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Mg2NiH4 thin films have been prepared by activated reactive evaporation in a molecular beam epitaxy system equipped with an atomic hydrogen source. The optical reflection spectra and the resistivity of the films are measured in situ during deposition. In situ grown Mg2NiH4 appears to be stable in vacuum due to the fact that the dehydrogenation of the Mg2NiH4 phase is kinetically blocked. Hydrogen desorption only takes place when a Pd cap layer is added. The optical band gap of the in situ deposited Mg2NiH4 hydride, 1.75 eV, is in good agreement with that of Mg2NiH4 which has been formed ex situ by hydrogenation of metallic Pd capped Mg2Ni films. The microstructure of these in situ grown films is characterized by a homogeneous layer with very small grain sizes. This microstructure suppresses the preferred hydride nucleation at the film/substrate interface which was found in as-grown Mg2Ni thin films that are hydrogenated after deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural nature of the phonon sidebands in the fluorescence and excitation spectra of pentacene guests in p-terphenyl crystals at 4.2 K are investigated using site-selective spectroscopy. The distinct features in the phonon sideband structure were observed to depend significantly on the guest site configuration of pentacene occupying four inequivalent sites in the triclinic p-terphenyl lattice. The sharp peaks dominating the phonon sideband structure are assumed to arise from the pseudolocal phonons. The eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the pseudolocal phonons are calculated carrying out a modified normal mode analysis on the distinct pentacene site configurations including the contribution of all intermolecular atom-pair interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluphenazine decanoate and pipothiazine palmitate were compared concerning their effect and side-effects. 61 schizophrenic patients were treated up to 6 months in a multicenter double-blind trial. Assessments were made on day 0 and after 5, 10, 17 and 22 weeks of treatment using the AMP system. Pipothiazine palmitate was injected every 4th week and fluphenazine decanoate every 3rd week. The most often applied dosage was 100 mg pipothiazine palmitate and 25 or 37.5 mg fluphenazine decanoate. Data analysis of the AMP system at the symptom level showed the better antipsychotic effect of pipothiazine palmitate. A comparison between the two groups by means of analysis of covariance at the syndrome level showed no statistical significant differences between the effects of fluphenazine decanoate and pipothiazine palmitate.

The influence of several oral contraceptives on various serum enzymes was tested during a short-term and a prolonged (24 therapeutic cycles) application period. A total of 8,790 examinations was performed in 211 females, each patient being examined up to 8 times during the cycles 0, 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 and the first cycle following termination of oral contraception. Since sufficiently sensitive steroid-dependent makers are lacking, it cannot be dispensed with determining the serum enzymes gamma-GT, GPT, GOT, and LAP altogether, in order to detect early damage of the liver.

In 47 patients ECG tracings were recorded and cardiovascular values determined before therapy, during treatment with antidepressive agents after it had been in progress for at least 3 weeks, and 4 weeks after withdrawal of therapy. In a further 19 patients in whom antidepressive therapy could not be withdrawn, the same test battery was repeated after an average period of 13 months. No serious disturbances of cardiac rhythm were detected and certain changes in ECG criteria (prolongation of PR interval, widening of QRS complex, prolongation of QTc time and T-wave flattening) proved to be reversible. There was no difference between tricyclic and tetracyclic antidepressive agents. We are nevertheless of the opinion that ECG and cardiac function should be carefully monitored in elderly patients and in those on prolonged therapy with high doses of antidepressives. The results of this study are discussed and compared with previously published findings.

In a comparative study on Caesarean section problems-based on investigations from 1974/76 and 1980/83-conducted at the Gynaecological and Obstetrical Hospital of Jena University, changes are apparent in the indication for Caesarean section and in maternal morbidity. The evident decrease in statistically uncorrected perinatal mortality as well as in uncorrected intra-and postnatal mortality during this period (difference statistically significant at p less than 0.05) was not due to a further increase in Caesarean sections from 8.23% (period 1974/76) to 9.27% (period 1980/83), but to other factors (improved medical care for pregnant women and improved neonatal check-up). In comparison with uncorrected intra-and postnatal mortality, perinatal Caesarean section lethality even showed a 2,46-fold relative increase. As late morbidity among high-risk children related to the immediate stage of labour is still poorly understood, "extended" indication for Caesarean section is maintained-in spite of high infection morbidity among mothers. General perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis for these women is recommended because of the statistically significant poor situation of secondary Caesarean sections as far as maternal morbidity is concerned.