Twistor Construction of Higher-Dimensional Black Holes - Part II: Examples

We apply the twistor construction for higher-dimensional black holes to known examples in five space-time dimensions. First the patching matrices are calculated from the explicit metric for these examples. Then an ansatz is proposed for obtaining the patching matrix instead from the data of rod structure and angular momenta. The ansatz is tested on examples with up to three nuts, and these are shown to give flat space, the Myers-Perry solution and the black ring, as expected. Rules for the transition between different adaptations of the patching matrix and for the elimination of conical singularities are developed and seen to work.Comment: 35 pages, 5 figure

Implementation of GENFIT2 as an experiment independent track-fitting framework

The GENFIT toolkit, initially developed at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen, has been extended and modified to be more general and user-friendly. The new GENFIT, called GENFIT2, provides track representation, track-fitting algorithms and graphic visualization of tracks and detectors, and it can be used for any experiment that determines parameters of charged particle trajectories from spacial coordinate measurements. Based on general Kalman filter routines, it can perform extrapolations of track parameters and covariance matrices. It also provides interfaces to Millepede II for alignment purposes, and RAVE for the vertex finder. Results of an implementation of GENFIT2 in basf2 and PandaRoot software frameworks are presented here.Comment: 41 pages 24 figures, 1 table. Paper submitted to NI

Cryoballoon or Radiofrequency Ablation for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation.

BACKGROUND: Current guidelines recommend pulmonary-vein isolation by means of catheter ablation as treatment for drug-refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Radiofrequency ablation is the most common method, and cryoballoon ablation is the second most frequently used technology. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, randomized trial to determine whether cryoballoon ablation was noninferior to radiofrequency ablation in symptomatic patients with drug-refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. The primary efficacy end point in a time-to-event analysis was the first documented clinical failure (recurrence of atrial fibrillation, occurrence of atrial flutter or atrial tachycardia, use of antiarrhythmic drugs, or repeat ablation) following a 90-day period after the index ablation. The noninferiority margin was prespecified as a hazard ratio of 1.43. The primary safety end point was a composite of death, cerebrovascular events, or serious treatment-related adverse events. RESULTS: A total of 762 patients underwent randomization (378 assigned to cryoballoon ablation and 384 assigned to radiofrequency ablation). The mean duration of follow-up was 1.5 years. The primary efficacy end point occurred in 138 patients in the cryoballoon group and in 143 in the radiofrequency group (1-year Kaplan-Meier event rate estimates, 34.6% and 35.9%, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76 to 1.22; P<0.001 for noninferiority). The primary safety end point occurred in 40 patients in the cryoballoon group and in 51 patients in the radiofrequency group (1-year Kaplan-Meier event rate estimates, 10.2% and 12.8%, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.52 to 1.18; P=0.24). CONCLUSIONS: In this randomized trial, cryoballoon ablation was noninferior to radiofrequency ablation with respect to efficacy for the treatment of patients with drug-refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, and there was no significant difference between the two methods with regard to overall safety. (Funded by Medtronic; FIRE AND ICE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01490814.)

Genetic diversity from proviral DNA as a proxy for time since HIV-1 infection.

HIV-1 RNA genetic diversity predicts time since infection which is important for clinical care and research. It's unclear, however, whether proviral DNA genetic diversity sampled under suppressive antiretroviral therapy can be used for this purpose. We tested whether proviral genetic diversity from NGS sequences predicts time since infection and recency in 221 people with HIV-1 with known infection time. Proviral diversity was significantly associated with time since infection (p<5*10-07, R2 up to 25%) and predictive of treatment initiation during recent infection (AUC-ROC up to 0.85). This shows the utility of proviral genetic diversity as a proxy for time since infection

Mutational analysis of disease relapse in patients allografted for acute myeloid leukemia

Disease relapse is the major cause of treatment failure after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). To identify AML-associated genes prognostic of AML relapse post–allo-SCT, we resequenced 35 genes in 113 adults at diagnosis, 49 of whom relapsed. Two hundred sixty-two mutations were detected in 102/113 (90%) patients. An increased risk of relapse was observed in patients with mutations in WT1 (P = .018), DNMT3A (P = .045), FLT3 ITD (P = .071), and TP53 (P = .06), whereas mutations in IDH1 were associated with a reduced risk of disease relapse (P = .018). In 29 patients, we additionally compared mutational profiles in bone marrow at diagnosis and relapse to study changes in clonal structure at relapse. In 13/29 patients, mutational profiles altered at relapse. In 9 patients, mutations present at relapse were not detected at diagnosis. In 15 patients, additional available pre–allo-SCT samples demonstrated that mutations identified posttransplant but not at diagnosis were detectable immediately prior to transplant in 2 of 15 patients. Taken together, these observations, if confirmed in larger studies, have the potential to inform the design of novel strategies to reduce posttransplant relapse highlighting the potential importance of post–allo-SCT interventions with a broad antitumor specificity in contrast to targeted therapies based on mutational profile at diagnosis

Proceedings of Abstracts Engineering and Computer Science Research Conference 2019

© 2019 The Author(s). This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For further details please see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Note: Keynote: Fluorescence visualisation to evaluate effectiveness of personal protective equipment for infection control is © 2019 Crown copyright and so is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Under this licence users are permitted to copy, publish, distribute and transmit the Information; adapt the Information; exploit the Information commercially and non-commercially for example, by combining it with other Information, or by including it in your own product or application. Where you do any of the above you must acknowledge the source of the Information in your product or application by including or linking to any attribution statement specified by the Information Provider(s) and, where possible, provide a link to this licence: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/This book is the record of abstracts submitted and accepted for presentation at the Inaugural Engineering and Computer Science Research Conference held 17th April 2019 at the University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK. This conference is a local event aiming at bringing together the research students, staff and eminent external guests to celebrate Engineering and Computer Science Research at the University of Hertfordshire. The ECS Research Conference aims to showcase the broad landscape of research taking place in the School of Engineering and Computer Science. The 2019 conference was articulated around three topical cross-disciplinary themes: Make and Preserve the Future; Connect the People and Cities; and Protect and Care

Absence of Proviral Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Type 1 Evolution in Early-Treated Individuals With HIV Switching to Dolutegravir Monotherapy During 48 Weeks

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection is treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART), usually consisting of 2-3 different drugs, referred to as combination ART (cART). Our recent randomized clinical trial comparing a switch to dolutegravir monotherapy with continuation of cART in early-treated individuals demonstrated sustained virological suppression over 48 weeks. Here, we characterize the longitudinal landscape of the HIV-1 reservoir in these participants, with particular attention to potential differences between treatment groups regarding evidence of evolution as a proxy for low-level replication. Near full-length HIV-1 proviral polymerase chain reaction and next-generation sequencing was applied to longitudinal peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples to assess proviral evolution and the potential emergence of drug resistance mutations (DRMs). Neither an increase in genetic distance nor diversity over time was detected in participants of both treatment groups. Single proviral analysis showed high proportions of defective proviruses and low DRM numbers. No evidence for evolution during dolutegravir monotherapy was found in these early-treated individuals

Search for B→hννˉ\boldsymbol{B\to h\nu\bar{\nu}} decays with semileptonic tagging at Belle

We present the results of a search for the rare decays $B\to h\nu\overline{\nu}$, where $h$ stands for $K^+,\:K^0_{\mathrm{S}},\:K^{\ast +},\:K^{\ast 0},\:\pi^+,\:\pi^0,\:\rho^+$ and $\rho^{0}$. The results are obtained with $772\times10^{6}$ $B\overline{B}$ pairs collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+ e^-$ collider. We reconstruct one $B$ meson in a semileptonic decay and require a single $h$ meson but nothing else on the signal side. We observe no significant signal and set upper limits on the branching fractions. The limits set on the $B\to K^0_{\mathrm{S}}\nu\overline{\nu}$, $B^0\to K^{*0}\nu\overline{\nu}$, $B\to \pi^+\nu\overline{\nu}$, $B^0\to\pi^0\nu\overline{\nu}$, $B^+\to\rho^+\nu\overline{\nu}$, and $B^0\to\rho^0\nu\overline{\nu}$ channels are the world's most stringent.Comment: Submitted to PR

Measurement of the CKM Matrix Element ∣Vcb∣|V_{cb}| from B0→D∗−ℓ+νℓB^{0} \to D^{*-} \ell^+ \nu_\ell at Belle

We present a new measurement of the CKM matrix element $|V_{cb}|$ from $B^{0} \to D^{*-} \ell^+ \nu_\ell$ decays, reconstructed with the full Belle data set of $711 \, \rm fb^{-1}$ integrated luminosity. Two form factor parameterizations, originally conceived by the Caprini-Lellouch-Neubert (CLN) and the Boyd, Grinstein and Lebed (BGL) groups, are used to extract the product $\mathcal{F}(1)\eta_{\rm EW}|V_{cb}|$ and the decay form factors, where $\mathcal{F}(1)$ is the normalization factor and $\eta_{\rm EW}$ is a small electroweak correction. In the CLN parameterization we find $\mathcal{F}(1)\eta_{\rm EW}|V_{cb}| = (35.06 \pm 0.15 \pm 0.56) \times 10^{-3}$, $\rho^{2}=1.106 \pm 0.031 \pm 0.007$, $R_{1}(1)=1.229 \pm 0.028 \pm 0.009$, $R_{2}(1)=0.852 \pm 0.021 \pm 0.006$. For the BGL parameterization we obtain $\mathcal{F}(1)\eta_{\rm EW}|V_{cb}|= (34.93 \pm 0.23 \pm 0.59)\times 10^{-3}$, which is consistent with the World Average when correcting for $\mathcal{F}(1)\eta_{\rm EW}$. The branching fraction of $B^{0} \to D^{*-} \ell^+ \nu_\ell$ is measured to be $\mathcal{B}(B^{0}\rightarrow D^{*-}\ell^{+}\nu_{\ell}) = (4.90 \pm 0.02 \pm 0.16)\%$. We also present a new test of lepton flavor universality violation in semileptonic $B$ decays, $\frac{{\cal B }(B^0 \to D^{*-} e^+ \nu)}{{\cal B }(B^0 \to D^{*-} \mu^+ \nu)} = 1.01 \pm 0.01 \pm 0.03~$. The errors correspond to the statistical and systematic uncertainties respectively. This is the most precise measurement of $\mathcal{F}(1)\eta_{\rm EW}|V_{cb}|$ and form factors to date and the first experimental study of the BGL form factor parameterization in an experimental measurement

Randomized, Controlled Trial of Therapy Interruption in Chronic HIV-1 Infection

BACKGROUND: Approaches to limiting exposure to antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs are an active area of HIV therapy research. Here we present longitudinal follow-up of a randomized, open-label, single-center study of the immune, viral, and safety outcomes of structured therapy interruptions (TIs) in patients with chronically suppressed HIV-1 infection as compared to equal follow-up of patients on continuous therapy and including a final therapy interruption in both arms. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Forty-two chronically HIV-infected patients on suppressive ART with CD4 counts higher than 400 were randomized 1:1 to either (1) three successive fixed TIs of 2, 4, and 6 wk, with intervening resumption of therapy with resuppression for 4 wk before subsequent interruption, or (2) 40 wk of continuous therapy, with a final open-ended TI in both treatment groups. Main outcome was analysis of the time to viral rebound (>5,000 copies/ml) during the open-ended TI. Secondary outcomes included study-defined safety criteria, viral resistance, therapy failure, and retention of immune reconstitution. There was no difference between the groups in time to viral rebound during the open-ended TI (continuous therapy/single TI, median [interquartile range] = 4 [1–8] wk, n = 21; repeated TI, median [interquartile range] = 5 [4–8] wk, n = 21; p = 0.36). No differences in study-related adverse events, viral set point at 12 or 20 wk of open-ended interruption, viral resistance or therapy failure, retention of CD4 T cell numbers on ART, or retention of lymphoproliferative recall antigen responses were noted between groups. Importantly, resistance detected shortly after initial viremia following the open-ended TI did not result in a lack of resuppression to less than 50 copies/ml after reinitiation of the same drug regimen. CONCLUSION: Cycles of 2- to 6-wk time-fixed TIs in patients with suppressed HIV infection failed to confer a clinically significant benefit with regard to viral suppression off ART. Also, secondary analysis showed no difference between the two strategies in terms of safety, retention of immune reconstitution, and clinical therapy failure. Based on these findings, we suggest that further clinical research on the long-term consequences of TI strategies to decrease drug exposure is warranted