Breath biomarkers in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis:A systematic review 11 Medical and Health Sciences

Background: Exhaled biomarkers may be related to disease processes in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) however their clinical role remains unclear. We performed a systematic review to investigate whether breath biomarkers discriminate between patients with IPF and healthy controls. We also assessed correlation with lung function, ability to distinguish diagnostic subgroups and change in response to treatment. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science databases were searched. Study selection was limited to adults with a diagnosis of IPF as per international guidelines. Results: Of 1014 studies screened, fourteen fulfilled selection criteria and included 257 IPF patients. Twenty individual biomarkers discriminated between IPF and controls and four showed correlation with lung function. Meta-analysis of three studies indicated mean (± SD) alveolar nitric oxide (CalvNO) levels were significantly higher in IPF (8.5 ± 5.5 ppb) than controls (4.4 ± 2.2 ppb). Markers of oxidative stress in exhaled breath condensate, such as hydrogen peroxide and 8-isoprostane, were also discriminatory. Two breathomic studies have isolated discriminative compounds using mass spectrometry. There was a lack of studies assessing relevant treatment and none assessed differences in diagnostic subgroups. Conclusions: Evidence suggests CalvNO is higher in IPF, although studies were limited by small sample size. Further breathomic work may identify biomarkers with diagnostic and prognostic potential

Search for Ultra-high-energy Photons from Gravitational Wave Sources with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A search for time-directional coincidences of ultra-high-energy (UHE) photons above 10 EeV with gravitational wave (GW) events from the LIGO/Virgo runs O1 to O3 is conducted with the Pierre Auger Observatory. Due to the distinctive properties of photon interactions and to the background expected from hadronic showers, a subset of the most interesting GW events is selected based on their localization quality and distance. Time periods of 1000 s around and 1 day after the GW events are analyzed. No coincidences are observed. Upper limits on the UHE photon fluence from a GW event are derived that are typically at & SIM;7 MeV cm(-2) (time period 1000 s) and & SIM;35 MeV cm(-2) (time period 1 day). Due to the proximity of the binary neutron star merger GW170817, the energy of the source transferred into UHE photons above 40 EeV is constrained to be less than 20% of its total GW energy. These are the first limits on UHE photons from GW sources

Arrival Directions of Cosmic Rays above 32 EeV from Phase One of the Pierre Auger Observatory

A promising energy range to look for angular correlations between cosmic rays of extragalactic origin and their sources is at the highest energies, above a few tens of EeV (1 EeV equivalent to 10^(18) eV). Despite the flux of these particles being extremely low, the area of similar to 3000 km^(2) covered at the Pierre Auger Observatory, and the 17 yr data-taking period of the Phase 1 of its operations, have enabled us to measure the arrival directions of more than 2600 ultra-high-energy cosmic rays above 32 EeV. We publish this data set, the largest available at such energies from an integrated exposure of 122,000 km^(2) sr yr, and search it for anisotropies over the 3.4 pi steradians covered with the Observatory. Evidence for a deviation in excess of isotropy at intermediate angular scales, with similar to 15 degrees Gaussian spread or similar to 25 degrees top-hat radius, is obtained at the 4 sigma significance level for cosmic-ray energies above similar to 40 EeV

Searches for Ultra-High-Energy Photons at the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory, which is the largest air-shower experiment in the world, offers unprecedented exposure to neutral particles at the highest energies. Since the start of data collection more than 18 years ago, various searches for ultra-high-energy (UHE, E greater than or similar to 10^(17) eV) photons have been performed, either for a diffuse flux of UHE photons, for point sources of UHE photons or for UHE photons associated with transient events such as gravitational wave events. In the present paper, we summarize these searches and review the current results obtained using the wealth of data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory

Intra- and Inter-Rater Agreement Describing Myometrial Lesions Using Morphologic Uterus Sonographic Assessment: A Pilot Study

Objectives-To evaluate the intra-and inter-rater agreement for myometrial lesions using Morphologic Uterus Sonographic Assessment terminology.Methods-Thirteen raters with high (n = 6) or medium experience (n = 7) assessed 30 3-dimensional ultrasound clips with (n = 20) and without (n = 10) benign myometrial lesions. Myometrial lesions were reported as poorly or well defined and then systematically evaluated for the presence of individual features. The clips were blindly assessed twice (at a 2-month interval). Intra- and inter-rater agreements were calculated with. statistics.Results-The reporting of poorly defined lesions reached moderate intra-rater agreement (kappa = 0.49 [high experience] and 0.47 [medium experience]) and poor inter-rater agreement (kappa = 0.39 [high experience] and 0.25 [medium experience]). The reporting of well-defined lesions reached good to very good intra-rater agreement (kappa = 0.73 [high experience] and 0.82 [medium experience]) and good inter-rater agreement (kappa = 0.75 [high experience] and 0.63 [medium experience]). Most individual features associated with ill-defined lesions reached moderate intra-and inter-rater agreement among highly experienced raters (kappa = 0.41-0.60). The least reproducible features were myometrial cysts, hyperechoic islands, subendometrial lines and buds, and translesional flow (kappa = 0.11-0.34). Most individual features associated with well-defined lesions reached moderate to good intra-and inter-rater agreement among all observers (kappa = 0.41-0.80). The least reproducible features were a serosal contour, asymmetry, a hyperechoic rim, and fan-shaped shadows (kappa = 0.00-0.35).Conclusions-The reporting of well-defined lesions showed excellent agreement, whereas the agreement for poorly defined lesions was low, even among highly experienced raters. The agreement on identifying individual features varied, especially for features associated with ill-defined lesions. Guidelines on minimum requirements for features associated with ill-defined lesions to be interpreted as poorly defined lesions may improve agreement

The CDF silicon vertex tracker

Real time pattern recognition is becoming a key issue in many position sensitive detector applications. The CDF collaboration is building SVT: a specialized electronic device designed to perform real time track reconstruction using the Silicon VerteX detector (SVX II). This will strongly improve the CDF capability of triggering on events containing b quarks, usually characterized by the presence of a secondary vertex. SVT is designed to reconstruct in real time charged particles trajectories using data coming from the silicon vertex detector and the central outer tracker drift chamber. The SVT architecture and algorithm have been specially tuned to minimize processing time without degrading parameter resolution. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Silicon vertex tracker: a fast precise tracking trigger for CDF

The Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT), currently being built for the CDF II experiment, is a hardware device that reconstructs 2-D tracks online using measurements from the Silicon Vertex Detector (SVXII) and the Central Outer Tracker (COT). The precise measurement of the impact parameter of the SVT tracks will allow, for the first time in a hadron collider environment, to trigger on events containing B hadrons that are very important for many studies, such as CP violation in the b sector and searching for new heavy particles decaying to b (b) over bar. In this report we describe the overall architecture, algorithms and the hardware implementation of the SVT. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

The CDF silicon vertex tracker: Online precision tracking of the CDF silicon vertex detector

The Silicon Vertex Tracker is the CDF online tracker which will reconstruct 2D tracks using hit positions measured by the Silicon Vertex Detector and Central Outer Chamber tracks found by the extremely Fast Tracker. The precision measurement of the track impact parameter will allow triggering on events containing B hadrons. This will allow the investigation of several important problems in B physics, like CP violation and B-s mixing, and to search for nem heavy particles decaying to b (b) over bar