We present a detailed report on sterile neutrino oscillation and 235Uν¯e energy spectrum measurement results from the PROSPECT experiment at the highly enriched High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at ...Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In 96 calendar days of data taken at an average baseline distance of 7.9 m from the center of the 85 MW HFIR core, the PROSPECT detector has observed more than 50,000 interactions of νe produced in beta decays of 235U fission products. New limits on the oscillation of ν¯e to light sterile neutrinos have been set by comparing the detected energy spectra of ten reactor-detector baselines between 6.7 and 9.2 meters. Measured differences in energy spectra between baselines show no statistically significant indication of ν¯e to sterile neutrino oscillation and disfavor the reactor antineutrino anomaly best-fit point at the 2.5σ confidence level. The reported 235U ν¯e energy spectrum measurement shows excellent agreement with energy spectrum models generated via conversion of the measured 235U beta spectrum, with a χ2/d.o.f. of 31/31. PROSPECT is able to disfavor at 2.4σ confidence level the hypothesis that 235U ν¯e are solely responsible for spectrum discrepancies between model and data obtained at commercial reactor cores. A data-model deviation in PROSPECT similar to that observed by commercial core experiments is preferred with respect to no observed deviation, at a 2.2σ confidence level.
To determine if presence of calcium-containing crystals (CaC) is associated with increased knee joint degeneration over 4 years and assess if total number of CaCs deposited is a useful measure of ...disease burden.
Seventy subjects with CaCs in right knees at baseline were selected from the Osteoarthritis Initiative and matched to 70 subjects without evidence of CaCs. T1-weighted gradient-echo sequences were used to confirm presence of CaCs and count the numbers of distinct circumscribed CaCs. Morphological abnormalities were assessed at baseline and 4-year follow-up using the modified semi-quantitative Whole-Organ Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score (WORMS). Linear regression models were used to analyze the associations between presence of CaCs at baseline and changes in WORMS and to analyze the associations between numbers of circumscribed CaCs at baseline and changes in WORMS.
Presence of CaCs was associated with increased cartilage degeneration in the patella (coefficient: 0.33; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.04–0.63), the medial femur (coefficient: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.18–0.83), the lateral tibia (coefficient: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.01–0.71) as well as the medial and lateral meniscus (coefficient: 0.38; 95% CI: 0.00–0.75 and coefficient: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.12–1.32). Knees with higher numbers of CaCs had increased cartilage degeneration in the patella and medial femur (coefficient: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.05–0.14; P < 0.001 and coefficient: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.02–0.14; P = 0.005).
CaCs were associated with increased cartilage and meniscus degeneration over a period of 4 years. Assessing the number of CaC depositions may be useful to evaluate risk of onset and worsening of degenerative disease.
Colloquium talks at prestigious universities both create and reflect academic researchers’ reputations. Gender disparities in colloquium talks can arise through a variety of mechanisms. The current ...study examines gender differences in colloquium speakers at 50 prestigious US colleges and universities in 2013–2014. Using archival data, we analyzed 3,652 talks in six academic disciplines. Men were more likely than women to be colloquium speakers even after controlling for the gender and rank of the available speakers. Eliminating alternative explanations (e.g., women declining invitations more often than men), our follow-up data revealed that female and male faculty at top universities reported no differences in the extent to which they (i) valued and (ii) turned down speaking engagements. Additional data revealed that the presence of women as colloquium chairs (and potentially on colloquium committees) increased the likelihood of women appearing as colloquium speakers. Our data suggest that those who invite and schedule speakers serve as gender gatekeepers with the power to create or reduce gender differences in academic reputations.
AbstractObjectivesTo provide accurate risk estimates of serious adverse events after elective shoulder replacement surgery for arthritis, including age and sex specific estimates of the lifetime risk ...of revision surgery.DesignPopulation based cohort study.SettingHospital episode statistics for NHS England, including civil registration mortality data.Participants58 054 elective shoulder replacements in 51 895 adults (aged ≥50 years) between April 1998 and April 2017.Main outcome measuresThe lifetime risk of revision surgery, calculated using an actuarial life table approach and the cumulative probability method. Rates of serious adverse events at 30 and 90 days post-surgery: pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarction, lower respiratory tract infection, acute kidney injury, urinary tract infection, cerebrovascular events, and all cause death. Secondary outcome measures were the number of surgeries performed each year and Kaplan-Meier estimates of revision risk at 3, 5, 10, and 15 years.ResultsThe number of shoulder replacements performed each year increased 5.6-fold between 1998 and 2017. Lifetime risks of revision surgery ranged from 1 in 37 (2.7%, 95% confidence interval 2.6% to 2.8%) in women aged 85 years and older to 1 in 4 (23.6%, 23.2% to 24.0%) in men aged 55-59 years. The risks of revision were highest during the first five years after surgery. The risk of any serious adverse event at 30 days post-surgery was 1 in 28 (3.5%, 3.4% to 3.7%), and at 90 days post-surgery was 1 in 22 (4.6%, 4.4% to 4.8%). At 30 days, the relative risk of pulmonary embolism compared with baseline population risk was 61 (95% confidence interval 50 to 73) for women aged 50-64. Serious adverse events were associated with increasing age, comorbidity, and male sex. 1 in 5 (21.2%, 17.9% to 25.1%) men aged 85 years and older experienced at least one serious adverse event within 90 days.ConclusionsYounger patients, particularly men, need to be aware of a higher likelihood of early failure of shoulder replacement and the need for further and more complex revision replacement surgery. All patients should be counselled about the risks of serious adverse events. These risks are higher than previously considered, and for some could outweigh any potential benefits. Our findings caution against unchecked expansion of shoulder replacement surgery in both younger and older patients. The more accurate age and sex specific estimates of risk from this study are long overdue and should improve shared decision making between patients and clinicians.Study registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03573765.
This final article about the CHOOZ experiment presents a complete description of the \(\bar{\nu}_e\) source and detector, the calibration methods and stability checks, the event reconstruction ...procedures and the Monte Carlo simulation. The data analysis, systematic effects and the methods used to reach our conclusions are fully discussed. Some new remarks are presented on the deduction of the confidence limits and on the correct treatment of systematic errors.
This Letter reports one of the most precise measurements to date of the antineutrino spectrum from a purely 235U-fueled reactor, made with the final dataset from the PROSPECT-I detector at the High ...Flux Isotope Reactor. By extracting information from previously unused detector segments, this analysis effectively doubles the statistics of the previous PROSPECT measurement. Further, the reconstructed energy spectrum is unfolded into antineutrino energy and compared with both the Huber-Mueller model and a spectrum from a commercial reactor burning multiple fuel isotopes. A local excess over the model is observed in the 5–7 MeV energy region. Comparison of the PROSPECT results with those from commercial reactors provides new constraints on the origin of this excess, disfavoring at 2.0 and 3.7 standard deviations the hypotheses that antineutrinos from 235U are solely responsible and noncontributors to the excess observed at commercial reactors, respectively.
This Letter reports the first measurement of the 235U $\bar{ν}$e energy spectrum by PROSPECT, the Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum experiment, operating 7.9 m from the 85 MWth highly ...enriched uranium (HEU) High Flux Isotope Reactor. With a surface-based, segmented detector, PROSPECT has observed 31678±304(stat) $\bar{ν}$e-induced inverse beta decays, the largest sample from HEU fission to date, 99% of which are attributed to 235U. Despite broad agreement, comparison of the Huber 235U model to the measured spectrum produces a χ2/ndf=51.4/31, driven primarily by deviations in two localized energy regions. The measured 235U spectrum shape is consistent with a deviation relative to prediction equal in size to that observed at low-enriched uranium power reactors in the $\bar{ν}$e energy region of 5–7 MeV.
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