Fraunhofer Society

About: Fraunhofer Society is a government organization based out in Munich, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Laser & Silicon. The organization has 24736 authors who have published 40168 publications receiving 820894 citations.

U-BIOPRED clinical adult asthma clusters linked to a subset of sputum omics

Abstract: Background Asthma is a heterogeneous disease in which there is a differential response to asthma treatments. This heterogeneity needs to be evaluated so that a personalized management approach can be provided. Objectives We stratified patients with moderate-to-severe asthma based on clinicophysiologic parameters and performed an omics analysis of sputum. Methods Partition-around-medoids clustering was applied to a training set of 266 asthmatic participants from the European Unbiased Biomarkers for the Prediction of Respiratory Diseases Outcomes (U-BIOPRED) adult cohort using 8 prespecified clinic-physiologic variables. This was repeated in a separate validation set of 152 asthmatic patients. The clusters were compared based on sputum proteomics and transcriptomics data. Results Four reproducible and stable clusters of asthmatic patients were identified. The training set cluster T1 consists of patients with well-controlled moderate-to-severe asthma, whereas cluster T2 is a group of patients with late-onset severe asthma with a history of smoking and chronic airflow obstruction. Cluster T3 is similar to cluster T2 in terms of chronic airflow obstruction but is composed of nonsmokers. Cluster T4 is predominantly composed of obese female patients with uncontrolled severe asthma with increased exacerbations but with normal lung function. The validation set exhibited similar clusters, demonstrating reproducibility of the classification. There were significant differences in sputum proteomics and transcriptomics between the clusters. The severe asthma clusters (T2, T3, and T4) had higher sputum eosinophilia than cluster T1, with no differences in sputum neutrophil counts and exhaled nitric oxide and serum IgE levels. Conclusion Clustering based on clinicophysiologic parameters yielded 4 stable and reproducible clusters that associate with different pathobiological pathways.

Single trial classification of motor imagination using 6 dry EEG electrodes.

Abstract: Background Brain computer interfaces (BCI) based on electro-encephalography (EEG) have been shown to detect mental states accurately and non-invasively, but the equipment required so far is cumbersome and the resulting signal is difficult to analyze. BCI requires accurate classification of small amplitude brain signal components in single trials from recordings which can be compromised by currents induced by muscle activity. Methodology/Principal Findings A novel EEG cap based on dry electrodes was developed which does not need time-consuming gel application and uses far fewer electrodes than on a standard EEG cap set-up. After optimizing the placement of the 6 dry electrodes through off-line analysis of standard cap experiments, dry cap performance was tested in the context of a well established BCI cursor control paradigm in 5 healthy subjects using analysis methods which do not necessitate user training. The resulting information transfer rate was on average about 30% slower than the standard cap. The potential contribution of involuntary muscle activity artifact to the BCI control signal was found to be inconsequential, while the detected signal was consistent with brain activity originating near the motor cortex. Conclusions/Significance Our study shows that a surprisingly simple and convenient method of brain activity imaging is possible, and that simple and robust analysis techniques exist which discriminate among mental states in single trials. Within 15 minutes the dry BCI device is set-up, calibrated and ready to use. Peak performance matched reported EEG BCI state of the art in one subject. The results promise a practical non-invasive BCI solution for severely paralyzed patients, without the bottleneck of setup effort and limited recording duration that hampers current EEG recording technique. The presented recording method itself, BCI not considered, could significantly widen the use of EEG for emerging applications requiring long-term brain activity and mental state monitoring.

Cobalt oxide based gas sensors on silicon substrate for operation at low temperatures

Abstract: The gas sensing characteristics and the morphology of cobalt oxide thin films have been investigated. The thin films were prepared by reactive electron beam evaporation of cobalt on “pure” and surface-oxidised silicon wafers respectively followed by an additional thermal treatment. Structural and morphological analyses of the thin Co3O4 films were performed by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Rutherford backscattering (RBS). Two gas-sensitive parameters of the Co3O4 films were investigated: the shift of the work function and change of conductivity during gas exposure. The gas measurements were carried out with ammonia, methane, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, chlorine (only GasFET) and nitric dioxide as test gases in synthetic air at different humidities. The work function measurements were carried out with suspended gate GasFETs as transducer, the resistive measurements with single chip thin-film sensor arrays.

Uptake Mechanism of ApoE-Modified Nanoparticles on Brain Capillary Endothelial Cells as a Blood-Brain Barrier Model

Abstract: Background The blood-brain barrier (BBB) represents an insurmountable obstacle for most drugs thus obstructing an effective treatment of many brain diseases One solution for overcoming this barrier is a transport by binding of these drugs to surface-modified nanoparticles Especially apolipoprotein E (ApoE) appears to play a major role in the nanoparticle-mediated drug transport across the BBB However, at present the underlying mechanism is incompletely understood Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, the uptake of the ApoE-modified nanoparticles into the brain capillary endothelial cells was investigated to differentiate between active and passive uptake mechanism by flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy Furthermore, different in vitro co-incubation experiments were performed with competing ligands of the respective receptor Conclusions/Significance This study confirms an active endocytotic uptake mechanism and shows the involvement of low density lipoprotein receptor family members, notably the low density lipoprotein receptor related protein, on the uptake of the ApoE-modified nanoparticles into the brain capillary endothelial cells This knowledge of the uptake mechanism of ApoE-modified nanoparticles enables future developments to rationally create very specific and effective carriers to overcome the blood-brain barrier

Powders for powder bed fusion: a review

Abstract: The quality of powder used in powder bed-based additive manufacturing plays a key role concerning process performance and end part properties. Even though this is a generally accepted fact, there is still a lack of a comprehensive understanding of the powder property–part property relationship. However, numerous investigations focusing on selected powder properties and their corresponding influence on process aspects or final part properties have been published in recent years. Still, generalized statements on powder requirements for a defined process performance are not available. This can be attributed to the fact that the community has not yet come to an agreement which characterization techniques are most suitable for powder characterization in the additive manufacturing context and in most cases only selected aspects have been investigated for special powder materials. The aim of this review is to assess these building blocks of knowledge and to provide an overview on the current state of the art.