CT-Defined Pectoralis Muscle Density Predicts 30-Day Mortality in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19: A Nationwide Multicenter Study.

Rationale And Objectives: The prognostic role of computed tomography (CT)-defined skeletal muscle features in COVID-19 is still under investigation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic role of CT-defined skeletal muscle area and density in patients with COVID-19 in a multicenter setting.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study is a part of the German multicenter project RACOON (Radiological Cooperative Network of the COVID-19 pandemic).

A pulsar in a binary with a compact object in the mass gap between neutron stars and black holes.

Some compact objects observed in gravitational wave events have masses in the gap between known neutron stars (NSs) and black holes (BHs). The nature of these mass gap objects is unknown, as is the formation of their host binary systems. We report pulsar timing observations made with the Karoo Array Telescope (MeerKAT) of PSR J0514-4002E, an eccentric binary millisecond pulsar in the globular cluster NGC 1851.

Prenatally Diagnosed Interventricular Septal Aneurysm with Associated Ventricular Dysfunction.

Congenital interventricular septal aneurysms (IVSA) of the muscular septum are rare and can be associated with other familial abnormalities of the ventricular septum, arrhythmias, additional congenital heart disease, and chromosomal abnormalities. IVSA is also linked to ventricular dysfunction and non-compaction, although there are limited reports of this association presenting in utero. We describe a case of fetal ventricular septal aneurysm associated with ventricular dysfunction and pericardial effusion.

Health-related quality of life in early-onset-scoliosis patients treated with growth-friendly implants is influenced by etiology, complication rate and ambulatory ability.

Background: Progressive Early-Onset Scoliosis (EOS) in children may lead to surgical interventions with growth-friendly implants, which require repeated lengthening procedures in order to allow adequate growth. Quality of life was studied using the validated German version of the EOS-Questionnaire (EOSQ-24-G) in surgically treated EOS children with different lengthening modalities.

Methods: EOSQ-24-G and the KINDL questionnaire were given to families with EOS children who had been treated by either vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib implants and repetitive lengthening surgeries every 6 months or children who had received a magnetically expansion controlled implant, which was externally lengthened every 3 months.

COMPASS for rapid combinatorial optimization of biochemical pathways based on artificial transcription factors.

Balanced expression of multiple genes is central for establishing new biosynthetic pathways or multiprotein cellular complexes. Methods for efficient combinatorial assembly of regulatory sequences (promoters) and protein coding sequences are therefore highly wanted. Here, we report a high-throughput cloning method, called COMPASS for COMbinatorial Pathway ASSembly, for the balanced expression of multiple genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.