Achievement of combined goals of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with three different statins: results from VOYAGER

Background: Guidelines suggest that the combination of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) is the most clinically relevant goal for lipid-lowering treatments. Methods: Data from VOYAGER, an individual patient data meta-analysis including 32,258 patients from 37 clinical trials, was used to determine the percentage of patients reaching combined goals of LDL-C and non-HDL-C following treatment with simvastatin, atorvastatin, or rosuvastatin. Paired comparisons were made between each dose of rosuvastatin and the same or higher doses of simvastatin and atorvastatin. Results: Each dose of rosuvastatin brought significantly more patients to the combined goal of LDL-C < 100 mg/dL and non-HDL-C < 130 mg/dL than the same or double dose of atorvastatin; atorvastatin 80 mg was significantly superior to rosuvastatin 10 mg (all p < 0.001). Each dose of rosuvastatin helped significantly more patients reach the combined goal than any dose of simvastatin (all p < 0.001), except for rosuvastatin 10 mg versus simvastatin 80 mg (non-significant). Also, each dose of rosuvastatin helped significantly more patients to reach the combined goal of LDL-C < 70 mg/dL and non-HDL-C < 100 mg/dL than the same or double dose of atorvastatin (all p < 0.001). Every dose of rosuvastatin was significantly superior to all doses of simvastatin (all p ≤ 0.020), except for rosuvastatin 10 mg versus simvastatin 40 mg and 80 mg (non-significant). Conclusions: Physicians' choice of statin and dose is important in helping patients achieve the combined LDL-C and non-HDL-C goals recommended in established guidelines.Björn W. Karlson, Peter P. Toth, Michael K. Palmer, Philip J. Barter, Stephen J. Nicholl

Genetic Risk Score Predicting Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis Phenotypes and Age of Symptom Onset

Cumulative genetic profiles can help identify individuals at high-risk for developing RA. We examined the impact of 39 validated genetic risk alleles on the risk of RA phenotypes characterized by serologic and erosive status.We evaluated single nucleotide polymorphisms at 31 validated RA risk loci and 8 Human Leukocyte Antigen alleles among 542 Caucasian RA cases and 551 Caucasian controls from Nurses' Health Study and Nurses' Health Study II. We created a weighted genetic risk score (GRS) and evaluated it as 7 ordinal groups using logistic regression (adjusting for age and smoking) to assess the relationship between GRS group and odds of developing seronegative (RF- and CCP-), seropositive (RF+ or CCP+), erosive, and seropositive, erosive RA phenotypes. In separate case only analyses, we assessed the relationships between GRS and age of symptom onset. In 542 RA cases, 317 (58%) were seropositive, 163 (30%) had erosions and 105 (19%) were seropositive with erosions. Comparing the highest GRS risk group to the median group, we found an OR of 1.2 (95% CI = 0.8-2.1) for seronegative RA, 3.0 (95% CI = 1.9-4.7) for seropositive RA, 3.2 (95% CI = 1.8-5.6) for erosive RA, and 7.6 (95% CI = 3.6-16.3) for seropositive, erosive RA. No significant relationship was seen between GRS and age of onset.Results suggest that seronegative and seropositive/erosive RA have different genetic architecture and support the importance of considering RA phenotypes in RA genetic studies

Influence of Spin Wave Excitations on the Ferromagnetic Phase Diagram in the Hubbard-Model

The subject of the present paper is the theoretical description of collective electronic excitations, i.e. spin waves, in the Hubbard-model. Starting with the widely used Random-Phase-Approximation, which combines Hartree-Fock theory with the summation of the two-particle ladder, we extend the theory to a more sophisticated single particle approximation, namely the Spectral-Density-Ansatz. Doing so we have to introduce a `screened` Coulomb-interaction rather than the bare Hubbard-interaction in order to obtain physically reasonable spinwave dispersions. The discussion following the technical procedure shows that comparison of standard RPA with our new approximation reduces the occurrence of a ferromagnetic phase further with respect to the phase-diagrams delivered by the single particle theories.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, RevTex4, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

On the polarization properties of the charmed baryon Lambda^+_c in the Lambda^+_c -> p + K^- + pi^+ + pi^0 decay

The polarization properties of the charmed Lambda^+_c baryon are investigated in weak non-leptonic four-body Lambda^+_c -> p + K^- + pi^+ + pi^0 decay. The probability of this decay and the angular distribution of the probability are calculated in the effective quark model with chiral U(3)XU(3) symmetry incorporating Heavy Quark Effective theory (HQET) and the extended Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with a linear realization of chiral U(3)XU(3) symmetry. The theoretical value of the probability of the decay Lambda^+_c -> p + K^- + pi^+ + pi^0 relative to the probability of the decay Lambda^+_c -> p + K^- + pi^+ does not contain free parameters and fits well experimental data. The application of the obtained results to the analysis of the polarization of the Lambda^+_c produced in the processes of photo and hadroproduction is discussed.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, Late

Do contaminants originating from state-of-the-art treated wastewater impact the ecological quality of surface waters?

Since the 1980s, advances in wastewater treatment technology have led to considerably improved surface water quality in the urban areas of many high income countries. However, trace concentrations of organic wastewater-associated contaminants may still pose a key environmental hazard impairing the ecological quality of surface waters. To identify key impact factors, we analyzed the effects of a wide range of anthropogenic and environmental variables on the aquatic macroinvertebrate community. We assessed ecological water quality at 26 sampling sites in four urban German lowland river systems with a 0–100% load of state-of-the-art biological activated sludge treated wastewater. The chemical analysis suite comprised 12 organic contaminants (five phosphor organic flame retardants, two musk fragrances, bisphenol A, nonylphenol, octylphenol, diethyltoluamide, terbutryn), 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and 12 heavy metals. Non-metric multidimensional scaling identified organic contaminants that are mainly wastewater-associated (i.e., phosphor organic flame retardants, musk fragrances, and diethyltoluamide) as a major impact variable on macroinvertebrate species composition. The structural degradation of streams was also identified as a significant factor. Multiple linear regression models revealed a significant impact of organic contaminants on invertebrate populations, in particular on Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera species. Spearman rank correlation analyses confirmed wastewater-associated organic contaminants as the most significant variable negatively impacting the biodiversity of sensitive macroinvertebrate species. In addition to increased aquatic pollution with organic contaminants, a greater wastewater fraction was accompanied by a slight decrease in oxygen concentration and an increase in salinity. This study highlights the importance of reducing the wastewater-associated impact on surface waters. For aquatic ecosystems in urban areas this would lead to: (i) improvement of the ecological integrity, (ii) reduction of biodiversity loss, and (iii) faster achievement of objectives of legislative requirements, e.g., the European Water Framework Directive

Hyperon weak radiative decays in chiral perturbation theory

We investigate the leading-order amplitudes for weak radiative decays of hyperons in chiral perturbation theory. We consistently include contributions from the next-to-leading order weak-interaction Lagrangian. It is shown that due to these terms Hara's theorem is violated. The data for the decays of charged hyperons can be easily accounted for. However, at this order in the chiral expansion, the four amplitudes for the decays of neutral hyperons satisfy relations which are in disagreement with the data. The asymmetry parameters for all the decays can not be accounted for without higher-order terms. We shortly comment on the effect of the 27-plet part of the weak interaction.Comment: 8 pages of REVTeX and using macro-package "feynman.tex" (available at http://xxx.lanl.gov/ftp/hep-ph/papers/macros) for the 2 figure

Darwin -— an experimental astronomy mission to search for extrasolar planets

As a response to ESA call for mission concepts for its Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 plan, we propose a mission called Darwin. Its primary goal is the study of terrestrial extrasolar planets and the search for life on them. In this paper, we describe different characteristics of the instrument