Atenolol versus losartan in children and young adults with Marfan's syndrome

BACKGROUND : Aortic-root dissection is the leading cause of death in Marfan's syndrome. Studies suggest that with regard to slowing aortic-root enlargement, losartan may be more effective than beta-blockers, the current standard therapy in most centers. METHODS : We conducted a randomized trial comparing losartan with atenolol in children and young adults with Marfan's syndrome. The primary outcome was the rate of aortic-root enlargement, expressed as the change in the maximum aortic-root-diameter z score indexed to body-surface area (hereafter, aortic-root z score) over a 3-year period. Secondary outcomes included the rate of change in the absolute diameter of the aortic root; the rate of change in aortic regurgitation; the time to aortic dissection, aortic-root surgery, or death; somatic growth; and the incidence of adverse events. RESULTS : From January 2007 through February 2011, a total of 21 clinical centers enrolled 608 participants, 6 months to 25 years of age (mean [+/- SD] age, 11.5 +/- 6.5 years in the atenolol group and 11.0 +/- 6.2 years in the losartan group), who had an aorticroot z score greater than 3.0. The baseline-adjusted rate of change (+/- SE) in the aortic-root z score did not differ significantly between the atenolol group and the losartan group (-0.139 +/- 0.013 and -0.107 +/- 0.013 standard-deviation units per year, respectively; P = 0.08). Both slopes were significantly less than zero, indicating a decrease in the degree of aortic-root dilatation relative to body-surface area with either treatment. The 3-year rates of aortic-root surgery, aortic dissection, death, and a composite of these events did not differ significantly between the two treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS : Among children and young adults with Marfan's syndrome who were randomly assigned to losartan or atenolol, we found no significant difference in the rate of aorticroot dilatation between the two treatment groups over a 3-year period

The calibration of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory using uniformly distributed radioactive sources

The production and analysis of distributed sources of 24Na and 222Rn in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) are described. These unique sources provided accurate calibrations of the response to neutrons, produced through photodisintegration of the deuterons in the heavy water target, and to low energy betas and gammas. The application of these sources in determining the neutron detection efficiency and response of the 3He proportional counter array, and the characteristics of background Cherenkov light from trace amounts of natural radioactivity is described.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figure

Magneto-Transport Properties of Doped RuSr2_2GdCu2_2O8_8

RuSr$_2$GdCu$_2$O$_8$, in which magnetic order and superconductivity coexist with $T_{Magnetic}$$\gg$$T_c$, is a complex material which poses new and important questions to our understanding of the interplay between magnetic and superconducting (SC) order. Resistivity, Hall effect and thermopower measurements on sintered ceramic RuSr$_2$GdCu$_2$O$_8$ are presented, together with results on a broad range of substituted analogues. The Hall effect and thermopower both show anomalous decreases below $T_{Magnetic}$ which may be explained within a simple two-band model by a transition from localized to more itinerant behavior in the RuO$_2$ layer at $T_{Magnetic}$.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B., correspondence to [email protected]

Spontaneous Coherence and Collective Modes in Double-Layer Quantum Dot Systems

We study the ground state and the collective excitations of parabolically-confined double-layer quantum dot systems in a strong magnetic field. We identify parameter regimes where electrons form maximum density droplet states, quantum-dot analogs of the incompressible states of the bulk integer quantum Hall effect. In these regimes the Hartree-Fock approximation and the time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximations can be used to describe the ground state and collective excitations respectively. We comment on the relationship between edge excitations of dots and edge magneto-plasmon excitations of bulk double-layer systems.Comment: 20 pages (figures included) and also available at http://fangio.magnet.fsu.edu/~jhu/Paper/qdot_cond.ps, replaced to fix figure

Randomized, placebo-controlled trial of low molecular weight heparin in active ulcerative colitis

Background: In several open and 1 controlled trial, unfractionated heparin was effective in the treatment of active ulcerative colitis (UC). Low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) had a similar effect in several open studies.Methods: We studied the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of LMWH in mild to moderately active UC in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. In all, 29 patients with a mild or moderate recurrence of UC during salicylate treatment were randomized to receive either reviparin 3,436 IU (n = 15) subcutaneously twice daily or placebo (n = 14). The study period was 8 weeks. Treatment was discontinued if there was no improvement at 4 weeks or at any disease progression. Primary outcome measure was clinical improvement at 8 weeks measured by the Colitis Activity Index (CAI) and the Clinical Symptoms Grading (CSG, based on the CAI). Endoscopic and histologic grading and quality of life as measured by the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) were secondary outcome measures. Patients were closely monitored for adverse events.Results: Twenty of 29 patients finished the 8-week treatment period (reviparin versus placebo: 11 versus 9; P = 0.70). There was no difference in CSG, CAI, endoscopic and histologic grading, or IBDQ. Treatment was well tolerated and no serious adverse events occurred.Conclusion: In this study, treatment with LMWH showed no significant clinical advantage compared to placebo in mild to moderately active UC.(Inflamm Bowel Dis 2007)

Vortex dynamics and states of artificially layered superconducting films with correlated defects

Linear resistances and $IV$-characteristics have been measured over a wide range in the parameter space of the mixed phase of multilayered a-TaGe/Ge films. Three films with varying interlayer coupling and correlated defects oriented at an angle $\approx 25$ from the film normal were investigated. Experimental data were analyzed within vortex glass models and a second order phase transition from a resistive vortex liquid to a pinned glass phase. Various vortex phases including changes from three to two dimensional behavior depending on anisotropy have been identified. Careful analysis of $IV$-characteristics in the glass phases revealed a distinctive $T$ and $H$-dependence of the glass exponent $\mu$. The vortex dynamics in the Bose-glass phase does not follow the predicted behavior for excitations of vortex kinks or loops.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 3 table

Werken aan meerwaarde van regionale landbouw en biodiversiteit : de oogst van vier jaar Echt Overijssel!

"Werken aan" heeft in Echt Overijssel! vele betekenissen. Livestock Research, CLM, Natuurmonumenten, Louis Bolk Instituut hebben gewerkt aan de ontwikkeling van duurzaamheid via de drie thema’s: (agro)biodiversiteit, regionale landbouw en markt. De werkvorm was er een met agrarische ondernemers, met kennisinstellingen, met terreinbeheerders, en vele andere partners in het keten- en kennisnetwerk. Kosten en opbrengsten voor biologische bedrijfsvoering zijn berekend voor verschillende bedrijfsvormen. Gebruikmakend van diverse teelten, die alternatief veevoer leveren. Vanuit teelt en beheerperspectief is het zoeken naar de balans tussen gewasopbrengst (productwaarde) en biodiversiteit (natuurwaarde)

Kaluza-Klein Cosmology With Modified Holographic Dark Energy

We investigate the compact Kaluza-Klein cosmology in which modified holographic dark energy is interacting with dark matter. Using this scenario, we evaluate equation of state parameter as well as equation of evolution of the modified holographic dark energy. Further, it is shown that the generalized second law of thermodynamics holds without any constraint.Comment: 13 pages, accepted for publication in Gen. Relativ. Gravi

From the Shell-shocked Soldier to the Nervous Child: Psychoanalysis in the Aftermath of the First World War

This article investigates the development of child analysis in Britain between the wars, as the anxious child succeeded the shell-shocked soldier as a focus of psychoanalytic enquiry. Historians of psychoanalysis tend to regard the Second World War as a key moment in the discovery of the ‘war within’ the child, but it was in the aftermath of the First War that the warring psyche of the child was observed and elaborated. The personal experience of war and its aftermath, and the attention given to regression in the treatment of war neuroses, encouraged Melanie Klein, Anna Freud and others to turn their attention to children. At the same time, however, the impact of the First World War as a traumatic event, with inter-generational consequences, remained largely unaccounted for within psychoanalysis as Klein and others focused on the child's riven internal world

The nutritional phenotype in the age of metabolomics

The concept of the nutritional phenotype is proposed as a defined and integrated set of genetic, proteomic, metabolomic, functional, and behavioral factors that, when measured, form the basis for assessment of human nutritional status. The nutritional phenotype integrates the effects of diet on disease/wellness and is the quantitative indication of the paths by which genes and environment exert their effects on health. Advances in technology and in fundamental biological knowledge make it possible to define and measure the nutritional phenotype accurately in a cross section of individuals with various states of health and disease. This growing base of data and knowledge could serve as a resource for all scientific disciplines involved in human health. Nutritional sciences should be a prime mover in making key decisions that include: what environmental inputs (in addition to diet) are needed; what genes/proteins/metabolites should be measured; what end-point phenotypes should be included; and what informatics tools are available to ask nutritionally relevant questions. Nutrition should be the major discipline establishing how the elements of the nutritional phenotype vary as a function of diet. Nutritional sciences should also be instrumental in linking the elements that are responsive to diet with the functional outcomes in organisms that derive from them. As the first step in this initiative, a prioritized list of genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic as well as functional and behavioral measures that defines a practically useful subset of the nutritional phenotype for use in clinical and epidemiological investigations must be developed. From this list, analytic platforms must then be identified that are capable of delivering highly quantitative data on these endpoints. This conceptualization of a nutritional phenotype provides a concrete form and substance to the recognized future of nutritional sciences as a field addressing diet, integrated metabolism, and health