Lifespan theorem for constrained surface diffusion flows

We consider closed immersed hypersurfaces in $\R^{3}$ and $\R^4$ evolving by a class of constrained surface diffusion flows. Our result, similar to earlier results for the Willmore flow, gives both a positive lower bound on the time for which a smooth solution exists, and a small upper bound on a power of the total curvature during this time. By phrasing the theorem in terms of the concentration of curvature in the initial surface, our result holds for very general initial data and has applications to further development in asymptotic analysis for these flows.Comment: 29 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1201.657

18F-labelled triazolyl-linked argininamides targeting the neuropeptide Y Y1R for PET Imaging of mammary carcinoma

NeuropeptideYY(1) receptors (Y1R) have been found to be overexpressed in a number of different tumours, such as breast, ovarian or renal cell cancer. In mammary carcinoma the highY(1)R density together with its high incidence of 85% in primary human breast cancers and 100% in breast cancer derived lymph node metastases attracted special attention. Therefore, the aim of this study was the development of radioligandsforY(1)R imaging by positron emission tomography (PET) with a special emphasis on imaging agents with reduced lipophilicity to provide a PET ligand with improved biodistribution in comparison with previously published tracers targeting theY(1)R. Three new radioligands based on BIBP3226, bearing an F-18-fluoroethoxy linker (12), an F-18-PEG-linker (13) or an F-18-fluoroglycosyl moiety (11) were radiosynthesised in high radioactivity yields. The new radioligands displayedY(1)R affinities of 2.8 nM (12), 29 nM (13) and 208 nM (11) and were characterised in vitro regarding binding to human breast cancer MCF-7-Y1 cells and slices of tumour xenografts. In vivo, small animal PET studies were conducted in nude mice bearing MCF-7-Y1 tumours. The binding to tumours, solid tumour slices and tumour cells correlated well with theY(1)R affinities. Although 12 and 13 showed displaceable and specific binding toY(1)R in vitro and in vivo, the radioligands still need to be optimised to achieve higher tumour-to-background ratios forY(1)R imaging by PET.Yet the present study is another step towards an optimized PET radioligand for imaging ofY(1)R in vivo

On well-posedness, stability, and bifurcation for the axisymmetric surface diffusion flow

In this article, we study the axisymmetric surface diffusion flow (ASD), a fourth-order geometric evolution law. In particular, we prove that ASD generates a real analytic semiflow in the space of (2 + \alpha)-little-H\"older regular surfaces of revolution embedded in R^3 and satisfying periodic boundary conditions. We also give conditions for global existence of solutions and prove that solutions are real analytic in time and space. Further, we investigate the geometric properties of solutions to ASD. Utilizing a connection to axisymmetric surfaces with constant mean curvature, we characterize the equilibria of ASD. Then, focusing on the family of cylinders, we establish results regarding stability, instability and bifurcation behavior, with the radius acting as a bifurcation parameter for the problem.Comment: 37 pages, 6 figures, To Appear in SIAM J. Math. Ana

Existence of immersed spheres minimizing curvature functionals in compact 3-manifolds

We study curvature functionals for immersed 2-spheres in a compact, three-dimensional Riemannian manifold M. Under the assumption that the sectional curvature of M is strictly positive, we prove the existence of a smoothly immersed sphere minimizing the L^{2} integral of the second fundamental form. Assuming instead that the sectional curvature is less than or equal to 2, and that there exists a point in M with scalar curvature bigger than 6, we obtain a smooth 2-sphere minimizing the integral of 1/4|H|^{2} +1, where H is the mean curvature vector

Traumatization and mental distress in long-term prisoners in Europe

This article investigates the prevalence of traumatization and mental distress in a sample of 1055 male European long-term prisoners as part of a wider study of the living conditions of prisoners serving sentences of at least five years in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Spain and Sweden. Data were collected in a written survey using the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) as well as questions on attempted suicide and auto-aggressive behaviour. Participants experienced a mean of three traumatic events, with 14 per cent developing a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) subsequently. In each national sample, more than 50 per cent of the participants were in need of treatment because of psychological symptoms and nearly one-third had attempted suicide

A classification theorem for Helfrich surfaces

In this paper we study the functional \SW_{\lambda_1,\lambda_2}, which is the the sum of the Willmore energy, $\lambda_1$-weighted surface area, and $\lambda_2$-weighted volume, for surfaces immersed in $\R^3$. This coincides with the Helfrich functional with zero `spontaneous curvature'. Our main result is a complete classification of all smooth immersed critical points of the functional with $\lambda_1\ge0$ and small $L^2$ norm of tracefree curvature. In particular we prove the non-existence of critical points of the functional for which the surface area and enclosed volume are positively weighted.Comment: 21 page

Impact of War Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder on Psychopathology in Croatian and German Patients with Severe Mental Illness

Aim To explore posttraumatic stress symptoms and current psychopathology in a binational sample of Croatian and German participants with severe mental illness. Methods We studied 178 inpatients from the Greifswald University (German patients, n = 89) and University Hospital Zagreb and Ivan Barbot Neuropsychiatric Hospital (Croatian patients, n = 89) with either major depression (n = 150), schizophrenia (n = 26), or bipolar disorder (n = 2). Measurements included Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale and the Symptom Check List-90-R. Participants were matched according to age, sex, and diagnosis. Results Croatians reported significantly more war traumatic events (64/82 vs 5/74, χ2 1 = 77.142, P < 0.001) and significantly more Croatians met the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (55/89 vs 27/89, χ2 1 = 17.73, P < 0.001). They also suffered from a higher level of psychopathological distress as they scored significantly higher at all Symptom Check List-90-R revised version subscales (P < 0.001). The regression models demonstrated that predictors of general psychopathological distress were war trauma (P < 0.001), posttraumatic stress disorder (P < 0.001), and diagnosis (P = 0.01). Conclusion This is the first study comparing the impact of war trauma on psychopathology of participants with severe mental illness between two nations. Our results clearly indicate the importance of trauma assessment in subjects with severe mental illness, particularly in postconflict setting

Norwegische 'Wehrmachtskinder': Psychosoziale Aspekte, Identitätsentwicklung und Stigmatisierung

Am 09. April 1940 überfielen deutsche Truppen Norwegen. Neun Monate später kamen die ersten 'Wehrmachtskinder' zur Welt. Im Laufe des Krieges wurden 72 Heime des 'Lebensborn' (ein von der SS getragener Verein zur Erhöhung der Geburtenrate 'arischer' Kinder) in Norwegen gegründet, so viele wie in keinem anderen durch das NS-Regime besetzten Land; darunter befand sich das erste außerhalb des damaligen Deutschen Reiches gelegene. In den Archiven des Lebensborn wurden knapp 8000 Kinder registriert. Schätzungen gehen davon aus, dass während der deutschen Okkupationszeit in Norwegen 10000 bis 12 000 Kinder geboren wurden, deren Väter den deutschen Truppen angehörten und deren Mütter norwegische Staatsbürgerinnen waren. Die 'Wehrmachtskinder' trugen ein doppeltes Stigma: Sie waren häufig unehelich geboren und waren durch die Beziehung mit dem Feind entstanden. Aus Zeitzeugnissen geht hervor, dass ihr soziales Umfeld sie diskriminierte und ausgrenzte; sie wurden verhöhnt und zum Teil körperlich und seelisch misshandelt. Auch von staatlicher Seite widerfuhren Ihnen unterschiedliche Repressalien. Die geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Fächer haben die Umstände und Bedingungen der norwegischen 'Wehrmachtskinder' bereits Ende des letzten Jahrhunderts als Forschungsgegenstand aufgegriffen. Die psychosozialen Fächer haben dieses Thema jedoch erst kürzlich begonnen zu bearbeiten. Im Rahmen des hier vorgestellten Forschungsvorhabens werden erstmalig mittels eines umfangreichen Fragebogens die psychosozialen Konsequenzen des Aufwachsens als 'Wehrmachtskind' im Nachkriegsnorwegen erfasst. Das Projekt ist in eine bereits etablierte internationale und interdisziplinäre Forschungsstruktur zu den 'Kinder[n] des Krieges' eingebunden (www.childrenbornofwar.org), wobei an den Universitäten Leipzig und Greifswald die psychosoziale Belastung von Besatzungskindern in Deutschland parallel untersucht wird. Eine Besonderheit der norwegischen Situation sind die umfangreichen Aktivitäten des 'Lebensborn', der während des Krieges für viele Wehrmachtskinder und deren Mütter eine wichtige Rolle spielte.On 9 April 1940, German troops invaded Norway. Nine months later the first 'Wehrmacht children' were born. In the course of the war, 13 'Lebensborn' homes were established in Norway, more than in any other country occupied by the Nazis and including the first ever of these homes to be set up outside the former German Reich. (The Lebensborn was an SS-initiated association dedicated to raising the number of 'Aryan' births via extramarital relations between people living up to Nazi standards of health and racial purity). In the archives of the Lebensborn almost 8,000 children were registered. It is estimated that 10,000 to 12,000 children were born during the German occupation of Norway whose fathers belonged to the German troops and whose mothers were Norwegian nationals. 'Wehrmacht children' labored under a dual stigma. They were (often) born out of wedlock and they were the fruit of relations with the enemy. Socially they were discriminated and marginalized. They were ridiculed and, in many cases, physically and mentally abused. These children also suffered a variety of reprisals from the state. Initial investigations of the biographies and careers of the 'Wehrmacht children' in Norway date back to the end of the last century, most of them undertaken by scholars working in the humanities and the social sciences. Recently, the psychosocial sciences have also taken up this issue. The research project discussed here is the first to investigate the psychosocial consequences of growing up as a 'Wehrmacht child' in post-war Norway. The project is part of an established international and interdisciplinary research network named 'Children Born of War' (www.childrenbornofwar.org). The Universities of Leipzig and Greifswald have conducted a parallel study on occupation-born German children after WWII. A special feature of the Norwegian situation is the extensive activity of the 'Lebensborn', which played an important role for many 'Wehrmacht children' and their mothers during the war

F18-FDG PET/CT imaging early predicts pathologic complete response to induction chemoimmunotherapy of locally advanced head and neck cancer: preliminary single-center analysis of the checkrad-cd8 trial

Aim In the CheckRad-CD8 trial patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer are treated with a single cycle of induction chemo-immunotherapy (ICIT). Patients with pathological complete response (pCR) in the re-biopsy enter radioimmunotherapy. Our goal was to study the value of F-18-FDG PET/CT in the prediction of pCR after induction therapy. Methods Patients treated within the CheckRad-CD8 trial that additionally received FDG- PET/CT imaging at the following two time points were included: 3–14 days before (pre-ICIT) and 21–28 days after (post-ICIT) receiving ICIT. Tracer uptake in primary tumors (PT) and suspicious cervical lymph nodes (LN +) was measured using different quantitative parameters on EANM Research Ltd (EARL) accredited PET reconstructions. In addition, mean FDG uptake levels in lymphatic and hematopoietic organs were examined. Percent decrease (Δ) in FDG uptake was calculated for all parameters. Biopsy of the PT post-ICIT acquired after FDG-PET/CT served as reference. The cohort was divided in patients with pCR and residual tumor (ReTu). Results Thirty-one patients were included. In ROC analysis, ΔSUVmax PT performed best (AUC = 0.89) in predicting pCR (n = 17), with a decline of at least 60% (sensitivity, 0.77; specificity, 0.93). Residual SUVmax PT post-ICIT performed best in predicting ReTu (n = 14), at a cutpoint of 6.0 (AUC = 0.91; sensitivity, 0.86; specificity, 0.88). Combining two quantitative parameters (ΔSUVmax ≥ 50% and SUVmax PT post-ICIT ≤ 6.0) conferred a sensitivity of 0.81 and a specificity of 0.93 for determining pCR. Background activity in lymphatic organs or uptake in suspected cervical lymph node metastases lacked significant predictive value. Conclusion FDG-PET/CT can identify patients with pCR after ICIT via residual FDG uptake levels in primary tumors and the related changes compared to baseline. FDG-uptake in LN + had no predictive value. Trial registry ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03426657

Rabies-Specific Antibodies: Measuring Surrogates of Protection against a Fatal Disease

Antibodies play a central role in prophylaxis against many infectious agents. While neutralization is a primary function of antibodies, the Fc- and complement-dependent activities of these multifunctional proteins may also be critical in their ability to provide protection against most viruses. Protection against viral pathogens in vivo is complex, and while virus neutralization—the ability of antibody to inactivate virus infectivity, often measured in vitro—is important, it is often only a partial contributor in protection. The rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT) remains the “gold standard” assay to measure rabies virus–neutralizing antibodies. In addition to neutralization, the rabies-specific antigen-binding activity of antibodies may be measured through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), as well as other available methods. For any disease, in selecting the appropriate assay(s) to use to assess antibody titers, assay validation and how they are interpreted are important considerations—but for a fatal disease like rabies, they are of paramount importance. The innate limitations of a one-dimensional laboratory test for rabies antibody measurement, as well as the validation of the method of choice, must be carefully considered in the selection of an assay method and for the interpretation of results that might be construed as a surrogate of protection