New and interesting records of South African fungi. XV. Two new Laboulbeniales records from South Africa

The Laboulbeniales are predominantly parasites of true insects (Hexapoda), infesting mostly Coleoptera. Two members of the Laboulbeniales are reported from South Africa for the first time; Polyandromyces coptosomalis Thaxter and Laboulbenia monoleptae Balazuc. Both fungi are illustrated and their distribution, morphology, host specificity and nutrition are discussed

Antihypertensive drug concentration measurement combined with personalized feedback in resistant hypertension:a randomized controlled trial

Background:Adherence to antihypertensive drugs (AHDs) is crucial for controlling blood pressure (BP). We aimed to determine the effectiveness of measuring AHD concentrations using a dried blood spot (DBS) sampling method to identify nonadherence, combined with personalized feedback, in reducing resistant hypertension.Methods:We conducted a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial (RHYME-RCT, ICTRP NTR6914) in patients with established resistant hypertension. Patients were randomized to receive either an intervention with standard of care (SoC) or SoC alone. SoC consisted of BP measurement and DBS sampling at baseline, 3 months (t3), 6 months (t6), and 12 months (t12); AHD concentrations were measured but not reported in this arm. In the intervention arm, results on AHD concentrations were discussed during a personalized feedback conversation at baseline and t3. Study endpoints included the proportion of patients with RH and AHD adherence at t12.Results:Forty-nine patients were randomized to receive the intervention+SoC, and 51 were randomized to receive SoC alone. The proportion of adherent patients improved from 70.0 to 92.5% in the intervention+SoC arm (P = 0.008, n = 40) and remained the same in the SoC arm (71.4%, n = 42). The difference in adherence between the arms was statistically significant (P = 0.014). The prevalence of resistant hypertension decreased to 75.0% in the intervention+SoC arm (P &lt; 0.001, n = 40) and 59.5% in the SoC arm (P &lt; 0.001, n = 42) at t12; the difference between the arms was statistically nonsignificant (P = 0.14).Conclusion:Personalized feedback conversations based on DBS-derived AHD concentrations improved AHD adherence but did not reduce the prevalence of RH.</p

De Sitter Holography and the Cosmic Microwave Background

We interpret cosmological evolution holographically as a renormalisation group flow in a dual Euclidean field theory, as suggested by the conjectured dS/CFT correspondence. Inflation is described by perturbing around the infra-red fixed point of the dual field theory. The spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation is determined in terms of scaling violations in the field theory. The dark energy allows similar, albeit less predictive, considerations. We discuss the cosmological fine-tuning problems from the holographic perspective.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, uses JHEP style files; corrected and added reference

Study of jet shapes in inclusive jet production in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector

Jet shapes have been measured in inclusive jet production in proton-proton collisions at √s = 7  TeV using 3  pb-1 of data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Jets are reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with transverse momentum 30  GeV<pT<600  GeV and rapidity in the region |y|<2.8. The data are corrected for detector effects and compared to several leading-order QCD matrix elements plus parton shower Monte Carlo predictions, including different sets of parameters tuned to model fragmentation processes and underlying event contributions in the final state. The measured jets become narrower with increasing jet transverse momentum and the jet shapes present a moderate jet rapidity dependence. Within QCD, the data test a variety of perturbative and nonperturbative effects. In particular, the data show sensitivity to the details of the parton shower, fragmentation, and underlying event models in the Monte Carlo generators. For an appropriate choice of the parameters used in these models, the data are well described