Alternative Methods to Finding Patterns in HiRes Stereo Data

In this paper Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays UHECRs data observed by the HiRes fluorescence detector in stereo mode is analyzed to search for events in the sky with an arrival direction lying on a great circle. Such structure is known as the arc structure. The arc structure is expected when the charged cosmic rays pass through the galactic magnetic field. The arcs searched for could represent a broad or a small scale anisotropy depending on the proposed source model for the UHECRs. The Arcs in this paper are looked for using Hough transform were Hough transform is a technique used to looking for patterns in images. No statistically significant arcs were found in this study

Exchange blood transfusion in severe falciparum malaria: retrospective evaluation of 61 patients treated with, compared to 63 patients treated without, exchange transfusion

The rationale for exchange blood transfusion (ET) in severe falciparum malaria is threefold: reduction of parasitaemia, reduction of presumptive 'toxic' factors, and improvement of the rheological quality of the blood. We evaluated the records of 61 patients treated with ET to describe the present status of malaria treatment in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and to assess the efficacy of ET. Clinical data of 61 patients treated with ET were compared to data of 63 patients treated in 2 hospitals where ETs were generally not performed. We found that exchange transfusion is applied according to the clinician's subjective impression rather than strict guidelines. Logistic regression analysis adjusting for the differences in clinical parameters between patients treated with or without ET did not identify treatment as a prognostic indicator (odds ratio for relative risk of death with ET: 1.3; 95% CI: 0.4-4.9). Exchange transfusion did not significantly improve the unfavourable prognosis in cases of severe falciparum malaria. However, failure to reach statistical significance may be due to the retrospective design of the study and therefore non-systematic approach