Activated prothrombin complex in the management of direct thrombin inhibitor-associated intracerebral haemorrhage.

Intracerebral haematoma expansion independently predicts poor functional outcome and mortality. Therefore, it is important to act quickly to arrest this expansion. Whilst a direct antidote to dabigatran remains in development, the use of factor VIII inhibitor bypassing activity may offer a practical strategy for arresting haemorrhage in individuals taking direct thrombin inhibitors.NRE is supported by a Research Training Fellowship from The Dunhill Medical Trust [grant number RTF44/0114].This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Oxford University Press at http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hcv219

Bias-Dependent Generation and Quenching of Defects in Pentacene

We describe a defect in pentacene single crystals that is created by bias stress and persists at room temperature for an hour in the dark but only seconds with 420nm illumination. The defect gives rise to a hole trap at Ev + 0.38eV and causes metastable transport effects at room temperature. Creation and decay rates of the hole trap have a 0.67eV activation energy with a small (108 s-1) prefactor, suggesting that atomic motion plays a key role in the generation and quenching process.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Electronic Structure of New Multiple Band Pt-Pnictide Superconductors APt3P

We report LDA calculated band structure, densities of states and Fermi surfaces for recently discovered Pt-pnictide superconductors APt3P (A=Ca,Sr,La), confirming their multiple band nature. Electronic structure is essentially three dimensional, in contrast to Fe pnictides and chalcogenides. LDA calculated Sommerfeld coefficient agrees rather well with experimental data, leaving little space for very strong coupling superconductivity, suggested by experimental data on specific heat of SrPt3P. Elementary estimates show, that the values of critical temperature can be explained by rather weak or moderately strong coupling, while the decrease of superconducting transition temperature Tc from Sr to La compound can be explained by corresponding decrease of total density of states at the Fermi level N(E_F). The shape of the density of states near the Fermi level suggests that in SrPt3P electron doping (such as replacement Sr by La) decreases N(E_F) and Tc, while hole doping (e.g. partial replacement of Sr with K, Rb or Cs, if possible) would increase N(E_F) and possibly Tc.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Novel multiple-band superconductor SrPt2As2

We present LDA calculated electronic structure of recently discovered superconductor SrPt2As2 with Tc=5.2K. Despite its chemical composition and crystal structure are somehow similar to FeAs-based high-temperature superconductors, the electronic structure of SrPt2As2 is very much different. Crystal structure is orthorhombic (or tetragonal if idealized) and has layered nature with alternating PtAs4 and AsPt4 tetrahedra slabs sandwiched with Sr ions. The Fermi level is crossed by Pt-5d states with rather strong admixture of As-4p states. Fermi surface of SrPt2As2 is essentially three dimensional, with complicated sheets corresponding to multiple bands. We compare SrPt2As2 with 1111 and 122 representatives of FeAs-class of superconductors, as well as with isovalent (Ba,Sr)Ni2As2 superconductors. Brief discussion of superconductivity in SrPt2As2 is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Berry's phase for large spins in external fields

It is shown that even for large spins $J$ the fundamental difference between integer and half-integer spins persists. In a quasi-classical description this difference enters via Berry's connection. This general phenomenon is derived and illustrated for large spins confined to a plane by crystalline electric fields. Physical realizations are rare-earth Nickel Borocarbides. Magnetic moments for half-integer spin (Dy$^{3+}$, $J=15/2$) and magnetic susceptibilities for integer spin (Ho$^{3+}$, $J=8$) are calculated. Experiments are proposed to furnish evidence for the predicted fundamental difference.Comment: 4 pages RevTe

High-temperature weak ferromagnetism on the verge of a metallic state: Impact of dilute Sr-doping on BaIrO3

The 5d-electron based BaIrO3 is a nonmetallic weak ferromagnet with a Curie temperature at Tc=175 K. Its largely extended orbitals generate strong electron-lattice coupling, and magnetism and electronic structure are thus critically linked to the lattice degree of freedom. Here we report results of our transport and magnetic study on slightly Sr doped BaIrO3. It is found that dilute Sr-doping drastically suppresses Tc, and instantaneously leads to a nonmetal-metal transition at high temperatures. All results highlight the instability of the ground state and the subtle relation between magnetic ordering and electron mobility. It is clear that BaIrO3 along with very few other systems represents a class of materials where the magnetic and transport properties can effectively be tuned by slight alterations in lattice parameters

Dilepton and Photon Emission Rates from a Hadronic Gas III

We extend our early analyses of the dilepton and photon emission rates from a hadronic gas to account for strange mesons using a density expansion. The emission rates are reduced to vacuum correlation functions using three-flavor chiral reduction formulas, and the latters are assessed in terms of empirical data. Using a fire-ball, we compare our results to the low and intermediate mass dilepton data available from CERN. Our results suggest that a baryon free hadronic gas does not account for the excess of low mass dielectrons observed at CERES but do well in accounting for the intermediate dimuons at HELIOS. The same observations apply to the recent low and high $p_t$ dielectron rates from CERES.Comment: 12 pages LaTeX, 11 eps figure

Determinants of antibody persistence across doses and continents after single-dose rVSV-ZEBOV vaccination for Ebola virus disease: an observational cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) vaccine expressing the Zaire Ebola virus (ZEBOV) glycoprotein is efficacious in the weeks following single-dose injection, but duration of immunity is unknown. We aimed to assess antibody persistence at 1 and 2 years in volunteers who received single-dose rVSV-ZEBOV in three previous trials. METHODS: In this observational cohort study, we prospectively followed-up participants from the African and European phase 1 rVSV-ZEBOV trials, who were vaccinated once in 2014-15 with 300 000 (low dose) or 10-50 million (high dose) plaque-forming units (pfu) of rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine to assess ZEBOV glycoprotein (IgG) antibody persistence. The primary outcome was ZEBOV glycoprotein-specific IgG geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) measured yearly by ELISA compared with 1 month (ie, 28 days) after immunisation. We report GMCs up to 2 years (Geneva, Switzerland, including neutralising antibodies up to 6 months) and 1 year (Lambaréné, Gabon; Kilifi, Kenya) after vaccination and factors associated with higher antibody persistence beyond 6 months, according to multivariable analyses. Trials and the observational study were registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Geneva: NCT02287480 and NCT02933931; Kilifi: NCT02296983) and the Pan-African Clinical Trials Registry (Lambaréné PACTR201411000919191). FINDINGS: Of 217 vaccinees from the original studies (102 from the Geneva study, 75 from the Lambaréné study, and 40 from the Kilifi study), 197 returned and provided samples at 1 year (95 from the Geneva study, 63 from the Lambaréné, and 39 from the Kilifi study) and 90 at 2 years (all from the Geneva study). In the Geneva group, 44 (100%) of 44 participants who had been given a high dose (ie, 10-50 million pfu) of vaccine and who were seropositive at day 28 remained seropositive at 2 years, whereas 33 (89%) of 37 who had been given the low dose (ie, 300 000 pfu) remained seropositive for 2 years (p=0·042). In participants who had received a high dose, ZEBOV glycoprotein IgG GMCs decreased significantly between their peak (at 1-3 months) and month 6 after vaccination in Geneva (p0·05). Neutralising antibodies seem to be less durable, with seropositivity dropping from 64-71% at 28 days to 27-31% at 6 months in participants from the Geneva study. INTERPRETATION: Antibody responses to single-dose rVSV-ZEBOV vaccination are sustained across dose ranges and settings, a key criterion in countries where booster vaccinations would be impractical. FUNDING: The Wellcome Trust and Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking

Effects of anisotropic spin-exchange interactions in spin ladders

We investigate the effects of the Dzialoshinskii-Moriya (DM) and Kaplan-Shekhtman-Entin-Wohlman-Aharony (KSEA) interactions on various thermodynamic and magnetic properties of a spin 1/2 ladder. Using the Majorana fermion representation, we derive the spectrum of low energy excitations for a pure DM interaction and in presence of a superimposed KSEA interaction. We calculate the various correlation functions for both cases and discuss how they are modified with respect to the case of an isotropic ladder. We also discuss the electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrum of the system and show that it is strongly influenced by the orientation of the magnetic field with respect to the Dzialoshinskii-Moriya vector. Implications of our calculations for NMR and ESR experiments on ladder systems are discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 4 eps figures, corrected calculation of NMR rate (v3