Circulating Nucleosomes as Potential Markers to Monitor COVID-19 Disease Progression.

The severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) varies significantly with cases spanning from asymptomatic to lethal with a subset of individuals developing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and death from respiratory failure. To determine whether global nucleosome and citrullinated nucleosome levels were elevated in COVID-19 patients, we tested two independent cohorts of COVID-19 positive patients with quantitative nucleosome immunoassays and found that nucleosomes were highly elevated in plasma of COVID-19 patients with a severe course of the disease relative to healthy controls and that both histone 3.1 variant and citrullinated nucleosomes increase with disease severity.

The Oncogenic Helicase ALC1 Regulates PARP Inhibitor Potency by Trapping PARP2 at DNA Breaks.

The anti-tumor potency of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors (PARPis) has been linked to trapping of PARP1 on damaged chromatin. However, little is known about their impact on PARP2, an isoform with overlapping functions at DNA lesions. Whether the release of PARP1/2 from DNA lesions is actively catalyzed by molecular machines is also not known.

[Importance of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in forensic psychiatry].

Background And Objective: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is recommended in guidelines for the treatment of severe affective and psychotic disorders that also can be found in patients in forensic psychiatric commitment; however, there are no systematically collected data concerning the use of ECT in forensic psychiatry. The aim of this study was to investigate the current state and estimated need for ECT in forensic psychiatry in Germany.

Material And Methods: A questionnaire was designed consisting of questions about the current practice and estimated need for ECT in this population.

Topsoil structure stability in a restored floodplain: Impacts of fluctuating water levels, soil parameters and ecosystem engineers.

Ecosystem services provided by floodplains are strongly controlled by the structural stability of soils. The development of a stable structure in floodplain soils is affected by a complex and poorly understood interplay of hydrological, physico-chemical and biological processes. This paper aims at analysing relations between fluctuating groundwater levels, soil physico-chemical and biological parameters on soil structure stability in a restored floodplain.

Kinetic and structural insights into the binding of histone deacetylase 1 and 2 (HDAC1, 2) inhibitors.

The structure-activity and structure-kinetic relationships of a series of novel and selective ortho-aminoanilide inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDACs) 1 and 2 are described. Different kinetic and thermodynamic selectivity profiles were obtained by varying the moiety occupying an 11Å channel leading to the Zn(2+) catalytic pocket of HDACs 1 and 2, two paralogs with a high degree of structural similarity. The design of these novel inhibitors was informed by two ligand-bound crystal structures of truncated hHDAC2.

Fronto-central theta oscillations are related to oscillations in saccadic response times (SRT): an EEG and behavioral data analysis.

The phase reset hypothesis states that the phase of an ongoing neural oscillation, reflecting periodic fluctuations in neural activity between states of high and low excitability, can be shifted by the occurrence of a sensory stimulus so that the phase value become highly constant across trials (Schroeder et al., 2008). From EEG/MEG studies it has been hypothesized that coupled oscillatory activity in primary sensory cortices regulates multi sensory processing (Senkowski et al.

Saccadic reaction times to audiovisual stimuli show effects of oscillatory phase reset.

Initiating an eye movement towards a suddenly appearing visual target is faster when an accessory auditory stimulus occurs in close spatiotemporal vicinity. Such facilitation of saccadic reaction time (SRT) is well-documented, but the exact neural mechanisms underlying the crossmodal effect remain to be elucidated. From EEG/MEG studies it has been hypothesized that coupled oscillatory activity in primary sensory cortices regulates multisensory processing.

Methylation of lysine 9 in histone H3 directs alternative modes of highly dynamic interaction of heterochromatin protein hHP1β with the nucleosome.

Binding of heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) to the histone H3 lysine 9 trimethylation (H3K9me3) mark is a hallmark of establishment and maintenance of heterochromatin. Although genetic and cell biological aspects have been elucidated, the molecular details of HP1 binding to H3K9me3 nucleosomes are unknown. Using a combination of NMR spectroscopy and biophysical measurements on fully defined recombinant experimental systems, we demonstrate that H3K9me3 works as an on/off switch regulating distinct binding modes of hHP1β to the nucleosome.

Trainee multicultural case conceptualization ability and couples therapy.

Previous literature on the assessment of multicultural counseling competence has been concerned only with counselors' abilities when working with individual clients. We expanded this line of research by investigating trainees' multicultural case conceptualization ability in the context of working with couples. Despite the fact that trainees self-reported a high level of multicultural competency, trainees were largely inattentive to racial factors in their case conceptualization responses to vignettes involving both African American and European American clients presenting for couples therapy.

Molecular architecture of the human Prp19/CDC5L complex.

Protein complexes containing Prp19 play a central role during catalytic activation of the spliceosome, and Prp19 and its related proteins are major components of the spliceosome's catalytic core RNP. To learn more about the spatial organization of the human Prp19 (hPrp19)/CDC5L complex, which is comprised of hPrp19, CDC5L, PRL1, AD002, SPF27, CTNNBL1, and HSP73, we purified native hPrp19/CDC5L complexes from HeLa cells stably expressing FLAG-tagged AD002 or SPF27. Stoichiometric analyses indicated that, like Saccharomyces cerevisiae NTC (nineteen complex), the human Prp19/CDC5L complex contains four copies of hPrp19.

Assessing age-related multisensory enhancement with the time-window-of-integration model.

Although from multisensory research a great deal is known about how the different senses interact, there is little knowledge as to the impact of aging on these multisensory processes. In this study, we measured saccadic reaction time (SRT) of aged and young individuals to the onset of a visual target stimulus with and without an accessory auditory stimulus occurring (focused attention task). The response time pattern for both groups was similar: mean SRT to bimodal stimuli was generally shorter than to unimodal stimuli, and mean bimodal SRT was shorter when the auditory accessory was presented ipsilaterally rather than contralaterally to the target.

TEV protease-mediated cleavage in Drosophila as a tool to analyze protein functions in living organisms.

Drosophila provides a powerful experimental system to analyze gene functions in a multi-cellular organism. Here we describe an in vivo method that interferes with the integrity of selected proteins through site-specific cleavage in Drosophila. The technique is based on the highly specific seven-amino-acid recognition site of the tobacco etch virus (TEV) protease.

Liver perfusion scintigraphy prior to and after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) in patients with portal hypertension.

Purpose: This investigation was performed to compare the hemodynamic results of the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt, a new interventional treatment for portal hypertension, with those observed after the established surgical shunt interventions.

Methods: We examined 22 patients with portal hypertension due to liver cirrhosis before and after elective TIPS by liver perfusion scintigraphy. The relative portal perfusion was determined before and after the shunt procedure.

Possible role of FDG-PET in the early prediction of therapy outcome in liver metastases of colorectal cancer.

Nonresectable colorectal cancer metastases in the liver respond to chemotherapy in 20-25% only. Early identification of nonresponders might allow the use of other regimens. In a limited feasibility study, it should be determined whether (a) a single high-dose chemotherapy application has an early effect on glucose-utilization, detectable and quantitatable by noninvasive positron emission tomography using [18F]-Fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG-PET) and (b) assess its value as a predictor of the final therapeutic outcome.

Regional cerebral blood flow single-photon emission tomography with 99mTc-HMPAO and the acetazolamide test in the evaluation of vascular and Alzheimer's dementia.

The diagnostic potential of technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (HMPAO) following systemic administration of the cerebral vasodilator acetazolamide (acetazolamide test) was evaluated by regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) single-photon emission tomography (SPET) in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or vascular dementia (VD). An initial, high-resolution SPET study was performed with 99mTc-HMPAO, and after 2 days the patients were re-evaluated with 99mTc-HMPAO following systemic administration of acetazolamide. Reconstructed SPET slices were evaluated visually and semiquantitatively by a semi-automatic rCBF map method.

Fluorodeoxyglucose whole-body positron emission tomography in colorectal cancer patients studied in routine daily practice.

Purpose: To evaluate the routine clinical value of attenuation-corrected whole-body fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in colorectal cancer, a total of 59 patients who were referred for evaluation of suspected or proven colorectal cancers were studied.

Methods: Positron emission tomography scans were recorded using a Siemens ECAT Exact 921/47.

Results: Median follow-up after the positron emission tomography study was 11 (mean, 12.

Value of 18fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography in the staging of recurrent breast carcinoma.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of staging recurrent breast carcinoma employing fluorine-18-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) under routine clinical conditions. In 75 patients with suspected recurrent or metastatic disease, whole-body FDG-PET was performed and results correlated with morphological imaging (CT/MRI) data and verified by histological findings. FDG-PET correctly identified 16 patients with local recurrence, 28 with lymph node involvement, 15 with bone, 5 with lung and 2 with liver metastases.

Possible role of FDG-PET in the evaluation of urologic malignancies.

Positron-emission tomography (PET) employing 18F-labeled deoxyglucose (FDG) has been found to be a highly sensitive and rather specific tool in the detection of a variety of malignant carcinomas. Due to high resolution and outstanding image quality its complementary and supplementary role as compared to morphological methods has increasingly been acknowledged. Urinary-tract malignancies, with the exception of prostate carcinoma, have a rather low incidence and thus experience with FDG-PET is limited.

Effects of diagnostic application of monoclonal antibody on survival in melanoma patients.

Follow-up data of more than 300 melanoma patients were reviewed in which an immunoscintigraphy study had been performed as part of a routine staging protocol. All patients had received a commercially available 99mTc-labeled F(ab')2 fragment specific to a high-molecular-weight melanoma-associated antigen (HMW-MAA). Survival data of patients that had received one injection (group I) were compared with those receiving two or more injections (group II).

"High-dose" radioiodine therapy in advanced differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Unlabelled: There is yet no consensus concerning the appropriate regimen of the application of [131I]sodium iodine (Nal) activities to patients suffering from advanced differentiated thyroid carcinoma. We report on a total of 167 applications of [131I]Nal, including 78 applications of 11.1 GBq.

Scintimammography with Tc-99m MIBI in patients with suspicion of primary breast cancer.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of scintimammography with Tc-99m MIBI for the detection of breast cancer. Patients with a suspicious lesion detected by palpation or mammography were included in the study. Excisional biopsy was performed on all patients.

Scintimammography with technetium-99m methoxyisobutylisonitrile: comparison with mammography and magnetic resonance imaging.

The aim of the study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of scintimammography with technetium-99m methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI; SMM) in the detection of primary breast cancer with that of mammography (MM) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Fifty-six patients with suspected lesions detected by palpation or MM were included in the study. Within the 4 weeks preceding excisional biopsy, MM and MRI were performed in all patients.

Standardized uptake values of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose: the value of different normalization procedures.

While the evident advantages of absolute metabolic rate determinations cannot be equalled by static image analysis of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomographic (FDG PET) studies, various algorithms for the normalization of static FDG uptake values have been proposed. This study was performed to compare different normalization procedures in terms of dependency on individual patient characteristics. Standardized FDG uptake values (SUVs) were calculated for liver and lung tissue in 126 patients studied with whole-body FDG PET.