A Public Health-Based Approach to German Gaming Regulation

The current situation of the German gambling market can be characterized by an unrelated framework of different legal systems, different regulatory authorities and different control principles, and has led to (1) an increasing number of court decisions and information requests by European Commission questioning parts of that regulatory system, (2) public tolerance of illicit gambling, and consequently (3) a lack of consumer protection. Taking RENO Model 1.0 and 2.0 seriously, a new and comprehensive regulatory framework based on common consumer protection standards for all types of gambling – land-based and online, state-owned and private operated – has been developed and will be presented. The framework backed by a group of leading scientists, health care and gambling providers, includes recent scientific evidence on epidemiology and etiology of gambling behavior and gambling disorder into a model of shared responsibility

Correlation of passivity symptoms and dysfunctional visuomotor action monitoring in psychosis

Passivity experiences are hallmark symptoms of schizophrenia that can be characterized by the belief that one's thoughts or actions are controlled by an external agent. It has recently been suggested that these psychotic experiences result from defective monitoring of one's own actions, i.e. disturbed comparison of actions and perceived outcomes. In this study, we examined the function of the previously characterized action monitoring network of the inferior parietal lobule (IPL), medial (mPFC) and lateral prefrontal cortices in patients with different levels of passivity symptoms with an fMRI task. The visuomotor fMRI task demanded control of visually perceived object movements by alternating button presses with the left and the right index finger. In the monitoring condition of this task subjects stopped their actions whenever they detected visuomotor incongruence. fMRI and behavioural data from 15 patients were tested for correlation with passivity symptoms using standardized Scale for Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS)- and AMDP- passivity symptom ratings. Both types of data were tested for differences between the patients group and 15 healthy controls. In the patient group we found the expected correlation of passivity symptoms and visuomotor monitoring performance. There was a significant positive correlation of passivity symptoms with increased latency of incongruence detection and a negative correlation of SAPS-passivity with the number of detected events. fMRI data revealed correlations of passivity symptoms with activation in bilateral IPL, primary motor and sensory cortices in the action monitoring condition. A correlation of passivity symptoms with the main experimental effect (actions with - actions without monitoring) was found in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and in the left IPL. No group differences or group by task interactions were found within the visuomotor-action-monitoring network. Our results demonstrate the association between passivity symptoms and the dysfunction of visuomotor action monitoring and support the idea that psychotic passivity experiences result from dysfunctions of central action monitoring mechanisms: According to pre-existing concepts of parietal cortex function, IPL-hyperactivation may represent an increase in false detections of visuomotor incongruence while the correlation between passivity and the differential effect of monitoring on PCC-activation assumedly represents greater self-monitoring effort in passivity experience

Correlation of passivity symptoms and dysfunctional visuomotor action monitoring in psychosis

Passivity experiences are hallmark symptoms of schizophrenia that can be characterized by the belief that one's thoughts or actions are controlled by an external agent. It has recently been suggested that these psychotic experiences result from defective monitoring of one's own actions, i.e. disturbed comparison of actions and perceived outcomes. In this study, we examined the function of the previously characterized action monitoring network of the inferior parietal lobule (IPL), medial (mPFC) and lateral prefrontal cortices in patients with different levels of passivity symptoms with an fMRI task. The visuomotor fMRI task demanded control of visually perceived object movements by alternating button presses with the left and the right index finger. In the monitoring condition of this task subjects stopped their actions whenever they detected visuomotor incongruence. fMRI and behavioural data from 15 patients were tested for correlation with passivity symptoms using standardized Scale for Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS)- and AMDP- passivity symptom ratings. Both types of data were tested for differences between the patients group and 15 healthy controls. In the patient group we found the expected correlation of passivity symptoms and visuomotor monitoring performance. There was a significant positive correlation of passivity symptoms with increased latency of incongruence detection and a negative correlation of SAPS-passivity with the number of detected events. fMRI data revealed correlations of passivity symptoms with activation in bilateral IPL, primary motor and sensory cortices in the action monitoring condition. A correlation of passivity symptoms with the main experimental effect (actions with – actions without monitoring) was found in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and in the left IPL. No group differences or group by task interactions were found within the visuomotor-action-monitoring network. Our results demonstrate the association between passivity symptoms and the dysfunction of visuomotor action monitoring and support the idea that psychotic passivity experiences result from dysfunctions of central action monitoring mechanisms: According to pre-existing concepts of parietal cortex function, IPL-hyperactivation may represent an increase in false detections of visuomotor incongruence while the correlation between passivity and the differential effect of monitoring on PCC-activation assumedly represents greater self-monitoring effort in passivity experiences

An Intensive Observation of Calving at Helheim Glacier, East Greenland

Calving of glacial ice into the ocean from the Greenland Ice Sheet is an important component of global sea level rise. The calving process itself is relatively poorly observed, understood, and modeled; as such, it represents a bottleneck in improving future global sea level estimates in climate models. We organized a pilot project to observe the calving process at Helheim Glacier in East Greenland in an effort to better understand it. During an intensive one-week survey, we deployed a suite of instrumentation including a terrestrial radar interferometer, GPS receivers, seismometers, tsunameters, and an automated weather station. This effort captured a calving process and measured various glaciological, oceanographic, and atmospheric parameters before, during, and after the event. One outcome of our observations is evidence that the calving process actually consists of a number of discrete events, spread out over time, in this instance over at least two days. This time span has implications for models of the process. Realistic projections of future global sea level will depend on accurate parametrization of calving, which will require more sustained observations

Caprin-1, a novel Cyr61-interacting protein, promotes osteosarcoma tumor growth and lung metastasis in mice

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary bone malignancy in children and adolescents. More than 30% of patients develop lung metastasis, which is the leading cause of mortality. Recently, the extracellular matrix protein Cyr61 has been recognized as a malignancy promoting protein in OS mouse model with prognostic potential in human OS. In this study, we aimed at the identification of novel Cyr61-interacting proteins. Here we report that Cyr61 associates with Caprin-1, and confocal microscopy showed that stable ectopic expression of Caprin-1 leads to the formation of stress granules containing Caprin-1 and Cyr61, confers resistance to cisplatin-induced apoptosis, and resulted in constitutive phosphorylation of Akt and ERK1/2. Importantly, ectopic expression of Caprin-1 dramatically enhanced primary tumor growth, remarkably increased lung metastatic load in a SCID intratibial OS mouse model, and decreased significantly (p<0.0018) the survival of the mice. Although Caprin-1 expression, evaluated with a tissue microarray including samples from 59 OS patients, failed to be an independent predictor for the patients' outcome in this limited cohort of patients, increased Caprin-1 expression indicated a tendency to shortened overall survival, and more strikingly, Cyr61/Caprin-1 co-expression was associated with worse survival than that observed for patients with tumors expressing either Cyr61 or Caprin-1 alone or none of these proteins. The findings imply that Caprin-1 may have a metastasis promoting role in OS and show that through resistance to apoptosis and via the activation of Akt and ERK1/2 pathways, Caprin-1 is significantly involved in the development of OS metastasis

ARC-TEC : acquisition, representation and compilation of technical knowledge

A global description of an expert system shell for the domain of mechanical engineering is presented. The ARC-TEC project constitutes an AI approach to realize the CIM idea. Along with conceptual solutions, it provides a continuous sequence of software tools for the acquisition, representation and compilation of technical knowledge. The shell combines the KADS knowledge-acquisition methodology, the KL-ONE representation theory and the WAM compilation technology. For its evaluation a prototypical expert system for production planning is developed. A central part of the system is a knowledge base formalizing the relevant aspects of common sense in mechanical engineering. Thus, ARC-TEC is less general than the CYC project but broader than specific expert systems for planning or diagnosis

PHAT Stellar Cluster Survey I. Year 1 Catalog and Integrated Photometry

The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) survey is an on-going Hubble Space Telescope (HST) multi-cycle program to obtain high spatial resolution imaging of one-third of the M31 disk at ultraviolet through near-infrared wavelengths. In this paper, we present the first installment of the PHAT stellar cluster catalog. When completed, the PHAT cluster catalog will be among the largest and most comprehensive surveys of resolved star clusters in any galaxy. The exquisite spatial resolution achieved with HST has allowed us to identify hundreds of new clusters that were previously inaccessible with existing ground-based surveys. We identify 601 clusters in the Year 1 sample, representing more than a factor of four increase over previous catalogs within the current survey area (390 arcmin^2). This work presents results derived from the first \sim25% of the survey data; we estimate that the final sample will include \sim2500 clusters. For the Year 1 objects, we present a catalog with positions, radii, and six-band integrated photometry. Along with a general characterization of the cluster luminosities and colors, we discuss the cluster luminosity function, the cluster size distributions, and highlight a number of individually interesting clusters found in the Year 1 search.Comment: 26 pages, 22 figures, Accepted by Ap

The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury I: Bright UV Stars in the Bulge of M31

As part of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) multi-cycle program, we observed a 12' \times 6.5' area of the bulge of M31 with the WFC3/UVIS filters F275W and F336W. From these data we have assembled a sample of \sim4000 UV-bright, old stars, vastly larger than previously available. We use updated Padova stellar evolutionary tracks to classify these hot stars into three classes: Post-AGB stars (P-AGB), Post-Early AGB (PE-AGB) stars and AGB-manqu\'e stars. P-AGB stars are the end result of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase and are expected in a wide range of stellar populations, whereas PE-AGB and AGB-manqu\'e (together referred to as the hot post-horizontal branch; HP-HB) stars are the result of insufficient envelope masses to allow a full AGB phase, and are expected to be particularly prominent at high helium or {\alpha} abundances when the mass loss on the RGB is high. Our data support previous claims that most UV-bright sources in the bulge are likely hot (extreme) horizontal branch stars (EHB) and their progeny. We construct the first radial profiles of these stellar populations, and show that they are highly centrally concentrated, even more so than the integrated UV or optical light. However, we find that this UV-bright population does not dominate the total UV luminosity at any radius, as we are detecting only the progeny of the EHB stars that are the likely source of the UVX. We calculate that only a few percent of MS stars in the central bulge can have gone through the HP-HB phase and that this percentage decreases strongly with distance from the center. We also find that the surface density of hot UV-bright stars has the same radial variation as that of low-mass X-ray binaries. We discuss age, metallicity, and abundance variations as possible explanations for the observed radial variation in the UV-bright population.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Prevalence of Bisphosphonate Associated Osteonecrosis of the Jaws in Breast Cancer Patients

Svrha rada: Zadatak je bio ocijeniti tijekom sistematičnih oralnih pregleda prevalenciju nekroze kostiju povezanu s bisfosfanatima (BP-ONJ) i zaštitnim čimbenicima od razvoja BP-ONJ-a kod pacijentica s rakom dojke i koštanim metastazama pod terapijom bisfosfanatima. Ispitanici i metode: Na Odjelu ginekologije klinike u Mainzu (Njemačka) bila je provedena retrospektivna studija. Sudjelovale su sve pacijentice s rakom dojke (n=51) pod terapijom bisfosfanatima u razdoblju od srpnja 2006. do rujna 2007. Primarni kriterij bio je razvoj BP-ONJ-a i traženje mogućih dodatnih “okidača” za njegov razvoj te eventualni čimbenici za izbjegavanje. Rezultati: Samo kod jedne od 51 pacijentice razvio se BP-ONJ (2,0%). Pretpostavlja se da bi se kao dodatni “okidač” mogla identificirati ekstrakcija zuba. Stupanj oralne higijene tih pacijentica bio je iznad prosjeka. Zaključak: U usporedbi s ostalim malignim bolestima, BP-ONJ se kod pacijentica s rakom dojke ne javlja često. Primarna bolest mogla bi utjecati na njegov razvoj. Vjeruje se da bi dobra oralna higijena mogla biti zaštitni čimbenik.Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of Bisphosphonate-associated-osteonecrosis-of-the-jaws (BP-ONJ) and protective factors of BP-ONJ-development in breast cancer patients with osseous metastasis and bisphosphonate therapy using systematical dental oral examinations. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional-study was conducted in the Department for Gynecology in Mainz, Germany. All breast cancer patients (n=51) treated with bisphosphonate in the time span from 07/2006 to 09/2007 were recruited. Primary outcome was the development of BP-ONJ and the detection of possible additional trigger factors for the development of BP-ONJ, as well as possible factors for avoiding BP-ONJ. Results: Only 1 out of 51 patients developed BP-ONJ (2.0%). A tooth extraction could be identified as an additional trigger factor. The overall dental hygiene of this patient clientele was above average. Conclusion: Compared to other alignant diseases, BP-ONJ in breast cancer patients does not appear as often. The underlying disease might be of importance in the development of BP-ONJ. A good dental hygiene might be a protective factor

TUG Test Instrumentation for Parkinson’s disease patients using Inertial Sensors and Dynamic Time Warping

The Timed Up and Go (TUG) test is a clinical tool widely used to evaluate balance and mobility, e.g. in Parkinson’s disease (PD). This test includes a sequence of functional activities, namely: sit-to-stand, 3-meters walk, 180° turning, walk back, and turn-to-sit. The work introduces a new method to instrument the TUG test using a wearable inertial sen-sor unit (DynaPort Hybrid, McRoberts B.V., NL) attached on the lower back of the person. It builds on Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) for detection and duration assessment of associated state transitions. An automatic assessment to sub-stitute a manual evaluation with visual observation and a stopwatch is aimed at to gain objective information about the patients. The algorithm was tested on data of 10 healthy individuals and 20 patients with Parkinson's disease (10 pa-tients for early and late disease phases respectively). The algorithm successfully extracted the time information of the sit-to-stand, turn and turn-to-sit transitions