[Transarterial periarticular embolization (TAPE) for treatment of achillodynia: initial results].

Background: In recent years, transarterial periarticular embolization (TAPE) has received increasing attention in the treatment of chronic joint pain, which can be caused by degenerative changes such as osteoarthritis but also by inflammatory changes in the capsule-ligament apparatus.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to describe the method as well as preliminary results of TAPE in the treatment of therapy-resistant achillodynia.

Material And Methods: TAPE was used in the treatment of seven patients (female: 1, male: 6) with chronic achillodynia.

Urbanization-associated range expansion genetically homogenizes a butterfly species.

Human-induced environmental change and globalization facilitate biological invasions, which can lead to the displacement of native species by non-native ones. Analogously, biodiversity loss may occur within species when habitat modifications facilitate the expansion of a specific population's range, leading to genetic admixture with native local populations. We demonstrate such intraspecific loss in population-level diversity in the Southern Small White (Pieris mannii), an originally sedentary butterfly that recently expanded its range across Central Europe due to urbanization.

Protocol for inoculating bottled mineral water with bacteria to receive artificial contaminated water samples.

Here, we present a protocol for inoculating drinking water samples with a variety of pathogens or facultative pathogen bacteria. We describe steps for preparing bacterial solutions, inoculating mineral water bottles and other drinking water samples, filtration and incubation of the agar plates, and counting colony-forming unit per mL. We also detail procedures for determining selected chemical properties, such as anions and cations, which can also affect the bacterial growth.

Advancing primary care: Establishing family medicine specialty in Tanzania.

Family medicine has existed as a training pathway through a private university in Tanzania since 2004. As global calls have increased to embrace primary health care as a pathway to ensuring universal health coverage, so has Tanzania recently turned to explore family medicine as a specialty to improve access to comprehensive, high-quality healthcare for her entire population. This article outlines ongoing efforts to define competencies and skills of a family medicine physician in Tanzania, engage government support and open the first public university training programme for family medicine postgraduate education.

Relationships of organizational behavior/mission congruence with burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction among nurses.

Objective: The current study focuses on organizational culture as a determinant of well-being among nurses.

Background: Nurse well-being is an increasing concern for organizational operations and patient care quality. There are limited studies on the aspects of organizational culture, such as leadership and perception of organizational mission, that relate to clinician well-being.

Relationships of individual and workplace characteristics With nurses' moral resilience.

Background: Moral resilience is the integrity and emotional strength to remain buoyant and achieve moral growth amid distressing situations. Evidence is still emerging on how to best cultivate moral resilience. Few studies have examined the predictive relationship of workplace well-being and of organizational factors with moral resilience.

Work and Training Conditions of German Residents and Young Radiologists in Interventional Radiology - A Nationwide Survey.

With the increasing need for minimally invasive procedures based on lower complication rates, higher patient acceptance, and technical developments, there is a growing focus on the sound interventional training of young radiologists. This survey aimed to analyze the current situation in interventional radiology (IR) training in Germany to detect shortcomings and identify areas for improvement.From November 1-30, 2020, an online questionnaire was distributed to representative radiological associations and societies with the request to forward it to radiology residents and radiologists < 40 years.

The influence of the educational environment on college student physical activity behaviors.

The purpose of this study was to investigate which components or programs within the higher education environment have the greatest influence on college students' intention to engage in physical activity. Undergraduates enrolled in colleges and universities in the southcentral United States were issued a questionnaire via email. The use of structural equation modeling was used to assess the relationships among multiple variables and see what, if any, relationship exists.

Surveillance of Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Anaerobe Clinical Isolates in Southeast Austria: Group Is on the Fast Track to Resistance.

Anaerobic bacteria play an important role in human infections. spp. are some of the 15 most common pathogens causing nosocomial infections.

[Transarterial Periarticular Embolization (TAPE): Indications and Initial Experience in Germany].

Purpose:  The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the potential indications, procedural technique and initial results of the transarterial periarticular embolization (TAPE).

Material And Methods:  TAPE was performed in three patients with chronic pain in different joints. In the first case the patient suffered from osteoarthritis of the shoulder, in the second case from epicondylitis humeri ulnaris ("golfer-elbow") and in the third case from patellar tendinitis ("jumpers-knee").

CRISPR-Cas experiments for schools and the public.

The "gene scissors" CRISPR-Cas currently revolutionize the field of molecular biology with an enormous impact on society due to the broad application potentials in biomedicine, biotechnology and agriculture. We have developed simple CRISPR-Cas experiments that can serve to introduce pupils, students and non-scientists alike to the fascinating power of targeted gene editing. The experimental course is divided into two parts.

An Open-Label, Single-Arm, Efficacy Study of Tranexamic Acid in Adolescents with Heavy Menstrual Bleeding.

Study Objective: Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) occurs in up to 40% of adolescent girls, significantly affecting their daily activities. Identifying alternative treatment strategies for HMB is particularly important for adolescents who prefer not to take hormonal contraception. Our objective was to determine whether use of tranexamic acid (TA) would increase health-related quality of life and decrease menstrual blood loss (MBL) in adolescents with HMB.

[The recommendations of the S2k guideline for the diagnosis, therapy and metaphylaxis of urolithiasis provide a safe course of action for ureterorenoscopic stone treatment - results of the BUSTER study].

Background:  Given the high incidence, prevalence and rate of recurrence, urolithiasis stone treatment at a high stone-free rate should have a low complication rate. The German S2k guideline (GS2k-GL) for the diagnostic testing, therapy and metaphylaxis of urolithiasis provides recommendations for the first and second choice for stone treatment, depending on stone location and size. Ureterorenoscopy (URS) is the treatment of first choice for most stones.

[Partial response of solar urticaria to omalizumab therapy].

The treatment of solar urticaria is regarded as difficult. In some cases good responses to the anti-IgE antibody omalizumab (Xolair®), approved for treatment of chronic spontaneous urticaria, have been reported. We report on a 50-year-old Caucasian woman who for the last 5 years has developed localized itching and stinging erythemas following exposure to sunlight accompanied sometimes by anaphylactic reactions.

Cancer-targeted IL-12 controls human rhabdomyosarcoma by senescence induction and myogenic differentiation.

Stimulating the immune system to attack cancer is a promising approach, even for the control of advanced cancers. Several cytokines that promote interferon-γ-dominated immune responses show antitumor activity, with interleukin 12 (IL-12) being of major importance. Here, we used an antibody-IL-12 fusion protein (NHS-IL12) that binds histones of necrotic cells to treat human sarcoma in humanized mice.

Human Peripheral CD4(+) Vδ1(+) γδT Cells Can Develop into αβT Cells.

The lifelong generation of αβT cells enables us to continuously build immunity against pathogens and malignancies despite the loss of thymic function with age. Homeostatic proliferation of post-thymic naïve and memory T cells and their transition into effector and long-lived memory cells balance the decreasing output of naïve T cells, and recent research suggests that also αβT-cell development independent from the thymus may occur. However, the sites and mechanisms of extrathymic T-cell development are not yet understood in detail.

Quantitative assessment of the yield of osteoblastic connective tissue progenitors in bone marrow aspirate from the iliac crest, tibia, and calcaneus.

Background: It is well known that bone marrow aspirate from the iliac crest contains osteoblastic connective tissue progenitor cells. Alternative harvest sites in foot and ankle surgery include the distal aspect of the tibia and the calcaneus. To our knowledge, no previous studies have characterized the quality of bone marrow aspirate obtained from these alternative sites and compared the results with those of aspirate from the iliac crest.

A novel culture device for the evaluation of three-dimensional extracellular matrix materials.

Cell-matrix interactions in a three-dimensional (3D) extracellular matrix (ECM) are of fundamental importance in living tissue, and their in vitro reconstruction in bioartificial structures represents a core target of contemporary tissue engineering concepts. For a detailed analysis of cell-matrix interaction under highly controlled conditions, we developed a novel ECM evaluation culture device (EECD) that allows for a precisely defined surface-seeding of 3D ECM scaffolds, irrespective of their natural geometry. The effectiveness of EECD was evaluated in the context of heart valve tissue engineering.

Pre-differentiated human committed T-lymphoid progenitors promote peripheral T-cell re-constitution after stem cell transplantation in immunodeficient mice.

T-cell re-constitution after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) is often dampened by the slow differentiation of human peripheral blood CD34(+) (huCD34(+) ) hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) into mature T cells. This process may be accelerated by the co-transfer of in vitro-pre-differentiated committed T/NK-lymphoid progenitors (CTLPs). Here, we analysed the developmental potential of huCD34(+) HSCs compared with CTLPs from a third-party donor in a murine NOD-scid IL2Rγ(null) model of humanised chimeric haematopoiesis.

Upscaling the synthesis of biodegradable multiblock copolymers capable of a shape-memory effect.

Thermoplastic, phase-segregated multiblock copolymers (MBC) with shape-memory capability consisting of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) switching segments and poly(p-dioxanone) (PDO) or poly(ω-pentadecalactone) (PPD) hard segments were prepared on a scale of several kilograms following a newly developed upscaling procedure. Dihydroxytelechelic poly(ether)esters were coupled by an aliphatic diisocyanate gaining products of sufficiently high molecular weights. The obtained biodegradable MBC exhibited good elastic properties and a shape-memory effect (SME) with a switching temperature (T (sw)) around body temperature.

Characterization of multiblock copolymers by chromatographic techniques.

Multiblock copolymers (MBC) composed of blocks of poly(1,4-dioxanone) (PPDO) and poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) were investigated in order to gain information on the extend of chemical heterogeneity of the samples. A gradient chromatographic method was established allowing separation of purely PPDO- from purely PCL-containing chains. Application of the gradient to MBC made of PPDO- and PCL-diols connected by trimethylhexamethylene diisocyanate (TMDI) resulted in two well separated peaks which were analyzed by means of FTIR, 1H-NMR and pyrolysis GC-MS.

[Is the experimental gold standard actually worth a mint for evidence-based early support systems?].

The article discusses the capacities of experimental impact research in the practice of early support systems or primary prevention. It criticizes the conception of evidence-based child and youth welfare services relying on results of such experimental research. In the final section, the potentials of an alternative form of impact research, such as process-mechanism research, are discussed with respect to professional practice in child and youth welfare.

Assessment of structurally diverse philanthotoxin analogues for inhibitory activity on ionotropic glutamate receptor subtypes: discovery of nanomolar, nonselective, and use-dependent antagonists.

An array of analogues of the wasp toxin philanthotoxin-433, in which the asymmetric polyamine moiety was exchanged for spermine and the headgroup replaced with a variety of structurally diverse moieties, was prepared using parallel solid-phase synthesis approaches. In three analogues, the spermine moiety was extended with an amino acid tail, six compounds contained an N-acylated cyclohexylalanine, and four analogues were based on a novel diamino acid design with systematically changed spacer length between N-cyclohexylcarbonyl and N-phenylacetyl substituents. The analogues were studied using two-electrode voltage-clamp electrophysiology employing Xenopus laevis oocytes expressing GluA1(i) AMPA or GluN1/2A NMDA receptors.

Opposite effects of transforming growth factor-β1 and vascular endothelial growth factor on the degeneration of aortic valvular interstitial cell are modified by the extracellular matrix protein fibronectin: implications for heart valve engineering.

The enhancement of valvular interstitial cell (VIC) calcification by transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and the endothelial inducing effect of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) have been demonstrated. Here we report the modulating properties of extracellular matrix (ECM) modification on VIC calcification in the presence of TGF-β1 and VEGF. Ovine aortic VICs cultured on collagen, fibronectin, laminin, or uncoated surfaces were exposed to TGF-β1, VEGF, or left untreated.