938 research outputs found
Heart Rate Variability and Recurrent Stroke and Myocardial Infarction in Patients With Acute Mild to Moderate Stroke
Objectives: In patients with acute ischemic stroke, reduced heart rate variability (HRV) may indicate poor outcome. We tested whether HRV in the acute phase of stroke is associated with higher rates of mortality, recurrent stroke, myocardial infarction (MI) or functional outcome.
Materials and Methods: Patients with acute mild to moderate ischemic stroke without known atrial fibrillation were prospectively enrolled to the investigator-initiated Heart and Brain interfaces in Acute Ischemic Stroke (HEBRAS) study (NCT 02142413). HRV parameters were assessed during the in-hospital stay using a 10-min section of each patient's ECG recording at day- and nighttime, calculating time and frequency domain HRV parameters. Frequency of a combined endpoint of recurrent stroke, MI or death of any cause and the respective individual events were assessed 12 months after the index stroke. Patients' functional outcome was measured by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 12 months.
Results: We included 308 patients (37% female, median NIHSS = 2 on admission, median age 69 years). Complete follow-up was achieved in 286/308 (93%) patients. At 12 months, 32 (9.5%), 5 (1.7%) and 13 (3.7%) patients had suffered a recurrent stroke, MI or death, respectively. After adjustment for age, sex, stroke severity and vascular risk factors, there was no significant association between HRV and recurrent stroke, MI, death or the combined endpoint. We did not find a significant impact of HRV on a mRS ⼠2 12 months after the index stroke.
Conclusion: HRV did not predict recurrent vascular events in patients with acute mild to moderate ischemic stroke
Cardiac Troponin and Recurrent Major Vascular Events after Minor Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack
Objective: This study was undertaken to investigate whether high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) is associated with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with minor stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), and whether this association differs after risk stratification based on the Age, Blood Pressure, Clinical Features, Duration of Symptoms, Diabetes (ABCD2 ) score.
Methods: INSPiRE-TMS was a randomized controlled trial allocating patients with minor stroke or TIA to an intensified support program or conventional care. In this post hoc analysis, participants were categorized using hs-cTnT levels (5th generation; Roche Diagnostics, Manheim, Germany; 99th percentile upper reference limit [URL] = 14ng/l). Vascular risk was stratified using the ABCD2 score (lower risk = 0-5 vs higher risk = 6-7). Cox proportional hazard regression was performed using covariate adjustment and propensity score matching (PSM) for the association between hs-cTnT and MACE (stroke/nonfatal coronary event/vascular death).
Results: Among 889 patients (mean age = 70 years, 37% female), MACE occurred in 153 patients (17.2%) during a mean follow-up of 3.2 years. hs-cTnT was associated with MACE (9.3%/yr, >URL vs 4.4%/yr, â¤URL, adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.63 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.13-2.35], adjusted HR [Q4 vs Q1 ] = 2.57 [95% CI = 1.35-4.97], adjusted HR [log-transformed] = 2.31 [95% CI = 1.37-3.89]). This association remained after PSM (adjusted HR = 1.76 [95% CI = 1.14-2.72]). There was a significant interaction between hs-cTnT and ABCD2 category for MACE occurrence (pinteraction = 0.04). In the lower risk category, MACE rate was 9.5%/yr in patients with hs-cTnT > URL, which was higher than in those â¤URL (3.8%/yr) and similar to the overall rate in the higher risk category.
Interpretation: hs-cTnT levels are associated with incident MACE within 3 years after minor stroke or TIA and may help to identify high-risk individuals otherwise deemed at lower risk based on the ABCD2 score. If confirmed in independent validation studies, this might warrant intensified secondary prevention measures and cardiac diagnostics in stroke patients with elevated hs-cTnT
Nuclear Structure-Dependent Radiative Corrections to the Hydrogen Hyperfine Splitting
Radiative corrections to the Zemach contribution of the hydrogen hyperfine
splitting are calculated. Their contributions amount to ppm to the
HFS. The radiative recoil corrections are estimated to be ppm and
heavy particle vacuum polarization shifts the HFS by ppm. The status
of the nuclear-dependent contributions are considered. From the comparison of
theory and experiment the proton polarizability contribution of ppm is
found. The nuclear structure-dependent corrections to the difference
are also obtained.Comment: 19 pages, 3 tables, 2 Postscript figure
Proton polarizability contribution to the hyperfine splitting in muonic hydrogen
The contribution of the proton polarizability to the ground state hyperfine
splitting in muonic hydrogen is evaluated on the basis of modern experimental
and theoretical results on the proton polarized structure functions. The value
of this correction is equal to 4.6(8)\cdot 10^{-4} times the Fermi splitting
E_F.Comment: 10 pages (revtex), 5 figure
Evidence that Differences in Fructosamine-3-Kinase Activity May be Associated with the Glycation Gap in Human Diabetes
The phenomenon of a discrepancy between glycated haemoglobin levels and other indicators of average glycaemia may be due to many factors but can be measured as the glycation gap (GGap). This GGap is associated with differences in complications in patients with diabetes and may possibly be explained by dissimilarities in deglycation in turn leading to altered production of Advanced Glycation End (AGE) products. We hypothesised that variations in the level of the deglycating enzyme Fructosamine-3-kinase (FN3K) might be associated with the GGap. We measured erythrocyte FN3K concentrations and enzyme activity in a population dichotomised for a large positive or negative GGap. FN3K protein was higher and we found a striking 3-fold greater activity (323%) at any given FN3K protein level in the erythrocytes of the negative compared with positive GGap groups. This was associated with lower AGE levels in the negative GGap group (79%), lower pro-inflammatory adipokines (Leptin/Adiponectin ratio) (73%) and much lower pro-thrombotic PAI-1 levels (19%). We conclude that FN3K may play a key role in the GGap and thus diabetes complications such that FN3K may be potential predictor of the risk of diabetes complications. Pharmacological modifications of its activity may provide a novel approach to their prevention
Proton Zemach radius from measurements of the hyperfine splitting of hydrogen and muonic hydrogen
While measurements of the hyperfine structure of hydrogen-like atoms are
traditionally regarded as test of bound-state QED, we assume that theoretical
QED predictions are accurate and discuss the information about the
electromagnetic structure of protons that could be extracted from the
experimental values of the ground state hyperfine splitting in hydrogen and
muonic hydrogen. Using recent theoretical results on the proton polarizability
effects and the experimental hydrogen hyperfine splitting we obtain for the
Zemach radius of the proton the value 1.040(16) fm. We compare it to the
various theoretical estimates the uncertainty of which is shown to be larger
that 0.016 fm. This point of view gives quite convincing arguments in support
of projects to measure the hyperfine splitting of muonic hydrogen.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Quantum Ballistic Evolution in Quantum Mechanics: Application to Quantum Computers
Quantum computers are important examples of processes whose evolution can be
described in terms of iterations of single step operators or their adjoints.
Based on this, Hamiltonian evolution of processes with associated step
operators is investigated here. The main limitation of this paper is to
processes which evolve quantum ballistically, i.e. motion restricted to a
collection of nonintersecting or distinct paths on an arbitrary basis. The main
goal of this paper is proof of a theorem which gives necessary and sufficient
conditions that T must satisfy so that there exists a Hamiltonian description
of quantum ballistic evolution for the process, namely, that T is a partial
isometry and is orthogonality preserving and stable on some basis. Simple
examples of quantum ballistic evolution for quantum Turing machines with one
and with more than one type of elementary step are discussed. It is seen that
for nondeterministic machines the basis set can be quite complex with much
entanglement present. It is also proved that, given a step operator T for an
arbitrary deterministic quantum Turing machine, it is decidable if T is stable
and orthogonality preserving, and if quantum ballistic evolution is possible.
The proof fails if T is a step operator for a nondeterministic machine. It is
an open question if such a decision procedure exists for nondeterministic
machines. This problem does not occur in classical mechanics.Comment: 37 pages Latexwith 2 postscript figures tar+gzip+uuencoded, to be
published in Phys. Rev.
Muonic hydrogen ground state hyperfine splitting
Corrections of orders alpha^5, alpha^6 are calculated in the hyperfine
splitting of the muonic hydrogen ground state. The nuclear structure effects
are taken into account in the one- and two-loop Feynman amplitudes by means of
the proton electromagnetic form factors. The modification of the hyperfine
splitting part of the Breit potential due to the electron vacuum polarization
is considered. Total numerical value of the 1S state hyperfine splitting
182.638 meV in the (mu p) can play the role of proper estimation for the
corresponding experiment with the accuracy 30 ppm.Comment: 18 pages, Talk presented at the 11th Lomonosov Conference on
Elementary Particle Physics, Moscow State University, August 200
Apheresis therapies for NMOSD attacks A retrospective study of 207 therapeutic interventions
Objective To analyze whether 1 of the 2 apheresis techniques, therapeutic plasma exchange (PE) or immunoadsorption (IA), is superior in treating neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) attacks and to identify predictive factors for complete remission (CR). Methods This retrospective cohort study was based on the registry of the German Neuromyelitis Optica Study Group, a nationwide network established in 2008. It recruited patients with neuromyelitis optica diagnosed according to the 2006 Wingerchuk criteria or with aquaporin-4 (AQP4-ab)-antibody-seropositive NMOSD treated at 6 regional hospitals and 16 tertiary referral centers until March 2013. Besides descriptive data analysis of patient and attack characteristics, generalized estimation equation (GEE) analyses were applied to compare the effectiveness of the 2 apheresis techniques. A GEE model was generated to assess predictors of outcome. Results Two hundred and seven attacks in 105 patients (87% AQP4-ab-antibody seropositive) were treated with at least 1 apheresis therapy. Neither PE nor IA was proven superior in the therapy of NMOSD attacks. CR was only achieved with early apheresis therapy. Strong predictors for CR were the use of apheresis therapy as first-line therapy (OR 12.27, 95% CI: 1.04-144.91, p = 0.047), time from onset of attack to start of therapy in days (OR 0.94, 95% CI: 0.89-0.99, p = 0.014), the presence of AQP4-abantibodies (OR 33.34, 95% CI: 1.76-631.17, p = 0.019), and monofocal attack manifestation (OR 4.71, 95% CI: 1.03-21.62, p = 0.046). Conclusion: s Our findings suggest early use of an apheresis therapy in NMOSD attacks, particularly in AQP4-ab-seropositive patients. No superiority was shown for one of the 2 apheresis techniques
Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation
Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks
produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in
2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of
the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or
electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant
Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a
simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of
fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses
below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal
mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass
difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses
of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results
significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of
fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
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