Angehörigenkontakt in der Rechtsmedizin: Eine Schweizer Untersuchung

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Mit der vorgestellten Arbeit wurde erstmals der Kontakt zu Angehörigen von Verstorbenen in der forensischen Medizin aus Sicht der Ärzteschaft untersucht, da dieser in der Schweiz zur täglichen Aufgabe gehört. Methode: Hierzu wurde ein anonymisierter Fragebogen an Ärzte aller deutschsprachigen rechtsmedizinischen Institute der Schweiz versendet und ausgewertet. Ergebnisse: Es konnte bestätigt werden, dass es überwiegend die Angehörigen sind (53%), die diesen Kontakt meist telefonisch (43%) suchen, um sich Klarheit über den Tod der nahegestandenen Person zu verschaffen. Sie (73%) empfinden diesen Kontakt als sehr wichtig und wünschen sich, wie auch in anderen Arbeiten beschrieben, ausführlich und gut verständlich informiert zu werden. Dies ist allerdings in der Rechtsmedizin aufgrund juristischer Hintergründe nicht ohne Weiteres möglich, was von der Mehrheit der Ärzte (64%) als Einschränkung wahrgenommen und durch die Empfehlung professioneller Hilfe (64%) abgefangen wird. Eine weitere wichtige Erkenntnis ist die Tatsache, dass die Mediziner während ihrer rechtsmedizinischen Facharztweiterbildung keinerlei verpflichtende (82%) und nur einzelne freiwillige (27%) Ausbildungsmodule zu dieser Tätigkeit absolvieren. Der besonderen Situation des Umgangs mit Menschen nach Konfrontation mit dem plötzlichen, unerwarteten und möglicherweise gewaltsamen Tod eines nahegestandenen Menschen wird vonseiten der Ausbildenden (Fachgesellschaften) bisher keine Rechnung getragen. Schlussfolgerungen: Laut Studie wünschten sich mehr als zwei Drittel der Befragten (67%) eine spezifische Fortbildung. Deshalb wurde in Zürich im Sommer 2010 hierzu bereits ein Pilotprojekt unter der Leitung eines Psychologen (Univ.-Prof. Dr. Gernot Brauchle) durchgeführt, an dem Ärzte aller rechtsmedizinischen Institute der Schweiz teilnahme

Aktive implantierbare medizinische Geräte: Rechtsmedizinische Aspekte

Zusammenfassung: Aktive implantierbare medizinische Geräte ("active implantable medical devices", AIMD) wie Herzschrittmacher ("pacemaker", PM) und Defibrillatoren ("implantable cardioverter-defibrillator", ICD) erfreuen sich seit nunmehr einem halben Jahrhundert (erste PM-Implantation 1958 von Elmqvist und Senning) resp. mehr als 30Jahren (erste ICD-Implantation 1980 von Mirowski) steigender Beliebtheit und werden mit zunehmender Häufigkeit eingesetzt. Statistiken zeigen, dass allein in Deutschland jährlich mehr als 98.000, vorwiegend ältere Patienten (mittleres Alter 75Jahre) einen PM und mehr als 21.000Menschen einen ICD erhalten. Auf 1Mio. Einwohner entfallen somit rund 1200PM und mehr als 260ICD. Auch im rechtsmedizinischen Obduktionsgut und im Rahmen von Leichenschauen spielen derartige Implantate eine wichtige Rolle. Hier stellt sich bei der Begutachtung u.a. die Frage nach möglicherweise todesursächlichen Komplikationen während und nach Implantation sowie Dysfunktionen der Systeme. Wichtige Details für die forensische Arbeit und den postmortalen Umgang mit diesen Implantaten wie Bildgebung (CT, MRT), Präparationstechnik und Explantation sowie das Auslesen und Interpretieren der gespeicherten Daten werden vorgestellt. Zudem wird auf die Möglichkeit der Leichenidentifikation mithilfe von Implantaten hingewiese

Noncanonical, Dopamine-Dependent Long-Term Potentiation at Hippocampal Output Synapses in a Rodent Model of First-Episode Psychosis

Cognitive deficits and positive symptoms in schizophrenia have both been linked to hippocampal dysfunction. Recently, subregion-specific aberrant and maladaptive hippocampal synaptic plasticity has been suggested as one of the mechanistic underpinnings. The subiculum is the final output hub of the hippocampus and orchestrates hippocampal information transfer to other brain regions. While most CA1 pyramidal neurons show regular-spiking behavior, subicular output neurons comprise bursting and regular-firing pyramidal cells. These two cell types target different brain regions and express unique forms of synaptic plasticity. Here, we used a single systemic application of the noncompetitive glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist MK-801 to model first-episode psychosis in rats and studied long-term potentiation (LTP) in subicular regular-firing cells in acute hippocampal slices. Previously, we have reported a facilitation of a presynaptic, late-onset LTP in subicular bursting pyramidal cells after systemic NMDAR antagonism. Here, we show that single systemic NMDAR antagonist application also facilitates the induction of a noncanonical, but postsynaptic NMDAR-independent LTP in ventral subicular but not in CA1 regular-firing pyramidal cells. This form of LTP was dependent on D1/D5 dopamine receptor activation. Activation of D1/D5 dopamine receptors by a specific agonist mimicked and occluded LTP induced by electrical high-frequency stimulation (HFS). Furthermore, our results indicate that this form of LTP relies on postsynaptic Ca2+ signaling and requires the activation of protein kinase A. Considering the pivotal role of the subiculum as information gatekeeper between the hippocampus and other brain regions, this aberrant LTP in ventral subicular regular-firing neurons is expected to interfere with physiological hippocampal output processing and might thereby contribute to hippocampal dysfunction in psychotic events

Tests of silicon sensors for the CMS pixel detector

The tracking system of the CMS experiment, currently under construction at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN (Geneva, Switzerland), will include a silicon pixel detector providing three spacial measurements in its final configuration for tracks produced in high energy pp collisions. In this paper we present the results of test beam measurements performed at CERN on irradiated silicon pixel sensors. Lorentz angle and charge collection efficiency were measured for two sensor designs and at various bias voltages.Comment: Talk presented at 6th International Conference on Large Scale Applications and Radiation Hardness of Semiconductor Detectors, September 29-October 1, 2003, Firenze, Italy. Proceedings will be published in Nuclear Instr. & Methods in Phys. Research, Section

Quantitative performance characterization of three-dimensional noncontact fluorescence molecular tomography

© 2016 The Authors.Fluorescent proteins and dyes are routine tools for biological research to describe the behavior of genes, proteins, and cells, as well as more complex physiological dynamics such as vessel permeability and pharmacokinetics. The use of these probes in whole body in vivo imaging would allow extending the range and scope of current biomedical applications and would be of great interest. In order to comply with a wide variety of application demands, in vivo imaging platform requirements span from wide spectral coverage to precise quantification capabilities. Fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) detects and reconstructs in three dimensions the distribution of a fluorophore in vivo. Noncontact FMT allows fast scanning of an excitation source and noninvasive measurement of emitted fluorescent light using a virtual array detector operating in free space. Here, a rigorous process is defined that fully characterizes the performance of a custom-built horizontal noncontact FMT setup. Dynamic range, sensitivity, and quantitative accuracy across the visible spectrum were evaluated using fluorophores with emissions between 520 and 660 nm. These results demonstrate that high-performance quantitative three-dimensional visible light FMT allowed the detection of challenging mesenteric lymph nodes in vivo and the comparison of spectrally distinct fluorescent reporters in cell culture

The Transition State in a Noisy Environment

Transition State Theory overestimates reaction rates in solution because conventional dividing surfaces between reagents and products are crossed many times by the same reactive trajectory. We describe a recipe for constructing a time-dependent dividing surface free of such recrossings in the presence of noise. The no-recrossing limit of Transition State Theory thus becomes generally available for the description of reactions in a fluctuating environment

Symmetry-breaking thermally induced collapse of dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate a Bose-Einstein condensate with additional long-range dipolar interaction in a cylindrically symmetric trap within a variational framework. Compared to the ground state of this system, little attention has as yet been payed to its unstable excited states. For thermal excitations, however, the latter is of great interest, because it forms the "activated complex" that mediates the collapse of the condensate. For a certain value of the s-wave scatting length our investigations reveal a bifurcation in the transition state, leading to the emergence of two additional and symmetry-breaking excited states. Because these are of lower energy than their symmetric counterpart, we predict the occurrence of a symmetry-breaking thermally induced collapse of dipolar condensates. We show that its occurrence crucially depends on the trap geometry and calculate the thermal decay rates of the system within leading order transition state theory with the help of a uniform rate formula near the rank-2 saddle which allows to smoothly pass the bifurcation.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Finite size effects on transport coefficients for models of atomic wires coupled to phonons

We consider models of quasi-1-d, planar atomic wires consisting of several, laterally coupled rows of atoms, with mutually non-interacting electrons. This electronic wire system is coupled to phonons, corresponding, e.g., to some substrate. We aim at computing diffusion coefficients in dependence on the wire widths and the lateral coupling. To this end we firstly construct a numerically manageable linear collision term for the dynamics of the electronic occupation numbers by following a certain projection operator approach. By means of this collision term we set up a linear Boltzmann equation. A formula for extracting diffusion coefficients from such Boltzmann equations is given. We find in the regime of a few atomic rows and intermediate lateral coupling a significant and non-trivial dependence of the diffusion coefficient on both, the width and the lateral coupling. These results, in principle, suggest the possible applicability of such atomic wires as electronic devices, such as, e.g., switches.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.

The hydrogen atom in an electric field: Closed-orbit theory with bifurcating orbits

Closed-orbit theory provides a general approach to the semiclassical description of photo-absorption spectra of arbitrary atoms in external fields, the simplest of which is the hydrogen atom in an electric field. Yet, despite its apparent simplicity, a semiclassical quantization of this system by means of closed-orbit theory has not been achieved so far. It is the aim of this paper to close that gap. We first present a detailed analytic study of the closed classical orbits and their bifurcations. We then derive a simple form of the uniform semiclassical approximation for the bifurcations that is suitable for an inclusion into a closed-orbit summation. By means of a generalized version of the semiclassical quantization by harmonic inversion, we succeed in calculating high-quality semiclassical spectra for the hydrogen atom in an electric field