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A 41-year-old man was admitted in circulatory shock of unknown aetiology (systolic pressure 50 mm Hg) and marked reddening of the upper part of the body as well as maculopapular rash over the whole body. After 1500 ml of colloidal solution had been infused the blood pressure rose to a level at which the patient's condition was no longer at risk. He reported having had a similar attack of flushing and circulatory collapse during the last few years, each time after drinking 3-41 of beer. Laboratory tests showed thromboplastin time 56%, partial thromboplastin time 130 s and thrombin time > 180 s. Three hours after admission the coagulation times had further deteriorated, but had become normal within 20 hours. After rest and after a provocation (hot bath) the serum concentrations were: heparin 0.21 U/ml and 0.85 U/ml; histamine 1.9 micrograms/ml and 2.3 micrograms/ml; serotonin 23 micrograms/ml and 38 micrograms/ml. Histological examination of an iliac crest bone marrow biopsy revealed dense collections of mast cells, as seen in systemic mastocytosis. A skin biopsy was diagnostic of urticaria pigmentosa.

The neural correlates of theory of mind (ToM) are typically studied using paradigms which require participants to draw explicit, task-related inferences (e.g., in the false belief task). In a natural setup, such as listening to stories, false belief mentalizing occurs incidentally as part of narrative processing. In our experiment, participants listened to auditorily presented stories with false belief passages (implicit false belief processing) and immediately after each story answered comprehension questions (explicit false belief processing), while neural responses were measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). All stories included (among other situations) one false belief condition and one closely matched control condition. For the implicit ToM processing, we modeled the hemodynamic response during the false belief passages in the story and compared it to the hemodynamic response during the closely matched control passages. For implicit mentalizing, we found activation in typical ToM processing regions, that is the angular gyrus (AG), superior medial frontal gyrus (SmFG), precuneus (PCUN), middle temporal gyrus (MTG) as well as in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) billaterally. For explicit ToM, we only found AG activation. The conjunction analysis highlighted the left AG and MTG as well as the bilateral IFG as overlapping ToM processing regions for both implicit and explicit modes. Implicit ToM processing during listening to false belief passages, recruits the left SmFG and billateral PCUN in addition to the “mentalizing network” known form explicit processing tasks.

25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition / 5th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 6-10 September 2010, Valencia, Spain; 4935-4938, The Solar Home System (SHS) dissemination program in Bangladesh is considered to be one of the most successful programs of its kind worldwide. Since 2003 nearly 582,000 SHS have been installed, the vast majority is at 50 Wp. Systems have been implemented in rural areas where grid electricity supply is neither available nor envisaged in the mid-term future. Supported by grants and soft loans from the World Bank, GTZ, KfW and Asian Development Bank, installation rates have increased to over 30,000 SHS per month. The program management responsibility lies with the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL). 20 micro-finance institutions (MFI) are responsible for the technical and financial implementation. They provide micro-financing to enable their customers to purchase the SHS. The authors carried out a technical monitoring of around 4,200 SHS. It was found that 7% of the systems had technical problems which required immediate repairs to prevent damage to the SHS. The main problems in this category were damages to or bypassing of the charge controller. The authors also assessed the financial performance of the MFIs. As a result, measures for credit risk management were introduced which have strengthen the financial performance.

Cytokines and chemokines are responsible for regulating inflammation and the immune response. Cytokine and chemokine release is typically quantitated by ELISA or Western blot analysis. In order to expedite the analysis of samples for multiple cytokines/chemokines, we have developed slide-based ExcelArray antibody sandwich microarrays. Each slide consists of 16 subarrays (wells) printed with 12 specific antibodies in triplicate and positive and negative control elements. This 16-well format allows for the analysis of 10 test samples using a six-point standard curve. The array architecture is based on the “sandwich” ELISA, in which an analyte protein is “sandwiched” between an immobilized capture antibody and a biotinylated detection antibody, using streptavidin-linked DyLight 649 dye for quantitation. The observed sensitivity of this assay was

While magnetron sputtering is a commonly used tool for deposition of thin films in research and production, the development of suitable models describing film growth on the substrate progress slowly. One of the major reasons is the complexity of the process, in which energy and particles are delivered to the substrate in a variety of ways. Nevertheless, these effects are essential for film growth and will determine the quality of obtained films. In this article, an example for characterization of a deposition process with compareably simple and cost effective tools is shown. Total energy flux to the substrate is measured by a termal probe, electron irradiation is studied by means of Langmuir probe measurements and positive ions are measured by a retarding field analyzer. The results help to understand the principles of film growth and give insights on thermal load onto substrates during deposition. This information is essential when coatings have to be applied to heat-sensitive substrates.

For optimization and adjustment of ion beam sources in surface application, knowledge of physical beam parameters and plasma processes in the ion source has to be provided by suitable diagnostics. For this purpose, novel diagnostic methods which complete the common diagnostics are suggested. The so-called "non-conventional" methods are: visualization of the ion beam by interaction with a cloud of micro-disperse particles and characterization of the sheath region in the plasma source by sheath photometry.