Exploration of the experience of living with chronic insomnia: A qualitative study

Background. Chronic insomnia is associated with consequential experience that may affect quality of life. Understanding such experience can be helpful in planning effective interventions for patients with chronic insomnia. Objective. The study aimed to describe and illuminate the experience of living with chronic insomnia. Method. The study was conducted using a descriptive phenomenology approach. Participants were selected purposefully from patients with chronic insomnia who had been referred to the sleep disorders research center at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in Iran in 2014. Data were gathered through in-depth unstructured interviews and analyzed according to the Colaizzi method by means of Husserlian phenomenology. Results. Two main themes were found in this study, from which five sub themes were constructed: first, an upset mind, with the subthemes of insomnia as an unpleasant experience and insomnia as a worrying experience; and second, an unwanted new lifestyle with treatment seeking behavior, a boring new daily routine and being overshadowed by depressed mood as the subthemes. Conclusion. The study identified the experience of living with chronic insomnia as a painful one with both mental and practical aspects. The experience also explains how mental engagement and practical outcomes of chronic insomnia may interfere with well-being and quality of life in sufferers. It is recommended that patients' experiences would be considered in assessment and treatment of chronic insomnia. Therefore, therapeutic interventions should pay attention to this area

β-globin gene promoter generates 5' truncated transcripts in the embryonic foetal erythroid environment.

We report here the localisation of sequences responsible for the faulty expression of human beta-globin gene in Putko and K562 cells. Complete beta-globin gene introduced into these cells produces transcripts with abnormal 5' ends, while cotransfected mouse H2 gene is expressed correctly. Using hybrid constructs of these two genes we demonstrate that aberrant activity is conferred by sequences 5' of the beta-globin gene. Thus beta-globin promoter attached to the H2 coding sequence produces H2 transcripts with truncated 5' ends. By introducing a series of deletions in the beta-globin promoter we restrict these sequences to the -77/+28 base pair region spanning the CAAT element to the translation initiation site. These results are consistent with the lack of recognition of the beta-globin gene major cap site in Putko and K562 cells. We suggest that inactivity of the adult globin gene in the embryonic/fetal environment is at least in part conferred by sequences within the beta-globin gene promoter

Hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal activity in paradoxical and psychophysiological insomnia

Background: Although insomnia is a sex-dimorphic disorder, there is limited knowledge about the association between sex hormones and insomnia. In the present study, the level of hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis activity was investigated in patients with insomnia by measuring serum levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), 17α-Hydroxyprogesterone, testosterone, progesterone, estradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and sex hormone-binding globulin. Methods: Numbers of 19 patients; including 13 females (68.40) with paradox insomnia (32-53 years; 43.20 ± 6.40) and 17 patients; including 8 females (47.05) with psychophysiological insomnia (14-62 years; 38.40 ± 16.30) were recruited. Seventeen aged-matched normal sleeper consisted of 13 males (26-59 years; 40.70 ± 10) consisted of 13 males (76.50) were also recruited as control group. Insomnia was diagnosed by a sleep clinician according to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders-Second Edition criteria and an overnight polysomnography (PSG). A volume of 5 ml of venous blood samples were collected, prepared, and stored at 8 AM under standard condition. Serum levels of hormones were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Data were analyzed by Chi-square and ANCOVA. The associations between PSG and biochemical parameters were evaluated using multiple linear regression analysis. Results: There were no significant differences in all biochemical analyses between two insomnia subgroups (paradoxical and psychophysiological insomnia) and normal sleepers. Testosterone was positively related to maximum pulse transit time (PTT). Moreover, both LH and FSH were positively related to wake index and diastolic blood pressure. Conclusion: Although there were no significant differences in all HPG's hormones between groups, both LH and FSH were associated with wake index and diastolic blood pressure. Moreover, testosterone was positively related to PTT. © 2019 Journal of Medical Signals & Sensors

The Non-coplanar 6-Li(p,pd)4-He Reaction at 120 and 200 MeV

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHy 87-1440

The Pixel Luminosity Telescope: a detector for luminosity measurement at CMS using silicon pixel sensors

The Pixel Luminosity Telescope is a silicon pixel detector dedicated to luminosity measurement at the CMS experiment at the LHC. It is located approximately 1.75 m from the interaction point and arranged into 16 “telescopes”, with eight telescopes installed around the beam pipe at either end of the detector and each telescope composed of three individual silicon sensor planes. The per-bunch instantaneous luminosity is measured by counting events where all three planes in the telescope register a hit, using a special readout at the full LHC bunch-crossing rate of 40 MHz. The full pixel information is read out at a lower rate and can be used to determine calibrations, corrections, and systematic uncertainties for the online and offline measurements. This paper details the commissioning, operational history, and performance of the detector during Run 2 (2015–18) of the LHC, as well as preparations for Run 3, which will begin in 2022

Estimating global injuries morbidity and mortality: methods and data used in the Global Burden of Disease 2017 study

BACKGROUND: While there is a long history of measuring death and disability from injuries, modern research methods must account for the wide spectrum of disability that can occur in an injury, and must provide estimates with sufficient demographic, geographical and temporal detail to be useful for policy makers. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 study used methods to provide highly detailed estimates of global injury burden that meet these criteria. METHODS: In this study, we report and discuss the methods used in GBD 2017 for injury morbidity and mortality burden estimation. In summary, these methods included estimating cause-specific mortality for every cause of injury, and then estimating incidence for every cause of injury. Non-fatal disability for each cause is then calculated based on the probabilities of suffering from different types of bodily injury experienced. RESULTS: GBD 2017 produced morbidity and mortality estimates for 38 causes of injury. Estimates were produced in terms of incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, cause-specific mortality, years of life lost and disability-adjusted life-years for a 28-year period for 22 age groups, 195 countries and both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: GBD 2017 demonstrated a complex and sophisticated series of analytical steps using the largest known database of morbidity and mortality data on injuries. GBD 2017 results should be used to help inform injury prevention policy making and resource allocation. We also identify important avenues for improving injury burden estimation in the future

Search for a vector-like quark T′ → tH via the diphoton decay mode of the Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at s \sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

A search for the electroweak production of a vector-like quark T′, decaying to a top quark and a Higgs boson is presented. The search is based on a sample of proton-proton collision events recorded at the LHC at = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. This is the first T′ search that exploits the Higgs boson decay to a pair of photons. For narrow isospin singlet T′ states with masses up to 1.1 TeV, the excellent diphoton invariant mass resolution of 1–2% results in an increased sensitivity compared to previous searches based on the same production mechanism. The electroweak production of a T′ quark with mass up to 960 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level, assuming a coupling strength κT = 0.25 and a relative decay width Γ/MT′ < 5%

A search for new physics in central exclusive production using the missing mass technique with the CMS detector and the CMS-TOTEM precision proton spectrometer

A generic search is presented for the associated production of a Z boson or a photon with an additional unspecified massive particle X, pp → pp + Z/γ + X, in proton-tagged events from proton–proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV, recorded in 2017 with the CMS detector and the CMS-TOTEM precision proton spectrometer. The missing mass spectrum is analysed in the 600–1600 GeV range and a fit is performed to search for possible deviations from the background expectation. No significant excess in data with respect to the background predictions has been observed. odelindependent upper limits on the visible production cross section of pp → pp + Z/γ + X are set