Background Light Suppression for Multispectral Imaging in Surgical Settings.

Multispectral imaging (MSI) enables non-invasive tissue differentiation based on spectral characteristics and has shown great potential as a tool for surgical guidance. However, adapting MSI to open surgeries is challenging. Systems that rely on light sources present in the operating room experience limitations due to frequent lighting changes, which distort the spectral data and require countermeasures such as disruptive recalibrations.

Tungsten and Copper (II) Oxide Mixtures as Gasless Time Delay Compositions for Mining Detonators.

The widespread use of pyrotechnic compositions in time delay detonators is the reason for research aimed at expanding knowledge of the combustion properties of new pyrotechnic mixtures, whose components react with each other in the solid or liquid state. Such a method of combustion would make the rate of combustion independent of the pressure inside the detonator. This paper presents the effect of the parameters of W/CuO mixtures on their properties of combustion.

Public attitudes towards sexual behavior-Results of the German Health and Sexuality Survey (GeSiD).

Population-level data on predictors for attitudes towards sexual behavior are missing for Germany. The current study investigated sexual attitudes in the German population with regard to sociodemographic and sociocultural factors. Data originated from the German Health and Sexuality Survey (GeSiD; N = 4,955) carried out from October 2018 to September 2019.

Some Aspects of the Burning Process of Antimony and Potassium Manganate(VII) Compositions.

Antimony and potassium manganate(VII) compositions are widely used in time delay elements of detonators. Despite the existing literature on such systems, there is no complete information on the burning process of Sb/KMnO compositions in closed systems. There are also no data on the heat of their combustion in conditions of increased pressure without the access of oxygen from the air and on the composition of solid combustion products.

Improving hospital hygiene to reduce the impact of multidrug-resistant organisms in health care--a prospective controlled multicenter study.

Background: Nosocomial infections are the most common complication during inpatient hospital care. An increasing proportion of these infections are caused by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). This report describes an intervention study which was designed to address the practical problems encountered in trying to avoid and treat infections caused by MDROs.

Solving CASMI 2013 with MetFrag, MetFusion and MOLGEN-MS/MS.

The second Critical Assessment of Small Molecule Identification (CASMI) contest took place in 2013. A joint team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) and Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB) participated in CASMI 2013 with an automatic workflow-style entry. MOLGEN-MS/MS was used for Category 1, molecular formula calculation, restricted by the information given for each challenge.

Metabolite profiling and beyond: approaches for the rapid processing and annotation of human blood serum mass spectrometry data.

In this paper, we describe data processing and metabolite identification approaches which lead to a rapid and semi-automated interpretation of metabolomics experiments. Data from metabolite fingerprinting using LC-ESI-Q-TOF/MS were processed with several open-source software packages, including XCMS and CAMERA to detect features and group features into compound spectra. Next, we describe the automatic scheduling of tandem mass spectrometry (MS) acquisitions to acquire a large number of MS/MS spectra, and the subsequent processing and computer-assisted annotation towards identification using the R packages MetShot, Rdisop, and the MetFusion application.

MetFusion: integration of compound identification strategies.

Mass spectrometry (MS) is an important analytical technique for the detection and identification of small compounds. The main bottleneck in the interpretation of metabolite profiling or screening experiments is the identification of unknown compounds from tandem mass spectra. Spectral libraries for tandem MS, such as MassBank or NIST, contain reference spectra for many compounds, but their limited chemical coverage reduces the chance for a correct and reliable identification of unknown spectra outside the database domain.

Tackling CASMI 2012: Solutions from MetFrag and MetFusion.

The task in the critical assessment of small molecule identification (CASMI) contest category 2 was to determine the identification of (initially) unknown compounds for which high-resolution tandem mass spectra were published. We focused on computer-assisted methods that tried to correctly identify the compound automatically and entered the contest with MetFrag and MetFusion to score candidate structures retrieved from the PubChem structure database. MetFrag was combined with the metabolite-likeness score, which helped to improve the performance for the natural product challenges.

'Who is going to explain it to me so that I understand?' Health care needs and experiences of older patients with advanced heart failure.

Heart failure is a leading cause of death and can result in significant palliative care needs. The aim of this study was to explore the needs of older patients with advanced heart failure, and their experiences with health care delivery in Germany. Qualitative interviews were carried out with 12 patients (6 men, 6 women; age 73-94 years; heart failure in an advanced stage according to the New York Heart Association Functional Classification) recruited in two geriatric hospitals.

Epidemiology of multi-resistant organisms - challenges to a regional data management system.

The health care region Baltic Coast is within the framework of the joint project HICARE (Health, Innovative Care & Regional Economy) to be developed from January 2011 to December 2014 into a model region to combat the spread of multi-resistant organisms (MRO). The concept of the project area "IT & Epidemiology" will be introduced here. An IT system is to be developed and implemented consisting of two interconnected elements, a central data management and a web-based support system for information and decision.

The opportunities for and obstacles against prevention: the example of Germany in the areas of tobacco and alcohol.

Background: Recent years have seen a growing research and policy interest in prevention in many developed countries. However, the actual efforts and resources devoted to prevention appear to have lagged well behind the lip service paid to the topic.

Discussion: We review the evidence on the considerable existing scope for health gains from prevention as well as for greater prevention policy efforts in Germany.

Patterns of alcohol consumption and acute myocardial infarction: a case-crossover analysis.

Background: Alcohol consumption has been causally related to the incidence of coronary heart disease, but the role of alcohol before the event has not been explored in depth. This study tested the hypothesis that heavy drinking (binge drinking) increases the risk of subsequent acute myocardial infarctions (AMI), whereas light to moderate drinking occasions decrease the risk.

Methods: Case-crossover design of 250 incident AMI cases in Switzerland, with main hypotheses tested by conditional logistic regression.

Detection and treatment of HIV and hepatitis virus infections in Swiss correctional facilities.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to obtain an overview on diagnostic and therapeutic activities concerning hepatitis A, B, C virus and HIV in Swiss prisons.

Methods: A standardized questionnaire was sent to 91 prisons in the German and Italian speaking parts in October 2004; 41 institutions (45%) answered the questionnaire.

Results: In almost all prisons serological examinations were not done routinely, but were provided when demanded by inmates or recommended by the medical service.

Prevalence of hepatitis and HIV infections and vaccination rates in patients entering the heroin-assisted treatment in Switzerland between 1994 and 2002.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains very prevalent in injection drug users (IDUs). In spite of recommended vaccinations against hepatitis A virus (HAV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV), many IDUs remain susceptible to HAV and HBV.

Study Population And Methods: Patients entering heroin-assisted treatment between 2000 and 2002 (N = 210) were compared for infectious disease status with patients entering this treatment in 1998 (N = 243) and between 1994 and 1996 (N = 1035).

Constitutively active germline mutation of the thyrotropin receptor gene as a cause of congenital hyperthyroidism.

Congenital hyperthyroidism is a rare, transient disease usually caused by transmission of thyrotropin receptor autoantibodies from the mother with Graves' disease to her child. We report a German women and her two sons who had congenital, but persistent hyperthyroidism without any signs of autoimmunity. Direct sequencing of the polymerase chain reaction-amplified exon 10 of the thyrotropin receptor genomic DNA revealed in the mother and both sons a transition of GCC to GTC, resulting in an exchange of alanine 623 to valine.

Mutations of the TSH receptor as cause of congenital hyperthyroidism.

4 patients of two families with congenital persistent hyperthyroidism without detectable autoantibodies are reported. The members of the first family affected by hyperthyroidism, i.e.

Severe low-titer cold-hemagglutinin disease responsive to steroid pulse therapy.

We report the case of a 12-year-old boy suffering from severe low-titer cold-hemagglutinin disease with excruciating colicky abdominal pain, jaundice, and acute hemolytic anemia requiring transfusion. Cold hemagglutinins of the IgM type and a positive direct antiglobulin test, predominantly against C3d, were found. Steroid pulse therapy with 20 mg/kg body wt.

Estimation of noradrenaline concentrations in the axoplasm of noradrenergic neurones in man.

The plasma concentrations of noradrenaline (NA) and its primary neuronal metabolite, dihydroxyphenylglycol (DOPEG), were examined during graded orthostasis and NA infusion in 13 healthy subjects to estimate the NA concentration difference between the site of neuronal DOPEG formation and that in plasma. Stimulation of NA release by graded orthostasis resulted in similar absolute increments in plasma NA and DOPEG with both plasma concentrations being dependent on the degree of orthostasis. The mean value of the delta DOPEG/delta NA ratio amounted to 0.

Plasma norepinephrine and dihydroxyphenylglycol in essential hypertension.

The aim of the present study was to examine whether essential hypertension is associated with altered plasma concentrations of dihydroxyphenylglycol, the principal presynaptic metabolite of norepinephrine. Forearm venous plasma dihydroxyphenylglycol and norepinephrine were determined at rest and during graded orthostasis in 47 normotensive control subjects and 58 outpatients with essential hypertension. There was no group difference in age.

The synaptic noradrenaline concentration in humans as estimated from simultaneous measurements of plasma noradrenaline and dihydroxyphenylglycol (DOPEG).

A linear relationship between plasma DOPEG (ordinate) and plasma noradrenaline (NA; abscissa) was found during orthostasis as well as during NA infusion. The slope of the former (slopeR) was 13 times steeper than that of the latter (slopeI). This difference in slopes suggests that the NA concentration in the synaptic cleft is markedly higher than in plasma.

The importance of plasma 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol (DOPEG) in analyses of the sympathetic nervous system in vivo.

In the anaesthetized rabbit, plasma DOPEG was used as a tool to estimate both, the total-body rate of neuronal re-uptake of noradrenaline (NA) and the factor F by which the NA concentration in the synaptic cleft exceeds that in plasma. The NA re-uptake rate was 3.5 times higher than the rate of NA net release into plasma and amounted to 863 pmol kg-1 min-1.