Optical and evaporative cooling of cesium atoms in the gravito-optical surface trap

We report on cooling of an atomic cesium gas closely above an evanescent-wave atom mirror. At high densitities, optical cooling based on inelastic reflections is found to be limited by a density-dependent excess temperature and trap loss due to ultracold collisions involving repulsive molecular states. Nevertheless, very good starting conditions for subsequent evaporative cooling are obtained. Our first evaporation experiments show a temperature reduction from 10muK down to 300nK along with a gain in phase-space density of almost two orders of magnitude.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Journal of Modern Optics, special issue "Fundamentals of Quantum Optics V", edited by F. Ehlotzk

Alpha-Lipoic Acid for the Prevention of Diabetic Macular Edema

Introduction: To evaluate the effect of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) on the occurrence of diabetic macular edema. Methods: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, multinational study. Patients were randomized to the treatment group with 600 mg ALA per day or the placebo group. Every 6 months stereo fundus photographs, HbA1c levels, and an ophthalmological examination were documented. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of clinically significant macular edema (CSME) within a follow-up period of 2 years. Results: We randomized 235 patients with type II diabetes mellitus into the treatment group (mean age 58.0 years) and 232 into the placebo group (mean age 57.9 years). Mean HbA1c level was 8.1, with no significant differences between the treatment (mean 8.2, SD +/- 1.35) and placebo groups (mean 8.1, SD +/- 1.29). HbA1c values remained constant over time. In the treatment and placebo groups, 84 and 86 patients (35.7 and 37.1%) had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) with a median duration of diabetes of 9.3 versus 9.0 years in the placebo group. Visual acuity remained unchanged during the entire trial. Concerning the primary endpoint, the study provided a negative result, i.e. 26/235 patients in the treatment group and 30/232 patients in the placebo group developed CSME. Confirmatory intention-to-treat analysis of the primary endpoint revealed no statistically significant difference between groups (log-rank test, p = 0.7108, HR = 0.9057 with CI = 0.5355-1.5317). Median follow-up was identical (2.00 years). Conclusions: A daily dosage of 600 mg ALA does not prevent the occurrence of CSME in IDDM patients. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

Evanescent-wave trapping and evaporative cooling of an atomic gas near two-dimensionality

A dense gas of cesium atoms at the crossover to two-dimensionality is prepared in a highly anisotropic surface trap that is realized with two evanescent light waves. Temperatures as low as 100nK are reached with 20.000 atoms at a phase-space density close to 0.1. The lowest quantum state in the tightly confined direction is populated by more than 60%. The system offers intriguing prospects for future experiments on degenerate quantum gases in two dimensions

Cold atom gas at very high densities in an optical surface microtrap

An optical microtrap is realized on a dielectric surface by crossing a tightly focused laser beam with an horizontal evanescent-wave atom mirror. The nondissipative trap is loaded with $\sim$$10^5$ cesium atoms through elastic collisions from a cold reservoir provided by a large-volume optical surface trap. With an observed 300-fold local increase of the atomic number density approaching $10^{14}{\rm cm}^{-3}$, unprecedented conditions of cold atoms close to a surface are realized

Proceedings of the 17th Annual Meeting, Southern Soybean Disease Workers (March 20-22, 1990, Biloxi, Mississippi): Soybean Disease Control at a Crossroad

Contents Southern Soybean Disease Workers Officers 1989-1990 Southern Soybean Disease Workers Program Committee 1989-1990 Southern Soybean Disease Workers Committee Chairmen 1989-1990 General session Presidential address. B Gazaway Keynote address. K Smith Invited speakers Future Impacts of Biotechnology on Soybean Production and Uses. X Delannay Diseases of Soybean Associated with International Seed Trade. B Moore Impact of Regulatory Change and GLP\u27s on New Fungicide Discovery and Development. G Hammes Graduate student papers Double-Stranded RNA and Virus-Like Particles From the Soybean Stem canker Pathogen, Diaporthe phaseolorum var. caulivora. Y Lee, JP Snow, GT Berggren, and RA Valverde Development of Soybean Varieties Resistant to Phomopsis Seed Decay. MS Zimmerman and HC Minor Cloning of the vir Region of Agrobacterium tumefaciens Chry 5, a Strain Highly Virulent on Soybean. LG Kovacs, JA Wrather, and SG Pueppke Role of Overwintering Bean Leaf Beetle in the Epidemiology of Bean Pod Mottle Virus in Soybeans in Kentucky. JR dosAnjos, SA Ghabinal, DE Hershman, and DW Johnson Contributed papers SSDW soybean Disease Loss Estimates G Sciumbato Effects of Amino Acid Biosynthesis Inhibiting Herbicides on in vitro Growth and Development of Calonectria crotalariae. DK Berner, GT Berggren, and JP Snow Infection Cushion Formation by Rhizoctonia solani on Soybean Leaves. CS Kousik, JP Snow, and GT Berggren Is Stem Canker Monocyclic? KV SubbaRao, JP Snow, and GT Berggren Early-season Fungicide Sprays for Soybean Stem Canker Control. AY Chambers SSDW business session Treasurer\u27s report, 1989. G Hammes Contributed paper session Effect of Frogeye Leaf Spot on Soybeans in Florida. FM Shakes and CK Hiebsch Comparison of Application Timing of Two Foliar Fungicides for Control of Soybean Diseases. JC Rupe and MJ Cochran Performance of Soybean Lines under Stress Due to Brown Stem Rot, Soybean Cyst Nematode, and Iron Deficiency Chlorosis. LM Mansur, H Tachibana, and K Bidne Performance of Soybean Cultivars in Cyst and Peanut Root-Knot Nematode Infested Fields. CE Drye, DK Barefield, ER Shipe, and JD Mueller Yield of Aldicarb Treated Nematode Resistant and Susceptible Soybean Varieties. CE Drye, ER Garner, and JD Mueller Distribution, Races, and Effects of Soybean Cyst Nematode in Missouri. TL Niblack and GS Smith Performance of Selected Nematicides in a Field Infested with Root-Knot and Cyst Nematodes. RW Young, R Rodríguez-Kábana, and EL Carden Performance of Selected Soybean Cultivars in a Field Infested with Meloidogyne arenaria and Heterodera glycines. DG Robertson, R Rodríguez-Kábana, D Weaver, and EL Carden Sorghum-Soybean Rotation for the Management of Root-Knot and Cyst Nematodes: Long Term Effects. CF Weaver, R Rodríguez-Kábana, DB Weaver, and EL Carden Bahiagrass-Soybean Rotation for the Management of Root-Knot and Cyst Nematodes: Long Term Effects. PS King, R Rodríguez-Kábana, DB Weaver, and EL Carden Peanut-Soybean Rotations for the Management of Meloidogyne arenaria. R Rodríguez-Kábana, and DG Robertson Field Evaluation of Polyspecific Nematode Resistance in Soybean. DB Weaver, R Rodríguez-Kábana, and EL Carden Long Term Effects of Selected Rotations with Soybeans and Corn on Populations of Meloidogyne arenaria. R Rodríguez-Kábana, and D.G. Robertson Histopathology of Soybean Roots Inoculated with Fusariurn solani and Heterodera glycines. KS McLean, KW Roy and GW Lawrence. The opinions expressed by the participants at this conference are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the southern Soybean Disease Workers (SSDW). Text, references, figures, and tables are reproduced essentially as they were supplied by the author(s) of each paper. Mention of pesticides does not constitute a recommendation for use, nor does it imply that the pesticides are registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act as · amended. The use of trade names in this publication does not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or endorsement of the products by SSDW

A Comparison of Methods to Communicate Treatment Preferences in Nursing Facilities: Traditional Practices versus the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Program

Background Traditional methods to communicate life-sustaining treatment preferences are largely ineffective. The Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Program offers an alternative approach, but comparative data are lacking. Objectives To evaluate the relationship between communication methods (POLST versus traditional practices) and documentation of life-sustaining treatment orders, symptom assessment and management, and use of life-sustaining treatments. Design Retrospective observational cohort study conducted between June 2006 and April 2007. Setting A stratified, random sample of 90 Medicaid-eligible nursing facilities in Oregon, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. Subjects 1711 living and deceased nursing facility residents aged 65 and older with a minimum 60-day stay. Measurements Life-sustaining treatment orders; pain, shortness of breath, and related treatments over a 7-day period; and use of life-sustaining treatments over a 60-day period. Results POLST users were more likely to have orders about life-sustaining treatment preferences beyond CPR than non-POLST users (98.0% vs. 16.1%, P<.001). There were no differences between POLST users and non-users in symptom assessment or management. POLST users with orders for Comfort Measures Only were less likely to receive medical interventions (e.g., hospitalization) than residents with POLST Full Treatment orders (P=.004), residents with Traditional DNR orders (P<.001), or residents with Traditional Full Code orders (P<.001). Conclusion POLST users were more likely to have treatment preferences documented as medical orders than non-POLST users but there were no differences in symptom management or assessment. POLST orders restricting medical interventions were associated with the lower use of life-sustaining treatments. Findings suggest the POLST program offers significant advantages over traditional methods to communicate preferences about life-sustaining treatments

Assessment of hydropyrolysis as a method for the quantification of black carbon using standard reference materials

A wide selection of thermal, chemical and optical methods have been proposed for the quantification of black carbon (BC) in environmental matrices, and the results to date differ markedly depending upon the method used. A new approach is hydropyrolysis (hypy), where pyrolysis assisted by high hydrogen pressures (150 bar) facilitates the complete reductive removal of labile organic matter, so isolating a highly stable portion of the BC continuum (defined as BChypy). Here, the potential of hypy for the isolation and quantification of BC is evaluated using the 12 reference materials from the International BC Ring Trial, comprising BC-rich samples, BC-containing environmental matrices and BC-free potentially interfering materials. By varying the hypy operating conditions, it is demonstrated that lignocellulosic, humic and other labile organic carbon material (defined as non-BChypy) is fully removed by 550 °C, with hydrogasification of the remaining BChypy not commencing until over 575 °C. The resulting plateau in sample mass and carbon loss is apparent in all of the environmental samples, facilitating BC quantification in a wide range of materials. The BChypy contents for all 12 ring trial samples fall within the range reported in the BC inter-comparison study, and systematic differences with other methods are rationalised. All methods for BC isolation, including hypy are limited by the fact that BC cannot be distinguished from extremely thermally mature organic matter; for example in high rank coals. However, the data reported here indicates that BChypy has an atomic H/C ratio of less than 0.5 and therefore comprises a chemically well-defined polyaromatic structure in terms of the average size of peri-condensed aromatic clusters of &gt;7 rings (24 carbon atoms), that is consistent across different sample matrices. This, together with the sound underlying rationale for the reductive removal of labile organic matter, makes hypy an ideal approach for matrix independent BC quantification. The hypy results are extremely reproducible, with BChypy determinations from triplicate analyses typically within ±2% across all samples, limited mainly by the precision of the elemental analyser

The role of self-reported impulsivity and reward sensitivity versus neurocognitive measures of disinhibition and decision making in the prediction of relapse in pathological gamblers

Background: Disinhibition and decision-making skills play an important role in theories on the cause and outcome of addictive behaviors such as substance use disorders and pathological gambling. In recent studies, both disinhibition and disadvantageous decision-making strategies, as measured by neurocognitive tests, have been found to influence the course of substance use disorders. Research on factors affecting relapse in pathological gambling is scarce. Method: This study investigated the effect of both self-reported impulsivity and reward sensitivity, and neurocognitively assessed disinhibition and decision-making under conflicting contingencies, on relapse in a group of 46 pathological gamblers. Results: Logistic regression analysis indicated that longer duration of the disorder and neurocognitive indicators of disinhibition (Stop Signal Reaction Time) and decision-making (Card Playing Task) were significant predictors of relapse (explaining 53% of the variance in relapse), whereas self-reported impulsivity and reward sensitivity did not significantly predict relapse. Overall classification accuracy was 76%, with a positive classification accuracy of 76% and a negative classification accuracy of 75%. Conclusions: Duration of the disorder and neurocognitive measures of disinhibition and decision-making are powerful predictors of relapse in pathological gambling. The results suggest that endophenotypical neurocognitive characteristics are more promising in the prediction of relapse in pathological gambling than phenotypical personality characteristics. Neurocognitive predictors may be useful to guide treatment planning of follow-up contacts and booster sessions. © 2007 Cambridge University Press