Diagnosis and therapeutic management of 18 patients with prostatic abscess

Fifty-one thyroid tumours and tumour-like lesions were analysed for instability at ten dinucleotide microsatellite loci and at two coding mononucleotide repeats within the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) type II receptor (TbetaRII) and insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) receptor (IGFIIR) genes respectively. Microsatellite instability (MI) was detected in 11 out of 51 cases (21.5%), including six (11.7%) with MI at one or two loci and five (9.8%) with MI at three or more loci (RER+ phenotype). No mutations in the TbetaRII and IGFIIR repeats were observed. The overall frequency of MI did not significantly vary in relation to age, gender, benign versus malignant status and tumour size. However, widespread MI was significantly more frequent in follicular adenomas and carcinomas than in papillary and Hürthle cell tumours: three out of nine tumours of follicular type (33.3%) resulted in replication error positive (RER+), versus 1 out of 29 papillary carcinomas (3.4%, P = 0.01), and zero out of eight Hürthle cell neoplasms. Regional lymph node metastases were present in five MI-negative primary cancers and resulted in MI-positive in two cases.     

Manufacture of Powder Coatings by Spraying of Gas‐Enriched Melts

An alternative process for the manufacture of powder coatings was developed. The continuously operated process is applicable to new (low‐melting and fast‐reacting) and conventional powder coating systems and allows to produce coatings with improved properties. The process uses the solubility of compressed gases in melts of coating polymers at pressures up to 220 bar. The single components of a powder coating mixture are melted in separated tanks and are dosed to a static mixer by means of high‐pressure pumps. In the mixer the melts are homogenized and simultaneously compressed carbon dioxide is dissolved. The so‐formed solution is depressurized directly afterwards over a nozzle into a spray tower. Thereby, the melt is atomized into fine droplets and cooled by the expanding gas. The droplets reach the solidification point of the melt and fine solid particles are formed. The particle size, particle size distribution and the morphology of the powders could be adjusted by the operating parameters of the plant.     

Metal‐Free,Radical Addition to Alkenes via Desulfitative Chlorine Atom Transfer

An efficient method for radical additions to unactivated alkenes via desulfitative chlorine‐atom transfer is described. The reaction is based on the use of readily available sulfonyl chlorides as starting materials and cheap radical initiators such as azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN), di‐tert‐butyldiazene (DTBD), and dilauroyl peroxide (DLP). No transition metal catalyst is required and the reaction takes place under mild conditions at temperatures ≤85 °C.     

Etablierung eines Frühwarnsystems zur Erkennung lebensmittelbedingter Risiken in Bayern – risikoorientierte Lebensmittelüberwachung weiter gefasst

Recent and past food scandals highlight the urgent need for food safety authorities to anticipate future risks in order to enable improved and proactive response mechanisms. With this goal in mind, the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority (LGL) has established an early warning system aimed at early identification of potential health risks and fraudulent practices in the food sector. The early warning approach allows intervention at different stages of risk development. On the one hand, the scanning of a broad area of the food production chain (horizon scanning) may enable prospective risk identification. To this end, relevant factors of influence (drivers) need to be identified, observed and analyzed. On the other hand, the retrospective analysis of case studies may unravel novel cause-effect associations that could be transferred to other products and production technologies, possibly leading to the identification of new drivers (root cause analysis). Additionally, various datasets emanating from food safety authorities, for example data from the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and from Bavarian-wide laboratory analyses and food business inspections, will be closely observed and analyzed. The multidisciplinary character of the LGL has proven to be essential for the realization of the early warning approach, the analysis of inflowing data and implementation of consequences such as food business inspections and sampling for analysis. This article details the objectives and methodical approaches of the project. The acquisition of systematically compiled information as well as its analysis and assessment are comprehensively described. The early warning system presented here has already contributed significantly to the risk-oriented food inspection practiced to date, by integrating novel risk-relevant aspects.     

Bottom-contact small-molecule n-type organic field effect transistors achieved via simultaneous modification of electrode and dielectric surfaces

Low-voltage, n-type organic field effect transistors (OFETs) with simultaneously modified bottom-contact (BC) electrodes and dielectric were compared to their top-contact (TC) counterparts. The devices modified with 6-phenoxyhexylphosphonic acid (Ph6PA) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) showed similar performance, morphology, and contact resistance. Electron mobility of C₆₀ devices were 0.212 and 0.320 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and [6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) devices were 0.04 and 0.06 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ for TC and BC devices, respectively. Low contact resistance between 11 and 45 kΩ cm was found regardless of device architecture or n-type semiconductor used. This work shows it is possible to fabricate solution processable low-voltage bottom-contact devices with performance that is similar or better than their top-contact counterparts without the addition of complex and time-consuming processing steps.     

Microstructure and Local Strain Fields in a High‐Alloyed Austenitic Cast Steel and a Steel‐Matrix Composite Material after in situ Tensile and Cyclic Deformation

The tensile and cyclic deformation behaviour of a new metastable austenitic stainless cast TRIP (TRansformation Induced Plasticity) steel and a composite material consisting of austenitic steel matrix (AISI 304) with 5% MgO partially stabilized ZrO₂ (MgO‐PSZ) was studied in‐situ in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). In‐situ tests in the SEM show the evolution of the microstructure with the strain for uniaxial deformation and the number of cycles during fatigue, respectively. Initially, deformation bands develop. In these bands, the face‐centred cubic austenite transforms into the hexagonal ε‐martensite and subsequently to the body‐centred cubic α'‐ martensite. This evolution was studied by different SEM techniques. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was applied for phase and orientation identification. The dislocation arrangement was investigated applying the electron channelling contrast imaging (ECCI) technique to different deformation stages. The studies are completed with measurements of local displacement fields using digital image correlation (DIC).     

Effect of substrate roughness on the contact damage of thin brittle films on brittle substrates

The effect of substrate and surface roughness on the contact fracture of diamond-like carbon coatings on brittle soda-lime glass substrates has been investigated. The average surface roughness (R_a) of the examined samples ranged from 15 nm to 571 nm. Contact damage was simulated by means of spherical nanoindentation, and fracture was subsequently assessed by focused ion beam microscopy. It was found that, in the absence of sub-surface damage in the substrate, fracture occurs in the coating in the form of radial, and ring/cone cracks during loading, and lateral cracks during unloading. Increasing the surface roughness results in a decrease in the critical load for crack initiation during loading, and in the suppression of fracture modes during unloading from high loads. When sub-surface damage (lateral cracks) is present in the substrate, severe spalling takes place during loading, causing a large discontinuity in the load-displacement curve. The results have implications concerning the design of damage-tolerant coated systems consisting of a brittle film on a brittle substrate.     

Background Orientated Schlieren Method Applied for Liquid Systems of Strong Refractive Gradients

A simple schlieren technique is used to visualize strong gradients of refractive index in liquids under atmospheric conditions and elevated pressure. The gradients are mainly caused by concentration differences within a thin liquid sheet. A simple system using Matlab and open source applications is designed and applied to demonstrate the challenges and limitations of a quantitative approach for strong gradients in liquids. Possibilities for the optimization regarding the detection of strong gradients are shown, but rather qualitative than quantitative results are obtained.