Environmental Factors and Seasonal Influenza Onset in Okayama City, Japan: Case-Crossover Study

Seasonal influenza infection is a major challenge in public health. The term "seasonal influenza" refers to the typical increase in the number of influenza patients in the winter season in temperature zones. However, it is not clear how environmental factors within a single flu season affect influenza infection in a human population. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of temperature and humidity in the 2006-7 flu season on the onset of seasonal influenza using a case-crossover study. We targeted patients who attended one pediatric clinic in Okayama city, Japan and who were diagnosed as being infected with the seasonal influenza virus. Using 2 references (time-stratified and symmetric bidirectional design), we estimated the effects of average temperature and relative humidity from the onset day (lag0) to 10 days before (lag10). The total number of subjects was 419, and their onset days ranged from 26 December 2006 to 30 April 2007. While the onset was significantly associated with lower temperature, relative humidity was not related. In particular, temperatures before the 3-day incubation period had higher-magnitude odds ratios. For example, the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval for average temperature at time lag 8 was 1.12 (1.08-1.17) per 1.0℃ decrease. Low environmental temperature significantly increased the risk of seasonal influenza onset within the 2006-7 winter season

Nd-ion Substitution Effect on f-electron Multipole Order of PrRu4P12

We studied the effect of magnetic Nd-ion substitution on the metal-nonmetal transition at a transition temperature of 63 K of PrRu4P12, which is characterized by antiferro-type electric multipole ordering of Pr-ion 4f electrons. The transition temperature of Pr1-xNdxRu4P12 depends weakly on the Nd concentration x as compared to Laand Ce-substituted compounds. Inelastic neutron-scattering measurements revealed that the energies and widths of crystalline field excitation peaks of Pr 4f 2 in Pr0.85Nd0.15Ru4P12 are very similar to those of PrRu4P12. These experimental results indicate that the ordered state is robust against the substitution of magnetic Nd ions as compared to the La and Ce substitutions. Magnetic interactions between the Pr ions and the Nd ions in Pr1-xNdxRu4P12 help stabilize the magnetic triplet ground state of the Pr ions that appears in the antiferro-type multipole ordered phase. Therefore, the nonmagnetic multipole ordered phase of PrRu4P12 is compatible with the magnetic perturbation.Conference : 20th International Conference on Magnetism, ICM 2015Location : Barcelona, SPAINDate : JUL 05-10, 201

A rare case of spinal injury: bilateral facet dislocation without fracture at the lumbosacral joint

AbstractLumbosacral dislocations are rare disorders; since they were first reported by Watson-Jones [1], only 100 cases have appeared in the literature [2]. A traumatic bilateral lumbosacral dislocation is even rarer, with a mere 10 cases reported [3]. Because of its low incidence and atypical location, the lesion may often go unnoticed on initial clinical assessment [4]. Surgical treatment modalities are not defined, but open reduction and internal fixation are often necessary because of a three-column involvement [5]. In this paper, we report on an initially misdiagnosed case of lumbosacral dislocation treated with open reduction and internal fixation

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements