Perceived benefits of complementary and alternative medicine: A whole systems research perspective

The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits associated with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments from the patients’ perspective using a whole systems research approach as a guiding framework. We conducted five focus groups of six to eight participants each, with users of CAM recruited through experienced CAM providers and clinics. Eligible participants were aged 21 or older, had used CAM in the last 12 months, and believed the treatment to be beneficial. The focus group discussions were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed through a qualitative content analysis. Responses were inductively coded for common themes, and then placed into broader conceptual categories reflecting the CAM outcome domains suggested by Verhoef and colleagues. Participants described physical health benefits including symptom relief and improved function, and positive psychological benefits such as improved coping and resilience. Social health benefits that arose from the positive aspects of the patient-practitioner relationship were also reported, including support and advocacy. In addition, participants identified empowerment, increased hope and spiritual growth as results of receiving CAM treatments. A new behavioral health outcome domain emerged as participants reported that CAM use had fostered behavioral changes such as increased exercise, smoking cessation and improving their diets. These patient-reported benefits of CAM treatment are consistent with the outcome model proposed by Verhoef and colleagues, and extend this model by identifying a new outcome domain—behavioral health outcome. The findings provide insight and direction for the development of outcome and process measures to evaluate CAM treatment effects

Linear Rashba Model of a Hydrogenic Donor Impurity in GaAs/GaAlAs Quantum Wells

The Rashba spin-orbit splitting of a hydrogenic donor impurity in GaAs/GaAlAs quantum wells is investigated theoretically in the framework of effective-mass envelope function theory. The Rashba effect near the interface between GaAs and GaAlAs is assumed to be a linear relation with the distance from the quantum well side. We find that the splitting energy of the excited state is larger and less dependent on the position of the impurity than that of the ground state. Our results are useful for the application of Rashba spin-orbit coupling to photoelectric devices

Acute Treatment Effects on GFR in Randomized Clinical Trials of Kidney Disease Progression

Background: Acute changes in GFR can occur after initiation of interventions targeting progression of CKD. These acute changes complicate the interpretation of long-term treatment effects. Methods: To assess the magnitude and consistency of acute effects in randomized clinical trials and explore factors that might affect them, we performed a meta-analysis of 53 randomized clinical trials for CKD progression, enrolling 56,413 participants with at least one estimated GFR measurement by 6 months after randomization. We defined acute treatment effects as the mean difference in GFR slope from baseline to 3 months between randomized groups. We performed univariable and multivariable metaregression to assess the effect of intervention type, disease state, baseline GFR, and albuminuria on the magnitude of acute effects. Results: The mean acute effect across all studies was 20.21 ml/min per 1.73 m2 (95% confidence interval, 20.63 to 0.22) over 3 months, with substantial heterogeneity across interventions (95% coverage interval across studies, 22.50 to 12.08 ml/min per 1.73 m2). We observed negative average acute effects in renin angiotensin system blockade, BP lowering, and sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor trials, and positive acute effects in trials of immunosuppressive agents. Larger negative acute effects were observed in trials with a higher mean baseline GFR. Conclusion: The magnitude and consistency of acute GFR effects vary across different interventions, and are larger at higher baseline GFR. Understanding the nature and magnitude of acute effects can help inform the optimal design of randomized clinical trials evaluating disease progression in CKD

The Inherent Tracer Fingerprint of Captured CO2.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the only currently available technology that can directly reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions arising from fossil fuel combustion. Monitoring and verification of CO2 stored in geological reservoirs will be a regulatory requirement and so the development of reliable monitoring techniques is essential. The isotopic and trace gas composition - the inherent fingerprint - of captured CO2 streams is a potentially powerful, low cost geochemical technique for tracking the fate of injected gas in CCS projects; carbon and oxygen isotopes, in particular, have been used as geochemical tracers in a number of pilot CO2 storage sites, and noble gases are known to be powerful tracers of natural CO2 migration. However, the inherent tracer fingerprint in captured CO2 streams has yet to be robustly investigated and documented and key questions remain, including how consistent is the fingerprint, what controls it, and will it be retained en route to and within the storage reservoir? Here we present the first systematic measurements of the carbon and oxygen isotopes and the trace noble gas composition of anthropogenic CO2 captured from combustion power stations and fertiliser plants. The analysed CO2 is derived from coal, biomass and natural gas feedstocks, using amine capture, oxyfuel and gasification processes, from six different CO2 capture plants spanning four different countries. We find that δ13C values are primarily controlled by the δ13C of the feedstock while δ18O values are predominantly similar to atmospheric O2. Noble gases are of low concentration and exhibit relative element abundances different to expected reservoir baselines and air, with isotopic compositions that are similar to air or fractionated air. The use of inherent tracers for monitoring and verification was provisionally assessed by analysing CO2 samples produced from two field storage sites after CO2 injection. These experiments at Otway, Australia, and Aquistore, Canada, highlight the need for reliable baseline data. Noble gas data indicates noble gas stripping of the formation water and entrainment of Kr and Xe from an earlier injection experiment at Otway, and inheritance of a distinctive crustal radiogenic noble gas fingerprint at Aquistore. This fingerprint can be used to identify unplanned migration of the CO2 to the shallow subsurface or surface

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Narrative inquiry into (re)imagining alternative schools: a case study of Kevin Gonzales.

Although there are many alternative schools that strive for the successful education for their students, negative images of alternative schools persist. While some alternative schools are viewed as “idealistic havens,” many are viewed as “dumping grounds,” or “juvenile detention centers.” Employing narrative inquiry, this article interrogates how a student, Kevin Gonzales, experiences his alternative education and raises questions about the role of alternative schools. Kevin Gonzales’s story is presented in a literary form of biographical journal to provide a “metaphoric loft” that helps us imagine other students like Kevin. This, in turn, provokes us to examine our current educational practice, and to (re)imagine ways in which alternative education can provide the best possible educational experiences for disenfranchised students who are increasingly underserved by the public education system

A measurement of the neutron to 199Hg magnetic moment ratio

The neutron gyromagnetic ratio has been measured relative to that of the 199Hg atom with an uncertainty of 0.8 ppm. We employed an apparatus where ultracold neutrons and mercury atoms are stored in the same volume and report the result γn/γHg=3.8424574(30)

Racial discrimination, the superwoman schema, and allostatic load: exploring an integrative stress-coping model among African American women

Racial discrimination has been linked to allostatic load (i.e., cumulative biological stress) among African American women. However, limited attention has been given to psychosocial processes involved in the stress response—critical for understanding biological pathways to health—in studies examining racial discrimination as a social determinant of health. We examined whether the superwoman schema (SWS), a multidimensional culture-specific framework characterizing psychosocial responses to stress among African American women, modifies the association between racial discrimination and allostatic load. We used purposive sampling to recruit a community sample of African American women ages 30–50 from five San Francisco Bay Area counties (n = 208). Path analysis was used to test for interactions while accounting for the covariance among SWS subscales using both linear and quadratic models. Significant interactions were observed between racial discrimination and four of the five SWS subscales. Feeling obligated to present an image of strength and an obligation to suppress emotions were each protective whereas feeling an intense motivation to succeed and feeling an obligation to help others exacerbated the independent health risk associated with experiencing racial discrimination. Our findings affirm the need to consider individual variability in coping and potentially other psychosocial processes involved in the stress response process, and offer several insights that may help elucidate the mechanisms by which racial discrimination gets “under the skin.