Anästhesiologische molekularmedizinische Forschung in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz: Eine bibliometrische Analyse

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Weltweit steigt die Anzahl anästhesiologischer Publikationen, in denen molekularmedizinische Methoden angewendet werden. Die präoperative Identifizierung anästhesierelevanter genetischer Erkrankungen oder eines erhöhten perioperativen Risikos wird in naher Zukunft mit solchen Techniken möglich sein. Allerdings ist das Beitragsaufkommen von deutschen, schweizerischen und österreichischen Anästhesieinstituten an dieser modernen Forschung unbekannt. Material und Methoden: Mithilfe einer Medline-Recherche im Internet wurden alle diesbezüglichen Arbeiten im Zeitraum von 1988-2002, die in deutschen, schweizerischen oder österreichischen Anästhesieabteilungen entstanden waren, ermittelt. Diese wurden in Bezug auf Publikationsjahr, Zeitschrift, Ursprungsort und Inhalt analysiert. Ergebnisse: Anästhesieabteilungen dieser 3Länder publizierten während der Beobachtungsperiode 121, 18 und 5Arbeiten mit molekularmedizinischem Inhalt (10%, 1,5% und 0,4% am weltweiten Publikationsaufkommen solcher Arbeiten). Während in Deutschland die Anzahl entsprechender anästhesiologischer Arbeiten analog der weltweiten Entwicklung stetig zunahm, blieb die Anzahl aus der Schweiz und Österreich über die Jahre konstant. Die meisten Arbeiten wurden in nichtanästhesiologischen Zeitschriften mit hohem "impact factor" veröffentlicht. Diskussion und Schlussfolgerung: Die Studie zeigt die quantitative Entwicklung auf dem Gebiet der molekularmedizinischen Forschung in den Anästhesieabteilungen von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. In Deutschland kann während der letzten Jahre eine deutliche Zunahme der molekularmedizinischen Forschung in Anästhesieabteilungen beobachtet werde

Relative-time inversions in the Labrador Sea acoustic tomography experiment.

One-year long travel-time data from the second deployment period of the Labrador Sea acoustic tomography experiment are analyzed, using a relative-time matched-peak approach, in order to invert for the sound-speed field and simultaneously solve for an unknown travel-time offset. From the relative-time inversions oceanographic information in terms of vertically averaged temperatures are deduced, yielding satisfactory matching with respect to available independent observations. The estimated offsets can be attributed to differential clock drifts, showing a clear parabolic behaviour over the course of the experiment, reaching maximum deviations from linear clock drift corrections (end-point calibrations) of the order of 50 ms. By applying the estimated second-order corrections to the travel-time data, absolute-time matched-peak inversions can then be performed. The used matched-peak approach accounts for the non-linear behaviour of travel times, which is due to the seasonally variable acoustic propagation conditions in the probed region, and turns out to be an appropriate tool in dealing with unknown travel-time offsets

Parasitism, Adult Emergence, Sex Ratio, and Size of \u3ci\u3eAphidius Colemani\u3c/i\u3e (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) on Several Aphid Species

Aphidius colemani Viereck parasitizes several economically important aphid pests of small grain crops including the greenbug, Schizaphis graminum and the Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia. The ability of A. colemani to switch from S. graminum to several species of aphids common to agricultural and associated non-agricultural ecosystems in the Great Plains, and the effects of host-change on several biological parameters that influence population growth rate were determined. Female A. colemani parasitized and developed to adulthood in nine of 14 aphid species to which they were exposed in the laboratory. All small grain feeding aphids except Sipha flava were parasi­tized. Two sunflower feeding species (Aphis nerii and A. helianthi) and two crucifer feeding species (Lipaphis erysimi and Brevicoryne brassicae) were parasitized, as was the cotton aphid. Aphis gossypii. The average percentage of aphids parasitized differed significantly among host aphid species. as did the percentage of parasitoids surviving from the mummy to the adult stage and the time required for immature development. The sex ratio of adults that enclosed from the various hosts did not differ significantly among species. Dry weights of adult parasitoids differed significantly among host species. Adults from S. graminum weighed most (0.054 mg) while those emerging from A. helianthi weighed least (0.020 mg). Results are discussed in terms of strategies for classical biological control of aphid pests of cereals

The Management Alternatives for Control of Nonpoint Nitrate Pollution of Municipal Water Supply Sources

Regional water management aims at satisfying different supply interests, where these interests are often conflicting. In particular, the competing interests of agriculture, the environment, and municipal water supply, are becoming increasingly important. In this setting of regional water management, nonpoint nitrate pollution of municipal water supply sources is one of the most severe problems. At present, this problem is particularly acute in developed regions with high levels of fertilizer application, but undoubtedly in the future, regions which are now in a developing stage will also face the same problem. So far, related research at IIASA has been concentrated in Task 3 of the Resources and Environment Area on "Environmental Problems of Agriculture." This work has dealt in particular with agricultural-environmental processes as they are related to crop production and thus has also provided insight into the important role of agriculture in the nitrogen cycle. Yet another side of the problem remains to be considered, and this is related to water supply and management. This paper therefore proposes a study on management alternatives for control of nonpoint pollution of municipal water supply sources. The study aims at integration of the already initiated studies on "Environmental Problems of Agriculture" with IIASA's water management research. At the same time, due to the role of agriculture in this study, the study will be integrated with IIASA's Food and Agriculture Program investigations. Moreover, because of the need for modeling techniques in analyzing the problem in question, the study will utilize the research results of IIASA's activities on ecological and water quality modeling and the research pursued by the Systems and Decision Sciences Area at IIASA. Due to the importance of the problem for the majority of IIASA's National Member Organizations an international study involving IIASA and several institutions of different NMO countries is proposed. Therefore, the paper has been written in a specific form and is to be considered a tentative plan for collaboration within and outside IIASA in order to achieve more comprehensive research results. We would therefore like to ask our readers for any comments, remarks, or suggestions that could help to improve the course of our future activities

Use of electromagnetic stimulation on an Enterococcus faecalis biofilm in root canal treated teeth in vitro

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Introduction: Nonsurgical root canal therapy procedures aim to reduce the total microbial load within an infected root canal system through chemomechanical debridement of the root canal system via instrumentation in conjunction with an antibacterial irrigating solution. The most commonly used irrigant is sodium hypochlorite, often at concentrations toxic to human cells. Electromagnetic wave irradiation is a novel method of disinfection that has been shown to be bactericidal against planktonic microorganisms in solution, but its efficacy against an established biofilm is unknown. Pilot studies have demonstrated a synergistic killing effect with sodium hypochlorite through a process termed electromagnetic stimulation (EMS). If confirmed, lower concentrations of the current gold standard of 6.0-percent sodium hypochlorite could be used to irrigate infected root canals during endodontic treatment, resulting in less toxicity to human cells. There are also regenerative implications as EMS could be used to disinfect the root canals of immature teeth using 1.5-percent sodium hypochlorite, as recommended by the American Association of Endodontists. Objectives: The purpose of this in-vitro study was to evaluate the anti-biofilm effect of EMS against an established biofilm of Enterococcus faecalis. Materials and Methods: Single rooted teeth were cut to a standardized length (12 mm) and instrumented with a 45.05 Wave One Gold reciprocating file. Specimens were sterilized and inoculated with E. faecalis, which grew for two weeks to form an established biofilm. There were five treatment groups: 1) 6.0-percent sodium hypochlorite; 2) 1.5-percent sodium hypochlorite; 3) 1.5-percent sodium hypochlorite with EMS; 4) 0.9-percent saline with EMS and 5) 0.9-percent saline. Samples were collected, plated, and incubated for two days. The number of CFUs/mL was determined and converted to log10. The effect of treatment group on bacterial counts was made using Wilcoxon Rank Sums Test. One sample per group was scored and split for confocal imaging. Null Hypothesis: Teeth treated with EMS in combination with 1.5-percent sodium hypochlorite or 0.9-percent saline will not demonstrate a significant anti-biofilm effect in comparison to those treated with 6.0-percent sodium hypochlorite alone. Results: 0.9-percent saline and 0.9-percent saline with EMS were significantly higher than 6.0-percent NaOCl, 1.5-percent NaOCl, and 1.5-percent NaOCl with EMS. 0.9-percent saline was significantly higher than 0.9-percent saline with EMS. The three groups that included treatment with NaOCl were not significantly different from each other. Confocal imaging confirmed the CFU findings. Conclusion: Because there was no growth in any of the NaOCl groups, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. However, there was an antibiofilm effect when comparing the two saline groups, demonstrating that EMS has an antibiofilm effect. Future studies should focus on determining what concentration of NaOCl is most effective in combination with EMS

Probably Safe or Live

This paper presents a formal characterisation of safety and liveness properties \`a la Alpern and Schneider for fully probabilistic systems. As for the classical setting, it is established that any (probabilistic tree) property is equivalent to a conjunction of a safety and liveness property. A simple algorithm is provided to obtain such property decomposition for flat probabilistic CTL (PCTL). A safe fragment of PCTL is identified that provides a sound and complete characterisation of safety properties. For liveness properties, we provide two PCTL fragments, a sound and a complete one. We show that safety properties only have finite counterexamples, whereas liveness properties have none. We compare our characterisation for qualitative properties with the one for branching time properties by Manolios and Trefler, and present sound and complete PCTL fragments for characterising the notions of strong safety and absolute liveness coined by Sistla

CPN Tools 4: Multi-formalism and Extensibility

Abstract. CPN Tools is an advanced tool for editing, simulating, and analyzing colored Petri nets. This paper discusses the fourth major re-lease of the tool, which makes it simple to use the tool for ordinary Petri nets, including adding inhibitor and reset arcs, and PNML export. This version also supports declarative modeling using constraints, and adds an extension framework making it easy for third parties to extend CPN Tools using Java.

Ultra-Light Ultra-Strong Proppants

The present invention provides a method of preparing a proppant material by heating a reaction mixture comprising a plurality of oxides in a reactive atmosphere to a temperature above the melting point of the reaction mixture to form a melt, and then allowing the melt to solidify in a mold in the form of spherical particles. The present invention also provides a method of preparing a proppant material by heating a reaction mixture comprising a plurality of oxides and one or more additives in a reactive atmosphere to a temperature below the melting point of the reaction mixture to form a powder including one or more reaction products, and then processing the powder to form spherical particles. The present invention also provides a proppant material including spherical particles characterized by a specific gravity of about 1.0 to 3.0 and a crush strength of at least about 10,000 psi

High field x-ray diffraction study on a magnetic-field-induced valence transition in YbInCu4

We report the first high-field x-ray diffraction experiment using synchrotron x-rays and pulsed magnetic fields exceeding 30 T. Lattice deformation due to a magnetic-field-induced valence transition in YbInCu4 is studied. It has been found that the Bragg reflection profile at 32 K changes significantly at around 27 T due to the structural transition. In the vicinity of the transition field the low-field and the high-field phases are observed simultaneously as the two distinct Bragg reflection peaks: This is a direct evidence of the fact that the field-induced valence state transition is the first order phase transition. The field-dependence of the low-field-phase Bragg peak intensity is found to be scaled with the magnetization.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Colored Petri Nets to Verify Extended Event-Driven Process Chains

Business processes are becoming more and more complex and at the same time their correctness is becoming a critical issue: The costs of errors in business information systems are growing due to the growing scale of their application and the growing degree of automation. In this paper we consider Extended Event-driven Process Chains (eEPCs), a language which is widely used for modeling business processes, documenting industrial reference models and designing workflows. We describe how to translate eEPCs into timed colored Petri nets in order to verify processes given by eEPCs with the CPN Tools