Simulation of beam induced lattice defects of diamond detectors using FLUKA

Diamond is more and more used as detector material for particle detection. One argument for diamond is its higher radiation hardness compared to silicon. Since various particles have different potential for radiation damage at different energies a scaling rule is necessary for the prediction of radiation damage. For silicon detectors the non-ionising energy loss (NIEL) is used for scaling the effects of different particles. A different way of predicting the radiation damage is based on the Norget-Robinson-Torrens theorem to predict the number of displacements per atom (DPA). This provides a better scaling rule since recombination effects are taken into account. This model is implemented in the FLUKA Monte Carlo simulations package for protons, neutrons and pions. We compare simulation results of NIEL and DPA for diamond and silicon material exposed to protons, neutrons and pions for a wide range of energies

Amplitude distribution of stochastic oscillations in biochemical networks due to intrinsic noise

Intrinsic noise is a common phenomenon in biochemical reaction networks and may affect the occurence and amplitude of sustained oscillations in the states of the network. To evaluate properties of such oscillations in the time domain, it is usually required to conduct long-term stochastic simulations, using for example the Gillespie algorithm. In this paper, we present a new method to compute the amplitude distribution of the oscillations without the need for long-term stochastic simulations. By the derivation of the method, we also gain insight into the structural features underlying the stochastic oscillations. The method is applicable to a wide class of non-linear stochastic differential equations that exhibit stochastic oscillations. The application is exemplified for the MAPK cascade, a fundamental element of several biochemical signalling pathways. This example shows that the proposed method can accurately predict the amplitude distribution for the stochastic oscillations even when using further computational approximations

Correction to: Health economic evaluation of an internet intervention for depression (deprexis), a randomized controlled trial.

Gräfe V, Moritz S, Greiner W. Correction to: Health economic evaluation of an internet intervention for depression (deprexis), a randomized controlled trial. Health economics review. 2020;10(1): 24.An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article

15 Jahre Corporate Real Estate Management in Deutschland: Entwicklungsstand und Perspektiven der Bündelung immobilienwirtschaftlicher Aufgaben bei ausgewählten Unternehmen

(Problemstellung und Zielsetzung) Das Thema Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) wird seit Anfang der 90er Jahre vermehrt in deutschen Unternehmen diskutiert und zum Teil bereits erfolgreich praktiziert. Die Ausprägung der organisatorischen Gestaltung und des Aufgabenspektrums der CREMAbteilungen stellt sich dabei recht unterschiedlich dar. Verstanden sich zu den Anfängen des CREM die Immobilienabteilungen in den Unternehmen (Non-Property Companies) primär als Verwerter überschüssiger Flächen, so verändert sich das Bild in weit vorangeschrittenen Unternehmen inzwischen dahingehend, dass sämtliche immobilienspezifischen Funktionen von der Entwicklung der Immobilienstrategie über Flächenbereitstellung, Betrieb und Verwertung in der Corporate Real Estate (CRE) - Abteilung gebündelt werden. In Deutschland ist die öffentliche Diskussion von CREM Themen nach anfänglich sehr intensiver Debatte, vom Sonderthema der REIT Einführung abgesehen, mittlerweile weitgehend zum Erliegen gekommen. Auch ist der Professionalisierungsprozess in der Wahrnehmung immobilienwirtschaftlicher Aufgaben nach anfänglich sehr großen Fortschritten in vielen Unternehmen ins Stocken geraten. Dem entgegen vermuten viele Immobilienverantwortliche noch erhebliche Effizienzsteigerungspotenziale im Immobilienmanagement deutscher Unternehmen. Voraussetzung der Realisierung dieser Potenziale ist die Ausweitung des Mandats der unternehmenseigenen Immobilienbereiche auf alle Funktionsbereiche immobilienwirtschaftlicher Aufgaben sowie alle im Besitz des Unternehmens befindlichen Immobilien. Diese Bündelung immobilienwirtschaftlicher Aufgaben bedeutet dabei keineswegs, dass die immobilienwirtschaftlichen Aufgaben nicht dezentral von den jeweiligen Nutzern selbst oder ihnen nahestehenden Organisationseinheiten oder im Rahmen des Outsourcings von Dritten wahrgenommen werden. Es geht hier vielmehr um eine zentrale Koordination der unternehmensweiten Immobilienwirtschaft gekoppelt mit einer klaren Zuordnung von Verantwortung und Kompetenz. In der Praxis ist zu beobachten, dass der Umfang des Mandats der Immobilieneinheiten in der deutschen Industrie derzeit ganz erheblich variiert. Die erheblichen Diskrepanzen sind bislang nicht zu erklären. Insbesondere wurden über die Treiber und konkreten Erfolge der Bündelung immobilienwirtschaftlicher Aufgaben in deutschen Unternehmen bisher noch keine Untersuchungen durchgeführt. Auch liegen über den Umsetzungsprozess der Einrichtung von CREM Einheiten noch keine vergleichenden Erkenntnisse in veröffentlichter Form vor. Die vorliegende Studie soll daher zunächst einen Überblick der Entwicklungen der letzten 15 Jahre und die Perspektiven der Aufgabenbündelung bei ausgewählten Best-Practice Unternehmen verschaffen. Ziel ist die Darstellung der Vorteile eines zentralen CREM. Darüber 2 hinaus erfolgt eine Darstellung der organisatorischen Implementierung des CREM im Unternehmen sowie des Umsetzungsprozesses von der dezentralen Immobilienverwaltung zum zentralen Immobiliendienstleister. Ein herzliches Dankeschön richtet sich an die Montan-Grundstücksgesellschaft mbH, Essen, die Sponsor und inhaltlicher Projektpartner dieses Forschungsprojekts von Seiten der Unternehmenspraxis war.

Differential contractile response of critically ill patients to neuromuscular electrical stimulation

BACKGROUND: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been investigated as a preventative measure for intensive care unit-acquired weakness. Trial results remain contradictory and therefore inconclusive. As it has been shown that NMES does not necessarily lead to a contractile response, our aim was to characterise the response of critically ill patients to NMES and investigate potential outcome benefits of an adequate contractile response. METHODS: This is a sub-analysis of a randomised controlled trial investigating early muscle activating measures together with protocol-based physiotherapy in patients with a SOFA score ≥ 9 within the first 72 h after admission. Included patients received protocol-based physiotherapy twice daily for 20 min and NMES once daily for 20 min, bilaterally on eight muscle groups. Electrical current was increased up to 70 mA or until a contraction was detected visually or on palpation. Muscle strength was measured by a blinded assessor at the first adequate awakening and ICU discharge. RESULTS: One thousand eight hundred twenty-four neuromuscular electrical stimulations in 21 patients starting on day 3.0 (2.0/6.0) after ICU admission were included in this sub-analysis. Contractile response decreased from 64.4% on day 1 to 25.0% on day 7 with a significantly lower response rate in the lower extremities and proximal muscle groups. The electrical current required to elicit a contraction did not change over time (day 1, 50.2 [31.3/58.8] mA; day 7, 45.3 [38.0/57.5] mA). The electrical current necessary for a contractile response was higher in the lower extremities. At the first awakening, patients presented with significant weakness (3.2 [2.5/3.8] MRC score). When dividing the cohort into responders and non-responders (> 50% vs. ≤ 50% contractile response), we observed a significantly higher SOFA score in non-responders. The electrical current necessary for a muscle contraction in responders was significantly lower (38.0 [32.8/42.9] vs. 54.7 [51.3/56.0] mA, p < 0.001). Muscle strength showed higher values in the upper extremities of responders at ICU discharge (4.4 [4.1/4.6] vs. 3.3 [2.8/3.8] MRC score, p = 0.036). CONCLUSION: Patients show a differential contractile response to NMES, which appears to be dependent on the severity of illness and also relevant for potential outcome benefits. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN ISRCTN19392591 , registered 17 February 201

Metacognitive training for negative symptoms:Support for the cognitive model

Developing effective treatment options for negative symptoms of psychotic disorders remains a major unmet treatment need and area for further research. In a recent uncontrolled study by the main author, Metacognition Training (MCT) for negative symptoms was found to lead to fewer negative symptoms, less stigma and increased self-rated reflective ability. As the analysis examined negative symptoms as a whole, we here performed an additional analysis on individual negative symptom items as recent research has suggested that negative symptoms are best conceptualized through a five-factor model. It was found that the intervention led to changes specifically on sociality and blunted affect (with large effect sizes), which might reflect changes in both intrapersonal and interpersonal (meta)cognitive processes

Autonomous Synchronization of Chemically Coupled Synthetic Oscillators

Synthetic biology has recently provided functional single-cell oscillators. With a few exceptions, however, synchronization across a population has not been achieved yet. In particular, designing a cell coupling mechanism to achieve autonomous synchronization is not straightforward since there are usually several different design alternatives. Here, we propose a method to mathematically predict autonomous synchronization properties, and to identify the network structure with the best performance, thus increasing the feasibility for a successful implementation invivo. Our method relies on the reduction of ODE-based models for synthetic oscillators to a phase description, and the subsequent analysis of the phase model either in the spatially homogeneous or heterogeneous case. This analysis identifies three major factors determining if and when autonomous synchronization can be achieved, namely cell density, cell to cell variability, and structural design decisions. Moreover, when considering a spatially heterogeneous medium, we observe phase waves. These waves may hinder synchronization substantially, and their suppression should be considered in the design process. In contrast to previous work, we analyze the synchronization process of models of experimentally validated synthetic oscillators in mammalian cells. Alternative designs for cell-to-cell communication via a quorum sensing mechanism differ in few mechanistic details, but these differences have important implications for autonomous synchronization. Our analysis suggests that not only the periodical transcription of the protein producing the signaling molecule, but also of the receptor protein is necessary to achieve good performanc

High Risk, High Dose?—Pharmacotherapeutic Prescription Patterns of Offender and Non-Offender Patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder

Compared to acute or community settings, forensic psychiatric settings, in general, have been reported to make greater use of antipsychotic polypharmacy and/or high dose pharmacotherapy, including overdosing. However, there is a scarcity of research specifically on offender patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), although they make up a large proportion of forensic psychiatric patients. Our study, therefore, aimed at evaluating prescription patterns in offender patients compared to non-offender patients with SSD. After initial statistical analysis with null-hypothesis significance testing, we evaluated the interplay of the significant variables and ranked them in accordance with their predictive power through application of supervised machine learning algorithms. While offender patients received higher doses of antipsychotics, non-offender patients were more likely to receive polypharmacologic treatment as well as additional antidepressants and benzodiazepines. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate a homogenous group of offender patients with SSD in comparison to non-offender controls regarding patterns of antipsychotic and other psychopharmacologic prescription patterns. Keywords: schizophrenia spectrum disorders; antipsychotics; polypharmacy; overdosing; offender patients; forensic psychiatry; benzodiazepines; antidepressan