Sustainability in radiation oncology: opportunities for enhancing patient care and reducing CO emissions in breast cancer radiotherapy at selected German centers.

Background And Objective: Radiotherapy often entails a substantial travel burden for patients accessing radiation oncology centers. The total travel distance for such treatments is primarily influenced by two factors: fractionation schedules and the distances traveled. Specific data on these aspects are not well documented in Germany.

A Developmental Switch in Cholinergic Mechanisms of Modulation in the Medial Nucleus of the Trapezoid Body.

The medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) has been intensively investigated as a primary source of inhibition in brainstem auditory circuitry. MNTB-derived inhibition plays a critical role in the computation of sound location, as temporal features of sounds are precisely conveyed through the calyx of Held/MNTB synapse. In adult gerbils, cholinergic signaling influences sound-evoked responses of MNTB neurons via nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs; Zhang et al.

Photonic topological insulator in synthetic dimensions.

Topological phases enable protected transport along the edges of materials, offering immunity against scattering from disorder and imperfections. These phases have been demonstrated for electronic systems, electromagnetic waves, cold atoms, acoustics and even mechanics, and their potential applications include spintronics, quantum computing and highly efficient lasers. Typically, the model describing topological insulators is a spatial lattice in two or three dimensions.

Topologically protected bound states in photonic parity-time-symmetric crystals.

Parity-time (PT)-symmetric crystals are a class of non-Hermitian systems that allow, for example, the existence of modes with real propagation constants, for self-orthogonality of propagating modes, and for uni-directional invisibility at defects. Photonic PT-symmetric systems that also support topological states could be useful for shaping and routing light waves. However, it is currently debated whether topological interface states can exist at all in PT-symmetric systems.

Transport in Sawtooth photonic lattices.

We investigate, theoretically and experimentally, a photonic realization of a Sawtooth lattice. This special lattice exhibits two spectral bands, with one of them experiencing a complete collapse to a highly degenerate flat band for a special set of inter-site coupling constants. We report the observation of different transport regimes, including strong transport inhibition due to the appearance of the non-diffractive flat band.

Measuring the Aharonov-Anandan phase in multiport photonic systems.

Beyond the adiabatic limit, the Aharonov-Anandan phase is a generalized description of Berry's phase. In this regime, systems with time-independent Hamiltonians may also acquire observable geometric phases. Here we report on a measurement of the Aharonov-Anandan phase in photonics.

Implementation of quantum and classical discrete fractional Fourier transforms.

Fourier transforms, integer and fractional, are ubiquitous mathematical tools in basic and applied science. Certainly, since the ordinary Fourier transform is merely a particular case of a continuous set of fractional Fourier domains, every property and application of the ordinary Fourier transform becomes a special case of the fractional Fourier transform. Despite the great practical importance of the discrete Fourier transform, implementation of fractional orders of the corresponding discrete operation has been elusive.

Observation of Localized States in Lieb Photonic Lattices.

We present the first experimental demonstration of a new type of localized state in the continuum, namely, compacton-like linear states in flat-band lattices. To this end, we employ photonic Lieb lattices, which exhibit three tight-binding bands, with one being perfectly flat. Discrete predictions are confirmed by realistic continuous numerical simulations as well as by direct experiments.

A demonstration project implementing extended-release naltrexone in Los Angeles County.

Background: Extended-released naltrexone (XR-NTX) is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medication associated with higher rates of abstinence, reduced cravings, and delayed relapse to use. However, there is a dearth of literature on real-world implementation of XR-NTX. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, in collaboration with UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, developed a demonstration project to increase access to XR-NTX.

Radiation-loss management in modulated waveguides.

In this work, we discuss the management of radiation loss in photonic waveguides. As an experimental basis, we introduce a new technique of fabricating waveguides with tunable loss, which is particularly useful when implementing non-Hermitian (PT-symmetric) systems. To this end, we employ laser-written waveguides with a transverse sinusoidal modulation, which causes well-controllable radiation losses of almost arbitrary amount.

Impact of loss on the wave dynamics in photonic waveguide lattices.

We analyze the impact of loss in lattices of coupled optical waveguides and find that, in such a case, the hopping between adjacent waveguides is necessarily complex. This results not only in a transition of the light spreading from ballistic to diffusive, but also in a new kind of diffraction that is caused by loss dispersion. We prove our theoretical results with experimental observations.

Observation of asymmetric solitons in waveguide arrays with refractive index gradient.

We study light propagation in waveguide arrays made in Kerr nonlinear media with a transverse refractive index gradient, and we find that the presence of the refractive index gradient leads to the appearance of a number of new soliton families. The effective coupling between the solitons and the localized linear eigenmodes of the lattice induces a drastic asymmetry in the soliton shapes and the appearance of long tails at the soliton wings. Such unusual solitons are found to be completely stable under propagation, and we report their experimental observation in fs-laser written waveguide arrays with focusing Kerr nonlinearity.

Compact surface Fano states embedded in the continuum of waveguide arrays.

We describe theoretically and observe experimentally the formation of a surface state in a semi-infinite waveguide array with a side-coupled waveguide, designed to simultaneously achieve Fano and Fabry-Perot resonances. We demonstrate that the surface mode is compact, with all energy concentrated in a few waveguides at the edge and no field penetration beyond the side-coupled waveguide position. Furthermore, we show that by broadening the spectral band in the rest of the waveguide array it is possible to suppress exponentially localized modes, while the Fano state having the eigenvalue embedded in the continuum is preserved.

Photonic coherent state transfer with Hamiltonian dynamics.

We report the observation of near-perfect light wave transfer by emulating quantum state transfer on a lattice with Hamiltonian dynamics, i.e., time-dependent intersite couplings.

Slowly emerging glycinergic transmission enhances inhibition in the sound localization pathway of the avian auditory system.

Localization of low-frequency acoustic stimuli is processed in dedicated neural pathways where coincidence-detecting neurons compare the arrival time of sound stimuli at the two ears, or interaural time disparity (ITD). ITDs occur in the submillisecond range, and vertebrates have evolved specialized excitatory and inhibitory circuitry to compute these differences. Glycinergic inhibition is a computationally significant and prominent component of the mammalian ITD pathway.

Mobility transition from ballistic to diffusive transport in non-Hermitian lattices.

Within all physical disciplines, it is accepted that wave transport is predetermined by the existence of disorder. In this vein, it is known that ballistic transport is possible only when a structure is ordered, and that disorder is crucial for diffusion or (Anderson-)localization to occur. As this commonly accepted picture is based on the very foundations of quantum mechanics where Hermiticity of the Hamiltonian is naturally assumed, the question arises whether these concepts of transport hold true within the more general context of non-Hermitian systems.

GABAergic and glycinergic inhibition modulate monaural auditory response properties in the avian superior olivary nucleus.

The superior olivary nucleus (SON) is the primary source of inhibition in the avian auditory brainstem. While much is known about the role of inhibition at the SON's target nuclei, little is known about how the SON itself processes auditory information or how inhibition modulates these properties. Additionally, the synaptic physiology of inhibitory inputs within the SON has not been described.

Allergic contact dermatitis caused by the blue pigment VINAMON® Blue BX FW - a phthalocyanine blue in a vinyl glove.

A 44-year-old metalworker suffered from severe hand eczema in spite of treatment with corticosteroid ointments. He had been using protective cotton gloves with blue PVC anti-slip dots on the finger tips. On clinical examination, the backs of both hands were erythematous and thickened while the finger tips showed vesicles.

Bacterial contamination of needle points after intravitreal injection.

Purpose: Evaluation of the magnitude and pattern of bacterial contamination of needle points with conjunctival bacteria during the intravitreal injection. Analysis of the efficacy of preinjection prophylaxis.

Methods: A total of 550 intravitreal injections were done in 414 patients (n=425 eyes).

[Correlation between ear canal resonance and tympanic membrane impedance in relation to age and body mass and postmortem changes].

The human temporal bone preparation is an acknowledged model for research of the physical processes affecting the outer ear canal and eardrum. Changes affecting the oscillation and resonance behavior of the tympanic membrane and ear canal between death and temporal bone preparation presently exist in only a few studies. Since the influence of age and physique, as well as the width of ear canal on the ear canal resonance may be important, we prepared two separate studies to analyze these questions.

[Intraoperative calorimetry in aortic bifurcation reconstruction].

Oxygen uptake (VO2) and carbon dioxide elimination (VCO2) can be measured with an indirect calorimeter, this method is well established in routine monitoring of ICU patients to evaluate metabolic state as a reflection of stress. In various experimental studies it was demonstrated that anaesthetics can influence whole-body metabolism. The purpose of this study was to examine whether indirect calorimetry can be used intraoperatively during routine anaesthesia and whether presumable changes in metabolism can be detected immediately.

Renal cell carcinoma extending into the vena cava: surgical approach, technique and results.

Objective: To describe the technique and results of a thoraco-abdominal approach to removing the caval thombi in patients with renal cell carcinoma extending into the vena cava.

Patients And Methods: Between 1970 and 1990 35 patients presenting with renal cell carcinoma extending into the vena cava were treated at the Department of Urology, Innsbruck. Twenty-three of these patients underwent radical tumour nephrectomy including cavotomy and thrombectomy or caval resection.

Staining of endothelial cells and macrophages in atherosclerotic lesions with human heat-shock protein-reactive antisera.

Our previous epidemiological studies have shown that levels of serum antibodies against mycobacterial heat-shock protein (hsp) 65 correlate positively with carotid atherosclerosis in subjects aged 40 to 79 years. To determine whether these high-titer sera also react with homologous human hsp60 and/or cell components of atherosclerotic lesions, we selected 15 human sera samples, each with high or low titers to recombinant mycobacterial hsp65, and investigated their reactivity with human arterial lesion components by immunoblotting and immunofluorescence techniques. All five higher-titer sera against hsp65 reacted with a 60-kDa band of atherosclerotic lesion proteins and human recombinant hsp60 on Western blots.