Supersymmetry Searches at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Experiment, 2011

The discovery/exclusion of Supersymmetric models for fundamental interactions of particles is one of the milestones targeted by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and in particular comprises of a large part of the physics program of the CMS experiment. Since the initial measurements using the 36\ipb of integrated luminosity delivered by the LHC in 2010, presently available results utilize about one fifth of the data delivered in 2011, i.e. in the ballpark of 1\ifb, significantly extending the world limits placed on gluino and squark production signals. An overview of these analyses is presented, highlighting four that had been newly made public as of the date of this conference. The evidence for Supersymmetry (SUSY) is still elusive, and a discussion follows as to where current searches have not yet probed, also pointing out where they might have difficulty ever probing without dedicated arrangements.Comment: Presented at the 2011 Hadron Collider Physics symposium (HCP-2011), Paris, France, November 14-18 2011, 4 pages, 5 figure

Advance care planning uptake among patients with severe lung disease: A randomised patient preference trial of a nurse-led, facilitated advance care planning intervention

Objective Advance care planning (ACP) clarifies goals for future care if a patient becomes unable to communicate their own preferences. However, ACP uptake is low, with discussions often occurring late. This study assessed whether a systematic nurse-led ACP intervention increases ACP in patients with advanced respiratory disease. Design A multicentre open-label randomised controlled trial with preference arm. Setting Metropolitan teaching hospital and a rural healthcare network. Participants 149 participants with respiratory malignancy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or interstitial lung disease. Intervention Nurse facilitators offered facilitated ACP discussions, prompted further discussions with doctors and loved ones, and assisted participants to appoint a substitute medical decision-maker (SDM) and complete an advance directive (AD). Outcome measures The primary measure was formal (AD or SDM) or informal (discussion with doctor) ACP uptake assessed by self-report (6 months) and medical notes audit. Secondary measures were the factors predicting baseline readiness to undertake ACP, and factors predicting postintervention ACP uptake in the intervention arm. Results At 6 months, formal ACP uptake was significantly higher (p<0.001) in the intervention arm (54/106, 51%), compared with usual care (6/43, 14%). ACP discussions with doctors were also significantly higher (p<0.005) in the intervention arm (76/106, 72%) compared with usual care (20/43, 47%). Those with a strong preference for the intervention were more likely to complete formal ACP documents than those randomly allocated. Increased symptom burden and preference for the intervention predicted later ACP uptake. Social support was positively associated with ACP discussion with loved ones, but negatively associated with discussion with doctors. Conclusions Nurse-led facilitated ACP is acceptable to patients with advanced respiratory disease and effective in increasing ACP discussions and completion of formal documents. Awareness of symptom burden, readiness to engage in ACP and relevant psychosocial factors may facilitate effective tailoring of ACP interventions and achieve greater uptake. Trial registration number ACTRN12614000255684. © Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limite

Intersection of diet and exercise with the gut microbiome and circulating metabolites in male bodybuilders : A pilot study

Diet, exercise and the gut microbiome are all factors recognised to be significant contributors to cardiometabolic health. However, diet and exercise interventions to modify the gut microbiota to improve health are limited by poor understanding of the interactions between them. In this pilot study, we explored diet–exercise–microbiome dynamics in bodybuilders as they represent a distinctive group that typically employ well-defined dietary strategies and exercise regimes to alter their body composition. We performed longitudinal characterisation of diet, exercise, the faecal microbial community composition and serum metabolites in five bodybuilders during competition preparation and post-competition. All participants reduced fat mass while conserving lean mass during competition preparation, corresponding with dietary energy intake and exercise load, respectively. There was individual variability in food choices that aligned to individualised gut microbial community compositions throughout the study. However, there was a common shift from a high protein, low carbohydrate diet during pre-competition to a more macronutrient-balanced diet post-competition, which was associated with similar changes in the gut microbial diversity across participants. The circulating metabolite profiles also reflected individuality, but a subset of metabolites relating to lipid metabolism distinguished between pre- and post-competition. Changes in the gut microbiome and circulating metabolome were distinct for each individual, but showed common patterns. We conclude that further longitudinal studies will have greater potential than cross-sectional studies in informing personalisation of diet and exercise regimes to enhance exercise outcomes and improve health

The Commensal Real-time ASKAP Fast Transients (CRAFT) survey

We are developing a purely commensal survey experiment for fast (<5s) transient radio sources. Short-timescale transients are associated with the most energetic and brightest single events in the Universe. Our objective is to cover the enormous volume of transients parameter space made available by ASKAP, with an unprecedented combination of sensitivity and field of view. Fast timescale transients open new vistas on the physics of high brightness temperature emission, extreme states of matter and the physics of strong gravitational fields. In addition, the detection of extragalactic objects affords us an entirely new and extremely sensitive probe on the huge reservoir of baryons present in the IGM. We outline here our approach to the considerable challenge involved in detecting fast transients, particularly the development of hardware fast enough to dedisperse and search the ASKAP data stream at or near real-time rates. Through CRAFT, ASKAP will provide the testbed of many of the key technologies and survey modes proposed for high time resolution science with the SKA.Comment: accepted for publication in PAS

The presence of interstellar scintillation in the 15 GHz interday variability of 1158 OVRO-monitored blazars

We have conducted the first systematic search for interday variability in a large sample of extragalactic radio sources at 15 GHz. From the sample of 1158 radio-selected blazars monitored over an ∼10 yr span by the Owens Valley Radio Observatory 40-m telescope, we identified 20 sources exhibiting significant flux density variations on 4-d time-scales. The sky distribution of the variable sources is strongly dependent on the line-of-sight Galactic H α intensities from the Wisconsin H α Mapper Survey, demonstrating the contribution of interstellar scintillation (ISS) to their interday variability. 21 per cent of sources observed through sightlines with H α intensities larger than 10  rayleighs exhibit significant ISS persistent over the ∼10 yr period. The fraction of scintillators is potentially larger when considering less significant variables missed by our selection criteria, due to ISS intermittency. This study demonstrates that ISS is still important at 15 GHz, particularly through strongly scattered sightlines of the Galaxy. Of the 20 most significant variables, 11 are observed through the Orion–Eridanus superbubble, photoionized by hot stars of the Orion OB1 association. The high-energy neutrino source TXS 0506+056 is observed through this region, so ISS must be considered in any interpretation of its short-term radio variability. J0616−1041 appears to exhibit large ∼20 per cent interday flux density variations, comparable in magnitude to that of the very rare class of extreme, intrahour scintillators that includes PKS0405−385, J1819+3845, and PKS1257−326; this needs to be confirmed by higher cadence follow-up observations

Search for the Higgs boson in events with missing transverse energy and b quark jets produced in proton-antiproton collisions at s**(1/2)=1.96 TeV

We search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with an electroweak vector boson in events with no identified charged leptons, large imbalance in transverse momentum, and two jets where at least one contains a secondary vertex consistent with the decay of b hadrons. We use ~1 fb-1 integrated luminosity of proton-antiproton collisions at s**(1/2)=1.96 TeV recorded by the CDF II experiment at the Tevatron. We find 268 (16) single (double) b-tagged candidate events, where 248 +/- 43 (14.4 +/- 2.7) are expected from standard model background processes. We place 95% confidence level upper limits on the Higgs boson production cross section for several Higgs boson masses ranging from 110 GeV/c2 to 140 GeV/c2. For a mass of 115 GeV/c2 the observed (expected) limit is 20.4 (14.2) times the standard model prediction.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Measurement of Ratios of Fragmentation Fractions for Bottom Hadrons in p-pbar Collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV

This paper describes the first measurement of b-quark fragmentation fractions into bottom hadrons in Run II of the Tevatron Collider at Fermilab. The result is based on a 360 pb-1 sample of data collected with the CDF II detector in p-pbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV. Semileptonic decays of B0, B+, and B_s mesons, as well as Lambda_b baryons, are reconstructed. For an effective bottom hadron p_T threshold of 7 GeV/c, the fragmentation fractions are measured to be f_u/f_d=1.054 +/- 0.018 (stat) +0.025-0.045(sys) +/- 0.058 (Br), f_s/(f_u+f_d)=0.160 +/- 0.005 (stat) +0.011-0.010 (sys) +0.057-0.034 (Br), and f_{Lambda_b}/(f_u+f_d)=0.281\pm0.012 (stat) +0.058-0.056 (sys) +0.128-0.086 (Br), where the uncertainty (Br) is due to uncertainties on measured branching ratios. The value of f_s/(f_u+f_d) agrees within one standard deviation with previous CDF measurements and the world average of this quantity, which is dominated by LEP measurements. However, the ratio f_{Lambda_b}/(f_u+f_d) is approximately twice the value previously measured at LEP. The approximately 2 sigma discrepancy is examined in terms of kinematic differences between the two production environments.Comment: Submitted to PRD, 54 pages, 53 plot

Multi-modal Biomarkers Quantify Recovery in Autoimmune Autonomic Ganglionopathy

Objective: To evaluate patients with ganglionic acetylcholine receptor antibody (gAChR‐Ab) positive autoimmune autonomic ganglionopathy using a multi‐modal testing protocol to characterise their full clinical phenotype and explore biomarkers to quantify immunotherapy response. Methods: Cohort study of thirteen individuals (seven female; 21–69 years) with autonomic failure and gAChR‐Ab>100pM identified between 2005–2019. From 2018, all patients were longitudinally assessed with cardiovascular, pupillary, urinary, sudomotor, lacrimal and salivary testing, and COMPASS‐31 autonomic symptom questionnaires. The orthostatic intolerance ratio was calculated by dividing change in systolic blood pressure over time tolerated on head‐up tilt. Eleven patients received immunotherapy. Results: At first assessment, all 13 patients had cardiovascular and pupillary impairments, 7/8 had post‐ganglionic sudomotor dysfunction, 9/11 had urinary retention and xeropthalmia, and 6/8 had xerostomia. After immunotherapy, there were significant improvements in orthostatic intolerance ratio (33.3[17.8–61.3] to 5.2[1.4–8.2], P = .007), heart rate response to deep breathing (1.5[0.0–3.3] to 4.5[3.0–6.3], P = .02), pupillary constriction to light (12.0[5.5–18.0] to 19.0[10.6–23.8]%, P = .02), saliva production (0.01[0.01–0.05] to 0.08[0.02–0.20]g/min, P = .03) and COMPASS‐31 scores (52 to 17, P = .03). Orthostatic intolerance ratio correlated with autonomic symptoms at baseline (r = 0.841, P = .01) and following immunotherapy (r = 0.889, P = .02). Immunofluorescence analyses of skin samples from a patient 32 years after disease onset showed loss of nerve fibres supplying the dermal autonomic adnexa and epidermis, with clear improvements following immunotherapy. Interpretation: Patients with autoimmune autonomic ganglionopathy demonstrated objective evidence of widespread sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic failure, with significant improvements after immunotherapy. Quantitative autonomic biomarkers should be used to define initial deficits, guide therapeutic decisions, and document treatment response