Use of biomarkers or echocardiography in pulmonary embolism: the Swiss Venous Thromboembolism Registry

Background: Cardiac biomarkers and echocardiography for assessing right ventricular function are recommended to risk stratify patients with acute non-massive pulmonary embolism (PE), but it remains unclear if these tests are performed systematically in daily practice. Design and methods: Overall, 587 patients with acute non-massive PE from 18 hospitals were enrolled in the Swiss Venous Thromboembolism Registry (SWIVTER): 178 (30%) neither had a biomarker test nor an echocardiographic evaluation, 196 (34%) had a biomarker test only, 47 (8%) had an echocardiogram only and 166 (28%) had both tests. Results: Among the 409 (70%) patients with biomarkers or echocardiography, 210 (51%) had at least one positive test and 67 (16%) had positive biomarkers and right ventricular dysfunction. The ICU admission rates were 5.1% without vs. 5.6% with testing (P = 0.78), and thrombolysis or embolectomy were performed in 2.8% vs. 4.9%, respectively (P = 0.25). In multivariate analysis, syncope [odds ratio (OR): 3.49, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.20-10.15; P = 0.022], tachycardia (OR: 2.31, 95% CI: 1.37-3.91; P = 0.002) and increasing age (OR: 1.02; 95% CI: 1.01-1.04; P < 0.001) were associated with testing of cardiac risk; outpatient status at the time of PE diagnosis (OR: 2.24, 95% CI: 1.49-3.36; P < 0.001), cancer (OR: 1.81, 95% CI: 1.17-2.79; P = 0.008) and provoked PE (OR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.05-2.40; P = 0.029) were associated with its absence. Conclusions: Although elderly patients and those with clinically severe PE were more likely to receive a biomarker test or an echocardiogram, these tools were used in only two-thirds of the patients with acute non-massive PE and rarely in combinatio

The Education Track PhD Program in Anatomy at Indiana University School of Medicine: A Decade Producing Anatomy Educator-Scholars

In 2008, the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) admitted its first student to a newly approved PhD program focusing on anatomical education rather than biomedical research. The goal of the Education Track PhD program is twofold: (1) to provide students with extensive training in all of the anatomical sub-disciplines coupled with sufficient teaching experience to be fully prepared to assume major educational responsibilities upon graduation and (2) to train students to conduct rigorous, medical education research and other educational scholarship necessary for promotion and tenure. The 90-credit hour curriculum includes coursework in anatomy and other biomedical subjects, education, statistics, and electives. For their dissertation work, the students complete a research project about some aspect of medical education. As of December 2017, the Education Track program had admitted 23 students and produced 10 graduates. Two more students are anticipated to graduate by June 2018. All of the graduates were offered faculty appointments (8 tenure track and 2 nontenure track) immediately upon graduation at major universities and medical schools. Four of the graduates were offered positions at IUSM. Eight graduates have appointments in medical school anatomy departments, 1 in a physical therapy department, and 1 in a physician assistant department. None of the graduates have been in their faculty positions long enough yet to have achieved tenure. During the period from 2009 through 2017, the students and graduates of the program gave 84 conference presentations and authored 47 peer-reviewed publications about anatomy or other aspects of medical education. Thus, in the 10 years since its inception, the Education Track program has successfully produced a small but stable supply of doctoral-level anatomy educator-scholars for a growing academic market.American Association for Anatomy Spring Meetin

Linear magnetoresistance in commercial n-type silicon due to inhomogeneous doping

Free electron theory tells us that resistivity is independent of magnetic field. In fact, most observations match the semiclassical prediction of a magnetoresistance that is quadratic at low fields before saturating. However, a non-saturating linear magnetoresistance has been observed in exotic semiconductors such as silver chalcogenides, lightly-doped InSb, N-doped InAs, MnAs-GaAs composites, PrFeAsO, and epitaxial graphene. Here we report the observation of a large linear magnetoresistance in the ohmic regime in commonplace commercial n-type silicon wafer. It is well-described by a classical model of spatially fluctuating donor densities, and may be amplified by altering the aspect ratio of the sample to enhance current-jetting: increasing the width tenfold increased the magnetoresistance at 8 T from 445 % to 4707 % at 35 K. This physical picture may well offer insights into the large magnetoresistances recently observed in n-type and p-type Si in the non-ohmic regime.Comment: submitted to Nature Material

Disorder effects in electronic structure of substituted transition metal compounds

Investigating LaNi(1-x)M(x)O3 (M = Mn and Fe), we identify a characteristic evolution of the spectral function with increasing disorder in presence of strong interaction effects across the metal-insulator transition. We discuss these results vis-a-vis existing theories of electronic structure in simultaneous presence of disorder and interaction.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages, 3 postscript figures (To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett

Measurement of gamma p --> K+ Lambda and gamma p --> K+ Sigma0 at photon energies up to 2.6 GeV

The reactions gamma p --> K+ Lambda and gamma p --> K+ Sigma0 were measured in the energy range from threshold up to a photon energy of 2.6 GeV. The data were taken with the SAPHIR detector at the electron stretcher facility, ELSA. Results on cross sections and hyperon polarizations are presented as a function of kaon production angle and photon energy. The total cross section for Lambda production rises steeply with energy close to threshold, whereas the Sigma0 cross section rises slowly to a maximum at about E_gamma = 1.45 GeV. Cross sections together with their angular decompositions into Legendre polynomials suggest contributions from resonance production for both reactions. In general, the induced polarization of Lambda has negative values in the kaon forward direction and positive values in the backward direction. The magnitude varies with energy. The polarization of Sigma0 follows a similar angular and energy dependence as that of Lambda, but with opposite sign.Comment: 21 pages, 25 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

Metal-insulator Crossover Behavior at the Surface of NiS_2

We have performed a detailed high-resolution electron spectroscopic investigation of NiS$_2$ and related Se-substituted compounds NiS$_{2-x}$Se$_x$, which are known to be gapped insulators in the bulk at all temperatures. A large spectral weight at the Fermi energy of the room temperature spectrum, in conjunction with the extreme surface sensitivity of the experimental probe, however, suggests that the surface layer is metallic at 300 K. Interestingly, the evolution of the spectral function with decreasing temperature is characterized by a continuous depletion of the single-particle spectral weight at the Fermi energy and the development of a gap-like structure below a characteristic temperature, providing evidence for a metal-insulator crossover behavior at the surfaces of NiS$_2$ and of related compounds. These results provide a consistent description of the unusual transport properties observed in these systems.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Scaling of the Conductivity with Temperature and Uniaxial Stress in Si:B at the Metal-Insulator Transition

Using uniaxial stress to tune Si:B through the metal-insulator transition we find the conductivity at low temperatures shows an excellent fit to scaling with temperature and stress on both sides of the transition. The scaling functions yield the conductivity in the metallic and insulating phases, and allow a reliable determination of the temperature dependence in the critical regions on both sides of the transition

K^0 pi^0 Sigma^+ and K^*0 Sigma^+ photoproduction off the proton

The exclusive reactions $\gamma p \to K^{*0} \Sigma^+(1189)$ and $\gamma p \to K^{0} \pi^{0}\Sigma^+(1189)$, leading to the p 4$\pi^{0}$ final state, have been measured with a tagged photon beam for incident energies from threshold up to 2.5 GeV. The experiment has been performed at the tagged photon facility of the ELSA accelerator (Bonn). The Crystal Barrel and TAPS detectors were combined to a photon detector system of almost 4$\pi$ geometrical acceptance. Differential and total cross sections are reported. At energies close to the threshold, a flat angular distribution has been observed for the reaction $\gamma p\to K^{0} \pi^{0}\Sigma^+$ suggesting dominant s-channel production. $\Sigma^*(1385)$ and higher lying hyperon states have been observed. An enhancement in the forward direction in the angular distributions of the reaction $\gamma p \to K^{*0}\Sigma^+$ indicates a $t$-channel exchange contribution to the reaction mechanism. The experimental data are in reasonable agreement with recent theoretical predictions.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, submitted to EPJ