Cigarette Smoking, Cessation, and Risk of Heart Failure With Preserved and Reduced Ejection Fraction

Background: Smoking is well-recognized as a risk factor for heart failure (HF). However, few studies have evaluated the prospective association of cigarette smoking and smoking cessation with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) as distinct phenotypes. Objectives: The aim of this study was to quantify the association of cigarette smoking and smoking cessation with the incidence of HFpEF and HFrEF. Methods: In 9,345 ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) study White and Black participants without history of HF at baseline in 2005 (age range 61-81 years), we quantified the associations of several established cigarette smoking parameters (smoking status, pack-years, intensity, duration, and years since cessation) with physician-adjudicated incident acute decompensated HF using multivariable Cox models. Results: Over a median follow-up of 13.0 years, there were 1,215 incident HF cases. Compared with never smokers, current cigarette smoking was similarly associated with HFpEF and HFrEF, with adjusted HRs ∼2. There was a dose-response relationship for pack-years of smoking and HF. A more extended period of smoking cessation was associated with a lower risk of HF, but significantly elevated risk persisted up to a few decades for HFpEF and HFrEF. Conclusions: All cigarette smoking parameters consistently showed significant and similar associations with HFpEF and HFrEF. Smoking cessation significantly reduced the risk of HF, but excess HF risk persisted for a few decades. Our results strengthened the evidence that smoking is an important modifiable risk factor for HF and highlighted the importance of smoking prevention and cessation for the prevention of HF, including HFpEF

Principles of the Field Theory of High Temperature Superconductivity in Underdoped Copper-Oxides

Here I extend my last work about the origin of the pseudo-gaps in underdoped cuprates (arXiv: cond-mat. 1011.3206), to include the mechanism of superconductivity. This is done by adapting the formalism of the double correlations in systems with nested Fermi surfaces to the semi one dimensional system of strings of holes. It is proposed that magnetic interaction is crucial for the establishment of the pseudogap and the high temperature superconductivity. It is shown that superconductivity disturbs the completeness of the strings of holes, and creates fluctuations in their shapes. This, in turn, reduces the magnetic interaction and the pseudogap order.Comment: This paper has been withdrawn by the author. 27 page

Racial Differences in Trends and Prognosis of Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy for Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Surveillance Study

Background: Racial disparities in guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) have not been fully documented in a community setting. Methods: In the ARIC Surveillance Study (2005–2014), we examined racial differences in GDMT at discharge, its temporal trends, and the prognostic impact among individuals with hospitalized HFrEF, using weighted regression models to account for sampling design. Optimal GDMT was defined as beta blockers (BB), mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) and ACE inhibitors (ACEI) or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB). Acceptable GDMT included either one of BB, MRA, ACEI/ARB or hydralazine plus nitrates (H-N). Results: Of 16,455 (unweighted n = 3,669) HFrEF cases, 47% were Black. Only ~ 10% were discharged with optimal GDMT with higher proportion in Black than White individuals (11.1% vs. 8.6%, p 80% in both racial groups while Black individuals were more likely to receive ACEI/ARB (62.0% vs. 54.6%) and MRA (18.0% vs. 13.8%) than Whites, with a similar pattern for H-N (21.8% vs. 10.1%). There was a trend of decreasing use of optimal GDMT in both groups, with significant decline of ACEI/ARB use in Whites (− 2.8% p < 0.01) but increasing H-N use in both groups (+ 6.5% and + 9.2%, p < 0.01). Only ACEI/ARB and BB were associated with lower 1-year mortality. Conclusions: Optimal GDMT was prescribed in only ~ 10% of HFrEF patients at discharge but was more so in Black than White individuals. ACEI/ARB use declined in Whites while H-N use increased in both races. GDMT utilization, particularly ACEI/ARB, should be improved in Black and Whites individuals with HFrEF

Extreme Ultra-Violet Spectroscopy of the Lower Solar Atmosphere During Solar Flares

The extreme ultraviolet portion of the solar spectrum contains a wealth of diagnostic tools for probing the lower solar atmosphere in response to an injection of energy, particularly during the impulsive phase of solar flares. These include temperature and density sensitive line ratios, Doppler shifted emission lines and nonthermal broadening, abundance measurements, differential emission measure profiles, and continuum temperatures and energetics, among others. In this paper I shall review some of the advances made in recent years using these techniques, focusing primarily on studies that have utilized data from Hinode/EIS and SDO/EVE, while also providing some historical background and a summary of future spectroscopic instrumentation.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Solar Physics as part of the Topical Issue on Solar and Stellar Flare

Study of J/Psi decays into eta Kstar Kstar-bar

We report the first observation of \mPJpsi \to \mPeta\mPKst\mAPKst decay in a \mPJpsi sample of 58 million events collected with the BESII detector. The branching fraction is determined to be $(1.15 \pm 0.13 \pm 0.22)\times 10^{-3}$. The selected signal event sample is further used to search for the \mPY resonance through \mPJpsi \to \mPeta \mPY, \mPY\to\mPKst\mAPKst. No evidence of a signal is seen. An upper limit of \mathrm{Br}(\mPJpsi \to \mPeta \mPY)\cdot\mathrm{Br}(\mPY\to\mPKst\mAPKst) < 2.52\times 10^{-4} is set at the 90% confidence level.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Study of J\psi decaying into \omega p \bar p

The decay $J/\psi \to \omega p \bar p$ is studied using a $5.8 \times 10^7$ $J/\psi$ event sample accumulated with the BES II detector at the Beijing electron-positron collider. The decay branching fraction is measured to be $B(J/\psi \to \omega p \bar p)=(9.8\pm 0.3\pm 1.4)\times 10^{-4}$. No significant enhancement near the $p\bar p$ mass threshold is observed, and an upper limit of $B(J/\psi \to \omega X(1860))B(X(1860)\to p\bar p)$$$$< 1.5 \times 10^{-5}$ is determined at the 95% confidence level, where X(1860) designates the near-threshold enhancement seen in the $p\bar p$ mass spectrum in $J/\psi \to \gamma p \bar p$ decays.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Erratum: "A Gravitational-wave Measurement of the Hubble Constant Following the Second Observing Run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo" (2021, ApJ, 909, 218)

[no abstract available

Combination of searches for Higgs boson pairs in pp collisions at \sqrts = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This letter presents a combination of searches for Higgs boson pair production using up to 36.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The combination is performed using six analyses searching for Higgs boson pairs decaying into the b (b) over barb (b) over bar, b (b) over barW(+)W(-), b (b) over bar tau(+)tau(-), W+W-W+W-, b (b) over bar gamma gamma and W+W-gamma gamma final states. Results are presented for non-resonant and resonant Higgs boson pair production modes. No statistically significant excess in data above the Standard Model predictions is found. The combined observed (expected) limit at 95% confidence level on the non-resonant Higgs boson pair production cross-section is 6.9 (10) times the predicted Standard Model cross-section. Limits are also set on the ratio (kappa(lambda)) of the Higgs boson self-coupling to its Standard Model value. This ratio is constrained at 95% confidence level in observation (expectation) to -5.0 &lt; kappa(lambda) &lt; 12.0 (-5.8 &lt; kappa(lambda) &lt; 12.0). In addition, limits are set on the production of narrow scalar resonances and spin-2 Kaluza-Klein Randall-Sundrum gravitons. Exclusion regions are also provided in the parameter space of the habemus Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and the Electroweak Singlet Model. For complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.135103</p

Searches for lepton-flavour-violating decays of the Higgs boson in s=13\sqrt{s}=13 TeV pp\mathit{pp} collisions with the ATLAS detector

This Letter presents direct searches for lepton flavour violation in Higgs boson decays, H → eτ and H → μτ , performed with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The searches are based on a data sample of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy √s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1. No significant excess is observed above the expected background from Standard Model processes. The observed (median expected) 95% confidence-level upper limits on the leptonflavour-violating branching ratios are 0.47% (0.34+0.13−0.10%) and 0.28% (0.37+0.14−0.10%) for H → eτ and H → μτ , respectively.publishedVersio