Recent survey of Basque blood groups

El doctor J.M. Marshall Chalmers analizó a 167 vascos, confirmando las conclusiones de trabajos precedentes respecto a la gran extensión del Rh negativo entre los vascos.J.M. Marshall Chalmers doktoreak 167 euskaldunen odola analizaturik, Rh negatiboak euskaldunen artean duen hedadura handiari buruz aurretik eginiko lanen ondorioak egiaztatu ditu.Résultats des recherches du docteur J.M. Marshall Chalmers effectuées en Pays Basque sur un groupe de 167 Basques. Confirmant d'autres travaux antérieurs, le docteur Chalmers met en évidence la grande fréquence du Rh négatif chez les Basques.Doctor J.M. Marshall Chalmers analysed 167 Basques, confirming the conclusions of preceding works on the considerable extension of the negative Rh factor among the Basques

Quantum Mass and Central Charge of Supersymmetric Monopoles - Anomalies, current renormalization, and surface terms

We calculate the one-loop quantum corrections to the mass and central charge of N=2 and N=4 supersymmetric monopoles in 3+1 dimensions. The corrections to the N=2 central charge are finite and due to an anomaly in the conformal central charge current, but they cancel for the N=4 monopole. For the quantum corrections to the mass we start with the integral over the expectation value of the Hamiltonian density, which we show to consist of a bulk contribution which is given by the familiar sum over zero-point energies, as well as surface terms which contribute nontrivially in the monopole sector. The bulk contribution is evaluated through index theorems and found to be nonvanishing only in the N=2 case. The contributions from the surface terms in the Hamiltonian are cancelled by infinite composite operator counterterms in the N=4 case, forming a multiplet of improvement terms. These counterterms are also needed for the renormalization of the central charge. However, in the N=2 case they cancel, and both the improved and the unimproved current multiplet are finite.Comment: 1+40 pages, JHEP style. v2: small corrections and additions, references adde

One-loop N=8 supergravity coefficients from N=4 super Yang-Mills

We use supersymmetric generalised unitarity to calculate supercoefficients of box functions in the expansion of scattering amplitudes in N=8 supergravity at one loop. Recent advances have presented tree-level amplitudes in N=8 supergravity in terms of sums of terms containing squares of colour-ordered Yang-Mills superamplitudes. We develop the consequences of these results for the structure of one-loop supercoefficients, recasting them as sums of squares of N=4 Yang-Mills expressions with certain coefficients inherited from the tree-level superamplitudes. This provides new expressions for all one-loop box coefficients in N=8 supergravity, which we check against known results in a number of cases.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figure

The superstring Hagedorn temperature in a pp-wave background

The thermodynamics of type IIB superstring theory in the maximally supersymmetric plane wave background is studied. We compute the thermodynamic partition function for non-interacting strings exactly and the result differs slightly from previous computations. We clarify some of the issues related to the Hagedorn temperature in the limits of small and large constant RR 5-form. We study the thermodynamic behavior of strings in the case of $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times T^4$ geometries in the presence of NS-NS and RR 3-form backgrounds. We also comment on the relationship of string thermodynamics and the thermodynamic behavior of the sector of Yang-Mills theory which is the holographic dual of the string theory.Comment: 22 pages, JHEP style, minor misprints corrected, some comments adde

SFX-01 in hospitalised patients with community-acquired pneumonia during the COVID-19 pandemic : a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial

We acknowledge the members of the STAR-COVID data monitoring committee: Aran Singanayagam (Imperial College, London, UK), Timothy Hinks (University of Oxford, Oxford, UK), Oriol Sibila (Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain), Alex McConnachie (University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK) and Petra Rauchhaus (University of Dundee, Dundee, UK). This trial was delivered by Tayside Clinical Trials Unit, a UKCRC registered clinical trials unit. Thanks to Clare Clarke, Jennifer Taylor, Angela Strachan, Heather Loftus and Jodie Strachan (Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, UK) and Diane Cassidy (University of Dundee). We thank all study participants and their families.Peer reviewe

Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy for the comprehensive treatment of 4-10 oligometastatic tumors (SABR-COMET-10): Study protocol for a randomized phase III trial

Background: Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) has emerged as a new treatment option for patients with oligometastatic disease. SABR delivers precise, high-dose, hypofractionated radiotherapy, and achieves excellent rates of local control for primary tumors or metastases. A recent randomized phase II trial evaluated SABR in a group of patients with a small burden of oligometastatic disease (mostly with 1-3 metastatic lesions), and found that SABR was associated with benefits in progression-free survival and overall survival. The goal of this phase III trial is to assess the impact of SABR in patients with 4-10 metastatic cancer lesions. Methods: One hundred and fifty-nine patients will be randomized in a 1:2 ratio between the control arm (consisting of standard of care palliative-intent treatments), and the SABR arm (consisting of standard of care treatment + SABR to all sites of known disease). Randomization will be stratified by two factors: histology (Group 1: prostate, breast, or renal; Group 2: all others), and type of pre-specified systemic therapy (Group 1: immunotherapy/targeted; Group 2: cytotoxic; Group 3: observation). SABR is to be completed within 2 weeks, allowing for rapid initiation of systemic therapy. Recommended SABR doses are 20 Gy in 1 fraction, 30 Gy in 3 fractions, or 35 Gy in 5 fractions, chosen to minimize risks of toxicity. The primary endpoint is overall survival, and secondary endpoints include progression-free survival, time to development of new metastatic lesions, quality of life, and toxicity. Translational endpoints include assessment of circulating tumor cells, cell-free DNA, and tumor tissue as prognostic and predictive markers, including assessment of immunological predictors of response and long-term survival. Discussion: This study will provide an assessment of the impact of SABR on clinical outcomes and quality of life, to determine if long-term survival can be achieved for selected patients with 4-10 oligometastatic lesions. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT03721341. Date of registration: October 26, 2018

Regulation of 5-HT Receptors and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis

Disturbances in the serotonin (5-HT) system is the neurobiological abnormality most consistently associated with suicide. Hyperactivity of the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is also described in suicide victims. The HPA axis is the classical neuroendocrine system that responds to stress and whose final product, corticosteroids, targets components of the limbic system, particularly the hippocampus. We will review resulsts from animal studies that point to the possibility that many of the 5-HT receptor changes observed in suicide brains may be a result of, or may be worsened by, the HPA overactivity that may be present in some suicide victims. The results of these studies can be summarized as follows: (1) chronic unpredictable stress produces high corticosteroid levels in rats; (2) chronic stress also results in changes in specific 5-HT receptors (increases in cortical 5-HT2A and decreases in hipocampal 5-HT1A and 5-HT1B); (3) chronic antidepressant administration prevents many of the 5-HT receptor changes observed after stress; and (4) chronic antidepressant administration reverses the overactivity of the HPA axis. If indeed 5-HT receptors have a partial role in controlling affective states, then their modulation by corticosteroids provides a potential mechanism by which these hormones may regulate mood. These data may also provide a biological understanding of how stressful events may increase the risk for suicide in vulnerable individuals and may help us elucidate the neurobiological underpinnings of treatment resistance.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73437/1/j.1749-6632.1997.tb52357.x.pd

Search for supersymmetry with a dominant R-parity violating LQDbar couplings in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130GeV to 172 GeV

A search for pair-production of supersymmetric particles under the assumption that R-parity is violated via a dominant LQDbar coupling has been performed using the data collected by ALEPH at centre-of-mass energies of 130-172 GeV. The observed candidate events in the data are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. This result is translated into lower limits on the masses of charginos, neutralinos, sleptons, sneutrinos and squarks. For instance, for m_0=500 GeV/c^2 and tan(beta)=sqrt(2) charginos with masses smaller than 81 GeV/c^2 and neutralinos with masses smaller than 29 GeV/c^2 are excluded at the 95% confidence level for any generation structure of the LQDbar coupling.Comment: 32 pages, 30 figure

Prioritising research areas for antibiotic stewardship programmes in hospitals: a behavioural perspective consensus paper

SCOPE: Antibiotic stewardship programmes (ASPs) are necessary in hospitals to improve the judicious use of antibiotics. While ASPs require complex change of key behaviours on individual, team, organisation and policy levels, evidence from the behavioural sciences is underutilised in antibiotic stewardship studies across the world, including high-income countries (HICs). A consensus procedure was performed to propose research priority areas for optimising effective implementation of ASPs in hospital settings, using a behavioural perspective. METHODS: A workgroup for behavioural approaches to ASPs was convened in response to the fourth call for leading expert network proposals by the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR). Eighteen clinical and academic specialists in antibiotic stewardship, implementation science and behaviour change from four high-income countries with publicly-funded health care systems (that is Canada, Germany, Norway and the UK), met face-to-face to agree on broad research priority areas using a structured consensus method. QUESTION ADDRESSED AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The consensus process on the 10 identified research priority areas resulted in recommendations that need urgent scientific interest and funding to optimise effective implementation of antibiotic stewardship programmes for hospital inpatients in HICs with publicly-funded health care systems. We suggest and detail, behavioural science evidence-guided research efforts in the following areas: 1) Comprehensively identifying barriers and facilitators to implementing antibiotic stewardship programmes and clinical recommendations intended to optimise antibiotic prescribing; 2) Identifying actors ('who') and actions ('what needs to be done') of antibiotic stewardship programmes and clinical teams; 3) Synthesising available evidence to support future research and planning for antibiotic stewardship programmes; 4) Specifying the activities in current antibiotic stewardship programmes with the purpose of defining a 'control group' for comparison with new initiatives; 5) Defining a balanced set of outcomes and measures to evaluate the effects of interventions focused on reducing unnecessary exposure to antibiotics; 6) Conducting robust evaluations of antibiotic stewardship programmes with built-in process evaluations and fidelity assessments; 7) Defining and designing antibiotic stewardship programmes; 8) Establishing the evidence base for impact of antibiotic stewardship programmes on resistance; 9) Investigating the role and impact of government and policy contexts on antibiotic stewardship programmes; and 10) Understanding what matters to patients in antibiotic stewardship programmes in hospitals. Assessment, revisions and updates of our priority-setting exercise should be considered, at intervals of 2 years. To propose research priority areas in low- and medium income countries (LIMCs), the methodology reported here could be applied