1,062 research outputs found
Laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy compared with open abdominal sacrocolpopexy for vault prolapse repair: a randomised controlled trial
Introduction and Hypothesis: The objective was to evaluate the functional outcome after laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy versus open sacrocolpopexy in women with vault prolapse. Methods: A multicentre randomised controlled trial was carried out at four teaching and two university hospitals in the Netherlands in women with symptomatic vault prolapse requiring surgical treatment. Participants were randomised for laparoscopic or open sacrocolpopexy. Primary outcome was disease-specific quality of life measured using the Urinary Distress Inventory (UDI) questionnaire at 12 months' follow-up. Secondary outcomes included anatomical outcome and perioperative data. We needed 74 participants to show a difference of 10 points on the prolapse domain of the UDI 12 months after surgery (power of 80%, α error 0.05). Results: Between 2007 and 2012, a total of 74 women were randomised. Follow-up after 12 months showed no significant differences in domain scores of the UDI between the two groups. After 12 months, both groups reported a UDI score of 0.0 (IQR: 0-0) for the domain "genital prolapse", which was the primary outcome. There were no significant differences between the two groups (p = 0.93). The number of severe complications was 4 in the laparoscopic group versus 7 in the open abdominal group (RR 0.57; 95% CI 0.50-2.27). There was less blood loss and a shorter hospital stay after laparoscopy; 2 (IQR 2-3) versus 4 (IQR 3-5) days, which was statistically different. There was no significant difference in anatomical outcome at 12 months. Conclusion: Our trial provides evidence to support a laparoscopic approach when performing sacrocolpopexy, as there was less blood loss and hospital stay was shorter, whereas functional and anatomical outcome were not statistically different.Anne-Lotte W.M. Coolen, Anique M.J. van Oudheusden, Ben Willem J. Mol, Hugo W.F. van Eijndhoven, Jan-Paul W.R. Roovers, Marlies Y. Bonger
On the background in the reaction and mixed event simulation
In this paper we evaluate sources of background for the , with the detected through its decay channel, to
compare with the experiment carried out at ELSA. We find background from
followed by decay of a into two ,
recombining one and one , and from the reaction with subsequent decay of the into two photons. This
background accounts for the data at invariant masses beyond 700
MeV, but strength is missing at lower invariant masses which was attributed to
photon misidentification events, which we simulate to get a good reproduction
of the experimental background. Once this is done, we perform an event mixing
simulation to reproduce the calculated background and we find that the method
provides a good description of the background at low invariant
masses but fakes the background at high invariant masses, making background
events at low invariant masses, which are due to misidentification
events, responsible for the background at high invariant masses which is due to
the and reactions.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Search for non-relativistic Magnetic Monopoles with IceCube
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a large Cherenkov detector instrumenting
of Antarctic ice. The detector can be used to search for
signatures of particle physics beyond the Standard Model. Here, we describe the
search for non-relativistic, magnetic monopoles as remnants of the GUT (Grand
Unified Theory) era shortly after the Big Bang. These monopoles may catalyze
the decay of nucleons via the Rubakov-Callan effect with a cross section
suggested to be in the range of to
. In IceCube, the Cherenkov light from nucleon decays
along the monopole trajectory would produce a characteristic hit pattern. This
paper presents the results of an analysis of first data taken from May 2011
until May 2012 with a dedicated slow-particle trigger for DeepCore, a
subdetector of IceCube. A second analysis provides better sensitivity for the
brightest non-relativistic monopoles using data taken from May 2009 until May
2010. In both analyses no monopole signal was observed. For catalysis cross
sections of the flux of non-relativistic
GUT monopoles is constrained up to a level of at a 90% confidence level,
which is three orders of magnitude below the Parker bound. The limits assume a
dominant decay of the proton into a positron and a neutral pion. These results
improve the current best experimental limits by one to two orders of magnitude,
for a wide range of assumed speeds and catalysis cross sections.Comment: 20 pages, 20 figure
A combined maximum-likelihood analysis of the high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux measured with IceCube
Evidence for an extraterrestrial flux of high-energy neutrinos has now been
found in multiple searches with the IceCube detector. The first solid evidence
was provided by a search for neutrino events with deposited energies
TeV and interaction vertices inside the instrumented volume. Recent
analyses suggest that the extraterrestrial flux extends to lower energies and
is also visible with throughgoing, -induced tracks from the Northern
hemisphere. Here, we combine the results from six different IceCube searches
for astrophysical neutrinos in a maximum-likelihood analysis. The combined
event sample features high-statistics samples of shower-like and track-like
events. The data are fit in up to three observables: energy, zenith angle and
event topology. Assuming the astrophysical neutrino flux to be isotropic and to
consist of equal flavors at Earth, the all-flavor spectrum with neutrino
energies between 25 TeV and 2.8 PeV is well described by an unbroken power law
with best-fit spectral index and a flux at 100 TeV of
.
Under the same assumptions, an unbroken power law with index is disfavored
with a significance of 3.8 () with respect to the best
fit. This significance is reduced to 2.1 () if instead we
compare the best fit to a spectrum with index that has an exponential
cut-off at high energies. Allowing the electron neutrino flux to deviate from
the other two flavors, we find a fraction of at Earth.
The sole production of electron neutrinos, which would be characteristic of
neutron-decay dominated sources, is rejected with a significance of 3.6
().Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journal; updated one referenc
Lateral Distribution of Muons in IceCube Cosmic Ray Events
In cosmic ray air showers, the muon lateral separation from the center of the
shower is a measure of the transverse momentum that the muon parent acquired in
the cosmic ray interaction. IceCube has observed cosmic ray interactions that
produce muons laterally separated by up to 400 m from the shower core, a factor
of 6 larger distance than previous measurements. These muons originate in high
pT (> 2 GeV/c) interactions from the incident cosmic ray, or high-energy
secondary interactions. The separation distribution shows a transition to a
power law at large values, indicating the presence of a hard pT component that
can be described by perturbative quantum chromodynamics. However, the rates and
the zenith angle distributions of these events are not well reproduced with the
cosmic ray models tested here, even those that include charm interactions. This
discrepancy may be explained by a larger fraction of kaons and charmed
particles than is currently incorporated in the simulations
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