801 research outputs found

    Detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection by saliva and nasopharyngeal sampling in frontline healthcare workers: An observational cohort study

    Get PDF
    Background The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused an unprecedented strain on healthcare systems worldwide, including the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS). We conducted an observational cohort study of SARS-CoV-2 infection in frontline healthcare workers (HCW) working in an acute NHS Trust during the first wave of the pandemic, to answer emerging questions surrounding SARS-CoV-2 infection, diagnosis, transmission and control. Methods Using self-collected weekly saliva and twice weekly combined oropharyngeal/nasopharyngeal (OP/NP) samples, in addition to self-assessed symptom profiles and isolation behaviours, we retrospectively compared SARS-CoV-2 detection by RT-qPCR of saliva and OP/NP samples. We report the association with contemporaneous symptoms and isolation behaviour. Results Over a 12-week period from 30th March 2020, 40∙0% (n = 34/85, 95% confidence interval 31∙3-51∙8%) HCW had evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection by surveillance OP/NP swab and/or saliva sample. Symptoms were reported by 47∙1% (n = 40) and self-isolation by 25∙9% (n = 22) participants. Only 44.1% (n = 15/34) participants with SARS-CoV-2 infection reported any symptoms within 14 days of a positive result and only 29∙4% (n = 10/34) reported self-isolation periods. Overall agreement between paired saliva and OP/NP swabs was 93∙4% (n = 211/226 pairs) but rates of positive concordance were low. In paired samples with at least one positive result, 35∙0% (n = 7/20) were positive exclusively by OP/NP swab, 40∙0% (n = 8/20) exclusively by saliva and in only 25∙0% (n = 5/20) were the OP/NP and saliva result both positive. Conclusions HCW are a potential source of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in hospitals and symptom screening will identify the minority of infections. Without routine asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 screening, it is likely that HCW with SARS-CoV-2 infection would continue to attend work. Saliva, in addition to OP/NP swab testing, facilitated ascertainment of symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections. Combined saliva and OP/NP swab sampling would improve detection of SARS-CoV-2 for surveillance and is recommended for a high sensitivity strategy

    Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

    Get PDF
    This paper presents measurements of the W+μ+νW^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu and WμνW^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

    Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

    Get PDF
    A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

    Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

    Get PDF
    Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

    Nutraceutical therapies for atherosclerosis

    Get PDF
    Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting large and medium arteries and is considered to be a major underlying cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although the development of pharmacotherapies to treat CVD has contributed to a decline in cardiac mortality in the past few decades, CVD is estimated to be the cause of one-third of deaths globally. Nutraceuticals are natural nutritional compounds that are beneficial for the prevention or treatment of disease and, therefore, are a possible therapeutic avenue for the treatment of atherosclerosis. The purpose of this Review is to highlight potential nutraceuticals for use as antiatherogenic therapies with evidence from in vitro and in vivo studies. Furthermore, the current evidence from observational and randomized clinical studies into the role of nutraceuticals in preventing atherosclerosis in humans will also be discussed

    Effect of garlic on cardiovascular disorders: a review

    Get PDF
    Garlic and its preparations have been widely recognized as agents for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases, atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, thrombosis, hypertension and diabetes. Effectiveness of garlic in cardiovascular diseases was more encouraging in experimental studies, which prompted several clinical trials. Though many clinical trials showed a positive effect of garlic on almost all cardiovascular conditions mentioned above, however a number of negative studies have recently cast doubt on the efficary of garlic specially its cholesterol lowering effect of garlic. It is a great challenge for scientists all over the world to make a proper use of garlic and enjoy its maximum beneficial effect as it is the cheapest way to prevent cardiovascular disease. This review has attempted to make a bridge the gap between experimental and clinical study and to discuss the possible mechanisms of such therapeutic actions of garlic

    Epigenetic regulation of prostate cancer

    Get PDF
    Prostate cancer is a commonly diagnosed cancer in men and a leading cause of cancer deaths. Whilst the underlying mechanisms leading to prostate cancer are still to be determined, it is evident that both genetic and epigenetic changes contribute to the development and progression of this disease. Epigenetic changes involving DNA hypo- and hypermethylation, altered histone modifications and more recently changes in microRNA expression have been detected at a range of genes associated with prostate cancer. Furthermore, there is evidence that particular epigenetic changes are associated with different stages of the disease. Whilst early detection can lead to effective treatment, and androgen deprivation therapy has a high response rate, many tumours develop towards hormone-refractory prostate cancer, for which there is no successful treatment. Reliable markers for early detection and more effective treatment strategies are, therefore, needed. Consequently, there is a considerable interest in the potential of epigenetic changes as markers or targets for therapy in prostate cancer. Epigenetic modifiers that demethylate DNA and inhibit histone deacetylases have recently been explored to reactivate silenced gene expression in cancer. However, further understanding of the mechanisms and the effects of chromatin modulation in prostate cancer are required. In this review, we examine the current literature on epigenetic changes associated with prostate cancer and discuss the potential use of epigenetic modifiers for treatment of this disease

    Study of the hard double-parton scattering contribution to inclusive four-lepton production in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

    Get PDF
    The inclusive production of four isolated charged leptons in pp collisions is analysed for the presence of hard double-parton scattering, using 20.2fb−1of data recorded in the ATLAS detector at the LHC at centre-of-mass energy √s=8TeV. In the four-lepton invariant-mass range of 80 <m4<1000GeV, an artificial neural network is used to enhance the separation between single-and double-parton scattering based on the kinematics of the four leptons in the final state. An upper limit on the fraction of events originating from double-parton scattering is determined at 95% confidence level to be fDPS=0.042, which results in an estimated lower limit on the effective cross section at 95% confidence level of 1.0mb

    Electron and photon energy calibration with the ATLAS detector using 2015–2016 LHC proton-proton collision data

    Get PDF
    This paper presents the electron and photon energy calibration obtained with the ATLAS detector using about 36 fb−1 of LHC proton-proton collision data recorded at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. The different calibration steps applied to the data and the optimization of the reconstruction of electron and photon energies are discussed. The absolute energy scale is set using a large sample of Z boson decays into electron-positron pairs. The systematic uncertainty in the energy scale calibration varies between 0.03% to 0.2% in most of the detector acceptance for electrons with transverse momentum close to 45 GeV. For electrons with transverse momentum of 10 GeV the typical uncertainty is 0.3% to 0.8% and it varies between 0.25% and 1% for photons with transverse momentum around 60 GeV. Validations of the energy calibration with J/ψ → e + e − decays and radiative Z boson decays are also presented

    Search for long-lived particles produced in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV that decay into displaced hadronic jets in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

    Get PDF
    A search for the decay of neutral, weakly interacting, long-lived particles using data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. The analysis in this paper uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at √s=13 TeV recorded in 2015–2016. The search employs techniques for reconstructing vertices of long-lived particles decaying into jets in the muon spectrometer exploiting a two-vertex strategy and a novel technique that requires only one vertex in association with additional activity in the detector that improves the sensitivity for longer lifetimes. The observed numbers of events are consistent with the expected background and limits for several benchmark signals are determined
    corecore