Raised water temperature enhances benthopelagic links via intensified bioturbation and benthos-mediated nutrient cycling.

Sediment reworking by benthic infauna, namely bioturbation, is of pivotal importance in expansive soft-sediment environments such as the Wadden Sea. Bioturbating fauna facilitate ecosystem functions such as bentho-pelagic coupling and sediment nutrient remineralization capacities. Yet, these benthic fauna are expected to be profoundly affected by current observed rising sea temperatures.

Synthesis and Characterization of Single Crystal Zircon-Hafnon ZrHfSiO Solid Solutions and the Comparison with the Reaction Products of a TEOS-Based Hydrothermal Route.

Two synthesis routes of the zircon-hafnon solid solution series were carried out. The high-temperature route uses the growth of single crystals via a flux mixture that has been cooled down slowly from 1400 °C over 4 weeks. The reaction products were colorless and idiomorphic without byproducts.

Benthic microbial biogeographic trends in the North Sea are shaped by an interplay of environmental drivers and bottom trawling effort.

Microbial composition and diversity in marine sediments are shaped by environmental, biological, and anthropogenic processes operating at different scales. However, our understanding of benthic microbial biogeography remains limited. Here, we used 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing to characterize benthic microbiota in the North Sea from the top centimeter of 339 sediment samples.

Predicting the effects of COVID-19 related interventions in urban settings by combining activity-based modelling, agent-based simulation, and mobile phone data.

Epidemiological simulations as a method are used to better understand and predict the spreading of infectious diseases, for example of COVID-19. This paper presents an approach that combines a well-established approach from transportation modelling that uses person-centric data-driven human mobility modelling with a mechanistic infection model and a person-centric disease progression model. The model includes the consequences of different room sizes, air exchange rates, disease import, changed activity participation rates over time (coming from mobility data), masks, indoors vs.

Prevalence of visceral artery involvement in patients with peripheral artery disease found on run-off MRA.

Background: In patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), run-off MR-angiography (MRA) is a commonly performed diagnostic test to obtain high-resolution images for evaluation of the arterial system from the aorta through the distal run-off vessels. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of visceral artery involvement (VAI) in patients with PAD and leg symptoms examined with run-off MRA.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 145 patients (median age 68 years, range 27-91) who underwent MRA due to known or suspected PAD at our institution between 2012 and 2018.

Concomitant chronic venous insufficiency in patients with peripheral artery disease: insights from MR angiography.

Objectives: The clinical presentation of peripheral artery disease (PAD) and chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) can overlap and the conditions may co-exist. The purpose of our study was to investigate the prevalence and clinical significance of concomitant CVI in patients with PAD examined with run-off MR angiography (MRA).

Methods: We analysed 180 patients (median age 69 years, range 27 to 91) with known or suspected PAD who underwent MRA at our institution between 2012 and 2018.

Giant brachial artery aneurysm as a rare complication of a dialysis shunt.

Our patient exhibited a large tumor on his right upper arm where his former dialysis access site had been. X-ray, Doppler ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging scan could not fully reveal the nature of that tumor. Eventually, a surgical approach showed a giant aneurysm of the inflowing brachial artery to a partially obliterated arteriovenous fistula.

An Immune-CNS Axis Activates Remote Hippocampal Stem Cells Following Spinal Transection Injury.

External stimuli such as injury, learning, or stress influence the production of neurons by neural stem cells (NSCs) in the adult mammalian brain. These external stimuli directly impact stem cell activity by influencing areas directly connected or in close proximity to the neurogenic niches of the adult brain. However, very little is known on how distant injuries affect NSC activation state.

Analysis of the Secondary Phases Formed by Corrosion of U₃Si₂-Al Research Reactor Fuel Elements in the Presence of Chloride Rich Brines.

Corrosion experiments with non-irradiated U₃Si₂-Al research reactor fuel samples were carried out in synthetic MgCl₂-rich brine to identify and quantify the secondary phases because depending on their composition and on their amount, such compounds can act as a sink for the radionuclide release in final repositories. Within the experimental period of 100 days at 90 °C and anoxic conditions the U₃Si₂-Al fuel sample was completely disintegrated. The obtained solids were subdivided into different grain size fractions and non-ambient X-ray diffraction (XRD) was applied for their qualitative and quantitative phase analysis.

Abrupt emergence of a large pockmark field in the German Bight, southeastern North Sea.

A series of multibeam bathymetry surveys revealed the emergence of a large pockmark field in the southeastern North Sea. Covering an area of around 915 km, up to 1,200 pockmarks per square kilometer have been identified. The time of emergence can be confined to 3 months in autumn 2015, suggesting a very dynamic genesis.

[Closure of nasal septum perforations by bridge flaps].

Introduction: Treating nasal septum perforation is challenging from every point of view for patients who suffer from this condition. This article presents a general overview of this topic and describes an operative technique that very often enables closure of the perforation.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective and descriptive study was performed on 92 patients who were surgically treated for nasal septum perforation.

Long-term results of palisade cartilage tympanoplasty.

Objective: Evaluation of morphologic and functional long-term results of palisade cartilage tympanoplasty (PCT) combined with titanium ossicular replacement prostheses.

Study Design: Retrospective review of tympanoplasties.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

CD95-ligand on peripheral myeloid cells activates Syk kinase to trigger their recruitment to the inflammatory site.

Injury to the central nervous system initiates an uncontrolled inflammatory response that results in both tissue repair and destruction. Here, we showed that, in rodents and humans, injury to the spinal cord triggered surface expression of CD95 ligand (CD95L, FasL) on peripheral blood myeloid cells. CD95L stimulation of CD95 on these cells activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) via recruitment and activation of Syk kinase, ultimately leading to increased migration.

Biomaterials for craniofacial reconstruction.

Biomaterials for reconstruction of bony defects of the skull comprise of osteosynthetic materials applied after osteotomies or traumatic fractures and materials to fill bony defects which result from malformation, trauma or tumor resections. Other applications concern functional augmentations for dental implants or aesthetic augmentations in the facial region. For ostheosynthesis, mini- and microplates made from titanium alloys provide major advantages concerning biocompatibility, stability and individual fitting to the implant bed.

Immunohistochemical evidence of BMP-2, -4 and -7 activity in otospongiosis.

Conclusion: This study is the first to show that bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP)-2, -4 and -7 play a role in active phase otosclerotic bone remodelling (otospongiosis).

Objectives: The role of BMPs in various tissue growth and repair mechanisms is an ongoing topic in the literature. BMP-2, -4 and -7 are known to be of major importance in bone formation and repair.

Signaling by way of type IB and II bone morphogenetic protein receptors regulates bone formation in otospongiosis.

Hypothesis: The main goal of this study was to perform an immunohistologic analysis of bone morphogenetic protein receptors (BMPR) in otospongiosis.

Background: BMP-2, -4, and -7 play an essential role in bone formation and repair. They do so as well in otosclerosis.

Prototype of a silicon nitride ceramic-based miniplate osteofixation system for the midface.

Objective: The favorable properties of silicon nitride (Si3N4) ceramics, such as high mean strength level and fracture toughness, suggest biomedical use as an implant material. Minor reservations about the biocompatibility of Si3N4 ceramics were cleared up by previous in vitro and in vivo investigations.

Study Design And Setting: A Si3N4 prototype minifixation system was manufactured and implanted for osteosynthesis of artificial frontal bone defects in 3 minipigs.

Whole-body MRI for staging patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Conclusions: Whole-body MRI is feasible for the tumor staging of patients with malignant head and neck tumors and appears to be a quick, reliable and proven alternative in general and for patients with contraindications to CT. This examination minimizes the logistical effort required compared to multimodality strategies. Its economic impact remains to be determined.

Melanotic schwannoma of the neck mimicking a malignant melanoma.

We report a case of a 42-year-old female patient who presented with a 5-month history of a right cervical swelling. A fine-needle aspiration biopsy performed elsewhere led to the diagnosis of malignant melanoma. Clinical examination revealed pigmented skin and mucous-membrane lesions of the pharynx.