Peter Krumbiegel

Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung | UFZ · Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Journal "Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies"

Objective: Helicobacter pylori (H.p.) infections play a very important role in the development of ulcerations and malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract. It is assumed that the primary infection occurs during childhood, depending on numerous environmental factors among them hygiene and social status. Our aim was to determine whether treatment...

Introduction: The Leipzig Allergy High-Risk Children Study (LARS) is a prospective nested cohort control study about the influence of chemical indoor exposure in dwellings on the health outcome of atopy-risk children during the first years of life.Design and Methods: 475 premature children and children with allergic risk factors have been selected...

In order to achieve better mutual understanding, a uniform and unambiguous language concerning certain terms, symbols, units, and nomenclature in stable isotope - especially in (15)N tracer technique has been recommended. In particular, some definitions of fundamental terms, some nomenclature rules for stable isotopically labelled compounds and som...

Biomedical Nanostructures, written by Gonsalves et al., is an interdisciplinary text focusing on the design and fabrication of nanoscale materials. The book is divided into three sections: Nanostructure Fabrication, Bionano Interfaces, and Clinical Applications of Nanostructures.

Isotope effects are differences in the properties of the isotopes of an element resulting in different reaction rates of a corresponding compound, in equilibrium constants and in the spectra. Shortly after the discovery of stable isotopes of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, Jacob Bigeleisen formulated a theory of isotope effects and calculated possibl...

Review of: Code and other Laws of Cyberspace. By Lawrence Lessig. 1999. Basic Books: New York, NY

Until the beginning of this decade the assumption was that the Helicobacter pylori prevalence increases with the age of the population under consideration. More and more epidemiological studies have been suggestive of constancy in Helicobacter pylori prevalence, but to date there has been no long-term follow-up study in a large group of children co...

Während die Anwendung von radioaktiven Nukliden in der Medizin schon seit vielen Jahren zum Standard der spezialisierten Diagnostik zählt, ist die medizinische Anwendung stabiler Isotope erst im letzten Jahrzehnt verstärkt in Erscheinung getreten. In einem Überblick werden die Voraussetzungen für den Einsatz stabiler Isotope am Menschen sowie die S...

As a result of liver diseases, the elimination of certain drugs is retarded. Labeling a suitable drug with 13C, the 13CO2 elimination rate serves as a liver function parameter. Current contributions to the 13CO2 breath test method are reviewed and related to the 14CO2 breath test proposals. In spite of several advantages of 13C-labeled agents, some...

Nach einer kurzen Übersicht über früher vorgeschlagene Nomenklatursysteme werden die wichtigsten der im Jahre 1978 von der IUPAC-Kommission für die Nomenklatur organischer Verbindungen verabschiedeten 35 Regeln zur Nomenklatur isotop modifizierter Verbindungen zusammengestellt und die näher definierten Begriffe einander zugeordnet, Für wichtige Ter...

Durch eine Isotopenverdünnungsanalyse mit D2O wird nicht niir der Wassergehalt einer Substanz oder Mischung, sondern auch der mögliche Anteil an acidem (austatischfähigem) Wasserstoff erfaβt. Es werden die Berechmmgswege für die Wasserbestimmung in Systemen oline zusätzlichen austauschfähigen Wasserstoff sowie für die Bestimmung aciden Wasserstoffs...

Es wurden folgende isotopisomere Formen des Bernsteinsäuredibenzylesters synthetisiert:C6H5CH2–OOCCH2CH2COO–CH2C6H5, (I)C6H5CD2-OOCCH2CH2COO–CD2C6H5, (II)C6H5CH2–OOCCD2CD2COO7ndash;CH2C6H5, (III)C6H5CD2-OOCCD2CD2COO–CD2C6H5. (IV)Die Gesehwindigkeit der Autoxydation dieser Verbindungen bei 191 °C zeigt Isotopieeffekte der Größe k1/k11 = 4,3 ± 0,5; k...

The hygiene hypothesis postulates that the increase in atopic diseases may in part be due to diminished exposure to microorganisms. But it is unknown which type of infection does render protection. An epidemiological study was conducted in Leipzig, Germany, and its rural county, involving 3347 school starters. Two types of infection were considered...

Environmental security involves the geo-referenced assessment of health risks. A straightforward estimation of relative risks can be based on aggregated health data, which are often routinely collected in administrative districts and, therefore, cheap and easily available. Disease maps based on raw data can be misleading, however. The value of the...

The classical way to demonstrate the efficiency of remediation is measuring the reduction of toxic compounds in the environment. Nevertheless, more important is the risk reduction in human health. To determine changing health effects, exposure and bio-effects have to be monitored at time of and during remediation. Kindergarten children from a heavi...

With the (13)C-urea-breath test, 6.6 % of 3 372 preschool children of the Leipzig area tested H. pylori positive in 1998. In 2000, 5.6 % of 3 854 grade-two pupils of the same area tested positive. 2 235 children participated in both tests campaigns. Therefore, their H. pylori state could be reinvestigated after two years. 30 of the 104 children, wh...

The liver is an important target organ in exposure to foreign substances or their metabolites. Early changes in the metabolic capacity of the liver may be a first sign of the effect of an exposure and an indication of an early (pre)pathological process. For the noninvasive testing of this metabolic capacity, a special diagnostic tool has been devel...

The effect of remediation activities in formerly high-loaded industrial areas is measured conventionally in terms of decreased toxic loads. It is more difficult to investigate the effect on physiological parameters of the people living there. A non-invasive 15N-based organ function test, the [15N]methacetin urine test, was adapted to environmental-...

Studies conducted in Europe as well as in North and South America have tried to link Helicobacter pylori colonization with the drinking water supply, especially since H. pylori is known to survive quite well in water. In 2000, a cohort of 1884 grade-two children from two rural counties surrounding the city of Leipzig, Germany (77.4% of the 1991/199...

Conventional diagnosis of the pulmonary tract uses physical methods such as spirometry and oscillometry. However, the inhalation of a chemical diagnostic agent ought to provide novel ways of more specific diagnosis, for instance of inflammatory states of the bronchial and lung mucosa. The stable isotope technique using a (15)N-labeled substrate app...

Customary 13CO2 breath tests--and also 15N urine tests--always start with an oral administration of a test substrate. The test person swallows a stable isotope labelled diagnostic agent. This technique has been used to study several pathophysiological changes in gastrointestinal organs. However, to study pathophysiological changes of the bronchial...

Zusammenfassung. Fur die Analyse biopsychosozialer Einflusse auf die Entwicklung der Kinder wurde ein Kindergarten aus einem blei- und umweltbelasteten Gebiet mit den Kindern aus einem Kindergarten ohne nennenswerte Umweltrisiken verglichen. Der Entwicklungsstand der Kinder wurde mit sieben entwicklungsdiagnostischen Verfahren erfast. Die Lebensges...

To test whether Helicobacter pylori-positive children are smaller and weigh less than H pylori-negative children. Cross-sectional population-based study. In 3,315 5-to 7-year-old preschool and school children, the putative influence of H pylori infection on growth was investigated. Standing height and weight were analyzed in relation to H pylori in...

Health risk analysis for the role of dust and gaseous air pollution on bronchitis in children O. Herbarth*' \ G. Fritz*, P. Krumbiegel', U. Diez, U. Franck*, M. Richter* DepL Human Exposure Research and Epidemiology at UFZ, Leipzig, Germany * Environmental Hygiene and Epidemiology, Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany Abstract...

In 1998, the Helicobacter pylori [(13)C]urea breath test was offered to all school beginners (birth cohort 1991/1992) in the city of Leipzig and in Leipzig County, Germany, to determine the colonization prevalence and potential transmission pathways of the bacterium. A total of 3,347 school beginners participated in the test, and 2,888 parents comp...

The general morbidity is being influenced to a great extent by diseases of the respiratory tract. Since their incidence and prevalence have been increasing, the identification of causal factors, especially of environmental origin, is of importance, not just in view of implementing preventive control strategies. Primary irritative gaseous [like sulf...

The [15N]methacetin urine test for assessing disturbances of the cytochrome P450-aided oxygenation of xenobiotics in the human liver has been approved in several environmental health studies. A recent longitudinal study of kindergarten children near chemical and mining companies undergoing fundamental restructuring showed high, seasonally fluctuati...

The [13C]urea breath test is a convenient method to estimate Helicobacter pylori colonization non-invasively. As an alternative method, the [15N]urea urine test has been established. It is hypothesized that the urine test could be advantageous under some circumstances. The diagnostic value of the breath test might, for example, be jeopardized owing...

The non-invasive, stable-isotope-aided Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) tests--breath and equivalent urine tests--were offered on a voluntary basis as part of the mandatory school entry medical examination to the 1998 school entry cohort of the City of Leipzig (480,000 residents). Parents of participating subjects were asked to fill out a detailed e...

The Leipzig Allergy High-Risk Children Study (LARS) is a prospective nested cohort control study about the influence of chemical indoor exposure in dwellings on the health outcome of atopy-risk children during the first years of life. 475 premature children and children with allergic risk factors have been selected out of the 1995/1996 birth cohort...

Due to an increasing demand for 13C-labelled urea in the non-invasive in vivo detection of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, the pharmacies are interested in the distribution of prescription charges of this stable isotope labelled diagnostic agent. Prior to delivery the identity of a charge has to be proven by the pharmacy. In the case of [13C]ure...

The protocols for 13C and 15N H. pylori tests stipulate that the diagnostic agent should be taken on an empty stomach. It is presumed that food intake prior to the tests leads to less reliable test results due to a prolongation of the gastric residence time of the diagnostic agent urea. This might allow the bacteria to split a higher proportion of...

One of the aims of the studies presented here was to determine the extent to which differing and changing air pollution exposure scenarios are reflected in differences in the prevalences of certain diseases in children. Significant changes in the air pollution burden of the region led to this investigation. Starting off with a very high morbidity o...

Safety Reports Series No. 14, International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna 1999, 86 pp., ISBN 92-0-100899-6

Experience of using two stable-isotope-based effect biomarkers is briefly reviewed. New in vivo methods were developed, adopted, validated and used in an effort to meet the desired standards for early effect monitoring methods in environmental medicine and epidemiology, i.e. they should be noninvasive, non-distressing, simple and readily accepted b...

In spite of existing prohibition PCP is playing an important role in environmental medicine, because of existing persistence, toxicity and ubiquitous occurrence. Because of insufficient datas especially for the eastern German region PCP background levels of house dust samples and urines of children of the city of Leipzig and of the small-towns Hett...

Proceedings of an International Symposium Organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency and Held in Hyderabad. India, 4–7 November 1996. IAEA Vienna 1997, 663 pp.

A pilot study was performed to examine the potential of stable isotope techniques for monitoring the impact of a harmful substance on the cellular nitrogen metabolism in the ciliate species Tetrahymena pyriformis. After identical cultivation periods of control cells and toluene-exposed cells in a defined culture medium enriched with [guanidino-15N2...

335 [N2]urea examinations to detect gastric Helicobacter pylori infection were performed using a uniform study protocol broadened to obtain a large quantity of various experimental data. The data were compiled and assessed in order to establish the most suitable parameter for a standardized test protocol. Second-hour urine following oral administra...

Major factors able to influence allergies are airborne exposures. Eczema infantum was selected as one health effect as it may be regarded as an early manifestation of atopy. Considering the time spend indoors by young children, the influence of indoor pollutants on allergies cannot be ruled out. Comparing measured outdoor and indoor pollutant conce...

The non-distressing [15N]methacetin liver function test was modified and applied to newborn healthy infants in order to measure both the total [15N]methacetin metabolites excreted in the urine (total elimination capacity) and the proportion of glucuronated metabolite. By studying pre- and full-term normotrophic neonates 3-168 days old, the age-depe...

Proceedings of an International Symposium on the Use of Nuclear and Related Techniques for Studying Environmental Behaviour of Crop Protection Chemicals Jointly Organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and held in Vienna, 1–5 July 1996. IAEA Vienna 1997, 519 pp.

Bei der Luftbelastung durch Immissionen belegte der Kreis Borna innerhalb der ehemaligen DDR die Spitzenstellung (Bericht Lufthygiene 1989).

Total nitrogen and N of urine samples were analysed using an emissionspectrometric N analyzer either coupled off-line with preceding Kjeldahl digestion or coupled on-line with an elemental analyzer, in order to draw a parallel between the two methods.The reliability of the results received with an NOI-6PC and Vario EL N coupled set was seen to be e...

[N]Taurocholate has been prepared and used as a simple urine test substrate as a substitute for C- and C breath test substrates. [N]Taurocholate was administered instead of [N] glycocholate assuming that taurine is mainly used in the cholate cycle. Differences were found between healthy and diseased subjects, although deconjugated [N]taurine was re...

The influences of the gestational age (range: 28-36 weeks) and the postnatal age (range: 6-100 days) on the biotransformation capacity of the liver were studied in 51 preterm appropriate-for-gestational-age infants and in 20 preterm small-for-gestational-age infants using the [15N]methacetin urine test. Methacetin is a test drug assessing a two-ste...

Clinical and paraclinical data of 91 neonates of the Saxon regions of Leipzig and of Torgau/Elbe were reviewed and correlated to the environmental conditions of the places of residence of their mothers during pregnancy. One of the parameters investigated was the hepatic detoxification capacity of the neonates measured by 15N elimination rates in th...

Fifty-two infants were enrolled in the study: 23 hypotrophically born infants (birth weight < 5th percentile according to Kyank) with present body weights < 3rd percentile according to Prader (group 1), 15 patients suffering from severe liver diseases (group 2), 14 patients without liver diseases (group 3). Usual serum parameters were estimated. Ad...

Hepatic detoxification capacities of three groups of infants aged about two were estimated using the [N]methacetin elimination test, as well as standard serum parameters: 1. Formerly hypotrophically born infants still too small for their age (n = 23)2. Patients suffering from severe liver diseases (n = 15)3. Patients without liver diseases (n = 14)...

The authors review the recent literature, including their own approaches, of stable isotope techniques applied to determining environmental effects on the health of children. The techniques involve the measurement of variations in natural isotope abundances of some elements with environmental significance, the use of enriched stable isotopes for in...

Es wird gezeigt, daß der [N]Methacetin-Urintest ein empfindliches, einfaches und nicht belastendes Verfahren ist, mit dem hepatozelluläre Schädigungen als Folge bestimmter Umwelteinflüsse am Arbeitsplatz gemessen werden können.Die Methode wird an 13 Textilreinigerinnen demonstriert, die bis zu 39 Jahre in ihrem Betrieb Perchlorethendämpfen ausgeset...