Definition of Periprosthetic Joint Infection

Diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) remains challenging as no “gold standard” for diagnosis exists [3]. The challenge is then what test(s) or criterion (ia) can be used to define PJI. In an effort to standardize the definition of PJI, Musculoskeletal Infection Society (MSIS) convened a workgroup in 2011 to issue diagnostic criteria for PJI [1]. The MSIS definition of PJI consists of two major criteria, when the presence of either criterion would indicate PJI, and six minor criteria, when the presence of four or more would indicate PJI

Mental Health and Health-Related Quality of Life in German Adolescents after the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Evaluations after the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany showed an increase in mental health problems and a reduction in health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of the study was to assess those aspects after the third wave of COVID-19 in adolescents who decided to receive a vaccination. In students aged 12–17 years recruited from schools in one German region, mental health (by the strengths and difficulties questionnaire, SDQ) and HRQoL (by KIDSCREEN-10) were assessed by both a self- and parental report. Data from 1412 adolescents (mean age 14.3 years, SD = 1.64) and 908 parents were collected. The mean self reported HRQoL was T = 53.7 (SD = 11.2), significantly higher in boys than in girls and higher in younger (12–14 years) than in older (15–17 years) adolescents. In total, 18.7% of adolescents reported clinically relevant psychological symptoms, especially peer problems (23.5%), emotional problems (17.4%), and hyperactivity (17.1%). Comparing the present data to evaluations after the first and second waves of COVID-19, adolescents rated a higher HRQoL and reported less mental health problems after the third wave. After 1.5 years of living with the pandemic, adolescents have adapted to the changes in everyday life. Further, the relaxation of restrictions, better school organization, and the prospect of the vaccination may have increased optimism, wellbeing, and contentment, leading to declining but still alarming rates of psychological symptoms

Problematic Internet Use among Adolescents 18 Months after the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Studies in recent years and especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic have shown a significant increase in the problematic use of computer games and social media. Adolescents having difficulties in regulating their unpleasant emotions are especially prone to Problematic Internet Use (PIU), which is why emotion dysregulation has been considered a risk factor for PIU. The aim of the present study was to assess problematic internet use (PIU) in adolescents after the third wave (nearly 1.5 years after the onset in Europe) of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the German region of Siegen-Wittgenstein, all students 12 years and older from secondary-level schools, vocational schools and universities were offered a prioritized vaccination in August 2021 with an approved vaccine against COVID-19. In this context, the participants filled out the Short Compulsive Internet Use Scale (SCIUS) and two additional items to capture a possible change in digital media usage time and regulation of negative affect due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A multiple regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of PIU. The original sample consisted of 1477 participants, and after excluding invalid cases the final sample size amounted to 1268 adolescents aged 12–17 (x = 14.37 years, SD = 1.64). The average prevalence of PIU was 43.69%. Gender, age, digital media usage time and the intensity of negative emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic were all found to be significant predictors of PIU: female gender, increasing age, longer digital media usage time and higher intensity of negative emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with higher SCIUS total scores. This study found a very high prevalence of PIU among 12- to 17-year-olds for the period after the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased significantly compared to pre-pandemic prevalence rates. PIU is emerging as a serious problem among young people in the pandemic. Besides gender and age, pandemic-associated time of digital media use and emotion regulation have an impact on PIU, which provides starting points for preventive interventions

A Trans-Atlantic Perspective on Stagnation in Clinical Translation of Antimicrobial Strategies for the Control of Biomaterial-Implant-Associated Infection

Current regulatory requirements impede clinical translation and market introduction of many new antimicrobial combination implants and devices, causing unnecessary patient suffering, doctor frustration, and costs to healthcare payers. Regulatory requirements of antimicrobial combination implants and devices should be thoroughly revisited and their approval allowed based on enrichment of benefit demonstrations from high-risk patient groups and populations or device components to facilitate their clinical translation. Biomaterial implant and devices equipped with antimicrobial strategies and approved based on enrichment claims should be mandatorily enrolled in global registry studies supervised by regulatory agencies for a minimum five-year period or until statistically validated evidence for noninferiority or superiority of claims is demonstrated. With these recommendations, this trans-Atlantic consortium of academicians and clinicians takes its responsibility to actively seek to relieve the factors that stagnate downward clinical translation and availability of antimicrobial combination implants and devices. Improved dialogue between the various key players involved in the current translational blockade, which include patients, academicians and doctors, policymakers, regulatory agencies, manufacturers, and healthcare payers, is urgently needed.</p

Identifying Temporal Patterns and Key Players in Document Collections

This paper considers the problem of analyzing the development of a document collection over time without requiring meaningful citation data. Given a collection of timestamped documents, we formulate and explore the following two questions. First, what are the main topics and how do these topics develop over time? Second, to gain insight into the dynamics driving this development, what are the documents and who are the authors that are most influential in this process? Unlike prior work in citation analysis, we propose methods addressing these questions without requiring the availability of citation data. The methods use only the text of the documents as input. Consequentially, they are applicable to a much wider range of document collections (email, blogs, etc.), most of which lack meaningful citation data. We evaluate our methods on the proceedings of the Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) conference. Even with the preliminary methods that we implemented, the results show that the methods are effective and that addressing the questions based on the text alone is feasible. In fact, the text-based methods sometimes even identify influential papers that are missed by citation analysis. 1

Heptahelical Receptors GprC and GprD of Aspergillus fumigatus Are Essential Regulators of Colony Growth, Hyphal Morphogenesis, and Virulence▿ †

The filamentous fungus Aspergillus fumigatus normally grows on compost or hay but is also able to colonize environments such as the human lung. In order to survive, this organism needs to react to a multitude of external stimuli. Although extensive work has been carried out to investigate intracellular signal transduction in A. fumigatus, little is known about the specific stimuli and the corresponding receptors activating these signaling cascades. Here, two putative G-protein-coupled receptors, GprC and GprD, were characterized with respect to their cellular functions. Deletion of the corresponding genes resulted in drastic growth defects as hyphal extension was reduced, germination was retarded, and hyphae showed elevated levels of branching. The growth defect was found to be temperature dependent. The higher the temperature the more pronounced was the growth defect. Furthermore, compared with the wild type, the sensitivity of the mutant strains toward environmental stress caused by reactive oxygen intermediates was increased and the mutants displayed an attenuation of virulence in a murine infection model. Both mutants, especially the ΔgprC strain, exhibited increased tolerance toward cyclosporine, an inhibitor of the calcineurin signal transduction pathway. Transcriptome analyses indicated that in both the gprC and gprD deletion mutants, transcripts of primary metabolism genes were less abundant, whereas transcription of several secondary metabolism gene clusters was upregulated. Taken together, our data suggest the receptors are involved in integrating and processing stress signals via modulation of the calcineurin pathway

Li7_{7}La3_{3}Zr2_{2}O12_{12} electrolyte for all-solid-state batteries

A major drawback of conventional Li-ion batteries is the use of organic liquid electrolytes. As an alternative, batteries with solid lithium conducting electrolytes are investigated. One of the promising oxide materials is the garnet-structured Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZ) with a competitive Li-ion conductivity of about 10-4 S/cm. Furthermore, the material has a good thermal stability (up to 1250°C), is chemical compatible to metallic lithium, and electrochemically usable up to 8V vs. Li/Li+. The structural stability and ion conduction performance can be improved by partial substitution (e.g. Al, Ta, Y). Furthermore, the sintering temperature, required to achieve the high conductive cubic phase, is reduced by doping. An additional approach is to reduce the thickness of the electrolyte layer to increase battery performance. At IEK1, we investigate two main approaches for solid state electrolyte fabrication. Very thin layers are synthesized by PVD. The aim is to achieve a thin film battery in the range of a few micrometers. For large scale fabrication of functional layers tape casting of LLZ is investigated

Are trabecular metal cones a valid option to treat metaphyseal bone defects in complex primary and revision knee arthroplasty?

Purpose Metaphyseal bone defects are a challenge in complex primary and revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Recently, several studies have been published with promising results about the use of Trabecular Metal (TM) cones to address bone defects. The aim of this study is to review the literature to assess the efficacy of TM cones to address metaphyseal bone loss. Methods A comprehensive search was performed on PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane, Embase, and Google Scholar databases using various combinations of the following keywords: \u201cmetaphyseal,\u201d \u201ccones,\u201d \u201ctantalum,\u201d \u201cknee,\u201d and \u201crevision.\u201d Only papers reporting clinical data about the use of trabecular metal cones were included in the analysis. In vitro studies, case reports, surgical technique, or other studies where it was not possible to collect clinical data were excluded. Patients characteristics, details of the surgical procedures, outcome, and complications were collected from each included study. Results No controlled studies were available in the literature and all the papers were case series. In 16 studies included, the records of 442 patients with 447 implants and 523 TM cones were reported. The mean follow-up was 42 months (range: 5\u2013105) for 360 procedures. Among 437 procedures, 30.4% were septic revisions. The Anderson Orthopaedic Research Institute (AORI) classification was available for 352 defects: 13 type 1, 69 type 2A, 115 type 2B, and 155 type 3. To manage these 352 defects, 360 TM cones were implanted. Intraoperative fractures occurred 13 times (10 femoral/3 tibial), 6 required surgical fixation. The overall infection rate was 7.38%, and the infection rate for the aseptic procedures was 0.99%. An aseptic exchange was performed 13 times, among these procedures twoTM cones were loose. Signs of loosening were found just in 1.3% of the 523 TM cones implanted (5 femoral/2 tibial) during 447 procedures