632 research outputs found
Search for pair-produced heavy fourth-generation bottom-like quarks decaying to bZ and tW in 8,TeV proton-proton collisions with multilepton final states
No full textWe present a search for anomalous production of events with three or more isolated leptons produced in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. We analyze 9.2 /fb of data collected by the CMS experiment during the 2012 LHC run. We categorize observed multilepton events into exclusive search channels based on various quantities based on the identity and kinematics of the objects in the events. The search channels are ordered by the amount of expected Standard Model background. Explicit use of requirements such as missing transverse energy or total hadronic energy is avoided. We emphasize data-based estimation of the Standard Model backgrounds, but also use simulation to estimate some of the backgrounds when appropriate. We interpret search results in the context of a model involving the exotic bottom-like quark bprime decaying to two different modes bZ and tW with varying branching ratios. We derive exclusion limits as a function of the bprime mass as well as the branching ratios.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Sanjay R. Aror
243. Association Between SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load and Patient Symptoms and Clinical Outcomes Using Droplet Digital PCR
No full textBACKGROUND: Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) has been shown to be more sensitive and precise in the quantification of SARS-CoV-2 when compared to traditional quantitative RT-PCR. Multiple studies have explored associations between SARS-CoV-2 viral load and patient outcomes; however, few have used ddPCR technology. Here we investigated the associations between viral load measured using ddPCR and clinical presentation and outcomes. METHODS: We performed a retrospective observational study of individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 at the VA San Diego between August 2020 and December 2021. SARS-CoV-2 viral load from nasopharyngeal swabs was determined using ddPCR. Baseline demographics, past medical history, clinical course, and laboratory data were abstracted from the chart. RESULTS: A total of 696 individuals were included, 86% (n=603) of whom were male. The average age was 50-years-old [range: 19-98]. Three-quarters of individuals (76%, n=528) were unvaccinated at diagnosis. Frequency of comorbidities are shown in Table 1. The majority of individuals developed symptoms with 75% (n=516) reporting respiratory symptoms, 47% (n=317) fever, 34% (n=230) GI symptoms, and 23% (n=161) loss of taste and/or smell. A total of 24% of veterans were evaluated only in the emergency department, 21% (n=149) were admitted to the hospital; 9% (n=60) required ICU level of care, 33% of these (n=20) required intubation, and 16 individuals died during hospitalization. SARS-CoV-2 log(10) viral load was not associated with age, and only a weak correlation was seen with time from onset of symptoms (r(2)=-0.1, p=0.04). No association was observed between viral load and peak CRP, ferritin, d-dimer, or nadir absolute lymphocyte count. Mean viral load was significantly higher in veterans reporting fever (5.0 vs 5.4, p=0.02) and respiratory symptoms (4.7 vs 5.3, p=0.01). Interestingly, vaccinated veterans also had higher viral loads(5.8 vs 5.0, p< 0.0001). Baseline characteristics of individuals with COVID-19 [Figure: see text] Histogram of COVID-19 RNA viral load [Figure: see text] CONCLUSION: Fever and respiratory symptoms were associated with higher viral loads as expected. The association of vaccination with higher viral load may reflect selection bias for infections in the delta wave. Future work will include multivariate analyses to adjust for medical history and timing of sampling. DISCLOSURES: Sanjay R. Mehta, MD, Zibdy Health: Advisor/Consultant
Managing the effects of tax expenditures on the national budget
No full textTax expenditures, in the form of tax provisions, are government expenditures. They are conceptually and functionally distinct from those tax provisions whose purpose is to raise revenue. Tax expenditure programs are comparable to entitlement programs. Therefore, tax expenditures must be analyzed in spending terms and integrated into the budgetary process to ensure fiscal accountability. In addition, tax expenditures must be audited for performance and the information must be published (with comprehensive analysis) to ensure fiscal transparency. The author analyzes the concept and definition, size, and effects of tax expenditures, as well as the fiscal accountability and transparency of tax expenditure spending. In short, tax expenditures affect (1) the budget balance,(2) budget prioritization in allocation, (3) the effectiveness and efficiency of fiscal resources, and (4) the scope for abuse by taxpayers, government officials and legislators. While reviewing the current practices in tax expenditures against the requirements of fiscal accountability and transparency, she finds that this fiscal area must be strengthened. The author sketches four building blocks to strengthen tax expenditures toward fiscal accountability and transparency, based on the literature developed by Surry and McDaniel, the practices from industrial and developing countries, the Campos and Pradhan fiscal accountability model, and the International Monetary Fund's fiscal transparency code. The author argues that normative/benchmark tax structure, a revenue-raising component of the tax system, should be formalized. The normative/benchmark tax structure should be legally defined in the tax law and should be transparent. The tax receipts from this normative/benchmark tax structure should be quantified and published. Presently, many countries could publish imputed tax revenue from normative/benchmark tax structures because such data is available. Only if imputed tax revenue is published in the same way as the other budget components-tax revenue received, tax expenditures, direct expenditures, and fiscal balance-will a budget system be truly transparent in terms of revenue-raising activities and expenditure activities. In addition, when the tax revenue-raising activity is formalized, the inherent spending nature of tax expenditures is further exposed. Therefore, tax expenditures should be added to direct expenditures forming total government expenditures. Furthermore, the conventional concept of the size of government should be remedied by including both direct expenditures and tax expenditures.Public Sector Economics&Finance,Tax Law,Fiscal Adjustment,Public Sector Fiscal Adjustment,Economic Theory&Research
Cortical neuronal loss and hippocampal sclerosis are not detected by voxel-based morphometry in individual epilepsy surgery patients
No full textVoxel-based morphometry (VBM) has detected differences between brains of groups of patients
with epilepsy and controls, but the sensitivity for detecting subtle pathological changes in single subjects
has not been established. The aim of the study was to test the sensitivity of VBM using statistical parametric
mapping (SPM5) to detect hippocampal sclerosis (HS) and cortical neuronal loss in individual patients.
T1-weighted volumetric 1.5 T MR images from 13 patients with HS and laminar cortical neuronal loss
were segmented, normalised and smoothed using SPM5. Both modulated and non-modulated analyses
were performed. Comparisons of one control subject against the rest (n ¼ 23) were first performed to ascertain
the smoothing level with the lowest number of SPM changes in controls. Each patient was then compared
against the whole control group. The lowest number of SPM changes in control subjects was found
at a smoothing level of 10 mm full width half maximum for modulated and non-modulated data. In the
patient group, no SPM abnormalities were found in the affected temporal lobe or hippocampus at this
smoothing level. At lower smoothing levels there were numerous SPM findings in controls and patients.
VBM did not detect any abnormalities associated with either laminar cortical neuronal loss or HS. This
may be due to normalisation and smoothing of images and low statistical power in areas with larger interindividual
differences. This suggests that the methodology may currently not be suitable to detect particular
occult abnormalities possibly associated with seizure onset zone in individual epilepsy patients with
unremarkable standard structural MRI
Bibliographics for the 983 eprints in the live archives of E-LIS : trends and status report up to 7th July 2004, based on author-self-archiving metadata
No full textThe priority for ideas and philosophy related to "Network Theory" have been traced back and documented by Braun(2004),and credit goes to Karinthy(1929).The IT has empowered to realise it, as the most practical phenomena and it is no more a humour. The OAI (Open Archives Initiatives)and ACIS (Academic Contributor Information System)are progressive in the direction ,which may lead to realise the "Collective Genius" at global level. Focus of present study is on Author-Self-Archiving (A-S-A)Metadata of the 983 Eprints in the Live Archives of the E-LIS (EPrints of Library and Information Science),which were approved till 7th July 2004.The A-S-A Metadata was used for librametric analysis. Self-explanatory bibliographics are illustrated.The highlights include: Conference papers (34%); highest approval, June 2004 (28%); published archives (76%);not refereed (52%); not in public domain (60%); highest self-archiving-author (De Robbio, Antonella).The Nos. of EPrints having single JITA domain specifications were: Theoretical and general aspects of libraries and information(27); Information use and sociology of information(80);Users,literacy and reading(13);Libraries as physical collections(30);Publishing and legal issues(57);Management(13);Industry, profession and education(36);Information sources, supports, channels(113) ; Information treatment for information services, Information functions and techniques (101); Technical services libraries, archives and museums(25); Housing technologies(1); Information technology and library technology(92); and Inter-domainery (395) i.e. having specifications of two or more than two JITA classes
Utilization of agricultural waste biomass by cellulolytic isolate Enterobacter sp. SUK-Bio
No full textA cellulolytic bacterium was isolated from plant litter soil and identified as Enterobacter sp. SUK-Bio. This isolate was investigated for its utilization of different cellulosic materials (carboxymethyl cellulose, sugarcane trash, grass powder, sorghum husk, wheat straw and water hyacinth). Utilization of sorghum husk was comparatively more than for the other cellulosic materials used, producing higher cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes (filter paperase (0.15 U/mL), β-glucosidase (37.10 U/mL), endoglucanase (12.24 U/mL), exoglucanase (2.52 U/mL), xylanase (26.26 U/mL) and glucoamylase (33.26 U/mL)) on day 8 of incubation. Furthermore, it produced the maximum reducing sugar production (554 mg/L) at a rate of 3.84 mg/h/L. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis of sorghum husk revealed functional groups changes and a decrease in the total crystallinity ratio after microbial degradation. The effects of supplementation of different metals additives, thermal stability and pH on cellulolytic enzymes were also studied.The first author acknowledges the UGC (University Grants Commission), New Delhi for providing financial assistance through a UGC-NET-JRF fellowship during this research work
Formulation optimization of chitosan-stabilized silver nanoparticles using in vitro antimicrobial assay
No full textAntimicrobial resistance at the infected site is a serious medical issue that increases patient morbidity and mortality. Silver has antibacterial activity associated with some dose-dependent toxicity. Silver nanoparticles, due to larger surface area, have antibacterial properties, which make them useful in the treatment of infections. Chitosan-stabilized silver nanoparticles (CH-AgNP) were formulated and evaluated for minimal inhibitory concentration and minimal bactericidal concentration testing against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, S aureus ATCC 25923, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, and 20 methicillin-resistant S aureus isolates. Minimum biofilm eradication concentration study was used to evaluate the biofilm reduction, and in vitro antimicrobial checkerboard assays were performed. The effective optimum ratio of AgNP:chitosan solution was 1:4. Minimal inhibitory concentration and minimal bactericidal concentration ranges of CH-AgNP were 4 to 14 times lower compared to AgNP alone against methicillin-resistant S aureus isolates. Minimum biofilm eradication concentration values of CH-AgNP for ATCC PA-01, P aeruginosa isolate 1, and P aeruginosa isolate 2 were found to be >84.59 μg/mL, 42.29 μg/mL, and 21.15 μg/mL, respectively. Thus, CH-AgNP is a potential formulation for wound treatment and management of infected sites associated with antimicrobial resistance.Chintan Pansara, Wei Yee Chan, Ankit Parikh, Darren J. Trott, Tejal Mehta, Renuka Mishra, Sanjay Gar
Bollywood cinema: A critical genealogy
No full text"Bollywood" has finally made it to the Oxford English Dictionary. The 2005 edition defines it as: "a name for the Indian popular film industry, based in Bombay. Origin 1970s. Blend of Bombay and Hollywood." The incorporation of the word in the OED acknowledges the strength of a film industry which, with the coming of sound in 1931, has produced some 9,000 films. (This must not be confused with the output of Indian cinema generally, which would be four times more). What is less evident from the OED definition is the way in which the word has acquired its current meaning and has displaced its earlier descriptors (Bombay Cinema, Indian Popular Cinema, Hindi Cinema), functioning, perhaps even horrifyingly, as an "empty signifier" (Prasad) that may be variously used for a reading of popular Indian cinema. The triumph of the term (over the others) is nothing less than spectacular and indicates, furthermore, the growing global sweep of this cinema not just as cinema qua cinema but as cinema qua social effects and national cultural coding. Although Indian film producers in particular, and pockets of Indian spectators generally, continue to feel uneasy with it (the vernacular press came around to using "Bollywood" only reluctantly), its ascendancy has been such that Bombay Dreams (the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical) and the homegrown Merchants of Bollywood both become signifiers of a cultural logic which transcends cinema and is a global marker of Indian modernity. As the Melbourne (March 2006) closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games showed, Bollywood will be the cultural practice through which Indian national culture will be projected when the games are held in Delhi in 2010. International games (the Olympics, World Cup Soccer, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and so on) are often expressions of a nation's own emerging modernity. For India that modernity, in the realm of culture, is increasingly being interpellated by Bollywood
Correction to: Selective kappa-opioid antagonism ameliorates anhedonic behavior: evidence from the Fast-fail Trial in Mood and Anxiety Spectrum Disorders (FAST-MAS)
No full textCorrection to: Neuropsychopharmacology 10.1038/s41386-020-0738-4, published online 16 June 2020
In this article a conflict of interest was missing.
The co-author Sanjay J. Mathew served as a consultant to Alkermes.
The original article has been corrected.
The original article can be found online at 10.1038/s41386-020-0738-4
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Discrete dynamics in cluster integrable systems from geometric R-matrix transformations
No full textInternational audienceCluster integrable systems are a broad class of integrable systems modelled on bipartite dimer models on the torus. Many discrete integrable dynamics arise by applying sequences of local transformations, which form the cluster modular group of the cluster integrable system. This cluster modular group was recently characterized by the first author and Inchiostro. There exist some discrete integrable dynamics that make use of non-local transformations associated with geometric R-matrices. In this article we characterize the generalized cluster modular group -- which includes both local and non-local transformations -- in terms of extended affine symmetric groups. We also describe the action of the generalized cluster modular group on the spectral data associated with cluster integrable systems
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