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Background Distal femur replacement (DFR) has become a preferred reconstruction for tumors involving the femur but is associated with known complications. The ACS-NSQIP surgical risk calculator is an online tool developed to estimate postoperative complications in the first 30-days, however, has not been used in patients undergoing DFR. The purpose of this study was determining the utility of the ACS-NSQIP calculator to predict postoperative complications. Methods 56 (30 male, 26 female) patients who underwent DFR were analyzed using the CPT codes: 27,365 (Under Excision Procedures on the Femur and Knee Joint), 27,447 (Arthroplasty, knee, condyle and plateau), 27,486 (Revision of total knee arthroplasty, with or without allograft), 27,487 (Revision of total knee arthroplasty, with or without allograft) and 27,488 (Repair, Revision, and/or Reconstruction Procedures on the Femur [Thigh Region] and Knee Joint). The predicted rates of complications were compared to the observed rates. Results Complications were noted in 30 (54%) of patients. The predicted risk of complications based off the CPT codes were: 27,356 (14%); 27,447 (5%); 27,486 (7%); 27,487 (8%) and 27,488 (12%). Based on ROC curves, the use of the ACS-NSQIP score were poor predictors of complications (27356, AUC 0.54); (27447, AUC 0.45); (27486, AUC 0.45); (27487, AUC 0.46); (27488, AUC 0.46). Conclusions Distal femur arthroplasty performed in the setting of oncologic orthopedics is a complex procedure in a “high risk” surgical group. The ACS-NSQIP does not adequately predict the incidence of complications in these patients and cannot be reliably used in the shared decision-making process.

Patient-specific total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a copy of the bony knee morphology based on a pre-op computer tomography (CT). The images are segmented in 3D and software is utilized through a proprietary process to generate individual total knee implants to recreate the articulating surfaces. The distal condylar valgus angle of the prosthesis is matched anatomically to the distal femur and reversely matched on the tibia with a thicker lateral insert. The implant, a set of patient-specific jigs (PSJ), which are 3D printed in nylon, and a detailed surgical plan are sent to the hospital in one box. The system is available with one solid or two separated medial and lateral PE inserts. There is a cruciate retaining (CR) and posterior stabilized (PS) version available, including various insert thicknesses. The system allows the addition of two different cemented stem extensions if needed at the time of surgery.

SummaryT-cell-engaging immunotherapies have improved the treatment of nodal B-cell lymphoma, but responses vary highly. Future improvements of such therapies require better understanding of the variety of lymphoma-infiltrating T-cells. We employed single-cell RNA and T-cell receptor sequencing alongside quantification of surface proteins, flow cytometry and multiplexed immunofluorescence on 101 lymph nodes from healthy controls, and patients with diffuse large B-cell, mantle cell, follicular, or marginal zone lymphoma. This multimodal resource revealed entity-specific quantitative and spatial aberrations of the T-cell microenvironment. Clonal PD1+TCF7-but not PD1+TCF7+cytotoxic T-cells converged into terminally exhausted T-cells, the proportions of which were variable across entities and linked to inferior prognosis. In follicular and marginal zone lymphoma, we observed expansion of follicular helper and IKZF3+regulatory T-cells, which were clonally related and inversely associated with tumor grading. Overall, we portray lymphoma-infiltrating T-cells with unprecedented comprehensiveness and decipher both beneficial and adverse dimensions of T-cell response.

Footwear bending stiffness is known to positively affect performance in agility maneuvers due to improved energy storage and propulsion based on a stiffer foot–shoe complex. However, the functional properties of the forefoot and midfoot differ. Therefore, the present study investigates the effect of the interface of longitudinal bending stiffness and the ratio of forefoot to midfoot bending stiffness on agility performance and foot biomechanics. A total of 18 male soccer players performed 2 agility tasks in footwear conditions that were systematically modified in forefoot and midfoot bending stiffness. Results revealed that higher longitudinal bending stiffness caused more foot exorotation at the initial ground contact (P P P = .01). In addition, the authors observed decreased forefoot bending (P P P

The goal was to determine the effect of addition of oblique trajectory distal interlock screws to a retrograde intramedullary femoral nail on implant stability (stiffness), cycles to failure and mode of failure. The hypothesis was that addition of oblique screws would increase implant stability and number of loading cycles to failure.Eight matched pairs were tested; one femur implanted with a femoral nail with only transverse distal interlock screws and the other with transverse and oblique interlock screws. Axial compressive load was applied to the femoral head and the gluteal tendon was tensioned vertically to simulate standing or at 45° to the sagittal plane to simulate stair climbing. Loads were cycled to increasing amplitude until failure of fixation (10 mm displacement or 10° rotation).In simulated standing, oblique screw specimen had greater sagittal bending (bowing) than transverse only specimen. Transverse (axial) plane motion was higher in simulated stair climbing in oblique screw specimen. Oblique screw specimen had higher sagittal plane translation at 600 N of load. At 300 N, oblique screw specimen had lower internal-external rotation than transverse only specimen. A larger number of cycles to failure were observed in four oblique screw of seven paired specimen. Failure (10 mm or 10 degrees of motion) was only achieved during simulated stair climbing.Our hypothesis that adding oblique screws improves fixation was rejected. Activities of daily living other than standing may constitute a challenge to fracture fixation; fixation failure occurred at lower loads in simulated stair climbing than standing.

Sacral tumor resection is known for a high rate of complications. Sarcopenia has been found to be associated with wound complications; however, there is a paucity of data examining the impact of sarcopenia on the outcome of sacral tumor resection.Forty-eight patients (31 primary sarcomas, 17 locally recurrent carcinomas) undergoing sacrectomy were reviewed. Central sarcopenia was assessed by measuring the psoas:lumbar vertebra index (PLVI), with the 50th percentile (0.97) used to determine which patients were high (0.97) versus low (0.97).Twenty-four (50%) patients had a high PLVI and 24 (50%) had a low PLVI (sarcopenic). There was no difference (p 0.05) in the demographics of patients with or without sarcopenia. There was no difference in the incidence of postoperative wound complications (odds ratio [OR] = 1.0, p = 1.0) or deep infection (OR = 0.83, p = 1.0). Sarcopenia was not associated with death due to disease (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.04, p = 0.20) or metastatic disease (HR = 2.47, p = 0.17), but was associated with local recurrence (HR = 6.60, p = 0.01).Central sarcopenia was not predictive of wound complications or infection following sacral tumor resection. Sarcopenia was, however, an independent risk factor for local tumor recurrence following sacrectomy and should be considered when counseling patients on the outcome of sacrectomy.

The objective of this investigation was to identify parameters at initial contact that would predict the subsequent maximum ankle inversion angle during cutting movements. We conducted a secondary data analysis and calculated kinematics of 1,400 cuttings performed by 46 male soccer athletes. The movement task consisted of an approach run, followed by a pre-planned cutting movement. A linear mixed regression model was applied to predict the maximum ankle inversion angle during the first 100 ms of ground contact. The prediction was made based on six predictors that describe change-of-direction intensity and foot placement as found to be relevant in the literature. The model explained 62% of the variance of maximum ankle inversion angles. A change of the main predictors (foot rotation, cutting angle and initial ankle inversion) by 1 SD caused a reduction of the subsequent maximum ankle inversion angle by 2.6-4.4°. Regarding the intensity of a change-of-direction movement, cutting angle seems to have a higher influence on maximum ankle inversion angle than approach velocity. With respect to the individual foot positioning, the maximum ankle inversion angle can be reduced by increasing exorotation and eversion of the foot while shifting towards forefoot landing.

Bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) can induce long-term responses in patients with refractory and relapsed B-cell lymphoma. Nevertheless, response rates across patients are heterogeneous, and the factors determining quality and duration of responses are poorly understood. To identify key determinants of response to BsAbs, we established a primary, autologous culture model allowing us to mimic treatment with CD3xCD19 and CD3xCD20 BsAbs within the lymph node microenvironment ex vivo. T cell–mediated killing of lymphoma cells and proliferation of T cells varied significantly among patients but highly correlated between BsAbs targeting CD20 or CD19. Ex vivo response to BsAbs was significantly associated with expansion of T cells and secretion of effector molecules (eg, granzyme B, perforin) but not with expression of T-cell exhaustion (eg, PD1, TIM3) or activation markers (eg, CD25, CD69) or formation of intercellular contacts. In addition, we identified a distinct phenotype of regulatory T cells that was linked to ex vivo response independently from T-cell frequency at baseline. High expression levels of Aiolos (IKZF1), ICOS, and CXCR5 were positively associated with ex vivo response, whereas strong expression of Helios (IKZF2) had an unfavorable impact on ex vivo response to BsAbs. We further showed that lenalidomide, nivolumab, and atezolizumab improved ex vivo response to BsAbs by potentiating T-cell effector functions. In summary, our ex vivo study identified a distinct regulatory T-cell phenotype as a potential contributor to treatment failure of BsAbs and suggests drug combinations of high clinical relevance that could improve the efficacy of BsAbs.

Patient-specific total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a copy of the bony knee morphology based on a pre-op computer tomography (CT). The images are segmented in 3D and software is utilized through a proprietary process to generate individual total knee implants to recreate the articulating surfaces. The distal condylar valgus angle of the prosthesis is matched anatomically to the distal femur and reversely matched on the tibia with a thicker lateral insert. The implant, a set of patient-specific jigs (PSJ), which are 3D printed in nylon, and a detailed surgical plan are sent to the hospital in one box. The system is available with one solid or two separated medial and lateral PE inserts. There is a cruciate retaining (CR) and posterior stabilized (PS) version available, including various insert thicknesses. The system allows the addition of two different cemented stem extensions if needed at the time of surgery.

Introduction Proximal femur replacement (PFR) in the setting of tumor resection is associated with a high rate of postoperative complication. The online American College of Surgeons-National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) surgical risk calculator is approved by the Center of Medicare and Medicaid services to estimate 30-day postoperative complications. This study was to determine if the ACS-NSQIP can predict postoperative complications following PFR. Methods We reviewed 103 (61 male and 42 female) patients undergoing PFR using the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes available in the calculator: 27125 (hemiarthroplasty), 27130 (total hip), 27132 (conversion to total hip), 27134 (revision total hip), 27137 (revision acetabulum), 27138 (revision femur), and 27365 (excision tumor hip). The predicted rates of complications were compared with the observed rates. Results Complications occurred in 54 (52%) of patients, with the predicted risk based on CPT codes: 27125 (21.5%); 27130 (7.8%); 27132 (16.6%), 27134 (17.8%), 27137 (14.4%), 274138 (22.7%), and 27365 (16.2%). The calculator was a poor predictor of complications (27125, area under the curve [AUC] 0.576); (27130, AUC 0.489); (27132, AUC 0.490); (27134, AUC 00.489); (27137, AUC 0.489); (27138, AUC 0.471); and (27365, AUC 0.538). Conclusion Oncologic PFR is known for complications. The ACS-NSQIP does not adequately predict the incidence of complications, and therefore cannot reliably be used in their shared decision-making process preoperative.

Liquid metal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows in a scaled mock-up of a Helium cooled lead lithium blanket have been investigated experimentally in the MEKKA laboratory at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The test section consists of 8 breeder units (BUs) connected two by two at the first wall (FW) through a series of small openings. The large boxes are fed and drained by poloidal manifolds formed by two parallel channels separated by a step-shaped wall, which is electrically conducting. The complexity of the geometry and the strong 3D MHD effects that characterize the flow in the mock-up are at the present time still very challenging for numerical simulations. Therefore, experiments are required to obtain an overview of pressure and velocity distributions in such geometry and to derive scaling laws to extrapolate the results to realistic ITER operating conditions. Pressure differences between several points on the test section have been measured. The influence of magnetic field strength and flow rate on pressure losses in the mock-up has been studied. The largest pressure drops occur along the manifolds. Another significant part of the entire pressure drop comes from flow near the FW, where the liquid metal passes through small gaps into the adjacent BU. This pressure drop between external pairs of BUs is at least 4–5 times larger than that in the internal ones. This suggests an inhomogeneous partitioning of the liquid metal flow among the BUs, which is related to the geometry of the manifold.

For localized extremity soft tissue sarcoma (eSTS), treatment is individualized and each patient needs to be evaluated by a multidisciplinary team at a referral sarcoma center specialized in the care of sarcoma. For a majority of patients, treatment for eSTS involves limb-salvage surgery, with or without the addition of radiation therapy. Surgery should only be performed by surgeons specifically fellowship trained in the resection of eSTS. Surgery alone may be considered for small, low-grade, and superficial tumors as long a wide (≥ 2 cm) margin can be achieved. In cases where a less than wide negative margin can be achieved, radiation therapy should be utilized to facilitate a planned close margin resection to preserve critical structures (such as nerves, blood vessels, and bone) without a significant impact on oncologic outcomes. Soft tissue sarcomas are rare, and as such patients often present following an inadvertent excision. In these situations, we recommend preoperative radiation and wide tumor bed re-excision, as rates of residual tumor can be high in this scenario. While there is large amount of evidence to support the use of radiotherapy to enhance local tumor control, the evidence to support the use of chemotherapy to enhance local tumor control is lacking, and as such cannot be recommended for all patients.

The casein genes are known to be highly variable in typical dairy species, such as cattle and goat, but the knowledge about equine casein genes is limited. Nevertheless, mare milk production and consumption is gaining importance because of its high nutritive value, use in naturopathy, and hypoallergenic properties with respect to cow milk protein allergies. In the current study, the open reading frames of the 4 casein genes CSN1S1 (αS1-casein), CSN2 (β-casein), CSN1S2 (αS2-casein), and CSN3 (κ-casein) were resequenced in 253 horses of 14 breeds. The analysis revealed 21 nonsynonymous nucleotide exchanges, as well as 11 synonymous nucleotide exchanges, leading to a total of 31 putative protein isoforms predicted at the DNA level, 26 of which considered novel. Although the majority of the alleles need to be confirmed at the transcript and protein level, a preliminary nomenclature was established for the equine casein alleles.

The genetic variability of milk protein genes may influence the nutritive value or processing and functional properties of the milk. While numerous protein variants are known in ruminants, knowledge about milk protein variability in horses is still limited. Mare's milk is, however, produced for human consumption in many countries. Beta-lactoglobulin belonging to the protein family of lipocalins, which are known as common food- and airborne allergens, is a major whey protein. It is absent from human milk and thus a key agent in provoking cow's milk protein allergy. Mare's milk is, however, usually better tolerated by most affected people. Several functions of β-lactoglobulin have been discussed, but its ultimate physiological role remains unclear. In the current study, the open reading frames of the two equine β-lactoglobulin paralogues LGB1 and LGB2 were re-sequenced in 249 horses belonging to 14 different breeds in order to predict the existence of protein variants at the DNA-level. Thereby, only a single signal peptide variant of LGB1, but 10 different putative protein variants of LGB2 were identified. In horses, both genes are expressed and in such this is a striking previously unknown difference in genetic variability between the two genes. It can be assumed that LGB1 is the ancestral paralogue, which has an essential function causing a high selection pressure. As horses have very low milk fat content this unknown function might well be related to vitamin-uptake. Further studies are, however, needed, to elucidate the properties of the different gene products.

Arrays of peptides and proteins play an important role in various areas of biomedical and biotechnological research that range from biomarker detection and proteomic screens to drug discovery. Defined arrays of peptides and proteins also facilitate systemic understanding of culturing and studying cells on surfaces. For example, cellular adhesion is a process mediated by the interaction of cell-surface receptors with ligands from the extracellular matrix, which results in the clustering of receptors into focal adhesion complexes. This elaborate and highly regulated process is believed to play a significant role in many essential cellular functions. Most studies involving the signaling of focal adhesion complexes with surface-immobilized proteins have employed defined structures that were conveniently made by conventional microcontact printing.

Self-passivating tungsten based alloys are expected to provide a major safety advantage compared to pure tungsten when used as first wall armour of future fusion reactors, due to the formation of a protective oxide scale, preventing the formation of volatile and radioactive WO3 in case of a loss of coolant accident with simultaneous air ingress. In this work results of isothermal oxidations tests at 800 and 1000 °C on bulk alloy WCr12Ti2.5 performed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and by exposure to flowing air in a furnace are presented. In both cases a thin, dense Cr2O3 layer is found at the outer surface, below which a Cr2WO6 scale and Ti2CrO5 layers alternating with WO3 are formed. The Cr2O3, Cr2WO6 and Ti2CrO5 scales act as protective barriers against fast inward O2− diffusion. The oxidation kinetics seems to be linear for the furnace exposure tests while for the TGA tests at 800 °C the kinetics is first parabolic, transforming into linear after an initial phase. The linear oxidation rates are 2–3 orders of magnitude lower than for pure W.

Am Standort der ehemaligen Munitionsfabrik in Hessisch-Lichtenau/Hirschhagen in Nordhessen wurde im Zuge von Sanierungs- und Sicherungsmasnahmen eine grose Anzahl von Grundwasseraufschlussen hergestellt. Pumpversuche, Probennahmen und Wasserstandsmessungen uber einen Zeitraum von 20 Jahren verbesserten die Kenntnisse des hydrogeologischen Systems. Die Wechselfolge von Sand-, Schluff- und Tonsteinen des Mittleren Bundsandsteins am Standort stellt hydrogeologisch gesehen eine Abfolge von Grundwasserleitern, -geringleitern und -nichtleitern dar. Der Untergrund ist durch Staffelbruche gegliedert und von Storungen und Kluften durchzogen. Er bildet ein inhomogenes, anisotropes System, in dem Wasserbewegungen vor allem entlang von Kluften und wasserwegsamen Storungsbereichen erfolgen. Das Grundwasser befindet sich grosraumig betrachtet in drei unterschiedlichen Zonen, der Hirschhagenzone, der Zwischenzone und dem Hauptgrundwasserstockwerk. Zwischen den Zonen bilden sich bevorzugt an Storungen Flieswege aus. Die oberen Zonen bilden schwebende Grundwasserstockwerke. Das Grundwasser sickert aus diesen Zonen der jeweilig tieferliegenden Zone zu. Bevorzugte Fliesverbindungen entlang von Nord-Sud verlaufenden Storungen wurden in allen drei Zonen nachgewiesen.

We study the clustering of galaxies, as a function of their colour, from Data Release Ten (DR10) of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We select 122,967 galaxies with 0.43 < z < 0.7 into a "Blue" sample and 131,969 into a "Red" sample based on k+e corrected (to z=0.55) r-i colours and i band magnitudes. The samples are chosen to each contain more than 100,000 galaxies, have similar redshift distributions, and maximize the difference in clustering amplitude. The Red sample has a 40% larger bias than the Blue (b_Red/b_Blue = 1.39+-0.04), implying the Red galaxies occupy dark matter halos with an average mass that is 0.5 log Mo greater. Spherically averaged measurements of the correlation function, \xi 0, and the power spectrum are used to locate the position of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature of both samples. Using \xi 0, we obtain distance scales, relative to our reference LCDM cosmology, of 1.010+-0.027 for the Red sample and 1.005+-0.031 for the Blue. After applying reconstruction, these measurements improve to 1.013+/-0.020 for the Red sample and 1.008+-0.026 for the Blue. For each sample, measurements of \xi 0 and the second multipole moment, \xi 2, of the anisotropic correlation function are used to determine the rate of structure growth, parameterized by f\sigma 8. We find f\sigma 8,Red = 0.511+-0.083, f\sigma 8,Blue = 0.509+/-0.085, and f\sigma 8,Cross = 0.423+-0.061 (from the cross-correlation between the Red and Blue samples). We use the covariance between the bias and growth measurements obtained from each sample and their cross-correlation to produce an optimally-combined measurement of f\sigma 8,comb = 0.443+-0.055. In no instance do we detect significant differences in distance scale or structure growth measurements obtained from the Blue and Red samples., Comment: Accepted by MNRAS, typos fixed, references updated

Baade's window (BW) is one of the most observed Galactic bulge fields in terms of chemical abundances. Due to its low and homogeneous interstellar absorption it is considered as a calibration field for Galactic bulge studies. In the era of large spectroscopic surveys, calibration fields such as BW are necessary to cross calibrate the stellar parameters and individual abundances of the APOGEE survey. We use the APOGEE BW stars to derive their metallicity distribution function (MDF) and individual abundances, for $\alpha$- and iron-peak elements of the APOGEE ASPCAP pipeline (DR13), as well as the age distribution for stars in BW. We determine the MDF of APOGEE stars in BW and find a remarkable agreement with that of the Gaia-ESO survey (GES). Both exhibit a clear bimodal distribution. We also find that the Mg-metallicity planes of both surveys agree well, except for the metal-rich part ([Fe/H] >0.1), where APOGEE finds systematically higher Mg abundances with respect to the GES. The ages based on the [C/N] ratio reveal a bimodal age distribution, with a major old population at 10 Gyr, with a decreasing tail towards younger stars. A comparison between APOGEE estimates and stellar parameters, and those determined by other sources reveals detectable systematic offsets, in particular for spectroscopic surface gravity estimates. In general, we find a good agreement between individual abundances of O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Co, and Ni from APOGEE with that of literature values. We have shown that in general APOGEE data show a good agreement in terms of MDF and individual chemical abundances with respect to literature works. Using the [C/N] ration we found a significant fraction of young stars in BW which is in agreement with the model of Haywood et al. (2016)., Comment: 14 pages, 15 figure, accepted for Astronomy&Astrophysics

In 2008–2009 experiments have been performed to investigate liquid metal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows in a scaled mock-up of a helium cooled lead lithium (HCLL) blanket. In order to improve the mechanical stiffness of HCLL blanket modules the design of the stiffening plate between two hydraulically connected breeder units (BUs) has been later modified. In the former design the liquid metal passed from one BU into the adjacent one by flowing through a narrow gap that extended along the entire width of the BU. In the most recent design this opening has been replaced by a series of smaller gaps. Therefore the velocity increases locally owing to the reduced cross-section along the flow path and the liquid metal contracts and expands along magnetic field lines to enter the neighboring BU. These flow conditions are known to create additional MHD pressure losses. In order to estimate the influence of design changes on MHD flow and pressure drop the previous test section has been adapted to the new design. Experimental results show that the modifications of the design at the first wall lead to an increase of pressure drop near the first wall by a factor 3–3.5. As a consequence the total pressure drop becomes larger. The 3D MHD phenomena that occur at the first wall seem to be mainly related to inertia effects that are confined in layers parallel to the magnetic field.

Neurodermatitis (better called atopic dermatitis or atopic eczema, AE) is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder, which often appears already in early childhood and may be associated with a reduced quality of life for affected children. Research in adult patients has shown that AE often is associated with sleep problems. There is, however, little published information regarding this point in childhood. The main target of this paper is to provide an overview of the current evidence for the relation between sleep and AE in early childhood. A systematic literature research was conducted to identify relevant studies. The seven studies detected for this age group show that similar to adults, children with AE have increased sleep problems. They experience reduced sleep efficiency and sleep duration with an increased sleep fragmentation and prolonged sleep onset latency. Moreover, the severity of the disease directly influences the sleep quality. In general, there are few studies, which address the described relations in childhood. Therefore, more systematic research is required in this area. It is important to diagnose and treat chronic skin diseases such as AE early in childhood also to prevent sleep problems and related adverse effects on children's psychological well-being and on future development of children.

The effects of floor space on the trailer and journey time during transport from the farm to the packing plant on indicators of stress (open-mouth breathing, muscle tremors, and skin discoloration) and on the incidence of transport losses (dead on arrival, nonambulatory, noninjured, and nonambulatory, injured) were evaluated in a study involving 160 loads of market-weight pigs (BW 124.7 ± 4.38 kg) using a split-plot design with a 2 × 6 factorial arrangement of treatments: 1) journey time [main plot; short ( 0.05) on the incidence of dead and nonambulatory, injured pigs, or on total transport losses. There were interactions (P 0.05) of journey time. The incidence of open-mouth breathing for the 3 smallest floor spaces was greater (P 0.05) of journey time for the 3 greatest floor spaces. The frequency of skin discoloration was greater (P < 0.001) for pigs transported at the 2 smallest floor spaces compared with the other 4 floor spaces. In summary, short journey time increased the frequency of indicators of stress after unloading at the plant for pigs transported at smaller floor spaces and also increased the incidence of nonambulatory, noninjured pigs at 2 of the 3 smallest floor spaces. However, neither transport floor space nor journey time had an effect on total losses.

Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is the one of the most common sports-related injuries. With its poor healing capacity, surgical reconstruction using either autografts or allografts is currently required to restore function. However, serious complications are associated with graft reconstructions and the number of such reconstructions has steadily risen over the years, necessitating the search for an alternative approach to ACL repair. Such an approach may likely be tissue engineering. Recent engineering approaches using ligament-derived fibroblasts have been promising, but the slow growth rate of such fibroblasts in vitro may limit their practical application. More promising results are being achieved using bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The adipose-derived stem cell (ASC) is often proposed as an alternative choice to the MSC and, as such, may be a suitable stem cell for ligament engineering. However, the use of ASCs in ligament engineering still remains relatively unexplored. Therefore, in this study, the potential use of human ASCs in ligament tissue engineering was initially explored by examining their ability to express several ligament markers under growth factor treatment. ASC populations treated for up to 4 weeks with TGFβ1 or IGF1 did not show any significant and consistent upregulation in the expression of collagen types 1 and 3, tenascin C and scleraxis. While treatment with EGF or bFGF resulted in increased tenascin C expression, increased expression of collagens 1 and 3 were never observed. Therefore, simple in vitro treatment of human ASC populations with growth factors may not stimulate their ligament differentiative potential.

We investigate the effects of potential sources of systematic error on the angular and photometric redshift, z_phot, distributions of a sample of redshift 0.4 0.5, the magnitude of the corrections we apply are greater than the statistical uncertainty in w.

Solid state Raman-spectroscopic results are communicated for: In2Cl3, In5Cl9, InCl2, InCl3, InCl3 · PCl51, InCl3 · NH4Cl, InCl3 · N(C2H5)4Cl, InCl3 · 3 NH4Cl and InCl3 · 3 TlCl. The melt of InCl2 has been studied too. Infrared absorption spectra, mostly in the range 240-700 cm−1, have been determined for the majority of the compounds mentioned above. A detailed study of the binary system In - InCl3 in the range InCl1.75 to InCl2.10 has been made.

This paper describes the Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), marking the completion of the original goals of the SDSS and the end of the phase known as SDSS-II. It includes 11663 deg^2 of imaging data, with most of the roughly 2000 deg^2 increment over the previous data release lying in regions of low Galactic latitude. The catalog contains five-band photometry for 357 million distinct objects. The survey also includes repeat photometry over 250 deg^2 along the Celestial Equator in the Southern Galactic Cap. A coaddition of these data goes roughly two magnitudes fainter than the main survey. The spectroscopy is now complete over a contiguous area of 7500 deg^2 in the Northern Galactic Cap, closing the gap that was present in previous data releases. There are over 1.6 million spectra in total, including 930,000 galaxies, 120,000 quasars, and 460,000 stars. The data release includes improved stellar photometry at low Galactic latitude. The astrometry has all been recalibrated with the second version of the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC-2), reducing the rms statistical errors at the bright end to 45 milli-arcseconds per coordinate. A systematic error in bright galaxy photometr is less severe than previously reported for the majority of galaxies. Finally, we describe a series of improvements to the spectroscopic reductions, including better flat-fielding and improved wavelength calibration at the blue end, better processing of objects with extremely strong narrow emission lines, and an improved determination of stellar metallicities. (Abridged), Comment: 20 pages, 10 embedded figures. Accepted to ApJS after minor corrections

This study evaluated effects of trailer design and season on physical indicators of stress dur- ing loading and unloading and transport losses (dead and nonambulatory pigs) in market-weight pigs (BW = 129.6 ± 0.40 kg). A total of 109 trailer loads of pigs (n = 17,256 pigs) from 1 farm were used in a random- ized complete block design with a 2 × 4 factorial ar- rangement of treatments: 1) trailer design (pot-belly vs. straight-deck) and 2) season (spring vs. summer vs. fall vs. winter). A subset of loads (n = 42) was used to examine effect of distance pigs were moved during loading (short (

Creating biomimetic materials with tailored cellular responses upon engaging with cells is a core challenge in biomaterials, medical devices and tissue regenerative medicine. The cell machinery is enormously complex with precisely regulated cues present in space and time. Fine tuning the spacing between artificial bioactive cues on surfaces has shown to be a crucial design criterium for cells that interact with materials. By adding dynamicity and control over temporal positioning of ligands, stimuli-responsive surfaces of biomaterials and devices open up new opportunities to steer cellular fate and study cellular mechanisms. Supramolecular host-guest interactions are in itself dynamic in nature due to non-covalent interactions between molecules while in addition they allow for the incorporation of guests, whose presence can be changed using external stimuli. This makes them highly attractive for the exploration of cell-interactive surfaces for biological applications. In this thesis strategies to anchor bioactive ligands employing supramolecular hostguest chemistry are presented and discussed in the context of engaging these surfaces with cells. To ensure specific interaction of the bioactive ligands with cells, different surfaces anchoring strategies have been explored in the first part of the thesis. Studying the specific interaction with cells and subsequent triggered cell detachment using electrochemistry is a central part of this thesis and special attention has been given to the development of a suitable platform for performing in vitro cell studies. In the final part of the thesis it becomes evident that when bioactive ligands are noncovalently anchored onto surface the observed cell adhesion temporal dynamics in terms of spreading, shape and cell polarization is distinctively different from surface bearing bioactive ligands covalently. More surprisingly, the cellular response more closely resembles that of cells that are cultured on surfaces with native extracellular matrix protein fibronectin and this finding encourages further research to elicit the underlying mechanisms of this response. In the epilogue a few examples are given to highlight future work on how supramolecular chemistry could be further applied in advancing biomedical devices.

Tungsten is the major candidate material for the armour of plasma facing components in future fusion devices. To overcome the intrinsic brittleness of tungsten, which strongly limits its operational window, a W-fibre enhanced W-composite material (Wf/W) has been developed incorporating extrinsic toughening mechanisms. Small Wf/W samples show a large increase in toughness. Recently, a large sample (50 mm × 50 mm × 3 mm) with more than 2000 long fibres has been successfully produced allowing further mechanical and thermal testing. It could be shown that even in a fully embrittled state, toughening mechanisms as crack bridging by intact fibres, as well as the energy dissipation by fibre-matrix interface debonding and crack deflection are still effective. A potential problem with the use of pure W in a fusion reactor is the formation of radioactive and highly volatile WO3 compounds and their potential release under accidental conditions. It has been shown that the oxidation of W can be strongly suppressed by alloying with elements forming stable oxides. WCr10Ti2 alloy has been produced on a technical scale and has been successfully tested in the high heat flux test facility GLADIS. Recently, W-Cr-Y alloys have been produced on a lab-scale. They seem to have even improved properties compared to the previously investigated W alloys.

Effects of distance moved during loading and floor space on the trailer during transport on the incidence of transport losses (dead and nonambulatory pigs) on arrival at the packing plant were evaluated in a study involving 42 loads of pigs (average BW = 131.2 kg, SD 5.05). A split-plot design was used with a 2 x 6 factorial arrangement of the following treatments: 1) distance moved from the pen to the exit of the building [short (0 to 30.5 m) vs. long (61.0 to 91.4 m)] and 2) transport floor space (0.396, 0.415, 0.437, 0.462, 0.489, or 0.520 m(2)/pig). Loading distance treatments (sub-plots) were compared within transport floor space treatments (main plot). Pigs were loaded at the farm using sorting boards and, if necessary, electric goads, transported approximately 3 h to a commercial packing plant and unloaded using livestock paddles. The number of nonambulatory pigs during loading and the number of dead and nonambulatory pigs at the plant were recorded. Nonambulatory pigs were classified as fatigued, injured, or injured and fatigued. In addition, the incidence of pigs exhibiting signs of stress (open-mouth breathing, skin discoloration, and muscle tremors) during loading and unloading was recorded. There were no interactions (P > 0.05) between distance moved and transport floor space treatments. Moving pigs long compared with short distances during loading increased (P < 0.001) the incidence of open-mouth breathing after loading (24.9 vs. 11.0 +/- 1.03%, respectively) and tended to increase the incidence of nonambulatory pigs during loading (0.32 vs. 0.08 +/- 0.09%, respectively; P = 0.09) and of nonambulatory, injured pigs at the plant (0.24 vs. 0.04 +/- 0.07%, respectively; P = 0.06). However, distance moved did not affect other losses at the plant. Total losses at the plant were greater (P < 0.05) for the 3 lowest floor spaces compared with the 2 highest floor spaces, and pigs provided 0.462 m(2)/pig during transport had similar transport losses to those provided 0.489 and 0.520 m(2)/pig (total losses at the plant = 2.84, 1.88, 1.87, 0.98, 0.13, and 0.98 +/- 0.43% of pigs transported, for 0.396, 0.415, 0.437, 0.462, 0.489, and 0.520 m(2)/pig, respectively). These data confirm previous findings that transport floor space has a major effect on transport losses and suggest that these losses are minimized at a floor space of 0.462 m(2)/pig or greater.

We use Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 photometry and spectroscopy to study a tidal stream that extends over 50 degrees in the North Galactic Cap. From the analysis of the path of the stream and the colors and magnitudes of its stars, the stream is about 20 kpc away at its nearest detection (the celestial equator). We detect a distance gradient -- the stream is farther away from us at higher declination. The contents of the stream are made up from a predominantly old and metal-poor population that is similar to the globular clusters M13 and M92. The integrated absolute magnitude of the stream stars is estimated to be M_r = -7.5. There istentative evidence for a velocity signature, with the stream moving at -40 km/s at low declinations and +100 km/s at high declinations. The stream lies on the same great circle as Complex A, a roughly linear association of HI high velocity clouds stretching over 30 degrees on the sky, and as Ursa Major II, a recently discovered dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Lying close to the same great circle are a number of anomalous, young and metal-poor globular clusters, including Palomar 1 and Ruprecht 106., Comment: ApJ, in press

We present evidence for a substantial overdensity of stars in the direction of the constellations of Hercules and Aquila. The Cloud is centered at a Galactic longitude of about 40 degrees and extends above and below the Galactic plane by at least 50 degrees. Given its off-centeredness and height, it is unlikely that the Hercules-Aquila Cloud is related to the bulge or thick disk. More likely, this is a new structural component of the Galaxy that passes through the disk. The Cloud stretches about 80 degrees in longitude. Its heliocentric distance lies between 10 and 20 kpc so that the extent of the Cloud in projection is roughly 20 kpc by 15 kpc. It has an absolute magnitude of -13 and its stellar population appears to be comparable to, but somewhat more metal-rich than, M92., ApJ (Letters), in press

The third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) took data from 2008 to 2014 using the original SDSS wide-field imager, the original and an upgraded multi-object fiber-fed optical spectrograph, a new near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, and a novel optical interferometer. All the data from SDSS-III are now made public. In particular, this paper describes Data Release 11 (DR11) including all data acquired through 2013 July, and Data Release 12 (DR12) adding data acquired through 2014 July (including all data included in previous data releases), marking the end of SDSS-III observing. Relative to our previous public release (DR10), DR12 adds one million new spectra of galaxies and quasars from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) over an additional 3000 sq. deg of sky, more than triples the number of H-band spectra of stars as part of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), and includes repeated accurate radial velocity measurements of 5500 stars from the Multi-Object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The APOGEE outputs now include measured abundances of 15 different elements for each star. In total, SDSS-III added 2350 sq. deg of ugriz imaging; 155,520 spectra of 138,099 stars as part of the Sloan Exploration of Galactic Understanding and Evolution 2 (SEGUE-2) survey; 2,497,484 BOSS spectra of 1,372,737 galaxies, 294,512 quasars, and 247,216 stars over 9376 sq. deg; 618,080 APOGEE spectra of 156,593 stars; and 197,040 MARVELS spectra of 5,513 stars. Since its first light in 1998, SDSS has imaged over 1/3 of the Celestial sphere in five bands and obtained over five million astronomical spectra., Comment: DR12 data are available at http://www.sdss3.org/dr12. 30 pages. 11 figures. Accepted to ApJS

We present Spitzer observations of thirteen z~6 quasars using the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) and Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS). All the quasars except SDSS J000552.34-000655.8 (SDSS J0005-0006) were detected with high S/N in the four IRAC channels and the MIPS 24um band, while SDSS J0005-0006 was marginally detected in the IRAC 8.0um band, and not detected in the MIPS 24um band. We find that most of these quasars have prominent emission from hot dust as evidenced by the observed 24um fluxes. Their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are similar to those of low-redshift quasars at rest-frame 0.15-3.5 um, suggesting that accretion disks and hot-dust structures for these sources already have reached maturity. However, SDSS J0005-0006 has an unusual SED that lies significantly below low-redshift SED templates at rest-frame 1 and 3.5 um, and thus shows a strong near-IR (NIR) deficit and no hot-dust emission. Type I quasars with extremely small NIR-to-optical flux ratios like SDSS J0005-0006 are not found in low-redshift quasar samples, indicating that SDSS J0005-0006 has different dust properties at high redshift. We combine the Spitzer observations with X-ray, UV/optical, mm/submm and radio observations to determine bolometric luminosities for all the quasars. We find that the four quasars with central black-hole mass measurements have Eddington ratios of order unity.

We have resolved the newly discovered T dwarf SDSS J1534+1615 into a 0.11'' binary using the Keck sodium laser guide star adaptive optics system. With an integrated-light spectral type of T3.5, this binary provides a new benchmark for studying the distinctive J-band brightening previously noted among early and mid-T dwarfs, using two brown dwarfs with different spectral types but having a common metallicity and age and very similar surface gravities. We estimate spectral types of T1.5+/-0.5 and T5.5+/-0.5 for the two components based on their near-IR colors, consistent with modeling the integrated-light spectrum as the blend of two components. The observed near-IR flux ratios are unique compared to all previously known substellar binaries: the component that is fainter at H and K' is brighter at J. This inversion of the near-IR fluxes is a manifestation of the J-band brightening within this individual binary system. Therefore, SDSS 1534+1615 demonstrates that the brightening can be intrinsic to ultracool photospheres (e.g., arising from cloud disruption and/or rapid increase in cloud sedimentation) and does not necessarily result from physical variations among the observed ensemble of T dwarfs (e.g., a range in masses, ages and/or metallicities). We suggest that the apparently large amplitude of the J-band brightening may be due to a high incidence of unresolved binaries and that the true amplitude of the phenomenon could be more modest. This scenario would imply that truly single objects in these spectral subclasses are relatively rare, in agreement with the small effective temperature range inferred for the L/T transition., Comment: ApJ, in press, 26 pages

We discuss the colors of 99,088 galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 1 "main" spectroscopic sample (a flux limited sample, rPet < 17.77, for 1360 deg 2 ) in the rest-frame Stromgren system (uz, vz, bz, yz). This narrow-band (�200 u photometric system, first designed for the determination of effective tem- perature, metallicity and gravity of stars, measures the continuum spectral slope of galaxies in the rest-frame 3200-5800 u wavelength range. We synthesize rest-frame Stromgren magnitudes from SDSS spectra, and find that galaxies form a remarkably narrow locus (�0.03 mag) in the resulting color-color diagram. Using the Bruzual & Charlot population synthesis models, we demonstrate that the position of a galaxy along this locus is controlled by metallicity and age of the dominant stellar popula- tion. The distribution of galaxies along the locus is bimodal, with the local minimum corresponding to an �1 Gyr old single stellar population. The position of a galaxy per- pendicular to the locus is independent of metallicity and age, and reflects the galaxy's dust content, as implied by both the models and the statistics of IRAS detections. Comparison of the galaxy locus in the rest-frame Stromgren color-color diagram with the galaxy locus in the H�-Dn(4000) diagram, utilized by Kauffmann et al. (2003) to estimate stellar masses, reveals a tight correlation, although the two analyzed spectral ranges barely overlap. Furthermore, the rest-frame r i color (5500-8500 u wavelength range) can be "predicted" with an rms of 0.05 mag using the rest-frame Stromgren colors. Overall, the galaxy spectral energy distribution in the entire UV to near-IR range can be described as a single-parameter family with an accuracy of 0.1 mag, or better. This nearly one-dimensional distribution of galaxies in the multi- dimensional space of measured parameters strongly supports the conclusion of Yip et al. (2004), based on a principal component analysis, that SDSS galaxy spectra can be described by a small number of eigenspectra. Furthermore, the rest-frame Stromgren colors correlate tightly with the classification scheme proposed by Yip et al. (2004) based on the first three eigenspectra. Apparently, the contributions of stellar popula- tions that dominate the optical emission from galaxies are combined in a simple and well-defined way. We also find a remarkably tight correlation between the rest-frame Stromgren colors of emission-line galaxies and their position in the Baldwin-Phillips- Terlevich diagram. These correlations between colors and various spectroscopic diag- nostic parameters support earlier suggestions that rest-frame Stromgren photometry offers an efficient tool to study faint cluster galaxies and lowsurface brightness objects without performing time-consuming spectral observations.

In this paper we present the first results of a deep spectroscopic survey of faint quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Southern Survey, a deep survey carried out by repeatedly imaging a 270 deg^2 area. Quasar candidates were selected from the deep data with good completeness over 02.0) at the faint end, indicating a break in the QLF slope. Using a luminosity-dependent density evolution model, we find that the quasar density at M_{g}, Comment: 25 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in AJ

We determine the number counts and z=0-5 luminosity function for a well-defined, homogeneous sample of quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We conservatively define the most uniform statistical sample possible, consisting of 15,343 quasars within an effective area of 1622 deg^2 that was derived from a parent sample of 46,420 spectroscopically confirmed broad-line quasars in the 5282 deg^2 of imaging data from SDSS Data Release Three. The sample extends from i=15 to i=19.1 at z 3. The number counts and luminosity function agree well with the results of the 2dF QSO Survey, but the SDSS data probe to much higher redshifts than does the 2dF sample. The number density of luminous quasars peaks between redshifts 2 and 3, although uncertainties in the selection function in this range do not allow us to determine the peak redshift more precisely. Our best fit model has a flatter bright end slope at high redshift than at low redshift. For z 5-sigma level, must be accounted for in models of the evolution of accretion onto supermassive black holes.