95 research outputs found
Sodium and Potassium Intakes and Cardiovascular Risk Profiles in Childhood Cancer Survivors: The SCCSS-Nutrition Study.
Risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), common in childhood cancer survivors (CCSs), may be affected by diet. We assessed sodium (Na) and potassium (K) intake, estimated from food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) and morning urine spots, and its associations with cardiovascular risk in CCSs. We stratified CCSs into three risk profiles based on (A) personal history (CVD, CVD risk factors, or CVD risk-free), (B) body mass index (obese, overweight, or normal/underweight), and (C) cardiotoxic treatment (anthracyclines and/or chest irradiation, or neither). We obtained an FFQ from 802 and sent a spot urine sample collection kit to 212, of which 111 (52%) returned. We estimated Na intake 2.9 g/day based on spot urine and 2.8 g/day based on FFQ; the estimated K intake was 1.6 g/day (spot urine) and 2.7 g/day (FFQ). CCSs with CVD risk factors had a slightly higher Na intake (3.3 g/day), than CCSs risk free (2.9 g/day) or with CVD (2.7 g/day, p = 0.017), and obese participants had higher Na intake (4.2 g/day) than normal/underweight CCSs (2.7 g/day, p < 0.001). Daily Na intake was above, and daily K intake below, the national recommended levels. Adult survivors of childhood cancer need dietary assistance to reduce Na and increase K intake
Detecting the neutral top-pion at colliders
We investigate some processes of the associated production of a neutral
top-pion with a pair of fermions() in the context of top-color-assisted technicolor(TC2)
theory at future colliders.
The studies show that the largest cross sections of the processes
could only reach the
level of 0.01fb, we can hardly detect a neutral top-pion through these
processes. For the processes ,
and ,
the cross sections of these processes are at the level of a few fb for the
favorable parameters and a few tens, even hundreds, of neutral top-pion events
can be produced at future colliders each year through these
processes. With the clean background of the flavor-changing channel,
the top-pion events can possibly be detected at the planned high luminosity
colliders. Therefore, such neutral top-pion production processes
provide a useful way to detect a neutral top-pion and test the TC2 model
directly.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Top quark associated production of the neutral top-pion at high energy colliders
In the context of topcolor-assisted technicolor (TC2) models, we calculate
the associated production of the neutral top-pion with a pair of
top quarks via the process . We
find that the production cross section is larger than that of the process both in the standard model (SM) and in the
minimal supersymmetric SM. With reasonable values of the parameters in TC2
models, the cross section can reach . The neutral top-pion
may be direct observed via this process.Comment: Latex files, 10 pages and 3 figure
Flavour Universal Dynamical Electroweak Symmetry Breaking
The top condensate see-saw mechanism of Dobrescu and Hill allows electroweak
symmetry to be broken while deferring the problem of flavour to an electroweak
singlet, massive sector. We provide an extended version of the singlet sector
that naturally accommodates realistic masses for all the standard model
fermions, which play an equal role in breaking electroweak symmetry. The models
result in a relatively light composite Higgs sector with masses typically in
the range of (400-700)~GeV. In more complete models the dynamics will
presumably be driven by a broken gauged family or flavour symmetry group. As an
example of the higher scale dynamics a fully dynamical model of the quark
sector with a GIM mechanism is presented, based on an earlier top condensation
model of King using broken family gauge symmetry interactions (that model was
itself based on a technicolour model of Georgi). The crucial extra ingredient
is a reinterpretation of the condensates that form when several gauge groups
become strong close to the same scale. A related technicolour model of Randall
which naturally includes the leptons too may also be adapted to this scenario.
We discuss the low energy constraints on the massive gauge bosons and scalars
of these models as well as their phenomenology at the TeV scale.Comment: 22 pages, 3 fig
Neutral top-pion and lepton flavor violating processes
In the context of topcolor-assisted techicolor(TC2) models, we study the
contributions of the neutral top-pion to the lepton flavor
violating(LFV) processes and .
We find that the present experimental bound on gives severe
constraints on the free parameters of models. Taking into account these
constraints, we consider the processes generated by
top-pion exchange at the tree-level and the one loop level, and obtain
, , in most of
the parameter space.Comment: latex files,16 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Lepton flavor violation decays in the topcolor-assisted technicolor model and the littlest Higgs model with parity
The new particles predicted by the topcolor-assisted technicolor ()
model and the littlest Higgs model with T-parity (called model) can
induce the lepton flavor violation () couplings at tree level or one loop
level, which might generate large contributions to some processes. Taking
into account the constraints of the experimental data on the relevant free
parameters, we calculate the branching ratios of the decay processes
with = , and
in the context of these two kinds of new physics models. We find
that the model and the model can indeed produce significant
contributions to some of these decay processes.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figure
Optimising urinary catecholamine metabolite diagnostics for neuroblastoma
INTRODUCTION: The analysis of urinary catecholamine metabolites is a cornerstone of neuroblastoma diagnostics. Currently, there is no consensus regarding the sampling method, and variable combinations of catecholamine metabolites are being used. We investigated if spot urine samples can be reliably used for analysis of a panel of catecholamine metabolites for the diagnosis of neuroblastoma. METHODS: Twenty-four-hour urine or spot urine samples were collected from patients with and without neuroblastoma at diagnosis. Homovanillic acid (HVA), vanillylmandelic acid (VMA), dopamine, 3-methoxytyramine, norepinephrine, normetanephrine, epinephrine and metanephrine were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FD) and/or ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). RESULTS: Catecholamine metabolite levels were measured in urine samples of 400 neuroblastoma patients (24-hour urine, n = 234; spot urine, n = 166) and 571 controls (all spot urine). Excretion levels of catecholamine metabolites and the diagnostic sensitivity for each metabolite were similar in 24-hour urine and spot urine samples (p > .08 and >.27 for all metabolites). The area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUC) of the panel containing all eight catecholamine metabolites was significantly higher compared to that of only HVA and VMA (AUC = 0.952 vs. 0.920, p = .02). No differences were observed in metabolite levels between the two analysis methods. CONCLUSION: Catecholamine metabolites in spot urine and 24-hour urine resulted in similar diagnostic sensitivities. The Catecholamine Working Group recommends the implementation of spot urine as standard of care. The panel of eight catecholamine metabolites has superior diagnostic accuracy over VMA and HVA
Single Top Production as a Window to Physics Beyond the Standard Model
Production of single top quarks at a high energy hadron collider is studied
as a means to identify physics beyond the standard model related to the
electroweak symmetry breaking. The sensitivity of the -channel mode,
the -channel -gluon fusion mode, and the \tw mode to various possible
forms of new physics is assessed, and it is found that the three modes are
sensitive to different forms of new physics, indicating that they provide
complimentary information about the properties of the top quark. Polarization
observables are also considered, and found to provide potentially useful
information about the structure of the interactions of top.Comment: References added and minor discussion improvements; results
unchanged; Version to be published in PR
A simple method to assess freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease patients
Freezing of gait (FOG) can be assessed by clinical and instrumental methods. Clinical examination has the advantage of being available to most clinicians; however, it requires experience and may not reveal FOG even for cases confirmed by the medical history. Instrumental methods have an advantage in that they may be used for ambulatory monitoring. The aim of the present study was to describe and evaluate a new instrumental method based on a force sensitive resistor and Pearson's correlation coefficient (Pcc) for the assessment of FOG. Nine patients with Parkinson's disease in the "on" state walked through a corridor, passed through a doorway and made a U-turn. We analyzed 24 FOG episodes by computing the Pcc between one "regular/normal" step and the rest of the steps. The Pcc reached +/- 1 for "normal" locomotion, while correlation diminished due to the lack of periodicity during FOG episodes. Gait was assessed in parallel with video. FOG episodes determined from the video were all detected with the proposed method. The computed duration of the FOG episodes was compared with those estimated from the video. The method was sensitive to various types of freezing; although no differences due to different types of freezing were detected. The study showed that Pcc analysis permitted the computerized detection of FOG in a simple manner analogous to human visual judgment, and its automation may be useful in clinical practice to provide a record of the history of FOG
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