1,671 research outputs found
Using simulation to estimate the power of a badger vaccine trial
The aim of this study was to estimate the power of a badger vaccine field trial using simulation techniques. The effects of sample size, sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic test, transmission rate between unvaccinated badgers, Vaccine Efficacy for Susceptibility (VES) and Vaccine Efficacy for Infectiousness (VEI) on study power were determined. The most striking result was the large effect of the specificity of the diagnostic test on study power. Sample size had a small effect on power. Study power increased with increasing transmission rate between non-vaccinated badgers. Changes in VES had a higher impact on power than changes in VEI. In summary, study power in group randomized trials depends not only on sample size but on many other parameters. In the current vaccine trial, power was highly dependent on the specificity of the diagnostic test. Therefore, it is critical that the diagnostic test used in the badger vaccine trial is optimized to maximise test specificity
High-energy emission from NGC 5506, the brightest hard X-ray Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy
We present results on the hard X-ray emission of NGC 5506, the brightest
narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxy above 20 keV. All the recent observations by
INTEGRAL, Swift and Suzaku have been analysed and spectral analysis during nine
separated time periods has been performed. While flux variations by a factor of
2 were detected during the last 7 years, only moderate spectral variations have
been observed, with the hint of a hardening of the X-ray spectrum and a
decrease of the intrinsic absorption with time. Using Suzaku observations it is
possible to constrain the amount of Compton reflection to R = 0.6-1.0, in
agreement with previous results on the source. The signature of Comptonisation
processes can also be found in the detection of a high-energy cut-off during
part of the observations, at Ec = 40-100 keV. When a Comptonisation model is
applied to the Suzaku data, the temperature and the optical depth of the
Comptonising electron plasma are measured at kT = 60-80 keV and tau = 0.6-1.0,
respectively. The properties inferred for NGC 5506 in this study agree with
those based on other data sets for the same AGN, and fit the picture of NLS1
having in general lower high-energy cut-offs at hard X-rays than their broad
line equivalent.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Proceedings of the Workshop "Narrow-Line
Seyfert 1 Galaxies and Their Place in the Universe", Milano, April 4-6, 2011
(Proceedings of Science,
http://pos.sissa.it/cgi-bin/reader/conf.cgi?confid=126
15th World Toilet Summit& Expo: Toilet Board Game& Miniatures
The Second Year Animation students undertaking Game Art and Design course, Design Technology programme, Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts (FACA), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) were recently invited by World Toilet Organisation (WTO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) to participate in the 15th World Toilet Summit and Expo, 27-29 October 2016 at Imperial Hotel Kuching, Sarawak
Emergent AdS3 and BTZ Black Hole from Weakly Interacting Hot 2d CFT
We investigate emergent holography of weakly coupled two-dimensional
hyperK\"ahler sigma model on cotangent bundle of (N-1)-dimensional complex
projective space at zero and finite temperature. The sigma model is motivated
by the spacetime conformal field theory dual to the near-horizon geometry of Q1
D1-brane bound to Q5 D5-brane wrapped on four-torus times circle, where N =
Q1*Q5. The sigma model admits nontrivial instanton for all N greater than or
equal to 2, which serves as a local probe of emergent holographic spacetime. We
define emergent geometry of the spacetime as that of instanton moduli space via
Hitchin's information metric. At zero temperature, we find that emergent
geometry is AdS3. At finite temperature, time-periodic instanton is mappable to
zero temperature instanton via conformal transformation. Utilizing the
transformation, we show that emergent geometry is precisely that of the
non-extremal, non-rotating BTZ black hole.Comment: 12 pages, no figure, JHEP.cls; v2. typos correcte
Peroxiredoxin 4, a novel circulating biomarker for oxidative stress and the risk of incident cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality
BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress has been suggested to play a key role in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The aim of our study was to investigate the associations of serum peroxiredoxin 4 (Prx4), a hydrogen peroxide-degrading peroxidase, with incident CVD and all-cause mortality. We subsequently examined the incremental value of Prx4 for the risk prediction of CVD compared with the Framingham risk score (FRS). METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed Cox regression analyses in 8141 participants without history of CVD (aged 28 to 75 years; women 52.6%) from the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-stage Disease (PREVEND) study in Groningen, The Netherlands. Serum Prx4 was measured by an immunoluminometric assay in baseline samples. Main outcomes were: (1) incident CVD events or CVD mortality and (2) all-cause mortality during a median follow-up of 10.5 years. In total, 708 participants (7.8%) developed CVD events or CVD mortality, and 517 participants (6.3%) died. Baseline serum Prx4 levels were significantly higher in participants with incident CVD events or CVD mortality and in those who died than in participants who remained free of outcomes (both P<0.001). In multivariable models with adjustment for Framingham risk factors, hazard ratios were 1.16 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.27, P<0.001) for incident CVD events or CVD mortality and 1.17 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.29, P=0.003) for all-cause mortality per doubling of Prx4 levels. After the addition of Prx4 to the FRS, the net reclassification improvement was 2.7% (P=0.01) using 10-year risk categories of CVD. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated serum Prx4 levels are associated with a significantly higher risk of incident CVD events or CVD mortality and all-cause mortality after adjustment for clinical risk factors. The addition of Prx4 to the FRS marginally improved risk prediction of future CVD
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