Changes in the Care of Neurological Diseases During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Single Private Center Study in Argentina

Introduction: Healthcare systems are struggling to cope with the rapid evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Argentina, the pandemic is advancing despite prolonged lockdown measures. We aim to analyze the impact of the easing of lockdown measures in the number of visits to the emergency department (ED), and outpatient consultations (OC) to a tertiary neurological center. Methods: We compared the number of ED visits with the social mobility overtime. We also compared the number of OC, and the geographic distribution of patients' addresses between 2019 and 2020. Results: ED visits decreased 48.33% (n = 14,697 in 2019 vs. n = 7,595 in 2020). At the beginning of the lockdown, the social mobility decreased in pharmacies/groceries, and workplaces, along with a reduction in the number of ED visits. With the easing of lockdown restrictions, the social mobility decreased in residential places, slightly increased in workplaces and almost return to normal in pharmacies/groceries. Variations in ED visits correlate better with social mobility in workplaces (coef. =0.75, p < 0.001) than in groceries/pharmacies (coef. =0.68, p < 0.001). OC decreased 43%. Fourteen percent of OC were tele consults. This was associated with an increase of the geographical area of influence of our center (standard distance of 109 km in 2019 and 127 km in 2020). Conclusions: Despite an increase in social mobility, the number of ED visits and OC to an Argentinian tertiary neurological center remain worrisomely low. The pandemic catalyzed the introduction of telemedicine in our country. This has also allowed patients from distant zones to gain access to specialized neurological care.Fil: Calandri, Ismael L.. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Hawkes, Maximiliano Alberto. University of Nebraska; Estados UnidosFil: Marrodan, Mariano. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Ameriso, Sebastian Francisco. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Correale, Jorge. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Allegri, Ricardo Francisco. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia. Instituto de Neurociencias - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Neurociencias; Argentin

The impact of an early strict nationwide lockdown on the pattern of consultation for neurological diseases

A massive disruption of healthcare systems, a profound economic depressionand a distressing social situation [1]. Most countries enteredinto a lockdown in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus once theywere already suffering a serious hit. Based on the experience observed in Europe, Argentina closed its borders on March 15thonly one week afterthe firstperson died of COVID-19, and implemented an early nationwidelockdown limiting the circulation of 90% of its population, on March20th, with 128 cases and 3 deaths of COVID-19 [2-3]. Most health careresources were reassigned in anticipation of a catastrophic situation. Themassive communication media and the medical community warned thepopulation about the necessity of avoiding ?non-urgent? consults to theemergency rooms to avoid the overload of the system.To evaluate the impact of the national lockdown policy during theCOVID-19 pandemic,we compared the pattern of consultation to a tertiaryneurological center.Patients who attended to our ED have primaryneurological complaints or presented chronic neurological conditionswith varied medical problems. The period evaluated was the quarantineperiod (March 20st to April 26th 2020) with the same timeframeof 2019.Descriptive summaries are presented as mean or median (standarddeviation, SD) for continuous variables and proportions for categoricalvariables. The t-test or Mann-Whitney test were used to comparequantitative variables as appropriate. Pearson Chi-Square test or Fisher´sexact test were used to comparefrequencies of categorical variables asappropriate.A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant. The statisticalanalysis was performed with R-3.6.1, and the tydiverse, ggpubr, andggplot2 packages. This research has been approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee.Fil: Calandri, I.L.. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Hawkes, Maximiliano Alberto. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Marrodán, María Dolores. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Ameriso, Sebastian Francisco. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Correale, Jorge. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Allegri, Ricardo Francisco. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Measurement of the dependence of transverse energy production at large pseudorapidity on the hard-scattering kinematics of proton-proton collisions at √s=2.76 TeV with ATLAS

The relationship between jet production in the central region and the underlying-event activity in a pseudorapidity-separated region is studied in 4.0 pb-1 of s=2.76 TeV pp collision data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The underlying event is characterised through measurements of the average value of the sum of the transverse energy at large pseudorapidity downstream of one of the protons, which are reported here as a function of hard-scattering kinematic variables. The hard scattering is characterised by the average transverse momentum and pseudorapidity of the two highest transverse momentum jets in the event. The dijet kinematics are used to estimate, on an event-by-event basis, the scaled longitudinal momenta of the hard-scattered partons in the target and projectile beam-protons moving toward and away from the region measuring transverse energy, respectively. Transverse energy production at large pseudorapidity is observed to decrease with a linear dependence on the longitudinal momentum fraction in the target proton and to depend only weakly on that in the projectile proton. The results are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generators, which qualitatively reproduce the trends observed in data but generally underpredict the overall level of transverse energy at forward pseudorapidity

Measurements of the charge asymmetry in top-quark pair production in the dilepton final state at s √ =8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of the top-antitop quark pair production charge asymmetry in the dilepton channel, characterized by two high-pT leptons (electrons or muons), are presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3  fb−1 from pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy s√=8  TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Inclusive and differential measurements as a function of the invariant mass, transverse momentum, and longitudinal boost of the tt¯ system are performed both in the full phase space and in a fiducial phase space closely matching the detector acceptance. Two observables are studied: AℓℓC based on the selected leptons and Att¯C based on the reconstructed tt¯ final state. The inclusive asymmetries are measured in the full phase space to be AℓℓC=0.008±0.006 and Att¯C=0.021±0.016, which are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions of AℓℓC=0.0064±0.0003 and Att¯C=0.0111±0.0004

Measurement of W boson angular distributions in events with high transverse momentum jets at s√= 8 TeV using the ATLAS detector

The W boson angular distribution in events with high transverse momentum jets is measured using data collected by the ATLAS experiment from proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of . The focus is on the contributions to processes from real W emission, which is achieved by studying events where a muon is observed close to a high transverse momentum jet. At small angular separations, these contributions are expected to be large. Various theoretical models of this process are compared to the data in terms of the absolute cross-section and the angular distributions of the muon from the leptonic W decay.Fil: Aaboud, M.. Université Mohamed Premier and LPTPM; MarruecosFil: Aad, G.. Aix-Marseille Université ; FranciaFil: Abbott, B.. Oklahoma State University; Estados UnidosFil: Abdallah, J.. Academia Sinica; ChinaFil: Abdinov, O.. Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences; AzerbaiyánFil: Alconada Verzini, María Josefina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Alonso, Francisco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Arduh, Francisco Anuar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Dova, Maria Teresa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Hoya, Joaquín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Monticelli, Fernando Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Wahlberg, Hernan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Bossio Sola, Jonathan David. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Marceca, Gino. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Otero y Garzon, Gustavo Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Piegaia, Ricardo Nestor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Sacerdoti, Sabrina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Zibell. A.. Julius-Maximilians-Universität ; AlemaniaFil: Zieminska, D.. Indiana University; Estados UnidosFil: Zimine, N. I.. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research; RusiaFil: Zimmermann, C.. Universität Mainz ; AlemaniaFil: Zimmermann, S.. Albert-Ludwigs-Universität ; AlemaniaFil: Zinonos, Z.. Georg-August-Universität ; AlemaniaFil: Zinser, M.. Universität Mainz ; AlemaniaFil: Ziolkowski, M.. Universität Siegen ; AlemaniaFil: Živković, L.. University of Belgrade ; SerbiaFil: Zobernig, G.. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Zoccoli, A.. Università di Bologna ; ItaliaFil: Nedden, M. zur. Humboldt University; AlemaniaFil: Zurzolo, G.. Università di Napoli; ItaliaFil: Zwalinski, L.. Cern - European Organization For Nuclear Research; SuizaFil: The ATLAS Collaboration. No especifica

Study of the B-c(+) -> J/psi D-s(+) and Bc(+) -> J/psi D-s*(+) decays with the ATLAS detector

The decays B-c(+) -> J/psi D-s(+) and B-c(+) -> J/psi D-s*(+) are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset corresponding to integrated luminosities of 4.9 and 20.6 fb(-1) of pp collisions collected at centre-of-mass energies root s = 7 TeV and 8 TeV, respectively. Signal candidates are identified through J/psi -> mu(+)mu(-) and D-s(()*()+) -> phi pi(+)(gamma/pi(0)) decays. With a two-dimensional likelihood fit involving the B-c(+) reconstructed invariant mass and an angle between the mu(+) and D-s(+) candidate momenta in the muon pair rest frame, the yields of B-c(+) -> J/psi D-s(+) and B-c(+) -> J/psi D-s*(+), and the transverse polarisation fraction in B-c(+) -> J/psi D-s*(+) decay are measured. The transverse polarisation fraction is determined to be Gamma +/-+/-(B-c(+) -> J/psi D-s*(+))/Gamma(B-c(+) -> J/psi D-s*(+)) = 0.38 +/- 0.23 +/- 0.07, and the derived ratio of the branching fractions of the two modes is B-Bc+ -> J/psi D-s*+/B-Bc+ -> J/psi D-s(+) = 2.8(-0.8)(+1.2) +/- 0.3, where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. Finally, a sample of B-c(+) -> J/psi pi(+) decays is used to derive the ratios of branching fractions B-Bc+ -> J/psi D-s*+/B-Bc+ -> J/psi pi(+) = 3.8 +/- 1.1 +/- 0.4 +/- 0.2 and B-Bc+ -> J/psi D-s*+/B-Bc+ -> J/psi pi(+) = 10.4 +/- 3.1 +/- 1.5 +/- 0.6, where the third error corresponds to the uncertainty of the branching fraction of D-s(+) -> phi(K+ K-)pi(+) decay. The available theoretical predictions are generally consistent with the measurement

A search for an excited muon decaying to a muon and two jets in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A new search signature for excited leptons is explored. Excited muons are sought in the channel $pp \to \mu\mu^* \to \mu \mu\textrm{ jet jet}$, assuming both the production and decay occur via a contact interaction. The analysis is based on 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV taken with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No evidence of excited muons is found, and limits are set at the 95% confidence level on the cross section times branching ratio as a function of the excited-muon mass $m_{\mu^*}$. For $m_{\mu^*}$ between 1.3 TeV and 3.0 TeV, the upper limit on $\sigma B(\mu^* \to \mu q \bar{q}$) is between 0.6 and 1 fb. Limits on $\sigma B$ are converted to lower bounds on the compositeness scale $\Lambda$. In the limiting case $\Lambda = m_{\mu^*}$, excited muons with a mass below 2.9 TeV are excluded. With the same model assumptions, these limits at larger $\mu^*$ masses improve upon previous limits from traditional searches based on the gauge-mediated decay $\mu^* \to \mu \gamma$.Comment: 33 pages in total, author list starting page 16, 4 figures, 5 tables, final version published by New Journal of Physics including corrections in Erratum https://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab46ed. All figures including auxiliary are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/EXOT-2015-0

Search for anomalous electroweak production of WW/WZ in association with a high-mass dijet system in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for anomalous quartic gauge boson couplings in vector-boson scattering. The data for the analysis correspond to $20.2$ fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV $pp$ collisions, and were collected in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The search looks for the production of $WW$ or $WZ$ boson pairs accompanied by a high-mass dijet system, with one $W$ decaying leptonically, and a $W$ or $Z$ decaying hadronically. The hadronically decaying $W/Z$ is reconstructed as either two small-radius jets or one large-radius jet using jet substructure techniques. Constraints on the anomalous quartic gauge boson coupling parameters $\alpha_4$ and $\alpha_5$ are set by fitting the transverse mass of the diboson system, and the resulting 95% confidence intervals are $-0.024<\alpha_4<0.030$ and $-0.028<\alpha_5<0.033$.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 2 tables, published in Phys. Rev. D. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2015-09

Differential characteristics, stroke recurrence, and predictors of covert atrial fibrillation of embolic strokes of undetermined source

Background and purpose: Identifying embolic strokes of undetermined source (ESUS) patients likely to harbor atrial fibrillation may have diagnostic and therapeutic implications. Our aim was to examine differences between ESUS and cardioembolic strokes, to evaluate stroke recurrence rate among ESUS and to identify baseline characteristics of ESUS patients who were later diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. Materials and methods: We assessed all ischemic stroke patients admitted between June 2012 and November 2013. ESUS were compared to cardioembolic strokes at discharge. After at least 12-month follow-up, ESUS patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation were compared to those who remained as ESUS. Results: There were 236 ischemic strokes, 32.6% were ESUS. Compared to cardioembolic strokes, ESUS were younger (p < 0.0001), had milder strokes (p < 0.05), less prevalence of hypertension (p < 0.05), peripheral vascular disease (p < 0.05), and previous ischemic stroke (p < 0.05). After follow-up, 15% of ESUS patients had stroke recurrences and 12% evidenced paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. ESUS patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation in the follow-up were older (p < 0.0001), had higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p < 0.05), and were more likely to have ≥2 infarcts in the same arterial territory in the initial magnetic resonance imaging (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Older age, small-scattered infarcts on initial magnetic resonance imaging and high erythrocyte sedimentation rate levels appear to identify ESUS patients more likely to be diagnosed of atrial fibrillation during follow-up.Fil: Hawkes, Maximiliano Alberto. Clínica Mayo; Estados UnidosFil: Farez, Mauricio Franco. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Pertierra, Lucia. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Gomez Schneider, Maia Macarena. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Pastor Rueda, José M. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Ameriso, Sebastian Francisco. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; Argentin