From molecular quantum electrodynamics at finite temperatures to nuclear magnetic resonance

The algebraic reformulation of molecular Quantum Electrodynamics ( mQED ) at fi nite temperatures is applied to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ( NMR ) in order to provide a foundation for the reconstruction of much more detailed molecular structures, than possible with current methods. Conventional NMR theories are directly related to the effective spin model, which idealizes nuclei as fi xed points in a lattice 3 . However, the delocalization of spins due to the thermal energy is more realistically described by the amplitude square of the nuclear wave function |Ψ β ( X )| 2 with Î X n3 , instead of fi xed points in 3 . In addition, the phenomenological integration of thermalization only allows an investigation of the molecular structure based on the position of the punctiform center of an NMR signal, but not based on the width and shape of NMR signals. Hence, a lot information on molecular structures remain hidden in experimental NMR data. In this document it is shown how |Ψ β ( X )| 2 , Î X n3 can be reconstructed from NMR data. To this end, it is shown how NMR spectra can be calculated directly from mQED at fi nite temperatures without involving the effective description. The new method connects all data points — the positions, widths, heights and shapes —description. The new method connects all data points — the positions, widths, heights and shapes — of NMR signals directly with the molecular structure, which allows more detailed investigations of the underlying system. Furthermore, it is shown that the presented method corrects wrong predictions of the effective spin model. The fundamental problem of performing numerical calculations with the in fi nite-dimensional radiation fi eld is solved by using a puri fi ed representation of a KMS state on a W * -algebra

PROGNOSTIC ALGORITHM DEVELOPMENT FOR PLANT MONITORING AND MAINTENANCE PLANNING

The economic goals in a typical industrial plant are to improve product quality, maximize equipment up-time, reliability, and availability, and minimize spare part inventories and maintenance costs. Modern facilities are comprised of thousands of subsystems with critical unique components. Simple components and more complex engineering systems alike are typically engineered to perform satisfactorily. Their lives can be predicted under normal operation runtime. It should be the same with chronological time lapse from the moment of installation. However, their ages accelerate faster than chronological time lapse if they are operated under unfavorable working conditions, making their remaining life predictions likely not accurate, thus making failure imminent. These components most become more sophisticated and advanced to meet supercritical demands, and unplanned critical failures of any these components can result in costly operation stoppages. Speedy repair costs of failed components during operation can be extremely costly, not only due to the failed component, but also to collateral damage to other components, which can result in significant economic loss, lost production, personal injury, and even loss of life. Today’s marketplace faces global competition, ever-changing customer perception, and evolving demand. Industrial plants are constantly retooling their operations and equipment to act in a supercritical manner, and this is happening amidst the already complex nature of mechanical structures, operational stress, and environmental influence. To address these continuous changes, early fault detection is imperative to accurately predict the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of machinery to prevent performance degradation and malfunction, which leads to substantial damage. Predicting the RUL of degraded components and putting these components to use will reduce spare part inventories and maintenance and increase reliability, availability, and performance to minimize plant downtime and production loss while enhancing operation safety. The primary purpose of this dissertation is to create an improved prognostic algorithm and methodology to predict the time of machinery failure. Empirical wear models built using historical operating conditions are then used to monitor the RUL of machinery and components. Machinery online monitoring data are used to determine the current health state of components along their life curves

Wie erleben Erfasserinnen den Umgang mit der Observed Emotional Rating Scale?

Da im deutschsprachigen Raum bisher kaum empirische Daten zur Anwendung der Observed Emotion Rating Scale (OERS) bei demenzerkrankten Personen vorliegen, sollte im Rahmen des Pilotprojekts «Agitation» untersucht werden, wie Erfasserinnen den Einsatz des Instruments OERS erleben. Zu diesem Zweck konnten 12 Probandinnen gewonnen werden, die in drei Pflegezentren im Kanton Zürich Beobachtungen mit dem Instrument OERS durchführten. Der überwiegende Teil der Probandinnen verfügte über pflegerische Qualifikationen bzw. Erfahrung im Umgang mit demenzerkrankten Personen. Die Datensammlung erfolgte anhand von drei Fokusgruppeninterviews, die mittels einer qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet worden waren. Die vorläufigen Ergebnisse aus den Fokusgruppeninterviews wurden von denselben Probandinnen anhand eines Fragebogens validiert. Die Kategorien «fehlende Eindeutigkeit», «fehlende Kodiermöglichkeit», «Demenzschwere», «Einschätzen von Emotionen», «Einflussfaktoren» und «Anwenderschulung» zeigten, dass das Wissen um die Demenzerkrankung genauso bedeutsam ist wie eine geübte Handhabung der OERS. As barely any empirical data on the application of the Observed Emotion Rating Scale (OERS) on sufferers of dementia is available for German-speaking Europe, the pilot project titled “Agitation” aimed to see how those persons entering the data get along with the OERS instrument. For this purpose, 12 test persons were persuaded to carry out observations with the OERS instrument in three care centres located in the Swiss Canton of Zurich. The test persons were predominantly holders of nursing qualifications and/or experienced in caring for patients suffering from dementia. Data collection was undertaken on the basis of three focus group interviews which were evaluated via qualitative content analysis. The preliminary results gained in the focus group interviews were validated by the same people using a questionnaire. The categories were titled “Missing Clearness”, “Missing Possibility to Encode”, “Level of Dementia”, “Estimation of Emotions”, “Influencing Factors” and “User Training”. These indicated that know­ledge of dementia is just as important as skilled use of OERS

The Use of Massage Therapy for Reducing Pain, Anxiety, and Depression in Oncological Palliative Care Patients: A Narrative Review of the Literature

A considerable number of cancer patients use complementary medicine therapies in order to alleviate different symptoms such as pain, anxiety, and depression, occurring in connection with cancer. This paper explores the question to what extent massage therapies are able to reduce the amount of pain, anxiety, and depression. For this purpose, a systematic literature analysis was carried out in the electronic databases and specialist journals. There is already evidence that massage therapies can influence the symptoms of pain, anxiety, and depression in a positive way

IRES-mediated Translation of Laminin B1 during Hepatocellular Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition

Die Initiation der Translation zellulärer mRNAs wird von einem „Scanning“-Mechanismus reguliert, welcher von der Präsenz der m7G-Cap-Struktur am 5‘-Terminus der mRNA abhängig ist. Zusätzlich gibt es einen Prozess, bei dem Ribosomen innerhalb der 5’-untranslatierten Region (5’-UTR) direkt an ein RNA-Motiv, dem sogenannten „internal ribosome entry site“ (IRES), binden. Zelluläre mRNAs mit IRESs spielen eine wichtige Rolle in der Tumorprogression. Die epitheliale-mesenchymale Transition (EMT) von Hepatozyten nimmt eine Schlüsselrolle in der Tumorentwicklung ein und wird durch die Kooperation von „Transforming Growth Factor“ (TGF)-β und onkogenem Ras induziert. Diese EMT-transformierten Zellen weisen nicht nur einen verstärkten „Platetelet-Derived Growth Factor” (PDGF) Signalweg, sondern auch eine vermehrte Translation der Laminin B1 (LamB1) mRNA auf. Ein IRES innerhalb der LamB1 5’-UTR ist für die Hochregulierung dieser extrazellulären Matrixkomponente verantwortlich. Während der EMT neoplastischer Hepatozyten akkumuliert der IRES trans-aktivierende Faktor La im Zytoplasma und bindet an den LamB1 IRES um seine Translation zu verstärken. In dieser Arbeit haben wir Signalwege analysiert, welche die LamB1 IRES Translation regulieren. Wir untersuchten Zelllinien maligner Hepatozyten, die onkogenes Ras oder mutierte Versionen von Ras Subeffektor Signalwegen exprimieren. Zusätzlich verwendeten wir pharmakologische Inhibitoren in Maushepatozyten. Unsere Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass primär der „Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase” (MAPK) Signalweg die LamB1 IRES Translation in epithelialen Hepatozyten kontrolliert und dass nach der EMT sowohl der MAPK als auch der „Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase” (PI3K) Signalweg die LamB1 IRES Translation erhöhen. Zusätzlich weisen unsere Daten darauf hin, dass der MAPK Signalweg der Hauptregulationsweg für die LamB1 IRES Translation während der hepatozellulären EMT ist. Weitere Untersuchungen zeigten, dass der PDGF Signalweg die La Akkumulation im Zytoplasma kontrolliert und dadurch die LamB1 IRES Aktivität in EMT- transformierten Hepatozyten erhöht. Daraus schließen wir, dass der PDGF Signalweg während der hepatozelluären EMT nicht nur die MAPK und PI3K Signalwegaktivierung steigert, sondern auch zu einer Akkumulation von La im Zytoplasma führt, welche eine Erhöhung der LamB1 IRES Translation bewirkt.Translation of cellular mRNAs is most frequently started by the cap-dependent scanning mechanism. However, another initiation process directly recruits ribosomes to a RNA motif located within the 5’-untranslated region (5’-UTR), referred to as internal ribosome entry site (IRES). Several IRES-containing mRNAs have important roles during tumor progression. The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) represents a crucial mechanism of hepatocellular carcinoma development, which is caused by the synergy of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β and oncogenic Ras, involving an upregulation of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling. Interestingly, elevated translation of the extracellular matrix component laminin B1 (LamB1) was observed during hepatocellular EMT. The increase of LamB1 was found to depend on an IRES element located in the 5’-UTR of its mRNA. Furthermore, the IRES trans-acting factor La showed accumulation in the cytoplasm and was identified to bind and enhance LamB1 IRES activity upon EMT. In this study we analyzed the signaling pathways regulating LamB1 IRES translation during hepatocellular EMT. We employed different murine hepatocyte cell lines expressing oncogenic Ras or mutant versions of Ras subeffector signaling. Additionally, we performed pharmacological interference in murine hepatocytes. Our results suggest that mainly the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway controls LamB1 IRES translation in epithelial hepatocytes and that upon EMT the MAPK as well as the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway regulate the LamB1 IRES translation. Moreover, the data indicate that the MAPK pathway is the major regulatory pathway of LamB1 IRES during hepatocellular EMT. Further investigations showed that PDGF signaling enhances LamB1 IRES activity by controlling cytoplasmic La localization in EMT-transformed hepatocytes. Therefore, we propose that the PDGF signaling enhances MAPK and PI3K signaling as well as cytoplasmic La localization, which upregulates LamB1 IRES translation upon hepatocellular EMT

Welche Informationen benötigen Erfasserinnen für den Einsatz der Observed Emotion Rating Scale?

As there have so far not been any empirical results in German-speaking Europe with regard to training people in the use of the Observed Emotion Rating Scale (OERS) instrument, the investigation needs to establish what information is required for those involved in OERS data entry. The explorative analysis was carried out with 12 probands using a methodological approach based on the Mayring (2003) qualitative content analysis procedure. Based on the results, it became clear that the use of OERS needs to be well prepared in advance, as the estimation¨of emotions with sufferers of dementia requires background knowledge of the illness, as well as the adjustment of those under observation to the surroundings being required. Furthermore, it became apparent that the use of OERS is suited to reflecting the surroundings of those suffering from dementia, as the rarity of emotions being expressed can itself be a sign of a maladjusted environment. Da im deutschsprachigen Raum bisher keine empirischen Ergebnisse im Bedarf einer Schulung mit dem Instrument Observed Emotion Rating Scale (OERS) vorliegen, sollte mit der Untersuchung herausgefunden werden, welche Informationen Erfasserinnen für den Einsatz der OERS benötigen. Die Untersuchung wurde explorativ mit dem methodischen Ansatz der qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse nach Mayring (2003) bei 12 Probandinnen durchgeführt.Anhand der Ergebnisse wurde ersichtlich, dass der Einsatz der OERS gut vorbereitet werden muss, weil die Einschätzung von Emotionen bei demenzerkrankten Menschen Hintergrundwissen zur Erkrankung benötigt und eine Anpassung der Beobachtenden an die Umgebung Voraussetzung ist. Ferner stellte sich heraus, dass sich der Einsatz der OERS dazu eignet, die Umgebung von Demenzerkrankten zu reflektieren, weil der Umstand, dass nur selten Emotionen geäußert werden, auch ein Zeichen für eine unangepasste Umgebung sein kann