Impact of body tilt on the central aortic pressure pulse.

The present work was undertaken to investigate, in young healthy volunteers, the relationships between the forward propagation times of arterial pressure waves and the timing of reflected waves observable on the aortic pulse, in the course of rapid changes in body position. 20 young healthy subjects, 10 men, and 10 women, were examined on a tilt table at two different tilt angles, -10° (Head-down) and + 45° (Head-up). In each position, carotid-femoral (Tcf) and carotid-tibial forward propagation times (Tct) were measured with the Complior device. In each position also, the central aortic pressure pulse was recorded with radial tonometry, using the SphygmoCor device and a generalized transfer function, so as to evaluate the timing of reflected waves reaching the aorta in systole (onset of systolic reflected wave, sT1r) and diastole (mean transit time of diastolic reflected wave, dMTT). The position shift from Head-up to Head-down caused a massive increase in both Tct (women from 130 ± 10 to 185 ± 18 msec P < 0.001, men from 136 ± 9 to 204 ± 18 msec P < 0.001) and dMTT (women from 364 ± 35 to 499 ± 33 msec P < 0.001, men from 406 ± 22 to 553 ± 21 msec P < 0.001). Mixed model regression showed that the changes in Tct and dMTT observed between Head-up and Head-down were tightly coupled (regression coefficient 2.1, 95% confidence interval 1.9-2.3, P < 0.001). These results strongly suggest that the diastolic waves observed on central aortic pulses reconstructed from radial tonometric correspond at least in part to reflections generated in the lower limbs

Spectroscopy of 35^{35}P using the one-proton knockout reaction

The structure of $^{35}$P was studied with a one-proton knockout reaction at88~MeV/u from a $^{36}$S projectile beam at NSCL. The $\gamma$ rays from thedepopulation of excited states in $^{35}$P were detected with GRETINA, whilethe $^{35}$P nuclei were identified event-by-event in the focal plane of theS800 spectrograph. The level scheme of $^{35}$P was deduced up to 7.5 MeV using$\gamma-\gamma$ coincidences. The observed levels were attributed to protonremovals from the $sd$-shell and also from the deeply-bound $p\_{1/2}$ orbital.The orbital angular momentum of each state was derived from the comparisonbetween experimental and calculated shapes of individual ($\gamma$-gated)parallel momentum distributions. Despite the use of different reactions andtheir associate models, spectroscopic factors, $C^2S$, derived from the$^{36}$S $(-1p)$ knockout reaction agree with those obtained earlier from$^{36}$S($d$,\nuc{3}{He}) transfer, if a reduction factor $R\_s$, as deducedfrom inclusive one-nucleon removal cross sections, is applied to the knockout transitions.In addition to the expected proton-hole configurations, other states were observedwith individual cross sections of the order of 0.5~mb. Based on their shiftedparallel momentum distributions, their decay modes to negative parity states,their high excitation energy (around 4.7~MeV) and the fact that they were notobserved in the ($d$,\nuc{3}{He}) reaction, we propose that they may resultfrom a two-step mechanism or a nucleon-exchange reaction with subsequent neutronevaporation. Regardless of the mechanism, that could not yet be clarified, thesestates likely correspond to neutron core excitations in \nuc{35}{P}. Thisnewly-identified pathway, although weak, offers the possibility to selectivelypopulate certain intruder configurations that are otherwise hard to produceand identify.Comment: 5 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Investment case for two-year post university speciality training in family medicine in Tajikistan: how much is needed for continuing and scaling up the improved education of family doctors?

Background: A new two-year Post University Specialty Training (PUST) programme in family medicine was introduced to improve the quality of postgraduate speciality medical education in Tajikistan. Postgraduate education of family doctors (FDs) needs to be urgently scaled up, as 38% of FD positions in Tajikistan remained unfilled in 2018. Moreover, the international financial support for the PUST programme is ending. This investment case assesses the minimum funding needed for the continuation and scale-up of PUST and establishes the rationale for the investment in the light of a recent evaluation. Methods: The costs of the programme were calculated for 2018 and a scale-up forecast made for the period 2019-2023. The impact of the scale-up on the shortage of FDs was assessed. An evaluation using a Multiple Choice Questionnaire and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) assessed and compared theoretical knowledge, clinical skills and competencies of PUST trained and conventionally trained FDs. Results: The annual costs of the programme were US$228,000 in 2018. The total investment needed for scaling up PUST from 31 new FDs in 2018 to 100 FD graduates each year by 2023 was US$ 802,000.However, when the retirement of FDs and population growth are considered, the scale-up will result only in maintaining the current level of FDs working and not solve the country's FD shortage. The PUST FDs demonstrated significantly better clinical skills than the conventionally trained interns, scoring 60 and 45% of OSCE points, respectively. Theoretical knowledge showed a similar trend; PUST FDs answered 44% and interns 38% of the questions correctly. Conclusions: The two-year PUST programme has clearly demonstrated it produces better skilled family doctors than the conventional one-year internship, albeit some enduring quality concerns do still prevail. The discontinuation of international support for PUST would be a major setback and risks potentially losing the benefits of the programme for family medicine and also other specialities. To guarantee the supply of adequately trained FDs and address the FD shortage, the PUST should be continued and scaled up. Therefore, it is essential that international support is extended and a gradual transition to sustainable national financing gets underway

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MAIN QUALITY PARAMETRES AND ANTOCYANIC CONTENT DURING GRAPES RIPENING IN DRĂNIC VITICULTURAL AREA

The first link technological development of any type of wine and particularly red wine, is to determine the optimal timing of harvest. The parameters taken into account in determining this time, weight of 100 berries, glucides content and total acidity of the grapes, provide information on potential anthocyanin of the species, thus imposing a new criterion for assessing the maturity of red grapes and certain maturity phenolic. To do this for three years at the 3 varieties of red grapes studied in the area of wine shingle, and made determinations by the entry in the ripening until harvest of the main parameters that define the quality of red grapes weight of berries, the contents of glucides, acidity and anthocyans

Spectroscopy of 28^{28}Na: shell evolution toward the drip line

Excited states in $^{28}$Na have been studied using the $\beta$-decay of implanted $^{28}$Ne ions at GANIL/LISE as well as the in-beam $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy at the NSCL/S800 facility. New states of positive (J$^{\pi}$=3,4$^+$) and negative (J$^{\pi}$=1-5$^-$) parity are proposed. The former arise from the coupling between 0d$\_{5/2}$ protons and a 0d$\_{3/2}$ neutron, while the latter are due to couplings with 1p$\_{3/2}$ or 0f$\_{7/2}$ neutrons. While the relative energies between the J$^{\pi}$=1-4$^+$ states are well reproduced with the USDA interaction in the N=17 isotones, a progressive shift in the ground state binding energy (by about 500 keV) is observed between $^{26}$F and $^{30}$Al. This points to a possible change in the proton-neutron 0d$\_{5/2}$-0d$\_{3/2}$ effective interaction when moving from stability to the drip line. The presence of J$^{\pi}$=1-4$^-$ negative parity states around 1.5 MeV as well as of a candidate for a J$^{\pi}$=5$^-$ state around 2.5 MeV give further support to the collapse of the N=20 gap and to the inversion between the 0f$\_{7/2}$ and 1p$\_{3/2}$ levels below Z=12. These features are discussed in the framework of Shell Model and EDF calculations, leading to predicted negative parity states in the low energy spectra of the $^{26}$F and $^{25}$O nuclei.Comment: Exp\'erience GANIL/LISE et NSCL/S80

Fast-timing study of the l-forbidden 1/2+→3/2+ M1 transition in Sn129

R. Lică et al. ; 7 págs.; 5 figs.; 3 tabs. ; Open Access funded by Creative Commons Atribution Licence 3.0The levels in Sn129 populated from the β- decay of In129 isomers were investigated at the ISOLDE facility of CERN using the newly commissioned ISOLDE Decay Station (IDS). The lowest 12+ state and the 32+ ground state in Sn129 are expected to have configurations dominated by the neutron s12 (l=0) and d32 (l=2) single-particle states, respectively. Consequently, these states should be connected by a somewhat slow l-forbidden M1 transition. Using fast-timing spectroscopy we have measured the half-life of the 12+ 315.3-keV state, T12= 19(10) ps, which corresponds to a moderately fast M1 transition. Shell-model calculations using the CD-Bonn effective interaction, with standard effective charges and g factors, predict a 4-ns half-life for this level. We can reconcile the shell-model calculations to the measured T12 value by the renormalization of the M1 effective operator for neutron holes.This work was partially supported by the Spanish MINECO through Projects No. FPA2012-32443, No. FPA2013-41267-P, and CPAN Consolider (Project No. CSD-2007-00042), and by Romanian IFA Grant CERN/ISOLDE. It was also partly funded by the NuPNET network FATIMA (PRI-PIMNUP-2011-1338), by FWO-Vlaanderen (Belgium), by GOA/2010/010 (BOF KU Leuven), and by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme initiated by the Belgian Science PolicyOffice (BriX network P7/12). Support from Grupo de Física Nuclear (GFN-UCM), Programmi di Ricerca Scientifica di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN) Grant No. 2001024324 01302, German BMBF under Contracts No. 05P12PKFNE and No. 05P15PKCIA, the U.K. Science and Technology Facilities Council, and the European Union Seventh Framework through ENSAR (Contract No. 262010) is also acknowledged. Fasttiming electronics were provided by the Fast Timing Collaboration, the ISOLDE Decay Station collaboration, and MASTICON.Peer Reviewe

Spectroscopy of 18^{18}Na: Bridging the two-proton radioactivity of 19^{19}Mg

The unbound nucleus $^{18}$Na, the intermediate nucleus in the two-proton radioactivity of $^{19}$Mg, was studied by the measurement of the resonant elastic scattering reaction $^{17}$Ne(p,$^{17}$Ne)p performed at 4 A.MeV. Spectroscopic properties of the low-lying states were obtained in a R-matrix analysis of the excitation function. Using these new results, we show that the lifetime of the $^{19}$Mg radioactivity can be understood assuming a sequential emission of two protons via low energy tails of $^{18}$Na resonances