Influence of the orientation of constructed blood vessels during the 3D printing on the measurement of the pseudo-oxygen saturation of an artificial blood substitute using conventional oxygen sensors: a test series.

Background: The development of phantoms to reduce animal testing or to validate new instruments or operation techniques is of increasing importance. For this reason, a blood circulation phantom was developed to test a newly designed retractor system with an integrated oxygen sensor. This phantom was used to evaluate the impact of the 3D printed blood vessel on the measurement of the oxygen saturation.

ARISE-The Accuracy Evaluation of a Patient-Specific 3D-Printed Biopsy System Based on MRI Data: A Cadaveric Study.

Background: Brain biopsy is required for the accurate specification and further diagnosis of intracranial findings. The conventional stereotactic frames are used clinically for biopsies and offer the highest possible precision. Unfortunately, they come with some insurmountable technical and logistical limitations.

Significance of EEG-electrode combinations while calculating filters with common spatial patterns.

Objective: Common spatial pattern (CSP) is a common filter technique used for pre-processing of electroencephalography (EEG) signals for imaginary movement classification tasks. It is crucial to reduce the amount of features especially in cases where few data is available. Therefore, different approaches to reduce the amount of electrodes used for CSP calculation are tried in this research.

Analysis of the Technical Accuracy of a Patient-Specific Stereotaxy Platform for Brain Biopsy.

The use of stereotactic frames is a common practice in neurosurgical interventions such as brain biopsy and deep brain stimulation. However, conventional stereotactic frames have been shown to require modification and adaptation regarding patient and surgeon comfort as well as the increasing demand for individualized medical treatment. To meet these requirements for carrying out state-of-the-art neurosurgery, a 3D print-based, patient-specific stereotactic system was developed and examined for technical accuracy.

Students' perspectives regarding needs for and opportunities with mixed-reality education in neurosurgery at German medical schools.

Objective: Despite mixed reality being an emerging tool for tailored neurosurgical treatment and safety enhancement, the use of mixed reality in the education of German medical students is not established in the field of neurosurgery. The present study aimed to investigate medical students' perspectives on the use of mixed reality in neurosurgical medical education.

Methods: Between July 3, 2023, and August 31, 2023, an online survey was completed by German medical students through their affiliated student associations and educational institutions.

IMAGINER: improving accuracy with a mixed reality navigation system during placement of external ventricular drains. A feasibility study.

Objective: The placement of a ventricular catheter, that is, an external ventricular drain (EVD), is a common and essential neurosurgical procedure. In addition, it is one of the first procedures performed by inexperienced neurosurgeons. With or without surgical experience, the placement of an EVD according to anatomical landmarks only can be difficult, with the potential risk for inaccurate catheter placement.

Mixed reality for spine surgery: a step into the future with a human cadaveric accuracy study.

Objective: Current application of mixed reality as a navigation aid in the field of spinal navigation points to the potential of this technology in spine surgery. Crucial factors for acceptance include intuitive workflow, system stability, reliability, and accuracy of the method. The authors therefore aimed to investigate the accuracy of the system in visualization of anatomical structures using mixed reality in the example of pedicles of the thoracic spine in a human cadaveric study.

A New Concept for Cervical Expansion Screws Using Shape Memory Alloy: A Feasibility Study.

Background:  In general, sufficient anchoring of screws in the bone material ensures the intended primary stability.

Methods:  Shape memory materials offer the option of using temperature-associated deformation energy in a targeted manner to compensate the special situation of osteoporotic bones or the potential lack of anchoring. An expansion screw was developed for these purposes.

Development of a 3D-printed, patient-specific stereotactic system for bihemispheric deep brain stimulation.

The aim of the project was to develop a patient-specific stereotactic system that allows simultaneous and thus time-saving treatment of both cerebral hemispheres and that contains all spatial axes and can be used as a disposable product. Furthermore, the goal was to reduce the size and weight of the stereotactic system compared to conventional systems to keep the strain on the patient, who is awake during the operation, to a minimum. In addition, the currently mandatory computed tomography should be avoided in order not to expose the patient to harmful X-ray radiation as well as to eliminate errors in the fusion of CT and MRI data.

3D-printing of the elbow in complex posttraumatic elbow-stiffness for preoperative planning, surgery-simulation and postoperative control.

Background: Restoration of mobility of the elbow after post-traumatic elbow stiffening due to osteophytes is often a problem.

Methods: The anatomical structures were segmented within the CT-scan. Afterwards, the Multi Jet Fusion 3D-printing was applied to create the model made of biocompatible and steam-sterilizable plastic.

Functional improvement of patients with Parkinson syndromes using a rehabilitation training software.

Introduction: Individuals with Parkinsonian disorders often face limited access to specialized physiotherapy and movement training due to staff shortages and increasing disease incidence, resulting in a rapid decline in mobility and feelings of despair. Addressing these challenges requires allocating adequate resources and implementing specialized training programs to ensure comprehensive care and support. Regarding these problems, a computer software was invented that might serve as an additional home-based extension to conventional physiotherapy.

Development of an individual helmet orthosis for infants based on a 3D scan.

An early childhood skull deformity can have long-term health and aesthetic consequences for the growing toddler. Individual helmet therapy aims at a healthy growth of the skull shape, although not every helmet shape guarantees an optimal result. To ensure an optimal fit, a scanning procedure based on a hand-held surface scanner was evaluated.

Development of 3D printed patient-specific skull implants based on 3d surface scans.

Sometimes cranioplasty is necessary to reconstruct skull bone defects after a neurosurgical operation. If an autologous bone is unavailable, alloplastic materials are used. The standard technical approach for the fabrication of cranial implants is based on 3D imaging by computed tomography using the defect and the contralateral site.

NextLens-The Next Generation of Surgical Navigation: Proof of Concept of an Augmented Reality System for Surgical Navigation.

 The aim of this work was the development of an augmented reality system including the functionality of conventional surgical navigation systems.  An application software for the Augmented Reality System HoloLens 2 from Microsoft was developed. It detects the position of the patient as well as position of surgical instruments in real time and displays it within the two-dimensional (2D) magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography (CT) images.

Motor learning is independent of effects of subthalamic deep brain stimulation on motor execution.

Motor learning is defined as an improvement in performance through practice. The ability to learn new motor skills may be particularly challenged in patients with Parkinson's disease, in whom motor execution is impaired by the disease-defining motor symptoms such as bradykinesia. Subthalamic deep brain stimulation is an effective treatment in advanced Parkinson's disease, and its beneficial effects on Parkinsonian motor symptoms and motor execution have been widely demonstrated.

Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3-beta (GSK3β) blocks nucleocapsid phosphorylation and SARS-CoV-2 replication.

GSK3β has been proposed to have an essential role in Coronaviridae infections. Screening of a targeted library of GSK3β inhibitors against both SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-229E to identify broad-spectrum anti-Coronaviridae inhibitors resulted in the identification of a high proportion of active compounds with low toxicity to host cells. A selected lead compound, T-1686568, showed low micromolar, dose-dependent activity against SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-229E.

Case Report: Clinical Use of a Patient-Individual Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Based Stereotactic Navigation Device for Brain Biopsies in Three Dogs.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques for patient-individual medicine has found its way into veterinary neurosurgery. Because of the high accuracy of 3D printed specific neurosurgical navigation devices, it seems to be a safe and reliable option to use patient-individual constructions for sampling brain tissue. Due to the complexity and vulnerability of the brain a particularly precise and safe procedure is required.

Facial Nerve Function After Microsurgical Resection in Vestibular Schwannoma Under Neurophysiological Monitoring.

Background: The use of intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring, including direct nerve stimulation (especially the facial nerve), acoustic evoked potentials (AEP) and somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP), is a helpful tool in the microsurgery of vestibular schwannoma to prevent nerve injury. Patient characteristics and intraoperative and postoperative variables might also influence the postoperative facial nerve function. The study was performed to investigate these variables and the intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring values.

Escherichia coli recombinant expression of SARS-CoV-2 protein fragments.

We have developed a method for the inexpensive, high-level expression of antigenic protein fragments of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in Escherichia coli. Our approach uses the thermophilic family 9 carbohydrate-binding module (CBM9) as an N-terminal carrier protein and affinity tag. The CBM9 module was joined to SARS-CoV-2 protein fragments via a flexible proline-threonine linker, which proved to be resistant to E.

Neurosurgical Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Central Germany: A Retrospective Single Center Study of the Second Wave.

The healthcare system has been placed under an enormous burden by the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. In addition to the challenge of providing sufficient care for COVID-19 patients, there is also a need to ensure adequate care for non-COVID-19 patients. We investigated neurosurgical care in a university hospital during the pandemic.

[Need for and predictability of magnetic resonance imaging examinations in patients with implanted neurostimulators].

Background: With an increasing number of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations in the general population, there are no data available regarding the requirements of patients with implanted neurostimulators in Germany. Published data from the United States of America suggest a high need. The limited approval for MRI scans of implants are a common problem.

Magnetic resonance imaging scans in patients with dorsal root ganglion stimulation.

Objective: Patients fitted with a neurostimulator face a greater need to undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Given the lack of literature in this regard, this study aims to review our experience with MRI examinations on patients implanted with a dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S) system and their potential adverse events.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of the prospective treatment documentation gathered from November 2011 to October 2020.

A Comparative Study of Automatic Localization Algorithms for Spherical Markers within 3D MRI Data.

Localization of features and structures in images is an important task in medical image-processing. Characteristic structures and features are used in diagnostics and surgery planning for spatial adjustments of the volumetric data, including image registration or localization of bone-anchors and fiducials. Since this task is highly recurrent, a fast, reliable and automated approach without human interaction and parameter adjustment is of high interest.

A majority of uninfected adults show preexisting antibody reactivity against SARS-CoV-2.

Preexisting cross-reactivity to SARS-CoV-2 occurs in the absence of prior viral exposure. However, this has been difficult to quantify at the population level due to a lack of reliably defined seroreactivity thresholds. Using an orthogonal antibody testing approach, we estimated that about 0.