The Leibniz Institute on Aging has maintained killifish colonies for over 15 y. Our veterinarians, scientists, and animal technicians developed a fish health scoring system and routine colony health ...surveillance program for our colonies. Over a 4-y period, health data from the African
turquoise killifish Nothobranchius furzeri colony were systematically collected and analyzed. The fish health assessment system facilitated categorization of clinical signs and differentiation of fish with mild clinical signs from fish that required euthanasia. This report provides
new information on clinical signs and conditions that may occur in young and aged N. furzeri. To be comprehensive, a colony health surveillance program incorporates animal health at both the individual and the population levels. The quarterly routine health monitoring program identified
Mycobacterium spp. as the most common agent in our facility and identified the killifish pathogen (Loma acerinae) for the first time. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the importance of a comprehensive colony health management system in a fish research facility. By improving
the health and welfare of fish used for research, the scientific community will benefit from less variable and more reliably reproducible research results.
Abstract Cell behavior such as cell adhesion, spreading, and contraction critically depends on the elastic properties of the extracellular matrix. It is not known, however, how cells respond to ...viscoelastic or plastic material properties that more closely resemble the mechanical environment cells encounter in the body. In this report, we employ viscoelastic and plastic biomembrane-mimicking cell substrates. The compliance of the substrates can be tuned by increasing the number of polymer-tethered bilayers. This leaves the density and conformation of adhesive ligands on the top bilayer unaltered. We then observe the response of fibroblasts to these property changes. For comparison, we also study the cells on soft polyacrylamide and hard glass surfaces. Cell morphology, motility, cell stiffness, contractile forces and adhesive contact size all decrease on more compliant matrices but are less sensitive to changes in matrix dissipative properties. These data suggest that cells are able to feel and respond predominantly to the effective matrix compliance, which arises as a combination of substrate and adhesive ligand mechanical properties.
Background
Cancer patients often use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), however, standardized assessment in clinical routine is missing. The aim of this study was to evaluate a screening ...questionnaire on CAM usage that was published in the S3 Guideline Complementary Medicine in the Treatment of Oncological Patients.
Methods
We developed a survey questionnaire to assess the practicability of the guideline questionnaire and communication on CAM between health care providers (HCPs) and patients. We collected 258 guideline questionnaires and 116 survey questionnaires from ten clinics and held twelve semi-structured interviews with HCPs.
Results
85% used at least one of the listed CAM methods, 54 participants (
N
= 77) never disclosed usage to a physician. The most frequently used CAM methods were physical activity (76.4%) and vitamin D (46.4%). 25.2% used at least one method, that was labeled risky by the guideline. 53.4% did not know of CAM’s risk of interactions and side effects. Introducing the guideline questionnaire in routine cancer care increased the rate of patients talking to an HCP regarding CAM significantly from 35.5 to 87.3%. The HCPs stated positive effects as an initiation of conversation, increased safety within CAM usage and patients feeling thankful and taken seriously. However, due to the limited amount of time available for discussions on CAM, generalized distribution to all patients was not feasible.
Conclusion
Institutions should focus on implementing standard procedures and resources that help HCPs discuss CAM on a regular basis. HCPs should meet the patient’s demands for CAM counseling and make sure they are equipped professionally.
Balstilimab (anti-programmed death 1) and zalifrelimab (anti-CTLA-4) are two new checkpoint inhibitors that have emerged as promising investigational agents for the treatment of cervical cancer, ...particularly in the setting of previously-treated, recurrent/metastatic disease. Here we describe the rationale and design of RaPiDS (NCT03894215), a two-arm Phase II study evaluating the safety, tolerability and efficacy of balstilimab administered alone or in combination with zalifrelimab in patients with advanced cervical cancer who progressed after first-line, platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio. The primary end point is objective response rate, and key secondary objectives include safety, duration of response, progression-free survival, overall survival and quality of life outcomes.
Ophthalmic microsurgery is applied in ophthalmic pathological conditions. Ophthalmic pathology sets the landmarks for all kinds of microsurgical manipulations. Thus, in order to ensure the best ...surgical outcome, ophthalmic clinicians and microsurgeons have to consider the critical structures and potential complications before they start with the surgical procedure. Written by the world famous expert G. O. H. Naumann, this excellent textbook emphasizes the ocular structures such as the nuances of morphology, surgical anatomy, and pathology. The content includes: Unique features of closed system intraocular surgery in closed system and open eye surgery.- Crucial aspects of restoring the anterior chamber, includes such as the role of blood-ocular barriers and effects of paracenthesis-effects. The spectrum of potential complications in (pseudo-) exfoliation- syndromes as well as the most vulnerable cell populations.- The features of normal and pathologic wound healing in the various tissues after non-mechanical laser and mechanical interventions emergency-pathology requiring prompt surgical intervention. Brilliant artwork and sketches are further illustrating and summarizing the complex pathology. Thus, the reader will derive great value for the daily routine when learning how the specific pathology modifies the indications and techniques of microsurgery.
N₂ fixation by coral reef benthic substrates may support primary productivity on oligotrophic coral reefs. However, little is known regarding the influence of environmental parameters on coral reef ...benthic N₂ fixation. This study quantified N₂ fixation and photosynthesis in 3 common reef framework substrates: turf algae, coral rock, and the abundant encrusting sponge Mycale fistulifera over 4 seasons in the northern Gulf of Aqaba. N₂ fixation activity was detected during day and night for all substrates, but on an annual average was significantly higher for turf algae (4.4 ± 3.9 nmol C₂H₄ cm−2 h−1) and coral rock (3.5 ± 2.8 nmol C₂H₄ cm−2 h−1) compared to M. fistulifera (0.2 ± 0.2 nmol C₂H₄ cm−2 h−1). There was strong seasonality in N₂ fixation, with rates one order of magnitude higher in summer when temperature and irradiance were highest but inorganic nutrient concentrations lowest. During summer and fall, when nutrients were low, we found a significant positive linear relationship between gross photosynthesis (Pgross) and N₂ fixation in turf algae and coral rock. Further, we estimate N₂ fixation can supply up to 20 and 27% of the N demand for net photosynthesis (Pnet) in coral rock and turf algae, respectively. By contrast there was no significant relationship between N₂ fixation and Pgross in M. fistulifera, which displayed negative Pnet and heterotrophic metabolism (Pgross:respiration <1). These findings highlight the role of environmental parameters in regulating benthic substrate-associated N₂ fixation and the potential importance of fixed N for supporting primary production, particularly during nutrient-depleted conditions.
The microstructures, mineralogy and chemistry of representative samples collected from the cores of the San Andreas Fault drill hole (SAFOD) and the Taiwan Chelungpu-Fault Drilling project (TCDP) ...have been studied using optical microscopy, TEM, SEM, XRD and XRF analyses. SAFOD samples provide a transect across undeformed host rock, the fault damage zone and currently active deforming zones of the San Andreas Fault. TCDP samples are retrieved from the principal slip zone (PSZ) and from the surrounding damage zone of the Chelungpu Fault. Substantial differences exist in the clay mineralogy of SAFOD and TCDP fault gouge samples. Amorphous material has been observed in SAFOD as well as TCDP samples. In line with previous publications, we propose that melt, observed in TCDP black gouge samples, was produced by seismic slip (melt origin) whereas amorphous material in SAFOD samples was formed by comminution of grains (crush origin) rather than by melting. Dauphiné twins in quartz grains of SAFOD and TCDP samples may indicate high seismic stress. The differences in the crystallographic preferred orientation of calcite between SAFOD and TCDP samples are significant. Microstructures resulting from dissolution–precipitation processes were observed in both faults but are more frequently found in SAFOD samples than in TCDP fault rocks. As already described for many other fault zones clay-gouge fabrics are quite weak in SAFOD and TCDP samples. Clay-clast aggregates (CCAs), proposed to indicate frictional heating and thermal pressurization, occur in material taken from the PSZ of the Chelungpu Fault, as well as within and outside of the SAFOD deforming zones, indicating that these microstructures were formed over a wide range of slip rates.
•We characterize microstructures of SAFOD and TCDP samples.•Substantial differences exist in the clay mineralogy of gouge samples.•Amorphous material has been observed in SAFOD as well as TCDP samples.•Clay-gouge fabrics are quite weak in SAFOD and TCDP samples.
Multiple practice changing studies were presented at the 2019 ESMO Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The ovarian cancer studies presented at the Presidential session will likely refine and redefine the ...initial treatment of ovarian cancer. Other compelling trial data in ovarian, uterine and cervical cancer were also unveiled. The key oral abstracts from this meeting are summarized in this meeting report.
Electron and photon triggers covering transverse energies from 5
GeV
to several
TeV
are essential for the ATLAS experiment to record signals for a wide variety of physics: from Standard Model ...processes to searches for new phenomena in both proton–proton and heavy-ion collisions. To cope with a fourfold increase of peak LHC luminosity from 2015 to 2018 (Run 2), to
2.1
×
10
34
cm
-
2
s
-
1
, and a similar increase in the number of interactions per beam-crossing to about 60, trigger algorithms and selections were optimised to control the rates while retaining a high efficiency for physics analyses. For proton–proton collisions, the single-electron trigger efficiency relative to a single-electron offline selection is at least 75% for an offline electron of 31
GeV
, and rises to 96% at 60
GeV
; the trigger efficiency of a 25
GeV
leg of the primary diphoton trigger relative to a tight offline photon selection is more than 96% for an offline photon of 30
GeV
. For heavy-ion collisions, the primary electron and photon trigger efficiencies relative to the corresponding standard offline selections are at least 84% and 95%, respectively, at 5
GeV
above the corresponding trigger threshold.
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