Publications by authors named "Christopher Spiegel"

Antimicrobial strategies for musculoskeletal infections are typically first developed with in vitro models. The In Vitro Section of the 2023 Orthopedic Research Society Musculoskeletal Infection international consensus meeting (ICM) probed our state of knowledge of in vitro systems with respect to bacteria and biofilm phenotype, standards, in vitro activity, and the ability to predict in vivo efficacy. A subset of ICM delegates performed systematic reviews on 15 questions and made recommendations and assessment of the level of evidence that were then voted on by 72 ICM delegates.

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In dentistry, the most commonly used implant materials are CP-Titanium Grade 4 and Ti-6Al-4V ELI, possessing comparably high Young's modulus (>100 GPa). In the present study, the second-generation titanium alloy Ti-13Nb-13Zr is investigated with respect to the production of advanced dental implant systems. This should be achieved by the fabrication of long semi-finished bars with high strength and sufficient ductility to allow the automated production of small implants at low Young's modulus (<80 GPa) to minimize stress shielding, bone resorption, and gap formation between the bone and implant.

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Article Synopsis
  • Around 1-2% of implantation surgeries result in implant-related infections, leading to costs between $40,000 and $160,000 per total hip prosthetic joint infection (PJI), with a 5-year mortality rate of up to 21%.
  • Sterile surgical procedures and certified standards have been developed to reduce infection risks, and implants can be sourced pre-sterilized or with sterilization manuals.
  • The study evaluates whether different sterilization methods (steam vs. UV light) for titanium alloys affect the gene expression related to biofilm formation, finding that UV light sterilization may lead to higher bacterial colony counts and varying gene expressions compared to autoclaving.
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Gangliosides are present and concentrated in axons and implicated in axon-myelin interactions, but how ganglioside composition changes during myelin formation is not known. Here, we present a direct infusion (shotgun) lipidomics method to analyze gangliosides in small amounts of tissue reproducibly and with high sensitivity. We resolve the mouse ganglioside lipidome during development and adulthood and determine the ganglioside content of mice lacking the and genes that synthesize most ganglioside species.

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Article Synopsis
  • Prosthetic joint infections occur in 1-2% of surgeries and can lead to significant mortality rates, making the development of effective treatments crucial.
  • Methicillin-resistant bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus are common culprits, forming biofilms that protect them from antibiotics and complicate treatment options.
  • The study explored docosahexaenoic acid's potential as an anti-biofilm agent, finding it decreases bacterial presence in biofilms without promoting further biofilm formation, suggesting it could be a viable alternative therapy against MRSA-related infections.
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Bacterial antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation are mechanisms usually involved in the pathogeny of implant-related infections. Worldwide, antibiotic susceptibility tests are usually carried out using nutrient-rich media. Clinical routine laboratories and even research centers use for example EUCAST or CLSI for guidelines.

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Site-specific recombinases (SSRs) can perform DNA rearrangements, including deletions, inversions and translocations when their naive target sequences are placed strategically into the genome of an organism. Hence, in order to employ SSRs in heterologous hosts, their target sites have to be introduced into the genome of an organism before the enzyme can be practically employed. Engineered SSRs hold great promise for biotechnology and advanced biomedical applications, as they promise to extend the usefulness of SSRs to allow efficient and specific recombination of pre-existing, natural genomic sequences.

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