The
Majorana Collaboration is building the
Majorana Demonstrator, a 60
kg array of high purity germanium detectors housed in an ultra-low background shield at the Sanford Underground Laboratory in ...Lead, SD. The
Majorana Demonstrator will search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of
76Ge while demonstrating the feasibility of a tonne-scale experiment. It may also carry out a dark matter search in the 1–10
GeV/
c
2 mass range. We have found that customized Broad Energy Germanium (BEGe) detectors produced by Canberra have several desirable features for a neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment, including low electronic noise, excellent pulse shape analysis capabilities, and simple fabrication. We have deployed a customized BEGe, the
Majorana Low-Background BEGe at Kimballton (MALBEK), in a low-background cryostat and shield at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility in Virginia. This paper will focus on the detector characteristics and measurements that can be performed with such a radiation detector in a low-background environment.
Context: Although the rise in overweight and obesity in the United States is well documented, long-term weight loss maintenance (LTWLM) has been minimally explored. Objective: The aim of this study ...is to estimate the prevalence and correlates of LTWLM among US adults. Design, setting and participants: We examined weight data from 14 306 participants (age 20–84 years) in the 1999–2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We defined LTWLM as weight loss maintained for at least 1 year. We excluded individuals who were not overweight or obese at their maximum weight. Results: Among US adults who had ever been overweight or obese, 36.6, 17.3, 8.5 and 4.4% reported LTWLM of at least 5, 10, 15 and 20%, respectively. Among the 17.3% of individuals who reported an LTWLM of at least 10%, the average and median weight loss maintained was 19.1 kg (42.1 pounds) and 15.5 kg (34.1 pounds), respectively. LTWLM of at least 10% was higher among adults of ages 75–84 years (vs ages 20–34, adjusted odds ratio (OR): 1.5; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2, 1.8), among those who were non-Hispanic white (vs Hispanic, adjusted OR: 1.6; 95% CI: 1.3, 2.0) and among those who were female (vs male, adjusted OR: 1.2; 95% CI: 1.1, 1.3). Conclusions: More than one out of every six US adults who has ever been overweight or obese has accomplished LTWLM of at least 10%. This rate is significantly higher than those reported in clinical trials and many other observational studies, suggesting that US adults may be more successful at sustaining weight loss than previously thought.
Background Anterior shoulder instability with bone loss can be treated successfully with the modified Bristow procedure. Opinions vary regarding the role of the soft-tissue sling created by the ...conjoined tendon after transfer. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of the modified Bristow procedure and conjoined tendon transfer on glenohumeral translation and kinematics after creating anterior instability. Methods Eight cadaveric shoulders were tested with a custom shoulder testing system. Range-of-motion, translation, and kinematic testing was performed in 60° of glenohumeral abduction in the scapular and coronal planes under the following conditions: intact joint, Bankart lesion with 20% glenoid bone loss, modified Bristow procedure, and soft tissue–only conjoined tendon transfer. Results A Bankart lesion with 20% bone loss resulted in significantly increased external rotation and translation compared with the intact condition ( P < .05), as well as an anterior shift of the humeral head apex at all points of external rotation. Both the modified Bristow procedure and soft-tissue Bristow procedure maintained the increase in external rotation but resulted in significantly decreased translation ( P < .05). There was no difference in translation between the 2 reconstructions. Conclusions The increase in external rotation suggests that the modified Bristow procedure does not initially restrict joint motion. Translational stability can be restored in a 20% bone loss model without a bone block, suggesting the importance of the soft-tissue sling.
Abstract
Genomic characterization is often used for the identification of therapeutic targets in tumors. Recently, comparative transcriptomics has begun to be utilized for this purpose. In this ...pilot, we compare the transcriptome of a patient with recurrent high grade glioma (HGG) to our cohort to identify potential therapies. We reviewed transcriptomic profiles from patients who had resection of HGG at our institution over the past year as well as the UCSC cancer compendium. Briefly, tumor RNA was extracted from embedded tumor tissue sections with tumor cellularity higher than 20%. RNA libraries were sequenced to obtain approximately 65 million reads on an Illumina HiSeq 4000 System utilizing patterned flow cell technology. The RNA profile of a 24 male with Li-Fraumeni syndrome and recurrent HGG with leptomeningeal spread underwent comparative transcriptomics to identify targets. A Bayesian statistical framework for gene expression outlier detection was used. These comparisons allowed for the identification of genes and pathways that are significantly overexpressed. Our internal HGG cohort consisted of 44 adult patients and was evenly distributed among the 4 HGG Verhaak subtypes. Our patient of interest had druggable outlier expression in HDAC1, STAT1 and STAT2 in comparison to our internal cohort indicating vorinostat and ruxolitinib as potential therapies, respectively. We then compared our patient of interest to 12,747 patients in the cancer compendium and STAT2 expression was high but not an outlier. In comparison to 738 glioma samples, STAT1 and STAT2 were outliers but not HDAC1 again indicating ruxolitinib as a potential targeted therapy. The patient did not have outlier expression in notch transcriptional targets or immune checkpoint biomarkers when compared to all cohorts. In conclusion, comparative Transcriptomics can identify therapeutic targets in a patient with recurrent HGG even in small cohorts. In our pilot, we identified ruxolitinib as a potential candidate to treat leptomeningeal recurrence.
The vision of autonomic computing Kephart, J.O.; Chess, D.M.
Computer (Long Beach, Calif.),
2003-Jan., 2003-01-00, 20030101, Letnik:
36, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A 2001 IBM manifesto observed that a looming software complexity crisis -caused by applications and environments that number into the tens of millions of lines of code - threatened to halt progress ...in computing. The manifesto noted the almost impossible difficulty of managing current and planned computing systems, which require integrating several heterogeneous environments into corporate-wide computing systems that extend into the Internet. Autonomic computing, perhaps the most attractive approach to solving this problem, creates systems that can manage themselves when given high-level objectives from administrators. Systems manage themselves according to an administrator's goals. New components integrate as effortlessly as a new cell establishes itself in the human body. These ideas are not science fiction, but elements of the grand challenge to create self-managing computing systems.
Washington State University’s 1 MW TRIGA reactor has a long history of utilization for neutron activation analysis (NAA). TRIGA reactors have the ability to pulse, reach supercritical (
k
> 1) for ...short bursts of time (~50 ms). At this high power and fast time the energy spectrum and neutron fluence are largely uncharacterized. The pulse neutron energy spectrum and fluence were determined by the activation of Cu, Au, Co, Fe, and Ti. These analyses were completed with and without Cd shielding to determine reproducibility between pulses. The applications and implications of the neutron energy and fluence reproducibility to the use of pulsed NAA will be discussed.
We evaluate a marital search model that links the quantity and quality of available men to first marriage transitions among black women and white women in the United States. Our analysis provides a ...more complex assessment of the hypothesis that racial differences in transitions to first marriage reflect shortages of marriageable men in local marriage markets. We attach several indicators of local marriage market conditions (primarily sex ratios from the 1980 Census) to women's marital histories available in the 1979 through 1986 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Our discrete-time logit models support the following conclusions: (1) A shortage in the quantity and quality of available males in local areas depresses women's transitions to first marriage; (2) economic independence among women (as measured by employment and earnings) is positively associated with entry into marriage; (3) racial differences in mate availability account for a relatively small share of existing racial differences in marriage; (4) indicators of local mate availability nevertheless account for a larger proportion of observed racial differences in transitions to first marriage than factors such as family background, welfare status and living arrangements (e.g., multigenerational family); (5) the effects of marriage market characteristics are contingent on whether women are "searching" in the marriage market; and (6) the effect of a shortage of "economically attractive" men is not simply an artifact of local demographic deficits of men to marry.
The Majorana Collaboration is operating an array of high purity Ge detectors to search for neutrinoless double-β decay in 76Ge. The Majorana Demonstrator comprises 44.1 kg of Ge detectors (29.7 kg ...enriched in 76Ge) split between two modules contained in a low background shield at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. In this paper, we present results from data taken during construction, commissioning, and the start of full operations. We achieve unprecedented energy resolution of 2.5 keV FWHM at Qββ and a very low background with no observed candidate events in 9.95 kg yr of enriched Ge exposure, resulting in a lower limit on the half-life of 1.9 × 1025 yr (90% C.L.). This result constrains the effective Majorana neutrino mass to below 240-520 meV, depending on the matrix elements used. In our experimental configuration with the lowest background, the background is 4.0$+3.1\atop{-2.5}$ counts/(FWHM t yr).
The International Monitoring System (IMS) of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty includes a network of stations and laboratories for collection and analysis of radioactive aerosols. Alternative ...approaches to IMS operations are considered as a method of enhancing treaty verification. Ultra-low background (ULB) detection promises the possibility of improvements to IMS minimum detectable activities (MDAs) well below the current approach, requiring MDA⩽30
μBq/m
3 of air for
140Ba, or about 10
6 fissions per daily sample.
A number of surgical approaches are utilized in total hip arthroplasty. It has been hypothesized that the anterior approach results in less muscle damage than the posterior approach. We prospectively ...analyzed biochemical markers of muscle damage and inflammation in patients treated with minimally invasive total hip arthroplasty with an anterior or posterior approach to provide objective evidence of the local soft-tissue injury at the time of arthroplasty.
Twenty-nine patients treated with minimally invasive total hip arthroplasty through a direct anterior approach and twenty-eight patients treated with the same procedure through a posterior approach were prospectively analyzed. Perioperative and radiographic data were collected to ensure cohorts with similar characteristics. Serum creatine kinase (CK), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1ß), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) levels were measured preoperatively, in the post-anesthesia-care unit (except for the CRP level), and on postoperative days 1 and 2. The Student t test and Fisher exact test were used to make comparisons between the two groups. Independent predictors of elevation in levels of markers of inflammation and muscle damage were determined with use of multivariate logistic regression analysis.
The levels of the markers of inflammation were slightly decreased in the direct-anterior-approach group as compared with those in the posterior-approach group. The rise in the CK level in the posterior-approach group was 5.5 times higher than that in the anterior-approach group in the post-anesthesia-care unit (mean difference, 150.3 units/L 95% CI, 70.4 to 230.2; p < 0.05) and nearly twice as high cumulatively (mean difference, 305.0 units/L 95% CI, -46.7 to 656.8; p < 0.05).
We believe that the anterior total hip arthroplasty approach used in this study caused significantly less muscle damage than did the posterior surgical approach, as indicated by serum CK levels. The clinical importance of the rise in the CK level needs to be delineated by additional clinical studies. The overall physiologic burden, as demonstrated by measurement of inflammation marker levels, appears to be similar between the anterior and posterior approaches. Objective measurement of muscle damage and inflammation markers provides an unbiased way of determining the immediate effects of surgical intervention in patients treated with total hip arthroplasty.
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