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Background: Biomarker-based therapies are increasingly used in cancer patients outside clinical trials. Systematic assessment of patient-reported outcomes (PRO) is warranted to take patients' perspectives during biomarker-based therapies into consideration. We assessed the feasibility of an electronic PRO assessment via a smartphone application., Methods: An interdisciplinary expert panel developed a smartphone application based on symptom burden and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) metrics reported in a retrospective analysis of 292 neuro-oncological patients. The app included validated assessments of health-related quality of life (HRQoL), the burden of symptoms, and psychological stress. Feasibility and usability were tested in a pilot study. Semi-structured interviews with patients and health care professionals (HCP) were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed according to Mayring´s qualitative content analysis. Furthermore, we assessed compliance and descriptive data of ePROs., Results: A total of 14 patients have been enrolled, (9 female, 5 male). A total of 4 HCPs, 9 patients, and 1 caregiver were interviewed regarding usability/feasibility. The main advantages were the possibility to complete questionnaires at home and comfortable implementation in daily life. Compliance was high, for example, 82% of the weekly distributed NCCN distress thermometer questionnaires were answered on time, however, with interindividual variability. We observed a median distress score of 5 (range 0-10, 197 results, n = 12, weekly assessed) and a median Global health score of 58.3 according to the EORTC QLQ-C30 instrument (range 16.7-100, 77 results, n = 12, monthly assessed)., Conclusions: This pilot study proved the feasibility and acceptance of the app. We will therefore expand its application during biomarker-guided therapies to enable systematic PRO assessments., Competing Interests: G.T. has served on advisory boards (Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CureVac, Novocure), as a consultant (Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CureVac), as a steering committee member in non-interventional trials (Bayer, Novocure) and financial compensation for all these activities was provided as institutional funding to the University Hospital Tübingen. C.G. is a consultant for Need Inc. A.F. reports honoraria for presentations for BMS, MSD, Novartis, Pierre-Fabre; Travel support and congress participation support from BMS, Pierre-Fabre, Novartis; Advisory Boards from MSD, BMS, Novartis, Pierre-Fabre, Immunocore and institutional funding from BMS Stiftung Immunonkologie, outside the submitted work. The other authors declare no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Neuro-Oncology and the European Association of Neuro-Oncology. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Micro-organisms are known to degrade a wide range of toxic substances. How the environment shapes microbial communities in polluted ecosystems and thus influences degradation capabilities is not yet fully understood. In this study, we investigated microbial communities in a highly complex environment: the capillary fringe and subjacent sediments in a hydrocarbon-contaminated aquifer. Sixty sediment sections were analysed using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) fingerprinting, cloning and sequencing of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA genes, complemented by chemical analyses of petroleum hydrocarbons, methane, oxygen and alternative terminal electron acceptors. Multivariate statistics revealed concentrations of contaminants and the position of the water table as significant factors shaping the microbial community composition. Micro-organisms with highest T-RFLP abundances were related to sulphate reducers belonging to the genus Desulfosporosinus, fermenting bacteria of the genera Sedimentibacter and Smithella, and aerobic hydrocarbon degraders of the genus Acidovorax. Furthermore, the acetoclastic methanogens Methanosaeta, and hydrogenotrophic methanogens Methanocella and Methanoregula were detected. Whereas sulphate and sulphate reducers prevail at the contamination source, the detection of methane, fermenting bacteria and methanogenic archaea further downstream points towards syntrophic hydrocarbon degradation., (© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Society for Applied Microbiology.)

The sensing potential of CuO nanoparticles synthesized via precipitation from a water/ionic liquid precursor (ILP) mixture was investigated. The particles have a moderate surface area of 66 m(2)/g after synthesis, which decreases upon thermal treatment to below 5 m(2)/g. Transmission electron microscopy confirms crystal growth upon annealing, likely due to sintering effects. The as-synthesized particles can be used for ethanol sensing. The respective sensors show fast response and recovery times of below 10 s and responses greater than 2.3 at 100 ppm of ethanol at 200 °C, which is higher than any CuO-based ethanol sensor described so far.

Anaerobic ammonia oxidation (Anammox) has been identified as a new general process-strategy for nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment. In order to evaluate the role and effects of the Anammox process in wetlands, laboratory-scale model experiments were performed with planted fixed bed reactors. A reactor (planted with Juncus effusus) was fed with synthetic wastewater containing 150-200 mg L(-1) NH4+ and 75-480 mg L(-1) NO2(-). Under these operating conditions, the plants were affected by the high ammonia and nitrite concentrations and the nitrogen removal rate fell within the same range of 45-49 mg N d(-1) (equivalent to 0.64-0.70 g Nm(-2)d(-1)) as already reported by other authors. In order to stimulate the rate of nitrogen conversion, the planted reactor was inoculated with Anammox biomass. As a result, the rate of nitrogen removal was increased 4-5-fold and the toxic effects on the plants also disappeared. The results show that, in principle, subsurface flow wetlands can also function as an "Anammox bioreactor". However, the design of a complete process for the treatment of waters with a high ammonia load and, in particular, the realisation of simple technical solutions for partial nitrification have still to be developed.

An adjusted model was developed to analyse measured data of nitrous oxide and nitric oxide fluxes from an arable black earth soil. The existing models for kinetic isotope studies ignore N-trace gas fluxes. The novel model includes both N-gas production by heterotrophic and autotrophic nitrification and N-gas production and consumption by denitrification. Nitrous oxide and nitric oxide production through nitrification was simulated following the 'hole-in-the-pipe' model (4: M.K. Firestone et al. Microbiological basis of NO and N2O production and consumption in soil), N-gas production by denitrification was described with first-order kinetics. The model has been evaluated in a triplicate laboratory experiment, which involved three treatments (glycine, , or -pool labeled) to distinguish the different sources of N2O and NO. Heterotrophic nitrification was negligible, whereas autotrophic nitrification and denitrification occur simultaneously in soils. Nitrification was the main source of NO and N2O in the black earth soil by field capacity (water content: 0.22 g H2O g(-1) soil). The NO release was higher than the N2O release, the N2O/NO ratio was 0.05 in this soil.

In a retrospective analysis of bleeding upper gastrointestinal ulcers we examined the clinical outcome of the patients observed during the period 1989-1991. Out of 452 patients with benign gastric or duodenal ulcers, 85 patients exhibited stigmata of fresh bleeding (5.9% Forrest Ia, 24.7% Ib, 45.9% IIa and 23.5 IIb) and were treated endoscopically by the injection of fibrin sealant with or without additional hypertonic saline plus epinephrine. The endoscopic therapy was repeated until Forrest grade III was reached. Initial endoscopic hemostasis was achieved in all, permanent hemostasis in 85.9%, of the patients treated. The overall bleeding-associated mortality was 7.0%, in 9.4% continued bleeding required surgery. No therapy-associated complications were seen. Interestingly, the fibrin clot appeared to induce rapid healing of ulcers. It may be concluded that fibrin sealing is a complication-free, highly effective endoscopic therapy.