Lean mass, muscle strength, and physical function in a diverse population of men: a population-based cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Age-related declines in lean body mass appear to be more rapid in men than in women but our understanding of muscle mass and function among different subgroups of men and their changes with age is quite limited. The objective of this analysis is to examine racial/ethnic differences and racial/ethnic group-specific cross-sectional age differences in measures of muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical function among men.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data were obtained from the Boston Area Community Health/Bone (BACH/Bone) Survey, a population-based, cross-sectional, observational survey. Subjects included 1,157 black, Hispanic, and white randomly-selected Boston men ages 30-79 y. Lean mass was assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Upper extremity (grip) strength was assessed with a hand dynamometer and lower extremity physical function was derived from walk and chair stand tests. Upper extremity strength and lower extremity physical function were also indexed by lean mass and lean mass was indexed by the square of height.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mean age of the sample was 47.5 y. Substantial cross-sectional age differences in grip strength and physical function were consistent across race/ethnicity. Racial/ethnic differences, with and without adjustment for covariates, were evident in all outcomes except grip strength. Racial differences in lean mass did not translate into parallel differences in physical function. For instance, multivariate modeling (with adjustments for age, height, fat mass, self-rated health and physical activity) indicated that whereas total body lean mass was 2.43 kg (approximately 5%) higher in black compared with white men, black men had a physical function score that was approximately 20% lower than white men.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In spite of lower levels of lean mass, the higher levels of physical function observed among white compared with non-white men in this study appear to be broadly consistent with known racial/ethnic differences in outcomes.</p

Search for anomalous t t-bar production in the highly-boosted all-hadronic final state

A search is presented for a massive particle, generically referred to as a Z', decaying into a t t-bar pair. The search focuses on Z' resonances that are sufficiently massive to produce highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks, which yield collimated decay products that are partially or fully merged into single jets. The analysis uses new methods to analyze jet substructure, providing suppression of the non-top multijet backgrounds. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. Upper limits in the range of 1 pb are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for a topcolor Z' modeled for several widths, as well as for a Randall--Sundrum Kaluza--Klein gluon. In addition, the results constrain any enhancement in t t-bar production beyond expectations of the standard model for t t-bar invariant masses larger than 1 TeV.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics; this version includes a minor typo correction that will be submitted as an erratu

Asian-Pacific consensus statement on the management of chronic hepatitis B: a 2008 update

Large amounts of new data on the natural history and treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection have become available since 2005. These include long-term follow-up studies in large community-based cohorts or asymptomatic subjects with chronic HBV infection, further studies on the role of HBV genotype/naturally occurring HBV mutations, treatment of drug resistance and new therapies. In addition, Pegylated interferon α2a, entecavir and telbivudine have been approved globally. To update HBV management guidelines, relevant new data were reviewed and assessed by experts from the region, and the significance of the reported findings were discussed and debated. The earlier “Asian-Pacific consensus statement on the management of chronic hepatitis B” was revised accordingly. The key terms used in the statement were also defined. The new guidelines include general management, special indications for liver biopsy in patients with persistently normal alanine aminotransferase, time to start or stop drug therapy, choice of drug to initiate therapy, when and how to monitor the patients during and after stopping drug therapy. Recommendations on the therapy of patients in special circumstances, including women in childbearing age, patients with antiviral drug resistance, concurrent viral infection, hepatic decompensation, patients receiving immune-suppressive medications or chemotherapy and patients in the setting of liver transplantation, are also included

Search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons decaying to a pair of tau leptons in pp collisions

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Measurement of top quark–antiquark pair production in association with a W or Z boson in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV

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Searches for electroweak production of charginos, neutralinos, and sleptons decaying to leptons and W, Z, and Higgs bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

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Measurement of prompt J/ψ pair production in pp collisions at √s = 7 Tev

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Study of hadronic event-shape variables in multijet final states in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

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Constraints on parton distribution functions and extraction of the strong coupling constant from the inclusive jet cross section in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

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