Additive Effekte kombinierter Psycho- und Pharmakotherapie für depressive Patienten: Illusion oder Tatsache?

This article qualitatively reviews the comparative efficacy of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy vs either modality alone. Recent results are confirming AHCPR statements, that, on the basis of current data, in acute treatment of Major Depressive Disorders (MDD), the routine use of both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy is not warranted. But a methodologically outstanding study from the work-group around Frank shows that, in longterm treatment of MDD-patients, combined psycho-pharmaocotherapy is superior compared to interpersonal psychotherapy alone, but not compared to tricyclics alone. In two settings patients might benefit substantially from a combination treatment compared to both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy alone: 1) Acute and long-term treatment of more severe chronic depression, and 2) long-term treatment of elderly MDD-patients. More severely depressed MDD-patients profit more and faster if treated with combined psycho-pharmacotherapy compared compared to psychotherapy alone

Kristallistrukturanalyse von lösungsmitterfreiem Lithium-benzoat. Relevanz föur die Material-eigenschaften von Lithium-carboxylaten?

Anhydrous Li benzoate crystallizes from water as very thin, soft, and flexible platelets. The poor quality of these crystals rendered the data collection for the crystal structure determination very difficult. Anisotropic refinement did not reduce the R value below 0.1. The Li benzoate molecules form a two-dimensional polymeric structure consisting of a grid of lithium and carboxylate O-atoms, with the Ph groups forming kind of a covering layer on each side. The polymeric layers are stacked with phenyl CH groups pointing towards each other. Thus, very weak van-der-Waals forces hold the layers together. This structural feature is in agreement with the macroscopic properties of the crystals and probably causes Li carboxylates to be valuable components of high-temperature, high-performance greases (for instance in the vacuum technology). The structures of Li benzoate and of other Li carboxylates may also provide a clue for the fact that ionomers containing LiOOC groups are especially tough materials

Three-dimensional geoelectric modelling with optimal work/accuracy rate using an adaptive wavelet algorithm

Despite the ever-increasing power of modern computers, realistic modelling of complex 3-D earth models is still a challenging task and requires substantial computing resources. The overwhelming majority of current geophysical modelling approaches includes either finite difference or non-adaptive finite element algorithms and variants thereof. These numerical methods usually require the subsurface to be discretized with a fine mesh to accurately capture the behaviour of the physical fields. However, this may result in excessive memory consumption and computing times. A common feature of most of these algorithms is that the modelled data discretizations are independent of the model complexity, which may be wasteful when there are only minor to moderate spatial variations in the subsurface parameters. Recent developments in the theory of adaptive numerical solvers have the potential to overcome this problem. Here, we consider an adaptive wavelet-based approach that is applicable to a large range of problems, also including nonlinear problems. In comparison with earlier applications of adaptive solvers to geophysical problems we employ here a new adaptive scheme whose core ingredients arose from a rigorous analysis of the overall asymptotically optimal computational complexity, including in particular, an optimal work/accuracy rate. Our adaptive wavelet algorithm offers several attractive features: (i) for a given subsurface model, it allows the forward modelling domain to be discretized with a quasi minimal number of degrees of freedom, (ii) sparsity of the associated system matrices is guaranteed, which makes the algorithm memory efficient and (iii) the modelling accuracy scales linearly with computing time. We have implemented the adaptive wavelet algorithm for solving 3-D geoelectric problems. To test its performance, numerical experiments were conducted with a series of conductivity models exhibiting varying degrees of structural complexity. Results were compared with a non-adaptive finite element algorithm, which incorporates an unstructured mesh to best-fitting subsurface boundaries. Such algorithms represent the current state-of-the-art in geoelectric modelling. An analysis of the numerical accuracy as a function of the number of degrees of freedom revealed that the adaptive wavelet algorithm outperforms the finite element solver for simple and moderately complex models, whereas the results become comparable for models with high spatial variability of electrical conductivities. The linear dependence of the modelling error and the computing time proved to be model-independent. This feature will allow very efficient computations using large-scale models as soon as our experimental code is optimized in terms of its implementatio

3-D electrical resistivity tomography using adaptive wavelet parameter grids

We present a novel adaptive model parametrization strategy for the 3-D electrical resistivity tomography problem and demonstrate its capabilities with a series of numerical examples. In contrast to traditional parametrization schemes, which are based on fixed disjoint blocks, we discretize the subsurface in terms of Haar wavelets and adaptively adjust the parametrization as the iterative inversion proceeds. This results in a favourable balance of cell sizes and parameter reliability, that is, in regions where the data constrain the subsurface properties well, our parametrization strategy leads to a fine grid, whereas poorly resolved areas are represented only by a few large blocks. This is documented with eigenvalue analyses and by computing model resolution matrices. During the initial iteration steps, only a few model parameters are involved, which reduces the risk that the regularization dominates the inversion. The algorithm also automatically accounts for non-linear effects caused by pronounced conductivity contrasts. Inside conductive features a finer grid is generated than inside more resistive structures. The automated parameter adaptation is computationally efficient, because the coarsening and refinement subroutines have a nearly linear numerical complexity with respect to the number of model parameters. Because our approach is not tightly coupled to electrical resistivity tomography, it should be straightforward to adapt it to other data type

The Bronze Athlete from Ephesos: Archaeological Background and Aspects of Conservation

The Athlete from Ephesos, a Roman imperial copy of a Greek statuary type from the 4th century B.C., was found at the very end of the 19th century, in the first years of the Austrian excavation in Ephesos, when research was concentrated on the major imperial monuments. In the palaestra of the Harbor Baths, the statue was set up in an aedicula and was destroyed when an earthquake caused the collapse of the hall roof.Due to an agreement between the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I, the fragments could be taken to Vienna as a gift to the emperor’s collections. In Vienna, Wilhelm Sturm was commissioned with the restoration and conservation of the statue in 1897. The recomposition of the athlete took as a model the marble athlete kept at the Uffizi, in Florence, once the similarity of the statuary type of the Apoxyomenos had been recognized.The individual fragments were treated physically and chemically and were fixed on brass strings. Then groups of fragments were mounted onto iron bars in order to build the “back bone”. The entire statue was filled with cement in order to stabilize the structure and to close the gaps in the surface.A reevaluation of the condition of the Ephesian statue in cooperation with the Conservation Science Department of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Antiquities Conservation Department of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California has shown the surprisingly good condition of the more than 100 year-old reconstruction.La découverte de l’athlète d’Éphèse remonte aux premières années de fouilles autrichiennes à Éphèse, alors que les recherches se concentraient sur les principaux monuments impériaux. L’effondrement de la toiture, provoquée par un tremblement de terre, avait brisé la statue installée dans un édicule au sein de la palestre des thermes du port.Un accord entre le sultan ottoman Abdul Hamid II et l’empereur d’Autriche François-Joseph Ier permet de transporter les fragments à Vienne dans le cadre d’un don aux collections impériales. À Vienne, Wilhelm Sturm se voit confier la restauration de la statue. Il prend modèle sur la statue d’athlète conservée au musée des Offices, à Florence, en s’appuyant sur un rapprochement typologique. Chacun des fragments fait l’objet d’un traitement physique et chimique, avant d’être fixé sur des cordes de laiton. Les groupes de fragments ainsi constitués sont montés sur des barres de fer afin de construire un squelette. Du ciment coulé dans les interstices consolide l’ensemble et comble les lacunes en surface.Une réévaluation de l’état de la statue d’Éphèse, conduite par le laboratoire de conservation-restauration du Kunstorisches Museum de Vienne en collaboration avec le département de conservation-restauration des Antiquités du musée J. Paul Getty, Malibu, Californie, souligne la stabilité étonnante de la restauration effectuée voilà plus de cent ans

Verhaltenstherapeutische Behandlung eines Patienten mit beginnender Alzheimer-Demenz

The following case report shows a behavioral treatment of a 53-year-old Patient with Alzheimer's Disease (AD), The treatment includes procedures described in the Behavioral Competency Training (VKT) for patients with early-stage AD developed by Ehrhardt and associates. The program consists of about 20 weekly treatment sessions in which the patient's resources are activated and patient's coping is supported. The therapy and the intervention are debated in the light of the ongoing discussion about a state-of-the-art therapy for AD

Making SPIFFI SPIFFIER: Upgrade of the SPIFFI instrument for use in ERIS and performance analysis from re-commissioning

SPIFFI is an AO-fed integral field spectrograph operating as part of SINFONI on the VLT, which will be upgraded and reused as SPIFFIER in the new VLT instrument ERIS. In January 2016, we used new technology developments to perform an early upgrade to optical subsystems in the SPIFFI instrument so ongoing scientific programs can make use of enhanced performance before ERIS arrives in 2020. We report on the upgraded components and the performance of SPIFFI after the upgrade, including gains in throughput and spatial and spectral resolution. We show results from re-commissioning, highlighting the potential for scientific programs to use the capabilities of the upgraded SPIFFI. Finally, we discuss the additional upgrades for SPIFFIER which will be implemented before it is integrated into ERIS.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures. Proceedings from SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 201

FUM1—A Gene Required for Fumonisin Biosynthesis But Not for Maize Ear Rot and Ear Infection by Gibberella moniliformis in Field Tests

We have analyzed the role of fumonisins in infection of maize (Zea mays) by Gibberella moniliformis (anamorph Fusarium verticillioides) in field tests in Illinois and Iowa, United States. Fumonisin-nonproducing mutants were obtained by disrupting FUM1 (previouslyFUM5), the gene encoding a polyketide synthase required for fumonisin biosynthesis. Maize ear rot, ear infection, and fumonisin contamination were assessed by silk-channel injection in 1999 and 2000 and also by spray application onto maize silks, injection into maize stalks, and application with maize seeds at planting in 1999. Ear rot was evaluated by visual assessment of whole ears and by calculating percentage of symptomatic kernels by weight. Fumonisin levels in kernels were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. The presence of applied strains in kernels was determined by analysis of recovered isolates for genetic markers and fumonisin production. Two independent fumonisin-nonproducing (fum1-3 and fum1-4) mutants were similar to their respective fumonisin-producing (FUM1-1) progenitor strains in ability to cause ear rot following silk-channel injection and also were similar in ability to infect maize ears following application by all four methods tested. This evidence confirms that fumonisins are not required for G. moniliformis to cause maize ear rot and ear infection

Model sensitivity in the effect of Antarctic sea ice and stratification on atmospheric pCO2

Several recent papers have demonstrated a decrease in atmospheric pCO2 resulting from barriers to communication between the deep sea and the atmosphere in the Southern Ocean. Stephens and Keeling [2000] decreased pCO2 by increasing Antarctic sea ice in a seven-box model of the world ocean, and Toggweiler [1999] showed a similar response to Southern Ocean stratification. In box models the pCO2 of the atmosphere is controlled by the region of the surface ocean that fills the deep sea [Archer et al., 2000a]. By severing the Southern Ocean link between the deep sea and the atmosphere, atmospheric pCO2 in these models is controlled elsewhere and typically declines, although the models range widely in their responses. “Continuum models,” such as three-dimensional (3-D) and 2-D general circulation models, control pCO2 in a more distributed way and do not exhibit box model sensitivity to high-latitude sea ice or presumably stratification. There is still uncertainty about the high-latitude sensitivity of the real ocean. Until these model sensitivities can be resolved, glacial pCO2 hypotheses and interpretations based on Southern Ocean barrier mechanisms (see above mentioned references plus Elderfield and Rickaby [2000], Francois et al. [1998], Gildor and Tziperman [2001], Sigman and Boyle [2000], and Watson et al. [2000]) are walking on thin ice