Pyogenic spondylitis

Pyogenic spondylitis is a neurological and life threatening condition. It encompasses a broad range of clinical entities, including pyogenic spondylodiscitis, septic discitis, vertebral osteomyelitis, and epidural abscess. The incidence though low appears to be on the rise. The diagnosis is based on clinical, radiological, blood and tissue cultures and histopathological findings. Most of the cases can be treated non-operatively. Surgical treatment is required in 10–20% of patients. Anterior decompression, debridement and fusion are generally recommended and instrumentation is acceptable after good surgical debridement with postoperative antibiotic cover

Risk of venous thromboembolism after total hip and knee replacement in older adults with comorbidity and co-occurring comorbidities in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2003-2006)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Venous thromboembolism is a common, fatal, and costly injury which complicates major surgery in older adults. The American College of Chest Physicians recommends high potency prophylaxis regimens for individuals undergoing total hip or knee replacement (THR or TKR), but surgeons are reluctant to prescribe them due to fear of excess bleeding. Identifying a high risk cohort such as older adults with comorbidities and co-occurring comorbidities who might benefit most from high potency prophylaxis would improve how we currently perform preoperative assessment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, we identified older adults who underwent THR or TKR in the U.S. between 2003 and 2006. Our outcome was VTE, including any pulmonary embolus or deep venous thrombosis. We performed multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess the effects of comorbidities on VTE occurrence. Comorbidities under consideration included coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, and cerebrovascular disease. We also examined the impact of co-occurring comorbidities on VTE rates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CHF increased odds of VTE in both the THR cohort (OR = 3.08 95% CI 2.05-4.65) and TKR cohort (OR = 2.47 95% CI 1.95-3.14). COPD led to a 50% increase in odds in the TKR cohort (OR = 1.49 95% CI 1.31-1.70). The data did not support synergistic effect of co-occurring comorbidities with respect to VTE occurrence.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Older adults with CHF undergoing THR or TKR and with COPD undergoing TKR are at increased risk of VTE. If confirmed in other datasets, these older adults may benefit from higher potency prophylaxis.</p

Search for supersymmetric particles in scenarios with a gravitino LSP and stau NLSP

Sleptons, neutralinos and charginos were searched for in the context of scenarios where the lightest supersymmetric particle is the gravitino. It was assumed that the stau is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle. Data collected with the DELPHI detector at a centre-of-mass energy near 189 GeV were analysed combining the methods developed in previous searches at lower energies. No evidence for the production of these supersymmetric particles was found. Hence, limits were derived at 95% confidence level.Comment: 31 pages, 14 figure

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Search for pair-produced long-lived neutral particles decaying to jets in the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter in ppcollisions at √s=8TeV

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is used to search for the decay of a scalar boson to a pair of long-lived particles, neutral under the Standard Model gauge group, in 20.3fb−1of data collected in proton–proton collisions at √s=8TeV. This search is sensitive to long-lived particles that decay to Standard Model particles producing jets at the outer edge of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter or inside the hadronic calorimeter. No significant excess of events is observed. Limits are reported on the product of the scalar boson production cross section times branching ratio into long-lived neutral particles as a function of the proper lifetime of the particles. Limits are reported for boson masses from 100 GeVto 900 GeV, and a long-lived neutral particle mass from 10 GeVto 150 GeV

A Signature Inferred from Drosophila Mitotic Genes Predicts Survival of Breast Cancer Patients

Introduction: The classification of breast cancer patients into risk groups provides a powerful tool for the identification of patients who will benefit from aggressive systemic therapy. The analysis of microarray data has generated several gene expression signatures that improve diagnosis and allow risk assessment. There is also evidence that cell proliferation-related genes have a high predictive power within these signatures. Methods: We thus constructed a gene expression signature (the DM signature) using the human orthologues of 108 Drosophila melanogaster genes required for either the maintenance of chromosome integrity (36 genes) or mitotic division (72 genes). Results: The DM signature has minimal overlap with the extant signatures and is highly predictive of survival in 5 large breast cancer datasets. In addition, we show that the DM signature outperforms many widely used breast cancer signatures in predictive power, and performs comparably to other proliferation-based signatures. For most genes of the DM signature, an increased expression is negatively correlated with patient survival. The genes that provide the highest contribution to the predictive power of the DM signature are those involved in cytokinesis. Conclusion: This finding highlights cytokinesis as an important marker in breast cancer prognosis and as a possible targe

Search for neutral heavy leptons produced in ZZ decays

Weak isosinglet Neutral Heavy Leptons (νm) have been searched for using data collected by the DELPHI detector corresponding to 3.3 × 106 hadronic Z0 decays at LEP1. Four separate searches have been performed, for short-lived νm production giving monojet or acollinear jet topologies, and for long-lived νm giving detectable secondary vertices or calorimeter clusters. No indication of the existence of these particles has been found, leading to an upper limit for the branching ratio BR(Z0 → νmν̄) of about 1.3 × 10-6 at 95% confidence level for νm masses between 3.5 and 50 GeV/c2. Outside this range the limit weakens rapidly with the νm mass. The results are also interpreted in terms of limits for the single production of excited neutrinos. © Springer-Verlag 1997

The self-organizing fractal theory as a universal discovery method: the phenomenon of life

A universal discovery method potentially applicable to all disciplines studying organizational phenomena has been developed. This method takes advantage of a new form of global symmetry, namely, scale-invariance of self-organizational dynamics of energy/matter at all levels of organizational hierarchy, from elementary particles through cells and organisms to the Universe as a whole. The method is based on an alternative conceptualization of physical reality postulating that the energy/matter comprising the Universe is far from equilibrium, that it exists as a flow, and that it develops via self-organization in accordance with the empirical laws of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. It is postulated that the energy/matter flowing through and comprising the Universe evolves as a multiscale, self-similar structure-process, i.e., as a self-organizing fractal. This means that certain organizational structures and processes are scale-invariant and are reproduced at all levels of the organizational hierarchy. Being a form of symmetry, scale-invariance naturally lends itself to a new discovery method that allows for the deduction of missing information by comparing scale-invariant organizational patterns across different levels of the organizational hierarchy