Traveling Together to Ward Off Fear: Lenten Reflections During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Reflections on life in a Benedictine Monastery provide insights into how the Benedictine way of life can help Christians during the trials and tribulations of the coronavirus pandemic. Humility, community living, and our inner attitudes can also deepen our experience of Lent

Identifizierung von Biomarkern in hypertrophierten Kardiomyozyten und Einfluss von mesenchymalen Stammzellen im in vitro Modell

Herzkreislauferkrankungen stehen weltweit noch immer auf Platz eins der Todesursachen. Da viele kardiovaskuläre Erkrankungen im direkten Zusammenhang mit einer Myokardhypertrophie stehen und diese als starker Prädiktor für einen negativen Verlauf gilt, nimmt die Erforschung therapeutischer Ansätze in diesem Bereich seit langem einen hohen Stellenwert ein. Auf der zellulären Ebene gilt besonders die Therapie mit mesenchymalen Stammzellen (MSCs) als vielversprechender Ansatz. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, ein in vitro Modell für die kardiale Hypertrophie auf Basis der beiden kardialen Zellreihen HL - 1 (heart like 1) und iPS - CM (Cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells) zu etablieren. Hierfür sollte mittels Phenylephrin in den Zellreihen eine Hypertrophie induziert und anschließend in den hypertrophierten Zellen geeignete Biomarker detektiert werden. Zur Bestätigung der Zellhypertrophie wurde eine histologische Quantifizierung der Zellgröße durchgeführt und die mittels Microarray detektierten und anhand von Literaturrecherche ausgewählten Hypertrophiemarker durch rtPCR und Western Blot überprüft. Im zweiten Teil dieser Arbeit sollte mit Hilfe dieser Marker der Einfluss von MSCs auf die Hypertrophie in den Kardiomyozyten untersucht werden. Hierfür wurden direkte und indirekte Co- Kulturen aus iPS - CM und MSCs angelegt. Da bereits bekannt ist, dass eine Präkonditionierung der MSCs zur Stimulation ihrer parakrinen Aktivität führt, erfolgte vor Co - Kultivierung bei einem Teil der MSCs zusätzlich eine Behandlung mit IL - β und IFN - γ. Während der Untersuchungen erbrachten insbesondere die immortalisierten HL - 1 Zellen trotz ihrer langen Etablierung als Zellreihe für die Herz- Kreislaufforschung nicht die zu erwartenden Ergebnisse, so dass die weiteren Versuche der Co -Kultur ausschließlich mit den iPS - CM durchgeführt wurden. Für murine iPS - CM sind bislang in der Literatur keine hypertrophiespezifischen Marker beschrieben worden. In der Microarray Analyse zeigte sich in den hypertrophierten iPS - CM die stärkste Hochregulierung beim neuron-derived orphan receptor Gen (NOR- 1). Neben NOR- 1 zeigte sich ebenfalls eine Signifikanz bei der Proteinexpression der Proteinkinase B (pAkt) und dem Transmembranprotein Connexin 43 (Cx 43). Die Ergebnisse der direkten und indirekten Co- Kultivierung stellten sich bei der Proteinexpression gegensätzlich dar. Der kardioprotektive Effekt der MSCs auf die iPS - CM scheint sich in der indirekten Co- Kultivierung zu manifestieren, hier zeigte sich ein signifikanter Rückgang der Expression von Cx 43 und NOR- 1. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit zeigen die iPS - CM als vielversprechendes in vitro Modell für die Myokardhypertrophie. Die in dieser Arbeit dargestellten Ergebnisse von pAkt, Cx 43 und NOR- 1 detektieren diese als nutzbare Hypertrophiemarker in den iPS - CM. Anhand der ermittelten Biomarker besteht eine gute Möglichkeit, die kardiale Hypertrophie und deren mögliche Therapie auf zellulärer Ebene weitergehend zu untersuchen. Insbesondere NOR- 1 erscheint hierfür besonders interessant zu sein, da hier die kardialen Zusammenhänge noch weitestgehend unbekannt sind. Im zweiten Teil der vorliegenden Arbeit konnte eine Regression der Hypertrophie in den iPS - CM in der indirekten Co- Kultur mit präkonditionierten MSCs gezeigt werden. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen, dass der MSC-vermittelte Effekt auf die hypertrophierten iPS - CM am ehesten über lösliche Faktoren geschieht

First European consensus for diagnosis, management, and treatment of transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathy

Purpose of reviewEarly and accurate diagnosis of transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathy (TTR-FAP) represents one of the major challenges faced by physicians when caring for patients with idiopathic progressive neuropathy. There is little consensus in diagnostic and management approaches across Europe.Recent findingsThe low prevalence of TTR-FAP across Europe and the high variation in both genotype and phenotypic expression of the disease means that recognizing symptoms can be difficult outside of a specialized diagnostic environment. The resulting delay in diagnosis and the possibility of misdiagnosis can misguide clinical decision-making and negatively impact subsequent treatment approaches and outcomes.SummaryThis review summarizes the findings from two meetings of the European Network for TTR-FAP (ATTReuNET). This is an emerging group comprising representatives from 10 European countries with expertise in the diagnosis and management of TTR-FAP, including nine National Reference Centres. The current review presents management strategies and a consensus on the gold standard for diagnosis of TTR-FAP as well as a structured approach to ongoing multidisciplinary care for the patient. Greater communication, not just between members of an individual patient's treatment team, but also between regional and national centres of expertise, is the key to the effective management of TTR-FAP.</p

Dipole reorientation and local density of optical states influence the emission of light-emitting electrochemical cells

Herein, we analyze the temporal evolution of the electroluminescence of light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs), a thin-film light-emitting device, in order to maximize the luminous power radiated by these devices. A careful analysis of the spectral and angular distribution of the emission of LECs fabricated under the same experimental conditions allows describing the dynamics of the spatial region from which LECs emit, i.e. the generation zone, as bias is applied. This effect is mediated by dipole reorientation within such an emissive region and its optical environment, since its spatial drift yields a different interplay between the intrinsic emission of the emitters and the local density of optical states of the system. Our results demonstrate that engineering the optical environment in thin-film light-emitting devices is key to maximize their brightness

Healthy Nebraska: Advancing Human Health and Developing Healthy Communities

Healthy Nebraska: Advancing Human Health and Developing Healthy Communities Every day, the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) is putting together a wickedly complex puzzle, in which each faculty member, researcher, Extension educator, student, staff member, partner and stakeholder is a vitally important piece. As the pieces come together, we see a picture of the world in which IANR is making a meaningful difference in sustainable food, fuel, feed, and fiber production

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde

Measurement of the top quark pair cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using final states with an electron or a muon and a hadronically decaying τ lepton

A measurement of the cross section of top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb -1. Events with an isolated electron or muon and a τ lepton decaying hadronically are used. In addition, a large missing transverse momentum and two or more energetic jets are required. At least one of the jets must be identified as originating from a b quark. The measured cross section, σtt-=186±13(stat.)±20(syst.)±7(lumi.) pb, is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction

Hunt for new phenomena using large jet multiplicities and missing transverse momentum with ATLAS in 4.7 fb−1 of √s=7 TeV proton-proton collisions

Results are presented of a search for new particles decaying to large numbers of jets in association with missing transverse momentum, using 4.7 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√=7TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. The event selection requires missing transverse momentum, no isolated electrons or muons, and from ≥6 to ≥9 jets. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of a MSUGRA/CMSSM supersymmetric model, where, for large universal scalar mass m 0, gluino masses smaller than 840 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, extending previously published limits. Within a simplified model containing only a gluino octet and a neutralino, gluino masses smaller than 870 GeV are similarly excluded for neutralino masses below 100 GeV