Publications by authors named "Alexander Sturm"

Unlabelled: Invasive salmonellosis caused by subspecies affects millions of people every year, mostly children from low-income countries, and is associated with a high mortality rate. Azithromycin is used to treat invasive salmonellosis resistant to first-line drugs despite conflicting effective concentrations and achievable serum concentrations . As resistance levels to azithromycin are rising, we demonstrate that nanomotion technology, which is based on measuring changes in bacterial nanoscale movements, can be used for rapid phenotypic testing of 's susceptibility to azithromycin.

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Background: The molecular underpinnings of organ dysfunction in severe COVID-19 and its potential long-term sequelae are under intense investigation. To shed light on these in the context of liver function, we perform single-nucleus RNA-seq and spatial transcriptomic profiling of livers from 17 COVID-19 decedents.

Results: We identify hepatocytes positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA with an expression phenotype resembling infected lung epithelial cells, and a central role in a pro-fibrotic TGFβ signaling cell-cell communications network.

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Novel drugs and improved diagnostics for (MTB) are urgently needed and go hand in hand. We evaluated the activity of two benzothiazinone drug candidates (MCZ, PBTZ169; BTZ043) and their main metabolites against MTB using advanced nanomotion technology. The results demonstrated significant reductions in MTB viability within 7 h, indicating the potential for rapid, precise antibiotic susceptibility testing based on a phenotypic read-out in real time.

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Antibiotic tolerance corresponds to the bacterial ability to survive a transient exposure to antibiotics and is often associated with treatment failure. Current methods of identifying tolerance based on bacterial growth are time-consuming. This study explores the use of a growth-independent method utilizing nanomotion technology to detect antibiotic-tolerant bacteria.

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The genus includes species such as , which can cause deadly human diseases. These bacteria have a protective cell envelope that can be remodeled to facilitate their survival in challenging conditions. Understanding how such conditions affect membrane remodeling can facilitate antibiotic discovery and treatment.

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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major public health threat, reducing treatment options for infected patients. AMR is promoted by a lack of access to rapid antibiotic susceptibility tests (ASTs). Accelerated ASTs can identify effective antibiotics for treatment in a timely and informed manner.

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(Mtb) can adopt a non-growing dormant state during infection that may be critical to both active and latent tuberculosis. During dormancy, Mtb is widely tolerant toward antibiotics, a significant obstacle in current anti-tubercular drug regimens, and retains the ability to persist in its environment. We aimed to identify novel mechanisms that permit Mtb to survive dormancy in an carbon starvation model using transposon insertion sequencing and gene expression analysis.

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Nanomotion technology is a growth-independent approach that can be used to detect and record the vibrations of bacteria attached to cantilevers. We have developed a nanomotion-based antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) protocol for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). The protocol was used to predict strain phenotype towards isoniazid (INH) and rifampicin (RIF) using a leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) and machine learning techniques.

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Trichlorosilane is the key intermediate for the large-scale production of polycrystalline silicon in the Siemens and Union Carbide processes. Both processes, however, are highly inefficient, and over two thirds of the trichlorosilane employed is converted to unwanted silicon tetrachloride accumulating in millions of tons per year on a global scale. In this combined experimental and theoretical study we report an energetically and environmentally benign synthetic protocol for the highly selective conversion of SiCl to HSiCl using organohydridosilanes as recyclable hydrogen transfer reagents in combination with onium chlorides as efficient catalysts.

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Introduction: Effective treatment of bloodstream infections (BSIs) is relying on rapid identification of the causing pathogen and its antibiotic susceptibility. Still, most commercially available antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) methods are based on monitoring bacterial growth, thus impacting the time to results. The Resistell AST is based on a new technology measuring the nanomotion caused by physiologically active bacterial cells and detecting the changes in nanomotion caused by the exposure to a drug.

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The molecular underpinnings of organ dysfunction in acute COVID-19 and its potential long-term sequelae are under intense investigation. To shed light on these in the context of liver function, we performed single-nucleus RNA-seq and spatial transcriptomic profiling of livers from 17 COVID-19 decedents. We identified hepatocytes positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA with an expression phenotype resembling infected lung epithelial cells.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study examines the pathophysiology of COVID-19 by analyzing single-cell and spatial atlases from various organ autopsy samples of individuals who died from the virus.
  • Findings revealed significant changes in lung tissue, including impaired tissue regeneration and inflammation, indicating how SARS-CoV-2 affects different cell types.
  • The research provides crucial insights into the biological impact of severe COVID-19, aiding in the development of potential new treatments.
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Article Synopsis
  • The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has led to over 1 million deaths worldwide, primarily due to severe lung injuries and multiple organ failures, but there is limited understanding of the immune responses involved in COVID-19.
  • Researchers collected and analyzed over 420 tissue samples from various organs of 17 COVID-19 victims, utilizing advanced techniques like RNA sequencing to map out cellular changes related to their illness.
  • Significant findings include alterations in lung tissue cell types, such as the increase of specific progenitor cells and myofibroblasts, indicating impaired tissue repair and failed regenerative processes in severely damaged lungs.
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Background: In end-of-life care hygiene, measures concerning multidrug-resistant bacterial microorganisms may contradict the palliative care approach of social inclusion and be burdensome for patients.

Objectives: To integrate patients' perspectives on handling multidrug-resistant bacterial microorganisms at their end of life, their quality of life, the impact of positive multidrug-resistant bacterial microorganisms' diagnosis, protection and isolation measures on their well-being and patients' wishes and needs regarding their care.

Design: A mixed-methods convergent parallel design embedded quantitative data on the patients' multidrug-resistant bacterial microorganisms' trajectory and quality of life assessed by the Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life in qualitative data collection via interviews and focus groups.

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The industry-scale production of methylchloromonosilanes in the Müller-Rochow Direct Process is accompanied by the formation of a residue, the direct process residue (DPR), comprised of disilanes Me Si Cl (n=1-6). Great research efforts have been devoted to the recycling of these disilanes into monosilanes to allow reintroduction into the siloxane production chain. In this work, disilane cleavage by using alkali and alkaline earth metal salts is reported.

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The industrial production of monosilanes Me SiCl (n=1-3) through the Müller-Rochow Direct Process generates disilanes Me Si Cl (n=2-6) as unwanted byproducts ("Direct Process Residue", DPR) by the thousands of tons annually, large quantities of which are usually disposed of by incineration. Herein we report a surprisingly facile and highly effective protocol for conversion of the DPR: hydrogenation with complex metal hydrides followed by Si-Si bond cleavage with HCl/ether solutions gives (mostly bifunctional) monosilanes in excellent yields. Competing side reactions are efficiently suppressed by the appropriate choice of reaction conditions.

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Article Synopsis
  • The Müller-Rochow direct process produces significant amounts of disilane residue from methylchlorosilanes, leading to environmental and economic concerns.
  • Researchers are exploring the use of phosphonium chlorides as catalysts to cleave methylchlorodisilane, aiming to efficiently produce bifunctional monosilanes.
  • Optimizing reaction conditions, such as temperature and substituents, can increase cleavage efficiency and result in nearly complete conversion to valuable silane monomers, reducing waste and environmental impact.
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A preparatively facile, highly selective synthesis of bifunctional monosilanes R SiHCl, RSiHCl and RSiH Cl is reported. By chlorination of R SiH and RSiH with concentrated HCl/ether solutions, the stepwise introduction of Si-Cl bonds is readily controlled by temperature and reaction time for a broad range of substrates. In a combined experimental and computational study, we establish a new mode of Si-H bond activation assisted by Lewis bases such as ethers, amines, phosphines, and chloride ions.

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Aims And Objectives: To explore healthcare professionals' personal experiences, feelings and attitudes about caring for hospitalised patients with multidrug-resistant bacteria in palliative and geriatric care.

Background: Working in end-of-life care involves at times burdening demands that affect not only healthcare professionals personally but also their actions. It is suggested that multidrug-resistant bacteria and their consequences for colonised or infected patients in hospitals are among the challenges for all professionals in end-of-life care.

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Purpose: Palliative care professionals are frequently confronted with patients colonized or infected with MDRO. One major challenge is how to balance necessary isolation measures and social inclusion as one of the main principles of palliative and end-of-life care. To date, MDRO-specific policies and protocols vary widely between institutions.

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Background: There is a lack of research into how hospital staff and institutional stakeholders (i. e. institutional representatives from public health authorities, hospital hygiene, and the departments of microbiology, palliative care, and geriatrics) engage with patients who are carriers of multidrug-resistant organisms and receiving end-of-life care.

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Background: Information lacks about institutional stakeholders' perspectives on management approaches of multidrug-resistant bacterial organism in end-of-life situations. The term "institutional stakeholder" includes persons in leading positions with responsibility in hospitals' multidrug-resistant bacterial organism management. They have great influence on how strategies on multidrug-resistant bacterial organism management approaches in institutions of the public health system are designed.

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A combined experimental and theoretical study of the high-temperature reaction of SiCl and elemental silicon is presented. The nature and reactivity of the product formed upon rapid cooling of the gaseous reaction mixture is investigated by comparison with the defined model compounds cyclo-Si Cl , n-Si Cl and n-Si Cl . A DFT assessment provides mechanistic insight into the oligosilane formation.

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Background: Little is known about the experiences of family caregivers of hospitalized patients with confirmed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus/multiresistant gram-negative bacteria (MRSA/MRGN) diagnosis at the end of life. The study at hand is a subproject of an interdisciplinary cooperation project that aims at developing a patient-, family-, and team-centered approach in dealing with MRSA/MRGN-positive hospitalized patients in palliative and geriatric care.

Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the individual effects of the patient's MRSA/MRGN colonization or infection and isolation measures on family caregivers.

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