S-fluoxetine in the prophylaxis of migraine: a phase II double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study

A tubular bioassay was used to measure analytically the local production and concentration of the antifungal Trichoderma secondary metabolite 6-n-pentyl-2H-pyran-2-one (6PAP) at the Trichoderma antagonist/pathogen interface. 6PAP levels significantly increased in the presence of the pathogen Botrytis cinerea, typically 300-700%, and were highest near the pathogen source. The level of response for a particular Trichoderma isolate was found to vary with the test organism used. Two products produced by biotransformation of 6PAP by B. cinerea in response to the interaction were also detected.     

Very low birth weight children at school age: comparison of neonatal management methods

The outcome of 293 infants born to a geographically defined community and weighing 501-1500 g was investigated. Medical intervention in the newborn period had been avoided. Morbidity was assessed at school age. Of the infants, 236 had been live born in the labour ward of this hospital; of these, 117 (49.6%) died in the neonatal period, one (0.4%) died in the first year, four (1.7%) were untraced, 13 (5.5%) had major handicap, 29 (12.3%) had minor handicap, and 72 (30.5%) were considered to be normal. In terms of survival, handicap, and intellectual with that of infants born over the same period (1963-71) in areas where intensive methods of perinatal care were used. These results imply that postnatal survival and potential of infants of very low birth weight are by no means prejudiced when only experienced nursing care is available.     

An Analysis of Radio Frequency in Interference Due to Mixer Intermodulation Products

The colocation of high-power communication transmitters and sensitive receivers at a common site frequently causes radio frequency interference due to the generation of spurious intermodulation frequencies in the receiver mixer. These spurious frequencies result from the mixing of the transmitter frequencies with each other and with the receiver local oscillator in the receiver mixer. The problem treated in this paper is that of obtaining an analytical method of predicting the amplitudes of these spurious intermodulation frequencies having been given the amplitude of each of the frequencies at the mixer input.     

Modeling short-term synaptic depression in silicon

We describe a model of short-term synaptic depression that is derived from a circuit implementation. The dynamics of this circuit model is similar to the dynamics of some theoretical models of short-term depression except that the recovery dynamics of the variable describing the depression is nonlinear and it also depends on the presynaptic frequency. The equations describing the steady-state and transient responses of this synaptic model are compared to the experimental results obtained from a fabricated silicon network consisting of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons and different types of short-term dynamic synapses. We also show experimental data demonstrating the possible computational roles of depression. One possible role of a depressing synapse is that the input can quickly bring the neuron up to threshold when the membrane potential is close to the resting potential.     

Secondary ionization of chemical warfare agent simulants: atmospheric pressure ion mobility time-of-flight mass spectrometry

For the first time, the use of a traditional ionization source for ion mobility spectrometry (radioactive nickel ((63)Ni) beta emission ionization) and three alternative ionization sources (electrospray ionization (ESI), secondary electrospray ionization (SESI), and electrical discharge (corona) ionization (CI)) were employed with an atmospheric pressure ion mobility orthogonal reflector time-of-flight mass spectrometer (IM(tof)MS) to detect chemical warfare agent (CWA) simulants from both aqueous- and gas-phase samples. For liquid-phase samples, ESI was used as the sample introduction and ionization method. For the secondary ionization (SESI, CI, and traditional (63)Ni ionization) of vapor-phase samples, two modes of sample volatilization (heated capillary and thermal desorption chamber) were investigated. Simulant reference materials, which closely mimic the characteristic chemical structures of CWA as defined and described by Schedule 1, 2, or 3 of the Chemical Warfare Convention treaty verification, were used in this study. A mixture of four G/V-type nerve simulants (dimethyl methylphosphonate, pinacolyl methylphosphonate, diethyl phosphoramidate, and 2-(butylamino)ethanethiol) and one S-type vesicant simulant (2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide) were found in each case (sample ionization and introduction methods) to be clearly resolved using the IM(tof)MS method. In many cases, reduced mobility constants (K(o)) were determined for the first time. Ion mobility drift times, flight times, relative signal intensities, and fragmentation product signatures for each of the CWA simulants are reported for each of the methods investigated.     

Kryptographie: Von der Geheimwissenschaft zur alltäglichen Nutzanwendung (VI) — Zweck und grundlegende Funktionsweise von Public-Key-Infrastrukturen

Zusammenfassung  Nachdem wir im letzten Artikel die Funktionen einer digitalen Signatur kennen gelernt und den Bedarf an kryptographischen Prüfsummen und Zertifikaten erl?utert haben, wollen wir diesmal auf die Infrastrukturen zur Verwaltung von Schlüsseln bzw. Zertifikaten eingehen: die so genannten Public-Key-Infrastrukturen (PKI). Prof. Dr. Norbert Pohlmann ist Gesch?ftsführender Direktor des Instituts für Internet-Sicherheit der Fachhochschule Gelsenkirchen. Malte Hesse ist Mitarbeiter am Institut für Internet-Sicherheit der Fachhochschule Gelsenkirchen.     

Inverse Probleme in der Elektrotechnik

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Towards an optimised lab procedure for long-term oxidative ageing of asphalt mix specimen

Ageing of bitumen leads to increased stiffness and brittleness. Thus, bituminous bound pavements become more prone to failure by low-temperature and fatigue cracking. Therefore, the ageing behaviour of bitumen has a crucial impact on durability, as well as recyclability of pavements. To assess ageing of bitumen, the rolling thin film oven test and pressure ageing vessel are standardised methods for short-term and long-term ageing in the lab. For lab-ageing of hot mix asphalt (HMA), various methods have been developed in the last decades. This paper presents a study on the potential of employing a highly oxidant gas for simulating the long-term oxidative ageing of asphalt mix specimens in the lab. Based on the results, an optimised lab-ageing procedure (Viennese Ageing Procedure – VAPro) for compacted HMA specimens to assess mix performance of long-term lab-aged specimens is developed. Thus, it is possible to optimise mix design not only for short-term performance but to take into account effects of oxidative ageing during its in-service life. VAPro is based on a triaxial cell with forced flow of a gaseous oxidant agent through the specimen. The oxidant agent is enriched in ozone and nitric oxides to increase the rate of oxidation. It is shown by stiffness tests of unaged and lab-aged specimens, as well as by Dynamic Shear Rheometer tests of recovered binder from aged specimens that asphalt mixes can be long-term aged at moderate temperatures (+60°C) and within 4 days and a flow rate of 1 l/min by applying VAPro. Thus, an ageing procedure is at hand that can simulate long-term ageing at conditions that are representative of conditions that occur in the field within an efficient amount of time.     

FlipCut Supertrees: Towards Matrix Representation Accuracy in Polynomial Time

In computational phylogenetics, supertree methods provide a way to reconstruct larger clades of the Tree of Life. The supertree problem can be formalized in different ways, to cope with contradictory information in the input. In particular, there exist methods based on encoding the input trees in a matrix, and methods based on finding minimum cuts in some graph. Matrix representation methods compute supertrees of superior quality, but the underlying optimization problems are computationally hard. In contrast, graph-based methods have polynomial running time, but supertrees are inferior in quality. In this paper, we present a novel approach for the computation of supertrees called FlipCut supertree. Our method combines the computation of minimum cuts from graph-based methods with a matrix representation method, namely Minimum Flip Supertrees. Here, the input trees are encoded in a 0/1/?-matrix. We present a heuristic to search for a minimum set of 0/1-flips such that the resulting matrix admits a directed perfect phylogeny. We then extend our approach by using edge weights to weight the columns of the 0/1/?-matrix. In our evaluation, we show that our method is extremely swift in practice, and orders of magnitude faster than the runner up. Concerning supertree quality, our method is sometimes on par with the “gold standard” Matrix Representation with Parsimony.