0000000000156231
AUTHOR
Ahmad I
Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease
Background: Experimental and clinical data suggest that reducing inflammation without affecting lipid levels may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Yet, the inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis has remained unproved. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial of canakinumab, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-1β, involving 10,061 patients with previous myocardial infarction and a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level of 2 mg or more per liter. The trial compared three doses of canakinumab (50 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg, administered subcutaneously every 3 months) with placebo. The primary efficacy end point was nonfatal myocardial infarction, …
Decay and Fission Hindrance of Two- and Four-Quasiparticle K Isomers in 254Rf
International audience; Two isomers decaying by electromagnetic transitions with half-lives of 4.7(1.1) and 247(73) mu s have been discovered in the heavy (254)Rf nucleus. The observation of the shorter-lived isomer was made possible by a novel application of a digital data acquisition system. The isomers were interpreted as the K-pi = 8(-), nu(2)(7/2(+)[624]; 9/2(-)[734]) two-quasineutron and the K-pi = 16(+), 8(-)nu(2)(7/2(+)[624]; 9/2(-)[734] circle times 8(-)pi(2) (7/2(-)[514]; 9/2(+)[624]) four-quasiparticle configurations, respectively. Surprisingly, the lifetime of the two-quasiparticle isomer is more than 4 orders of magnitude shorter than what has been observed for analogous isomer…