German eVTOL startup Lilium has ceased operations as of this week sunsetting a decade-long effort funded with over US$1 billion to build electric air taxis We've known for a bit that the startup was in trouble. Back in October, the company had run out of money failed to raise a $54-million injection from the German government to continue operations and filed for insolvency for its two primary subsidiaries Lilium hoped to get things back on track by seeking out new investors and a supervisory custodian It had also just inked a partnership with GE Aerospace to build flight data management solutions for eVTOL operators the US Federal Aviation Administration had issued regulations paving the way for aviation firms to get their aircraft into the skies earlier that week in October Lilium was slated to conduct the first manned flight of its second Jet aircraft early in 2025 and deliver its first two machines in 2026 Orders of several Jets from US-based operator UrbanLink and Saudi Arabia's flag carrier Deep tech is inherently hard to get off the ground but it's tragic when business failures in this space cost people their jobs Nathen is confident that this isn't the end of the road for Lilium Source: Dr. Patrick Nathen (LinkedIn) / Gründerszene Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information with an option to double the purchase as the oil-rich kingdom looks for advanced modes of travel to tourist attractions Saudia and Lilium signed the binding sales agreement on Thursday at an event in Gauting near Munich The two sides already entered a looser memorandum of understanding in late 2022 for the electric vertical take-off and landing virology and infectious disease epidemiology Medical Director WHO Supranational Reference Laboratory for Tuberculosis What inspired your research and what did it cover Multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) poses the toughest challenge to TB control worldwide Central Asia is one of the global hotspots with the highest MDR-TB rates Our institute is the World Health Organization Supranational Reference Laboratory partner for all Central Asian TB control programmes Kyrgyzstan is the smallest Central Asian country with the highest TB and MDR-TB incidence rates Detecting multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and the susceptibility profiles of the infecting pathogens take up to two months with conventional methods – time during which the patients can further spread the disease Whole genome or targeted sequencing on next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms offer new and promising possibilities to shorten this diagnostic delay we aimed at helping the Kyrgyz tuberculosis programme accelerate MDR-TB detection and the implementation of fully active anti-TB treatment We were able to demonstrate the proof of concept of NGS implementation in a low- to low-middle-income country we have given a practice guideline on how to implement the technology and on how much it costs we have significantly reduced the number of obstacles to the roll-out of NGS technology for MDR-TB diagnostics also in low- and middle-income countries This is an important step forward for case detection and management in all high-prevalence countries where MDR-TB is a serious challenge Implementation of whole genome sequencing for tuberculosis diagnostics in a low-middle income National Library of Medicine – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34321545/ Multi-drug resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains are a major challenge for TB control worldwide It is now possible to genetically determine most resistance by decoding the bacterial genomic code using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) we were the first group in the world to successfully implement NGS in a low/middle-income country with high TB prevalence We implemented an Illumina MiSeq sequencer in the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) of Kyrgyzstan This enabled us to reduce the turnaround time of TB resistance tests from two months to about one week We also calculated in detail the costs of NGS-based resistance testing in low- and middle-income countries we have produced a practical guide for low- and middle-income countries on how to introduce NGS into their TB laboratory network SYNLAB International GmbH Moosacher Straße 88 80809 Munich | Germany please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot Get the most important global markets news at your fingertips with a Bloomberg.com subscription mister-baseball.com Passionate about European baseball since 2007 This time with Johannes Jung of the German Baseball-Bundesliga club Gauting Indians Jakub Janda: Please describe your career since you started playing baseball to the present Johannes Jung: I started playing Baseball at the age of 8 when a friend of mine took me to one of the practices At this time Baseball was only an addition to my main sport Tennis Time comes and Baseball became more and more important to me When I was 11 I played my first real tournament the German Championship of the 10 to 12 years old In the same year I made it into the Bavarian Allstar Team of the 12 to 15 years old At this point I really want to thank the Coaches of the Allstar Team because they taught me a lot about Baseball and improved my skills In 2002 the Gauting Indians had a pretty good youth team (12-15 years) so again we played at the German Championship and we made the second place Every year I played successfully with the Bavarian Allstar Team at the German State Championship At one of these tournaments a Coach from the German Baseball Academy asked me whether I liked to play with a German Allstar Team at the Colt Baseball Word Series (Pony League Organization) in Lafayette For sure I was happy to be on the team and it was a great experience to play the first time at a big junior tournament in the USA In the same year I made my first experience in Germanys’ highest baseball league and I also made it into the Junior National Team as a pitcher Due to arm problems that I had at this time my role changed into a utility player in this team In the following year I was already a starting player for the first team of the Gauting Indians The same year I went with the German Baseball Academy to a junior tournament in the USA the Big League World Series (Little League Organization) in Easley 2007 I finally won the German State Championship with the Bavarian Allstar Team and I went to the European Championship with the German National Team Unfortunately we didn’t do that well at this tournament The last time I traveled so far to a tournament in the USA was 2008 Until now I played for the Gauting Indians I think these are most of the interesting excerpts of my “career” that I can tell JaJa: How were you preparing for this season during winter Did you change anything from previous offseasons JoJu: This winter I had to change my preparation because I had to do the nine month army service Because I was the whole time at the army base I couldn’t do a lot of baseball specific preparation I only was able to do conditional and weight lifting work it was hard to prepare for the season and still I think I wasn’t that well prepared JaJa: What do you consider your career highlights JoJu: I would say my highlights were the 3 tournaments in the USA the first place at the German State Championship and for sure participating at the Junior European Championship JaJa: What has baseball taken from you and what has the game given to you JoJu: Baseball definitely has taken a lot of my time and I often couldn’t have done some other things that I would have liked to do because for sure it also has given a lot to me: you get to know a lot of different people came around a little bit and most important I had a lot of fun JaJa: How do you like your own performance this season JoJu: I think it was good; for sure it also could have been better I was pretty sad that I had an injury in the summer Also it’s always tough to get in shape again after that JaJa: What do you think about your club in this season JoJu: No we haven’t fulfilled the expectations Our goal was to reach the playoffs and we missed that I blame it a little bit on the organization of the club because they didn’t manage to get a full and prepared team with a coach and all the foreign players on the field at the start of the season Our performance was better than the last years but it could have been better JaJa: How many times in your career have you thought about quitting baseball when I was 16 or so and had bad discussions with some teammates I thought about quitting or leaving the club JaJa: If you could advise young players reading this interview JoJu: Hmm – haha actually then I would address to myself because I’m still a young player… now seriously… I’ m also coaching a youth team so… so I definitely want to do one or two semester abroad in the USA Furthermore I want to play for a season in another country to get some more experience My goal right now is to make it into the Senior National Team and I hope I attain my goal Mister-Baseball thanks Jakub Janda and Johannes Jung for the interview Natalie Wöhrle analyzes the X-ray images of the lungs from a screening in Gauting so we don't know if they are alive or not," says Dr She's referring to the tuberculosis patients under her care in Kharkiv the Russian war has disrupted lives – including her own She and her three daughters evacuated to her father's home about 20 miles away after a bomb hit a building down the street from their apartment Before she evacuated from Kharkiv because of Russian attacks on the city Olha Konstantynovska treated tuberculosis patients at local hospitals TB — a serious bacterial infection of the lungs — is a big problem in Ukraine According to the World Health Organization the country has the fourth highest incidence of the disease in Europe And it has one of the highest rates of multidrug resistant TB anywhere in the world about 70 of the 200 residential beds are filled That's because at the beginning of the war her team discharged as many people as possible to allow them to evacuate "I called to the hospital to speak with one doctor and she said that hospital has no potato and bread," says Konstantynovska "people from the whole city of Kharkiv — two and a half million citizens — [went] to this dispensary to be checked for tuberculosis." It's also where those with TB could receive medication Konstantynovska is a member of the small army of people in Ukraine who've mounted a stiff resistance against the disease one that's been supported by the government Konstantynovska says doctors are having a hard time getting to the hospital in Kharkiv One of the physicians walks a total of three hours each day to get to and from work The head of a local dispensary is living in her office because her apartment was destroyed and a glimpse of the wreckage on her way to work She's now living with 12 others in a nearby cellar people can live with tuberculosis — and spread it usually due to the stresses of hunger and injury; or a weakened immune system Treatment consists of an antibiotics regimen that takes anywhere from six months to two years The contagiousness of TB is why Konstantynovska is especially worried about those missing patients giving the disease more opportunities to spread through the air "Eleven patients right now are in other regions of Ukraine," she adds "They are trying to find the drugs because they stop[ped] treatment two weeks ago." Interrupting an antibiotic regimen aimed at TB is worrisome for two reasons drugs prevent someone from infecting others the disease has more opportunities to spread TB can become insensitive to the drugs if they're not taken regularly because insufficient dosing gives the tuberculosis bacteria time to mutate selecting for populations of the bug that can dodge the meds This is called multidrug resistant tuberculosis There's even extensively drug-resistant TB when the bacteria don't respond to the first or second lines of drugs And once that form of resistant TB emerges transmitted through the air just like regular TB a third of Ukraine's TB cases were drug-resistant the assistant secretary for global affairs at the U.S says her office is coordinating with the CDC and USAID "to track patients [within and beyond Ukraine] to understand where they are what they need in terms of their meds and ensure that there's no gap." To understand why Ukraine has so many TB cases when Ukraine was a republic of the former Soviet Union executive director of the non-profit Advanced Access and Delivery "The medical care system was quite comprehensive and was based on community medicine," he says even in the most far-flung areas." There may not have been doctors on-site but there were often nurses and medical technicians who could do a chest X-ray to screen for TB and dispense drugs to treat it The situation deteriorated with the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991. The economy in its republics tanked. Unemployment soared. Crime escalated, which sent a lot of people to prison. And that created a kind of "epidemiological pump," says Dr. Salmaan Keshavjee director of the Center for Global Health Delivery at Harvard Medical School "It spread in the jails and in the prisons And then they went back to their community So the TB also went back to the communities." Tuberculosis rates soared which regained independence that same year Salmaan Keshavjee received this honey pot carved out of wood by a few of the prisoners "It has a lot of meaning because this is where we showed that it was possible to bring [TB] mortality down close to zero if you got people the right treatment," he says With government resources, Ukraine has since worked hard to build back its infrastructure for treating TB, registering a decade of declines between 2010 and 2020 Lockdowns early on in the pandemic shuttered hospitals where routine screening would take place sleep in their apartment bathroom in Kharkiv "Sometimes it was impossible to check patients for TB," says Dr the physician currently living with her extended family outside of Kharkiv when tuberculosis did manifest and people came to the hospital they'd be in bad shape — severely underweight the percent of people receiving treatment fell dramatically from 75% the year prior to just over half disproportionately affecting people at the margins of society "In these moments of deprivation as a result of war your TB rates go up." This isn't just true of Ukraine "I've spent many years working [with TB] with prison and other populations in Russia," says Keshavjee "I have grave concerns that many of them are going to be dying My guess is that they're trying to maintain their TB treatment programs As funds and things get diverted to other efforts you will see that the drug supply is going to drop." Vasyl Petrenko visits a tuberculosis clinic in Kyiv before the war Ukraine's stockpile of tuberculosis drugs is sufficient head of the physiatry and pulmonology department at Bogomolets National Medical University says that Russian assaults on the city are limiting treatment options for patients "The victory will be ours." He says it's crucial for morale Become an NPR sponsor Mpox (monkeypox) Campaigns Events Multimedia Newsletters Spotlights The European Health Report 2024 Ukraine emergency Second European Programme of Work WHO Ukraine and the WHO Supranational Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory in Gauting have joined forces to bolster Ukraine's national network of tuberculosis (TB) laboratories by monitoring drug resistance and improving access to quality TB diagnostic methods.  Ukraine is a high-priority country for controlling TB and is one of only nine countries worldwide with a high incidence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) Effective treatment of both TB and MDR-TB is essential and can be accomplished through rapid diagnosis where WHO-approved rapid TB diagnostic tools and reliable drug susceptibility tests are available for all patients showing TB symptoms.  financially backed by the Global Fund to fight AIDS took place in Ukraine to thoroughly evaluate regional TB laboratories This included introducing new rapid diagnostic methods assessing the quality of existing diagnostic services assisting laboratories in preparing for international accreditation to ISO 15189 standards and providing training to build capacity.  Despite the enormous challenges posed by ongoing conflict and frequent attacks on health-care infrastructure the international expert praised the efforts of Ukraine's national TB programme and the laboratory personnel working on the front lines.  \"Ukraine's lab services for TB have significantly modernized in recent years the labs continue to adopt the latest technologies for rapid and dependable TB diagnosis,\" said Evgeni Sahalchyk a specialist from the WHO Supranational Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory The team visited the Public Health Centre's Reference Laboratory for diagnosing TB and other high-risk pathogens as well as regional TB labs in Kyiv and the Khmelnytsky region the following key priorities were identified for advancing TB diagnostics in Ukraine and further developing lab capacity Continued backing from WHO and the WHO Supranational Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory remains crucial This support will be even more vital during the post-war recovery phase as Ukraine aims not just to rebuild its shattered health-care infrastructure but to create an even stronger and more resilient health system "Ukraine's lab services for TB have significantly modernized in recent years the labs continue to adopt the latest technologies for rapid and dependable TB diagnosis," said Evgeni Sahalchyk Metrics details Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is revolutionary for diagnostics of TB and its mutations associated with drug-resistances but its uptake in low- and middle-income countries is hindered by concerns of implementation feasibility we provide a proof of concept for its successful implementation in such a setting WGS was implemented in the Kyrgyz Republic We estimated needs of up to 55 TB-WGS per week and chose the MiSeq platform (Illumina USA) because of its capacity of up to 60 TB-WGS per week The project’s timeline was completed in 93-weeks Costs of large equipment and accompanying costs were 222,065 USD and 8462 USD The first 174 WGS costed 277 USD per sequence but this was skewed by training inefficiencies Based on real prices and presuming optimal utilization of WGS capacities WGS costs could drop to 167 and 141 USD per WGS using MiSeq Reagent Kits v2 (500-cycles) and v3 (600-cycles) Five trainings were required to prepare the staff for autonomous WGS which cost 48,250 USD External assessment confirmed excellent performance of WGS by the Kyrgyz laboratory in an interlaboratory comparison of 30 M tuberculosis genomes showing complete agreeance of results Here we report on the successful implementation and validation of WGS in the Kyrgyz Republic Our experience provides valuable insights on the real and perceived implementation costs and challenges and could be a resource for scientists and TB Programs who aim to implement WGS in high-incidence We will present details on key elements regarding (i) infrastructure budget planning; and (ii) options for external quality control of gDST in high-prevalence countries 3151 had bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary TB; an estimated 2300 were MDR/RR-TB (1372 bacteriologically confirmed); 134 were confirmed XDR-TB the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) had performed 1191 pDSTs from positive cultures of MDR/RR-TB-cases (unpublished Kyrgyz TB Program data) The equipment was installed in a room dedicated only to WGS with approximately 650 × 5000 mm bench space and limited entry for authorized personnel only Real per-sequence costs were calculated after the first 174 WGS by dividing the costs of actually consumed materials by 174 The theoretical long-term per-sequence costs were estimated based on the use of the MiSeq Reagent kits v2 (500-cycles) and v3 (600-cycles) under the assumption they are always completely consumed with the optimal number of samples Variant positions were defined when the following criteria were met: the variant base was covered by at least four forward and reverse reads with a Phred score of minimum 20; the base differed from the M tuberculosis H37Rv reference allele; the allele was present in a proportion of at least 75% Variant positions from the 60 datasets were combined when at least 95% of the samples fulfilled the aforementioned thresholds a concatenated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) alignment was created based on variant positions (excluding insertions and deletions SNPs within a window of 12 bp or located in repetitive regions The alignment was used for the calculation of a maximum parsimony tree using BioNumerics version 7.6 (AppliedMaths Datasets preliminarily flagged as discordant by the phylogenetic reconstruction were pairwise analysed for non-matching SNP positions or mixed infections by the presence of signature SNPs for two different TB lineages or alternative allele frequency cluster detection Once the EQA was completed a two-day workshop was conducted where national and international TB-experts planned the integration of WGS into the national diagnostic algorithm in the Kyrgyz Republic The project protocol has been reviewed by the Ethical committee under the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic and considered as not requiring ethical approval as neither personal nor clinical data were used nor interventions were performed on humans or animals The entire project occurred within a 93-week period (Fig. S1) All equipment was on site in the Kyrgyz NRL 45 weeks after the procurement process began which was significantly delayed due to unexpectedly long delivery and custom clearance times of key equipment The implementation of WGS took 50 weeks measured as the time between the first training and the first autonomous WGS Three shipments of reagents each taking approximately two months from order to delivery were necessary for the sequencing of 174 genomes due to the short-guaranteed shelf life of only 3.5 months for the Nexera XT library preparation kits and phylogenetic reconstruction and visualization with BioNumerics (AppliedMaths All trainings together caused calculated costs of 48,250 USD KYR-30 and P1007-D0037 (yellow dots) were derived from a mixed infection with two Mtbc strains of Beijing 2.2.1 lineage The presence of two alternative allele clusters at a frequency of approximately 40–60% resulted in either the wildtype or alternative alleles being identified and reported by NRL and RCB at the variant positions Updated diagnostic algorithm including NGS In a workshop with national and international TB stakeholders of Kyrgyzstan the diagnostic algorithm of TB was complemented with NGS as new diagnostic tool NGS shall be applied to all rifampicin resistant and to all isoniazid and fluoroquinolone poly-drug-resistant cases RIF rifampicin; INH isoniazid; FQ fluoroquinolone; LPA line probe assay; tgNGS targeted next generation sequencing; WGS whole genome sequencing; DOTS directly observed therapy short course; Hr-ATT anti-tuberculosis therapy for isoniazid resistant TB; Tx treatment we present one example of WGS implementation that may serve as a blueprint for uptake in high TB prevalence settings The six key lessons learnt from our project were The budget estimates for WGS in high TB incidence countries need to be adjusted to the local situation based on reports from similar settings in order to avoid going over budget The shipping and customs costs significantly impacted the overall budget because of the high frequency of shipments that were required due to the kits’ short guaranteed shelf-life of 3 months in average from the date of shipment which has also not changed for newer products like the ‘DNA Prep’ kits Other companies offering library prep kits for Illumina sequencers like New England Biolabs (NEBNext Ultra II FS) or Qiagen (QIAseq FX) provide warranty periods of 6 months when using them Illumina will refuse technical support whenever runs fail Another recurring cost is the yearly maintenance We were quoted approximately twenty-six thousand USD per year for an all-inclusive-maintenance and warranty plan To prevent a lapse in sequencing this needs to be brought in the TB program’s budget as early in advance as possible Our long implementation timeline was primarily caused by delays with importing large equipment due to national customs clearance policies Those delays caused the postponement of trainings which subsequently caused some of our reagents to expire unused Sequencing kits should thus only be procured when the equipment is ready to be used and not procured together with the equipment Contracting a local customs clearance company helped prevent further delays at customs The provided IT infrastructure only allows to analyse fastq-files for resistance and basic phylogeny but does not provide enough storage for cluster analysis of larger numbers of strains When WGS will be routinely performed for both diagnostics and surveillance a fully functional bioinformatic server infrastructure will need to be established This will go along with six to ten times higher initial investment and with yearly maintenance costs which need to be allocated in the yearly budget This requires a high level of autonomy and flexibility within the national board of experts accompanying and supervising gDST and continuous technical support from international partners Shared experience with successful implementation of WGS in high prevalence settings will facilitate the access to this technology in countries where it is most urgently needed The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request United States Agency for International Development Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis Treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis an official ATS/CDC/ERS/IDSA clinical practice guideline Impact of rapid drug susceptibility testing for tuberculosis: program experience in Lima Drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis against second-line drugs using the BACTEC MGIT 960 System The impact of a line probe assay based diagnostic algorithm on time to treatment initiation and treatment outcomes for multidrug resistant TB patients in Arkhangelsk Region Pathogen-based precision medicine for drug-resistant tuberculosis Rapid genomic first- and second-line drug resistance prediction from clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis specimens using Deeplex-MycTB Prediction of susceptibility to first-line tuberculosis drugs by DNA sequencing The Use of Next-Generation Sequencing Technologies for the Detection of Mutations Associated with Drug Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex: Technical Guide (WHO Whole-genome and targeted sequencing of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis on the iSeq100 and MiSeq: A performance Limited resources of genome sequencing in developing countries: Challenges and solutions Clinical and public health utility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis whole genome sequencing Programmatic versus personalised approaches to managing the global epidemic of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis The World Bank. The World Bank in the Kyrgyz Republic. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/kyrgyzrepublic/overview (2020) Strain identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by DNA fingerprinting: Recommendations for a standardized methodology MTBseq: A comprehensive pipeline for whole genome sequence analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates Assuring the quality of next-generation sequencing in clinical laboratory practice Guidelines for diagnostic next-generation sequencing Systematic review of mutations associated with isoniazid resistance points to continuing evolution and subsequent evasion of molecular detection and potential for emergence of multidrug resistance in clinical strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis A tale of three next generation sequencing platforms: comparison of Ion Torrent Pacific Biosciences and Illumina MiSeq sequencers The real cost of sequencing: Higher than you think! Medical laboratories - Requirements for quality and competence (ISO 15189:2012 How are we creating fluoroquinolone-resistant Tuberculosis? Clinical use of whole genome sequencing for Mycobacterium tuberculosis WHO global lists of high burden countries for TB multidrug/rifampicin-resistant TB (MDR/RR-TB) and TB/HIV Evolutionary history and global spread of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing lineage Download references The authors express their deep gratitude: to the MoH of the Kyrgyz Republic It would not have been possible to realize this project without the chief doctors and head of MDR department Zhdanova E V.; head nurse of MDR department Shadybekova B.; head of SS+ department Toktorgazieva K A.; head doctor of SS+ department Mukaev K Zh; head nurse of SS+ department Esembaeva S.; laboratory technician at the Republican Reference Laboratory Karagulova M.; laboratory Doctor at the Republican Reference Laboratory Tileberdieva A.; head of Issyk-Kul Oblast TB Center Akunova Zh K.; head doctor of Issyk-Kul Oblast TB Center Beishebaev B A.; head of laboratory at the Issyk-Kul Oblast TB Center Kozhokeeva K.; head nurse of Issyk-Kul Oblast TB Center Almazbek k B.; head of bone-surgical department Kubatbek uu M.; head of ambulatory diagnostic department Abdyllaeva G E.; head of lung surgical department Razakov O.R.; head of SS- department Tynystanova R I.; director of Republican palliative care hospital for TB patients Abdyvaliev B K.; laboratory specialist at the of Republican palliative care hospital for TB patients; Duishenalieva K.D.; head doctor of the Republican TB Hospital in Kara-Balta Karasartova Z.R.; and laboratory specialist of Republican TB Hospital in Kara-Balta Taranenko O.G and Salia Turganova.Thanks go to AquaLab and its Chief Doctor Tsopova I for the gratuitous transportation of study material from the study sites to the NRL This study has been funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Defeat-TB and TB-Care 1 programs (Grant Number: AID-617-A-17-00003) for project planning and implementation Epidemiological data analysis was partly funded through the German Ministry of Health through the Seq_MDRTB-Net project (ZMVI1-2519GHP708) These authors contributed equally: Monica Vogel These authors jointly supervised this work: Stefan Niemann and Harald Hoffmann Institute of Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine WHO - Supranational Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory Munich-Gauting Molecular and Experimental Mycobacteriology Republican Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory Meerim Sydykova & Gulmira Kalmambetova M.V.; Project implementation assistance: A.Ib. N.U.; Data collection & management: A.Is. S.N.; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript The authors declare no competing interests Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94297-z Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials (2024) Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research Lilium has now officially filed for insolvency for its two most important subsidiaries The German electric flying taxi developer filed for self-administration proceedings at Weilheim Local Court on Monday The startup had already announced this step a few days ago The air taxi developer first announced its intention to file for insolvency for Lilium GmbH and Lilium eAircraft GmbH on Thursday in a notification to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Lilium is now informing its investors that the company’s management filed for insolvency on 28 October According to the German publication Handelsblatt this means that more than 1,000 employees at the administrative headquarters in Gauting and at the special airport in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich now have to fear for their jobs Potentially around 1.5 billion euros in investor funds have been lost Last Thursday, Lilium wrote that it was not in a position to raise sufficient additional funds to continue operating the subsidiaries – “despite continuous and ongoing fundraising efforts.” The limited liability companies are “over-indebted […] and will not be able to pay their liabilities as they fall due within the next few days.” Lilium has filed the insolvency petitions with the Weilheim district court which is responsible for the company’s Oberpfaffenhofen site it is not clear whether the applications will be granted it hopes to be able to go through the insolvency proceedings in self-administration the company explained that this option under German insolvency law ‘is generally aimed at preserving and continuing the company’ Handelsblatt quoted a company spokesperson last week as saying: “After all the application is not yet a death sentence Lilium endeavoured to obtain state aid in Germany for a long time. However, it has been clear since mid-October that neither the federal government nor the Free State of Bavaria will provide any funds The Handelsblatt now writes that in the event of a positive decision on state aid the existing investors would also have injected 32 million euros in fresh money this hope vanished into thin air when the Bundestag’s budget committee voted in favour A few weeks ago, during the protracted decision-making phase regarding state aid, Lilium threatened to leave Germany With the insolvency of the German subsidiaries this scenario could materialise – should there still be a future for Lilium have lost another three-quarters of their value since Thursday alone investors.lilium.com via handelsblatt.com I agree with the Privacy policy electrive has been following the development of electric mobility with journalistic passion and expertise since 2013 we offer comprehensive coverage of the highest quality — as a central platform for the rapid development of this technology You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience wind and solar power for the “first floating ocean hybrid platform.” Sinn Power of Gauting The wave energy startup has received a total of $6.2 million from Schweizer Kapital and a German government ministry since its founding in 2014. According to a Forbes article the firm hopes to offer solar panel manufacturers the chance to test PV solar arrays on a floating platform at Heraklion CEO Philipp Sinn told Forbes,“The floating platform can supply renewable energy to islands across the world … and contribute to the worldwide implementation of offshore wind farms.” The modular unit can be equipped with a 20 kW solar array and up to four small 6 kWp wind turbines Sinn Power wants to provide “people living near coasts all over the world with access to clean electricity,” and “turn the unlimited power of ocean waves into clean and cost-efficient energy.” Sinn claims to operate fully functional prototypes at its research location in Heraklion and is “on the verge” of commercializing its technology Despite the potential energy held within waves and tides the wave and tidal energy industry has been stuck in its demonstration phase for decades — unable to overcome immense technical and financial hurdles A renewable energy investment bubble sent capital to wave companies in the aughts but recent funding has largely been restricted to government programs for demonstrations and tests the only publicly-listed wave energy firm had revenue of $0.6 million and $0.5 million during the twelve months ended April 30 It’s feasible that wave energy equipment can be made reliable just as the offshore drilling industry has demonstrated with its hardware — but it’s very expensive The marine energy industry was non-competitive twenty years ago and is even less competitive now — with the advent of cheap natural gas The artist’s renderings for the platform include small wind turbines and ducted wind turbines — inefficient solutions both. As for putting roof-top solar panels and electronics on the open ocean — check your warranty and IEC 61701 salt mist corrosion testing Correction: Verdant Power, contrary to our earlier reporting, is alive and well. The company received $6 million in funding in late 2018 from the U.S. Department of Energy and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for its Gen 5 turbine system More articles from Eric Wesoff batteries and charge controlers are already made for the sailing community They can provide power day and night through the batteries and inverter systems Wind power is already off our coasts in salt water and the platform would already be creating energy with the wind and solar power The platform would be tethered to the ocean floor so why not have some cables additionally to heavy weights through cables to dynamos since the floating platform is already there As the cables pass back an forth through a ratcheting and geared system to small dynamos it would also act as a platform stabelizer much as shock absorbers do on cars and trucks reducing the rock and sway of the floating platform This would be a great idea for getting power to disaster stricken cities near coastlines in days and not months like we have seen after huricanes The artist’s renderings for the platform include small wind turbines and ducted wind is wrong The the verticle turbines would line up on the side closest the earths north pole when stationed north of the equator and the south polewhen stationed south of the equator as not to shadow any of the solar panels The angular pitch shown on the solar array would be east to west and would need to be washed with clean water every few days to remove the salt spray build up 22.5 degrees of pitch on the panels would add 3 hours of optimum solar production without blocking the oposing panels after the sun reaches 22.5 degrees above the horizon and the sun would be at 45 degrees to the sun facing panels when optimum power could be produced Tracking panels would work and would require fewer panels but would require more maintenance Are you a hobbyist or is your knowledge on the professional / commercial side I am a hobbyist and would like to share my current state to see where I can improve Please be mindful of our community standards and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy pv magazine USA offers daily updates of the latest photovoltaics news We also offer comprehensive global coverage of the most important solar markets worldwide up to date information delivered straight to your inbox Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_3" ).setAttribute( "value" Welcome to pv magazine USA. 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Read our policy. × The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this Close This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page 24 March is World Tuberculosis Day.Interview with our SYNLAB Expert Dr Harald HoffmannYou are here: To help raise awareness about this devastating disease we talked to the SYNLAB expert Dr Harald Hoffmann who has dedicated most of his professional life to developing worldwide laboratory capabilities in tuberculosis and mycobacteriological diagnostics Harald Hoffmann leads the prestigious Institute of Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine WHO Supranational TB-Reference Laboratory (SRL) in Gauting The global significance of tuberculosis remains high Why have we then almost thought it forgotten Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease affecting humans It has probably been around as long as humans exist and will remain long after COVID-19 has been forgotten Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the most important pathogen of TB the infection enters a dormant phase (symptom-free) in the new host Patients develop symptoms of classical consumption including fatigue the disease often leads to death through emaciation Where is TB found and how is it transmitted TB pathogens are transmitted very similarly to SARS-CoV-2 in aerosols in mist droplets that patients emit and other people inhale The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that about one fifth of the world's population currently carries the pathogen without knowing or noticing it 10 million people worldwide are actively ill - only they are infectious and spreading the bacteria More than 1.3 million patients die each year of TB This makes tuberculosis the deadliest disease in the long term – even long after the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided – even more than AIDS The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) lastly reported 4127 TB cases for Germany (RKI 2021) which corresponds to an incidence of 5 per 100,000 inhabitants 90% of TB is concentrated in developing and emerging countries the countries bordering the Black Sea show the highest incidence rates with up to 75 incident cases per 100,000 inhabitants per year almost half of all TB cases are found in Southeast Asia and about a quarter in sub-Saharan Africa You say that the transmission of the TB pathogens is similar to SARS-CoV-2 Are there other parallels between the diseases most of the infection control measures against COVID-19 were already known from TB effective measures could be adopted relatively quickly from TB control Masks protect against infectious aerosols – also with COVID-19 pathogens Most transmissions take place in the domestic sphere while outdoor transmission plays only a subordinate role Most patients with drug susceptible TB are cured within six months From multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) – i.e a form of TB in which the pathogens are resistant to the most important antibiotics – about 90 percent are cured in Germany especially in the countries of the former Soviet Union up to one third of TB patients are infected with multi-drug-resistant pathogens Multi-resistance refers to the two most important antituberculotics If additional resistance to important reserve antibiotics occurs this means that 40% of patients with MDR- and almost 60% with XDR-TB slowly die from the disease Many patients suffer from long-lasting complications patients complain of loss of performance and physical fitness – another analogy to COVID-19.  up to seven antibiotics are combined at the beginning The patients receive their therapy for at least nine What challenges do you face in the fight against tuberculosis especially in developing and emerging countries the biggest challenge is the COVID-19 pandemic right now the two main challenges we faced already before the pandemic will once again gain momentum: Growing numbers of MDR-TB and co-infection with HIV MDR-TB is increasing especially in Eastern Europe the co-occurrence of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS plays the greatest role in sub-Saharan Africa and South America Migration is worldwide growing and challenging public health services the health system is excellently equipped for this all refugees and asylum seekers are immediately screened for TB Thanks to exemplary infection control by our public health services the disease never spread into the population during the last wave of refugees in 2015 we are excellently prepared for future waves that might be to come I am sure that TB will remain under control in Germany as long as sufficient political priority is given to combating it internationally What role do laboratories play in tuberculosis control Everything depends on tuberculosis being diagnosed in the first place and as early as possible Once a patient with drug-susceptible TB has received his first medication but early therapy protects from consequential damages and complications but laboratories are rare and often far away The diagnosis can fail due to such a basic challenge resulting in patients then spreading the pathogens further and only receiving an effective therapy when the lungs are already permanently damaged Effective development cooperation in the fight against tuberculosis therefore always involves strengthening laboratory networks and building up new ones SYNLAB Gauting is a WHO Supranational Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory How do you support the global fight against TB Our institute has been a reliable partner for laboratory diagnostics in high-prevalence countries for over 30 years We help state governments to expand laboratory capacity and networks to replace outdated techniques with modern PCR methods and to establish logistics and digital data management systems Doctors will then receive reliable results more quickly and can initiate effective therapies earlier interrupt chains of infection and prevent complications Can you give us a concrete example of this TB is still diagnosed by conventional microscopes half of all TB cases can be found with this method We help to establish PCR laboratory networks train staff accordingly and introduce quality assurance systems Can you already report concrete successes of your work we helped design and build a biosafety-level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory as National Reference Laboratory in Tashkent Uzbekistan on behalf of our federal government We trained the laboratory staff in modern laboratory procedures and introduced a quality management system The success has aroused interest in neighbouring countries all Central Asian republics have built national BSL-3 reference laboratories for TB diagnostics with financial support from the federal government and our know-how Kyrgyzstan has one of the most modern TB laboratories in Asia transported to Kyrgyzstan in seven modules and assembled there we introduced Next Generation Sequencing in this lab This technology is also used to decode SARS-CoV-2 genomes and assign them to possible Variants of Concerns the Kyrgyz NRL can now use the technology to decode the genomes of tuberculosis bacteria and rapidly identify variants and resistances of concern This enables the public health system to respond immediately we have used the NGS technology in two important studies on transmission pathways of TB in the Kyrgyz community How will the fight against tuberculosis continue in the future Now that our partner countries have upgraded their laboratory and testing systems modern data management and improved sample logistics are the keys to faster and professionalised diagnostics State-of-the-art technologies such as the aforementioned next-generation sequencing must be made available to all high-prevalence countries and used as integral components of TB diagnostics in accordance with the current WHO recommendations Research must focus on developing even faster and cheaper diagnostic methods ever newer antituberculotics and regimens to overcome resistance These three – but especially anti-TB vaccination – are real game-changers in the global fight against TB Company NewsAir-Taxi Maker Lilium Plummets After Insolvency WarningBy Kate DuffyPublished: October 24, 2024 at 9:47AM EDT (Bloomberg) -- Lilium NV said its main subsidiaries may be forced to file for insolvency proceedings within days as the electric flying taxi firm struggles to raise enough funding to continue operations. The subsidiaries have become “overindebted” and won’t be able to pay existing liabilities, according to a filing on Thursday. Management of the units has told the parent company that they will have to file for insolvency under German law and will apply for self-administration proceedings, the filing said. The startup’s shares fell as much as 63% as of 10:39 a.m. in New York on Thursday, marking a record drop for the stock. The move comes after the German government denied Lilium a guarantee on a €50 million ($54 million) loan, which the company argued would have offered Lilium a financial lifeline as it burns through funds. (Updates with shares in the third paragraph.) Twitter feed ©2025 BellMedia All Rights Reserved The rescue of the Bavarian air taxi startup Lilium appears to be stalling The transfer to the new company has still not taken place the employees have not yet received their salaries for January - and some of them have already walked off the job According to a report in the German business paper WirtschaftsWoche the transfer of Lilium’s property and assets to the new GmbH planned for 20 January has still not been completed This means that the management currently has no access to the assets – and money is missing from important accounts no salaries have yet been paid for January the background to this is the renaming of the buyer company from MUC Mobile Uplift Corporation GmbH to Lilium Aerospace GmbH “The employment contracts also run under this new name A long rat’s tail that entails problems,” WiWo wrote The magazine has an email from the evening of 29 January in which staff were informed that salary payments for January had not yet been initiated the sender himself only found out on 27 January that the funds had not yet been received This was expected for 29 January but did not happen And the money has still not been received or paid out to the employees “Some have stopped working and won’t start again until they are paid,” WiWo quotes an anonymous employee as saying Other employees are reportedly planning a protest outside the office in Gauting Lilium filed for insolvency at the end of October 2024 after hopes of a guarantee from the federal government and the state of Bavaria were dashed Of the more than 1,000 employees at the time some left voluntarily and around 200 were made redundant in mid-December And when there was still no sign of a rescue before Christmas the remaining 750 employees were also made redundant the company was rescued at Christmas itself: a consortium of investors called Mobile Uplift Corporation signed a purchase agreement and pledged 200 million euros in financing The initiators are Earlybird and the investment company General Capital which later brought other investors such as Fifth Wall and 468 Capital as well as the battery supplier Customcells on board The 750 employees in the last wave of redundancies were offered new jobs But it is precisely this transition that is proving difficult Although the creditors’ committees have already given their approval implementation is expected to take until the end of the first quarter Not only the 750 employees are affected by the outstanding payments but also the 200 employees from the wave of redundancies in mid-December – they have been made redundant but are still officially employed until the end of March due to the notice period With a view to the personnel costs of recent years WiWo calculates that “in January alone this is likely to be a seven-figure sum” – not including possible severance payments a quartet of investors transferred five million euros in the form of a convertible loan at the beginning of January – this money would therefore theoretically be available it remains to be seen whether this sum will soon end up in the right account and be sufficient to bridge the gap,” writes WiWo wiwo.de (in German) Hundreds of QR codes in Munich cemeteries caused a lot of guesswork - now it's clear: a gardening contractor wanted to optimize his work processes But the case could have criminal consequences The police were still in the dark on Monday: small QR code stickers had suddenly appeared on at least 1000 gravestones in Munich's Waldfriedhof the grave inscription and the exact location of the grave senior manager of a gardening company that takes care of the graves He explained to the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" that the stickers were used for internal organization - for example for scheduling and invoicing Everything has to be organized," says Zanker But one crucial detail seems unclear: had the grave owners even agreed to this the company had already been investigated - but had initially denied any involvement Only when the media reported on the case did the "media pressure become too great" The adhesive on the thermal labels left stains that could not be easily removed The gravestone has to be dismantled and removed The police estimate the total damage at a mid-six-figure sum - around 500,000 euros It is still unclear who will have to pay the costs The injured parties would probably have to assert their claims under civil law Whether the entrepreneur will be prosecuted depends on whether the grave owners have consented to the use of the QR code the accusation of damage to property could be pursued further Last year’s champion is expected to again be one of the two top teams in the southern division Even with Dutch Mike Bolsenbroek playing in professional ball in the US and Craig Crow not being resigned the acquisition of Eddie Aucoin from MANNHEIM should strengthen the LEGIONAERE pitching staff even further as well as lights-out Philipp Hoffschild in the bullpen REGENSBURG still has enough depth to avoid overusing its staff Opponents should continue to have a tough time scoring runs against LEGIONAERE pitching Rodney Gessmann and Alexander Lauterbach will be joined by former GAUTING player Christopher Howard brother of national team second baseman Philipp Howard Steady Cedric Bassel and a group of talented youngsters Especially the matchups against the HEIDENHEIM HEIDEKOEPFE and MANNHEIM TORNADOS figure to be played at a very high level If Martin Helmig’s team can win the bulk of these contests in a stadium remodeled and upgraded for the upcoming Baseball World Cup Regensburg is set to become the center of German Baseball for the summer 2008 southern division champions HEIDENHEIM seem poised for making a run at their first championship After being ousted in the semifinals last year by underdog MANNHEIM TORNADOS manager Klaus Eckle intends to field an even stronger ball club this year SS and offensive force Ryan Lilly is brought back for 2009 as is head coach and part-time pitcher Mike Hartley While powerful first baseman Keith Maxwell is not expected back the club uses its good contacts to lure high quality personnel to the small town Marcel Hering and Robert Gruber round out the bullpen which ranked 1st in almost every offensive category catcher Simon Guehring and the likes of  Gruber and Andreas Janzen newly acquired American speedster Ray Stokes as well as younger players like David Fuesser and Hering also look to contribute The surprise team of the 2008 playoffs will try to challenge REGENSBURG and HEIDENHEIM for the southern division crown With pitcher Jan Ruessel coming back from a year abroad and Michael Otto back in the first league after a year as head coach at DARMSTADT Mannheim’s pitching staff has added two strong German players Yet the loss of American Eddie Aucoin (REGENSBURG) might still not be compensated Lefthander Rene Franke and Ruessel should share the workload in game 1 while former Philadelphia Phillies Minor Leaguer Clary Carlsen takes over the role of the foreign pitcher in game 2 Georg Bull’s team is expected to bring back most of its offensive forces Jens Heymer and American Billy Hess will make up the heart of the lineup Newly acquired Sascha Lutz (from MAINZ) will add a potent bat Big things are also expected from South African Justin Lazarus Sebastian Nowak will do most of the catching while Fred Kraft will most likely guard third base Alex Szalay has his best shot in a utility role spelling Heymer at first base and seeing time in left field and as the team’s DH past season was an uphill climb for the Mainz team and top player Sascha Lutz injured for the bulk of the season the A´s struggled early on and had to fight hard for its playoff spot With the loss of Lutz and without any incoming impact players Mainz should not be expected to challenge REGENBURG or HEIDENHEIM and will have to battle SAARLOUIS and HAAR for the remaining playoff spot With Manuel Moeller and Nils Hartkopf the club has two experienced German pitchers that can limit any team’s offense to only a few runs Up and coming Max Boldt can also eat some innings and will most likely be on the first ones out of the bullpen While there might be skepticism about bullpen depth the A´s will stand or fall with its offense and with capable foreigners the heart of the order should be solid If some of the guys at the bottom of the order can improve on their 2008 performances In 2008 the HORNETS had some bad luck with their personnel: Their head coach Fred Beitler did not get along with former stud player Chris Sweeney Both were dismissed a few games into the season and Tom Gapp took over the coaching duties For this season management has succeeded in luring an experienced coach to SAARLOUIS who last year worked as an assistant for DRACI BRNO and the CZECH NATIONAL TEAM looking to guide the team into the playoffs The team that shall accomplish that goal is almost identical to last year’s Only the foreign players Sal Messina and Seth Nowakoswki and German first baseman Torsten Krapf need to be replaced The club’s biggest player acquisition is Kenny Camp Workhorse Czech Ales Keprta will be Saarlouis´ number one Offensively the HORNETS depend mostly on Eddie Martinez and Javier Perez new catcher Whitney Pierce and Michael Kratz need to produce and the bottom of the order guys need to be scrappy and fight their way on base The HORNETS´ biggest question mark is depth both in regards to pitching as well as on offense Carlson is the club’s only experienced reliever unless Sam Jew joins the team after finishing the college season SAARLOUIS can beat out MAINZ for the 4th and final playoff spot The club from suburban Munich has undergone quite a transition since 2008 Last year’s head coach Michael Almstetter stepped down after the season due to personal reasons His assistant Chris Haas will also not be back 2009 will be the first year for Chris Dresel at the helm who is also in charge of Bavaria’s junior State Team spent 2008 with INGOLSTADT of Germany’s 2nd league Adalberto Paulino and Austrian Clemens Cichocki will not be back Newcomers include Americans Tavo Hall and Ty Eriksen a promising first baseman from local rival GAUTING INDIANS Stefan Mueller (from INGOLSTADT) and Christoph Ziegler (GAUTING) were also acquired Philipp Dresel was brought in from REGENSBURG to give some depth in the pitching department besides Dirk Fries The DISCIPLES figure to repeat their 2008 showing when they made a run for the playoffs but in the end had to settle for a 5th place tie With an inexperienced team they might be able to rack up some surprise wins against the top teams and should be in good shape to compete at the level of SAARLOUIS and avoided being relegated by beating BAD HOMBURG Yet there is limited reason for optimism in GAUTING With talented youngsters Michael Stephan and Christoph Ziegler moving across town to join HAAR and veteran Georg Starek who ended his tenure with the INDIANS to rejoin his hometown club in FÜSSEN there aren’t a lot of position players left from 2008 young catcher Christopher Howard also left the INDIANS The Indians will open the season with a new coach Trey Hendricks is the new man in charge of the team He seems to have been able to assemble a powerful cast of foreign players shortstop Seth Binder and pitcher Matt Fuller will be replaced by Australia’s Brad Dutton and US-Boy Chris Clem as Dutton was on Australia’s World Cup Team in 2007 and also played in the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in 2008 the club agreed to terms with British hurler Paul Waterman Young Alexander Howard can give the squad some innings but there is little depth behind the two starters British National team member Will Lintern replaces C Even with a handful of proven players coming in overall roster depth is still questionable the club is really low on German nationals expect management to try and bolster the team with more EU-players Photo: © www.eisenhuth-photographie.de The GAUTING INDIANS have acquired two players shortly before the season starts on Sunday They are welcome utility man Matt Fuller and shortstop Seth Binder However due to the late signing both will miss the opening doubleheader against vice champion BUCHBINDER LEGIONAERE REGENSBURG He went to the Niagara University (NCAA Division I) in 2003 and 2004 During his first two years at Niagara he was a pitcher appearing in 34 games as a reliever with an ERA higher than 7.50 John Fisher he was used as a utility player and a pitcher He batted .337 (OBP .387/ SLG .480) in 2005 and .405 (.439/.579) a year later In 2006 Fuller had a 9-2 record with an ERA of 2.74 with 74 strikeouts (17 walks) in 65.2 innings pitched Binder is 22 years old and resides in Oak Park He played for the PETACH TIKVA PIONEERS of the Israel Baseball League in 2007 The right-handed batter hit .250 (.479/.250) with 23 runs scored and six RBI According to his stats he is a typical leadoff hitter with a high on-base-percentage and no power He got not one extra-base-hit in all of last year Before his time in Israel he went to the Oberlin College (NCAA Division III) from 2004 to 2007 Binder batted during his college career .337 (SLG .427) with 102 runs scored #29293a);margin:auto;margin-top:32px;max-width:calc(640px + (2 * 12px));padding:0 12px;}@media screen and (min-width: 768px){.css-9uetne{margin-top:72px;}}.css-1lgqo8v{color:var(--sz-basic-text-color-primary 16:20 Uhr.css-rhp0z0{color:var(--sz-basic-border-color-secondary #c0c1c6);display:inline-block;margin:0 12px;}|.css-13l0r79{display:inline-block;}Lesezeit: 1 Min .css-y4bre2{display:block;height:auto;width:100%;}.js .css-y4bre2{cursor:pointer;}.css-1hdpxq{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;background-color:rgb(255 #fff);display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;height:inherit;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-transform:translateY(100%);-moz-transform:translateY(100%);-ms-transform:translateY(100%);transform:translateY(100%);-webkit-transition:-webkit-transform 600ms cubic-bezier(0.23 1);transition:transform 600ms cubic-bezier(0.23 #fff);padding:8px 12px 0;color:var(--sz-basic-text-color-primary #29293a);font-family:'SZSansDigital','Neue Helvetica','Helvetica',sans-serif;font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.5;}.css-1vyk908 p{display:inline;}.css-1vyk908 small{color:var(--sz-basic-text-color-secondary #71737f);}.css-1vyk908 small{display:block;}.css-1vyk908 a{border-bottom:1px solid var(--sz-basic-text-color-primary #29293a);color:var(--sz-basic-text-color-primary #29293a);padding-bottom:2px;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;-webkit-transition:border-bottom 150ms ease-in-out;transition:border-bottom 150ms ease-in-out;}.css-1vyk908 a:focus,.css-1vyk908 a:hover{border-bottom-color:transparent;}Auf Grabsteinen mehrerer Friedhöfe Münchens wurden mysteriöse QR-Codes entdeckt der Schaden wird auf mehrere Hunderttausend Euro beziffert Nun meldete sich der Verursacher bei der Polizei Von Stephan Handel Nur einen Tag, nachdem die Polizei von mysteriösen QR-Codes an mindestens 1000 Grabsteinen auf Münchner Friedhöfen berichtet hatte, ist das Rätsel gelöst: Der Inhaber eines Gartenbaubetriebs aus Gauting meldete sich selbst bei der Polizei und gab an, für die Aufkleber verantwortlich zu sein. Die Firma wurde im Laufe der Woche schon einmal von der Polizei überprüft, hatte aber eine Beteiligung strikt zurückgewiesen. Erst als die Münchner Medien darüber berichteten, „wurde der mediale Druck wohl zu groß“, wie ein Polizeisprecher sagt. Die etwa 50 mal 35 Millimeter großen Aufkleber trugen den Namen des Grabbesitzers und einen QR-Code. Wurde dieser gescannt, erschien die Grabinschrift und die Lage des Grabes. Die Aufkleber wurden bislang am Waldfriedhof und an den Friedhöfen Sendling und Solln gefunden. Ob sie auch an weiteren Friedhöfen verwendet wurden, ist derzeit noch unklar. Sollte sich herausstellen, dass die Besitzer der Gräber der Verwendung der Codes zugestimmt haben, würden strafrechtliche Konsequenzen wohl wegfallen. Die Polizei hatte zunächst wegen Sachbeschädigung ermittelt – der Klebstoff auf den Thermoaufklebern hinterließ Flecken, wenn der Aufkleber entfernt wurde. Die Reparatur ist offenbar relativ aufwendig: Der Stein muss abgebaut und abtransportiert werden, dann wird der Fleck abgeschliffen und der Stein wieder aufgestellt. Wegen der hohen Zahl der Fälle schätzt die Polizei den entstandenen Gesamtschaden auf einen mittleren sechsstelligen Betrag, also etwa 500 000 Euro. Dieser Schaden müsste von den Geschädigten zivilrechtlich geltend gemacht werden. Eine Genehmigung der Friedhofsverwaltung war offensichtlich nicht erforderlich. Nach einem Post auf X bekamen es die Musiker von „Blackout Problems“ mit den Anwälten des Kanzlerkandidaten der Union zu tun. Wie sie, die „Sportfreunde Stiller“ und „Sarkus Möder“ derzeit versuchen, auf die Politik einzuwirken. In anspruchsvollen Berufsfeldern im Stellenmarkt der SZ. .css-5x0u19{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Gutscheine.css-pcxqtt{border:0;clip:rect(0 0 0 0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;white-space:nowrap;width:1px;}: