BackgroundThe economical impact of absenteeism and reduced productivity due to acute infectious respiratory and gastrointestinal disease is normally not in the focus of surveillance systems and may therefore be underestimated. However, large community studies in Europe and USA have shown that communicable diseases have a great impact on morbidity and lead to millions of lost days at work, school and university each year. Hand disinfection is acknowledged as key element for infection control, but its effect in open, work place settings is unclear.MethodsOur study involved a prospective, controlled, intervention-control group design to assess the epidemiological and economical impact of alcohol-based hand disinfectants use at work place. Volunteers in public administrations in the municipality of the city of Greifswald were randomized in two groups. Participants in the intervention group were provided with alcoholic hand disinfection, the control group was unchanged. Respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms and days of work were recorded based on a monthly questionnaire over one year. On the whole, 1230 person months were evaluated.ResultsHand disinfection reduced the number of episodes of illness for the majority of the registered symptoms. This effect became statistically significant for common cold (OR = 0.35 [0.17 - 0.71], p = 0.003), fever (OR = 0.38 [0.14-0.99], p = 0.035) and coughing (OR = 0.45 [0.22 - 0.91], p = 0.02). Participants in the intervention group reported less days ill for most symptoms assessed, e.g. colds (2.07 vs. 2.78%, p = 0.008), fever (0.25 vs. 0.31%, p = 0.037) and cough (1.85 vs. 2.00%, p = 0.024). For diarrhoea, the odds ratio for being absent became statistically significant too (0.11 (CI 0.01 - 0.93).ConclusionHand disinfection can easily be introduced and maintained outside clinical settings as part of the daily hand hygiene. Therefore it appears as an interesting, cost-efficient method within the scope of company health support programmes.Trial registration numberISRCTN96340690

Observations among Karlsburg patients in 2006 revealed that the majority of very low platelet levels inducing postoperative heparin-induced-thrombocytopenia (HIT)-diagnostics with at the end negative results appeared related to aortic valve replacement (AVR) with stentless bioprostheses. We compared the postoperative courses of platelet counts in patients having had AVR with stentless prostheses (Sorin Biomedica Freedom Solo [SOLO]) or stented prostheses (Carpentier Edwards Perimount [PM]). Between February 2005 and April 2007, 209 patients received AVR with SOLO, in 137 patients a PM-prosthesis was implanted. The mean platelet levels were compared from the first up to the fifth postoperative day. A higher occurrence of platelet levels below 100 Gpt/l between the second and the fifth postoperative day was found in the SOLO-group (71.9%) compared with the other biological substitute PM (36.6%). Differences in platelet counts between SOLO- and PM-subgroups were measured for day 2 (P=0.03), day 3 (P=0.0004) day 4 (P=0.0007), day 5 (P=0.0002) and at discharge (P<0.0001). Following intervention with conventional biological AVR, differences in the postoperative recovery of platelet counts can be detected, depending on the prosthesis used. The causes for and the clinical implications of this phenomenon are not yet assessed.

Our study could not confirm the neurogenic origin of appendicopathies. Yet, clinical data strongly suggest the existence of the entity "appendicopathy." Therefore, we suggest removing a macroscopically unaffected appendix in patients with appendicitis-like symptoms if, on laparoscopy, no other cause can be found.

Printed in Singapore PrefaceThe application of mathematics in life sciences first requires the formulation of adequate models of biological processes that allow the quantitative evaluation of life processes by means of observations and experiments. With regard to this, the knowledge with reference to the observed biological processes, the preconditions and characteristics of the applied mathematical models as well as the conditions surrounding data collection, need to be taken into account. In this entire context it is effective to develop specific quantitative methods for the evaluation of data and to characterize attributes mathematically, thereby justifying conclusions and interpreting results comprehensively. This synopsis of problems is a characteristic of biometric work, which due to its formulation is interdisciplinary. Typical questions continue to be brought to light, for example:• Can the conditions required by the mathematical method be seen as fulfilled in the observed examples? • Does a solution exist for the mathematical problem associated with the general problem definition? • Is there exactly one such solution?• Can it be proven that this solution possess desirable characteristics? • Are the evaluation model and possibilities for data acquisition consistent? • Do numerical problems arise when applying processes?Under such general points of views, two themes are discussed in this book: splines and compartment models. Their application can be seen in different areas of the sciences and technology. Why does one deal with such different mathematical concepts in this book? Examples are given in the context of life sciences with the appropriate typical terminology. At the same time, mathematical terms are needed that cannot be explained in detail here. The reader would find it useful to be familiar with basic knowledge of analysis, algebra, statistics and probability calculus as well as the theory of ordinary differential equations. Detailed knowledge of these areas however is not assumed. In this book we took care to include the history of the presented ideas and include references with regard to this. The historical comparison is not to be seen as just a reference to the scientists of the past. It helps to enforce the relativization of the own work, motivates students and further allow the reader to research the sources themselves. To begin, narrowing in on simple models seems to be advisable for the solid application of mathematical models in the life sciences. This simplifies the detailed clarification of their conditions of application, reduces the demand on the extent of observation and in many cases satisfies the purpose. The literature listed in the references confines itself to the titles quoted in the text. Numerous additional publications which were evaluated but did not explicitly contribute to results are not listed. This concerns standard pharmacology or pharmacokinetics textbooks, publications concerning computer programs, applications of pharmacokinetical methods (inclusively about meth...

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