ForMAX - a beamline for multiscale and multimodal structural characterization of hierarchical materials.

The ForMAX beamline at the MAX IV Laboratory provides multiscale and multimodal structural characterization of hierarchical materials in the nanometre to millimetre range by combining small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering with full-field microtomography. The modular design of the beamline is optimized for easy switching between different experimental modalities. The beamline has a special focus on the development of novel fibrous materials from forest resources, but it is also well suited for studies within, for example, food science and biomedical research.

INSPIRA: study protocol for a randomized-controlled trial about the effect of spirometry-assisted preoperative inspiratory muscle training on postoperative complications in abdominal surgery.

BACKGROUND: Rehabilitation strategies after abdominal surgery enhance recovery and improve outcome. A cornerstone of rehabilitation is respiratory physiotherapy with inspiratory muscle training to enhance pulmonary function. Pre-habilitation is the process of enhancing functional capacity before surgery in order to compensate for the stress of surgery and postoperative recovery. There is growing interest in deploying pre-habilitation interventions prior to surgery. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of preoperative inspiratory muscle training on postoperative overall morbidity. The question is, whether inspiratory muscle training prior to elective abdominal surgery reduces the number of postoperative complications and their severity grade. METHODS: We describe a prospective randomized-controlled single-centre trial in a tertiary referral centre. The primary outcome is the Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI) at 90 days after surgery. The CCI expresses morbidity on a continuous numeric scale from 0 (no complication) to 100 (death) by weighing all postoperative complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification for their respective severity. In the intervention group, patients will be instructed by physiotherapists to perform inspiratory muscle training containing of 30 breaths twice a day for at least 2 weeks before surgery using Power®Breathe KHP2. Depending on the surgical schedule, training can be extended up to 6 weeks. In the control group, no preoperative inspiratory muscle training will be performed. After the operation, both groups receive the same physiotherapeutic support. DISCUSSION: Existing data about preoperative inspiratory muscle training on postoperative complications are ambiguous and study protocols are often lacking a clear design and a clearly defined endpoint. Most studies consist of multi-stage concepts, comprehensively supervised and long-term interventions, whose implementation in clinical practice is hardly possible. There is a clear need for randomized-controlled studies with a simple protocol that can be easily transferred into clinical practice. This study examines the effortless adjustment of the common respiratory physiotherapy from currently postoperative to preoperative. The external measurement by the device eliminates the diary listing of patients' performances and allows the exercise adherence and thus the effect to be objectively recorded. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04558151 . Registered on September 15, 2020.

Assessing lesion malignancy by scanning small-angle x-ray scattering of breast tissue with microcalcifications.

Scanning small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements were performed on 36 formalin-fixed breast tissue biopsies obtained from two patients. All samples contained microcalcifications of type II, i.e. formed by hydroxyapatite. We demonstrate the feasibility of classifying breast lesions by scanning SAXS of tissues containing microcalcifications with a resolution of 35 [Formula: see text]m [Formula: see text] 30 [Formula: see text]m. We report a characteristic Bragg peak found around q = 1.725 nm-1 that occurs primarily for malignant lesions. Such a clear SAXS fingerprint is potentially linked to structural changes of breast tissue and corresponds to dimensions of about 3.7 nm. This material property could be used as an early indicator of malignancy development, as it is readily assessed by SAXS. If this fingerprint is combined with other known SAXS features, which also indicate the level of malignancy, such as lipid spacing and collagen periodicity, it could complement traditional pathology-based analyses. To confirm the SAXS-based classification, a histopathological workup and a gold standard histopathological diagnosis were conducted to determine the malignancy level of the lesions. Our aim is to report this SAXS fingerprint, which is clearly related to malignant breast lesions. However, any further conclusion based on our dataset is limited by the low number of patients and samples. Running a broad study to increase the number of samples and patients is of great importance and relevance for the breast-imaging community.

Interfibrillar packing of bovine cornea by table-top and synchrotron scanning SAXS microscopy.

Bovine cornea was studied with scanning small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) microscopy, by using both synchrotron radiation and a microfocus laboratory source. A combination of statistical (adaptive binning and canonical correlation analysis) and crystallographic (pair distribution function analysis) approaches allowed inspection of the collagen lateral packing of the supramolecular structure. Results reveal (i) a decrease of the interfibrillar distance and of the shell thickness around the fibrils from the periphery to the center of the cornea, (ii) a uniform fibril diameter across the explored area, and (iii) a distorted quasi-hexagonal arrangement of the collagen fibrils. The results are in agreement with existing literature. The overlap between laboratory and synchrotron-radiation data opens new perspectives for further studies on collagen-based/engineered tissues by the SAXS microscopy technique at laboratory-scale facilities.