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Nearly one-third of all infants with epilepsy develop drug-resistant epilepsy. Although epilepsy surgery is a well-established therapy across all age groups, there might be a reluctance to operate on infants in the first six months of life due to unique surgical and anesthesiologic difficulties.We performed a meta-analysis and systematic review to assess the outcome and complication rate of epilepsy surgery in infants operated on ≤ six months of life.158 infants underwent epilepsy surgery, most frequently a hemispherotomy rather than focal surgery. Overall seizure freedom after surgery was 65.6% [CI: 0.5785; 0.7261], with higher seizure-free rates following hemispherotomy (71%) than after focal surgery (58%). Complications occurred in 27.7% [0.1794; 0.4004] of patients. Most prevalently, a hydrocephalus developed in 20 out of 136 cases (14.71%). Anti-seizure medication (ASM) was discontinued in 21.5% [0.1431; 0.3100] and reduced in 85.9% [0.515; 0.9721] of 93 patients postoperatively. 84.6% of infants displayed cognitive impairment (development quotient (DQ)85) preoperatively. After surgery, there was a trend toward a cognitive gain. However, cognitive gain was seen almost exclusively in seizure-free patients.Excellent seizure control can be achieved with epilepsy surgery in the first six months of life, a large proportion of patients are able to reduce or discontinue ASM. Data regarding cognitive outcome are promising, but also show that the primary goal should be to achieve seizure freedom. Given the more difficult surgical conditions, epilepsy surgery in the first six months of life should only be performed in specialized epilepsy centers.

Nano-/microplastics (NP) is a human-made emerging contaminant with worldwide occurrence. The small size (below one micrometer), the different chemical nature and the persistence make NP to potential hazards with suspect probability of tissue penetration and inflammation or as accumulator for toxins. A strategy to stop the spill of novel NP is the remediation from waste water or rivers as prominent distributors. We have developed core–shell superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) that attract NP and glue them to larger agglomerates which then can be removed from water by applying an external magnetic field. The shell molecules provide two interaction motifs towards NP. The tuned surface potential of the functionalized SPIONs attract complementary charged NP efficiently and the n-alkyl chain is dedicated to preferential interaction towards organic NP rather than inorganic particles. Structural analytics and molecular dynamics simulation support the proposed concept. Systematic remediation experiments with different NP (chemical structures, sizes and mixtures), from different waters – including river water – and with different SPION core materials indicate a universal validity of the concept, with best remediation performance for mixed NP. We suggest a method for broadband remediation of various NP with simple materials and processes, which both have the potential to be up-scaled.

Peer reviewed: True, Acknowledgements: The authors are specially grateful towards the staff of Château Latour for their support of the project. They would also like to thank the French meteorological agency Météo-France for providing the necessary weather data, as well as the online wine merchant IDealwine for their auction prices data. Two reviewers should also be thanked for their insightful comments., Each grapevine cultivar needs a certain amount of cumulated heat over its growing season for its grapes to ripen properly. In the 20th century’s Bordeaux vineyard, the average growing season temperature was not always sufficient, thus higher than usual summer temperatures were on average linked with higher grape and wine quality. However, over the last 60+ years, global warming gradually increased the vineyard’s temperatures up to the point where additional growing season heat is not required anymore, and can even become detrimental to wine quality: hence the positive effect of higher-than-usual summer temperatures has progressively vanished. In this context, it is unknown whether any weather variable is still a good predictor of a vintage’s quality. Here we provide a predictive model of wine prices, based only on weather data. We establish that it predicts a vintage’s long-term quality more accurately than a world-class expert rating this same vintage in the year following its production. We first design a corpus of features suited to the grapevine lifecycle to extract from them the most powerful drivers of wine quality. We then build a predictive model that leverages Local Least Squares kernel regression (LLS) to factor in the time-varying nature of climate impact on the grapevine. Hence, it is able to outperform previous models and even provides a better predictive ranking of successive vintages than the grades given by world-famous wine critic Robert Parker. This predictive power demonstrates that weather is still a very efficient predictor of wine quality in Bordeaux. The two main features on which this model is built—following grapevine’s phenological calendar and using an LLS architecture to let the input-output relationship vary over time—could help model other agricultural systems amidst climate change and adaptation of production processes.

Transcranial color-coded duplex sonography (TCCS) and computed tomography angiography (CTA) are widely used to identify intracranial stenoses (ISs). We assessed concordance of IS grading between TCCS and CTA and proposed new TCCS criteria for severe IS ≥70%. One hundred two stroke patients (70 ± 13 y) with TCCS-identified IS were included. TCCS and CTA were performed within 24 h after admission. TCCS peak systolic velocity cutoffs for

The field of International Business (IB) has traditionally focused on the crossing of national boundaries. In this Perspective, we argue that organizational, knowledge domain, and language boundaries are equally important for understanding translation activities in cross-border business. We integrate three kinds of translation (organizational translation and knowledge translation from Organization Studies and interlingual translation from Translation Studies) to deepen our understanding of core IB phenomena and pose new research questions. We introduce the framework of a translation ecosystem for integrating the micro perspective of translating agents, the meso perspective of organizational units, and the macro perspective of the larger social and linguistic contexts that influence translation. This framework allows IB scholars to identify important but invisible boundaries in cross-border business. The translation ecosystem requires the kind of multi-level research that has been recognized as crucial for taking the field forward and offers the potential for making contributions both to IB and to translation research beyond the disciplinary boundaries of IB. publishedVersion

MELAS-syndrome (mitochondrial myopathy, encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes) is a multisystem disorder with various presentations. Common clinical manifestations include stroke-like episodes, encephalopathy with seizures, muscle weakness, recurrent headaches and vomiting, hearing impairment, and short stature. Uncommon clinical presentations like cerebral venous thrombosis, which is almost unprecedented for MELAS-syndrome, impede correct diagnosis. We describe a novel presentation of MELAS-syndrome with severe cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) and inflammation with a vasculopathy that affects the venous system as well. This case does not only extend the clinical spectrum of a multifaceted disease, but offers new clues for the pathomechanism of MELAS-syndrome.

The success of service innovations is intertwined with firms' capabilities to coordinate, orchestrate, and collaborate with a set of external actors. Adopting an ecosystem and dynamic capability perspective, this article examines ecosystem-related capabilities for developing service innovation in product-centric firms. The research uses a mixed-methods approach focusing on the energy utility sector: (1) a survey with 133 managers from 28 firms that allows a comparison of ecosystem-related capabilities between firms with high and low service-innovation intensity; and (2) a complementary interview study with 8 of these firms that have high service-innovation intensity, allowing a detailed understanding of the relevant ecosystem-related capabilities to be developed. From the data we derive a set of 12 ecosystem-related capabilities for service innovation related to the sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring of external resources. The results indicate that firms with high service-innovation intensity possess significantly stronger ecosystem-related capabilities than firms with lower service-innovation intensity. Those firms also seem to sense and seize external opportunities and resources to a greater extent in order to reconfigure their service-related ecosystems. The findings also show that successful service innovators consider not only value-adding partnerships, such as suppliers and customers, to be relevant for service innovation, but also relationships with non-direct value-adding ecosystem stakeholders (e.g., local governments, communities, legislators).

Research policy 48(6), 1323-1339 (2019). doi:10.1016/j.respol.2019.01.013, Published by Elsevier, Amsterdam

Wheat dough was produced in a rheometer by applying consecutive stress-relaxation steps with alternating direction of shear. A well-defined stress environment prevented separation of gluten and starch during shearing and allowed instantaneous determination of dough properties. Relaxation spectra of each relaxation step were used to determine the optimum dough development time. The spectra were correlated to rheological properties of standard dough that was mixed in a z-blade mixer. The correlation showed R2s between 0.82 and 0.96. The dough development time as indicated by the relaxation spectra was comparable to standard dough. The evaluation of CLSM micrographs confirmed the results from the spectra. Imitated proofing and baking in the rheometer delivered inconsistent results due to an uncontrollable system by yeast leavening. In the current stage the proposed microscale shear mixing (MSSM) technique can be a reliable method for the rapid evaluation of flour and dough properties.

According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the second most important cause of death in Europe. Due to its manifold manifestations, it is not possible to treat all patients according to a uniform scheme. However, all solid tumors have one thing in common: independent of the tumor’s molecular subgroup and the treatment protocol, the immune status of the tumor, especially the amount of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), is important for the patient’s clinical outcome – the higher the number of TILs, the better the outcome. For this reason it seems desirable to increase the number of TILs. One way to accumulate T cells in the tumor area is to make them magnetizable and attract them with an external magnetic field. Magnetization can be achieved by superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) which can be bound to the cells’ surface or internalized into the cells. For this study, SPIONs with different coatings were synthesized and incubated with immortalized mouse T lymphocytes. SPIONs only stabilized with lauric acid (LA) coated in situ or afterwards showed high toxicity. Addition of an albumin layer increased the biocompatibility but reduced cellular uptake. To increase the cellular uptake the albumin coated particles were aminated, leading to both higher uptake and toxicity, dependent on the degree of amination. In the presence of an externally applied magnetic field, T cells loaded with selected types and amounts of SPIONs were guidable. With this promising pilot study we already can demonstrate that it is possible to attract SPION bearing T cells by an external magnet. To sum up, biocompatibility and uptake of SPIONs by T cells are opposing events. Thus, for the functionalization of T cells with SPIONs the balance between uptake and toxicity must be evaluated carefully.

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed firms, organisations and their respective supply chains which are directly involved in the manufacturing of products that are critical to alleviating the effects of the health crisis, collectively referred to as the Crisis-Critical Sector,to unprecedented challenges. Firms from other sectors, such as automotive, luxury and home appliances, have rushed into the Crisis-Critical Sector in order to support the effort to upscale incumbent manufacturing capacities, thereby introducing Intellectual Property (IP)related dynamics and challenges. We apply an innovation ecosystem perspective on the Crisis-Critical Sector and adopt a novel visual mapping approach to identify IP associated challenges and IP specific dynamic developments during and potentially beyond the crisis.In this paper, we add methodologically by devising and testing a visual approach to capturing IP related dynamics in evolving innovation ecosystems and contribute to literature on IP management in the open innovation context by proposing paraground IP as a novel IP type.Finally, we also deduce managerial implications for IP management practitioners at both incumbent firms and new entrants for navigating innovation ecosystems subject to crisis-induced dynamic shifts.

Decentralized feed-in of solar thermal gains can contribute to the decarbonisation and flexibilisation of modern district heating networks. This paper presents the design, the control concept and measurement results of two solar thermal feed-in substations. Recommendations for future network feed-in substation are derived by analyzing and comparing the operation behavior as well as energy flows. The method used to analyze the different substations and the used characteristic performance parameters are introduced.