Short runs of atrial arrhythmia and stroke risk: a European-wide online survey among stroke physicians and cardiologists

Methods: An online survey of cardiologists and stroke physicians was carried out to assess current management of patients with short runs of atrial arrhythmia within Europe. Results: Respondents included 311 clinicians from 32 countries. To diagnose atrial fibrillation, 80% accepted a single 12-lead ECG and 36% accepted a single run of < 30 seconds on ambulatory monitoring. Stroke physicians were twice as likely to accept < 30 seconds of arrhythmia as being diagnostic of atrial fibrillation (OR 2.43, 95% CI 1.19–4.98). They were also more likely to advocate anticoagulation for hypothetical patients with lower risk; OR 1.9 (95% CI 1.0–3.5) for a patient with CHA2DS2-VASc = 2. Conclusion: Short runs of atrial fibrillation create a dilemma for physicians across Europe. Stroke physicians and cardiologists differ in their diagnosis and management of these patients

Potential reuse of coal mine wastewater: a case study in Quang Ninh, Vietnam

In Vietnam, the local regulation and environmental impact are driving coal mining industry to reuse the large volume of wastewater it produces. The co-research project between National University of Civil Engineering (NUCE) and Mitsubishi Rayon Corporation (MRC) has started early 2013 to evaluate if the MRC membranes could be a great tool for treatment of coal mine wastewater for reuse. The experiment were conducted at one of coal mine plants in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam. It was found that pre-treatment of coal mine wastewater was an important part in the treatment process. The MRC membrane was a significant barrier to maintain stable and high quality effluent to meet the requirement of Vietnam national technical standard for domestic use

Scaling up rural sanitation in Vietnam: a collective analysis and recommended actions

During last two decades, Vietnam has made tremendous progress in increasing access to improved sanitation in rural areas. The remaining rural sanitation coverage poses challenge to outreach inaccessible and poorest communities with limited resource. Deployment of community mobilization approaches by the provincial line departments has raised hope to scale up sanitation. This demands a series of policy, planning, financial and capacity development measures as identified by relevant ministries and provincial line departments, through a collective analysis of the subsector using a bottleneck analysis tool specifically developed for water, sanitation and hygiene. The participatory process facilitated a collective learning and helped defining a course of actions to eliminate identified bottlenecks. These activities are now being internalised by the line ministry in the national action plan

On the predictions for diffusion-driven evaporation of sessile droplets with interface cooling

The diffusion-driven evaporation of sessile droplets from planar surfaces is influenced by cooling at the air-liquid interface. Here, corrections to the available models for predicting the evaporation process are presented. The mass conservation for diffusion-driven evaporation is resolved by considering the effect of interface cooling on the change in density of saturated vapour along the liquid-vapour interface of sessile droplets. Corrections to the predictions for the spatial distribution of vapour density around a sessile droplet and the evaporative flux of vapour at the interface are obtained. The classical models are recovered from the new predictions if interface cooling is negligible. Comparison between the new and classical predictions for the local surface evaporative flux is obtained using the literature data. Our analysis shows a significant effect of interface cooling which should be considered in predicting diffusion-driven evaporation of sessile droplets on planar surfaces

The Differential Expression of Cide Family Members is Associated with Nafld Progression from Steatosis to Steatohepatitis.

Improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms responsible for the progression from a "non-pathogenic" steatotic state to Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis is an important clinical requirement. The cell death-inducing DFF45 like effector (CIDE) family members (A, B and FSP27) regulate hepatic lipid homeostasis by controlling lipid droplet growth and/or VLDL production. However, CIDE proteins, particularly FSP27, have a dual role in that they also regulate cell death. We here report that the hepatic expression of CIDEA and FSP27 (α/β) was similarly upregulated in a dietary mouse model of obesity-mediated hepatic steatosis. In contrast, CIDEA expression decreased, but FSP27-β expression strongly increased in a dietary mouse model of steatohepatitis. The inverse expression pattern of CIDEA and FSP27β was amplified with the increasing severity of the liver inflammation and injury. In obese patients, the hepatic CIDEC2 (human homologue of mouse FSP27β) expression strongly correlated with the NAFLD activity score and liver injury. The hepatic expression of CIDEA tended to increase with obesity, but decreased with NAFLD severity. In hepatic cell lines, the downregulation of FSP27β resulted in the fractionation of lipid droplets, whereas its overexpression decreased the expression of the anti-apoptotic BCL2 marker. This, in turn, sensitized cells to apoptosis in response to TNF α and saturated fatty acid. Considered together, our animal, human and in vitro studies indicate that differential expression of FSP27β/CIDEC2 and CIDEA is related to NAFLD progression and liver injury

Association of Visual Impairment with Risk of Incident Dementia in a Women's Health Initiative Population

Importance: Dementia affects a large and growing population of older adults. Although past studies suggest an association between vision and cognitive impairment, there are limited data regarding longitudinal associations of vision with dementia. Objective: To evaluate associations between visual impairment and risk of cognitive impairment. Design, Setting, and Participants: A secondary analysis of a prospective longitudinal cohort study compared the likelihood of incident dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among women with and without baseline visual impairment using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusting for characteristics of participants enrolled in Women's Health Initiative (WHI) ancillary studies. The participants comprised community-dwelling older women (age, 66-84 years) concurrently enrolled in WHI Sight Examination (enrollment 2000-2002) and WHI Memory Study (enrollment 1996-1998, ongoing). The study was conducted from 2000 to the present. Exposures: Objectively measured visual impairment at 3 thresholds (visual acuity worse than 20/40, 20/80, or 20/100) and self-reported visual impairment (determined using composite survey responses). Main Outcomes and Measures: Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for incident cognitive impairment after baseline eye examination were determined. Cognitive impairment (probable dementia or MCI) was based on cognitive testing, clinical assessment, and centralized review and adjudication. Models for (1) probable dementia, (2) MCI, and (3) probable dementia or MCI were evaluated. Results: A total of 1061 women (mean [SD] age, 73.8 [3.7] years) were identified; 206 of these women (19.4%) had self-reported visual impairment and 183 women (17.2%) had objective visual impairment. Forty-two women (4.0%) were ultimately classified with probable dementia and 28 women (2.6%) with MCI that did not progress to dementia. Mean post-eye examination follow-up was 3.8 (1.8) years (range, 0-7 years). Women with vs without baseline objective visual impairment were more likely to develop dementia. Greatest risk for dementia was among women with visual acuity of 20/100 or worse at baseline (HR, 5.66; 95% CI, 1.75-18.37), followed by 20/80 or worse (HR, 5.20; 95% CI, 1.94-13.95), and 20/40 or worse (HR, 2.14; 95% CI, 1.08-4.21). Findings were similar for risk of MCI, with the greatest risk among women with baseline visual acuity of 20/100 or worse (HR, 6.43; 95% CI, 1.66-24.85). Conclusions and Relevance: In secondary analysis of a prospective longitudinal cohort study of older women with formal vision and cognitive function testing, objective visual impairment appears to be associated with an increased risk of incident dementia. However, incident cases of dementia and the proportion of those with visual impairment were low. Research is needed to evaluate the effect of specific ophthalmic interventions on dementia.

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