Retrospective study of the incidence, risk factors, treatment outcomes of bacterial infections at uncommon sites in cirrhotic patients.

Background: Bacterial infections (BI) negatively affect the natural course of cirrhosis. The most frequent BI are urinary tract infections (UTI), pneumonia, and spontaneous-bacterial peritonitis (SBP).

Aim: To assess the relevance of bacterial infections beyond the commonly recognized types in patients with cirrhosis and to investigate their relationship with other clinical variables.

maat: An R Package for Multiple Administrations Adaptive Testing.

Multiple Administrations Adaptive Testing (MAAT) is an extension of the shadow-test approach to CAT for the assessment framework involving multiple tests administered periodically throughout the year. The maat package utilizes multiple item pools vertically scaled across grades and multiple phases (stages) within each test administration, allowing for transitioning from an item pool to another as deemed necessary to further enhance the quality of assessment.

Protective Effects of Statin Therapy in Cirrhosis Are Limited by a Common SLCO1B1 Transporter Variant.

Complications of cirrhosis and portal hypertension (PH) can be reduced by statin therapy. The common loss-of-function variant p.V174A in the solute carrier organic anion transporter gene 1B1 (SLCO1B1) gene encoding the organic anion transporting polypeptide 1B1 results in decreased hepatic uptake of statins.

Isolated bacterial infection without decompensation has no impact on survival of compensated patients with cirrhosis.

Background & Aims: Bacterial infections (BI) affect the natural course of cirrhosis and were suggested to be a landmark event marking the transition to the decompensated stage. Our specific aim was to evaluate the impact of BI on the natural history of compensated cirrhosis.

Methods: We analyzed 858 patients with cirrhosis, evaluated for the INCA trial (EudraCT 2013-001626-26) in 2 academic medical centers between February 2014 and May 2019.

Impact of body mass index, smoking habit, alcohol consumption, physical activity and parity on disease course of women with triple-negative breast cancer.

Objective: To evaluate the potential impact of body mass index (BMI), smoking habit, alcohol consumption, physical activity and parity on disease course of women with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Material And Methods: This was a retrospective chart analysis of patients with TNBC. Primary target parameters were overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) depending on BMI, smoking habit, alcohol consumption, physical activity and parity.

Unified prebiotically plausible synthesis of pyrimidine and purine RNA ribonucleotides.

Theories about the origin of life require chemical pathways that allow formation of life's key building blocks under prebiotically plausible conditions. Complex molecules like RNA must have originated from small molecules whose reactivity was guided by physico-chemical processes. RNA is constructed from purine and pyrimidine nucleosides, both of which are required for accurate information transfer, and thus Darwinian evolution.

Thyroid hemiagenesis is combined with a variety of thyroid disorders.

Aim: Thyroid hemiagenesis (TH) is a rare congenital anomaly in which one thyroid lobe fails to develop. We describe our experience with at least 13 patients presenting with TH at our department.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed patients with TH, who had been referred primarily to our clinic between 2004 and 2010.

Publisher Correction: Non-canonical nucleosides and chemistry of the emergence of life.

The original version of this Article contained errors in the citations in the second, third and fourth sentences of the first paragraph of the 'Life and LUCA' section, which incorrectly read 'Its development is explained by Darwinian evolution, which must have begun with rudimentary "living" vesicles that at some point transitioned into what we call the last universal common ancestor (LUCA). LUCA is a hypothetical life form obtained from phylogenetic analysis from which all three kingdoms of life originated. To our understanding, LUCA already possessed the capacity to synthesize specific building blocks such as amino acids, nucleotides and lipids.

Non-canonical nucleosides and chemistry of the emergence of life.

Prebiotic chemistry, driven by changing environmental parameters provides canonical and a multitude of non-canonical nucleosides. This suggests that Watson-Crick base pairs were selected from a diverse pool of nucleosides in a pre-Darwinian chemical evolution process.

Efficacy of low-temperature plasma-activated gas disinfection against biofilm on contaminated GI endoscope channels.

Background And Aims: It has been increasingly recognized that the safety of GI endoscopes needs to be improved by addressing the small margin of safety of high-level disinfectants (HLDs) and the failure of HLDs to clear multidrug-resistant organisms and biofilms. There is also an unmet need for effective low-temperature sterilization techniques that have a clear pathway for U.S.

Noncanonical RNA Nucleosides as Molecular Fossils of an Early Earth-Generation by Prebiotic Methylations and Carbamoylations.

The RNA-world hypothesis assumes that life on Earth started with small RNA molecules that catalyzed their own formation. Vital to this hypothesis is the need for prebiotic routes towards RNA. Contemporary RNA, however, is not only constructed from the four canonical nucleobases (A, C, G, and U), it also contains many chemically modified (noncanonical) bases.

Wet-dry cycles enable the parallel origin of canonical and non-canonical nucleosides by continuous synthesis.

The molecules of life were created by a continuous physicochemical process on an early Earth. In this hadean environment, chemical transformations were driven by fluctuations of the naturally given physical parameters established for example by wet-dry cycles. These conditions might have allowed for the formation of (self)-replicating RNA as the fundamental biopolymer during chemical evolution.

Octadentate Picolinic Acid-Based Bispidine Ligand for Radiometal Ions.

The synthesis of the octadentate bispidine ligand bearing two picolinic acid pendant arms (H bispa ), and its coordination chemistry with radionuclides relevant for nuclear medicine, namely indium(III) ( In), lutetium(III) ( Lu), and lanthanum(III) (as surrogate for Ac), are reported. The non-radioactive metal complexes of the N O -type bispa ligand were characterized by H and C NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, mass spectrometry and single-crystal X-ray analysis. Experimental structural data, computational analysis, complex stabilities determined by potentiometric titration, and "radiostabilities" determined by competition studies in the presence of human serum reveal complex stabilities of H bispa comparable to those of the macrocyclic "gold standard" DOTA.

Stable Isotope-Assisted Evaluation of Different Extraction Solvents for Untargeted Metabolomics of Plants.

The evaluation of extraction protocols for untargeted metabolomics approaches is still difficult. We have applied a novel stable isotope-assisted workflow for untargeted LC-HRMS-based plant metabolomics , which allows for the first time every detected feature to be considered for method evaluation. The efficiency and complementarity of commonly used extraction solvents, namely 1 + 3 (v/v) mixtures of water and selected organic solvents (methanol, acetonitrile or methanol/acetonitrile 1 + 1 (v/v)), with and without the addition of 0.

Dataset from proteomic analysis of rat, mouse, and human liver microsomes and S9 fractions.

Rat, mouse and human liver microsomes and S9 fractions were analyzed using an optimized method combining ion exchange fractionation of digested peptides, and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled to high resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HR-MS/MS). The mass spectrometry proteomics data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.

A Novel Xanthomonas sp. Causes Bacterial Spot of Rose (Rosa spp.).

A bacterial spot of rose (Rosa spp.) caused by a xanthomonad was observed in Florida and Texas. Ten representative strains collected from the two states between 2004 and 2010 were used to determine the taxonomic position of this rose pathogen.

Iodine-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy scoring allows prediction of outcome in patients with stage 4 neuroblastoma: results of the Cologne interscore comparison study.

Purpose: Radioiodinated metaiodobenzylguanidine ((123)I-mIBG) scintigraphy is an established imaging method in neuroblastoma. Semiquantitative scoring systems have been developed to assess the extent of disease and response to chemotherapy. We present the results of the comparison between the SIOPEN [International Society of Pediatric Oncology Europe Neuroblastoma Group] score and the modified Curie score.

68Ga-DOTATATE-PET/CT positive metastatic lymph node in a 69-year-old woman with Merkel cell carcinoma.

We report the case of a 69-year-old woman with a Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) in whom subsequent lymph node metastasis was first diagnosed by 68Ga-Dotatate-PET/CT followed by histopathological confirmation. MCC is an extraordinarily rare and aggressive neuroendocrine tumor of dermal origin with a high rate of postoperative recurrence. Owing to its rarity, the diagnosis of MCC remains a significant challenge.

Acute hypoxia modifies regulation of neuroglobin in the neonatal mouse brain.

Among endogenous adaptive systems to hypoxia, neuroglobin, a recently discovered heme protein, was suggested as a novel oxygen-dependent neuroprotectant. We aimed to characterize i) maturational age-related regulation of neuroglobin in the developing mouse brain under normoxic and hypoxic conditions, and ii) the role of hypoxia-inducible transcription factors (HIFs) as possible mediators of O(2)-dependent regulation of neuroglobin in vitro and in vivo. During early stages of postnatal brain maturation (P0-P14) neuroglobin mRNA levels significantly increased in developing mouse forebrains.

Development of hypothyroidism during long-term follow-up of patients with toxic nodular goitre after radioiodine therapy.

Objective: To investigate the cure rate and incidence of hypothyroidism of radioiodine treatment with a calculated dose regimen and an intended thyroid dose of 150 Gy in patients with toxic nodular goitre during long-term follow-up.

Patients: A total of 265 consecutive patients with toxic nodular goitre were treated between March 2003 and August 2004 at our institute and followed up for a maximum of 8 years. Preliminary radioiodine testing with volumetric measurement of the thyroid by ultrasound as well as individual thyroidal radioiodine uptake and half-life measurements were performed before radioiodine therapy.

Systemic hypoxia differentially affects neurogenesis during early mouse brain maturation.

Background: Cerebral tissue oxygen level modifies crucial processes of neurogenesis, glial and neuronal development during physiological and hypoxic conditions. Whether hypoxia-sensitive factors such as doublecortin (DCX) and hypoxia-inducible transcription factor (HIF)-regulated CXCR4 and SDF-1 modify and activate adaptation to hypoxia in developing brain is not well understood. Present study investigated maturational regulation of oxygen-sensitive developmental genes and proteins in developing mouse brain in relation to the degree of hypoxia.