Treatment strategies for treatment naive HIV patients in Germany: evidence from claims data

A recent observational study of HIV patients in Germany suggests that treatment naive patients that are in a more advanced stage of their disease are more likely to receive a treatment regimen based on a boosted protease inhibitor (PI/r) compared with a non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase-inhibitor (NNRTI) base regimen. To validate those results we analysed claims data of seven German sickness funds from 2009 to 2012 with approximately 4 million beneficiaries. Patients in a more advanced disease state (CDC class C) had a higher likelihood to receive a PI/r based regime rather than a NNRTI based regimen as their initial treatment. There was also a significant correlation between PI/r based regimen and number of comorbidities but not with age. Our results confirm a highly significant relationship between being in a more severe stage of HIV disease and a PI/r based treatment regimen

Treatment strategies for treatment naive HIV patients in Germany: evidence from claims data

A recent observational study of HIV patients in Germany suggests that treatment naive patients that are in a more advanced stage of their disease are more likely to receive a treatment regimen based on a boosted protease inhibitor (PI/r) compared with a non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase-inhibitor (NNRTI) base regimen. To validate those results we analysed claims data of seven German sickness funds from 2009 to 2012 with approximately 4 million beneficiaries. Patients in a more advanced disease state (CDC class C) had a higher likelihood to receive a PI/r based regime rather than a NNRTI based regimen as their initial treatment. There was also a significant correlation between PI/r based regimen and number of comorbidities but not with age. Our results confirm a highly significant relationship between being in a more severe stage of HIV disease and a PI/r based treatment regimen

Phylogenetic relationships among the Chromatiaceae, their taxonomic reclassification and description of the new genera Allochromatium, Halochromatium, Isochromatium, Marichromatium, Thiococcus, Thiohalocapsa, and Thermochromatium

Sequences of the 16S rDNA from all available type strains of Chromatium species have been determined and were compared to those of other Chromatiaceae, a few selected Ectothiorhodospiraceae and Escherichia coli. The clear separation of Ectothiorhodospiraceae and Chromatiaceae is confirmed. Most significantly the sequence comparison revealed a genetic divergence between Chromatium species originated from freshwater sources and those of truly marine and halophilic nature. Major phylogenetic branches of the Chromatiaceae contain (i) marine and halophilic species, (ii) freshwater Chromatium species together with Thiocystis species and (iii) species of the genera Thiocapsa and Amoebobacter as recently reclassified [Guyoneaud, R. & 6 other authors (1988). Int J Syst Bacteriol 48, 957-964], namely Thiocapsa roseopersicina, Thiocapsa pendens (formerly Amoebobacter pendens), Thiocapsa rosea (formerly Amoebobacter roseus), Amoebobacter purpureus and Thiolamprovum pedioforme (formerly Amoebobacter pedioformis). The genetic relationships between the species and groups are not in congruence with the current classification of the Chromatiaceae and a reclassification is proposed on the basis of 16S rDNA sequence similarity supported by selected phenotypic properties. The proposed changes include the transfers of Chromatium minus and Chromatium violascens to Thiocystis minor comb. nov. and Thiocystis violascens comb. nov., of Chromatium vinosum, Chromatium minutissimum and Chromatium warmingii to the new genus Allochromatium as Allochromatium vinosum comb. nov., Allochromatium minutissimum comb. nov., and Allochromatium warmingii comb. nov., of Chromatium tepidum to the new genus Thermochromatium as Thermochromatium tepidum comb. nov., of Chromatium salexigens and Chromatium glycolicum to the new genus Halochromatium as Halochromatium salexigens comb. nov. and Halochromatium glycolicum comb. nov., of Chromatium gracile and Chromatium purpuratum to the new genus as Marichromatium gracile comb. nov. and Marichromatium purpuratum comb. nov., of Thiocapsa pfennigii to Thiococcus pfennigii gen. nom. rev., of Thiocapsa halophila to the new genus Thiohalocapsa as Thiohalocapsa halophila comb. nov., and of Chromatium buderi to the new genus Isochromatium as Isochromatium buderi comb. nov

Non-adiabatic dynamics of two strongly coupled nanomechanical resonator modes

The Landau-Zener transition is a fundamental concept for dynamical quantum systems and has been studied in numerous fields of physics. Here we present a classical mechanical model system exhibiting analogous behaviour using two inversely tuneable, strongly coupled modes of the same nanomechanical beam resonator. In the adiabatic limit, the anticrossing between the two modes is observed and the coupling strength extracted. Sweeping an initialized mode across the coupling region allows mapping of the progression from diabatic to adiabatic transitions as a function of the sweep rate

Ground state of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on an Archimedean 4-6-12 lattice

An investigation of the N\'eel Long Range Order (NLRO) in the ground state of antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin system on the two-dimensional, uniform, bipartite lattice consisting of squares, hexagons and dodecagons is presented. Basing on the analysis of the order parameter and the long-distance correlation function the NLRO is shown to occur in this system. Exact diagonalization and variational (Resonating Valence Bond) methods are applied.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Taxonomic rearrangements of the genera Thiocapsa and Amoebobacter on the basis of 16S rDNA sequence analyses and description of Thiolamprovum gen. nov.

Complete nucleotide sequences of the 16S rDNAs were determined from Thiocapsa and Amoebobacter species, including all available type strains and some additional isolates. The distance-matrix analysis and the dendrogram for estimating the genetic relationships revealed that the investigated strains were found in two major clusters within the Chromatiaceae. One cluster comprises all Amoebobacter species, Thiocapsa roseopersicina and several isolates related to Thiocapsa roseopersicina. Representatives of the species Amoebobacter roseus, Amoebobacter pendens and Thiocapsa roseopersicina, the so called ‘Thiocapsa roseopersicina group’, are very closely related, justifying their inclusion into one genus, Thiocapsa, for which an emended description is presented. Amoebobacter purpureus and Amoebobacter pedioformis formed two separate lines of descent with less than 93% (89·6–92·9%) similarity to strains of the ‘Thiocapsa roseopersicina group’. Therefore, they will be considered as two separate genera. As a consequence, an emended description is presented for the genus Amoebobacter, with Amoebobacter purpureus as the new type species and A. pedioformis is transferred to Thiolamprovum pedioforme gen. nov., comb. nov. Two species, Thiocapsa pfennigii and Thiocapsa halophila, which have been classified with the genus Thiocapsa because of their morphological properties, were found within another major cluster of the Chromatiaceae and are only distantly phylogenetically related to the first cluster with 88·4–90·6% and 90·4–92·2% sequence similarity, respectively

Das EU-Projekt OSCAR (Optimising Subsidiary Crop Applications in Rotations): Ergänzende Pflanzen zur Systemoptimierung in der pfluglosen Landwirtschaft: Neue Genotypen gesucht

In diesem Artikel konnte nur ein sehr kleiner Einblick in das Projekt OSCAR gegeben werden. Inspirationen kommen vor allem aus Südamerika, wo die Direktsaat bereits Standard ist. Die erfolgversprechendsten Arten als Zwischenfrüchte und Untersaaten werden von mehreren Projektpartnern gemeinsam mit beteiligten Landwirten in der Praxis getestet. OSCAR wird jedoch zum Projektende noch keine fertigen Lösungen bieten können. Mit dem sich deutlich wandelnden Klima auch in Deutschland werden Boden- und Wasserschutz immer wichtiger. Dazu tragen die Lösungsansätze von OSCAR bei. Es sind aber bereits einige Folgeprojekte entstanden. Dazu gehört vor allem ein Projekt zur Züchtung von Untersaaten unter den Bedingungen der Minimalbodenbearbeitung

A comparison of different Malaise trap types

Recent reports on insect decline have highlighted the need for long-term data on insect communities towards identifying their trends and drivers. With the launch of many new insect monitoring schemes to investigate insect communities over large spatial and temporal scales, Malaise traps have become one of the most important tools due to the broad spectrum of species collected and reduced capture bias through passive sampling of insects day and night. However, Malaise traps can vary in size, shape, and colour, and it is unknown how these differences affect biomass, species richness, and composition of trap catch, making it difficult to compare results between studies. We compared five Malaise trap types (three variations of the Townes and two variations of the Bartak Malaise trap) to determine their effects on biomass and species richness as identified by metabarcoding. Insect biomass varied by 20%–55%, not strictly following trap size but varying with trap type. Total species richness was 20%–38% higher in the three Townes trap models compared to the Bartak traps. Bartak traps captured lower richness of highly mobile taxa but increased richness of ground-dwelling taxa. The white roofed Townes trap captured a higher richness of pollinators. We find that biomass, total richness, and taxa group specific richness are all sensitive to Malaise trap type. Trap type should be carefully considered and aligned to match monitoring and research questions. Additionally, our estimates of trap type effects can be used to adjust results to facilitate comparisons across studies

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Affects Protein and Lipid Content of Circulating Exosomes in Infected Patients Depending on Tuberculosis Disease State

Tuberculosis (TB), which is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is still one of the deadliest infectious diseases. Understanding how the host and pathogen interact in active TB will have a significant impact on global TB control efforts. Exosomes are increasingly recognized as a means of cell-to-cell contact and exchange of soluble mediators. In the case of TB, exosomes are released from the bacillus and infected cells. In the present study, a comprehensive lipidomics and proteomics analysis of size exclusion chromatography-isolated plasma-derived exosomes from patients with TB lymphadenitis (TBL) and treated as well as untreated pulmonary TB (PTB) was performed to elucidate the possibility to utilize exosomes in diagnostics and knowledge building. According to our findings, exosome-derived lipids and proteins originate from both the host and Mtb in the plasma of active TB patients. Exosomes from all patients are mostly composed of sphingomyelins (SM), phosphatidylcholines, phosphatidylinositols, free fatty acids, triacylglycerols (TAG), and cholesterylesters. Relative proportions of, e.g., SMs and TAGs, vary depending on the disease or treatment state and could be linked to Mtb pathogenesis and dormancy. We identified three proteins of Mtb origin: DNA-directed RNA polymerase subunit beta (RpoC), Diacyglycerol O-acyltransferase (Rv2285), and Formate hydrogenase (HycE), the latter of which was discovered to be differently expressed in TBL patients. Furthermore, we discovered that Mtb infection alters the host protein composition of circulating exosomes, significantly affecting a total of 37 proteins. All TB patients had low levels of apolipoproteins, as well as the antibacterial proteins cathelicidin, Scavenger Receptor Cysteine Rich Family Member (SSC5D), and Ficolin 3 (FCN3). When compared to healthy controls, the protein profiles of PTB and TBL were substantially linked, with 14 proteins being coregulated. However, adhesion proteins (integrins, Intercellular adhesion molecule 2 (ICAM2), CD151, Proteoglycan 4 (PRG4)) were shown to be more prevalent in PTB patients, while immunoglobulins, Complement component 1r (C1R), and Glutamate receptor-interacting protein 1 (GRIP1) were found to be more abundant in TBL patients, respectively. This study could confirm findings from previous reports and uncover novel molecular profiles not previously in focus of TB research. However, we applied a minimally invasive sampling and analysis of circulating exosomes in TB patients. Based on the findings given here, future studies into host–pathogen interactions could pave the way for the development of new vaccines and therapies