859 research outputs found
East Midlands Research into Ageing Network (EMRAN) Discussion Paper Series
Academic geriatric medicine in Leicester
.
There has never been a better time to consider joining us. We have recently appointed a
Professor in Geriatric Medicine, alongside Tom Robinson in stroke and Victoria Haunton,
who has just joined as a Senior Lecturer in Geriatric Medicine. We have fantastic
opportunities to support students in their academic pursuits through a well-established
intercalated BSc programme, and routes on through such as ACF posts, and a successful
track-record in delivering higher degrees leading to ACL post. We collaborate strongly
with Health Sciences, including academic primary care. See below for more detail on our
existing academic set-up.
Leicester Academy for the Study of Ageing
We are also collaborating on a grander scale, through a joint academic venture focusing
on ageing, the ‘Leicester Academy for the Study of Ageing’ (LASA), which involves the
local health service providers (acute and community), De Montfort University; University
of Leicester; Leicester City Council; Leicestershire County Council and Leicester Age UK.
Professors Jayne Brown and Simon Conroy jointly Chair LASA and have recently been
joined by two further Chairs, Professors Kay de Vries and Bertha Ochieng. Karen
Harrison Dening has also recently been appointed an Honorary Chair.
LASA aims to improve outcomes for older people and those that care for them that takes
a person-centred, whole system perspective. Our research will take a global perspective,
but will seek to maximise benefits for the people of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland,
including building capacity. We are undertaking applied, translational, interdisciplinary
research, focused on older people, which will deliver research outcomes that address
domains from: physical/medical; functional ability, cognitive/psychological; social or
environmental factors. LASA also seeks to support commissioners and providers alike for
advice on how to improve care for older people, whether by research, education or
service delivery. Examples of recent research projects include: ‘Local History Café’
project specifically undertaking an evaluation on loneliness and social isolation; ‘Better
Visits’ project focused on improving visiting for family members of people with dementia
resident in care homes; and a study on health issues for older LGBT people in Leicester.
Clinical Geriatric Medicine in Leicester
We have developed a service which recognises the complexity of managing frail older
people at the interface (acute care, emergency care and links with community services).
There are presently 17 consultant geriatricians supported by existing multidisciplinary
teams, including the largest complement of Advance Nurse Practitioners in the country.
Together we deliver Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment to frail older people with
urgent care needs in acute and community settings.
The acute and emergency frailty units – Leicester Royal Infirmary
This development aims at delivering Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment to frail older
people in the acute setting. Patients are screened for frailty in the Emergency
Department and then undergo a multidisciplinary assessment including a consultant
geriatrician, before being triaged to the most appropriate setting. This might include
admission to in-patient care in the acute or community setting, intermediate care
(residential or home based), or occasionally other specialist care (e.g. cardiorespiratory).
Our new emergency department is the county’s first frail friendly build and includes
fantastic facilities aimed at promoting early recovering and reducing the risk of hospital
associated harms.
There is also a daily liaison service jointly run with the psychogeriatricians (FOPAL); we
have been examining geriatric outreach to oncology and surgery as part of an NIHR
funded study.
We are home to the Acute Frailty Network, and those interested in service developments
at the national scale would be welcome to get involved.
Orthogeriatrics
There are now dedicated hip fracture wards and joint care with anaesthetists,
orthopaedic surgeons and geriatricians. There are also consultants in metabolic bone
disease that run clinics.
Community work
Community work will consist of reviewing patients in clinic who have been triaged to
return to the community setting following an acute assessment described above.
Additionally, primary care colleagues refer to outpatients for sub-acute reviews. You will
work closely with local GPs with support from consultants to deliver post-acute, subacute,
intermediate and rehabilitation care services.
Stroke Medicine
24/7 thrombolysis and TIA services. The latter is considered one of the best in the UK
and along with the high standard of vascular surgery locally means one of the best
performances regarding carotid intervention
Search for the lepton-family-number nonconserving decay \mu -> e + \gamma
The MEGA experiment, which searched for the muon- and electron-number
violating decay \mu -> e + \gamma, is described. The spectrometer system, the
calibrations, the data taking procedures, the data analysis, and the
sensitivity of the experiment are discussed. The most stringent upper limit on
the branching ratio of \mu -> e + \gamma) < 1.2 x 10^{-11} was obtained
Fifty Years of IMF Variation: The Intermediate-Mass Stars
I track the history of star count estimates of the Milky Way field star and
open cluster IMFs, concentrating on the neglected mass range from 1 to 15
M. The prevalent belief in a universal IMF appears to be without
basis for this mass range. Two recent estimates of the field star IMF using
different methods and samples give values of the average logarithmic slope
between -1.7 and -2.1 in the mass range 1.1 to 4 M. Two
older estimates between 2 and 15 M disagree severely; the field IMF
in this range is essentially unknown from star counts. Variations in
among open cluster IMFs in this mass range have not decreased despite numerous
detailed studies, even for studies using homogeneous data and reduction
procedures and including only clusters with a significant mass range. These
cluster variations \textit{might} be due to the combined effects of sampling,
systematic errors, stellar evolution uncertainties, dynamical evolution, and
unresolved binaries. If so, then the cluster data are consistent with a
universal IMF, but are also consistent with sizeable variations. The cluster
data do not allow an estimate of an average IMF or because the average
depends on the choice of weighting procedure and other effects. If the spread
in cluster IMFs is in excess of the effects listed above, real IMF variations
must occur that do not depend much on physical conditions explored so far. The
complexity of the star formation process seen in observations and simulations
suggests that large realization-to-realization differences might be expected,
in which case an individual cluster IMF would be in part the product of
evolutionary contingency in star formation, and the function of interest is the
probability distribution of IMF parameters.Comment: 18 pages, including 4 figures: invited talk presented at the
conference on "IMF@50: The Stellar Initial Mass Function Fifty Years Later"
held at Abbazia di Spineto, Siena, Italy, May 2004; to be published by Kluwer
Academic Publishers, edited by E. Corbelli, F. Palla, and H. Zinnecke
The gray matter volume of the amygdala is correlated with the perception of melodic intervals: a voxel-based morphometry study
Music is not simply a series of organized pitches, rhythms, and timbres, it is capable of evoking emotions. In the present study, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was employed to explore the neural basis that may link music to emotion. To do this, we identified the neuroanatomical correlates of the ability to extract pitch interval size in a music segment (i.e., interval perception) in a large population of healthy young adults (N = 264). Behaviorally, we found that interval perception was correlated with daily emotional experiences, indicating the intrinsic link between music and emotion. Neurally, and as expected, we found that interval perception was positively correlated with the gray matter volume (GMV) of the bilateral temporal cortex. More important, a larger GMV of the bilateral amygdala was associated with better interval perception, suggesting that the amygdala, which is the neural substrate of emotional processing, is also involved in music processing. In sum, our study provides one of first neuroanatomical evidence on the association between the amygdala and music, which contributes to our understanding of exactly how music evokes emotional responses
Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars: Results From The Initial Detector Era
We present the results of searches for gravitational waves from a large selection of pulsars using data from the most recent science runs (S6, VSR2 and VSR4) of the initial generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) and Virgo. We do not see evidence for gravitational wave emission from any of the targeted sources but produce upper limits on the emission amplitude. We highlight the results from seven young pulsars with large spin-down luminosities. We reach within a factor of five of the canonical spin-down limit for all seven of these, whilst for the Crab and Vela pulsars we further surpass their spin-down limits. We present new or updated limits for 172 other pulsars (including both young and millisecond pulsars). Now that the detectors are undergoing major upgrades, and, for completeness, we bring together all of the most up-to-date results from all pulsars searched for during the operations of the first-generation LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 detectors. This gives a total of 195 pulsars including the most recent results described in this paper.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyAustralian Research CouncilInternational Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of AustraliaCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsNetherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOTKA of HungaryLyon Institute of Origins (LIO)National Research Foundation of KoreaIndustry CanadaProvince of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationNational Science and Engineering Research Council CanadaCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationAstronom
A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007
We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts
associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal
new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy,
particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the
underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the
period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first
science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed
for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with
the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place
limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave
emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of
merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access
area to figures, tables at
https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000
First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data
Spinning neutron stars asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis are potential sources of
continuous gravitational waves for ground-based interferometric detectors. In the case of known pulsars a
fully coherent search, based on matched filtering, which uses the position and rotational parameters
obtained from electromagnetic observations, can be carried out. Matched filtering maximizes the signalto-
noise (SNR) ratio, but a large sensitivity loss is expected in case of even a very small mismatch
between the assumed and the true signal parameters. For this reason, narrow-band analysis methods have
been developed, allowing a fully coherent search for gravitational waves from known pulsars over a
fraction of a hertz and several spin-down values. In this paper we describe a narrow-band search of
11 pulsars using data from Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Although we have found several initial
outliers, further studies show no significant evidence for the presence of a gravitational wave signal.
Finally, we have placed upper limits on the signal strain amplitude lower than the spin-down limit for 5 of
the 11 targets over the bands searched; in the case of J1813-1749 the spin-down limit has been beaten for
the first time. For an additional 3 targets, the median upper limit across the search bands is below the
spin-down limit. This is the most sensitive narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves carried
out so far
Swift follow-up observations of candidate gravitational-wave transient events
We present the first multi-wavelength follow-up observations of two candidate
gravitational-wave (GW) transient events recorded by LIGO and Virgo in their
2009-2010 science run. The events were selected with low latency by the network
of GW detectors and their candidate sky locations were observed by the Swift
observatory. Image transient detection was used to analyze the collected
electromagnetic data, which were found to be consistent with background.
Off-line analysis of the GW data alone has also established that the selected
GW events show no evidence of an astrophysical origin; one of them is
consistent with background and the other one was a test, part of a "blind
injection challenge". With this work we demonstrate the feasibility of rapid
follow-ups of GW transients and establish the sensitivity improvement joint
electromagnetic and GW observations could bring. This is a first step toward an
electromagnetic follow-up program in the regime of routine detections with the
advanced GW instruments expected within this decade. In that regime
multi-wavelength observations will play a significant role in completing the
astrophysical identification of GW sources. We present the methods and results
from this first combined analysis and discuss its implications in terms of
sensitivity for the present and future instruments.Comment: Submitted for publication 2012 May 25, accepted 2012 October 25,
published 2012 November 21, in ApJS, 203, 28 (
http://stacks.iop.org/0067-0049/203/28 ); 14 pages, 3 figures, 6 tables;
LIGO-P1100038; Science summary at
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6LVSwift/index.php ; Public access
area to figures, tables at
https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p110003
Search for gravitational waves associated with the InterPlanetary Network short gamma ray bursts
We outline the scientific motivation behind a search for gravitational waves
associated with short gamma ray bursts detected by the InterPlanetary Network
(IPN) during LIGO's fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. The IPN
localisation of short gamma ray bursts is limited to extended error boxes of
different shapes and sizes and a search on these error boxes poses a series of
challenges for data analysis. We will discuss these challenges and outline the
methods to optimise the search over these error boxes.Comment: Methods paper; Proceedings for Eduardo Amaldi 9 Conference on
Gravitational Waves, July 2011, Cardiff, U
Search for Gravitational Waves from Low Mass Compact Binary Coalescence in LIGO's Sixth Science Run and Virgo's Science Runs 2 and 3
We report on a search for gravitational waves from coalescing compact
binaries using LIGO and Virgo observations between July 7, 2009 and October 20,
2010. We searched for signals from binaries with total mass between 2 and 25
solar masses; this includes binary neutron stars, binary black holes, and
binaries consisting of a black hole and neutron star. The detectors were
sensitive to systems up to 40 Mpc distant for binary neutron stars, and further
for higher mass systems. No gravitational-wave signals were detected. We report
upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence as a function of total
mass, including the results from previous LIGO and Virgo observations. The
cumulative 90%-confidence rate upper limits of the binary coalescence of binary
neutron star, neutron star- black hole and binary black hole systems are 1.3 x
10^{-4}, 3.1 x 10^{-5} and 6.4 x 10^{-6} Mpc^{-3}yr^{-1}, respectively. These
upper limits are up to a factor 1.4 lower than previously derived limits. We
also report on results from a blind injection challenge.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. For a repository of data used in the
publication, go to:
. Also see the
announcement for this paper on ligo.org at:
<http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6CBCLowMass/index.php
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