Laser Powder Bed Fusion of Copper-Tungsten Powders Manufactured by Milling or Co-Injection Atomization Process.

The processing of pure copper (Cu) has been a challenge for laser-based additive manufacturing for many years since copper powders have a high reflectivity of up to 83% of electromagnetic radiation at a wavelength of 1070 nm. In this study, Cu particles were coated with sub-micrometer tungsten (W) particles to increase the laser beam absorptivity. The coated powders were processed by powder bed fusion-laser beam for metals (PBF-LB/M) with a conventional laser system of <300 watts laser power and a wavelength of 1070 nm.

In-situ directed energy deposition of Al based low density steel for automotive applications.

This work deals with the fabrication of one low density steel by mixing AISI S2 tool steel and AlSi10Mg powders using powder-based directed energy deposition (P-DED) technique. Two approaches of mixing powders were compared-continuous mixing during the process (in-situ) and mixing the powder prior to the process (premixed). The P-DED sample was characterised by a variety of techniques such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, X-ray diffraction, and hardness measurement.

Changes in ventilation distribution during general anesthesia measured with EIT in mechanically ventilated small children.

Background: Atelectasis during general anesthesia is a risk for perioperative complications. EIT measurements were performed in mechanically ventilated healthy children during elective surgery to demonstrate the changes in ventilation distribution during general anesthesia. The ventilation distribution was quantified by calculating the Global Inhomogeneity index (GI).

High neutralizing antibody mismatch as a possible reason for vaccine failure in two children with severe tick-borne encephalitis.

We describe two adolescents (13 and 16 years old) with severe tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and vaccination breakthrough (VBT). Both suffer from severe persistent neurologic sequelae. Both patients had high TBE-IgG-titers after vaccination at the beginning of the infection and a low or missing TBE-IgM response (Type 2 vaccine failure).

Evaluating current practice and knowledge about antibiotic stewardship principles in paediatric tertiary hospitals to identify target areas for future teaching activities.

Purpose: Antibiotic exposure among hospitalized children is very high. With inappropriate antimicrobial use resulting in increased rates of antimicrobial resistance, the implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs is critically needed. This survey study aimed to identify current practice and knowledge about antibiotic stewardship and infection control among paediatricians in tertiary care paediatric hospitals in and around Munich, Germany.

Impact of the First COVID Lockdown on Accident- and Injury-Related Pediatric Intensive Care Admissions in Germany-A Multicenter Study.

Children's and adolescents' lives drastically changed during COVID lockdowns worldwide. To compare accident- and injury-related admissions to pediatric intensive care units (PICU) during the first German COVID lockdown with previous years, we conducted a retrospective multicenter study among 37 PICUs (21.5% of German PICU capacities).

Clinical and Epidemiological Features of a Family Cluster of Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection.

In a family experiencing coronavirus disease 2019, the parents and 2 children aged 2 and 5 years became infected but the youngest child was not infected. Both children initially shed infectious virus, but cleared the virus after 5 to 6 days in the nasopharynx. However, viral RNA was continuously detected in the children's stool for more than 4 weeks.

Mechanical Ventilation Guided by Electrical Impedance Tomography in Children With Acute Lung Injury.

Objectives: To provide proof-of-concept for a protocol applying a strategy of personalized mechanical ventilation in children with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Positive end-expiratory pressure and inspiratory pressure settings were optimized using real-time electrical impedance tomography aiming to maximize lung recruitment while minimizing lung overdistension.

Design: Prospective interventional trial.

Recommendations for mechanical ventilation of critically ill children from the Paediatric Mechanical Ventilation Consensus Conference (PEMVECC).

Purpose: Much of the common practice in paediatric mechanical ventilation is based on personal experiences and what paediatric critical care practitioners have adopted from adult and neonatal experience. This presents a barrier to planning and interpretation of clinical trials on the use of specific and targeted interventions. We aim to establish a European consensus guideline on mechanical ventilation of critically children.

EIT Imaging Regularization Based on Spectral Graph Wavelets.

The objective of electrical impedance tomographic reconstruction is to identify the distribution of tissue conductivity from electrical boundary conditions. This is an ill-posed inverse problem usually solved under the finite-element method framework. In previous studies, standard sparse regularization was used for difference electrical impedance tomography to achieve a sparse solution.

Chest electrical impedance tomography examination, data analysis, terminology, clinical use and recommendations: consensus statement of the TRanslational EIT developmeNt stuDy group.

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) has undergone 30 years of development. Functional chest examinations with this technology are considered clinically relevant, especially for monitoring regional lung ventilation in mechanically ventilated patients and for regional pulmonary function testing in patients with chronic lung diseases. As EIT becomes an established medical technology, it requires consensus examination, nomenclature, data analysis and interpretation schemes.

Steroid-responsive encephalopathy associated with autoimmune thyroiditis (SREAT): case report of reversible coma and status epilepticus in an adolescent patient and review of the literature.

Unlabelled: Steroid-responsive encephalopathy associated with autoimmune thyroiditis (SREAT), also termed Hashimoto's encephalopathy (HE), is a rare immune-mediated disorder and is also affecting children and adolescents. It is characterized by altered mental status, seizures, and cognitive dysfunction. Therapeutic options include steroid treatment and prognosis range from complete recovery, a relapsing course to long-term cognitive sequelae.

Mechanical ventilation guided by electrical impedance tomography in experimental acute lung injury.

Objective: To utilize real-time electrical impedance tomography to guide lung protective ventilation in an animal model of acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Design: Prospective animal study.

Setting: Animal research center.

Interaction of dependent and non-dependent regions of the acutely injured lung during a stepwise recruitment manoeuvre.

The benefit of treating acute lung injury with recruitment manoeuvres is controversial. An impediment to settling this debate is the difficulty in visualizing how distinct lung regions respond to the manoeuvre. Here, regional lung mechanics were studied by electrical impedance tomography (EIT) during a stepwise recruitment manoeuvre in a porcine model with acute lung injury.

Comparison of 2 lung recruitment strategies in children with acute lung injury.

Background: Lung recruitment maneuvers are frequently used in the treatment of children with lung injury. Here we describe a pilot study to compare the acute effects of 2 commonly used lung recruitment maneuvers on lung volume, gas exchange, and hemodynamic profiles in children with acute lung injury.

Methods: In a prospective, non-randomized, crossover pilot study, 10 intubated pediatric subjects with lung injury sequentially underwent: a period of observation; a sustained inflation (SI) maneuver of 40 cm H2O for 40 seconds and open-lung ventilation; a staircase recruitment strategy (SRS) (which utilized 5 cm H2O increments in airway pressure, from a starting plateau pressure of 30 cm H2O and PEEP of 15 cm H2O); a downwards PEEP titration; and a 1 hour period of observation with PEEP set 2 cm H2O above closing PEEP.

Impact of model shape mismatch on reconstruction quality in electrical impedance tomography.

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a low-cost, noninvasive and radiation free medical imaging modality for monitoring ventilation distribution in the lung. Although such information could be invaluable in preventing ventilator-induced lung injury in mechanically ventilated patients, clinical application of EIT is hindered by difficulties in interpreting the resulting images. One source of this difficulty is the frequent use of simple shapes which do not correspond to the anatomy to reconstruct EIT images.

Reversal of dependent lung collapse predicts response to lung recruitment in children with early acute lung injury.

Objective: To describe the resolution of regional atelectasis and the development of regional lung overdistension during a lung-recruitment protocol in children with acute lung injury.

Design: Prospective interventional trial.

Setting: Pediatric intensive care unit.

Whither lung EIT: where are we, where do we want to go and what do we need to get there?

Breathing moves volumes of electrically insulating air into and out of the lungs, producing conductivity changes which can be seen by electrical impedance tomography (EIT). It has thus been apparent, since the early days of EIT research, that imaging of ventilation could become a key clinical application of EIT. In this paper, we review the current state and future prospects for lung EIT, by a synthesis of the presentations of the authors at the 'special lung sessions' of the annual biomedical EIT conferences in 2009-2011.

A unified approach for EIT imaging of regional overdistension and atelectasis in acute lung injury.

Patients with acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) are vulnerable to ventilator-induced lung injury. Although this syndrome affects the lung heterogeneously, mechanical ventilation is not guided by regional indicators of potential lung injury. We used electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to estimate the extent of regional lung overdistension and atelectasis during mechanical ventilation.

Structural characterization of polyglutamine fibrils by solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

Protein aggregation via polyglutamine stretches occurs in a number of severe neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease. We have investigated fibrillar aggregates of polyglutamine peptides below, at, and above the toxicity limit of around 37 glutamine residues using solid-state NMR and electron microscopy. Experimental data are consistent with a dry fibril core of at least 70-80 Å in width for all constructs.