Temperature measurement of fragment emitting systems in Au+Au 35 MeV/nucleon collisions

We report on the results of experiments performed to investigate the Au1Au 35 MeV/nucleon reaction. The reaction products generated in the disassembly of the unique source formed in central collisions and those coming from the decay of the quasiprojectile in peripheral and midperipheral ones ~five different impact parameters! were identified through a careful data selection based on the study of energy and angular distributions. The excitation energies of the fragment sources have been extracted through a calorimetric method and by means of a comparison with model calculations. The nuclear temperatures of these decaying systems have been measured from the relative isotopic abundances and, also for central collisions, from the relative populations of excited states. The temperatures of the quasiprojectile disassembling systems are slowly increasing going towards smaller impact parameter. The relationship between temperature and excitation energy seems to be almost independent of the characteristics of the emitting source. The extracted caloric curve shows a slow monotonic increase with increasing excitation energy. A comparison with data derived from Au fragmentation at much higher incident energies is discussed. @S0556-2813~98!04408-2

Essays on Barbara Vetter’s Potentiality: Introduction

This focus of Philosophical Inquiries is devoted to Barbara Vetter\u2019s Potentiality: From Dispositions to Modality (Oxford University Press, 2015). In her book, Vetter offers an account of (certain) modalities in terms of the dispositions of certain entities; examples of these dispositions are a glass\u2019 fragility, or a rubber band\u2019s elasticity. More specifically, Vetter\u2019s account aims to explain metaphysical possibility and necessity in terms of a generalized notion of dispositionality. She refers to such notion as potentialit

Children with eosinophilic esophagitis in real life: 10 years' experience with a focus on allergic management

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is frequently miss-diagnosed or overlooked for several years because of the invasiveness of investigations and the non-specificity of symptoms in childhood. Due to the lack of specific recommendations in children, its management remains very heterogeneous, especially concerning allergy testing. The aim of this study is to analyze our population and practices, in comparison with the literature, with a focus on allergic management, to harmonize and optimize our practice. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We included all children with a diagnosis of EoE at the Hospital Femme Mere Enfant, Bron, France. Data were collected via retrospective chart review. RESULTS: 108 patients were included with an average age of 9.5 years. Average delay before diagnosis was 6.65 years. Symptoms varied with age, with a predominance of vomiting (60% of patients), feeding difficulties (72%) and growth difficulties (24%) in children \textless5 years, whereas older children often presented with feeding blockage (64%) and dysphagia (61%). Cough was frequent in our cohort (18.5%), especially in children \textless10 years (38.5% between three and five years). The allergic background was frequent (70.3%) and 80% of our patients benefited from allergy testing. Allergy testing was particularly useful to guide therapy as elimination diet represented an effective treatment in 60% of our patients CONCLUSIONS: Allergy testing has to be harmonized to include major allergens (egg, milk, peanut, fish, wheat, and soy), including prick and patch tests. Allergy-testing based diet seemed to be the best compromise between efficiency and constraints, especially in mono-sensitized patients

Assessment of left and right atrial function by three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography following percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale

Background. The purpose of the present study was to analyze segmental atrial function by three-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (3DSTE) in patients with patent foramen ovale six months after the implantation of occluder devices.. Methods. Patients with atrial septal devices (n = 65) were followed up for six months after device implantation and compared with a normal age-matched group (n = 35). A subgroup of 12 patients who developed paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) after device insertion were also studied. Atrial peak ventricular systolic longitudinal strain (LS), circumferential strain (CS), and area strain (AS) and peak pre–atrial contraction longitudinal strain, circumferential strain, and area strain were determined using 3D STE, and SDs of times to peaks of regional atrial strain were calculated as indices of dyssynchrony. 3DSTE was able to measure atrial strain in 62 of the 65 implanted patients and in all patients with PAF. Results. The mean time for analysis with 3D STE was 20% shorter than with two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (p<0.05). Values of interobserver and intraobserver variability of atrial strain by 3DSTE were <11% and <13%, respectively. LS, CS, and AS were reduced in patients with atrial devices compared with controls, and further reductions of these parameters were observed in patients with PAF. By multivariate analysis, LS (p=0.002), AS (p<0.001), and CS (p<0.05) were independent predictors of PAF. Patients with PAF showed smaller peak pre–atrial contraction longitudinal strain and peak pre–atrial contraction area strain compared with controls. Conclusions. Patients with atrial septal devices have significant global and segmental atrial dysfunction as assessed by 3DSTE. The localized regional dysfunction is likely due to the direct mechanical effect associated with occluder implantation. This may have implications for the evaluation of long term atrial function and selection of devices of appropriate sizes

Individual differences in the acquisition of non‐linguistic audio‐visual associations in 5 year olds

Audio‐visual associative learning – at least when linguistic stimuli are employed – is known to rely on core linguistic skills such as phonological awareness. Here we ask whether this would also be the case in a task that does not manipulate linguistic information. Another question of interest is whether executive skills, often found to support learning, may play a larger role in a non‐linguistic audio‐visual associative task compared to a linguistic one. We present a new task that measures learning when having to associate non‐linguistic auditory signals with novel visual shapes. Importantly, our novel task shares with linguistic processes such as reading acquisition the need to associate sounds with arbitrary shapes. Yet, rather than phonemes or syllables, it uses novel environmental sounds – therefore limiting direct reliance on linguistic abilities. Five‐year‐old French‐speaking children (N = 76, 39 girls) were assessed individually in our novel audio‐visual associative task, as well as in a number of other cognitive tasks evaluating linguistic abilities and executive functions. We found phonological awareness and language comprehension to be related to scores in the audio‐visual associative task, while no correlation with executive functions was observed. These results underscore a key relation between foundational language competencies and audio‐visual associative learning, even in the absence of linguistic input in the associative task