5,215 research outputs found
A bioclinical pattern for the early diagnosis of cardioembolic stroke
Background and Scope. Early etiologic diagnosis of ischemic stroke subtype guides acute management and treatment. We aim to evaluate if plasma biomarkers can predict stroke subtypes in the early phase from stroke onset. Methods. Plasma N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), D-dimer, C-reactive protein, serum albumin, and globulin levels have been investigated in 114 consecutive patients presenting at the emergency room within 6 hours of the ischemic stroke onset. Plasma levels of biomarkers have been correlated with stroke aetiology (based on TOAST criteria) by multivariable logistic regression analysis, adjusted for several covariates. Results. Of the 114 patients, 34 (30%) had cardioembolic stroke, 27 (23%) atherothrombotic stroke, 19 (17%) lacunar stroke, and 34 (30%) stroke of undetermined origin. Patients with cardioembolic stroke had significantly higher levels of NT-proBNP and lower globulin/albumin (G/A) ratio compared with the other subgroups. At multiple logistic regression NT-proBN \u2009pg/mL, G/A rati and NIHSS score were independent predictors of cardioembolic stroke with high accuracy of the model, either including (AUC, 0.91) or excluding (AUC, 0.84) atrial fibrillation. Conclusions. A prediction model that includes NT-proBNP, G/A ratio, and NIHSS score can be useful for the early etiologic diagnosis of ischemic stroke
Between the Natural and the Artificial: The Sublime Sexual Sensation of Car Crashes in J.G. Ballard’s Crash
At a time when technology progressively pushes back nature, the sexual act runs the risk of being denaturalised. The notion of the sublime, which I argue is how humans react to the machine as a surrogate for nature and as a sexual stimulus in Crash (1973), is therefore of central interest in this article. Ballard himself has described Crash as ‘the first pornographic novel based on technology’ (1973, 6). This engagement with a technologised sexuality is explored as a subjective narrative stance, which grants authenticity to the fictive alter ego, who can probe alternatives to an extra-textual reality. This narrative mode is notably potent in relation to the narrator’s estimation of the merge between sexuality and technology in the form of car crashes uniting Eros and Thanatos. I therefore suggest that Crash can be read as an attempt to localise the natural and human in a world dictated by artificiality and technology
Factors associated with weight gain in people treated with dolutegravir
Background. An unexpected excess in weight gain has recently been reported in the course of dolutegravir (DTG) treatment. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether weight gain differs among different DTG-containing regimens. Methods. Adult naïve and experienced people with HIV (PWH) initiating DTG-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) between July 2014 and December 2019 in the Surveillance Cohort Long-Term Toxicity Antiretrovirals (SCOLTA) prospective cohort were included. We used an adjusted general linear model to compare weight change among backbone groups and a Cox proportional hazard regression model to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for weight increases >10% from baseline. Results. A total of 713 participants, 25.3% women and 91% Caucasian, were included. Of these, 195 (27.4%) started DTG as their first ART regimen, whereas 518 (72.6%) were ART-experienced. DTG was associated with abacavir/lamivudine in 326 participants, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) in 148, boosted protease inhibitors in 60, rilpivirine in 45, lamivudine in 75, and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF)/FTC in 59. At 6 and 12 months, weight gain was highest among PWH on TDF/FTC+DTG and TAF/FTC+DTG. Baseline CD4 <200 cells/mm3 (HR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.15 to 2.96), being ART-naïve (HR, 2.24; 95% CI, 1.24 to 4.18), and treatment with TDF/FTC+DTG (HR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.23 to 2.98) or TAF/FTC+DTG (HR, 3.80; 95% CI, 1.75 to 8.23) were associated with weight gain >10% from baseline. Higher weight (HR, 0.97 by 1 kg; 95% CI, 0.96 to 0.99) and female gender (HR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.33 to 0.88) were protective against weight gain. Conclusions. Naïve PWH with lower CD4 counts and those on TAF/FTC or TDF/FTC backbones were at higher risk of weight increase in the course of DTG-based ART
Operational experience, improvements, and performance of the CDF Run II silicon vertex detector
The Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) pursues a broad physics program at
Fermilab's Tevatron collider. Between Run II commissioning in early 2001 and
the end of operations in September 2011, the Tevatron delivered 12 fb-1 of
integrated luminosity of p-pbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV. Many physics
analyses undertaken by CDF require heavy flavor tagging with large charged
particle tracking acceptance. To realize these goals, in 2001 CDF installed
eight layers of silicon microstrip detectors around its interaction region.
These detectors were designed for 2--5 years of operation, radiation doses up
to 2 Mrad (0.02 Gy), and were expected to be replaced in 2004. The sensors were
not replaced, and the Tevatron run was extended for several years beyond its
design, exposing the sensors and electronics to much higher radiation doses
than anticipated. In this paper we describe the operational challenges
encountered over the past 10 years of running the CDF silicon detectors, the
preventive measures undertaken, and the improvements made along the way to
ensure their optimal performance for collecting high quality physics data. In
addition, we describe the quantities and methods used to monitor radiation
damage in the sensors for optimal performance and summarize the detector
performance quantities important to CDF's physics program, including vertex
resolution, heavy flavor tagging, and silicon vertex trigger performance.Comment: Preprint accepted for publication in Nuclear Instruments and Methods
A (07/31/2013
Search for the Higgs boson in events with missing transverse energy and b quark jets produced in proton-antiproton collisions at s**(1/2)=1.96 TeV
We search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with an
electroweak vector boson in events with no identified charged leptons, large
imbalance in transverse momentum, and two jets where at least one contains a
secondary vertex consistent with the decay of b hadrons. We use ~1 fb-1
integrated luminosity of proton-antiproton collisions at s**(1/2)=1.96 TeV
recorded by the CDF II experiment at the Tevatron. We find 268 (16) single
(double) b-tagged candidate events, where 248 +/- 43 (14.4 +/- 2.7) are
expected from standard model background processes. We place 95% confidence
level upper limits on the Higgs boson production cross section for several
Higgs boson masses ranging from 110 GeV/c2 to 140 GeV/c2. For a mass of 115
GeV/c2 the observed (expected) limit is 20.4 (14.2) times the standard model
prediction.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
First Measurement of the W Boson Mass in Run II of the Tevatron
We present a measurement of the W boson mass using 200/pb of data collected
in pbar p collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV by the CDF II detector at Run II of
the Fermilab Tevatron. With a sample of 63964 W -> e nu candidates and 51128 W
-> mu nu candidates, we measure M_W = (80413 +- 34 (stat) +- 34 (syst) = 80413
+- 48) MeV/c^2. This is the most precise single measurement of the W boson mass
to date.Comment: published version in PR
Measurement of the Helicity Fractions of W Bosons from Top Quark Decays Using Fully Reconstructed top-antitop Events with CDF II
We present a measurement of the fractions F_0 and F_+ of longitudinally
polarized and right-handed W bosons in top quark decays using data collected
with the CDF II detector. The data set used in the analysis corresponds to an
integrated luminosity of approximately 318 pb -1. We select ttbar candidate
events with one lepton, at least four jets, and missing transverse energy. Our
helicity measurement uses the decay angle theta*, which is defined as the angle
between the momentum of the charged lepton in the W boson rest frame and the W
momentum in the top quark rest frame. The cos(theta*) distribution in the data
is determined by full kinematic reconstruction of the ttbar candidates. We find
F_0 = 0.85 +0.15 -0.22 (stat) +- 0.06 (syst) and F_+ = 0.05 +0.11 -0.05 (stat)
+- 0.03 (syst), which is consistent with the standard model prediction. We set
an upper limit on the fraction of right-handed W bosons of F_+ < 0.26 at the
95% confidence level.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Polarizations of J/psi and psi(2S) Mesons Produced in ppbar Collisions at 1.96 TeV
We have measured the polarizations of \jpsi and \psiprime mesons as
functions of their transverse momentum \pt when they are produced promptly in
the rapidity range with \pt \geq 5 \pgev. The analysis is performed
using a data sample with an integrated luminosity of about 800 \ipb collected
by the CDF II detector. For both vector mesons, we find that the polarizations
become increasingly longitudinal as \pt increases from 5 to 30 \pgev. These
results are compared to the predictions of nonrelativistic quantum
chromodynamics and other contemporary models. The effective polarizations of
\jpsi and \psiprime mesons from -hadron decays are also reported.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, published in Physical Review Letter
Observation and Mass Measurement of the Baryon
We report the observation and measurement of the mass of the bottom, strange
baryon through the decay chain , where
, , and .
Evidence for observation is based on a signal whose probability of arising from
the estimated background is 6.6 x 10^{-15}, or 7.7 Gaussian standard
deviations. The mass is measured to be (stat.) (syst.) MeV/.Comment: Minor text changes for the second version. Accepted by Phys. Rev.
Let
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