A comparison of Clinical Risk Index for babies (CRIB-II), Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology (SNAP-II) and SNAPPE-II in predicting parenteral nutrition necessity in low birth weight preterm neonates.

Advances in perinatal care have made it possible to improve survival of low birth weight neonates. Clinical risk index for babies (CRIB-II), score for neonatal acute physiology (SNAP-II), and SNAP-perinatal extension-II (SNAPPE-II) have been used as mortality predictors for preterm infants. Feeding intolerance is very frequent in preterm neonates, and the development of an early effective biomarker for its prediction could be useful for carrying out a proper feeding strategy. Our aim was to compare the ability of CRIB-II, SNAP-II and SNAPPE-II in predict the feeding intolerance and parenteral nutrition necessity in preterm neonates. Methods: A retrospective cohort study on preterm neonates’ born at Jaen Hospital Complex with low birth weight and ≤ 36 weeks of gestation was done. Epidemiological, clinical and clinical scores CRIB II, SNAP-II and SNAPPE-II were recorded. Results: 255 low birth weight preterm neonates, 131 males (51.4%), aged ≤32 weeks of gestation (71%), were enrolled at our hospital. Parenteral nutrition needed were significantly higher in preterm neonates weighed 2500-1500 g (73.3%) and ≤ 1000g (87%). CRIB-II, SNAP-II and SNAPPE-II mean values were higher in neonates group subjected to parenteral nutrition compared with oral nutrition (p<0.05). CRIB-II and SNAPPE-II scores significantly correlated with parenteral nutrition days (p<0.05). Overall mortality rate was 11%. The 78.6% of all deceased infants needed parenteral nutrition. Conclusion: Clinical Risk Index for babies (CRIB-II) better than SNAPPE-II correlated with the feeding intolerance and thus the parenteral nutrition days in preterm neonates with low birth weight.Subvencionado: Ayuda del Plan Propio de Investigación de la UMA. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Vasorelaxant activity of Euphorbia furcillata Kunth mainly by activation of NO/cGMP pathway and calcium channel blockade

The aim of current study was to determinate ex vivo and chromatographic fingerprint by HPLC of four extracts of Euphorbia furcillata K. Ethyl acetate extract of Euphorbia furcillata (EaEEf) was the most effective and potent extract (Emax=98.69±1.24%) and its effect was partially endothelium-dependent. Functional vasorelaxant mechanism of action of EaEEf was determinate, EaEEf showed efficient relaxation of KCl [80 mM]-induced contraction and norepinephrine and CaCl2 contraction curves showed diminution of maximal contraction in the presence of EAEEf and EaEEf-relaxation curve was shifted to the right in the presence of L-NAME (nitric oxide synthase inhibitor) and ODQ (guanylate cyclase inhibitor). Chromatographic fingerprints analysis suggests presence of diterpenoid such as abietane, tigliane, and ingenane skeletons. Our experiments suggest the EaEEf vasorelaxant activity could be attributed to diterpenoid molecules whose mechanism involves nitric oxide production and calcium channel blockade

Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments

In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO