The CMEA attitude to a New Economic Order

Insofar as the New International Economic Order (NIEO) is aimed at strengthening the national sovereignty of the developing countries, at eliminating their dependence upon external “imperialist“ markets, the Eastern bloc does indeed give very concrete expression to its support. The starting position is of course that any kind of intervention can only originate from the Western industrialized countries and never from the Soviet Union and the other CMEA countries are not willing to meet concrete demands for the reform as far as they are concerned

Modeling Agent Systems with Distributed Transformation Units

AbstractAgent systems have become more and more important in computer science. They allow to implement complex distributed systems composed of communicating autonomous entities. Transformation units constitute a structuring principle for graph transformation systems which split up large sets of rules, but still graphs are transformed as a whole. Recently, distributed transformation units have been introduced as an extension of transformation units to distributed graphs and distributed graph transformation. In this paper it is illustrated how different features of agent systems can be smoothly modeled in a uniform way by distributed graph transformation systems. For this purpose an agent system case study with simple agents communicating via blackboards and message passing is presented

Transcatheter Closure of Atrial Septal Defect with Carag Bioresorbable Septal Occluder™: First-in-Child Experience with 12-MonthFollow-Up

BACKGROUND Nowadays, transcatheter device closure of an atrial septal defect (ASD) is a standard approach in children. Potential early and long-term side effects or complications related to the metal framework of the devices are a known issue. A bioresorbable device such as the Carag Bioresorbable Septal Occluder™ (CBSO) could resolve such complications. Material and Results. The Carag Bioresorbable Septal Occluder™ (CBSO; Carag AG, Baar, Switzerland) is a self-centering double disk, repositionable, and retractable device with a bioresorbable framework (polylactic-co-glycolic acid), which is almost completely resorbed by 18-24 months postimplantation. This manuscript reports the four first-in-child ASD device closures using a CBSO. The patients' age was median (IQ1-IQ3), 4.5 years (4-7.25). Weight was 21.3 kg (17.6-32.7). We demonstrated procedural feasibility and safety. Effective defect closure with the device was 100%. Echocardiographic measurements of the thickness of the interatrial septum did not show any relevant increase over a 12-monthfollow-up period. There were no residual defects found after the procedure or later during the resorption process. The patients showed no evidence of any local or systemic inflammatory reaction. CONCLUSIONS The CBSO device system could offer a new treatment option for transcatheter ASD device closure in the pediatric and adult fields. In our first-in-child experience, it was effectively and safely implanted. During the first 12 months of follow-up, no complications occurred

Brain volumes predict neurodevelopment in adolescents after surgery for congenital heart disease

Patients with complex congenital heart disease are at risk for neurodevelopmental impairments. Evidence suggests that brain maturation can be delayed and pre- and postoperative brain injury may occur, and there is limited information on the long-term effect of congenital heart disease on brain development and function in adolescent patients. At a mean age of 13.8 years, 39 adolescent survivors of childhood cardiopulmonary bypass surgery with no structural brain lesions evident through conventional cerebral magnetic resonance imaging and 32 healthy control subjects underwent extensive neurodevelopmental assessment and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging. Cerebral scans were analysed quantitatively using surface-based and voxel-based morphometry. Compared with control subjects, patients had lower total brain (P = 0.003), white matter (P = 0.004) and cortical grey matter (P = 0.005) volumes, whereas cerebrospinal fluid volumes were not different. Regional brain volume reduction ranged from 5.3% (cortical grey matter) to 11% (corpus callosum). Adolescents with cyanotic heart disease showed more brain volume loss than those with acyanotic heart disease, particularly in the white matter, thalami, hippocampi and corpus callosum (all P-values < 0.05). Brain volume reduction correlated significantly with cognitive, motor and executive functions (grey matter: P < 0.05, white matter: P < 0.01). Our findings suggest that there are long-lasting cerebral changes in adolescent survivors of cardiopulmonary bypass surgery for congenital heart disease and that these changes are associated with functional outcom

Femoral Arterial Thrombosis After Cardiac Catheterization In Infancy: Impact of Doppler Ultrasound for Diagnosis

Femoral arterial thrombosis (FAT) is a nonnegligible complication after cardiac catheterization (CC) in infancy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of Doppler ultrasound (US) for diagnostic work-up after catheterization. We compared standard follow-up (FU) without Doppler US by relying on clinical signs of FAT with advanced FU using Doppler US of the femoral vessels. Between January and December 2009, we evaluated the rate of FAT in infants <12months of age using a multicenter, prospective observational survey. We analysed 171 patients [mean age 4.1±3.3 (SD) months; mean body weight 5.3±1.8kg] from 6 participating centres. The mean duration of catheter studies was 57.7±38.0min. The overall rate of FAT based on clinical diagnosis was 4.7% and was comparable in both groups [3.4% undergoing standard FU vs. 7.4% undergoing advanced FU (p=0.15)]. However, the overall rate of thrombosis as screened by Doppler US was greater at 7.1%, especially in patients after advanced FU [18.5% advanced vs. standard FU 1.7% (p<0.01)]. In conclusion, FAT remains a relevant and underestimated complication after catheterization in young infants when relying only on clinical signs of FAT. Therefore, to start effective treatment as soon as possible, we recommend Doppler US to be performed the day after C

Design Approach for a Novel Multi Material Variable Flux Synchronous Reluctance Machine without Rare Earth Magnets

A method to design a variable flux electric ma-chine using no rare earth materials is proposed. Starting from a synchronous reluctance machine’s rotor the electromagnetic and mechanical design goals are derived. To improve torque production radially magnetized low coercive field magnets are inserted in the rotor, allowing for a control of the rotor flux. The flux guidance is improved by removing the webs required for mechanical sturdiness, which is achieved instead by mold injecting fiber reinforced polymer into the flux barriers. On the basis of a large design of experiments and using Gaussian process regression models, the relation between the rotor design parameters and output torque as well as external fields in the magnets is investigated and an optimization is performed. The resulting machine design allows an operation with high torque without involuntary demagnetization. The potential of the polymer filled flux barriers is confirmed through structural mechanical analysis

Defect Engineering of Two-dimensional Molybdenum Disulfide

Two-dimensional (2D) molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) holds great promise in electronic and optoelectronic applications owing to its unique structure and intriguing properties. The intrinsic defects such as sulfur vacancies (SVs) of MoS2 nanosheets are found to be detrimental to the device efficiency. To mitigate this problem, functionalization of 2D MoS2 using thiols has emerged as one of the key strategies for engineering defects. Herein, we demonstrate an approach to controllably engineer the SVs of chemically exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets using a series of substituted thiophenols in solution. The degree of functionalization can be tuned by varying the electron withdrawing strength of substituents in thiophenols. We find that the intensity of 2LA(M) peak normalized to A1g peak strongly correlates to the degree of functionalization. Our results provide a spectroscopic indicator to monitor and quantify the defect engineering process. This method of MoS2 defect functionalization in solution also benefits the further exploration of defect free MoS2 for a wide range of applications

Deletion of the Ca2+-activated potassium (BK) alpha-subunit but not the BK-beta-1-subunit leads to progressive hearing loss

The large conductance voltage- and Ca2+-activated potassium (BK) channel has been suggested to play an important role in the signal transduction process of cochlear inner hair cells. BK channels have been shown to be composed of the pore-forming alpha-subunit coexpressed with the auxiliary beta-1-subunit. Analyzing the hearing function and cochlear phenotype of BK channel alpha-(BKalpha–/–) and beta-1-subunit (BKbeta-1–/–) knockout mice, we demonstrate normal hearing function and cochlear structure of BKbeta-1–/– mice. During the first 4 postnatal weeks also, BKalpha–/– mice most surprisingly did not show any obvious hearing deficits. High-frequency hearing loss developed in BKalpha–/– mice only from ca. 8 weeks postnatally onward and was accompanied by a lack of distortion product otoacoustic emissions, suggesting outer hair cell (OHC) dysfunction. Hearing loss was linked to a loss of the KCNQ4 potassium channel in membranes of OHCs in the basal and midbasal cochlear turn, preceding hair cell degeneration and leading to a similar phenotype as elicited by pharmacologic blockade of KCNQ4 channels. Although the actual link between BK gene deletion, loss of KCNQ4 in OHCs, and OHC degeneration requires further investigation, data already suggest human BK-coding slo1 gene mutation as a susceptibility factor for progressive deafness, similar to KCNQ4 potassium channel mutations. © 2004, The National Academy of Sciences. Freely available online through the PNAS open access option

Impact of the first COVID lockdown on accident- and injury-related pediatric intensive care admissions in Germany - a multicenter study

Children’s and adolescents’ lives drastically changed during COVID lockdowns worldwide. To compare accident- and injury-related admissions to pediatric intensive care units (PICU) during the first German COVID lockdown with previous years, we conducted a retrospective multicenter study among 37 PICUs (21.5% of German PICU capacities). A total of 1444 admissions after accidents or injuries during the first lockdown period and matched periods of 2017–2019 were reported and standardized morbidity ratios (SMR) were calculated. Total PICU admissions due to accidents/injuries declined from an average of 366 to 346 (SMR 0.95 (CI 0.85–1.05)). Admissions with trauma increased from 196 to 212 (1.07 (0.93–1.23). Traffic accidents and school/kindergarten accidents decreased (0.77 (0.57–1.02 and 0.26 (0.05–0.75)), whereas household and leisure accidents increased (1.33 (1.06–1.66) and 1.34 (1.06–1.67)). Less neurosurgeries and more visceral surgeries were performed (0.69 (0.38–1.16) and 2.09 (1.19–3.39)). Non-accidental non-suicidal injuries declined (0.73 (0.42–1.17)). Suicide attempts increased in adolescent boys (1.38 (0.51–3.02)), but decreased in adolescent girls (0.56 (0.32–0.79)). In summary, changed trauma mechanisms entailed different surgeries compared to previous years. We found no evidence for an increase in child abuse cases requiring intensive care. The increase in suicide attempts among boys demands investigation