Teaching AI competencies in engineering using projects and open educational resources

A major challenge in engineering education is to empower students to use their acquired technical skills to solve real-world problems. In particular, methods of Artificial Intelligence (AI) need to be studied as tools in their respective application contexts. This puts pressure on university lecturers concerning the didactical design and elaboration of a course, and requires them to move towards a practice-based learning approach. Moreover, working on real-world problems leads to uncertainties for the lecturer and their students. Before and during the course, it is not always clear which methods will be used to solve the problem, respectively which competencies the participants need to acquire. Therefore, we propose to combine two established approaches: a project-based learning approach and the use of digital, curated learning content provided by Open Education Resources (OERs). We hypothesise that a practical study project solving a real-world problem using a combination of OERs and project-based learning is beneficial to AI education. Furthermore, we show implementations of our concept in three different courses. The first results indicate that student-centred tasks lead to high intrinsic motivation. At the same time, lecturers have to deal with a modified and extended role: They are no longer the broadcaster of knowledge but rather a guide within the learning process. Using the combination of OERs and project-based learning, the courses are attractive and exciting for students and lecturers without becoming unmanageable

NikR mediates nickel-responsive transcriptional induction of urease expression in Helicobacter pylori

The important human pathogen Helicobacter pylori requires the abundant expression and activity of its urease enzyme for colonization of the gastric mucosa. The transcription, expression, and activity of H. pylori urease were previously demonstrated to be induced by nickel supplementation of growth media. Here it is demonstrated that the HP1338 protein, an ortholog of the Escherichia coli nickel regulatory protein NikR, mediates nickel-responsive induction of urease expression in H. pylori. Mutation of the HP1338 gene (nikR) of H. pylori strain 26695 resulted in significant growth inhibition of the nikR mutant in the presence of supplementation with NiCl(2) at > or =100 microM, whereas the wild-type strain tolerated more than 10-fold-higher levels of NiCl(2). Mutation of nikR did not affect urease subunit expression or urease enzyme activity in unsupplemented growth media. However, the nickel-induced increase in urease subunit expression and urease enzyme activity observed in wild-type H. pylori was absent in the H. pylori nikR mutant. A similar lack of nickel responsiveness was observed upon removal of a 19-bp palindromic sequence in the ureA promoter, as demonstrated by using a genomic ureA::lacZ reporter gene fusion. In conclusion, the H. pylori NikR protein and a 19-bp operator sequence in the ureA promoter are both essential for nickel-responsive induction of urease expression in H. pylori

Transcriptional profiling of Helicobacter pylori Fur- and iron-regulated gene expression

Intracellular iron homeostasis is a necessity for almost all living organisms, since both iron restriction and iron overload can result in cell death. The ferric uptake regulator protein, Fur, controls iron homeostasis in most Gram-negative bacteria. In the human gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori, Fur is thought to have acquired extra functions to compensate for the relative paucity of regulatory genes. To identify H. pylori genes regulated by iron and Fur, we used DNA array-based transcriptional profiling with RNA isolated from H. pylori 26695 wild-type and fur mutant cells grown in iron-restricted and iron-replete conditions. Sixteen genes encoding proteins involved in metal metabolism, nitrogen metabolism, motility, cell wall synthesis and cofactor synthesis displayed iron-dependent Fur-repressed expression. Conversely, 16 genes encoding proteins involved in iron storage, respiration, energy metabolism, chemotaxis, and oxygen scavenging displayed iron-induced Fur-dependent expression. Several Fur-regulated genes have been previously shown to be essential for acid resistance or gastric colonization in animal models, such as those encoding the hydrogenase and superoxide dismutase enzymes. Overall, there was a partial overlap between the sets of genes regulated by Fur and those previously identified as growth-phase, iron or acid regulated. Regulatory patterns were confirmed for five selected genes using Northern hybridization. In conclusion, H. pylori Fur is a versatile regulator involved in many pathways essential for gastric colonization. These findings further delineate the central role of Fur in regulating the unique capacity of H. pylori to colonize the human stomach

The role of the ferric uptake regulator (Fur) in regulation of Helicobacter pylori iron uptake

Background. Availability of the essential nutrient iron is thought to vary greatly in the gastric mucosa, and thus the human gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori requires regulatory responses to these environmental changes. Bacterial iron-responsive regulation is often mediated by Ferric Uptake Regulator (Fur) homologs, and in this study we have determined the role of H. pylori Fur in regulation of H. pylori iron uptake. Methods. Wild-type H. pylori and fur mutant derivatives were compared after growth in ironrestricted and iron-replete conditions. Iron-uptake was measured using 55Fe-labeled iron, whereas gene expression was mon

Differential regulation of amidase- and formamidase-mediated ammonia production by the Helicobacter pylori fur repressor.

The production of high levels of ammonia allows the human gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori to survive the acidic conditions in the human stomach. H. pylori produces ammonia through urease-mediated degradation of urea, but it is also able to convert a range of amide substrates into ammonia via its AmiE amidase and AmiF formamidase enzymes. Here data are provided that demonstrate that the iron-responsive regulatory protein Fur directly and indirectly regulates the activity of the two H. pylori amidases. In contrast to other amidase-positive bacteria, amidase and formamidase enzyme activities were not induced by medium supplementation with their respective substrates, acrylamide and formamide. AmiE protein expression and amidase enzyme activity were iron-repressed in H. pylori 26695 but constitutive in the isogenic fur mutant. This regulation was mediated at the transcriptional level via the binding of Fur to the amiE promoter region. In contrast, formamidase enzyme activity was not iron-repressed but was significantly higher in the fur mutant. This effect was not mediated at the transcriptional level, and Fur did not bind to the amiF promoter region. These roles of Fur in regulation of the H. pylori amidases suggest that the H. pylori Fur regulator may have acquired extra functions to compensate for the absence of other regulatory systems

Communicable Diseases Prioritized for Surveillance and Epidemiological Research: Results of a Standardized Prioritization Procedure in Germany, 2011

To establish strategic priorities for the German national public health institute (RKI) and guide the institute's mid-term strategic decisions, we prioritized infectious pathogens in accordance with their importance for national surveillance and epidemiological research.We used the Delphi process with internal (RKI) and external experts and a metric-consensus approach to score pathogens according to ten three-tiered criteria. Additional experts were invited to weight each criterion, leading to the calculation of a median weight by which each score was multiplied. We ranked the pathogens according to the total weighted score and divided them into four priority groups.., Respiratory syncytial virus or Hantavirus) indicate a possible under-recognised importance within the current German public health framework. A process to strengthen respective surveillance systems and research has been started. The prioritization methodology has worked well; its modular structure makes it potentially useful for other settings

Characteristics of contralateral carcinomas in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer larger than 1 cm

Purpose: Traditionally, total thyroidectomy has been advocated for patients with tumors larger than 1 cm. However, according to the ATA and NCCN guidelines (2015, USA), patients with tumors up to 4 cm are now eligible for lobectomy. A rationale for adhering to total thyroidectomy might be the presence of contralateral carcinomas. The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of contralateral carcinomas in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) larger than 1 cm. Methods: A retrospective study was performed including patients from 17 centers in 5 countries. Adults diagnosed with DTC stage T1b-T3 N0-1a M0 who all underwent a total thyroidectomy were included. The primary endpoint was the presence of a contralateral carcinoma. Results: A total of 1

Characteristics of contralateral carcinomas in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer larger than 1 cm

textabstractPurpose: Traditionally, total thyroidectomy has been advocated for patients with tumors larger than 1 cm. However, according to the ATA and NCCN guidelines (2015, USA), patients with tumors up to 4 cm are now eligible for lobectomy. A rationale for adhering to total thyroidectomy might be the presence of contralateral carcinomas. The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of contralateral carcinomas in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) larger than 1 cm. Methods: A retrospective study was performed including patients from 17 centers in 5 countries. Adults diagnosed with DTC stage T1b-T3 N0-1a M0 who all underwent a total thyroidectomy were included. The primary endpoint was the presence of a contralateral carcinoma. Results: A total of 1313 patients were included, of whom 426 (32 %) had a contralateral carcinoma. The contralateral carcinomas consisted of 288 (67 %) papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC), 124 (30 %) follicular variant of a papillary thyroid carcinoma (FvPTC), 5 (1 %) follicular thyroid carcinomas (FTC), and 3 (1 %) Hürthle cell carcinomas (HTC). Ipsilateral multifocality was strongly associated with the presence of contralateral carcinomas (OR 2.62). Of all contralateral carcinomas, 82 % were ≤10 mm and of those 99 % were PTC or FvPTC. Even if the primary tumor was a FTC or HTC, the contralateral carcinoma was (Fv)PTC in 92 % of cases. Conclusions: This international multicenter study performed on patients with DTC larger than 1 cm shows that contralateral carcinomas occur in one third of patients and, independently of primary tumor subtype, predominantly consist of microPTC

Cross-cohort gut microbiome associations with immune checkpoint inhibitor response in advanced melanoma

The composition of the gut microbiome has been associated with clinical responses to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment, but there is limited consensus on the specific microbiome characteristics linked to the clinical benefits of ICIs. We performed shotgun metagenomic sequencing of stool samples collected before ICI initiation from five observational cohorts recruiting ICI-naive patients with advanced cutaneous melanoma (n = 165). Integrating the dataset with 147 metagenomic samples from previously published studies, we found that the gut microbiome has a relevant, but cohort-dependent, association with the response to ICIs. A machine learning analysis confirmed the link between the microbiome and overall response rates (ORRs) and progression-free survival (PFS) with ICIs but also revealed limited reproducibility of microbiome-based signatures across cohorts. Accordingly, a panel of species, including Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, Roseburia spp. and Akkermansia muciniphila, associated with responders was identified, but no single species could be regarded as a fully consistent biomarker across studies. Overall, the role of the human gut microbiome in ICI response appears more complex than previously thought, extending beyond differing microbial species simply present or absent in responders and nonresponders. Future studies should adopt larger sample sizes and take into account the complex interplay of clinical factors with the gut microbiome over the treatment course