Diagnostic ultrasound estimates of muscle mass and muscle quality discriminate between women with and without sarcopenia

Introduction: Age-related changes in muscle mass and muscle tissue composition contribute to diminished strength in older adults. The objectives of this study are to examine if an assessment method using mobile diagnostic ultrasound augments well-known determinants of lean body mass (LBM) to aid sarcopenia staging, and if a sonographic measure of muscle quality is associated with muscle performance.Methods: Twenty community-dwelling female subjects participated in the study (age = 43.4 ±20.9 years; BMI: 23.8, interquartile range: 8.5). Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and diagnostic ultrasound morphometry were used to estimate LBM. Muscle tissue quality was estimated via the echogenicity using grayscale histogram analysis. Peak force was measured with grip dynamometry and scaled for body size. Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were used to determine the association of the predictor variables with appendicular lean mass (aLM/ht2), and examine the relationship between scaled peak force values and muscle echogenicity. The sarcopenia LBM cut point value of 6.75 kg/m2 determined participant assignment into the Normal LBM and Low LBM subgroups.Results: The selected LBM predictor variables were body mass index (BMI), ultrasound morphometry, and age. Although BMI exhibited a significant positive relationship with aLM/ht2 (adj. R2 = .61, p \u3c .001), the strength of association improved with the addition of ultrasound morphometry and age as predictor variables (adj. R2 = .85, p \u3c .001). Scaled peak force was associated with age and echogenicity (adj. R2 = .53, p \u3c .001), but not LBM. The Low LBM subgroup of women (n = 10) had higher scaled peak force, lower BMI, and lower echogenicity values in comparison to the Normal LBM subgroup (n = 10; p \u3c .05).Conclusions: Diagnostic ultrasound morphometry values are associated with LBM, and improve the BMI predictive model for aLM/ht2 in women. In addition, ultrasound proxy measures of muscle quality are more strongly associated with strength than muscle mass within the study sample

Diagnostic ultrasound estimates of muscle mass and muscle quality discriminate between women with and without sarcopenia

Introduction: Age-related changes in muscle mass and muscle tissue composition contribute to diminished strength in older adults. The objectives of this study are to examine if an assessment method using mobile diagnostic ultrasound augments well-known determinants of lean body mass (LBM) to aid sarcopenia staging, and if a sonographic measure of muscle quality is associated with muscle performance.Methods: Twenty community-dwelling female subjects participated in the study (age = 43.4 ±20.9 years; BMI: 23.8, interquartile range: 8.5). Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and diagnostic ultrasound morphometry were used to estimate LBM. Muscle tissue quality was estimated via the echogenicity using grayscale histogram analysis. Peak force was measured with grip dynamometry and scaled for body size. Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were used to determine the association of the predictor variables with appendicular lean mass (aLM/ht2), and examine the relationship between scaled peak force values and muscle echogenicity. The sarcopenia LBM cut point value of 6.75 kg/m2 determined participant assignment into the Normal LBM and Low LBM subgroups.Results: The selected LBM predictor variables were body mass index (BMI), ultrasound morphometry, and age. Although BMI exhibited a significant positive relationship with aLM/ht2 (adj. R2 = .61, p \u3c .001), the strength of association improved with the addition of ultrasound morphometry and age as predictor variables (adj. R2 = .85, p \u3c .001). Scaled peak force was associated with age and echogenicity (adj. R2 = .53, p \u3c .001), but not LBM. The Low LBM subgroup of women (n = 10) had higher scaled peak force, lower BMI, and lower echogenicity values in comparison to the Normal LBM subgroup (n = 10; p \u3c .05).Conclusions: Diagnostic ultrasound morphometry values are associated with LBM, and improve the BMI predictive model for aLM/ht2 in women. In addition, ultrasound proxy measures of muscle quality are more strongly associated with strength than muscle mass within the study sample

PILAR: a Federation of VISIR Remote Laboratory Systems for Educational Open Activities

Social demands have promoted an educational approach based on an “anywhere and anytime” premise. Remote laboratories have emerged as the answer to the demands of technical educational areas for adapting themselves to this scenario. The result has not only benefit distance learning students but has provided new learning scenarios both for teachers and students as well as allowing a flexible approach to experimental topics. However, as any other solution for providing practical scenarios (hands-on labs, virtual labs or simulators), remote labs face several constraints inherited from the subsystems of its deployment hardware (real instruments, equipment and scenario) and software (analog/digital conversions, communications, workbenches, etc.). This paper describes the Erasmus+ project Platform Integration of Laboratories based on the Architecture of visiR (PILAR) which deals with several units of the federation installed in different educational institutions and devoted to analog electronics and electrical circuits. Based on the limitations of remote labs, the need for the federation will be justified and its benefits will be described by taking advantage of its strengths. The challenges that have come up during the different stages and the different approaches to design are also going to be described and analyzedinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

PILAR: Sharing VISIR Remote Labs Through a Federation

Social demands have promoted an educational approach based on an “anywhere and anytime” premise. Remote laboratories have emerged as the answer to the demands of technical educational areas for adapting themselves to this scenario. The result has not only benefit distance learning students but has provided new learning scenarios both for teachers and students as well as allowing a flexible approach to experimental topics. However, as any other solution for providing practical scenarios (hands-on labs, virtual labs or simulators), remote labs face several constraints inherited from the subsystems of its deployment -hardware (real instruments, equipment and scenario) and software (analog/digital conversions, communications, workbenches, etc.)-. This paper describes the Erasmus+ project Platform Integration of Laboratories based on the Architecture of visiR (PILAR) which deals with several units of the federation installed in different educational institutions and devoted to analog electronics and electrical circuits. Based on the limitations of remote labs, the need for the federation will be justified and its benefits will be described.The authors acknowledge the support of the Escuela de Doctorado de la UNED, the S2013/ICE-2715 - eMadrid project, VISIR+ project Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education 2015 nº 561735-EPP-1-2015-1-PT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP and PILAR project Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership nº 2016-1-ES01-KA203-025327 (Platform Integration of Laboratories based on the Architecture of visiR). As well as to the Education Innovation Project (PIE) of UNED, “Desarrollos Avanzados Multi-Objetivo de Laboratorios Remotos para Actividades Educativas – DAMO-LRAE”, from the Vicerrectorado de Ordenación Académica y Calidad and the Instituto Universitario de Educación a Distancia (IUED) of the UNED and to the project 2018-IEQ18 from the Escuela Superior de Ingenieros Industriales of UNED.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde

Measurement of the top quark pair cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using final states with an electron or a muon and a hadronically decaying τ lepton

A measurement of the cross section of top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb -1. Events with an isolated electron or muon and a τ lepton decaying hadronically are used. In addition, a large missing transverse momentum and two or more energetic jets are required. At least one of the jets must be identified as originating from a b quark. The measured cross section, σtt-=186±13(stat.)±20(syst.)±7(lumi.) pb, is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction

Hunt for new phenomena using large jet multiplicities and missing transverse momentum with ATLAS in 4.7 fb−1 of √s=7 TeV proton-proton collisions

Results are presented of a search for new particles decaying to large numbers of jets in association with missing transverse momentum, using 4.7 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√=7TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. The event selection requires missing transverse momentum, no isolated electrons or muons, and from ≥6 to ≥9 jets. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of a MSUGRA/CMSSM supersymmetric model, where, for large universal scalar mass m 0, gluino masses smaller than 840 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, extending previously published limits. Within a simplified model containing only a gluino octet and a neutralino, gluino masses smaller than 870 GeV are similarly excluded for neutralino masses below 100 GeV

Exploring low-energy neutrino physics with the Coherent Neutrino Nucleus Interaction Experiment

The Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Interaction Experiment (CONNIE) uses low-noise fully depleted charge-coupled devices (CCDs) with the goal of measuring low-energy recoils from coherent elastic scattering ( CE ν NS ) of reactor antineutrinos with silicon nuclei and testing nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSI). We report here the first results of the detector array deployed in 2016, considering an active mass 47.6 g (eight CCDs), which is operating at a distance of 30 m from the core of the Angra 2 nuclear reactor, with a thermal power of 3.8 GW. A search for neutrino events is performed by comparing data collected with the reactor on (2.1 kg-day) and reactor off (1.6 kg-day). The results show no excess in the reactor-on data, reaching the world record sensitivity down to recoil energies of about 1 keV (0.1 keV electron equivalent). A 95% confidence level limit for new physics is established at an event rate of 40 times the one expected from the standard model at this energy scale. The results presented here provide a new window to low-energy neutrino physics, allowing one to explore for the first time the energies accessible through the low threshold of CCDs. They will lead to new constraints on NSI from the CEνNS of antineutrinos from nuclear reactors.Fil: Aguilar Arevalo, Alexis. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Bertou, Xavier Pierre Louis. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Bonifazi, Carla Brenda. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Brasil. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Cancelo, Gustavo Indalecio. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Castañeda, Alejandro. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Cervantes Vergara, Brenda. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Chavez, Claudio. Universidad Nacional de Asunción; ParaguayFil: D’Olivo, Juan C.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Dos Anjos, João C.. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Estrada, Juan. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Fernandes Neto, Aldo R.. Centro Federal de Educacão Tecnológica Celso Suckow Da Fonseca; BrasilFil: Fernández Moroni, Guillermo. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados Unidos. Universidad Nacional del Sur; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Foguel, Ana. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Ford, Richard. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Gonzalez Cuevas, Juan. Universidad Nacional de Asunción; ParaguayFil: Hernández, Pamela. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Hernandez, Susana. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Izraelevitch, Federico Hernán. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Kavner, Alexander R.. University of Michigan; Estados UnidosFil: Kilminster, Ben. Universitat Zurich; SuizaFil: Kuk, Kevin. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Lima, H.P.. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Makler, Martín. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Molina, Jorge. Universidad Nacional de Asunción; ParaguayFil: Mota, Philipe. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Nasteva, Irina. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Paolini, Eduardo Emilio. Universidad Nacional del Sur; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Carlos. Universidad Nacional de Asunción; ParaguayFil: Sarkis, Y.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Sofo Haro, Miguel Francisco. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentina. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnol.conicet - Patagonia Norte. Unidad de Adm.territorial; ArgentinaFil: Souza, Iruatã M. S.. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Tiffenberg, Javier Sebastian. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Wagner, Stefan. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; Brasil. Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro; Brasi