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Introduction: The design of early childhood education and care facilities faces the double challenge of creating a stimulating environment for young children and a supportive workplace for staff. The existing body of research suggests that placemaking strategies serve both requirements. A promising approach to meet placemaking needs is the participation of future occupants in the building design., Methods: We pursued a participatory design study with the community of an Austrian kindergarten aiming to inform the future building renovation. We combined novel cultural fiction probes methods with conventional inquiry methods to gather information from children and teachers about their experience of the built environment. Using thematic and content analyzes we explored placemaking needs from different epistemic perspectives and converged findings through iterative exchange., Results: Returns of children and teachers were interconnected and complementary. From a design-oriented perspective, children's experience of place was relatable to spatial, temporo-spatial, and acoustic qualities as well as control needs. From a human-centered perspective, teachers' experience of place was relatable to the needs of feeling embedded, protected, enacted, and socially connected. The converged findings revealed dynamic placemaking processes involving the elements of space, time, and control at different levels., Discussion: Cross-disciplinary collaboration and research consolidation brought forth valuable insights on supportive structures for both children and teachers, facilitated timely knowledge transfer, and converted into design solutions that foster enacted placemaking. Albeit general transferability is limited, findings are interpretable within a solid framework of existing theories, concepts and evidence., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Economidou, Gerner, Pichler, Hartl and Frauenberger.)

Background: High frequency oscillations (HFOs) have attracted great interest among neuroscientists and epileptologists in recent years. Not only has their occurrence been linked to epileptogenesis, but also to physiologic processes, such as memory consolidation. There are at least two big challenges for HFO research. First, detection, when performed manually, is time consuming and prone to rater biases, but when performed automatically, it is biased by artifacts mimicking HFOs. Second, distinguishing physiologic from pathologic HFOs in patients with epilepsy is problematic. Here we automatically and manually detected HFOs in intracranial EEGs (iEEG) of patients with epilepsy, recorded during a visual memory task in order to assess the feasibility of the different detection approaches to identify task-related ripples, supporting the physiologic nature of HFOs in the temporal lobe. Methods: Ten patients with unclear seizure origin and bilaterally implanted macroelectrodes took part in a visual memory consolidation task. In addition to iEEG, scalp EEG, electrooculography (EOG), and facial electromyography (EMG) were recorded. iEEG channels contralateral to the suspected epileptogenic zone were inspected visually for HFOs. Furthermore, HFOs were marked automatically using an RMS detector and a Stockwell classifier. We compared the two detection approaches and assessed a possible link between task performance and HFO occurrence during encoding and retrieval trials. Results: HFO occurrence rates were significantly lower when events were marked manually. The automatic detection algorithm was greatly biased by filter-artifacts. Surprisingly, EOG artifacts as seen on scalp electrodes appeared to be linked to many HFOs in the iEEG. Occurrence rates could not be associated to memory performance, and we were not able to detect strictly defined "clear" ripples. Conclusion: Filtered graphoelements in the EEG are known to mimic HFOs and thus constitute a problem. So far, in invasive EEG recordings mostly technical artifacts and filtered epileptiform discharges have been considered as sources for these "false" HFOs. The data at hand suggests that even ocular artifacts might bias automatic detection in invasive recordings. Strict guidelines and standards for HFO detection are necessary in order to identify artifact-derived HFOs, especially in conditions when cognitive tasks might produce a high amount of artifacts., (Copyright © 2020 Thomschewski, Gerner, Langthaler, Trinka, Bathke, Fell and Höller.)

Aims: Intracranially recorded high-frequency oscillations (>80 Hz) are considered a candidate epilepsy biomarker. Recent studies claimed their detectability on the scalp surface. We aimed to investigate the applicability of high-frequency oscillation analysis to routine surface EEG obtained at an epilepsy monitoring unit. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed surface EEGs of 18 patients with focal epilepsy and six controls, recorded during sleep under maximal medication withdrawal. As a proof of principle, the occurrence of motor task-related events during wakefulness was analyzed in a subsample of six patients with seizure- or syncope-related motor symptoms. Ripples (80-250 Hz) and fast ripples (>250 Hz) were identified by semi-automatic detection. Using semi-parametric statistics, differences in spontaneous and task-related occurrence rates were examined within subjects and between diagnostic groups considering the factors diagnosis, brain region, ripple type, and task condition. Results: We detected high-frequency oscillations in 17 out of 18 patients and in four out of six controls. Results did not show statistically significant differences in the mean rates of event occurrences, neither regarding the laterality of the epileptic focus, nor with respect to active and inactive task conditions, or the moving hand laterality. Significant differences in general spontaneous incidence [WTS(1) = 9.594; p = 0.005] that indicated higher rates of fast ripples compared to ripples, notably in patients with epilepsy compared to the control group, may be explained by variations in data quality. Conclusion: The current analysis methods are prone to biases. A common agreement on a standard operating procedure is needed to ensure reliable and economic detection of high-frequency oscillations., (Copyright © 2020 Gerner, Thomschewski, Marcu, Trinka and Höller.)

Reliable characterization of exposure is indispensable for ecological risk assessment of chemicals. To deal with mixtures, several approaches have been developed, but their relevance for predicting ecological effects on communities in the field has not been elucidated. In the present study, we compared nine metrics designed for estimating the total toxicity of mixtures regarding their relationship with an effect metric for stream macroinvertebrates. This was done using monitoring data of biota and organic chemicals, mainly pesticides, from five studies comprising 102 streams in several regions of Europe and South-East Australia. Mixtures of less than 10 pesticides per water sample were most common for concurrent exposure. Exposure metrics based on the 5% fraction of a species sensitivity distribution performed best, closely followed by metrics based on the most sensitive species and Daphnia magna as benchmark. Considering only the compound with the highest toxicity and ignoring mixture toxicity was sufficient to estimate toxicity in predominantly agricultural regions with pesticide exposure. The multisubstance Potentially Affected Fraction (msPAF) that combines concentration and response addition was advantageous in the study where further organic toxicants occurred. We give recommendations on exposure metric selection depending on data availability and the involved compounds.

Objective: Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune disease complex of unknown aetiology. There is no curative treatment for SS, however, in recent years the influence of nutrients on autoimmune processes has attracted increasing attention. LongoVital (LV) (DK. Reg. No. 5178/75) is an herbal-based tablet enriched with the recommended daily doses of vitamins. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether 4 months' daily intake of LV as compared to placebo would affect clinical and laboratory disease parameters in patients with SS., Methods: Forty patients with SS participated in a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised, clinical, 8 month cross-over study. Group A (n = 22) received LV during the first 4 months and Group B (n = 18) LV during the last 4 months., Results: The unstimulated salivary flow rate increased during the LV period in Group A (p < 0.001). The stimulated salivary flow rate increased in Group B during the LV period (p < 0.05), and in Group A during the subsequent 4 months on placebo (p < 0.05). The rose bengal score decreased in Group B during (p < 0.01) and in Group A after the LV intake (p < 0.05). During the last 4 months of the study both groups showed an increase in serum levels of alpha-amylase (total: Group A, p < 0.01; Group B, p < 0.05; pancreatic fraction: Group A, p < 0.0001; Group B, p < 0.01) and in serum levels of IgM (Group A and B: p < 0.001), while levels of circulating immune complexes decreased (Group A, p < 0.05; Group B, p < 0.001)., Conclusion: It is concluded that LV has a beneficial and prolonged effect on some of the clinical and immunoinflammatory disease markers in SS.

Purpose: To describe patient characteristics, risk of recurrence, and survival in patients with premalignant and malignant melanocytic lesions of the conjunctiva., Methods: In a retrospective study, 55 cases with a minimum follow-up of 10 years were reviewed., Results: The actuarial 5-and 10-year survival rates were 86% (95% Cl: 76-96%) and 73% (95% Cl: 60-87%) respectively. The 5-year risk of local recurrence was 35% (95% Cl: 21-49%), and the 10-year risk was 43% (95% Cl: 28-58%). Primary acquired melanosis with atypia was the first manifestation in 13 cases, malignant melanoma in 42 cases. No significant difference in survival and recurrence was found between the two groups or by gender, location of primary lesion, histological characteristics, or extent of surgical procedure. A minimum incidence of 0.052 cases a year per 100 000 in Denmark was calculated., Conclusion: The results are estimated to represent a nationwide sample of patients. No prognostic factors of significance were identified.

The accuracy and sensitivity of radiographic assessments of reactive processes in dental tissues were evaluated by comparison of radiographs and histologic sections. Experimental lesions inflicted on the roots of 10 monkey incisors had been observed by means of serially obtained radiographs over a period of 315 to 370 days. The material was used for evaluation of radiographic assessment of ankylosis. For comparative purposes, assessment of the experimental lesion penetrating to the pulp and periapical radiolucency was added. True and falsely positive or negative recordings formed the basis for calculation of the accuracy and sensitivity of the radiographic assessment. The sensitivity, or the observers' ability to detect the actual changes, was high for pulp penetration, intermediate for inflammation, and low for ankylosis.

A total of 14 teeth were transplanted to simulated alveolar clefts in 5 monkeys. Autogenous cancellous bone was grafted to the cleft together with the tooth in ten instances. Healing processes were observed 216 or 271 days postoperatively. Another group of four teeth were transplanted in the cleft areas 133 days after bone grafting. These teeth were observed for 138 days before sacrifice. Radiological and histological findings support previous reports on adverse effects to dental tissues when placed in direct contact with fresh transplanted bone. Root resorption and ankylosis occurred to a large extent. Establishment of a normal periodontal membrane could, however, be observed when the tooth was transplanted to an area grafted 4 months previously. An interval before tooth transplantation allowing the cancellous graft to organize and bone to remodel seems to be indicated.

The risk for dental hygienists to contract HIV and hepatitis B infection at work was studied in an international cohort of 167 dental hygienists from 13 countries. A significant proportion of the hygienists had taken care of HIV-positive patients or patients known to be at risk for contracting HIV infection. None of the hygienists had antibodies to HIV. Five hygienists who came from or worked in high-endemic areas for hepatitis B infection had antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen, consistent with previous infection with hepatitis B virus. The study is in agreement with previous reports on blood-borne infections among health care workers, concluding that the risk for dental hygienists of contracting HIV and hepatitis B infection is minimal.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a new disease which has recently alerted the medical world. AIDS may also concern dental practitioners and oral surgeons who may be the first to suspect impairment of immunity in patients presenting opportunistic oral infections. Extraordinary resistance to treatment of dental infections, such as encountered in a 27-year-old man developing AIDS, could also be a sign of immunodepression. Epidemiological features of AIDS indicate transmissibility, and interim recommendations for prevention of spread correspond to the measures appropriate for hepatitis B.

Reduction mammaplasty was performed on 365 patients using the technique of Pers and Bretteville-Jensen. Two to 13 years after the operation, the patients were asked to complete questionnaires; the answers were analyzed and compared with answers from a smaller group of patients who had undergone surgery with McKissock's technique. Primary complications to the procedure were few, and it is remarkable that total necrosis of the nipple was absent in the series. More than 80% of the patients had their general expectations fulfilled, but one third in both groups found the resulting scars unacceptable. The character of the scars seems to be more important than the location. Primary complications were more frequent in overweight patients, and preoperative weight regulation is recommended. An improvement in the character of scars after reduction mammaplasty would be beneficial, and detailed preoperative information is essential if postoperative disappointment is to be avoided.