1,028 research outputs found
Prior events predict cerebrovascular and coronary outcomes in the PROGRESS trial
<p><b>Background and Purpose:</b> The relationship between baseline and recurrent vascular events may be important in the targeting of secondary prevention strategies. We examined the relationship between initial event and various types of further vascular outcomes and associated effects of blood pressure (BP)–lowering.</p>
<p><b>Methods:</b> Subsidiary analyses of the Perindopril Protection Against Recurrent Stroke Study (PROGRESS) trial, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial that established the benefits of BP–lowering in 6105 patients (mean age 64 years, 30% female) with cerebrovascular disease, randomly assigned to either active treatment (perindopril for all, plus indapamide in those with neither an indication for, nor a contraindication to, a diuretic) or placebo(s).</p>
<p><b>Results:</b> Stroke subtypes and coronary events were associated with 1.5- to 6.6-fold greater risk of recurrence of the same event (hazard ratios, 1.51 to 6.64; P=0.1 for large artery infarction, P<0.0001 for other events). However, 46% to 92% of further vascular outcomes were not of the same type. Active treatment produced comparable reductions in the risk of vascular outcomes among patients with a broad range of vascular events at entry (relative risk reduction, 25%; P<0.0001 for ischemic stroke; 42%, P=0.0006 for hemorrhagic stroke; 17%, P=0.3 for coronary events; P homogeneity=0.4).</p>
<p><b>Conclusions:</b> Patients with previous vascular events are at high risk of recurrences of the same event. However, because they are also at risk of other vascular outcomes, a broad range of secondary prevention strategies is necessary for their treatment. BP–lowering is likely to be one of the most effective and generalizable strategies across a variety of major vascular events including stroke and myocardial infarction.</p>
Can brewer-sponsored ‘drink responsibly’ warning message be effective without alcohol policies in Nigeria?
Alcohol availability, use and misuse and their related problems are rising in many parts of the African continent and this has been attributed to many factors such as non-existent or ineffective regulatory measures. In contemporary Nigeria, while a culture of intoxication is growing, there are no regulatory measures in the form of alcohol policies to reduce it. What exists is brewer-sponsored self-regulation. This paper therefore, critically analyses this self-imposed 'drink responsibly' warning message, arguing that because responsible drinking messages are strategically designed to serve the interest of alcohol industries, it cannot be effective. The paper further argues that because there are no definitions of standard drinks and where alcohol by volume (ABV) is scarcely inscribed on product labels of alcoholic beverages, such message will remain ineffective. Therefore, it recommends that an urgent step should be taken by the government to formulate and implement comprehensive evidence-based alcohol policies in Nigeria
Some comments on "The Mathematical Universe"
I discuss some problems related to extreme mathematical realism, focusing on
a recently proposed "shut-up-and-calculate" approach to physics
(arXiv:0704.0646, arXiv:0709.4024). I offer arguments for a moderate
alternative, the essence of which lies in the acceptance that mathematics is
(at least in part) a human construction, and discuss concrete consequences of
this--at first sight purely philosophical--difference in point of view.Comment: 11 page
The effect of the annealing temperature on the local distortion of LaCaMnO thin films
Mn -edge fluorescence data are presented for thin film samples (3000~\AA)
of Colossal Magnetoresistive (CMR) LaCaMnO: as-deposited,
and post-annealed at 1000 K and 1200 K. The local distortion is analyzed in
terms of three contributions: static, phonon, and an extra,
temperature-dependent, polaron term. The polaron distortion is very small for
the as-deposited sample and increases with the annealing temperature. In
contrast, the static distortion in the samples decreases with the annealing
temperature. Although the local structure of the as-deposited sample shows very
little temperature dependence, the change in resistivity with temperature is
the largest of these three thin film samples. The as-deposited sample also has
the highest magnetoresistance (MR), which indicates some other mechanism may
also contribute to the transport properties of CMR samples. We also discuss the
relationship between local distortion and the magnetization of the sample.Comment: 11 pages of Preprint format, 8 figures in one tar fil
Universally Coupled Massive Gravity, II: Densitized Tetrad and Cotetrad Theories
Einstein's equations in a tetrad formulation are derived from a linear theory
in flat spacetime with an asymmetric potential using free field gauge
invariance, local Lorentz invariance and universal coupling. The gravitational
potential can be either covariant or contravariant and of almost any density
weight. These results are adapted to produce universally coupled massive
variants of Einstein's equations, yielding two one-parameter families of
distinct theories with spin 2 and spin 0. The theories derived, upon fixing the
local Lorentz gauge freedom, are seen to be a subset of those found by
Ogievetsky and Polubarinov some time ago using a spin limitation principle. In
view of the stability question for massive gravities, the proven non-necessity
of positive energy for stability in applied mathematics in some contexts is
recalled. Massive tetrad gravities permit the mass of the spin 0 to be heavier
than that of the spin 2, as well as lighter than or equal to it, and so provide
phenomenological flexibility that might be of astrophysical or cosmological
use.Comment: 2 figures. Forthcoming in General Relativity and Gravitatio
Differentiating normal and problem gambling: a grounded theory approach.
A previous study (Ricketts & Macaskill, 2003) delineated a theory of problem gambling based on the experiences of treatment seeking male gamblers and allowed predictions to be made regarding the processes that differentiate between normal and problem gamblers. These predictions are the focus of the present study, which also utilised a grounded theory approach, but with a sample of male high frequency normal gamblers. The findings suggest that there are common aspects of gambling associated with arousal and a sense of achievement. The use of gambling to manage negative emotional states differentiated normal and problem gambling. Perceived self-efficacy , emotion management skills and perceived likelihood of winning money back were intervening variables differentiating problem and normal gamblers.</p
Superconductivity and crystalline electric field effects in the filled skutterudite series Pr(OsRu)Sb
X-ray powder diffraction, magnetic susceptibility , and electrical
resistivity measurements were made on single crystals of the filled
skutterudite series Pr(OsRu)Sb. One end of the series
() is a heavy fermion superconductor with a superconducting critical
temperature K, while the other end () is a conventional
superconductor with K. The lattice constant decreases
approximately linearly with increasing Ru concentration . As Ru (Os) is
substituted for Os (Ru), decreases nearly linearly with substituent
concentration and exhibits a minimum with a value of K at , suggesting that the two types of superconductivity compete with one
another. Crystalline electric field (CEF) effects in and
due to the splitting of the Pr nine-fold degenerate Hund's
rule multiplet are observed throughout the series, with the splitting
between the ground state and the first excited state increasing monotonically
as increases. The fits to the and data are
consistent with a doublet ground state for all values of x,
although reasonable fits can be obtained for a ground state for
values near the end member compounds ( or ).Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Relic Neutralino Densities and Detection Rates with Nonuniversal Gaugino Masses
We extend previous analyses on the interplay between nonuniversalities in the
gaugino mass sector and the thermal relic densities of LSP neutralinos, in
particular to the case of moderate to large tan beta. We introduce a set of
parameters that generalizes the standard unified scenario to cover the complete
allowed parameter space in the gaugino mass sector. We discuss the physical
significance of the cosmologically preferred degree of degeneracy between
charginos and the LSP and study the effect this degree of degeneracy has on the
prospects for direct detection of relic neutralinos in the next round of dark
matter detection experiments. Lastly, we compare the fine tuning required to
achieve a satisfactory relic density with the case of universal gaugino masses,
as in minimal supergravity, and find it to be of a similar magnitude. The
sensitivity of quantifiable measures of fine-tuning on such factors as the
gluino mass and top and bottom masses is also examined.Comment: Uses RevTeX; 14 pages, 16 figure
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