Letter by Scheitz et al regarding article, "Randomized controlled trial of early versus delayed statin therapy in patients with acute ischemic stroke: ASSORT trial (administration of statin on acute ischemic stroke patient)"

No abstract available

Far-infrared mapping of dusty elliptical galaxies

Preliminary results from a program to map the thermal far-infrared emission from cool dust in elliptical galaxies using the Yerkes 60-Channel Camera on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) are presented. The 160 micron emission from the elliptical NGC 6542 is apparently extended over the optical galaxy whereas the 100 micron emission is unresolved. This implies a dust temperature gradient consistent with that expected for dust with Galactic properties exposed to the general interstellar radiation field of the elliptical galaxy. Observations of the elliptical NGC 5666 and the NGC 7463/4/5 compact group (consisting of the elliptical NGC 7464, the S0 NGC 7465, and the spiral NGC 7463) are also discussed

Low-temperature magnetic fluctuations in the Kondo insulator SmB6

We present the results of a systematic investigation of the magnetic properties of the three-dimensional Kondo topological insulator SmB6 using magnetization and muon-spin relaxation/rotation (muSR) measurements. The muSR measurements exhibit magnetic field fluctuations in SmB6 below 15 K due to electronic moments present in the system. However, no evidence for magnetic ordering is found down to 19 mK. The observed magnetism in SmB6 is homogeneous in nature throughout the full volume of the sample. Bulk magnetization measurements on the same sample show consistent behavior. The agreement between muSR, magnetization, and NMR results strongly indicate the appearance of intrinsic bulk magnetic in-gap states associated with fluctuating magnetic fields in SmB6 at low temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

The detection of Class I methanol masers towards regions of low-mass star formation

Six young bipolar outflows in regions of low-to-intermediate-mass star formation were observed in the 7_0-6_1A+, 8_0-7_1A+, and 5_{-1}-4_0E methanol lines at 44, 95, and 84 GHz, respectively. Narrow features were detected towards NGC 1333IRAS4A, HH 25MMS, and L1157 B1. Flux densities of the detected lines are no higher than 11 Jy, which is much lower than the flux densities of strong maser lines in regions of high-mass star formation. Analysis shows that most likely the narrow features are masers.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Astronomy Report

A Coupled Map Lattice Model for Rheological Chaos in Sheared Nematic Liquid Crystals

A variety of complex fluids under shear exhibit complex spatio-temporal behaviour, including what is now termed rheological chaos, at moderate values of the shear rate. Such chaos associated with rheological response occurs in regimes where the Reynolds number is very small. It must thus arise as a consequence of the coupling of the flow to internal structural variables describing the local state of the fluid. We propose a coupled map lattice (CML) model for such complex spatio-temporal behaviour in a passively sheared nematic liquid crystal, using local maps constructed so as to accurately describe the spatially homogeneous case. Such local maps are coupled diffusively to nearest and next nearest neighbours to mimic the effects of spatial gradients in the underlying equations of motion. We investigate the dynamical steady states obtained as parameters in the map and the strength of the spatial coupling are varied, studying local temporal properties at a single site as well as spatio-temporal features of the extended system. Our methods reproduce the full range of spatio-temporal behaviour seen in earlier one-dimensional studies based on partial differential equations. We report results for both the one and two-dimensional cases, showing that spatial coupling favours uniform or periodically time-varying states, as intuitively expected. We demonstrate and characterize regimes of spatio-temporal intermittency out of which chaos develops. Our work suggests that such simplified lattice representations of the spatio-temporal dynamics of complex fluids under shear may provide useful insights as well as fast and numerically tractable alternatives to continuum representations.Comment: 32 pages, single column, 20 figure

Observation of the Decay B^-→D_s^((*)+)K^-ℓ^-ν̅ _ℓ

We report the observation of the decay B^- → D_s^((*)+)K^-ℓ^-ν̅ _ℓ based on 342  fb^(-1) of data collected at the Υ(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e^+e^- storage rings at SLAC. A simultaneous fit to three D_s^+ decay chains is performed to extract the signal yield from measurements of the squared missing mass in the B meson decay. We observe the decay B^- → D_s^((*)+)K^-ℓ^-ν̅ _ℓ with a significance greater than 5 standard deviations (including systematic uncertainties) and measure its branching fraction to be B(B^- → D_s^((*)+)K^-ℓ^-ν̅ _ℓ)=[6.13_(-1.03)^(+1.04)(stat)±0.43(syst)±0.51(B(D_s))]×10^(-4), where the last error reflects the limited knowledge of the D_s branching fractions

Platelet Activation in Ovarian Cancer Ascites: Assessment of GPIIb/IIIa and PF4 in Small Extracellular Vesicles by Nano-Flow Cytometry Analysis

In ovarian cancer, ascites represent the microenvironment in which the platelets extravasate to play their role in the disease progression. We aimed to develop an assay to measure ascites’ platelet activation. We enriched small extracellular vesicles (EVs) (40–200 nm) from ascites of high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer patients (n = 12) using precipitation with polyethylene glycol, and we conducted single-particle phenotyping analysis by nano-flow cytometry after labelling and ultra-centrifugation. Atomic force microscopy single-particle nanomechanical analysis showed heterogeneous distributions in the size of the precipitated particles and their mechanical stiffness. Samples were fluorescently labelled with antibodies specific to the platelet markers GPIIb/IIIa and PF4, showing 2.6 to 18.16% of all particles stained positive for the biomarkers and, simultaneously, the EV membrane labelling. Single-particle phenotyping analysis allowed us to quantify the total number of non-EV particles, the number of small-EVs and the number of platelet-derived small-EVs, providing a platelet activation assessment independent of the ascites volume. The percentage of platelet-derived small-EVs was positively correlated with platelet distribution width to platelet count in sera (PDW/PLT). Overall, we presented a high-throughput method that can be helpful in future studies to determine the correlation between the extent of platelet activation in ascites and disease status

Clinical selection strategies to identify ischemic stroke patients with large anterior vessel occlusion: results from SITS-ISTR (Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke International Stroke Thrombolysis Registry)

Background and Purpose—The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) correlates with presence of large anterior vessel occlusion (LAVO). However, the application of the full NIHSS in the prehospital setting to select patients eligible for treatment with thrombectomy is limited. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of simple clinical selection strategies. Methods—Data from the Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke International Stroke Thrombolysis Registry (January 2012–May 2014) were analyzed retrospectively. Patients with complete breakdown of NIHSS scores and documented vessel status were included. We assessed the association of prehospital stroke scales and NIHSS symptom profiles with LAVO (internal carotid artery, carotid-terminus or M1-segment of the middle cerebral artery). Results—Among 3505 patients, 23.6% (n=827) had LAVO. Pathological finding on the NIHSS item best gaze was strongly associated with LAVO (adjusted odds ratio 4.5, 95% confidence interval 3.8–5.3). All 3 face–arm–speech–time test (FAST) items identified LAVO with high sensitivity. Addition of the item gaze to the original FAST score (G-FAST) or high scores on other simplified stroke scales increased specificity. The NIHSS symptom profiles representing total anterior syndromes showed a 10-fold increased likelihood for LAVO compared with a nonspecific clinical profile. If compared with an NIHSS threshold of ≥6, the prehospital stroke scales performed similarly or even better without losing sensitivity. Conclusions—Simple modification of the face–arm–speech–time score or evaluating the NIHSS symptom profile may help to stratify patients’ risk of LAVO and to identify individuals who deserve rapid transfer to comprehensive stroke centers. Prospective validation in the prehospital setting is required