Dynamic inference in general nested case-control designs

Nested case-control designs are attractive in studies with a time-to-event endpoint if the outcome is rare or if interest lies in evaluating expensive covariates. The appeal is that these designs restrict to small subsets of all patients at risk just prior to the observed event times. Only these small subsets need to be evaluated. Typically, the controls are selected at random and methods for time-simultaneous inference have been proposed in the literature. However, the martingale structure behind nested case-control designs allows for more powerful and flexible non-standard sampling designs. We exploit that structure to find simultaneous confidence bands based on wild bootstrap resampling procedures within this general class of designs. We show in a simulation study that the intended coverage probability is obtained for confidence bands for cumulative baseline hazard functions. We apply our methods to observational data about hospital-acquired infections.

Development of a skin-friendly microemulsion for dermal allergen-specific immunotherapy

Due to their role in immune responses, the skin dendritic cells (i.e. epidermal Langerhans cells and dermal dendritic cells) have become of great interest to researchers in the past decades. A dermal administration of allergens could target these professional antigen-presenting cells directly and build up immunotolerance. Additionally, many of the adverse side effects, which are seen in the current state of the art specific immunotherapy routes, could be avoided. Therefore, in this study a penetration enhancing microemulsion was developed and its physicochemical properties were determined under several storage conditions. The influence of different preservatives on the microemulsion stability was observed. We examined epidermal penetration of Alexa Fluor-647 labelled bee-venom phospholipase A2 (Api m 1) using the Franz diffusion cell set up and confocal laser-scanning microscopy. First results of an in-vivo Api m 1-allergic mouse model indicated the protective efficacy of dermal AIT with our newly developed microemulsion. Summarily, the developed microemulsion is a suitable, stable drug delivery system for the topical administration of proteogenic allergens into the epidermis and is able to reach dendritic cells in the skin.

30 Vitrification of Equine Embryos: Application in a Commercial Cloning Program

During a commercial horse cloning program, a critical point is the availability and maintenance of suitable recipient mares for a large quantity of embryo transfers. Usually, pregnancy rates and viable births off the breeding season decrease significantly, whereas the rate of in vitro embryo production remains constant. For this reason, an efficient vitrification system allows continuous embryo production throughout the year with the advantage of doing the transfers only during the breeding season. The vitrification technique evaluated in this study was the one described by Kuwayama et al. (2007 Theriogenology 67, 73-80). By using this method, we compared post-warming recovery efficiency, pregnancy rates, and viable foaling rates in 2 experimental groups: cloned blastocysts vitrified off-season and transferred in breeding season (VC, n = 337), and non-vitrified cloned blastocysts also transferred in breading season (no-VC, n = 516). To achieve this, equine oocytes were collected from slaughterhouse ovaries, matured, enucleated, and fused to a donor cell according to Olivera et al. (2016 PLoS One 11, e0164049, 10.1371/journal.pone.0164049). The reconstructed embryos (RE) were cultured in a well-of-the-well system by adding 3 RE per well for 7 to 8 days to reach the blastocyst stage, at which they were vitrified as mentioned above. During the breeding season, blastocysts were warmed and transferred in couples in a single cycling receptive mare. Pregnancies were confirmed by transrectal ultrasonography 15 days post-transfer. All variables were analysed by Fisher test (P < 0.05). The warming recovery rate was 91% (308/337) for cloned blastocysts. In addition, pregnancy and viable birth rates were similar for the VC and no-VC groups: 15.6% (24/154) v. 16.7% (43/258) for pregnancy rates, respectively, and 37.5% (9/24) v. 37.2% (16/43) for foaling rates, respectively. In summary, 9 viable cloned foals were obtained with off-season embryos warmed and transferred during the breeding season, showing that vitrification did not affect embryo quality. Hence, the proposed strategy provides the ability to maximize production efficiency of equine clones by generating a large number of pregnancies without stopping in vitro embryo production at any time of the year.

Development of multiple W/O/W emulsions as dermal carrier system for oligonucleotides: effect of additives on emulsion stability

Multiple water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) emulsions are of major interest as potential skin delivery systems for water-soluble drugs like oligonucleotides due to their distinct encapsulation properties. However, multiple emulsions are highly sensitive in terms of variations of the individual components. The presence of osmotic active ingredients in the inner water phase is crucial for the generation of stable multiple emulsions. In order to stabilize the emulsions the influence of NaCl, MgSO(4), glucose and glycine and two cellulose derivatives was investigated. Briefly, multiple W/O/W emulsions using Span 80 as a lipophilic emulsifier and different hydrophilic emulsifiers (PEG-40/50 stearate, steareth-20 and polysorbate 80) were prepared. Stability of the emulsions was analyzed over a period of time using rheological measurements, droplet size observations and conductivity analysis. In this study we show that additives strongly influence the properties stability of multiple emulsions. By increasing the concentration of the osmotic active ingredients, smaller multiple droplets are formed and the viscosity is significantly increased. The thickening agents resulted in a slightly improved stability. The most promising emulsions were chosen and further evaluated for their suitability and compatibility to incorporate a DNAzyme oligonucleotide as active pharmaceutical ingredient.

Influence of hydrophilic surfactants on the properties of multiple W/O/W emulsions

Multiple W/O/W emulsions for topical application using Span 80 as a lipophilic emulsifier were prepared. Several hydrophilic emulsifiers were tested in respect of their suitability for the preparation of multiple emulsions. In addition, the effect of different oil-phase compositions on emulsion stability was investigated. The physicochemical parameters of the formulations were characterized and their long-term stability was evaluated by means of rheological measurements, droplet size observations and conductivity analysis. As discovered, the modification of an oil-phase composition results in a decrease in the diffusion coefficient of water and water-soluble substances and, consequently, in enhanced stability. The influence of the release of electrolytes from the inner to the outer water phase on the emulsion stability behaviour was investigated. It was found, that the effect of the hydrophilic emulsifiers on the formulation properties is related not only to its HLB value, but rather to its chemical composition. As a result, polyethoxylated ethers of fatty alcohols (C=16-18) with HLBs between 15.3 and 16.2 appear to be the most suitable ones for creating stable formulations.

Specific properties of fine SnO 2 powders connected with surface segregation

The effect of surface segregation in Sb- and In-doped SnO2 fine-grained powders has been analyzed in comparison with single-crystalline samples. The kinetics and thermodynamics of the Sb and In segregation processes were studied as a function of annealing temperature by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) after annealing in an oxygen-containing atmosphere. Significant differences between diffusion and segregation were revealed for doped powders and single crystals, obviously because of simultaneous diffusion and particle-growth processes proceeding during annealing of powders. For doped single crystals the thermodynamic equilibrium is approached after 24 h annealing above 850 degrees C and at 1000 degrees C for Sb and In, respectively. Higher effective activation energies of diffusion are observed for doped powders and the thermodynamic equilibrium is not achieved under technologically relevant annealing conditions. On the basis of dopant profile measurements anomalies in the electrical resistivity at 300 degrees C of Sb-doped SnO2 powders annealed at 700 and 900 degrees C were attributed to an Sb-depleted zone formed beneath the segregated surface during the kinetic regime. To achieve optimum resistivity behavior for commercial application, inhomogeneous doping of powders must be avoided by appropriate preparation steps.

Calibration of XPS - energy scale for determination of the oxidation states of doping elements in SnO 2 powders

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to investigate the oxidation states of doping elements in doped SnO(2) powders. Because of low conductivity, however, charging and resulting peak shift is observed. To obtain the real peak position a suitable reference peak must be found in the XPS spectrum. In this study both internal (Sn3d(5/2) peak) and external references (Au4f(7/2) and C1 s) were examined. When external references were used a shift of all the peaks studied was observed; the extent of this depended on the doping element and the doping concentration. By doping with an element of valence >4 (Nb and Sb) we obtained peaks at binding energy (BE); doping with a trivalent element (In) led to peaks at values of the BE. This peak shift is connected with changes of Fermi level. In contrast, by using Sn3d(5/2) as reference we obtained results which enabled, for example, observation of the dependence of changes of the oxidation state of Sb on doping concentration.