The efficacy of calcium with vitamin D supplementation for preventing hip and other fractures in healthy postmenopausal women remains equivocal.
We recruited 36,282 postmenopausal women, 50 to 79 ...years of age, who were already enrolled in a Women's Health Initiative (WHI) clinical trial. We randomly assigned participants to receive 1000 mg of elemental corrected calcium as calcium carbonate with 400 IU of vitamin D3 daily or placebo. Fractures were ascertained for an average follow-up period of 7.0 years. Bone density was measured at three WHI centers.
Hip bone density was 1.06 percent higher in the calcium plus vitamin D group than in the placebo group (P<0.01). Intention-to-treat analysis indicated that participants receiving calcium plus vitamin D supplementation had a hazard ratio of 0.88 for hip fracture (95 percent confidence interval, 0.72 to 1.08), 0.90 for clinical spine fracture (0.74 to 1.10), and 0.96 for total fractures (0.91 to 1.02). The risk of renal calculi increased with calcium plus vitamin D (hazard ratio, 1.17; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.02 to 1.34). Censoring data from women when they ceased to adhere to the study medication reduced the hazard ratio for hip fracture to 0.71 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.52 to 0.97). Effects did not vary significantly according to prerandomization serum vitamin D levels.
Among healthy postmenopausal women, calcium with vitamin D supplementation resulted in a small but significant improvement in hip bone density, did not significantly reduce hip fracture, and increased the risk of kidney stones. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00000611.).
Higher intake of calcium and vitamin D has been associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer in epidemiologic studies and polyp recurrence in polyp-prevention trials. However, randomized-trial ...evidence that calcium with vitamin D supplementation is beneficial in the primary prevention of colorectal cancer is lacking.
We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 36,282 postmenopausal women from 40 Women's Health Initiative centers: 18,176 women received 500 mg of elemental calcium as calcium carbonate with 200 IU of vitamin D3 corrected twice daily (1000 mg of elemental calcium and 400 IU of vitamin D3) and 18,106 received a matching placebo for an average of 7.0 years. The incidence of pathologically confirmed colorectal cancer was the designated secondary outcome. Baseline levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D were assessed in a nested case-control study.
The incidence of invasive colorectal cancer did not differ significantly between women assigned to calcium plus vitamin D supplementation and those assigned to placebo (168 and 154 cases; hazard ratio, 1.08; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.86 to 1.34; P=0.51), and the tumor characteristics were similar in the two groups. The frequency of colorectal-cancer screening and abdominal symptoms was similar in the two groups. There were no significant treatment interactions with baseline characteristics.
Daily supplementation of calcium with vitamin D for seven years had no effect on the incidence of colorectal cancer among postmenopausal women. The long latency associated with the development of colorectal cancer, along with the seven-year duration of the trial, may have contributed to this null finding. Ongoing follow-up will assess the longer-term effect of this intervention. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00000611.).
The STAR Collaboration reports measurements of back-to-back azimuthal correlations of di-π0s produced at forward pseudorapidities (2.6<η<4.0) in p+p, p+Al, and p+Au collisions at a center-of-mass ...energy of 200 GeV. We observe a clear suppression of the correlated yields of back-to-back π0 pairs in p+Al and p+Au collisions compared to the p+p data. The observed suppression of back-to-back pairs as a function of transverse momentum suggests nonlinear gluon dynamics arising at high parton densities. Furthermore, the larger suppression found in p+Au relative to p+Al collisions exhibits a dependence of the saturation scale $Q^{2}_{s}$ on the mass number A . A linear scaling of the suppression with A1/3 is observed with a slope of -0.09±0.01.
We report on the W and Z/γ∗ differential and total cross sections as well as the W+/W− and (W+ + W−)/(Z/γ∗) cross section ratios measured by the STAR experiment at RHIC in p + p collisions at √s = ...500 GeV and 510 GeV. The cross sections and their ratios are sensitive to quark and antiquark parton distribution functions. In particular, at leading order, the W cross section ratio is sensitive to the d/u ratio. These measurements were taken at high Q2 ∼ M2W, M2Z and can serve as input into global analyses to provide constraints on the sea quark distributions. The results presented here combine three STAR datasets from 2011, 2012, and 2013, accumulating an integrated luminosity of 350 pb−1. We also assess the expected impact that our W+ / W− cross section ratios will have on various quark distributions, and find sensitivity to the u − d and d/u distributions.
To evaluate the tolerance and effectiveness of transdermal estrogen for women with established postmenopausal osteoporosis and vertebral fractures.
Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled ...clinical trial lasting 1 year.
Referral-based outpatient clinic.
Seventy-five postmenopausal women, 47 to 75 years of age, with one or more vertebral fractures due to osteoporosis.
Thirty-nine women received dermal patches delivering 0.1 mg of 17 beta-estradiol for days 1 to 21 and oral medroxyprogesterone acetate for days 11 to 21 of a 28-day cycle. Another 39 women received placebo.
Bone turnover assessed by biochemical markers and iliac bone histomorphometry; bone loss assessed by serial measurement of bone density; and vertebral fracture rate.
Compared with the placebo group, the median annual percentage change in bone mineral density in the estrogen group reflected increased or steady-state bone mineral density at the lumbar spine (5.3 compared with 0.2; P = 0.007), femoral trochanter (7.6 compared with 2.1; P = 0.03), and midradius (1.0 compared with -2.6, P less than 0.001) but showed no significant difference at the femoral neck (2.6 compared with 1.4; P = 0.17). Estrogen treatment uniformly decreased bone turnover as assessed by several methods including serum osteocalcin concentration (median change, -0.35 compared with 0.02 nmol/L; P less than 0.001). Histomorphometric evaluation of iliac biopsy samples confirmed the effect of estrogen on bone formation rate per bone volume (median change, -12.9 compared with -6.2% per year; P = 0.004). Also, 8 new fractures occurred in 7 women in the estrogen group, whereas 20 occurred in 12 women in the placebo group, yielding a lower vertebral fracture rate in the estrogen group (relative risk, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.16 to 0.95).
Transdermal estradiol treatment is effective in postmenopausal women with established osteoporosis.
The evolution of the STAR Trigger System Judd, E.G.; Bland, L.C.; Crawford, H.J. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2018, Letnik:
902, Številka:
C
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The STAR experiment at RHIC has been taking data since 2000. During that time, new detectors have been added, RHIC luminosity has increased, and STAR’s physics goals have become more focused. The ...Trigger System has evolved in parallel to be able to provide more precise triggering capabilities at higher rates. In this article the major improvements to the STAR Trigger are described, along with the future upgrade path.
The STAR collaboration reports a measurement of the transverse single-spin asymmetries, AN , for neutral pions produced in polarized proton collisions with protons ( pp ), with aluminum nuclei ( pAl ...) and with gold nuclei ( pAu ) at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV. Neutral pions are observed in the forward direction relative to the transversely polarized proton beam, in the pseudorapidity region 2.7<η<3.8 . Results are presented for π0 s observed in the STAR forward meson spectrometer electromagnetic calorimeter in narrow Feynman x ( xF ) and transverse momentum ( pT ) bins, spanning the range 0.17<xF<0.81 and 1.7<pT<6.0 GeV/c . For fixed xF<0.47 , the asymmetries are found to rise with increasing transverse momentum. For larger xF , the asymmetry flattens or falls as pT increases. Parametrizing the ratio r ( A ) ≡AN ( pA ) / AN ( pp ) =AP over the kinematic range, the ratio r ( A ) is found to depend only weakly on A , with ( P ) =-0.027±0.005 . No significant difference in P is observed between the low- pT region, pT<2.5 GeV/c , where gluon saturation effects may play a role, and the high- pT region, pT>2.5 GeV/c . It is further observed that the value of AN is significantly larger for events with a large- pT isolated π0 than for events with a nonisolated π0 accompanied by additional jetlike fragments. The nuclear dependence r ( A ) is similar for isolated and nonisolated π0 events.
A
bstract
We report on the measurement of the Central Exclusive Production of charged particle pairs
h
+
h
−
(
h
=
π, K, p
) with the STAR detector at RHIC in proton-proton collisions at
s
= 200 GeV. ...The charged particle pairs produced in the reaction
pp → p
′ +
h
+
h
−
+
p
′ are reconstructed from the tracks in the central detector and identified using the specific energy loss and the time of flight method, while the forward-scattered protons are measured in the Roman Pot system. Exclusivity of the event is guaranteed by requiring the transverse momentum balance of all four final-state particles. Differential cross sections are measured as functions of observables related to the central hadronic final state and to the forward-scattered protons. They are measured in a fiducial region corresponding to the acceptance of the STAR detector and determined by the central particles’ transverse momenta and pseudorapidities as well as by the forward-scattered protons’ momenta. This fiducial region roughly corresponds to the square of the four-momentum transfers at the proton vertices in the range 0
.
04 GeV
2
< −t
1
, −t
2
<
0
.
2 GeV
2
, invariant masses of the charged particle pairs up to a few GeV and pseudorapidities of the centrally-produced hadrons in the range
|η| <
0
.
7. The measured cross sections are compared to phenomenological predictions based on the Double Pomeron Exchange (DPE) model. Structures observed in the mass spectra of
π
+
π
−
and
K
+
K
−
pairs are consistent with the DPE model, while angular distributions of pions suggest a dominant spin-0 contribution to
π
+
π
−
production. For
π
+
π
−
production, the fiducial cross section is extrapolated to the Lorentz-invariant region, which allows decomposition of the invariant mass spectrum into continuum and resonant contributions. The extrapolated cross section is well described by the continuum production and at least three resonances, the
f
0
(980),
f
2
(1270) and
f
0
(1500), with a possible small contribution from the
f
0
(1370). Fits to the extrapolated differential cross section as a function of
t
1
and
t
2
enable extraction of the exponential slope parameters in several bins of the invariant mass of
π
+
π
−
pairs. These parameters are sensitive to the size of the interaction region.
Elliptic flow measurements from two-, four-, and six-particle correlations are used to investigate flow fluctuations in collisions of U+U at sqrts_{NN}=193 GeV, Cu+Au at sqrts_{NN}=200 GeV and ...Au+Au spanning the range sqrts_{NN}=11.5-200 GeV. The measurements show a strong dependence of the flow fluctuations on collision centrality, a modest dependence on system size, and very little if any, dependence on particle species and beam energy. The results, when compared to similar LHC measurements, viscous hydrodynamic calculations, and trento model eccentricities, indicate that initial-state-driven fluctuations predominate the flow fluctuations generated in the collisions studied.
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