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Naomi Fischer, Elad Moisseiev, Michael Waisbourd, Michaella Goldstein, Anat Loewenstein Department of Ophthalmology, Tel Aviv Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Purpose: The study reported here investigated the rates of systemic serious adverse events (SAEs) following treatment with intravitreal bevacizumab for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in comparison with a matched control group. Methods: A retrospective age- and sex-matched case-control design was used. Data were collected using patient charts and telephone surveys. The main outcome measure was difference in number of hospital admissions between the two groups. Hospitalizations were further analyzed according to whether or not they were due to arteriothrombotic SAEs. Results: Each group comprised 65 participants. There were significantly more hospital admissions among bevacizumab-treated patients than in the control group (P = 0.039). Sub-analysis of hospitalizations due to arteriothrombotic causes did not reveal a statistically significant difference between groups (P = 0.629). Conclusion: The results suggest that intravitreal bevacizumab is not associated with an increased risk of arteriothrombotic SAEs. Its widespread use for the treatment of AMD appears to be systemically safe. Keywords: Avastin®, serious adverse events, safety

A study of QCD coherence is presented based on a sample of about 397,000 e+e- hadronic annihilation events collected at √s = 91 GeV with the OPAL detector at LEP. The study is based on four recently proposed observables that are sensitive to coherence effects in the perturbative regime. The measurement of these observables is presented, along with a comparison with the predictions of different parton shower models. The models include both conventional parton shower models and dipole antenna models. Different ordering variables are used to investigate their influence on the predictions.

We report on a study of laser plasma instabilities with 527 nm laser pulses in an intensity range of 0.5 × 10 13 − 1.1 × 10 15 W cm − 2 and plasma parameters entering a regime that is relevant for direct drive inertial confinement fusion. Using the kilojoule high repetition rate L4n laser at the Extreme Light Infrastructure—Beamlines, more than 1300 shots were collected, and the onset and the growth of stimulated Brioullin scattering (SBS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) were studied with a high confidence level. The measured onset intensities are 0.2 × 10 14 W cm − 2 for SBS and 1.4 × 10 14 W cm − 2 for SRS. At the maximum intensity, the total fraction of backscattered energy reaches 2.5% for SBS and 0.1% for SRS. These results are of high relevance for advanced concepts for inertial fusion energy, which rely on the use of 527 nm laser light to drive the implosion of the fuel target, and in particular, they can be used as a benchmark for advanced simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

XMRV, or xenotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus, is a novel gammaretrovirus originally identified in studies that analyzed tissue from prostate cancer patients in 2006 and blood from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in 2009. Howev

We report on the commissioning of a full aperture backscatter diagnostics station for the kilojoule, nanosecond high repetition rate L4n laser operating at a wavelength of 527 nm at the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) - Beamlines, Dolni Brezany, Czech Republic. Light scattered back from laser–plasma interaction into the cone of the final focusing lens is captured and split into different channels to measure the signatures of laser plasma instabilities from stimulated Brillouin scattering, stimulated Raman scattering, and two plasmon decay with respect to back scattered energy, its spectrum, and its temporal profile. The performance was confirmed in a commissioning experiment with more than 800 shots at laser intensities ranging from 0.5 × 1013 to 1.1 × 1015 W cm−2. These diagnostics are permanently installed at ELI Beamlines, and can be used to understand the details of laser–plasma interactions in experiments with kJ and 527 nm light. The large number of shots that can be collected in an experimental campaign will allow us to study the details of the laser–plasma interaction with a high level of confidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endotracheal intubation is a medical procedure to secure a patient’s airways, which can be challenging in emergency situations due to an individual’s anatomy. Intubation blades can benefit from an adjustable design with shape memory alloys. We present a novel blade design with two degrees of freedom, continuously transforming a straight into a curved blade. Our demonstrators reached mean angular deflections up to 16∘ without exceeding outer blade temperatures of 40∘C. Mean forces of almost 24N were applicable. This approach has the potential to reduce the complexity of intubation procedures and increase the success rate, especially in time-critical emergency situations.