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Introduction: Tissue engineering strategies have attempted to mimic regenerating axons' environment by adding supportive types of cells other than Schwann cell to the nerve allograft. We hypothesized that allografts can be seeded with amniotic fluid-derived stem cells (AFS) to promote nerve regeneration., Methods: ANAs with AFS cells for long-gap nerve repairs were studied using a rat model. A sciatic nerve injury was created and repaired immediately with a rat acellular nerve allograft (ANA) construct alone, an ANA construct seeded with AFS cells, or with an autograft. Walking track analysis and electrophysiology were performed to document the return of motor control at 4 months post injury. Axon morphology on the nerve segments was assessed., Results: In vivo gait analysis showed that the ANA plus AFS cell group had significantly advanced recoveries in overlap distance, paw angle degree, paw drag, stance width, axis distance, and sciatic function index (SFI) compared with ANA alone. The ANA plus AFS cell group also demonstrated greater gastrocnemius compound muscle action potential (CMAP) ratio, sciatic axon diameter, fiber diameter, myelin thickness, G ratio (average axonal diameter (AD)/fiber diameter (FD)), and neuromuscular junction (NMJ) numbers compared to ANA. Discussion . The allograft plus AFS cell group demonstrated significantly improved functional and histological outcomes compared to allograft group alone, showing no significant difference of the nerve regeneration from the autograft group. Thus, AFS cells may be a suitable cell source to replace Schwann cells to support and accelerate peripheral nerve regeneration following large-gap nerve injury., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Xue Ma et al.)

Background: The diagnosis of scabies has become surprisingly frequent in Germany in recent years and the use of scabicides has risen significantly., Objective: The aim of our survey was to determine whether this trend can also be detected among military personnel of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr)., Methods: The study was conducted as a retrospective single-center study over a period of 8 years from 2012 to 2019 in the Department of Dermatology of the Armed Forces Hospital Berlin, Germany. Data were generated from the hospital information system (KIS), which was searched for all scabies-coded diagnoses according to ICD10 code B86 both as outpatients and inpatients. Only first presentations with scabies diagnosis confirmed by dermoscopy or microscopy by a dermatologist were included. Inpatient treatment was required if a patient was not cured after at least three antiscabies treatment cycles in the outpatient setting., Results: The data show that there has been a steady increase in the diagnosis of scabies in Bundeswehr personnel. Moreover, our data show that the number of unsuccessfully treated outpatients increased and required in-hospital treatment., Conclusion: We observed an increase of scabies among German military personnel who represent a typical at-risk group. These results support the observations of an increased incidence of scabies in Germany in general and especially in an at-risk population. With the general increase in scabies cases, there are also increasing numbers of German military personnel who are refractory to treatment, which was largely attributed to inadequate treatment of contact persons and individual treatment errors. Nevertheless, the data also emphasize the low overall prevalence of scabies; therefore, all diagnoses should be confirmed by dermoscopy or microscopy after 14 days whenever possible to rule out the bias of overreporting due to false-positive cases diagnosed only by clinical examination.

We report two cases of borderline leprosy patients, one with scrotal lesions, the other presenting with leprosy on the prepuce with phimosis.

A 76-year old patient with painful erythematous swelling of the right ear was initially treated with antibiotics under the suspected diagnosis of erysipelas. Her failure to respond and a history of previous laryngeal and nasal swelling suggested the possibility of relapsing polychondritis. High dose prednisolone therapy produced marked improvement. Relapsing polychondritis should be considered as a rare, but important differential diagnostic consideration for erysipelas.

Objective: Our objective was to determine the influence of the carbohydrate content of the diet preceding the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in pregnancy on the test results and to evaluate the necessity of the recommended preparatory high-carbohydrate diet., Study Design: Thirty-four women from our outpatient clinic were enrolled in this prospective study. After giving informed consent, each women underwent a 90-min lesson (supervised by a dietary assistant) covering the carbohydrate, protein and fat content of different foods. Women were then randomized and in a crossover design started a diet with either a low or a high carbohydrate content. We were aiming at a carbohydrate intake of 40% in the low-carbohydrate week (LCH) and 50% in the high-carbohydrate week (HCH). Compliance was monitored by a detailed food diary which the women kept and which included the weight of the foods they consumed., Results: The actual dietary intakes as calculated from the food diaries showed that the mean caloric intake was 1801 +/- 314 kcal in the LCH and 2118 +/- 312 kcal in the HCH week (<0.001). During the LCH diet, CH intake was 39 +/- 6.1% and 49 +/- 6.6% in the HCH week (P < 0.001). The carbohydrate intake per kilogram bodyweight was 30 +/- 5.3 kcal vs. 35 +/- 5.2 kcal (P < 0.001). The number of patients diagnosed with gestational diabetes was two in the LCH and three in the HCH week (not significant). The sum of the OGTT values (fasting, 1 h and 2 h) after the LCH was 18.9 +/- 2.1 mmol/l vs. 18.8 +/- 2.1 mmol/l after the HCH (P = 0.51). No differences could be found in both groups regarding the fasting, 1-h, or 2-h glucose values. Including patients with a CH difference of at least 5%, 10%, and 15% carbohydrate between the weeks, we still did not observe any differences in the OGTT sum. We also looked at a possible influence of the CH content of the diet on the day before the test and of the last meal before the OGTT results and observed there was none., Conclusion: This is the first study which has observed the influence of the previous day's meal on the test results. We conclude from our results that the carbohydrate percentage of the preparatory diet did not influence the results of an OGTT, even when we increased the difference in carbohydrate intake stepwise up to 15%. This might indicate that a preparatory diet before the OGTT is not necessary for women with normal nutritional behavior.

Unlabelled: Background Extracellular matrix proteolysis is one of the most important steps in angiogenesis. The urokinase-type plasminogen activator system (uPAS), consisting of the urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), the uPA receptor (uPA-R), and their corresponding inhibitors, PAI-1 and PAI-2, is thought to play a role in this process., Methods: We investigated the expression of the components of uPAS in angiosarcoma (AS, n = 4), Kaposi's sarcoma (KS, n = 31), granuloma pyogenicum (GP, n = 25), angioma (AN, n = 15), and healthy controls (CO, n = 15) with immunohistochemical methods., Results: We found positive immunostaining for uPA-R and uPA in all cases of AS. Only two of four cases were positive for PAI-1, whereas all cases were negative for PAI-2. In KS, we observed positive immunostaining in 16 of 31 (51.6%) cases for uPA-R, in 11 of 31 (35.5%) cases for uPA, in 3 of 31 (9.6%) cases for PAI-1, and in 2 of 31 (6.4%) cases for PAI-2. The GP cases showed the following positive results: 4 of 25 (16%) for uPA-R, 6 of 25 (24%) for uPA, 10 of 25 (40%) for PAI-1, and 11 of 25 (44%) for PAI-2. Four cases (26.6%) of AN were positive for PAI-1 and five cases (25%) for PAI-2. In AN (n = 15), there was staining for neither uPA nor uPA-R. In none of the controls (n = 15) was immunostaining for the components of uPAS found in blood vessels., Conclusions: uPAS is involved in malignant, benign, and reactive proliferative angiomatous lesions, but is absent in normal blood vessels. The upregulation of uPA and its corresponding receptor, uPA-R, in AS and KS supports the hypothesis of the proliferative nature of these lesions; however, the upregulation of the inhibitors (PAI-1 and PAI-2) in benign and reactive proliferative angiomatous lesions (GP and AN) shows how this process may be limited.

Computed tomography (CT) is the first step in the radiological diagnostics of brain emergencies. We intend to study which pathophysiological changes are detected by CT and how CT contributes to prognosis and patient management in acute cerebral ischemia. We review recent publications about the role of CT in acute cerebral ischemia. Ischemic brain edema is associated with a decreased X-ray attenuation. Computed tomography is thus highly sensitive in detecting irreversibly damaged ischemic brain tissue. Patients showing large volumes of ischemic edema, exceeding one third of the middle cerebral artery territory, do not benefit from thrombolysis and have an increased risk of brain hemorrhage. The brain territory at risk from ischemia can be detected by CT angiography. To combine CT with CT angiography is a pragmatic approach which enables carefully directed treatment in acute cerebral ischemia.

Background: The resistance of enterococci against various antimicrobial substances including vancomycin has increased markedly. Since 1989 in the USA in particular high resistance rates against vancomycin have been observed but very few surveillance have been published in Europe. Therefore, we conducted a multicenter study in Germany to obtain information about the incidence and distribution of vancomycin and/or high-level aminoglycoside-resistant enterococci., Methods: A total of 2046 enterococcal isolates were identified and susceptibility-testing was performed according to international guidelines., Results: A total number of 90.5% of the enterococcal isolates were identified as Enterococcus faecalis and 7.8% was Enterococcus faecium. Resistance against ampicillin was detected in 56.6% of the Enterococcus faecium isolates, however, in only one Enterococcus faecalis isolate. High-level resistance against gentamycin or streptomycin was observed in 7.3% and 24.8% of the isolates, respectively. Twelve isolates showed resistance against vancomycin, however, cross resistance with teicoplanin was found in only two isolates., Conclusion: The rate of resistance of enterococci in Germany is still considerably lower than in the United States. Previous vancomycin therapy has been implemented as a risk factor for colonization or infection with vancomycin-resistant enterococci. Continued vigilance, decreased use of vancomycin and strict enforcement of infection control measures are appropriate measures to control the growing problem of resistant enterococci.

Lack of toxicity, excellent solubility and superb biocompatibility make polyethylene glycol (PEG) one of the most popular modifiers of biologicals. The most common method for attachment of PEG is based on modification of amino groups of proteins with methoxy- or succinimide-derivatives of PEG. In the case of proteins with amino groups important for biological activity, this modification can lead to inactivation of proteins. A new strategy for covalent attachment of PEG to carboxylic groups of proteins using O,O-bis-(2-aminopropyl)polyethylene glycol and carbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide-mediated reaction was developed. The reaction is carried out under mild aqueous conditions. The attached PEG serves as a hydrophilic spacer for further bioconjungation with biomolecules and haptens. Lipase from Candida rugosa was used as a model protein. Characteristic data of the modified protein such as activity, isoelectric points and stability were compared with that of the unmodified protein.