PHENIX on-line and off-line computing Adler, S.S.; Chujo, T.; Desmond, E.J. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
03/2003, Volume:
499, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Data handling in PHENIX is carried out by the On-Line Computing System (ONCS) and Off-Line Computing System (Off-Line). ONCS provides the overall control and monitoring of the front-end electronics, ...trigger and data acquisition system and detector ancillary systems. It configures and initializes the on-line system, monitors and controls the data flow, coordinates calibration processes, interlocks the data acquisition process with the slow control subsystems and performs a number of other functions. ONCS uses CORBA software to monitor and control the hardware. Off-Line provides all aspects of data handling not directly connected to the collection of data and monitoring, such as event simulation and reconstruction, data analysis and information management. The impact of the unprecedented data volumes on the design is presented, along with a detailed discussion of the tasks and methods of simulating, obtaining and monitoring the data.
Regional distribution of cerebral blood flow was assessed in a group of 13 normal social drinkers under baseline conditions and after acute alcohol intoxication. Blood flow measurements were done ...using
15O-labeled water and positron emission tomography (PET). Each subject underwent two control sessions under baseline conditions and two sessions after alcohol. Seven of the subjects were given 0.5 g/kg of alcohol and six were given 1 g/kg of alcohol p.o. The first and second post-alcohol scans were done 40 and 60 min after alcohol ingestion. The studies revealed that both the high and the low doses of alcohol reduced blood flow to the cerebellum. This effect was significant only for the high doses of alcohol, which also increased blood flow to the right temporal and the prefrontal cortex. The decrease in blood flow of the cerebellum could account for the muscular incoordination induced by alcohol.
We investigated the role of high-dose chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) as the initial systemic treatment in patients with hormone-unresponsive metastatic breast cancer. ...We studied a regimen involving a split-course schedule using sequential administration of two pairs of alkylating agents separated by 5 days of rest. The rest period was intended to provide time for recovery from the treatment-immediate adverse effects, thereby allowing further dose escalation.
The treatment consisted of thiotepa 225 to 300 mg/m2/d (days - 11 to -9), cisplatin 50 to 100 mg/m2/d (days - 11 and -3), and cyclophosphamide 60 mg/kg/d (days - 3 and -2). Dose escalation was performed in the initial 15 patients before reaching dose-limiting toxicities. When feasible, responding patients received posttransplant irradiation to sites of residual or prior bulky disease. Patients with bone marrow or CNS involvement, prior pelvic irradiation, or age greater than 55 years were excluded.
Thirty-nine patients with measurable or assessable tumor were enrolled: 23 with visceral metastases, 11 with only soft tissue disease, and five with skeletal involvement. Twenty-five patients had received no chemotherapy for metastatic disease before transplantation. The dose-limiting toxicities of this therapy were renal and gastrointestinal. Six patients died from complications: four of a fungal infection and two of hemorrhage. A complete response was achieved in 14 patients (36%), three of whom are free of disease at 79+, 55+, and 40+ months after transplantation. Ten of 25 patients not treated with standard-dose chemotherapy for metastatic disease achieved a complete response (40%). The three patients in continuous remission were in the untreated relapse group.
This single high-dose treatment achieved a relatively high complete response rate in patients with metastatic breast cancer and may have cured some of them. On the other hand, the split-course dose schedule as tested here did not permit significant dose-intensification.
Measurement of oxygen-15- (15O) water uptake with positron emission tomography (PET) is a sensitive technique to monitor regional brain activation secondary to stimulation paradigms. In order to ...investigate data acquisition times that show maximal changes in regional activation and to assess the optimal time for stimulus presentation, we investigated 10 controls with 15O-water and PET during baseline and stroboscopic light stimulation. Sequential scans were done varying the time of stimulus presentation. The images were reconstructed using three different periods of data acquisition: uptake phase (initial 30-35 sec), washout phase (40 sec following peak activity in brain), and total activity (3 min). The images reconstructed during the uptake phase showed the largest changes in occipital cortex from stimulation. Maximal changes in occipital cortex were obtained when the visual stimulus was maintained during the uptake phase only.
Intellectual abilities of 300 children with serious emotional disorders, referred to either psychiatric day‐ or inpatient‐hospital treatment, were compared. Comparisons also were made to WISC‐R ...standardization data. The findings indicated that children referred to inpatient settings were similar in intellectual competency to children in day treatment. Also, children with serious emotional disorders did not appear to differ strongly in clinically meaningful ways from the WISC‐R standardization sample, a finding that replicates results of other investigators. Three distinct, clinically useful profiles emerged from a cluster analysis of the total group that may be practical in planning educational and therapeutic interventions in treatment settings for seriously disturbed children. The profiles underscored the wide range of intellectual abilities represented among these children.
The intellectual performances of children with a variety of psychiatric disorders were examined and compared with the findings from a similar study by Hodges and Plow (1990). Mean IQ scores were in ...the average range for both study samples, and no significant differences were found in WISC‐R summary scores. Nevertheless, the Hodges and Plow findings were only partially corroborated. They observed, for instance, a relative deficit in verbal abilities for conduct‐disordered children and lower IQ scores for children with anxiety disorders vs. children with all other disorders. Our replication study found no significant differences among the disorder groups for any of the scores examined. Possible explanations for the divergence in findings are discussed.
Hospital truth-telling policies & practices with respect to the terminally ill were explored via interviews with directors of 13 New York City area hospitals. Most hospitals required full disclosure ...about prognosis to dying patients; three had no guidelines at all, leaving it up to the physician's judgment case by case. It is argued that categorical, total truth-telling, like total deception, may violate the dying patient's dignity & autonomy, & while the decision is often left to physicians, they are not necessarily equipped to assess the human processes of death. Examples are provided of insensitive & inflexible truth telling. The needs of the patient rather than categorical hospital policy should dictate whether, when, & how to inform the patient of a terminal diagnosis. 6 References. A. Waters
We report the results of intensive therapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in 23 patients with malignant lymphoma (eight Hodgkin's disease and 15 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) who failed ...primary therapy. All patients had evidence of disease prior to transplant therapy: 10 had never achieved a complete remission and 13 were in relapse. The preparative regimen included involved field radiation followed by fractionated total body irradiation and high dose cyclophosphamide. A complete remission was achieved in 15 patients, 11 of whom continue in unmaintained complete remission from 27 to 72 months after BMT (median follow-up of 52 months). Of the remaining patients, five did not achieve a complete remission and three died of early toxicity. The event-free survival of the entire group is 47%. Disease status at the time of BMT was significantly correlated with patient outcome. The event-free survival of 13 patients in whom there was no objective evidence of tumor growth on conventional dose therapy was 77% compared with only 10% in patients with tumors progressing on conventional dose therapy (p less than 0.002). All six patients transplanted in untreated relapse continue in unmaintained remission, suggesting that debulking chemotherapy may not be necessary before BMT. Alternative approaches are needed in patients whose tumors progress on conventional dose therapy.
The T1-weighted magnetic resonance examinations in 11 acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients showed substantial reduction in signal intensity of vertebral bodies. Review of bone marrow aspirates ...and biopsies that were available in eight patients suggested that the abnormality resulted from markedly increased amounts of storage iron within the bone marrow, probably secondary to the anemia of chronic disease.
