General Movement Assessment from videos of computed 3D infant body models is equally effective compared to conventional RGB video rating.

Background: General Movement Assessment (GMA) is a powerful tool to predict Cerebral Palsy (CP). Yet, GMA requires substantial training challenging its broad implementation in clinical routine. This inspired a world-wide quest for automated GMA.

Microcurrent therapy in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis: could it be more than a placebo effect? A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Microcurrent therapy (MCT) is a novel electrotherapy modality with very low current-levels that may reduce pain especially in joints and muscles.

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore potential effects of MCT on pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis, to explore effects of different treatment parameters and to distinguish them from placebo-effects.

Design: Randomized four arms controlled clinical trial.

Safety and effectiveness of percutaneous sclerotherapy for venous disorders of the labia majora in patients with vascular malformations.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and clinical outcomes of percutaneous sclerotherapy of venous disorders of the labia majora in patients with vascular malformations of the lower limbs.

Methods: Thirty percutaneous sclerotherapy treatments were performed over a 6-year period among 17 female patients with symptomatic venous malformation (VM) or secondary varicosis of the labia majora. Four patients were treated with sclerotherapy alone, 13 patients had additional procedures to control the VM before sclerotherapy.

Cellular and Molecular Probing of Intact Human Organs.

Optical tissue transparency permits scalable cellular and molecular investigation of complex tissues in 3D. Adult human organs are particularly challenging to render transparent because of the accumulation of dense and sturdy molecules in decades-aged tissues. To overcome these challenges, we developed SHANEL, a method based on a new tissue permeabilization approach to clear and label stiff human organs.

A Sight to Wheat Bran: High Value-Added Products.

Recently more consideration has been given to the use of renewable materials and agricultural residues. Wheat production is increasing yearly and correspondingly, the volume of by-products from the wheat process is increasing, as well. It is important to find the use of the residuals for higher value-added products, and not just for the food industry or animal feed purposes as it is happening now.

Dual Mode of the Saponin Aescin in Plant Protection: Antifungal Agent and Plant Defense Elicitor.

Being natural plant antimicrobials, saponins have potential for use as biopesticides. Nevertheless, their activity in plant-pathogen interaction is poorly understood. We performed a comparative study of saponins' antifungal activities on important crop pathogens based on their effective dose (EC) values.

The Innate Immune Cell Profile of the Cornea Predicts the Onset of Ocular Surface Inflammatory Disorders.

Ocular surface inflammatory disorder (OSID) is a spectrum of disorders that have features of several etiologies whilst displaying similar phenotypic signs of ocular inflammation. They are complicated disorders with underlying mechanisms related to several autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Sjögren's syndrome, and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Current literature shows the involvement of both innate and adaptive arms of the immune system in ocular surface inflammation.

Hormone Receptor Expression in Multicentric/Multifocal versus Unifocal Breast Cancer: Especially the VDR Determines the Outcome Related to Focality.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic impact that hormone receptor (HR) expressions have on the two different breast cancer (BC) entities-multifocal versus unifocal BC. As the prognosis determining aspects, we investigated the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) by univariate and multivariate analysis. To underline the study's conclusions, we additionally considered the histopathological grading and the tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging.

The Cytotoxic Natural Product Vioprolide A Targets Nucleolar Protein 14, Which Is Essential for Ribosome Biogenesis.

Novel targets are needed for treatment of devastating diseases such as cancer. For decades, natural products have guided innovative therapies by addressing diverse pathways. Inspired by the potent cytotoxic bioactivity of myxobacterial vioprolides A-D, we performed in-depth studies on their mode of action.

Quantitative Subcellular Proteomics of the Orbitofrontal Cortex of Schizophrenia Patients.

Schizophrenia is a chronic disease characterized by the impairment of mental functions with a marked social dysfunction. A quantitative proteomic approach using iTRAQ labeling and SRM, applied to the characterization of mitochondria (MIT), crude nuclear fraction (NUC), and cytoplasm (CYT), can allow the observation of dynamic changes in cell compartments providing valuable insights concerning schizophrenia physiopathology. Mass spectrometry analyses of the orbitofrontal cortex from 12 schizophrenia patients and 8 healthy controls identified 655 protein groups in the MIT fraction, 1500 in NUC, and 1591 in CYT.

Effects of manipulated levels of predation threat on parental provisioning and nestling begging.

Parental provisioning behavior is a major determinant of offspring growth and survival, but high provisioning rates might come at the cost of increased predation threat. Parents should thus adjust provisioning activity according to current predation threat levels. Moreover, life-history theory predicts that response to predation threat should be correlated with investment in current reproduction.

Stability of femoral neck fracture fixation: A finite element analysis.

Femoral neck fractures represent a relatively uncommon injury in the non-elderly population often resulting from high-energy trauma. Clinical outcome in these patients can be improved by optimizing surgical procedures and selecting appropriate fixation methods. The aim of this study was to develop a numerical fracture model to investigate the influence of critical mechanical factors on the stability of fixation methods for femoral neck fractures.

Safety evaluation of nivolumab added concurrently to radiotherapy in a standard first line chemo-radiotherapy regimen in stage III non-small cell lung cancer-The ETOP NICOLAS trial.

Objectives: Chemo-radiotherapy (CRT) and concurrent PD-1 inhibition has shown promising results in pre-clinical models. So far, the feasibility of delivering concurrent CRT and PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition has never been assessed in a clinical trial.

Material And Methods: NICOLAS is a phase-II trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of nivolumab combined with CRT in stage III NSCLC.

Three by three weeks of robot-enhanced repetitive gait therapy within a global rehabilitation plan improves gross motor development in children with cerebral palsy - a retrospective cohort study.

Aim: To assess the improvement in gross motor function following three blocks of a three-week, intensive robot-enhanced treadmill therapy (ROBERT-Program).

Method: retrospective chart review in a before-after interventional trial in children with cerebral palsy attending a university hospital outpatient rehabilitation centre. Patients received three blocks of a three-week, 12 sessions ROBERT-Program over a mean period of 24 months.

Transient Cognitive Impairment in Epilepsy.

Impairments of the dialog between excitation and inhibition (E/I) is commonly associated to neuropsychiatric disorders like autism, bipolar disorders and epilepsy. Moderate levels of hyperexcitability can lead to mild alterations of the EEG and are often associated with cognitive deficits even in the absence of overt seizures. Indeed, various testing paradigms have shown degraded performances in presence of acute or chronic non-ictal epileptiform activity.

Circular RNAs as Therapeutic Agents and Targets.

It has recently been reported that thousands of covalently linked circular RNAs (circRNAs) are expressed from human genomes. circRNAs emerge during RNA splicing. circRNAs are circularized in a reaction termed "backsplicing," whereby the spliceosome fuses a splice donor site in a downstream exon to a splice acceptor site in an upstream exon.

Life-history evolution under fluctuating density-dependent selection and the adaptive alignment of pace-of-life syndromes.

We present a novel perspective on life-history evolution that combines recent theoretical advances in fluctuating density-dependent selection with the notion of pace-of-life syndromes (POLSs) in behavioural ecology. These ideas posit phenotypic co-variation in life-history, physiological, morphological and behavioural traits as a continuum from the highly fecund, short-lived, bold, aggressive and highly dispersive 'fast' types at one end of the POLS to the less fecund, long-lived, cautious, shy, plastic and socially responsive 'slow' types at the other. We propose that such variation in life histories and the associated individual differences in behaviour can be explained through their eco-evolutionary dynamics with population density - a single and ubiquitous selective factor that is present in all biological systems.

Synthesis of Biomaterials Utilizing Microfluidic Technology.

Recently, microfluidic technologies have attracted an enormous amount of interest as potential new tools for a large range of applications including materials synthesis, chemical and biological detection, drug delivery and screening, point-of-care diagnostics, and in-the-field analysis. Their ability to handle extremely small volumes of fluids is accompanied by additional benefits, most notably, rapid and efficient mass and heat transfer. In addition, reactions performed within microfluidic systems are highly controlled, meaning that many advanced materials, with uniform and bespoke properties, can be synthesized in a direct and rapid manner.

High-Throughput Incubation and Quantification of Agglutination Assays in a Microfluidic System.

In this paper, we present a two-phase microfluidic system capable of incubating and quantifying microbead-based agglutination assays. The microfluidic system is based on a simple fabrication solution, which requires only laboratory tubing filled with carrier oil, driven by negative pressure using a syringe pump. We provide a user-friendly interface, in which a pipette is used to insert single droplets of a 1.

Role of CD40 and ADAMTS13 in von Willebrand factor-mediated endothelial cell-platelet-monocyte interaction.

Monocyte extravasation into the vessel wall is a key step in atherogenesis. It is still elusive how monocytes transmigrate through the endothelial cell (EC) monolayer at atherosclerosis predilection sites. Platelets tethered to ultra-large von Willebrand factor (ULVWF) multimers deposited on the luminal EC surface following CD40 ligand (CD154) stimulation may facilitate monocyte diapedesis.

Cell-Free Approaches in Synthetic Biology Utilizing Microfluidics.

Synthetic biology is a rapidly growing multidisciplinary branch of science which aims to mimic complex biological systems by creating similar forms. Constructing an artificial system requires optimization at the gene and protein levels to allow the formation of entire biological pathways. Advances in cell-free synthetic biology have helped in discovering new genes, proteins, and pathways bypassing the complexity of the complex pathway interactions in living cells.

Microfluidic Devices for Drug Delivery Systems and Drug Screening.

Microfluidic devices present unique advantages for the development of efficient drug carrier particles, cell-free protein synthesis systems, and rapid techniques for direct drug screening. Compared to bulk methods, by efficiently controlling the geometries of the fabricated chip and the flow rates of multiphase fluids, microfluidic technology enables the generation of highly stable, uniform, monodispersed particles with higher encapsulation efficiency. Since the existing preclinical models are inefficient drug screens for predicting clinical outcomes, microfluidic platforms might offer a more rapid and cost-effective alternative.

Embedded Disposable Functionalized Electrochemical Biosensor with a 3D-Printed Flow Cell for Detection of Hepatic Oval Cells (HOCs).

Hepatic oval cells (HOCs) are considered the progeny of the intrahepatic stem cells that are found in a small population in the liver after hepatocyte proliferation is inhibited. Due to their small number, isolation and capture of these cells constitute a challenging task for immunosensor technology. This work describes the development of a 3D-printed continuous flow system and exploits disposable screen-printed electrodes for the rapid detection of HOCs that over-express the OV6 marker on their membrane.

In-Bag Morcellation as a Routine for Laparoscopic Hysterectomy.

Tissue morcellation during laparoscopic hysterectomy carries the risk of spreading cells from unsuspected malignancy. Contained morcellation inside a bag is supposed to minimize this risk. The present study evaluated routine use of in-bag morcellation during laparoscopic hysterectomy in a consecutive patient cohort ( = 49).