We investigated the prevalence of overweight and obesity in German schoolchildren and analyzed determinants of overweight. In the context of a randomized intervention study, a baseline cross-sectional assessment was carried out in 2006. During a physical examination, height, weight, skin fold thickness, and upper arm and waist circumferences were measured according to a standardized protocol among 1.079 children aged 6-9 years. Overweight and obesity were classified according to the definitions of the International Obesity Task Force. Parents completed a questionnaire on potential determinants of overweight. Logistic regression models were calculated for determinants of overweight and obesity. The prevalence of overweight was 16.5% in boys and 17.3% in girls and of obesity 3.5% and 3.6%, respectively. Migration (29.4 %) was correlated with overweight and obesity. In particular, among boys with migration background, overweight (24.0%) and obesity (6.6%) were highly prevalent. Higher obesity prevalence was associated with maternal smoking during pregnancy, parental overweight, and low parental education. Indicators for physical inactivity such as watching television more than 1 h per weekday, participation in club sports less than once a week, consumption of sweetened drinks (>or=3 times per week), and skipping breakfast before school were associated with childhood obesity. Our results provide further evidence that parental factors such as migration background and education are strongly associated with body mass of the offspring. Physically inactive children with regular consumption of sweetened drinks and no breakfast were prone to be overweight or obese. Changes of these lifestyle factors as targets of interventions are promising to prevent childhood obesity.

Objective: To describe the effects of URMEL-ICE, a German school-based intervention for overweight prevention, on children’s BMI and other measures of fat mass. Methods: A cluster-randomised controlled design was used. The intervention which focused on physical activity, TV time and soft drink consumption was integrated into a second-grade curriculum and was implemented by classroom teachers themselves. It comprised 29 teaching lessons, 2 short exercise blocks per day and 6 family homework lessons. BMI was assessed as primary outcome measure, waist circumference and skinfold thickness as secondary outcomes. Data of 945 children were analysed. Results: Multivariate analyses adjusted for baseline values showed no statistically significant effect of the intervention on BMI, but on waist circumference (–0.85; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) –1.59 to –0.12) and subscapular skinfold thickness (–0.64; 95% CI –1.25 to –0.02). After additional adjustment for individual time lag between baseline and follow-up, these effects were reduced to –0.60 (95% CI –1.25 to 0.05) and –0.61 (95% CI –1.26 to 0.04) and lost their statistical significance. Conclusion: This study contributes to the field of randomised school-based studies on overweight prevention and shows that within a 1-year, integrated intervention no effect on BMI, but a tendency towards effects on fat mass can be achieved.

In routine clinical practice balneophototherapy using conventional UVB is superior to conventional UVB only at the end of a 6-week treatment course.

Diagnosis of scabies infection can be difficult as in many cases only few mites are present on an infected person, and in some cases the skin manifestations can be subtle or atypical. We describe the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify Sarcoptes scabiei DNA in a patient presenting with clinically atypical eczema. Cutaneous scales were PCR positive for S. scabiei DNA before, and negative 2 weeks after, therapy. This method facilitates fast and very sensitive diagnosis of clinically atypical or inapparent scabies infection and therapy control in severely affected patients and may help to identify previously unrecognized scabies cases.

Ionizing radiation produces reactive oxygen intermediates in mammalian tissues and may serve as a model system for the investigation of the biologic effects of free radicals. We have previously shown that the adhesion molecule ICAM-1 is induced by ionizing radiation, and here we have investigated the molecular mechanisms responsible. ICAM-1 mRNA and cell surface expression was induced in HeLa and HaCaT cells after exposure to ionizing radiation. This induction was blocked by preincubation with the antioxidants PDTC and N-acetyl cysteine. ICAM-1 promoter activity was assessed by transiently transfecting HeLa cells with CAT-reporter gene constructs containing sequential ICAM-1 5' deletions. ICAM-1 5' fragments -1162/+1 (relative to the transcription start site) and -277/+1 displayed increased promoter activity when cells were exposed to ionizing radiation, but no induction was seen in a -182/+1 construct associating positions -277 to around -182 with inducibility by ionizing radiation. Nuclear extracts from HaCaT cells were tested in mobility shift assays using an NF kappa B-like binding site of the ICAM-1 5' region (positions -186/-177). There was marked enhancement of DNA-protein complex forming in extracts from irradiated versus untreated cells. Incubation of cells with antioxidants prior to irradiation prevented the radiation-dependent increase in complex formation. We conclude that reactive oxygen intermediates are involved in ICAM-1 induction by ionizing radiation. The ionizing radiation-induced, antioxidant-inhibitable binding at the ICAM-1 NF kappa B-like binding site is consistent with the view that NF kappa B is a pro-oxidant transcription factor.