Use of vane and air jet vortex generators in a thrust augmenting ejector

The beneficial application of vortex generators to control boundary layers in the sub- and supersonic flow regime has been shown in the past. In this thesis the use of vortex generators is extended beyond boundary layer control by using them within an ejector-diffuser type augmentor. During the course of the research work it was established that the vortex generators could be used as effective 'mixers' between the primary air stream and the secondary entrained air stream. A previously developed mathematical model of ejector-diffuser flow, incorporating parameters such as pressure ratio, nozzle to duct area ratio and diffuser area ratio, was extended and refined. With the help of that model the above mentioned parameters were defined and according to these parameters a test rig was designed and manufactured. The primary ejector was driven by either a peripheral slit jet or eight individual air jets or the combination of both. The major task of the project was to design a rig which was short but produced a good thrust augmentation based on the bare nozzle thrust. A good thrust augmentation ratio was obtainable by ensuring rapid mixing between the primary and secondary air streams. The test programme was split into two major parts, namely the use of vane vortex generators in conjunction with the peripheral jet and then the application of air jet vortex generators again with the peripheral jet. The vanes and also the air jets were configured either as eight co-rotating vortices or as four contra-rotating vortex pairs. A special case which was also considered involved the air jet vortex generators on their own without peripheral blowing. This test was possible because the eight air jets could be used as primary air injectors and vortex generators at the same time. It emerged that this configuration was particularly revealing because it highlighted the essential difference between co- and contra-rotating vortices. Near the design primary pressure ratio of 5.0 the bare nozzle thrust was augmented by a maximum of 30 per cent with the vanes installed. This was a considerable advance on the augmentation for the bare augmentor, i.e. the same configuration as above but without vortex generators installed, which came to 1.15 at the same pressure ratio of 5.0. The results of augmentation for the air jets were more complex due to the way in which the air was injected. Elevation and skew angle were responsible for the enlarged complexity. As a general trend it can be stated that the augmentation ratios were high for low pressure ratios, as high as 1.7 at a pressure ratio of 2.0, but fell off as the pressure was increased. Dynamic pressure contour plots in the exit plane gave good indications of the vortex movements produced by the co- and contra-rotating vortex generators. This project showed that considerable thrust augmentations could be achieved by using vortex generators

Neural basis of shame and guilt experience in women with borderline personality disorder.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by instability of affect, emotion dysregulation, and interpersonal dysfunction. Especially shame and guilt, so-called self-conscious emotions, are of central clinical relevance to BPD. However, only few experimental studies have focused on shame or guilt in BPD and none investigated their neurobiological underpinnings. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we took a scenario-based approach to experimentally induce feelings of shame, guilt, and disgust with neutral scenarios as control condition. We included 19 women with BPD (age 26.4 ± 5.8 years; DSM-IV diagnosed; medicated) and 22 healthy female control subjects (age 26.4 ± 4.6 years; matched for age and verbal IQ). Compared to controls, women with BPD reported more intense feelings when being confronted with affective scenarios, especially higher levels of shame, guilt, and fear. We found increased amygdala reactivity in BPD compared to controls for shame and guilt, but not for disgust scenarios (p = 0.05 FWE corrected at the cluster level; p < 0.0001 cluster defining threshold). Exploratory analyses showed that this was caused by a diminished habituation in women with BPD relative to control participants. This effect was specific to guilt and shame scenarios as both groups showed amygdala habituation to disgust scenarios. Our work suggests that heightened shame and guilt experience in BPD is not related to increased amygdala activity per se, but rather to decreased habituation to self-conscious emotions. This provides an explanation for the inconsistencies in previous imaging work on amygdala involvement in BPD as well as the typically slow progress in the psychotherapy of dysfunctional self-conscious emotions in this patient group

Results of the MTLRS-1 upgrade

In this report, the results of the upgrade of the German Modular Transportable Laser Ranging System MTLRS-1 are summarized. A short description of the new components and their influence on the system accuracy is given. It is shown, that the single shot accuracy of the MTLRS-1 has been improved from 5 cm to 1 cm

LTR12 promoter activation in a broad range of human tumor cells by HDAC inhibition

A considerable proportion of the human genome consists of transposable elements, including the long terminal repeats (LTRs) of endogenous retroviruses. During evolution, such LTRs were occasionally inserted upstream of protein-coding genes, contributing to their regulation. We previously identified the LTR12 from endogenous retrovirus 9 (ERV9) as a regulator of proapoptotic genes such as TP63 or TNFRSF10B. The promoter activity of LTR12 is largely confined to the testes, silenced in testicular carcinoma, but reactivated in testicular cancer cells by broad-range histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. Here we show that inhibition of HDAC1-3 is sufficient for LTR12 activation. Importantly, HDAC inhibitors induce LTR12 activity not only in testicular cancer cells, but also in cells derived from many additional tumor species. Finally, we characterize the transcription factor NF-Y as a mediator of LTR12 promoter activity and HDAC inhibitor-induced apoptosis, in the context of widespread genomic binding of NF-Y to specific LTR12 sequences. Thus, HDAC inhibitor-driven LTR12 activation represents a generally applicable means to induce proapoptotic genes in human cancer cells

MR-guided adaptive stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) of primary tumor for pain control in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC): an open randomized, multicentric, parallel group clinical trial (MASPAC)

BACKGROUND Pain symptoms in the upper abdomen and back are prevalent in 80% of patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC), where the current standard treatment is a systemic therapy consisting of at least doublet-chemotherapy for fit patients. Palliative low-dose radiotherapy is a well-established local treatment option but there is some evidence for a better and longer pain response after a dose-intensified radiotherapy of the primary pancreatic cancer (pPCa). Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) can deliver high radiation doses in few fractions, therefore reducing chemotherapy-free intervals. However, prospective data on pain control after SBRT of pPCa is very limited. Therefore, we aim to investigate the impact of SBRT on pain control in patients with mPDAC in a prospective trial. METHODS This is a prospective, double-arm, randomized controlled, international multicenter study testing the added benefit of MR-guided adaptive SBRT of the pPca embedded between standard of care-chemotherapy (SoC-CT) cycles for pain control and prevention of pain in patients with mPDAC. 92 patients with histologically proven mPDAC and at least stable disease after initial 8 weeks of SoC-CT will be eligible for the trial and 1:1 randomized in 3 centers in Germany and Switzerland to either experimental arm A, receiving MR-guided SBRT of the pPCa with 5 × 6.6 Gy at 80% isodose with continuation of SoC-CT thereafter, or control arm B, continuing SoC-CT without SBRT. Daily MR-guided plan adaptation intents to achieve good target coverage, while simultaneously minimizing dose to organs at risk. Patients will be followed up for minimum 6 and maximum of 18 months. The primary endpoint of the study is the "mean cumulative pain index" rated every 4 weeks until death or end of study using numeric rating scale. DISCUSSION An adequate long-term control of pain symptoms in patients with mPDAC is an unmet clinical need. Despite improvements in systemic treatment, local complications due to pPCa remain a clinical challenge. We hypothesize that patients with mPDAC will benefit from a local treatment of the pPCa by MR-guided SBRT in terms of a durable pain control with a simultaneously favorable safe toxicity profile translating into an improvement of quality-of-life. TRIAL REGISTRATION German Registry for Clinical Trials (DRKS): DRKS00025801. Meanwhile the study is also registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with the Identifier: NCT05114213

A 2D position sensitive germanium detector for spectroscopy and polarimetry of high-energetic x-rays

We report on a first prototype 2D μ-strip germanium detector, developed at IKP-Jülich, and its performance test at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. Beside an accurate determination of the detector response function, the polarization sensitivity has been addressed in this study. For this purpose photon beams at energies of 60 keV and 210 keV have been used

MR-guided adaptive stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) of primary tumor for pain control in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC): an open randomized, multicentric, parallel group clinical trial (MASPAC)

BACKGROUND: Pain symptoms in the upper abdomen and back are prevalent in 80% of patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC), where the current standard treatment is a systemic therapy consisting of at least doublet-chemotherapy for fit patients. Palliative low-dose radiotherapy is a well-established local treatment option but there is some evidence for a better and longer pain response after a dose-intensified radiotherapy of the primary pancreatic cancer (pPCa). Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) can deliver high radiation doses in few fractions, therefore reducing chemotherapy-free intervals. However, prospective data on pain control after SBRT of pPCa is very limited. Therefore, we aim to investigate the impact of SBRT on pain control in patients with mPDAC in a prospective trial. METHODS: This is a prospective, double-arm, randomized controlled, international multicenter study testing the added benefit of MR-guided adaptive SBRT of the pPca embedded between standard of care-chemotherapy (SoC-CT) cycles for pain control and prevention of pain in patients with mPDAC. 92 patients with histologically proven mPDAC and at least stable disease after initial 8 weeks of SoC-CT will be eligible for the trial and 1:1 randomized in 3 centers in Germany and Switzerland to either experimental arm A, receiving MR-guided SBRT of the pPCa with 5 × 6.6 Gy at 80% isodose with continuation of SoC-CT thereafter, or control arm B, continuing SoC-CT without SBRT. Daily MR-guided plan adaptation intents to achieve good target coverage, while simultaneously minimizing dose to organs at risk. Patients will be followed up for minimum 6 and maximum of 18 months. The primary endpoint of the study is the “mean cumulative pain index” rated every 4 weeks until death or end of study using numeric rating scale. DISCUSSION: An adequate long-term control of pain symptoms in patients with mPDAC is an unmet clinical need. Despite improvements in systemic treatment, local complications due to pPCa remain a clinical challenge. We hypothesize that patients with mPDAC will benefit from a local treatment of the pPCa by MR-guided SBRT in terms of a durable pain control with a simultaneously favorable safe toxicity profile translating into an improvement of quality-of-life. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Registry for Clinical Trials (DRKS): DRKS00025801. Meanwhile the study is also registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with the Identifier: NCT05114213

Association of estradiol and visceral fat with structural brain networks and memory performance in adults

Importance Changes in estradiol during aging are associated with increased dementia risk. It remains unclear how estradiol supports cognitive health and whether risk factors, such as midlife obesity, are exacerbated by estrogen loss. Objectives To assess whether visceral adipose tissue (VAT) moderates the association between age and brain network structure and to investigate whether estradiol moderates the association between VAT and brain network structure. Design, Setting, and Participants Cross-sectional study of data from 974 cognitively healthy adults in Germany who participated in the Health Study of the Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases, a previously described population-based cohort study. Two moderation analyses were performed, including VAT as the moderator variable between age and brain network structure and estradiol as the moderator variable between VAT and brain network structure. The study was conducted from August 1, 2011, to November 23, 2014. Analyses were conducted from August 2017 to September 201