Non-infectious Complications of Peritoneal Dialysis among Sudanese Patients: Five Years Experience

Introduction: The technique of Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD) is known to be associated with various infectious and non-infectious complications. The latter term includes anatomical/mechanical complications as well as hemoperitoneum, inflow pain, electrolyte disturbances, metabolic derangements and delayed gastric emptying. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated all patients who were maintained on CAPD for a minimum of 90 days in Sudan, in the period between May 2005 and Apr 2010. We examined the incidence of various non-infectious complications and their possible associations. Results: The analysis included 296 patients including 71 children (24%). Males constituted 62.2% of the study population and 13.9% were diabetic. The incidence per 100 patient-years of various non-infectious complications was as follows: hypokalemia (30.4), catheter dysfunction (10.8), dialysate leak (5.3), hernia (4.7), hemorrhagic effluent (4.7), inflow pain (2.3), upper gastrointestinal symptoms (2) and cuff extrusion (0.9). Catheter block and hernia were diagnosed with a median duration after catheter insertion of 6 and 7.5 months, respectively. Catheter block was significantly more prevalent among children (22.5% versus 9.3%; P = 0.006). A high body mass index (BMI) was the only identified independent predictor for leak (OR 1.4, P = 0.005). More than half of the 16 hernias were umbilical, and four of the five inguinal hernias were bilateral. Non-infectious complications were responsible for 32% of technique failures. Conclusion: Non-infectious complications were fairly common among our CAPD patients and led to catheter removal in a considerable number of patients. Care is, therefore, needed to screen CAPD patients for these complications in order to timely address and manage problems. Keywords: Peritoneal Dialysis; Non-infectious Complications; Sudan; Herni

Observation of Z production in proton-lead collisions at LHCb

The first observation of Z boson production in proton-lead collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per proton-nucleon pair of root(s) N N = 5TeV is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.6 nb(-1) collected with the LHCb detector. The Z candidates are reconstructed from pairs of oppositely charged muons with pseudorapidities between 2.0 and 4.5 and transverse momenta above 20 GeV/c. The invariant dimuon mass is restricted to the range 60-120 GeV/c. The Z production cross-section is measured to be sigma(Z ->mu+mu-) (fwd) = 13.5(-4.0)(+5.4)(stat.) +/- 1.2(syst.) nb in the direction of the proton beam and sigma(Z ->mu+mu-) (bwd) = 10.7(-5.1)(+8.4)(stat.) +/- 1.0(syst.) nb in the direction of the lead beam, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic

Measurement of Upsilon production in pp collisions at \sqrt{s} = 7 TeV

The production of Upsilon(1S), Upsilon(2S) and Upsilon(3S) mesons in proton-proton collisions at the centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=7 TeV is studied with the LHCb detector. The analysis is based on a data sample of 25 pb-1 collected at the Large Hadron Collider. The Upsilon mesons are reconstructed in the decay mode Upsilon -> mu+ mu- and the signal yields are extracted from a fit to the mu+ mu- invariant mass distributions. The differential production cross-sections times dimuon branching fractions are measured as a function of the Upsilon transverse momentum pT and rapidity y, over the range pT < 15 GeV/c and 2.0 < y < 4.5. The cross-sections times branching fractions, integrated over these kinematic ranges, are measured to be sigma(pp -> Upsilon(1S) X) x B(Upsilon(1S)->mu+ mu-) = 2.29 {\pm} 0.01 {\pm} 0.10 -0.37 +0.19 nb, sigma(pp -> Upsilon(2S) X) x B(Upsilon(2S)->mu+ mu-) = 0.562 {\pm} 0.007 {\pm} 0.023 -0.092 +0.048 nb, sigma(pp -> Upsilon(3S) X) x B(Upsilon(3S)->mu+ mu-) = 0.283 {\pm} 0.005 {\pm} 0.012 -0.048 +0.025 nb, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third is due to the unknown polarisation of the three Upsilon states.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure

Evidence for CP violation in time-integrated D0 -> h-h+ decay rates

A search for time-integrated CP violation in D0 -> h-h+ (h=K, pi) decays is presented using 0.62 fb^-1 of data collected by LHCb in 2011. The flavor of the charm meson is determined by the charge of the slow pion in the D*+ -> D0 pi+ and D*- -> D0bar pi- decay chains. The difference in CP asymmetry between D0 -> K-K+ and D0 -> pi-pi+, Delta ACP = ACP(K-K+) - ACP(pi-pi+), is measured to be [-0.82 \pm 0.21(stat.) \pm 0.11(syst.)]%. This differs from the hypothesis of CP conservation by 3.5 standard deviations.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; v2 minor updates after journal revie

Measurement of the Bs0→J/ψK∗0B^0_s\rightarrow J/\psi K^{*0} branching fraction and angular amplitudes

A search for the decay $B^0_s\rightarrow J/\psi K^{*0}$ with $K^{*0} \rightarrow K^-\pi^+$ is performed with 0.37 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV collected by the LHCb experiment, finding a \Bs \to J\psi K^-\pi^+ peak of $114 \pm 11$ signal events. The $K^-\pi^+$ mass spectrum of the candidates in the $B^0_s$ peak is dominated by the $K^{*0}$ contribution. Subtracting the non-resonant $K^-\pi^+$ component, the branching fraction of \BsJpsiKst is $(4.4_{-0.4}^{+0.5} \pm 0.8) \times 10^{-5}$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. A fit to the angular distribution of the decay products yields the \Kst polarization fractions $f_L = 0.50 \pm 0.08 \pm 0.02$ and $f_{||} = 0.19^{+0.10}_{-0.08} \pm 0.02$

Measurement of CP violation and constraints on the CKM angle γ in B± → DK± with D → K0Sπ+π− decays

A model-dependent amplitude analysis of B± → DK± with D → K0 Sπ+π− decays is performed using proton–proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1 fb−1, recorded by LHCb at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV in 2011. Values of the CP violation observables x± and y±, which are sensitive to the CKM angle γ, are measured to be x− = +0.027 ± 0.044+0.010 −0.008 ± 0.001, y− = +0.013 ± 0.048+0.009 −0.007 ± 0.003, x+ = −0.084 ± 0.045 ± 0.009 ± 0.005, y+ = −0.032 ± 0.048+0.010 −0.009 ± 0.008, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third arises from the uncertainty of the D → K0 Sπ+π− amplitude model. The value of γ is determined to be (84+49 −42)◦, including all sources of uncertainty. Neutral D meson mixing is found to have negligible effect

Measurement of relative branching fractions of B decays to psi(2S) and J/psi mesons

The relative rates of B-meson decays into J/psi and psi(2S) mesons are measured for the three decay modes in pp collisions recorded with the LHCb detector. The ratios of branching fractions (B) are measured to be B(B+ -> psi(2S)K+)/B(B+ -> J/psi K+) = 0.594 +/- 0.006(stat) +/- 0.016(syst) +/- 0.015(R-psi), B(B-0 -> psi(2S)K*(0))/B(B-0 -> J/psi K*(0)) = 0.476 +/- 0.014(stat) +/- 0.010(syst) +/- 0.012(R-psi), B(B-s(0) -> psi(2S)phi)/B(B-s(0) -> J/psi phi) = 0.489 +/- 0.026(stat) +/- 0.021(syst) +/- 0.012(R-psi), where the third uncertainty is from the ratio of the psi(2S) and J/psi branching fractions to mu(+)mu(-). RI Galli, Domenico/A-1606-2012; Sarti, Alessio/I-2833-2012; Petrolini, Alessandro/H-3782-2011; Carbone, Angelo/C-8289-2012; de Paula, Leandro/I-9278-2012; manca, giulia/I-9264-2012; Patrignani, Claudia/C-5223-2009; Marconi, Umberto/J-2263-2012; de Simone, Patrizia/J-3549-2012; Cardini, Alessandro/J-5736-2012; Teodorescu, Eliza/K-3044-201

Observation of Excited Lambda(0)(b) Baryons

Using pp collision data corresponding to 1.0 fb-1 integrated luminosity collected by the LHCb detector, two narrow states are observed in the Lambda0b pi+ pi- spectrum with masses 5911.97+-0.12(stat)+-0.02(syst)+- 0.66(Lambda0b mass) MeV/c2 and 5919.77+-0.08(stat)+-0.02(syst)+-0.66(Lambda0b mass) MeV/c2. The significances of the observations are 5.2 and 10.2 standard deviations, respectively. These states are interpreted as the orbitally excited Lambda0b baryons, Lambda*0b(5912) and Lambda*0b(5920)