346 research outputs found
Athlete experiences of disordered eating in sport
To date, research into disordered eating in sport has focused on the prevalence and the identification of putative risk factors. Findings suggest that elite female athletes participating in sports with a focus on leanness or aesthetics are at greatest risk. A paucity of research remains as to the period after onset and how existing sufferers manage their illness over time. In line with the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), this study 'gives voice' to four athletes who have experienced disordered eating, documenting their personal accounts and interpreting these accounts from a psychological perspective. Inâdepth, semiâstructured interviews were conducted and verbatim transcripts were analysed according to the procedures of IPA. Three superordinate themes emerged from the data: the struggle to disclose, social support needs and identity challenges. Athletes' stories provided rich descriptions of their subjective disordered eating experiences. Their accounts give critical insight into the impact of eating disturbance on the lives of athletes. Future research should continue to identify athletes with existing eating problems in order to improve understanding as to how such individuals can best be helped
Secukinumab demonstrates superiority over narrow-band ultraviolet B phototherapy in new-onset moderate to severe plaque psoriasis patients: Week 52 results from the STEPIn study.
Biologic treatments have been studied mainly in patients with a long-term history of psoriasis and previous treatment failures.
The purpose of this primary analysis of the STEPIn study is to determine whether early intervention with secukinumab in patients with new-onset moderate to severe plaque psoriasis is superior to standard of care treatment with narrow band ultraviolet B (nb-UVB) phototherapy.
The STEPIn study is a randomized, open-label, multicentre study to investigate early intervention with 52 weeks of secukinumab 300 mg administered subcutaneously versus standard treatment with nb-UVB phototherapy in patients with new-onset (â€12 months) moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (NCT03020199). The primary and additional secondary endpoints were â„90% improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI 90) at Week 52 and Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA mod 2011) 0/1 response at Week 52, respectively.
In the secukinumab and nb-UVB study arms, 77/80 and 76/80 randomized patients received at least one dose of study treatment, respectively. The primary endpoint was achieved: 91.1% (70/77) of patients achieved a PASI 90 response at Week 52 in the secukinumab arm versus 42.3% (32/76) in the nb-UVB arm (p < 0.0001, odds ratio [OR] estimate [95% confidence intervals, CI] = 16.3 [5.6, 46.9]). The additional secondary endpoint was also achieved: 85.7% of patients achieved an IGA 0/1 response at Week 52 in the secukinumab arm versus 36.8% in the nb-UVB arm (p < 0.0001). The safety data were consistent with the safety profiles of secukinumab and nb-UVB with no new or unexpected safety signals.
Secukinumab was superior to nb-UVB in treating patients with new-onset moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. The high and sustained skin clearance observed indicates that biologic treatment for psoriasis may be more effective if used early in the disease course
Industry concentration and strategic trade policy in successive oligopoly
We study a policy game between exporting and importing countries in vertically linked industries. In a successive international Cournot oligopoly, we analyse incentives for using tax instruments strategically to shift rents vertically, between exporting and importing countries, and horizontally, between exporting countries. We show that the equilibrium outcome depends crucially on the relative degree of competitiveness in the upstream and downstream parts of the industry. With respect to national welfare, a more competitive upstream industry may benefit an exporting (upstream) country and harm an importing (downstream) country. On the other hand, a more competitive downstream industry may harm exporting countries.Financial support from the Norwegian Research Council, through the PETROPOL research programme, is gratefully acknowledged. The paper has been greatly improved by the suggestions of two anonymous referees. We also thank Hisashi Hokari and Frode Meland for valuable comments and suggestions
Deep sequence analysis of HIV adaptation following vertical transmission reveals the impact of immune pressure on the evolution of HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can adapt to an individualâs T cell immune response via genomic mutations that affect antigen recognition and impact disease outcome. These viral adaptations are specific to the hostâs human leucocyte antigen (HLA) alleles, as these molecules determine which peptides are presented to T cells. As HLA molecules are highly polymorphic at the population level, horizontal transmission events are most commonly between HLA-mismatched donor/recipient pairs, representing new immune selection environments for the transmitted virus. In this study, we utilised a deep sequencing approach to determine the HIV quasispecies in 26 mother-to-child transmission pairs where the potential for founder viruses to be pre-adapted is high due to the pairs being haplo-identical at HLA loci. This scenario allowed the assessment of specific HIV adaptations following transmission in either a non-selective immune environment, due to recipient HLA mismatched to original selecting HLA, or a selective immune environment, mediated by matched donor/recipient HLA. We show that the pattern of reversion or fixation of HIV adaptations following transmission provides insight into the replicative cost, and likely compensatory networks, associated with specific adaptations in vivo. Furthermore, although transmitted viruses were commonly heavily pre-adapted to the childâs HLA genotype, we found evidence of de novo post-transmission adaptation, representing new epitopes targeted by the childâs T cell response. High-resolution analysis of HIV adaptation is relevant when considering vaccine and cure strategies for individuals exposed to adapted viruses via transmission or reactivated from reservoirs
Animals, veterinarians and the sociology of diagnosis
While sociologists of medicine have focused their efforts on understanding human health, illness, and medicine, veterinary medical practice has not yet caught their attention in any sustained way. In this critical review paper, we use insights from the sociology of diagnosis literature to explore veterinary practice, and aim to demonstrate the importance of animals to sociological understandings of health, illness and disease. As in human medicine, our analysis shows the importance of diagnosis in creating and maintaining the power and authority of the veterinary professional. However, we then explore how diagnosis operates as a kind of dance, where professional authority can be challenged, particularly in light of the complex ethical responsibilities and clinical interactions that result from the triad of professional/owner/animal patient. Finally, we consider diagnosis via the precept of entanglement, and raise the intriguing possibility of interspecies health relations, whereby decision-making in human healthcare may be influenced by experiences in animal healthcare, and vice-versa. In our conclusion we argue that this analysis provides opportunities to scholars researching diagnosis in human healthcare, particularly around the impact of commercial drivers; has implications for veterinary and public health practitioners; and should help animate the emerging sociology of veterinary medicine
First Observation of Coherent Production in Neutrino Nucleus Interactions with 2 GeV
The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab has amassed the largest sample to date
of s produced in neutral current (NC) neutrino-nucleus interactions at
low energy. This paper reports a measurement of the momentum distribution of
s produced in mineral oil (CH) and the first observation of coherent
production below 2 GeV. In the forward direction, the yield of events
observed above the expectation for resonant production is attributed primarily
to coherent production off carbon, but may also include a small contribution
from diffractive production on hydrogen. Integrated over the MiniBooNE neutrino
flux, the sum of the NC coherent and diffractive modes is found to be (19.5
1.1 (stat) 2.5 (sys))% of all exclusive NC production at
MiniBooNE. These measurements are of immediate utility because they quantify an
important background to MiniBooNE's search for
oscillations.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Lett.
Testing of cryogenic photomultiplier tubes for the MicroBooNE experiment
The MicroBooNE detector, to be located on axis in the Booster Neutrino Beamline (BNB) at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), consists of two main components: a large liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC), and a light collection system. Thirty-two 8-inch diameter Hamamatsu R5912-02mod cryogenic photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) will detect the scintillation light generated in the liquid argon (LAr). This article first describes the MicroBooNE PMT performance test procedures, including how the light collection system functions in the detector, and the design of the PMT base. The design of the cryogenic test stand is then discussed, and finally the results of the cryogenic tests are reported
Dark Matter and Fundamental Physics with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a project for a next-generation
observatory for very high energy (GeV-TeV) ground-based gamma-ray astronomy,
currently in its design phase, and foreseen to be operative a few years from
now. Several tens of telescopes of 2-3 different sizes, distributed over a
large area, will allow for a sensitivity about a factor 10 better than current
instruments such as H.E.S.S, MAGIC and VERITAS, an energy coverage from a few
tens of GeV to several tens of TeV, and a field of view of up to 10 deg. In the
following study, we investigate the prospects for CTA to study several science
questions that influence our current knowledge of fundamental physics. Based on
conservative assumptions for the performance of the different CTA telescope
configurations, we employ a Monte Carlo based approach to evaluate the
prospects for detection. First, we discuss CTA prospects for cold dark matter
searches, following different observational strategies: in dwarf satellite
galaxies of the Milky Way, in the region close to the Galactic Centre, and in
clusters of galaxies. The possible search for spatial signatures, facilitated
by the larger field of view of CTA, is also discussed. Next we consider
searches for axion-like particles which, besides being possible candidates for
dark matter may also explain the unexpectedly low absorption by extragalactic
background light of gamma rays from very distant blazars. Simulated
light-curves of flaring sources are also used to determine the sensitivity to
violations of Lorentz Invariance by detection of the possible delay between the
arrival times of photons at different energies. Finally, we mention searches
for other exotic physics with CTA.Comment: (31 pages, Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics
Sensitivity of the IceCube Detector to Astrophysical Sources of High Energy Muon Neutrinos
We present the results of a Monte-Carlo study of the sensitivity of the
planned IceCube detector to predicted fluxes of muon neutrinos at TeV to PeV
energies. A complete simulation of the detector and data analysis is used to
study the detector's capability to search for muon neutrinos from sources such
as active galaxies and gamma-ray bursts. We study the effective area and the
angular resolution of the detector as a function of muon energy and angle of
incidence. We present detailed calculations of the sensitivity of the detector
to both diffuse and pointlike neutrino emissions, including an assessment of
the sensitivity to neutrinos detected in coincidence with gamma-ray burst
observations. After three years of datataking, IceCube will have been able to
detect a point source flux of E^2*dN/dE = 7*10^-9 cm^-2s^-1GeV at a 5-sigma
significance, or, in the absence of a signal, place a 90% c.l. limit at a level
E^2*dN/dE = 2*10^-9 cm^-2s^-1GeV. A diffuse E-2 flux would be detectable at a
minimum strength of E^2*dN/dE = 1*10^-8 cm^-2s^-1sr^-1GeV. A gamma-ray burst
model following the formulation of Waxman and Bahcall would result in a 5-sigma
effect after the observation of 200 bursts in coincidence with satellite
observations of the gamma-rays.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, 6 table
On the selection of AGN neutrino source candidates for a source stacking analysis with neutrino telescopes
The sensitivity of a search for sources of TeV neutrinos can be improved by
grouping potential sources together into generic classes in a procedure that is
known as source stacking. In this paper, we define catalogs of Active Galactic
Nuclei (AGN) and use them to perform a source stacking analysis. The grouping
of AGN into classes is done in two steps: first, AGN classes are defined, then,
sources to be stacked are selected assuming that a potential neutrino flux is
linearly correlated with the photon luminosity in a certain energy band (radio,
IR, optical, keV, GeV, TeV). Lacking any secure detailed knowledge on neutrino
production in AGN, this correlation is motivated by hadronic AGN models, as
briefly reviewed in this paper.
The source stacking search for neutrinos from generic AGN classes is
illustrated using the data collected by the AMANDA-II high energy neutrino
detector during the year 2000. No significant excess for any of the suggested
groups was found.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures, accepted by Astroparticle Physic
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