Search

Mars’s seismic activity and noise have been monitored since January 2019 by the seismometer of the InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) lander. At night, Mars is extremely quiet; seismic noise is about 500 times lower than Earth’s microseismic noise at periods between 4 s and 30 s. The recorded seismic noise increases during the day due to ground deformations induced by convective atmospheric vortices and ground-transferred wind-generated lander noise. Here we constrain properties of the crust beneath InSight, using signals from atmospheric vortices and from the hammering of InSight’s Heat Flow and Physical Properties (HP3) instrument, as well as the three largest Marsquakes detected as of September 2019. From receiver function analysis, we infer that the uppermost 8–11 km of the crust is highly altered and/or fractured. We measure the crustal diffusivity and intrinsic attenuation using multiscattering analysis and find that seismic attenuation is about three times larger than on the Moon, which suggests that the crust contains small amounts of volatiles.

Extensive analysis of disruptions in JET has helped advance the understanding of trends of disruption-generated runaway electrons. Tomographic reconstruction of the soft x-ray emission has made possible a detailed observation of the magnetic flux geometry evolution during disruptions. With the aid of soft and hard x-ray diagnostics runaway electrons have been detected at the very beginning of disruptions. A study of runaway electron parameters has shown that an approximate upper bound for the conversion efficiency of pre-disruptive plasma currents into runaways is about 60% over a wide range of plasma currents in JET. Runaway generation has been simulated with a test particle model in order to verify the results of experimental data analysis and to obtain the background for extrapolation of the existing results onto larger devices such as ITER. It was found that close agreement between the modelling results and experimental data could be achieved if in the calculations the post-disruption plasma electron temperature was assumed equal to 10?eV and if the plasma column geometry evolution is taken into account in calculations. The experimental trends and numerical simulations show that runaway electrons are a critical issue for ITER and, therefore, the development of mitigation methods, which suppress runaway generation, is an essential task.

In preparation for next step burning plasma devices such as ITER, experimental studies of instabilities and confinement of energetic ions were performed on Joint European Torus (JET) and on Mega-Amper Spherical Tokamak (MAST) with innovative diagnostic techniques, in conventional and shear-reversed plasmas, exploring a wide range of effects for energetic ions. A compendium of recent results testing capabilities of the present-day facilities for burning plasma relevant study is presented in this paper. ‘Alpha tail’ production using 3rd harmonic ion-cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) of 4He beam ions has been employed on JET for studying 4He of the megaelectronvolt energy range in a ‘neutron-free’ environment. The evolution of ICRH-accelerated ions of 4He with E  1.7 MeV and D with E  500 keV was assessed from nuclear gamma-ray emission born by the fast ions colliding with Be and C impurities. A simultaneous measurement of spatial profiles of fast 4He and fast D ions relevant to ITER was performed for the first time in positive and strongly reversed magnetic shear discharges. Time-resolved gamma-ray diagnostics for ICRH-accelerated 3He and H minority ions allowed changes in the fast ion distribution function to be assessed in the presence of unstable toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (TAEs) and sawteeth. A significant decrease of gamma-ray intensity from protons with E  5 MeV was detected during the ‘tornado’ modes. This was interpreted as ‘tornado’-induced loss of fast ions with the drift orbit width, Δf, comparable to the minor radius of tokamak a. Experiments performed in the opposite case, Δf/a ≪ 1, for ICRH-accelerated 3He ions with E  500 keV, have shown excitation of numerous Alfvén eigenmodes without a significant degradation of the fast ion confinement. The stabilizing effect of fast particles on ‘monster’ sawteeth was experimentally found to fail in low-density plasmas with high power ion cyclotron resonance frequency (ICRF)-heating. The transition from the ‘monster’ to short-period ‘grassy’ sawteeth was investigated with different ICRF phasing, which controls the pinch-effect and radial distribution of ICRF-accelerated ions. Instabilities excited by super-Alfvénic beam ions were investigated on the spherical tokamak MAST. Due to higher values of β and a higher proportion of fast ions on MAST than on JET, a wider variety of modes and nonlinear regimes for the Alfvén instabilities were observed, including the explosive TAE-regimes leading to the formation of hole-clump pairs on the fast ion distribution function. The MAST and START data showed that TAE and chirping modes decrease both in their mode amplitudes and in the number of unstable modes with increasing β.

AbstractA detailed discussion is given of the effects of energy diffusion and pitch-angle scattering on the slowing-down dynamics of a beam of monoenergetic particles being released with unidirectional velocity. Approximate solutions are given for characteristic averaged quantities like the pitch-angle averaged distribution function and different physically relevant velocity moments. The relation to previous exact investigations is discussed.

This open, multinational, randomised, parallel‐group, six‐month extension conducted in the Swedish centres of a previous six‐month study compared the costs of a total of 12 months of treatment with budesonide/formoterol in a single inhaler with budesonide plus formoterol separate inhalers in 320 adults with asthma. Patients received budesonide/formoterol (Symbicort® Turbuhaler®) 160/4.5 mg delivered doses, two inhalations b.i.d., or corresponding doses of budesonide (Pulmicort® Turbuhaler) plus formoterol (Oxis® Turbuhaler). Direct costs and indirect costs were estimated. Budesonide/formoterol treatment was associated with reduced healthcare service utilisation and statistically significant reductions in direct (SEK1595, p=0.0004) and total costs (SEK1884, p=0.043) per person per year compared with budesonide plus formoterol. Budesonide/formoterol reduced the average annual emergency room admission cost per person by SEK489.7 (31% of direct cost reduction) and physician costs by SEK235.4 (15%). The direct cost of study, relief and other medication was reduced by SEK893.8 (47% of total reduction). There were no statistically significant differences in efficacy and safety parameters following treatment with budesonide/formoterol from single or separate inhalers, other than a significantly lower proportion of withdrawals with the single inhaler (9.2% vs19.4%, p=0.008). In summary, budesonide/formoterol treatment from a single inhaler reduced 12‐month treatment costs compared with separate inhalers, while maintaining at least as good control of asthma.

In this paper, the basic theory of runaway electron production is reviewed and recent progress is discussed. The mechanisms of primary and secondary generation of runaway electrons are described and their dynamics during a tokamak disruption is analysed, both in a simple analytical model and through numerical Monte Carlo simulation. A simple criterion for when these mechanisms generate a significant runaway current is derived, and the first self-consistent simulations of the electron kinetics in a tokamak disruption are presented. Radial cross-field diffusion is shown to inhibit runaway avalanches, as indicated in recent experiments on JET and JT-60U. Finally, the physics of relativistic post-disruption runaway electrons is discussed, in particular their slowing down due to emission of synchrotron radiation, and their ability to produce electron–positron pairs in collisions with bulk plasma ions and electrons.

AbstractA consistent scheme is formulated for solving the two-way diffusion problem describing the effect of backscattering on the lateral diffusive spreading of an initially unidirectional beam of monoenergetic electrons. The potential of the method is demonstrated by presenting an approximate solution, which bridges previous solutions found in the asymptotic limits of small and large scattering lengths, respectively.

The FACET (Formoterol and Corticosteroid Establishing Therapy) study established that there is a clear clinical benefit in adding formoterol to budesonide therapy in patients who have persistent symptoms of asthma despite treatment with low to moderate doses of an inhaled corticosteroid. We combined the clinical results from the FACET study with an expert survey on average resource use in connection with mild and severe asthma exacerbations in the U.K., Sweden and Spain. The primary objective of this study was to assess the health economics of adding the inhaled long-acting β₂-agonist formoterol to the inhaled corticosteroid budesonide in the treatment of asthma. The extra costs of adding the inhaled β₂-agonist formoterol to the corticosteroid budesonide in asthmatic patients in Sweden were offset by savings from reduced use of resources for exacerbations. For Spain the picture was mixed. Adding formoterol to low dose budesonide generated savings, whereas for moderate doses of budesonide about 75% of the extra formoterol costs could be recouped. In the U.K., other savings offset about half of the extra cost of formoterol. All cost-effectiveness ratios are within accepted cost-effectiveness ranges reported from previous studies. If productivity losses were included, there were net savings in all three countries, ranging from Euro 267–1183 per patient per year. In conclusion, adding the inhaled, long-acting β₂-agonist formoterol to low–moderate doses of the inhaled corticosteroid budesonide generated significant gains in all outcome measures with partial or complete offset of costs. Adding formoterol to budesonide can thus be considered to be cost-effective. Copyright 2001 HARCOURT PUBLISHERS LTD.

Without Abstract:

Drug prices have become an important issue in the last few years as concerns about constrained healthcare resources have increased. Healthcare authorities in all industrialised countries are questioning whether their country is carrying a heavier burden than others in paying for drugs. In view of this discussion, several price comparison studies have been conducted. However, there is no generally accepted methodology on how to conduct price comparisons, and many methodological issues remain unresolved. The results of most published studies are affected by moderately serious methodological flaws. which are never properly addressed. The purpose o f this study is to discuss the methodological issue o f international drug price comparison, in terms of 6 points t hat appear to this author to be necessary 10 conduct a methodologically sound study. A previous review of a large number of drug price comparisons revealed that they all fail to take into account some or all of these 6 basic methodological points. Studies that fulfil the methodological criteria outlined in this paper are therefore urgently needed before drug pricing studies can be fully utilised as a basis for important policy decisions in the healthcare arena.

Without Abstract:

Without Abstract:

Without Abstract:

La scoliose idiopathique de l’adolescent (SIA) est un cadre nosologique complexe qui regroupe différentes formes de déformations qui doivent être distinguées en raison de mécanismes physiopathologiques et de pronostics potentiellement différents. La SIA résulterait d’interactions variables entre gènes et environnement : troubles hormonaux, métaboliques, anomalies de la croissance du squelette axial, du système de maintien passif, ou encore du système nerveux central (SNC). Plusieurs théories physiopathologiques impliquant le SNC ont ainsi été formulées associant des perturbations de la perception proprioceptive, sensorielle, ou de l’intégration de ces informations. Il en résulterait un schéma corporel anormal, responsable d’une asymétrie sensori-motrice inter-hémicorps, favorisant ou provoquant la déformation. Des anomalies morphologiques des structures impliquées dans la perception, l’intégration sensorielles et dans le contrôle et la coordination motrice (en particulier le corps calleux et le cortex cérébral) semblent associées aux SIA. Des anomalies fonctionnelles ont été également retrouvées chez une population de SIA avec une asymétrie d’activation des aires motrices durant l’exécution d’une tâche motrice manuelle simple. Les objectifs de notre étude ont été : de mettre en évidence des différences morphométriques cortico-sous-corticales cérébrales entre un groupe témoin et pathologique et d’étudier la substance blanche cérébrale (fraction d’anisotropie au niveau des principaux faisceaux de substance blanche), et l’activation des réseaux neuronaux sensori-moteurs (IRMf d’activation et connectivité fonctionnelle cérébrale).