Recovery of bacillus spore contaminants from rough surfaces: a challenge to space mission cleanliness control.

Microbial contaminants on spacecraft can threaten the scientific integrity of space missions due to probable interference with life detection experiments. Therefore, space agencies measure the cultivable spore load ("bioburden") of a spacecraft. A recent study has reported an insufficient recovery of Bacillus atrophaeus spores from Vectran fabric, a typical spacecraft airbag material (A.

Development of a defined medium for heterologous expression in Leishmania tarentolae.

A defined medium is essential for studying nutritional requirements of microorganisms and for selective supplementation of necessary substances. Hemin is an essential ingredient for growth of Leishmania tarentolae, but tends to precipitate in aqueous solutions without further stabilization. These aggregates disturb the measurement of the optical density or the cell density and the following downstream processing.

Case report: primary carcinoid tumor of the testicle without metastases in combination with testicular atrophy and testosterone deficiency.

The first case of testicular carcinoid was represented as an element of a benign cystic teratoma by Simon et al. J Urol 1954; 72: 892-894. It is a rare disease accounting for less than 1% of all testicular neoplasms.

Radical cystectomy with ultrasound-guided partial prostatectomy for bladder cancer: a complication-preventing concept.

Objectives: Radical cystectomy has been the reference standard for the treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. However, this kind of therapy does have an impact on the patient's quality of life. For this reason, we performed prostate-sparing surgery during radical cystectomy without compromising the oncologic outcome.

Potential cardiovascular risk factors in chronic kidney disease: AGEs, total homocysteine and metabolites, and the C-reactive protein.

Background: Total homocysteine (tHcy) and advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are implicated in the pathogenesis of vascular damage. This study aimed to investigate whether elevated serum levels of the AGEs pentosidine, N(epsilon)-carboxymethyllysine (CML) and imidazolone; tHcy, cystathionine, methylmalonic acid (MMA), and 2-methylcitric acid (2-MCA), as well as C-reactive protein (CRP), are related to a higher risk for cardiovascular events.

Methods: A total of 232 patients with chronic kidney diseases (mean age 57.