1,138 research outputs found
Heart Rate Variability Measured Early in Patients with Evolving Acute Coronary Syndrome and 1-year Outcomes of Rehospitalization and Mortality
Objective: This study sought to examine the prognostic value of heart rate variability (HRV) measurement initiated immediately after emergency department presentation for patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
Background: Altered HRV has been associated with adverse outcomes in heart disease, but the value of HRV measured during the earliest phases of ACS related to risk of 1-year rehospitalization and death has not been established.
Methods: Twenty-four-hour Holter recordings of 279 patients with ACS were initiated within 45 minutes of emergency department arrival; recordings with �18 hours of sinus rhythm were selected for HRV analysis (number [N] �193). Time domain, frequency domain, and nonlinear HRV were examined. Survival analysis was performed.
Results: During the 1-year follow-up, 94 patients were event-free, 82 were readmitted, and 17 died. HRV was altered in relation to outcomes. Predictors of rehospitalization included increased normalized high frequency power, decreased normalized low frequency power, and decreased low/high frequency ratio. Normalized high frequency �42 ms2 predicted rehospitalization while controlling for clinical variables (hazard ratio [HR] �2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI] �1.4–3.8, P�0.001). Variables significantly associated with death included natural logs of total power and ultra low frequency power. A model with ultra low frequency power �8 ms2 ( HR �3.8; 95% CI �1.5–10.1; P�0.007) and troponin �0.3 ng/mL (HR �4.0; 95% CI �1.3–12.1; P�0.016) revealed that each contributed independently in predicting mortality. Nonlinear HRV variables were significant predictors of both outcomes.
Conclusion: HRV measured close to the ACS onset may assist in risk stratification. HRV cut-points may provide additional, incremental prognostic information to established assessment guidelines, and may be worthy of additional study
GRB011211: An alternative interpretation of the optical and X-ray spectra in terms of blueshifts
The redshifts of the gamma ray burst (GRB) GRB 011211 has been determined as
2.14 from several absorption lines seen in the spectrum of its optical
afterglow. The spectrum of its X-ray afterglow exhibited several emission
lines,and their identification led to a mean redshift 1.862. A supernova model
has been proposed based on the redshift of the GRB as 2.141. It is shown here
that the redshift interpretation cannot explain the observed spectra, as some
serious inconsistencies exist in the process of redshift determinations in
spectra of both optical and X-ray afterglows. In view of that, an alternative
interpretation of the spectra is presented in terms of blueshifts. Ejection
mechanism is proposed as a possible scenario to explain the blueshifted
spectrum.Comment: 26 pages, one table; in Canadian Journal of Physics, June 200
Kondo Effect of Quantum Dots in the Quantum Hall Regime
Quantum dots in the quantum Hall regime can have pairs of single Slater
determinant states that are degenerate in energy. We argue that these pairs of
many body states may give rise to a Kondo effect which can be mapped into an
ordinary Kondo effect in a fictitious magnetic field. We report on several
properties of this Kondo effect using scaling and numerical renormalization
group analysis. We suggest an experiment to investigate this Kondo effect.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. B (5 pages, 4 figures); references added;
several changes in tex
Phase transitions in BaTiO from first principles
We develop a first-principles scheme to study ferroelectric phase transitions
for perovskite compounds. We obtain an effective Hamiltonian which is fully
specified by first-principles ultra-soft pseudopotential calculations. This
approach is applied to BaTiO, and the resulting Hamiltonian is studied
using Monte Carlo simulations. The calculated phase sequence, transition
temperatures, latent heats, and spontaneous polarizations are all in good
agreement with experiment. The order-disorder vs.\ displacive character of the
transitions and the roles played by different interactions are discussed.Comment: 13 page
Heart Rate Variability Measurement and Clinical Depression in Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients: Narrative Review of Recent Literature
Aim: We aimed to explore links between heart rate variability (HRV) and clinical depression in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), through a review of recent clinical research literature.
Background: Patients with ACS are at risk for both cardiac autonomic dysfunction and clinical depression. Both conditions can negatively impact the ability to recover from an acute physiological insult, such as unstable angina or myocardial infarction, increasing the risk for adverse cardiovascular outcomes. HRV is recognized as a reflection of autonomic function.
Methods: A narrative review was undertaken to evaluate state-of-the-art clinical research, using the PubMed database, January 2013. The search terms “heart rate variability” and “depression” were used in conjunction with “acute coronary syndrome”, “unstable angina”, or “myocardial infarction” to find clinical studies published within the past 10 years related to HRV and clinical depression, in patients with an ACS episode. Studies were included if HRV measurement and depression screening were undertaken during an ACS hospitalization or within 2 months of hospital discharge.
Results: Nine clinical studies met the inclusion criteria. The studies’ results indicate that there may be a relationship between abnormal HRV and clinical depression when assessed early after an ACS event, offering the possibility that these risk factors play a modest role in patient outcomes.
Conclusion: While a definitive conclusion about the relevance of HRV and clinical depression measurement in ACS patients would be premature, the literature suggests that these measures may provide additional information in risk assessment. Potential avenues for further research are proposed
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Data assurance in opaque computations
The chess endgame is increasingly being seen through the lens of, and therefore effectively defined by, a data ‘model’ of itself. It is vital that such models are clearly faithful to the reality they purport to represent. This paper examines that issue and systems engineering responses to it, using the chess endgame as the exemplar scenario. A structured survey has been carried out of the intrinsic challenges and complexity of creating endgame data by reviewing the past pattern of errors during work in progress, surfacing in publications and occurring after the data was generated. Specific measures are proposed to counter observed classes of error-risk, including a preliminary survey of techniques for using state-of-the-art verification tools to generate EGTs that are correct by construction. The approach may be applied generically beyond the game domain
Relativistic treatment of harmonics from impurity systems in quantum wires
Within a one particle approximation of the Dirac equation we investigate a
defect system in a quantum wire. We demonstrate that by minimally coupling a
laser field of frequency omega to such an impurity system, one may generate
harmonics of multiples of the driving frequency. In a multiple defect system
one may employ the distance between the defects in order to tune the cut-off
frequency.Comment: 9 pages Latex, 8 eps figures, section added, numerics improve
Formulae for zero-temperature conductance through a region with interaction
The zero-temperature linear response conductance through an interacting
mesoscopic region attached to noninteracting leads is investigated. We present
a set of formulae expressing the conductance in terms of the ground-state
energy or persistent currents in an auxiliary system, namely a ring threaded by
a magnetic flux and containing the correlated electron region. We first derive
the conductance formulae for the noninteracting case and then give arguments
why the formalism is also correct in the interacting case if the ground state
of a system exhibits Fermi liquid properties. We prove that in such systems,
the ground-state energy is a universal function of the magnetic flux, where the
conductance is the only parameter. The method is tested by comparing its
predictions with exact results and results of other methods for problems such
as the transport through single and double quantum dots containing interacting
electrons. The comparisons show an excellent quantitative agreement.Comment: 18 pages, 18 figures; to appear in Phys. Rev.
An analysis of navigation algorithms for smartphones using J2ME
Embedded systems are considered one of the most potentialareas for future innovations. Two embedded fields that will mostcertainly take a primary role in future innovations are mobile roboticsand mobile computing. Mobile robots and smartphones are growing innumber and functionalities, becoming a presence in our daily life. In thispaper, we study the current feasibility of a smartphone to execute navigationalgorithms. As a test case, we use a smartphone to control anautonomous mobile robot. We tested three navigation problems: Mapping,Localization and Path Planning. For each of these problems, analgorithm has been chosen, developed in J2ME, and tested on the field.Results show the current mobile Java capacity for executing computationallydemanding algorithms and reveal the real possibility of usingsmartphones for autonomous navigation
Signatures of Relativistic Neutrinos in CMB Anisotropy and Matter Clustering
We present a detailed analytical study of ultra-relativistic neutrinos in
cosmological perturbation theory and of the observable signatures of
inhomogeneities in the cosmic neutrino background. We note that a modification
of perturbation variables that removes all the time derivatives of scalar
gravitational potentials from the dynamical equations simplifies their solution
notably. The used perturbations of particle number per coordinate, not proper,
volume are generally constant on superhorizon scales. In real space an
analytical analysis can be extended beyond fluids to neutrinos.
The faster cosmological expansion due to the neutrino background changes the
acoustic and damping angular scales of the cosmic microwave background (CMB).
But we find that equivalent changes can be produced by varying other standard
parameters, including the primordial helium abundance. The low-l integrated
Sachs-Wolfe effect is also not sensitive to neutrinos. However, the gravity of
neutrino perturbations suppresses the CMB acoustic peaks for the multipoles
with l>~200 while it enhances the amplitude of matter fluctuations on these
scales. In addition, the perturbations of relativistic neutrinos generate a
*unique phase shift* of the CMB acoustic oscillations that for adiabatic
initial conditions cannot be caused by any other standard physics. The origin
of the shift is traced to neutrino free-streaming velocity exceeding the sound
speed of the photon-baryon plasma. We find that from a high resolution, low
noise instrument such as CMBPOL the effective number of light neutrino species
can be determined with an accuracy of sigma(N_nu) = 0.05 to 0.09, depending on
the constraints on the helium abundance.Comment: 38 pages, 7 figures. Version accepted for publication in PR
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