Publications by authors named "Bjoern-Ph Diercks"

Protonic ceramic electrochemical cells (PCECs) can operate at intermediate temperatures (450° to 600°C) for power generation and hydrogen production. However, the operating temperature is still too high to revolutionize ceramic electrochemical cell technology. Lowering the operating temperature to <450°C will enable a wider material choice and reduce system costs.

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Introduction: Anorectal melanoma is a rare neoplasm with an aggressive behavior and poor prognosis. Recently, recurrent gene mutations related to anorectal melanoma have been identified in a small series of cases, and this holds promise for targeted therapies, analogous to cutaneous melanoma. The purpose of this study was to analyze testing rates and prevalence of mutations in anorectal melanoma in the Dutch population.

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X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a powerful technique that provides information about the electronic and local geometric structural properties of newly developed electrocatalysts, especially when it is performed under operating conditions (i.e., ).

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While neutrophils are the predominant cell type in the lungs of humans with active tuberculosis (TB), they are relatively scarce in the lungs of most strains of mice that are used to study the disease. However, similar to humans, neutrophils account for approximately 45% of CD45+ cells in the lungs of mice on a high-cholesterol (HC) diet following infection with (Mtb). We hypothesized that the susceptibility of HC mice might arise from an unrestrained feed-forward loop in which production of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) stimulates production of type I interferons by pDCs which in turn leads to the recruitment and activation of more neutrophils, and demonstrated that depleting neutrophils, depleting plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), or blocking type I interferon signaling, improved the outcome of infection.

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Quantifying interseismic deformation of fault networks which are predominantly deforming in a north-south direction is challenging, because GNSS networks are usually not dense enough to resolve deformation at the level of individual faults. The alternative, interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), provides high spatial resolution but is limited by a low sensitivity to N-S motion. We study the active normal fault network of Western Türkiye, which is undergoing rapid N-S extension, using InSAR.

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Glycan-mediated molecular recognition events are essential for life. NMR is widely used to monitor glycan binding to lectins in solution using isolated glycans and lectins. In this context, we herein explore diverse NMR methodologies, from both the receptor and ligand perspectives, to monitor glycan-lectin interactions under experimental conditions mimicking the native milieu inside cells and on cell surface.

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After 30 years of collective effort and intensive discussion, Mark Solms and the Institute of Psychoanalysis in London have finally succeeded in completing all 24 volumes of the Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (RSE). Within the framework of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, we have been working for 12 years on the primarily digital historical-critical (historisch-kritische) Sigmund Freud Edition (FE). The FE strives for completeness.

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Purpose: High-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) and T (hs-cTnT) have been demonstrated to have lower sex-specific 99th percentiles in healthy females. However, these sex-specific thresholds are not widely adopted in clinical practice which could lead to underdiagnosis of acute myocardial infarction in females. We conducted a systematic review to explore sex-specific 99th percentiles for hs-cTnI and hs-cTnT from healthy reference populations.

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A healthy, 49-year-old healthy woman presented at a maxillofacial surgery department with pain and a burning sensations in the mouth. She had experienced the discomfort for a year and it had made eating difficult. Clinical examination revealed white, plaque-like lesions on the buccal mucosa and tongue that could not be scraped off.

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Background: We evaluated the Vitros® Immunodiagnostic Products N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) II assay for aiding in diagnosis of heart failure (HF) in patients with acute dyspnea.

Methods: Serum concentrations of NT-proBNP were measured in patient samples from 20 emergency departments across the United States. Study endpoints included sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, and predictive values for diagnosis of acute HF according to age-stratified cutoffs (450, 900, and 1800 pg/mL), and a rule-out age-independent cutoff (300 pg/mL).

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Article Synopsis
  • * When T cell receptors are activated, NAADP is quickly produced, interacting with specific proteins that trigger the release of calcium from internal stores, leading to a rise in intracellular calcium levels.
  • * A new high-resolution imaging technique using two calcium indicators, along with a Python-based detection system, allows for the precise capture and analysis of these dynamic Ca microdomains in T cells and other cell types.
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  • - Melanocytic tumors are categorized by their clinical appearance and histological features, but molecular diagnostics are increasingly being used to differentiate these lesions, according to WHO standards.
  • - A case study revealed that molecular testing of an atypical melanocytic lesion uncovered a mutation in the MAP2K1 gene and an unexpected germline mutation in PTPN11, which is related to Noonan syndrome.
  • - The findings suggest a possible link between the mutations in the RAS-MAPK pathway and the atypical melanocytic lesion, indicating that as molecular testing grows in use, discoveries of unexpected germline mutations may also rise.
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  • The seated wall angel (SWA) is a new clinical test designed to assess upper body mobility in patients with anterior shoulder instability, offering a scoring system based on body contact with the wall.
  • The study sought to determine if SWA test scores would be lower on the injured side compared to the uninjured side, improve over six weeks, and have a stronger correlation with patient-reported shoulder function than traditional shoulder mobility tests.
  • Results showed that SWA scores were indeed lower on the injured side initially, improved significantly at follow-up, and had meaningful correlations with patient-reported outcomes indicating its usefulness in clinical assessments.
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Toll-like receptors (TLRs) on macrophages sense microbial components and trigger the production of numerous cytokines and chemokines that mediate the inflammatory response to infection. Although many of the components required for the activation of the TLR pathway have been identified, the mechanisms that appropriately regulate the magnitude and duration of the response and ultimately restore homeostasis are less well understood. Furthermore, a growing body of work indicates that TLR signaling reciprocally interacts with other fundamental cellular processes, including lipid metabolism but only a few specific molecular links between immune signaling and the macrophage lipidome have been studied in detail.

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Upon stimulation of membrane receptors, nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP) is formed as second messenger within seconds and evokes Ca signaling in many different cell types. Here, to directly stimulate NAADP signaling, MASTER-NAADP, a Membrane permeAble, STabilized, bio-rEversibly pRotected precursor of NAADP is synthesized and release of its active NAADP mimetic, benzoic acid C-nucleoside, 2'-phospho-3'F-adenosine-diphosphate, by esterase digestion is confirmed. In the presence of NAADP receptor HN1L/JPT2 (hematological and neurological expressed 1-like protein, HN1L, also known as Jupiter microtubule-associated homolog 2, JPT2), this active NAADP mimetic releases Ca and increases the open probability of type 1 ryanodine receptor.

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Systems that perform continuous hypermutation of designated genes without compromising the integrity of the host genome can dramatically accelerate the evolution of new or enhanced protein functions. We describe an orthogonal DNA replication system in based on the controlled expression of the replisome of bacteriophage T7. The system replicates circular plasmids that enable high transformation efficiencies and seamless integration into standard molecular biology workflows.

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Ca signalling is pivotal in T cell activation, an essential process in adaptive immune responses. Key to this activation are Ca microdomains, which are transient increases in cytosolic Ca concentration occurring within narrow regions between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the plasma membrane (PM), lasting a few tens of milliseconds. Adhesion Dependent Ca Microdomains (ADCM) rely on store-operated Ca entry (SOCE) via the ORAI/STIM system.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Testing for mutations in the telomerase reverse transcriptase gene promoter (p) can enhance diagnostic confidence, but the study aims to explore the cost-effectiveness of this testing approach.
  • * Out of 367 analyzed cases, mutation analysis was performed in 86% of initially uncertain diagnoses, resulting in improved confidence for 38% of those cases, while establishing a micro-costing framework to evaluate financial implications.
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Live vaccines are ideal for inducing immunity but suffer from the need to attenuate their pathogenicity or replication to preclude the possibility of escape. Unnatural amino acids (UAAs) provide a strategy to engineer stringent auxotrophies, yielding conditionally replication incompetent live bacteria with excellent safety profiles. Here, we engineer Pseudomonas aeruginosa to maintain auxotrophy for the UAA p-benzoyl-L-phenylalanine (BzF) through its incorporation into the essential protein DnaN.

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Background: Although the prescription of physical activity in clinical care has been advocated worldwide, in the Netherlands, "Exercise is Medicine" (E = M) is not yet routinely implemented in clinical care.

Methods: A set of implementation strategies was pilot implemented to test its feasibility for use in routine care by clinicians in 2 departments of a university medical center. An extensive learning process evaluation was performed, using structured mixed methods methodology, in accordance with the Reach, Effect, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance framework.

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Epidermolytic ichthyosis (EI) is a type of congenital ichthyosis, characterized by erythema and blistering at birth followed by hyperkeratosis. EI is caused by pathogenic variants in the genes KRT1 and KRT10, encoding the proteins keratin 1 (KRT1) and keratin 10 (KRT10), respectively, and is primarily transmitted by autosomal-dominant inheritance, although recessive inheritance caused by nonsense variants in KRT10 is also described. The keratins form a network of intermediate filaments and are a structural component of the cytoskeleton, giving strength and resilience to the skin.

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