Midlatitude ClO during the maximum atmospheric chlorine burden : in situ balloon measurements and model simulations

Chlorine monoxide (ClO) plays a key role in stratospheric ozone loss processes at midlatitudes. We present two balloonborne in situ measurements of ClO conducted in northern hemisphere midlatitudes during the period of the maximum of total inorganic chlorine loading in the atmosphere. Both ClO measurements were conducted on board the TRIPLE balloon payload, launched in November 1996 in Le´on, Spain, and in May 1999 in Aire sur l’Adour, France. For both flights a ClO daylight and night time vertical profile could be derived over an altitude range of approximately 15–31 km. ClO mixing ratios are compared to model simulations performed with the photochemical box model version of the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS). Simulations along 24-h backward trajectories were performed to study the diurnal variation of ClO in the midlatitude lower stratosphere. Model simulations for the flight launched in Aire sur l’Adour 1999 show a good agreement with the ClO measurements. For the flight launched in Le´on 1996, a similar good agreement is found, except at around ~ 650 K potential temperature (~26km altitude). However, a tendency is found that for solar zenith angles greater than 86°–87° the simulated ClO mixing ratios substantially overestimate measured ClO by approximately a factor of 2.5 or more for both flights. Therefore we conclude that no indication can be deduced from the presented ClO measurements that substantial uncertainties exist in midlatitude chlorine chemistry of the stratosphere. An exception is the situation at solar zenith angles greater than 86°–87° where model simulations substantial overestimate ClO observations

PMAS: The Potsdam Multi Aperture Spectrophotometer. II. The Wide Integral Field Unit PPak

PPak is a new fiber-based Integral Field Unit (IFU), developed at the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, implemented as a module into the existing PMAS spectrograph. The purpose of PPak is to provide both an extended field-of-view with a large light collecting power for each spatial element, as well as an adequate spectral resolution. The PPak system consists of a fiber bundle with 331 object, 36 sky and 15 calibration fibers. The object and sky fibers collect the light from the focal plane behind a focal reducer lens. The object fibers of PPak, each 2.7 arcseconds in diameter, provide a contiguous hexagonal field-of-view of 74 times 64 arcseconds on the sky, with a filling factor of 60%. The operational wavelength range is from 400 to 900nm. The PPak-IFU, together with the PMAS spectrograph, are intended for the study of extended, low surface brightness objects, offering an optimization of total light-collecting power and spectral resolution. This paper describes the instrument design, the assembly, integration and tests, the commissioning and operational procedures, and presents the measured performance at the telescope.Comment: 14 pages, 21 figures, accepted at PAS

Electronic structure and optoelectronic properties of strained InAsSb/GaSb multi quantum wells

A study of the optical properties of a set of InAsxSb1-x/Al0.15In0.85As0.77Sb0.23/GaSb multiple quantum-wells (for x between 0.82 and 0.92) with build-in strains in the -0.62% to +0.05%-range is presented. The energy of the lowest quantum-confined optical transition is calculated by kp perturbation theory and experimentally determined by absorption measurements. Stokes shift of photoluminescence, photocurrent and of the emission from light emitting devices against the absorption edge of the quantum-well are quantified. The impact of the decreasing carrier confinement in the InAsxSb1-x quantum well system with increasing mole fraction is analyzed theoretically, and experimentally demonstrated by photoluminescence measurement. Our results allow for the improvement of optoelectronic devices, in particular for tailoring emission spectra of light emitting diodes

Zurich Consensus: German Expert Opinion on the St. Gallen Votes on 15 March 2009 (11th International Conference at St. Gallen: Primary Therapy of Early Breast Cancer)

A German working group of 23 breast cancer experts discussed the results from the vote at this year's St. Gallen Consensus Conference on Primary Therapy for Early Breast Cancer ( March 11-14, 2009) and came up with some concrete recommendations for day-to-day therapeutic decisions in Germany. Due the fact that the concept of the St. Gallen Consensus Conference merely allows for a minimal consensus, the objective of the working group was to provide practice-related recommendations for day-to-day clinical decisions in Germany. One area of emphasis at St. Gallen was tumor biology as a starting point for reaching individual therapeutic decisions. Intensive discussion was necessary with respect to the clinical relevance of predictive and prognostic factors. A new addition to the area of systemic therapy was a first-ever discussion of the adjuvant administration of bisphosponates and the fact that therapy with trastuzumab in HER2 overexpressing breast cancer has been defined as the standard for neoadjuvant therapy. The value of taxanes as a component of (neo) adjuvant chemotherapy as well as the value of aromatase inhibitors for the endocrine adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal patients were affirmed

Experimental evaluation of the effectiveness of water mist automated fire extinguishing systems for oil transportation

Experimental investigation of regularities of carryover of water mist droplets (radius of 50 - 500 [mu]m) by high temperature (500 - 1800 K) products of combustion of typical petroleum products (oil, gasoline, kerosene, etc.) was carried out. The panoramic optical methods and high-speed hardware and software systems were used. Speeds of droplets after mixing with oncoming high temperature gases were determined. Conditions of continuation of droplets movement through combustion products with preservation of initial trajectory in spite of intensive evaporation and braking were found. The predictive evaluation of effectiveness of water mist use for extinguishing of fires involving oil and typical petroleum products

Zurich Consensus: Statement of German Experts on St. Gallen Conference 2011 on Primary Breast Cancer (Zurich 2011)

Every 2 years, the International Consensus Conference on the Treatment of Primary Breast Cancer takes place in St. Gallen. Given that the concept of the St. Gallen Consensus Conference mainly reflects an international opinion, it appears useful to adapt the results of the vote for everyday therapy in Germany. A German working group comprising 28 breast cancer experts, amongst whom there are 3 members of the international St. Gallen panel, has therefore commented on this year's St. Gallen Consensus Conference (2011) from the German viewpoint. The focus of interest of this year's St. Gallen Conference was tumour biology as the starting point for decisions regarding individual therapy. There was an intensive discussion in relation to the clinical relevance of predictive and prognostic factors and possible consequences for decisions regarding therapy. Therefore, questions concerning the indication for adjuvant chemotherapy focused especially on the significance of the molecular phenotype of the tumour. In addition, important points for discussion were also the value of complete axillary dissection and the use of accelerated complete breast irradiation

Two-dimensional X-ray diffraction as a tool for the rapid, non-destructive detection of low calcite quantities in aragonitic corals

Paleoclimate reconstructions based on reef corals require precise detection of diagenetic alteration. Secondary calcite can significantly affect paleotemperature reconstructions at very low amounts of ~1%. X-ray powder diffraction is routinely used to detect diagenetic calcite in aragonitic corals. This procedure has its limitations as single powder samples might not represent the entire coral heterogeneity. A conventional and a 2-D X-ray diffractometer were calibrated with gravimetric powder standards of high and low magnesium calcite (0.3% to 25% calcite). Calcite contents <1% can be recognized with both diffractometer setups based on the peak area of the calcite [104] reflection. An advantage of 2-D-XRD over convenient 1-D-XRD methods is the nondestructive and rapid detection of calcite with relatively high spatial resolution directly on coral slabs. The calcite detection performance of the 2-D-XRD setup was tested on thin sections from fossil Porites sp. samples that, based on powder XRD measurements, showed <1% calcite. Quantification of calcite contents for these thin sections based on 2-D-XRD and digital image analysis showed very similar results. This enables spot measurements with diameters of ∼4 mm, as well as systematic line scans along potential tracks previous to geochemical proxy sampling. In this way, areas affected by diagenetic calcite can be avoided and alternative sampling tracks can be defined. Alternatively, individual sampling positions that show dubious proxy results can later be checked for the presence of calcite. The presented calibration and quantification method can be transferred to any 2-D X-ray diffractometer

Shifting cancer care towards Multidisciplinarity: the cancer center certification program of the German cancer society

Background: Over the last decades numerous initiatives have been set up that aim at translating the best available medical knowledge and treatment into clinical practice. The inherent complexity of the programs and discrepancies in the terminology used make it difficult to appreciate each of them distinctly and compare their specific strengths and weaknesses. To allow comparison and stimulate dialogue between different programs, we in this paper provide an overview of the German Cancer Society certification program for multidisciplinary cancer centers that was established in 2003. Main body: In the early 2000s the German Cancer Society assessed the available information on quality of cancer care in Germany and concluded that there was a definite need for a comprehensive, transparent and evidence-based system of quality assessment and control. This prompted the development and implementation of a voluntary cancer center certification program that was promoted by scientific societies, health-care providers, and patient advocacy groups and based on guidelines of the highest quality level (S3). The certification system structures the entire process of care from prevention to screening and multidisciplinary treatment of cancer and places multidisciplinary teams at the heart of this program. Within each network of providers, the quality of care is documented using tumor-specific quality indicators. The system started with breast cancer centers in 2003 and colorectal cancer centers in 2006. In 2017, certification systems are established for the majority of cancers. Here we describe the rationale behind the certification program, its history, the development of the certification requirements, the process of data collection, and the certification process as an example for the successful implementation of a voluntary but powerful system to ensure and improve quality of cancer care. Conclusion: Since 2003, over 1 million patients had their primary tumors treated in a certified center. There are now over 1200 sites for different tumor entities in four countries that have been certified in accordance with the program and transparently report their results from multidisciplinary treatment for a substantial proportion of cancers. This led to a fundamental change in the structure of cancer care in Germany and neighboring countries within one decade

Seminal plasma as a source of prostate cancer peptide biomarker candidates for detection of indolent and advanced disease

Background:Extensive prostate specific antigen screening for prostate cancer generates a high number of unnecessary biopsies and over-treatment due to insufficient differentiation between indolent and aggressive tumours. We hypothesized that seminal plasma is a robust source of novel prostate cancer (PCa) biomarkers with the potential to improve primary diagnosis of and to distinguish advanced from indolent disease. &lt;br&gt;Methodology/Principal Findings: In an open-label case/control study 125 patients (70 PCa, 21 benign prostate hyperplasia, 25 chronic prostatitis, 9 healthy controls) were enrolled in 3 centres. Biomarker panels a) for PCa diagnosis (comparison of PCa patients versus benign controls) and b) for advanced disease (comparison of patients with post surgery Gleason score &#60;7 versus Gleason score &#62;&gt;7) were sought. Independent cohorts were used for proteomic biomarker discovery and testing the performance of the identified biomarker profiles. Seminal plasma was profiled using capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry. Pre-analytical stability and analytical precision of the proteome analysis were determined. Support vector machine learning was used for classification. Stepwise application of two biomarker signatures with 21 and 5 biomarkers provided 83% sensitivity and 67% specificity for PCa detection in a test set of samples. A panel of 11 biomarkers for advanced disease discriminated between patients with Gleason score 7 and organ-confined (&#60;pT3a) or advanced (&#8805;pT3a) disease with 80% sensitivity and 82% specificity in a preliminary validation setting. Seminal profiles showed excellent pre-analytical stability. Eight biomarkers were identified as fragments of N-acetyllactosaminide beta-1,3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase​,prostatic acid phosphatase, stabilin-2, GTPase IMAP family member 6, semenogelin-1 and -2. Restricted sample size was the major limitation of the study.&lt;/br&gt; &lt;br&gt;Conclusions/Significance: Seminal plasma represents a robust source of potential peptide makers for primary PCa diagnosis. Our findings warrant further prospective validation to confirm the diagnostic potential of identified seminal biomarker candidates.&lt;/br&gt