Catalytic activity of microbial communities maintains the services and functions of soils. Microbial communities require energy and carbon for microbial growth, which they obtain by transforming organic matter (OM), oxidizing a fraction of it and transferring the electrons to various terminal acceptors. Quantifying the relations between matter and energy fluxes is possible when key parameters such as reaction enthalpy (), energy use efficiency (related to enthalpy) (EUE), carbon use efficiency (CUE), calorespirometric ratio (CR), carbon dioxide evolution rate (CER), and the apparent specific growth rate () are known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMore than any other mental illness, the course, prognosis, and therapy of anorexia nervosa are shaped by the physical changes associated with being underweight. This article provides an overview of the endocrine changes associated with malnutrition and underweight. This overview serves as a basis for understanding the other articles in this special issue, which deal with the health risks associated with being underweight.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The COVID-19 outbreak has taken a heavy toll on the mental well-being of healthcare workers, even those who have not been directly involved in the care of acutely ill patients. The aims of this study were to identify the overall burden and mental health status of healthcare workers in pediatric developmental services under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify the risk and protective factors associated with mental health.
Methods: This cross-sectional web-based study was part of a large multicenter VOICE study conducted among employees ((neuro-)pediatricians, psychologists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, etc.
Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz
July 2020
During the transition from adolescence to adulthood, people with disabilities have special problems and needs for adequate medical care and its integration into the overall environment. With the introduction of paragraphs 119c and 43b SGB V, the conditions for medical centers for people with disabilities (MZEB) were created and the special needs of this group of people recognized, while at the same time contributing to the implementation of Art. 25 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz
July 2020
Background: Children and adolescents with chronic diseases are a very heterogeneous group of patients with age-specific characteristics and a broad spectrum of underlying diseases. These patients require not only good medical care but also comprehensive support in order to achieve the greatest possible participation in social life.
Objective: In this review, the problems faced by children and adolescents with chronic diseases, as well as by their families, and the requirements for the best possible life management, are presented.
The detection and quantification of Legionella pneumophila (responsible for legionnaire's disease) in water samples can be achieved by various methods. However, the culture-based ISO 11731:2017, which is based on counts of colony-forming units per ml (CFU·ml ) is still the gold standard for quantification of Legionella species (spp.).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFModern isothermal microcalorimeters (IMC) are able to detect the metabolic heat of bacteria with an accuracy sufficient to recognize even the smallest traces of bacterial contamination of water, food, and medical samples. The modern IMC techniques are often superior to conventional detection methods in terms of the detection time, reliability, labor, and technical effort. What is missing is a systematic analysis of the influence of the cultivation conditions on calorimetric detection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe epsin N-terminal homology domain (ENTH) is a major player in clathrin-mediated endocytosis. To investigate the influence of initial membrane tension on ENTH binding and activity, we established a bilayer system based on adhered giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) to be able to control and adjust the membrane tension σ covering a broad regime. The shape of each individual adhered GUV as well as its adhesion area was monitored by spinning disc confocal laser microscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The time- and dose-dependent reconstitution of hematopoiesis after radiation exposure is strongly related to the stem cell population and can be used to predict hematological parameters. These parameters allow further insight into the hematopoietic system and might lead to the development of novel stem cell transplantation models.
Materials And Methods: CD4-/- C57Bl/6 mice, transgenic for human CD4 and HLA-DR3, were irradiated in a single (3, 6, 8 and 12 Gy) and fractionated (6 × 1 Gy, 6 × 1.
This is the first report showing that an epitope-specific ex vivo modulation of an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell graft by the anti-human CD4 antibody MAX.16H5 IgG1 simultaneously facilitates the anti-tumor capacity of the graft (Graft-versus-leukemia effect, GvL) and the long-term suppression of the deleterious side effect Graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD). To distinguish and consolidate GvL from GvHD, the anti-human CD4 antibody MAX16.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe polymerase chain reaction is a powerful molecular tool for the detection and analysis of very small amounts of DNA. Today, hybridization probes are often used in real-time PCR for more sensitive and specific detection of pathogens and for determination of gene regulation or mutation analysis instead of intercalating dyes like SYBR Green. Here, we describe how to generate suitable primers and hybridization probes for the specific detection of fungal DNA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRegulatory CD4(+) CD25(+) FoxP3(+) T cells (T(regs) ) suppress immunological reactions. However, the effect of adding T(regs) to hematopoietic stem cell grafts on recovery and graft versus host disease (GvHD) is unknown. T(regs) from splenocytes of C57Bl/6 and Balb/c wild-type mice were isolated by MACS separation and analyzed by flow cytometry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectron transport in nanoscale structures is strongly influenced by the Coulomb interaction that gives rise to correlations in the stream of charges and leaves clear fingerprints in the fluctuations of the electrical current. A complete understanding of the underlying physical processes requires measurements of the electrical fluctuations on all time and frequency scales, but experiments have so far been restricted to fixed frequency ranges, as broadband detection of current fluctuations is an inherently difficult experimental procedure. Here we demonstrate that the electrical fluctuations in a single-electron transistor can be accurately measured on all relevant frequencies using a nearby quantum point contact for on-chip real-time detection of the current pulses in the single-electron device.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn early diagnosis of an invasive fungal infection is essential for the initiation of a specific antifungal therapy and to avoid unnecessary discontinuation of a baseline therapy for haematological or oncological diseases. A real-time PCR assay for the detection and strain identification of Aspergillus species from culture strains was evaluated. DNA preparation was evaluated in contaminated culture media, urine and serum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNon-adherent bone marrow-derived cells (NA-BMCs) are a mixed cell population that can give rise to multiple mesenchymal phenotypes and that facilitates hematopoietic recovery. We characterized NA-BMCs by flow cytometry, fibroblast colony-forming units (CFU-f), real-time PCR, and in in vivo experiments. In comparison to adherent cells, NA-BMCs expressed high levels of CD11b(+) and CD90(+) within the CD45(+) cell fraction.
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