Intensified chemotherapy and dose-reduced involved-field radiotherapy in patients with early unfavorable Hodgkin's lymphoma: final analysis of the German Hodgkin Study Group HD11 trial

Combined-modality treatment consisting of four to six cycles of chemotherapy followed by involved-field radiotherapy (IFRT) is the standard of care for patients with early unfavorable Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). It is unclear whether treatment results can be improved with more intensive chemotherapy and which radiation dose needs to be applied.

About the role of visual field defects in pure alexia

Pure alexia is an acquired reading disorder characterized by a disproportionate prolongation of reading time as a function of word length. Although the vast majority of cases reported in the literature show a right-sided visual defect, little is known about the contribution of this low-level visual impairment to their reading difficulties. The present study was aimed at investigating this issue by comparing eye movement patterns during text reading in six patients with pure alexia with those of six patients with hemianopic dyslexia showing similar right-sided visual field defects. We found that the role of the field defect in the reading difficulties of pure alexics was highly deficit-specific. While the amplitude of rightward saccades during text reading seems largely determined by the restricted visual field, other visuo-motor impairments-particularly the pronounced increases in fixation frequency and viewing time as a function of word length-may have little to do with their visual field defect. In addition, subtracting the lesions of the hemianopic dyslexics from those found in pure alexics revealed the largest group differences in posterior parts of the left fusiform gyrus, occipito-temporal sulcus and inferior temporal gyrus. These regions included the coordinate assigned to the centre of the visual word form area in healthy adults, which provides further evidence for a relation between pure alexia and a damaged visual word form area. Finally, we propose a list of three criteria that may improve the differential diagnosis of pure alexia and allow appropriate therapy recommendations.

Anisotropic diffusion at the field scale in a 4-year multi-tracer diffusion and retention experiment – I: Insights from the experimental data

Abstract Claystones are considered worldwide as barrier materials for nuclear waste repositories. In the Mont Terri underground research laboratory (URL), a nearly 4-year diffusion and retention (DR) experiment has been performed in Opalinus Clay. It aimed at (1) obtaining data at larger space and time scales than in laboratory experiments and (2) under relevant in situ conditions with respect to pore water chemistry and mechanical stress, (3) quantifying the anisotropy of in situ diffusion, and (4) exploring possible effects of a borehole-disturbed zone. The experiment included two tracer injection intervals in a borehole perpendicular to bedding, through which traced artificial pore water (APW) was circulated, and a pressure monitoring interval. The APW was spiked with neutral tracers (HTO, HDO, H2O-18), anions (Br, I, SeO4), and cations (Na-22, Ba-133, Sr-85, Cs-137, Co-60, Eu-152, stable Cs, and stable Eu). Most tracers were added at the beginning, some were added at a later stage. The hydraulic pressure in the injection intervals was adjusted according to the measured value in the pressure monitoring interval to ensure transport by diffusion only. Concentration time-series in the APW within the borehole intervals were obtained, as well as 2D concentration distributions in the rock at the end of the experiment after overcoring and subsampling which resulted in �250 samples and �1300 analyses. As expected, HTO diffused the furthest into the rock, followed by the anions (Br, I, SeO4) and by the cationic sorbing tracers (Na-22, Ba-133, Cs, Cs-137, Co-60, Eu-152). The diffusion of SeO4 was slower than that of Br or I, approximately proportional to the ratio of their diffusion coefficients in water. Ba-133 diffused only into �0.1 m during the �4 a. Stable Cs, added at a higher concentration than Cs-137, diffused further into the rock than Cs-137, consistent with a non-linear sorption behavior. The rock properties (e.g., water contents) were rather homogeneous at the centimeter scale, with no evidence of a borehole-disturbed zone. In situ anisotropy ratios for diffusion, derived for the first time directly from field data, are larger for HTO and Na-22 (�5) than for anions (�3�4 for Br and I). The lower ionic strength of the pore water at this location (�0.22 M) as compared to locations of earlier experiments in the Mont Terri URL (�0.39 M) had no notable effect on the anion accessible pore fraction for Cl, Br, and I: the value of 0.55 is within the range of earlier data. Detailed transport simulations involving different codes will be presented in a companion paper.

Schulpraktika in der Lehrerbildung. Theoretische Grundlagen, Konzeptionen, Prozesse und Effekte = Pedagogical field experiences in teacher education. Theoretical foundations, programmes, processes, and effects

Seit mehr als zwanzig Jahren werden in der tertiären Lehramtsausbildung Schulpraktika reformiert und neuerdings in ihrem zeitlichen Umfang relativ zur Studienzeit vergrößert. Zum Gegenstand reger Forschungsaktivitäten avancierten Schulpraktika jedoch erst im letzten Jahrzehnt. Hiermit werden ein Überblick über das Forschungsfeld (Grundlagen der schulpraktischen Komponenten der Lehrerbildung; Forschungsmethodik) vorgelegt und aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse zu zentralen Aspekten der Wirksamkeit von Praktika und Effekten von Mentoring präsentiert. In englischsprachigen bzw. deutschsprachigen Beiträgen wird der Forschungsstand in Deutschland, den Niederlanden, Österreich und der Schweiz sowie den USA aufgezeigt. Der Band richtet sich an Personen, die in der Lehrerbildung tätig sind, also an Dozent/inn/en in Hochschulen und Seminaren, an Lehrerbildungsforscher/innen sowie an Fachpersonen in der Bildungsadministration und interessierte Studierende.

Pedagogical field experiences in teacher education: Introduction to the research area

Research on pre-service teacher internships has become a dynamic area of investigation in teacher education whose growth seems to correspond with increased activity at the institutional level over the past two decades. Introducing or expanding field experiences has been a common strategy in nearly all teacher education programs for the last twenty years, and reforming teacher education with a focus on its practical aspects still ranks near the top of education policy agendas. This article provides an introduction to the research field, addressing five basic issues: (1) precision in the definition of the construct, (2) main sources of research literature, (3) elaboration of the construct in terms of effects and mediating variables, (4) the methodological challenges of empirical research, and (5) major areas of future research. Emphasis is placed on the often ignored aspect that internships elicit both intended and unintended effects, including not only positive but also adverse side effects.

Do optic nerve head and visual field parameters in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome differ from those in control individuals?

BACKGROUND It has been suggested that sleep apnea syndrome may play a role in normal-tension glaucoma contributing to optic nerve damage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if optic nerve and visual field parameters in individuals with sleep apnea syndrome differ from those in controls. PATIENTS AND METHODS From the records of the sleep laboratory at the University Hospital in Bern, Switzerland, we recruited consecutive patients with severe sleep apnea syndrome proven by polysomnography, apnea-hypopnea index >20, as well as no sleep apnea controls with apnea-hypopnea index <10. Participants had to be unknown to the ophtalmology department and had to have no recent eye examination in the medical history. All participants underwent a comprehensive eye examination, scanning laser polarimetry (GDx VCC, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, California), scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II, HRT II), and automated perimetry (Octopus 101 Programm G2, Haag-Streit Diagnostics, Koeniz, Switzerland). Mean values of the parameters of the two groups were compared by t-test. RESULTS The sleep apnea group consisted of 69 eyes of 35 patients; age 52.7 ± 9.7 years, apnea-hypopnea index 46.1 ± 24.8. As controls served 38 eyes of 19 patients; age 45.8 ± 11.2 years, apnea-hypopnea index 4.8 ± 1.9. A difference was found in mean intraocular pressure, although in a fully overlapping range, sleep apnea group: 15.2 ± 3.1, range 8-22 mmHg, controls: 13.6 ± 2.3, range 9-18 mmHg; p<0.01. None of the extended visual field, optic nerve head (HRT) and retinal nerve fiber layer (GDx VCC) parameters showed a significant difference between the groups. CONCLUSION Visual field, optic nerve head, and retinal nerve fiber layer parameters in patients with sleep apnea did not differ from those in the control group. Our results do not support a pathogenic relationship between sleep apnea syndrome and glaucoma.