Correction to: Clinical management of ageing people living with HIV in Europe: the view of the care providers.

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Incidence of maternal Toxoplasma infections in pregnancy in Upper Austria, 2000-2007

Sagel U, Krämer A, Mikolajczyk RT. Incidence of maternal Toxoplasma infections in pregnancy in Upper Austria, 2000-2007. BMC Infectious Diseases. 2011;11(1): 348.UNLABELLED: ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Despite three decades of prenatal screening program for toxoplasmosis in Austria, population-based estimates for the incidence of maternal infections with Toxoplasma gondii during pregnancy are lacking. We studied the incidence of primary maternal infections during pregnancy in the Federal State of Upper Austria. METHODS: Screening tests for 63,416 women and over 90,000 pregnancies (more than 84.5% of pregnancies in the studied region) in the time period between 01.01.2000 and 31.12.2007 were analysed. The incidence of toxoplasmosis was estimated indirectly by binomial and directly by interval censored regression. RESULTS: During the studied period, 66 acute infections (risk of 0.07% per pregnancy) were detected, but only 29.8% of seronegative women were tested at least three times during their pregnancies. The seroprevalence of Toxoplasma antibodies among all tested women was 31%. Indirectly estimated incidence (from differences in prevalence by age) was 0.5% per pregnancy, while directly estimated incidence (interval censored regression) was 0.17% per pregnancy (95% confidence interval: 0.13-0.21%). CONCLUSIONS: Calculating incidence from observed infections results in severe underreporting due to many missed tests and potential diagnostic problems. Using statistical modelling, we estimated primary toxoplasmosis to occur in 0.17% (0.13-0.21%) of all pregnancies in Upper Austria

Entwicklung und Einsatzverhalten von aktiv gekühlten Testlimitern für das Fusionsexperiment TEXTOR

To investigate aspects of the plama-wall-interaction in fusion devices, TEXTOR ($\underline{T}$oroidal$\underline{E }$xperiment for $\underline{T}$echnology $\underline{O}$rientated $\underline{R}$esearch) provides a favourable testbed. The enhanced possibilities of TEXTOR-94 enable to study typical erosion- and redeposition phenomena on plasma exposed surfaces under stationary, technology relevant conditions. For these purposes actively cooled test limiters are developed and described in their experimental behaviour. Compared to the maximum length of plama discharges in TEXTOR of 10 s, these limiters reach a stationary state within 5,5 s. The detailed analysis of the thermal load conditions led to an optimized geometry of the test limiters. The use of the new load lock system "TEXTOR-Schleuse-III" limits the maximum diameter of the inserted structures to 120 mm. Both, the heat load distribution at the limiter surface and the restrictions of the load lock system, led to the selection of a hemispherical shape with a maximum diameter of 80 mm at the top of the test limiters. They where realized in two technological variants. The first variant was a brazed compound of a metallic heat sink (TZM) with carbon materials as the two directional C/C material SEPCARB-N11 or the fine grain graphite IG 610. The second one was a TZM heat sink, coated with thermally sprayed tungsten. The choosen braze was CulCr. The used thermal spray technology was LPPS ($\underline{L}$ow $\underline{P}$ressure $\underline{P}$lasma $\underline{S}$praying). For the analysis of the thermomechanical conditions in the joined hemispherical test limiter, analytical as well as numerical estimations of the transient spatial tempmeratures were done. Both methods predicted a stationary temperature on the C/C surface is 1150$^{\circ}$ C. In the joining zone 630 $^{\circ}$ C. are reached, at the cooling surface 220 $^{\circ}$ C. For the coated test liiter the calculations predicted stationary conditions after 2 s and a maximum hot spot temperature of 550 $^{\circ}$ C. A qualitative, numerical analysis of the von Mises equivalent stress was done for the C/C-TZM brazing compound. In the hot spot zone moderate stress levels as weIl as stress amplitudes appear. Maximum stress levels and stress amplitudes were predicted in the equatorial area of the hemispherical test limiter. Stress levels in the TZM structure are approximately four times higher than in the carbon materials. Mismatches in the elastomechanical properties of the joining partners locally generate high stress levels. They were reduced by the use of the ductile Cu1Cr braze and an optimized interface design. High heat flux tests with prototype test limiters in the ion beam test facility MARION($\underline{M}$aterial $\underline{R}$esearch $\underline{I}$on Beam Test Facility) confirmed the calculated cooling behaviour and the application reliability of the components under high vacuum conditions and high heat loads. An optimized brazed test limiter was inserted in TEXTOR for 101 plasma discharges. Experimental results with heat loads of up to 12 MW/m$^{2}$ are in excellent agreement with the mathematical models and confirmed the structural integrity of the joined structure. Physical and chemical erosion of carbon from the limiter surface could be observed. Erosion and redeposition phenomena led to an optical change of the C/C surface, but no significant loss of C/C material was detectable

Environmental and behavioral regulation of HIF-mitochondria crosstalk.

Reduced oxygen availability (hypoxia) can lead to cell and organ damage. Therefore, aerobic species depend on efficient mechanisms to counteract detrimental consequences of hypoxia. Hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) and mitochondria are integral components of the cellular response to hypoxia and coordinate both distinct and highly intertwined adaptations. This leads to reduced dependence on oxygen, improved oxygen supply, maintained energy provision by metabolic remodeling and tapping into alternative pathways and increased resilience to hypoxic injuries. On one hand, many pathologies are associated with hypoxia and hypoxia can drive disease progression, for example in many cancer and neurological diseases. But on the other hand, controlled induction of hypoxia responses via HIFs and mitochondria can elicit profound health benefits and increase resilience. To tackle pathological hypoxia conditions or to apply health-promoting hypoxia exposures efficiently, cellular and systemic responses to hypoxia need to be well understood. Here we first summarize the well-established link between HIFs and mitochondria in orchestrating hypoxia-induced adaptations and then outline major environmental and behavioral modulators of their interaction that remain poorly understood

Fabrication and Characterization of Vacuum Plasma Sprayed W/Cu-Composites for Extreme Thermal Conditions

The joining of tungsten to copper and the ongoing search for commercially viable production techniques is one of the challenging issues in the field of composite materials. The reason why this material combination is of essential importance is its ability to withstand erosion and high temperatures on the tungsten side and to remove big quantities of heat on the copper side. Due to the mismatch of thermal expansion and Young's moduli, the direct joining of these two materials results in high residual and thermal stresses at the interface, ultimately reducing component lifetime. One potential answer to this problem is functionally graded structures of W and Cu, which smoothen the transition of material properties. The present study focuses on vacuum plasma spraying (120 mbar, Ar) of W/Cu-gradients and composites with defined mixing ratios. The influence of the fabrication process and the W:Cu ratio on the microstructure has been investigated and results from thermo-mechanical and thermo-physical results analyses are presented. Finite element modeling has been used to demonstrate the positive effect of gradients on the elastic and elastic-plastic response within two different model-geometries. Partial gradients, ranging from pure tungsten to 75 vol.% tungsten, exhibit the best results and improve the expected life-time performance significantly by reducing the stresses at both interfaces, W/FGM and FGM/Cu, compared to a reference interface between W and Cu