Gene Duplication in the Sugarcane Genome: A Case Study of Allele Interactions and Evolutionary Patterns in Two Genic Regions.

Sugarcane ( spp.) is highly polyploid and aneuploid. Modern cultivars are derived from hybridization between and .

Capacity of Abbott RealTi MTB RIF/INH to detect rifampicin- and isoniazid-resistant tuberculosis.

Abbott RealTi MTB RIF/INH Resistance (RT RIF/INH) is a new assay for the detection of resistance to rifampicin (RIF) and isoniazid (INH) in tuberculosis (TB) patients. To evaluate the capacity of RT RIF/INH to detect resistance-associated mutations in target genes. A total of 311 strains that had been pre-characterised using genotypic methods (GenoType MTBDR, Sanger sequencing) and phenotypic drug susceptibility testing were subjected to DNA extraction on Abbott 2000 and analysed using RT RIF/INH.

Neoadjuvant anti-programmed Death-1 immunotherapy by Pembrolizumab in resectable nodal positive stage II/IIIa non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC): the NEOMUN trial.

Background: Immunotherapies targeting the PD1/PD-L1 pathway have had a large impact on the treatment of advanced NSCLC. Concerning multimodality tumor therapy, only few trials until today have been performed investigating neoadjuvant treatment with anti PD-1 immunotherapy prior to curative intent surgery. Aim of the NEOMUN investigator initiated trial (EudraCT-Number: 2017-000105-20; ClinicalTrials.

Implications of crop model ensemble size and composition for estimates of adaptation effects and agreement of recommendations.

Climate change is expected to severely affect cropping systems and food production in many parts of the world unless local adaptation can ameliorate these impacts. Ensembles of crop simulation models can be useful tools for assessing if proposed adaptation options are capable of achieving target yields, whilst also quantifying the share of uncertainty in the simulated crop impact resulting from the crop models themselves. Although some studies have analysed the influence of ensemble size on model outcomes, the effect of ensemble composition has not yet been properly appraised.

Inhibiting phosphatase SHIP-1 enhances suboptimal IgE-mediated activation of human blood basophils but inhibits IgE-mediated activation of cultured human mast cells.

IgE-mediated activation of basophil granulocytes and mast cells follows a bell-shaped dose-response curve. The decreased activation at supraoptimal allergen stimulation is thought to be associated with SH2-containing inositol-5'-phosphatase 1 (SHIP-1). SHIP-1 phosphorylation is inversely related to IgE-mediated releasability of basophils.

Dating glacier ice of the last millennium by quantum technology.

Radiometric dating with Ar covers a unique time span and offers key advances in interpreting environmental archives of the last millennium. Although this tracer has been acknowledged for decades, studies so far have been limited by the low abundance and radioactivity, thus requiring huge sample sizes. Atom trap trace analysis, an application of techniques from quantum physics such as laser cooling and trapping, allows us to reduce the sample volume by several orders of magnitude compared with conventional techniques.

Human Mast Cell Sensitization with IgE Increases miRNA-210 Expression.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent important post-transcriptional regulators with a dynamic expression profile during health and disease.

Objectives: We explored the miRNA profile of human mast cells (MCs) during sen-sitization with IgE, during activation through IgE, and relat ed it to prostaglandin D2 synthesis and histamine release.

Method: We investigated the expression pattern of 762 miRNAs during the IgE-mediated sensitization and activation of MCs cultured from CD133+ stem cells that were isolated from allergic asthmatic patients and nonatopic controls.

Introduction of a Pathophysiology-Based Diagnostic Decision Support System.

Many current Clinical Decision Support Systems which assist clinical diagnosis, are based on a causal condition-symptom relation. To reach more diagnostic precision Ada's Deep Reasoning is substituting this approach with the use of a model based on pathophysiology.

Re-irradiation in locally recurrent lung cancer patients.

Purpose: Lung cancer remains one of the tumour diagnoses with high lethality, although innovative treatment approaches have yielded improvements in local control and survival rates. There is still no consensus on how to treat local relapse in patients after first-line treatments. Radiotherapy may be considered in this situation; however, data supporting its effectiveness are rare.

Emergence of Low-level Delamanid and Bedaquiline Resistance During Extremely Drug-resistant Tuberculosis Treatment.

Two new drugs, delamanid and bedaquiline, have recently been approved for treatment of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis. Here, we report a case of clofazimine, bedaquiline, and low-level delamanid resistances acquired during treatment of a patient with XDR tuberculosis.

Close Cassini flybys of Saturn's ring moons Pan, Daphnis, Atlas, Pandora, and Epimetheus.

Saturn's main ring system is associated with a set of small moons that either are embedded within it or interact with the rings to alter their shape and composition. Five close flybys of the moons Pan, Daphnis, Atlas, Pandora, and Epimetheus were performed between December 2016 and April 2017 during the ring-grazing orbits of the Cassini mission. Data on the moons' morphology, structure, particle environment, and composition were returned, along with images in the ultraviolet and thermal infrared.

Adherence to the WHO surgical safety checklist: an observational study in a Swiss academic center.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist is used globally to ensure patient safety during surgery. Two years after its implementation in the University Hospital Basel's operating rooms, adherence to the protocol was evaluated.

Methods: This mixed method observational study took place in the surgical department of the University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland from April to August 2017.

Instrument for Assessing the Ability to Identify Emotional Facial Expressions in Healthy Children and in Children With ADHD: The FEEL Test.

Objective: This study presents the validation of a computerized assessment tool that studies the ability to recognize emotional facial expressions in children between 8 and 11 years of age: the Facially Expressed Emotion Labeling Test (FEEL Test).

Method: The two tests composing the protocol were applied using a laptop in the following order: the FEEL Test followed by the Deusto-e-Motion 1.0 Test.

Sparse Associative Memory.

It is still unknown how associative biological memories operate. Hopfield networks are popular models of associative memory, but they suffer from spurious memories and low efficiency. Here, we present a new model of an associative memory that overcomes these deficiencies.

A protein-interaction network of interferon-stimulated genes extends the innate immune system landscape.

Interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) form the backbone of the innate immune system and are important for limiting intra- and intercellular viral replication and spread. We conducted a mass-spectrometry-based survey to understand the fundamental organization of the innate immune system and to explore the molecular functions of individual ISGs. We identified interactions between 104 ISGs and 1,401 cellular binding partners engaging in 2,734 high-confidence interactions.

Differential CRE Expression in Lhrh-cre and GnRH-cre Alleles and the Impact on Fertility in Otx2-Flox Mice.

There is an increasing trend in studies utilizing cell-specific deletion of genes through conditional gene deletion by CRE recombination. Despite numerous advantages, this strategy also has limitations such as ectopic CRE-expression and germline recombination. Two commonly used gonadotropin-releasing hormone (Gnrh)-driven CRE-expressing mice both target GnRH neurons.

The aroma of arousal: Effects of menstrual cycle phase and women's sexual arousal state on men's responsiveness to women's body odor.

Humans can detect aspects of identity, reproductive status, and emotional state from body odor. Women have shown a distinctive neural response to male sexually-aroused (vs. resting) sweat.

IFITM3 directly engages and shuttles incoming virus particles to lysosomes.

Interferon-induced transmembrane proteins (IFITMs 1, 2 and 3) have emerged as important innate immune effectors that prevent diverse virus infections in vertebrates. However, the cellular mechanisms and live-cell imaging of these small membrane proteins have been challenging to evaluate during viral entry of mammalian cells. Using CRISPR-Cas9-mediated IFITM-mutant cell lines, we demonstrate that human IFITM1, IFITM2 and IFITM3 act cooperatively and function in a dose-dependent fashion in interferon-stimulated cells.

Expression of RET is associated with Oestrogen receptor expression but lacks prognostic significance in breast cancer.

Background: The Rearranged during Transfection (RET) protein is overexpressed in a subset of Estrogen Receptor (ER) positive breast cancer, with both signalling pathways functionally interacting. This cross-talk plays a pivotal role in the resistance of breast cancer cells to anti-endocrine therapies, and RET expression is assumed to correlate with poor prognosis based on findings in small patient cohorts. The aim of our study was to investigate the impact of RET expression on patient outcome in human breast cancer.

[Surgical Therapy for Lung Cancer: Why it Should be Performed in High Volume Centres].

Data on surgical lung cancer cases were extracted from the German Federal Statistics on Diagnosis-related groups (DRG) and a possible association between hospital volume and surgical mortality was explored. All treatment cases documented between 2005 and 2015 with the main diagnosis of lung cancer (International Classification of Disease code C34) and the German Operations and Procedure Key (OPS) codes 5-323 to 5-328 for anatomical lung resections were analysed. The treatment cases were assigned to hospital groups, defined according to the number of procedures performed per year.

Outcome of laparoscopic paraesophageal hernia repair in octogenarians: a registry-based, propensity score-matched comparison of 360 patients.

Background: Paraesophageal hernias (PEH) tend to occur in elderly patients and the assumed higher morbidity of PEH repair may dissuade clinicians from seeking a surgical solution. On the other hand, the mortality rate for emergency repairs shows a sevenfold increase compared to elective repairs. This analysis evaluates the complication rates after elective PEH repair in patients 80 years and older in comparison with younger patients.

Targeting LINC00673 expression triggers cellular senescence in lung cancer.

Aberrant expression of noncoding RNAs plays a critical role during tumorigenesis. To uncover novel functions of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in lung adenocarcinoma, we used a microarray-based screen identifying LINC00673 with elevated expression in matched tumor versus normal tissue. We report that loss of LINC00673 is sufficient to trigger cellular senescence, a tumor suppressive mechanism associated with permanent cell cycle arrest, both in lung cancer and normal cells in a p53-dependent manner.

Diode-pumped Q-switched Alexandrite laser in single longitudinal mode operation with Watt-level output power.

We present significantly improved performance data of a diode-pumped -switched Alexandrite laser in single longitudinal mode operation developed as a beam source for resonance lidar systems. The average output power of the laser-operating at the potassium resonance at 770 nm with a linewidth below 10 MHz-could be increased by a factor of five to the Watt-level by means of an optimized resonator design and pump scheme. The pulse energy is 1.