Radial Flow from Electromagnetic Probes and Signal of Quark Gluon Plasma

A first attempt has been made to extract the evolution of radial flow from the analysis of the experimental data on electromagnetic probes experimentally measured at SPS and RHIC energies. The $p_T$ spectra of photons and dileptons measured by WA98 and NA60 collaborations respectively at CERN-SPS and the photon spectra obtained by PHENIX collaboration at BNL-RHIC have been used to constrain the theoretical models, rendering the outcome of the analysis largely model independent. We argue that the variation of the radial velocity with invariant mass is indicative of a phase transition from initially produced partons to hadrons at SPS and RHIC energies.Comment: One LaTeX and 9 eps files, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Metastatic rectal cancer to the breast

Rectal cancer metastatic to the breast is an exceedingly rare event with around 15 cases reported in the literature. A metastatic breast deposit from the rectum signifies diffuse disseminated disease or a highly aggressive tumor such that surgical intervention other than palliation has a limited role. In the present report, we discuss a patient who presented with rectal cancer and developed a breast metastatic deposit. She soon developed progressive metastatic involvement of the lungs and the soft tissues and succumbed to the malignant course of this disease 12 months after the diagnosis of the primary rectal tumor

Depressive Symptoms and Perception of COVID-19 Risk in Ohio Adults

Background: We assessed the relationship between depressive symptoms and perceived COVID-19 risk in the next month. Methods: This analysis used survey data collected during a July 2020 cross-sectional study using a household-based probability sampling design. A total of 615 noninstitutionalized, English- and/or Spanish-speaking adults in Ohio were included. Depressive symptoms screening occurred using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2). We applied survey weights so that presented analyses represent the adult population in Ohio. We performed log-risk regression modeling (generalized linear model with binomial distribution and log link) to estimate unadjusted and covariate-adjusted prevalence ratios examining the association between screening positive for depressive symptoms and perceived risk of COVID-19 in the next month. Results: The study population was majority female (59.1%) and White (90.3%). The mean age was 55.9 years (standard deviation (SD)=17.3). About 1 in 20 (4.6%) screened positive for depressive symptoms. A positive depressive symptoms screen was not significantly associated with perceived risk of COVID-19 in the next month (prevalence ratio [PR]=0.75; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.25–2.24). After confounder adjustment, the adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) was nearly unchanged (aPR=0.78; 95% CI=0.24–2.55). Conclusion: As depression is often associated with anxiety and pessimism toward the future, the lack of association between depressive symptoms screening and perception of COVID-19 risk in the next month is surprising. Social withdrawal, which is also associated with depression, may have concealed any increased perceived COVID-19 risk, as depressed individuals who remained socially isolated may have had lower perceived COVID-19 risk

Dendritic cells internalize staphylococcus aureus more efficiently than staphylococcus epidermidis, but do not differ in induction of antigen-specific t cell proliferation

Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis are related species which can cause predominantly acute and subacute infections, respectively. Differences in human adaptive immune responses to these two species are not well understood. Dendritic cells (DCs) have an important role in the control and regulation of anti-staphylococcal T cell responses. Therefore, we aimed to compare the ability of S. aureus and S. epidermidis to influence the essential steps in human DC activation and subsequent antigen-specific CD4+ T cell proliferation, and to investigate the underlying mechanisms. Using multiple strains of both species, we observed that S. aureus was internalized more effectively than S. epidermidis by DCs but that both species were equally potent in activating these host cells, as evidenced by similar induction of DC maturation marker expression and antigen loading onto MHC-II molecules. The DCs stimulated by S. aureus strains not harboring superantigen (SAg) genes or by any of the S. epidermidis strains, induced low, likely physiological levels of T cell proliferation. Only DCs stimulated with S. aureus strains harboring SAg genes induced high levels of T cell proliferation. Taken together, S. aureus and S. epidermidis do not differently affect DC activation and ensuing antigen-specific T cell proliferation, unless a strain has the capacity to produce SAgs

External validation of the DHAKA score and comparison with the current IMCI algorithm for the assessment of dehydration in children with diarrhoea: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Dehydration due to diarrhoea is a leading cause of child death worldwide, yet no clinical tools for assessing dehydration have been validated in resource-limited settings. The Dehydration: Assessing Kids Accurately (DHAKA) score was derived for assessing dehydration in children with diarrhoea in a low-income country setting. In this study, we aimed to externally validate the DHAKA score in a new population of children and compare its accuracy and reliability to the current Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) algorithm. METHODS: DHAKA was a prospective cohort study done in children younger than 60 months presenting to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, with acute diarrhoea (defined by WHO as three or more loose stools per day for less than 14 days). Local nurses assessed children and classified their dehydration status using both the DHAKA score and the IMCI algorithm. Serial weights were obtained and dehydration status was established by percentage weight change with rehydration. We did regression analyses to validate the DHAKA score and compared the accuracy and reliability of the DHAKA score and IMCI algorithm with receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves and the weighted kappa statistic. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02007733. FINDINGS: Between March 22, 2015, and May 15, 2015, 496 patients were included in our primary analyses. On the basis of our criterion standard, 242 (49%) of 496 children had no dehydration, 184 (37%) of 496 had some dehydration, and 70 (14%) of 496 had severe dehydration. In multivariable regression analyses, each 1-point increase in the DHAKA score predicted an increase of 0.6% in the percentage dehydration of the child and increased the odds of both some and severe dehydration by a factor of 1.4. Both the accuracy and reliability of the DHAKA score were significantly greater than those of the IMCI algorithm. INTERPRETATION: The DHAKA score is the first clinical tool for assessing dehydration in children with acute diarrhoea to be externally validated in a low-income country. Further validation studies in a diverse range of settings and paediatric populations are warranted. FUNDING: National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center

Fabrication of optical waveguides in RbTiOPO4 single crystals by using different techniques

M.A. Butt, M.C. Pujol, R. Solé, A. Ródenas, G. Lifante, M. Aguiló, F. Díaz, S. N. Khonina, R. V. Skidanov and Payal Verma, "Fabrication of optical waveguides in RbTiOPO4 single crystals by using different techniques", XIII International Scientific and Technical Conference on Optical Technologies in Telecommunications,SPIE 9807 (26 March, 2016): doi: 10.1117/12.2231368. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibitedProceedings of XIII International Scientific and Technical Conference on Optical Technologies in Telecommunications Conference (Ufa, Russian Federation)In this work, we have demonstrated the use of different technologies to fabricate straight channel waveguides, S-bend waveguides, Y-splitter and Mach -Zehnder (MZ) structures on RbTiOPO 4 crystals and its isomorphs. We used reactive ion etching (RIE), inductively coupled plasma-RIE (ICP-RIE), femtosecond pulse laser micro-fabrication and ion diffusion techniques to structure these crystals. Computer simulations have been carried out and compared with the optical characterization of the waveguides which are in agreement with each other.This work is supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Russian Science Foundation (grant No. 14-19-00114), Spanish Government under Projects MAT2011-29255-C02-02, TEC2014-55948-R, MAT2013-47395, C4-4-R/1-R and by the Catalan Authority under Project 2014SGR135

Enabling precision medicine in neonatology, an integrated repository for preterm birth research.

Preterm birth, or the delivery of an infant prior to 37 weeks of gestation, is a significant cause of infant morbidity and mortality. In the last decade, the advent and continued development of molecular profiling technologies has enabled researchers to generate vast amount of 'omics' data, which together with integrative computational approaches, can help refine the current knowledge about disease mechanisms, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Here we describe the March of Dimes' Database for Preterm Birth Research (http://www.immport.org/resources/mod), a unique resource that contains a variety of 'omics' datasets related to preterm birth. The database is open publicly, and as of January 2018, links 13 molecular studies with data across tens of thousands of patients from 6 measurement modalities. The data in the repository are highly diverse and include genomic, transcriptomic, immunological, and microbiome data. Relevant datasets are augmented with additional molecular characterizations of almost 25,000 biological samples from public databases. We believe our data-sharing efforts will lead to enhanced research collaborations and coordination accelerating the overall pace of discovery in preterm birth research