Runner\u27s Stitch and the Thoracic Spine

The cause of the abdominal pain commonly referred to as stitch , but more accurately known as exercise related transient abdominal pain (ETAP), had until recently attracted more speculation than research. Explanations for the pain have included diaphragmatic ischaemia, (1) stress on peritoneal ligaments, (2) and irritation of the parietal peritoneum. (3) Although the exact cause of the pain remains to be elucidated, a neurogenic explanation has not appeared in the literature. We present the case of an elite runner who, after a thoracic spine trauma, developed severe and recurrent episodes of ETAP which were relieved by localised treatment. As a follow up study, we made observations on 17 other runners who often experience episodes of ETAP and found that palpation of specific facet joints could reproduce symptoms of ETAP shortly after an episode of the pain had been relieved

BMI and all cause mortality: systematic review and non-linear dose-response meta-analysis of 230 cohort studies with 3.74 million deaths among 30.3 million participants

 To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies of body mass index (BMI) and the risk of all cause mortality, and to clarify the shape and the nadir of the dose-response curve, and the influence on the results of confounding from smoking, weight loss associated with disease, and preclinical disease. PubMed and Embase databases searched up to 23 September 2015. Cohort studies that reported adjusted risk estimates for at least three categories of BMI in relation to all cause mortality. Summary relative risks were calculated with random effects models. Non-linear associations were explored with fractional polynomial models. 230 cohort studies (207 publications) were included. The analysis of never smokers included 53 cohort studies (44 risk estimates) with >738 144 deaths and >9 976 077 participants. The analysis of all participants included 228 cohort studies (198 risk estimates) with >3 744 722 deaths among 30 233 329 participants. The summary relative risk for a 5 unit increment in BMI was 1.18 (95% confidence interval 1.15 to 1.21; I(2)=95%, n=44) among never smokers, 1.21 (1.18 to 1.25; I(2)=93%, n=25) among healthy never smokers, 1.27 (1.21 to 1.33; I(2)=89%, n=11) among healthy never smokers with exclusion of early follow-up, and 1.05 (1.04 to 1.07; I(2)=97%, n=198) among all participants. There was a J shaped dose-response relation in never smokers (Pnon-linearity <0.001), and the lowest risk was observed at BMI 23-24 in never smokers, 22-23 in healthy never smokers, and 20-22 in studies of never smokers with ≥20 years follow-up. In contrast there was a U shaped association between BMI and mortality in analyses with a greater potential for bias including all participants, current, former, or ever smokers, and in studies with a short duration of follow-up (<5 years or <10 years), or with moderate study quality scores. Overweight and obesity is associated with increased risk of all cause mortality and the nadir of the curve was observed at BMI 23-24 among never smokers, 22-23 among healthy never smokers, and 20-22 with longer durations of follow-up. The increased risk of mortality observed in underweight people could at least partly be caused by residual confounding from prediagnostic disease. Lack of exclusion of ever smokers, people with prevalent and preclinical disease, and early follow-up could bias the results towards a more U shaped association

Research Program towards Observation of Neutrino-Nucleus Coherent Scattering

The article describes the research program pursued by the TEXONO Collaboration towards an experiment to observe coherent scattering between neutrinos and the nucleus at the power reactor. The motivations of studying this process are surveyed. In particular, a threshold of 100-200 eV has been achieved with an ultra-low-energy germanium detector prototype. This detection capability at low energy can also be adapted to conduct searches of Cold Dark Matter in the low-mass region as well as to enhance the sensitivities in the study of neutrino magnetic moments.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures ; Proceedings of TAUP-2005 Workshop, Spain, 2005. Updated on 2006/9/15 for Proceedings of Neutrino-2006 Conference, Santa Fe, 200

Performance of the Micromegas detector in the CAST experiment

The gaseous Micromegas detector designed for the CERN Axion search experiment CAST, operated smoothly during Phase-I, which included the 2003 and 2004 running periods. It exhibited linear response in the energy range of interest (1-10keV), good spatial sensitivity and energy resolution (15-19% FWHM at 5.9keV)as well as remarkable stability. The detector's upgrade for the 2004 run, supported by the development of advanced offline analysis tools, improved the background rejection capability, leading to an average rate 5x10^-5 counts/sec/cm^2/keV with 94% cut efficiency. Also, the origin of the detected background was studied with a Monte Carlo simulation, using the GEANT4 package.Comment: Prepared for PSD7: The Seventh International Conference on Position Sensitive Detectors, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 12-16 Sep. 200

Body mass index, abdominal fatness, fat mass and the risk of atrial fibrillation: a systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis of prospective studies

Different adiposity measures have been associ- ated with increased risk of atrial fibrillation, however, results have previously only been summarized for BMI. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta- analysis of prospective studies to clarify the association between different adiposity measures and risk of atrial fibrillation. PubMed and Embase databases were searched up to October 24th 2016. Summary relative risks (RRs) were calculated using random effects models. Twenty-nine unique prospective studies (32 publications) were included. Twenty-five studies (83,006 cases, 2,405,381 participants) were included in the analysis of BMI and atrial fibrillation. The summary RR was 1.28 (95% confidence interval: 1.20–1.38, I 2 = 97%) per 5 unit increment in BMI, 1.18 (95% CI: 1.12–1.25, I 2 = 73%, n = 5) and 1.32 (95% CI: 1.16–1.51, I 2 = 91%, n = 3) per 10 cm increase in waist and hip circumference, respectively, 1.09 (95% CI: 1.02–1.16, I 2 = 44%, n = 4) per 0.1 unit increase in waist- to-hip ratio, 1.09 (95% CI: 1.02–1.16, I 2 = 94%, n = 4) per 5 kg increase in fat mass, 1.10 (95% CI: 0.92–1.33, I 2 = 90%, n = 3) per 10% increase in fat percentage, 1.10 (95% CI: 1.08–1.13, I 2 = 74%, n = 10) per 5 kg increase in weight, and 1.08 (95% CI: 0.97–1.19, I 2 = 86%, n = 2) per 5% increase in weight gain. The association between BMI and atrial fibrillation was non- linear, p nonlinearity \ 0.0001, with a stronger association at higher BMI levels, however, increased risk was observed even at a BMI of 22–24 compared to 20. In conclusion, general and abdominal adiposity and higher body fat mass increase the risk of atrial fibrillation

Dietary fibre intake and the risk of diverticular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies

BACKGROUND: A high intake of dietary fibre has been associated with a reduced risk of diverticular disease in several studies; however, the dose-response relationship between fibre intake and diverticular disease risk has varied, and the available studies have not been summarised in a meta-analysis. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies to clarify the association between dietary fibre intake, fibre subtypes, and the risk of diverticular disease. METHODS: PubMed and Embase databases were searched up to August 9th 2018. Summary relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model and nonlinear associations were modelled using fractional polynomial models. RESULTS: Five prospective cohort studies with 19,282 cases and 865,829 participants were included in the analysis of dietary fibre and diverticular disease risk. The summary RR was 0.74 (95% CI 0.71-0.78, I2 = 0%) per 10 g/day. There was no evidence of a nonlinear association between dietary fibre intake and diverticular disease risk, pnonlinearity = 0.35, and there was a 23%, 41% and 58% reduction in risk for an intake of 20, 30, and 40 g/day, respectively, compared to 7.5 g/day. There was no evidence of publication bias with Egger's test, p = 0.58 and the association persisted in subgroup and sensitivity analyses. The summary RR per 10 g/day was 0.74 (95% CI 0.67-0.81, I2 = 60%, n = 4) for cereal fibre, 0.56 (95% CI 0.37-0.84, I2 = 73%, n = 2) for fruit fibre, and 0.80 (95% CI 0.45-1.44, I2 = 87%, n = 2) for vegetable fibre. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that a high fibre intake may reduce the risk of diverticular disease and individuals consuming 30 g of fibre per day have a 41% reduction in risk compared to persons with a low fibre intake. Further studies are needed on fibre types and risk of diverticular disease and diverticulitis

Consumption of nuts and seeds and health outcomes including cardiovascular, diabetes and metabolic disease, cancer, and mortality: an umbrella review

Consumption of nuts and seeds is associated with a range of health outcomes. Summarizing the best evidence on essential health outcomes from the consumption of nuts is essential to provide optimal recommendations. Our objective is to comprehensively assess health outcomes associations related to the consumption of nuts and seeds, using a culinary definition including tree nuts and peanuts (registered in PROSPERO: CRD42021258300). Health outcomes of interest include cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, respiratory disease, mortality, and their biomarker for disease. We present associations for high versus low consumption, per serving, and dose-response relationships. Medline, Embase, Cochrane, and Epistemonikos were searched and screened for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Evidence was extracted from 89 articles on the consumption of nuts and relevant health outcomes, including 23 articles with meta-analysis on disease and mortality, 66 articles on biomarkers for disease, and 9 articles on allergy/adverse outcomes. Intake of nuts was associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases and related risk factors, with moderate quality of evidence. An intake of 28 grams of nuts per day compared to not eating nuts was associated with a 21% relative risk reduction of cardiovascular disease (including coronary heart disease incidence and mortality, atrial fibrillation, and stroke mortality), 11% risk reduction of cancer deaths, and 22% reduction in all-cause mortality. Nut consumption was also inversely associated with mortality from respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, and diabetes: however, associations between nut consumption and diabetes incidence were mixed. Meta-analyses of trials on biomarkers for disease generally mirrored meta-analyses from observational studies on cardiovascular disease, cancers, and diabetes. Allergy and related adverse reactions to nuts were observed among 1–2% of adult populations, with substantial heterogeneity between studies. Overall, the current evidence supports dietary recommendations to consume a handful of nuts and seeds per day for people without allergies to these foods

Physical activity and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of epidemiological studies

Physical activity has been inconsistently associated with risk of gestational diabetes mellitus in epidemiological studies, and questions remain about the strength and shape of the dose-response relationship between the two. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies and randomized trials on physical activity and gestational diabetes mellitus. PubMed, Embase and Ovid databases were searched for cohort studies, and randomized controlled trials of physical activity and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus, up to August 5th 2015. Summary relative risks (RRs) were estimated using a random effects model. Twenty-five studies (26 publications) were included. For total physical activity the summary RR for high versus low activity was 0.62 (95 % CI 0.41-0.94, I(2) = 0 %, n = 4) before pregnancy, and 0.66 (95 % CI 0.36-1.21, I(2) = 0 %, n = 3) during pregnancy. For leisure-time physical activity the respective summary RRs for high versus low activity was 0.78 (95 % CI 0.61-1.00, I(2) = 47 %, n = 8) before pregnancy, and it was 0.80 (95 % CI 0.64-1.00, I(2) = 17 %, n = 17) during pregnancy. The summary RR for pre-pregnancy activity was 0.70 (95 % CI 0.49-1.01, I(2) = 72.6 %, n = 3) per increment of 5 h/week and for activity during pregnancy was 0.98 (95 % CI 0.87-1.09, I(2) = 0 %, n = 3) per 5 h/week. There was evidence of a nonlinear association between physical activity before pregnancy and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus, pnonlinearity = 0.005, with a slightly steeper association at lower levels of activity although further reductions in risk were observed up to 10 h/week. There was also evidence of nonlinearity for physical activity in early pregnancy, pnonlinearity = 0.008, with no further reduction in risk above 8 h/week. There was some indication of inverse associations between walking (before and during pregnancy) and vigorous activity (before pregnancy) and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus. This meta-analysis suggests that there is a significant inverse association between physical activity before pregnancy and in early pregnancy and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus. Further studies are needed to clarify the association between specific types and intensities of activity and gestational diabetes mellitus

Is attending a mental process?

The nature of attention has been the topic of a lively research programme in psychology for over a century. But there is widespread agreement that none of the theories on offer manage to fully capture the nature of attention. Recently, philosophers have become interested in the debate again after a prolonged period of neglect. This paper contributes to the project of explaining the nature of attention. It starts off by critically examining Christopher Mole’s prominent “adverbial” account of attention, which traces the failure of extant psychological theories to their assumption that attending is a kind of process. It then defends an alternative, process-based view of the metaphysics of attention, on which attention is understood as an activity and not, as psychologists seem to implicitly assume, an accomplishment. The entrenched distinction between accomplishments and activities is shown to shed new light on the metaphysics of attention. It also provides a novel diagnosis of the empirical state of play