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Over the last century, there has been a steady development of new technologies for intraoperative tissue identification and differentiation. The applications are varied, with the core purpose being to identify target structures while preserving adjacent tissue and thereby follow a general paradigm of minimally invasive medicine. Particularly in oncology, a further asset of these technologies is the identification or classification of neoplastic tissue to support and improve therapy, for example, in breast cancer surgery.Many technologies under consideration make use of the different physical characteristics of treated tissues, such as induced fluorescence, optical coherence, and electrical impedance.Recent developments are focusing on moving from ex vivo to in situ and from asynchronous to real-time assistance of the clinicians, for example, by means of optical emission spectroscopy. Refinements of existing and the creation of new methods will include AI tools to make them more powerful while reducing the inter-operator variability in operative interventions. This talk addresses several aspects of the usage and suitability of these technologies for intraoperative, therapy-supporting application., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

Background: Escherichia coli bacteria capable of producing the toxin Stx2e and possessing F18-fimbriae (edema disease E. coli, EDEC) are considered causative agents of porcine oedema disease. This disease, which usually occurs in piglets shortly after weaning, has a high lethality in affected animals and can lead to high economic losses in piglet rearing. The aim of this cross-sectional field study was to determine the prevalence of EDEC in weaned piglets in Germany at pen and farm levels., Results: Ninety-nine farms with unknown history of infections with shigatoxin-producing E. coli (STEC) and oedema disease were sampled. On each farm, up to five pens were selected for sampling (n = 481). The piglets in these pens were at an age 1-3 weeks after weaning. Single faecal samples (n = 2405) and boot swabs (n = 479) were collected from the floor. On 50 farms, cotton ropes were additionally used to collect oral fluid samples (n = 185) and rope wash out samples (n = 231) from the selected pens. All samples were analyzed by bacterial culture combined with a duplex PCR for the presence of the corresponding genes stx2e and fedA (major subunit protein of F18 fimbriae). In addition, whole DNA specimens extracted from boot swabs, oral fluid samples, and rope wash out samples were directly examined by duplex PCR for DNA of stx2e and fedA. A pen was classified as positive if at least one of the samples, regardless of the technique, yielded a positive result in the PCR, and farms were considered positive if at least one pen was classified as positive. Overall, genes stx2e and fedA were found simultaneously in 24.9% (95% CI 22.1-29.1%) of sampled pens and in 37.4% (95% CI 27.9-47.7%) of sampled farms. Regardless of the presence of F18-fimbriae, Escherichia coli encoding for Stx2e (STEC-2e) were found in 35.1% (95% CI 31.0-39.1%) of the pens and 53.5% (95% CI 44.4-63.6%) of the farms sampled., Conclusions: Escherichia coli strains considered capable to cause oedema disease in swine (EDEC) are highly prevalent in the surveyed pig producing farms in Germany. Due to intermittent shedding of EDEC and a potentially low within-farm prevalence, we recommend a combination of different sampling techniques for EDEC monitoring at pen and farm levels. Further studies are needed to understand which STEC-2e strains really pose the risk of causing severe porcine disease., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Since it first started operating in 2017, the European Reference Network for Rare Neurological Diseases (ERN-RND) implemented a multi-channel communication strategy to effectively reach its target audience: healthcare professionals, patients, researchers, industry representatives and the general public. We first created a website containing useful and up to date information, followed by social media accounts. Here, the analytical data collected about the ERN-RND website and social media channels was compared (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) during two periods: October 2018 to September 2019, and the year after the ERN-RND free educational webinars were launched: from October 2019 to September 2020. This allowed us to quantify the impact of offering a tangible product (webinars) on the communication strategy., Results: The analytical data obtained from October 2018 to September 2019 and from October 2019 to September 2020 clearly shows a significant increase in traffic and followers since the launch of the ERN-RND webinars in November 2019. We also created a communication survey which was disseminated between February and June 2021. We collected responses from 61 people: 38 healthcare professionals, 11 scientists, 10 patients (advocates), 2 industry representatives, 1 patient association, 1 charity representative, 1 resident and 1 master student. Most respondents answered "webinars" as the number one reason when asked about which content they look for on the ERN-RND website., Conclusions: Offering a tangible product-such as the webinars presented in this report-to a specific target group (healthcare professionals) supported our communication strategy by driving traffic to ERN-RND communication channels. It has also successfully tackled ERN-RND's general aim: by enabling the flow of knowledge on rare neurological and movement disorders to the medical community in hospitals treating patients with these rare and complex conditions, patients ultimately benefit from improved and faster diagnosis, care, and treatment. We aim to set up similar strategies to effectively reach other or the same target groups. For healthcare professionals, organising eConsultations via the Clinical Patient Management System or disseminating standards of care such as diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms as well as clinical practice guidelines might offer potential. For the patient community, organising customised and multilingual webinars could also work., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

People living with rare diseases (PLWRD) still face huge unmet needs, in part due to the fact that care systems are not sufficiently aligned with their needs and healthcare workforce (HWF) along their care pathways lacks competencies to efficiently tackle rare disease-specific challenges. Level of rare disease knowledge and awareness among the current and future HWF is insufficient. In recent years, many educational resources on rare diseases have been developed, however, awareness of these resources is still limited and rare disease education is still not sufficiently taken into account by some crucial stakeholders as academia and professional organizations. Therefore, there is a need to fundamentally rethink rare disease education and HWF development across the whole spectrum from students to generalists, specialists and experts, to engage and empower PLWRD, their families and advocates, and to work towards a common coherent and complementary strategy on rare disease education and training in Europe and beyond. Special consideration should be also given to the role of nurse coordinators in care coordination, interprofessional training for integrated multidisciplinary care, patient and family-centered education, opportunities given by digital learning and fostering of social accountability to enforce the focus on socially-vulnerable groups such as PLWRD. The strategy has to be developed and implemented by multiple rare disease education and training providers: universities, medical and nursing schools and their associations, professional organizations, European Reference Networks, patient organizations, other organizations and institutions dedicated to rare diseases and rare cancers, authorities and policy bodies., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

While rare diseases (RDs) are by definition of low prevalence, the total number of patients suffering from an RD is high, and the majority of them have neurologic manifestations, involving central, peripheral nerve, and muscle. In 2017, 24 European Reference Networks (ERNs), each focusing on a specific group of rare or low-prevalence complex diseases, were formed to improve the care for patients with an RD. One major aim is to have "the knowledge travel instead of the patient," which has been put into practice by the implementation of the Clinical Patient Management System (CPMS) that enables clinicians to perform pan-European virtual consultations. The European Reference Network for Rare Neurological Diseases (ERN-RND) provides an infrastructure for knowledge sharing and care coordination for patients affected by a rare neurological disease (RND) involving the most common central nervous system pathological conditions. It covers the following disease groups: (i) Cerebellar Ataxias and Hereditary Spastic Paraplegias; (ii) Huntington's disease and Other Choreas; (iii) Frontotemporal dementia; (iv) Dystonia, (non-epileptic) paroxysmal disorders, and Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation; (v) Leukoencephalopathies; and (vi) Atypical Parkinsonian Syndromes. At the moment, it unites 32 expert centers and 10 affiliated partners in 21 European countries, as well as patient representatives, but will soon cover nearly all countries of the European Union as a result of the ongoing expansion process. Disease expert groups developed and consented on diagnostic flowcharts and disease scales to assess the different aspects of RNDs. ERN-RND has started to discuss diagnostically unclear patients in the CPMS, is one of four ERNs that serve as foundation of Solve-RD, and has established an RND training and education program. The network will facilitate trial readiness through the establishment of an ERN-RND registry with a minimal data of all patients seen at the ERN-RND centers, thus providing a unique overview of existing genotype-based cohorts. The overall aim of the ERNs is to improve access for patients with RDs to quality diagnosis, care, and treatment. Based on this objective, ERNs are monitored by the European Commission on a regular basis to provide transparency and reassurance to the RD community and the general public., Competing Interests: TG has received research support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), the European Union (EU), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He has received speakers honoraria from, Roche, Teva and UBC. SG received institutional research support from Shire plc, outside of the submitted work. He is advisor and co-investigator for trials in Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (Shire/Takeda, Orchard), but receives no personal payment related to this role. TK has received research support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), the Bundesministerium für Gesundheit (BMG), the Robert Bosch Foundation, the European Union (EU), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He has received consulting fees from Biohaven, Roche and UBC. He has received a speaker honorarium from Novartis and Bayer. IL served as a member of advisory boards for Prevail Therapeutic and received research grants from ANR, DGOS, Vaincre Alzheimer Association, ARSla Association, Fondation Plan Alzheimer outside of the present work. Unrelated to the present work, WM has received fees for editorial activities with Springer and Elsevier, has served as advisor for Lundbeck and Biohaven, and has received teaching honoraria from UCB. MT reports grants from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development ZonMW Topsubsidie (91218013), the European Fund for Regional Development from the European Union (01492947) and the province of Friesland, Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, from Stichting Wetenschapsfonds Dystonie Vereniging, from Fonds Psychische Gezondheid, from Phelps Stichting, and an unrestricted grants from Actelion and AOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals AG. NW is advisor and co-investigator for trials in Metachromatic Leukodystrophy and other leukodystrophies (Shire/Takeda, Orchard, Ionis, PassageBio), but receives no personal payment related to this role. HG has received research support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), the Bundesministerium für Gesundheit (BMG) and the European Union (EU). He has received consulting fees from Roche. He has received a speaker honorarium from Takeda. GL receives/has received research support from Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), CHDI Foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the European HD Network (EHDN), and the European Union (EU - Horizon2020, JPND), GL serves/served at Scientific Advisory Boards of Hoffmann-LaRoche, Novartis, PTC Therapeutics, TEVA, Triplet Therapeutics & Takeda and provided scientific advice to Acadia Pharm, AOP Orphan, Boehringer-lngelhe1m, CHDI Foundation, lonis Pharma, Lundbeck, NeuraMetrix, Prilenia, and Wave. MM received research support from the National Research, Development and Innovation Office for the National Brain Research and the National Bionics Projects. She has received consulting fees from Richter Gedeon Plc, Novartis, Sanofi-Genzyme, PTC Therapeutics, Stealth Biotherapeutics, Amicus, Takeda, and Biogen. She has received a speaker honorarium from Johnson and Johnson and AOP Orphan. The remaining 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 © 2021 Reinhard, Bachoud-Lévi, Bäumer, Bertini, Brunelle, Buizer, Federico, Gasser, Groeschel, Hermanns, Klockgether, Krägeloh-Mann, Landwehrmeyer, Leber, Macaya, Mariotti, Meissner, Molnar, Nonnekes, Ortigoza Escobar, Pérez Dueñas, Renna Linton, Schöls, Schuele, Tijssen, Vandenberghe, Volkmer, Wolf and Graessner.)

Electrospinning is widely used for the manufacture of fibers in the low-micrometer to nanometer range, allowing the fabrication of flexible materials with a high surface area. A distinction is made between solution and melt electrospinning. The former produces thinner fibers but requires hazardous solvents; whereas the latter is more environmentally sustainable because solvents are not required. However, the viscous melt requires high process temperatures and its low conductivity leads to thicker fibers. Here, we describe the first use of the biobased dyes alizarin; hematoxylin and quercetin as conductive additives to reduce the diameter of polylactic acid (PLA) fibers produced by melt electrospinning; combined with a biobased plasticizer to reduce the melt viscosity. The formation of a Taylor cone followed by continuous fiber deposition was observed for all PLA compounds; reducing the fiber diameter by up to 77% compared to pure PLA. The smallest average fiber diameter of 16.04 µm was achieved by adding 2% (w/w) hematoxylin. Comparative analysis revealed that the melt-electrospun fibers had a low degree of crystallinity compared to drawn filament controls-resembling partially oriented filaments. Our results form the basis of an economical and environmentally friendly process that could ultimately, provide an alternative to industrial solution electrospinning.

Quantum transport of strongly correlated fermions is of central interest in condensed matter physics. While the stationary expansion dynamics have recently been measured with cold atoms in 2D optical lattices, ab initio simulations have been limited to 1D setups so far. Here, we present the first precise fermionic quantum dynamics simulations for 2D and 3D. The simulations are based on nonequilibrium Green functions and incorporate strong correlations via T-matrix self-energies. The simulations predict the short-time dynamics, and we discover a universal scaling of the expansion velocity with the particle number. Our predictions can be verified experimentally using the recently developed fermionic atom microscopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport properties of strongly correlated quantum systems are of central interest in condensed matter, ultracold atoms and in dense plasmas. There, the proper treatment of strong correlations poses a great challenge to theory. Here, we apply a Nonequilibrium Green Functions approach using a lattice model as a basic system. This allow us to treat a finite spatially inhomogeneous system with an arbitrary nonequilibrium initial state. Placing all particles initially to one side of the system allows for a nonequilibrium study of diffusion. Strong correlation effects are incorporated via T-matrix selfenergies. (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Recent data suggest diminished post-operative quadriceps muscle strength after tourniquet application during total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The metabolic effects of the commonly utilized intraoperative tourniquet with consecutive ischaemia on the skeletal muscle cells were unknown. Ubiquitin proteasome system represents one of the main pathways involved in muscle protein breakdown contributing to muscle atrophy. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to quantify the acute effects of the tourniquet application during TKA on the (1) concentrations of free/conjugated ubiquitin, (2) total ubiquitin-protein ligase activity, (3) proteasome-dependent and (4) proteasome-independent peptidase activities in the cells of vastus medialis., Methods: The randomized, controlled, monocentric trial included 34 patients scheduled to undergo primary TKA. Each patient was randomly assigned to the tourniquet (n = 17) or non-tourniquet group (n = 17) after receiving a written consent. Muscle biopsies of (5 × 5 × 5 mm) 125 mm 3 were obtained from vastus medialis immediately after performing the surgical approach and exactly 60 min later. After preparation of the muscle tissue specimen, the concentrations of the free/conjugated ubiquitin (Ub) were measured by western blot analyses. The ubiquitination was determined as biotinylated Ub incorporated into the sum of the cytosolic proteins and expressed as total ubiquitin-protein ligase activity (tUbPL). The quantification of the proteasome-dependent and proteasome-independent peptidase activities was performed with peptidase assays., Results: Tourniquet application did not influence the concentration of the free/conjugated Ub. There were no differences in tUbPL activities between groups and time points. Tourniquet-induced ischaemia resulted in statistically significant higher proteasome-dependent (caspase-like p = 0.0034; chymotryptic-like p = 0.0013; tryptic-like p = 0.0036) and proteasome-independent (caspase-like p = 0.03; chymotryptic-like p = 0.0001; tryptic-like p = 0.0062) peptidase activities., Conclusion: Tourniquet application did not affect the free/conjugated Ub as well as tUbPL significantly, emphasizing the sophisticated regulation of ubiquitination. The proteasome-dependent peptidase activities were significantly upregulated during tourniquet application, suggesting an increase in protein degradation, which in turn might explain the skeletal muscle atrophy occurring after TKA. These findings add further knowledge and should raise the awareness of surgeons about the effects of tourniquet-induced ischaemia at the molecular level. Additional high-quality research may be warranted to examine the short- and long-term clinical significance of the present data., Level of Evidence: I.

Chemical recycling of plastics has gathered momentum to manage plastic waste and replace fossil-based feedstocks. However, chemical recycling of complex polymers, such as polyurethane (PU) rigid foam, can yield a variety of intermediates. But which intermediates reduce environmental impacts the most when produced from PU is currently unclear. In this work, we assess the potential of chemical recycling of PU rigid foam waste to reduce environmental impacts compared to state-of-the-art treatment options, such as incineration and landfilling. For this purpose, we extend the environmental potential methodology to account for any possible recycling product. We then calculate the environmental potential for six ideal closed-loop recycling options and one experimentally demonstrated recycling option based on a patent. All analyzed chemical recycling options for PU rigid foam to various intermediates are shown to offer a substantial environmental potential to reduce multiple environmental impacts. The best performing option recovers both polyol and isocyanate and can decrease climate change impacts by 3.8–5.6 kgCO2eq. per kg PU treated. However, PU rigid foam recycling to low-value intermediates, such as benzene, does not seem promising due to burden shifting actually increasing half of the analyzed environmental impacts. We further determine the minimal conversion rates required to reduce environmental impacts by chemical recycling of PU rigid foam. Our environmental potential analysis assists the decision-making process for product prioritization in recycling and identifies (side-)products whose recovery is worth investigating from an environmental perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The many-body problem is a common issue, irrespective of the scale of entities under consideration. From electrons to atoms, small molecules like simple inorganic or organic structures, large molecules like proteins or polymers, nanometer- or micrometer-sized particles, granular matter, and even galaxies, the precise determination or estimation of geometrical locations and momentum energy of individual entities, and interaction forces between these millions of entities, is impossible but unfortunately important for understanding the collective physical properties like mechanical and electrical characteristics of the whole system. Despite foreseeable difficulties and complexities, attempts to estimate "interparticle" forces have never stopped using traditional Newtonian models, quantum mechanical approaches, and density functional theory. In this review, a simple approach integrating the free volume and Eyring's rate process theory is summarized and its application across a wide range of scales from electrons to the universe is presented in a unified manner. The focus is on comparisons between theoretical predictions and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal plasma-driven dry reforming of methane (DRM) has gained increased attention in recent years due to its high conversion and energy conversion efficiency (ECE). Recent experimental work investigated the performance of a pure CO2 plasma with post-plasma CH4 injection. The rationale behind this strategy is that by utilizing a pure CO2 plasma, all plasma energy can be used to dissociate CO2, while CH4 reforming proceeds post-plasma in the reforming reactor with residual heat, potentially improving the energy efficiency compared to injecting both CO2 and CH4 into the plasma. To assess whether post-plasma CH4 injection indeed improves the DRM performance, we developed a chemical kinetics model describing the post-plasma conversion process. We first validated our model by reproducing the experimental results of the pure CO2 plasma with post-plasma CH4 injection. Subsequently, we compared both strategies: injecting only CO2 inside the plasma while injecting CH4 post-plasma, vs. classical plasma-based DRM. Our modeling results indicate that below specific energy inputs (SEI) of 220 kJ mol-1, the total conversion slightly improves (ca. 5%) with the first strategy. However, the ECE is slightly lower due to the low H2 selectivity caused by substantial H2O formation. The highest conversion and ECE are obtained at SEI values of 240-280 kJ mol-1, where both strategies yield nearly identical results, indicating the limited potential of improving the performance of DRM by pure CO2 plasma with post-plasma CH4 injection. Nevertheless, the approach is still very valuable to allow higher CH4/CO2 ratios without problems of coke formation within the plasma, and thus, to improve plasma stability and reach higher syngas ratios, which is more useful for further Fischer-Tropsch or methanol synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]