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Reuse platforms are contributing to the circular economy by hosting or mediating unwanted products or materials until new users are found. This saves products from premature disposal on one hand, and avoids new products purchase on the other. Translating this resource efficiency and waste minimisation into GHG emission avoidance can support the relevance of reuse platforms in fostering a circular economy and promoting climate protection through resource preservation and potential GHG emission reductions. The authors present the analysis of existing reuse methodologies and point out incomplete considerations in terms of LCA modules and Corporate Carbon Footprint of reuse platforms [11]. This paper fills the gap in literature by formulating a holistic methodology for calculating benefits of reuse in terms of GHG emissions for the whole reuse sector and provides an application guide for 4 different types of reuse platforms. This new approach is then illustrated by applying it to a reuse enterprise Zündstoffe Materialvermittlung Dresden (ZUMADD) case study, for which data was gathered for 2 years under Dresden Future City Project (2019–2022). The results show that the project could save 13,301 kg of CO2e emissions through mediating 6,213 kg of material for reuse.

The present study analyzes the occurrence of pressure oscillations in engines operating with pre-chambers at stoichiometric conditions, aiming to assess whether the increase in the amplitude of pressure oscillations detected by means of cylinder pressure measurements is related to knock, or it is a result of mass transfer from the pre-chamber to the main chamber. Initially, a literature review of the phenomenon is conducted and several knock indicators are used to evaluate experimental data obtained with a commercial four-cylinder SI engine, equipped with pre-chamber ignition system prototype, at 1500 rpm and 4 bar of IMEP. Among the knock indicators analyzed the excitations of resonance modes, the angle and time-based maximum pressure rise rate, maximum amplitude of pressure oscillations, ringing intensity, and adapted knock index can be cited. Furthermore, a study of the predominant pre-chamber ignition mechanism is carried out, distinguishing torch and jet ignition, which is also correlated with knock occurrence. Therefore, the present study shows the importance of conducting an individual knock analysis for each pre-chamber configuration and presents adequate tools for such a study, in order to guarantee engine integrity while exploring the benefits of the system, without limitations of inappropriate knock thresholds.

Photobiomodulation targets mitochondrial signaling systems to improve cellular bioenergetic processes. Age-related macular degeneration shows mitochondrial dysfunction contributing to disease development and progression. Multiwavelength PBM improved clinical and anatomical outcomes in early-intermediate nonexudative (dry) age-related macular degeneration. Photobiomodulation offers a novel treatment with a unique mechanism and mode of delivery for dry AMD.

In the design of assembly workplaces, considerations regarding handedness and ergonomics play a crucial role. The emergence of human-robot collaboration presents an innovative avenue for enhancing the ergonomic aspects of manual assembly tasks. While initial applications have demonstrated improvements in lifting and holding activities, they often overlook the influence of human handedness. This paper advocates for the adoption of adaptive assembly processes, which offer simple and intuitive robot programming options to enhance workflow efficiency and reduce stress. This study is grounded in two investigations conducted at the Bremen Institute for Mechanical Engineering. The first study, a pilot investigation, aimed to identify indicators of the influence of handedness and ergonomics, laying the groundwork for further research. Building upon these findings, the second study delves into the interaction between workers and collaborative robots during assembly operations. Data collected from 50 participants form the basis for statistical analysis, providing insights into performance factors and self-assessment, as well as external evaluations of ergonomics. A notable finding of this study challenges the assumption of mirrored behavior between presumed left-handed and right-handed individuals. Additionally, the study identifies a subgroup of participants with ambiguous handedness, suggesting a lack of training in their natural handedness. Through these investigations, this paper contributes to our understanding of the intricate relationship between handedness, ergonomics, and human-robot collaboration in assembly workplaces. By addressing these factors comprehensively, we can pave the way for the development of more inclusive and efficient assembly processes.

Interleukin-23 (IL-23) is a proinflammatory cytokine mainly produced by myeloid cells that promotes tumor growth in various preclinical cancer models and correlates with adverse outcomes. However, as to how IL-23 fuels tumor growth is unclear. Here, we found tumor-associated macrophages to be the main source of IL-23 in mouse and human tumor microenvironments. Among IL-23-sensing cells, we identified a subset of tumor-infiltrating regulatory T (Treg) cells that display a highly suppressive phenotype across mouse and human tumors. The use of three preclinical models of solid cancer in combination with genetic ablation of Il23rin Tregcells revealed that they are responsible for the tumor-promoting effect of IL-23. Mechanistically, we found that IL-23 sensing represents a crucial signal driving the maintenance and stabilization of effector Tregcells involving the transcription factor Foxp3. Our data support that targeting the IL-23/IL-23R axis in cancer may represent a means of eliciting antitumor immunity.

Fire, an important element of human land use strategies, was part of many early industrial activities but also of burning incidents that significantly impacted settlement structures and development. The spatial proximity of the historically well-documented medieval town and sediment archive deposited in its central lake (Stadtsee) was taken to investigate the interplay of fire and socio-environmental developments during the preindustrial phase of 750−150 bp(ad1200–1800). The burning episodes were detected using the sediment macroscopic charcoal record (> 150 μm) and were interpreted considering sedimentological, palynological, and historical evidence. Macro-charcoal analysis revealed two main phases of biomass burning: a late Medieval one (653−533 cal bp), followed by a distinct fire-free interval, and a second Modern Times phase (313 cal bpuntil today). During the late Medieval times and after ad1750 (200 cal bp) low-magnitude local fires coincided with high-intensity land use pressure. Major historical events like the Thirty Years’ War and the fire incident near the town (ad1386, 174 cal bp) were also documented by the charcoal sedimentary record. The specific terrain morphology and the town microclimate impacted the chance of whether certain local burning patterns were detectable at all. This study demonstrates that during the Medieval period to the present day, fire events, mainly anthropogenic, were coupled with the main vegetation developments. Anthropogenic fire was an inseparable part of the Bad Waldsee landscape, as also recorded historically by the town archives.

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Bei der „Fast-track-Rehabilitation“ handelt es sich um ein strukturiertes multimodales perioperatives Behandlungskonzept zur Beschleunigung der postoperativen Rekonvaleszenz, dessen Erfolg bereits in der Viszeralchirurgie nachgewiesen werden konnte. Allerdings existieren bislang kaum Daten aus der Thoraxchirurgie und die Relevanz dieses Konzeptes bei thoraxchirurgischen Eingriffen ist unklar. Patienten und Methoden: In einer prospektiven Beobachtungsstudie wurde ein perioperatives „Fast-track-Behandlungskonzept“ für thoraxchirurgische Eingriffe in der Klinik eingeführt und die Ergebnisse evaluiert. Dieses „Fast-track-Programm“ beinhaltet eine spezielle erweiterte Aufklärung der Patienten über das gesamte Konzept, eine intensive perioperative Atemtherapie, eine thorakale Periduralanalgesie, eine forcierte Mobilisation und einen frühzeitigen Beginn der postoperativen Nahrungsaufnahme. Ergebnisse: Fünfzig konsekutive Patienten mit benignen oder malignen Lungenerkrankungen im Alter von 64 (22–78) Jahren wurden thorakoskopisch (n=15) oder über eine Thorakotomie (n=35) operiert und perioperativ nach dem „Fast-track-Programm“ behandelt. Alle Patienten wurden bereits 4 h postoperativ mobilisiert und erhielten Vollkost. Die Inzidenz der allgemeinen postoperativen Komplikationen betrug in dieser Serie 0%. Die mediane postoperative Verweildauer lag bei 4,5 (1,5–28,5) Tagen. Lokale Komplikationen waren selten und die Wiederaufnahmerate betrug 6%. Die Akzeptanz dieses Therapiekonzeptes von Seiten der Patienten ist sehr hoch. Schlussfolgerung: Die „Fast-track-Rehabilitation“ führt zu einer Verminderung der allgemeinen Komplikationen und zur Beschleunigung der Rehabilitation bei thoraxchirurgischen Eingriffen.

Seit April 2023 steht am Sammlungs- und Forschungsstandort Gotha die Plattform GOTHA.digital zur Verfügung. Das integrierte digitale Portal bietet einen Such-, Präsentations- und Forschungsraum für die Gothaer Sammlungen. Es vereint Daten, Objekte und Sammlungen in digitaler Form und erleichtert damit die umfassende Erforschung des historischen Zusammenhangsmaterials, das heute in verschiedenen Institutionen bewahrt wird. In diesem Beitrag wird das Projekt zum Aufbau des Portals sowie seine Komponenten, technischen Grundlagen und zukünftige Perspektiven vorgestellt.

Naval Group has been involved in additive manufacturing research for a decade in order to judiciously replace traditional processes when relevant, more particularly with regard to obsolescence and supply chain failure management, increased productivity but also performance enhancement thanks to innovative design. Amongst different evaluated metallic solutions, the research works in Joint Laboratory for Marine Technology between Naval Group and Centrale Nantes, have allowed to consider the “wire arc additive manufacturing” (WAAM) process as a suitable alternative to traditional casting for the production of large metal components. As an emblematic example, spare part blades have been built by WAAM process for the propeller of the French Navy mines hunter “Andromède.” With the contribution of the French MoD procurement agency (DGA), the French Fleet Support Service (SSF) and Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore as certification partner, a technical program has been shared including risk analysis and blade manufacturing process definition, and controls and tests plan to validate the good behaviour and the conformity of each blade. The associated results for metallurgical, mechanical, and corrosion resistance at each step have shown that WAAM process is a well-adapted process to produce and install naval propellers. Since the end of 2020, the French Navy mines hunter “Andromède” is equipped with a propeller with WAAM-made blades and is carrying out its mission at sea. The periodic inspections that have been planned for this pioneering experimentation provide a first feedback from the use of this technology under severe conditions.

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate cytotoxic lymphocytes with adaptive immune features, including antigen specificity, clonal expansion and memory. As such, NK cells share many transcriptional and epigenetic programs with their adaptive CD8+T cell siblings. Various signals ranging from antigen, co-stimulation and proinflammatory cytokines are required for optimal NK cell responses in mice and humans during virus infection; however, the integration of these signals remains unclear. In this study, we identified that the transcription factor IRF4 integrates signals to coordinate the NK cell response during mouse cytomegalovirus infection. Loss of IRF4 was detrimental to the expansion and differentiation of virus-specific NK cells. This defect was partially attributed to the inability of IRF4-deficient NK cells to uptake nutrients required for survival and memory generation. Altogether, these data suggest that IRF4 is a signal integrator that acts as a secondary metabolic checkpoint to orchestrate the adaptive response of NK cells during viral infection.

In a variety of applications in the medical as well as in the technical sector, biofeedback refers to endogenous data of the user. In this paper, the potential application fields of biofeedback specifically for human-robot interaction in the context of collaborative assembly are investigated. The worker's endogenous signals are to be captured and made available to the robot. This allows an optimization of the cooperation between humans and robots. The aim is to reduce behavioral adaptation on the part of the employee. Several models for different task types of collaborative robots are developed, showing the diversity of possible applications. The application scenario of robot adaptation based on stress detection is exemplified as a use case.

Paraneoplastische Leukozytosen bei soliden Tumoren sind mit einer schlechten Prognose assoziiert. Während milde paraneoplastische Leukozytosen regelhaft auftreten, sind nur wenige Fälle mit Leukozytenzahlen über 100.000/µl beschrieben. Dargestellt ist der Fall eines 73-jährigen Mannes mit Adenokarzinom der Lunge und Leukozytenzahlen bis 178.000/µl. Der Patient verstarb in der Neutropenie nach dem zweiten Zyklus Immunchemotherapie nur etwa 8 Wochen nach initialer Vorstellung. Spezifische Therapieansätze werden erforscht, sind bisher allerdings noch nicht im klinischen Alltag etabliert.

•Composting offers low-cost and high CO2concentration than air.•Microalgae cultivation with composting CO2enhances circular economy.•CO2concentration in composting off-gas varies with time.•Near-zero oxygen concentration in composting off-gas is crucial.

Die physiotherapeutische und rehabilitative Behandlung der primären Arthrofibrose nach einem Gelenkersatz oder einer Gelenkrekonstruktion ist für alle Behandler eine Herausforderung, die aber erfolgreich bewältigt werden kann. Die unmittelbar postoperativ und in der anschließenden Rehabilitation erforderlichen Behandlungstechniken werden im Einzeln dargestellt.

Clonal expansion of cells with somatically diversified receptors and their long-term maintenance as memory cells is a hallmark of adaptive immunity. Here, we studied pathogen-specific adaptation within the innate immune system, tracking natural killer (NK) cell memory to human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection. Leveraging single-cell multiomic maps of ex vivo NK cells and somatic mitochondrial DNA mutations as endogenous barcodes, we reveal substantial clonal expansion of adaptive NK cells in HCMV+individuals. NK cell clonotypes were characterized by a convergent inflammatory memory signature enriched for AP1 motifs superimposed on a private set of clone-specific accessible chromatin regions. NK cell clones were stably maintained in specific epigenetic states over time, revealing that clonal inheritance of chromatin accessibility shapes the epigenetic memory repertoire. Together, we identify clonal expansion and persistence within the human innate immune system, suggesting that these mechanisms have evolved independent of antigen-receptor diversification.

Hintergrund: Die Entwicklung assistiver Technologien wird in den kommenden Jahren nicht nur in der Chirurgie von zunehmender Bedeutung sein. Die Wahrnehmung der Istsituation stellt hierbei die Grundlage jeder autonomen Handlung dar. Hierfür können unterschiedliche Sensorsysteme genutzt werden, wobei videobasierte Systeme ein besonderes Potenzial aufweisen. Methode: Anhand von Literaturangaben und auf Basis eigener Forschungsarbeiten werden zentrale Aspekte bildbasierter Unterstützungssysteme für die Chirurgie dargestellt. Hierbei wird deren Potenzial, aber auch die Limitationen der Methoden erläutert. Ergebnisse: Eine etablierte Anwendung stellt die Phasendetektion chirurgischer Eingriffe dar, für die Operationsvideos mittels neuronaler Netzwerke analysiert werden. Durch eine zeitlich gestützte und transformative Analyse konnten die Ergebnisse der Prädiktion jüngst deutlich verbessert werden. Aber auch robotische Kameraführungssysteme nutzen Bilddaten, um das Laparoskop zukünftig autonom zu navigieren. Um die Zuverlässigkeit an die hohen Anforderungen in der Chirurgie anzugleichen, müssen diese jedoch durch zusätzliche Informationen ergänzt werden. Ein vergleichbarer multimodaler Ansatz wurde bereits für die Navigation und Lokalisation bei laparoskopischen Eingriffen umgesetzt. Hierzu werden Videodaten mittels verschiedener Methoden analysiert und diese Ergebnisse mit anderen Sensormodalitäten fusioniert. Diskussion: Bildbasierte Unterstützungsmethoden sind bereits für diverse Aufgaben verfügbar und stellen einen wichtigen Aspekt für die Chirurgie der Zukunft dar. Um hier jedoch zuverlässig und für autonome Funktionen eingesetzt werden zu können, müssen sie zukünftig in multimodale Ansätze eingebettet werden, um die erforderliche Sicherheit bieten zu können.

Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) often achieve remission after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) but subsequently die of relapse driven by leukemia cells resistant to elimination by allogeneic T cells based on decreased major histocompatibility complex II (MHC-II) expression and apoptosis resistance. Here we demonstrate that mouse-double-minute-2 (MDM2) inhibition can counteract immune evasion of AML. MDM2 inhibition induced MHC class I and II expression in murine and human AML cells. Using xenografts of human AML and syngeneic mouse models of leukemia, we show that MDM2 inhibition enhanced cytotoxicity against leukemia cells and improved survival. MDM2 inhibition also led to increases in tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor-1 and -2 (TRAIL-R1/2) on leukemia cells and higher frequencies of CD8+CD27lowPD-1lowTIM-3low T cells, with features of cytotoxicity (perforin+CD107a+TRAIL+) and longevity (bcl-2+IL-7R+). CD8+ T cells isolated from leukemia-bearing MDM2 inhibitor-treated allo-HCT recipients exhibited higher glycolytic activity and enrichment for nucleotides and their precursors compared with vehicle control subjects. T cells isolated from MDM2 inhibitor-treated AML-bearing mice eradicated leukemia in secondary AML-bearing recipients. Mechanistically, the MDM2 inhibitor-mediated effects were p53-dependent because p53 knockdown abolished TRAIL-R1/2 and MHC-II upregulation, whereas p53 binding to TRAILR1/2 promotors increased upon MDM2 inhibition. The observations in the mouse models were complemented by data from human individuals. Patient-derived AML cells exhibited increased TRAIL-R1/2 and MHC-II expression on MDM2 inhibition. In summary, we identified a targetable vulnerability of AML cells to allogeneic T-cell–mediated cytotoxicity through the restoration of p53-dependent TRAIL-R1/2 and MHC-II production via MDM2 inhibition.

Background: Self-rated physical health (SRPH) is known as an important predictor of mortality. Previous studies mostly used baseline values of self-rated health to predict long-term mortality. The effect of change in self-rated physical health on mortality during the course of aging has rarely been researched. The present study aimed to determine SRPH over time in women and men of an aging population, assess whether and how change in SRPH affects mortality while adjusting for known determinants of mortality, and test effect modification by sex on the relation between course of SRPH and mortality. Methods: Data of N= 12,423 respondents of the 5-year follow-up of the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) with participation at the baseline assessment were analysed. All-cause mortality from 5-year follow-up onwards was defined as the primary outcome. SRPH was assessed by a single item. Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for age, sex, socio-economic status and physical diseases were fitted to assess the predictive power of baseline score and course of SRPH. Additionally, effect modification by sex was assessed. Results: During a median follow-up period of 7.3 years (quartiles 6.0-8.5 years), 618 (5%) participants died. Overall, 70.9% of the participants indicated good or very good SRPH at baseline (T1) and follow-up (T2), 6.9% rated their SRPH as not so good at T1 and T2, and 0.6% reported bad SRPH at T1 and T2. An improvement of SRPH was indicated by 9.6% and 12.0% indicated deterioration of their SRPH. Change in SRPH added substantial predictive information to the Cox proportional hazards models, when adjusting for relevant covariates. In men, deterioration and constantly bad SRPH were associated with the strongest increase in risk of mortality by 87%, resp. 228%. While improvements increased mortality risk in men (67%), women with an improved SRPH had a lower risk (57%). Conclusion: A sizeable subgroup of aging participants reported deterioration of SRPH over five years. The association between change of SRPH and mortality is modified by sex. Deterioration of SRPH predicts mortality over baseline-assessment even when adjusted for relevant covariates. SRPH should be assessed regularly as part of an older individual’s health evaluation. Deterioration, constantly bad and improved SRPH should be taken seriously as unfavorable prognostic indicators, the latter only in men.