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Background: Factitious disorder (FD) imposed on self is a psychiatric disorder characterized by the intentional feigning of symptoms or the self-inflicted production of symptoms in the absence of an obvious external reward. Case: This report describes a severe case of FD imposed on self in a 31-year-old male who frequently presented to several regional Emergency Departments with intentional ingestion of foreign objects, ultimately requiring 32 esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) and 28 gastroscopy procedures over two years. Significant history of frequent suicide attempts via medication overdose and clinical suspicion of drug-seeking behavior complicated the case. Motivating factors for the patient’s behavior, suicidality in FD, and thepatient’s treatment and outcome to date will be discussed. Conclusion: There is no well-established treatment for FD documented in the literature. High-quality studies and additional reports of FD could help clinicians when managing such a challenging diagnosis.

Scleral photocrosslinking is increasingly investigated for treatment of myopia and glaucoma. In this study a computational model was developed to predict crosslinking efficiency of visible/near infrared photosensitizers in the sclera. Photocrosslinking was validated against riboflavin corneal crosslinking experimental studies and subsequently modeled for the sensitizer, methylene blue, administered by retrobulbar injection to the posterior sclera and irradiated with a transpupillary light beam. Optimal ranges were determined for treatment parameters including light intensity, methylene blue concentration, injection volume, and inspired oxygen concentration. Additionally, sensitivity of crosslinking to various parameters was quantified. The most sensitive parameters were oxygen concentration in the injection solution, scleral thickness, and injection reservoir thickness (i.e., injection volume).

The neutron-deficient nucleus 68As was populated at high spin in two experiments using the reaction 40Ca(32S, 3pn) at beam energies of 105 and 95 MeV. A self-supporting and a gold-backed, highly enriched 40Ca target were used. Gamma rays were detected with the EUROBALL array, combined with the charged-particle detector array EUCLIDES and the Neutron Wall. The 68As level scheme was considerably extended, especially at negative parity and many previous spin-parity assignments were confirmed or rejected. The total-Routhian-surface (TRS) calculations find shape coexistence and γ softness for the negative- and positive-parity states, respectively.

Excited states of the isotope ${}^{234}$U were studied employing the one-neutron transfer reaction ${}^{235}\mathrm{U}{(d,t)}^{234}$U at a beam energy of 11 MeV. The reaction channel was selected by an identification of the outgoing tritons in a $\ensuremath{\Delta}E$-$E$ measurement. In coincidence with the tritons, $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ rays were also detected with the highly efficient MINIBALL spectrometer. Based on the analysis of $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ coincidence data, the level scheme of ${}^{234}$U was extended. The 4${}^{+}$ state at an energy of 1886.7 keV provides evidence for a possible two-phonon $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ excitation, which is based on three $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ transitions from this state to the $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ vibrational band. However, this state is populated with a high cross section via the one-neutron transfer reaction, which is not expected for a highly collective excitation. The situation is compared to other known cases from the rare-earth region and to the neighboring isotone ${}^{232}$Th, which so far is the only known case for a two-phonon excitation in the actinide region.

We report on the first radioactive beam experiment performed at the recently commissioned REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN in conjunction with the highly efficient γ spectrometer MINIBALL. Using Mg-30 ions accelerated to an energy of 2.25 MeV/u together with a thin Ni-nat target, Coulomb excitation of the first excited 2(+) states of the projectile and target nuclei well below the Coulomb barrier was observed. From the measured relative deexcitation γ-ray yields the B(E2;0(gs)(+)R 2(1)(+)) value of Mg-30 was determined to be 241(31)e(2) fm(4). Our result is lower than values obtained at projectile fragmentation facilities using the intermediate-energy Coulomb excitation method, and confirms the theoretical conjecture that the neutron-rich magnesium isotope Mg-30 resides outside the "island of inversion."

Excited levels in As-69 were studied using the Ca-40(S-32,3p)As-69 reaction at 95 and 105 MeV beam energy. Gamma rays were detected with the EUROBALL spectrometer operated in conjunction with the Neutron Wall and the charged-particle detector array EUCLIDES. New level sequences with positive and negative parity were identified from 3p-gammagamma and gammagammagamma coincidences. Spins were assigned to many of the levels on the basis of directional correlations of oriented states measurements. The previously observed positive-parity band was extended to spin 45/2(+) and it was found to exhibit a crossing with another configuration identified up to spin 53/2(+). Three negative-parity bands were observed for the first time up to spins (43/2(-)), 39/2(-), and (41/2(-)). The previously known band was extended to spin (49/2(-)). No evidence for superdeformation was found, despite very high counting statistics. Configurations were assigned to each of the observed bands through comparisons to the cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky calculations. (Less)

After the successful commissioning of the Radioactive beam EXperiment (REX) at ISOLDE (CERN) in 2002, first physics experiments were performed in 2003 which focussed on the neutron-rich Mg isotopes in the vicinity of the “island of inversion”. After introducing the REX facility and the modern γ spectrometer MINIBALL first preliminary results will be presented showing the high potential and physics opportunities offered by this new radioactive beam facility.

Low spin states in the self-conjugate even-even nucleus 48-Cr were investigated using the MINIBALL gamma-ray spectrometer. At the FN tandem accelerator in Cologne the 46-Ti(3-He,n) reaction was used for the measurement of gamma-gamma coincidences for an excitation function from 7 to 12 MeV beam energy. 17 excited states were observed, nine for the first time by means of gamma-ray spectroscopy, and new spin assignments were made. No excited states apart from the ground band were observed below 3.4 MeV.

The neutron-deficient nucleus ${}^{66}\mathrm{Ge}$ was populated at high spin in two experiments using the reaction ${}^{40}\mathrm{Ca}{(}^{32}\mathrm{S},\ensuremath{\alpha}2p)$ at beam energies of 105 and 95 MeV. In the first experiment, a self-supporting ${}^{40}\mathrm{Ca}$ target was used, while a gold-backed target of similar thickness was used in the second experiment. $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ rays were detected with the EUROBALL array, combined with the charged-particle detector array EUCLIDES and the Neutron Wall. The level scheme of ${}^{66}\mathrm{Ge}$ was extended up to $E\ensuremath{\approx}18\mathrm{MeV}$ and ${I}^{\ensuremath{\pi}}{=(23}^{\ensuremath{-}}).$ Above angular momentum ${10}^{+},$ we found two sequences, connected by energetically staggered $\ensuremath{\Delta}I=1 M1$ transitions. The total Routhian surface calculations describe ${}^{66}\mathrm{Ge}$ at lower spins as a $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-soft nucleus having a moderate deformation of ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{2}\ensuremath{\approx}0.23,$ while a triaxial deformation is predicted for the band structures above ${I}^{\ensuremath{\pi}}{=10}^{+}.$ To our knowledge, this is the first observation of staggered $M1$ transitions in a deformed four-quasiparticle $\ensuremath{\pi}{(g}_{9/2}^{2})\ensuremath{\nu}{(g}_{9/2}^{2})$ structure.