556 research outputs found
The Portrayal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Mass Print Magazines Since 1980
Objectives: The objectives of this study were to examine and describe the portrayal of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in mass print media magazines.
Design: The sample included all 37 articles found in magazines with circulation rates of greater than 1 million published in the United States and Canada from 1980 to 2005. The analysis was quantitative and qualitative and included investigation of both manifest and latent magazine story messages.
Results: Manifest analysis noted that CAM was largely represented as a treatment for a patient with a medically diagnosed illness or specific symptoms. Discussions used biomedical terms such as patient rather than consumer and disease rather than wellness. Latent analysis revealed three themes: (1) CAMs were described as good but not good enough; (2) individualism and consumerism were venerated; and (3) questions of costs were raised in the context of confusion and ambivalence
Results and clinical interpretation of germline RET analysis in a series of patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma: The challenge of the variants of uncertain significance
Germline RET variants are responsible for approximately 25% of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) cases. Identification of RET variant carriers allows for the adoption of preventative measures which are dependent on the risk associated with the specific alteration. From 2002 to 2020, at our cancer genetics clinic, RET genetic testing was performed in 163 subjects (102 complete gene analyses and 61 targeted analyses), 72 of whom presented with MTC. A germline RET variant was identified in 31.9% of patients affected by MTC (93.8% of those having positive family history and 14.3% of clinically sporadic cases). Subsequent target testing in relatives allowed us to identify 22 asymptomatic carriers, who could undertake appropriate screening. Overall, patients with germline RET variants differed significantly from those who tested negative by family history (p < 0.001) and mean age at MTC diagnosis (44.45 vs. 56.42 years; p = 0.010), but the difference was not significant when only carriers of moderate risk variants were considered (51.78 vs. 56.42 years; p = 0.281). Out of 12 different variants detected in 49 patients, five (41.7%) were of uncertain significance (VUS). For two of these, p.Ser904Phe and p.Asp631_Leu633delinsGlu, co-segregation and genotype/phenotype analysis, matched with data from the literature, provided evidence supporting their classification in the moderate and the highest/high risk class (with a MEN2B phenotype), respectively
Constraining the Ratio in TeV Cosmic Rays with Observations of the Moon Shadow by HAWC
An indirect measurement of the antiproton flux in cosmic rays is possible as
the particles undergo deflection by the geomagnetic field. This effect can be
measured by studying the deficit in the flux, or shadow, created by the Moon as
it absorbs cosmic rays that are headed towards the Earth. The shadow is
displaced from the actual position of the Moon due to geomagnetic deflection,
which is a function of the energy and charge of the cosmic rays. The
displacement provides a natural tool for momentum/charge discrimination that
can be used to study the composition of cosmic rays. Using 33 months of data
comprising more than 80 billion cosmic rays measured by the High Altitude Water
Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory, we have analyzed the Moon shadow to search for
TeV antiprotons in cosmic rays. We present our first upper limits on the
fraction, which in the absence of any direct measurements, provide
the tightest available constraints of on the antiproton fraction for
energies between 1 and 10 TeV.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by Physical Review
Very high energy particle acceleration powered by the jets of the microquasar SS 433
SS 433 is a binary system containing a supergiant star that is overflowing
its Roche lobe with matter accreting onto a compact object (either a black hole
or neutron star). Two jets of ionized matter with a bulk velocity of
extend from the binary, perpendicular to the line of sight, and
terminate inside W50, a supernova remnant that is being distorted by the jets.
SS 433 differs from other microquasars in that the accretion is believed to be
super-Eddington, and the luminosity of the system is erg
s. The lobes of W50 in which the jets terminate, about 40 pc from the
central source, are expected to accelerate charged particles, and indeed radio
and X-ray emission consistent with electron synchrotron emission in a magnetic
field have been observed. At higher energies (>100 GeV), the particle fluxes of
rays from X-ray hotspots around SS 433 have been reported as flux
upper limits. In this energy regime, it has been unclear whether the emission
is dominated by electrons that are interacting with photons from the cosmic
microwave background through inverse-Compton scattering or by protons
interacting with the ambient gas. Here we report TeV -ray observations
of the SS 433/W50 system where the lobes are spatially resolved. The TeV
emission is localized to structures in the lobes, far from the center of the
system where the jets are formed. We have measured photon energies of at least
25 TeV, and these are certainly not Doppler boosted, because of the viewing
geometry. We conclude that the emission from radio to TeV energies is
consistent with a single population of electrons with energies extending to at
least hundreds of TeV in a magnetic field of ~micro-Gauss.Comment: Preprint version of Nature paper. Contacts: S. BenZvi, B. Dingus, K.
Fang, C.D. Rho , H. Zhang, H. Zho
Measurement of the Crab Nebula Spectrum Past 100 TeV with HAWC
We present TeV gamma-ray observations of the Crab Nebula, the standard
reference source in ground-based gamma-ray astronomy, using data from the High
Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-Ray Observatory. In this analysis we use
two independent energy-estimation methods that utilize extensive air shower
variables such as the core position, shower angle, and shower lateral energy
distribution. In contrast, the previously published HAWC energy spectrum
roughly estimated the shower energy with only the number of photomultipliers
triggered. This new methodology yields a much improved energy resolution over
the previous analysis and extends HAWC's ability to accurately measure
gamma-ray energies well beyond 100 TeV. The energy spectrum of the Crab Nebula
is well fit to a log parabola shape with emission up to at least 100 TeV. For the first
estimator, a ground parameter that utilizes fits to the lateral distribution
function to measure the charge density 40 meters from the shower axis, the
best-fit values are
=(2.350.04)10 (TeV cm
s), =2.790.02, and
=0.100.01. For the second estimator, a neural
network which uses the charge distribution in annuli around the core and other
variables, these values are
=(2.310.02)10 (TeV cm
s), =2.730.02, and
=0.060.010.02. The first set of uncertainties are statistical;
the second set are systematic. Both methods yield compatible results. These
measurements are the highest-energy observation of a gamma-ray source to date.Comment: published in Ap
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