Randomized Clinical Trial of Antibiotic Therapy for Antenatal Pyelonephritis

Objective: The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate the efficacy of a therapeutic course of intravenous antibiotics followed by oral antibiotics vs. intravenous antibiotics alone to prevent recurrent urinary tract infection

Dysregulation of Gene Expression in a Lysosomal Storage Disease Varies between Brain Regions Implicating Unexpected Mechanisms of Neuropathology

The characteristic neurological feature of many neurogenetic diseases is intellectual disability. Although specific neuropathological features have been described, the mechanisms by which specific gene defects lead to cognitive impairment remain obscure. To gain insight into abnormal functions occurring secondary to a single gene defect, whole transcriptome analysis was used to identify molecular and cellular pathways that are dysregulated in the brain in a mouse model of a lysosomal storage disorder (LSD) (mucopolysaccharidosis [MPS] VII). We assayed multiple anatomical regions separately, in a large cohort of normal and diseased mice, which greatly increased the number of significant changes that could be detected compared to past studies in LSD models. We found that patterns of aberrant gene expression and involvement of multiple molecular and cellular systems varied significantly between brain regions. A number of changes revealed unexpected system and process alterations, such as up-regulation of the immune system with few inflammatory changes (a significant difference from the closely related MPS IIIb model), down-regulation of major oligodendrocyte genes even though white matter changes are not a feature histopathologically, and a plethora of developmental gene changes. The involvement of multiple neural systems indicates that the mechanisms of neuropathology in this type of disease are much broader than previously appreciated. In addition, the variation in gene dysregulation between brain regions indicates that different neuropathologic mechanisms may predominate within different regions of a diseased brain caused by a single gene mutation

Rapid assessment of the effectiveness of antioxidant active packaging – Study with grape pomace and olive leaf extracts

Natural antioxidants are mixtures of different components with their specific partition and diffusion coefficients and the exact description of the release kinetics into foods is, therefore, complex. For practical application however, the interest should be focused on the antioxidant effect rather than on the single compounds release, i.e., it is an approximation to describe the release of a mixture by treating it as single substance. The evaluation of such approach was subject of this study.Film samples coated with Shellac (Shel) and cellulose nitrate (NC), containing olive leaf extract (OLE) and grape pomace extract (GPE) at different concentrations were put in contact with three food simulants, namely W (water), A (10% ethanol) and D1 (50% ethanol), and the antioxidant capacity was assessed by suitably modified ABTS test.The equilibrium antioxidant capacity increased from W to A and D1 for GPE and OLE: the antioxidant levels attained films containing GPE were 0.272, 0.483 and 0.728. Trolox. mEq/L at 5% concentration, and 0.705, 0.786 and 0.893. Trolox. mEq/L at 10% concentration for W, A and D1 simulants, respectively. The method was also effective at comparing the lacquer retention performances, NC being more effective than the Shel, i.e., it showed a faster release of antioxidant compounds

Adsorptions-Wärmepumpe, Adsorptions-Kältemaschine und darin enthaltene Adsorberelemente auf Basis eines offenporigen wärmeleitenden Festkörpers

The invention relates to an adsorber element for a heat exchanger and an adsorption heat pump or adsorption refrigerator that contains at least one such adsorber element. The adsorber element includes a heat-conducting solid body and a sorption material for a vaporous adsorbate arranged on the surface of this solid body. A fluid-tight foil composite is arranged on the outer surface of the open-pore solid body, at least in the areas in which a contact with a heat transfer fluid is provided, wherein this adsorber element is embodied such that the heat exchange between the open-pore solid body and the heat transfer fluid can take place via the fluid-tight foil composite

Labbag® - a versatile bag-based cultivation system for expansion, differentiation and cryopreservation of human stem cells

Novel approaches in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering are highly promoted by human induced pluripotent stem cells. Typical workflows include the expansion, differentiation and/or cryopreservation of these cells. Often, the differentiation, cytotoxicity tests or disease modelling rely on multicellular aggregates. Here, we present the novel bag-based system “Labbag®” to address workflows required for these applications. As a unique feature, the Labbag® provides a chemical spot pattern to allow the formation of several hundreds of hanging droplets within a few seconds with standard laboratory equipment. In this study, we describe the general concept of the Labbag® and show aggregate formation of stem cells as first stem cell workflow successfully transferred

International Energy Agency Annex 39: High Performance Thermal Insulation Materials, Subtask A: Vacuum insulation panels - study on VIP-components and panels for service life prediction of VIP in building applications

Peer reviewed: NoNRC publication: Ye