Alirocumab Reduces Total Nonfatal Cardiovascular and Fatal Events : The ODYSSEY OUTCOMES Trial

The ODYSSEY OUTCOMES (Evaluation of Cardiovascular Outcomes After an Acute Coronary Syndrome During Treatment With Alirocumab) trial compared alirocumab with placebo, added to high-intensity or maximum-tolerated statin treatment, after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in 18,924 patients. Alirocumab reduced the first occurrence of the primary composite endpoint and was associated with fewer all-cause deaths. This pre-specified analysis determined the extent to which alirocumab reduced total (first and subsequent) nonfatal cardiovascular events and all-cause deaths in ODYSSEY OUTCOMES. Hazard functions for total nonfatal cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, stroke, ischemia-driven coronary revascularization, and hospitalization for unstable angina or heart failure) and death were jointly estimated, linked by a shared frailty accounting for patient risk heterogeneity and correlated within-patient nonfatal events. An association parameter also quantified the strength of the linkage between risk of nonfatal events and death. The model provides accurate relative estimates of nonfatal event risk if nonfatal events are associated with increased risk for death. With 3,064 first and 5,425 total events, 190 fewer first and 385 fewer total nonfatal cardiovascular events or deaths were observed with alirocumab compared with placebo. Alirocumab reduced total nonfatal cardiovascular events (hazard ratio: 0.87; 95% confidence interval: 0.82 to 0.93) and death (hazard ratio: 0.83; 95% confidence interval: 0.71 to 0.97) in the presence of a strong association between nonfatal and fatal event risk. In patients with ACS, the total number of nonfatal cardiovascular events and deaths prevented with alirocumab was twice the number of first events prevented. Consequently, total event reduction is a more comprehensive metric to capture the totality of alirocumab clinical efficacy after ACS

Collectivity of dipole bands in Pb196

The lifetimes of states in two of the ΔI=1 bands in Pb196 have been measured using the Doppler shift attenuation method, and a new ΔI=1 band has been observed in this nucleus. States in the bands were populated in the reaction Er107(30Si,4n) at a beam energy of 142 MeV. Individual level lifetimes were extracted from the data by a analysis of the Doppler broadened γ-ray lineshapes. Under the assumption of pure M1 radiation, average reduced transition strengths B(M1)∼1.5 W.u. were obtained. The B(M1) values in both the ''regular'' and ''irregular'' bands exhibit similar dependence on spin. The neutron and proton configurations and nature of the collectivity in these bands is discussed

Spectroscopy of the superdeformed band in Pb196

The superdeformed band in Pb196 has been studied extensively using the reaction Er170(30Si,4n) at beam energies of 142, 146, and 151 MeV. New transitions have been added at the top and bottom of the previously known band. Gamma-ray directionsl correlations were measured for most of the transitions in the band verifying the expected stretched E2 character. The collectivity of the band has been measured using the Doppler shift attenuation method yielding an intrinsic quadrupole moment Q0 of 18.3±3.0 e b, in good agreement with theoretical predictions. The variations of the dynamic moment of inertia scrI(2) as a function of the rotational frequency Latin small letter h with strokeω have been studied and compared with cranked shell model calculations. The dependence of scrI(2) on mass for superdeformed bands in the Pb isotopes is also investigated

Liposomes in Biology and Medicine

Drug delivery systems (DDS) have become important tools for the specific delivery of a large number of drug molecules. Since their discovery in the 1960s liposomes were recognized as models to study biological membranes and as versatile DDS of both hydrophilic and lipophilic molecules. Liposomes--nanosized unilamellar phospholipid bilayer vesicles--undoubtedly represent the most extensively studied and advanced drug delivery vehicles. After a long period of research and development efforts, liposome-formulated drugs have now entered the clinics to treat cancer and systemic or local fungal infections, mainly because they are biologically inert and biocompatible and practically do not cause unwanted toxic or antigenic reactions. A novel, up-coming and promising therapy approach for the treatment of solid tumors is the depletion of macrophages, particularly tumor associated macrophages with bisphosphonate-containing liposomes. In the advent of the use of genetic material as therapeutic molecules the development of delivery systems to target such novel drug molecules to cells or to target organs becomes increasingly important. Liposomes, in particular lipid-DNA complexes termed lipoplexes, compete successfully with viral gene transfection systems in this field of application. Future DDS will mostly be based on protein, peptide and DNA therapeutics and their next generation analogs and derivatives. Due to their versatility and vast body of known properties liposome-based formulations will continue to occupy a leading role among the large selection of emerging DDS

Measurements of differential production cross sections for a Z boson in association with jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for leptophobic Z ' bosons decaying into four-lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe