Clinical Relevance of Immunoresistance to Botulinum Therapy

Because botulinum toxin is a bacterial antigen, the therapy with this biological bears the risk that the formation of antibodies is elicited which can neutralize the neurotoxin. Several factors have an impact on this immune response. There are (unknown) patient-related factors but also the dose, the injection interval and the purity of the product play a role in the formation of antibodies. Several assays to detect antibodies are available; immunological assays such as FIA (fluorescence immunoassay) and ELISA, function assays such as MPA (mouse protection assay) and HDA (hemidiaphragm assay), clinical assays such as the EDB assay (extensor digitorum brevis assay), and SCM assay (sternocleidomastoid) which have different sensitivities. Clinical studies with different BoNT/A products demonstrate that the rate of antibody formation is low. Important for the physician is whether the antibody formation has an impact on the responsiveness of the patient. Not all patients with positive sera are nonresponders. The antibody titer is certainly important which might not be high enough to neutralize the injected dose completely but the titer might increase during further treatment with the neurotoxin leading to complete nonresponse. To avoid the formation of antibodies, the lowest dose necessary for the patient should be injected keeping the longest acceptable injection interval

Schottky Solar Cells with CuInS₂ Nanocrystals as Absorber Material

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals with tunable optical properties are promising materials for light harvesting in solar cells. So far, in particular cadmiumand lead chalcogenide nanocrystals were intensively studied in this respect, and the device performance has made rapid progress in recent years. In contrast, less research efforts were undertaken to develop solar cells based on Cd- and Pb-free nanoparticles as absorbermaterial. In the present work, we report on Schottky solar cells with the absorber layermade of colloidal copper indiumdisulfide nanocrystals. Absorber films with up to ∼ 500 nm thickness were realized by a solution-based layer-by-layer deposition technique. The device performance was systematically studied dependent on the absorber layer thickness. Decreasing photocurrent densities with increasing thickness revealed charge transport to be a limiting factor for the device performance

Coronavirus-Pandemie: Die Feiertage und den Jahreswechsel für einen harten Lockdown nutzen : 7. Ad-hoc-Stellungnahme zr Coronavirus-Pandemie - 08.Dezember 2020

Die gegenwärtige Situation ist nach wie vor ernst und droht sich weiter zu verschärfen. Trotz des seit Anfang November in Deutschland geltenden Teil-Lockdowns sind die Infektionszahlen auf einem sehr hohen Niveau. Jeden Tag sterben mehrere Hundert Menschen. Die Krankenhäuser und insbesondere das medizinische Personal sind bereits jetzt an ihren Grenzen und die Gesundheitsämter überlastet. Um die Kontrolle über das Infektionsgeschehen zurückzuerlangen, empfiehlt die Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Leopoldina in der Ad-hoc-Stellungnahme „Coronavirus-Pandemie: Die Feiertage und den Jahreswechsel für einen harten Lockdown nutzen“ ein zweistufiges Vorgehen. Die Rahmenbedingungen ‒ Weihnachtsferien in Bildungseinrichtungen und eingeschränkter Betrieb in vielen Unternehmen und Behörden – bieten die Chance, in der Eindämmung der Pandemie ein großes Stück voranzukommen