Ethische Relevanz und faktische Mängel in der Kommunikation von Spezifika der Organspende nach Kreislaufstillstand

Introduction

In many countries, the number of organ donations after circulatory determination of death (DCDD) is increasing, although various aspects of DCDD are critically discussed in medical ethics. In our work, we identify ethically relevant aspects of the DCDD—in particular regarding preparatory measures and the irreversibility of the death criterion—and we investigate to what extent persons interested in becoming organ donors are informed about those issues.

Methods

We performed a comprehensive literature review on ethical issues of DCDD. Subsequently, we conducted a worldwide evaluation of organ donation organisations’ websites and an accompanying survey to investigate the extent to which ethically relevant aspects of DCDD play a role in the information of persons interested in becoming organ donors.

Results

We find that a majority of the organisations’ websites do not deal with the subject of DCDD, whereas the responsibles of the organisations surveyed emphasised the importance of education for potential donors.

Conclusion

We point out central issues about which persons willing to become organ donors should be informed if DCDD is practiced in their respective countries. In addition, we advocate that the criteria and the procedures for determining death in the context of transplantation medicine should be uniform in order to defuse some of the critically discussed aspects in the context of DCDD.

     

Application of the group contribution approach to Nafion swelling

The anisotropic swelling of Nafion 112 membrane in pure organic liquids was monitored by an optical method. The findings were used as a basis for application of the group contribution method to the relative expansion in equilibrium. From a total of 38 organic liquids under study, 26 were selected as an evaluational set from which the group and structural group contributions were assigned. The remaining 12 compounds were used as the testing set. Value of ±1.5% in relative expansions was determined to be the experimental error. Maximum differences between the experimental and calculated relative expansions in both sets did not exceed the value of ±3%. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Homogeneous nucleation rate at various initial supersaturations in a closed system

The rate of formation of nuclei in a closed system is studied by numerical solution of kinetic equations at various supersaturations. Depletion of vapor (decrease of supersaturation) due to the phase transition process is taken into account. At a relatively low value of initial supersaturations, the decrease of supersaturation is negligible. At somewhat higher initial supersaturations, the phase transition process is more intense and the decrease of supersaturation plays an important role. As a consequence the nucleation rate after reaching a maximum decreases with time and for sufficiently long times only the nuclei of certain size are formed. At high initial supersaturation the nucleation rate for subcritical cluster sizes is negative, i.e. the number of subcritical clusters tends to get reduced. Critical size increases with time due to lowered supersaturation.     

Fatigue Behavior of Bodies with Thermally Sprayed Metallic and Ceramic Deposits

This paper summarizes the basic results of fatigue testing of bodies with both metallic and ceramic thermally sprayed coatings. Three kinds of ceramic coatings (Al₂O₃, Cr₂O₃, and olivine) sprayed with DC plasma under identical conditions were investigated together with metallic Ni-5wt.%Al coatings sprayed by wire arc, DC plasma, and HVOF. The elastic modulus of the deposited coatings was investigated using four point bending and resonance method. Bending fatigue tests at resonance frequency were performed with cantilever beam specimens. The processes taking place during the fatigue test are identified and discussed. The morphology of the fracture surfaces was investigated together with microstructure and porosity of the coatings.     

Current Adenosinergic Therapies: What Do Cancer Cells Stand to Gain and Lose?

A key objective in immuno-oncology is to reactivate the dormant immune system and increase tumour immunogenicity. Adenosine is an omnipresent purine that is formed in response to stress stimuli in order to restore physiological balance, mainly via anti-inflammatory, tissue-protective, and anti-nociceptive mechanisms. Adenosine overproduction occurs in all stages of tumorigenesis, from the initial inflammation/local tissue damage to the precancerous niche and the developed tumour, making the adenosinergic pathway an attractive but challenging therapeutic target. Many current efforts in immuno-oncology are focused on restoring immunosurveillance, largely by blocking adenosine-producing enzymes in the tumour microenvironment (TME) and adenosine receptors on immune cells either alone or combined with chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy. However, the effects of adenosinergic immunotherapy are not restricted to immune cells; other cells in the TME including cancer and stromal cells are also affected. Here we summarise recent advancements in the understanding of the tumour adenosinergic system and highlight the impact of current and prospective immunomodulatory therapies on other cell types within the TME, focusing on adenosine receptors in tumour cells. In addition, we evaluate the structure- and context-related limitations of targeting this pathway and highlight avenues that could possibly be exploited in future adenosinergic therapies.     

Polyaminoacid Based Core@shell Nanocarriers of 5-Fluorouracil: Synthesis,Properties and Theranostics Application

Cancer is one of the most important health problems of our population, and one of the common anticancer treatments is chemotherapy. The disadvantages of chemotherapy are related to the drug’s toxic effects, which act on cancer cells and the healthy part of the body. The solution of the problem is drug encapsulation and drug targeting. The present study aimed to develop a novel method of preparing multifunctional 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) nanocarriers and their in vitro characterization. 5-FU polyaminoacid-based core@shell nanocarriers were formed by encapsulation drug-loaded nanocores with polyaminoacids multilayer shell via layer-by-layer method. The size of prepared nanocarriers ranged between 80–200 nm. Biocompatibility of our nanocarriers as well as activity of the encapsulated drug were confirmed by MTT tests. Moreover, the ability to the real-time observation of developed nanocarriers and drug accumulation inside the target was confirmed by fluorine magnetic resonance imaging (¹⁹F-MRI).     

Electrodeposition of titanium diboride from fused salts

Electrodeposition of TiB₂ has been performed in cryolite-based electrolytes at 960°C and in KF-KCl melts at 800°C. As electroactive species either boron oxide and titanium oxide or potassium tetrafluoroborate and potassium hexafluorotitanate were used. Preparation of coatings from cryolite-based electrolytes containing K2TiF6 and KBF4 was not successful. Coatings prepared from cryolite-based electrolytes containing B₂O₃ and TiO₂ were not coherent. Owing to the relatively high temperature both types of electrolytes undergo thermal decomposition. Electrolysis in potassium fluoride-chloride electrolytes containing KBF₄ and K₂TiF₆ provides coherent coatings with good adhesion to the substrate.     

Polymerization of lactams

Summary The following limit (ceiling) temperatures of polymerization were extrapolated from kinetic data for the anionic polymerization of 2-pyrrolidone initiated with potassium salt of 2-pyrrolidone and the initiation systems of optimum compositions: 66°C for the nonactivated polymerization, 68°C and 73°C for the polymerization accelerated with 1-(1-pyr-rolin-2-yl)-2-pyrrolidone and carbon dioxide, respectively, 73°C and 76°C for the polymerization activated with N-benzoyl-2-pyrrolidone and N-acetyl-2-pyrrolidone,respectively.     

Performance Comparison of Time-Domain Terahertz,Multi-terahertz,and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopies

Time-domain terahertz (THz), multi-terahertz, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies access partly similar and partly complementary spectral ranges of the far-infrared region. We introduce an approach enabling a direct comparison of their performance in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and dynamic range (DR), normalized by the time required to obtain one useful data point in the frequency domain. Several configurations of a commercial FTIR spectrometer are compared to our various custom-built time-domain systems (including femtosecond oscillator and amplifier-based THz and multi-THz setups). We find that the normalized SNR of the FTIR systems is generally better than that of the time-domain setups, which is attributed to the noise of the femtosecond laser output compared to the black body radiation source. On the other hand, the coherent detection of the THz field in the time-domain systems leads to a dramatically better normalized DR than in the FTIR configurations.