Aircraft Anti-Icing Fluids Endurance Under Natural and Artificial Snow: a Comparative Study

The usage of De-Icing and Anti-Icing fluids is the most common method recognized to protect aircraft on the ground from freezing and frozen contaminants. The snow endurance times, which means the duration that a fluid can protect the vehicle from snow accumulations, is currently determined outdoor under natural conditions. To replace this expensive and very impractical method, the Anti-Icing Materials International Laboratory developed snow machine was used to perform a comparative study. In this first study, three commercial fluids were tested at various snow intensity rates under artificial snow generated with the snow machine in a cold chamber to validate the testing procedure and investigate the way forward. The results obtained were then positively compared to natural snow endurance times. They were also compared with natural snow regression curves, showing similar trends. This study demonstrated the great potential of this method showing the necessity of pursuing this investigation

Early-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia in adults randomized clinical trial: comparison of 8 versus 15 days of antibiotic treatment

International audiencePurposeThe optimal treatment duration for ventilator-associated pneumonia is based on one study dealing with late-onset of the condition. Shortening the length of antibiotic treatment remains a major prevention factor for the emergence of multiresistant bacteria.ObjectiveTo demonstrate that 2 different antibiotic treatment durations (8 versus 15 days) are equivalent in terms of clinical cure for early-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia.MethodsRandomized, prospective, open, multicenter trial carried out from 1998 to 2002.MeasurementsThe primary endpoint was the clinical cure rate at day 21. The mortality rate was evaluated on days 21 and 90.Results225 patients were included in 13 centers. 191 (84.9%) patients were cured: 92 out of 109 (84.4%) in the 15 day cohort and 99 out of 116 (85.3%) in the 8 day cohort (difference = 0.9%, odds ratio = 0.929). 95% two-sided confidence intervals for difference and odds ratio were [−8.4% to 10.3%] and [0.448 to 1.928] respectively. Taking into account the limits of equivalence (10% for difference and 2.25 for odds ratio), the objective of demonstrative equivalence between the 2 treatment durations was fulfilled. Although the rate of secondary infection was greater in the 8 day than the 15 day cohort, the number of days of antibiotic treatment remained lower in the 8 day cohort. There was no difference in mortality rate between the 2 groups on days 21 and 90.ConclusionOur results suggest that an 8-day course of antibiotic therapy is safe for early-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia in intubated patients

Genetic Variant in HK1 Is Associated With a Proanemic State and A1C but Not Other Glycemic Control–Related Traits

OBJECTIVE A1C is widely considered the gold standard for monitoring effective blood glucose levels. Recently, a genome-wide association study reported an association between A1C and rs7072268 within HK1 (encoding hexokinase 1), which catalyzes the first step of glycolysis. HK1 deficiency in erythrocytes (red blood cells [RBCs]) causes severe nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia in both humans and mice. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The contribution of rs7072268 to A1C and the RBC-related traits was assessed in 6,953 nondiabetic European participants. We additionally analyzed the association with hematologic traits in 5,229 nondiabetic European individuals (in whom A1C was not measured) and 1,924 diabetic patients. Glucose control–related markers other than A1C were analyzed in 18,694 nondiabetic European individuals. A type 2 diabetes case-control study included 7,447 French diabetic patients. RESULTS Our study confirms a strong association between the rs7072268–T allele and increased A1C (β = 0.029%; P = 2.22 × 10−7). Surprisingly, despite adequate study power, rs7072268 showed no association with any other markers of glucose control (fasting- and 2-h post-OGTT–related parameters, n = 18,694). In contrast, rs7072268–T allele decreases hemoglobin levels (n = 13,416; β = −0.054 g/dl; P = 3.74 × 10−6) and hematocrit (n = 11,492; β = −0.13%; P = 2.26 × 10−4), suggesting a proanemic effect. The T allele also increases risk for anemia (836 cases; odds ratio 1.13; P = 0.018). CONCLUSIONS HK1 variation, although strongly associated with A1C, does not seem to be involved in blood glucose control. Since HK1 rs7072268 is associated with reduced hemoglobin levels and favors anemia, we propose that HK1 may influence A1C levels through its anemic effect or its effect on glucose metabolism in RBCs. These findings may have implications for type 2 diabetes diagnosis and clinical management because anemia is a frequent complication of the diabetes state

G-allele of Intronic rs10830963 in MTNR1B Confers Increased Risk of Impaired Fasting Glycemia and Type 2 Diabetes Through an Impaired Glucose-Stimulated Insulin Release: Studies Involving 19,605 Europeans

OBJECTIVE Genome-wide association studies have identified several variants within the MTNR1B locus that are associated with fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and type 2 diabetes. We refined the association signal by direct genotyping and examined for associations of the variant displaying the most independent effect on FPG with isolated impaired fasting glycemia (i-IFG), isolated impaired glucose tolerance (i-IGT), type 2 diabetes, and measures of insulin release and peripheral and hepatic insulin sensitivity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We examined European-descent participants in the Inter99 study (n = 5,553), in a sample of young healthy Danes (n = 372), in Danish twins (n = 77 elderly and n = 97 young), in additional Danish type 2 diabetic patients (n = 1,626) and control subjects (n = 505), in the Data from the Epidemiological Study on the Insulin Resistance Syndrome (DESIR) study (n = 4,656), in the North Finland Birth Cohort 86 (n = 5,258), and in the Haguenau study (n = 1,461). RESULTS The MTNR1B intronic variant, rs10830963, carried most of the effect on FPG and showed the strongest association with FPG (combined P = 5.3 × 10−31) and type 2 diabetes. The rs10830963 G-allele increased the risk of i-IFG (odds ratio [OR] 1.64, P = 5.5 × 10−11) but not i-IGT. The G-allele was associated with a decreased insulin release after oral and intravenous glucose challenges (P < 0.01) but not after injection of tolbutamide. In elderly twins, the G-allele associated with hepatic insulin resistance (P = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS The G-allele of MTNR1B rs10830963 increases risk of type 2 diabetes through a state of i-IFG and not through i-IGT. The same allele associates with estimates of β-cell dysfunction and hepatic insulin resistance

Post Genome-Wide Association Studies of Novel Genes Associated with Type 2 Diabetes Show Gene-Gene Interaction and High Predictive Value

Recently, several Genome Wide Association (GWA) studies in populations of European descent have identified and validated novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), highly associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Our aims were to validate these markers in other European and non-European populations, then to assess their combined effect in a large French study comparing T2D and normal glucose tolerant (NGT) individuals. rs7903146 SNP, were combined (8.68-fold for the 14% of French individuals carrying 18 to 30 risk alleles with an allelic OR of 1.24). With an area under the ROC curve of 0.86, only 15 novel loci were necessary to discriminate French individuals susceptible to develop T2D. strongly associate with T2D in French individuals, and mostly in populations of Central European descent but not in Moroccan subjects. Genes expressed in the pancreas interact together and their combined effect dramatically increases the risk for T2D, opening avenues for the development of genetic prediction tests

Les droits disciplinaires des fonctions publiques : « unification », « harmonisation » ou « distanciation ». A propos de la loi du 26 avril 2016 relative à la déontologie et aux droits et obligations des fonctionnaires

The production of tt‾ , W+bb‾ and W+cc‾ is studied in the forward region of proton–proton collisions collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.98±0.02 fb−1 . The W bosons are reconstructed in the decays W→ℓν , where ℓ denotes muon or electron, while the b and c quarks are reconstructed as jets. All measured cross-sections are in agreement with next-to-leading-order Standard Model predictions.The production of $t\overline{t}$, $W+b\overline{b}$ and $W+c\overline{c}$ is studied in the forward region of proton-proton collisions collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.98 $\pm$ 0.02 \mbox{fb}^{-1}. The $W$ bosons are reconstructed in the decays $W\rightarrow\ell\nu$, where $\ell$ denotes muon or electron, while the $b$ and $c$ quarks are reconstructed as jets. All measured cross-sections are in agreement with next-to-leading-order Standard Model predictions

Multidifferential study of identified charged hadron distributions in ZZ-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at s=\sqrt{s}=13 TeV

Jet fragmentation functions are measured for the first time in proton-proton collisions for charged pions, kaons, and protons within jets recoiling against a $Z$ boson. The charged-hadron distributions are studied longitudinally and transversely to the jet direction for jets with transverse momentum 20 $< p_{\textrm{T}} < 100$ GeV and in the pseudorapidity range $2.5 < \eta < 4$. The data sample was collected with the LHCb experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.64 fb$^{-1}$. Triple differential distributions as a function of the hadron longitudinal momentum fraction, hadron transverse momentum, and jet transverse momentum are also measured for the first time. This helps constrain transverse-momentum-dependent fragmentation functions. Differences in the shapes and magnitudes of the measured distributions for the different hadron species provide insights into the hadronization process for jets predominantly initiated by light quarks.Comment: All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-013.html (LHCb public pages

Study of the B−→Λc+Λˉc−K−B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-} decay

The decay $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ is studied in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected by the LHCb experiment. In the $\Lambda_{c}^+ K^{-}$ system, the $\Xi_{c}(2930)^{0}$ state observed at the BaBar and Belle experiments is resolved into two narrower states, $\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}$ and $\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}$, whose masses and widths are measured to be $$m(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = 2924.5 \pm 0.4 \pm 1.1 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ m(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = 2938.5 \pm 0.9 \pm 2.3 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = \phantom{000}4.8 \pm 0.9 \pm 1.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},\\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = \phantom{00}11.0 \pm 1.9 \pm 7.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},$$ where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. The results are consistent with a previous LHCb measurement using a prompt $\Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ sample. Evidence of a new $\Xi_{c}(2880)^{0}$ state is found with a local significance of $3.8\,\sigma$, whose mass and width are measured to be $2881.8 \pm 3.1 \pm 8.5\,\mathrm{MeV}$ and $12.4 \pm 5.3 \pm 5.8 \,\mathrm{MeV}$, respectively. In addition, evidence of a new decay mode $\Xi_{c}(2790)^{0} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ is found with a significance of $3.7\,\sigma$. The relative branching fraction of $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ with respect to the $B^{-} \to D^{+} D^{-} K^{-}$ decay is measured to be $2.36 \pm 0.11 \pm 0.22 \pm 0.25$, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third originates from the branching fractions of charm hadron decays.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-028.html (LHCb public pages

Measurement of the ratios of branching fractions R(D∗)\mathcal{R}(D^{*}) and R(D0)\mathcal{R}(D^{0})

The ratios of branching fractions $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})\equiv\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})\equiv\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ are measured, assuming isospin symmetry, using a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb${ }^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011 and 2012. The tau lepton is identified in the decay mode $\tau^{-}\to\mu^{-}\nu_{\tau}\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$. The measured values are $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})=0.281\pm0.018\pm0.024$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})=0.441\pm0.060\pm0.066$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The correlation between these measurements is $\rho=-0.43$. Results are consistent with the current average of these quantities and are at a combined 1.9 standard deviations from the predictions based on lepton flavor universality in the Standard Model.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-039.html (LHCb public pages