1,813 research outputs found

    A randomised controlled clinical trial of narrowband UVB phototherapy for clinically isolated syndrome: the PhoCIS Study

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    Background: The natural history of multiple sclerosis (MS) typically presents with the clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), an episode of neurological symptoms caused by central nervous system inflammation or demyelination that does not fulfil the diagnostic criteria for MS. Objective: As preclinical studies have suggested that exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) could regulate the development of MS, the Phototherapy for CIS (PhoCIS trial) was established to examine the effects of narrowband UVB phototherapy on patients with CIS, and their conversion to MS. Methods: Of the 20 participants, half received 24 sessions of narrowband UVB exposure over eight weeks; participants in both arms were followed for 12 months. All participants were supplemented to 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels of >80 nmol/l. Results: By 12 months, 100% of those in the no phototherapy arm and 70% in the phototherapy arm had converted to MS, although this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: This study provides a basis for further studies to determine if there are any benefits of the therapeutic effects of narrowband UVB radiation on MS progression.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (ID 1067209). Drs AP Jones, S Trend and MJ Fabis-Pedrini were supported by MS Western Australia, and Prof RM Lucas by a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Senior Research Fellowship

    Measurement of inclusive D*+- and associated dijet cross sections in photoproduction at HERA

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    Inclusive photoproduction of D*+- mesons has been measured for photon-proton centre-of-mass energies in the range 130 < W < 280 GeV and a photon virtuality Q^2 < 1 GeV^2. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 37 pb^-1. Total and differential cross sections as functions of the D* transverse momentum and pseudorapidity are presented in restricted kinematical regions and the data are compared with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations using the "massive charm" and "massless charm" schemes. The measured cross sections are generally above the NLO calculations, in particular in the forward (proton) direction. The large data sample also allows the study of dijet production associated with charm. A significant resolved as well as a direct photon component contribute to the cross section. Leading order QCD Monte Carlo calculations indicate that the resolved contribution arises from a significant charm component in the photon. A massive charm NLO parton level calculation yields lower cross sections compared to the measured results in a kinematic region where the resolved photon contribution is significant.Comment: 32 pages including 6 figure

    Measurement of Jet Shapes in Photoproduction at HERA

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    The shape of jets produced in quasi-real photon-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies in the range 134277134-277 GeV has been measured using the hadronic energy flow. The measurement was done with the ZEUS detector at HERA. Jets are identified using a cone algorithm in the ηϕ\eta - \phi plane with a cone radius of one unit. Measured jet shapes both in inclusive jet and dijet production with transverse energies ETjet>14E^{jet}_T>14 GeV are presented. The jet shape broadens as the jet pseudorapidity (ηjet\eta^{jet}) increases and narrows as ETjetE^{jet}_T increases. In dijet photoproduction, the jet shapes have been measured separately for samples dominated by resolved and by direct processes. Leading-logarithm parton-shower Monte Carlo calculations of resolved and direct processes describe well the measured jet shapes except for the inclusive production of jets with high ηjet\eta^{jet} and low ETjetE^{jet}_T. The observed broadening of the jet shape as ηjet\eta^{jet} increases is consistent with the predicted increase in the fraction of final state gluon jets.Comment: 29 pages including 9 figure

    Identifying Unique Neighborhood Characteristics to Guide Health Planning for Stroke and Heart Attack: Fuzzy Cluster and Discriminant Analyses Approaches

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    Socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic factors are known determinants of stroke and myocardial infarction (MI) risk. Clustering of these factors in neighborhoods needs to be taken into consideration during planning, prioritization and implementation of health programs intended to reduce disparities. Given the complex and multidimensional nature of these factors, multivariate methods are needed to identify neighborhood clusters of these determinants so as to better understand the unique neighborhood profiles. This information is critical for evidence-based health planning and service provision. Therefore, this study used a robust multivariate approach to classify neighborhoods and identify their socio-demographic characteristics so as to provide information for evidence-based neighborhood health planning for stroke and MI.The study was performed in East Tennessee Appalachia, an area with one of the highest stroke and MI risks in USA. Robust principal component analysis was performed on neighborhood (census tract) socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, obtained from the US Census, to reduce the dimensionality and influence of outliers in the data. Fuzzy cluster analysis was used to classify neighborhoods into Peer Neighborhoods (PNs) based on their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Nearest neighbor discriminant analysis and decision trees were used to validate PNs and determine the characteristics important for discrimination. Stroke and MI mortality risks were compared across PNs. Four distinct PNs were identified and their unique characteristics and potential health needs described. The highest risk of stroke and MI mortality tended to occur in less affluent PNs located in urban areas, while the suburban most affluent PNs had the lowest risk.Implementation of this multivariate strategy provides health planners useful information to better understand and effectively plan for the unique neighborhood health needs and is important in guiding resource allocation, service provision, and policy decisions to address neighborhood health disparities and improve population health

    An Empirical Comparison of Consumer Innovation Adoption Models: Implications for Subsistence Marketplaces

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    So called “pro-poor” innovations may improve consumer wellbeing in subsistence marketplaces. However, there is little research that integrates the area with the vast literature on innovation adoption. Using a questionnaire where respondents were asked to provide their evaluations about a mobile banking innovation, this research fills this gap by providing empirical evidence of the applicability of existing innovation adoption models in subsistence marketplaces. The study was conducted in Bangladesh among a geographically dispersed sample. The data collected allowed an empirical comparison of models in a subsistence context. The research reveals the most useful models in this context to be the Value Based Adoption Model and the Consumer Acceptance of Technology model. In light of these findings and further examination of the model comparison results the research also shows that consumers in subsistence marketplaces are not just motivated by functionality and economic needs. If organizations cannot enhance the hedonic attributes of a pro-poor innovation, and reduce the internal/external constraints related to adoption of that pro-poor innovation, then adoption intention by consumers will be lower

    Measurement of the F2 structure function in deep inelastic e+^{+}p scattering using 1994 data from the ZEUS detector at HERA

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    We present measurements of the structure function \Ft\ in e^+p scattering at HERA in the range 3.5\;\Gevsq < \qsd < 5000\;\Gevsq. A new reconstruction method has allowed a significant improvement in the resolution of the kinematic variables and an extension of the kinematic region covered by the experiment. At \qsd < 35 \;\Gevsq the range in x now spans 6.3\cdot 10^{-5} < x < 0.08 providing overlap with measurements from fixed target experiments. At values of Q^2 above 1000 GeV^2 the x range extends to 0.5. Systematic errors below 5\perc\ have been achieved for most of the kinematic urray, W

    Measurement of the Diffractive Cross Section in Deep Inelastic Scattering using ZEUS 1994 Data

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    The DIS diffractive cross section, dσγpXNdiff/dMXd\sigma^{diff}_{\gamma^* p \to XN}/dM_X, has been measured in the mass range MX<15M_X < 15 GeV for γp\gamma^*p c.m. energies 60<W<20060 < W < 200 GeV and photon virtualities Q2=7Q^2 = 7 to 140 GeV2^2. For fixed Q2Q^2 and MXM_X, the diffractive cross section rises rapidly with WW, dσγpXNdiff(MX,W,Q2)/dMXWadiffd\sigma^{diff}_{\gamma^*p \to XN}(M_X,W,Q^2)/dM_X \propto W^{a^{diff}} with adiff=0.507±0.034(stat)0.046+0.155(syst)a^{diff} = 0.507 \pm 0.034 (stat)^{+0.155}_{-0.046}(syst) corresponding to a tt-averaged pomeron trajectory of \bar{\alphapom} = 1.127 \pm 0.009 (stat)^{+0.039}_{-0.012} (syst) which is larger than \bar{\alphapom} observed in hadron-hadron scattering. The WW dependence of the diffractive cross section is found to be the same as that of the total cross section for scattering of virtual photons on protons. The data are consistent with the assumption that the diffractive structure function F2D(3)F^{D(3)}_2 factorizes according to \xpom F^{D(3)}_2 (\xpom,\beta,Q^2) = (x_0/ \xpom)^n F^{D(2)}_2(\beta,Q^2). They are also consistent with QCD based models which incorporate factorization breaking. The rise of \xpom F^{D(3)}_2 with decreasing \xpom and the weak dependence of F2D(2)F^{D(2)}_2 on Q2Q^2 suggest a substantial contribution from partonic interactions

    Measurement of Elastic ϕ\phi Photoproduction at HERA

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    The production of ϕ\phi mesons in the reaction e+pe+ϕpe^{+}p \rightarrow e^{+} \phi p (ϕK+K\phi \rightarrow K^{+}K^{-}) at a median Q2Q^{2} of $10^{-4} \ \rm{GeV^2}hasbeenstudiedwiththeZEUSdetectoratHERA.Thedifferential has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The differential \phiphotoproductioncrosssection photoproduction cross section d\sigma/dthasanexponentialshapeandhasbeendeterminedinthekinematicrange has an exponential shape and has been determined in the kinematic range 0.1<|t|<0.5 \ \rm{GeV^2}and and 60 < W < 80 \ \rm{GeV}.Anintegratedcrosssectionof. An integrated cross section of \sigma_{\gamma p \rightarrow \phi p} = 0.96 \pm 0.19^{+0.21}_{-0.18} \rm{\mu b}hasbeenobtainedbyextrapolatingtot=0.Whencomparedtolowerenergydata,theresultsshowaweakenergydependenceofboth has been obtained by extrapolating to {\it t} = 0. When compared to lower energy data, the results show a weak energy dependence of both \sigma_{\gamma p \rightarrow \phi p}andtheslopeofthe and the slope of the tdistribution.The distribution. The \phidecayangulardistributionsareconsistentwith decay angular distributions are consistent with schannelhelicityconservation.FromlowerenergiestoHERAenergies,thefeaturesof-channel helicity conservation. From lower energies to HERA energies, the features of \phi$ photoproduction are compatible with those of a soft diffractive process.Comment: 23 pages, including 6 post script figure

    A randomized, open-label, multicentre, phase 2/3 study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of lumiliximab in combination with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab versus fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab alone in subjects with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

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