Efficiency and process development for microbial biomass production using oxic bioelectrosynthesis.

Autotrophic microbial electrosynthesis (MES) processes are mainly based on organisms that rely on carbon dioxide (CO) as an electron acceptor and typically have low biomass yields. However, there are few data on the process and efficiencies of oxic MES (OMES). In this study, we used the knallgas bacterium Kyrpidia spormannii to investigate biomass formation and energy efficiency of cathode-dependent growth.

Generation and characterization of two iPSC lines derived from subjects with Free Sialic Acid Storage Disorder (FSASD).

Free sialic acid storage disorder (FSASD) is a rare, autosomal recessive, neurodegenerative disorder caused by biallelic mutations in SLC17A5, encoding the lysosomal transmembrane sialic acid exporter, SLC17A5. Defects in SLC17A5 lead to lysosomal accumulation of free sialic acid and other acid hexoses. The clinical spectrum of FSASD ranges from mild (Salla disease) to severe infantile forms.

Towards comparable quality-assured Azure Kinect body tracking results in a study setting-Influence of light.

Quality assurance in research helps to ensure reliability and comparable results within a study. This includes reliable measurement equipment and data-processing. The Azure Kinect DK is a popular sensor used in studies with human subjects that tracks numerous joint positions with the Azure Kinect Body Tracking SDK.

Reduced adaptability to balance perturbations in older adults with probable cognitive impairment after a severe fall.

Falls in older individuals often result from unexpected balance disturbances during walking, necessitating the analysis of recovery strategies for effective falls prevention. This becomes particularly crucial for individuals with cognitive impairment, who face a higher fall risk compared to cognitively healthy adults. Hence, our study aimed to compare the recovery response to standardized walking perturbations on a treadmill between older adults with cognitive impairment and cognitively healthy older adults.

An In Vitro Evaluation of the Antimicrobial Efficacy of a Novel Irrigant Using Next-Generation Sequencing.

Introduction: To evaluate the antimicrobial activity of Triton irrigation versus 4% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) utilizing a direct contact test and an extracted tooth model.

Methods: In the first experiment, a direct contact test was conducted to compare bacterial DNA removal and microbial diversity changes following irrigation with 4% NaOCl or Triton. Hydroxyapatite and dentin discs were inoculated with subgingival human-derived dental plaque for 2 weeks utilizing the Center for Disease Control biofilm reactor and subsequently challenged with the root canal irrigants for 5 minutes.

Depth-Imaging for Gait Analysis on a Treadmill in Older Adults at Risk of Falling.

Background: Accidental falls are a major health issue in older people. One significant and potentially modifiable risk factor is reduced gait stability. Clinicians do not have sophisticated kinematic options to measure this risk factor with simple and affordable systems.

Physical performance and compensation strategies of older adults to maintain physical fitness and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.

Introduction: During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, worldwide restrictions in social life, including the closure of sport facilities, led to a reduction of physical activity and subjective well-being. The aim of this study is to describe physical training habits, and subjective well-being in relation to objective training data from a chip-controlled fitness circuit in the rural area of Oldenburg, Germany.

Materials And Methods: Overall, 35 older adults (20 women 71 ± 6 y/o and 15 men, 72 ± 7 y/o), regularly exercising in a chip-controlled fitness circuit before the lockdown in March 2020, were interviewed.

The impact of pandemic-related social distancing regulations on exercise performance-Objective data and training recommendations to mitigate losses in physical fitness.

Introduction: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, governmental restrictions led to the closure of sports facilities for several months. To date, only subjective and fitness-tracking related data on physical activity during the pandemic are available. Using data of a chip-controlled fitness circuit, training data as a measure of physical performance before and after the lockdown during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic will show the impact of the training interruption on exercise performance in middle-aged and older adults.

How the Processing Mode Influences Azure Kinect Body Tracking Results.

The Azure Kinect DK is an RGB-D-camera popular in research and studies with humans. For good scientific practice, it is relevant that Azure Kinect yields consistent and reproducible results. We noticed the yielded results were inconsistent.

Sentinel fall presenting to the emergency department (SeFallED) - protocol of a complex study including long-term observation of functional trajectories after a fall, exploration of specific fall risk factors, and patients' views on falls prevention.

Background: Falls are a leading cause for emergency department (ED) visits in older adults. As a fall is associated with a high risk of functional decline and further falls and many falls do not receive medical attention, the ED is ideal to initiate secondary prevention, an opportunity generally not taken. Data on trajectories to identify patients, who would profit the most form early intervention and to examine the impact of a fall event, are lacking.

Ectopic Calcification and Hypophosphatemic Rickets: Natural History of ENPP1 and ABCC6 Deficiencies.

Generalized arterial calcification of infancy (GACI) is a rare disorder caused by ENPP1 or ABCC6 variants. GACI is characterized by low pyrophosphate, arterial calcification, and high mortality during the first year of life, but the natural course and possible differences between the causative genes remain unknown. In all, 247 individual records for patients with GACI (from birth to 58.

Biological biogas upgrading in a membrane biofilm reactor with and without organic carbon source.

Biogas upgrading is a necessary step to minimize the CO of raw biogas and to make it suitable for gas liquefaction or introduction into the national gas grid. Biomethanation is a promising approach since it converts the CO to more methane on site, while taking advantage of the organisms responsible for biogas production in the first place. This study investigates the suitability of a pseudo-dead-end membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) for ex-situ biogas upgrading using biogas as sole carbon source as well as for additional acetoclastic methanation when an organic carbon source is provided.

Free sialic acid storage disorder: Progress and promise.

Lysosomal free sialic acid storage disorder (FSASD) is an extremely rare, autosomal recessive, neurodegenerative, multisystemic disorder caused by defects in the lysosomal sialic acid membrane exporter SLC17A5 (sialin). SLC17A5 defects cause free sialic acid and some other acidic hexoses to accumulate in lysosomes, resulting in enlarged lysosomes in some cell types and 10-100-fold increased urinary excretion of free sialic acid. Clinical features of FSASD include coarse facial features, organomegaly, and progressive neurodegenerative symptoms with cognitive impairment, cerebellar ataxia and muscular hypotonia.

Improving the Cathodic Biofilm Growth Capabilities of EA-1 by Undirected Mutagenesis.

The biotechnological usage of carbon dioxide has become a relevant aim for future processes. Microbial electrosynthesis is a rather new technique to energize biological CO fixation with the advantage to establish a continuous process based on a cathodic biofilm that is supplied with renewable electrical energy as electron and energy source. In this study, the recently characterized cathodic biofilm forming microorganism strain EA-1 was used in an adaptive laboratory evolution experiment to enhance its cathodic biofilm growth capabilities.

A membrane biofilm reactor for hydrogenotrophic methanation.

Biomethanation of CO has been proven to be a feasible way to produce methane with the employment of H as electron source. Subject of the present study is a custom-made membrane biofilm reactor for hydrogenotrophic methanation by archaeal biofilms cultivated on membrane surfaces. Reactor layout was adapted to allow for in situ biofilm analysis via optical coherence tomography.

Prospective phenotyping of long-term survivors of generalized arterial calcification of infancy (GACI).

Purpose: Generalized arterial calcification of infancy (GACI), characterized by vascular calcifications that are often fatal shortly after birth, is usually caused by deficiency of ENPP1. A small fraction of GACI cases result from deficiency of ABCC6, a membrane transporter. The natural history of GACI survivors has not been established in a prospective fashion.

From an extremophilic community to an electroautotrophic production strain: identifying a novel Knallgas bacterium as cathodic biofilm biocatalyst.

Coupling microbial electrosynthesis to renewable energy sources can provide a promising future technology for carbon dioxide conversion. However, this technology suffers from a limited number of suitable biocatalysts, resulting in a narrow product range. Here, we present the characterization of the first thermoacidophilic electroautotrophic community using chronoamperometric, metagenomic, and C-labeling analyses.

Lysosomal Storage and Albinism Due to Effects of a De Novo CLCN7 Variant on Lysosomal Acidification.

Optimal lysosome function requires maintenance of an acidic pH maintained by proton pumps in combination with a counterion transporter such as the Cl/H exchanger, CLCN7 (ClC-7), encoded by CLCN7. The role of ClC-7 in maintaining lysosomal pH has been controversial. In this paper, we performed clinical and genetic evaluations of two children of different ethnicities.

Utility of nociceptive flexion reflex threshold and bispectral index to predict movement responses under propofol anaesthesia.

Introduction: The nociceptive flexion reflex threshold (NFRT) is a promising tool to monitor analgesia during general anaesthesia. Clinical studies have shown that the NFRT allows to predict movement responses to painful stimuli under a combined anaesthetic regime of sedative and opioid agents. Experimental studies indicated that the NFRT is also able to predict such movement responses under an exclusively sedative regime like propofol mono-anaesthesia.

Natural disasters: an assessment of family resiliency following Hurricane Katrina.

This study explored the role of family characteristics in the coping process of a family after having experienced Hurricane Katrina to gain an understanding of the relationship between family resiliency, hope, family hardiness, and spirituality for survivors of this natural disaster. It was hypothesized that families who demonstrate higher levels of hope, family hardiness, and spirituality would be more likely to effectively cope after the storm. Further, great resource loss was hypothesized to diminish a family's ability to cope.

Monitoring of the responsiveness to noxious stimuli during anaesthesia with propofol and remifentanil by using RIII reflex threshold and bispectral index.

Background: Movement responses are an important indicator of noxious perception in the unconscious state. To allow for a continual monitoring of the responsiveness to noxious stimuli during general anaesthesia, surrogate parameters are needed. Here we compare the performance of the bispectral index (BIS) and the RIII threshold in predicting reactions to noxious stimuli during anaesthesia with propofol and remifentanil.

Effects of sevoflurane and propofol on the nociceptive withdrawal reflex and on the H reflex.

Background: The predominant target of anesthetics to suppress movement responses to noxious stimuli is located in the spinal cord. Although volatile anesthetics appear to produce immobility by actions on the ventral rather than the dorsal horn, the site of action of propofol remains unclear.

Methods: In a crossover design, the authors compared in 13 volunteers the effects of sevoflurane and propofol on the amplitudes of the H reflex, which is mediated exclusively in the ventral horn and a withdrawal reflex (RIII Reflex), which integrates dorsal and ventral horn function.

Introduction of a continual RIII reflex threshold tracking algorithm.

Introduction: The RIII reflex is used in fundamental and clinical pain research. Here we introduce a continual reflex threshold tracking algorithm to facilitate investigations of the time courses of influences on the threshold.

Methods: First we investigated the probability of reflex occurrence at the threshold estimated by the continual algorithm and the changes of the threshold over the time during continual recordings of 100 min duration in 10 subjects.

Comparison of the nociceptive flexion reflex threshold and the bispectral index as monitors of movement responses to noxious stimuli under propofol mono-anaesthesia.

Background: Prediction of movement responses to noxious stimuli during anaesthesia is of clinical importance. Susceptibility of a parameter of immobility to both hypnotic and analgesic influences could pose an advantage. Here, nociceptive reflexes might be useful, but data regarding the suppression by hypnotic substances are scarce.

Comparison of observer variation in conventional and three digital radiographic methods used in the evaluation of patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Study Design: This study is a reliability analysis of coronal Cobb angle measurements in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis obtained by multiple observers.

Objective: We sought to quantify and compare the interobserver reliability of conventional radiographs and 3 methods of digital radiography.

Summary Of Background Data: The use of digital radiography for the evaluation of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is being widely adopted.