7,367 research outputs found
Constraining the MSSM with Dark Matter indirect detection data
Recently, a claim of possible evidence for Dark Matter in data from the Fermi
LAT experiment was made by Goodenough and Hooper [8]. We test the Dark Matter
properties consistent with their claim in terms of the MSSM by a 24-dimensional
parameter scan using nested sampling, excluding all but a very small region of
the MSSM. Although this claim is very preliminary, and not made by the Fermi
LAT experiment, our scan shows a possible approach for the analysis of future
firm evidence from an indirect detection experiment, and its potential for
heavily constraining models
The effectiveness of interventions to improve the care and management of people with dementia in general hospitals: a systematic review
Background:
People with dementia are at greater risk of being admitted to hospital where care may not be tailored to their needs. Interventions improving care and management are vital.
Aim:
Assess the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve the care and management of people with dementia in hospital.
Method:
Six medical and trial registry, and grey literature databases were searched (1999â1998/2018). Search terms included âDementia,â âHospital,â and âInterventionâ and limited to experimental designs. Interventions designed to improve the care and management of people with dementia in the general hospital setting were examined. Outcomes included behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), psychosocial, clinical, staff knowledge, and length of hospital stay. The CASP tools, Cochrane risk of bias tool, and GRADE system assessed methodological quality and certainty of evidence.
Results:
9003 unique citations were identified; 24 studies were included. Studies were limited in study design and their conduct was at a risk of bias. There is very lowâquality evidence that multisensory behaviour therapy reduces BPSD. There is lowâquality evidence that a multidisciplinary programme reduces postoperative complications and that robotâassisted therapy, music therapy, multimodalâcomprehensive care, personâcentred care, and familyâcentred functionâfocused care interventions improved staff knowledge, competence, efficacy, and communication. No studies reported reduced length of stay.
Conclusions:
Whilst we found that these interventions improved the care and management of people with dementia in hospital, it was lowâ to very lowâquality evidence. New clinical recommendations cannot be made based on current evidence, and robust trial designs are necessary to inform evidenceâbased care
Neutralino reconstruction at the LHC from decay-frame kinematics
Decay-frame Kinematics (DK) has previously been introduced as a technique to
reconstruct neutralino masses from their three-body decays to leptons. This
work is an extension to the case of two-body decays through on-shell sleptons,
with Monte Carlo simulation of LHC collisions demonstrating reconstruction of
neutralino masses for the SPS1a benchmark point
Probing Density Fluctuations using the FIRST Radio Survey
We use results of angular clustering measurements in 3000 sq. deg's of the
FIRST radio survey to infer information on spatial clustering. Measurements are
compared with CDM-model predictions. Clustering of FIRST sources with optical
ID's in the APM catalog are also investigated. Finally, we outline a
preliminary search for a weak lensing signal in the survey.Comment: 6 pages latex, 2 figures, to appear in Cosmology with the New Radio
Surveys (Kluwer
Posterior cricoid region fluoroscopic findings: the posterior cricoid plication.
The region posterior to the cricoid cartilage is challenging to assess fluoroscopically. The purpose of this investigation is to critically evaluate the posterior cricoid (PC) region on fluoroscopy and describe patterns of common findings. This was a case control study. All fluoroscopic swallowing studies performed between June 16, 2009, and February 9, 2010, were reviewed for features seen in the PC region. These findings were categorized into distinct patterns and compared to fluoroscopic studies performed in a cohort of normal volunteers. Two hundred patient studies and 149 healthy volunteer studies were reviewed. The mean age of the referred patient cohort and the volunteer cohort was 57 years (±19) and 61 years (±16), respectively (p > 0.05). The patient cohort was 53% male and the control cohort was 56% female (p > 0.05). Four groups were identified. Pharyngoesophageal webs were seen in 7% (10/149) of controls and 14% (28/200) of patients (p = 0.03). A PC arch impression was seen in 16% of patients (32/200) and controls (24/149) (p = 1). A PC plication was demonstrated in 23% (34/149) of controls and 30% (60/200) of patients (p = 0.13). No distinctive PC region findings were seen in 54% (81/149) of controls and 42% (84/200) of referred patients (p = 0.02). Four patients (2%) had both a web and a PC plication. Four categories of PC region findings were identified (unremarkable PC region, web, PC arch impression, and PC plication). Both patients referred for swallowing studies and healthy volunteers demonstrated esophageal webs, PC arch impressions, and PC plications. Only webs were more common in patients than in control subjects (p = 0.03). The PC impression and PC plication are likely to represent normal variants that may be identified on fluoroscopic swallow studies
Systematic reviews of complementary therapies - an annotated bibliography. Part 1: Acupuncture
Background Complementary therapies are widespread but controversial. We aim to provide a comprehensive collection and a summary of systematic reviews of clinical trials in three major complementary therapies (acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy). This article is dealing with acupuncture. Potentially relevant reviews were searched through the register of the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field, the Cochrane Library, Medline, and bibliographies of articles and books. To be included articles had to review prospective clinical trials of acupuncture; had to describe review methods explicitly; had to be published; and had to focus on treatment effects. Information on conditions, interventions, methods, results and conclusions was extracted using a pretested form and summarized descriptively. Results From a total of 48 potentially relevant reviews preselected in a screeening process 39 met the inclusion criteria. 22 were on various pain syndromes or rheumatic diseases. Other topics addressed by more than one review were addiction, nausea, asthma and tinnitus. Almost unanimously the reviews state that acupuncture trials include too few patients. Often included trials are heterogeneous regarding patients, interventions and outcome measures, are considered to have insufficient quality and contradictory results. Convincing evidence is available only for postoperative nausea, for which acupuncture appears to be of benefit, and smoking cessation, where acupuncture is no more effective than sham acupuncture. Conclusions A large number of systematic reviews on acupuncture exists. What is most obvious from these reviews is the need for (the funding of) well-designed, larger clinical trials
Oxygen insertion into metal carbon bonds: formation of methylperoxo Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes via photogenerated dinuclear intermediates
Platinum(II) and palladium(II) complexes [M(CHâ)(L)]SbFâ with substituted terpyridine ligands L undergo light-driven oxygen insertion reactions into metal methyl bonds resulting in methylperoxo complexes [M(OOCHâ)(L)]SbFâ. The oxygen insertion reactions occur readily for complexes with methyl ligands that are activated due to steric interaction with substituents (NHâ, NHMe or CHâ) at the 6,6âł-positions on the terpyridine ligand. All complexes exhibit attractive intermolecular ÏÂ·Â·Â·Ï or M···M interactions in the solid state and in solution, which lead to excited triplet dinuclear MâM complexes upon irradiation. A mechanism is proposed whereby a dinuclear intermediate is generated upon irradiation that has a weakened MâC bond in the excited state, resulting in the observed oxygen insertion reactions
Acupuncture for chronic neck pain: a pilot for a randomised controlled trial
Background: Acupuncture is increasingly being used for many conditions including chronic neck pain. However the evidence remains inconclusive, indicating the need for further well-designed research. The aim of this study was to conduct a pilot randomised controlled parallel arm trial, to establish key features required for the design and implementation of a large-scale trial on acupuncture for chronic neck pain. Methods: Patients whose GPs had diagnosed neck pain were recruited from one general practice, and randomised to receive usual GP care only, or acupuncture ( up to 10 treatments over 3 months) as an adjunctive treatment to usual GP care. The primary outcome measure was the Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) at 3 months. The primary analysis was to determine the sample size for the full scale study. Results: Of the 227 patients with neck pain identified from the GP database, 28 (12.3%) consenting patients were eligible to participate in the pilot and 24 (10.5%) were recruited to the trial. Ten patients were randomised to acupuncture, receiving an average of eight treatments from one of four acupuncturists, and 14 were randomised to usual GP care alone. The sample size for the full scale trial was calculated from a clinically meaningful difference of 5% on the NPQ and, from this pilot, an adjusted standard deviation of 15.3%. Assuming 90% power at the 5% significance level, a sample size of 229 would be required in each arm in a large-scale trial when allowing for a loss to follow-up rate of 14%. In order to achieve this sample, one would need to identify patients from databases of GP practices with a total population of 230,000 patients, or approximately 15 GP practices roughly equal in size to the one involved in this study (i.e. 15,694 patients). Conclusion: This pilot study has allowed a number of recommendations to be made to facilitate the design of a large-scale trial, which in turn will help to clarify the existing evidence base on acupuncture for neck pain
Single event upset studies for the ATLAS SCT and pixel optical links
Optical data transmission has been chosen for the ATLAS Pixel and SemiConductor Tracker to deliver both timing and control information to the detector modules and transmit tracking data to the remote computer room. Radiation hardness of individuals optical components and their ASICs drivers have been reported in previous papers. We will report here the Single Event Upset studies carried out on a customised optopackage using a high-energy pion beam. It will be shown that the system is sufficiently robust to SEU at the ATLAS SCT level
The detection of the imprint of filaments on cosmic microwave background lensing
Galaxy redshift surveys, such as 2dF, SDSS, 6df, GAMA and VIPERS, have shown
that the spatial distribution of matter forms a rich web, known as the cosmic
web. The majority of galaxy survey analyses measure the amplitude of galaxy
clustering as a function of scale, ignoring information beyond a small number
of summary statistics. Since the matter density field becomes highly
non-Gaussian as structure evolves under gravity, we expect other statistical
descriptions of the field to provide us with additional information. One way to
study the non-Gaussianity is to study filaments, which evolve non-linearly from
the initial density fluctuations produced in the primordial Universe. In our
study, we report the first detection of CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background)
lensing by filaments and we apply a null test to confirm our detection.
Furthermore, we propose a phenomenological model to interpret the detected
signal and we measure how filaments trace the matter distribution on large
scales through filament bias, which we measure to be around 1.5. Our study
provides a new scope to understand the environmental dependence of galaxy
formation. In the future, the joint analysis of lensing and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich
observations might reveal the properties of `missing baryons', the vast
majority of the gas which resides in the intergalactic medium and has so far
evaded most observations
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