Electron-paramagnetic-resonance study of the microscopic structure of the Si(001)- SiO 2 interface

International audienc

Rationale and study design of a trial to assess rTMS add-on value for the amelioration of negative symptoms of schizophrenia (RADOVAN)

Background Schizophrenia is a severe and often difficult to treat psychiatric illness. In many patients, negative symptoms dominate the clinical picture. Meta-analysis has suggested moderate, but significant effects of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) on these symptoms. For treatment of depression a much shorter protocol - intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) - has shown to be non-inferior to conventional high-frequency rTMS. This randomized, sham-controlled, rater-blinded clinical trial assesses the effects of conventional HF-rTMS as well as of iTBS of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in comparison with sham. Methods The study will be conducted at two psychiatric university hospitals in Germany and at two in the Czech Republic. Assuming an effect size of 0.64 to be detected with a power of 80%, the calculated sample size is 90 patients. Primary outcome will be the difference in the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) score between each active arm and the sham arm at end of treatment. In addition, the trial investigates effects on depressive symptoms, cognitive performance and cigarette smoking. Recording magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) data will serve to assess whether treatment success can be predicted by neural markers and is related to specific neurobiological changes. Discussion This is a clinical trial directly comparing 10 Hz-rTMS and iTBS in a sham-controlled manner in treating negative symptoms of schizophrenia. If successful, this would present an interesting treatment option for a chronic and severe condition that can be applied at most psychiatric hospitals and only takes up a few minutes per day. Trial registration number This trial has been registered at clinicaltrials.gov , Identifier: NCT04318977. Data dissemination Results from the trial shall be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at meetings and conferences

The out-of-pocket expenses of people with tinnitus in Europe

Background: Despite the high frequency of tinnitus and its impact on wellbeing, little is known about its economic burden and no data to our knowledge are available on out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses.Methods: In 2022 a survey was conducted on OOP costs of tinnitus. We enrolled 679 participants with slight, moderate and severe tinnitus in Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany and Spain. We estimated annual OOP expenses for tinnitus-related healthcare visits, treatments, medications and alternative medicine practices. Prevalence of tinnitus in the general population, obtained from a representative survey we conducted in Europe in 2017-2018, was used to generalise costs for people with any tinnitus at the national level.Results: OOP expenses were 368€ (95% confidence intervals (CI), 78€–690€), 728€ (95% CI, 316€–1,288€), and 1,492€ (95% CI, 760€–2,688€) for slight, moderate, and severe tinnitus, respectively, with annual expenditure of 565€ for people with any tinnitus: 209€ for healthcare visits, 93€ for treatments, 16€ for drugs, 64€ for hearing supporting systems and 183€ for acupuncture, homeopathy and osteopathy. Individuals with slight, moderate, and severe tinnitus expressed a willingness to invest 1.6, 4.3, and 7.0 times their monthly income, respectively, to achieve complete relief from tinnitus.Conclusions: This study offers for the first time insights into the OOP expenses incurred by individuals with tinnitus. OOP expenses exhibited substantial variations based on severity status, accounting for more than 17 thousand million€ in the countries considered. In terms of financial burden, these findings align tinnitus to the recognised leading disabilities, including back pain and migraine

Responsible Research and Innovation in H2020:Current Status and Steps Forward

The NewHoRRIzon project published its first policy brief in May 2018, coordinated and written by Robert Braun of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) and co-authored by Michael Bernstein of GenØk – Centre for Biosafety with contributions from the NewHoRRIzon team, on the status of RRI in H2020. The policy brief aims at offering evidence based policy recommendations—informed by the first inputs of NewHoRRIzon research efforts across 19 social labs—to policy makers, journalists and interested researchers on the state of play of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in Horizon (H2020) and proposing immediate actions to consider for mainstreaming RRI in the next framework program, FP9. The early research highlights steps that the EU has already initiated to advance RRI in H2020 programming, such as including commitments in the founding regulation of the programme and establishing devoted activities through the Science with and for Society programme. However, findings also point to numerous challenges for widespread and sustained implementation across H2020 programming and projects. First results indicate a range of policies that could be pursued to build capacity of the European R&I enterprise to realize RRI. Our recommendations, among others, include: focus on excellence in terms of transparent and socially robust knowledge that is inclusive of stakeholder and citizen perspectives; capacity building and training of programme officers, evaluators, researchers, innovators, and stakeholders to learn more about ways that science and technology are embedded in society; and further investments in the development of “Key Performance Indicators” or other methods of monitoring and evaluating RRI implementation

The out-of-pocket expenses of people with tinnitus in Europe

Background: Despite the high frequency of tinnitus and its impact on wellbeing, little is known about its economic burden and no data to our knowledge are available on out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses.Methods: In 2022 a survey was conducted on OOP costs of tinnitus. We enrolled 679 participants with slight, moderate and severe tinnitus in Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany and Spain. We estimated annual OOP expenses for tinnitus-related healthcare visits, treatments, medications and alternative medicine practices. Prevalence of tinnitus in the general population, obtained from a representative survey we conducted in Europe in 2017-2018, was used to generalise costs for people with any tinnitus at the national level.Results: OOP expenses were 368€ (95% confidence intervals (CI), 78€–690€), 728€ (95% CI, 316€–1,288€), and 1,492€ (95% CI, 760€–2,688€) for slight, moderate, and severe tinnitus, respectively, with annual expenditure of 565€ for people with any tinnitus: 209€ for healthcare visits, 93€ for treatments, 16€ for drugs, 64€ for hearing supporting systems and 183€ for acupuncture, homeopathy and osteopathy. Individuals with slight, moderate, and severe tinnitus expressed a willingness to invest 1.6, 4.3, and 7.0 times their monthly income, respectively, to achieve complete relief from tinnitus.Conclusions: This study offers for the first time insights into the OOP expenses incurred by individuals with tinnitus. OOP expenses exhibited substantial variations based on severity status, accounting for more than 17 thousand million€ in the countries considered. In terms of financial burden, these findings align tinnitus to the recognised leading disabilities, including back pain and migraine