Effect of risedronate on joint structure and symptoms of knee osteoarthritis: results of the BRISK randomized, controlled trial [ISRCTN01928173]

To determine the efficacy and safety of risedronate in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), the British study of risedronate in structure and symptoms of knee OA (BRISK), a 1-year prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, enrolled patients (40–80 years of age) with mild to moderate OA of the medial compartment of the knee. The primary aims were to detect differences in symptoms and function. Patients were randomized to once-daily risedronate (5 mg or 15 mg) or placebo. Radiographs were taken at baseline and 1 year for assessment of joint-space width using a standardized radiographic method with fluoroscopic positioning of the joint. Pain, function, and stiffness were assessed using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) OA index. The patient global assessment and use of walking aids were measured and bone and cartilage markers were assessed. The intention-to-treat population consisted of 284 patients. Those receiving risedronate at 15 mg showed improvement of the WOMAC index, particularly of physical function, significant improvement of the patient global assessment (P < 0.001), and decreased use of walking aids relative to patients receiving the placebo (P = 0.009). A trend towards attenuation of joint-space narrowing was observed in the group receiving 15 mg risedronate. Eight percent (n = 7) of patients receiving placebo and 4% (n = 4) of patients receiving 5 mg risedronate exhibited detectable progression of disease (joint-space width ≥ 25% or ≥ 0.75 mm) versus 1% (n = 1) of patients receiving 15 mg risedronate (P = 0.067). Risedronate (15 mg) significantly reduced markers of cartilage degradation and bone resorption. Both doses of risedronate were well tolerated. In this study, clear trends towards improvement were observed in both joint structure and symptoms in patients with primary knee OA treated with risedronate

Rare-Earth Nuclei: Radii, Isotope-Shifts and Deformation Properties in the Relativistic Mean Field Theory

A systematic study of the ground-state properties of even-even rare earth nuclei has been performed in the framework of the Relativistic Mean-Field (RMF) theory using the parameter set NL-SH. Nuclear radii, isotope shifts and deformation properties of the heavier rare-earth nuclei have been obtained, which encompass atomic numbers ranging from Z=60 to Z=70 and include a large range of isospin. It is shown that RMF theory is able to provide a good and comprehensive description of the empirical binding energies of the isotopic chains. At the same time the quadrupole deformations $\beta_{2}$ obtained in the RMF theory are found to be in good agreement with the available empirical values. The theory predicts a shape transition from prolate to oblate for nuclei at neutron number N=78 in all the chains. A further addition of neutrons up to the magic number 82 brings about the spherical shape. For nuclei above N=82, the RMF theory predicts the well-known onset of prolate deformation at about N=88, which saturates at about N=102. The deformation properties display an identical behaviour for all the nuclear chains. A good description of the above deformation transitions in the RMF theory in all the isotopic chains leads to a successful reproduction of the anomalous behaviour of the empirical isotopic shifts of the rare-earth nuclei. The RMF theory exhibits a remarkable success in providing a unified and microscopic description of various empirical data.Comment: Revtex (50 pages) and 24 figures (available upon request), Nuclear Physics A (in press

The role of ν\nu-induced reactions on lead and iron in neutrino detectors

We have calculated cross sections and branching ratios for neutrino induced reactions on ^{208}Pb and ^{56}Fe for various supernova and accelerator-relevant neutrino spectra. This was motivated by the facts that lead and iron will be used on one hand as target materials in future neutrino detectors, on the other hand have been and are still used as shielding materials in accelerator-based experiments. In particular we study the inclusive ^{56}$Fe(\nu_e,e^-)$^{56}Co and ^{208}$Pb(\nu_e,e^-)$^{208}Bi cross sections and calculate the neutron energy spectra following the decay of the daughter nuclei. These reactions give a potential background signal in the KARMEN and LSND experiment and are discussed as a detection scheme for supernova neutrinos in the proposed OMNIS and LAND detectors. We also study the neutron-emission following the neutrino-induced neutral-current excitation of ^{56}Fe and ^{208}Pb.Comment: 23 pages (including 7 figures

Can a supernova be located by its neutrinos?

A future core-collapse supernova in our Galaxy will be detected by several neutrino detectors around the world. The neutrinos escape from the supernova core over several seconds from the time of collapse, unlike the electromagnetic radiation, emitted from the envelope, which is delayed by a time of order hours. In addition, the electromagnetic radiation can be obscured by dust in the intervening interstellar space. The question therefore arises whether a supernova can be located by its neutrinos alone. The early warning of a supernova and its location might allow greatly improved astronomical observations. The theme of the present work is a careful and realistic assessment of this question, taking into account the statistical significance of the various neutrino signals. Not surprisingly, neutrino-electron forward scattering leads to a good determination of the supernova direction, even in the presence of the large and nearly isotropic background from other reactions. Even with the most pessimistic background assumptions, SuperKamiokande (SK) and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) can restrict the supernova direction to be within circles of radius $5^\circ$ and $20^\circ$, respectively. Other reactions with more events but weaker angular dependence are much less useful for locating the supernova. Finally, there is the oft-discussed possibility of triangulation, i.e., determination of the supernova direction based on an arrival time delay between different detectors. Given the expected statistics we show that, contrary to previous estimates, this technique does not allow a good determination of the supernova direction.Comment: 11 pages including 2 figures. Revised version corrects typos, adds some brief comment

Phantom with Born-Infield type Lagrangian

Recent analysis of the observation data indicates that the equation of state of the dark energy might be smaller than -1, which leads to the introduction of phantom models featured by its negative kinetic energy to account for the regime of equation of state $w<-1$. In this paper, we generalize the idea to the Born-Infield type Lagrangian with negative kinetic energy term and give the condition for the potential, under which the late time attractor solution exists and also analyze a viable cosmological model in such a scheme.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, Reference updated, the final version will be published in Phys. Rev.

Cluster Interpretation of Properties of Alternating Parity Bands in Heavy Nuclei

The properties of the states of the alternating parity bands in actinides, Ba, Ce and Nd isotopes are analyzed within a cluster model. The model is based on the assumption that cluster type shapes are produced by the collective motion of the nuclear system in the mass asymmetry coordinate. The calculated spin dependences of the parity splitting and of the electric multipole transition moments are in agreement with the experimental data.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figure

Cosmological Dynamics of Phantom Field

We study the general features of the dynamics of the phantom field in the cosmological context. In the case of inverse coshyperbolic potential, we demonstrate that the phantom field can successfully drive the observed current accelerated expansion of the universe with the equation of state parameter $w_{\phi} < -1$. The de-Sitter universe turns out to be the late time attractor of the model. The main features of the dynamics are independent of the initial conditions and the parameters of the model. The model fits the supernova data very well, allowing for $-2.4 < w_{\phi} < -1$ at 95 % confidence level.Comment: Typos corrected. Some clarifications and references added. To appear in Physical Review

Supernova Observation Via Neutrino-Nucleus Elastic Scattering in the CLEAN Detector

Development of large mass detectors for low-energy neutrinos and dark matter may allow supernova detection via neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering. An elastic-scattering detector could observe a few, or more, events per ton for a galactic supernova at 10 kpc ($3.1 \times 10^{20}$ m). This large yield, a factor of at least 20 greater than that for existing light-water detectors, arises because of the very large coherent cross section and the sensitivity to all flavors of neutrinos and antineutrinos. An elastic scattering detector can provide important information on the flux and spectrum of $\nu_\mu$ and $\nu_\tau$ from supernovae. We consider many detectors and a range of target materials from $^4$He to $^{208}$Pb. Monte Carlo simulations of low-energy backgrounds are presented for the liquid-neon-based Cryogenic Low Energy Astrophysics with Noble gases (CLEAN) detector. The simulated background is much smaller than the expected signal from a galactic supernova.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters