Ein ungewöhnlicher Einsatz von Akupunktur bei unklarer Bewusstlosigkeit

Zusammenfassung: Ein tief bewusstloser Patient stellt den Notarzt vor eine besondere Herausforderung, vor allem wenn eine psychogene Ursache vermutet wird, aber eine organische Ursache nicht ausgeschlossen werden kann. Beschrieben wird der Fall einer Patientin, die nach Stimulation am Akupunkturpunkt Lenkergefäß26 durch den Notarzt zweimal aus einer tiefen Bewusstlosigkeit erwachte und mit unauffälligem neurologischem Befund in eine psychiatrische Klinik eingewiesen werden konnte. Als Diagnose wurde eine akute Belastungsreaktion mit dissoziativem Stupor gestellt. Der Fall zeigt, dass Akupunktur bei unklaren komatösen Zuständen mit Verdacht auf psychogene Ursache als Therapieversuch unternommen werden kan

Räumliche Modellierung von Kohlenstoffvorräten in Westgrönland

Die obersten 300 cm arktischer Böden beinhalten ca. 50 % des weltweit in Böden gespeicherten organischen Kohlenstoffs (Corg). Aufgrund von Datenmangel und einem lückenhaften Erkenntnisstand weisen Berechnungen des Kohlenstoffvorrats (Cstock) hohe Unsicherheiten auf. Die Höhe des Cstock ist abhängig von zahlreichen bodenbildenden Faktoren, die räumlich und skalenabhängig variieren. In Grönland führen regionale Klima- sowie wechselnde Umweltbedingungen zu räumlich variierenden Cstocks. Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit ist eine flächendeckende Modellierung des Corg-Gehalts, basierend auf den Prinzipien der Boden-Landschafts-Modellierung, kombiniert mit Verfahren des Maschinellen Lernens (u.a. Random Forest, RF). Die Ziele sind (i) die Identifikation relevanter Umwelteigenschaften im Hinblick auf die räumliche Verteilung des Corg, (ii) die Erzeugung hochaufgelöster Bodeneigenschaftskarten sowie (iii) die Berechnung des Cstock für zwei Untersuchungsgebiete in Westgrönland. Das erste Gebiet befindet sich nahe Kangerlussuaq am Rande des Inlandeises, das zweite in Küstennähe bei Sisimiut. Beide Untersuchungsgebiete haben eine Größe von 2 km², sind repräsentativ für die jeweilige Region und weisen vergleichbare Umwelteigenschaften auf. Bodenproben (Corg, Lagerungsdichte) wurden in vier Tiefenstufen (0-25, 25-50, 50-100, 100-200 cm) an 40 Standorten pro Untersuchungsgebiet entnommen. Die Datengrundlage für die Modellierung umfasst neben Bodendaten zahlreiche Reliefparameter sowie Fernerkundungsdaten. Erste Ergebnisse liegen für die Berechnung des Cstocks der obersten 25 cm mit RF (R²/RMSE) für beide Untersuchungsgebiete vor. Der mittlere Cstock des Gebiets nahe Kangerlussuaq beträgt 7,56 kg/m². Aus dem Model mit RF (0,62/1,22) gehen Exposition und Bodenfeuchte als einflussreichste Umweltfaktoren hervor. Nahe Sisimiut beläuft sich der durchschnittliche Cstock auf 12.12 kg/m². Nach dem RF Model (0,65/6,24) besteht ein Zusammenhang zwischen Geländehöhe, Exposition, Vegetation und Cstock

Nanostructures design by plasma afterglow-assisted oxidation of iron–copper thin films

International audienceOxidizing thin films made of Fe-Cu alloy with an Ar-O 2 micro-afterglow operated at atmospheric pressure shows remarkable growth processes. The presence of iron in copper up to about 50% leads to the synthesis of CuO nanostructures (nanowalls, nanotowers and nanowires). Nanotowers show the presence of an amorphous phase trapped between crystalline domains. Beyond 50%, Fe 2 O 3 iron nano-blades are also found. CuO nanowires as small as 5 nm in diameter can be synthesized. Thanks to the presence of patterned domains induced by buckling, it was possible to show that the stress level decreases when the iron content in the alloy increases. Iron blades grow from the inner Fe 2 O 3 layer through the overlying CuO if it is thin enough

Interaction of (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane with Pulsed Ar-O 2 Afterglow: Application to Nanoparticles Synthesis

International audienceThe interaction of (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) with pulsed late Ar-O 2 afterglow is characterized by the synthesis of OH, CO and CO 2 in the gas phase as main by-products. Other minor species like CH, CN and C 2 H are also produced. We suggest that OH radicals are produced in a first step by dehydrogenation of APTES after interaction with oxygen atoms. In a second step, the molecule is oxidized by any O 2 state, to form peroxides that transform into by-products, break thus the precursor CC bonds. If oxidation is limited, i.e. a low duty cycle, fragmentation of the precursor is limited and produced nanoparticles keep the backbone structure of the precursor, but contain amide groups produced from the amine groups initially available in APTES. At high duty cycle, silicon-containing fragments contain some carbon and react together and produce nanoparticles with a non-silica-like structure

A paradox of syntactic priming: why response tendencies show priming for passives, and response latencies show priming for actives

Speakers tend to repeat syntactic structures across sentences, a phenomenon called syntactic priming. Although it has been suggested that repeating syntactic structures should result in speeded responses, previous research has focused on effects in response tendencies. We investigated syntactic priming effects simultaneously in response tendencies and response latencies for active and passive transitive sentences in a picture description task. In Experiment 1, there were priming effects in response tendencies for passives and in response latencies for actives. However, when participants' pre-existing preference for actives was altered in Experiment 2, syntactic priming occurred for both actives and passives in response tendencies as well as in response latencies. This is the first investigation of the effects of structure frequency on both response tendencies and latencies in syntactic priming. We discuss the implications of these data for current theories of syntactic processing

A global database of lake surface temperatures collected by in situ and satellite methods from 1985–2009

Global environmental change has influenced lake surface temperatures, a key driver of ecosystem structure and function. Recent studies have suggested significant warming of water temperatures in individual lakes across many different regions around the world. However, the spatial and temporal coherence associated with the magnitude of these trends remains unclear. Thus, a global data set of water temperature is required to understand and synthesize global, long-term trends in surface water temperatures of inland bodies of water. We assembled a database of summer lake surface temperatures for 291 lakes collected in situ and/or by satellites for the period 1985–2009. In addition, corresponding climatic drivers (air temperatures, solar radiation, and cloud cover) and geomorphometric characteristics (latitude, longitude, elevation, lake surface area, maximum depth, mean depth, and volume) that influence lake surface temperatures were compiled for each lake. This unique dataset offers an invaluable baseline perspective on global-scale lake thermal conditions as environmental change continues

Software Model Checking with Explicit Scheduler and Symbolic Threads

In many practical application domains, the software is organized into a set of threads, whose activation is exclusive and controlled by a cooperative scheduling policy: threads execute, without any interruption, until they either terminate or yield the control explicitly to the scheduler. The formal verification of such software poses significant challenges. On the one side, each thread may have infinite state space, and might call for abstraction. On the other side, the scheduling policy is often important for correctness, and an approach based on abstracting the scheduler may result in loss of precision and false positives. Unfortunately, the translation of the problem into a purely sequential software model checking problem turns out to be highly inefficient for the available technologies. We propose a software model checking technique that exploits the intrinsic structure of these programs. Each thread is translated into a separate sequential program and explored symbolically with lazy abstraction, while the overall verification is orchestrated by the direct execution of the scheduler. The approach is optimized by filtering the exploration of the scheduler with the integration of partial-order reduction. The technique, called ESST (Explicit Scheduler, Symbolic Threads) has been implemented and experimentally evaluated on a significant set of benchmarks. The results demonstrate that ESST technique is way more effective than software model checking applied to the sequentialized programs, and that partial-order reduction can lead to further performance improvements.Comment: 40 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in journal of logical methods in computer scienc

The Role of Bile in the Regulation of Exocrine Pancreatic Secretion

As early as 1926 Mellanby (1) was able to show that introduction of bile into the duodenum of anesthetized cats produces a copious flow of pancreatic juice. In conscious dogs, Ivy & Lueth (2) reported, bile is only a weak stimulant of pancreatic secretion. Diversion of bile from the duodenum, however, did not influence pancreatic volume secretion stimulated by a meal (3,4). Moreover, Thomas & Crider (5) observed that bile not only failed to stimulate the secretion of pancreatic juice but also abolished the pancreatic response to intraduodenally administered peptone or soap

Self-assembly of ordered wurtzite/rock salt heterostructures—A new view on phase separation in MgxZn1−xO

The self-assembled formation of ordered, vertically stacked rocksalt/wurtzite Mg x Zn 1−xO heterostructures by planar phase separation is shown. These heterostructures form quasi “natural” two-dimensional hetero-interfaces between the different phases upon annealing of MgO-oversaturated wurtzite Mg x Zn 1−xO layers grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on c-plane sapphire substrates. The optical absorption spectra show a red shift simultaneous with the appearance of a cubic phase upon annealing at temperatures between 900 °C and 1000 °C. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that these effects are caused by phase separation leading to the formation of a vertically ordered rock salt/wurtzite heterostructures. To explain these observations, we suggest a phase separation epitaxy model that considers this process being initiated by the formation of a cubic (Mg,Zn)Al2O4 spinel layer at the interface to the sapphire substrate, acting as a planar seed for the epitaxial precipitation of rock salt Mg x Zn 1−xO. The equilibrium fraction x of magnesium in the resulting wurtzite (rock salt) layers is approximately 0.15 (0.85), independent of the MgO content of the as-grown layer and determined by the annealing temperature. This model is confirmed by photoluminescence analysis of the resulting layer systems after different annealing temperatures. In addition, we show that the thermal annealing process results in a significant reduction in the density of edge- and screw-type dislocations, providing the possibility to fabricate high quality templates for quasi-homoepitaxial growth

Effect of Intraduodenal Bile and Na-Taurodeoxycholate on Exocrine Pancreatic Secretion and on Plasma Levels of Secretin, Pancreatic Polypeptide, and Gastrin in Man

The effect of intraduodenally administered cattle bile (CB) and Na-taurodeoxycholate (TDC) on basal pancreatic secretion and plasma levels of secretin, pancreatic polypeptide (PP), and gastrin were investigated on two separate days in 10 fasting volunteers. Doses of 2-6 g CB and 20&600 mg TDC were given intraduodenally at 65-min intervals. Volume, bicarbonate, lipase, trypsin, amylase, and bilirubin were measured in 10-min fractions of duodenal juice, and GI peptides determined by radioimmunoassay. CB and TDC enhanced significantly and dose-dependently volume, bicarbonate and enzyme secretion, and plasma secretin and PP levels. In contrast, plasma gastrin showed only a marginal increase. We conclude that the hydrokinetic effect of intraduodenal CB and TDC is at least partially mediated by secretin. Gastrin could be ruled out as a mediator of the ecbolic effect, whereas other GI peptides, primarily CCK, and/or neural mechanisms must be considered possible mediators. Both pathways may also play a role in the PP release