Cabled and monolithic multifilament Nb 3 Sn conductors have been prepared utilizing various manufacturing approaches. One insert coil and eighteen samples, each approximately two meters in length, ...have been tested for critical current carrying capability in a background field of 10 T at 4.2 K. The various conductor configurations were evaluated in both the wind-after-react (WAR) and react-after-wind (RAW) conditions. Achievable bend diameters and critical current degradation due to bending are reported as a function of the level of sensitivity for detection of the onset of resistive behavior. Levels of critical current density as high as 10 5 Amperes/cm 2 (bronze and filament area) were observed. Bend diameters as small as 1.9 cm appear to be achieved in conductors carrying 100 to 300 amperes, depending upon the level of resistivity which can be tolerated for the conductor application. The 4.5 cm I.D. potted react-after-wind coil performed to short sample critical current producing 1 T in the 10 T background field.
Present state of the art in tape wound Nb 3 Sn solenoids is the generation of magnetic fields above 15T in clear bore diameters up to 65 mm. Details of the construction and operation of magnets of ...this type, especially the first one which achieved 15.8T in a 26 mm bore at 4.2K are given. The operation of this solenoid at reduced temperatures in a pumped helium bath is described. The solenoid was operated at various temperatures to below 3K where a maximum field of 16.5T was observed, limited only by mechanical strength. The prospect of achieving even higher fields at 4.2K and lower temperatures is discussed in terms of the properties of Nb 3 Sn and practical design considerations.
To determine whether weight prior to diagnosis and weight gain after diagnosis are predictive of breast cancer survival.
Patients included 5,204 Nurses' Health Study participants diagnosed with ...incident, invasive, nonmetastatic breast cancer between 1976 and 2000; 860 total deaths, 533 breast cancer deaths, and 681 recurrences (defined as secondary lung, brain, bone, or liver cancer, and death from breast cancer) accrued to 2002. We computed the change in body mass index (BMI) from before to the first BMI reported > or = 12 months after the date of diagnosis. Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate associations of categories of BMI before diagnosis and of BMI change with time to event. We stratified by smoking, menopausal status, and breast cancer-related variables.
In multivariate-adjusted analyses, weight before diagnosis was positively associated with breast cancer recurrence and death, but this was apparent only in never smokers. Similarly, among never-smoking women, those who gained between 0.5 and 2.0 kg/m(2) (median gain, 6.0 lb; relative risk RR, 1.35; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.95) or more than 2.0 kg/m(2) (median gain, 17.0 lb; RR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.07 to 2.51) after diagnosis had an elevated risk of breast cancer death during follow-up (median, 9 years), compared with women who maintained their weight (test for linear trend, P = .03). Associations with weight were stronger in premenopausal than in postmenopausal women. Similar findings were noted for breast cancer recurrence and all-cause mortality.
Weight and weight gain were related to higher rates of breast cancer recurrence and mortality, but associations were most apparent in never-smoking women.
The OLYMPUS Collaboration reports on a precision measurement of the positron-proton to electron-proton elastic cross section ratio, R_{2γ}, a direct measure of the contribution of hard two-photon ...exchange to the elastic cross section. In the OLYMPUS measurement, 2.01 GeV electron and positron beams were directed through a hydrogen gas target internal to the DORIS storage ring at DESY. A toroidal magnetic spectrometer instrumented with drift chambers and time-of-flight scintillators detected elastically scattered leptons in coincidence with recoiling protons over a scattering angle range of ≈20° to 80°. The relative luminosity between the two beam species was monitored using tracking telescopes of interleaved gas electron multiplier and multiwire proportional chamber detectors at 12°, as well as symmetric Møller or Bhabha calorimeters at 1.29°. A total integrated luminosity of 4.5 fb^{-1} was collected. In the extraction of R_{2γ}, radiative effects were taken into account using a Monte Carlo generator to simulate the convolutions of internal bremsstrahlung with experiment-specific conditions such as detector acceptance and reconstruction efficiency. The resulting values of R_{2γ}, presented here for a wide range of virtual photon polarization 0.456<ε<0.978, are smaller than some hadronic two-photon exchange calculations predict, but are in reasonable agreement with a subtracted dispersion model and a phenomenological fit to the form factor data.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
Low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets have been widely recommended as a way to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease because populations with low intakes of saturated and total fat tend to be at low ...risk and because saturated fat increases low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels.
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However, low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets also reduce high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels and raise fasting levels of triglycerides.
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Because low levels of HDL cholesterol and high levels of triglycerides independently increase risk, the value of replacing fat in general with carbohydrates has been questioned.
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Replacing saturated fat and trans unsaturated fat with unhydrogenated unsaturated fats has clear . . .
Abstract Objective: To examine the relation between nut consumption and risk of coronary heart disease in a cohort of women from the Nurses' Health Study. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: ...Nurses' Health Study. Subjects: 86 016 women from 34 to 59 years of age without previously diagnosed coronary heart disease, stroke, or cancer at baseline in 1980. Main outcome measures: Major coronary heart disease including non-fatal myocardial infarction and fatal coronary heart disease. Results: 1255 major coronary disease events (861 cases of non-fatal myocardial infarction and 394 cases of fatal coronary heart disease) occurred during 14 years of follow up. After adjusting for age, smoking, and other known risk factors for coronary heart disease, women who ate more than five units of nuts (one unit equivalent to 1 oz of nuts) a week (frequent consumption) had a significantly lower risk of total coronary heart disease (relative risk 0.65, 95% confidence interval 0.47 to 0.89, P for trend=0.0009) than women who never ate nuts or who ate less than one unit a month (rare consumption). The magnitude of risk reduction was similar for both fatal coronary heart disease (0.61, 0.35 to 1.05, P for trend=0.007) and non-fatal myocardial infarction (0.68, 0.47 to 1.00, P for trend=0.04). Further adjustment for intakes of dietary fats, fibre, vegetables, and fruits did not alter these results. The inverse association persisted in subgroups stratified by levels of smoking, use of alcohol, use of multivitamin and vitamin E supplements, body mass index, exercise, and intake of vegetables or fruits. Conclusions: Frequent nut consumption was associated with a reduced risk of both fatal coronary heart disease and non-fatal myocardial infarction. These data, and those from other epidemiological and clinical studies, support a role for nuts in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease.
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BFBNIB, CMK, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
To explore changes in physical and psychosocial function before and after breast cancer by age at diagnosis.
A total of 122,969 women from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and NHS 2, ages 29 to 71 ...years, who responded to pre- and postfunctional status assessments were included; 1,082 women were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1992 and 1997. Functional status was measured using the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36). Mean change in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores was computed across categories representing the combination of incident breast cancer (yes or no) and age at diagnosis (< or = 40, 41 to 64, or 65+ years).
Compared with women < or = 40 years without breast cancer, women with breast cancer experienced significant functional declines. Young (age < or = 40) women who developed breast cancer experienced the largest relative declines in HRQoL (as compared with middle-aged and elderly women) in multiple domains including physical roles (-18.8 v -11.5 and -7.5 points, respectively), bodily pain (-9.0 v -2.7 and -2.7 points), social functioning (-11.3 v -4.3 and -4.4 points) and mental health (-3.1 v 0.0 and +0.4 points). Much of the decline in HRQoL among elderly (age > or = 65) women with breast cancer was age related.
Young women may fare worse than middle-aged or elderly women in both physical and psychosocial dimensions after breast cancer diagnosis. The needs of women facing breast cancer may be better understood within a life stage framework.
One of the adverse effects of therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is osteonecrosis of the hip. Putative risk factors for osteonecrosis have included being female, white race, and older ...age. Our goal was to define possible genetic risk factors for osteonecrosis among children treated for newly diagnosed ALL.
Using a candidate gene approach, we determined the genotypes for 16 common polymorphisms in genes likely to affect the pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics of antileukemic medications in 64 children with ALL. Therapy included glucocorticoids and antifolates. Magnetic resonance imaging of both hips was used to diagnose osteonecrosis, and was performed at similar times from the start of ALL therapy (P =.61) in the 25 patients with and the 39 patients without osteonecrosis (median, 447 days and 443 days, respectively).
In addition to age older than 10 years (odds ratio OR, 24.2; P =.0001) and white race (OR, 11.1; P =.037), host factors for osteonecrosis included the vitamin D receptor FokI start site CC genotype (OR, 4.5; P =.045), and the thymidylate synthase low activity 2/2 enhancer repeat genotype (OR, 7.4; P =.049).
Because folate-related and vitamin D-receptor genetic variants have been associated with bone and vasculature morbidity, these pharmacogenetic associations likely reflect the interaction of antileukemic medications with germline sensitivity to drug actions, and might identify ALL patients at highest risk to develop osteonecrosis.
Fibroglandular breast tissue appears dense on mammogram, whereas fat appears nondense. It is unclear whether absolute or percentage dense area more strongly predicts breast cancer risk and whether ...absolute nondense area is independently associated with risk.
We conducted a meta-analysis of 13 case-control studies providing results from logistic regressions for associations between one standard deviation (SD) increments in mammographic density phenotypes and breast cancer risk. We used random-effects models to calculate pooled odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). All tests were two-sided with P less than .05 considered to be statistically significant.
Among premenopausal women (n = 1776 case patients; n = 2834 control subjects), summary odds ratios were 1.37 (95% CI = 1.29 to 1.47) for absolute dense area, 0.78 (95% CI = 0.71 to 0.86) for absolute nondense area, and 1.52 (95% CI = 1.39 to 1.66) for percentage dense area when pooling estimates adjusted for age, body mass index, and parity. Corresponding odds ratios among postmenopausal women (n = 6643 case patients; n = 11187 control subjects) were 1.38 (95% CI = 1.31 to 1.44), 0.79 (95% CI = 0.73 to 0.85), and 1.53 (95% CI = 1.44 to 1.64). After additional adjustment for absolute dense area, associations between absolute nondense area and breast cancer became attenuated or null in several studies and summary odds ratios became 0.82 (95% CI = 0.71 to 0.94; P heterogeneity = .02) for premenopausal and 0.85 (95% CI = 0.75 to 0.96; P heterogeneity < .01) for postmenopausal women.
The results suggest that percentage dense area is a stronger breast cancer risk factor than absolute dense area. Absolute nondense area was inversely associated with breast cancer risk, but it is unclear whether the association is independent of absolute dense area.
CONTEXT Reduction in egg consumption has been widely
recommended to lower blood cholesterol levels and prevent coronary
heart disease (CHD). Epidemiologic studies on egg consumption and risk
of CHD ...are sparse. OBJECTIVE To examine the association between egg consumption and
risk of CHD and stroke in men and women. DESIGN AND SETTING Two prospective cohort studies, the Health
Professionals Follow-up Study (1986-1994) and the Nurses' Health Study
(1980-1994). PARTICIPANTS A total of 37,851 men aged 40 to 75 years at
study outset and 80,082 women aged 34 to 59 years at study
outset, free of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia,
or cancer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Incident nonfatal myocardial
infarction, fatal CHD, and stroke corresponding to daily egg
consumption as determined by a food-frequency questionnaire. RESULTS We documented 866 incident cases of CHD and 258
incident cases of stroke in men during 8 years of follow-up and 939
incident cases of CHD and 563 incident cases of stroke in women during
14 years of follow-up. After adjustment for age, smoking, and other
potential CHD risk factors, we found no evidence of an overall
significant association between egg consumption and risk of CHD or
stroke in either men or women. The relative risks (RRs) of CHD across
categories of intake were less than 1 per week (1.0), 1 per week
(1.06), 2 to 4 per week (1.12), 5 to 6 per week (0.90), and ≥1 per day
(1.08) (P for trend=.75) for men; and less
than 1 per week (1.0), 1 per week (0.82), 2 to 4 per week (0.99), 5 to
6 per week (0.95), and ≥1 per day (0.82) (P for
trend=.95) for women. In subgroup analyses, higher egg
consumption appeared to be associated with increased risk of CHD only
among diabetic subjects (RR of CHD comparing more than 1 egg per day
with less than 1 egg per week among diabetic men, 2.02 95%
confidence interval, 1.05-3.87; P for
trend=.04, and among diabetic women, 1.49
0.88-2.52; P for trend=.008). CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that consumption of up to 1 egg
per day is unlikely to have substantial overall impact on the risk of
CHD or stroke among healthy men and women. The apparent increased risk
of CHD associated with higher egg consumption among diabetic
participants warrants further research.
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