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As a response to the challenge of providing high-quality healthcare services with reasonable costs while the elderly population and the associated chronic diseases increase, SAPHIRE architecture provides an intelligent healthcare monitoring architecture. The monitoring of patients is achieved through a clinical decision support system based on clinical guidelines. SAPHIRE provides the necessary interoperability layers to access the patient's vital signs from wireless medical sensors and the electronic healthcare records of the patient in order to exploit them in the decision process seamlessly. This architecture is presented through two pilot applications: one for the bedside monitoring of cardiac patients at hospitals, and the other for homecare monitoring of the cardiac patients rehabilitated after a revascularisation therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Plasma concentration of retinol is an accepted indicator to assess the vitamin A (retinol) status in cattle. However, the determination of vitamin A requires a time consuming multi-step procedure, which needs specific equipment to perform extraction, centrifugation or saponification prior to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)., Methods: The concentrations of retinol in whole blood (n = 10), plasma (n = 132) and serum (n = 61) were measured by a new rapid cow-side test (iCheck™ FLUORO) and compared with those by HPLC in two independent laboratories in Germany (DE) and Japan (JP)., Results: Retinol concentrations in plasma ranged from 0.033 to 0.532 mg/L, and in serum from 0.043 to 0.360 mg/L (HPLC method). No significant differences in retinol levels were observed between the new rapid cow-side test and HPLC performed in different laboratories (HPLC vs. iCheck™ FLUORO: 0.320 ± 0.047 mg/L vs. 0.333 ± 0.044 mg/L, and 0.240 ± 0.096 mg/L vs. 0.241 ± 0.069 mg/L, lab DE and lab JP, respectively). A similar comparability was observed when whole blood was used (HPLC vs. iCheck™ FLUORO: 0.353 ± 0.084 mg/L vs. 0.341 ± 0.064 mg/L). Results showed a good agreement between both methods based on correlation coefficients of r 2  = 0.87 (P < 0.001) and Bland-Altman blots revealed no significant bias for all comparison., Conclusions: With the new rapid cow-side test (iCheck™ FLUORO) retinol concentrations in cattle can be reliably assessed within a few minutes and directly in the barn using even whole blood without the necessity of prior centrifugation. The ease of the application of the new rapid cow-side test and its portability can improve the diagnostic of vitamin A status and will help to control vitamin A supplementation in specific vitamin A feeding regimes such as used to optimize health status in calves or meat marbling in Japanese Black cattle.

Background: A working and complete knowledge of the different causes of dysfunction and pain after TKA is essential for the ability to correctly determine the cause of failure and to address this problem specifically. The purpose of this study was to update the etiology of implant failure. New diagnosis and current trends should be displayed., Methods: All TKA revisions performed in our institution between 2001 and 2010 were reviewed retrospectively. Patient demographics and the precise indication for the surgery were documented. Descriptive statistical analyses and association analyses of both the diagnosis and patient demographics were performed., Results: Within our collective of 1449 revision TKA a total of 40 different pathologies leading to revision surgery were identified and categorized. Overall 68.5% of the revisions were categorized aseptic, 31.5% as septic implant failure. Some recently debated diagnoses like low-grade-infection showed a high increase in incidence whereas classic failure mechanisms like polyethylene wear showed a decrease over the time., Conclusion: We believe that this study successfully updates the current knowledge of different failure mechanisms in revision TKA, which have to be considered on dysfunction or pain after surgery. We were able to evaluate the clinical relevance of each pathology and could shift from implant related problems like wear to more surgical problems like instability and or malalignment over the last years. With a higher alertness to chronic low-grade-infections the incidence of infection is even increasing., Level of Evidence: Level II, economic and decision analysis., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Reticulomyxids are organotrophic freshwater foraminifers typically placed within the radiation of early monothalamous Foraminifera. Though ubiquitous, reticulomyxids are rarely reported, which may be due both to their concealed life style and to inappropriate isolation techniques. Their taxonomic position is largely based on developmental stages of the life cycle. Here, we describe a new freshwater species, Dracomyxa pallida gen. nov. et sp. nov., isolated from submersed plant material. It has two possible life cycles including small cells, large plasmodia and encysted stages. Both types of development occur simultaneously in cultures derived from a single cell as well as in crude cultures. We amplified and sequenced a short sequence fragment of the 18S rRNA gene of the new isolate. Comparative phylogenetic analysis and molecular characterization indicate that it is a new reticulomyxid species, with Reticulomyxa filosa Nauss, Haplomyxa saranae Dellinger and Wobo gigas Hülsmann as the closest relatives. Unique features such as tripodal pediculated cysts and the lack of cleansing process justify the erection of a new genus., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Background: Rhizaria are a major branch of eukaryote evolution with an extensive microfossil record, but only scarce molecular data are available. The rhizarian species Reticulomyxa filosa, belonging to the Foraminifera, is free-living in freshwater environments. In culture, it thrives only as a plasmodium with thousands of haploid nuclei in one cell. The R. filosa genome is the first foraminiferal genome to be deciphered., Results: The genome is extremely repetitive, and the large amounts of identical sequences hint at frequent amplifications and homologous recombination events. Presumably, these mechanisms are employed to provide more gene copies for higher transcriptional activity and to build up a reservoir of gene diversification in certain gene families, such as the kinesin family. The gene repertoire indicates that it is able to switch to a single-celled, flagellated sexual state never observed in culture. Comparison to another rhizarian, the chlorarachniophyte alga Bigelowiella natans, reveals that proteins involved in signaling were likely drivers in establishing the Rhizaria lineage. Compared to some other protists, horizontal gene transfer is limited, but we found evidence of bacterial-to-eukaryote and eukaryote-to-eukaryote transfer events., Conclusions: The R. filosa genome exhibits a unique architecture with extensive repeat homogenization and gene amplification, which highlights its potential for diverse life-cycle stages. The ability of R. filosa to rapidly transport matter from the pseudopodia to the cell body may be supported by the high diversification of actin and kinesin gene family members., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In September of 1869, while studying sponges off the Norwegian island of Gisoe, Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) discovered a tiny, flagellated ball-shaped organism swimming about in his samples. Appearing first to be the planula larva of an invertebrate marine animal further observation revealed it to be a colony of flagellated cells with a complex life cycle transitioning between multicellular and single-cell stages and several distinct forms of protozoa. Haeckel named it Magosphaera planula (the "magician's ball") and it eventually assumed a central role in his theories of animal evolution, appearing as the modern exemplar of the blastaea stage in his gastraea theory of metazoan evolution. Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth it was an object of considerable scientific interest, and yet it was only ever observed by Haeckel himself and then only the once. Eventually it faded altogether from scientific discussion. This paper traces the rise and fall of Magosphaera as an important epistemic object in the theories of Haeckel and other biologists, and an attempt is made to identify what exactly the organism (or organisms!) was that Haeckel observed in the fall of 1869.

The nuclei of the vampyrellid filose amoeba Lateromyxa gallica were investigated in trophozoites, early digestive cysts, reproductive cysts, and in developing resting cysts. Trophozoites possess numerous, minute, spherical nuclei in interphase. In early digestive cysts the nuclei enlarge and the morphology of the nucleolus changes. The digestive cysts develop into reproductive cysts. Karyokinesis takes place synchronously. The spindle is intranuclear and acentrical. In metaphase, the chromosomes are arranged in a distinct equatorial plate. The nuclear envelope remains intact at least until telophase. Shortly after karyokinesis the trophozoites leave the cysts. Cytokinesis regularly takes place when the trophozoites invade cells of Oedogonium. Under unfavorable conditions the trophozoites as well as the digestive cysts are able to form resting cysts. Nuclei of digestive cysts which begin to develop into resting cysts were found in the pachytene phase of meiosis, proved by synaptonemal complexes. Karyokinesis, probably the second meiotic division, was detected when the resting cyst was almost fully developed. From the results of our investigations, the vampyrellid filose amoebae can be regarded as sexual., (Copyright © 1993 Gustav Fischer Verlag · Stuttgart · Jena · New York. Published by Elsevier GmbH.. All rights reserved.)

The term "undulipodium" was created by Otto Bütschli at the beginning of this century. The literal translation from Latin/Greek to English means: swinging foot. The term was later used not only to overcome the minor differences between cilia and flagella which were thought to be trivial but primarily to argue (i) for the homology of flagella (of flagellates) and pseudopodia (of rhizopods) or (ii) the homology of all flagellar structures detectable in eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms. The current use and traditional use are not the same and the continued use of the term is not supported., (Copyright © 1992 Gustav Fischer Verlag · Stuttgart · Jena · New York. Published by Elsevier GmbH.. All rights reserved.)

Plasmodial veins of Physarum polycephalum were investigated by combining cinematographical and tensiometrical methods. Veins remaining on their original growing substrate show characteristic surface movements resulting from an intrinsic contraction automaticity. Radial and longitudinal components of surface movements were registered simultaneously. Both contraction activities show identical frequencies, in contrast to results derived from experiments with isolated veins. There is only one genuine frequency and therefore one has not necessarily to suppose the existence of a cooperation of two oscillating systems underlying the rhythmic contraction phenomena. The results are discussed in respect to the basis of the contraction phenomena: the cytoplasmic actomyosin fibrils of Physarum and their function in motive force generation for protoplasmic streaming.

Reticulomyxa filosa and the foraminifer Allogromia laticollaris share not only highly dynamic reticulopodia but also a unique cytoskeleton. Similar to Allogromia, the pseudopods of R. filosa contain numerous colinear microtubule (MT)-bundles, which under normal conditions or after experimental stimulation, became transformed into different polymorphic tubulin assemblies, such as helical filaments (hF), linear filaments (Fl) or even paracrystals (PCs). The actin filaments of R. filosa reticulopodia are parallel and enmesh the MT-cables over long distances. As shown after decoration with HMM, their orientation along MT-trunks is unidirectional and at the lamellipodial front, we detected a plaque-like arrangement. Indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) with monoclonal antibodies directed against tyrosinated α-tubulin (Tyr-tubulin) and against detyrosinated α-tubulin (Glu-tubulin) shows clearly that the reticulopodial MTs of R. filosa are exclusively composed of Glu-tubulin. Staining with YOL-34 antibody, directed against fixed tubulin, also reveals the existence of a second MT-subpopulation. Long term treatment (40 h) with 10 μM taxol leads to a remarkable reduction of the Glu-tubulin, favoring the formation of Tyr-MTs. This can be taken to indicate synthesis of new tubulin. Since electrophoresis and western blotting showed no uniformity between the Allogromia and R. filosa tubulin, their posttranslationally modified α-tubulins may be - beside some unknown factors - an important prerequisite for the observed transformational changes. The majority of cytoskeletal MTs never undergo complete disassembly, but reform from a stable intermediary disassembly state (e.g., helical filaments), since Glu-tubulin is thought to be typical for "old" tubulin polymers., (Copyright © 1989 Gustav Fischer Verlag · Stuttgart · New York. Published by Elsevier GmbH.. All rights reserved.)

Plasmodial veins of Physarum polycephalum were investigated by combining cinematographical, morphological, and tensiometrical techniques. Translucent and nontranslucent (thicker) strands remaining in their original position on filter paper were analyzed in respect to their radial contraction cycles and the resulting streaming activity of the endoplasm. A new technique for measuring the flow intensity by a microbalance method allowed testing of the influence of radial contraction on actual streaming processes within a strand. Stationary ectoplasm and flowing endoplasm are involved in a mutual transformation process: thereia an exchange of ectoplasm and endoplasm in the form of protoplasmic streamlets crossing the borderline between the endoplasmic stream and the ectoplasmic tube. Radial contraction cycles show the same time periodicity as the endoplasmic shuttle streaming. Relationships between radial contractions, streaming rates of endoplasm and streamlets between ectoplasm and endoplasm were analyzed. The participation of the ectoplasmic walls in motive force generation and their function in control of streaming throughput is discussed.

The results of enzyme-histochemical and electron-microscopic investigations of a patient with centronuclear myopathy combined with targets, cores and prevalence of type-I fibers are presented. The patient had suffered from perinatal hypoxic brain damage, causing enlargement of the ventricular system, slight frontal atrophy and right-sided hemiparesis. Morphologic investigation of muscle fibers demonstrated dynamic activity of an autophagic system represented by a distinct increase of Golgi components adhering to the nuclear surface. By analysing the lytic events ad their sequences, a postnatal secondary migration of subsarcolemmal nuclei to the central regions of muscle fibers can be postulated.