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Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder with an estimated heritability of up to 48%. Pharmacological and genetic studies suggest that genes coding for proteins involved in the catecholaminergic system might be relevant for the pathogenesis of the disease. In the present study, we genotyped a single nucleotide polymorphism (472G/A=V158M) in the coding region of the catechol-O-methyl-transferase (COMT) gene in 115 patients with panic disorder and age- and sex-matched controls. Association analysis revealed a significant excess of the more active COMT allele (472G=V158) in patients with panic disorder (p=0.04), particularly in female patients (p=0.01), but not in male patients (p=1.0). The assessment of a possible interaction of the COMT polymorphism with a previously reported functional 30-bp VNTR in the monoamine oxidase A promoter (MAOALPR) in female patients did not yield significant results. Our data support a role of the 472G/A (V158M) COMT polymorphism or a nearby locus in the pathogenesis of panic disorder in women.

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The Term and Concept 3.10.2 Consequences for Factory Planning 3.10.3

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Due to ever shorter product life-cycles, the duration and costs of the ramp-up phase are becoming even more important. Unfortunately, actual tools for project management are not capable of controlling the ramp-up sufficiently. Currently a ramp-up controlling system is developed with a prognosis model as its core component. This is based on a network of cause-effect relationships, which forecasts the effect of a parameter change on the principal project objectives such as performance, costs and due dates. The paper explains the basic model and the structure of the resulting prototype which consists of project planning software, databases, spreadsheets and simulation models.

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