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Exclusive electroproduction reactions provide an access to the structure of excited baryons. To extract electroproduction multipoles encoding this information, the Jülich–Bonn–Washington (JBW) analysis framework is extended to the analysis of differential cross sections in K Λ electroproduction. This update enlarges the scope of previous coupled-channel analyses of pions and eta mesons, with photoproduction reactions as boundary condition in all analyzed electroproduction reactions. Polarization observables are predicted and compared to recent CLAS data. The comparison shows the relevance of these data to pin down baryon properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pharmacological inhibition of factor Xa by rivaroxaban has been shown to mediate cardioprotection and is frequently used in patients with, e.g., atrial fibrillation. Rivaroxaban's anti-inflammatory actions are well known, but the underlying mechanisms are still incompletely understood. To date, no study has focused on the effects of rivaroxaban on the bone marrow (BM), despite growing evidence that the BM and its activation are of major importance in the development/progression of cardiovascular disease. Thus, we examined the impact of rivaroxaban on BM composition under homeostatic conditions and in response to a major cardiovascular event. Rivaroxaban treatment of mice for 7 days markedly diminished mature leukocytes in the BM. While apoptosis of BM-derived mature myeloid leukocytes was unaffected, lineage-negative BM cells exhibited a differentiation arrest at the level of granulocyte–monocyte progenitors, specifically affecting neutrophil maturation via downregulation of the transcription factors Spi1 and Csfr1. To assess whether this persists also in situations of increased leukocyte demand, mice were subjected to cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/R): 7 d pretreatment with rivaroxaban led to reduced cardiac inflammation 72 h after I/R and lowered circulating leukocyte numbers. However, BM myelopoiesis showed a rescue of the leukocyte differentiation arrest, indicating that rivaroxaban's inhibitory effects are restricted to homeostatic conditions and are mainly abolished during emergency hematopoiesis. In translation, ST-elevation MI patients treated with rivaroxaban also exhibited reduced circulating leukocyte numbers. In conclusion, we demonstrate that rivaroxaban attenuates neutrophil maturation in the BM, which may offer a therapeutic option to limit overshooting of the immune response after I/R. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jülich-Bonn dynamical coupled-channel approach is extended to include K Σ photoproduction off the proton. Differential cross section and (double) polarization data for K + Σ 0 and K 0 Σ + are analysed simultaneously with the pion- and photon-induced production of π N , η N , K Λ , and K Σ final states, totaling almost 72,000 data points for center-of-mass energies W < 2.4 GeV. Based on the fit results the spectrum of N ∗ and Δ resonances is extracted in terms of pole positions and residues. We discuss the impact of the γ p → K Σ channels in detail and investigate the influence of recent polarization data for η p photoproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This retrospective analysis aims to address the toxicity and efficacy of a modified total nodal irradiation (TNI)-based conditioning regimen before haploidentical hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in pediatric patients. Materials and methods: Patient data including long-term follow-up were evaluated of 7 pediatric patients with malignant (n = 2) and non-malignant diseases (n = 5) who were treated by a primary TNI-based conditioning regimen. TNI was performed using anterior/posterior opposing fields. All patients received 7 Gy single-dose TNI combined with systemic agents followed by an infusion of peripheral blood stem cells (n = 7). All children had haploidentical family donors. Results: Engraftment was reached in 6/7 children after a median time of 9.5 days; 1 child had primary graft failure but was successfully reconditioned shortly thereafter. After an average follow-up time of 103.5 months (range 8.8–138.5 months), event-free (EFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 71.4% and 85.7%, respectively. One child with a non-malignant disease died 8.8 months after transplantation due to a relapse and a multiple organ failure. Follow-up data was available for 5/6 long-term survivors with a median follow-up (FU) of 106.2 months (range 54.5–138.5 months). Hypothyroidism and deficiency of sexual hormones was present in 3/5 patients each. Mean forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) after TNI was 71%; mean vital capacity (VC) was 78%. Growth failure (< 10th percentile) occurred in 2/5 patients (height) and 1/5 patient (weight). No secondary malignancies were reported. Conclusion: In this group of patients, a primary single-dose 7 Gy TNI-based conditioning regimen before HCT in pediatric patients allowed sustained engraftment combined with a tolerable toxicity profile leading to long-term OS/EFS. Late toxicity after a median FU of over 9 years includes growth failure, manageable hormonal deficiencies, and acceptable decrease in lung function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The physical interpretation of lattice QCD simulations, performed in a small volume, requires an extrapolation to the infinite volume. A method is proposed to perform such an extrapolation for three interacting particles at energies above threshold. For this, a recently formulated relativistic $ 3\rightarrow 3$ amplitude based on the isobar formulation is adapted to the finite volume. The guiding principle is two- and three-body unitarity that imposes the imaginary parts of the amplitude in the infinite volume. In turn, these imaginary parts dictate the leading power-law finite-volume effects. It is demonstrated that finite-volume poles arising from the singular interaction, from the external two-body sub-amplitudes, and from the disconnected topology cancel exactly leaving only the genuine three-body eigenvalues. The corresponding quantization condition is derived for the case of three identical scalar-isoscalar particles and its numerical implementation is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The particle exchange model of hadron interactions can be used to describe three-body scattering under the isobar assumption. In this study we start from the $3\rightarrow 3$ scattering amplitude for spinless particles, which contains an isobar-spectator scattering amplitude. Using a Bethe-Salpeter Ansatz for the latter, we derive a relativistic three-dimensional scattering equation that manifestly fulfills three-body unitarity and two-body unitarity for the sub-amplitudes. This property holds for energies above breakup and also in the presence of resonances in the sub-amplitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study conducted on haploidentical stem cell transplantation for the treatment of leukemia, which can be done from parent to children. Topics discussed include transplant modality and graft manipulation being determining factors for stem cell donation, fetal microchimerism (FM) due to bidirectional cell transfer during third trimester of pregnancy, and determination of killer immunoglobulin-like receptors present on maternal natural killer cells.

Pediatric patients with hemato-oncological malignancies and neutropenia resulting from chemotherapy have a high risk of acquiring invasive fungal infections. Oral antifungal prophylaxis with azoles, such as fluconazole or itraconazole, is preferentially used in pediatric patients after chemotherapy. During this retrospective analysis, posaconazole was administered based on favorable results from studies in adult patients with neutropenia and after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Retrospectively, safety, feasibility, and initial data on the efficacy of posaconazole were compared to fluconazole and itraconazole in pediatric and adolescent patients during neutropenia. Ninety-three pediatric patients with hemato-oncological malignancies with a median age of 12 years (range 9 months to 17.7 years) that had prolonged neutropenia (>5 days) after chemotherapy or due to their underlying disease, and who received fluconazole, itraconazole, or posaconazole as antifungal prophylaxis, were analyzed in this retrospective single-center survey. The incidence of invasive fungal infections in pediatric patients was low under each of the azoles. One case of proven aspergillosis occurred in each group. In addition, there were a few cases of possible invasive fungal infection under fluconazole ( n = 1) and itraconazole ( n = 2). However, no such cases were observed under posaconazole. The rates of potentially clinical drug-related adverse events were higher in the fluconazole ( n = 4) and itraconazole ( n = 5) groups compared to patients receiving posaconazole ( n = 3). Posaconazole, fluconazole, and itraconazole are comparably effective in preventing invasive fungal infections in pediatric patients. Defining dose recommendations in these patients requires larger studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral antifungal prophylaxis with extended-spectra azoles is widely used in pediatric patients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), while controlled studies for oral antifungal prophylaxis after bone marrow transplantation in children are not available. This survey analyzed patients who had received either itraconazole, voriconazole, or posaconazole. We focused on the safety, feasibility, and initial data of efficacy in a cohort of pediatric patients and adolescents after high-dose chemotherapy and HSCT. Fifty consecutive pediatric patients received itraconazole, 50 received voriconazole, and 50 pediatric patients received posaconazole after HSCT as oral antifungal prophylaxis. The observation period lasted from the start of oral prophylactic treatment with itraconazole, voriconazole, or posaconazole until two weeks after terminating the oral antifungal prophylaxis. No incidences of proven or probable invasive mycosis were observed during itraconazole, voriconazole, or posaconazole treatment. A total of five possible invasive fungal infections occurred, two in the itraconazole group (4 %) and three in the voriconazole group (6 %). The percentage of patients with adverse events potentially related to clinical drugs were 14 % in the voriconazole group, 12 % in the itraconazole group, and 8 % in the posaconazole group. Itraconazole, voriconazole, and posaconazole showed comparable efficacy as antifungal prophylaxis in pediatric patients after allogeneic HSCT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simulating the κ(800) on the lattice is a challenging task that starts to become feasible due to the rapid progress in recent-years lattice QCD calculations. As the reso- nance is broad, special attention to finite-volume effects has to be paid, because no sharp resonance signal as from avoided level crossing can be expected. In the present article, we investigate the finite volume effects in the framework of unitarized chiral perturbation theory using next-to-leading order terms. After a fit to meson-meson partial wave data, lattice levels for πK scattering are predicted. In addition, levels are shown for the quantum numbers in which the σ(600), f0(980), a0(980), φ(1020), K*(892), and ρ(770) appear, as well as the repulsive channels. Methods to extract the κ(800) signal from the lattice spec- trum are presented. Using pseudo-data, we estimate the precision that lattice data should have to allow for a clear-cut extraction of this resonance. To put the results into con- text, in particular the required high precision on the lattice data, the σ(600), the P -wave resonances K*(892) and ρ(770), and the repulsive πK, ππ phases are analyzed as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluate the polarization observables I and I for the reaction $ \gamma$ p $ \rightarrow$ $ \pi^{0}_{}$ $ \eta$ p , using a chiral unitary framework developed earlier. The I and I observables have been recently measured for the first time by the CBELSA/TAPS Collaboration. The theoretical predictions of I and I, given for altogether 18 angle-dependent functions, are in good agreement with the measurements. Also, the asymmetry d Σ/d cos θ evaluated here agrees with the data. We show the importance of the $ \Delta$(1700) D -resonance and its S -wave decay into $ \eta$ $ \Delta$(1232) . The result can be considered as a further confirmation of the dynamical nature of this resonance. At the highest energies, deviations of the predictions from the data start to become noticeable, which leaves room for additional processes and resonances such as a $ \Delta$(1940) D . We also point out how to further improve the calculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We determine the helicity amplitudes A and radiative decay widths in the transition $ \Lambda$(1670) $ \rightarrow$ $ \gamma$ Y ( Y = $ \Lambda$ or $ \Sigma^{{0}}_{}$ . The $ \Lambda$(1670) is treated as a dynamically generated resonance in meson-baryon chiral dynamics. We obtain the radiative decay widths of the $ \Lambda$(1670) to $ \gamma$ $ \Lambda$ as 2±1 keV and to $ \gamma$ $ \Sigma^{{0}}_{}$ as 120±50 keV. Also, the Q-dependence of the helicity amplitudes A is calculated. We find that the K $ \Xi$ component in the $ \Lambda$(1670) structure, mainly responsible for the dynamical generation of this resonance, is also responsible for the significant suppression of the decay ratio $ \Gamma_{{\gamma\Lambda}}^{}$/ $ \Gamma_{{\gamma \Sigma^{0}}}^{}$ . A measurement of the ratio would, thus, provide direct access to the nature of the $ \Lambda$(1670) . To compare the result for the $ \Lambda$(1670) , we calculate the helicity amplitudes A for the two states of the $ \Lambda$(1405) . Also, the analytic continuation of Feynman parameterized integrals of more complicated loop amplitudes to the complex plane is developed which allows for an internally consistent evaluation of A . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of some baryonic resonances is still an unresolved issue. The case of the N*(1535) is particularly interesting in this respect due to the nearby $ \eta$ N threshold and interference with the N*(1650) . The N*(1535) has been described as a threshold effect, as a genuine 3-quark resonance, or as dynamically generated from the interaction of the octet of baryons with the octet of mesons. In the scheme of dynamical generation, predictions for the interaction of the N*(1535) with the photon can be made. In this study, we simultaneously analyze the role of the N*(1535) in the $ \pi$ N $ \rightarrow$ $ \pi$ N and $ \gamma$ N $ \rightarrow$ $ \pi$ N reactions and compare to the respective amplitudes from partial-wave analyses. This test is very sensitive to the meson-baryon components of the N*(1535) . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prostate cancer (PCA) is the most frequent onlocological disease in men. Every year there are ca. 202.000 new cases of prostate cancer in Europe. Curative treatment of this carcinoma via brachytherapy is becoming increasingly significant (20-30% of all curative approaches). Initial staging and thus allocation to risk groups prior to the commencement of therapy is esspecially important for successful brachytherapy treatment.Low-dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy (i.e. SEED implantation) distinguishes itself both with respect to the procedure as well as the indication from high-dose-rate brachytherapy (afterloading procedure). Both treatment procedures are employed as monotherapy as well as in combination with external radiation.LDR monotherapy is reported to achieve biochemically relapse-free outcome of up to 90% in low-risk tumours during 10-year follow-up periods. Combined HDR tele- and brachytherapy is reported to achieve a biochemically relapse-free outcome of 80-90% with intermediate- and high-risk tumours in long-term follow-up.While randomized studies are as yet missing, it is still possible to derive the following application algorithms from monitoring studies and cohort studies: application of LDR monobrachytherapy must be restricted to low-risk tumorus. Combined HDR tele- and brachytherapy can be sucessfully applied in cases of intermediate- and high-risk tumours. The outcome depends significantly on the initial, pre-therapy PSA value and Gleason score. Posttherapeutically, the nadir value is crucial with respect to predicting the biochemically relapse-free outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluate theoretically the radiative decay widths into γΛ and γΣ 0 of the two poles of the Λ(1405) found in chiral unitary theories and we find quite different results for each of the two poles. We show that, depending on which reaction is used to measure the Λ(1405) radiative decays, one gives more weight to one or the other pole, resulting in quite different shapes in the γΛ( Σ 0) invariant-mass distributions. Our results for the high-energy pole agree with those of the empirical determination of the γΛ and γΣ 0 radiative widths (based on an isobar model fitting of the K-p atom data), which are sometimes referred to as “experimental data”. We have made a detailed study of the K - p→ π 0 γΛ( Σ 0) and π - p→ K 0 γΛ( Σ 0) reactions and have shown that they, indeed, lead to different shapes for the γΛ( Σ 0) invariant-mass distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor about flame retardancy using an oligomric organophosphorus compound is presented.

The article outlines an investigation on two promising non-reactive 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO)-based flame retardants selected to modify an epoxy matrix for a woven carbon fiber-reinforced composite for high-performance applications. The effectiveness of either DOP-Ethyl or DOP-Cyanur compounds at phosphorus contents of 2 wt% is reported.

We analyze the dependence of heavy quark free energies on the baryon chemical potential μ b in 2-flavor QCD by performing a 6th order Taylor expansion in the chemical potential which circumvents the sign problem. The bare quark mass at $\hat m / T = 0.4$ corresponds to a pion mass of about 770 MeV and is thus not in the range of physical quark masses but the quark mass dependence is known to be small above T c. At N τ = 4 the lattices are coarse, however, we are using improved (p4 staggered) fermions. The Taylor expansion coefficients of color singlet and color averaged free energies are calculated and from this the expansion coefficients for the corresponding screening masses are determined. We find that for small μ b the free energies of a static quark-antiquark pair decrease in a medium with a net excess of quarks and that screening is well described by a screening mass which increases with increasing μ b . The μ b -dependent corrections to the screening masses are well described by perturbation theory for T ≳ 2 T c. In particular, we find for all temperatures above T c that the expansion coefficients for singlet and color averaged screening masses differ by a factor 2. PACS. 11.15.Ha, 11.10.Wx, 12.38Gc, 12.38.Mh [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure-property-relationships, thermal stability and flame retardancy of a DGEBA-DDS system containing various organo-phosphorus compounds as flame retardants is investigated. Three non-reactive (DOP-ethyl, DOP-ethylhexyl and DOP-cyanur) and one reactive (DOP-glycidyl) phosphorous compounds are added separately to the epoxy resin and the mixtures are cured with 4,4′-DDS in a substoichiometric ratio. The addition of such DOPO-compounds leads to improved flame retardancy at low phosphorus contents of about 2 wt.% (about 20 wt.% of additive) without significantly affecting other important properties such as fracture toughness ( K lc) and glass transition temperature ( T g) of the matrix. Neither the type nor the amount of additive affects the fracture toughness of cured epoxies up to additive concentrations of between 18 and 24 wt.%. Furthermore, the loss in glass transition temperature of the cured resin can be correlated with the amount and chemical reactivity of the organo-phosphorus additive. The reactive DOP-glycidyl and the non-reactive DOP-cyanur additive are observed to maintain the highest glass transition temperature of the epoxy system mainly due to a higher extent of the cross-linking reaction. The results presented in this study highlight the potential of optimising the flame retardancy and the resulting physical and mechanical properties of epoxy systems for liquid composite moulding applications by varying the chemical structure of the organo-phosphorus compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microsystems recently have been introduced as tools for screening in modern chemistry, biochemistry and biology. It has been shown that new microsystems can be implemented in the biomedical laboratory by using the microsystemic approach for the sample carrier – the miniaturized microtiter plate (“the nanotiter plate”) – or the production of nanodroplets with ink jetters and to integrate those systems in macrodevices like xyz tables and detection devices like CCD-cameras. We show in this paper that decisive problems of the approach – the evaporation problem and the problem of chemical/biochemical/biological compatibility of the assays and the used materials can be solved successfully. It is possible to realize chemical synthesis in miniaturized flow systems and to perform isothermal amplification of RNA in silicon wafers. Furthermore real high throughput screening with in vivo systems can be performed and all relevant parameters as evaporation, pipetting and detection can be controlled on reasonable time scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complexes of the type M(Pa)2(HAz)2 and M(QA)2(HAz)2 ( M=cobalt(II) and nickel(II); HPa=picolinic acid, HQa=quinaldic acid; HAz=azoles like imidazole (Him), pyrazole (HPz), benzimidazole (HBzIm) etc.) show a similar thermal behaviour. In the first step of decomposition the corresponding azolinium picolinates or quinaldinates (H2AzPa, H2AzQa) are split off with formation of polymeric mixed ligand complexes M(Pa)(Az) or M(Qa)(Az). X-ray analysis of Co(Qa)2(HBzIm)2 XIIIa illustrates a proton transfer and a subsequent thermal removal of benzimidazolinium quinaldinate (H2BzImQa): Hydrogen bridges from pyrrole nitrogen of the benzimidazole to the non-coordinated oxygen of the quinaldinate predetermine the thermal initiated proton transfer. The high volatility of the heterocyclic acids and the nitrogen coordination are responsible for the formation of the mixed ligand complex Co(Qa)(BzIm) XIVa. Exceptions are the complexes M(Pa)2(HPz)2 XIa-b and M(Qa)2(HIm)2 XVIIa-b. Pyrazole is eliminated from the complexes XIa-b with formation of the solvent-free inner complex M(Pa)2 XIIa-b. From compounds XVIIIa-b quinaldic acid or their decomposition products are split off and a high temperature modification of M(Im)2 XVIIIa-b is formed at elevated temperature. XVIIIa-b are decomposed to the cyanides M(CN)2 similarly to the thermal behaviour of Cu(Im). In the first step the thermal degradation of imidazole and pyrazole adducts of copper(II) picolinates and quinaldinates is characterized by the elimination of azoles. The reason for this thermal behaviour is the weaker coordination of the azole heterocycles in copper chelate compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The helicity couplings at Q2=0 for excited baryonic states have been determined in the past, but no information is available regarding their correlations that are relevant for comparison to theory. We present here our calculation of such correlations between the helicity couplings. They contain information for quantitative comparisons with theoretical values, they can be used to quantify the impact of polarization observables, and can help design new experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jülich-Bonn coupled-channel framework is extended to K+Λ photoproduction. The spectrum of nucleon and Δ resonances is extracted from simultaneous fits to several pion-induced reactions in addition to pion, eta and K+Λ photoproduction off the proton. More than 40000 data points up to a center-of-mass energy of E∼2.3 GeV including recently measured double-polarization observables are analyzed. The influence of the γp→K+Λ channel on the extracted resonance parameters and the appearance of states not seen in other channels is investigated. The Jülich-Bonn model includes effective three-body channels and guarantees unitarity and analyticity, which is a prerequisite for a reliable determination of the resonance spectrum in terms of poles and residues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]