98 research outputs found
A Fast and Accurate Diagnostic Test for Severe Sepsis Using Kernel Classifiers
Severe sepsis occurs frequently in the intensive care unit (ICU) and is a leading cause of admission, mortality, and cost. Treatment guidelines recommend early intervention, however gold standard blood culture test results may return in up to 48 hours. Insulin sensitivity (SI) is known to decrease with worsening condition and inflammatory response, and could thus be used to aid clinical treatment decisions. Some glycemic control protocols are able to accurately identify SI in real-time.
A biomarker for severe sepsis was developed from retrospective SI and concurrent temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and SIRS score from 36 adult patients with sepsis. Patients were identified as having sepsis based on a clinically validated sepsis score (ss) of 2 or higher (ss = 0â4 for increasing severity). Kernel density estimates were used for the development of joint probability density profiles for ss = 2 and ss < 2 data hours (213 and 5858 respectively of 6071 total hours) and for classification. From the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve, the optimal probability cutoff values for classification were determined for in-sample and out-of-sample estimates.
A biomarker including concurrent insulin sensitivity and clinical data for the diagnosis of severe sepsis (ss = 2) achieves 69â94% sensitivity, 75â94% specificity, 0.78â0.99 AUC, 3â17 LHR+, 0.06â0.4 LHR-, 9â38% PPV, 99â100% NPV, and a diagnostic odds ratio of 7â260 for optimal probability cutoff values of 0.32 and 0.27 for in-sample and out-of-sample data, respectively. The overall result lies between these minimum and maximum error bounds. Thus, the clinical biomarker shows good to high accuracy and may provide useful information as a real-time diagnostic test for severe sepsis
Impact of glucocorticoids on insulin resistance in the critically ill
Glucocorticoids (GCs) have been shown to reduce insulin sensitivity in healthy individuals. Widely used in critical care to treat a variety of inflammatory and allergic disorders, they may inadvertently exacerbate stress-hyperglycaemia. This research uses model-based methods to quantify the reduction of insulin sensitivity from GCs in critically ill patients, and thus their impact on glycaemic control. A clinically validated model-based measure of insulin sensitivity (SI) was used to quantify changes between two matched cohorts of 40 intensive care unit (ICU) patients who received GCs and a control cohort who did not. All patients were admitted to the Christchurch hospital ICU between 2005 and 2007 and spent at least 24 hours on the SPRINT glycaemic control protocol.
A 31% reduction in whole-cohort median insulin sensitivity was seen between the control cohort and patients receiving glucocorticoids with a median dose equivalent to 200mg/day of hydrocortisone per patient. Comparing percentile-patients as a surrogate for matched patients, reductions in median insulin sensitivity of 20, 25, and 21% were observed for the 25th, 50th and 75th-percentile patients. All these cohort and per-patient reductions are less than or equivalent to the 30-62% reductions reported in healthy subjects especially when considering the fact that the GC doses in this study are 1.3-4 times larger than those in studies of healthy subjects. This reduced suppression of insulin sensitivity in critically ill patients could be a result of saturation due to already increased levels of catecholamines and cortisol common in critically illness. Virtual trial simulation showed that reductions in insulin sensitivity of 20-30% associated with glucocorticoid treatment in the ICU have limited impact on glycaemic control levels within the context of the SPRINT protocol
Development of a model-based clinical sepsis biomarker for critically ill patients
Invited.
online 15 May 2010.Sepsis occurs frequently in the intensive care unit (ICU) and is a leading cause of admission,
mortality, and cost. Treatment guidelines recommend early intervention, however positive
blood culture results may take up to 48 h. Insulin sensitivity (SI) is known to decrease
with worsening condition and could thus be used to aid diagnosis. Some glycemic control
protocols are able to accurately identify insulin sensitivity in real-time.
Hourly model-based insulin sensitivity SI values were calculated from glycemic control
data of 36 patients with sepsis. The hourly SI is compared to the hourly sepsis score (ss)
for these patients (ss = 0â4 for increasing severity). A multivariate clinical biomarker was
also developed to maximize the discrimination between different ss groups. Receiver operator
characteristic (ROC) curves for severe sepsis (ss=2) are created for both SI and the
multivariate clinical biomarker.
Insulin sensitivity as a sepsis biomarker for diagnosis of severe sepsis achieves a 50%
sensitivity, 76% specificity, 4.8% positive predictive value (PPV), and 98.3% negative predictive
value (NPV) at an SI cut-off value of 0.00013 L/mU/min. Multivariate clinical biomarker
combining SI, temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and their respective
hourly rates of change achieves 73% sensitivity, 80% specificity, 8.4% PPV, and 99.2% NPV.
Thus, themultivariate clinical biomarker provides an effective real-time negative predictive
diagnostic for severe sepsis. Examination of both inter- and intra-patient statistical distribution
of this biomarker and sepsis score shows potential avenues to improve the positive
predictive value
Anisotropy studies around the galactic centre at EeV energies with the Auger Observatory
Data from the Pierre Auger Observatory are analyzed to search for
anisotropies near the direction of the Galactic Centre at EeV energies. The
exposure of the surface array in this part of the sky is already significantly
larger than that of the fore-runner experiments. Our results do not support
previous findings of localized excesses in the AGASA and SUGAR data. We set an
upper bound on a point-like flux of cosmic rays arriving from the Galactic
Centre which excludes several scenarios predicting sources of EeV neutrons from
Sagittarius . Also the events detected simultaneously by the surface and
fluorescence detectors (the `hybrid' data set), which have better pointing
accuracy but are less numerous than those of the surface array alone, do not
show any significant localized excess from this direction.Comment: Matches published versio
Update on the correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic matter
Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory through 31 August 2007 showed
evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above the
Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min energy threshold, \nobreak{eV}. The
anisotropy was measured by the fraction of arrival directions that are less
than from the position of an active galactic nucleus within 75 Mpc
(using the V\'eron-Cetty and V\'eron catalog). An updated
measurement of this fraction is reported here using the arrival directions of
cosmic rays recorded above the same energy threshold through 31 December 2009.
The number of arrival directions has increased from 27 to 69, allowing a more
precise measurement. The correlating fraction is , compared
with expected for isotropic cosmic rays. This is down from the early
estimate of . The enlarged set of arrival directions is
examined also in relation to other populations of nearby extragalactic objects:
galaxies in the 2 Microns All Sky Survey and active galactic nuclei detected in
hard X-rays by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. A celestial region around the
position of the radiogalaxy Cen A has the largest excess of arrival directions
relative to isotropic expectations. The 2-point autocorrelation function is
shown for the enlarged set of arrival directions and compared to the isotropic
expectation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics on 31 August 201
Atmospheric effects on extensive air showers observed with the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
Atmospheric parameters, such as pressure (P), temperature (T) and density,
affect the development of extensive air showers initiated by energetic cosmic
rays. We have studied the impact of atmospheric variations on extensive air
showers by means of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The
rate of events shows a ~10% seasonal modulation and ~2% diurnal one. We find
that the observed behaviour is explained by a model including the effects
associated with the variations of pressure and density. The former affects the
longitudinal development of air showers while the latter influences the Moliere
radius and hence the lateral distribution of the shower particles. The model is
validated with full simulations of extensive air showers using atmospheric
profiles measured at the site of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astroparticle
Physic
The exposure of the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Observatory is a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays.
It consists of a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level
and a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the
atmosphere above the array. The "hybrid" detection mode combines the
information from the two subsystems. We describe the determination of the
hybrid exposure for events observed by the fluorescence telescopes in
coincidence with at least one water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array. A
detailed knowledge of the time dependence of the detection operations is
crucial for an accurate evaluation of the exposure. We discuss the relevance of
monitoring data collected during operations, such as the status of the
fluorescence detector, background light and atmospheric conditions, that are
used in both simulation and reconstruction.Comment: Paper accepted by Astroparticle Physic
The Fluorescence Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Observatory is a hybrid detector for ultra-high energy
cosmic rays. It combines a surface array to measure secondary particles at
ground level together with a fluorescence detector to measure the development
of air showers in the atmosphere above the array. The fluorescence detector
comprises 24 large telescopes specialized for measuring the nitrogen
fluorescence caused by charged particles of cosmic ray air showers. In this
paper we describe the components of the fluorescence detector including its
optical system, the design of the camera, the electronics, and the systems for
relative and absolute calibration. We also discuss the operation and the
monitoring of the detector. Finally, we evaluate the detector performance and
precision of shower reconstructions.Comment: 53 pages. Submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics
Research Section
Evidence for a mixed mass composition at the `ankle' in the cosmic-ray spectrum
We report a first measurement for ultra-high energy cosmic rays of the
correlation between the depth of shower maximum and the signal in the water
Cherenkov stations of air-showers registered simultaneously by the fluorescence
and the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Such a correlation
measurement is a unique feature of a hybrid air-shower observatory with
sensitivity to both the electromagnetic and muonic components. It allows an
accurate determination of the spread of primary masses in the cosmic-ray flux.
Up till now, constraints on the spread of primary masses have been dominated by
systematic uncertainties. The present correlation measurement is not affected
by systematics in the measurement of the depth of shower maximum or the signal
in the water Cherenkov stations. The analysis relies on general characteristics
of air showers and is thus robust also with respect to uncertainties in
hadronic event generators. The observed correlation in the energy range around
the `ankle' at differs significantly from
expectations for pure primary cosmic-ray compositions. A light composition made
up of proton and helium only is equally inconsistent with observations. The
data are explained well by a mixed composition including nuclei with mass . Scenarios such as the proton dip model, with almost pure compositions, are
thus disfavoured as the sole explanation of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray
flux at Earth.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report
Numbe
Advanced functionality for radio analysis in the Offline software framework of the Pierre Auger Observatory
The advent of the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) necessitates the
development of a powerful framework for the analysis of radio measurements of
cosmic ray air showers. As AERA performs "radio-hybrid" measurements of air
shower radio emission in coincidence with the surface particle detectors and
fluorescence telescopes of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the radio analysis
functionality had to be incorporated in the existing hybrid analysis solutions
for fluoresence and surface detector data. This goal has been achieved in a
natural way by extending the existing Auger Offline software framework with
radio functionality. In this article, we lay out the design, highlights and
features of the radio extension implemented in the Auger Offline framework. Its
functionality has achieved a high degree of sophistication and offers advanced
features such as vectorial reconstruction of the electric field, advanced
signal processing algorithms, a transparent and efficient handling of FFTs, a
very detailed simulation of detector effects, and the read-in of multiple data
formats including data from various radio simulation codes. The source code of
this radio functionality can be made available to interested parties on
request.Comment: accepted for publication in NIM A, 13 pages, minor corrections to
author list and references in v
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