Search for Gravitational Waves from Intermediate Mass Binary Black Holes

We present the results of a weakly modeled burst search for gravitational waves from mergers of non-spinning intermediate mass black holes (IMBH) in the total mass range 100--450 solar masses and with the component mass ratios between 1:1 and 4:1. The search was conducted on data collected by the LIGO and Virgo detectors between November of 2005 and October of 2007. No plausible signals were observed by the search which constrains the astrophysical rates of the IMBH mergers as a function of the component masses. In the most efficiently detected bin centered on 88+88 solar masses, for non-spinning sources, the rate density upper limit is 0.13 per Mpc^3 per Myr at the 90% confidence level.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures: data for plots and archived public version at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=62326, see also the public announcement at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5IMBH

Mortality in a large Australian metropolitan cohort of Crohn's disease patients

Background: Crohn’s disease (CD) causes significant morbidity and can cause fatal complications. Data from Europe and North America suggest that mortality (CD) is increased by up to 50% in CD. There is a paucity of data from Australia. Methods: This longitudinal study of CD patients diagnosed between 1971 and 1992 builds upon a cohort previously described in 1995 by extending follow-up to 2008. Survival status and cause of death (COD) data were extracted from the National Death Index (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) with complete follow-up of available data. Relative survival analysis (SURV2, Finnish Cancer Registry) was used to compare the observed survival of patients with the expected survival of a comparable group based upon official life tables for the population of New South Wales, adjusting for year of birth, year of diagnosis and sex. The relation between COD and CD was judged independently by two Gastroenterologists. Results: Of 373 CD patients (153 M, 220 F) 82 (21.9%) had died at the end of the study period. Median follow up was 22.7 years [M] and 22.2 years [F] respectively. There was no difference in mortality compared to the general population. Relative survival was 1.03 [M] (95%CI 0.98–1.08) and 0.98 ([F] 95%CI 0.94–1.0) at 10 years, 0.98 ([M] 95%CI 0.89–1.06) and 0.98 ([F] 95%CI 0.93–1.04) at 20 years, 0.98 ([M] 95%CI 0.86–1.1) and 0.88 ([F] 95%CI 0.76–0.99) at 30 years. There was no difference in survival between patients diagnosed from 1971 to 1979 and those diagnosed from 1980 to 1992. Death from all malignant diseases occurred in 22.1% (lung 2.9%, pancreas 2.9%, bile duct 2.9%, colorectal 2.9%). A definite or possible relation between CD and COD was found in 27.9%.Conclusion Over a quarter of deaths are caused by CD itself, but overall survival is similar to that of the general population. This finding stands in contrast to current and older data from Europe and North America. This discrepancy could be due to differences in disease severity, health care system, social or environmental factors.S Bath, J Andrews, O Dent, RW Leon

Romosozumab in Skeletally Mature Adults with a Fresh Unilateral Tibial Diaphyseal Fracture: A Randomized Phase-2 Study

BACKGROUND: Romosozumab is an antibody that binds and inhibits sclerostin, thereby increasing bone formation and decreasing bone resorption. A double-blinded, randomized, phase-2, dose-finding trial was performed to evaluate the effect of romosozumab on the radiographic and clinical outcomes of surgical fixation of tibial diaphyseal fractures. METHODS: Patients (18 to 82 years old) were randomized 3:1:1:1:1:1:1:1:1:1 to a placebo or 1 of 9 romosozumab treatment groups. Patients received subcutaneous injections of romosozumab or the placebo postoperatively on day 1 and weeks 2, 6, and 12. The primary outcome was the time to radiographic evidence of healing ("radiographic healing") analyzed after the week-24 assessments had been completed for all patients. RESULTS: A total of 402 patients were randomized: 299 to the romosozumab group and 103 to the placebo group. The median time to radiographic healing (the primary outcome) ranged from 14.4 to 18.6 weeks in the romosozumab groups and was 16.4 weeks (95% confidence interval [CI]: 14.6 to 18.0 weeks) in the placebo group, which was not a significant difference. There was also no significant difference in the median time to clinical healing, no relationship between romosozumab dose/frequency and unplanned revision surgery, and no apparent treatment benefit in terms of physical function. The safety and tolerability profile of romosozumab was comparable with that of the placebo. CONCLUSIONS: Romosozumab did not accelerate tibial fracture-healing in this patient population. Additional studies of patients at higher risk for delayed healing are needed to explore the potential of romosozumab to accelerate tibial fracture-healing. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence