35 research outputs found

    Search for invisible modes of nucleon decay in water with the SNO+ detector

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    This paper reports results from a search for nucleon decay through invisible modes, where no visible energy is directly deposited during the decay itself, during the initial water phase of SNO+. However, such decays within the oxygen nucleus would produce an excited daughter that would subsequently deexcite, often emitting detectable gamma rays. A search for such gamma rays yields limits of 2.5×1029  y at 90% Bayesian credibility level (with a prior uniform in rate) for the partial lifetime of the neutron, and 3.6×1029  y for the partial lifetime of the proton, the latter a 70% improvement on the previous limit from SNO. We also present partial lifetime limits for invisible dinucleon modes of 1.3×1028  y for nn, 2.6×1028  y for pn and 4.7×1028  y for pp, an improvement over existing limits by close to 3 orders of magnitude for the latter two

    Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

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    BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

    Current Status and Future Prospects of the SNO+ Experiment

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    SNO+ is a large liquid scintillator-based experiment located 2 km underground at SNOLAB, Sudbury, Canada. It reuses the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory detector, consisting of a 12 m diameter acrylic vessel which will be filled with about 780 tonnes of ultra-pure liquid scintillator. Designed as a multipurpose neutrino experiment, the primary goal of SNO+ is a search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay (0] ) of 130 Te. In Phase I, the detector will be loaded with 0.3% natural tellurium, corresponding to nearly 800 kg of 130 Te, with an expected effective Majorana neutrino mass sensitivity in the region of 55-133 meV, just above the inverted mass hierarchy. Recently, the possibility of deploying up to ten times more natural tellurium has been investigated, which would enable SNO+ to achieve sensitivity deep into the parameter space for the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy in the future. Additionally, SNO+ aims to measure reactor antineutrino oscillations, low energy solar neutrinos, and geoneutrinos, to be sensitive to supernova neutrinos, and to search for exotic physics. A first phase with the detector filled with water will begin soon, with the scintillator phase expected to start after a few months of water data taking. The 0] Phase I is foreseen for 2017

    Development, characterisation, and deployment of the SNO+ liquid scintillator

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    A liquid scintillator consisting of linear alkylbenzene as the solvent and 2,5-diphenyloxazole as the fluor was developed for the SNO+ experiment. This mixture was chosen as it is compatible with acrylic and has a competitive light yield to pre-existing liquid scintillators while conferring other advantages including longer attenuation lengths, superior safety characteristics, chemical simplicity, ease of handling, and logistical availability. Its properties have been extensively characterized and are presented here. This liquid scintillator is now used in several neutrino physics experiments in addition to SNO+

    Dietary linoleic acid-induced hypercholesterolemia and accumulation of very light HDL in steers

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    International audienceThis experiment was designed to study the effects in fattening steers of n-6 PUFA supplementation on the plasma distribution and chemical composition of major lipoproteins (TG-rich lipoproteins: d< 1.006 g/mL; intermediate density lipoproteins + LDL 1.019 < d < 1.060 g/mL; light HDL 1.060 < d < 1.091 g/mL; and heavy HDL: 1.091 < d < 1.180 g/mL). For a period of 70 d, animals [454 +/- 20 d; 528 +/- 36 kg (mean +/- SD)] were given a control diet (diet C, n = 6) consisting of hay and concentrate mixture (54 and 46% of diet dry matter, respectively) or the same diet supplemented with sunflower oil (4% of dry matter), given either as crushed seeds (diet S, n = 6) or as free oil continuously infused into the duodenum through a chronic canula to avoid ruminal PUFA hydrogenation (diet 0, n = 6). Plasma lipids increased in steers given diet S (x 1.4, P < 0.05) and diet O (x2.3, P < 0.05), leading to hyperphospholipemia and hypercholesterolemia. With diet S, hypercholesterolemia was associated with higher levels of light(x1.4, P < 0.05) and heavy H DL (x1.3, NS). With diet O, it was linked to higher levels of light HDL (x1.8. P < 0.005) and to very light HDL accumulation within density limits of 1.019 to 1.060 g/mL, as demonstrated by the apolipoprotein Ad profile. Diet O favored incorporation of 1 8:2n-6 into polar (x2.2, P < 0.05) and neutral lipids (x1.5 to x8, P < 0.05) at the expense of SFA, MUFA, and n-3 PUFA. Thus, protection of dietary PUFA against ruminal hydrogenation allowed them to accumulate in plasma lipoproteins, but the effects of hypercholesterolemia on animal health linked to very light HDL accumulation remain to be elucidated
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