The Effect of Bound Dineutrons upon BBN

We have examined the effects of a bound dineutron, n2, upon big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) as a function of its binding energy B_n2. We find a weakly bound dineutron has little impact but as B_n2 increases its presence begins to alter the flow of free nucleons to helium-4. Due to this disruption, and in the absence of changes to other binding energies or fundamental constants, BBN sets a reliable upper limit of B_n2 <~ 2.5 MeV in order to maintain the agreement with the observations of the primordial helium-4 mass fraction and D/H abundance

Hydroxychloroquine is associated with a lower risk of polyautoimmunity: data from the RELESSER Registry

OBJECTIVES: This article estimates the frequency of polyautoimmunity and associated factors in a large retrospective cohort of patients with SLE. METHODS: RELESSER (Spanish Society of Rheumatology Lupus Registry) is a nationwide multicentre, hospital-based registry of SLE patients. This is a cross-sectional study. The main variable was polyautoimmunity, which was defined as the co-occurrence of SLE and another autoimmune disease, such as autoimmune thyroiditis, RA, scleroderma, inflammatory myopathy and MCTD. We also recorded the presence of multiple autoimmune syndrome, secondary SS, secondary APS and a family history of autoimmune disease. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate possible risk factors for polyautoimmunity. RESULTS: Of the 3679 patients who fulfilled the criteria for SLE, 502 (13.6%) had polyautoimmunity. The most frequent types were autoimmune thyroiditis (7.9%), other systemic autoimmune diseases (6.2%), secondary SS (14.1%) and secondary APS (13.7%). Multiple autoimmune syndrome accounted for 10.2% of all cases of polyautoimmunity. A family history was recorded in 11.8%. According to the multivariate analysis, the factors associated with polyautoimmunity were female sex [odds ratio (95% CI), 1.72 (1.07, 2.72)], RP [1.63 (1.29, 2.05)], interstitial lung disease [3.35 (1.84, 6.01)], Jaccoud arthropathy [1.92 (1.40, 2.63)], anti-Ro/SSA and/or anti-La/SSB autoantibodies [2.03 (1.55, 2.67)], anti-RNP antibodies [1.48 (1.16, 1.90)], MTX [1.67 (1.26, 2.18)] and antimalarial drugs [0.50 (0.38, 0.67)]. CONCLUSION: Patients with SLE frequently present polyautoimmunity. We observed clinical and analytical characteristics associated with polyautoimmunity. Our finding that antimalarial drugs protected against polyautoimmunity should be verified in future studies

HEAVY-ION COULOMB-EXCITATION AND GAMMA-DECAY STUDIES OF THE ONE AND 2-PHONON GIANT-DIPOLE RESONANCES IN PB-208 AND BI-209

Projectile - photon coincidences were measured for the scattering of an 80 MeV/nucleon Zn-64 beam from Pb-208 and Bi-209 targets at the GANIL heavy ion accelerator facility. Projectile-like particles between 0.5-degrees and 4.5-degrees relative to the incident beam direction were detected in the SPEG energy loss spectrometer where their momentum, charge, and mass were determined. Photons were detected in the BaF2 scintillation detector array TAPS. Light charged particles produced in the reaction were detected in the KVI Forward Wall. The analysis of the data acquired in this experiment is focused on three different phenomena: (1) the two phonon giant dipole resonance, (2) time dependence of the decay of the one phonon giant dipole resonance, and (3) giant resonance strength in projectile nuclei

Cardiovascular Events in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Nationwide Study in Spain From the RELESSER Registry

This article estimates the frequency of cardiovascular (CV) events that occurred after diagnosis in a large Spanish cohort of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and investigates the main risk factors for atherosclerosis. RELESSER is a nationwide multicenter, hospital-based registry of SLE patients. This is a cross-sectional study. Demographic and clinical variables, the presence of traditional risk factors, and CV events were collected. A CV event was defined as a myocardial infarction, angina, stroke, and/or peripheral artery disease. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the possible risk factors for atherosclerosis. From 2011 to 2012, 3658 SLE patients were enrolled. Of these, 374 (10.9%) patients suffered at least a CV event. In 269 (7.4%) patients, the CV events occurred after SLE diagnosis (86.2% women, median [interquartile range] age 54.9 years [43.2-66.1], and SLE duration of 212.0 months [120.8-289.0]). Strokes (5.7%) were the most frequent CV event, followed by ischemic heart disease (3.8%) and peripheral artery disease (2.2%). Multivariate analysis identified age (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.03 [1.02-1.04]), hypertension (1.71 [1.20-2.44]), smoking (1.48 [1.06-2.07]), diabetes (2.2 [1.32-3.74]), dyslipidemia (2.18 [1.54-3.09]), neurolupus (2.42 [1.56-3.75]), valvulopathy (2.44 [1.34-4.26]), serositis (1.54 [1.09-2.18]), antiphospholipid antibodies (1.57 [1.13-2.17]), low complement (1.81 [1.12-2.93]), and azathioprine (1.47 [1.04-2.07]) as risk factors for CV events. We have confirmed that SLE patients suffer a high prevalence of premature CV disease. Both traditional and nontraditional risk factors contribute to this higher prevalence. Although it needs to be verified with future studies, our study also shows-for the first time-an association between diabetes and CV events in SLE patients