2-D assembly of supramolecular nanoarchitectures on Mg(0001).

In this work, a Mg(0001) single crystal is used as a novel template to grow 2D supramolecular nano-architectures. By using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and high-resolution X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HR-XPS), the formation of either a homo-molecular or metal-organic network is reported for carboxylic or amino functionalized molecules, respectively.

Building two-dimensional metal-organic networks with tin.

We show that Sn atoms combined with organic ligands can be used to build 2D coordination networks on Au(111) surfaces.

[Structural features and regional characteristics of psychiatric hospitals in Germany]. / Strukturmerkmale und regionale Besonderheiten psychiatrischer Krankenhäuser in Deutschland.

BACKGROUND: The German Law for the Development of Care and Funding for Psychiatric and Psychosomatic Services (PsychVVG) has established a new regulation for the mental healthcare system. In the future, characteristics of hospitals and catchment areas will be an elementary part of negotiations on remuneration. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify structural and regional characteristics of psychiatric hospitals in Germany that contribute to increased average costs according to the views of clinical managers and directors. METHODS: In this study 37 guided expert interviews were conducted with business managers, financial controllers, leading medical and nursing personnel from psychiatric hospitals and the characteristics relevant for the budget and increased average costs were collated. RESULTS: Important factors with top priority were hospital infrastructure, characteristics of the catchment area and specialties of inpatient services provided. Obligatory service for a defined catchment area, increased documentation requirements and infrastructure of buildings and grounds were estimated as being associated with the highest additional financial expenditure. CONCLUSION: It is a challenge for clinics to prove increased average costs due to the respective hospital structural and regional characteristics. This study shows which characteristics should be considered as most cost-relevant from the perspective of hospital management.

The STM bias voltage-dependent polymorphism of a binary supramolecular network.

A Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) is used to induce a reversible transition between different polymorphs in a binary supramolecular network at the liquid/solid interface. The transition is driven externally by switching the polarity of the sample by positive or negative sample bias potentials. We demonstrate that by mixing bias-sensitive and non-sensitive molecules, we gain access to a variety of binary porous structures that can be prepared and reliably actuated for each relative concentration.

[Rationing in inpatient psychiatric care]. / Rationierung in der stationären psychiatrischen Versorgung.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether and in which services in psychiatric institutions implicit rationing takes place from the perspective of doctors and nurses. METHODS: From October 2013 to the middle of 2014 we conducted a written and standardized survey among physicians/psychologists (n = 256) and nurses (n = 796) from eight psychiatric hospitals in Germany. RESULTS: Out of 11 clinical activities 4 judged as necessary, namely communication and interaction with patients and relatives, coordination of treatment with other professionals and adequate documentation of the treatment, were not carried out sufficiently or implicitly rationed by 42-59% of the surveyed physicians/psychologists. Multivariate analysis identified a higher case load, poor relationships with superiors and an overall heavy workload as significant predictors of implicit rationing. DISCUSSION: The services which are particularly necessary for an effective treatment of mentally ill people, i.e. strong patient orientation and close cooperation with other professionals are jeopardized by the implicit rationing.

Germanene: the germanium analogue of graphene.

Recently, several research groups have reported the growth of germanene, a new member of the graphene family. Germanene is in many aspects very similar to graphene, but in contrast to the planar graphene lattice, the germanene honeycomb lattice is buckled and composed of two vertically displaced sub-lattices. Density functional theory calculations have revealed that free-standing germanene is a 2D Dirac fermion system, i.e. the electrons behave as massless relativistic particles that are described by the Dirac equation, which is the relativistic variant of the Schrödinger equation. Germanene is a very appealing 2D material. The spin-orbit gap in germanene (~24 meV) is much larger than in graphene (<0.05 meV), which makes germanene the ideal candidate to exhibit the quantum spin Hall effect at experimentally accessible temperatures. Additionally, the germanene lattice offers the possibility to open a band gap via for instance an externally applied electrical field, adsorption of foreign atoms or coupling with a substrate. This opening of the band gap paves the way to the realization of germanene based field-effect devices. In this topical review we will (1) address the various methods to synthesize germanene (2) provide a brief overview of the key results that have been obtained by density functional theory calculations and (3) discuss the potential of germanene for future applications as well for fundamentally oriented studies.

Study on the possible interaction between tenoxicam and atenolol in hypertensive patients.

Sixteen hypertensive male out-patients (33-54 y), whose blood pressure (BP) had been normalized (diastolic BP < 90 mmHg) by treatment with a daily dose of 50 mg atenolol (CAS 29122-68-7), participated in this double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group study, which investigated the possible influence of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug tenoxicam (CAS 59804-37-4) on the control of BP by atenolol. After a run-in of 10 days, to assess the stability of BP control by atenolol, and to determine baseline parameters, 8 patients in group A received 20 mg tenoxicam (2 x 20 mg on days 1 and 2), and 8 patients in group B received placebo, daily over 15 days (days 0-14), concomitantly with their atenolol regimen. BP was measured under standardized conditions on several days. Heart rate (EHR) after 5 min of exercise by bicycle ergometry (constant 75W), and parameters of renal function were assessed before (baseline) and during concomitant dosing of atenolol and tenoxicam. On day 14 the mean changes (delta A, delta B) from baseline of pre-dose BP (mmHg) and EHR (beats/min) in groups A and B, and the one-sided 95% confidence regions (R) for delta A, respectively, were (delta A, delta B, R): 4.4, 1.6, < 9.5 for sitting systolic BP, 2.8, -0.3, < 4.5 for sitting diastolic BP, -0.3, -0.6, < 5.5 for standing systolic BP, -0.6, -1.9, < 3.0 for standing diastolic BP, 0.4, -7.5, < 0.4 for EHR at pre-dose, 3.1, 0.6, < 7.8 for EHR at 3.5 h post-dose.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)