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ObjectivesThe distinction between bipolar I disorder (BD-I) and bipolar II disorder (BD-II) has been a topic of long-lasting debate. This study examined differences between BD-I and BD-II in a large, global sample of OABD, focusing on general functioning, cognition and somatic burden as these domains are often affected in OABD.MethodsCross-sectional analyses were conducted with data from the Global Aging and Geriatric Experiments in Bipolar Disorder (GAGE-BD) database. The sample included 963 participants aged ≥50 years (714 BD-I, 249 BD-II). Sociodemographic and clinical factors were compared between BD subtypes including adjustment for study cohort. Multivariable analyses were conducted with generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) and estimated associations between BD subtype and (1) general functioning (GAF), (2) cognitive performance (g-score) and (3) somatic burden, with study cohort as random intercept.ResultsAfter adjustment for study cohort, BD-II patients more often had a late onset ≥50 years (p=0.008) and more current severe depression (p=0.041). BD-I patients were more likely to have a history of psychiatric hospitalization (p

Objectives: The validity and applicability of two existing staging models reflecting illness progression have been studied in bipolar disorder (BD) in adults, but not in older adult populations. Staging model A is primarily defined by the number and recurrence of mood episodes, model B is defined by the level of inter-episodic functioning. This study aimed to explore the applicability, dispersion, and concordance of, and associations with clinical markers in these two staging models in older-age bipolar disorder (OABD). Methods: Using cross-sectional data from the Dutch Older Bipolars study, OABD outpatients (N = 126, ≥50 years) were staged using models A and B. Dispersion over the stages and concordance between the models were assessed. Associations were explored between model stages and clinical markers (familial loading, childhood abuse, illness duration, episode density, treatment resistance, Mini-Mental State Examination, and composite cognitive score). Results: Ninety subjects could be assigned to model A, 111 to model B, 80 cases to both. The majority (61%) had multiple relapses (model A, stage 3C) but were living independently (model B, stage I-III). Concordance between models was low. For model A, the markers childhood abuse, illness duration, and episode density significantly increased over subsequent stages. Model B was not associated with a significant change in any marker. Conclusions: Assigning stages to OABD subjects was possible for both models, with age-related adjustments for model B. Model B as currently operationalized may be less suitable for OABD or may measure different aspects of illness progression, reflected by its low correspondence with model A and lack of associated clinical markers.

OBJECTIVES: There is limited information on the characteristics of older adults with bipolar disorder (OABD) treated with lithium, along with safety concerns about its use by older adults. The aim of the present study is to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of OABD receiving lithium therapy, using data from the Global Ageing & Geriatric Experiments in Bipolar Disorder (GAGE-BD).EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES: Cross-sectional analysis of the GAGE-BD dataset to determine differences and similarities between lithium users and non-users. We analysed data from 986 participants aged 50 years or older (mean age 63.5 years; 57.5% females) from 12 study sites. Two subgroups ('Lithium'; 'Non-lithium') were defined according to the current prescription of lithium. We compared several outcomes between these groups, controlling for age, gender, and study site.RESULTS: OABD treated with lithium had lower scores on depression rating scales and were less likely to be categorised as with moderate or severe depression. There was a lower proportion of lithium users than non-users among those with evidence of rapid cycling and non-bipolar psychiatric diagnoses. Assessment of global cognitive state and functionality indicated better performance among lithium users. The current use of antipsychotics was less frequent among lithium users, who also reported fewer cardiovascular comorbidities than non-users.CONCLUSION: We found several potentially relevant differences in the clinical profile of OABD treated with lithium compared with those treated with other mood stabilisers. However, the interpretation of the present results must take into account the methodological limitations inherent to the cross-sectional approach and data harmonisation.

Few studies examined the association between perceived stress and cognitive function in older adults. This study will examine which aspects of perceived stress especially impact cognitive function.Cross-sectional data of 1099 older adults between 64 and 100 years from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam were used. Perceived stress and its subscales perceived helplessness and perceived self-efficacy were measured with the Perceived Stress Scale. Cognitive function was assessed regarding memory, processing speed and executive function. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed between the stress measures and the domains of cognitive function.Perceived stress was associated with worse processing speed, direct and delayed recall, semantic fluency and digit span backwards (range β = -0.10; -0.11; p 0.01). The subscale perceived helplessness showed negative associations only with processing speed (β = -0.06, p 0.05) and delayed recall (β = -0.06, p 0.05), which became nonsignificant after the adjustment for depressive symptoms or sense of mastery. The subscale perceived self-efficacy was significantly associated with better cognitive function, also after adjustment for depressive symptoms or sense of mastery (range β = 0.10; 0.18; p 0.01).In older adults, especially perceived self-efficacy showed independent associations with a broad range of cognitive functions. Perceived self-efficacy might be an important factor in reducing stress and the prevention of cognitive decline. Copyright © 2016 John WileySons, Ltd.

During the last years many components of the TEXTOR data management system were re-engineered. This new system was successfully used to commission and subsequently to operate TEXTOR following the installation of the Dynamic Ergodic Divertor. This paper gives an overview of one of the main re-engineered components: JDAQ, the Java (or Julich) Data AcQuisition system. JDAQ is based on the design of, and the experiences with the previous TEXTOR data acquisition systems; it was aimed to be an open, distributed and scalable system. It has almost completely been written in the JAVA object-oriented programming language, reflecting many of the code patterns known from modern software engineering. JDAQ is designed as a four-tier layered system, which can be run on a single node or distributed over a TCP/IP network. The TEXTOR operations during the last two years showed the advantage of a highly flexible, platform independent and modular development. The majority of our diagnostic subsystems have been moved to JDAQ and have been reliably operated in the TEXTOR experimental campaigns.

During the 2002–2003 shutdown of TEXTOR, many components of the TEXTOR diagnostic data management system were upgraded. This paper intents to give an overview of these upgraded components and how they co-operate to form one integrated Data Management System. The components in question are: (1) JDAQ: The Java (or Juelich) Data Acquisition System, a newly created data acquisition system, completely written in the JAVA object oriented programming language. (2) The TEC Common Storage Facility and the Textor Physics Database. (3) The TEC Web-Umbrella: A unified data access scheme based on the widely used HTTP protocol. (4) Chainl: A framework for automatically run chains of analysis software.

Background: transnational and psychometrically appropriate versions of instruments used in the diagnosis of dementia are essential for comparing information between different countries. The Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly incorporates a brief neuropsychological test battery, Cambridge Cognitive Examination (recently revised version), which provides objective data on performance across a number of cognitive domains. Objective: to harmonise the Cambridge Cognitive Examination between seven European countries. Method: 40 patients with probable or possible Alzheimer's disease of each of the seven countries were administered the Cambridge Cognitive Examination. The Nurse Observation Scale for Geriatrics was used to assess concordance between cognitive and behavioural measures. Results: only small differences between the various Cambridge Cognitive Examination versions were found, and patterns of correlation between Cambridge Cognitive Examination and the Nurse Observation Scale for Geriatrics were consistent. Conclusion: these findings indicate that the harmonisation of the Cambridge Cognitive Examination was successful.

The aim of this study was to detect behavioral subsyndromes of the 12-item Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI). Cross-sectional data of 199 patients with dementia living in the community were collected. Principal component analysis (with Varimax rotation) was used for factor analysis. Results showed the presence of three behavioral subsyndromes: mood/apathy, psychosis, and hyperactivity. Anxiety was regarded as a separate symptom. The subsyndrome mood/apathy was the most common, occurring in almost 80% of the patients, versus psychosis and hyperactivity, which occurred in 37 and 60% of the patients, respectively.

The present study examines the association of frequency and severity of life events with memory functioning in a community sample of adults. We tested the hypothesis that stress-related cognitive interference mediated the effects of recent life events on cognition, in addition to examining the potential roles of fatigue, sleep disturbances, and depression. The sample consisted of 310 adults (age range 19–83) who received a battery of cognitive tests assessing their primary memory, episodic memory, and working memory. Individuals rated how stressful previous life events were when they occurred, as well as how stressful the events were for them currently. Ratings of current, but not past severity were negatively associated with working memory performance. Both stress-related cognitive interference and depressive symptoms independently mediated this association. These findings highlight the importance of intrusive and avoidant thinking as a potential focus of psychosocial treatment for remediating stress-related memory dysfunction.

The TEC community operates the textor device and in doing so collects and stores data from a number of different front-end acquisition systems, processing codes and analysis systems. Due to the evolution of these systems in the past, different, distributed data storage technologies were used to record this data. In an attempt to reduce the number of interfaces client codes have to use when accessing data from these data stores, an “umbrella” concept was developed: a software-layer that covers (as an “umbrella”) as many as possible of these stores and provides a unified access mechanism to them. We explored the possibility of using the widely supported HTTP protocol for this purpose; this is the core protocol of the World-Wide-Web and it is capable of transporting almost any type of data. The concepts behind using this protocol were based on earlier work at JET. Access via this umbrella has been provided to the most important data stores around textor and access to others is being added regularly. Clients codes, libraries and programs have been developed for several user environments. The HTTP based concepts and the data-access via this system have been found to be highly portable. This paper gives an overview of the TEC Web-Umbrella system, it describes the basic concepts of this system and it presents some of the client-side codes and programs. The paper also reports on some first (tentative) user experiences with it.

The database system for the storage and retrieval of experimental and technical data at TEXTOR-94 has to be revised. A new database has to be developed, which complies with future performance and multiplatform requirements. The concept, to be presented here, is based on the commercial object database Objectivity. Objectivity allows a flexible object oriented data design and is able to cope with the large amount of data, which is expected to be about 1 TByte per year. Furthermore, it offers the possibility of data distribution over several hosts. Thus, parallel data storage from the frontend to the database is possible and can be used to achieve the required storage performance of 200 MByte per min. In order to store configurational and experimental data, an object model is under design. It is aimed at describing the device specific information and the acquired data in a common way such that different aproaches for data access may be applied. There are several methods forseen for remote access. In addition to the C++ and Java interfaces already included in Objectivity/DB, CORBA and socket based C interfaces are currently under development. This could also allow an access by non-supported platforms and enable existing legacy applications an integration of the database for storage and retrieval of data by a minimum of code changes. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Dynacore's project objective is to provide tools for the remote operation of large physics experiments. Our group concentrates on the design of a remote control room for the Textor-94 plasma-physics experiment, which will incorporate a distributed database, accessible with Corba over Internet. During normal operation, Textor-94 generates hundreds of megabytes of measurement data within the few seconds of a plasma shot. These shots are generated approximately every ten minutes, in total around 30 shots per day. A database will make the measurement data available to scientists, both at the experiment and in remote control rooms, which can be located in different countries, within minutes after the acquisition. Fast access to the database and a high data-storage speed are, therefore, of utmost importance. We have defined a set of data objects, which allow storage of virtually any kind of Textor measurement data. An Objectivity object-oriented database is used to store these objects. We have also designed an architecture in which database clients access the measurement database solely via data managers with Corba-interfaces. The data managers introduce security into the database, and also hide details of the database implementation for the users. An object manager provides clients with a central starting point, and distributes the total database load in an intelligent way over all available data-managers.

Background:Late-life depression is a heterogeneous disorder, whereby cognitive impairments are often observed. This study examines which clinical characteristics and symptom dimensions of late-life depression are especially impacting on specific cognitive domains.Methods:Cross-sectional data of 378 depressed and 132 non-depressed older adults between 60–93 years, from the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older adults (NESDO) were used. Depressed older adults were recruited from both inpatient and outpatient mental healthcare institutes and general practices, and diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR criteria. Multivariable associations were examined with depression characteristics (severity, onset, comorbidity, psychotropic medication) and symptom dimensions as independent variables and cognitive domains (episodic memory, processing speed, interference control, working memory) as dependent variables.Results:Late-life depression was associated with poorer cognitive functioning. Within depressed participants, higher severity of psychopathology and having a first depressive episode was associated with poorer cognitive functioning. The use of tricyclic antidepressants, serotonergic and noradrenergic working antidepressants, and benzodiazepines was associated with worse cognitive functioning. Higher scores on the mood dimension were associated with poorer working memory and processing speed, whereas higher scores on a motivational and apathy dimension were associated with poorer episodic memory and processing speed.Conclusions:Heterogeneity in late-life depression may lead to differences in cognitive functioning. Higher severity and having a first depressive episode was associated with worse cognitive performance. Additionally, different domains of cognitive functioning were associated with specific symptom dimensions. Our findings on the use of psychotropic medication suggest that close monitoring on cognitive side effects is needed.

Profiles of the Balmer lines D α (H α ), D β (H β ) and D γ (H γ ) have been measured in the scrape-off layer and within the edge of the TEXTOR (upgrade) plasma, under Ohmic conditions and with neutral-beam injection. Each line profile shows a strong Zeeman effect in the vicinity of line centre, and a marked central dip when mainly the σ components are observed. The line core evidently originates from cold atoms in the edge plasma, excited in the course of molecular dissociation, while the broad pedestal on which the core rests is radiated by excited atoms produced through charge-exchange recombination of deuterons (protons), transported outwards from the much hotter plasma interior, and by atoms heated directly by collisions with the deuterons (protons). Core temperatures of about 0.5 eV and less are obtained from line profile analysis.

A new regime of enhanced confinement (I-mode) is found in plasmas with circular cross-sections in the pump limiter tokamak TEXTOR with boronized walls. This regime is obtained with three types of auxiliary heating, namely NBI co-injection, NBI counter-injection+ICRH and NBI co-injection+NBI counter-injection, and has many similarities with the H-mode regime obtained in divertor tokamaks. The energy confinement times obtained in these discharges scale as favourably as those in stationary H-mode discharges with edge localized modes. A detailed analysis of the scaling of the confinement time with plasma current, heating power and plasma density is presented. Characteristic electron density and temperature profiles are observed, with large central values and well developed edge pedestals. They are compared with those found in H-mode discharges and supershots. A poloidal beta limit of 1.6 is found in the I-mode discharges of TEXTOR. The maximum toroidal beta values obtained reach nearly 1%, i.e. 0.7 times the Troyon limit in TEXTOR. I-mode confinement is always linked with low recycling and absence of MHD activity. If these conditions are not met. L-mode scaling is retrieved. MHD activity, which is more likely to occur at low plasma densities and currents, can cause a sudden drop to L-mode scaling. So far, no transition from the L-mode scaling to the I-mode scaling has been observed

A Rutherford scattering diagnostic has been applied at the TEXTOR tokamak to obtain spatially and temporally resolved information on the temperature of the bulk ions in the plasma. In the experimental setup, a helium atomic beam (30-keV, 12-mA equivalent current) passes vertically through the plasma core. A small part of the injected atoms is scattered elastically by the thermally moving plasma ions. The ion temperature in the scattering volume can be determined from the broadening of the energy spectrum of the scattered particles. Energy analysis of the scattered atoms is performed by a mass-selective time-of-flight analyzer detecting the particles at an observation angle which is selectable between 3-degrees and 8-degrees. Coincidence techniques have been successfully applied in this detector for rejection of background events triggered by detections of neutrons and gamma radiation. Ion temperature profiles were measured on a shot-to-shot basis by shifting the cross section of the diagnostic beam and the observational volume of the analyzer through the plasma. The ion temperatures measured in ohmic deuterium plasmas were found to be in reasonable agreement with those obtained from passive neutral particle analysis. Up to now, ion temperatures have been measured throughout the complete discharge with an accuracy of 8% and a time and space resolution of 100 ms and 0.10 m at a scattering angle of 7-degrees. Deuteron density profiles could be deduced from the scattering yield measured at different radial positions in the plasma. The ratio of the isotopes, hydrogen and deuterium, was determined from their separate contributions to the spectrum of helium particles scattered on hydrogen and deuterium. Although theoretical predictions showed that the majority of the probing helium atoms loses one of its electrons during the elastic scattering process on multiply charged carbon and oxygen ions, contributions from impurities to the observed experimental spectrum are shown to appear dominant for impure plasmas.

Neutral beam injection (NBI-co and NBI-counter), ICRH and their combinations have been compared on TEXTOR for what concerns the heating and their effect on the energy anisotropy and the confinement. In most of the cases, stationary heated plasma conditions have been obtained with boronized wall. The main results are: (i) Production of a hot ion mode with NBI-co. It is characterized by a large energy anisotropy, by a large noninductively driven toroidal current and by the stabilization of the sawteeth (of the monster type) due to the hot ion tail. (ii) Significant enhancement of these effects when ICRH is added to NBI-co. The neutron yield is also increased by the addition of ICRH. Peak electron and ion temperature around 3 keV have been obtained and 70% of the total current has been non inductively driven. (iii) Large excess of the total energy content (up to 2.3) with respect to the L-mode scaling predictions has been obtained with the combinations NBI-co+ICRH or NBI-co+NBI-counter. (iv) Up to 6 MW of additional power has been coupled to the plasma leading to beta p=1.5 and beta t equal to 70% of the Troyon limit.

A distributed computer system configuration is used at the TEXTOR Tokamak experiment for control and data acquisition of the diagnostic systems as well as for processing of the experimental data. A cluster of VAX computers, interconnected by CI and Ethernet, form the network. VAX/VMS and DECNET form the basis for communication within the network. Interfacing with the process instrumentation is done through CAMAC. High data volumes are acquired, processed, and maintained. A description is given of the TEXTOR data acquisition system structure, performance, and status of implementation. The distributed nature of the system is outlined. >

The first results of the Dynamic Ergodic Divertor in TEXTOR, when operating in the m/n=3/1 mode configuration, are presented. The deeply penetrating external magnetic field perturbation of this configuration increases the toroidal plasma rotation. Staying below the excitation threshold for the m/n=2/1 tearing mode, this toroidal rotation is always in the direction of the plasma current, even if the toroidal projection of the rotating magnetic field perturbation is in the opposite direction. The observed toroidal rotation direction is consistent with a radial electric field, generated by an enhanced electron transport in the ergodic layers near the resonances of the perturbation. This is an effect different from theoretical predictions, which assume a direct coupling between rotating perturbation and plasma to be the dominant effect of momentum transfer.

Recently, the dynamic ergodic divertor (DED) of TEXTOR has been studied in an m/n = 3/1 set-up which is characterized by a relatively deep penetration of the perturbation field. The perturbation field creates (a) a helical divertor, (b) an ergodic pattern and/or (c) excitation of tearing modes, depending on whether the DED current is static, rotating in the co-current direction or in the counter-current direction. Characteristic divertor properties such as the high recycling regime or enhanced shielding have been studied. A strong effect of the ergodization is spin up of the plasma rotation, possibly due to the electric field at the plasma edge. Tearing modes are excited in a rather reproducible way and their excitation threshold value, their motion and their reduction due to the ECRH/ECCD have been studied. The different scenarios are characterized by strong modifications of the toroidal velocity profile and by a reduced or enhanced radial transport.

Summary form only given. In order to successfully deploy a Collaboratory using upcoming Internet standards, new requirements are placed on interconnecting networks. The current best effort Internet is unsuitable for time critical and real time applications. This contribution shows an overview of several user cases. Related IETF work currently in progress is summarized. Special emphasis is given to the evolution of Quality of Service protocols such as Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) and Differentiated Services (DiffServ). Policy control is an essential component in the successful deployment of QoS. Pilot experiments with national research network agencies proved that QoS networks can not be implemented without an efficient and automated control mechanism. When implementing policy control, it is important to understand the relationships with authentication, authorization and accounting. A model which positions these components is presented. As application resources in future collaboratory environments will benefit from policy controlled network resources, it is important to understand above issues.

In the framework of the EU-funded Dynacore project an experiment system using a scalable and object-oriented architecture will be built. The system will be component-based and can be extended with little effort by the end-users. It will allow experiments to be monitored and controlled in real time over wide area (Internet) links. The data produced by the experiments will be accessible from any given location that has Internet connectivity available. CORBA will be used as the basic plumbing for component interaction. This allows all components in the system to interact in a well-defined way through interfaces defined in IDL, while allowing each component to be implemented using the ORB and platform most suited for the job. Since not all implementations of CORBA provide the possibility of secure connections, options for encryption of the data streams between clients and servers outside of software control are needed. Some schemes for hardware encryption inside routers and/or switches are under investigation. For the actual data storage, objectivity will be used because its object-oriented nature fits well in the whole framework and because it is capable of handling the amounts of data that will typically be produced in a plasma physics experiment (a Terabyte per year).

The TEXTOR data acquisition system has been revised to cope with new hardware/software techniques, additional requirements from the intended remote participation operational modes and higher performance needs. Care was taken to preserve the investment of well accepted hardware and to provide a smooth migration to the new environments.

The Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC) is a collaboration between three plasma-physics institutes: the Laboratory for Plasma Physics at the Koninklijke Militaire School (KMS) in Brussels, Belgium, the FOM Institute for Plasma Physics in Rijnhuizen, the Netherlands and the Institute for Plasma Physics at the Forschungszentrum, Julich (FZJ) in Germany. They jointly perform nuclear fusion experiments at the tokamak reactor 'Textor-94' in Julich. Currently, scientists from FOM and KMS have to be physically present at the Textor-94 control room to participate in experiments, To show that remote participation is feasible, the Dynacore project built a software demonstrator that allows scientists to view measurement data, control measurement equipment and view the status of Textor-94. The demonstrator uses Java applets as clients, C + + servers, and CORBA for communication. The chosen architecture has the following advantages. It is portable, modular and reusable, eases collaboration in software development and optimizes for performance over the Internet. We solved the problems we had with applet security policies, the performance of our design and the integration of legacy systems. Our demonstrator shows that remote participation is feasible. The reactions from potential users are very positive. However, the demonstrator has to be improved for real usage in the future. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The partners in the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC) are implementing and developing Remote Participation technologies that are expected to support a joint research programme on the experimental facility TEXTOR-94. A common TEC architecture for our heterogeneous data acquisition and storage systems is seen to be one of the major issues. As a consequence, legacy systems will be affected and have to be upgraded for optimised wide area network communication, platform independent data access and display. The object oriented redesign of the system to be described follows theses guidelines. The architecture of the system under development uses Java as programming environment and CORBA as Client/Server communication standard. It is described in this paper, how an operational Data Acquisition CAMAC subsystem of TEXTOR-94 based on OpenVMS and Decnet communications could be redesigned into an open, object oriented architecture in a platform independent way. A suitable Web Browser is required on the client side without further installation of application software to run the server. CORBA static method invocations are used for the communication between the client and server. At the server side, there is only Java code on top of the existing commercial OpenVMS CAMAC device driver. A modular object oriented software design permitted to eliminate dependencies of the generic module levels from the underlying bus systems. Porting of the Java code to other platforms like Windows NT and Linux has proven to be successful. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Background: Understanding the relevance of biological and social factors to sex differences in the prevalence and detection of depressive and anxiety disorders has been impaired by the lack of standardized research methods across cultures. Method: Prevalence rates of depressive and anxiety disorders were assessed using a 2-stage design from 26 969 patients attending for primary care in 15 centers from 4 continents. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine sex differences in prevalence and detection across centers. Results: Odds ratios for women compared with men of current depression (1.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37-1.86) and agoraphobia or panic (1.63; 95% CI, 1.18-2.20) were consistent across centers. The odds ratio for generalized anxiety varied among centers: 3 groups of centers were identified with odds ratios of 0.46 (95% CI, 0.27-0.78), 1.34 (95% CI, 1.08-1.66), and 3.09 (95% CI, 1.60-5.89). There was no sex difference in the detection of depressive and anxiety disorders by physicians across centers. Conclusions: The absence of a sex-by-center effect for current depression and agoraphobia or panic disorder is consistent with biological and psychosocial factors, either interacting or working alone, that have a similar final effect across cultures. It does not support the idea that sex differences in prevalence are caused by local psychosocial factors that vary from country to country. The variation in the odds ratio for generalized anxiety disorder offers some support to the idea that there are local differences between the centers contributing to the sex difference in rates. Patients’ sex does not appear to affect the likelihood of current depression and anxiety being detected by primary care physicians.

1. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle differs from the follicular phase by the development of a state of general vascular relaxation. 2. Once in the follicular and once in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, we measured by non-invasive techniques: arterial blood pressure (by finger blood pressure measurements), vascular tone (by pulse-wave velocity and plethysmography), blood flow to skin (by laser-Doppler), blood flow to forearm (by plethysmography) and blood flow to kidneys (by para-aminohippurate clearance), and the glomerular filtration rate (by inulin clearance). The data points obtained in the luteal phase were compared with those in the follicular phase by non-parametric tests. 3. Arterial blood pressure, vascular tone and the blood flows to the forearm and kidneys were comparable in the two phases of the menstrual cycle. In contrast, the blood flow to the skin was consistently lower, and the glomerular filtration rate higher in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. 4. The results of the present study do not support our hypothesis of a general vascular relaxation in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. The lower skin flow in the luteal phase may be an adaptation needed to ensure the higher core temperature of 0.3–0.5°C in the luteal phase. The higher glomerular filtration rate was in most cases paralleled by a higher renal blood flow in the luteal phase. This suggests that the higher glomerular filtration rate is secondary to a selective vasorelaxation of the afferent renal arterioles.

Demands for higher spatial and temporal signal resolution as well as the elongated discharge pulses expected from the upgraded TEXTOR experiment asked for an improvement of the timing system used so far at the experiment's diagnostic systems. The revision of the timing system primarily aimed at a better synchronization of the data acquisition systems throughout the area of TEXTOR diagnostics, but also resulted in a more compact redesign of the modules to be replaced. The design and the properties of the two newly developed CAMAC modules and their integration into the TEXTOR data acquisition system will be described.

The recent experimental activity in the field of auxiliary heating and related topics on TEXTOR is reviewed. TEXTOR is equipped with up to 4 MW of ion cyclotron heating power and 3.4 MW of neutral beam injection. The combination of the radiating boundary concept with high auxiliary power has extended the improved confinement domain to the large density regime and demonstrated the viability of the radiating boundary concept for long pulse high power operation. Improved confinement was also achieved in third harmonic heating, characterised by predominant coupling of the RF to the beam ions. Operation of an unshielded antenna with insulated limiters proved that RF sheaths are taking place on the side limiters and are suppressed by insulation. Control of the helium flux by the RF was successfully demonstrated using the interaction of the RF with fast 3 He ions injected by neutral beam. Preliminary tests with a high Z limiter indicate compatibility, and even a positive effect, of the RF. Experience gained in operating unshielded antennas is also commented on.

On referral by ophthalmologists, the Visual Advice Centre provides the partially sighted with advice and prescriptions for illumination and visual aids. In this paper the multidisciplinary structure of the centre is presented and the results obtained in the first 18 months of its existence are discussed. Two hundred and ninety-eight patients were referred to the centre in this period. The majority of these patients (79.2%) were older than 60 years. The main cause of visual impairment was macular disease (45.3% of the patients). An interesting finding is that, although reading is an important need, reading problems only constituted 35.9% of the total number of demands for help. From an inquiry into the situation of 125 patients 6 months after prescription, it appears that more than 90% of the aids prescribed are used regularly. The conclusion is drawn that patients referred to the Visual Advice Centre benefit from the multi-disciplinary approach to their problems.

Ion cyclotron heating on TEXTOR has now reached the Megajoule level. The heating scenario is normally mode conversion but occasionally minority heating in a D-(H) plasma. With appropriate wall conditioning by carbonization more than 1 MW of RF power has been injected for long pulse durations ( approximately 1 s). The ICRF heated plasma is characterized by a quasi-stationarity of all plasma parameters, little if no impurity increase and a loop voltage reduction resulting in the total power coupled to the plasma reaching six times the remaining ohmic power input. Evidence of the coupling of the RF power to the plasma is obtained from the increase of the thermal load on the limiters and central energy deposition is supported from analysis of the sawtooth heating rate.

The paper summarizes the main results obtained during the first six months of experimental work on TEXTOR with ohmically heated plasmas. The machine(R = 175 cm; a = 45-50 cm) was operated at wall temperatures up to 303 oC with hydrogen gas, a toroidal field of 2 T and a maximum plasma current of 500 kA, yielding central electron temperatures of 1.2 keV, maximum line-averaged densities of 4 x 1013 cm-3 and discharge durations of up to 2.7 sec (for Ip≤340 kA). Besides providing long-lasting reproducible plasmas for forthcoming plasma wall interaction research, the following tasks were accomplished: (1) control of low Z impurities by effective wall cleaning and conditioning; (2) accurate plasma positioning for extended pulse durations; (3) determination of the current density distribution by way of Faraday rotation measurements; (4) investigation of plasma limiter interaction including spectroscopic determination of released neutral particle fluxes and measurement of the power density distribution in the scrape-off layer by infrared-thermography.

Four new low field side antennae grouped in pairs have been installed on TEXTOR. It is found that the interaction with the wall (density rise, impurity generation) is significantly reduced when operating each pair out of phase ( pi ) as opposed to in phase (0). The beneficial effect in the pi configuration is obtained without drop in plasma loading. This experimental property is shown, from theory, to be explained by the judicious choice of the geometrical configuration. A further improvement in the wall interaction is made possible by an appropriate choice of wall conditioning (wall carbonization with liner at 400 degrees C or, above all, boronization). As a result record low values of Prad/Ptotal were achieved during ICRH. The large reduction in wall interaction during ICRH allows routine long pulse (>1 s) ICRH operation at the maximum power level available ( equivalent to 2.5 MW).

A multimegajoule ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) experiment was installed on the Torus Experiment for Technology-Oriented Research (TEXTOR) tokamak. The system consists of two independent power lines each designed to generate and launch 1.5 MW of radio-frequency (rf) power into the machine during a 3-s period in the 25- to 29-MHz frequency range. Each power line consists of the following items: a 1.5-MW transmitter, a transmission line system, and an interface linking the transmission line to the antenna of the shielded strip-line type placed along the tokamak's hot liner. Details of the line and antenna diagnostics and data acquisition system together with the subsequent impedance characteristic calculations are given. The rf radiation shielding for the ICRH experiment is explained. The control of the rf setup as a TEXTOR sub-system and the generator pulse control and operation modes are outlined. The antenna loading and power limitation in the presence of plasma and the conditioning procedure are discussed. Finally, the new rf system compatible with the toroidal pump limiter Advanced Limiter Test-II is presented.

The profiles of some lines of the second Lyman-series of HeII, broadened by microscopic Starkeffect in plasmas of given temperatures and densities were calculated and compared to available experimental data. The comparison yielded reasonable agreement as to the resulting halfwidths and lesser agreement in details of the line-centers and -wings.

A computerized data acquisition system for collection, storage and analysis of the experimental data from the Tokamak experiment TEXTOR is under development and implementation.

The acqusition and data analysis system outlined in this paper is built up in modular form to verify transparent data flow and easy data handling by interactive communication. The system gives a maximum of flexibility in the use of a CAMAC-ADC-instrumentation yet providing reliability by guiding and checking all operators actions internally. By the same means, asking specific questions and checking of the keyboard inputs, the operator is guided also through the different steps of the evaluation. Emphasis is put on simple data structuring and input/output modes to operate the system without specific computer training. An extension of the system with the addition of more analysis programs, even by different authors, is readily achieved by simple linking conventions. The Julich on-line coupling system of the TSS computer IBM 370/158 is utilized for the more complex data analysis.

ICRH and NB, Co‐injection, are compared at the same power of 1.4 MW and then combined. The diamagnetic energy increases linearly with the total power. At low plasma current, the combination of ICRH and NB, Co‐injection, is possibly synergetic and leads to nearly zero loop voltage.

A computerized data acquisition system for the tokamak experiment TEXTOR is under implementation and has been tested in the first experimental phase. The computer system consists of a VAX 11/780 processor as interface to the experimentalists and a PDP 11/44 as front-end computer interfaced to the diagnostic subsystems for TEXTOR. Connection between the data acquisition system and the various diagnostic subsystems is done by CAMAC instrumentation. The software system has been developed from the DIOS/GALE systems adopted from the IPP Garching’ modified to enable decentralized operation of the participants.

The Lyman-α diagnostic is dedicated to the detection of hydrogen in the vicinity of the first wall (liner) of TEXTOR by means of laser induced fluorescence. It relies on a fast data acquisition to collect up to 40 time-resolved fluorescence signals within the 3 s. long plasma shot. The system we have developed is described with emphasis on the constraints imposed by some measuring instruments and on the demanded flexibility.

Amaç C.auris sağlık bakımı ilişkili infeksiyonlara neden olan, birçok antifungale dirençli son derece virülan bir mantardır. Sağlık merkezlerinde salgınlara neden olduğundan erken tanı konulması gerekli önlemlerin alınması bakımından çok önemlidir. Ancak standart laboratuvar teknikleri ile tanımlanması zordur ve spesifik yöntemler kullanılmazsa yanlış tanımlanabilir. Bu yazı COVID-19 tanısı ile yoğun bakımında yatmakta olan hastalarda nadir ve infeksiyon kontrol açısından büyük risk oluşturan C.auris üremelerini anlatmaktadır. Olgular Hastaların demografik ve klinik özellikleri Tablo 1’de özetlenmiştir. Tüm hastaların 60 yaşın üzerinde olması, öncesinde geniş spektrumlu antibiyotik ve steroid kullanım öyküleri olması dikkat çekmektedir. İntrakranial kanama nedeniyle opere edilen Olgu 1’in yara yeri ve Olgu 2’nin ise genital bölge sürüntüsünde C.auris üremesi olmuştur ve etken olarak kabul edilmemişlerdir. Olgu 5’in ise inguinal bölge sürüntü kültürlerinin yanı sıra periferik kan ve idrar kateter kültürlerinde de üreme olduğundan etken olarak kabul edilmiştir. Hastalara ait klinik örneklerden üretilmiş maya kolonileri MALDI-TOF MS (VITEK MS, V3.0, BioMérieux) kullanılarak % 99.9 identifikasyon skoru oranlarıyla C.auris olarak tanımlanmıştır. Olgu 4 halen yatmakta olup diğer tüm hastalar kaybedilmiştir. Sonuç Ülkemizde şimdiye kadar C.auris ile infekte olgu raporlanmamıştır. C. auris üremeleri, COVID-19 nedeniyle yoğun bakım yatışlarının uzaması, COVID-19 seyrinde kullanılan immunsupresif tedaviler ve geniş spektrumlu antibiyotik kullanımları gibi faktörlere bağlı olabilir. Etkenin doğru tanınması ve tedavinin erken başlanması mortalite açısından çok önemlidir. Olgularımız hem COVID-19 hastalarında hem de Türkiye’de bildirilen ilk C.auris vakaları olması nedeniyle dikkat çekici özellik taşımaktadır.

WOS: 000300864200005, The Advanced GAmma Tracking Array (AGATA) is a European project to develop and operate the next generation gamma-ray spectrometer. AGATA is based on the technique of gamma-ray energy tracking in electrically segmented high-purity germanium crystals. This technique requires the accurate determination of the energy, time and position of every interaction as a gamma ray deposits its energy within the detector volume. Reconstruction of the full interaction path results in a detector with very high efficiency and excellent spectral response. The realisation of gamma-ray tracking and AGATA is a result of many technical advances. These include the development of encapsulated highly segmented germanium detectors assembled in a triple cluster detector cryostat, an electronics system with fast digital sampling and a data acquisition system to process the data at a high rate. The full characterisation of the crystals was measured and compared with detector-response simulations. This enabled pulse-shape analysis algorithms, to extract energy, time and position, to be employed. In addition, tracking algorithms for event reconstruction were developed. The first phase of AGATA is now complete and operational in its first physics campaign. In the future AGATA will be moved between laboratories in Europe and operated in a series of campaigns to take advantage of the different beams and facilities available to maximise its science output. The paper reviews all the achievements made in the AGATA project including all the necessary infrastructure to operate and support the spectrometer. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., EU [RII3-CT-2004-506065]; German BMBF [06K-167, 06KY2051]; Swedish Research Council; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; UK EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; UK STFC Science and Technology Facilities Council; AWE plc; Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey [106T055]; Ankara University [05B4240002]; Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education [DPN/N190/AGATA/2009]; Spanish MICINN [FPA2008-06419, FPA2009-13377-C02-02]; Spanish Consolider-Ingenio Programme CPAN [CSD2007-00042]; Generalitat Valenciana [PROMETEO/2010/101]; MICINN, Spain; INFN, Italy [AIC10-D-000568]; Science and Technology Facilities Council [ST/F012039/1, ST/J000094/1, ST/F004192/1, ST/J000159/1, ST/I504940/1, NuSTAR, ST/F006950/1, ST/I504916/1, ST/G000670/1, ST/F004060/1, ST/J000051/1, ST/J000108/1, ST/G000670/1 NuSTAR, ST/I504959/1, ST/G000727/1, ST/F004052/1, ST/F004184/1], AGATA and this work is supported by the European funding bodies and the EU Contract RII3-CT-2004-506065, the German BMBF under Grants 06K-167 and 06KY2051, the Swedish Research Council and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, UK EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK STFC Science and Technology Facilities Council, AWE plc, Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Proj. nr. 106T055) and Ankara University (BAP Proj. nr. 05B4240002), the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education under Grant DPN/N190/AGATA/2009, the Spanish MICINN under grants FPA2008-06419 and FPA2009-13377-C02-02, the Spanish Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Programme CPAN (contract number CSD2007-00042) the Generalitat Valenciana under Grant PROMETEO/2010/101, and research performed in the frame of the GSI-IN2P3 collaboration agreement number 02-42. A. Gadea and E. Farnea acknowledge the support of MICINN, Spain, and INFN, Italy, through the AIC10-D-000568 bilateral action.

WOS: 000311537600003, High-spin states of K-40 have been populated in the fusion-evaporation reaction C-12(Si-30,np)K-40 and studied by means of gamma-ray spectroscopy techniques using one triple-cluster detector of the Advanced Gamma Tracking Array at the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro. Several states with excitation energy up to 8 MeV and spin up to 10(-) have been discovered. These states are discussed in terms of J = 3 and T = 0 neutron-proton hole pairs. Shell-model calculations in a large model space have shown good agreement with the experimental data for most of the energy levels. The evolution of the structure of this nucleus is here studied as a function of excitation energy and angular momentum., EURONS AGATA [506065-R113]; Swedish Research Council [621-2008-4163, 621-2011-4522, 822-2005-3332, 821-2010-6024]; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Kakenhi [23.01752]; Ankara University [05B4240002]; Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education [DPN/N190/AGATA/2009, N N202 073935]; German BMBF [06K-167, 06KY205I, 06KY9136I]; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation [2005.0184]; STFC (UK); MICINN, Spain; INFN, Italy [AIC-D-2011-0746]; Generalitat Valenciana, Spain [PROMETEO/2010/101]; MICINN, Spain [FPA2011-29854]; Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) [HEPHACOS S2009-ESP-1473]; Center for Advanced Studies of Warsaw University of Technology; Goran Gustafsson Foundation; Science and Technology Facilities Council [ST/G000727/1, ST/F004060/1, ST/I504959/1, ST/J000159/1, NuSTAR, ST/I504916/1, ST/J000108/1, ST/F004052/1, ST/J000094/1, ST/F004192/1, ST/F006950/1, ST/J000051/1], We thank the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC) and the Uppsala Multidisciplinary Center for Advanced Computational Science (UPPMAX) for the computer resources used in parts of the analysis. This work was financed by EURONS AGATA (Contract No. 506065-R113), the Swedish Research Council under Contracts No. 621-2008-4163, No. 621-2011-4522, No. 822-2005-3332, and No. 821-2010-6024, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Kakenhi Grant No. 23.01752, Ankara University (BAP Project No. 05B4240002), the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education under Grants No. DPN/N190/AGATA/2009 and No. N N202 073935, the German BMBF under Grants No. 06K-167, No. 06KY205I, and No. 06KY9136I, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation Contract No. 2005.0184, and STFC (UK). A. Gadea and E. Farnea acknowledge the support of MICINN, Spain, and INFN, Italy, through the AIC-D-2011-0746 bilateral action. A. Gadea's activity has been partially supported by the Generalitat Valenciana, Spain, under Grant PROMETEO/2010/101. A. Gadea, A. Jungclaus, A. Poves, and B. Quintana acknowledge support from the MICINN, Spain, under Grant FPA2011-29854. A. Poves is partially supported by the Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) (HEPHACOS S2009-ESP-1473). G. Jaworski acknowledges the support of the Center for Advanced Studies of Warsaw University of Technology. B. Cederwall acknowledges the support of the Goran Gustafsson Foundation.