Embolization in an adrenocortical carcinoma as palliative therapy

Background: With an annual incidence of 0.2% of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, adrenocortical carcinoma is rare. In advanced tumor only palliative treatment modalities are practicable. Because of scarcity of the tumor, standard treatment has not been defined. The decision on therapy frequently depends on the individual situation. Tumor embolization and chemotherapy are amongst the possible options. Patient and Methods: We report on a case of a 32-year-old female patient with a large-volume hormonally active adrenocortical carcinoma and hematogenous liver metastases. This carcinoma was confirmed histologically by means of liver biopsy. Owing to the large tumor extent and metastatic spreading and also in view of the poor general condition of the patient, curative surgical therapy was not possible. For this reason, a local approach was chosen primarily with transarterial tumor embolization at the capillary level. Systemic chemotherapy was given afterwards. Results: Improvement of the patient's general condition, especially the pronounced pain symptoms, could be achieved for a short time by the embolization: both, the patient's clinical condition and the laboratory test parameters improved. However, a rapid tumor progression occured under chemotherapy, which was started after embolization. Conclusion: In advanced adrenocortical carcinoma, tumor embolization can lead to a stabilization of the disease and improvement of the symptoms as appraised by palliative criteria in some patients

Inverted Classroom in der Studieneingangsphase - individualisiertes Lernen als Hilfe beim Einstieg ins Studium

Bei Inverted Classroom wird eine selbstgesteuerte Vorbereitungsphase und eine interaktive Präsenzphase kombiniert. Methodik und didaktische Struktur werden entsprechend des jeweiligen Lehrkontextes gewählt und aufeinander abgestimmt. Das Konzept des Inverted Classroom bietet methodische Ansatzpunkte, um Lehre auch in der Studieneingangsphase flexibel zu gestalten und den Übergang ins Studium zu erleichtern. In der vorliegenden Studie wurden Studierende aus drei Grundlagenveranstaltungen im Inverted-Classroom-Format befragt, wie sie mit dem jeweiligen Format umgehen. Im Ergebnis zeigte sich, dass das Konzept des Inverted Classroom dem Lern- und Betreuungsbedarf der Studierenden entgegenkommt. Die Aussagen weisen auf eine Stärkung der fachbezogenen Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung hin - einen zentralen Indikator für den Studienverbleib. Mit den Ergebnissen soll unterstrichen werden, dass Inverted Classroom einen erfolgreichen Übergang ins Studium unterstützen kann. Zukünftig sollen die Annahmen in Bezug auf weitere Blended-Learning-Konzepte und reine Präsenzlehre geprüft werden. (DIPF/Orig.

EAs.LiT v2: Evolution digitalisierter Hochschuldidaktik durch das E-Assessment-Literacy-Tool

Um Lehrende bei der Qualitätssicherung von E-Assessments vor dem Hintergrund des Constructive Alignment zu unterstützen, wurde bereits 2017 das E-Assessment-LiteracyTool (EAs.LiT) entwickelt und vorgestellt (Thor, Pengel, & Wollersheim, 2017). Mit diesem sollte auf Basis hochschulübergreifender Qualitätsstandards im Bereich E-Assessment technische und personelle Unterstützungsstrukturen zur Effektivierung kompetenzorientierter Lernprozesse und damit verbundener Leistungsüberprüfung etabliert werden, um damit auch den Wissens- und Erfahrungsaustausch von Lehrenden zu unterstützen. Im Rahmen des BMBF-geförderten Verbundvorhabens tech4comp wurde sowohl das Software-Projekt als auch die Anwendung EAs.LiT im Rahmen einer Major Revision grundlegend überarbeitet und erweitert. Neben dem Ausbau der allgemeinen Funktionalität konzentriert sich die Major Revision auf drei primäre Bereiche: die Unterstützung von Nutzer:innen durch vielfältige Automatismen und ein vollkommen überarbeitetes Nutzer:innenführungskonzept, die verlässlichere, validere und ausgewogenere Ausgestaltung erzeugter Prüfungen durch eine multidimensionale, äquivalenzorientierte Prüfungserzeugung, sowie die Schaffung von Integrationsmöglichkeiten und Anwendung dieser bei im deutschen Hochschulraum verbreiteten Lern-Management- und Prüfungssystemen. [Aus: Einleitung

Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing for comparative high-resolution DNA methylation analysis

We describe a large-scale random approach termed reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) for analyzing and comparing genomic methylation patterns. BglII restriction fragments were size-selected to 500–600 bp, equipped with adapters, treated with bisulfite, PCR amplified, cloned and sequenced. We constructed RRBS libraries from murine ES cells and from ES cells lacking DNA methyltransferases Dnmt3a and 3b and with knocked-down (kd) levels of Dnmt1 (Dnmt[1(kd),3a(−/−),3b(−/−)]). Sequencing of 960 RRBS clones from Dnmt[1(kd),3a(−/−),3b(−/−)] cells generated 343 kb of non-redundant bisulfite sequence covering 66212 cytosines in the genome. All but 38 cytosines had been converted to uracil indicating a conversion rate of >99.9%. Of the remaining cytosines 35 were found in CpG and 3 in CpT dinucleotides. Non-CpG methylation was >250-fold reduced compared with wild-type ES cells, consistent with a role for Dnmt3a and/or Dnmt3b in CpA and CpT methylation. Closer inspection revealed neither a consensus sequence around the methylated sites nor evidence for clustering of residual methylation in the genome. Our findings indicate random loss rather than specific maintenance of methylation in Dnmt[1(kd),3a(−/−),3b(−/−)] cells. Near-complete bisulfite conversion and largely unbiased representation of RRBS libraries suggest that random shotgun bisulfite sequencing can be scaled to a genome-wide approach

Evaluation of the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model version 2.10 (UVic ESCM 2.10)

The University of Victoria Earth system climate model of intermediate complexity has been a useful tool in recent assessments of long-term climate changes including paleo-climate modelling. Since the last official release of the UVic ESCM 2.9, and the two official updates during the last decade, a lot of model development has taken place in multiple groups. The new version 2.10 of the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM), to be used in the 6th phase of the coupled model intercomparison project (CMIP6), presented here combines and brings together multiple model developments and new components that have taken place since the last official release of the model. To set the foundation of its use, we here describe the UVic ESCM 2.10 and evaluate results from transient historical simulations against observational data. We find that the UVic ESCM 2.10 is capable of reproducing well changes in historical temperature and carbon fluxes, as well as the spatial distribution of many ocean tracers, including temperature, salinity, phosphate and nitrate. This is connected to a good representation of ocean physical properties. For the moment, there remain biases in ocean alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon, which will be addressed in the next updates to the model

An endocytic-secretory cycle participates in Toxoplasma gondii in motility

Apicomplexan parasites invade host cells in an active process involving their ability to move by gliding motility. While the acto-myosin system of the parasite plays a crucial role in the formation and release of attachment sites during this process, there are still open questions regarding the involvement of other mechanisms in parasite motility. In many eukaryotes, a secretory-endocytic cycle leads to the recycling of receptors (integrins), necessary to form attachment sites, regulation of surface area during motility, and generation of retrograde membrane flow. Here, we demonstrate that endocytosis operates during gliding motility in Toxoplasma gondii and appears to be crucial for the establishment of retrograde membrane flow, because inhibition of endocytosis blocks retrograde flow and motility. We demonstrate that extracellular parasites can efficiently incorporate exogenous material, such as labelled phospholipids, nanogold particles (NGPs), antibodies, and Concanavalin A (ConA). Using labelled phospholipids, we observed that the endocytic and secretory pathways of the parasite converge, and endocytosed lipids are subsequently secreted, demonstrating the operation of an endocytic-secretory cycle. Together our data consolidate previous findings, and we propose an additional model, working in parallel to the acto-myosin motor, that reconciles parasite motility with observations in other eukaryotes: an apicomplexan fountain-flow-model for parasite motility