Diabetes as a risk factor for heart failure in women and men: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 47 cohorts including 12 million individuals

Aims/hypothesis: The prevalence of diabetes and heart failure is increasing, and diabetes has been associated with an increased risk of heart failure. However, whether diabetes confers the same excess risk of heart failure in women and men is unknown. The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive systematic review with meta-analysis of possible sex differences in the excess risk of heart failure consequent to diabetes. Our null hypothesis was that there is no such sex difference. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed for population-based cohort studies published between January 1966 and November 2018. Studies were selected if they reported sex-specific estimates of RRs for heart failure associated with diabetes, and its associated variability, which were adjusted at least for age. Random-effects meta-analyses with inverse variance weighting were used to obtain pooled sex-specific RRs and women-to-men ratio of RRs (RRRs) for heart failure associated with diabetes. Results: Data from 47 cohorts, involving 12,142,998 individuals and 253,260 heart failure events, were included. The pooled multiple-adjusted RR for heart failure associated with type 1 diabetes was 5.15 (95% CI 3.43, 7.74) in women and 3.47 (2.57, 4.69) in men, leading to an RRR of 1.47 (1.44, 1.90). Corresponding pooled RRs for heart failure associated with type 2 diabetes were 1.95 (1.70, 2.22) in women and 1.74 (1.55, 1.95) in men, with a pooled RRR of 1.09 (1.05, 1.13). Conclusions/interpretation: The excess risk of heart failure associated with diabetes is significantly greater in women with diabetes than in men with diabetes. PROSPERO registration: CRD42019135246

Dynamics of a deformable self-propelled domain

We investigate the dynamical coupling between the motion and the deformation of a single self-propelled domain based on two different model systems in two dimensions. One is represented by the set of ordinary differential equations for the center of gravity and two tensor variables characterizing deformations. The other is an active cell model which has an internal mechanism of motility and is represented by the partial differential equation for deformations. Numerical simulations show a rich variety of dynamics, some of which are common to the two model systems. The origin of the similarity and the difference is discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Degenerate Four Virtual Soliton Resonance for KP-II

By using disipative version of the second and the third members of AKNS hierarchy, a new method to solve 2+1 dimensional Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP-II) equation is proposed. We show that dissipative solitons (dissipatons) of those members give rise to the real solitons of KP-II. From the Hirota bilinear form of the SL(2,R) AKNS flows, we formulate a new bilinear representation for KP-II, by which, one and two soliton solutions are constructed and the resonance character of their mutual interactions is studied. By our bilinear form, we first time created four virtual soliton resonance solution for KP-II and established relations of it with degenerate four-soliton solution in the Hirota-Satsuma bilinear form for KP-II.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, Talk on International Conference Nonlinear Physics. Theory and Experiment. III, 24 June-3 July, 2004, Gallipoli(Lecce), Ital

High-pressure effects on isotropic superconductivity in the iron-free layered pnictide superconductor BaPd2As2

While the layered 122 iron arsenide superconductors are highly anisotropic, unconventional, and exhibit several forms of electronic orders that coexist or compete with superconductivity in different regions of their phase diagrams, we find in the absence of iron in the structure that the superconducting characteristics of the end member BaPd2As2 are surprisingly conventional. Here we report on complementary measurements of specific heat, magnetic susceptibility, resistivity measurements, Andreev spectroscopy, and synchrotron high pressure x-ray diffraction measurements supplemented with theoretical calculations for BaPd2As2. Its superconducting properties are completely isotropic as demonstrated by the critical fields, which do not depend on the direction of the applied field. Under the application of high pressure, Tc is linearly suppressed, which is the typical behavior of classical phonon-mediated superconductors with some additional effect of a pressure-induced decrease in the electronic density of states and the electron-phonon coupling parameters. Structural changes in the layered BaPd2As2 have been studied by means of angle-dispersive diffraction in a diamond-anvil cell. At 12 GPa and 24.2 GPa we observed pressure induced lattice distortions manifesting as the discontinuity and, hence discontinuity in the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state. The bulk modulus is B0=40(6) GPa below 12 GPa and B0=142(3) GPa below 27.2 GPa

Measurement of 1.7 to 74 MeV polarised gamma rays with the HARPO TPC

Current {\gamma}-ray telescopes based on photon conversions to electron-positron pairs, such as Fermi, use tungsten converters. They suffer of limited angular resolution at low energies, and their sensitivity drops below 1 GeV. The low multiple scattering in a gaseous detector gives access to higher angular resolution in the MeV-GeV range, and to the linear polarisation of the photons through the azimuthal angle of the electron-positron pair. HARPO is an R&D program to characterise the operation of a TPC (Time Projection Chamber) as a high angular-resolution and sensitivity telescope and polarimeter for {\gamma} rays from cosmic sources. It represents a first step towards a future space instrument. A 30 cm cubic TPC demonstrator was built, and filled with 2 bar argon-based gas. It was put in a polarised {\gamma}-ray beam at the NewSUBARU accelerator in Japan in November 2014. Data were taken at different photon energies from 1.7 MeV to 74 MeV, and with different polarisation configurations. The electronics setup is described, with an emphasis on the trigger system. The event reconstruction algorithm is quickly described, and preliminary measurements of the polarisation of 11 MeVphotons are shown.Comment: Proceedings VCI201

Study of CP Property of the Higgs at a Photon Collider using γγ→ttˉ→lX\gamma\gamma\to t\bar t\to l X

We study possible effects of CP violation in the Higgs sector on $t\bar t$ production at a $\gamma\gamma$-collider. These studies are performed in a model-independent way in terms of six form-factors $\{\Re(S_{\gamma}), \Im(S_{\gamma}), \Re(P_{\gamma}), \Im(P_{\gamma}), S_t, P_t\}$ which parametrize the CP mixing in the Higgs sector, and a strategy for their determination is developed. We observe that the angular distribution of the decay lepton from $t/\bar t$ produced in this process is independent of any CP violation in the $tbW$ vertex and hence best suited for studying CP mixing in the Higgs sector. Analytical expressions are obtained for the angular distribution of leptons in the c.m. frame of the two colliding photons for a general polarization state of the incoming photons. We construct combined asymmetries in the initial state lepton (photon) polarization and the final state lepton charge. They involve CP even ($x$'s) and odd ($y$'s) combinations of the mixing parameters. We study limits up to which the values of $x$ and $y$, with only two of them allowed to vary at a time, can be probed by measurements of these asymmetries, using circularly polarized photons. We use the numerical values of the asymmetries predicted by various models to discriminate among them. We show that this method can be sensitive to the loop-induced CP violation in the Higgs sector in the MSSM.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures added one referenc