962 research outputs found
The Effect of Enalapril and Carvedilol on Left Ventricular Dysfunction in Middle Childhood and Adolescent Patients With Muscular Dystrophy
Spectral Properties of Quasiparticle Excitations Induced by Magnetic Moments in Superconductors
The consequences of localized, classical magnetic moments in superconductors
are explored and their effect on the spectral properties of the intragap bound
states is studied. Above a critical moment, a localized quasiparticle
excitation in an s-wave superconductor is spontaneously created near a magnetic
impurity, inducing a zero-temperature quantum transition. In this transition,
the spin quantum number of the ground state changes from zero to 1/2, while the
total charge remains the same. In contrast, the spin-unpolarized ground state
of a d-wave superconductor is found to be stable for any value of the magnetic
moment when the normal-state energy spectrum possesses particle-hole symmetry.
The effect of impurity scattering on the quasiparticle states is interpreted in
the spirit of relevant symmetries of the clean superconductor. The results
obtained by the non-self-consistent (T matrix) and the self-consistent
mean-field approximations are compared and qualitative agreement between the
two schemes is found in the regime where the coherence length is longer than
the Fermi length.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. B55, May 1st (1997
Did hardening occur among smokers in England from 2000 to 2010?
Aims
To assess trends in the prevalence of ‘hardcore’ smoking in England between 2000 and 2010, and to examine associations between hardcore smoking and socio-demographic variables.
Design
Secondary analysis of data from the United Kingdom's General Lifestyle Survey (GLF) and the Health Survey for England (HSE).
Setting
Households in England.
Participants
Self-reported adult current smokers resident in England aged 26 years and over.
Measurements
Hardcore smokers were defined in three ways: smokers who do not want to quit (D1), those who ‘usually’ smoke their first cigarette of the day within 30 minutes of waking (D2) and a combination of D1 and D2, termed D3. Multivariable logistic regression was used to explore associations between these variables and calendar year, age, sex and socio-economic status, and P-values for trends in odds were calculated.
Findings
The odds of smokers being defined as hardcore according to D3 increased over time in both the GLF (P < 0.001) and HSE (P = 0.04), even after adjusting for risk factors. Higher dependence (D2) was noted in men [odds ratio (OR): 1.19, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.13–1.24], those of 50–59 years (OR: 1.94, 95% CI: 1.80–2.09) and smokers in lower occupational groups (OR: 2.11, 95% CI: (1.97–2.26). Lack of motivation to quit (D1) increased with age and was more likely in men.
Conclusions
The proportion of smokers in England with both low motivation to quit and high dependence appears to have increased between 2000 and 2010, independently of risk factors, suggesting that ‘hardening’ may be occurring in this smoker populatio
Diversity in orthopaedics and traumatology: a global perspective.
Europe represents true diversity, with cultural, linguistic and geopolitical variation spanning a large geographical area. Politics for many of its 750 million inhabitants revolves around the European Union (EU) and its 27 member states. The overarching goal of the EU is to promote peace and the values of the union (inclusion, tolerance, justice, solidarity and non-discrimination).1,2EFORT was created to connect orthopaedic associations across Europe, fostering relationships between member countries that celebrated diversity and facilitated the exchange of knowledge. Whilst the global landscape changes and politics attempts to interfere in how we live our lives, it is important to remember that a strong organization is a diverse one that evolves over time.Various initiatives exist across the global landscape to support diversity in terms of culture; gender; black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups; disability groups; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (or questioning) and others (LGBTQ+); and the 'ageing' surgeon. This article explores the creation of some of these initiatives and how they have been supported by different orthopaedic organizations. Cite this article: EFORT Open Rev 2020;5:743-752. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.5.200022
The Improving Rural Cancer Outcomes (IRCO) Trial: A factorial clusterrandomised controlled trial of a complex intervention to reduce time to diagnosis in rural patients with cancer in Western Australia: A study protocol
Introduction: While overall survival for most common cancers in Australia is improving, the rural-urban differential has been widening, with significant excess deaths due to lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancer in regional Australia. Internationally a major focus on understanding variations in cancer outcomes has been later presentation to healthcare and later diagnosis. Approaches to reducing time to diagnosis of symptomatic cancer include public symptom awareness campaigns and interventions in primary care to improve early cancer detection. This paper reports the protocol of a factorial cluster-randomised trial of community and general practice (GP) level interventions to reduce the time to diagnosis of cancer in rural Western Australia (WA). Methods and analysis: The community intervention is a symptom awareness campaign tailored for rural Australians delivered through a community engagement model. The GP intervention includes a resource card with symptom risk assessment charts and local referral pathways implemented through multiple academic detailing visits and case studies. Participants are eligible if recently diagnosed with breast, colorectal, lung or prostate cancer who reside in specific regions of rural WA with a planned sample size of 1350. The primary outcome is the Total Diagnostic Interval, defined as the duration from first symptom (or date of cancer screening test) to cancer diagnosis. Secondary outcomes include cancer stage, healthcare utilisation, disease-free status, survival at 2 and 5 years and cost-effectiveness. Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval has been granted by the University of Western Australia and from all relevant hospital recruitment sites in WA. Results: Results of this trial will be reported in peerreviewed publications and in conference presentations. Trial registration number: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR). ACTRN12610000872033
The changing nature of labour regulation: the distinctiveness of the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry
The article addresses the changing nature of labour regulation through analysis of the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry, originating in 1981. It shows how multiple spatial regulatory scales, the changing coalitions of actors involved, employer and client engagement and labour agency have been critical to National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry's survival
Domestic Poultry and SARS Coronavirus, Southern China
SARS coronavirus injected intratracheally into chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, and quail, or into the allantoic sac of their embryonating eggs, failed to cause disease or replicate. This finding suggests that domestic poultry were unlikely to have been the reservoir, or associated with dissemination, of SARS coronavirus in the animal markets of southern China
MRI assessment of suppression of structural damage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving rituximab: results from the randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind RA-SCORE study
Objective To evaluate changes in structural damage and joint inflammation assessed by MRI following rituximab treatment in a Phase 3 study of patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) despite methotrexate (MTX) who were naive to biological therapy. Methods Patients were randomised to receive two infusions of placebo (n=63), rituximab 500 mg (n=62), or rituximab 1000 mg (n=60) intravenously on days 1 and 15. MRI scans and radiographs of the most inflamed hand and wrist were acquired at baseline, weeks 12 (MRI only), 24 and 52. The primary end point was the change in MRI erosion score from baseline at week 24. Results Patients treated with rituximab demonstrated significantly less progression in the mean MRI erosion score compared with those treated with placebo at weeks 24 (0.47, 0.18 and 1.60, respectively, p=0.003 and p=0.001 for the two rituximab doses vs placebo) and 52 (−0.30, 0.11 and 3.02, respectively; p<0.001 and p<0.001). Cartilage loss at 52 weeks was significantly reduced in the rituximab group compared with the placebo group. Other secondary end points of synovitis and osteitis improved significantly with rituximab compared with placebo as early as 12 weeks and improved further at weeks 24 and 52. Conclusions This study demonstrated that rituximab significantly reduced erosion and cartilage loss at week 24 and week 52 in MTX-inadequate responder patients with active RA, suggesting that MRI is a valuable tool for assessing inflammatory and structural damage in patients with established RA receiving rituxima
Mechanisms underlying disorders of consciousness: Bridging gaps to move toward an integrated translational science
AIM: In order to successfully detect, classify, prognosticate, and develop targeted therapies for patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC), it is crucial to improve our mechanistic understanding of how severe brain injuries result in these disorders.
METHODS: To address this need, the Curing Coma Campaign convened a Mechanisms Sub-Group of the Coma Science Work Group (CSWG), aiming to identify the most pressing knowledge gaps and the most promising approaches to bridge them.
RESULTS: We identified a key conceptual gap in the need to differentiate the neural mechanisms of consciousness per se, from those underpinning connectedness to the environment and behavioral responsiveness. Further, we characterised three fundamental gaps in DOC research: (1) a lack of mechanistic integration between structural brain damage and abnormal brain function in DOC; (2) a lack of translational bridges between micro- and macro-scale neural phenomena; and (3) an incomplete exploration of possible synergies between data-driven and theory-driven approaches.
CONCLUSION: In this white paper, we discuss research priorities that would enable us to begin to close these knowledge gaps. We propose that a fundamental step towards this goal will be to combine translational, multi-scale, and multimodal data, with new biomarkers, theory-driven approaches, and computational models, to produce an integrated account of neural mechanisms in DOC. Importantly, we envision that reciprocal interaction between domains will establish a virtuous cycle, leading towards a critical vantage point of integrated knowledge that will enable the advancement of the scientific understanding of DOC and consequently, an improvement of clinical practice
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