a disinfectant and not for chemical peelings since 1869. Unna described the chemical peeling property of salicylic acid in 1882 and gave the most comprehensive account of chemical peels of the 19th century in 1899. Unna also introduced the Gutta-percha plaster with salicylic acid and phenol. Around 1900, Unna was famous for his peeling paste with resorcinol in Germany.

CONCLUSIONS

A new chronology of the introduction of chemical peeling in dermatology can be drawn from the results. The German-speaking dermatology pioneered the treatment of skin diseases with chemical peelings as well as for aesthetical purposes 21 years earlier than hitherto known.

Katharsis of the skin: peeling applications and agents of chemical peelings in Greek medical textbooks of Graeco-Roman antiquity

BACKGROUND

Recipes for peelings date back to medical texts of old Egypt. The oldest medical papyri contain recipes for 'improving beauty of the skin' and 'removing wrinkles' by use of agents such as salt and soda. The Egyptian Queen Cleopatra (69-30 BC) is said to have taken bathes in donkey's milk to improve the beauty of her skin. However, little is known about other agents and peeling applications in later Greek medical textbooks.

OBJECTIVE

We will discover new agents and describe ancient peeling applications. First, we will have to identify ancient Greek medical terms for the modern terms 'peeling' and 'chemical peeling'. Second, on the basis of the identified terms, we will perform a systematic full-text search for agents in original sources. Third, we will categorize the results into three peeling applications: (i) cleansing, (ii) aesthetical improvement of the skin and (iii) therapy of dermatological diseases.

METHODS

We performed a full systematic keyword search with the identified Greek terms in databases of ancient Greek texts. Our keywords for peeling and chemical peeling are 'smēxis' and 'trīpsis'. Our keywords for agents of peeling and chemical peeling are 'smégmata', 'rhýmmata', 'kathartiká' and 'trímmata'.

RESULTS

Diocles (4th century BC) was the first one who mentioned 'smēxis' and 'trīpsis' as parts of daily cleansing routine. Criton (2nd century AD) wrote about peeling applications, but any reference to the agents is lost. Antyllus (2nd century AD) composed three lists of peeling applications including their agents.

CONCLUSION

Greek medical textbooks of Graeco-Roman antiquity report several peeling applications such as cleansing, brightening, darkening, softening and aesthetical improvement of the skin by use of peeling and chemical peeling, as well as therapy of dermatological diseases. There are 27 ancient agents for what is contemporarily called peeling and chemical peeling. We discovered more specific agents than hitherto known to research.

[Production of accentuated personality traits in baroque opera : Opera buffa Arcifanfano-Re dei matti (1749)]

BACKGROUND

Madness served primarily as a form of amusement for the spectators in operas of the seventeenth century. This representation was far removed from clinical reality. This circumstance changed in the eighteenth century at the time when tragic madness emerged in numerous operas.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The opera buffa Arcifanfano-Re dei matti (Arcifanfano-King of fools, premiered in 1749 in Venice, text by Carlo Goldoni 1707-1793 and music by Baldassare Galuppi 1706-1785), which continuously enacts a realm of fools and is meant to appear amusing, is riddled with psychopathological abnormalities for which a retrospective diagnosis is methodologically rejected. However, the opera presents many subjects for working out a typology of fools based on outlasting personality traits of the protagonists. The libretto is investigated. A musical analysis is spared.

RESULTS

The conceptualized typology of fools in the opera, which is oriented towards the seven main vices or deadly sins serves, in the tradition of moral satire, to critically hold up a mirror to the audience to reflect their own vices by an amusing characterization of the latter. Historically classified, the treatment of fools by means of isolation, custody, locking up in cages as well as authoritarian measures of submission reflects the custom in those days before humanizing the treatment of people with mental illness in the course of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.

CONCLUSION

The opera Arcifanfano is essentially characterized by continuous madness. A typology of the fools can be worked out from the precise depiction of the personalities. A mirror is held up to the spectators in terms of vices, in the tradition of the contemporary baroque opera. At the same time, the opera can be classified psychiatrically and historically as a seismograph of its time when in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries people with mental illness were isolated and incarcerated.

[Dentists' Knowledge of Ethical Questions Regarding Dental Medicine - A Survey of Dentists from Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia (Germany)]

Background: Subjects regarding ethical questions in dental medicine are only slightly touched in the study of dental medicine or in the working regulations of the dentists' association. However, dentists are confronted with these matters in everyday working life. The empirical study at hand collects current data regarding the ethical knowledge about dental medicine in the practical experience of dentists in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. Methods: The tool used in the survey was a structured questionnaire. Out of 600 randomly chosen and contacted dentists from Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia, 290 replied (response rate: 48.3%). The anonymised assessment took place between June and November 2013. Results: Dentists frequently encounter ethical questions regarding dental matters. The dentists interviewed in the study are in favour of a participative relationship between patient and dentist. Simultaneously, the patient's health is predominantly seen as the good of higher value than his or her self-determination. The dentists show competent knowledge of ethical dental subjects, although increased uncertainties could be observed in more complex situations, e. g. considering contact with patients who are HIV-positive. Conclusions: Questions dealing with dental ethical questions do play a major role in the daily professional life of dentists. In order to further support and strengthen dentists in their individual dental ethical competence, we see a need for advanced training and further education regarding questions and problems in the area of ethics in dental medicine. Also, these topics should become a component in the curriculum of the study of dental medicine.

[Neuropathological research on organs of patients of the "Heil- und pflegeanstalt" (state hospital) Günzburg]

BACKGROUND

The two Kaiser Wilhelm-Institutes (KWI) in Berlin (1914, new building 1931) and in Munich (1917, new building 1926-28), specialized on pathologic anatomical as well as psychiatric genetic research, were set up before times of National Socialism.

METHODS

Data evaluation is based on patient documents and annual reports of the archive of today's district hospital Günzburg and on patient documents (copies) of the historical archive of today's Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry.

RESULTS

The KWI in Munich was indirectly provided with brain material by Bavarian "Heil- und Pflegeanstalten" (state hospitals) including the state hospital Günzburg.

CONCLUSIONS

During National Socialism patients' organs were sent from the "Heil- und Pflegeanstalt" (state hospital) Günzburg to the KWI in Munich for the purpose of conducting research. Commemorating patients' fates and clarifying what happened defines a place of remembrance.

Yesterday's ethics in contemporary medicine - is it still of concern?

Discussions on questions and problems of medical ethics are on everyone's lips. The debates center for instance around the just allocation of public resources, demographical changes in our society or the guarantee of patient autonomy, thus posing questions on the technical progress in modern medicine. These contemporary conflicts in medicine are numerous, but not all of them are new; rather, the discussion in medical ethics on these dilemmas is bound to contexts and has historical roots. Some of these conflicts reach back to the medicine of the Renaissance and Antiquity, thus assigning actuality to the historical viewpoint. Taking history into account, one can benefit from a timeless content and not least get a feeling for historicity and contingency. Considering the creation of identity, the old authorities also represent central normative reference points for the ethical competence of physicians understood as an attitude within an interpersonal medicine. For this reason, the heritage of Hippocrates, which encompasses values and norms of the Hippocratic Oath, needs to be respected. Apart from other dimensions of knowledge and skills, the development of an individual ethical competence also requires awareness of the past, leading to an understanding for the historical, social and cultural relativity of medical action.

[The "Aktion T4". In remembrance of victims of the healing and nursing institution in Günzburg]

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this article was to achieve a commemoration of patients of the Healing and Nursing Institute in Günzburg who were victims of "Aktion T4".

METHODS

On the basis of pre-defined criteria several individual patient documents were selected for this study and analyzed historically. Most items of information concerning patient histories and diagnoses were obtained from the stock R 179 of the branch office of the federal archives in Berlin Lichterfelde. Further supplementary information was extracted from administrative documents and patient charts of the archives of the psychiatric department at the regional hospital Günzburg.

RESULTS

The historical reconstruction of three individual life histories contributes to a literary memorial for the victims.

CONCLUSIONS

It is a historical responsibility to remember the victims of the "Aktion T4" by contributing to a reconstruction of their life histories.

A ultra low level laboratory for nuclear test ban measurements

The radionuclide laboratory at the Austrian Research Centers Seibersdorf (ATL03) was installed to support the international monitoring system for verification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT and Text of the establishment of a Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Test-Ban-Treaty Organization, 1996). Therefore, the background of a high-purity germanium detection system has been reduced by developing a high sophisticated active and passive detector shielding. The entire system is encapsulated in an iron-castle and placed into a fall-out shelter. The final count rate, achieved over the energy interval from 40 to 2700 keV, amounts to 0.18 counts s(-1) kg(-1) (Ge).

Results and conclusions of the Austrian radon mitigation project 'SARAH'

The Austrian radon mitigation joint research project SARAH (supported by the Austrian Ministry of Economy and the Government of Upper Austria), a 2-year follow-up study of the Austrian National Radon Project (ONRAP), was started in 1996. The objectives of the research project were to find simple, cost-effective experimental methods for the characterisation of the radon situation in dwellings and to evaluate technically and economically the implementation of state of the art remedial actions for Austrian house types. After an intercomparison exercise of the assigned radon measuring instruments and detectors five houses were closely examined in regions with elevated radon levels in the federal state of Upper Austria. In this research work for the first time an extended Blower-Door method (which is conventionally used for determining the tightness of buildings) was successfully applied to radon diagnosis of buildings. In this paper the methods used for the radon diagnosis, the applied mitigation measures and the related technical and economical aspects are discussed. In conclusion of the results of this project a common strategy for solving the radon problem in Austria in the future is presented briefly.

[Daily medical practice in the Roman Empire from the patients perspective: P. Aelius Aristides, a patient of Asklepios in Pergamon]

While the perspectives of patients are generally included in the social history of medicine during the early modern period, patients' accounts are largely overlooked in the study of earlier periods. For students of antiquity the task is particularly arduous, since meaningful, self-reflexive legacies that could be used to examine the dimensions of patient history are rare. For instance, patient accounts from the period of the Roman Empire are scarce, and rather problematic primary sources. Devotions to the healing god Asklepios, his cult and his medicine incorporate patients' perspectives, but in most cases little useful information is gained from them. An additional source is the hieroi logi of P. Aelius Aristides, who was the patient of Asklepios in Pergamon for many years. These testaments have a fictional element that presents a methodological challenge to the historian. Nevertheless, as this article shows, answers to many questions relating to patient history can be extrapolated from Aristides' testaments.

The long-term decrease of 90Sr availability in the environment and its transfer to man after a nuclear fallout

Due to its long physical half-life, and the fact that its long-term mobility in the environment as well as its radiotoxicity is higher than that of 137Cs, the long-term bio-availability of 90Sr in the environment is of importance with regard to the long-term population exposure after fallout from nuclear weapons detonations or a severe reactor accident. It will also substantially influence the time-span required until re-utilisation of highly contaminated territory is possible again. An assessment of the long-term decrease of the activity concentration in all foodstuffs relevant for internal exposure after severe 90Sr fallout was performed. The observed effective half-lives were approximately 1.8-2.1 years in the first 2-3 years after the end of fallout and 8-10 years in the following three decades. This is equivalent to a biological half-life of about 13.2 years and results in a total 50 year dose of 6.2 times the first year exposure. Due to this decline in 90Sr-availability, the average annual activity intake of 90Sr in Austria has decreased from 840 Bq at the climax of the nuclear weapons tests to about 42 Bq in 1997 for adults, and from 500 Bq to about 35 Bq for 1 year old infants. This is equivalent to a 90Sr ingestion dose of 1.2 microSv for adults and 2.5 microSv for 1 year old infants in 1997 or less than 0.4% of the ingestion dose by natural radionuclides in the diet.

Multifractal analysis of the 137Cs fallout pattern in Austria resulting from the Chernobyl accident

The cumulative deposition of the 137Cs fallout in Austria resulting from the passage of the Chernobyl cloud has been investigated by applying correlation dimension and hyperbolic frequency distribution methods. For the analysis, a total of 1,881 deposition values were used, which were collected by the Federal Environmental Agency of Austria and the Federal Ministry of Health, representing all available measurements of 137Cs in soil made in Austria after the Chernobyl accident. From these data a hyperbolic exponent for the frequency distribution of 4.0 and a set of fractal correlation dimensions, which decrease from 1.426 +/- 0.022 (for the whole network) to 0.706 +/- 0.047 (for 137Cs values > or = 100 kBq m(-2)), were derived, thus confirming that the fallout pattern can be described as a multifractal.

Occupational exposure and its effect on some immune parameters

Some immunological parameters were investigated in a group of workers exposed to external radiation (1.4 to 9.8 mSv) and inhalation of tritium (comm. eff. dose equiv. 1.2 to 2.8 mSv). The present investigations indicate the differential radiosensitivity of lymphocytic subsets: CD8 positive suppressor T cells were found to be the most sensitive subpopulation in the peripheral blood of radiation exposed workers. CD4/CD8 ratios were increased mainly due to an increase in absolute numbers of CD4 positive helper T cells indicating a selective cell renewal after irradiation. Results obtained after phytohaemugglutinin stimulation of lymphocytes showed individual variation, though there seems to be a trend towards an inverse correlation between absolute T cell numbers in peripheral blood and the number of S phases observed after stimulation, low T cell numbers leading to a high rate of stimulation. The calculation of the committed effective dose equivalents show that radiation protection against internal tritium contamination in power plants should not be neglected.

[Long-term integrated radon measurement on a small scale in Vienna and communication with the population]

Long-term integrated radon measurements (alpha-track) were carried out in two housing blocks in Vienna diagonally across from each other. The arithmetic mean was 41 becquerels/cubic metre (= Bq/m3), concentrations ranging from 157 to 9 Bq/m3. The largest variation found within one block came up to a factor of 13, within one house to a factor of 8 and within one floor of one and the same house to a factor of 4. The measurements gave the opportunity to practice risk communication with the residents of the two housing blocks.

[Exposure to radioactivity in the perinatal period following the reactor accident in Chernobyl]

After the Chernobyl nuclear accident on 26 April 1986 Europe experienced increased radioactive radiation by contamination of the atmospheric aerosol and the soil. Foods emanating radioactive radiation were ingested by the population to an increased extent via the food chain. This proportion of radioactive radiation accounted for about 80% of the total irradiation exposure and prompted us to examine mother's milk, amniotic fluid and placenta of newborn in respect of their concentrations of radionuclides I-131, Cs-134 and Cs-137. Due to the short half-life of I-131 an increased concentration of this substance was seen only during the first eight weeks after the nuclear accident. On the other hand, however, there was a clear increase in Cs-134 and Cs-137 from this time onward, the highest concentration of these two nuclides being measured only after one year after the accident. Despite the enhanced exposure to radioactivity of mother's milk and amniotic fluid, the guideline values laid down by Federal German legislation were not exceeded.