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Abstract Background The recent worldwide increase in malaria cases highlights the need for renewed efforts to eliminate malaria. The World Health Organization advocates that malaria surveillance becomes a core intervention. Current methods to estimate the malaria burden rely on clinical malaria case reports and surveys of asymptomatic parasite infection mainly from children

Abstract With the rise and ever-increasing potential of deep learning techniques in recent years, publicly available medical datasets became a key factor to enable reproducible development of diagnostic algorithms in the medical domain. Medical data contains sensitive patient-related information and is therefore usually anonymized by removing patient identifiers, e.g., patient names before publication. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to show that a well-trained deep learning system is able to recover the patient identity from chest X-ray data. We demonstrate this using the publicly available large-scale ChestX-ray14 dataset, a collection of 112,120 frontal-view chest X-ray images from 30,805 unique patients. Our verification system is able to identify whether two frontal chest X-ray images are from the same person with an AUC of 0.9940 and a classification accuracy of 95.55%. We further highlight that the proposed system is able to reveal the same person even ten and more years after the initial scan. When pursuing a retrieval approach, we observe an mAP@R of 0.9748 and a precision@1 of 0.9963. Furthermore, we achieve an AUC of up to 0.9870 and a precision@1 of up to 0.9444 when evaluating our trained networks on external datasets such as CheXpert and the COVID-19 Image Data Collection. Based on this high identification rate, a potential attacker may leak patient-related information and additionally cross-reference images to obtain more information. Thus, there is a great risk of sensitive content falling into unauthorized hands or being disseminated against the will of the concerned patients. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous chest X-ray datasets have been published to advance research. Therefore, such data may be vulnerable to potential attacks by deep learning-based re-identification algorithms.

ABSTRACT: Broiler meat is the predominant source of Salmonella as a foodborne pathogen. Several control strategies have focused on the reduction of Salmonella spp. levels at different production stages. However, the persistence of Salmonella between consecutive flocks is still of great concern. This study was designed to understand the cause of reinfection in broiler flocks due to survival of Salmonella in feeding lines of related matrices. Salmonella (S.) Enteritidis, S. Infantis, and S. Typhimurium isolated from broiler farms in North-West Germany were used. Four types of matrices (phosphate buffer saline (PBS), dietary plant fat, fat with feed mixture, and feed) were applied to evaluate Salmonella survival (with the initial dose about 8.0 log10 CFU/mL) during a simulation of 4 production cycles. To evaluate the growth and survival status of Salmonella ISO 6579-1:2017 were performed (quantitatively by plate count method (PCM) and most probable number method (MPN)) and qualitatively) at 5 defined time points (−7, 0, 4, 7, and 35 d). In all matrices and for the 3 serovars, the Salmonella count decreased at the end of the fourth cycle in comparison to the beginning of the experimental infection, and was still cultivated except for fat matrix. The PBS matrices showed the highest survival level of Salmonella and did not decline drastically by the end of the fourth cycle (5.93 ± 0.00, 5.87 ± 0.02, 5.73 ± 0.05 log10 CFU/mL, respectively). However, the fat matrices showed the lowest survival level for the 3 isolates at d 35 since the first cycle (0 log10 CFU/mL using PCM). Regarding the fat-feed mixture, and feed matrices, there was a fluctuation in the survival rate of Salmonella (all serovars) within each cycle. For the qualitative method, the 3 serovars persisted in all matrices until the end of the fourth cycle except for fat matrices. The present study highlights the ability of Salmonella to survive for a long time in different temperatures and matrices despite efficient cleaning and disinfection processes in the feeding lines, which may influence reinfection with Salmonella in poultry houses.

Abstract Second malignant neoplasms (SMN) after primary childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are rare. Among 1487 ALL patients diagnosed between 1981 and 2010 in Austria, the 10‐year cumulative incidence of an SMN was 1.1% ± 0.3%. There was no difference in the 10‐year incidence of SMNs with regard to diagnostic‐, response‐ and therapy‐related ALL characteristics except for a significantly higher incidence in patients with leukocytes ≥50.0 G/L at ALL diagnosis (2.1% ± 1.0% vs. 0% for 20.0–50.0 G/L, and 1.0% ± 0.3% for

Abstract Isotropic polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) composites filled with the magnetic fillers strontium ferrites (SrFeO) and neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) at two concentrations of 52 vol.% and 60 vol.% were prepared by the injection molding technique without use of an external magnetic field. Frequency sweeps shows that the mechanical frequency has little influence on the strength of all PPS samples and only ensures a higher mobility of the PPS chain ends at high frequency. Increasing the magnetic filler content and the use of NdFeB instead of SrFeO provide the PPS composites a larger structural robustness making them more resistant to mechanical loads and mechanically more stable. The temperature behavior of the PPS composites shows independently of the filler a strong softening from 80 °C. Nevertheless, larger operating temperatures below the glass transition temperature appear realistic.

Objective: Klinefelter syndrome (KS) is associated with increased risk of thrombosis. Hypogonadism and accumulating body fat in KS have a potential i mpact on fibrinolysis. In this study, we assessed the fibrinolytic system and the assoc iation with testosterone levels in KS. Design: This study is a cross-sectional comparison of men with KS and age-matched male controls. Methods: Fibrin clot lysis was evaluated by turbidity measurements and by measuring levels of individual fibrinolytic proteins in plasma samples. Fi brin clot structure was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. Total testosterone was measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Body fat was evaluated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results: In this study, 45 men with KS and 45 age- and education-matched controls were included. Men with KS had a 24% reduction in fibrin clot lysis c ompared with controls (46.2 ± 17.1 vs 60.6 ± 18.8 %/h, P = 0.0003) and higher levels of fibrinogen, factor XIII (P ≤ 0.01), and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (P = 0.04). Men with KS had lower total testosterone (P = 0.008) and higher body fat (P = 0.001). In KS, reduced fibrin clot lysability was associated with higher fibrinogen and body f at related to decreasing total testosterone and hypogonadism among men with KS. Fibrin clot structure was not different compared to KS and controls. Conclusions: Fibrin clot lysis in KS was markedly reduced, potentially contributing to a prothrombotic state and increasing thrombotic risk. Hypogonadism in KS was associated with increased fibrinogen and total body fat, predicting reduced fibrin clot lysis.

Abstract Bio-inspired conductive scaffolds composed of sodium hyaluronate containing a colloidal dispersion of water-miscible polyaniline or polypyrrole particles (concentrations of 0.108, 0.054 and 0.036% w/w) were manufactured. For this purpose, either crosslinking with N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl-N-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride and N-hydroxysuccinimid or a freeze-thawing process in the presence of poly(vinylalcohol) was used. The scaffolds comprised interconnected pores with prevailing porosity values of ~ 30% and pore sizes enabling the accommodation of cells. A swelling capacity of 92–97% without any sign of disintegration was typical for all samples. The elasticity modulus depended on the composition of the scaffolds, with the highest value of ~ 50 kPa obtained for the sample containing the highest content of polypyrrole particles. The scaffolds did not possess cytotoxicity and allowed cell adhesion and growth on the surface. Using the in vivo-mimicking conditions in a bioreactor, cells were also able to grow into the structure of the scaffolds. The technique of scaffold preparation used here thus overcomes the limitations of conductive polymers (e.g. poor solubility in an aqueous environment, and limited miscibility with other hydrophilic polymer matrices) and moreover leads to the preparation of cytocompatible scaffolds with potentially cell-instructive properties, which may be of advantage in the healing of damaged electro-sensitive tissues.