We report on a precision measurement of the cross section for the reaction e+e−→π+π− in the mass range 0.30<Mππ<1.00 GeV/c2 with the initial state radiation (ISR) method, using 817 pb−1 of data at ...e+e− center-of-mass energies near 3.77 GeV and 586 pb−1 of data at e+e− center-of-mass energies near 4.17 GeV, collected with the CLEO-c detector at the CESR e+e− collider at Cornell University. The integrated cross sections in the range 0.30<Mππ<1.00 GeV/c2 for the process e+e−→π+π− are determined with a statistical uncertainty of 0.7% and a systematic uncertainty of 1.6%. The leading-order hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment calculated using these measured e+e−→π+π− cross sections in the range Mππ=0.30 to 1.00 GeV/c2 is calculated to be (500.6±3.6(stat)±8.0(syst))×10−10.
Using e+e− annihilation data taken at the CESR collider with the CLEO-c detector, measurements of hyperon pair production cross sections and elastic and transition electromagnetic form factors have ...been made at the charmonium resonances: ψ(2S), s=3.69 GeV, |Q2|=13.6 GeV2, L=48 pb−1; ψ(3770), s=3.77 GeV, |Q2|=14.2 GeV2, L=805 pb−1; and ψ(4170), s=4.17 GeV, |Q2|=17.4 GeV2, L=586 pb−1. Results with good statistical precision are obtained with high efficiency particle identification. Systematics of pair production cross sections, and form factors with respect to the number of strange quarks in the hyperons are studied, and evidence is presented for the effects of diquark correlations in comparative results for Λ0 and Σ0, both of which have the same uds quark content but different isospin.
Summary
Background
There is increased proportional mortality from Parkinson's disease amongst livestock farmers. The hypokinesia of Parkinson's disease has been linked to Helicobacter pylori. H. suis ...is the most common zoonotic helicobacter in man.
Aim
To compare the frequency of H. suis, relative to H. pylori, in gastric biopsies of patients with idiopathic parkinsonism (IP) and controls from gastroenterology services.
Methods
DNA extracts, archived at a Helicobacter Reference Laboratory, from IP patient and gastroenterology service biopsies were examined anonymously for H. suis, using species‐specific RT‐PCR.
Results
Relative risk of having H. suis in 60 IP patients compared with 256 controls was 10 times greater than that of having H. pylori. In patients with IP and controls, respectively, frequencies of H. suis were 27 (exact binomial 95% C.I. 15, 38) and 2 (0, 3)%, and of H. pylori, 28 (17, 40) and 16 (12, 21)%. Excess of H. suis in IP held when only the antral or corporal biopsy was considered. Of 16 IP patients with H. suis, 11 were from 19 with proven H. pylori eradication, 3 from 17 pre‐H. pylori eradication, 2 from 24 H. pylori culture/PCR‐negative. Frequency was different between groups (P = 0.001), greatest where H. pylori had been eradicated. Even without known exposure to anti‐H. pylori therapy, H. suis was more frequent in IP patients (5/41) than in controls (1/155) (P = 0.002). Partial multilocus sequence typing confirmed that strains from IP patients (6) and control (1) differed from RT‐PCR standard strain.
Conclusions
Greater frequency of H. suis in idiopathic parkinsonism appears exaggerated following H. pylori eradication. Multilocus sequence testing comparison with porcine strains may clarify whether transmission is from pigs/porcine products or of human‐adapted, H. suis‐like, bacteria.
The electromagnetic structure of the lightest hadrons, proton, pion, and kaon is studied by high-precision measurements of their form factors for the highest timelike momentum transfers of ...|Q2|=s=14.2 and 17.4 GeV2. Data taken with the CLEO-c detector at sqrts=3.772 and 4.170 GeV, with integrated luminosities of 805 and 586 pb(-1), respectively, have been used to study e+ e- annihilations into π+ π-, K+ K-, and pp. The dimensional counting rule prediction that at large Q2 the quantity Q2F(Q2) for pseudoscalar mesons is nearly constant, and should vary only weakly as the strong coupling constant αS(Q2) is confirmed for both pions and kaons. However, the measurements are in strong quantitative disagreement with the predictions of the existing quantum chromodynamics-based models. For protons, it is found that the timelike form factors continue to remain nearly twice as large as the corresponding spacelike form factors measured in electron elastic scattering, in significant violation of the expectation of their equality at large Q2. Further, in contrast to pions and kaons, a significant difference is observed between the values of the corresponding quantity |Q4|G(M)(|Q2|)/μ(p) for protons at |Q2|=14.2 and 17.4 GeV2. The results suggest the constancy of |Q2|G(M)(|Q2|)/μ(p), instead, at these large |Q2|.
Sudden hearing loss is a common presentation to ENT. In the authors' practice, patients often wait many weeks for formal hearing testing. This study aimed to assess whether a tablet-based hearing ...test, hearTest, could aid clinical decision-making within secondary care ENT.
This was a multi-centre, prospective, non-randomised study to assess the feasibility, usability and accuracy of hearTest.
In the sample, hearTest was shown to be an acceptable method of testing for hearing loss by both patients and clinicians. The 0.5-4 kHz range had an average clinical agreement rate of 95.1 per cent when compared with formal pure tone audiometry, deeming it an accurate test to diagnose hearing loss.
The authors propose that hearTest can be used within ENT as a clinical decision support tool when manual audiometry is not immediately available. Within the authors' practice, hearTest is used to aid diagnosis and management of sudden sensorineural hearing loss.
Using e+e− annihilation data taken with the CLEO-c detector, measurements of two major Ω− branching fractions have been made using the reaction ψ(2S)→Ω−Ω¯+. The Ω− decay channels are identified ...through momentum distributions of charged particles, and systematics of the Ω− branching fractions have been studied. The results are B(Ω−→Λ0K−)=(68.9±9.5±4.3)% and B(Ω−→Ξ0π−)=(19.0±4.0±1.2)%.
Coronavirus disease 2019 imposed dramatic changes on ENT service delivery. Pre-pandemic, such changes would have been considered potentially unsafe. This study outlines the impact of lockdown on the ...incidence and management of ENT emergencies at a large UK centre.
After modification of pre-pandemic guidelines, ENT emergency referrals data during the UK lockdown were prospectively captured. A comparative analysis was performed with retrospective data from a corresponding period in 2019.
An overall reduction (p < 0.001) in emergency referrals (n = 119) and admissions (n = 18) occurred during the lockdown period compared to the 2019 period (432 referrals and 290 admissions). Specifically, there were reduced admission rates for epistaxis (p < 0.0001) and tonsillar infection (p < 0.005) in the lockdown period. During lockdown, 90 per cent of patients requiring non-dissolvable nasal packing were managed as out-patients.
Coronavirus disease 2019 compelled modifications to pre-pandemic ENT guidelines. The enforced changes to emergency care appear to be safe and successfully adopted. Arguably, the measures have both economic and patient-related implications post-coronavirus disease 2019 and during future similar pandemics and lockdowns.
Aggressive angiomyxoma (AA) is a vulvovaginal mesenchymal neoplasm with a marked tendency to local recurrence but which usually does not metastasise. Most cases exhibit positive immunohistochemical ...staining with oestrogen receptor (ER) and, or, progesterone receptor (PR).
We report a case of AA which exhibited positive immunohistochemical staining with ER and in which radiological examination following resection showed extensive residual tumour. The patient was commenced on gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist therapy which resulted in complete radiological remission with replacement by scar tissue. The patient is currently maintained on a GnRH agonist.
The present case, together with several others reported in the literature, suggests that GnRH agonists may be of value in managing cases of AA, either primary or recurrent, which are not amenable to surgical excision. These agents may also be used to effect a reduction in size, so that more conservative surgery can be undertaken.
Introduction ‐ We propose that the increase in TNF‐α and IL‐6 in the brain in idiopathic parkinsonism is in response to a peripheral immune/ inflammatory process, so ubiquitous as to be responsible ...for the resemblance between ageing and parkinsonism. Methods ‐ Circulating cytokine was measured in 78 subjects with idiopathic parkinsonism and 140 without, aged 30 to 90 years, all obeying inclusion/exclusion criteria. Results ‐ Serum TNF‐α increased (P<0.0001) by 1.37 (95% CI 0.75, 2.00) %‐y‐1, IL‐6 by 2.63 (1.75, 3.52) (P<0.0005). TNF‐α appeared elevated in parkinsonians whose postural and psychomotor responses were abnormal, being suppressed where they were normal: trends which contrasted with those in controls (P=0.015 and 0.05, respectively). Parkinsonism appeared (P=0.08) to have an effect on IL‐6, equivalent to that of >10 years of ageing (28(‐3, 69)%), but was not immediately related to between‐subject differences in performance. Conclusion ‐Ageing and pathogenetic insult may be confounded, age being a progression, not a risk, factor.
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