Maternal and neonatal effects of adding morphine to low‑dose bupivacaine for epidural labor analgesia

Aim: Labor is one of the most painful experiences a woman may face during her lifetime. One of the most effective methods used for eliminating this pain is epidural analgesia. The aim of this study to determine the impact of adding morphine to low‑dose bupivacaine epidural anesthesia on labor and neonatal outcomes, and maternal side effects.Materials and Methods: This is a prospective randomized double‑blind study comparing two regimens of anesthetic agents used for epidural anesthesia in labor. A total of 120 pregnant women were randomized into two groups with 60 subjects in each study arm. A catheter was inserted, and 0.1% bupivacaine + 2 μg/mL fentanyl in 15 mL saline were given to Group bupivacaine‑fentanyl (Group BF), while 0.0625% bupivacaine + 2 μg/ml fentanyl + 2 mg morphine in 15 mL saline were given to Group bupivacaine‑fentanyl‑morphine (Group BFM) with no test dosing from the needle. No morphine was added to the subsequent epidural injections in Group BFM.Results: The total dose of bupivacaine was significantly lower in Group BFM relative to Group BF (P = 0.0001). The visual analogu scalescores at 15, 30, and 45 min were significantly lower in Group BF compared to thosein Group BFM (P = 0.0001, P = 0.001, and P = 0.006, respectively). The second stage of labor was significantly shorter in Group BFM relative to Group BF (P = 0.027 and P = 0.003, respectively). The satisfaction with analgesia following the first dose was higher in the nonmorphine group (P = 0.0001). However, maternal postpartum satisfaction was similar in both groups. Either nausea or vomiting was recorded in eight patients in Group BFM.Conclusion: We believe that epidural analgesia comprised of a low‑dose local anaesthetic and 2 mg morphine provides a painless labor that significantly reducesthe use of local anesthetic without changing the efficiency of the analgesic, ensuring the mother’s satisfaction without leading to an adverse effect on the mother or foetus, while mildly (but significantly) shortening the second stage of labor.Key words: Bupivacaine, epidural analgesia, fentanyl, morphine, painless labo

Optically thin composite resonant absorber at the near-infrared band: a polarization independent and spectrally broadband configuration

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We designed, fabricated, and experimentally characterized thin absorbers utilizing both electrical and magnetic impedance matching at the near-infrared regime. The absorbers consist of four main layers: a metal back plate, dielectric spacer, and two artificial layers. One of the artificial layers provides electrical resonance and the other one provides magnetic resonance yielding a polarization independent broadband perfect absorption. The structure response remains similar for the wide angle of incidence due to the sub-wavelength unit cell size of the constituting artificial layers. The design is useful for applications such as thermal photovoltaics, sensors, and camouflage. (C)2011 Optical Society of Americ

Chiral metamaterials with negative refractive index based on four "U" split ring resonators

A uniaxial chiral metamaterial is constructed by double-layered four "U" split ring resonators mutually twisted by 90 degrees. It shows a giant optical activity and circular dichroism. The retrieval results reveal that a negative refractive index is realized for circularly polarized waves due to the large chirality. The experimental results are in good agreement with the numerical results.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Published as cover on AP

Probe of extra dimensions in gamma q->gamma q at the LHC

We have examined TeV scale effects of extra spatial dimensions through the processes gamma q-> gamma q where q=u,d,c,s,b, anti-u, anti-d, anti-c, anti-s, anti-b. These processes have been treated in a photon-proton collision via the main reaction pp-> p gamma p-> p gamma qX at the LHC. We have employed equivalent photon approximation for incoming photon beams and performed statistical analysis for various forward detector acceptances.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

A panel analysis of UK industrial company failure

We examine the failure determinants for large quoted UK industrials using a panel data set comprising 539 firms observed over the period 1988-93. The empirical design employs data from company accounts and is based on Chamberlain’s conditional binomial logit model, which allows for unobservable, firm-specific, time-invariant factors associated with failure risk. We find a noticeable degree of heterogeneity across the sample companies. Our panel results show that, after controlling for unobservables, lower liquidity measured by the quick assets ratio, slower turnover proxied by the ratio of debtors turnover, and profitability were linked to the higher risk of insolvency in the analysis period. The findings appear to support the proposition that the current cash-flow considerations, rather than the future prospects of the firm, determined company failures over the 1990s recession

First measurement of Ξc0\Xi_{\rm c}^0 production in pp collisions at s\mathbf{\sqrt{s}} = 7 TeV

The production of the charm-strange baryon $\Xi_{\rm c}^0$ is measured for the first time at the LHC via its semileptonic decay into e$^+\Xi^-\nu_{\rm e}$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ALICE detector. The transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) differential cross section multiplied by the branching ratio is presented in the interval 1 $<$ $p_{\rm T}$ $<$ 8 GeV/$c$ at mid-rapidity, $|y|$ $<$ 0.5. The transverse momentum dependence of the $\Xi_{\rm c}^0$ baryon production relative to the D$^0$ meson production is compared to predictions of event generators with various tunes of the hadronisation mechanism, which are found to underestimate the measured cross-section ratio.Comment: 22 pages, 6 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 17, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/412

Measurement of an excess in the yield of J/ψ\psi at very low pTp_{\rm T} in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV

We report on the first measurement of an excess in the yield of J/$\psi$ at very low transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}< 0.3$ GeV/$c$) in peripheral hadronic Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV, performed by ALICE at the CERN LHC. Remarkably, the measured nuclear modification factor of J/$\psi$ in the rapidity range $2.5<y<4$ reaches about 7 (2) in the $p_{\rm T}$ range 0-0.3 GeV/$c$ in the 70-90% (50-70%) centrality class. The J/$\psi$ production cross section associated with the observed excess is obtained under the hypothesis that coherent photoproduction of J/$\psi$ is the underlying physics mechanism. If confirmed, the observation of J/$\psi$ coherent photoproduction in Pb-Pb collisions at impact parameters smaller than twice the nuclear radius opens new theoretical and experimental challenges and opportunities. In particular, coherent photoproduction accompanying hadronic collisions may provide insight into the dynamics of photoproduction and nuclear reactions, as well as become a novel probe of the Quark-Gluon Plasma.Comment: 18 pages, 3 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 13, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/191

Energy dependence of exclusive J/ψJ/\psi photoproduction off protons in ultra-peripheral p-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 5.02 TeV

The ALICE Collaboration has measured the energy dependence of exclusive photoproduction of $J/\psi$ vector mesons off proton targets in ultra-peripheral p-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV. The e$^+$e$^-$ and $\mu^+\mu^-$ decay channels are used to measure the cross section as a function of the rapidity of the $J/\psi$ in the range $-2.5 < y < 2.7$, corresponding to an energy in the $\gamma$p centre-of-mass in the interval $40 < W_{\gamma\mathrm{p}}<550$ GeV. The measurements, which are consistent with a power law dependence of the exclusive $J/\psi$ photoproduction cross section, are compared to previous results from HERA and the LHC and to several theoretical models. They are found to be compatible with previous measurements.Comment: 25 pages, 3 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 19, published version, figures at http://alice-publications.web.cern.ch/node/455

Measurement of the production of charm jets tagged with D0^{0} mesons in pp collisions at s\sqrt{s}= 7 TeV

The production of charm jets in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV was measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is based on a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of $6.23$ ${\rm nb}^{-1}$, collected using a minimum-bias trigger. Charm jets are identified by the presence of a D$^0$ meson among their constituents. The D$^0$ mesons are reconstructed from their hadronic decay D$^0\rightarrow$K$^{-}\pi^{+}$. The D$^0$-meson tagged jets are reconstructed using tracks of charged particles (track-based jets) with the anti-$k_{\mathrm{T}}$ algorithm in the jet transverse momentum range $5<p_{\rm{T,jet}}^{\mathrm{ch}}<30$ ${\rm GeV/}c$ and pseudorapidity $|\eta_{\rm jet}|<0.5$. The fraction of charged jets containing a D$^0$-meson increases with $p_{\rm{T,jet}}^{\rm{ch}}$ from $0.042 \pm 0.004\, \mathrm{(stat)} \pm 0.006\, \mathrm{(syst)}$ to $0.080 \pm 0.009\, \rm{(stat)} \pm 0.008\, \rm{(syst)}$. The distribution of D$^0$-meson tagged jets as a function of the jet momentum fraction carried by the D$^0$ meson in the direction of the jet axis ($z_{||}^{\mathrm{ch}}$) is reported for two ranges of jet transverse momenta, $5<p_{\rm{T,jet}}^{\rm{ch}}<15$ ${\rm GeV/}c$ and $15<p_{\rm{T,jet}}^{\rm{ch}}<30$ ${\rm GeV/}c$ in the intervals $0.2<z_{||}^{\rm{ch}}<1.0$ and $0.4<z_{||}^{\rm{ch}}<1.0$, respectively. The data are compared with results from Monte Carlo event generators (PYTHIA 6, PYTHIA 8 and Herwig 7) and with a Next-to-Leading-Order perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics calculation, obtained with the POWHEG method and interfaced with PYTHIA 6 for the generation of the parton shower, fragmentation, hadronisation and underlying event.Comment: 29 pages, 8 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 24, published version, figures at http://alice-publications.web.cern.ch/node/525