Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

At the crossroads with public history: mediating the Holocaust on the Internet

For memorials, museums, and research institutions as well as for scholars and historians, the Internet has become an indispensable tool for the dissemination of knowledge about the Holocaust. These representatives of a transnational and transcultural memorialization, however, are usually not at the forefront of an innovative, sometimes provocative usage of new information and communication technologies. They do, on the other hand, respond proactively to incentives from public historians with massive online activities and significant reinterpretations. Using examples from Wikipedia and Facebook, these issues are discussed, while showing the fluid relationship between evolving social media technologies, our cultural memory, and the representations as well as at times controversial forms of commemoration of the Holocaust on the Internet

Late Glacial and Holocene sedimentary infill of Lake Mondsee (Eastern Alps, Austria) and historical rockfall activity revealed by reflection seismics and sediment core analysis

Glacigenic perialpine lakes can constitute continuous post-last glacial maximum (LGM) geological archives which allow reconstruction of both lake-specific sedimentological processes and the paleoenvironmental setting of lakes. Lake Mondsee is one among several perialpine lakes in the Salzkammergut, Upper Austria, and has been previously studied in terms of paleoclimate, paleolimnology and (paleo)ecology. However, the full extent and environment of Late Glacial to Holocene sediment deposition had remained unknown, and it was not clear whether previously studied core sections were fully representative of 3D sediment accumulation patterns. In this study, the sedimentary infill of Lake Mondsee was examined via high-resolution seismic reflection survey over a 57-km extent (3.5 kHz pinger source) and a sediment core extracted from the deepest part of the lake, with a continuous length of 13.76 m. In the northern basin, seismic penetration is strongly limited in most areas because of abundant shallow gas (causing acoustic blanking). In the deeper areas, the acoustic signal reaches depths of up to 80 ms TWT (two-way travel time), representing a postglacial sedimentary sequence of at least 60-m thickness. Holocene deposits constitute only the uppermost 11.5 m of the sedimentary succession. Postglacial seismic stratigraphy of Lake Mondsee closely resembles those of well-studied French and Swiss perialpine lakes, with our data showing that most of Lake Mondsee’s sedimentary basin infill was deposited within a short time period (between 19,000 BP and 14,500 BP) after the Traun Glacier retreated from the Mondsee area, indicating an average sedimentation rate of about 1.4 cm/yr. Compared to other perialpine lakes, the seismic data from Lake Mondsee reveal little indication of mass movement activities during the Holocene. One exception, however, is rockfalls that originate from a steep cliff, the Kienbergwand, situated on the southern shore of Lake Mondsee, where, in the adjacent part of the lake, seismic profiles show mass transport deposits (MTDs), which extend approximately 450 m from the shore and are mappable over an area of about 45,300 m2. Sediment cores targeting the MTDs show two separate rockfall events. The older event consists of clast-supported angular dolomitic gravels and sands, showing high amounts of fine fraction. The younger event exhibits dolomitic clasts of up to 1.5 cm in diameter, which is mixed within a lacustrine muddy matrix. Radiocarbon dating and correlations with varve-dated sediment cores hint at respective ages of AD 1484 ± 7 for Event 1 and AD 1639 ± 5 for Event 2. As our data show no evidence of larger-scale mass movements affecting Lake Mondsee and its surroundings, we infer that the current-day morphology of the Kienbergwand is the result of infrequent medium-scale rockfalls.© 2018 Christoph Daxer et al

Age-specific response of skeletal muscle extracellular matrix to acute resistance exercise: A pilot study

The extracellular matrix (ECM) plays an essential role in the development, growth and repair of skeletal muscles and serves to transmit contractile force. However, its regulation is poorly understood. This study investigates the age-specificity of the effects of acute resistance exercise on ECM gene expression. To this purpose, five young (YM, 23.8 ± 2.2 yrs.) and 5 elderly (EM, 66.8 ± 4.1 yrs.) men performed one session of unilateral leg press and leg extension exercises. Six hours post-exercise, biopsies were taken from the vastus lateralis muscles of both legs. A PCR array was used to profile the expression of 84 ECM-related genes, of which 6 were validated by qPCR. The PCR array found 9 and 4 ECM-associated genes to be selectively altered (>1.5-fold change) in YM or EM only. Four further genes were upregulated in YM but downregulated in EM. Of the 6 genes validated on individual samples MMP9 expression increased in YM (9.7-fold) and decreased (0.2-fold) in EM. MMP15 was downregulated in EM only (0.6-fold). A significant correlation between leg extension 1 RM and changes in COL7A1 expression (ρ = 0.71) suggests a potential influence of fitness levels. In conclusion, acute resistance exercise affects ECM gene expression at least partly in an age-specific manner. The altered expression of genes encoding matrix metalloproteinases (MMP3, MMP9, MMP15) highlights the role of remodelling processes in the response to an acute bout of resistance exercise. Larger studies are required to verify the age-associated differences in gene expression profiles and establish their functional implications.© 2018 The Author(s

NMR Methods to Study Dynamic Allostery

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy provides a unique toolbox of experimental probes for studying dynamic processes on a wide range of timescales, ranging from picoseconds to milliseconds and beyond. Along with NMR hardware developments, recent methodological advancements have enabled the characterization of allosteric proteins at unprecedented detail, revealing intriguing aspects of allosteric mechanisms and increasing the proportion of the conformational ensemble that can be observed by experiment. Here, we present an overview of NMR spectroscopic methods for characterizing equilibrium fluctuations in free and bound states of allosteric proteins that have been most influential in the field. By combining NMR experimental approaches with molecular simulations, atomistic-level descriptions of the mechanisms by which allosteric phenomena take place are now within reach

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Ich erkläre an Eides statt, dass ich die vorliegende Diplomarbeit selbständig und ohne fremde Hilfe verfasst habe. Ich habe dazu keine weiteren, als die angeführten Hilfsmittel benutzt und die aus anderen Quellen entnommenen Stellen als solche gekennzeichnet. Die Arbeit wurde bisher in gleicher oder ähnlicher Form keiner anderen Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegt und auch nicht veröffentlicht. i In the last years, significant research efforts were made in the area of simulating large scale parallel and distributed systems. The main goal is to understand their behaviour, and to design appropriate models for computer-based simulation. Hence many simulation tools appeared to address different kinds of simulation scenarios. Most of the simulation toolkits concentrate on simulating scheduling algorithms and data replication strategies. However, nearly all of them simulate the network part with simple models. These models lack packet scheduling and network protocols. Therefore this thesis introduces a new simulator which is based on the ns2 network simulator. It is able t

Syntheses, crystal structures, and polymorphism of quaternary pyrrolidinium chlorides

The syntheses, properties, and X-ray crystal structures of 1-methyl-1-propylpyrrolidinium chloride 1, 1-allyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium chloride 2, and 1-methyl-1-propargylpyrrolidinium chloride 3 are described. Colorless plates of 1 (C8H18ClN) crystallize in the orthorhombic space group Pnab with Z = 8 and unit cell parameters a = 10.0354(11) Å, b = 13.254(2) Å, c = 14.6231(16) Å. Colorless prisms of 2 (C8H16ClN) crystallize in the monoclinic space group P21/c with Z = 4 and unit cell parameters a = 6.4857(10) Å, b = 12.005(3) Å, c = 12.526(2) Å, and ?=102.746(13) °. Colorless needles of 3 (C8H14ClN) crystallize in the monoclinic space group P21/n with Z = 4 and unit cell parameters a = 8.4849(14) Å, b = 8.1271(16) Å, c = 13.501(2) Å, and ?=100.408(13)°. The five-membered ring adopts a twisted conformation in 1 but an N-envelope in 2 and 3. The salts form networks of weak C-H ...Cl- hydrogen bonds. Hot stage microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and temperature-controlled X-ray powder diffractometry revealed that each of the three compounds exists in at least two different crystal forms

Obtaining tight bounds on higher-order interferences with a 5-path interferometer

Within the established theoretical framework of quantum mechanics, interference always occurs between pairs of paths through an interferometer. Higher order interferences with multiple constituents are excluded by Born's rule and can only exist in generalized probabilistic theories. Thus, high-precision experiments searching for such higher order interferences are a powerful method to distinguish between quantum mechanics and more general theories. Here, we perform such a test in an optical multi-path interferometer, which avoids crucial systematic errors, has access to the entire phase space and is more stable than previous experiments. Our results are in accordance with quantum mechanics and rule out the existence of higher order interference terms in optical interferometry to an extent that is more than four orders of magnitude smaller than the expected pairwise interference, refining previous bounds by two orders of magnitude.© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaf

Fungal strain matters: colony growth and bioactivity of the European medicinal polypores Fomes fomentarius, Fomitopsis pinicola and Piptoporus betulinus

Polypores have been applied in traditional Chinese medicine up to the present day, and are becoming more and more popular worldwide. They show a wide range of bioactivities including anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and immuno-enhancing effects. Their secondary metabolites have been the focus of many studies, but the importance of fungal strain for bioactivity and metabolite production has not been investigated so far for these Basidiomycetes. Therefore, we screened several strains from three medicinal polypore species from traditional European medicine: Fomes fomentarius, Fomitopsis pinicola and Piptoporus betulinus. A total of 22 strains were compared concerning their growth rates, optimum growth temperatures, as well as antimicrobial and antifungal properties of ethanolic fruit body extracts. The morphological identification of strains was confirmed based on rDNA ITS phylogenetic analyses. Our results showed that species delimitation is critical due to the presence of several distinct lineages, e.g. within the Fomes fomentarius species complex. Fungal strains within one lineage showed distinct differences in optimum growth temperatures, in secondary metabolite production, and accordingly, in their bioactivities. In general, F. pinicola and P. betulinus extracts exerted distinct antibiotic activities against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus at minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) ranging from 31-125 μg mL−1; The antifungal activities of all three polypores against Aspergillus flavus, A. fumigatus, Absidia orchidis and Candida krusei were often strain-specific, ranging from 125-1000 μg mL−1. Our results highlight that a reliable species identification, followed by an extensive screening for a ‘best strain’ is an essential prerequisite for the proper identification of bioactive material

Crystal structure of ?2-1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium trichloroplatinate(II), [C7H11N2][PtCl 3]

C7H11Cl3N2Pt, orthorhombic, P212121 (no. 19), a = 7.6873(2) Å, b= 11.9159(3) Å, c = 12.1398(3) Å, V=1112.0 Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.018, wRref(F2) = 0.045, T= 233 K