The prevalence of cocaine-associated chest pain in a London hospital

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of cocaine misuse in patients presenting to an Accident and Emergency department with chest pain. 4 of 12 FAEM abstracts www.emjonline.co

The Solar Neighborhood VIII: Discovery of New High Proper Motion Nearby Stars Using the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey

Five new objects with proper motions between 1.0 arcsec/yr and 2.6 arcsec/yr have been discovered via a new RECONS search for high proper motion stars utilizing the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey. The first portion of the search, discussed here, is centered on the south celestial pole and covers declinations -90 degrees to -57.5 degrees. Photographic photometry from SuperCOSMOS and JHKs near-infrared photometry from 2MASS for stars nearer than 10 pc are combined to provide a suite of new M_Ks-color relations useful for estimating distances to main sequence stars. These relations are then used to derive distances to the new proper motion objects as well as previously known stars with mu >= 1.0 arcsec/yr (many of which have no trigonometric parallaxes) recovered during this phase of the survey. Four of the five new stars have red dwarf colors, while one is a nearby white dwarf. Two of the red dwarfs are likely to be within the RECONS 10 pc sample, and the white dwarf probably lies between 15 and 25 pc. Among the 23 known stars recovered during the search, there are three additional candidates for the RECONS sample that have no trigonometric parallaxes.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy Journa

Effect of alirocumab on lipids and lipoproteins in individuals with metabolic syndrome without diabetes: Pooled data from 10 phase 3 trials.

AimsThis analysis assessed the efficacy and safety of alirocumab, a proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitor, in patients with or without metabolic syndrome (MetS) using pooled data from 10 phase 3 ODYSSEY trials.Materials and methodsData from 4983 randomized patients (1940 with MetS; 1642 with diabetes excluded) were assessed in subgroups by MetS status. Efficacy data were analysed in 4 pools per study design: 2 placebo-controlled pools (1 using alirocumab 150 mg every 2 weeks [Q2W], 1 using 75/150 mg Q2W) with background statin, and 2 ezetimibe-controlled pools (both alirocumab 75/150 mg Q2W), 1 with and 1 without background statin. Alirocumab 75/150 mg indicates possible dose increase from 75 to 150 mg at Week 12 based on Week 8 LDL-C.ResultsLDL-C percentage reduction from baseline at Week 24 with alirocumab was 63.9% (MetS) and 56.8% (non-MetS) in the pool of alirocumab 150 mg Q2W, and 42.2% to 52.2% (MetS) and 45.0% to 52.6% (non-MetS) in 3 pools using 75/150 mg Q2W. Levels of other lipid and lipoprotein parameters were also improved with alirocumab treatment, including apolipoprotein B, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C), lipoprotein(a) and HDL-C. Overall, the percentage change at Week 24 in LDL-C and other lipids and lipoproteins did not vary by MetS status. Adverse event rates were generally similar between treatment groups, regardless of MetS status; injection-site reactions occurred more frequently in alirocumab vs control groups.ConclusionsAcross study pools, alirocumab-associated reductions in LDL-C, apolipoprotein B, and non-HDL-C were significant vs control, and did not vary by MetS status

Exploring the Referral and Usage of Science Fiction in HCI Literature

Research on science fiction (sci-fi) in scientific publications has indicated the usage of sci-fi stories, movies or shows to inspire novel Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research. Yet no studies have analysed sci-fi in a top-ranked computer science conference at present. For that reason, we examine the CHI main track for the presence and nature of sci-fi referrals in relationship to HCI research. We search for six sci-fi terms in a dataset of 5812 CHI main proceedings and code the context of 175 sci-fi referrals in 83 papers indexed in the CHI main track. In our results, we categorize these papers into five contemporary HCI research themes wherein sci-fi and HCI interconnect: 1) Theoretical Design Research; 2) New Interactions; 3) Human-Body Modification or Extension; 4) Human-Robot Interaction and Artificial Intelligence; and 5) Visions of Computing and HCI. In conclusion, we discuss results and implications located in the promising arena of sci-fi and HCI research.Comment: v1: 20 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, HCI International 2018 accepted submission v2: 20 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, added link/doi for Springer proceedin

Metamagnetism and soliton excitations in the modulated ferromagnetic Ising chain CoV2O6

We report a combination of physical property and neutron scattering measurements for polycrystalline samples of the one-dimensional spin chain compound CoV2O6. Heat capacity measurements show that an effective S = 1/2 state is found at low temperatures and that magnetic fluctuations persist up to 6.Tn. Above Tn = 6.3 K, measurements of the magnetic susceptibility as a function of T and H show that the nearest neighbour exchange is ferromagnetic. In the ordered state, we have discovered a crossover from a metamagnet with strong fluctuations between 5 K and Tn to a state with a 1/3 magnetisation plateau at 2 < T < 5 K. We use neutron powder diffraction measurements to show that the AFM state has incommensurate long range order and inelastic time of flight neutron scattering to examine the magnetic fluctuations as a function of temperature. Above Tn, we find two broad bands between 3.5 and 5 meV and thermally activated low energy features which correspond to transitions within these bands. These features show that the excitations are deconfined solitons rather than the static spin reversals predicted for a uniform FM Ising spin chain. Below Tn, we find a ladder of states due to the confining effect of the internal field. A region of weak confinement below Tn, but above 5 K, is identified which may correspond to a crossover between 2D and 3D magnetic ordering.Comment: Expanded version, includes results from arXiv:0804.2966 and neutron powder diffraction. To appear in PR

The Evolution of the Galaxy Cluster Luminosity-Temperature Relation

We analyzed the luminosity-temperature (L-T) relation for 2 samples of galaxy clusters which have all been observed by the ASCA satellite. We used 32 high redshift clusters (0.3<z<0.6), 53 low redshift clusters (z<0.3), and also the combination of the low and high redshift datasets. We assumed a power law relation between the bolometric luminosity of the galaxy cluster and its integrated temperature and redshift (L_{bol,44}=C*T^alpha*(1+z)^A). The results are consistent, independent of cosmology, with previous estimates of L$\sim$T$^3$ found by other authors. We observed weak or zero evolution.Comment: 20 pages, Latex, 11 figures, GIF forma

THYMUS-MARROW IMMUNOCOMPETENCE : V. HYDROCORTISONE-RESISTANT CELLS AND PROCESSES IN THE HEMOLYTIC ANTIBODY RESPONSE OF MICE

Corticosteroids suppress the humoral antibody response of mice to sheep erythrocytes. This response depends on interactions between thymus-derived helper cells and bone marrow-derived antibody-forming cell precursors (AFC precursors). Previous experiments had shown that spleen cells (a mixture of thymus-derived and marrow-derived cells) were sensitive to corticosteroids while AFC precursors in the bone marrow were resistant. The present experiments showed that the thymus of a mouse given 2.5 mg of hydrocortisone acetate, although containing only about 5% of the number of cells of a normal thymus, was as effective as a normal thymus in cooperating with bone marrow when transferred to irradiated syngeneic mice and stimulated with SRBC. The proliferative response of thymus helper cells to SRBC was also resistant to hydrocortisone. In this context, the majority of thymic cells are in the cortex, are rapidly dividing, are sensitive to corticosteroids and are not iminunocompetent. A small number of thymic cells, probably located in the medulla, are resistant to corticosteroids, but are immunocompetent since they can serve as helper cells. The hydrocortisone-sensitive phase of the splenic response to SRBC was found to be the bone marrow-derived AFC precursor since spleens from hydrocortisone-treated donors had immunocompetence restored by normal bone marrow but not by normal thymus cells