Unrecognized diversity and distribution of soil algae from Maritime Antarctica (Fildes Peninsula, King George Island).

Introduction: Eukaryotic algae in the top few centimeters of fellfield soils of ice-free Maritime Antarctica have many important effects on their habitat, such as being significant drivers of organic matter input into the soils and reducing the impact of wind erosion by soil aggregate formation. To better understand the diversity and distribution of Antarctic terrestrial algae, we performed a pilot study on the surface soils of , an ice-free plateau mountain crest of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, being hardly influenced by the marine realm and anthropogenic disturbances. It is openly exposed to microbial colonization from outside Antarctica and connected to the much harsher and dryer ice-free zones of the continental Antarctic.

App-SpaM: phylogenetic placement of short reads without sequence alignment.

Motivation: Phylogenetic placement is the task of placing a query sequence of unknown taxonomic origin into a given phylogenetic tree of a set of reference sequences. A major field of application of such methods is, for example, the taxonomic identification of reads in metabarcoding or metagenomic studies. Several approaches to phylogenetic placement have been proposed in recent years.

Elastic Stable Chest Repair as a Means of Stabilizing the Anterior Chest Wall in Recurrent Pectus Excavatum with Sternocostal Pseudarthrosis: An Innovative Fixation Device.

Introduction: Open surgical procedures in the treatment of pectus excavatum (PE) involve predetermined incisions in the parasternal cartilage and the bony ribs. For some procedures, the ribs are even dissected from the sternum for better sternal mobilization and thus better elevation of the funnel. Secure restoration of the sternocostal junction is then required, with the consequence that healing may be quite impaired.

Surgical fixation of sternal fractures: locked plate fixation by low-profile titanium plates--surgical safety through depth limited drilling.

Purpose: Operative treatment of sternal fractures has become a matter of increasing interest. Anterior plating seems to be the most appropriate method for fixing sternal fractures. However, there are several concerns in relation to the operative procedure such as severe injuries to mediastinal organs, patient comfort and proper stabilisation, for example.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the knee at 3 and 7 tesla: a comparison using dedicated multi-channel coils and optimised 2D and 3D protocols.

Objectives: To show the feasibility and possible superiority of two 7 Tesla knee protocols ("7 T high resolution" and "7 T quick") using a new 28-channel knee coil compared to an optimised 3 T knee protocol using an 8-channel knee coil.

Methods: The study was approved by the ethics committee. Both 3 T and 7 T MRI of the knee were performed in 10 healthy volunteers (29.

Evaluation of cartilage repair tissue after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation using a hyaluronic-based or a collagen-based scaffold with morphological MOCART scoring and biochemical T2 mapping: preliminary results.

Background: In cartilage repair, bioregenerative approaches using tissue engineering techniques have tried to achieve a close resemblance to hyaline cartilage, which might be visualized using advanced magnetic resonance imaging.

Purpose: To compare cartilage repair tissue at the femoral condyle noninvasively after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation using Hyalograft C, a hyaluronic-based scaffold, to cartilage repair tissue after transplantation using CaReS, a collagen-based scaffold, with magnetic resonance imaging using morphologic scoring and T2 mapping.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

T2 and T2* mapping in patients after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation: initial results on clinical use with 3.0-Tesla MRI.

Objectives: To use T2 and T2* mapping in patients after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation (MACT) of the knee, and to compare and correlate both methodologies.

Methods: 3.0-Tesla MRI was performed on 30 patients (34.