2,137 research outputs found
Vanishing Twist near Focus-Focus Points
We show that near a focus-focus point in a Liouville integrable Hamiltonian
system with two degrees of freedom lines of locally constant rotation number in
the image of the energy-momentum map are spirals determined by the eigenvalue
of the equilibrium. From this representation of the rotation number we derive
that the twist condition for the isoenergetic KAM condition vanishes on a curve
in the image of the energy-momentum map that is transversal to the line of
constant energy. In contrast to this we also show that the frequency map is
non-degenerate for every point in a neighborhood of a focus-focus point.Comment: 13 page
Commensurate and Incommensurate Vortex States in Superconductors with Periodic Pinning Arrays
As a function of applied field, we find a rich variety of ordered and
partially-ordered vortex lattice configurations in systems with square or
triangular arrays of pinning sites. We present formulas that predict the
matching fields at which commensurate vortex configurations occur and the
vortex lattice orientation with respect to the pinning lattice. Our results are
in excellent agreement with recent imaging experiments on square pinning arrays
[K. Harada et al., Science 274, 1167 (1996)].Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Accepted to Physical Review
Point-of-care C-reactive protein testing to reduce inappropriate use of antibiotics for non-severe acute respiratory infections in Vietnamese primary health care: a randomised controlled trial
Background Inappropriate antibiotic use for acute respiratory tract infections is common in primary health care, but
distinguishing serious from self-limiting infections is diffi cult, particularly in low-resource settings. We assessed
whether C-reactive protein point-of-care testing can safely reduce antibiotic use in patients with non-severe acute
respiratory tract infections in Vietnam.
Method We did a multicentre open-label randomised controlled trial in ten primary health-care centres in northern
Vietnam. Patients aged 1–65 years with at least one focal and one systemic symptom of acute respiratory tract infection
were assigned 1:1 to receive either C-reactive protein point-of-care testing or routine care, following which antibiotic
prescribing decisions were made. Patients with severe acute respiratory tract infection were excluded. Enrolled
patients were reassessed on day 3, 4, or 5, and on day 14 a structured telephone interview was done blind to the
intervention. Randomised assignments were concealed from prescribers and patients but not masked as the test
result was used to assist treatment decisions. The primary outcome was antibiotic use within 14 days of follow-up. All
analyses were prespecifi ed in the protocol and the statistical analysis plan. All analyses were done on the intention-totreat
population and the analysis of the primary endpoint was repeated in the per-protocol population. This trial is
registered under number NCT01918579.
Findings Between March 17, 2014, and July 3, 2015, 2037 patients (1028 children and 1009 adults) were enrolled and
randomised. One adult patient withdrew immediately after randomisation. 1017 patients were assigned to receive
C-reactive protein point-of-care testing, and 1019 patients were assigned to receive routine care. 115 patients in the
C-reactive protein point-of-care group and 72 patients in the routine care group were excluded in the intention-to-treat
analysis due to missing primary endpoint. The number of patients who used antibiotics within 14 days was 581 (64%)
of 902 patients in the C-reactive protein group versus 738 (78%) of 947 patients in the control group (odds ratio
[OR] 0·49, 95% CI 0·40–0·61; p<0·0001). Highly signifi cant diff erences were seen in both children and adults, with
substantial heterogeneity of the intervention eff ect across the 10 sites (I²=84%, 95% CI 66–96). 140 patients in the
C-reactive protein group and 137 patients in the routine care group missed the urine test on day 3, 4, or 5. Antibiotic
activity in urine on day 3, 4, or 5 was found in 267 (30%) of 877 patients in the C-reactive protein group versus
314 (36%) of 882 patients in the routine treatment group (OR 0·78, 95% CI 0·63–0·95; p=0·015). Time to resolution
of symptoms was similar in both groups. Adverse events were rare, with no deaths and a total of 14 hospital admissions
(six in the C-reactive protein group and eight in the control group).
Interpretation C-reactive protein point-of-care testing reduced antibiotic use for non-severe acute respiratory tract
infection without compromising patients’ recovery in primary health care in Vietnam. Health-care providers might
have become familiar with the clinical picture of low C-reactive protein, leading to reduction in antibiotic prescribing
in both groups, but this would have led to a reduction in observed eff ect, rather than overestimation. Qualitative
analysis is needed to address diff erences in context in order to implement this strategy to improve rational antibiotic
use for patients with acute respiratory infection in low-income and middle-income countries
奥付
This chapter discusses a conceptual framework for integrated health and environmental assessment that combines health status, and the physical, socioeconomic and cultural environments in order to improve human health and minimize environmental impact. This concept's application in the management of human and animal excreta in Vietnam is then described
Imaging spontaneous currents in superconducting arrays of pi-junctions
Superconductors separated by a thin tunneling barrier exhibit the Josephson
effect that allows charge transport at zero voltage, typically with no phase
shift between the superconductors in the lowest energy state. Recently,
Josephson junctions with ground state phase shifts of pi proposed by theory
three decades ago have been demonstrated. In superconducting loops,
pi-junctions cause spontaneous circulation of persistent currents in zero
magnetic field, analogous to spin-1/2 systems. Here we image the spontaneous
zero-field currents in superconducting networks of temperature-controlled
pi-junctions with weakly ferromagnetic barriers using a scanning SQUID
microscope. We find an onset of spontaneous supercurrents at the 0-pi
transition temperature of the junctions Tpi = 3 K. We image the currents in
non-uniformly frustrated arrays consisting of cells with even and odd numbers
of pi-junctions. Such arrays are attractive model systems for studying the
exotic phases of the 2D XY-model and achieving scalable adiabatic quantum
computers.Comment: Pre-referee version. Accepted to Nature Physic
Population density, water supply, and the risk of dengue fever in Vietnam: cohort study and spatial analysis.
BACKGROUND: Aedes aegypti, the major vector of dengue viruses, often breeds in water storage containers used by households without tap water supply, and occurs in high numbers even in dense urban areas. We analysed the interaction between human population density and lack of tap water as a cause of dengue fever outbreaks with the aim of identifying geographic areas at highest risk. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted an individual-level cohort study in a population of 75,000 geo-referenced households in Vietnam over the course of two epidemics, on the basis of dengue hospital admissions (n = 3,013). We applied space-time scan statistics and mathematical models to confirm the findings. We identified a surprisingly narrow range of critical human population densities between around 3,000 to 7,000 people/km² prone to dengue outbreaks. In the study area, this population density was typical of villages and some peri-urban areas. Scan statistics showed that areas with a high population density or adequate water supply did not experience severe outbreaks. The risk of dengue was higher in rural than in urban areas, largely explained by lack of piped water supply, and in human population densities more often falling within the critical range. Mathematical modeling suggests that simple assumptions regarding area-level vector/host ratios may explain the occurrence of outbreaks. CONCLUSIONS: Rural areas may contribute at least as much to the dissemination of dengue fever as cities. Improving water supply and vector control in areas with a human population density critical for dengue transmission could increase the efficiency of control efforts. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary
Achromobacter xylosoxidans respiratory tract infection in cystic fibrosis patients
The aims of this study were to evaluate the frequency of Achromobacter xylosoxidans infection in a cohort of cystic fibrosis patients, to investigate antimicrobial sensitivity, to establish possible clonal likeness among strains, and to address the clinical impact of this infection or colonization on the general outcome of these patients. The study was undertaken between January 2004 and December 2008 on 300 patients receiving care at the Regional Cystic Fibrosis Center of the Naples University “Federico II”. Sputum samples were checked for bacterial identification. For DNA fingerprinting, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was carried out. Fifty-three patients (17.6%) had at least one positive culture for A. xylosoxidans; of these, 6/53 (11.3%) patients were defined as chronically infected and all were co-colonized by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Of the patients, 18.8% persistently carried multidrug-resistant isolates. Macrorestriction analysis showed the presence of seven major clusters. DNA fingerprinting also showed a genetic relationship among strains isolated from the same patients at different times. The results of DNA fingerprinting indicate evidence of bacterial clonal likeness among the enrolled infected patients. We found no significant differences in the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and body mass index (BMI) when comparing the case group of A. xylosoxidans chronically infected patients with the control group of P. aeruginosa chronically infected patients
A Partitioned Finite Element Method for the Structure-Preserving Discretization of Damped Infinite-Dimensional Port-Hamiltonian Systems with Boundary Control
Many boundary controlled and observed Partial Differential Equations can be represented as port-Hamiltonian systems with dissipation, involving a Stokes-Dirac geometrical structure together with constitutive relations. The Partitioned Finite Element Method, introduced in Cardoso-Ribeiro et al. (2018), is a structure preserving numerical method which defines an underlying Dirac structure, and constitutive relations in weak form, leading to finite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian Differential Algebraic systems (pHDAE). Different types of dissipation are examined: internal damping, boundary damping and also diffusion models
Measurement of Semileptonic Branching Fractions of B Mesons to Narrow D** States
Using the data accumulated in 2002-2004 with the DO detector in
proton-antiproton collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron collider with
centre-of-mass energy 1.96 TeV, the branching fractions of the decays B ->
\bar{D}_1^0(2420) \mu^+ \nu_\mu X and B -> \bar{D}_2^{*0}(2460) \mu^+ \nu_\mu X
and their ratio have been measured: BR(\bar{b}->B) \cdot BR(B-> \bar{D}_1^0
\mu^+ \nu_\mu X) \cdot BR(\bar{D}_1^0 -> D*- pi+) =
(0.087+-0.007(stat)+-0.014(syst))%; BR(\bar{b}->B)\cdot BR(B->D_2^{*0} \mu^+
\nu_\mu X) \cdot BR(\bar{D}_2^{*0} -> D*- \pi^+) =
(0.035+-0.007(stat)+-0.008(syst))%; and (BR(B -> \bar{D}_2^{*0} \mu^+ \nu_\mu
X)BR(D2*0->D*- pi+)) / (BR(B -> \bar{D}_1^{0} \mu^+ \nu_\mu X)\cdot
BR(\bar{D}_1^{0}->D*- \pi^+)) = 0.39+-0.09(stat)+-0.12(syst), where the charge
conjugated states are always implied.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Search for Large Extra Spatial Dimensions in Dimuon Production with the D0 Detector
We present the results of a search for the effects of large extra spatial
dimensions in collisions at 1.96 TeV in events
containing a pair of energetic muons. The data correspond to 246 \ipb of
integrated luminosity collected by the \D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron
Collider. Good agreement with the expected background was found, yielding no
evidence for large extra dimensions. We set 95% C.L. lower limits on the
fundamental Planck scale between 0.85 TeV and 1.27 TeV within several
formalisms. These are the most stringent limits achieved in the dimuon channel
to date.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Published in Phys. Rev. Lett. Minor
changes in v2 to match the published versio
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