7,634 research outputs found
Factors Associated with Choking During Meals; a Risk Indicator for Repetitive Fevers in the Elderly Community
Background: Choking during meals is a common symptom in the elderly, however the factors associated with it have not been fully clarified. In this study, we examined the factors associated with choking during meals. Methods: The oral health status and practices that promote oral health conditions was surveyed in 1305 community dwelling elderly using a self-administered questionnaire. Eight items including satisfaction with their oral condition, denture fit, chewing ability, tooth brushing frequency, dental visits, exercises to train muscles for chewing and swallowing, choking during meals, and repetitive fever were selected for analysis. Results: 25.1% of the subjects experienced choking during meals, which was significantly associated with repetitive fever occurrence. Differences in satisfaction levels with their oral condition, denture fit, chewing ability, and tooth brushing frequency were observed between groups with and without choking. Age, satisfaction level, and chewing ability were significantly associated with choking during meals. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that choking during meals is a risk indicator for repetitive fever in the elderly living in community settings. Poor chewing ability and dissatisfaction with their oral condition were risk factors associated with choking. These results suggest that training the elderly to eat efficiently and safely and improving oral conditions is necessary for those who suffer from choking during meals to prevent repetitive fever.  
Impact of Physical Stress on Salivary Buffering Capacity
Background: Saliva has many properties and the buffering capacity is important for the neutralization of oral fluids. It is unclear whether stressful conditions directly affect salivary buffering capacity, and we investigated the impact of physical stress on salivary buffering capacity. Methods: Twelve participants were subjected to the physical stress of jogging and running. The salivary buffering capacity and flow rate of the participants were measured before and after exposure to stressful conditions. Salivary α-amylase activity was measured as a quantitative index of stress. Results: No change in buffering capacity was detected among each time point during the whole course under physically stressful conditions. Next, we examined the change in buffering capacity after jogging compared to baseline. Six participants showed an increase in buffering capacity (Group A), while the other six participants showed a decrease or no change (Group B) after jogging. Group B showed a decrease in flow rate and increases in α-amylase activity and protein level after jogging, whereas Group A showed no changes in these properties. Conclusions: The results suggest that salivary buffering capacity changes following exposure to physically stressful conditions, and that the changes are dependent on the stress susceptibility of individuals
Looking for the left sneutrino LSP with displaced-vertex searches
We analyze a displaced dilepton signal expected at the LHC for a tau left
sneutrino as the lightest supersymmetric particle with a mass in the range
- GeV. The sneutrinos are pair produced via a virtual , or
in the channel and, given the large value of the tau Yukawa
coupling, their decays into two dileptons or a dilepton plus missing transverse
energy from neutrinos can be significant. The discussion is carried out in the
SSM, where the presence of -parity violating couplings involving
right-handed neutrinos solves the problem and can reproduce the neutrino
data. To probe the tau left sneutrinos we compare the predictions of the SSM with the ATLAS search for long-lived particles using displaced lepton
pairs in collisions at TeV, allowing us to constrain the
parameter space of the model. We also consider an optimization of the trigger
requirements used in existing displaced-vertex searches by means of a High
Level Trigger that exploits tracker information. This optimization is
generically useful for a light metastable particle decaying into soft charged
leptons. The constraints on the sneutrino turn out to be more stringent. We
finally discuss the prospects for the TeV LHC searches as well as further
potential optimizations.Comment: Version published in PRD, discussions expanded, references added, LEP
and LHC constraints discussed in more detail, 29 pages, 9 figures, 9 table
Near-Infrared Counterparts to Chandra X-ray Sources toward the Galactic Center. I. Statistics and a Catalog of Candidates
We present a catalog of 5184 candidate infrared counterparts to X-ray sources
detected towards the Galactic center. The X-ray sample contains 9017 point
sources detected in this region by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, including
data from a recent deep survey of the central 2 x 0.8 deg of the Galactic
plane. A total of 6760 of these sources have hard X-ray colors, and the
majority of them lie near the Galactic center, while most of the remaining 2257
soft X-ray sources lie in the foreground. We cross-correlated the X-ray source
positions with the 2MASS and SIRIUS near-infrared catalogs, which collectively
contain stars with a 10-sigma limiting flux of K_s<=15.6 mag. In order to
distinguish absorbed infrared sources near the Galactic center from those in
the foreground, we defined red and blue sources as those which have H-K_s>=0.9
and <=0.9 mag, respectively. We find that 5.8(1.5)% of the hard X-ray sources
have real infrared counterparts, of which 228(99) are red and 166(27) are blue.
The red counterparts are probably comprised of WR/O stars, HMXBs, and
symbiotics near the Galactic center. We also find that 39.4(1.0)% of the soft
X-ray sources have blue infrared counterparts; most of these are probably
coronally active dwarfs in the foreground. There is a noteworthy collection of
~20 red counterparts to hard X-ray sources near the Sagittarius-B H II region,
which are probably massive binaries that have formed within the last several
Myr. For each of the infrared matches to X-ray sources in our catalog we
derived the probability that the association is real, based on the results of
the cross-correlation analysis. The catalog will serve spectroscopic surveys to
identify infrared counterparts to X-ray sources near the Galactic center.Comment: Submitted to ApJ January 16, 2009; accepted July 21, 2009; 30 pages,
6 figure
Ni-impurity effects on the superconducting gap of LaSrCuO studied from the magnetic field and temperature dependence of the electronic specific heat
The magnetic field and temperature dependence of the electronic specific heat
have been systematically investigated in (LSCNO) in order to study Ni-impurity
effects on the superconducting (SC) gap. In LSCNO with =0.15 and =0.015,
the value of () at =0 K, , is
enhanced under the magnetic field applied along the -axis. The
increment of , , follows the Volovik relation
=, characteristic of the SC gap with line nodes,
with prefactor similar to that of a pure sample. The vs.
curve under =0 shows a d-wave-like SC anomaly with an abrupt increase at
and -linear dependence at , although the
-value in the vs. curve increases with increasing
Ni concentrations. Interestingly, as the SC part of , , decreases in LSCNO, is
reduced in proportion to the decrease of . These findings can
be explained phenomenologically by a simple model in which Ni impurities bring
about strong pair breaking at the edges of the coherent nodal part of the Fermi
surface but in the vicinity of the nodes of the SC gap. The reduction of the SC
condensation energy in LSCNO, evaluated from at
{0.3em}\raisebox{0.4ex}{} {-0.75em}\raisebox{-.7ex}{} {0.3em}, is also understood by the same model.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.
In-gap state and effect of light illumination in CuIrS probed by photoemission spectroscopy
We have studied disorder-induced in-gap states and effect of light
illumination in the insulating phase of spinel-type CuIrS using
ultra-violet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS). The Ir/Ir
charge-ordered gap appears below the metal-insulator transition temperature.
However, in the insulating phase, in-gap spectral features with are
observed in UPS just below the Fermi level (), corresponding to the
variable range hopping transport observed in resistivity. The spectral weight
at is not increased by light illumination, indicating that the
Ir-Ir dimer is very robust although the long-range octamer order
would be destructed by the photo-excitation. Present results suggest that the
Ir-Ir bipolaronic hopping and disorder effects are responsible
for the conductivity of CuIrS.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure
Electronic Structure of Cu_(1-x)Ni_xRh_2S_4 and CuRh_2Se_4: Band Structure Calculations, X-ray Photoemission and Fluorescence Measurements
The electronic structure of spinel-type Cu_(1-x)Ni_xRh_2S_4 (x = 0.0, 0.1,
0.3, 0.5, 1.0) and CuRh_2Se_4 compounds has been studied by means of X-ray
photoelectron and fluorescent spectroscopy. Cu L_3, Ni L_3, S L_(2,3) and Se
M_(2,3) X-ray emission spectra (XES) were measured near thresholds at Beamline
8.0 of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's Advanced Light Source. XES
measurements of the constituent atoms of these compounds, reduced to the same
binding energy scale, are found to be in excellent agreement with XPS valence
bands. The calculated XES spectra which include dipole matrix elements show
that the partial density of states reproduce experimental spectra quite well.
States near the Fermi level (E_F) have strong Rh d and S(Se) p character in all
compounds. In NiRh_2S_4 the Ni 3d states contribute strongly at E_F, whereas in
both Cu compounds the Cu 3d bands are only ~1 eV wide and centered ~2.5 eV
below E_F, leaving very little 3d character at E_F. The density of states at
the Fermi level is less in NiRh_2S_4 than in CuRh_2S_4. This difference may
contribute to the observed decrease, as a function of Ni concentration, in the
superconducting transition temperature in Cu_(1-x)Ni_xRh_2S_4. The density of
states of the ordered alloy Cu_(1/2)Ni_(1/2)Rh_2S_4 shows behavior that is more
``split-band''-like than ``rigid band''-like.Comment: 7 pages of text, 11 trailing figures, updated to fix faulty
postscript in Fig.
Pressure-induced phase transition and bi-polaronic sliding in a hole-doped Cu_2O_3 ladder system
We study a hole-doped two-leg ladder system including metal ions, oxygen, and
electron-lattice interaction, as a model for Sr_{14-x}Ca_xCu_{24}O_{41-\delta}.
Single- and bi-polaronic states at 1/4-hole doping are modeled as functions of
pressure by applying an unrestricted Hartree-Fock approximation to a multiband
Peierls-Hubbard Hamiltonian. We find evidence for a pressure-induced phase
transition between single-polaron and bi-polaron states. The electronic and
phononic excitations in those states, including distinctive local lattice
vibrational modes, are calculated by means of a direct-space Random Phase
approximation. Finally, as a function of pressure, we identify a transition
between site- and bond-centered bi-polarons, accompanied by a soft mode and a
low-energy charge-sliding mode. We suggest comparisons with available
experimented data
Two Nucleon-States in a Chiral Quark-Diquark Model
We study the ground and first excited states of nucleons in a chiral
quark-diquark model. We include two quark-diquark channels of the
scalar-isoscalar and axial-vector-isovector types for the nucleon states. The
diquark correlation violating the spin-flavor SU(4) symmetry allows to
treat the two quark-diquark channels independently. Hence the two states appear
as the superpositions of the two quark-diquark channels; one is the nucleon and
the other is a state which does not appear in the SU(4) quark models.
With a reasonable choice of model parameters, the mass of the excited state
appears at around 1.5 GeV, which we identify with the Roper resonance N(1440).Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Errors are corrected. Conclusions are not
affecte
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