The Association Between Self-Reported Symptoms of Recent Airway Infection and CRP Values in a General Population: The Tromsø Study: Tromsø 6

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a much used biomarker for respiratory tract infection; however, the influence of airway infection on the CRP level in the general population has not been well described. The study aimed to evaluate the impact of recent symptoms of airway infection on the CRP level and how the predictive power of other known CRP predictors is influenced by taking respiratory symptoms into account. A total of 6,325 participants, aged 38–87 years, in the Tromsø Study, a repeated population-based survey, were examined with questionnaires, measurements of height and weight, spirometry, and high-sensitivity CRP analyses. The mean CRP value was 2.86 mg/L, and the geometric mean was 1.51 mg/L. Geometric means above 2.0 mg/L were found in the subgroups with the following characteristics: self-reported COPD, diabetes, recent symptoms of airway infection, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) <80% predicted, body mass index (BMI) ≥30, and subjects treated with inhaled or oral corticosteroids. Among the subjects who reported recent airway infection, 10.5% had a CRP value of ≥10 mg/L, compared to 3.3% among the remaining participants. By multivariate analysis, BMI was the strongest independent predictor of the CRP level, followed by recent airway infection, FEV1% predicted, age, and current smoking. The study clearly demonstrates that a report of recent symptoms of airway infection strongly predicts the CRP level in the population. Such symptoms were shared rather equally between subgroups with increased CRP level, and the risk of being an important confounder in epidemiological studies is probably low. In the clinical setting, care should be taken when using the CRP level as a guide for medical prevention of chronic diseases

Dechloranes and chlorinated paraffins in sediments and biota of two subarctic lakes

Our understanding of the environmental behavior, bioaccumulation and concentrations of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) and Dechloranes (Dec) in the Arctic environment is still limited, particularly in freshwater ecosystems. In this descriptive study, short chain (SCCPs) and medium chain (MCCPs) CPs, Dechlorane Plus (DP) and analogues, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in sediments, benthic organisms, three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) in two Sub-Arctic lakes in Northern Norway. Takvannet (TA) is a remote lake, with no known local sources for organic contaminants, while Storvannet (ST) is situated in a populated area. SCCPs and MCCPs were detected in all sediment samples from ST with concentration of 42.26–115.29 ng/g dw and 66.18–136.69 ng/g dw for SCCPs and MCCPs, respectively. Only SCCPs were detected in TA sediments (0.4–5.28 ng/g dw). In biota samples, sticklebacks and benthic organisms showed the highest concentrations of CPs, while concentrations were low or below detection limits in both char and trout. The congener group patterns observed in both lakes showed SCCP profiles dominated by higher chlorinated congener groups while the MCCPs showed consistency in their profiles, with C14 being the most prevalent carbon chain length. Anti- and syn-DP isomers were detected in all sediment, benthic and stickleback samples with higher concentrations in ST than in TA. However, they were only present in a few char and trout samples from ST. Dec 601 and 604 were below detection limits in all samples in both lakes. Dec 603 was detected only in ST sediments, sticklebacks and 2 trout samples, while Dec 602 was the only DP analogue found in all samples from both lakes. While there were clear differences in sediment concentrations of DP and Dec 602 between ST and TA, differences between lakes decreased with increasing δ15N. This pattern was similar to the PCB behavior, suggesting the lake characteristics in ST are playing an important role in the lack of biomagnification of pollutants in this lake. Our results suggest that ST receives pollutants from local sources in addition to atmospheric transport

Dyssynchrony and the risk of ventricular arrhythmias

OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony and the risk of ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) in patients enrolled in the MADIT-CRT (Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial-Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy) trial. BACKGROUND: Intraventricular mechanical dyssynchrony might be an important factor in ventricular arrhythmogenesis by enhancing electrical heterogeneity in heart failure patients. The effects of dyssynchrony have not yet been evaluated in a large cohort of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillator (CRT-D) patients. METHODS: LV dyssynchrony was measured at baseline and at 12-months by speckle-tracking echocardiography, defined as the standard deviation of time to peak systolic strain in 12 LV myocardial segments. The endpoint was the first VT/VF/death or VT/VF. LV dyssynchrony was evaluated in 764 left bundle branch block (LBBB) patients and in 312 non-LBBB patients. RESULTS: Baseline LV dyssynchrony was not predictive of VT/VF/death or VT/VF in LBBB or non-LBBB patients in either treatment arm. In CRT-D patients with LBBB, improvement in LV dyssynchrony over a year was associated with significantly lower incidence of VT/VF/death (p < 0.001) and VT/VF (p < 0.001) compared to ICD patients and to CRT-D patients with unchanged or worsening dyssynchrony. Among LBBB patients, 15% decrease in LV dyssynchrony was associated with lower risk of VT/VF/death (hazard ratio: 0.49, 95% confidence interval: 0.24 to 0.99, p = 0.049) and VT/VF (hazard ratio: 0.30, 95% confidence interval: 0.12 to 0.77, p = 0.009) as compared to ICD patients. Patients without LBBB receiving CRT-D did not show reduction in VT/VF/death or in VT/VF in relation to improving dyssynchrony when evaluating cumulative event rates or risk of events. CONCLUSIONS: Baseline LV dyssynchrony did not predict VT/VF/death or VT/VF in mild heart failure patients with or without LBBB. CRT-induced improvement of LV dyssynchrony was associated with significant reduction of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with LBBB. (Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial With Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy [MADIT-CRT]; NCT00180271)

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

Search for pair-produced long-lived neutral particles decaying to jets in the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter in ppcollisions at √s=8TeV

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is used to search for the decay of a scalar boson to a pair of long-lived particles, neutral under the Standard Model gauge group, in 20.3fb−1of data collected in proton–proton collisions at √s=8TeV. This search is sensitive to long-lived particles that decay to Standard Model particles producing jets at the outer edge of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter or inside the hadronic calorimeter. No significant excess of events is observed. Limits are reported on the product of the scalar boson production cross section times branching ratio into long-lived neutral particles as a function of the proper lifetime of the particles. Limits are reported for boson masses from 100 GeVto 900 GeV, and a long-lived neutral particle mass from 10 GeVto 150 GeV

Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections for Higgs boson production in the diphoton decay channel at s√=8 TeV with ATLAS

Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections are presented for Higgs boson production in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=8 TeV. The analysis is performed in the H → γγ decay channel using 20.3 fb−1 of data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The signal is extracted using a fit to the diphoton invariant mass spectrum assuming that the width of the resonance is much smaller than the experimental resolution. The signal yields are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution. The pp → H → γγ fiducial cross section is measured to be 43.2 ±9.4(stat.) − 2.9 + 3.2 (syst.) ±1.2(lumi)fb for a Higgs boson of mass 125.4GeV decaying to two isolated photons that have transverse momentum greater than 35% and 25% of the diphoton invariant mass and each with absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.37. Four additional fiducial cross sections and two cross-section limits are presented in phase space regions that test the theoretical modelling of different Higgs boson production mechanisms, or are sensitive to physics beyond the Standard Model. Differential cross sections are also presented, as a function of variables related to the diphoton kinematics and the jet activity produced in the Higgs boson events. The observed spectra are statistically limited but broadly in line with the theoretical expectations

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30

Search for squarks and gluinos with the ATLAS detector in final states with jets and missing transverse momentum using √s=8 TeV proton-proton collision data

A search for squarks and gluinos in final states containing high-p T jets, missing transverse momentum and no electrons or muons is presented. The data were recorded in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment in s√=8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, with a total integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1. Results are interpreted in a variety of simplified and specific supersymmetry-breaking models assuming that R-parity is conserved and that the lightest neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle. An exclusion limit at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the gluino is set at 1330 GeV for a simplified model incorporating only a gluino and the lightest neutralino. For a simplified model involving the strong production of first- and second-generation squarks, squark masses below 850 GeV (440 GeV) are excluded for a massless lightest neutralino, assuming mass degenerate (single light-flavour) squarks. In mSUGRA/CMSSM models with tan β = 30, A 0 = −2m 0 and μ > 0, squarks and gluinos of equal mass are excluded for masses below 1700 GeV. Additional limits are set for non-universal Higgs mass models with gaugino mediation and for simplified models involving the pair production of gluinos, each decaying to a top squark and a top quark, with the top squark decaying to a charm quark and a neutralino. These limits extend the region of supersymmetric parameter space excluded by previous searches with the ATLAS detector