ATHENA Research Book

The ATHENA European University is an alliance of nine Higher Education Institutions with the mission of fostering excellence in research and innovation by facilitating international cooperation. The ATHENA acronym stands for Advanced Technologies in Higher Education Alliance. The partner institutions are from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, and Slovenia: the University of Orléans, the University of Siegen, the Hellenic Mediterranean University, the Niccolò Cusano University, the Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, and the University of Maribor. In 2022 institutions from Poland and Spain joined the alliance: the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University and the University of Vigo. This research book presents a selection of the ATHENA university partners' research activities. It incorporates peer-reviewed original articles, reprints and student contributions. The ATHENA Research Book provides a platform that promotes joint and interdisciplinary research projects of both advanced and early-career researchers

Infraglenoidal scapular notching in reverse total shoulder replacement: a prospective series of 60 cases and systematic review of the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The impact of infraglenoidal scapular notching in reversed total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) is still controversially discussed. Our goal was to evaluate its potential influence on subjective shoulder stability and clinical outcome. We hypothesized that subjective instability and clinical outcome after implantation of RTSA correlates with objective scapular notching.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sixty shoulders were assessed preoperatively and at minimum 2-year follow-up for active range of motion and by use of the Oxford instability score, Rowe score for instability, Constant score for pain, Constant shoulder score, DASH score. All shoulders were evaluated on anterior-posterior and axillary lateral radiographic views. These X-ray scans were classified twice by two orthopaedic surgeons with respect to infraglenoidal scapular notching according to the classification of Nerot. Notching was tested for correlation with clinical outcome scores to the evaluated notching.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found no significant correlation between infraglenoidal scapular notching and clinical outcomes after a mid-term follow-up from 24 to 60 months, but at the final follow-up of 60 months and more, we did see statistically significant, positive correlations between infraglenoidal scapular notching and the Constant pain score as well as active range of motion. At mean follow-up of 42 months (range from 24 to 96 months) we found no significant correlation between subjective instability and infraglenoidal scapular notching.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that patients' subjective impression on their shoulders' stability is not correlating with radiological signs of infraglenoidal scapular notching. Nevertheless clinical parameters are affected by infraglenoidal scapular notching, at least in the long term</p

Virus- and Interferon Alpha-Induced Transcriptomes of Cells from the Microbat Myotis daubentonii

Antiviral interferons (IFN-alpha/beta) are possibly responsible for the high tolerance of bats to zoonotic viruses. Previous studies focused on the IFN system of megabats (suborder Yinpterochiroptera). We present statistically robust RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data on transcriptomes of cells from the “microbat” Myotis daubentonii (suborder Yangochiroptera) responding at 6 and 24 h to either an IFN-inducing virus or treatment with IFN. Our data reveal genes triggered only by virus, either in both humans and Myotis (CCL4, IFNL3, CH25H), or exclusively in Myotis (STEAP4). Myotis cells also express a series of conserved IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) and an unusually high paralog number of the antiviral ISG BST2 (tetherin) but lack several ISGs that were described for megabats (EMC2, FILIP1, IL17RC, OTOGL, SLC24A1). Also, in contrast to megabats, we detected neither different IFN-alpha subtypes nor an unusually high baseline expression of IFNs. Thus, Yangochiroptera microbats, represented by Myotis, may possess an IFN system with distinctive features

Investigation on wall and gas temperatures inside a swirled oxy-fuel combustion chamber using thermographic phosphors, O2 rotational and vibrational CARS

Wall and gas phase temperatures inside a swirled oxy-fuel combustion chamber are important to characterize the combustion process. Wall temperatures were measured by thermographic phosphors and discussed in combination with gas phase temperatures. For gas phase temperatures an O2 vibrational coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) approach was compared to a N2/O2 rotational CARS (RCARS) system. The vibrational CARS (VCARS) setup was favorable due to higher signal strength at high temperatures. With this system gas phase temperature profiles inside a swirled oxy-fuel combustion chamber were measured and discussed for different operation conditions. The location of intermittent reaction zones could be determined. In order to provide a measurement tool for gas-assisted pulverized solid fuel flames the developed O2-VCARS system was successfully tested in such a harsh environment. Possible error sources related to particles within the probe volume are discussed

Cerebellar atrophy on top of motor neuron compromise as indicator of late-onset GM2 gangliosidosis

Objective!#!Whether anti-seizure medication (ASM) increases the risk for cancer has been debated for decades. While for some ASM, a carcinoma-promoting effect has been suspected, carcinoma-protective effects have been shown for other ASM. However, the issue remains unresolved as data from preclinical and clinical studies have been inconsistent and contradictory.!##!Methods!#!We collected anonymous patient data from practice neurologists throughout Germany between 2009 and 2018 using the IMS Disease Analyzer database (QuintilesIMS, Frankfurt, Germany). People with epilepsy (PWE) with an initial cancer diagnosis and antiepileptic therapy prior to the index date were 1:1 matched with a control group of PWE without cancer according to age, gender, index year, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and treating physician. For both groups, the risk to develop cancer under treatment with different ASMs was analyzed using three different models (ever use vs. never use (I), effect per one (II) and per five therapy years (III).!##!Results!#!A total of 3152 PWE were included (each group, n = 1,576; age = 67.3 ± 14.0 years). The risk to develop cancer was not significantly elevated for any ASM. Carbamazepine was associated with a decreased cancer risk (OR Model I: 0.699, p &amp;lt; .0001, OR Model II: 0.952, p = .4878, OR Model III: 0.758, p &amp;lt; .0004).!##!Significance!#!Our findings suggest that ASM use does not increase the risk of cancer in epilepsy patients

Data for "Characterization of Temperature Distributions in a Swirled Oxy-fuel Coal Combustor using Tomographic Absorption Spectroscopy with Fluctuation Modelling"

Tomographic temperature measurement on water vapor absorption in a pulverized solid fuel combuster under Oxy-fuel conditions The swirled Oxy-fuel combustor studied here is described in [1,2]. For details on the measurement method please refer to the publication linked in an updated version of this dataset or contact the authors. The provided CSV-files contain measurement results in cylinder coordinates of the burner. The uncertainty values describe standard deviations calculated from a nonlinear uncertainty propagation of the spectroscopic regression. [1] L. G. Becker, H. Kosaka, B. B¨ohm, S. Doost, R. Knappstein, M. Habermehl, R. Kneer, J. Janicka, A. Dreizler, Experimental investigation of flame stabilization inside the quarl of an oxyfuel swirl burner, Fuel 201 (2017) 124{135. doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2016.09.002. [2] L. G. Becker, T. von Langenthal, S. Pielsticker, B. B¨ohm, R. Kneer, A. Dreizler, Experimental investigation of particle-laden flows in an oxycoal combustion chamber for non-reacting conditions, Fuel 235 (2019) 753{762. doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2018.08.076

Characterization of temperature distributions in a swirled oxy-fuel coal combustor using tomographic absorption spectroscopy with fluctuation modelling

Oxy-fuel combustion promises efficient and inexpensive carbon dioxide sequestration and is therefore subject to active experimental research. However, the transfer of mature, non-intrusive diagnostic methods for temperature measurement like Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy (CARS) from air-fed to oxy-fuel systems is challenging due to the deficiency in diatomic species suitable for thermometry. Although not limited to oxy-fuel atmospheres, we demonstrate the application of linear hyperspectral absorption tomography on water vapor in a swirled oxy-fuel coal combustor as a complementary diagnostic method, supplementing reference and validation data sets. Due to the burner design an axisymmetric reconstruction of the time-averaged temperature field is conducted. To compensate the temperature bias expected when evaluating time-averaged spectroscopic data we incorporate turbulent temperature fluctuations into our spectroscopic model, providing a fluctuation measure in addition to mean temperatures. The results quantitatively agree with vibrational O2-CARS measurements and qualitatively recreate spatial structures known from particle image velocimetry (PIV) flow fields