We present a study of the accretion flow to the intermittent accreting millisecond pulsar, HETE J1900.1-2455, based on observations made simultaneously by XMM-Newton and RXTE. The 0.33-50 keV energy ...spectrum is described by the sum of a hard Comptonized component produced in an optically thin ... corona, a soft thermal ... keV component interpreted as accretion disc emission, and of disc reflection of the hard component. Two emission features are detected at energies of 0.98(1) and 6.58(7) keV, respectively. The latter is identified as Kα transition of Fe xxiii-xxv. A simultaneous detection in the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC-pn), EPIC-MOS2 and Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) spectra favours an astrophysical origin also for the latter, which has an energy compatible with Fe-Lα and helium-like Ne-Kα transitions. The broadness of the two features, ..., suggests a common origin, resulting from reflection in an accretion disc with inclination of (30+ 4- 3)..., and extending down to ... gravitational radii from the compact object. However, the strength of the feature at lower energy measured by EPIC-pn cannot be entirely reconciled with the amplitude of the Fe-Kα line, hampering the possibility of describing it in terms of a broad-band reflection model, and preventing a firm identification. Pulsations at the known 377.3 Hz spin frequency could not be detected with an upper limit of 0.4 per cent at ... confidence level on the pulsed fractional amplitude. We interpret the value of the inner disc radius estimated from spectral modelling and the lack of significant detection of coherent X-ray pulsations as an indication of a disc accretion flow truncated by some mechanism connected to the overall evolution of the accretion disc, rather than by the neutron star magnetic field. This is compatible with the extremely close similarity of spectral and temporal properties of this source with respect to other, non-pulsing atoll sources in the hard state. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
The aim of this paper was to report clinical, functional and radiological results of 80 patients surgically treated with a combined mini-open and percutaneous surgical repair as proposed by Kakiuchi.
...All patients were evaluated with a physical examination, evaluation scales, a functional test (Ergo-jump Bosco System), and an ultrasonographic exam along with Power Doppler Ultrasonography (PDU) (S/S).
At a mean follow-up of 58 months no cases of rerupture were detected. VISA-A evaluation scale showed an excellent score in 63 patients (78.75%), a good score in 14 patients (17.5%), a fair score in two patients (2.5%), and a poor score in one patient (1.25%). Hannover scale showed an excellent score in 63 patients (78.75%), and a good score in 17 patients (21.25%). Ergo-Jump evaluation showed a 2.07% mean deficit of the affected limb at the Squatting Jump test, a 3.26% mean deficit at the Counter Movement Jump test, and a 0.0062% mean improvement at the Repetitive Jump test. Ultrasonographic exam showed in all cases a satisfactory recovery of the integrity of the operated tendon. The mean AP and LL widths showed a significant increase of 7.13±2.97 mm (+56.1%) and of 4.01±2.36 mm (+43.81%) respectively. According to the modified Öhberg score scale, PDU exam showed a grade +1 in 16 patients (20%) and a grade +2 in seven cases (8.7%).
The absence of rerupture cases, the satisfactory functional and ultrasonographic results of the patients included in this study cause us to consider this technique as reliable and effective even in young high-demand patients.
We present here simultaneous INTEGRAL/RXTE observations of Sco X-1 and in particular a study of the hard X-ray emission of the source and its correlation with the position in the Z track of the X-ray ...color-color diagram. We find that the hard X-ray (above about 30 keV) emission of Sco X-1 is dominated by a power-law component with a photon index of 63. The flux in the power-law component slightly decreases when the source moves in the color-color diagram in the sense of increasing inferred mass accretion rate from the horizontal branch to the normal branch/flaring branch vertex. It becomes not significantly detectable in the flaring branch, where its flux has decreased by about an order of magnitude. These results present close analogies to the behavior of GX 17+2, one of the so-called Sco-like Z sources. Finally, the hard power law in the spectrum of Sco X-1 does not show any evidence of a high-energy cutoff up to 100-200 keV, strongly suggesting a nonthermal origin of this component.
We have studied the angular fluctuations in the speed of light with respect to the apex of the dipole of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation using the experimental data obtained with GRAAL ...facility, located at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble. The measurements were based on the stability of the Compton edge of laser photons scattered on the 6 GeV monochromatic electron beam. The results enable to obtain a conservative constraint on the anisotropy in the light speed variations \Delta c(\theta)/c < 3 10^{-12}, i.e. with higher precision than from previous experiments.
Kidney cancer is a frequent malignant disease. To date, there is no evidence on the effectiveness of early detection and, in most cases, surgery represents the only standard treatment. So far, there ...is no standardized therapy for localized and locally advanced renal tumors; however, the recent introduction of target therapy has significantly improved the prognosis of metastatic disease. Therefore, survival differences in Europe are deemed to involve differences in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. The aim of the SUDCAN collaborative study was to compare the net survival from kidney cancer between six European Latin countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland) and provide trends in net survival and dynamics of excess mortality rates up to 5 years after diagnosis. The data were extracted from the EUROCARE-5 database. First, net survival was studied over the 2000–2004 period using the Pohar-Perme estimator. For trend analysis, the study period was specific to each country. The results are reported from 1992 to 2004 in France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland, and from 2000 to 2004 in Belgium and Portugal. These analyses were carried out using a flexible excess rate modeling strategy. In 2000–2004, the 5-year net survival ranged between 59% (Spain) and 67% (France and Italy) in men and between 60% (Spain) and 73% (Portugal) in women. There was an increase in the age-standardized net survival between 1992 and 2004 at 1 year, as well as at 5 years, in all age groups and countries. Irrespective of the year of diagnosis, the excess mortality rate decreased with time elapsed since diagnosis. There are some differences in survival from kidney cancer between European Latin countries, but a considerable improvement was observed in most countries.
Circinus X-1 is a neutron-star-accreting X-ray binary in a wide, eccentric orbit. After two years of relatively low X-ray luminosity, in May 2010 Circinus X-1 went into outburst, reaching 0.4 Crab ...flux. The authors use multiple Rossi-XTE/PCA and Swift/XRT observations and a 20 ks long Chandra/HETGS observation, to comprehensively track the spectral evolution of the source during all the outbursting phases. These observations were taken every two/three days and cover about four orbital cycles. The PCA data mostly cover the major outburst, the XRT data monitor the declining phase of the major outburst and all the phases of the minor outburst, and Chandra data provide an essential snapshot of the end of this overall outbursting phase. The X-ray spectrum can be satisfactorily described by a thermal Comptonization model with variable neutral local absorption in all phases of the outburst. No other additive component is statistically required. The first outburst decays linearly, with an ankle in the light curve as the flux decreases below ... (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) carries a relatively high risk of sudden death, particularly in young people. 1, 2 To date, the clinical significance of heart rate variability (HRV) in patients ...with HCM is still controversial. 3, 4 Our study aimed to analyse HRV in a relatively large cohort of children and young patients with HCM, and to assess potential correlations with clinical markers of sudden death. ...on multivariate logistic regression analysis, syncope, MWT Z score and NSVT were the only independent predictors of adverse outcome in our study population.
Corpus uteri cancer is the most common gynaecological cancer in women in Europe, but presents a relatively good prognosis. There were two main objectives in this study: estimate differences between ...countries in age-standardized net survival (NS) at 1 and 5 years in 2000–2004 and evaluate time trends in NS and excess mortality rates in 1992–2004. Data on corpus uteri malignant tumours (International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third ed.: C54) were extracted from the EUROCARE database for six European Latin countries: Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. NS was estimated for each country using the nonparametric estimator proposed by Pohar-Perme. Trends in NS and excess mortality rates up to 5 years after diagnosis were assessed using a multivariable parametric flexible modelling. The study analysed 25 508 cases for the first objective and 43 550 for the second. Age-standardized 1-year NS ranged from 88% (Portugal and Spain) to 93% (Switzerland), whereas 5-year survival ranged between 72% (Portugal) and 79% (Belgium and Switzerland). From 1992 to 2004, the NS increased in all countries with available information on this period (France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland). Also, in Belgium and Portugal, there was an increase in NS between 2000 and 2004. Improvements in survival were more evident for older ages (75 years). There were some differences in NS between the countries studied (maximum of 5% at 1 year and 7% at 5 years). The NS improved in all countries during the period studied and the differences between countries narrowed.
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