Not All Children with Cystic Fibrosis Have Abnormal Esophageal Neutralization during Chemical Clearance of Acid Reflux.

PurposeAcid neutralization during chemical clearance is significantly prolonged in children with cystic fibrosis, compared to symptomatic children without cystic fibrosis. The absence of available reference values impeded identification of abnormal findings within individual patients with and without cystic fibrosis. The present study aimed to test the hypothesis that significantly more children with cystic fibrosis have acid neutralization durations during chemical clearance that fall outside the physiological range.MethodsPublished reference value for acid neutralization duration during chemical clearance (determined using combined impedance/pH monitoring) was used to assess esophageal acid neutralization efficiency during chemical clearance in 16 children with cystic fibrosis (3 to <18 years) and 16 age-matched children without cystic fibrosis.ResultsDuration of acid neutralization during chemical clearance exceeded the upper end of the physiological range in 9 of 16 (56.3%) children with and in 3 of 16 (18.8%) children without cystic fibrosis (p=0.0412). The likelihood ratio for duration indicated that children with cystic fibrosis are 2.1-times more likely to have abnormal acid neutralization during chemical clearance, and children with abnormal acid neutralization during chemical clearance are 1.5-times more likely to have cystic fibrosis.ConclusionSignificantly more (but not all) children with cystic fibrosis have abnormally prolonged esophageal clearance of acid. Children with cystic fibrosis are more likely to have abnormal acid neutralization during chemical clearance. Additional studies involving larger sample sizes are needed to address the importance of genotype, esophageal motility, composition and volume of saliva, and gastric acidity on acid neutralization efficiency in cystic fibrosis children

Gastroesophageal reflux in cystic fibrosis across the age spectrum.

Background:Scientific advances have improved longevity in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and many of these patients can expect to experience age-related gastrointestinal co-morbidities. We aimed to assess the extent to which age might impact gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in patients with CF. Methods:Our esophageal pH-multichannel intraluminal impedance monitoring database was searched for tracings belonging to CF patients ≥2 years old without prior fundoplication and not taking anti-reflux medications immediately prior (within 7 days) and during the study. Tracings were retrospectively analyzed; Impedance and pH variables were evaluated with respect to age and pulmonary function. Results:Twenty-eight patients were enrolled; 16 children (3.1-17.7 years) and 12 adults (18.2-48.9 years). Among pH probe parameters, correlation analysis showed DeMeester score (P=0.011) and number of acid reflux events lasting >5 minutes (P=0.047) to be significantly correlated with age. Age was not significantly correlated with any of the impedance parameters. Age was negatively correlated with baseline impedance (BI) in the distal esophagus (r=-0.424, P=0.023) and BI was negatively correlated with several pH parameters, including reflux index (r=-0.553, P=0.002), number of total acid reflux events (r=-0.576, P=0.001), number of acid reflux events lasting >5 minutes (r=-0.534, P=0.003), and DeMeester score (r=-0.510, P=0.006). Pulmonary function (percent predicted forced expiratory volume in one minute; ppFEV1) was negatively correlated with age (r=-0.494, P=0.0007). The interaction of age and ppFEV1 and any of the reflux parameters, however, was not significant (P>0.05); the strongest evidence for an interaction was found for the number of acid reflux events reaching the proximal esophagus, but this interaction still did not reach statistical significance (P=0.070). Conclusions:In a small cohort, we found evidence that age may be associated with increased acid exposure and that both age and increased acid exposure are associated with reduced BI in the distal esophagus. The negative relationship between pulmonary function and age in our cohort is not related to GER. This pilot study supports the need for esophageal assessment and treatment of GER as standard components of clinical care for an aging CF population

Ocean mass, sterodynamic effects, and vertical land motion largely explain US coast relative sea level rise

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Harvey, T., Hamlington, B. D., Frederikse, T., Nerem, R. S., Piecuch, C. G., Hammond, W. C., Blewitt, G., Thompson, P. R., Bekaert, D. P. S., Landerer, F. W., Reager, J. T., Kopp, R. E., Chandanpurkar, H., Fenty, I., Trossman, D. S., Walker, J. S., & Boening, C. W. Ocean mass, sterodynamic effects, and vertical land motion largely explain US coast relative sea level rise. Communications Earth & Environment, 2(1), (2021): 233, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00300-w.Regional sea-level changes are caused by several physical processes that vary both in space and time. As a result of these processes, large regional departures from the long-term rate of global mean sea-level rise can occur. Identifying and understanding these processes at particular locations is the first step toward generating reliable projections and assisting in improved decision making. Here we quantify to what degree contemporary ocean mass change, sterodynamic effects, and vertical land motion influence sea-level rise observed by tide-gauge locations around the contiguous U.S. from 1993 to 2018. We are able to explain tide gauge-observed relative sea-level trends at 47 of 55 sampled locations. Locations where we cannot explain observed trends are potentially indicative of shortcomings in our coastal sea-level observational network or estimates of uncertainty.The research was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. C.G.P. was supported by NASA grant 80NSSC20K1241. B.D.H., T.C.H., and T.F. were supported by NASA JPL Task 105393.281945.02.25.04.59. R.E.K. and J.S.W. were supported by U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (grants 80NSSC17K0698, 80NSSC20K1724 and JPL task 105393.509496.02.08.13.31) and U.S. National Science Foundation (grant ICER-1663807). P.R.T. acknowledges financial support from the NOAA Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing program in support of the University of Hawaii Sea Level Center (NA11NMF4320128). The ECCO project is funded by the NASA Physical Oceanography; Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction; and Cryosphere Programs

Inclusive jet cross section in pˉp{\bar p p} collisions at s=1.8\sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV

The inclusive jet differential cross section has been measured for jet transverse energies, $E_T$, from 15 to 440 GeV, in the pseudorapidity region 0.1$\leq | \eta| \leq$0.7. The results are based on 19.5 pb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the CDF collaboration at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The data are compared with QCD predictions for various sets of parton distribution functions. The cross section for jets with $E_T>200$ GeV is significantly higher than current predictions based on O($\alpha_s^3$) perturbative QCD calculations. Various possible explanations for the high-$E_T$ excess are discussed.Comment: 8 pages with 2 eps uu-encoded figures Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Search for charged Higgs decays of the top quark using hadronic tau decays

We present the result of a search for charged Higgs decays of the top quark, produced in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\surd s =$ 1.8 TeV. When the charged Higgs is heavy and decays to a tau lepton, which subsequently decays hadronically, the resulting events have a unique signature: large missing transverse energy and the low-charged-multiplicity tau. Data collected in the period 1992-1993 at the Collider Detector at Fermilab, corresponding to 18.7$\pm$0.7~pb$^{-1}$, exclude new regions of combined top quark and charged Higgs mass, in extensions to the standard model with two Higgs doublets.Comment: uuencoded, gzipped tar file of LaTeX and 6 Postscript figures; 11 pp; submitted to Phys. Rev.

Measurement of Dijet Angular Distributions at CDF

We have used 106 pb^-1 of data collected in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV by the Collider Detector at Fermilab to measure jet angular distributions in events with two jets in the final state. The angular distributions agree with next to leading order (NLO) predictions of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) in all dijet invariant mass regions. The data exclude at 95% confidence level (CL) a model of quark substructure in which only up and down quarks are composite and the contact interaction scale is Lambda_ud(+) < 1.6 TeV or Lambda_ud(-) < 1.4 TeV. For a model in which all quarks are composite the excluded regions are Lambda(+) < 1.8 TeV and Lambda(-) < 1. 6 TeV.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, LaTex, using epsf.sty. Submitted to Physical Review Letters on September 17, 1996. Postscript file of full paper available at http://www-cdf.fnal.gov/physics/pub96/cdf3773_dijet_angle_prl.p

Search for New Particles Decaying to Dijets at CDF

We have used 106 pb^-1 of data collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab to search for new particles decaying to dijets. We exclude at the 95% confidence level models containing the following new particles: axigluons and flavor universal colorons with mass between 200 and 980 GeV/c, excited quarks with mass between 80 and 570 GeV/c^2 and between 580 and 760 GeV/c^2, color octet technirhos with mass between 260 and 480 GeV/c^2, W' bosons with mass between 300 and 420 GeV/c^2, and E_6 diquarks with mass between 290 and 420 GeV/c^2.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Submitted to Physical Review D Rapid Communications. Postscript file of paper is also available at http://www-cdf.fnal.gov/physics/pub97/cdf3276_dijet_search_prd_rc.p

Measurement of χ c1 and χ c2 production with s√ = 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

The prompt and non-prompt production cross-sections for the χ c1 and χ c2 charmonium states are measured in pp collisions at s√ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using 4.5 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The χ c states are reconstructed through the radiative decay χ c → J/ψγ (with J/ψ → μ + μ −) where photons are reconstructed from γ → e + e − conversions. The production rate of the χ c2 state relative to the χ c1 state is measured for prompt and non-prompt χ c as a function of J/ψ transverse momentum. The prompt χ c cross-sections are combined with existing measurements of prompt J/ψ production to derive the fraction of prompt J/ψ produced in feed-down from χ c decays. The fractions of χ c1 and χ c2 produced in b-hadron decays are also measured

Measurement of the production of a W boson in association with a charm quark in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The production of a W boson in association with a single charm quark is studied using 4.6 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√ = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. In events in which a W boson decays to an electron or muon, the charm quark is tagged either by its semileptonic decay to a muon or by the presence of a charmed meson. The integrated and differential cross sections as a function of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the W-boson decay are measured. Results are compared to the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD calculations obtained from various parton distribution function parameterisations. The ratio of the strange-to-down sea-quark distributions is determined to be 0.96+0.26−0.30 at Q 2 = 1.9 GeV2, which supports the hypothesis of an SU(3)-symmetric composition of the light-quark sea. Additionally, the cross-section ratio σ(W + +c¯¯)/σ(W − + c) is compared to the predictions obtained using parton distribution function parameterisations with different assumptions about the s−s¯¯¯ quark asymmetry