Patterns of Retinal Damage Facilitate Differential Diagnosis between Susac Syndrome and MS

Susac syndrome, a rare but probably underdiagnosed combination of encephalopathy, hearing loss, and visual deficits due to branch retinal artery occlusion of unknown aetiology has to be considered as differential diagnosis in various conditions. Particularly, differentiation from multiple sclerosis is often challenging since both clinical presentation and diagnostic findings may overlap. Optical coherence tomography is a powerful and easy to perform diagnostic tool to analyse the morphological integrity of retinal structures and is increasingly established to depict characteristic patterns of retinal pathology in multiple sclerosis. Against this background we hypothesised that differential patterns of retinal pathology facilitate a reliable differentiation between Susac syndrome and multiple sclerosis. In this multicenter cross-sectional observational study optical coherence tomography was performed in nine patients with a definite diagnosis of Susac syndrome. Data were compared with age-, sex-, and disease duration-matched relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis patients with and without a history of optic neuritis, and with healthy controls. Using generalised estimating equation models, Susac patients showed a significant reduction in either or both retinal nerve fibre layer thickness and total macular volume in comparison to both healthy controls and relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis patients. However, in contrast to the multiple sclerosis patients this reduction was not distributed over the entire scanning area but showed a distinct sectorial loss especially in the macular measurements. We therefore conclude that patients with Susac syndrome show distinct abnormalities in optical coherence tomography in comparison to multiple sclerosis patients. These findings recommend optical coherence tomography as a promising tool for differentiating Susac syndrome from MS

Iron(ii) template synthesis of benzannulated triphospha- and triarsamacrocycles

Nine-membered 1,4,7-triphospha- and triarsamacrocycles with unsaturated benzo-backbones have been prepared using the [(CpFe)-Fe-R](+) unit as a template. The cyclisation involves the attack of a coordinated phosphide (or arsenide) nucleophile at an activated, electrophilic ortho-fluorophenyl substituent on a neighbouring pnictide donor. The macrocycle assembly is of the 2 + 1 type where two new chelate rings are formed from appropriately derivatised bidentate and monodentate phosphines/arsines. Both [(eta(5)-C5H5)Fe](+) and [(eta(5)-C5Me5)Fe](+) may be employed for the cyclisation with higher yields generally being observed with the unsubstituted Cp. All new compounds have been characterised by spectroscopic and analytical methods including the single-crystal X-ray structure determination of [(eta(5)-C5H5)Fe(tribenzo-9aneP(3)-Ph, Ph-2(F))](+), 3a, and [(eta(5)-C5H5)Fe(tribenzo-9aneAs(3)-Ph, Ph-2(F))](+), 5, as the tetraphenylborate salts. The crystal structures are isomorphous and show the unique conformation of these new macrocycles with a 'cup shaped' cavity formed by the rigid benzo-backbones. The 9aneAs(3) derivative is the first example of a nine-membered triarsamacrocycle

Very early life microbiome and metabolome correlates with primary vaccination variability in children

We show that simultaneous study of stool and nasopharyngeal microbiome reveals divergent timing and patterns of maturation, suggesting that local mucosal factors may influence microbiome composition in the gut and respiratory system. Antibiotic exposure in early life as occurs commonly, may have an adverse effect on vaccine responsiveness. Abundance of gut and/or nasopharyngeal bacteria with the machinery to produce lipopolysaccharide-a toll-like receptor 4 agonist-may positively affect future vaccine protection, potentially by acting as a natural adjuvant. The increased levels of serum phenylpyruvic acid in infants with lower vaccine-induced antibody levels suggest an increased abundance of hydrogen peroxide, leading to more oxidative stress in low vaccine-responding infants

PS Curating the Digital in Everyday Life - A Workshop Report

Das Studienprojekt ›Curating the Digital in Everyday Life‹ des Instituts für Europäische Ethnologie der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin beschäftigte sich in einer einjährigen Forschung mit den Verflechtungen von Menschen, Medien und Alltag. Den Rahmen und Ausgangspunkt der einzelnen Fallstudien bildete die Annahme, dass neue digitale Praktiken unseren Alltag tiefgreifend verändern und Alltagsakteur*innen im Umgang mit der digitalen Fülle an Artefakten eigenständige Praktiken des Kuratierens entwickeln und umsetzen. Sie wählen Objekte aus, ordnen und stellen zusammen, um die Welt auf eine bestimmte Art und Weise darzustellen, Geschichten zu erzählen, Wert zu generieren oder Normen in Frage zu stellen. Auch Algorithmen und Infrastrukturen sind an diesen Prozessen aktiv beteiligt, denn die verschiedenen ›Ausstellungsräume‹ im Internet entstehen erst im Umgang mit den spezifischen Affordanzen der Plattformen.The student research project ›Curating the Digital in Everyday Life‹ by the Institute for European Ethnology at the Humboldt-University of Berlin dealt with the entanglements between people, media and everyday life. The framework and starting point of the individual case studies is based on the assumption that new digital practices profoundly change our everyday life and everyday actors develop and implement independent curating practices in dealing with the digital wealth of artifacts. They select objects, arrange and put them together to present the world in a certain way, to tell stories, to generate value or to question norms. Algorithms and infrastructures are also actively involved in these processes. These various online ›exhibition spaces‹ only arise when dealing with the platform's specific affordances. &nbsp

Curating the Digital in Everyday Life - Ein Werkstattbericht

Das Studienprojekt "Curating the Digital in Everyday Life" des Instituts für Europäische Ethnologie der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin beschäftigte sich in einer einjährigen Forschung mit den Verflechtungen von Menschen, Medien und Alltag. Den Rahmen und Ausgangspunkt der einzelnen Fallstudien bildete die Annahme, dass neue digitale Praktiken unseren Alltag tiefgreifend verändern und Alltagsakteur*innen im Umgang mit der digitalen Fülle an Artefakten eigenständige Praktiken des Kuratierens entwickeln und umsetzen. Sie wählen Objekte aus, ordnen und stellen zusammen, um die Welt auf eine bestimmte Art und Weise darzustellen, Geschichten zu erzählen, Wert zu generieren oder Normen in Frage zu stellen. Auch Algorithmen und Infrastrukturen sind an diesen Prozessen aktiv beteiligt, denn die verschiedenen "Ausstellungsräume" im Internet entstehen erst im Umgang mit den spezifischen Affordanzen der Plattformen.The student research project "Curating the Digital in Everyday Life" by the Institute for European Ethnology at the Humboldt-University of Berlin dealt with the entanglements between people, media and everyday life. The framework and starting point of the individual case studies is based on the assumption that new digital practices profoundly change our everyday life and everyday actors develop and implement independent curating practices in dealing with the digital wealth of artifacts. They select objects, arrange and put them together to present the world in a certain way, to tell stories, to generate value or to question norms. Algorithms and infrastructures are also actively involved in these processes. These various online "exhibition spaces" only arise when dealing with the platform's specific affordances

PS Curating the Digital in Everyday Life - A Workshop Report

Das Studienprojekt ›Curating the Digital in Everyday Life‹ des Instituts für Europäische Ethnologie der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin beschäftigte sich in einer einjährigen Forschung mit den Verflechtungen von Menschen, Medien und Alltag. Den Rahmen und Ausgangspunkt der einzelnen Fallstudien bildete die Annahme, dass neue digitale Praktiken unseren Alltag tiefgreifend verändern und Alltagsakteur*innen im Umgang mit der digitalen Fülle an Artefakten eigenständige Praktiken des Kuratierens entwickeln und umsetzen. Sie wählen Objekte aus, ordnen und stellen zusammen, um die Welt auf eine bestimmte Art und Weise darzustellen, Geschichten zu erzählen, Wert zu generieren oder Normen in Frage zu stellen. Auch Algorithmen und Infrastrukturen sind an diesen Prozessen aktiv beteiligt, denn die verschiedenen ›Ausstellungsräume‹ im Internet entstehen erst im Umgang mit den spezifischen Affordanzen der Plattformen.The student research project ›Curating the Digital in Everyday Life‹ by the Institute for European Ethnology at the Humboldt-University of Berlin dealt with the entanglements between people, media and everyday life. The framework and starting point of the individual case studies is based on the assumption that new digital practices profoundly change our everyday life and everyday actors develop and implement independent curating practices in dealing with the digital wealth of artifacts. They select objects, arrange and put them together to present the world in a certain way, to tell stories, to generate value or to question norms. Algorithms and infrastructures are also actively involved in these processes. These various online ›exhibition spaces‹ only arise when dealing with the platform's specific affordances. &nbsp