565 research outputs found
Asthma in the elderly: underperceived, underdiagnosed and undertreated; a community survey
AbstractBronchial asthma is now increasingly recognized in the elderly and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The aims of this study were two-fold: first, to assess the prevalence and, second, to evaluate diagnostic awareness, therapeutic management and patient perception of bronchial asthma among elderly patients in the community.From the age-sex register of an urban general practice in NE England, 2004 patients aged >65 years were eligible for inclusion. Response to an initial screening questionnaire on respiratory symptomatology was 68% (n = 1362). Of these, 869 patients had respiratory symptoms: 390 voluntarily agreed to be evaluated further including assessment of airway physiology. In this group 369390 had obstructive spirometry and, of these, 95 patients fulfilled clinical and physiological criteria of bronchial asthma. Prevalence of asthma within this age cohort was minimally and rather crudely assigned at 4.5% (952004).Among the 95 patients so-defined patients with asthma [age 70 ± 8 years (mean ± sd), FEV1 = 0·96 ± 0.41, 33 male, 75 life-long non-smokers], subjective awareness, perception and attribution of pulmonary symptoms were poor. Further, despite tangible evidence of reversible and significant airflow limitation, only 21 were receiving inhaled glucocorticoid therapy (median daily dose 400 μg).Asthma in the elderly remains poorly perceived, poorly recognized and suboptimally treated. These findings are particularly apposite in the light of current epidemiological trends in asthma mortality and morbidity in elderly age cohorts
Magnetic Sensitivity and Entanglement Dynamics of the Chemical Compass
We present the quantum limits to the magnetic sensitivity of a new kind of
magnetometer based on biochemical reactions. Radical-ion-pair reactions, the
biochemical system underlying the chemical compass, are shown to offer a new
and unique physical realization of a magnetic field sensor competitive to
modern atomic or condensed matter magnetometers. We elaborate on the quantum
coherence and entanglement dynamics of this sensor, showing that they provide
the physical basis for testing our understanding of the fundamental quantum
dynamics of radical-ion-pair reactions.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the galaxy stellar mass function to z = 0.1 from the r-band selected equatorial regions
We derive the low-redshift galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF), inclusive of dust corrections, for the equatorial Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) data set covering 180 deg2. We construct the mass function using a density-corrected maximum volume method, using masses corrected for the impact of optically thick and thin dust. We explore the galactic bivariate brightness plane (M⋆–μ), demonstrating that surface brightness effects do not systematically bias our mass function measurement above 107.5 M⊙. The galaxy distribution in the M–μ plane appears well bounded, indicating that no substantial population of massive but diffuse or highly compact galaxies are systematically missed due to the GAMA selection criteria. The GSMF is fitted with a double Schechter function, with M⋆=1010.78±0.01±0.20M⊙ M⋆=1010.78±0.01±0.20M⊙ , ϕ⋆1=(2.93±0.40)×10−3h370 ϕ1⋆=(2.93±0.40)×10−3h703 Mpc−3, α1 = −0.62 ± 0.03 ± 0.15, ϕ⋆2=(0.63±0.10)×10−3h370 ϕ2⋆=(0.63±0.10)×10−3h703 Mpc−3 and α2 = −1.50 ± 0.01 ± 0.15. We find the equivalent faint end slope as previously estimated using the GAMA-I sample, although we find a higher value of M⋆ M⋆ . Using the full GAMA-II sample, we are able to fit the mass function to masses as low as 107.5 M⊙, and assess limits to 106.5 M⊙. Combining GAMA-II with data from G10-COSMOS, we are able to comment qualitatively on the shape of the GSMF down to masses as low as 106 M⊙. Beyond the well-known upturn seen in the GSMF at 109.5, the distribution appears to maintain a single power-law slope from 109 to 106.5. We calculate the stellar mass density parameter given our best-estimate GSMF, finding Ω⋆=1.66+0.24−0.23±0.97h−170×10−3 Ω⋆=1.66−0.23+0.24±0.97h70−1×10−3 , inclusive of random and systematic uncertainties
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): the Weak Environmental Dependence of Quasar Activity at 0.1 < z < 0.35
Galaxie
Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset
corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected
during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV.
The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the
couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and
right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary
mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b,
leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing
transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W'
boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to
the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for
masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC
data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed
coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant
improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe
Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV
A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The
analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC
from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an
integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross
section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected
exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the
standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The
analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model
Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The
largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is
observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance
of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local
significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is
estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of
this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters
Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section
ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum
pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7
TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are
based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi
Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and
Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times
the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls
faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the
branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06
+/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for
anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are
statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters
Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final
states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and
missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a
center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to
an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two
complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a
specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic
edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of
dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states
including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and
missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the
standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to
the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a
region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric
extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector
efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM
physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Measurement of isolated photon production in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV
Isolated photon production is measured in proton-proton and lead-lead
collisions at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in the
pseudorapidity range |eta|<1.44 and transverse energies ET between 20 and 80
GeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measured ET spectra are found to be
in good agreement with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions. The
ratio of PbPb to pp isolated photon ET-differential yields, scaled by the
number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions, is consistent with unity for
all PbPb reaction centralities.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters
H-ATLAS/GAMA: magnification bias tomography. Astrophysical constraints above ~1 arcmin
An unambiguous manifestation of the magnification bias is the cross-correlation between two source samples with non-overlapping redshift distributions. In this work we measure and study the cross-correlation signal between a foreground sample of GAMA galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts in the range 0.2<z<0.8, and a background sample of H-ATLAS galaxies with photometric redshifts gsim1.2. It constitutes a substantial improvement over the cross-correlation measurements made by Gonzalez-Nuevo et al. (2014) with updated catalogues and wider area (with S/Ngsim 5 below 10 arcmin and reaching S/N~ 20 below 30 arcsec). The better statistics allow us to split the sample in different redshift bins and to perform a tomographic analysis (with S/Ngsim 3 below 10 arcmin and reaching S/N~ 15 below 30 arcsec). Moreover, we implement a halo model to extract astrophysical information about the background galaxies and the deflectors that are producing the lensing link between the foreground (lenses) and background (sources) samples. In the case of the sources, we find typical mass values in agreement with previous studies: a minimum halo mass to host a central galaxy, Mmin~ 1012.26 M⊙, and a pivot halo mass to have at least one sub-halo satellite, M1~ 1012.84 M⊙. However, the lenses are massive galaxies or even galaxy groups/clusters, with minimum mass of Mminlens~ 1013.06 M⊙. Above a mass of M1lens~ 1014.57 M⊙ they contain at least one additional satellite galaxy which contributes to the lensing effect. The tomographic analysis shows that, while M1lens is almost redshift independent, there is a clear evolution of increase Mminlens with redshift in agreement with theoretical estimations. Finally, the halo modeling allows us to identify a strong lensing contribution to the cross-correlation for angular scales below 30 arcsec. This interpretation is supported by the results of basic but effective simulations
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