Age In Germany Research Articles

Effectiveness of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines (PCV7 and PCV13) against Invasive Pneumococcal Disease among Children under Two Years of Age in Germany.

BackgroundIn this study we calculate the effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) against invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) among children under the age of two years using the indirect cohort method. We also discuss the timeliness of vaccination and the residual cases of vaccine type IPD.Methods and FindingsFrom July 2006 until June 2015, 921 IPD cases were reported and for 618 children (67.1%), the vaccination status at the time of infection could be accurately determined. Of these, 379 (61.3%) were vaccinated and 239 (38.7%) were not vaccinated. The adjusted vaccine effectiveness (VE) of PCV7 for all included serotypes + 6A was 80% (95% CI: 63–89) for at least one dose, 97% (89–100) after three primary doses (post primary) and 95% (57–100) post booster. The adjusted overall VE of PCV13 was 86% (74–93) for at least one dose, 85% (62–94) post primary and 91% (61–99) post booster. For the additional serotypes included in PCV13, the adjusted VE was 82% (66–91), 80% (46–93) and 90% (54–98) respectively. The serotype specific VE for at least one dose was high for serotypes 1 (83%; 15–97), 3 (74%; 2–93), 7F (84%; 18–98) and 19A (77%; 47–90). Only 39.5% of children with IPD obtained their first dose of PCV7 according to schedule (2nd dose: 32.9%, 3rd dose: 22.0%, booster dose: 63.6%). For children vaccinated with PCV13 values were slightly better: 43.8%, 33.5%, 26.3% and 74.3% respectively. Among 90 residual cases with PCV7 serotypes, 73 (81.1%) were in unvaccinated children, and 15 (16.7%) in children who had not obtained the number of doses recommended for their age, and only two (2.2%) in children vaccinated according to age. Of 82 cases with PCV13 serotypes occurring after the switch from PCV7 to PCV13, 56 (68.3%) were not vaccinated, 22 (26.8%) were incompletely vaccinated, and four (4.9%) were vaccinated according to age.ConclusionsOur data show a high effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccination in Germany. However, the administration of vaccine doses among children with IPD is often delayed, resulting in many vaccine type cases in non- or incompletely-vaccinated children. Whether the recently-implemented change to a 2+1 schedule will improve the timeliness of vaccination should be subject to careful monitoring.

The othering of old age: Insights from Postcolonial Studies

When it comes to old age, we are witnessing almost revolutionary changes at the present time. After decades of ignorance and lack of public interest, old age has fundamentally been re-negotiated. A diverse range of authors have diagnosed the growing bifurcation of old age into a rather independent and capable Third Age and a deep old Fourth Age that is characterized by sickness, frailty and dependency. Against this backdrop, many gerontologists claim that the so-called young-old are praised and valued for their (ongoing) “sameness” in terms of midlife-norms and capabilities, whereas the oldest old are increasingly excluded from humanity by radical “othering”. Taking up this diagnosis, the article elaborates on this growing polarization within later life: Based on empirical research on the re-negotiation of old age in Germany, this contribution argues that the juxtaposition of “sameness” and “otherness” obscures the true character of the polarization, particularly with regard to the social role of the Third Age. Instead of sameness and otherness, we rather witness different processes of othering, with the young-old being valued as the other and the oldest old being disdained as the other. Despite the existence of profound critical analyses of the abjection associated with the Fourth Age as well as a considerable amount of literature on old age activation and the new role of the young-old, the specific point of this article's concern—the othering of the Third Age—has been completely neglected. The article discusses the reasons for this gap in more detail and will indicate to what extent concepts from Postcolonial Studies may help us to understand the dual process of othering—glorification and abjection.

Employment, family and health in men of working age in Germany : Results of the GEDA studies 2009-2012

Today's men want to participate in their children's upbringing more than in the past, but they are heavily involved in their occupation at the same time. This article describes the significance of parenthood, partnership and occupation in relation to health and health behaviours among men of working age in Germany. We summarised data from the "German Health Update" (GEDA) studies conducted in 2009, 2010 and 2012. Data on 18,465 men aged 18-64years were available, 11,429 of which were living with children. We included mental health problems, general health awareness, sports activity and smoking as outcomes. Full-time employees working more than 48h per week and unemployed persons had mental health problems more frequently (OR1.44 and 2.35, p< 0.05) than full-time employees working 48h or fewer. Similar associations can be shown for health awareness, physical activity and smoking. Concerning partnership and parenthood, the associations were considerably weaker: men living together with children and a partner in the household were overall less burdened and their behaviour was also healthier than single men without children. After simultaneous consideration of employment status, parenthood and partnership, our results show that the unemployed and employees with long working hours were the most burdened. The results provide supporting evidence regarding health problems of men in Germany due to unemployment and long working hours that are of importance for their health whether they are living with apartner and/or with children or not. The association between health and occupation was stronger than between health and fatherhood or partnership.

Expected and preferred retirement age in Germany.

Over the last 10 years the German pension system has undergone several reforms including the abandonment of early retirement policies and an increase in the statutory retirement age. Consequently, the average retirement age has increased and future retiree cohorts have adjusted the retirement expectations and preferences as to when they would like to retire. This study was carried out to examine discrepancies between the expected and the preferred retirement age of older workers in Germany and to investigate how these discrepancies differ between groups of older workers. Based on data from the survey "Employment after retirement", the expected and preferred retirement ages of 1500 workers aged 55 years and older were compared. Regression analyses were used to investigate the influence of educational level and professional position on deviances between the expected and preferred retirement ages. On average older workers would like to retire 1.75 years earlier than they actually expect to. The deviance is significantly larger for employees with a lower professional position, lower income and lower educational level. The discrepancy between expected and preferred retirement ages, in particular for older workers in vulnerable labor market positions, indicates a potential social inequality regarding the choice of retirement timing. This must be acknowledged when considering further reforms of the German pension system.

Public History in Germany: Challenges and Opportunities

Public History in Germany:Challenges and Opportunities Thorsten Logge Angewandte Geschichte. Neue Perspektiven auf Geschichte in der Öffentlichkeit. Edited by Jacqueline Nießer and Juliane Tomann. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2014. Pp. 143. Paper €22.90. ISBN 978-3506777188. Digital Past. Edited by Moritz Hoffmann, Christian Gieseke, Charlotte Jahns, Petra Tabarelli, and Michael Schmalenstroer. http://www.digitalpast.de and twitter.com@digitalpast. Aus den Akten auf die Bühne. Bremen 2007–. http://www.sprechende-akten.de. Public history is coming of age in Germany. Since 2008, scholars in this emerging field have taken initial steps toward its institutionalization, but its scope and nature are still being negotiated. These interdisciplinary and cross-media discussions involve academics in the fields of scholarly history and historical didactics along with freelance historians, museum curators, archivists, and people and institutions in the public humanities more broadly. Though grounded in the traditional work of academics, public historians seek new ways to engage the sometimes imprecisely defined audiences both inside and outside academia using unusual sources and media. Review essays should follow suit. Historical consciousness emerges in a wide range of communication processes—not just scholarly books and articles. Historiography must take into account the full range of historical representations at work in the public sphere ranging from new social media, like websites and tweets, to reinvented traditional media like theatrical performances. If this greatly expands the number of potential objects for review, it reflects the fact that public history is already operating as part of a broader field of public humanities. This essay will review several explicit and implicit efforts to define the concepts and practices of this emerging interdisciplinary field. First, it will examine contributions to the ongoing academic discussion about public history in Germany from the 2014 printed anthology Angewandte Geschichte. Second, it will review Digital Past, a cross-media project focusing on the end of World War II in Germany that combines Twitter accounts and feeds with a homepage and a printed book. And as a recent example from the public humanities more broadly, it will consider the Bremen teaching and theater project Aus den Akten auf die Bühne, also called Staging Files, which identifies primary sources from the archives and uses them to create theatrical works on stage. These examples are neither exhaustive nor representative; the number of [End Page 141] projects dealing with German history in this broad sense are incalculable. Rather, they illustrate three important trends in the field: they use new techniques or connect new technologies to old ones, they establish new forms of interaction between scholars and the public, and they use the particular challenges of public history to raise critical questions about the theory and method of history more generally. These interventions do far more than simply legitimize public history for its own sake. They suggest that the work of public history involves both researching the uses of history in publics across time and space as well as actively participating in those publics. Moreover, they suggest that we can dramatically widen the concept of historiography beyond textual forms if, independent of its media and genre, we were to treat history as a performance. When framed as a program for interdisciplinary scholarship in the humanities and social sciences (Geisteswissenschaften), public history holds great potential for promoting critical self-reflection among the producers of both academic and nonacademic history by raising and addressing crucial questions about how history is put into practice in the public sphere. A wide range of terms are being used in German today to refer to the production, distribution, and perception of history in public; and each suggests a slightly different emphasis as to where public history will fall as an interdisciplinary approach. It may happen that, in a somewhat limited version of Robert Kelley’s classic conception,1 public history will be reduced to a specialized program for landing a job. German departments of history benefit from being a major school subject, many of which educate history teachers for schools. Yet history departments suffer from cuts and lack of funding, and they are often unable to provide sufficient job opportunities for all their graduates within academia. In response to this situation as well...

Gender differences in the effect of social support on health-related quality of life: results of a population-based prospective cohort study in old age in Germany.

The causality between social predictors and HRQoL in old age remains almost unclear as only a few studies have examined the influence of social support on HRQoL in a longitudinal setting. Moreover, available studies investigating gender differences in the effect of social support on HRQoL in old age have been solely cross-sectional. Consequently, the aim of this study was to examine whether social support affects health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in old age and whether this effect is moderated by gender. In a population-based cohort (N = 2443) of people aged 75 years and older in Germany, the development of HRQoL was prospectively observed over a 3-year period. Quality of life was quantified by using the visual analogue scale of the EQ-5D instrument. Social support was assessed by using the 14-item form of the questionnaire for social support (F-SozU K-14). In order to control for unobserved heterogeneity, fixed-effects regression analysis was used. In the total sample (β = 0.55, p < 0.05) and in men (β = 1.39, p < 0.001), a strong positive impact of social support on HRQoL was found. There was no significant effect of social support on HRQoL in women. The effect of social support on HRQoL was significantly moderated by gender (p < 0.05). Findings accentuate the fundamental role of social support in HRQoL in old age. Particularly in men, it is therefore crucial to strengthen the social ties in old age.

Prevalence and determinants of overweight and obesity in old age in Germany.

BackgroundMean body weight gradually increases with age. Yet, little data exists on the prevalence of excess weight in populations aged 80 years or older. Moreover, little is known about predictors of overweight and obesity in old age. Thus, the purpose of this study was: To present data on the prevalence of excess weight in old age in Germany, to investigate predictors of excess weight in a cross-sectional approach and to examine factors affecting excess weight in a longitudinal approach.MethodsSubjects consisted of 1,882 individuals aged 79 years or older. The course of excess weight was observed over 3 years. Excess weight was defined as follows: Overweight (25 kg/m2 ≤ BMI < 30 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). We used fixed effects regressions to estimate effects of time dependent variables on BMI, and overweight or obesity, respectively.ResultsThe majority was overweight (40.0 %) or obese (13.7 %). Cross-sectional regressions revealed that BMI was positively associated with younger age, severe walking impairments and negatively associated with cognitive impairments. Excess weight was positively associated with younger age, elementary education, walking impairments and physical inactivity, while excess weight was negatively associated with cognitive impairment. Longitudinal regressions showed that age and severely impaired walking disabilities reduced BMI. The probability of transitions to excess weight decreased considerably with older age and occurrence of severe walking impairments (overweight).ConclusionsMarked differences between predictors in cross- and longitudinal setting exist, underlining the complex nature of excess weight in old age.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12877-015-0081-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Relevance of community structures and neighbourhood characteristics for participation of older adults: a qualitative study.

Community and neighbourhood structures contribute not only to the health and well-being, but also to the participation of older adults. The degree of participation depends on both the living environment and the individual's personal characteristics, preferences and perception. However, there is still limited empirical evidence on how community and neighbourhood structures are linked to participation and health in the aged population. A qualitative exploratory approach was chosen with a series of problem-centred, semi-structured focus group discussions. Study participants were selected from within the city of Augsburg, Southern Germany, and from two municipalities in surrounding rural districts. The interviews took place in 2013. Structuring content analysis was used to identify key concepts. We conducted 11 focus group discussions with a total of 78 different study participants. The study participants (33 men and 45 women) had a mean age of 74 years (range 65-92 years). Only two study participants lived in an assisted living facility. Of all study participants, 77% lived in urban and 23% in rural areas. We extracted four metacodes ('Usual activities', 'Requirements for participation', 'Barriers to participation' and 'Facilitators for participation') and 15 subcodes. Health and poorly designed infrastructure were mentioned as important barriers to participation, and friendship and neighbourhood cohesion as important facilitators. This qualitative study revealed that poor design and accessibility of municipal infrastructure are major barriers to participation in old age in Germany. Community and neighbourhood structures can be part of the problem but also part of the solution when accessibility and social networks are taken into account.

The emerging trend of work beyond retirement age in Germany. Increasing social inequality?

Population ageing, demographic change and the financial crisis has put the financial sustainability of the German pension system at risk. In reaction to these challenges, Germany recently abandoned generous early retirement policies and moved towards policies encouraging higher employment among the elderly. In this article we evaluate how these labour market and pension policies affected the retirement decisions of older workers in Germany over the last three decades. Complementing previous research on early retirement, we focus in particular on those working past the mandatory retirement age of 65 years and examine whether the composition of this group of postretirement-age workers has changed over time. We analyse pooled cross-sectional data from three rounds of the German Ageing Survey which allow us to cover the last three decades from 1980 to 2008. Estimating multinomial logit models we distinguish explanatory factors on the individual, organizational and institutional level that frame the decision to leave the labour market before the age of 65, to stop working at 65 or to work past 65. Over the last three decades, the share of German workers leaving the labour market after the mandatory retirement age of 65 has increased markedly. This trend towards working longer has changed particularly among the low educated workforce which in previous decades traditionally has exhibited a tendency to retire early. In contrast to high-skilled workers, the decision to work longer among low-educated workers is mainly driven by financial need (and is usually not in line with their desire or their ability to work for longer). Our findings suggest an increase in social inequality in retirement decisions as a result of the policy shift towards activation. We conclude by arguing for a more fine-grained understanding of the reasons why people work longer. Such research would provide valuable insights into how to design future labour market and pension reforms preventing a rise in social inequalities.

Rate of deaths due to child abuse and neglect in children 0-3 years of age in Germany.

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the issue of (fatal) child abuse and neglect, largely due to the media attention garnered by some headline-grabbing cases. If media statements are to be believed, such cases may be an increasing phenomenon. With these published accounts in mind, publicly available statistics should be analysed with respect to the question of whether reliable statements can be formulated based on these figures. It is hypothesised that certain data, e.g., the Innocenti report published by UNICEF in 2003, may be based on unreliable data sources. For this reason, the generation of such data, and the reliability of the data itself, should also be discussed. Our focus was on publicly available German mortality and police crime statistics (Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik). These data were classified with respect to child age, data origin, and cause of death (murder, culpable homicide, etc.). In our opinion, the available data could not be considered in formulating reliable scientific statements about fatal child abuse and neglect, given the lack of detail and the flawed nature of the basic data. Increasing the number of autopsies of children 0-3 years of age should be considered as a means to ensure the capture of valid, practical, and reliable data. This could bring about some enlightenment and assist in the development of preemptive strategies to decrease the incidence of (fatal) child abuse and neglect.

Factors influencing trust in Ambient Assisted Living Technology: A scenario-based analysis

Demographic aging in Germany and the related structural change in the health care sector enable a market for assistive technologies for elderly people in a home living environment. The objective of this study is a scenario-based analysis regarding trust in Ambient Assisted Living (AAL). A standardized questionnaire survey with 292 participants from 50 to 93 years of age was conducted in Germany. Two different interview groups, people who need support in daily life due to different kinds of impairment and people without need for care, have been considered. The analysis was using correlation and stepwise regression analysis. As an important finding, a strong relationship between trust in AAL and an intention to use AAL can be highlighted. The significant influencing factors on trust are expected reliability, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness of AAL. Information procurement, interest in technology, and perceived health status are further variables which directly influence the end-user intention to use. People with need for care showed lower trust and intention to use values than people without need for care. The analyses show additionally that younger as well as participants with better perceived health status have higher trust values and more intention to use AAL based on the two scenarios. In contrast to a former study in the AAL context, gender has no significant influence on trust. In the future, further experimental studies with focus on elderly persons’ trust in AAL will be performed. These experiments will include, on the one hand, personal remote assistance for the end-user and, on the other hand, variation of actual reliability of AAL technology.

Frequencies and demographic determinants of breastfeeding and DHA supplementation in a nationwide sample of mothers in Germany

German guidelines recommend breast milk as ideal for infant's nutrition, supporting exclusive breastfeeding for at least 4 months. Moreover, in mothers with insufficient fish intake, DHA status may be improved by supplementation during pregnancy and lactation. However, little is known on current rates of breastfeeding and DHA supplementation in Germany. The objective of this study was to analyse frequencies and demographic determinants of breastfeeding and DHA supplementation in Germany. Data derived from a nationwide consumer survey of 986 mothers with children between 5 and 36 months of age in Germany. 78.3% reported that they ever breastfed their children, and 55.6% of the mothers exclusively breastfed for at least 4 months. Mothers who did not breastfeed were less likely to be informed by their paediatrician or midwife and were more often not informed at all; 27.8% of mothers used DHA supplements during pregnancy, 16.8% postnatal. DHA supplementation was more common in women with a high versus a low fish intake. The social status was the major determinant of breastfeeding initiation and exclusivity and also DHA supplementation. Breastfeeding initiation and duration of exclusive breastfeeding in Germany need to be improved. Professional counselling and support, with a focus on mothers from lower social classes, appears necessary to increase current rates of breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusiveness, but also to ensure a sufficient supply with DHA in pregnant and lactating women, particularly in women with low fish consumption.

West coast North America record of the Paleogene marine stromboid gastropodRimellaand paleobiogeography of the genus

The west coast of North America record of the shallow-marine stromboid gastropod genusRimellaAgassiz, 1841 is restudied for the first time in 90 years. This genus comprises a small group of Paleogene gastropods characterized by having an ornamented fusiform shell, a posterior canal ascending the spire, and simple (non-flared) outer lip.Rimella, whose familial ranking has been inconsistent, is placed here in family Rostellariidae Gabb, 1868, subfamily Rimellinae Stewart, 1927.EctinochilusCossmann, 1889;MacilentosClark and Palmer, 1923;VaderosClark and Palmer, 1923; andCowlitziaClark and Palmer, 1923 are recognized here as junior synonyms ofRimella. Four species are recognized from the west coast of North America: early to middle EoceneRimella macilentaWhite, 1889; early EoceneRimella oregonensisTurner, 1938; middle to late EoceneRimella supraplicata(Gabb, 1864) new combination, of whichRostellaria canaliferGabb, 1864,Cowlitizia washingtonensisClark and Palmer, 1923, andCowlitzia problematicaHanna, 1927 are recognized here as junior synonyms; and late EoceneRimella elongataWeaver, 1912.Rimellawas a warm-water gastropod whose earliest known record is of early Paleocene (Danian) age in Pakistan. Other than the west coast of North America,Rimellais found in Eocene strata in western Europe, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, southeastern United States, Panama, Peru, and, to a lesser degree, in Trinidad, Columbia, Java, and New Zealand. Global cooling near the end of the Eocene greatly diminished the genus. Its youngest known occurrences are of early Oligocene age in Germany, Italy, England, and Peru.

Desire to continue working and job-related factors of older workers in Germany

Due to demographic change, especially in Germany, society and the labour market have to face new challenges. While the group of elderly workers grows, their sustainability will become more important in future (Höhn, C., Mai, R., & Micheel, F. (2008). Demographic change in Germany. In I. Hamm, H. Seitz, & M. Werding (Eds.), Demographic change in Germany: The economic and fiscal consequences (pp. 9–33). Berlin: Springer; Dittrich, D., Büsch, V., & Micheel, F. (2011). Working beyond retirement age in Germany: The employee's perspective. In R. Ennals & R. Salomon (Eds.), Older workers in a sustainable society. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang), hence the focus of our study are older people as one potential workforce. Especially in combination with an ageing population and a later entrance into the labour market, a future shortfall of active workers can be assumed. Germany – as one example of such countries – has only a limited number of options that policy makers and companies can use in the coming decades. The aim of the paper is to analyse the German labour market and derive a typology of older workers within the subgroup of blue-collar workers. The typology uses the level of motivation and work abilty (low, medium and high) for clustering proxy. The older age group is too heterogeneous, and therefore the factor age is not a good proxy. With the help of the study, it is possible to identify, classify and enhance the motivation of workers at the end of their career. Finally, powerful recommendations for companies on how to involve and motivate elderly workers for longer periods of employment can be derived.

Individual- and area-level effects on mortality risk in Germany, both East and West, among male Germans aged 65+

This study investigates whether mortality inequalities based on individual- and area-level deprivation exist at older ages in Germany, and whether there are differences between eastern and western Germany. Data on population and death counts according to the individual-level socioeconomic status of male German pensioners aged 65+ years in Germany in 2002-2004 were obtained from the German Federal Pension Fund. Area-level characteristics for the 439 German districts were incorporated. Multilevel Poisson models were fitted. Individual-level socioeconomic mortality inequalities exist among elderly men in Germany. After controlling for differential population composition in the districts, we found that district-level factors contribute to the explanation of mortality inequalities in (western) Germany. The analysis further indicated that mortality and mortality inequalities tend to be higher in more economically deprived districts, and that minor mortality differences attributable to regional conditions exist in eastern Germany. The results showed that regional conditions have moderate effects on health inequalities at older ages in (western) Germany, when the differential population composition in the districts is controlled for.

Forecasting supply and demand in nursing professions: impacts of occupational flexibility and employment structure in Germany

BackgroundIn light of Germany's ageing society, demand for nursing professionals is expected to increase in the coming years. This will pose a challenge for policy makers to increase the supply of nursing professionals.MethodologyTo portray the different possible developments in the supply of nursing professionals, we projected the supply of formally trained nurses and the potential supply of persons who are able to work in a nursing profession. This potential supply of nursing professionals was calculated on the basis of empirical information on occupational mobility provided by the German Microcensus 2005 (Labour Force Survey). We also calculated how the supply of full-time equivalents (FTEs) will develop if current employment structures develop in the direction of employment behaviour in nursing professions in eastern and western Germany. We then compared these different supply scenarios with two demand projections ('status quo' and 'compression of morbidity' scenarios) from Germany's Federal Statistical Office.ResultsOur results show that, even as early as 2005, meeting demand for FTEs in nursing professions was not arithmetically possible when only persons with formal qualification in a nursing profession were taken into account on the supply side. When additional semi-skilled nursing professionals are included in the calculation, a shortage of labour in nursing professions can be expected in 2018 when the employment structure for all nursing professionals remains the same as the employment structure seen in Germany in 2005 (demand: 'status quo scenario'). Furthermore, given an employment structure as in eastern Germany, where more nursing professionals work on a full-time basis with longer working hours, a theoretical shortage of nursing professionals could be delayed until 2024.ConclusionsOur analysis of occupational flexibility in the nursing field indicates that additional potential supply could be generated by especially training more young people for a nursing profession as they tend to stay in their initial occupation. Furthermore, the number of FTEs in nursing professions could be increased by promoting more full-time contracts in Western Germany. Additionally, employment contracts for just a small number of weekly working hours (marginal employment) cannot be considered an adequate instrument for keeping formally trained nursing professionals employed in the nursing field.

Survival after a diagnosis of testicular germ cell cancers in Germany and the United States, 2002–2006: A high resolution study by histology and age

Introduction: The aim of this study was to provide detailed age-specific (5-year age groups) and histology-specific (histologic subtypes of seminoma and nonseminoma) relative survival estimates of testicular germ cell cancer patients in Germany and the United States (U.S.) for the years 2002–2006 and to compare these estimates between countries. Methods: We pooled data from 11 cancer registries of Germany and used data from the U.S. (SEER-13 database) including 11,508 and 10,774 newly diagnosed cases (1997–2006) in Germany and the U.S., respectively. We estimated 5-year relative survival (5-year-RS) by histology and age based on period analysis. Results: 5-year-RS for testicular germ cell tumors was 96.7% and 96.3% in Germany and the U.S., respectively. 5-Year-RS for spermatocytic seminoma was close to 100% in both countries. 5-Year-RS for nonseminoma was lower than for classical seminoma in Germany (93.3% versus 97.6%) and the U.S. (91.0% versus 98.2%). Among nonseminomas, choriocarcinomas provided the lowest 5-year-RS in both countries (Germany 80.1%, U.S. 79.6%). Age-specific 5-year-RS for seminoma showed only little variation by age. 5-Year-RS for nonseminomas tended to be lower at higher ages, especially for malignant teratoma. Discussion: This is the first study that provides up-to-date survival estimates for testicular cancer by histology and age in Germany and the U.S. Survival after a diagnosis of testicular cancer is very comparable between Germany and the U.S. 5-Year-RS for spermatocytic seminoma was close to 100% and the lowest 5-year-RS occurred among choriocarcinoma. Higher age at diagnosis is associated with a poorer prognosis among nonseminoma patients.

Kurt Magnus: a pioneer of multibody system dynamics

Professor Dr. Kurt Magnus (1912–2003) would celebrate his 100th birthday on September 8, 2012. That is a reason to remember this internationally renowned scientist in the field of mechanics, particularly gyrodynamics and multibody system dynamics. By him, the science of gyrodynamics had once again a golden age in Germany. He established branches of mechanics, which we call today “multibody system dynamics” and “mechatronics.” Also, he was very well known as the editor-in-chief of the Ingenieur-Archiv (Archive of Applied Mechanics) from 1963 to 1980. In this contribution, his scientific career will be described and his outstanding research work will be acknowledged. From 1966 to 1980, Kurt Magnus was Full Professor of Mechanics at the Munich University of Technology. During this period, the research field of multibody system dynamics became more and more interesting. Therefore, he initiated and chaired the first IUTAM Symposium on Dynamics of Multibody Systems at Munich, August 29–September 3, 1977. Excellent lectures and intensive discussions showed the state-of-the-art and the further potential for research and application. This contribution will remember these early steps of multibody system dynamics.

Treatment with the SQ-Standardised Grass Allergy Immunotherapy Tablet is well Tolerated in Children, Adolescents and Adults in Real Life Application-A Non-Interventional Observational Study

Background: Efficacy and safety of the SQ-standardised grass allergy immunotherapy tablet (GRAZAX®) has been reported in a large number of randomised, controlled clinical trials in children and adults performed in Europe and the US. GRAZAX® became available for routine treatment in children from 5 years of age in Germany and Austria in 2008.To examine the safety and tolerability of GRAZAX® in patients that were less highly selected as in the controlled trials we performed an open label, uncontrolled, non-interventional study in children and adults who were routinely treated in allergists´ offices. Materials and methods: Patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis with or without asthma were treated with GRAZAX® and observed for 3-4 visits every 3 months with the last visit after the first grass pollen season. Adverse seasons before and during therapy. Results: Treatment was documented in 1,761 patients (797 75% in 89.8% of patients, >95% of patients and physicians were satisfied with treatment. Conclusion: The results of our study confirm the safety and tolerability profile observed in controlled clinical trials with GRAZAX®. Treatment satisfaction during routine application was rated high and was combined with a high compliance.

Take Me "Home": Return Migration among Germany's Older Immigrants.

This paper examines the determinants of return migration as foreign-born men approach old age in Germany. Return migration in later life engages a different set of conditions than return migration earlier on, including the framing of return as a possible retirement strategy. Using 23 years of longitudinal data from the German Socioeconomic Panel, this paper investigates how social and economic resources of immigrant men influence decisions to return "home." Results suggest that immigrants from former guest worker recruitment countries within the European Union are more likely to return than non-E.U. immigrants. In addition, return migrants are "negatively selected" such that those with the least education and weakest attachments to the labor force are more likely to emigrate. However, findings vary greatly depending on the immigrant's age and country of origin. Results from this paper highlight the heterogeneity of older immigrants and the factors that motivate their return "home."