<i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> Bacteremia from Diffuse Muscular Infection Following Acupuncture Visualized by F-FDG PET/CT and MRI

We describe the clinical course of a 60-year old male admitted with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and back-pain. The patient was suspected of having spondylitis and treated as such with antibiotics; however, both fluorine-18 fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (18F-FDG) positron-emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with iv contrast showed significant inflammation of muscles and subcutaneous soft tissue in relation to the patients back and left shoulder, but no signs of the working diagnosis of spondylitis. The unusual location of the infection was not explained until a few days prior to being discharged when the patient reported visits to a local physiotherapist where he would have acupuncture performed for non-specific back pain. His last acupunctural procedure had been performed 6 days prior to admission. This case is, to our knowledge, the first to show muscular inflammation on both 18-F-FDG PET/CT and MRI following acupuncture due to S. aureus. This case highlights the need for clinicians to search for alternative explanations when imaging does not support the diagnosis

Comparison of the Peripheral Reactive Hyperemia Index with Myocardial Perfusion Reserve by ⁸²Rb PET/CT in HIV-Infected Patients

After the introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) the life expectancy of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is now approaching that of the general population and the importance of non-AIDS co-morbidities is increasing. Specifically, the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) seems to be higher in HIV-infected patients and an accurate risk prediction of CAD is of high importance for optimal long term treatment. In this study, we assessed the correlation of the endoPAT, which is an office-based CVD screening tool with the myocardial perfusion reserve by 82-rubidium PET/CT. We measured the reactive hyperemia index, which is a measure of the endothelial responsiveness, by the use of an endoPAT device (Itamar Medical, Caesarea, Israel) in 48 ART treated HIV-infected patients with high CD 4 cell counts and viral suppression (HIV-RNA &lt; 20 copies/mL), who had previously undergone measurement of the myocardial perfusion reserve by 82-rubidium PET/CT for study purposes. We found an inverse correlation between the reactive hyperemia index and the myocardial perfusion reserve which most likely indicates different vascular physiology. This study did not find evidence to suggest the immediate implementation of the reactive hyperemia index as a screening tool for early coronary artery disease in well-treated HIV-infected patients pending further validation in larger prospective studies

Comfort and Economic Viability of Personal Ceiling Fans Assisted by Night Ventilation in a Renovated Office Building

An expected increase in the use of air conditioning by 2050 will significantly increase electricity demand and come at a cost to the environment. Implementing passive cooling strategies and focusing on personal environmental control systems (PECSs) could help to address this issue. While numerous studies have investigated the positive impact of PECSs on thermal comfort and energy savings, their overall economic benefit has been poorly addressed. We present an economic evaluation of personal fans for an office building in Germany. Building performance simulation was used to compare passive and active cooling concepts, and sensitivity analysis was performed for different climate scenarios. A cost-benefit analysis was carried out, including an assessment of investment and operating costs and the monetary value of relative performance. The transferability of comfort and productivity into costs is the novelty of this paper. The results showed that by supplementing night ventilation with personal fans, discomfort hours could be reduced by up to 50%. However, the initial investment of the fan is not compensated by savings in productivity losses compared to night ventilation alone. A reduction in the cost of the technology could help to economically offset the investment. The results contribute to the literature on the economic evaluation of a PECS by proposing a framework to motivate its implementation in buildings

Wegener's Granulomatosis Presenting with Pachymeningitis: Clinical and Imaging Remission by Rituximab

A 27-year-old woman was admitted for intractable right-sided neck, ear, and jaw pain with gradual development of tinnitus and hearing loss. A cerebral MRI showed meningo-dural enhancement, and additional diagnostic workup revealed a right pulmonary infiltrate and positive PR-3 ANCA. Biopsies from nasal mucosa and lung showed chronic inflammation with granuloma formation. Based on these findings the patient was diagnosed with Wegener's granulomatosis with pachymeningitis. There was no clinical response to oral Prednisolone and Cyclophosphamide, but complete clinical and imaging remission was achieved by adding Rituximab

Correlations between standard accelerated tests for protective organic coatings and field performance

Accelerated testing is widely used in development and pre-qualification of protective organic coatings. In this work 26 coating systems have been investigated in a 2-year C5 atmospheric exposure field test, ISO 9227 salt spray test, ISO 12944-9 cyclic ageing and ISO 16773 electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurement of coating resistance. Of the 26 coating systems, 16 have epoxy mastic primers and 10 have zinc rich epoxy primers. In the field test, the zinc rich primer improved corrosion creep resistance from scribe by a factor of about 10. However, this is not reflected in any of the accelerated lab tests. The lab tests all show rather poor correlation to the field test with respect to corrosion creep. All the coatings had little corrosion creep from scribe in the field test, even the coating systems with epoxy mastic primers. The large focus on this parameter in coating pre-qualification testing, e.g. in ISO 12944-6 and 12944-9, may therefore not be justified.publishedVersio

Fjernledelse i pandemitider: Hvordan påvirker fjernledelse medarbeidernes indre motivasjon til arbeidet?

Denne bacheloroppgaven undersøker fenomenet fjernledelse gjennom et teoretisk rammeverk fundamentert i motivasjon og ledelse. Formålet er å undersøke hvordan utvalgte ledere jobber for å opprettholde medarbeidernes indre motivasjon, under koronapandemien som har fordret distanse mellom partene. Tidsrammen strekker seg fra mars 2020 til april 2021, som er perioden hvor samfunnet var preget av sterkt innskjerpede tiltak. Konteksten for oppgaven er én internasjonal bedrift med hovedkontor i Norge. Problemstillingen for oppgaven er som følger: Hvordan påvirker fjernledelse medarbeidernes indre motivasjon til arbeidet? For å besvare problemstillingen har vi utledet tre forskningsspørsmål. Disse er fundamentert i teori om fjernledelse, transformasjonsledelse samt Deci og Ryans selvbestemmelsesteori. Tidligere forskning har vist at samtlige av disse kan medføre økt indre motivasjon hos medarbeidere. Oppgaven benytter derfor ulike teorier til å belyse forskjellige aspekter ved problemstillingen. Oppgavens metode har fulgt en kvalitativ tilnærming. Vi har innhentet data fra åtte informanter som alle arbeider i samme bedrift. Informantene har gjennomført dybdeintervjuer og er et strategisk utvalg bestående av medarbeidere og ledere. Oppgaven er skrevet med utgangspunkt i medarbeidernes perspektiv, men intervju av ledere har bidratt til en dypere forståelse av situasjonen. Funnene våre har avdekket at medarbeidernes motivasjon har blitt redusert ved fjernledelse. Vi har funnet flere årsaker til dette. Blant årsakene finner vi svekket organisasjonstilhørighet og oppfølging, samt reduserte muligheter for kompetanseutvikling

Novel snakebite therapeutics must be tested in appropriate rescue models to robustly assess their preclinical efficacy

In the field of antivenom research, development, and manufacture, it is often advised to follow the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines for the production, control, and regulation of snake antivenom immunoglobulins, which recommend the use of preincubation assays to assess the efficacy of snakebite therapeutics. In these assays, venom and antivenom are mixed and incubated prior to in vivo administration to rodents, which allows for a standardizable comparison of antivenoms with similar characteristics. However, these assays are not necessarily sufficient for therapeutics with significantly different pharmacological properties than antibody-based antivenoms, such as small molecule inhibitors, nanoparticles, and other modalities. To ensure that the in vivo therapeutic utility of completely novel toxin-neutralizing molecules with no history of use in envenoming therapy and variable pharmacokinetics is properly evaluated, such molecules must also be tested in preclinical rescue assays, where rodents are first challenged with appropriate doses of venoms or toxins, followed by the administration of neutralizing modalities after an appropriate time delay to better mimic the real-life scenarios faced by human snakebite victims. Such an approach takes the venom (or toxin) toxicokinetics, the drug pharmacokinetics, and the drug pharmacodynamics into consideration. If new modalities are only assessed in preincubation assays and not subjected to evaluation in rescue assays, the publication of neutralization data may unintentionally misrepresent the actual therapeutic efficacy and suitability of the modality being tested, and thus potentially misguide strategic decision making in the research and development of novel therapies for snakebite envenomingVillum Foundation/[Project 00025302]//DinamarcaBioPorto Diagnostics A/S/[]//DinamarcaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias de la Salud::Instituto Clodomiro Picado (ICP