Spiritual and Psychological Aspects of Illness: Dealing with Sickness, Loss, Dying, and Death (Mahway, NJ: Paulist Press, 2010)

Reviewed by John Gillman

High Incidence of Vertebral Fractures in Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia 12 Months After the Initiation of Therapy

PURPOSE: Vertebral fractures due to osteoporosis are a potential complication of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). To date, the incidence of vertebral fractures during ALL treatment has not been reported. PATIENT AND METHODS: We prospectively evaluated 155 children with ALL during the first 12 months of leukemia therapy. Lateral thoracolumbar spine radiographs were obtained at baseline and 12 months. Vertebral bodies were assessed for incident vertebral fractures using the Genant semi-quantitative method, and relevant clinical indices such as spine bone mineral density (BMD), back pain and the presence of vertebral fractures at baseline were analyzed for association with incident vertebral fractures. RESULTS: Of the 155 children, 25 (16%, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 11% to 23%) had a total of 61 incident vertebral fractures, of which 32 (52%) were moderate or severe. Thirteen of the 25 children with incident vertebral fractures (52%) also had fractures at baseline. Vertebral fractures at baseline increased the odds of an incident fracture at 12 months by an odds ratio of 7.3 (95% CI 2.3 to 23.1, p = 0.001). In addition, for every one standard deviation reduction in spine BMD Z-score at baseline, there was 1.8-fold increased odds of incident vertebral fracture at 12 months (95% CI 1.2 to 2.7, p = 0.006). CONCLUSION: Children with ALL have a high incidence of vertebral fractures after 12 months of chemotherapy, and the presence of vertebral fractures and reductions in spine BMD Z-scores at baseline are highly associated clinical features

Fragmentation functions at ZEUS

The scaled momentum spectra of final state charged hadrons produced in Deep Inelastic Scattering in the ranges 10 < Q(2) < 1280 GeV2 and 6 . 10(-4) < x(Bjorken) < 5 . 10(-2) have been measured in the current region of the Breit frame using the ZEUS detector. The evolution with Q(2) of the scaled momentum, x(p) = 2p(Breit)/Q, has been investigated and preliminary results are presented which show evidence for scaling violations and support for the universality of quark fragmentation

Measurement of the proton structure function F-2 and the total gamma*p cross-section at low Q(2) and low x

The ZEUS-experiment at HERA has significantly enhanced the kinematic coverage for low Q(2) and low x inelastic e(+)p --> e(+) X scattering with an upgrade of the ZEUS-detector in 1995 which extends the acceptance for small positron scattering angles. The upgrade included the modification of the beam pipe with low mass exit windows and the installation of a small electromagnetic sampling calorimeter, the Beam Pipe Calorimeter (BPC), to explore the region in Q(2) of 0.11 less than or equal to Q(2) less than or equal to 0.65 GeV2. A shift of two rear uranium calorimeter (RCAL) modules and the small rear tracking detector (SRTD) closer to the beam together with a data sample taken with a shifted event vertex extended the Q(2) coverage of the main detector down to 0.6 GeV2. Both data sets have been used to measure the proton structure function F-2 and the total virtual photonproton gamma*p cross-section. Results are presented for 0.11 less than or equal to Q(2) less than or equal to 6.10 GeV2 and 2.10(-6) less than or equal to x less than or equal to 7.10(-4) along with a comparison to various models

Jet shapes at HERA

The shape of jets produced in quasi-real photon-proton interactions and deep inelastic positron-proton scattering (DIS) at high Q(2) (Q(2) > 100 GeV2) has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA. Jets with transverse energies E-T(jet) > 14 GeV and pseudorapidities (eta(jet)) in the range -1 collisions, and are similar to those in e(+)e(-) interactions

D* and J/psi inelastic photoproduction at HERA

Cross sections of D* and J/Psi inelastic photoproduction were measured by the ZEUS detector at HERA collider. Comparisons of the data with calculations in NLO pQCD and SHA QCD approaches were made

Measurement of dijets in DIS and comparison to NLO calculations

We report a measurement of the dijet production cross section in neutral current deep inelastic scattering with the ZEUS detector at the HERA ep collider. Dijet events are identified with the cone algorithm and the results are compared to next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations. The systematic uncertainties of both the measurement and the calculation we discussed

Diffractive production of charm and jets at HERA

Measurements are presented of dijet cross sections in diffractive photoproduction and of D*(+/-) production in diffractive deep inelastic scattering at HERA. A combined QCD analysis of the diffractive dijet cross sections and diffractive structure function results leads to a picture in which the pomeron has a substantial gluon component with a hard momentum spectrum