A Locus for Hereditary Sensory Neuropathy with Cough and Gastroesophageal Reflux on Chromosome 3p22-p24

Hereditary sensory neuropathy type I (HSN I) is a group of dominantly inherited degenerative disorders of peripheral nerve in which sensory features are more prominent than motor involvement. We have described a new form of HSN I that is associated with cough and gastroesophageal reflux. To map the chromosomal location of the gene causing the disorder, a 10-cM genome screen was undertaken in a large Australian family. Two-point analysis showed linkage to chromosome 3p22-p24 (Zmax=3.51 at recombination fraction (θ) 0.0 for marker D3S2338). A second family with a similar phenotype shares a different disease haplotype but segregates at the same locus. Extended haplotype analysis has refined the region to a 3.42-cM interval, flanked by markers D3S2336 and D3S1266

Acute Aortic Dissection and Intramural Hematoma : A Systematic Review

IMPORTANCE: Acute aortic syndrome (AAS), a potentially fatal pathologic process within the aortic wall, should be suspected in patients presenting with severe thoracic pain and hypertension. AAS, including aortic dissection (approximately 90% of cases) and intramural hematoma, may be complicated by poor perfusion, aneurysm, or uncontrollable pain and hypertension. AAS is uncommon (approximately 3.5-6.0 per 100,000 patient-years) but rapid diagnosis is imperative as an emergency surgical procedure is frequently necessary.OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the current evidence on diagnosis and treatment of AAS.EVIDENCE REVIEW: Searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials for articles on diagnosis and treatment of AAS from June 1994 to January 29, 2016, were performed. Only clinical trials and prospective observational studies of 10 or more patients were included. Eighty-two studies (2 randomized clinical trials and 80 observational) describing 57,311 patients were reviewed.FINDINGS: Chest or back pain was the most commonly reported presenting symptom of AAS (61.6%-84.8%). Patients were typically aged 60 to 70 years, male (50%-81%), and had hypertension (45%-100%). Sensitivities of computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging for diagnosis of AAS were 100% and 95% to 100%, respectively. Transesophageal echocardiography was 86% to 100% sensitive, whereas D-dimer was 51.7% to 100% sensitive and 32.8% to 89.2% specific among 6 studies (n\u2009=\u2009876). An immediate open surgical procedure is needed for dissection of the ascending aorta, given the high mortality (26%-58%) and proximity to the aortic valve and great vessels (with potential for dissection complications such as tamponade). An RCT comparing endovascular surgical procedure to medical management for uncomplicated AAS in the descending aorta (n\u2009=\u200961) revealed no dissection-related deaths in either group. Endovascular surgical procedure was better than medical treatment (97% vs 43%, P\u2009<\u2009.001) for the primary end point of "favorable aortic remodeling" (false lumen thrombosis and no aortic dilation or rupture). The remaining evidence on therapies was observational, introducing significant selection bias.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Because of the high mortality rate, AAS should be considered and diagnosed promptly in patients presenting with acute chest or back pain and high blood pressure. Computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and transesophageal echocardiography are reliable tools for diagnosing AAS. Available data suggest that open surgical repair is optimal for treating type A (ascending aorta) AAS, whereas thoracic endovascular aortic repair may be optimal for treating type B (descending aorta) AAS. However, evidence is limited by the paucity of randomized trials

Block bond-order potential as a convergent moments-based method

The theory of a novel bond-order potential, which is based on the block Lanczos algorithm, is presented within an orthogonal tight-binding representation. The block scheme handles automatically the very different character of sigma and pi bonds by introducing block elements, which produces rapid convergence of the energies and forces within insulators, semiconductors, metals, and molecules. The method gives the first convergent results for vacancies in semiconductors using a moments-based method with a low number of moments. Our use of the Lanczos basis simplifies the calculations of the band energy and forces, which allows the application of the method to the molecular dynamics simulations of large systems. As an illustration of this convergent O(N) method we apply the block bond-order potential to the large scale simulation of the deformation of a carbon nanotube.Comment: revtex, 43 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Panspermia, Past and Present: Astrophysical and Biophysical Conditions for the Dissemination of Life in Space

Astronomically, there are viable mechanisms for distributing organic material throughout the Milky Way. Biologically, the destructive effects of ultraviolet light and cosmic rays means that the majority of organisms arrive broken and dead on a new world. The likelihood of conventional forms of panspermia must therefore be considered low. However, the information content of dam-aged biological molecules might serve to seed new life (necropanspermia).Comment: Accepted for publication in Space Science Review

Measurement of the B0-anti-B0-Oscillation Frequency with Inclusive Dilepton Events

The $B^0$-$\bar B^0$ oscillation frequency has been measured with a sample of 23 million \B\bar B pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we select events in which both B mesons decay semileptonically and use the charge of the leptons to identify the flavor of each B meson. A simultaneous fit to the decay time difference distributions for opposite- and same-sign dilepton events gives $\Delta m_d = 0.493 \pm 0.012{(stat)}\pm 0.009{(syst)}$ ps$^{-1}$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter

The Role of Historical Narrative in Biblical Thought:the Tendencies Underlying Old Testament Historiography

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68403/2/10.1177_030908928100602102.pd

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters

Measurement of the inclusive isolated prompt photon cross-section in pp collisions at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV using 35 pb-1 of ATLAS data

A measurement of the differential cross-section for the inclusive production of isolated prompt photons in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity ranges |eta|<1.37 and 1.52<=|eta|<2.37 in the transverse energy range 45<=E_T<400GeV. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1, collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The yields of the signal photons are measured using a data-driven technique, based on the observed distribution of the hadronic energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate and the photon selection criteria. The results are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and found to be in good agreement over four orders of magnitude in cross-section.Comment: 7 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 4 tables, final version published in Physics Letters