Predictability of STOP-Bang Questionnaire and Epworth Sleepiness Scale in Identifying Obstructive Sleep Apnoea against Polysomnography: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Rising morbidty resulting from Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) is an emerging public health concern. The estimated prevalence of OSA in India has been investigated. STOP-Bang and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) have proven beneficial in identifying sleep breathing disorder. Validity of these questionnaire has been verified against polysomnography in many studies. Aim: To assess the predictive ability of STOP-Bang questionnaire and ESS in identifying OSA and comparing their efficacy with polysomnography. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Government Medical College, Kota, Rajasthan, India, from January 2020 to June 2021, among 100 patients with symptoms of OSA. The STOP-Bang questionnaires were administered to the patients, and scoring was done, followed by overnight attended polysomnography. The normality of data was tested by Shapiro Wilk’s test. The values obtained were statistically analysed and to compare the parameters between groups and with in groups for normal data parametric test One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s HSD test, for intragroup Paired t-test. Results: Mean age of the study population was 49.46±6.523 years, 79 were males and 21 females. Total, 79% of the subjects were males, and 21% of the study subjects were females. Among the 100, 65% had OSA as per polysomnography. STOP-Bang questionnaire had a higher sensitivity as compared to ESS in predicting OSA (75.38% for STOP-Bang and 72.31% for ESS). Conversely, the specificity of ESS (82.8%) was found to be greater than STOP-Bang (45.71%). Similar results were obtained for positive predictive value, in which ESS scored 88.6% while STOP-Bang scored 50%. For negative predictive values, ESS again scored higher (65%) than STOP-Bang (61.7%). Similarly, the Likelihood Ratio for a positive result (LR+) of ESS was greater than STOP-Bang (4.2 and 1.3 respectively). The STOP-Bang questionnaire, however, had higher Likelihood Ratio for a negative test (LR-) as compared to ESS (0.5 and 0.3 respectively). Conclusion: Polysomnography is the gold standard to diagnose OSA. For screening OSA, patients with symptoms of sleep disordered breathing, this study found that STOP-Bang questionnaire is better in identifying OSA as compared to ESS

Genetic variation among species, races, forms and inbred lines of lac insects belonging to the genus Kerria (Homoptera, Tachardiidae)

The lac insects (Homoptera: Tachardiidae), belonging to the genus Kerria, are commercially exploited for the production of lac. Kerria lacca is the most commonly used species in India. RAPD markers were used for assessing genetic variation in forty-eight lines of Kerria, especially among geographic races, infrasubspecific forms, cultivated lines, inbred lines, etc., of K. lacca. In the 48 lines studied, the 26 RAPD primers generated 173 loci, showing 97.7% polymorphism. By using neighbor-joining, the dendrogram generated from the similarity matrix resolved the lines into basically two clusters and outgroups. The major cluster, comprising 32 lines, included mainly cultivated lines of the rangeeni form, geographic races and inbred lines of K. lacca. The second cluster consisted of eight lines of K. lacca, seven of the kusmi form and one of the rangeeni from the southern state of Karnataka. The remaining eight lines formed a series of outgroups, this including a group of three yellow mutant lines of K. lacca and other species of the Kerria studied, among others. Color mutants always showed distinctive banding patterns compared to their wild-type counterparts from the same population. This study also adds support to the current status of kusmi and rangeeni, as infraspecific forms of K. lacca

Measurement of CP-violation asymmetries in D0 to Ks pi+ pi-

We report a measurement of time-integrated CP-violation asymmetries in the resonant substructure of the three-body decay D0 to Ks pi+ pi- using CDF II data corresponding to 6.0 invfb of integrated luminosity from Tevatron ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. The charm mesons used in this analysis come from D*+(2010) to D0 pi+ and D*-(2010) to D0bar pi-, where the production flavor of the charm meson is determined by the charge of the accompanying pion. We apply a Dalitz-amplitude analysis for the description of the dynamic decay structure and use two complementary approaches, namely a full Dalitz-plot fit employing the isobar model for the contributing resonances and a model-independent bin-by-bin comparison of the D0 and D0bar Dalitz plots. We find no CP-violation effects and measure an asymmetry of ACP = (-0.05 +- 0.57 (stat) +- 0.54 (syst))% for the overall integrated CP-violation asymmetry, consistent with the standard model prediction.Comment: 15 page

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Search for new physics with same-sign isolated dilepton events with jets and missing transverse energy

A search for new physics is performed in events with two same-sign isolated leptons, hadronic jets, and missing transverse energy in the final state. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.98 inverse femtobarns produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. This constitutes a factor of 140 increase in integrated luminosity over previously published results. The observed yields agree with the standard model predictions and thus no evidence for new physics is found. The observations are used to set upper limits on possible new physics contributions and to constrain supersymmetric models. To facilitate the interpretation of the data in a broader range of new physics scenarios, information on the event selection, detector response, and efficiencies is provided.Comment: Published in Physical Review Letter

Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments

In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one

Measurement of jet fragmentation into charged particles in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

Jet fragmentation in pp and PbPb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per nucleon pair was studied using data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. Fragmentation functions are constructed using charged-particle tracks with transverse momenta pt > 4 GeV for dijet events with a leading jet of pt > 100 GeV. The fragmentation functions in PbPb events are compared to those in pp data as a function of collision centrality, as well as dijet-pt imbalance. Special emphasis is placed on the most central PbPb events including dijets with unbalanced momentum, indicative of energy loss of the hard scattered parent partons. The fragmentation patterns for both the leading and subleading jets in PbPb collisions agree with those seen in pp data at 2.76 TeV. The results provide evidence that, despite the large parton energy loss observed in PbPb collisions, the partition of the remaining momentum within the jet cone into high-pt particles is not strongly modified in comparison to that observed for jets in vacuum.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physic

A Novel Cold-Regulated Cold Shock Domain Containing Protein from Scallop Chlamys farreri with Nucleic Acid-Binding Activity

Background: The cold shock domain (CSD) containing proteins (CSDPs) are one group of the evolutionarily conserved nucleic acid-binding proteins widely distributed in bacteria, plants, animals, and involved in various cellular processes, including adaptation to low temperature, cellular growth, nutrient stress and stationary phase. Methodology: The cDNA of a novel CSDP was cloned from Zhikong scallop Chlamys farreri (designated as CfCSP) by expressed sequence tag (EST) analysis and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) approach. The full length cDNA of CfCSP was of 1735 bp containing a 927 bp open reading frame which encoded an N-terminal CSD with conserved nucleic acids binding motif and a C-terminal domain with four Arg-Gly-Gly (RGG) repeats. The CSD of CfCSP shared high homology with the CSDs from other CSDPs in vertebrate, invertebrate and bacteria. The mRNA transcripts of CfCSP were mainly detected in the tissue of adductor and also marginally detectable in gill, hepatopancreas, hemocytes, kidney, mantle and gonad of healthy scallop. The relative expression level of CfCSP was up-regulated significantly in adductor and hemocytes at 1 h and 24 h respectively after low temperature treatment (P,0.05). The recombinant CfCSP protein (rCfCSP) could bind ssDNA and in vitro transcribed mRNA, but it could not bind dsDNA. BX04, a cold sensitive Escherichia coli CSP quadruple-deletion mutant, was used to examine the cold adaptation ability of CfCSP. After incubation at 17uC for 120 h, the strain of BX04 containing the vector pINIII showed growth defect and failed to form colonies, while strain containing pINIII-CSPA or pINIII