MicroFPGA: An affordable FPGA platform for microscope control.

Modern microscopy relies increasingly on microscope automation to improve throughput, ensure reproducibility or observe rare events. Automation requires computer control of the important elements of the microscope. Furthermore, optical elements that are usually fixed or manually movable can be placed on electronically-controllable elements.

[Dramatic changes in the age structure for medical specialists in the field of mental health].

Background: Over the past 20 years the importance of treatment of people with mental and neurological disorders has greatly increased. Parallel to this development it has become more difficult to attract young physicians to this field. The aim of this study was to examine the development of the number of physicians specialized in the care of patients suffering from neurological, mental and psychosomatic disorders with special consideration of the age structure.

[The State of Application of Clinical Ethics Consultation in German Psychiatric Hospitals].

This study provides for the first time a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-practice of clinical ethics consultation in German psychiatric hospitals. Structures for ethics counselling were available in only 57 % of the hospitals. In about one third of the participating hospitals, structures of ethics counselling had not yet been considered or were actively dismissed.

Anomalous signal from S atoms in protein crystallographic data from an X-ray free-electron laser.

X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) enable crystallographic data collection using extremely bright femtosecond pulses from microscopic crystals beyond the limitations of conventional radiation damage. This diffraction-before-destruction approach requires a new crystal for each FEL shot and, since the crystals cannot be rotated during the X-ray pulse, data collection requires averaging over many different crystals and a Monte Carlo integration of the diffraction intensities, making the accurate determination of structure factors challenging. To investigate whether sufficient accuracy can be attained for the measurement of anomalous signal, a large data set was collected from lysozyme microcrystals at the newly established `multi-purpose spectroscopy/imaging instrument' of the SPring-8 Ångstrom Compact Free-Electron Laser (SACLA) at RIKEN Harima.

[Do the New German OPS codes map the relevant therapeutic activities in psychiatric clinics?].

Objective: Actual codes for operations and procedures (OPS) in psychiatry and psychosomatics should map cost separating therapeutic activities so far defined in Germany by the normative specifications of the psychiatry staff enactment (PsychPV). OPS codes should also allow re-estimating underlying therapy times.

Method: Therapeutic activities of the PsychPV fulfilling the minimal criteria of the OPS definition were classified as multiples of a therapeutic 25 minute unit.

[Introduction of cold light to endoscopy].

It is the aim of the paper to describe how, 40 years ago, optic glass fibers were developed, and what has been K. Storz's contribution to the new technology. In 1951 the term "Cold Light" was used the first time for illumination of a French type film- and photoendoscope.

How cold light was introduced to arthroscopy.

In 1954, in a landmark publication, H. H. Hopkins reported that images could be transmitted through glass fibers.

Eugen Bircher (1882-1956) the first knee surgeon to use diagnostic arthroscopy.

Eugen Bircher was a strong advocate of diagnostic arthroscopy as shown in several papers on the topic of internal derangements of the knee published between 1921 and 1926. During that time, he performed about 60 endoscopic procedures, which usually preceded a meniscectomy. We believe that this was the first time arthroscopy was used in a large scale for clinical purposes.

[How does a general hospital psychiatric unit deal with violent patients? The border between community psychiatric services and forensic psychiatric hospitals].

Issue: In psychiatric and psychotherapeutic clinics that are responsible for supplying care for a region, how often are patients transferred to forensic psychiatric hospitals? Is there a tendency to "send off" aggressive or threatening patients as quickly as possible?

Method: In the psychiatric and psychotherapeutic clinic responsible for the Berlin's Neukölln district, for one year (2000) all patients who committed a severe criminal offence immediately before or during their in-patient treatment were registered for observation in 2000. The steps of investigation and further legal consequences were recorded.

Results: During the period of observation, 0.

[What patients think about the living together of smokers and non-smokers on psychiatric wards?].

Issue: The results of an inquiry about the difficulties of companionship between smokers and non-smokers in psychiatric wards are presented.

Method: Patients stated at the end of their treatment in a routine inquiry, by now focused on the issue of smoking, how they felt about the organization of their living together within the wards. Smokers have been additionally asked whether they would have preferred to be abstinent of tobacco and whether they missed supplementary therapy offers.

[Family consultation as a part of routine management in a psychiatric and psychotherapy department of the general hospital].

Background: Covers two years experience of family visits (FV) as a routine fixture at a psychiatric ward in a General Hospital.

Patients And Methods: In the course of one year 98 visits took place involving a total of 481 contacts between therapists, patients, and relatives. 269 patients participated up to 10 times in FV.

Severin Nordentoft: The first arthroscopist.

We present a recently discovered paper that witnesses to arthroscopic activity before World War I. The Proceedings of the 4lst Congress of the German Society of Surgeons at Berlin in 1912, contain a presentation entitled "Endoscopy of Closed Cavities by the Means of My Trokart-Endoscope." The author was a Danish surgeon from Aarhus named Severin Nordentoft.

[Ernst Vaubel M. D. German pioneer in the field of arthroscopy 1902-1989].

In Germany of the pre-war period Ernest Vaubel at Wiesbaden was the most eminent arthroscopist. He collaborated with the manufacturer Georg Wolf at Berlin and developed his own arthroscope, a jacobaeus-type thoracolaparoscope with a 45 degrees -optic and an in- and outflow connecting piece. The optic was definitely longer than the trocard and the electric bulb at the tip was in danger during manipulation in a narrow joint.

Modified Elmslie-Trillat procedure for instability of the patella.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the modified medial transfer of the ligamentum patellae in case of objective instability of the patella is an adequate therapy and if it is possible to improve the patellar congruence angle by this method. Between October 1987 and April 1993, 41 operations were performed in 37 patients with medialization of the medial third of the ligamentum patellae with the corresponding part of the tibial tubercule. Four patients needed a bilateral operation; the two interventions were not performed at the same time.

[Expenses and risk of artificial knee joint: a look backward to a 20-year clinical experience].

Costs and risks of implantation of prosthetic knee joints are analyzed in this retrospective study. From 1974-1993 514 primary and 34 revision arthroplasties were done in this hospital, all by the same surgeon. 98% of the patient protocols were available and analyzed, but no systematic follow-up was attempted.

A review of the complications of arthroscopic knee surgery.

Although fatalities following arthroscopic intervention are rare, complications do occur frequently. This article examines the most common complications, including instrument breakage and nervous lesions due to the tourniquet or positioning on the surgical table, discusses the various intraarticular media, and warns against the use of gas media under certain circumstances. The general surgical complications of thromboembolism, infection, and anesthetic problems are also discussed.

[Assessment and course of 110 patients with mono-arthritis].

This is a follow up study of 110 patients referred to the hospital because of mono-arthritis of unknown etiology. Patients with mechanical synovitis and infectious arthritis have been excluded from this study initially. From a total of 110 patients (100%) a diagnosis could be made in 49 patients (44.

Lethal air embolism during arthroscopy. A case report.

We report a case of lethal air embolism during diagnostic arthroscopy using air to distend an acutely injured knee. Air had escaped from the joint through an intra-articular fracture and entered the venous system. During arthroscopy, pressure within the joint may be 5 to 10 times higher than venous pressure, so any medium may escape.

[Results of arthroscope studies of knee joint effusions of unknown origin].

174 knee joints with non-traumatic effusion have been examined by arthroscopy. In 71 cases synovial biopsy was performed. 43% of the knees had cartilaginous damage of the patella or tibiofemoral joint, 19% had an old meniscal and/or ligamentous tear and 33% a "non-specific" synovitis.