4,106 research outputs found
Serum albumin and mortality risk in a hyperendemic area of HCV infection in Japan
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hypoalbuminemia has been shown to be associated with increased mortality. We reported a mass screening in 1990 of X town in Japan, which demonstrated a high prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This follow-up study determined, through a period of 12 years, whether serum albumin levels impact on the life prognosis of the residents of X town.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 509 subjects, 69 had died and 55 had moved to other regions by 2002. Therefore, we analyzed 454 people for whom we could confirm life and death between 1990 and 2002. Albumin levels were assigned to two groups, low (<4.0 g/L, group A) and normal (≥4.0 g/L, group B). Of the 454 subjects analyzed, 25 were in group A and 429 in group B and the mortality was 68.0% (17/25 cases, P < 0.00001 vs. group B) and 12.1% (52/429), respectively. Mortality from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was 66.7% in group A (6/9 cases, P = 0.01 vs. group B) and 15.8% (3/19) in group B. According to multivariate analysis, five factors - 50 years or older, low albumin level (<4.0 g/L), abnormal AST level, history of smoking, and absence of alcohol consumption - were associated with death. The adjusted odds ratios for these five factors were 20.65, 10.79, 2.58, 2.24 and 2.08, respectively, and each was statistically significant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We show that the serum albumin level is an independent risk factor for mortality from all causes in the residents of X town and an important prognostic indicator. Improvement of hypoalbuminaemia should be considered for improvement of prognosis.</p
Eigenvalue statistics of the real Ginibre ensemble
The real Ginibre ensemble consists of random matrices formed
from i.i.d. standard Gaussian entries. By using the method of skew orthogonal
polynomials, the general -point correlations for the real eigenvalues, and
for the complex eigenvalues, are given as Pfaffians with explicit
entries. A computationally tractable formula for the cumulative probability
density of the largest real eigenvalue is presented. This is relevant to May's
stability analysis of biological webs.Comment: 4 pages, to appear PR
Trapped Noble Gases of Antarctic CO3 Chondrites.
第2回極域科学シンポジウム/第34回南極隕石シンポジウム 11月17日(木) 国立国語研究所 2階講
ALMA reveals a chemically evolved submillimeter galaxy at z=4.76
The chemical properties of high-z galaxies provide important information to
constrain galaxy evolutionary scenarios. However, widely-used metallicity
diagnostics based on rest-frame optical emission lines are not usable for
heavily dust-enshrouded galaxies (such as Sub-Millimeter Galaxies; SMGs),
especially at z>3. Here we focus on the flux ratio of the far-infrared
fine-structure emission lines [NII]205um and [CII]158um to assess the
metallicity of high-z SMGs. Through ALMA cycle 0 observations, we have detected
the [NII]205um emission in a strongly [CII]-emitting SMG, LESS J033229.4-275619
at z=4.76. The velocity-integrated [NII]/[CII] flux ratio is 0.043 +/- 0.008.
This is the first measurement of the [NII]/[CII] flux ratio in high-z galaxies,
and the inferred flux ratio is similar to the ratio observed in the nearby
universe (~0.02-0.07). The velocity-integrated flux ratio and photoionization
models suggest that the metallicity in this SMG is consistent with solar,
implying the chemical evolution has progressed very rapidly in this system at
z=4.76. We also obtain a tight upper limit on the CO(12-11) transition, which
translates into CO(12-11)/CO(2-1) <3.8 (3 sigma). This suggests that the
molecular gas clouds in LESS J033229.4-275619 are not affected significantly by
the radiation field emitted by the AGN in this system.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysics Letter
Potentially Large One-loop Corrections to WIMP Annihilation
We compute one-loop corrections to the annihilation of non--relativistic
particles due to the exchange of a (gauge or Higgs) boson with
mass in the initial state. In the limit this leads to
the "Sommerfeld enhancement" of the annihilation cross section. However, here
we are interested in the case \mu \lsim m_\chi, where the one--loop
corrections are well--behaved, but can still be sizable. We find simple and
accurate expressions for annihilation from both and wave initial
states; they differ from each other if . In order to apply our
results to the calculation of the relic density of Weakly Interacting Massive
Particles (WIMPs), we describe how to compute the thermal average of the
corrected cross sections. We apply this formalism to scalar and Dirac fermion
singlet WIMPs, and show that the corrections are always very small in the
former case, but can be very large in the latter. Moreover, in the context of
the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, these corrections can decrease the
relic density of neutralinos by more than 1%, if the lightest neutralino is a
strongly mixed state.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures. Added an appendix showing that the approximation
works well in a scalar toy model. To be published in PRD
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