This study examined post-fracture osteoporosis drug treatment in hip fracture patients and the association of treatment with mortality and morbidity. Pre- and post-fracture demographic/health ...information was collected on a cohort of hip fracture patients aged 65+ years. Post-fracture administrative data on prescription drug use and health care utilization was linked to the cohort data. Five classes of osteoporosis drugs were available during the study period: hormone replacement therapy (HRT), bisphosphonates (BSP), calcitonin, selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) and vitamin D(3) (Rocaltrol). Pre-fracture, 38 of 449 patients (8%) were on osteoporosis medications. Post-fracture, 81 of 356 patients (23%) were treated; 63 of these patients were untreated prior to fracture. Both treated and untreated patients had similar rates of subsequent hip fracture (6% and 4%, respectively) and Colles fracture (2%). Regardless of treatment status, patients were also equally likely to be hospitalized, both in the short-term (28% in treated, 27% in untreated) and in the long-term (43% versus 37%). However, mortality was significantly lower in the treated group. The lower mortality in the treated group, combined with the knowledge that antiresorptive drugs reduce fractures and increase bone density, merit undertaking a randomized trial to confirm our findings that antiresorptive therapy should be considered in all patients post-hip fracture.
We present that the next-generation Enriched Xenon Observatory (nEXO) is a proposed experiment to search for neutrinoless double- β (0νββ) decay in 136Xe with a target half-life sensitivity of ...approximately 1028 yr using 5 × 103 kg of isotopically enriched liquid-xenon in a time projection chamber. This improvement of two orders of magnitude in sensitivity over current limits is obtained by a significant increase of the 136Xe mass, the monolithic and homogeneous configuration of the active medium, and the multiparameter measurements of the interactions enabled by the time projection chamber. Finally, the detector concept and anticipated performance are presented based upon demonstrated realizable background rates.
A hip fracture is traumatic for many older adults, often leading to declines in both health and health perception. Although health ratings often decrease from pre- to post-fracture, nothing is known ...about what influences cognitively impaired patients to assess their post-fracture health as they do. We developed a causal model of health perception following a hip fracture and previously reported this causal model for older hip fracture patients of high mental status. This study evaluates the same causal model on 145 patients of low mental status. We found a substantial reorganization of relative health and functional ratings, indicative of the highly disruptive impact of the hip fracture. Our findings suggest physical rehabilitation may aid in recovery from hip fracture and this merits further study.
Trace radioactive impurities in final construction materials for EXO-200 Leonard, D.S.; Auty, D.J.; Didberidze, T. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
11/2017, Letnik:
871, Številka:
C
Journal Article
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Odprti dostop
We report results from a systematic measurement campaign conducted to identify low radioactivity materials for the construction of the EXO-200 double beta decay experiment. Partial results from this ...campaign have already been reported in a 2008 paper by the EXO collaboration. Here we release the remaining data, collected since 2007, to the public. The data reported were obtained using a variety of analytic techniques. The measurement sensitivities are among the best in the field. Construction of the EXO-200 detector has been concluded, and Phase-I data was taken from 2011 to 2014. The detector’s extremely low background implicitly verifies the measurements and the analysis assumptions made during construction and reported in this paper.
A search for instability of nucleons bound in Xe136 nuclei is reported with 223 kg·yr exposure of Xe136 in the EXO-200 experiment. Lifetime limits of 3.3×1023 and 1.9×1023 yr are established for ...nucleon decay to Sb133 and Te133, respectively. These are the most stringent to date, exceeding the prior decay limits by a factor of 9 and 7, respectively.
Gray (flake graphite) iron is well known to age at room temperature after casting, as evidenced by increasing strength and hardness over time, but there are conflicting theories/beliefs regarding the ...cause(s) of such aging response(s). Some researchers have concluded that those aging responses result from slow precipitation of submicroscopic nitrogen precipitates that are modified by interaction with titanium,
1–7
but both of those elements are also known to have significant effects on graphite and matrix morphology.
8–10
The results of this study correlate the logarithmic room temperature aging responses as measured by pitch and catch ultrasonic velocity testing to quantified metallography metrics and mechanical properties in providing an alternate explanation for the aging responses of gray iron. Since the positive logarithmic aging curves are characteristic of natural decay phenomena of which stress relief is an example, stress relief is a viable alternate explanation for gray iron aging effects.
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