Light Meson Dynamics Workshop. Mini proceedings

The mini-proceedings of the Light Meson Dynamics Workshop held in Mainz from February 10th to 12th, 2014, are presented. The web page of the conference, which contains all talks, can be found at https://indico.cern.ch/event/287442/overview .Comment: 46 pages, 17 contributions. Editors: W. Gradl, P. Masjuan, M. Ostrick, and S. Schere

ABO blood type, factor VIII, and incident cognitive impairment in the REGARDS cohort

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationships among ABO group, factor VIII (FVIII), and incident cognitive impairment in a large, prospective cohort study of black and white adults in the United States using a nested case-control design. METHODS: Incident cognitive impairment was defined using cognitive domain tests over a mean follow-up of 3.4 years. ABO blood group was measured by genotyping in a nested case-control sample of 495 cases with cognitive impairment and 587 controls. RESULTS: Those with blood group AB and those with higher FVIII had an increased risk of cognitive impairment, adjusting for age, race, region, and sex (respective odds ratios 1.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.15-2.90; and 1.24, 95% CI 1.10-1.38 for 40 IU/dL higher FVIII). Mean FVIII was higher in those with blood type AB (142 IU/dL; 95% CI 119-165) compared with O (104 IU/dL; 95% CI 101-107), and FVIII mediated 18% of the association between AB group and incident cognitive impairment (95% CI for mediation -30% to 68%). CONCLUSIONS: Blood group AB and higher FVIII were associated with increased incidence of cognitive impairment in this prospective study. The association of blood group AB with incident cognitive impairment was not significantly mediated by FVIII levels

Synthetic tumor-associated glycopeptide antigens.

Glycopeptides with TN antigen (GalNAc)Ser/Thr and T-antigen structures (beta Gall-3GalNAc)Ser/Thr, described as tumor-associated antigens, were synthesized and coupled to bovine serum albumin. Alternatively, synthetic methods for the construction of beta-anomeric analogues of the TN and T-antigen glycopeptides were developed, aiming at antigenic structures having a varied stereochemistry of the linkage between the carbohydrate and the peptide moiety. As a further type of potential tumor-associated antigen, fucosyl-chitobiose asparagine glycopeptides were synthesized, deprotected, and coupled to bovine serum albumin. The chemical methods developed now make the complex sensitive glycoprotein partial structures accessible in analytically pure form and in preparative amounts

Mild Cognitive Impairment, Incidence, Progression, and Reversion: Findings from a Community-based Cohort of Elderly African Americans

Objective To examine the long-term outcomes of community-based elderly African Americans by following their transitions from normal cognition to mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and to dementia. Methods Participants were from the community-based Indianapolis Dementia Project. A total of 4104 African Americans were enrolled in 1992 or 2001 and followed until 2009 with regularly scheduled evaluation of cognitive assessment. A two-stage sampling was used at each evaluation to select individuals for extensive clinical assessment following the results of stage one cognitive testing. Age and gender specific incidence, progression and reversion rates for MCI were derived using the person-year method in a dynamic cohort and predicted probabilities from weighted multinomial logistic models of transitional probabilities among normal cognition, MCI and dementia. Results Annual overall incidence rate for MCI is 5.6% (95% CI: 4.6–6.6%). Annual progression rate from MCI to dementia is 5.9% (95% CI: 5.3–6.5%) and annual reversion rate from MCI to normal is 18.6% (95% CI: 16.7–20.4%). Both MCI incidence rates and MCI to dementia progression rates increase with age, while reversion rates from MCI to normal decrease with age. Conclusion MCI progression to dementia is much more frequent in the older age groups than in the younger participants where reversion to normal cognition is more common. Future research is needed to determine factors related to the heterogeneous outcomes in MCI individuals

Dementia incidence declined in African-Americans but not in Yoruba

INTRODUCTION: To compare dementia incidence of African-American and Yoruba cohorts aged ≥70 years enrolled in 1992 and 2001. METHODS: African-Americans residing in Indianapolis and Yoruba in Ibadan, Nigeria without dementia were enrolled in 1992 and 2001 and evaluated every 2-3 years until 2009. The cohorts consist of 1440 African-Americans, 1774 Yoruba in 1992 and 1835 African-Americans and 1895 Yoruba in the 2001 cohorts aged ≥70 years. RESULTS: In African-Americans, dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) incidence rates were significantly lower in 2001 than 1992 for all age groups except the oldest group. The overall standardized annual dementia incidence rates were 3.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.2%-4.1%) in the 1992 cohort and 1.4% (95% CI, 1.2%-1.7%) in the 2001 cohort. There was no significant difference in dementia or AD incidence between the Yoruba cohorts. DISCUSSION: Future research is needed to explore the reasons for the differential changes in incidence rates in these two populations

MesonNet 2013 International Workshop. Mini-proceedings

The mini-proceedings of the MesonNet 2013 International Workshop held in Prague from June 17th to 19th, 2013, are presented. MesonNet is a research network within EU HadronPhysics3 project (1/2012 -- 12/2014). The web page of the conference, which contains all talks, can be found at http://ipnp.mff.cuni.cz/mesonnet13Comment: 106 pages, 53 contributions. Mini-proceedings of the MesonNet 2013 International Workshop. Editors: K. Kampf, A. Kupsc, and P. Masjua

The cusp effect in eta' --> eta pi pi decays

Strong final-state interactions create a pronounced cusp in eta' --> eta pi0 pi0 decays. We adapt and generalize the non-relativistic effective field theory framework developed for the extraction of pi pi scattering lengths from K --> 3 pi decays to this case. The cusp effect is predicted to have an effect of more than 8% on the decay spectrum below the pi+ pi- threshold.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures; comment added, typos corrected, version published in Eur. Phys. J.

Selenium level and depressive symptoms in a rural elderly Chinese cohort

BACKGROUND: Selenium is considered a protective agent against free radicals through the maintenance of better enzyme activity. The few studies examining the relationship between selenium and depression have yielded inconsistent results and none of these studies considered the role of cognitive function in this context. METHODS: A cross-sectional evaluation of 1737 rural Chinese age 65 and over from two provinces in China was conducted. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Cognitive function was assessed using various cognitive instruments. Selenium measures were obtained from nail samples. Other information collected included demographic characteristics and medical history. Analysis of covariance models were used to identify factors associated with GDS score. RESULTS: Higher selenium levels were associated with lower GDS scores adjusting for demographic and medical conditions (p = 0.0321). However, the association between selenium and depressive symptoms was no longer significant when cognitive function score was adjusted in the model (p = 0.2143). CONCLUSIONS: Higher selenium level was associated with lower depressive symptoms without adjusting for cognition in this cohort. However, after cognition was adjusted in the model the association between selenium and depressive symptoms was no longer significant, suggesting that selenium’s association with depressive symptoms may be primarily through its association with cognitive function

Neutron skin of 208^{208}Pb from Coherent Pion Photoproduction

Information on the size and shape of the neutron skin on $^{208}$Pb has been extracted from coherent pion photoproduction cross sections measured using the Crystal Ball together with the Glasgow tagger at the MAMI electron beam facility. On exploitation of an interpolated fit of a theoretical model to the measured cross sections the half-height radius and diffuseness of the neutron distribution are found to be 6.70$\pm 0.03(stat)$ fm and 0.55$\pm 0.01(stat)$$^{+0.02}_{-0.03}(sys)$ fm respectively, corresponding to a neutron skin thickness $\Delta r_{np}$=0.15$\pm 0.03(stat)$$^{+0.01}_{-0.03}(sys)$ fm. The results give the first successful extraction of a neutron skin with an electromagnetic probe and indicate the skin of $^{208}$Pb has a halo character. The measurement provides valuable new constraints on both the structure of nuclei and the equation of state for neutron-rich matter.Comment: 4 figures 5 pages. Version submitted to journal. Includes additional studies of systematic effects in the extracted diffuseness, which led to a small increase in the quoted systematic error. These additional studies are discussed in the revised manuscript. Also includes minor editorial improvements to the tex

A new measurement of the neutron detection efficiency for the NaI Crystal Ball detector

We report on a measurement of the neutron detection efficiency in NaI crystals in the Crystal Ball detector obtained from a study of single p0 photoproduction on deuterium using the tagged photon beam at the Mainz Microtron. The results were obtained up to a neutron energy of 400 MeV. They are compared to previous measurements made more than 15 years ago at the pion beam at the BNL AGS