Effect of hyperthermia on prognosis after acute ischemic stroke

<p><b>Background and Purpose:</b> Experimental studies have shown that hyperthermia is a determinant of poor outcome after ischemic stroke. Clinical studies evaluating the effect of temperature on poststroke outcome have, however, been limited by small sample sizes. We sought to evaluate the effect of temperature and timing of hyperthermia on outcome after ischemic stroke.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> Data of 5305 patients in acute stroke trials from the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive (VISTA) data set were analyzed. Data for temperatures at baseline, eighth, 24th, 48th, and 72nd hours, and seventh day were assessed in relation to outcome (poor versus good) based on the modified Rankin Scale at 3 months. Hyperthermia was defined as temperature >37.2°C and poor outcome as 90-day modified Rankin Scale >2. Hazard ratios with 95% CIs were reported for hyperthermia in relation to the outcome. Logistic regression models, in relation to hyperthermia, were fitted for a set of preselected covariates at different time points to identify predictors/determinants of hyperthermia.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> The average age of patients was 68.0±11.9 years, 2380 (44.9%) were females, and 42.3% (2233) received thrombolysis using recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. After adjustment, hyperthermia was a statistically significant predictor of poor outcome. The hazard ratios (95% CI) for poor outcome in relation to hyperthermia at different time points were: baseline 1.2 (1.0 to 1.4), eighth hour 1.7 (1.2 to 2.2), 24th hour 1.5 (1.2 to 1.9), 48th hour 2.0 (1.5 to 2.6), 72nd hour 2.2 (1.7 to 2.9), and seventh day 2.7 (2.0 to 3.8). Gender, stroke severity (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score >16), white blood cell count, and antibiotic use were significantly associated with hyperthermia (P≤0.01).</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Hyperthermia, in acute ischemic stroke, is associated with a poor clinical outcome. The later the hyperthermia occurs within the first week, the worse the prognosis. Severity of stroke and inflammation are important determinants of hyperthermia after ischemic stroke. In patients with acute ischemic stroke, aggressive measures to prevent and treat hyperthermia could improve the clinical outcomes.</p&gt

Large-amplitude electron-acoustic solitons in a dusty plasma with kappa-distributed electrons

The Sagdeev pseudopotential method is used to investigate the occurrence and the dynamics of fully nonlinear electrostatic solitary structures in a plasma containing suprathermal hot electrons, in the presence of massive charged dust particles in the background. The soliton existence domain is delineated, and its parametric dependence on different physical parameters is clarified.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, presented as a poster at the 6th International Conference on the Physics of Dusty Plasmas (ICPDP6), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, 201

Local structure of REFeAsO (RE=La, Pr, Nd, Sm) oxypnictides studied by Fe K-edge EXAFS

Local structure of REOFeAs (RE=La, Pr, Nd, Sm) system has been studied as a function of chemical pressure varied due to different rare-earth size. Fe K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements in the fluorescence mode has permitted to compare systematically the inter-atomic distances and their mean square relative displacements (MSRD). We find that the Fe-As bond length and the corresponding MSRD hardly show any change, suggesting the strongly covalent nature of this bond, while the Fe-Fe and Fe-RE bond lengths decrease with decreasing rare earth size. The results provide important information on the atomic correlations that could have direct implication on the superconductivity and magnetism of REOFeAs system, with the chemical pressure being a key ingredient

Structure and electronic properties of transition-metal/Mg bimetallic clusters at realistic temperatures and oxygen partial pressures

Composition, atomic structure, and electronic properties of TM$_x$Mg$_y$O$_z$ clusters (TM = Cr, Ni, Fe, Co, $x+y \leq 3$) at realistic temperature $T$ and partial oxygen pressure $p_{\textrm{O}_2}$ conditions are explored using the {\em ab initio} atomistic thermodynamics approach. The low-energy isomers of the different clusters are identified using a massively parallel cascade genetic algorithm at the hybrid density-functional level of theory. On analyzing a large set of data, we find that the fundamental gap E$_\textrm{g}$ of the thermodynamically stable clusters are strongly affected by the presence of Mg-coordinated O$_2$ moieties. In contrast, the nature of the transition metal does not play a significant role in determining E$_\textrm{g}$. Using E$_\textrm{g}$ of a cluster as a descriptor of its redox properties, our finding is against the conventional belief that the transition metal plays the key role in determining the electronic and therefore chemical properties of the clusters. High reactivity may be correlated more strongly with oxygen content in the cluster than with any specific TM type.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Hot Spots on the Fermi Surface of Bi2212: Stripes versus Superstructure

In a recent paper Saini et al. have reported evidence for a pseudogap around (pi,0) at room temperature in the optimally doped superconductor Bi2212. This result is in contradiction with previous ARPES measurements. Furthermore they observed at certain points on the Fermi surface hot spots of high spectral intensity which they relate to the existence of stripes in the CuO planes. They also claim to have identified a new electronic band along Gamma-M1 whose one dimensional character provides further evidence for stripes. We demonstrate in this Comment that all the measured features can be simply understood by correctly considering the superstructure (umklapp) and shadow bands which occur in Bi2212.Comment: 1 page, revtex, 1 encapsulated postscript figure (color

Adaptive transformation for robust privacy protection in video surveillance

10.1155/2012/639649Advances in Multimedia201

Bond stretching phonon softening and angle-resolved photoemission kinks in optimally doped Bi2Sr1.6La0.4Cu2O6 superconductors

We report the first measurement of the optical phonon dispersion in optimally doped single layer Bi2Sr1.6La0.4Cu2O6+delta using inelastic x-ray scattering. We found a strong softening of the Cu-O bond stretching phonon at about q=(0.25,0,0) from 76 to 60 meV, similar to the one reported in other cuprates. A direct comparison with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements taken on the same sample, revealed an excellent agreement in terms of energy and momentum between the ARPES nodal kink and the soft part of the bond stretching phonon. Indeed, we find that the momentum space where a 63 meV kink is observed can be connected with a vector q=(xi,0,0) with xi~0.22, which corresponds exactly to the soft part of the bond stretching phonon mode. This result supports an interpretation of the ARPES kink in terms of electron-phonon coupling.Comment: submited to PR

Temperature dependence of iron local magnetic moment in phase-separated superconducting chalcogenide

We have studied local magnetic moment and electronic phase separation in superconducting K$_{x}$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_2$ by x-ray emission and absorption spectroscopy. Detailed temperature dependent measurements at the Fe K-edge have revealed coexisting electronic phases and their correlation with the transport properties. By cooling down, the local magnetic moment of Fe shows a sharp drop across the superconducting transition temperature (T$_c$) and the coexisting phases exchange spectral weights with the low spin state gaining intensity at the expense of the higher spin state. After annealing the sample across the iron-vacancy order temperature, the system does not recover the initial state and the spectral weight anomaly at T$_c$ as well as superconductivity disappear. The results clearly underline that the coexistence of the low spin and high spin phases and the transitions between them provide unusual magnetic fluctuations and have a fundamental role in the superconducting mechanism of electronically inhomogeneous K$_{x}$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_2$ system.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Coexistence of Bloch electrons and glassy electrons in Ca10(Ir4As8)(Fe2_xIrxAs2)5 revealed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of Ca10(Ir4As8)(Fe2_xIrxAs2)5 shows that the Fe 3d electrons in the FeAs layer form the hole-like Fermi pocket at the zone center and the electron-like Fermi pockets at the zone corners as commonly seen in various Fe-based superconductors. The FeAs layer is heavily electron doped and has relatively good two dimensionality. On the other hand, the Ir 5d electrons are metallic and glassy probably due to atomic disorder related to the Ir 5d orbital instability. Ca10(Ir4As8)(Fe2_xIrxAs2)5 exhibits a unique electronic state where the Bloch electrons in the FeAs layer coexist with the glassy electrons in the Ir4As8 layer.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure