A search for millicharged particles, a simple extension of the standard model, has been performed with the ArgoNeuT detector exposed to the Neutrinos at the Main Injector beam at Fermilab. The ...ArgoNeuT liquid argon time projection chamber detector enables a search for millicharged particles through the detection of visible electron recoils. We search for an event signature with two soft hits (MeV-scale energy depositions) aligned with the upstream target. For an exposure of the detector of 1.0×10^{20} protons on target, one candidate event has been observed, compatible with the expected background. This search is sensitive to millicharged particles with charges between 10^{-3}e and 10^{-1}e and with masses in the range from 0.1 to 3 GeV. This measurement provides leading constraints on millicharged particles in this large unexplored parameter space region.
Background
Whether continued oral feeding may have a negative impact on healing of postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) is unclear. The aim was to test the hypothesis that oral feeding is ...non‐inferior to enteral feeding in closure of POPF after pancreatoduodenectomy, and to clarify the effects of oral feeding on the duration and grade of POPF.
Methods
This multicentre, non‐inferiority randomized trial of oral or enteral feeding of patients with POPF after pancreatoduodenectomy recruited patients between August 2013 and September 2016. The primary efficacy outcome was the 30‐day fistula closure rate. The prespecified non‐inferiority margin was 15 per cent. Other efficacy outcomes included grade of fistula, and hospital stay and costs.
Results
A total of 114 patients were included, and received oral (57) or enteral (57) feeding. The two groups were balanced in baseline characteristics and no patient was lost to follow‐up. In intention‐to‐treat analysis, oral feeding was non‐inferior to enteral feeding in terms of 30‐day fistula closure rate (88 versus 89 per cent respectively; difference –1·8 per cent, lower limit of 95 per cent c.i. –14·4 per cent; P = 0·020 for non‐inferiority). Compared with enteral feeding, oral feeding significantly reduced hospital costs and duration of stay. No significant differences were noted in the number of patients whose POPF evolved into grade B/C, or other outcomes.
Conclusion
Oral feeding in patients with POPF after pancreatoduodenectomy did not increase the duration or grade of POPF, and was associated with reduced duration of stay and hospital costs. Registration number: NCT01755260 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov).
Both routes equivalent
Abstract Background and aims Abdominal aortic calcification (AC) has been reported to be associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in hemodialysis patients but is rarely discussed in peritoneal ...dialysis (PD) patients. We examined the independent predictors and predictive power for survival of AC in prevalent PD patients. Methods and Results AC was detected by computed tomography (CT) and represented as the percentage of the total aortic cross-section area affected by AC (%AC). The predictors of %AC ≥15 were examined by multiple logistic regression analysis. Cox proportional hazard analysis was used to determine the hazard ratios associated with high %AC. A total of 183 PD patients were recruited to receive CT scans and divided into group 1 (%AC < 15, n = 97), group 2 (%AC ≥ 15, n = 41), and group 3 (diabetic patients, n = 45). Group 1 patients had lower osteoprotegerin (OPG) levels than group 2 patients (798 ± 378 vs. 1308 ± 1350 pg/mL, p < 0.05). The independent predictors for %AC ≥ 15 included the atherogenic index, OPG, and C-reactive protein (CRP). The age-adjusted hazard ratios associated with %AC ≥15 were 3.46 ( p = 0.043) for mortality and 1.90 ( p = 0.007) for hospitalization. Conclusions %AC can predict mortality and morbidity in non-diabetic PD patients, and 15% is a good cut-off value for such predictions. There are complex associations among mineral metabolism, inflammation, and dyslipidemia in the pathogenesis of AC.
We present results from an analysis of all data taken by the BICEP2, Keck Array, and BICEP3 CMB polarization experiments up to and including the 2018 observing season. We add additional Keck Array ...observations at 220 GHz and BICEP3 observations at 95 GHz to the previous 95 / 150 / 220 GHz dataset. The Q / U maps now reach depths of 2.8, 2.8, and 8.8 μ KCMB arcmin at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, respectively, over an effective area of ≈ 600 square degrees at 95 GHz and ≈ 400 square degrees at 150 and 220 GHz. The 220 GHz maps now achieve a signal-to-noise ratio on polarized dust emission exceeding that of Planck at 353 GHz. We take auto- and cross-spectra between these maps and publicly available WMAP and Planck maps at frequencies from 23 to 353 GHz and evaluate the joint likelihood of the spectra versus a multicomponent model of lensed Λ CDM + r + dust + synchrotron + noise . The foreground model has seven parameters, and no longer requires a prior on the frequency spectral index of the dust emission taken from measurements on other regions of the sky. This model is an adequate description of the data at the current noise levels. The likelihood analysis yields the constraint r0.05 < 0.036 at 95% confidence. Running maximum likelihood search on simulations we obtain unbiased results and find that σ ( r ) = 0.009 . These are the strongest constraints to date on primordial gravitational waves.
Fracture liaison services (FLS), implemented in different ways and countries, are reported to be a cost-effective or even a cost-saving secondary fracture prevention strategy. This presumed favorable ...cost-benefit relationship is encouraging and lends support to expanded implementation of FLS per International Osteoporosis Foundation Best Practice Standards. This study summarizes the economic impact and cost-effectiveness of FLS implemented to reduce subsequent fractures in individuals with osteoporosis. This systematic review identified studies reporting economic outcomes for FLS in osteoporotic patients aged 50 and older through a comprehensive search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central, and PubMed of studies published January, 2000 to December, 2016. Grey literature (e.g., Google scholar, conference abstracts/posters) were also hand searched through February 2017. Two independent reviewers screened titles and abstracts and conducted full-text review on qualified articles. All disagreements were resolved by discussion between reviewers to reach consensus or by a third reviewer. In total, 23 qualified studies that evaluated the economic aspects of FLS were included: 16 cost-effectiveness studies, 2 cost-benefit analyses, and 5 studies of cost savings. Patient populations varied (prior fragility fracture, non-vertebral fracture, hip fracture, wrist fracture), and FLS strategies ranged from mail-based interventions to comprehensive nurse/physician-coordinated programs. Cost-effectiveness studies were conducted in Canada, Australia, USA, UK, Japan, Taiwan, and Sweden. FLS was cost-effective in comparisons with usual care or no treatment, regardless of the program intensity or the country in which the FLS was implemented (cost/QALY from $3023–$28,800 US dollars (USD) in Japan to $14,513–$112,877 USD in USA. Several studies documented cost savings. FLS, implemented in different ways and countries, are reported to be cost-effective or even cost-saving. This presumed favorable cost-benefit relationship is encouraging and lends support to expanded implementation of FLS per International Osteoporosis Foundation Best Practice Standards.
Nanopore sensors detect individual species passing through a nanoscale pore. This experimental paradigm suffers from long analysis times at low analyte concentration and non-specific signals in ...complex media. These limit effectiveness of nanopore sensors for quantitative analysis. Here, we address these challenges using antibody-modified magnetic nanoparticles ((anti-PSA)-MNPs) that diffuse at zero magnetic field to capture the analyte, prostate-specific antigen (PSA). The (anti-PSA)-MNPs are magnetically driven to block an array of nanopores rather than translocate through the nanopore. Specificity is obtained by modifying nanopores with anti-PSA antibodies such that PSA molecules captured by (anti-PSA)-MNPs form an immunosandwich in the nanopore. Reversing the magnetic field removes (anti-PSA)-MNPs that have not captured PSA, limiting non-specific effects. The combined features allow detecting PSA in whole blood with a 0.8 fM detection limit. Our 'magnetic nanoparticle, nanopore blockade' concept points towards a strategy to improving nanopore biosensors for quantitative analysis of various protein and nucleic acid species.
Metal oxide nanomaterials are widely used in practical applications and represent a class of nanomaterials with the highest global annual production. Many of those, such as TiO2 and ZnO, are ...generally considered non‐toxic due to the lack of toxicity of the bulk material. However, these materials typically exhibit toxicity to bacteria and fungi, and there have been emerging concerns about their ecotoxicity effects. The understanding of the toxicity mechanisms is incomplete, with different studies often reporting contradictory results. The relationship between the material properties and toxicity appears to be complex and diifficult to understand, which is partly due to incomplete characterization of the nanomaterial, and possibly due to experimental artefacts in the characterization of the nanomaterial and/or its interactions with living organisms. This review discusses the comprehensive characterization of metal oxide nanomaterials and the mechanisms of their toxicity.
The study of toxicity of metal oxide nanomaterials attracts huge interest due to their increasing use in various consumer products. Incomplete characterization of the nanomaterials and experimental artefacts hinder the study of the relationship between the material properties and their toxicity. Characterization methods for metal oxide nanomaterials and the mechanisms of their toxicity are discussed in this review.
•The paper provides the first documented simulation of extruded Mg plate during the cyclic loading.•Correlations among the strain hardening plateau, subsequent rapid strain hardening, and twin ...reorientation are clarified.•Different CRSS values for twin nucleation and twin growth/detwinning are used in the EVPSC model.•The monotonic strength and strain hardening anisotropy are well-predicted along multiple directions.•Diffraction peak intensity evolutions and lattice strain evolutions are predicted during the cyclic loading.
A recently developed crystal plasticity model for describing twinning and detwinning behavior is employed to simulate the behavior of extruded Mg alloy, ZK60A. Notably, accounting for the initial texture and calibrating the model using tension and compression along one direction permits prediction of the strength anisotropy, strength asymmetry, and strain hardening behavior along other directions, for cases for which the contribution of twinning is large, small and intermediate. The model discriminates between the stress required to initiate twinning and that required to grow (thicken) previously existing twins. This enables the model to simulate the unusual stress–strain hysteresis behavior during twinning (e.g., sharp yielding behavior) as well as that of detwinning (characterized by quite gradual yielding). The strain hardening plateau which occurs during both twinning and detwinning are captured, as are the rapid hardening induced by the exhaustion of these mechanisms. Finally, the modeling is validated using previously published in-situ neutron diffraction data. The predicted diffracted intensity evolution, which is indicative of the volume fraction of twinning compares well with the experimental data. For the first time, the lattice strain evolutions during cyclic loading (involving twinning and detwinning) of an extruded magnesium alloy are predicted. Most features of the experimentally observed internal strain evolution are well-described. In particular, the inflections which may be associated with the initiation of particular deformation mechanisms: basal and non-basal slips, as well as deformation twinning are predicted. Careful analysis of the lattice strains reveals greater than expected load sharing by the precipitate phase.
Machine learning algorithms were explored for the fast estimation of HOMO and LUMO orbital energies calculated by DFT B3LYP, on the basis of molecular descriptors exclusively based on connectivity. ...The whole project involved the retrieval and generation of molecular structures, quantum chemical calculations for a database with >111 000 structures, development of new molecular descriptors, and training/validation of machine learning models. Several machine learning algorithms were screened, and an applicability domain was defined based on Euclidean distances to the training set. Random forest models predicted an external test set of 9989 compounds achieving mean absolute error (MAE) up to 0.15 and 0.16 eV for the HOMO and LUMO orbitals, respectively. The impact of the quantum chemical calculation protocol was assessed with a subset of compounds. Inclusion of the orbital energy calculated by PM7 as an additional descriptor significantly improved the quality of estimations (reducing the MAE in >30%).
Thulium iron garnet (TmIG) films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) were grown on gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) (111) substrates by off-axis sputtering. High-resolution synchrotron ...radiation X-ray diffraction studies and spherical aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (Cs-corrected STEM) images showed the excellent crystallinity of the films and their sharp interface with GGG. Damping constant of TmIG thin film was determined to be 0.0133 by frequency-dependent ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements. The saturation magnetization (M
) and the coercive field (H
) were obtained systematically as a function of the longitudinal distance (L) between the sputtering target and the substrate. A 170% enhancement of PMA field (H
) was achieved by tuning the film composition to increase the tensile strain. Moreover, current-induced magnetization switching on a Pt/TmIG structure was demonstrated with an ultra-low critical current density (j
) of 2.5 × 10
A/cm
, an order of magnitude smaller than the previously reported value. We were able to tune M
, H
and H
to obtain an ultra-low j
of switching the magnetization, showing the great potential of sputtered TmIG films for spintronics.
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