Contrast optimization of two-photon processes after a microstructured hollow- core fiber demonstrated for dye molecules

We demonstrate selective excitation of dyes with overlapping absorption spectra in solution with pulses transmitted through a hollow-core ber. Thereto we show ects occurring in the ber can be compensated and what the limiting pulse energies are. Furthermore, an overview over various phase parametrizations is given and we examine which are best used when optimizing a two-photon fluorescence contrast of two dyes in a sample. This could be relevant for future endoscopic applications as well as state of the art two- photon microscopy

Could the GSI Oscillations be Observed in a Standard Electron Capture Decay Experiment?

The electron-capture decay of 180Re has been investigated to search for oscillations in the decay probability as reported from a recent measurement at GSI, Darmstadt. The production period was kept short compared to the reported oscillation period. No such oscillation was observed, indicating that the reported oscillations would not have been observable in a conventional experiment with radioactive atoms in a solid environment but must have to do with the unique conditions in the GSI experiment where hydrogen-like ions are moving independently in a storage ring and decaying directly by a true two-body decay to a long-lived (ground-) state. Our finding could restrict possible theoretical interpretations of the oscillations.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Beiträge zur Geschichte des Landkreises Regensburg 8

1200 Jahre Sünching - Beiträge zur Geschichte eine Gäubodengemeinde; Darin: Werner, Hannsjürgen: Die vor- und frühgeschichtliche Besiedlung der Gemeinde Sünching (S. 10); Spitzlberger, Georg: Ein römisches Landhaus im Raum Sünching (S. 15); Fendl, Josef: Die Ochsenstraße (S. 18); Fendl, Josef: Die ersten urkundlichen Nennungen Sünchings (S. 19); Fendl, Josef: Das älteste Sünchinger Denkmal (S. 21); Fendl, Josef: Die Sünchinger - Marschälle des Hochstifts Regensburg (S. 23); Fendl, Josef: Die Hofer und Staufer als Herren von Sünching (S. 25); Fendl, Josef: Eine Sünchinger Prachtbibel (S. 30); Fendl, Josef: Ein Sünchinger war Hofnarr der Fürstbischöfe von Passau (S. 32); Reichl, Josef: Die Seinsheimer in Sünching (S. 34); Fendl, Josef: Ein schreckliches halbes Jahr (1633/34) (S. 39); Fendl, Josef: Die Herrschaft Sünching (S. 40); Fendl, Josef: Die Sünchinger Sautonerl (S. 42); Fendl, Josef: Die Sünchinger haben wunderbare Hilf erlangt (S. 44); Hotter, Hans: Der Kreitmaier-Prozeß (S. 46); Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, Franz: Das Sünchinger Schloß (S. 51); Reichl, Josef, Die Sünchinger Kirchen (S. 57); Fendl, Josef: Die Brandkatastrophe von 1859 (S. 59); Fendl, Josef: Die Sünchinger Völkchen im vorigen Jahrhundert (S. 61); Fendl, Josef: Aus der Schulgeschichte Sünchings (S. 62); Jende, Herbert: Geschichtliche Entwicklung der Postanstalt Sünching (S. 68); Zeitler, Walther: Sünching war einmal Eisenbahnknotenpunkt (S. 71); Reichl, Josef: Sünchinger Flurnamen (S. 75); Hermes, Karl: Sünching (S. 79); Fendl, Josef: Die Sünchinger Wappen (S. 95); Zölch, Willi: Wußten Sie, dass ... (S. 96); Frank, Georg: Heimat Sünching (S. 98

Health-Related Quality of Life With Carboplatin-Paclitaxel or nab-Paclitaxel With or Without Pembrolizumab in Patients With Metastatic Squamous Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

In the phase 3 KEYNOTE-407 study, the addition of pembrolizumab to carboplatin-paclitaxel/nab-paclitaxel significantly improved overall survival, progression-free survival, and objective response rate in patients with previously untreated metastatic squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with little impact on severe toxicity. We present patient-reported outcomes (PROs) from KEYNOTE-407. Patients were randomly assigned to receive 4 cycles of pembrolizumab 200 mg or placebo once every 3 weeks plus carboplatin plus paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel, followed by pembrolizumab or placebo for an additional 31 cycles. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was evaluated using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (QLQ-C30) and Quality of Life Questionnaire-Lung Cancer Module 13 (QLQ-LC13). Key PRO endpoints were change from baseline to weeks 9 and 18 (during and after platinum therapy) in the QLQ-C30 global health status/quality of life (GHS/QoL) score and time to deterioration in the composite endpoint of cough, chest pain, or dyspnea from the QLQ-C30 and QLQ-LC13. Two-sided, nominal P values are provided. A total of 554 and 553 patients completed ≥ 1 QLQ-C30 or ≥ 1 QLQ-LC13 assessment, respectively. GHS/QoL score improved for the pembrolizumab-combination group (least squares [LS] mean [95% CI] change from baseline: week 9, 1.8 [-0.9 to 4.4]; week 18, 4.3 [1.7 to 6.9]) and deteriorated in the placebo-combination group (week 9, -1.8 [-4.4 to 0.7]; week 18, -0.57 [-3.3 to 2.2]). Between-group differences were improved for the pembrolizumab-combination group (difference in LS mean scores: week 9, 3.6 [95% CI, 0.3 to 6.9], nominal P = .0337; week 18, 4.9 [1.4 to 8.3], nominal P = .0060). Median time to deterioration in cough, chest pain, or dyspnea was not reached in either group (hazard ratio, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.58 to 1.06]; nominal P = .125). Addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy maintained or improved HRQoL measurements relative to baseline and improved HRQoL versus chemotherapy alone at weeks 9 and 18. These results support use of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy as first-line therapy for metastatic squamous NSCLC

Characterization of the skin microbiota in bullous pemphigoid patients and controls reveals novel microbial indicators of disease

Introduction: Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is the most common autoimmune blistering disease. It predominately afflicts the elderly and is significantly associated with increased mortality. The observation of age-dependent changes in the skin microbiota as well as its involvement in other inflammatory skin disorders suggests that skin microbiota may play a role in the emergence of BP blistering. We hypothesize that changes in microbial diversity associated with BP might occur before the emergence of disease lesions, and thus could represent an early indicator of blistering risk. Objectives: The present study aims to investigate potential relationships between skin microbiota and BP and elaborate on important changes in microbial diversity associated with blistering in BP. Methods: The study consisted of an extensive sampling effort of the skin microbiota in patients with BP and age- and sex-matched controls to analyze whether intra-individual, body site, and/or geographical variation correlate with changes in skin microbial composition in BP and/or blistering status. Results: We find significant differences in the skin microbiota of patients with BP compared to that of controls, and moreover that disease status rather than skin biogeography (body site) governs skin microbiota composition in patients with BP. Our data reveal a discernible transition between normal skin and the skin surrounding BP lesions, which is characterized by a loss of protective microbiota and an increase in sequences matching Staphylococcus aureus, a known inflammation-promoting species. Notably, Staphylococcus aureus is ubiquitously associated with BP disease status, regardless of the presence of blisters. Conclusion: The present study suggests Staphylococcus aureus may be a key taxon associated with BP disease status. Importantly, we however find contrasting patterns in the relative abundances of Staphylococcus hominis and Staphylococcus aureus reliably discriminate between patients with BP and matched controls. This may serve as valuable information for assessing blistering risk and treatment outcomes in a clinical setting

GPAW: open Python package for electronic-structure calculations

We review the GPAW open-source Python package for electronic structure calculations. GPAW is based on the projector-augmented wave method and can solve the self-consistent density functional theory (DFT) equations using three different wave-function representations, namely real-space grids, plane waves, and numerical atomic orbitals. The three representations are complementary and mutually independent and can be connected by transformations via the real-space grid. This multi-basis feature renders GPAW highly versatile and unique among similar codes. By virtue of its modular structure, the GPAW code constitutes an ideal platform for implementation of new features and methodologies. Moreover, it is well integrated with the Atomic Simulation Environment (ASE) providing a flexible and dynamic user interface. In addition to ground-state DFT calculations, GPAW supports many-body GW band structures, optical excitations from the Bethe-Salpeter Equation (BSE), variational calculations of excited states in molecules and solids via direct optimization, and real-time propagation of the Kohn-Sham equations within time-dependent DFT. A range of more advanced methods to describe magnetic excitations and non-collinear magnetism in solids are also now available. In addition, GPAW can calculate non-linear optical tensors of solids, charged crystal point defects, and much more. Recently, support of GPU acceleration has been achieved with minor modifications of the GPAW code thanks to the CuPy library. We end the review with an outlook describing some future plans for GPAW

The gut microbiome in bullous pemphigoid: implications of the gut-skin axis for disease susceptibility

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune blistering disease that primarily affects the elderly. An altered skin microbiota in BP was recently revealed. Accumulating evidence points toward a link between the gut microbiota and skin diseases; however, the gut microbiota composition of BP patients remains largely underexplored, with only one pilot study to date, with a very limited sample size and no functional profiling of gut microbiota. To thoroughly investigate the composition and function of the gut microbiota in BP patients, and explore possible links between skin conditions and gut microbiota, we here investigated the gut microbiota of 66 patients (81.8% firstly diagnosed) suffering from BP and 66 age-, sex-, and study center-matched controls (CL) with non-inflammatory skin diseases (132 total participants), using 16S rRNA gene and shotgun sequencing data. Decreased alpha-diversity and an overall altered gut microbial community is observed in BP patients. Similar trends are observed in subclassifications of BP patients, including first diagnoses and relapsed cases. Furthermore, we observe a set of BP disease-associated gut microbial features, including reduced Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and greater abundance of pathways related to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) metabolism in BP patients. Interestingly, F. prausnitzii is a well-known microbiomarker of inflammatory diseases, which has been reported to be reduced in the gut microbiome of atopic dermatitis and psoriasis patients. Moreover, GABA plays multiple roles in maintaining skin health, including the inhibition of itching by acting as a neurotransmitter, attenuating skin lesions by balancing Th1 and Th2 levels, and maintaining skin elasticity by increasing the expression of type I collagen. These findings thus suggest that gut microbiota alterations present in BP may play a role in the disease, and certain key microbes and functions may contribute to the link between gut dysbiosis and BP disease activity. Further studies to investigate the underlying mechanisms of the gut-skin interaction are thus clearly warranted, which could aid in the development of potential therapeutic interventions

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged jet production in root s(NN)=2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions

We present measurements of the azimuthal dependence of charged jet production in central and semi-central root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions with respect to the second harmonic event plane, quantified as nu(ch)(2) (jet). Jet finding is performed employing the anti-k(T) algorithm with a resolution parameter R = 0.2 using charged tracks from the ALICE tracking system. The contribution of the azimuthal anisotropy of the underlying event is taken into account event-by-event. The remaining (statistical) region-to-region fluctuations are removed on an ensemble basis by unfolding the jet spectra for different event plane orientations independently. Significant non-zero nu(ch)(2) (jet) is observed in semi-central collisions (30-50% centrality) for 20 <p(T)(ch) (jet) <90 GeV/c. The azimuthal dependence of the charged jet production is similar to the dependence observed for jets comprising both charged and neutral fragments, and compatible with measurements of the nu(2) of single charged particles at high p(T). Good agreement between the data and predictions from JEWEL, an event generator simulating parton shower evolution in the presence of a dense QCD medium, is found in semi-central collisions. (C) 2015 CERN for the benefit of the ALICE Collaboration. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe