University of Würzburg

About: University of Würzburg is a education organization based out in Wurzburg, Bayern, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Gene. The organization has 31437 authors who have published 62203 publications receiving 2337033 citations. The organization is also known as: Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg & Würzburg University.

Activation of CD4+ T Lymphocytes Improves Wound Healing and Survival After Experimental Myocardial Infarction in Mice

Abstract: Background—The role of adaptive immunity, especially CD4+ T-helper cells, has not yet been systematically investigated in wound healing and remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI). Therefore, w...

Detection of the intercellular adhesion gene cluster (ica) and phase variation in Staphylococcus epidermidis blood culture strains and mucosal isolates.

Abstract: Staphylococcus epidermidis is a common cause of catheter-associated infections and septicemia in immunocompromised patients. To answer the question whether S. epidermidis skin isolates differ from isolates causing septicemic diseases, 51 strains obtained from blood cultures, 1 strain from shunt-associated meningitis, and 36 saprophytic isolates were characterized. The study demonstrates that most of the blood culture strains formed a multilayered biofilm on plastic material, whereas skin and mucosal isolates did not. Moreover, biofilm-producing strains were found to generate large bacterial autoaggregates in liquid culture. Autoaggregation and biofilm formation on polymer surfaces was associated with the presence of a DNA sequence encoding an intercellular adhesion gene cluster (ica) that mediates the production of a polysaccharide intercellular adhesin. The presence of the intercellular adhesion genes in blood culture isolates was also found to be correlated with the exhibition of black colonies on Congo red agar, whereas the adhesin-negative strains formed red colonies. Upon subcultivation on Congo red agar, the black colony forms of the blood culture strains exhibited red colony variants which were biofilm and autoaggregation negative and occurred at a frequency of 10(-5). The DNA analysis of these S. epidermidis variants by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and Southern hybridization with an ica-specific gene probe revealed no detectable difference between the black and red colony types. Moreover, after repeated passage, the phenotype of the parent strain could be restored. Therefore, these colony forms were regarded as phase variants. This phenotypic change was observed exclusively in adhesin-positive clinical isolates and not in adhesin-negative saprophytic strains of S. epidermidis.

Myotonic dystrophy type 2 Molecular, diagnostic and clinical spectrum

Abstract: Background: Myotonic dystrophy types 1 (DM1) and 2 (DM2/proximal myotonic myopathy PROMM) are dominantly inherited disorders with unusual multisystemic clinical features. The authors have characterized the clinical and molecular features of DM2/PROMM, which is caused by a CCTG repeat expansion in intron 1 of the zinc finger protein 9 (ZNF9) gene. Methods: Three-hundred and seventy-nine individuals from 133 DM2/PROMM families were evaluated genetically, and in 234 individuals clinical and molecular features were compared. Results: Among affected individuals 90% had electrical myotonia, 82% weakness, 61% cataracts, 23% diabetes, and 19% cardiac involvement. Because of the repeat tract’s unprecedented size (mean ∼5,000 CCTGs) and somatic instability, expansions were detectable by Southern analysis in only 80% of known carriers. The authors developed a repeat assay that increased the molecular detection rate to 99%. Only 30% of the positive samples had single sizeable expansions by Southern analysis, and 70% showed multiple bands or smears. Among the 101 individuals with single expansions, repeat size did not correlate with age at disease onset. Affected offspring had markedly shorter expansions than their affected parents, with a mean size difference of −17 kb (−4,250 CCTGs). Conclusions: DM2 is present in a large number of families of northern European ancestry. Clinically, DM2 resembles adult-onset DM1, with myotonia, muscular dystrophy, cataracts, diabetes, testicular failure, hypogammaglobulinemia, and cardiac conduction defects. An important distinction is the lack of a congenital form of DM2. The clinical and molecular parallels between DM1 and DM2 indicate that the multisystemic features common to both diseases are caused by CUG or CCUG expansions expressed at the RNA level.

Playing Dice With Criminal Sentences: The Influence of Irrelevant Anchors on Experts’ Judicial Decision Making

Abstract: Judicial sentencing decisions should be guided by facts, not by chance. The present research however demonstrates that the sentencing decisions of experienced legal professionals are influenced by irrelevant sentencing demands even if they are blatantly determined at random. Participating legal experts anchored their sentencing decisions on a given sentencing demand and assimilated toward it even if this demand came from an irrelevant source (Study 1), they were informed that this demand was randomly determined (Study 2), or they randomly determined this demand themselves by throwing dice (Study 3). Expertise and experience did not reduce this effect. This sentencing bias appears to be produced by a selective increase in the accessibility of arguments that are consistent with the random sentencing demand: The accessibility of incriminating arguments was higher if participants were confronted with a high rather than a low anchor (Study 4). Practical and theoretical implications of this research are discussed.

Efficacy of Selpercatinib in RET-Altered Thyroid Cancers

Abstract: Background RET mutations occur in 70% of medullary thyroid cancers, and RET fusions occur rarely in other thyroid cancers. In patients with RET-altered thyroid cancers, the efficacy and sa...