274 research outputs found
FDG-PET: a new diagnostic approach in hip prosthesis infection
Infection following hip arthroplasties can present a diagnostic challenge. No
test is 100 % sensitive and 100 % specific; this prospective study was undertaken
to evaluate the utility of FDG-PET imaging for diagnosing infected joint
replacements. 24 hip joint replacements were studied prospectively and we have
complete diagnoses with clinical signs and symptoms, laboratory test,
radiography, joint aspiration, radionuclide imaging including FDG-PET, and
histopathologic examination. 11 of 24 prostheses were infected. The sensitivity
and specificity of PET for detecting infection associated with prostheses were
64,3 % and 64,7 % respectively, in our hands. FDG imaging is not useful in
patients with suspected prosthetic infection like a screening tes
Deformation effects in Ni nuclei produced in Si+Si at 112 MeV
Velocity and energy spectra of the light charged particles (protons and
-particles) emitted in the Si(E = 112 MeV) + Si
reaction have been measured at the Strasbourg VIVITRON Tandem facility. The
ICARE charged particle multidetector array was used to obtain exclusive spectra
of the light particles in the angular range 15 - 150 degree and to determine
the angular correlations of these particles with respect to the emission angles
of the evaporation residues. The experimental data are analysed in the
framework of the statistical model. The exclusive energy spectra of
-particles emitted from the Si + Si compound system are
generally well reproduced by Monte Carlo calculations using spin-dependent
level densities. This spin dependence approach suggests the onset of large
deformations at high spin. A re-analysis of previous -particle data
from the Si + Si compound system, using the same spin-dependent
parametrization, is also presented in the framework of a general discussion of
the occurrence of large deformation effects in the A ~ 60 mass region.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
Highly deformed Ca configurations in Si + C
The possible occurrence of highly deformed configurations in the Ca
di-nuclear system formed in the Si + C reaction is investigated
by analyzing the spectra of emitted light charged particles. Both inclusive and
exclusive measurements of the heavy fragments (A 10) and their
associated light charged particles (protons and particles) have been
made at the IReS Strasbourg {\sc VIVITRON} Tandem facility at bombarding
energies of Si) = 112 MeV and 180 MeV by using the {\sc ICARE}
charged particle multidetector array. The energy spectra, velocity
distributions, and both in-plane and out-of-plane angular correlations of light
charged particles are compared to statistical-model calculations using a
consistent set of parameters with spin-dependent level densities. The analysis
suggests the onset of large nuclear deformation in Ca at high spin.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figure
Dust Lifting Through Surface Albedo Changes at Jezero Crater, Mars
We identify temporal variations in surface albedo at Jezero crater using first-of-their-kind high-cadence in-situ measurements of reflected shortwave radiation during the first 350 sols of the Mars 2020 mission. Simultaneous Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) measurements of pressure, radiative fluxes, winds, and sky brightness indicate that these albedo changes are caused by dust devils under typical conditions and by a dust storm at Ls ∼ 155°. The 17% decrease in albedo caused by the dust storm is one order of magnitude larger than the most apparent changes caused during quiescent periods by dust devils. Spectral reflectance measurements from Mastcam-Z images before and after the storm indicate that the decrease in albedo is mainly caused by dust removal. The occurrence of albedo changes is affected by the intensity and proximity of the convective vortex, and the availability and mobility of small particles at the surface. The probability of observing an albedo change increases with the magnitude of the pressure drop (ΔP): changes were detected in 3.5%, 43%, and 100% of the dust devils with ΔP 2.5 Pa and ΔP > 4.5 Pa, respectively. Albedo changes were associated with peak wind speeds above 15 m·s−1. We discuss dust removal estimates, the observed surface temperature changes coincident with albedo changes, and implications for solar-powered missions. These results show synergies between multiple instruments (MEDA, Mastcam-Z, Navcam, and the Supercam microphone) that improve our understanding of aeolian processes on Mars.This research has been funded by the Comunidad de Madrid Project S2018/NMT-4291 (TEC2SPACE-CM), by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) Project MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”- Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC/INTA), by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN)/State Agency of Research (10.13039/501100011033) project RTI2018-098728-B-C31, and by the project PID2021-126719OB-C41, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE. RH, ASL and AM were supported by Grant PID2019-109467GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/. Part of the research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). We want to thank J. Bell for processing Mastcam-Z projections showing the entire TIRS FOV and to S. Navarro and the entire team for generating the processed wind sensor data
Dietary inflammatory index and incidence of cardiovascular disease in the SUN cohort
BACKGROUND:
Diet is known to play a key role in atherogenesis and in the development of cardiovascular events. Dietary factors may mediate these processes acting as potential modulators of inflammation. Potential Links between inflammatory properties of diet and the occurrence of cardiovascular events have not been tested previously. OBJECTIVE:
We aimed to assess the association between the dietary inflammatory index (DII), a method to assess the inflammatory potential of the diet, and incident cardiovascular disease. METHODS:
In the prospective, dynamic SUN cohort, 18,794 middle-aged, Spanish university graduates were followed up for 8.9 years (median). A validated 136-item food-frequency questionnaire was used to calculate the DII. The DII is based on scientific evidence about the relationship between diet and inflammatory biomarkers (C-reactive protein, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α). Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between the DII and incident cardiovascular disease (myocardial infarction, stroke or cardiovascular death). RESULTS:
The risk for cardiovascular events progressively increased with each increasing quartile of DII (ptrend = 0.017). The multivariable-adjusted HR for participants in the highest (most pro-inflammatory) vs. the lowest quartile of the DII was 2.03 (95% CI 1.06-3.88). CONCLUSIONS:
A pro-inflammatory diet was associated with a significantly higher risk for developing cardiovascular events
Biometric viscera and blood parameters of meat quails supplemented with inorganic selenium and vitamin E
Virgin olive oil and health: summary of the III international conference on virgin olive oil and health consensus report, JAEN (Spain) 2018
The Mediterranean diet is considered as the foremost dietary regimen and its adoption is associated with the prevention of degenerative diseases and an extended longevity. The preeminent features of the Mediterranean diet have been agreed upon and the consumption of olive oil stands out as the most peculiar one. Indeed, the use of olive oil as the nearly exclusive dietary fat is what mostly characterizes the Mediterranean area. Plenty of epidemiological studies have correlated that the consumption of olive oil was associated with better overall health. Indeed, extra virgin olive oil contains (poly)phenolic compounds that are being actively investigated for their purported biological and pharma-nutritional properties. On 18 and 19 May 2018, several experts convened in Jaen (Spain) to discuss the most recent research on the benefits of olive oil and its components. We reported a summary of that meeting (reviewing several topics related to olive oil, not limited to health) and concluded that substantial evidence is accruing to support the widespread opinion that extra virgin olive oil should, indeed, be the fat of choice when it comes to human health and sustainable agronomy
The enterococcal surface protein, Esp, is involved in Enterococcus faecalis biofilm formation
The enterococcal surface protein, Esp, is a high-molecular-weight surface protein of unknown function whose frequency is significantly increased among infection-derived Enterococcus faecalis isolates. In this work, a global structural similarity was found between Bap, a biofilm-associated protein of Staphylococcus aureus, and Esp. Analysis of the relationship between the presence of the Esp-encoding gene (esp) and the biofilm formation capacity in E. faecalis demonstrated that the presence of the esp gene is highly associated (P < 0.0001) with the capacity of E. faecalis to form a biofilm on a polystyrene surface, since 93.5% of the E. faecalis esp-positive isolates were capable of forming a biofilm. Moreover, none of the E. faecalis esp-deficient isolates were biofilm producers. Depending on the E. faecalis isolate, insertional mutagenesis of esp caused either a complete loss of the biofilm formation phenotype or no apparent phenotypic defect. Complementation studies revealed that Esp expression in an E. faecalis esp-deficient strain promoted primary attachment and biofilm formation on polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride plastic from urine collection bags. Together, these results demonstrate that (i) biofilm formation capacity is widespread among clinical E. faecalis isolates, (ii) the biofilm formation capacity is restricted to the E. faecalis strains harboring esp, and (iii) Esp promotes primary attachment and biofilm formation of E. faecalis on abiotic surfaces
Single Spin Asymmetry in Polarized Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at GeV
We report a high precision measurement of the transverse single spin
asymmetry at the center of mass energy GeV in elastic
proton-proton scattering by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The was measured
in the four-momentum transfer squared range \GeVcSq, the region of a significant interference between the
electromagnetic and hadronic scattering amplitudes. The measured values of
and its -dependence are consistent with a vanishing hadronic spin-flip
amplitude, thus providing strong constraints on the ratio of the single
spin-flip to the non-flip amplitudes. Since the hadronic amplitude is dominated
by the Pomeron amplitude at this , we conclude that this measurement
addresses the question about the presence of a hadronic spin flip due to the
Pomeron exchange in polarized proton-proton elastic scattering.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive neutral pion production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV
We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and
the differential cross section for inclusive Pi0 production at midrapidity in
polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. The cross section was
measured over a transverse momentum range of 1 < p_T < 17 GeV/c and found to be
in good agreement with a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculation.
The longitudinal double-spin asymmetry was measured in the range of 3.7 < p_T <
11 GeV/c and excludes a maximal positive gluon polarization in the proton. The
mean transverse momentum fraction of Pi0's in their parent jets was found to be
around 0.7 for electromagnetically triggered events.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (RC
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