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M Bopp

Publications and source records attributed to M Bopp.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

[Changes in mortality in Switzerland since 1950. II. Regional differences within Switzerland].

OBJECTIVES: To examine regional variations in all-cause mortality in Switzerland around 1990 and trends since 1950. Special emphasis is placed on unfavourable aspects that have been identified by comparisons with international trends. DATA AND METHODS: Descriptive analysis of Swiss mortality statistics taken from individual records (1969-94) and data published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (1949-68). RESULTS: Swiss citizens aged between 15 and 79 years often show mortality ratios of 1.5 and more between the best and the worst of the 106 regions of Switzerland. In subjects aged under 50 years, relative risk ranges are even larger. However, the regional mortality patterns before and after 50 rarely correspond. Generally, the relative risk difference between the best and the worst regions has not diminished since 1950, whereas the geographical patterns have completely changed. Instead of an obvious rural-urban gradient in 1950, mortality rates are now highest in the largest cities and, at least in men, are at their lowest in the wealthy suburbs. On a larger scale (division into 9 geographical units), central Switzerland has changed significantly from clearly elevated mortality rates in 1950 into a decidedly favourable position in 1990. A contrast between German and French Switzerland has existed for many decades: in the younger and middle age groups the francophone part of Switzerland has a higher mortality rate than the German-speaking part, whereas at ages over 70 French Switzerland has lower rates than German Switzerland. In some urban areas of Switzerland, the turning-point from a decreasing to an increasing trend in the mortality risks of subjects aged 15-49 years was reached around 1960, occasionally resulting in age-specific rates being higher in 1990 than in 1950. This unfavourable partial trend has spread over most, but not all, of Switzerland since 1970. Even in subjects aged 25-34 years, the age group for which Switzerland has the worst relative position on an international scale, some parts of the country do not have elevated all-cause mortality rates, whereas for men in the largest cities mortality risks are more than three times as high as in Japan. The deaths from "external" causes (mainly accidents and suicide) show marked geographical patterns within Switzerland; however, in all parts of the country, deaths from this group are much more frequent than, for example, in Italy or the Netherlands. CONCLUSION: Geographical differences in mortality risks within Switzerland, as well as international disparities, suggest that there is a need for preventive measures in Switzerland, first and foremost concerning males aged 15-49 years and deaths from "external" causes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

[Development of mortality in Switzerland since 1950. I. International comparison and differences in sex, age and nationality].

BACKGROUND: All-cause mortality is an important criterion for assessing the health status and the living conditions of a population, thus indicating possible preventive measures. DATA AND METHODS: Descriptive analyses of Swiss mortality records and a comparison with the WHO mortality data bank for the period since 1950. RESULTS: Age-specific mortality trends in Switzerland are traced back to 1950 and compared with the situation in other European countries. At the beginning of the 1950s Swiss all-cause mortality rates were about the European average; now they are among the lowest worldwide. In most age classes, rates declined by more than one third between 1951/54 and 1990/94, in females even by more than 50%. This rather optimistic overall picture conceals less favourable partial trends. The decline in mortality rates in men aged 20-49 and women aged 20-34 years did not continue after 1970, and for males aged 20-44 and females aged 25-34 mortality risks have even increased in recent years. In both males and females, mortality rates from injury and poisoning (mainly accidents and suicide) exceed those of European low-incidence countries by 100%. On an international scale Swiss subjects aged between 15 and 44 years are at much higher risk, even when deaths from injury and poisoning, the most important cause of death in these ages, are excluded. When compared with their Swedish contemporaries, Swiss males aged 25-34 years have almost twice the risk of dying from a "natural" as well as from an "external" cause. As a rule, male/female sex ratios of mortality continued to increase, except in subjects aged 45-64 years. CONCLUSION: In spite of low overall mortality risks, international age-specific rates suggest considerable potential for preventive measures in Switzerland. There is some evidence of substantial under-registration of the mortality risks of foreigners living in Switzerland. As foreigners represent a substantial part of the total population--with a maximum of 30% of men aged 25-34 years--figures for Switzerland as a whole may be biased seriously. Therefore, for mortality analyses and comparisons with international data, we suggest the study be restricted to Swiss citizens. When assessing mortality risks for foreigners in Switzerland alternative data sources and methods should be taken into account.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Alcohol consumption and gender in the 20th century: the case of Switzerland.

Given the changes of gender roles in this century it is hardly justified to assume constant proportions of alcohol consumption for males and females. The purpose of the study was to reconstruct the consumption trends of males and females in Switzerland since the beginning of the 20th century. Cirrhosis mortality and survey data were used to disaggregate by sex the per capita alcohol consumption derived from sales data. The disaggregation of the per capita alcohol consumption based on liver cirrhosis mortality suggests that the evolution of alcohol consumption in Switzerland followed a parallel course for both sexes only until the 1930s. The low consumption during World War II and the evident increase until the beginning of the '60s seem to have resulted above all from the variations in consumption of beer by men. The decrease in total alcohol consumption observed since the '70s is also most probably due only to men; there is no indication of a decreasing consumption by women. The tendency of male and female consumption patterns to become more similar should be taken into account in the prevention of alcohol misuse.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

[Average life expectancy in Switzerland--historic and international background and thoughts on future development].

Age-specific mortality rates are a sensitive measure for the conditions of life in a population. Life tables--in Switzerland calculated approximately all ten years since 1876/80--indicate for any age and any observation period the mean life expectancy as well as the probabilities of death and survival, respectively. In the past centuries survival curves developed more and more a rectangular shape, but mortality rates didn't decrease uniformly in all age groups: until the first part of the twentieth century, increases in mean life expectancy were predominantly due to a rapid decline of infant and children's mortality; since the 1930s decreasing adults' mortality gained more importance, and not until the 1960s lower death rates in the population aged over 60 became a major component of prolonging the mean span of life. The nowadays favourable mortality situation of Switzerland within Europe started to emerge in the 1950s, predominantly due to declining mortality rates in the uppermost age groups. For the decades to come, experts predict a further substantial increase of mean life expectancy, in spite of actually rather unfavourable trends in the mortality rates of young adults. Consequently, the number of those aged over 65 and particularly those over 80 years will considerably increase till 2020, even if the scenarios of 1995 would prove to be too optimistic.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Exploration of interactions between prognostic factors of stage I malignant melanoma.

While many studies have sought prognostic factors of malignant melanoma using multivariate survival models, the interaction between predictors has been much less studied. We have studied data from 1,560 patients with stage I melanoma collected at the Cancer Registry of the Canton of Zurich over the period 1980-1990 and explored interactions between predictors by identifying two separate multivariate Cox models for men and women and investigating two-way interactions between predictors in each model. Considerable differences between models for man and women were observed. In particular, in women a pronounced interaction between 'histology' and 'Clark level' was identified. Without this interaction 'histology' and 'Clark level' are not significant but when the interaction term was included both predictors become significant. Thus, omission of an interaction term may preclude the recognition of main effects ('masking'). For female patients with nodular tumours prognosis is essentially independent of Clark level. In contrast, for female patients with non-nodular tumours, prognosis was found to be strongly dependent on Clark level. In the case of Clark level 2 prognosis was extremely good: no patient was observed to die from melanoma. We conclude that it may be worth considering interaction terms. With large enough sample sizes it may be preferable to stratify patients into subgroups and to identify separate models for each stratum instead of having to cope with interactions of higher order.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[Occupation-specific indicators for strategic prevention in risk groups].

Using graphical representations to compare undistorted information it was attempted to bridge the gap between medicine and concerned risk-groups. Age-standardized mortality rates in 1979-1983 for 55 occupational groups (in 11 categories) of males aged 35 to 74 years were computed and compared to the Swiss national average; simultaneously the quantitative importance and the total mortality without accidents is shown for each occupational group: as an example the figure for lung cancer is reproduced. The elevated total mortality in the upper tertile of occupational groups is significantly explained by an increased risk of dying from circulatory or respiratory diseases, liver cirrhosis or malignancies of the lung, oropharynx, oesophagus or stomach. Foreseeable decrease of high-risk occupational groups will result in a further decline in mortality due to stomach cancer and cerebrovascular diseases in Switzerland.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Cloning and expression in Escherichia coli of opc, the gene for an unusual class 5 outer membrane protein from Neisseria meningitidis (meningococci/surface antigen).

A genomic library was constructed in a lambda gt11 vector using chromosomal DNA from a meningococcal serogroup A strain and plaques expressing the class 5C protein were recognized by screening with specific monoclonal antibodies. The opc insert was subcloned into a multicopy plasmid which induced expression of that protein in Escherichia coli as a surface-exposed major outer membrane protein. The nucleotide sequence of opc is typical of an outer membrane protein with a promoter and terminator region, a leader peptide which is cleaved during expression and a complete open reading frame. Unlike other meningococcal class 5 proteins or gonococcal P.II proteins, the sequence did not contain any pentanucleotide repeats and the sequence showed little homology to these other functionally related proteins. However, the predicted amino acid sequence of the mature protein for opc showed 27% similarity to that for a second opa gene cloned from the same meningococcal strain. This is the first report of cloning and expression of a functional meningococcal gene encoding a class 5 outer membrane protein in E. coli.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Variation in class 5 protein expression by serogroup A meningococci during a meningitis epidemic.

Serogroup A meningococci were isolated from patients and healthy carriers in The Gambia between 1982 and 1988. The class 5 proteins expressed by these bacteria were identified by electrophoretic migration and by serologic tests. Three protein serologic groupings (seroclasses) called A (protein 5a), B (proteins 5b, 5d, or 5e), and C (protein 5c or 5C) were found among 331 bacterial isolates. The number of class 5 proteins expressed per isolate varied from none to four, with a median of two. The class 5 protein composition differed for certain paired isolates obtained from the nasopharynx, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid of diseased patients and for certain pairs of sequential isolates from the nasopharynx of healthy carriers; the medical relevance of this variation remains unclear, although the 5C protein was preferentially isolated from the nasopharynx and the 5a protein from diseased patients. The data show that a large proportion of healthy carriers in The Gambia were exposed to bacteria expressing each of the three seroclasses and that many people were exposed to bacteria expressing each of the three seroclasses and that many people were exposed to two or all three seroclasses during the epidemic of 1982-1983.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1989

[Cartography as an instrument in epidemiology: methodologic considerations for the new Swiss cancer atlas].

Maps not following the syntactical rules of the graphical language entail the risk of being misunderstood. Maps aim at demonstrating spatial patterns and visualizing dividing lines. Representation of tabular values is not a principal goal. Maps should be "seen" as a whole, not be "read" element by element. Some technical aspects of cartography are discussed (distortion of information, grouping of data, adequacy and use of colour). The guidelines for the new Swiss cancer atlas are based on these general principles. A continuous-shading technique avoiding class intervals is being used. It allows the combination of maps and diagrams of different aggregations of the same data using a common shading scale. Indications of significance are integrated into all figures. Geographical maps are enriched by diagrams showing data for 9 cities, 5 language regions, for a grouping by size of community and for a socioeconomical classification of regions. The universal shading scale enables to compare the figures separately and crossways. Relationships not apparent in a traditional map might be revealed.

Atlases as Topic↗
PubMed1988

[New findings in Oguchi disease].

The authors report on clinical and electrophysiological studies of a patient with Type I Oguchi's disease. Numerous small pigmentations of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) causing focal disruption of the Oguchi reflex were observed, a phenomenon which has not previously been reported. Consistent with reports of pathologic changes in the RPE, an abnormal electro-oculogram (EOG) was recorded in this patient. On the basis of this information, the pigmentations were interpreted as dysplastic changes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

[Pattern ERG in X-chromosome juvenile retinoschisis].

Typical electroretinographic findings in x-chromosomal juvenile retinoschisis are a normal a-wave and a reduced b-wave suggesting that the primary defect is located at the level of the bipolar cell layer whereas deeper retinal structures are not basically affected. The marked amplitude reduction in the pattern-ERG suggests to look for the origin of response in the inner retinal layer or in subsequent structures.

Child↗
PubMed1985

[Autosomal dominant infantile optic atrophy: ascending or descending degeneration?].

All patients with autosomal dominant infantile optic atrophy had a normal electro-oculogram (EOG) and a normal luminance electroretinogram (L-ERG). Patients with a typical blue sensitivity defect at the time of investigation had a normal pattern electroretinogram (P-ERG), while the visually evoked cortical potentials to pattern stimuli (P-VECP) showed a delayed latency and a decreased amplitude. Only in severe cases of the disease where the blue sensitivity defect was masked by a progressive concomitant colour blindness was there a reduced amplitude in the P-ERG. The P-VECP in these cases was not recordable. The findings suggest that the primary process in autosomal dominant infantile optic atrophy is in the optic nerve, the inner layers of the retina being affected secondarily.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Pattern electroretinogram and visually evoked cortical potentials in glaucoma.

Electroretinograms (P-ERG) and cortical potentials (P-VECP) evoked by checkerboard patterns were examined in patients with defects of the ganglion cell and nerve fiber layers due to glaucoma. Only a few patients exhibited a prolonged latency in the P-VECP, whereas in the P-ERG all patients with papillary and visual field defects revealed a significantly attenuated amplitude. Since there is a substantial fluctuation in the assessment of papillary excavation and visual field, the P-ERG offers a further means of evaluating and follow-up of retinal function in glaucoma patients.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

The pattern evoked electroretinogram associated with elevated intraocular pressure.

Electroretinographic responses to pattern-reversal stimuli (P-ERG) were recorded in eight patients with protracted elevation of intraocular pressure. Pressures of bigger than 30 mm Hg result in marked amplitude reductions in the P-ERG. The observed changes probably reflect the impaired function of retinal ganglion cells caused by decreased oxygen supply.

Adult↗