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Purpose: The SALUS study aims to improve the healthcare situation for glaucoma patients in Germany. In order to detect diurnal intraocular pressure (IOP) fluctuations, inpatient monitoring of IOP in an eye hospital for a minimum of 24 h is the current standard. SALUS assesses the benefits of a new form of outpatient care, where IOP can be measured by the patients themselves at home using a self-tonometer. This approach should promote the patient's health competence and empowerment within the healthcare system while reducing treatment costs. Methods: The SALUS study is a randomized controlled, open non-inferiority trial, alongside an economic analysis, determining whether outpatient monitoring of IOP with self-tonometry is at least as effective as current standard care and would reduce treatment costs. Participants (n = 1980) will be recruited by local ophthalmologists in the area of Westphalia-Lippe, Germany, and randomized to receive 7-day outpatient or 24-h inpatient monitoring. Participants in both study arms will also receive 24-h blood pressure monitoring. Furthermore, patient data from both study groups will be collected in an electronic case file (ECF), accessible to practitioners, hospitals, and the study participants. The primary endpoint is the percentage of patients with IOP peaks, defined as levels 30% above the patient-specific target pressure. Data will also be collected during initial and final examinations, and at 3, 6, and 9 months after the initial examination. Results: The study implementation and trial management are represented below. Conclusion: SALUS is a pioneering prospective clinical trial focused on the care of glaucoma patients in Germany. If SALUS is successful, it could improve the healthcare situation and health literacy of the patients through the introduction of various telemedical components. Furthermore, the approach would almost certainly reduce the treatment costs of glaucoma care. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04698876, registration date: 11/25/2020. DRKS-ID: DRKS00023676, registration date: 11/26/2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Der Schmerz is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A theoretical study of even-even nuclei (2 ≤ Z ≤ 8) with extreme neutron excess stable with respect to one-neutron emission, including nuclei beyond the neutron drip line (NDL), is performed. The calculations are based on the Hartree-Fock (HF) method with Skyrme forces (SkI2) and allowance for axial deformation and the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) pairing approximation. It is shown that beyond the NDL, He and C isotopes form peninsulas of nuclei stable with respect to one-neutron emissions. The restoration of stability beyond the NDL for He and C can be explained by the complete filling of neutron subshells with high angular momentum and the introduction of corresponding neutron levels in the region of discrete bound states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Properties of even-even nuclei with extreme neutron excess in the vicinity of neutron magic numbers up to and beyond the neutron drip line (NDL) are calculated by the Hartree-Fock (HF) method using Skyrme forces (Ska, SkM*, Sly4, SkI2, SkP) with allowance for axial deformation and BCS-approximation pairing. It is shown that chains of isotones with the neutron numbers N = 32, 58, 82, 126, 184, and 258 beyond the NDL form peninsulas of nuclei stable with respect to emission of one neutron, and occasionally peninsulas of nuclei stable with respect to the emission of two neutrons. The length of these peninsulas in ( N, Z) space depends on the choice of the Skyrme forces, while their locations are at the same N = 32, 58, 82, 126, 184, and 258 and do not depend on the choice of forces. The investigated isotones restore stability beyond the NDL due to the complete filling of subshells with high angular momentum and to the intrusion of corresponding neutron levels in the region of discrete bound states. The stability of the numerical solution to the HF equations for nuclei belonging to the peninsulas of stability is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The properties of the ground state of even-even nuclei with extreme neutron excess that are remote from the known neutron drip line (NDL) are calculated. The calculations are based on the Hartree-Fock method with Skyrme forces SkM*, SkI2, Sly4, Ska) with allowance for axial deformation and the BCS pairing approximation. It is shown that the isotone chain at the neutron number N = 126 beyond the NDL forms a peninsula of nuclei that are stable with respect to the emission of one neutron (PNS). The neutron and proton density distributions of the PNS nuclei have spherical symmetry. A mechanism for restoring the stability of nuclei beyond the NDL is discussed. The obtained results are compared with those from Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations for long isotope chains of Zr and Pd up to the NDL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decay properties and stability of heaviest nuclei with Z ≤ 132 are studied within the macro-microscopical approach for nuclear ground-state masses. We use phenomenological relations for the half-lives with respect to α-decay, β-decay and spontaneous fission. Our calculations demonstrate that the β-stable isotopes Cn and Cn with a half-life of about 100 years are the longest-living superheavy nuclei located on the first island of stability. We found the second island of stability of superheavy nuclei in the region of Z ≈ 124 and N ≈ 198. It is separated from the 'continent' by the 'gulf' of short-living nuclei with half-lives shorted than 1 μs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extension of the periodic system into various new areas is investigated. Experiments for the synthesis of superheavy elements and the predictions of magic numbers are reviewed. Further on, investigations on hypernuclei and the possible production of antimatter-clusters in heavy-ion collisions are reported. Various versions of the meson field theory serve as effective field theories at the basis of modern nuclear structure and suggest structure in the vacuum which might be important for the production of hyper- and antimatter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The properties of extremely neutron-excessive nuclei with Z ≥ 70, including the region of transuranium elements, are calculated beyond the previously theoretically known neutron drip line (NDL). The calculations are based on the Hartree-Fock approach using Skyrme forces (SkM*, SkI2, SLy4, Ska) with allowance for axial deformation and pairings in the BCS approximation. It is shown that the series of isotones with neutron number N = 258 outside of 2n NDL forms a peninsula of stable nuclei (PSN) with respect to the emission of one neutron. For SkM* forces, a PSN is formed by Rn, Ra, Th, and U nuclides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manifestations of the neutron halo in extremely neutron-rich nuclei are investigated by the Hartree-Fock method using the Skyrme forces (SkM*, Ska, Sly4, SkI2) with allowance for axial deformation. The investigated nuclei, which lie beyond the theoretical neutron drip line (NDL), form peninsulas of nuclei stable with respect to one-neutron emission and belong to chains of isotones with the neutron number N = 32, 58, 82, 126, 184, and 258. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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On the basis of the Hartree-Fock method as implemented with Skyrme forces ( Ska, SkM*, Sly4, and SkI2) and with allowance for an axial deformation and nucleon pairing in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer approximation, the properties of extremely neutron-rich even-even nuclei were calculated beyond the neutron drip line known earlier from theoretical calculations. It was shown that the chains of isotopes beyond the neutron drip line that contain N = 32, 58, 82, 126, and 184 neutrons form peninsulas of nuclei stable against the emission of one neutron and, in some cases, peninsulas of nuclei stable against the emission of two neutrons. The neutron- and proton-density distributions in nuclei forming stability peninsulas were found to be spherically symmetric. A mechanism via which the stability of nuclei might be restored beyond the neutron drip line was discussed. A comparison with the results of calculations by the Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov method was performed for long chains of sulfur and gadolinium isotopes up to the neutron drip line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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We present recent developments of the Monte Carlo model for heavy-ion therapy (MCHIT), which is currently based on the Geant4 toolkit of version 9.2. The major advancement of the model concerns the modelling of violent fragmentation reactions by means of the Fermi break-up model, which is used to simulate decays of hot fragments created after the first stage of nucleus-nucleus collisions. By means of MCHIT we study the dose distributions from therapeutic beams of carbon nuclei in tissue-like materials, like water and PMMA. The contributions to the total dose from primary beam nuclei and from charged secondary fragments produced in nuclear fragmentation reactions are calculated. The build-up of secondary fragments along the beam axis is calculated and compared with available experimental data. Finally, we demonstrate the impact of violent multifragment decays on energy distributions of secondary neutrons produced by carbon nuclei in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Properties of extremely neutron-rich even-even O, Ar, Kr, and Rn isotopes in the ground state are calculated by the Hartree-Fock method using Skyrme forces with allowance for axial deformation of the density distribution. It is shown that beyond the familiar two-neutron drip line there can be regions (islands) of nuclei stable with respect to the emission of one or two neutrons. The stability recovery mechanism is described in consideration of the deformation effect. Certain isotopes are compared to calculations performed by the Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov method, and O is compared to calculations performed within the relativistic Hartree-Bogolyubov theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We present a statistical mechanics model treating the formation and the fragmentation of fullerenes as a phase transition. Based on this model, we investigate the formation and fragmentation of C and C fullerenes from and to a gas of carbon dimers by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. These simulations were conducted for 500 ns using a topologically-constrained forcefield. At the phase transition temperature, both the cage and gaseous phases were found to coexist and the system continuously oscillates between the two phases. Combining the results of the MD simulations and the statistical mechanics approach, we obtain the dependence of the phase transition temperature on pressure and compare the results of our model with arc-discharge experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the present paper we demonstrate that the iron-mineral-based magnetoreceptor model developed in [1] can provide birds with a magnetic compass in addition to the generally believed “magnetic map". We show that the iron-mineral-based magnetoreceptor system possesses all properties of a polarity compass, which is extremely important for avian navigation. We study how parameters of the magnetoreceptor system influence on the properties of the compass and show that at certain conditions it acquires features of an inclination compass. In the present paper we address the question of avian magnetoreception theoretically and suggest several experiments which should be performed for better understanding of the iron-mineral-based compass in birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is the first stage in the development of an inclusive approach to calculation of the DNA damage caused by irradiation of biological tissue by ion/proton beams. The project starts with an analysis of ionization caused by the projectiles and the characteristics of secondary electrons produced in tissue-like media. We consider interactions with the medium on a microscopic level and this allows us to obtain the energy spectrum and abundance of secondary electrons as functions of the projectile’s kinetic energy. The physical information obtained in this analysis is related to biological processes responsible for the DNA damage induced by the projectile. In particular, we consider double strand breaks of DNA caused by secondary electrons and free radicals, and local heating in the ion’s track. The heating may enhance the biological effectiveness of electron/free radical nteractions with the DNA and may even be considered as an independent mechanism of DNA damage. Numerical estimates are performed for the case of carbon-ion beams. The obtained dose-depth curves are compared with results of the MCHIT model based on the GEANT4 toolkit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The helix↔random coil transition in alanine, valine, and leucine polypeptides consisting of 30 amino acids is studied in vacuo using the Langevin molecular dynamics approach. The influence of side chain radicals on internal energy and heat capacity of the polypeptides is discussed. The heat capacity of these polypeptides is calculated as a function of temperature using two different methods, namely, as the derivative of the energy with respect to temperature, and on the basis of energy fluctuations in the system. The convergence of the fluctuations based approach is analyzed as a function of simulation time. This study provides a comparison of methods for the description of structural transitions in polypeptides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The macroscopic-microscopic method is adapted to atomic clusters deposited on a surface. Analytical relationships for the deformation-dependent liquid drop model (LDM) energies of oblate and prolate semi-spheroidal atomic clusters have been obtained. A superdeformed prolate semi-spheroid is the most stable semi-spheroidal shape within LDM. It is also the shape with maximum degeneracy of quantum states of the semi-spheroidal harmonic oscillator used to compute the shell and pairing corrections. The microscopic corrections as well as total deformation energy show parabolic valley and ridges of the potential energy surfaces in the plane (deformation, number of atoms). The ground state and isomeric state deformation of clusters of various sizes depends on the interplay between the minima of LDM and shell correction energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

On the basis of the Hartree-Fock method with Skyrme forces of the Ska, SkM*, and Sly4 type, the position of the neutron drip line and the properties of neutron-rich lead isotopes are studied with allowance for deformations. It is shown that, in extremely neutron-rich nuclei, the neutron and proton density distributions are characterized by an anomalously large deformation parameter of β ∼ 0.6. Also, nuclei of superdeformed lead isotopes have anomalously large root-mean-square radii. The existence of the isotopes 266–288Pb, which are stable to the emission of one neutron, is predicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The properties of neutron-rich Zr isotopes up to the neutron drip line and beyond it have been investigated on the basis of the Hartree-Fock method with the Skyrme forces (Ska, Sly4), taking into account the deformation. By the example of chains of Zr isotopes, good agreement is shown for the two-neutron separation energies and mean-square radii with the known results of Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov calculations with the Sly4 forces. For the extremely neutron-rich Zr isotopes, states with very large deformation parameters (β ≈ 0.4−0.45) of neutron and proton density distributions can be realized. Beyond the neutron drip line with respect to emission of two neutrons, the existence of 150,152Zr isotopes, which are stable with respect to one-neutron emission, is predicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In the present paper we present results of calculations obtained with the use of the theoretical method described in our preceding paper [Eur. Phys. J. D, DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2007-00328-9] and perform detail analysis of α-helix↔random coil transition in alanine polypeptides of different length. We have calculated the potential energy surfaces of polypeptides with respect to their twisting degrees of freedom and construct a parameter–free partition function of the polypeptide using the suggested method [Eur. Phys. J. D, DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2007-00328-9]. From the build up partition function we derive various thermodynamical characteristics for alanine polypeptides of different length as a function of temperature. Thus, we analyze the temperature dependence of the heat capacity, latent heat and helicity for alanine polypeptides consisting of 21, 30, 40, 50 and 100 amino acids. Alternatively, we have obtained same thermodynamical characteristics from the use of molecular dynamics simulations and compared them with the results of the new statistical mechanics approach. The comparison proves the validity of the statistical mechanic approach and establishes its accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we suggest a theoretical method based on the statistical mechanics for treating the α-helix↔random coil transition in alanine polypeptides. We consider this process as a first-order phase transition and develop a theory which is free of model parameters and is based solely on fundamental physical principles. It describes essential thermodynamical properties of the system such as heat capacity, the phase transition temperature and others from the analysis of the polypeptide potential energy surface calculated as a function of two dihedral angles, responsible for the polypeptide twisting. The suggested theory is general and with some modification can be applied for the description of phase transitions in other complex molecular systems (e.g. proteins, DNA, nanotubes, atomic clusters, fullerenes). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for calculating the characteristics of the stability, energy, and geometry of an atomic cluster at a solid surface is proposed, which is based on a droplet model that takes into account the cluster-solid interaction. As an example, the interaction of a neutral argon cluster with a (001) surface of graphite is considered. The results of calculations performed within the framework of the droplet model show good agreement with the results of numerical simulation based on a dynamic search for the most stable isomers in the course of cluster growth. It is shown that the droplet model can be used for simple evaluation of the geometry, stability, and energy characteristics of clusters at solid surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positions of the proton and neutron drip lines and characteristics of the neutron-deficient and neutron-rich Fe and Ni isotopes have been studied by the Hartree-Fock method with the Skyrme forces (Ska, SkM*, Sly4) with allowance for deformation. Pairing was taken into account on the basis of the BCS approximation with the pairing constant G = (19.5/2)[1 ± 0.51( N − Z)/ A]. Manifestation of magic numbers for the nickel isotopes 48Ni, 56Ni, and 78Ni and for the nucleon-stable isotope 110Ni which is beyond the drip line is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We carried out a cost-effectiveness evaluation of transdermal fentanyl compared to three other widely used opioids: transdermal buprenorphine, sustained-release morphine, and controlled-release oxycodone from a third-party-payers perspective. A decision analytic model with data from a structured database search and from panel data and assumptions was used to derive both cost and utility results. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed to ensure the findings. Transdermal fentanyl patients gain more quality adjusted life-days or quality-adjusted life-years per euro. The incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-year is €1,625.65 for transdermal fentanyl compared to sustained-release morphine and €1,003.03 compared to CO, and it is cost-saving compared to transdermal buprenorphine (−€203.38 per patient). Transdermal fentanyl is thus cost-effective compared to both sustained-release morphine and CO and dominant compared to transdermal buprenorphine in the treatment of adults with nonmalignant moderate to severe chronic pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]