032). SOC participants had 1.91 increased hazard rate of PMTCT disengagement; (aHR 6.8, [2.2-21.1]; p  less then  0.001).Working with the dead is a very specific kind of work. Although a dignified handling of the corpses is demanded by the legislator and by the general public, neither the legal status of the corpse is undisputed nor is it obvious what a dignified handling of the deceased should consist of. In our hypothesis generating pilot study, we asked which concrete considerations are involved in daily practice of forensic specialists. We used an online questionnaire (invitations via e-mail) consisting of questions with single choice, multiple choice, and free text entries. The answers to single or multiple choice questions were displayed in pivot tables. The data was thus summarized, viewed, descriptively analyzed, and displayed together with the free text answers. 84.54% of the physicians and 100% of the autopsy assistants stated that considerations concerning the dignity of the deceased should play a role in daily autopsy practice. 45.87% stated that the conditions surrounding the autopsy need improvement to be ethically suitable. The analysis of the survey's results was based on Robert Audi's ethics, according to which three aspects need to be lightened in order to evaluate the conduct of a person morally the actions, the motivation, and the way in which the actions are carried out. This systematization helps to identify the need for improvement and to make the vague demands for a dignified handling of corpses more concrete.Telomere biology disorders are complex clinical conditions that arise due to mutations in genes required for telomere maintenance. Telomere length has been utilised as part of the diagnostic work-up of patients with these diseases; here, we have tested the utility of high-throughput STELA (HT-STELA) for this purpose.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/acy-775.html  HT-STELA was applied to a cohort of unaffected individuals (n = 171) and a retrospective cohort of mutation carriers (n = 172). HT-STELA displayed a low measurement error with inter- and intra-assay coefficient of variance of 2.3% and 1.8%, respectively. Whilst telomere length in unaffected individuals declined as a function of age, telomere length in mutation carriers appeared to increase due to a preponderance of shorter telomeres detected in younger individuals ( less then  20 years of age). These individuals were more severely affected, and age-adjusted telomere length differentials could be used to stratify the cohort for overall survival (Hazard Ratio = 5.6 (1.5-20.5); p  less then  0.0001). Telomere lengths of asymptomatic mutation carriers were shorter than controls (p  less then  0.0001), but longer than symptomatic mutation carriers (p  less then  0.0001) and telomere length heterogeneity was dependent on the diagnosis and mutational status. Our data show that the ability of HT-STELA to detect short telomere lengths, that are not readily detected with other methods, means it can provide powerful diagnostic discrimination and prognostic information. The rapid format, with a low measurement error, demonstrates that HT-STELA is a new high-quality laboratory test for the clinical diagnosis of an underlying telomeropathy.
  Sex differences in blood pressure (BP) regulation at rest have been attributed to differences in vascular function. Further, arterial stiffness predicts an exaggerated blood pressure response to exercise (BPR) in healthy young adults. However, the relationship of vascular function to the workload-indexed BPR and potential sex differences in athletes are unknown.
 
  We examined 47 male (21.6 ± 1.7 years) and 25 female (21.1 ± 2 years) athletes in this single-center pilot study. We assessed vascular function at rest, including systolic blood pressure (SBP). Further, we determined the SBP/W slope, the SBP/MET slope, and the SBP/W ratio at peak exercise during cycling ergometry.
 
  Male athletes had a lower central diastolic blood pressure (57 ± 9.5 vs. 67 ± 9.5mmHg, p < 0.001) but a higher central pulse pressure (37 ± 6.5 vs. 29 ± 4.7mmHg, p < 0.001), maximum SBP (202 ± 20 vs. 177 ± 15mmHg, p < 0.001), and ΔSBP (78 ± 19 vs. 58 ± 14mmHg, p < 0.001) than females. Total vascular resistance (1293 ± 318 vs. 1218 ± 341 dyn*s/cm
  , p = 0.369), pulse wave velocity (6.2 ± 0.85 vs. 5.9 ± 0.58m/s, p = 0.079), BP at rest (125 ± 10/76 ± 7 vs. 120 ± 11/73.5 ± 8mmHg, p > 0.05), and the SBP/MET slope (5.7 ± 1.8 vs. 5.1 ± 1.6mmHg/MET, p = 0.158) were not different. The SBP/W slope (0.34 ± 0.12 vs. 0.53 ± 0.19mmHg/W) and the peak SBP/W ratio (0.61 ± 0.12 vs. 0.95 ± 0.17mmHg/W) were markedly lower in males than in females (p < 0.001).
 
  Male athletes displayed a lower SBP/W slope and peak SBP/W ratio than females, whereas the SBP/MET slope was not different between the sexes. Vascular functional parameters were not able to predict the workload-indexed BPR in males and females.
 Male athletes displayed a lower SBP/W slope and peak SBP/W ratio than females, whereas the SBP/MET slope was not different between the sexes. Vascular functional parameters were not able to predict the workload-indexed BPR in males and females.
  Knee flexor electromechanical delay (EMD) has been proposed as a contributing factor to non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk and the semitendinosus (ST) autograft technique has been shown to impair knee flexor torque at large angles of knee flexion. The purpose of this study was to analyse the effects of ACL reconstruction (ACLR) using the ST tendon autograft technique on knee flexor EMD across the knee flexion range of motion, in athletes who had returned to competition.
 
  Athletes with ACLR (n = 8 females, n = 3 males, 1.7 ± 0.5years post-surgery) and non-injured control athletes (n = 6 females, n = 4 males) performed rapid maximal voluntary contractions of isometric knee flexion and extension at 30°, 50°, 70°, 90°,and 105° of knee flexion. Electrical activity of the ST, biceps femoris (BF), vastus lateralis, and vastus medialis was recorded using surface electromyography.
 
  No change in EMD for the knee flexors or extensors was observed across joint angles. Greater EMD was found only for the BF in the ACLR limb of injured athletes compared to the contralateral limb (P < 0.