Cushing's syndrome in the elderly: data from the European Registry on Cushing's syndrome

Objective To evaluate whether age-related differences exist in clinical characteristics, diagnostic approach, and management strategies in patients with Cushing's syndrome (CS) included in the European Registry on Cushing's Syndrome (ERCUSYN). Design Cohort study. Methods We analyzed 1791 patients with CS, of whom 1234 (69%) had pituitary-dependent CS (PIT-CS), 450 (25%) adrenal-dependent CS (ADR-CS), and 107 (6%) had an ectopic source (ECT-CS). According to the WHO criteria, 1616 patients (90.2%) were classified as younger (<65 years old) and 175 (9.8%) as older (>= 65 years old). Results Older patients were more frequently males and had a lower Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist circumference when compared with the younger. Older patients also had a lower prevalence of skin alterations, depression, hair loss, hirsutism, and reduced libido, but a higher prevalence of muscle weakness, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, venous thromboembolism, and bone fractures than younger patients, regardless of sex (P < .01 for all comparisons). Measurement of urinary free cortisol supported the diagnosis of CS less frequently in older patients when compared with the younger (P < .05). An extrasellar macroadenoma (macrocorticotropinoma with extrasellar extension) was more common in older PIT-CS patients than in the younger (P < .01). Older PIT-CS patients more frequently received cortisol-lowering medications and radiotherapy as a first-line treatment, whereas surgery was the preferred approach in the younger (P < .01 for all comparisons). When transsphenoidal surgery was performed, the remission rate was lower in the elderly when compared with their younger counterpart (P < .05). Conclusions Older CS patients lack several typical symptoms of hypercortisolism, present with more comorbidities regardless of sex, and are more often conservatively treated

Spectroscopy of the neutron-deficient isobars ¹⁶³Re and ¹⁶³W using tagging techniques

Selective tagging techniques have been used to establish new band structures in the transitional isobars 163Re and 163W. These nuclei were produced in the 106Cd(60Ni, xp yn γ) reaction at a bombarding energy of 270 MeV. Prompt γ rays were detected at the target position using the JUROGAM spectrometer while recoiling ions were separated by the RITU separator and implanted into the GREAT spectrometer. At low spin, the yrast band of 163Re is shown to be a strongly coupled collective band based on a protonh11/2 configuration. In 163W, the decay path of the 13/2+ isomeric state to the ground state has been identified and negative parity structures based on the ground state established

Digital pulse-timing technique for the neutron detector array NEDA

International audienc

Design and Test of a High-speed Flash ADC Mezzanine Card for High-resolution and Timing Performance in Nuclear Structure Experiments

International audienceThis board will be part of the upgrade for the new electronics for the EXOGAM2 (HP-Ge detector array) and NEDA (BC501A-based neutron detector array), therefore it was necessary to deal with the problem of providing a sampling card with high resolution for new gamma spectroscopy experiments while sampling at very high rates, with a broad bandwidth in order to preserve the shape for further analysis. Pulse shape analysis is of paramount importance in neutron detectors, such as NEDA, based on scintillators that are sensitive to γ-rays as well. High resolution and high speed are often two parameters which conform a trade-off and it is hard to achieve both simultaneously. The aforementioned constraints and the urge of building new sampling electronics to improve the signal analysis in nuclear physics experiments, led to the development of this FADC mezzanine This involves sampling rates up to 250 Msps preserving a high resolution of 11.3 effective bits in order to satisfy the experiment demands. In this work is described the design and the test bench proposed for a proper high speed ADC characterization system and the results obtained up to now

The influence of quasineutron configurations on ¹⁶¹Ta and nearby odd-A nuclei

Several strongly coupled bands in the neutron‐deficient nucleus 161Ta have been identified and quasiparticle configuration assignments have been made on the basis of rotational alignments and cranked shell model calculations. The level scheme elucidated for 161Tahighlights the competition between the ν(h9/2) and ν(i13/2) orbitals to form the yrast spectrum. The band structures in 161Ta also provide new insights into the structural features of other heavy odd‐A nuclei populated with much lower reaction cross sections in this region at the proton drip line

Lifetime measurements on fission fragments in the A ∼ 100 region

Expérience GANIL/VAMOS/EXOGAMInternational audienceLifetimes of first 4+ and 6+ states have been measured in neutron-rich isotopes of Zr, Mo, Ru and Pd using the recoil distance Doppler shift method at GANIL. The nuclei were produced through a fusion-fission reaction in inverse kinematics. The fission fragments were fully identified in the large-acceptance VAMOS spectrometer and -rays were detected in coincidence with the EXOGAM germanium array. Lifetimes of excited states in the range of 1-100 ps were measured with the Cologne plunger. Preliminary lifetime results are presented as well as a discussion on the evolution of the collectivity in this region