116 research outputs found
Finite Temperature QCD with Two Flavors of Non-perturbatively Improved Wilson Fermions
We study QCD with two flavors of non-perturbatively improved Wilson fermions
at finite temperature on the lattice. We determine the transition
temperature at lattice spacings as small as fm, and study string
breaking below the finite temperature transition. We find that the static
potential can be fitted by a two-state ansatz, including a string state and a
two-meson state. We investigate the role of Abelian monopoles at finite
temperature.Comment: 29 pages, 22 figures, Late
Search for directional associations between Baikal Gigaton Volume Detector neutrino-induced cascades and high-energy astrophysical sources
Baikal-GVD has recently published its first measurement of the diffuse
astrophysical neutrino flux, performed using high-energy cascade-like events.
We further explore the Baikal-GVD cascade dataset collected in 2018-2022, with
the aim to identify possible associations between the Baikal-GVD neutrinos and
known astrophysical sources. We leverage the relatively high angular resolution
of the Baikal-GVD neutrino telescope (2-3 deg.), made possible by the use of
liquid water as the detection medium, enabling the study of astrophysical point
sources even with cascade events. We estimate the telescope's sensitivity in
the cascade channel for high-energy astrophysical sources and refine our
analysis prescriptions using Monte-Carlo simulations. We primarily focus on
cascades with energies exceeding 100 TeV, which we employ to search for
correlation with radio-bright blazars. Although the currently limited neutrino
sample size provides no statistically significant effects, our analysis
suggests a number of possible associations with both extragalactic and Galactic
sources. Specifically, we present an analysis of an observed triplet of
neutrino candidate events in the Galactic plane, focusing on its potential
connection with certain Galactic sources, and discuss the coincidence of
cascades with several bright and flaring blazars.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Large neutrino telescope Baikal-GVD: recent status
The Baikal-GVD is a deep-underwater neutrino telescope being constructed in
Lake Baikal. After the winter 2023 deployment campaign the detector consists of
3456 optical modules installed on 96 vertical strings. The status of the
detector and progress in data analysis are discussed in present report. The
Baikal-GVD data collected in 2018-2022 indicate the presence of cosmic neutrino
flux in high-energy cascade events consistent with observations by the IceCube
neutrino telescope. Analysis of track-like events results in identification of
first high-energy muon neutrino candidates. These and other results from
2018-2022 data samples are reviewed in this report
FHL2 interacts with CALM and is highly expressed in acute erythroid leukemia
The t(10;11)(p13;q14) translocation results in the fusion of the CALM (clathrin assembly lymphoid myeloid leukemia protein) and AF10 genes. This translocation is observed in acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML M6), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and malignant lymphoma. Using a yeast two-hybrid screen, the four and a half LIM domain protein 2 (FHL2) was identified as a CALM interacting protein. Recently, high expression of FHL2 in breast, gastric, colon, lung as well as in prostate cancer was shown to be associated with an adverse prognosis. The interaction between CALM and FHL2 was confirmed by glutathione S-transferase-pulldown assay and co-immunoprecipitation experiments. The FHL2 interaction domain of CALM was mapped to amino acids 294–335 of CALM. The transcriptional activation capacity of FHL2 was reduced by CALM, but not by CALM/AF10, which suggests that regulation of FHL2 by CALM might be disturbed in CALM/AF10-positive leukemia. Extremely high expression of FHL2 was seen in acute erythroid leukemia (AML M6). FHL2 was also highly expressed in chronic myeloid leukemia and in AML with complex aberrant karyotype. These results suggest that FHL2 may play an important role in leukemogenesis, especially in the case of AML M6
Value of hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs [ASPs]:a systematic review
Abstract Background Hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) aim to promote judicious use of antimicrobials to combat antimicrobial resistance. For ASPs to be developed, adopted, and implemented, an economic value assessment is essential. Few studies demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of ASPs. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the economic and clinical impact of ASPs. Methods An update to the Dik et al. systematic review (2000–2014) was conducted on EMBASE and Medline using PRISMA guidelines. The updated search was limited to primary research studies in English (30 September 2014–31 December 2017) that evaluated patient and/or economic outcomes after implementation of hospital ASPs including length of stay (LOS), antimicrobial use, and total (including operational and implementation) costs. Results One hundred forty-six studies meeting inclusion criteria were included. The majority of these studies were conducted within the last 5 years in North America (49%), Europe (25%), and Asia (14%), with few studies conducted in Africa (3%), South America (3%), and Australia (3%). Most studies were conducted in hospitals with 500–1000 beds and evaluated LOS and change in antibiotic expenditure, the majority of which showed a decrease in LOS (85%) and antibiotic expenditure (92%). The mean cost-savings varied by hospital size and region after implementation of ASPs. Average cost savings in US studies were 2.50 to $2640), with similar trends exhibited in European studies. The key driver of cost savings was from reduction in LOS. Savings were higher among hospitals with comprehensive ASPs which included therapy review and antibiotic restrictions. Conclusions Our data indicates that hospital ASPs have significant value with beneficial clinical and economic impacts. More robust published data is required in terms of implementation, LOS, and overall costs so that decision-makers can make a stronger case for investing in ASPs, considering competing priorities. Such data on ASPs in lower- and middle-income countries is limited and requires urgent attention
International longitudinal registry of patients with atrial fibrillation and treated with rivaroxaban: RIVaroxaban Evaluation in Real life setting (RIVER)
Background
Real-world data on non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are essential in determining whether evidence from randomised controlled clinical trials translate into meaningful clinical benefits for patients in everyday practice. RIVER (RIVaroxaban Evaluation in Real life setting) is an ongoing international, prospective registry of patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and at least one investigator-determined risk factor for stroke who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment for the prevention of thromboembolic stroke. The aim of this paper is to describe the design of the RIVER registry and baseline characteristics of patients with newly diagnosed NVAF who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment.
Methods and results
Between January 2014 and June 2017, RIVER investigators recruited 5072 patients at 309 centres in 17 countries. The aim was to enroll consecutive patients at sites where rivaroxaban was already routinely prescribed for stroke prevention. Each patient is being followed up prospectively for a minimum of 2-years. The registry will capture data on the rate and nature of all thromboembolic events (stroke / systemic embolism), bleeding complications, all-cause mortality and other major cardiovascular events as they occur. Data quality is assured through a combination of remote electronic monitoring and onsite monitoring (including source data verification in 10% of cases). Patients were mostly enrolled by cardiologists (n = 3776, 74.6%), by internal medicine specialists 14.2% (n = 718) and by primary care/general practice physicians 8.2% (n = 417). The mean (SD) age of the population was 69.5 (11.0) years, 44.3% were women. Mean (SD) CHADS2 score was 1.9 (1.2) and CHA2DS2-VASc scores was 3.2 (1.6). Almost all patients (98.5%) were prescribed with once daily dose of rivaroxaban, most commonly 20 mg (76.5%) and 15 mg (20.0%) as their initial treatment; 17.9% of patients received concomitant antiplatelet therapy. Most patients enrolled in RIVER met the recommended threshold for AC therapy (86.6% for 2012 ESC Guidelines, and 79.8% of patients according to 2016 ESC Guidelines).
Conclusions
The RIVER prospective registry will expand our knowledge of how rivaroxaban is prescribed in everyday practice and whether evidence from clinical trials can be translated to the broader cross-section of patients in the real world
A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being
The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β=0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β=0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates
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