646 research outputs found
Appropriateness of oral anticoagulants for long-term treatment of atrial fibrillation in older people: results of an evidence-based review and international consensus validation process (OAC-FORTA 2016)
Background:
Age appropriateness of anticoagulants for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation is uncertain.
Objective:
To review oral anticoagulants for the treatment of atrial fibrillation in older (age >65Â years) people and to classify appropriate and inappropriate drugs based on efficacy, safety and tolerability using the Fit-fOR-The-Aged (FORTA) classification.
Methods:
We performed a structured comprehensive review of controlled clinical trials and summaries of individual product characteristics to assess study and total patient numbers, quality of major outcome data and data of geriatric relevance. The resulting evidence was discussed in a round table with an interdisciplinary panel of ten European experts. Decisions on age appropriateness were made using a Delphi process.
Results:
For the eight drugs included, 380 citations were identified. The primary outcome results were reported in 32 clinical trials with explicit and relevant data on older people. Though over 24,000 patients aged >75/80Â years were studied for warfarin, data on geriatric syndromes were rare (two studies reporting on frailty/falls/mental status) and missing for all other compounds. Apixaban was rated FORTA-A (highly beneficial). Other non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (including low/high-intensity dabigatran and high-intensity edoxaban) and warfarin were assigned to FORTA-B (beneficial). Phenprocoumon, acenocoumarol and fluindione were rated FORTA-C (questionable), mainly reflecting the absence of data.
Conclusions:
All non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants and warfarin were classified as beneficial or very beneficial in older persons (FORTA-A or -B), underlining the overall positive assessment of the risk/benefit ratio for these drugs. For other vitamin-K antagonists regionally used in Europe, the lack of evidence should challenge current practice
On the warp drive space-time
In this paper the problem of the quantum stability of the two-dimensional
warp drive spacetime moving with an apparent faster than light velocity is
considered. We regard as a maximum extension beyond the event horizon of that
spacetime its embedding in a three-dimensional Minkowskian space with the
topology of the corresponding Misner space. It is obtained that the interior of
the spaceship bubble becomes then a multiply connected nonchronal region with
closed timelike curves and that the most natural vacuum allows quantum
fluctuations which do not induce any divergent behaviour of the re-normalized
stress-energy tensor, even on the event (Cauchy) chronology horizon. In such a
case, the horizon encloses closed timelike curves only at scales close to the
Planck length, so that the warp drive satisfies the Ford's negative energy-time
inequality. Also found is a connection between the superluminal two-dimensional
warp drive space and two-dimensional gravitational kinks. This connection
allows us to generalize the considered Alcubierre metric to a standard,
nonstatic metric which is only describable on two different coordinate patchesComment: 7 pages, minor comment on chronology protection added, RevTex, to
appear in Phys. Rev.
Odd-intrinsic-parity processes within the Resonance Effective Theory of QCD
We analyse the most general odd-intrinsic-parity effective Lagrangian of QCD
valid for processes involving one pseudoscalar with vector mesons described in
terms of antisymmetric tensor fields. Substantial information on the
odd-intrinsic-parity couplings is obtained by constructing the
vector-vector-pseudoscalar Green's three-point function, at leading order in
1/Nc, and demanding that its short-distance behaviour matches the corresponding
OPE result. The QCD constraints thus enforced allow us to predict the decay
amplitude omega -> pion gamma, and the O(p^6) corrections to pion -> gamma
gamma. Noteworthy consequences concerning the vector meson dominance assumption
in the decay omega -> 3 pions are also extracted from the previous analysis.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure
European consensus statement on essential colposcopy
Peer reviewedPostprin
Wormholes and Ringholes in a Dark-Energy Universe
The effects that the present accelerating expansion of the universe has on
the size and shape of Lorentzian wormholes and ringholes are considered. It is
shown that, quite similarly to how it occurs for inflating wormholes, relative
to the initial embedding-space coordinate system, whereas the shape of the
considered holes is always preserved with time, their size is driven by the
expansion to increase by a factor which is proportional to the scale factor of
the universe. In the case that dark energy is phantom energy, which is not
excluded by present constraints on the dark-energy equation of state, that size
increase with time becomes quite more remarkable, and a rather speculative
scenario is here presented where the big rip can be circumvented by future
advanced civilizations by utilizing sufficiently grown up wormholes and
ringholes as time machines that shortcut the big-rip singularity.Comment: 11 pages, RevTex, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset
corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected
during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV.
The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the
couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and
right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary
mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b,
leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing
transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W'
boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to
the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for
masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC
data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed
coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant
improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe
Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final
states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and
missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a
center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to
an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two
complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a
specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic
edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of
dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states
including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and
missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the
standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to
the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a
region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric
extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector
efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM
physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Advancing One Health:Updated core competencies
International audienceAbstract One Health recognises the interdependence between the health of humans, animals, plants and the environment. With the increasing inclusion of One Health in multiple global health strategies, the One Health workforce must be prepared to protect and sustain the health and well-being of life on the planet. In this paper, a review of past and currently accepted One Health core competencies was conducted, with competence gaps identified. Here, the Network for Ecohealth and One Health (NEOH) propose updated core competencies designed to simplify what can be a complex area, grouping competencies into three main areas of: Skills; Values and Attitudes; and Knowledge and Awareness; with several layers underlying each. These are intentionally applicable to stakeholders from various sectors and across all levels to support capacity-building efforts within the One Health workforce. The updated competencies from NEOH can be used to evaluate and enhance current curricula, create new ones, or inform professional training programs at all levels, including students, university teaching staff, or government officials as well as continual professional development for frontline health practitioners and policy makers. The competencies are aligned with the new definition of One Health developed by the One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP), and when supported by subjectspecific expertise, will deliver the transformation needed to prevent and respond to complex global challenges. One Health Impact Statement Within a rapidly changing global environment, the need for practitioners competent in integrated approaches to health has increased substantially. Narrow approaches may not only limit opportunities for global and local solutions but, initiatives that do not consider other disciplines or social, economic and cultural contexts, may result in unforeseen and detrimental consequences. In keeping with principles of One Health, the Network for Ecohealth and One Health (NEOH) competencies entail a collaborative effort between multiple disciplines and sectors. They focus on enabling practitioners, from any background, at any level or scale of involvement, to promote and support a transformation to integrated health approaches. The updated competencies can be layered with existing disciplinary competencies and used to evaluate and enhance current education curricula, create new ones, or inform professional training programs at all levels-including for students, teachers and government officials as well as continual professional development for frontline health practitioners and policymakers. The competencies outlined here are applicable to all professionals and disciplines who may contribute to One Health, and are complimentary to, not a replacement for, any discipline-specific competencies. We believe the NEOH competencies meet the need outlined by the Quadripartiteâs (Food and Agriculture Organisation, United Nations Environment Programme, World Health Organisation, World Organisation for Animal Health) Joint Plan of Action on One Health which calls for cross-sectoral competencies
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