47 research outputs found
Associated Charm Production in Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions
In this paper a search for associated charm production both in neutral and
charged current -nucleus interactions is presented. The improvement of
automatic scanning systems in the {CHORUS} experiment allows an efficient
search to be performed in emulsion for short-lived particles. Hence a search
for rare processes, like the associated charm production, becomes possible
through the observation of the double charm-decay topology with a very low
background. About 130,000 interactions located in the emulsion target
have been analysed. Three events with two charm decays have been observed in
the neutral-current sample with an estimated background of 0.180.05. The
relative rate of the associated charm cross-section in deep inelastic
interactions, has been
measured. One event with two charm decays has been observed in charged-current
interactions with an estimated background of 0.180.06 and the
upper limit on associated charm production in charged-current interactions at
90% C.L. has been found to be .Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) for thromboembolic prevention, are they safe in congenital heart disease? Results of a worldwide study
BACKGROUND
Current guidelines consider vitamin K antagonists (VKA) the oral anticoagulant agents of choice in adults with atrial arrhythmias (AA) and moderate or complex forms of congenital heart disease, significant valvular lesions, or bioprosthetic valves, pending safety data on non-VKA oral anticoagulants (NOACs). Therefore, the international NOTE registry was initiated to assess safety, change in adherence and quality of life (QoL) associated with NOACs in adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD).
METHODS
An international multicenter prospective study of NOACs in ACHD was established. Follow-up occurred at 6 months and yearly thereafter. Primary endpoints were thromboembolism and major bleeding. Secondary endpoints included minor bleeding, change in therapy adherence (≥80% medication refill rate, ≥6 out of 8 on Morisky-8 questionnaire) and QoL (SF-36 questionnaire).
RESULTS
In total, 530 ACHD patients (mean age 47 SD 15 years; 55% male) with predominantly moderate or complex defects (85%), significant valvular lesions (46%) and/or bioprosthetic valves (11%) using NOACs (rivaroxaban 43%; apixaban 39%; dabigatran 12%; edoxaban 7%) were enrolled. The most common indication was AA (91%). Over a median follow-up of 1.0 [IQR 0.0-2.0] year, thromboembolic event rate was 1.0% [95%CI 0.4-2.0] (n = 6) per year, with 1.1% [95%CI 0.5-2.2] (n = 7) annualized rate of major bleeding and 6.3% [95%CI 4.5-8.5] (n = 37) annualized rate of minor bleeding. Adherence was sufficient during 2 years follow-up in 80-93% of patients. At 1-year follow-up, among the subset of previous VKA-users who completed the survey (n = 33), QoL improved in 6 out of 8 domains (p ≪ 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
Initial results from our worldwide prospective study suggest that NOACs are safe and may be effective for thromboembolic prevention in adults with heterogeneous forms of congenital heart disease