Responsiveness of five condition-specific and generic outcome assessment instruments for chronic pain

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Changes of health and quality-of-life in chronic conditions are mostly small and require specific and sensitive instruments. The aim of this study was to determine and compare responsiveness, i.e. the sensitivity to change of five outcome instruments for effect measurement in chronic pain.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a prospective cohort study, 273 chronic pain patients were assessed on the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for pain, the Short Form 36 (SF-36), the Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ). Responsiveness was quantified by effect size (ES) and standardized response mean (SRM) before and after a four week in-patient interdisciplinary pain program and compared by the modified Jacknife test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The MPI measured pain more responsively than the SF-36 (ES: 0.85 vs 0.72, p = 0.053; SRM: 0.72 vs 0.60, p = 0.027) and the pain NRS (ES: 0.85 vs 0.62, p < 0.001; SRM: 0.72 vs 0.57, p = 0.001). Similar results were found for the dimensions of role and social interference with pain. Comparison in function was limited due to divergent constructs. The responsiveness of the MPI and the SF-36 was equal for affective health but both were better than the HADS (e.g. MPI vs HADS depression: ES: 0.61 vs 0.43, p = 0.001; SF-36 vs HADS depression: ES: 0.54 vs 0.43, p = 0.004). In the "ability to control pain" coping dimension, the MPI was more responsive than the CSQ (ES: 0.46 vs 0.30, p = 0.011).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The MPI was most responsive in all comparable domains followed by the SF-36. The pain-specific MPI and the generic SF-36 can be recommended for comprehensive and specific bio-psycho-social effect measurement of health and quality-of-life in chronic pain.</p

Broadband enhancement of the magneto-optical activity of hybrid Au loaded Bi:YIG

We unravel the underlying near-field mechanism of the enhancement of the magneto-optical activity of bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet films (Bi:YIG) loaded with gold nanoparticles. The experimental results show that the embedded gold nanoparticles lead to a broadband enhancement of the magneto-optical activity with respect to the activity of the bare Bi:YIG films. Full vectorial near- and far-field simulations demonstrate that this broadband enhancement is the result of a magneto-optically enabled cross-talking of orthogonal localized plasmon resonances. Our results pave the way to the on-demand design of the magneto-optical properties of hybrid magneto-plasmonic circuitry.Comment: 6 Pages, 3 Figure

Topological States on the Gold Surface

Gold surfaces host special electronic states that have been understood as a prototype of Shockley surface states (SSs). These SSs are commonly employed to benchmark the capability of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy. We find that these Shockley SSs can be reinterpreted as topologically derived surface states (TDSSs) of a topological insulator (TI), a recently discovered quantum state. Based on band structure calculations, the Z2 topological invariant can be well defined to characterize the nontrivial features of gold that we detect by ARPES. The same TDSSs are also recognized on surfaces of other well-known noble metals (e.g., silver, copper, platinum, and palladium). Besides providing a new understanding of noble metal SSs, finding topological states on late transition metals provokes interesting questions on the role of topological effects in surface-related processes, such as adsorption and catalysis.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure

Tailoring the ferromagnetic surface potential landscape by a templating two-dimensional metal-organic porous network

Two-dimensional metal-organic porous networks (2D-MOPNs) have been identified as versatile nanoarchitectures to tailor surface electronic and magnetic properties on noble metals. In this context, we propose a protocol to redecorate a ferromagnetic surface potential landscape using a 2D-MOPN. Ultrathin cobalt (Co) films grown on Au(111) exhibit a well-ordered surface triangular reconstruction. On the ferromagnetic surface, the adsorbed 2,4,6-tris(4-pyridyl)-1,3,5triazine (T4PT) molecules can coordinate with the native Co atoms to form a large-scale Co-T4PT porous network. The Co-T4PT network with periodic nanocavities serves as a templating layer to reshape the ferromagnetic surface potential. The subsequently deposited C60 molecules are steered by the network porous potential and the neighboring C60 interactions. The prototype of the ferromagnetic-supported 2D-MOPN is a promising template for the tailoring of molecular electronic and spin properties

Ultrafast charge carrier separation in Potassium-intercalated endohedral metallofullerene Sc3_3N@C80_{80} thin films

Molecular materials have emerged as highly tunable materials for photovoltaic and light-harvesting applications. The most severe challenge of this class of materials is the trapping of charge carriers in bound electron-hole pairs, which severely limits the free charge carrier generation. Here, we demonstrate a significant modification of the exciton dynamics of thin films of endohedral metallofullerene complexes upon alkali metal intercalation. For the exemplary case of Sc$_3$N@C$_{80}$ thin films, we show that potassium intercalation results in an additional relaxation channel for the optically excited charge-transfer excitons that prevents the trapping of excitons in a long-lived Frenkel exciton-like state. Instead, K intercalation leads to an ultrafast exciton dissociation coinciding most likely with the generation of free charge carriers. In this way, we propose alkali metal doping of molecular films as a novel approach to enhance the light to-charge carrier conversion efficiency in photovoltaic materials

Light-induced magnetization reversal of high-anisotropy TbCo alloy films

Magnetization reversal using circularly polarized light provides a new way to control magnetization without any external magnetic field and has the potential to revolutionize magnetic data storage. However, in order to reach ultra-high density data storage, high anisotropy media providing thermal stability are needed. Here, we evidence all-optical magnetization switching for different TbxCo1-x ferrimagnetic alloy composition and demonstrate all-optical switching for films with anisotropy fields reaching 6 T corresponding to anisotropy constants of 3x106 ergs/cm3. Optical magnetization switching is observed only for alloys which compensation temperature can be reached through sample heating