Early Globus Pallidus Internus Stimulation in Pediatric Patients With Generalized Primary Dystonia: Long-Term Efficacy and Safety

Primary generalized dystonia presents mainly at a young age and commonly is severely disabling. The authors report the long-term follow-up (mean, 73 months; range, 50-101 months) of 5 pediatric patients (mean age at surgery 13 years; range, 8-16 years) undergoing globus pallidus internus deep brain stimulation. Mean improvement in the Burke-Fahn-Marsden movement score was 67.4% (range, 47.0%-87.5%), 75.4% (range, 61.5%-91.7%), and 83.5% (range, 72.0%-93.3%) at 3 months, 12 months, and long-term follow-up (>36 months), respectively. Hardware problems (electrode dislocation/breakage of extension cable, and imminent perforation of extension cable) were observed in 2 patients (operative revision without sequelae). Except for mild dysarthria in 2 patients, no other therapy-related morbidity was observed. The authors found globus pallidus internus stimulation to offer a very effective and safe therapy in pediatric patients with primary dystonia. Early neurosurgical intervention seems to be crucial to prevent irreversible impairment of motor function

Performance and modeling of superconducting ring resonators at millimeter-wave frequencies

Microstrip ring resonators operating at 35 GHz were fabricated from laser ablated YBCO thin films deposited on lanthanum aluminate substrates. They were measured over a range of temperatures and their performance compared to identical resonators made of evaporated gold. Below 60 Kelvin the superconducting strip performed better than the gold, reaching an unloaded Q approximately 1.5 times that of gold at 25 K. A shift in the resonant frequency follows the form predicted by the London equations. The Phenomenological Loss Equivalence Method is applied to the ring resonator and the theoretically calculated Q values are compared to the experimental results

Preconception nutritional intake and lifestyle factors: First results of an explorative study

Objective: To describe nutritional intake and lifestyle factors in women planning pregnancy. Study design: A semi-quantitative, 1-month food frequency questionnaire and a questionnaire on health practices and personal views were filled out at home and verified by telephone interview. Results: One hundred and one women agreed to participate and data of 69 women were eligible for evaluation. Women planning pregnancy (n=46) consumed significantly more saturated fats and proteins, less carbohydrates and higher median intakes of Vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, selenium, magnesium and iron than controls (n=23; P<0.05). However, the percentage of women

DBR-free semiconductor disc laser on SiC heatspreader emitting 10.1 W at 1007 nm

We report a distributed Bragg reflector-free semiconductor disc laser which emits 10 W continuous wave output power at a wavelength of 1007 nm when pumped with 40 W at 808 nm, focused into a 230 μm diameter spot on the gain chip. By introducing a birefringent filter plate in the laser cavity the wavelength could be tuned from 995 to 1020 nm. The laser consisted of a gain chip located at the beam waist of a linear concentric resonator with an output coupling of 2.15%. The gain chip consists of a 1.574-μm-thick resonant periodic gain structure, with ten In0.13Ga0.87As quantum wells embedded in strain-compensating GaAs0.94P0.06 barrier layers, van der Waals bonded to a silicon carbide intra-cavity heat spreader.</p

Nonequilibrium evolution of Phi**4 theory in 1+1 dimensions in the 2PPI formalism

We consider the out-of-equilibrium evolution of a classical condensate field and its quantum fluctuations for a Phi**4 model in 1+1 dimensions with a symmetric and a double well potential. We use the 2PPI formalism and go beyond the Hartree approximation by including the sunset term. In addition to the mean field phi= the 2PPI formalism uses as variational parameter a time dependent mass M**2(t) which contains all local insertions into the Green function. We compare our results to those obtained in the Hartree approximation. In the symmetric Phi**4 theory we observe that the mean field shows a stronger dissipation than the one found in the Hartree approximation. The dissipation is roughly exponential in an intermediate time region. In the theory with spontaneous symmetry breaking, i.e., with a double well potential, the field amplitude tends to zero, i.e., to the symmetric configuration. This is expected on general grounds: in 1+1 dimensional quantum field theory there is no spontaneous symmetry breaking for T >0, and so there should be none at finite energy density (microcanonical ensemble), either. Within the time range of our simulations the momentum spectra do not thermalize and display parametric resonance bands.Comment: 14 pages, 18 encapsulated postscript figures; v2 minor changes, new appendix, accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

Understanding Resident Satisfaction with Involvement in Highway Planning: In-depth interviews during a highway planning process in the Netherlands

This study investigates resident satisfaction with provided involvement activities during highway planning processes, with particular attention given to the planned Southern Ring Road highway project in Groningen, the Netherlands. In-depth interviews with 38 residents living in the project area reveal important themes contributing to satisfaction. Satisfaction with passive information activities is motivated by the extent to which information addresses concerns, but (dis)trust in government and other information sources also plays a role. For residents preferring to obtain additional information, perceived access to such information and the extent to which it reduces concerns are also important to satisfaction. Finally, for residents who would rather participate actively, satisfaction is motivated by their perceived access to participation activities and the sense of being heard. Study results show how residents’ evaluations of the themes underpinning involvement satisfaction are based on their perceptions of actual project team activities and contextual factors

Гипотензивный эффект факоэмульсификации катаракты у больных с некомпенсированной первичной открытоугольной глаукомой

Нами було досліджено вплив факоемульсифікації катаракти з імплантацією інтраокулярної лінзи на внутришньоочний тиск (ВОТ). Обстежено та прооперовано 44 ока (36 людей) хворих на катаракту зпідвищеннимвнутриочним тиском, який тримався на тлі прийому двох чи більше гіпотензивних препаратах, та з відкритим кутом передньої камери.Очі були поділені на дві групи: у першу групу увійшли очі з псевдоесфоліативним синдромом, друга – без псевдо ексфоліацій. Більш виражене зниження внутрішньоочного тиску спостерігалося на очах з псевдоексфоліативним синдромом (32,4%) ніж на очах без нього (27,6%). В результаті проведеного лікування крім нормалізації офтальмотонуса вдалося зменшити кількість застосовуваних гіпотензивних препаратів або повністю відійти від них на оперованих очах.Факоемульсифікація катаракти є ефективною методикою нормалізації ВОТ у хворих з ПВКГ і катарактою та може рекомендуватися як метод першого вибору в тактиці лікування даної групи пацієнтів.We have investigated the effect of phacoemulsification of cataract with implantation of intraocular lenses on intraocular pressure (IOP). Examined and operated 44 eyes (36 patients) with cataract and high intraocular pressure, which was kept in the background taking two or more antihypertensive medications, and an open anterior chamber angle. Eyes were divided into two groups: first group included eyes with psevdoesfoliation syndrome, the second – with out pseudoeksfoliation. A marked reduction of intraocular pressure was observed in eyes with PEX syndrome (32.4%) thanineyeswithout (27.6%). As a result of treatment but normalization of IOP managed to reduce the number of antihypertensive drugs used or completely away from them on the operated eyes. Phacoemulsification of the cataract is an effective method of normalization of IOP in patients with POAG and cataract and be recommended as a method of first choice in tactics of treatment of this patient group

Observation of High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos in Three Years of IceCube Data

A search for high-energy neutrinos interacting within the IceCube detector between 2010 and 2012 provided the first evidence for a high-energy neutrino flux of extraterrestrial origin. Results from an analysis using the same methods with a third year (2012-2013) of data from the complete IceCube detector are consistent with the previously reported astrophysical flux in the 100 TeV - PeV range at the level of $10^{-8}\, \mathrm{GeV}\, \mathrm{cm}^{-2}\, \mathrm{s}^{-1}\, \mathrm{sr}^{-1}$ per flavor and reject a purely atmospheric explanation for the combined 3-year data at $5.7 \sigma$. The data are consistent with expectations for equal fluxes of all three neutrino flavors and with isotropic arrival directions, suggesting either numerous or spatially extended sources. The three-year dataset, with a livetime of 988 days, contains a total of 37 neutrino candidate events with deposited energies ranging from 30 to 2000 TeV. The 2000 TeV event is the highest-energy neutrino interaction ever observed.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by PRL. The event catalog, event displays, and other data tables are included after the final page of the article. Changed from the initial submission to reflect referee comments, expanding the section on atmospheric backgrounds, and fixes offsets of up to 0.9 seconds in reported event times. Address correspondence to: J. Feintzeig, C. Kopper, N. Whitehor