The effect of family training and support on the quality of life and cost of hospital readmissions in congestive heart failure patients in Iran

Background: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of family training and support on quality of life and cost of hospital readmissions in congestive heart failure patients. Methods: In this single-blinded, randomized, controlled trial, the participants were heart failure patients hospitalized in an Iranian hospital. Data were collected from available hospitalized patients. The participants were enrolled through randomized sampling and were divided randomly into two groups, an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group received extra training package for the disease. Training was provided at discharge and three months after. A standard questionnaire to assess the QoL was filled out by both groups at discharge and six months after. Results: Mean scores of QoL domains at the beginning of the study decreased in control group and increased in intervention in comparison with six months after (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Nursing care follow-up according to heart failure patients' needs promoted their QoL

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Evidence for Color Dichotomy in the Primordial Neptunian Trojan Population

In the current model of early Solar System evolution, the stable members of the Jovian and Neptunian Trojan populations were captured into resonance from the leftover reservoir of planetesimals during the outward migration of the giant planets. As a result, both Jovian and Neptunian Trojans share a common origin with the primordial disk population, whose other surviving members constitute today's trans-Neptunian object (TNO) populations. The cold classical TNOs are ultra-red, while the dynamically excited "hot" population of TNOs contains a mixture of ultra-red and blue objects. In contrast, Jovian and Neptunian Trojans are observed to be blue. While the absence of ultra-red Jovian Trojans can be readily explained by the sublimation of volatile material from their surfaces due to the high flux of solar radiation at 5AU, the lack of ultra-red Neptunian Trojans presents both a puzzle and a challenge to formation models. In this work we report the discovery by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) of two new dynamically stable L4 Neptunian Trojans,2013 VX30 and 2014 UU240, both with inclinations i >30 degrees, making them the highest-inclination known stable Neptunian Trojans. We have measured the colors of these and three other dynamically stable Neptunian Trojans previously observed by DES, and find that 2013 VX30 is ultra-red, the first such Neptunian Trojan in its class. As such, 2013 VX30 may be a "missing link" between the Trojan and TNO populations. Using a simulation of the DES TNO detection efficiency, we find that there are 162 +/- 73 Trojans with Hr < 10 at the L4 Lagrange point of Neptune. Moreover, the blue-to-red Neptunian Trojan population ratio should be higher than 17:1. Based on this result, we discuss the possible origin of the ultra-red Neptunian Trojan population and its implications for the formation history of Neptunian Trojans

Direct Recruitment of Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 to Chromatin by Core Binding Transcription Factors

Polycomb repressive complexes (PRCs) play key roles in developmental epigenetic regulation. Yet the mechanisms that target PRCs to specific loci in mammalian cells remain incompletely understood. In this study we show that Bmi1, a core component of Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1), binds directly to the Runx1/CBFβ transcription factor complex. Genome-wide studies in megakaryocytic cells demonstrate significant chromatin occupancy overlap between the PRC1 core component Ring1b and Runx1/CBFβ and functional regulation of a considerable fraction of commonly bound genes. Bmi1/Ring1b and Runx1/CBFβ deficiencies generate partial phenocopies of one another in vivo. We also show that Ring1b occupies key Runx1 binding sites in primary murine thymocytes and that this occurs via PRC2-independent mechanisms. Genetic depletion of Runx1 results in reduced Ring1b binding at these sites in vivo. These findings provide evidence for site-specific PRC1 chromatin recruitment by core binding transcription factors in mammalian cells.Stem Cell and Regenerative Biolog

Performance and Operation of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The operation and general performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter using cosmic-ray muons are described. These muons were recorded after the closure of the CMS detector in late 2008. The calorimeter is made of lead tungstate crystals and the overall status of the 75848 channels corresponding to the barrel and endcap detectors is reported. The stability of crucial operational parameters, such as high voltage, temperature and electronic noise, is summarised and the performance of the light monitoring system is presented

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO