Les lampes de Solvieux (Dordogne).

International audienceThe discovery of two exceptional lamps with a carved handle by J. Sackett in Solvieux increases the inventory of the presently discovered lamps of this type (only some thirty specimens out of some 500 " bowl lamps " and stone containers which were compiled). They are characteristic of the two main categories of lamps having a means of prehension: a triangular handle for one of them, and a quadrangular one for the other. Apart from a lamp excavated at Laugerie-Haute, which is supposed to be Solutrean and the dating of which is doubtful, the two Solvieux specimens are of a real interest as they represent the earliest presently known examples of lamps with a carved handle and whose dating is unquestionable. The differences in morphology reveal that the basic typological diversity offered by later specimens was well established as early as the beginning of the Magdalenian.La découverte à Solvieux par J. Sackett de deux remarquables lampes façonnées et munies d'un manche enrichit la série des lampes de ce type actuellement connues (une trentaine seulement pour quelque 500 lampes et godets recensés). Elles sont bien caractéristiques des deux principaux types de lampe munie d'un appendice de préhension, l'une possédant un manche triangulaire et l'autre un manche de forme quadrangulaire. Si l'on exclut un exemplaire peut-être solutréen provenant de Laugerie-Haute dont la datation est douteuse, les deux spécimens de Solvieux présentent le grand intérêt de constituer les lampes à manche sculpté les plus anciennes connues à ce jour dont la datation soit incontestable. Leur morphologie différente montre que la diversité typologique observée sur des exemplaires plus récents était bien établie dès le début du Magdalénien

Is cardiac surgery warranted in children with Down syndrome? A case-controlled review

Objectives. To compare children with Down syndrome and children without Down syndrome and investigate whether there is a significant difference in the burden that is placed on the health care system between these two groups only in respect of the repair of congenital heart disease at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. Design. This study is a retrospective case control review. Setting. Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.Subjects. The sample group of 50 Down syndrome children who had received cardiac surgery between January 1998 and June 2003 was compared with a control group of 50 nonsyndromic children who had received cardiac surgery during the same period. Outcome measures. Sex and diagnoses (cardiac and noncardiac), number of days spent in hospital and in ICU, complication rates, re-operation rates, early mortality rates, planned further cardiac surgery. Costs of these outcomes were not quantified in exact monetary terms. Results. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the burden that was placed on the health care system. Similar complication rates, re-operation rates and early mortality rates were recorded for both groups. The Down syndrome group appeared to benefit more from cardiac surgery than the non-Down syndrome group. Conclusion. Denying cardiac surgery to children with Down syndrome does not improve the efficiency of resource allocation. It is therefore not reasonable to suggest that the problem of scarce resources can be ameliorated by discriminating against children with Down syndrome

Measurement of D-s(+) and D-s(*+) production in B meson decays and from continuum e(+)e(-) annihilation at √s=10.6 GeV

This is the pre-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the links below. Copyright @ 2002 APSNew measurements of Ds+ and Ds*+ meson production rates from B decays and from qq̅ continuum events near the Υ(4S) resonance are presented. Using 20.8 fb-1 of data on the Υ(4S) resonance and 2.6 fb-1 off-resonance, we find the inclusive branching fractions B(B⃗Ds+X)=(10.93±0.19±0.58±2.73)% and B(B⃗Ds*+X)=(7.9±0.8±0.7±2.0)%, where the first error is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is due to the Ds+→φπ+ branching fraction uncertainty. The production cross sections σ(e+e-→Ds+X)×B(Ds+→φπ+)=7.55±0.20±0.34pb and σ(e+e-→Ds*±X)×B(Ds+→φπ+)=5.8±0.7±0.5pb are measured at center-of-mass energies about 40 MeV below the Υ(4S) mass. The branching fractions ΣB(B⃗Ds(*)+D(*))=(5.07±0.14±0.30±1.27)% and ΣB(B⃗Ds*+D(*))=(4.1±0.2±0.4±1.0)% are determined from the Ds(*)+ momentum spectra. The mass difference m(Ds+)-m(D+)=98.4±0.1±0.3MeV/c2 is also measured.This work was supported by DOE and NSF (USA), NSERC (Canada), IHEP (China), CEA and CNRS-IN2P3 (France), BMBF (Germany), INFN (Italy), NFR (Norway), MIST (Russia), and PPARC (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Swiss NSF, A. P. Sloan Foundation, Research Corporation, and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

DIRC, the Particle Identification System for BABAR

The DIRC, a novel type of Cherenkov ring imaging device, is the primary hadronic particle identification system for the BABAR detector at the asymmetric B-factory, PEP-II at SLAC. BABAR began taking data with colliding beams mode in late spring 1999. This paper describes the performance of the DIRC during the first 16 months of operation

The DIRC Particle Identification System for the BABAR Experiment

A new type of ring-imaging Cherenkov detector is being used for hadronic particle identification in the BABAR experiment at the SLAC B Factory (PEP-II). This detector is called DIRC, an acronym for Detection of Internally Reflected Cherenkov (Light). This paper will discuss the construction, operation and performance of the BABAR DIRC in detail