Individual factors including age, BMI and heritable factors underlie temperature variation in sickness and in health: an observational, multi-cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Ageing affects immunity, potentially altering fever response to infection. We assess effects of biological variables on basal temperature, and during COVID-19 infection, proposing an updated temperature threshold for older adults ≥65 years. METHODS: Participants were from four cohorts: 1089 unaffected adult TwinsUK volunteers; 520 adults with emergency admission to a London hospital with RT-PCR confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection; 757 adults with emergency admission to a Birmingham hospital with RT-PCR confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and 3972 adult community-based COVID Symptom Study participants self-reporting a positive RT-PCR test. Heritability was assessed using saturated and univariate ACE models; mixed-effect and multivariable linear regression examined associations between temperature, age, sex and BMI; multivariable logistic regression examined associations between fever (≥37.8°C) and age; receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to identify temperature threshold for adults ≥ 65 years. RESULTS: Among unaffected volunteers, lower BMI (p=0.001), and increasing age (p<0.001) associated with lower basal temperature. Basal temperature showed a heritability of 47% 95% Confidence Interval 18-57%). In COVID-19+ participants, increasing age was associated with lower temperatures in Birmingham and community-based cohorts (p<0.001). For each additional year of age, participants were 1% less likely to demonstrate a fever ≥37.8°C (OR 0.99; p<0.001). Combining healthy and COVID-19+ participants, a temperature of 37.4°C in adults ≥65 years had similar sensitivity and specificity to 37.8°C in adults <65 years for discriminating infection. CONCLUSIONS: Ageing affects temperature in health and acute infection, with significant heritability, indicating genetic factors contribute to temperature regulation. Our observations suggest a lower threshold (37.4°C/97.3°F) for identifying fever in older adults ≥65 years

The genesis and early developments of Aitken\u2019s process, Shanks\u2019 transformation, the \u3b5\u2013algorithm, and related fixed point methods

In this paper, we trace back the genesis of Aitken\u2019s \u3942 process and Shanks\u2019 sequence transformation. These methods, which are extrapolation methods, are used for accelerating the convergence of sequences of scalars, vectors, matrices, and tensors. They had, and still have, many important applications in numerical analysis and in applied mathematics. They are related to continued fractions and Pad\ue9 approximants. We go back to the roots of these methods and analyze the original contributions. New and detailed explanations on the building and properties of Shanks\u2019 transformation and its kernel are provided. We then review their historical algebraic and algorithmic developments. We also analyze how they were involved in the solution of systems of linear and nonlinear equations, in particular in the methods of Steffensen, Pulay, and Anderson. Testimonies by various actors of the domain are given. The paper can also serve as an introduction to this domain of numerical analysis

Search for supersymmetry in a final state containing two photons and missing transverse momentum in s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV pppp collisions at the LHC using the ATLAS detector

16 pages plus author list + cover pages (33 pages total), 3 figures, 4 tables, submitted to European Physical Journal C, All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/SUSY-2016-04/See paper for full list of authorsInternational audienceA search has been made for supersymmetry in a final state containing two photons and missing transverse momentum using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search makes use of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2015. Using a combination of data-driven and Monte-Carlo-based approaches, the Standard Model background is estimated to be $0.27^{+0.22}_{-0.10}$ events. No events are observed in the signal region; considering the expected background and its uncertainty, this observation implies a model-independent 95% CL upper limit of 0.93 fb (3.0 events) on the visible cross section due to physics beyond the Standard Model. In the context of a generalized model of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking with a bino-like next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle, this leads to a lower limit of 1650 GeV on the mass of a degenerate octet of gluino states, independent of the mass of the lighter bino-like neutralino

Measurement of the bb dijet cross section in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The dijet production cross section for jets containing a b-hadron (b-jets) has been measured in proton–proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.2 fb−1. The cross section is measured for events with two identified b-jets with a transverse momentum pT &gt; 20GeV and a minimum separation in the η–φ plane of ΔR = 0.4. At least one of the jets in the event is required to have pT &gt; 270GeV. The cross section is measured differentially as a function of dijet invariant mass, dijet transverse momentum, boost of the dijet system, and the rapidity difference, azimuthal angle and angular distance between the b-jets. The results are compared to different predictions of leading order and next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamics matrix elements supplemented with models for parton-showers and hadronization

Measurement of the bb dijet cross section in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The dijet production cross section for jets containing a b-hadron (b-jets) has been measured in proton–proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.2 fb−1. The cross section is measured for events with two identified b-jets with a transverse momentum pT &gt; 20GeV and a minimum separation in the η–φ plane of ΔR = 0.4. At least one of the jets in the event is required to have pT &gt; 270GeV. The cross section is measured differentially as a function of dijet invariant mass, dijet transverse momentum, boost of the dijet system, and the rapidity difference, azimuthal angle and angular distance between the b-jets. The results are compared to different predictions of leading order and next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamics matrix elements supplemented with models for parton-showers and hadronization