Aldosterone synthase inhibitor (BI 690517) therapy for people with diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease: A multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase I trial.

Aim: This Phase I study evaluated the safety and early efficacy of an aldosterone synthase inhibitor (BI 690517) in people with diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease.

Methods: Double-blind, placebo-controlled study (NCT03165240) at 40 sites across Europe. Eligible participants [estimated glomerular filtration rate ≥20 and <75 ml/min/1.

Increasing the Acceptance of Smartphone-Based Data Collection.

To study human behavior, social scientists are increasingly collecting data from mobile apps and sensors embedded in smartphones. A major challenge of studies implemented on general population samples, however, is that participation rates are rather low. While previous research has started to investigate the factors affecting individuals' decision to participate in such studies, less is known about features of the study design which are under the researcher's control and can increase the acceptance of smartphone-based data collection methods.

Safety, tolerability, pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of the soluble guanylyl cyclase activator BI 685509 in patients with diabetic kidney disease: A randomized trial.

Aims: Albuminuria is associated with abnormalities in the nitric oxide (NO)-soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC)-cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathway. We assessed safety and efficacy of the NO-independent sGC activator BI 685509 in patients with diabetic kidney disease and albuminuria.

Materials And Methods: In this Phase Ib trial (NCT03165227), we randomized patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 20-75 mL/min/1.

Heparanase Modulates Chromatin Accessibility.

Heparanase is the sole endoglucuronidase that degrades heparan sulfate in the cell surface and extracellular matrix (ECM). Several studies have reported the localization of heparanase in the cell nucleus, but the functional role of the nuclear enzyme is still obscure. Subjecting mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) derived from heparanase knockout (Hpse-KO) mice and applying transposase-accessible chromatin with sequencing (ATAC-seq), we revealed that heparanase is involved in the regulation of chromatin accessibility.

Dormant SOX9-Positive Cells Facilitate MYC-Driven Recurrence of Medulloblastoma.

Unlabelled: Relapse is the leading cause of death in patients with medulloblastoma, the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying recurrence could lead to more effective therapies for targeting tumor relapses. Here, we observed that SOX9, a transcription factor and stem cell/glial fate marker, is limited to rare, quiescent cells in high-risk medulloblastoma with MYC amplification.

COVID-19 policies in Germany and their social, political, and psychological consequences.

Many policy analyses on COVID-19 have been focusing on what kind of policies are implemented to contain the spread of COVID-19. What seems equally important to explore are the social and political consequences of the confinement policies. Does the public support strict confinement policies? What are the social, political, and psychological consequences of the confinement policies? The question of how legitimate a policy is among the public is at the core of democratic theory.

Health behaviors and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal population-based survey in Germany.

Objective: To understand the mental health response to repeated and prolonged stress during the COVID-19 related lockdown and the role of specific health behaviors to buffer against this stress.

Methods: In a longitudinal study with several measurement points covering three months during the COVID-19 pandemic, about 3500 randomly selected participants representative of the German population reported on their mental health (anxiety, depression, loneliness) and health behaviors (screen time, snack consumption, physical activity).

Results: Symptoms of anxiety, depression, and loneliness were highest shortly after the lockdown came into effect.

Barriers to the Large-Scale Adoption of a COVID-19 Contact Tracing App in Germany: Survey Study.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, one way to reduce further transmissions of SARS-CoV-2 is the widespread use of contact tracing apps. Such apps keep track of proximity contacts and warn contacts of persons who tested positive for an infection.

Objective: In this study, we analyzed potential barriers to the large-scale adoption of the official contact tracing app that was introduced in Germany on June 16, 2020.

Studying health-related internet and mobile device use using web logs and smartphone records.

Many people use the internet to seek information that will help them understand their body and their health. Motivations for such behaviors are numerous. For example, users may wish to figure out a medical condition by searching for symptoms they experience.

New Approaches to Respiratory Assist: Bioengineering an Ambulatory, Miniaturized Bioartificial Lung.

Although state-of-the-art treatments of respiratory failure clearly have made some progress in terms of survival in patients suffering from severe respiratory system disorders, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), they failed to significantly improve the quality of life in patients with acute or chronic lung failure, including severe acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or ARDS as well. Limitations of standard treatment modalities, which largely rely on conventional mechanical ventilation, emphasize the urgent, unmet clinical need for developing novel (bio)artificial respiratory assist devices that provide extracorporeal gas exchange with a focus on direct extracorporeal CO2 removal from the blood. In this review, we discuss some of the novel concepts and critical prerequisites for such respiratory lung assist devices that can be used with an adequate safety profile, in the intensive care setting, as well as for long-term domiciliary therapy in patients with chronic ventilatory failure.

Improved vasculogenesis and bone matrix formation through coculture of endothelial cells and stem cells in tissue-specific methacryloyl gelatin-based hydrogels.

The coculture of osteogenic and angiogenic cells and the resulting paracrine signaling via soluble factors are supposed to be crucial for successfully engineering vascularized bone tissue equivalents. In this study, a coculture system combining primary human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) and primary human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMECs) within two types of hydrogels based on methacryloyl-modified gelatin (GM) as three-dimensional scaffolds was examined for its support of tissue specific cell functions. HDMECs, together with hASCs as supporting cells, were encapsulated in soft GM gels and were indirectly cocultured with hASCs encapsulated in stiffer GM hydrogels additionally containing methacrylate-modified hyaluronic acid and hydroxyapatite particles.

Bone matrix production in hydroxyapatite-modified hydrogels suitable for bone bioprinting.

Though bioprinting is a forward-looking approach in bone tissue engineering, the development of bioinks which are on the one hand processable with the chosen printing technique, and on the other hand possess the relevant mechanical as well as osteoconductive features remains a challenge. In the present study, polymer solutions based on methacrylated gelatin and methacrylated hyaluronic acid modified with hydroxyapatite (HAp) particles (5 wt%) were prepared. Encapsulation of primary human adipose-derived stem cells in the HAp-containing gels and culture for 28 d resulted in a storage moduli significantly increased to 126% ± 9.

Blood-Vessel Mimicking Structures by Stereolithographic Fabrication of Small Porous Tubes Using Cytocompatible Polyacrylate Elastomers, Biofunctionalization and Endothelialization.

Blood vessel reconstruction is still an elusive goal for the development of in vitro models as well as artificial vascular grafts. In this study, we used a novel photo-curable cytocompatible polyacrylate material (PA) for freeform generation of synthetic vessels. We applied stereolithography for the fabrication of arbitrary 3D tubular structures with total dimensions in the centimeter range, 300 µm wall thickness, inner diameters of 1 to 2 mm and defined pores with a constant diameter of approximately 100 µm or 200 µm.

Equation of State of Ultracold Fermions in the 2D BEC-BCS Crossover Region.

We report the experimental measurement of the equation of state of a two-dimensional Fermi gas with attractive s-wave interactions throughout the crossover from a weakly coupled Fermi gas to a Bose gas of tightly bound dimers as the interaction strength is varied. We demonstrate that interactions lead to a renormalization of the density of the Fermi gas by several orders of magnitude. We compare our data near the ground state and at finite temperature with predictions for both fermions and bosons from quantum Monte Carlo simulations and Luttinger-Ward theory.

Observation of Pair Condensation in the Quasi-2D BEC-BCS Crossover.

The condensation of fermion pairs lies at the heart of superfluidity. However, for strongly correlated systems with reduced dimensionality the mechanisms of pairing and condensation are still not fully understood. In our experiment we use ultracold atoms as a generic model system to study the phase transition from a normal to a condensed phase in a strongly interacting quasi-two-dimensional Fermi gas.

Observation of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Phase Transition in an Ultracold Fermi Gas.

We experimentally investigate the first-order correlation function of a trapped Fermi gas in the two-dimensional BEC-BCS crossover. We observe a transition to a low-temperature superfluid phase with algebraically decaying correlations. We show that the spatial coherence of the entire trapped system can be characterized by a single temperature-dependent exponent.

Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study to investigate different dosing regimens of olodaterol delivered via Respimat® in patients with moderate to severe persistent asthma.

Background: A Phase II, multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial comparing the 24-h forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) time profile after 3 weeks' treatment with once-daily (QD) or twice-daily (BID) olodaterol (at the same total daily dose) versus placebo delivered via Respimat® in patients with moderate to severe asthma.

Methods: Patients were randomised to different sequences of olodaterol with 2-week washout, either as a total daily dose of 5 μg (5 μg QD [AM] or 2.5 μg BID) or placebo, or 10 μg (10 μg QD [AM] or 5 μg BID) or placebo.

Pairing in few-fermion systems with attractive interactions.

We study quasi-one-dimensional few-particle systems consisting of one to six ultracold fermionic atoms in two different spin states with attractive interactions. We probe the system by deforming the trapping potential and by observing the tunneling of particles out of the trap. For even particle numbers, we observe a tunneling behavior that deviates from uncorrelated single-particle tunneling indicating the existence of pair correlations in the system.

From few to many: observing the formation of a Fermi sea one atom at a time.

Knowing when a physical system has reached sufficient size for its macroscopic properties to be well described by many-body theory is difficult. We investigated the crossover from few- to many-body physics by studying quasi-one-dimensional systems of ultracold atoms consisting of a single impurity interacting with an increasing number of identical fermions. We measured the interaction energy of such a system as a function of the number of majority atoms for different strengths of the interparticle interaction.

Coherent molecule formation in anharmonic potentials near confinement-induced resonances.

We perform a theoretical and experimental study of a system of two ultracold atoms with tunable interaction in an elongated trapping potential. We show that the coupling of center-of-mass and relative motion due to an anharmonicity of the trapping potential leads to a coherent coupling of a state of an unbound atom pair and a molecule with a center of mass excitation. By performing the experiment with exactly two particles we exclude three-body losses and can therefore directly observe coherent molecule formation.

Precise characterization of 6Li Feshbach resonances using trap-sideband-resolved RF spectroscopy of weakly bound molecules.

We perform radio-frequency dissociation spectroscopy of weakly bound 6Li2 Feshbach molecules using low-density samples of about 30 molecules in an optical dipole trap. Combined with a high magnetic field stability, this allows us to resolve the discrete trap levels in the radio-frequency dissociation spectra. This novel technique allows the binding energy of Feshbach molecules to be determined with unprecedented precision.

Fermionization of two distinguishable fermions.

We study a system of two distinguishable fermions in a 1D harmonic potential. This system has the exceptional property that there is an analytic solution for arbitrary values of the interparticle interaction. We tune the interaction strength and compare the measured properties of the system to the theoretical prediction.

A randomized, double-blind trial to evaluate immunogenicity and safety of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine given concomitantly with trivalent influenza vaccine in adults aged ≥65 years.

This randomized, double-blind study evaluated concomitant administration of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) and trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) in adults aged ≥65 years who were naïve to 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. Patients (N=1160) were randomized 1:1 to receive PCV13+TIV followed by placebo, or Placebo+TIV followed by PCV13 at 0 and 1 months, with blood draws at 0, 1, and 2 months. Slightly lower pneumococcal serotype-specific anticapsular polysaccharide immunoglobulin G geometric mean concentrations were observed with PCV13+TIV relative to PCV13.

Deterministic preparation of a tunable few-fermion system.

Systems consisting of few interacting fermions are the building blocks of matter, with atoms and nuclei being the most prominent examples. We have created a few-body quantum system with complete control over its quantum state using ultracold fermionic atoms in an optical dipole trap. Ground-state systems consisting of 1 to 10 particles are prepared with fidelities of ∼90%.