Et corruptissima re publica plurimae leges: Ein Schriftsteller, der vor fast zweitausend Jahren mit einem halben Dutzend Worten die grassierende Verrechtlichung zum Gradmesser der Verdorbenheit eines ...Gemeinwesens zu machen vermochte, verdient nicht nur einer der größten Stilisten der Weltliteratur genannt zu werden, sondern sollte als hellsichtiger Zeitdiagnostiker auch der gegenwärtigen Jurisprudenz nicht gleichgültig sein.
Nerve blockade of the lateral femoral cutaneous (LFC) nerve provides some analgesia after hip surgery. However, knowledge is lacking about the extent of the cutaneous area anesthetized by established ...LFC nerve block techniques, as well as the success rate of anesthetic coverage of various surgical incisions. Nerve block techniques that rely on ultrasonographic identification of the LFC nerve distal to the inguinal ligament can be technically challenging. Furthermore, the branching of the LFC nerve is variable, and it is unknown if proximal LFC nerve branches are anesthetized using the current techniques. The primary aim of this study was to investigate a novel ultrasound-guided LFC nerve block technique based on injection into the fat-filled flat tunnel (FFFT), which is a duplicature of the fascia lata between the sartorius and the tensor fasciae latae muscle, in order to assess the success rate of anesthetizing the proximal LFC nerve branches and covering of the different surgical incisions used for hip surgery.
First, a cadaveric study was conducted in order to identify an FFFT injection technique that would provide adequate injectate spread to the proximal LFC nerve branches. Second, a clinical study was conducted in a group of 20 healthy volunteers over 2 consecutive days. On trial day 1, successful complete anesthesia of the LFC nerve was defined by performing a suprainguinal fascia iliaca block bilaterally in each subject. On trial day 2, a triple-blind randomized controlled trial compared the effect of the novel ultrasound-guided LFC nerve block technique for bupivacaine versus placebo. The primary end point was the success rate of anesthesia of the proximal cutaneous area innervated by the LFC nerve for the FFFT injection with bupivacaine versus placebo.
Adequate spread of injectate to the proximal LFC nerve branches in cadavers was obtained by injecting 10 mL with dynamic needle-tip tracking in the FFFT. Application of this technique in the randomized controlled trial provided anesthesia of the lateral thigh with a success rate of 95% (95% confidence interval, 73.9%-99.8%) for the active side and 0% for placebo (P < 0.001). The proximal branches were anesthetized with a success rate of 68% (95% confidence interval, 43.4%-87.4%) on the active side. The proximal extent of the anesthetized cutaneous area was on average 7.9 cm distal to the greater trochanter.
This novel LFC nerve block technique is easy and quick and reliably produces anesthesia of the lateral thigh. The greater trochanter is rarely included in the area of anesthesia, which reduces the coverage of each specific surgical incision. The success rate of 68% in anesthetizing the proximal nerve branches must be further evaluated by future research.
Segmentation of roots in soil with U-Net Smith, Abraham George; Petersen, Jens; Selvan, Raghavendra ...
Plant methods,
02/2020, Letnik:
16, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Plant root research can provide a way to attain stress-tolerant crops that produce greater yield in a diverse array of conditions. Phenotyping roots in soil is often challenging due to the roots ...being difficult to access and the use of time consuming manual methods. Rhizotrons allow visual inspection of root growth through transparent surfaces. Agronomists currently manually label photographs of roots obtained from rhizotrons using a line-intersect method to obtain root length density and rooting depth measurements which are essential for their experiments. We investigate the effectiveness of an automated image segmentation method based on the U-Net Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture to enable such measurements. We design a data-set of 50 annotated chicory (
L.) root images which we use to train, validate and test the system and compare against a baseline built using the Frangi vesselness filter. We obtain metrics using manual annotations and line-intersect counts.
Our results on the held out data show our proposed automated segmentation system to be a viable solution for detecting and quantifying roots. We evaluate our system using 867 images for which we have obtained line-intersect counts, attaining a Spearman rank correlation of 0.9748 and an
of 0.9217. We also achieve an
of 0.7 when comparing the automated segmentation to the manual annotations, with our automated segmentation system producing segmentations with higher quality than the manual annotations for large portions of the image.
We have demonstrated the feasibility of a U-Net based CNN system for segmenting images of roots in soil and for replacing the manual line-intersect method. The success of our approach is also a demonstration of the feasibility of deep learning in practice for small research groups needing to create their own custom labelled dataset from scratch.
Cerebral malaria is a deadly outcome of infection by Plasmodium falciparum, occurring when parasite-infected erythrocytes accumulate in the brain. These erythrocytes display parasite proteins of the ...PfEMP1 family that bind various endothelial receptors. Despite the importance of cerebral malaria, a binding phenotype linked to its symptoms has not been identified. Here, we used structural biology to determine how a group of PfEMP1 proteins interacts with intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), allowing us to predict binders from a specific sequence motif alone. Analysis of multiple Plasmodium falciparum genomes showed that ICAM-1-binding PfEMP1s also interact with endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR), allowing infected erythrocytes to synergistically bind both receptors. Expression of these PfEMP1s, predicted to bind both ICAM-1 and EPCR, is associated with increased risk of developing cerebral malaria. This study therefore reveals an important PfEMP1-binding phenotype that could be targeted as part of a strategy to prevent cerebral malaria.
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•Structural basis for P. falciparum PfEMP1 binding to endothelial receptor ICAM-1defined•A sequence motif derived from structure predicts group A PfEMP1 binding to ICAM-1•These ICAM-1-binding PfEMP1s also all bind to endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR)•Expression of dual ICAM-1- and EPCR-binding PfEMP1 is associated with cerebral malaria
Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes display PfEMP1 proteins that bind various endothelial receptors, including ICAM-1. Lennartz et al. structurally characterize PfEMP1 binding to ICAM-1, allowing them to identify a PfEMP1 family that simultaneously binds to both ICAM-1 and EPCR. Dual-binding PfEMP1s display stronger endothelial adhesion and are associated with cerebral malaria.
Eliciting reliable and effective immunity against Plasmodium falciparum parasites remains an elusive goal in malaria control. Raj and colleagues recently described a naturally occurring human ...antibody response to a parasite antigen that initiates apoptosis-like cell death of parasites, adding fascinating insight into host–pathogen dialog that may furnish actionable targets for antiparasite therapies or vaccines.
Cytoadhesion of Plasmodium falciparum infected erythrocytes to gC1qR has been associated with severe malaria, but the parasite ligand involved is currently unknown. To assess if binding to gC1qR is ...mediated through the P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) family, we analyzed by static binding assays and qPCR the cytoadhesion and var gene transcriptional profile of 86 P. falciparum isolates from Mozambican children with severe and uncomplicated malaria, as well as of a P. falciparum 3D7 line selected for binding to gC1qR (Pf3D7gC1qR). Transcript levels of DC8 correlated positively with cytoadhesion to gC1qR (rho = 0.287, P = 0.007), were higher in isolates from children with severe anemia than with uncomplicated malaria, as well as in isolates from Europeans presenting a first episode of malaria (n = 21) than Mozambican adults (n = 25), and were associated with an increased IgG recognition of infected erythrocytes by flow cytometry. Pf3D7gC1qR overexpressed the DC8 type PFD0020c (5.3-fold transcript levels relative to Seryl-tRNA-synthetase gene) compared to the unselected line (0.001-fold). DBLβ12 from PFD0020c bound to gC1qR in ELISA-based binding assays and polyclonal antibodies against this domain were able to inhibit binding to gC1qR of Pf3D7gC1qR and four Mozambican P. falciparum isolates by 50%. Our results show that DC8-type PfEMP1s mediate binding to gC1qR through conserved surface epitopes in DBLβ12 domain which can be inhibited by strain-transcending functional antibodies. This study supports a key role for gC1qR in malaria-associated endovascular pathogenesis and suggests the feasibility of designing interventions against severe malaria targeting this specific interaction.
•Question: is it possible to cover the building energy demand of an ordinary mixed-used inner-city community entirely with local, renewable energies sources?•The building energy demand can be covered ...entirely with local, renewable energies in the investigated case study.•Some restrictions in cost-effectiveness do remain for the electricity supply.•The energy supply is mainly provided by a production waste from a local food industry site.•The methodology shows a way for municipalities to overcome insufficient building data with simple but profound estimations that is transferable to other communities.
The reduction of GHG emissions in buildings is a focus area of national energy policies, because buildings are responsible for a major share of energy consumption. Policies to increase the share of renewable energies and energy efficiency measures are implemented at local scale. Municipalities, as responsible entities for physical planning, can hold a key role in transforming energy systems towards carbon-neutrality, based on renewable energies. The implementation should be approached at community scale, which has advantages compared to only focusing on buildings or cities. But community energy planning can be a complex and time-consuming process. Many municipalities hesitate to initiate such a process, because of missing guidelines and uncertainty about possible energy potentials. Case studies help to understand applied methodologies and could show available energy potentials in different local settings. The current case study presents a community energy concept for the inner-city of Elmshorn. By estimating the energy demand, consideration of local energy saving potentials, and available energy potentials within the community, it was possible to develop several energy system variants that virtually allow a heating energy and electricity supply fully based on local, renewable energy resources. The most feasible and cost-efficient variant is the use of local food production waste in a CHP plant feeding a district heating grid. The overall aim is to show that a self-sufficient heat- and electricity supply of typical urban communities is possible and can be implemented in a cost-efficient way, if the energy planning is done systematically and in coherence with urban planning.
Recent findings have linked brain swelling to death in cerebral malaria (CM). These observations have prompted a number of investigations into the mechanisms of this pathology with the goal of ...identifying potential therapeutic targets. In this issue of the JCI, Gallego-Delgado and colleagues present evidence that implicates angiotensin receptors and the relocation of β-catenin to the endothelial cell nucleus in CM. This study provides a renewed focus on infected erythrocyte debris as the cause of endothelial damage and challenges previous work implicating direct effects of infected erythrocyte sequestration in the brain as the major driver of disease. While this work provides potential therapeutic avenues for CM, it leaves a number of questions unanswered.
Sexual spores are important for the dispersal and population dynamics of fungi. They show remarkable morphological diversity, but the underlying forces driving spore evolution are poorly known. We ...investigated whether trophic status and substrate associations are associated with morphology in 787 macrofungal genera. We show that both spore size and ornamentation are associated with trophic specialization, so that large and ornamented spores are more probable in ectomycorrhizal than in saprotrophic genera. This suggests that spore ornamentation facilitates attachment to arthropod vectors, which ectomycorrhizal species may need to reach lower soil layers. Elongated spore shapes are more common in saprotrophic taxa, and genera associated with above ground substrates are more likely to have allantoid (curved elongated) spores, probably to lower the risk of wash out by precipitation. Overall, our results suggest that safe arrival on specific substrates is a more important driver of evolution in spore morphology than dispersal per se.
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