An Antibody-Aptamer-Hybrid Lateral Flow Assay for Detection of CXCL9 in Antibody-Mediated Rejection after Kidney Transplantation

Chronic antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) is a key limiting factor for the clinical outcome of a kidney transplantation (Ktx), where early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention is needed. This study describes the identification of the biomarker CXC-motif chemokine ligand (CXCL) 9 as an indicator for AMR and presents a new aptamer-antibody-hybrid lateral flow assay (hybrid-LFA) for detection in urine. Biomarker evaluation included two independent cohorts of kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) from a protocol biopsy program and used subgroup comparisons according to BANFF-classifications. Plasma, urine and biopsy lysate samples were analyzed with a Luminex-based multiplex assay. The CXCL9-specific hybrid-LFA was developed based upon a specific rat antibody immobilized on a nitrocellulose-membrane and the coupling of a CXCL9-binding aptamer to gold nanoparticles. LFA performance was assessed according to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Among 15 high-scored biomarkers according to a neural network analysis, significantly higher levels of CXCL9 were found in plasma and urine and biopsy lysates of KTRs with biopsy-proven AMR. The newly developed hybrid-LFA reached a sensitivity and specificity of 71% and an AUC of 0.79 for CXCL9. This point-of-care-test (POCT) improves early diagnosis-making in AMR after Ktx, especially in KTRs with undetermined status of donor-specific HLA-antibodies

Dynamisches Projection-Mapping mit mehreren Projektoren

Projection based mixed-reality is an effective tool to create immersive visualizations on real-world objects. This is used in a wide range of applications like art-installations, education, design, stage shows and advertising. Using a multi-projection system allows us to immerse users in an altered reality without the need to wear additional head-gear. In this work, we present a novel, adaptable and real-time projection mapping system, which supports multiple projectors and high quality rendering of dynamic content on surfaces of complex geometrical shape. Our system allows for smooth blending across multiple projectors using a new optimization framework that simulates the diffuse direct light transport of the physical world to continuously adapt the color output of each projector pixel. We present a real-time solution to this optimization problem using off-the-shelf graphics hardware, depth cameras and projectors. Our approach enables us to move projectors, depth camera or objects while maintaining the correct illumination, in real-time, without the need for markers on the object.Mixed-Reality mit Hilfe von Projektoren ist ein effektiver Weg zur immersiven Visualisierung auf realen Objekten und kommt in einem breiten Spektrum von Anwendungsgebieten zum Einsatz: Kunstinstallationen, Bildung, Design, Bühnenshows und Werbung. Ein Multiprojektionssystem erlaubt uns dabei den Benutzer in die veränderte Realität eintauchen zu lassen, ohne dass er ein zusätzliches Gerät auf dem Kopf tragen muss. In dieser Arbeit zeigen wir ein neues, flexibles Echtzeit-Projektionssystem, welches mehrere Projektoren verwendet. Es ermöglicht dabei qualitativ hochwertige Renderings dynamischer Inhalte auf Objekten mit komplexer Geometrie. Unser System erlaubt ein nahtloses Überblenden zwischen mehreren Projektoren unter Zuhilfenahme einer neuartigen Optimierung. Hierzu wird der physikalische, diffus-direkte Lichttransport simuliert um die Farbausgabe jedes Projektorpixels kontinuierlich anzupassen. Wir präsentieren eine Echtzeitlösung für dieses Optimierungsproblem auf Standard-Grafikhardware, unter Verwendung von Standard-Tiefenkameras und -Projektoren. Unser Ansatz ermöglicht es Projektoren, Tiefenkameras und Objekte zu bewegen und dabei die korrekte Beleuchtung aufrecht zu erhalten. Dies geschieht in Echtzeit ohne Zuhilfenahme von zusätzlichen Markern auf dem Objekt

Constructive Requirements Modeling - More Reliable Implementations in a Shorter Time

Requirements engineering is nowadays the broadly accepted method to manage a customer’s requirements. The result is a specification from which a solution is implemented and which is used to validate the realization in terms of their fulfillment. However, today’s tools assist in organizing and tracking the requirements but reliable criteria about their completeness, consistency, and realizability are missing. Furthermore, the resulting artifact is a document, which must be read and understood by humans, which itself is error-prone. It is obvious that errors and ambiguities result in an unwanted solution which is often and in the worst case only discovered in the final stage: Testing. This paper outlines an approach for constructive requirements modeling, which describes completely a customer’s demands in a formal manner so that already during the requirements’ elicitation inconsistencies are eliminated, completeness is assessed, realizability is ensured, and all valid test cases can be derived by using a model-based testing approach. Therefore, we propose adaptions to the traditional V-model to not only save valuable development and testing time but also to achieve better results. The applicability is shown on the example of the software for an auxiliary heating system at a large German OEM

Material Physics Rockets MAPHEUS-3/4: Flights and Developments

Sounding rockets can serve as a time- and cost-effective platform for a wide range of research under microgravity conditions. It is shown that MAPHEUS – MaterialPhysikalische Experimente Unter Schwerelosigkeit (Materials Physics Experiments under Weightlesness) – a DLR internal R&D project perfectly achieves this whilst maximizing scientific output. MAPHEUS hereby offers launch opportunities on a yearly basis and with comparatively short development cycles of about one year only. In the first three campaigns MAPHEUS provided about three minutes of microgravity time. Recent developments enable to extend this to four minutes above 100 km. Performance data of the recent MAPHEUS-3 flight together with information on the experiment modules are provided. Further an outlook is given on the experiment modules used on board of MAPHEUS-4 and the new vehicle

Partial Transmit Sequences for Peak-to-Average Power Ratio Reduction in Multiantenna OFDM

The major drawback of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is its high peak-to-average power ratio (PAR), which gets even more substantial if a transmitter with multiple antennas is considered. To overcome this problem, in this paper, the partial transmit sequences (PTS) method—well known for PAR reduction in single antenna systems—is studied for multiantenna OFDM. A directed approach, recently introduced for the competing selected mapping (SLM) method, proves to be very powerful and able to utilize the potential of multiantenna systems. To apply directed PTS, various variants for providing a sufficiently large number of alternative signal superpositions (the candidate transmit signals) are discussed. Moreover, affording the same complexity, it is shown that directed PTS offers better performance than SLM. Via numerical simulations, it is pointed out that due to its moderate complexity but very good performance, directed or iterated PTS using combined weighting and temporal shifting is a very attractive candidate for PAR reduction in future multiantenna OFDM schemes