Effect of pregnancy and birth on the course of myasthenia gravis before or after transsternal radical thymectomy

Objective: Myasthenia gravis (MG) affects women at childbearing age. Therefore, the question arises if these patients should become pregnant and if thymectomy has a positive effect on the course of MG in pregnant patients. Methods: Fifteen pregnancies had been followed retrospectively. All patients underwent transsternal radical thymectomy for MG. The course of MG in the period before, during, and after the pregnancy was scored according to Ossermann's classification. The effect of thymectomy on delivery and on the newborns was evaluated. Results: Patients were divided in two groups: pregnancies before (group I, n = 8) and after (group II, n = 7) thymectomy. During pregnancy, in group I, one deterioration was observed and in seven patients the disease was unchanged. In group II, one deterioration, five unchanged courses, and one improvement were observed. In the postpartum period, in group I, seven patients did not change and one improved. In group II, two deteriorations, three unchanged courses, and two improvements were observed. Before pregnancy, group II patients were in a better Ossermann stage in comparison with those in group I. Eight of the 12 deliveries were spontaneous (three abortus). Myasthenic symptoms were observed in two newborns in group I. Conclusion: Our data suggest that MG is not prohibitive to have children. The course of MG after transsternal radical thymectomy is often ameliorated. A better MG-stage, reached after thymectomy, before pregnancy seems to be correlated with a better course during pregnanc

Putting theory oriented evaluation into practice

Evaluations of gaming simulations and business games as teaching devices are typically end-state driven. This emphasis fails to detect how the simulation being evaluated does or does not bring about its desired consequences. This paper advances the use of a logic model approach which possesses a holistic perspective that aims at including all elements associated with the situation created by a game. The use of the logic model approach is illustrated as applied to Simgame, a board game created for secondary school level business education in six European Union countries

Increased accuracy of ligand sensing by receptor internalization

Many types of cells can sense external ligand concentrations with cell-surface receptors at extremely high accuracy. Interestingly, ligand-bound receptors are often internalized, a process also known as receptor-mediated endocytosis. While internalization is involved in a vast number of important functions for the life of a cell, it was recently also suggested to increase the accuracy of sensing ligand as the overcounting of the same ligand molecules is reduced. Here we show, by extending simple ligand-receptor models to out-of-equilibrium thermodynamics, that internalization increases the accuracy with which cells can measure ligand concentrations in the external environment. Comparison with experimental rates of real receptors demonstrates that our model has indeed biological significance.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Isolation and Identification of Potential Bioinoculants based on Phosphate Solubilizing and Plant Growth Promoting Benefits

Conservative models have shown that as populations rise, food production needs to double by 2050. Population increase and the green revolution have caused fertilizer inputs to increase since the 1960’s, increasing environmental issues and production costs. These intensive practices have led to degraded arable land and there has been an increase in urbanization meaning we need to make best use of the farming land that is available and ensure it is sustainable for future food production. Due to this, there has been a higher demand for research on more environmentally and economically friendly approaches to food production. Plant growth promoting bacteria have been a promising approach to more sustainable farming and have been shown to increase plant growth through characteristics such as; nitrogen fixation, plant hormone production, fungal suppression, and phosphate solubilization. It is estimated that only 0.1% of the phosphorus in the soil is in a soluble form, and approximately 80% of the phosphorus fertilizer applied gets bound in the soil and is not available to plants. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria can produce organic acids and phosphatase enzymes to solubilize soil phosphorus. Phosphate biofertilizers are one of the largest growing portions of the bioinoculant industry. In our research we have isolated and identified several potential plant growths promoting and phosphate solubilizing bacteria. In addition, we identified some of the specific mechanisms used to increase plant growth, as well as the mechanisms to solubilize inorganic phosphorus. Four novel isolates of the Oxalobacteraceae family were identified and characterized. Based on their phenotypic, morphological, and genomic analysis, three of the isolates are novel at the species level and one at the genus level. These isolates were cultured from agriculture and garden soils and have several genes that are considered plant growth promoting such as; nitrate reductase, urease, phosphatase, biotin production, decomposition on hydrogen peroxide, and biofilm biosynthesis. The four novel isolates are; Pseudoherbaspirillum sperare OM1, Massilia arenosa MC02, Massilia hortus ONC3, and Duganella callidus DN04. Seventy bacteria were cultured from corn tissue, rhizosphere, and loose root soil and were screened for phosphate solubilizing abilities. Of the eight isolates tested, three bacteria were able to solubilize the highest level of phosphate; Enterobacter cloacae (Tr3R3), Raoultella ornithinolytica (M2R1), and Kosakonia sp. (Tc3So2). Of these three isolates, Tr3R3 and Tc3So2 had the highest soybean root and shoot biomass, root architecture, and plant phosphorus concentrations. Organic acid production was measured through HPLC and the two isolates that produced the greatest amount of soluble P, also produced the greatest amount of succinic acid. Additionally, the two isolated that did not solubilize any P, similarly did not produce any succinic acid, concluding that the succinic acid was the mechanism used to solubilize the phosphate. Through these tests as well as additional plant growth promoting tests such as nitrogen fixation, indole acetic acid biosynthesis, and fungal suppression, we found that Tr3R3 and Tc3So2 are promising bioinoculants

From technical showroom to full-fledged museum: The German Tank Museum Munster

It is ironic: for 25 years the German Tank Museum showed dozens and dozens of tanks, AFVs (armoured fighting vehicle), artillery pieces, military trucks and motorbikes and yet managed to keep the war out of the museum – not in spite of the objects shown, but because of them. Huge pieces of military equipment, especially if well restored, have a hypnotizing effect on the visitors. The unproblematic fascination for the technical aspects of the sterile objects completely dominates the experience of the visitors. So, although standing in a hall filled with war machines, the visitors could enjoy the exhibition untroubled; and the Museum supported this tendency, being able to conveniently avoid the complex and controversial field that is the topic of this conference. War and death were basically hidden behind the tanks. Although a few attempts were made to professionalize the museum, the situation was never substantially altered. But, in 2008, a real transformation was initiated. To fulfil the ICOM standards in the long run, the Museum no longer ignores the dark side of the history of tanks. It now tries to establish as much critical contextualization as possible to counteract the strong technical aura of the objects. So, the German Tank Museum has an interesting mission to accomplish: actually to bring war into a museum full of war machines

Characterization of the primary interaction between the mating pheromone, alpha-factor, and its receptor in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Alpha-factor is a peptide of thirteen amino acids which is required for mating between the haploid mating types, a and α, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. An analogue of alpha-factor, DHP8 DHP11 Nle12 tridecapeptide, was catalytically reduced in the presence of 3H gas for production of a radiolabelled pheromone suitable for use in binding studies. Incorporation of tritium resulted in 3H-alpha-factor with high specific activity, purity, biological activity and long shelf-life. Binding studies revealed that alpha-factor interacts with its receptor via a simple, reversible process which obeys the law of mass action. Association and dissociation kinetics indicate values of 2.92 X 106 M-1 min-1 for k1 and between 4 and 7 X 10-2 min-1 for k-1. Saturation binding studies reveal an equilibrium dissociation constant equal to 2.32 X 10-8 M which approximates the kinetically-derived KD of 2.12 X 10-8 M. Scatchard and Hill analyses as well as dissociation behavior in the presence of excess unlabelled ligand indicate alpha-factor interacts with a homogeneous population of binding sites (13000 sites/cell) which do not interact and exhibit one affinity for the alpha-factor pheromone. Studies using unlabelled competitors confirm the specificity expected for a receptor-mediated process, i.e., binding affinities of alpha-factor analogues parallel their efficiency at inducing biological activities. Preliminary evidence obtained from the thermodynamic analysis of the temperature dependence of binding of alpha-factor (an agonist) and desTrp1 Ala3 dodecapeptide (an antagonist) suggests that agonist binding is entropy-driven and antagonist binding is enthalpy-driven. This may reflect differences observed when binding of the ligand involves interaction with, or traversing of, the cell wall