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Children’s and adolescents’ lives drastically changed during COVID lockdowns worldwide. To compare accident- and injury-related admissions to pediatric intensive care units (PICU) during the first German COVID lockdown with previous years, we conducted a retrospective multicenter study among 37 PICUs (21.5% of German PICU capacities). A total of 1444 admissions after accidents or injuries during the first lockdown period and matched periods of 2017–2019 were reported and standardized morbidity ratios (SMR) were calculated. Total PICU admissions due to accidents/injuries declined from an average of 366 to 346 (SMR 0.95 (CI 0.85–1.05)). Admissions with trauma increased from 196 to 212 (1.07 (0.93–1.23). Traffic accidents and school/kindergarten accidents decreased (0.77 (0.57–1.02 and 0.26 (0.05–0.75)), whereas household and leisure accidents increased (1.33 (1.06–1.66) and 1.34 (1.06–1.67)). Less neurosurgeries and more visceral surgeries were performed (0.69 (0.38–1.16) and 2.09 (1.19–3.39)). Non-accidental non-suicidal injuries declined (0.73 (0.42–1.17)). Suicide attempts increased in adolescent boys (1.38 (0.51–3.02)), but decreased in adolescent girls (0.56 (0.32–0.79)). In summary, changed trauma mechanisms entailed different surgeries compared to previous years. We found no evidence for an increase in child abuse cases requiring intensive care. The increase in suicide attempts among boys demands investigation.
The design and operation of innovative nuclear systems requires a better knowledge of the capture and fission cross sections of the Pu isotopes. For the case of capture on 242Pu, a reduction of the uncertainty in the fast region down to 8-12% is required. Moreover, aiming at improving the evaluation of the fast energy range in terms of average parameters, the OECD NEA High Priority Request List (HPRL) requests high-resolution capture measurements with improved accuracy below 2 keV. The current uncertainties also affect the thermal point, where previous experiments deviate from each other by 20%. A fruitful collaboration betwen JGU Mainz and HZ Dresden-Rossendorf within the EC CHANDA project resulted in a 242Pu sample consisting of a stack of seven fission-like targets making a total of 95(4) mg of 242Pu electrodeposited on thin (11.5 μm) aluminum backings. This contribution presents the results of a set of measurements of the 242Pu(n, γ) cross section from thermal to 500 keV combining different neutron beams and techniques. The thermal point was determined at the Budapest Research Reactor by means of Neutron Activation Analysis and Prompt Gamma Analysis, and the resolved (1 eV - 4 keV) and unresolved (1 - 500 keV) resonance regions were measured using a set of four Total Energy detectors at the CERN n_TOF-EAR1.
The electron-capture process was studied for Xe54+ colliding with H2 molecules at the internal gas target of the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR) at GSI, Darmstadt. Cross-section values for electron capture into excited projectile states were deduced from the observed emission cross section of Lyman radiation, being emitted by the hydrogenlike ions subsequent to the capture of a target electron. The ion beam energy range was varied between 5.5 and 30.9 MeV/u by applying the deceleration mode of the ESR. Thus, electron-capture data were recorded at the intermediate and, in particular, the low-collision-energy regime, well below the beam energy necessary to produce bare xenon ions. The obtained data are found to be in reasonable qualitative agreement with theoretical approaches, while a commonly applied empirical formula significantly overestimates the experimental findings.
We report the first measurement of low-energy proton-capture cross sections of 124Xe in a heavy-ion storage ring. 124Xe54+ ions of five different beam energies between 5.5 and 8 AMeV were stored to collide with a windowless hydrogen target. The 125Cs reaction products were directly detected. The interaction energies are located on the high energy tail of the Gamow window for hot, explosive scenarios such as supernovae and x-ray binaries. The results serve as an important test of predicted astrophysical reaction rates in this mass range. Good agreement in the prediction of the astrophysically important proton width at low energy is found, with only a 30% difference between measurement and theory. Larger deviations are found above the neutron emission threshold, where also neutron and γ widths significantly impact the cross sections. The newly established experimental method is a very powerful tool to investigate nuclear reactions on rare ion beams at low center-of-mass energies.
Background: Peritoneal metastasis is a common and dismal evolution of several gastrointestinal (GI) tumors, including gastric, colorectal, hepatobiliary, pancreatic, and other cancers. The therapy of peritoneal metastasis is largely palliative; with the aim of prolonging life and preserving its quality. In the meantime, a significant pharmacological advantage of intraperitoneal chemotherapy was documented in the preclinical model, and numerous clinical studies have delivered promising clinical results.
Methods: This is a prospective, open, randomized multicenter phase III clinical study with two arms that aims to evaluate the effects of pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC) combined with systemic chemotherapy vs. intravenous systemic chemotherapy alone on patients with metastatic upper GI tumors with a peritoneal seeding. Upper GI-adenocarcinomas originated from biliary tract, pancreas and stomach, or esophago- gastric junction are eligible. Patients in the study are treated with standard of care systemic palliative chemotherapy (mFOLFOX6) vs. PIPAC with intravenous (i.v.) chemotherapy (mFOLFOX6). Patients in first line with first diagnosed peritoneal seeding are eligible. Primary outcome is progression free survival (PFS).
Conclusions: PIPAC-procedure is explicit a palliative method but it delivers cytotoxic therapy like in hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC)-procedure directly to the tumor in a minimally invasive technique, without the need for consideration of the peritoneal-plasma barrier. The technique of PIPAC is minimally invasive and very gentle and the complete procedure takes only round about 45 min and, therefore, optimal in a clearly palliative situation where cure is not the goal. It is also ideal for using this approach in a first line situation, where deepest response should be achieved. The symbiosis of systemic therapy and potentially effective surgery has to be well-planned without deterioration of the patient due to aggressive way of surgery like in cytoreductive surgery (CRS)+HIPEC.
Trial registration: EudraCT: 2018-001035-40.
Im Weltall existieren hunderte sehr helle Objekte, die eine hohe konstante Leuchtkraft im Wellenlängenbereich von Gammastrahlung besitzen. Die konstante Leuchtkraft mancher dieser Objekte wird in regelmäßigen Abständen von starken Ausbrüchen, den sogenannten X-Ray-Bursts, unterbrochen. Hauptenergiequelle dieser X-RayBursts ist der „rapid-proton-capture“-Prozess (rp-Prozess). Dieser zeichnet sich durch eine Abfolge von (p,γ)-Reaktionen und β+-Zerfällen aus, die die charakteristischen Lichtkurven produzieren. Für viele am Prozess beteiligte Reaktionen ist der Q-Wert sehr klein, wodurch die Rate der einzelnen Reaktionen von den resonanten Einfängen in die ungebundenen Zustände dominiert wird. Die Unsicherheiten in der Beschreibung der Lichtkurve sind derzeit aufgrund fehlender kernphysikalischer Informationen von vielen am Prozess beteiligten Isotopen sehr groß. Sensitivitätsstudien zeigen, dass dabei die Unsicherheiten der 23Al(p,γ)24Si-Reaktion eine der größten Auswirkungen auf die Lichtkurve hat. Diese werden durch ungenaue und widersprüchliche Informationen zu den ungebundenen Zuständen im kurzlebigen 24Si hervorgerufen.
Um Informationen über die Kernstruktur von 24Si zu erhalten, wurde am National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL), Michigan, USA, die 23Al(d,n)24Si Transferreaktion untersucht. Der in dieser Form erstmals umgesetzte Versuchsaufbau bestand aus einem Gammadetektor zur Messung der Übergangsenergien des produzierten 24Si, einem Neutronendetektor zur Messung der Winkelverteilung der emittierten Neutronen und einem Massensprektrometer zur Identifikation des produzierten Isotops. Mit diesem Aufbau, der eine Detektion der kompletten Kinematik der (d,nγ)-Reaktion ermöglichte, konnten folgende Erkentnisse gewonnen werden:
Aus der Energie der nachgewiesenen Gammas konnten die Übergänge zwischen den Kernniveaus von 24Si bestimmt und daraus die Energien der einzelnen Zustände ermittelt werden. Dabei konnte neben dem bereits bekannten gebundenen 2+-Zustand (in dieser Arbeit gemessen bei 1874 ± 2,9keV) und dem ungebundenen 2+-Zustand (3448,8 ± 4,6keV), erstmals ein weiterer ungebundener (4+,0+)-Zustand bei 3470,6 ± 6,2 keV beobachtet werden. Zusätzlich konnte die Diskrepanz, die bezüglich der Energie des ungebundenen 2+-Zustands aufgrund früherer Messungen bestand, beseitigt und die Energieunsicherheit reduziert werden.
Aus der Anzahl der nachgewiesenen Gammas konnten ebenfalls die (d,n)-Wirkungsquerschnitte in die einzelnen Zustände von 24Si bestimmt werden. Unter Verwendung der Ergebnisse von DWBA-Rechnungen konnte mithilfe dieser die spektroskopischen Faktoren berechnet werden. Für die angeregten Zustände musste dabei zwischen verschiedenen Drehimpulsüberträgen unterschieden werden. Mittels der Winkelverteilung der nachgewiesenen Neutronen konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Gewichtung anhand der theoretischen spektroskopischen Faktoren zur Berechnung der Anteile des jeweiligen Drehimpulsübertrags am gesamten Wirkungsquerschnitt für den entsprechenden Zustand gute Ergebnisse liefert. Für eine quantitative Bestimmung der spektroskopischen Faktoren der Zustände anhand der Neutronenwinkelverteilungen in 24Si war allerdings die Statistik zu gering. Für den Fall der deutlich häufiger beobachteten 22Mg(d,n)23Al-Reaktion konnte hingegen ein spektroskopischer Faktor für den 23Al-Grundzustand von 0,29 ± 0,04 bestimmt werden. Abschließend wurden die Auswirkungen der gewonnenen Erkenntnisse zur Kernstruktur von 24Si auf die Rate der 23Al(p,γ)-Reaktion untersucht. Dabei konnte aufgrund der besseren Energiebestimmung zum einen die Diskrepanz zwischen den Raten die auf Grundlage der beiden früheren Untersuchungen berechnet wurden und bis zu einem Faktor von 20 voneinander abweichen, beseitigt werden. Zum anderen konnte aufgrund der kleineren Unsicherheit in der Energiebestimmung der Fehlerbereich der Rate verkleinert werden. Die Untersuchungen zeigen, dass die Unsicherheit in der neuen Rate von der Ungenauigkeit der Massenbestimmung der beiden beteiligten Isotope und damit dem Q-Wert der Reaktion dominiert wird. Durch eine bessere Bestimmung des Q-Werts könnte die Unsicherheit in der Rate aufgrund der neuen experimentellen Ergebnisse auf ein Zehntel gesenkt werden.
The experimental area 2 (EAR-2) at CERNs neutron time-of-flight facility (n_TOF), which is operational since 2014, is designed and built as a short-distance complement to the experimental area 1 (EAR-1). The Parallel Plate Avalanche Counter (PPAC) monitor experiment was performed to characterize the beam pro↓le and the shape of the neutron 'ux at EAR-2. The prompt γ-flash which is used for calibrating the time-of-flight at EAR-1 is not seen by PPAC at EAR-2, shedding light on the physical origin of this γ-flash.
The Cosmological Lithium Problem refers to the large discrepancy between the abundance of primordial 7Li predicted by the standard theory of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the value inferred from the so-called “Spite plateau” in halo stars. A possible explanation for this longstanding puzzle in Nuclear Astrophysics is related to the incorrect estimation of the destruction rate of 7Be, which is responsible for the production of 95% of primordial Lithium. While charged-particle induced reactions have mostly been ruled out, data on the 7Be(n,α) and 7Be(n,p) reactions are scarce or completely missing, so that a large uncertainty still affects the abundance of 7Li predicted by the standard theory of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Both reactions have been measured at the n_TOF facility at CERN, providing for the first time data in a wide neutron energy range.
The 23Al(p, γ)24Si stellar reaction rate has a significant impact on the light-curve emitted in X-ray bursts. Theoretical calculations show that the reaction rate is mainly determined by the properties of direct capture as well as low-lying 2+ states and a possible 4+ state in 24Si. Currently, there is little experimental information on the properties of these states.
In this proceeding we will present a new experimental study to investigate this reaction, using the surrogate reaction 23Al(d,n) at 47 AMeV at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL). We will discuss our new experimental setup which allows us to use full kinematics employing the Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking In-beam Nuclear Array (GRETINA) to detect the γ-rays following the de-excitation of excited states of the reaction products and the Low Energy Neutron Detector Array (LENDA) to detect the recoiling neutrons. The S800 was used for identification of the 24Si recoils. As a proof of principle to show the feasibility of this concept the Q-value spectrum of 22Mg(d,n)23Al is reconstructed.
The 33S(n,α)30Si cross section measurement, using 10B(n,α) as reference, at the n_TOF Experimental Area 2 (EAR2) facility at CERN is presented. Data from 0.01 eV to 100 keV are provided and, for the first time, the cross section is measured in the range from 0.01 eV to 10 keV. These data may be used for a future evaluation of the cross section because present evaluations exhibit large discrepancies. The 33S(n,α)30Si reaction is of interest in medical physics because of its possible use as a cooperative target to boron in Neutron Capture Therapy (NCT).