Pretreatment With Unfractionated Heparin in ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction—a Propensity Score Matching Analysis.

Background: Patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are often pretreated with unfractionated heparin (UFH) before a primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). UFH pretreatment is intended to lessen the thrombotic burden, but there have been conflicting study findings on its safety and efficacy. We assessed the risks and benefits of UFH pretreatment with a retrospective analysis of registry data from the STEMI network of a German metropolitan region.

Ion-concentration gradients induced by synaptic input increase the voltage depolarization in dendritic spines.

The vast majority of excitatory synaptic connections occur on dendritic spines. Due to their extremely small volume and spatial segregation from the dendrite, even moderate synaptic currents can significantly alter ionic concentrations. This results in chemical potential gradients between the dendrite and the spine head, leading to measurable electrical currents.

In Vitro Functionality and Endurance of GMP-Compliant Point-of-Care BCMA.CAR-T Cells at Different Timepoints of Cryopreservation.

The search for target antigens for CAR-T cell therapy against multiple myeloma defined the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) as an interesting candidate. Several studies with BCMA-directed CAR-T cell therapy showed promising results. Second-generation point-of-care BCMA.

Anodal transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation influences the amplitude of pain-related evoked potentials in healthy subjects.

It has already been described that transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) can selectively influence nociceptive evoked potentials. This study is the first aiming to prove an influence of tsDCS on pain-related evoked potentials (PREP) using concentric surface electrodes (CE), whose nociceptive specificity is still under discussion. 28 healthy subjects participated in this sham-controlled, double-blind cross-over study.

Pain-related evoked potentials with concentric surface electrodes in patients and healthy subjects: a systematic review.

Pain-related evoked potentials with concentric surface electrodes (PREP with CE) have been increasingly used in the diagnostics of polyneuropathies as well as in pain research. However, the study results are partly inconsistent regarding their utility to distinguish between normal and abnormal findings. The present systematic review aimed to summarise and compare study results, where PREP with CE were used in healthy subjects or patients and to identify possible influencing factors.

Impact of serum‑free media on the expansion and functionality of CD19.CAR T‑cells.

Fetal bovine serum (FBS) or human serum is widely used in the production of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T‑cells. In order to overcome a lot‑to‑lot inconsistency, the use of chemically defined medium that is free of animal-components would be highly desirable. The present study compared three serum‑free media [Prime‑XV™ T Cell CDM, Fujifilm™ (FF), LymphoONE™ T‑Cell Expansion Xeno‑Free Medium, Takara Bio™ (TB) and TCM GMP‑Prototype, CellGenix™ (CG)] to the standard CAR T‑cell medium containing FBS (RCF).

A Uniform and Isotropic Cytoskeletal Tiling Fills Dendritic Spines.

Dendritic spines are submicron, subcellular compartments whose shape is defined by actin filaments and associated proteins. Accurately mapping the cytoskeleton is a challenge, given the small size of its components. It remains unclear whether the actin-associated structures analyzed in dendritic spines of neurons apply to dendritic spines of intact, mature neurons Here, we combined advanced preparative methods with multitilt serial section electron microscopy (EM) tomography and computational analysis to reveal the full three-dimensional (3D) internal architecture of spines in the intact brains of male mice at nanometer resolution.

Comparison of FACS and PCR for Detection of BCMA-CAR-T Cells.

Chimeric-antigen-receptor (CAR)-T-cell therapy is already widely used to treat patients who are relapsed or refractory to chemotherapy, antibodies, or stem-cell transplantation. Multiple myeloma still constitutes an incurable disease. CAR-T-cell therapy that targets BCMA (B-cell maturation antigen) is currently revolutionizing the treatment of those patients.

Impact of respiratory infectious epidemics on STEMI incidence and care.

The effect of respiratory infectious diseases on STEMI incidence, but also STEMI care is not well understood. The Influenza 2017/2018 epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic were chosen as observational periods to investigate the effect of respiratory virus diseases on these outcomes in a metropolitan area with an established STEMI network. We analyzed data on incidence and care during the COVID-19 pandemic, Influenza 2017/2018 epidemic and corresponding seasonal control periods.

Evaluation of a multiplex PCR screening approach to identify community-acquired bacterial co-infections in COVID-19: a multicenter prospective cohort study of the German competence network of community-acquired pneumonia (CAPNETZ).

Purpose: Thorough knowledge of the nature and frequency of co-infections is essential to optimize treatment strategies and risk assessment in cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed to evaluate the multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening approach for community-acquired bacterial pathogens (CABPs) at hospital admission, which could facilitate identification of bacterial co-infections in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Methods: Clinical data and biomaterials from 200 hospitalized COVID-19 patients from the observational cohort of the Competence Network for community-acquired pneumonia (CAPNETZ) prospectively recruited between March 17, 2020, and March 12, 2021 in 12 centers in Germany and Switzerland, were included in this study.

The MiR-320 Family Is Strongly Downregulated in Patients with COVID-19 Induced Severe Respiratory Failure.

A high incidence of thromboembolic events associated with high mortality has been reported in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections with respiratory failure. The present study characterized post-transcriptional gene regulation by global microRNA (miRNA) expression in relation to activated coagulation and inflammation in 21 critically ill SARS-CoV-2 patients. The cohort consisted of patients with moderate respiratory failure ( = 11) and severe respiratory failure ( = 10) at an acute stage (day 0-3) and in the later course of the disease (>7 days).

Low-Avidity CD4 T Cell Responses to SARS-CoV-2 in Unexposed Individuals and Humans with Severe COVID-19.

CD4 T cells reactive against SARS-CoV-2 can be found in unexposed individuals, and these are suggested to arise in response to common cold coronavirus (CCCoV) infection. Here, we utilized SARS-CoV-2-reactive CD4 T cell enrichment to examine the antigen avidity and clonality of these cells, as well as the relative contribution of CCCoV cross-reactivity. SARS-CoV-2-reactive CD4 memory T cells were present in virtually all unexposed individuals examined, displaying low functional avidity and multiple, highly variable cross-reactivities that were not restricted to CCCoVs.

Personality beyond taxonomy.

Human and animal behaviour exhibits complex but regular patterns over time, often referred to as expressions of personality. Yet it remains unclear what personality really is: is it just the behavioural patterns themselves, something in the brain, in the genes or perhaps all of these? Here we offer a set of causal hypotheses about the role of personality, integrating psychological and neuroscientific approaches to personality in a testable framework. These hypotheses clarify the causal and constitutive relations that personality has with genes, environment, brain, mind and behaviour, and we suggest specific experiments that can adjudicate amongst the different hypotheses.

Analysis of Humoral Immune Responses in Patients With Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection.

Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has caused a pandemic with tens of millions of cases and hundreds of thousands of deaths. The infection causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a disease of the respiratory system of divergent severity. In the current study, humoral immune responses were characterized in a cohort of 143 patients with COVID-19 from the University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Role of dietary fibre in older adults with asymptomatic (AS) or symptomatic uncomplicated diverticular disease (SUDD): Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Dietary fibre and probiotics may play a role in the management of diverticular disease. This systematic review synthesises the evidence on the effects of dietary fibre modifications, with or without the use of probiotics, on the incidence in older adults of asymptomatic (AS) or symptomatic uncomplicated diverticular disease (SUDD), as well as on gastrointestinal function and symptoms. Five electronic databases were searched for studies through to December 2018.

Approximate Causal Abstraction.

Scientific models describe natural phenomena at different levels of abstraction. Abstract descriptions can provide the basis for interventions on the system and explanation of observed phenomena at a level of granularity that is coarser than the most fundamental account of the system. Beckers and Halpern (2019), building on work of Rubenstein et al.

Anxiety, depression and quality of life in acute high risk cardiac disease patients eligible for wearable cardioverter defibrillator: Results from the prospective multicenter CRED-registry.

Background: Psychological distress is common in patients with cardiovascular disease and negatively impacts outcome.

Hypothesis: Psychological distress is high in acute high risk cardiac patients eligible for a WCD, and associated with low quality of life. Distress is aggravated by WCD.

Tuft dendrites of pyramidal neurons operate as feedback-modulated functional subunits.

Dendrites of pyramidal cells exhibit complex morphologies and contain a variety of ionic conductances, which generate non-trivial integrative properties. Basal and proximal apical dendrites have been shown to function as independent computational subunits within a two-layer feedforward processing scheme. The outputs of the subunits are linearly summed and passed through a final non-linearity.

INvestigation on Routine Follow-up in CONgestive HearT FAilure Patients with Remotely Monitored Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillators SysTems (InContact).

Background: In heart failure (HF) patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) or cardiac resynchronisation therapy defibrillators (CRT-D), remote monitoring has been shown to result in at least non-inferior outcomes relative to in-clinic visits. We aimed to provide further evidence for this effect, and to assess whether adding telephone follow-ups to remote follow-ups influenced outcomes.

Methods: InContact was a prospective, randomised, multicentre study.