86 research outputs found
Fallbeispiel H-Net — ein schweizerischer Intermediär im Gesundheitswesen
Zusammenfassungen: Der Beitrag führt kurz in das Thema der Intermediation im Gesundheitswesen ein und illustriert entsprechende Wertschöpfungspotenziale. Danach wird ein Fallbeispiel anhand der H-Net AG aus der Schweiz gegeben, an dem folgende Sachverhalte dargestellt werden: über H-Net verbundene Partner, von H-Net angebotene Plattform und Technologie sowie eine kurze Darstellung betriebswirtschaftlicher, medizinischer und technischer Dienstleistungen. Ferner erfolgt ein Preisvergleich des elektronischen Rechnungsdaten-austauschs mit den zwei direkten Konkurrenten Medidata und Trustcente
An Omnidirectional Aerial Manipulation Platform for Contact-Based Inspection
This paper presents an omnidirectional aerial manipulation platform for
robust and responsive interaction with unstructured environments, toward the
goal of contact-based inspection. The fully actuated tilt-rotor aerial system
is equipped with a rigidly mounted end-effector, and is able to exert a 6
degree of freedom force and torque, decoupling the system's translational and
rotational dynamics, and enabling precise interaction with the environment
while maintaining stability. An impedance controller with selective apparent
inertia is formulated to permit compliance in certain degrees of freedom while
achieving precise trajectory tracking and disturbance rejection in others.
Experiments demonstrate disturbance rejection, push-and-slide interaction, and
on-board state estimation with depth servoing to interact with local surfaces.
The system is also validated as a tool for contact-based non-destructive
testing of concrete infrastructure.Comment: Accepted submission to Robotics: Science and Systems conference 2019.
9 pages, 12 figure
Microbial residence time is a controlling parameter of the taxonomic composition and functional profile of microbial communities.
A remaining challenge within microbial ecology is to understand the determinants of richness and diversity observed in environmental microbial communities. In a range of systems, including activated sludge bioreactors, the microbial residence time (MRT) has been previously shown to shape the microbial community composition. However, the physiological and ecological mechanisms driving this influence have remained unclear. Here, this relationship is explored by analyzing an activated sludge system fed with municipal wastewater. Using a model designed in this study based on Monod-growth kinetics, longer MRTs were shown to increase the range of growth parameters that enable persistence, resulting in increased richness and diversity in the modeled community. In laboratory experiments, six sequencing batch reactors treating domestic wastewater were operated in parallel at MRTs between 1 and 15 days. The communities were characterized using both 16S ribosomal RNA and non-target messenger RNA sequencing (metatranscriptomic analysis), and model-predicted monotonic increases in richness were confirmed in both profiles. Accordingly, taxonomic Shannon diversity also increased with MRT. In contrast, the diversity in enzyme class annotations resulting from the metatranscriptomic analysis displayed a non-monotonic trend over the MRT gradient. Disproportionately high abundances of transcripts encoding for rarer enzymes occur at longer MRTs and lead to the disconnect between taxonomic and functional diversity profiles
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing is crucial when treating Finegoldia magna infections
Finegoldia magna is an anaerobic gram-positive bacterium that can cause invasive human infections. Recently, a 52-year-old patient suffering from a periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) due to F. magna was treated with cefepime on hemodialysis; however, treatment failed due to relapse caused by antibiotic-resistant strains. Reports on the antimicrobial susceptibility of F. magna clinical isolates are rare. We collected 57 clinical F. magna isolates from Zurich, Switzerland, between September 2019 and July 2020 and tested their antimicrobial susceptibility to investigate the local resistance pattern. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was evaluated for nine antibiotics (benzylpenicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, cefuroxime, cefepime, levofloxacin, rifampicin, metronidazole, doxycycline, and clindamycin) by E-test according to CLSI guidelines. All F. magna strains were susceptible to benzylpenicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, and metronidazole, while 75% to clindamycin. F. magna isolates showed MIC values lower than species-unrelated breakpoints for cefuroxime, levofloxacin, and cefepime in 93%, 56%, and 32% of the cases, respectively. MIC values for rifampicin and doxycycline were lower than locally determined ECOFFs in 98% and 72% of the cases, respectively. In summary, we recommend the use of benzylpenicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, or metronidazole without prior AST as first-line treatment option against F. magna PJI infections. If cefuroxime, cefepime, levofloxacin, rifampicin, doxycycline, or clindamycin are used, AST is mandatory.
Keywords: Antimicrobial susceptibility; Cefepime; Finegoldia magna; Periprosthetic joint infectio
Wavelength-scale errors in optical localization due to spin-orbit coupling of light
The precise determination of the position of point-like emitters and
scatterers using far-field optical imaging techniques is of utmost importance
for a wide range of applications in medicine, biology, astronomy, and physics.
Although the optical wavelength sets a fundamental limit to the image
resolution of unknown objects, the position of an individual emitter can in
principle be estimated from the image with arbitrary precision. This is used,
e.g., in stars' position determination and in optical super-resolution
microscopy. Furthermore, precise position determination is an experimental
prerequisite for the manipulation and measurement of individual quantum
systems, such as atoms, ions, and solid state-based quantum emitters. Here we
demonstrate that spin-orbit coupling of light in the emission of elliptically
polarized emitters can lead to systematic, wavelength-scale errors in the
estimate of the emitter's position. Imaging a single trapped atom as well as a
single sub-wavelength-diameter gold nanoparticle, we demonstrate a shift
between the emitters' measured and actual positions which is comparable to the
optical wavelength. Remarkably, for certain settings, the expected shift can
become arbitrarily large. Beyond their relevance for optical imaging
techniques, our findings apply to the localization of objects using any type of
wave that carries orbital angular momentum relative to the emitter's position
with a component orthogonal to the direction of observation.Comment: Main text 6 pages, Methods 8 pages, Extended data 9 pages,
Supplementary information 4 page
Spin and magnetization effects in plasmas
We give a short review of a number of different models for treating
magnetization effects in plasmas. In particular, the transition between kinetic
models and fluid models is discussed. We also give examples of applications of
such theories. Some future aspects are discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure. To appear in Plasma Physics and Controlled
Fusion, Special Issue for the 37th ICPP, Santiago, Chil
Human Rights and German Intellectual History in Transnational Perspective
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156446/1/gequ12147.pd
Differences in the Tumor Microenvironment between African-American and European-American Breast Cancer Patients
Background: African-American breast cancer patients experience higher mortality rates than European-American patients despite having a lower incidence of the disease. We tested the hypothesis that intrinsic differences in the tumor biology may contribute to this cancer health disparity. Methods and Results: Using laser capture microdissection, we examined genome-wide mRNA expression specific to tumor epithelium and tumor stroma in 18 African-American and 17 European-American patients. Numerous genes were differentially expressed between these two patient groups and a two-gene signature in the tumor epithelium distinguished between them. To identify the biological processes in tumors that are different by race/ethnicity, Gene Ontology and disease association analyses were performed. Several biological processes were identified which may contribute to enhanced disease aggressiveness in African-American patients, including angiogenesis and chemotaxis. African-American tumors also contained a prominent interferon signature. The role of angiogenesis in the tumor biology of African-American
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