Significantly improved precision of cell migration analysis in time-lapse video microscopy through use of a fully automated tracking system

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cell motility is a critical parameter in many physiological as well as pathophysiological processes. In time-lapse video microscopy, manual cell tracking remains the most common method of analyzing migratory behavior of cell populations. In addition to being labor-intensive, this method is susceptible to user-dependent errors regarding the selection of "representative" subsets of cells and manual determination of precise cell positions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have quantitatively analyzed these error sources, demonstrating that manual cell tracking of pancreatic cancer cells lead to mis-calculation of migration rates of up to 410%. In order to provide for objective measurements of cell migration rates, we have employed multi-target tracking technologies commonly used in radar applications to develop fully automated cell identification and tracking system suitable for high throughput screening of video sequences of unstained living cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We demonstrate that our automatic multi target tracking system identifies cell objects, follows individual cells and computes migration rates with high precision, clearly outperforming manual procedures.</p

Jenseits der Wahlen: sieben Trends, die die Innen- und Außenpolitik der USA prägen werden

Viele politische Entscheidungsträger in Deutschland und anderen EU-Staaten dürften darauf hoffen, dass die transatlantischen Beziehungen nach den bevorstehenden US-Präsidentschaftswahlen am 3.November wieder in ruhigere Fahrwasser gelangen, falls der Demokrat Joe Biden gewinnt. Allerdings wird der innen-und außenpolitische Handlungsspielraum des amerikanischen Präsidenten auch von langfristigen und strukturellen Entwicklungen bestimmt, die über die nächsten (und übernächsten) US-Wahlen hinauswirken. Sieben Trends sind in dieser Hinsicht besonders relevant. Zusammen betrachtet verdeutlichen sie, dass außenpolitische Anforderungen und innenpolitische Ressourcen in den USA zunehmend auseinanderklaffen. (Autorenreferat

TraumaRegister DGU-® as basis for a global network of data on severe injuries

To date, the Trauma Registry (TraumaRegister DGU-® contains data of approximately 100.000 severely injured patients, 65% of which suffered from a road traffic crash. Thus, it is the world's largest data base for severely injured patients. The article describes the development of the registry and explains how it was rolled out over Germany using the established structure of the German Trauma Network (TraumaNetzwerk DGU-®). In addition, this article presents three typical use cases from the fields of quality management, policy making and system-wide interventions, clinical research and injury prevention. In conclusion, the TraumaRegister DGU-® is a well-established tool for various purposes related to the control and reduction of the burden of road injury. Its ongoing expansion to other countries will support the goal of international benchmarking of hospitals and trauma systems

Acupuncture in management of acute dental pain – A systematic review and meta-analysis

Acute dental pain is a common issue leading to dental consultation. Besides causal therapy, patients are treated with acupuncture, but efficacy in acute dental pain is still not clarified. We aimed to evaluate results of recent research to estimate the efficacy of acupuncture compared to pain-relieving approaches in treatment of acute dental pain. A systematic review of controlled trials being published between database inception and 2020 were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture (alone or as complementary therapy) compared to local anesthesia or conventional analgesic medications in acute dental pain (intraoperatively and postoperatively) and to clarify whether acupuncture reduces the use of postoperative analgesic medications. Of 1672 publications, 23 publications met the inclusion criteria. From these, 11 randomized controlled trials (n = 668) reported on the efficacy of acupuncture on postoperative acute dental pain. Patients, who received acupuncture, showed lower pain scores postoperatively compared to sham acupuncture (Relative Risk −0.77, 95% Confidence interval −1.52 to −0.03). Overall, the results suggest a potential role of acupuncture in improving acute dental pain intraoperatively and postoperatively as well as improving the efficacy of local anesthesia, but the results are limited due to methodological shortcomings emphasizing the necessity for future high-quality research

Efficacy and Safety of Ticagrelor in Comparison to Clopidogrel in Elderly Patients With ST‐Segment–Elevation Myocardial Infarctions

BACKGROUND: Current guidelines recommend the new‐generation P2Y12‐inhibitor ticagrelor for patients with acute ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarctions (STEMIs). The aim of the present study was to assess efficacy and safety of ticagrelor for elderly patients with STEMI (≥75 years) in an all‐comers STEMI registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients with STEMI, aged ≥75 years, treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention and documented in the Bremen STEMI Registry between 2006 and 2017 entered analysis. The primary efficacy outcome, major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events, was defined as a composite of death, myocardial reinfarction, and stroke. The safety outcome was defined as any significant bleeding event within 1 year. To estimate benefit/risk ratio, net adverse clinical events (major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events+bleedings) were calculated. Outcomes were estimated in propensity score–matched cohorts to adjust for possible confounders. Of a total of 7466 patients with STEMI, 1087, aged ≥75 years, were selected, of which 552 (51%) received clopidogrel and 535 (49%) received ticagrelor, with similar age (80.9±4.6 versus 80.9±4.6 years) and sex (51% versus 50% female) distributions between treatment arms. The primary efficacy outcome occurred in 32.4% of patients treated with clopidogrel versus 25.5% treated with ticagrelor (P=0.015), with the 1‐year mortality rate at 26.8% versus 21.1% (P=0.035). Because there was no difference in the safety outcome (clopidogrel versus ticagrelor, 4.9% versus 5.1%; not significant), net adverse clinical events were higher for clopidogrel than for ticagrelor: 37.3% versus 30.6% (P=0.028). In a propensity score–matched model, the advantage for ticagrelor on major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events remained significant (hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.49‐0.97; P=0.03), whereas 1‐year‐mortality (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.67–1.27; P=0.5) and 1‐year bleeding events (hazard ratio, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.4–2.3; P=0.8) did not differ. CONCLUSIONS: These results from propensity score–matched registry data show that for elderly patients with STEMI, ticagrelor compared with clopidogrel was associated with a reduction in major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events without a significant increase in bleeding events within 1 year

Socially disadvantaged city districts show a higher incidence of acute ST-elevation myocardial infarctions with elevated cardiovascular risk factors and worse prognosis

BACKGROUND: The importance of socioeconomic status (SES) for coronary heart disease (CHD)-morbidity is subject of ongoing scientific investigations. This study was to explore the association between SES in different city-districts of Bremen/Germany and incidence, severity, treatment modalities and prognosis for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarctions (STEMI). METHODS: Since 2006 all STEMI-patients from the metropolitan area of Bremen are documented in the Bremen STEMI-registry. Utilizing postal codes of their home address they were assigned to four groups in accordance to the Bremen social deprivation-index (G1: high, G2: intermediate high, G3: intermediate low, G4: low socioeconomic status). RESULTS: Three thousand four hundred sixty-two consecutive patients with STEMI admitted between 2006 and 2015 entered analysis. City areas with low SES showed higher adjusted STEMI-incidence-rates (IR-ratio 1.56, G4 vs. G1). This elevation could be observed in both sexes (women IRR 1.63, men IRR 1.54) and was most prominent in inhabitants &lt;50 yrs. of age (women IRR 2.18, men IRR 2.17). Smoking (OR 1.7, 95%CI 1.3–2.4) and obesity (1.6, 95%CI 1.1–2.2) was more prevalent in pts. from low SES city-areas. While treatment-modalities did not differ, low SES was associated with more extensive STEMIs (creatine kinase &gt; 3000 U/l, OR 1.95, 95% CI 1.4–2.8) and severe impairment of LV-function post-STEMI (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.2–3.4). Long term follow-up revealed that lower SES was associated with higher major adverse cardiac or cerebrovascular event (MACCE)-rates after 5 years: G1 30.8%, G2 35.7%, G3 36.0%, G4 41.1%, p (for trend) = 0.02. This worse prognosis could especially be shown for young STEMI-patients (&lt;50 yrs. of age) 5-yr. mortality-rates(G4 vs. G1) 18.4 vs. 3.1%, p = 0.03 and 5-year-MACCE-rates (G4 vs. G1) 32 vs. 6.3%, p = 0.02. CONCLUSIONS: This registry-data confirms the negative association of low socioeconomic status and STEMI-incidence, with higher rates of smoking and obesity, more extensive infarctions and worse prognosis for the socio-economically deprived

Early CRP kinetics to predict long‐term efficacy of first‐line immune‐checkpoint inhibition combination therapies in metastatic renal cell carcinoma: an updated multicentre real‐world experience applying different CRP kinetics definitions

Abstract Objectives Although biomarkers predicting therapy response in first‐line metastatic renal carcinoma (mRCC) therapy remain to be defined, C‐reactive protein (CRP) kinetics have recently been associated with immunotherapy (IO) response. Here, we aimed to assess the predictive and prognostic power of two contemporary CRP kinetics definitions in a large, real‐world first‐line mRCC cohort. Methods Metastatic renal carcinoma patients treated with IO‐based first‐line therapy within 5 years were retrospectively included in this multicentre study. According to Fukuda et al., patients were defined as ‘CRP flare‐responder’, ‘CRP responder’ and ‘non‐CRP responder’; according to Ishihara et al., patients were defined as ‘normal’, ‘normalised’ and ‘non‐normalised’ based on their early CRP kinetics. Patient and tumor characteristics were compared, and treatment outcome was measured by overall (OS) and progression‐free survival (PFS), including multivariable Cox regression analyses. Results Out of 316 mRCC patients, 227 (72%) were assigned to CRP groups according to Fukuda. Both CRP flare‐ (HR [Hazard ratio]: 0.59) and CRP responders (HR: 0.52) had a longer PFS, but not OS, than non‐CRP responders. According to Ishihara, 276 (87%) patients were assigned to the respective groups, and both normal and normalised patients had a significantly longer PFS and OS, compared with non‐normalised group. Conclusion Different early CRP kinetics may predict therapy response in first‐line mRCC therapy in a large real‐world cohort. However, further research regarding the optimal timing and frequency of measurement is needed