The Belle II experiment and the SuperKEKB collider are designed to operate under a higher luminosity compared to that of Belle for the improvement of rare <inline-formula> <tex-math ...notation="LaTeX">B </tex-math></inline-formula> meson decay study and new physics search. To break the bottleneck of bandwidth and to improve the stability in the operation of the Belle II data acquisition (DAQ) system, a new PCI-express-based readout system has been developed. The new system includes a PCI-express-based high-speed readout board (PCIe40), which was originally developed for the upgrades of the LHCb and ALICE experiments, the PCIe40 firmware, the slow control, and readout software running on a readout PC. The new readout system's commissioning with most of the Belle II subdetectors has been performed, and the readout upgrade is complete for the particle-identification detectors and the neutral kaon and muon detector in Belle II, which has been operating stably with the new system in the beam collision "physics runs." The results of the commissioning and the performance of the global DAQ operation will be reported.
Thanks to its multi-TeV LHC proton and lead beams, the LHC complex allows one to perform the most energetic fixed-target experiments ever and to study with high precision pp, pd and pA collisions at ...sNN=115GeV and Pbp and PbA collisions at sNN=72GeV. We present a selection of feasibility studies for the production of quarkonia, open heavy-flavor mesons as well as light-flavor hadrons in pA and PbA collisions using the LHCb and ALICE detectors in a fixed-target mode.
The LHCb simulation application. Gauss, consists or two independent phases, the generation of the primary event and the tracking of particles produced in the experimental setup. For the LHCh ...experimental program it is particularly important to model B meson decays: the EvtGcn code developed in CLEO and BaBah has been chosen and customized for non-coherent B production as occurring in pp collisions at the LHC, The initial proton-proton collision is provided by a different generator engine, currently PYTHIA 6 for massive production of signal and generic pp collisions events. Beam gas events, background events originating from proton halo, cosmics and calibration events for different detectors can be generated in addition to pp collisions. Different generator packages as available in the physics community or specifically developed in LHCb are used for the different purposes. Running conditions affecting the events generated such as the size of the luminous region, the number of collisions occuring in a bunch crossing and the number of spill-over events from neighbouring bunches are modeled via dedicated algorithms appropriately configured. The design of the generator phase of Gauss will be described: a modular structure with well defined interfaces specific to the various tasks, e.g. pp collisions, particles' decays, selections, etc. has been chosen. Different implementations are available for the various tasks allowing selecting and combining them as most appropriate at run time as in the case of Pythia 6 im pp collisions or HIJING for beam gas. The advantages of such structure, allowing for example to adopt transparently new generators packages will be discussed.
A low prevalence of asthma and atopy has been shown in farmers and agricultural workers. However, in these workers, a higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms has been reported, in which T helper 1 ...(Th1) and/or Th17 responses may play a role.
We investigated the effect of exposure to dust extracts (DEs) from different farms on airway inflammation and T-cell polarisation in a mouse model and assessed T-cell polarisation in agricultural workers from the same farms.
DEs were prepared from settled dust collected at cattle and pig farms and bulb and onion industries. Mice were exposed to phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), DEs, house dust mite (HDM) or HDM+DE via nasal instillation, four times per week during 5 weeks. Hyperresponsiveness, airway inflammation, IgE levels and T-cell polarisation were assessed. Th-cell and T cytotoxic (Tc)-cell subsets were investigated in peripheral blood samples from 33 agricultural workers and 9 non-exposed controls.
DEs induced interleukin(IL)-17, IL-1β and IL-6 in mouse lung homogenates. DE-exposed mice had more mixed inflammatory infiltrates in the lungs, and more neutrophils compared with PBS-exposed mice. DEs protected against the HDM-induced Th2 response and methacholine hyperresponsiveness. Interestingly, occupationally exposed humans had higher frequencies of Th cells spontaneously expressing IL-17 and interferon γ compared with controls.
Chronic exposure to different types of farm dust induces a Th/Tc-17 inflammatory response in mice and agricultural workers. This may contribute to the low prevalence of Th2-related diseases but may constitute a risk for other chronic respiratory diseases.
The present study assessed the impact of computerised spirometry interpretation expert support on the diagnostic achievements of general practitioners (GPs), and on GPs' decision making in diagnosing ...chronic respiratory disease. A cluster-randomised controlled trial was performed in 78 GPs who each completed 10 standardised paper case descriptions. Intervention consisted of support for GPs' spirometry interpretation either by an expert system (expert support group) or by sham information (control group). Agreement of GPs' diagnoses was compared with an expert panel judgement, which served as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were: additional diagnostic test rates; width of differential diagnosis; certainty of diagnosis; estimated severity of disease; referral rate; and medication or nonmedication changes. Effects were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). There were no differences between the expert support and control groups in the agreement between GPs and expert panel diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR (95% CI) 1.08 (0.70-1.66)), asthma (1.13 (0.70-1.80)), and absence of respiratory disease (1.32 (0.61-2.86)). A higher rate of additional diagnostic tests was observed in the expert support group (2.5 (1.17-5.35)). Computerised spirometry expert support had no detectable benefit on general practitioners' diagnostic achievements and the decision-making process when diagnosing chronic respiratory disease.
BACKGROUND: Generic patient-accessible medical records have shown promise in enhancing patient-centred care for patients with chronic diseases. We sought to design, implement and evaluate a ...patient-accessible medical record specifically for patients undergoing a course of assisted reproduction (IVF or ICSI). METHODS: The personal medical record (PMR) database was developed using three formative evaluation steps, and its user-experience was evaluated through a cross-sectional study. Fifty-four patient-couples receiving an IVF or ICSI treatment in our hospital were granted access to the PMR. Main outcomes concern the usage of the PMR, the perceived usefulness of its functions and user attitudes towards privacy and financial issues. RESULTS: The PMR consists of 15 major functions that can be classified into personal information, general information and communication functions. Fifty-three patient-couples accessed the website and 51 couples filled out the evaluation questionnaire. They rated most functions as useful and preferred personalized to general functions. The results also show that some functions require further development. Patients using the PMR have little concerns regarding privacy, and 76% are willing to pay for such a service in the future. CONCLUSIONS: The patients in this study frequently and intensively used the Internet-accessible PMR. This suggests that the PMR offers very useful functions from an IVF/ICSI patient’s perspective.
AFTER@LHC is an ambitious fixed-target project in order to address open questions in the domain of proton and neutron spins, Quark Gluon Plasma and high-x physics, at the highest energy ever reached ...in the fixed-target mode. Indeed, thanks to the highly energetic 7 TeV proton and 2.76 A.TeV lead LHC beams, center-of-mass energies as large as see formula in PDF = 115 GeV in pp/pA and see formula in PDF = 72 GeV in AA can be reached, corresponding to an uncharted energy domain between SPS and RHIC. We report two main ways of performing fixed-target collisions at the LHC, both allowing for the usage of one of the existing LHC experiments. In these proceedings, after discussing the projected luminosities considered for one year of data taking at the LHC, we will present a selection of projections for light and heavy-flavour production.
Objectives
High microbial exposures in farmers and agricultural workers are associated with less atopy. Although it has been speculated that healthy worker survival could be an explanation, this has ...not been studied so far. Therefore, we investigated the presence of healthy worker survival in a five-year follow-up study of an occupational cohort of Dutch farmers and agricultural industry (company) workers.
Methods
We compared baseline demographic characteristics, respiratory health, atopy and endotoxin exposure of 259 workers followed up with 124 workers lost to follow-up. Additionally, baseline health status of 31 participants who had changed to lower exposure jobs at follow-up was compared to those with similar or higher exposure jobs at follow-up.
Results
In general, no major healthy worker survival effect was found. Nonetheless, small differences were observed between subjects included in follow-up and those lost to follow-up. Those lost to follow-up were older, had a lower peak expiratory flow, and were less often raised on a farm. Company workers lost to follow-up with a farm childhood had more often self-reported allergy, but this was not observed for subjects with atopic sensitization or other respiratory symptoms. No differences were found for any of the studied characteristics in participants with lower exposure at follow-up compared to participants with similar or higher exposure at follow-up.
Conclusions
No major healthy worker survival is present in this organic dust exposed cohort. Differences between participants lost to follow-up and participants included in follow-up with regard to health characteristics are small and unlikely to explain the previously reported inverse associations between endotoxin exposure and atopy.
BACKGROUND The internet introduces new ways to deal with stress. However, it is unclear how its resources are used in everyday life. Using a web-based personal health record (PHR), we observed the ...patient’s online behaviour and linked this to distress, theories on dealing with stress and demographics. METHODS Between 2004 and 2007, all viewed web-pages were logged and categorized into 14 content types. Behavioural styles were elicited using factor analysis. These behavioural styles were subsequently correlated to data on demographics, coping mechanisms and distress from the female partner of the first 53 patient couples that used the PHR. RESULTS One thousand and fifty patient couples viewed 588 887 web pages during their first treatment cycle. Factor analysis elicited three online behavioural styles explaining 66.9% of all variance in usage of the website: an ‘individual information style’, a ‘generic information style’ and a ‘communication style’. The ‘individual information style’ correlated negatively to having paid employment (Spearman = −0.364, P = 0.007) and emotional coping mechanisms (Spearman = −0.305, P = 0.028). The ‘communication style’ correlated positively to having paid employment (Spearman = 0.318, P = 0.021) and anxiety (Spearman = 0.381, P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS IVF patients show three types of online behaviour. Only limited correlations exist between these styles and demographics, coping mechanisms or distress. When planning a website or portal for IVF patients, content should be adopted accordingly.
The transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) to high-grade B-cell lymphoma is known as Richter syndrome (RS), a rare event with dismal prognosis. In this study, we conducted whole-genome ...sequencing (WGS) of paired circulating CLL (PB-CLL) and RS biopsies (tissue-RS) from 17 patients recruited into a clinical trial (CHOP-O). We found that tissue-RS was enriched for mutations in poor-risk CLL drivers and genes in the DNA damage response (DDR) pathway. In addition, we identified genomic aberrations not previously implicated in RS, including the protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor (PTPRD) and tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 3 (TRAF3). In the noncoding genome, we discovered activation-induced cytidine deaminase-related and unrelated kataegis in tissue-RS affecting regulatory regions of key immune-regulatory genes. These include BTG2, CXCR4, NFATC1, PAX5, NOTCH-1, SLC44A5, FCRL3, SELL, TNIP2, and TRIM13. Furthermore, differences between the global mutation signatures of pairs of PB-CLL and tissue-RS samples implicate DDR as the dominant mechanism driving transformation. Pathway-based clonal deconvolution analysis showed that genes in the MAPK and DDR pathways demonstrate high clonal-expansion probability. Direct comparison of nodal-CLL and tissue-RS pairs from an independent cohort confirmed differential expression of the same pathways by RNA expression profiling. Our integrated analysis of WGS and RNA expression data significantly extends previous targeted approaches, which were limited by the lack of germline samples, and it facilitates the identification of novel genomic correlates implicated in RS transformation, which could be targeted therapeutically. Our results inform the future selection of investigative agents for a UK clinical platform study. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT03899337.
PDF
