Anästhesiologische molekularmedizinische Forschung in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz: Eine bibliometrische Analyse

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Weltweit steigt die Anzahl anästhesiologischer Publikationen, in denen molekularmedizinische Methoden angewendet werden. Die präoperative Identifizierung anästhesierelevanter genetischer Erkrankungen oder eines erhöhten perioperativen Risikos wird in naher Zukunft mit solchen Techniken möglich sein. Allerdings ist das Beitragsaufkommen von deutschen, schweizerischen und österreichischen Anästhesieinstituten an dieser modernen Forschung unbekannt. Material und Methoden: Mithilfe einer Medline-Recherche im Internet wurden alle diesbezüglichen Arbeiten im Zeitraum von 1988-2002, die in deutschen, schweizerischen oder österreichischen Anästhesieabteilungen entstanden waren, ermittelt. Diese wurden in Bezug auf Publikationsjahr, Zeitschrift, Ursprungsort und Inhalt analysiert. Ergebnisse: Anästhesieabteilungen dieser 3Länder publizierten während der Beobachtungsperiode 121, 18 und 5Arbeiten mit molekularmedizinischem Inhalt (10%, 1,5% und 0,4% am weltweiten Publikationsaufkommen solcher Arbeiten). Während in Deutschland die Anzahl entsprechender anästhesiologischer Arbeiten analog der weltweiten Entwicklung stetig zunahm, blieb die Anzahl aus der Schweiz und Österreich über die Jahre konstant. Die meisten Arbeiten wurden in nichtanästhesiologischen Zeitschriften mit hohem "impact factor" veröffentlicht. Diskussion und Schlussfolgerung: Die Studie zeigt die quantitative Entwicklung auf dem Gebiet der molekularmedizinischen Forschung in den Anästhesieabteilungen von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. In Deutschland kann während der letzten Jahre eine deutliche Zunahme der molekularmedizinischen Forschung in Anästhesieabteilungen beobachtet werde

Temperature Effects on Development of Three Cereal Aphid Parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae)

Temperature is an important climatological variable that influences the biology and ecology of insects. Poor climatic adaptation can limit the effectiveness of parasitic insects in biological control. Two exotic parasites (Syrian Diaeretiella rapae (M\u27Intosh) and Argentinean Aphidius colemani Viereck) imported for biological control of the Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko), and one native parasite (Diaeretiella rapae) were reared in growth chambers in three fluctuating temperature regimes with average daily temperatures of 12, 18, and 24°C. Estimates of temperature thresholds for immature development were 3.3, 3.5, and 2.8°C, for Oklahoman D. rapae, Syrian D. rapae, and A. colemani, respectively. Estimates of thermal require- ments for development from egg to adult were 297, 278, and 301 degree-days for the three parasitoids. Dry weights of adults reared in different fluctuating temperature regimes did not differ significantly among sexes, but adults from regimes with low average temperatures of 12 and 18°C had significantly greater weights than those reared in a regime with an average temperature of 24°C. Results suggest that developmental response to temperature will not limit the effectiveness of the exotic parasites in biological control

Parasitism, Adult Emergence, Sex Ratio, and Size of \u3ci\u3eAphidius Colemani\u3c/i\u3e (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) on Several Aphid Species

Aphidius colemani Viereck parasitizes several economically important aphid pests of small grain crops including the greenbug, Schizaphis graminum and the Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia. The ability of A. colemani to switch from S. graminum to several species of aphids common to agricultural and associated non-agricultural ecosystems in the Great Plains, and the effects of host-change on several biological parameters that influence population growth rate were determined. Female A. colemani parasitized and developed to adulthood in nine of 14 aphid species to which they were exposed in the laboratory. All small grain feeding aphids except Sipha flava were parasi­tized. Two sunflower feeding species (Aphis nerii and A. helianthi) and two crucifer feeding species (Lipaphis erysimi and Brevicoryne brassicae) were parasitized, as was the cotton aphid. Aphis gossypii. The average percentage of aphids parasitized differed significantly among host aphid species. as did the percentage of parasitoids surviving from the mummy to the adult stage and the time required for immature development. The sex ratio of adults that enclosed from the various hosts did not differ significantly among species. Dry weights of adult parasitoids differed significantly among host species. Adults from S. graminum weighed most (0.054 mg) while those emerging from A. helianthi weighed least (0.020 mg). Results are discussed in terms of strategies for classical biological control of aphid pests of cereals

Shone-Anomalie: Fallbericht und Hintergrund

Zusammenfassung: Die Shone-Anomalie wurde 1963 erstmals beschrieben und stellt eine seltene kongenitale kardiovaskuläre Missbildung mit verschiedenen linkskardialen stenotischen Läsionen dar. Die klassische Form besteht aus einem fibrösen supravalvulären Mitralring, einer fallschirmartigen Deformation der Mitralklappe mit nur einem Papillarmuskel ("parachute mitral valve"), einer subvalvulären Aortenstenose und einer Aortenisthmusstenose. Es gibt nur vereinzelte perioperative Fallberichte von erwachsenen Patienten mit dieser kardiovaskulären Missbildung. Allerdings können Patienten mit einer undiagnostizierten, inkompletten Form der Shone-Anomalie auch im Erwachsenenalter für nichtherzchirurgische Operationen vorgesehen sein. In dem vorliegenden Fallbericht wird das anästhesiologische Management einer Patientin, die für eine abdominale Hysterektomie vorgesehen war und an einer bisher nichtdiagnostizierten Shone-Anomalie litt, beschriebe

Probably Safe or Live

This paper presents a formal characterisation of safety and liveness properties \`a la Alpern and Schneider for fully probabilistic systems. As for the classical setting, it is established that any (probabilistic tree) property is equivalent to a conjunction of a safety and liveness property. A simple algorithm is provided to obtain such property decomposition for flat probabilistic CTL (PCTL). A safe fragment of PCTL is identified that provides a sound and complete characterisation of safety properties. For liveness properties, we provide two PCTL fragments, a sound and a complete one. We show that safety properties only have finite counterexamples, whereas liveness properties have none. We compare our characterisation for qualitative properties with the one for branching time properties by Manolios and Trefler, and present sound and complete PCTL fragments for characterising the notions of strong safety and absolute liveness coined by Sistla

New Class of Flow Batteries for Terrestrial and Aerospace Energy Storage Applications

Future sustainable energy generation technologies such as photovoltaic and wind farms require advanced energy storage systems on a massive scale to make the alternate (green) energy options practical. The daunting requirements of such large-scale energy systems such as long operating and cycle life, safety, and low cost are not adequately met by state-of-the-art energy storage technologies such as vanadium flow cells, lead-acid, and zinc-bromine batteries. Much attention is being paid to redox batteries specifically to the vanadium redox battery (VRB) due to their simplicity, low cost, and good life characteristics compared to other related battery technologies. NASA is currently seeking high-specific- energy and long-cycle-life rechargeable batteries in the 10-to-100-kW range to support future human exploration missions, such as planetary habitats, human rovers, etc. The flow batteries described above are excellent candidates for these applications, as well as other applications that propose to use regenerative fuel cells. A new flow cell technology is proposed based on coupling two novel electrodes in the form of solvated electron systems (SES) between an alkali (or alkaline earth) metal and poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), separated by an ionically conducting separator. The cell reaction involves the formation of such SES with a PAH of high voltage in the cathode, while the alkali (or alkaline earth metal) is reduced from such an MPAH complex in the anode half-cell. During recharge, the reactions are reversed in both electrodes. In other words, the alkali (alkaline earth) metal ion simply shuttles from one M-PAH complex (SES) to another, which are separated by a metal-ion conducting solid or polymer electrolyte separator. As an example, the concept was demonstrated with Li-naphthalene//Li DDQ (DDQ is 2,3-Dichloro-5,6-dicyano- 1,4-benzoquinone) separated by lithium super ion conductor, either ceramic or polymer (solid polymer or gel polymer) electrolytes. The reactants are Li-naphthalene dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (THF) with a lithium salt of 1M LiBF4 (lithium tetra fluoroborate) in the anode compartment, and DDQ again dissolved in THF and also containing 1M LiBF4 salt in the cathode half-cell. The solid electrolyte separator used in the first set of experiments is a ceramic solid electrolyte, available from a commercial source. The open circuit voltage of the cells is close to 3.0 V, as expected from the individual half-cell voltages of Li-naphthalene and Li-DDQ. Upon discharge, the cell shows steady discharge voltage of 2.7 V, which confirms that the electrochemical processes do involve lithium ion shuttling from the anodic compartment to the cathode half-cell. The reversibility or rechargeability is demonstrated by charging the partially discharged cells (i.e., with lithium present in the DDQ half). Once again, a steady voltage close to 3.0 V was observed during charge, indicating that the system is quite reversible. In the subsequent concept-demonstration studies, the ceramic electrolyte has been replaced with a gel polymer electrolyte, e.g., PVDF-HFP (poly vinylene difluoride hexafluoropropene) gel, which has several advantages such as high ionic conductivity (almost comparable to liquid electrolyte and about 2 orders of magnitude better than the ceramic equivalent), lower cost, and possibly higher chemical stability at the anode. In addition, it can be bonded to the electrode by thermal fusion to form membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), as is done in fuel cells

Lithium-Based High Energy Density Flow Batteries

Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention implement a lithium-based high energy density flow battery. In one embodiment, a lithium-based high energy density flow battery includes a first anodic conductive solution that includes a lithium polyaromatic hydrocarbon complex dissolved in a solvent, a second cathodic conductive solution that includes a cathodic complex dissolved in a solvent, a solid lithium ion conductor disposed so as to separate the first solution from the second solution, such that the first conductive solution, the second conductive solution, and the solid lithium ionic conductor define a circuit, where when the circuit is closed, lithium from the lithium polyaromatic hydrocarbon complex in the first conductive solution dissociates from the lithium polyaromatic hydrocarbon complex, migrates through the solid lithium ionic conductor, and associates with the cathodic complex of the second conductive solution, and a current is generated

Modeling Water Demands

Important questions about water demand arise whenever water resource investments or water policies are being considered. Typically, these questions are about how much water will be used, where it will be needed, what purposes will be served, and when these demands will occur. The actual demands will depend on such time-related variables as government policies, population levels and distribution, energy use and cost, per capita disposable income, technological development, consumer habits and lifestyles, and the prices of water withdrawals and wastewater disposal. Developing relations between these variables and using them to estimate water demands under various conditions requires analytical approaches. This book describes some of these approaches and shows how they can be used to analyze water demands for industry, agriculture, and urban settlements. The volume is directed primarily toward analysts responsible for generating information on water demands in relation to planning decisions in water resources management. Because by definition this is an interdisciplinary task, the audience of the book may be expected to consist of persons with diverse professional backgrounds, such as hydrologists, water resources planners, experts in the technology of water use (industrial, agricultural, or municipal), economists, and systems analysts who largely, although not exclusively, are working within water management or regional development agencies. The treatment of the methodological framework and of the models themselves is such that the book is not aimed exclusively at those interested in modeling per se. It is recognized throughout the text that any attempt to influence and improve planning methods in water resources systems must pay careful attention to practical issues and take account of the institutional, administrative, legal, and economic constraints under which those systems operate. The alternative approaches to water demand modeling described here should always be interpreted in the light of these case-by-case varying constraints

Agency and ownership are independent components of 'sensing the self' in the auditory-verbal domain

'Sensing the self' relies on the ability to distinguish self-generated from external stimuli. It requires functioning mechanisms to establish feelings of agency and ownership. Agency is defined causally, where the subjects action is followed by an effect. Ownership is defined by the features of the effect, independent from the action. In our study, we manipulated these qualities separately. 13 right-handed healthy individuals performed the experiment while 76-channel EEG was recorded. Stimuli consisted of visually presented words, read aloud by the subject. The experiment consisted of six conditions: (a) subjects saw a word, read it aloud, heard it in their own voice; (b) like a, but the word was heard in an unfamiliar voice; (c) subject heard a word in his/her own voice without speaking; (d) like c, but the word was heard in an unfamiliar voice; (e) like a, but subjects heard the word with a delay; (f) subjects read without hearing. ERPs and difference maps were computed for all conditions. Effects were analysed topographically. The N100 (86-172 ms) displayed significant main effects of agency and ownership. The topographies of the two effects shared little common variance, suggesting independent effects. Later effects (174-400 ms) of agency and ownership were topographically similar, suggesting common mechanisms. Replicating earlier studies, significant N100 suppression was observed, with a topography resembling the agency effect. 'Sensing the self' appears to recruit from at least two very distinct processes: an agency assessment that represents causality and an ownership assessment that compares stimulus features with memory content

Letters of Heroines

There are moments in life when making progress feels arduous, goals seem unattainable, and attempts at resolution prove only to create more conflict. This contemporary jazz piece explores the physical and emotional connotations of the idiom taking “one step forward and two steps back.” In a physical sense, the movement depicts progress followed by relapse. In a figurative sense, dancers explore emotions of frustration, struggling to break down the barriers that they encounter. This piece serves as a metaphor for persistence in the face of obstacles