The eccentricity in heavy-ion collisions from Color Glass Condensate initial conditions

The eccentricity in coordinate-space at midrapidity of the overlap zone in high-energy heavy-ion collisions predicted by the $k_\perp$-factorization formalism is generically larger than expected from scaling with the number of participants. We provide a simple qualitative explanation of the effect which shows that it is not caused predominantly by edge effects. We also show that it is quite insensitive to ``details'' of the unintegrated gluon distribution functions such as the presence of leading-twist shadowing and of an extended geometric scaling window. The larger eccentricity increases the azimuthal asymmetry of high transverse momentum particles. Finally, we point out that the longitudinal structure of the Color Glass Condensate initial condition for hydrodynamics away from midrapidity is non-trivial but requires understanding of large-$x$ effects.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures; v3: added note regarding Qs2~n_part versus Qs2~T_A, final version to appear in PR

Collisional dissociation of heavy mesons in dense QCD matter

In the framework of the reaction operator approach we calculate and resum the multiple elastic scattering of a fast $q \bar{q}$ system traversing dense nuclear matter. We derive the collisional broadening of the meson's transverse momentum and the distortion of its intrinsic light cone wave function. The medium-induced dissociation probability of heavy mesons is shown to be sensitive to the opacity of the quark-gluon plasma and the time dependence of its formation and evolution. We solve the system of coupled rate equations that describe the competition between the fragmentation of $c$- and $b$-quarks and the QGP-induced dissociation of the $D$- and $B$-mesons to evaluate the quenching of heavy hadrons in nucleus-nucleus collisions. In contrast to previous results on heavy quark modification, this approach predicts suppression of $B$-mesons comparable to that of $D$-mesons at transverse momenta as low as $p_T \sim 10$ GeV. It allows for an improved description of the large attenuation of non-photonic electrons in central Au+Au reactions at RHIC.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Figures and references updated, typos corrected. As published in Phys.Lett.

Frequency of Different Types of Urinary Incontinence and Their impact on Quality of Life of Pakistani Women

The International Continence Society (ICS) defines Incontinence of urine as involuntary loss of urine. Objective: To determine the frequencies of different types of incontinence of urine and their impact on quality of life of Pakistani women. Method: Descriptive observational study was conducted at outpatient department of five centers. Three validated questionnaires were used for quality-of-life assessment, International Consultation Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form (ICIQ-SF), Medical Outcome Study 36 items Short Form (SF-36) and King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ). Result: The study included 436 women. The most frequent type of incontinence of urine was mixed (n=281, 64.45%) followed by stress incontinence (n=129, 29.59%) and urge incontinence (n=26, 5.96%). The women suffering from mixed type of incontinence of urine had maximum effect on quality of life both general and specific. Conclusions: All types of incontinence of urine had an effect on quality of life but the mixed type had more impact.</jats:p

Changing Characteristics and Mode of Death Associated With Chronic Heart Failure Caused by Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction

Background— Therapies for patients with chronic heart failure caused by left ventricular systolic dysfunction have advanced substantially over recent decades. The cumulative effect of these therapies on mortality, mode of death, symptoms, and clinical characteristics has yet to be defined. Methods and Results— This study was a comparison of 2 prospective cohort studies of outpatients with chronic heart failure caused by left ventricular systolic dysfunction performed between 1993 and 1995 (historic cohort: n=281) and 2006 and 2009 (contemporary cohort: n=357). In the historic cohort, 83% were prescribed angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and 8.5% were prescribed β-adrenoceptor antagonists, compared with 89% and 80%, respectively, in the contemporary cohort. Mortality rates over the first year of follow-up declined from 12.5% to 7.8% between eras ( P =0.04), and sudden death contributed less to contemporary mortality (33.6% versus 12.7%; P &lt;0.001). New York Heart Association class declined between eras ( P &lt;0.001). QTc dispersion across the chest leads declined from 85 ms (SD, 2) to 34 ms (SD, 1) and left ventricular end-diastolic dimensions declined from 65 mm (SD, 0.6) to 59 mm (SD, 0.5) (both P &lt;0.001). Conclusions— Survival has significantly improved in patients with chronic heart failure caused by left ventricular systolic dysfunction over the past 15 years; furthermore, sudden death makes a much smaller contribution to mortality, and noncardiac mortality is a correspondingly greater contribution. This has been accompanied by an improvement in symptoms and some markers of adverse electric and structural left ventricular remodeling. </jats:sec