Development and validation of novel clinical endpoints in intermediate age-related macular degeneration in MACUSTAR

Background Currently, no validated clinical endpoints for treatment studies exist for intermediate age-related macular degeneration (iAMD). Objective The European MACUSTAR study aims to develop and clinically validate adequate clinical endpoints for future treatment studies in iAMD and to identify early determinants of disease progression to late stage AMD. Material and methods The MACUSTAR study protocol was developed by an international consortium of researchers from academia, the pharmaceutical industry and medical device companies. The MACUSTAR project is funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI2) of the European Union. Results The MACUSTAR study consists of a cross-sectional and a longitudinal investigation. A total of 750 subjects with early, intermediate and late AMD as well as control subjects with no signs of AMD will be included with a follow-up period of 3 years. Overall, 20 European study centers are involved. Conclusion The MACUSTAR project will generate large high-quality datasets, which will allow clinical validation of novel endpoints for future interventional trials in iAMD. The aim is that these endpoints will be accepted as suitable for medication approval studies by the regulatory authorities and that understanding of the disease process will be improved

Wisconsin crop record book /

"Revised 1974"Mode of access: Internet

Table-top resonant magnetic scattering with extreme ultraviolet light from high-order harmonic generation

We demonstrate for the first time the applicability of high-order harmonic generation for probing magnetization properties with nanometer spatial resolution. High harmonics were generated by focusing an infrared femtosecond laser into a neon-filled gas cell. Using a high throughput monochromator, EUV pulses with a photon energy resonant to the magnetically dichroic Co M(2,3) absorption resonance were obtained. These were focused onto a CoPd alloy film and the magnetic scattering pattern was recorded in a transmission geometry. The scattering pattern induced by the magnetic domain structure consists of two well-defined bright spots revealing the presence of stripe domains of about 63nm in width. With the inherent femtosecond time resolution given by high harmonics, this demonstration paves the way to investigate ultrafast magnetization dynamics with femtosecond time and nanometer spatial resolutions, in jitter-free experiment based on table-top EUV light sources. Copyright (C) EPLA, 201

Ultrafast Optical Demagnetization manipulates Nanoscale Spin Structure in Domain Walls

During ultrafast demagnetization of a magnetically ordered solid, angular momentum has to be transferred between the spins, electrons, and phonons in the system on femto and picosecond timescales. Although the intrinsic spin transfer mechanisms are intensely debated, additional extrinsic mechanisms arising due to nanoscale heterogeneity have only recently entered the discussion. Here we use femtosecond X ray pulses from a free electron laser to study thin film samples with magnetic domain patterns. We observe an infrared pump induced change of the spin structure within the domain walls on the sub picosecond timescale. This domain topography dependent contribution connects the intrinsic demagnetization process in each domain with spin transport processes across the domain walls, demonstrating the importance of spin dependent electron transport between differently magnetized regions as an ultrafast demagnetization channel. This pathway exists independent from structural inhomogeneities such as chemical interfaces, and gives rise to an ultrafast spatially varying response to optical pump pulse

New opportunities for farm accounting

This paper starts out to observe that there is a gap between the importance given to accounting and the low level of bookkeeping and accounting practice in the agricultural sector. Reasons for this gap are that current general accounting rules do not adapt very well to the particularities of farming and are difficult and expensive to implement. We then suggest that the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and the recently issued International Accounting Standard on Agriculture (IAS 41) could be key elements to improve the use of accounting in European farms. We review the main contributions of IAS 41 and conclude that it provides a strong conceptual framework but might need further instruments for its implementation in practice, given the limitations of the agricultural sector. We continue to explain that FADN is an experienced network that has elaborated very detailed farm accounting procedures, and suggest that these procedures could be turned into a guide for implementing IAS 41. We report empirical data which indicate that current FADN reports are already considered useful by farmers for different purposes. Finally, we analyse in detail the compatibility of IAS 41 and FADN, identifying changes in the FADN procedures that would become necessary if the FADN procedures were to be used for implementing IAS 41 and some aspects of FADN that might have been worthwhile to consider for the final version of IAS 41.

Observation of Structural Anisotropy and the Onset of Liquidlike Motion During the Nonthermal Melting of InSb. Physical Review Letter

The melting dynamics of laser excited InSb have been studied with femtosecond x-ray diffraction. These measurements observe the delayed onset of diffusive atomic motion, signaling the appearance of liquidlike dynamics. They also demonstrate that the root-mean-squared displacement in the [111] direction increases faster than in the [110] direction after the first 500 fs. This structural anisotropy indicates that the initially generated fluid differs significantly from the equilibrium liquid