Vitamin B12 measurements across neurodegenerative disorders.

Background:Vitamin B12 deficiency causes a number of neurological features including cognitive and psychiatric disturbances, gait instability, neuropathy, and autonomic dysfunction. Clinical recognition of B12 deficiency in neurodegenerative disorders is more challenging because it causes defects that overlap with expected disease progression. We sought to determine whether B12 levels at the time of diagnosis in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) differed from those in patients with other neurodegenerative disorders. Methods:We performed a cross-sectional analysis of B12 levels obtained around the time of diagnosis in patients with PD, Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). We also evaluated the rate of B12 decline in PD, AD, and MCI. Results:In multivariable analysis adjusted for age, sex, and B12 supplementation, we found that B12 levels were significantly lower at time of diagnosis in patients with PD than in patients with PSP, FTD, and DLB. In PD, AD, and MCI, the rate of B12 decline ranged from - 17 to - 47 pg/ml/year, much greater than that reported for the elderly population. Conclusions:Further studies are needed to determine whether comorbid B12 deficiency affects progression of these disorders

Cancer Research UK procedures in manufacture and toxicology of radiotracers intended for Pre-phase I positron emission tomography studies in cancer patients

Radiolabelled compounds formulated for injection (radiopharmaceuticals), are increasingly being employed in drug development studies. These can be used in tracer amounts for either pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic studies. Such radiotracer studies can also be carried out early in man, even prior to conventional Phase I clinical testing. The aim of this document is to describe procedures for production and safety testing of oncology radiotracers developed for imaging by positron emission tomography in cancer patients. We propose strategies for overcoming the inability to produce compounds in sufficient quantities via the radiosynthetic routes for full chemical characterisation and toxicology testing including (i) independent confirmation as far as possible that the stable compound associated with the radiopharmaceutical is identical to the non-labelled compound, (ii) animal toxicity studies with ⩾10 times (typically 100 times) the intended tracer dose in humans scaled by body surface area, and (iii) patient monitoring during the radiotracer positron emission tomography clinical trial

Different patterns of labour market integration by migration motivation in Europe: the role of host country human capital

We study whether individual decisions to invest in the host country, namely obtaining equivalent qualifications, improving language skills, or naturalisation explain differences in labour market integration between migrants depending on their initial motivation. We use cross-national European data from the 2008 ad-hoc module of the Labour Force Survey to analyse migrant gaps in labour market participation, employment, occupational status and precarious employment. We find that different rates of and returns to host country human capital explain a substantial part of the improvements in labour market outcomes with years of residence, particularly for non-economic migrants who experience faster growth on average

Reconceptualizing Context: A Multilevel Model of the Context of Reception and Second-Generation Educational Attainment

This paper seeks to return scholarly attention to a core intellectual divide between segmented and conventional (or neo-)assimilation approaches, doing so through a theoretical and empirical reconsideration of contextual effects on second-generation outcomes. We evaluate multiple approaches to measuring receiving country contextual effects and measuring their impact on the educational attainment of the children of immigrants. We demonstrate that our proposed measures better predict second-generation educational attainment than prevailing approaches, enabling a multilevel modeling strategy that accounts for the structure of immigrant families nested within different receiving contexts

Medium optimization for the production of lipstatin by Streptomyces toxytricini using full factorial design of experiment

Abstract: Full factorial design of experiment for medium optimization was employed for lipstatin production by Streptomyces toxytricini in shake flask study. The full factorial DOE was very much effective in screening of nutritional parameters within the stipulated time frame in a limited number of experiments. A maximum lipstatin production was achieved 3.290 g/l with the following optimized factors: soya flour 35g/l and soya oil 25g/l. Validation experiments were also carried out to verify the adequacy and the accuracy of the model. The results also give a scope for large scale fermentation of lipstatin production. [Luthra, U., Kumar, H., Kulshreshtha, N., Tripathi, A., Trivedi, A., Khadpekar, S., Chaturvedi, A. and Dubey, R.C. Medium optimization for the production of lipstatin by Streptomyces toxytricini using full factorial design of experiment. Nat Sci 2013;1

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Search for anomalous t t-bar production in the highly-boosted all-hadronic final state

A search is presented for a massive particle, generically referred to as a Z', decaying into a t t-bar pair. The search focuses on Z' resonances that are sufficiently massive to produce highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks, which yield collimated decay products that are partially or fully merged into single jets. The analysis uses new methods to analyze jet substructure, providing suppression of the non-top multijet backgrounds. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. Upper limits in the range of 1 pb are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for a topcolor Z' modeled for several widths, as well as for a Randall--Sundrum Kaluza--Klein gluon. In addition, the results constrain any enhancement in t t-bar production beyond expectations of the standard model for t t-bar invariant masses larger than 1 TeV.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics; this version includes a minor typo correction that will be submitted as an erratu

Measurement of the t t-bar production cross section in the dilepton channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The t t-bar production cross section (sigma[t t-bar]) is measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV in data collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns. The measurement is performed in events with two leptons (electrons or muons) in the final state, at least two jets identified as jets originating from b quarks, and the presence of an imbalance in transverse momentum. The measured value of sigma[t t-bar] for a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV is 161.9 +/- 2.5 (stat.) +5.1/-5.0 (syst.) +/- 3.6(lumi.) pb, consistent with the prediction of the standard model.Comment: Replaced with published version. Included journal reference and DO

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Search for New Physics with Jets and Missing Transverse Momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for new physics is presented based on an event signature of at least three jets accompanied by large missing transverse momentum, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns collected in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. No excess of events is observed above the expected standard model backgrounds, which are all estimated from the data. Exclusion limits are presented for the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Cross section limits are also presented using simplified models with new particles decaying to an undetected particle and one or two jets