Eszopiclone for late-life insomnia

Insomnia, the most common sleep disturbance in later life, affects 20%–50% of older adults. Eszopiclone, a short-acting nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic agent developed for the treatment of insomnia, has been available in Europe since 1992 and in the US since 2005. Although not yet evaluated for transient insomnia in older adults, eszopiclone has been shown to be safe and efficacious for short-term treatment (2 weeks) of chronic, primary insomnia in older adults (64–91 years). Clinical studies in younger adults (mean = 44 years) have shown eszopiclone can be used for 6–12 months without evidence of problems. Because the oldest participant in these longer-term trials was 69, it not known whether eszopiclone is effective for older adults [particularly the old old (75–84 years) and oldest old (85+)] when used over longer periods. This is unfortunate, because older individuals frequently suffer from chronic insomnia. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia, which effectively targets the behavioral factors that maintain chronic insomnia, represents an attractive treatment alternative or adjuvant to eszopiclone for older adults. To date, no studies have compared eszopiclone to other hypnotic medications or to nonpharmacological interventions, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia, in older adults. All of the clinical trials reported herein were funded by Sepracor. This paper provides an overview of the literature on eszopiclone with special emphasis on its use for the treatment of late-life insomnia. Specific topics covered include pharmacology, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, clinical trial data, adverse events, drug interactions, tolerance/dependence, and economics/cost considerations for older adults

Invest to Save: Report and Recommendations of the NSF-DELOS Working Group on Digital Archiving and Preservation

Digital archiving and preservation are important areas for research and development, but there is no agreed upon set of priorities or coherent plan for research in this area. Research projects in this area tend to be small and driven by particular institutional problems or concerns. As a consequence, proposed solutions from experimental projects and prototypes tend not to scale to millions of digital objects, nor do the results from disparate projects readily build on each other. It is also unclear whether it is worthwhile to seek general solutions or whether different strategies are needed for different types of digital objects and collections. The lack of coordination in both research and development means that there are some areas where researchers are reinventing the wheel while other areas are neglected. Digital archiving and preservation is an area that will benefit from an exercise in analysis, priority setting, and planning for future research. The WG aims to survey current research activities, identify gaps, and develop a white paper proposing future research directions in the area of digital preservation. Some of the potential areas for research include repository architectures and inter-operability among digital archives; automated tools for capture, ingest, and normalization of digital objects; and harmonization of preservation formats and metadata. There can also be opportunities for development of commercial products in the areas of mass storage systems, repositories and repository management systems, and data management software and tools.

The Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial (DiRECT): protocol for a cluster randomised trial

Background: Despite improving evidence-based practice following clinical guidelines to optimise drug therapy, Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) still exerts a devastating toll from vascular complications and premature death. Biochemical remission of T2DM has been demonstrated with weight loss around 15kg following bariatric surgery and in several small studies of non-surgical energy-restriction treatments. The non-surgical Counterweight-Plus programme, running in Primary Care where obesity and T2DM are routinely managed, produces >15 kg weight loss in 33 % of all enrolled patients. The Diabetes UK-funded Counterpoint study suggested that this should be sufficient to reverse T2DM by removing ectopic fat in liver and pancreas, restoring first-phase insulin secretion. The Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial (DiRECT) was designed to determine whether a structured, intensive, weight management programme, delivered in a routine Primary Care setting, is a viable treatment for achieving durable normoglycaemia. Other aims are to understand the mechanistic basis of remission and to identify psychological predictors of response. Methods/Design: Cluster-randomised design with GP practice as the unit of randomisation: 280 participants from around 30 practices in Scotland and England will be allocated either to continue usual guideline-based care or to add the Counterweight-Plus weight management programme, which includes primary care nurse or dietitian delivery of 12-20weeks low calorie diet replacement, food reintroduction, and long-term weight loss maintenance. Main inclusion criteria: men and women aged 20-65years, all ethnicities, T2DM 0-6years duration, BMI 27-45 kg/m2. Tyneside participants will undergo Magnetic Resonance (MR) studies of pancreatic and hepatic fat, and metabolic studies to determine mechanisms underlying T2DM remission. Co-primary endpoints: weight reduction ≥ 15 kg and HbA1c <48 mmol/mol at one year. Further follow-up at 2 years. Discussion: This study will establish whether a structured weight management programme, delivered in Primary Care by practice nurses or dietitians, is a viable treatment to achieve T2DM remission. Results, available from 2018 onwards, will inform future service strategy

Inelastic Neutron Scattering Studies of \u3csup\u3e132,134\u3c/sup\u3eXe: Elucidating Structure in a Transitional Region and Possible Interferences for 0vββ Searches

Highly enriched (\u3e 99.9%) 132Xe and 134Xe gases were converted to solid 132XeF2 and 134XeF2 and were used as scattering samples for inelastic neutron scattering measurements at the University of Kentucky Accelerator Laboratory (UKAL). Lifetimes of levels up to 3.5MeV in excitation energy in these xenon isotopes were measured using the Doppler-shift attenuation method, allowing the determination of reduced transition probabilities. Gamma rays corresponding to new transitions and levels have been observed. In particular, tentative new excited 0+ states and associated decays have been examined in an effort to elucidate the structure of these nuclei in a transitional region, and comparisons have been drawn with models which seek to describe such nuclei, e.g., the E(5) critical-point symmetry of the IBM. Newly identified potential interferences for neutrinoless double-beta decay searches involving 136Xe are also discussed

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey : measuring DA and H at z = 0.57 from the baryon acoustic peak in the Data Release 9 spectroscopic Galaxy sample

We present measurements of the angular diameter distance to and Hubble parameter at z = 0.57 from the measurement of the baryon acoustic peak in the correlation of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. Our analysis is based on a sample from Data Release 9 of 264 283 galaxies over 3275 square degrees in the redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.70. We use two different methods to provide robust measurement of the acoustic peak position across and along the line of sight in order to measure the cosmological distance scale. We find DA(0.57) = 1408 ± 45 Mpc and H(0.57) = 92.9 ± 7.8 km s−1 Mpc−1 for our fiducial value of the sound horizon. These results from the anisotropic fitting are fully consistent with the analysis of the spherically averaged acoustic peak position presented in Anderson et al. Our distance measurements are a close match to the predictions of the standard cosmological model featuring a cosmological constant and zero spatial curvature.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey : cosmological implications of the full shape of the clustering wedges in the data release 10 and 11 galaxy samples

We explore the cosmological implications of the angle-averaged correlation function, ξ(s), and the clustering wedges, ξ⊥(s) and ξ∥(s), of the LOWZ and CMASS galaxy samples from Data Releases 10 and 11 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. Our results show no significant evidence for a deviation from the standard Λ cold dark matter model. The combination of the information from our clustering measurements with recent data from the cosmic microwave background is sufficient to constrain the curvature of the Universe to Ωk = 0.0010 ± 0.0029, the total neutrino mass to ∑mν < 0.23 eV (95 per cent confidence level), the effective number of relativistic species to Neff = 3.31 ± 0.27 and the dark energy equation of state to wDE = −1.051 ± 0.076. These limits are further improved by adding information from Type Ia supernovae and baryon acoustic oscillations from other samples. In particular, this data set combination is completely consistent with a time-independent dark energy equation of state, in which case we find wDE = −1.024 ± 0.052. We explore the constraints on the growth rate of cosmic structures assuming f(z) = Ωm(z)γ and obtain γ = 0.69 ± 0.15, consistent with the predictions of general relativity of γ = 0.55.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: single-probe measurements from CMASS anisotropic galaxy clustering

With the largest spectroscopic galaxy survey volume drawn from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), we can extract cosmological constraints from the measurements of redshift and geometric distortions at quasi-linear scales (e.g. above 50 $h^{-1}$Mpc). We analyze the broad-range shape of the monopole and quadrupole correlation functions of the BOSS Data Release 12 (DR12) CMASS galaxy sample, at the effective redshift $z=0.59$, to obtain constraints on the Hubble expansion rate $H(z)$, the angular-diameter distance $D_A(z)$, the normalized growth rate $f(z)\sigma_8(z)$, and the physical matter density $\Omega_mh^2$. We obtain robust measurements by including a polynomial as the model for the systematic errors, and find it works very well against the systematic effects, e.g., ones induced by stars and seeing. We provide accurate measurements $\{D_A(0.59)r_{s,fid}/r_s$ $\rm Mpc$, $H(0.59)r_s/r_{s,fid}$ $km s^{-1} Mpc^{-1}$, $f(0.59)\sigma_8(0.59)$, $\Omega_m h^2\}$ = $\{1427\pm26$, $97.3\pm3.3$, $0.488 \pm 0.060$, $0.135\pm0.016\}$, where $r_s$ is the comoving sound horizon at the drag epoch and $r_{s,fid}=147.66$ Mpc is the sound scale of the fiducial cosmology used in this study. The parameters which are not well constrained by our galaxy clustering analysis are marginalized over with wide flat priors. Since no priors from other data sets, e.g., cosmic microwave background (CMB), are adopted and no dark energy models are assumed, our results from BOSS CMASS galaxy clustering alone may be combined with other data sets, i.e., CMB, SNe, lensing or other galaxy clustering data to constrain the parameters of a given cosmological model. The uncertainty on the dark energy equation of state parameter, $w$, from CMB+CMASS is about 8 per cent. The uncertainty on the curvature fraction, $\Omega_k$, is 0.3 per cent. We do not find deviation from flat $\Lambda$CDM.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. The latest version matches and the accepted version by MNRAS. A bug in the first version has been identified and fixed in the new version. We have redone the analysis with newest data (BOSS DR12

0\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e States in \u3csup\u3e130,132\u3c/sup\u3eXe: A Search for E(5) Behavior

The level structures of 130,132Xe were studied with the inelastic neutron scattering reaction followed by γ-ray detection. Level lifetimes were measured using the Doppler-shift attenuation method and low-lying excited states in these nuclei were characterized. With a focus on the decay properties of the 0+ states, these nuclei were examined as representations of the E(5) critical-point symmetry

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Analysis of potential systematics

We analyze the density field of galaxies observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) included in the SDSS Data Release Nine (DR9). DR9 includes spectroscopic redshifts for over 400,000 galaxies spread over a footprint of 3,275 deg^2. We identify, characterize, and mitigate the impact of sources of systematic uncertainty on large-scale clustering measurements, both for angular moments of the redshift-space correlation function and the spherically averaged power spectrum, P(k), in order to ensure that robust cosmological constraints will be obtained from these data. A correlation between the projected density of stars and the higher redshift (0.43 < z < 0.7) galaxy sample (the `CMASS' sample) due to imaging systematics imparts a systematic error that is larger than the statistical error of the clustering measurements at scales s > 120h^-1Mpc or k < 0.01hMpc^-1. We find that these errors can be ameliorated by weighting galaxies based on their surface brightness and the local stellar density. We use mock galaxy catalogs that simulate the CMASS selection function to determine that randomly selecting galaxy redshifts in order to simulate the radial selection function of a random sample imparts the least systematic error on correlation function measurements and that this systematic error is negligible for the spherically averaged correlation function. The methods we recommend for the calculation of clustering measurements using the CMASS sample are adopted in companion papers that locate the position of the baryon acoustic oscillation feature (Anderson et al. 2012), constrain cosmological models using the full shape of the correlation function (Sanchez et al. 2012), and measure the rate of structure growth (Reid et al. 2012). (abridged)Comment: Matches version accepted by MNRAS. Clarifications and references have been added. See companion papers that share the "The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey:" titl