2,372 research outputs found
TREATMENT STRATEGY AND LONG-TERM MORTALITY IN FEMALE PATIENTS WITH NON-ST-ELEVATION ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME; A SUBSTUDY FROM THE ICTUS TRIAL
Stormiest winter on record for Ireland and UK
Meteorological agencies of Ireland and the UK have confirmed that winter (December to
February) 2013-14 (W2013/14) set records for precipitation totals and the occurrence of
extreme wind speeds1,2,3. Less clear is whether storminess (characterised as the frequency
and intensity of cyclones) during W2013/14 was equally unprecedented. We assess multidecadal
variations in storminess by considering frequency and intensity together and find
that W2013/14 was indeed exceptional. Given the potential societal impacts there is clearly
a need to better understand the processes driving extreme cyclonic activity in the North
Atlantic (NA)
Two-Loop Soft Corrections and Resummation of the Thrust Distribution in the Dijet Region
The thrust distribution in electron-positron annihilation is a classical
precision QCD observable. Using renormalization group (RG) evolution in Laplace
space, we perform the resummation of logarithmically enhanced corrections in
the dijet limit, to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL)
accuracy. We independently derive the two-loop soft function for the thrust
distribution and extract an analytical expression for the NNLL resummation
coefficient . To combine the resummed expressions with the fixed-order
results, we derive the -matching and -matching of the NNLL
approximation to the fixed-order NNLO distribution.Comment: 50 pages, 12 figures, 1 table. Few minor changes. Version accepted
for publication in JHE
The effect of stress on sleep quality in teenagers, the analysis of metal contamination due to heaps of steel-slag accumulation in southern Madrid (Spain), and a review of the mechanisms of glutamine action during severe illnesses
Detection of covert lesions in focal epilepsy using computational analysis of multimodal magnetic resonance imaging data
Objective: To compare the location of suspect lesions detected by computational
analysis of multimodal magnetic resonance imaging data with areas of seizure onset,
early propagation, and interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) identified with stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) in a cohort of patients with medically refractory
focal epilepsy and radiologically normal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.
Methods: We developed a method of lesion detection using computational analysis
of multimodal MRI data in a cohort of 62 control subjects, and 42 patients with focal
epilepsy and MRI-visible lesions. We then applied it to detect covert lesions in 27
focal epilepsy patients with radiologically normal MRI scans, comparing our findings
with the areas of seizure onset, early propagation, and IEDs identified at SEEG.
Results: Seizure-onset zones (SoZs) were identified at SEEG in 18 of the 27 patients
(67%) with radiologically normal MRI scans. In 11 of these 18 cases (61%), concordant abnormalities were detected by our method. In the remaining seven cases, either
early seizure propagation or IEDs were observed within the abnormalities detected, or
there were additional areas of imaging abnormalities found by our method that were
not sampled at SEEG. In one of the nine patients (11%) in whom SEEG was inconclusive, an abnormality, which may have been involved in seizures, was identified by
our method and was not sampled at SEEG.
Significance: Computational analysis of multimodal MRI data revealed covert abnormalities in the majority of patients with refractory focal epilepsy and radiologically normal MRI that co-located with SEEG defined zones of seizure onset. The
method could help identify areas that should be targeted with SEEG when considering epilepsy surgery
Small Molecule Glycomimetics Inhibit Vascular Calcification via c-Met/Notch3/HES1 Signalling
© Copyright by the Author(s). Published by Cell Physiol Biochem Press. BACKGROUND/AIMS: Vascular calcification represents a huge clinical problem contributing to adverse cardiovascular events, with no effective treatment currently available. Upregulation of hepatocyte growth factor has been linked with vascular calcification, and thus, represent a potential target in the development of a novel therapeutic strategy. Glycomimetics have been shown to interrupt HGF-receptor signalling, therefore this study investigated the effect of novel glycomimetics on osteogenic signalling and vascular calcification in vitro. METHODS: Primary human vascular smooth muscle cells (HVSMCs) were induced by β-glycerophosphate (β-GP) and treated with 4 glycomimetic compounds (C1-C4). The effect of β-GP and C1-C4 on alkaline phosphatase (ALP), osteogenic markers and c-Met/Notch3/HES1 signalling was determined using colorimetric assays, qRT-PCR and western blotting respectively. RESULTS: C1-C4 significantly attenuated β-GP-induced calcification, as shown by Alizarin Red S staining and calcium content by day 14. In addition, C1-C4 reduced ALP activity and prevented upregulation of the osteogenic markers, BMP-2, Runx2, Msx2 and OPN. Furthermore, β-GP increased c-Met phosphorylation at day 21, an effect ameliorated by C2 and C4 and the c-Met inhibitor, crizotinib. We next interrogated the effects of the Notch inhibitor DAPT and confirmed an inhibition of β-GP up-regulated Notch3 protein by C2, DAPT and crizotinib compared to controls. Hes-1 protein upregulation by β-GP, was also significantly downregulated by C2 and DAPT. GOLD docking analysis identified a potential binding interaction of C1-C4 to HGF which will be investigated further. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that glycomimetics have potent anti-calcification properties acting via HGF/c-Met and Notch signalling
Advanced diffusion imaging sequences could aid assessing patients with focal cortical dysplasia and epilepsy
Malformations of cortical development (MCD), particularly focal cortical dysplasia (FCD), are a common cause of refractory epilepsy but are often invisible on structural imaging. NODDI (neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging) is an advanced diffusion imaging technique that provides additional information on tissue microstructure, including intracellular volume fraction (ICVF), a marker of neurite density. We applied this technique in 5 patients with suspected dysplasia to show that the additional parameters are compatible with the underlying disrupted tissue microstructure and could assist in the identification of the affected area. The consistent finding was reduced ICVF in the area of dysplasia. In one patient, an area of reduced ICVF and increased fibre dispersion was identified that was not originally seen on the structural imaging. The focal reduction in ICVF on imaging is compatible with previous iontophoretic data in surgical specimens, was more conspicuous than on other clinical or diffusion images (supported by an increased contrast-to-noise ratio) and more localised than on previous DTI studies. NODDI may therefore assist the clinical identification and localisation of FCD in patients with epilepsy. Future studies will assess this technique in a larger cohort including MRI negative patients
Form factors at strong coupling via a Y-system
We compute form factors in planar N=4 Super Yang-Mills at strong coupling.
Namely we consider the overlap between an operator insertion and 2n gluons.
Through the gauge/string duality these are given by minimal surfaces in AdS
space. The surfaces end on an infinite periodic sequence of null segments at
the boundary of AdS. We consider surfaces that can be embedded in AdS_3. We
derive set of functional equations for the cross ratios as functions of the
spectral parameter. These equations are of the form of a Y-system. The integral
form of the Y-system has Thermodynamics Bethe Ansatz form. The area is given by
the free energy of the TBA system or critical value of Yang-Yang functional. We
consider a restricted set of operators which have small conformal dimension
GRB jet structure and the jet break
We investigate the shape of the jet break in within-beam gamma-ray burst (GRB) optical afterglows for various lateral jet structure profiles. We consider cases with and without lateral spreading and a range of inclinations within the jet core half-opening angle, θc. We fit model and observed afterglow light curves with a smoothly-broken power-law function with a free-parameter κ that describes the sharpness of the break. We find that the jet break is sharper (κ is greater) when lateral spreading is included than in the absence of lateral spreading. For profiles with a sharp-edged core, the sharpness parameter has a broad range of 0.1 ≲ κ ≲ 4.6, whereas profiles with a smooth-edged core have a narrower range of 0.1 ≲ κ ≲ 2.2 when models both with and without lateral spreading are included. For sharp-edged jets, the jet break sharpness depends strongly on the inclination of the system within θc, whereas for smooth-edged jets, κ is more strongly dependent on the size of θc. Using a sample of 20 GRBs, we find 9 candidate smooth-edged jet structures and 8 candidate sharp-edged jet structures, while the remaining 3 are consistent with either. The shape of the jet break, as measured by the sharpness parameter κ, can be used as an initial check for the presence of lateral structure in within-beam GRBs where the afterglow is well-sampled at and around the jet-break time
Superluminal motion of a relativistic jet in the neutron star merger GW170817
The binary neutron star merger GW170817 was accompanied by radiation across
the electromagnetic spectrum and localized to the galaxy NGC 4993 at a distance
of 41+/-3 Mpc. The radio and X-ray afterglows of GW170817 exhibited delayed
onset, a gradual rise in the emission with time as t^0.8, a peak at about 150
days post-merger, followed by a relatively rapid decline. To date, various
models have been proposed to explain the afterglow emission, including a
choked-jet cocoon and a successful-jet cocoon (a.k.a. structured jet). However,
the observational data have remained inconclusive as to whether GW170817
launched a successful relativistic jet. Here we show, through Very Long
Baseline Interferometry, that the compact radio source associated with GW170817
exhibits superluminal motion between two epochs at 75 and 230 days post-merger.
This measurement breaks the degeneracy between the models and indicates that,
while the early-time radio emission was powered by a wider-angle outflow
(cocoon), the late-time emission was most likely dominated by an energetic and
narrowly-collimated jet, with an opening angle of <5 degrees, and observed from
a viewing angle of about 20 degrees. The imaging of a collimated relativistic
outflow emerging from GW170817 adds substantial weight to the growing evidence
linking binary neutron star mergers and short gamma-ray bursts.Comment: 42 pages, 4 figures (main text), 2 figures (supplementary text), 2
tables. Referee and editor comments incorporate
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