Shaping the spectral response of ultrashort pulse phase mask written fiber Bragg gratings.

We present an approach to control the spectral profile of ultrashort pulse phase mask written fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) by adding shaping apertures to the inscription scheme. They can have the form of a simple slit aperture, offering control over the grating length and enabling extremely short FBG. Furthermore, the aperture opening relative to the fiber core cross-section can be varied along the fiber propagation axis.

Clonal hematopoiesis in AML long-term survivors: Risk factors and clinical consequences.

Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) is common in the general population and associated with various health risks, but its prevalence and clinical implications in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) long-term survivors (LTS; ≥5-year survival) are unknown. We analyzed CH in 373 AML-LTS with a median 11.6-year follow-up from diagnosis using a sensitive targeted sequencing assay based on single-molecule molecular inversion probes.

[Quality of early sepsis diagnostics in German intensive care units-Results of a nationwide survey].

Background: The management of sepsis patients remains an ongoing challenge in intensive care medicine and leads to unacceptably high morbidity and mortality rates, even in medically highly developed countries.

Objective: What is the state of the quality of early sepsis treatment on German intensive care units (ICUs)?

Material And Methods: To assess the quality of early sepsis treatment, we conducted a nationwide internet-based survey among members of the German Interdisciplinary Association of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI).

Results: A total of 1935 intensive care physicians across Germany were surveyed of whom 459 experienced specialist physicans responded, including 38% chief physicians and 61% senior physicians.

Endovascular treatment in ischemic stroke with active cancer: retrospective analysis of university stroke center data.

Introduction: Active cancer (AC) associates strongly with ischemic stroke (IS). Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) is often contraindicated in AC, and endovascular treatment (EVT) is considered the gold treatment standard, although data on its safety and efficacy is scarce.

Methods: Digital records of patients receiving EVT in a tertiary university hospital with comprehensive stroke center from 2016 to 2022 were assessed.

Revised age for Schöningen hunting spears indicates intensification of Neanderthal cooperative behavior around 200,000 years ago.

The Schöningen 13II-4 archaeological site in Germany holds title to the most complete Paleolithic wooden hunting spears ever discovered, yet its age has never been properly settled. Initial estimates placed the site at around 400,000 years; this age was later revised to roughly 300,000 years. Here, we report age estimates for the "Spear Horizon" based on amino acid geochronology of fossils obtained directly from the find-bearing deposits.

[What is happiness? And what does ENT medicine have to do with it?].

Happiness is important to most people in our society, although it is given little importance in political and social objectives. However, happiness is an important topic in various philosophical schools and in Western philosophy, happiness goes back to Aristotelianism and Stoic philosophy. Recent longitudinal studies clearly suggest that happiness depends on interpersonal relationships.

No disadvantages for women in acute stroke care in Germany: an analysis of access to stroke treatment services in Germany from 2017 to 2022.

Background: Several publications have raised concerns that female stroke patients may be at a disadvantage when accessing stroke treatment services. These publications have found significant regional differences in the provision of stroke treatment to male and female patients. In this study, we provide current nationwide data on stroke management differences between men and women in Germany.

Characterization of Allobodo yubaba sp. nov. and Novijibodo darinka gen. et sp. nov., cultivable free-living species of the phylogenetically enigmatic kinetoplastid taxon Allobodonidae.

Kinetoplastids are a large and diverse protist group, spanning ecologically important free-living forms to medically important parasites. The taxon Allobodonidae holds an unresolved position within kinetoplastids, and the sole described species, Allobodo chlorophagus, is uncultivated, being a necrotroph/parasite of macroalgae. Here we describe Allobodo yubaba sp.

Mechanistic Insights Into Post-Translational α-Keto-β-Amino Acid Formation by a Radical S-Adenosyl Methionine Peptide Splicease.

Radical S-adenosyl methionine enzymes catalyze a diverse repertoire of post-translational modifications in protein and peptide substrates. Among these, an exceptional and mechanistically obscure example is the installation of α-keto-β-amino acid residues by formal excision of a tyrosine-derived tyramine unit. The responsible spliceases are key maturases in a widespread family of natural products termed spliceotides that comprise potent protease inhibitors, with the installed β-residues being crucial for bioactivity.

Transportome remodeling of a symbiotic microalga inside a planktonic host.

Metabolic exchange is one of the foundations of symbiotic associations between organisms and is a driving force in evolution. In the ocean, photosymbiosis between heterotrophic hosts and microalgae is powered by photosynthesis and relies on the transfer of organic carbon to the host (e.g.

Reconstructing the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes.

Understanding the origin of eukaryotic cells is one of the most difficult problems in all of biology. A key challenge relevant to the question of eukaryogenesis is reconstructing the gene repertoire of the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA). As data sets grow, sketching an accurate genomics-informed picture of early eukaryotic cellular complexity requires provision of analytical resources and a commitment to data sharing.

[Self-help offers for people with severe mental illness: who uses which format?].

Background: Self-help can play an important supplementary role in the treatment of people with severe mental illness; however, little is known about the utilization of the various approaches.

Objective: This study describes the use of various self-help options by patients with severe mental illness and examines potential predictors.

Material And Methods: As part of the observational cross-sectional study on patients with severe mental illness (IMPPETUS, N = 397), trained staff collected sociodemographic, illness-associated and treatment-associated data between March 2019 and September 2019.

A structurally conserved helix enables leader-independent tyramine splicing of proteins.

Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are natural products that feature diverse modifications. They show a wide range of biological activities and are therefore of great interest for drug discovery and protein engineering. An unusual modification found in spliceotide RiPPs is the installation of β-amino acid residues with diverse side chains, generated by backbone excision of a tyramine moiety derived from tyrosine.

Targeting CDC42 reduces skeletal degeneration after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Osteopenia and osteoporosis are common long-term complications of the cytotoxic conditioning regimen for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We examined mesenchymal stem and progenitor cells (MSPCs), which include skeletal progenitors, from mice undergoing HSCT. Such MSPCs showed reduced fibroblastic colony-forming units frequency, increased DNA damage, and enhanced occurrence of cellular senescence, whereas there was a reduced bone volume in animals that underwent HSCT.

[Thyroid nodules as an incidental finding : Value of sonography and scintigraphy in primary diagnostics].

Due to the widespread use of high-resolution sonography, numerous thyroid nodules are diagnosed, often as incidental findings. The challenge lies in evaluating various criteria such as size, shape, and echogenicity to assess the nodules' malignancy risk. Risk stratification systems have been developed to enable systematic assessment as well as to avoid unnecessary medical interventions and malignant findings being overlooked.

Mid-infrared tunable filter based on a femtosecond-written silica volume Bragg grating.

A silica volume Bragg grating (VBG) is used to filter the light of a mid-infrared (mid-IR) supercontinuum laser. The VBG with a 7 µm period was inscribed with 800 nm pulses with a 100 fs duration and the phase-mask technique over a glass thickness of 3 mm. Despite silica's absorption, the VBG allows obtaining a narrowband light source tunable from 2.

Brainstem raphe hypoechogenicity is an independent predictor of post-stroke depression.

Post-stroke depression (PSD) is a common complication after stroke and has a substantial effect on the quality of life of patients. Nevertheless, reliable individual prediction of PSD is not possible. As depressive symptoms have been associated with brainstem raphe (BR) hypoechogenicity on transcranial sonography (TCS), we aimed to explore the association of BR hypoechogenicity and the occurrence of PSD.

Diverse patterns of correspondence between protist metabarcodes and protist metagenome-assembled genomes.

Two common approaches to study the composition of environmental protist communities are metabarcoding and metagenomics. Raw metabarcoding data are usually processed into Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) or amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) through clustering or denoising approaches, respectively. Analogous approaches are used to assemble metagenomic reads into metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs).

Novel types of RiPP-modifying enzymes.

Novel discoveries in natural product biosynthesis reveal hidden bioactive compounds and expand our knowledge in enzymology. Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are a rapidly growing class of natural products featuring diverse non-canonical amino acids introduced by maturation enzymes as a class-defining characteristic. Underexplored RiPP sources, such as the human microbiome, the oceans, uncultured microorganisms, and plants are rich hunting grounds for novel enzymology.

The evolution of acute stroke care in Germany from 2019 to 2021: analysis of nation-wide administrative datasets.

Background: The treatment of ischemic stroke (IS) has changed considerably in recent years. Particularly the advent of mechanical thrombectomy (MTE) has revolutionized the available treatment options. Most patients in developed countries have access to intravenous thrombolysis (IVT).

Risk stratification of thyroid nodules: Assessing the suitability of ChatGPT for text-based analysis.

Purpose: Accurate risk stratification of thyroid nodules is essential for optimal patient management. This study aimed to assess the suitability of ChatGPT for risk stratification of thyroid nodules using a text-based evaluation.

Methods: A dataset was compiled comprising 50 anonymized clinical reports and associated risk assessments for thyroid nodules.

The protist cultural renaissance.

Protists are key players in the biosphere. Here, we provide a perspective on integrating protist culturing with omics approaches, imaging, and high-throughput single-cell manipulation strategies, concluding with actions required for a successful return of the golden age of protist culturing.

The primacy of temporal dynamics in driving spatial self-organization of soil iron redox patterns.

This study investigates mechanisms that generate regularly spaced iron-rich bands in upland soils. These striking features appear in soils worldwide, but beyond a generalized association with changing redox, their genesis is yet to be explained. Upland soils exhibit significant redox fluctuations driven by rainfall, groundwater changes, or irrigation.