A Trip to the Beginning of the Universe with the Large Hadron Collider

Slides from a presentation given at the Science Forum of the University of Tennessee. It discusses the physics program of the Large Hadron Collider in general terms. Serves as introductory material to the field

Diamond Detector Beam Tests

Photos of Application and Tests of diamond pixel detectors at UTK

High Energy Particle Physics at the University of Tennessee

Talk given at the Governor\u27s school in 2009. It is an introduction to particle physics

Studies of Mono-Crystalline CVD Diamond Pixel Detectors

Proceedings of a presentation at the International Pixel 2010 Conference, Grindelwald, Switzerland

Diamond Particle Detectors

Poster presented at the IEEE Conference 2010 in Knoxville. It shows results for charged particle tracking using single-crystalline diamond pixel detectors

Observation of the first Bs--\u3e J/Psi Phi Event in CMS

Presentation for the International Conference on High Energy Physics, July 2010, Paris, France. The first reconstructed decay of a Bs particle in CMS that is relevant for finding information to explain the matter anti-matter asymmetry in the Universe

Note on Scalar Mesons

Review article about the light scalar mesons, experimental and theoretical advances during the previous two years. The nature of several scalar mesons is controversial and they include exotic objects like glue-balls. The note is published in the Review of Particle Properties

Endoscopic Versus Surgical Step-Up Approach for Infected Necrotizing Pancreatitis (ExTENSION):Long-term Follow-up of a Randomized Trial

Background & Aims: Previous randomized trials, including the Transluminal Endoscopic Step-Up Approach Versus Minimally Invasive Surgical Step-Up Approach in Patients With Infected Pancreatic Necrosis (TENSION) trial, demonstrated that the endoscopic step-up approach might be preferred over the surgical step-up approach in patients with infected necrotizing pancreatitis based on favorable short-term outcomes. We compared long-term clinical outcomes of both step-up approaches after a period of at least 5 years. Methods: In this long-term follow-up study, we reevaluated all clinical data on 83 patients (of the originally 98 included patients) from the TENSION trial who were still alive after the initial 6-month follow-up. The primary end point, similar to the TENSION trial, was a composite of death and major complications. Secondary end points included individual major complications, pancreaticocutaneous fistula, reinterventions, pancreatic insufficiency, and quality of life. Results: After a mean follow-up period of 7 years, the primary end point occurred in 27 patients (53%) in the endoscopy group and in 27 patients (57%) in the surgery group (risk ratio [RR], 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.65–1.32; P = .688). Fewer pancreaticocutaneous fistulas were identified in the endoscopy group (8% vs 34%; RR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.08–0.83). After the initial 6-month follow-up, the endoscopy group needed fewer reinterventions than the surgery group (7% vs 24%; RR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.09–0.99). Pancreatic insufficiency and quality of life did not differ between groups. Conclusions: At long-term follow-up, the endoscopic step-up approach was not superior to the surgical step-up approach in reducing death or major complications in patients with infected necrotizing pancreatitis. However, patients assigned to the endoscopic approach developed overall fewer pancreaticocutaneous fistulas and needed fewer reinterventions after the initial 6-month follow-up. Netherlands Trial Register no: NL8571