Effect of calcium-channel blockers on calcium—phosphate metabolism in patients with end-stage renal disease

Background After EDTA-induced hypocalcaemia, healthy volunteers treated with diltiazem display more severe hyperparathyroidism than subjects on felodipine studied under identical conditions. Therefore patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and severe secondary hyperparathyroidism might be particularly sensitive to this side-effect. Methods To test this hypothesis, seven patients with ESRD on chronic haemodialysis (3 women and 4 men) with serum levels of intact PTH ranging from 204 to 675 pg/ml were studied both before and during the first 180 min of haemodialysis against a dialysate with low calcium concentration (0.75 mmol/1, n=6 and 1 mmol/1, n=1) under the following three experimental conditions: control, felodipine (10 mg/day) and diltiazem (120 mg b.i.d.). Results At onset of dialysis, plasma phosphorus level was higher on diltiazem (2.03±0.08 mM) than on felodipine (1.64±0.10, P<0.02), and on the latter it was lower than in control condition (1.88±0.16, P<0.02). As a probable consequence, blood ionized calcium concentration was lower on diltiazem (1.14 mM±0.02, mean±SEM) than on felodipine (1.2±0.03, P<0.05) or in control condition (1.17±0.01, NS). There was a trend for intact PTH to be higher on diltiazem (324±47 pg/ml) than on felodipine (246±55) or in control condition (305±49) and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D was higher indeed on diltiazem (6.70±0.92 pg/ml) than on felodipine (4.75±0.91, P<0.02) or control (3.87±0.62, P<0.05). Area under the curve PTH over the first 60 min of dialysis was higher by 16±7% on diltiazem than on felodipine (P<0.05). Conclusions While on diltiazem rather than on felodipine, patients with ESRD display higher plasma phosphorus levels, and slightly aggravate the degree of severity of hyperparathyroidism recorded during haemodialysis against low-calcium dialysate. The longterm effect of this new observation remains to be evaluate

Continuum theory of partially fluidized granular flows

A continuum theory of partially fluidized granular flows is developed. The theory is based on a combination of the equations for the flow velocity and shear stresses coupled with the order parameter equation which describes the transition between flowing and static components of the granular system. We apply this theory to several important granular problems: avalanche flow in deep and shallow inclined layers, rotating drums and shear granular flows between two plates. We carry out quantitative comparisons between the theory and experiment.Comment: 28 pages, 23 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Measuring Incineration Plants' Performance using Combined Data Envelopment Analysis, Goal Programming and Mixed Integer Linear Programming

Incineration plants produce heat and power from waste, reduce waste disposal to landfills, and discharge harmful emissions and bottom ash. The objective of the incineration plant is to maximize desirable outputs (heat and power) and minimize undesirable outputs (emissions and bottom ash). Therefore, studying the overall impact of incineration plants in a region so as to maximize the benefits and minimize the environmental impact is significant. Majority of prior works focus on plant specific decision making issues including performance analysis. This study proposes a hybrid Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Goal Programming (GP) and Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model to assess the performance of incineration plants, in a specific region, to enhance overall power production, consumption of waste and reduction of emissions. This model not only helps the plant operators to evaluate the effectiveness of incineration but also facilitates the policy makers to plan for overall waste management of the region through decision-making on adding and closing plants on the basis of their efficiency. Majority of prior studies on incineration plants emphasize on how to improve their performance on heat and power production and neglect the waste management aspects. Additionally, optimizing benefits and minimizing negative outputs through fixing targets in order to make decision on shutting down the suboptimal plants has not been modeled in prior research. This research combines both the aspects and addresses the overall performance enhancement of incineration plants within a region from both policy makers and plant operators’ perspectives. The proposed combined DEA, GP and MILP model enables to optimize incineration plants performance within a region by deriving efficiency of each plant and identifying plants to close down on the basis of their performance. The proposed model has been applied to a group of 22 incineration plants in the UK using secondary data in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model.

Search for CP violation in D+→K−K+π+D^{+} \to K^{-}K^{+}\pi^{+} decays

A model-independent search for direct CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed decay $D^+ \to K^- K^+\pi^+$ in a sample of approximately 370,000 decays is carried out. The data were collected by the LHCb experiment in 2010 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb$^{-1}$. The normalized Dalitz plot distributions for $D^+$ and $D^-$ are compared using four different binning schemes that are sensitive to different manifestations of CP violation. No evidence for CP asymmetry is found.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Differential branching fraction and angular analysis of the decay B0→K∗0μ+μ−

The angular distribution and differential branching fraction of the decay B 0→ K ∗0 μ + μ − are studied using a data sample, collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1. Several angular observables are measured in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared, q 2. A first measurement of the zero-crossing point of the forward-backward asymmetry of the dimuon system is also presented. The zero-crossing point is measured to be q20=4.9±0.9GeV2/c4 , where the uncertainty is the sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties. The results are consistent with the Standard Model predictions

Opposite-side flavour tagging of B mesons at the LHCb experiment

The calibration and performance of the oppositeside flavour tagging algorithms used for the measurements of time-dependent asymmetries at the LHCb experiment are described. The algorithms have been developed using simulated events and optimized and calibrated with B + →J/ψK +, B0 →J/ψK ∗0 and B0 →D ∗− μ + νμ decay modes with 0.37 fb−1 of data collected in pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV during the 2011 physics run. The oppositeside tagging power is determined in the B + → J/ψK + channel to be (2.10 ± 0.08 ± 0.24) %, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic

Model-independent search for CP violation in D0→K−K+π−π+ and D0→π−π+π+π− decays

A search for CP violation in the phase-space structures of D0 and View the MathML source decays to the final states K−K+π−π+ and π−π+π+π− is presented. The search is carried out with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. For the K−K+π−π+ final state, the four-body phase space is divided into 32 bins, each bin with approximately 1800 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 9.1%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 6.5% observed. The phase space of the π−π+π+π− final state is partitioned into 128 bins, each bin with approximately 2500 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 41%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 5.5% observed. All results are consistent with the hypothesis of no CP violation at the current sensitivity

Study of B0(s)→K0Sh+h′− decays with first observation of B0s→K0SK±π∓ and B0s→K0Sπ+π−

A search for charmless three-body decays of B 0 and B0s mesons with a K0S meson in the final state is performed using the pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1, collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV recorded by the LHCb experiment. Branching fractions of the B0(s)→K0Sh+h′− decay modes (h (′) = π, K), relative to the well measured B0→K0Sπ+π− decay, are obtained. First observation of the decay modes B0s→K0SK±π∓ and B0s→K0Sπ+π− and confirmation of the decay B0→K0SK±π∓ are reported. The following relative branching fraction measurements or limits are obtained B(B0→K0SK±π∓)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=0.128±0.017(stat.)±0.009(syst.), B(B0→K0SK+K−)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=0.385±0.031(stat.)±0.023(syst.), B(B0s→K0Sπ+π−)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=0.29±0.06(stat.)±0.03(syst.)±0.02(fs/fd), B(B0s→K0SK±π∓)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=1.48±0.12(stat.)±0.08(syst.)±0.12(fs/fd)B(B0s→K0SK+K−)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)∈[0.004;0.068]at90%CL

Study of DJ meson decays to D+π−, D0π+ and D∗+π− final states in pp collisions

A study of D+π−, D0π+ and D∗+π− final states is performed using pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1, collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with the LHCb detector. The D1(2420)0 resonance is observed in the D∗+π− final state and the D∗2(2460) resonance is observed in the D+π−, D0π+ and D∗+π− final states. For both resonances, their properties and spin-parity assignments are obtained. In addition, two natural parity and two unnatural parity resonances are observed in the mass region between 2500 and 2800 MeV. Further structures in the region around 3000 MeV are observed in all the D∗+π−, D+π− and D0π+ final states

Measurement of charged particle multiplicities in pppp collisions at s=7{\sqrt{s} =7}TeV in the forward region

The charged particle production in proton-proton collisions is studied with the LHCb detector at a centre-of-mass energy of ${\sqrt{s} =7}$TeV in different intervals of pseudorapidity $\eta$. The charged particles are reconstructed close to the interaction region in the vertex detector, which provides high reconstruction efficiency in the $\eta$ ranges $-2.5<\eta<-2.0$ and $2.0<\eta<4.5$. The data were taken with a minimum bias trigger, only requiring one or more reconstructed tracks in the vertex detector. By selecting an event sample with at least one track with a transverse momentum greater than 1 GeV/c a hard QCD subsample is investigated. Several event generators are compared with the data; none are able to describe fully the multiplicity distributions or the charged particle density distribution as a function of $\eta$. In general, the models underestimate the charged particle production