Comparing the number of attempts required for complete nuclear chop using calibrated and conventional phacotip

Background: Phacoemulsification is a state of art technique with a steep learning curve the configuration of the phacotip affects the efficacy and execution of the nuclear chopping techniques. Inadequate penetration of phacotip may result in partial thickness nuclear cleavage with residual posterior plane and over enthusiastic penetration may result in posterior capsule rupture. This may be avoided if some estimate can be made preoperatively of the depth of penetration required to achieve full thickness crack.Methods: A total of 60 eyes of 60 patients with age related cataract with grade 4.0 to 6.9 (LOCS III) fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included in the study after written informed consent. They were divided into two groups A and B with 30 patients each randomly using envelope method and were operated using conventional and calibrated phacotips respectively and the number of attempts required to achieve complete nuclear chop was noted.Results: In group A, vertical chop was safely and effectively done is 23 patients in just one attempt while it took 2 attempts in 6 patients and 3 attempts in 1 patient. In group B, it took just one attempt in 26 patients while 2 attempts were required in 4 patients. The two groups were comparable (p value 0.453) and was found to be statistically significant.Conclusions: With the use of a calibrated phacotip, the surgeon already knows to what depth he has to penetrate the tip into the center of nucleus depending upon the grade of cataract which results in safe and effective chop in minimum attempts where as in the conventional phacotip, it is more of a blind process. Hence the calibrated phacotip has taken the guess work out of question

Gel actuators based on polymeric radicals

Low-voltage electrochemical actuation of radical polymer gels has been demonstrated in an organic electrolyte. Polymer gels were prepared by post-modification of active-ester precursor gels with an amine-functionalised radical. A combination of few-layer graphene and multiwall carbon nanotubes gave high conductivity and improved actuation in the gels, with 32% linear actuation. The actuator system showed good stability over at least 10 cycles, showing its promise. The cycle time was several hours due to mass-transport limited transport of ions and solvent into the device

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Calibration of the CMS hadron calorimeters using proton-proton collision data at root s=13 TeV

Methods are presented for calibrating the hadron calorimeter system of theCMSetector at the LHC. The hadron calorimeters of the CMS experiment are sampling calorimeters of brass and scintillator, and are in the form of one central detector and two endcaps. These calorimeters cover pseudorapidities vertical bar eta vertical bar ee data. The energy scale of the outer calorimeters has been determined with test beam data and is confirmed through data with high transverse momentum jets. In this paper, we present the details of the calibration methods and accuracy.Peer reviewe

Measurement of t(t)over-bar normalised multi-differential cross sections in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV, and simultaneous determination of the strong coupling strength, top quark pole mass, and parton distribution functions

Peer reviewe

An embedding technique to determine ττ backgrounds in proton-proton collision data

An embedding technique is presented to estimate standard model tau tau backgrounds from data with minimal simulation input. In the data, the muons are removed from reconstructed mu mu events and replaced with simulated tau leptons with the same kinematic properties. In this way, a set of hybrid events is obtained that does not rely on simulation except for the decay of the tau leptons. The challenges in describing the underlying event or the production of associated jets in the simulation are avoided. The technique described in this paper was developed for CMS. Its validation and the inherent uncertainties are also discussed. The demonstration of the performance of the technique is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions collected by CMS in 2017 at root s = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41.5 fb(-1).Peer reviewe