The first measurement of heavy-flavor production by the LHCb experiment in its fixed-target mode is presented. The production of J/ψ and D^{0} mesons is studied with beams of protons of different ...energies colliding with gaseous targets of helium and argon with nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energies of sqrts_{NN}=86.6 and 110.4 GeV, respectively. The J/ψ and D^{0} production cross sections in pHe collisions in the rapidity range 2, 4.6 are found to be σ_{J/ψ}=652±33(stat)±42(syst) nb/nucleon and σ_{D^{0}}=80.8±2.4(stat)±6.3(syst) μb/nucleon, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. No evidence for a substantial intrinsic charm content of the nucleon is observed in the large Bjorken-x region.
The difference in the angular distributions between beauty quarks and antiquarks, referred to as the charge asymmetry, is measured for the first time in bb pair production at a hadron collider. The ...data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1) collected at 7 TeV center-of-mass energy in proton-proton collisions with the LHCb detector. The measurement is performed in three regions of the invariant mass of the bb system. The results obtained are A(C)(bb))(40<M(bb))<75 GeV/c(2)) = 0.4 ± 0.4 ± 0.3%, A(C)(bb))(75<M(bb)) < 105 GeV/c(2)) = 2.0 ± 0.9 ± 0.6%, A(C)(bb)(M(bb)) > 105 GeV/c(2)) = 1.6 ± 1.7 ± 0.6%, where A(C)(bb)) is defined as the asymmetry in the difference in rapidity between jets formed from the beauty quark and antiquark, where in each case the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The beauty jets are required to satisfy 2 < η < 4, E(T) >20 GeV, and have an opening angle in the transverse plane Δ ϕ > 2.6 rad. These measurements are consistent with the predictions of the standard model.
Background and purpose
Drugs with anticholinergic properties might have a negative impact on cognition, but findings are still conflicting. The association was evaluated between anticholinergic drugs ...and cognitive performance in primary care patients with first cognitive complaints.
Methods
From April 2013 to March 2014, 353 general practitioners administered the Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE) to patients presenting with first cognitive complaints. Drug history was collected and the anticholinergic cognitive burden (ACB) was scored and categorized as ACB 0, ACB 1 and ACB 2+. A mixed effect linear regression model was used to assess the association between ACB and MMSE score.
Results
Of 4249 subjects entering the study (mean age 77 ± 8.2 years, 66.4% women and mean years of schooling 8.9 ± 4.5), 25.8% received at least one drug with anticholinergic action. According to multivariate analysis, and after adjustment for several confounders, subjects with ACB 2+ had a statistically significant lower MMSE score compared with those with ACB 0 (β −0.63; 95% confidence interval −1.19; −0.07). Subjects with ACB 1 had a non‐statistically significant lower MMSE score than those with ACB 0 (β −0.11; 95% confidence interval −0.37; 0.15).
Conclusions
Anticholinergic medication might affect cognitive function in people with first cognitive complaints. Alternatives should be taken into account when possible, balancing the benefits and harms of these medications.
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