Symptoms associated with a COVID-19 infection among a non-hospitalized cohort in Vienna.

Background: Most clinical studies report the symptoms experienced by those infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) via patients already hospitalized. Here we analyzed the symptoms experienced outside of a hospital setting.

Methods: The Vienna Social Fund (FSW; Vienna, Austria), the Public Health Services of the City of Vienna (MA15) and the private company Symptoma collaborated to implement Vienna's official online COVID-19 symptom checker.

Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Response 4 Weeks After Homologous vs Heterologous Third Vaccine Dose in Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Fewer than 50% of kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) develop antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein after 2 doses of an mRNA vaccine. Preliminary data suggest that a heterologous vaccination, combining mRNA and viral vector vaccines, may increase immunogenicity.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a third dose of an mRNA vs a vector vaccine in KTRs who did not have antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein after 2 doses of an mRNA vaccine.

Low SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in the Austrian capital after an early governmental lockdown.

We analyzed SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in a large, well-described representative Viennese cohort after an early governmental lockdown with respect to the occurrence of symptoms and household transmission. Participants of the LEAD Study, a population-based cohort study from Vienna, Austria, were invited along with their household members (April 20th to May20th 2020). Sera were analyzed using anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay including a neutralization test as a confirmatory assay.

Defying the Rally During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Regression Discontinuity Approach.

Objective: Do people set aside their partisan differences and rally around elected officials during a pandemic? President Trump's delegation of responsibility to the states during the COVID-19 pandemic placed governors on the frontlines of the battle; some have shined and garnered positive national attention, others have wilted under the pressure of the national spotlight.

Methods: We use regression discontinuity design and exploit a discontinuity in the state's political events to assess the support of a governor's response to the pandemic.

Results: Using survey data from Florida's registered voters, we find that Governor DeSantis's approval dropped by 7 percentage points following his "Safer at Home" order press conference on April 1.

Fast Electron and Slow Hole Relaxation in InP-Based Colloidal Quantum Dots.

Colloidal InP-based quantum dots are a promising material for light-emitting applications as an environment friendly alternative to their Cd-containing counterparts. Especially for their use in optoelectronic devices, it is essential to understand how charge carriers relax to the emitting state after injection with excess energy and if all of them arrive at this desired state. Herein, we report time-resolved differential transmission measurements on colloidal InP/ZnS and InP/ZnSe core/shell quantum dots.

Telemedically augmented palliative care : Empowerment for patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers.

Background: Studies have shown that initiating early palliative care of patients with end-stage cancer can improve their quality of life and decrease symptoms of depression. The challenge is to find an effective way to care for these patients while minimizing the burden on healthcare resources. Telemedicine can play a vital role in solving this problem.

A Case Report of Multiple Myeloma Associated With Myeloperoxidase and Proteinase-3 Antibodies Posing a Diagnostic Dilemma.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal proliferation of antibody-producing plasma cells that can precipitate renal injury through multiple mechanisms. Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) is an inflammatory condition that can result in renal failure through mononuclear cell infiltration and consequent destruction of glomeruli. Several case reports have identified clinical situations where differentiating these entities has been challenging.

The value of manure - Manure as co-product in life cycle assessment.

Livestock production is important for food security, nutrition, and landscape maintenance, but it is associated with several environmental impacts. To assess the risk and benefits arising from livestock production, transparent and robust indicators are required, such as those offered by life cycle assessment. A central question in such approaches is how environmental burden is allocated to livestock products and to manure that is re-used for agricultural production.

ANCA-Associated Vasculitis Co-Occurrence With Systemic Sclerosis: A Case Report of a Rare Diagnostic Dilemma.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare autoimmune disorder that is typically divided into limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis and diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis. Scleroderma renal crisis (SRC) is a severe complication of SSc and typically presents with new-onset hypertension and a reduction in renal functioning. In patients presenting with typical features of SRC, treatment with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor along with dialysis as needed is typically initiated empirically.

Executable medical guidelines with Arden Syntax-Applications in dermatology and obstetrics.

Introduction: Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) are being developed to assist physicians in processing extensive data and new knowledge based on recent scientific advances. Structured medical knowledge in the form of clinical alerts or reminder rules, decision trees or tables, clinical protocols or practice guidelines, score algorithms, and others, constitute the core of CDSSs. Several medical knowledge representation and guideline languages have been developed for the formal computerized definition of such knowledge.

Firearm Violence and Effects on Concealed Gun Carrying: Large Debate and Small Effects.

Research has yet to identify a predictive relationship between crime and the issuance of aggregated concealed gun permits. The present study examines if a macro-level relationship exists between both concealed carry firearm applications and permits and violent crime committed with a firearm. Florida county-level data for concealed carry applications and violent crime are combined with police employment, socioeconomic, political, and firearm subculture variables across two temporal periods using both county and year fixed effects models.

Towards quantification of the crucial impact of auger recombination for the efficiency droop in (AlInGa)N quantum well structures.

Recent experimental investigations on the reduction of internal quantum efficiency with increasing current density in (AlInGa)N quantum well structures show that Auger recombination is a significant contributor to the so-called "droop" phenomenon. Using photoluminescence (PL) test structures, we find Auger processes are responsible for at least 15 % of the measured efficiency droop. Furthermore, we confirm that electron-electron-hole (nnp) is stronger than electron-hole-hole (npp) Auger recombination in standard LEDs.

Gonococcal infections in Austria: a long-term observation of prevalence and resistance profiles from 1999 to 2014.

Background And Objectives: The increase in minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of cephalosporins for Neisseria gonorrhoeae has given rise to concerns regarding potentially untreatable gonococcal infections. The goal was to ascertain the prevalence of gonorrhea in a Viennese patient group and determine resistance patterns. Another objective was to evaluate resistance profiles and MIC values of gonococcal isolates in an Austria-wide surveillance project.

Optical coherence tomography for planning of follicular unit extraction.

Background: As the subcutaneous course of the hair follicle cannot be extrapolated from the angle of hair emergence, the follicular unit extraction (FUE) method bears the risk of follicle transsection potentially affecting the success of the whole intervention. Histological examination can provide this angle information but are too time consuming and invasive to be integrated in the workflow.

Objective: In this work, the authors present an effective and noninvasive way to determine these subcutaneous follicle angles.

[Effect of the liquid milk nutritional supplement with enhanced content of whey protein on the nutritional status of the elderly].

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of long-term administration of liquid nutritional supplement with increased amounts of whey protein and reduced amounts of lactose, produced in accordance with a new recipe "Nutrisen" on the elderly living in institutionalized care.

Methods: The study was carried out from May to July, 2013, on 47 retirement home residents, living in Prague, all of which were 65 years or older. Supplemented group (n = 23) consumed (200 ml) milk drinks with three different flavours on a daily basis for eight weeks.

An Arden-Syntax-based clinical decision support framework for medical guidelines--Lyme borreliosis as an example.

Medicine is evolving at a very fast pace. The overwhelming quantity of new data compels the practician to be consistently informed about the most recent scientific advances. While medical guidelines have proven to be an acceptable tool for bringing new medical knowledge into clinical practice and also support medical personnel, reading them may be rather time-consuming.

Utility of sepsis biomarkers and the infection probability score to discriminate sepsis and systemic inflammatory response syndrome in standard care patients.

Physicians are regularly faced with severely ill patients at risk of developing infections. In literature, standard care wards are often neglected, although their patients frequently suffer from a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) of unknown origin. Fast identification of patients with infections is vital, as they immediately require appropriate therapy.

A prospective study of mobile phones for dermatology in a clinical setting.

We evaluated the accuracy of diagnoses made from pictures taken with the built-in cameras of mobile phones in a 'real-life' clinical setting. A total of 263 patients took part, who photographed their own lesions where possible, and provided clinical information via a questionnaire. After the teledermatology procedure, each patient was examined face-to-face and a gold standard diagnosis was made.

Three-dimensional multiphoton/optical coherence tomography for diagnostic applications in dermatology.

A preliminary clinical trial using state-of-the-art multiphoton tomography (MPT) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for three-dimensional (3D) multimodal in vivo imaging of normal skin, nevi, scars and pathologic skin lesions has been conducted. MPT enabled visualization of sub-cellular details with axial and transverse resolutions of <2 μm and <0.5 μm, respectively, from a volume of 0.

Differential expression of the demosponge (Suberites domuncula) carotenoid oxygenases in response to light: protection mechanism against the self-produced toxic protein (Suberitine).

The demosponge Suberites domuncula has been described to contain high levels of a proteinaceous toxin, Suberitine, that displays haemolytic activityIn the present study this 7-8 kDa polypeptide has been isolated and was shown to exhibit also cytotoxic effects on cells of the same species. Addition of retinal, a recently identified metabolite of β-carotene that is abundantly present in S. domuncula was found to reduce both the haemolytic and the cell toxic activity of Suberitine at a molar ratio of 1:1.

Differences in examination characteristics of pigmented skin lesions: results of an eye tracking study.

Objective: To use computer-based eye tracking technology to record and evaluate examination characteristics of the diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions.

Methodology: 16 study participants with varying levels of diagnostic expertise (little, intermediate, superior) were recorded while diagnosing a series of 28 digital images of pigmented skin lesions, obtained by non-invasive digital dermatoscopy, on a computer screen. Eye tracking hardware recorded the gaze track and fixations of the physicians while they examined the lesion images.

Site-dependent actinic skin damage as risk factor for melanoma in a central European population.

Sun exposure is causal for melanoma but is subject to bias of recall so that it is difficult to dissect the role of particular patterns of sun exposure. In this hospital-based case-control study (n = 1991), we aimed to analyze pigmentation traits and signs of actinic damage at different anatomic locations as markers of melanoma risk in central European patients. Although all signs of actinic damage (freckling, wrinkling and solar lentigos) were significantly associated with melanoma risk in multivariate logistic regression models adjusting for age and sex, the strongest associations were observed for the dorsal parts of the body: adjusted odds ratios [OR] were 4.

Interaction of the retinoic acid signaling pathway with spicule formation in the marine sponge Suberites domuncula through activation of bone morphogenetic protein-1.

Background: The formation of the spicules in siliceous sponges involves the formation of cylinder-like structures in the extraspicular space, composed of the enzyme silicatein and the calcium-dependent lectin.

Scope Of Review: Molecular cloning of the cDNAs (carotene dioxygenase, retinal dehydrogenase, and BMB-1 [bone morphogenic protein-1]) from the demosponge Suberites domuncula was performed. These tools were used to understand the retinoid metabolism in the animal by qRT-PCR, immunoblotting and TEM.