Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2017-08-22"
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Speech and voice response to a Levodopa challenge in late-stage Parkinson’s diseasePublication . Fabbri, Margherita; Guimarães, Isabel; Cardoso, Rita; Coelho, Miguel; Guedes, Leonor Correia; Rosa, Mário M; Godinho, Catarina; Abreu, Daisy; Gonçalves, Nilza; Antonini, Angelo; Ferreira, JoaquimBackground: Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients are affected by hypokinetic dysarthria, characterized by hypophonia and dysprosody, which worsens with disease progression. Levodopa’s (l-dopa) effect on quality of speech is inconclusive; no data are currently available for late-stage PD (LSPD). Objective: To assess the modifications of speech and voice in LSPD following an acute l-dopa challenge. Method: LSPD patients [Schwab and England score <50/Hoehn and Yahr stage >3 (MED ON)] performed several vocal tasks before and after an acute l-dopa challenge. The following was assessed: respiratory support for speech, voice quality, stability and variability, speech rate, and motor performance (MDS-UPDRS-III). All voice samples were recorded and analyzed by a speech and language therapist blinded to patients’ therapeutic condition using Praat 5.1 software. results: 24/27 (14 men) LSPD patients succeeded in performing voice tasks. Median age and disease duration of patients were 79 [IQR: 71.5–81.7] and 14.5 [IQR: 11–15.7] years, respectively. In MED OFF, respiratory breath support and pitch break time of LSPD patients were worse than the normative values of non-parkinsonian. A correlation was found between disease duration and voice quality (R = 0.51; p = 0.013) and speech rate (R = −0.55; p = 0.008). l-Dopa significantly improved MDS-UPDRS-III score (20%), with no effect on speech as assessed by clinical rating scales and automated analysis. conclusion: Speech is severely affected in LSPD. Although l-dopa had some effect on motor performance, including axial signs, speech and voice did not improve. The applicability and efficacy of non-pharmacological treatment for speech impairment should be considered for speech disorder management in PD.
- Measurements of long-range azimuthal anisotropies and associated Fourier coefficients for $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ and $13$ TeV and $p$+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV with the ATLAS detectorPublication . ATLAS collaboration (2840 authors); Aguilar-Saavedra, Juan Antonio; Amor Dos Santos, Susana Patricia; Anjos, Nuno; Araque, Juan Pedro; Carvalho, João; Castro, Nuno Filipe; Conde Muiño, Patricia; Da Cunha Sargedas De Sousa, Mario Jose; Fiolhais, Miguel; Galhardo, Bruno; Gomes, Agostinho; Gonçalo, Ricardo; Jorge, Pedro; Machado Miguens, Joana; Maio, Amélia; Maneira, José; Oleiro Seabra, Luis Filipe; Onofre, António; Pedro, Rute; Santos, Helena; Saraiva, João; Silva, José; Tavares Delgado, Ademar; Veloso, Filipe; Wolters, HelmutATLAS measurements of two-particle correlations are presented for s=5.02 and 13 TeV pp collisions and for sNN=5.02 TeV p+Pb collisions at the LHC. The correlation functions are measured as a function of relative azimuthal angle Δϕ, and pseudorapidity separation Δη, using charged particles detected within the pseudorapidity interval |η|<2.5. Azimuthal modulation in the long-range component of the correlation function, with |Δη|>2, is studied using a template fitting procedure to remove a “back-to-back” contribution to the correlation function that primarily arises from hard-scattering processes. In addition to the elliptic, cos(2Δϕ), modulation observed in a previous measurement, the pp correlation functions exhibit significant cos(3Δϕ) and cos(4Δϕ) modulation. The Fourier coefficients vn,n associated with the cos(nΔϕ) modulation of the correlation functions for n=2–4 are measured as a function of charged-particle multiplicity and charged-particle transverse momentum. The Fourier coefficients are observed to be compatible with cos(nϕ) modulation of per-event single-particle azimuthal angle distributions. The single-particle Fourier coefficients vn are measured as a function of charged-particle multiplicity, and charged-particle transverse momentum for n=2–4. The integrated luminosities used in this analysis are, 64 nb−1 for the s=13 TeV pp data, 170 nb−1 for the s=5.02 TeV pp data, and 28 nb−1 for the sNN=5.02 TeV p+Pb data.
- Measurement of the top quark mass in the dileptonic $t\bar{t}$ decay channel using the mass observables $M_{b\ell}$, $M_{T2}$, and $M_{b\ell\nu}$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeVPublication . CMS collaboration (2231 authors); Nayak, Aruna; Bargassa, Pedrame; Beirão Da Cruz E Silva, Cristóvão; Calpas, Betty; Di Francesco, Agostino; Faccioli, Pietro; Gallinaro, Michele; Hollar, Jonathan; Leonardo, Nuno; Lloret Iglesias, Lara; Seixas, Joao; Toldaiev, Oleksii; Vadruccio, Daniele; Varela, Joao; Vischia, Pietro; David Tinoco Mendes, Andre; Silva, Pedro; Musella, Pasquale; Pela, JoaoA measurement of the top quark mass (Mt) in the dileptonic tt¯ decay channel is performed using data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The data was recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7±0.5 fb−1. Events are selected with two oppositely charged leptons (ℓ=e, μ) and two jets identified as originating from b quarks. The analysis is based on three kinematic observables whose distributions are sensitive to the value of Mt. An invariant mass observable, Mbℓ, and a “stransverse mass” observable, MT2, are employed in a simultaneous fit to determine the value of Mt and an overall jet energy scale factor (JSF). A complementary approach is used to construct an invariant mass observable, Mbℓν, that is combined with MT2 to measure Mt. The shapes of the observables, along with their evolutions in Mt and JSF, are modeled by a nonparametric Gaussian process regression technique. The sensitivity of the observables to the value of Mt is investigated using a Fisher information density method. The top quark mass is measured to be 172.22±0.18(stat) -0.93+0.89(syst) GeV.