Successful non-invasive imaging of the coronary artery IMT in pediatric patients with Kawasaki disease using high-resolution echocardiography.

Kawasaki Disease (KD) is a multisystemic vasculitis of medium- and small-sized arteries. Abnormal intimal thickening may develop in the involved arterial area after regression of coronary artery aneurysm (CAA). Intimal dysfunction may induce local stenosis or arteriosclerosis in the future.

2-Pyridylmetallocenes, Part IX. Sulphur-Substituted 2-Pyridylferrocene: Synthesis and Reactivity towards Pt(II) and Hg(II).

Thio-substituted 2-pyridylferrocenes [CpFe{CH(X)(CHN)}] (X = SOTol, ; SMe, ) were prepared from [CpFe(CHR)] (R = SOTol, ; 2-CHN, ) in moderate yields. The reactions of and with [PtCl(DMSO)] yielded the binuclear N, S chelated complexes [CpFe{CH(X)(CHN)}-(к-N,S)-PtCl] (X= SOTol, , SMe, ), while the reaction of with Hg(OAc)/LiCl led to cyclomercuration with generation of [CpFe{CH(SMe)(CHN)(HgCl)}], . The crystal structures of ·CHCl and were determined.

Implementation of an Immunoassay Based on the MVA-T7pol-Expression System for Rapid Identification of Immunogenic SARS-CoV-2 Antigens: A Proof-of-Concept Study.

The emergence of hitherto unknown viral pathogens presents a great challenge for researchers to develop effective therapeutics and vaccines within a short time to avoid an uncontrolled global spread, as seen during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Therefore, rapid and simple methods to identify immunogenic antigens as potential therapeutical targets are urgently needed for a better pandemic preparedness. To address this problem, we chose the well-characterized Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA)-T7pol expression system to establish a workflow to identify immunogens when a new pathogen emerges, generate candidate vaccines, and test their immunogenicity in an animal model.

Immunoglobulin secretion influences the composition of chicken caecal microbiota.

The chicken caecum is colonised by hundreds of different bacterial species. Which of these are targeted by immunoglobulins and how immunoglobulin expression shapes chicken caecal microbiota has been addressed in this study. Using cell sorting followed by sequencing of V3/V4 variable region of 16S rRNA, bacterial species with increased or decreased immunoglobulin coating were determined.

A reproducible representation of healthy tibiofemoral kinematics during stair descent using REFRAME - Part II: Exploring optimisation criteria and inter-subject differences.

Kinematic analysis is a central component of movement biomechanics, describing the relative motion of joint segments during different activities, in different subject cohorts, and at different timepoints. Establishing whether two sets of kinematic signals represent fundamentally similar or different underlying motion patterns is especially challenging, given 1) the lack of consensus around reference frame and joint axis definition, and 2) the substantial effect that minimal variations in frame position and orientation are known to have on signal magnitude and characteristics. As such, enormous variability in the reporting of tibiofemoral kinematics has resulted in joint movement patterns that remain controversially discussed.

Self-supervised learning for accurately modelling hierarchical evolutionary patterns of cerebrovasculature.

Cerebrovascular abnormalities are critical indicators of stroke and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease (AD). Understanding the normal evolution of brain vessels is essential for detecting early deviations and enabling timely interventions. Here, for the first time, we proposed a pipeline exploring the joint evolution of cortical volumes (CVs) and arterial volumes (AVs) in a large cohort of 2841 individuals.

Oxidation of a zirconium nitride multilayer-covered knee implant after two years in clinical use.

The surface composition and microstructure of an up to 5 µm thick multilayer on a knee implant were investigated. When the implant was explanted after approximately two years of clinical use due to failure from aseptic loosening, the topmost ZrN layer was found to be oxidized. Interestingly, only the non-articulating area was visibly oxidized (color change).

Machine learning-based new classification for immune infiltration of gliomas.

Background: Glioma is a highly heterogeneous and poorly immunogenic malignant tumor, with limited efficacy of immunotherapy. The characteristics of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) are one of the important factors hindering the effectiveness of immunotherapy. Therefore, this study aims to reveal the immune microenvironment (IME) characteristics of glioma and predict different immune subtypes using machine learning methods, providing guidance for immune therapy in glioma.

Balance Assessment on a Modified Posturomed Platform in Healthy Dogs.

Reliable, standardized balance tests for dogs are not available yet. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of static and dynamic posturography in healthy dogs. Healthy dogs ( = 20) were positioned with four paws longitudinally and with the forepaws only transversely on a modified pressure-sensitive balance platform (Posturomed-FDM-JS, Zebris, Isny, Germany).

Comparison of IMU-Based Knee Kinematics with and without Harness Fixation against an Optical Marker-Based System.

The use of inertial measurement units (IMUs) as an alternative to optical marker-based systems has the potential to make gait analysis part of the clinical standard of care. Previously, an IMU-based system leveraging Rauch-Tung-Striebel smoothing to estimate knee angles was assessed using a six-degrees-of-freedom joint simulator. In a clinical setting, however, accurately measuring abduction/adduction and external/internal rotation of the knee joint is particularly challenging, especially in the presence of soft tissue artefacts.

Global, regional, and national temporal trends in mortality and disability-adjusted life years for cardiovascular disease attributable to low temperature during 1990-2019: an age-period-cohort analysis of the global burden of disease 2019 study.

Background: Few studies have focused on the region-specific relationship between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and low temperature worldwide.

Objective: We aimed to provide an overview of trends in mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for CVD and its subtypes attributable to low temperature over the past 30 years in 204 countries and regions, along with the associations of these trends with age, period, and birth cohorts.

Methods: Data on the estimated burden of CVDs (including ischemic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, and stroke) attributable to low temperature were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

Risk factors and outcomes after surgery for malignant neoplasm of the parotid gland: An ACS-NSQIP study.

Background: Malignant neoplasms of the parotid gland (MPG) are clinically challenging due to aggressive growth and metastasis. Despite tumor resection being the primary treatment, there is a paucity of studies on postsurgical outcomes and preoperative risk factors for MPG.

Materials And Methods: We queried the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database to identify patients who underwent MPG surgery between 2008 and 2021.

Multimodal intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring may better predict postoperative distal upper extremities' complex-functional outcome than spinal and muscular motor evoked potentials alone in high-cervical intramedullary spinal cord tumor surgery.

Objective: D-wave can safely monitor the corticospinal-tract (CST)-function regarding gross-motor outcome of lower extremities, but it is still unknown whether i)D-wave can also safely monitor the gross-motor outcome of distal upper extremities in those patients undergoing high-cervical intramedullary-spinal-cord-tumor (IMSCT)-resection (enabling epidural D-wave-placement below C5) and ii)multimodal IONM can also predict fine-motor/complex hand function.

Methods: We prospectively assessed 20 patients undergoing IMSCT-surgery above the C4/5-level with multimodal IONM (D-wave/mMEPs/EMG/SSEPs). Detailed gross-/fine-motor and complex hand function was assessed pre- and postoperatively and during long-term follow-up (mean:29.

Activation of muscle amine functional groups using eutectic mixture to enhance tissue adhesiveness of injectable, conductive and therapeutic granular hydrogel for diabetic ulcer regeneration.

Herein, Polydopamine-modified microgels and microgels incorporated with superficial epoxy groups were synthesized and applied as precursors for the fabrication of four granular hydrogels. To enhance the tissue adhesiveness, a ternary deep eutectic solvent was synthesized to activate the muscle amine functional groups facilitating the formation of robust NC bonds at ambient conditions. At a certain shear rate of 10 s, hydrogel DMG displayed a viscosity of 9×10 Pa/s, representing the highest complex viscosity among the tested hydrogels primarily driven by quinone groups in PDA which enhanced reversible interactions, thereby increasing particle cohesion.

A "poly-matter network" conception of biological inheritance.

Here we intend to shift the "DNA- and information-centric" conception of biological inheritance, with the accompanying exclusion of any non-DNA matter, to a "poly-matter network" framework which, in addition to DNA, considers the action of other cellular membranous constituents. These cellular structures, in particular organelles and plasma membranes, express "landscapes" of specific topologies at their surfaces, which may become altered in response to certain environmental factors. These so-called "membranous environmental landscapes" (MELs), which replicate by self-organization / autopoiesis rather than self-assembly, are transferred from donor to acceptor cells by various - vesicular and non-vesicular - mechanisms and exert novel features in the acceptor cells.

Local sleep in songbirds: different simultaneous sleep states across the avian pallium.

Wakefulness and sleep have often been treated as distinct and global brain states. However, an emerging body of evidence on the local regulation of sleep stages challenges this conventional view. Apart from unihemispheric sleep, the current data that support local variations of neural oscillations during sleep are focused on the homeostatic regulation of local sleep, i.

CD30 influences germinal center B-cell dynamics and the expansion of IgG1-switched B cells.

Initially, identified as a Hodgkin lymphoma marker, CD30 was subsequently detected on a subset of human B cells within and around germinal centers (GCs). While CD30 expression is typically restricted to a few B cells, expansion of CD30-expressing B cells occurs in certain immune disorders and during viral infections. The role of CD30 in B cells remains largely unclear.

Kinematics of elongate harvestmen chelicerae: Comparative range of motion analyses in extant Ischyropsalis (Dyspnoi, Opiliones).

Chelicerae, the mouthparts of chelicerates, are essential for food processing. Particularly within harvestmen (Opiliones), some species have greatly elongated their tripartite chelicerae and utilize them for mating behavior, defense, and primarily for predation. We investigated two European species, Ischyropsalis muellneri and Ischyropsalis hellwigii, which occupy different niches (caves, forests), exhibit different feeding ecologies (opportunist, specialist), and first and foremost possess different chelicerae morphologies (long and thin, short and robust).

Association of the Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms rs11556218, rs4778889, rs4072111, and rs1131445 of the Interleukin-16 Gene with Ovarian Cancer.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the IL-16 gene have been reported to influence the risk of several cancers, but their role in ovarian cancer (OC) has not been studied. Using the restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method, we examined four IL-16 SNPs: rs11556218 (T > G), rs4778889 (T > C), rs4072111 (C > T), and rs1131445 (T > C) in blood samples from 413 women of Central European descent, including 200 OC patients and 213 healthy controls. Among the patients, 62% were postmenopausal, 84.

Telemedicine-based antibiotic stewardship program in pediatrics: study protocol of a stepped wedge cluster randomized trial-the TeleKasper study.

Background: Overuse and misuse of antibiotics is one of the driving factors of antimicrobial resistance, a growing global health threat. The use of antibiotics is particularly high in children. Even though the implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs (ASP) in pediatrics has been shown to reduce antibiotic use, this implementation has been limited to large university hospitals in Germany.