1,783 research outputs found
Considerations for the optimal management of antibiotic therapy in elderly patients
Objectives: To maximise efficacy and minimise toxicity, special considerations are required for antibiotic prescription in elderly patients. This review aims to provide practical suggestions for the optimal management of antibiotic therapy in elderly patients. Methods: This was a narrative review. A literature search of published articles in the last 15 years on antibiotics and elderly patients was performed using the Cochrane Library and PubMed electronic databases. The three priority areas were identified: (i) pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) for optimising dosage regimens and route of administration; (ii) antibiotic dosages in some special subpopulations; and (iii) treatment considerations relating to different antibiotic classes and their adverse events. Results: Clinicians should understand the altered PK/PD of drugs in this population owing to co-morbid conditions and normal physiological changes associated with ageing. The body of evidence justifies the need for individualised dose selection, especially in patients with impaired renal and liver function. Clinicians should be aware of the major drugâdrug interactions commonly observed in the elderly as well as potential side effects. Conclusion: Antibiotic therapy in the elderly requires a comprehensive approach, including strategies to improve appropriate antibiotic prescribing, limit their use for uncomplicated infections and ensure the attainment of an optimal PK/PD target. To this purpose, further studies involving the elderly are needed to better understand the PK of antibiotics. Moreover, it is necessary to assess the role therapeutic drug monitoring in guiding antibiotic therapy in elderly patients in order to evaluate its impact on clinical outcome
Color separate singlets in annihilation
We use the method of color effective Hamiltonian to study the properties of
states in which a gluonic subsystem forms a color singlet, and we will study
the possibility that such a subsystem hadronizes as a separate unit. A parton
system can normally be subdivided into singlet subsystems in many different
ways, and one problem arises from the fact that the corresponding states are
not orthogonal. We show that if only contributions of order are
included, the problem is greatly simplified. Only a very limited number of
states are possible, and we present an orthogonalization procedure for these
states. The result is simple and intuitive and could give an estimate of the
possibility to produce color separated gluonic subsystems, if no dynamical
effects are important. We also study with a simple MC the possibility that
configurations which correspond to "short strings" are dynamically favored. The
advantage of our approach over more elaborate models is its simplicity, which
makes it easier to estimate color reconnection effects in reactions which are
more complicated than the relatively simple annihilation.Comment: Revtex, 24 pages, 7 figures; Compared to the previous version, 1 new
figure is added and Monte-Carlo results are re-analyzed, as suggested by the
referee; To appear in Phys. Rev.
A new era of wide-field submillimetre imaging: on-sky performance of SCUBA-2
SCUBA-2 is the largest submillimetre wide-field bolometric camera ever built.
This 43 square arc-minute field-of-view instrument operates at two wavelengths
(850 and 450 microns) and has been installed on the James Clerk Maxwell
Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. SCUBA-2 has been successfully commissioned and
operational for general science since October 2011. This paper presents an
overview of the on-sky performance of the instrument during and since
commissioning in mid-2011. The on-sky noise characteristics and NEPs of the 450
and 850 micron arrays, with average yields of approximately 3400 bolometers at
each wavelength, will be shown. The observing modes of the instrument and the
on-sky calibration techniques are described. The culmination of these efforts
has resulted in a scientifically powerful mapping camera with sensitivities
that allow a square degree of sky to be mapped to 10 mJy/beam rms at 850 micron
in 2 hours and 60 mJy/beam rms at 450 micron in 5 hours in the best weather.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures.SPIE Conference series 8452, Millimetre,
Submillimetre and Far-infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy VI
201
Study of color connections in annihilation
We replace in the event generator JETSET the color singlet chain connection
with the color separate state one as the interface between the hard and soft
sectors of hadronic processes. The modified generator is applied to produce the
hadronic events in annihilation. It describes the experimental data
at the same level as the original JETSET with default parameters. This should
be understood as a demonstration that color singlet chain is not the unique
color connection. We also search for the difference in special sets of
three-jet events arising from different color connections, which could subject
to further experimental test.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, Revtex
Mode structure and photon number correlations in squeezed quantum pulses
The question of efficient multimode description of optical pulses is studied.
We show that a relatively very small number of nonmonochromatic modes can be
sufficient for a complete quantum description of pulses with Gaussian
quadrature statistics. For example, a three-mode description was enough to
reproduce the experimental data of photon number correlations in optical
solitons [S. Spalter et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 786 (1998)]. This approach is
very useful for a detailed understanding of squeezing properties of soliton
pulses with the main potential for quantum communication with continuous
variables. We show how homodyne detection and/or measurements of photon number
correlations can be used to determine the quantum state of the multi-mode
field. We also discuss a possible way of physical separation of the
nonmonochromatic modes.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures; minor revisions of the text, new references; to
appear in the Phys. Rev.
Cadmium accumulation and interactions with zinc, copper, and manganese, analysed by ICP-MS in a long-term Caco-2 TC7 cell model
The influence of long-term exposure to cadmium (Cd) on essential minerals was investigated using a Caco-2
TC7 cells and a multi-analytical tool: microwave digestion and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.
Intracellular levels, effects on cadmium accumulation, distribution, and reference concentration
ranges of the following elements were determined: Na, Mg, Ca, Cr, Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, and Cd.
Results showed that Caco-2 TC7 cells incubated long-term with cadmium concentrations ranging from 0 to
10 lmol Cd/l for 5 weeks exhibited a significant increase in cadmium accumulation. Furthermore, this
accumulation was more marked in cells exposed long-term to cadmium compared with controls, and that
this exposure resulted in a significant accumulation of copper and zinc but not of the other elements
measured. Interactions of Cd with three elements: zinc, copper, and manganese were particularly studied.
Exposed to 30 lmol/l of the element, manganese showed the highest inhibition and copper the lowest on
cadmium intracellular accumulation but Zn, Cu, and Mn behave differently in terms of their mutual
competition with Cd. Indeed, increasing cadmium in the culture medium resulted in a gradual and significant
increase in the accumulation of zinc. There was a significant decrease in manganese from 5 lmol
Cd/l exposure, and no variation was observed with copper.
Abbreviation: AAS â Atomic absorption spectrometry; CRMâ Certified reference material; PBS â Phosphate
buffered saline without calcium and magnesium; DMEM â Dubelccoâs modified Eagleâs medium
Signal and Backgrounds for Leptoquarks at the LHC
We study the potentiality of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to unravel
the existence of first generation scalar leptoquarks.
Working with the most general invariant leptoquark
interactions, we analyze in detail the signals and backgrounds that lead to a
final state containing a pair and jets. Our results indicate that a
machine like the LHC will be able to discover leptoquarks with masses up to
2--3 TeV depending on their couplings.Comment: 37 pages, revtex, uses epsfig.sty (included), 15 figures (included
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