First minimum bias physics results at LHCb

The goal of the LHCb experiment is the indirect search for New Physics through precision measurements of B-decays. A short description of the detector and its performance after the first data taking in 2009 and 2010 will be presented. In addition first preliminary results of a $\rm K_{s}$ differential cross section measurement at a center of mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 900\; \rm GeV$ and a measurement of the $\frac{\bar{\lambda}}{\lambda}$ production ratio at $\sqrt{s} = 900\; \rm GeV$ and $\sqrt{s} = 7\; \rm TeV$ will be discussed.Comment: Invited talk presented at the XVI International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions (ISVHECRI 2010), Batavia, IL, USA (28 June {2 July 2010). 5 pages, 7 figure

Measurement of the CP-violating phase phis using Bs->J/Psi Phi and Bs->J/Psi pi+pi- decays with the LHCb experiment

This thesis presents a measurement of the CP-violating phase phis, arising in the interference of Bs mixing and the amplitudes of Bs->J/Psi Phi and Bs-> J/Psi pi+pi- decays. The phase phis is an observable with very high sensitivity for physics phenomena beyond the Stamdard Model. New, heavy particles could contribute to the mixing process and influence the measured value of phis. As the prediction for phis is very precise, already small deviations of the measured value would be a hint for new physics effects. The presented measurement is done with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of L=1.0invfb, collected during 2011 with the LHCb experiment. The determination of phis with Bs->J/Psi Phi decays requires a time-dependent analysis, depending also on the decay angles of the Bs to separate the CP-eigenstates of the decay. A four-dimensional maximum likelihood fit, including as well information of the Bs production flavour, is used to determine phis from the corresponding measured time and angular distributions. The measurement of the strong phase difference between K+K- P-wave and S-wave amplitudes, as a function of the invariant K+K- mass, allows to resolve a twofold ambiguity (phis pi - phis) in the differential Bs->J/Psi Phi decay rate. The measured value is phis = 0.069 +- 0.091 (stat.) +- 0.014 (syst.) rad. Performing a combined analysis of Bs->J/Psi Phi and Bs->J/Psi pi+pi- decays a value of phis = 0.043 +- 0.076 (stat.) +- 0.014 (syst.) rad is determined. The obtained results are in agreement with the prediction

Requirements for Reliable and Flexible Smart Grids as Energy Networks in Smart Cities

Whenever the characteristics of a Smart City were described, the energy sector with its power grids – the so-called Smart Grids - are considered as a crucial part and backbone of a connected urban area. In this light, an increasing number of plants in the field of renewable energies and the demands of “Sector-Coupling” and power-to-x will make intelligent networking and the exchange of energy data indispensable in the future. The almost entire amount of renewable energy facilities is feeding the distribution grid and define the challenges for its expansion. This paper will provide a synthesis regarding the aspects, which were considered as important for having effects for urban and regional planning. The decentral energy production and consumption with the transformation from consumers to prosumers isforemost the most crucial aspect, especially in the light of the variety with renewable energy production. This means that production and consumption are preferably at the same location and the requirements for “Sector-Coupling”-facilities have to been considered. On a local scale, this means that building and urban planning requirements should foresee regulations regarding installation of energy storages on the respective scale for instance. Furthermore, the energy distribution network on local, regional and even national level and the strategic land use plans must be adapted in the way, that regulations regarding the energy network on a regional scale could also be realized in an appropriate time frame. Another important point is the necessity for handling the flexibilities in the power grid network. The power grid network and its supplying facilities has to be digitized to fit this demand and sensors as well as real-time-monitoring of the energy consumption and distribution could give useful new insights. Furthermore, the network itself has to be open and flexible in order to allow the integration of innovative solutions in the energy sector on a short- and long-term basis (Electric mobility, Smart Fabrics, Intelligent Storage Systems etc.), which could bring enormous challenges for the power grids (more flexible, more decentralized, more dynamic). All of these aspects have to beconsidered in the light of security and data privacy of supply in the critical infrastructures, especially for strategical planning purposes. In order to make energy system transformation smart, cost-efficient and economically viable, several technologies and approaches regarding hard- and software must be combined: expansion and adaption of the energy network, integration of storage facilities, the use of flexibilities for prosumers and openness to new market models. All of these mentioned aspects will influence regional and urban planning on different levels regarding spatio-temporal aspects and have to evaluated carefully for the demands of a smart energy network

Attentional bias in individuals with depression and adverse childhood experiences: influence of the noradrenergic system?

Rationale: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a severe mental disorder with affective, cognitive, and somatic symptoms. Mood congruent cognitive biases, including a negative attentional bias, are important for development, maintenance, and recurrence of depressive symptoms. MDD is associated with maladaptive changes in the biological stress systems such as dysregulations of central noradrenergic alpha2-receptors in the locus coeruleus-noradrenergic system, which can affect cognitive processes including attention. Patients with adverse childhood experiences (ACE), representing severe stress experiences in early life, might be particularly affected. Objectives: With an experimental design, we aimed to gain further knowledge about the role of noradrenergic activity for attentional bias in MDD patients with and without ACE. Methods: We tested the effect of increased noradrenergic activity induced by the alpha2-receptor blocker yohimbine on attentional bias in a placebo-controlled repeated measures design. Four groups were included as follows: MDD patients with and without ACE, and healthy participants with and without ACE (total N = 128, all without antidepressant medication). Results: A significant effect of MDD on attentional bias scores of sad face pictures (p = .037) indicated a facilitated attentional processing of sad face pictures in MDD patients (compared to non-MDD individuals). However, we found no such effect of ACE. For attentional bias of happy face pictures, we found no significant effects of MDD and ACE. Even though a higher increase of blood pressure and salivary alpha-amylase following yohimbine compared to placebo indicated successful noradrenergic stimulation, we found no significant effects of yohimbine on attentional bias of happy or sad face pictures. Conclusions: Our results are consistent with the hypothesis of a negative attentional bias in MDD patients. However, as we found no effect of ACE or yohimbine, further research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which ACE increases the risk of MDD and to understand the biological basis of the MDD-related negative attentional bias

Inflammatory measures in depressed patients with and without a history of adverse childhood experiences

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a complex psychiatric condition with different subtypes and etiologies. Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACE) is an important risk factor for the development of MDD later in life. Evidence suggests that pro-inflammatory processes may convey this risk as both MDD and ACE have been related to increased levels of inflammation. In the present study, we aimed to disentangle the effects of MDD and ACE on inflammation levels. Methods: Markers of inflammation (plasma interleukin(IL)-6 and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) concentrations, white blood cell (WBC) count and a composite inflammation score (CIS) combining all three) were assessed in 23 MDD patients with ACE, 23 MDD patients without ACE, 21 healthy participants with ACE, and 21 healthy participants without ACE (mean age: 35 +/- 11 (SD) years). None of the patients and participants was taking psychotropic medication. ACE was assessed with the Early Trauma Inventory (ETI) and was defined as moderate to severe exposure to sexual or physical abuse. Results: Group differences in the different inflammatory measures were observed. MDD patients with ACE showed significantly higher IL-6 concentrations (p = 0.018), higher WBC counts (p = 0.003) and increased general inflammation levels as indicated by the CIS (p = 0.003) compared to healthy controls. In contrast, MDD patients without ACE displayed similar inflammation levels to the control group (p = 0.93). Conclusion: We observed elevated inflammation in MDD patients with a history of ACE, which could indicate a subtype of "inflammatory depression". Accordingly, MDD patients with ACE might potentially benefit from anti-inflammatory therapies

No association between major depression with and without childhood adversity and the stress hormone copeptin

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are associated with an increased risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation. Within the HPA axis, corticotropin-releasing hormone and vasopressin (AVP) synergistically stimulate the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone, which promotes cortisol release. The cleavage product copeptin is produced during AVP synthesis and is a surrogate marker of AVP release. Children with ACE and young adults with depressive symptoms have higher levels of copeptin than healthy controls. Objective: To uncover the effects of MDD and ACE on copeptin levels in adult females. Methods: We recruited 94 women (mean age: 34.0 +/- 3.6 years): 23 with MDD and ACE, 24 with MDD without ACE, 22 with ACE without MDD, and 25 healthy controls. ACE was defined as repeated sexual or physical abuse at least once a month over at least one year before the age of 18 years. MDD was defined by the DSM-IV criteria. Copeptin plasma levels were measured with an immunoluminometric assay. Results: The four groups did not differ in demographic variables. We found a significant negative correlation between body mass index (BMI) and copeptin plasma levels (r = -.21; p = .045). Copeptin plasma levels did not differ between the four groups after controlling for BMI. Conclusion: Neither MDD nor ACE was associated with altered plasma copeptin levels. Thus, copeptin does not seem to play a major role in MDD and ACE in adult females

Acute binocular diplopia: peripheral or central?

OBJECTIVES Acute diplopia is a diagnostic challenge for clinicians, in particular in the emergency department. The most common cause of acute diplopia are ocular motor nerve palsies (OMP). In this prospective study, we focused on identifying the most crucial signs and symptoms for differentiating between peripheral and central OMP. METHODS We prospectively evaluated 56 non-consecutive patients who presented at our emergency department with acute binocular diplopia (≤ 10~days). The patient history was taken using a standardized questionnaire and patients underwent a neurological, neuro-ophthalmological and neuro-otological examination, including measurement of the subjective visual vertical (SVV), Harms tangent screen test, and cranial MRI. ESULTS Forty-six out of 56 patients were diagnosed with an ocular motor cranial nerve palsy (OMP), 21 of peripheral and 23 of central origin; in two patients, the etiology remained unknown. The following features were different in peripheral and central OMP: (1) the presence of vertigo/dizziness was more frequent in central (43.5%) than in peripheral (9.5%) OMP. (2) Central ocular motor signs, such as saccadic smooth pursuit, additional internuclear ophthalmoplegia, skew deviation, and saccade palsies, were also found more frequently in the central than in the peripheral group (86.7% vs. 33.3%). (3) Further, a pathological SVV deviation by monocular testing of the non-affected eye was also more common in central (77.3%) than in peripheral OMP (38.9%). The presence of all three factors has a positive predictive value of 100% (CI 50-100%) for the presence of a central lesion. CONCLUSIONS In acute diplopia due to central OMP, the most important accompanying symptom is vertigo/dizziness, and the most important clinical signs are central ocular motor disorders (which require examination of the non-paretic eye) and an SVV deviation in the non-paretic eye

Wind farm facilities in Germany kill noctule bats from near and far

Over recent years, it became widely accepted that alternative, renewable energy may come at some risk for wildlife, for example, when wind turbines cause large numbers of bat fatalities. To better assess likely populations effects of wind turbine related wildlife fatalities, we studied the geographical origin of the most common bat species found dead below German wind turbines, the noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula). We measured stable isotope ratios of non-exchangeable hydrogen in fur keratin to separate migrants from local individuals, used a linear mixed-effects model to identify temporal, spatial and biological factors explaining the variance in measured stable isotope ratios and determined the geographical breeding provenance of killed migrants using isoscape origin models. We found that 72% of noctule bat casualties (n = 136) were of local origin, while 28% were long-distance migrants. These findings highlight that bat fatalities at German wind turbines may affect both local and distant populations. Our results indicated a sex and age-specific vulnerability of bats towards lethal accidents at turbines, i.e. a relatively high proportion of killed females were recorded among migratory individuals, whereas more juveniles than adults were recorded among killed bats of local origin. Migratory noctule bats were found to originate from distant populations in the Northeastern parts of Europe. The large catchment areas of German wind turbines and high vulnerability of female and juvenile noctule bats call for immediate action to reduce the negative cross-boundary effects of bat fatalities at wind turbines on local and distant populations. Further, our study highlights the importance of implementing effective mitigation measures and developing species and scale-specific conservation approaches on both national and international levels to protect source populations of bats. The efficacy of local compensatory measures appears doubtful, at least for migrant noctule bats, considering the large geographical catchment areas of German wind turbines for this species

Increased bystander intervention when volunteer responders attend out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

AIM: The primary aim was to investigate the association between alarm acceptance compared to no-acceptance by volunteer responders, bystander intervention, and survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective observational study included all suspected out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) with activation of volunteer responders in the Capital Region of Denmark (1 November 2018 to 14 May 2019), the Central Denmark Region (1 November 2018 to 31 December 2020), and the Northern Denmark Region (14 February 2020 to 31 December 2020). All OHCAs unwitnessed by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were analyzed on the basis on alarm acceptance and arrival before EMS. The primary outcomes were bystander cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), bystander defibrillation and secondary outcome was 30-day survival. A questionnaire sent to all volunteer responders was used with respect to their arrival status. RESULTS: We identified 1,877 OHCAs with volunteer responder activation eligible for inclusion and 1,725 (91.9%) of these had at least one volunteer responder accepting the alarm (accepted). Of these, 1,355 (79%) reported arrival status whereof 883 (65%) arrived before EMS. When volunteer responders accepted the alarm and arrived before EMS, we found increased proportions and adjusted odds ratio for bystander CPR {94 vs. 83%, 4.31 [95% CI (2.43–7.67)] and bystander defibrillation [13 vs. 9%, 3.16 (1.60–6.25)]} compared to cases where no volunteer responders accepted the alarm. CONCLUSION: We observed a fourfold increased odds ratio for bystander CPR and a threefold increased odds ratio for bystander defibrillation when volunteer responders accepted the alarm and arrived before EMS