1,263 research outputs found
Searches for phenomena beyond the Standard Model at the LHC with the ATLAS and CMS detectors
The LHC has delivered several fb-1 of data in spring and summer 2011, opening
new windows of opportunity for discovering phenomena beyond the Standard Model.
A summary of the searches conducted by the ATLAS and CMS experiments based on
about 1 fb-1 of data is presented.Comment: Presented at Lepton-Photon 2011, Mumbai, India; 10 pages, 11 figure
The challenges faced in the design, conduct and analysis of surgical randomised controlled trials
Randomised evaluations of surgical interventions are rare; some interventions have been widely
adopted without rigorous evaluation. Unlike other medical areas, the randomised controlled trial
(RCT) design has not become the default study design for the evaluation of surgical interventions.
Surgical trials are difficult to successfully undertake and pose particular practical and methodological challenges. However, RCTs have played a role in the assessment of surgical innovations and there is scope and need for greater use. This article will consider the design, conduct and analysis of an RCT of a surgical intervention. The issues will be reviewed under three
headings: the timing of the evaluation, defining the research question and trial design issues.
Recommendations on the conduct of future surgical RCTs are made. Collaboration between
research and surgical communities is needed to address the distinct issues raised by the assessmentof surgical interventions and enable the conduct of appropriate and well-designed trials.The Health Services Research Unit is funded by the Scottish Government Health DirectoratesPeer reviewedPublisher PD
Should Research Ethics Encourage the Production of Cost-Effective Interventions?
This project considers whether and how research ethics can contribute to the provision of cost-effective medical interventions. Clinical research ethics represents an underexplored context for the promotion of cost-effectiveness. In particular, although scholars have recently argued that research on less-expensive, less-effective interventions can be ethical, there has been little or no discussion of whether ethical considerations justify curtailing research on more expensive, more effective interventions. Yet considering cost-effectiveness at the research stage can help ensure that scarce resources such as tissue samples or limited subject popula- tions are employed where they do the most good; can support parallel efforts by providers and insurers to promote cost-effectiveness; and can ensure that research has social value and benefits subjects. I discuss and rebut potential objections to the consideration of cost-effectiveness in research, including the difficulty of predicting effectiveness and cost at the research stage, concerns about limitations in cost-effectiveness analysis, and worries about overly limiting researchers’ freedom. I then consider the advantages and disadvantages of having certain participants in the research enterprise, including IRBs, advisory committees, sponsors, investigators, and subjects, consider cost-effectiveness. The project concludes by qualifiedly endorsing the consideration of cost-effectiveness at the research stage. While incorporating cost-effectiveness considerations into the ethical evaluation of human subjects research will not on its own ensure that the health care system realizes cost-effectiveness goals, doing so nonetheless represents an important part of a broader effort to control rising medical costs
Phase transitions in biological membranes
Native membranes of biological cells display melting transitions of their
lipids at a temperature of 10-20 degrees below body temperature. Such
transitions can be observed in various bacterial cells, in nerves, in cancer
cells, but also in lung surfactant. It seems as if the presence of transitions
slightly below physiological temperature is a generic property of most cells.
They are important because they influence many physical properties of the
membranes. At the transition temperature, membranes display a larger
permeability that is accompanied by ion-channel-like phenomena even in the
complete absence of proteins. Membranes are softer, which implies that
phenomena such as endocytosis and exocytosis are facilitated. Mechanical signal
propagation phenomena related to nerve pulses are strongly enhanced. The
position of transitions can be affected by changes in temperature, pressure, pH
and salt concentration or by the presence of anesthetics. Thus, even at
physiological temperature, these transitions are of relevance. There position
and thereby the physical properties of the membrane can be controlled by
changes in the intensive thermodynamic variables. Here, we review some of the
experimental findings and the thermodynamics that describes the control of the
membrane function.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figure
Reduced functional measure of cardiovascular reserve predicts admission to critical care unit following kidney transplantation
Background: There is currently no effective preoperative assessment for patients undergoing kidney transplantation that is
able to identify those at high perioperative risk requiring admission to critical care unit (CCU). We sought to determine if
functional measures of cardiovascular reserve, in particular the anaerobic threshold (VO2AT) could identify these patients.
Methods: Adult patients were assessed within 4 weeks prior to kidney transplantation in a University hospital with a 37-bed
CCU, between April 2010 and June 2012. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), echocardiography and arterial
applanation tonometry were performed.
Results: There were 70 participants (age 41.7614.5 years, 60% male, 91.4% living donor kidney recipients, 23.4% were
desensitized). 14 patients (20%) required escalation of care from the ward to CCU following transplantation. Reduced
anaerobic threshold (VO2AT) was the most significant predictor, independently (OR = 0.43; 95% CI 0.27–0.68; p,0.001) and
in the multivariate logistic regression analysis (adjusted OR = 0.26; 95% CI 0.12–0.59; p = 0.001). The area under the receiveroperating-
characteristic curve was 0.93, based on a risk prediction model that incorporated VO2AT, body mass index and
desensitization status. Neither echocardiographic nor measures of aortic compliance were significantly associated with CCU
admission.
Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first prospective observational study to demonstrate the usefulness of CPET as a
preoperative risk stratification tool for patients undergoing kidney transplantation. The study suggests that VO2AT has the
potential to predict perioperative morbidity in kidney transplant recipients
New-physics contributions to the forward-backward asymmetry in B -> K* mu+ mu-
We study the forward-backward asymmetry (AFB) and the differential branching
ratio (DBR) in B -> K* mu+ mu- in the presence of new physics (NP) with
different Lorentz structures. We consider NP contributions from vector-axial
vector (VA), scalar-pseudoscalar (SP), and tensor (T) operators, as well as
their combinations. We calculate the effects of these new Lorentz structures in
the low-q^2 and high-q^2 regions, and explain their features through analytic
approximations. We find two mechanisms that can give a significant deviation
from the standard-model predictions, in the direction indicated by the recent
measurement of AFB by the Belle experiment. They involve the addition of the
following NP operators: (i) VA, or (ii) a combination of SP and T (slightly
better than T alone). These two mechanisms can be distinguished through
measurements of DBR in B -> K* mu+ mu- and AFB in B -> K mu+ mu-.Comment: 33 pages, revtex, 9 figures. Paper originally submitted with the
wrong figures. This is corrected in the replacement. An incorrect factor of 2
found in a formula. This is corrected and figures modified. Conclusions
unchanged. Typos correcte
Investigating hyper-vigilance for social threat of lonely children
The hypothesis that lonely children show hypervigilance for social threat was examined in a series of three studies that employed different methods including advanced eye-tracking technology. Hypervigilance for social threat was operationalized as hostility to ambiguously motivated social exclusion in a variation of the hostile attribution paradigm (Study 1), scores on the Children’s Rejection-Sensitivity Questionnaire (Study 2), and visual attention to socially rejecting stimuli (Study 3). The participants were 185 children (11 years-7 months to 12 years-6 months), 248 children (9 years-4 months to 11 years-8 months) and 140 children (8 years-10 months to 12 years-10 months) in the three studies, respectively. Regression analyses showed that, with depressive symptoms covaried, there were quadratic relations between loneliness and these different measures of hypervigilance to social threat. As hypothesized, only children in the upper range of loneliness demonstrated elevated hostility to ambiguously motivated social exclusion, higher scores on the rejection sensitivity questionnaire, and disengagement difficulties when viewing socially rejecting stimuli. We found that very lonely children are hypersensitive to social threat
Work-related pesticide poisoning among farmers in two villages of Southern China: a cross-sectional survey
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pesticide poisoning is an important health problem among Chinese farm workers, but there is a paucity of pesticide poisoning data from China. Using the WHO standard case definition of a possible acute pesticide poisoning, we investigated the prevalence and risk factors of acute work-related pesticide poisoning among farmers in Southern China.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A stratified sample of 910 pesticide applicators from two villages in southern China participated in face-to-face interviews. Respondents who self-reported having two or more of a list of sixty-six symptoms within 24 hours after pesticide application were categorized as having suffered acute pesticide poisoning. The association between the composite behavioral risk score and pesticide poisoning were assessed in a multivariate logistic model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 80 (8.8%) pesticide applicators reported an acute work-related pesticide poisoning. The most frequent symptoms among applicators were dermal (11.6%) and nervous system (10.7%) symptoms. Poisoning was more common among women, farmers in poor areas, and applicators without safety training (all p < 0.001). After controlling for gender, age, education, geographic area and the behavioral risk score, farmers without safety training had an adjusted odds ratio of 3.22 (95% CI: 1.86-5.60). The likelihood of acute pesticide poisoning was also significantly associated with number of exposure risk behaviors. A significant "dose-response" relationship between composite behavioral risk scores calculated from 9 pesticides exposure risk behaviors and the log odds of pesticide poisoning prevalence was seen among these Chinese farmers (R<sup>2 </sup>= 0.9246).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study found that 8.8% of Chinese pesticide applicators suffered acute pesticide poisoning and suggests that pesticide safety training, safe application methods, and precautionary behavioral measures could be effective in reducing the risk of pesticide poisoning.</p
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